mystifyinghatchetfieldtheories
All the chaos, queen of all you love and adore
She/her. Hatchetfield theories and assorted nonsense. Feel free to send me asks about any Hatchetfield questions or lore details! The Lands That Are sideblog: @theories-of-the-lands-that-are
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Ethan Didn't Die
In Black Friday, Ethan appears to Hannah from The Black and White. In Nerdy Prudes Must Die, during "The Summoning," The Lords in Black suggest that they pull Max down to Drowsy Town. Then, when Grace gives up her chastity, Wiggly specifically says "oh, what wonders await you down here in the black." Not "The Black and White," "the black."
The parallel between Max and Ethan's posthumous appearances is that they both died in Black Altars. This makes me think that the Waylons cast a resurrrection spell on the Old Mill as well as their house, and that Ethan in this scene is a ghost just like Max. This is further evidenced by the fact that at one point (I think during a livestream, but I can't find the actual clip anymore) the characters who appear in "What If Tomorrow Comes" were referred to as "the ghosts of Hatchetfield."
Therefore, if "the black" is synonymous with Drowsy Town, then I believe that The Black and White, in addition to existing outside all dimensions, also exists between life and death, and is the plane of existence on which ghosts reside, while having some ability to affect the living world. This is further evidenced by the fact that in "The Witch in the Web," Hannah sings about Willabella, who is a ghost, having a "black and white cell." If I'm right, and if The Black and White existing outside of all dimensions also means it exists as a singular continuity across all timelines, then that could mean the version of General McNamara who appears in Orbweaver will be the version originally from Black Friday's timeline.
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Workin' Boys is Hidgens' (his play being altered and then performed by actors he views as incompetent, disappointing the ghosts of his friends, and then not getting to finish the performance)
All the Hatchetfield shows are about someone’s worst fears coming true
TGWDLM is Paul’s (musicals), Black Friday is McNamara’s (having to accept that the country he loves isn’t so great), The Hatchetfield Ape Man is Jonathan Brisby’s, Watcherworld is Alice’s, Forever and Always/Time Bastard is Ted’s, Jane’s a Car is Becky’s, and The Witch in the Web is Hannah’s.
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The Lords in Black are not the most powerful eldritch entities
The word "daddy" is frequently repeated across Hatchetfield, almost as if the Langs are trying to tell us something.
In Killer Track, one of the pages of the Black Book is described as "a family tree of eldritch horrors." A family tree requires more than just five brothers and a sister. Most likely this means there are multiple generations.
The Lords in Black are worshiped by the Church of the Starry CHILDREN, which implies they have parents.
The secret message in the vertices of the Nightmare Time 2 hexagon puzzles was "the monarch is now vexed." I think this is all compelling evidence that the Lords (and Webby) have a father known as The Monarch, who may be even more sinister than they are.
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Wiggly is the most powerful Lord in Black
In The Summoning, The Lords in Black are arranged in a pentagram around Pete, Steph, and Grace. This is interesting, because it’s the same arrangement as this diagram from the Black Book:
In the diagram, which I have theorized shows Miss Holloway making a deal with the Lords (likely in the Starlight Theater, since that was her Nightmare Time and we now know it’s a Black Altar), one of them is shown more in focus, holding the Black Blade, and with five lines emanating from his head. This connects to the symbol on the cover of the Black Book, which features a pentagram with one point longer than the other four.
We know that Willabella Muckwab, Wiggly’s first disciple, wrote the Black Book. We also know that Wiggly’s official title is “The Lord in Black.” Plus, Wiggly is at the top point of the pentagram during The Summoning. This all seems to add up to Wiggly being the most powerful or important Lord in Black in some way.
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Clivesdale is truly awful
I've seen a lot of people's headcanons that Clivesdale has a generally positive opinion of Hatchetfield, and Hatchetfield's grudge against them is entirely one-sided. While this is a fun idea, I think we should remember what happened with both Jane Perkins and Grace Chasity.
Although most people were surprised Jane turned out to be so manipulative, that character trait was very clearly foreshadowed. In TGWDLM, Emma talks about how Jane planned out her entire life and stuck with it, showing that she's someone who craves control. Plus, in "If I Fail You", Tom says "she'd poke at each of my wounds to see what I'd say". Jane's toxic personality was clearly outlined for us, and yet her manipulative nature still came as a surprise.
Even less subtly, Grace Chasity is referred to as a "nerdy prude" from the moment she was introduced, and yet nearly everyone (myself included) assumed Alice was being too harsh on her and she would actually turn out to be a genuinely nice person. Then, Nightmare Time 2 happened, and we all found out that Grace really was a nerdy prude, and was incredibly annoying about it.
These past examples have shown us that when Hatchetfield characters are described by other people before their official introduction, those descriptions tend to be accurate. Why wouldn't this apply to the entire town of Clivesdale? The Langs aren't being remotely subtle about it, and I'm inclined to believe what everyone says about Clivesdale. I don't know yet what they did to make the entire population of Hatchetfield hate them, but I'm sure it was something truly awful.
#starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#black friday#nightmare time#nmt2#jane's a car#perky's buds#abstinence camp#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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We already know who the killer in Cast Party Massacre is going to be
I keep a running list of horror tropes that haven’t been used in Hatchetfield yet. One of them is Among Us, because I could absolutely see the Langs doing a story where a group of characters have to figure out who among them is an alien imposter.
In Workin’ Boys, Cassandra (Cassie) King’s program bio features phrases such as “Pain is the language that unites the children of Azzokish no matter which star they may hail from” and “How did she find herself aboard? And what is the destination of such a significant ship? Is tonight the night Cassie departs?”. We know that extraterrestrial life exists in the Hatchetfield universe because of a line in The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals where Alice, Deb, and The Hatchetfield Bee mention having traveled “across seas of stars, bending countless civilizations to our will”. Cassie’s bio seems to suggest that she has been sent to earth from one of these civilizations, and is waiting to be able to return home.
Cast Party Massacre, the proposed Hatchetfield feature film, would be Hatchetfield’s first whodunnit. However, this being Hatchetfield, there will inevitably be some sort of paranormal, extraterrestrial, or interdimensional element to it. Cassie is an actor in the Hatchetfield Community Players, and the Langs wouldn’t have put all that cryptic lore in her bio if it wasn’t important, so Cassie seems destined to be the killer behind…the Cast Party Massacre!
#starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#workin’ boys#cast party massacre#hatchetfield halloween party#horror#comedy#musical#theory#workin’ boys spoilers#among us
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Satan is a real man (in Hatchetfield)
In Nerdy Prudes Must Die, Solomon Lauter refers to the Lords in Black as "much worse" than Satan. This is interesting because it could imply that Satan exists and just...isn't that bad in comparison. Then, the Langs announced this potential Nightmare Time 3 story:
What if "HE" is The Devil? As mayor, Solomon Lauter knows a lot of Hatchetfield's secrets, so I wouldn't be surprised if he knew about this "devilish maniac" whose home is Hatchetfield. I predict that the villain of Devil's Night will be a serial killer who is also in some way literally Satan himself. That way Starkid would finally get to have Satan canonically be a real man in one of their projects.
#starkid#hatchetfield#npmd#nmt3#devil's night#hatchetfield halloween party#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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The Hatchetmen created the Killer Track, and it explains Paul and Emma's unique connection
When thinking about the specific places Kale brings the Killer Track to, I noticed that they tend to be affiliated with the Church of the Starry Children. The Honey Festival is of course heavily connected to the Church, and several members are in attendance, including Sheila Young. Additionally, The Slaughtered Pig's name seems to reference the ritual that the Church uses to summon Nibbly. We know that the Church are enemies of the Hatchetmen, since the Hatchetmen killed many of their members. We also know that the Hatchetmen have access to some sort of magic, because they're able to turn people with the Gift into trees. Therefore, I think the Killer Track was created by the Hatchetmen for the purpose of killing members of the Church of the Starry Children.
The Church of the Starry Children seem to be fans of music, since their founding members built the Old Starlight Theater, the Honey Queen pageant features musical acts, The Slaughtered Pig is a music venue, and they worship the Lords in Black, who each have a theme song. The Hatchetmen, however, have never had a song even associated with them, which is surprising considering Hatchetfield has featured 76 songs so far.
It is likely that each of Hatchetfield's two high schools is associated with one of the two factions. Hatchetfield High was built by the Waylons, and Sycamore's mascot is the Timberwolves, which connects to the fact that the Hatchetmen ran Hatchetfield's logging industry. Sycamore doesn't have a theatre program, which further proves that the Hatchetmen aren't fans of the arts.
You know who else Doesn't Like Musicals? Paul Matthews. And Paul went to Sycamore High School. We've never gotten to meet any other characters who attended Sycamore, but if I'm correct about the Hatchetmen having created the Killer Track, I suspect they also dislike musicals. This is because the Killer Track, the music video for which features visuals of torn up sheet music and a guitar burning, seems to satirize heavy metal/rock music. Almost as if the Track punishes people for listening to it. With this perspective, I suspect that Sycamore took their students to go see Brigadoon specifically so they would see how bad that production was and gain a hatred for musical theatre.
However, one thing separates Paul from the Hatchetmen: He has a touch of the Gift. This is something I have proven in multiple other posts where I've theorized that the opening song of TGWDLM is a vision sent to him by Pokey.
Meanwhile, Emma Perkins attended Hatchetfield High. And she likes theatre. And she cut down several acres of forest planted by the Hatchetmen in order to grow weed. Yet, we know that Emma is likely descended from Hatchetmen, since her great-grandfather was close to Bob Metzger, and owned part of the Witchwood.
Paul and Emma each have strong ties to one of Hatchetfield's main factions. Both of them, however, defy that faction's expectations. I think this is what makes their romance a constant in every timeline. Because, even subconsciously, they both know they will never fit into these expectations, they will always find each other.
#starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#nmt2#honey queen#perky's buds#killer track#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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The Hatchetmen worship Webby
In the cut Nightmare Time story Ethan Doesn't Die, Alfie, who has resurrection powers, shows a strong dislike for Webby. According to Hannah, Webby also dislikes Alfie's power. This is interesting because Alfie's power is reminiscent of the powers from Yellow Jacket, and in Yellow Jacket, Webby doesn't want Hannah to compete. That's mainly because she doesn't want Hannah to fight Pokey, but the Gift can still be connected to the Lords in Black.
In addition to the Lords in Black being able to send visions to people with the Gift, many members of The Church of the Starry Children, who worship the Lords in Black, were executed by the Hatchetmen for witchcraft. The Hatchetmen have a history of killing people who have the Gift by turning them into trees, and the network formed by these trees is referred to by Hannah in The Witch in the Web as "a web. We know that Webby doesn't get along with her brothers, so what if she is the patron of a faction whose enemies worship the Lords in Black? This could explain how the vehemently anti-magic Hatchetmen have the supernatural ability to turn people into trees.
#starkid#hatchetfield#nightmare time#nmt2#the witch in the web#daddy#yellow jacket#ethan doesn't die#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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The 3-Girl Creature is made of three former Honey Queen contestants.
This exchange was interesting to me, because I was puzzled by what about these girls could make them so unlike Hannah, until I realized two things:
Miss Holloway's Nightmare Time takes place in The Starlight Theater, the location of the Honey Queen pageant.
these girls are morphed together, similarly to the pig carcasses at the end of Honey Queen.
Hannah's "most powerful psychic mind in the history of reality" has allowed her to resist the influence of the Lords in Black on multiple occasions. So, people who succumb to the Lords' control, who have the hunger to win the Honey Queen pageant, would be nothing like Hannah.
Additionally, I was trying to figure out which Lord in Black each of these voices was, and came to the conclusion that they all relate to Nibbly in some way:
Specifically, the multiple mentions of food and eating, and how one of them refers to Hannah as "my little star," almost as if trying to convince her she can win the Honey Queen pageant.
Plus, whenever the 3-Girl Creature is described, there is a specific focus on their mouths, something that specifically connects them to Nibbly.
What if Miss Holloway tried to save three girls from competing in the Honey Queen pageant, but through some sort of failed ritual, ended up allowing Nibbly to possess their bodies?
#starkid#hatchetfield#nightmare time#nmt2#the witch in the web#honey queen#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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What if Mark Chasity is Mark the Workin' Boy?
I mean, they are both named Mark...
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Clivesdale and Hatchetfield are the same town
This is how Hatchetfield is shown in the first trailer for The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals:
Notice how nearly all of the buildings appear twice, with a mirrored version on the other side of the picture. This reminds me of this shot in the Workin' Boys trailer, and I started to wonder if it meant that Hatchetfield had a parallel alternate reality mirror dimension:
What if that dimension is Clivesdale? It would explain why some things in Hatchetfield have direct Clivesdale counterparts (Hatchetfield's Dan and Donna and Clivesdale's Rachel and Rod, Hatchetfield's honey festival and Clivesdale's cherry festival). It would also explain how people almost never leave Hatchetfield, except to go to Clivesdale.
Plus, the name "Clivesdale" is comprised of "Clive", meaning cliff, and "Dale", meaning valley. This reminds me of Hill Valley from the Back to the Future series, a town which many alternate versions of are shown throughout the series.
Two more details I noticed from the initial TGWDLM trailer, in case anyone doesn't think they were already thinking about and hinting at lore when TGWDLM was first announced:
-The narrator mentions that Paul thinks Alexander Hamilton was America's 6th president. The 6th U.S. president was actually John Quincy Adams, who was elected in 1824, the same year Hatchetfield was founded!
-Nick Lang films himself in front of this photo:
The choice of which is interesting for a few reasons:
1. Sam Raimi, who directed the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies is one of Nick Lang's inspirations/influences in writing Hatchetfield
2. The visual foreshadows Paul being "split in two" during Let It Out (and maybe also the two towns if this theory is correct)
3. Spidey Sense is reminiscent of the Gift, hinting that some citizens of Hatchetfield will have psychic powers
#starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#nightmare time#nmt2#workin boys#the witch in the web#honey queen#back to the future#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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Alice's lesbian vampire play will be referenced in Workin' Boys
The Workin' Boys release date trailer reveals that The Starlight Theater received three submissions of plays by local playwrights.
If I'm correct that this is Alice (and Hailey in the background) then I think the play that she talks about writing in Watcher World is probably one of the two that wasn't selected.
Additionally, if that is Hailey in the background, it's interesting because of this line from the official description of the Workin' Boys short:
I know the line "up to its ass in shit" is a reference to the title number of Workin' Boys: A New Musical, but why choose that line specifically? It has been confirmed that we will eventually learn why Hailey is "dumping ass" so often. Maybe that will be revealed in Workin' Boys!
#starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#nightmare time#nmt2#workin boys#watcher world#honey queen#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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Hidgens killed Chad
During The Summoning, the backup vocals repeat the phrase “The Lords in Black, The Lords in Black call us.” This is not coming from the mouths of Steph, Pete, Grace, or The Lords, implying that it is an effect of the ritual. These same lyrics and melody appeared in the reveal trailer (the one from August 2022) for Workin' Boys, in addition to the main recurring melody of The Summoning, which implies that the Black Book will appear in the short film. What if Professor Hidgens had the Black Book at one point? This could be how he predicted the apotheosis: by making a deal with the Lords in Black in exchange for knowledge about the future.
In Time Bastard, when Ted laments losing the love of his life, Hidgens comments that you can’t change the past and then says “Something like that happened to me once. Me and Chad…” What if, in exchange for knowledge of the future, Hidgens also had to sacrifice what he loved most? What if he sacrificed Chad?
#starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#nightmare time#npmd#workin boys#time bastard#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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I think that line was an intentional message to the audience/fandom. Hatchetfield is full of little details that connect to other things, so my assumption has always been that "promise me you'll think about the implications" is a fourth wall breaking command, because thinking about the implications of these little details is the only way to fully experience the story the Langs are telling.
I wonder if Nick and Matt Lang ever regret introducing the phrase "consider the implications" to the fandom. They said it to one character in one show and now that's all we ever do.
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I was thinking about Sam Raimi's 3rd rule of horror, which is repeated several times by the Hatchetmen:
3. You must taste blood to be a man.
and um
Actually, now that I'm looking at this scene, it's interesting that Paul doesn't actually taste the blood. Like this is Nick Lang's way of showing that Paul is avoiding becoming the hero up until the very end of the show.
#starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#nightmare time#nmt2#the witch in the web#perky's buds#sam raimi#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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I have a theory that TGWDLM's opening number is a vision sent to Paul, similar to what Pokey sends Hannah in Yellow Jacket. If the line about the bridge foreshadows the end of the musical, I think the line referring to how Paul "spends his days surfing the web" is really interesting because that is never shown to be a core part of Paul's personality. However, the term "Web," much like "bridge," has a double meaning, particularly in Hatchetfield: it refers to the network of trees created by the Hatchetmen, which is somehow also both "the world" and Hannah's mind.
If Paul "spends his days surfing the Web," and TGWDLM's opening song is a vision sent by Pokey, this proves that Paul Matthews has the Gift.
I love that in “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals” (title number) the line “this is the bridge where we globalize everything” not only refers to the bridge of the song, but also the Nantucket Bridge. It’s the bridge where they globalized everything.
#Starkid#hatchetfield#tgwdlm#nightmare time#nmt2#the witch in the web#yellow jacket#horror#comedy#musical#theory
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