Umineko Goat Solves: Five Little Pigs Book 1
Hello, World!
GOATkigenyo, it is I, T. Sheeple. (totally not Author-kun in a skinsuit)
I think that Umineko is the greatest mystery ever written. Taught me a lot about writing and how to solve mysteries. I always wanted to write something that ran on Umineko rules but it was a tough ask even with my writing skills.
UNTIL.
I got recommended Agatha Christie's "Five Little Pigs" recently. And it was such a trip because when I started reading it, I could tell straight away Agatha Christie's big influence on Ryukishi's writing of Umineko. I don't really read a lot of old detective stories, I always was a Detective Conan kind of guy, despite how absurd all the solutions look.
So I thought to myself: Can I solve this mystery using the rules, tools, and logic that Ryukishi provided in solving Umineko?
UMINEKO
Ah... For many people you have never read Umineko. That's understandable, its a nearly 1.2 million word read, and even then it is quite possible after eight books, many of you are still wearing goat masks and still wouldn't understand the phrase "Without love, it cannot be seen."
In any case, Umineko is a mystery visual novel about a family gathering on a secluded island gone wrong and a witch starts killing the Ushiromiya family members one by one until there were none. Very clearly Agatha Christie inspired. Its a story about gold, love, and magic that doesn't need to be explained.
In particular there are a few things of interest to me, as a writer, in Umineko,
1) Solving for the Heart
A really big theme of Umineko is "heart". Solving for "heart" is different from solving for the "mystery".
It asks: what is the core of the story? What is the foundational pillar that the story rests upon? In Umineko, its "Without love, it cannot be seen." Umineko's mysteries are dead, there is a best and intended solution to them, though I believe Ryukishi played a gigantic trick on us readers by keeping the heart hidden. (wedding theory isREAL)
And I like that, it has spawned a lot of entertaining stories like Rosatrice, Magical Golden Chef Godha. I have my own theory on what went down on Rokkenjima those fateful days, but it is really difficult to understand without understanding the heart of the author.
I think there is a certain way that the author intends us to read a story. They wouldn't put in all those little jokes and references if that wasn't so. In fact, in Umineko Ryukishi rubs it completely in your face until you reach the golden truth, the heart of the story. Once you understand "Without love, it cannot be seen.", you'll probably laugh as much as I do on Umineko rereads.
Similarly, since Agatha Christie directly inspired Umineko's writing, I think it should be possible to trace the Author's intent from start to finish.
Of course, I will state here I have never read Five Little Pigs before, I could be completely bamboozled and start shouting CHRISSSSSStie by the end of the books, but hey, it is a learning experience.
So instead of solving for mystery, I'll look at Five Little Pigs more from an Author's point of view, and also from the point of view of someone who has reached the golden land. I'll try my best and pick up on the heart of the author and the little clues she leaves behind.
2) Red Truth/ Blue Truth
The other really unique part of Umineko is the Red Truth/Blue truth system. You might have seen this in Ben Shapiro memes every now and then, but in essence, it is a truth-seeking system that cuts away at useless things in a mystery novel.
For starters, things that are stated in Red are always true. For example, if I say state in red, Madison is always right! It is taken for a fact inside the story that Madison is always right!. To violate the red is to also violate the heart of the story, a sure sign of bad or indecisive writing. Of course, there is always a sort of wordplay involved and you can twist the red in really wicked ways, but I'm here to solve a mystery, not play intellectual SM.
So I'll try and look out for themes, motifs and clues that are repeated inside Five Little Pigs and note them down in Red. These are things which I think are highly likely to be true since they are corroborated by multiple witnesses.
You might ask, well if things which are stated in red are true, what's stopping the author from filling the book with red "herrings"? That's where the blue truth comes in.
Things which are stated in blue represent possible reasonings. Or theories if you will. In solving Five Little Pigs, I will note down theories the characters inside the book propose, and note my own reasonings in blue. In general, the blue truth can be used to cut down the red truth, or directly disprove it/ expose a contradiction within.
For example, Madison is always right! But Madison cannot be right about things that she doesn't know about! Therefore, it is possible to trick Madison into believing something wrong if she has no knowledge about the subject! For instance, she has no idea what the difference between a 'futon' and 'fukou' is! Therefore, she would not be able to tell the difference between the two!
You can also construct reasoning for mysteries like this. For example, Wesker was the killer! He was the only person who could have known the location of S.T.A.R.S at that moment! Therefore, he is in the best position to lure the T-Zombie to their location!
Something like that.
I've always wanted to write a story which relies on the Red Truth/ Blue Truth system, and it has only been recently that I really sat down to try and really think about how it would work. This is part of me exploring how to present this in a visual novel, or a Motion Nouvelle.
Don't worry if you are confused, I'll be sharing my complete notes on Five Little Pigs, Book 1 here, so you'll see what I mean soon enough. I found that Agatha Christie's Five Little Pigs really fit very well into the Red Truth/ Blue Truth system.
In essence, I would like to do two things. I would like to solve Five Little Pigs by
1) following the heart of the story,
2) use the Red/Truth/Blue Truth system to determine facts from fiction in Five Little Pigs.
About Five Little Pigs
Five Little Pigs is a case about a detective who is requested to reopen the cat box of the murder case of Amyas Crale. The courts have shown that the wife, Caroline Crale, did it, but on her deathbed, she sends a letter to her daughter claiming she is innocent. Can the detective Poirot figure out what is going on sixteen years after the fact?
Five Little Pigs is divided into three books, and for now, I'm covering the first book, which is divided into ten chapters. The first five chapters deal with Poirot looking up the prosecutors and defenders who were involved in the case, and the later five chapters Poirot goes to visit the suspects, procuring a testimony from them each in turn.
From here onwards, I'll be sharing with you my actual notes I made while reading Five Little Pigs. I strongly suggest reading book 1 first, because as I like to say, a mystery is best enjoyed when you solve it for yourself.
FULL NOTES ON FIVE LITTLE PIGS BOOK 1 HERE
t. Sheeple
HouseDelaroux.com
