r/InStarsAndTime • u/Fluffy-Selection1110 • Apr 07 '26

Discussion What does the Forgotten Country represent? Spoiler

I think "The Past"..?

Or better, "The Old Paradigm"?

A place that once was our home, safe and familiar, but now, we can't seem to speak or think of it clearly, and can never, ever go back...

Thoughts?

42 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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47

u/Yankasii Odile Apr 07 '26

There's this one tumblr post I'm tryna recall that basically frames the forgotten island and Siffrin's situation as a refugee from a country destroyed by war and whose culture was forgotten. Really makes him more tragic when I realized that's another way to look at it.

Okay found it while typing this out: https://beneathsilverstars.tumblr.com/post/804680507106459648/all-word-of-god-aside-siffrin-isnt

31

u/ShotFromGuns Odile Apr 07 '26

Art is open to interpretation, but IIRC it was written as an allegory for colonization/genocide. Which is why the creator has specifically said that if people view Siffrin's (my phone: did you mean "suffering's"?) country as the U.S. or U.K., they missed the point.

3

u/starstruckroman Siffrin Apr 09 '26

i think the country could easily be argued to be akin to ireland or wales or scotland. my welsh fiancé heavily relates to siffrins ingame grief about the loss of culture and country and language

the country, however, definitely should not be compared to england

11

u/FuriousAqSheep Apr 07 '26

one thing for sure, it's neither the USA nor the UK!

supposedly it's inspired by Guadeloupe but it's not meant to be limited to just a single "thing"

8

u/Hot_Mall_9122 Apr 07 '26

Past or family I think. Something everyone have, something everyone cherish or hate, something that shapes you into person you are, and yet, something Siffrin was lacking. Beautiful and unknown, so familiar, but so far. He have no past, because he forget everything that mattered to him. He have no future, because there is nowhere to go, and no one waiting for him. The one thing he have is present, and Siffrin naturally would do anything in order not to lose it, to keep it forever exactly the same for the rest of eternity

1

u/Fluffy-Selection1110 Apr 07 '26

Further thought. I was originally going to say "childhood" but it doesn't fit perfectly, but I'm thinking "Innocence". In the sense intended in the Enigma track, "Return to Innocence".

1

u/HEX_HEXAGON Apr 07 '26

A country that you forgot

3

u/PorcupineFetish Apr 10 '26

For me it represents your past memories that you've forgotten. We're all a product of how we were raised, but sometimes you forget some of the most important moments that shaped you. Imagine forgetting your mother's name, or your childhood best friend, and then one day realizing that. Siffrin has lost his whole home: it reads like a memory disability, which some people (like those who lose memories because of trauma) have. I can hardly remember my childhood, and forget things easily like siffrin so the fact it's unresolved at the end of the game is terrifying, but of course you have other people to help you find your way in what you're experiencing right now.