The “Little Soldier’s Barracks” Mystery and the Mystery of the Room with the Boarded Up Door (Part Three)
Posted by PokerNemesis in Clues, MysteriesOn the hallway side of the boarded up door, there is a collection of litter and objects on the floor to the left of the boarded up door.
Pressing “x” as Jennifer stands near this stuff, one gets a close up view and the the subtitle:
There’s all kinds of junk here: broken toys, newspapers, photos, torn up drawings, etc.
Among the items here that would have presumably belonged to Joshua is a teddy bear, a biplane, and a miniature red dress (or uniform?) that appears to match the clothing of one of the “eerie” “soldiers” (the one I thought looked feminine) inside of the boarded up room.
I have hypothesized that Gregory boarded up Joshua’s room because he didn’t want to be tempted to go in there because the memories evoked by Joshua’s room and Joshua’s toys were too painful for him. But does the fact of there being some of Joshua’s toys lying strewn in the hallway outside of the room seriously undermine that hypothesis? Shouldn’t these toys of Joshua’s be hidden away if they are likely to evoke painful memories?
Does this mean that we should look for another hypothesis to explain the boarded up door?
StolenElectronicGoods offered the hypothesis (in a comment to Part 2 of this series of posts): “Perhaps there was a specific event tied to that room.” This seems possible, but shouldn’t there be an additional clue somewhere in the Gingerbread House (presumably in the boarded up room itself) to support this hypothesis?
Can anybody come up with other hypotheses to explain the boarded up door?
~
The only other hypothesis that I recall ever presenting about the boarded up door was connected to an “evil Wendy” theory I once wrote up.
At the time, I was playing around with something I called the “darkest-case-scenario” theory-generating game, and writing hypotheses based on an “evil Wendy” theory.
I proposed that maybe Gregory boarded up the door to Joshua’s room in an attempt to keep the evil “ghost” of Joshua (actually Wendy-as-Joshua) from returning to influence him to do bad things, such as kidnapping and killing kids.
The idea for Wendy being the Joshua of the time of the kidnappings came from the following diary entry by Gregory:
“Thursday, June 19
Clear skies. More weeding. I wanted to take Joshua out with me to the fields, but his coughs were getting worse, so I had him stay in bed.”
(“Gingerbread House”, Study, Gregory’s diary)
Now consider these points:
1. Wendy is generally depicted as coughing whenever we see her in the game (and is the only character in the game shown coughing).
2. Wendy is often shown to us as being bed-ridden.
3. Wendy is shown to us, in the Rule of Rose game, dressed as Joshua to impersonate him.
4. We saw Wendy-as-Joshua, at the beginning of the Unlucky Clover Field chapter of Rule of Rose, threatening to kill Jennifer and sounding rather psychopathic.
Related links:
The “Little Soldier’s Barracks” Mystery and the Mystery of the Room with the Boarded Up Door (Part One)
The “Little Soldier’s Barracks” Mystery and the Mystery of the Room with the Boarded Up Door (Part Two)
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Well… I’ve ended Rule of Rose yesterday… Then I saw the scene of Wendy taking off the disguise of Joshua, but until then I’ve been thinking if the Joshua we see in the game is Wendy or actually Jennifer itself as an image of her, when young… The “kid Jennifer” looks like Joshua in some ways…
This is just off the top of my head,but maybe Gregory gave some of the toys to Jennifer after he found her since he believed she was Joshua.
screamqueen0223 wrote:
…and Jennifer just carelessly left the toys lying in the hallway amongst the litter?
I proposed in other post that MAYBE joshua spent time in other places and blabla (I’m not going to repeat post) But then I’m trying to make something clear. You said that the drawing of the gingerbread house was similar to the orphanage, didn’t you? Well, what if we try to do a comparison like the one we did of orpenage-zepelin, but this time, orphanage-Gregory’s house? We’ll maybe found something interesting about the lonely room of Little soldier’s barracs, and the toys room.
Perhaps the toys that are litter in the halls are not Joshua’s? If Gregory is truely the child killer in the newpapers, maybe they belong to the victims or possible a lure/bait that Gregory used to get the children’s attention in order to kidnap and kill them?
Torn up pictures and litter… Toys that hold memories that are alledgedly supposed to be forgotten/hidden…
A boarded up room…
A spare room in the basement that would work for living quarters…
I’m trying to add these pieces together… using Gregory and Joshua as the glue… and it’s actually causing some interesting stuff…
I’m curious… what do the subtitles actually say in the Japanese version about all this? Because I smell a mix up. And a rather obtuse one at that.
I went back and thought about it and since it is Jennifer’s dream the “Little Soldier’s Barracks,” must have something to do with something she saw/events through her eyes pertaining to the first room, or else we would not see “Little Soldier’s Barracks” in relation to that room. I for one and not willing to let this slide as an “error” because 1) Joshua’s room is OBVIOUSLY a young boy’s room (even on my pathetic little 9 inch screen) and would not necessarily require subtitles as it becomes evident throughout the story who lived with Gregory that Gregory misses so much through documents we find later and Gregory’s own words and actions. 2) Why would Jennifer have thought of Joshua as a little soldier? And why are his barracks boarded up in her eyes? And what in the world does “Little Soldier” have to do with the story that is so important that a room must be called that rather than “Little Boy’s Room,” or “Dirty Room,” or “Empty Room?” Little Soldier has to be telling us something that the others don’t.
The box also drew me towards the fairytale idea that I discussed earlier in another thread (about connecting Jennifer with the orphanage or something) The “black goblin” from “Brave Tin Soldier” (Hans Christian Anderson; man who wrote “The Little Mermaid,” also referrenced in this game) lived in a box… which seems to be one of the prevailing elements of that empty room before you go out on the roof. Also, in the story, the Little Soldier falls out the window. Where do we go in this room? Out the window. Then, through an odd twist of fate, the Tin Soldier returns to see his beloved again. Back in the window. Maybe I’m the only one who sees the connection… but I think it’s no accident.
As for the spare living quarters in the basement….
Back then it was not uncommon to have a root cellar. I’m wondering if maybe that’s where Gregory moved the bed and such too. Kind of the idea of “Keeping the Peas fresh?” …you DO stick VEGTABLES in the ROOT CELLAR… which is in the basement/is the basement.
I’m having a difficult time coming up with ways to connect these pieces of information.
I like the connection to the Brave Tin Soldier, but what clues does that give us? And Gregory kept Jennifer and the body/clothes of Joshua in the cellar, which I don’t think were considered peas. Joshua was his son, who was fed peas, and Jennifer was kept for much longer (around 7 months) than any of the “vegetables” were. So I’m still not sure about the room in the basement.
Perhaps we should compile a list of everything we know about Gregory and his son? If we have it all in front of us, maybe it will become more clear.
There are a lot of difficult clues to fit together in “The Gingerbread House” chapter, which is why I have focused most of my blog-posts on other chapters up until now. And there are a lot more difficulties to come.
As I said in the “Ninth Month-iversary!” blog-post: “This coming month will see me bringing up mysteries in the Rule of Rose game that have really stumped me.”
I like the connection as well. However, I have been considering maybe it supports the “Wendy knew/loved Joshua before” theory as well. Like many things in the Rule of Rose, it may support a double meaning.
I don’t necessarily LIKE having Joshua be more important than Gregory in this chapter, but we must accept that Jennifer would probably look for information on her captor (in her dream) here, hence exploring the rooms. Her captor in her dream isn’t Gregory, but Joshua.
Going back and reading that… it might not make a hell of a lot of sense, but it did when I wrote it… ^^() I was kind of leaning towards the fact that this place would be where the name “Joshua” was most familar from, since she’s regaining her memories, hence the exploration we go through may be her sifting through what she knows of Joshua.
Considering the other Peas were “going bad” and had to be gotten rid of, it might not be THAT unusual for Jennifer to have spent so long down there. Also, you must take into account Gregory’s own “Stray Dog and the Peas” story.
“On Wednesday, he shows the pea to his son.”
The optimal place for Joshua to see peas is in the…?
Apologies for the double post but I was thinking about something and something in my addled brain thinks it may be in some way connected to this chapter.
In the Final Battle with Stray Dog, where Gregory is starting to act like Gregory again, he says something that seemed rather cliche and I over looked it but thinking on it, I have a few questions and would like some opinions.
“I’m sorry, Joshua.” “Yes.”
He says these things to himself. The last one seems to be a reassurance of his suicide.
The “I’m sorry, Joshua,” has me puzzled. To whom is he referring?
Jennifer as Joshua?
Wendy as Joshua?
or the Real Joshua?
Did Gregory do something bad that caused Joshua’s death? Is this just his way of apologizing to Jennifer for all he’s done and all the trouble he’s caused? Is he saying he’s sorry for killing Wendy and disobeying her? Is it a combination of the above?
Then the way he says, “Yes…” with a kind of smile on his face… Did Joshua forgive him and that caused that smile? Or does he believe this will make things better? (a life for a life?) When he holds out his hands and Jennifer hands him the gun, we can assume that her handing him the gun COULD be taken as a, “You’re forgiven,” But that seems an awefully hard forgiveness… and he seems to look at/mess with the gun for a moment before accepting his fate at his own hands.
Well… sorry for the rant… just figured this may tie in with the, “Something bad happened in that room,” senario.
…nevermind… I just finished the game for the first time and in reading the other post I had an answer for my question.
yea,i was also confused with gregory.he said yes, ,with a patethic smile 0n his face.what does it mean,or maybe he was crazy?he looks happy,does he?
I believe that Gregory was saying sorry to the real Joshua. It was likely he was sorry that he didn’t have enough money for Joshua to be taken to the doctor and may have resulted in him blaming himself. Another thought, Gregory was planning to commit suicide a long time ago before Wendy took his gun. Maybe Gregory is saying sorry to Joshua because he couldn’t join him sooner, or because he was fooled into believing that Wendy was Joshua even though he knew Joshua would never tell him to do such things.
Oh, and Masq, a lot of people believe that by giving the gun to Gregory, Jennifer accepts her memories for what they are instead of just shooting him. Although I believe this is not true. I think Jennifer actually does forgive him. Instead of trying to kill Gregory out of fear, she forgives him by letting him do what he was set out to do in the first place; kill himself.
Some may see it that way.
As I said. It seems a hard way to forgive someone.
But, despite all you’ve said, much of it I have thought of before, it doesn’t really give me answers.
I still find it wonderous that in two simple lines we are both resolved and yet completely disillusioned…
After all… what is “real Joshua” to Gregory? Where does real end and fantasy begin for him? They say reality is all in your own perception of events… I wonder what exactly Gregory was thinking when he said his climactic few sylables.
I really, really like the Steadfast Tin Soldier ideas.
From wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Steadfast_Tin_Soldier
On his birthday, a boy receives a set of tin soldiers and arrays them on a table top. One soldier stands on a single leg as there wasn’t enough metal that was used to cast the set of soldiers to fully form him. Nearby, he spies a lovely paper ballerina with a spangle on her sash. She too is standing on one leg and the soldier falls in love. That night, a troll, a “black bogey” in the form of a Jack-in-the-box among the toys angrily warns the soldier to avert his ardent gaze from the ballerina, but the soldier ignores him. The next day, the soldier falls from a windowsill (presumably the work of the troll) and lands in the street. Two boys find the soldier, place him in a paper boat, and set him sailing in the gutter. The boat and its passenger wash into a sewer, where a rat demands the soldier pay a toll. Sailing on, the boat is washed into a canal, where the tin solder is swallowed by a fish. When the fish is caught and cut open, the tin solder finds himself once again on the table top before the ballerina. Inexplicably, a boy suddenly throws the tin soldier into the fire in the stove. A draught blows the ballerina into the fire with him, and she is consumed at once; only her spangle remains. The maid later discovers the tin soldier has melted into the shape of a heart.
For some reason, I can picture the “boy receiving the tin soldiers” as Gregory, the lone toy soldier as Jennifer, and the ballerina as Wendy [which compliments their Prince/Princess gender roles in the game].
The soldier (Jennifer) and the ballerina (Wendy) “fall in love”.
The soldier ends up leaving via falling through the window.
Later, the “rat demands the soldier pay a toll” reminds me of the monthly offerings demanded by the Aristocrats (not to mention Diana having “rat” associations, as well as that drawn on the bag she was wearing in “The Little Princess” chapter.
The fish being gutted reminds me of Clara in the boss-fight (as well as Diana and her fish associations).
The ballerina (Wendy) and the tin soldier (Jennifer) are later reunited (Jennifer leaves Gregory [where she first meets Wendy], and is “reunited” with Wendy at the orphanage.)
It could work a couple of different ways. There’s that one, of course, that you mentioned. It works fairly well.
I was thinking along the lines of Gregory being the Tin Soldier.
http://hca.gilead.org.il/tin_sold.html
That is Hans Christian Anderson’s Tin Soldier story. I think it kind of points to Gregory as the tin soldier.
To quote what I said in July:
If you read the story, the little tin soldier is missing his leg. I thought this might be like Gregory missing Joshua, as he was almost more attached to him than one of his limbs. Also, the tin soldier becomes infatuated with a young girl who also seems to be missing her leg. although he is mistaken about it, he loves her anyway. (the Ballerina doll) Which I thought might be similar to Jennifer’s lack of parents when she meets Gregory. Gregory says to himself, “Joshua… you’ve returned to me…” and loves Jennifer as Joshua, who in return learns to love him.
In this story, however, there is also a morale that reminds me not only of Gregory but of Wendy as well.
I sort of “translated” what the goblin said; “…what does not belong to you…” as the children Gregory was stealing.
Here I have important peices of this bolded, if you’re interested.
http://ruleofrosemysteries.com/2008/07/16/mysteries/did-anyone-know-before-the-orphanage-massacre-to-connect-jennifer-to-the-airship-crash/
Joshua must’ve died in that room. That would explain why the toys are ‘waiting’.
I notice you didn’t cover another item you are able to look at in the boarded up room.
I don’t remember the scene exactly,but if you examine the airship on the ground in that room,there is a bit of writing about it,and you watch it scoot along the floor and crash into a bus. The comment ended with something about Jennifer’s feelings.
Contining from Cherri’s post…
“A draught blows the ballerina into the fire with him, and she is consumed at once; only her spangle remains. The maid later discovers the tin soldier has melted into the shape of a heart.”
Wendy, who is represented by the balerina, dies (is completely incinerated), and nothing remains but Jennifer’s memory (spangle). Also, more obvious than the last, Jennifer still lives, and keeps the memory in her heart (like the tin one).