At the beginning of the “Stray Dog and the Lying Princess” chapter, which is the chapter of the Stray Dog boss-battle in Rule of Rose, Bucket Knight has the following clue for Jennifer: “Do not be ruled by falsehood.”
But did Jennifer fail to follow the admonition to not be ruled by falsehood as she dreamed the Stray Dog boss-battle?
Let’s for a moment look at the Stray Dog boss-battle in the light of the Hoffman boss-battle. In my post, “The Hoffman Boss-battle Mystery (Part 1)“, I suggested that the Hoffman boss-battle might have been, at least in part, a huge fantasy-distortion of an argument that occurred between Hoffman and Jennifer, which Hoffman wrote about in his diary entry of 12 April. Could Jennifer’s dream version of the orphanage massacre (the Stray Dog boss-battle) also be, like her dream version of the argument with Hoffman (the Hoffman boss-battle), a huge fantasy-distortion of what the actual event was?
In the middle of the Hoffman boss-battle, Wendy tells Jennifer (as she gives Jennifer the gun):
“Please stop him with this. Only you and your beloved dog can stop him. I’m sorry…”
Is there reason to be suspicious that this never occurred during the actual orphanage massacre? That Wendy never said this to Jennifer, nor gave her the gun?
I think so.
Consider some other ways that Jennifer’s dream version of the Stray Dog boss-battle was “ruled by falsehood”.
The idea that tiny Jennifer survived a physical battle with big and strong Gregory, as we see in the boss-battle, seems quite improbable to me.
We know that Brown couldn’t have joined in the fight, as we see in the boss-battle, because Brown was dead at the time of the orphanage massacre.
We know, because Brown was dead, and because Wendy knew it, that Wendy wouldn’t have said to Jennifer “only you and your beloved dog…”
So we know that there were indeed some ways in which Jennifer’s dream version of the orphanage massacre was “ruled by falsehood”.
What about Wendy’s giving the gun, and the responsibility of stopping Gregory, to Jennifer? Does this fit in with what we know of Wendy’s personality and her way of behaving?
I don’t think so.
Wendy is a very take-charge and get-things-done sort of person. Think about it.
1. Wendy planned and successfully executed Jennifer’s escape from Gregory’s cellar room.
2. Wendy managed to steal Gregory’s gun, and then kept possession of it.
3. Wendy wanted Jennifer to live with her at the orphanage, and this came to be.
4. Wendy trained Gregory like a dog.
5. Wendy managed to get for herself higher rank in the Aristocrat Club than Diana, despite the fact that Diana was older, larger, stronger, and characterized by a very strong will.
6. Wendy, jealous of Brown, managed to successfully arrange Brown’s death.
Do you really think that if Wendy decided that she wanted Gregory to be stopped, she would give the gun to Jennifer and say that only Jennifer can stop her now? Is that the way that Wendy handles things? Or would she have handled stopping Gregory herself?
Why would Wendy even think that Jennifer was capable of using the gun to stop Gregory? Jennifer was always fond of Gregory. She wrote to Wendy (16 November 1929, when she was living in Gregory’s cellar room) that Gregory is “a nice person”. And Jennifer is basically a rather passive and submissive person… not a fighter. Why would Wendy think that Jennifer could use a gun on Gregory?
Wendy, on the other hand, may well have kept the gun all this time because she thought she may need to use it one day. She had a lot of time (nearly a year) to psychologically steel herself to the task of using the gun—unlike Jennifer.
I think that if Wendy thought that Gregory needed stopping with the gun, she would try to do the job herself.
So I’m suspicious of what we were shown in the Stray Dog boss-battle.
I suspect that Wendy probably never gave the gun to Jennifer in real life, and that’s why Jennifer needed to correct this error in her dream and give the gun to Gregory in order for him to be able to shoot himself—fulfilling the act described in the newspaper article… see my post “The Stray Dog Boss-battle Mystery (Part 3)“. Only in this way could Jennifer finally choose to accept her true memories and let things play out in a way that wasn’t “ruled by falsehood”.
Related posts:
The Stray Dog Boss-battle Mystery (Part 1)
The Stray Dog Boss-battle Mystery (Part 2)
The Stray Dog Boss-battle Mystery (Part 3)
The Stray Dog Boss Battle Mystery (Part 5)
Tags: bossbattle, Brown, Gregory, StrayDog, Wendy
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Woah @_@ the staff of Rule of Rose really did a good job of making us think the real story of the game.
Ok, I get your point in this post but I have a few ideas of what could’ve happened. The fight was a distorted version of what happened. Her mind trying to block out those memories, I belive, was the main purpose of the enemy’s in Jennifer’s mind
You say Jennifer wouldn’t have been able to run or live in a fight, I think she could’ve. In the boss battle Gregory is acting like a dog and doesn’t just walk around he leaps, rather slowly. Jennifer was small and quick she could dodge, run away, and hide from him.
Well here is a theory I have; Wendy did try to handle Gregory when he turned on her. She ran to get the gun but they got into some sort of stuggle where she was injured. She ran until she couldn’t, she found Jennifer and gave her the gun as Gregory grabbed her and dragged her back into the house to kill her. Wendy didn’t want her “Joshua” , as much as she hurt her, to die. She probably had a thought of ’she stood up to me for killing Brown, Gregory has killed everyone and is going to kill me, that was one slap for a filthy dog what would she do to the one who killed us, her family’
I am seriously guessing, Jennifer looked a heck of a lot like Joshua. She had short hair and well some kids you can’t really tell if it’s a really pretty boy or a tomboyish girl. She wasn’t able to shoot Gregory, I believe she knew he would hurt himself. When Wendy Rescued Jennifer, Jennifer was afraid Gregory would hurt himself if he kept the gun, which is a reason why Wendy took it. In Gregory’s mind it must have been Joshua his sun, his angel, offering him the relief he so desired.
I definitely think that the Stray Dog battle is distorted on some level. I mean, how exactly did Gregory kill the children? He obviously couldn’t have killed every child by running around and acting like a dog. There were too many of them, and if that was how he was behaving, more than just Jennifer would have escaped that day. From what I remember, in the game the children were being nice to Jennifer, and then you hear screaming from outside, and by the time Jennifer gets outside, they are all dead, save Wendy. So obviously a man cannot kill that many children merely by biting at them like a dog. Since we never see their bodies, we really don’t know how they died.
So how did he kill them? If he already had a gun to shoot them, he would not have needed anyone to give him a gun. Perhaps he did show up with a gun, and started shooting the children to death. Wendy was dying, and she said she was sorry to Jennifer, and told her she was the only one that could stop him. Gregory saw Jennifer as Joshua, and saw the pain he caused “him” by killing “his” friends, and killed himself for doing so. Maybe Jennifer handing him the gun in the game is symbolic of her giving him a reason to end his life.
This theory actually opens my eyes to a lot of things, both about Wendy’s personality and the massacre. No offense Darla but, Jennifer outrun Gregory? If nine other fit and able orphans couldn’t outrun and escape him, somehow I doubt weak Jennifer could. Though I’ll concede she could have hidden. This brings the question that, if Wendy had the gun, how did Gregory kill her before she could shoot him (unless she did and he kept going) and how come he didn’t kill Jennifer? What actually happened in the massacre?
Okay, but what about the boys? All that you see during the Jennifer/Stray Dog fight are the clothes that belonged to the girls. Jennifer herself seems to indicate that they weren’t killed during the massacre during the “Once Upon a Time” chapter. This is when she stops at the Bucket Knight in the second floor lavatory.
“Bucket Knight … A makeshift knight that Nicholas and Xavier used for sword practice. Though they may have forgotten about it, I’ve always remembered. For, I yearned for a loyal knight to come to my rescue.”
Did they die in the massacre? And, if they didn’t, where were they during the attack? Did they escape?
Someone please gve me some insight.
Also, has anyone else noticed what appears to be another secret door between the Library and the Sewing Room in the Orphanage? You can clearly see it in some of the chapters.
Sriously PN, write all of this to the game creators.
Why? Because for once I’d like to see their eyes widen and go “aww man, someone figured it out ;_;”
XDD
Whenever I read your theories, you always get me to nod and go “that makes sense…!”
Comment by Lost Orphan:
Okay, but what about the boys? All that you see during the Jennifer/Stray Dog fight are the clothes that belonged to the girls. Jennifer herself seems to indicate that they weren’t killed during the massacre during the “Once Upon a Time” chapter. This is when she stops at the Bucket Knight in the second floor lavatory.
They were definatly killed. The newspaper article found by Jennifer says that *everyone* was killed, and that Jennifer was the only survivor.
But I’m sure I saw some trousers and a boy’s shirt amongst the clothes. Are you sure it’s only female clothes?
Comment by nakedfish
“If nine other fit and able orphans couldn’t outrun and escape him, somehow I doubt weak Jennifer could. Though I’ll concede she could have hidden”
I always assumed that Gregory still believed Jennifer was Joshua, and refused to kill his son.
Well nakedfish, your right my explanation lacked a bit of realism.
I was thinking she probably was in another room. She might have heard the screams and stayed in that room(the one right before she runs into Gregory) for a while, all the orphans were killed ,save Wendy, in that time span. Wendy locked the orphans, or a good number of them, in a room and Gregory killed them. Part of me guesses some of them probably tried to fight him like Diana and probably Meg. When only Jennifer was left Gregory chased her about, she was fast and was able to get ahead enough to hide somewhere then make it outside. The reason Jennifer probably could have out ran him is because he was on all fours and probably tripped up a few times, .Gregory realizes that Wendy is not his son, his son would never have him kill his friends. He hurts Wendy, fatally, but she makes it outside and apologizes to Jennifer before she dies giving her the gun saying only she could stop him. She can’t shot him and he somehow gets the gun and shots himself.
I’m pretty sure Wendy had taken the gun in the Gingerbread House Chapter…
Though I do agree he didn’t kill the orphans by biting them, part of me for some reason thinks he would have smothered or hit them. I think it’s the whole “Pea” story he told.
Just to throw in something, I don’t believe it’s really impossible for Gregory to have killed the orphans without any weapons. While biting, except, perhaps on the dead bodies ( i.e. He could have savaged the bodies with his teeth. ), is unlikely he could have easily killed them with his bare hands. You have to remember he was a powerfully built adult male. A hard enough blow to the head could kill, or at the very least knock out, any child. As to how he caught the children. They went outside in a group, whomever was in the lead could have been snatched and savaged by Gregory.
The children were pretty sadistic but it was all a game to them, at least that’s what it seemed like, so when one of their own died it could have shocked most of the orphans and drove the others into trying to protect whoever Gregory had in his grasp. In this scenario I could easily see Gregory killing all the orphans. Killing Wendy, who he thought of as his son, is a bit harder to explain, but he wasn’t in his right mind and could have been taken by blood-lust. This makes his guilt stricken state at the end more likely. I’m not sure if Jennifer did or did not give the gun to Gregory but before he kills himself he apologizes to Joshua. I think killing himself was Gregory’s way of apologizing or of following his son into death.
Thanks Elyonum, I went back and replayed the Stray Dog chapter and saw some “boy” clothes lying on the sidewalk. They kind of blend in color wise. I was a little confused after Jennifer’s comments about the Bucket Knight in the lavatory.
Welcome Lost Orphan!
Lost Orphan wrote:
—Jennifer herself seems to indicate that they weren’t killed during the massacre during the “Once Upon a Time” chapter. This is when she stops at the Bucket Knight in the second floor lavatory.
“Bucket Knight … A makeshift knight that Nicholas and Xavier used for sword practice. Though they may have forgotten about it, I’ve always remembered. For, I yearned for a loyal knight to come to my rescue.”—
I can see why you think this sounds like Jennifer is speaking of the boys as if still alive. It is an interesting point that I hadn’t thought about before. But I don’t think that Jennifer’s statement MUST be read to imply that the boys are still alive.
Let me try adding some words to that sentence that Jennifer might be thought to have had in mind, but didn’t actually say, when she made that statement:
“Though they may have… during those last couple of months… forgotten about it (using Bucket Knight for sword practice), I’ve always remembered.”
I think that this might have been what Jennifer’s statement meant to express.
I think that there is some evidence that the use of Bucket Knight for sword practice might have been replaced by the use of something else during those final months: sword practice on bags with small animals inside.
In the Goat Sisters chapter we see a boy using a stick as a sword on a hanging bag. This bag looks a lot like the bags hanging in the Filth Room during the daytime in The Funeral chapter. Those bags squirmed around some… I think that they had small animals inside.
Using a stick like a sword on a hanging bag with a small animal inside might have been the boy’s counterpart to what we saw Diana doing when Jennifer first arrives at the orphanage in The Little Princess chapter: beating an animal in a bag with a stick.
Once the boys started doing this, they might have seemed to have (in Jennifer’s eyes) forgotten about Bucket Knight.
I feel that there is more to this than just how Wendy felt. By the time Stray Dog came to the Orphanage, Jennifer had been in control as a Princess and led the other orphans for some time. She did have the death of Brown to remind her not to back down from something she thought was wrong, if that “memory” is to be believed. Jennifer should have gained a great deal of self-confidence.
I think that Jennifer must have obtained the gun from Wendy, living or dead. Jennifer connects the gun to Wendy strongly in her memories, since she “remembers” Wendy giving it to her (whether or not that is real, it still shows Jennifer’s connection). Also, it is possible to find the gun early in the secret room – the “Prince and Princess” room – making the connection between the gun, Jennifer, and Wendy more powerful.
Is it possible that Wendy did not have the gun during the battle, but had hidden it in the secret room? Is it possible that Jennifer’s delay in coming downstairs was deciding whether or not to bring the gun, regardless of whether or not she had the strength to use it once she got downstairs?
PN blogged this in one of his earlier entries I’m sure, but, the evidence points to the fact that Jennifer had only just become Princess when Wendy came back with Stray Dog. Amanda is just informing Susan of the beatdown before the aristocrats name you Princess. I’m sure PN blogged this somewhere, he can explain it better than I can.
Amaritude wrote:
—By the time Stray Dog came to the Orphanage, Jennifer had been in control as a Princess and led the other orphans for some time.—
nakedfish replied:
—the evidence points to the fact that Jennifer had only just become Princess when Wendy came back with Stray Dog. Amanda is just informing Susan of the beatdown… I’m sure PN blogged this somewhere—
I believe that nakedfish is referring to my post of Oct. 18, The Spontaneity of the Massacre. See near the end of that post for what seems to be evidence that Jennifer’s slapping of Wendy occurred very shortly before the orphanage massacre.
One of the things that I wonder about the massacre is how exactly Gregory did it. Was he really acting like a dog and killed the children like that, in all fours, leaping around like he did in the Stray Dog boss battle? Of course, we have the letter of Martha where she tells about seeing Wendy train him like a dog to back it up, but I still wonder about that. I’ve wondered how much Jennifer’s mind is changing the event… Also, is it just me or does Gregory seem larger in his Stray Dog appearance than he does normally? I guess it partly shows how helpless Jennifer must have felt against him.
I also wonder whether Gregory was out to kill Jennifer as well and if so then what exactly happened to make him change his mind? I guess if he thought at first that Wendy was Joshua and then when he saw Jennifer, or due to something else happening, he might have realized that Wendy was the fake one and killed her or he might have just lost his mind completely (because there were suddenly TWO Joshuas) and gone into a rampage, targeting Jennifer as well. This thought then leads me to the question whether Gregory was acting like a dog during the whole visit to the orphanage or whether he just suddenly went into a rampage like that, changing into his Stray Dog story mode.
“Was he really acting like a dog and killed the children like that, in all fours, leaping around like he did in the Stray Dog boss battle? (…)”
I thought about that as well, but I don’t really see WHY Jennifer would distort the image that way. I might be wrong, but I do not remember any evidence of her knowing either that Wendy was “training” Gregory or that he was the “Stray Dog”. As such, why would she picture him fighting like a dog if that was not how he was actually behaving?
“Also, is it just me or does Gregory seem larger in his Stray Dog appearance than he does normally? I guess it partly shows how helpless Jennifer must have felt against him.”
On that I agree completely.
Also, PN, congratulations, because this series of posts has been one of the better ones you have written yet. Let us hope you will get even better, ja?
Oghma, Jennifer saw the letter Martha had written to the police, saying she had seen them in the garden; Wendy training Gregory like a dog
elyonum wrote:
—Sriously PN, write all of this to the game creators. Why? Because for once I’d like to see their eyes widen and go “aww man, someone figured it out—
I must admit that I’ve had that fantasy… only in it they say: Yay! Somebody bothered to put in the thought and effort to figure it out the story and see how clever we were in writing it!
And I hope that if, one day, some of the game creators DO come to this site, they will find that we have figured things out correctly. To me, figuring out the game correctly means figuring out the backstory that the game’s authors had in mind, and have given us clues about. If we don’t manage to that that, I lose the game. That’s how I feel.
Thus, it does me absolutely no good if, by force of deceptive persuasion, I convince a lot of people to accept my interpretation of the game. If my interpretations don’t match the backstory that the game authors had in mind, I lose. So I try not to be closed minded, or get too attached to any theory.
I would rather find out that I am wrong about something I’ve written, and thereby get the chance to BECOME right, than to just have a lot of people THINK I am right, even though I’m not. This is the philosophy that I try to abide by with this blog.
To be honest, I dont think the “to be ruled by falsehood” clue had ANYTHING to do with Jennifer’s warpped memories. I believe that BK was referring to the falsehood of obeying to a false “order” given by a false “princess”. To me, BK was basically telling her that it was time to stop playing the RCA’s games. Its probably also a plea for Jennifer to not continue with the RCA as their new princess.
That is entirely possible, Maru. It could honestly work either way.
Maru wrote:
—I believe that BK was referring to the falsehood of obeying to a false “order” given by a false “princess”. To me, BK was basically telling her that it was time to stop playing the RCA’s games. Its probably also a plea for Jennifer to not continue with the RCA as their new princess.—
I disagree. Jennifer can’t change the past. That advice from Bucket Knight would ONLY be helpful if Jennifer COULD change the past… which she can’t.
Bucket Knight’s main concerns have been (1) helping Jennifer recover her memories and (2) giving clues to Jennifer which help the player of the Rule of Rose videogame to play the game. I don’t see how the advice, which you propose that BK is intending, by warning Jennifer not to be “ruled by falsehood”, relates to either of these goals.
But if the clue IS related to Jennifer’s need to un-warp her memories, then it fits in with both (1) and (2) above.
How it relates to (1) is self-evident.
It relates to (2) when it comes to the player of the Rule of Rose videogame (and thus Jennifer) figuring out to give the pistol to Gregory rather than trying to defeat him in battle. The player of the videogame should have learned from the newspaper article in the Smoking Room of the airship that Gregory ends up shooting himself after killing the orphans. The player of the videogame should use this “memory” correctly to break out of the normal expectations (i.e. kill the boss) of the boss-battle (which is a warping of her memories—surely Jennifer never battled mano-a-mano with Gregory in her forgotten past) and correctly decide to give the pistol to Gregory so that this memory can be fulfilled (which results in the “good ending” and the clearer and fuller recovery of Jennifer’s true memories).
I suspect the reason that in the dream Wendy makes mention that J needs Brown`s help to defeat Gregory is that in the Dream Wendy is speaking for J`s subconscious. J has gotten strength from the presence of Brown during the game and now her dream allows him to return to give her courage
The BK `s use of the words , “Don`t Be Ruled By Falsehoods ” now seems to me to mean ( using “falsehood” to mean a deliberate distortion of something ) that Jennifer`s subconscous ( BK) is telling her.. don`t be ruled ( that is don`t follow an inclination ) by falsehoods ( Jennifer`s burying of her true past ). The order given to Jennifer ( and the reason why she is here ) as stated by BK seem to be the real life command by Wendy to allow the killing of Brown ( if Brown was not a doll ) to which Jennifer agreed.
Lost Orphan wrote:
I’ve been looking for this, and finally found what I think you are referring to. During the daytime, in “The Funeral” chapter, there are a couple of panels with a color that is distinctly more brown in tone. It does seem to give the impression of a secret door, especially near the top of the panels. I haven’t seen this in other chapters however.
It is quite interesting to look, with the secret door idea in mind, at a map of this area of the orphanage:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/930042/45843
Notice that there is an unaccounted for space between the sewing room and the library which certainly seems as though it could be a secret room. I wonder if there could be a passage behind a bookcase of the library too.
And what, I wonder, might be in the secret room, if there actually is one? Meg’s laboratory?
PokerNemesis wrote:
-Let me try adding some words to that sentence that Jennifer might be thought to have had in mind, but didn’t actually say, when she made that statement:
“Though they may have… during those last couple of months… forgotten about it (using Bucket Knight for sword practice), I’ve always remembered.”-
Thank you for clearing that up, that line confused me a bit quite as well, but the few added words make it more sensible.
I think that’s just a bad choice of words on the localization team’s part though, “May have” refers to a present tense. “Might had” would have been better.