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Main Characters
Player Character
Player Character/ Daniel Svensson
The protagonist of the game, who ventures out on a Year Walk to try and see the future.- Determinator: If what he encounters on his Year Walk is standard fare for other Walkers, then he should be commended for being able to see it through to the end without being killed or succumbing to the horrors he encounters.
- Driven to Suicide: The secret ending leaves it really ambiguous as to whether or not he uses the knife sent back in time to him to kill himself or Stina, but Theodor Almsten's intent was that he kill himself so that the Watchers get their sacrifice while Stina gets to live a happy life. So, less "I've hit the Despair Event Horizon and I'll off myself", and more "Will I do what this note in a box tells me to do?"
- Featureless Protagonist: We never get to see what he looks like.
- Silent Protagonist: Never makes a sound over the course of the game.
- The Hero Dies: The secret ending reveals that he was executed a year later for killing Stina. Whether or not Theodor convinced him to kill himself and Set Right What Once Went Wrong so that Stina could live in the secret ending is completely up in the air.
Young Girl
Stina Nilsson
- Ambiguous Ending: Whether or not she survived in the secret ending is completely up in the air, although Theodor did intend for her to live by sending the knife back in time to Daniel so he could kill himself with it and satiate the Watchers.
- Back for the Dead: She only appears in the flesh once after her initial appearance, and it's as a bleeding corpse.
- Defiant to the End: If you believe that the words uttered as you are unraveling the vision that shows her death were made by her right before or as she was being stabbed to death, then she fits this to a tee.Stina: I don't love you anymore!
- Jump Scare: Turning the gears in her windmill during the Year Walk will cause her face with hollow Prophet Eyes to flash onscreen, and it is required you do this to get one of the four Mylings for the Brook Horse.
- Properly Paranoid: She vehemently warns the player away from going on a Year Walk, citing what happened to her cousin as reason to be wary. Considering that both she and Daniel died and Theodor, a man seperated from them by over 200 years, potentially made the same mistake as he did as a result of his Walk, she makes a damn good point.
Other Characters
Lukas Tapper
Lukas Tapper
The young girl's betrothed, who she will be giving an answer to come the new year.- The Ghost: Only mentioned once in the journal as the person Stina was betrothed to, and, inadvertently, the one who drove Daniel to murder her.
Lisa Rasmussen
Lisa Rasmussen
A woman mentioned in passing.- Driven to Suicide: Between being executed and killing herself, she chose the latter.
- The Ghost: Like Lukas, we only know she exists because of Theodor's research.
- Karmic Death: She was set to be executed for her heinous baby-murdering ways, and by the same executioner who did in Daniel for killing Stina, who had interacted with the products of her handiwork, but committed suicide in her cell before the time of her execution came.
- Kick the Dog: Her biggest sin was taking the four Myling babies from their mothers (along with what little money they had) on the promise of giving them a good home. She pocketed the cash and promptly drowned the babies.
- Would Hurt a Child: She's the "angel maker" who took the four babies, that would later become the Mylings, from their mothers and drowned them.
The Young Girl's Cousin
Martin Nilsson
The young girl's cousin, mentioned in passing.- The Ghost: Never appears and only receives brief mention in the game.
- Mad Oracle: The young girl warns the Protagonist about what happened to her cousin after he had Year Walked, and the encyclopedia mentions him as a mental patient whose testimony about his Year Walk experience sounded like the ramblings of a madman.
Theodor Almsten
Theodor Almsten
A present-day university professor researching Year Walks. His research into the subject is detailed in the diary found along with the companion app which is only accessible after beating the game once. It turns out that the Year Walk is a very real thing, and his research into it draws the attention of the forces of the universe designed to protect the Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. The final few entries of his diary set up the secret ending of the game, and implies that he went on his own Year Walk.- Apocalyptic Log: His diary in the companion app comes off like one, although it really only picks up steam after he takes the box back to his place and starts having horrible dreams. The note he left in the box for Daniel along with the knife could also qualify.
- Ambiguous Ending: All that's implied is that he went on his own Year Walk after sending the knife back to Daniel, not what happened after that.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Theodor's diary is presented as if he were a real person doing this research and he's accordingly credited in the in-game Encyclopedia as the one who did the folkloric reseach for the game. It was also his research into Year Walking that led to the secret ending of the game.
- Featureless Protagonist: Like with Daniel, we never know what he looks like.
- Painting the Medium: His diary in the companion app is necessary for getting the secret ending, as the correct order of symbols for opening the box are presented in pictures he put in certain entries.
- Sanity Slippage: Researching the cosmic horrors of the universe and those meant to protect it tend to do this to a person, although it really started in earnest after he took the box back from his trip to the game's location. It's pretty heavily implied that he took his Year Walk to try and halt this process, although whether or not he succeeded is pure speculation.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: His intent in sending the knife back to Daniel after unraveling the code of the box is that Daniel kill himself with it, thereby satiating the Watchers while letting Stina live a normal life.
- Stable Time Loop: Created one through his use of the box; by finding the box in the forest, he was able to figure out its code and leave a knife in it for Daniel in the past, thereby ensuring that it would be there over 200 years later for him to find. Whether or not he created one by sending the knife back to Daniel so he had a weapon with which he could kill Stina, thereby giving Theodor the impetus to send the knife back in time with the intent that Daniel kill himself with it is pure speculation.
The Watchers
In General
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: All of them seem to simultaneously want to help and prevent people from completing the Year Walk and seeing the future, which may be the result of Year Walking being akin to A Glitch in the Matrix that they are trying to compensate for, which may explain why they simultaneously help (the Brook Horse giving you the key) and hinder followed by the Night Raven stealing it away your progress. The Huldra is explicitly stated to not operate on rules humans can understand in the companion app.
- The Fair Folk: They're primarily this with a touch of being outright cosmic horrors.
- Mythical Motifs: They all seem to be associated with death in some fashion. To elaborate;
- The Huldra violently attacks you in her tree, and according to legend drinks blood from people, sometimes to the point of exsanguination.
- The Mylings are all souls of babies that were drowned when their mothers couldn't afford to feed them.
- The Brook Horse would lead children to their deaths by allowing them to ride on its back before jumping into its chosen body of water with them still riding it (essentially, it's a kelpie). It sometimes also carries the restless souls of the dead into the afterlife.
- The Night Raven is heavily associated with death, disease, and hunger, and even spawns from the body of a normal crow that it inhabited.
- The Church Grim, according to legend, is created when either a goat is buried alive under a church or the heart of a criminal is put into a goat's body and put under the church. This iteration also counts as a subversion because the heart of the universe beats under its robe.
The Huldra
The Huldra
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Most of her sequence is relatively calm, with her singing softly and looking peaceful while leading Daniel through the woods. Once he reaches her tree and solves the puzzle, coming face to face with her again, she suddenly launches herself at him and seems to have fed on his blood. The key she gives you for solving her puzzle also turns out to be fake.
- Humanoid Abomination: She looks like a woman bonded at points with a tree, and her Nightmare Face in her tree shows that she is definitely not to be fucked with.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The legend states that if blood is willingly offered to her, she may lend a person her assisstance... provided she doesn't drain the one offering it to the point of exsanguination.
- Jump Scare: Easily the most memorable one in the game, considering it is a massive Bait-and-Switch after her generally peaceful demeanor.
- Nightmare Face: As part of her Jump Scare, and boy is it a doozy.
- Our Sirens Are Different: She is mentioned to lure her victims deep into the forest with her song, and the easiest way to find her is by ear.
- Troll: She initially appears to give you the key to the church gate(which was no small feat to get considering her obtuse puzzle and following Jump Scare), but it melts as soon as you touch it.]] It's a clue for where you can find the real key, but still...
The Brook Horse
The Brook Horse
- Body Horror: Aside from the aforementioned horse's head, when you return all the Mylings to it, it coughs up the key to the church gate as it descends back into the water.
- Fetch Quest: Sends you on one to find the Mylings.
- Hellish Horse: According to the companion app, its most common form is that of a pale horse that tries to tempt children into riding it, and for every child that gets up on it, its spine grows so there's always room for another victim.
- Humanoid Abomination: A pale human in a dapper suit with a horse's head that resides in a stream and tasks you with collecting souls for it? Oh yeah, it qualifies.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Well, Man-Horse anyway, but its suit is pretty good-looking for a beast that lives in a stream.
- Would Hurt a Child: The companion app states that it would often offer children a ride on its back, and then dive into its chosen body of water to drown them. Its spine is said to grow for each child that rides upon it so there's always room for more, and its legend was most likely conjured up to warn children against playing too near to fast-running rivers.
The Mylings
The Mylings
- Death of a Child: Their very existence being the souls of dead babies...
- Fetch Quest: They are the goal of one that the Brook Horse sends you on.
- Guide Dang It!: The game gives you no tips on how to pick them up, making it a bit of a chore to move them since they warp back to where they were if you can't get them to the Brook Horse. You move them by picking them up and holding them with one finger and moving the screen with another.
- Painting the Medium:
- Two of them have to be found by using unconventional gameplay. One requires you to flip your phone/tablet upside down to reveal it, and another seemingly hides offscreen where you cannot reach it but requires you to forcefully drag the screen over with two alternating fingers to finally get it to come out.
- In the PC version, the two are found in different but still unconventional ways. The first one hides in the encyclopedia, which is only available for the convenience of the player and not implied to be a part of the main character's actual inventory, and the second is found in the kiln. However, one cannot open the kiln due to two blocks with the letters "U" and "N" securing its locks. What to do? Hint: The key to opening the kiln is, indeed, keys... That's to say, you have to press the "U" and "N" keys on your keyboard in order to open it.
- Undead Child: All of the Mylings are the ghosts of murdered babies.
- Would Hurt a Child: While all Mylings are the result of this, these four are specifically caused by a single case of this. They were each taken by a single woman, Lisa Rasmussen, from their mothers, who paid this "angel maker" to find them the safe and happy home that the mothers could not provide themselves. As a massive Kick the Dog moment, she took them all along with their mothers' money and drowned them in a nearby river.
The Night Raven
The Night Raven
- Bigger on the Inside: The tiny crow isn't the Night Raven; it's the gigantic corvid being that comes out of its mouth.
- Clever Crows: The first thing it does is nab the key because it knows that your Year Walk is forbidden and will have severe repercussions.
- Creepy Crows: The companion app states that it was seen as an omen of death, and it was said that if it landed on a house, someone inside would die of a terrible fever.
- Thieving Magpie: The first thing we see it do is nab the key that the Brook Horse gives you.
The Church Grim
The Church Grim
- Body Horror: Besides the goat head, it reveals that there is nothing below it besides the beating heart of the universe.
- Dark Is Not Evil: It not only is the only Watcher that doesn't really demand anything of you or try to harm or hinder you, but it also harbors the beating heart of the universe under its robe.
- Humanoid Abomination: At first glance, it appears to be roughly human in shape, save for the goat head, but then you open its coat and realize that there's nothing there to support the head or the clothes. All there is, is a beating heart... And if that's not alien enough for you, then consider the fact that the Church Grim doesn't try to stop you from smashing its heart. Almost like you doing so is too irrelevant for it to care about... And if that is not alien enough for you, then consider the fact that smashing the Church Grim's heart tears open a rift in the universe through which the future can be seen.
- Jump Scare: The final one of the game. Its face flashes around the screen while discordant church bells ring. And then it just stares at you.
- Nothing Is Scarier: It doesn't move much, there's no real puzzle to solve concerning it, and it just stares at you while you work up the nerve to interact with it.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: You have to destroy the heart under its robe to complete your Year Walk and see the vision of the future that was promised to you. Although you probably won't like the outcome of what you see.
