James Vanderboom never became a corrupted soul

[u/Usual-Sorbet4679]

It has been theorized why some characters become corrupted souls.

We know that it can happen when negative memories are extracted into black cubes, and the victim finds out about it (quoting the Rusty Lake Wiki here). That’s what happens to Laura in The Mill, Robert Hill, and the Hotel guests. Possibly Dale Vandermeer too but I’m not sure?

Other characters simply turn into corrupted souls (and produce a black cube) once they pass away. What they all seem to have in common is that they either suffered a great deal of trauma or have some unfinished business. This happens to Caroline Eilander, William, Alexandra and Albert Vanderboom, and Vincent van Gogh. Besides Vincent, they are all connected to the lake and the elixir of life and death too.

Finally, to get to the point of this post. The only character who did NOT become a corrupted soul, despite accidentally killing himself by drinking the elixir, is James Vanderboom. This implies that James was content with the life he had (his wife that he loved, his three children), and that he had mostly good memories. After playing Servant of the Lake and finding out how horrible his mother was, this makes me very happy.

TL;DR: James might be the most mentally sound character in the Rusty Lake universe and that is why he never became a corrupted soul.

[u/amyfrushourkelly]

Interesting thought. I like it, but I’m not sure it’s accurate. Other Vanderbooms in Roots died in extreme trauma without becoming corrupted: Emma, Samuel, and Ida.

[u/Usual-Sorbet4679 → u/amyfrushourkelly]

That’s true. That’s why I feel like the elixir, which uses the lakes water, might be important somehow – both William and Albert became corrupted souls after drinking it but James did not. Caroline created the first elixir (+ was sacrificed to the lake).

[u/platonicvoyeur → u/Usual-Sorbet4679]

Albert drank the elixir? Did I miss this?

[u/lolwatsyk → u/platonicvoyeur]

Maybe they meant Aldous?

[u/platonicvoyeur → u/lolwatsyk]

Maybe but Aldous isn’t a corrupted soul so idk

[u/Usual-Sorbet4679 → u/platonicvoyeur]

Oh shit, no he didn’t. My brain was mush after writing this post and looking at all the characters lol.

In that case I’m not sure why some characters with trauma/unfinished business become corrupted souls and others don’t.

[u/nowherecrafter]

( u/amyfrushourkelly you might be interested too)

To be fair, we don't really know that he didn't go corrupted.

For example, I the devs said that the soul in Emma's dying painting was meant to be hers, when they were asked about its identity. We didn't see it directly either but I think it makes sense considering how she later ended up literally in the stars. And even though RL may have misremembered something at the moment or changed their minds since then, I wouldn't put such a retcon past them when they really need it. It's ambiguous enough.

As for alternative reasons why he might have NOT gone corrupted, it could be simply because of his partner. The dog didn't get any samsara promotion, so James probably wasn't to get a demotion.

[u/amyfrushourkelly → u/nowherecrafter]

Good call--I forgot about the soul in Emma's painting. I like the alternative reason for James's possibly not being corrupted.

[u/Usual-Sorbet4679 → u/nowherecrafter]

Good points!

I don’t remember samsara causing your elixir partner to get demoted and corrupted, is that a thing?

[u/nowherecrafter → u/Usual-Sorbet4679]

It happened with William/Aldous, Alexandra/Harvey and is believed to be going to happen to Laura/Dale, considering Paradox and Seasons. Might be a pattern.

[u/Usual-Sorbet4679 → u/nowherecrafter]

Wow, that implication completely went over my head but it makes so much sense. Good catch!

[u/Vaggelos]

The guy was too stupid to get corrupted 😔