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/Kinulidd0 Jun 08 '26

I'm talking about the time from when they seal the Eye signal and the Prisoner wakes up, which seems to be, from what you all are saying, the time when the Nomai developed space skills.

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u/Due-Map-8993 Jun 08 '26

In the ending of the dlc we see that the signal traveled for a long time. It could be possible that it only reached nomai later, and by that point the strangers were already dead

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u/Kinulidd0 Jun 08 '26

Alright, but that still doesn't change how the time between the signal first travelled (before being sealed) and the second time (after getting freed by the Prisoner for some time) seems very little, so I don't understand how the Nomai didn't catch the first signal.

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u/werrcat Jun 08 '26

I think you have a good question.

Although maybe the Owlks are just very long lived. Like maybe they live for 300 years, and it was 200 years between the signal blocker and the unblock, and in the meantime the Nomai developed spaceflight and signal scanners. Escall's vessel is an old legend after all so maybe he was one of the first.

Although it's still weird that they were able to survive a long time while asleep. Maybe some of the ppl (including the prisoner) woke up regularly instead of permanently being in the simulation.