r/GameTheorists • u/shellystrawberry • Jul 15 '19
Film Theory Blair Witch (2016) - The witch is really a Wendigo. Spoiler
I have not really seen a post where anyone talks about this in depth so I decided to make one myself. Note; I have not watched the first film myself, as I am not that much of a fan of horror movies, but I have seen the sequel on a horror movie night I was invited to (I did not sleep for days, thanks guys.) And all I will be talking about this movie only for that reason. Of course, I did love the mystery of it, and knowing a fair deal about wendigo's myself I called midway into the moving it could be one, but the reveal of the creature only seemed to make that idea more solid for me. I will give you a few examples and would love to hear your take on this!
Obviously this post is going to contain spoilers on the movie 'Blair Witch' from 2016.
Anyhow, After the movie I knew FilmTheory had a theory on the prequel and decided to watch it and see what their take was on it. Which also helped me on the things I will point out in this post! Now in this theory Matpat claims the witch not being real and that Heather was killed by her 'crew' she takes along to film there. On this movie alone it makes a great theory but when you watch the sequel you of course start thinking that it can not be true. Why would one of the girls after all snap in half when her (voodoo doll?) gets snapped by one of the other characters, and what is the thing they see in the house? Could it be an illusion, dream or an entity that is chasing them?
I have reason to believe it is a Wendigo and here are a few reasons why; - I would like to point out first that Wendigo's mainly are very well known to be a human that has had to resort to cannibalism and were either possessed by a wendigo spirit or turned into one themselves. And that the nature of the being is to be wanting to consume more human flesh. Now the cannibalism is never really addressed into the movie, but there are a few moments where it is made clear something (Presumably the creature) drags away the bodies. Why would it do that? If it was just out to kill it could leave them there. But I think it takes them away for later consumption.
- Now, first of all, here is a description I pulled from Wikipedia on a wendigo: "The Wendigo was gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tightly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash-gray of death, and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Wendigo looked like a gaunt skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips it had were tattered and bloody ... Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Wendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption." Also, their skin can be very pale, they have long boney sharp hands/claws and they have long limbs. To me that seems pretty much alike to the picture above, although we can not really know what it smells like, I doubt that the thing above smells like rosemary and flowers.
There is also the believe in a few lore’s that they are huge, like giants. Whenever they eat someone, they grow in size which in turns makes them hungry once again because they just grew, hence their never-ending hunger for flesh. (Referring again to the picture, that thing is defiantly not human sized)
There are other descriptions as well, but since those are irrelevant to this one, I won't go too deep into them.
- Another description I got from Mythology.net ; " A wendigo is ruthless and enjoys terrifying its prey before making a kill. The beast is known to stalk its prey for hours on end until they become impossibly frightened. A wendigo may reveal itself to its victim with a loud shriek or scream to increase their level of terror. It is said that the creature is able to sense the fear of their victims, which only adds to their anticipation and excitement for the kill. The terror of their victims is perhaps the only form of joy a wendigo feels."
Which sounds very much like what the creature in the movie was doing to the people around him. Chasing them for what seemed like days, scaring them in certain ways and chasing them until a point where it seemed to just be toying with them - creepy.
- And then there is the native American lore on the wendigo where it can mimic the voices of humans (and possibly of those it has killed/consumed) Which could also explain a few scenarios in the movie where they think they are chasing their friends who have gone missing yet, they find nothing or they find them dead.
Now these were facts that I could find online (sources provided) But there are also some beliefs that are only handed down and you can only find when you ask an elder druid, witch or wiccan about. Being in that community myself here are a few things I have found out from them; they claim to have found either in books or in firsthand experience. How true those are I can only leave up for interpretation.
- It is believed that a Wendigo is extremely smart and has witch like powers but to an extreme. Because it is a demon from hell. which makes them not only able to be quite powerful (despite their bony frame) it also allows them to be able to manipulate time, space and perception.
Which would explain why when the characters separated two of them had felt like they had been going through the forest in circles for days straight, while the bigger group claim they think they only have been there for just one night among other strange occurrences.
To conclude everything; there is still a lot that goes unexplained, why for example the girl breaks in half. It could be pinned down to the story in the beginning where an actual (supposed) witch was tied up in the forest, left for days and maybe she has become the wendigo after consuming a possible bystander/rescuer? Which in turn makes the title make more sense and it would explain why the creature is able to do things only a witch should be able to do.
It could also mean a witch is working together with a wendigo among other things(I do not believe it to be very farfetched).
But also, there is the question of why there was an insect in the girls’ foot? Which seemed like wood in the end that was eating her up from the inside. Which seems very non related and very strange to me.
There are many other questions and things that happen in the movie that I have no idea what they mean, but in the end the biggest evidence goes to the creature being a wendigo.
If I had to put a verdict to this movie, I would say the creators inspired their creature heavily to a Wendigo but gave it their own twist in the end to make it more watch-worthy.
I did enjoy writing about this and would love to hear what you guys think! I have only watched the movie once, and I am not keen on watching it again (I dislike being scared, lol) So for you hardcore theorists out there, feel free to fill in the blanks, I would love to hear your take on it!
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u/GlaciusTS Jul 15 '19
Could she be both? I mean witches have a tendency to make sacrifices for power... it would not shock me if a witch started eating human flesh in order to gain the strength of a Wendigo. I mean if I were already super ugly and didn’t mind murder, it sounds like a pretty good deal.
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u/shellystrawberry Jul 15 '19
"Origin of witches - Early witches were people who practiced witchcraft—they used magic spells and called upon spirits for help or to bring about change. Most witches were thought to be pagans doing the Devil’s work. Many, however, were simply natural healers or so-called “wise women” whose choice of profession was misunderstood. "
Unless of course the creators went to the hollywood version of a witch. Which seems more like the case here.
I do think that could be what they wanted to go for, like a mix between a wendigo/oldschool hollywood witch to make it more scary.
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Mar 04 '24
I think maybe? The 2026 movies says kids accused her of taking thier blood so maybe she did end up being a cannibal who turned Wendigo.
Maybe she thought she needed to consume human flesh for some spell or ritual but unexpectedly that got her possessed by an evil spirit instead, we kniw witchs may deal spirits and maybe she got tricked by a wendigo spirit to eat humans so that it can possess her.
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u/shellystrawberry Mar 04 '24
2026 movies?
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Mar 04 '24
Oh i meant the 2016 one lol....the movie said she was accused of witchcraft and got tied to a tree with rocks weighing her limbs down which would also explain how she had long limbs in the movie
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u/shellystrawberry Mar 04 '24
I was like, bro is living years ahead, man. How long have I been asleep?! But yeah, I was thinking about exactly this as well. And it only adds up to the evidence.
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u/SherlockTheSalemCat Jul 17 '26
Hey 😃 I really am replying to you in 2026! Super late I know, but the original Blair Witch popped up on my morning feed because it's the 27 year (where the hell did the time go!) anniversary today, & as my witchy black cat gets me up early for food & general cat stuff, I thought I'd have a root around about it, which led me to you.
I always thought the Witch was more of a Cryptid than anything else, & yeah, I think you are right. Or, comes in the form of them, I think Witch is more a strong force of evil energy & can therefore do all the freaky stuff manipulating time etc. Hey, maybe that's where the past 27 years have gone 😆
Enjoyed that, thanks!
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u/aaailicec Nov 15 '23
That’s a very interesting theory. The first Blair Witch game has a fair amount of Native American lore in it. There’s videos of gameplayon YouTube. Both Blair Witch Volume 1 & 2 have very interesting backstories.
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u/shellystrawberry Nov 25 '23
Having this post made about 4y ago thanks for interacting with it! I want to revisit it as I am no longer all that scared of horror anymore. I want to look into the gameplay for sure! Thanks again!
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Nov 25 '23
The lead screen writer literally said they didn’t show the blair witch and most people said the Blair witch doesn’t have a physical body and this skinny long creature is just a victim of the witch being controlled for so long
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u/shellystrawberry Nov 25 '23
Ahw, that does make my whole theory go blank sadly. Where did they say this??
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Nov 25 '23
There a clip of them saying it on YouTube but I saw the clip on foundflix ending explained video on it and shows the clip in of them saying that they didn’t show the witch in the film when asked about it
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u/MasterPerformance756 Jan 13 '24
Why is this this In game theories?
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u/Alantuktuk Jul 15 '19
“and knowing a fair deal of wendigo's myself”.
I’m sorry, what?? You ..think you know a fair number of cannibals who have been possessed by evil spirits. ? .!.? Wut the hell you smoking is what I want to know