The True Connection Between Alan Wake and Thomas Zane-Remedy Connected Universe
Did Thomas Zane create Alan Wake? Did Alan Wake create Thomas Zane? Is Zane Alan's long-lost father? Many gamers and digital content creators have been debating this issue for years since the original game Alan Wake came out in 2010.
Well, you can all stop guessing. The evidence has been in front of us the entire time. In fact, it's all spelled out in the first hour of the game.
Tom Zane didn't create Alan Wake. He's not Alan's long-lost father, and no, he's not some paranatural entity ret-conned into existence by the events of the game CONTROL.
Isn't it obvious? Tom Zane IS Alan Wake!
To be more specific, Tom Zane, aka Thomas Seine, is a self-insertion of an author into the continuing story he's been writing since 2010. In-game, that author is Alan Wake. In real life, however, that author is Remedy Entertainment's Creative Director Sam Lake, himself.
But, for story and lore purposes, let's just say that Tom Zane is a self-insertion of Alan Wake into the various stories Alan's been writing since he got captured by the Dark Presence when he visited the town of Bright Falls, Washington in 2010.
The name of Tom the Poet, or Tom the Diver, actually dates back to Remedy's first published game, Death Rally. That story unofficially carried over into Alan Wake when Tom the Poet (Diver) appeared to Alan in a dream he had at the beginning of his first game (2010), as represented in the YouTube clip below:
Recently, I played through the intro chapter to the original Alan Wake game to point out all the clues pointing to Alan writing the story of "Departure" before the game even revealed what it was. At the beginning of Chapter 1, from the point Alan wakes up from a dream, up until he enters the dark hallway at the Oh Deer! Diner, he's operating in the game's version of the "real" world.
However, once he walks down that dark hallway, he immediately starts writing "Departure" in his head.
Once he's in that hallway, he's no longer operating in the "real" world; he's now in a fictional universe of his own creation.
Before he entered that threshold, those two old guys near the jukebox didn't have names, and neither of them knew who Alan was:
Suddenly, after emerging from that dark hallway, their names are now Tor and Odin Anderson, they're members of a 70's hard rock band, and they know Alan by the name "Tom".....the same name that came to Alan in the dream he had at the beginning of the game.
Something important to remember: Every character in the story of "Departure" is based on someone Alan either already knew, someone he met in Bright Falls, or someone whose name he heard in passing. This includes the vessel of the Dark Presence herself: Barbara Jagger.
Q: So if Tom Zane is Alan Wake, then who is Barbara Jagger?
A: Isn't it obvious? The clues are right there in the game!
Barbara Jagger represents Alan's interpretation of someone he believes he is failing. There are 2 people in that game who fit that description. Can you guess who?
I'll give you a hint: The only person who ever saw her in-game was Alan!
If you still can't figure it out, I'll likely expand on it in a future blog and video commentary series. To stay up to date, please subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JosephHero1000iz/
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