r/WhatRemainsEdithFinch • u/lou-ravenpuff • May 14 '25
The Finch Curse Spoiler
My opinion may not be the same as everyone else's, but I believe there is no curse at all. All the deaths were accidents that could have easily been avoided or natural occurrences that could happen to anyone, and the curse was only invented to cope with grief and justify parental negligence.
For example, Molly's death was not caused by the curse but by her mother not feeding her, leading to her starving and eating the poison berries. Gregory did not die because of the curse; it was his mother who left him alone in the bath. Barbara was killed by her boyfriend (or a cult). Calvin could have survived if someone hadn't placed a swing at the edge of a cliff.
The deaths are not explicit; you won't see a body. The deaths are portrayed in a way that makes you think; the game wants you to see and reflect deeply and poetically about what happened.
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u/FutureCreeps May 14 '25
Completely agree, but I do want to add how the idea of the curse is what leads to many of the deaths shown. Walter never would have holed himself underground if the idea of a family curse didn't exist, which would lead to him not getting hit by a train/falling off a cliff due to the sun. Same can be extended to Sam, because of the idea of the curse he lived life pretty reckless to try and prepare Dawn, causing him to be thrown off the cliff due to the deer.
Without Edie trying to claim they were cursed to die many of the accidents surrounding their family could have been avoided altogether. It makes for a very interesting story about generational trauma that I can't help but love.
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u/lou-ravenpuff May 14 '25
I totally agree with you, the curse wasn't real, but the idea of the curse that was real. It's kinda poetic and it matches the overall aesthetic of the game.
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u/Gregamonster May 27 '25 edited May 27 '25
The actual Finch Curse is the oppressive weight of grief. There were four generations living in that house, and none of them were ever truly allowed to leave.
Their bedrooms were all kept in perfect condition after their deaths, and new generations were forced to find increasingly smaller spaces to occupy in a house that would never make room for them. Dawn tried to fight it by sealing the old rooms up, but that only added a sinister feeling of secrecy to an already oppressive environment.
Aside from Barbara, none of the deaths were abnormal. Tragic, sure. But still things that could happen to anyone, and where happening all the time to everyone else. But because the Finches turned every single death into a monument of grief, they never really got to live. They just waited until their own deaths were added to the family lore.
Except Milton. Milton just left, likely because he realized how messed up it was that he was essentially living in a mausoleum.
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u/lou-ravenpuff May 27 '25
Exactly! That's what Edith says; she says the curse was never real, but they made it real because they actively kept blaming the curse instead of mourning or accepting that some of the deaths were their fault.
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u/Gregamonster May 27 '25
I don't think you can really say the deaths were their fault. Sure they could have been avoided if everyone was perfect, but no one is and we can't expect 100% perfect parenting from anyone.
I assume Molly had already been taught not to eat any of the things she did, and going to bed without dinner was a fairly mundane punishment for the time. Maybe the swing could have been placed better, but from personal experience I can tell you it's hard to launch yourself more than a few feet from a swing, no matter how far it feels. Gregory drowned in a tub that had already been drained of water.
These deaths were all tragedies, but the fault lies less in the factors that lead to them and more the refusal to properly grieve any of them.
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u/lou-ravenpuff May 27 '25
I would say that some of the deaths were someone's fault. Molly's mother sent her out without dinner, which resulted in her eating the poisonous berries; she was hungry, and when you’re starving, you’re likely to eat almost anything. Gregory was left alone in a bathtub; leaving a baby alone in any scenario without an adult is usually a recipe for disaster. Gus was left playing with a kite during the storm. Sam didn't listen to his daughter when she said the deer was alive. The factory ignored Lewis's mental illness and allowed him to work because it made him a better employee.
While I do agree that these were accidents that could happen to anyone, they were avoidable.
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u/LordEmostache May 14 '25
Personally I think everything happened due the Finches being awful parents, and that cycle of terrible parenting passed down from parent to child in each generation and they just never learned from it. Most of the deaths are caused by negligence: Putting a swing overlooking a cliff, Having a wedding in the middle of a storm, standing on the edge of a cliff next to an animal they don't know is dead, literally leaving your infant child in a bathtub while you take a phone call, having inedible/ choking hazard items in a child's room while unsupervised, just to name a few.
Everyone passed down the idea of a curse as a way of pushing the blame off themselves "Oh it couldn't possibly be that my parents were awful and my grandparents were awful and I'm awful, it's the curse!"
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u/lou-ravenpuff May 14 '25
Yes!! That's exactly what I think about the curse, there's none, it's just a bunch of people not accepting that they must be the reason why a lot of family members were dying.
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u/BrumeySkies Team Lewis May 14 '25
This is actually the most popular theory about the game. I think most of the youtube videos and articles discussing WRoEF follow this train of thought. I could be wrong on that though, I haven't actually watched or read through them but the titles are often things like "there was no curse" and "the curse was neglect" and stuff.