Let's do some imagination for background story.

[DrNocturnal]

(I read William Carter's Puzzles after i wrote this thread, then i saw a video about decode on youtube, DS is an amazing game!

So i'm gonna start to learn about the background myself.

P.S.: the Puzzles are highly recommended for all the players to read.)

 

Some people, including me, think that mayby putting an end to the survive in DS world may make the game more interesting.

 

And some background story is necessary for this end.

 

Or we can just try to make up stories and we share them together. 

 

I was inspired by DeDangerIn's post yesterday, and i wrote some pieces about background story then.

 

Qwing to the fact that I'm a Chinses guy, i'm willing for any criticism of my writing.

 

============================Here it is=========================================

Shadow creatures had been created by the ancient magicians using the dark force from core of the world, the core is a big round nightmarish metal that evaporates numerous nightmare steam, And the ancient civilization find it so powerful and want to use this power to conquer the universe.

 

They had built several huge undergound base, three storeys,and we called them caves now.

 

Cave-1 was used as a living community, ancient people raised rabbit , big snails for meat and used light form ground and fluorescent plants to grow some vegetation.There was few guards, they only used some kind of biological tech and created tentacles for fence.

 

Cave-2 was for experiments ,there were lots of experiment animals, magicians and guards/army there.

The cave-2 was very important. The ancient country sent soudiers equiped with armors and weapons made of thulecite, a metirial called unbreakable metal and insulation form any magic power.A large number of auto-magi-mechanical artificial guards were there to asist them. They built magical tower with powerful magic to control the nightmare meterial and protect people from the dark force. Now we call them ancient tab.

 

Magicans tried to combine the nightmare metirial with simple soul of the animals. They mainly used spiders, monkeys and eels.

 

The crevices on cave-2 were mainly used for transport between cave-2 and cave-3.

 

They can get nightmare fules from cave-3 for experiments.  

 

But most of time, machines there exracted the animals souls and then transported to cave-3.

 

Cave-3 is a big factories. The great ancient magicians extract nightmare matirial from the core by a legendary machine built by them and automatically  created those shadow creatures.

The shadow creatures were kept in cave-3 as a secret army.

The machine is also surppoted by nightmare fule.

 

But however, oneday, some soul pieces accidentally fell out of the machine pipe and united the dark force of the core into a whole, it generated a weak self-consciousness and begain to instinctly eat souls from the machine to make itself stronger.

 

It was not a long time before it got strong enough and sucessfully ate a magican's soul in cave-3, which was considered an accident by other people. 

 

So, the next plot is easy to guess, the Core came out of the curtain and quickly controled the shadow army. A war was on!

 

Finally, magicians sucessfully prisoned the Core in this island, in cave-3, cut him out of the darkforce of the world's core, and fixed every crevice between cave-2 to cave-3 and blocked the main passage with a big thulecite boulder. But the country paid a lot,  99% of people and were killed by the shadow creatures.The few rest of them left the island and blocked all the caves with big boulders.

 

However, the magical prison became weak as times passed by, and undergroud earthquakes created new crevices. The Core wanted to break out, he was powerless with all those magical shackles, and his army were now not as strong as before. So he came up with an idea, the prison was not that difficult to break from outside, he needed a person with some gifts. He would control that person and waited for the right timing to break the prison.

 

But man's life is short, he kept catching people ,testing them and then marked those qualified and then controled them after the current one had died.

 

Now, the current guy's name is Maxwell.

 

[Roosev]

Why is there 3 of the same topics here?

[DrNocturnal]

Why is there 3 of the same topics here?

Poor network and triple click on the post button while waiting.

 

I guess it's the reason.

 

I've already reported this to the moderater.

 

[XirmiX]

Nice syory, but one thing; the Shadow things is not a power source or anything. Those are spiritual creatures which Maxwell (William Carter) started to manipulate with and eventually had dun goofed and got caught by them. That's magic for you!

[Pyromailmann]

Here's my theory: So Don't Starve is a remote island (we all know this) the first explorers (and pirates) got to the island and inhabited it together. Time went by and they found secrets that the island holds (nightmare fuel). The people on the island abused it's power and formed many things (such as the ancient guardian, shadow creatures etc.) the shadow creatures killed the people and many died but only a few remained becoming our main antagonists (Maxwell isn't really our main antagonist.) At the time of William's "death" the shadow watchers found that he had discovered demonic powers and Maxwell was able to summon them. He did during a stage performance. Then, Maxwell was sent to "Checkpoint" where he and Charlie were at with the Shadow Watchers. They told him to bring people to the island of their original inhabitant and kill them off in any way he could. Maxwell refused. The shadow watchers bound him to a chair and sent Charlie to the main island of Don't Starve and all the adventure mode islands. But fragments of her remained in "Checkmate".

[DrNocturnal]

Nice syory, but one thing; the Shadow things is not a power source or anything. Those are spiritual creatures which Maxwell (William Carter) started to manipulate with and eventually had dun goofed and got caught by them. That's magic for you!

 

Oh, that's the background!

 

Sorry, i didn't play adventure mode, i don't know this before.

[Norman1346]

Here is the story that I had in my mind. I had a lot of fun fleshing this out.

 

Maxwell and his brother Charlie were on a ship that was lost in a terrible storm. They washed up on the shore of a mysterious island, the only 2 survivors. At first they only focused on survival but that changed when they met a tribe of primitive pig men. At first the Pigs feared them, but by using their superior abilities to hunt meats and plant farms they were soon accepted as friends of the tribe. The pigs told them about the island and about their tales and legends...

 

They told them that once their was a race of Gods with incredible and terrible power that lived underneath the island and protected it from evil, long ago. But another tribe of Pigs, living in a swamp, had angered the Gods so much that the Gods cursed them and their swamp, changing the pigs into scaly creatures, and filling the swamp with horrid tentacles. The Gods then departed for the heavens, forsaking the island.

 

Being men of science Maxwell and his brother wanted to investigate. They did not place much stock in the idea of Gods and legends. They were both surprised to see the truth of the horrible mutants. So they resolved that they would enter some of the caves they had seen on the island to try to learn the truth of these 'ancient Gods' beneath the island. Then they found the ruins....

 

The technology was more advanced then anything either had ever seen, but in decay and unmoving. They were both compelled to learn as much as they could of it. Charlie was motivated both by true love of scientific discovery and the hope they might find a means to escape the island, but Maxwell, a wicked and ambitious man, had other thoughts. When he found the ancient book he knew he could fulfill all his dark ambitions and more. He would use use this technology to return to civilization and make himself the undisputed king of all.

 

The book told him how he might do so, but there would be work to do 1st. He learned that under the island were vast reservoirs of a substance called nightmare fuel. It was a powerful substance that existed half in this world, half in another. He learned that these ancients used its properties to control all their advanced machines. One secret of this nightmare fuel was that it could be used to transfer intelligence and will from one entity to another, living or machine. Another secret was that a mind that had been given enough power this way could manipulate the nightmare fuel directly, shaping it and even sending it across vast distance.

 

Charlie's last sane thought was one of sheer surprise. Surprise at being pushed over the edge of a chasm and hearing the words "goodbye brother". Then he hit the pool of dark goo and sanity was lost to him forever.

 

Maxwell had gained enough power to manipulate the nightmare fuel and awaken a few dozen machines, but that would not be enough to pursue his dark end. He used his control of the nightmare fuel to reach out across space to find another mind to drain of its power. 1st he found the pigs but there minds were too feeble to be of much use. He would have to reach further to find a strong mind.

 

Perhaps a scientist. Someone who could be lured by the promise of forbidden knowledge....

[XirmiX]

Oh, that's the background!

Sorry, i didn't play adventure mode, i don't know this before.

It's not told in the adventure mode, well kinda is but it's mainly told through All's well that maxwell puzzle and in the video called "The amazing maxwell". What nobody knows is what exactly happened to Maxwell's assistant Charlie but she seems to be the night monster for some reason.

What I really liked in the story, thought is about the Ancient ruins where there were some ancient people living with great knowledge that surpassed even magic. And in the game you could say that all went somehow wrong and now they're all dead

[Maximum124]

Here is the story that I had in my mind. I had a lot of fun fleshing this out.

 

Maxwell and his brother Charlie

 

I gotta stop you right there just because

 

You do know this is Charlie right?

 

 

Maxwell's assistant?

 

Maxwell does have a brother though (at least William did) whose name was Jack.

 

If you guys wanna story build I have nothing against that, just could you maybe check the DS wiki for what is already canon and build upon that?

[The_Cookiebeast]

It's not told in the adventure mode, well kinda is but it's mainly told through All's well that maxwell puzzle and in the video called "The amazing maxwell". What nobody knows is what exactly happened to Maxwell's assistant Charlie but she seems to be the night monster for some reason.

What I really liked in the story, thought is about the Ancient ruins where there were some ancient people living with great knowledge that surpassed even magic. And in the game you could say that all went somehow wrong and now they're all dead

Why does everyone think Charlie is the night monster? did no one look at the last puzzle? Maxwell tried to save Charlie from the shadow hands whilst he was in a painting (maybe practicing a magic trick?) and she was looking through his study, he succeeded in saving her. Charlie left with the book, afraid of Maxwell's madness, leaving her hat, but Maxwell was unaware of his success and thought the hands had taken her when he found her hat on the floor after she left. Driven further into madness and magic he attempted to bring her back but only succeeded in becoming part of the Don't Starve world. Him calling the night monster or Grue 'Charlie' is just because he still believes she is in there somewhere and that she is the one monster you can't see. Also a somewhat popular belief is that the merms were the ancient civilization, because upon examination by Maxwell he says that they were there when he got there. Evidently something went wrong through the overuse of nightmare fuel and now they are dumb as bricks. 

[The_Cookiebeast]

As Maximum124 said, maybe check the secrets, lore, backstory, before coming up with stories. Because then you can come up with something that people might agree with.

[Zhuzha]

Why does everyone think Charlie is the night monster? did no one look at the last puzzle? Maxwell tried to save Charlie from the shadow hands whilst he was in a painting (maybe practicing a magic trick?) and she was looking through his study, he succeeded in saving her. Charlie left with the book, afraid of Maxwell's madness, leaving her hat, but Maxwell was unaware of his success and thought the hands had taken her when he found her hat on the floor after she left. Driven further into madness and magic he attempted to bring her back but only succeeded in becoming part of the Don't Starve world. Him calling the night monster or Grue 'Charlie' is just because he still believes she is in there somewhere and that she is the one monster you can't see.

Actually, Maxwell knew that Charlie was OK. You, probably, didn't follow the final puzzle all the way through. Because a) Shortly after she ran away she returned and left a note for him. http://www.dontstarvegame.com/science/mdocs/ta-da/images/___.jpg

b) There's a video showing that both Maxwell and Charlie were taken away by Night Hands (into DS world, most likely) during their final performance.

http://www.dontstarvegame.com/science/mdocs/max/stage/1/grand-finale.html

Also, long before we had any backstory for Maxwell, before we even knew who Charlie was, one of the devs, Kevin, if I'm not mistaking, said during caves premiere livestream that the night monster used to be a human named Charlie and Maxwell's friend.

[Norman1346]

As Maximum124 said, maybe check the secrets, lore, backstory, before coming up with stories. Because then you can come up with something that people might agree with.

 

I thought of this along time ago, just fleshed it out today. Never beat adventure mode. The only story I know is from the forbidden knowledge video. I certainly don't care to hunt for the story by doing a puzzle, that is hella-lame.

 

I am not gonna click the link that link that says finale above either because I hope to beat adventure mode one day and see it for myself.

 

Sorry if it s not close to the cannon. I was just having fun.

[The_Cookiebeast]

Actually, Maxwell knew that Charlie was OK. You, probably, didn't follow the final puzzle all the way through. Because a) Shortly after she ran away she returned and left a note for him. http://www.dontstarvegame.com/science/mdocs/ta-da/images/___.jpg

b) There's a video showing that both Maxwell and Charlie were taken away by Night Hands (into DS world, most likely) during their final performance.

http://www.dontstarvegame.com/science/mdocs/max/stage/1/grand-finale.html

Also, long before we had any backstory for Maxwell, before we even knew who Charlie was, one of the devs, Kevin, if I'm not mistaking, said during caves premiere livestream that the night monster used to be a human named Charlie and Maxwell's friend.

Hm, i never saw that video, that's very interesting actually, thanks for showing it. I did see that note actually, but i assumed he never got it because of what i assume was some sort of earthquake in the ruin pictures of that puzzle, but i guess that contradicts with what happens in the video. Fair enough i was being a bit nitpicky don't mind me, just got a bit o' rabid fanboy in meh.

[The_Cookiebeast]

I thought of this along time ago, just fleshed it out today. Never beat adventure mode. The only story I know is from the forbidden knowledge video. I certainly don't care to hunt for the story by doing a puzzle, that is hella-lame.

 

I am not gonna click the link that link that says finale above either because I hope to beat adventure mode one day and see it for myself.

 

Sorry if it s not close to the cannon. I was just having fun.

Unless they added anything new to adventure mode since when i completed it, which was after the game came out of beta, then it doesn't actually tell you much at the end of adventure mode as the origins of Maxwell and the Don't Starve world, so it would be worth taking a look at. But don't get me wrong, fan theories are interesting, and i have nothing against yours i just thought to offer some clarification. No need to apologize m8.

[XirmiX]

Why does everyone think Charlie is the night monster? did no one look at the last puzzle? Maxwell tried to save Charlie from the shadow hands whilst he was in a painting (maybe practicing a magic trick?) and she was looking through his study, he succeeded in saving her. Charlie left with the book, afraid of Maxwell's madness, leaving her hat, but Maxwell was unaware of his success and thought the hands had taken her when he found her hat on the floor after she left. Driven further into madness and magic he attempted to bring her back but only succeeded in becoming part of the Don't Starve world. Him calling the night monster or Grue 'Charlie' is just because he still believes she is in there somewhere and that she is the one monster you can't see. Also a somewhat popular belief is that the merms were the ancient civilization, because upon examination by Maxwell he says that they were there when he got there. Evidently something went wrong through the overuse of nightmare fuel and now they are dumb as bricks. 

At the last puzzle piece there has just been an Earthquake and neither Charlie nor Maxwell are there. Just one of the Shadow watchers. The fact that everyone thinks that Charlie is the night monster is: well why else would Klei call the night monster Charlie when that's also the name of one of the story characters? The connection with the names are too suspicious. And I mean what else could've happened to Charlie?

 

All thought you have a point. Now you made me curious and I'm EAGER to know what happened to Charlie.

[DrNocturnal]

It's not told in the adventure mode, well kinda is but it's mainly told through All's well that maxwell puzzle and in the video called "The amazing maxwell". What nobody knows is what exactly happened to Maxwell's assistant Charlie but she seems to be the night monster for some reason.

What I really liked in the story, thought is about the Ancient ruins where there were some ancient people living with great knowledge that surpassed even magic. And in the game you could say that all went somehow wrong and now they're all dead

The great ancient civilization was devoured by their own creation.

[DrNocturnal]

As Maximum124 said, maybe check the secrets, lore, backstory, before coming up with stories. Because then you can come up with something that people might agree with.

 

Agreed, i'll write it again after reading all the secrets.

[Parrotoss]

Mmmm, big snails for meat, delicious. I was thinking more along the lines of crop fertilizers of some sort. Anyway, I like the idea that the civilization found in the ruins functioned much like a central american--native tribe of people. As stated before, seeing how the land appears to be a series of islands, settlers from nowhere lands popped up, maybe guided by some dark prophet influenced by the night creatures--maybe a Codex prototype?

Anyway, fast-forward a couple centuries--the civilization is gone, William ends of getting a rewritten Codex from a witch that is a descendant from the fallen civilization--William gets cocky and drags himself into hell.

 

I was also thinking the islands were in a more purgatory, not on the map sort of get up. It could be an empty slot in the void were demons and shadow monsters rule that take in influential /sinful ideals of humanity and places them in a nice chaotic realm. A keep is given to the realm to keep order (like Maxwell) like a mayor of sorts. There are millions of realms like Maxwell's full of aliens and whatnot, all in attempt to fill the emptiness of void-full space..I dunno.

[Ixmore]

If you want to speculate about the back story, then heres a link to mine

 

http://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/31874-a-game-of-chess-a-dont-starve-theory/

 

and if the gaints are appearing only in each season, it could confirm my theory and there maybe a villian (the other king) other then them and maxwell

[InaneDugong]

Ok, so, I'd like to point out some speculation for you ladies and gents:

 

In the scene where Charlie grabs the book and leaves with it, the hand descends from the chandler whilst Charlie is reading the book. Another thing to note is that the portrait of Maxwell reacts to the Shadow-Hand as it descends. Maxwell, almost connected with the portrait or house in some way, rushes back to find the book or inspect what had happened whilst Charlie had been there. Charlie leaves a message saying they should 'take a break' and 'escape to another place'. In the final scene, the house is ramshackle, and the Shadow Watcher appears.

 

So, how about we consider this is a more ambiguous sense (if that's not too crazy):

 

The house is their world. Maxwell is a bombastic character, and Charlie is naively inquisitive. The portrait of Maxwell seems exacerbated by the notion of Charlie discovering his secrets, but he feels no anxiety over Charlie's discovery - though the invasion of what he'd kept hidden does disgruntle him. To his dismay, Charlie's curiosity shows a problem that Maxwell is struggling to deter independently, and Maxwell does his best to protect her with the knowledge he's accumulated thus far (and perhaps only to any success due to his experience of hardships - not that we know much about Charlie in that regard). Unbeknownst to him - as the portrait is only interested in one other thing: Charlie - however, she leaves with the knowledge and means to begin where he once started. As a symbolic notion that Charlie can't handle their world together, she suggests that they drop the cause and take a break somewhere else  - 'in another house' - but it's too late as their undoing has already begun. As a result of this fleeting chaos and Maxwell's belated intuition to bring an end to what he could barely control, their house is brought down. In the end, malevolence rules the emptiness that they once both shared.  

 

 

Oh, and fun-fact: when the hand descends the chandler, Maxwell illuminates the area using the lamp on the desk, thus showing that Maxwell had some knowledge of what the Shadow creatures were prior to their undoing. 

[DrNocturnal]

Ok, so, I'd like to point out some speculation for you ladies and gents:

 

In the scene where Charlie grabs the book and leaves with it, the hand descends from the chandler whilst Charlie is reading the book. Another thing to note is that the portrait of Maxwell reacts to the Shadow-Hand as it descends. Maxwell, almost connected with the portrait or house in some way, rushes back to find the book or inspect what had happened whilst Charlie had been there. Charlie leaves a message saying they should 'take a break' and 'escape to another place'. In the final scene, the house is ramshackle, and the Shadow Watcher appears.

 

So, how about we consider this is a more ambiguous sense (if that's not too crazy):

 

The house is their world. Maxwell is a bombastic character, and Charlie is naively inquisitive. The portrait of Maxwell seems exacerbated by the notion of Charlie discovering his secrets, but he feels no anxiety over Charlie's discovery - though the invasion of what he'd kept hidden does disgruntle him. To his dismay, Charlie's curiosity shows a problem that Maxwell is struggling to deter independently, and Maxwell does his best to protect her with the knowledge he's accumulated thus far (and perhaps only to any success due to his experience of hardships - not that we know much about Charlie in that regard). Unbeknownst to him - as the portrait is only interested in one other thing: Charlie - however, she leaves with the knowledge and means to begin where he once started. As a symbolic notion that Charlie can't handle their world together, she suggests that they drop the cause and take a break somewhere else  - 'in another house' - but it's too late as their undoing has already begun. As a result of this fleeting chaos and Maxwell's belated intuition to bring an end to what he could barely control, their house is brought down. In the end, malevolence rules the emptiness that they once both shared.  

 

 

Oh, and fun-fact: when the hand descends the chandler, Maxwell illuminates the area using the lamp on the desk, thus showing that Maxwell had some knowledge of what the Shadow creatures were prior to their undoing. 

 

Hello agian, u and ur hard to understanding English writing. I like ur words, though. 

 

I don't think charlie was to start learning Carter's note, she's just curious and they later did their final act together.I assume they were in love and Charlie wanted to take a break to know William better.

 

What do u mean by "can't handle their world together"? Does it means "Charlie can't understand the reason why and what Carter was doing in his chamber of secrets based on her own knowledge."

 

Yes, William might knew something of how to keep the shadow creatures back.

Isn't chandler means someone who used to sell candles?

 

BTW, may I please ask where r u from,?

ur writing style is much different from anyone else in this forum.

As i'm naively inquisitive , is this because u reads a lot and writes a lot?

(You may reply to me by personal messages if u want to, and i didn't mock u, just curious. Cuz i'm a Chinese, and this is always one good excuse in all english forums. )

[InaneDugong]

Hello agian, u and ur hard understanding English writing. I like ur words, though. 

 

I don't think charlie was to start learning Carter's note, she's just curious and they later did their final act together.I assume they were in love and Charlie wanted to take a break to know William better.

 

What do u mean by "can't handle their world together"? Does it means "Charlie can't understand the reason why and what Carter was doing in his chamber of secrets based on her own knowledge."

 

Yes, William might knew something of how to keep the shadow creatures back.

Isn't chandler means someone who used to sell candles?

 

BTW, may I please ask where r u from,?

ur writing style is much different from anyone else in this forum.

As i'm naively inquisitive , is this because u reads a lot and writes a lot?

(You may reply to me by personal messages if u want to, and i didn't mock u, just curious. Cuz i'm a Chinese, and this is always one good excuse in all english forums. )

 

You flatter me. I'll respond in PM, per usual, to prevent digressions. <3

 

Um, the whole 'can't handle their world together' is like, imagine a dome - a sphere - in which two minds live. Often, marriage and long-term relationships become a compromise of two personalities living one life. 

 

So, to say that 'their world broke', it means that the life their two minds and personalities created (harmoniously) failed. 

 

 

Someone else want to have a shot in explaining as much in understandable terms? I'm bad at this. 

[Joshpro8423]

At the last puzzle piece there has just been an Earthquake and neither Charlie nor Maxwell are there. Just one of the Shadow watchers. The fact that everyone thinks that Charlie is the night monster is: well why else would Klei call the night monster Charlie when that's also the name of one of the story characters? The connection with the names are too suspicious. And I mean what else could've happened to Charlie?

All thought you have a point. Now you made me curious and I'm EAGER to know what happened to Charlie.

Why do we think the monster that attacks you at night is Charlie? If you play Maxwell, he will refer to the monster in the darkness as Charlie. When he gets hit, he says "Charlie! It's me, remember?!" or something like that.

[An Artifact]

Ok, so, I'd like to point out some speculation for you ladies and gents:

 

In the scene where Charlie grabs the book and leaves with it, the hand descends from the chandler whilst Charlie is reading the book. Another thing to note is that the portrait of Maxwell reacts to the Shadow-Hand as it descends. Maxwell, almost connected with the portrait or house in some way, rushes back to find the book or inspect what had happened whilst Charlie had been there. Charlie leaves a message saying they should 'take a break' and 'escape to another place'. In the final scene, the house is ramshackle, and the Shadow Watcher appears.

 

So, how about we consider this is a more ambiguous sense (if that's not too crazy):

 

The house is their world. Maxwell is a bombastic character, and Charlie is naively inquisitive. The portrait of Maxwell seems exacerbated by the notion of Charlie discovering his secrets, but he feels no anxiety over Charlie's discovery - though the invasion of what he'd kept hidden does disgruntle him. To his dismay, Charlie's curiosity shows a problem that Maxwell is struggling to deter independently, and Maxwell does his best to protect her with the knowledge he's accumulated thus far (and perhaps only to any success due to his experience of hardships - not that we know much about Charlie in that regard). Unbeknownst to him - as the portrait is only interested in one other thing: Charlie - however, she leaves with the knowledge and means to begin where he once started. As a symbolic notion that Charlie can't handle their world together, she suggests that they drop the cause and take a break somewhere else  - 'in another house' - but it's too late as their undoing has already begun. As a result of this fleeting chaos and Maxwell's belated intuition to bring an end to what he could barely control, their house is brought down. In the end, malevolence rules the emptiness that they once both shared.  

 

 

Oh, and fun-fact: when the hand descends the chandler, Maxwell illuminates the area using the lamp on the desk, thus showing that Maxwell had some knowledge of what the Shadow creatures were prior to their undoing. 

 

Gah. While I had to work through Goethe's "Faust" in school, I realized that the interpretation of deep and meaningful stories isn't for me. I still prefer an immersively told yet plain and obvious story over a deep, meaningful yet confusing one (though a fair bit of both combined is of course optimal; looking at you Sir Pratchett). As a result, I don't even understand what "begin where he once started" means in this context, nor do I really understand anything you're trying to say. Congratz on being smarter than me I guess.