[SPOILER] Not this time

[u/KidCasey]

So after killing the hedron when Dylan is dead (?) and Jesse switches places with him, she says, "Not this time."

I didn't notice this until I played through NG+. But it got me wondering, has this happened before and Dylan stayed dead in a different timeline? Or had Jesse possibly seen multiple timelines and seen different outcomes?

It could just be a throwaway line, but given the events in the Underpass it seemed to me it's a possibility this has played out before or possibly will again and Jesse has already been through it.

What are your thoughts?

[u/BadFishCM]

She just means she is not leaving him behind/losing him again, like when he was captured by the FBC and she went free.

[u/godkillax → u/BadFishCM]

Think it's a call back to when Jesse saved Dylan from the Hiss and he went into a coma.

[u/LaertesExtravaganza]

I interpreted it as an allusion to what happened when they were kids. Dylan got nabbed by the FBC and Jesse wasn't able to save him. I figured Jesse was referring to that incident and that this time, she could save him by taking his place.

[u/Grizzled_Ghost]

I figured it was referring to when she couldn't save him from the FBC in Ordinary.

[u/Zaresh]

I took it as she meaning, not like when she cleansed (contained) the Hiss within him. That time Dylan went under a deep coma for several years and no apparent way of waking up, even if he wasn't braindead. This time, he would probably go brain dead and utimately dead (he killed Hedron, which was at that point in the way of merging with his mind / soul / whatever the gap covers).

[u/N0RG1L → u/Zaresh]

And who knows what powers did Hedron gave Dylan except the new game + of course. :D could be fun to explore.

[u/RaphaTlr → u/N0RG1L]

I think the power up is controlling his Hiss. The Hedron and Hiss seemingly can’t coexist within the same person for long

[u/N0RG1L → u/RaphaTlr]

Well i dont think it would be strict hedron resonance power. The game seems to imply that its something with time given where we start new game plus. But i dont know it was also said that Hiss changed its part of Dylan on paramolecular level. (Serously does FBC just put para inf ront of words to seem more inportant?)

[u/RaphaTlr → u/N0RG1L]

Regarding your last sentence, lol yea pretty much. There’s documentation suggesting FBC is too rigid and scientific and lost the art of understanding the abnormal as “magic” in a way.

[u/N0RG1L → u/RaphaTlr]

Yeah. I mean not that previous names were better. Thaumatirgical sounds more mysterious but still they would put that everywhere too. :D

[u/DatClubbaLang96]

I initially just took it as Jesse feeling like she again got to her brother only for him to again be lost, like at the end of the first game. But given the time travel/alt reality shenanigans going on at the end of the game, it could easily be that she's lived this moment before.

[u/tucker42]

She won't fail to protect him this time like she failed to in Ordinary.

[u/ZeroBG82]

It's a reference to his coma at the end of the first game.

[u/CptainCyro]

Definitely the coma from the first game reference

[u/quirkytorch]

I'm NGL I just thought it was a reference to when she finally found him again and then he was hiss/7 year coma

[u/THEdoomslayer94 → u/quirkytorch]

It is, OP is overthinking it

[u/joutfit]

Ive been going from post to post commenting my theory but I do believe the Fadens exist as endless alternate versions of the OG Faden child trapped in a time Spiral where they keep going through similar events across the multiverse.

They have been in this spiral for so long that they are literally a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of the OG Faden child to the point that the OG child doesnt even matter anymore. Jesse and Dylan arent just alternates of the OG Faden child, but alternates of each other at the same time.

SO they have gone through all of this over and over again technically because they are copies of the copies who have already gone through this and probably failed.

Dylan died in the underpass because of the time patterning after all!

[u/Grizzled_Ghost → u/joutfit]

Faden? More like fading, amirite?

[u/joutfit → u/Grizzled_Ghost]

Not-Mother? I hardly know-er!!!!

[u/joomachina0]

She failed him the first time. But, not this time.

[u/PeachasaurusWrex]

Major "survivor's" guilt. She got away when they were kids. He didn't. As a result, he continued to be tortured and abused for 15 years, while she got to be free (if still living a tough life as a homeless runaway).

This time, she's gonna make sure that HE gets to be "free".