What I Think The End Is Nigh Is About
After having completed Nevermore, I think TEIN is about giving up and cutting your losses. Going off of how the game was effectively Edmund's "video game suicide note," the core idea of Acceptance and Nevermore is either giving up and accepting that something is over for the betterment of yourself, or clinging on even if it destroys you. In the Acceptance ending, you see the clock is ticking and that you don't have forever, so you leave, and despite dying, Ash dies happy. In a metaphorical sense, it's him seeing his time is up and giving up on something he realized is no longer worth it. On the other hand, Nevermore is seeing your one chance to get out of the hole you dug yourself in and instead throwing yourself further in, and that you can never find acceptance again. I believe the thumbnail Ash talks about in the Nevermore ending is important: he tore it off after it was getting in the way and there wasn't any room for it, and all that was left underneath was a gnarled, disgusting, shriveled thumbnail. I think him tearing off the nail is a metaphor for acceptance; it's him being hurt by keeping something around even though there isn't any room for it and its getting in the way of his life, and deciding to tear it off after getting sick of it, revealing himself underneath, shriveled and sucked dry from keeping it around, leading to him questioning if he will ever get better or if this is who he is now. In Edmund's case, the old fingernail is game development; it was hurting him, and there wasn't any room for it with his busy life, and after tearing it off, he questioned what his life would be afterwards.
