The Family
Isaac, his mother and the father who left: the family at the centre of The Binding of Isaac.
The family in The Binding of Isaac is small: Isaac, a child, and his deeply religious mother, who live alone in a small house on a hill. The expansions of Rebirth add a third member, Isaac's father, who abandoned the family, after which his mother began abusing him.
Quick Facts
- Game
- The Binding of Isaac (2011), Rebirth (2014) and expansions
- Home
- A small house on a hill
Lore & Background
The story begins with the mother hearing what she believes is the voice of God. She strips Isaac of his possessions, locks him in his room, and, when told to sacrifice him, comes for him with a kitchen knife; Isaac escapes through a trapdoor. Rebirth's endings add further layers: one implies Isaac locked himself in a toy chest from religious guilt, and the expansion endings reveal the father's abandonment and the mother's abuse. In the final ending Isaac ascends to Heaven as his life flashes before his eyes, until the narrator, whom Isaac calls his father, asks if he wants to change the story and begins a new one featuring Isaac and both of his parents.
Reader's Guide
The family is drawn from Edmund McMillen's own. He grew up between Catholic and born-again Christian relatives, and the game was his way of showing both the positive and negative sides of religion he had seen in their conflicts. Isaac's mother is also the sixth-floor boss of the original game, and her heart is the boss of the eighth.
More in Factions & Groups
Elsewhere in The Binding of Isaac
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