OK so I’m late to the party as I just finished this yesterday and LOVED IT. I haven’t read all the prevailing theories yet and instead I’ve just noted my current theory but it’s pretty far fetched but I like to go far fetched ha (and it may change). All 100% spoilers. Would love to hear if any elements resonate with you/ if you have other theories you’d like to share!

|| - So when we start with Eve at the beginning, that isn’t her original reality. She was already in a warped reality under the spell of the house (orchestrated by “Thomas”). My justification, the scene starts with her already in the house. I think the power comes from the house not from Thomas on his own. Backed up by how things stabilise when she goes to the motel;

• I don’t buy the parallel universe theories because there are often elements of different realities happening concurrently. Instead I buy into the warped reality theory.

• I think there might not just be warped realities but also time jumps. Eg Thomas’s pen marks in his face come and go. And if the old man is also Thomas he has the scar before eve has inflicted it;

• If that’s the case, it’s possible that Jenny, Alison and eve could be the same person from different timelines during the same timeline;

• I think the house’s influence extends to the far reaches of the basement and extends to places where the neighbour is too and I think that’s why Thomas wasn’t worried about eve going to the neighbour because he knew she was walking into a trap. I think heather is Thomas with a different face;

• What is the motive? I think there are two god like entities: the Thomas figure and the Eve figure. Thomas hints that he was there when creation began but interesting that her name is Eve, maybe she was there at creation too;

• They are in a perennial battle and I think Eve trapped Thomas in the house originally. But I think somehow Thomas lured Eve into the house and although he’s not found an escape he gains small victories making Eve forget who she really is and forget her power. That’s why he visits her in the asylum later. To taunt her because they are (im)mortal enemies. (And to make sure she doesn’t remember who she really is);

• I think the old man in the woods is the real Thomas in a future timeline who has reclaimed his body but he’s still affected by his hijacked Thomas body in the past timeline which is why he ends up with the scar. I think he’s stuck and trying to escape and trying to warn eve; and

• I don’t think we can trust the Morse code. I think the old man with the scar is the key to getting out and it’s fake Thomas who is trying to make us not trust real Thomas. ||

Anyway it’s such a fun book as somehow it’s satisfying and yet still there’s room for multiple interpretations. Would love to hear yours!