--Voidtreckers App--

[cycledsingularity]

Player Information

Name: RJ
Age: 31
Contact details: ParanoidPatriot@plurk or PM
Other characters: N/A

Character Information

Name: Mono
Canon: Little Nightmares Franchise
Canon Point: Post game-- after ‘the fall’ before the time-lapse
OU/AU/CRAU/OC: OU
Age: 7-10ish (he doesn’t know either)

World Information: Little Nightmares, like most Indie Horror games, is very heavy on the aesthetic and very light on answers. In the first installment we play as a young girl we know as Six, who for some reason is disproportionately smaller (a mere 2 feet tall) than the reality with which she exists. The developers wanted to capture what real nightmares feel like, with imagery that would remind us of things that frightened us as children. In this world all adults are driven by an indescribable hunger, a gluttonous urge so strong that they no longer resemble humans as much as horrifyingly grotesque monsters that will stop at nothing to consume any child they find. While we were content to just accept that was the way that world worked, the newest game, little Nightmares 2, starring Mono sheds a bit more light on how this world came to be. The twist is that this is, in fact, not a sequel but a prequel of sorts and Mono may very well be at the center of it all.

Personal History: While this wiki will list the chronological events of the game: https://littlenightmares.fandom.com/wiki/Mono#Little_Nightmares_II

Fans have dug much deeper into the lore in piecing together the story and I will use only facts to the best of my ability to support my interpretation of the narrative. **SPOILERS HERE ON OUT**

The truth of the matter is that Mono’s life is part of a paradox. The end of the game makes it clear that the Thin Man who came after us was in fact another version of Mono himself. When that revelation hits, everything makes sense. Why Mono begins next to a TV, why he has the powers he does and why he is fated to make the journey he did. When Six allows him to fall dooming him to his fate, he becomes corrupted by the transmission and ages into the Thin man; this isn’t a form of power, but one that is tortured and full of pain. His face becomes more sunken as the tower leeches him of everything he has, using his powers to brainwash the world into giving themselves to the televisions. It is because the tower weakens him so that he can’t break free of its influence. His only way to end this cycle is to stop his childhood self and he is only free to try when past!Mono opens the door; unfortunately no longer having enough sanity and power left to win in the inevitable showdown, he is always doomed to lose.

All of this, and the world itself is due to the signal tower’s corruptive influence. Like a plant seeking sunlight, the very matter of this universe has grown larger and grotesquely stretched out of proportion to get closer to it, which offers explanations for why not just the people but objects, portraits in houses and landscapes are also stretched out of shape.

When Mono finally uses his powers to fight for the first time, we see he doesn’t warp just the Thin man, but the entire fabric of reality along with him, that is how deeply interwoven this transmission has become. Even the ‘bullies’ (otherwise mindless NPCs) can be found doodling the Eye- the true form of the signal tower- as if the image of it is lurking in the back of even their minds.

We aren’t told of how the Eye came to be, whether it was a creature from another universe or just a conglomeration of all of the greed and gluttony of this world's people becoming a realized entity of pure hunger but the world is utterly brought to ruin by it and it is Mono's endless fate to become the tool that perpetuates the time loop it uses to feed.

While Mono himself resets continuously, much of the world is already dead when we begin, as evident by the empty clothes and glitches left behind from the tower’s victims. This suggests that the ones the tower takes during that timeline do not reset with him. It’s possible that eventually after so many loops there won’t be anything left but the tower at all. An entire world fused together with Mono-- the original ‘one’ as his namesake states-- all that remains of what once was.

Personality: While Mono is your classic silent protagonist, Little Nightmares 2 follows a set storyline where you don't affect the outcome, but much like the pint-sized little adventurer, there is plenty to find if you know to appreciate the smaller things.

Much about Mono can be gleaned from his appearance. At a mere 1.5 ft tall he is a scrawny, skittish little thing. He is built for running and hiding, in a world where the smallest sound might be your doom, he knows how to tread quietly and do what must be done to survive; despite all this, he still displays a compassion for others and a longingness to be the child he is.

And Mono is, despite everything he faces, definitely a kid. He likes to hold hands, he likes to play with water as he glides down the river on a makeshift raft, one could even argue the option for players to switch up his hats, for no other reason than cosmetic fun could also be taken as evidence of a playful side. After all, kids have to make their own fun and there is so little to be found in his world. In a scrapped development, due to there being an autosave feature, the developers also initially planned to allow the players to save their game through hugging Six. There is no love to be had in this world, but it’s clear Mono longs for it all the same, as any child would. The fact that he can still offer the kindness he does to Six, despite the lack of it shown to him, speaks a lot to the strength of his character.

Like any child, Mono is emotional. Mono’s official character description claims that he wears the paper bag as a coping mechanism to help forget 'the world outside hates him.' While it's true virtually everything in this world WILL and WANTS to kill you, that exact wording seems to speak more of shame than fear. This curious description as well as other clues, such as Six drawing events that had yet to occur in the hunter’s lodge she was kept at, as well as her prison within the signal tower ignoring continuity, suggests that the two may be subconsciously aware of their predicament but lack the means to understand it. It’s highly likely some degree of him hides his face to escape the trauma of becoming the Thin Man, especially when Six rejects him after looking into his eyes for the first time.

Another explanation for his lack of self esteem may be due to the bonus digital comics we were given as a promo to the game’s release. In it, Mono is in a burning room with several children being taken out an unseen threat. Instead of helping he flees to hide, too frightened to act.

Despite these initial setbacks, Mono’s desire to be helpful eventually overrides them. In this canon we are used to seeing characters with Six’s more feral mindset, where everyone is out for themselves, but Mono is different. When Six is cold after their first escape, Mono shows no hesitation in allowing Six to take the raincoat they find. Mono goes out of his way to break Six from the Hunter's lodge, saves her again when she is strung up by the bullies and stops at nothing to recover her after initially being too scared to stop the Thin Man from abducting her. If we are to refer to another of the digital comics, seeing Six get captured may very well be what brings Mono to brave the dangers to reach the lodge in the first place.

No amount of heart can completely cancel out his own dark side, however. Although sweet and helpful in any other regard, the children of this universe do what they have to survive; sometimes rather gruesome things. When he becomes emboldened on his quest to save Six, Mono ranks the body count up significantly, as he takes out the ‘Viewer’ monsters in order to travel through their TV’s. While this feels justified (as we the player know these NPC’s will brutalize us two seconds later) it nevertheless does entail that Mono is murdering these creatures preemptively, without remorse.

Rather like Six, who was seized by a strange relentless hunger in the first game, Mono exhibits a strange tendency to feed as well; on stray glitches shaped like children we ‘collect’ throughout the game. Later events in the game reveal this to be the fate of those stolen by the Thin Man. The TVs feed on the life force of the viewers until their faces melt entirely and their minds warp to become dependent on the flashing screens, but only when they've truly succumbed does the thin man reach out of the TV to seize their body too, their actual flesh consumed to become part of the tower with only their clothes or a digital static image left behind.

It’s possible this is how Mono’s technopathic powers grow, as we have collected many of them before the final showdown with the Thin Man. Unlike Six who gives in to her urges however, a heartbroken Mono has no issue resisting absorbing the after- image she leaves behind when she is kidnapped.

Mono can also be impulsive. In a world where the slightest hesitation or poor decision-making could leave you as lunch, it’s no surprise that he must act quickly and decisively; this behavior is inevitably his undoing. Once Mono rescues Six, he embraces the role of being a brave hero and recklessly sets off into danger without thinking about if this is good for his new companion or not. The devs mention in an interview, that even if we the player know Six might be in danger had she remained alone, in her eyes, every bit of hardship she faces in this game is due to her being dragged into it by Mono. This buildup of false confidence, in a game he can’t win, as well as breaking Six’s comfort object in order to save her, is one of the many small things that result in Six deciding she is better off alone.

Overall Mono's narrative is a tragic one, a sweet kind-hearted boy forced to do what he must to survive an impossible unforgiving world. His decision to rescue Six every time shows that he has the capacity for kindness, even if the idea that he has ever done so before is blanked from his mind. Where Six teams up with Mono for the benefit of an extra pair of hands, it truly seems that Mono wants to just stop being alone.

Key themes: Shame, desperation, survival, loneliness, overcoming past trauma, escapism

Main Motivation: What Mono needs best is a chance to step away from his danger filled life to better understand himself and recover from the trauma he has faced. Can he forgive Six? Can he forgive himself? Is there a way to break the cycle if he is forced to once again do things over? I would also love to present other world-hopper’s with the dilemma about when it is right to send someone back to their reality, when this fate is so clearly terrible for not just Mono but the timeline he inhabits as a whole.

Skills:
TV travel: The ability to reach into television sets and travel the airwaves from one console to another.
The only digital devices we see in the game are TV’s, but I would love to do this with the ICP’s (or any screen he can reasonably fit inside) as well, to make up for his tiny size and help him get around.

Remote activation: The ability to activate a television or electronic device with a screen with his mind.
While gameplay has us use a remote to turn on the TV’s we travel through, the Thin Man has full control of when to activate them. When Mono defeats the Thin Man in the Pale City, it signifies that he has officially unlocked the full potential of his powers. Also, moments before Six drops Mono, the screen behind her to escape through bursts to life, it is highly implied this was his doing and that seeing him use his powers is part of what spooks her.

Channel tuning: The ability to focus a signal into coming through better (or worse) through his own power.
By placing his hand on a screen, Mono is able to force the static TV channel into a clearer picture he can slip through, which he uses to mistakenly free the Thin Man from the Tower hallway.

Tiny!: The state of being, well, REALLY small!
While he is a good few years older than a toddler, Mono is barely at the height of one; this helps him hide easier and demonstrate a lot of resourceful planning and platforming skills to do everyday tasks.

I plan to only ever use these powers for extra narrative flavor and never without permission, if another character is involved. I have no problem simply saying they aren’t working right in scenarios where they give an unfair advantage.

Item: The paper bag he wears on his head

Sample: Sample 1
Sample 2

Notes: While Mono is a normal human child, I plan to keep him at his disproportionately small size; I think it adds a lot to his playability, best preserves the vibe of his character and creates fun unique challenges. (Just imagine how creative he will have to be doing the chores!)

In addition to growing through engagement with other players, I also plan to speed along Mono’s process of learning through reading books, watching the cinema (once he is no longer scared of it) and making use of other resources to make him more interactable at a quicker pace.