The thoughtful gamer might have tried to understand the message of the game. Perhaps he thought it was one of trusting family over all else. Perhaps he thought it was keeping hope in a world of obstacles. Perhaps it was simply a cautionary tale of the risk of fascism. I submit that none of these truly address the message of Mirror's Edge. The real story of Mirror's Edge is about a man who plays characters like pawns. It's about a man whose identity, unlike those of Celeste and Jacknife is kept in the shadows for the entire game. The game is about a puppet master and the way in which his carefully organized plan controls the rest of the city.
I am, of course, referring to Merc, or Mercury. This might seem like a baseless accusation, but allow me to present the evidence. In the first place, in a game where many characters' names have theological connotations to them (Faith, Celeste, Pope), Mercury is the only one whose name is that of a god. It is the name of a Roman god specifically (Hermes in Greek), who is well-known for his fleet-footed message delivery (a fitting title for a character who supposedly specializes in delivering bags for people). But the well-versed classicist will recall that the Greek and Roman deities loved to pit mortals against each other in their disputes. Of course, since Mercury is the lone god in the game, he does not have any other people to pit his pawns against.
One might object that Merc dies between the last two missions. This may be true. However, I do not believe it to be. We never see Mercury actually shot, nor do we see any gunshot wounds in his body. When Faith suggests going to get medical help, Mercury emphatically refuses. There is just as much reason to believe he faked his own death rather than actually died.
Then of course, there is all the evidence that clears everyone away but him. Faith is constantly being followed and shot at by police officers. We have to conclude one of three things from this: either she has incredibly bad luck, the police are being tipped off to her whereabouts or anybody who happens to be seen moving throughout the city is automatically shot at. The first and third option seem a little farfetched, which leaves us the second. Of course, only Mercury knows where Faith is because of their com-link set up. This automatically throws a dark shadow on his reputation. But consider also that the police who are good enough to track Faith through dark sewers and confusing railway stations are never able to follow her back to her base of operations--that is until she brings her sister back there. When the police department is so dedicated to tracking Faith that they send helicopters, multiple snipers, fully armored swat teams and even what seem to be ninjas after her, it makes no sense that they would not be listening to her radio traffic or tracking her return to base--unless they were not supposed to. Add to this the fact that Merc always seems to know where the police are and has the ability to open and close doors seemingly at will from his computer, and it is my suggestion that he has to be someone very high up, perhaps even Mayor Pope.
This of course is a very dangerous accusation to make, but it makes perfect sense. The final mission, wherein Faith storms the mayor's residence, the mayor is nowhere to be seen. When the player enters the underground garage we get the feeling that we witness the mayor as he is leaving, but it seems very confusing that the most powerful man in the city would do such a thing, unless he did not want his identity being found out. Furthermore, we find out that Celeste and Jacknife are maintaining secret identities, so it should be no surprise that Mercury is also some sinister figure. Finally, he does seem to be the only one who knows simultaneously where the police and Faith are, yet somehow keeps bringing them together. For all of his "efforts" to help Faith avoid the police, she often finds herself in more and more difficult situations. At one point, Mercury directs Faith into a sewer system where the darkness and the difficulty of navigating the tunnels ought to give her an extreme advantage, yet she emerges to find three snipers waiting for her. The coincidences are uncanny.
One might wonder, then, why? Why would Mercury/Pope do such a thing? It's quite clear when the puzzle is put together. In order for a tyrant to function, he needs to remind the people that he is necessary. By creating a city-wide villain, his efforts to take her down can be seen as heroic. From the very first mission, even before Kate and Faith are framed for murder, Faith is a fugitive running from police officers who shoot at her without warning. The only reason one can think of for this is because they have been given specific orders to attack this woman. In every level following this, the police officers continue this pattern--instead of attempting arrest they go straight for the killshot. In this way, the public perceives Faith as much more dangerous and if the police are able to kill her, it prevents her from being able to testify in court. Kate, of course, serves as the bait to lull Faith into being framed for the murder of his opponent. By imprisoning Kate, Mercury can use her as further bait for his national villain as well as cast a dubious light on the Connor family. This villain also happens to be present for Ropeburn's death, breaks into PK security and shoots at a convoy for the mayor's parade. There is no way that Faith can be viewed by the public in a positive light.
This also ties together seemingly loose ends. For example, how would Celeste, the ninja-assassin that kills Ropeburn, know to expect Faith at the shopping mall (complete with a small army of support) unless she had been told exactly what the conversation between Ropeburn and Faith was (the only other person, of course, who would have heard it was Mercury)? Why would the police be unable to find Mercury's lair until after Faith recovers her sister for the first time (except for the obvious need of a Deus ex Machina) unless he called them in? When Faith finds Project Icarus, why is it that Celeste (PK's ninja-assassin) and Jacknife (the police informant) be on the list of runners along with Faith and Mercury unless the list was created specifically to be misleading?
At the end of the game, the situation we're left with is this: Celeste has been essentially persuaded to give up her profession as both a runner and a ninja, Jacknife has been killed, Mercury has been declared dead, the mayoral opposition has been eliminated, the overly-aggressive police chief has been assassinated by a runner, the PK security company has been infiltrated and files have been compromised, and two fugitive sisters are stuck at the top of the most highly-protected building in a city run by a tyrant. The mayor has a lot to gain from these events, events that were eased along by a voice talking in the ear of the woman who comes to be seen as a bane upon the entire city.
What, then, is the true message of Mirror's Edge? The true message is that our lives are controlled by forces we do not see, by people whom we trust and by events which we think are random but happen to be quite-well planned. In other words, our freedom is an illusion. Mercury masterfully bends all the characters to his will in this dark tale, leaving the thinking player to contemplate how much of his life is being pulled by strings connected to hands unseen.
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