Darkling
A creature formed from the sticky darkness that gathers in the forgotten corners of the human soul, the Darkling has been trapped in a nether world for centuries, and now knows only hunger.
-Epitaph
For centuries, the Darkling has been trapped in a nether world, unable to reach the mortal planes. It hungers for souls.
-Beta Epitaph
Darkling is a Shadow who is the main focus of Summoners Not Included, The Blair Wisp Project and What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?. Freeing him is the main objective of the base game.
Appearance
Darkling is a being made out of darkness from human heart. He is a skinless creature, with his muscles and tendons exposed. Darkling is quadrupedal, using his hands and legs as means of locomotion. His hands are very long and skinny, with sharp, claw-like fingers on his hands. His legs are short and end with white hoofs. Darkling's body consists of a slender torso with visible ribs and a long head with two black eyes and a mouth filled with long, crooked teeth. Darkling has the ability to consume the souls of mortals.
How To Free
Darkling can be freed by disabling Dr Krauss's trap powered by the inmates of the asylum. To do this, you need to open the doors trapping the inmates. However, the asylum is protected by indestructible astral ward. Additionally, one of the inmates, Bruce Elm, is in a catatonic state and can't walk on his own. You will need to sneak a ghost capable of destroying electrical equipment as well as a Sandman using either an Ethereal Gift or Trojan Gift. The upper floors of the hospital are inaccessible to most mortals besides the four asylum staff members: Orderly Luther Laneuville, Orderly Paco Lacamara, Nurse Valerie Goldberg and Nurse Mildred Fletcher. These fours will regularly travel from the asylum floor to the bathrooms below as well as the patient rooms. You can use a Fetch bound to the bathroom mirror or a Trickster bound to Kevin Caulkin to create a gift which will allow ghosts to infiltrate the upper levels of the asylum. Binding an electrical ghost to guard room on the asylum floor and using electrical powers will open all doors allowing all inmates to escape except Bruce. Bind a Sandman to him and use Sleepwalk. Alternatively, you can create a thunder storm using strong wind and rain. This will also open all asylum doors. A sleeping mortal can also be used to gain access to the asylum as sleepwalking mortals will eventually go upstairs. A scared mortal may also wander upstairs and open the doors themselves, however this is unreliable most of the time. After disabling the trap, Darkling will consume the soul of Dr Krauss, if he's present, and will become free.
Cut Content
Darkling's plot went through two known revisions during development:
- One of his earliest versions placed the spirit in Groundhog Night, this stage of Darkling's existance is not fully known unfortunatly.
- The next version of his plot would have went mostly the same as it does in the base game however it diverges following the events of The Blair Wisp Project where he is instead taken by the military and brought to their base. During the events of Full Mortal Jacket freeing the Darkling would have been one of the levels main objectives, it would have been done by finding a tape containing the reccording of the summoning ritual and bringing it to a nearby reccorder. With the Darkling freed he would then become a required ghost in the What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?, as he would be the only ghost capable of defeating the Nether Spirit however, through unknown circumstances Darkling would have been captured again by the Man In Black who would take him to their base which the Ghost Master would attack in order to free the spirit in Ghost In the Military Machine.
Powers
| Level | Power | Teachable | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Devour | Labyrinth | Swappable |
| 9 | Psychotic Rage | - | |
| 8 | Frozen Stiff! | - | |
| 7 | Obsession | - | |
| 6 | Terrorise | - | |
| 5 | Mania | - | |
| 4 | Ice Breath | - | |
| 3 | Hidden Maze | Yes | |
| 2 | Shattered Nerves | - | |
| 1 | Bitter Cold | Fluster | Yes |
Voice lines
Normal Lines
|
|
|---|---|
| Restless Spirit 1 (The Blair Wisp Project) | |
| "Bring me more souls, more delicate morsels to sate the cyclopean appetite of the Darkling. Such tiny minds must be easy to herd… Upon reaching this place they shall leave never more." | |
| Restless Spirit 2 (The Blair Wisp Project) | |
| "Bring them to me, let darkness consume their pitiful existences. Dark destiny will not be denied this day!" | |
| Lay To Rest (The Blair Wisp Project, Unused) | |
| "Freedom! Now the mortal world will be wracked by my dread power!" | |
| Darkling Being Captured (The Blair Wisp Project, Unused) | |
| "Wait! What treachery is this…? Noooooooo…..!" | |
| Restless Spirit 1 (What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?) | |
| "This mortal fool, who purports to worship my majesty - as if I desire the fealty of the worms of the earth…! - has bound me within this mystic apparatus. Perchance he seeks to pervert my power to his own megalomaniac ends. The mortal world shall be consumed by my dark dominion - but I shall not have my sovereignty threatened by these accursed beams that snare me." | |
| Restless Spirit 2 (What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?) | |
| "The fool thinks his ambition unconquerable, his person unique… disrupt the beams that I may be free to exact unutterable revenge!" | |
| Restless Spirit 3 (What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?, Unused) | |
| "The foolish mortal's plans unravel, as shall all who dare limit their trembling in my austere presence! Yet the beams still function. Are they powered by those broken minds I sense beneath me?" | |
| Lay To Rest (What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?) | |
| "Such premeditated indignity must be repaid in wrathful spite - I, the Darkling, the quintessential avatar of the putrescent abyss of mortal iniquity, shall feast upon the succulent sweatmeats of their sanity and suck out all the marrow of their souls!" | |
| Restless Spirit 1 (Full Mortal Jacket, Unused) | |
| "So close! My form is pressed against the very skin of this reality! I would break through, to feed upon these petty creatures who writhe in self-created pits of stagnant, impotent emotion! My summoning was recorded upon a primitive data storage device in the form of images and sounds - if this ritual can be replayed, my summoning will be complete!" | |
| Restless Spirit 2 (Full Mortal Jacket, Unused) | |
| "Find the cassette that contains my summoning and use it to complete the ritual!" | |
| Lay To Rest (Full Mortal Jacket Unused) | |
| "Finally! Freedom is mine! A whole world to ravage, and countless scurrying, honey-sweet souls to taste!" | |
| Banishment | |
| "What? Defeated? Can this be?" | |
| Dispel | |
| "You are spared for now, tiny mortal - but I will have your soul." |
Beta Lines
|
|
|---|---|
| Restless Spirit 1 (The Blair Wisp Project) | |
| "Bring me more souls, more delicate morsels to sate the cyclopean appetite of the Darkling. I can aid thee for suitably empowered, I will twist the labyrinth paths of these woods! Upon reaching this place, they shall leave nevermore!" | |
| Restless Spirit 2 (The Blair Wisp Project) | |
| "Bring them to me, let darkness consume their pitiful existences. Give me power and I shall intertwine the paths so the dark destiny will not be denied!" | |
| Sucking out Mortal Souls (The Blair Wisp Project) | |
| "The power grows with each soul consumed! Soon I shall be freed! And lay the mortal realms to waste!" | |
| Restless Spirit 1 (Full Mortal Jacket) | |
| "So close! My form is pressed against the very skin of this reality! I would break through, to feed upon these petty creatures who writhe in self-created pits of stagnant, impotent emotion! My summoning was recorded upon a primitive data storage device in the form of images and sounds - if this ritual can be replayed, my summoning will be complete!" | |
| Restless Spirit 2 (Full Mortal Jacket) | |
| "Find the cassette that contains my summoning and use it to complete the ritual!" | |
| Lay To Rest (Full Mortal Jacket) | |
| "Finally! Freedom is mine! A whole world to ravage, and countless scurrying, honey-sweet souls to taste!" | |
| Encountering the Nether Spirit (What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?) | |
| "No, only I... Darkling of a thousand mortal nightmares can withstand direct conflict from this... vile entity." | |
| Fighting the Nether Spirit (What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?) | |
| "I will battle this abomination, but can only hold it in check while it has scope to feed. Free the shattered mortals beneath!" | |
| Captured by MIB (What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?) | |
| "I am too weak to escape! This- This cannot be!" | |
| Lay to Rest (Ghost in the Military Machine) | |
| "Such... premeditated indignity must be repaid in wrathful spite! I! The Darkling! The quintessential avater of the putrescent abyss of mortal iniquity! Shall feast, upon the succulent sweet meats of their sanity and suck out all the marrows of their souls. | |
| Banishment | |
| "What? Defeated? Can this be?" | |
| Dispel | |
| "You are spared for now, tiny mortal - but I will have your soul." |
Gallery
Concept Art
Darkling's Concept Art
Darkling's Early Design
Model Renders
Darkling's Collector's Edition Render
In-Game Screenshots
Darkling As A Restless Spirit In The Blair Wisp Project
Darkling Being Captured
Darkling As A Restless Spirit In What Lies Over Cuckoo's Nest?
|
Other/Promotional Materials
Darkling As Seen In A Trailer
Trivia
- Darkling's design based on The Beast from the 1982 horror movie, Poltergeist.
- Originally, Darkling was intended to have a ghost made out of shadows however due to the limited technology and a design which the team considered "underwhelming to be the 'big bad' in our story" it was eventually scrapped and changed.
- Despite being the central focus of 3 missions, he only shows up on the level poster of What Lies Over The Cuckoo's Nest?.
- Despite Ghost Master's ability to buy new powers for the Darkling, he wouldn't be able to use them in the base game version without Class of Spook 'em High.
- Darkling appears on the summoning book from Summoners Not Included and The Blair Wisp Project.
- Darkling has the largest amount of voicelines among all ghosts in the game with 13, however, 7 of these are unused.
- Darkling, along with Daydreamer, used to be the second least recommended ghost in the base game as he has only one recommendation.
- If you were to play the base game version without Class of Spook 'em High, he would share the first place with Blair Wisp as they would have 0 recommendations (although Blair Wisp is only this way due to a glitch).
- In earlier drafts, Darkling would play much less significant role in the story.
- Based on the files relating to the power Phobia, Darkling would have originally had it as well, and the fear he would cause would have been Trapped
- Despite Trapped being the fear he would inflict, Darkling doesn't have a single power that inflicts the fear of Trapped which could mean that he had a different power set originally.
- Darkling used to have a slightly different name in early versions of the game where he was called "The Darkling".
- According to a developer, the Darkling might have been named after a character of the same name (but currently going by the name Asylum) from Marvel comics.
- Before the changes to his powers in Complete Edition, Darkling used to have Expose Fears and Frostbite as buyable tier 10 powers
