The spiders bit is where I'm hung up. Spiders weren't a big deal in Chapter 1 until the rework, but they suddenly started popping up in a lot of places afterwards. My initial thought was that the spiders were the servants of the Wire God, because the Wire God was originally a guy who spent his life on the internet, and well, webs/www spider pun. But when Tsuneyo calls out that the old man hates spiders, that got thrown into doubt.
If anyone can point me to a reference in game about the wire god specifically hating spiders, I'd appreciate it.
Because if spiders are the agents of the wire god, then the old man's aversion to them is an indicator that he's trapped by the wire god and spiders are his tormentors. If the wire god also hates spiders, then it means they're probably more closely aligned, if not one and the same.
I had intended to take meticulous notes, but after my save file got overwritten, getting caught up took priority so I'm subject to my dubious memory until I have time for another end to end run.