Everybody's Gone to the Rapture:
Explanations & Theories
Published: 2015 (Legacy Article)
The Chinese Room's latest offering of interactive storytelling comes in the form of the quaint, awfully British apocalypse Everybody's Gone To The Rapture. Its story is very open ended due to the lack of explanation as to what is going on, only giving you vague clues and possibilities rather than actually ever telling you what has happened to the quiet villages of Haverton in Shropshire. Well fear not, after hours of digging around both online, six completions of the game, and a platinum trophy later I aim to clear all questions that seem to be left unanswered including what 'the event' actually was and why some parts of the game you may not have necessarily taken much notice of beyond face value are actually incredibly important.
The Village & The Era
So first up is the setting. We know that Everybody's Gone To The Rapture is very pretty and it's very well designed, both in terms of video game level structuring and in terms of accuracy to villages in the British countryside (trust me, I live in one).
The game takes place sometime in the late 1980's, this is something extremely key to understanding the character's opinions towards each other, what's happening to them, and to their town. The technological revolution didn't enter full swing until the 90's, meaning most 'modern' electronic equipment such as telephones, televisions, microwaves, and hilltop observatories for instance would not have been commonplace in a setting such as Yaughton or Little Tipworth during the time it is set. This is evident with the majority of houses you will visit in your time here, where very few residents have televisions or computers (usually only people very important to the community such as Howard and Stephen), however a lot of residents do have radio's. This also reflects in the trophies, with there being 4 microwaves to find in the game, 31 radio's, and fewer than 10 TV's and computers across Yaughton, Tipworth Forest, Appleton's Farm, Lakeside, and Little Tipworth.
The general attitude towards Stephen and Kate as scientists working up in the high tech observatory is that they don't belong. It's a farming community, a rural village, yet they are Doctors who are using an observatory on the outskirts of the village to observe the stars and gather information that some resident's deem too modern. One character goes so far to say as there are some things we are simply not supposed to understand because it is God's will; in a small Christian community during the 1980's this kind of attitude would not have been out of place and generally very common.
Each characters setting within the villages also plays a significant role in defining their persona's. Father Jeremy's story takes place in Yaughton, surrounded by the church and his parishioners, at the very heart of the community. Wendy Appleton's chapter takes place in Tipworth Forest, where she and her son Stephen have made homes for themselves and where she can be surrounded by the wildlife she is so fond of. Frank Appleton centres around his farm, around his isolation from everybody else. Lakeside is where Lizzie Graves' story takes place, revolving around the life she has made for herself and around the idea of escaping to somewhere new. Stephen Appleton and Little Tipworth both have connections wherein that is where 'the signal' will end and that is all he seeks to find. Kate Collins hides away in the observatory, not out of choice but because the community has pushed her away and it's the only place where she can feel comfortable.
I'll delve more into the characters shortly, but each environment subtly reflects the characters storylines and it's something that makes the setting of the game that much more important.
What is Each Main Characters Story?
Yaughton - Father Jeremy
Father Jeremy is the first light you follow in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. His memories are unique in comparison to the others in that they focus mainly on the suffering of the village. He feels that it is his duty as priest to assist those who are scared and confused with the events that have covered the town in blood and loss.
Father Jeremy is also a man with a troubled past. Playing through his chapter shows the defiance and ridicule towards him from his parishioners, those who refuse to let him live down a decision he made for a friend, Mary Appleton, wife of Frank Appleton. A woman who was suffering, and he, a man of the cloth, assisted a woman he cared deeply for in her death. He was judged harshly but he persevered and helped everyone in their time of need.
His guidance provides peace and a soothing (yet false) hope to those around him all they all vanish, leaving him to be the last to die. One of his best traits is his guidance and advice to the community, his family and his friends, that he doesn’t ever push religion on them despite being a man of God. He approaches them understanding the faults that people carry. Humanity being one of the biggest elements of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, it is good to see that even characters we would expect to stand over others do not, instead being one of the most human and flawed characters in the story.
His end is one of grief but eventually acceptance. Being the last survivor in Yaughton meant Father Jeremy had to deal with each and every one of his parishioners suffering and eventually death and disappearance. This left him angry with God, the one he swore to serve. In his weakness and despair, he finally sees the light as he too vanishes from the very church he served.
Tipworth Forest - Wendy Appleton
Wendy Appleton, mother of Stephen Appleton is a kind woman, although that is often hard to tell due to her stern, outspoken personality. The time spent with her allows us to see how she views her family and her town, a view very different from any other resident. Being the only person bold enough to say whatever she is thinking, no matter whether she is in company or not, including Father Jeremy, she is both respected and feared.
Very few people have the courage to stand against her. In fact, the only two in the game are her own son and Meg who runs the Haverton & Tipworth supplies store. But she isn’t all bad. She tries to control because she cares for her family and friends, even if that makes her seem like a horrible person at times.
She disapproves of Kate Collins, Stephen’s wife, and she is never unwilling to announce that. During one scene, Lizzie Graves assumes it is because Kate isn’t white, but Wendy is quick to point out that it has nothing to do with that but rather what she stands for. She is an American, and she is bringing science and new technology to her small Christian town. This is something Wendy is not alone on, with most individuals in the town being none to fond of Kate for similar reasons. There are even flyers in town condemning the expansion of the observatory that Kate works at.
But really all Wendy wanted was for her son to be happy. Whether that be with his wife, something she is finally willing to accept, or with his mistress Lizzie. Just as long as he does what makes him happy, then she can be at peace. As the bombs fall she is alone, searching for her son whom she has pushed too far.
Appleton's Farm - Frank Appleton
Frank Appleton is a stern yet hard working and all-around good person. Like his sister, Wendy, he is unafraid of speaking his mind throughout your interactions with him in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
He is however, alone. It was his wife whose passing Father Jeremy assisted with, and he misses her dearly. He is a tough man, but one who is fair and caring so long as it's not his sister he is speaking to. It was never really clear why he and Wendy don’t get along, but throughout the game you’ll hear enough about it to know they aren't on the best of terms. A falling out left them distant, but the end of the world seems to change things for some.
Frank overcame his anger. He was angry at himself. The man the village saw as strong became a coward when Mary was dying because he couldn’t face it, to the point of not even being around when she died. He took that out on others so he didn’t have to accept that is was his own doing.
In the end he understands, he finally sees himself and the light. When the bombs fall from the sky, he finds peace, and Mary.
Lakeside Holiday Camp - Lizzie Graves
Personally I find Lizzie the most interesting character in the game. She describes herself a cripple stuck in this forsaken town. Married to a drunkard who she loves but can’t deal with anymore, and in an affair with Stephen Appleton, whom she was once engaged to. She is a woman caught between two worlds, two lives.
But, like everyone else in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, she isn’t inherently bad. Yes, she is sleeping with the husband of another woman, whilst she herself is married, but she genuinely loves Stephen and has always loved him. Their engagement ended when he left to study in the States, but their flame was rekindled shortly after his return. Even as a self-professed cripple with nowhere to go, she built and runs the Lakeside Holiday Camp.
Lizzie plays a similar role to that of Father Jeremy. She protects the children of the village at her camp, putting on shows and providing fun to keep their minds off of their disappearing parents and the other strange events occurring in the valley. But, very interestingly, she is ready to drop all of that in the name of love. She makes plans to leave everyone to their doom as she escapes to somewhere new with Stephen. At least, that was her intention.
She leaves the children and her employees to a night filled with entertainment. Not to be with the man she loves, but to live a life free from excuses. She is ready to make choices and live with them. She has a unique light in the game due to her bearing a child, Stephen's child. The small light that follows her larger light is one born of love. She is ready to make a life with that child and so she heads to the train station. Before she sets out she calls Stephen one last time to inform him and tell him that she loves him, and that she must do this for herself and she hope he will join her. It is there in that train station that she hears the planes overhead and dies alone.
Little Tipworth - Stephen Appleton
Stephen Appleton is one of the first characters you meet in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and perhaps the most central thanks to his connection to every single character in the game. He is selfish and stubborn, but also highly intelligent. It's often quite hard to like Stephen as he uses and manipulates people in order to do what he feels is necessary, whether that be for the good of everyone or not. It was Stephen who discovered the pattern and was one of the few who understood the events of what happened that fateful night, along with his wife Kate. But he and his wife see this new discovery very differently.
At first there is an explosion, one that marks Stephen and Kate with the butterfly-like symbol seen throughout Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, the burn on the cheek that people keep pointing out to him. The interesting thing is that he and Kate react differently to the light than other people do. As everyone else succumbs to severe bleeding and intense suffering before dying and vanishing, Stephen and Kate just try to fight and understand it.
Stephen wants to stop it. Once it starts causing the bleeding and the mysterious disappearances, he sees it as a threat. He sets up the quarantine and tries to enforce the no phone rule within the valley. But, he soon discovers that the light causing these effects on people has the ability to adapt, to reach people through ways he cannot control and he grows afraid. In a desperate attempt to stop the suffering of his friends and family he calls for an airstrike. His solution is to wipe out anyone who may be a carrier of this liquid light that is killing people.
He is willing to sacrifice everything. His love, his marriage, his life, all so that others outside of Haverton may live. After unsuccessfully trying to convince his wife to shut everything down, he decides there is no other way than to wipe everyone out. Unfortunately he fails to understand the light. No matter how hard he tries it cannot be controlled, it cannot be contained, it cannot be stopped.
When the light comes to him, he tries to greet it with death. He has gasoline poured all around him and a lighter in his hand. But right before he drops the lighter, he sees Kate within the light and at that moment finally understands.
Kate was right. The light isn’t an enemy although it has taken everything he loves. As he is enveloped by the flames, and the light, he finds peace.
The Observatory - Kate Collins
Kate Collins is at the core of the events of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture despite being a character that is rarely ever present outside of radio transmissions. She discovers the light and she spends the rest of her time trying to reach an understanding with it. Before coming to Haverton with Stephen she lived in the U.S. He fell in love with her intellect and throughout the game you can hear him telling everyone how much better she is than they are.
But many feel she doesn’t belong. Her science is unwelcome in the valley. She is alone here, so she hides away in the Observatory working. Her husband, feeling neglected begins an affair with Lizzie; her mother-in-law hates her, and people are starting to believe she is the reason for all of the events happening in the valley.
So, she sits in the observatory studying the light. As Stephen works to stop the light, she sits and finds understanding. She speaks to the light, explains to it what it is doing, the hurt it is causing. In response, the light shows Kate images. She can see everyone finding happiness because that is what the light does. It puts you back where you belong. Something she never understood since she never felt like she belonged anywhere.
Nobody in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is truly alone however. She finds her pair, and it is the very light that she’s been trying to understand. She becomes one with it, accepting its embrace as she embarks on something new. This is what Stephen sees right before his death. He sees Kate, and she is glowing, she was right all along, and she has made peace.
What Was 'The Event', and What Is 'The Light'?
Perhaps the biggest selling point for many players of Everybody's Gone To The Rapture was its intriguing premise introduced through its trailers. However as mentioned in my review it's something that can leave players feeling a little robbed, because the answers to the questions you had going in to the game were never answered...or at least not directly anyway. So after much searching and replaying the game, I hope this explanation meets your expectations.
What started Stephen and Kate off on the events that ultimately led to every resident of their town suffering and disappearing out of thin air was the discovery of a pattern. A pattern of what we aren't sure but this pattern combined with the night when the sky lit up with millions of lights was the beginning, this was 'The Event'. They caught a light, but it could not be contained or controlled and therefore caused an explosion, burning both Stephen and Kate with a mark often referred to by Kate as the butterfly. This mark can also be seen painted on doorways around the village, and on the printers at Tower 2 during the final ascent of the observatory; you can also see that some of the light that floats around the villages flutters, if you get close enough to one of these you will also see that they too are butterflies made of light.
So what significance does a butterfly have to Everybody's Gone To The Rapture? Well the butterfly is a symbol of change and acceptance of that change. It is also a Christian symbol for the soul, and in Greek mythology the butterfly was a symbol of love (The love between Psyche and Eros). With these kinds of explanations behind the butterfly you can absolutely see why the butterfly is such a prominent symbol in Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.
So we know what the light represents. Change, love, and the soul. We also know where it came from and what 'The Event' is. But what is the light? Many clues given by Stephen and Kate lead you to believe that the light is, for want of a better word, an alien. Something that came to them from the sky because they understood the pattern. But it's not an alien in the common sense of the word, though it may be foreign in nature it is most definitely not what you would typically associate with the word 'alien'.
The light's purpose can be understood by arranging the events of the game into chronological order, which for an open world game like this can be very hard to do. There are also two different viewpoints to consider: the viewpoints of Jeremy, Wendy, Frank, and Lizzie who only had direct exposure to the light at the end of their individual chapters; then there is Stephen and Kate who were exposed to the light early on and have very different ways of dealing with that.
So for Jeremy, Wendy, Frank, and Lizzie, though they were never directly affected by the light until the end of their stories, it was influencing what was happening around them to help them escape their emotional baggage and help them find peace.
For each of these characters the light removes whatever was holding them back, whatever they would use as excuses for doing or not doing something. The prime example I will use for this is Lizze, she uses her husband Robert, Stephen, and her disability as excuses for not being able to get out of Haverton and start a family. So the light removes everything it can to help her move on, in the form of making Robert disappear, and by ensuring Stephen can't contact Lizzie. By removing her excuses, she is able to start her new life by going to the train station with the intention of moving away.
For Frank and Jeremy it was the people of the village that needed to be removed. Frank was always trying to shift the blame for his cowardice in the face of Mary's death onto other people. Jeremy could never face God with the parishioners always on his back. By removing the towns inhabitants, they had the opportunity for self acceptance of what they were not happy with.
So where does that leave Wendy? Now I'm sure you remember that Wendy was an avid bird enthusiast since the death of her husband, to the point where it began to affect her relationships with people. What animal is it you will frequently find dead throughout the village? Birds.
The light requires people to accept things and to move on from them, that's all it wants them to do. To stop what has happened in the past from holding them back to move onto bigger and better things. So that's where Stephen and Kate come into things.
Stephen and Kate as we already established were the ones to discover the light, they were also the ones that forced it to adapt. By trying to contain it, it exploded and burned them. By quarantining the area, it spread using technology. By cutting the phone lines it evolved again to travel through the air. Stephen believed he could kill it once and for all by cutting off the villages technology, but instead he caused it to spread even further. The first example of this is a memory early in the game outside of the Yaughton newsagents wherein Stephen spills a can of paint, instead of spilling like a can of paint would normally, it spirals and swirls much like the floating orbs that guide you in the game world. This shows just how powerful the light is and how it can affect anything it comes into contact with. This is further seen when Dr. Wade finds orbs of 'liquid light' in his blood from a nosebleed. It is the cause of this change, a butterfly effect if you will.
So why is the light doing this? It's because it's alive and aware of itself much like Kate says in her radio transmissions. A natural disaster doesn't mean to destroy people's lives and cause damage, that's just its nature. The light intends to remove people from the village in order to help the four individuals I spoke of earlier.
This is where Stephen and Kate split in their handling of the situation. Stephen wishes to kill the light before it can cause any more damage and Kate wishes to educate it, to make it see that by helping the few it is hurting the many.
So we know what happens on Stephens side of the story but what of Kate's? Kate mentions the light communicating with her, that she can hear it inside of herself. The light shows her what happens to those who vanish, that they themselves are happy and that those who are left behind are also happy. Images such as Stephen with Lizzie, and Frank with Mary. They are at peace and with the ones they love. The light's sole purpose is to be a catalyst for acceptance, to push people into situations where they can see clearly and accept. It gives that person the opportunity to feel true love. No fear, anger, or loneliness, only love. So does that make the light spiritual?
The two most significant arguments for the light being some form of spiritual entity are that children can see the orbs that guide the player in the game. This is evidenced in the drawings left by the children of the village, the images depict places like the church in Yaughton with a glowing ball, much like the ones that guide you floating towards it. It could be argued that the children can see it and the adults can't because children are innocent, therefore more in tune with the spirit world.
The second argument is the final scene in the game, where Kate and the light become one as it pours through the observatory roof, an image that bears similarity to Michelagelo's “Creation of Adam” where God and man are reaching out to each other.
So where do we conclude this? That the light came from heaven? It sounds a little silly to suggest it, but look at the evidence of the butterfly symbolism, how it is omnipresent (with reference to the spilled paint), and the two argument's I just put forward all lead to suggest that Haverton was visited by a spiritual presence.
It came to bring peace and love to the village, even if it's methods could be seen as doing more harm than good in causing the village to suffer before they disappeared. It allowed everyone to have true love beyond their physical existence.
The Numbers
Finally in this extremely long explanation I have one final matter to solve. The pattern...the numbers that you will hear Kate read over the radio's and the sequence that appears at the end of the credits. Does it mean something and if so what? Well its actually got a very simple solution. Apply an alphabetical theory to the numbers, 1 is A, 2 is B etc. Obviously you can only clearly see the numbers 1-9 when there are 26 letters in the alphabet, so all it requires is for two numbers to actually become one, such as a 1 and an 8 becoming 18.
Spend some time with the sequence and the secrets are revealed.
The Village & The Era
So first up is the setting. We know that Everybody's Gone To The Rapture is very pretty and it's very well designed, both in terms of video game level structuring and in terms of accuracy to villages in the British countryside (trust me, I live in one).
The game takes place sometime in the late 1980's, this is something extremely key to understanding the character's opinions towards each other, what's happening to them, and to their town. The technological revolution didn't enter full swing until the 90's, meaning most 'modern' electronic equipment such as telephones, televisions, microwaves, and hilltop observatories for instance would not have been commonplace in a setting such as Yaughton or Little Tipworth during the time it is set. This is evident with the majority of houses you will visit in your time here, where very few residents have televisions or computers (usually only people very important to the community such as Howard and Stephen), however a lot of residents do have radio's. This also reflects in the trophies, with there being 4 microwaves to find in the game, 31 radio's, and fewer than 10 TV's and computers across Yaughton, Tipworth Forest, Appleton's Farm, Lakeside, and Little Tipworth.
The general attitude towards Stephen and Kate as scientists working up in the high tech observatory is that they don't belong. It's a farming community, a rural village, yet they are Doctors who are using an observatory on the outskirts of the village to observe the stars and gather information that some resident's deem too modern. One character goes so far to say as there are some things we are simply not supposed to understand because it is God's will; in a small Christian community during the 1980's this kind of attitude would not have been out of place and generally very common.
Each characters setting within the villages also plays a significant role in defining their persona's. Father Jeremy's story takes place in Yaughton, surrounded by the church and his parishioners, at the very heart of the community. Wendy Appleton's chapter takes place in Tipworth Forest, where she and her son Stephen have made homes for themselves and where she can be surrounded by the wildlife she is so fond of. Frank Appleton centres around his farm, around his isolation from everybody else. Lakeside is where Lizzie Graves' story takes place, revolving around the life she has made for herself and around the idea of escaping to somewhere new. Stephen Appleton and Little Tipworth both have connections wherein that is where 'the signal' will end and that is all he seeks to find. Kate Collins hides away in the observatory, not out of choice but because the community has pushed her away and it's the only place where she can feel comfortable.
I'll delve more into the characters shortly, but each environment subtly reflects the characters storylines and it's something that makes the setting of the game that much more important.
What is Each Main Characters Story?
Yaughton - Father Jeremy
Father Jeremy is the first light you follow in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. His memories are unique in comparison to the others in that they focus mainly on the suffering of the village. He feels that it is his duty as priest to assist those who are scared and confused with the events that have covered the town in blood and loss.
Father Jeremy is also a man with a troubled past. Playing through his chapter shows the defiance and ridicule towards him from his parishioners, those who refuse to let him live down a decision he made for a friend, Mary Appleton, wife of Frank Appleton. A woman who was suffering, and he, a man of the cloth, assisted a woman he cared deeply for in her death. He was judged harshly but he persevered and helped everyone in their time of need.
His guidance provides peace and a soothing (yet false) hope to those around him all they all vanish, leaving him to be the last to die. One of his best traits is his guidance and advice to the community, his family and his friends, that he doesn’t ever push religion on them despite being a man of God. He approaches them understanding the faults that people carry. Humanity being one of the biggest elements of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, it is good to see that even characters we would expect to stand over others do not, instead being one of the most human and flawed characters in the story.
His end is one of grief but eventually acceptance. Being the last survivor in Yaughton meant Father Jeremy had to deal with each and every one of his parishioners suffering and eventually death and disappearance. This left him angry with God, the one he swore to serve. In his weakness and despair, he finally sees the light as he too vanishes from the very church he served.
Tipworth Forest - Wendy Appleton
Wendy Appleton, mother of Stephen Appleton is a kind woman, although that is often hard to tell due to her stern, outspoken personality. The time spent with her allows us to see how she views her family and her town, a view very different from any other resident. Being the only person bold enough to say whatever she is thinking, no matter whether she is in company or not, including Father Jeremy, she is both respected and feared.
Very few people have the courage to stand against her. In fact, the only two in the game are her own son and Meg who runs the Haverton & Tipworth supplies store. But she isn’t all bad. She tries to control because she cares for her family and friends, even if that makes her seem like a horrible person at times.
She disapproves of Kate Collins, Stephen’s wife, and she is never unwilling to announce that. During one scene, Lizzie Graves assumes it is because Kate isn’t white, but Wendy is quick to point out that it has nothing to do with that but rather what she stands for. She is an American, and she is bringing science and new technology to her small Christian town. This is something Wendy is not alone on, with most individuals in the town being none to fond of Kate for similar reasons. There are even flyers in town condemning the expansion of the observatory that Kate works at.
But really all Wendy wanted was for her son to be happy. Whether that be with his wife, something she is finally willing to accept, or with his mistress Lizzie. Just as long as he does what makes him happy, then she can be at peace. As the bombs fall she is alone, searching for her son whom she has pushed too far.
Appleton's Farm - Frank Appleton
Frank Appleton is a stern yet hard working and all-around good person. Like his sister, Wendy, he is unafraid of speaking his mind throughout your interactions with him in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
He is however, alone. It was his wife whose passing Father Jeremy assisted with, and he misses her dearly. He is a tough man, but one who is fair and caring so long as it's not his sister he is speaking to. It was never really clear why he and Wendy don’t get along, but throughout the game you’ll hear enough about it to know they aren't on the best of terms. A falling out left them distant, but the end of the world seems to change things for some.
Frank overcame his anger. He was angry at himself. The man the village saw as strong became a coward when Mary was dying because he couldn’t face it, to the point of not even being around when she died. He took that out on others so he didn’t have to accept that is was his own doing.
In the end he understands, he finally sees himself and the light. When the bombs fall from the sky, he finds peace, and Mary.
Lakeside Holiday Camp - Lizzie Graves
Personally I find Lizzie the most interesting character in the game. She describes herself a cripple stuck in this forsaken town. Married to a drunkard who she loves but can’t deal with anymore, and in an affair with Stephen Appleton, whom she was once engaged to. She is a woman caught between two worlds, two lives.
But, like everyone else in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, she isn’t inherently bad. Yes, she is sleeping with the husband of another woman, whilst she herself is married, but she genuinely loves Stephen and has always loved him. Their engagement ended when he left to study in the States, but their flame was rekindled shortly after his return. Even as a self-professed cripple with nowhere to go, she built and runs the Lakeside Holiday Camp.
Lizzie plays a similar role to that of Father Jeremy. She protects the children of the village at her camp, putting on shows and providing fun to keep their minds off of their disappearing parents and the other strange events occurring in the valley. But, very interestingly, she is ready to drop all of that in the name of love. She makes plans to leave everyone to their doom as she escapes to somewhere new with Stephen. At least, that was her intention.
She leaves the children and her employees to a night filled with entertainment. Not to be with the man she loves, but to live a life free from excuses. She is ready to make choices and live with them. She has a unique light in the game due to her bearing a child, Stephen's child. The small light that follows her larger light is one born of love. She is ready to make a life with that child and so she heads to the train station. Before she sets out she calls Stephen one last time to inform him and tell him that she loves him, and that she must do this for herself and she hope he will join her. It is there in that train station that she hears the planes overhead and dies alone.
Little Tipworth - Stephen Appleton
Stephen Appleton is one of the first characters you meet in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture and perhaps the most central thanks to his connection to every single character in the game. He is selfish and stubborn, but also highly intelligent. It's often quite hard to like Stephen as he uses and manipulates people in order to do what he feels is necessary, whether that be for the good of everyone or not. It was Stephen who discovered the pattern and was one of the few who understood the events of what happened that fateful night, along with his wife Kate. But he and his wife see this new discovery very differently.
At first there is an explosion, one that marks Stephen and Kate with the butterfly-like symbol seen throughout Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, the burn on the cheek that people keep pointing out to him. The interesting thing is that he and Kate react differently to the light than other people do. As everyone else succumbs to severe bleeding and intense suffering before dying and vanishing, Stephen and Kate just try to fight and understand it.
Stephen wants to stop it. Once it starts causing the bleeding and the mysterious disappearances, he sees it as a threat. He sets up the quarantine and tries to enforce the no phone rule within the valley. But, he soon discovers that the light causing these effects on people has the ability to adapt, to reach people through ways he cannot control and he grows afraid. In a desperate attempt to stop the suffering of his friends and family he calls for an airstrike. His solution is to wipe out anyone who may be a carrier of this liquid light that is killing people.
He is willing to sacrifice everything. His love, his marriage, his life, all so that others outside of Haverton may live. After unsuccessfully trying to convince his wife to shut everything down, he decides there is no other way than to wipe everyone out. Unfortunately he fails to understand the light. No matter how hard he tries it cannot be controlled, it cannot be contained, it cannot be stopped.
When the light comes to him, he tries to greet it with death. He has gasoline poured all around him and a lighter in his hand. But right before he drops the lighter, he sees Kate within the light and at that moment finally understands.
Kate was right. The light isn’t an enemy although it has taken everything he loves. As he is enveloped by the flames, and the light, he finds peace.
The Observatory - Kate Collins
Kate Collins is at the core of the events of Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture despite being a character that is rarely ever present outside of radio transmissions. She discovers the light and she spends the rest of her time trying to reach an understanding with it. Before coming to Haverton with Stephen she lived in the U.S. He fell in love with her intellect and throughout the game you can hear him telling everyone how much better she is than they are.
But many feel she doesn’t belong. Her science is unwelcome in the valley. She is alone here, so she hides away in the Observatory working. Her husband, feeling neglected begins an affair with Lizzie; her mother-in-law hates her, and people are starting to believe she is the reason for all of the events happening in the valley.
So, she sits in the observatory studying the light. As Stephen works to stop the light, she sits and finds understanding. She speaks to the light, explains to it what it is doing, the hurt it is causing. In response, the light shows Kate images. She can see everyone finding happiness because that is what the light does. It puts you back where you belong. Something she never understood since she never felt like she belonged anywhere.
Nobody in Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture is truly alone however. She finds her pair, and it is the very light that she’s been trying to understand. She becomes one with it, accepting its embrace as she embarks on something new. This is what Stephen sees right before his death. He sees Kate, and she is glowing, she was right all along, and she has made peace.
What Was 'The Event', and What Is 'The Light'?
Perhaps the biggest selling point for many players of Everybody's Gone To The Rapture was its intriguing premise introduced through its trailers. However as mentioned in my review it's something that can leave players feeling a little robbed, because the answers to the questions you had going in to the game were never answered...or at least not directly anyway. So after much searching and replaying the game, I hope this explanation meets your expectations.
What started Stephen and Kate off on the events that ultimately led to every resident of their town suffering and disappearing out of thin air was the discovery of a pattern. A pattern of what we aren't sure but this pattern combined with the night when the sky lit up with millions of lights was the beginning, this was 'The Event'. They caught a light, but it could not be contained or controlled and therefore caused an explosion, burning both Stephen and Kate with a mark often referred to by Kate as the butterfly. This mark can also be seen painted on doorways around the village, and on the printers at Tower 2 during the final ascent of the observatory; you can also see that some of the light that floats around the villages flutters, if you get close enough to one of these you will also see that they too are butterflies made of light.
So what significance does a butterfly have to Everybody's Gone To The Rapture? Well the butterfly is a symbol of change and acceptance of that change. It is also a Christian symbol for the soul, and in Greek mythology the butterfly was a symbol of love (The love between Psyche and Eros). With these kinds of explanations behind the butterfly you can absolutely see why the butterfly is such a prominent symbol in Everybody's Gone To The Rapture.
So we know what the light represents. Change, love, and the soul. We also know where it came from and what 'The Event' is. But what is the light? Many clues given by Stephen and Kate lead you to believe that the light is, for want of a better word, an alien. Something that came to them from the sky because they understood the pattern. But it's not an alien in the common sense of the word, though it may be foreign in nature it is most definitely not what you would typically associate with the word 'alien'.
The light's purpose can be understood by arranging the events of the game into chronological order, which for an open world game like this can be very hard to do. There are also two different viewpoints to consider: the viewpoints of Jeremy, Wendy, Frank, and Lizzie who only had direct exposure to the light at the end of their individual chapters; then there is Stephen and Kate who were exposed to the light early on and have very different ways of dealing with that.
So for Jeremy, Wendy, Frank, and Lizzie, though they were never directly affected by the light until the end of their stories, it was influencing what was happening around them to help them escape their emotional baggage and help them find peace.
For each of these characters the light removes whatever was holding them back, whatever they would use as excuses for doing or not doing something. The prime example I will use for this is Lizze, she uses her husband Robert, Stephen, and her disability as excuses for not being able to get out of Haverton and start a family. So the light removes everything it can to help her move on, in the form of making Robert disappear, and by ensuring Stephen can't contact Lizzie. By removing her excuses, she is able to start her new life by going to the train station with the intention of moving away.
For Frank and Jeremy it was the people of the village that needed to be removed. Frank was always trying to shift the blame for his cowardice in the face of Mary's death onto other people. Jeremy could never face God with the parishioners always on his back. By removing the towns inhabitants, they had the opportunity for self acceptance of what they were not happy with.
So where does that leave Wendy? Now I'm sure you remember that Wendy was an avid bird enthusiast since the death of her husband, to the point where it began to affect her relationships with people. What animal is it you will frequently find dead throughout the village? Birds.
The light requires people to accept things and to move on from them, that's all it wants them to do. To stop what has happened in the past from holding them back to move onto bigger and better things. So that's where Stephen and Kate come into things.
Stephen and Kate as we already established were the ones to discover the light, they were also the ones that forced it to adapt. By trying to contain it, it exploded and burned them. By quarantining the area, it spread using technology. By cutting the phone lines it evolved again to travel through the air. Stephen believed he could kill it once and for all by cutting off the villages technology, but instead he caused it to spread even further. The first example of this is a memory early in the game outside of the Yaughton newsagents wherein Stephen spills a can of paint, instead of spilling like a can of paint would normally, it spirals and swirls much like the floating orbs that guide you in the game world. This shows just how powerful the light is and how it can affect anything it comes into contact with. This is further seen when Dr. Wade finds orbs of 'liquid light' in his blood from a nosebleed. It is the cause of this change, a butterfly effect if you will.
So why is the light doing this? It's because it's alive and aware of itself much like Kate says in her radio transmissions. A natural disaster doesn't mean to destroy people's lives and cause damage, that's just its nature. The light intends to remove people from the village in order to help the four individuals I spoke of earlier.
This is where Stephen and Kate split in their handling of the situation. Stephen wishes to kill the light before it can cause any more damage and Kate wishes to educate it, to make it see that by helping the few it is hurting the many.
So we know what happens on Stephens side of the story but what of Kate's? Kate mentions the light communicating with her, that she can hear it inside of herself. The light shows her what happens to those who vanish, that they themselves are happy and that those who are left behind are also happy. Images such as Stephen with Lizzie, and Frank with Mary. They are at peace and with the ones they love. The light's sole purpose is to be a catalyst for acceptance, to push people into situations where they can see clearly and accept. It gives that person the opportunity to feel true love. No fear, anger, or loneliness, only love. So does that make the light spiritual?
The two most significant arguments for the light being some form of spiritual entity are that children can see the orbs that guide the player in the game. This is evidenced in the drawings left by the children of the village, the images depict places like the church in Yaughton with a glowing ball, much like the ones that guide you floating towards it. It could be argued that the children can see it and the adults can't because children are innocent, therefore more in tune with the spirit world.
The second argument is the final scene in the game, where Kate and the light become one as it pours through the observatory roof, an image that bears similarity to Michelagelo's “Creation of Adam” where God and man are reaching out to each other.
So where do we conclude this? That the light came from heaven? It sounds a little silly to suggest it, but look at the evidence of the butterfly symbolism, how it is omnipresent (with reference to the spilled paint), and the two argument's I just put forward all lead to suggest that Haverton was visited by a spiritual presence.
It came to bring peace and love to the village, even if it's methods could be seen as doing more harm than good in causing the village to suffer before they disappeared. It allowed everyone to have true love beyond their physical existence.
The Numbers
Finally in this extremely long explanation I have one final matter to solve. The pattern...the numbers that you will hear Kate read over the radio's and the sequence that appears at the end of the credits. Does it mean something and if so what? Well its actually got a very simple solution. Apply an alphabetical theory to the numbers, 1 is A, 2 is B etc. Obviously you can only clearly see the numbers 1-9 when there are 26 letters in the alphabet, so all it requires is for two numbers to actually become one, such as a 1 and an 8 becoming 18.
Spend some time with the sequence and the secrets are revealed.
“In the wake of a human being's death, what survives is a set of afterglows, some brighter and some dimmer, in the collective brains of those dearest to them. There is, in those who remain, a collective corona that still glows.”
A quote from cognitive science professor Douglas Hofstader's book 'I Am A Strange Loop'. This work theorises how humanity perceives oneself and the unique qualities of the human mind. The passage provided in the number sequence gives a great deal of understanding as to why each character in the game is represented as light, an afterglow if you will.
I hope this lengthy explanation has been helpful to any confused players, or to those just seeking some clarification on their theories. But it just goes to show how deep the story in this game really is and just how much detail there is to pay attention to in the game.
Sources
The majority of my finding's were through multiple playthroughs of the game as well as unlocking the 'Completionist' trophy for finding the whole story in the game. Video games website twinfinite.net significantly helped me compartmentalise and explain my theories (What is the Light in Everybody's Gone To The Rapture, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture Code Number Explained, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture Characters and Chapter Endings Explained).
Everybody's Gone To The Rapture is the 4th game from British developer The Chinese Room and exclusive to the PlayStation 4 system.
A quote from cognitive science professor Douglas Hofstader's book 'I Am A Strange Loop'. This work theorises how humanity perceives oneself and the unique qualities of the human mind. The passage provided in the number sequence gives a great deal of understanding as to why each character in the game is represented as light, an afterglow if you will.
I hope this lengthy explanation has been helpful to any confused players, or to those just seeking some clarification on their theories. But it just goes to show how deep the story in this game really is and just how much detail there is to pay attention to in the game.
Sources
The majority of my finding's were through multiple playthroughs of the game as well as unlocking the 'Completionist' trophy for finding the whole story in the game. Video games website twinfinite.net significantly helped me compartmentalise and explain my theories (What is the Light in Everybody's Gone To The Rapture, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture Code Number Explained, Everybody's Gone To The Rapture Characters and Chapter Endings Explained).
Everybody's Gone To The Rapture is the 4th game from British developer The Chinese Room and exclusive to the PlayStation 4 system.