Characters who appear throughout the Dark Pictures Anthology:
The Curator
"I am The Curator. The Curator of Stories. Stories of love and hate... greed and beauty... life... and death. Stories such as this one."
Played By: Pip Torrens
Body Motion Model: Tony Pankhurst
"I'll be here to greet your charges as they cross the finishing line, or to bury what remains of them under it."
A middle-aged man in a bespoke three-piece suit who acts as the chronicler of the player's actions and consequences throughout the game.- Ambiguously Evil: It's clear that he relishes in seeing people die, which was also confirmed in The Devil in Me trailer by Tom Heaton, the game director.note
- He laughs in Man of Medan if everyone dies.
Curator: You weren't trying to do that, were you?- He actually revives Du'Met by tearing up the page in his ledger in The Devil in Me, if Du'Met is dead. It's confirmed by the cut content of the game, where the Curator was able to resurrect dead characters for Obols by tearing up a page.
- Exposition Fairy: Pay attention to some of the things he says in your first meeting, as he explains (among other things) the Hint System of painting premonitions.
- Expy: He plays the same role as Dr. Hill from Until Dawn, only contrary to him he interacts directly with the player instead of doing double entendres to a character in-story as well as the player.
- God's Hands Are Tied: Whatever he is, he's powerful and knowledgeable, but something doesn't let him help the player outside of vague hints.Curator: I'm here simply to record what you do, NOT to help you. I'm not supposed to interfere, you see. Not... my... place... apparently.
- Greek Chorus: His role throughout The Dark Pictures Anthology.
- The Grim Reaper: The creators describe him as "timeless" and at the conclusion of each game he claims his reunion with the audience is "inevitable" which is the same word he used to describe Death at the game's beginning and how it comes to everyone sooner or later. This is strengthened in Little Hope, where he claims he's met everyone "once" and one day, will meet you too. Strengthened further in the next games of the anthology, where he shows his ability to turn into a Crow, a common symbol of Death. In House of Ashes a lightning flashes across his face, making half his head very clearly appear like a skull.
- He Was Right There All Along: The strongest implication that he's Death is that in every game within the Anthology, whenever a playable character can die, the Curator can be seen briefly in the background observing your choices although no one acknowledges his presence.
- Horror Host: Of The Dark Pictures Anthology. Even CEO of Supermassive Games, Pete Samuels, stated that the Curator is based on Rod Serling, Orson Welles and Cryptkeeper.
- How Is That Even Possible?: His reaction at the end of The Devil In Me if every character dies, including the dog.Curator: You somehow even managed to get the dog killed. I didn't even think that was possible.
- Humans Are Morons: Expresses this in Little Hope, citing Shakespeare's A Midsummer-Night's Dream, if John decided to take the drink. The Curator implies it isn't good to get drunk, while hallucinating from head trauma and survivor's guilt.Curator: Lord, what fools these mortals be.
- Icy Blue Eyes: The Curator has icy piercing eyes, because it's matches to his calm personality and immortal nature. It's a perfect fit to look right into mortals' or your soul.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The Curator always says he will meet the player again when the game ends, both in the interpretation that they'll see each other in the next game, and that the player will meet Curator some day, literally.
- Lemony Narrator: The Curator enjoys making witty and caustic comments about your decisions from time to time.
- No Name Given: Only known as the Curator.
- Mysterious Stranger: Nothing much is known about him, not even his real name or age, aside from the fact that he manages a repository of storybooks. In The Devil In Me, the Curator says he can barely remember a time when he wasn't in his repository.
- Player Nudge: He will offer some optional ones over the course of the game if the player asks.
- Time Abyss: Bandai Namco themselves stated that the Curator is "timeless", and that he's been doing his own thing for thousands of years without knowing for how long he's been doing it or when he started."The Curator is timeless, recording stories of life and death in his own small section of a vast repository containing every story ever told. He’s been doing it for thousands of years, he supposes, but he can’t remember when he started, or whether there was ever a beginning to what he does. But now, for reasons that he can’t quite understand, he’s been given the opportunity to talk to somebody. The Player."
- Waistcoat of Style: Wears a two-toned waistcoat.
- What the Hell, Player?: Sometimes he isn't happy with decisions and obvious mistakes you make.
- Wicked Cultured: He quite enjoys seeing any deaths that occur over the course of the game and is incredibly cultured, knowing much of literature and listening to classical music.
- Season 1:
