More thoughts about the novel



One very important detail we must keep in mind while theorizing about the book is that Buddy is an unreliable narrator.

He’s an ink creature at the moment of writing the book. He frequently mentions that his memories are a mess, and he admits that he’s not even sure that some of them are real.



The book even starts with “Mister Drew was no liar.“, which we know isn’t true.

However, for the sake of our sanity, we need to assume that at least a portion of the story is indeed real. There are certain scenes that Buddy insists he’s sure truly happened, and we can assume that they did. Perhaps all of it happened, just not in the way he describes it - the other characters even comment on the strange coincidence of Buddy meeting his grandfather on the same day he got his new job.



Perhaps, in real life, the grandfather arrived sometime earlier, or later, and Buddy’s memory of the event has been altered after he became an ink creature. Perhaps the grandfather never arrived at all, and someone in charge of the supernatural events in the studio planted him in Buddy’s head in order to better fit the narrative - Buddy refers to his life as a Story, and he strongly implies that he is not its sole author.



That’s right folks - the Story Theory is back on the menu!



Remember that audio log from Susie on the JDS youtube channel? She says something very interesting there:



“When you act in a proper theater, you get to play romantic leads, maybe a queen… some kind of villain… But, when you work for Joey Drew… you never know!”



I speculated then that this implies she will go from being our enemy in BATIM to our friend in BATDR. The same could apply to all other ink creatures - as the Story changes, their memories are wiped and altered, in order to fit the narrative.



This is why Buddy is desperate to write down his memoir as fast as he can - he’s terrified that his memory may be altered to the point, where he can no longer tell what truly happened inside the studio, or even what kind of person he used to be when he was still human.

Who has control over the story? Most people would say Joey, but I always had doubts about this, and Buddy agrees - that’s one of the few things he seems to be certain of.

Notice the shift to present tense? Joey might not be in charge of the story, but he’s still a part of it.

But that, of course, raises the question - if Joey’s not in charge, then who is?



The book hints that it might actually be more than one person. Buddy repeatedly tells us something curious - despite being an artist, he is terrified of drawing. Almost as if drawings were haunted in some way - or perhaps had the power to become a reality?

One of the drawings Allison made on the wall is that of a wooden barn. True enough, the workshop seems to be located inside a wooden barn. There’s just one little problem with this - Buddy claims that the workshop was actually inside a narrow brick building.



Allison’s drawing altered the reality inside the studio.



She might not be aware of it, but other ink creatures inside the studio could be deliberately changing things by drawing them.

Perhaps Joey’s storyboards do have power over the studio after all, but there are ink creatures inside it, who can alter the reality of his creation to their own whims and wishes, by making drawings of their own?

Buddy seems to think that words don’t have the same power, but if the words are written in magical ink, who knows?