1
The Void
The Void represents sin, the dark and binding force we're born into. John 8:34 says everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. That leaves us trapped by the darkness, like how The Void completely surrounds and traps those in Milton. Sin is the consequence of man’s decision in the book of Genesis to disobey God, breaking the once perfect relationship we held with Him. Now we live in a fallen world and our sin separates us from God, thus we need a savior (for more on that see The Guide). There is real evil in this fallen world, The Hat Man gives a face to that evil (though in real life it takes many less obvious forms). I didn’t necessary write The Void to be a “horror” genre show, though there are tense moments, but the true horror of sin and our separation from God should terrify us.
2
The Guide
Just like the Biblical narrative, The Guide is the one that makes everything go. Sam, trapped in Milton, reaches a breaking point. He can’t do it on his own, can’t break free of what traps him (like us in our sin) no matter how desperate he is to leave it behind. Sam needed The Guide, the one that had defeated the darkness and was willing to sacrifice himself so that Sam could be free. For us, Jesus Christ is that guide. By his sacrifice on the cross he defeated sin, once and for all, for all time. We can no more save ourselves from sin than Sam could cross The Void without The Guide. In John 12:46 Jesus says “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” Because of Christ’s coming, and his defeat of sin on the cross, we can be reunited with God.
3
Sam
in this allegory Sam is meant to represent you, each of us. My choice not to give Sam a last name was intentional. I wanted each of us to see some of ourselves in Sam’s character and I didn’t want a specific name or nationality to distract from that. Certainly all of Milton represents us, trapped by The Void, but identifying with Sam specifically shows us the personal nature of our need. Ask anyone that has given their life to Christ and they will tell you about the moment they realized their sin separated them from God, birthing a desperation to leave the curse of sin behind. It’s my hope that Sam’s desperation to leave Milton represents that need that we can all identify with.
Like I mentioned above, The Void is a Christian allegory. There are so many subtle references and Easter eggs throughout the script it would be impossible to list them all here (though I would love to hear how many you can find!). If you're interested in hearing more about them, check out my director's cuts of each episode on our Patreon. Here are the basics:
ALLEGORY
Who is The Guide?
If you’re reading this, you don’t live in Milton (it’s a fictional place after all), but that doesn’t mean you don’t need The Guide. So, who is The Guide?
My name is Andrew, and I wrote The Void to be a fictionalization of real events from my own life. While I don’t directly spell this out or explain it on the main podcast feed, The Void was written as a Christian allegory (if you aren’t ready to explore that layer of The Void yet, that’s cool. I would encourage you to back out of this page and come back when you’re ready). But more than representing the living history of the Bible, I wanted The Void to reflect real and personal change I’ve experienced in my own life. When I was seventeen years old, like Sam, I realized I was trapped by the terrifying darkness of my sin.
In this allegory, the dark and repressive nature of The Void represents that sin. Just like it says in “The Way out of Milton”, hope and wish as we might, on our own we can’t escape the curse. I was trapped, a slave to sin and selfishness. I needed a guide to save me.
Then, one dark night when I least expected it, he came for me and, for the first time, I experienced the living God, Jesus Christ, the guide that would lead me out of the darkness to redemption. My life has been forever changed.
The guide is Hope. Find the guide, find paradise.