I want to start with that this is my entrypost into this tumblr world. I posted here and there, youtube, reddit, discords, steam, elsewhere, mostly sat there and listened and wrote small texts, not big walls of texts, like this one is going to be.

I’m insecure if I should have posted this, but well, I give it a try, it is a text filled with analysis, personal experience and some theories, I tried to clear that in the path.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for LiS and BtS!



Here you go:

First of all: Pricefield and Amberprice are both valid ships, I prefer Pricefield and stay there, forever.



Chloe and Max harmonize in many ways, like Yin-Yang, they are total opposites of each other. They had a deep relationship (friendshipwise, platonic) in their childhood and were at their edge to puberty, but it wasn’t meant to unfold because of dramatic changes in their lifes: Williams death - Chloe in grief, not able to overcome that trauma, Max leaving her (Not on intention.). Max on the otherhand may (My opinion, since we have no proof, but when we take her psychical condition into account.) had the same problems, since she refers to William as her second father to her, so she may suffered also from grief and pain and was not able to handle all of this and how to comfort her best friend.

The Max and Chloe comeout is building up more slowly in LiS1, more deeply in my point of view. Max is insecure, not sure what her feelings are, I tend to say she has zero experience with sexuality in general and has no clue what she is into (f/f or f/m). She has some sort of developmental disability (such as High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome), as she is in an IEP (Individualized Education Program, a program usually reserved for students with said condition) according to her Student File. She feels guilty for leaving Chloe and there is always this “Rachel Amber” reference in front of her during those five days. That makes things complicated as well. And we have the circumstances of a mistery around us and that Max is building up a lot of feelings towards Chloe later on.

When we have the chance to kiss Chloe the first time, Chloe is not shocked, but overrun, not expecting that Max is actually doing it. When we did the right things, Chloes smartphone background is replaced with a picture of Max. Several dialogs point into the direction that Chloe is interested in Max in a way, Max is not thinking of first. Some moves and dialogs of Chloe during the first episodes also hint in that direction (”Same sex marriage” dialog/messages for example.) The pool scene is the first real direct hint what Chloe is up too in my eyes.

The relationship/come out builds up more slowly, Chloe on guard somehow, but interested in Max. Max seems to get comfortable with the situation over the course of the episodes when we follow her diary.

The Both have a deep relationship as stated before from her childhood, that was overshadowed, but it was rekindled, since it never really broke, and I tend to say, that Chloe was into Max already before LiS, but in her heart. The dream sequences from BtS where William hints into the direction that a greater beauty is yet to come after he warns Chloe of the fire and shows her the sky filled with stars maybe the hint.

Rachel, I don’t hate her, but I don’t like her either in some way. She is elusive in many ways. The whole BtS plot reminds me of my own teenage time, first love, fulled by passion, a short episode, built to last not long enough. Passion is the keyword in here. Rachel crashes in there with passion, shows up on scene for Chloe, when she needs someone the most. And Chloe falls for it. I know this feelings, when you are alone, lost beloved people, in grief and pain shrouding your mind, puberty and adolescence is complicating everything, your whole world is burning and breaking apart.



An interesting part is, that Chloe is saying the following words to Joyce during her conversation after the Firewalk concert: “And sometimes, when we’re incredibly desperate and lonely, we choose the absolute wrong kind of people to let into our hearts…..” - this is somehow blowing my mind, since she just ignores her own words a few hours later.



Chloe has major/minor mental issues and falls easily for someone like Rachel. Rachel seems perfect, but is broken inside. But she is manipulating people around her to her needs to a certain degree with great sucess. She is flipping switches as needed and attracts people she is interested in. I think she can be considered as being in her playphase, not sure what she is about sexualy and eager to find out what she is into, so she is willing to test it out with Chloe. But I pretend to say, that she is not gay, but more considered to be bi-sexual during her teenage years or later on when Frank and Mr. Jefferson get into play out of her experimenting phase. I know some people who had those phases in their teenage years between 14-17 and found their sexual identity not before they were 18. (Proud to say I know some gay women/men/transgender/bi-sexuals who found their identity and had their coming out.)

Several ppl analyzed the Tempest scene and mentioned that the roles where chosen perfect, that Chloe is a hostage to Rachel, mentally. I tend to say they are right.

Quote: “First things first: a tempest is a storm, the title of this mini-series is Before the Storm, and in Life is Strange, Arcadia Bay is about to be decimated by a giant storm that Max spends the latter half of the game trying to prevent from happening. This connection is obvious. Furthermore, all three episode titles for Before the Storm are references to quotes from The Tempest:

“Awake” references the Act I, Scene 2 call to Miranda from Prospero: “Awake, dear heart, awake! Thou hast slept well. Awake!”

“Brave New World” is from Miranda’s speech in Act V, Scene I: “O brave new world, That has such people in’t!”

“Hell is Empty” is from a much-quoted scene with Ariel in Act I, Scene 2: “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.”

Prospero is the architect of all that occurs around him, manipulating the relationship between Miranda and Ferdinand, and using the spirit Ariel and Caliban to mess with his shipwrecked enemies. He is the person who shapes the story of The Tempest, from creating the storm to treating other characters like puppets.”

(Full article here: http://fandom.wikia.com/articles/life-is-strange-before-the-storm-the-tempest / There are many more articles about this around that state the same since the roles of Rachel and Chloe are given and the represent somehow the same roles in the play like they do in their life.)

Rachel can be seen as manipulative in that she charms everyone around her — her teachers, her classmates, and most of all, Chloe. She is the focal point that moves the story of Before the Storm forward. Rachel is also the thing that brings Max and Chloe together in the original Life is Strange, with her absence and the mystery around it bringing the two together.

Chloe builds up an emotional und psychic dependence (I tend to say borderline obsession.) for Rachel and Rachel sticks to that. She wants to be a rebel with Chloe and get out of Arcadia Bay pretty fast. But she tends to go her ways and switch ships to her needs later. Frank is one ship, and the Jefferson ship is real to, there is that crumbled letter on the junkyard. (http://life-is-strange.wikia.com/wiki/Rachel_Amber?file=RachelChloeLetter.png) (http://i.imgur.com/0f9UIFB.jpg)

Rachel is Chloes angel for the moment, her saviour for a short time, but not for the greater good. The realtionship they build up is not going to last long without severe damage for Chloes psychic health. The dependence Chloe is driving into is not healthy for her, but she gets there easily.



But we know from the third dream scene vom BtS that William predicted, that there will be a greater beauty to come and that Chloe has to be cautious because of the fire. The theme behind this dream is not truly clear, but many people back the theory, that William warns her about Rachel.

What I believe is that this is the truth and that the greater beauty to come is a reference to Max.

To summarize it:

Max & Chloe have a pure, deep and sure true love going on, build upon something they can rely: They complement each other with their traits and help each other to become better selfs. Chloes gets back into track, trying to beging a better life and keep her feet on the ground, Max gains selfconfidence, breaking the shell around her.

Rachel & Chloe have a passionate, stormy, and sure emotional love going on, build upon…..well, I don’t really know: They both corrupt each in some ways/many ways, Chloe infects Rachel with her rebellion to certain degrees and Rachel creates a dependency on Chloe that makes her easy to manipulate and worse, leaves her with this tendency of always putting Rachel first, basically not focusing on her own life that is a real mess.

Thanks for reading.

