The Doctor, as seen on Chapter 1.
The Doctor is a major character in Darkwood.
The Doctor is a desperate inhabitant of the Darkwood, who has resorted to torture and experimentation on people, in an attempt to find a cure for the plague. The Doctor is the key to finishing the first chapter of the game.
During the first half of the prologue the player assumes the role of the Doctor. After the prologue, the Doctor is located at the Train Wreck, and the player continues as the Protagonist.
When killed, he drops the Big, Metal Key.
Plot
Prologue
During the Prologue, the Doctor finds an unconscious Protagonist in the woods. The Doctor takes the Big, Metal Key off the Protagonist, suspecting that he knows a way to escape the dreadful woods. This circumstance prompts the Doctor to lock up the Protagonist in his house, drugging him, torturing him, and taking a large part of his journal to try and extract information. Afterwards, the Protagonist escapes from the Doctor's house and makes his way to a hideout.
Chapter 1
During the course of Chapter 1, the Protagonist is trying to find the Doctor to reclaim the Big, Metal Key. Eventually the Doctor is confronted in a little camp inside the Train Wreck, after searching his abandoned house for clues to his current location. The player can choose to either kill the Doctor and take the Big, Metal Key, or show him the location of the Underground Entrance. If spared, he can be found in Chapter 2.
Chapter 2
Wolfman's Path
The Doctor, as seen on Chapter 2.
The player can meet The Doctor three times in Chapter 2 randomly at several locations: the Swamp Village, the Holes, the Junkyard, a pool close to the Cottage near the Junkyard and the Radio Tower. The Doctor gets sicker and sicker with every encounter, presumably because he is affected by the same affliction that turns people into Savages. Every time the player encounters the Doctor, they can trade with him. The Doctor offers a choice between three random items. The player may take one of these three items for free; the other ones are unobtainable as the Doctor does not buy any of the Protagonist's items.
The doctor becomes noticeably more feral; ignoring injuries and caking himself with mud to attach sticks to his head.
Musician's Path
- See The camp and the Camp (Banshees).
Epilogue
The Doctor, if he has survived all the way through Chapter 2, will be found curled up sleeping next to the Being. He remains in this state as he burns to death, unaware of the fire around him.
If the Bliss ending is taken, the Doctor is said to roam the Woods as a savage, gone mad and haunted by the memories of his daughter.
Quests
The Key
The player can travel to the Doctor's House again by either following and completing the quest line for Wolfman or killing Chicken Lady and taking the Doctor's Instructions #3. Once arrived at the Train Wreck, if the play chooses to follow the Musician questline, an event is triggered in which the Chicken Lady House can be explored all over again, but with an entirely new twist.
The Doctor holds onto the Big, Metal Key that must be used in the Bunker Entrance (part of the Underground Entrance) to complete the first chapter of the game. The key can be obtained either by killing the Doctor or by agreeing to take him to the exit out of the woods in the Underground Entrance.
Showing items
Trivia
- Alpha 1.2 introduced the concept that a key must be acquired from the Doctor in order to finish the first act of Darkwood.
- Doctor may be the person telling to wait in line at the Church Ruins. However, the game files which designate this person simply as
mancannot confirm this assumption. - Several lines of dialogue confirm that the Doctor is not a native to the Darkwood region, which also explains his extreme desire to escape the woods. Apparently, a woman of some sort (referred to only as "her", possibly his wife) would supposedly be waiting for him on the outside world.
- According to the Photo of the Doctor, he is connected somehow to the Wreckage, possibly having entered the region where the game takes place through it.
- In Chapter 2, the Doctor can be seen in various key locations, with a noticeably more savage-like appearance and mannerisms, suggesting he is succumbing to the "voice" that appears to have turned some inhabitants of the forest savage.
- The Doctor is a rather weak man, he is incapable of dodging or using the secondary attack of the axe. He also seems to avoid any direct confrontation with the Protagonist, quickly trying to run away (and then tripping and crawling) when confronted. The Wolfman also mentions him as reeking of fear.
Gallery
| Characters | |
|---|---|
| Major characters | Bike Man • Chicken Lady • Child • Cripple • Doctor • Elephants • Mirror • Mushroom Granny • Musician • Piotrek • Protagonist • Snail • Talking Tree • The Three • Trader • Wolfman • The Being |
| Minor characters | Dial-eyed Man • Half-Dead Man • Half-Dead Woman • Hanuska • Infected Villager • Janek • Maciek • Madman • Man • Notable Villagers (Swamp) • Pig Farmer • Pretty Lady • Sleeper • Stasiek • Tunneler |