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TopicWifebolo plays House in Fata Morgana [progressive spoilers]
Llarian
02/24/21 11:17:54 PM
#14:


Maria presents the letter and tells Jacopo that WHG is having an affair. Wat. Turns out Maria is playing both sides like a fiddle, and laughing all the while. Now that I can see her sprite in profile, it appears that Maria truly does have short hair - which with a little research means she likely experienced poverty and had to cut and sell her hair. Wigs were in fashion for the rich to add to their natural hair, or to convincingly cover baldness or thinning hair.

So every single 'nice' thing Maria's done has also been undone by her on the other side, fanning the flames of Jacopo's insecure suspicions. She's exactly right - this would all fall apart if they would only talk to and listen to each other, but they won't, and that's what makes it so easy.

According to Maria's convo with Tommaso during his visit, apparently Jacopo and Maria's families have very good reason for not getting along, but she claims not to care about that. This is elaborate for revenge - but truly, don't come between a woman and her family. It's like getting the business end of a grizzly bear mama.

The art in this game is incredible. Stunning. I can't believe it. The different emotions, textures, materials. This image of Jacopo clutching a letter in his hand, gritting his teeth with seething anger. Apparently, his father demanded that Jacopo command respect, and that if his wife were to ever be unfaithful - the response should be to kill her before anyone discovered and had the chance to disrespect or betray the family further.

Jacopo can't find it in himself to kill her, though - he considers this to be a last resort.

<He goes out to a prepared carriage, but the coachman looks unfamiliar - it's the owner of a manufacturing plant that Jacopo put out of business, and he holds a grudge. He stabs Jacopo in the stomach and rides off. Jacopo wakes up in his own room, White-Haired Girl [WHG] tending to him and his wounds. This is the most scandalous part of the game - he asks her to hold his hand. And she does - ah! I can't believe they would do something so promiscuous in this game. XD> Turns out during <this part> he was having a weird dream and it is in fact the Maid he is talking to.

Maria offers many other letters from WHG, along with tales to make Jacopo unhappy. She does the same with WHG. She tells them both to get a divorce and they both refuse to, she applauds their stalwart dedication to unhappiness while pointing out that they're both clearly miserable.

Jacopo plans to speak with WHG directly, no matter what. Maria is in the midst of plotting how to turn this around on him, when a maid tells her the Head Maid was unhappy with her once-over of the cellar, telling her to clean it again. She finds a creepy inscription on the floor in what looks similar to her own handwriting, in her own native tongue. Maria comes across a painting that looks like it's of WHG, but it's cut and torn. Maria takes it and leaves it outside the little shack where WHG lives, and it convinces her to give up on the day of Jacopo's railroad opening. Wow, I've heard of the Poor Communication Kills trope, but this is devastating.

Jacopo visits the shack on the day before the railroad joining ceremony and reminisces outside her door as he's trying to be respectful. He notes that he was unkind during their honeymoon, and all the other ways he's messed up over time. He's talking for a long time and there's silence. Did she kill herself? I know she's present in every story, but as evidenced by Bestia, it doesn't serve as plot armor in the slightest.

He realizes the door is unlocked and enters, but WHG is nowhere to be found. Only a letter on her desk and a worn phenakistascope, clearly well-used over the last year. Jacopo can't believe it - the item was made of paper, and if she was seeing other men, why would she keep it? Or use it as much as she clearly had over the last year or so? He reads the letter.

I was correct, it seems. I'm impressed with how they've written the letter, which reads very similarly to real ones I have read. The letter was dated two days before, the original date set for the joining ceremony. Due to weather, it had been postponed. Jacopo realized that all the letters written were to him. He realized WHG had waited. He stormed off to the one person who could have manipulated this terrible misunderstanding.

He finds her all dressed up in his own bedroom, looking down on him. The truth comes out - Jacopo's father took power by killing Maria's dad and grandpa in a "carriage accident" rigged to explode. Wow, how sick. Maria says the only thing left is to kill Jacopo. She would have taken over the position if she had been a man. She fires a gun at him but misses anything critical. Jacopo lets a bullet fly and hits Maria between the eyes, killing her.

He urges the Maid to find a doctor who can keep his care quiet. She asks him if he expects his own riches to comfort him. This is a great line: "For unlike money, humans are not measurable by their appearance". YES. THIS.

Wait, so Jacopo searches everywhere for the WHG? ...Why? Or why wasn't he searching for a body? That letter so obviously reads like a suicide note to me...?


---
Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself...: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
-Marcus Aurelius
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