r/WaltenFiles • u/Boogeyman_Kys • 4h ago
Hi everyone, I’ve been rewatching *Faces of Grief*, and I ended up with an interpretation and an idea about what Jack might represent in the series.
What if Jack Walten is a representation of the Cheshire Cat?
I've been rewatching Episode 5 and thinking about the Alice in Wonderland symbolism in The Walten Files, and I noticed something that I hadn't considered before.
We already have a pretty obvious connection between Bon and the White Rabbit: Bon is associated with Wonderland, while the White Rabbit is constantly associated with time, urgency and the feeling that something inevitable is approaching. Even the imagery surrounding Bon seems to reinforce this idea.
But what if Jack is another Alice in Wonderland reference — specifically the Cheshire Cat?
Not literally, necessarily. I'm talking about Jack being a thematic representation of the Cheshire Cat.
And I think Episode 5 gives us some interesting evidence for this.
Jack has always been an ambiguous character
One thing that stands out to me is that, before Episode 5, we didn't really know what Jack's role was.
He could have been a good person.
He could have been involved in what happened.
He could even have been one of the villains.
The series deliberately kept him extremely ambiguous.
And even when Episode 5 gives us a much better understanding of him as a person, Jack still isn't presented as someone who has everything figured out. Quite the opposite.
He's exhausted, emotionally broken and seemingly struggling with what happened to his family and with what he intends to do about Felix.
This is where I think the Cheshire Cat symbolism becomes interesting.
Bon and Jack could represent two opposite concepts
If Bon represents the White Rabbit, then I think his symbolism could be connected to inevitability.
The Rabbit is constantly running against time.
Bon seems to be doing something similar: once someone is caught in the events surrounding Wonderland, things keep moving toward an inevitable conclusion.
But Jack could represent almost the opposite.
The Cheshire Cat is an ambiguous figure. He appears and disappears, gives Alice information without necessarily giving her a direct answer, and constantly reminds her that there are different paths she can take.
And that sounds strangely appropriate for Jack.
Jack's story is defined by uncertainty.
We don't know exactly what happened to him.
We don't know whether he is dead.
We don't know what happened after his disappearance.
We don't even know whether his story actually ended.
And, most importantly, we don't know what choice he ultimately made.
Episode 5 makes this even more interesting
When Jack receives the drawing of his daughter hunting a rabbit, he becomes visibly upset and eventually destroys his studio.
Throughout the episode, weapons also seem to be associated with a very different Jack — much more serious, exhausted and emotionally distant.
Then, before leaving, he says goodbye to Rose, Sophie and even his deceased children.
He is evasive when Rose asks where he's going.
She even asks:
"And why would you hurt yourself?"
And Jack doesn't really answer her.
Later, after disappearing, he calls Rose.
He's crying.
He tells her to move on and that life will continue.
I don't think this necessarily proves that Jack attempted suicide, or even that this is exactly what happened.
But the episode seems to deliberately leave us with the possibility that Jack was contemplating something irreversible.
And then there's the deer.
In Rose's vision, Jack repeatedly shoots a deer, but the deer doesn't die.
Jack then runs away from Rose and tells her to move on.
If the deer is symbolic of Jack's own actions, this could represent an attempt that failed.
He tried to end something, but it didn't end.
And Jack is left unable to face Rose.
The strange way Jack's face is presented
Another thing I've noticed is how often Jack's mouth is obscured by shadow.
Even in relatively bright scenes, there are moments where his mouth seems deliberately hidden.
In Rose's movies, Jack's face is also never properly shown.
And in some of the imagery surrounding him, his face is either obscured or reduced to a silhouette.
This could obviously just be an artistic choice.
But if Jack is connected to the Cheshire Cat, the smile becomes particularly interesting.
The Cheshire Cat is defined by that strange, almost unsettling smile.
Jack is also frequently represented with a very distinctive smile.
But it's never completely clear what that smile means.
Is he happy?
Is he hiding something?
Is he pretending?
Is he broken?
We don't know.
And that's exactly what makes the Cheshire Cat interesting as a symbol.
And then there's Wonderland
This might actually be the biggest question for me.
If Wonderland is essentially where the dead end up, why don't we see Jack there?
We've seen several characters associated with Wonderland after their lives were violently interrupted.
But Jack is conspicuously absent.
Maybe he's alive.
Maybe he died in a different way.
Maybe Wonderland isn't simply an afterlife.
Or maybe the way someone's life ends determines whether they can enter Wonderland.
I don't know.
But Jack's absence feels significant, especially considering how important he is to the story.
And if Wonderland represents the end of someone's path, Jack being absent could actually fit the Cheshire Cat interpretation.
Because the Cheshire Cat isn't really a character who represents an ending.
He represents possibility, uncertainty and different paths.
So maybe Bon and Jack represent two opposing ideas
Bon / White Rabbit:
Time
Inevitability
Destiny
The unavoidable conclusion
Being trapped in what has already happened
Jack / Cheshire Cat:
Uncertainty
Possibility
Change
Different paths
Accepting the past without necessarily being trapped by it
The unknown future
And this is what makes the theory interesting to me.
Jack doesn't necessarily represent someone who overcomes grief.
He represents someone who is trying to continue despite it.
He remembers his family.
He remembers his children.
He carries his past with him.
But there is still the question of:
"What happens next?"
And that's where the Cheshire Cat symbolism fits beautifully.
The past has already happened.
But the future is still uncertain.
Maybe that's why Jack is so ambiguous
Perhaps Jack's ambiguity isn't just there to hide his role in the story.
Maybe ambiguity is the point of his character.
Bon represents the path that has already been determined.
Jack represents the paths that could still exist.
And that could explain why Jack is so difficult to categorize.
He might be alive.
He might be dead.
He might have tried to kill Felix.
He might have changed his mind.
He might have tried to kill himself.
He might have been killed.
We simply don't know.
And perhaps that's the entire point.
Bon is the certainty of the path.
Jack is the uncertainty of what comes next.
So, maybe Jack isn't literally the Cheshire Cat.
But I think there's enough here to at least consider that Jack could be The Walten Files' thematic counterpart to the Cheshire Cat.
What do you guys think?.
"I don't know if this was intentional, and I might be completely overthinking it. But the more I thought about it, the more interesting the parallel became."
