The Breaker family can’t catch a break, as their fates have seemingly been woven into Alan Wake’s twisted story since the first game. Though the fates of past members have been previously revealed and can be somewhat considered happy ones, Tim Breaker — who’s the new sheriff of Bright Falls — future is left uncertain. Let’s explore what possibly happened to Tim Breaker at the end of Alan Wake 2. 

What Happened to Tim Breaker in Alan Wake 2?

We last saw Tim Breaker in Alan Wake in the Dark Place, playing as Saga Anderson. She tries to convince him to come with her, but he says he needs to wake up on his own, thinking this is all a dream. He mentions that Mr. Door is the key, and much like he’s been seen throughout the game, he stays to continue mapping the Dark Place so that he can somehow find a way to Mr. Door and get the answers he seeks.

Upon leaving to get the clicker and returning later to check on Tim where he once was, a lit lantern he was carrying has now been left on the bench. 

The Significance of the Lantern

To understand what possibly might have happened to Tim Breaker, we must first understand the meaning of the lantern. To do that, we must go back 13 years to the original Alan Wake. 

In the first game, you run into a character named Cynthia Weaver. For those who don’t remember her, she was the character obsessed with light, providing safe havens against the darkness throughout the game in the form of lit buildings. She also always carries a lantern to protect herself from the Dark Presence. Light is the darkness’s only known weakness, and having a source as powerful as a lantern or a flashlight kept it at bay. 

This is why when we meet Tim Breaker in the Dark Place as Alan, he’s always in a well-lit room. There’s no lantern to be seen because he doesn’t need one. But when you meet him with Saga, it’s out in the open; thus, he must carry a lantern (or whatever light source) to protect himself. 

But there’s more to this than just that. 

Cynthia Weaver returns in Alan Wake 2 as one of the main haunting forces during Saga’s campaign. She’s at the Valhalla Nursing Home and becomes possessed by the Dark Presence, kidnapping Tor. In Saga’s journey to rescue Tor, we learn that Cynthia Weaver’s lantern, the one given to her by Thomas Zane, had gone missing, or as she assumed, stolen by the Dark Presence. She reveals in her journal that the lights around her were starting to turn off, with the dark presence inching closer with each passing day.  

This was how she was eventually processed by the Dark Presence, turning her into a Taken. Visiting her room reveals that all lanterns have been turned off, including the one in the overlap where she resides. 

So, Then What Happened to Tim Breaker??

It’s hard to say what exactly happened to him, as the lantern left behind could be interpreted differently. 

My first thought was that Tim had left the light behind. With no light to guide him in the Dark Place, he likely would have been consumed by the Dark Presence and, like Cynthia, become a Taken version of himself. This sets things up for the Night Springs expansion, which has been confirmed to focus on other familiar characters outside of Alan Wake and Saga Anderson. Assuming he’s been turned into a Taken, he may be the antagonist of the expansion. 

However, I have another theory on that. If you played the first Alan Wake, you realize Night Springs is a TV show akin to the Twilight Zone. But if you’ve been keeping up with the Alan Wake universe, you may remember that a comic was released under “Night Springs.” Strangely, the name doesn’t hold much significance in the comics outside of being a code word indicating something is wrong in the town that brought everyone together. But, it’s a code word that the then sheriff knew. Who was this sheriff? None other than Sarah Breaker’s father, Frank Breaker. 

The comic ends on a happy note, with Frank and Sarah being reunited and alive. Nothing is out of the ordinary, except Frank mentioning in passing that he might have fought a werewolf, but nothing ever gets followed up. 

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the comic book “Night Springs” involved some of the Breakers, and if I were going to guess what the DLC is about, it’d either be a prequel detailing all of Frank Breaker’s stories or a sequel, which will see Tim breaker star as one of the main characters, along with others. Either way, what may have happened to Tim during his search for Mr. Door is that he stumbled upon a door leading into the Night Springs TV show. Perhaps the code word “Night Springs” was spoken again, trapping all these characters in this TV show. The DLC plot certainly fits in since it involves other characters. 

Visions and dreams. Fiction is written and coming true. Fiction collapses and remains just words on a page. These are those stories… in Night Springs. Play as several familiar characters from the world of Alan Wake and experience the unexplainable in multiple self-contained episodes of Night Springs, a fictional tv-show set in the world of Alan Wake. 

My final theory is that Tim Breaker is still trapped in the Dark Place. Time works differently there, and when Saga leaves Tim to get the Clicker in the other version of the Dark Place and returns, we aren’t sure how much time has passed here. It could be minutes, hours, days, and possibly years. We aren’t given a definite answer about what happened at the end, leading us to think that the two expansions will answer that. But if they don’t, Tim Breaker’s cruel fate could be that he is forever trapped there, and the lit lantern is more symbolic, suggesting that he’s never given up his search for Mr. Door. 

I’m sorry to disappoint you by not having a definite answer about what happened to Tim Breaker. I like throwing my theories into the mix, which is a mystery many want to solve. Maybe it’ll be answered in the upcoming expansions or the New Game Plus mode, which should include more story content. 

What are your thoughts? What do you think happened to Tim Breaker in Alan Wake 2?