Theory history: Submitted 2013-07-09, Doubtful 2016-01-13
Who REALLY is the victorNOTE: Anything which is speculative is in italics.
NOTE: This is trimmed from the original theory, so is a reference to something unmentioned I apologize but I think I removed all of these.
Let's start at "the loop" - we get there via a portal at the top of the lighthouse. We go out via a portal too. However at the end of submachine 2, the player is walking on either a beach or possibly an iceberg (What it looks like to me), so there MUST be a scene missing. However, based on the intentional grainyness of the footage, I think this was likely some kind of dream the player experienced as a side-effect of traveling through the portal.
Fast-forward to the root, however we are in some kind of bedroom. Although it is possible the player beamed directly there, I find this to be unlikely. It seems more likely the player would have been teleported to the portal downstairs. So there is a scene missing here. The simplest and most likely scenario is that the player WAS teleported directly to the portal, but was moved while unconscious, again as a side-effect of the portal. I'd guess the submachine but anything's possible here.
At the end of 8 the player does go through a portal. It's possible that there will be parts missing due to the effect of portals.
However, doesn't the player go through the portal numerous times through the series? What happens then? Perhaps the portals... aren't portals. The submachine causes you to lose consciousness and you are moved to the location specified. The interesting question this implies if it's true is, "How long do I sleep?". But there is also one more, worrying possibility. The submachine doesn't move you to where you want, the submachine moves you to where it wants. This would mean that it would WANT you to do what you've done.
Theory history: Submitted 2013-07-09, Debunked 2016-01-13
Quaternion Fractal TheoryBut why? I think the entire plot is a lie. Why would it be a lie? Here comes claim 2, because you are mur (or whatever his REAL name is) and the submachine wants YOUR power. This could be possible, but one unaccounted for inconsistency: mur's arms. My reasoning for this is they are, again, lies.
So what is the submachine? A sentient AI. There's plenty of proof for this within the series to the point where it it nearly fact, so I reluctantly do not italicize it.
Why does it want my power? Good question, however there is nothing known about the real effects of the power, and no evidence that anything even EXISTS outside the submachine. Literally anything is possible here. If 9 shows what lies beyond, then there will be something to go off of, but for now the only thing we have now is the claimed effects of the power, which may likely be lies. The only thing that comes to mind is the submachine needs to propagate and you're the quickest way to do so.
Theory history: Submitted 2013-07-09, Debunked 2016-01-13
This is an interesting thought I had, and although I don't think it is as likely as other theories it isn't unreasonable.
How many dimensions can a computer monitor display? Two right? Height and width, right? It can, but it can also display 3-D images; ie. video. However, until we improve holography, we're stuck with these 3. Even then, we can only display four dimensions, because to our knowledge we live in four dimensions.
But, other dimensions aren't bound to four dimensions. Let's say there's a five dimensional universe. In this universe, there are sentient beings that live in these five dimensions. Let's assume that math works similarly. They have a slight advantage to be envious of - monitors could display four dimensions. Holograms there would display 5 (Don't even ASK what that looks like.) dimensions.
We can display fractals in our universe. But we are limited in display by our own dimension. If we wanted to display a quaternion fractal, how would we? The two answers to this I seem to find mist often is animate it in three dimensions or have the rotation represent a quaternion. These both have their advantages and disadvantages. However, such a problem is nonexistent with 5-d holography... do you see where I'm going with this?
Here we go: The submachine is a holographic representation of a quaternion fractal, rendered by a computer in another dimension.
What the formula is could be anything, since the laws of that universe could be anything.