Blair Witch - Story Explained 

Despite not playing most of the games you feature on this channel, I do enjoy hearing your story explained on the games very much

My favorite ending will always be the good ending where Bullet & Peter live but Ellis dies. Yes it's bittersweet but given everything that Ellis has gone through it just felt like a way to give him peace while also breaking the cycle of the witch

I love how technically speaking. Due to the bad ending the game is a continuous loop. Like when you start a new game it’s like a new loop. The only way to break it is to do things differently than what you did before

The game finally makes sense to me.

Thanks for the explanation, Harry. The game was a bit confusing. I didn't realize that the main character WAS Carver. I thought it was a separate person that he replaces at the end, becoming a new minion of the witch. This game was a tad tedious to play but had quite a bit of potential that I'd like to see executed better somewhere else.

Correct timeline (assuming the conflict is the First Gulf War): *Pre-1991: Ellis has a traumatic childhood experience in the woods where he and his friend go missing and his friend loses his life. It is hinted that an unknown someone or something was involved in the disappearance of Ellis and his friend as well as the death of his friend. *Pre-1991: Ellis has severe mental trauma and repressed memories from his experience in the woods as well as survivor's guilt. *Pre-1991 to 1991: Ellis joins the military, fights in a conflict (assumed to be the First Gulf War 1990-1991) and inadvertently leads his squad into an ambush where six of his squad-mates are killed and many others injured. During this incident, he avoids enemy combatants by hiding in a civilian woman's home where he kills her with a knife out of fear that she may alert the enemy of his presence. These two events only add to his psychological trauma and survivor's guilt. *Sometime between 1991-1996: Ellis returns home and joins the local Sheriff's department. He is involved in an incident where he shoots an unarmed teen, Adam, who survives. The shooting appears to be due to a PTSD episode that Ellis suffers. He is then discharged from the force. *Sometime between 1991-1996: During this timeframe (probably just after he is discharged), the Sheriff gifts him a dog (Bullet). *1996: After his discharge from Sheriff's department, his mind starts to split (the beginning of 'Carver'). Ellis ('Carver') kidnaps Peter and brings him to the woods and recreates an event similar to his own childhood experience but with Ellis now as the perpetrator. Around the same time-frame, Ellis joins the search for Peter unaware that his own other-personality is the one who kidnapped Peter. The reason for kidnapping Peter (and not some other kid) is significant and appears to be due to the fact that Peter is the younger brother of Adam, the teen Ellis shot and wounded. This suggests that 'Carver' kidnapped Peter knowing Ellis would join the search out of the feeling of guilt for shooting his old brother, if nothing else which is hinted during the early part of the game. The search gives Ellis a reason to stay in the woods until Peter is found, allowing 'Carver' time to take over Ellis within the isolated environment of the forest (part of 'Carvers' plan all along). *1996: During the search for Peter (and while Peter is being kept by Ellis/Carver) Ellis remains in the woods as he continues to transforms into Carver. Like Peter, he is then assumed to have gone missing by the authorities and his loved ones (he never speaks to Jess again). *2000: Todd Crawford goes missing as he is killed by 'Carver' in the sawmill. The year is confirmed by the missing person's report. *2000: The sheriff goes looking for Todd and encounters Ellis ('Carver') alive, living in the woods after four years since their last encounter (the search for Peter). Ellis ('Carver') mentions he "likes the quiet" referring to his years of living in the woods. He eventually kills the Sheriff (perhaps to remove Ellis' last remaining friend, further preventing Ellis a chance to ever return to his original self). Todd's murder may have been committed simply lure the Sheriff back into to the woods for this purpose. Now the ending itself also has two different timelines: In regards to Peter, this part of the ending (text) takes place in 1996. If Peter survives, it can be assumed he is released by Ellis in 1996 as Ellis does not fully give into his demons at this time. Much like Ellis' own experience, Peter also does not speak about his experience under Ellis/Carver's captivity thus Ellis is never suspected of being the kidnapper (at least not until 2000). If Peter is killed, then his body is found the same year, implying Ellis has already given in to his demons and Carver has taken over by this point. Regardless, by the year 2000 (Todd's disappearance), Ellis has almost fully become 'Carver' by this point. As mentioned, all phone conversations between Ellis and Jess happen in 1996 during the search for Peter (as Ellis himself goes 'missing' after this). The final struggle at the end of the game between Ellis and 'Carver' takes place in the year 2000. If Ellis dies (kills himself / killed by 'Carver'), it can be assumed he reports to the authorities of the location of the Sheriff and Todd's bodies before he takes his own life as both bodies are found within a relatively short time-frame after their deaths (as suggested in the 'Good' ending). Now how does the Blair Witch come in? The Blair Witch arguably has no direct influence on Ellis or Carver in the sense that it is only the stories of her existence and how she is said to haunt the forest (stories Ellis likely grew up hearing) which is what actually influences Ellis' already fractured mind. With this he imagines being recalled to the woods by the witches' voice, the same woods where he once went missing years ago and the same woods which she is said to haunt. Ellis (who's psyche evaluation suggests an interest in hiking and hunting some time before leaving to join the military) likely returns to these woods at some point after his discharge as a deputy and before he kidnaps Peter. It is here that Ellis imagines being further manipulated by these external forces of 'the witch' forming him into becoming 'Carver' (a replica of the individual / 'monster' who kidnapped Ellis and his friend all those years ago). This then leads him to kidnap Peter as 'Carver' suggesting a cycle is being repeated, which puts everything we see at the start of the game in motion.

I've done multiple playthroughs of this game for the platinum & it still didn't quite make sense so thank you for this video. The story finally makes sense

One thing I loved about the 2016 sequel was that it actually focused on what the witch could do, rather than the mystery of the witch. And HD footage definitely helps to clue you into the dread that the kids are feeling. I like how it went deeper into the lore, explaining that all it takes is a single night's stay in the woods for the witch to permanently imprison you within her domain. I also loved the two different times the drone is sent into the air. The first time, we can see openings in the woods, clearings, a mountain pass, and rivers. But the second time, all that is gone; it's literally just a sea of trees with no end in sight.

I watched this in theatres at nine years old and it freaked me out so much, I legit thought it was real for YEARS.

I played the game and honestly had no idea there was a time loop, I genuinely thought he had lost his mind and retreated fully into his trauma but this makes so much more sense. It's a cool concept but there was no way near enough clues in the game to help you figure this out.

It makes me very sad that the dog dies, no matter what :( poor Bullet, he was such a good boy Edit: I have now been informed that sometimes Bullet does survive and that makes me very happy :) It has been a while since I saw this video and I don't remember what convinced me that Bullet always dies, but I am happy about this confirmation that he doesn't.

The only problem I have with the analysis is that it can’t be a four year loop. If Ellis had the traumatic experience, had counseling, then left for the Gulf War, then left to live in the woods it would be closer to a 10-12 year cycle. The Gulf War was from January to February 1991. Which means is more plausible for the amnesia since it would have been over a decade before he enters the forest with bullet.

The multiple timelines is actually a Reddit theory as well. In the movie, when Josh destroys the pile of rocks, they wake up the next day beginning the sign they are lost. No roads. No planes. No trails. Heather even makes a comment saying it’s hard to get lost in America these days. Setting the 3 back in time during the time Rustin Parr was luring children to his house in the woods. Explaining the one who killed them was Parr. The witch had some spell over the woods that sent people into different timelines which explains people getting lost so easily there.

Ok, I'm very confused here. So, young Ellis enters the woods with Peter Shannon in 1996, leaves, grows up, fights in the Gulf War, and returns home then searching for Peter Shannon YET it is still 1996? Wouldn't it make more sense if Young Ellis and Peter Shannon entered the woods at different time periods then converged into one time period, and only Ellis made it out back way before 1996, THEN went through all the Gulf War stuff and came back home in time of Peter's disappearance BY 1996? I must be missing something here, because otherwise that's a massive plot hole that makes zero sense whatsoever.

Best thing about this game is the sound and visuals. You feel like you are in the woods and being watched.

Everytime Ellis got bad ending, the loop cycle continue. And when the new Ellis get the good ending by reconnect with his wife, be good with Bullet, don`t touch or messing with the witch stuffs in the forest or the house. Bullet stay with Ellis after death, the wife wants you back, Peter get finally free from the woods after 3 days missing in his original timeline ?. Lenning and the woodcutter bodies are found.

Let me understand this, the timeline of young Ellis in 1996 has been erased from all people's minds, since no one remebers him, and replaces him with a new Ellis old enough to participate in the Gulf War? A little bit sketchy, but as you said, it's the only plausible solution

This is sort of similar to the "tall grass" movie I watched once. An endless cycle of everyone, getting lost in the grass while looking for other versions of people, who in turn were looking for other versions of them.

Literally incredible harry! I love the explanations you have for everything! You do your homework very well! I love what you do

The only thing I find weird about this is the way you explained the endings I got the good ending by just petting and comforting bullet and taking care of him aka destroying the cross things

Honestly playing through this game was like going through every single horror cliché ever created Doggo companion that dies? Check Main character with PTSD? Check Divorced from wife? Check Spooky man doing spooky things because they're spooky? Check "Is it PTSD or is it real" hallucinations? Check Random ass plot twist thrown in as a "Ha gotcha"? Check

When you enter the old house and it begins to repair it's self to being new is one of the coolest visuals in gaming to me, I actually replayed the game to get back to this moment, it was great

This was so well done! It really clear thing up and has left me satisfied. Thankyou Harry!

Ahh you know that feeling when you stumble across a channel that you just know is still in early doors of blowing up? Here to stay Harry old chap.

I love how so many of my recently streamed games have been explained by you. It makes for good follow up streams. Keep it up!

I supper with Dissociative Disorder and while time does go crazy and I can say that years go by like days... This is insane and I hope it doesn't scare anyone from understanding this disorder.

So the Blair Witch is able to manipulate reality, influence people to do her biddings, can create time loops, and can create monsters out of shadows to intimidate those who wander into her forest? Wow she sounds mildly powerful

I love watching your videos. The way you describe the back stories of every detail is incredibly satisfying. Thank you for the great content!

Why wouldn’t the witch travel back in time to save her younger self?

honestly this is one of the scariest things to me, being stuck in a time loop

I haven't played the game nor did i ever plan to, but this video kept me hooked onto the story. Thank you!!

Let me just say this… I love horror/thriller games but I just don’t have time these days to play them. I stumbled across your channel and it’s quickly become my favorite new channel. You do an absolutely fantastic job and I feel like I get to appreciate/experience the game in a way I wouldn’t be able to otherwise. I LOVE that you go through the storyline first then go deep on it after. Just great stuff man.

Love these series! Keep it up man

Such a well presented video will binge watch all lore and order videos good job mate

I just completed the game yesterday, it’s genuinely the best horror game I’ve played since outlast. The final sequence in the abandoned house was absolutely terrifying, trippy and surreal.

im with everybody else this channel is amazing ive seen so many people play these games and still didnt know what was going on even at the end thank you harry you the man !

Maybe the time loop is a purgatory scenario created in response of the influence from the witch and bad decisions from Ellis. A way of doing things right.

One of my favourite games. I didn't experience any bugs though. I still cant ge tthe good ending because of the not using flashlight thing

Beautiful work!

It's amazing how you can unpack veeerryyy complicated stories 👏

Your voice is perfect for this, I legit listened to the Outlast vid while driving from home real good stuff

One MAJOR mistake you made here is that the other kid in the intro clip is NOT Peter, he's just Ellis friend.

This was a wonderful and in depth video! Thank you🎉❤

Thanks for the amazing explanation!

Really enjoyed the video! Thank you for your hard work!

Even though I never play these games I watch these videos to have a understanding cuz the game looks fun and I always enjoy W video

Awesome love it, wow that story was like watching the tv show lost lol

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥love this series my man

Wow. That must have taken some serious amount of work to a) understand and then b) actually explain it. Holy fricken moly who would have thought a licenced game would have such a complex story?

Its interesting how loops often play out in games and movies (mostly ive seen them in thrillers or horror). There always seems to be a moment or way the loop could be broken but a very specific scenario has to occur or be avoided. This often takes years or never happens due to the loop being doomed to repeat until the end of time. I love all the different ways these time loops can occur and play out. If characters find a way out or never do. Some do it better than others but even the ones who miss what makes them so interesting or special.. still spark my interest to a degree.

the game/story itself is intriguing , u shed some light on the mystery .. thanks

Man I stumbled across your page and I am so happy that I did. Keep up the good work man!

Love the explanation, played this game for hours and hours, yet still didn’t pick up on all clues! Really hope we will at some time get a nondirect sequel!

More believable and simpler that 'Carver' is just whoever is currently the witches minion and you become the new 'Carver'. Ellis met A 'Carver' in the woods as a child and suffered some horrific abuse which also included the Witch getting its hooks into him and she eventually manipulated him into coming back to the woods. Time loop is NOT necessary Ellis is suffering ptsd and severe hallucinations, the witch is messing with his mind, you have created such a convoluted and difficult explanation which doesnt even make sense, a 4 year time loop except looking at the timeline the timeloop being 'just' 4 years doesnt really work? When you hear hoof beats think horses not unicorns...

When i got near the end the only thing i was playing for was to find out whether Bullet is alive or not

I couldnt see a thing this entire video. Thank god your voice is made for narration.

Good resume, i am not sure the story is the best one, but this game definitely brings me back to 1996: this car at the beginning, all the cutscenes, the phones, torches, clothes and many other details.

So... What are the Totems with Pictures in them and what are those Night Creatures? And why the Witch wants you to destroy them? Probably the most important aspect of the story and it wasn't even address. The "Time-Loop" can be explained as a Pocket Dimension that enshrouds the Blair Forest. Once you enter, space and time stops making any sense and it's bound to the Witch's will. It can go forwards and backwards, basically time travelling to different times in the real world, and you can only leave the forest if the Witch allows it.

I think the timeline might be a little off. That has to be the iraq war in ~2003, not the gulf war. Then he enters the woods in 1996. Does he know that it’s 1996? I forgot.

Thnx for this! Get it now! OMG I see how may subs you have! Congrats! You deserve it!

Love your Lore & Order Series. Anyway could you make Lore video on Nier:Automata Its my favorite game. I want to see your explaination on Nier automata cause i still confuse about something in the game story

Really appreciate your work mate

I love this video so much it's unreal.😊

I love your vids man

I'm just here because your soothing voice helps me sleep.

man, the original PC trilogy is nostalgic to me, got it for cheap at an outlet store and was obsessed with them lol, thats why the time loop thing made sense to me haha

Thanks for this 🙏

Okay, so, how does adult Ellis end up in 1996 if that's when child Ellis went into the woods? He hadn't been near the witch since his childhood and as a kid he left the forest still in the same time period.

Your video made my Platinum journey much better. Thank you for taking the time and digg through the content (notes, etc.). I wish, the story was told more straight forward in the game. I got the themes (PTSD, the loop, therapy, mental illness), but while I was playing, I was confused most of the time and I didn’t care too much. The game itself has great ideas, locations, relationships to create/bond, etc. Bullet is my biggest highlight.

The disappearance of Peter has to be at least 15 years before the game starts Gulf war was years before 1996 The games loop is extended by the cameras and videos

The weirdest part for me in this story is that his recollection of what happened actually says that Ellis gets out and is picked up by a truck driver. This is what happens later in the game to Peter. So how do these two essentially switch places later on during the loop making Peter become the one who escapes and Ellis part of the loop and killing these people? Is this why young Ellis disappears from the timeline?

I played this game for my old youtube channel (channel got deleted a couple of years back). I really enjoyed it until the last chapter. The house itself was okay, but the hammering of the PTSD flashback over and over again made it so I started heavy sighing. When I got to the room of the soldiers keeping their backs towards me I almost just turned off my xbox. They tried to hammer in the war too much. When it was quick flashes I liked it, but once they were forcing it down my throat I was nearly done. Got to the loop part, but by the end of it I was too happy to be done with the soldiers part to really pay attention to the ending.

Thanks for the video, great explanation! The video didn't feature the monsters/creatures living in the woods though, what are those things (the creatures afraid of light, glowing red in the camcorder)?

hello gamingharry Superb narration

I was never a fan of this series, but I love these kind of videos. When it comes to Blair Witch, I've only seen a scene of the 2016 film, where a tent goes flying in the air and someone gets killed, I never sprinted out of the room so fast in my life. 🤣🤣🤣

You deserve more subscribers man😍

Very interesting enjoyed the video very much thanx

Thank you for the explanation

19:!5 If he was travelling through time, he should find young Peter next to the ball...

Thank you 😊 💓

This could be an effective plot for a Silent Hill game exploring the woods.

Thanks for those videos - I usually play peauceful point'n click games so You presented a whole new world to me :) However - what do You think about some old horror game with dark humour - Ghost in the Sheet from 2007?

Theory:If Ellis can manipulate the world with the camera that means that everything is like he himself controling time but the problem is that certain events have an effect on the world too.

Thank you for explaining it because I couldn't understand what this game was about I thought that car was just some random new insert into the Blair witch universe you know but now that I understand this that's pretty interesting and I also remember going to the house that moment was pretty awesome

I didn't know that this channel also dabbled into explanation of quantum mechanics 😂😂

Thanks a lot!

My Theroy is The Witch Feeds of The Energy created my The Loops and is trying to spread her power beyond the confines of The Woods of Burkitsville/Blair. So she creates The Loops thanks to The Sacrifices then has them keep repeating so just like a Wave System dose The Loop Waves can crash on each other and increase there power there by increasing hers too. Respect and keep up the epic work.

In the original movie, they mention one of the kids escaped. I wonder if Ellis was actually that kid, and that's why he had a traumatic experience

I actually love playing this on VR

I liked the video Harry good work 👍

Bit of an ambitious plot, having a timeloop but have two different versions of Ellis present at the same time AND have 4 years in between both versions? Wild. Ellis being kidnapped with Peter as children made sense after I heard the Rustin Parr section, but the rest of loop? Mental 😂 I knew there was some sort of loop after Ellis answered himself on the radio (“Turn on the headlights”) but I never imagined how insane the whole picture is. Thanks, Harry! Such a shame, it’s an interesting concept playing on local horror myths, I hope they make another game like this but with better execution and a more solid plot and more dog interactions 😂

Thank you earned a sub

Would love a Death Stranding Story Explained... Great content

I loved the part where the music stopped and We could hear the witch scream: Dirty Deeds… Done, Dirt, Cheap 18:42

This game is both intriguing but terrifying as all hell

wow.... pretty nice explanation... Please make one for "What's Remains Of Edith Finch"....

Radios need frequency to communicate, so honestly weird time frequency shenanigans. So somehow weird fantasy stuff, communicate.

Sheesh. I must have really not been paying attention playing this game because I don't remember a lot of those story elements.

Hecaitomix is the real evil in the woods, but everyone thinks it’s Ellie Kedword the Witch

Such a confusing time loop