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Mike Painter
The protagonist of Channel Zero: Candle Cove. He is a child psychologist who returns to his home town after a disturbing event from his childhood resurfaces.
- Adaptational Name Change: To a certain extent. In the original story, he only goes by his username mike_painter65.
- Age Lift: About a decade older in Channel Zero than he was in the creepypasta.
- Always Identical Twins: Him and Eddie look almost identical. This is fortunate for Eddie, who plans to possess his twin brother.
- Angsty Surviving Twin: His twin brother, Eddie, was killed in 1988, by Mike's own hands, no less.
- And I Must Scream: Mike ends up trapped in Candle Cove with Eddie and the Skin Taker presumably for all eternity.
- Badass Normal: He's able to defeat his ghost twin brother who is using Candle Cove to manipulate and murder children. That said, Mike still dies in the end.
- Break the Cutie: As a child he was horribly bullied and he witnessed his brother and best friend become a brutal murderer. It's safe to say he's gone through a lot.
- Cain and Abel: An especially dark version of the Abel. He was forced to kill his twin brother when they were corrupted by Candle Cove. This was after his brother had already murdered four people.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He's trapped with his mass murdering, child killing psycho of a brother in a nightmarish realm for eternity. And being smothered to death by your mother as per your request isn't a particularly good way to go.
- Chekhov's Gun: Him and Eddie used to play a card game that wouldn't end. Said card game is what Mike uses to distract Eddie long enough to close him off from the real world.
- Dark Secret: He murdered his brother. Though, considering what Eddie did, he had a perfectly valid reason for doing so.
- Friend to All Children: Goes with being a child psychologist. Mike is known for his friendly and polite demenour when communicating with children.
- Good Parents: He's very loving towards his daughter.
- Happily Married: Psychotic episodes aside, him and his wife do seem to love each other.
- The Hero Dies: Smothered by his mother in order to trap him in Eddie in Candle Cove.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He is smothered by his mother in order to trap his twin brother in Candle Cove. This ends up getting Mike being stuck there with him.
- Mistaken For Crazy: Mike's erratic behaviour eventually leads people to believe that he was responsible for the 1988 murders. In truth, Mike's brother Eddie was the one truly responsible, and Mike is actually trying to stop him from claiming more victims.
- Nice Guy: A soft spoken, polite, and friendly child psychologist who is trying to help others around him.
- Oh, Crap!: When he realises Candle Cove has returned.
- Papa Wolf: Do not antagonise his daughter.
- Self-Harm: Cuts his wrist to write that he needs to go back to Candle Cove. This is later revealed to have happened due to Eddie briefly assuming control of Mike's body.
- Sympathetic Murderer: He was forced to murder his brother after witnessing what his brother was capable of. Seeing as his brother had already murdered four people, this was probably justified.
- The Tooth Hurts: Rips out his own tooth with pliers after he discovers he has gone an extra one, as a prelude to him becoming the new avatar for Eddie.
- Walking Spoiler: It's hard to discuss his past without giving away major plot points from the season.
