Theories & Headcanons

My favorite ideas that are oftentimes better than canon

• Cabin Guy may have been based on Robert Hansen, which could imply that some pretty fucked up stuff happened to women there in the past and the energy of it all contributes to the Wilderness.
• Javi's friend may have been Cabin Guy's daughter or her ghost.
• Kodi is Cabin Guy's presumed daughter but transed his gender and that's why he knows the area so well, or he otherwise knew Cabin Guy or knew of him and that's why he explores the area
• Clearly not legit, but all the "HERE'S HOW JACKIE CAN STILL LIVE" Reddit posts citing incidents where people have been frozen to death and then revived... with the help of hospitals... was kinda fun.
• They're stuck in a time loop and that's what Lottie's visions tap into. It's also something only Other!Tai remembers and that's how she's been able to be so focused and know so much regarding the symbol.
• The Man with No Eyes is just... explained by anything else, lol. Canon was so stupid with this... It could've been one of those moments showing the girls are It, their own paranoia and insanity pulling them into self fulfilling prophecies, but it was just... stupid... especially since they do seem to be going for a more supernatural angle altogether now anyway.
• Crystal was actually Misty's hallucination. Doesn't really work because I do think Mari spoke in her direction once, and there is someting to be said about her introducing Misty to musicals she probably hadn't heard of before. But I prefer this since otherwise her character just doesn't make any sense and feels forced, which is understandable given the mold certain elements as they go, but... come on.
• Mari was hearing the dripping sounds of her own future self's blood or something back in season 2
• I liked the idea that they all took turns being Antler Queen based on card draws per hunt rather than Shauna being the Antler Queen of the pilot. It gave a sense of group responsibility. I understand the angle that there's passiveness in many of the girls that still hold them at fault, but I truly prefer them descending and becoming more cut off from their own individuality and into these more primal beings to cope with their situation, falling back into the instincts of how soccer games go with the pit as the goal and of course some sort of hive hierarchy.
• Lisa was Nat's child that she gave up years prior. I can't remember if there was something legit to Lisa being adopted? It also would have been too contrived, even though I'm sure Lottie would have kept close tabs on any kids of the YJs. But it was cool to think of a situation where maybe Nat and Travis or whoever had a son who transitioned which is why she didn't pick up on it being her kid. Also Lisa is trans Wilderness Baby, lol.
• Adam as Wilderness Baby because the show should've taken that opportunity to be more fucked up. Honestly, seeing how Shauna developed I doubt she ever would have given up her own child in a way that this could work. I wish there had been something more to him. It's nice there wasn't--again, the girls causing their own problems due to paranoia is great. TOO many perfect coincidences isn't really the point of the show and would feel TOOOO reliant on The Wilderness Making It So. But it did seem like there were maybe too many coincidences at the same time.
• Can we just pretend that Simone and Sammy were also hallucinations like Crystal to explain away bad writing? :/
• The five season plan the showrunners had is that they just wanted five seasons. Lol.
• Water contamination or whatever contributing to their mental declines. I like the idea they just... did all this to survive, but it helps to have factors like that to explain the supernatural.
• The symbol being a map or something
• Coach Ben lived and was being kept in Misty's basement, hence the wheelchair hostage set up she already had going
• Literallyyy anything else would have made more sense for how Travis died, lol. I HONESTLY assumed Lottie was lying or hallucinated how it went down, but since she's now dead it seems like her story is the canon we are supposed to believe because we'll never get any other answers unless the writers shoehorn in something about... some new random survivor who was actually there in the shadows orchestrating it al;jlkf
• I wish Hannah had been a legit Freak who wanted to study the girls and take it as a scientific opportunity to live this way, but it seems like she only made those choices to survive :/ She would've been so much more interesting the other way and utilized for some commentary on adult versus teen girlhood idkk