Who Polaris and Thomas Zane Are - Control and Alan Wake

I have found some decent evidence to explain who/what the entity known as "Polaris" is (from the game "Control"). Moreover, the explanation for who Polaris is might inadvertently explain another long-standing mystery: who Thomas Zane is (from the game "Alan Wake). Please let me know what you think!

#remedy
#alanwake
#control

[GamingUniversityUoG]

As far as Polaris goes, I believe you are spot on. There are so many references to the North Star or Northern Pillar throughout ancient cultures and mythology/theology. One additional data point I would add is that in the era of the titans, the Northern Pillar during the castration had two names. Koios and Polus. The latter meaning the Axis of Heaven. The point where the stars revolved. In addition, the Polaris chant mirrors this idea. When Jesse meets Jesse-Polaris, she is chanting, "Grow Brighter. Around one Constant they revolve."

One additional thing on Polaris that I would argue is that Polaris is greater than Jesse's Jungian Self, but Jesse's Self is Polaris. The aspect of Polaris that Jesse is tuned with is only one small aspect of the greater entity. Her own Guardian Angel/Djinn so to speak. In many cultures the Guardian Angel is not seperate from us, but part of us. Our Superconscious/Jungian Self.

In regards to Thomas Zane, I feel we still need more information for his character. If we go by the hypothesis that that we use for Polaris, then Zane would be Alan made perfect. However, within the story, Zane is an example not of what Alan should strive to be, but what not to be. His mistakes are the central point of most of the drama. Cynthia mentions that Alan is a smarter man that Tom in the sense he won't make the same mistakes. If we consider Zane the mentor character we must classify which type he is. Either he is the Mentor who was a former successful hero here to aid the new hero. This is the Hermit/Fool card comparisons. Or he is the failed Hero who now that he has learned from his mistake is able to guide a hero to treasures he could not achieve himself.

In This House of Dreams, it is mentioned that the Zane we see in Alan Wake is not really him. Just like the Dark Presence took the form of Barbara, a Bright Presence took the form of Zane. Hence the bright light. In this sense, maybe the Bright Presence can be considered Alan's Jungian Self?

Apologies for rambling. There is a lot of really good info in this video I wanted to comment on. Great work!

[MrMartin]

So side note on the Thomas Zane theory, when Alan Wake first comes to Bright Falls and meets the brothers Thor & Odin they say "It's been a long time, Tom. Good to see you".

[penyuwan]

Even Remedy's game engine, is called Northlight Engine.

[ajinkyatarodekar]

Good to see that Control is getting attention lately. It is very underrated imo.

[louisvictor]

I always assumed Polaris is just the player. The way she has that internal "not" monologues adressing polaris as "you" even before you know how Jesse calls "you" with no ingame Polaris response, the only voice you hear is you saying "just get on with it" + how Jesse says Polaris guides her, like the player does + the name of the game is literally Control + Remedy's love for meta references feel to me that at least they wanted to give a hint of that in this first game.

Maybe it will change later, but in this one game, that is how I read it.

[sw-gs]

Polaris is shown as Spiral, and Alan Wake 2 ends with "It is not the loop, itis a spiral." ;)

[GreyhoundOne]

I don't think that Zane and Polaris are really Alan and Jesse's guides to "Self". But this out-of-universe symbolism is really great

[ilregiallo]

I love your idea about Polaris, I had a very similar theory.
My idea: Polaris and Hiss don't have a conscioussnes, they are like virus, they just seek for hosts. The thing Jessie speak with is born from Hedron's resonance effects on her mind. In the game, Darling explain that Hedron's resonance "shows things" and expands the mind of the host, giving them knowledge. But the conscious mind of Jessie can't accept this knowledge as her own (maybe becaeuse it's too much for a young girl), so she created a persona, Polaris, that knows everything the resonance has shown.
I never used the word "Self", but it's basically the same thing: the perfect Jesse, the one who knows.

[allourvice]

The name “Jesse” also happens to mean “gift of God” and her [original] surname of “Faden” (German, translated to English) means “thread”.

EDIT: Also, forgot to mention that Jesse’s brother Dylan’s name means (roughly) “born from the ocean” perhaps another tie-in to Wake’s “not a lake, but an ocean” concept.

[bondrewdthenovel]

"Is not a loop. Is a spiral."

Polaris is represented as a spiral.

[jagergerg]

A brilliant and genius theory, I tend to agree. There are clues scattered throughout the game that head towards your theory. I love how Control never gives you a definite explanation, you must theorize and look deep into to find and answer that makes sense. Amazing video as always I was happy to receive the notification.

[fireiooo]

I am personally under the belief that Thomas Zane is an entity outside of Alan altogether, and that the Thomas Zane that we see in Alan Wake and the Thomas Zane we see in Control are two separate entities. At the end the of the special episode The Writer, Thomas guides Wake to the lighthouse and ultimately to the cabin so that the good half of Alan’s psyche could join back with his physical body. Mr. Scratch, the dark half of Alan’s psyche, is yet to be dealt with properly, especially since Alan Wake’s American Nightmare isn’t canon. Between the events of Control and Alan Wake, something has rewritten Thomas Zane in the universe from being this famous but mostly forgotten poet to a European filmmaker, as can be seen in the prime candidate program in control as well as in the AWE dlc. When we see Alan talking to “Zane” in the dlc cutscene, he references that he is a filmmaker and that the poet persona is just a character he played in one of his films. Yet “Zane” wears the body of Alan Wake, and is coaxing him to continue writing while still trapped in the dark threshold. Perhaps it’s a shallow interpretation or it’s too straightforward, but it would seem that between the events of Alan Wake and Control, while Alan has been stuck in the threshold, Mr. Scratch has been rewriting reality and trying to interfere with the lives of those who knew Alan under the guise of Thomas Zane. We also know from the AWE dlc that this Mr. Scratch/“Zane” entity has been trying to interact malevolently with Alice Wake night after night. One final note, in the brief Alan Wake II teaser trailer, Alan’s voiceover refers to a monster, where the camera switches from his face to that of a monstrous Alan, most likely this Mr. Scratch/“Zane” entity

[tommyb]

I'm gonna need some time to process this, but... dude, the conclusion literally gave me goosebumps. Well done.

I was a bit disappointed that the AWE DLC didn't give us more info on Alan Wake than it did, but at least it strongly hints that there's a lot more to come.

[patrickwieczorek]

Great etymology for Thomas Zane! It has basically been revealed through the Alan Wake phone calls in Control, that Wake, when out of time, contained within the Dark Place, wrote the entire plot leading up to Alan Wake as well as Control, all in an attempt to escape the Dark Place. This video is awesome though, please keep going!

[Dipper]

I haven't actually watched this video as I haven't played Control yet. Just came to like to help out with the algorithm seeing as you're slowing down with the uploads 👍🏻

[davidbash]

Am I the only one who thinks that the "Zane" version of Alan at the beginning of the AWE DLC wasn't Zane at all but just Mr. Scratch messing with Alan?

There is a file you can pick up towards the end of the DLC that pretty much says Alice is still being attacked by Mr. Scratch.

[sisyphusatrest]

I really like how you explained things here. I hope you continue this trend more (explaining psychology through games)...

I hope other viewers see this. If this hypotheses are close to being true, then Control is by far the most complex game (in concept) that I've ever played.

Really appreciate this.

[TheEliasNoel]

This was absolutely incredible. I’m going to give your Jung videos a listen. What I love about control is it takes the power of mythology but brings it into the modern era in a way that is fresh. Incredible analysis!

[octosalias]

Well thankfully I've watched enough Twin Peaks analysis that I get this, heh, thank you for your work Max!

[aettic]

I think that the comparison with Polaris / the archetypal Self in great, and makes a lot of sense. One thing I would add to the Polaris as Mandala comparison is that Mandala typically have perfect radial symmetry, whereas the representations of Polaris that we see appear as Spirals, rather than perfect mandalas. But That seems to echo / rhyme with the Spiral motifs we see in Alan Wake 2.

Obviously this video was made before AW2 came out, and I think that game sheds some additional light on Thomas Zane. We still don't know for sure what he is. It does feel like he is linked to Alan - I think the evidence for this is undeniable, but to me it seems like it might be more symbolically than literally. For instance, we are given the impression that "Thomas Zane" actually refers to more than one character. There was a real life artist named Zane who really did stay at Bird Leg Cabin and really did write poetry. But then we have the other Toms (which... I'm not entirely convinced that they're all the same): The bright presence / Diver Tom, who we see in the form of a poetry-spouting point of light as early as Wake's dream (before he begins writing Departure, but AFTER he has already set foot on Cauldron Lake, so to speak. He dreams this while on the Ferry to Bright Falls). Then we have the Alan-clone Tom we see in the AWE DLC, who sounds and acts different from Diver Tom, and has more in common with Scratch in some ways. Then we have Tom the filmmaker (who may be the same as the one in AWE) who is present in Alan Wake 2 at the hotel. Then we have the supposed real-life filmmaker Tom who lived in the mansion that became Valhalla Nursing Home, who may be the same as the Dark Place version we meet at the hotel as well.

My point is that Tom is ambiguous in some ways, and seems to be mercurial and nebulous. Hard to pin down. But he is depicted as a human with his own life, his own name, his own story and follies, loves and losses, etc. yet we aren't given a clear picture of what this was beyond the first game.

I could be persuaded that the non-real-life Toms we see are perhaps an aspect of Wake's psyche, maybe related to his archetypal Self in a similar way to Polaris. But Polaris feels more like an abstract entity, not a person, and when it manifests in Jesse at the end, it is Jesse, not some other human. In some ways, Scratch appears to be Wake's foil in an almost opposite direction to Jesse's "Jesse Polaris" - made of the self, named the same, but manifest from Archetypal essence. It's just that Scratch is the Shadow, and Polaris is the Superego / Self.

So where does that leave Tom? I think it's really hard to tell... Remedy is playing at something, but like an elusive fish, I just can't seem to catch it.