Control Explained - Who is Ahti? [Spoilers] 

I'm just here to thank Ahti for the Headphones

He was in Jesse’s head in several ways, he hears and responds to her thoughts when they first meet. Jesse: “...at least he’s a friendly face” Ahti: “Better than no face at all”

Me: "What is Control about?" Gaming University: _puts on safety goggles_ "Let's talk about Thermodynamics."

“I was raised to treat the janitor with the same respect as the CEO” - Tom Hardy.

*Cleaning the toilet* Mom: What are you so pumped up for? Me: I am waging an endless war against entropy.

Ahti didn’t need an HRA either

My favorite part about Ahti was how there were multiple documents basically telling everyone to let him do his thing and to never bother him. I think Dr. Tan's note in Dimensional Research was the only one that was just like "okay someone needs to say something, whose man's is this??? And how is he in a R E S T R I C T E D. aReA"

"THE JANITOR HAS ALL THE KEYS"

Personally I have found really funny that the word janitor in Finnish (talonmies) literally translates to: "The Man of the House". Good take on Ahti!

I think ahti is also the "guard" of the oldest house, because he made the elevator that took Jesse to the executive sector appear. Ahti calls Jesse his "assistant" but to anyone else, she is the director

I love the fact Ahti goes "Perkele" in almost every sentence. Perkele is a swear word in Finnish language. He also uses finnish sayings that don't really work as well cause he says them in english. He also has that typical finnish "rally english"

As a Finn, it's so bizarre to see a very familiar and a beloved actor in such a video game and in such a character. He might be new to international audience, but for Finns, he's like an old friend already.

An interesting thing I noticed with Ahti, is that in every location where there was a janitor problem, you would find one of Ahti's cleanup carts with a radio, at the Threshold of where the "normal" house is, and the mess. It's always placed as a barrier, usually right inside a doorway, or some dividing line between "clean" and "mess". He even mentions that the things he is dealing with, hate the music, I think he says that they have no taste for good music or something. So it seems like he's using the music, perhaps some kind of harmonic resonance from it, to contain the different messes in The House, until Jesse can show up and deal with it. Another point, and I might be wrong on this, as I don't know how much influence Norse mythology had on Finnish culture, but when you are down in the Foundation, one of the stone slabs next to Jesse as you head towards Ahti, looks an AWFUL lot like Yggdrasil, the world tree. I kind of got the impression that the Oldest House, might be a manifestation of the World Tree, that supposedly connects all realms. And that the astral plane is sort of the connecting tissue between them and the tree. Given Remedy's use of Norse mythology in the original Max Payne, I think it's reasonable they might plumb that well for more inspiration. But, another point that I found really interesting, is the music that Ahti gives you to get through the Ashtray Maze. It's a song by a band called Old Gods of Asgard......and I think Ahti says the song is from "his people" implying he's one of those Old Gods of Asgard. I really love this game, it's so much fun to try and figure out all the details of it.

One of the many reasons i love Control, it highlights the importance of so called "low skilled" jobs

Did anyone else see the note in The Foundation DLC where it says: *"Cleanliness is next to godliness"* ??? My mind was fully blown. Then I finally watched this video and I understand just how deep it really goes. This game is one of my favorite pieces of media or art I've ever consumed. It just keeps getting deeper!

There is also a memo found during Foundation that reports Ahti being in the Foundation cleaning, even during the very first FBC expeditions down there. The guy who met him was surprised to see the Bureau already sending someone down there to clean, but said the guy was very talented especially in singing, and a good guy overall. Also, we have the VHS tape altered item, again from Foundation, which is nothing more than a record of Ahti cleaning the Oldest House and singing. So much still to be said about him, he definetly is a higher entity of some sort and not just a Finn janitor

Ahti low key creeped me out. Good thing he was a good guy. Also ashtray maze was awesome.

I love how Remedy went for that hard sci-fi in Quantum Break and hard sci-fi/paranormal activities in Control. This is what I needed in my life haha😁 Awesome video, well done!

This game's got people talking about everything from entropy to Jungian synchronicity😅. What I dont think get's enough attention is how the writer took a supernatural threat (done before), but involved the government and a secretive agency in a conspiracy to cover up, contain, and utilize a malevolent supernatural force (to which they're failed spectacularly), and created basically a new conspiracy genre. As someone who is fascinated by government conspiracies and loved shows like the X-Files, this was fascinating from beginning to end. This really should be made into a TV drama or screenplay for a film. As it is, it was my surprise game of the year for 2019.

Just finished the game so i'm a bit late on the comments... :) An interestinig detail i noticed is that at the very beginning of the game we walk through a balcony with 3 portraits. Trench and Darling are named under the portraits. The third one, in the middle, is a portrait of Ahti labeled "The Bureau at work", which supports the idea that Ahti's job is the same as the Bureau's - to keep the world safe from the chaos of the multiverse. Then we see Ahti himself, exactly as he's depicted in the portrait, and he lets us through into the Bureau, leading us back to the same balcony above the loby, though in a different physical place, except now insted of Ahti's portrait there is the elevator that leads into the building. Like Ahti himself is the key into the building, or even the door... Also the first time we actualy see Ahti is in the opening cutscene when Jesse sais "The world is not the room. The world is much bigger and stranger" hinting at Ahti's paranatural nature. Which is actualy confirmed in the Foundation DLC where a document describes him as the first interdimentional entity the Bureau encountered.

Also remedy gave a hint early on into the game of ahti’s importance, his age, while playing the game you kinda find out that death in the old house is common so the fact that this one guy reached such an old age while doing such dangerous “mundane” tasks speaks to his importance

Just playing Alan Wake II and you know why I am here. What an excellent story crafting. Well done Sam Lake & Remedy.

That exact Sankarin Tango that you played in the background is actually sang by the voice actor of Ahti.

I love Ahti's idioms like "throw the spoon in the corner" and " You think there's a dog buried in this ?".

Good job on the video. Ahti is brilliant right from the start of the game. After reaching the end of Control and knowing all that you know, remember this: Jesse became Director for the FBC, but to Ahti the Director is just "janitor's assistant". Right from the start he commented that Jesse was there for that job application and he was happy she got the job. If the FBC Director - at a human scale a HUGELY IMPORTANT JOB in keeping humanity from freaking out - is just "janitor's assistant" to Ahti, I think you can phatom the cosmological, transcendental implications here :)

The entire Remedy universe is basically SCP, now. Which is fine.

In one of the files I believe he was also designated as "A-001", futher lending credence to his position as a paranatural entity, maybe even the first encountered in the Oldest House.

I think that the Janitor is the physical manifestation of the Oldest House

I wonder what he was doing about the Hiss before Jesse came along, and was still doing while Jesse was helping to clear it out. I'll bet he was kicking lots of Hiss-corrupted ass with his mop off-camera!

This entire remedy universe gives me goosebumps the more i look into it...

How could Jesse not tell that ahti was reading her mind in the cutscenes.

4 years later we can now speculate that there's a treshold between the Foundation and Cauldron Lake, as Ahti's vacation takes him to Watery, and we're briefly shown a North-West looking wooded area when we find him at the Foundation. Also lots of water. (Plus the post card he sends us literally picturing him next to the sauna in Watery.)

FYI: Finland is also known as "the land of a thousand lakes".

when I started the game and saw ahti the first time , when Jesse said "his face looks friendly" I thought that OK they are gonna do a plot twist and make you fight him as the final boss or something I dunno if it's just me , but throughout the game I had an uncomfortable feeling about him... I thought he was scary and unsettling

Show this to any janitor if they ever feel like their job isn’t important

I haven’t seen the whole of Alan Wake 2 yet, but it’s crazy how Ahti is just helping everyone. “Under the waves, of a blue lake, dwells the mighty AHTI!”

My theory was basically the same, except I didn't make the Ocean god connection. Anyway here goes, Ahti was sort of like Heimdall, a watcher of dimensions that are accessible through the Oceanview Motel. The door at the foundation had a big tree on it, which made me think yggdrasil. The world tree that's branches and roots extend through all of existence, just like the motel. So if there's a "mess" in one of those dimensions, send the janitor. Jesse cleaned up the FBC, and became an official janitor. Only then could Ahti go on vacation.

Theory: The board and Entity A-001 built the oldest house together, and then he created a body for him and named himself ahti. The board recognized him as the "janitor" because he can appear in any part of the oldest house, a regular janitor wouldn't be able to clean the oldest because it's so large

The barrels you toss in the furnace are mark with biohazard symbol. It's not toxic waste. It could be poison, but the symbol is more often used to mark hazardous bio-material: virus samples, used needles and bandages, that kind of stuff. It would also be used to mark human cadaver tissue. ...Those barrels are full of human meat.

Theres nothing weird about Ahti, hes just finnish. He fights all the bad things off with sisu perkele....

Great video. The talk about Ahti needing a vacation got me thinking: Is the fact that Ahti was tired and in need of a break the reason the Hiss were able to invade in the first place?

One thing I do have to say is, the guy has good taste in music.

The Remedy-verse is seeing its comeuppance and I couldn’t be happier for it. So much great work and creativity has flown under the radar but now with Alan Wake 2 it’s all coming out of the woodwork.

I was kind of surprised to see Ahti in Alan Wake 2 when Alan was traversing the Dark Place. The fact that Ahti referred to Alan as "Tom" as in Thomas Zane (the poet who wrote himself out of existence prior to the events of Alan Wake 1 to weaken the Dark Presence) supports the theory I had that Alan was a character created by Zane to do what he couldn't and defeat the Dark Presence for good. I have yet to finish Alan Wake 2 so please do not spoil the ending for me I want to find out for myself.

Due to being a finn I love that the game has Finnish things in it

In the foundation DLC there is a document that says that Ahti was able to easily move through the oldest house when the FBC had just discovered it so Ahti is likely an entity native to the oldest house

I do seem to remember Jessie reciting the Tom Zane poem in a psychiatrist tape as well.

I just subbed recently after watching a few videos. I just started to play Control and I don't care about spoilers. I just wanted to comment that Ahti is definitely on a higher tier than the Board, the hiss, Polaris, the former, etc. The oldest house is Ahti's house and the Oceanview Motel is his motel. The Board answers to him, otherwise why would he basically say at the beginning, tell them I sent you and they better give you the job or there will be "work for the axe behind the sauna". In the starting monologue, We see Ahti when Jesse says "Its all a lie, something to distract us from the truth" The lie is that Ahti is "just the janitor". He's the guy thats really in charge, the referee between the forces of "good" and "evil" and keeping the balance. Hiss vs Hedron/Polaris...he's just cleaning the mess their struggle makes but he lets them act autonomously for the most part. Thats my theory anyway.

Ahti is also mentioned in either one of Ash's logs or documents in the Foundation DLC saying that he was surprise that the upper level sent sanitation staff first so quickly and that he enjoyed talking to Ahti. Finishing their conversation when Ash looked away Ahti disappeared leaving Ash alone again. Ash was pretty surprised by how a janitor of all people was able to traverse the caves better than him!

Also when you’re traversing the Oceanview Motel searching Ahti the radio program is him reading the weather forecast for Finnish waters. Great video! What an amazing game

As a Finn, Hearing Ahti in the game the first time was kinda trippy. I very rarely hear Finnish accent or words in a game. I pretty much immediately connected the name to the folklore but never thought much beyond that. This was good food for thought and an awesome video. :)

A truly unique and fantastic game that gives me hope that the whole industry will not turn into greedy repetitive uninteresting pvp shooters with tons of microtransactions and loot boxes,great job Remedy.Thanks for the very interesting video!

As an engineering student, I got really confused when you brought entropy and Thermodynamics into this. But now it makes sense.

I never found Ahti creepy. I was a janitor for about a month but it was long enough for me to understand that a Janitor's job is very important. Their job is to clean up any mess they, or someone else finds and straightens it out/clean it up. A janitor is a warrior, his cleaning supplies are his weapons, and his enemy is Entropy.

This... was genius. This video alone single handedly let me appreciate Control even MORE. And my Janitor. I will never look down on his Job ever again! :) Thanks. P.S. It's videos like this I'm always looking forward and I'm excited about, when I play or watch anything that has more mysteries to unfold..

Interesting take! I, like an idiot, arrived at the conclusion that Ahti was an Old God only because a) he had that vibe, b) all the stuff a human shouldn’t be able to do, and c) when he gives you the cassette player he tells you that it’s from his “friends” aka the Old Gods of Asgard. You explained it much more eloquently than I ever could.

At the first 10 minutes of playing the game I realized that he is important, and that he really can change the Oldest House's shape at will. I mean, Jesse walks through a corridor until she founds Ahti, and he says to her to keep walking THROUGH the corridor for the job interview. But you end up in the same place as you've entered the building with the elevator opened. I went back to check out if it looked the same but I couldn't because there was a wall from were Jesse came from. So clearly Ahti modified the place to allow Jesse to enter into the Bureau.

In certain universes and mythologies, for one reason or another the highest tier of Gods either cannot or refuse to directly involve themselves into the events of lesser beings and realms... but they can choose champions and guide them. Given that Jesse's, as Director, is called the janitor's assistant, it is obvious that whoever is director serves as Ahti's champion. With what little we know of Ahti, he's obviously an incredible powerful entity who is beyond the board, the astral realm, or the hiss itself. Hence why he never needs protective gear and never appears to be scared or frightened of the situation. Stressed, perhaps, but never afraid. Perhaps there is some higher law that forbids his direct involvement, or perhaps the cosmic ocean is so big he simply doesn't have the time to clean it all himself. Since we are talking high-level dimensions, the actual size of the cosmic ocean is something we probably can't even comprehend or measure on a physical scale. I think this would make sense when you consider that the house has fallen unto ruin after the fate of the previous director. The director is the champion, the champion is needed to maintain order, but a champion is no good without a guide that can direct them to what needs fixing. You could also consider that perhaps, due to what happened at the Oldest House, Ahti was forced to be directly involved because he had no champion in this world. That would also throw the greater essence of the Ocean out of balance. Having to focus so much on the realm that Control takes place in, the other realms are at risk of falling into disarray due to lack of attention. It's like when a disaster takes place in the common lounge so the janitor has to take care of it, but due to their extended focus the bathrooms become a mess. By the time they get to the bathrooms, the breakroom is a disaster, and it just snowballs from there until either the janitor pulls double duty or gets an assistant. That's why he's all too happy to take a vacation after Jesse is officially "hired."

Worked in janitor work for years. With out "US" the place would not be profitable. A company cant go forward without the janitors to keep it clean and tidy. Sometimes the lowest job, keeps it running. We were the lowest rung on the ladder, but kept the company going. Thanks to all the janitors and house keepers. You are the foundation that keeps everything going.

I love that Ahti's idea of a vacation is to spend time at an old-folks home in Bright Falls, WA, with his friends, the Old Gods of Asgard, mopping the floors. "Be careful of your surroundings ... you never know what tree the devil shits in."

Great analysis, you've earned yourself a sub! I've been a fan of Remedy since Max Payne and Control was absolutely fantastic

Entropy is more like a trend toward homogeneous energy distribution. Ice has high localized energy density(Matter being energy), water vapor has that energy more evenly distributed. Chaos isn't a great overlay, as it has a specific mathematical definition relating to systems, that isn't really applicable.

The fact that you actually reply to every comment with a proper response is super cute

I think everyone noticed by now but Ahti warped reality at the beggining when we meet, you enter a hallway with paintings and turn right (note this), you make a loop and there he is, where you were literally a couple seconds ago. When you enter that hallway with portraits again the exit is parralel to the hallway. So if you were entering it you would go straight forward. Remember, we went right. So I think Ahti can manipulate reality itself and appear in places in a blink of an eye, and ofcourse warp physical objects

The Janitor is the guy with all the keys, in a place like the oldest house keys are REALLY IMPORTANT!

Man this video is great. The beginning scene with Ahti is DEFINITELY what fully pulled me into the game, and it just got better and better from there

Ahti is an amazing singer. I met him once and my first thoughts were "He is a friendly face."

Good video. There is certainly a play on the concept of the eternal return in the meta sense of battle against entropy as you discussed, but also in the literal mechanics of a video game where "only death allows a moment of rest"(the lyrics of Sankarin Tango are illuminating) when you respawn. Also hero with a thousand faces is mentioned in the lyrics etc.

Something cool i found on my second playthrough is that the board refers to to the hotline as "phone/seashell". People say you can hear the ocean when you put a seashell to your ear. You can hear the universe coming though the hotline.

you deserve way more views and likes! just stumbled across this, its very well made and thought through

Adding this to my favorites. Not only was it a lesson on a character in one of my favorite games, it was a lesson on life/existence that I needed. Thank you.

When we enter the maintenance sector and talk to Ahti, he mentions a pensioner inside feeling the band around his head tighten or something along those lines. I think the pensioner he talks about is Noorthmore as he is inside/is the power core.

Even though it’s been a while since I’ve played Control, I do love watching informative videos on things I missed out on such as this one

“Who is Ahti?” He’s our guardian angel

So many good points. So many astute observations with real information to back it up with. Made me love Remedy in a different way. “Entropy is not your friend” is oversimplifying the importance of struggle to being a good human being.

very interesting... one thing you likely didn't think of is that when ahti gives you his walkman, it allows you to make sense of and traverse the chaotic ashtray maze.

Entropy is not a friend, it is a part of you.

Your voice commentary is so well done. Perfect tone. Can see you going onto great things. Brilliant vid

What an excellent analysis. I love the way you explain these concepts that I never even gave it a second thought when I came across them in the game. Love the lore on Control and I love your content.

Gosh, your explanation about entropy and Ahti left me speechless! I am playing CONTROL in these days for the first time, and... oh boy, how little do I understand of this masterpiece!!

Great video! That was deep stuff man and I think you're on the correct path of who Ahti was. They should have included a bonus ester egg video of him chilling out with a beer in a sauna

"What are his motivations?" Let's talk about thermodynamics first 😂

Ahti is modelled and acted by a Finnish actor Martti Suosalo. 57 year old actor has done a ton of movies and series since the late 80s and can basically act any role. One of those actors who is huge or well known in homecountry and virtally unheard of outside. Finnish movie = shoestring budget most of the times.

This is really good explanation and analysis! Thanks. I love janitors in character. So knowing Ahti shares an important role makes me happy.

the first line in Sankarin tango is "I once tought the sea was lake"

Wow, that was a much deeper and more interesting video than I had expected. Excellent stuff!

These videos are amazing. I'm hooked to how well you present the source material.

This description of Ahti made me appreciate Ahti even more. Great video

The moment you heard him said that the weird slime in the tunnel near the coolant pump is his old enemy, you know this guy is no common.

I'm not sure if this was pointed out before but the most instructive clue for his character is the fact that the literal translation for the word janitor from Finnish is "man of the house"

Pretty nice video, much more than it had to be, much more than just exploring the lore. It showed a lot of creativity and a deeper understanding of the character, with pretty high quality. Personally, i really respect expressing a video idea like this in a creative, essay-like experience and it came together pretty well. Nice job!

6:48 "Where waves are both Wilder and more Serene" Holy f*** i was stuck there for a minute, i played Alan Wake when it came out and this obviously didn't ring a bell. Guess i'll have to play it again now.

Ahti is my favourite chatacter from the game, the way you explained his presence in the oldest house was really interesting. Loved your video.

Ahti is first and foremost the keeper of keys. That which allows passage from one place to another, which facilitates travel. He is both warden and boatman. He has been there from day 0 and has seen it all. Only after the House was given a new purpose, he took form and showed up as a janitor. Only the strongest minded individuals had the power to observe his presence AND question it.

This is so good man! Having beaten the game I am sad there isn’t any more to this world but you’re helping me rediscover it all! Thank you!

Its also heavily influenced by Bruce Almighty. Ahti (Finnish God) inspired by Yahweh (played by Morgan Freeman also playing a Janitor in the film) rooted for Bruce to take his Job temporarily so he can also go on a vacation. Bruce: Does God have a vacation? God: Yeah. Remember the dark middle ages? Ciao!

Ahti reminds me of God from Bruce Almighty movie.

nobody seems to mention that ahti also seems to have some sort of mind reading ability as he frequently responds out loud to Jesse's inner monologue

I’m here to say I’m very excited to get an updated version of this video considering how present Ahti was in alan wake 2. Maybe that was his vacation. If so, interesting choice for someone who appears to not be bound by the laws of space and time. Perhaps he’s a shifter too?

this video was insanely good. I really appreciated it, thank you.