Tangle Tower Ending Explained: Unpacking the Mystery, Plot Holes & Fan Theories

If you have finished SF Games' quirky point-and-click mystery and are still scratching your head, you are not alone. This Tangle Tower ending explained guide will walk you through exactly what happened, why the killer did it, and — more importantly — why so many players walked away feeling unsatisfied. From the Hawkshaw identity twist to the gaps in Penny's motivation, we are breaking down every major beat of the finale and the community theories that try to make sense of it all.

What Happens at the End of Tangle Tower?

Without rehashing every clue you collected on your journey through the mansion, the final act pulls back the curtain on two big reveals. First, the mysterious Hawkshaw — the cloaked figure who has been lurking around the tower — is unmasked as Penny, the quiet, unassuming lab assistant. Second, Penny confesses to murdering Freya, the talented artist whose portrait of Flora kicks off the entire investigation.

The murder method itself is one of the game's most creative puzzles. Penny used a specially trained beetle with a gold-like carapace whose vibrations were strong enough to crack metal. She rigged Freya's painting to fall and crush her, creating an elaborate, Rube Goldberg-style death that gave Freya just enough time to pass a cryptic message forward. It is a brilliant "how" — but as players quickly pointed out, the "why" is far less convincing.

The Hawkshaw Twist Explained

One of the most debated aspects of the ending is the Hawkshaw reveal. Throughout the game, Hawkshaw appears as a separate character — a shadowy, cloaked figure who seems to be investigating alongside Detective Grimoire and Sally. The twist that Hawkshaw is actually Penny in disguise is meant to be a shocking moment, but it comes with a significant logical problem.

Players have pointed out what they call the "teleportation plot hole." There are moments in the game where Penny and Hawkshaw appear to be in different places at the same time, making it impossible for one person to be both. Felix, for instance, hears someone heading downstairs right after the murder, and the only person who corroborates Penny's alibi is Hawkshaw — who is secretly Penny herself. This means the player could never have logically deduced the truth from the clues provided, which goes against a core rule of fair-play mystery writing.

Community reports suggest that some players did catch on early, noticing that Hawkshaw and Penny share the same voice actress and have a similarly shaped neck. However, many others felt cheated, arguing that budget constraints often lead studios to reuse voice actors, so this "clue" is not reliable on its own.

Penny's Motivation — The Biggest Criticism

Here is where the Tangle Tower ending explained conversation gets messy. Penny's stated reason for killing Freya boils down to this: Freya discovered too much about the tower's dark history and was planning to expose it, which would have threatened the secrets Penny was protecting. On the surface, that sounds like a workable motive. But when you dig deeper, it falls apart.

The original poster on the Steam discussion put it bluntly: if Freya truly knew too much, why would Penny design an elaborate murder that gave Freya time to pass information to someone else? Why leave incriminating notes in the study after Freya had already caught her there? And if Poppy and Fiona would eventually figure things out too, would Penny have to kill them as well?

Player experience shared across forums suggests that many people wanted the motive to be a cry for attention — that Penny wanted to get caught. But even that theory crumbles because, as one commenter noted, you do not murder someone you genuinely care about just to get noticed.

Unresolved Mysteries and Plot Holes

Even if you accept Penny's confession at face value, the ending leaves a staggering number of threads dangling. The game sets up fascinating lore throughout its runtime, only to abandon most of it in the final act.

Major unresolved plot points include:

• The Mystids: The strange creatures kept in the tower's lab are teased as central to the mystery, with scratched glass and empty cages hinting at something bigger. The story ends before we learn what they truly are or why they matter.
• Flora's backstory: Penny claims she did not want Flora to suffer, but Flora remains a mystery. Her relationship with Freya, her place in the family tree, and her hardships are never fully explored.
• The Ambassadors: The five founders of the research center are all dead by the end, with their eyes crossed out. Penny is implied to have killed them, but the game never confirms this or explains why.
• Freya's diary: A poignant entry about someone who "could use some company" is never definitively tied to Penny or Flora.
• The tower's origin: Why Tangle Tower was created in the first place, and what exactly modifies the water, remains unknown.

One community theory suggests that the ambassadors destroyed or sold valuable research about the tower's secrets, and Penny killed them out of fury over that loss. This would at least give her a more concrete motive — protecting the legacy of the research — but the game never confirms it.

Community Theories That Fill the Gaps

Because the official ending leaves so much unresolved, players have developed their own head-canon to patch the holes. The most compelling theory, shared by a Steam user named MadeOfViolets, proposes that Penny's entire confession is a misdirect.

The Misdirect Theory: Penny deliberately crafted an elaborate murder and left behind just enough evidence to create a "satisfactory" resolution for the tower's residents. Her confession is a half-truth — she admits to killing Freya and gives a surface-level motive, but she is hiding the real reason and the real secret she is protecting. This would explain why the murder seems overly complicated and why her motivation feels thin. She is not trying to get away with it; she is trying to control the narrative.

This theory also opens the door to the idea that Penny had an accomplice — possibly a twin sister separated at birth when their ambassador parents abandoned them. The accomplice could have been the one dressed as Hawkshaw during the moments when Penny seemed to be in two places at once. It is a satisfying explanation for the teleportation plot hole, even if the game never confirms it.

Another popular theory ties Penny's actions to envy. Freya was free-spirited, artistic, and beloved — everything Penny longed to be but could not. Poppy, not Freya, would have been a more logical target if envy were the true motive, but the theory suggests Penny lashed out at the person who represented what she could never have.

How the Ending Compares to the First Game

Tangle Tower is a sequel to Detective Grimoire: Secret of the Swamp, and players have noted that both games share a similar weakness — underdeveloped endings. The first game also left major questions unanswered, and there is hope among the fanbase that SF Games will address these issues in future installments.

The studio has acknowledged the feedback and expressed interest in improving storytelling for their upcoming projects. Whether that means revisiting Tangle Tower's loose threads or simply doing better in the next game remains to be seen.

Looking Ahead to Future Games

The good news is that Penny was never caught, which means she could return as a recurring villain. The bad news is that if future games continue to tease connections without resolving them, the frustration will only grow. Players have been clear: they want a self-contained story with a villain whose motivations make sense and an ending that resolves the mysteries it sets up.

For now, the Tangle Tower ending explained conversation remains a mix of admiration for the game's charm and disappointment in its narrative payoff. The humor, voice acting, music, and puzzle design are all top-notch — it is just the final act that leaves players wanting.

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FAQ

Is Hawkshaw really Penny? Yes. The game reveals that Hawkshaw is Penny in disguise, though the execution creates a plot hole because there are moments where both characters appear to exist separately.

Why did Penny kill Freya? The game states that Freya knew too many of the tower's secrets and planned to expose them. However, many players find this motivation unconvincing because the elaborate murder method gave Freya time to pass on information.

Will there be a sequel to Tangle Tower? SF Games has teased future projects, and since Penny was never caught, there is potential for her to return. The studio has also acknowledged feedback about the ending and expressed interest in improving their storytelling.

Are the mystids ever explained? No. The mystids are set up as a major lore element but are never fully explored in Tangle Tower. This is one of the most commonly cited unresolved plot threads.

Is Tangle Tower worth playing despite the ending? Absolutely. The game's humor, voice acting, puzzles, and atmosphere are widely praised. Even players who were disappointed by the ending still consider it a worthwhile experience.