Cauldron Lake is the location in which all events in the game revolve around. After the prologue, Alan and his wife (Alice) are on their way to Bright Falls to relax. Due to a series of complications and sinister developments, the couple are redirected to Cauldron Lake where their cabin sits on an island in the centre.
The Lake is also where the Dark Presence lurks. If the player walks down to the water when Alan firsts arrives at the lodge, he describes it as being "black" and suspects that it holds "several horrors" which later turns out to be correct.
The island in the centre of the lake is known as Diver's Isle because of Zane's love of diving. Zane lived with Barbara Jagger at the time for a number of years until Jagger's death. Despite being a strong swimmer, she drowned in the lake. Following the death, Zane became obsessed with trying to bring her back, and used his literature and Dark Presence to do so. Jagger returned but as a puppet for the Darkness. Zane realised his mistake and tried to correct it. In the end he caused the volcano to erupt, using his work, to stop the Dark Presence, causing the volcano to collapse and Diver's Isle to sink.
REFERENCE:
Crater Lake
The location of Cauldron Lake was inspired by Crater Lake in Oregon, USA. The crater was formed almost 8000 years ago when the Mount Mazama Volcano erupted and collapsed. The landscape formed a bowl in the Earth which later filled with water creating Crater Lake. Although there are no actual lakes or connections to the river, the water inside is the result of rain and snow fall. The size of the lake is almost 2150 feet wide and is listed as the seventh deepest lake in the world.
Since its formation, it has been named four times; Deep Blue Lake, Blue Lake, Lake Majesty and finally Crater Lake.
The island in the middle is called Wizard's Island. The top section, Witches' Cauldron, is the final part of the volcano after it collapsed.
There's access to Wizard's Island and Crater Lake through a series of ferries over the summer months, however camping on the island is prohibited.
