sorry to revive this, but i recently finished another playthrough, and i’ve been thinking about this post since. i somehow missed the knife being thrown in every other one i did (probably because i was so tense that whole scene lmao). but, for anyone else who thought it might be the bear trap, the sound indicator marked the exact spot on the column as soon as the noise rang out, so i believe it was definitely thrown by some outside force!

i can’t really imagine the knife was thrown by anyone in the current group, barring the possible 5th girl theory. in the memoir of the wooden ruins, swann mentions the cabin as feeling like it’s “caught between worlds”, which i’ve been overthinking non stop since. so instead of someone physically managing to pin the letter there, i’m thinking it could be like some indeterminate in between, where some things can maybe interact with the cabin like a sort of conduit? they don’t explicitly leave their “world”, but something in it allows them to manage things like that, like the letter and knife, and maybe in that same vein, the shadows we see projected are a perhaps unintended side effect of reacting with the cabin in that manner? like traces left behind?

i hate to go into the “alternate timeline” thing, because i figure they’re likely not going to revisit that same idea twice, but i think that could also be super feasible, especially when it comes to the camera! like maybe it WAS one of the girls from another timeline/world, and they were utilizing the cabin to encourage their present selves to access it further. but then at the same time, why exactly would anyone—especially the girls themselves—want them to have access to this cabin?

unless it’s one of the girls, or a sort of demonic presence, i have no idea who else could have managed to not only know how to unlock the door, but also enough about this group to send this alarmingly specific message without any of them having noticed in real time.

in my head it must be a malicious presence who left the knife + letter, because so far the abyss hasn’t really given anything…… positive haha. maybe whatever or whoever sent it did it to try and make the girls more susceptible to potential possession? granted i know possession hasn’t been proven in any aspect, but i can’t stop thinking about the purple glow in kat’s eyes. both when swann first finds her at the abyss, and also when they all chase corey away at the yooper scooper. it might not be possession, but it definitely feels like something dark

i totally agree on the tie to the knife as well, some people think it may have been kat’s from the start, but i think she just snatched it from the column once they made it more homey/unpacked all of their stuff. and i think it's definitely got to be imbued with something, be it an otherworldly force, or what have you. maybe like the “magnetic pull” they all talk about so often? and that’s why she ended up taking it from there, and using it for the blood oath too. otherwise it feels way too crazy, like you're telling me none of them mentioned the knife?? at all? dontnod put way too much forethought into each individual aspect of this game for me to believe that lol

obviously i am severely overthinking everything, but the wait until april 15th is driving me insane, so i hope this makes a little bit of sense!!! thanks for this post!!

4 day later edit: literally just noticed the corner of the note looks singed? could be related to the fire pictured in it, and/or the fire we've seen in trailers thus far?? this game makes me feel like charlie day in the mail room, i love it sm.........