Characters / Outlast

aka: Outlast The Murkoff Account

This page details the various characters of Outlast, Whistleblower, and The Murkoff Account. For characters introduced in Outlast II, please go here. For characters introduced in The Outlast Trials, please go here.

Please also note that there are unmarked spoilers ahead, so read at your risk.

Main characters

Miles Upshur

Voiced by: Shawn Baichoo

"Fuck this place. Seriously, just fuck this place. Dying keeps moving lower on the list of the worst things that could happen to me here."

The Player Character of the main game. Miles is a Freelance Investigative Journalist summoned to Mount Massive Asylum after receiving an email from Waylon Park (the main character in Outlast Whistleblower) about some suspicious activity going on in the Asylum. Equipped with only a camcorder, Miles enters the building and quickly discovers something more sinister is going on.

---

• Action Survivor: Miles is but a simple investigative journalist. Yet, he is able to last long from the insane denizens of the asylum.
• Badass Normal: While not able to take any of the Variants head on, he is very quick to react, fast on his feet, and can struggle with some of the weaker Variants when grabbed.
• Demonic Possession: The Walrider takes him as its host at the end of the game... but he seems to keep control over it.
• Distressed Dude: When caught by Trager.
• Empowered Badass Normal: He gets possessed by the Walrider. The ending of Whistleblower shows that he has at least some control over it, too.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: What he is in the comics; in comic 4, a neighbor mentions seeing him recently and her dogs went "batshit" at the sight of him, implying they can sense the Walrider's presence.
• The Faceless: You never get a good look at Miles' face. The closest you do to knowing what he looks like is seeing his shadow (which just gives an idea of his hair style) and seeing him-as-the-Walrider from a distance in Whistleblower. Oh, and seeing his character model◊ is an Unreveal, since it's only seen in two occasions: when Chris Walker removes his head and when Trager stabs Miles and decapitates him as part of their One-Hit Kill. An invisible model◊ does exist in order to avoid making the shadow headless.
• Fingore: As a result of Trager's Cold-Blooded Torture, he loses a finger on each hand.
• Fragile Speedster: Most of the Variants are particularly strong, so the most Miles can do is run or hide.
• Heroic Host: He seems to keep control over the Walrider to some degree after being possessed.
• Heroic Mime: Besides grunting, heavy breathing and the occasional scream, Miles does not actually speak, even when directly spoken to.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: As shown in Whistleblower, it appears that he has taken complete control of the Walrider, using it on specific targets rather than everyone in sight who isn't Rudolf Wernicke as Billy had.
• Intrepid Reporter: The reason why he's there to begin with was because he got an email telling him of wrongdoing in the asylum. Too bad it's at the worst possible time.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he doesn't have much to actually say aloud, it's clear from his notes and his aggressive slamming doors that he's a cynical, angry man who uses his bitterness to cope with the horrors he's forced to witness. But more than anything, he wants to expose Murkoff's corruption and goes through absolute hell to do it.
• Made of Iron: The man survives a lot of physical damage. He gets thrown through a glass window, breaks a couple of ribs, is blown through another window by an explosion, has two of his fingers crudely chopped off, plummets several feet twice within the span of a few minutes (the first time with no obvious ill effects), and gets beaten and thrown around like a ragdoll by the Walrider, which leaves him with a nasty limp. Oh, and he survives getting peppered with machine gun bullets, but this is thanks to the Walrider now inhabiting his body.
• Meaningful Name: It's a pun on the phrase "miles upshore without a paddle".
• Non-Action Guy: The game makes it clear that Miles is not to fight the Variants. That doesn't stop him from having a short brawl with Trager.
• Non-Action Snarker: Just read his notes.
  (After letting Trager get crushed by the elevator): How to make Trager Juice: Step 1. Squeeze.
• Pet the Dog: While in control of the Walrider, Miles rescues Waylon Park, the Whistleblower who sent him to Mount Massive in the first place, by slaughtering Jeremy Blaire, the man responsible for so much of Murkoff's horrors. That said, he doesn't seem happy when Waylon steals his jeep...
• Sanity Slippage: He starts the game as a snarky but focused reporter, making detailed notes about his observation. After coming face-to-face with the Walrider (whose mere presence is said to induce this trope) in the Courtyard, his notes become shorter, disorganized, and uncharacteristically violent as he becomes entranced by the entity's influence in the same way that the inmates were. It's discussed in documents that the ideal hosts to control the Walrider have experienced trauma and horror, so after all Miles has suffered by the end of the game, he's a perfect candidate — no wonder he fuses so expertly with the entity.
• Sole Survivor: Both him and Waylon survive the events of being in the asylum in there own unique ways.
• Stepford Snarker: It's pretty clear his more snarky moments are a coping mechanism for all the insanity unfolding around him.
• Superior Successor: To Billy as the Walrider's host. He is able to control it enough to set it on individual targets while using it to aid another's escape, and he does so without a life support system, in fact even getting up after being riddled with bullets immediately after becoming the host. Billy is described as a 'partial success', in Murkoff's quest to find a perfect host who could manifest a sentient Walrider... who it would seem ended up being Miles.
• Stress Vomit: After Trager cuts off his fingers and he breaks free from his bonds, he hurls in front of the sink.
• Unluckily Lucky: He goes through a commendably horrific Trauma Conga Line that results in him getting tossed around by a ragdoll by various mental patients of varying insanity, being constantly forced to run and hide to save his skin with little in the way of respite, losing two of his fingers, and ultimately getting shot a thousand times by armed forces, reducing all his efforts to squat. But during each and every one of his encounters, there's always just one measly silver lining that helps Miles survive, and even in the ending, when he gets shot, he manages to survive thanks to the Walrider taking over his body—and he even manages to overcome the Walrider itself by taking control of it.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In the sense that despite not being a fighter Miles is still quite strong, able to push back someone like Richard Trager despite having two fingers cut. He is faster than almost all variants, as Chris Walker can keep up with him and he can perform some parkour when needed. Serves him good, as he needs all he has in order to escape the variants and stay alive.

Waylon Park

Voiced by: Shawn Baichoo

"Lisa, baby, I'm so sorry. I fucked up. I thought I was doing the right thing. But I fucked up bad."

The Player Character of Whistleblower. Waylon was a Software Engineer for the Murkoff Corporation, until he discovered they were performing illegal experiments and sent an email to Miles Upshur in hopes of exposing the company. He is then caught by security and tortured just like the inmates were. Waylon manages to free himself when the riot starts, though, and is now trying to escape the Asylum.

---

• Action Survivor: Especially noticeable in his encounter with Gluskin.
• Ascended Extra: Remember the email that tipped Miles off regarding Murkoff and Mount Massive shown at the start of the base game? Whistleblower is all about who sent it.
• Asian and Nerdy: His last name is "Park" and is implied to be Korean from his picture in the comic, and was a Software Engineer for the Murkoff Corporation. His in-game notes also include philosophical facts and one of them being mathematical.
• Badass Bookworm: He's a software engineer who graduated cum laude at Berkley, and as evidenced by his notes, a very poetic way of writing and quick mathematical skills. Also, he's tall, well-built, and capable of performing parkour-like running similar to Miles. But severely downplayed with the "Badass" part, as he doesn't really interact violently with others very much.
• Blood-Splattered Innocents: By the end of the game, he's covered from head to toe in Blaire's and presumably other people's blood.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Downplayed^note "Whistleblower" is a DLC add-on to Outlast and not a sequel proper, plus it takes place both slightly before and concurrently with the first game's storyline, but still, there are some pretty notable differences between the two. Miles is an aggressive loner who shows a surprising level of stoicism to the atrocities and insanity around him and feels no shame in celebrating his survival, as evidenced by his note after Trager's death. Waylon, in comparison, is clearly scared out of his wits, constantly worries about his wife, and is far more of a nice guy than Upshur. Gameplay-wise, this is evident in their action animations when interacting with objects - While Miles can furiously open and close doors with one hand, Waylon seems to have a more gentle movement, as he closes doors using both hands.
• Crippling Castration: Very nearly suffers this from Gluskin if it weren't for a random variant attacking him. Never mind the fact that he could actually die from either the pain, blood loss, an infection from how unsanitary it was, a slight miscalculation in the castration, or even Gluskin himself due to his insane Mood-Swinger tendencies like so many other victims beforehand.
• Didn't Think This Through: As seen in his Establishing Character Moment. While Waylon is intelligent and was being subtle, he failed to think how it would've taken more than simply a "borrowed laptop, an onion router, and a firewall patch" to fool the company's leading biometric system. This also gives a subtle implication that he fails to think that something as big as Murkoff "wouldn't" take extreme levels of precaution to make sure that their illegal experiments don't get leaked to the public in any way.
• Distressed Dude: When caught by Gluskin.
• Ditzy Genius: Downplayed, but Waylon does have his moments as seen at the beginning of Whistleblower, by thinking he could be subtle in exposing Murkoff's illegal experiments through a relatively simple method of hacking right in the heart of the company with a leading biometric system. Jeremy Blaine even rightly points out the stupidity of it.
• Driven to Suicide: While he never actually attempts it, at least two of his notes allude to him considering it but not going through due to having a family he wants to get back to.
• Even the Guys Want Him: In addition to being targeted by Eddie Gluskin, Waylon is molested by the scientist Andrew in the prologue, and the first Varient he runs into promises to “make him purr” when he releases Waylon from his cell.
• The Faceless: Like Miles, we never actually see his face. His character model◊ is also headless for the same reason as Miles (only being seen in full after Chris Walker's One-Hit Kill).
• Featureless Protagonist: Male, but we never see his face. Given that Park is an extremely common Korean last name, some fans draw, write, or fancast Waylon as Korean. Issue 4 of the interquel comic features a picture of Waylon that seemingly confirms him as Korean.
• Fragile Speedster: Like Miles, Waylon can run fairly fast and vault/climb over certain obstacles parkour-style. Later, however, he can only hobble after he falls down an elevator shaft while escaping from Eddie Gluskin. Later he jumps out a window to escape the aforementioned character and breaks his already-injured leg. Shortly after that he plummets falls several feet after Gluskin attempts to hang him. When his leg finally seems to be improving toward the end, he is stabbed by Blaire, causing him to hobble even worse than before.
• Happily Married: It's extremely obvious through his notes that he writes throughout the game addressed to his wife Lisa that he loves her dearly, and he tells her that he would give up on trying to escape were it not for her. It's clear that she loves him back just as much when he says that if he died in the asylum, she wouldn't rest until she found his body.
• Heroic Mime: Like Miles, Waylon never speaks. Notably, there's a moment where he turns on the radio to call for help, only for Blaire to come up and smash it before he's able to say anything.
• Heroic Willpower: He was briefly put through the Morphogenic Engine, scrambled past escaped murderous lunatics, and even survived countless near-death experiences; yet when he escaped the asylum, he had apparently kept his sanity intact.
• Hero of Another Story: He serves as this to Miles Upshur, as his story starts slightly before Miles' and ultimately runs concurrently with it.
• Hero Stole My Bike: At the end of the game, he ends up stealing the jeep Miles used to drive himself to the asylum. Miles himself isn't amused, as he ominously stares at Waylon as he drives through the gate to get away.
• I Have a Family: He has a wife and two sons back home whom he loves dearly, and his notes are actually him writing letters to his wife Lisa in case he dies. Blaire's not exactly hesitant to threaten their well-being.
• Informed Attractiveness: Though his model has no actual head, the fact that three separate characters attempt to molest him (the opening scientist Andrew, the character who first releases him, and the Groom) throughout the game implies either this, or that he's just more good looking then what's typical for an asylum residence (not difficult).
• Irony: At the beginning of Whistleblower, Waylon emails Miles so that he can investigate and expose Murkoff's horrific crimes on his behalf. At the end of the game, Park himself is the one who exposes Murkoff, as Miles is unable to do so due to becoming the Walrider.
• It's Personal: After escaping the asylum, he writes up a report, including the documented evidence, to leak to the public. While he is warned that things will not go over smoothly if he does this, after the horrors he faced at Murkoff, he doesn't seem to give a damn.
• Made of Iron: Similar to Miles, he takes a lot of physical punishment. Over the course of the DLC he is punched, beaten with a baton and kicked in the face, shoved into a burning furnace, nearly strangled to death with a baton, falls several feet through a wooden roof, falls down an elevator shaft and gets a huge splinter in his leg (reducing his walking speed to a slow limp), survives an attempted hanging, and, lastly, is stabbed in the stomach.
• Mind Rape: After being found out he is strapped into the Morphogenic Engine as a form of psychological torture. For a while, after he gets out, you can see afterimages on the screen.
• Nice Guy: In contrast to Miles' notes and their constant cursing as he goes varying degrees of insane, Waylon's notes show nothing but terror and kind words to his wife, with the rare exceptions of Gluskin's death, which he feels horrible about nearly laughing at, and his pragmatic comments about leaving Jeremy to his apparent wounds.
• Non-Action Guy: Though less pronounced than Miles, he doesn't use a lot of combat. The only case of deliberate attacking is killing Gluskin, and even that was an accident.
• Punched Across the Room: Gluskin does this to him just before he's about to escape to the Male Ward.
• Sole Survivor: He is one of only two people to survive the whole ordeal, since Miles lives as well.
• Trauma Conga Line: This constantly happens to him throughout the game. Forced to be committed in the asylum, forced to undergo the morphogenic engine project, gets chased by insane and murderous inmates (one of them wants to make him his "bride" and another who wanted to eat him), has a few encounters with the Walrider, and witnesses people get killed in front of him. The end of the game implies that it may get worse for him and his family when he uploads everything that he recorded.
• Working-Class Hero: One in-game note implies that prior to the events of the game, Waylon and his family were going through financial issues, and one day, he just so happens to get a job offered by Murkoff.

Mount Massive Inmates

The Variants

"They may still be human, but something's been ripped out of them. And too many... other things pushed back in. They were not all murderers. They were sick, but they weren't killers. Murkoff made them monsters."

— Waylon Park

The patients of Mount Massive Asylum, subjected to the Morphogenic Engine and transformed into insane, deluded monsters. They serve as the primary antagonists that Miles and Waylon must avoid.

---

• Body Horror: All of them have been malformed to hideous degrees, with many covered in crude surgical scars and missing hands, eyes or even genitals. Take a look◊.
• Dissonant Serenity: You encounter quite a few variants that seem eerily unaware of the chaos around them, instead carrying out twisted mockeries of normal activities.
• Insane Equals Violent: Played With. Mount Massive was an asylum for the Criminally Insane, but Murkoff was quite willing to imprison people for experimentation on false premises, and most of the Variants you encounter are non-violent. Those that are, though...
• Invincible Boogeymen: Downplayed. The Morphogenic Engine has given them enhanced strength and endurance, and both Miles and Waylon have no means of fighting them and can only flee. Murkoff's tactical cops, however, make short work of them once they arrive.
• One-Gender Race: All Variants encountered in-game are male. Justified, as the Morphogenic Engine induces psychosomatic pregnancies in women that prove near-universally fatal.
• Tragic Monster: Most were not monsters before being transformed - many were just normal people with mental health issues exploited by Murkoff's cruelty and subjected to their experiments. All of them are too far gone now.

Chris Walker

"Little pig."

Voiced by: Chimwemwe Miller

"We have to contain it."

A hulking, deformed ex-soldier who was committed to the asylum for PTSD. He now roams the halls of Mount Massive seeking out and killing everyone he finds.

---

• Acrofatic: Chris Walker may be the largest character in the game, but he can run and vault over obstacles just as quickly as the much wirier Miles and Waylon can.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Despite being chased and tormented by Chris throughout most of the game, Miles has this reaction to his death.
  "You've escaped one Hell, Chris Walker. God help me, but I somehow hope you didn't find another."
• Animal Motifs: Walker refers to his victims as "Little Pig" and he is revealed to have had a pig toy that acted as a therapy toy.
• Anti-Villain: He's trying to contain and destroy the Walrider before it escapes the asylum.
• Ax-Crazy: His intentions aside, Walker is completely insane and extremly violent. He's seen beheading anyone he comes across so they don't get possessed by the Walrider, and goes on psychotic rants by himself about bloodshed being the only truth as he wreaks an immense amount of wrathful carnage across the asylum. Even before the outbreak, he hid his murderous rage very well as he kept a collection of trophies of those he had killed in secret.
• Berserk Button: Not present in the game itself, but The Murkoff Account reveals his childhood toy, a stuffed pig, to be one. The sight of Marion holding it was enough to send Walker into an Unstoppable Rage.
• The Brute: He is the biggest of the Variants, and the most dangerous.
• The Cameo: He makes an appearance in Whistleblower, though only in one area, compared to being a Recurring Encounter to Miles.
• Chained by Fashion: For some reason, he wears chains wrapped around both his wrists and his lower legs. Good thing too, otherwise he would be a lot harder to hear coming.
• Companion Cube: The reason he calls Miles "little pig" is because he used to have a stuffed pig toy, possibly to help with his PTSD.
• The Croc Is Ticking: If you hear the sound of rattling chains, either run or hide before it's too late.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The Walrider throws him around like a ragdoll several times hard enough to leave blood stains, and then shoves the poor bastard into a vent way too small to hold him. Ludicrous Gibs ensue. At least it was probably quick.
• The Dreaded: The other patients seem particularly frightened of him, and for good reason. Jeremy Blair also flees as soon as he hears Walker roaring through the corridor.
• Embarrassing Nickname: He used to be called "Strongfat" by his coworkers, for obvious reasons.
• Even Evil Has Standards: His actions are motivated by the fear of the Walrider escaping the asylum.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: His voice is very low and harsh, the lack of lips probably contributes.
• Facial Horror: He removed his own nose and lips as a result of anxiety-induced self-mutilation. The Murkoff Account also reveals he was shot through the mouth during his struggle with the Pauls.
• Fat Bastard: Walker is a burly and thick waisted individual; possessing a large, obese but still heavily built figure. Walker is also a violent reoccurring threat in Mount Massive as he pursues Miles across the entire asylum.
• Gentle Giant: His first appearance in The Murkoff Account portrays him as a strong but cordial man. Until the Pauls discovers his head collection.
• The Heavy: He's the most frequently-seen and persistent antagonist.
• Heroic Willpower: For what it's worth, Chris has managed to keep enough of the few scraps of sanity he had to be able to have a constructive goal: protect the public at large from the Walrider by keeping it contained to the Asylum at all costs. Seems his soldier's spirit still exists within his shattered mind.
• Implacable Man: The only Variant to stalk Miles throughout the entire game, and the strongest out of them.
• Lightning Bruiser: So strong that he doesn't bother using weapons; he can casually tear a human's head straight off from their body. He has the speed to match, being able to keep up with Miles while chasing him.
• Lip Losses: Began tearing bits of his own face off after being experimented on at Mount Massive, removing his nose and both his lips in the process. As a result, in the event that you didn't notice his gigantic frame, he can be easily distinguished by his skull-like face and slobberingly distorted voice.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Gets forcefully shoved into an air vent courtesy of the Walrider. Seeing this absolute behemoth of a man get reduced to ground pork only serves to make the monster that much more intimidating.
• Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes appear to be entirely white, and that's excluding any shots of him in night vision.
• Naked Nutter: Has stripped down to his pants over the course of his insanity.
• Offscreen Teleportation: He keeps reappearing in different areas to menace the protagonist with no explanation of how he managed to reach those areas. Although considering his ability to break down all sorts of doors, it's not unreasonable to assume that he can smash through walls to get to areas he can't reach normally.
• Off with His Head!: His preferred killing method is to rip the head (Or rather the body itself) clean off with his bare hands. He can do this to Miles and Waylon as a One-Hit Kill.
• Serial Killer: The Murkoff Account reveals that he's killed around 4 Mount Massive patients and kept their severed heads as trophies.
• Self-Harm: He has anxiety and severe PTSD; his lack of nose, lips and forehead flesh are a result of multiple anxiety attacks.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: A document reveals that he used to be with the military police and had served several tours of duty in Afghanistan. He was being treated for PTSD as a result, and a fair amount of his dialogue alludes to military practices. His behavior and motivation are a twisted kind of damage control, something Miles actually realizes in one note:
  "I hear him muttering about security protocols, containment. What if he's not the problem? What if he's trying to fix it?"
• Super-Strength: Walker is incredibly strong, able to Neck Lift a grown man singlehanded and easily ragdoll him across the room with a single toss. He's also strong enough to break down doors made of hard material and rip heads clean off.
• Stout Strength: Walker is the biggest and strongest Variant in the asylum. It's not just his upper body that's strong either, if his agility is any indication.
• Terms of Endangerment: He calls Miles "little pig" throughout the game as he tries to kill him.
• Tom the Dark Lord: "Chris"... Don't let his boring name fool you, he's as deadly as they come.
• Tragic Monster: Walker was at the Asylum to receive treatment for PTSD, only to be subjected to the Morphogenic Engine and turned into a homicidal lunatic as a result.
• Villain Has a Point: His actions are motivated by the fear of releasing the Walrider; since he lacks the knowledge and technology to destroy or contain the Walrider, his second-best option is to kill Miles and the remaining patients before the Walrider finds them and uses them as a host.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist:
  • He actually wants to contain or destroy the Walrider because he sees it as a danger to the rest of the world. However, his methods involve killing any potential host before the Walrider finds them.
  • Backing this up, though it can be difficult to notice while you're trying to evade him: On occasion, Chris will mutter things clearly meant to draw Miles out of hiding. On one hand, he still wants to kill you; on the other, there's something eerie about the way he knows to say things like, "I'll do it for you, so you won't have to kill yourself," and, "I'll make the pain stop." His tone of voice suggests he genuinely believes what he's doing is also helping his victims - and considering that many of them are patients that have been utterly broken by Murkoff's experiments, and taking into account Chris' own response to the experiments, it's not difficult to guess where he might get such a notion.
• The Worf Effect: Walker is a recurring threat to Miles and is the most physically imposing. He is rightfully feared by everyone in the asylum and he pursues Miles to the underground labs. After unintentionally saving Miles from the Walrider, he's brutally killed by it when it tosses him all over the walls and drags him through a small, closed air vent.

"Father" Martin Archimbaud

"The only way out of this place is the truth. Accept the gospel and all doors will open before you."

Voiced by: Andreas Apergis

"Merciful god, you have sent me an apostle. Guard your life, son, you have a calling."

A strongly religious ex-patient who believes himself to be a prophet of his god, and is convinced that it is his duty to spread its gospel.

---

• Action Survivor: He doesn't seem to have any abilities or weapons, but he survives the hell going on the asylum and goes through the ares Miles later explores and finds filled of enemies. This includes the sewers.
• Affably Evil: It's debatable to truly call Martin "evil", but his primary goal is to unleash the Walrider. Regardless, Martin is very polite to Miles and, apart from a moment where he injects Miles with some sort of sedative, doesn't seem to actually wanna harm him.
• Apologetic Attacker: When he injects Miles with a sedative just after he turns on the power.
  "I'm sorry, my son, I didn't want to have to do this to you. But you can't leave, not yet. There is so much yet for you to witness."
• The Bad Guy Wins: Posthumously. Though he dies shortly before the end of the game, Martin's aim to free the Walrider is successful.
• Big Good: He seems to be the closest thing you have to an ally for most of the game, even if he does impede you more than once. Turns out, not so much; the object of his faith was the Walrider, and he was always trying to free it.
• The Cameo: He can be seen painting the "Down the Drain" message in Whistleblower. Later when looking through a window you can see an outside view of his death. He is also the one in the window at the start of the first game.
• Couldn't Find a Pen: Father Martin leaves messages for you in blood. Worth mentioning is that a document mentions finger-painting as part of his treatment, until the art therapy's funding was cut.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: It involves self-sacrifice, being crucified, and then being set on fire. Lampshaded by Miles in his notes.
  "I can't believe Father Martin one-upped Jesus Christ himself in shitty ways to die."
• Cult: Appears to have started one, and while it takes heavy influence on Christianity it seems to be based around the Walrider. Of the other Variants we see, we know the Twins are part of it.
• Dark Messiah: Perhaps considers himself this. In his final scene he is surrounded by ten praying inmates. With the Twins just outside the door, that's twelve "apostles."
• The Dragon: He's the head of a Variant cult devoted to the Walrider, working to release it into the world and manipulating Miles to accomplish this.
• Driven to Suicide: Though it's more like Driven to Self-Sacrifice.
• Foreshadowing: He declares, just after telling Miles he's free and that the elevator is fixed, that this is his penultimate act of witness, as in, second-to-last, foreshadowing that Miles isn't being let go yet until one last thing is done.
• From a Certain Point of View: Yes, he's batshit insane, and everyone is better off not trusting him, but he's technically right about one thing: the Walrider was the only way Miles was going to get out. His assertions that Miles must "witness" align with the fact that only someone who has seen enough horror can summon and control the Walrider.
• Foil: To Chris Walker, the other main antagonist of the game. Whereas Chris is a large and dangerous killer, Father Martin is a skinny old man of average height who poses no physical threat. While Chris spends the entire game killing people and is a recurring enemy who Miles must escape, Martin appears several times and stops Miles from leaving while meaning no harm to him or seemingly anyone else. Walker operates on his own and is The Dreaded in the asylum whereas Martin has an entire cult (which includes some antagonists like the twins) and seems very beloved and respected by his followers. But the main difference between them is that father Martin is trying to unleash the Walrider whereas Chris wants to contain it. In the end, Martin is successful but kills himself before the Walrider is actually released; while Chris gets brutally killed by it in both his last attempt to kill Miles and ironically enough his last attempt to contain it.
• Religious Horror: Provides much of this throughout the original game. He has a pretty big influence on the patients. He's not really a threat like the rest of the Variants but his death is religiously horrific and his faith lies in the Walrider.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants you to know about what's going on as much as possible. It's just that he doesn't let you leave, even after he sacrifices himself.

The Twins

"His tongue and his liver." "Yours." "Mine."

Voiced by: Neil Napier (Tall Twin) and Alain Goulem (Shorter Twin)

Mysterious and psychopathic twin Variants whom Miles encounters after being abducted by Father Martin and transported to the prison.

---

• Ambiguously Human: A variation in that the ambiguity suggests that they might be human — unlike all the other Variants, they display absolutely no physical signs of Murkoff experimentation. No surgical scars, no tumors, no rashes, blisters, or any mutilations at all. So, it's possible that they're not true Variants, just mundane human crazies. In which case, they also count as Badass Normal, given they manage to terrify the other Variants into staying away from them.
• Ax-Crazy: They're psychopaths who run around stark naked wielding machetes and trying to eat people. All with a stoic, almost bored attitude about the whole matter.
• Bald of Evil: The taller twin has a receded hairline; with the top of his head being bald and the hair on the sides being short.
• Co-Dragons: They are allied with Father Martin during the riot, but although Martin wants Miles alive, they will kill him if he doesn't escape them.
• Creepy Twins: They're quiet, meditative cannibals who are always completely nude.
• Deadpan Snarker: They have this gem of a conversation when you are forced to flee from them by escaping out an open window in the showers:
  "My god, he vanished."
  "Vanished without a trace."
  "I detect sarcasm."
  "It was my intention."
• The Dividual: Despite technically being two people, they seem to think and act more as one. They also never show up separately.
• Dragon with an Agenda: They will try to kill Miles in spite of Father Martin's instructions, though really don't try all that hard.
• Full-Frontal Assault: They don't wear a stitch of clothing.
• Heel–Face Turn: Of a sort. They abruptly stop trying to kill you once you reach the chapel, probably out of respect for Father Martin's last wishes. They even open the door for you on your way out.
• I'm a Humanitarian: Not actually shown, but they discuss doing this to you after they kill you.
• It Can Think: Unlike the other Variants, they're surprisingly rational and thoughtful despite being insane. In particular, when you escape them by jumping out a window in the Showers, they make it quite clear that they understand where you've gone and are insulted at the insinuation you think them too crazy and/or stupid to realize it. Fortunately, they decide to move on and let you advance, perhaps indulging Father Martin's instructions to let you proceed.
• Machete Mayhem: They both wield a machete as their primary weapon. Their kill animation has them stabbing Miles in the back before beheading him.
• Naked Nutter: Deranged to the point of total detachment, and wear absolutely nothing whatsoever.
• No Name Given: They're only referred to as "The Twins" in promotional material, but their in-game model files call them the "Duponts," and some of the fandom has assumed "Dupont" to be their surname.
• Off with His Head!: It is possible for them to kill Miles or Waylon with one strike from their meat cleaver.
• Ominous Walk: Unlike the other Variants, they prefer to slowly stalk Miles as opposed to running.
• Pet the Dog: Though they go against his instructions and try to kill Miles, they do seem to have some level of respect for Father Martin and spare Miles after his sacrifice.
• Shout-Out:
  • Their model's game file names are labeled "Duponts," in reference to Dupont and Dupond^*better known in English as Thomson and Thompson of The Adventures of Tintin.
  • Their character models might also be based on the famous 1993 photograph of South African twins, Dresie and Casie.
• Siblings in Crime: They're a pair of murderous cannibals.
• The Sociopath: Their lackadaisical attitudes towards everything, even murder, lend itself to the idea.
• Sinister Nudity: Always appear stark naked and will happily hunt down the main character if he isn't lucky enough to have a gate blocking their path. Next to Dr. Trager (who at least has an apron to cover his junk), they're the most openly malevolent patients at Mount Massive.
• Sinister Silhouettes: How they appear when you first meet them. Though you can negate this by turning on night-vision.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: They sound bored when discussing their plans to kill Miles slowly so they can eat his innards.
• Those Two Guys: They're always seen together and never appear individually.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: After Miles leaves the chapel, they are never seen again, and there is no mention of their fate after the Murkoff hit squad shows up in Whistleblower.

Pyromaniac

Voiced by: Neil Napier

"I had to burn it. All of it."

A variant encountered in the burning cafeteria. He doesn't attack Miles at first, and instead explains that he caused the fire, and had reasons to do it...

---

• Despair Event Horizon: Considering his explanation and that he was Driven to Suicide, he is well beyond the line.
• Facial Horror: Half of his face is covered in burn scars, though it is unlikely that he got them from setting fire to the cafeteria.
• Interrupted Suicide: It is implied that he wanted to let himself become engulfed by the flames. Well, until you activate the sprinklers and ruin his suicide attempt.
• Jump Scare: Extinguishing the fire will result in him ambushing Miles in the kitchen.
• No Name Given: He is only known as The Pyromaniac.
• Only Sane Man: For a given definition of "sane." But in comparison to the rest of the "patients" in the asylum, he is surprisingly stable. He is non-hostile and calmly explains why he lit the fire to Miles, and his reasons for doing so are noble. He only loses control of himself once the fire is put out.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Pyromaniac started the fire in the cafeteria. He wanted to burn the Mount Massive Asylum down, along with its dark secrets and himself. Considering what you've seen of the asylum up until that point, it's perfectly reasonable that he wants to do that.

"Dr." Richard "Rick" Trager

"Let's teach you the seven habits of highly eviscerated people."

Voiced by: Alex Ivanovici

"God died with the gold standard. We're on to more concrete faith now. You have to rob Paul to pay Peter, there is no other way. Murder in its simplest form, but what happens when all the money is gone? Well, money becomes a matter of faith. And that's what I'm here for. To make you believe."

Formerly an executive at Murkoff, Trager became insane after the downfall of the asylum and now experiments on patients in order to gain more knowledge about biology. Despite his cheerful and friendly demeanor, he is a sadistic psychopath who revels in torture and death.

---

• Arc Villain: For the medical unit in the Male Ward chapter. He's the only enemy you need to worry about, has little connection to the rest of the plot and the segment ends with his death.
• Ax-Crazy: He was already on his way to becoming this when he attacked his ex-secretary, but as soon as he was committed to Mount Massive and exposed to the Morphogenic Engine, all bets were off.
• Berserk Button: Escaping him. If he walks back into his “operating room” and doesn’t find Miles still there, his friendly demeanor drops like a rock.
  Trager: "FUCK! Fuck! Really?! You're gonna walk on me? If there's one thing I cannot GODDAMN STAND, it's a quitter! COME ON!"
• Body Horror: It's pretty clear that he's wasted away to the point of near anorexia; the human body should not be that thin.
• Breakout Villain: Trager only appears for one section and dies at the end of it, but he certainly made the most of his screen time, and has since become something of a mascot for the game.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Long before he's met in person, Trager is mentioned in one of the very first documents you can find upon entering the asylum: a report on Project Walrider patient Billy Hope, who claims to have discovered the truth regarding his mother's lawsuit against Murkoff from "the blood dreams of Doctor Trager." The same note reveals his first name, Richard, and describes him as "an executive from M.R.D."
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He gets caught between the roof of a rising elevator and a door frame, slowly crushing him by his midsection.
• Disproportionate Retribution: You see him torturing some of the other Murkoff executives in-game, although it isn't clear why. The comics explain that he's exacting revenge against them just for allowing Jeremy Blaire to put him through the Morphogenic Engine. Ironically, Trager never gets to lay a finger on Blaire himself, who's in the facility the entire time.
• Eye Scream: He wears a pair of round shades with the left lens replaced by some sort of mechanical device that looks like it's going straight into his head.
• Fate Worse than Death: Anyone unlucky enough to be captured by Trager will inevitably suffer this. One man even begs Trager to kill him, and Trager ignores him, implying that he keeps many of his victims alive as another form of torture.
• Faux Affably Evil: He talks to you like he's a very close friend. He is not.
• Friendly Enemy: Loves calling Miles "buddy." …It’s one-sided.
• Full-Frontal Assault: If you look at him from the right angle while he checks under beds. Not that you'd want to.
• Hate Sink: As if being a murderous psychopath and torturer in the first game wasn't enough, The Murkoff Account reveals that he roofied a female underling, causing her to become pregnant. And this was before he was put in the Morphogenic Engine, mind you.
• I Was Quite the Looker: Per the comic books, he used to look like your average yuppie until he attacked a former employee of his, a woman he raped and impregnated. In the ensuing scuffle, Pauline Glick shoved his head into a paper shredder, tearing his hair out of his scalp and leaving him with permanent scarring. His one-time colleagues discreetly had him committed to Mount Massive, and the experimentation he endured as a part of Project Walrider explains the emaciation and body mods he has going on in the game proper.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Yeah, sure, getting crushed by an elevator isn't the way most of us would choose to go out, but did Trager deserve any better?
• Laughably Evil: His casually normal attitude, nonsensical rambling and calling Miles "buddy" can be rather humorous.
• Lean and Mean: Trager is deathly skinny and you probably don't have to guess that he's not a nice person.
• Mad Doctor: Though documents reveal he was actually a Corrupt Corporate Executive before going off the deep end.
• Naked Apron: No, not a fanservicey example. He wears a bloody apron, and it's clear that he's not wearing anything underneath when he turns around.
• Naked Nutter: A chortling psychopath who happens to be stark naked under his apron.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By targeting Murkoff Staff — and anyone unfortunate enough to wander into his area — he's actually helping matters since he's getting rid of potential Walrider hosts. Though it's anyone's guess if he knows what he's doing, or even cares.
• Nothing but Skin and Bones: His body is very unnaturally thin and dry, practically making him look a lot more like a walking corpse.
• Offscreen Teleportation: When you finally manage to get to the elevator with the key, Trager somehow manages to reach the floor below to intercept you, even if he was just right behind you.
• Off with His Head!: It's possible for him to snip Miles' head off with his bone shears.
• Pink Is Erotic: In the second comic of the Outlast: The Murkoff Account, Pauline Glick and Paul Marion are investigating a HR Complaint. Once they meet Rick, they are immediately suspicious of him as he repeatedly hits on Pauline and he later tries to rape her by spiking her drink. The complaint to HR was that Rick raped his assistant, Michelle, got her pregnant and threatened to fire her if she didn't get an abortion. In the comic, Rick wears a pink dress shirt with his collar popped and his sleeves rolled up just below his elbow.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Trager ultimately has nothing to do with the main story about the Walrider, nor does he seem to care about the greater threat it poses in the asylum, which distinguishes him from the other antagonists who either want to contain it (Walker) or release it (Martin).
• "Psycho" Strings: Someone put a violin through some Cold-Blooded Torture when creating his theme and abused it even worse for his chase theme
• Rape as Backstory: He was a date rapist before being put into the Engine.
• Sadist: He obviously quite enjoys performing Cold-Blooded Torture on Variants. His preferred method of torture is the amputation of one's fingers, balls, and tongue...in that order.
• Shear Menace: Wields a huge pair of shears.
• Snuff Film: He strongly implies that he intends to torture and kill Miles on camera and sell the footage.
• The Sociopath: Yeah, he clearly enjoys torturing people now, but the comics show that he was just as much of a psychopath before he was put in the Morphogenic Engine.
• Speech Impediment: He has a slight lisp, probably owing to the shredded surgical mask he wears getting caught in his mouth when he speaks. It's a little more pronounced in the Xbox One trailer.
• Terms of Endangerment: He mockingly calls Miles "buddy." An e-mail to a colleague shows that Miles isn't the only one he refers to as "buddy."
• Villain Has a Point: His monologue seems like the same psychotic rambling like the other inhabitants of the Asylum, but everything he says is actually true (albeit filtered through a fractured mind). His talk about how money has evolved from something solid, like the gold standard, to "an article of faith" does reflect the current state of modern economics (as the mortgage collapse easily attests), and his talk of "turning the consumer into the means of production" is a succinct description of Dr. Wernicke's research, which alters the cells of a human being's body to becoming nanite factories. His murderous revenge against Murkoff executives (at least, just the one) may be obvious.
• Villainous Friendship: A document in Whistleblower implies he was friends with Jeremy Blaire. But given that Blaire put Trager into the Morphogenic Engine without a second thought, we can assume that relationship has cooled off a little.
• Would Hit a Girl: He once stabbed one of his previous Date Rape victims with scissors, thinking she was pregnant with his child.
• Younger Than They Look: Due to his emaciated frame and near baldness (with what little hair he has being grey and scraggly), it can be quite jarring to find out that Trager is actually only in his mid to late 40s. Which, for context, makes him about as old as Gluskin.

William "Billy" Hope

The host of the Walrider.

---

• And I Must Scream: Billy is attached to the Morphogenic Engine in order to properly control the Walrider and is kept alive via chemical injections from a reservoir. Not only is the process extremely painful, but he's also kept in a perpetual state of lucid dreaming, meaning that he's aware of what's going on.
• Big Bad: As the host of the Walrider, Billy is the cause for the chaos that consumes Mount Massive by the time Miles arrives.
• Chekhov's Gunman: One of the earliest documents Miles can pick up is a status report about Billy, but he's not seen or mentioned again until the very end of the game outside of one other document.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: And Miles' goal in the end is to cut off that life support, which in his words, is the size of a football stadium.
• Final Boss: He's the final Variant you have to deal with at the end of the base game. The problem is, he's also the host of the Walrider, the most dangerous pursuer in the game.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Billy himself is physically incapable of doing anything, and thus acts through the Walrider. But once Miles is able to outmaneuver the nanite apparition, Billy is defenseless.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Once a person enters the vicinity of Mount Massive, Billy will never let them leave alive. The only exception being Wernicke (Wernicke himself theorizes that Billy may believe the old man to be his father — or, certainly care for him like one). And the only reason he hasn't guided the Walrider outside of the asylum is because he doesn't understand that there are more people to kill out there.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Goes, quite rightly, on one... and then another in the comics when he discovers there was nothing wrong with him and his mother gave him up to Murkoff because she wanted money and they paid well.
• Tragic Monster: He might be the most tragic in this game's sea of tragic villains. One of the first notes you find tells you that he submitted to the Walrider Project on the understanding that Murkoff would take care of his ailing mother. And one of the last notes you find tells you that Murkoff killed her with a guided heart attack to stop her lawsuit against them.
• Unstoppable Rage: He goes on one after he discovers that Murkoff may have killed his mother. He absolutely loses his mind and sends the Walrider to kill every last person in the Asylum. Even if they are random people that enter the Asylum and aren't even patients or have any ties towards Murkoff as he is ensuing his wrathful revenge spree.
• You Killed My Father: One of the first notes you find tells you that Billy can use the Walrider to read dreams. If he found out that Murkoff killed his loving mother, that might be what sent him into "kill everything" mode. It is later revealed, in the comics, that there was nothing wrong with him and his mother just wanted money and was not actually dead and gave him up because Murkoff paid her well.
• Younger Than They Look: Based on the numbers in his patient reports, Billy is in his early twenties. In person, all the trauma he's been put through makes him look middle-aged (or fifty as Miles specifically notes).

Frank Manera

"Gorgeous. Just the smell!"

Voiced by: Edward Yankie

"MINE! YOU ARE MINE!"

An insane cannibal who pursues Waylon with an electric buzzsaw, hoping to kill and eat him.

---

• Animal Motifs: Downplayed, he has multiple eagle tattoos; the most noticeable being his eagle tattoo on his upper chest. He also has a tattoo of an eagle's head on his upper right arm.
• Ax-Crazy: He deliberately starved himself because of his addiction to cannibalism; when the asylum broke down into chaos, Frank started hunting so he can satisfy his hunger. His patient file reveals that he was attacking the other patients out of hunger, which forced the orderlies to relocate him and consider the possibility of forcing him to eat.
• Beard of Evil: He sports an unkempt beard caked in his victims' blood.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: In the crematorium, he was seconds away from killing Waylon with his buzz saw... but instead, Frank looks around, turns off his saw, and tries to "cook" Waylon. Conveniently, the cremation oven has a few loose bricks in the back Waylon can knock out.
• The Butcher: He's already carved up quite a few people, and he intends to make Waylon his next meal.
• Chainsaw Good: He wields a buzz saw as a weapon, which he frequently revs up.
• Deep South: It's hard to see; he has a confederate flag tattoo on his upper left arm, which indicates that he's a neo-confederate. His accent also shows he's from the south of America.
• Establishing Character Moment: When you first encounter him in the underground lab kitchen, he tears into a corpse laid out on the counter, blows up its head in the microwave and then rips out its heart to eat it like fruit.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Compared to Gluskin, Walker, and Trager, all of whom have their backstories revealed either through in-game notes or in Outlast: The Murkoff Account, there's very little information about Frank except that he was an overweight stoner before being committed to Mount Massive. And we — along with Waylon — get to see what he's become by the time of the riot.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: He's less a human and more an animal, descended so far into lunacy that he has a one-track mind of craving for human flesh. Unlike other inmates, almost nothing is known about him and his past.
• I'm a Humanitarian: His key feature.
• Lean and Mean: Bean-pole skinny from undernourishment.
• Madness Mantra:
  "Feed me, feed me, feed me, FEED ME!"
• Naked Nutter: A frenzied cannibal who dresses in nothing but his underwear and a heavy coating of blood.
• Picky Eater: His medical records note that his weight dropped from 228lb to 155lb when he was committed to Mount Massive, and that his attending recommended force-feeding if he couldn't find anything he wanted to eat. Let's just say he's finally figured something out.
• Psychopathic Manchild: If his Madness Mantra and picky eating habits are anything to go by. He fixates on eating Waylon despite there being dozens of other people and bodies he could choose to snack on, and he practically throws a fit when Waylon slips out from under him in the crematorium.
  [after Waylon escapes] "No! NO! You were mine!"
• Starter Villain: Downplayed. He's the first major threat Waylon encounters on his trek through the asylum, and he's dangerous and persistent enough that he easily could have been Whistleblower's heavy, but, unfortunately, Waylon escapes from him into Gluskin's territory.
• Terms of Endangerment: Often uses romantic terms while hunting Waylon, showing how he's more predator than man.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Not a fanservice-y example. He wears nothing but a pair of underwear, has strange markings carved into his chest, and is absolutely covered in the blood of his victims.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He doesn't die, unlike the other main villains. He disappears after Waylon jumps out a window into the recreation grounds. It's justified — he probably couldn't find a safe way to follow Waylon, or he just forgot and moved on to someone else.

Eddie Gluskin A.K.A. The Groom

"You're going to be beautiful."

Voiced by: Graham Cuthbertson

"When I was a boy, my mother often said to me, "get married son, and see how happy you will be." I have looked all over, but no girlie can I find, who seems to be just like the little girl I have in mind..."

Even before being committed to Mount Massive, Gluskin was a misogynistic serial killer obsessed with the idea of finding a perfect wife, who killed and mutilated women in his attempts to create one. After the staff lost control of the asylum, Gluskin began mutilating other men to make them look like his ideal woman, and relentlessly pursued Waylon in an attempt to do the same.

---

• Abusive Parents: He was sexually abused by both his father and his uncle as a child; they apparently were caught and jailed for it.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Surprisingly, given his heinous crimes both before and after the Morphogenic Engine trials, his send-off is rather emotional. It doesn't help that he was molested by his father and uncle while his mother apparently turned a blind eye to the abuse. Some deleted dialogue shows a rare moment of lucidity from him, where he acknowledges the abuse as "filthy" and "wrong." You almost feel sorry for the guy as he bleeds to death.
  Gluskin: (holding Waylon's hand after being impaled) We could have been beautiful.
• Attention Whore: According to his patient case file, he keeps trying to convince the doctors that he's making more progress with the Walrider experiment than he actually is, much to their bemusement and irritation. There's also the whole "killing people who don't return his love" thing.
• Ax-Crazy: While this applies to many of the Variants in general, Eddie stands out by having been a Serial Killer even before he was subjected to the Morphogenic Engine. Afterwards, his insanity worsens to the point of believing he can make a bride out of one of the asylum’s other male patients, and he starts hunting down his fellow inmates before brutally mutilating them in pursuit of that goal. And that’s if he doesn’t kill them outright due to finding them to be unsuitable candidates. This is all on top of having a Hair-Trigger Temper, and being all too willing to take out his frustrations on other people.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Gluskin tries to seduce Waylon and pursues him so they can start a family. Once Gluskin realises that Waylon is terrified of him, he drops all pretences and attempts to hang him.
• The Bluebeard: Gluskin has a desire to get married and start a family but he took the idea too far by abducting the other inmates and “changing” their sex through mutilation. If the inmate survives the surgery or rejects his advances, Gluskin will murder them and find someone else. Waylon even makes a reference to this in his notes, as he calls the note "Blue Beard's Wives."
  "This man thinks he's in love. He thinks the therapy made him better. Everything reeks of death and fear. Piss and coppery blood, meat decomposing to game.''
• Born in the Wrong Century: Gluskin looks and acts like he just stepped out of a Clark Gable romance in his Waistcoat of Style, wistfully singing "I Want A Girl" while he's chasing Waylon, and spouting old-fashioned platitudes as he tries to emasculate him with a table saw.
• Breakout Villain: If one were to ask the fanbase who the most memorable character of Whistleblower was, almost all of them would point to Gluskin, and his popularity rivals Trager's.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The patient that is put into a sphere at the start of Whistleblower and begging for help? That's him. He even seems to recognize Waylon's face somewhat, though he can't quite figure out from where.
• Control Freak: Gluskin wants a family and unconditional love, and so he'll murder and mutilate anyone who disagrees with him. He'll even try to perform a sex change against their consent so they'd be biologically capable of starting a family.
• Create Your Own Villain: Played with in that he seems to be this, but if you listen closely he actually only vaguely remembers that Waylon was one of the people working on him as part of the experiment, and if you pay attention to the collectible notes you'll learn that he was already an extremely gruesome Serial Killer even before being committed to the asylum.
• Creepy Blue Eyes: He has unusually pale blue eyes. They don't attract much attention during the prologue, but after the Engine causes his sclerae to hemorrhage, particularly the left one, they look downright unnerving.
• Crippling Castration: What he plans to do with Waylon, in order to make him "beautiful." After Gluskin knocks him out, he strips him and ties him to a table while preparing to sever his genitals with his buzzsaw. You get to watch him do this with others too.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: As much as Waylon Park (and by proxy the player) was probably thanking that random inmate for saving his life its likely the heroic inmate didn't last long, since the groom is back on your tail immediately afterwards.
• Depraved Homosexual: He is shown to have twisted sexual depravity towards all the inmates and Waylon, who were all males since no traces of females were seen in-game, implying that his sexual interest/desires are in men and not women.
• Disproportionate Retribution: As part of his general insanity, he reacts with psychotic levels of violence to fairly mundane infractions. Scream or struggle too much whilst he's hacking off your genitalia? He'll kill you before you bleed out. Run away from him to avoid being mutilated? He'll track you down while spewing misogynistic slurs, and either stab you or hang you with a makeshift pulley-system turned noose.
• The Dreaded: The other inmates are scared shitless of him, to the point where they don't even refer to him as "Gluskin," preferring to call him "The Man Downstairs" or "The Thing Below" or even "The Groom", which may have been the nickname given to him by the public when he was still killing women. Dennis has began to capture and "gift" other Variants to Gluskin so he will leave him alone when he goes bride-hunting.
• Drone of Dread: Eddie's unique theme music prominently incorporates an extremely high-pitched, siren-like version throughout the entire piece, underscoring how insane Gluskin is.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Misogynistic serial killer he may be, he absolutely will not tolerate children being sexually abused and exploited, which makes sense when you take into account his horrible childhood.
• Evil Is Bigger: He's one of the tallest enemies encountered, at 6'4".
• Face Death with Dignity: When Waylon is able to shift the weight and cause Gluskin's impalement on a pipe, he grabs his Waylon's hand in an attempt to reassure him that "We could have been beautiful." before uttering his final breath when he's impaled deeper on the pipe. If he didn't just try to kill you beforehand, you'd almost feel sorry for him.
• Facial Horror: A milder example than most other Variants. His face is covered in scabs, warts and peeling skin due to a latex allergy gone wild while exposed to the tubing in the Morphogenic Engine, and he clearly has a severe case of subconjunctival hemorrhage in both eyes, the right more so than left.
• Faux Affably Evil: He sounds so deeply in love... while he's trying to mutilate Waylon.
• Final Boss: Of The Whistleblower DLC.
• Freudian Excuse: Not that it excuses any of his actions, but it's implied that the sexual abuse he suffered as a child and an unlucky streak in love as an adult have something to do with his current homicidal proclivities.
• Groin Attack: There are no Mr. Seahorses in the Outlast universe, but Gluskin is sure he can get around this by cutting off another man's genitals. It's also possible for him to lift Waylon up by the neck and stab him thrice in the groin if he catches up to him.
• The Heavy: Of the Vocational Block level. He's also the last enemy you have to outwit in the DLC, making him, technically, its boss.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Winds up Impaled with Extreme Prejudice in the gymnasium where he strings up some of his victims when his efforts at hanging Waylon go disastrously wrong.
• Implausible Deniability: One of the asylum's doctors notes that he refuses to admit that the women he attacked were mutilated or killed, even going so far as to claim that in photos taken of the dead women, they were just sleeping.
• In Love with Love: Deconstructed, Gluskin believes he's a true romantic, wanting nothing more than to find a beautiful woman to spend the rest of his life with and raise a family. The truth is that he's an angry, violent man who really just wants someone to comply with his vision for what "love" should be, and he isn't willing to take no for an answer.
• Insane Equals Violent: He's about the only Variant we have who — apart from Chris Walker — is explicitly confirmed to have been a violent killer even before the Walrider experiments.^note Yes, the Mount Massive Asylum is ostensibly for "the criminally insane," but it's not like every Variant you encounter is trying to kill you, and at least some of the "patients" there are Murkoff staff who were forcibly committed to keep them quiet about the Walrider Project.
• Insane Troll Logic: He believes that cutting off a man's genitals and stuffing his pecs with packing in order to crudely make them into breasts will physically transform his sex into a woman capable of getting pregnant. Every time this inevitably fails, he kills them.
• I Reject Your Reality: Documents and his own actions prove that he refuses to accept the difference between what he believes and reality. Some of the more obvious examples:
  • He insists that his childhood was literally Leave It to Beaver, completely denying the well-documented sexual abuse he suffered. When confronted with photographic evidence, he alternates between trying to laugh it off as fake and flying into a berserk rage.
  • He absolutely refuses to admit he killed his victims; even seeing pictures of the carnage has him insisting that the women in the photographs are "just sleeping."
  • He can't be swayed from his insane, futile plan to "make" a woman from a man, no matter how many victims he kills trying to pull it off.
  • Likewise, he refuses to accept that none of his "bridal candidates" want anything to do with him, and when he does get close, he covers it up with outrage, positioning himself as the victim.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Downplayed. While he was an unrepentant serial killer and misogynist even before being tested in the Walrider experiments, and Waylon displays no pity for killing him in self-defense, his backstory is undoubtedly tragic and he's so utterly delusional that he manages to elicit sympathy with his last breaths.
• Madonna-Whore Complex: Sort of. He'll happily call his current victim "darling," but it shifts to "whore" the instant he thinks they've "rejected" him.
  Gluskin: All of you whores. Your judgment. Your little swinish eyes.
• Man of Wealth and Taste: He's made an old-timey gentleman outfit out of various fabrics.
• Mood-Swinger: Goes from polite and cheerful to screaming with rage when Waylon flees from him.
  Gluskin: Oh god. Oh god, are you okay? Tell me you're okay. I hate to think of you suffering without me. Why would you do something like that to yourself? You'd rather... Rather die than be with me? Then die.
• Mister Seahorse: He wants Waylon, as well as the rest of his victims, to bear his children. As for the biological impossibility of the act... well, he has a "solution".
• Never My Fault: His insanity keeps him from realizing that those "ungrateful sluts" who keep "rejecting" him do so because he keeps hurting, mutilating, murdering and generally just frightening them. And he was like this before he had anything to do with the Murkoff experiments.
• Ominous Walk: Like the Twins, he walks after Waylon, never runs. Unfortunately, once Waylon injures his leg he's able to catch up fairly easily with his slow walking speed.
• Parental Incest: Read Rape as Backstory down below.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He has very outdated ideas about gender roles, and once you "reject" him, he hurls misogynistic slurs at you and tries to murder you even faster. There's also a transmisogynistic ring to his idea that he can turn men into women by mutilating them.
• Rape as Backstory: In-game documents and unused dialogue reveal that his uncle and father repeatedly and brutally raped him when he was a boy, although he tries to deny this fact, and reacts violently when he's given proof that it happened.
• Serial Killer: Even before his arrival at Mount Massive he was killing and mutilating women. And if there's no women around, well, he'll just have to make do with men.
• Shirtless Scene: At the beginning of the DLC. Given the situation, it isn't played for fanservice.
• Speech Impediment: He has a slight lisp, which becomes more pronounced after his exposure to the Engine (possibly due to his resulting facial scarring).
• Stalker with a Crush: He pursues his victims with the sole intent of making them his "bride" before brutally killing them.
• Stalker without a Crush: Waylon assesses Gluskin this way in one of his notes, claiming that Gluskin's bachelor antics are a veneer meant to enable his murderous desires.
• Terms of Endangerment: Affectionately calls Waylon (and his other victims) "darling," and other typically-feminine nicknames. After Waylon escapes his Torture Cellar he starts flip-flopping between these and misogynistic slurs.
  You'll run out of places to go. I know you're not like the others. Or are you just another whore?
• Tragic Monster: The nature of his delusion and homicidal tendencies are subtly implied by documents, as well as his own comments, to be an attempt to "correct" his own childhood and family life, which was about as hideous and upsetting as one's can be. With this in mind, Eddie becomes pitiable, and perhaps if he'd gotten sent to a genuine mental institution instead of Mount Massive, he could have gotten help and worked through his trauma in a healthy way.
• Tuneless Song of Madness: Begins singing a haunting rendition of "I Want A Girl" as he stalks Waylon across the vocational block.
• Villainous Breakdown: Becomes far less cheerful when he realizes that, like his other victims, Waylon has no intentions of sticking around. It's around that time that point that Waylon becomes "you whore" instead of "my darling."
• Villain of Another Story: Miles never encounters him in the base game... but poor Waylon sure does.
• Waistcoat of Style: He managed to snag a bowtie and one of these from somewhere in the asylum.
• Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: Carelessly flips his newly-dead "bride" off his table with gentle chastisements about how "love isn't for everybody." He's also quick to tell a runaway Waylon he brought whatever's coming on himself.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He's a misogynist and serial killer, no doubt, and it goes without saying that Gluskin is a terrible man, but his past as a child sexual abuse survivor still earns him a few sympathy points.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Indicated when he promises Waylon that he would never let any harm come to their hypothetical children, and comes this close to telling him that he was abused as a child before trailing off.

"Dissociative" Dennis

Voiced by: Daniel Brochu

"There's a leak... Pissing down on us. Water takes everything apart... down on us. Up from the sewer, that puts us... Water and time could drill a hole in anything."

A patient at Mount Massive suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder, who hopes that offering "sacrifices" to Gluskin will prevent Gluskin from killing him. He has four split personalities who often converse and argue amongst themselves.

---

• Chekhov's Gunman: He can be heard at one point during the initial riot.
• Deep South: The one constant between his different voices is that they all have a stereotypical "redneck" or "hillbilly" accent and mannerisms, with Grandpa in particular using phrases that could only come out of the darker parts of the Deep South, like angrily comparing the rest of the family to a bundle of newly whelped possums.
• Dirty Coward: His M.O. is that he hangs out around the Vocational Block hoping to toss any stragglers down to Gluskin, reasoning that it will keep Gluskin from coming up there and making him his bride.
• The Dragon: To Gluskin, to keep himself from being killed. After seeing Gluskin in action, we can sympathize as to why he does what he does.
• The Generic Guy: In-universe example; unlike other antagonists, he has a generic variant appearance.
• Man of a Thousand Voices: He varies between four different voices, thus having a conversation with himself.
• Nothing Is Scarier: One might suspect that there are multiple people chasing Park when he shows up, even though they're all him. Certainly makes a player feel much more cornered.
• Offering Another in Your Stead: From dialog between him and his various personalities, it soon becomes clear that he's managed to survive by offering fellow patients to Gluskin so that he won't come upstairs and take Dennis instead... and as bad luck would have it, Waylon Park has ended up in the perfect position to be Dennis' latest sacrificial goat and Gluskin's newest "bride." Naturally, this section ends with Dennis successfully herding Waylon downstairs...
• Split Personality: Supposedly between four people: two brothers, a father, and a grandfather. The four personalities converse while Dennis chases you.
• Split-Personality Takeover: It's very possible that Dennis is no longer there.
• Vocal Dissonance: A two-fold example; when you first encounter Dennis, one of his personalities uses a voice so high-pitched and effeminate that you're actually inclined to think there's really a woman down there with you. Not only does the voice itself come from a man, but according to a document you find, his four personalities make up a four-strong, all-male family. Meaning that girlish voice represents one of the "sons" in Dennis' imaginary family.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never revealed what happened to him after he finished his goal of leading Park to Gluskin, especially since there is a 12 hour Time Skip not long after.

Patients 14306-8, 14279-1 and 14868-1

Three patients at Mount Massive and subjects of the Morphogenic Engine. Scattered documents claim that they were considered more "successful" than Billy Hope, and that even Wernicke was unaware of their potential as "lucid dreamers." They were secretly removed from the facility under heavy security before the breakout. They are physically blind, but "not unseeing."

---

• Disability Superpower: Documents claim that they are physically blind "but not unseeing."
• The Ghost: None of the three are seen, and they probably weren't even at the asylum by the time the game starts.
• Master of Illusion: They are very heavily restrained and a document advises that all attempts at communication from them be disregarded as hallucinations, so they seem to be able to alter what other people can see and hear, whatever they lack themselves.
• Psychic Powers: Implied. Just what could make a man physically blind but "not unseeing"?
• Sequel Hook: Their only existence is from a single document in the game, and from the security detail, it looks like they're more dangerous than everything in Mount Massive combined.
• Shout-Out: Their document is called Three Blind Dreamers, referencing the nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice.

Murkoff Corporation

Mount Massive Staff

In General

The Murkoff Corporation is the company behind the reopening of Mount Massive Asylum. While appearing as a charitable organization to the public, they are in fact a highly immoral research organization holding incredibly dangerous technologies that they use to perform experiments on humans. The company apparently has multiple research projects at multiple locations, with Mount Massive Asylum being the grounds for their Walrider Project.

---

• Corporate Conspiracy: While they're viewed as a charitable corporation by the public, the Murkoff Corporation is actually a highly unethical Research, Inc., reopening the Mount Massive Asylum as a research facility with the inmates serving as guinea pigs for the Walrider Project.
• Research, Inc.: Their primary motivation seems to be researching advanced technologies, never mind the unethical human testing and potentially disastrous outcomes.

Dr. Rudolf Gustav Wernicke

"Nothing is supernatural."

Voiced by: Marcel Jeannin

"My homeland in those years... it's impossible to understand. The things we felt. What we believed. The overwhelming fear, extatic rage, and... English words are insufficient. More than hope. A human mind in that environment is capable of extraordinary things."

One of the researchers who worked in the hidden research facility beneath Mount Massive Asylum and the co-founder of the Murkoff Psychiatric Systems. He was the main scientist behind the whole Walrider experiment and the cause of everything that happens in Outlast.

---

• Ambiguously Gay: In the document named "The Spirit Breach", it is mentioned that he had a "brief but unfortunate" relationship with Alan Turing, although it is unspecified whether it was professional or romantic. Considering that the document mentions that Wernicke should be excluded from all culling programs from Nazi Germany, it is likely the latter.
• And I Must Scream: Though Billy wants to keep him alive out of love, he only wants to die.
• The Atoner: It's made clear that he regrets creating the Walrider, and only wants the project to end.
• Dark Lord on Life Support: Is always in a wheelchair and seems to be on a life-support system in addition to the Walrider's actions itself.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Documents throughout the Asylum suggest that Wernicke was too caught up in Billy's partial success to notice the other three blind dreamers; his actions at the end of the game — namely having Miles shot to make sure there were no Walrider hosts left — imply that he had noticed their success and deliberately kept quiet as Murkoff having Billy was bad enough...
• Evil Old Folks: He is very old indeed, and was once a Nazi scientist. Subverted, as a document you can find late in the game strongly implies that he was forced to work for the Nazis in exchange for his life, and Wernicke himself claims he deliberately allowed "those fascists" to believe that his early Walrider experiments were of a supernatural nature.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He was the founder of the Murkoff Corporation, as well as the creator of the Walrider. However, when Billy Hope became the Walrider's host, he used it to kill everything in sight.
• Herr Doktor: A textbook example; he's a brilliant scientist and an ex-Nazi to boot. Unusually, despite the ex-Nazi bit, he's self-aware enough to deeply regret the things he's done and seen over the course of his life.
• Mad Scientist: Implied and subverted.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: "Hero" is debatable, but Wernicke did make it clear he wants to stop the Walrider after coming to regret creating it. At the end of the game, he has Miles gunned down in order to prevent him from becoming a potential host. Unfortunately, Miles had already became the new host (and seemed to have enough control over himself), allowing the Walrider to escape once again.
• Posthumous Character: Everyone in the game knows he's already long dead. He's actually locked away in the lab under Mount Massive, subverting this.
• Sound-Only Death: Implied in the ending.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His reason for wanting everyone in the asylum, including Miles, to die is so the Walrider doesn't gain a new host.

Jeremy Blaire

"Somebody's been telling stories outside of class."

Voiced by: Matt Holland

"The Murkoff Corporation and the onward march of science both appreciate your bravery and sacrifice."

One of Murkoff's high-ranking officials, the head of Mount Massive Asylum, and a supervisor to Waylon Park.

---

• Asshole Victim: His utterly horrible actions and smug personality don't earn him much pity when the Walrider shows up and tears him to shreds.
• Big Bad: For the Whistleblower DLC, as being the Murkoff executive overseeing Project Walrider makes almost everything you encounter here his fault. He also personally ruins Waylon's life by making him their newest test subject.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: For reference, the first thing he's seen doing is reacting to the eponymous whistleblower, Waylon Park, by forcing him into the Morphogenic Engine program. The other two times, he outright tries to kill him before he can get out and reveal what Murkoff has done.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The Walrider lifts him up into the air and rips him to pieces. And unlike with Chris Walker, it's thoroughly well-deserved.
• Dirty Coward: Begs Waylon, whom he condemned to absolute hell not twelve hours before, to help him as he succumbs from his wounds. He then stabs Waylon while his guard is down. Thankfully, he gets what he deserves.
• Devious Daggers: Near the end of Whisterblower, he uses a hidden knife to stab Waylon after begging him beforehand to help him up.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Horribly subverted. Jeremy writes an email talking about how he feels it's somehow discriminatory and bad practice that only male inmates are imprisoned at Mount Massive Asylum, and Murkoff should look into this. In any sane organisation this would seem a fairly reasonable equality-based sentiment. Except for the fact that the Asylum is purely used for horrific experiments and has a complete lack of actual benevolent medical care. What Jeremy is actually complaining about is that they are not taking the opportunity to torture women in their evil experiments there as well.
• Eviler than Thou: When even Pauline Glick, who by her own admission is not a good person, hates you, you know you've sunk to a level that no one wants to reach. Jeremy has reached that level.
• Faux Affably Evil: He puts on an air of professional politeness, but is very corrupt, greedy, and sadistic. He drops the polite facade altogether in the end.
• Greater-Scope Villain: In the main game, he is never encountered. Dr. Wernicke takes over the role of "pivotal antagonist you never actually meet or are antagonized by" in Whistleblower. Hell, even in Whistleblower, Blaire only directly gets in Park's way three times, all very briefly.
• Hate Sink: As the highest-ranking Murkoff employee left on-site, Blaire puts a human face to an utterly inhumane MegaCorp. Personally, he only ever shows up to make Waylon's life worse and crush every chance the player has to escape or warn the outside world, with all the smug arrogance a slimy, corporate suit like himself can muster. He doesn't even have the "insanity" excuse that everyone else has; he's just a repulsive bastard, through and through. Which just makes watching him get ripped to pieces by the Walrider extremely satisfying.
• Hypocrite: Apparently thinks it's "unethical" to not include women in Project Walrider. Never mind that the entire project is an extreme violation of any sort of ethical standards.
• Jerkass: Has his men beat Waylon for sending the email, forcibly enroll him in the Morphogenic Engine Program, wreck the radio that Waylon was going to use to call help, personally threatened Waylon's family with healthcare debt if they asked further about Waylon's fate (according to documents), enrolled female inmates into the project For Science! (according to documents), and pretends to be injured so he could get close to Waylon and finish him off. Basically, each scene with him is one Kick the Dog after another.
• Karmic Death: He's killed by the Walrider, the very thing he tried to keep a secret. It may be a subversion since it was really Miles controlling the Walrider.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Putting Trager through the Morphogenic Engine. Doing the same to Gluskin may count as well.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Thanks to the possessed Miles.
• Near-Villain Victory: He nearly kills Waylon, would've destroyed any evidence on the camcorder, and escape with only a small wound at the end if it wasn't for the Miles-controlled Walrider.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: This physically-ordinary Corrupt Corporate Executive manages to survive the entirety of the events of the game, with there likely being not a single variant in the asylum who wouldn't want him killed and killed hard, with only a small wound to his name by the time Park reaches the exit. He would have escaped, too, killing Park and presumably destroying the footage on his camera if it weren't for a Big Damn Heroes moment from the Miles-controlled Walrider.
• Oh, Crap!: He completely loses his cool and screams in terror when the Walrider attacks and kills him.
• The Sociopath: He's not a Variant, but he's still extremely cruel even by the games' standards without even blinking an eye. Park himself describes him as "a man who'd see me skinned, salted, and raped for a promotion and a few martinis".
• Sadist: He's one of the most disgustingly sadistic characters, absolutely relishing the prospect of torturing Waylon to death after his attempt to blow the whistle. He actually seems to enjoy the hellish suffering in the Asylum, even petitioning for female prisoners to be submitted to the horrible experiments too in order to boost the number of victims.
• Smug Snake: He's a cowardly, smug, despicable Jerkass who cares about no one and nothing but himself. It makes his extremely painful death all the more satisfying.
• Stronger Than They Look: For a physically ordinary-looking businessman, along with being a Smug Snake, you would be forgiven to think that he would be a Non-Action Big Bad. But he proves to be a Hidden Badass to survive nearly the entire events of the game, filled with variants who would want to give him payback, and only end up with a small wound near the end. While he usually catches Waylon off guard, he's still capable of physically overpowering him, also given that Waylon isn't a fighter, and would've nearly killed him too in their second and final encounters if it weren't for outside factors.
• Villain Has a Point: A Smug Snake he is, but he had a point in his "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Waylon at the beginning of Whistleblower; simply thinking that a "borrowed laptop, an onion router, and a firewall patch" would be enough to fool the world's leading supplier of biometric security, all while listing Waylon's academic accomplishments of graduating from UC Berkeley, cum laude, and software engineer profession beforehand.
• Villainous Friendship: It's implied that he and Trager were friends in one document you can find, where he mentions having fun golfing with him and finishes with "Jer". As the comic reveals, this friendship in no way stops him from forcibly committing Trager to the asylum as a patient.

Mount Massive Security Guards

Murkoff's security guards were instructed to protect Mount Massive Asylum in the event of a patient breakout at all costs. During the patient outbreak, most of them were left unarmed due to needing a high-security clearance to gain access to decent weaponry, leaving many with only their muscles and fists to defend themselves.

---

• Artificial Stupidity: They will neglect your presence completely.
• Asshole Victim: They beat you (as Waylon) up until you pass out, at which point they subject you to the Morphogenic Engine. After the breakout, a good number of them get stabbed, beheaded or Impaled with Extreme Prejudice and you (the player) have the personal option of gratification.
• Black Comedy: In the Administration Block, you have the option to press the elevator button, which causes a security guard to fall to his death in the elevator shaft. You get an achievement for this on the Xbox One.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Almost all of them are unarmed.
• No Name Given: None of them are given names. Instead, they are referred to as "agents."
• Paper Tiger: Before the outbreak, the guards are shown to be irritable and confident, but after the breakout they become terrified and realise there is a high chance they will not survive.
• Police Are Useless: They lose the facility to the Variants.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: They're quite foul-mouthed.
• Wall Slump: Many of the guards are dead in this position.

Murkoff's Tactical Division

Murk Tactical

Murkoff's Tactical Division, also known as Murk Tactical, refers to a group of Private Military Contractors (PMCs) employed by the Murkoff Corporation. In lieu of their training the tactical operators are also seen to be in possession of high quality gear such as heavy flak jackets and automatic weapons as well as MRAP vehicles. Despite being heavily armed, most if not all of them were butchered by the inmates and the Walrider.

---

• Artificial Stupidity: They will always be unaware of Waylon Park's proximity, no matter what.
• Asshole Victim: At the end of the main game, they shoot and kill Miles, unaware that he's the Walrider's new host.
• Black Comedy: In Whistleblower, you find them examining Rick Trager's corpse and discussing his death.
  Tactical Operator 1: Is he dead?
  Tactical Operator 2: You wanna check his pulse?
  Tactical Operator 1: Um. Let's just say he's dead.
  Tactical Operator 2: Yeah...What kind of sick fuck would do this to somebody? Even took his damn pants.
  Tactical Operator 1: Tell you one thing: I've seen enough dick and balls tonight to last me a lifetime.
  Tactical Operator 2: And not all of them attached to a man. Let's wrap this up and get back to the truck.
  Tactical Operator 1: Amen.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: What happened to Stephenson, courtesy of Chris Walker.
• Made of Plasticine: Despite wearing flak jackets and being armed with automatic weapons, a majority of them get slaughtered by the Variants and the Walrider.
• No Name Given: Stephenson is the only named one.
• Shoot Everything That Moves: "All teams authorized for deadly force. Repeat, all teams deadly force! Kill anything that moves!"
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Much like the guards.
• Sound-Only Death:
  • They're slaughtered by the Walrider, now controlled by Miles as the credits roll.
  Tactical Operative: "Jesus Christ, what is that thing?!"
  • Near the end of Outlast: Whistleblower, you can hear Miles slaughtering the Tactical Team over a radio.
• SWAT Team: They're essentially Murkoff's personal SWAT.
• The Worf Effect: The Walrider picks them up and throws them around like ragdolls over the security camera.

Stephenson

The Dying Soldier

Stephenson was a team leader of a group of Murkoff's personal mercenaries, sent to stop the havoc at Mount Massive Asylum caused by its patients and the Walrider.

---

• Almost Dead Guy: Seemingly dead having been impaled on an iron pole, he suddenly wakes up and tells Miles to not fight back, to hide, and escape while he still can before dying from his injuries.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He was impaled vertically on an iron pole.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Courtesy of Chris Walker.
• What You Are in the Dark: Uses his dying words to help Miles escape, even when there's no way he could possibly help him.

Murkoff Insurance Mitigation Department

Paul Marion

The protagonist of The Murkoff Account comics alongside Pauline Glick. An agent for the Murkoff Corporation who works to treat his daughter's illness. Once involved in the Mount Massive and Temple Gate cases, Paul is forced to turn against Murkoff and hunt down the Walrider by Simon Peacock.

---

• Action Duo: Our heroes, Paul Marion and Pauline Glick, nicknamed "The Pauls". Though they split up after Marion's Heel–Face Turn.
• Agent Mulder: Is described by Pauline as having his head in the clouds and making deductions based on his intuition alone.
• Almighty Janitor: The Pauls are Murkoff insurance officers but they see just as much action as the Tactical Division.
• Anti-Hero: Marion is a bit more empathetic than his Villain Protagonist partner Glick.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Marion goes from Villain Protagonist to unwilling Anti-Hero when his daughter goes missing and he is recruited by Simon Peacock.
• Gut Feeling: Makes wild intuitive leaps which are usually proven right, to Pauline's frustration.
• Heel–Face Turn: Marion is forced into one when his daughter is kidnapped.
• I Have Your Daughter: We Have Your Daughter, Marion.
• In-Series Nickname: Creampuff.
• The Lost Lenore: Joanne Marion. In a flashback (or vision), she is revealed to have died before the start of the series due to a condition shared with Alice. Paul never remarried.
• The Men in Black: The Pauls, as the amoral, dressed-in-all-black insurance thugs of Murkoff. Murkoff isn't quite the government, but it's so well-funded and untouchable that it might as well be.
• Papa Wolf: Turns into one after Alice is kidnapped. He admits to the FBI agent interviewing him that he's guilty of murder, kidnapping, and arson following the destruction of Temple Gate.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He makes this excuse when Simon Peacock confronts him about the evil people he works for.
• Seen It All: The Pauls are long, long jaded to the bizarre abominations they have to deal with whilst working under Murkoff.

Pauline Glick

Paul's partner in the insurance department, although he is her primary target. Dangerous and effective, Pauline is loyal to Murkoff and possesses security clearance outpacing executives like Jeremy Blaire.

---

• Action Duo: Our heroes, Paul Marion and Pauline Glick, nicknamed "The Pauls". Though they split up after Marion's Heel–Face Turn.
• Agent Scully: To Paul's Agent Mulder.
• Almighty Janitor: The Pauls are Murkoff insurance officers but they see just as much action as the Tactical Division.
• Ambiguously Bi: Glick definitely likes girls, but shoots down Blaire's flirts, not because he's a man, but because she doesn't date coworkers.
• Being Evil Sucks: Issue 4 implies she's not happy about what she does and who she is.
• Combat Stilettos: Tends to wear heels throughout the series.
• Dark Action Girl: Glick might just be an insurance officer, but she's packing heat and knows how to use it. She's also gone up against and beaten Walker, Trager, and the Walrider.
• Deadpan Snarker: "He's lost weight." Or, "Since when does Murkoff hurt women and kids?"
• Depraved Homosexual: Glick's homosexuality is put in a really sleazy light.
• The Men in Black: The Pauls, as the amoral, dressed-in-all-black insurance thugs of Murkoff. Murkoff isn't quite the government, but it's so well-funded and untouchable that it might as well be.
• Noodle Incident: She immediately recognizes the bitter taste of a roofie, implying she's been roofie'd and raped before.
• Psycho Lesbian: She's a lesbian who's so Trigger-Happy she's a damn near Ax-Crazy Blood Knight.
• Seen It All: The Pauls are long, long jaded to the bizarre abominations they have to deal with whilst working under Murkoff.
• Trigger-Happy: She almost qualifies as Ax-Crazy or Blood Knight.
• Villain Protagonist: In contrast with Marion's Anti-Hero.
  • Issue 4 implies she's not proud of who she is, when she tells Marion to spend some time with his daughter and "make sure she doesn't grow up to be somebody like me."

Others

The Walrider

A man-made ghost created by Dr. Wernicke. Described as a humanoid swarm of nanomachines produced by biological functions through the Morphogenic Engine, its host is currently Billy Hope, and Father Martin's mad religion focuses on the worship of the Walrider.

---

• Always a Bigger Fish: Is this to Chris Walker, whom it beats the shit out of before grinding him to pieces with a vent.
• Animal Motifs: In The Murkoff Account, the Walrider possesses a colony of ants after being forced to evacuate from the host. In real life, ants use members of their own colony to create living structures to cross water and gaps. In Outlast, the Walrider is entirely composed of nanites which create a living structure in the form of a ghostly humanoid.
• Artificial Intelligence: Word of God clarifies that the Walrider is this. It's a collection of nannies formed into one ghost-like structure.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Although the Walrider is a creature that is mundane (at least according to Wernicke), it does connect with, and is strengthened by the dreams and beliefs of those around it, and in turn affects the world through the wishes of its host, which is why Wernicke is so insistent it not be worshipped. This explains how Billy Hope, the Walrider's host, was able to find out about his mother through reading "the blood dreams of Doctor Trager"... and how the Walrider was able to feed on the worship of Father Martin's cult to break the restraints placed upon it by Wernicke.
• Clarke's Third Law: Wernicke deliberately states that the Walrider is not supernatural, and that there is no such thing as the supernatural. Rather, it is a very human creation that seems to be supernatural. However, he does constantly abjure his fellow scientists not to "worship" the Walrider, knowing that it can feed on the power of dreams and beliefs to become stronger. His warnings failed, not because of the scientists, but because of the patients.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: "Fights" with it are measured in seconds. To put it into perspective, it managed to turn Chris Walker (who himself is no pushover being strong enough to smash through steel doors and tear people's heads off with one hand) into Ludicrous Gibs instantly after toying and throwing him around.
• Dark Is Evil: Averted. It seems to be the case, but its behavior shows it's a Non-Malicious Monster. It only attacks those who Billy commands it to kill.
• Dem Bones: Even though it's a being made out of nanites and has the ability to shapeshift, the Walrider most frequently takes the form of a translucent skinless human male. We say "translucent" as this form also includes a visible inner skeleton.
• Deus est Machina: To Father Martin and his cult. Wernicke also warns the scientists employed at Mount Massive to refrain from considering the Walrider as a god or entity to worship, despite its overwhelming intelligence and power.
• Do Androids Dream?: Safe to say Word of God takes this viewpoint on the sentience of the Walrider. If Wernicke's excerpts from Frankenstein are anything to go by, he may also be denying a truth that he already knows.
• Dragon-in-Chief: To its host, Billy Hope and then Miles Upshur when he kills the former. The Walrider is head and shoulders the most dangerous thing in the asylum and far more threatening than its host, but it requires one nonetheless to function.
• The Dreaded: Everyone is terrified of it. The Variants worship and fear it at the same time, Chris Walker is desperately trying to contain it, its own creator wants it dead and Jeremy Blaire screams in complete horror when it attacks him. Considering it kills Walker with no effort whatsoever, this reputation is more than warranted.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Word of God says that dogs hate it, and it feels the same way towards them.
• Final Boss: Of the main game.
• Grand Theft Me: Though details on the Walrider are vague, it's implied that it can possess others and use their bodies as puppets; however, an ideal host can control the entity and use its power for their own aims. The host will also enjoy a symbiotic relationship, granted superhuman strength and healing from the Walrider. The DLC and comics prove that this is what happens to Miles, using the Walrider to survive his attempted murder, kill the military squad, save Waylon, and later take revenge on Murkoff.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: The point of Project: Walrider is to do this, with only the insane who have seen enough horror able to take control of it for their own ends.
• Hive Mind: How the Walrider is described to communicate with its hosts. Word of God describes it in terms of octopus neurology.
• Invisible Monsters: Being a "ghost" made out of nanites, it can't be seen by the naked eye unless you activate the nightvision on your camera. Interestingly, it sometimes emits some sort of black or blue foggy arua to indicate its presence (beyond the sudden change in background music).
• Mechanical Abomination: The Morphogenic Engine in a nutshell.
• Nanomachines: Its makeup.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Basically its hobby.
• One-Hit Kill: Getting caught by the Walrider during normal gameplay will pretty much mean instant death.
• Organic Technology: Of a sort. The nanites used in its creation were formed inside the cells of the Variants.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Seems like a ghost, but is truly a nanomachine creation.
• Right Under Their Noses: Averted. Unlike every other enemy in the game, you cannot hide from the Walrider, full-stop. It isn't fooled by hiding in lockers or under beds, and will immediately yank you out of whatever hiding place you foolishly chose and tear Miles apart.
• Super-Strength: Shows this in how it kills people as it's able to lift the very large Chris Walker and throw him into a bladed fan.
• Villainous Rescue: It kills Chris Walker and Jeremy Blaire, the latter of which is more of a subversion due to Miles being in control by then.
• Walking Spoiler: It's pretty much impossible not to spoil the final moments of the game when talking about this thing.
• The Worf Effect: When it takes over as the final enemy of the main game, it promptly kills Walker without breaking a sweat, who had up until this point been the most dangerous man in the asylum.
• The Worm That Walks: The Walrider is composed entirely of nanites, tiny robots that form together as a living structure.

Simon Peacock

Voiced by: Simon Peacock

A mysterious former Murkoff employee working to expose the atrocities of the Murkoff corporation.

---

• Anti-Hero: He's fighting against the Murkoff Corporation but he's also willing to kidnap Paul Marion's daughter and cut off her finger to force him to help.
• The Atoner: He's a former Murkoff employee who could no longer turn a blind eye to its activities.
• Big Good: He only appears briefly in the game and comics, but he helps Waylon expose Murkoff and forces Paul Marion to help.
• Creepy Good: He's an early version of the Walrider and probably the biggest threat to Murkoff.
• The Danza: The character is named after his voice actor.
• Flawed Prototype: He claims to be a "rough draft" that Murkoff eventually perfected into the Walrider.
• Heroic Host: He's pulling the strings behind the anti-Murkoff resistance and he's host to a "rough draft" of the Walrider.
• Homeless Hero: He's often seen disguised as a homeless person.
• Horrifying Hero: A seemingly undead creature immune to bullets fighting the Murkoff corporation. He's also willing to threaten the families of Murkoff employees to get what he wants.
• Immune to Bullets: Pauline Glick fires several shots at him but he isn't harmed.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His heavy Australian accent and status as manager of VIRALeaks, the website Waylon Park uploads his Mount Massive asylum footage to, can bring Julian Assange to mind.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He used to be one until his conscience caught up with him. He also tends to exploit other Punch Clock Villains like Paul Marion, knowing that they aren't "true believers" in what Murkoff does.
• The Villain Knows Where You Live: Pulls this with Paul by leaving the coordinates to Temple Gate in his mailbox and claiming that Alice is connected to the experiment there.

Alison Marion

The sickly daughter of Paul Marion. Simon claims she is connected to Murkoff's experiments at Temple Gate.

---

• Alice Allusion: A young blonde girl with the namesake of the titular Alice in Wonderland in a horror series which deals with "madness".
• Chekhov's Gunman: Word of God says that Alice will play a more crucial role as the story progresses.
• Daddy's Girl: Alice admits that she just wants Paul to come home more often when he asks her what gifts she would like when he returns from work trips. Paul also mentions that he promised her he would be present for her transfusion therapy after leaving the hospital in Issue 5.
• Damsel in Distress: Becomes this after she is kidnapped in the epilogue.
• Deadpan Snarker: When Paul gives her a doll as a present, she quips back that she's fifteen. Later on, she tells him not to be a nerd. Ouch.
• Delicate and Sickly: Alice is a teenager who suffers from a mysterious, incurable blood disease which often lands her in the hospital for treatments while her father keeps vigil at her bedside.
• Fingore : Assumed to be missing a finger after Paul finds one in her bedroom, complete with nail polish, along with an ominous message written in her blood.
• I Have Your Daughter: "YOU WORK FOR US NOW." The reason that Paul defects from Murkoff.
• Minor Major Character: Remains in the background throughout the story, and winds up being kidnapped at the climax.
• Healthcare Motivation: Paul works for the Murkoff Corporation to keep Alice on experimental treatments only they can provide for her fatal disease.
• Mirror Character: Shades of this trope are seen when Paul makes a comparison between Alice and Billy Hope in Issue 3. Likewise, there is also an eerie visual and thematic parallel between her and Anna Lee, the Jane Doe from Outlast 2, in Issue 5. Rather than having short, boyish hair as described by Blake, she shares long blonde hair with Alice in the comics. Both girls are stated to be fifteen. Anna Lee's mother was cast out due to sickness. Ethan defects from Temple Gate after Knoth assaults his daughter. She escapes Temple Gate with her uncle, also by the name of Paul.
• Missing Mom: During Paul's flashback induced by the towers at the Sinyala Facility in Issue 5, it's revealed that Alice's mother died from an infection related to the blood disease that they share.
• Morality Pet: Seems to be one for Paul. Although he's a decent guy compared to most Murkoff employees, the prologue of the comics reveals that he has committed several murders and kidnappings since the disappearance of Alice. Also serves as this to some degree for Pauline, who often comments that Paul should spend time with Alice and that she'd rather not see her grow up to be like herself, although this doesn't stop her from putting out an order to hunt Paul down in the epilogue.
• Soap Opera Disease: She inherited a blood disease from her mother that is incurable and fatal to carriers, but which is never named. The Murkoff Corporation is the only entity which holds the key to her treatment.

---