So yeah,  just finished the game. didn't get a chance to play it yesterday (european release date) so spent pretty much all day today playing it. 
 What are peoples thoughts about the ending? 

I didn't really get it, he stabs some old women with a key or something and it explodes with light. Then he rewrites the ending, and dives in after his wife and she swims up and he's disappeared. Then he says a line at his type writer as if it's a big reveal like citizen kane or something. "It's not a lake, it's an ocean" (I didn't get it, someone explain please), and someone shouts at him to wake up. I didn't really follow the story much, just seemed like nonsense generic horror tropes with light and darkness. Can you explain it better to me? I didnt listen to any of the manuscript pages, and tbh I couldn't explain the story to someone other than "it was all a nightmare".

Haven't played it yet, but does that mean the whole "it was all a dream" thing I heard months ago was true?
 
That is fucking hilarious. gg, Remedy.

" Haven't played it yet, but does that mean the whole "it was all a dream" thing I heard months ago was true? That is fucking hilarious. gg, Remedy. "

Well, the way i figured it out was that Alan in order to save his wife had to sacrifice himself, so now, he's stuck in bottom of  the lake. 
"It's not a lake, it's an ocean" -  Maybe the lake is connected to an ocean, and since our planet is pretty much covered with oceans, i'd say it pretty much  gives the "darkness"  access to take over the world. 

I got that he had sacrificed himself for Alice but the "it's not a lake it's a ocean.............WAKE UP ALAN!" threw me a bit. 
Also is Rose the new light lady? Wut? 
 
Also having Space oddity start up with the credits was pretty damn awesome

Oskari Hakkinen from Remedy has stated that there is going to be a second Alan Wake and that in the first DLC you will play from a different perspective. Also, i thought the ending was awsome.
 
Source:  
http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2010/05/13/alan-wake-dlc-dated-and-detailed/ 

I think the 'Its not a lake its an ocean' line is saying that the evil is much greater than Alan realized, since it seems to originate from the lake in the game - but in reality the whole situation is much worse.
 
In other words, its an overly elaborate way of saying "To be continued..."

So, here's some of my current thoughts on the ending:
 
The Dark Presence/Barbara Jagger's motives: I don't think this was really cleared up in the game, but I have some thoughts. In the Alan Wake Files book that comes with the LCE, Barbara's age is given as 25 at her death, yet the Barbara Jagger in the game is alot older, so clearly the Dark Presence's false Barbara Jagger that it's using to influence Wake and the citizens of Bright Falls has been aging, and I think this is at the centre of why it kidnapped Alice; so that it can take on her younger form when Wake falls into the same trap Zane did and write her back into existence, but "wrong" ie. a form of the Dark Presence.
 
Mr. Stratch and the Light/Thomas Zane's motives: So clearly the Light/Zane doesn't have the same ability as the Dark Presence and can't take on Zane's form to influence Bright Falls directly, so this is why Light/Zane creates Mr. Scratch in the ending; to be a means of influencing Bright Falls in the same way that the Dark Presence used the form of Barbara Jagger. I'm gonna go ahead and call these fake Jagger/Wake's "avatars" since it makes sense. Perhaps the reason the Light couldn't use Zane was because he didn't sacrifice himself for Jagger, and that's why it's able to use Mr. Scratch. In the Alan Wake Files, it's mentioned that Clay Steward sees Wake post-game, which lends this idea some weight.
 
Perhaps this is just the latest battle in a war between the Light and the Dark Presence, and this time the Light won.
 
"It's not a lake, it's an ocean": I think this just means that the Dark Presence isn't limited to Bright Falls, and the sequel will take place somewhere else.
 
I'd kind of dig a sequel with Wake escaping his prison at the bottom of the lake and going after Mr. Scratch.

Most of my questions are about Agent Nightingale; Why was he there (it seemed like it wasn't official buisness) and what was he doing at the end of the game? Was he the dark presence's new host after Barbara? I was also thinking he could be the "new perspective for the DLC".

" Most of my questions are about Agent Nightingale; Why was he there (it seemed like it wasn't official buisness) and what was he doing at the end of the game? Was he the dark presence's new host after Barbara? I was also thinking he could be the "new perspective for the DLC". "

Also did anyone notice the FBI agent behind rose at the end? Deffiinitely leaves some room for the sequel. 
 I bet the DLC is from his perspective, and hope it explains why the FBI wants Wake so much. And there's noone else to really play as, maybe Barry during the farm sequence.
 
Overall I really enjoyed the ending, and I'm looking forward to "season two".

" Also did anyone notice the FBI agent behind rose at the end? Deffiinitely leaves some room for the sequel.   I bet the DLC is from his perspective, and hope it explains why the FBI wants Wake so much. And there's noone else to really play as, maybe Barry during the farm sequence.  Overall I really enjoyed the ending, and I'm looking forward to "season two". "

" @The_A_Drain:  So what do you think the likelihood of him being the DLC Lead is and would you be interested if it was him? "

He's there on a personal vendetta. In the LCE book, one of his notes explains that he is not there in any official capacity, but that he could call in some favors if he needs some backup. "

" @The_A_Drain:  So what do you think the likelihood of him being the DLC Lead is and would you be interested if it was him? "

What confuses me is this; we wake up 1 week later  after the event. At the end, we go a week back, again ? How about those written week that Alan forgot, should we consider as it didn't even happen ? Or Alan's wife awakes after a week under that lake (which wouldn't make any sense even in this story). I guess, i'm missing something... (sorry about the language, hope it's intelligible)

" Haven't played it yet, but does that mean the whole "it was all a dream" thing I heard months ago was true? That is fucking hilarious. gg, Remedy. "

@The_A_Drain

" @Three0neFive said:

" Haven't played it yet, but does that mean the whole "it was all a dream" thing I heard months ago was true? That is fucking hilarious. gg, Remedy. "

This is a ridiculously simplistic (and basically wrong) assertion.  Spoilers, obv. Not even gonna use tags as endgame spoilers are in the topic title.  Alan Wake's entire life is actually a story written by the previous writer who vanished, Thomas Zane. Zane tried to use the power to bring his wife back to life, but because what he wrote didn't fit the story, it became twisted and evil, what came back was not his wife. (this is a simple-ass summary, there is more to it than this) He explains this to Alan, who was about to attempt the same thing. Instead, he writes the ending of the story so that it fits, but in doing so he has to sacrifice himself in order to save his wife.  As for the lake/ocean thing I am not sure, maybe he moves the source of the dark power away from the lake and into the middle of the ocean so that nobody else will come afoul of it.  EDIT: My opinion on the ending? I thought the whole plot was really great, and the ending tied it up nicely while providing enough room for a potential sequel.  Also, Bowie - Ground Control To Major Tom was such an epic choice for the ending song. "

" I think the 'Its not a lake its an ocean' line is saying that the evil is much greater than Alan realized, since it seems to originate from the lake in the game - but in reality the whole situation is much worse."

With him talking about the idea of balance and seeing Alice swim back to the surface then seeing Alan still at the typewriter, I think he's sacrificed himself to save Alice but also perhaps to tackle the evil in its own domain. To be honest, I didn't entirely grasp the Mr. Scratch thing so I'll keep that in mind for when I play through it again but if there's two Wakes, then it's likely one is still in the cabin and the other is in Bright Falls.  As for the Thomas Zane overlap, that's a real mindfuck. If he wrote the Clicker into Alan's life, how did he know he was going to be a writer and be able to even use the thing unless he wrote the rest of his life. The only conclusion I can come up with is that Zane is Wake's father and wrote Alan as a famous writer to follow in his footsteps as it mentions that he never knew his dad abd if he wrote himself out of history, then his mother wouldn't have been able to tell Alan about him. Most likely to be bullshit as I don't even know if the ages match but, I'm completely psyched for the DLC and looking forward to Alan Wake 2, coming in 2015.

I think the ending remark about the lake being an ocean is meant to relate to something The Light says during the opening dream sequence.  I can't recall exactly what The Light says, but it's definitely about a lake and a green ocean.

 For he did not know, that beyond the lake he called home, lies a deeper, darker ocean green, where waves are both wilder and more serene.  To its ports I've been.  To its ports I've been.

" I got the collectors edition of the game and currently reading the book that comes with it. Hopefully i'll get some answers, it is really interesting. So far i've got answers of why Nighingale is so mad all the time and im berrly on page 18 out of 129. "

yep. did you notice who greeted you in front of the house?

fucking loved the game. I agree with most of what was said, here's my take on it.
 
The whole thing started with Thomas and Barbara, 2 lovers that found Cauldron Lake in Bright Falls, lake which  hides a dark power that uses artists imagination to come to life. Thomas is affected by it, goes insane and kills his wife, ripping out her heart thinkign SHE had darkness in her (when he did), there's a line when Alan is in lalaland moving towards the cabin that says this. After killing his wife, Thomas went and did something bad in "writing her back into existence" (it's assumed that he was a writer like alan), but like Alan discovers, you need balance, light and darkness, life and death,so what came back wasn't barbara but the evil entity from the lake. Thomas realised this and wrote himself a safe clause which was the page and the clicker for Alan to destroy Barbara in the shoebox  that the crazy lamp lady had. Crazy lamp lady who was a reporter in love with Thomas and witnessed all of this, hence why she knows about it and about the darkness. At some point the entity also "touched" tor and Odin, the 2 rockers, artists themselves.
 
 So since he knew there had to be balance, Alan re-wrote the ending so when he jumped in tos ave his wife, he drowns while she tragically manages to swim to shore. No Alan, no writer, no artist for barbara / the entity to draw power from and come into existence (until the next artist).
 
So why did Thomas leave the clicker for alan...how did he even know Alan. I believe Thomas was Alan's father, and was with Alan's mom when he was a baby (hence knowing about the "magical" clicker) and left her and Alan soon after (alan says he never met his father). Thomas runs off with some possible lover (barbara) and the rest I already explained.
 
As for the "its not a lake, its a ocean", it's probably a way of saying "fuck, this thing is a lot bigger than we thought". The "Alan wake up" whisper is possibly just a mind fuck, a common "was this all a dream?" twist to leave doubt in the player (or viewer if this was a movie). 
 
Oh I forgot Rose and the FBI dude. Rose does seem to be the "new" lamp lady, having witnessed (and being "touched" by the darkness) this whole event much in the same way the old lamp lady was. And the insane FBI dude seems to be the new vessel for the entity, but how is he an "artist"?

Oh I forgot Rose and the FBI dude. Rose does seem to be the "new" lamp lady, having witnessed (and being "touched" by the darkness) this whole event much in the same way the old lamp lady was. And the insane FBI dude seems to be the new vessel for the entity, but how is he an "artist"? "

I think that all of those artists at the clinic had already been fed on. Thus they were used up and left slightly insane from their experiences. From all accounts Jagger wasn't an artist at all and the only way the darkness appeared as her was because Zane wrote her back into existence in an unbalanced way. Thus it was never her that returned but the "Witch" wearing her appearance.

Some really good theries, here.  I was confused about the ending, but after reading this thread, it makes a lot more sense.   
Did anyone else think that Alan Wake at the end was "evil" or something?  He had an "off" look about him. 
When I first read about this game, I heard there were some refereces to Twin Peaks.  Well, in Twin Peaks, in the end, there was a doppleganger of Agent Dale Cooper.  Could there be a doppleganger of Alan Wake?

" @Rhaknar said:

Oh I forgot Rose and the FBI dude. Rose does seem to be the "new" lamp lady, having witnessed (and being "touched" by the darkness) this whole event much in the same way the old lamp lady was. And the insane FBI dude seems to be the new vessel for the entity, but how is he an "artist"? "

I don't think the FBI guy can be the next "vessel". When you are at the looney house there where 2 diferente artists (the painter and the video game designer) but they didn't get chosen to be the darkness "vessel", maybe there's something special about Tomas and Wake or it needs to be a writer. "

@killer_meatballs  said: 

" Did anyone else think that Alan Wake at the end was "evil" or something?  He had an "off" look about him. When I first read about this game, I heard there were some refereces to Twin Peaks.  Well, in Twin Peaks, in the end, there was a doppleganger of Agent Dale Cooper.  Could there be a doppleganger of Alan Wake? "

" I think the 'Its not a lake its an ocean' line is saying that the evil is much greater than Alan realized, since it seems to originate from the lake in the game - but in reality the whole situation is much worse.  In other words, its an overly elaborate way of saying "To be continued..." "

@killer_meatballs  said: 

" Did anyone else think that Alan Wake at the end was "evil" or something?  He had an "off" look about him. When I first read about this game, I heard there were some refereces to Twin Peaks.  Well, in Twin Peaks, in the end, there was a doppleganger of Agent Dale Cooper.  Could there be a doppleganger of Alan Wake? "

He had a "off" look because he was being touched, not possessed, by the darkness, as when he wrote the manuscript. At some point in the game, there is the explanation that the darkness, didn't consume Alan, or Zane, or other characters because it needed them, and if it possessed them, they'd lose all trace of their personalities, and with their talent gone there couldn't be any manuscript.    At the end is created Mr. Scratch, a doppleganger of Alan Wake.  "

" @Jeust said:

@killer_meatballs  said: 

" Did anyone else think that Alan Wake at the end was "evil" or something?  He had an "off" look about him. When I first read about this game, I heard there were some refereces to Twin Peaks.  Well, in Twin Peaks, in the end, there was a doppleganger of Agent Dale Cooper.  Could there be a doppleganger of Alan Wake? "

He had a "off" look because he was being touched, not possessed, by the darkness, as when he wrote the manuscript. At some point in the game, there is the explanation that the darkness, didn't consume Alan, or Zane, or other characters because it needed them, and if it possessed them, they'd lose all trace of their personalities, and with their talent gone there couldn't be any manuscript.    At the end is created Mr. Scratch, a doppleganger of Alan Wake.  "

I forgot that Mr.Scratch was the doppleganger to Alan Wake.  But  what did he mean when he said one of the Wake's will be the one your friends see above?  Or something along the lines of that. There weren't two Alices's. "

" @Jeust:  I see what your saing, the darkness needs to feed on the artist tallent to survive and needs a writer to set "it" free. But I'm still a little confused with the timeline, was Tomas Zane the first one to be "taken" and the brothers tried to help him or they were already "taken" and Tomas was just a means to a end, just like Wake. "

Probably The Old Gods of Asgard were used after, although i don't understand why they couldn't set free the darkness and Alan could.  

" @Jeust:   

Probably The Old Gods of Asgard were used after, although i don't understand why they couldn't set free the darkness and Alan could.  

 Maybe it needs to be a writer or there is something special about Alan Wake and Tomas Zane. "

Hand-written notes from an unknown law enforcement offi cer, possibly from the FBI, were uncovered soon after the arrival of Agent Nightingale. This individual, working independently, notes the locations of all 100 Coffee thermoses. Progressively more fanciful hypotheses on why these thermoses were found are further detailed in the notes, which take a particularly alarming tone as time passes and situations become muddled and unresolved 

" @Jeust: Whats your theory on the coffee thermos?
On the Official Survival Guide they make an observation suggesting that there's more to the coffee thermos than being just another collectible
 

Hand-written notes from an unknown law enforcement offi cer, possibly from the FBI, were uncovered soon after the arrival of Agent Nightingale. This individual, working independently, notes the locations of all 100 Coffee thermoses. Progressively more fanciful hypotheses on why these thermoses were found are further detailed in the notes, which take a particularly alarming tone as time passes and situations become muddled and unresolved 

"

" @Jeust: Not in the 1st Episode Guide maybe in latter ones ( I only have the 1st, pre-order bonus). Maybe we will find out more when the story focus on Agent Nightingale (DLC perhaps), I still have no clue on why is he going after Wake.  ps: There are some great character names in this game. "

2 things about my analysis of the ending, its obvious Alan is not dead, just trapped in the darkness like his wife was (which fits nicely with him hearing his wife whispering him to wake up), and also when i said the fbi dude was the new vessel, I meant the new form for the darkness, like barbara was (so he doesnt need to be an artist like i said)

" 2 things about my analysis of the ending, its obvious Alan is not dead, just trapped in the darkness like his wife was (which fits nicely with him hearing his wife whispering him to wake up), and also when i said the fbi dude was the new vessel, I meant the new form for the darkness, like barbara was (so he doesnt need to be an artist like i said) "

" @MasterKickface: It's a good theory. :) 1) What happens to Alice will be tied to the next developments in the DLC and sequel, although she seems to be safe from the dark presence.  2) After the manuscript is over, and the dark presence defeated, he should disappear by the law of balance expressed at the end. "

" @Jeust said:

" @MasterKickface: It's a good theory. :) 1) What happens to Alice will be tied to the next developments in the DLC and sequel, although she seems to be safe from the dark presence.  2) After the manuscript is over, and the dark presence defeated, he should disappear by the law of balance expressed at the end. "

1) Alice is very capable. She's gonna go hunting for Alan. In the sequel, or the continuation, its either Alice or Clay Steward (Think carefully) who will be in the spotlight. Clay Steward makes the most sense but Alice would add more interesting gameplay dynamics. Either way, I am very sure where Alan Wake goes from here will involve these 2 really strongly.  2) Nope, Alan righted the wrong now. He saved Alice by sacrificing himself because he can write himself out. That's where Alice and Clay Steward, along with Sarah, Barry and potentially the Sarah's little Secret Society that was not developed, come in. Alan can bring himself out, he knows he can, that's why he trapped himself in there. He shares a connection with Clay Steward through the dreams and Alice, Sarah and Barry know the nature of the darkness. He can write and lead them to fix everything.  In short, Alan Wake is now the new Tom Zane. The replacements for Alan are the four of those dudes I mentioned above. Nightingale is the new face of Darkness and the Darkness is growing.  Its not a Lake... Its an Ocean? That line from the end. Its a way of saying things have expended.   The dreams Clay and Alan shared showed Bright Falls being consumed and eventually, the world itself. Together, they have to fix this. "