Theory Time: (Spoilers Below)
Today I want to talk about the Main Character and how strange their entire existence is. For example, where did they come from? We don't know. We don't know anything about ourselves as a character. I know the character is just a stand in for us the players and likely shouldn't get a backstory but when you think of it from a characters perspective it seems odd. Just look at Gunnar questioning exactly that. "A Herbalist popping in out of nowhere." Which is true. At the start of the game we had apparently been apprenticing under a pretty renowned herbalist but barely know how to make a potion without his notes. SO how long had we truly been there? I would imagine not long at all if we had never visited Bareshade or known about Caleb and the Werewolves in the nearby woods. Based on character interactions we can rule out that our MC came from any settlement nearby. The only thing I can imagine happening is that the MC washed up on the beach from a faraway land and was picked up by our Master Herbalist by chance. Perhaps with Amnesia. The real question is why? What happened to our MC to get them to where they are now? Why is Gunnar the only one to question MC's origin? And why does the MC not answer or give evasive answers? It feels intentional.
I would also like to point out how exceptional our MC is. I know we have our Masters Notes but we learn alchemy so easily, being able to preform it in all sorts of places despite Ruben talking about how complex the process is. Yet we have seemed to have simplified it down to cooking in a pot somehow, even though we only learned it at the start of our adventure. Next is our fighting ability, being able to overcome and defeat enemies an ordinary person has no right defeating, such as Tank and Scar one after the other. Both trained in combat for years longer than the MC (for all we know), Scar even questions how he could've lost to you. Yet you defeat not only them but Northcrests defenders, Orcs, Werewolves, Swamp Monsters, Lizards, and more, in one on one combat. Sometimes even three on one combat. It is mentioned that these enemies ARE stronger than MC despite being able to defeat them. You could amount this to the MC's strength not being his main attributer to winning fights but it seems unlikely. From what is mentioned within the text is seems as though the MC isn't exactly the largest of people compared to others. An athletes body and not a bodybuilders bara body like nearly everyone else. You can assume this with how often the MC is lifted with ease and mentions how muscular/large another character is. Even so the MC is still out preforming those hulking giants. Beating them in arm wrestling, wrestling, sparring, combat, racing (being able to catch Caleb a werewolf running at full speed.), and endurance. In simplest terms our MC is super human... if they are even human at all.
I do not think our MC is human, or at least not fully human. Sure we have seen the MC lose, specifically the 0 sanity Game Over scenes, but overall a lot of strange things occur to the MC. For example Spectral Fever, Bernard gets it and passes out, we get it and it is barely a debuff. I'm surprised we aren't spreading it around like an STD and infecting every creature we meet. Perhaps that is merely a gameplay mechanic but a timer for a death game over would amplify how severe SF actually is. For now it is equivalent to the sniffles to the MC who can literally ignore it, just like the rats who carry it unaffected. Next is Lycanthrope, the MC is in constant proximity to the Alpha werewolf, despite being attacked or fucked, the MC is still not a werewolf (not that it can't happen given the 0 sanity werewolf ending but I don't think it states that you become a werewolf just the packs omega breeding bitch, which I guess is implied.) Next is Cthulhu himself (Nameless), despite being able to mind control Korg he chooses not to mind control the MC. He says that he just wants MC to willingly serve him, but if MC turns him down he just continues to threaten and stalk us. Even if we go to the witch for protection he doesn't stop us. It almost seems as though his mental magic isn't as effective against the MC as it would be anyone else. Finally the Lake of Lust which again is the creation of the Nameless, despite the Lizards falling under its spell and losing their minds, we drink and drink the water and just get a corrupted debuff. It seems like one gulp should cause us to lose our sanity but here we are being fucked in the lake being forced to swallow the water and we walk out practically unscathed where as other characters would've been fully corrupted. IT is likely that we are not affected as much due to being the Main Character (Plot Armor), but in all honesty it seems likely that our MC is odd themselves. Whether they have magic or are some sort of half breed. Our MC is resistant to diseases, curses and magic, but not immune. Does Victoria not try to use her seduction on you like she claims? Or did she try and it for some reason didn't work? Only when you were at your weakest when you confront her with Arion does she try again and nearly succeed. Can Nameless really control you like he claims? OR does he need you to submit to control you? It would explain why he attacks your friends instead of you directly.
I know it sounds like a stretch. I just enjoy the game and like thinking about the possibilities. Especially with the last update feeling more story driven then anything. I'd like more of that TBH. More of the MC too, he doesn't need to be an exact proxy for the player, he already isn't. Anyway stay tuned for my next theory or rather rant lol.