Derham points out that most people have some sort of internal monologue active when we are spoken to, but it is usually not in the foreground or audible: “Imagine if you had every time someone spoke to you Talking to them, this constant commentary about what they’re saying, maybe even arguing about the meaning. Every time Senua meets a new character, the voices will respond.”
Fletcher underscores this by describing a major step in understanding psychosis from a research perspective that revolves around the meaning of experiences for people with psychosis. It’s not just neural noise – the experiences are constructed in the same way we all construct our reality.
“What’s the most exciting thing for me?” Hellblade II is the growing interest in people being able to maintain two levels of reality,” says Fletcher. “Senua has the darkness and the voices, but at the same time she can also recognize other people’s constructions and be part of them.”
“Senua has the darkness and the voices, but at the same time she can also recognize other people’s constructions and be part of them.”
Professor Paul Fletcher
Senua’s willingness to be part of other people’s stories – as we briefly mentioned in connection with her decision to save someone stranger to her – also shows another aspect of how she leaves behind certain experiences that so isolate her have made.
“Her psychosis had affected her relationships with other people to the point that she was tired and withdrawn from the world,” says Derham. “What we’re showing now is that she’s starting to overcome that depending on who she meets, and we’re showing that her perspective is just as valuable as anyone else’s.”
“Some people will react to her with harshness or horror, but others will see her differently and she will find common ground and share positive experiences with them. It’s really exciting to see Senua explore these interpersonal dynamics and relationships with other characters and how she can help them.”
