Anglerfish Are A Mystery

[@theviewerofart]

"Of all the lifeforms who will perish in the oncoming death of the universe, we will miss the anglerfish the least." -Plaque under the anglerfish exhibit at the end of existence.

[@nikkoa.3639]

Kinda bummed I didn't get to read that since I was hyperfixated on settling the end

[@IsabelaMTG]

Yeah and instead of an Alive anglerfish like the beginning it’s just the bones

[@Midna_174]

Means even the Eye doesn't like them in my opinion

[@RSpracticalshooting]

@@nikkoa.3639 it's kinda weird to me that everyone didn't read everything in the exhibit at that point in the game. i wanted to make sure i didn't miss a single thing.

[@nikkoa.3639]

@@RSpracticalshooting Personally, it was the adrenaline. Like "Oh I know this place, and I know where to go to finish it"

[@horuslupercal5437]

As a marine biologist, I can tell you that the scientific term is, in fact a “dangly-doo”.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Nailed it lol

[@nickster5207]

You bear a dangerous name, heretic.

[@horuslupercal5437]

Nickster Death to the false emperor! Haha!

[@clydeanddodo1]

Whi comes up with these funny names tho

[@agooddaytorespawn57]

Hey, Commander Horus, shall i initiate Exterminatus on this planet?

[@nickster5207]

The visage of their teeth bursting forth from the fog still haunts my soul.

[@Bi_scotti_5]

The worst part is when you see thorns coming off the vines through the fog and you're not quite sure if it's a tooth or not

[@chrisgoff6819]

On the edge of my seat everytime

[@Gavotron2000]

I’ve played scary games, but seeing the lights as i enter another (bramble?) scares me every damn time

[@swayor]

Looks like the inside of dark bramble has some sort of an atmosphere with all of the fog, which would explain the anglerfish's ability to swim in it.

[@tylerherr4288]

was gonna say all you need to swim is a medium and the tiny particles would certainly count as a medium

[@sarxot545]

I agree. In fact the ship has a maximun velocity inside dark bramble(you don't keep accelerating indefinetly like in outer space) which means there's a fluid with friction.

[@swayor]

​@@sarxot545oh nice catch!

[@Delta_2209]

They aren't just a mystery, they are *terrifying*

[@snowfloofcathug]

Beta_2209 The first time I went through Dark Bramble I thought I got teleported, saw a thick bramble vine, and then one of those terrifying fishes ate me. It was probably the scariest moment I’ve ever had in a game, and is up there for scariest in my life

[@ohmythirdeye]

@@snowfloofcathug I can't even imagine this moment in VR

[@virtual_bomber5698]

Maybe I just haven't found anyone else doing this, but in my playthrough of this game I came up with a different way of avoiding them. The crazy thing is I got the idea from the Nomai children at the Angler Fish fossil on Ember Twin. In one of their writings it says they get really close to the walls to avoid the "angler fish" in their game, so all I would do is get really close to the walls on dark bramble and their mouth could never get around me. (Sometimes I had to be on the outside of the ship.) Granted, taking advantage of their blindness is....faster, but that is just the way I did it before I saw people just not using thrusters to get past them. Just wonder if anyone else used this way to get around them.

[@Ap0ske]

I did this as well, as I never made the connection between "Anglerfish are blind" and "Since they can't see you, they must be _hearing_ you". I thought they maybe had some kind of proximity sensor, so I always tried staying as far away from them as possible, which usually meant next to the wall, just like those Nomai children said.

[@miluardo]

This is also what I did

[@spacedoutorca4550]

I did that too! I hid in a little alcove and it was both absolutely terrifying and kinda hilarious to see the anglerfish struggling to get to me.

[@Soundwave1900]

At least you've found out how to work around them. I couldn't move past them even after googling the exact answer and all the other leads had come to an end so that's where my journey ended, sadly.

[@Furionic696]

When entering a node in the bramble it will set you at a set point and velocity upon entering the seed you can drift right to the needed areas without ever using the thrusters and just using your camera, when you get about 500m from anything you want to explore gun it and youll have enough time to escape any anglers, hope you see this! :)

[@MontyBoosh]

Theory: Anglerfish are indeed native to Ember Twin, which previously had a large subsurface ocean. Over time, the gravitational forces on Ash Twin may have eroded whatever physical barrier was covering the ocean, exposing the water to the surface. Alternatively, the Ash Twin may have originally been a planet with a similar orbit to Ember Twin which eventually got swept into its orbit, which would explain why the environment was previously stable enough to support the evolution of animal life. Either way, at some point the environment changed - and suddenly - causing a massive extinction event. I think the Ash Twin may have started sucking the water on Ember Twin towards space, the same way it now sucks the sand. The low pressure and heat due to proximity to the sun would have caused the water to boil away very quickly. How did the anglerfish get to Dark Bramble then? The gravitional pull of Ash Twin is high enough to pull the player and their ship into space, so it could easily have done the same with an anglerfish. How it then got to the most distant planet in the solar system is a bit finnicky, but theoretically a gravity assist from the sun and a few passing planets might have given it enough momentum to make it (the solar system is very small after all). The probability of this happening once is very small, so the chance of this happening more than once is astronomically (literally) smaller. So how did the anglerfish breed enough to establish their population? Two things spring to mind: - Multiple eggs may have been thrown into space, rather than just an individual anglerfish. We know the eggs tend to clump up, and in real life many types of eggs, seeds and spores can survive in extreme conditions that their developed counterparts cannot. That said, the adult anglerfish are capable of locomotion in zero-G, as you point out, whereas eggs being flung into space would have had to have made it to Dark Bramble by sheer luck. OR - If you look at how some anglerfish species breed in real life it's pretty weird. The male anglerfish are tiny compared to the females and in the deep dark ocean it's very hard for them to find eachother. That's why, when a male anglerfish finds a female it will literally bite into her, and release an enzyme which fuses itself onto her body. Multiple males can attach to the same female even. So, perhaps a single female, with attached male(s), ended up being flung into space, and all modern anglerfish are descended from her. The planet that the Dark Bramble colonised had an icy exterior but must have also had a subsurface liquid ocean (as it supported the jellyfish at some point) - the anglerfish likely lived in that ocean. We don't know how long it took for the Dark Bramble to completely take over the planet - if it was a gradual process, the anglerfish may have had time to evolve to deal with the changing environment. While the atmosphere of Dark Bramble is not breathable to the player character, the fog suggests quite a high level of humidity, so there's some water there, albeit not in a liquid form. What do the anglerfish eat? You mention the bugs and, while it is true that real life anglerfish are fantastic at conserving energy and are very opportunistic, it still seems like there isn't enough biomass to sustain life of their size or population. Also, while bugs would be drawn to their lights, they wouldn't make enough noise for the anglerfish to hear them. I guess they might have turned fructivore out of necessity (after all, real life brambles produce edible fruits), and perhaps they have some sort of symbiotic relationship with the Dark Bramble, acting as a pollinator or helping to disperse seeds. Personally, I think it's worth considering the idea that the anglerfish might have simply hunted their normal prey to extinction, and that we witness them in their final days before an inevitable second extinction. After all, it fits thematically: even ignoring the imminent death of the universe, by the start of the game everything everywhere seems to be going wrong at the same time. The sun is on the cusp of supernova, Ember Twin looks like it's so hollowed out that it might split in two, Timber Hearth is about to be invaded by its own Dark Bramble, Brittle Hollow (which survived with a volcanic moon and black hole core for literally thousands of years) is collapsing in on itself. The only planet doing somewhat okay is Giant's Deep, and that planet literally flings its own islands into space on a regular basis so it's not exactly a great baseline.

[@youshallnotknow]

What if (this is kinda a stretch but arent all theories) The ember twin was originally a moon for the planet dark bramble used to be, as chert confirms it used to be a planet, and when the dark bramble seed came to the dark bramble planet, it might have affected the planet's gravity and flung the ember twin towards the sun but got caught by the ash twin and they started orbiting each other, maybe fhe angler fish wandered onto that frozen planet, and went into the seed, maybe the dark bramble fragment on giants deep is how the jellyfish got there, as there was a frozen one on dark bramble? Idk this is all on a loose string but it makes sense in my head so imma stick with it...

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I mean, there is nothing inherently wrong with that theory I suppose. But both ember and ash twin are made up of the same red Rocky material.

[@jaydenwilson9522]

The 'easter egg' centipedes could be the food source....

[@PIXELSHIFTINC-EMMORTAEL]

Suggestion: Different families or groups of anglerfish would attack each other in dark bramble, since they're territorial. So essentially, cannibalism might be their food source.

[@bacicinvatteneaca]

A dark bramble seed might have landed on Ember Twin, allowing anglerfish to enter, and then might have been flung into space or the sun by the Twins' interaction or burned by the increased surface temperature.

[@MB-dk6hk]

I love that picture at 2:45, with the ship flying away from that angler fish. It's pretty interesting to imagine Feldspar being hardcore. One thing that I particularly was sad for in the game is the fact that there are all these vibrant personalities, but limited ways to interact with them. Even the community does not get into much detail about the adventurers, like Feldspar, Chert, Gabbro and the rest, which is a shame. But it always makes me smile to imagine what could have been, like with this picture.

[@shalom6352]

If the anglers could swim through space, Then that would be a one steep guide to creating a harthen militry division

[@starchives2365]

Marl and Gossan

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I think in the original concept for anglers they just floated around through space!

[@lochie2804]

@@TheLoreExplorer imagine speed running this game and you accidentally crash into one of them in the first few seconds of traveling in space

[@theunseengamertk2570]

Hey lore explorer

[@theunseengamertk2570]

They might have come from the planet the dark bramble destroyed

[@GiftOfKnowledge-np9vg]

I don’t know, I think the Anglerfish just being native to Dark Bramble makes the most sense. We know they can survive and move through actual 0G space and their lights are reminiscent of the lights of Bramble’s seeds, allowing them to naturally attract pray caught in Bramble. All signs point to that being the environment they evolved in. Sure, Dark Bramble doesn’t really seem like a place where life would naturally form; but when there’s a lot about Bramble that just plain doesn’t make sense no matter how you look at it. And I mean, it’s not like the space is completely hazardous to all life; Dark Bramble itself is a plant after all.

[@bbbbbbb51]

We don't know that they can move through space at all. No evidence in-game confirms it & it defies the laws of space. Their movement works in an atmosphere because they're at least able to push against the gasses to produce some kind of thrust. In space, there's nothing to push against. If you were to try to use a typical propeller in space (or even a jet engine), nothing would happen. It's why they burn fuel to produce thrust instead.

[@el_androi1203]

I don't mean to disagree with them being native to Dark Bramble, but I think that the glow coming out of the bramble seeds is just reflecting the glow from anglerfish that are on the other side of it. Then you have the seed that leads into the Vessel, which has no strong light sources, and it doesn't glow like the others.

[@henryaung7229]

I never noticed the sea fossils on Ember Twin before, wow. Also it just occurred to me the way the planet's geology is shaped is how water would erode rock. One positive about the Universe ending is that the Bramble Seeds on other planets never had a chance to grow and take over. If the Universe wasn't ending they would've imploded Timber Hearth and Giant's Deep eventually

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Ember is interesting, cause yes. Ember is eroded how water would erode it. Ash on the other hand, seems to be the opposite. As for bramble seeds, yeah. Agreed. Though Giants deep doesn't have a seed on it. Just an island made of vines and ice. It's not a seed that put down roots to grow, so the only planet in danger as of now is timber.

[@potatosordfighter666]

@@TheLoreExplorer While giants deep doesn't have a seed, the bramble does have a jellyfish.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Yeah. The jellies came from the planet bramble destroyed. I was just clarifying that no “bramble seeds on other planets” exists. At least in our solar system.

[@recordwify]

Wait if giants deep did have a seed how would it do its thing?

[@Dragonion8855]

@@recordwifysomehow (?) strip away it’s atmosphere, letting it freeze, then taking over?

[@Exorion1er]

The way I thought of it the first time I played is that the interior of the seeds aren't bigger, neither are the fish, we're just getting smaller when entering them. Basically a seed that shrinks everything that goes through it, and that was my explanation to why the fish in timber hearth was small.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Then how would you explain the fossil on ember twin?

[@Exorion1er]

@@TheLoreExplorer Yeah I saw it way later and figured out I was wrong

[@MB-dk6hk]

That was my thought as well. I thought that the eggs were molecules.

[@bbbbbbb51]

Irl angler fish females are much bigger than males. To mate, the males latch onto the females & essentially get absorbed into their body. Male angler fish aren't even predators. They're parasitic & rely on attaching to females survive. I think that explains why the angler in the observatory is small, as well as why it latched onto the ship to begin with. It's likely male & the ones inside dark bramble are female.

[@PennDraken]

@Exorion Wouldn't this mean that if things get smaller entering Bramble, the fish would become enormous if they leave it's core?

[@axelcalamaco1065]

Imagine my surprise when me, a guy with phobia of fishes, found out about the existence of the anglerfish :)

[@TheSleepiestPlurals]

I know, I have a phobia of deep oceans, I was scared shitless every time I went under in Giant's deep, and when I first saw the anglerfish rushing at me I nearly screamed

[@cbandit7715]

It's an actual real life fish too

[@Kinosei30]

Have you been able to play the whole game?

[@TheSleepiestPlurals]

@@Kinosei30 yes! I finished it last week! I conquered my fear!

[@cheeseycheezy]

@@TheSleepiestPlurals Ooo same :,) i do like marine biology tho wich is quite funny

[@diamondjub2318]

they are blind, yet they have eye sockets... assuming they lived inside Dark Bramble for their entire evolutionary history, there is no reason for them to have eyes

[@TheLoreExplorer]

excellent well reasoned point

[@Luke17263]

May just be remnants of evolution, like our lower end of the spine.

[@nevinmyers1245]

2:05 I never knew I needed Lore Explorer vocalizing an angle fish gulping sound

[@miluardo]

Angler fish don't need to have some fancy way to propel through space when they're in the bramble because the bramble clearly is not empty space.

[@mrspiffy8587]

I always assumed Dark Bramble was filled with water. It at least appears to be filled with gas, which would still allow the anglerfish to move. They couldn't just swim in a vaccum, since there's nothing to propel off of.

[@Prop-gl4fs]

Damn, when I heard Feldspar talking about Anglerfish being territorial, I thought about "How are they able to determine where are other fishies"? The glowing dangly doo came to mind. So an awesome idea came to my mind and I felt REALLY smart for a couple of minutes: What if I shoot my scout on the front of my ship? This thing emits light and maybe they will confuse me with other fish and avoid me? Didn't work. But oh boy did I felt smart.

[@HarryS77]

I honestly like this solution more and wish it had been in the game.

[@tritrawithamixtape8073]

I think the reason we know so little about them is: The nomai barely studied Dark Bramble cause its scary. "Inside Dark Bramble... nothing happend cause this place is scary" -From your history of the nomai video Like... they for sure did study the fossil, but they did not go back into Dark Bramble after 2 of the 4 escape pods AKA HALF THE NOMAI died there

[@snowfloofcathug]

Tritra Serpifeu Wait, 4? I thought there were 3 escape pods + the vessel

[@tritrawithamixtape8073]

@@snowfloofcathug i Heard in the nomai history Video that one escape pod did not even leave the ship

[@Spaggot]

@@snowfloofcathug im almost certain theres an escape pod caught in some bramble branches right outside the vessel

[@cheeseycheezy]

@@Spaggot thats the third one isnt it? idk i didnt go exploring there yet bc im scared 💀 also this comment is over 2 year old so u probably already have ur answer or wont see this lol :,)

[@Spaggot]

@@cheeseycheezy Im not sure, i never memorized the numbers 😵‍💫

[@RomanSecundus]

The strange jellyfish on dark bramble leads to another thread

[@groverwatch2171]

You know, I think that someone who has a couple hour's worth of watch time in a channel devoted to a game that itself is only a couple of hours long has earned that Easter Egg. You have my vote!

[@gonzapato1006]

ummm, Outer Wilds is not 2 hours long

[@TheLoreExplorer]

can be, depends on how lucky you get lol. but yeah. it took me around 15-20 hours to beat i think!

[@gonzapato1006]

@@TheLoreExplorer Yeah, but definitely not 2 hours lol

[@BlappetureCO]

2 hours??

[@groverwatch2171]

@@TheLoreExplorer Ok, so, apparently I should've said that the game is short when compared to a lot of the titles of the year that this game was released, I didn't realize that everyone would take me literally, but I'll take the hit for that, that's fair. I am curious though; I've seen you do Subnautica videos, as well as both lore and science videos about the Outer Wilds, and a game preview for The Long Gate. What sort of content are you looking to do in the future, and what sorts of games do you think you'll cover? Do you think you'll stick mainly with lore and science, or are there other subjects that you'd be interested in covering?

[@ismailsahbane1783]

Lol just noticed you said "in today's loop" in every introduction. Nice reference

[@LaiMrJacky]

The fun thing about my first meet up a real anglerfish is when I'm introducing to my fd that this game is not terrifying at all and really hard to die if u play really safe. At that moment I am going to the dark bramble for the first time.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

"Yeah this game is peaceful. Its not like other games. There are no enemies. Nothing to really hurt you" *gulp*....."Oh yeah. except the anglers" lol

[@LILPUSHPOPDAGOAT]

Honestly, the first time I saw one, it opened its mouth so then I backed away, and as soon as I got out, the sun exploded. I am now traumatized.

[@haroldhamburgler]

4:18 This explanation is impossible due to the conservation of momentum. If the fish's propulsion was caused by its tentacles backward motion, then by the end of the stroke the total momentum of the tentacles would need to be opposite the momentum of the fish's body. In other words, the fish would need to move forward and its tentacles would need to move backward, but both the fish and its tentacles move in the same direction overall because the tentacles remain connected to the fish. The way real-world fins propel fish is by pushing the fluid surrounding them in the opposite direction. In fact, no rigid body can propel itself without expelling mass. This foundation of the rocket equation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Remember, this isn't our universe. The laws of physics are different in outer wilds. Where the anglers are now they have fog(or whatever that is) to push off of which should act like water. But to me it does seem like they are able to move through open space. we find them or their skeletons on 3 planets. So unless they have a rocket engine in their butt, which we'd probably see, idk what else moves em.

[@haroldhamburgler]

@@TheLoreExplorer I mean outer wilds design was based around a Newtonian physics engine. They actually talk about how they had to adjust things like the constant of Gravitation to make it so players could walk on the small planets during the no-clip documentary. While the physical constants may be different, principles like the conservation of motion still apply. The explanation that they use the fog as fluid to propel themselves would have made sense though it might not be practical in a real-world gas.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Yes. It's base in real world science is what drew me to it. But apply this same logic to the white hole, white hole station, and the orbital space stations the Nomai made. The rules stop when they need to for in game purposes. And having a flying fish in 0g probably qualifies as that. The entire point of the video was to say "we can't pin down anything with these suckers. They're mysterious." Not cause I was lazy. But because no matter how I looked at it they didn't make sense. They don't have rocket butts. And they can move in space where that fog isn't around to use as propulsion. So I just kept it simple and went with what we see. The lead dev of the game said that anglers may have actually originated on ember twin. If we take that into account the only real way for them to make it to bramble would be a rocket. But we don't really see that. So who knows.

[@bertiecook959]

I like the idea there so big because of dark bramble freaky dimensional stuff. Cause it means in reality there small and less scary.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

yeah. its a long shot though cause the skeleton at ember twin is humungasaurus too

[@ConsumerOfCringe]

@@TheLoreExplorer Without any gravity and minimal pressure, its easier for a creature to become larger. Elephants have to deal with earth's gravity and are far smaller than blue whales that have neutral buoyancy and feel less gravity for instance. You also only grow when sleeping since your body weight isn't shrinking you and astronauts on the ISS grow even though their teen years are long gone, so angler fish in dark bramble might have never stopped growing. They'd also need less energy since they can just float around and hibernate, only moving when they are woken by sound; all their energy can thus be spent growing

[@PennDraken]

Well, it could also be the opposite. When you enter Bramble, everything around you gets bigger. This could mean that it's actually you getting smaller when you're inside bramble. This means that objects leaving bramble would be a lot bigger outside of it.

[@placeadrien5566]

@@PennDraken That's also a nice theory but there are only two specimens of anglerfishes outside of dark bramble and none is bigger than the ones inside. One is much smaller actually (from the museum) so I think the theory that it makes everything bigger holds better.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

To be honest the relative dimension in space argument annoys me. If dark brambles dimensions made them bigger it would also make us bigger.

[@jordanhannah3912]

I always wanted to know more about the anglerfish and their anatomy

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I looked into it but irl anglers anatomy is so varied it was hard to even guess. Its super interesting irl though.

[@justinriley4063]

I started playing this game a week ago and of all the horror games I've played nothing makes me recoil into my chair like this game. Masterpiece of a game so far

[@user-vb6gi7dh9b]

I feel like the extended spikes actually works as a small sail due to the flaps of skin, with the tentacles generating a breeze and force for them to travel through. They look similar to solar sails which could explain how they swim through space. I doubt the largest creatures you see and presumably the apex predators of dark bramble would have a need to look intimidating, and even then...don't they look horrifying enough?

[@centurosproductions8827]

Just like every other exotic pet, they start out small and cute, but then they get way too big and their owners throw them out. Then they get into the interdimensional bramble sewers and before you know it you get Attack of the 50-Foot Fish.

[@markviz7842]

Technically physics says that the velocity of the center of mass of a closed system will remain at 0 in the surrounding reference frame until an external force is acted on it. The anglerfish waving its fins would be an internal force, so it would require an external force from a medium surrounding it. Dark bramble probably had an atmosphere inside the seeds that is a gas which contains oxygen, and the anglerfish are adapted to be able to break it down into usable oxygen

[@Dontreadthis0]

every time u get so close to them i get anxiety

[@agooddaytorespawn57]

Let's just rescue Feldspar, tow out the Nomai Vessel, and fucking Exterminatus Dark Bramble.

[@nicholasvogel9783]

That's like trying to Exterminatus the eldar webway, you'll just be breaking one of the entrances

[@DirtyDoge]

These fish are more terrifying than anything I came across is Subnautica, and that's saying something.

[@ebonhawken574]

Same! The devs did such a good job on the design and how you first run into them is terrifying.

[@Step1adder]

I followed the funny red light the second time I went to dark bramble I thought it was fairly safe since I got to feldspar the first time

[@Sirlance3000]

Yah

[@barrytalons2521]

the first time I encountered an anglerfish it swallowed me whole from behind, all I saw where its freaky teeth wrap around my ship, still not brave enough to explore dark bramble since then

[@ScoutSilico]

The first time I encountered these bad bois I was glad that I was already wearing my brown pants. I have a fear of the deep ocean and man was I not prepared...

[@masterzoroark6664]

When I saw Dark Bramble for the first time and got to know how it works it immediately reminded me of Little Prince and how he talked about Bapbab trees. The whole he needed to rip out the baobab saplings from his small planet so they won't shatter his planet as they grow

[@asingularcheesepuff6383]

A theory I had, is that anglerfish originated from whatever planet used to be in the solar system before the dark bramble turned up and ripped it apart. All the chunks of the ex-planet seem to be made of ice, which implies water existed there at some point. Maybe the planet could have had an icy crust with an ocean underneath, just like the moon Europa is theorised to have in real life. A liquid ocean would provide the perfect environment for species to develop, and the distance from the sun would mean the light available to anything that lives there would be minimal, which could explain the anglerfish's blindness and why they appear similar to deep-sea aquatic life that we know of on Earth.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Yeah. I sort of lied. When i asked the dev where anglers originated from i directly asked if they came from that "5th planet". Because that seemed the only logical place they could come from. But the answer is what he answered. So i suspect we were wrong on that front.

[@asingularcheesepuff6383]

@@TheLoreExplorer Aww, that's a little disappointing. Now I'm even more curious as to what the 5th planet looked like and had on it, although that would have predated even the Nomai living in the system, so odds are there probably was not much :I

[@TheLoreExplorer]

well, it almost certainly looks like what you described! The jellies totally come from there and we find them encased in the ice! They dont even have eyes!(suggesting even further they had very little light and were indeed encased in an enormous ocean!!)

[@asingularcheesepuff6383]

@@TheLoreExplorer That's a good point! I almost forgot about that jellyfish in the Bramble... If the jellyfish lived on the 5th planet, maybe the Bramble tearing it apart caused some of the frozen jellyfish to be thrown towards Giants deep? If they survived in the ice, then maybe the ice melted on GD and released them into the water. That'd explain why we find them in both DB and GD :O

[@TheLoreExplorer]

@@asingularcheesepuff6383 100% correct! Giants deep is such a big planet, it acted as jupiter does now and protects the inner planets from the bombardment of those pieces. In other words giants deeps gravity "swept" them up. Then the ice melts and bam! we got ourselves a new home for jellies!

[@Spaggot]

if Dark Bramble used to be an ice planet, Couldnt the anglers have lived under the ice?

[@TheLoreExplorer]

They could of, but didn't. It's possible, but the dev said specifically they either came from a planet connected to bramble, or ember twin.

[@cadend6925]

@@TheLoreExplorer My question is somewhat related; where did the Jellyfish come from? There is the frozen jellyfish that Feldspar tried to eat down the hollow vine near his ship crash, and some more frozen in ice on one of the Giant's Deep islands. That seems to suggest that maybe they lived beneath the ice and possibly got launched to Giant's Deep when the Bramble destroyed the planet.

[@vaguelyeducated]

@@cadend6925 A whole year late replying to this but /huh/, wait, that's a really good point. Things have been breaking off from Dark Bramble gradually for ages: the chunk with the jellyfish that we find on Giant's Deep, and /very/ recently the seed on Timber Hearth. Giant's Deep is far out enough that a chunk getting pulled into it while it passes by would be believable, but the fact that a seed made it all the way to Timber Hearth shows that things from Dark Bramble have a history of drifting all throughout the solar system (like ghost matter, but /much/ much much slower, and less immediately lethal). So it might be that the anglerfish /did/ originate from the planet that Dark Bramble used to be, or at least lived there in some sort of quasi-aquatic environment with the jellyfish & other species for some time. Then as the Bramble grew and started breaking through the outer layer of ice, one of the anglerfish might have been flung out with it-- perhaps even encased in ice itself? That single anglerfish, whether insulated by ice or just flung alone in the void of space, could have feasibly floated until it landed on Ember Twin. If it landed there while Ember Twin was still aquatic, then great, it would've been easy for it to swim down and cozy up in the cave system. If it landed there after Ember Twin had already evaporated, then if it /was/ encased in ice that ice could've melted due to proximity to the sun, hence it finding itself suddenly stuck there with no source of food. There's more of an argument to be made that it got there while Ember Twin had water, imo, just because of how underground it is, but I could see either one being possible. So tldr, Anglerfish from the planet prior to Dark Bramble, one very unlucky anglerfish got Bramble'd all the way to Ember Twin, probably died once Ember Twin evaporated cause there wasn't any easy food anymore and it couldn't just swim its way out.

[@recordwify]

Water not ice

[@Arbeta10000]

Other theory: They originated deep beneath the surface of the icy planet that a bramble seed destroyed (it would have water beneath its surface due to pressure heating up the ice). As dark bramble grew, the anglerfish slowly evolved enough to adapt to the environment within it, eventually making it their home. Once the icy planet exploded, one of the anglerfish got ejected and landed on ember twin (which, still had water at the time), but couldn't find enough food to survive, eventually dying (it could've gotten into the smaller cavern within the game in numerous ways. It might've been smaller when it landed there, but due to their immobile nature, eventually grew enough to no longer be able to exit the cave).

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Well, thats where the jellies came from. So we know water was there. But the lead dev said anglerfish were either from a separate dark bramble that ours is connected to(or one of the planets theyve destroyed), or ember twin. Knowing those are the two options, the skeleton on ember realllly makes me think.

[@calebgames6159]

It’s a neat detail that Feldspar specifically tells you the anglers avoid each other, but when you get near the eggs there’s 3 of them together. They overcome their territorial nature to protect their offspring.

[@ChewingGumFlavor]

There definitely is air in DB, but they are not breathable. That's why you can hear their growling sound. Ergo, anglerfish moves by ejecting gas or pushing on the air like how any fish swim in water. (However kinda counter my own point a bit, there's a sound every time the sun explodes, no matter where you are you can hear that. So maybe the sound comes from the helmet's simulator, like how it works in Star Wars)

[@TheLoreExplorer]

air was a bad word choice. Bramble is not a vacuum. Sound does need something to vibrate through. but having air doesnt just magickly mean thats how it moves. you cant just say "there is air, ergo anglers are rocketships(expel gas)." If they moved by pushing off air around it, then it would likely experience more drag from the same air. Slowing it down more than it speeds up. which is why i was mostly just left with newtons law of motion. but honestly still i have no idea how they move lol

[@recordwify]

Actually the escape pod says no BREATHABLE air detected

[@ConfusedKev]

Ember Twin has all the water signs, but the equator canyon cuts through the rock and especially the caves. Ash Twin looks exactly like Ember Twin, except with even bigger empty areas. The Nomai excavated the core and built all the towers, but those can't account for the rest of the planet. One last clue I want to grab... In the museum on Timber Hearth, there's a diagram showing the lifetime of the sun and how it grows before going supernova. The Nomai saw our sun in its later stages of life while the Player sees the sun right before it speedruns the Red Giant stage. I think the sun used to be a lot smaller than it is and allowed for the Hourglass Twins to have a large mass of water all over both planets. I want to say that water would transfer between the planets how the sand now travels because I think that would explain how the Anglerfish have the ability to survive in super low atmosphere and how there's so much sand, but that complicates the idea that the Anglerfish were blind because they lived in the caves of Ember Twin. If anything, maybe only a portion of the water would transfer between the planets. Anyways, I think that once the sun started expanding into its Middle age, the heat of the sun would evaporate the water, the radiation would blow away the water vapor until it condenses and collects together in space again to make the icy ball that would become Dark Bramble. During the early stages of this happening, Jellyfish launched from Giant's Deep would also get collected, hence why you find jellyfish all over the icicle shards from Dark Bramble.

[@Ren_Ca]

Hey, I was thinking. Dark bramble used to be an ice planet, but what if the ice is just a product of a liquid planet? Perhaps dark bramble used to be a dark sea, until the seed infected it, and it bursted open, exposing to the water to space, therefore, freezing it

[@MrMelonsz]

Perhaps something (besides the sun) happened to most of the water on Ember Twin forming it’s own ice planet and taking the Anglerfish with it.

[@KingDerpy13]

The Outer Wilds Anglerfish aren't a mystery. *They're demons.*

[@X3GreenTea]

My theory is that the dark bramble throws out the seeds, so they can consume planets and every living thing on them, providing food for the anglerfish living inside them.

[@casedistorted]

Would be kinda cool to see light bramble mod in action so we can see what it looks like without all the fog ^_^ tbh I find it a bit spookier with the Zelda dungeon music and being able to see the entire dimensional pocket Gotta add that with all the dark bramble seeds leading to these similar pocket dimensions I would guess that there is probably food flying into the fog all the time for these fish

[@TheLoreExplorer]

That would of been a great idea for the vid. Ugg. lol. Oh well. Dont know why I didnt think of it.

[@Pyrocitor]

I got a question: is it ever explained *how* the Nomai statues are able to read minds/memories? A lot of the mechanisms in the game have at least the start of an explanation as to how the Nomai can do it. But scanning memories just seems to be mentioned as something that happens, then they detail what they can do with them, but not how they're recorded? Maybe I've missed something that does.

[@vkmishra364]

IRL, fMRI can read brain activity. Nomai may have combined Biometric scanning (for sapient beings) with this to make an account in ATP databanks, which gets synced each loop.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I dont think they ever explained it. It just says how it functions. I always imagined they just broke our through processed down to 1s and 0s and record that. the stream going into the black hole almost looks like a form of writing. but who knows.

[@Unrellius]

My head-canon is that the memory recording tech was invented by a different Nomai clan some time before they arrived in the Hearthian system, and that they're already common enough knowledge among the Nomai that they don't feel the need to elaborate.

[@recordwify]

You should check out giants deep statue island

[@Music15404]

Oh dude maybe they’re from Ash Twin considering the Nomai specifically reference having to move/be careful with the creatures they displaced by creating the ATP.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Hmmm. They didn't say creatures. They said environment. And it was plants they displaced. I think if they lived on ember they would of lived on ash too. The tidal sand effect would of likely happened with the water too. Likely switching them back and forth.

[@recordwify]

What WHAT

[@guicaldo7164]

What if a Bramble seed landed on Ember Twin and then died due to excessive sand, but not before a few Anglers got through?

[@TheLoreExplorer]

It's possible. But I think a few things would need to be a bit different for it to make sense to me. From my understanding of the seeds, they are connected. For one to die, an outside force would have to destroy it. It shouldn't need sun, nutrients, and water. It gets that from other brambles its connected to. The seed would also likely have to be an adult seed and a baby angler, as even baby anglers would have a tough time squeezing through a baby seed. And an adult angler can't fit through an adult seed. Then, after what I mentioned already. The seed would have to die and dissappear without a trace.

[@Desyx14]

You did a lot of good work so Im dropping that like, but two things. First the dangly doo is called a lure. Secondly, I think it's possible they could've come from the world Bramble was before the seedling hit it if we're assuming they originally needed water. The world Bramble broke was apparently an icy world but that could mean that it had an underwater ocean, however with a thick icy surface there would be a huge lack of light, possibly indicating why the anglers have such bad sight.

[@nevinmyers1245]

This is my headcanon, especially as we can assume jellyfish also originated from the Bramble because of the jellyfish in the ice of Dark Bramble and that one encased in ice on Bramble Island on GD.

[@Desyx14]

@@nevinmyers1245 I wasn't even thinking that holy shit, this all lines up.

[@nevinmyers1245]

@@Desyx14 To be fair, it wasn't my idea. I probably saw it on Reddit or something.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Well, the world bramble broke is where jellies came from. I sort of lied. I asked Alex Beachum if original planet 5 were where they originated from. That was my original thought too. Not just where did they originate from. But alas, I was wrong. And he answered with what I said in the video. So unless she was just trying to throw me off the trail, they don't come from planet 5.

[@liocdeparmesan3885]

Theory : Dark Bramble was an icy planet before the seeds spread out. So it could mean : an ocean beneath the ice where the anglerfishes come from ! Then when the planet scattered because of the seeds growing, one of them has been cast away on the Ember Twin where it died

[@catsnorkel]

4:26 that's not how forces work, In order to get any kind of thrust in a vacuum, you have to expel something with mass in the opposite direction. Otherwise when the tentacles return to their original position, the fish will find itself back in the same exact location it started in (since moving the tentacles back to where they started ALSO exerts an equal and opposite force.) Either they are expelling gas out of their backsides, or dark bramble is not a vacuum, and they literally are swimming.

[@MrMelonsz]

Thank you for some logic. I think it’s gas, the noise they make as they move towards you quickly definitely sounds like a growling OR a stomach grumbling after letting one rip!

[@Me-wx1mt]

Somehow, on my first play through I was able to reach feldspar without even seeing an anglerfish. I don’t remember how, all I know is that I was very confused about the angler fish in the museum lmao

[@MrMelonsz]

Lol same.

[@moominpapa1980]

This video is great. I liberally lol'ed when you went "owp"

[@PortalGael]

As a console player, dark bramble is FULL of centipedes

[@Yuti640]

Remember: From the anglerfish’s perspective, *you are the bug*

[@logicaldude3611]

Somehow the anglerfish got stuck in Dark Bramble (we know that a lot of weird stuff got caught in that interdimensional anomaly). There’s some kind of oxygenated atmosphere there (along with a lot of moisture), so they’re able to survive there almost like they would in water. But because there is almost no gravity, they’ve grown to an enormous size. That’s my theory, anyway.

[@travisthefanofmanythings7176]

Top 3 facts of today 1. The Lore Explorer is an amazing youtuber 2. angler fish are creepy 3. everyone should sign the Easter egg petition

[@TheLoreExplorer]

we reached the original 100 sig goal! Cant wait to see how many we can get in total!

[@travisthefanofmanythings7176]

100 already? awsome

[@creativenametxt2960]

Ah, those cute little fishies.

[@kineticcat5557]

Here's a theory: Anglers started on ember twin, and eventually a dark bramble pod ended up on the twin. A few anglerfish ended up in there, but not many. Eventually, for the same reason that the water dried up (huge solar flare?), the brambles seed pod is set alight and destroyed, saving the planet from the pod.

[@SticktheFigure]

Interesting theory. I was thinking it's possible that some anglers merely got caught in the gravitational exchange that happens back and forth between the two hourglass twins and drifted into space. I've managed to do so with my ship a handful of times on accident so what chance would a blind fish with no understanding of physics have?

[@lucehleblanc]

I think we're all forgetting the giant water planet that launches everything in it into space constantly. Of course a fish would learn how to make do in 0 g and no oxygen if it evolved being constantly thrown into space. It explain how it got to the dark bramble, just kinda flew there, it explained how it got to ash twin and why the nomai don't think it originated there.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

The angler fish never lived on giants deep though

[@hermensongabriel7617]

We need an Anglerfish spin-off :(

[@TheLoreExplorer]

The first time the dev thought of them they were just floating about space. Imagine if they were chasing us EVERYWHERE we go!

[@RandomPeopleUsesThisAccount]

Evolving giant tusk like fangs implies they had an often altercation with creatures bigger or about the same as it...

[@sherlock1159]

I got spooked by the angler fish at the start of the game and never went back until after I figured everything out about the ash twin project

[@fingergunaddict]

Your theory for how the anglers move would not work if bramble is a vacuum; in a vacuum the only way to move is pushing off of somthing, however as the bramble is foggy it is not a complete vacuum so it could work

[@TheLoreExplorer]

So, space is weird. On the iss or on a spacewalk. astronauts can swing their body wildly and get SLIGHT movement in the opposite direction due to newtons third law of motion. If we take into account the mass of the tentacles moving backward, then the equal and opposite force would be greatly increased. MAYBE allowing it to move in space. but honestly it doesnt have to work irl. in game thats how they move. with their tentacles.

[@OK-gk2vh]

@@TheLoreExplorer Newton's third law is actually what makes it 100% impossible. In a vacuum like space, you cant get consistent movement using only your own mass. Imagine you have a fire extinguisher, if you throw it in a direction, newton's third law would have you move in the opposite direction, but if you tied a string to it and then threw it, you WOULD move in the opposite direction until it reached the end of the string, but then it would pull you back in the direction you threw it, stopping your momentum. Those tentacles are attached to them, so trying to move forward by throwing those backwards would just kinda make them wiggle back and forth :). On The ISS they have air to "swim" in so that's why that works. Thanks for the video!

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Looking at all of the scenarios anglers have been able to move, Water on ember, fog in bramble, and space to migrate. The only thing that stays the same in all 3 of those scenarios are the tentacles. They couldn't push off of fog in space. And they'd have nothing around in a vacuum to turn into propellant. In other words, that whole part was to say "none of these make sense, so I'll stick with what we see". As for how it's impossible. So is interdimensional plants existing within itself, and many other things in the game. The reality of everything is set aside for the sake of experience. And I think anglers are one of those.

[@GorillaZillas]

@@TheLoreExplorer They could just be tapping into some kind of phenomena like the "space propellers" in outlaw star. That when activated somehow gain a presence in an other dimensional somewhere outside our universe with weird impossible non relative velocity properties and start interacting with "something" there as their blades spin and bite in to whatever that "something" is to convert energy into propulsion without expelling reaction mass in our universe to do so...

[@felixbenitez6169]

Imagine playing a non-horror game, but then you encounter this moment? XD

[@feldsar]

I think the anglers anglers can move in dark bramble because of the fog. Maybe some vapor condensates onto the angler and then when they move, the water comes off creating the equal but opposite force. As for in space, maybe skin flakes come off or something idk.

[@Randmscread]

I think the existence of the anglerfish in the game is some kind of metaphor regarding the Nomai and their search for the eye. The lamp of an anglerfish functions as a bait/irritation for their prey. So the Nomai had this signal of the eye, which lured them to the solar system. The eye 'knew' they would all die there, but before there inevitable extinction, the would assure, that in the future, the universe would be created again caused by the events in the story we play. So the eye kind of lured the Nomai to the solar system with it's lamp (signal) to assure that the universe will survive. Anglerfish use the same tactic to survive, but in a more grounded way, they just consume their prey.

[@BiggestGal]

I think the anglerfish and Dark Bramble exist in a symbiotic relationship. The anglerfish get a home with optimal conditions and a source of food in the form of centipedes and anything unfortunate enough to enter Dark Bramble, and Dark Bramble gets something akin to an ox pecker removing any foreign bodies.

[@smithbrosgaming6448]

The Angler fish could originate from the world that used to be where Dark Bramble is now because as Feldspar says, "There used to be a planet where Dark Bramble is now."

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Yes. They could of. But I think we should probably take the word of the guy who made the game. And he said(and as I mention in the video) they didnt. They either came from one of the other bramble plants ours is connected to. or ember twin.

[@doozycano]

Love the video thanks for the recognition it's been a good time in the discord a d it's my favorite server to keep safe.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

You deserve it bud. You are an important part of the community here and I thank you!

[@tylerlegend7205]

I tried to trick my friend into getting eaten by the first anglerfish but he was moving so slow that they didn't see him

[@pablozurita2996]

Ember twin with water and angler fish would be absolutely fucking terrifying

[@happysloth0679]

I'll never forget how scarring my first encounter with an anglerfish was. I was just chilling trying to find out why I could hear an harmonica in Dark Bramble so I went head first and followed the sound. I realized it was hidden inside some weird plant nucleus or something, so I decided to get off the ship. I died because I forgot to put the suit on. I went back and on my second trip I was back to following the sound until I heard a scream, a horrifying one. I turned my ship to where I heard the sound and before I was able to react, a bunch of teeth were about to engulf me. The fact that I'm also thalassophobic didn't help either. Anyways jump to the present and you can find me crying when I found the Anglerfish fossil, giving a good idea about how scared I got.

[@InfiniteGreninja]

I hate how it looks like it unhinges it’s jaw when it chases you. Or how it’s mouth is 90% of it’s body.

[@Puzzles-Pins]

Just something to help: you are confused about the difference between 0G and vacuum. You can't 'swim' in space because there's no fluid for you to displace as a propellant. Dark bramble has no discernable gravity, but it does have an atmosphere. The fish can swim through the fog similar to how a bird can propel itself in our atmosphere, with the added benefit that they don't have to fight gravity making it actually easier. But in space, they wouldn't be able to propel themselves, as there is no air to swim through. Otherwise pretty excellent video.

[@nickwoody9227]

First thoughts upon entering (and swiftly exiting) Dark Bramble were ‘I hope this is just for side missions’

[@TheLoreExplorer]

had you even ran into scary big fish yet? That place scared be before I even saw them.

[@nickwoody9227]

@@TheLoreExplorer haha yeah the fish mouth served as my swift exit. But yeah I just wanted to believe that somehow I wouldn’t need to go there again. But alas.. So much underwear thrown away 🪦

[@marshmelloos]

Potato's drawing is so wholesome

[@potuyit7]

Earth fish can swim in space, but they don't do so well.

[@MoonLight-rd7lj]

I think they originate from Dark Bramble, but from its form before the seed destroyed it and before it even froze. If Dark Bramble was an oceanic planet there could be the species of anglerfishes there, then dark bramble froze with the eggs of anglerfishes which was later freed by roots of The Seeds crashing the ice. One of eggs could reach the Ember Twin where the fish grew and stuck eventually, but this doesnt cover the blindness reasons.

[@Furionic696]

Perhaps the anglerfish change size if they exit the bramble through a smaller port on the outside such as the timber seed? As far as we see all ports on the inner bramble are amply sized but the baby seeds that are shot out seem to start smaller, maybe that's how we end up with two different skeleton sizes outside the bramble, perhaps in their pocket they are large but they enter other dimensions and are proportioned by the exit they take?

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I feel like if this were the case it would also happen to us as we exited bramble from different sized dimensions as well.

[@Furionic696]

@@TheLoreExplorer Wee that's the only thing I don't remember happening each seed we enter/exit through seems to be roughly the same size, though its hard to tell without comparing the models to one another we also don't see a seed on ET or AT but im convinced its easier for them to end up their from the bramble rather than the other way around, great video btw!

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I think the whole schtick of bramble is its relative dimensions. The seed we see on timber is a small seed. Yet it somehow holds many larger seeds inside it. So its insides and outsides are different sizes. The sizes of the models wouldnt tell us anything about their actual size in space.

[@Zenithprotobean]

these creatures are arguably scarier than the reaper leviathans

[@sirspeedy9006]

There's a theory that ice planets, such as what dark bramble used to be before the seed, contain water under the surface, with the possibility for life. While it doesn't explain the anglerfish skeleton on ember twin, I always assumed that the anglerfish previously lived under the surface of the ice, then when the seed arrived, some of them were taken into what is now dark bramble.

[@Me-wx1mt]

I always assumed they may come from giants deep, as that’s where I assumed the jellyfish got there. And it made sense with the tornados sending its islands into space occasionally but idk

[@someone_is._]

I think the reason why the anglerfish are so big are because you get smaller when you enter the Dark Bramble.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

why wouldnt the anglerfish also get smaller as they enter? Also, We can find an angler skeleton and see we essentially measure up the same with an anglerfish inside or outside of bramble.

[@jonsimpson6690]

Lol I just thought the angler fish were put there as a repetition of symbolism-that an all knowing being could only survive if it had something observing it with its danglydoo. You know, to be aware of its presence, but not actually knowing its exact position.

[@zen_tewmbs]

My anglerfish story is that the first time I entered the Dark Bramble I was IMMEDIATELY eaten by an Angler and I didn’t go back until the latter half of my outer wilds adventure.

[@potatosordfighter666]

As the sand goes back and forth between the twins it would sand down a lot of the walls, and possibly bones/other fossils. There could be a lot that was eroded over time before it was explored by the Hearthians.

[@MoonLight-rd7lj]

They might try to look scary for evolutional reasons. It've been 280 thousand years since nomai crashed into the giants deep and they survived until game time, so they could be habitating in the bramble for a long time before that. At some point they could have had normal vision before they reached bramble where they have gone compleatly blind. So yeah, genes telling them to expand their spikes to look scary, even tho they dont know how is it "to look".

[@RRW359]

You're assuming that the Dark Bramble was always as it is. It's possible a seed came from elsewhere and completely transformed it, and it was originally an ocean that the Anglerfish have had to adapt to after it changed.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Uhh. No I'm not. An ocean world did indeed used to sit where bramble is today. Then a bramble seed came and destroyed/replaced it. Problem is, the lead dev directly told me anglers did not originate from that planet.

[@RRW359]

@@TheLoreExplorer Sorry. I thought you said in the video that the dev said they could have.

[@xn4pl]

The planet which would be torn down to become dark bramble had a lot of water, and even though it's far from the sun for that water to be in a liquid state it could've been heated up by the planet core, so the surface of the planet would be ice but beneath it could've been an ocean in which angler fish could've evolved and lived, and the skeleton found in ember twin probably just was flung in with the shard of the dark bramble, after the planet was torn. Also, I think the origin of quantum shards is the result of the collision of the quantum moon and dark bramble shards.

[@Tim-AlIen]

The dangly-doo comment made me really curious so I did some research and found out in real life anglerfish that the light on the end is called an "esca" and the long part is called the "illicium"

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Hmmm. After careful consideration the Hearthian department of species and classifications will continue to use dangly goo. jk. Its interesting because the biology of the anglers suggest they get certain chemicals from the fog and have them react to create their light.

[@Tim-AlIen]

@@TheLoreExplorer Dangly goo is still a pretty awesome name hahaha. That's cool about their biology suggesting that they're getting chemicals from the fog! Real life anglerfish use "bioluminescent bacteria"

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I must’ve confused chemicals for the bacteria. I think they have internal processes that mix them or something. It’s just neat to think of bramble as a thriving organism and not just an angler nest lol

[@isterkvarn]

Great video dude! About the experiment you mention in 4:40. Scientists have already tried throwing fishtanks into space, with some intresting results. www.howfishbehave.ca/pdf/Fishes%20in%20space.pdf Fish usually swim in circels, or start "looping" as its called, when in microgravity, but fish born in space seem to adapt and can actually swim around normaly. So swimming through a liquid in space is definitely possible, and you can clearly tell that there is some sort of fog-like gas in the dark bramble. Perhaps they are swimming with the gas as a medium? Much like you suggested. If that was the case they would probably have to have a very low density, with regard to their size. Just an idea. There also seems to be a correlation between real life fish sight/light sensativity, and microgravity naigation. Which is makes the anglerfishes blindess pretty intresting. Anyway, great video. Keep up the good work!

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Well, yes. I did imagine if they had water in space(or any other medium) they could push off whatever is around them. Though anglers body seems like itd experience more drag than thrust, but lets ignore that. I was more talking about in actual space. Because at least in a few scenarios we know Anglers have moved through space. We just dont know if they had control of their movement. If not, its insanely extremely lucky they made their way to an actual planet.

[@kostismetallo8697]

If there isn't a medium then the fish cannot move. They need to push something back to be propelled forward. Maybe the bramble fog is so dense that it is the medium they need.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Right. But it seems they also move in the vacuum of space too. So either way there is no good explanation.

[@aureusnovasolis208]

Personal nightmare fuel.

[@TheLoreExplorer]

Swear I almost named this video nightmare fuel lol

[@tenchimuyo69]

I guess the Dark Bramble is Lavos... Hypothesis: A seed landed on Ash Twin and some Anglerfish eggs fell into its portal. But before the seed could sprout and destroy the twins, it was destroyed by a solar flare.

[@Triniwn]

Deep Sea bacteria are capable of chemosynthesis, the ability to make energy from inorganic minerals, and other organisms like tubeworms have a symbiotic relationship with them to draw energy from an area with no sunlight. It's possible anglerfish have similar abilities or a similar symbiosis that allows them to subsist on something within dark bramble, perhaps whatever the fog is made of. Actual angler fish get their light generating ability from bacteria as well, which could explain why the light of the anglerfish on ember twin is still lit, the microorganisms are still alive. The anglerfish's aggression may be opportunistic feeding or simply defense rather than actually necessary for them to survive.

[@bonesfloodedwithdreams]

Alright, here's a theory; It's not unheard of for marine animals to focus on actual feeding during developmental stages, then once they reach maturity, they mate, then die, with little to no food/feeding. Considering that a baby anglerfish was able to leave Dark Bramble (at least within its orbit), but adult anglerfish CANNOT be seen outside of Dark Bramble and cannot move between nodes, it may be that developing anglerfish leave Dark Bramble in order to hunt for food, and once they have finished eating enough to support their development, they return back to Dark Bramble, morph into adulthood, mate, and, well, die. The anglerfish are large enough they likely have VEEERY long lifespans with long gaps in when they actually mate/have eggs hatch, and deep sea organisms with gigantism need significantly less food to sustain themselves (as *finding* food is far more difficult) which would explain how they manage to survive essentially trapped in Dark Bramble.

[@Kr1s_123]

I think that the angler fish knew they couldnt survive without the water in ember twin, so they went to a planet that had lots of water. Eventually though, a dark bramble seed landed on the planet and tore it apart. But while the angler fish were in the water, the bramble thorns closed in on them. Leaving them stuck in dark bramble. And sure, the planet scraps may look like it was an ice planet, maybe the water just froze in space? Then the angler fish also knew not to go to giant's deep because of the tornados.

[@reillybaker7866]

My man is the epitome of one take

[@elishelton9412]

If anything, the fish or their eggs would have been able to escape the ember twin by hitching a ride up the sand vortex. Or, since Giants deep also has water and jellyfish, its possible they evolved there, and once again, hitched a ride on a huricane

[@TheLoreExplorer]

I thought maybe giants deep. but it would make literally no sense if every single angler got launched out of there. The dev himself says its possible they came from bramble, the planet attached to bramble, or ember. im gonna take his word on that lol.