Rusty Lake Theorists (Identity of Green Diamond Revealed!!!)

This is a board for discussing and debating about the themes/ideas/motifs used in Rusty Lake. Here are some ideas to get started: - the use and symbolism of trees - the importance of the shell -random texts or images or symbols or other things you found that you think are pretty important in the series -the resemblance of scenes or paintings (like maybe the painting symbolizes something in real life that applies to the series too) to real life

(Edited by Theresearcher2)

Theresearcher2·8/14/2020

</div>Since nobody is replying to this discussion, I would like to do some research on the symbolism of shells. After some various internet searches, I realized that the shells that are shown in Rusty Lake (Nautilus shells) symbolize: - Spiritual evolution - Thinking outside of the box (which is interesting since to solve the Rusty Lake puzzles you have to think outside of the box) - Perfection/beauty - Strength However, the best part is that the Nautilus shell follows the Golden ratio. This is also shown in the positions of sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds. Sunflower. Van Gogh's Sunflower Painting. We see the famous sunflowers on a shelf in "Arles." And inside the sunflowers? A FIBONACCI SPIRAL. THE ONE ON THE SHELLS. Also, you can find the Fibonacci sequence on trees. Tree branches specifically. But seriously, trees are ALSO recurring themes in Rusty Lake. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT. BUT HEY, THAT'S JUST A THEORY. A RUSTY LAKE THEORY. <figure class="article-thumb tleft show-info-icon" style="width: 306px">

(Edited by Theresearcher2)

Theresearcher2·8/14/2020

Hello again, this is Theresearcher2. Since making my theory yesterday, something had been nagging my inner theorist sense. And that thing was the tree from The Lake. Yes, the one where you had to line up a shell, gem, eye, apple, and coin in the shape of a pentagon. (Pentagon is the shape, pentagram is the star) <figure class="article-thumb tleft show-info-icon" style="width: 142px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>I have several questions that I want to solve later. (I'm using this as a theory journal) 1) Why does the blue gem (possibly diamond?) create a pentagram? Why does it summon the corrupted soul? 2) Why does the green gem (possibly emerald?) create a pentagon? Why does it stop the corrupted soul and destroy it (forming a black cube)? 3) What is the significance of the shell, apple, coin, eye, and gem? Maybe it's in the order? I already solved the mystery of the shell, as seen by the previous post. The Nautilus shell symbolizes "thinking outside of the box." (Thinking outside of the CUBE?). 4) What does the tree secretly symbolize or mean? Why did it grow out of a fish (does the fish thing even matter or is it just a weird idea the developers had?) <div class="floatleft">

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(Edited by Theresearcher2)

Theresearcher2·8/14/2020

It's me Theresearcher2. I'm back here with some surprising new theories about the GEMS. Throughout the games, we see the green gem (green diamond) used in many different ways: <figure class="article-thumb tleft show-info-icon" style="width: 102px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>1) To repel the corrupted soul through the mysterious fish-tree ritual in The Lake 2) To power the submarine in The Cave<figure class="article-thumb tleft show-info-icon" style="width: 130px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>3) To power the snowglobe in Paradise: Hail "So, it is battery thingy?" you might ask. Maybe. We know that the green diamond is used to power "magical" contraptions so it might be a power/magic source of some kind. We also know that the green diamond was shown in the Woman's (Laura Vanderboom) good memories in The Mill. These good memories then formed a white cube. <figure class="article-thumb tleft show-info-icon" style="width: 126px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Also, the green diamond could be created in the alchemy lab by mixing together coal and fire. When you combine the gem with the fish, you can create a white cube. There is a LINK between the green gem and power (like a battery). However, there is also ANOTHER LINK between the green gem, positive memories, protection against corrupted souls, and the white cube. Maybe, since the green gem brings power and is "good," the blue gem takes power and is "evil?" Or the blue gem brings "evil power?" Although this is all very interesting, we still have one gem whose identity we failed to solve. That is, of course, the RED DIAMOND. 

 <figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 180px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>What is the red diamond? What does it do? This really complicates my theory a bit so I had to create two separate ones. Time would tell us which one is true. THEORY #1 The green gem brings power. It is also connected to good memories, protection, and cubes. The blue gem is the opposite. The red gem is still unknown. THEORY #2 The green gem brings power. It is also connected to good memories, protection, and cubes. The blue gem doesn't do anything or has a power that is unknown. The red gem is evil and brings death. It is the opposite of the green gem. One thing is clear: the green gem is powerful and brings good. (As seen by it protecting you against the corrupted soul in The Lake, powering the submarine, powering the snowglobe, creating a white cube, and being present in the good memories. ) I hope you liked my theory. It took me a while to realize it))) BUT HEY, THAT'S JUST A THEORY. A RUSTY LAKE THEORY.

(Edited by Theresearcher2)

Theresearcher2·8/17/2020

Hello, Rusty Lake fans! This is Theresearcher2, again! Today I'm studying "The Book" and inferring what everything means. I believe that "The Book" is the most reliable source of information we have that explains how the Rusty Lake world works. Although a lot of the information there is pretty straight forward, there are some connections that are not. Let's get started! Now, there are three different versions of the book. One in Paradox, another in Paradise, and the third in The Cave. The ones in Paradox and Paradise are very similar to each other, so let's explore them first.
<figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 126px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>(Before we continue, let me give you a flashback to a scene in The Cave. Aldous and William Vanderboom are standing together in front of a house. William drinks the elixir of life and dies, turning into a corrupted soul. He somehow uses a tree (sacrifices from his family) and is reborn into Laura Vanderboom. Then, she too corrupts, and a black cube is extracted from her. The black cube forms a web, connecting the pieces of pottery you had to connect before (connecting pottery = alchemy?). When Aldous drinks the Elixir he turns into the Crow and becomes enlightened.) Page 1) - "The glorious day of the lake would come" This could be the goal of Mr. Crow and Mr. Owl! Everything they are doing in the series is to ensure the lake becomes glorious. What is the lake though? Is there any explanation? Page 2) - "One would find death. The other enlightenment." This is discussing the way Elixir works. One dies and the other becomes "enlightened." - (Book 2) The picture of the flame is symbolic of "enlightenment." The flame could be seen multiple times in the Rusty Lake universe. Page 3) - Now, this one is interesting. There is a wheel with six spaces. In one is a deer head, in another is a weed/grass, in the third is a corrupted soul, fourth is an owl, the fifth is fish, and the sixth is a human. The text above and below the wheel is leading me to believe that the deer head is resembling the "enlightened souls," such as Mr. Crow and the owl is Mr. Owl. - Another important notion is the text below the owl which says "the chosen one." If Mr. Owl is the owl, then he is "the chosen one." Page 4) -(Book 1) There is a deer skull with two eyes next to it. This was just a hint for what to do in Paradox. -(Book 2) "The Elixir of Life and Death" There are some alchemical ingredients listed to make a white cube. (Is it just me or does it look like the web in the flashback?) Page 5) -Nothing worth mentioning. Just a reference to the extraction of memories. Page 6) - "the hungry ghost" "balance the substance of your past lives" - The hungry ghost mentioned is actually a Preta. (search it up to find out more info) Here is a quote from Wikipedia: The Sanskrit term प्रेत preta means "departed, deceased, a dead person", from pra-ita, literally "gone forth, departed". In Classical Sanskrit, the term refers to the spirit of any dead person, but especially before the obsequial rites are performed, but also more narrowly to a ghost or evil being.[8] The Sanskrit term was taken up in Buddhism to describe one of six possible states of rebirth. ONE OF SIX POSSIBLE STATES OF REBIRTH. Now, what did the wheel on page 3 look like again? <figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 400px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>There are six spaces! Maybe they are the states of rebirth? What were the states anyway? "The six realms of rebirth include Deva (heavenly), Asura (demigod), Manusya (human), Tiryak (animals), Preta (ghosts), and Naraka (resident of hell)" (This has already been explained by multiple other people.) I believe that the "enlightened" are souls that had reached Nirvana or enlightenment. The chosen one could be Buddha. The fish is tiryak or animal. The human is manusya or animal. The corrupted souls are preta. And the grass? I'm not really sure. So what does the preta and "balancing the substance of your past lives" have to do with anything? Well, in Buddhism, Samsara (yes Samsara) is the belief that you are going to be reborn every time you die until you reach Nirvana (enlightenment). Balancing the substance of your past lives refers to the lives you had before you were reborn. Page 7) -(Book 2)"our memories belong to the lake" What is the well shown in the middle? Is that a well to the lake? -(Book 1) Interestingly enough, those symbols mean something more than "squiggly line." I'm going to go over it next time.<figure class="article-thumb tright show-info-icon" style="width: 400px">

<figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Page 8) - "the chosen one" There is an owl picture there, which contributes to the theory of Mr. Owl being the chosen one. 

So yeah, this is the end. Next time I am going to talk about the third book, the time after that about Buddhism, and right after that about the symbols. There are a lot of theories and stuff I need to go over and think about (I was rushing while doing this ugh). Ask me any questions or point out stuff I missed, I'll be glad to help and get proper evidence. 

(Again, I was rushing and didn't get proper evidence for my theories. I'm going to go over everything more in-depth later and revise this)

(Edited by Theresearcher2)

Theresearcher2·8/17/2020

The Book 3 (Reviewing Our Sources)

Page 1)

"Chapter 1: The Vanderboom's

William Vanderboom

The last creator of the elixir of life and death"

Nobody created the elixir after William. Therefore, there might not be any more "enlightened" characters until somebody creates another one. However, there might be multiple ways to reach Nirvana or "enlightenment" that we still don't know about.

Page 2)

The Vanderboom family tree.

{Mary, James, Emma, Ida, Samuel, Albert, Frank, Leonard, Rose, Laura.

The Vanderboom family tree is pretty straightforward except for the fact there are three branches/lines leading towards Laura. This tree had also appeared in Samsara Room. It is the exact same thing, except for the position of the roots.

Did the Rusty Lake people just reuse their old tree design or does the tree have a higher meaning? (Vanderboom means "of the tree" in Dutch)

Page 3)

Chapter 2: The Detective

Dale Vandermeer

The traveler

How is Dale Vandermeer "the traveler?" Maybe because he travels through his memories? (Vandermeer means "of the lake" in Dutch)

Page 4)

This one could be easily decoded using Page 6 (shown farther down below). William Vanderboom drinks the Elixir of life and death, which results in him being reborn into Laura Vanderboom. Mr. Crow then extracts Laura's memories into a black (face your demons) and white (relive your past life) cube. A blue (the past is never dead, it is not even past) cube of unknown origins is added into a mix. It was probably used to change the past in some way. Finally, Dale and Laura are both connected to a machine and with the help of the other three cubes, the machine creates a golden (the memories are not only the key to the past... but also the future) cube. I'll have to replay the cave to figure out one more important thing.

Page 5)

Chapter 3: The Cubes

Aldous Vanderboom

The Crow

Page 6)

The different types of cubes. Pretty straightforward. The blue cube could be used to travel back in time. The golden cube is unknown, however, it might be used to travel to the FUTURE.

Page 7)

Chapter 4: A higher consciousness

Laura Vanderboom

The reborn mind

Laura was the rebirth of William Vanderboom.

Page 8)

The heading "Rusty Lake mental health and fishing" was how it advertised itself in The Daily Herald newspaper.

"Let the cubes guide you" is just a reference to the cubes. Some cubes have the ability to travel in time.

"Balance the substance of your past lives" is talking about that every being has had many lives before their current one. Balancing the substance of those lives might be talking about balancing the karma.

"Create the elixir of life and death

Find enlightenment"

The elixir of life and death is known to enlighten one person and kill the other. Enlightenment is the process of reaching Nirvana, a state of one's being where they would never get reborn again. There is a belief that every time a soul dies it gets reborn. Enlightened souls would die without being reborn again and reach the afterlife. Therefore, if you see Mr. Crow die, there is no way he is getting back here again.

This is it for today! Next time we are going to about Buddhism and Samsara. After that, I'm going to talk about the weird symbols we have our own names for.

The images aren't loading so please open the book on your browser :(

The Book/GalleryRusty Lake Wiki

(Edited by Theresearcher2)

Tweer·9/22/2020

The grass is actually the Forest, which I think represents hell.

I've been wanting to connect several surreal moments.

1 is the tree in The Lake and all of it's objects

2 is the series in Case 23 in the Chapel, where you use many familiar objects to get the right tools to message Mr. Crow

3 is the objects that you use to get the blue cube in Birthday

4 is the set of scales in Theatre and the meaning behind them.

1: Gem, Shell, Eye, Coin, Apple

2: Eye -> gem -> shell

Shell -> Oil

Fetus + Ink = Heart

Heart -> Scissors

Painting Pieces -> Candle

3: Bolt + Coin + Gas Tube + Cable + Batteries + Shard of Glass + Watch = Blue Cube

4: Shell -> Fetus -> Heart -> Hat

I have no clue what number 1 means but I have a theory about number 2

The eye, gem, and shell have been seen before in The Lake.

Notice that the gem you receive is the green gem.

Also notice that the fruit and coin are nowhere to be seen.

The fetus and ink combine to make the heart.

This might be a stretch, but the ink could represent corruption (as Bob gradually becomes a corrupted soul, it looks like ink is spreading over his body in exactly the same way the ink spreads out of the jar.

Out of the jar, we get a heart, which could represent a corrupted soul due to how it is obtained. It could also symbolize the seed, as both are found by going into William.

The heart also give you the scissors which is used to reveal Mr. Crow's bird form, so these could represent the elixir.

Number 3 is tricky, because it has several materials that could be part of a mechanism (such as the gas tube, bolt, and wire) but has some unusual things that don't fit in with the rest. The glass shard comes from the window after the corrupted soul jumpscare. This also occured in Case 23, but in that scenario we obtained a black cube. So the shard of glass could represent a cube. The watch could represent time, as a blue cube contains the ability to travel back in time. That just leaves the coin. I'm not sure what this means.

Number 4 is also tricky but I believe that the hat represents the Lady of the Lake, the fetus represents a human (or rebirth), and the heart, as previously stated, represents a corrupted soul.

Again, I'm not sure what the shell represents, or why we haven't seen the fruit since The Lake. Maybe we will get to see it in an upcoming game (probably not though).

Theresearcher2·10/30/2020

Good ideas, Tweer!

I have been thinking about the coin, so I chose the most logical conclusion. It must represent value or wealth. At the same time it might represent craving, which ties in with the "hungry ghost= corrupted soul" theory I had. Anyway, it symbolizes that the blue cube is something that is valuable. Something that you crave.

Tweer·10/31/2020

Actually Mr. Rabbit describes it as substance from one of his past lives. This is something that seems to be a recurring theme in Rusty Lake. "Balance the substance of my past lives" appears to have been the basis for the sacrifices puzzle in roots.

Ryan914·11/18/2020

If we are to surmise anything, the Gemstone itself could be a crystallized version of the Elixir, the process of crystallization may have unique spiritual effects on the individual it is exposed to and the machines themselves are also somehow tied to it. We can look at the Blue Vial from Paradox for instance, it corrupts the drinker, so it is possibly a failed version of the Elixir which triggers the metamorphosis without memory extraction by amplifying the negative memories and at the same time making one nascent of it like a memory overload, which would explain the blue gemstone being unable to stop the CS from attacking Laura in The Lake if you apply it to the tree, the gemstone itself is made from what helped create a corrupt soul, so the light created with that wouldn't affect it.

What do you think?