History Characters / AlanWake

[[foldercontrol]]

!Main Characters
[[folder:Alan Wake]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MatthewPorretta
!!!'''Live-Action Model:''' Creator/IlkkaVilli
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awalan_4307.jpg]]

->''"In a horror story, the victim keeps asking "Why?" But there can be no explanation, and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest, and it's what we'll remember in the end. My name is Alan Wake. I'm a writer."''


\\
The title character, a best-selling novelist who is vacationing with his wife in Bright Falls while wrestling with his writer's block. She disappears abruptly, and Alan comes to in a wrecked car in the wilderness, missing a week's time, and searching for clues as to what happened to his wife, all while fighting dark supernatural forces.
----
* ActionSurvivor: He's literally just a novelist who spent a bit of time on the gun range and wears a quite dapper tweed jacket. This is generally shown in his performance in-game; Wake can't run very far without getting tired, he can't take too many hits, and he's not an exceptionally good shot. If the enemy is more than twenty or thirty paces away, he's not likely to hit them, even with a more accurate gun like the hunting rifle.
** ''Videogame/{{Control}}'' indicates that [[spoiler: this may be [[InvokedTrope invoked]], as some of the information in the ''AWE'' expansion that Alan was already a Parautilitarian even before he came into contact with the Dark Presence, and that Alan was in turn created by Thomas Zane to be a RealityWarper ActionSurvivor.]]
* TheAlcoholic: Mainly due to the many parties thrown in the wake of his most recent novel. [[spoiler:The Anderson brothers' moonshine had that extra special kick to it.]]
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The exchange for releasing Alice was that Alan confined himself to the darkness underneath Cauldron Lake so he could write a definitive end for the Dark Presence through a new story. As of ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', Alan has been in the Dark Place for ''10 years'' with no apparent hope of escape, and not only is his will to escape starting to wane, more mysteries are piling up.]]
* AuthorAvatar: He has quite a few things in common with the game's writer Sam Lake. The game naturally invokes this in-universe as well, since [[spoiler:Alan wrote the game's events himself]].
* BadassBookworm: He's a novelist that's a surprisingly good shot for someone who spent just a bit of time in range practice.
* BerserkButton: Causing harm to Alice is his biggest one, but he's also very touchy when it comes to his writer's block being prodded on, especially when he thought he was just going to have a simple vacation. Alice trying to trick him into writing again causes a heated argument, and Dr. Hartman touching that nerve again later is one of the many reasons for why Alan wants to punch the smug grin off his face.
* CaptainObvious: Has a few moments of this during his inner monologues. [[spoiler:Given that said monologue is part of his writing of the game's events, it's somewhat justified.]]
* ChekhovsGun: The "clicker" that Alan had as a child, a cut-off light switch which his mother told him would drive the darkness away if he turned it on.
* DeadpanSnarker: When he's in a good mood which is unfortunately not often for him.
* {{Determinator}}: He is ''going'' to find his wife. ''Get out of his way.''
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:His rewriting of the Dark Presence to give it a weak spot.]] He metaphorically [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu broke his arm]] in the process, but was aware that it was going to happen because [[GenreSavvy that's how horror stories work]].
* DisappearedDad: The manuscript page Alan finds with the Clicker notes that Alan never knew his father, so anything of his takes on mythical properties for Alan. [[spoiler:Because Alan likely doesn't have a real father. It's strongly implied that Alan was written into existence by Thomas Zane, as a sort of backup plan if Zane failed.]]
* {{Expy}}: InUniverse, he's one of Thomas Zane. The Anderson brothers even confuse Alan for Zane when they meet, calling him "Tom". It's not a coincidence they're virtually the same person. [[spoiler:It's implied Alan is a creation of Zane's, being the linchpin of Zane's backup plan to defeat the Dark Presence.]] This is further shown in ''Videogame/{{Control}}'', where Alan in turn [[spoiler:created Jesse to free ''him'' from the Dark Presence as well.]]
* GenreSavvy: He's aware that horror stories may not end well for the protagonist, and that there can be a lot of casualties along the way. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since he wrote some of them in-universe and needs to keep the tension believable so the Dark Presence won't wrestle control of the narrative away from him.
* HappilyMarried: He and Alice do fight occasionally, but Alan wouldn't keep looking for her with such determination if they didn't have a good marriage. There are quite a few scenes and flashbacks dedicated to showing just how devoted the two are to each other.
* HelpYourselfInTheFuture: Just about every useful item in the game was [[spoiler:written into the plot by Alan himself]]. Lampshaded in his internal monologues when noting that flash grenades aren't exactly standard electrician equipment when he finds them in company trucks parked all over the place.
* HeroicSacrifice: ''Maybe''. [[spoiler:As of the end of "The Writer" he's on his way back to the real world, but it's going to take a '''long''' while for him to get back.]]
* InkSuitActor: In ''Remastered'', his face has been altered to more resemble Ilkka Villi's.
* {{Jerkass}}: He has a reputation as a somewhat smug writer, but his ego isn't so great that he isn't at least approachable. That being said, he's got a short temper when it comes to people pushing him into writing more and will get ''pissed'' if he even suspects it's the case.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: But as previously stated, he's approachable otherwise and a good man who genuinely loves his wife and cares for his friends and allies. The game essentially serves to make him realize he needs to think bigger than his own issues.
* LargeHam: The [[spoiler:insane part of his mind that antagonizes the rational part (the player character) throughout the two [=DLCs=]]] could possibly make even Mr. Scratch look like a salad in comparison.
* MostWritersAreWriters: He's a best-selling novelist.
* NervesOfSteel: Earned them after the events at Bright Falls. In ''American Nightmare'', he notes multiple times that he has a hard time getting stressed out anymore.
* PermaStubble: Becomes more noticeable as the game progresses, especially when compared to his flashbacks. [[spoiler:By the time of ''Control'', he's got himself a full beard.]]
* PrivateEyeMonologue: His in-game narrations to various events (including meeting characters for the first time) has some shades of this, and he sometimes speak in metaphors. Played straight if you read his manuscript pages the moment you pick them, as Alan monologues about events that happened shortly after.
* PsychoticSmirk: He has a brief one after [[spoiler:he leaves Hartman at the mercy of the Dark Presence. Given what an absolute prick the man was, it's pretty justified.]]
* RealityWarper: [[spoiler:The Dark Presence forced him to write a horror story, and its power allows fiction to be translated into reality. As such, things that Alan has written into his manuscript pages will happen as typed. Come the end of the game, Alan is still doing this at the bottom of the lake. In ''Videogame/{{Control}}'''s ''AWE'' expansion, it is implied that Alan has been using this power to write (or at least influence) the events leading to that entire game's story to create someone able to rescue him from the Dark Place.]]
* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: [[spoiler:As of the ending of the original game, Alan is trapped in the cabin under Cauldron Lake, still trying to write a story where the Dark Presence is defeated and he's freed from its shackles.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Twofold in ''American Nightmare''. He's much better at working with the plans he's written into being as well as his own instincts. However, he's also altered the genre of the story from Surreal Horror to a surreal form of Action, allowing himself access to bigger guns.
* TookALevelInKindness: In ''American Nightmare'', Alan is far more patient with the other survivors than he was during his time in Bright Falls. He notes that, given the sheer insanity of the challenges he faced in the original game and beyond, there's next to nothing that could really get his blood pressure up anymore.
* TheUnSmile: Alan mentions that he has never been capable of smiling in a convincing way. In a taped interview you can watch at his home in a flashback, you can tell his smile is kind of strained.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Barry, his manager. He'll always throw a jab or two when he talks about him, but if Barry happens to be in danger, he'll drop everything to go after him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Alice Wake]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Brett Madden
!!!'''Live-Action Model:''' Jonna Järvenpää
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awalice_8500.jpg]]

->''"Alan... thank you for coming here with me."''

\\
Alan's wife, an accomplished photographer and the cover designer for several of his books. She gifted herself and her husband a trip to Bright Falls hoping to help her husband with his writer's block. But she disappears during their first night at the town and Alan now has to save her from the Dark Presence.
----
* AndIMustScream: She spends an entire week and a few days after that trapped beneath a dark lake under the Dark Presence's grasp, unable to leave or do anything but wait for Alan to come to her.
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:To save Alice, Alan confines himself to the bottom of Cauldron Lake so she'll escape alive and unharmed. The "AWE" extension for the game ''Control'', which takes place in the same universe, reveals it's been 10 whole years since Alice last saw her husband. She's alive and well, but is still being regularly harassed by Mr. Scratch.]]
* CameraFiend: A friendly example, Alice is a photographer who sometimes grates on Alan's nerves, especially at the very beginning. [[spoiler:In the ''AWE'' expansion for ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', there's a document that details her using her skills to monitor her apartment when she's visited by Mr. Scratch.]]
* CollateralAngst: Invoked, no less, as she's kidnapped by the Dark Presence to provide Alan with the motivation to write again to save her. Then she's stuffed into it ''again'' by Dr. Hartman, who claims she died and Alan had a psychotic break... in order to provide Alan with the motivation to write again. [[spoiler:In the end, she's out of the fridge and alive, even referenced in ''AWE'' from ''Control'' as seeing an apparition using the face of her husband to terrorize her.]]
* DamselInDistress: Her kidnapping is what sets Alan on his journey through Bright Falls.
* DeadAllAlong: As revealed to Alan by Dr. Hartman. [[spoiler:'''DON'T BELIEVE HIS LIES''']]
* {{Expy}}: Of Barbara Jagger, being the love interest and muse of a famous writer who supposedly drowns in Cauldron Lake. In flashbacks Alan hears at the end, Jagger even has the same voice as Alice. [[spoiler:Like with Alan and Thomas Zane, this is not a coincidence and she may have been specifically written into existence by Thomas Zane for this very purpose.]]
* FanDisservice: Alice spends a majority of the game in her underwear but during those period, she is taken captive by the Dark Presence.
* HappilyMarried: Despite the occasional disagreement between the two, Alan loves Alice dearly and would do anything to keep her safe. That being said, their marriage was deteriorating due to his writer's block causing him stress, devolving into substance abuse afterwards and causing more fights between the two. [[spoiler:Dr. Hartman takes full advantage of this to get Alan to Bright Falls, and so did the Dark Presence when it took Alice away.]]
* MoralityPet: For Alan, as someone he loves and trusts despite the occasional disagreement. Without her, he may well have turned out like Mr. Scratch.
* TheMuse: Apparently {{Discussed}} after Alan rescues her and {{Deconstructed}}--It eventually relegated her to a backseat position in their relationship, with his writing taking priority, which is part of why their relationship decayed. Funnily enough, he ends up being ''her'' muse of sorts when she makes a movie about him later down the line.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom:
** [[spoiler:Prior to their trip to Bright Falls, Alice made a call to Hartman regarding her relationship with Alan and the entire trip is actually a ploy to seek him for psychiatric therapy, setting up the plot of the game.]]
** [[spoiler:Sometime before the events of ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', Alice visited the Old House to seek help regarding Mr. Scratch's haunting. Unknown to her, Hartman was also in the building after he was transformed into a Taken. Sensing her, Hartman broke free of his confinement and the Bureau has no choice but to lock down the entire Investigations Sector, setting up the events of the ''AWE'' DLC.]]
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: She has an intense fear of the dark to the point an unlit room at dusk scares her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Barry Wheeler]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Fred Berman
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awbarry_6283.jpg]]

->''"Hey! Nobody move! Get your hands off my client!"''

\\
Alan's agent and best friend from childhood, who rushes to Bright Falls when things go south. Initially skeptical of what's happening, he rapidly catches on and begins to help Alan. By the end of the game, he's loaded with flares, Christmas light body armor, and a headlamp to fight the Taken.
----
* {{Acrofatic}}: His girth doesn't seem to slow him down even when a school bus is flung at him. [[DownplayedTrope To be fair]], he's not exactly obese, just a bit on the heavy side, and his puffy jacket makes him look bigger than he really is.
* BoisterousBruiser: What he ends up being once he finds his armory.
* CompanionCube: As a running gag of sorts, he takes Rose's Alan Wake cut-out and carries it around to snark at Alan with it.
* CowardlyLion: Barry's first instinct after seeing the horrors that Alan had witnessed is to get out of town as soon as possible, but continues to stick with Alan for the sake of his friend's well being. Eventually, he TookALevelInBadass by arming himself with a flare gun, a headlamp and Christmas lights to fight the darkness alongside Alan.
* DeadpanSnarker: Continues making wisecracks even when their lives are in danger. This is sometimes to help comfort Alan in such situations.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the SmoothTalkingTalentAgent trope, almost to the point of being a BaitAndSwitch. Sure, Barry is Alan's publicity agent and has to constantly pick up after Alan's recent messes, with most of his dialogue before he's properly introduced making it sound like he's the usual money-focused sleazebag this trope refers to (like calling Alan "best seller"), but when he sees the Dark Presence's horror for what it really is, he forfeits any idea of gain just to make sure his client, his ''childhood friend'', is out of harm's way. He also fully averts TheLoad later on by actually fighting the Taken intelligently (like using the Anderson Farm's stage) and gearing up properly so it'll be way harder for them to approach him (which [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration also helps Alan in gameplay]]).
** [[spoiler:In ''American Nightmare'', he's become the agent for the Anderson Brothers' comeback tour so he could at least still have money on hand, but called it quits after getting concerned with their health, and by the time of ''Control'', he's used the money to fund a retirement home.]]
* FatBestFriend: Not only is he Alan's agent, he's also his best friend since childhood, and whether its his allergies or an [[EldritchAbomination unknown dark entity from beneath the lake]], Barry is always there for Alan.
* ImaginaryFriend: In the [=DLCs=], anyway.
* LargeHam: As per being an excitable PluckyComicRelief. Helps that he pretty much has NoIndoorVoice.
* MotorMouth: Barry can't seem to spend one minute without talking. Even his imaginary self has the same issue.
* PluckyComicRelief: It's implied he does this partially to compensate for Alan's generally grim demeanor. Unlike the more stereotypical examples of this trope, however, not only does Barry know when to be serious, he's also not annoying and later even becomes helpful in gameplay.
* PopCulturalOsmosisFailure: According to Alan, he had somehow never heard of Music/OzzyOsbourne until he got [[Series/TheOsbournes a reality show]].
* ShipTease: With Sheriff Breaker. By the time of ''American Nightmare'', they're still in contact with each other.
* ShoutOut: Delivers many references, including ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', to name a few.
* SkepticNoLonger: Once he realizes that The Dark Presence isn't just in Alan's head:
-->'''Barry:''' I believe you. Crazy or not, you're not delusional. Weird shit's going down. That's a fact. I'm on board man, I'm with you.
* TenderTears: When saying goodbye to [[spoiler:Alan as he leaves the Well-Lit Room.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: After arming himself in the general store and taking out a huge Taken with a flare gun.
* WalkingArmory: In Chapter 5, he decides to arm himself to the teeth to fight against the Taken. His weapons include a headlamp, christmas lights and a flare gun.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's never revealed what happened to him and the others [[spoiler:in the Well-Lit Room]]. Any information about him is delegated to extra content or DLC.
** The ''Alan Wake Files'' reveals that [[spoiler:he's out and about, and was suing the writer of said file for a while until he was persuaded to stop.]]
** ''American Nightmare'' reveals that he's now a manager in the music industry, and the Old Gods of Asgard are one of his clients. He also keeps in touch with Sheriff Breaker, and co-handles Alan's estate with Alice.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', he becomes Odin and Tor's agent for their comeback tour, canceling it prematurely out of fear that the hard-partying elderly rockers would hurt themselves, and even funding construction of a retirement home to house them.
[[/folder]]

!Introduced in ''Alan Wake''

[[folder:Sheriff Sarah Breaker]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Jessica Alexandra
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awsarah_284.jpg]]

->''"Wake, I'm gonna trust you with this."''

\\
Head of the Bright Falls sheriff's office, who is investigating Alice's disappearance and eventually joins Alan in fighting the Dark Presence. Her father was the sheriff before her as well as [[spoiler:an agent of the Federal Bureau of VideoGame/{{Control}}]].
----
* ActionGirl: In Episode 5, when she ''finally'' sees the Dark Presence herself and ''immediately'' asks Alan for how to fight it. Through most of the episode, she provides cover fire while Alan and Barry make their way through the dark streets of the town.
* DaddysGirl: Looked up to her father, Frank Breaker, growing up, comparing him to Alan's pulp fiction character Alex Casey. He also gave her loads of advice as she grew up and trained to be a sheriff, including chiding her for dismissing Cynthia Weaver as a loon, saying she shouldn't be made fun of and she just wants to tell people something important. [[spoiler:The fact he's a confirmed [[VideoGame/{{Control}} FBC agent]] probably helps.]]
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Unlike the trigger-happy Agent Nightingale, Sarah's actually willing to listen to Alan and try to understand his weird behavior in light of the situation surrounding him, also wanting to interrogate him properly instead of just using brute force out of a personal revenge scheme like her federal "colleague" wants to do. After she finally sees the Dark Presence with her own eyes [[spoiler:when it whisks away Nightingale]], she immediately starts helping Alan and fighting the Taken herself.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Uses a pump-action shotgun during gameplay. It helps that, unlike Alan, she doesn't have an ammo cap and can just fire away at approaching Taken.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Like with Barry, the game doesn't explain what happened after Alan left her and Barry [[spoiler:in the Well-Lit Room]], with the most information on the topic given through other media and later installments.
** In the ''Alan Wake Files'', set after the game, [[spoiler:she's talked to the author on a few things, but doesn't talk about what happened during the game or why there's a lot of damage and missing people in Bright Falls.]]
** ''American Nightmare'' implies she's still sheriff, and states that she and Barry still keep in touch.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Agent Robert Nightingale]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Timothy [=McCracken=]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awnightingale_3663.jpg]]

->''"Get'em up, Hemingway! You're under arrest. You move a muscle, I'll unload right in your goddamn face. Stay where you are, Spillane!"''

\\
An FBI agent investigating and pursuing Alan Wake for undisclosed reasons, supposedly partnering with Sheriff Breaker in order to find and arrest him.
----
* TheAlcoholic: He has a serious drinking problem brought on by a stressful job and his partner's death. Before that he never even touched the stuff.
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:He's either been Taken or has become the new avatar for the Dark Presence by the end of the original game. Given that his fate wasn't written by Alan in the manuscript (it was only said that he'd be attacked and dragged off into the night) and the Dark Presence distorts any plot holes to its favor, it's likely that it has made use of this to make Nightingale useful somehow, but it's still not specified.]]
** In the sequel he seems to be human... [[IntroOnlyPointOfView briefly]], but gets turned into a Taken shortly after.
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The ending suggests that he has become the new avatar for the Dark Presence, as he peers ominousy at Rose from behind under cover of darkness.]]
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:The Dark Presence takes him when it attacks the police station in Episode 5.]]
* AxCrazy: The man is ''off his rockers'' during the entire game, acting like a complete lunatic who wants Wake arrested for no clear reason and just shrugging off people's rightful complaints about his conduct as "federal business", even as he opens fire at Wake ''with civilians present''. As it turns out, this is all due to a combination of heavy drinking and the death of his partner, who is heavily implied to have been Taken, and suffering from nightmares with Alan in them afterwards.
* BigBadEnsemble: With the Dark Presence and [[spoiler:Dr. Hartman]], but he doesn't acknowledge either of them and only aims to capture Alan Wake for his own motives.
* CowboyCop: A deconstruction, as he's portrayed as reckless and dangerous in his pursuit of Alan and the townsfolk absolutely hate him.
* DeadPartner: He used to be partnered with an agent named Finn and were collectively known as "The Righteous Brothers", mostly due to both being against alcohol and drugs. But Finn one day disappeared after repeated mentions of "darkness" and recurring nightmares, which led Nightingale into a downward spiral.
* EarlyBirdCameo: You can find a manuscript page mentioning him in Episode 2, before his proper introduction in the following episode.
* FreudianExcuse: His psychotic vendetta against Alan apparently started when his partner disappeared after having visions of the Darkness (presumably being turned into a Taken), leading to him [[TheAlcoholic drinking]] and having recurring nightmares where he sees Alan (the same nightmare Alan has at the beginning of the game) and developing an obsession in the process. Said obsession then led to heavy drinking and fits of rage.
* HollywoodLaw: Apparently thinks the world runs on this, as he boasts that a manuscript of a famous crime-novelist is evidence that he is attempting to murder a federal agent. [[JustifiedTrope Granted, he is more or less insane, not to mention drunk on the job and driven to anger by the death of his partner]] ([[JerkassHasAPoint even if he's correct by accident]]).
* InspectorJavert: He pursues Wake to the point of obsession because he believes him to be a dangerous murderer, [[spoiler:blaming him for his partner's disappearance and having seen the manuscript page Alan wrote that dictated his capture by the Dark Presence]].
* IntroOnlyPointOfView: You briefly play as him in the sequel's prologue chapter.
* {{Jerkass}}: He's a heavy drinker who's also drunk on the job, trying to flat-out murder an unarmed writer and willing to shoot at him even with ''civilians'' present all because of a personal vendetta. It's little wonder he makes no friends in the town, with Sheriff Breaker constantly berating him over his callousness.
* KnightTemplar: He thinks he's pursuing a monster and finding answers to what happened to his partner. He's really just making the situation worse.
* TheNicknamer: He constantly nicknames Alan with names of other famous authors, like [Mickey] Spillane, [Ernest] Hemingway (these first two he drops about a second apart) and Dan Brown. Considering he almost always does while he is threatening to shoot Alan, it's obviously a joke only he finds funny.
* PetTheDog: Despite his rage at Alan and insistence on catching him, he comforted a broken Rose during his interview with her.
* PrimitiveClubs: During his boss fight in the sequel he uses a giant tree branch as a club.
* RabidCop: Considering he has almost no evidence but manuscript pages to go on, he spends an awful lot of time attempting to [[PoliceBrutality use deadly force on a suspect who never draws a gun on him]], endangering civilians in the process.
* RunningGag: Calling Alan by different author names just because he's a writer.
* TurninYourBadge: The Alan Wake Files reveal that that Nightingale was actually fired from the FBI for unknown reasons prior to coming to Bright Falls and was acting as a rogue agent while trying to hunt down Alan.
* WakingUpAtTheMorgue: In the sequel he's been murdered and Saga and Casey have come to investigate, during the autopsy Nightengale transforms into a Taken when the lights go out and goes on a rampage in the morgue.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: Despite him attempting to [[AxCrazy gun down Alan at every opportunity]], whether there are civilians in the way or not, when he encounters a passed-out drunk Alan at the Andersons' farm, he ultimately can't bring himself to pull the trigger, and merely arrests him when he wakes up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rose Marigold]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Benita Robledo
!!!'''Played by:''' Merette Bartles (''Bright Falls'' minisseries)
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awrose_8178.jpg]]

->''"Welcome to the Oh Deer Diner!"''

\\
The waitress at the Oh Deer Diner in Bright Falls, and one of Alan's biggest fans. She becomes an incidental character during the game's events as she hopes to see him more often, but it ends up being to her detriment...
----
* AndIMustScream: When she is [[spoiler:touched by The Dark Presence and unable to control her actions as she drugs Alan and Barry under its command. It's heavily implied she knows exactly what she's doing but is powerless to stop it]].
* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler:Being used by the Dark Presence sours her cheerful demeanor very quickly, to say the least. When Alan comes to in her trailer, she's cradling herself and rocking back and forth in a state of shock, repeating her waitress routine in monotone. Finally, we only see her again in the ending with a lantern on her hands and a grim expression, implying she's become the new Lady of the Light.]]
* CreepyMonotone: While [[spoiler:under the influence of The Dark Presence, which makes her repeat her workplace dialogue similarly to the Taken]].
* DarkAndTroubledPast: One passage of the manuscript implies that life's been pretty rough on her in general, and another passage implies that she was in an abusive relationship at one point. [[spoiler:Things go FromBadToWorse for her, unfortunately.]]
* GreenEyedMonster: Implied, but in Episode 3, [[spoiler:despite being under the influence of the Dark Presence,]] when Alan asks her if she has the manuscript pages, she'll strike a pose and comment that Alan "needs a muse to inspire him", hinting at some possible jealousy towards Alice Wake. This isn't helped by the fact she has an actual mini StalkerShrine (although thankfully it's just publicity photos) dedicated to Alan in her bedroom.
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: She has dirt-blond hair and is genuinely a nice girl, both to the townsfolk and Alan, just wanting to help. [[spoiler:It's heartbreaking when the Dark Presence utterly destroys her mentally.]]
* HistoryRepeats: [[spoiler:Like Cynthia Weaver before her, Rose is a bystander who harbors a personal crush on a famous writer who's already with someone else, and ends up touched by the Dark Presence and traumatized into staying in the light. The ending implies she'll essentially take Cynthia's place as the "Lady of the Light", especially with the comments Cynthia often makes about being tired of the role and not being able to keep it up forever.]]
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: A manuscript page reveals she's very insecure under her smiling work persona, and ultimately just wants to be friends with Alice and Alan, even if it's implied she harbors a genuine crush on the latter.
* ImYourBiggestFan: Is a die-hard fangirl for Alan, having a cardboard cutout of him propped up at the Diner.
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler:Implied to be the new Lady of the Light after Cynthia, if the ending scene of her holding a lantern while being peered on by an implicitly-possessed Nightingale is any indication.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Cynthia Weaver]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Linda Cook
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awcynthia_7139.jpg]]

->''"Young man. I've been waiting for you. For a long time."''

\\
The "town eccentric" of Bright Falls, who is obsessed with making sure all the lights in the town are working properly. There's a very good reason for it.
----
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:She protects Bright Falls in remembrance of Tom, who she feels she let down in the past.]]
* {{Expy}}: She has quite a lot in common with the Log Lady from ''Series/TwinPeaks''.
* ChekhovsGunman: Among all the Bright Falls residents Alan meets at the Diner, she is easily the most vital to the plot, but the game still frames her as just another kooky bystander.
* CrazyPrepared: Guess who left [[spoiler:all of those safe havens and supply caches for Alan to conveniently find]]. Not to mention [[spoiler:the Well-Lit Room]] (which is the absolute end all of crazy, but is completely necessary and useful) and [[spoiler:her underground tunnel (lit the whole way)]] that goes right to it.
* IntrepidReporter: Her occupation years before. She supposedly quit it after her encounter with the darkness.
* MysteriousProtector: [[spoiler:She is the Lady of the Light mentioned in the song written by the Anderson Brothers, and has left a bunch of supply caches around Bright Falls precisely so Alan or someone else fighting the Taken could use them.]]
* NoodleIncident: How exactly she was "touched" by the Dark Presence is never specified.
* ProperlyParanoid: A timid-looking old woman who carries a lantern and is afraid of the dark? Well, there's a good reason...
* RippleEffectProofMemory: She still remembers Thomas Zane and his works, despite Zane writing both them and himself out of existence. It's implied he deliberately left her memory intact so she could help the next person to fight the Dark Presence.
* RoomFullOfCrazy: During Episode 3, Alan can find the ruins of an old house in the woods, presumably where she used to live before moving into the power plant. The basement walls are absolutely ''covered'' in graffiti that alternates between professing love for Thomas Zane and cursing his name, when it's not just writing out "TOM" multiple times. Smack dab in the middle of it all is a giant heart with "CW + TZ" written inside.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:Weaver's fate after Alan leaves her with Barry and the Sheriff at the Well-Lit Room is unknown. Whereas the other two are still mentioned in tie-in medias as well as in ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', Weaver was not mentioned at all, at least not by name. [[AlmightyJanitor Ahti]] mentions an "old lady" when he gives out a mission to clear out blobs of Dark Presence in several areas of the Investigations Sector, which is probably her.]]
* WhatTheHellHero: As much as she loves Zane, she is also furious at him for cursing her to a decades-long mission and messing up her mind. There are several light-sensitive texts that read "I curse you Thomas Zane".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Odin and Tor Anderson]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Cliff Carpenter (Odin), Lloyd Floyd (Tor)
!!!'''Performed by:''' Music/PoetsOfTheFall
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awandersons_3320.jpg]]

->'''Tor:''' ''"We're on a comeback tour, baby!"''

\\
Two brothers who formed the heavy metal band "Old Gods of Asgard" in the '70's on their farm near Cauldron Lake, and renamed themselves as [[Myth/NorseMythology Norse gods]] to further their image of reborn deities. The two are now mentally-unstable old men who live in Dr. Hartman's clinic, but occasionally sneak off to raise hell in town or get some moonshine.
----
* AmbiguousSituation: ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' implies that they [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence Ascended To A Higher Plane Of Existence]], but there is no direct confirmation of this.
** ''Control's'' ''AWE'' expansion finally reveals that they ended up performing one last tour with Barry as their agent, before Barry got concerned with the effects their lifestyle had on their health and had them retire to a nursing home specially built for them. It's implied that [[RealityWarper Alan wrote this into existence to give his old allies a happy ending]].
* BerserkButton: Don't imply that they don't perform their own songs.
* ChekhovsGunman: Not to the same extent as Cynthia, but this pair of rambling, seemingly insane old brothers Alan meets at the Diner are definitely more than what they seem.
* CloudCuckooLander: Kooky and somewhat insensible at times. [[spoiler:Or at least that's how it seems.]]
* {{Cool Old Guy}}s: They're basically a pair of aged rock stars that [[spoiler:tell Alan how to beat the Dark Presence through one of their songs]].
* CrazyPrepared: [[spoiler:Left the primer to defeating the Dark Presence in the lyrics of their songs, and their farm has enough weaponry to arm a mid-sized militia against it.]]
* CrazySane: It is implied that [[ObfuscatingInsanity they are not as senile as they would have you believe]], their eccentricities either a by-product of their interactions with the Dark Presence or a method of fooling Dr. Hartman.
--> '''Odin''': Ohh, he'd love to fish out our secrets, but he has no clue. He's not crazy enough, not crazy like us, sonny. Being crazy's a requirement, sonny. Who else could understand the world when it's like this? It takes crazy to know crazy.\\
'''Alan''': That's the sanest thing I've heard in a while.
* DropTheHammer: Tor, at least. Considering [[Myth/NorseMythology who he named himself after]], it's not really surprising, even if it's just a simple steel hammer he uses to knock the nurse unconscious.
* EyepatchOfPower: Odin.
** EyeScream: One of the manuscript pages implies he cut it out himself, [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy while drunk]].
*** ''Control'' reveals that this happened after he and Tor defeated an attempted invasion by the Dark Presence in 1976. Tor was also struck by lightning.
* FakeBand: Production-wise, their music is the work of Finnish {{Alternative Rock}}ers Music/PoetsOfTheFall.
* HeavyMithril: They're rockstars who model themselves off of Myth/NorseMythology.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: ''Control'' reveals that the Andersons have successfully fought and repelled the Dark Presence twice, once in 1976 and once in 1978. The first time is what gave Odin his eyepatch.
* TheNicknamer: They routinely call Alan "Tom," mistaking him for Thomas Zane.
* PassingTheTorch: [[spoiler:Giving Alan the means to fight the Dark Presence as they once did.]]
* ThePowerOfRock: [[spoiler:Literally. "[[https://youtu.be/GLxb7m0j5Jg?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUo3MfGtqogz7P3u5JUm3c- The Poet and The Muse]]" explains how to defeat the Dark Presence, while "[[https://youtu.be/8-l_kbZbXRQ?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUo3MfGtqogz7P3u5JUm3c- Children of the Elder God]]" details how to fight the Presence and the Taken. And considering the nature of Cauldron Lake, those songs may be the entire reason why the Taken are vulnerable to light in the first place.]]
** Invoked again in ''American Nightmare'' with their new single, "[[https://youtu.be/b6RKKCQt82Y?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUo3MfGtqogz7P3u5JUm3c- Balance Slays The Demon]]." [[spoiler:As you can probably guess, its lyrics detail how to defeat Mr. Scratch. And a reversed message saying "It will happen again, in another town. [[VideoGame/{{Control}} A town, called Ordinary.]]"]]
** "Take Control" helps Jesse navigate her way through the Ashtray Maze in ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' and also advises her on how to fight back against The Hiss.
* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' reveals that that during their comeback tour they would party just as hard as they did in their youth, to the point that Barry had to prematurely cancel the tour just so the old geezers wouldn't kill themselves.
* ShoutOut: InUniverse. "Balance Slays The Demon" contains allusions to Thomas Zane's poetry, as well as a reference to a line from Alan's novel, ''The Sudden Stop.''
* SingingVoiceDissonance: In ''American Nightmare'', they're back on tour, their songs are still performed by Music/PoetsOfTheFall, and they sound just as they did back in the seventies. Eddie Rodman brings this up, but is assured by Barry that it's actually their real singing voices.
* SpannerInTheWorks:
** When Dr. Hartman goes off to double-check his clinic's power, he leaves Alan with the Andersons expecting the latter to keep the former distracted long enough with their senile antics. Unfortunately for Hartman though, the Anderson brothers take a liking to Alan and start a ruckus to give him an opportunity to recover his stolen manuscripts and confront Hartman directly.
** In general, they could be considered this to the story as a whole. [[spoiler:It is their music and moonshine that provide Alan with enough puzzle pieces to figure out what the hell is going on, as before those he had no concrete leads whatsoever. And since those clues are either supplied by accident or prepared in advance, they give the Andersons a way to contribute a lot to the plot without needing a more active role, and thus the old men get to avoid being directly targeted by the Dark Presence.]]
* ThemeNaming: They renamed themselves after Norse gods as part of their HeavyMithril schtick. Their other two bandmates (who we never get to meet) were named after Loki and Balder.
** Tor's daughter, mentioned in ''AWE'', is named Freya.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dr. Emil Hartman]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MarkBlum
!!!'''Played by:''' Bruce Katzman ('''Bright Falls''' minisseries)
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awhartman_1940.jpg]]

->''"Right now it's very important that you stay calm. We don't want you to have another episode."''

\\
A psychiatrist, writer and former writing assistant who owns a clinic reserved for artists near Cauldron Lake. He's also the one who convinced Alice to bring Alan to Bright Falls under the pretense of psychiatric care, although Alan is immediately suspicious of him.
----
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Alan locks him inside his own office when the Dark Presence starts invading Cauldron Lake Lodge. Given all the things he's done to his patients, Wake and Thomas Zane, the proud grin on Alan's face as he walks away is warranted.]]
** [[spoiler:In ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' it's revealed that he was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Control for the way he treated his patients and for essentially causing an Altered World Event. While they let him go, it was only done after they confiscated his life's work, causing him to sacrifice himself to the Dark Presence out of desperation. By the time he is encountered in-game, he has been warped into a horrifying HumanoidAbomination as the result of ''two'' malevolent paranatural entities fighting to possess him.]]
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler:Aims to control the Dark Presence. By the end of Episode 4, he's taken and possibly killed by it.]]
** [[spoiler:''Control'' reveals it was even worse for him; he actively gave himself over to the Dark Presence after the FBC essentially liquidated his career and assets, losing his own body to the thing he wanted to have power over to begin with.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:With the Dark Presence and Agent Nightingale, but his interaction with the latter is barely even a plot point. Instead, it's recorded in one of his tapes.]]
* BlatantLies: [[spoiler:Although it's slightly [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] because everything he says does make some logical sense, so it rings as truthful as possible to both Alan and the player as he tries to manipulate them. Of course, remembering that this is a horror game with supernatural elements quickly brings his cascade of self-aggrandizing BS back to this trope.]]
* DrJerk: Alan knows Hartman is a terrible doctor with a smug smile on a magazine front cover but he's even worse than average corrupt doctors; [[spoiler:he treated his patients like test subjects to turn artworks into reality and caused the Dark Presence to go free, turning many residents of Bright Falls into Takens.]]
* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler:His history with Thomas Zane makes him one to Barry Wheeler. While Hartman was Zane's assistant instead of his agent, he still acted like one to try and get him to produce stories so the Dark Presence would bring them to life, proving Hartman's theories. He essentially takes the agent role in the present through his psychiatric sessions with the patients at his lodge, encouraging them all to create so he can test which kind of medium better resonates with the Dark Presence's powers, and wanting Alan to do the same through his writing. Except Barry, despite thinking about money, is Alan's closest friend and wants to help him above all else, while Hartman is an exploitive monster who is so power-hungry he willingly allowed an evil Lovecraftian entity to regain power in a futile attempt to harness it for himself.]]
* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler: Emil sincerely believes he can control the reality-warping powers of the Dark Presence and Cauldron Lake, going out of his way to attempt this through manipulating Zane and Wake’s connection to it for his own ends. It ends up costing him the lives of some of his staff and nearly his own the first time when the Dark Presence comes knocking. Completely ignoring this brush with death, he still tries to make one last, vain effort to control the powers of Cauldron Lake despite the FBC pulling the plug on both his career and his research in the wake of the incident, ''by diving into it''. It [[CameBackWrong really]], ''[[FateWorseThanDeath really]]'' doesn’t end well for him.]]
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Writing Barbara Jagger back to life was an idea he proposed to his then-boss Thomas Zane, which makes him indirectly responsible for giving the Dark Presence an avatar and enough power to break free, and he was also the one who asked Alice to take Alan to Bright Falls, which sets off the events of the main game.]]
* HateSink: [[spoiler:He was the one who caused the Dark Presence to be released back in 1970 by manipulating his "friend" Thomas Zane into writing a manuscript where his wife is resurrected, with horrific consequences, out of petty ambition. Even discounting the fact that he's arguably responsible for several of Bright Falls' residents dying by being Taken, the man is simply rotten and unlikable to the point many players will rejoice when he finally does get a taste of his own medicine.]]
* JustThinkOfThePotential: [[spoiler:He urges Alan to do this in regards to the reality warping powers of Cauldron Lake.]]
* TheManBehindTheMan: He was [[spoiler:Mott's boss ordering him to stage the "kidnapping" plot with Wake, and was also the one who suggested the idea of writing Barbara back to life to Thomas Zane]].
* SmugSnake: His default expression is a smug, condescending smile plastered on his face, which is also on the cover for his own book. Alan even notes at one point that just seeing his face on the cover is enough for him to want to punch Hartman, which speaks levels on how unbearable this guy is. [[spoiler:He's so self-centered and focused in his own objectives that it doesn't seem to occur to him that maybe [[EvilIsNotAToy the Dark Presence is more powerful than he's giving it credit for.]]]]
* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:An official post-game comic shows that he's alive and well after his encounter with the Dark Presence. It's never explained why he was spared, or if he's truly still himself at all.]]
** [[spoiler:As ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' reveals, he was still himself, but the FBC took all of his research on the Dark Presence and left him with nothing. The only way he could continue his research was to dive into Cauldron Lake himself to research it up close and personal, so he did, confident that he could emerge unscathed. [[InstantlyProvenWrong He was Taken immediately]]. Then when he came back out the FBC pretty much immediately snatched him up and locked him in a cell to study. Then the Hiss got him. So anyone who felt he didn't get enough comeuppance can now rest easy.]]
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:Despite all the harm he's caused, you never fight him in the main game after the Dark Presence corners him at his lodge. The closest you get to fight him is during the DLC Special "The Writer", when the imaginary Barry sends a Taken Hartman after Alan, but that's still part of Alan's nightmare. It takes [[VideoGame/{{Control}} an entirely different game]] to finally face Hartman as a boss.]]
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: He's indirectly responsible for everything that happens in the game. [[spoiler:After Barbara Jagger's death, he was the one who encouraged Thomas Zane to use the powers of Cauldron Lake to resurrect her, which woke the Dark Presence from its slumber.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: Just look at all that spoilered text. It's impossible to talk about Hartman without giving away the game.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Thomas Zane]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JamesMcCaffrey
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awzane_3297.jpg]]


->''"Beyond the shadow you settle for, there is a miracle illuminated."''

\\
A poet and apparently bestselling author who lived in and around Cauldron Lake in the 1960's, and was in love with a woman named Barbara Jagger. He disappeared one day due to mysterious circumstances, and so did his works, with only a few people remembering him, either truthfully or as a local legend.
----
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:The Dark Presence obtaining a vessel is mostly his fault, and he does everything he can to make up for it.]]
* BigGood: He's the mentor for Alan, [[spoiler:Cynthia is the Lady of Light because of him]], and he's the one who [[spoiler:provides Alan with the Clicker, the item that finally finishes things off in the Dark Place]].
* DeusExMachina: Deconstructed. Writing this [[spoiler:allowed the Presence to take over Barbara Jagger's body, since it exploits a written work's plot holes to its advantage]].
* EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity: [[spoiler:Provides Alan with the power to defeat the Dark Presence for good, although he was written into this by Alan himself which may subvert it somewhat.]]
* GenreBlind: His undoing. [[spoiler:He tried to take shortcuts in defeating the Dark Presence, but it didn't work, leaving him trapped in Cauldron Lake.]]
* LightIsGood: [[spoiler:Zane gave himself over to the Bright Presence, which seeks to defeat the Dark Presence through him and Alan.]]
* TheMentor: He acts as Alan's guide and aids him, though indirectly. He is also considered as the Obi-Wan to Alan's Anakin. [[spoiler:Becomes much more direct in [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind "The Signal"]] and [[EnemyWithin "The Writer"]] [=DLCs=], which are almost completely about Zane trying to guide Alan through the Dark Place and teach him to fight its influence.]]
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:Attempting to revive Barbara, and thereby giving the Dark Presence a host.]]
* PosthumousCharacter: He died before the game begins. [[spoiler:Whether what you meet is him or an illusion created by Alan isn't made clear.]]
* RealityWarper: As a poet on Cauldron Lake, his words could bring things to life.
* RetGone: [[spoiler:Did this to himself in order to keep the Dark Presence at bay for as long as he could while trying to think of a way to defeat it]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:His DeusExMachina that he used to revive Barbara is what gave the Dark Presence its avatar]].
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:For Emil Hartman. He apparently caught on, but by then it was too late.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Barbara Jagger]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Kate Weiman

->''"Come back to bed, Tom."''

\\
Thomas Zane's former lover and muse, a longtime resident of Bright Falls who disappeared one day along with him and the cabin the two lived in at Cauldron Lake. She's somehow returned and appears to Alan along his journey.
----
* AnimalMotif: Ravens. She wears an all-black mourning gown with a veil that resembles a raven's beak over her noticeably pointed nose, she lives in a lake with an island that noticeably resembles a bird's foot and ravens are everywhere in the town area.
* CameBackWrong: She used to be a really sweet and kind lady in her youth, until moving into Cauldron Lake with Thomas. [[spoiler:Then she was pulled under the water and Thomas, encouraged by his then-assistant Hartman, used the lake's rumored power to bring her back... but the DeusExMachina allowed the Dark Presence to twist things and make her into an avatar. Zane (in Alan's voice) even says this trope verbatim in a flashback within the Dark Place.]]
* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:The real Barbara Jagger died after being pulled under the waves while swimming. What came back was the avatar used by the Dark Presence.]]
* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler:She's to Thomas Zane what Alice is to Alan, his one true love and muse they tragically lost and made their lives's goal to bring back. But due to the Dark Presence, the Barbara Jagger that came back was only a host for the evil beneath Cauldron Lake, a shell that manipulated Tom emotionally and embodied his own insecurities as an author the same way the Dark Presence attempts with Alan through his memories of Alice.]]
* EvilOldFolks: An old lady in her 60s who gives off a dangerous dark aura wherever she appears.
* HumanoidAbomination: [[spoiler: While she looks like an elderly human woman, it’s ultimately revealed that the real Barbara Jagger died a long time ago. The entity that Alan encounters throughout the game is the Dark Presence itself wearing Jagger’s appearance like a suit, giving itself form and a voice through stealing her own.]]
* MeaningfulName: Her name is an Anglo interpretation of Baba Yaga, the infamous witch of Slavic and Russian folklore who lived in a cabin in the woods that was said to stand on chicken legs. This also ties back to the cabin in Cauldron Lake being named "Bird Leg Cabin" and the fact it stands on an island that resembles a crow's talons.
* RedBaron: As an old folk story from the Bright Falls area, she's since been given the nicknames of "The Scratching Hag" and "Granny Claws".
* WidowsWeeds: She emerged from Cauldron Lake wearing a mourning gown she uses to this day.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pat Maine]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' R.J. Allison
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awpatmaine_289.jpg]]

->''"Now, let's go to the phones. Caller, you're on KBF-FM."''

\\
A retired cop who is now the host of a late night radio program popular in the Bright Falls area. Alan first meets him on the boat into town where he asks him to [[{{Foreshadowing}} stop by later for an interview.]]
----
* CollectionSidequest: There are small radios spread throughout Bright Falls, and turning them on will provide Alan with a brief look into Pat's show.
* CoolOldGuy: It may not be obvious the first time you meet him, but he is definitely more awesome then he first appears.
* NiceGuy: He's very pleasant to everyone he meets. The exception is Agent Nightingale, whose violent and reckless attitude outright offends him.
* RetiredBadass: He's a former police officer, and is on the list of people Sheriff Breaker gives to Barry to call with the message "Night Springs", which tells us he knows something about the town's DarkSecret and is prepared to fight it. This might even be the reason he runs an all night radio program.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ben Mott]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Jason Muzzo
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awmott_9898.jpg]]

->''"Stop talking to the law. You'll do exactly what I say if you want to see your wife again."''

\\
The "kidnapper" who contacts Alan in Episode 2 and is the antagonist throughout Episode 3, claiming to have his wife and offering her in exchange for the manuscript pages of Departure. He's quite dimwitted and has aggression issues.
----
* BadassNormal: Does remarkably well fending off the Taken. Indeed, he's well-versed with their weaknesses, and is entirely unphased with fighting them (so much so that he has absolutely no problems setting up his meetings with Alan to take place in the middle of the night deep in the Taken-infested woods).
* ChekhovsGunman: First seen on the ferry at the beginning, leering at Alan from the backside. Try to approach him and he'll [[ImStandingRightHere audibly complain about the "yuppies"]] visiting town. There's a solid chance you might not even notice since you don't have to interact with him at all to progress.
* ConspiracyTheorist: He believes in government conspiracies such as fluoride being used to control the masssess.
* TheDragon: To Dr. Hartman, not that he thinks Mott is all that capable.
* EscortMission: Played with. At the mid-point of Episode 2, Mott actually escorts Alan after seizing his gun and keeping him with only a few flares handy to keep himself in power during "negotiation" as the Taken attack. Problem is, [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy Mott is a lousy shot]] and will miss constantly, endangering the player even further.
* IHaveYourWife: Kidnaps Alice near the beginning of the game. [[spoiler:Except not really. It was a ruse to get Alan to finish the manuscript for Dr. Hartman.]]
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: To someone like Mott, Alan Wake is someone who has everything; smarts, money, and a beautiful wife. [[spoiler:When faking Alice's kidnapping, Mott expects Alan to beg him but instead, Alan fights back. Because of his ego, Mott decides to give Alan two days to complete the manuscript, which ruins his boss' plan]]. Apparently this is how he is all his life, which Hartman uses to control him.
* ItCanThink: [[spoiler: After being turned into a Taken, Mott seems to have significantly more going on upstairs compared to the others, retaining a fairly large degree of his former self despite being reduced to a psychotic thrall of the Dark Presence.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Being a [[spoiler:supposed]] kidnapper will do that. Especially when he gives a ''writer'' only 3 days to finish an entire manuscript. Even in his appearance much earlier in the game he'll grumble and complain about Alan and Alice within earshot.
* ManipulativeEditing: [[spoiler:By using an edited recording of the call Alice made to Hartman, Mott is able to trick Alan that he had Alice.]]
* UnexplainedRecovery: [[spoiler:In the tie-in comic ''Psycho Thriller'', he's somehow survived his fate in ''Alan Wake'', albeit as a Taken with higher function than most, and goes on to hunt Hartman at the Cauldron Lake Lodge before being killed for good by Hartman and Deputies Mulligan and Thornton.]]
* VillainousRescue: Rescued Alan in Episode 2 after he lost his gun. Downplayed, however, in that he still keeps Alan relatively unarmed and only gives him flares, since he knows he needs to have the power in that situation.
* YouHaveFailedMe: One manuscript page reveals that [[spoiler:Hartman]] was incredibly frustrated that Mott [[spoiler:gave Alan only 2 days to finish his manuscript instead of the full week Alan wanted. Unlike most examples of this trope, Mott doesn't get killed until the Dark Presence comes along]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rusty]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Jeff Gurner
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awrusty_8189.jpg]]

->''"Crazy poachers. Max here got his foot caught in a trap. They're illegal to use here -- hell, you're not supposed to hunt within the park at all, but that doesn't stop some lowlifes!"''

\\
A park ranger who rents out cabins outside Bright Falls. Has a crush on Rose.
----
* BlackEyesOfEvil: After his transformation into a Taken.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Towards Rose. It will never come to fruition now that he's been Taken and killed.
* EliteMook: The second named Tele-Flanker Taken of the game.
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Invoked in-universe. Rusty actually finds the manuscript page saying he'll be attacked by the Dark Presence, seconds before it actually happens.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: When you meet Rusty at the Diner, Rose comments that he loves the coffee so much that he's "no longer human", adding that he's "just black coffee under a thin layer of skin".
* HopeSpot: After being severely injured by the Dark Presence, he begs Alan to go find the circuit breaker and restore power and light to the Ranger's Station. Alan investigates the other building where it's located only to find an axe sticking out of it ruining that plan. Before Alan can return to Rusty to give him any other assistance, the Dark Presence strikes again with Rusty screaming in pain and terror before he's Taken.
* LargeHam: As a Taken, naturally. Given that he was Taken as he was screaming for his life, the empty shell that he is now reflects this by keeping the same expression and tone of voice until he's put out of his misery.
-->"Obey... '''the park ranger's instructions''' ...at all times!"
* TragicMonster: Compared to the other characters who don't make much of an impact before being Taken, Rusty makes multiple appearances and establishes himself as a pleasant, friendly man who cares about the forest and its wildlife. His last moments before being Taken are spent in intense agony and fear with his final thoughts being of the woman he never managed to profess his love towards.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Carl Stucky]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Gary Swanson
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awstucky_3992.jpg]]

->''"Hey, wait! Mrs. Wake? Your -- your keys?"''

\\
Owner of a gas station and the cabin that Alan and Alice rented for their vacation. He never got to give Alan the keys, though.
----
* BlackEyesOfEvil: Gains these after he's turned into a Taken.
* BrickJoke: In a bit of BlackHumour one of the manuscript pages Saga finds in the overlap describes the Taken getting trapped in the lake after Alan defeated the Dark Presence, wandering the Dark Place and muttering their WordSaladHorror, the one non-generic quote is clearly Stuckies.
* LargeHam: As the first Taken to speak more than a single line before attacking, showing how they talk fresh off their DeathOfPersonality.
-->"Carl Ssstucky. '''Pleased'''... to ''meet'' you. Non-re'''fundable'''... '''reservation''' deposit ''required''. Fair and '''SQUARE'''!"
* RealMenEatMeat:
-->"I! '''Nnnever!''' ''Touch'' salad, though! A man like me needs a hefty... '''meal!''' TO GET THROUGH THE DAY!"
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Hot dogs, according to his instinctual dialogue. He even lists off his top three dogs from the local hot dog stand! In the following chapter you encounter said hot dog stand and can see that the three he listed [[BigEater are just the three biggest ones on the menu]].
* WakeUpCallBoss: He's the first Tele-Flanker you'll face in the game, surrounded by common Taken and with Alan still having only the base handgun at this point. This is all so the game makes sure there will be no bones thrown during Taken fights. However, this is ''heavily'' [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] if Alan found Cynthia Weaver’s caches of weapons and got the flare gun and a double barrelled shotgun, [[CurbStompBattle which will make killing Stucky and his Taken allies a walk in the park]].
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Within the context of the game's narrative, Stucky only had one scene where he's shown completely normal, and he doesn't get much more screentime until after he's been completely smothered by the Dark Presence and turned into a Taken offscreen.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nurse Birch & Nurse Sinclair]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Andrew Totolos & Shari Albert

->'''Birch:''' ''"Hey Wake, why don't you humor Doctor Hartman and give writing a shot, huh?"''

\\
A pair of nurses and assistants for Dr. Hartman at Cauldron Lake Lodge. Birch is a towering goon of a man while Sinclair is a control freak, both of them working under the doctor to ensure Wake gets to writing.
----

* BlackEyesOfEvil: [[spoiler:Birch, after being Taken.]]
* TheBrute: Birch is a tall, intimidating man who works under Hartman and does all of his dirty work behind the scenes, assuming more of this role than [[spoiler:Mott]] did during his time as TheDragon. Alan even bluntly calls him Hartman's "gorilla" when he wakes up at the Lodge in Episode 4. Tellingly, [[spoiler:when he's Taken, he becomes an Assault type instead of a Tele-Flanker like the last two named victims in the game]].
* EveryoneHasStandards: While Sinclar admits that she's only following Hartman's orders on some of his more shady things, she is horrified when Hartman uses Rudolf Lane as bait for [[spoiler:the now-Taken Ben Mott]]. After seeing how horrible of a man her boss really is, Sinclar quits her job after [[spoiler:Mott]] is taken care of.
* FlunkyBoss: [[spoiler:Birch's Taken form is fought alongside a murder of Ravens and a small group of Taken flanking him.]]
* KingMook: [[spoiler:Taken!Birch fights like an Assault Taken with a stronger darkness cover and dealing a ''LOT'' more damage.]]
* LargeHam: Birch [[spoiler:when he's Taken]].
-->"You get TWO PIIIIIILLS IN THE MORNIIIIIIING and then '''YOU'LL BE NICE AND CALM ALL DAY LONG'''."
* TapOnTheHead: Birch delivers one to Barry when he went to the Lodge looking for Alan so he'd be kept out of the way. Sinclair is on the receiving end of this when the inmates break loose during the storm, with Tor using a stolen hammer to knock her out in one hit.
* UncertainDoom: After Tor takes Sinclair out with a hammer to the head, she's never seen or heard from again after the Dark Presence attacks the lodge. The manuscript pages even inform the player that the patients all made it out alive and untouched, yet Sinclair doesn't even get a mention, meaning there's a likely possibility she's been either Taken or killed.
** The ''Psycho Thriller'' tie-in comic reveals that she, like Hartman, miraculously survived the Dark Presence's attack. [[spoiler:Hartman then saves her from the Taken Mott, and she's last seen being leaving with Deputies Mulligan and Thornton after they kill Mott for good.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Deputies Mulligan & Thornton]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Bill Buell & Bill Lobley
!!!'''Played by:''' Robert Peterson (Mulligan - ''Bright Falls'' miniseries)

->'''Mulligan:''' ''"There's been all sorts of trouble this year. Vandalism, fighting, public disturbances... A lot of people gone missing, too."''
->'''Thornton:''' ''"Yeah yeah, it's -- it's pretty much the, uh, usual, Pat, just, you know, a lot more of it."''

\\
A pair of Deputy Sheriffs from the Bright Falls Sheriff Station. Mulligan is an expert officer who's lived in the area most of his life, while Thornton is a relative newcomer who's lived in the town since the 90s as a dispatcher most of the time.
----
* AccidentalMurder: The sequel reveals they accidentally shot a civilian after mistaking her for a Taken and dumped her corpse down a well.
* BigDamnHeroes: They show up at the Cauldron Lake Lodge in the ''Psycho Thriller'' tie-in comic, [[spoiler:saving Hartman and Nurse Sinclair from the Taken Mott and putting him down for good under Hartman's instruction]].
* DemotedToExtra: Mulligan has a physical-yet-minor appearance in the ''Bright Falls'' miniseries as he investigates the disturbance at Jake Fisher's cabin, and is the cop that Shel Dyke attacks and bites the hand of. In ''Alan Wake'' proper, he's delegated to a voice-only role with Thornton.
* DependingOnTheArtist: Mulligan and Thornton have some noticeable differences in appearance between the two tie-in comics, ''Night Springs'' and ''Psycho Thriller''. In the former, Mulligan looks closer to how he does in the ''Bright Falls'' miniseries, somewhat unkempt and unshaven. In the latter, he's clean-shaven, with darker hair and a more serious appearance. Meanwhile, Thornton in the former looks younger, while in the latter his hair is closer to grey than brown, and he's the one who seems to have stubble. They're also wearing the dark green department uniforms in the former comic, while in the latter, Mulligan is wearing a blue set and Thornton has a brown jacket.
* DualBoss: Saga fights both of them in the sequel.
* OldCopYoungCop: Downplayed, Mulligan is clearly the more experienced cop of the two with Thornton as the easy-going newbie, but the latter does have years of experience under his belt and has been an acting police officer in Bright Falls at least since the 90s.
* PoliceAreUseless: Justified. Whenever you hear from the two in the game, they're always going to be picking up the pieces after the events are all done with, and neither of them will be much sure of what's going on in Bright Falls or how Alan is involved, meaning they're essentially minor comic relief at best. Of course, this is largely because they're chasing a tweed-wearing writer and not even ''considering'' the fact they're now part of a CosmicHorrorStory with a much bigger force at play.
* TheBadGuysAreCops: They're secretly members of the Cult of the Tree.
* TheVoice: In ''Alan Wake'', they don't make physical appearances. They do in the game's tie-in comics though, and Mulligan also has the extra live-action appearance in ''Bright Falls''.
* ThoseTwoGuys: The two are investigating the mass disappearances around town together, as well as being included in the manhunt launched by Agent Nightingale as he chases Wake. If you hear from the two in the game, the dialogue is likely going to be comedic due to Mulligan needing to play babysitter for the excitable Thornton.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Unlike any other Taken encountered before they're capable of using guns, one uses a shot gun and tries to get into close range while the other tries to snipe you with a rifle from the surrounding rock formations.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Frank Breaker]]

The father of Sarah Breaker and the former sheriff of Bright Falls. He is only mentioned in ''Alan Wake'', but appears as the protagonist of the tie-in comic "Night Springs" and is further mentioned in ''Control''.
----
* ActionDad: Sets out into the Dark Presence-infested Bright Falls to reach his daughter and ensure her safety.
* TheCavalryArrivesLate: Is pretty much a few steps behind Alan and company the whole time, arriving late to both the power plant and the dam. He even sees Alan walking away but isn't able to stop him, though he does ultimately reunite with the people left behind in the Well-Lit Room, including Sarah.
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Due to the weirdness of Bright Falls, he's experienced horrors of all sorts, such as being attacked by a "man with the head of a wolf" and having something pretending to be his wife in bed with him after her funeral.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Franks responds to Barbara Jagger's threat against Sarah is to shove a flare into her face]].
* FathersQuest: Frank's main motivation in "Night Springs."
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Of the "Night Springs" tie-in comic.
** [[spoiler:He's revealed in ''{{VideoGame/Control}}'' to have been a former member of the Federal Bureau of Control, and reported the events of ''Alan Wake'' to the Bureau.]]
* LastStand: Faced with a horde of Taken on the way to the dam, he is prepared to go down fighting, and barely survives thanks to Alan turning on the lights at the Well-Lit Room.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: Sees the crashed rescue helicopter previously used by his daughter [[ItsPersonal and suddenly is filled with rage.]] Subverted as he finds out that Sarah is alive since there is no body in the wrecked.
-->''"There was something almost sublime in the realization that he couldn't possibly cope with the death of his daughter. Suddenly, the world was uncomplicated. She would be alright, or he would bring hell."''
* PapaWolf: While he knows Sarah is more than capable of looking after herself, Frank is going to make sure she is safe and no way in hell he is going to let creatures of the night stopping him. [[spoiler:The Dark Presence's attempt to taunt him by threatening Sarah only makes him fight harder]].
* ProductionForeshadowing: When Barry calls him, Frank at first thought he is a Bureau agent. While initially thought to be the FBI, [[spoiler:the Bureau he meant is the [[{{VideoGame/Control}} Federal Bureau of Control]] which he used to work for. Later, he tried calling them to get reinforcements to no avail]].
* RetiredBadass: Has seen a lot of action in his time, serving as a NYPD police officer, a Bright Falls sheriff, and even [[spoiler:an FBC agent]]. It's telling that Pat Maine and the Bright Falls deputies all listen to his orders when they receive Barry's call and meet.
[[/folder]]

!Introduced in American Nightmare
[[folder:Emma Sloan]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Christina Evangelista
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awemma_5650.jpg]]

->''"I did find a page like that. I don't even know where it came from. It was all this weird stuff about the oil derrick and a satellite..."''

\\
A mechanic met at her garage who somehow already knows Alan. She's also into new age stuff and has found one of his manuscript pages.
----
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:At least twice. She's killed by the Darkness at the end of Act 1 and 2, although she starts remembering her deaths in Act 2, and in 3 she and Alan figure out how to finally prevent it by stopping the Taken from knocking out her garage's fuse box.]]
* DirtyCoward: She thinks of herself as one, as she ran away when [[spoiler:Mr. Scratch began killing Michael to gain access to the Mount Redtooth Observatory and didn't even call the police]]. Alan assures her that this isn't the case.
* NewAgeRetroHippie: She's into new age stuff and vaguely alludes to it in dialogue. She also mentions a few times that she believes in the more controversial forms of alternative medicine.
* WrenchWench: A female mechanic, and one used to getting shit for it too.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dr. Rachel Meadows]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Yadwa
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awrachel_1337.jpg]]

->''"I didn't expect to see anyone here tonight, but I'm relieved to see an actual person. That's assuming this isn't some kind of a cruel trick on your part, of course."''

\\
A scientist who works for the Mount Redtooth National Observatory. She's met with Mr. Scratch before Alan's arrival.
----
* LittleBlackDress: Wears one under her white lab coat. Alan asks her if she always wears it to work, and she explains it as the result of being called away from a party she was attending.
* MissionControl: Well, in and around the Observatory anyway. She frequently talks to you over a loudspeaker system.
* MsFanservice: A hot scientist wearing a little black dress underneath a labcoat. It's possibly the result of the world Alan's in being inspired by pulp fiction; though she mentions coming from a party.
* NerdsAreSexy: And she's got the glasses and a sexy British accent to go with it.
* StiffUpperLip: Her response to a mass of Taken swarming throughout the observatory on the last visit? "I really wish they would stop flagrantly breaking the laws of physics in my observatory. It's rather rude."
* UnfazedEveryman: She takes time looping best out of all three women (possibly because she doesn't have anything bad happen to her) and actually expresses some minor interest in letting it continue so she can study it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Serena Valdivia]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Desi Sanchez
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awserena_9531.jpg]]

->''"I-I love you so much. Did you know that love hurts? Are you gonna hurt me now? 'Cause you should."''

\\
A film maker and a supposed friend of Alice Wake. Since Alice thought Alan was dead, with the help of Serena, they made a film based on Alan for the annual Night Springs Visual Art Show Film Festival.
----
* AndIMustScream: She has no control over her actions, but is left fully aware of her behavior. On the second time Alan passes through the drive-in, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential he doesn't have to help and can leave her like this.]]
* BrainWashed: Touched by the Darkness via Mr. Scratch, and becomes a total jackass. [[spoiler:You can snap her out of it by turning on the lights to her building, which cures her instantly. As she retains full memory of her actions, she feels disgusted afterwards and thanks Alan for not taking advantage of her.]]
** [[spoiler:Although helping her is optional in Acts 2 and 3 for some reason.]]
* MindRape: Being touched by the Darkness leaves her very disturbed and worried about going crazy.
* VideoGameCaringPotential: [[spoiler:Curing her of the Dark Presence is completely optional the second and third time around, but is still a nice thing to do.]]
** The narration even point out that you [[spoiler: don't really have any reason to go back to her office the third time, since you entered the area from the opposite side. If you do it anyway, she'll ask why you bothered, and Alan will say that he couldn't leave her like that.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eddie Rodman]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Larry Kenney

A radio host based in Night Springs.
----
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Somewhat. Unlike Pat Maine's radio show, Rodman's has no noticeable phone call-ins or all that much attention, existing mostly for world-building within the setting of the DLC. In fact, the one listener that does respond to him doesn't do so in a friendly manner, to say the least.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Of Pat Maine, as a voice on the radio interviewing people related to the main plot.
[[/folder]]

!Introduced in the ''Bright Falls'' Mini-series
[[folder:Jake Fischer]]
!!!'''Played by''': Christopher Forsyth

->''"I'm Jake Fischer. A reporter."''

\\
The protagonist for the minisseries, a writer and journalist who arrives in Bright Falls to interview Dr. Hartman about his new book, only to start seeing weird things happen around him.
----
* AmbiguousSituation: There is no official explanation for what exactly happens to Jake during his stay in the town. [[spoiler:While many believe he was being slowly transformed into a Taken, WordOfGod said it's not the case, as a Taken wouldn't be having episodes of lucidity like he did.]]
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: ''Possibly.'' [[spoiler:Official word from the minisseries' staff is that Jake wasn't Taken, at least not when he was still able to remain conscious during the day, as Taken are dead the moment they are consumed by the Dark Presence. But if he wasn't Taken before, the shot of him ''literally'' vanishing into the night right out of his car all but confirms he's become one.]]
* AnimalMotifs: Deers. On his first night in Bright Falls, he accidentally runs over a deer on the road, which somehow reacts to his flashlight despite being mortally wounded, as well as seeing flashing images of deers haunting his nightmares, a hunter walking down the road with a deer head on his hand, and his trashed hotel room is stated by Mulligan to possibly have been the result of a deer running wild.
* IntrepidReporter: Not by choice, as he only went to Bright Falls to do an interview with Dr. Hartman and get a signed copy of his book. The weird events he experiences just come for him [[spoiler:or might even be caused by him]].
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:He quite literally vanishes into the dark of the night as it sweeps over him, implying he's been Taken by the Dark Presence. The police find his empty car and shrug it off as an accident, but Jake himself is never seen again.]]
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: The lapses in Jake's memory and him waking up in random places all invoke classical North American mythology regarding werewolves, [[spoiler:including the usual pop culture depiction of a man restraining himself at one point so he won't break loose and possibily kill someone, except here it involves deer motifs instead of wolves]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ellen Adams]]
!!!'''Played by''': Allison Lange

->''"I get it, don't answer. You're here for business."''

\\
An old colleague of Jake's that now lives in Bright Falls and works as a reporter at ''The Bright Falls Record''.
----
* AmbiguousSituation: [[spoiler:There's a slight chance she knows about the Dark Presence in some way, even warning Jake a few times that he should leave Bright Falls as soon as possible, but it's never elaborated upon. Also, much like Jake, she's never seen again after she disappears from the car. All that's left is one of her shoes in the backseat with a single bloodstain.]]
* FlatCharacter: While her implied break-up with Jake is amiccable, there's not much she does in the minisseries outside of showing Jake some support as he faces the weird things happening in the town.
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:At the final episode, when Jake wakes up in the car, Ellen is nowhere to be seen despite being the one driving not long before. All that's left of her is one of her shoes in the backseat with some blood on it. She's never seen again, either killed or Taken before Jake.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sam Smith]]
!!!'''Played by''': Cooper Huckabee

The owner of the Mountain Air Motel in Bright Falls.
----
* CrazyPrepared: He definitely knows about [[spoiler:the Dark Presence]] a little more than others do, as he has back-up lightbulbs for his motel and a wall practically stacked with hunting rifles and shotguns.
* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:He's attacked and grabbed by something off-screen, never to be seen again.]]
[[/folder]]

!The Dark Place (SPOILERS UNMARKED)
[[folder:The Dark Presence]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Kate Weiman (as Barbara Jagger), Brett Madden (as Alice)
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awtaken_870.jpg]]

->'''''"I'm much older than you. Older than your first work of art. I will find a new face to wear. Someone else to dream me free."'''''

\\
The central antagonist of the series, a hostile supernatural entity that exists within (or under, or is trapped by?) Cauldron Lake. It makes use of avatars and sentient forces under its hold to interact with the human world, seeking to release itself from confinement, as well as having a force of its own in the form of the Taken.

\\
In the original game, it uses the form of Barbara Jagger as its avatar in order to antagonize and influence Alan to do its bidding. While Mr. Scratch is another of its creations, it seems to act somewhat independently, and it's unknown which form it takes in the present or how active it is, only that it's still keeping Alan imprisoned for about 10 years during the events of ''Control''.
----
* AnimalisticAbomination: The swarms of Taken Ravens which it will sometimes unleash on you, and in the ''American Nightmare'' DLC you will also be attacked by swarms of Taken Spiders, which are specifically noted to be one of the creatures native to the Dark Place.
** In the ''Bright Falls'' prequel miniseries, it possesses a "14-point stag" to harass the protagonist with.
* AuthorAvatar: It makes stories come to life, it directs the flow of the plot, and it ultimately is the reason anything in the game happened. Draw your own conclusions.
* BigBad: Of the series, being the driving force behind the supernatural events happening around the Bright Falls area.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The developer commentary track remarks that the Dark Presence is an utterly alien being that simply doesn't understand human morality, or even human behavior, which is why it lets Wake get away with a lot of the stuff he does. However, it does understand humans well enough to manipulate Wake by holding Alice hostage, as well as to lure him into a trap using Rose.
* CameBackWrong: What happened to Barbara Jagger. Anybody who it plans to turn into one of its Taken thralls usually goes missing before coming back as a demented slave.
* CreativeSterility: Its modus operandi is to corrupt other people's work for its own means, and it's suggested in one of the pages for ''American Nightmare'' that it might not have much of an imagination, due to its Taken coming in only a few types, rather than the more aggressive and varied ones Mr. Scratch creates.
* CreepyCrows: The Dark Presence will sometimes sic flocks of Taken Ravens upon Wake.
* CutsceneBoss: After Alan fights the Tornado and dives into Cauldron Lake, it's finished off by Alan using the clicker inside where Barbara's heart once was in a cutscene. This doesn't finish it off permanently, but it does erase Barbara Jagger's image for good.
* EldritchAbomination: According to Alan's reading of Zane's poetry, the Presence is an avatar of a vast, horrible monstrosity that is explicitly compared to a [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] being.
* EldritchLocation: The Dark Place, its realm underneath the dark waters of Cauldron Lake. Time still flows underneath but its existence is how the Presence can make stories and works of fiction come true.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Its powers of corruption aren't limited to living creatures. It can corrupt inanimate objects in order to throw them at Alan or block his path.
* FinalBossNewDimension: The above CutsceneBoss is inside the Dark Place, under Cauldron Lake.
* GeniusLoci: The Dark Place, its home dimension underneath Cauldron Lake. The Dark Presence is one of the many entities that reside within it, but it closely follows its own whims and models itself after what it requires, essentially being a part of it.
* TheHeartless: Literally, in Jagger's case: Zane cut her heart out after she CameBackWrong.
* HumanoidAbomination: The Taken forms as well as the avatar of Barbara Jagger.
* JackassGenie: When using it to bring your story to life, you better be damn sure it makes perfect sense according to its own internal rules and logic, or else the Dark Presence will happily fill in any {{Plot Hole}}s you may have left to skew things more towards its liking. For instance, Thomas Zane wrote Barbara Jagger back to life, but neglected to explain ''how'' she came back to life. The Dark Presence brought her back to life as its own physical avatar.
* LivingShadow: The Dark Presence is naturally this but on a massive scale. Credit also goes to the [[HumanoidAbomination Taken]], as they materialize out of (and disappear into) thin air like ghosts and are covered with a shroud of pure darkness that turns them into blurred outlines amongst the fog they emerge from.
* LeakingCanOfEvil: While the Dark Presence is indeed trapped in the lake, it still possesses a frighteningly powerful hold over the region around it as the amount of strange events, disappearances, and general paranormal activity in and around Bright Falls shows. It can also reach out from its prison to a certain degree, as it did [[spoiler: when it appeared in the guise of Barbara Jagger]] to trap Alan by giving him the keys to the cabin on Cauldron Lake, setting up for the opportunity for it to kidnap his wife and enthrall him later. And that’s not getting into the fact that [[RealityWarper it can make fiction become reality]] should it have access to a particularly talented mind.
* MagicAIsMagicA: It follows a set parameter to make itself stronger. Essentially, any written work composed within its territory (aka near Cauldron Lake) will become reality as it is written. But in doing so, it draws power from what it makes happen based off the text, and it will also take advantage of any loopholes it can find in the structure - like a PlotHole or DeusExMachina - to protect itself or give itself a boost.
* MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil: Thomas Zane unwittingly ushers a HumanoidAbomination into being when he attempts to resurrect his lover, Barbara Jagger, by RewritingReality. The catch is, this ability comes from being near the "[[EldritchLocation magic lake]]" she drowned in, because it hosts a RealityWarper EldritchAbomination. Since he does it via DeusExMachina, she CameBackWrong, as a soulless physical avatar of the Dark Presence. Whoops.
* RealityWarper: It's capable of this through written works composed near or within it. Due to its own rules, even if said work brings it harm, it must still bring it to fruition regardless, but it will use any loophole it can find to make itself stronger.
* VillainBall: An odd justified case: Despite explicitly needing Alan alive for its plan to work, it repeatedly sends dangerous enemies after him that pose a serious risk to his life. However, it only does this because Alan wrote into his story that it would. Since it's bringing his story to life, it has no choice but to behave as he depicted it.
* VillainousBreakdown: Over the course of the last two episodes, it becomes more and more desperate to stop, and then outright ''kill'' Wake, frustrated by the many narrow misses the storyline is forcing it into. It builds up to increasing amounts of enemies and poltergeists, disruption and destruction of the environment, scouring the bottom of Cauldron Lake for wreckage to rain upon Wake, and finally a huge tornado with Jagger at its center. All throughout this, she spouts weak, ineffectual threats and insults that only serve to indicate that, at least to the extent that the concept applies to it, the Dark Presence is ''scared''.
* TheVirus: It corrupts some of the Bright Falls locals, turning them into the "Taken" who you fight most of the time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Insane Alan]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Matthew Porretta
!!!'''Live-Action Model:''' Ilkka Villi

->''"Suddenly, Wake found himself face-to-face with himself."''

\\
The main opposing force of the two DLC episodes for the original game. After the game's conclusion and being trapped in the Dark Place for a while, Alan has started to lose his mind and is slowly falling into despair, a side of himself that is now making itself known.
----
* BigBad: Of both the DLC episodes for the original game, "The Signal" and "The Writer".
* BossBanter: At the end of The Signal, it repeatedly recites Alan's downfall into insanity and continues to ramble, all while trying to get Alan to quit and give into the Dark Presence.
* CutsceneBoss: Demoted to this in "The Writer", where Alan's rational side simply rejoins his other half and Alan wakes up at Bird Leg Cabin with his drive to escape restored.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of Alan as a {{Determinator}}. He might have saved Alice and stopped the Dark Presence from actively hunting down and Taking people all over Bright Falls, but it's starting to dawn on him that he has no obvious way out of the Dark Place and it might take a while until he either finds or makes one. The realization is essentially tearing him apart at the seams and he's growing more and more desperate, to the point a part of him is now actively seeking to just end it all instead of continuing on any further.
* DrivenToSuicide: What it ultimately wants. He's the half of Alan's being that doesn't see the point of fighting the Dark Presence and is trying to end it all by killing the half of himself that still wants to keep fighting (the Alan played during the [=DLCs=]), essentially wanting to kill himself and let the Dark Presence end him.
* EnemyWithin: He's Alan's desperation and waning sanity made manifest, trying to force his own mind into surrendering to the Dark Presence.
* EyeMotifs: The flashing screens that show him all love to focus on his dilated eyes as he rambles on and on.
* FinalBoss: Of "The Signal".
* FlunkyBoss: The boss fight against him includes respawning waves of Taken and Poltergeists being summoned so the player will have a hard time dispelling the darkness protecting his [=TVs=].
* GeniusLoci: He's part of Alan's mind and currently the one in control, so he's the one currently dictating how Alan's mindscape should look like, resulting in the DLC's levels looking like horrific, distorted mixtures of the main game's previous locations and elements.
* HeroicBSOD: The living embodiment of one. After setting back the Dark Presence, Alan has been trapped in the Dark Place with no obvious way of making it back out to see Alice and his other friends again, so naturally he's been having a hard time keeping it together. So hard, in fact, that his mind has divided itself into two states, and the insane half is in control during both DLC episodes, his real self still at the cabin writhing and rambling to himself on the floor instead of writing his way out as he was doing beforehand.
* KingMook: Its biggest manifestation at the end of "The Signal" is a huge pile of TV screens that essentially act as one gigantic Poltergeist enemy that must be destroyed piece by piece.
* LargeHam: Given that this is the part of Alan that's going suicidally insane, this is a given. His lines are nearly all delivered screaming or agitated.
-->WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING TO HIM!?
* OminousTelevision: He appears throughout the DLC episodes in this manner, as flashing images of Alan on television screens placed randomly across the map as he shouts and rambles insanely what's about to happen, all in a futile attempt to lead Alan into killing himself. The boss fight with him at the end of "The Signal" also makes use of this by making it so he's a composite of random junk and old tube [=TVs=] crammed together and shifting around while showing his demented face.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Imaginary Barry]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Fred Berman

->''"Al, baby. Relax, it's cool. Just try to stay on the ball here."''

\\
A mental construct of Barry Wheeler who helps Alan throughout the DLC episodes, dressed up in Barry's "anti-Taken" gear from Episode 5. He's even more annoying than the real Barry, despite being Alan's sole companion in the Dark Place for the [=DLCs=] besides Thomas Zane.
----
* BigBadFriend: Downplayed, but he does repeatedly sneak in a few jabs in his dialogue with Alan, repeatedly reminding him of past screw-ups. At the very end of "The Writer", he finally just goes fully aggressive and tries to kill Alan's rational half.
* CaptainObvious: He tends to talk about things Alan (and the audience) knows about already. Both Alan and himself [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this by pointing out his knowledge is limited to Alan's own, since he's a product of the latter's imagination.
* FinalBoss: Of "The Writer", as well as effectively being this for both the bonus DLC episodes and the original game.
* FlunkyBoss: During the battle with him, not only does he summon Taken versions of people Alan's seen before (Hartman and the Anderson brothers), he'll also be repeatedly flanked by Ravens.
* {{Flanderization}}: [[{{Invoked}} Deliberate]], since this is only a depiction of Barry in Alan's mind, so he comes across as what Alan would perceive Barry to be at his most basic, an annoying talkative MotorMouth that only ever states the obvious. It's possible that this is due to the years the two spent together as agent and client, since he still acts friendly towards Alan despite this... until the end.
* MarathonBoss: He just doesn't give up when he finally tries to kill Alan, shifting between different Taken modes (at least four) and summoning Taken versions of other characters, all while trying to fight Alan's desire to abandon him.
* ThePawnsGoFirst: When fighting him, he gets one brief taste of Alan's flashlight before retreating and sending out the imaginary depictions of Dr. Hartman and the Anderson brothers, all of them as Tele-Flanker Taken, to fight for him first before going back into the fray himself.
* RuleOfSymbolism: At the end of "The Writer", right before he turns on Alan and attacks him, the Christmas lights and headlamp Barry wore against the Taken vanish, thus leaving Barry's image metaphorically "exposed" to the Dark Presence in Alan's mind and letting him be Taken.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: Since he's a fantasy created by Alan to cope with the situation he's in at the Dark Place, Thomas Zane instructs Alan's rational half to get rid of him as well before merging back with his insane half and regaining control. Enraged, the Barry construct goes full Taken and tries to kill Alan in retaliation.
** Interesting to notice is the fact that the second Rational Alan abandons him, Insane Alan pipes in with his TV screen ramblings, talking about how even Alan's friends were being consumed and sent to attack him. The second Imaginary Barry was abandoned by the Alan controlled by the player, the antagonistic Alan took control of him.
* VaryingTacticsBoss: He technically has ''four phases'' when you finally confront him at the end of "The Writer", changing between different Taken forms each time. He starts out the first two as a Common before becoming an Assault with a regenerating darkness cover and finally becoming a Tele-Flanker with way more HP and a sturdier shield.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: He has a shadowed undertone to his voice, but it comes across as simply off-putting and noticeable instead of having the same low-pitch growl as the Taken... Until he tries to kill Alan, then it becomes ''exactly'' like the Taken.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Mr. Scratch]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Matthew Porretta
!!!'''Live-Action Model/Portrayal:''' Ilkka Villi
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/awmrscratch_278.jpg]]

->''"I bet you're wondering why this is happening. Why am I doing all this? Why am I so hell-bent on ruining your life? You're cramping my style. You've got money, fame, everything you could want, but you don't know what to do with it. I do. I'm getting all the things you never had the balls to go for. Having more fun, too! Do you know the real difference between us? I'm not afraid to be the center of attention."''

\\
The antagonist of ''Alan Wake's American Nightmare''. Originating from the Dark Place, he is a new avatar for the Dark Presence and the embodiment of all negative stories and loose rumours ever told about Alan, making him a maniacal, flamboyant, sadistic serial killer. Capable of travelling freely between the Dark Place and the real world, he finds delight in threatening Alan with taking over his life and killing Alice and constantly sharing his monstrous deeds with him.
----
* AllegoricalCharacter: Alan states that he's essentially all the bad rumors and tabloid stories about him made flesh, which is represented as Scratch being [[LargeHam loud]], wanting to be the center of attention, and lacking all of Alan's redeeming qualities along with being a serial killer.
* AttentionWhore: Is pretty clear about this right from the start. See the quote above. Escalates in ''Alan Wake 2'' into wanting to brainwash the ''whole world'' into loving Alan's work, and by extention himself.
* AxCrazy: Unlike the calm, collected Barbara Jagger, this guy's a loudmouth psychopath in love with himself.
* BadassInANiceSuit: He may be crazy and evil, but he rocks that suit.
* BigBad: Of ''Alan Wake's American Nightmare'' and ''Alan Wake 2.''
* BraggingThemeTune[=/=]VillainSong: "[[https://youtu.be/BAh6ay9QDtE?list=PLjACqN5i5sDUEienDV52g85W6J7chzLXV The Happy Song]]," In it, the singer rants about his psychopathy with a kind of twisted pride, engaging in EvilGloating about the listener's impending death. In-universe, Mr. Scratch is shown happily dancing to it as SourceMusic after murdering the people who were partying and playing the song too loudly in the room next to his.
-->I told you I'm a psycho, psycho, PSYCHO, yeah!
* CardCarryingVillain: He is fully aware that he is one, and it appears that he is embracing it on some levels, while resenting it on others.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Unlike the Dark Presence, who interacted with Alan sparingly and was humorless, Mr. Scratch talks to Alan frequently (especially if the player seeks out the TV sets) and has a much more casual and humorous demeanor. Alan also notes that while the Dark Presence [[CreativeSterility wasn't very creative]], Mr. Scratch's Taken are much more aggressive and distinct.
* CutsceneBoss: You don't fight him physically at any point, and he goes down only at the ending cutscene.
* DeathByIrony: The guy who loves being the center of attention and constantly talks to Alan through the [=TVs=] he finds along the way... dies from a camera being pointed at him and turned on.
* DisproportionateRetribution: While speaking to Alan via TV in the observatory, the guy in the next room begins getting on his nerves. It's heavily implied he strangled the poor bastard.
-->"... Nevermind..."
* DoesNotLikeGuns: Because killing someone slowly and painfully with a knife is much more enjoyable and satisfying than [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim just shooting them]].
* TheDragon: Alan makes an informed guess that Mr. Scratch probably doesn't have his own agenda, but rather works as an agent for one of the many [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that lurks in the Dark Place.
* EvilGloating: Frequently, particularly in his video messages to Alan, whether thrilled over a recent kill, showing off his weapons or contemplating how easily he'll manage a KillAndReplace due to his superiority.
* EvilIsPetty:
** In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pi1qKifXU8 Super Effective Sales Trailer]], he goes to Remedy's offices, kills people with a sledgehammer, stuffs their bodies in a freezer, and enslaves Sam Lake to write for him. He also steals candy, rides a scooter around in the halls, flips off a picture of Alan, and enslaves a potted plant to write for him.
** Even more so in ''2'', because it turns out his whole scheme is...[[AttentionWhore to become more popular]].
* EvilTastesGood: He describes the most terrible, evil things he can think of as "Sweet", accompanied [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything by rolling-eyes and a face slack with pleasure]] from just contemplating it.
* EvilDoppelganger: He's exactly what Alan would be if he was evil. Though he's a HumanoidAbomination variation on an EnemyWithout, wearing the protagonist's shape to manipulate events in service of a larger EldritchAbomination, his roots in Alan's psyche mean he's hopeful of attempting a KillAndReplace.
* EvilVersusOblivion: He's the Evil to the Dark Presence's Oblivion, seeking to keep the world around as his playground and to be renowned as the greatest author of all time as "Alan", as opposed to the Presence Taking everything, and ultimately turning on it. [[EvilerThanThou This makes him more of a threat]], because he ''understands'' humans, and he's far more patient and willing to accept setbacks; after all, the world will be around if he wins or loses, so even if one scheme fails, he is still able to enjoy himself while prepping for the next one.
* {{Expy}}: Of [[Series/TwinPeaks Dale Cooper's]] Doppelganger.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He feigns pleasantness when he wants his victims to be off guard.
* TheHeartless: He's a living embodiment of all the nasty rumors that have circulated about Alan given his celebrity.
* TheHedonist: Everything he does in his existence is for his own enjoyment.
* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: In ''Alan Wake 2'', it's revealed that this is partly what he represents; the impulse for Alan to recreate himself as a GodModeStu who is able to do everything he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants, and for people to love him no matter how sociopathic he gets. At its core, the story of the sequel is his attempt to hijack Alan's attempts to escape to effectively turn the planet into his SelfInsertFic where he is at the center of everything in a gloating living power fantasy, as shown by his BadFuture world which [[CrapsaccharineWorld resembles an eternal Deerfest where everyone loves Alan]].
* HiddenDepths: One video has him oddly subdued but clearly agitated. He opens up to Alan, since they're so much alike being dopplegangers, and mentions that the fact of his existence is extremely disturbing to himself. He tries several times to ask Alan for help and to work together, but he literally can't get the words out. For whatever reason, Mr. Scratch was trying to reach out to Alan, possibly because as a doppleganger, he still has Alan's inherent ''goodness'', and can't quite reconcile it with his evil nature. Of course, he then goes off to kill the guy in the next room for being too loud, so...he's not ''that'' good. Either that or the noise snapped him out of his moment of clarity.
* HumanoidAbomination: He ''might'' be a new avatar for the Dark Presence. When Barbara Jagger drowned, it took on her appearance and was able to move about the world much like Mr. Scratch. She was also known as "The Scratching Hag" around Bright Falls.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: He ''really'' loves doing this.
* KickTheDog: Good lord, he's basically a dog-kicking machine. Just when you think he's finally topped himself, Alan turns on another TV and Mr. Scratch finds some new way to get under Alan's (as well as the player's) skin.
* LargeHam: You wouldn't think it, given he shares a voice/mo-cap actor with the rather down-to-earth Alan Wake. However, it's clear Ilkka Villi enjoyed himself as Mr. Scratch. A lot.
* LaughablyEvil: Despite all his nastiness his commentary is actually pretty entertaining.
* MeaningfulName: Mr. Scratch, otherwise known as Old Scratch, is one of the Devil's pseudonym, which came from the Middle English word "scrat" or Old Norse word "skratte", both can mean either goblin or demon.
* MonsterMisogyny: While Mr. Scratch has no trouble killing men, the majority of his victims seem to be women with a special attention to degrading them like when using his powers to make one BrainwashedAndCrazy into loving him. He also stalks Alan's wife, Alice, and makes numerous threats to her to Alan.
* NonActionBigBad: For all his boasts and taunts, all he ever bothers to do is send random Taken after Alan rather than try to deal with him directly. Even his victims are all either tied up and helpless or taken by surprise.
* NothingIsScarier: Mr. Scratch's lack of agenda makes him even more dangerous. ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' reveals that Mr. Scratch is still in the real world, apparently stalking Alice. He also might be taking the form of something that appears to be Thomas Zane but beyond that, his whereabouts and plans are unknown. To make matters worse, the FBC have no idea of his existence.
* PsychoKnifeNut: Prefers to kill with knives, because he doesn't believe that he can truly "connect" with people by using bullets.
* RageAgainstTheAuthor: Promotional material depicts him killing Sam Lake in one video, and enslaving him in another after going on a killing spree throughout Remedy's offices.
* ShadowArchetype: As stated above, he's essentially Alan without any of the moral shackles that kept him from straying into insanity, as well as having no people to show him support or care while stopping him from making bad decisions. He even outright admits that lack of control is exactly what he wants.
* SlasherSmile: One of his most noted features whenever he's in a good mood.
* TookALevelInBadass: In ''Alan Wake 2'', his ambitions and powers expand beyond just a small town to ''the entire planet'', and he becomes ''way'' more [[TheChessmaster tactical]] about it.
** Made more obvious during his Boss Fight, luring him into an FBC containment unit lined with [[KryptoniteFactor Black Rock]] and illuminated by multiple spotlights only makes him blow them all up. FBC Agent Esteves outright says that no Paranatural Entity the FBC encountered before has that kind of power.
* TheUnpronounceable: Any attempt by anyone to say his name out loud results in "Scratch" getting censored by a static noise.
* VillainousBreakdown: Over the course of ''American Nightmare'', his gloating becomes more and more transparently pathetic, as if trying to reassert dominance rather than actually having it, to the point that Alan points it out in the final loop. He really falls apart into full-blown panic when he is about to die, screaming that it was ''his'' life now.
-->'''Mr. Scratch:''' What? [[OutGambitted What is this?!]] No! ''No!'' [[VillainsWantMercy You can't do this!]] All I did was [[ShadowArchetype take the things you always wanted but never had the balls to go for]]! It's my turn now! It's my life! ''It's my life!''
* WeakenedByTheLight: As it turns out, he can't withstand the light much better than the mooks he sends after you. Small motel lights and things like that are apparently fine, but anything close to a floodlight and he's toast.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Taken]]

->'''''"OMEGA 3 FATTY ACIDS ARE GOOD FOR YOUR HEART!"'''''

\\
Humans who were forcibly corrupted and possessed by the Dark Presence, turned into lifeless husks who mingle into the darkness at night in order to surround and attack targets, Alan especially. They're the Dark Presence's footsoldiers in a sense, the only remnant of their former selves being their random quotes, which tie to the Taken's previous occupation as a human.
----

!!General tropes
* BlackEyesOfEvil: Those Taken by the Dark Presence reveal themselves to have these when their shroud is burned off.
* BodyHorror: They suffer varying degrees of this. The basic Taken only have BlackEyesOfEvil and have blotchy dead-looking skin. The more powerful Taken have their bodies swollen to such a size any normal person would collapse under their own weight, and that’s not taking into account the concept art, which shows that others of their kind have it a whole lot worse.
* DeathOfPersonality: If a person is Taken by the darkness, this is their inevitable fate. Their bodies might still resemble their old selves, but the people they once were are completely gone.
* DumbMuscle: Although they’re not ''completely'' stupid, the Taken as a whole are very single-minded and simple creatures, heavily relying on human wave attacks and possessing little initiative beyond the orders of the dark force controlling them. It even reflects on their choice of weaponry, as it is explicitly stated that the Taken prefer melee weapons because of how easy they are to use.
* EmptyShell: A manuscript page talks in a little more detail about what the Taken actually are, and it essentially boils down to this trope. They're husks of the human beings they once were, mere shells with the basic faces and appearance of their old selves, with their personalities and memories dead and buried underneath the darkness. Their dialogue is basically like a corpse's twitch, a go-to response from their bodies in relation to what they once were.
* FragileSpeedster: Flankers, smaller Taken that move fast and circle around Alan in an attempt to surround him before attacking. Take away their protection and they'll go down in a single bullet from the handgun.
* HumanoidAbomination: They're animated husks of what were once human workers in different fields, spouting out random nonsense related to their previous occupations and serving the Dark Presence as its personalized attack force.
* LivingShadow: The darkness now coats them and makes them resemble this, actual shadowy figures haunting the area around Bright Falls like phantoms out of a horror story. Said cover also makes them invulnerable to harm unless it's removed with a light source like Alan's flashlight.
* {{Mook}}: To the Dark Presence, naturally, coming in different varieties and categories in order to hurt Alan and give the player a harder time, with the average Taken filling the role of basic mook, taking two pistol shots to be defeated;
** [[TheSwarm Flankers]] are smaller, faster Taken that will run towards Alan and circle him in large numbers to deal consecutive damage, but their protection is small and so is their health, being easily dispatched with single pistol shots;
** [[EliteMook Tele-Flankers]] are even faster than normal Flankers, moving ''so'' fast they become motion blurs amidst the darkness;
** [[GiantMook Assaults]] are the heavyset Taken with heavy weapons at their disposal, taking a ''lot'' of punishment before going down. The Chainsaw Assaults are also capable of [[OneHitKill killing Alan in one swing]] and can regenerate their darkness protection when they stop taking damage.
* TookALevelInBadass: In ''Alan Wake’s American Nightmare'', the Taken are much more powerful and varied in abilities.
* VoiceOfTheLegion: They only speak like this at all times and at full volume. The people you meet who are Taken a little while later fell to the darkness so quickly that their voices are still halfway between their old ones and the modulated dark tone.
* WasOnceAMan: All of them were people who were corrupted beyond recognition by the Dark.
* WordSaladHorror: They'll occasionally spew out quotes related to their previous occupations, without any sort of coherence to their speech besides their demonic screaming of their lines.

\\

!!Tropes applying to ''Alan Wake's American Nightmare''
* AsteroidsMonster: Splitters have no darkness protection, but react to Alan's flashlight by splitting into two, before each new unit also splits into two themselves, becoming weaker and able to be killed but no less dangerous, especially if they overwhelm the player.
* BodyHorror: While the original Taken were already disturbing in how the Dark Presence affected their bodies, the deformities were still not clear and they otherwise looked like normal people with paler skin and tendrils of darkness across their clothes and limbs. Mr. Scratch's hordes, however, are ''far'' more disturbing to look at; Splitters are bone-thin and have darkness tumors growing out of their shoulders and torsos that grow the more they split, Giants have tiny necks and huge bloated shoulder muscles, a Birdman's arms are incredibly long and end in long fingers with sharp talons, among other horrible details.
* BombardierMook: Grenadier Taken, the new ranged unit of ''American Nightmare'' that throws grenades which explode in blasts of darkness to damage Alan with. [[CollateralDamage It can also damage other Taken regardless of shielding]].
* CompositeCharacter: Birdmen are Taken variants that shift into a flock of Ravens to move around the battlefield quickly and dodge Alan's flashlight.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: The Taken seen in ''American Nightmare'' are noticeably different from the ones in the original game; not only do they have more noticeable attack variations and actual gimmicks to make them more challenging, they're also more aggressive and tend to speak way less. This is in part due to Mr. Scratch being more rational and free-willed than his dark brethren despite still being a part of them, able to be more creative and hating excessive noise, preferring ''his'' minions to be obedient and quiet.
* DamageSpongeBoss: Giants; The flare gun, which could dispatch even the hardiest Taken in a single shot if fired at the right angle in the first game, needs a little over ''four shots'' to put one of these down. ''WITHOUT'' the dark shield.
* GiantMook: The aptly-named Giant Taken, replacing the Chainsaw Assaults from the previous game. They're huge and carry enormous circular saws to attack Alan with, which is guaranteed to be deadly if the player isn't careful.
* ShieldsAreUseless: A lot of Mr. Scratch's Taken don't even bother with the usual dark covering the common Taken possess, instead relying on gimmicks like splitting apart or moving around as a flock of crows to avoid the flashlight's beam. It can definitely still blind them and make them stagger, but it doesn't make it easier to finish them off.
* TheWormThatWalks: Birdmen Taken can shift into flocks of ravens to fly around Alan and disorient him, before rejoining into a humanoid form to swipe at him with sharp claws.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ravens]]
Flocks of ravens Taken by the Dark Presence. They appear in huge numbers and make a flying dash towards Alan in order to attack and impede his progress.
----
* CreepyCrows: Possessed corvids who move through the night sky like blurs of ink in water. They're strong enough to assault and take down ''police helicopters''.
* HellIsThatNoise: Every attack from the murder is preceded by their distorted cries, which are also echoed every time you see them on the skies above.
* LivingShadow: Like the Taken, they're basically this due to the darkness covering the murder. Fortunately, Ravens are far weaker hosts than humans, since removing the darkness protection is all it takes to kill a flock approaching Alan.
* PaletteSwap: In ''The Signal'', where they're reshaped into Alan's previous books made to act like the ravens.
* ShoutOut: The fact they're an aggressive murder of crows attacking a small town makes them an Eldritch version of Creator/AlfredHitchcock's ''Film/TheBirds''. Barry even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this]] during a phone call with Alan in Episode 2.
* TheSwarm: Even worse than Flankers in this regard, since they'll always come in huge groups, flying overhead and swooping down for a deadly lunge.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Spiders]]
Exclusive to ''American Nightmare'', these are giant spiders made out of darkness that can swarm Alan in huge numbers. Unlike the Ravens, these are not animals possessed by the Dark Presence.
----
* EldritchAbomination: They're not a new variant of Taken animals. A manuscript page reveals that they come directly from the Dark Place as "fauna" belonging to it, slipping through the cracks the Dark Presence made when it wormed its way into the human world through Cauldron Lake.
* GiantSpider: They're not the size of cars, but they're still bigger than any spider species known, and just as creepy to look at.
* TheSwarm: They're weak enough to be killed by either the flashlight or gunfire, but their main approach is to swarm Alan with their large numbers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Poltergeists]]
Random inanimate objects used by the Dark Presence to hurt Alan. They can range from simple barrels to large vehicles.
----
* AnimateInanimateObject: They're common, everyday objects shrouded by the Dark Presence and made to levitate and hurl themselves at Alan in order to deal damage. They can be anything from simple empty barrels to junkyard pieces, gates, construction equipment and even large vehicles.
* BossInMooksClothing: Some Poltergeists are heavy-set vehicles that are fought in obvious arenas full of supplies around the perimeter so Alan won't run out of batteries while clearing the darkness from them.
* CarFu: Poltergeist vehicles will drive themselves at Alan in an attempt to run him over. They can be normal cars or, as is the case with Episode 6, a ''monster truck''. Episode 4 also includes a fight with a ''combine harvester''.
* GateGuardian: Mostly because, some of the time, they ''are'' the gate you need to go through.
* HellIsThatNoise: The common Poltergeists will emit a shrill hissing sound as they start to rise and twitch, signifying they're readying a lunge.
* LivingShadow: Of inanimate objects that once littered the environment before being used by the Dark Presence to attack Alan. Much like the Ravens, however, even if the object is a large vehicle, removing the darkness over the object will immediately destroy it.
* TookALevelInBadass: Taking away the dark cover over the objects is all it takes to make them disappear in the original game. In ''American Nightmare'', they function more like the Taken and actually require gunfire to be fully destroyed afterwards.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Bright Presence]]
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JamesMcCaffrey (as Thomas Zane)

The antithesis of the Dark Presence that also resides in the Dark Place. Taking the form of Thomas Zane, it helps Alan throughout his journey and is also trying to stop its counterpart from escaping into the human world, although for its own alien reasons.
----
* BigGood: It helps Alan and gives him the information and power needed to oppose the darkness just as the Dark Presence tries to stop and hurt him. That being said, it's not as simple as "good versus evil" given that it's also a faceless power from another dimension.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Like the Dark Presence, its motives are unclear. The only aspect of its morality known to both Alan and the audience is that it opposes the darkness ever since the two came to be within the Dark Place, and helping Alan gives it the means to keep the fight going.
* EldritchAbomination: Just like its equally abstract sibling, the Bright Presence is a force indescribable by human standards, appearing as bright flashes of light when it's not taking on Zane's form in a diving suit.
* {{Foil}}: There's more to the two forces underneath Cauldron Lake than just the obvious "light versus darkness" element. While both forces exist within the Dark Place and are nebulous enough to be beyond simple understanding, they differ in their methods and goals; the Dark Presence wants to leave its dimension and spread across the human world to take it over, corrupting and killing people left and right to make them into its avatars and ground forces while empowering itself off human creativity that it uses for its own purposes. The Bright Presence, on the other hand, seems to only be manifesting among humans so it can stop its antithesis and has, so far, only used one host to manifest itself through, with said host still somehow alive within the light and still able to create (or at least influence) written works on their own. Finally, the Darkness completely erases the personality of its hosts so it can use their bodies, while the Light seems to be having an identity crisis regarding its singular host.
* LightDarknessJuxtaposition: Because there is a Dark Presence, it stands to reason that there is one of Light, and it's been helping Alan against its counterpart all the while.
* LossOfIdentity: [[ZigzaggedTrope Maybe]]. During ''The Writer'', Alan's questions towards "Thomas Zane" about Mr. Scratch seem to slowly cause him - or the entity using his image - some level of distress, to the point Zane breaks the MrExposition tone he's used all game to start questioning himself over it, before abruptly quitting the line of questioning and urging Alan to continue on with the story. Further, Zane still seems to act as himself and have his memories most of the time, but clearly having something else influencing his actions. It's possible that the Bright Presence started seeing itself as Thomas Zane or assimilated his memories into itself so it could properly help Alan, except it hasn't done so completely and is unsure of just what it is anymore. Given the nature of the entities in the Dark Place, it's very hard to tell beyond speculation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Warlin Door]]
!!!'''Live-Action Model:''' Creator/DavidHarewood
\\
The host of ''In Between with Mr. Door'', a talkshow in the Dark Place.
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* SmashCut: Mr. Door can seemingly teleport Alan to his talkshow for an "interview" when necessary and deposit him elsewhere in the Dark Place without warning, it is ambigious if it is literal teleportation or [[MissingTime Alan not remembering coming and going]] though Alan believes it is the latter.
* TheTalkShowWithHostName: Minus the first "The" as mentioned above.
* UnseenNoMore: [[VideoGame/{{Control}} Dylan Faden]] has mentioned meeting him before, now Alan can meet him in person.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Initially Alan doesn't notice anything unusual about Door's "interviews", as if he led a normal life as a celebrity and made a series of interviews on a talkshow he can't remember clearly. It takes a few before it dawns on him that being teleported to a talkshow in the [[EldritchLocation Dark Place]] is probably nothing good.
[[/folder]]
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