The Daughter

The Baby is the child of the Artist and The Wife. The baby itself also has an unknown name. The protagonist can find drawings and markings on the wall with crayon made by the child throughout the main game and the DLC Inheritance. The Artist's child plays a central role in his downfall, and becomes a protagonist in the DLC.

Biography

From mementos and flashbacks throughout the main game and Inheritance, the child was, at first, treated well by both her parents. She was given a room filled with toys, and had crayons to scrawl art. After the fire which scarred her mom, her situation deteriorated drastically. The child became psychologically abused by her father who wanted to make her into his artistic heir. He constantly tried to train her in painting and music, and grew increasingly frustrated at her inability to learn his craft (likely due to her being a child, not from lack of talent). Her grades in the arts were excellent, but her other grades fell as her father wanted her to focus on her talents. As her father's mental condition declined, she increasingly became a target for his anger and insanity. He would break some of his child's toys in an attempt to stop the rats from sneaking into his home. He forgot his child's birthday, and in once incident he hit her for trying to take away his alcohol. The child's mother could not help due to her physical condition and her own abuse from her husband. The child was eventually removed from the home, likely because of her mother's death and her father's abuse. It is eventually found out in a newsclipping that The Artist attempted to take back his child, but failed in the process. It is unknown what happened to the child in the years after her removal. As an adult, she returned to her childhood home to collect her inheritance and to decide whether or not she should forgive her father for his sins.

Endings in Inheritance

• Forgiveness: The protagonist sees the good in her father, and decides to forgive him. In the future the protagonist, now a parent, is given a drawing from her child. She asks "Why Pink?", echoing her father's complaint about drawing a pink horse. Pills and unknown paperwork are the background by the TV, and the painting she received her father hanging on her wall emits a black corruption. Although she has moved on from her traumatic childhood and forgave her father, the Forgiveness ending hints that her childhood experiences and inherited mental illness will play a role with how she raises her own child, repeating the cycle of madness.

• Unforgiving: The protagonist cannot forgive her father for the years of abuse and neglect she suffered at his hands. She decides to destroy her father's painting in revenge. She accidentally knocks over a candlebra, causing the fire to spread. It collapses a part of the house's structure and pins her down to the floor, presumably killing her. This echoes her father's fate in the Selfless ending, where he too decides that he cannot be forgiven for his sins.

• Discover Your True "Inheritance": The main protagonist discovers the hidden messages her father sent her in her own childhood drawings found throughout the game. She arranges them on a wall to form her childhood face. When turning off the light, she finds her father's map to her true inheritance. She finds a hidden room containing a canvas with her father's unfinished Magnum Opus. She decides to see through her father's eyes stating "I was told insanity runs in my family, let it run". She stands in front of the canvas now presumed to be in the future. She unveils the Empty Canvas, the unfinished starting point her father went to when starting over his attempts at his Magnum Opus. The shadow of a cradle gently rocks in the background, indicating that she will continue her father's work, and his insanity.

Trivia

• In the Forgiveness and True Inheritance endings, the Child of the Artist has a baby. In both these endings it is suggested that she will continue the cycle of artistic brilliance and insanity with her own child.
• It is likely that her father's mental condition is at least partially genetically inherited, judging by the protagonist's hallucinations and the hints given in the endings. It may also be that the Artist, through his actions, has passed down his obsessions to her daughter who will pass them to her child in turn.
• In the ending of the DLC, some blocks in the father's shrine to his daughter spell 'REGINA', hinting that it might be her name.

Drawings