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Oswald Mandus
Voiced by: Toby Longworth
"But we can save them, we can set them free, we can replace a rotten old world, with a clean new one."
A wealthy industrialist and butcher who is implied to be the great grand-nephew of Daniel, the protagonist of The Dark Descent. Upon the beginning of the game, Mandus awakens from a fever that has unknowingly lasted for several months, after returning from a "disastrous" expedition to explore Aztec ruins in Mexico. Unable to find his sons and haunted by their voices, Mandus decides to explore the strange complex under his house in hopes of finding them.
- Action Survivor: Mandus survives many horrifying situations all to find his missing children.
- Amnesiac Hero: In keeping with the series' Meaningful Name. The main character, Oswald Mandus, cannot remember the last few months of his life, and is driven to rediscover what happened to him, what went on during his trip to Mexico, and how he is connected to the Industrialized Evil around him.
- Anti-Hero: Mandus killed his sons, sent orphans to clean pipes that'll burn them alive if they stick around too long, fed the surviving orphan cleaners to the pigs, created a Mad God from his soul who murdered thousands, and performed horrifying experiments on humans and animals. After he gets amnesia, though, he regrets everything he did and sets out to fight the real villain, The Engineer.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Though far, far less so than Alexander.
- The Atoner: To an even greater extent than Daniel from the previous game.
- Badass Boast: When endeavoring to destroy the Engineer, he refers to himself as an 'Angel of Vengeance'. And then there's this:I have you now, creature. I will destroy you.
- Determinator: To an almost comical extent, initially born out of his fierce love for his sons, and then by a sense of personal responsibility.
- Evilutionary Biologist: Mandus performed horrific experiments to create the various manpigs that he encounters throughout the game. And don't even get started on the Machine he helped to create...
- Gadgeteer Genius: Implied as part of his success as an industrialist. Even the recording and playback devices, though not an original concept, are his own design.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Mandus seeing the future drove him nuts enough to murder thousands to try and stop it, including his own children.
- Heel Realization: When he realizes the Machine's intentions to stop the horrors of the 20th century.
- Heroic Mime: Averted. Even though Mandus doesn't speak a lot, he still talks in the present unlike Daniel.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Doubles into Heroic Suicide, as he knew he would die when he goes back to destroy the Machine, but does it anyway.
- Humans Are Bastards: His rants are often littered with misanthropy, and he has utter contempt both for the "filthy and brainless" lower class and the rich and "enlightened" upper class who happily allow the suffering of those "beneath" them to continue. However it was his visions of the far more horrifying atrocities humans would commit in the 20th century all over the world that caused him to snap and create a machine to "make pigs of them all"
- Hypocrite: He holds vehement disdain over the industrialization of the 20th century, yet he practices in Industrialized Evil himself. In fairness to him, there are some hints to imply he may have been mostly manipulated by the Engineer into doing so.
- I Hate Past Me: Only after regaining memory does he realize how much of an asshole he really is.Mandus: When did I say that? That is not me. That is not me!
- The Killer in Me: When Mandus touches an orb he found in South America, it shatters into two. The result is a malevolent split personality, "The Engineer", is created. It dominates Oswald's decisions and character thereafter, until it eventually abandons him in favor of a more powerful mechanical body.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: The last few months of his life are missing. He himself erased them, hoping to remake himself into a person that could set right the evil that he unleashed.
- Love Makes You Evil: Mandus murdered his own children to spare them an even more grisly death at the Battle of the Somme years later. In a more subtle example, Mandus writes in a journal entry that he believes the "split in his soul" that led to the birth of the Engineer in fact existed long before he found the Orb, caused by the love and hatred he felt for his sons at their birth.
- Madden Into Misanthropy: He received a vision of the atrocities of the 20th century and went so nuts that he funneled a considerable amount of his wealth into making a massive underground machine designed solely for the systematic slaughtering of human beings, who he saw as no better than pigs.
- Meaningful Name:
- Oswald Mandus is a play on Ozymandias, referencing his obsession with making his factory the "great work of the industrial age". Eventually, with his insanity, fell into the lines of the poem of the same name. Look upon his works, ye mighty, and despair.
- He also shares the motive and loose methodology — causing one atrocity in order to prevent a worse one — of Watchmen's Adrian Veidt, whose former superhero name was... Ozymandias.
- Mercy Kill: Prior to the events of the game, he killed his children in order to spare them the horrors of the 20th century.
- Misanthrope Supreme: His journal entries are littered with disgust for humans, and the human condition, wavering between hatred, sympathy and sadness.
- Non-Action Guy: Mandus is unable to fight back against the Manpigs and is forced to hide, sneak and run to survive against them. Slightly subverted in that he does kill two of them, a Wretch and a Tesla, by manipulating the environment.
- Offing the Offspring: After seeing his children would die horrifically in the war, Mandus cut out their hearts as a ritual sacrifice in hopes of creating a god who could save the world from the slaughters of the 20th century.
- Papa Wolf: Despite being scared out of his wits and hunted by an army of nightmarish Human/Pig abominations he still willingly dives headfirst into the madness and terror of the machine in order to save his children. He is fiercely devoted to them as well, as evident in one journal entry where he outright states he would die and kill for them. However, this trope is also tragically deconstructed as he killed his sons before the game started in order to save them them from dying far more horrible deaths in World War I. The revelation of doing so drives him to the brink."I want my children, you UNHOLY BASTARD!!!"
- Redemption Equals Death: To protect all of London from becoming sacrifices to the Engineer, Mandus re-merges with his creation, killing them both.
- Start X to Stop X: His Fatal Flaw, arguably. He has no other way to combat what he hates other than to use what he hates to combat what he hates. This is also the logic he used in creating the Machine, though he's decidedly more lucid after his Laser-Guided Amnesia.
- Touched by Vorlons: His interactions with the Orbs, combined with the loss of his wife, started his descent into madness and creation of The Engineer, "inspiring" him to create The Machine.
- Tranquil Fury: When he finds out what happened to the children in the tubes, he stops talking, focusing only in killing the Engineer (and ultimately, himself).
- Walking Spoiler: Considering this guy is the protagonist... that is quite the achievement.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Initially, flashbacks of what appear to be earlier stages of his "collaborations" with the Engineer show Mandus as being uncomfortable with the monstrous actions he eventually convinces him to undertake. Later on, he seems to truly believe what he was doing was necessary and ultimately positive. And yet, when he beholds the Machine's motives in full for the first time...Mandus: (near weeping) Oh God, oh no. What have I done? No! This is not what I meant! This is not what I meant at all!
The Engineer — Warning: Walking Spoiler
Voiced by: Mark Roper
"This is your doing, Mandus. This is what you dreamt into being."
A strange entity who claims to know the location of Mandus' missing sons. Remaining unseen, he guides Mandus around by talking to him over telephones throughout the complex. It's soon revealed that the Engineer is the malevolent split personality of Oswald which has uploaded itself into the Machine, leaving Mandus for dead.
- Ambiguous Innocence: It is quite childlike in a lot of ways, for both good and bad.
- Antagonist Title: It is the "Machine for Pigs".
- Ax-Crazy: After finally tricking Mandus into reactivating the machine, all trace of friendliness and sanity slip away replaced by a cackling megalomaniac.
- Big Bad: The Machine manipulates Mandus to activate itself, before unleashing hoards of manpigs on London with plans to conquer the world all to prevent the horrors of the 20th century from occuring. The Machine also tries to stop Mandus from shutting it down for good.
- Deus est Machina: The constant sacrifices are meant to turn it and the piece of Mandus' soul it contains into a bloody god.
- Eldritch Location: Due to the abruptly shifting, warping, and maddening nature and layout of the machine, coupled with its sapience, it qualifies.
- Enemy Without: The Machine is a Soul Fragment extracted from Mandus and inserted into the Machine to give it life.
- The Engineer: Though "the Engine" is probably more accurate.
- Evil Is Hammy: Fittingly so. For an entity that commands legions of manpigs, the Engineer is about as hammy as it gets.
- Genius Loci: The Machine is extremely smart and cunning being able to trick Mandus throughout the first half of the game.
- A God Am I: Due to the Orb's power and the countless sacrificed to it, as well as his "mission" to prevent the horrors of the 20th century, it considers itself a god.
- Haunted Technology: After being given life by extracting part of Mandus soul into the Machine via soul extraction. The Machine ends up becoming sentient and hostile thanks to seeing visions of the 20th century.
- Knight Templar: It plans to save humanity from the nightmare of the 20th century by exterminating and enslaving them itself.
- Mad God: Counts as this due to having a part of Mandus's soul inside it. The Machine ends up gaining god like power due the Orb and goes mad in the process.
- Mad Oracle: It saw visions of the horrific events of the 20th century. To prevent such events from occurring, it decided the best way to save humanity was to create an army of manpigs and enslave humanity.
- Mechanical Abomination: It is an artificial replacement for God created by the main character to prevent the horrors of the 20th century, sustained by human sacrifice on a literally industrial scale, but it instead creates the pig monsters and plans to destroy/consume humanity. It's a cross between an Eternal Engine and Eldritch Location that has developed into a Mad God.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Absolutely. The Machine's behaviour during the later half of the game has it ranting against humanity and how it will remake them by preventing the events of the 20th century.
- Motive Rant: His speech at the end of the game, which describes what happens in the 20th century is magnificent. He gives this speech to Mandus in a desperate attempt to convince his creator not to shut him off since he could prevent all the coming bloodshed of the next century.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Its decision in its attempt to prevent the horrors of the 20th century is to kill off all of humanity with an army of Manpigs.
- Omnicidal Maniac: It has twisted countless people into the tortured manpigs and plans to use them to slaughter the entirety of humanity by feeding them to the machine. Also, his quotes about "splitting the egg and the atom" heavily hint that his plans are to annihilate the entire planet with the power gained from the slaughter of London's population. This is basically confirmed by cut dialogue in the game files.
- Psychopathic Manchild: For all its crimes and follies, the Engineer is almost like a bitter child happy to wish away all the problems of the world and humanity. Right up to begging its "Daddy" to not kill it at the start of the game.
- Put Them All Out of My Misery: Traumatized by its visions of the 20th century and all the horrible crimes humanity would inflict on itself throughout it, the Engineer decided that it was better to just kill all of mankind quickly rather than let it come to pass.
- Straw Nihilist: One of the flashbacks Mandus has with the Engineer displays the cynicism the Engineer has towards humanity. He doesn’t believe there are any good people after witnessing the horrific vision of the 20th century. Mandus proves him wrong by willfully sacrificing himself to save humanity from the grisly fate they could have met.
- Villainous Breakdown: As Mandus begins to destroy the Machine for good, he progressively becomes increasingly frantic, such as repeating "stophimstophimstophim" on the broadcast system for workers, and culminating in his Motive Rant.
- The Voice: A Justified Trope, as he's the machine itself, meaning you're inside him for much of the game.
- Voice of the Legion: The Engineer's voice has a noticeable echo, making his final gloating ever so dramatic.
- Walking Spoiler: The Engineer is the titular machine and has spent the whole game leading Mandus to undoing his own tampering of the machine.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite his despicable crimes and plans, he genuinely wants to "save" humanity and to stop the countless wars and genocides that will come with the 20th century.
Edwin and Enoch Mandus
Voiced by: Zak Craig
Mandus' sons, who have gone missing.
- Creepy Child: Both of the sons count as this as they both haunt Mandus in key sections of the game as the plot about them is slowly revealed.
- Creepy Twins: Both of the sons count as this when Mandus finally encounters then near the end of the game.
- Dead All Along: Were killed before the game starts by Mandus both as a sacrifice to the Machine and to save them from dying in the Somme.
- Death of a Child: The death of both children plays a pivotal role in the story.
- Harmful to Minors: Implied throughout the game, and ultimately confirmed, as well as the fact that it is Oswald's fault.
- Offing the Offspring: Both were killed by Oswald to prevent them from dying horrible deaths in World War I.
- Walking Spoiler: Explaining what happened to them (and why) is central to the plot.
Lillibeth "Lily" Mandus
Oswald's wife, whom he seemed to have loved very much. She apparently died giving birth to Enoch and Edwin. The only time when she is mentioned is through Oswald's journal entries, which are received through the course of the whole game.
- Death by Childbirth: Died giving birth to Enoch and Edwin.
- The Lost Lenore: To Oswald. Her death greatly impacted Mandus to the point where he denounced his faith in God over her death.
- Posthumous Character: She died prior to the game’s events and is referenced in Mandus’s notes.
- Proper Lady: According to Oswald.
Professor A
Voiced by: Mark Roper
An unknown guest who was sent to Mandus' factory by the ministry. He is never seen in-game, but is referenced in Mandus' documents and can be heard having conversations with Mandus on various phonographs scattered around the game.
- No Name Given: "Professor A" is a pseudonym.
- Posthumous Character: Him and Mandus' last conversation implies that Mandus killed him by throwing him into the Machine.
- The Watson: Play this role in his conversations with Mandus.
The Manpigs
Deformed and twisted swine-like monstrosities that patrol the depths of the complex beneath Mandus' estate. The main enemies encountered in the game. They come in three varieties: Wretches, Engineers, and Tesla.
- Body Horror: Let's just say they're exactly what they sound like.
- The Brute: All of the manpigs are extremely large and display a lot of personality hunting down Mandus.
- Fantastic Racism: The different varieties seem to have some issues with each other. At one point, you can see an Engineer violently beating a Wretch for no apparent reason.
- Fat Bastard: All the manpigs are extremely obese, but can move quickly.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Later on during the game, Mandus learns that Manpigs have a craving for Human meat during the assault on London.
- Lightning Bruiser: All the manpigs move extremely quickly when chasing down Mandus.
- Pig Men: Of course.
- Psychopathic Manchild: They can sometimes be seen playing with children's toys. They are also violent psychopathic murderers.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: From the torso down, they look a lot like Servant Grunts from the last game. Which makes sense since Mandus was able to acquire the corpse of one and use it as a study.
- Teleport Spam: The Tesla Manpigs are particularly affected by the Compound X, resulting in their bodies emitting an electrical charge and flickering in and out of existence. Luckily, light makes them explode.
- Were Once Human: Much like the Grunt and the Brute in the original, the Manpigs were once humans transformed into hideous monsters.
