Sons of the Forest’s wildest fan theories, explained
After playing Sons of the Forest to completion, the ending will leave you with more questions than answers. Most of the knowledge can be found in emails and newspapers scattered around the island’s caves and bunkers. However, the pages only give you small pieces of the puzzle that you have to somehow put together to get the whole picture. Learning the whole story on your own is almost impossible, so let us help you with some informative fan theories. Read on to learn more about the Sons of the Forest story and what the ending really means.
Sons of the Forest is currently in early access, so the overall story may change as more updates come to the game.
[Ed. note: This post contains full spoilers for Sons of the Forest.]
How does Sons of the Forest end?
During the final moments of Sons of the Forest, make your way through a bunker to find a golden door with an arm pressed on it. You open the door with the golden armor and fight your way through mutant cannibals to find another human, presumably from Timmy LeBlanc The forest, next to a huge golden cube. As you enter together, your companions successfully run with you, while the person in the silver jacket fails to enter.
This is where the story takes a big turn (if the huge golden cube buried deep underground wasn’t enough for you).
Timmy shows you a laptop with a 15 second countdown, and as time passes he splits into multiple copies of himself. One of the cube’s walls will then disappear and show you a futuristic city on another planet with flying cars and advanced architecture. Then the wall behind you will open and reveal a huge mutant in a cave.
You turn around and see Virginia, if you have successfully befriended her, has a negative physical reaction to the events, and she will fall into your arms. The screen fades towards you on the beach with Timmy and Eric, the main character of The forestwhere you have to make a choice: leave the island with Timmy and Eric, or pack the backpack and stay?
What does the end of Sons of the Forest mean?
Honestly, we’re not 100% sure! In his final moments, Sons of the Forest floods your brain with a lot of information at once. As the game is currently in early access, the story could be updated with more information to connect the dots, but here are a few theories to help you understand what the ending means.
Please note that these are theories and have not been verified by the developers of Sons of the Forest. Everything you see below is speculation, so choose what you want to believe or use the information below to form your own idea of how Sons of the Forest ends.
Timmy and Eric LeBlanc return in Sons of the Forest
While exploring the bunkers of Sons of the Forestyou will repeatedly encounter two nameless people who seem to have a purpose of their own. Fans generally believe that these two are indeed Timmy and Eric LeBlancthe son and father duo The forest.
One of the main reasons people think this is true is because the younger man is scarred Sons of the Forest match Timmy’s scars from The forest. Additionally, during a cutscene where you’re up against a huge mutant, the older man shouts, “Get down, son,” hinting at a parental connection. The only other father we currently know Sons of the Forest is Edward Puffton, but he has no son (Edward’s child is Virginia Puffton, the lady with three arms and legs who could become one of your companions), so all signs point to the duo being Timmy and Eric LeBlanc.
The cube travels between dimensions
In the final cutscene, one of the cube’s walls opens to reveal a futuristic city. Players believe that the cube itself travels between dimensions, which can be confirmed by some documents found in the bunker with the golden armor. The email states, “Our data indicates that more research will be needed regarding: The artifact causes a short dimensional switch.” Pretty safe to assume that the city you’re seeing is from another dimension. You can also find a book with the title Parallel universes and journeys between them by Tim LeBlanc, as well as a few similar books, which might lead you to believe that interdimensional travel is possible in the Sons of the Forest universe.
The cube heals Timmy LeBlanc
The big question for Timmy and Eric is simple: Why are they here? Some believe that the duo is in it hopes to find a way to cure Timmy of his inner demons, while others believe so they have discovered a way to cure Timmy: enter the cube. When Timmy splits into multiple copies of himself, you could interpret that as the cube exorcising its inner demons.
Fans also believe that the cube mainly affects the mutants within it, such as Timmy and Virginia. However, as far as we can see, Virginia has not been cured: she still has three arms and legs.
Everyone outside the cube turns into a mutant
As you go deeper past the golden door, you’ll find an email that reads “Cube activates every 8 cycles” along with an image of a lunar calendar. Thanks to the math performed by Reddit user Nabueeit takes about 27.3 days for one lunar cycle, with eight lunar cycles adding up to about 218 days.
The only reason you are on the island is to find billionaire Edward Puffton, who has been missing for 31 weeks or about 217 days. The idea here is that 31 weeks ago the cube activated and everyone turned into a mutant – hence you received no signal or message from the Pufftons – and you make it just in time for the next cycle. Do you remember the person in the silver jacket who chased you to the cube? That’s right; they didn’t make it to the cube in time, so when the cube opens up and shows the mutated monstrosity, that is the person in the silver jacket.
Edward and Barbara Puffton have become mutants
The main reason why you, the protagonist of Sons of the Forest, have come to the island is to find Edward, Barbara and Virginia Puffton. It’s easy to know what happened to Virginia – she turns into your companion as you play – but what happened to Edward and Barbara Puffton?
In the Food and Drink Bunker you will find a security room with a wall of camera images. In the footage, you see a lot of people mutating into the enemies we face on the island. However, on camera 2 you see a older woman who somewhat resembles Barbara Puffton; she also turns into a mutant. In the next room that you unlock with the VIP keycard, you will find many dining tables with mutants. One of the tables has place cards with the names of the missing billionaires on them. The seats labeled “Barbara Puffton” and “Virginia Puffton” are empty, but Edward’s seat is taken, leading us to believe that he has turned into a mutant.
This is all just the tip of the iceberg Sons of the Forest iceberg. Check out these theories about the game for more theories about the overarching story religious ties and this incredible YouTube video of Its Shatter that explains the whole plot.