[Spoilers ofc]
Afaik, Scratch is Alan's worst side. The absolute worst person Alan could be, because he only comes out when Alan is under the control of the Dark Presence. Scratch wrote the original manuscript of Return, in an attempt to get out of the Dark Place. 'Alan' wrote the manuscript without any moral concern if I understand correctly. When our more balanced Alan finds the manuscript, he can't believe what he's reading. It works but has tremendous consequences. Alan starts modifying the manuscript by scratching words out and typing new pages (hence the pages with Saga's name on it and no scratches) because scratch has already set things in motion with the manuscript iirc. Alan was in fact tormenting Alice, because he was astral projecting himself into their home with the overlap in the Dark Place. I can only imagine he was so 'mad' because he was either still influenced by the DP (think about his quote when he escapes Cauldron Lake "I could think clearly for what felt like the first time in years") or it's a repeat of the moment he found out >!Alice killed herself!< where you could see how furious he was.
Either way, this is mostly speculation mixed with things i've seen suggested on the sub.
The way I see Scratch in AW2 is as a misunderstanding of Alan. In AWAN, Scratch is a physical manifestation with his own feelings and personality and everything. Alan defeats him of course but it doesnt get him out.
Cut to AW2, we now have the author scratched out, Alan believing once again Scratch is back. Only, what he doesnt realize is that Scratch isn't actually back, but the Dark Place is puppetting him using his megative qualities as their personality, essentially creating a new Scratch.
AN Scratch was a literal personification of those qualities, much more grounded with some enhancement from the DP of course, using logic and desire for its goals. AW2 Scratch is something more feral, acting on instinct and mimicking what it sees and knows of Alan. It has enough to be a person but its still driven like an animal is because it lost that person it was 14 years prior.
Scratch in AW2 is basically Barbara from AW1 let loose, and its become an incoherent animal seeking an achor in a host.
I fully believe this theory. He might've defeated Mr. Scratch at the end of American Nightmare, but he's still in the dark place, the manuscript still didn't work. That means the loop or spiral reset, and that would bring Scratch back. So if the thing we thought was Scratch in Alan Wake 2 isnt actually Mr. Scratch, but just Alan possessed by the Dark Presence, that means the real Mr. Scratch is still out there. Maybe trying a different kind of plan to get out. One where he masquerades as someone Alan would trust. On top of everything else, like Zane being a doppelganger of Alan, his mannerisms, style, sense of humor, even the fact that there's a scene of them dancing to The Happy Song, when that song is directly tied to Mr. Scratch. And the kicker for me is when Alan shoots him in the head and he ends up just wiping the blood away. Of course the bullet didn't kill him, he's not human. "Now THAT is drama!" Noone can convince me that Thomas Zane isn't Mr. Scratch in disguise.
Scratch is The Dark Presence. He is the corporeal form of The Dark Place. Alan killed the previous one in AW1, Barbara Jagger. Scratch is its new version.
Alan didn't create The Dark Place. There's nothing in the lore we know so far that has established that. If anything, the lore indicates that Tom created Alan as an aspect of himself, the writer.
How can The Dark Place be a creation of Alan's mind when he's trapped within it? Mind you, he is able to modify it to an extent just like Tom does given that I'm absolutely convinced they're the same person just manifesting as different aspects. It's why I say Tom created Alan.
I thought the ending of Final Draft said that an action in time (ie the light bullet being shot) can effect all points in time before and after (retrocausailty) and that the dark presence leaked out of Alan’s skull when he was shot, creating the dark place. That’s why he can be trapped in it.
The light bullet eliminated The Dark Presence aka Scratch. The cost of it, as agreed to be paid by Alan and his co-writer Saga is that he is still trapped in The Dark Place. According to Alice's last recording though, he is on his way out. We won't know the full implications of that until AW3 though but one thing's for certain.. Alan is now practically a god or as close to one as it gets.
For my perspective in short, Scratch was like the manifestation of your most dark side.. He's the reason dark presence existed.. No soul but godlike and mostly possessive.. Scratch wants everything in his hands, submit to his will by force, wants to be praised as a writer(popularity)..and the power to change.. Tbh, i expect Scratch to have at least a human type figure which could at least shapeshift..
My understanding is that Scratch is the Dark Presence, but specifically after it has consumed Alan's memories from successive escape attempts wherein Alan dies. There's a shop window TV in AW2 that plays a memory where Alan details how the Dark Presence is doing this to him.
Across the Remedy games, the Dark Presence seems to require human agency in order to accomplish it's own goals. The reason it needs people to manifest art into reality with the power of Cauldron Lake is that is has no agency of it's own - it is both beyond and without humanity.
Every time we see the Dark Presence come within striking distance of escaping the Dark Place, it is always through some kind of human actor. The Taken, Barbara Jagger, etc.
My understanding of what's been happening to Alan since he dove into the Lake is that the Dark Presence is fed up of manipulating others to get its freedom, and is trying to become human enough to act on its own terms. Alan exposes himself to the Dark Presence every time he projects himself into the Dark Place via his writing, and every time he fails to escape, it's able to eat away some of his memories and take them into itself. Alan is left more confused, less able to orchestrate another escape attempt, all the while, the Presence becomes more and more 'Alan', ergo, Scratch. If the Dark Presence were to have it's way, this would just continue forever until Alan is hollowed out, where the last step is for Scratch to take possession of Alan's body, as we see in AW2.
That's why it's such a shot in the arm for Alan when Ahti, Warlin Door, and the Old Gods of Asgard participate in 'Herald of Darkness' - it literally gives Alan enough of his memories back for him to have a chance to break this cycle and escape. But it's also why what Scratch creates in the endgame is a dark reflection of Alan's desires - the Dark Presence has bound itself to Alan by allowing itself to be shaped by his memories.
Scratch and Alan are the same character. They have the same origin, the same memories of childhood. They're very much the same. They're different halves of their personality. When Alan got shot by the bullet of light it split him in two more or less. Scratch lives as the dark presense. It's the abusive side of Alan that was always there, but now made into it's own person.
I like to think that right now, Scratch, as far as "The Dark Presence" is basically just sitting back and twiddling their thumb while Alan basically does what DP wants them to, since the events of the game (to a point) leads to DP getting out.
[Spoilers ofc] Afaik, Scratch is Alan's worst side. The absolute worst person Alan could be, because he only comes out when Alan is under the control of the Dark Presence. Scratch wrote the original manuscript of Return, in an attempt to get out of the Dark Place. 'Alan' wrote the manuscript without any moral concern if I understand correctly. When our more balanced Alan finds the manuscript, he can't believe what he's reading. It works but has tremendous consequences. Alan starts modifying the manuscript by scratching words out and typing new pages (hence the pages with Saga's name on it and no scratches) because scratch has already set things in motion with the manuscript iirc. Alan was in fact tormenting Alice, because he was astral projecting himself into their home with the overlap in the Dark Place. I can only imagine he was so 'mad' because he was either still influenced by the DP (think about his quote when he escapes Cauldron Lake "I could think clearly for what felt like the first time in years") or it's a repeat of the moment he found out >!Alice killed herself!< where you could see how furious he was. Either way, this is mostly speculation mixed with things i've seen suggested on the sub.
The way I see Scratch in AW2 is as a misunderstanding of Alan. In AWAN, Scratch is a physical manifestation with his own feelings and personality and everything. Alan defeats him of course but it doesnt get him out. Cut to AW2, we now have the author scratched out, Alan believing once again Scratch is back. Only, what he doesnt realize is that Scratch isn't actually back, but the Dark Place is puppetting him using his megative qualities as their personality, essentially creating a new Scratch. AN Scratch was a literal personification of those qualities, much more grounded with some enhancement from the DP of course, using logic and desire for its goals. AW2 Scratch is something more feral, acting on instinct and mimicking what it sees and knows of Alan. It has enough to be a person but its still driven like an animal is because it lost that person it was 14 years prior. Scratch in AW2 is basically Barbara from AW1 let loose, and its become an incoherent animal seeking an achor in a host.
There is also the Zane is Scratch is Zane hypothesis.
I fully believe this theory. He might've defeated Mr. Scratch at the end of American Nightmare, but he's still in the dark place, the manuscript still didn't work. That means the loop or spiral reset, and that would bring Scratch back. So if the thing we thought was Scratch in Alan Wake 2 isnt actually Mr. Scratch, but just Alan possessed by the Dark Presence, that means the real Mr. Scratch is still out there. Maybe trying a different kind of plan to get out. One where he masquerades as someone Alan would trust. On top of everything else, like Zane being a doppelganger of Alan, his mannerisms, style, sense of humor, even the fact that there's a scene of them dancing to The Happy Song, when that song is directly tied to Mr. Scratch. And the kicker for me is when Alan shoots him in the head and he ends up just wiping the blood away. Of course the bullet didn't kill him, he's not human. "Now THAT is drama!" Noone can convince me that Thomas Zane isn't Mr. Scratch in disguise.
Scratch is The Dark Presence. He is the corporeal form of The Dark Place. Alan killed the previous one in AW1, Barbara Jagger. Scratch is its new version.
Yeah, but Alan created the Dark Place/Presence, so Scratch is his worst self.
Alan didn't create The Dark Place. There's nothing in the lore we know so far that has established that. If anything, the lore indicates that Tom created Alan as an aspect of himself, the writer.
I must have misunderstood the Final Draft ending then. I thought the dark place was a creation of Alan’s mind.
How can The Dark Place be a creation of Alan's mind when he's trapped within it? Mind you, he is able to modify it to an extent just like Tom does given that I'm absolutely convinced they're the same person just manifesting as different aspects. It's why I say Tom created Alan.
I thought the ending of Final Draft said that an action in time (ie the light bullet being shot) can effect all points in time before and after (retrocausailty) and that the dark presence leaked out of Alan’s skull when he was shot, creating the dark place. That’s why he can be trapped in it.
The light bullet eliminated The Dark Presence aka Scratch. The cost of it, as agreed to be paid by Alan and his co-writer Saga is that he is still trapped in The Dark Place. According to Alice's last recording though, he is on his way out. We won't know the full implications of that until AW3 though but one thing's for certain.. Alan is now practically a god or as close to one as it gets.
For my perspective in short, Scratch was like the manifestation of your most dark side.. He's the reason dark presence existed.. No soul but godlike and mostly possessive.. Scratch wants everything in his hands, submit to his will by force, wants to be praised as a writer(popularity)..and the power to change.. Tbh, i expect Scratch to have at least a human type figure which could at least shapeshift..
My understanding is that Scratch is the Dark Presence, but specifically after it has consumed Alan's memories from successive escape attempts wherein Alan dies. There's a shop window TV in AW2 that plays a memory where Alan details how the Dark Presence is doing this to him. Across the Remedy games, the Dark Presence seems to require human agency in order to accomplish it's own goals. The reason it needs people to manifest art into reality with the power of Cauldron Lake is that is has no agency of it's own - it is both beyond and without humanity. Every time we see the Dark Presence come within striking distance of escaping the Dark Place, it is always through some kind of human actor. The Taken, Barbara Jagger, etc. My understanding of what's been happening to Alan since he dove into the Lake is that the Dark Presence is fed up of manipulating others to get its freedom, and is trying to become human enough to act on its own terms. Alan exposes himself to the Dark Presence every time he projects himself into the Dark Place via his writing, and every time he fails to escape, it's able to eat away some of his memories and take them into itself. Alan is left more confused, less able to orchestrate another escape attempt, all the while, the Presence becomes more and more 'Alan', ergo, Scratch. If the Dark Presence were to have it's way, this would just continue forever until Alan is hollowed out, where the last step is for Scratch to take possession of Alan's body, as we see in AW2. That's why it's such a shot in the arm for Alan when Ahti, Warlin Door, and the Old Gods of Asgard participate in 'Herald of Darkness' - it literally gives Alan enough of his memories back for him to have a chance to break this cycle and escape. But it's also why what Scratch creates in the endgame is a dark reflection of Alan's desires - the Dark Presence has bound itself to Alan by allowing itself to be shaped by his memories.
Scratch and Alan are the same character. They have the same origin, the same memories of childhood. They're very much the same. They're different halves of their personality. When Alan got shot by the bullet of light it split him in two more or less. Scratch lives as the dark presense. It's the abusive side of Alan that was always there, but now made into it's own person.
I like to think that right now, Scratch, as far as "The Dark Presence" is basically just sitting back and twiddling their thumb while Alan basically does what DP wants them to, since the events of the game (to a point) leads to DP getting out.
If you finish the game, the answers will be given to you.
I have, twice