The GTA 5 Mystery That Remains Unsolved Today
Grand Theft Auto 5 is rife with symbols, unanswered questions, and potential conspiracy theories. The world within the ground-breaking video game would be much less rich without these elements — and there'd be a bit less talk on the internet, too. A particular unsolved mystery centered on Mt. Chiliad has spawned such a lively community of truth seekers that some within the industry wonder whether their tenacity will give rise to a new function for Easter eggs within games.
The mystery of Mt. Chiliad seems like it will forever be without a conclusion, and it's not just a simple search for meaning that isn't there. In fact, this mystery seems to meander out into sub-mysteries and tangents that make the journey seem more complicated than the details that spawned it. So, what is this about? It all started with a shed atop a mountain seen in a pre-release trailer for the game back in 2013, and snowballed into one of the most frustrating unsolved mysteries in gaming history.
The search for Mt. Chiliad
The shed in the pre-release trailer turned out to be a cable car platform. Once GTA 5 players entered that platform, they saw a mural on one of the walls. It appeared to be a representation of the inside of the mountain, with symbols resembling an UFO, cracked egg, and a person wearing a jetpack. Naturally, once this was located, theorists went overboard trying to figure out what it all meant.
In fact, to this day the subreddit r/chiliadmystery is active, with people weighing in on new discoveries and ideas. Anything involving UFOs, murals, or time and space appears to be fair game. Basically, it's a very wide-ranging, sometimes esoteric conversation that can be both thoughtful and absurd. Most can't decide whether these hints refer to content that was cut, an item yet to be found, or something players have already seen.
But has anyone actually solved the mystery yet? Therein lies the rub. Despite all the speculation and multiple announcements by people claiming to have solved the mystery, it's never been definitively confirmed. For example, in 2017, a group called the Chiliad Mystery Gurus asserted it had cracked the case by hacking into a recent update. Apparently, doing so set off a mission that involved retrieving eggs from a crashed alien ship.
But what about the jetpack guy? Ultimately, this did not seem to be the answer.
Theories about the Mt. Chiliad mural
Among the many theories proposed over the years, some seem more likely than others. For example, one theory presented by YouTuber Strange Man posits that the three symbols represent the stories of GTA 5's protagonists. The UFO symbolizes Michael and his alienation from his family, while the egg represent's Franklin's fresh start. The man with the jetpack is supposedly Trevor, and the lines on the mural represent the men's relationships. The X's show the prerequisites required to achieve one hundred percent completion of the game. After that, a UFO appears above the lookout at Mt. Chiliad's peak during stormy weather, signified by the lightning bolts.
Many other theories abound, and they bring in every possible connection from Bigfoot to Uranus. One imgur user, SteveOHaines, wonders if the mural had something to do with the observatory. Another imgur user speculated that overhead cables with a spiderweb configuration are involved. Only one thing is certain: when the Expanded and Enhanced version of GTA 5 comes out for the PlayStation 5, plenty of gamers will be looking to see if a definitive answer can be found.