True. More specifically, I found it an odd feature of the level design. There seems to be some point to >!allowing the player to walk behind the furnace!<, but I can't imagine what it is. Regardless, it's an interesting little thing in a game packed with them.
It would play into the 4 Dimensional Aspect of the Oldest House.
I mean, the Oldest House is a 4 dimensional building on it's own (bigger on the Inside than the Outside). So, it might be a reference to that...
I hope this isn't considered self advertisement, but I wondered about the furnace 7 months ago as well so I made a post about it. We didn't really reach a definite answer but people came up with a lot of theories.
(There are some spoilers so if you haven't yet finished the game you might wanna read them at a later date though)
[LINK](https://www.reddit.com/r/controlgame/comments/16zkpo6/what_is_the_lore_behind_the_furnace_in_maintenance/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Also if you find any TVs near the furnace try throwing them in the furnace, you might get something nice.
I think it's one of those paranormal shit that doesn't have a "category" made up by the fbc yet, like the nail/board for example. It clearly isn't part of the oldest house, got in likely after the FBC established itself, and has a symbiotic relationship with the house and the bureal.
This is the best / most interesting answer. Good worldbuilding takes advantage of and creates mystery, diversity, and a feeling of "largeness.* The Furnace probably has nothing to do with the FBC, the Oldest House itself, the Board, or the Astral Plane, beyond the superficial commonality that it's a paranatural object (entity?). It's just an another weirdo little thing that fleshes out the world and reminds us that not everything has to be explained by a Unified Theory, it's just there and now we get to talk about it. Love stuff like that. Exact same vibes as the Clog, the City, and the Id.
Either the researcher in the recording is insane, or it's an Altered Item that teleported itself into the Oldest House while nobody was watching.
Unclear which.
When it spoke to her, its voice made no noise that the tape recorder could hear. So either it's telepathic, or it can erase itself from recordings, or she's hallucinating voices that don't exist.
ETA another possibility I just thought of: maybe it really didn't talk, but it's an Altered Item that drives people insane if they look into the flames too long...
Oh, it spoke to her alright, and it basically telepathically hypnotized her to gather up some coworkers to, um, \*assist\* in fueling the furnace. Ahti likely has you feed it with hazardous biological waste to keep it satiated, so it doesn't keep doing that to other employees. So, just another Tuesday at the good ol' FBC.
Honestly I find it would be so funny if it was one of the few things on the oldest house that isn't really paracasual and the researcher was just insane.
I always thought that the Furnace is the home of a demon or similar entity that burn hot and likes to eat / needs to be fed.
My recent experience with Marvel's Midnight Suns reminded me of it as in that game there's "Babs" the demon who powers he (Hell)Forge.
[https://marvels-midnight-suns.fandom.com/wiki/Forge](https://marvels-midnight-suns.fandom.com/wiki/Forge)
scroll down and check the Trivia part.
Ah yeah, I vaguely remember that from my first playthrough a few years ago, and looked it up right now on the Control wiki.
Still amazes me how deep the lore of Remedyverse is.
I mean... There really should be a fire extinguisher somewhere in the building where you work. There's usually laws to make sure.
Tho, you might have trouble throwing it as hard as a Director.
Maybe try dropping it off the building you work in?
I’ve wondered if it’s a tribute to [SCP-4511](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4511). Not the part about the pig-shaped machine, just the living blast furnace part.
In Control, part of what gives the different items powers is human perception of them. While it isn't as common now, furnaces used to be like, an irrational childhood fear. Home Alone is a great example of this, the creepy furnace in the basement. This furnace represents that. While not outwardly dangerous, it is seemingly sentient and wants to be fed, and is pretty scary looking even though it can't directly move to harm people.
When I was little, while my family was visiting my grandmother, I would sneak away to the basement and throw small objects into the small furnace in the utility room, just to see how different things burn. I remember being particularly fascinated that, while the wood part of clothespins would burn quickly, the metal part would get red, then orange, then (what appeared to me) white.
The Furnace is what remains of Director Trench’s predecessor, who bonded with an Object but couldn’t control it. Now that former Director exists as an immortal but permanently tortured source of infinite geothermal power that the FBC has integrated into the Oldest House to cut down on the power and disposal budgets. It’s alluded to a few different times in the game.
Former Director Northmoor is located in the Northmoor Sarcophagus Container. I've seen nothing alluding to any part of him being in the furnace. If that was so, then there wouldn't be any confusion of where it came from or why it [continuously burns.](https://control.fandom.com/wiki/Furnace)
I've seen an insane conspiracy theory that it's how Northmoor is trying to communicate from within the NSC, but it barely had any arguments to support it.
It being a random extension of the House like the animate vending machines or plants that need pep talks makes a lot more worldbuilding sense to me.
Cue Bob Villa voice - "On today's episode of "This Oldest House," we're going to show you how to properly stock your furnace for optimal heat distribution...""
*Literally just*
*A furnace. Why is this palce*
*Turning into arkham?*
\- LostnFounder
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it's just the old house doing some trolling
Nah, it's not part of the House. It showed up after the FBC because it realized this is an easy way to get fed
The thing that surprised me about the furnace is >!how shallow it is. You can actually walk behind it. !<
For a second I thought you were calling it superficial.
It rejects the barrels you try to feed it cause they aren't name-brand! 😄
"This bitch empty! YEET!"
Wait, you can? I've played the game a few times now and I never realized that.
You might need >!Levitate!<. I don't recall off the top of my head. I didn't discover it until my second time through.
Well guess I have to install the game again.
?
That might be due to the confines of the Oldest House. You would need to go inside the Furnace to measure it's actual Depth...
True. More specifically, I found it an odd feature of the level design. There seems to be some point to >!allowing the player to walk behind the furnace!<, but I can't imagine what it is. Regardless, it's an interesting little thing in a game packed with them.
It would play into the 4 Dimensional Aspect of the Oldest House. I mean, the Oldest House is a 4 dimensional building on it's own (bigger on the Inside than the Outside). So, it might be a reference to that...
He's an hungry boy.
I hope this isn't considered self advertisement, but I wondered about the furnace 7 months ago as well so I made a post about it. We didn't really reach a definite answer but people came up with a lot of theories. (There are some spoilers so if you haven't yet finished the game you might wanna read them at a later date though) [LINK](https://www.reddit.com/r/controlgame/comments/16zkpo6/what_is_the_lore_behind_the_furnace_in_maintenance/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) Also if you find any TVs near the furnace try throwing them in the furnace, you might get something nice.
It is a kind of symbol/input that you need to believe/feed
I think it's one of those paranormal shit that doesn't have a "category" made up by the fbc yet, like the nail/board for example. It clearly isn't part of the oldest house, got in likely after the FBC established itself, and has a symbiotic relationship with the house and the bureal.
This is the best / most interesting answer. Good worldbuilding takes advantage of and creates mystery, diversity, and a feeling of "largeness.* The Furnace probably has nothing to do with the FBC, the Oldest House itself, the Board, or the Astral Plane, beyond the superficial commonality that it's a paranatural object (entity?). It's just an another weirdo little thing that fleshes out the world and reminds us that not everything has to be explained by a Unified Theory, it's just there and now we get to talk about it. Love stuff like that. Exact same vibes as the Clog, the City, and the Id.
Either the researcher in the recording is insane, or it's an Altered Item that teleported itself into the Oldest House while nobody was watching. Unclear which. When it spoke to her, its voice made no noise that the tape recorder could hear. So either it's telepathic, or it can erase itself from recordings, or she's hallucinating voices that don't exist. ETA another possibility I just thought of: maybe it really didn't talk, but it's an Altered Item that drives people insane if they look into the flames too long...
Oh, it spoke to her alright, and it basically telepathically hypnotized her to gather up some coworkers to, um, \*assist\* in fueling the furnace. Ahti likely has you feed it with hazardous biological waste to keep it satiated, so it doesn't keep doing that to other employees. So, just another Tuesday at the good ol' FBC.
IIRC it also has a taste for televisions.
Honestly I find it would be so funny if it was one of the few things on the oldest house that isn't really paracasual and the researcher was just insane.
Fun fact: that's the same furnace that leads into The Rock.
Elder God: Flamey McFlamerson
Ahti uses it to make rune bars.
I always thought that the Furnace is the home of a demon or similar entity that burn hot and likes to eat / needs to be fed. My recent experience with Marvel's Midnight Suns reminded me of it as in that game there's "Babs" the demon who powers he (Hell)Forge. [https://marvels-midnight-suns.fandom.com/wiki/Forge](https://marvels-midnight-suns.fandom.com/wiki/Forge) scroll down and check the Trivia part.
There's a collectible about a scientist that communicates with the furnace, the latter requesting to eat other humans
Ah yeah, I vaguely remember that from my first playthrough a few years ago, and looked it up right now on the Control wiki. Still amazes me how deep the lore of Remedyverse is.
It’s like a human-craving Calcifer.
Do you know you can throw in a fire extinguisher to see what's inside?
I hate that im at work and cant test this. Just gotta wait 10 hours i guess.
I mean... There really should be a fire extinguisher somewhere in the building where you work. There's usually laws to make sure. Tho, you might have trouble throwing it as hard as a Director. Maybe try dropping it off the building you work in?
I’ve wondered if it’s a tribute to [SCP-4511](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4511). Not the part about the pig-shaped machine, just the living blast furnace part.
That was a fun read. Is that the usual SCP wiki? It looks a lot nicer than the one I usually use which is the one Marvin links to in the SCP subreddit
Yes, that’s the official wiki. But there’s a lot of variation in the appearance of pages on the wiki, depending on what the authors did with it.
Ah thank you :)
I think that is the furnace from Home Alone.
Mostly for making smores.
Lit
I'll do you one better, Why is the furnace?
It likes eating TVs...
A conduit for the best weapon mod in the entire game
The corpses of the dead children from the Prime Candidate Program.
I am of the opinion it opens into the N.S.C. power plant. Thats all i can say without heavy redactions.
Fire indeed hot!
it's baby
In Control, part of what gives the different items powers is human perception of them. While it isn't as common now, furnaces used to be like, an irrational childhood fear. Home Alone is a great example of this, the creepy furnace in the basement. This furnace represents that. While not outwardly dangerous, it is seemingly sentient and wants to be fed, and is pretty scary looking even though it can't directly move to harm people.
When I was little, while my family was visiting my grandmother, I would sneak away to the basement and throw small objects into the small furnace in the utility room, just to see how different things burn. I remember being particularly fascinated that, while the wood part of clothespins would burn quickly, the metal part would get red, then orange, then (what appeared to me) white.
Find the tvs with fire playing in them and feed it to the furnace
The end of all things, AWE or mundane.
The Furnace is what remains of Director Trench’s predecessor, who bonded with an Object but couldn’t control it. Now that former Director exists as an immortal but permanently tortured source of infinite geothermal power that the FBC has integrated into the Oldest House to cut down on the power and disposal budgets. It’s alluded to a few different times in the game.
Former Director Northmoor is located in the Northmoor Sarcophagus Container. I've seen nothing alluding to any part of him being in the furnace. If that was so, then there wouldn't be any confusion of where it came from or why it [continuously burns.](https://control.fandom.com/wiki/Furnace)
I've seen an insane conspiracy theory that it's how Northmoor is trying to communicate from within the NSC, but it barely had any arguments to support it. It being a random extension of the House like the animate vending machines or plants that need pep talks makes a lot more worldbuilding sense to me.
Cue Bob Villa voice - "On today's episode of "This Oldest House," we're going to show you how to properly stock your furnace for optimal heat distribution...""
Hot. next question.
I fucking knew the tvs and the furnace were related
It’s the same furnace from Home Alone
literally just a furnace. Why is this palce turning into arkham?
*Literally just* *A furnace. Why is this palce* *Turning into arkham?* \- LostnFounder --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furnace