Televisions are devices used in the Maw, the Nest, and the Pale City.
Overview
Externally, televisions resemble those that were produced in the 1950-60s. This is confirmed by the fact that absolutely all of them have a black and white display.
Little Nightmares (video game)
The only television in the game appears in the Lair when Six enters the library. In order to continue her journey, she needs to distract the Janitor. To do this, the girl must turn on the television located in a small room, the sounds of which will distract the Janitor. When first turned on, the television plays a tune and displays a looping video of a woman cooking.
While many believe the song has lyrics, it has been confirmed to simply be phonemes and not actual words.[1]
Secrets of the Maw
While fleeing from the Granny, the Runaway Kid turns on the electricity in the room which powers on a television. The boy then pushes the television into the water, where the Granny was attempting to catch him. The current electrocutes and kills the Granny, allowing the boy to escape from the Depths.
In the Hideaway, the Runaway Kid can enter a secret room, where he will find a pile of broken televisions.
After the credits of the Residence ends, a television is shown in an unknown room. It will then activate, showing the silhouette of the Thin Man.
Very Little Nightmares
In a secret room, hidden behind the hallway of the security Eyes, the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat can find a deceased pigeon, along with a television suspended by a tearing noose over the nest of a newly hatched chick. The girl can get into this room only if she finds and opens all the Boxes.
You can see a television in the Butler's apartment, but you can’t interact with it in any way.
Once in the Pretender's quarters, the girl enters a room where the mistress of the Nest may watch televisions in the company of her dolls. She will unplug them to shut them off, prompting the Butler to enter the room where he will plug them back on again.
Little Nightmares II
Televisions in Little Nightmares II play a pivotal role in terms of both story and gameplay.[2] Since the central theme of the game is escapism (moving away from everyday reality into another world), the inhabitants of the Pale City are dependent on their TVs, which seemingly makes them act like zombies. Televisions can also be used to travel between two points. In the game, you can hear game shows, advertisements, news broadcasts, cartoons, comedy shows, marching song, and the "Fake Children" song emitting from the televisions. The language spoken is unknown.
In the game, televisions are scattered everywhere. Even in rural areas, such as the Wilderness, TVs are scattered all over the ground and are hanging from various areas by their wires. TVs are most prominent in the city's abandoned living space buildings. Most of the time, damaged TVs are stacked or hung in clusters and piles. Throughout the Pale City, clothing is left in a way that makes it look as though the wearer was mysteriously taken while they were in the middle of an activity or just sitting. In the concept art, we see clothes strewn out in a similar manner in front of a television. It is assumed that however the clothing got this what and where their owners went has something to do with the televisions.
TVs are used as two different mechanics in the second game. Firstly, in particular parts of the game, TVs will turn on and use a powerful signal to attract Mono to them. He will approach them, and the player will need to help transport him into the television. Each time he arrives inside, he will run down a hallway with the door at the end. The first couple of times he will get pulled out of the TV by Six before he gets close enough to open it, However when he finds a TV in an apartment in the Pale City, Mono is able to open the door. Opening the door will free the Thin Man, who has the ability to crawl out of it and enter the physical world. After doing so, he will pursue the duo and capture Six.
After Six's capture, Mono returns to the television to begin his journey to save her, and unlocks the ability to teleport through any functioning television. Despite the various audios heard throughout the Pale City from different television screens, when Mono gets near a teleport-able television, its audio changes to a signal-like tune similar to Six's music box. In Mono's first teleportation, he will pass through a tunnel of Flesh Walls, then pops out from a random hanging television in another apartment. The hallway of flesh will be skipped the next times Mono teleports again. In the midst of his journey to find and save Six, Mono will find a television remote to turn the TVs on and off, which can be used to either draw Viewers to other functioning televisions or traps, or change his teleportation path.
After a winding journey to save Six, Mono finds her inside a television in an apartment. Six is unable to phase out of the television and keeps knocking the screen to get Mono's attention. His attempts to pull her out of the television prove futile as the Thin Man grabs her from the other side and pulls her back into the screen. As the Thin Man exits the screen to once again pursue Mono, no televisions are encountered for the rest of the game.
In the Little Nightmares II secret ending, Six is shown to have escaped the Transmission through a TV despite neither Mono nor the Thin Man being present to help her phase through the screen.
Little Nightmares III
A Factory Worker can be seen facing a TV instead of working in the Factory.
Little Nightmares (2017 comic series)
Issue 1
In the first issue, Six performs the same act of turning on the television to distract the Janitor, who turns it off.
Little Nightmares Comics
Episode 2
In the second episode of Little Nightmares Comics, a television turns on near the end, catching the attention of the Toddler. The Thin Man presses his hands against the screen as the Toddler approaches. The Toddler takes the cloth from under his eyes and looks, after which a scream is emitted and he vanishes.
Episode 5
Two Viewers are seen watching a television channel of what appears to be a baking show. This allows the Ghost Child to easily sneak past them. However when the Ghost Child is on the window sill, the television turns off, causing the Viewers to attack them.
Episode 6
Broken TVs appear in the final episode of Little Nightmares Comics. Mono hides from a mysterious figure by hopping into one of the hollow ones. The figure finds him, and a cracking sound is made, ending the episode.
Trivia
- If you continue to press the button after Six turns on the television to distract the Janitor, the television will change channels until, after some interference, it shows a dark figure approaching a sleeping child (see gallery).
- The dark figure in the last channel greatly resembles the shadow from the silent horror film, Nosferatu.
- Certain televisions in the Pale City play a song with a tune similar to the "Down in the Valley" song, an old skipping rhyme.
- The song is the default channel on the television Six uses to distract the Janitor on The Maw in Little Nightmares.
- Several Bullies can be heard jumping rope and singing this song in Little Nightmares II.
- Every time Mono interacts with a television to teleport around, the screen flickers while showing several images including notable places, things, and characters from inside the game and even the announcement trailer of the game.
- When Mono presses himself against the TVs and then backs out, the player's screen will have a sepia tone static effect.
- The soundtrack for the television channel audios in the Pale City is titled Something on the Air.
- After Six is captured by the Thin Man, all linked TV audios change to a tune similar to her music box. When Mono enters the Black Tower, Six's music box can be heard all throughout, implying that the sound of the music box was broadcasted to all the televisions within the Pale City.
- In the Little Nightmares II secret ending, the tune of the music box can still be heard after Six escapes the Black Tower.
- Mono sometimes accidentally breaks the screen of the TV he gets out from.