Fran Bow: The Story Explained
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- čas přidán 8. 05. 2024
- Fran Bow is a young girl who experiences a horrific trauma when her family is taken from her one night. She finds herself in an asylum and manages to escape, seeking to find answers to the crime that befell her parents. The journey Fran Bow embarks on takes her to many fantasy realms and much of this story seems to make very little sense. So in today's horror game explained video we take a careful look at the plot of Fran Bow, it's symbolism and greater meaning, in hopes to make sense of it all. This is the story of Fran Bow explained.
Check out Fran Bow here: store.steampowered.com/app/36...
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Music by Kevin MacLeod: incompetech.com/ - Hry
i was sad at the second theory until i remembered that little misfortune proves that fran isn’t just hallucinating
YEAAAAAHH
Spoilers for Little Misfortune
She did die very early game. So everything in that game, even before Misfortune’s death, could all be symbolic.
@@flamestormthecat2833 They're making a new game based on Benji, and I think the creators themselved confirmed it's all real
@@flamestormthecat2833 Bro, even the creators stated it's all real, and connected. The new game is going to be about Benji!
Which makes me sad, because I was looking forward to more Misfortune or her and Fran meeting. Because you could see Fran riding by in a car with Dr Deern if you paid attention. There were also nods to the pinecone people, Itward, and so many others.
@@nobinary2296 I mean, from what I understand, Little Misfortunes takes place nearly 40 or 50 years later. So I don't think her and Fran meeting will be likely.
Just so you know, Fran Bow's surreal world of F.R.E.E is considered real, as Little Misfortune takes place in the same universe about 40 or 50 years later. You also the first person who named the 5th reality correctly when explaining this game
Agreed
That's what I think
Ironic, since Apollo in mythology is anything but dark. Then again maybe there's some story about the horrible things he did I haven't come across yet.
Thats what I was about to say
Spoilers
12:13 the amphibian is an axolotl. the healing lake is a reference to how axolotls have an amazing regeneration ability
I love axolotls :)
Palontras ghost written this comment
I love axolotls
They adorable
AXOLOTL
I KNEW IT AXOLOTL SO SILLY SO ADORABLE RAHHHHHH
A friend of mine made an interesting point about gaslighting, and how if you're manipulated long enough, you start to genuinely believe it. They theorize that it was Grace who killed Fran's parents, and told Fran she did it to gaslight her and keep her unstable and locked away as a key witness to it. She might have even taken Mr. Midnight away or even killed him to keep Fran under control.
That makes a lot of sense
I’ve dealt with being manipulated before by a really toxic person
And it went on for so long that I started believing everything they were saying and it was so hard to even have my own thoughts because it was like they were in my head constantly telling me things
so yeah that honestly makes so much sense
Fr i like this theory as aunt grace always had a bit of a dark side to her, she keeps telling her that she killed her folks and she hates her cat so yeah she's prolly the mad one
OK in that case, to add onto your theory, perhaps the doctor is offering up money in exchange to experiment on Fran. But Fran's parents refuse, especially her mother who had suffered from the experimentation in the past! So... Greedy for the money, Grace gaslights and traumatizes Fran so heavily in her fragile mental state that Fran begins thinking that she did it herself! When really, Grace killed Fran's parents so that she could take guardianship over Fran and allow the experiments.
It might have not even been for money. She might have been planning to experiment for a while just for the sick fascination. Who knows? But it's way more believable that way.
At the very least, Fran was absolutely possessed when she did it.
Thankfully, we know that these fantastical elements are actually “real” due to little misfortune.
I hope he covers that too
@@The_castaway_Redd agreed
Yup and I aktualy like it this way then yust fran being insane
@@ceosgamer016_5 I had a hard time reading your comment 😭😂
@@human.001 you can read 🤯🤯
I don’t believe the “it’s all in her head” theory. There is too much that doesn’t add up. A big one to me is her parents were PERFECTLY dismembered (something that is pointed out in the game). That would be impossible for a little girl, crazy or not. She knew about the doctor’s abusive childhood even though that should be impossible. She is able to interact with items we know are real, for example keys, in ways that should be physically impossible without the red pills, like returning the keys right in front of the nurse or getting the knitting needle.
There's also another point with the murder. If people remember, Fran is shown playing with Mr Midnight in the intro and is alerted to trouble by a scream only to find her parents dead and mutilated minutes later, dismembered in a way that a crazed person or preteen wouldn't be able to manage much less someone that's a crazed preteen.
If she was brought in by the scream, who screamed? Presuming it's not Fran herself, there's four suspects, her father, her mother, her aunt or the actual murderer.
Combine that with the fact that she manages to find her parents in fairly decent condition for corpses along with a mummified cat in the family grave... yeah something's wonky there. I'd also very much doubt that most people would bury a cat with people and presuming that it's Mr Midnight, if we believe the intro, he was in the woods and left behind when kidnapped Fran.
How much effort would it be to catch and kill a specific cat on its home terrain?
@@Ghrathryn Exactly! I also would like to point out that Fran, by this point, is indeed insane.
But she DOES go through the multiple realities, there's no doubt that they're all real. Little Misfortune proves this.
What I would like to point out are Fran's actions and the things she says while observing the world around her. Where she switches from innocent, to morbid, to off-putting in a childish way. Where she clearly rejects something horrifying, while saying something completely innocent, but will react with devastation to more personally triggering things. Like the dead fox on her bed in a distraught manner the more they interacted but reacted innocently to the babies in the well.
Her mind is fractured and broken. But we, as the player, get to view bits and pieces of the realities through her eyes. But can you blame Fran for being out of it? She experienced the murder of her parents, was seemingly haunted by the Terrible Black, abused in the Asylum (verbal/hinted physical abuse), and forced to take different medications that had adverse effects on her brain.
Fran has a broken mind and how we get to see the realities she visits are through HER interpretation of it. Which is why I trust someone a little more grounded in reality, despite a healthy dash of child-like innocence, is Little Misfortune. She has a much less broken mind and is able to view reality a bit more smoothly. I only wished we went into other realities with Misfortune instead of the short snippet we got from The Beyond as she calls it.
@@nobinary2296 Oh she's definitely insane by the point we start playing her in the game. PTSD at the very least, not even counting whatever drugs she's been taking besides the dopamine.
Actually the PTSD would likely account somewhat for why she's seeing dead things and mass amounts of blood splatter whenever she's tripping on the pills in the asylum even before taking into account what was done to her and the other kids there. I mean she found her parents dead, her mother in at least three pieces (still don't know why the corpse didn't show signs of beheading in the grave) and her father opened up vertically from chest to groin.
@@Ghrathryn At least from my knowledge, mortuary houses try to at least sew the bodies together in cases of dismemberment, be it in a car accident or other means. I may be wrong though
Plus she knew about what happened to Dr Deern as a child from one of her “hallucinations”, despite him establishing he never told her (or anyone iirc)
Itward= Intensive Treatment Ward, the ward Fran was on
Remor= Remorse.
PINEal Gland:The reason Fran sees pinecones is because the doctors are experimenting on the PINEal gland, which is named that because it's a gland in the brain that looks like a pinecone.
Spot on
J
now I am getting *From Beyond* vibes.
That actually makes sense. So it could be that it all was just in her head,except that the realms can be accessed only through your mind. So it all could be real,but in her mind. She travelled there while in the asylum. So it could be that you can only travel between realms with your mind. Very sad story though. I love that these games can be looked at symbolically too,and that way everything fits.
@@IAmTheSenate218 this does make sense since you know how people can do Astral projection and can get out of their bodies but idk 🤷♂️
I'm not ready to accept that Mr Midnight died. He was way too sweet of a kitty.
Awe
Your so sweet❤😊
Same…
I honestly go with the first interpretation of the ending, especially given the events of Little Misfortune which kind of expands on the realms of reality introduced here. Plus it's a happier ending XD
Yep. Morgo is definitely the same thing that the demon in this game is since they look the exact same, so Itward probably is the same thing Benjamin is in Misfortune.
And with Fran dying like Misfortune ended up doing would make sense with that in mind
@@lovelysakurapetalsyt Either that or they're related in some way. But yeah it's undeniable that the two are connected and that this is real.
I like the idea that Little Misfortune meets Fran at some point and they bond over their trauma.
@@lovelysakurapetalsyt actually, Morgo comes from something called the beyond, a place outside of the current five realities. Well Remor is evil, he is a necessary evil since light must have darkness. Morgo is not necessary, he is a parasite that collects souls for his games and throws off the balance of the five realities.
@@shadowrealm4206 Sorry that I forgot that, I'm just honestly saying they're similar in how they screwed up lives
Sooo if Fran is born 1934, and is 10 at the start of the game...
The. That puts her right in the middle of WW2, so did I miss all the references to that or is the game just that heavily symbolic
I think former since its a bit of inside a child's head
@Lukas Reich first, it’s a figure of speech, I didn’t intend to reference the exact temporal midpoint of the war, but rather the point that the game occurs within the duration of the war, and that Fran would have grown up around it.
Second, Fran is very clearly in the Anglosphere, there are very Anglican names, and the overall style of the environment in terms of buildings, cars, and the literal language used all point to Fran likely being from America or England or suchlike.
I am therefore questioning the importance of the war in the story. Did it entirely not happen in this world? Is Fran’s trauma shaped by the war’s events, or is she entirely too young or naive to properly understand or comprehend them?
@Lukas Reich it looks like somewhere in britain from how i see, it
Similar experiments to the twins were conducted by Nazi scientists during the height of the war, and worse. It's not just a throwaway line.
@@foongern1071 yup... honestly oswald comes off as a nazi scientist who fled into england
Something that I constantly think about:
Fran’s Parents were dismembered, but in the coffins they weren’t in pieces
That actually never crossed my mind in the 10 years since that game came out holy shit
I noticed too!!!
@@rooney119 sup
That isn't weird. In really cases of dismemberment that result in death, the mortician will put the body back together enough to look whole while they are dressed.
Most of the time when someone is disfigured before their death the mortician will try to fix them to how they looked before they died. It's the same with dismembered bodies, they were put back together.
I always wonder how "kids" in horror games manages to complete the game although they are very young.
If I was them I would've already died from a heart attack the first time I see the monsters
Same! The horror induced images are incredibly horrifying (and AMAZINGLY created) and if I saw all those hallucinations in real life, I would not know what to do with myself and probably pass out multiple times.
That’s because they aren’t kids
They are 35 year old adults in a child suit/j
i know it doesn't really have anything to do with this but there's a theory where fran is a lobotomy patient, and the side effects of one can be lack of fear and apathy (which we see when she barely reacts to the many gory scenes she sees)
It’s because they have TRAUMA.
I still don’t think Fran killed her parents. I think it was her Aunt Grace who did it out of anger for her sister’s decision to separate herself from the asylum. I think the two characters at the beginning who take Fran from the forest into the asylum are Grace, and possibly Dr. Harrison (yes I know he’s in a wheelchair, but who knows how long he’s actually been in one).
Edit: I don’t think it could have been Remor because there is a lot of symbolism in the game. She most likely hallucinated him as a result of the medication, as he’s pretty much a ghost. It’s quite possible that Fran actually saw the person who killed her parents and Remor represents the manipulative “monster” who killed them.
Or it was Gladys (the nurse of the Asylum). I mean Grace told Gladys to lie about Fran's death. So maybe it could be Gladys. But that's just a theory. A Game theory. 😁
I'm pretty sure it had to be Remor, since not even Aunt Grace or Gladys or any normal human being has the power to cut through human bodies in perfect slices that kill them instantly. Fran most DEFINITELY couldn't have done that, whether she was insane or not - she needed two hands to even hold the knife, much less cut a perfect line into a human body.
Yep. It would take multiple slices to get very through the body. And knowing how old Fran is and her frail body just looks hard for it to look like she did the crime. Besides, it doesn't even look like the decapitated bodies are given multiple slices for the body part to come off
@@lucydreemurr5781 the newspaper article really focused about how the slices were "perfect" slices as well so I agree. also was nobody from the news like "yo this is weird"?! if something like that happened now it would be huge!
@@foongern1071 yeah, I mean, perfect slices??? People should be very concerned about this like:
"Is there some kind of crazy strong killer on the loose?"
"The way these people are killed should have definitely been the fault of a deranged but strong person"
"We need immediate investigation now!"
The way the parents are killed is just too brutal for it to just be a brush on a shoulder. It just makes the people's attitude all the more suspicious and concerning.
The whole “she’s crazy” theory is based on some clever observations but unfortunately for peoples who like it we already know from little misfortune that at least a significant part of what happened was literal.
yeah! although i think there's maybe a mix - little misfortune saw stuff too but it was nowhere near as terrifying as what fran saw. maybe the "hallucinations" are real, but the gore and the scary imagery is in Fran's head bc of ptsd and the pills
No, we don't because Little Misfortune may not have been meant to be taken literally either. Both games are supposed to have multiple possible interpretations
@@ThePipojp I mean the creators confirmed it’s real, so… I don’t know why everyone is so pressed about things being metaphors only. Let strange fiction exist, dangit.
@@DeathnoteBB - the creators are wrong
@@davidabest7195 😐
With the recontextualization that Little Misfortune brings, I think the story represents something different. I think the mental hospital represents how people who are creative or even slightly neurodivergent are treated poorly, either in school and work environments. This can be shown by the artistic girl in the hospital, who is often abused simply because she wants to draw.
Fran's journey isn't one of hallucination and sadness, but rather one of overcoming your demons, rejecting oppression, and embracing your creativity
Damn that's honestly the best interpritation I've read
Natalia Martinsson, the artist, animator and dialogue writer for the game said the game is almost autobiographical and was very therapeutic for her. I’m sure the game is packed with symbolism from her life
I can’t believe palontras from fran bow was so famous that they made it in real life! I think they call them... axolotls? Ya, that’s it
Axolotls existed before Fran Bow actually.
You’re fun at parties, aren’t you
lol!!!
r/whoooosh
@@dianalopez130 it's a joke silly
I like how it kinda hinted in the picture in Fran's closet that Fran and Alice might be friends
Both are little girls that went to weird worlds so just imagine how interesting their conversation might be XD
Maybe that means alice hallucinated too
@@Junisoon no
@@soulbound2 ur opinion
In the Disney movie isn’t it canonically a dream?
@@mcbd6970 yea in the disney movie. idk about in the book tho
she CERTAINLY went through some stuff in alice madness returns.
Franbow is just a special game. Nothing like I've ever played before and the mystery behind everything what's happening + me actually being very engaged in the story made for one of the best experiences I had while gaming.
My husband use to be on Duotine for his schizophrenia. He had to be taken off of it because it caused a mental break that triggered even more mental issues. He's on the side of the second interpretation because of personal experience.
I'm halfway between. I see it as the pills were her escape from the horrible reality and it's her journey from insanity.
Duotine is fake pills? Not real. Or not?
@@UsernameNm9 it’s not a real medication I tried really hard to find it so I have no idea what they are talking about must be a medication that sounds similar or…they are lying lol
Break up with your husband. He's done.
@@Kitkat_barthey may be thinking of duloxetine which has been shown to help with negative schizophrenia symptoms even though it's a depression/anxiety drug
I personally think that Fran wasn't the one who killed her parents. Instead, I think the demon-like entity clouded Fran's mind so that she would think she was the one who killed her parents and it was actually her aunt who killed Fran's parents.
Edit: Thanks for the likes. This is the most likes I've had in my life 😅
I liek to think that too. I mean given the fact that while she's not powerless, and maybe drugs snuck into her maybe temporarily make her insane, insane doesn't mean she get super strength and speed to cut up both so fast. She has child muscles for crying out loud. Maybe she can cut one person's head off, but by then the other parent can obviously see sh'es insane and start to defend themself, or at least knock fran out. IT had to be Grace.
Yes grace had been shown trying to kill Mr. Midnight without remorse. It definitely must be grace. I think the part where grace dropped Mr. Midnight was foreshadowing that grace had killed fran's parents
I thought the same thing! It may just be me misremembering what happened, but didn’t Aunt Grace actually say she killed Fran’s parents?
Exactly, almost everyone believes that Fran was the one who killed her parents but I don’t think that’s true at all. It’s impossible for a small child like Fran to kill 2 adults at the same time, it’s just unbelievable and doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. I do think that Grace killed them herself, judging how she dropped Mr. Midnight off the edge without remorse or guilt and just told Fran to get up and quit crying, plus forced Fran to be in a place for unstable children and made it look like she was the suspect for her parents’ death
@@mr.dickbutttheog2064 And here's another thing to point out. I think the doctor already knew that Aunt Grace had other devious plans for her niece which explains why he wouldn't allow Fran to go with Aunt Grace just yet. Oh and by the way, I love your CZcams name 😅😅
Okay here's my theory on Clara and Mia:
It wasn't Itward who trapped them in the world of disconnections. It was themselves. They are in denial of their own deaths, so their souls are trapped in the world of disconnections.
Itward told them, "I will give you nothing but what you already have and one last chance to understand the purpose of life."
In Fran Bow, you can't die as long as you love / are loved. I think that's the purpose of life, to love and be loved. Clara and Mia were not loved by their parents. It was hinted that their mother gave them away to the asylum to experiment on. And the twins hated each other. So they don't have love in their lives currently.
Itward is giving them one last chance to learn to love the person who has been there for Clara and Mia all long - each other.
Even though it seems the twins ran out of time, i think by performing the ritual she found in the well, Fran set the twins free.
The last time we see Clara and Mia is in Itward's strange vehicle. And they're holding hands, probably off on a journey of their own, together.
(Also i don't know who is who. Which twin has the mole?)
This- is extremely interesting!
Clara has the mole(the twin that has a pink bow on her left side of her hair)
W perfect explanation
a good way of identifying each twin is a phrase that exists in the game, and shows itself true in every depiction of the girls; "Clara was angry and Mia was sad.". Clara is always the angry one, the baby crying in the picture is probably her.
Clara has the mole under her eye if you need proof search “what twin has the mole in fran bow”
This has nothing to do with the main plot but i think Ithersta was such a nice place and where Fran felt the happiest especially without her pills, the entire place just felt so peaceful and nice
I remember first watching the ending of Fran Bow when the game came out and not believing she had taken her parents' lives, and I still do not think it, I find it so hard to believe
To be honest, i personally dont believe that it was Fran who killed her parents. A ten year old kid couldnt possibly slice up grown adults in such a mannor, and even if she DID attept to kill them, i believe that at least one of them could have been able to stop her. In my opinion, i think that it was Remor entirely, and the "flashback" of Fran killing her parents, is just Remor's illusion, in an attempt to break her and let her be consumed by darkness. Also, Fran couldn't possibly be halucinating the realities, they are real, and that is confirmed in Little Missfortune.
These are exactly my thoughts. It feels like we inspired eachother's comments here. I have the same thoughts on this story as you
@@YceSzmiff glad we agree! :)
It was Remor, but he used Fran as a vessel through possession. Fran did commit the atrocities but under Renmor’s control.
@@LeDeuces i doubt that was the case especially since she hadn't been in a tramatic state
fr like in the newspaper it said "Her parents were PERFECTLY sliced" and a 10yr old. with a knife like that is not enough for 2 adults
When you get to the twin girls house you messed up this fact: Fran is in the house when she doesn't take duotine, but when she does she falls into the well
That's the other way around
@@ordinaryoutubeaccount2799 I've seen the game, the pill bottle is closed when she's in the house, and it's open when she's in the well, it's not the other way around.
@@punprincess3214
Just checked. You're right, sorry 😓
An interesting fact considering what the first chapter was telling us about the pills: that they make Fran slip into a bloody and disturbing version of her reality. The twins' house is a subversion of this (if she takes her pills they snap her into the well instead of allowing her access to the house) and really helps you get ready for the other chapters
@@ordinaryoutubeaccount2799 it's okay, mistakes happen, I get how you thought it though
i feel bad for deern towards the end. he actually learned what was happening and tried to stop it. he also seems to actually care about fran so him forgetting is just sad
THATS WHAT IM SAYIN
@@secretjanus like he actually understood there was an unnatural layer to this, not the full extent of it, but he was probably the only other human who understood this.
at least, would understood the experimenting was inhumane
22:05 Actually, the nurse on the right of the one holding the twins is Gladys, not the one on the left. I came to this conclusion because Gladys is still working at the asylum and we can see that she ties up her hair in a bun just like in this picture when she was young. The nurse holding the twins can be seen when Fran enters the heart of Mother Mabuka, but she's now a skeleton and also reminds Fran that she saw her dead body at the Oswald Asylum when she took her Knitting Needle. And we can see from the names below that her name is Christine Fonten.
To be honest, I'm not that sure about that other nurse😅. I know her name is Christine Fonten from the photo but I'm not sure if she's the same one as the dead nurse we took the knitting needle from or they are both two different nurses.
Honestly no matter what Fran bow is such a sad story, the ending is likely her passing away with her trip to ithersta her trip to her idea of heaven to live with her cat who also probably died long ago.
Misfortune, destroys the theories of logic in Fran Bow and Ithersta is real, everything was real that she experienced throughout her journey.
I don't see why it can't be both:
It happens in reality? Yes bc Miss Fortune is in the same universe.
It can be a symbolical game? Yes bc it's a standalone game and could be interpreted as such.
Same thing with Miss Fortune.
@@miavalentine8638 Isn't a symbolical game readed through hints and logic?
@@thefox328 i mean, Little Misfortune spoilers,
Little Misfortune *did* die in the beginning of the game, so it could still all be seen as something symbolic.
@@flamestormthecat2833 why do you talk to me like you talked to me before tho? i wanna know
Actually Gladys isn't holding the babies, it is really Christine Fonten, Gladys is the one next to them.
I mean, the first theory is actually more true in the case, even without considering Little Misfortune. If it was all a hallucination caused by the pills, that how did the other Fran free the original Fran from being chained to the bed?
I have seen a third theory that makes the most sense to me (it was from a comment under another Fran Bow video, so I cannot credit the person who came up with it)
This theory relies on these facts:
- Fran is hallucinating both on and off Duotine. PTSD can cause hallucinations by itself and Duotine only made them more violent and grounded in reality
- Fran does escape the Oswald Asylum and gets hurt along the way
- Aunt Grace killed Fran's parents
- Fran dies at the end of the story
The theory basically goes that Aunt Grace killed Fran's parents, presumably under Oswald's instruction. Fran was unable to comprehend such a betrayal from her aunt, so she hallucinated Remor instead (the original commenter also speculated about Aunt Grace wearing some sort of monster mask). Fran gets placed into Oswald Asylum and successfully escapes later. At one point she falls down an abandoned well and discovers the twins' corpses (but her hallucinations cause her to see a pretty house instead). Later she falls down a ravine, and suffers a severe injury, possibly even coma (the Ithersta segment. The part about Fran becoming a tree could be a hint on a spinal injury). When she wakes up, she manages to get out the ravine, finds an abandoned bike and drives home, hallucinating Itward (after Itward's ship crashes, there is a mangled bike in frame, so she likely had a biking accident which she interpreted as a Kamala attack). She then gets kidnapped by Aunt Grace and later dies after being shot by Oswald. Her final trip to Ithersta is just her brain coping with death.
With all this in mind, I can safely assume Fran might not have been chained at all, it was just her pre-existing spine injury causing her trouble.
I remember I always loved this game, still do honestly, it’s just very hard to replay since there’s a lot of dialogue you can’t skip and no other paths or endings, so it’s a bit boring to replay. Though I always loved the puzzles
I'm a reader, so I just replay after a while so I can experience the story again
I think the crrators actually confirmed that the current canon is that all of this did happen for real. However, when the game was made, I am pretty sure they were still working with the "Its all in her head" idea, and this change only happened afterwards when Miss Fortune was being created and the universe firmly pinned down.
a lot of things in the game wouldnt really make sense if it was originally supposed to all be fake, like other world items working in the main world and main world items not existing in the other world having large impacts, as well as a lot of details like the inside of the well being in the other world with the twins house in the main world (something the video gets wrong), as well as a lot of other small details like itward appearing in the main world but is changed in the other world, and the plant place seemingly being real as she was seperated from her pills for so long it couldnt have been a hallucination
it all being fake being the original intention just doesnt make sense with a lot of what we know in this game exclusively
@@edenengland1883 Except that all being real doesn't either. If It's all "fake" It's the metaphorical part that truly matter anyway, It's becomes basically an allegory. It doesn't really matter how yhings happen becsuse the literal story and plot is not what's important if you go with that interpretation. Also, during Inthersta she was supposed in some sort of coma, so she wouldn't need her pills. Hence why It's more of a "dream"
@@ThePipojp you know
if you explanation for how it can still be fake despite the fact that it is blatently obvious that its real is "because i said so"
just dont have an interpretation and dont say anything
It can't at all have been in her head. No nine year old with spindly arms could PERFECTLY hack two adults into pieces. Her parents would've defended each other/restrained her after the first damn cut. It's almost impossible that even an adult human could slice cleanly through all flesh and bone, let alone a scrawny 9-year-old girl. It's clear enough that they planned this from the very beginning.
I remember back when mark did a play through of the game those were the good days…
Those were simpler times
I loved his Itward voice
I dont know why but his voice so fits the cat I can Def imagine the cat having an deap voice
@@ceosgamer016_5 yeah I thought it was voice line bye the game. But I play the game I don't hear the voice line and I watch mark Fran bow video like age 7 or 8.
Ahhh amen brother/sister. Im getting nostalgic now lol
I just finished Markiplier's gameplay of this and there were a lot of hidden lessons learned in the game. I also don't believe that Fran was just crazy, Leon's notebook says it all. He is a doctor and the one who documented the whole thing about the 5 realities. That would just mean Leon is crazy too, but he isn't. I knew the aunt was suspicious the moment I saw Fran chained on her bed, and their whole conversation about her blaming the cat for killing Fran's parents just because someone has to take responsibility? So I kind of knew from there that Aunt Grace killed the parents and not her. Anyway, I'm really glad we got the happy ending. I would stay in Ithersta too if I could.
At one point we see the text "daddy was not there. Mommy did not care". Frans parents may have been neglectful of Fran. And that might be why she killed them
Tbh it makes more sense for me that this was the twin's parents referred to, their mother was who dropped them at the asylum where they were experimented on, their father is never mentioned.
I like Jordan Underneath’s theory about Fran Bow being experimented on at Auchwits concentration camp during WW2. He compares Dr. Oswald to a real historical figure who did those exact experiments. It also ties up a lot of loose ends and makes sense of many details.
I love Fran Bow! It’s my favorite game of all time. The ending made me cry to be honest. I understand her hopeful philosophy on such a deep level.
I too, choose happiness, when caught between trauma and fear. Sometimes hope is all you’ve got. I also have a creative mind with intrusive morbid thoughts. It’s totally messed up how important this character is to me.
Man I miss Jordan underneath, he was an awesome content maker
I have to agree and that makes sense
Exactly! Dr. Mangele experimented specifically on twins, sewing them together or injecting them with viruses and seeing how their bodies reacted differently. Freaky stuff, but these experiments happened through the war, 1939-1945
It is literally impossible for this to take place during WW2 due to the technology and context clues 💀
@@Drpepperlvr28there are multiple instances in the game that directly states it takes place in 1944. It very well could have been world war 2
It's nice how Fran is riding a axolotl in the background of the text : Fran bow story explained
It's nice to see an axolotl in the game, because the axoltolt is an mexican animal, and i'm from México, so it's nice to see something of your culture represented on a foreing medium
Axolotls are cool animals :0 Thats why I also called palontras "Big floofy axolotl" once
21 hours later : 79 LIEKSSSSSSSS
I like how the lightnand darkness are literally finnish words.
Valokas: Bright
Kamala: Horrible
Second ending!
You also neglected to mention that the chapter which intriduces Itward literally is titled "My Imaginary Friend".
And of course:
Itward - IT Ward
Remor - Remorse
I honestly feel like the game is trying to take place in a fantasy universe.
I don't believe the ending where the option is "She is insane and murdered her parents" because, a little 10 year old girl, killing 2 adult people, cutting them in half and such, just...
a small child couldn't do that without the adults noticing, or atleast one of them stopping her. the parents should be strong enough, to stop a child, in my opinion.
Also, her hallucinating it all, wouldn't make sense: in Little Misfortune, another game, it takes place in the same universe, and the main character also sees lots of the stuff that Fran saw
Edit, Holy shit guys I found an old comment of mine that isn't 100% trash and cringeworthy. I'm happy now.
If you think about it, the parents would both be asleep, and she most likely went for her father first, hence her mother screaming after somehow awakening.
@@MostScaryCat how would you be able to explain her cutting the parents into *perfect* pieces then? The newspaper specifically mentioned perfect, so unless she was on a secret superpower drug, there’s no goddamn way she can cut them perfectly with a kitchen knife.
@@viethuongvothai686 I really have no explanation about that, what I said is just my take on how her parents were killed.
@@MostScaryCat yeah, the only theory that would make sense is that morgo actually did killed the parents. It is physically impossible for adults and children to kill 2 healthy adults instantly by cutting them into perfect pieces. Little misfortune did confirm that all the realities fran saw was indeed real, so there’s really no other explanation.
@@viethuongvothai686 Their bodies weren't that severely damaged in the coffins though. Also, Little Misfortune itself is supposed to have more than one possible interpretation. It's actually a theme in Fran Bow that kids cope in the same way and create legends that they share with each other. But It being all real is a valid theory too, just not meant to be the only obe possible.
I'm guessing the realm of darkness being Apollo might be for irony's sake.
As one apollos lesser known aspects was the bringer of plagues and plagues of the mind is a central theme of the narrative I think it's more to it than irony for the sake of irony.
i genuinely think that fran didn’t kill her parents, it definitely had to be grace and fran just imagined her as remor, she’s a kid after all.
I think it was very fitting that Fran goes back to Ithersta in the end, she seemed to be at her happiest state in the game while there.
Fran isn’t crazy. All this actually happened. You can’t convince me otherwise
agreed
I think it all happened but She is still Crazy.
Its cannon that a lot of it happened
she is LITERALLY CRAZY, but yeah i agree i think it actually did happen
I believe it actually happened but I still believe that she suffers from a broken mind. But honestly who would be okay after experiencing all that
Me after finishing Fran bow: Am sure I didn't take on mushrooms before playing?
Fun fact:the entire game was made by two people.
I remember watching a playthrough of this during a time in my life when I was being told that the reality I was experiencing (undiagnosed chronic illness) was not real and that if I just worked hard, I would be like everyone else. That's why I gotta say that I'm really not a huge fan of this theory, nor was I a fan of it at the time. The whole "this person is insane and the world they see isn't real" trope is, at least from my perspective, hurtful, harmful, and downright uncreative. What even is the purpose of using it as a narrative device, if not to make us pity people with mental illness or to stoke a fear of our sense of reality?
I don't know, I think more likely is that this might be somewhat related to how the darkness in the world (note that this story takes place in the 1940s and features heavy themes of unethical medical experimentation, something that the Nazis were heavily into) torments and deeply traumatizes children. It's told in a fantastical sense, and we're not even sure at some points if Clara and Mia even were sewn together (i'm still under the impression that it's more metaphorical, since the two are being constantly compared, they feel like they can never escape each other).
So with that in mind, I think this is far more likely a story about escaping trauma that surrounds us, rather than "it's all in her head." I think about Dr. Dern a lot when it comes to this. Why is he left behind? In a sense, when she leaves everyone behind, she's leaving her trauma behind. She's free of the traumatic world she was subjected to. I think it's also possible that Fran didn't kill her parents, and that she is instead shown that to make her stray farther into the darker realm.
Either way. There's a way to interpret the ending in a sense that is more positive. All of those horrible things that happened with the head doctor, sick children, her parents, and her cat, are things in the third reality she has to leave behind to move on. In a way, she ascends into a place of happiness (the upper planes) and is surrounded by people who want to help her, instead of hurting her. Maybe I'm off base, but I think there's still something positive in the symbolism.
You should play The Remains Of Edith Finch!
Yeah it's really good I just played it yesterday
He should
I agree
What Remains of Edith Finch is pretty interesting. It would be interesting to see how he feels on it.
It's a great game, and rife with content for theories. :03
*Franbow riding an axolotl*
Me: *THE NEVER ENDING STORY*
yes lol
My theory is that Fran never left anywhere and stayed in that asylum. It was all in her head and i think that her parents may have been killed by Aunt Grace or someone else and made her believe she did it. Then she’s consumed in her own guilt of thinking she’s responsible and her trauma causes her to see things that aren’t there. There’s too many things that happen that signify its not real and too happy of an ending to be the true ending of Fran. Just my opinion
My theory is she didn’t kill the parents in the beginning in fact she seemed like a normal child With a normals childhood from the beginning cutscenes. It didn’t show any neglect or trauma from the parents. I think what all started this was when she found her parents dead I think that gave her major ptsd and schizophrenic. Or something that makes her delusional not knowing her realities. So she runs away and passes out or faints and passes out in the house with the dead parents until someone noticed that they haven’t heard from Fran’s family. Or she was passed on the floor from being over w Helene’s and stressed someone found her outside and reported it bringing her to the asylum. That’s what I think, I think she was brought to asylum due to ptsd or some mental illness I think they diagnosed her with since she saw her own parents dead in person and maybe messed her up a lot. They probably took care of her and was there for months seeing how her behavior and they decide it may be best for her to use medicine because of how she was acting and all that. She was given her meds for the first time and made her passed out maybe she liked it, but they decide to not give her it because she passed out. but it does not help her but only make her more ‘delusional’. Maybe it was an addicting pill (since it was older times it wasn’t modern and making medicine wasn’t 100% accurate yet) she wanted more of it so she broke curtain and made an excuse to steal the meds. Since I’ve seen people say this was back then in the older days I don’t think it’s impossible for someone to steal there meds maybe she was just lucky enough to get it. For sure she got messed up over the pills because of how random the adventure was in the asylum. I believe she could’ve od from those pills and went in a coma or dream first, then died from OD. But went through all those adventures while she was high off her meds. Right from the beginning when she broke curtains and stole the meds. It was probably highly addictive and it wasn’t all in her head she was just in a coma, reason I think that is the ending it shows how she just flies away with the good guys and it just doesn’t add up. Maybe when she died that was her happy ever after because she actually passed away. They were probably trying really hard to save Fran but with how much meds she took it was too late. I was thinking her mind just made her aunt the victim blaming her since she knows the aunt is the closest to the family. The people that genuily messed up Fran was people who had a impact on her life. Now I think the demon is just her mind makinn it up. And as for aunt grace and the mom, I seen someone say aunt grace killed them. Maybe she did and she had a mental illness too but no one knows about it and never got herself checked which caused her to act up and killing her sister and husband, maybe mental illness is something Fran picked up from there blood line. But I’m not sure who really killed Fran’s parents my second guest would just be they got robbed or something because it was the olden times and maybe they were not too wealthy but had stuff enough for people to wanna rob them. As for the skeleton dude that’s just Fran wanting to give her a happily ever after. But yeah lmk if u agree or have anything else to add on. I love the developers of these games it’s so twisted and confusing like the ones where you’ll never find the answer too
I use to think it was all in Fran's head untill little misfortune, because of that's games involvement it's much more likely that its really happening considering the little misfortune ending. I suggest if anyone hasn't seen that game to watch or play it to see for yourself.
How is this game connected to little misfortune i dont understand
@@YoxrHxsband they both have itward in the game,fox is from from snesedee the fourth reality you cane see it at begging of the game were Death commands fox go to the third reality to save kids ,at the end of the game little misfortune together with the fox create the portal to snesedee the fourth reality and meets death.
@@YoxrHxsband Itward, the pinecone people, the Luciferns, and other beings from Fran bow is in little misfortune
@@YoxrHxsband Plus they're both made by the same people and even the creators said they're connected to the same reality.
If you play the game/watch a playthrough you'll understand better.
Because of Little Misfortune, I like to believe that in the other realities they have parallels to something in another reality. It's not that it's all a hallucination, but a wildly different variation.
I think it's more like the realities themselves are real and the things Fran Bow went through are real... But she was still insane, so we saw her broken mind's interpretation of the realities she experienced.
@@nobinary2296 , but that's impossible because the same world is seen by the main character of Little Misfortune, unless she is insane too, but it would be strange for her to see the same things then, and also considering the ending and everything it's much more likely that it's really happening and it seems that that fantastical world and things are real, besides there are many things that doesn't make sense to me about the part that she was just insane and nothing more was happening and she did all that and also murdered her parents, for me it is in great part that others took advantage of her innocence, like with the murder of her parents, they said and made her believe that it was her the one that did that but she truly wasn't, so they could use that as an excuse to take her and experiment with her, we can also see in the game how her medicine was changed by someone to the one that we use in the game, one wich was forbidden to use because it was bad although I don't remember all the explanation and exactly why, this doesn't mean that she didn't develop some kind of traumatic problem or something like that, it seems obvious and clear to me that she did, it would be normal
@@doloresgronenberg5882i think what they meant by we're seeing from Fran's broken mind is all the blood and horror you see in the game, Misfortune did see stuff too but not nearly as horrifying as Fran
little miss fortune is in the same reality 40-50yrs later
In a way, the story may be an allegory of how someone faces a horrible personal tragedy, and how it manifests in their mind - and eventually able to deal with what happened, and eventually being able to be happy, regardless. That explains the ending - she faces death - and realizes she can be happy somehow.
After years of going through my meories and remembering watching random gameplays of this game when I was 3-4 yrs old, I have finally found the name of this game. Thank you Superhorrorbro!
Some people think it was all In her head but I disagree the pills give her information she couldn’t possibly now and get past phisical barriers also little miss fortin kinda of spelled it out
Yee
I think Polantras and Itward respresents two people adopting Fran from the Asylum and Fran going to Ithersta represents Fran about to have a new normal life.
still one of my favorite games to this day, thank you for such a good breakdown after all these years!
What really got me interested in this game was that you see in the eyes of a little girl yet you see gore and blood, basically the opposite of what a child should see…. Very cool
Was anyone else bothered that he said he was in another world when she was around the twins when the pill bottle had to be closed to be there. Meaning that was the real world and not the pill world.
Yeah I thought I was the only one who picked that up!
Yeah, Chapter 2 had a huge bunch of "bleeding" realities like the ant dude and the beetlepig being in the real/closed pill bottle world whereas the ant guy's house was just a skeleton surrounded by ants in a cave. Like Dr. Deern says, Duotine is creating a great confusion in my mind... It is implied that Fran always had this innate ability in her, hence why she is so special, and the Duotine enhanced that but when she was able to see the Ultrareality she clearly no longer needed it. I think it's possible that the more she took, the more she started "seeing" different realities escaping into each other on their own without taking Duotine.
Gonna say I never like the whole 'It's all in the characters head' it's, well borring and makes for way too many short cuts in the ways of writing, it's significantly more interesting to me if the plots actually happening as shown. (Yes it makes less sense but counter argument: It's a video game, sense/logic doesn't always apply)
Agreed!
On the bright side I heard little misfortune confirms the events of Fran brow to be real so that's neat!
Well good news for you, the whole Five Realities is actually real
I think it’s very overused and cringe in most cases but here it actually works since the character is in a mental institution. Also it’s real and everyone and their mom has commented how lil misfortune proves it
I'm pretty sure the more likely explanation is actually the first one, as how it's impossible (or at least near-impossible) to give multiple people the same exact hallucinations, and nearly everyone at the asylum sees the black creatures, plus how could Fran have known about Clara and Mia? Yes she saw their dead body, but how could she have known their story or names? Also that Dr. Deern's father used to hurt him (which she says in the car), have gotten out of the chains in her room by herself, known that her mother and Aunt were patients under Dr. Oswald, etc
Another thing that supports this being actually real is Little Misfortune. She sees a lot of similar things, and one of the Supernatural characters in that game actually mentions and explains the five realities. Plus there's that guy who wrote an entire book about the five realities. Because of these things, I honestly just can't accept that it was all in Fran's head
You have no idea how thankful i am for this, ive been looking for this game for seven years, thank you very much
Wow not only this game is a creepy and insane game , it's also a good and sad story that teaches us that reality and imagination can be a real tough desicion for your mind
Well, according to Little Misfortune videogame, all what happend to Fran was real XD
But yeah, as the most of art pieces, this game has several levels of symbolism that stand together in harmony.
Also, the Killmonday Games guys confirmed that will be a Fran Bow 2, when she's a teenager.
Omg.
THIS IS THE BEST NEWS I HEARD😍😍😍😍
I HAVENT BEEN SUBSCRIBED ALL THIS TIME AND IVE BEEN ENJOYING YOUR CONTENT SO MUCH! Shame on me for forgetting to support you fro your hard work. but it's just so entertaining I always get too motion focused (focused) in the video. I kept doing this for the whole producing of this comment
I never played this game but i got to watch the kubzscout's gameplay and i can say for sure i love the lore and aesthetic 👍👍
I also think that the ending can be seen as her death. She succumbed to her insanity and the end might be symbolism of everything being so overwhelming that she died.
Misfortune, is based off, Fran Bow's world, and there can be evidence seen of it so it was all real.
Yeah. Spoiler. You can find Itward in the game.
Little Misfortunate continues a bit of the story of Fran Bow
Who knows that fran bow 2 might be including little misfortunate
I saw another video explaining the last quote "between guilt and fear I choose happiness" the kamalas are actually valokas that are turned into kamalas by giving into darkness . But when a kamala allows it it can be a valoka again . My point is : the video basicly said "nomatter how dark sad or depressed your life is or how broken your mind is . You can always find your way back to happiness if you allow yourself to" I personally really love this explanation yes its a tragedy and sad story but this explanation gives me hope and happiness I just think it has a nice message
IMO, Fran Bow is seriously underrated & is such a masterpiece when it comes to storytelling.
The pacing, the twists and turns, the clues, the attention to detail, the foreshadowing, it's all put together so well. It's so symbolic & meaningful in so many different ways, and not only is it written incredibly but the art & styling is just amazing. I loved playing it so much & it definitely got me more into these types of games.
Even years and years after it's release, it's still one of the most memorable, complex, creative & immersive games I've ever come across.
Me after SHB uploads a story explanation
Me: Mom can I have some popcorn
Mom: Yes sure, but tell me why do you want them
Me:I am just watching a movie
Mom: Oh cool then let’s watch together
Me: Uhhh T-the thin-ng is
LOL XD
@Lukas Reich ??? Meaning
After fran bow, you should play a little misfortune.
Love your content man keep up the great job with your content and I will buy your game when it comes out!
I don’t even play this game but I decided to watch this since I remembered a song from random encounters and wanted to know what the plot was. This is so cool 😭
i want to know why they call the cat a traitor
The cat knew to much ( I think that's why )
You should play "Little Misfortune" it shares ties to Fran Bow.
i have been wanting to see this for years from you ty
The ending feels a bit hollow, since Fran technically didn't do anything.
Her aunt and the mad doctor are defeated by Itward. And Itward was the one who confronted Fran to be her friend. She had no say in any of that.
And when you think about it, Fran didn't learn any valuable lessons from this adventure. Maybe you can argue she's in a better place now, but if it's mainly not by her own hands but by the actions if others...then it's an empty gesture.
Kamalas can also become Valakas if they decide to. A wholesome fun fact
Mike: the doctor reveals all
Macdonald's add: this is a great time to reveal myself
I love the game sm. I can still remember the voices Mark made for each of them😭
Theory: itward represent the grim reaper who decides who will go to hell or not, and he wants to lead mentally and physically ill people to heaven, the part where itward destroy the 2 people is actually removing Frans memories to leave a peaceful life in heaven, and the part where she fell on a broken tree actually happened but only injured her yes she is still on the bed but maybe Fran didn't see her aunt kill her in the bed to end her misery and the flying axolotl is the part where Fran travels to heaven, remor represents the madness she has go through and the mother of darkness represents sadness, and the doctor she has trusted that almost turned into a monster, is the one that actually killed her aunt and the doctor after Fran got killed, he almost turned into a monster because he thought killing was fun but the murder of Fran got the most of him that's when the flying axolotl cast a spell on him
The kamala being purified by water could mean that our regrets, fear and sadness can be cured by crying. The process may hurt but in the end we will be free.
There is one thing that you got wrong when she's interacting with the twins in the house on the island she's not on her pills when she sees the well she is so you can tell by in the corner the pill jar is open or not when its open she's on them
I remember watching a gameplay of this years ago
This is so nostalgic but interesting at the same time
Fran Bow has always been a favorite point and click style horror game of mine. The story is captivating, the visuals are complex and the characters are always interesting, It’s a game you can replay again and again and you’ll still find something new every time. I love it
Been waiting for this one a while
Same I was like as soon as his play through is over he better make it for this
Same
Same!!
Same
Saaaaame 😄
When it comes to the murder of Fran’s parents, I don’t think she did it and what she was shown was used as a way to mess with her mind. That her parents were killed by Aunt Grace so the Doctor can get to Fran without them in the way. Also when I first saw this game I thought that the ending was that Fran truly died when she was shot and as her soul reunited with Itward and Palothras and in the real world where he body is something happened to the Doctor and Grace. Maybe after seeing her get shot Deern took the gun and killed those two which is why he was being overtaken by the darkness. He killed two people so his soul is no longer pure. That what I think of the ending.
I believe it can be a mix of both ways of looking at the story.
The developers said it was real, but not how or at which level.
Maybe in the first chapter she was indeed moving around and almost escapes. Or escapes but later is found again (probably in the woods)
But after that, it's possible that in every fantastical event (even if real and having a real influence in the universe of Fran bow) she just travels through those worlds with her mind or soul detached from her body, as we don't see any human-like scenario along the game anymore (except at the beginning, a little bit when she reunites with the dictor and the distorted clinic at the end).
So while she traveled through realities, her body probably didn't, staying in bed or just wandering around.
As somebody who's never understood this game's story since years ago, i really did need this!
When you skip the playthrough and wait for days till SuperHorrorBro Mike uploads the explanation video: *worth it*
Actually in another game called "little missfortune", it is revealed that remor does exist. Hence the first explanation is cannob to me
Fran now was an awesome horror game :)
I was obsessed with this game when I was kid. Good to know that people still know about the games existence. I hope there is a second game.
i have always loved this game. one of my ultimate favourites. along with little misfortune. i had worked out most of the symbolisation through the game and hidden links that might've been missed, but to see them all in one video, its like you're telling a story and its even more interesting to me
I've waited THREE YEARS for an explaination of Fran Bow. THANKS, BRO!! This really was what i was lookin for.
Play Little Misfortune! Made by the same game developers!
Watching LDshadowlady play this as a kid truly changed me, I couldn’t even finished the series until the end because of how traumatic it was and my mom took away my CZcams access before I could watch more. But ever since I watched it I couldn’t stop thinking about the violent imagery at night, and also the sound effects stuck with me for some reason.
Thank you for making the story of Fran Bow , I knew this was going to happen.