u/Electrical-Two3084

Okay, this theory is wild, but hear me out - we know from the most recent episode that fear can definitely be manisfested - the dolls were a man's fear. It was revealed that marielle hears the screams of the dead and that they cannot leave. We also know that jade is killed by the townspeople every cycle, and that Tabitha's fate is "worse". We also know that the original townspeople made a deal with an entity to gain immortality in exchange for sacrificing the children.

Now, let's look at the boy in white. He helped Victor when he was a child. He reappears to adult Victor in the current timeline. Who else has seen him? Ethan, Tabitha... and Sara. Why Sara? Tabitha is Ethan's mom. Tabitha as Miranda was Victor's mom. What if one of Tabitha's other incarnations was the BIW's mom? That would lead us to believe he shows himself to those tied to her.

Julie can story walk, so I won't count her - she has her own story - but what if Sara is Victor's sister reincarnated? That would explain why she saw the BIW, and the closeness she had started to develop with Victor at one point. And if she can reincarnate, AND we know the dead are trapped, what if THAT is the immortality? Their souls are eternally tied to fromville, which is why they come back each cycle. That is exactly the type of trick an evil entity would play - you get immortality, but not what you imagine. Instead, you get tortured for eternity.

Tabitha and jade are the exception. They tried to stop the sacrifices, and that is why every time, they get killed by the townspeople. Their immortality is tied to the children - the screams for help and their desire to be saved was manifested through the faraway tree they were sacrificed under. But each time they start to remember, they are both killed - knowledge comes at a cost.

So the people are stuck in an eternal loop of torture. The smiling monsters are not the townspeople, but they were the fear of one of the dead townspeople. The manifestation of fear explains why there are so many entities there, and why the smiling monsters were, as Martin stated, "just the tip of the spear". The dolls, the music box monster, the cicadas, the spider, maybe even the MIY - all manifested fear. And until Jade and Tabitha can rescue the souls of the children, none of them can be released.

So we finally get more answers! Two big reveals last night:

1. Jade, as we know has been to FromVille many times. But each time, he was murdered by townspeople. He and Tabitha are killed before they get a chance to save the souls of the children. Possibly a result of the man in yellow turning the people against each other, as he is doing now. That is why the boy in white told Tabitha that they were running out of time. He knows the MIY is in town and that because of it, Jade and Tabitha will both soon be dead.

Jade thinks that they can go home if they save the children, so it stands reason to believe, that it is the kids who bring them to fromville. They are able to sense Jade and Tabitha as adults and when they do, their focused hope draws them to the town. I'm not sure just yet how the other people are brought to the town, though it seems the town attracts people who are dealing with issues.

2. Tabitha remembered that the scarecrow dolls were the result of a townsman's fear from one of her past lives. As we saw with the cicadas that Sarah's brother feared, Jade finding shrooms, Boyd and the talismans, story walking, the presence of electricity, etc. The town allows manifestation of fears and to some extent, desires.

So I've had this theory for a while now that the people of FromVille have a certain amount of control over what happens there. I first came to that conclusion way back when the origin of the talismans was mentioned. He just needed something to protect him, and suddenly talismans appeared? The town has a motel and a diner? It has electricity even though the wires lead nowhere?

Fast forward to last week, and Ethan's dead father tells him that the lake of tears from one of his books is real... and the whole concept of story walking - which also came from one of his books - is real, and it is his sister, who knew about the concept.that can do it. Then Jade recalls that Miranda began seeing FromVille after an acid trip, so he asks Boyd about acid, the coincidentally finds some shrooms? Boyd dreams about his wife and says he needs her, then suddenly, while at her grave,.she grabs him?

They are manifesting these things. As the man in yellow said, knowledge comes at a cost, which is why he is interfering - they know too much, and if they continue, they will figure out that they can control what happens there. Every cycle, he comes along to kill them before they figure out how everything works. ​