The FULL Binding of Isaac (w/ Repentance) & The Legend of Bum-Bo Story Explained

Father *wasn't* innocent here. We have several elements in the game that are directly related to dad. Not as many as Mom, but we have: Dad's key, his lost coin, his ring, and, indirectly, the divorce and adoption papers. My interpretation of the Key and the Ring is quite simple. The marriage is over. He no longer wants the ring and no longer needs the key. He left and doesn't come back. I know people have looked for a lot of meaning in the key's function in the game and in the descriptive text: "Opens all the doors...". I think this is more to tease that the key has a function beyond opening treasure rooms and chests.

Its main function is to open the door to Mega Satan. If we really want thematic meaning, we get the two key pieces by killing the angels Uriel and Gabriel, whose names mean "God is my light" + "God is my strength." The murder of these angels is a rejection of Christianity. Since Isaac is too young and, in all likelihood, too brainwashed to understand anything other than the ways of God or Satan, this obvious rejection of God is inevitably a path to Satan. The child's perception of him works in reductive binaries. He has been told that those are the only two paths.

And with Dad leaving the family, I'm sure Mom has constructed a narrative in Isaac's mind that following his father is (somehow) a path to hell. Dad's Lost Coin provides one of the most interesting details. It was one of the biggest hints at a larger

story

before we received a more direct answer. In the original game it looks a bit like a deformed penny, with a penny sign printed on it. Four Souls is once again able to provide an additional layer of detail never seen before. It much more clearly reflects the common design of a Sobriety Sheet given out at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to recovering addicts.

The text “I remember this…” indicates that this has had no value for a long time. Isaac's father is a recovering alcoholic, probably one who is off the wagon. This could be a returning addiction or one that formed late in life due to the stress of a failed marriage. Since this is already a very troubled home, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine that your father was a mean, belligerent, or dangerous drunk. He was very proud to have rebuilt it before Repentance, but the timeline was unclear. Through snippets of his fight, we learn that Isaac's father started drinking when the marriage was falling apart, NOT as a result of the divorce as my theory had originally stated.

He drinks to hide from his family, not to bury the shame of letting his family fall apart. I don't want to take all the pressure off mom now either! They are equally guilty. Mom's pill bottle and Mom's purse definitely indicate pill abuse. Neither parent was

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y attentive or operating without some form of inebriation. This cloudy upbringing of an impressionable child was almost guaranteed to cause problems. Maybe only Isaac's father was physically abusive, while his mother was more verbally abusive? We only see Mom in a dress, so it is more likely that her belt came from her father.

Although I suppose either of us could have used it. Maybe they are both guilty of both forms of abuse? But with Isaac's trust in his father and fear of a knife-wielding mother, it's more likely she was the one who physically abused him. Whether or not that started before or after the divorce. There are some extreme religious sects that still believe in corporal punishment, so that's more likely coming from her. But her incessant fighting and yelling in front of Isaac would have greatly contributed to her mental instability. As for the divorce documents, we get several pieces of evidence, although we still don't clearly know the name of Isaac's father.

As mentioned above, we learn Mom's proper name. Magdalena O. Moriah. This is confirmed to be her maiden name, so it also doesn't tell us anything about her father's name, or what last name Isaac chooses to use. We also learned that Mom was fighting for custody of Isaac and that Dad wasn't willing to give him to her. A fight for ownership of Isaac and control of how he will be raised, or the “salvation” of his soul. It is a battle that his parents fought until the end. Something that I can expand further, after explaining the life stories of his mother and his father.

The Polaroid of the Four Souls includes Deuteronomy 23:2 “He whose father and mother are not married cannot come to the gathering of the Lord's people.” For someone who already fears eternal damnation, separation from his parents would have been a torture for Isaac's conflicted mind. Especially when he has placed himself at the center of that conflict, feeling directly responsible, as happens to many young children in a broken home. He now has to worry about himself, the state of his parents' marriage, and his perceived role in that separation. u/JoyousLantern on reddit proposed that all elements of The Binding of Isaac come from his own experiences.

We know that the world occurs in Isaac's imagination, so this would make sense. He is unlikely to conjure images of these real-world objects out of thin air, but instead pulls them from memory, even if something like Brimstone is altered beyond any meaning in the real world. He would have had that Sunday School-style upbringing, afraid of “fire and brimstone!” The items in the Basement and Beyond can be divided into 3 rough categories: toys + household objects (which are more or less grouped together), items of religious importance, and scientific principles or technologies. We don't need to delve too deeply into household objects.

These are real-world elements that Isaac has encountered or observed. Food items like rotten meat or canned dog food could indicate abuse or a family struggling with poverty. Items like the wooden spoon and the belt indicate that someone was abusive. “I want there to be some mystery, but there is something about them, like the wooden spoon or Mom's pill bottle. Those things paint a picture.” That image is very clearly one of physical abuse. The origin of these is clear. And in Repentance's secret “Home” segment, we get to see a lot of them around the house, especially Mom's specific items in his room.

Equally easy to identify the origin are religious items. These pieces of iconography come from his mother, his devotion, his teachings to Isaac, and his “Christian transmissions.” That leaves a mystery. And it is possible that Isaac's father was a man of science. It's unlikely that his mother was a reliable source of exposure for that kind of balanced upbringing. It's the only inexplicable category of elements, and with so little knowledge about his father (or what kind of education Isaac is receiving outside of his home), there's a chance that's the piece we're missing. This clash of beliefs could have caused some major conflict in the relationship.

They probably disagreed about how Isaac should be raised. This perspective is something Isaac cannot understand. He loves his father, the way they played and the memories they shared. But consumed by the weight of his childish, simplistic, and binary view of the belief system of Christianity (with this man in his life putting his faith in something other than "The Lord"), Isaac is forced to see his father as a man of Satan. , not from God. Relating that to the pieces on Dad's Key, coming from that rejection and acceptance of the Devil. While I'm here, I'd like to go beyond the scope of the game for a moment and share that multiple studies have shown that, on average, scientifically minded people are viewed as more creative than religious people.

One also tends to seek knowledge, while the other may feel comfortable having simple, presented answers. I don't want to say there isn't any crossover there, I don't want to speak for everyone. I just think it could be an interesting window into the father's mindset and those conflicting ideologies. The new Repentance dialogue shows the levels of preacher worship Maggy has achieved. For a man who was perhaps already skeptical, this would have been too much to tolerate. He felt that he needed to leave to get away from it and have some potential hope of returning and saving Isaac from this indoctrination.

This two-way attraction leaves Isaac with an identity conflict. That's when he starts wearing his mother's wig, in a desperate attempt to be someone else. Maybe his parents separated because of him? If only he were a different child. If only he were good. If only it were *something* different... Children often feel like they are the source of their parents' fights. So what if Isaac was no longer himself? Maybe they would love each other and him again? Isaac also imagines this demonic form of himself lurking. It is possible that he wanted to disassociate himself from that and from himself.

Maybe he could start over? He supposedly left home like this or went to school like this and was tormented by bullies. This would have further increased Isaac's insecurities, feeling that he was unwanted and unloved regardless of his skin. Again we have to remember that mantra: "Who am I?" Let's break up this incredibly heavy topic with something a little more light-hearted. The events of The Binding of Isaac are very personal. They are Isaac's own

story

of suffering, depression and hopelessness. He projects himself and uses various avatars to represent different aspects of that identity. But that begs the question: Who are the different Bum-bos?

There isn't much evidence for this. But I think I have a fun theory I'd like to put forward. Bum-bo's world is pure escapism. It is closer to a fantasy and therefore uses fantasy elements for the various Bum-bo. Just like his dad would have taught him! Even the name 'The Legend of Bum-bo' would have been based on adventure games that Isaac (probably) didn't have access to. Instead of settling for a world of his own creation. Additionally, it draws on Ed's channeling of 'The Legend of Zelda' in its design and naming of the original Isaac game. That was clearly a strong influence on him, and whether direct or not, it has had an impact on Isaac.

We have, The Brave, a warrior. The agile for a thief. The Stout for a barbarian. And The Weird, a magician. Each separate version of Bum-bo still carries his father's goofy voice, while also representing various mistaken memories from different fantasy tropes. (Bum-bo) “Without thinking, Bum-bo BASH opens a terrifying box! What is this? Another Bum-bo!? WHAT A TWIST!” Perhaps by playing alongside his father, there would be a “Brave Warrior,” and when Isaac tries to play alone, things go a little wrong along the way. Whether it's his own youthful forgetfulness or his imagination acting and functioning while? We also have more cryptic characters in Bum-bo. "The Dead" is where some real life begins to infiltrate Isaac's cardboard world.

This could represent Isaac's fears that his father is dead and missing. Being abruptly cut off from his life. Or maybe the dead relationship between his parents? Or that he feels dead to his family? “The Vacuum” – A hooded demon. Being a prequel to The Binding of Isaac, this appears to be Isaac's first instance of wrestling with his own inner sin and the damnation of his soul. The idea is not

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y formed here, and he does not yet see himself fully in this role, thus wrapped up and still with the voice of his father. But he has begun to see himself as evil.

An empty vessel of flesh, existing only to become corrupted and filled with sin. In the same way, each character in Isaac is a representation of himself, with a lot of personal weight; All of the Bum-bos are a substitute for his father, baffled by his imagination. And while these characters and adventures come from his father, some of the more negative aspects of the gameplay, mechanics, and themes would also come from him. An ARG (Alternate Reality Game) began after the release of the Afterbirth DLC. This is a series of real-world puzzles that exist outside of the game software.

There are some very detailed summaries of how this came about and how it developed. The voicemail recordings from the end of ARG are confirmed to be from the narrator or Isaac's father. This recording is somewhat disjointed and doesn't have a clear audience in mind. (Voicemail) “Christ calls. Generous gods do not guide history forever. Knowledge grows. Its final form ends beyond greed. We need to go deeper.” My own interpretation of this is that Isaac's father becomes disillusioned with the Church. I've assumed up to this point that he was never part of the church, but there's a chance he and Maggy had a traditional Catholic or Christian wedding, before everything became so *amplified*. “Generous gods do not guide history forever,” suggests that he does not want God to dictate his entire life.

If “He” truly loved and gave, He would allow us to live beyond His influence. Hence the whole point of free will! As “knowledge grows” and “we need to go deeper,” we must go beyond religion and blaze our own path, without the need for organized praise or conclaves.awarded to wealth, material goods, and greed would have been taught or learned through observation. It's a family that doesn't have much, with a father who is actively trying to achieve and pursue more. Setting yourself on a failed path that leads to more self-destructive behavior. Isaac could have learned his self-hatred, both when his mother told him he was worthless and by witnessing his father destroy himself.

Bum-bo is Isaac's childhood recreation of his father, and his motivations boil down to the simplistic "Bum-bo wants coins." His father probably taught him that an adventure makes more sense if it has a goal at the end. And what better incentive than a financial one? This feeling becomes a fusion of the fantasy trope of searching for treasure and his father's literal real-world greed. Something that is repeatedly represented through these Greed characters and merchants, but much more specifically, through continuous images and gambling mini-games. When we first enter Bum-bo’s basement, we get a scene where Bum-bo hits the corpse: “Now Bum-bo can be alone.

Only with coins! Dad's greed began to replace the needs of his family. Money and wealth became a high priority. Someone with an addictive personality is more likely to hold on to a multitude of vices. And if he was both a drinker and a gambler, that's a very dangerous combination! After a few drinks, maybe he becomes more relaxed with his money or does he feel like he needs to drink to drown out the pain of some losses? The more he drinks and the more money he loses, the more he needs to gamble to maintain his habits and the more he needs to drink to cope with that failure.

Bum-Bo's inter-chapter play areas are filled with hanging figures, but his father needs to gamble, despite the obvious risks. There are even Bum-like characters operating various gameplay methods in The Binding of Isaac. The images of greed, the motive of hanging and the overlap of these concepts. Now, the scenes and dialogue from Repentance show us that Isaac's father started stealing from his mother's purse while they were still together, and they were arguing over the lost money. Before this, it was unclear when they began drinking and gambling. But this makes the whole story much clearer. Are we still a little lost on whether the drink or the game came first?

She seems a little surprised that he's drunk. He's clearly a recovering alcoholic, so this likely came first, and the harrowing path of his gambling addiction led directly to his return to drinking. Relating this to The Divorce, the event that “happened to Isaac” and changed everything… In Repentance, we are presented with the Adoption Papers as a trinket. Many have interpreted this as Isaac having adoptive parents and using them to fill the void of some of his home life experiences. Instead, I believe that Isaac's father had his parental rights terminated in the divorce. We know that mom was seeking sole custody and it is not unusual for a mother to win that battle.

At this point I could have even proven in court that the father was drinking and gambling and tearing the family apart. He wouldn't even have had to lie to paint that narrative. Through this, she could have easily been removed from Isaac's life completely. I think the adoption papers would have been Isaac's father trying to straighten out and adopt his own child! New dialogue also from Repentance, as Isaac ascends, shows us that it was in fact his father's decision to leave, and that he regretted leaving Isaac behind. This was one of the most critical pieces of the puzzle, something that was never really expressed through any particular element, and was only hinted at through Bum-Bo.

It was only fixed with this latest addition to the game. Before that, it was unclear whether his father repented. We could guess what caused him to leave, but we never learned whether he intended to return, whether he was chased away, the depth of his relationship with Isaac, and whether or not he simply left the house, or whether he had abandoned her. permanently. taking his life. Mom certainly talks about it so categorically, but it could be that she was taking things to the extreme. There are some elements that amplify that greed mentality. Money = Power. At first glance, this is an element that is based on the supposed potential of increasing wealth.

We can link this perception and value to Isaac's father through the ARG. During one of the steps, we can hover over the collection item and see the text "Where are you?" This is a note from Isaac. When he thinks of this object, he thinks of money and power, it reminds him of his missing father. His mother has prevented her from knowing the truth about where he has gone. Instead, being pushed with the idea that he willingly left them both and doesn't love either of them. So Transcendence was literally a noose, and Card XII of the Hanged Man Tarot carries the text: "May you find enlightenment" and removes Isaac's body.

There is a level of salvation in death. And that continued connection between money, gambling and hanging. These characters of Greed are hung up, seeking enlightenment and transcendence through monetary gain. If Isaac's father is seen as a gambler and greedy, and all signs point towards the noose, then this led people to believe that the father who "left" the family was hanging himself. Isaac sees himself as corrupt as sin, succumbing to those demons in his final moments. As another piece of the ARG, people reached the Twitter account @iam

isaac

sbody, using the handle “Greed.” The icon is a dead person, with a rope around his neck.

The recurring motif of nooses and hanging seems to relate more metaphorically to Isaac's death by suffocation and his attempt to escape a life of sin through his own death. Whether it was an intentional suicide or not. So the connection seems to be: Isaac was greedy, sought enlightenment, and committed suicide by restricting his breathing. More than something specific with his father. So, greed and suicide are very important to the story, and are things that Isaac essentially "inherits" from his father, but are much more a product of his own life and journey. Isaac fights either Satan or a pure, angelic version of himself.

Never God. The fight is a battle for his soul. Not to “please” Christ, but to try to defeat sin and the Devil himself. Regardless of whether Heaven or Hell won in the battle for Isaac's soul, he was still lost inside the chest. His mother subsequently finding his remains... At this point, I would like to propose a story. A possible account of these events, from beginning to end. There's a little room for interpretation, but I tried to root as much as I could, at every step directly into the game and into larger series. Dad and Magdalena lived with their only son Isaac.

They played, laughed, and were generally happy. Dad, a recovering alcoholic, recovered after the birth of his son. She worked as a researcher, a typically low-paying job, while Magdalena was a housewife. Isaac and his father would create their cardboard world together, providing an affordable alternative to video games, allowing Isaac to explore his imagination and fantasize about great adventures. They go to church on Sundays and do their best to live a quiet and pious life. Dad distances himself somewhat from religion, and Mom, desperate to share a deeper connection, like the one Isaac and his father have with his cardboard world, begins to draw Isaac more and more toward religious beliefs. of the.

One of the few things they share. Struggling with money and wanting a better life, Mom began racking up credit card debt. In an effort to pay off this debt, feeling obligated to his family as he saw the poverty they were sinking deeper into, Dad began gambling. With the stress, failures, and losses of this pursuit of wealth, we see a resurgence of his drinking problem. His decision making becomes faulty. He starts dipping into his savings, directly stealing cash from Mom's purse. His family sees him less and less, as he spends his time in casinos or bars. That regret for failure translates into Dad blaming Magdalena and Isaac.

Supporting a family is expensive and difficult, while the burden of debt was largely his fault. Here we see the first instances of physical abuse, as their fights (fueled by drink) reach dramatic heights. Magdalena begins to take painkillers to mitigate the physical and emotional abuse, leaning towards addiction as a form of dependency. Feeling her life slipping away from her, Maggy slips deeper into the arms of the church, seeking redemption in God. And also leaning on what she sees as the only way for her to get closer to Isaac. Watching her life fall apart, Mom's paternal love for Isaac and her concern for his well-being is transformed and translated into religious salvation.

As her parenting style becomes more manic and authoritarian, preaching and lecturing her husband, she projects this religious dogma and insecurities onto Isaac. She potentially becomes too radicalized for the traditional church and instead turns to evangelical television broadcasts. Some who tell her what she wants to hear and vindicate her extreme beliefs. Isaac has lost his sense of self, while he feels increasingly drawn to Mom's influence. He starts wearing his wig in an attempt to be someone new. Maybe get *someone* to pay attention to him and look at him like he used to? Dad becomes more aggressive and less trustworthy as he watches the woman he loved push her son away from him, into a belief system he has never fully believed in, while his son also becomes unknown to him.

Not only through wigs, but as a child who has difficulty expressing himself. That he no longer loves, laughs and shares as easily as before. Gambling, drinking, abuse, differences in beliefs and parenting lead to the biggest fight yet. Maggy has surrendered her life to her new beliefs, and instead of being guided by ideals of forgiveness and love, she is guided by judgment, fear, and adoration. Isaac's father can't take it anymore. It's all become too much. In a fit of rage, he screams. “I’M OUT OF HERE” as he throws his ring to Maggy. Before leaving, he tries to reassure Isaac, but in the confusion Isaac is unlikely to understand.

Dad leaves, intentionally without the house key. Left completely alone, these religious transmissions are the only thing that keeps Magdalena going. Without Dad's scientific perspective to balance Isaac's home life, the two become completely enthralled by those beliefs. It precedes a complicated divorce that Isaac cannot understand. All he knows is that he won't be able to see his father anymore... Mom protects Isaac from this as best she can, telling Isaac that his father is gone and that she is all he will ever need: cutting that tie and trying to throw of the. Isaac more in her arms. She attempts to have sole custody of Isaac, feeling betrayed and not wanting "him" to have more influence over "her" son.

Dad tries to fight for Isaac's adoption, but this battle occurs in private, in a way that Isaac would be forced to assume that his father would not return at all. With Dad so completely cut off from Isaac's life, piece by piece, she discards the cardboard world that Isaac desperately needed to stay tied to his father and express himself emotionally. Without this learned way out, Isaac, tormented and confused, misinterprets her mother's authoritarian and erratic behavior and begins to privately portray her as a monster. It is likely that Isaac did not quite conjure up this image out of thin air.

Rather, he exaggerated the worst aspects of his beliefs and personality. She has become a stranger to him and he is taking away the few things she loves. She is aware of the content of “The Binding of Isaac” and she feels as if she sees the writing on the wall. Upon discovering this, horrified that her innocent baby had distorted his view of her and that he was losing the only thing she felt she had left, Mama, in desperation, locks Isaac away with nothing. Isaac can't stand this loneliness. His father has abandoned him, his mother scares him, and he has no means of healthy expression to resolve the insurmountable emotions that consume him.

Isaac hides in his toy chest. He feels safe here, feeling a connection to his father, where he used to keep his alternate reality. He's physically trying to lock himself into that escapism. The events of Isaac's

binding

unfold in his mind as he wrestles with thoughts of his own sin. Trying to overcome that evil and get clean. His mother comes to look for him and calls him. But in her stupor from the pills, she doesn't think to look inside the chest, instead she places the Lost Signs, assuming Isaac has escaped, all while he silently suffocates in the chest.

Only to be discovered much later... Isaac is left wandering through purgatory, never fully reconciling his truth about good or evil. An alternate path in the game allows Isaac to access a hidden floor. At the end of this, you are left in a locked room with Dad's note. Perhaps this is a sign of confidence that he would have written for Isaac?Something hidden a long time ago. Isaac must now fight his way and hear more of the story as he goes. Perhaps face the truth, without the layers of obfuscation that he has been accumulating by fighting against his own fiction?

We learn that when Dad leaves, he has a moment of regret: he too must leave Isaac. He is a lost man, but he has always been a loving and attentive father. After fighting to the end, we woke up in Isaac's room, chest and all. In the game we must fight against the religious dogma of television. A manifestation of the Christian transmissions that have destroyed his mother. Isaac succumbs to them and only then reaches hell. It is a place that becomes real through that belief. Something that without that exposure would never exist in his mind. Something drilled through indoctrination and fear.

Isaac writhes, fighting between his mind, body, and spirit. The Mother of Harlots is killed and Isaac is able to ascend from hell and see his past. Himself dead and his mother grieving for him. His father is spending his money. And the two fighting. Isaac is tormented by guilt and sees his death as his salvation, cleansing him from sin and as a way to repair his life. His father interrupts his own narration, suggesting that the story be told another way. Finally we have a full circle: we directly connect Isaac's story and the narrative device through which the story can travel through thousands of runs and attempts in the game.

They are alternate versions of the story as Isaac's imagination runs wild. This alternative happy ending begins with “Isaac and his parents.” We've seen Isaac imagine his father's voice before while he was playing in his room during Bum-bo. It's possible that now that Isaac has passed away, and the game is fully completed with “The Beast” conquered and Dad's final note to his family in his hand, Isaac can imagine this personal Heaven. Telling imaginary stories with his father, of a happy home with both of his parents. The true ending of the game is that Isaac dies in the chest.

The victim of a broken home and an abusive family. His father narrating and helping him adjust the story could be part of that fantasy once again. Maybe it took place before? But it's hard to imagine him being so direct and literal about everything, without worrying more about Isaac's mental state. Telling stories this way is something that comforts Isaac. We never see him like we do with mom. Just as Isaac puts on a goofy voice and has such strong memories of playing in Bum-bo's world, he remembers his father guiding him and helping him come to terms with these difficult concepts.

If he were literally there, he could be right next to Isaac, fully understanding and allowing this to be an opportunity to help his son work through that trauma and understand the loss and maybe even the divorce. Or once again, could they be the binaries of Isaac's mind? His mother has become a horrible monster and his father is this guardian angel. Helping him create his own story. Helping him fall asleep. Helping him deal with something bigger than himself. (Narrator) “Isaac ascended toward the crack in the sky. And as he flew, he could see echoes of his past before him.

He saw his mother mourn the loss of her son. He saw his father leaving them without turning to say goodbye. He saw his mother sleeping and his father taking money out of his purse. He heard the late night fights they had that kept him awake at night. And the guilt he felt for what he believed he was causing. He felt the pain in his stomach during those sleepless nights and saw his shadow in the closet waiting for him. As he stood up, he felt his fears disappear from his body. His shame, his worry, torn from his being.

As he became lighter, his ascent became faster. He saw his only true mate alive and well. He saw his mother and his father together again, hugging. He felt his mother kiss him on the head after sending his prayers and the comfort of knowing that someone was looking out for him. He saw his own birth. And the faces of his parents, full of joy and optimism. And then he… didn’t see anything.” (Dad) “Are you sure this is how you want the story to end, Isaac? You are the one who writes and it doesn't have to end like this.

Here. How about we tell it another way? Maybe a happy ending? (Isaac) “Okay dad” (Dad) “Good. Are you sleepy already? (Isaac) “Yes…” (Dad). "Well. So. (clears throat) Isaac and his parents lived in a small house on top of a hill..." Oh my goodness! That was a much longer video than I thought it would be. There's a lot to unpack. after 10 years... I'm so looking forward to hearing all your opinions on this! Share evidence to support or tear down everything I've shared. Any possible discussion will be really exciting! Go check out TheTurtleMelon's games! If you like them roguelikes are really your thing, 2 Left Thumbs specifically publishes 'Dead Estate'.

That's coming out later this year! The Steam page is already live. Make sure you follow it and wishlist it! And well, if you want support the channel more directly, Patreon is the best place to do it. Get your name inThe credits are next to it here. Thank you all so much for watching and we'll see you soon.