An examination of the narrative importance of Angus in Night in the Woods, with a focus on his tragic childhood helps Mae learn to appreciate what she has.
I love how they bond and spend time just looking at the stars, and that Mae grows to understand how to be a better friend. My favorite scene is when they're at the Boy Scouts camp, reading the messages.
Me too! The messages from the Boy Scouts are great. It's nice to hear about a positive part of Angus' childhood, especially considering everything he's about to share.
Something I noticed my most recent time playing the game is that Mae's words are put into the mouths of the Bell and The Cat. Both are powers of crime and destruction, while Angus has his dialog put into the mouth of the Pope, and the whale, symboles of wisdome and stablitlity.
That's a great observation! I never noticed that before, but you're absolutely right - the dialogue does line up with symbols/constellations that reflect aspects of their characters. Awesome catch!
I played this game at a pretty dark point in my life actually... The line about 'a universe that doesn't care and the people that do' really hit me when I first read it. It's a pretty comforting thing to think about when you're struggling and feeling like the world is against you, to remind yourself that the world doesn't care enough to be against you, but the people around you care enough to be with you. Great video as always OwlBatross, thank you for making my lunch break so interesting!
Well said! Yeah, it's an incredible line. There are some amazing lines in this game, but this one in particular always stood out to me. And thank you! Glad I could add some entertainment to your lunch break haha!
as a child you don't have an understanding of anything, and the only windows to the world you have are your parents effectively making them your "universe", but for that connection to be tainted and twisted into something horrible is one of the most heartbreaking things that can ever happen although at the same time it highlights the good people out there you can run into that show the love, and care that you deserve without the expectation of anything in return. my heart goes out to any that have suffered in such a way and hope you found the people who do care.
Angus was so important to me when I first watched playthroughs in 2017. A guy who went through the wringer and came out kind. Believes in an uncaring world with caring people. I needed a guy like him in my life, even if he's just pixels on a screen with prewritten dialogue. I genuinely strive to be like him. I wish he had a route in the game.
Same here! He's definitely a character I'd loved to have seen more of in NITW. He's such a good dude, and has such a great outlook on life despite everything he's been through.
i had a very similar backstory to Angus.. a terrifying childhood at the hands of my mother, 2nd uncle, and his wife as well as many others that's still difficult to think about. i ended up moving to the other side of the US just to finally be free from the life they kept me trapped in. so as a result i feel a deep connection to Angus; i even have a Greg,, my beautiful fiancée, Kelsey! with all this said, i, too believe in a universe who doesn't care and people who do because, without my grandma, my 1st uncle, all the beautiful friends + my fiancee who helped me escape my terrible life back home, i know for a fact that i wouldnt be here today if they weren't a part of my life, now just about 2 months away from my 21st birthday. thank you for every video you've made about Night In The Woods, especially this one
I'm sorry to hear about that, but thank you so much for sharing. I'm glad to hear that you're doing better now! I wish you luck in the lead up to your wedding - as a married man myself, I know it can be a very eventful and busy time! I'm glad you've enjoyed the Night in the Woods videos - a bunch more are on the way!
Its weird to come back to this game after a few years and realize I have a very similar story to Mae. Only child who dropped out of college, feeling like a disappointment and frustrated with my parents, and feeling really sorry for myself before realizing that things aren’t as shit as it may seem haha I definitely want to play through this again now that Im a bit older and a lot wiser.
Oh yeah, I'm sure it has to be pretty surreal coming back to the game and realizing that. I feel you there though - I have a somewhat similar story to Mae's as well, so I understand where you're coming from. NITW is definitely a game where your perspective on it changes depending on how old you are! Enjoy your next playthrough!
don't worry, im still in college and i still feel like a dissapointment i cannot stop making jokes about my chronic mental illnesses as to put down the wall of humor would destroy me
I instantly went for the Angus hang out. He's my favorite character and I wish we got more of him. His one hangout only reinforced how much I love him.
Same here! As soon as a hangout with Angus became available, I went right for it. It's a shame we'll probably never get a sequel, because I'd love to see what they would've done with his character in a follow up game.
I pick Angus's detective route almost every time I play; I really only skip it when I want to figure out particular dialogue I'd miss with other routes. It's sweet and sad and feels important to know and Angus is one of my absolute favorite characters in the game
Same here! Unless I'm trying to see something specific, I always go for the Angus hangout. It's great to see him and Mae getting to know each other on a deeper level
honestly his was also just the most scary too! like the cult person was literally right behind them and chased them?? and he has asthma so he probably had a hard time running god i genuinely had a mini heart attack when i saw the person behind them after their heartwarming moment
I literally tell people, when I recommedn NITW, to Please go with Angus for the investigation. I don't want to dictate how people play through games, especially ones like this, but I always feel the need to at least urge them to spend time with Angus. One of the best scenes in the game.
I totally agree! I tend to recommend people hang out with Angus as well, especially if it's their first play through. The hangout with him at Possum Jump is just so powerful, and definitely a highlight of the game for me as well
I loved Angus. Such a sweet guy. Very reserved though, takes a while to really understand him. Although as sad as it is, I don't think things between him and Gregg ultimately work out after they move to Bright Harbor. As Bea said "Angus will find he has other options". I think Angus had to grow up really fast due to the abuse he suffered, and Gregg is really immature. You can tell how frustrated Angus is with having to manage Gregg's behavior and always having to be the responsible one. I think they ultimately realize they're better off as friends than partners. It's also hinted that Gregg is bipolar so more than likely he would always have periods of mania when he would behave recklessly and impulsively, it would be difficult for Angus to endure and remain happy. I would also love an examination of Mae's parents, I think that would be interesting. Her parents are very supportive but I think they sheltered her and contributed a lot to her being such an immature adult. I think they both know it too, it becomes apparent during the fight Mae has with her mom.
Yeah Angus is the man! Such a great character. I think you make a good point about him and Gregg long term. I definitely agree that they'd end up running into some serious relationship trouble out in Bright Harbor, in the event they're able to pull off the move. Gregg would need to mature quite a bit to make it work. I doubt his next employer would be as lenient with him as his manager at the Snack Falcon is! I'll be doing a video on each of Mae's parents down the line, probably sometime in the Fall! Her parents sheltering her is a really good point, and one I hadn't considered myself, but you're definitely right about that!
I have mixed thoughts on what Gregg’s likely mental illness is. I skew towards ADHD inattentive type because when he’s under-stimulated he gets anxious or depressive, and when he’s stimulated strongly by an idea he just chases the serotonin. Angus usually acts like a checkpoint to keep him from overindulging day to day. I don’t really know how immature Gregg would stay once they moved, if they got to that point. Gregg definitely needs to even out a bit more, though I don’t know if Angus needs perfectly even keeled. I think he does need something interesting in his life. Gregg is pretty perfect for that, but again he does need to be able to even out when Angus needs it from him. We saw how he was at the party, for example, absolutely dialled back with Angus in the type of social situation that usually bring out the worst in him. Gregg is more immature around Mae in most of the game, but there with Angus he was pretty remiss to go too far and pester drunken Mae while also trying to both keep her from going too far into traumatic territory for Angus and not step on Angus’s toes because he’s an adult who can speak for himself.
@@GuiSmith Bea suggests that he's bipolar, so that's the only reason I said it. I myself don't know what disorder Gregg might have. He acts different with Angus around but he's completely unhinged when Angus is out of town and he can hang out with Mae and other friends. It's also not a good sign if he's two completely different people depending on who he's around. It's once again almost like a child-parent dynamic where he feels he needs to behave himself around Angus or else there will be conflict and problems.
I disagree with your takeaway because I feel like you are putting too much emphasis on turning it into a contest of who has got it worse. I think the better take is to consider and focus on how people, with healthy forms of support, can survive and overcome those who would do so much to try to break them,
That's a fair point - I understand where you're coming from, and I definitely could've done a better job in that regard. I appreciate the feedback, and I really like your takeway!
while I agree with most of the points you make I don't think you can fairly extrapolate that angus doesn't see his parents as people. he's fully self sufficient now - if he really saw them so badly, i don't think he would visit them, not even out of a sense of duty or filial loyalty. my interpretation of that line is that he believes that the universe doesn't care, but *some* people do. after all, not everyone you meet in life will care about you, and that doesn't make them inhuman, because they have no reason to care about you. but you can tell who the important people are by the way they care anyway
That's a fair point! I will admit that I definitely stretched the analysis a bit when I made that statement. I think your interpretation of that statement is a good one. You make a great point about knowing who the important people are by the way they care for you.
Another thing I like to think about is that Bea and Angus are canonically good friends, with Bea saying she met Angus in 8th grade and Angus is the center of the friend group, as almost all of them know each other through him. Bea and Angus are a really interesting duo. Angus is Gregg's reserved, calm counterpart, and Bea is Mae's, so it's a bit natural they'd be friends. But I really wish we'd gotten to see a deeper conversation between Bea and Angus. Angus and Mae's investigation shows each other opening up and bonding, but Bea and Mae's investigation scene basically tears them apart, with them both coming to the conclusion that maybe they were never 'friends' in the normal sense, but in a buddy system way, which is why the storyline is titled proximity, for forced proximity. Angus has a good future and relationship ahead of him, but Bea is nearly hopeless. She can never leave her dad or her job. I wish we got to see the two talk about Bea's resentment towards Mae for going to college, or Bea's belief that Gregg and Angus wouldn't last, or their differences in opinion on religion. Just felt like a highly unexplored character dynamic.
Great analysis, thank you for the awesome comment! I totally agree, that's definitely an unexplored character dynamic that I wish we could've seen more from in the game. And I'm sure that as the years go by, the bond between the two of them would deepen more and more. I can easily see Angus becoming the type of person Bea would feel like she could confide in about things she couldn't tell anyone else.
I don't know why your video essays suddenly got into my feed...actually, I know exactly (I watched the Revenant Hill trailer). But anyway, I really appreciate these insights on Night in the Woods.
Watching Night in the Woods now hits close to home with many of the characters. Just like Angus, I never had good parents growing up. Not through physical but emotional abuse, and not having people that genuinely care for what you turn out to be. Pushing yourself to not be like your parents, when you're a mix of both, is even harder. Ideally, nobody wants to continue a domino effect of abuse, and it takes a toll on people like Angus cuz that's all they know. Seeing who you are as an adult while never getting to be a child is a lot harder then most would think. But it's better to be an Angus then do things out of spite for ones personal benefits and being short sighted, like the cult. Things can be worse, but at least you aren't striving to influence bad things. We should all be an Angus 💜✨
I'm so sorry to hear about the emotional abuse your parents put you through, but thank you so much for being willing to share your story. You're absolutely right, it's far better to be like Angus and try to break that cycle instead of replicating it. I think it says a lot about him that, despite everything he's been through, he still tries to be as much of a light and a force of consistency in Gregg's life as he can possibly be. We should indeed all be like Angus!
I didn’t think much of Angus when I first played back in middle school, but I started to get attached to him when I discovered that we had gone through very similar things, although not exact. It’s always nice to have games that you can relate heavily to with the characters, makes them that more special.
Thank you for sharing this - I'm sorry to hear that you went through some similar things to Angus. But you're absolutely right - I think that's a huge part of why Night in the Woods made such an impression on so many people. So many of the characters, from Mae, to Bea, to Angus are incredibly relatable.
On every playthrough I've done the Angus route. I always want the chance to have a day with him. Also, I have no memory of the scene at 7:20, where are they?? I haven't played in years, so maybe they added something? Also! I learned of Fall of Porcupine today, I'm sooooo interested!
that scene takes place at Jenny's Field, which iirc you get to go to after talking to mae's mom in the church every day, and after a while she'll offer to take you there
I'm impressed with the quality of the video. Great content. I think you could become a big Channel. For some reason RU-vid has been recommending me small channels and yours is one of the best.
Thank you, I appreciate it! I'd definitely love to see this channel get big. I'll be putting out weekly videos in the summer, so hopefully business is about to pick up around here!
nos salvó, no por obras de justicia que nosotros hubiéramos hecho, sino por su misericordia, por el lavamiento de la regeneración y por la renovación en el Espíritu Santo, el cual derramó en nosotros abundantemente por Jesucristo nuestro Salvador, Tito 3:5-6❤†Creo que Jesús dijo que solo Dios es bueno cuando le llamaron "buen maestro"❤Creo que deberíamos interesarnos sobre nuestra manera de hablar y las expresiones que usamos y saber si están de acuerdo con nuestras creencias y reflexionar sobre ellas
In regard to the path of exploring the park with Angus, in my first playthrough I went through the game just trying to balance out hanging out with everyone, and so when I had the chance I hang out with Angus, it was really cool (except for the sad parts, those are pretty sad)!
Same here! When my wife and I played through the game for the first time, we really tried to keep a balance and see everyone, so we jumped at the chance to hang out with him right away.
Another great analysis as always thank for giving everyone second favorite precious bear some spotlight 🥰🐻 also what are your opinions on reverend Hill Scott Benson, next game it recently got announced and I’m pretty excited or it
Thank you so much! Revenant Hill looks awesome, it's great to finally have an update from the team! I'll be dropping a video on everything we know about it so far this week!
@@owlbatross9187 Went back and replayed it. Really glad I did, Angus was by far the best (and most relatable) part of the second play through! Personally I believe Angus, if not conscious of it, is a picture perfect representation of stoicism.Very reminiscent of the philosopher Epictetus, both their conclusions to their subjugation is that they consider all the factors outside of their own control as something not to stress about, and improve their lives by seizing what things the could control to their best ability.
I am close to Angus is because my childhood was the same. However my mom and dad never hated me or my brothers, but they were hard on us if they wanted to be . My dad would drink every night come home drunk and yell at my mom. After the divorce he would stop drinking for five years which made him bitter and full of hate. then he drank again and he became worse. Then he turned to drugs and slept around. My mother tried to forget about me and my brothers. She would get really angry if I went to her boyfriends house looking for her or to get away from the abuse at home. Those were extremely tough times for me. I hated my father and my mother for a while after that. But Soon things started to change. they learned to forgive. they learned to love and they were able to realize how important me and brothers were to them. Me and my mother bonded and she showed so much love I just didn't want to hate her anymore. My dad though it took him ten years to get his shit together but it also worked out in the end. Now we are happy. My parents are now the best of friends and me and my brothers are happy. So you can say it was half and half. Angus and Meas situation. They did terrible things but I forgive them with all my heart. Because they made that effort to win it.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I'm sorry to hear that you went through all of that, but I'm glad to hear that things have turned around for both you and your family. Given all that, I can definitely understand why you'd related to Angus. Your story really is a combination of his life and Mea's - it's remarkable how many similarities there are! Really speaks to the relatable of Night in the Woods.
I was sad Angus wasn’t an option to hang with when I first played so when there was the the detective part I thought we could hang out with all 3, I was wrong So on my second play through I only went for Angus and who ever else I think Gregg because I did Bea’s first
Makes sense to me! Yeah, as soon as the option to hang out with Gregg came up in the detective portion, I jumped for it as well. Wasn't gonna pass up the chance to get to know him better!
Angus is someone I could wholeheartedly trust. He’d be there for you, be honest and with everything he’s gone through it hasn’t made him a bad person. He’s simply the closest thing to perfect 🏳️🌈
The idea that parents have to pay for their childrens' college feels like a lie. Why do we get raised and taught at public schools for free, only to become adults who can't afford college or our parents suddenly say "No, we don't want you in college.".
I feel like this whole situation is so insane that I'm trapped in some think tank somewhere being analyzed and the world around me is a simulation. It's a thought. A brief thought. That I'm just being poked and prodded and tortured and none of this is real but someone or something is just watching to see what I'll do.. like they've been here my whole life and STILL want to say they don't know me. Fucking.. idiot.
do we even know anyone? you meet people.. but at what point do you say "this is my friend" or "we're close" or "i know you". i've met people and worked with them and they've literally turned around and treated me suddenly like i was a stranger. they told me "I don't know you.". what did that even mean? and if people and life is in a constant state of change, what DO we know? i know myself. and maybe that's the only person i can ever really know. because i'm not inside anyone else's head. people who are immature (way more than me) like to say I'm "disconnected" from people. what does that mean? we're not joined by some plugs. we're not all having sex and connected by our genitals. we dont read minds. we are walking around separate individuals that rely on one another for survival.. i'm so tired of the poetic crap where people like to use words to sound like something that doesnt even mean what they say! then they call me autistic for it. and sarcasm just makes people look stupid and makes them look like they're agreeing with their enemies half the time. saying stuff like "yeah that's great. just great." when it's not great and that's how they feel. but they say it. and they want to say things differently than how they feel and it's dumb. it's dumb because it's confusing because they're like two people at once and i don't know if they want their words listened to or their tone of voice and i dont like going on "tones" because it's not reliable. so they should say what they mean. and then for people just learning english, that'd be great too! i'm talking inside a fucking computer!
Este es el mensaje que hemos oído de él, y os anunciamos: Dios es luz, y no hay ningunas tinieblas en él. Si decimos que tenemos comunión con él, y andamos en tinieblas, mentimos, y no practicamos la verdad; pero si andamos en luz, como él está en luz, tenemos comunión unos con otros, y la sangre de Jesucristo su Hijo nos limpia de todo pecado. Si decimos que no tenemos pecado, nos engañamos a nosotros mismos, y la verdad no está en nosotros. Si confesamos nuestros pecados, él es fiel y justo para perdonar nuestros pecados, y limpiarnos de toda maldad. Si decimos que no hemos pecado, le hacemos a él mentiroso, y su palabra no está en nosotros. 1 Juan 1:5-10❤Y Jesús decía: Padre, perdónalos, porque no saben lo que hacen. Y repartieron entre sí sus vestidos, echando suertes. Lucas 23:34❤
@@Number1mlpfan It's a hidden scene! You have to find four small windmills on different rooftops before you hang out with Angus, and you get that scene before the cliff one (There's guides online). I recommend doing it, it's one of my favourite scenes in the whole game.
I appreciate all your insight, but i think your jump from "people who care," to "Angus didn't see his parents as people," is a bit much. I would interpret his worldview to "not all people care" or that his parents did care--about themselves--they just don't/didn’t care about him.
That's fair! I must admit, I get a bit carried away with my analysis at times haha. I like your interpretation - that makes perfect sense to me! Based on everything we've heard about them, it certainly seems like his parents only cared about themselves and cared little for him. Even the visits he does still make to see his mom are clearly more for her benefit than his.
