Theories

Things To Note:

• It is never explained how "You" knows how to handle a gun properly.
• Perhaps when the Hide And Seek Count To A Million was how "Her" died.
• Key config. the grey haired man (the man in blue)

One theory:

• "You" is Draco

• The man who wears a box is Draco

• Lone Survivor is in a reference to "you" (the grey haired guy) outliving your wife in the real life.

• The whole game is your twisted psychological journey/fevered dreams of your last moments on earth waiting for death.
• When "You" gain the handgun and head back in Chie's apartment, Benzidol and Kenny didn't died, they just 'turned' in these zombies, tried to stop "You" because "You" have a weapon now.
• When "You" go to Chie's apartment, everything in there "You" imagined including Benzidol and Kenny, and that the two dead bodies (Benzidol and Kenny) have been dead for a long time and seem to be rotting away over a long period of time, and the zombies have been in the room the entire time you were in the apartment. This theory is backed by the fact that Chie disappears so she wasn't there to begin with. It's unknown why the zombies didn't attack "You" but once "You" get the gun the apartment is "destroyed" and has been worn down over a long period of time.

Another, more in-depth theory:

None of it ever happened. The entire story your character is actually in the hospital psych ward.

You and The Girl in Blue were living happily, but in a land of conflict. Someone sets off a bomb on a bus that The Girl was riding on. Evidence throughout the story suggests the you were at the scene and saw her die. But you weren’t harmed at all, suggesting that you arrived after the blast. My theory on this is that given his handiness with a pistol, he must be a police officer who was called to the scene, which also explains how he got there in time to see her die.

This traumatized you. Your consciousness retreats into the recesses of your mind while it tries to decide how to proceed from here. Your body is, of course, brought to the psych ward. That’s why the pills keep magically restocking themselves, your psychiatrist gives them to you.

(The psychiatrist may also be The White Faced Man, considering he said how many times he would meet you(apointments). And only if you get the Green ending by balancing the Id(not killing your self or going insane) and the super ego (not becoming to passive) do you see him for a third time. Which means he allows you to go to Her funeral and go back to society.)

Enter you, the player.

If you choose the blue or red path (IE don't look after your sanity), your character goes insane, shoots himself, and is reunited with The Girl at the end.

If you choose the green path (adopt the cat, eat proper food, get gifts from the director, etc.), You move on with your life, and eventually regain your sanity, and that is what was hidden inside Box-head, You moving on.

Someone else's note on the above theory:

I agree on most parts, but to me, You is quite young and I doubt he's married to the girl, judging by the way they tease each other and talk in the cut-scene on the hill. I figure they're young teenagers who had been deeply in love.

I feel that You probably had a bad home life, judging by the names of the larger monsters (Big Daddy and Mother). I submit that ??? is a corruption of You's father, encouraging him to be a "real man" by being violent instead of talking about his feelings. In the blue ending, you become ???. You become your father.

Perhaps the Man with The Box on his head is a representation of who You want to be: Quiet, out of the way, but helpful and listening. However, in the green end you have to face it: The truth, represented by the Pale-Faced Man.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Chie yet. I feel Chie is a real person, but she's an exageration: She represents the sort of people that want those who are mentally ill to just "Snap out of it". She puts him back into a public setting when he's still freaking out, forces him to pick up the doll of his dying loved one (Even if he doesn't understand it) and gives him the means to be violent. She's shown dancing with ???, but I don't think she represents You's mother, perhaps an older sister? However, she appears sympathetic, but has no idea how to deal with You. So she gives him the easy way out with the pistol, which can ultimately lead to his demise in the blue end.

I feel the director is a father figure to You, and most likely The Girl's father, evidenced by the drawings of a female angel in his apartment. He was also on the bus when then bomb went off and was gravely injured, but managed to survive long enough in the hospital to watch over You. He desperately wants you to get well but he can't do much other than sneak you good food and a game-joy. If you talk to him enough, he says something. "The world is yours" Taken quite literally, this means that this is your world, something you made up to retreat. At the end, when he finally succumbs to his wounds and says "I miss her too", it brings up part of a truth: You has repressed the girl from his mind, so much that he cannot even remember her being hurt, can't remember the bus exploding.

Perhaps the zombies is how You sees the other survivors or what the corpses looked like at the site, twitching masses of flesh going into death through and bloated figures crawling onto the ground, helpless.

At the end, You finally confronts the truth of the dying girl and realizes that he has to move on and get well. Judging by the black suit and lack of mask, I'd say he's just come back from her funeral and is going to their favorite place overlooking the city. He's alone, but he's moved on, because the world isn't ???'s, or the Girl's or even the director's. It's his.

Another One:

Basically at the end of either the blue or green ending the main character is wearing whatever outfit as the people who appear in the certain color drug (black suit for The Man Who Wears a Box that you see by taking green pills AKA Green ending, blue shirt for question mark man who wears a blue shirt and is seen by taking the blue pills AKA Blue ending) so maybe the man who wears a box and the question mark man who wears a blue shirt are like two sides of the main character? YES!

Have Another

-You was checked into the hospital, and through the course of the game shows signs of both depression and a deteriorating mental state.

-However, a war did indeed happen. You mentions about bombs multiple times through the game, and before you go to the back alley, he finds newspaper clips about a war he doesn't recall. Regardless, he'll say various areas look like they were hit by a bomb, and say one corpse he finds looks like a corpse from a bomb explosion. There's residue of areas being burned and collapses.

-'Her' died in a bus crash, likely triggered by an explosion. When You eats the fruit drops, he'll mention that 'she died in that accident...'. News stands around the building mention that a young girl died in a bus accident, as well as if you read your journal after reaching the said bus, the journal will read the bus 'is where it all began.'

-Blue Man and Man Who Wears A Box are both different sides of our main character. Dreams are supposed to reflect the subconcious of a person, and these two characters are only met in You's dreams. In the blue ending, you become the Blue Man, while in the Red ending by shooting the blue man, you yourself begin to bleed. In a similar fashion, in the Green ending when you escape the town, you're wearing Box Man's clothes and standing in his posture. Jasper Byrne suggested both are different halves of 'Nature vs Nurture', which in You's shoes, supplement both You's nature of what to do, as well as his concern to be a better person for Her and her last request (to take care of himself and leave this city). Part of him feels like wallowing forever in this town, releasing the anger of all that he's lost and all that he's been through, while the other part is hiding from the truth, symbolized by the box that he wears over his head.

-You's journey is a mixture of truth and delirium. You really is in this town, and this town seems to have been bombed, or maybe more appropriately, nuked. The town is in ruins, there's collapse sites and signs of post-explosion residue and burnt surfaces through the town, as well as a few radiated items such as the irradiated orange (which should be noted, is the only fruit in the game, and fruit is believed to be one of the foods that remain irradiated the longest). The whole area outside of the town is also a desert wiped of all life, to which our hero obviously dislikes (he'll mention when looking at a picture of a desert in the apartment with the skin you have to cut through how much he dislikes deserts) and was seen as a forest in one of You's flashbacks, suggesting something wiped it all out to become a desert. Despite all of this though, You's journey is in big part within himself and his degrading mental state. The monsters, the people he see's, as well as some of the strange occurrences in the town seem more compiled by his own demented view of what the town is, plagued by items and imagery that reflects Her and himself in each area of the game.

-A lot of time has passed since Her passed away. In all endings of the game, we see an older version of You, which You often turns into after learning the truth. You's journey and appearance are likely related to the fact that he cannot escape his past, and perceives himself to be at the age he was when Her died.

-Her and You were lovers. While a sibling relationship is possible, You mentions when looking at a picture of Her that she looks the same age as him as opposed to younger or older. When looking at drawings of her near The Director, he thinks of her as an Angel. In a flashback in the basement he enjoys holding hands with her while doing nothing else for a long period of time. In the Blue Ending, where he deceives himself to continue in his own demented version of the world, we see You and Her together, and he tells her that he wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here beside her. All of this, plus the next point, all suggest they were lovers as opposed to sibblings.

-Chie is Her's mother. Not only do they both have the same color of hair and even a somewhat similar puffy hair style, but Chie seeks out the doll that we learn is Her's in the Green ending. The Doll is found in Chie's apartment, in the same room a child's drawing is found. However, Chie may have not been the best mother, suggested by the fact our hero mostly seems to remember her through her parties with other guys, and her dialogue, including saying things such as, "I am not one to judge,", or, 'To just chill' about problems. A lot of Her's strange personality quirks, such as a somewhat child demeanor and being too reserved and hiding away from You could be attributed to neglect and some possible mental problems Her had.

-The Director was most likely a person at the mental hospital that You stayed at. The Director seems to be wearing a full-faced surgical mask, as well as the named Director could very much pertain to someone in a hospital environment setting. You seems to think fondly of The Director, who seemed to have snuck him things like comics, snacks, and a Game-joy for entertainment while he was in the hopsital. The Director also would of known Her, who was in the hospital as well, either after injury or more likely as a mental patient as well. Before The Director dies, he'll mention, 'I miss her too,' and has child drawings in his room of Her. The Director dies by 'Mother', and his death is what triggers him to finally go out and go back to the hospital he was omitted too to find his answers. The Director after Her's death was likely the last piece of sanity and last sanctuary he had until he died likely in a bombing. His death triggered him to venture out into the city, and in his death of The Director in his mind, is what triggers him to go back to the hospital to face up to his resolution.

-You likely had a bad childhood which lead up to his depression and mental problems, added that the two most powerful monsters in the game are named, 'Father and Mother'. Father relentlessly chases you, while Mother tries to strike you down.

Pale Man and Hank I have ideas for, but are a lot less developed and certain about.

One more

You was a normal man with a lover relationship (or possibly sibling) to the girl in the blue. She died of some sort of illness like cancer and he was put in the crazy hospital and has this huge twisted mental adventure while on medication of a world ravaged by monsters, explaining why some things in it make no sense at all.

The monsters are a representation of her illness, witch terrified him when it went through her like it does in his weird twisted fantasy.

The man with a box on his head represents him attempting to hide himself from the thoughts of her, as the box man does with his face witch is why Box man does not ever say why he wears it.The box is also seen next to The Director possibly because the director is also trying to hide it?

??? (Blue shirt man) represents You in the future (or possible future) witch is why he is about the same height and older.He takes place in his dreams to show him that hes eventually going to move on if he holds on to his sanity.

The Director was possibly a person related to the girl, maybe her doctor when she was dying or father. He has a box next to him in his apartment showing hes also hiding the thoughts of her from himself and refusing to move on.

Hank is a representation of hopelessness, as he seems to have no hope of surviving his infection (witch again represents the girls illness) as You has no hope about the girl and her illness. He may also be a person You knew before who also died of illness.

A theory about Draco:

This one is more of a stretch but perhaps Draco is The Director, as Draco is not mentioned after you meet The Director, and both seem to have a general knowledge of the situation that "You" do not have. Also maybe Draco/Director let something happen to "Her" and that is why Draco seems so angry in the notes. Then once his rage is cooled, he cleans his act up and goes by The Director.

Somewhat Different Theory

• The apartment building and the city are real but not in the way they are seen in the game. You is young man in an intense state of depression over the loss of the girl and sees the world as a dreary and dangerous hell-scape. Many of the places in town are actually unlocked but You no longer goes to these places in his current state. He starts off in the game locked up in is apartment, not even bothering to feed or bathe himself. He then decides to try to get out and deal with his condition one way or another.
• The monsters are normal people. He sees most people as dangerous creatures because he can no longer cope with society. You has become very paranoid of people in general and fears interaction with most of them. The two giant monsters may be his parents who he often has arguments or fights with.
• The Man in Blue and the Man Who Wears a Box are two people You goes to for advice who also represent two aspects of him. The Man in Blue is his temptation to give into anger in order to deal with grief. The Man Who Wears a Box is his desire to stay shut in and "protected" from the rest of society.
• The Man in Blue (as mentioned by someone else) could be his violent father or a similar figure in his life who advises aggressive and paranoid behavior.
• The Man Who Wears a Box could be a psychiatrist giving him therapy. When talking to Hank, You mentions that he thinks he was supposed to be taking the green pills. This might hint that the green pills are You's prescribed medication by his psychiatrist.
• Chie is a friend of You's who he talks to for support at a party. She does her best to help him but ultimately makes his paranoia worse with her advice. When You returns to the party he sees everyone there as "dead" and replaced with monsters like every one else.
• Hank is a drug addict who is possibly in a worse mental state than You. You can either feed his addiction or get him help at his own expense.
• The Director is a important mentor in You's life. He could be a grandfather or just an older person that You identifies as a father figure. The Director is likely Her's father or at least has some other parental roll in her life.
• In the red ending, You can't take it anymore and commits suicide.
• In the blue ending, You ends up doing something that ruins his life permanently. This could include killing whoever the Man in Blue is in real life.
• In the green ending, Her dialogue may or may not have been really her words. If they were not real dialogue than it was just You realizing what Her would have wanted for him. You leaves town and starts a new life.

Yet another probably-reading-too-deeply-into-things theory: 

A bit of a back story as to how I came up with this:

I loved pretty much every second of Lone Survivor, but once I managed to get all three of the available endings, I actually started to lose sleep over the fact I could never feel certain about what the story was truly about.

So one night, I stayed up and mapped out every item and line of dialogue from the game in order to make up my own theory that I could be satisfied with.

Here are a few things I noticed:

The cafe, the Ramen, the squid on a stick, and the rice pudding: I thought about You's diet for a while and the cafe itself. You seems to enjoy Eastern foods. (Or maybe he was just that desperate where he was willing to eat dried squids. That being said, You sure is a trooper.) I'm not sure what the cafe's sign means, maybe somebody would be willing to look into that for us?

 You's eternal hatred of shoes: Nothing special to say here other than the Eastern tradition of taking off your shoes once you step inside of your own house. I'm probably looking too far into this, but this is the internet, so I'll just keep pitching ideas until something sticks.(And yes, I know he says they only make it so 'they' know you're coming.)

The orange: Remember that irradiated orange that you picked up in the generator room right after (Spoiler) You freaked out and thought that he was sitting next to her with some calming guitar playing in the background? (End spoiler.) Why would it be irradiated just by sitting next to a generator? If it ran on gasoline and was inside the basement of an apartment complex, I doubt that it was nuclear...I mean, if it was, that would probably explain You's insanity and hallucinations, but he probably would've randomly fallen over partway through the game due to extreme radiation poisoning. 

...And trust me, that would be a boring ending.

       You's facemask: This is just based off of a few photos my great grandpa had brought home from WWII, but during the firebombings of Japan and all throughout that war, I saw numerous civilians and officers wearing facemasks. I'm not sure why and I'm not sure if that was a common thing back then. I'm really just adding this because it fits into my theory. 

The rubble: Right before You runs into the bus for the first time, you have the option of looking at a building that looks as if it had been bombed. This makes You uncomfortable and he asks if it was the survivors that had done this. (I hope you see where I'm going with this by now.)

(...but if not)

       The newspaper: On the wall next to the hole which leads you out to the alleyway that leads you to your first encounter with the white faced man, You examines some newspapers talking about a war and how there was one victim that was wounded in a bus bombing (Probably the same bus you fix up later in the game.) and how the war has, "Long since been over." 

....Before I continue, I'm going to just tell you where I'm going with this. My theory is that You is a survivor of the bombing of Hiroshima. I'm not sure how he survived, but this would explain the hints of radiation and war. However, I feel as if he might not have been there during the actual bombing. He most likely returned after the war was over to find that his love had been killed by the blast while she was taking the bus somewhere. When you start off the game, you have no memories of what has gone on in the city, nor do you have the supplies you need to survive. In fact, You starts of the game with absolutely nothing, possibly hinting at the fact that he had nothing left when he had finally returned. You're searching for both answers and support while you cope with your PTSD.

The director is most likely Her's doctor and the one that cared for her, hence the heartbreaking moment wh*/ere he says, "I....miss her...too..." He understand You's pain and is his only support and friend while he's recovering, doing his best to offer him advice, laughter, and even supplies (Maybe translating to a chance to get back on his feet and restart his life.) I'm sure the Director was the one supplying the pills in hopes that they might help You. The white faced man is probably You's therapist, asking You questions with no clear answer. You is likely taking the time to consider his therapist's words and trying to answer the questions himself (Maybe even leading to the green dreams where he collects and analyzes his thoughts?) That being said, the fact that his face makes an appearance in the green ending most likely symbolizes his words getting through to You. 

Draco's journal entries are probably You's writings from when he was at war. 

The monsters are humans whose skin has melted and started to fall off (Leading Hank to comment on how the 'disease' turns you inside out.) who simply wanted help after the bombing. Draco would be shooting away or trying to erase the memories of those people he could never save. You would be facing them and learning to live with them. (Depending on your sanity) Her is likely to become on of those monsters if she burns up during your first encounter with Her, thus leading You further down the path of guilt and self hatred. She was somewhere where he could never reach her. If she didn't burn up during your first encounter, You is learning to focus on how she would have wanted him to focus on healing and not dwelling on the path, how he shouldn't chase down haunting memories and beat himself up over something he could never prevent.

Mommy and daddy? This could possibly hint at You and Her having the intention to start a family. 

That doll you had to give Chie probably belonged to Her and was one of You's only remaining memories of her. He didn't want to talk about the doll, otherwise Chie would take it away since she probably thought it would help him get over Her. Safe to say that You didn't like this would lead him to remember Her right after the incident and Chie's.

The boys at the party? Probably You's 'support' group that were never truly there for him. They didn't care about the state he was in or the choices he was making. Chie was probably pretty apathetic too, letting him take the gun which he likely used to blown his brains out in the red and blue ending without any objections.

Hank? Most likely somebody that You served in the war with who was also suffering from PTSD, which probably lead You to sympathize with him, explaining You's desire to help him. 

And who is Draco? You could be. But you make the choice of recovering or letting your demons grab hold of him. The man with the box could be You as well, but only after getting a grip on reality and being able to let go.

  

....Anyway, that's all I have for now. If anybody wants to point out any flaws in my theory or add onto it, feel free.

-Vincie

Sunnydazer123 theory

i Think that maybe he was not insane but If he was in a war then he would learn some of the enemies plans, and he might have saw that they had an infection leading that he might have warned them but they did not believe him and thought that he was Crazy leading into the mental ward,  then it was too late they nuked the place with the infection and the true war began with Civilians getting sick the infection was killing millions and so then the enemies nuked them again but with radiation causing the irritated orange in the generator room and it not only mutated the sick people into creature's but it mutated the virus itself so who ever was to get sick with the new virus would become a creature,causing a massive hunger and then it developed into illusions and the sick creature would see humans as food causing cannibalism, and a big epidemic would begin to spread causing a quarantine and demolishing people until the virus was under control and they might seal it off since there is no vaccine, maybe this virus was the Bubonic Plague an evolved form of the most toxic kind turning the person's skin black and that was only the beginning. person in charge said "We have no choice the infection is spreading massively so we are going to nuke the place demolishing the town since the creature's lurking this town and the sick" "it is also out of control and we don't want this virus to spread world wide" and maybe the "lone survivor" also known as 'you' was still in the hospital when all of this was going on during the war when it all began (going back) the bus was bombed maybe the enemies were after the veteran and meant no one else to get hurt or killed but him (this info was from before the ally when your first meeting with the white faced man the newspaper clippings on the wall) and it was unfortunate that "her" was on the same bus. "you" was in the hospital when he heard a loud boom and people screaming he rushed to the window to see a bus in Flames he rushed out of the hospital trying to get to the scene, when he did there she was dying right in front of his eyes he tried to help but there was nothing he could do. and she died they rushed him back to the hospital since they THOUGHT he was ill but that was the beginning anyways back to were we were at. they nuked the town the 3 time ut they nuked them selves. instead of the enemies who nuked them 2 times, the infection and the radiation. now it was just a massive bomb that they put on themselves they put it off and most of the people died, the infection was already spreading at the hospital were the lone survivor was at AKA YOU , but how you ask? there was a patient they took in (since he was still human but was slowly developing into a creature) one of the side effects was (like i said earlier) a bad fever causing hallucinations and he thought that humans were what he was supposed to eat when a nurse came in to give him his food he bit the nurse even though the nurse was sick he still went to work and the process repeated, then with the hospital at almost complete infection he managed to escape but since he knew there was infection about he took a mask and that was were he got his hospital mask (IT IS NOT A BIG SMILEY FACE) if you thought it was a smiley face then you never seen the beginning of the game which means either you played someone else's game or you never played lone survivor, after escaping he found a apartment explaining he said he was not in his original environment and could also explain why he never took the jacket he always said "i dunno who's it is " or the shoes he went "not mine" or he never went into people stuff that much he never took what he wanted from them but what he needed to survive, Draco could be a friend of his from the army or a friend from the hospital that they helped each other escape and they split up and Draco might have already been mad and it only worsened, the man in blue could have been "you" but older and still in the city if you give up escaping afterall in the red or blue ending you shot him but it turned up as you too and you died. ಥ_ಥ

**Spoiler Alert**

Green ending

Blue ending

Red ending

the man in the box could be you but if you escaped the city and the man in white is possibly your current side 

hope you enjoyed!

sincerely Sunnydazer123,

P.S. i beat the game and another theory arose

The hospital: that you were on the bus next to her a bomb went off he watched her die and he looked at the dead veteran then he looked at her he was upset but he had massive head trauma causing you to pass out wake up in the hospital a slight coma, the place was mad with sick people and he wore a mask the reason i think he had head trauma was 

1. "you" could not remember the jacket was his or his shoes (i don't know)
2. "you"  could not remember "her"
3. you had extreme head aches and migraines

Facts

• you may have had such a tragic experience that you's mind blocked out of you's mind
• you may have a severe case of OCD obsessive compulsive disorder remember when you run out of supplies you Flip out triggering the green dream if you have no more batteries and you flashlight is dead or you have run out of ammo in your gun and you have no more cartridges
• you don't were shoes so the creatures will not hear you.  

1. Draco is you when you were at the army (look up to see my theory explaining this) "and they thought i was the crazy one i will paint the walls with their insides and make them see the organs!!" they did not believe him about the virus that the bio-terrorist had that but they did  

that is all i have for now hope you enjoyed!

SunnyDazer123

 Another plausible theory.

You

• 'You' is obviously suffering from degrading mental health and possibly PTSD
• He was involved somehow in the bus bombing, a victim? A bystander? Most likely a victim, as we learn later he was checked into the hospital.
• 'You' was possibly in a coma during the civil war mentioned, he might have been discharged as government presence was pulled out of the city as the civil war continued and the outbreak started to pick up.
• 'You' is possibly experiencing Survivor's Guilt, he is in denial of "her" 's death and doesn't want to face the truth
• 'You' might be suffering from amnesia due to the impact of the bus explosion, this explains why he doesn't seem to recognize "The Director" although he clearly shows affection towards him.

Her

• 'Her' was clearly an important girl in our protagonist's life. Most likely a fiance or girlfriend because "The Director" appears to be her father and acts as a father-in-law to "You".
• She was severely injured in a bus bombing, and succumbed to her wounds in the hospital. Maybe she went into a coma and was abandoned after the infection really picked up and drove people away from areas of the city.
• She had ties to the director, who was possibly her father.

The Director

• Acts as a father figure to 'You' , but isn't as close or affectionate. Most likely You's Father in law and 'Her''s father.
• Visited both 'You' and "Her" in the hospital.

The White Faced Man

• A fragment of 'You''s subconscious, You sees him as a sort of therapist, asking intrusive questions and acting quite menacing.
• Instead of being a fragment of his subconscious, he might be You's psychiatrist, popping in at random points of the story ('You' is re-telling what happened in The City) to ask questions.

The City

• 'You' isn't hallucinating or imagining his surroundings, there really was a civil war and outbreak, the infected are real.
• The civil war was probably a response to martial law, which was a response to the rapidly growing infection. Insurgent civilians probably forced the military out of the city causing the infection to grow wildly out of control.
• The bus bombing was probably the result of a rebellion.
• The city was quarantined and it as well as it's surroundings were heavily bombed.
• The city is most likely somewhere in Europe, as evidenced by the architecture of it's buildings.

The infection

• Pretty out of the ordinary, radically mutates humans and produces biomass. This leads me to believe it was a bio-weapon of some sort released by a country at war with whatever region the city is located (most likely Europe).
• The infected's instinct is not to eat prey, but to spread infection. Evidenced by how they stumble backwards after attacking 'You' and how they are attracted to decaying meat and will not actively chase 'You' more than a dozen steps.

Endings

• In the blue ending, 'You' looses his sanity completely and becomes delusional until his death.
• In the red ending, 'You', unable to cope with guilt, PTSD and depression kills himself.
• In the green ending, 'You' accepts everything that has happened and escapes The City to civilization.
• In the white ending, 'You' faces and accepts everything that's happened to him and those he loved. He escapes the city to civilization with excellent mental health.
• The man in blue 'You' shoots in the red ending and blue ending is his subconscious. In the blue ending, the shooting is a metaphor of 'You' destroying what's left of his sanity. In the red ending you literally shuts him up by putting a bullet in his own brain.
• The entire story is 'You' recounting the events to a therapist after escaping the city. This is evidenced by the psychiatrist's chart at the end of the game.

Miscellaneous

• Hank is addicted to drugs, probably as a way to cope with his rapidly advancing disease.
• 'The Doorman' and 'Mother' aren't metaphors for You's parents in any way. They are just incredibly mutated humans.
• Chie and her guest's are all dead, 'You' imagines Chie occasionally. Maybe the were friends? Co-workers? It is likely that she was 'Her''s sister or mom, evidenced by the fact that they live in the same apartment.
• Hank is cured from his disease if You gives him all health tonics.
• Health Tonic was made by the CDC or an equivalent to slow down infection. Enough of it can cure someone fully. It never reached mass distribution because the city fell before it could happen.
• The diary entries we find in the game left by Draco and other survivors have nothing to do with You's mental health, but they highlight the social split that occurred as a result of infection. Those who are willing to destroy everything in their path for the sake of self-preservation such as Draco and those who want to preserve their humanity.

Schizophrenia Theory

My theory is that "You" is schizophrenic. Suffering paranoid delusions and wrestling to comprehend a seemingly changing environment. Potentially, the apocalypse was in fact real, and the monsters inside were fought in reality, but in between the relatively explainable events of surviving alone, "You" drifts further into insanity. Or, the actual experience of "You" took place just as the aforementioned relatively explainable circumstances. But because of the traumas along the way and the sheer confusion of escaping the hellscape of the devastated city and returning to structured society, he has a twisted and perverted recollection of his situation as he goes through therapy. Hence the Psyche report at the end of the game.

Alternatively, referencing an above theory about the game taking place in a war-torn city, he may be occupying an abandoned building, firing at nothing with the weapon of a fallen soldier as his schizophrenic mind conjures visions of monsters and hallways seemingly made of flesh.

Theory about the City

This theory is being written by the writer of the theory above. This theory is simply about the city and the outbreak rather than the specific storyline of the game itself. My theory of the city is that there was indeed an outbreak, but the city was quarantined and sealed Dying Light style, as the rest of the world manages to destroy the outbreak, or at least prevent any kind of significant outbreak. This would explain how in certain endings and a handful of other theories how "You" manages to escape a destroyed, diseased hellscape and reach a world not dissimilar to our own.

DEMONUL'S Theory

I think that You has had a strong depression and personality issues, so Her tried to get him to the hospital but died in a car accident, which had a strong emphasis on his life. So he was signed by a doctors instead but he didn't know it as he was in a coma at the time. They let him be and so his dreams begun.

The whole game is You's road to forgive himself for causing Her's death.

It is up to player if

he forgives himself(Green ending, White ending)

Decides to stay fighting(Blue ending, Yellow ending)

or simply can't take it(Red ending)

Note that every character encountered by You, seems to represent some of his personality:

Man in Bule - Represents aggresiveness

Man Who Wears a Box - He shows peacefull way to deal with life

Hank - He simply shows You's addiction to some actions(possibly takink pills as he is addicted to them

The Director - Help, he represents help