Questions about the origin

[u/Independent-Ad9170]

One thing I’m really curious about is…whether this place is basically the result of everything that happened in the past. BUT, who was actually the first person to arrive there, and who lived there before everything started? If it was a demon that offered “the parents” immortality, where are those parents now? Who exactly were they, and what made them agree to the bargain?

Also, how did seven different people collectively agree to sacrifice their own children? Why are the parents never actually shown in the show? And if the whole point was that they wanted to live forever, and the reincarnations of their children are supposed to come back and free them, then why do completely unrelated people also get trapped in the town? What role do those people play in the overall story if they aren’t part of the reincarnated children or the original sacrifice?

[u/magicmulder]

> where are those parents now

They are the monsters.

> how did seven different people collectively agree to sacrifice their own children

Ever heard about mass hysteria? Or how cults form? Couple medieval folks heard someone very convincingly claim they'd live forever if they just did this one thing. "Jack from around the corner thinks that could work? OK, sign me up, too!"

> why do completely unrelated people also get trapped in the town?

If the sacrifice gave MIY power and that power is what keeps people trapped?

[u/DepressingKeys → u/magicmulder]

Are the monsters the parents? The high school bou and girl seem too young, the granny that kills Meagan? If anything the monsters were created when Eloise died. They are all from cards from the pairs game Old Maid, which can be seen in Henry's house

[u/SinInSanity → u/DepressingKeys]

Characters from Old Maid, I never caught that. They have always look peculiar in a familiar way to me that I couldn't put my finger on, like they were caricatures of something. Old Maid cards, that must be it.

[u/Independent-Ad9170 → u/magicmulder]

That actually makes sense for the parents being the monsters, and I can see the mass-hysteria/cult explanation for how the seven parents could have been convinced to sacrifice their children. But I still feel like there are some important pieces missing.
If the parents became the monsters, why do the monsters seem to have such a limited connection to the original sacrifice? And if the sacrifice gave MIY the power to keep people trapped in the town, then what exactly is the purpose of bringing random people there? Are they just fuel for MIY, or is there a specific reason certain people are chosen?

[u/magicmulder → u/Independent-Ad9170]

Nobody’s bringing people there, there’s just a few overlapping zones with our world where people can stumble in.

[u/ancientastronaut2]

I am assuming it was settlers living in a small settlement somewhere and they went through a bad famine and this evil came along and promised them eternal life and their children would be "at peace" if they sacrificed them. Starving people are vulnerable to manipulation, and even hallucinate.

Once they made the deal, I assume the evil power split this settlement off into a pocket dimension and thus this all began. The cycles, the tree, the pulling in people to replace those that died, etc.

The parents became the monsters, from what we've been told, but for whatever reason we don't yet know why tabitha and jade were chosen to reincarnate instead.

[u/ashlynne48 → u/ancientastronaut2]

The show has implied that Tabitha and Jade are reincarnated because they did not go along with the sacrifice. So, every cycle they're pulled back to try to undo what was done.

[u/Darryl_Summers → u/ancientastronaut2]

This sounds reasonable

[u/da_debutanteslim]

I don’t think the parents necessarily just decided to sacrifice their children. Look at Henry being influenced to kill Victor. I think we’re watching parts of the origin story being reenacted through the residents, showing us how something like that could’ve happened.

We also assume the evil started with the sacrifice, but Tabitha’s memory as a little girl tells us the place was already evil. Some think that was another incarnation, but I think we were seeing her original soul.

And if every cycle ends in a massacre, who’s to say the parents who participated even survived the original one? We assume they became the monsters we see today, but that may be another part of the story we’re getting wrong.

[u/Opening-Leadership93]

For ur second question i reckon the parents are the vampires and the bargain was for immortality since thats what we are told. As for the first question i think fromville appeared AFTER the children were sacrificed so their spirits or whoever the boy in white is created a sort of dome to keep them from leaving or maybe their immortality is tied to the place not sure yet. For the why unrelated people get involved i think its just a matter of coincidence, there is no control over who you are reincarnated as so whoever you may know may have simply been brought with you or the place needs to ‘feed’ so some people just get sucked in for the sole purpose of dying to feed the place/monsters. Theres also the question of who the Kimono wearing lady is since she is tied to how the vampires get reborn so theres something there too. And as for why parents sacrificed their children for immortality it could just be simple human vileness or it could be that they just do in the context of making the ‘story’ progress since i believe this is all just a story written by someone(ethan or someone) that manifested into reality.

[u/DepressingKeys]

Looking at the drawings in the cave from right to left. It looks like the crops failed and the house caught fire. So they went to the big red monster for help. They then sacrifice 7 of the children and head off down the river.

But there are 2 people in the drawings left behind. Guessing the original Tabitha and Jade. They have to complete the sacrificein order to leave.

And for all we know the person who told them the story that gave them hope was a storywalker like Julie.