The Ending Of Little Nightmares 2 Explained
The anticipated sequel to one of the creepiest games of the previous decade was released February 11, 2021. Tarsier Studios' horror-indie breakout success Little Nightmares 2 has been received fairly well by critics. It has an 82 on Metacritic and got a 7/10 from IGN. The series is known for its gothic aesthetic, chilling atmosphere, and horrifying themes. This new story follows two children who are fighting to survive in a world full of danger, puzzles, and monsters.
The ending can be a little confusing, but that's understandable, since this is a game that handles complex themes with absolutely no dialogue. It's worth remembering that the first Little Nightmares had a confusing ending, too.
Understanding the ending to the second game largely depends on the player picking up on subtle clues throughout each level and having knowledge of Six's story in the first game. With that in mind, it's time to dive into one of the best horror games of 2021 and figure out what it all meant.
Beware of spoilers ahead for Little Nightmares 2.
Hints in Little Nightmares 2's opening
Little Nightmares 2 opens with a slow shot down a long, warped corridor that leads you to a door bearing the iconic image of an eye. Your new protagonist, Mono, is ejected from a television into a dark and misty wood. Mono finds his way through the perilous forest to a lodge where he meets the protagonist from the first Little Nightmares, Six. He rescues her from imprisonment, though she is understandably slow to trust this stranger who wears a paper bag over his head and just chopped down her door with an axe.
Nevertheless, Mono and Six form a tentative alliance, helping each other to solve puzzles and navigate the dark and violent world they find themselves in. After killing the hunter who imprisoned Six, they reach a school where the teacher and students seem to have been warped into strange creatures with twisted faces. You see one of them drawing images of eyes and a tower. It's also in this place that Six discovers her iconic yellow raincoat from the first game.
The two kids quickly discover that the people of this world are seemingly being warped by a signal coming from a mysterious tower, which is being transmitted through televisions — just like the one Mono came out of.
Little Nightmares 2's finale
Mono finds another television when they reach the city, which transports him elsewhere. Mono finally manages to reach the door with the eye symbol at the end of the hallway. Opening it releases the Thin Man, an agent of the tower who uses reality-bending powers to kidnap Six.
Mono later removes the bag from his head and reveals that he has similar powers, which he uses to defeat the Thin Man. He then goes to the tower to rescue Six, who he finds has also been warped by the tower. He succeeds in turning her back to normal and the two attempt to escape the tower, which reveals itself to actually be a massive flesh monster covered in eyes, much like the symbol from the door containing the Thin Man.
A bridge erodes after Six makes it across and Mono attempts to jump to safety, but he doesn't quite reach the ledge. Six grabs his hand and holds him for a moment, before seemingly allowing him to drop into the depths. Players then see Mono grow within the tower as time passes, eventually becoming the Thin Man.
Collecting all eighteen of the Glitching Remains (mysterious humanoid forms made of static) unlocks a secret ending, in which Six escapes through a TV with a new hunger — which may seem familiar to fans of the first game.
What the ending of Little Nightmare's 2 means for Mono
Seeing Mono as he grows within the tower and eventually becomes the Thin Man suggests that Mono's part in the story is almost paradoxical. Mono's ejected from the television with the power to pass through portals and bend reality, he releases the Thin Man from his prison, he kills the Thin Man, Six drops him into the tower, Mono becomes the Thin Man, and the cycle repeats.
Ironically, the revelation of his true identity might have been the reason Six dropped him in the first place. It's impossible to know for sure, but one popular theory expressed by Comicaly_dead_account on Reddit is that "Six saw Mono's face and realized he will be the Thin Man." Remember that this was her first time seeing him without the paper bag over his head. If this is true, her fear of the Thin Man may have led her to inadvertently create him.
This also suggests that Mono could be the source of the tower's power. His ability to alter reality may very well be the battery which the tower uses in order to broadcast its signal and warp the world around it.
What the ending of Little Nightmare's 2 means for Six
Six's story went in a different direction after dropping Mono. Her ending reveals that Little Nightmares 2 is most likely not a sequel to Little Nightmares at all. Many fans, like those on a Reddit thread started by TheGoryDetails, believe it's actually a prequel. This is why Six didn't have her raincoat at the beginning of the game, even though she had it throughout the first installment. It also explains the source of Six's insatiable hunger in the first game.
When the Thin Man first took Six, fans seemingly saw the creation of Shadow Six (a glitching echo of Six who watched her from the shadows in the first game whenever she was compelled to feed). Little Nightmares 2's secret ending shows Six escaping through a TV before seeing Shadow Six, who points to a picture of the location where most of the first game took place, The Maw. Suddenly, Six hears a loud rumbling sound from her own stomach.
This seems a satisfactory explanation for why Six developed her insatiable hunger, which wasn't present in Little Nightmares 2 until this point, setting the story up for the first game.