open/close all folders
Edward Pierce
Edward Pierce
Voiced by: Anthony Howell
The Player Character, a private detective who investigates the Sarah Hawkins murder.
- Action Survivor: Even if he takes points in the Strength skill, he's not actually that tough. He is very good at surviving, though.
- The Alcoholic: He constantly drinks as a way to suppress his nightmares. Although this can be an Informed Flaw if the player chooses to stay sober.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted a case that was more meaningful than ratting out cheating spouses, and he sure did get one.
- Clueless Detective: If the rolls are unlucky, the player doesn’t explore, and has only the minimum level of investigative skills he can miss obvious clues and can constantly fail to gather information.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Has a dream of the future in his office that warns him of Darkwater Island. He doesn't understand what it meant until it's too late to do anything about it.
- Foil: Serves as one to Jack Waters, the protagonist of Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. They're both private detectives investigating the Mythos who are traumatized by their pasts. Edward, however, is a great deal less screwed up and fully human despite being The Alcoholic and a Shellshocked Veteran. He also doesn't accidentally get a child murdered. As such, he's able to potentially get a Surprisingly Happy Ending.
- Great Detective: He can recreate a crime scene with a stunning level of detail if the rolls are lucky.
- Heroic BSoD: As befitting a Lovecraft protagonist, if he's surrounded by too much death or monotonousness then he starts having panic attacks before degenerating to outright hallucinations.
- Looks Like Cesare: He's a very gaunt looking man. Even during "Farewell", ostensibly the best ending where he avoids taking much sanity damage, he looks like he hasn't slept or seen the sun in years.
- Non-Action Guy: At least in comparison to Jack Waters or many other game protagonists. Edward Pierce may be a veteran and can potentially beat up a few locals but he's completely outmatched by virtually everything he encounters. As such, he spends the game running and hiding whenever danger appears. His one section with a gun isn't very helpful either.
- Occult Detective: He can begin the game with a good amount of occult knowledge and will also gain some over the course of the game.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Referenced In-Universe. He's stopped detecting for the Wentworth Detective Agency because he's grown bored of chasing after housewives and blackmail, with the Darkwater case being meant to help him keep his license.
- Private Detective: He works as private investigator for the Wentworth Agency.
- Room Full of Crazy: He has one of these in his office, apparently for a case he couldn't solve.
- Sanity Slippage: He will slowly lose some of his sanity over the course of the game, although player choices may minimize the damage done to his mind.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He one of the few survivors of the Lost Battalion
from World War I and consumes alcohol and sleeping pills to ward off the nightmares brought on by the traumas he suffered during the war.
Hawkins Family
Sarah Hawkins
Voiced by: Christina Cole
A famous painter, known for her controversial, disturbing work.
- Action Girl: Surprising given the time and place but it is she who defeats the Dimensional Shambler.
- Apocalypse Maiden: Her ultimate role in the plot, although she initially resists it.
- The Atoner: Wants to make right what she did both with the death of her son and those killed by the Dimensional Shambler.
- Blue Blood: Her father is one of the richest men in Boston.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Banishing the Shambler left her mentally exhausted and enabled the Leviathan to exert its will on her, entrapping her in the Mythos. From there, she embraces her role as the Oracle and joins the Cthulhu cult; at one point during the final level she seems to claim that she was Evil All Along, but this is heavily contradicted by her prior actions and clearly just a hallucination on Pierce's part.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Managing to defeat the Dimensional Shambler didn't help her as it weakened her enough for Leviathan to possess her.
- The Chosen One: Not in a good way. It's revealed that Sarah's disturbing visions were a sign the Leviathan chose her as the Oracle of the Mythos, though she initially rejects this role.
- Dreaming of Things to Come: Is an oracular prophet who is capable of also making magical paintings.
- Driven to Suicide: What the townsfolk believe she did to herself, her husband, and her son. All of it is lies. She's quite alive and so is her husband. However, may be played straight in the ending. If Pierce refuses to enact the ritual and has enough sanity to just walk away, Sarah is overcome by despair at having caused the deaths of her friend and son for nothing, and kills herself.
- Expy: As a Mad Artist who makes a living painting nightmares, she's one to H.P. Lovecraft's own Richard Pickman from the short story Pickman's Model.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: Being the Oracle of the Cult of Cthulhu does indeed suck.
- Mad Artist: What people believed she was due to the nature of her paintings and death.
- Mad Oracle: Which comes with her Psychic Powers.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Her death with her family in the fire is the reason why Pierce is sent to Darkwater island. Except she didn't really die.
- Unkempt Beauty: What she looks like for the majority of the game.
Charles Hawkins
Voiced by: Tim Watson
Sarah Hawkins' late husband, who died in a house fire along with his family.
- Body Horror: Being set on fire did Charles no favors, and the Healing Factor imbued by the flesh of the Leviathan didn't help, since it apparently decided tentacles were a good enough replacement for burnt flash.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: He wasn't a cuddly or pleasant person before the Miraculous Catch but he didn't become a literal monster until his encounters with the supernatural.
- Collector of the Strange: His mansion has a number of fittingly nautical-themed novels and texts, including Moby-Dick and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea... as well as a fair number of esoteric texts.
- Cthulhumanoid: He was partially transformed into one after his wife set him on fire; sporting a tentacle-beard on the mutated side of his face, and a mutated arm with tentacles for fingers.
- Domestic Abuse: It's revealed he was quite abusive towards Sarah, with Piece's investigation leading to the conclusion that the fire that killed them was sparked by a fight between the two.
- The Dragon: Is one of the higher ranking members of the Cult of Cthulhu despite initially being opposed to it.
- Driven by Envy: Much of his hatred of Pierce is driven by jealousy that Pierce is the Chosen One instead of him.
- Healing Factor: He regenerates from a .38 special Boom, Headshot! from Brady within seconds. Much later in the game, being stabbed through the throat and hit in the spine with an axe by Sarah and Pierce seems to kill him, though. It's possible that this merely knocked him out, and the blazing fire everywhere destroyed his body before he could regenerate.
- Man on Fire: Sarah accidentally set him on fire one evening when he got drunk and started threatening her and their son. This is what triggered his transformation into the monstrosity Pierce encounters.
- Motive Decay: He was originally interested in protecting Sarah from the Cult of Cthulhu before becoming infected and becoming The Dragon.
- Rage Against the Reflection: Pierce finds a shattered mirror in the warehouse Pierce fled to after the fire at his manor. Seems he was as horrified by his transformation as everyone else was.
- Red Herring: Many of the clues in the early chapters of the game point to him being the Big Bad, which seems further confirmed when you encounter him in person as a monstrous hybrid creature. He's actually acting against the goals of the Cult, either out of a genuine desire to protect his wife, or jealously that Pierce was Sarah and Cthulhu's Chosen One and not him.
- Super-Strength: His transformation seems to have given him this.
- Tragic Villain: Most of his villainous deeds were done in an attempt to protect his wife.
Stephen Webster
Voiced by: Bill Champion
Sarah Hawkins' father, a wealthy industrialist.
- Bit Character: He instigates the plot at the start of the game by giving Pierce the Hawkins case, and doesn't show up again, as he stays in Boston.
- Good Parents: More than anything, he wants to prove his daughter didn't kill herself or her family.
- Jerkass Has a Point: All his insults toward Edward are about him being a drunk. Edward has liquor bottles everywhere during the height of Prohibition and IS The Alcoholic.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is nothing but rude and condescending to Edward from the moment he enters his office. This despite the fact he knows Edward is the only man who will take the case. It's all for his daughter, though.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never find out what happened to him or what he was told about Sarah Hawkins death.
Darkwater Inhabitants
James Fitzroy
Voiced by: Allan Corduner
The captain of the boat that takes Pierce to Darkwater island.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Captain Fitzroy is the unofficial leader of the island and comes across as a Reasonable Authority Figure, in contrast to the antagonistic crime lord Cat Baker. However, it turns out he's the high priest of the island's Cult of Cthulhu and was Evil All Along. He's also a complete Card-Carrying Villain, in contrast to Sarah Hawkins who was at least conflicted about her role in bringing about The End of the World as We Know It until she fully succumbed to the Mythos towards the end of the game.
- Bit Character: Despite being the leader of the Cult of the Cthulhu he barely shows up on screen with the role of villain being taken by Leviathan, Doctor Fuller, Charles Hawkins, and Sarah Hawkins for most of the game.
- Identical Grandson: Pierce finds a photo of his father and comments that they could pass for twins with the exception of a Seadog Pegleg. Turns out Fitzroy is pulling off a My Grandson, Myself, and is the original Captain Fitzroy, having gained ageless immortality from eating Leviathan's flesh. Presumably it also allowed him to regrow his leg.
- Father Neptune: He's every part the old grizzled seadog, acting as the leader of the sailors of the island.
Roy Mitchell
Voiced by: Glenn Wrage
The bartender at the local bar.
- The Bartender: The local one at "The Stranded Whale".
- Bit Character: He's a minor NPC meant to provide some local color.
- Red Shirt: Can die from the mutating fishermen if not given a medkit in time in Chapter 13.
- Get Out!: If Pierce refuses to apologize for responding to a customer spitting at him by kicking the man's stool out from under him, Mitchell will refuse to serve him alcohol and tell him he's not welcome.
Algernon Drake
Voiced by: Graham Vick
The owner of the Nameless Bookstore, and a purveyor of the occult.
- Chekhov's Gunman: His first appearance ingame is in chapter 2, as one of the patrons of the Stranded Whale bar, but he can't be interacted with. He only enters the plot during chapter 7.
- Collector of the Strange: Due to his predilection to occultism, his bookstore has a broad number of esoteric texts — including a copy of the Necronomicon. He also supplies ancient artifacts to those interested in collecting them.
- Golden Path: Preventing him to be killed by the Dimensional Shambler is one of the conditions to unlock any of the alternate ending (those in which Pierce doesn't cause the end of the world by summoning Cthulhu).
- Heroic Wannabe: Believes himself to be the Lovecraftian hero out to banish the occult monster. He proves semi-useful but it's really Edward Pierce and Sarah Hawkins who do most of the heavy lifting.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: The fact he gave an artifact that could banish the Dimensional Shambler to a friend but didn't tell him it could be used to do so makes him infuriating to Pierce. Also, he didn't do anything against it until much later.
- Magic Is Mental: Is somewhat knowledgeable in eldritch magic through his occult studies, knowing a ritual to seal away the Dimensional Shambler and another to seal Leviathan within Edward Pierce's body. This magical knowledge comes exclusively through intense study, and not through any inborn traits, but still shows him to be more competent with magical spells than most of the cast.
- Occult Detective: He dabbles in this, collecting esoteric texts and ancient artefacts; and being knowledgeable enough in eldritch magic to set up protective sigils and execrate extra-dimensional monsters.
- The Smart Guy: Actually does know enough to banish the Dimensional Shambler.
- The World's Expert (on Getting Killed): Despite being an expert on the occult and knowing how to perform a ritual that banishes the Shambler, he can still be killed at the last moment, unless the player prevents this.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He completely disappears (as in literally disappearing once the camera cuts away from him) in any of the endings besides the "Perform the Counter-Ritual" one. This is likely because this indie game didn't have the budget to make multiple versions of each ending with him present or absent depending on whether or not you save him in Chapter 10.
Darkwater Police
Ethan Bradley
Voiced by: Antony Byrne
A police officer who helps Pierce with his investigation.
- Back from the Dead: He is killed by Charles Hawkins fairly early in the game, though Dr. Fuller somehow resurrects him. He is plagued by nightmares and visions of his death, however.
- Came Back Wrong: Averted, at least at first. The fact that the Obviously Evil Dr. Fuller clearly brought him back to life by unnatural means might make you suspicious of him, but he continues to be his normal Reasonable Authority Figure self and a reliable ally for the rest of the game, until the endgame where he starts succumbing to the Mythos along with the other villagers.
- Glasgow Grin: Cat gave him a jagged scar on his left cheek, presumably for meddling in her syndicate's bootlegging activities.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he is killed early in the game.
- Mercy Kill: Pierce has the option to do this to him after Leviathan takes over the island and Bradley starts succumbing to the Mythos. If you refuse to kill him, Bradley will call you an idiot and tell you to run before collapsing entirely as his mind continues to melt.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While he starts off giving Pierce a hard time, Bradley quickly helps with his investigation as soon as he sees the painting that should be in the Hawkins mansion.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We have no idea what happened to him if you spare his life during the Zombie Apocalypse, though it's pretty clear he's in the process of becoming like the other villagers.
Henry West
Voiced by: Martin McDougall
Darkwater island's chief of police.
- Police Are Useless: He is much less helpful than Officer Bradley. Flat out dismisses any supernatural explanation, which would be understandable if not for the fact its Darkwater Island; and arrests Pierce near the end of the game, accuses him of being involved in the strange goings-on, and rejects the latter's offer to join forces.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He barely shows up before he's murdered by the Cthulhu cult and dumped in one of Cat's warehouses.
Riverside Institute
Thomas Fuller
Voiced by: Wolf Kahler
The head doctor at Riverside Institute. He is much respected in his field.
- Bald of Evil: He's completely bald except for his evil goatee.
- Batman Gambit: He banked on Marie Colden not listening to him and continuing her investigation, using it to lure her into a trap and kill her.
- Cool Shades: Wears a pair of dark tinted glasses at all times, concealing his eyes.
- The Dragon: He seems to be the second-in-command of Darkwater's sect of the Cthulhu cult, Charles Hawkins having defected to protect his wife.
- Herr Doktor: He's a doctor, and has a German sounding name and accent.
- Mad Doctor: He performs unethical experiments on his patients, many of them resulting in death and/or grotesque mutations.
- Mad Scientist: The game's finale reveals he was conducting experiments on his patients using a green serum he refined from the flesh and oil of the Leviathan in an effort to transcend humanity, causing at least one of them to begin developing cephalopod characteristics.
- Obviously Evil: Yeah, he's not even trying to hide it. The fact he's a Villain with Good Publicity anyway says a lot about what sort of town Darkwater is.
- The Starscream: He's revealed to be one to the Great Old Ones, seeking to tear down the Mythos and transcend humanity to become a god himself. This is presumably one of the reasons the Leviathan allows Pierce to kill him.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He pulls this on Marie Colden around 3/4 of the way through the story, when he decides she's being to nosy for her own good. The Leviathan pulls it on him much later, as Pierce is Cthulhu's The Chosen One while Fuller was seemingly just a means to an end.
Marie Colden
Voiced by: Emerald O'Hanrahan
A doctor at Riverside, and a friend of Officer Bradley's.
- Ambiguously Human: Dr. Fuller kills her and pumps her corpse full of Leviathan serum in an experiment to raise the dead. It's highly unclear whether or not this works. At one point her corpse seems to attack Pierce to prevent him from killing Fuller, but a few seconds later it's back on the slab as though nothing happened. She's later seen on the cult's island as a member of the cult, but Pierce is completely tripping balls at this point. It's left unclear whether she was brought back to life and has succumbed to Transhuman Treachery or if Pierce is just hallucinating it all.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: You play as her in the game's eighth chapter, when Pierce's mind is projected into her body by the Necronomicon.
- Hospital Hottie: An attractive female doctor on an island of ugly men.
- Killed Offscreen: At the hands of Doctor Fuller, who decides she's too inquisitive and meddlesome for her own good and uses her as a test subject in his experiments — which she doesn't survive.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Does her best to help Pierce and the others against the cult, even though she doesn't have any real clue as to what's going on.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: She believes Doctor Fuller is just a corrupt medical doctor performing unethical experiments and not a Mad Scientist involved in the occult.
Francis Sanders
Voiced by: Gerald Kyd
An art collector and a patient in Riverside's psych ward.
- Collector of the Strange: Besides art, he also collects occult items, though he knows little about them. If he did, he might have known he was in possession of a dagger that could send the Shambler back to where it came from.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: An invisible force throws him around the room, breaks his leg, and then his neck. Said invisible force is the Shambler, an interdimensional predator he unwittingly summoned.
- Room Full of Crazy: His cell has the elder sign drawn everywhere in an attempt to fend off the Shambler and Leviathan, as well as other rambling notes related to Sarah Hawkins.
- Self-Harm: He gouged out his own eyes in an attempt to fend off the Shambler.
Cat's Gang
Catherine 'Cat' Baker
Voiced by: Kirsten Foster
The leader of a gang of bootleggers on Darkwater.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Pierce's mind is projected into her body by the Leviathan just prior to its takeover of the town's populace.
- Bad Boss: When she accidentally summons the Shambler, she's in such a hurry to flee that she locks her own men in with it, leaving them to be killed while she makes her escape.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Her attire consists of dark blue slacks (with suspenders), a dress shirt, and leather gloves. This helps her stand out from the few other female characters, as dresses seem to be the standard on Darkwater.
- Bifauxnen: Wears men's clothing and has short hair in a time when this is unusual, and is no less attractive for it.
- Dark Action Girl: If it comes to blows between her and Pierce, she can handily kick his ass unless you've heavily levelled up your strength. She also dominates a population of rugged fishermen and bootleggers through the threat of physical force, so her skills (and ruthlessness) appear to be well-known.
- Defeat Equals Friendship: Well, she never really becomes friends with Pierce, but if you defeat her in a fistfight she'll gain respect for you due to your fighting ability. Conversely, if she kicks your ass she'll also gain respect for you due to your ability to take a beating with dignity.
- The Don: She's the leader of a gang of bootleggers operating on the island; though Captain Fitzroy is the unofficial leader of the island, Cat has equally as much sway due to her bootlegging and the two of them often butt heads.
- Enemy Mine: She's openly antagonistic towards Pierce throughout the game, though not overtly hostile or violent as his investigation doesn't directly involve her crime syndicate. However, towards the end of the game, Cat and her minions are pretty much the only people on the island left unaffected when Leviathan takes over; after her men get wiped out by the insane villagers, Cat's the only person left on the island not under the sway of the Mythos, and provides Pierce with a moderate amount of help in escaping.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: When you first see her in the Stranded Whale, she is taking drags from a cigarette holder, giving her a rather sinister look.
- Hidden Depths: She's a decent investigator in her own right, being capable of piecing together elements of a crime scene just as well as Pierce can. She also seems to be able to tell when Pierce is being deceptive by reading his body language.
- I Own This Town: Says this at one point to Pierce.
- Pragmatic Villainy: She's livid when Henry West is killed on her turf, not because she's against murder but because the death of a police officer — especially a high-ranking one — jeopardizes her business.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: Inverted. She insists Pierce calls her "Cat" instead of "Miss Baker", as she only allows to be called the latter by people she is acquainted enough with.
- Uncertain Doom: In the game's finale, she is left holed up and wounded in the shipping office. She either dies if you don't give her a first aid kit, or is healing, but it's unknown whether she managed to escape. Though, if you got the Downer Ending, it's a moot point anyway.
Dominic Murphy
Voiced by: Colm Gormley
Cat's second-in-command. He speaks with a Scottish accent.
- Number Two: To Cat, being the second-in-command of her bootlegging organization.
- Undying Loyalty: The only time Dominic leaves Cat's side is during a last stand to give her time to escape from the rapidly mutating fishermen.
The Mythos (SPOILERS)
The Dimensional Shambler
An extradimensional predatory monster accidentally summoned by Sarah Hawkins through one of her cursed paintings. It is invisible to those unaware of its existence; hunting those who gaze upon its visage and pulling them into a pocket dimension.
- Absurdly Sharp Claws: Its talons are sharp enough to easily rend flesh, and are capable of gouging wood, stone, and metal.
- Humanoid Abomination: It is a vaguely humanoid inter-dimensional monster with creepily long arms, three fingers tipped by long claws, and a large mouth full of razor-sharp fangs.
- Invisible Monsters: It's invisible to those who are unaware of its existence, but they can still perceive the bloody effects of its rampage.
- Lean and Mean: It has an almost skeletal appearance, possibly in reference to Dimensional Shamblers being said in the source material to come from a plane where there's almost nothing to eat and where they're perpetually starving (which is why they're so keen on coming to Earth and snacking on humans).
- Lone Wolf Boss: It doesn't actually have anything to do with the Cthulhu's awakening, Hawkins just happened to summon it on accident due to her Apocalypse Maiden powers.
- Mind Rape: It inflicts this upon Pierce after he sends it back into the painting, nearly leading to him impaling his arm with the Ancient Dagger.
- Portal Picture: It uses a painting of it by Sarah Hawkins as a conduit to cross from its own dimension to Earth.
- Super-Persistent Predator: Anyone who so much as looks at it — or a painting of it — is on the menu.
- To Serve Man: It wanders from dimension to dimension, eating anything and anyone it comes across. It can also pull its prey into a sort of pocket dimension, conjuring barriers of hazy mist to prevent them from escaping as it hunts them down.
The Leviathan
Voiced by: Tim Watson
A Star-Spawn worshipped by the inhabitants of Darkwater Island since the 14th century. It was mistaken for a giant whale and slain by the crew of the Scylla, becoming known as the "Miraculous Catch". Consuming its eldritch flesh enabled it to curse the town's inhabitants from beyond death, gathering those who succumbed to its will into a cult dedicated to unleashing the Great Old One Cthulhu.
- Big Bad: Is the true reason behind the Cult of Cthulhu on Darkwater Island. That said, it does act as a Dragon-in-Chief to Cthulhu, who is more the Greater-Scope Villain.
- Big Eater: It devours whales, one of the reasons why Darkwater's 19th century whaling industry was in trouble.
- Captured on Purpose: Getting caught by fishermen from Darkwater was part of its plan to have influence over them. Though it's pretty eager about the part of the prophecy that involves it escaping from the factory where its flesh is continually carved off to feed the people of the island.
- Chained by Fashion: Its larger pair of pectoral fins are pierced by massive metal rings that seem to have once been attached to giant chains.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Leviathan is a Star Spawn that serves as a conduit between the Great Old Ones — specifically Cthulhu — and humanity. Merely being in its presence causes people to lose their minds, and while it was killed during the "Miraculous Catch," being dead didn't slow it down very much. In fact, its final action in the plot is to force Pierce to free it, after which it (apparently) swims back into the ocean it originally came from.
- King Mook: In reverse, as Star Spawn were created to essentially be degraded lesser versions of Cthulhu.
- Kraken and Leviathan: Fitzroy dubbed it "Leviathan" after the Biblical sea-monster, and it is a massive cephalopod-like creature with a fanged maw surrounded by squid-like tentacles, four lobe-like pectoral fins, and a tail that in cave artwork resembles that of a shark but resembles that of an ancient fish when it appears before Pierce.
- Mouth of Sauron: It serves as a conduit between the Old Gods and modern-day humanity.
- Physical God: The Leviathan was worshiped as a dark oceanic deity by the indigenous people who settled on Darkwater in the 14th century, ultimately driving them to sacrifice themselves. Its worship was picked up by Reverend John Wyckwood three centuries later, leading him and his flock to the same fate. Even being slain during the Miraculous Catch didn't stop it from exerting its will upon the cultists, or from escaping when it no longer needs to feed its flesh to the islanders.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: The Leviathan has psychically inflicted the inhabitants of Darkwater with nightmares and insomnia since the 14th century, converting those who succumb to its will into cultists seeking to resurrect Cthulhu.
- Thanatos Gambit: It allowed itself to be caught, killed and eaten to further its plans. Of course, death famously doesn't quite mean the same thing to the Star Spawn as it does to humans, and the Leviathan is somehow still "alive" enough to speak to Pierce in visions; it even manages to escape back into the ocean near the end of the game.
- Voice of the Legion: Comes with being an eldritch monster that speaks through telepathy.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In the second-to-last level it pulls this on Thomas Fuller, allowing Pierce to kill him. Maybe.
Cthulhu
A Great Old One imprisoned in the sunken city of R'lyeh.
- The Cameo: He only shows up for a split second in the "Perform the Ritual" ending, though even that brief glimpse is enough to drive the cultists, Pierce, and Drake into a frenzy of murderous violence.
- Driven to Madness: This is the effect of just seeing Cthulhu in-person and happens to not only the cultists but Pierce himself in the worst ending.
- Eldritch Abomination: Cthulhu is one of the Great Old Ones, inter-dimensional godlike entities that came to Earth in prehistoric times, and takes the form of a titanic octopus-headed dragon-man.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Cthulhu is the person/god/thing that the Leviathan is summoning, but he himself is not involved in most of the plot.
- Large and in Charge: Cthulhu is an enormous Kaiju sized monster who is the largest, the most powerful, and the ancestor of all Star Spawn.
- Physical God: He is the Great Old One the cult seeks to resurrect and unleash upon the world.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: He was sealed away in R'lyeh until the stars are right, but the cult worshiping him seeks to expedite his return.
- Sinister Silhouettes: In the final level, his tentacles can be seen writhing within the storm cloud in the distance, silhouetted by flashes of lightning.
