The First Generation: The Origins of the Lost Tapes and Neutral Perks
Quick note. Everything I'm about to say is pretty loose theory. There's no hard evidence nor confirmation to confirm this, but I still think it's an interesting idea regardless.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
As of right now, there are eight survivor perks known as the "Lost Tapes" perks. Each of these perks includes a quote from an unknown voice, presumably a survivor. The eight perks include:
- Dark Sense ("Take it from an old-timer: Slow down, don't rush and try not to worry so much! The best way to beat him is to know how he thinks." — Murf, The Lost Tapes)
- Hope ("Buckle up, fuckos! Let's roll." — Nikki, The Lost Tapes)
- Kindred ("Be kind to one another. We're all in this together." — Sujan, The Lost Tapes)
- Lightweight ("Take it slow, he knows where you've been... just like I've always said: 'live slow and die old'" — Dylan, The Lost Tapes)
- No One Left Behind ("... yeah, no #########. But I believe we can outsmart and overthrow him if we work together. Don't be predictable and selfish!" — Clyde, The Lost Tapes)
- Plunderer's Instinct ("The pioneers used to loot these babies for hours." — Aizeyu, The Lost Tapes)
- Small Game ("Nope." — Andy, The Lost Tapes)
- Spine Chill ("There is a voice that doesn't use words. Listen.." — Sassy, The Lost Tapes)
Overall, there are 14 neutral survivor perks. Outside of the eight already mentioned, the six other perks are:
- Déjà vu
- Premonition
- Resilience
- Slippery Meat
- This Is Not Happening
- We'll Make It
So, overall, we have fourteen perks of unknown origin, and eight unknown characters that are all related in some way. That's everything we know for sure. Everything else is theory.
THEORY:
As of right now, there is only one way to get perks into the bloodweb outside of the neutral perks. They need to be obtained from leveling up survivors and buying their teachables. So where did the neutral perks come from then? The ones you can get from the start of the game, there's no real explanation for why they're there. It could just be passed off as gameplay reasons, but there's something else important to note. Quotes from these characters are in the descriptions of these perks, right? That's not unusual, because we've seen it before. For example, let's use We're Gonna Live Forever from David King. It's description reads:
- "Come on then, let's 'ave it! I don't give a ######### pal." — David King
It all makes sense. David's quote belongs on David's perk. As in, the owner of the perk would be the one to have a quote put into its description. Do you see my point?
These neutral perks BELONG to the Lost Survivors. In theory, if they were in the game, you could buy Dark Sense off of Murf, Hope off of Nikki, etc..
In one way or another, these survivors got their perks into the global bloodweb. They probably would have had to do this by going through their own bloodwebs up until level 30, 35, and/or 40. These were veteran survivors, at least from a canonical perspective. They were around long before our current crew of nineteen. These survivors were the first generation. We simply play a later one.
This raises a couple more questions.
- What about the other six perks? Who do they belong to?
- Where is the first generation now?
We can answer the first one pretty reliably, but the second one leads to a few options. Let's lead with the first question, who do the six other neutral perks belong to?
This is pretty easy, because we get some good insight on the owners of the perks given the quotes and utility of their perks. I've made a quick description of each Lost Survivor as far as I can tell.
- Murf: Owner of Dark Sense. Old, relaxed, and likes to be ten steps ahead of his opponent. His idea of good strategy is to get in the enemy's head. He does this by paying close attention to the killer, studying them, and acting from there.
- Nikki: Owner of Hope. Bold, cocky, and headstrong. She bases herself off of confidence and willpower, and probably isn't afraid to put herself in a dangerous position. All she needs to do is give herself a little pick-me-up in said dangerous positions.
- Sujan: Owner of Kindred. Empathetic, caring, and a team player. They depend on their team, but also wants to give them that extra push in the right direction to get the job done.
- Dylan: Owner of Lightweight. Blunt, experienced, and vague. Dylan isn't afraid to slip into the shadows at a moment's notice, and is probably more interested in his own survival than that of his comrades.
- Clyde: Owner of No One Left Behind. Heroic with a strong moral code, willing to sacrifice himself for his team, and probably the most naive of the group. Clyde is someone who values his team over himself, and makes sure that they make it out in one piece, no matter the cost.
- Aizeyu: Owner of Plunderer's Instinct. Resourceful, knowledgeable, and a great scavenger. They use whatever is around them to get the job done, even if someone with an unskilled eye might look over it.
- Andy: Owner of Small Game. Whether he's funny or anxious, Andy is most interested in denying the killer of their advantages.
- Sassy: Owner of Spine Chill. Aware of her surroundings, resilient, and very accustomed to her new realm. Sassy uses her surroundings to gain information on the killer, and edges herself to push a bit harder in moments of stress.
So, given these characters' personalities, let's start pinning some perks to them.
- Déjà vu - (Aizeyu, Andy, or Sassy.)
- Premonition - (Murf, Dylan, Aizeyu, or Sassy.)
- Resilience - (Nikki or Sassy.)
- Slippery Meat - (Dylan or Andy.)
- This is Not Happening - (Nikki or Sassy.)
- We'll Make It - (Sujan or Clyde)
That still leaves us with one question, though. Where are they now? There are a few options. They could all have been wiped out in one way or another, they could still be in the entity's realm separate from the current 19, etc.. But there's one idea that I find most interesting.
They escaped.
Comments
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Probably the best theory I've read so far. Probs man, I hope you are right :D
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Great idea, I hadn't thought about it.
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Really interesting theory. But what about these "Lost tapes"?
Are there any hidden tapes around the maps? Maybe are they related to the golden toolboxes maybe?
Maybe those golden toolboxes belonged to them and they hid some tapes in there.
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They could also be in the void.
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They could be still in the entity realm playing the trials, or they could be in the void after died many times
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Another idea I hadn't really considered before. A lot of people have pointed this out to me on Reddit, actually. And yes, unfortunately, I agree with them. As much as I want the First Generation to have found the way out, it's not realistic.
With that being said... We can give them a little bit of hope, can't we? Only thing to do is wait and see.
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My own thought is that survivors share and talk about their 'abilities', like for example Claudette could tell the others how to heal themselves or what they can use to speed up the heal process.
I always assumed that the lost tapes got recorded by past survivors (or by survivors who still are in the realm but not playable) to pass on useful tips ('abilities').
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Actually, given that Baker mentions the bloodweb itself in his journals, I think that it's a canonical thing, as in something the survivors interact with in the same way that we do. How perks fit into it, I'm not sure. But in one way or another, survivors can put their abilities onto the bloodweb. Obtaining them is the only part we understand.
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I hope we will get to know about that more in the archives.
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I second this. Super, SUPER excited for those to come out.
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As of right now I don't believe there's a way they could have escaped, until the lore is expanded upon with the upcoming updates.
To me, a far worse fate probably came upon them. There's a sub-realm in the Entity's realm known as the "Void", where the souls of survivors who have lost all their hope are stored, now being useless to the Entity. This is a far more realistic ending to them, unfortunately.
However! There's also the chance they're still alive and kicking, still facing off against the Entity's killers. It's confirmed Vigo is still alive (I think it was him at least?) in the Hallowed Blight event's cut-scenes, so its not too far off.
The lore will be heavily expanded upon in the Archives though, so things will get a hella lot more interesting soon...
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Even though you wrote this theory a year ago I wanted to add a little bonus mini theory:
Maybe the first generation of survivors (or at least this group) was possibly these survivors from the launch trailer:
Even though it's not the same amount of survivors as there are the perks you've listed it's been said by the devs that the nurse has been in the Entity realm the longest out of all killers, maybe the trapper was here when this group of survivors came along or at least he's encountering them again. In this time.
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I also wonder... Maybe a perk loses its quote(or echos of that person to be dramatic) once they go hollow and get sent to The Void. Maybe the fact each of those characters still has a single quote attached to perks means they're out there, deeper in the realm, and on the edge of losing all hope and perhaps they can still be saved? I wonder if Baker or Vigo knows them?
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I read somewhere that originally Claudette was white and Meg black. Could be that the launch trailer was made when that was still the case but I like your theory better
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Bump for more theories. #########'s getting good.
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A really solid theory, and i hope the devs are going to let us dig deeper in the role
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That first survivor pictured is one of my favorite character models and I really REALLY wish she was an ingame survivor. I wonder who she is..
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What if the reference to "the pioneers" in plunderers implies there were even more survivors before our cast? There could be a whole civilization somewhere inside the entities realm for all we know.
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Well they might've escaped or lost all hope and now in the void or probably the observer (the guy in the archives) is murf dunno he seems like a smart old man. I think the only one who REALLY escaped is andy since he probably found a way to escape and didnt tell the others
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Also, when these quotes refer to 'he' do they talk about a killer or the Entity?
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While the entity keeps getting changed loretically now and then, it's always been officially refered to as either a "she" or "it" so its most likely a killer
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well, the 'she' comes from french grammar and its lack of a neutral form for stuff like this. maybe the survivors could have perceived it as a 'he' for a reason?
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Doubtful. The entity was considered genderless (hell, i cant remember if the entity was nothing more that large insect arms back then) since the start. Both the lines also more refer to killer anyway (The killers can see scratch marks, and the entity has proved unconquerable (unless my theory is right) wheras a killer can be beaten.)
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This is by far one the best theories I've read so far out there, and I was doing my own research for these perks. And a sad possibility from your theory of the first generation of survivors is that they are most likely to have gone to the Void. My only evidence of this is a quote from The Observer in Tome 2
"Several Survivors went mad trying to escape the trial. They had with them memories of previous incarnations so that one Survivor began dashing his head against a wall convinced he was reliving a nightmare he had just escaped. The other Survivors drowned him in mud to shut him up. It seems to me Survivors are torches growing dimmer and dimmer with every trial. Some stop to feel altogether and are doomed to The Void. Others go raving mad and need to be silenced by others."
Although it falls apart when there are 8 survivors instead of 7 as stated here, but #########, thinking about this is crazy when a puzzle piece is missing its chip and ruins the whole picture.
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The question then is:
has the entity meanwhile allowed survivors and killers to retain memories of previous trials? I know the tome and older statements say (mostly) know, but I'd think it'd make more sense with the whole 'getting their hopes up' idea to have survivors retain (at least parts of) knowledge about the killers the face and the maps they go onto.
So, does the entity allow survivors their memories... or is it maybe even by accident or someone else's doing?
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I feel like they do retain some part of their memories given that Déjà vu is a perk that has no real quote from a survivor. I think they all developed a sense of recollection when in a trial. With the perks that don't have a quote connected them you can actually make a story with just the names of said perks.
The survivors when they first start a trial are in shock and are overwhelmed by a feeling of dread (This is Not Happening). Their next trial is when they feel like they've been here before (Déjà vu). After a couple of other trials with failing each time they have developed a sense of knowing where the killer is or when he's approaching almost like a gut feeling (Premonition). They know what he plans and what he does, he hides his traps and it's not the first time they've been caught in one. Getting caught in one meant the demise of everything they worked hard for in trying to escape, although they've been caught in so many they know how to get out quicker than last time (Slippery Meat). They have to relive this nightmare every time they don't make it, and they were so close last time. They know what to do and know how quick they can be if they put their mind to it (Resilience). With freedom on the horizon they know they'll make it. (We'll Make It)
Of course once they do make it out that's when things go down hill. They can never leave and they start to go mad and lose hope. But hEY THAT'S JUST A THEORY.
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I don't think that's the case since if it's really like that meg shouldn't have the quick & quiet perk like for example the survivors tried to fast vault and the killer caught them that's how they learned to not make noise and take streetwise they learned how to get the most out of their tools
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Well since this was necro'ed again for some reason, I'll say I too really really like this theory.
And it can still hold true more than a year later in December 2020 as far as we know.
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Yeah.. still here.. 3 years later
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Soon when
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11 tomes later..
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It is heavily insinuated in the lore that the Entity takes a piece of survivors when they die, and that there appears to be a finite amount that survivors can take before they lose their spark and become useless.
From reading the lore, it sounds that - eventually - survivors lose their fighting spirit - that semblance of hope and workmanship. Because of this, as the Entity feeds on these aspects of humanity - their souls wither and wane until they become a numb husk that is incapable of feeling fear, incapable of feeling tension or joy. At these points, they are diluted beyond the Entity's ability to feed off of them, and are no longer useful.
My wife and I talked about this a lot and came to a singular conclusion:
There is a way that any survivor can escape the trial, any one of the survivors can either be banished - or finally allowed to die as the Entity refuses to replicate and resurrect them for eternity.
Death is not an escape.
Life is the escape.
What do all survivors have in common? They fight tooth and nail against the forces of darkness, and absolutely will not conform to the deathly nature of the world around them. To their dying breath - they kick and scream and struggle. They resist the terminal of their life.
What is the opposite of this? To give in, to conform and accept. To cease to struggle and to embrace the ending of their own life with open arms.
The Entity feeds on hope, on the struggle between killer and survivor - the entity becomes elated as the team of battered and bruised people inch their way ever closer to life - only to be cut down and dragged into the shadows for the ultimate destruction of that once vibrant hope, palpable frustration and anguish whets the being's appetite.
If you want to escape the Entity - give in. Hope for nothing, believe in nothing. Inure yourself to the world and embrace the oblivion.
Survivors never give in.
If you want to escape: give in.
I believe either one of these could be the case for the last batch of survivors. Perhaps they simply were Entity food for far too long and became useless - so they were simply 'discontinued' by the Entity, who removed them from the memory of the others to prevent the realization of the truth: if all survivors gave in, if all 31 survivors chose to give in and refuse the fight - to accept their place as food for the Entity... the Entity would starve. Perhaps some of those original survivors learned of this and chose to give in - to end their tenure in the Entity's Realm. Who knows, maybe the Entity placed them right back where they were initially abducted - maybe they got out of the realm and survived.
Maybe none of the survivors are the originals, and all we see are the Entity's perfect replicas to supply itself with an infinite supply of food. Perhaps the Entity simply had a change in pallet and stopped replicating certain survivors because it didn't like what they had to offer - what their collective consciousness added to the Fog. Maybe that's why we only have one perk each, the other two from each survivor is missing, because the Entity didn't like them in its trials - so the Entity kept the good ones and threw out the bad ones.
If this is the case, the Entity can get bored of a survivor's selection and ostensibly kill them, harvesting only the best one to continue in the minds of the other replicants that it creates for food.
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I’m almost 100% sure they are in the void. You can see in the void cutscenes there are a lot of people, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say some of those people are in the lost tapes.
Also, note the “lost” part of the lost tapes. This implies they are gone, and forgotten. Just like the people in the void.
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