The ending fits with either character's fairy tale
Wow, I didn't see that twist coming, and whichever interpretation you take can fit with either of the characters' fairy tales:
Faith
- in Allerleirauh/Donkeyskin, the girl disguises herself in a coat to escape the king. She becomes a maid at a different castle, and slips her ring into the prince's meal to show her interest in him. [back in Episode 1 Bigby finds a ring in the mouth of Faith's severed head]
Nerissa
- In the Little Mermaid, the mermaid changes her appearance but is unable to communicate her plight to anyone because of the witch's enchantment. [Nerissa couldn't tell anyone her plan because of the ribbon and she was triple crossing everyone]
Logically I think it makes sense that it was Nerissa all along and we never met Faith; but poetically I prefer the interpretation that it was always Faith.
Comments
Well said! Telltale sure does have good writers. The ending is so ambiguous. It seems like it could be that Nerissa was disguised as Faith in the beginning or that Faith somehow escaped her murder by switching identities and was disguised as Nerissa the whole time.
This is sort of where I'm landing. I see both of the current theories as quite plausible, and both fitting with the backstories of the characters, so I'm thinking Telltale didn't intend for there to be a truly correct answer to this. The story was wrapped up as far as dealing with the culprits was concerned and the ending just provides a tidbit for players to mull over.
Another thing I just realised: at the end of the original Little Mermaid she chooses to die rather than kill the prince and regain mermaid-hood. She jumps off the prince's ship and her body dissolves into sea foam.
Allerleirauh gets a happy ending with her new prince hubby.
I think that clears up a lot of ambiguity about the ending...
Another thing to note, the final statistics at the end of the game has in big red letters "Deceased" over Faith's picture. So maybe that clears up some ambiguity too? This is still a little confusing...