The Binding of Isaac is a 2D top-down
rougelike (randomly-generated, if this is your first time seeing the term)
video game, developed by Edmund McMillen (of Super Meat Boy fame) and Florian
Himsl, where the player controls Isaac as he attempts to escape his murderous
mother. The game is influenced by the older Legend of Zelda games, with a
similar playstyle and presentation, and is inspired by the biblical story of
the same name, with a generous amount of liberties taken .
What makes the Binding of Isaac of interest
to us is that the game is steeped in symbolism, much of it related to dark,
mature themes, yet much of it is open to interpretation. The themes in this
game run the gamut, ranging from religion and the occult (in both positive and
negative lights) to child abuse, gender confusion, abortion, innocence, drug
use, and even suicide. Once again, I’m going to assume that you have at
least a working knowledge of the game’s story. To properly analyze the
cards, one should have at least a working knowledge of the game’s story and
themes, so the following recap will contain SPOILERS. If you don’t want the
story ruined, skip the next paragraph. In fact, it would be in your best
interests if you go play the game at least a little bit ( There’s a free demo
HERE (https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/581168))
before you proceed much further into
this blog, as I will be talking about most of the game’s content in one way or
another.
The game opens with “a voice from above”
telling Isaac’s mother that Isaac is corrupt with sin, to which she responds by
taking away everything he owns (including his clothes) and locking him in his
room to keep him from the evils of the world. The voice, still doubting Mom’s
devotion to Him, then tells Mom to sacrifice Isaac. When Isaac sees his mom
coming with a butcher’s knife (through a crack in the door), he frantically
searches his room for a way to escape, finding a trapdoor leading into the
basement. With no other way out and Mom at the door, Isaac leaps into the
darkness below. This part of the story is told through a series of drawings
Isaac has drawn while locked in his room, which is both an important point in
the story and a clue to the game’s intended symbolism. If you’re familiar with
the story of Abraham and Isaac from the Bible then you’ll probably think this ends
the same way, but that’s where things stop being so clear. The first time
through the game, the player is treated to more of Isaac’s drawing, this time
showing that as Mom closes in for the kill, she is stopped at the last minute
by a bit of divine intervention. As Isaac happily puts his newest picture on
the wall (one of Isaac standing on his defeated mother), his bedroom door is
slammed open, revealing Mom holding a knife for real. From there, each time a
player beats the game, they’re treated to a new ending (up to 13 different
endings), with the last few endings reveling Isaac’s view of himself as a
sinner, his possible suicide, and some Polaroids hinting at what happened to
his father and sister.
While that’s all well and good (and we will
most likely be referencing and going in depth with these plot points as we get to them), a massive
amount of the symbolism in the game, and on the tarot cards, comes from the
myriad items that Isaac finds on his journey through the basement and beyond.
The items come from multiple sources, including Christianity (both holy and
unholy items), various occult sources (including an in-game deck of Major
Arcana tarots), other video games, drug references, abortion, and child abuse.
Edmund Mcmillen himself has stated that many of the items were influenced by
his Christian upbringing, and he has even blogged this article (http://www.twinfinite.net/2012/10/01/big-sloppy-slomper-chompers/)
as being ““By far the most mind blowingly
accurate break down of the over arching meaning behind the binding of isaacs
ending.” High praise indeed. The article, in a nutshell, talks about
the overarching theme in Mcmillen’s games, that of a lonely, abused child
seeking an escape from this world into the world of fantasy, and TBOI is no
different. The majority of the game
takes place in Isaac’s imagination, with all of the monsters, items, and
characters (save for Isaac and Mom) merely being different aspects of Isaac’s
troubled mind. Nearly everything that Isaac dreams up has some kind of dark
twist to it. For example, some of the enemies would be nightmare inducing if
they weren’t drawn so cute, and items such as the wooden spoon clearly show
that Isaac has seen, and may be familiar with, physical abuse.
One very important element I want to mention
here is the other playable characters. First of all, they are ALL Isaac in wigs
and make-up, even the girls, Magdalene (called Maggy from here on out) and Eve,
and what they represent is up for interpretation and will probably determine
how you read the cards.
