I finished the game last night and have been stewing on it ever since. Very much enjoyed the game. It was fun, but the more I think about the ending, the less sense it starts to make and I want to know if my questions have actual answers.

What were the "witches" they saw in London? Magic could only exist in Labyrinthia because there was something in the drinking water, but they were in London and had never been to Labyrinthia before.

How did Accidenti's car end up in a tree with a giant handprint on the hood? See previous.

Why was Espella in a catatonic state during the first trial? I thought that state was specifically brought on by her repressed trauma from the fire

Why did Darklaw want Espella to be found guilty in the first trial? It couldn't have been to get Espella out of Labyrinthia because she was just chasing her down to keep her inside Labyrinthia. Is it to force her father to actually participate in society instead of doing this goofy social experiment.

Was Layton subject to brainwashing or not? Presumably, he was because he was ignoring the machinery that was painted black just like everyone else, but, if that's the case, who did it and why?

Why did Darklaw need to do this at all? She was presumably the only one in town other than Arthur and maybe her father to not be brainwashed, considering she had a disguise and a cover story completely ready for when she was in London, so why did she not just go to the news and go "hey what the fuck is this about"? If she doesn't believe that would do anything then what was Layton going to do?

Why did the shades need to brew the magic brainwashing ink by hand anyways couldn't they just use machinery? Presumably, it's already the shades' job to service literally all of the machinery in town because who else is going to do it and they need to go through some heavy brainwashing when they become a shade and then again when they get reintroduced to Labyrinthia. Is this literally just to keep the illusion going if a Labyrinthian citizen somehow finds themselves in the Eldwitch Woods

How do the shades fake being able to make a portal? They explain the invisibility spell as the townspeople being brainwashed to ignore the color black, the explosion spell as literally just an explosive device, and the transmutation spell as them swapping out the thing for a gold statue, but how do you destroy a wall and then refinish the same wall without leaving a noticeable difference in time?

Does the existence of the gold transmutation spell mean they have solid gold statues on hand for literally anything at anytime?

Does nobody notice that everybody in the area passes out when a spell is cast? Surely they have to realize this.

What are the shades drinking if they're not drinking the water that makes them pass out when they hear silver being hit? If they had technology, I would say they're drinking filtered water rather than the well water everyone else is, but they don't so I'm not.