Little Nightmares II brought alive the depressing world of the Pale City while shocking players even more with its tragic ending. As players spent most of the game watching Six and Mono depend on each other for survival, Six's unexpected betrayal hits like a gut punch. Tarsier Studios sadistically follows up the horrific turn of events with a depressing montage that reveals Thin Man was a grown-up Mono, the beloved and plucky protagonist.
Digging deeper into these painful developments, Mono's twisted fate is far more tragic than first thought. It's terrible that Mono is forced to rot his youth away in the tower. We learn that as The Thin Man, he will become the overlord of all suffering in the Pale City. The once pure-hearted Mono is destined to continue the cycles of abuse he went through as the worst abuser. What's worse is that this grim universe operates on a seemingly eternal time loop meaning that Six's betrayal, Mono's rage and the Watchers' corruption will repeat.
A dedicated team of fans and YouTubers has uncovered small details that prove the time loop theory. For example, there is a faint number Six on the door in the TV hallway, which implies this sequence is the sixth time these events have occurred. If the world has already repeated six times with the same outcome, this means that the outcome won't be easy to change and that Mono will continue to suffer in the tower with no end in sight. While it's counterintuitive to want the Thin Man to succeed in destroying Six, this is the only way for this decaying world and Mono to find peace.
Why is it impossible for Mono to escape his fate? His kindness. The Little Nightmares comics reveal part of his backstory, and the audience learns that Mono tried to save other children only to have them all die. The paper bagged hero likely carries survivor's guilt from these traumatic events, so it makes sense that he gives his all in saving Six as he was unable to help the other kids. Combine his empathy with his unusual determination, and you're left with a time loop that will always continue. Reframe these characteristics in the story's context, and the tragic fact is that Mono's selfless kindness ends up dooming the entire universe. The purity of his drive to save Six makes the raincoat girl's betrayal sting all the more and Mono's end all the more undeserved.
The children in Little Nightmares have strange powers, and it's theorized that Six's ability is to steal powers from others. This is first seen in Little Nightmares, where Six gains the Lady's dark powers. When Mono and Six are running across the bridge, Six turns back to catch Mono and some postulate that she does this to steal some of Mono's power. This is supported by the fact that she can travel through TV screens, shown in the epilogue, and the theory also explains why Thin Man can't defeat his younger self. However, this revelation further solidifies Mono's doom because his older self will never be able to end their collective suffering
Mono is a bright light in the otherwise dark world of Little Nightmares II, so his terrible fate is absolutely gut-wrenching. But looking at the deeper layers, we come to realize that Mono's selfless desire to save Six overrides his future self's desire to save himself. In a universe so desperately in need of empathy, it's incredibly depressing to understand that Mono's kindness is the reason why the Pale City will continue to suffer through an eternal time loop.
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