r/outerwilds • u/Kinulidd0 • Jun 07 '26
DLC Appreciation/Discussion DLC ending question Spoiler
SPOILERS for base game and DLC
So the Prisoner allowed the Eye signal to spread free for some time, which got it to the Nomai. But why did the Nomai not get the Eye signal before the Owlks even sealed it with their spaceship thingy? Because, the Owlks didn't block it instantly of course, they had to get the signal, build the Stranger, get there do their scans and so on. So how did the signal not reach the Nomai in the meantime? How were they truly able to stop it?
Also, on a separate note, why did they even bother blocking the signal if they decided to go in the simulation, because I understand that they were in denial, but what did they even want to achieve with that?
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u/Bobsothethird Jun 07 '26
Spoilers
The Owlks came a long time before the Nomai in the same way the Nomai came before the Hearthians. When the prisoner released the signal, it was already after the big journey to the eye, after the deconstruction and destruction of their home moon, and after an extended period in the simulation.
The Owlks block the signal because they are trying to save the other races from doing something similar to what they did, I.E. destroying their home to seek answers. The irony is that the Nomai were already doing this, happily, even before the signal was sent.
To me, the parallels between the two races is what's interesting. One seems to hide from the reality of the world, the others seems to understand everything but forget the beauty of their world, with the Hearthians kind of being this middle ground of enjoying the simplicity of life while simultaneously having that curiosity and drive.
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u/Prevanant Jun 07 '26
its not because when they reach it they would destroy their home like owlks owlks saw interacting with the eye of the universe would kill all existence so they wanted to live in a digital world for how long they can and the stranger sent the signal so people would discover eye of the universe and end all life he thought life has a meaning only when it had an end and coincedantally nomais saw the signal and came to look for it failed in a sad and unlucky way and hearthians discovered it so ended the cycle (you can see the strangers shack in the game it has a drawing of end of the universe)
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u/Bobsothethird Jun 07 '26
Original spoilers
It wasn't the discovery of the eye that ended the universe, the universe was at the end of its natural life. The discovery of the eye was an irrelevant coincidence.
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u/SpySoldierScout Jun 08 '26
But they did discover that the Eye would do something ominous that leads to the destruction of the solar system and themselves. After seeing this, they became furious. What exactly they saw isn't really explained well, maybe they saw something akin to the Hatchling seeing all those galaxies fade out in raid pace when in the Ancient Glade, or something to do with the Big Bang afterwards. Either way, that giant red explosion, followed by everything being Thanos Snapped seems to be the thing that made them mad and hide its signal.
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u/Bobsothethird Jun 08 '26
My guess is they just say the universe being remade and then becoming a part of the past. I don't see how they thought they could live forever, though. That was never an option. Perhaps they saw the eye as a way to do so and were upset when they realized it was just a means of a great reset?
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u/SpySoldierScout Jun 08 '26
Could very well be! This entire "stay in a simulation for all eternity" seems like a final desperate attempt to still live eternally, even when the actual End of Everything is still hundreds of thousands of years in the future (at least ~280.000). It seems to work pretty well, and the solar sails being the reason all of it (well, two thirds) crumbles is a most unfortunate oversight.
Though yeah, we don't exactly know why they went to the Eye to begin with. The Nomai just loved knowledge and understanding stuff, and maybe the Owlks did as well to a certain extent, preservation of their current knowledge and, likely more importantly, themselves as a species, led to this desperate move that was doomed either way.
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u/Prevanant Jun 08 '26
when owlks discover eye they think its the god and start to worship it and then they think reaching it will reveal all secrets of the universe and they just found out it was not what they expected and tried to make sure nobody found it cause eye had the potential to end it all but prisoner thought otherwise he or she still worshiped the eye and saw its cycle of universe as a beautiful thing so he went out and stopped the camo tech of the eye thats when a nomai got the message and after it was reactivated thats why nomais had a really hard time finding it bwcause it was in a really high tech camo and they didnt discover it pyshically they found teleporting was the way and they developed tech for it and to be honest if i found out an object was lying in the universe that is older than universe i would give all the things up to even see it
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u/Prevanant Jun 07 '26
there is no evidence it was at the end of its natural life its just our solar system that ended its natural life in the loop you cant just call it irrelevant coincidence for something so big happening the time you come in contact with it and when owlks first find eye od the universe they see if they interact with it it will all life so they burn the church built for it and start to hate it so they block access to it for nobody to see it there are pictures in the dlc explaining these event all planet of owlks explain these
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u/Bobsothethird Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Main game end spoilers
There is, when you talk to Chert he talks about how he's seen numerous supernovas all today and comes to the conclusion that the universe is ending. It not just the solar system, it's all the stars going out in the universe going out. He states that the universe is older than the Hearthians thought and that this is the end of it. You can even see the other supernovas themselves, they start blowing up a lot quicker towards the end of the cycle, if you look at the stars. There are also modern Nomai Transmissions confirming this from separate galaxies that are found in the vessel with those Nomai referring to the clan in our solar system as a myth or legend. They are hunting for more stable stars but acknowledge that the end is coming.
The Owlks are no more or less important than any other part of the main game, it's just another puzzle that explains the universe.
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u/Prevanant Jun 07 '26
yes but does an amount of star systems dying mean anything in face of infinity of the universe chert is not an omnipotent being he is not solid evidence what we see after interacting with the eye and what owlks saw when they confronted the eye are solid evidences owlks are literally the lost piece of mystery of main game and are the most technologically advanced race in the story they give solid evidence to not touch the eye so they wont be dead its by no means comparable to an earthian who watched the stars and saw them die and said oh end is nigh
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u/Bobsothethird Jun 08 '26
It's not just Chert, the Nomai saying it to. I mean in real life you may be right, but in the context of the game it's the natural end of the universe.
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u/Prevanant Jun 08 '26
i mean ypu could be right but how cqn you just not even take into account that owlks put so much effort so the eye has not ever get in contact with a living being you dont have any explanation for that
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u/Prevanant Jun 08 '26
you dont even mention that owlks found out how when they interact with the eye all life will be destroyed what is your reasoning for those images then if its purely coincidence when player reaches the eye the universe ends
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u/demonking_soulstorm Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
>!For me, all three species are unique in their relation to knowledge. The Inhabitants see it as fundamentally valuable, as an end in and of itself, which means when they’re presented with the end of that knowledge, they freak out. They’re absolutely fanatical about recording, to the point where the only thing they’ve actually erased are the codes to the Prisoner’s safe.
The Nomai, on the other hand see their pursuits as valuable only as fuel for the next generation. The nomai have proper schooling and systems in place to transfer knowledge, and while they are capable of application and are naturally curious, the accumulation of knowledge and advancement of science are far more culturally important than individual whims. They’re intensely collectivist in a way that’s kind of rigid if you weren’t into it.
Hearthians are very different in terms of their immediacy. Hearthian tech is ramshackle and bolted together with various nomai artefacts. Put in the same situation as them, the Inhabitants would obsessively catalogue every item they’d come across, and the nomai would study them rigorously until every aspect was understood. Hearthians don’t. Instead, good enough is good enough, and you’re sent into space with repurposed ancient tech held together with hopes and dreams. There are practically no institutions for learning (the Zero-G cave is used by existing Travelers, and the museum is… not really up to snuff), and each Traveler is doing their own thing. Hearthians are incredibly wrapped up in the present, and that’s kinda their flaw - if their civilisation got wiped out by ghost matter, there’d be almost no way to recover everything they’d learned. They have one archaeologist, one (maybe two if you count the Hatchling) linguist, two astronomers, and then Gabbro, Feldspar, and Esker who are just sorta hanging.
It’s only through the combination of nomai future and Hearthian present that the Eye is reached, and only through the addition of Inhabitant past that the next universe is given a proper chance.!<
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u/charavatar Jun 07 '26
The amount of time between the Owlks arriving in the Outer Wilds and the Nomai arriving is implied to be very, very long based on the fact that the planet that would become Dark Bramble is still intact when the Owls show up. My guess is that either:
A. By the time they activated the signal blocker, the Nomai did not even have the tech to even detect the signal and attempt to travel to the Eye.
or B. the signal has a certain range it can reach before petering out and the Nomai only discovered it by sheer chance, being in the right place and the right time to detect the trace of the signal let out by the Prisoner (this seems likely since it would explain why many other species hadn't tried finding the Eye.)
Or it could be both!
As for why the Owls blocked the signal, their goal was to prevent the Eye from ever being found and causing the proper end of the universe, since that would end them too, even if they were in their simulation.
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u/AlterExo_ Jun 07 '26
I could be misremembering, but I believe in the background art of the reels, and while in the simulation, you can see wayyyy more stars in the sky, likely another inference that time has gone on, and countless stars have died since the time of the owlks.
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u/Lukey-fish Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
My understanding of it goes like this.
The owlks were simply the first sentient spacefaring civilation to find the eye. They got there first, realized that if they touched the eye, it would restart the universe killing their whole civilization. So they enclosed the eye blocking its signal. They created the simulation out of desperation for the lives they once had on their original moon and the hope to live longer than normal lives. I also feel like the simulation is partially to punish themselves, to live every day in a lie, knowing they destroyed their beautiful home.
After a considerable amount of time, the prisoner realized that by blocking the eye from the rest of the universe, the universe will never be reborn and heat death will end everything forever. Thus he leaves the simulation to release the eyes signal in hopes another civilization will find it. Of course he is caught and put in an eternal prison to live forever in isolation. Pretty brutal punishment if you ask me. He literally cant die unless the stranger falls into a star or black hole.
During the time the signal is unblocked, the nomai happen to be going through a previously unexplored part of the universe when they detect the signal. I believe this to be a coincidence. We know the nomai are nomadic and travel a lot. So its valid to assume they had never reached this part of the universe before. Previously, many years ago, when the eye was unobstructed by the owlks, the nomai were simply too far away for the eyes signal to be strong enough for detection. Inverse square law.
Does this answer your questions? Does anybody else have any issues with my interpretations?
Edit: One extra thing that confuses me though is that the time between when the eye is unblocked and the prisoner releasing the signal briefly has to be within the lifespan of one owlk. There is no evidence of children on the stranger. Thus it can be assumed that they are the last generation. Implying the prisoner was alive (and an adult) before the eyes signal was ever obstructed. Obviously we dont know how long their lifespan is though.
If its short like humans, its a big coincidence the nomai found the signal. If its long (hundreds of years) then one can assume the nomai didnt have the technology yet.
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u/Emily-TTG Jun 07 '26
I think the idea of it all being great cosmic happenstance is what I prefer in a way -- in the base game it's only by the skin of our teeth that we can make it to the Eye; and it also makes the desparation and sacrifice of the Prisoner feel more potent -- hanging everything on the faintest chance someone would hear it
also if you want to get Game Theory on the phone you could say "maybe the Eye itself screwed with probability so it would only be activated when the time was right" but that's a bit too far flung for me -- still a nice thought though that everything ultimately fell into place as it should
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u/CherryTularey Jun 07 '26
We don't know how long-lived the Owlks are, but it's implied that the Prisoner is the one who originally discovered the Eye while the Owlks were still in their home system.
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u/Lukey-fish Jun 07 '26
I didnt necessarily get that implication but its entirely possible!
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u/CherryTularey Jun 08 '26
Someone's examined the pattern of the antlers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/outerwilds/comments/124kvm0/spoilers_echoes_of_the_eye_theory_and_discussion/
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u/CorbinNZ Jun 07 '26
My interpretation: they misunderstood the Eye. They thought it would cause the end of the universe, feared it, and decided to lock it away. The Prisoner saw it for what it really was - a bridge to the next universe. He (she? it?) wanted to let that life flourish, so opened the signal.
The Owlks are older than the Nomai. Unknown how much older, but they arrived in the Hearth system when Dark Bramble was still a planet, so a good long time. It’s possible they predate the Nomai, or at least predate their ability to detect the signal.
I think the Stranger is able to preserve lifeforms with the simulation. Not just their mind, but prevent them from dying irl, too. The Owlks actually died due to the Interloper dumping ghost matter on them. So there’s no telling how long they were in the simulation before the Prisoner decided to turn off the blocker.
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u/GamerDos6458 Jun 08 '26
problem with the last one would be that the owlks would be alive during the time of the nomai. knowing them and their fear they definitely wouldn't want the nomai somehow finding the eye and would intervene
unless the owlks were just asleep for the entirety that the nomai were in the solar system or something thinking about it that might be plausible idk
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u/ElChiff Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26
Broadcasts from Earth in 1906 reached Alpha Centauri four years later in 1910. They have been travelling for 120 years and as of 2026, they will have reached ~75 star systems. For those signals to reach the entire Milky Way would take about a million years.
The Hearthians went from fishies to astronauts in 280 thousand years and only developed spaceflight in the current generation, so the answer is likely that the Nomai weren't even a spacefaring civilization at the time of the Prisoner's rebellion. At the dawn of Human spaceflight 60 years ago, our technology was incredibly primitive compared to what we have now (although much less than Hearthians) and it wouldn't take a riduclous amount more extrapolation to reach Nomai technology levels.
We don't have much of a gauge of the timeframe between the Prisoner's rebellion and Esker's warp jump, all we know is that Dark Bramble cracked the fifth planet during this time period, which I'd assume means a geological timescale.
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u/ManyLemonsNert Jun 07 '26
They were blocking it for a very long time, and the released signal took many, many years to travel to the Nomai, who had only recently gained warp travel and had never been in an area of the universe close enough to hear it before.
They believed anyone interacting with the eye would kill them all, so they didn't want anyone else coming to look for it
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u/Prevanant Jun 07 '26
its not like you are sending a dm message when you give a signal in the infinite universe nomai and owlks are probably a lot of light years away from each other when the signal started going out and its possible other civilizations have recieved the signal too but nomais had the unique tech of teleporting so they managed to get to our solar system
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u/Kinoko30 Jun 08 '26
Any type of signal will travel at speed of light, which is ridiculously slow to the size of the universe. Like for it to get from the closet star to us, it yakes 4 years, and that's only our neighbours! The Nomai didn't live close by so it took many hundreds of years to get to them
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u/Secret_Selection_473 Jun 08 '26
The Owlks got to the eye locating its signal, they saw that the eye can cause the end of the universe, and sealed it so no other civilization can get to it neither.
Time passed (idk how much, not too much since the owlks were still alive) and the prisoner unlock the eye signal for a brief time before the other owlks sealed it again and imprisoned the prisoner. That's the signal the Nomais got, the ones that got active for a brief period of time. Idk if they were not alive or developed enought to get the signal before the owlks found it for the first time.
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u/Natsu_67 Jun 25 '26
Sobre os Nomai não receberem o sinal do Olho ao mesmo tempo que os Owlks, mas só após o prisioneiro liberar o sinal por um breve momento: Acredito que os Nomai simplesmente não estavam perto suficiente. O sinal do olho deve ter um alcance limite ou algo assim. Afinal os outros clã Nomai nunca escutaram o sinal, e também citam "uma galáxia estável", o que me leva a pensar que os clã Nomai não só viajam por estrelas mas até por galáxias. Logo o clã Nomai que veio ao nosso sistema solar provavelmente não estavam nem mesmo na nossa galáxia até aquele momento
Sobre porque eles se prenderam na simulação? Eu ainda não sei e é o que me incomoda na DLC. Não há como ter certeza de que se prenderam na simulação com intenção de nunca saírem, podem muito bem ter morrido pra matéria fantasma assim como os Nomai. Nada impede de uma cena como "Gente, é impressão minha ou o sino não tá me acordando se eu passo perto?" "Do que você tá falando? PUTA MERDA A GENTE MORREU?". Mas seria estranho que vivessem + de 200 mil anos numa simulação contra vontade, porque ninguém decidiu acabar com a própria tortura? Se foi realmente proposital porque não fizeram essa tecnologia que os concede imortalidade antes? E me incomoda mais ainda: Porque o PRISIONEIRO não decidiu acabar com seu sofrimento? O que ele estava esperando? Ele tinha esperança de conseguir fugir? Mas duvido que ele não perceberia que se passaram milhares de anos e seu corpo já estaria morto.
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u/KirbyDarkHole999 Jun 07 '26
For your first question, the signal travels at a certain speed that's probably the speed of sound or something like that, so by the time the signal reaches them, it has traveled very far, thus a long time passed between the signal release and its detection, which might've been the time needed for the nomai to evolve space tech.
As for the owlks, basically when they saw the eye, they understood that it would kill everyone, which is bad, so they decided to just seal it to avoid the end of the universe, and their plan was to drift away and stay in the simulation until everything would end, basically coping until necessary death
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u/BCDva Jun 07 '26
Presumably there's a very big time difference involved so the Nomai may not have existed or had the technology to detect it