A story, in its most fundamental form, is all about a good guy and a bad guy and all the drama between them. For instance, let’s look at God and Satan. God created Adam and Eve, the first children on Earth, and the Devil decided to tempt them with a forbidden fruit. Ah, classic Satan! My point is, a story is always a good guy vs. a bad guy, and MGM’s From is no different. In the show, we always knew who the good guy was; it was indeed “The Boy in White.” I am not saying he’s God, but he could be a part of God’s army, like an “angel.” And From season 3’s ending [Spoiler Alert] finally introduced us to the bad guy, “The Man in Yellow,” whose burning red eyes and terrifying demeanor made it evident that he was none other than Satan himself. So, now we know who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy, but what we still don’t know about the drama between them? I am sure we’ll find more about it in season 4, but like every other fan on the internet, even I have a theory.
The Devil Killed Jim
In season 3’s ending, Fatima told Ellis that she now knows who these monsters are. They were human once, but they made a pact with the Devil and sacrificed their own children in exchange for immortality. In simple words, these monsters cannot die. Boyd had previously killed the Smiley monster, but through Fatima, he was brought back into this world. The Kimono Woman, who might be a reference to Ubume, a supernatural entity in Japanese folklore, removed the monstrous baby in its larval form from Fatima’s womb and took it to the cellar through the trap door, where we finally saw the larva turning into a monster in a matter of seconds. So, unlike humans, these monsters don’t have to wait for years to get their lives back in the event of their deaths.
I guess “The Man in Yellow” is the creator of the hellish town, and these monsters made a deal with him. That was the reason why “The Man in Yellow” told Jim that he was punishing him for Tabitha’s actions before finally slitting his throat and killing him on the spot. I believe this Devil is really ticked off because Tabitha tried to leave his hell without his permission. I came to this assumption because the ninth episode of From season 1 had already foreshadowed Jim’s death when Tabitha visited the lighthouse in her visions and saw Jim’s body hanging from above. In season 2’s ending, “The Boy in White” had pushed Tabitha off the top of the lighthouse, after which she woke up in a hospital in the real world. It could be possible that it all went against the plans of “The Man in Yellow,” which was why he wanted to punish Tabitha and her family for acting against his will.
The Reincarnation Theory
Moving forward, season 3’s ending also revealed that Tabitha had been Miranda in her past life while Jade had been Christopher. In Victor’s flashbacks, we had seen “The Boy in White” talking to Christopher, explaining a way to save the children in the lighthouse to him. In short, all this fuss is about saving the children these immortal monsters sacrificed to Satan. And in order to break this cycle of death, rebirth, and sacrifice, Tabitha and Jade have to save the “aangkhooey” children from being slaughtered by the monsters. But that’s just about Tabitha, Jade, and the dead children, so where do the rest of the townsfolk come into the equation?
I believe that all human residents of Fromville are reincarnations of the monsters’ dead children who arrive in town so that their parents can kill them or sacrifice them over and over again. This loop is their punishment for choosing immortality over their own blood. In the show, Tabitha and Jade can be seen as the reincarnation of Adam and Eve, God’s own children, the first humans, who are the only hope for the “aangkhooey” kids. In simple words, Tabitha and Jade can save them for this endless loop. But you may want to ask what the “loop” really is here. So, have you noticed this pattern in the show—that after every massacre, a new bunch of humans arrive in town? For example, a bus arrived in town after the massacre in the Colony House. They were meant to replace the ones who were killed by the monsters. And it couldn’t be a mere coincidence that Sara Myers, out of all people, really connected with Elgin, who was manipulated by the ghost to kidnap Fatima. In the previous season, Sara too heard a voice in her head, because of which she helped the monsters kill Kenny’s dad. She believed she was doing the right thing, just like Elgin in season 3. So, if Elgin really was the reincarnation of Sara’s brother, then it could be assumed that she is doomed to hurt him each and every time, and that’s what she did in season 3’s ending.
Boyd And Acosta May Have A Connection
Acosta, the police officer, arrived in town soon after the death of Kenny’s mother. Many folks on the internet believe that Acosta could be the reincarnation of Boyd’s wife, and I couldn’t agree more. In season 3’s finale, when Boyd was interrogating Elgin, the Polaroid camera printed a picture of Boyd’s home, which he had built with his own two hands. Now, this scene is a reference to episode 8 in season 1, where, in a flashback, we saw Boyd and his family arriving in town. While driving the car into the town, Boyd’s wife told him about the boat she had bought for him. Back to season 3, Boyd told Elgin that it is indeed his house, but the boat is missing, which means this place or the Devil doesn’t know that the boat exists because Boyd never saw it for himself. He’d only heard about it, so there’s no way that the person reading his mind could depict the boat visually. And this may sound like a reach, but Boyd could be a reincarnation of Martin, which was how he knew his wife’s name. To sum it up, the Devil had trapped the souls of these children, which is why they keep coming back to the town in different avatars after their deaths, like it happens in a video game. I haven’t played much, but feel free to drop references to ones that match the show the most closely. I am sure you would be more helpful than I am here.
Jade and Tabitha’s Vision
In season 1, while trying to make the radio work, Jim and Jade arrived near the tallest tree outside town. Here, Jade saw a vision of a bunch of amputated bodies hanging from the tree. In the next shot, he imagined a soldier, wearing a civil war uniform, pointing his rifle at him. Now, this soldier is not human. He’s a monster, and it could be speculated that he had killed Jade in his past life. Throughout the series, Jade had been getting visions of his past self, i.e., Christopher, and the aangkhooey kids whom he had failed to save from the Devil. So, these were not mere dreams or visions, but the events that had actually taken place in Jade’s past life. If you are a Bollywood fanatic and have seen your share of Hindi movies like Om Shanti Om, then you’ll get it. Also, the concept of reincarnation and past lives is prevalent in Hindu mythological texts and fables. Though it is quite different from what we saw in the series.
Coming to Miranda or Tabitha, many people speculated that Miranda had visited the town before, which was the reason why she was able to draw those paintings that Tabitha saw in her storeroom. The truth is, just like Jade and Tabitha, Miranda too was getting visions of her past life, where she saw the same monsters and same children, just in different clothes because it was a different era. A young Tabitha too started seeing the town in her nightmares because her soul, or whatever you want to call it, had already been there. In the penultimate episode of season 3, she even saw her (or Miranda’s) death near “The Faraway Tree.” Now, I believe that Tabitha’s reincarnations were forever doomed to be killed before she could reach the Lighthouse, but this time around, “The Boy in White” intervened and helped Tabitha leave the town.
The Time Jump Theory
This one is quite tricky for me, so before jumping into my theories, I’ll first try to go over what has already been told to us. When Tabitha first visited the lighthouse in her visions, we saw numerous “years” scribbled on the wall. It seems like the entirety of Fromville jumps in time whenever the monsters kill all the humans in town. This is just a theory, and I am really not sure of it. The location hasn’t been reset for quite a few years because the last time a massacre took place, i.e., in Victor’s childhood, his mother was able to hide him from the monsters and save his life. Victor lived all alone until a new batch of humans arrived in town. Victor also confirmed that the place itself is changing with changing times. I see this place as some sort of “theme park.” It gets remade over when no one’s around. Currently, it seems like the place is following the 1933 timeline, where the monsters are dressed as common American townsfolk, and the buildings are designed in a similar way.
The show hasn’t explored the concept of time travel much, but I believe that it will delve into it more in the fourth season. We know how the souls of the children and Adam and Eve are stuck in an endless cycle, but how “time” really affects them is yet to be known. I mean, except for the fact that it changes the look and feel of the town. We can also assume that time passes differently in Fromville as compared to the real world.
Julie Is A Story Walker
I really like the fact that the writers of From chose the words very precisely. They never said Julie is a time traveler, because in such a case, she could go to the future and the past alike, and in order to limit the scope of what her character can do, they call her a “story walker,” which means she could revisit the chapters of the past and not the future. Now, you see, Julie is quite a curious soul and has been trying to validate her presence by being helpful to her family. But she doesn’t know how to do that. When she visited the dungeons, where Martin was locked, for the second time (first in her vision), she saw the events that had already taken place in the past. That suggested that these dungeons or these ruins are a “glitch in the matrix.” They act as a threshold between different chapters in the story. I also believe these chapters belong to different time periods, like the numbers Tabitha saw in her imaginary visit to the lighthouse. But does “The Man in Yellow” know about the glitch? Obviously, he does, which is why he was trying to keep Boyd and the others away from it.
So, the Julie we saw in season 3’s ending didn’t seem like the Julie we had previously seen in the episode. Yes, her wig was a bit out of place, but except for that, it seemed like her future self had already used the dungeons to visit the past and stumbled upon some shocking revelations like her father’s death in the woods. Julie begged Jim to go back to town because she wanted to change the story but Jim wouldn’t listen, like always. Julie also had marks on her face, which looked like some monster had attacked her while she was “story walking.” I am not really sure what she was trying to change in the past, or when and why she was attacked, but I guess we will find more about it in season 4. The real question here is: how will Julie’s “story walking” really help Tabitha and Jade to save the children, because, at the end of the day, that’s the ultimate goal, right? So, if the townsfolk are stuck in a reincarnation cycle, then the only way out is to break the pattern. And Julie, who knows (or might know) all about the past cycles, will be able to help her mother and others avoid the mistakes their past selves had made so that they could finally save the children and go back to the real world.
The Faraway Tree
In the eighth episode of season 3, Victor was finally able to recall the conversation Christopher had with “The Boy in White,” where the latter was trying to convince the former to go to the lighthouse and save the children. According to him, it all began when the children were murdered by the people they loved and trusted the most, most likely their own parents. But all was not lost. At this crucial moment, they found someone… someone whose stories gave them the hope that they wouldn’t have to suffer the same fate again and again. As per season 3’s ending, Tabitha and Jade used to sing lullabies to the children in their past lives, which I guess is the story “The Boy in White” was talking about. In short, our own Adam and Eve filled these children with hope, and when they were laid on the sacrificial stones, they poured all their hope into the roots that eventually created the symbol. Later, these very roots created from their sacrifice became “The Faraway Tree.” So it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that this magical tree is born from the childrens’ sacrifice and symbolizes their only chance to break the cycle.
I believe that “The Faraway Tree” is Jade and Tabitha’s only hope to save the children, and it could be one of the reasons why this particular tree keeps on changing its location, because the children don’t want the Devil to find it and destroy it. “The Boy in White” or the children only want their savior to find the tree and use it to save them from an endless loop. In season 4, I guess “The Faraway Tree,” along with the dungeon, is going to play an important role in transporting people from one place or time to another, thereby helping them to finish the quest, which, at the risk of sounding repetitive, is to “save the children.” So do “aangkhooey” this thing, because that’s what the show is all about. And if you’ve thought up any theories of your own you’d like to throw our way, feel free to drop them in the comment section below.
