Hoffman*SPOILERS*

[RoseDoll]

Any theories as to whether Hoffman really did hurt any of the kids?

[ThePrincessWendy]

I'd certainly like to think not. He always was a bit creepy, but I just can't imagine him doing the things implied in the game! It was probably just silly Jennifer's imagination getting the best of her and nothing more.

[avidgamer77]

Since all of Hoffman's doings are captured inside Jennifer's dreams, there is still a possibility that some or most of them are part of her memories, maybe what she had seen through the keyhole did happen, or the way Hoffman caressed Diana was actually what she witnessed at the scene (she did see Diana getting punished after Hoffman's fish disappeared). Even though his personal diary doesn't seem to imply any of his flings, he could choose not to write them down as he knew the children like to intrude on his privacy like his doodling on his painting and borrowing of wares, but I still didn't know whether the Hee-ya calls by Clara and her puking are attributed to her imagination gone wild.

[PrincessJennifer]

And in the Once Upon a Time... chapter, Jennifer reads in his diary on him carrying Clara to bed after she fell asleep while helping him. She then says how it has "seemed so scary then". I think she just let her imagination get away from her.

[RoseDoll]

But what about with Diana?

[PrincessJennifer]

With Diana, I think it was more of Jen overexagerrating. Diana was no doubt upset when she got blamed for what Meg and Eleanor did with the fish. Hoffman probably reacted differently, but Jennifer was frightened and surprised by Diana's tears and thought she saw something else?

[avidgamer77]

I think when Jennifer was commenting on "how it seemed so scary at the time", I think she is referring to the entire sequence in the Mermaid's room and the imps that attack her are part of her imagination, as to Hoffman's other "activities", could they be refreshed from her memory?

[PrincessJennifer]

But she says it after reading the thing about Clara, so it would seem to be that she was saying it about. I really don't think he did anything.

[Stray Dog]

Doesn't this thing seems too like a constrainment to you ? The way Hoffman touched Diana, the way he touched Jennifer herself during the boss battle (Although I know that he never cared about Jennifer in THAT sense), could they all be a blur ? She filled the holes in her mind, maybe. But why would she have associated the image of a professor, even if he's strict professor, to that of a pedophile ? She was afraid of him, of course, because of his severity; but the way he treated Clara (Well, Clara was the nurse, why would he have ordered her to clean in the Sick Room in front of him, locking the door ?), the way he touched Diana (And that's not a case if they're the older girls), what he wrote in his diary (Oh, come on ... he took her to her bed. Thinking that the image/memory of something wrote usually is not modified by the mind - I talked with a psychologist about this fact :° - would you really think that it was just because he was worried about her ? :°°°) ... Too many clues for a big mental allucination.

I think your example about Clara and Hoffman is right, but we're talkin' about 'images'. I repeat, and I hope I'm not boring you, that certain images are not the result of a mental association, just because they're too ... I can't find the word ... well, definite (Sounds pretty good). Maybe too singular (This one's better).

And that's not all. I also think Clara, because of what she endured since she was a child, felt a sort of twisted love for Hoffman. She wanted to remain in the orphanage with him, in spite of everything. She went away only a bit after Hoffman went away. I think that's because she had to realize she was .. 'free'.

Anyway, this IS a theory, but about my "Hoffman = Pedophile" theory ... I'm afraid to say so, but it's not like when you convinced me about Gregory's innocence (I was blind -.-). I'm absolutely sure about that. <-- Sure about my theory :°

I copied all here. Sorry. :°

[PrincessJennifer]

Jennifer was a pretty young girl while at the orphanage, and she had no memories prior to being with Gregory. We don't know what she learned or read about or what the other orphans told her there. Suppose one of the other orphans had been a victim of such abuse prior to coming to the orphanage and Jennifer had been told about this-maybe as one of the reasons she should dislike adults, assuming the girls were trying to convince her all adults are evil. If that were the case, she might start assuming that all adults have evil intentions towards children in some shape or form. All she sees is Clara cleaning for Mr. Hoffman and acting scary AKA acting like an adult. She does not see anything that should really make her think he was doing something bad to her. Judging by what she says after reading that section of the diary that discusses Hoffman taking Clara and putting her in bed, she comments that "it seemed so scary at the time", which would suggest that now it didn't and she might have been mistaken.

[avidgamer77]

Whether those images behind the door or Hoffman caressing Diana have been formulated in Jennifer's mind as pertaining to her memory or otherwise are still questionable imo (judging from those details, but the sequences in the Mermaid's room appear to be more vague and symbolic by comparison), but considering how violent, twisted and perversive her thoughts/dreams are, it seems Jennifer may look demure on the outside, but sth sinister is lurking inside her? I wonder what has she been experiencing ever since she left the orphanage.

[PrincessJennifer]

The cruel world we are all experiencing...but without the comfort of video games! Could that be the answer to it all?!

[Azure Princess]

LOL. Could be.

But I do think that Hoffman was in fact, sexually abusing Clara and maybe Diana. But isn't it that when he talks over the PA system, he always says those he likes best? I noticed Diana was first but Clara was like, 5th or 6th or something like that.

What does that mean?

[PrincessJennifer]

We should create a seperate topic for the whole PA system thing, as that is intriguing. He does seem to like Clara, and she seems to be the most well-behaved and everything, so it seems strange she is called so late.

[Stray Dog]

admin said:

Jennifer was a pretty young girl while at the orphanage, and she had no memories prior to being with Gregory. We don't know what she learned or read about or what the other orphans told her there. Suppose one of the other orphans had been a victim of such abuse prior to coming to the orphanage and Jennifer had been told about this-maybe as one of the reasons she should dislike adults, assuming the girls were trying to convince her all adults are evil. If that were the case, she might start assuming that all adults have evil intentions towards children in some shape or form. All she sees is Clara cleaning for Mr. Hoffman and acting scary AKA acting like an adult. She does not see anything that should really make her think he was doing something bad to her. Judging by what she says after reading that section of the diary that discusses Hoffman taking Clara and putting her in bed, she comments that "it seemed so scary at the time", which would suggest that now it didn't and she might have been mistaken.

Well, we may suppose that she learnt about pedophilia in the orphanage, before the period of the orphanage or even after. But that's not the point ... Collocating the base of all your theory in her comment after reading Hoffman's Diary, we could say a LOT of things, we could consider an infinite number of places or moments in which she learnt that damn word. I don't think we can destroy all the images we saw in the game just because of a single phrase (even if in Rule of Rose phrases can really destroy any theory :°), a phrase that is easy to misunderstood. She feared the adults, first of all Hoffman, of course; that sentence is about what she felt back THEN, when she was a child: "he seemed so scary at the time", just because he was an adult. But no more now, because also Jennifer is an adult, and she finally understand what it means. She's no longer a kid, she doesn't live anymore in 'the magic world of all children', a different world. I repeat I think it's a constrainment to want to attribute at all costs to this sentence the meaning: "Oh, and I just thought he was a pedophile, how silly I was :°". I think my conclusions are truly simplier, more direct and less factitious.

Another thing, and I'm sorry because I think I'm repeating the same concepts again and again but ... certain images are too clear to be misunderstood. Talkin' about your last example, you said that when she saw Clara cleaning the Sick Room in front of Hoffman, she thought the only thing a child would think about it, viz that Hoffman was doing something bad and Clara seemed scary because she was with another adult: I agree with this, but that's not all. The inconscious of people works just like a camera or a recorder, recording fragments of memory which we can't consciously view. So we can deduce that what we saw in the Sick Room and in the Mermaid Room (After the Boss battle), are surely something she saw. According to this, we can actually examinate the 'truth' ... and examinating it, I finally deduce that he WAS a pedophile, because his attitude is simply too harassing.
You said 'All she sees is Clara cleaning for Mr. Hoffman' ... Well, am I the only one who sees in this image something suspicious ? But it's not just this ... there are a lot of images which could give us only a single idea about him.
Moreover, if you're going to tell me that the influence of the 'pedophilia' in her world has caused the mental modification of what she truly saw, I'm afraid I'll disagree. In the first place, because there are also written proofs, like his diary itself, and I've already said that the memory of something written can't be modified. In the second place, because those images show a side of the pedophilia that is really improbable to understand without seeing or living that horror.
If you wanna say that she lived other experiences on that matter and then associated the image of any molester to Hoffman, I can't deny it. But ... is there something which makes probable this theory ? I don't think so. And without a solid base, it's impossible to go on further.