Fan theory hints at 'Death Stranding' spoilers: how 'strands' work

A new theory regarding Hideo Kojima’s upcoming video game “Death Stranding” has surfaced. This time around, it delves into how ‘strands’ work and how they may affect the characters in the story. As detailed in a previous Wired interview, strands in the game refer to an aspect of psychology and thus reveals how the Kojima Productions project will focus on connections between characters. In the context of this theory, the strands shared by characters may be affected by the nature of each individual. This is evidenced by Mads Mikkelsen’s character in the game, particularly with a slight change in his design as shown in the game’s trailer.

As Redditor glasese points out, it seems as if Mikkelsen’s character changes his eye colour in the middle of the “Death Stranding” trailer. The notable change takes place after Mikkelsen comes in contact with a doll, which may have alluded to the character portrayed by “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus. It can be recalled that the previous reveal trailer for the game showed a nude Reedus encountering an infant washed ashore.

Some fans have suggested that Mikkelsen’s character may be controlled by Reedus via a particular strand or connection, which in this case is the doll. This is further interpreted through the similarities between Reedus’ character and the doll in question: both share blue eyes.

It may be a far-off theory at this point in time, but the pieces somehow fit together when all theory details are taken into account. However, some fans would argue that the change in eye colour for Mikkelsen was merely a trick of the eye in that the suggested change was simply the effect of a change in lighting. While this may be the case, glasese argues that the same situation applied to a former Kojima game called “Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.”

In “The Phantom Pain,” it was the mere difference between blue and green eyes that distinguished the character Venom Snake and how he wasn’t actually the true Big Boss. Such a detail had been pointed out even before the game’s release, so perhaps current fan theories for “Death Stranding” aren’t as baseless as one might assume.

Kojima himself has yet to address such a theory (as well as rumours, such as the one that hints “La La Land” actress Emma Stone may be joining the game’s cast of characters), so fans continue to wait and formulate other possibilities on what could be expected by the upcoming game.