Amnesia: The Dark Descent/Characters
Main Amnesia characters
Daniel
Voiced by: Richard Topping
The Player Character. At the start of the game, he only remembers his name and where he is from (London, Mayfair).
- And I Must Scream: His worst fear comes true in the bad endings, being trapped in the darkness he fears, forever.
- Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain: One of the two right now. He wants to redeem himself at any cost.
- Doom Magnet: Literally, Daniel. Everywhere he goes, The Shadow of the Orb chases him.
- Famous Last Words: For the bad ending. Ohhh!! NO!! Arrrgahahghh... AHH!!
- Heel Realization: He finally acknowledged he was a monster after butchering a young girl (in his words, killing an innocent to save a murderer — himself — when once he would have killed a murderer to save an innocent), and it tore him up from inside. Realizing that Alexander led him down this dark path filled him with murderous rage. Yet just knowing what he had done made him wish he had died or allowed the Shadow to take him, leaving him mentally incapable of carrying out his vengeance. Wanting to stop Alexander regardless, he drinks the amnesia mixture.
- Heroic Mime: Subverted, Daniel's diary entries are all narrated by himself and the player occasionally hears him mumble and ramble to himself during game play. The subversion comes when the player first encounters Agrippa, who seems to react to what he is saying, but the player hears not a peep from Daniel.
- Possibly explained by the fact he might posses Psychic Powers, and could read Daniel's mind before he could say anything.
- Heroic Sacrifice In the good ending, he sends Agrippa through the gates to his and Alexander's world. Leaving himself and Alexander at the shadows mercy. The Shadow has none.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Daniel after being mentored by Baron Alexander in how to deal with the Shadow of the Orb.
Baron Alexander: *While a torture victim pleas for his life* Don't pay attention to his lies! We're dealing with monsters here, after all. He set a man on fire.
- Identity Amnesia: Induced deliberately, see above.
- My God, What Have I Done?: What leads up to him drinking the Amnesia Potion.
- Non-Action Guy
- Primal Fear: His fear of the dark. In which if you stand in darkness his Sanity Meter will drain.
- Unwitting Pawn: All thanks to helping Alexander. You can choose to screw him over, however.
- Villain Protagonist: Temporarily and only in the flashbacks. Before the game starts, he has sacrificed many people to save his own skin. Many of them probably innocent, although he was never told this. It's made clear, however, that once you get to the end of the story, that he regrets what he has done.
Baron Alexander
Voiced by: Sam A. Mowry
The main antagonist. Daniel gave himself the mission of murdering him. For good reason. Unfortunately, it is not as simple as he thought.
- And I Must Scream: In the good/Revenge ending.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Played mostly straight—while the Baron is definitely a Complete Monster, the why of it might gain him sympathy points with the right people... as revealed in a handful of Notes, he's simply trying to get back home.
- The Corrupter: Let's face it. The only reason that Daniel became a monster himself, at least until he realized what was happening, was because Alexander manipulated him.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: His motivation for all the things he's done is to get back to his family. Doesn't really make up for torturing innocent people.
- Famous Last Words: No you fool! You killed us! you killed us BOTH!!
- Freudian Excuse: Alexander just wants to return to his homeworld and reunite with his beloved wife. And if the energy needed to do this can only be obtained through torturing people, then so be it.
- Have a Nice Death: Thank you my friend. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. You will be celebrated, forever!
- Karma Houdini: In the bad ending. You can prevent it though.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Gets screwed over ROYALLY in the Good/Revenge endings by the very man he thought to use.
- Manipulative Bastard
- Never My Fault: Yes Alexander, this is all Daniel's fault. You didn't do nothing... except corrupt him and make him willing to torture and kill people. All just to get your hands on a magic orb so you can return home and to hell to everyone else. Yes, you're completely innocent.
- Non-Action Big Bad
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: He's not a sadist, but he inflicts pain with meticulous care and a soothing voice.
- Sufficiently Advanced Alien: One who complains at length about being forced to make do with clunky 19th Century technology using steam and water instead of the "harnessed lightning" and graceful mechanisms that exist in his own world.
- Torture Technician: His approach to torture is methodical and calculated, done with deliberate intent to cause maximum pain over time, but without a trace of sadistic pleasure on his part.
- That's becuase maximum pain means he can extract more energy from them for his machine.
Wilhelm of Gerich
Voiced by: Dan Zullo
A member of the Order of the Black Eagle. Became Alexander's servant in exchange for political power.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Accepted to kidnap countless of man, woman and children for political advancement.
- Heel Realization: He confessed how much of a monster he was after being poisoned.
- Karmic Transformation: It is heavily implied that Wilhelm and his men became the Gatherers.
- Noodle Implements: Wilhelm wrote that Alexander hired him because of his "follies of his past" instead of his competence as a soldier.
- Posthumous Character: His character is only heard through notes and flashbacks.
- Villainous BSOD: As his men and himself are succumbing to the poisoned wine, he simply states (in an empty, emotionless voice) that they're doomed.
Wilhelm: Accept it. We're not getting out of here alive.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa
Voiced by: Bill Corkery
The famed alchemist himself, friend of Daniel. Found in the castle as some sort of corpse-like body.
- And I Must Scream: His body can't move at all and he has been here for a long time.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy
- Big Good: The only one Daniel can really count on.
- Motor Mouth: Ironically.
- Psychic Powers: It's implied that whatever the gas emitting device that the player can choose to activate upon first encountering him allows him to read the minds of others and psychically project his voice.
The Shadow of the Orb
A Mysterious, eldritch entity that chases Daniel throughout the game, seeking to kill him for defiling an ancient artifact.
- Bigger Bad
- Blue and Orange Morality: There are hints that the Shadow is not actively malicious, but is simply following its duty. In the revenge ending, it decides that Alexander's death has "redeemed" Daniel in its eyes, and it no longer chases him.
- Eldritch Abomination: Shapeless and alien, it bends reality around itself and cannot be stopped by any normal means whatsoever. It will tear apart whatever it has to in order to reach its target, and those marked by it tend to go insane before they die.
- Meat Moss: How it makes its presence known.
- Stern Chase: Past Daniel was willing to do anything to avert its wrath, but ultimately found no way to truly stop it. And ironically, brought it down upon himself.
Justine characters
The nameless protagonist of Justine
Voiced by: Emily Corkery
The Player Character of Justine. A girl given an amnesia potion like Daniel and forced to escape Justine's trap-ridden dungeon for Justine's entertainment.
- Heroic Mime: Even more so than Daniel. The girl just grunts and screams.
- No Name Given: Her name is not mentioned until the very end, unless you count all the times Justine talks about herself.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Very annoying, given that you cannot save your game.
- Supporting Protagonist: The DLC is really more about Justine, the Player Character is there so the player can solve the puzzles and learn about Justine.
- Tender Tears: The only time she displays any feeling other than being a sadistic monster is in the winding halls with the blood messages. She won't stop crying till you escape the hallways.
- She crys if you saved the hostages. If you didn't save anyone she snaps realizing shes no better than Justine for sacrificing three innocents to save her own life and she softly giggles all the way to the exit. Justine doesn't want to lose her humanity. Thus goes insane if she fails her own test.
Justine
Voiced by: Emily Corkery
The main antagonist of the DLC of the same name. Trying to escape from her dungeon slowly reveals the details of Justine's life and how she set up her torture dungeon. Revealed later to be the Player Character at the same time.
- Above Good and Evil: "Laws are made for cretins!! The aristocracy doesn't need to know right from wrong. We are always right."
- Always Someone Better: Her feelings about her mother's "Blinding beauty". And her growing desire to become more beautiful than her mother.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Less "evil" and more "utterly despicable".
- The Bad Guy Wins:
- The Baroness: She seems obsessed with controlling situations, even as a child. Maybe it's payback for not being able to play with other children.
- Karma Houdini: Unless you decide to throw yourself to the suitors anyway.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Was one long before becoming what she is now.
- The memory of being one is still with her. One of the blood messages in her cabinet is "Lonely".
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: Justine explains upcoming traps, puzzles, and monsters to the protagonist through left behind phonographs, but she's clearly not trying to help the girl as much as she is rubbing her evil in the girl's face.
- Rich Bitch: Oh yes.
- Self-Made Orphan: That's just to tip of the iceburg and her Start of Darkness.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: "Cabinet of perturbation" is a funny way to describe a torture dungeon/lab maze.
- Smug Snake: "Are you enjoying my quips? I think they are quite clever."
- The Sociopath: It is worth noting that unlike many other examples, it is heavily implied that Justine is, in fact, a bona fide sociopath, or at least someone suffering from a severe case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. She displays virtually every single symptom of the condition at one point or another, and her father, a psychiatrist, has been quite aware that she is suffering from some sort of mental illness (although the exact term for hers hasn't been coined yet back in the day) and experimented upon her for it.
- Villain Protagonist
- The Voice: Until it's revealed that she's the playable character all along.
Aloïs Racine
Voiced by: Scotty Campbell
The first of the three suitors encountered in Justine. He was one of three men Justine was romantically involved with. Over time she tortured and blinded all the three men, and warped them into insane shells of their former selves. He (if the sounds in his cell are to be believed) was a racquetball player. He is a very soft spoken person, and attacks in the same manner. He is the first man you must escape from/avoid in the trial. He is found in the first area of the cells.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Is totally and completely in love with Justine, who obviously does not, and never will, care about him in the slightest.
- And I Must Scream: He and the others have been abacinated, tortured, had metal devices such as cart wheels or chains surgically attached to their bodies and all done just for the shits and giggles.
- Anti-Villain
- Beware the Nice Ones: Oh dear lord yes. He's just as capable of killing you as Basile, Or Malo.
- Dissonant Serenity: Attacking. "No stay!" Searching. "Is that you...My love...?" Standing still. "Why did this happen...?"
- The Dragon: To Justine before she tortured him and the other suitors.
- Have a Nice Death: "Hush now...It's alright..."
- Go Mad From the Isolation: He still has some sanity but judging by the fact Justine left him down in the cells he is at the breaking point.
- Hopeless Suitor: He is, and always will be hopelessly in love with Justine.
- If I Can't Have You: Because killing Justine is the only way she will ever stay with him.
- Love Martyr: He'll do anything for Justine.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: It's the only way Justine will stay with him.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Well obviously, he is an enemy in game; however, it's implied in the note found within his cell that he's the one who knocked out Basile with bromide.
- Slave Collar: Each of the suitors is sporting an extremely tight cart wheel around their necks causing them to wheeze and gasp for air while trying to find you.
- Yandere: No points guessing who for.
Basile Giroux
Voiced by: Jon St. John
The second of the three suitors. Basile is very different from Alois, and Malo. He is angry, violent, and swears like a sailor. He is actually the Only Sane Man of the three men, having kept one thing in mind after this ordeal: revenge. Possibly was a carpenter before being mutilated by Justine. He is found in the underground storage area beneath the library.
- And I Must Scream: Same with Alois and Malo but you hear Justine commiting the act and laughing about it.
- Anti-Villain
- Berserk Button: Seeing Justine.
- The Big Guy: Said to be very strong. Possibly a carpenter.
- The Determinator: He won't give up until he has killed Justine for what she has done to him.
- Domestic Abuse: The main reason Alois drugged him for Justine.
- Have a Nice Death: "You thought you'd get away didn't you!?!"
- Jerkass: He is just an abusive prick.
- Only Sane Man: He is the only suitor to completely hold on to his sanity. Alois is Love sick, and Malo... there's nothing left of him.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Directed at Justine, but will take it out on you who is Justine.
- Slave Collar
- Unstoppable Rage
- Would Hit a Girl: It's what got him in such deep doo doo.
Malo De Vigny
Voiced by: Jeff Buchanan
The third and final of the suitors. Malo is unique among the suitors as he is insane. He was a violinist before the cabinet was created. He is also far stronger than he looks. He is able to tear down doors with ease and One-Hit Kill you. He is located in the flooded basement, which makes evading him difficult. He can hear you even if he can't see you. (Though he claims he can).
- The Alcoholic: Implied in the note in his cell.
- And I Must Scream: Same reason as the others.
- Anti-Villain: Seriously.
- Ax Crazy
- Being Tortured Makes You A Laughing Mad Cannibal
- Blatant Lies: "Come out... You'll like what I've got planned."
- The Brute: He is the most savage and vicious of the suitors. Even more so than Basile.
- Creepy Monotone: He usually speaks in this manner.
- Freudian Excuse: A non-evil variety. He devoloped his taste for flesh after being left to starve in his cell and forced to eat his own flesh to survive.
- Have a Nice Death: He doesn't actually say anything. He just eats your flesh... and makes loud gnawing/chewing/giggling sounds.
- I Am a Humanitarian
- Laughing Mad
- Murder Is the Best Solution: He wants to eat someone else's flesh after all...
- Power Born of Madness: He probably does not have his bearings together when he smashes through iron doors in literally less than a second.
- Sanity Slippage/Driven to Madness: After the torture and starvation.
- Slave Collar
- Talkative Loon
- Tragic Villain: At least Basile and Alois have their sanity (mostly Basile, but Alois is still there too). Malo? We will never know what he was like before this nightmare.