Talk:The Protagonist

Page created. Missing a photo.
Hope I did it right. I wanted a picture of them without their gear on, but I have not been able to manipulate the game in a way that permits the player to see themself without their gear. For instance, it's not possible to take a Scout photo without the suit on, and the standalone Scout Launcher at Timber Hearth can't take a satisfactory photo before the Scout hurtles over the horizon. The Protagonist definitely has got a head that could be seen this way, but I can't get the game in a position to allow me to observe it. A freecam hack or a hack to allow use of the personal Scout Launcher while un-suited might help, but that is beyond my expertise and outside of the purview of the Debug Mode enabler and TAIcheat mods. I even tried teleporting into the High Energy Lab's warp enclosure to see if the Protagonist would be duplicated in the same way the Scout is, but that is not the case. &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 09:09, 11 January 2020 (UTC)
 * I remembered that there is one situation in which it is possible to operate the Scout Launcher without being dressed. I might prattle, but I'm sort of proud of it - get in ship, put on spacesuit, place a Scout on the ship dashboard, take suit off, buckle up (sit in pilot chair), take photo. That's where this photo is going to be coming from. There's not a whole lot else to it, because in this state, the player model does not seem to have forearms or anything below the waist. &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 02:25, 26 January 2020 (UTC)

Name of page
"The Protagonist" sounds like a really meta and out-of-Universe name for the character. Do you think we should change it something more lore-friendly like "The Hatchling"?&mdash; ReflectedPower2104 (talk) 06:15, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Well, we don't get to learn their name directly in-game, and The Hatchling is just a nickname of sorts due to them being very young. &mdash; Aurovee (talk) 08:38, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
 * This is the only page I've created, so I'm not sure what culture - if any - y'all are trying to cultivate, but I've not been running under the assumption that this site is trying to maintain the Fourth Wall. As far as I've been able to tell, there's no other name for this character. No other conversation partner refers to them by name and there's no text that does either. There are other "hatchlings", such as the juvenile Hearthians who teach the player how to operate the Signalscope, and they fit the description far more aptly. Everyone refers to the Protagonist as either the Hearthian equivalent of "kiddo", "Time Buddy" (in Gabbro's case), or (in the other Travelers' cases) "Hey, it's you."; "You made it, good job, you.". Every moniker the Protagonist has is of equal unimportance, and I personally feel that giving them any name that isn't iconically theirs might make it confusing for someone looking up information on the specific Hearthian that serves as the player avatar, despite seemingly everyone (bar Solanum) knowing them personally. They might just not have a name... &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 14:15, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
 * My comment is exactly the same point you're making, just with you putting it into more context. Although I will admit I never said 'so they should be kept as the Protagonist', so I'm saying that now. &mdash; Aurovee (talk) 19:01, 29 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Sounds good to me. Just wanted to know what everybody thought of the current name. Thanks for all the input. &mdash; ReflectedPower2104 (talk) 22:49, 29 January 2020 (UTC)

Regarding the Ship Log stuff
I think I remember reading that the Ship Log was upgraded using something from the statue which they are linked with or something along those lines. But I can't remember the exact lines where this is mentioned. &mdash; Aurovee (talk) 17:22, 30 January 2020 (UTC)
 * I'll keep an eye out for it. If that data exists, it's probably in the Observatory. But at the same time, why would the OWV need to upgrade the ship computer to be regress-proof in this way when, for them, the loop is an unknown phenomenon? It'd be really convenient to have the information about what makes the computer tick, and I'll give the Village a look. &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 19:51, 31 January 2020 (UTC)
 * Hal: "We know the stone from Chert’s fragment can store information — that’s why some of the stone from that statue fragment was repurposed for your ship’s computer. Maybe the statues were made for storing information, too?”
 * This only states that the statues' matter could contain information; nothing about sending it to someplace or sometime. But if they could, that would completely trivialise the Ash Twin Project, unless we want to wonder if the ship computer also has a microscopic black hole with a supernova's worth of energy in it that it uses to send data back in time to itself. That is a worrying thought in itself - Slate would be bragging about it more. &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 20:09, 31 January 2020 (UTC)
 * True, but remember this. The memories go from the protag to the statue, then from the statue to the mask, and finally from the mask (through the Black Hole of the Ash Twin Project) back to the protag, completing the loop. It'll explain why it easily records all the information they get, and as the memories go back in time, once they get back to the ship, the log 'remembers' what it would had gotten from prior loops. &mdash; Aurovee (talk) 22:33, 2 February 2020 (UTC)
 * Makes sense, I suppose. It's more concrete than baseless conjecture (if slightly), but there's still no confirmation that the ship has any sort of pairing with the Ash Twin Project, even if the composition of the computer is such that one of its side-effects is the ability to download journal data from "the future". If you decide to put your theory into the article, I wouldn't revert it, but I'm still not entirely convinced, either. &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 00:53, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

Added Dialogue from the 'Self' Paradox ending.
It seems users and  have been adding dialogue scripts to various character pages. I've done the same for The Protagonist, and have come to the realisation that the dialogue in Outer Wilds can jump about and very quickly recurse (sending the player/reader in circles) and take up huge amounts of vertical real-estate (transcribing in one place what had already been transcribed elsewhere). I'm hoping that anchors and anchor-links are the answer, as rather than write out parts of the script that have already been said, I have added anchor-links corresponding to the earliest part of the conversation that part can appear in. Please provide feedback, edits or suggestions if a better method exists for helping plot out the script without going down a whole recursive rabbit hole. I understand that in its current state, it makes the section look untidy and cobbled-together, but I figured it's a good scaffold, at least. (Also, transcribing the hysterical screaming was...fun?) &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 18:06, 2 February 2020 (UTC)


 * Thanks so much Noxedwin!! I kept meaning to do this but not getting around to it because it's a huge conversation and I wasn't sure how to handle the formatting. &mdash; Wingpen07 (talk) 19:37, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

Discuss categorisation as 'Traveller', and pulling on an entire thread
Considering that the main criteria for being a "Traveller" seem to just be enlisted in Outer Wilds Ventures and to be active anywhere in the Solar System other than Timber Hearth, would it be prudent to add the Protagonist to this category? Furthermore, if they are to be added to that category, they should be added to the front page. Furthermore, if that's the case, can we please update the pictures on the front page? Outer Wilds isn't in alpha any longer, and those aren't the representations of the characters that a player is going to encounter anymore. &mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 23:36, 6 February 2020 (UTC)

Selfie means?
What about retrieving the Hearthian photo-satellite from orbit and using that to take a photo? Pretty sure that you would get the same headless photo, unless the devs envisioned that possibility. It'd be one impressive achievement, landing that thing right next to the photo-taking equipment in the village. 82.11.64.56 18:40, 4 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Nice idea. I've never physically interacted with the satellite. Is it possible to carry it, though? Because if not, then I am not fond of the idea of trying to de-orbit with the ship and hoping that it'll crash right into the photo exhibit.&mdash; Noxedwin (talk) 10:23, 6 March 2020 (UTC)