I don’t have all that much time to write, so this will be somewhat short and won’t go into detailed explanation.

Firstly, the connection between Perinheri and the House of the Hearth should be obvious, so for the sake of the theory I’ll assume Arlecchino has been through a similar process described in the book.

The chimney ritual described in Perinheri sounds a lot like the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment to me. A subject is placed in an enclosed area, and while inside, is in a state of quantum superposition — the cat is simultaneously alive and dead until the box is opened and reality collapses into one state or the other.

To me, “traversing two worlds” as described in the tale may be a way of referring to this concept. While in the chimney, the child is “both alive and dead”, and experiences a glimpse of the afterlife. This life and the next life, or a world where they’re alive versus one where they’re dead. You could even describe it as two different fates.

This could be why the priests kept asking “are you dead?” In order to see the vision, the child has to accept that possibility, and delude themself into thinking they have died. Only when the doors are opened does reality collapse back in. This ties to the idea of delusion and the blurring of reality present in many stories, including Freminet’s helmet.

In addition, Lyney and Lynette, two of Arlecchino’s children, are both cat-themed. Arlecchino even came out of one of Lyney’s magic boxes in one of his character stories — a metaphorical cat in the box.

Arlecchino’s constellation also references purgatory, and she has a lot of death imagery associated with her (especially with her crossed-out eyes). This could be a reference to her being in a state between life and death.

It could even be connected to the Narzissenkreuz Ordo’s process of “excising” oneself — or “to die before death” to avoid getting a vision and becoming subject to fate. However, Arlecchino does have a vision, so that throws a wrench into things.

It’s possible the “two worlds” could refer to something else, but I thought this was an interesting interpretation I haven’t seen anyone mention. Especially with the theme of “quantum and imaginary” elements present in MHY’s other games, using an imaginary thought experiment regarding quantum mechanics feels like it could be a source of inspiration.

Thanks for reading! Any other thoughts or interpretations of the chimney ritual?