Clem's purpose for being in New Frontier
Obviously we know the Out of Universe (real reason) Clementine is in this game is to help sell the product (similar to why they put Hershel, Glenn, and Lilly into the first game).
In universe though they havn't completely given us a good reason for why she is in it. Wellington was supposedly in Ohio and the current game takes place in Virginia. So why did she go all the way from Ohio to Virginia after she left Wellington? Perhaps it was because she was much more familiar around the Virginia area since she had spent time around that vicinity of the country in season 2?
Hopefully they do give up a good in universe reason for why Clem is even in the game. I like Clem and like the fact that she is in it but at this point she does seem slightly shoe horned in just like Hershel and Glenn were in season 1.
Comments
It's partially explained in the 'Leave with Kenny' ending/epilogue. In the flashback, Kenny has decided to drive down south to Florida because it's warmer(what????) The car presumably crashes in or near Virginia. No idea about the other endings though.
A girl's gotta eat.
I have the Wellington ending and in it it just shows Wellington getting over run and Enid convincing Clem and AJ to leave. They run off into the woods and Enid is killed and then the flashback ends. No other explanation other than that.
She's in the game because telltale themselves have said that the TWD was always about clem. This is Javiers story but she's still centered around the plot.
Maybe because Clem is the most favored character in the whole TWD series? (cough ironic question cough)
Money. They'd have made more with her being playable but yeah.
Actually this is a different Lily then from the comics.
But she was supposed to be Lilly from the comics, they changed it later though.
Oh I didn't know that originally. At first I thought she was the same Lilly from the comics until someone told me she was confirmed to be a different person. Why did they decide to change it?
Got tired of being cold...decided to go back to the south...at Cincinnati...she took US 22...went to Pennsylvania...then took the 522 into Virginia..
Sent you a pm about her purpose...this forum has eaten two posts.
Oh I had a nice response to this and everything even a justification for being in the location...but then the forums ate it...so quick and dirty I will give you the how she got there...the why(subject to change) and the purpose of her character in the game.
Clementine is a pretty smart person...after leaving Howes or Wellington or Kenny's landing spot...or even being alone...she eventually stuck close to the highways...not on them but close enough so she could see the highway signs...it only makes sense that she would try to get back to places she is familiar with. We see them talking about the 522...so what exactly is the 522?
U.S. Route 522 (US 522) is a 308-mile (496 km) spur route of U.S. Route 22 in the eastern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 60 in Powhatan, Virginia. The northern terminus is at U.S. Route 11 and U.S. Route 15 in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. US 522 passes through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. US 522 is a part of the National Highway System from SR 37 near Winchester, Virginia north to Interstate 70 (I-70) in Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania and from the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) north to Selinsgrove
U.S. Route 22 (US 22) is a west–east route and is one of the original United States highways of 1926, running from Cincinnati, Ohio, at US 27, US 42, US 127, and US 52 to Newark, New Jersey, at U.S. Route 1/9 in the Newark Airport Interchange.[3] US 22 is named the "William Penn Highway" throughout most of Pennsylvania. In southwest Ohio, it overlaps with State Route 3 and is familiarly known as the 3C Highway, "22 and 3", and Montgomery Road.
A section of US 22 in Pennsylvania between New Alexandria at U.S. Route 119 and Harrisburg at Interstate 81 has been designated a part of Corridor M of the Appalachian Development Highway System.
So when talking about the Wellington or Kenny Endings it is easy to see that using US22 would lead Clem to the 522. If she stayed at Howes she could have easily traveled there.
The meeting up with the New Frontier...they seem to get around if we believe that they are the group that took down Wellington..I am not totally convinced of that yet..more like they reused models...however it can be assumed that they are sorta nomadic and travel to where the supplies are. It is inferred that destroying towns and wholesale murder are not things they did when Clem joined. But that soon changed and our Clem left...we can assume that she would not leave AJ with them(75% chance he is not with them upon her leaving..there is always a chance that she had no choice in the matter) But where ever he is...Clem is relatively close...which explains why she sticks close to Prescott(I looked it up there are no airfields I can find that are named Prescott outside of Arizona..probably was some local puddle jumper service/cargo point and named Prescott for reasons unknown) Prescott gives her a fall back position if things get hairy and supplies.
Now Clementine's purpose in the game other than she is fucking Clementine and we love that kid.
Imagine a graph line...now on one end we have Sarah...poor useless but lovable Sarah...kept perpetually innocent by Carlos, who refused to even teach her how to survive. Her group did everything to protect her...she was their princess. This act of love by the cabin group would have killed her eventually no matter what. She had no skills..no preparation..nothing. In the middle we have the Garcia kids..somewhat protected, but level headed and taught to avoid walkers and probably being shown how to do things slowly but gradually by Javi and Kate. Best case for them would be that they keep their sweet natures while being able to function in the zombie apocalypse...worst case..something happens to Kate and Javi. the kids do not have all the skills they need their chances of surviving my be at most 30%...and that's if they find a town like Prescott...but they have a chance unlike Sarah. Then there is Clementine...she has learned many good survival skills over the years, but loss of loved ones has led her to live life like Jane...ultimately this life could very well kill her. Being alone is the worst thing for Clementine...it hardens the heart, she loses her kind nature. I have no doubt she could kill any one of us...but walkers do not fear badass skills and they like to swarm...eventually her solitude will kill her.
The games have pointed out some clear things..to survive you need to know skills...but you also need to have people you can rely on as well. Her purpose in the game is to point out that family and friendship will win out over cynicism and brute force. Also part of the objective in my mind is to help her find her humanity and the game may very well be using AJ as a symbolic avatar of her journey back from the abyss of becoming a monster. Javier and his family need her as much as she needs them...she acts as the cautionary tale that it is easy to become a monster when all you do is fight them. Children need love to thrive. And we know from previous season Clem has a huge heart...but how long can she continue as a loner without becoming a feral beast. Look at her reaction to killing Eli...he was always going to piss off the wrong person and end up dead...but while Clem did not mean to, she is not horrified by what happened. She has lost part of her humanity and it is a race against time to see if we can help her gain it back and get her to trust others again.(Of course typing this I now feel like a bigger asshole for agreeing with Conrad's plan.)
Oh my Gerrdd...that was a long winded block of text...I hope it even makes sense to you.
I would say that Clem got tired of the cold....decided to head to an area she knows better or at least is warmer...ran into the NF at some point on her journey.
Only thing we do not know is where Prescott is...if the journey to Richmond takes some hours we could be in southern Ohio...Pennsylvania...West Virginia...Maryland...northern Tennessee North Carolina or South Carolina....but we can narrow it down.
U.S. Route 522 (US 522) is a 308-mile (496 km) spur route of U.S. Route 22 in the eastern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 60 in Powhatan, Virginia. The northern terminus is at U.S. Route 11 and U.S. Route 15 in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. US 522 passes through the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. US 522 is a part of the National Highway System from SR 37 near Winchester, Virginia north to Interstate 70 (I-70) in Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania and from the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) north to Selinsgrove.[2]
The likelihood is that Clementine kept close to highways or at least kept them in sight as an easy way of leading her back to places she is familiar with.
So for whatever reason...she separated from the New Frontier who may have been a nomadic group...also left AJ somewhere..with persons unknown...but apparently in Richmond or there abouts.
Now as for her purpose...well she is fucking Clementine....but you want more.
Clementine is used as a counterpoint to the idea of a family being able to stick together. The Garcia clan have kept the children relatively protected...the kids understand the world they live in, but seem to only know how to avoid trouble...I am guessing that Javier and Kate did most of the fighting and scrounging early on. The kids are..kids. Mariana is still a sweet natured child...and Gave...well...teenagers...they think they know everything.
Think of it as a line that starts with ultra protected and doomed Sarah....the Garcia kids are on the line less than halfway...not so innocent but not been fully trained to fight walkers....then there is Clementine...she has had to give up being a child or even a teen. Her views on death have become so numbed that killing Eli while regrettable bothers her very little. Her experiences has taught her the Jane method of coping with the apocalypse...join no groups and form no attachment.
This season may be viewed as a fight for Clementine's soul in a way...from a narrative perspective we ask...is she too far gone and if not...can she find happiness and trust again.
Well, if you stay in Wellington, it's the NF that attacks Wellington. S2 takes place in VA so it would make sense that she would decide to go back to VA after Wellington falls. If you're with Kenny, you're making your way to FL, so i can see why they might drive back through VA to do so. If you're with Jane you're always in VA.
As far as the NF goes, it makes sense that she would join the group for the best of Aj. The real questions for me are (1) what caused her to want to leave the NF and (2) where the hell is Aj. (3) what was in Richmond that Clem wanted b4 she finds out that New Richmond has been taken over.
1)She probably wanted to leave because she saw Carver in ***** and wanted no part in taking things by force and killing anyone without a moment's notice
2)AJ is probably in the hands of The New Frontier
3)Maybe a close friend of hers that she knew wouldn't agree with them (Christa?) or AJ
Well said, the highway logic does make a lot of sense. Clementines character is also something I have a similar view of. We've been with her for two seasons, 4 years in this world, she's so young and she's lost just about everyone, or everyone, that's cared about her and she's cared for. The people that took her in to protect her, people she wanted to protect and loved. Talking to her in episode 2 in the tow truck area made her come off as someone convinced no matter what, people eventually lose who they care about. She's taken the pain she felt losing these people more to heart than the joy she found with them, and she's emotionally shutting down to protect herself from that.
There's a few situations with Javier and the group that indicates she's not at that point, she softened for just a few seconds when Javier asks her to stick with him and his group, and telling him why she doesn't want to be seen by the NF when they're almost at Richmond instead of simply leaving shows some trust. The grave, candy bar, not leaving him handcuffed on the side of the road, she had a car when she dropped him off at Prescott and didn't take off when he got out. I do think her story this season may culminate with her ability to rely on other people rather than think of those relationships as ultimately ending in causing more pain.
damn man, that shit got deep at the end. If TellTale is actually gonna go into the depth you went into then I think season 3 will be fine
Because of a book called Road to Woodbury. In it, Lilly Caul is featured as a major character and has a backstory different from the game versions, thus causing Telltale to retroactively consider Lilly an original character that went off to parts unknown.
I agree I kinda hope that's how season 3 turns out now.
If you're with Kenny, you're heading to FL. It's safe to assume that the car accident was in VA.
If you're with Jane or alone and not in Wellington you're always in VA as S2 takes place in VA.
Now if if you're in Wellington, it would make sense that Clem would choose to go back to VA since she knows the area and better. She could've decided to maybe try and find Howe's Hardware or maybe even go back to the ski lodge or cabin in the woods. Or maybe Clementine thought that traveling somewhere warmer would be best for Aj, so after Wellington falls she decides to go back down South.
But considering that the NF attacks Wellington, we know thathat the group is large if they were in OH and VA.