Characters / Cult of the Lamb - Cult of The One Who Waits

Cult of the Lamb Main Character Index
Cult of The One Who Waits | Old Faith (Bishops | Minibosses | Enemies) | Vendors | Others

---

The Lamb

Our Glorious Leader

A follower of The One Who Waits who was saved from death at the last second and made into their god's vessel and prophet.

---

• Affably Evil: Not at first during the game's opening, but they get to live under the condition of becoming the leader of an Apocalypse Cult, and all that it implies. The trailers make them out to be genuinely friendly unless provoked.
• Animalistic Abomination: The blessings of The One Who Waits has transformed the lamb into an otherworldly demigod capable of acts great and terrible in equal measure. They can take this even further if they choose to rebel against and defeat their master, which will result in them becoming a fully-fledged Lovecraftian deity themself.
• The Ageless: While their followers can age into elders and eventually die, the Lamb remains the same age throughout the entirety of the game.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Is a Dark Messiah, but also a massive Benevolent Boss to their followers compared to the Bishops, as they at least provide shelter and food in exchange for work and worship. Depending on how the player plays them, though, they can potentially be just as horrible as the Bishops.
• Ambiguous Gender: Word of God says their gender is intentionally neither male nor female.
• Anti-Villain: Can be played this way if desired. Sure, the Lamb is doing a lot to free The One Who Waits and usher in his coming, which naturally means a lot of death, murder, and other ugliness... but they can be incredibly benevolent and kind to their followers, making sure they're well fed, have comfortable places to sleep, and inspire genuine loyalty without having to kill anyone on their side. Hell, even if they have to kill someone, they can choose to help them Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence, as opposed to gruesomely killing them on the spot or sacrificing them to appease an eldritch horror.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: They're both the leader of a cult and the primary warrior of their dark god.
• Back from the Dead: They have already been beheaded when they find their way to The One Who Waits' prison.
• Badass Adorable: They're a cute little lamb, but also the vessel of an ancient god. And despite being their cult's only combatant, they alone are sufficient for driving off the Old Faith and defeating the Bishops.
• Bad Boss: If the player doesn't attempt to make them go down the mostly Benevolent Boss route, they can play them as a tyrant who murders their followers and serves their meat to the others as food, intimidates their followers into giving them gold, makes them eat shit or starve, imprisons them for fun, persecutes the elderly, deny their followers rest even if they're deathly ill, among other things.
• Bad Samaritan: The Lamb can save animals from being sacrificed by the followers of the Old Faith, but they only do so to make them join their cult, and followers of The One Who Waits are just as likely to be sacrificed to appease their god, with at least one sacrifice being a requirement for game progression. The main difference is that the Lamb helps with the camp, gives food to their followers, and can occasionally give them presents, but even that doesn't outweigh some of the horrible things the players can make them do to their followers in order to keep them in line.
• Baphomet: One of the lambs primary inspirations, given their pagan Hollywood Satanism.
• Benevolent Boss: Downplayed, as their world's standard of benevolence is extremely low given how the Bishops mostly terrorize people into following them. While the Lamb can sacrifice dissenters and rivals, they can instead choose to reason with them if given the chance, wins people over by genuinely helping them, and helps out with the work around the temple.
• Breaking the Bonds: The very first thing they do after coming back to life is to break the chains binding them.
• Came Back Strong: The game starts with the Lamb marching to their execution, only to be saved from death as they're beheaded and granted nightmarish powers by The One Who Waits, on the condition that they start a cult in his name and free him from his imprisonment.
• The Chosen One: According to a prophecy, a Lamb would become a conduit for great power and liberate the One Who Waits from his prison. Such is the reason why the main character's species were wiped out before they're lucky enough to be enforced with this.
• Cool Crown: The Red Crown, a symbol of their connection to The One Who Waits. Not only is it capable of transforming into the Crusader's Blade, it also grants the Lamb magic powers and a direct link to their deity.
• Cruel Mercy: They can pull this on Narinder after beating the crap out of him by making him a Follower. Needless to say, Narinder is not happy to be on the other end of the scale.
• Dark Messiah: They are the prophet of a mysterious dark god and the instrument of its will. The mere fact that they're a lamb specifically (An animal associated with Jesus), along with other pararells like their slow apotheosis, their backstory and their role as a spiritual leader who can send his followers to "Heaven" (In their case a cult leader with an Ascension Ritual) makes them a dark, twisted Lovecraftian-cultist Messianic Archetype.
• Death by Origin Story: Their death is what sets the story in motion, as it sends their soul to The One Who Waits' prison, allowing him to turn them into his chosen one and hopefully, his liberator.
• Deity of Human Origin: Their deal with The One Who Waits effectively makes them an immortal demigod in service to him, capable of using magic, tearing apart armies, and killing the other Physical Gods ruling the land. After defeating Narinder, his last words before you kill or subjugate him have him state that the Lamb has become a full blown God in their own right, shown by their halo changing its shape to reflect its new bearer. The Figure confirms it as well, as they can now see God Tears and, after having stolen such title from Narinder, is now the God of Death.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: A Cthulhu follower was added as a part of the game's pre-order campaign and the Lamb can marry them just as they would any other species of follower via the marriage doctrine. It's also entirely possible to marry The One Who Waits after indoctrinating him into the cult and the Bishops, although in this case it's slightly downplayed as you can only marry them after becoming godly whereas their own power has been taken away from them.
• The Dog Bites Back: After being brutally sacrificed by the Bishops of the Old Faith, the Lamb is granted the power to strike back against those who killed them.
• Eating Optional: By all appearances the Lamb doesn't need to eat or rest, but can acquire the ability to eat a meal and gain a Temporary Heart before a crusade.
• Everyone Has Standards: Given the way they flinch, it seems even they're disgusted by the nose-picking in the Console trailer.
  • If the player is willing to accept a temporary (and possibly small) loss of Faith, they can invoke this trope by refusing certain requests from Followers like having them eat poop or to kill/sacrifice them.
• Exotic Eye Designs: As they're a sheep, they have rectangular pupils.
• Expressive Mask: The Red Crown also has its own expressions. It blinks on its own and grows two pairs of horns when the Lamb is using a lot of power.
• Faustian Rebellion: Can enact this against Narinder at the game's climax, using his own Red Crown to defeat him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: They were just a regular little lamb, incapable of fighting or defending themself. Then The One Who Waits saved them from death. Now they're the leader of their own cult and possibly the greatest adversary of The Old Faith. After defeating The One Who Waits, he explicitly says that toppling him and taking the Red Crown's power as their own has made the Lamb a god themself.
• Furry Reminder: Whenever they speak, it's nothing but bleats, regardless of how powerful they are.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When they tap into the One Who Waits' power, their eyeballs turn completely red and glow.
• God Needs Prayer Badly: Lose all your followers, and you'll also lose the Resurrective Immortality, resulting in a permanent game over the next time you perish.
• The Grim Reaper: After defeating Narinder, they take his title as the God of Death. The Mysterious Figure tasks them with cleaning up the mess they left behind earlier when dealing with the Bishops and put them to rest, although in this case they just indoctrinate them.
• Gruesome Goat: Well Gruesome Sheep, actually. But they're still the caprine servant of a God of Evil sporting two little horns, so they count.
• Healing Factor: The Fleece of Fervour's Favour removes all hearts from the dungeon, but allows the Lamb to regenerate half a red heart at a time using Fervour in place of a Curse usage — essentially giving the Lamb the ability to have a version of this.
• Heroic Mime: Downplayed Trope, as it's implied that the Lamb does talk to their followers and says things during the sermons, but the player almost never sees any of the things they say in text form. As well, the most vocalizations the player will hear from them are bleats rather than the usual NPC gibberish.
• Holy Halo: When giving sermons and issuing new commandments, a noticeable Catholic-style halo of light appears behind their head. In the post-game, it actually changes shape and becomes more radiant, as they're now channeling their own power instead of that of The One Who Waits.
• Interspecies Romance: They're a lamb that can marry any (or all) of their different species cult followers via the marriage ritual.
• Last Of Their Kind: The Lamb is the last sheep in existence, as all the others have already been killed under the orders of the Bishops by the time the game begins to prevent a prophecy.
• Lethal Chef: The first meals you can cook all have various negative side effects, for example the Standard quality "Basic Berry Bowl" that has a 15% chance of causing a Potty Failure when eaten. It's less the Lamb's cooking ability so much as not having the right ingredients to make more than the most basic gruel.
• Magic Knight: While their primary fighting style is to smash enemies over the head with weapons, they can also blast enemies away with Curses.
• Mayfly–December Romance: The Lamb, who has Resurrective Immortality thanks to the power of the Red Crown, can marry their Followers, who live no longer than 60 days on average. Marrying the One Who Waits averts this, as he is immortal and won't die of aging, as is those with the golden necklace. The lamb can also resurrect followers who died of old age, restoring them back to youth if they have the doctrine.
  • Thanks to post-game content, this can be further averted with any follower by gifting them a Golden Skull Necklace, which gives said follower the Immortal Trait.
• Mindless Sheep: Inverted for irony. One of the Lamb's objectives is to indoctrinate their cult into mindless followers. There is also an arc going here from the Lamb journeying from a helpless follower into the one pulling the strings.
• Mind over Matter: Appears to gain Telekinesis if the player chooses to induct the "Murder Follower" Doctrine, though they only use it to, well, murder followers.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: In the "good" ending, their response to the One Who Waits demanding they sacrifice themself and their followers to him causes them to turn on their former master.
• The Needless: Unlike their followers, who regularly eat, sleep, and shit with this all being monitored by the Lamb, the Lamb never does any of these things, even after what's implied to be years pass by.
• Nightmare Face: They make one when they Intimidates a follower. Their horns grow and their teeth sharpen as they roar to their faces. They also do this when Knucklebones isn't going their way, evidently taking the game very seriously. If they turns on the One Who Waits, they make one hell of a furious face, with eyes full of rage and fire.
• No Name Given: Their name is never stated throughout the game, as they are only ever referred to as "the Lamb" and other variations of it such as "Little Lamb". Sometimes they're called "sacrificial beast", but that may be a term for lambs in general. An official FAQ suggested that their name could be "Lambert", but it's never used in the game itself.
• Ocular Gushers: When they cry, streams of tears flow from their face. They only do so on three occasions: At the beginning of the game when they're about to be sacrificed, when they sacrifice Ratau, and near the end when the One Who Waits tries to sacrifice them, as they don't want to die for good.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: While "Lambert" is a popular fan nickname for them that has been acknowledged by Word of God, their actual name is unknown and they are only ever referred to as "Little Lamb" in the game and "The Lamb" on official Cult of the Lamb media.
• Perpetual Smiler: Once they obtain the Red Crown, they almost never stop smiling unless they're either severely wounded or at the mercy of their emotions.
• Playful Cat Smile: Sports one whenever cleaning or picking up a Heart of a Heretic.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: A perfectly viable path of how the player chooses to play the Lamb, with different doctrines, Crown powers and player choices turning the character progressively more villainous.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: They can choose to argue with dissenters rather than punishing them, though this will allow dissent to spread in the meantime.
• Recruitment by Rescue: The primary reason they go around rescuing followers is so that they can join their "flock" and worship The One Who Waits and given the fact that The One Who Waits will take away their immortality if they go without recruiting new followers for a long period of time, it doesn't seem as though they have a choice but to do this. The followers are never given a choice in the matter and in the same breath don't appear to mind, as they're grateful to be rescued.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Eyes turn red when they're using magic or when they're pissed.
• Resurrective Immortality: Thanks to their nature as the One Who Waits' Chosen One, the Lamb can no longer stay dead. At least, for as long as they're needed.
  The One Who Waits: Fear not, for you are my chosen vessel and death cannot halt you. I shall not allow it, for I still have need of you.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Very literally. All of the sheep, including this one, are wiped out. Thanks to The One Who Waits, this particular Lamb does not stay dead for long.
• Shown Their Work: While the other animals have vertical pupils, the Lamb has horizontal pupils, which real sheep also have.
• Shows Damage: The Lamb shows injuries when they're seriously hurt (at one heart left). When on the verge of death (at half a heart left), their body is full of bruises, with one of their eyes bloodshot and the other is swollen with a black eye. They also stop smiling.
• The Sleepless: While beds can be crafted for their followers, the Lamb never sleeps throughout the game. The Don't Starve crossover added the Leader Tent to allow the Lamb to skip the night with their followers, though this still isn't required unless you're playing Penitence Mode, which adds a sleep meter the Lamb has to monitor before they start taking damage and risking permadeath.
• Sore Loser: If their reaction to losing a game of Knucklebones is any indication.
• Stock Animal Diet: Inverted. A sheep should be expected to eat grass without much complaint. Even if you get the doctrine that allows your followers to eat Grassy Gruel without any negative effect, the Lamb will always vomit upon eating it.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: They can adventure in Anchordeep which takes place underwater with no issue.
• Superior Successor: To Ratau. Ratau states that he was nowhere near as powerful as the Lamb is now when he was the chosen vessel for The One Who Waits.
• Supreme Chef: If given good enough ingredients to work with, the Lamb can make meals so good that it not only deepens their follower's loyalties, but can even instantly stop a dissenting follower and bring them back into the fold.
• Sweet Sheep: Zigzagged. They're the chosen vessel of a demonic monster working to usher in said monster's emergence into the world. They can regularly return from death and butcher countless opponents in their quest, and is even willing to put their own followers to the sword if they need to silence a dissenter or just feels like murdering something. Despite that, the Lamb has multiple opportunities to be nice to the cultists, earning their loyalty in a much nicer way, and they can also bless them to give a bump to their loyalty. They also wears a smile on their face wherever they go, only switching to other expressions when manifesting their powers or when badly hurt.
  • As with all the other subjective tropes, how much the Lamb averts or enforces this trope is entirely up to how the player chooses to play the game.
• Tears of Blood: A regular occurrence, usually when the Lamb is channeling incredible power or doing something incredibly important. It's unclear if it's actual blood or just looks like it, since it goes away once the Lamb is done and their eyes return to normal. However, if the Lamb accepts to get sacrificed by the One Who Waits near the end of the game, both of their eyes start bleeding as both their arms and legs are broken after the One Who Waits gained his red crown back. Meaning that it's actual blood.
• Tears of Fear: When The Executioner is about to cut their head, the Lamb clenches their eyes shut as they are silently crying. They have this again when you're given the option to accept the self-sacrifice to the One Who Waits.
• Telepathy: Gains the ability to read the minds of their followers, which can be used to keep track of their activities and needs.
• Villain Protagonist: If you play as a Lamb who chooses to frequently slaughter or mistreat their followers. No matter how benevolent you play them as they're still raising a cult where they indoctrinate their followers.
• Willing Channeler: Or as "willing" as you can be when it's either becoming a vessel or getting killed. The Lamb is directly channeling The One Who Waits' power to fight.

The One Who Waits

^{Click here to see him unleashed}

^{Click here to see his phase 2.}

^{Spoiler Alert!}

The ancient deity whose favor the Lamb curried. He was trapped by the Bishops of the Old Faith and needs the Lamb and his cult to be free and powerful again.

---

• Ambiguous Gender: In-game, other characters refer to The One Who Waits with both masculine and gender-neutral pronouns.
• And I Must Scream: Millenia ago, he was banished beneath the earth by the Bishops with no way to free himself or contact his followers until the Lamb was sacrificed.
• The Ageless: Being a deity, he doesn't age. He also has the Immortal trait as a follower, which means he will never die of old age. He can still die in other ways, but age won't kill him.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Both he and the Bishops wish to rule over the Lands of the Old Faith, but they are on completely opposite sides.
• Brought Down to Normal: When the Lamb successfully takes his power for their own, he is not only reduced to a mortal-sized form but the Lamb can decide whether or not to kill him or indoctrinate their newest, three-eyed follower. If turned into a follower, he shows no signs of his original power outside of having the "Immortality" trait and behaves like a generic follower, relying on the Lamb to look after him.
• Back from the Dead: As of the Relics of the Old Faith update, if you chose to execute him after his defeat and then successfully release all Four Bishops of the Old Faith from Purgatory in the post-game rematches, ??? will reward you by resurrecting The One Who Waits for indoctrination, dismissing him as nothing more than a mere "toy" for the Lamb to do with as they please. Interestingly enough, he doesn't have his unique Immortality trait if indoctrinated in this manner, suggesting that personally dying to the Lamb has de-powered him entirely.
  The One Who Waits: What is this? Lamb! You have brought me here to continue my eternal punishment? Revel in my shame? Damned lamb!
• But Thou Must!: When he asks the Lamb to be the leader of his cult, the only options are "Yes" and "Absolutely". Word of God states that this was a deliberately invoked trope to emphasize how little choice the Lamb (and the player) really have in this situation.
• Cats Are Mean: The One Who Waits is a giant three-eyed cat-god with shadowy claws for arms, and his attendants Baal and Aym are cats as well.
• Cool Crown: The Red Crown was originally his, and he gives it to the Lamb when they accept his offer. As later revealed in the game, he made quite a gamble on this, as the Red Crown is the source of most of his power and can allow the Lamb to usurp him if they so desire.
• Cutting Off the Branches: After defeating him, he can either be killed or converted to a follower of the Lamb's cult. Promotional material for the Sins of the Flesh update shows him as a follower, implying that is his canonical fate.
• Deal with the Devil: Makes one with the Lamb. Of course it's not like the poor little Lamb has much of a choice given they can either become his prophet or die. The Lamb isn't even given a choice to say "no". This is even the name of the achievement you get for agreeing to form his cult.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: If spared after the final battle, he rages at the Lamb for being a "coward" before being dragged off for Indoctrination.
  The One Who Waits: You weak, sniveling, foul thing. You- Wait! Waiiiiiiit!!
• The Dreaded: The four Bishops, especially Kallamar, are terrified of him and do everything they can to prevent him from ever returning. Considering the power he demonstrates even without his crown when you fight him in the Final Boss fight, it's more than warranted.
• Eldritch Abomination: He's a skeletal, three-eyed cat monster, but his Eldritch battle form certainly takes the cake. In the third phase of his boss fight, he looms even larger than normal and his face splits open to reveal the inside is lined with black and red eyeballs.
• Evil Versus Evil: There's no sign of him being any less cruel than the Bishops. In fact, seeing how desperate they are to prevent him from coming back he might very well be worse than them.
• Evil Laugh: Before killing the Lamb after regaining his red crown, he lets out a deep laugh while giving an Evil Grin complete with glowing red eyes.
• Evil Overlooker: Official box art for the game has The One Who Waits in the far background, looming over absolutely everyone else.
• Evil Sounds Deep: He has perhaps one of the deepest voices in the game, fitting for an evil deity.
  • Vocal Dissonance: As of the "Relics of the Old Faith" update, he retains the deep, sinister voice even in his much smaller, cuter-looking follower form.
• Extra Eyes: He has three eyes. In the second phase of his battle, they pop out of his sockets and move around the battlefield as targets to attack. To compensate, he grows 18 more eyes beneath his flayed skin.
• Faux Affably Evil: Acts nice and polite while talking to the Lamb, but at the end of the day he sees them as little more than a puppet and is more than willing to sacrifice them at the game's climax.
• Foreshadowing: His constant encouragement of using unscrupulous means to control the cult hints at his eventual betrayal of the Lamb.
• Final Boss: After slaying all four of the Bishops, The One Who Waits demands that the Lamb return his crown and lay down their life to free him. The Lamb can comply for a bad ending, but by refusing Narinder becomes the final boss they have to defeat to witness the true ending and access the Post-End Game Content.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: As a follower, he has the "Immortality" trait, which reflects on his status as a former deity. He also has a unique "evil" expression and has unique dialogue when he gives the player quests.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: If converted into a Follower after being defeated by The Lamb, he'll also receive randomized traits along with his unique "Immortality" trait and behave like a generic follower outside of when he has unique dialogue for giving quests. Among the traits he can receive are "Faithful" and "Naturally Obedient", both of which will trigger the "Happy Recruit" thought after he's indoctrinated, which from a story perspective all make little sense as he was clearly unwilling to join the Lamb's cult and was essentially forced into it. Unless, of course, some brainwashing was done to him on the way over...
• God of the Dead: Talking with Haro reveals that he's the god of death - which also makes him the god of order, as he is the personification of certainty.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: In official artwork for the Sins of the Flesh update, Narinder is happily participating in the cult's Nude Nature Dance with the Lamb.
• The Grim Reaper: As the god of death, his body is partly skeletal and he wears a hooded white and red robe. The statue received for killing him shows he also wielded a scythe before his imprisonment.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He saved the Lamb from death so they could release him from his prison, but that same Lamb can also rebel and usurp him if they reject his final order. He lampshades this upon his defeat.
  The One Who Waits: You have supplanted me. A vessel no more, instead a crown-bearing deity. Damned Lamb!
• Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Three of the Bishops of the Old Faith represent Famine, Pestilence and War. But The One Who Waits represents Death.
• Irony: The One Who Waits governs death. If the Lamb has the Resurrection doctrine, then his powers are ultimately usurped by someone who openly defies it. He's delighted by this, as he was initially imprisoned for struggling against his role.
• Kick the Dog: If you submit to him, he rewards the Lamb as his most loyal follower by killing them slowly and painfully while laughing.
• Meaningful Name: He waits, obviously. And Narinder means "Lord of men", a rather appropriate name for a death god.
• Monkey Morality Pose: He represents the lesser known "Do No Evil", being held captive in chains. His siblings, the Bishops of the Old Faith, represent the more well-known monkeys; Shamura being the sole exception.
• "Not So Different" Remark: If you choose to finish him off, he notes that the Lamb has become like him.
  The One Who Waits: So, you are no different from me after all. You have become as I am.
• One-Winged Angel: Just like with the Bishops, he can take on a more powerful, hideously monstrous form. Unlike them however, he does not require a sacrifice from his followers to transform and can do it on his own, which helps emphasize the power difference between him and the Bishops.
• Pet the Dog: If turned into a follower, he may call the lamb out on paying respects to a deceased follower and will react approvingly if the follower is given a funeral or revived. They will also thank the lamb if they fulfill his request to be sent on a mission.
• Pragmatic Villainy: If you resurrect Baal and Aym as followers and Narinder is in your cult, he'll imply that he essentially raised the two kittens after Shamura gave them to him. He claims to not care about them however and only did so because they were young and inexperienced.
• Red Baron: The One Who Waits is almost exclusively referred to by his title. According to Shamura, prior to his imprisonment, his name was Narinder.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: He has three glowing red eyes and his entire appearance is very satanic coded. The trailers also show that he demands sacrifices in the form of his own followers. Even you, when his freedom draws near.
• Sadist: It's clear that he enjoys watching the deaths of the Bishops and is greatly pleased whenever the Lamb indulges in Video Game Cruelty Potential. The way he kills the Lamb if they lay down their life at the end is also needlessly violent, and he evidently enjoys doing it like this.
• Satanic Archetype: The One Who Waits was one of the Five Bishops before he turned on them and tried to overthrow them, only to fail and be imprisoned in the afterlife. He makes lopsided deals for his benefit by granting the Lamb dark powers to allow the former to start a cult in his name. He's also associated with inverted crosses and pentagrams.
• Servile Snarker: If he's converted instead of killed, he serves the Lamb faithfully - but has a tendency to talk to them in a dismissive tone, still addresses them as "Lamb" and occasionally orders them around.
• Sibling Rivalry: He is the Bishops' brother, and we all know how that ends. Narinder's own comments if he's a follower paint a more detailed picture: He hated Kallamar for being a coward and despised Heket for her poisonous words and general toxic presence, but could appreciate Leshy's gardening skill and is seemingly fond enough of Shamura even now that bringing him spider silk makes him very quiet.
• Villain Respect:
  • He approves of ruthless actions; the more followers you sacrifice the more he approves, and he actually praises you for sacrificing Ratau.
  • If he gives you the quest to resurrect a follower once he's become one himself, and you go through with it, he's oddly happy (and amused) to know you're wielding your newly-acquired godly power that way, and says he can't even be mad to be supplanted if you're going to be this way.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: He wears a white and red robe with a hood.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once the Gateway is unlocked by the last Bishop's death, he immediately turns on the Lamb, declaring he has no further need of them and that they've become too powerful to risk being left alive.

Spoiler Character

The Red Crown

The crown of The One Who Waits, bestowed upon the Lamb so that they may wield it to carry out his will in the mortal realm. Originally just a means to give the Lamb their divine powers, the Sins of the Flesh update reveals that the Red Crown has a mind of its own, finally talking to the Lamb after three Bishops are slain.

---

• Affably Evil: A powerful Artifact of Doom that does not particularly care how much misery its bearer inflicts, but the Crown is downright chummy with the Lamb in comparison to Narinder.
• The Corrupter: They encourage the lamb to lead their followers to commit sins so they can be gathered for more power.
  The Red Crown: Lead them into depravity, into the stinky mud of vile repudiation.
• Crown of Power: Its default form is that of a black crown with a singular red eye, sitting on the head of its wielder when it is not in use. It's not the only one of its kind either, as the Bishops and a few other characters wear magical crowns of their own.
• The Dreaded: As much as the Bishops fear Narinder and what he'll do to them if he ever gets free, they also fear the power of the crown itself falling to a worthy bearer.
• Empathic Weapon: Its intelligence isn't entirely clear for much of the game, being only implied due to the fact that it has an eye that can look around. Only after the third Bishop is slain does it reveal that it is completely sapient.
• Evolving Weapon: The Red Crown's power reflects that of the one who wears it. As the Lamb expands the cult and gets more and more devotion from their followers, the Red Crown uses that faith to become stronger and empower the Lamb in turn. One can only imagine how dangerous Narinder was when it sat upon his head. It also specifically levels up as a broom when used for cleaning waste.
• Magic Tool: In addition to becoming the weapon of its bearer, the Red Crown can also morph into tools for completely mundane tasks, such as a fishing pole and a broom.
• Morph Weapon: Can transform itself into a variety of different weapons, from simple blades to massive claws and even guns. It can also be imbued with different effects like poisoning enemies or healing the user when killing enemies.
• Non-Indicative Name: It may have a red eye, but the Crown is mostly black.
• Orifice Invasion: In order to absolve followers of their sin, the Red Crown turns into its snake form and forces itself down their throats to "collect" it.
• Serpent of Immortality: An eldritch artifact that grants immortality to its bearer and takes a serpentine form when it communicates with the Lamb.
• Snakes Are Sinister: When it takes the appearance of a snake when finally speaks to the Lamb. The temple is also surrounded by shadowy serpents that terrify everyone inside before it does so.
• Visual Innuendo: It's a one eyed snake that was released in the Sins of the Flesh update, encouraging the Lamb to cultivate such sin.
• Walking Spoiler: The fact that It Can Think is hidden from you for much of the game and wasn't even in the game until Sins of the Flesh.

Ratau

A former vessel of The One Who Waits. He acts as the Lamb's mentor.

---

• Affably Evil: While he sees Followers as just tools for worshipping The One Who Waits and controlling, the game does hint that Ratau isn't all that bad for a former cult leader.
  • He's genuinely kind and helpful to the Lamb, acting as a mentor to them before formally passing over his role.
  • His friends, who the player can play Knucklebones with after finding them in various dungeons, all appear to respect him, with Shrumy claiming that Ratau isn't like the Lamb, who they view as a monster.
  • If sacrificed to The Fox, The One Who Waits/Narinder will praise the Lamb for their ruthlessness and explain that Ratau attempted to leave the life of a cult leader behind after being forced to sacrifice one of his cultists, which is why his former cult site is in ruins by the time the Lamb shows up.
• Dub Name Change: The Japanese translation has him referred to as "Nezumu" (ネズム), based on the Japanese term for "rat", which is "nezumi" (ネズミ).
• Evil Sounds Deep: A former cult leader and vessel for The One Who Waits that has one of the deepest voices for an NPC.
• Graceful Loser: Congratulates the Lamb on playing well if he loses to them in Knucklebones.
• Hero of Another Story: Or Villain of Another Story, depending on how you see it. He was The One Who Waits' vessel before the Lamb and the destroyed temple site you erect your new cult on used to be the location of the cult he led.
• Killed Off for Real: If the player makes the Lamb sacrifice him to the fox during the "Peer into the Darkness" side quest, he'll no longer be available to play Knucklebones with. The One Who Waits will praise the Lamb's ruthlessness if they complete this side quest before facing him at the end of the game.
• Mentor Archetype: As a former vessel and lead cultist of The One Who Waits, he is far more knowledgeable of the in and outs of building and sustaining a cult and acts as the tutorial for the beginning stages of the game.
• Mysterious Past: While his backstory as The One Who Waits' previous servant is hinted at, the game never fully explains the details. It's implied that his lack of a desire to expand the outreach of his cult by any means necessary is why The One Who Waits sought to replace him, as several characters comment on the fact that he's not like the Lamb, who they perceive as ruthless.
• Passing the Torch: Passes over his role of being The One Who Waits' vessel to the Lamb before retiring.
• Retired Monster: As he stands, he was once a mighty cult leader who controlled a grand group but now is helping the Lamb in growing their group. Ratau retires entirely after the Lamb gets the cult off the ground and walking, living in a lonely shack some distance away and plays Knucklebones with the Lamb and his friends to pass the time, but he is at peace with this lifestyle. The One Who Waits says that he lacks the Lamb's ruthlessness, which implies that he was less of a monster than the Lamb can potentially be.
• Signature Headgear: He wears a paper hat in the shape of the Red Crown, most likely as a run-down and slightly pathetic memento of what he once was.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Downplayed Trope, as he looks like a younger, smaller version of his brother Ratoo but they can be easily distinguished from each other.
• Trash of the Titans: His shack becomes gradually messier as more of his friends arrive and their party rages on.

Followers

The various Funny Animals the Lamb recruits for their cult.

---

• Ambiguous Gender: The genders of the followers are never specified when they are recruited, and aside from the varying species, which can be dictated by the player, they all pretty much look the same and refer to each other with gender-neutral pronouns when speaking about another follower. That said, a number of the followers have masculine-sounding voices and when sending the player on a quest to find their sibling, they refer to them as their "brother" or "sister".
• Apologetic Attacker: When Bishop Shamura brainwashes them into attacking you, they're able to let out an apology before attacking you.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: The Ascend Follower Ritual does this to them, and they are pulled into a holy light to elsewhere.
• Ascended Extra: An interactive online example. If you connect the game to your Twitch account, Twitch followers on stream can raffle to be actual followers of the player's cult, complete with the winner having to customize their own cult member, effectively becoming this.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: They can get distracted from performing tasks very easily, particularly if the player has a lot of decorations placed around the base.
• Back from the Dead: If the player has the Resurrection Ritual unlocked, they can bring any deceased follower back from the dead. Their ages are also reset, so they won't come back as elders.
• Black Eyes of Crazy: When being turned into demons, their eyes turn black with pinprick pupils of white.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: When going after Bishop Shamura, they'll summon some of your followers and brainwash them into attacking you. There's no way to cure them, so you have no choice but to put them down.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Any Follower who is chosen to become a "Tax Collector" through a Ritual will flash a wide, toothy grin as they're collecting money from their protesting fellow cultists.
• Come to Gawk: If the Stock Punishment the dissenters are placed in is on a walkable path, the followers will walk over to laugh at them.
• Company Cameo:
  • The mascot of Massive Monster is unlockable as a follower form by upsetting and subsequently defeating Rakshasa.
  • Volvy, the mascot of Devolver Digital, is an unusual Ret-Canon case. While the character was created for the company's Mockumentary for their Summer 2023 presentation, with a bunch of fictionalized cameos by the allegedly classic character throughout Devolver's library listed, his Cult of the Lamb appearance as stated in that montage was added in "Relics of the Old Faith", exactly as was shown — the only one to have been made real in this way. He's unlocked by giving God Tears to ???.
• Deader than Dead: Any followers who are sacrificed to the Red Fox or Midas, or are used to open the doors leading to each area in the New Game Plus, are gone, and cannot be brought back through the Ritual of Resurrection. Possibly because, for the Fox and the doors, they've been eaten in ways that wouldn't leave behild any remnants, while for Midas, they're technically still alive beneath that molten gold.
• Deadly Prank: Followers can ask the Lamb to trick another follower into eating shit as a prank, which can be deadly if the player doesn't allow the said follower to get bed rest. Considering the prankster will likely later ask the Lamb to outright murder the target follower "as a prank", it's likely that they intended for said follower to die.
• Defeat Means Friendship: The Cultist bosses are turned into followers after being defeated. This also applies to the One Who Waits if the Lamb spares him, though given his resistance to being indoctrinated and the fact that he behaves like a generic follower after being recruited, it's likely some form of brainwashing was involved.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: One of the various quests they can give is asking the Lamb, an eldritch demi-god capable of powerful and terrifying spells, to marry them, or volunteering another follower to be married to them. The player can also have the Lamb marry one or all of them of their own volition.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Unless given the trait for it via the "Death is Not The End" Doctrine, they'll be understandably horrified by the Lamb sacrificing one of their own and lose Faith. They are also against murder, making it difficult for the player to perform this action unless they're out of the area or asleep.
  • The game will track followers who are siblings you recruit from follower quests or parents of a hatched follower from the Mating Tent and will prevent you from pairing them off to mate. Despite the Crapsack World setting and the followers' usual idiosyncrasies and flexible/lacking morals, incest is still off the table even if it's at The Lamb's suggestion.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: Some followers can come with the "Natural Skeptic" trait, a trait that makes the cult lose 10 Faith, despite the fact that the existence of demonic Gods and magic is clear within the setting.
• Forced Transformation: The player can transform them into demons for assistance in their crusade. Different followers perform a specific action of varying levels of strength depending on their devotion level.
• Guest Fighter: Webber, who's unlocked the same way as in his original game—by finding his skull after killing a spider and burying it. He comes with two additional skins based on his Guest of Honor skinset and the Spider Warriors, as well as a unique trait called Don't Starve that keeps him from dying from starvation.
• Go Out with a Smile: Followers can smile while being sacrificed or ascended.
• Human Sacrifice: Or Funny Animal sacrifice, as the player can semi-regularly sacrifice members of their cult to The One Who Waits. The players can introduce a doctrine that makes the followers okay with this, and they seem excited to be sacrificed, with some followers even asking to be sacrificed in the name of the cult.
  • It appears that these creatures exist with the main purpose of being sacrificed, as an absurd amount of skeletons of deceased followers can be found throughout the world either hidden or in plain sight. In contrast to their role in the world, other NPCs appear to get by just fine without being antagonized by or forced into the service of the four bishops.
• Interspecies Romance: They're a variety of different species of animals (And some non-animals like poop, a star and unique monsters called "Witnesses") that can marry the Lamb. The followers can also become romantically interested in each other and ask the Lamb to help them woo another follower. As of Sins of the Flesh they can also mate with each other to produce offspring with... almost no complications (trying to pair off one of the Bishops with a mortal follower has a chance to give birth to/unlock a unique follower skin called an "abomination").
• In the Hood: Followers wear these during rituals and can at times be shown running around with hooded robes on.
• I Owe You My Life: An animal who is saved from being sacrificed to the Old Faith immediately joins the Lamb's cult, even being willing to have its name, species and appearance changed all out of gratitude.
• Jerkass: A lot of the time, the Followers don't seem like very good people themselves:
  • One of the quests a follower can give is falsely accusing a loyal follower of being a dissenter and demanding the Lamb punish them. Even after they're reassured that the follower is innocent, they will continue insisting that the follower is a mole and eventually ask the Lamb to sacrifice the follower. It's unknown if they do this solely to get rid of the follower out of dislike, or because they're just paranoid.
  • They can also volunteer another follower to be sent on potentially deadly missions or to be sacrificed.
  • Asking the Lamb to pull pranks on another follower isn't uncommon and will usually end with the follower straight up asking the Lamb to kill the prankee "as a joke" if the player decides to have the Lamb fulfill their initial requests. They even laugh at the prankee's horrified dying expression.
  • They also have annoyed reactions if the player chooses to spare the losing participant in the "Fight Pit" Ritual, even if the said loser is their friend.
  • While putting an innocent follower into a Stock Punishment can cause the cult to lose Faith unless the player chose the right Doctrine, the followers will still come over to laugh at them just as they would a dissenter.
  • Sins of the Flesh added the aptly named "Jerk" trait to the pool of possible follower perks. Jerks will be incredibly dismissive of the Lamb, their loyalty level will be nearly impossible to raise, they will ruthlessly mock the Lamb if they die on a crusade, and potentially even mug them for coins. They seem to exist purely to give you an Asshole Victim you can feel completely content with subjecting to the more reprehensible and lethal rituals and requests.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While not without their jerkish side, there are signs that there is some kindness buried in them:
  • Assuming you treat them well, they'll be more than happy to work and pray for you until they grow old.
  • Some of their quests can be rather altruistic, such as asking to take in sickly or elderly followers, asking to sacrifice themselves in your name as a final act of gratitude, or asking the Lamb to resurrect a deceased follower because everyone misses them.
  • When a follower dies, they seem genuinely mournful, and appreciate it if they are buried in a proper grave.
  • A fake-out "quest" a follower can trigger is approaching the Lamb to tell them that they love them.
• Laser-Guided Karma: A variant that can be executed by the player. At times a follower will grow increasingly agitated with another follower, accusing them of being a spy and asking the player to deal with them over several quests, such as telling the Lamb to put them in a Stock Punishment even after being informed that the follower is loyal to the cult. Eventually, this will culminate in the accuser asking the Lamb to sacrifice the innocent follower, and denying this request will cause the cult to lose -35 Faith. The player can sacrifice the accuser in response to regain Faith.
• The Load: Followers that have aged into elders become this, as they are incapable of doing any work including prayer, instead wandering around the cult site with canes until they die, or are sacrificed or ascended by the Lamb. They can participate in rituals and sermons, however, making them not completely useless. There are also two Doctrines that give the player specific benefits that pertain to elderly followers.
• Long-Lived: If given the Skull Necklace, followers will live far longer than their usual lifespan which is around 40-50 days without the necklace and a little over 80 with it. They still eventually age into elders and die like the other followers, with the only truly immortal follower being The One Who Waits if he's spared in the final battle.
  • The Ageless: The Old Relics of the Old Faith added in a Gold Skull Necklace which can be randomly acquired after giving ??? a God Tear. Rather than merely extending their lifespan, this necklace can be given to a follower to outright make them immortal just like The One Who Waits. Sure they can still die via other means like starvation, sickness, or being murdered but they will never grow old and die from age.
• Mayfly–December Romance: The followers have very short lifespans compared to the immortal Lamb and know this. They can still ask for the Lamb's hand in marriage.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
  • The mini-bosses used to be followers of the Old Faith, but judging by their shell-shocked behavior after you beat them out of their monstrous mini-boss form and the fact they all but beg the Lamb to take them in, the bishops forcibly morphing them into monsters was the last straw.
  • Being cruel to your followers will eventually cause them to begin dissenting and eventually leave your cult, stealing some of your resources on the way out.
• The Needless: Not usually, but dissenters that are put into prison don't appear to need to eat, sleep or shit like the other followers do until they are released.
• Odd Name Out: While most of the followers recruited will have names that sound vaguely cultish such as "Meraron" or "Tremetre", with some followers even outright being named after demons, it's possible to recruit a follower with a comparatively ordinary-sounding name like "Sparkles".
• Prophet Eyes: Their eyes turn all white when their loyalty levels are maxed out.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Dissenters have bulging red eyes, making them stand out from the other followers the player can indoctrinate.
• Relationship Upgrade: Followers can become friends with each other and eventually enter romantic relationships. The player can assist them in this by accepting quests to help them woo another follower.
• Resurrective Immortality: As there isn't a limit on how many times a follower can be brought back from death using the Resurrection ritual as long as the player has enough bones, some followers can effectively become immortal using this method. The only downsides are the long cooldown, the expensive bone requirement (though this becomes less significant the more the player goes on Crusades, as bones are abundant), and the fact that only one follower can be resurrected at a time, meaning that the player will often have to wait a few in-game days before resurrecting another follower.
• The Sleepless: The player can give followers the Moon Necklace, which makes it so the follower wearing it will never sleep on their own, though they can still be ordered to sleep anyway. They can also still become exhausted by sending them on missions or using them to summon demons, which requires they sleep to recover.
• Sole Survivor: Some of the potential recruits you come across while exploring the lands of the Old Faith are the last survivors of their old communities. In some cases, it's implied they played a role in its destruction.
• Speaking Simlish: Followers will often have conversations with each other that don't have matching lines of dialogue for the player to understand.
• Talking Poo: One of the forms a follower can take, though it has to be specifically unlocked and can't be encountered randomly.
• Too Dumb to Live: Followers can eat through a bowl of shit, not realizing what it is until they've finished. This gives them an illness that can kill them if they aren't allowed bed rest.
• Uncertain Doom:
  • Well, somewhat certain, as any follower you neglect to recruit on your runs is likely either sacrificed or eaten by Helob, the spider merchant, though it doesn't happen onscreen.
  • It's unknown what happens to them if the player chooses to have the Lamb sacrifice himself to The One Who Waits in the game ending, as they are last seen in cages.
• Undying Loyalty: Once they're indoctrinated, they'll happily do anything to sustain the cult and keep The One Who Waits happy, up to and including letting themselves be killed as sacrifices to him. That said, their loyalty is conditional, requiring their faith to be kept high, or else they'll leave the cult the next day and take valuable resources with them. Followers can also be drawn away by the preaching of dissenters, though some followers will come with traits that allow them to ignore this.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The Lamb saves all of them from certain death, which typically requires cutting down powerful heretics in order to free them. Despite this, they can lose Faith in ways that come off as this:
  • If the Lamb dies in battle, they perceive it as weakness, regardless of how far the player has progressed in their quest to kill all four Bishops and deal with The One Who Waits, even though said progress is a clear indication of just how strong the Lamb it.
  • The player will lose -10 Faith for bringing someone back from the dead... even if one of the Followers specifically requested that the Lamb do just that, claiming that everybody else in the Flock missed the deceased as well.
  • They can also lose Faith if the Lamb refuses to indulge some of their pettier behavior, such as demanding that the Lamb feed another follower poop as a prank or even sacrifice them simply because the supplicant dislikes them.
• Virtual Paper Doll: While inducting them into your cult you can customize their appearances, from face paint to species to the color palette.
• Vocal Dissonance: For cute, Funny Animals, their speaking voices can be pretty deep.
• Voice of the Legion: Followers encountered on crusades that are angry will speak in this manner, though it never comes up again after they've been recruited.

Baal & Aym

Baal

Aym

Dutiful attendants of The One Who Waits, who are still by his side even after his imprisonment.

---

• Bodyguarding a Badass: Two simple (if powerful) mortals who protect a god.
• But Now I Must Go: If you reunite them with Forneus, the next time you visit her, Baal and Aym will be gone once again. Forneus will explain that they left of their own accord this time and that Baal wanted to travel the world while Aym wanted to become a warrior.
• Co-Dragons: While the Lamb serves as The One Who Waits' enforcer in the outside world, Baal and Aym are his strongest and most loyal servants.
• Enemy Summoner: Baal can summon three cultists to assist him in battle.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: They are the dutiful servants of a sadistic God of the Dead, but if you resurrect and reunite them with Forneus in the post-game introduced in Relics of the Old Faith, both immediately hug their long-lost mother and shed Tears of Joy.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Aym has a very scratchy sounding voice befitting his more sinister appearance.
• Eye Scream: Aym has a scar over his right eye, which has a noticeably different color compared to his left one, suggesting the eye itself was also damaged.
• Fireballs: Aym lacks Baal's close-range attacks but instead has unique fireball attacks to attack the lamb from a distance.
• Killed Off for Real: Defeating them is required to challenge The One Who Waits and they aren't resurrected after the deed is done. Subverted as of the Relics of the Old Faith update, where they can be resurrected as followers and potentially reunited with Forneus at the cost of losing them as followers permanently.
• Mirror Boss: In contrast to every other boss fight being some enormous eldritch beast, Baal and Aym are simply powerful warriors skilled in both close combat and magic so they fight the Lamb on significantly more even ground.
• Missing Child: They are the children of Forneus, taken away from her by Shamura as a "gift" to The One Who Waits.
• Pre-Final Boss: The Lamb has to first fight Baal and then Aym before they can face The One Who Waits himself.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: They share their master's red eyes and are both very capable warriors.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: While their battle tactics as boss fights were already opposing, their behavior post-resurrection shows them developing pretty differing personalities due to their new situation. Baal is rather fascinated by the colorful, unfamiliar world outside of The One Who Wait's prison while Aym is much more violent and negative, still threatening to strike the Lamb down and then calling the outside world foul. After reuniting with their mother, Baal is polite and gracious towards the lamb for freeing them while Aym is more bitter, berating the lamb for being a weak, frivolous ruler compared to how precise and dominant their former master was in using Death. When they choose to leave home to go on their own journeys, Baal left to explore the land while Aym left to become a warrior.
• Solar and Lunar: Baal wields a spiked staff resembling the Sun and wears a white robe, while Aym uses a Sinister Scythe with a Moon-shaped blade and dresses in black.
• Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: Downplayed. In their respective fights, Baal prefers using melee attacks while Aym employs Bullet Hell tactics, but both use the same long-ranged Chain Pain moves.
• Sweet Tooth: Implied with Aym. If he is returned to his mother, he will continuously eat a cookie from a gift box.
• Sword and Sorcerer: Downplayed. Both use magic to some degree, and are roughly similar in terms of combat role, but Baal prefers using melee attacks, runs to move around, and the only magic he doesn't share with Aym is an enemy summoning spell, while Aym never attacks in melee, has unique fireball spells, teleports to move around, and has slightly less health.
• Tears of Joy: Both Baal and Aym shed these if they’re reunited with their mother Forneus.
• Tsundere: Aym. If you encounter them again after reuniting them with Forneus, Aym will claim to be unimpressed with the Lamb returning them to their mother, citing Narinder as the superior god of death. Despite this, he clearly shed more tears of joy when hugging Forneus compared to his brother, and if Baal is to be believed, Aym is indeed grateful to the Lamb.
• Undying Loyalty: Fully willing to lay down their lives in the defense of their master's honor, which they demonstrate in the Final Boss fight.
• Villain Baal: One half of them. Unlike most examples, he isn't a God of Evil, but a retainer of one.
• Villain Teleportation: Aym doesn't run around the arena like Baal, instead teleporting around before attacking.

The Lighthouse Followers

A group of Axolotl that keep the lighthouse lit.

---

• Black Cloak: They wear this collectively.
• Correlation Implies Causation: After the Lamb relights the lighthouse, they rejoice that their prayers were answered, even though anyone could have lit the fire with or without prayer.
• Failed a Spot Check: Their lighthouse has no fuel and its light has gone out. Instead of getting some wood to start it back up again, they instead prayed in the hopes that the prayers alone would fix the issue. Made even worse by the fact that trees spawn in Pilgrim's Passage that they could easily chop down for wood, and the Passage is surrounded by forest.
• In the Hood: Their hoods are drawn, obscuring their faces at all times.
• Killed Offscreen: Their leader was killed by the Fox when she took a walk by the pier.
• Undying Loyalty: They pledge themselves to the Lamb after they light the lighthouse again.

---