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selenicseasThere are spoilers for Control as well as the trailer for Control Resonant. Read at your own risk if you haven't played the game.
<< Replaying Control, part 7: My Brother's Keeper (2)
The Face of the Enemy
Back in Central Executive, Jesse has a brief conversation with Emily and learns that Dylan is being kept in an HRA containment unit just up the stairs. Dylan has been affected by the Hiss, but not in the same way as the other FBC personnel. That doesn't mean things seem great, though – Dylan spends most of his time floating in the air, chanting the Hiss incantation, and he starts off speaking in the third person.
Dylan recognizes Jesse immediately, says that the Hiss made him better, and responds very poorly to Polaris when Jesse calls on her for help. Though both of them met Polaris when they went into the world created by the Slide Projector in Ordinary, Dylan claims that Polaris did nothing to protect him from the FBC. So after the Hiss invaded the Oldest House, Dylan accepted the Hiss in order to get rid of Polaris.
That Slide Projector, by the way, was taken back to the Oldest House at the same time Dylan was, and it's what let the Hiss into the House.
But we aren't going to the turn off the Slide Projector just yet. Dylan tells Jesse to go to the Prime Candidate Program in the Containment Sector, and gives her a level 6 clearance keycard, which he apparently got from Salvador.
After that conversation, Dylan goes back to floating while chanting the Hiss incantation. You can talk to him (I didn't in my first playthrough, so all of this is actually new to me), but all he tells you about are his dreams.
In his first dream, he says he was an only child, a girl named Jesse Dylan Faden. The FBC caught him and brought him back to the Oldest House. He then wonders if it's strange that both of their names are gender-neutral.
This dream in particular seems related to part of the Hiss incantation:
The third part of Alan Wake 2's Night Springs DLC is called Time Breaker. In it is a note listing a couple of names of the Jesse-equivalent character: Lisa, Elisa, Jesse, Elisabet, Liz, Savage, and Dylan. Night Springs isn't technically "canon" to Alan Wake 2, but there are quite a few shout outs to Control, even though it's mostly referencing Quantum Break.
In Alan Wake 2, an Altered World Event occurs that affects the memories of all the characters except for Saga Anderson. In the "old" world, Saga had a living daughter and had never been to Bright Falls or Water; in the "new" world created by the AWE, Saga's daughter drowned a few years prior while she had been living in Watery. Saga is the only one to remember the old version of events.
As we learn a bit later in this mission, there is a recording of Jesse talking with a therapist. She mentions a poet named Tom Zane, who the therapist doesn't recognize – instead, she's heard of a filmmaker named Tom Zane. Tom the Poet doesn't seem to exist.
We know Tom the Poet existed previously, because he shows up the first Alan Wake game as the Bright Presence. He hasn't been seen since because he was (if my memory serves me correctly) retconned out of existence by an AWE of his own creation. Only a few people remember him: Alan, Cynthia Weaver, and Jesse, though she does correct her thoughts of him to "filmmaker" rather than "poet" later on.
What this proves is that AWEs can alter reality, with very few people remembering what the "correct" version of the world is supposed to be. After all, there's nothing left of that old reality other than a few memories.
I think that Jesse and Dylan may have been one person who was split into two by the Ordinary AWE. Jesse Dylan Faden was an only child who became two children. Jesse was an only child, and turning on the Slide Projector pulled her equivalent, Dylan, from another world into this one, or vice versa. Jesse turned on the Slide Projector, and it made a copy of a copy of a copy, and that copy was Dylan. Something like that.
I sure hope this question gets answered in Resonant.
We should be heading to the Prime Candidate Program, but I'm taking a little detour
Now that Jesse has level 6 clearance, there's one place in the Research sector she can go that wasn't available before: Mirror Testing in the Synchronicity Lab.
There is an Altered Item in a containment cell, and Jesse must solve a puzzle to get in. I have to admit, I always look up the solution to this puzzle as I've never been able to solve it myself.
Touching the mirror transports Jesse to a world where everything is mirrored, including the words she says out loud. She sees a doppelganger through the windows in several areas (see the first screenshot in this post), who at first mirrors her own actions before breaking out and attacking her.
esseJ has access to all of Jesse's powers and weapon forms, and because she's controlled by a computer, she does a better job at using them than the player ever will. This is a difficult fight, and I would have died so many times if I hadn't had immortality turned on.
The reward for defeating esseJ is the Asynchronous Suit she wears, which is probably the best outfit in the game. I had Jesse wearing it for the rest of the main missions.
THEORIZING ABOUT CONTROL RESONANT WITH SOME ALAN WAKE REFERENCES
So, we've got an antagonistic copy of Jesse who we had to fight and defeat: esseJ. Alan Wake also had an antagonistic copy, Mr. Scratch, who had to be fought and defeated in Alan Wake's American Nightmare. I think, then, it would be appropriate if Dylan has to deal with his own antagonistic copy in Control Resonant…unless, of course, he is the copy.
Now that that's dealt with, it's time to get back to the main mission and head to the Prime Candidate Program.
<< Replaying Control, part 7: My Brother's Keeper (2)
The Face of the Enemy
Back in Central Executive, Jesse has a brief conversation with Emily and learns that Dylan is being kept in an HRA containment unit just up the stairs. Dylan has been affected by the Hiss, but not in the same way as the other FBC personnel. That doesn't mean things seem great, though – Dylan spends most of his time floating in the air, chanting the Hiss incantation, and he starts off speaking in the third person.
Dylan recognizes Jesse immediately, says that the Hiss made him better, and responds very poorly to Polaris when Jesse calls on her for help. Though both of them met Polaris when they went into the world created by the Slide Projector in Ordinary, Dylan claims that Polaris did nothing to protect him from the FBC. So after the Hiss invaded the Oldest House, Dylan accepted the Hiss in order to get rid of Polaris.
That Slide Projector, by the way, was taken back to the Oldest House at the same time Dylan was, and it's what let the Hiss into the House.
But we aren't going to the turn off the Slide Projector just yet. Dylan tells Jesse to go to the Prime Candidate Program in the Containment Sector, and gives her a level 6 clearance keycard, which he apparently got from Salvador.
After that conversation, Dylan goes back to floating while chanting the Hiss incantation. You can talk to him (I didn't in my first playthrough, so all of this is actually new to me), but all he tells you about are his dreams.
In his first dream, he says he was an only child, a girl named Jesse Dylan Faden. The FBC caught him and brought him back to the Oldest House. He then wonders if it's strange that both of their names are gender-neutral.
This dream in particular seems related to part of the Hiss incantation:
- You have always been there, the only child.
- A copy of a copy of a copy.
The third part of Alan Wake 2's Night Springs DLC is called Time Breaker. In it is a note listing a couple of names of the Jesse-equivalent character: Lisa, Elisa, Jesse, Elisabet, Liz, Savage, and Dylan. Night Springs isn't technically "canon" to Alan Wake 2, but there are quite a few shout outs to Control, even though it's mostly referencing Quantum Break.
In Alan Wake 2, an Altered World Event occurs that affects the memories of all the characters except for Saga Anderson. In the "old" world, Saga had a living daughter and had never been to Bright Falls or Water; in the "new" world created by the AWE, Saga's daughter drowned a few years prior while she had been living in Watery. Saga is the only one to remember the old version of events.
As we learn a bit later in this mission, there is a recording of Jesse talking with a therapist. She mentions a poet named Tom Zane, who the therapist doesn't recognize – instead, she's heard of a filmmaker named Tom Zane. Tom the Poet doesn't seem to exist.
We know Tom the Poet existed previously, because he shows up the first Alan Wake game as the Bright Presence. He hasn't been seen since because he was (if my memory serves me correctly) retconned out of existence by an AWE of his own creation. Only a few people remember him: Alan, Cynthia Weaver, and Jesse, though she does correct her thoughts of him to "filmmaker" rather than "poet" later on.
What this proves is that AWEs can alter reality, with very few people remembering what the "correct" version of the world is supposed to be. After all, there's nothing left of that old reality other than a few memories.
I think that Jesse and Dylan may have been one person who was split into two by the Ordinary AWE. Jesse Dylan Faden was an only child who became two children. Jesse was an only child, and turning on the Slide Projector pulled her equivalent, Dylan, from another world into this one, or vice versa. Jesse turned on the Slide Projector, and it made a copy of a copy of a copy, and that copy was Dylan. Something like that.
I sure hope this question gets answered in Resonant.
We should be heading to the Prime Candidate Program, but I'm taking a little detour
Now that Jesse has level 6 clearance, there's one place in the Research sector she can go that wasn't available before: Mirror Testing in the Synchronicity Lab.
There is an Altered Item in a containment cell, and Jesse must solve a puzzle to get in. I have to admit, I always look up the solution to this puzzle as I've never been able to solve it myself.
Touching the mirror transports Jesse to a world where everything is mirrored, including the words she says out loud. She sees a doppelganger through the windows in several areas (see the first screenshot in this post), who at first mirrors her own actions before breaking out and attacking her.
esseJ has access to all of Jesse's powers and weapon forms, and because she's controlled by a computer, she does a better job at using them than the player ever will. This is a difficult fight, and I would have died so many times if I hadn't had immortality turned on.
The reward for defeating esseJ is the Asynchronous Suit she wears, which is probably the best outfit in the game. I had Jesse wearing it for the rest of the main missions.
THEORIZING ABOUT CONTROL RESONANT WITH SOME ALAN WAKE REFERENCES
So, we've got an antagonistic copy of Jesse who we had to fight and defeat: esseJ. Alan Wake also had an antagonistic copy, Mr. Scratch, who had to be fought and defeated in Alan Wake's American Nightmare. I think, then, it would be appropriate if Dylan has to deal with his own antagonistic copy in Control Resonant…unless, of course, he is the copy.
Now that that's dealt with, it's time to get back to the main mission and head to the Prime Candidate Program.
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