ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the central themes of the book by focusing on episodes 3–5 of Death Stranding. Fragile’s story focuses on a vile act of violence perpetrated on her by her former lover Higgs, who also functions as one of the game’s antagonists. Higgs’s actions against her also result in her being falsely blamed for a terrorist attack, making her an outcast and a pariah. Clifford’s story centers on his nightmarish Beach, an interconnected series of battlefields filled with violence and suffering. These warscapes are a manifestation of guilt over losing his son—Bridget Strand kidnapped the fetus for her Bridge Baby program—and Clifford’s desire to somehow be reunited with his lost child. Mama’s story also focuses on the loss of a child, as she was caught in a terrorist bombing while waiting at the hospital to deliver her baby. Due to the trauma, Mama remains connected to the spectral baby, now a BT, via an umbilical cord. Neither she nor the baby can move on tethered in this way, and the only way forward is for Sam to help her physically sever this cord.
