Talk:The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Plot, tldr version
As Prospero explores Red Creek Valley, he comes across two types of puzzles: ones where a series of fantastical events lead him to discover a 'story' that Ethan has written, and ones where he discovers the body of one of Ethan's family members and must use clues hidden nearby to solve their murder. The stories are not central to the plot but they provide Prospero with insight into Ethan and his family, while solving the murders is more relevant to the advancement of the plot. Ethan's family did not appreciate how often he was writing stories because they were unsettling and made them feel uneasy.

While exploring, Ethan discovers a 'secret room' in the Vandegriff's house in Red Creek Valley. His discovery awakens a mysterious force called 'the Sleeper' which begins to influence the thoughts of Ethan's family.

Chad, Ethan's uncle, under the influence of the Sleeper, attempts to seal Ethan in the Vandegriff's mausoleum as a sacrifice to the Sleeper. He is discovered by Missy, Ethan's mother, and Dale, his father. Dale seems distressed but Missy urges Chad to work more quickly to seal Ethan inside before he wakes up. While Chad is distracted by Dale and Missy, Ethan awakens and stabs Chad in the eye. Chad recoils from the attack, and after recovering slightly he begins to blame Dale for his pain because if Dale had helped him seal up the mausoleum he wouldn't have been hurt. Chad calls Dale 'weak', and Missy agrees. The situation escalates into a brawl and Chad chokes Dale almost to death before Missy stabs Chad in the neck, killing him. Afterwards, in the crypt, Ethan tells his father that he needs to get into the mines. Dale tells Ethan he doesn’t have the key. Ethan says he knows of another way into the mines, but begs his father not to tell his mother, claiming that the whole family was sick.

Afterwards, Missy and Dale enter the mines via a lift, looking for Ethan. Missy says how she has to go after Ethan, how he has to pay the price. Dale begs of her to leave him alone and says Ethan just found an old room in a house. Missy does not agree. While they argue, Missy keeps telling Dale about the Sleeper, and how he needs to wake up. Dale disagrees and repeats what Ethan told him, that they’re all sick. Missy enters the lift and goes up but Dale brings the lift back down, grabs a nearby pickax, and breaks the lock on the elevator so she cannot escape. He lowers the lift down into the water below the mines. Missy continues to yell, “The Sleeper must wake up,” until she’s submerged. Missy drowns in the elevator. Afterwards, Dale encounters Ethan carrying two oil canisters in the mine. Ethan says he heard his mom, but Dale tells him to not worry about it and leave the mines. Travis (Ethan's brother) shouts down from a distance, and Dale goes to meet him.

Dale prepares to ambush Travis with a fire axe he finds in the dam. Dale fails and Travis takes the axe and confronts him, asking him where his mother is. Dale says she had an accident, and tells Travis that the whole family is sick, along with his mother. Travis begins to talk about the Sleeper and how him and his mother are doing the Sleeper’s work while threateningly approaching Dale with the axe. Dale tells Travis that Ethan is going to burn the Vandergriff room, then runs away, panicked. Travis tells him through the door that the Sleeper chose him and his mother to be vessels. He breaks in, and Dale begs him to come to his senses. Dale grabs a pair of scissors and then stabs himself in the neck before Travis can attack him. Travis says Dale is weak and should have helped Travis and his mother do the sleeper’s bidding.

Travis finds Ethan and ties him to the train tracks in an attempt to murder him. While Travis fuels up the railcar, Ed, Ethan's grandfather, arrives and asks Travis where Ethan is. Travis continues to talk about the Sleeper and then Ed strikes him with a rock. Travis falls over the train tracks and Ed runs him over with the railcar, severing his legs. Ed unties Ethan from the train tracks and then takes the starter crank from the railcar and bludgeons Travis to death with it.

At the Vandegriffs' house, Ed convinces Ethan that he can help him because the spirit of Gayle, Ethan's grandmother, is protecting him from the Sleeper. Ethan discovers Vandegriff's diary and reveals to Ed that Vandegriff kept his victims alive for as long as possible to maximise suffering in order to appease the Sleeper. This is because in order to wake the Sleeper, all the victims of the Sleeper's torment have to suffer. Ethan heads into the Sleeper's room with the intention of setting it on fire, and Ed shuts him in. Ethan panics and sets the room on fire. Ed apologises to Gayle for shutting Ethan in the room, but justifies himself by saying that is must be this way for the sake of keeping the Sleeper dormant. The flames spread into his room and he adopts the fetal position.

Paul arrives at Red Creek Valley and reads all of Ethan's stories and solves all of the murders. In the charred remains of the Vandegriffs' house, he discovers Ethan sleeping and awakens him. Ethan is surprised when he wakes up. Paul apologizes for being too late. Ethan agrees. Behind him is a map of the valley and the places Paul visited, including the locations of all the stories and all the murders. Paul has a vision.

The vision is taken from Ethan's perspective. Travis walks in and scolds Ethan for missing dinner. When he walks over to the next room everyone aside from Dale and Ed begin to make fun of Ethan for his stories about the supernatural detective, Paul Prospero. Then, Missy accidentally swings her lantern in the wrong direction whilst scolding Travis and sets fire to the ritual room. Separated from the exit and his family by the fire, Ethan retreats back into the secret room with the map of stories and murders on the wall. The smoke thick in the room. He lays down on the cots on the floor, revealing that Ethan was himself the Sleeper and that Paul and the events of the game have just been parts of another story that Ethan had made up, but had been brought into the real world in order to help Ethan come to terms with his own death. Ethan talks to Paul. Ethan says he can’t go just yet because he has to finish the stories. Paul thanks Ethan for his story and tells him it’s okay to let go.

Afterwards, the view zooms out and shows Ethan lying on the cot and the next room over engulfed in flames. His mother and father are upstairs running to the room with buckets of water. His uncle is just outside of the house holding a bucket, but it looks like he’s upset as he leans against a post. Ed is helping Travis extinguish the fire on his back. The scene continues to zoom out and the game ends.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 302ET (talk • contribs) 16:41, February 19, 2015 (UTC)