Don't Starve Together Story Analysis Essay

[WinterWondering]

PREFACE 

Hi! So, to provide a little context as to why this exists, this is an essay I wrote about the DST lore. I wrote this back in late June of 2023 (although there have been small edits). I'm asked this a lot, but no, this wasn't for a project and this wasn't for schoolwork. I actually pulled an all-nighter by eating chocolate for some reason because I wasn't going to be able to play for a little bit and was anxious about it. I wrote almost all of this in one night, save for a few small edits. I posted this on Steam first, but figured some people on the forums might be interested in it.

This is an essay, so it's a long read. Don't feel obligated to read all of this.

Apologies for how I phrase things here. I write essays in a very convoluted way at times. Feel free to ask if you don't understand what I mean.

Given how long this essay is, it's not unlikely that there will be spelling/grammar errors. I'll correct them if I see them. If you notice any mistakes, feel free to tell me so I can correct them.

Keep in mind everything here is just my interpretation of the storyline and characters, and some of my personal opinions/views are part of how I view the story. None of this is concrete and none of this is objective. I'd love to hear others' interpretations as well!

Because of the nature of the DST lore, there will be mention of a lot of heavy topics, including depression, guilt, insecurity, and other possibly uncomfortable subjects. Stay safe and read with care.

PART ONE: EGO AND PRIDE 
When analyzing DST characters from a personality standpoint, it makes sense to start with Wilson. In earlier drafts of this, I was going to write about every character individually, so, in my earliest drafts, the first character I analyzed was the gentleman scientist himself. I wrote full essays on him, Maxwell, and WX-78, but I think those weren’t formatted in a way that I could easily combine into one unabridged analysis of DST’s messages, morals and characters.
All this to say that Wilson is one of the first characters that came to mind in terms of analysis. Not just for his role as the main protagonist, but for his personality and ties to our first theme: ego and performativity.
As you’ll see is a pretty common theme in DST’s cast, Wilson’s personality contains a flaw, a central negative trait that is not only his reason for being in the Constant, but a driving force for his conflicts. That’s how tragedies work; a single flaw leads to suffering for the protagonist.
If you couldn’t tell from the name of this section, Wilson’s main flaw is his ego. He clearly thinks himself to be smarter than he actually is. He isn’t unintelligent, but he isn’t the genius he thinks he is. His pursuits of knowledge are futile; he isn’t super smart, nor is he willing to grow in that regard. Instead of recognizing this, he’s convinced that he’s a mastermind of some sort.
In other words, Wilson thinks he’s a scientific genius, despite the fact that he isn’t. Or, so it would seem upon first glance. While he, like many other characters, may seem like a simple man with a simple flaw, he’s more than that.
He’s one of three characters with two animated shorts (the other two being Wes and Maxwell). And so, with all this lore, you might think I’d be talking about the obvious points. You know, the Wagstaff lore and all that. But what stood out to me was towards the beginning of his flashback in Interference:
His family.
This led me to my analysis of Wilson, which was (and still is), that his “ego” mainly stems from his priorities in terms of traits and values; in other words, his pride comes from his belief that intelligence is more important than any other trait or somehow more valuable. And, to an extent, I think this begins with his family.
His family essentially forgets about him due to him not living up to their expectations. He’s aware that he isn’t smart; it’s been shoved in his face. His family ditches him when he “isn’t good enough” for them. And, while he’s aware of his own ineptitude, he still displays this seemingly ridiculous amount of egocentricity.
From my perspective, this stems from the idea that, perhaps if he can convince others he’s intelligent, maybe he’ll believe it, and then maybe he will be that smart.
And, going back to Wagstaff, I think (at least partially), the reason he continually helps him despite it never working out is that he admires Wagstaff. He’s everything he wishes he was; smart and successful. What he doesn’t care about is Wagstaff’s even worse morality.
And the reason this section isn’t just called “Wilson Analysis”?
It’s because this theme of faking self esteem, of pride and passion, of self hatred and guilt, applies to someone else. And, if you couldn’t guess, it’s the magician himself: Maxwell The Great.
And while Maxwell encompasses practically every part of this analysis, his ego is what becomes obvious first by looking at his quotes. He’s egotistical. He’s unwilling to cope with his own self-hatred for his failings and flaws, so instead he builds statues of himself, puts himself up on a pedestal, and pretends he thinks he’s the greatest person alive despite the fact that he knows he’s hurt people far more than Wilson has, all because he wants to keep up this facade of self-righteousness.
And, as will become evident throughout this analysis, Maxwell and Wilson are equal and opposite in their characterization. Maxwell is Wilson taken to the extreme for a lot of reasons; perhaps that’s why Maxwell noticed Wilson at all. However, their main connecting thread that is even stronger than their shared theme of ego is the theme they share with WX-78, Wanda, Wickerbottom, and, of course, Wagstaff:
Knowledge and meddling.

PART TWO: MAGIC AND SCIENCE
One of if not the most recurring theme in many characters’ arcs and stories is this central idea of meddling. A simple question, really: how far is too far?
This is most obviously explored with Wagstaff, but we’ll get to him later. First, let’s look at Wanda and Wickerbottom respectively.
Wanda very clearly is meddling with things beyond her control; she literally breaks the timestream due to her meddling. A lot of her quotes mention this, of course, these choices to take part in conflicts far beyond the realm of her and the other survivors. But her displays of this theme are not as clear as with Wickerbottom.
Wickerbottom clearly has, to some extent, info on the Constant before entering. She values this knowledge above her own life and above all else. She’s willing to give up anything to save her books, her library. And she doesn’t care that her choice to learn more than any mere human ever should know ends with her in the Constant or with her being literally unable to sleep due to the enormity of the knowledge she’s been given; the knowledge itself is what matters.
Because her, and, arguably, Wilson and Maxwell’s thirst for knowledge is insatiable.
Wilson certainly attempts to seem smart and to prove himself as a competent scientist, but he never quite reaches his goals, and this leads him to agreeing to Maxwell’s deal and entering the Constant. Maxwell, on the other hand, continues to use magic in his shows, and learns firsthand the consequences of his actions. And, in the end, their choices to meddle with things that can harm them and, in Maxwell’s case, others, are extremely similar.
For a self-proclaimed scientist, Wilson seems to dabble in magic quite a bit. So, this begs the question: what even is the difference between science and magic? It’s easy to say that magic is simply misunderstood or not-understood science, but perhaps it’s more than that. Would we call weather and geography magic because humanity once didn’t understand them? Or, perhaps it isn’t the state of being understood by humanity that makes something science, rather the innate enormity and incomprehensibility of magic.
To rephrase: perhaps what makes magic magic is that it’s beyond humans, beyond mortals, beyond our understanding. It’s so enormous that, if we were to understand it, things simply wouldn’t function. It’s too much. It can ruin a life. It ruins the lives of many of DST’s cast; it leaves Wicker with practically infinite knowledge at her disposal, so much that she actually cannot sleep due to it, as I’ve said, and leaves Maxwell with guilt and fear.
With that context on the situation, I think we’re ready to tackle analyzing Robert Wagstaff.
As I’ve hopefully made clear, there are consequences to using magic, to pushing its limits. But, regardless of that, Wagstaff seems to have no trouble meddling around with it, opening portals and fighting deities for the sake of what is debatably even science.

PART THREE: COLLATERAL DAMAGE AND CONSEQUENCES 
Out of the 18 playable characters in DST, 3 of them are there directly because of Wagstaff: Winona, Webber, and, of course, WX-78. While Winona’s entry was more happenstance, and could be more directly related to Charlie, and Webber’s simply another case of Wagstaff’s actions having consequences, WX takes the theme of collateral damage to another level.
Yes, Webber is very clearly affected by Robert’s actions, but WX is rendered completely unable to function as a person by their experiments with Robert, to the point where their only way forward is to leave behind everything that makes them them.
WX’s struggles with their identity is an analysis for another time, but it clearly illustrates Wagstaff’s careless nature; he doesn’t care about WX, or Wilson for that matter. He has them help him, and, while he doesn’t want to hurt them, he doesn’t mind if they end up hurt by his mistakes.
Don’t get me wrong here, however; WX isn’t completely innocent here. They make a similar mistake to Wagstaff in their thinking that there will be no consequences to their choices and to their experiments with Robert in their animated short. However, while they are forced to face the effects of their actions, Robert isn’t at all.
Wagstaff is not only a direct parallel to Charlie during the From Beyond arc, but he’s also a parallel to Wilson. I’d make a comment on her character, but as it’s unclear the influence of Them and even if she’s conscious at all. He’s a narrative parallel to Charlie, sure, but he’s a personal parallel to Wilson personality-wise.
Of course, if we want the ultimate example of collateral damage and lack of care for others, like always, we end up with William Carter himself. His actions in single player DS are entirely out of boredom, even sadism. He’s so profoundly bored to the point that he brings people to his dimension to torture them. Him picking generally morally gray people isn’t an act of karmic punishment; it’s him wanting fun and funny people to watch. Misery loves company, I suppose.
His form of coping here is to force others to experience pain for his own enjoyment while ignoring his own guilt.

PART FOUR: COPING AND ESCAPISM 
While, of course, WX is the prime example of being incapable of coping and instead choosing to use the tried and true method of ignoring your issues until they, unsurprisingly, don’t go away, they aren’t the only character whose backstory and personality reflect negative and unhealthy forms of coping.
Wanda most clearly echos what themes WX’s character so clearly are focused on. She’s running away from her issues. While we, as the audience, have minimal info on Wanda’s backstory, we do know she is time traveling to outrun her past. Instead of dealing with her issues, she runs from them, avoiding her problems until they catch up to her, rather literally.
Willow’s form of coping is destructive. I don’t think I even need to specify what I mean by this; she’s the only character who’s confirmed to have killed someone. And yet fire still brings her comfort. Instead of dealing with her baggage, she harms people and property without a second thought for the majority of her life.
Wendy, instead of trying to continue with her life in spite of Abigail’s death, and trying to find happiness, is incapable of at all moving on. She’s convinced Abigail will disappear if she “forgets” about her, to the point where she seems to take pleasure in nothing anymore. Abigail and her grief has subsumed her and she cannot even begin to branch out, not even to characters like Webber, who very clearly want to befriend her.
To return to the initial reason this even matters, Maxwell’s way of coping on the throne, while incredibly cruel, is reasonable. After all, he’s been on that throne for years, it’s a miracle his sanity is still even somewhat intact.
However, once he’s off the throne, his methods of avoiding his problems alter to fit the situation, although they’re not much more healthy than they were before. He ends up ignoring his issues like the majority of the cast, instead acting all snooty and egotistical to avoid his guilt and knowledge of his mistakes.

PART FIVE: GUILT AND FORGIVENESS 
Maxwell is the main antagonist of single-player DS.
No avoiding it; he’s the villain. The main force that hinders the survivors attempts to, well, survive. He’s well aware of this, of course, of his wrongdoings and his cruelty during this chapter of his life, and yet never dares to apologize, nor to even mention it.
Instead, he lets his guilt build and build, with no attempt to rectify his misgivings. The other survivors, while naturally being skeptical, are still not trying to kill him, which is better than one could say of him in single-player.
After the entirety of DST up until his rework, from farming to fighting, exploration to insanity, he doesn’t seem to care or even recognize what he owes them.
No, it seems his greatest debt in his mind is his debt to Charlie. When she effectively guilt trips him, he actually listens to her, despite this actively backstabbing the other survivors. He knows what he did to them is wrong, but he seems to care more about Charlie than all of them combined.
He doesn’t care what he put them through. He doesn’t care in the slightest. Or, at least, he isn’t willing to show it.
Other characters, naturally, treat him poorly, their opinions of him ranging from mediocre to awful. But, as the story progresses, it seems some of them have begun to forgive him. Emphasis on begun. In Encore, Wilson, Willow, and Walter even seem concerned about his wellbeing.
By now, most of them are starting to trust him again, and yet he throws it all away, all because he feels indebted to Charlie. He forgets about the trust he’s built, everything he’s built, for the life he had before.
Working with Charlie again perhaps gives him some hope that things can be as they once were. When he wasn’t as concerned with shadows killing him and holding him hostage or constantly weighed down by his guilt. Charlie reminds him of better times.
He isn’t willing to deal with his issues, his guilt, his ego, his cruel tendencies, his unhealthy coping mechanisms, and Charlie isn’t asking him to do any of that. The survivors probably would, naturally, want an apology. Charlie doesn’t. Of course, she is manipulating him, but he’s so blinded by his guilt and fear and pride and misery that he can’t see it. Funny how he’s on the receiving end of manipulation and trickery now, when he once was the king of the Constant.
As I said, every character’s story here is a tragedy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thanks so much for reading! I know I'm a bit obsessed with the DST lore and most people don't care as much about it as I do, but I really enjoyed making this. DST is such a well made and well written game and I feel like it absolutely deserves analysis. As I said before, this is just my interpretation; I really love discussing the DST lore and would love to hear what others have to say.

For those of you who are wondering, here's the bit that's turned into a copypasta (it cuts off like this because this is all that you can fit into a single message in DST):

"When analyzing DST characters from a personality standpoint, it makes sense to start with Wil"

Additionally, Navitotorito2005 created a mod that has Walter read out this mess of an essay as a campfire story, which I have linked here. I'd suggest checking it out. It was very nice of them to make it and I appreciate it!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3140479900

That's all, thank you for reading!

[Uedo]

Awesome post @WinterWondering! Really nice read. You even addressed the encore short - really good analysis!

[WinterWondering]

16 minutes ago, Uedo said:

Awesome post @WinterWondering! Really nice read. You even addressed the encore short - really good analysis!

Thank you so much! Really means a lot!

[GenomeSquirrel]

I don't really see pride as a good fit, and you mostly just mention it in a vacuum, too isolated from situations and alternatives that make it matter.

His apparent lack of talent is also contradicted by science machines, alchemy engines, ect existing.

 

 

[Bughead]

Damn we're smoking good today.

This is superb, not going to lie, the Wanda and Wicker comparisons are something I haven't thought about. Everything else relays pretty much perfectly, I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the parallels between Charlie and Wagstaff.

And I would like to discuss the last point: A part of me agrees that it is a tragedy and betrayal, and the story of don't starve is going to have an ultimate happy ending. But the other part, maybe in some naivety, hopes that Maxwell got some cards up his sleeve (pun intended), some grandiose plan which involves being trusted by Charlie. Like he knows something, and he wouldn't say it, he's a secretive man like that. Of course, it doesn't mean he would change 180º or that it would make everything be magically solved, furthermore, it could backfire horribly, tarnishing his reputation from both sides. Yet, in my opinion it'd be a great plot point for something big, like a new story ark.

also scientifically proven that Carters can't cope with trauma whatsoever /j

Edited March 21 by Bughead

[The Starver]

18 hours ago, WinterWondering said:

PREFACE 

Hi! So, to provide a little context as to why this exists, this is an essay I wrote about the DST lore. I wrote this back in late June of 2023 (although there have been small edits). I'm asked this a lot, but no, this wasn't for a project and this wasn't for schoolwork. I actually pulled an all-nighter by eating chocolate for some reason because I wasn't going to be able to play for a little bit and was anxious about it. I wrote almost all of this in one night, save for a few small edits. I posted this on Steam first, but figured some people on the forums might be interested in it.

This is an essay, so it's a long read. Don't feel obligated to read all of this.

Apologies for how I phrase things here. I write essays in a very convoluted way at times. Feel free to ask if you don't understand what I mean.

Given how long this essay is, it's not unlikely that there will be spelling/grammar errors. I'll correct them if I see them. If you notice any mistakes, feel free to tell me so I can correct them.

Keep in mind everything here is just my interpretation of the storyline and characters, and some of my personal opinions/views are part of how I view the story. None of this is concrete and none of this is objective. I'd love to hear others' interpretations as well!

Because of the nature of the DST lore, there will be mention of a lot of heavy topics, including depression, guilt, insecurity, and other possibly uncomfortable subjects. Stay safe and read with care.

PART ONE: EGO AND PRIDE 
When analyzing DST characters from a personality standpoint, it makes sense to start with Wilson. In earlier drafts of this, I was going to write about every character individually, so, in my earliest drafts, the first character I analyzed was the gentleman scientist himself. I wrote full essays on him, Maxwell, and WX-78, but I think those weren’t formatted in a way that I could easily combine into one unabridged analysis of DST’s messages, morals and characters.
All this to say that Wilson is one of the first characters that came to mind in terms of analysis. Not just for his role as the main protagonist, but for his personality and ties to our first theme: ego and performativity.
As you’ll see is a pretty common theme in DST’s cast, Wilson’s personality contains a flaw, a central negative trait that is not only his reason for being in the Constant, but a driving force for his conflicts. That’s how tragedies work; a single flaw leads to suffering for the protagonist.
If you couldn’t tell from the name of this section, Wilson’s main flaw is his ego. He clearly thinks himself to be smarter than he actually is. He isn’t unintelligent, but he isn’t the genius he thinks he is. His pursuits of knowledge are futile; he isn’t super smart, nor is he willing to grow in that regard. Instead of recognizing this, he’s convinced that he’s a mastermind of some sort.
In other words, Wilson thinks he’s a scientific genius, despite the fact that he isn’t. Or, so it would seem upon first glance. While he, like many other characters, may seem like a simple man with a simple flaw, he’s more than that.
He’s one of three characters with two animated shorts (the other two being Wes and Maxwell). And so, with all this lore, you might think I’d be talking about the obvious points. You know, the Wagstaff lore and all that. But what stood out to me was towards the beginning of his flashback in Interference:
His family.
This led me to my analysis of Wilson, which was (and still is), that his “ego” mainly stems from his priorities in terms of traits and values; in other words, his pride comes from his belief that intelligence is more important than any other trait or somehow more valuable. And, to an extent, I think this begins with his family.
His family essentially forgets about him due to him not living up to their expectations. He’s aware that he isn’t smart; it’s been shoved in his face. His family ditches him when he “isn’t good enough” for them. And, while he’s aware of his own ineptitude, he still displays this seemingly ridiculous amount of egocentricity.
From my perspective, this stems from the idea that, perhaps if he can convince others he’s intelligent, maybe he’ll believe it, and then maybe he will be that smart.
And, going back to Wagstaff, I think (at least partially), the reason he continually helps him despite it never working out is that he admires Wagstaff. He’s everything he wishes he was; smart and successful. What he doesn’t care about is Wagstaff’s even worse morality.
And the reason this section isn’t just called “Wilson Analysis”?
It’s because this theme of faking self esteem, of pride and passion, of self hatred and guilt, applies to someone else. And, if you couldn’t guess, it’s the magician himself: Maxwell The Great.
And while Maxwell encompasses practically every part of this analysis, his ego is what becomes obvious first by looking at his quotes. He’s egotistical. He’s unwilling to cope with his own self-hatred for his failings and flaws, so instead he builds statues of himself, puts himself up on a pedestal, and pretends he thinks he’s the greatest person alive despite the fact that he knows he’s hurt people far more than Wilson has, all because he wants to keep up this facade of self-righteousness.
And, as will become evident throughout this analysis, Maxwell and Wilson are equal and opposite in their characterization. Maxwell is Wilson taken to the extreme for a lot of reasons; perhaps that’s why Maxwell noticed Wilson at all. However, their main connecting thread that is even stronger than their shared theme of ego is the theme they share with WX-78, Wanda, Wickerbottom, and, of course, Wagstaff:
Knowledge and meddling.

PART TWO: MAGIC AND SCIENCE
One of if not the most recurring theme in many characters’ arcs and stories is this central idea of meddling. A simple question, really: how far is too far?
This is most obviously explored with Wagstaff, but we’ll get to him later. First, let’s look at Wanda and Wickerbottom respectively.
Wanda very clearly is meddling with things beyond her control; she literally breaks the timestream due to her meddling. A lot of her quotes mention this, of course, these choices to take part in conflicts far beyond the realm of her and the other survivors. But her displays of this theme are not as clear as with Wickerbottom.
Wickerbottom clearly has, to some extent, info on the Constant before entering. She values this knowledge above her own life and above all else. She’s willing to give up anything to save her books, her library. And she doesn’t care that her choice to learn more than any mere human ever should know ends with her in the Constant or with her being literally unable to sleep due to the enormity of the knowledge she’s been given; the knowledge itself is what matters.
Because her, and, arguably, Wilson and Maxwell’s thirst for knowledge is insatiable.
Wilson certainly attempts to seem smart and to prove himself as a competent scientist, but he never quite reaches his goals, and this leads him to agreeing to Maxwell’s deal and entering the Constant. Maxwell, on the other hand, continues to use magic in his shows, and learns firsthand the consequences of his actions. And, in the end, their choices to meddle with things that can harm them and, in Maxwell’s case, others, are extremely similar.
For a self-proclaimed scientist, Wilson seems to dabble in magic quite a bit. So, this begs the question: what even is the difference between science and magic? It’s easy to say that magic is simply misunderstood or not-understood science, but perhaps it’s more than that. Would we call weather and geography magic because humanity once didn’t understand them? Or, perhaps it isn’t the state of being understood by humanity that makes something science, rather the innate enormity and incomprehensibility of magic.
To rephrase: perhaps what makes magic magic is that it’s beyond humans, beyond mortals, beyond our understanding. It’s so enormous that, if we were to understand it, things simply wouldn’t function. It’s too much. It can ruin a life. It ruins the lives of many of DST’s cast; it leaves Wicker with practically infinite knowledge at her disposal, so much that she actually cannot sleep due to it, as I’ve said, and leaves Maxwell with guilt and fear.
With that context on the situation, I think we’re ready to tackle analyzing Robert Wagstaff.
As I’ve hopefully made clear, there are consequences to using magic, to pushing its limits. But, regardless of that, Wagstaff seems to have no trouble meddling around with it, opening portals and fighting deities for the sake of what is debatably even science.

PART THREE: COLLATERAL DAMAGE AND CONSEQUENCES 
Out of the 18 playable characters in DST, 3 of them are there directly because of Wagstaff: Winona, Webber, and, of course, WX-78. While Winona’s entry was more happenstance, and could be more directly related to Charlie, and Webber’s simply another case of Wagstaff’s actions having consequences, WX takes the theme of collateral damage to another level.
Yes, Webber is very clearly affected by Robert’s actions, but WX is rendered completely unable to function as a person by their experiments with Robert, to the point where their only way forward is to leave behind everything that makes them them.
WX’s struggles with their identity is an analysis for another time, but it clearly illustrates Wagstaff’s careless nature; he doesn’t care about WX, or Wilson for that matter. He has them help him, and, while he doesn’t want to hurt them, he doesn’t mind if they end up hurt by his mistakes.
Don’t get me wrong here, however; WX isn’t completely innocent here. They make a similar mistake to Wagstaff in their thinking that there will be no consequences to their choices and to their experiments with Robert in their animated short. However, while they are forced to face the effects of their actions, Robert isn’t at all.
Wagstaff is not only a direct parallel to Charlie during the From Beyond arc, but he’s also a parallel to Wilson. I’d make a comment on her character, but as it’s unclear the influence of Them and even if she’s conscious at all. He’s a narrative parallel to Charlie, sure, but he’s a personal parallel to Wilson personality-wise.
Of course, if we want the ultimate example of collateral damage and lack of care for others, like always, we end up with William Carter himself. His actions in single player DS are entirely out of boredom, even sadism. He’s so profoundly bored to the point that he brings people to his dimension to torture them. Him picking generally morally gray people isn’t an act of karmic punishment; it’s him wanting fun and funny people to watch. Misery loves company, I suppose.
His form of coping here is to force others to experience pain for his own enjoyment while ignoring his own guilt.

PART FOUR: COPING AND ESCAPISM 
While, of course, WX is the prime example of being incapable of coping and instead choosing to use the tried and true method of ignoring your issues until they, unsurprisingly, don’t go away, they aren’t the only character whose backstory and personality reflect negative and unhealthy forms of coping.
Wanda most clearly echos what themes WX’s character so clearly are focused on. She’s running away from her issues. While we, as the audience, have minimal info on Wanda’s backstory, we do know she is time traveling to outrun her past. Instead of dealing with her issues, she runs from them, avoiding her problems until they catch up to her, rather literally.
Willow’s form of coping is destructive. I don’t think I even need to specify what I mean by this; she’s the only character who’s confirmed to have killed someone. And yet fire still brings her comfort. Instead of dealing with her baggage, she harms people and property without a second thought for the majority of her life.
Wendy, instead of trying to continue with her life in spite of Abigail’s death, and trying to find happiness, is incapable of at all moving on. She’s convinced Abigail will disappear if she “forgets” about her, to the point where she seems to take pleasure in nothing anymore. Abigail and her grief has subsumed her and she cannot even begin to branch out, not even to characters like Webber, who very clearly want to befriend her.
To return to the initial reason this even matters, Maxwell’s way of coping on the throne, while incredibly cruel, is reasonable. After all, he’s been on that throne for years, it’s a miracle his sanity is still even somewhat intact.
However, once he’s off the throne, his methods of avoiding his problems alter to fit the situation, although they’re not much more healthy than they were before. He ends up ignoring his issues like the majority of the cast, instead acting all snooty and egotistical to avoid his guilt and knowledge of his mistakes.

PART FIVE: GUILT AND FORGIVENESS 
Maxwell is the main antagonist of single-player DS.
No avoiding it; he’s the villain. The main force that hinders the survivors attempts to, well, survive. He’s well aware of this, of course, of his wrongdoings and his cruelty during this chapter of his life, and yet never dares to apologize, nor to even mention it.
Instead, he lets his guilt build and build, with no attempt to rectify his misgivings. The other survivors, while naturally being skeptical, are still not trying to kill him, which is better than one could say of him in single-player.
After the entirety of DST up until his rework, from farming to fighting, exploration to insanity, he doesn’t seem to care or even recognize what he owes them.
No, it seems his greatest debt in his mind is his debt to Charlie. When she effectively guilt trips him, he actually listens to her, despite this actively backstabbing the other survivors. He knows what he did to them is wrong, but he seems to care more about Charlie than all of them combined.
He doesn’t care what he put them through. He doesn’t care in the slightest. Or, at least, he isn’t willing to show it.
Other characters, naturally, treat him poorly, their opinions of him ranging from mediocre to awful. But, as the story progresses, it seems some of them have begun to forgive him. Emphasis on begun. In Encore, Wilson, Willow, and Walter even seem concerned about his wellbeing.
By now, most of them are starting to trust him again, and yet he throws it all away, all because he feels indebted to Charlie. He forgets about the trust he’s built, everything he’s built, for the life he had before.
Working with Charlie again perhaps gives him some hope that things can be as they once were. When he wasn’t as concerned with shadows killing him and holding him hostage or constantly weighed down by his guilt. Charlie reminds him of better times.
He isn’t willing to deal with his issues, his guilt, his ego, his cruel tendencies, his unhealthy coping mechanisms, and Charlie isn’t asking him to do any of that. The survivors probably would, naturally, want an apology. Charlie doesn’t. Of course, she is manipulating him, but he’s so blinded by his guilt and fear and pride and misery that he can’t see it. Funny how he’s on the receiving end of manipulation and trickery now, when he once was the king of the Constant.
As I said, every character’s story here is a tragedy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thanks so much for reading! I know I'm a bit obsessed with the DST lore and most people don't care as much about it as I do, but I really enjoyed making this. DST is such a well made and well written game and I feel like it absolutely deserves analysis. As I said before, this is just my interpretation; I really love discussing the DST lore and would love to hear what others have to say.

For those of you who are wondering, here's the bit that's turned into a copypasta (it cuts off like this because this is all that you can fit into a single message in DST):

"When analyzing DST characters from a personality standpoint, it makes sense to start with Wil"

Additionally, Navitotorito2005 created a mod that has Walter read out this mess of an essay as a campfire story, which I have linked here. I'd suggest checking it out. It was very nice of them to make it and I appreciate it!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3140479900

That's all, thank you for reading!

AMAZING!!!!!

 

I thought I was the only person who actually put much time into lore deep-dives. Obviously not. This is so good!

[WinterWondering]

18 hours ago, GenomeSquirrel said:

I don't really see pride as a good fit, and you mostly just mention it in a vacuum, too isolated from situations and alternatives that make it matter.

His apparent lack of talent is also contradicted by science machines, alchemy engines, ect existing.

 

 

 

Completely fair! I get that interpretation, and I get your critiques of my interpretation as well. I definitely should have gone into more detail with examples. For me, I think the way he always refers to himself as and feels the need to mention that he is a scientist despite him seeming to have trouble with it (examples being wrecking a lab and getting kicked out of a university and all his failed experiments in Forbidden Knowledge) is what led me to that conclusion. I also get what you mean though, and there's no "correct" way to interpret the story, so if you interpret it differently, that totally makes sense and is honestly awesome. I like that there's more than one way to look at the story. Thanks for the feedback!

10 hours ago, Bughead said:

Damn we're smoking good today.

This is superb, not going to lie, the Wanda and Wicker comparisons are something I haven't thought about. Everything else relays pretty much perfectly, I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees the parallels between Charlie and Wagstaff.

And I would like to discuss the last point: A part of me agrees that it is a tragedy and betrayal, and the story of don't starve is going to have an ultimate happy ending. But the other part, maybe in some naivety, hopes that Maxwell got some cards up his sleeve (pun intended), some grandiose plan which involves being trusted by Charlie. Like he knows something, and he wouldn't say it, he's a secretive man like that. Of course, it doesn't mean he would change 180º or that it would make everything be magically solved, furthermore, it could backfire horribly, tarnishing his reputation from both sides. Yet, in my opinion it'd be a great plot point for something big, like a new story ark.

also scientifically proven that Carters can't cope with trauma whatsoever /j

Thanks so much! Means a lot. And yes, the Carters are infamously terrible at coping, LOL. As for what they'll do with Maxwell, that honestly makes me wonder if there's going to be a resolution/ending ever. I don't know, honestly. To me, I think Maxwell seemed to genuinely be working with Charlie, but I'm also not 100% sure, and he could totally be faking it. Definitely interested in what they'll do with it. Thanks!

2 hours ago, The Starver said:

AMAZING!!!!!

 

I thought I was the only person who actually put much time into lore deep-dives. Obviously not. This is so good!

Thank you so much! Really means a lot. I'm glad to know other people are interested in this sort of stuff. Thanks!

[The Starver]

The real problem with most lore stuff is that people make a theory, then they never follow up on it, leaving you with an obsolete theory after a while.

[Dr.Webber]

I skimmed through this and from what I can tell your pretty good at this I have two ideas for the next thing you analyze 

1. The ecosystem of the constant.

2. Focusing on the characters, individually and character dynamics, and who they are as people more than what you have here  which is an over arching sort of  thing I’d especially love one on Webber 

[WinterWondering]

14 minutes ago, Dr.Webber said:

I skimmed through this and from what I can tell your pretty good at this I have two ideas for the next thing you analyze 

1. The ecosystem of the constant.

2. Focusing on the characters, individually and character dynamics, and who they are as people more than what you have here  which is an over arching sort of  thing I’d especially love one on Webber 

Thanks so much! Really nice of you to say that. I'm not sure I know enough about biology and nature to say much about the Constant, especially since it doesn't really seem to play by the rules of the normal world. And I don't think that's entirely because it's a video game. I mean, some random magician made a lot of the Constant, and it's also controlled by extremely powerful deities; it's not going to necessarily be the same or work the same as the normal world. I do want to talk about each character individually at some point, although I'm not sure if I'd have much analysis to do with some of them. Like Woodie, for example. I could talk about some characters a lot, but I have next to nothing to say about others. I don't know, I've already written essays on Wilson, Maxwell, WX-78, and Willow, so I could maybe do that for more characters, it's just that some of them may be a bit shorter since there's less to be said. No promises though, but I might work on something like that. Thanks so much!

[Creatorofswamps]

On 3/21/2024 at 2:13 AM, WinterWondering said:

PREFACE

 

[Creatorofswamps]

On 3/21/2024 at 2:13 AM, WinterWondering said:

PREFACE 

Hi! So, to provide a little context as to why this exists, this is an essay I wrote about the DST lore. I wrote this back in late June of 2023 (although there have been small edits). I'm asked this a lot, but no, this wasn't for a project and this wasn't for schoolwork. I actually pulled an all-nighter by eating chocolate for some reason because I wasn't going to be able to play for a little bit and was anxious about it. I wrote almost all of this in one night, save for a few small edits. I posted this on Steam first, but figured some people on the forums might be interested in it.

This is an essay, so it's a long read. Don't feel obligated to read all of this.

Apologies for how I phrase things here. I write essays in a very convoluted way at times. Feel free to ask if you don't understand what I mean.

Given how long this essay is, it's not unlikely that there will be spelling/grammar errors. I'll correct them if I see them. If you notice any mistakes, feel free to tell me so I can correct them.

Keep in mind everything here is just my interpretation of the storyline and characters, and some of my personal opinions/views are part of how I view the story. None of this is concrete and none of this is objective. I'd love to hear others' interpretations as well!

Because of the nature of the DST lore, there will be mention of a lot of heavy topics, including depression, guilt, insecurity, and other possibly uncomfortable subjects. Stay safe and read with care.

PART ONE: EGO AND PRIDE 
When analyzing DST characters from a personality standpoint, it makes sense to start with Wilson. In earlier drafts of this, I was going to write about every character individually, so, in my earliest drafts, the first character I analyzed was the gentleman scientist himself. I wrote full essays on him, Maxwell, and WX-78, but I think those weren’t formatted in a way that I could easily combine into one unabridged analysis of DST’s messages, morals and characters.
All this to say that Wilson is one of the first characters that came to mind in terms of analysis. Not just for his role as the main protagonist, but for his personality and ties to our first theme: ego and performativity.
As you’ll see is a pretty common theme in DST’s cast, Wilson’s personality contains a flaw, a central negative trait that is not only his reason for being in the Constant, but a driving force for his conflicts. That’s how tragedies work; a single flaw leads to suffering for the protagonist.
If you couldn’t tell from the name of this section, Wilson’s main flaw is his ego. He clearly thinks himself to be smarter than he actually is. He isn’t unintelligent, but he isn’t the genius he thinks he is. His pursuits of knowledge are futile; he isn’t super smart, nor is he willing to grow in that regard. Instead of recognizing this, he’s convinced that he’s a mastermind of some sort.
In other words, Wilson thinks he’s a scientific genius, despite the fact that he isn’t. Or, so it would seem upon first glance. While he, like many other characters, may seem like a simple man with a simple flaw, he’s more than that.
He’s one of three characters with two animated shorts (the other two being Wes and Maxwell). And so, with all this lore, you might think I’d be talking about the obvious points. You know, the Wagstaff lore and all that. But what stood out to me was towards the beginning of his flashback in Interference:
His family.
This led me to my analysis of Wilson, which was (and still is), that his “ego” mainly stems from his priorities in terms of traits and values; in other words, his pride comes from his belief that intelligence is more important than any other trait or somehow more valuable. And, to an extent, I think this begins with his family.
His family essentially forgets about him due to him not living up to their expectations. He’s aware that he isn’t smart; it’s been shoved in his face. His family ditches him when he “isn’t good enough” for them. And, while he’s aware of his own ineptitude, he still displays this seemingly ridiculous amount of egocentricity.
From my perspective, this stems from the idea that, perhaps if he can convince others he’s intelligent, maybe he’ll believe it, and then maybe he will be that smart.
And, going back to Wagstaff, I think (at least partially), the reason he continually helps him despite it never working out is that he admires Wagstaff. He’s everything he wishes he was; smart and successful. What he doesn’t care about is Wagstaff’s even worse morality.
And the reason this section isn’t just called “Wilson Analysis”?
It’s because this theme of faking self esteem, of pride and passion, of self hatred and guilt, applies to someone else. And, if you couldn’t guess, it’s the magician himself: Maxwell The Great.
And while Maxwell encompasses practically every part of this analysis, his ego is what becomes obvious first by looking at his quotes. He’s egotistical. He’s unwilling to cope with his own self-hatred for his failings and flaws, so instead he builds statues of himself, puts himself up on a pedestal, and pretends he thinks he’s the greatest person alive despite the fact that he knows he’s hurt people far more than Wilson has, all because he wants to keep up this facade of self-righteousness.
And, as will become evident throughout this analysis, Maxwell and Wilson are equal and opposite in their characterization. Maxwell is Wilson taken to the extreme for a lot of reasons; perhaps that’s why Maxwell noticed Wilson at all. However, their main connecting thread that is even stronger than their shared theme of ego is the theme they share with WX-78, Wanda, Wickerbottom, and, of course, Wagstaff:
Knowledge and meddling.

PART TWO: MAGIC AND SCIENCE
One of if not the most recurring theme in many characters’ arcs and stories is this central idea of meddling. A simple question, really: how far is too far?
This is most obviously explored with Wagstaff, but we’ll get to him later. First, let’s look at Wanda and Wickerbottom respectively.
Wanda very clearly is meddling with things beyond her control; she literally breaks the timestream due to her meddling. A lot of her quotes mention this, of course, these choices to take part in conflicts far beyond the realm of her and the other survivors. But her displays of this theme are not as clear as with Wickerbottom.
Wickerbottom clearly has, to some extent, info on the Constant before entering. She values this knowledge above her own life and above all else. She’s willing to give up anything to save her books, her library. And she doesn’t care that her choice to learn more than any mere human ever should know ends with her in the Constant or with her being literally unable to sleep due to the enormity of the knowledge she’s been given; the knowledge itself is what matters.
Because her, and, arguably, Wilson and Maxwell’s thirst for knowledge is insatiable.
Wilson certainly attempts to seem smart and to prove himself as a competent scientist, but he never quite reaches his goals, and this leads him to agreeing to Maxwell’s deal and entering the Constant. Maxwell, on the other hand, continues to use magic in his shows, and learns firsthand the consequences of his actions. And, in the end, their choices to meddle with things that can harm them and, in Maxwell’s case, others, are extremely similar.
For a self-proclaimed scientist, Wilson seems to dabble in magic quite a bit. So, this begs the question: what even is the difference between science and magic? It’s easy to say that magic is simply misunderstood or not-understood science, but perhaps it’s more than that. Would we call weather and geography magic because humanity once didn’t understand them? Or, perhaps it isn’t the state of being understood by humanity that makes something science, rather the innate enormity and incomprehensibility of magic.
To rephrase: perhaps what makes magic magic is that it’s beyond humans, beyond mortals, beyond our understanding. It’s so enormous that, if we were to understand it, things simply wouldn’t function. It’s too much. It can ruin a life. It ruins the lives of many of DST’s cast; it leaves Wicker with practically infinite knowledge at her disposal, so much that she actually cannot sleep due to it, as I’ve said, and leaves Maxwell with guilt and fear.
With that context on the situation, I think we’re ready to tackle analyzing Robert Wagstaff.
As I’ve hopefully made clear, there are consequences to using magic, to pushing its limits. But, regardless of that, Wagstaff seems to have no trouble meddling around with it, opening portals and fighting deities for the sake of what is debatably even science.

PART THREE: COLLATERAL DAMAGE AND CONSEQUENCES 
Out of the 18 playable characters in DST, 3 of them are there directly because of Wagstaff: Winona, Webber, and, of course, WX-78. While Winona’s entry was more happenstance, and could be more directly related to Charlie, and Webber’s simply another case of Wagstaff’s actions having consequences, WX takes the theme of collateral damage to another level.
Yes, Webber is very clearly affected by Robert’s actions, but WX is rendered completely unable to function as a person by their experiments with Robert, to the point where their only way forward is to leave behind everything that makes them them.
WX’s struggles with their identity is an analysis for another time, but it clearly illustrates Wagstaff’s careless nature; he doesn’t care about WX, or Wilson for that matter. He has them help him, and, while he doesn’t want to hurt them, he doesn’t mind if they end up hurt by his mistakes.
Don’t get me wrong here, however; WX isn’t completely innocent here. They make a similar mistake to Wagstaff in their thinking that there will be no consequences to their choices and to their experiments with Robert in their animated short. However, while they are forced to face the effects of their actions, Robert isn’t at all.
Wagstaff is not only a direct parallel to Charlie during the From Beyond arc, but he’s also a parallel to Wilson. I’d make a comment on her character, but as it’s unclear the influence of Them and even if she’s conscious at all. He’s a narrative parallel to Charlie, sure, but he’s a personal parallel to Wilson personality-wise.
Of course, if we want the ultimate example of collateral damage and lack of care for others, like always, we end up with William Carter himself. His actions in single player DS are entirely out of boredom, even sadism. He’s so profoundly bored to the point that he brings people to his dimension to torture them. Him picking generally morally gray people isn’t an act of karmic punishment; it’s him wanting fun and funny people to watch. Misery loves company, I suppose.
His form of coping here is to force others to experience pain for his own enjoyment while ignoring his own guilt.

PART FOUR: COPING AND ESCAPISM 
While, of course, WX is the prime example of being incapable of coping and instead choosing to use the tried and true method of ignoring your issues until they, unsurprisingly, don’t go away, they aren’t the only character whose backstory and personality reflect negative and unhealthy forms of coping.
Wanda most clearly echos what themes WX’s character so clearly are focused on. She’s running away from her issues. While we, as the audience, have minimal info on Wanda’s backstory, we do know she is time traveling to outrun her past. Instead of dealing with her issues, she runs from them, avoiding her problems until they catch up to her, rather literally.
Willow’s form of coping is destructive. I don’t think I even need to specify what I mean by this; she’s the only character who’s confirmed to have killed someone. And yet fire still brings her comfort. Instead of dealing with her baggage, she harms people and property without a second thought for the majority of her life.
Wendy, instead of trying to continue with her life in spite of Abigail’s death, and trying to find happiness, is incapable of at all moving on. She’s convinced Abigail will disappear if she “forgets” about her, to the point where she seems to take pleasure in nothing anymore. Abigail and her grief has subsumed her and she cannot even begin to branch out, not even to characters like Webber, who very clearly want to befriend her.
To return to the initial reason this even matters, Maxwell’s way of coping on the throne, while incredibly cruel, is reasonable. After all, he’s been on that throne for years, it’s a miracle his sanity is still even somewhat intact.
However, once he’s off the throne, his methods of avoiding his problems alter to fit the situation, although they’re not much more healthy than they were before. He ends up ignoring his issues like the majority of the cast, instead acting all snooty and egotistical to avoid his guilt and knowledge of his mistakes.

PART FIVE: GUILT AND FORGIVENESS 
Maxwell is the main antagonist of single-player DS.
No avoiding it; he’s the villain. The main force that hinders the survivors attempts to, well, survive. He’s well aware of this, of course, of his wrongdoings and his cruelty during this chapter of his life, and yet never dares to apologize, nor to even mention it.
Instead, he lets his guilt build and build, with no attempt to rectify his misgivings. The other survivors, while naturally being skeptical, are still not trying to kill him, which is better than one could say of him in single-player.
After the entirety of DST up until his rework, from farming to fighting, exploration to insanity, he doesn’t seem to care or even recognize what he owes them.
No, it seems his greatest debt in his mind is his debt to Charlie. When she effectively guilt trips him, he actually listens to her, despite this actively backstabbing the other survivors. He knows what he did to them is wrong, but he seems to care more about Charlie than all of them combined.
He doesn’t care what he put them through. He doesn’t care in the slightest. Or, at least, he isn’t willing to show it.
Other characters, naturally, treat him poorly, their opinions of him ranging from mediocre to awful. But, as the story progresses, it seems some of them have begun to forgive him. Emphasis on begun. In Encore, Wilson, Willow, and Walter even seem concerned about his wellbeing.
By now, most of them are starting to trust him again, and yet he throws it all away, all because he feels indebted to Charlie. He forgets about the trust he’s built, everything he’s built, for the life he had before.
Working with Charlie again perhaps gives him some hope that things can be as they once were. When he wasn’t as concerned with shadows killing him and holding him hostage or constantly weighed down by his guilt. Charlie reminds him of better times.
He isn’t willing to deal with his issues, his guilt, his ego, his cruel tendencies, his unhealthy coping mechanisms, and Charlie isn’t asking him to do any of that. The survivors probably would, naturally, want an apology. Charlie doesn’t. Of course, she is manipulating him, but he’s so blinded by his guilt and fear and pride and misery that he can’t see it. Funny how he’s on the receiving end of manipulation and trickery now, when he once was the king of the Constant.
As I said, every character’s story here is a tragedy.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thanks so much for reading! I know I'm a bit obsessed with the DST lore and most people don't care as much about it as I do, but I really enjoyed making this. DST is such a well made and well written game and I feel like it absolutely deserves analysis. As I said before, this is just my interpretation; I really love discussing the DST lore and would love to hear what others have to say.

For those of you who are wondering, here's the bit that's turned into a copypasta (it cuts off like this because this is all that you can fit into a single message in DST):

"When analyzing DST characters from a personality standpoint, it makes sense to start with Wil"

Additionally, Navitotorito2005 created a mod that has Walter read out this mess of an essay as a campfire story, which I have linked here. I'd suggest checking it out. It was very nice of them to make it and I appreciate it!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3140479900

That's all, thank you for reading!

 It was interesting and intriguing to read! But it's not enough, no matter how strange it sounds. I would like you to write something about each character or the plot in general.

On 3/22/2024 at 1:25 AM, Dr.Webber said:

The ecosystem of the constant

Yes

[blueberry pi]

I think including the story of the ancients fits into this theme quite well too. Their search for more knowledge of their world and power, even with them being already quite prosperous, abandoning their former practices -and in a way culture- around Alter  and the more "tame" side of lunar magic leading to "forgotten knowledge to be sealed away, even leaving the surface completely from what we know, to head further underground and meddle with the horror of the shadows building a great civilization balanced with the remains of lunar magic that would face an eventual downfall. And the fact that they were native to the constant and it's nature, no real outside force leading them there.

[WinterWondering]

12 hours ago, Creatorofswamps said:

 It was interesting and intriguing to read! But it's not enough, no matter how strange it sounds. I would like you to write something about each character or the plot in general.

Yes

Thank so you much! Since it seems like a lot of people would like an analysis of each character, I'll probably do that at some point or another.

5 minutes ago, blueberry pi said:

I think including the story of the ancients fits into this theme quite well too. Their search for more knowledge of their world and power, even with them being already quite prosperous, abandoning their former practices -and in a way culture- around Alter  and the more "tame" side of lunar magic leading to "forgotten knowledge to be sealed away, even leaving the surface completely from what we know, to head further underground and meddle with the horror of the shadows building a great civilization balanced with the remains of lunar magic that would face an eventual downfall. And the fact that they were native to the constant and it's nature, no real outside force leading them there.

Thank you so much! I think the Ancients are a perfect example of this theme, and I'm sort of surprised I didn't mention them. They perfectly reflect the idea of knowledge, how it can be taken too far, and how it's sometimes best to leave well enough alone. It's really interesting, and I appreciate your perspective on this. 

[WinterWondering]

Hi, just wanted to say, thank you all for the support and feedback on this analysis! I'm currently working on a comic right now (around 1/3 done), so I probably won't finish another essay until I finish the comic. I might start working on it soon. I might even finish it before I finish the comic. I don't know. Still, thanks so much for reading and discussing, have a great day/night!

Edited March 28 by WinterWondering