UPDATE: After I wrote this article, the Ark of Time DLC actually revealed SInglor and Nala’s fate. You can read more about that here. Below you can view the original article.
Spoiler warning! The article below contains major spoilers for the ending of Gravity Rush 2, so don’t read unless you finished the game!
Those who played the original Gravity Rush on the PS Vita or the remastered version on PS4 will no doubt remember the characters Singlor and Nala. When Kat meets him, Singlor explained to her that he was a scientist who had attempted to create an artificial gravitational field. However, the experiment went wrong and both Singlor and his wife Nala were thrown into a different space-time dimension. For some reason, only Kat was able to see and communicate with them during the events of the original Gravity Rush, albeit briefly. While optional, their quest seemed like a major plot point in Gravity Rush, as it was even linked to a separate trphy. Still, it was left unresolved, so naturally fans expected to see the quest continued in Gravity Rush 2, hoping to finally help bring the couple back to their own world. Yet surprisingly, they’re nowhere to be found in Gravity Rush 2, and unless they appear in the DLC, it seems their fate will remain unknown. When asked about it on Twitter, the game’s director explained that he believed that the story shouldn’t be told outside of the game, and asked people to come up with their own answer. And that’s exactly what this article is about.
I think it’s likely that the quest simple didn’t make it into the sequel for much of the same reasons that the story about Raven and the Ark was relegated to DLC. Gravity Rush 2 tries to tell three different stories in one game already, and it would further confuse those who didn’t play the original. Nonetheless, Gravity Rush 2 does give us more insight into the importance of Singlor’s research. In fact, it seems directly linked to Kat’s own quest.
Singlor’s Research
Just like Kat, Singlor wanted to save the world from impending doom. Like the people of Eto, he knew that the gravity storm at the bottom of the world was rising. Or rather, Singlor points out that the world was actually being pulled down and sinking into it. In an effort to stop it, he experimented with creating an artificial gravitational field.
So while Kat didn’t realize it back when she met Singlor, we now know they actually had the same goal. Where things get even more interesting is that, in his final conversation with Kat, Singlor shouts that something is coming for him, “just like the accident”, and that it was going to pull him in a different dimension. It seemed to imply there was a sentient entity coming after him, the same one that appeared when the experiment went wrong.
In Gravity Rush 2, we see something like this happen to Raven and Cecie, when the entity known as “The Darkness” appears and drags the two through a rift in space-time, into a different dimension.
I doubt this is coincidence, and we can safely assume that “The Darkness” was exactly what dragged Singlor in a different dimension, just as he was explaining to Kat how he wanted to stop the gravity storm at the bottom of the world. While we know that it was in fact Nala who tampered with the experiment, in the hopes of getting her husband to stop obsessing over his work so they could spend more time together, perhaps she’s not actually to blame for the accident that befell them.
Now, we know that Kat ends up stopping the gravity storm (or at least it’s implied) by turning into a singularity and sealing the darkness in the resulting black hole. To better understand what that entails: a gravitational singularity is believed to be at the center of a black hole. It’s a point of infinite density and infinite gravity, causing an infinite curvature in spacetime. It’s a place where the laws of physics as we know them don’t apply. Since we know Singlor’s experiment involved creating an artificial gravitational field, it’s possible that he may have been looking into creating an artificial singularity himself. After his failure, Singlor assumed that he had been mistaken, but he may actually have been on the right track (which would again explain why “The Darkness” would bother coming after him in the first place). And while it’s not proof, even the name “Singlor” sounds awfully similar to “Singular”, possible hinting at the nature of the experiment.
Now, for the main point of this theory, which is admittedly a bit of a stretch. Singlor stated that he may be able to return himself and Nala to their original dimension, if he could somehow recreate the experiment.
However, with all of his equipment lost, how could that possibly be achieved? Well, if my theory about Singlor’s experiment is correct, then Kat may have actually repeated the experiment when she turned into a singularity. While it’s never stated that Singlor and Nala were brought back to their dimension following Kat’s sacrifice, perhaps Singlor and Nala were in fact inadvertently saved by Kat after all. And it may even offer a potential explanation of Kat’s possible return in the game’s epilogue. After all, Singlor may be the only person around who could not only understand just what Kat did, but also how to seal “The Darkness” without Kat.
Nala and Kat
While this doesn’t directly relate to Singlor’s research, I felt it was worth pointing out this particular comment from Nala towards Kat.
This makes it clear that Nala already encountered Kat back when she was the Queen of Eto. It also further establishes a link between Singlor, Nala and Kat. In addition, Nala’s question “Is something keeping us apart”, referring to herself and Singlor, again hints at the possibility that something was intentionally keeping them apart. Something that Kat ends up sealing away at the end of the game.
Hopefully, the Raven DLC will answer some questions, but it’s probably unlikely that Singlor and Nala will be featured in it. It also doesn’t seem like more story DLC is planned for Gravity Rush 2. From the early concept art of the game, which included art of Singlor and Nala’s house and the experiment Singlor worked on, it seems like the couple were initially going to play a bigger role in the game. It’s unfortunate that they weren’t included in Gravity Rush 2 at all, as I would gladly have traded more than a few of Gravity Rush 2‘s side missions to provide closure for their story. For now, we can only speculate as to how their story ends.
For those that read the whole article, you have my thanks! I’d certainly like to hear your thoughts regarding Singlor and Nala’s role in Gravity Rush, so feel free to leave a comment below!