F.E.A.R./WMG

Paxton Fettel is Jesus.
Think about it, he fits nearly all the criteria: Born of a virgin (Fettel was conceived by artificial insemination of a 15-year-old who had never been out of the sight of Harlan Wade's scientists), allowed himself to be killed by the servant of a powerful government, was reborn within three days, and now exhibits godlike powers.

The Pointman is a powerful psychic.
FEAR 2 showed us what a battle between two powerful psychics looks like (essentially a firefight on a weird Mind Screw psychic plane). FEAR 3 shows the Pointman taking part in one of these against The Creep, a powerful psychic manifestation, and a bunch of Psychic Commanders (unless those are apparitions created by and linked to the creep; unlikely as they were established as being enemies). With Fettel's help, he comes out victorious. The only way he could have done anything at all in that fight is if he was in some form a psychic.
 * I thought this was common knowledge.
 * Fear 3 shows that the Pointman was initially considered a failure for his utter lack of psychic ability. In the first game, Alma couldn't even connect to him like she did with Fettel. So there's some ambiguity there.

Alma, as of Project Origin, has become Self-aware.
In F.E.A.R. Alma existed mostly as a force of destruction, tormented by her pain and anguish, and lashing out at whatever she comes across, possibly without even realising exactly what she's doing. The only one's that seem even remotely safe are her sons, but even that's a stretch However, in a recent trailer/interview for F.E.A.R 2, Alma says "I know who I am", indicating she realizes her current state, as well as just what she's capable of. Exactly how this effects her actions has yet to be seen.
 * Project Origin indicates that this is less about becoming self-aware and more about realizing she is an adult now, with certain adult desires.

Alma is attempting to reincarnate Paxton Fettel.
Using  as the father so she can bear the child.
 * Unlikely, as the voice that says 'mommy' sounds distinctly female.
 * Not that unlikely.
 * While Fettel is all but absent in Project Origin (he is dead, remember?), the incoming DLC Reborn heavily imply that he is back and bent on destroying Alma. It's like they were reintegrating elements of Extraction point in the canon...
 * Jossed by the Reborn DLC:  Also made clear in the trailers for F.3.A.R.

Blowing up the Vault was exactly what Alma wanted.
Alma can directly influence what the Point Man is seeing or hearing. Its no stretch to say that affecting his mind into thinking that the Vault needed to be destroyed was her doing. Its not like blowing it up would slow her down, considering she's already dead. By obliterating the Vault, Alma's spirit is completely free to wreak havoc and vengeance.
 * Except that Alma was already released, and physical obstacles hardly seem to be a problem for her. Also, the first game reveals that one of the reasons that Point Man is unique is because Alma can't get into his mind, although she can cause hallucinations, she can't synchronize with him like she can/could with Fettel.

Alma is one of the Sadako clones from the end of Rasen
At the end of Rasen, 20,000 people have been impregnated with Sadako's DNA after reading the book. This was 1991. However, F.E.A.R. discovered this and began sytematically taking out the clones. One clone managed to survive long enough to develop her powers, but not enough to protect herself. In order to survive in some form, the clone send her DNA back in time, which happened to be implanted in Harlan Wade's wife.
 * Admittedly, this theory was first made before I realized the time discrepancies, and had to tweak to accommodate.

F.E.A.R. 3 is going to star the Point Man again.
It would be ripping off Resident Evil 3 somewhat. The Point Man wakes up after the events of Project Origin, having survived the crash with Holiday and Sun-Kwon. They have been trying to keep him safe while fighting it out in the ruins. Now it is up to the Point Man to defeat his rapidly aged undead half-brother and save the day.
 * Maybe not so wild, seeing as the text logs indicate Arestide's goons were aparently looking for the Point Man during the events of the second game.
 * This has been confirmed, but with some differences: Fettel is PM's battle partner, and the DC digital comic shows us that Holiday and PM disappeared from the helicopter crash site before Jin woke up, and then Alma appeared and melted the pilot. Holiday and Jin's whereabouts and activities are unknown at the moment, but the cinematic trailer shows PM being hunted by ATC forces and he doesn't appear to have any backup (of the human kind).

F.E.A.R. 3 will star both Beckett and Point Man.
Point Man will break Beckett out of the containment chamber, and they will both break through the fourth wall and attack Monolith as revenge for leaving them both in arbitrary cliffhanger endings.
 * You're half right, Point Man is one playable character, Fettel is the other. No news on Beckett in F3 yet.
 * Jossed.

F.E.A.R. 3 will star the newly resurrected Paxton Fettel
He will gather up his (real and 'adopted' brothers) Point Man and Beckett, forming a team of the three most powerful psychics around to do battle with Alma, the Clone Army and Alma's newly born Eldritch Abomination.
 * Paxton is the second, but he's not really resurrected. Looks like being able to function after death runs in the family.

The Point Man will die in the third game.
Being a child of Alma Wade, this will give him an effective power boost since he no longer has to haul around a fleshy carcass.
 * One of Point Man's unique attributes is that he is not psychically powerful like his brother or mother, which is why he couldn't be used like Fettel as a psychic commander. Although he has enhanced physical capabilities, his only psychic abilities seem to be passive (i.e. can feel/see certain events, Alma can't synchronize with him, and he has some odd talent for surviving explosions that should kill him and then standing back up for another round of marathon killing).

F.E.A.R. takes place in the same city as Condemned.
We never find out what city that game takes place in, though it is a big one. Monolith made both games. Both have protagonists that get psychic visions, and this would explain where Ethan Thomas gets them (besides the explanation given in Bloodshot). Armachan could be responsible for the devices from the second game, since both games take place Twenty Minutes Into the Future, and could also be part of the conspiracy.
 * To take it one step further, all of Monolith's games take place in the same continuity. Armacham is a tie to Shogo, obvious enough, Fairport uses the same subways that the non-specific city in Condemned uses... Only issue is where Blood fits in, other than in a spiritual successor kinda way.

Alma spends most of F.E.A.R. 2 flirting with Beckett
Despite the rest of Beckett's team being Harbinger candidates Beckett is acknowledged in game as the alpha male of psychics. Alma, hidden away from physical stimuli, best sees people as psychic signatures. She can differentiate between Pointman, Fettel, and the various Replicas, but normal people don't really register to her in a way she finds meaningful. Even at the end of F.E.A.R., although Alma can influence Fettel from a great distance away, she still has to physically see Harlan Wade before she grinds him into slushie cups.

As soon as Beckett steps into Genevive's trap and "goes green" as a telepath, Alma detects him and starts homing in on him. There are plenty of other men she runs into along the way, the most notable ones being the other members of Harbinger (Beckett's squad). However, those men don't interest her the same way Beckett does. Why? It's a basic survival instinct: pick the strongest mate available. To Alma, Beckett's strong psychic signature is a desirable trait in a man. And as the ghost of Harlan Wade [citation needed] is quick to point out: "She's a woman, and she doesn't even realize it."

However, because Alma has spent the majority of her life locked up in a tube underground she isn't socially adjusted or inhibited. When she wants something, she takes it; when something makes her angry, she destroys it. At the best of times she exhibits the low cunning associated with her base emotions, like her affection and defense of her sons.

Now, Alma's entire motivation in F.E.A.R. 2 is "Find Beckett; shag him." Most of the time she simply tries to exploit her overwhelmingly powerful brain powers, represented in the game by her trying to knock him down and put him on the rape train. However, Beckett is a sufficiently powerful telepath that these attempts are unsuccessful; he shoves her off him every time. This does not rebuff her. This just makes him more desirable. Who was the last person to mess with Alma who doesn't exist as a fine red mist?

Alma's strategy takes on subtler tones once Beckett's strength is made apparent. The first obvious indication of her interest is the adoption of her "sexy" form. She quite obviously presents herself to Beckett and changes his perception of her to something more pleasing, probably plucked from his own head and modified to her tastes. Once the "sexy" form is in place, she occasionally manifests images of herself to Beckett, sending him reminders that she still wants him. These images are sudden and fleeting. It isn't an accident that Alma shows up whenever there's a quiet moment: she's reminding Beckett that she's out there, she's available, ostensibly beautiful, and wants him.

Inadvertedly Beckett finds his way towards Alma, which is a bad idea on the grounds that she only gets more powerful the closer you are and she probably interpets this as returned interest. Still, he's just not interested enough. Why else would Beckett refuse Alma's advances, such as they are? So she attempts to use a time tested method of generating romantic interest: the Love Triangle.

The rest of the Harbinger team still have psychic potential. This is probably why Alma singles out the men of the squad but by and large leaves Stokes alone. The men on the Harbinger team all see images of Alma, and all of them emphasize with her on some level. Jandowski is perhaps the least romantic example, simply feeling some of Alma's anguish about her situation and wanting to hug her and tell her it's all right. (He also attempts to pass this duty on to Beckett just before he dies.)

Alma tries to lure several members of Harbinger away from the group, with varying degrees of success. It should be noted that every time she tries this great pains are taken to inform Beckett of what is happening. We know just who they're following, and it's likely that over time Beckett guesses as well. The most obvious example is Keegan, who becomes a recurring vision. But Alma's interest is vested in Beckett, correct?

Correct. Alma presumes that Beckett is playing hard to get, so what is she thinking when she starts picking off members of Harbinger? That Beckett will get jealous.

While perhaps Beckett doesn't appreciate the effort Alma is making, the player can note that whenever Alma is off playing with other members of Harbinger, as well as for the remainder of the game once Keegan is subverted by Alma, she is completely absent from Beckett's path. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all. At this point, Beckett is heading straight for Alma, so it's possible that she's playing hard to get in return in a petty bid for revenge against Beckett's earlier refusals. After all, once you've reached the final chamber, Alma comes back to pull out all the stops and get the rape train on Beckett's rail.

Even at the end, when Beckett is strapped into the machine, Keegan is fighting to keep Alma. Both of them are fighting in a mindscape linked between Beckett and Alma. Keegan has staked out a claim and wants Beckett out of his goddamn girlfriend. Even though Keegan has effectively "won" (he has been absorbed by Alma and now exists only as a psychic ghost in her head) his victory is hollow because he realizes he was being manipulated by Alma to attract Beckett. Consumed with his rage, he tries to Murder the Hypotenuse. Sadly, he realizes what a mistake this whole adventure has been at the end, but it's too late. Keegan dies, and Alma gets her man.

Perhaps Alma thinks Beckett will grow fond of her over time. Perhaps she thinks he'll take responsibility of his child. Perhaps she thinks that Victim Falls For Rapist is plausible. Either way, Alma has her prize. She simply isn't mature enough to realize that it's a hollow and horrible victory and relationship.

Extraction Point fits into the Monolith canon by way of being entirely or almost entirely a hallucination.
It would explain a lot of things, actually, for example the sometimes contradictory behaviour of Alma, the added emphasis on horror, Holiday and Jin's fates (an animated comic made to promote FEAR 2 implied they had died in the chopper crash), Fettel's reappearance, Norton's reappearance (which is completely random otherwise), the fact that the city is devoid of people, and perhaps most importantly the way the hospital shifts to clean and normal at the end when Betters regains contact with you. The fact that the city looked remarkably undestroyed throughout most of the game can also be explained away when you look at the same city in the ending credits, which is on fire.
 * Alma's been fairly insane in the series so far, that's why she sometimes acts in contradictory ways. The DC comic only showed the pilot dying, Holiday and PM were gone already, and it's not certain if Jin actually died in the DC comic, though it may be implied.
 * Extraction Point does indeed seem to contain multiple elements to suggest it's a Jacobs' Ladder style Dying Dream, with the Point Man, Holiday, Jin, and Fettel traveling through an out-of-phase purgatory after Alma brings down the helicopter.

FEAR 3 will have multiple endings.
The description from the game's website says that the Point Man will have to choose to side with the FEAR team, Paxton Fettel, or Alma and her newest child. However, unlike Bioshock, even the best ending will be horrific.
 * Well, it's not like the first two games had happy endings...
 * Multiple endings would be interesting, especially since it's not an RPG.

Alma didn't kill Beckett at the end of Project Origin
After "doing the grown folks" with Beckett, Alma didn't vaporize Beckett as she had with everyone else: rather, she calmly took his hand and placed it on her stomach, looking much less rage-filled and genocidal than usual. By that point in the game, she'd already had a single line of spoken dialogue ("Help me!"), and Beckett was operating on her psychic frequency. It could be assumed that she actually did absorb Beckett, but not in the "dead" absorbed sense. Rather, I believe that they came to some sort of understanding; Beckett realized that not only had she gained sentience, but was also a tragic figure: and in turn, Alma realizes that Beckett, by means of the player, had become sympathetic towards her. As such, she spared him, and may or may not return as a boss fight in F.E.A.R. 3.
 * When interviewed by Gamespot about F.3.A.R., a developer said there were five things he couldn't talk about, Becket was one of those.

Alma possessed Stokes and used her as a surrogate mother for her child
Because the ending just wasn't horrifying enough already. As a psychic mind ghost, Alma can't really create a new life with Beckett without a living woman to bear the child. So she possessed the wounded Stokes, manipulated Beckett so that he could only see Alma, and had Stokes conceive her child with Beckett. Essentially, she raped both of them. Yes, this means the child has three parents: a physical mother, a psychic ghost mother, and a father. Add in the Point Man and the undead Paxton Fettel possessing a clone (and at this point it wouldn't surprise me if Harlan Wade came back somehow too -- the Wades don't seem to let a little thing like death hinder them much) and you get the f'ed up family reunion that is F.E.A.R. 3.
 * The F3 trailers definitely show Alma giving birth, and the pain of it is causing the equivalent of psychic shockwaves, so I'd say it's unlikely. Even though she was dead for a time, that is apparently not a problem for her--she's Alma.
 * F3 indicates that  This implies that either Alma did create a physical body for herself, or that she may have possessed a body, and in doing so transformed said body to look like herself. Ultimately, it's not clear. As usual.
 * (and at this point it wouldn't surprise me if Harlan Wade came back somehow too — the Wades don't seem to let a little thing like death hinder them much) - Amusingly, this one is right on the money.

The entire game is an opium dream that a Vietnamese laborer is having while passed out in Haiphong in 1947.
After smoking a large amount of opium, a 27-year-old Vietnamese farm worker passes out and has a horrendously terrifying drug-induced dream, with random distortions of physics and nature. F.E.A.R. 4 (F.E.4.R?) will take place in the First Indochina War, will be an RPG, and will have absolutely no mention of anything that happened in any of the previous three games.

Harlan Wade did not die in F.E.A.R.
This is taking F.E.A.R. 3 into account, so end series spoilers:

tl;dr: Harlan Wade was the true Big Bad all along, not Alma.


 * This doesn't really jive with the character of Harlan Wade at the end of the first game. he doesn't act like some magnificent bastard who is manipulating events to his own ends. He is acting like a tired old man who is weighed down by guilt for his actions. Now, that said,  probably is attempting to do exactly what you're suggesting.

F.E.A.R. 4 will star Becket again.
Yeah, we know that, but   doesn't seem to slow down powerful psychics in this setting. If the next game has a co-op mode, Becket will be either the Point Man's or Fettel's support, possibly having a different skillset than either of the previous.

F.E.A.R. 4, if it is ever made, will be a clean break from the Alma/Pointman/Fettel plotline.
Because the ending of F.E.A.R. 3 does a reasonably decent job of wrapping up Alma's story, and is also the only game in the series not to end on an obvious cliffhanger. Sure, they could pick up where they left off in a 4th game, but it would start to seem like beating a dead horse at that point.

Instead, they could make a clean break in the 4th game and explore another aspect of the F.E.A.R. universe, such as an alternate story with more focus on the First Encounter Assault Recon organization itself. They could still use elements of the universe (Armacham could still play a role, since it now seems to be a global megacorp with potentially multiple dirty projects on the payroll), but let's have a new protagonist and a new, original mystery to explore instead of dealing with Alma again. This approach would probably be for the best anyway, seeing as how the franchise has transferred to a new developer.

The baby at the end of F.3.A.R. will end up being Alma reborn into the world, stronger than ever.
And she'll be the main protagonist of F.E.A.R. 4, where you finally get to play as FEAR herself.

Paxton Fettel isn't really back in F.3.A.R
Okay stick with me folks because this is a tricky one.

The long and short of it is that Paxton Fettle is actually Point Man's subconscious desires run amok rather than some sort of psychic after image of Paxton Fettle still influencing the real world. We know from the second game that despite Beckett supposedly being even more powerful than Fettle, only manifests his supposedly great psychic powers through being able to slow down those around him as opposed to being able to move things just by thinking about them or anything else out of the ordinary. Thus with that in mind, its entirely possible that the Point Man has some degree of psychic powers, they just haven't been properly manifested/trained.

Thus during the first game either when he has his run in with Alma or at some point in the nine months that followed it up, he begins to manifest his powers without even realizing it. The powers act on a primal subconscious level ("Gee, it sure would be nice if that gas tank lifted itself off the ground and and hurled itself against that Power Armor") and Point Man explains this away as believing that the psychic projection of his brother is helping him, when reality it's only his own base instincts combined with his psychic powers that are doing all the work.

That's why while when Alma projects herself from beyond the grave everyone can see her, nobody else in cut scenes at least can see or interact with Fettle, because he's not really there. Notice that as much as Fettle rants about how we're wasting time saving Jinn over and over again, he never does anything to harm her because it runs directly contrary to the Point Man's desires, with Beckkett, while Point Man needs to know what he knows about Alma, its not as if Beckett was a member of Point Man's squad so he subconsciously is okay with pulling the info right out of his head rather than trying to simply talk to him since time was of the essence and Beckett was clearly hardly in the mood to be forthcoming.

In the cut scene leading to the final level, we see the young Point Man join hands with young Alma after taking some time to think about it/notice she exists unlike Fettle. Symbolically this could stand for how while Point Man's psychic powers were weaker/buried at first, they've now grown/emerged to the point that he could be capable of synchronicity events with Alma just like Fettle was.

Also notice in the last level, all of the important flashbacks feature the Point Man or Point Man and Fettle. I think that point Man might not have been present for the flashback where Fettle is getting experimented on (need to replay level) but it wouldn't have been hard to get a general idea for what Fettle must have through given the machines present (and the fact that Point Man probably went through something similar at one point) but for Point Man we get a very personal memory of just him (him in the boxing ring) with an item to be destroyed that only Point Man could have possibly felt the significance of (the bucket) without something equally revealing for just Fettle.

That brings us to the final battle between the two of them, Fettle rather than being a ghost is really Point Man's subconscious, it's already see than he's willing to do some pretty nasty things to people who have no choice in the mater just to survive and faced with the decision between killing or saving Alma's child, Point Man is torn and his conscious mind is busy debating the issue so his subconscious strikes to try and take full control. If Point Man wins then he rallies and drives off his own primal evil and if he doesn't... then he doesn't.

Either way, Fettle himself could have nothing to do with it beyond being a cypher for Point Man's own darker side that he doesn't want to admit exists.

At least until the final cut scene where for the first time we see a lot of JUST Fettle in the cell whereas previously we'd typically seen both of them together or just Point Man by himself. One possible interpretation of this, is that the young child she just gave birth to is now the real Fettle's new host, for better or worse unlike the "fake Fettle" you've been dealing with the entire game.

Fettel is not a ghost. He's a manifestation like the Creep.
Fettel is not a ghost of the man that the Point Man killed. Rather, Fettel is a manfestation of all of the darker and twisted elements of the personality he possessed in life, given form by Alma's powers. In other words, exactly like the Creep. I don't think its coincidence that Fettel and the Creep manifested at roughly the same time and that both of them went after the Point Man. The difference is that the Creep is actively hostile because all of those memories and darker aspects of Harlan's personality were hostile toward the Point Man due to his perceived weaknesses, while Fettel desired a reunion of family members and was trying to "enlighten" his brother.

This helps explain the subtle but distinct differences between the Fettel in the first game and the Fettel in the third. He's not the same person, but rather just the ugliest parts of that person's personality given form and set loose.

Fettel possessed Foxtrot 813 just to reactivate the Variant VI replicas
By the time of Project Origin, we have some Variant VI Replicas (the ones from teh first game) who have been deactivated and no longer move, and lots of Variant VII Replicas, who have been (apparently unconsciounsly) activated by Alma. Fettel isn't able to control the VII Replicas, since they're already controlled by another psychic, so his only hope to have his own army of Replicas again is to reactivate the old VI Replicas, who won't obey anyone other than Fettel, the one who first activated.

But Fettel isn't able to control a batallion of Replicas merely as a ghost. He needs a physical body to do that. What does he do? He finds a VII Replica that he considers appropiate (Foxtrot 813) and possesses him, pretty much like he does all the time in F.E.A.R. 3. Once he has a body, he reactivates the VI Replicas, as it's shown in Extraction Point and Perseus Mandate.

However, all the remaining VI Replicas are exterminated, either by the Point Man, the Sergeant or the Nightcrawlers. Once there are no Replicas to command, Fettel doesn't need Foxtrot's body anymore, so he leaves the body, just as he does in F.E.A.R. 3. After that, he's again a mere ghost, just like he appaears in F.E.A.R. 3.

The Sergeant survives Perseus Mandate just because Alma has too much things to think about
In F.E.A.R., Alma's only motivation was to get Fettel to the Vault so that he could free her.

Once she's been released and this objective has been fulfilled, she has more things to deal. First is the Point Man, who is caught in the middle of a war against Replicas. Being her son, she obviously has to do something about it. Then there's Fettel, who has a plan to reborn involving Foxtrot 813, and Alma apparently doesn't like it, seeing as she repeatedly tries to kill Foxtrot. Then there's Becket, to whom she has some sexual desire. And finally, there's her want of revenge against Armacham, and that involves killing ATC guys, and also the Nightcrawlers, who are too much involved in Armacham's subjects now to just get out of it.

With all these things in priority, the Sergeant is just a secondary issue. Alma has more important things to deal. All of Alma's attacks in Perseus Mandate are just to try to get him off of subjects aren't about him. If she actually wanted him dead, he wouldn't have survived more than five minutes. Those visions about Chen are just a way Chen has to tell him to get out of there because Alma decides to deal about him.
 * Perseus Mandate and FEAR 2 and onward are in separate continuities.

Extraction Point, Perseus Mandate and the Reborn DLC are all canon.
Please allow me to explain.

Perseus Mandate is the easiest of the three to canonize, because very little (if anything) that occurs is contradicted by a later game. There's the matter of the sample of the Replica/Fettel's DNA that was given to the Senator, but that remains in government hands and is likely being saved for a rainy day.

Extraction Point features a strong contradiction to canon by including. However, one has to remember that the amount of hallucinations the Point Man was experiencing throughout Extraction Point. It could be that Alma decided to further demoralize him by showing a random corpse as that of. The real Jin was likely trapped somewhere nearby or wounded. Eventually, Jin was rescued and returned to active duty in FEAR, while the Point Man was eventually restrained and captured by Armacham soldiers, setting up the plot of the F 3 AR.

The Reborn DLC shows another contradiction by showing Fettel's psychic spirit possessing the body of Replica soldier Foxtrot 813, which does not make a reappearance in F 3 AR. This can be explained by examining Fettel's state of power since his initial death. After the Point Man killed Fettel at the end of the first game, he lived on as a psychic spirit that had enough power to appear in the flesh during Extraction Point and reactivate the Replica soldiers again. However, this drained Fettel's power considerably to the point where he could not interact with the mortal world as before. To this end, he began to lead Foxtrot 813 to him and eventually possessed his body at the end of the DLC. This allowed Fettel to interact with the world again and to regain his strength to the point where he became a spirit again to help the Point Man in F 3 AR. He may have also used Foxtrot 813's body to gather intel as to where the Point Man was being captured and to help him rescue, before discarding it when it had served its purpose.

And as for Norton Mapes, well, all those layers of fat could have easily stopped a bullet wound from doing any major damage. After patching himself up, he left the Vault and fled into the Auburn subway system. After narrowly escaping from the Point Man again, he either was viciously murdered by a Replica patrol or is on a tropical beach somewhere, sipping cocktails.