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gwaaaaar · 13 days

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Making Some Goddamn Sense Out of Team 3

EDITED for Ganji's official letter. I deleted this because erm. Didn't want someone to get on my ass. But yeah reuploaded :3 and information updated to avoid misinfo.

Spoilers for Ganji Birthday Letter ahead under the cut. I have been wracking my brain for days thinking about this goddamn letter. Thinking about gannieaesvic’s group in general. For the past 4 years I’ve been collecting information. Here is what I have gathered based on facts from the letters. For speculation, I will be stating what is my personal speculation and dear reader it will be up to you whether or not you think it has basis in canon. 😭 I’m still kind of heartbroken over what transpired… (brown people never win oml) (AND BIPOLAR PEOPLE TOO) but I will try to keep my personal feelings out of my fact-compiling. At the end though I will be discussing some personal thoughts!

ALSO… yeah so. TW for self-harm and racism/ableism. The first is going to be mentioned quite a bit because of someone, if those depictions upset you this is your warning.

To get this out of the way: Ganji self-harms when in a manic state. In his 2023 letter when he was in the detention center, everytime he was triggered by bright lights he would hold his head and bang his head against the wall or try to snatch the candles. LEADING INTO SPECULATION ZONE!!! Apparently according to who wrote that letter, he has a scar on his forehead which may imply that this is a very very frequent event. Hold onto this idea for a bit.

With that piece of background information out of the way, onto the actual match lore:

Aesop's 2021 letter takes place on the fifth day. He states “everyone is finally here” which is strange as fuck because he was the last to arrive on day 2. The way he says it implies that there are more people than him, Ganji, Annie and Victor. So let's rely on Annie’s letter instead.

On Annie’s first day, Victor arrives first, then Ganji. Although for Ganji she says “he was unlike any other before him” which honestly makes it sound like there were more people before Victor… but let's ignore that for now.

On her first day, she gets scared of Ganji and runs to her room, but when she listens in to his room, she hears thumping noises that grow in excitement, and when she knocks she notices hesitation and caution, which makes her think Ganji is like her.

So apparently the noise coming from his room is from him practicing to relieve anxiety! In his backstory it's mentioned that his neighbors heard loud noises from his room so that confirms what he must've been doing back then.

Ganji at that point had escaped the detention center where he had been locked in a dark room and practically dehumanized by a white man yet again, so yeah I think he’s reasonably pissed. If it weren’t for the events that transpired before the match I would almost say his rough attitude is out of character because Ganji’s own neighbors describe him as “soft-spoken” even though they were scared of him.

Moving on: on Annie’s second day, Aesop arrives. During dinner she hears mysterious footsteps and mentions that that was the second time “she saw him”. If she meant Aesop, wow what a terrible way to portray that like. The way she describes dinner, you would assume everyone’s there. She said everyone was seated during dinner and Victor was on a sofa. Idfk who else would be making those footsteps and looking at her weird because everyone’s already there and she’s seen them like more than twice probably in those two days.

Heading into the speculation zone: I do wonder, could there possibly be a fifth member? There is no mention of a hunter in this match at all. The repeated usage of words that make it sound like there are more people in Aesop and Annie’s personal letters even though there are none is so incredibly strange. I’m sure it’s a wonky translation but like. Come on.

Back to the mainline. So. In Victor's 2021 letter he mentions “But then I remembered the rule that we should not talk to each other, so I gathered the courage to open the door.” We can actually maybe pin down which day this rule was introduced.

In Aesop’s 2021 letter he states the game will start in 3 days. A match is usually 8 days (at least Emma’s was from 6-13, so 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13) so we can date Aesop's letter from the fifth day. He mentions that he finally settled on Victor as a target and will send his “first letter tomorrow” so the sixth day. Circle back to Victor’s 2021 letter and he mentions Aesop has sent him a third letter. So on days 6, 7, 8, after dinner, Victor has received letters. And Victor mentions their match will be tonight and they’ve already had dinner, dating that letter to the final day. SO we can try to more or less safely assume that around the fifth day, this rule was implemented.

Speculation zone again: if I had to guess why, I think it was implemented after Ganji was released from his dark room so it would be harder for him to figure out who wrote him that note, and if they actually wrote what was written.

Back to the facts. So we have descriptions of days 1, 2, 5, 8. We need to find out when and what happened in the other 5 days.

OK I lied, maybe we aren’t out of the speculation zone. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say on days 3-4, Ganji had his incident where Annie accidentally triggers him, presumably using a lantern while she was out and about because their encounter happens at night. Now the thing is, she was drugged, and that’s why she started being more active at night. Ganji was already kind of a night owl because of his mania. We can deduce that around Days 2-3, she was starting to get drugged. And since her reactions triggered Ganji’s own before he got the “supplies”' which seem to be mood stabilizers judging from their later scuffle, I’m gonna assume he was getting drugged with anxiety drugs after day 4.

Victor mentions on day 8 (2021 birthday letter) that for the first time ever his door was knocked, not the others knocking their own door to get his attention. And the loudness of it was from Ganji. Before that, at 10 in the morning Annie gave him a letter, and then later he got a letter from Aesop. Victor has never gotten a letter from Ganji and the fact Ganji knocks on his door instead is unusual. It could indicate Ganji doesn't know how the system works. Hold that thought for a speculation later.

“Written notes are the perfect form of proof to sow discord and expose secrets, and they acted as an effective catalyst for the development of the experiment’s middle and late stages.” This was in Victor’s case file. I’m assuming Days 1-3 is the early stage, day 4-6 is middle, and day 7-8 is late. If I am correct, this may fall in line with my theory that on Day 5, the letters system was implemented by the experimenters.

It is mentioned that Annie tried telling Aesop and Victor she was uncomfortable by Ganji but they just didn’t care. So what the hell was the reason behind them forcibly holding Ganji down and throwing him in a dark room??? Did they know that bright lights triggered him??? Did they think he was gonna hurt them? Because at most, Ganji would’ve been holding his head in his hands and hitting it against a wall and screaming or trying to snatch the light source Annie was using… Did they put him in a dark room for his own protection??? Like at least Aesop would want his corpses to be intact and undamaged but like why does Victor gaf??? He isn’t the most compassionate. LIKE VICTOR??? HE GOT UP HIS ASS AND ACTUALLY TOOK ACTION??? It’s just. Strange to me.

No fucking wonder Ganji was pissed holyyyy shittttt. White man after white man locking him in dark rooms.

Keep note of Annie’s expression of discomfort because I will be touching on this later.

So I’m assuming Ganji would've been released from confinement on the fifth day or so after receiving the note. And that’s when the notes system was implemented, he could’ve been confused as to what to do especially since no one was verbally talking to each other. So he could have observed the system they had and tried following it to send Annie a message back. This is all speculation again, just the best way I can piece the timeline together.

So after Victor’s 2021 letter, they meet up and Annie tries triggering him BUT he takes his mood stabilizers!!! Yippee!!! And he’s like, nice try bitch, they get in a fight but the lantern gets toppled over by Annie by accident. Annie escapes with her catapult which is. Strange like actually where the fuck did they meet up how does she have enough space to place that and use it… whatever anyways she escapes, Ganji’s stuck in the fire and tries finding an escape route, he sees Victor, Aesop and Annie together and gets pissed when Victor goes back in the fire. Annie tries to get the situation under control but Aesop just decides to kill Ganji with her before killing her himself.

MINOR inconsistency with Aesop’s case file, where it is mentioned that after the “prey” (Victor) goes missing, Ganji gets violent. “It wasn’t until the prey went missing that No. 3-1-4 lost their cool and became extremely violent, and the plan was interrupted, forcing No. 3-?-1 to show his inner personality.”

“Once the prey was lost, No. 3-?-1 was triggered to eliminate No. 3-1-4, who interrupted his plan, and to make it his goal to eliminate No. 3-1-2.” Two things: again what is WITH THIS FUCKING WORDING. Before Victor’s case file, it legit sounded like the prey was someone else. The only reason we know it’s Victor is because the circumstances line up. Besides that, How did Ganji interrupt his plan to embalm Victor? AND the most damning inconsistency of all, when they say Victor goes missing, it makes it sound like Ganji thinks Aesop did something to Victor and that’s why he gets violent . WHICH IS PECULIAR BECAUSE the group reunites at one point and that’s when Victor goes back into the fire for his letters like that is written in Ganji’s letter. Why would that make Ganji violent??? Why would a literal suicide attempt trigger him??? Strange as fuck get it together idv.

I also wonder, why was Annie crying while killing Ganji? Did she feel remorseful? Did the drugs finally wear off? Did she realize Aesop would kill her next?

AND WHY DOES AESOP KILL HIMSELF??? I THOUGHT HE WANTED TO KILL AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE… AND THEN HE'S LIKE I killed 2 people, that’s enough.

This writing is stupid as Hell.

Deranged ranting aside now… OVER IT 💅💅💅. Speculating time!!! And my personal thoughts later on. All the important facts are outta the way.

So, what were in the contents of the letter Annie sent to Victor, and the letter Ganji gives to Victor. Victor never states that he delivered those letters, he just keeps them. So for Annie maybe it can be assumed it’s for him, but for Ganji, Victor thinks it might be for Annie. Considering this was on the last day, just mere HOURS before their match, legitimately he may have forgotten to deliver them??? Were those possibly the letters he killed himself for? I wonder what could possibly be in them that he thinks these secrets are worth keeping to the very end??? Or was he just so obsessed with letters the contents don’t even matter??? For Annie, I think she might have been trying to recruit Victor and Aesop’s help one last time. And for Ganji, I think he might have been trying to send a message back to her in response to something. Well whatever it is ig we will never know.

ALSO they mention that they have been sending Ganji supplies and sending false notes to the subjects of the group. Perhaps that may be why Ganji was sending Annie a letter as a response. And hey maybe Annie was in fact sending letters to Ganji because she thinks he was sending her letters. But Victor’s a letter freak and has been reading the notes. He might know which ones are in response to fake notes and maybe that’s why he hasn’t been delivering some??? I don’t know… just a theory.

I also wonder when Annie decides to tell Victor and Aesop about her concern. Was it after Ganji snapped at her? Before? ALSO. In the physical fight. I’m surprised she could resist. Ganji is a professional cricket player, he could easily knock her out with his bat or something. He wants to eliminate her/whoever sent him the note. He is the soberest he’s ever been. But he doesn’t do it immediately? It’s almost as if he went easy on her or maybe didn’t wanna kill her… kind of like… Norton… in Da Capo… with Orpheus…

Something that confuses me, so so much: why would Annie try triggering Ganji??? I’ve seen a few people theorize she was trying to get his help that way but that is such a fucked up way to do so??? She would’ve benefitted in no way out of it.

Let’s say she thinks Ganji would’ve hurt her in his manic state (BOOOO whatever man), why would she try triggering him into a state she thinks will hurt her?

Let’s say she thinks Ganji would’ve hurt her in his manic state *at first* until she sees that he in fact only hurts himself. IF SHE TRIGGERS HIM, KNOWING HE WOULD DO SO, that is incredibly fucked up. He can’t help her if he is hurt!!! He can’t help her if he’s having a breakdown!!! It reads so incredibly sadistic and dehumanizing she doesn’t look good either way.

Although Ganji's 2024 letter in english removed the accent part for Annie (thank the lord), in Aesop's personal letter he calls Ganji a cranky man with a strange accent… which is… hrm… if they hadn't removed the accent part, there would've been a lot more merit to it because of what was in Aesop’s letter.

However in Chinese... the accent thing is still in there. Take that as you will.

Also we must consider the fact that Annie is drugged. Her decision-making may not be rational. She wants to protect herself BUT but God. The decision to meet with Ganji and try triggering him still doesn’t make sense, drugged or not it is incredibly stupid. Why doesn’t she try staying away from someone she’s afraid of??? Like objectively it’s just stupid.

Then the fact Victor comes in to detain Ganji??? No seriously, why does he care? Does he care for Ganji’s safety? His own?? Because if it was his own he could just lock himself in his room. I know he was a part of a criminal gang so maybe it’s normal to him, but there was no indication beforehand that he would ever be active like this.

ALSO… why does Victor go to the manor? In his trailer he goes because he receives his own letter. Did he want a friend or??? I know storytelling will always be about introducing new elements but I’ve never quite moved on from Victor quite literally having empathy as an ingame trait only for his letter to be like he can only empathize with small objects and animals. Did his policeman friend mean anything to him? Legitimate question. For now I theorize that he used to be more empathetic but the trauma from that incident made him desperately try to close off his emotions from people. But yeah I just don’t think I can get a read on him anymore so I won’t try… I’m a Ganji truther first before I used to be a Victor stan. He’s a blorbeen…

Regardless of if any of the other three are racist or not, this letter was tasteless, Ganjis previous letters have all taken agency away from him. I understand it’s to show the circumstances of his time and to reveal information, but why couldn’t he or his loved ones reveal said information? Why did it always have to be people that think so little of him? He’s described as kind so many times and then they brutalize him so much for things he can’t control (his race or his mental disorder). It’s really disgusting and it feels like shock value. They rarely explore how it makes him feel in his own words, only observing what he feels from the outside. You see that he is hurting, that he is screaming. But you don’t get to hear him say how he feels, why he feels that way. You don’t get to hear his homesickness, how much he misses his family, his friends, only that his homesickness drives him to extreme actions. It feels like they are saying “look at this kind broken man get broken even further! Isn’t this just so sad!” It is sad but they are doing this in the wrong way. There are much more tasteful, nuanced ways to explore topics like these.

I think that’s all I have to say, collection of facts and my own thoughts aside. Please let me know what you guys think.

#identity v #Idv #ganji gupta #annie lester #anne lester #aesop carl #victor grantz #Idv batter #idv toy merchant #idv embalmer #idv postman #Idv ganji #Idv anne #Idv annie #Idv aesop #Idv victor

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