The FULL Binding of Isaac (w/ Repentance) & The Legend of Bum-Bo Story Explained

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This is a theory I started crafting at the end of 2019. Around that time The Binding of Isaac Repentance was first being teased as coming "Soon". I help off, wanting to await the full story. Shockingly, almost all of the details were already present in game! A few small reveals and connective tissue help make this a more comprehensive video - but it's wild to see how well Ed has hidden these details through the game for a decade!!
This video is quite obviously FULL spoilers for all iterations of The Binding of Isaac, as well as The Legend of Bum-bo.

0:00:00 Intro
0:06:01 Who Am I?
0:08:14 The Maggy Theory
0:13:36 Enter, Bum-Bo
0:17:33 Unfettered Imagination
0:22:09 The Divorce
0:29:15 A Household Divided
0:33:01 The Bum-Bos
0:35:33 Dad's Ideology
0:42:19 Mom's Belief
0:46:52 Greed
0:54:55 A Proposed Story
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[leftthumbs]

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[frozenzenberry]

The screaming out of mom after defeating her heart being a metaphor for her broken heart upon finding him dead is bone chilling. I'll never hear it the same way again.

[strayorion]

I just realized that Mom's screams were her searching for Isaac while he was in the chest, first angry because she thinks he is hiding from her and then she starts to panic wondering where Isaac went

[Shroomiest]

I really like that the angels all lack faces, even when you become one as isaac. On the other hand, all demons have faces. It creates a dissonance that shows how far isaac believes he is a demon/damned to hell.

[FrogOvH]

I feel like Isaac finally came to peace with himself in the final ending and was able to finally go to heaven and to be truly at peace. Also, maybe in this heaven he was with his dad, but not literally just a heavenly projection of whatever you want to call it. He was able to overcome all the bad memories in his life and imagine a better story with a better livelihood.

[StripedVideos]

I would just like to point out that the sobriety coin depicted as Dad's Lost Coin is a silver one. Typically, silver coins are given to those who remain sober for a mere 24 hours, and is by far the shortest span of time these coins are given out for (the following coin is for a full 1 month sober). It seems as though any attempts for Dad to have quit drinking were rather short lived, even more so that the item is described as a "lost" coin (Dad didn't hold onto it for long).

I'd also hazard a guess that, since Repentance never elaborates on what it is, that Dad's Note is potentially, in part, the message included in Bum-bo's final ending. Obviously not word-for-word, since it shifts from Bum-bo talking in that same cutscene, but the message as a whole is well spoken and clearly has some sentimental value, and I could totally see that message being the final thing Dad leaves Isaac with before leaving his life entirely. Those words help truly cement why Dad would continue to be the narrator in Isaac's world, and better put into perspective Repentance's final ending.

[abbe]

To think that “Isaac and his parents, lived in a small house in top of a hill” could be the hardest hitting sentence in a video game

[Mr.Skeletoing]

I always imagined the "are you getting sleepy yet" at the end of the final dialogue as Isaac finally coming to terms with his demons, and dying peacefully, or his father / God re-assuring him that everything would be okay post-death, and he could finally write his own happy ending.

[SrPelo]

since Isaac died, I think the true ending is THE FATHER and not his father, the only voice to guide him in his life has become the one in heaven.

[darthalpha]

One thing I think needs mentioning is that the legend of bumbo might have started as a game of Dungeons and Dragons between Isaac and his Father. The presence of different dice sizes, the fact that Isaac's starting item is the D6, and the satanic panic that was caused by Dungeons and Dragons in the late 70s seem to lend credence to this idea. This may have been one of the many things that caused Isaac to believe that he had the devil inside of him.

[bloodifang]

During the ascent sequence at arround 24:06 you hear the dad apologize twice, however, the second apology is directed to isaac and lacks the echo-y filter that the rest of the flashback has. It really made me think that for a second, the father was apologizing to issac WHILE issac was making his story, like he needed to step up and apologize, he really felt sorry for what he caused.

[bedrockboy]

Eden is what Issac thinks his mother wants him to be, but Eden is always different because he doesn't know what his mother wants him to be.
Edit 3 Years Later: How did this blow up?

[ashamefulgamer]

I love Ed's mentality of "Ask and you shall receive."
He answers question directly without any unimportant details or whatever and tells what people need to know when asked for it.







We love Ed.

[tuckeredout]

Something you may have missed is that the boss "Mom's Heart" has symbolic meaning. As Isaac continues to think of his mom as a monster, he believes that he caused his mom hate him. He *litterally* break's his mom's heart, and leaves himself to suffocate to death by jumping into the toy chest.

[theGabeson_]

I always thought of Eden as being the literal personification of Isaac's lack of identity. Each time he's something, someone different, it's this aspect of not fitting in anywhere.

[The_WhitePencil]

Based on the Beast Ending, Guppy was not just a reference to Edmund's cat but also actually Isaac's cat, who based on the reverse-telling of the events of his life as Isaac ascends dies just before the divorce. Considering how young Isaac is and the instability of his parents, Guppy probably died from neglect. So as if everything else wasn't enough Isaac also lost his pet, which probably contributed to the trauma that led him to fall so deep into his own mind. It could also potentially explain how he knows so much about what rotting corpses look like.

[Plooper]

Watching the end cutscene and hearing issac’s dad say “Isaac and his PARENTS lived on top of a hill” gave me shivers the first time I saw the cutscene

[TomoLamp]

The true ending made me cry, poor little isaac.

[Femaiden]

27:28 The "belt" may have been used by the father, but the wooden spoon was the Mom's tool of choice.
My own mother used to take the wooden spoon to me and my siblings as well.
both items giving a "speed up" bonus, because when a kid sees their parent coming at them with one of these, you know that kid is gonna run fast

[zoneri]

With the thought of the post the beast scene being Isaac's last moment really makes me cry because that would mean when Isaac's memory of his fathers voice asks "are you getting sleepy yet?" is Isaac feeling the on set of passing out due to asphyxiation and the way he gets comfort is that to him it is just him going to sleep listing to his father telling him a story and I can barely stop myself from crying.