Man

The Man is a minor character that can be found in the transition between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, just beyond the Bunker Entrance. He lies at the end of a collapsed tunnel, beneath a flickering light, entangled in roots.

The Doctor, or the player, depending on your choices, will find the Man embedded in roots along with a Weird Cross. The Man will wake up from a deep sleep and ask the Protagonist who he is, all the while trying to get off the ground. He will state how he just wanted to go home, and will also question the Protagonist on whether or not he is a member of the Outsiders. He will eventually stick his fingers into a hole in his head, caused by a bullet wound. He will pull the Soft Bullet out and start to die, commenting on how this is what put him in a deep sleep. He finally is able to rest for good.

Dialogue

• First Encounter

I stumble upon something amongst the rubble.

The tunnel has collapsed recently. The reinforced steel protruding from the debris has not been covered with rust yet.
When I gaze into the tunnel, I notice a silhouette of a man on the ground.

Suddenly, the man snaps to life, as if woken up from a deep slumber.

"Who goes there?!"

I hear a faint, unnaturally distorted male voice.

"Are you... are you one of them?"

The man attempts to get up, but fails. I can see him desperately flailing his limbs around. It's as if his back has been glued to the ground.

"No. Please."

As I approach him, he shuffles his legs nervously, as if trying to retreat into the collapsed tunnel.

"I didn't do anything! I beg you! I just wanted to pass... to get back to my family!

The Tree has blocked the only way out. The only path home! A huge... talking tree.
I begged it to let me pass, but it wouldn't listen. I could not understand what it was saying to me. So we came here..."

The man props himself up on his elbows. With a huge effort he tries to straighten his body, but something is firmly holding him by the back and the neck.

"I can't... I can't get up."

The man drops onto the rubble and goes silent. He clenches his fists.

"My head...
Hurts..."

The man places his hand on his forehead and feels a strange dent above his left brow. He freezes.

"What... what is this?"

He carefully inserts his index finger into the hole. His eyelid twitches.

"...my stone..."

I hear a sound, as if an egg shell cracking. The forehead bends under his hand.
The stranger pushes another finger into the hole. A thick goo spews from the wound.
I can hear his skull cracking.

"...my little stone..."

The man slowly removes his fingers from the hole in his head, a colorless ooze dripping from them. He's holding something... a round object.

"...that's why..."

He swings his left hand and throws the object at me. A small irregular ball bounces off my arm and lands at my feet.

"This... this is what put me to sleep..."

His head lifelessly drops to the concrete floor of the destroyed tunnel and goes still.

• If the Doctor is spared

Suddenly, I can hear the bang of the metal door, followed by the sound of fading footsteps.
It's the doctor.

• Random

The tunnel is completely caved in. I will not be able to break through this way. I'll need to find another.

Trivia

• He used to be called Soldier in the older versions of the game. In those versions, he was the only Soldier that was found alive in-game. He has limited interactions with the player. He will ramble on about a Shovel (such discussions continue in the Bloody Journal found nearby, which is likely written by him). However, the player cannot give a shovel of his own to the Man because there is no 'show item' option. He offers no accomplish-able quests, rather, he can only gossip with the player for a short time. If some of his ramblings were to be believed, he was a part of the group that entered the Darkwood zone with the Protagonist. His storyline has since been changed, however, and now he is merely a Man that was trying to pass through the tunnel.
  • Game files still refer to him as Soldier.
• He is one of many replicas created by the woods (the Being) of a man who was likely shot by the Outsiders while using the tunnels. His original body (complete with bullet wound and regular cross with a shiny stone) can be found by the bunker entrance to the Swamp, dessicated and entombed in roots. The other replicas will call out to the Protagonist as he goes through the tunnels to the Swamp (this is experience is replicated again when visiting the Snail and its many replicas, complete with an original human body entombed in roots).