theory [Theory Bonanza]The End?

[Silentdarkness1]

So, one thing that's occurred to me is the question as to exactly how a canonical end to the storyline would work, anyways. Obviously, i'm sure lots of you have theories, and i'd love to look through them all(at least, the serious ones, not the memes and jokes), but i'll just leave the 3 theoretical options in my head, and how Klei would go about them. If any of them even apply.

A. Access a Boss

This would be having to do a mini puzzle thing in-game to access the Shadow Throne again and face down Charlie either alone or with friends, and maybe get an ending cutscene upon victory, dethroning Charlie and leaving her to her fate or what have you.

B. Their Home

Passing through the Ancient Portal into a realm of true utter horror and darkness, with the vague promise of an escape lying beyond.

C. The "Telltale Games" Method

Klei releases a standalone game giving full story, starting all the way back from Wilson's beginnings, giving it a much more story and character-centric focus. Maybe not literally a Telltale Games-alike, but certainly something that is less sandboxy and more linear.

Anyways, that's my piece. Feel free to pitch in. I like to think that a good portion of the community cares about lore and storyline and such. : P

[Rellimarual]

I don't feel a particular need for any kind of ending, personally.

[Quoth143]

1 minute ago, Rellimarual said:

I don't feel a particular need for any kind of ending, personally.

Ditto. 

[Silentdarkness1]

I feel like all of this seems to be building up to something, though.

[Quoth143]

10 minutes ago, Silentdarkness1 said:

I feel like all of this seems to be building up to something, though.

Oh it definitely is but maybe more of an open ended ending rather than a final one. 

[Pyr0mrcow]

...for a while I thought that this would all lead up to Charlie being dethroned and something else (probably nonhuman, Metheus?) taking command. With Winona's reveal...well, I don't see 2 characters coming at once.

I don't know. Something's coming. Metheus 'taking notice', Charlie showing interest in the Gate itself (enough to go there personally) and not just the Fuelweaver...
Something big's going to happen. It has to. There's too much buildup to some approaching event.
Whether we get it now or later, I don't know.

[Cheetos]

I'd be extremely bummed out if there was a set ending to the story, I do like the idea of continuity in a game like Don't Starve/(Together). I'd prefer a sort of open ended "finale" or "loop" where it doesn't feel ridiculous playing the game after lol.

[Pyr0mrcow]

Yea...
I think/hope that no matter what the survivors do, they'll be stuck with someone playing with them like puppets. Charlie or otherwise.

[ThemInspectors]

Maybe We will find out what Charlie is doing to the fuelweaver, I hope she is tickling him to death

[Alarsin]

In the Post-metheus trailer, she picks up rose the fuelweaver left. I assume, she made us kill him to activate the gateway. Maxwell's quote on ancient mural: "I know why you led my back here. But it won't work." The fuelweaver does everything he can to deactivate the gate. Charlie doesn't help him, which means, that she probably betrayed him. (Fuelweaver's quote: "Lend me your power, one last time." means that once he was on Charlie's side.) So she led us to the gateway to kill the fuelweaver and activate the portal. I can't believe it was only to respawn the Ruins. It's... it's impossible... There should be something more about the gate. Maybe, she is summoning someone? Maybe we'll get more information about Winona the Fuelweaver?

[Pyr0mrcow]

Pretty convinced after having seen the puzzle/spent some time annoying the Weaver that it's the former King. When it says that line...it could be saying it either to the Gate, from which it's drawing shadow energy, or the minions/shadows, the remnants of its race.

But yea. Charlie definitely seems to be doing some shenanigans with the gate.
We might have to wait for another update, though.

...one possibility is that the gate is a general multidimensional portal/conduit. She doesn't have the same knowledge as Maxy, so she could have need of it.
With the Winona speculation, she could be planning to pull a certain someone in that way?

[AnonymousKoala]

I hope we don't go in. As Fuelweaver says painfully obviously, the gateway isn't something you enter but rather something "They" come out of. It's also worth noting how that's what gave the Ancients the Nightmare Fuel. 

[Mananu]

I don't think Don't Starve Together should have an end. It has a story like almost all the games have, but I like the freedom which this game has. It doesn't have a true ''objective'' like you have to do this or that in order to finish the game. They can make the story in some kind of way that the players should not have the sad feeling of ''Oh I feel so bad that I finished the game and now I can't continue my own adventure''.

[Silentdarkness1]

8 hours ago, Pyr0mrcow said:

Yea...
I think/hope that no matter what the survivors do, they'll be stuck with someone playing with them like puppets. Charlie or otherwise.

 

4 hours ago, Mananu said:

I don't think Don't Starve Together should have an end. It has a story like almost all the games have, but I like the freedom which this game has. It doesn't have a true ''objective'' like you have to do this or that in order to finish the game. They can make the story in some kind of way that the players should not have the sad feeling of ''Oh I feel so bad that I finished the game and now I can't continue my own adventure''.

This conflicts with me rather strongly. And most of that for me is the fact that the gameplay's fun factor, all by itself, has more or less entirely worn off on me. Lore, story and character stuff is what continues to keep me tied to DST. I feel like deep down, the characters have the unspoken desire to want out. Now, granted, I can see exceptions for Wendy, because she's just generally consigned to death, and Maxwell because he has a vested interest in remaining(Charlie).

If they're never going to put in an ending with closure, Wendy becomes smarter than Wilson due to being aware what happens. : P

5 hours ago, AnonymousKoala said:

I hope we don't go in. As Fuelweaver says painfully obviously, the gateway isn't something you enter but rather something "They" come out of. It's also worth noting how that's what gave the Ancients the Nightmare Fuel. 

I know.

THAT FACT REALLY MAKES ME WANT TO SEE WHAT'S ON THE OTHER SIDE.

[Vixrotre]

I guess it depends on what you understand as "the ending"? Because Charlie being on the throne and what the gate does can have a defined finish, but I seriously doubt Don't Starve will ever end, ending implying that either all characters go back home, escaping the DS world, or they all die or are otherwise unable to escape. 

And if Charlie is dethroned then someone or something else will likely take her place on the throne. 

Not to mention that we don't even know if Charlie is an actual villain. Yes, she is the darkness and she tries to kill you, but she is possessed by some shadow demon or something and seems like a good person if not for that, and the actions she took on the throne aren't all negative and evil. She gives you puppies and kitties! All things considered, she's way better than Maxwell was, which is also confusing as to what her goal is. Maxwell wanted to bait you into freeing him. But Charlie wants to be on the throne and as of now I don't see much of a reason to dethrone her. You don't want to be trapped on the throne again. And Charlie, as of yet, didn't do anything horribly evil to make you want to get the power of the throne away from her. 

[Arlesienne]

Given the sort of game DST is, with the worldgen and elements of randomness, any plot needs to be open-ended enough to avoid any clear THE END messages.

[Silentdarkness1]

Well frankly, I don't personally believe that dethroning Charlie would even change anything. It was never Maxwell or Charlie that keeps the characters from leaving.

IT'S THEM. IT'S ALWAYS THEM.

[Ajosen]

I don't think we are close to the end because despite don't starve being around for a while, relatively little actual story has come out. It took many years just to find out what was happening to Charlie, and now I feel like the game is building up to something. Possibly an interaction with Charlie and maxwell. Maybe more. Point being the story of don't starve has only just begun.

[Silentdarkness1]

I don't think we're close to the end, either, in truth. Don't get me wrong, i'm still eager to see what comes next, and the end might still be a long ways off.

[acuaticyas]

Maybe regenerating the ruins was something lore-wise and maybe charlie wanted to see the ancients again? 

[Astroknot]

I think it is a good idea to keep the end of the game as open-ended as possible. For example, if we still want a relatively good ending without making them go home, here is one idea I had once:

*Survivors manage to find the source/home/the throneroom of Them, somehow someway "destroy" it.

*Survivors cannot go home, having to stay in the wilderness overworld, as the portal is quoted a "one way ticket".

*To make up for this, the Survivors get their wish granted. Basically their wish is what drove them here, and you would as the player have the option to reject the wish or accept it.

*Them is not really gone, as you only destroyed their home/source, there is still dozens of Them around. (Maybe eventually be able to make Them extinct?)

*Other stuff in the world would likely change for the better too.

This is just one idea I had once, It probably has plot holes, but I think it would make a good reward for "beating" the game. The characters wish is essentially a unlockable buff (and/or nerf), that you would have an option of accepting or not.

[ThemInspectors]

The Shadows can leak into the real world and control the "Survivors'" world. Most of the magic such as the Shadow Manipulator and probably most of the ancient fuel stuff are Manipulating, Transforming and Bending the rules of the "game" or "your nightmares", This would explain why the ancient statues have contradictory statements by Wilzun (I got called that on a server) and Wickerbottom, and why Webber and Willow describe Nightmare fuel such differently, "...cold and slippery" "...still warm" the nightmare fuel are your nightmares or a form of fear, supported by Warly saying about NF "who in the right mind would want more nightmares?"  the Dark sword, Night armour and nightmare amulet are bending the sources and outputs of where everything are going and coming from, only something an inter-dimensional world could possess this is somewhat even more supported by the teleportato, a Machine created by Maxwell that can teleport you to a new realm but you are actually not being teleported, It's Manipulating the shadow hands to move you deeper into the world, either metaphorically or physically physically would make sense, the nightmare lights are extracting nightmare fuel from the unknown depths below, but! If the ancient gateway is channeling something why could not the nightmare lights be doing the same thing? The Throne room might not be the source of it just like the command room on a battleship has an engine room where the leader probably isn't. Further more the earth's inside is made out of molten rock (mostly) but the unknown depths below could be the inside of the world, a world built upon nightmares. Maxwell used his influence to create most of what's there, but it is possible there were more unfortunate survivors there like the ancients, and the shipwrecks in shipwrecked and ghosts, want to know what's weird about the graves? someone else had to bury the people who died and put a headstone there for them to be buried. Meaning there could have been a whole bunch of people in the world. What is wrong with them returning is social standards, they are all misfits in someway, Wilson is crazy about science, Willow is a pyromaniac, Wolfgang is a coward, Wendy is morbid, Wickerbottom is an insomniac, Woodie turns into a beaver and has an axe-ified wife (beside that he's a totally normal person), Wes might fit in the world but he is silent, Maxwell could be considered to be a witch, Webber is a human spider and, something's off about Wigfrid just something....

[Astroknot]

27 minutes ago, ThemInspectors said:

Wilson is crazy about science, Willow is a pyromaniac, Wolfgang is a coward, Wendy is morbid, Wickerbottom is an insomniac, Woodie turns into a beaver and has an axe-ified wife (beside that he's a totally normal person), Wes might fit in the world but he is silent, Maxwell could be considered to be a witch, Webber is a human spider and, something's off about Wigfrid just something....

You forgot six members of the cast: WX-78, Walani, Warly, Wilbur, Woodlegs, and Winona.

[ThemInspectors]

Just now, Astroknot said:

You forgot a whole four members of the cast.

Woodlegs is a pirate, Wilbur is a monkey, Warly is idk, Walani is idk and Winona is not implemented!

[The Curator]

The ending is quite restricted. The game is not linear, the world you play in is meant to be the current status of the world; being replayed over and over. The ending has to obey certain rules.

- The survivors will be stuck, without a choice. They need to be here for the game to exist but the game is inherently dialogue and drama-light enough that a scene where they all decide to stick around would just be out of place. So them defeating the chief nemesis only to ensure there is no longer an intelligent threat manipulating with them is the prime possibility. 

- The shadows still need to exist. Multiple parts of the world hinge on the presence of the shadows, who are not Them. As have figured, They are a specific entity and the shadows are all either their direct minions or pawns They control through fuel. Would not be surprised if the final boss is Them, the one being responsible, and Charlie is likely Their avatar attempting to find a way to release Them from whatever prison-like situation They are in. Perhaps even the portal itself is just a prison the ancients used to seal away Them.

So basically the ending is going to be ambiguous. The survivors defeat the puppet master but they're still stuck on the stage all the same, just now they aren't being controlled.