Cycle
"This realm is mine... and the cycle will continue!" |
The cycle[a][b] is the ink realm's primal event, conceived by Joey Drew as an endless time loop in means to repeat the story.
Overview
The cycle's main concept was to endlessly repeat the characters' stories and events from the ink realm, from start to finish. While all characters' stories and events of the cycle remain mostly the same, some parts of their journey can be altered on most occasions. The "The End" reel was used as their only way to finish the cycle, but when the reel is used, it did not actually complete their story but rather resets everything back to the start.
By the user's desire, the cycle's story is solely written on storyboards, and can be either changed or added with newer plot parts, while drawing sketches of characters, objects, and other things to add them into the ink realm itself. All of this creation can be found on the animation desk at Joey Drew's apartment.
History
Creation
The cycle event was scripted when Joey first created the ink realm, as the time loop's original purpose was to torment the ink version of Henry Stein out of Joey's anger and spite.[1]
Henry's story
- See also: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Henry's story was titled "Bendy and the Ink Machine", according to Joey Drew's storyboard sketches found in his apartment.
It begins with Henry stepping into the entrance hall of the Old Studio, and ends with himself using the "The End" reel to destroy the Ink Demon at the Giant Ink Machine lair. Henry came back to the real world, where Henry meets Joey Drew at his apartment, then opens the door from the kitchen, only to end up at the starting point of the Old Studio, restarting his journey all over. As revealed from the tally marks seen with the Seeing Tool, Henry has repeated his cycle over 414 times.[2]
Apocryphal information
The cycle was first created when Joey Drew trapped his test families, alongside ink creatures inside the ink realm to test its properties. However, thanks to not having a proper series of events, the cycle was inconsistent and chaotic; though, it was still a horrible existence for the ones trapped within as there was always a likey chance for them to die. Archie Carter was ones of the most direct victims of the cycle at the time, since he was stuck in a loop of dying to ink monsters over and over.
After learning of the cycle's existence, Joey would get the idea of using it to his advantage for a "perpetual loop" where a person experiences the same things forever.
Behind the scenes
The cycle's reveal, along with the ink realm's existence, was first came to light in the Bendy and the Ink Machine ending as part of the plot twist.
Inspirations
- See also: List of BioShock references
The narrative of a time loop comes from theMeatly and Mike Desjardins' love for time loops in stories.[Citation needed] This trope was also used for many movies and other media, such as Groundhog Day and Happy Death Day.
It is also possible that the cycle itself is inspired by the loop theory from BioShock Infinite, where Booker DeWitt visits Columbia and tried saving Elizabeth over 122 times as evidenced by the Lutece siblings' tally mark board from the coin flip scene. The game's coin flip scene may have also inspired Bendy and the Ink Machine, where the tally marks from the first chapter's entrance hall were found, suggesting the number of times Henry repeated his cycle.
Notes
- ↑ The cycle, while commonly believed to be another name for the ink realm, was actually referred to the events, not the realm itself. This was evidenced in the Ink Demon's quote from the Bendy and the Dark Revival finale, referring both the realm and cycle as two different terms: "This realm is mine... and the cycle will continue!"
- ↑ The cycle was mentioned as a common noun by several subtitles in Bendy and the Dark Revival, but as a proper noun ("the Cycle") by one of Audrey's dialogue subtitles, along with sources from the updated edition of Joey Drew Studios Employee Handbook. Despite being referred as a proper noun only few times, the common noun form is accepted to be used.
References
- ↑ Bendy and the Dark Revival. Chapter 4: Factory of Horrors. Developed and published by Joey Drew Studios Inc on November 15, 2022. (Further source: Joey Drew's life story)
- ↑ Bendy and the Ink Machine. Developed and published by Joey Drew Studios Inc on February 10, 2017 – October 26, 2018.
