My Old Theory / FAQ

[The Huntsman]

(This Article Was Written In 2004)

Hey folks. I created this Theory / FAQ back before the first season had even ended, and I last updated it shortly before “Frankie My Dear” had aired. Now, I think that this Theory / FAQ is highly flawed; I’m just a country boy from the mountains of West Virginia, and I’m not what one would call “educated”, so I tried to make myself out to be more “educated” when I wrote this, which is why I sound like a pretentious stiff. However, I wanted to post this to spark some discussion.

What do you think the answers to some of the questions in my Theory / FAQ are? Do you have any theories of your own about the show, or about Imaginary Friends? I’m curious to hear what you guys think; back on TVTome, all I did was talk about myself, and my own articles, but I want to hear what your theories are. So, feel free to read this three year old article, and post with your own thoughts on some of the subjects that it carries.

Disclaimer: Since this article is three years old, many other episodes of the series have been made since I wrote this article. So, many of my theories may be completely wrong, while others may seem obvious. So, be gentle, as it’s a very old article and I worked with what information I had. I am not claiming that my answers are "right" or "correct", as I wrote those answers years ago. I've only posted this article for the sake of sparking some discussion.

How do Imaginary Friends continue to exist?

According to data, although data is hard to come across, it appears that the reason Fosters was created was to allow Imaginary Friends to be adopted into a new loving family. If Imaginary Friends could exist without a family, they would not go to try to be adopted, and of course, if they could exist without a family, then the world would have been overrun with Imaginary Friends. It appears that it doesn't matter who cares about the Imaginary Friend, as long as they do care and love them. In the case of Fosters, it appears that since everyone at the home cares for each other (for the most part) it seems that they are able to exist without ever vanishing.

Of course, the purpose of Fosters is to allow a new family to adopt an imaginary friend, because in the case of real life, for example, it is considered nicer to adopt a dog than buy one, so in the case of Fosters, well, most people would prefer their child adopt a friend rather than create one on their own (and it allows their parents to approve of the friend their child gets.) As long as the family loves and cares for their Imaginary Friend then it would appear that they would be able to exist.

Imaginary Friends are defined by their title. If they are no longer considered friends with anyone, and no one cares about them, then they would no longer be thought of, and thus, it seems, they would vanish into the non existent. Of course, there are several flaws in my theory. Scribbles managed to exist despite the fact that no one loved them, but then again, Scribbles were not forgotten, and in fact, were still remembered by many of the residence in Fosters. It appears that in some cases, even if an Imaginary friend isn't liked, it can still exist as long as people remember it, it seems that The Duchess is similar in that aspect.

To sum up my theory, it seems that as long as an Imaginary Friend is remembered, it will remain existent in this world. Even if its original owner forgets all about it, it just needs someone else to remember it. However, it seems that friends are generally happier and more dedicated to those who actually love and treat them in respect. Some friends do not desire love, although that is probably based on the owners who created them. It seems that imaginary friends will forever be similar to the children who created them, but they can continue to exist by being remembered by other beings who hopefully love them.

Why do Imaginary Friends look and act the way they do?

Imaginary Friends are often created by the minds of children. While there is no evidence to claim that adults cannot create Imaginary Friends, it seems that in most cases, it is a child who creates and generally cares for Imaginary Friends. Children are influenced by many things, and that is why many Imaginary Friends look quite bizarre. There is no guideline as to what an Imaginary Friend can or cannot look like, and it appears that the child who creates them can usually decide what their friend looks like.

Imaginary Friends are influenced by the circumstances they are created in. The time period and the interests of the time they are created in can greatly change the way they would have been created. For example, wilt appears to of been created in the late seventies was starting to get very popular, and people thought that bizarre objects were cool, and the more bizarre it looked, the better it was. However, their external appearance doesn't appear to have a direct effect on their personality. Although in some cases their personality and appearance matches, it doesn't appear in every case. For example, Berry looks sweet, and could behave sweet, but she had a vile jealousy in her that caused her to do wicked things when the circumstances called for it.

Friends can also be created for certain purposes, although that can sometimes backfire. Eduardo seems to of been created by a very frightened child who wanted a protector, but since Imaginary Friends are often granted similar or overshadowed portions of their creators personality, it seems to of backfired and thus, created Eduardo's particularly troubling case. After all, children are not perfect, and thus would be unable to create the perfect friend. It also is impossible to have a perfect friend because it appears that things usually turn out wrong.

This would explain why so many people prefer to adopt friends rather than allow their child to create friends. This would also explain why, even though throughout both the Funny Bunny adoption spree and the Adopt a Thought Saturday, that there are so many friends left in fosters. It doesn't often show how many friends are being put into the home each day, but evidence indicates that the rate of entry for Imaginary Friends is greater than the rate of exit.

Can Imaginary Friends change?

While it does appear that Imaginary Friends are very similar to humans, it is unknown if they can actually try to change their interests. There is little to show that an Imaginary Friend has ever went to a school, but it has been shown that Imaginary Friends can learn different games, and can read, due to the fact that Bloo checked out so many books to try to break records. Coco also had several jobs in Store Wars, however, this does not indicate that she was qualified for those jobs. It is uncertain regarding her abilities, but it seems unlikely that she would be hired unless she would have been able to perform the tasks required.

Imaginary Friends do appear to change in how they feel about people, and they do appear to change their emotions when good or bad things occur. They are very much like humans, but it still just isn't shown if they can actually change their personality, like some people are able to do, although it usually doesn't turn successful even for humans. It appears that as long as an Imaginary Friend has people to help him out and who will care for them, that they would, undoubtedly, be able to change. The only evidence I have found to support this so far was how Frankie managed to help Herriman stop flipping out about dogs, for a short period of time, at least. Mr. Herriman was created in an age gone by, which explains his dull personality, but even he can be quite fun when his creator asks him to be.

Does Frankie enjoy her job and does she like Mr. Herriman?

It appears that she loves her job and has always had an interest in helping her grandmother run the home, as she often spent time there in her youth, according to The Trouble with Scribbles. Frankie cares about the friends, she cooks their food, and cleans up after them as well. The friends appear to try to help Frankie out as well by cleaning up after themselves, but that may just be due to Herriman's rules. While it does appear that Frankie doesn't like Herriman bossing her around, it does seem that without many of Herriman's rules, Frankie's job would be much harder, for Imaginary Friends would be much messier, and be harder to care for.

Frankie may have complications with Mr. Herriman, but they both care about each other. Mr. Herriman was created an age gone by though, and he cannot help but be the way he is. However, Mr. Herriman can be nicer when his creator asks him to be, and he doesn't try to always cause Frankie's job to be harder. He just believes that Frankie should take her job more seriously, because in his time period, well, the manager of the facility usually had full power over the workers, and it seems that he still feels that way in some aspects.

Frankie enjoys showing new friends around the house, and she enjoys getting complements because it appears that many Imaginary Friends are not perfectly polite. Frankie has a deep love for the internet, and is probably her only major source of chatting with other people her age. She also seems quite adept at web creation and graphics, and is certainly the most technology adept resident at Fosters. Regardless of if she doesn't enjoy doing certain things, she appears to put in 110% percent in everything she does, and she would gladly give up her personal freedom to be able to help her grandmother and all of the friends at Fosters.

Can Imaginary Friends die and can they age?

Although death hasn't really been proven, they can be destroyed. For example, many of the food like Imaginary Friends are either eaten, or at least were attempted to be eaten. Imaginary Friends appear to be able to feel pain, both emotionally and physically, and they do seem to try their best to avoid pain. The Pizza friend that Terrence ate in Seeing Red was screaming when he was being eaten, which indicates that even though a slice of pizza would have no nervous system, that Imaginary Friends are able to feel pain without a nervous system.

From the research I've done, it appears that Imaginary Friends do not directly age. Scribbles remained scribbles, regardless of how long they were in there, and Mr. Herriman appears to be the same as he always looked. Since Imaginary Friends are created by thought, and since the children who created them probably intended for them to stay the way they want them to look, then it seems that Imaginary Friends would not be able to age.

It would appear that while an Imaginary Friend cannot age physically, the longer he is alive, the more out of tune they become. For example, Mr. Herriman was once acting like many other people, but since he has been alive for so long, and since it's very hard for an Imaginary Friend to change, he has become a troubling factor at Fosters. While his rhetoric and his working style has remained the same for quite some time, the other denizens of Fosters are more modern, and thus, have complications working with him.

So, to sum things up, Imaginary Friends can die in the sense that they can be destroyed. They do not appear to be able to age physically, although the evidence that supports that is quite flimsy. Imaginary Friends appear to be able to learn new skills, but their personalities appear to reflect the time period they were created in, which in time, can cause them to have conflicts with other friends and/or people.

(This is continued on the next post, due to the post limitations)