DoubleThink said:
Erk, difficult question thread.
At first I thought it was somebody else talking. It just doesn't seem to make much sense... if Ballos' soul had been freed, why would he be in so much pain? I thought that was the plot-point of Hell in the first place. And why is it so hot wherever he is? And if it was him crushing the walls, why would he be talking about how much pain he was in instead of taunting them or something? It doesn't make sense that it would be anybody else really, but the dialogue just doesn't seem to fit.
Dratted ambiguity.
I think that was Ballos' dialogue in the end.
Recall when the Doctor turned into the red mist, and came to visit Misery...
"You shall not escape..."
Wasn't that in the same format as Ballos'
"It hurts..."
"So... Hot... The pain..."
"Help me... It hurts... So hot..."
That way of displaying text was only used those two times in the whole game right?
Let's see... Assuming it was actually Ballos talking, what would that mean...
If like when the Doctor died, how he turned into the red mist, let's say Ballos survived death and became something else. We know that this final form allows them to retain sanity like the Doctor was able to.
So Ballos has been trapped in a raging state for ages upon ages, and now after all this time his sanity Returns, allowing him to try to process what has happened; also remembering what he did. Finally, let's add in the fact he is actually a good guy; although what his magic well killed off his whole kingdom.
If he's back in control now, what would he do. He wanted Quote and Curly to kill him, and that didn't even work.
The trick is... if you believe this is the end of Ballos; then maybe now that Ballos is in that non-corpreal form without a body [as the doctor was before he took the core], maybe the dead dragged him to his final death, or encased him in a grave?
If you believe this is just the beginning... Ballos' seal chamber may not hold him any longer. He's probably tragically insane, and maybe he caused the chamber to close in on you without even thinking... Or perhaps he was taking all of the skeletons to create a new terrible form? The Seal Chamber would become a place for Ballos' rebirth...
I am kind of at odds with this... First off how and why did all the dead end up in Ballos' chamber. I mean it seems a little odd, are they for Ballos' mad amusement or to remind him? Are they to seal Ballos? Are they for Ballos' rebirth...?
So back to the thread question : Did Ballos really die??
I believe he was alive as he said his lines, "So... Hot..." etc
But the question is, Was the seal chamber designed with the fact in mind that once Ballos' body dies, would his spirit or his non-corpreal form would be dealt with as well? Could Jenka foresee and do something about this turn of events?