Before I start:
Yes, all of this is definitely wrong. However, I had fun coming up with the theory, and thought I would share it with you all.
Main Theory
I believe that ‘Death Stranding’ might be Kojima’s reaction to the superhero genre. However, much like Watchmen or Logan, it will be a darker and more creative take on the genre.
Maybe there was an explosion that caused various people to gain superpowers. Some of those people became supervillains, like Mads Mikkelsen and Troy Baker. Maybe some formed a secret society, like BRIDGES.
Kojima has used superpowers as a device in his games before. In the Metal Gear games, Snake is often framed as a normal human in a superpowered world, going up against people like Psycho Mantis (psychic powers), Volgin (electrokinesis) and so on. So, I’m sure that if powers do exist in Death Stranding, they’ll be given a pseudo-scientific explanation.
The People
Sam
So, all of these thoughts originally came from seeing a quote about Timefall, in which Kojima says the following:
“Most people in the game are aware of the rain -- and well, Norman is quite unique in this regard… I think I should stop there. I’m spilling the beans.”
Kojima has here indicated that Sam is unique in some way when it comes to Timefall. However, we know he’s not immune to its effects - that is demonstrated in the fourth trailer, in which a bit of rain hits his hand, and ages that part of his hand.
So, I began to think - how does Sam relate to the rain? Maybe he can control the rain.
That then extended to, “Maybe Sam can control the weather.”
If this theory is true, though, it’s likely that Sam won’t much control over his powers at the beginning of the game. Maybe, in this way, Sam’s superpowers will serve as an in-game explanation for what in other games would be called pathetic fallacy.
For example, in scenes where Sam is angry or scared, a lightning storm might start. In scenes where he’s sad, it might start raining.
Eventually, he’ll gain control over his powers, and you, the player, will have choice over how to use the Timefall to your advantage. In fact, maybe Sam “turns on” the rain at the beginning of the fourth trailer, as a way of keeping people off the road while he retreats into a cave to rest.
Mads
I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that Mads’s abilities might be the ability to raise and control the dead. Obviously, this would necessitate a corpse disposal team.
Del Toro
I believe that Del Toro’s character has the ability to imagine things into life. This is a metaphor for Guillermo Del Toro as a creator - he can make his fantasies become real. Over time throughout the game, he’ll learn to “direct” (/control) his creations.
The real life Guillermo Del Toro saw monsters when he was a kid:
“And you know, I've had a relationship with monsters in my bedroom since I was a kid. I really used to see them behind the chair. I used to have shaggy carpet in my bedroom - my parents bought one of those Austin Powers carpets - and it was bright green. At night I would try to climb out of my crib and I would look down on that sea of shaggy carpet and I would see a sea of green fingers, waving, waiting for me to put my foot on it so they could pull me down. So I wet my bed, and my mother spanked me. One day, I got tired of the spanking and got up in my crib and climbed down and said to the monsters, "If you allow me to go pee, I'll be your friend forever." They disappeared and I have peed happily since.”
I think that Del Toro told Kojima this story, and Kojima created a character in the likeness of Del Toro that goes through the same thing, metaphorically.
I believe that in the second trailer, Del Toro is journeying under the bridge in order to confront Mads, but knows that Mads controls an army of the dead dressed in WW2-style clothing. As he starts to get scared, he looks up, and sees WW2 planes that he’s accidentally brought into existence flying above him. Terrified, he runs under the bridge, and tries to gather his nerves. Suddenly, he hears a rumbling. He looks up, and sees that there are now, randomly, thousands of WW2 tanks and soldiers passing above him that his powers created.
These are the monsters that his fear of Mads has created. And so, he takes a deep breath, connects himself to a baby, and goes forward to face him. The semi-comedic reveal is that Mads’s army literally consists of only 4 soldiers.
Lindsay
I think that Lindsay Wagner is a psychic. I think that what we see in the trailer is her appearing before Norman Reedus as a psychic projection, just after Norman Reedus’s baby has turned to oil. She guides us throughout the game, appearing to us in times of need.
Troy
Troy Baker can manipulate the oil creatures, and can also teleport and levitate. (Maybe he brought the oil beings into existence in the first place, but I’m not sure about that.)
Lea
I believe that Lea is clairvoyant.
We know that Lea can see the creatures. I also think that, when she holds hands with Norman, he temporarily gains the ability to see the outlines of the monsters - we can see their white outlines while she’s holding his hand. I think the dialogue preceding that might go something like this:
Lea: You can see them, right?
Norman: No, but I can sense them.
Lea: Take my hand.
Maybe her clairvoyant powers are the reason she knows that, “A cryptobiote a day keeps the Timefall away”, and I think she’s teaching this information to Norman in the cave.
Maybe she can see bits of Norman’s past that he’s trying to run from, and that explains her lines about the past.
Also, it would be a really cool review of her powers if she stated Sam’s name without ever having met him before. Just literally, out of the blue:
“Sam Porter Bridges. The man who delivers.”
Additional Theories
DOOMS
Maybe having DOOMS simply means having superpowers. Maybe there are different levels of powers: some people’s powers are considered to be capable of bringing about extinction, and some people might have powers even more deadly than that.
Lea: You have DOOMS, like me. What’s your level?
Norman: I’ve got the Extinction Factor, but I think you’ve got me beat.
The State Of The World
Maybe all of the people with superpowers have caused the state of the world we see in Death Stranding. Maybe the oil monsters were brought about by Troy Baker. Maybe Timefall was caused by Sam.
Conclusion
I think that having Kojima tackle the superhero genre would be interesting. We already know he’s great at putting underdogs against superpowered individuals (as in the Metal Gear series), and having us route for that guy. It would be interesting in Death Stranding if you are superpowered, but most of the people you run into along the way are more powerful than you. It kind of echoes Syndrome’s line in The Incredibles - “When everyone’s super, no-one will be.”
Tl;dr: what the title said.
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