Characters / Identity V: "Orpheus"

Identity V Main Characters Index
"Final" Manor Game (Orpheus | Alice)
Survivors (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Hunters (Part 1, Part 2)
Non-Playable Characters

Warning! All spoilers below are unmarked.

Orphy

It's virtually impossible to list tropes for these characters without spoiling everything or creating Self-Fulfilling Spoilers since the whole existence of his identities already reveals a large part of the game's main lore.

Orpheus was once a famous crime novelist, but after being rescued from a fire about 10 years ago, he lost all his memories. His body recovered, but his memories never returned. Unable to do anything about his memory, Orpheus accepted his new lifestyle and founded his own detective agency. However, he received no good cases and turned to drinking. Orpheus would then often find himself awakening the next day to find cuts all over his body, with objects that he never would've touched normally. Even after Orpheus stopped drinking, days would mysteriously get skipped over with increasing frequency. He eventually found the source of his problem from the looks from his neighbors: he didn't lose track of the days at all, but instead, another persona awakened inside him, his old self. After receiving a commission letter from his self-proclaimed most loyal reader, mysteriously aware of a secret alias belonging to Orpheus, who requests that Orpheus locate his missing daughter, Orpheus travels to the abandoned and infamous Oletus Manor, the place where Orpheus had apparently lost his memory ten years prior. However, upon being forced to seek shelter inside the manor, Orpheus locates a hidden bookcase containing a vast number of diaries, all written by people who had been invited to the manor, which tell of strange "games" being held at the manor.

Orpheus was the first protagonist of the Identity V, and the main character of the event Time of Reunion, which involved him attempting to uncover the secrets of his forgotten past and coming to learn that he was far more deeply connected to the manor, and its "games", than he originally believed. However, at the same time, it is hinted that his recollection of events and the manner in which he was connected to the manor and its "games", are not entirely accurate...

Orpheus

The Detective & Villain Charm

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• Ambiguously Related:
  • The presence of the two forest rangers, one of whom Orpheus claims to have been responsible for the manor tragedy all those years ago, in the portrait of Orpheus with the DeRoss couple, along with clues from Burke's and Bonbon's deductions, hint that said forest rangers may actually be Orpheus's "real" parents.
  • It's left ambiguous whether Alice and Orpheus are supposed to be adopted brother and sister or whether Orpheus is just supposed to be her childhood friend, with both options having plenty of evidence in canon. On the one hand, Alice claims to be the only child in the family DeRoss and describes Orpheus as a playmate, rather than a brother. On the other, in Bonbon's deductions, Burke mentions that Orpheus had "real" parents and includes Orpheus among the family members disappeared during the tragedy, implying that at some point Orpheus was at least considered a part of the DeRoss family, even if the adoption was never formalized.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Regarding “Queen Bee”, which effectively accused Melly Plinius of murdering her husband. In the “Orfeo's Game” event, Orpheus acknowledges it as being one of the detective novels he had written prior to his amnesia. In Melly's third letter, on the other hand, Alice refers to Queen Bee as a tabloid, making no mention of its author. It is unclear if Queen Bee truly was a tabloid that Orpheus reimagined as a detective novel, or if it was a detective novel that Alice considered to be a tabloid. Either way, Alice is either unaware of, or perhaps simply doesn't acknowledge, the possibility that Orpheus was the one who wrote it.
  • There's also the implications brought about from the "Abyss" skin for the Nightmare. Does Orpheus despise himself for his implied actions as Baron DeRoss? Or, considering the chance that the forest rangers are his biological parents, along with the fact that Orpheus possessed the piccolo required to bypass the manor's security, does Orpheus instead blame himself for the death of the DeRoss couple and the suffering that Alice went through? Perhaps both?
• Animal Motifs: He is often associated with corvids such as ravens and crows. His hunter form wears a plague doctor mask made to resemble a raven.
• Child Prodigy: He was a skilled storywriter from childhood. The story he is writing in Alice's flashback to their childhood together in Episode I of Ashes of Memory is in fact the same story he told during the "Story Night" event.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: All of his identities, with the exception of "Illusion" which represents his childhood self, possess a thorn-like scar on the palm and back of their left hand.
• Mythical Motifs: To the mythological Orpheus, as you can probably guess, with James Reichenbach's daughter, and later "Memory", serving as his Eurydice. However, he also arguably plays the role of the Eurydice to Alice's Orpheus in her part of the storyline.
• My Name Is ???: His former alias written on the commission letter sent to him by James Reichenbach.
• No Name Given: Upon being questioned on the matter by Alice during Episode I of Ashes of Memory, Orpheus admits that the name he uses is a pseudonym, claiming that he can only use said pseudonym in place of his actual name when in public as part of an agreement with his publisher. His real name has yet to be revealed.
• Same Character, But Different: As of season 30, there are at least 5 different versions of Orpheus found in the game. These are the Detective (the game's original protagonist), Villain Charm (the detective's dark counterpart), the Novelist (his survivor persona and young self), "Nightmare" (his hunter persona) and “Illusion” (the Journalist’s unique item and a representation of Orpheus’ childhood self).
• Significant Birth Date: Two-fold;
  • His birthday is the same date as the game's initial release date.
  • He also shares a birthday with famous writer, Hans Christian Andersen.

The Detective

The Detective

The game's first protagonist, a detective who has lost all of his memories.

Voiced by: Liu Beichen (Chinese), Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese), Scott Whyte (English)

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• The Alcoholic: Was this prior to the start of the game. He initially believed his addiction to be the cause of the cuts that ended up on his body. However, even after going sober, days would continue to be skipped over with increasing frequency.
• Ambiguous Situation: The translated version of his backstory (provided in the Chinese version of the game) contains info strikingly similar to what was revealed in Burke's deductions (particularly on the matter of the DeRoss family), and later reveals that the fire Orpheus was rescued from occurred at Oletus Manor. If this remains canon is this an implication that Orpheus was a past survivor? Or was he, prior to losing his memories, the Lord of the Manor, Baron DeRoss? The Time of Reunion expansion, which implements the aforementioned backstory into the game, and the Nightmare's Background Story trailer, imply both to have been the case. "Ashes of Memory" implies the truth may not have been so simple...
• Amnesiac Hero: Lost his memory in an accident ten years before the start of the game's main story. Although the hero part may be questionable.
• Animal Testing: During the events of Time of Reunion, he feeds the drugs he discovers in the medicine cabinet of the manor's cellar to a nearby rat, attempting to gouge from the rat's reactions just what each of the drugs do before testing them himself by smelling them.
• Awesome by Analysis: Possesses the ability to see how past events played out through collecting evidence, most notably written accounts.
• Badass Longcoat: The original protagonist of the game, trying to discover the now abandoned manor's secrets, who wears a long brown trench coat.
• A Birthday, Not a Break: His recollection of his - apparent - past reveal that the DeRoss couple, who Orpheus believes to have been his parents, were murdered on his birthday. It is later revealed in narration by Alice in Ashes of Memory that her parents were indeed killed on a "fateful birthday" - though whether it was indeed Orpheus's birthday is unclear.
• Carved Mark
  • The words "WAKE UP" suddenly appear in red on his right wrist during what appeared to be a nightmare of sorts that led him to recover faint memories of his childhood (the discussion of a piccolo, an unnamed woman's worsening condition, strange encounters in the woods, and an unidentified woman's fears about drifters that had been lurking about). Upon waking up, Orpheus finds that the words are still there on his wrist.
  • He later finds the phrase "if you forget this you've got it" on his arm after testing the Mnemosyne/Dionysus drug from the cellar's medicine cabinet. This causes him to realise that said drug induces memory loss.
  • After asking questions to the broken mirror in the parlour, and drinking a "medicine" bottle from the cellar that he had brought up with him, Orpheus awakes to find that the message on his right arm now says "Wake up from the memory".
• Defective Detective: An amnesiac private detective who, after failing to receive any good cases, turned to drink, only to wake up to find cuts all over his body, which he later came to believe to be the work of a Split Personality.
• Drowning My Sorrows: He was abandoned by the public after his amnesia robbed him of his former talent in writing, and the detective firm he started didn't receive any worthwhile cases. Eventually, he turned to drink in order to cope.
• "Eureka!" Moment: While trying to figure out what the now completed message on his right arm - "Wake up from the memory" - is referring to, Orpheus comes to the sudden realisation that it may be referring to the bookshelf full of diaries in the hidden study, of which to the opposite, in the place where the secret entrance to the study was hidden, hung a painting of Mnemosyne, the Nine Muses, and the fountain of memory that the goddess guarded.
• Fake Memories: Given what we learn in Ashes of Memory, as well as the very existence of Alice DeRoss, it is implied that the apparent memories that he recalled in Time of Reunion were actually this.
• Female Gaze: He's shown naked in the animated tale "DA CAPO". His bare buttocks are very briefly seen.
• Foreshadowing: The final cutscene in the flashback segment of Time of Reunion takes place from both young Orpheus AND the Nightmare, who, on close inspection, is dressed in the exact same clothes as Orpheus, hinting that they are in fact one and the same.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: From time-to-time, promotional art depicts him with a goatee. It is unclear if this is meant to be symbolic.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: His old alias, seemingly known only to him, yet by which he was addressed to in James Reichenbach's commission letter.
• The Insomniac: During Time of Reunion, he mentions that he has had trouble sleeping for quite some time. As such, he is surprised when he begins to feel drowsy.
• Irony: While going through the diaries in the manor during the night, he notes that he detested bedtime reading as a child.
• I Will Find You: Initially comes to Oletus Manor searching for James Reichenbach's daughter. Following the recovery of his - potentially fake - memories in Time of Reunion his focus appears to move to uncovering what became of "Memory".
• The Mentally Disturbed: He appears to have committed self-harm during his blackouts and is implied to have a Split Personality. The Oletus Manor Investigation Report, containing a medical report on Orpheus's state after being found after the fire at the manor, furthermore, lists his symptoms as; unstable relationships, impulsivity, emotional instability, overly intense and disproportionate anger, self-identity confusion, feelings of emptiness and disinterest and an inability to recall personal information. The medical specialists examining him diagnose him with borderline personality mixed with as of yet unclear dissociative symptoms.
• Most Writers Are Writers: A former best-selling novelist. That being said, this trope is not completely in play, due to his amnesia preventing him from regaining his former talent at writing.
• Mysterious Parent: His parents are listed as "Unknown" in the Oletus Manor Investigation Report. During the events of Time of Reunion, Orpheus comes to believe that they were the DeRoss couple.
• Out of Focus: Hasn't been focused on for quite a while, with the game instead choosing to focus on the lore present in the deductions and Character Day letters of both new and old playable characters. Fortunately, he came roaring back to prominence following the release of the Time of Reunion expansion pack, which not only expanded on the main story of the game, but also led to the release of both his Survivor and Hunter persona.
  • However, with the game's main storyline having been confirmed to have reached the - potentially temporary - end of its timeline following the conclusion of the Time of Reunion expansion, and instead moving on to chronicling Alice DeRoss' investigation of the manor a decade earlier, it would appear that Orpheus's Detective persona has once again being pushed out of the spotlight.
• Private Detective: Became one after he failed to readjust to his life as a famous writer after the accident that left him with amnesia. A strange request from a commission letter leads to him investigating a strange manor with a dark past...
• The Profiler: A variant; as he notes, he possesses the ability to catalogue the particulars of all of the authors of each of the diaries into profiles based on the information he finds on them.
• Psychometry: He has an almost supernatural ability to "see" what has occurred in the past through the perspective of someone who wrote a written account after reading said written accounts.
• Quest for Identity: His time in the manor eventually becomes just as much about recovering his lost memories as it is searching for James Reichenbach's daughter.
• Rage Against the Reflection:
  • After a glance at the jagged scar on his left hand causes him to be assaulted by a flash of memories, he punches the mirror beside him in a rage, with the mirror leaving the message "Trust Yourself" behind afterwards.
  • Another example is implied to have taken place ten years prior. During the flashback segments of Time of Reunion the faces of the forest rangers and the young boy - Orpheus's childhood self - have been scratched out. Additional info reveals that the scratches are deep and messy, and were made in the heat of the moment. Ten years later, said portrait had been replaced with a painting of the mythical Orpheus and Eurydice.
• Scars Are Forever: The scar on his left hand, that can be seen in the flashback segments of Time of Reunion and can be briefly glimpsed in Episode II of Ashes of Memory. Ten years, it's still present.
• Sole Survivor: Potentially; Orpheus was the only person that the police released details about finding or being involved with the fire that broke out at the manor.
• Split Personality:
  • Through the eyes of his neighbours, Orpheus eventually came to realise the exact nature of his condition. Rather than being merely amnesiac, another "soul" had awakened in his body. He attributed the gaps in his memory and marks on his body to said personality.
  • Through his recollection of his apparent lost memories, he eventually comes to believe that, thanks to the manor's memory erasing drugs, a number of split personality were born in his mind during his time in the manor years prior, dissecting and eroding his soul.
• Stronger Than They Look: While by no means scrawny, he's still a detective and former novelist who doesn't look like he gets in many fights. He still manages to beat up Norton hard enough to draw, and being covered in, blood in his recollection of his apparent memory in "De Capo".
• Talking to Themself: After examining the drugs in the cellar, he returns to the manor's parlour and asks the broken mirror questions. After the words on his right hand - "WAKE UP" - expand - "Wake up from the memory" - he comes to the conclusion that his Split Personality can't talk to him "directly". He theorises that said personality might be hiding from someone and thus gave him the answer to his question in the form of a code.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: An implied example; during Time of Reunion, while looking at a picture of James Reichenbach's daughter, said pictures shifts into a picture of "Memory" (Alice's childhood self), who Orpheus had glimpsed running away from him earlier.
• Unreliable Narrator: While the presence of his amnesia and the manor's hallucinogenic memory altering drugs, along with the whole Split Personality situation, made it quite clear that Orpheus's slow recollection of the past may not be 100% accurate, both the final scene of the Time of Reunion expansion, and the entirety of the first part of the Ashes of Memory expansion, the latter taking place from the perspective of the much more mentally sound Alice DeRoss, make it clear just how inaccurate Orpheus's theories about his history with the manor actually are. To wit;
  • Orpheus's perspective in Time of Reunion presents him as the son of the DeRoss couple, orphaned after the murder of his parents and sent to an orphanage by his relatives. According to Orpheus, some time after achieving fame as a novelist, he made the decision to come to the manor after being invited by the manor's owner on the condition of said owner providing Orpheus some clues to help in his investigation of the death of his parents. Orpheus would then go on to participate in a number of games held at the manor, with the manor's drugs fracturing his mind and eroding his memories all the while. Eventually, he managed to uncover a number of the manor's secrets, before faking his death, continuing to investigate the secrets of the manor and the "Nightmare" while the games continued. Eventually, a "Little Girl" and her mother would arrive at the manor; said pair would stir up unexpected feelings inside of Orpheus. Following the tragic death of the mother, Orpheus would wait for the chance to enter the manor's secret study to search for clues that could help him piece together his past. After coming to the realization that he had never truly escaped from the "Nightmare", and drinking a bottle of strange medicine labeled "Rebuild Memory", Orpheus realized that the mother and daughter were respectively his wife and daughter and that he was the "Orphy" mentioned in the girl's diary that she had come to the manor to find. Orpheus rushed to save his "daughter", only to find himself being stalked by the "Nightmare". Orpheus would seemingly vanquish the "Nightmare" after breaking the valve to a gas line, subsequently starting a fire that would damage both the manor and the forest area surrounding it, and leaving Orpheus with amnesia.
  • Alice DeRoss' perspective in Episode I of Ashes of Memory, on the other hand, would reveal that she was the child of the DeRoss couple - and an only child at that - and that the young Orpheus was in fact a close former playmate of hers. The now twenty-something Alice came to the manor to investigate its connection to a number of cold cases, after a colleague of hers managed to obtain an invitation. It was here that she encountered the famous novelist, "Orpheus", who had recently finalized work on his latest novel, The White Stallion of Death, and offered to tell her about another book he was working on. Orpheus openly interacted with the other guests present at the manor, with Alice theorizing that Orpheus may have had some history with the other guests. The "Little Girl" and her mother, remembered by the Detective, were nowhere to be seen, with the former in fact being a picture-perfect recreation of Alice's childhood self.
    • Additionally, the newspaper seen at the end of the Time of Reunion event reveals that, at the time he was found passed out in the burning forest, Orpheus had been missing for days, rather than months like one would expect one to have hidden in the manor while multiple games took place to have been. To make matters even more complicated, the final cutscene of Time of Reunion, depicts the unconscious Orpheus holding the mask of the "Nightmare" in his hand, with Orpheus's own distorted voice bidding "Orphy" farewell...
• Unwitting Pawn: As narrated in his alleged memories of hiding in the manor after faking his death, prior to the fire and his amnesia, he eventually came to realise that everything he had done in the manor was done within the organiser's control.
• Younger Than They Look: Looks like a middle-aged man, but is officially in either his 30s or 40s. The trauma and prior alcoholism might have something to do with it.

Villain Charm

Orpheus's "Old Self".

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• Amazing Technicolor Population: Has purple-ish ashen skin and greenish hair.
• Ambiguous Situation: What he's supposed to be, and why he has button eyes is not completely clear. Furthermore, as he is referred to as Orpheus's "old self" there is the question, is he the Novelist, the Nightmare (assuming one doesn't assume they are one and the same), or someone completely new?
• Card-Carrying Villain: The description of his skin presents him as one.
  Villain Charm: Rogues move like rogues do and act like them also.
• Enemy Within: Implied to be one to Detective Orpheus, with his skin description implying that Villain Charm sees the Detective as being "weak".
• Jekyll & Hyde: Theoretically he should be the Mr. Hyde to the Detective, but he never does anything particularly evil, acting primarily as Orpheus' conscience.
• The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Implied to be the one who left the message "Trust Yourself" on the mirror in the prologue. Orpheus later attempts to ask him questions during Time of Reunion.
• Self-Harm: Implied to have been responsible for the cuts that appeared on Orpheus's body after blackouts - his body, mind you.

The Novelist

"Orpheus" - The Novelist

Rumor: A renowned novelist whose past is a mystery to all, even to himself.

Voiced by: Liu Beichen (Chinese), Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese)

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• Ambiguous Situation:
  • His personal character details give his age as 22, which would seem to imply that this was how old he was during the flashback segments of Time of Reunion, which lead up to the event that lead to him ending up in a coma and losing his memory. However, a medical report present in the Oletus Manor Investigation Report gives his age as 30 at the time of the incident. Was his age at the time of the apparent final game not finalized at the time the tie-in book was written or is the age given to him in the Identity System instead how old he was when he either (a) participated in his first game, or (b) allegedly faked his death and started hiding in the manor while the games continued?
  • During his exposition on his alleged reasons for coming to the manor, he takes the time to mention that he apparently hid in the cellar while the bandits ransacked the manor. Alice, who does not recall a cellar being present in the manor during her childhood, ponders if he had mentioned the cellar in order to put the idea of exploring it in her head. Is Alice's hunch correct? If it is, is Orpheus alluding to a forest ranger being the one who colluded with the bandits the truth of what happened, or is he hinting that Alice should explore Bane's cabin, something that she is revealed by Bane's fourth letter to have done at a later point?
  • While being force-fed the manor's drug after being restrained in the cellar of the manor, Alice's memories provide a brief glimpse of a photograph showing a doctor wearing a monocle to the left of the bespectacled doctor/assistant who experimented on Alice, who bares an uncanny resemblance to the Novelist. What this means is, as of yet, unclear.
• Classy Cane: He can be seen posing with outside the gates of the manor in a picture that can be glimpsed in the Little's Girl Background Trailer.
• Clothing-Concealed Injury: The scar on his left hand is concealed by one of his gloves during Episode I and II of Ashes of Memory.
• Connected All Along: While one may assume that his familiarity with Melly Plinius in Episode I of Ashes of Memory comes from public background knowledge, Melly's third letter reveals that her and Orpheus have actually known each other for years.
• Conspicuous Gloves: Never takes off his gloves during the events of Ashes of Memory. While doing a Sherlock Scan on him, Alice notes that there are "wet spots on his cuffs that look like the work of dew" and silently questions where he could have been so early in the day.
• Famed In-Story: A famous author who ended up being one of the many unfortunate souls to come to the manor. Or so it would seem...
• Grand Theft Me: His main ability used to swap the control of characters with either his teammates or the Hunter for a set period of time (60 seconds for Survivor, 5 seconds for Hunter). He does need consent if he wants to swap with a Survivor though; In return he gets to use their skills, whereas he can only control a Hunter’s movements.
• Hero Killer: While "hero" may not entirely be the correct term, Helena's fourth letter reveals that he shot Emil dead with a hunting rifle at some point during Game 0, something that Helena defends as an act of self-defence, as well as to protect the other people in the manor.
• High-Class Glass: He wears a monocle which goes with his formal attire to show him as an esteemed and successful novelist, and sets him apart from Detective Orpheus’ disheveled appearance.
• Interdisciplinary Sleuth: In his conversation with Frederick in Episode II of Ashes of Memory Orpheus reveals that, on top of being a famous novelist, he also moonlights as a private detective. Additionally, the Butler later reveals - or at least claims - that Orpheus also possesses considerable medical knowledge.
• Light Is Not Good: He has a bright color scheme, but he is a manipulative and dangerous man who may or may not be the game's Big Bad.
• Most Writers Are Writers: The Novelist is Orpheus when he was still a bestselling, well, novelist and regarded as a prodigal talent in the literary world. One of his notable creations is the Call of the Abyss book series that are acted out in the lore of each COA event.
• Mysterious Past: It is said that his past is a mystery to all, even to himself.
• Mystery Writer Detective: As he reveals to Frederick, he is both a novelist and a private detective. The fact that, as Alice notes, all of his stories are based on cold cases, implies that he draws inspiration from said cold cases in order to create his stories.
• Pure Is Not Good: His S-tier skin, "Hollow", is meant to represent incorruptible purity and the way he sees himself; that being Obliviously Evil. Meanwhile, its direct counterpart, "Abyss", a "Nightmare" skin, is his true self, a Tragic Monster who is aware that he is evil, and hates it, but also believes himself to be unable change.
• Renaissance Man: During Episode II of Ashes of Memory, Orpheus reveals to Frederick that, on top of being a well-selling novelist, he also dabbles in detective work. Later, after Alice awakens in her bedroom after being rendered unconscious at the Kreiburg Racecourse, the manor's butler claims that Orpheus is also knowledgeable about medicine, and provided the other occupants of the manor with a preliminary diagnosis on Alice's current condition.
• Shrouded in Myth: It is said that many rumors surround him; some say that he has a happy family life, while other speculate that he's a recluse.
• Tarot Motifs: Novelist's chosen tarot card for the official "Arcana Series" merchandise is The Hierophant.
• A True Story in My Universe: The Orfeo's Game event heavily implies that many - if not all - of his famous novels were fictionalized retellings of the real-life stories of the other Survivors. Episode II of Ashes of Memory clarifies that all of his stories draw inspiration from cold cases, with the protagonists of said stories usually being the victim or the suspect.
• Unreliable Expositor: The reasoning he gives for coming to the manor in Episode II of Ashes of Memory, of how he was the only child of the DeRoss couple who was placed in an orphanage after his parents' murder and how he received an invitation containing a piccolo from the manor's owner whilst investigating the mystery behind his parents' murder sometime after achieving fame as a novelist, matches what he recalls of his lost past in Time of Reunion. What complicates the situation, however, is the presence of Alice, the actual only child of the DeRoss couple, whose experiences we witness firsthand, in contrast to both Detective Orpheus's unreliable recollections of his alleged past, and Novelist Orpheus's secondhand exposition.
• Vague Age: In the beta backstory, the manor incident that claimed the lives of the DeRoss couple is said to have occurred on his twelfth birthday. Alice, meanwhile, is implied to have been either six to seven when her parents were killed. Orpheus's official age is listed as 24. However, Alice being confirmed to be over 21 implies that Orpheus may have been older than 24 when Ashes of Memory took place and he later lost his memory, assuming that his age hadn't been changed for the final product. The fact that Orpheus effectively takes Alice's place in the DeRoss in his exposition on his alleged backstory, and in the apparently Fake Memories recalled by the Detective, only further complicates things.

The Nightmare

The Nightmare

Rumor: Perhaps known only to "Orpheus," this nightmare of his memory.

Voiced by: Liu Beichen (Chinese), Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese), Scott Whyte (English)

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• Amazing Technicolor Population: He possesses deadened, pale blue skin.
• Animal Testing: He can be seen testing the manor's drugs on a restrained rat in his Background Trailer.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Part of his ability allows him to stalk Survivors for a short time. Once he has finished doing so, his attacks are replaced with a leaping attack focused on one target he has stalked. At max presence, he can chain into two leaps to potentially catch up to a Survivor.
• Being Evil Sucks: Never said directly, but his "Abyss" skin heavily implies him to be the side of Orpheus that hates himself for all of his questionable actions.
• Creepy Crows: Wears a plague doctor mask that seems to actually be a part of his face, and has long black strands of hair, making him resemble a raven. He can also summon ravens to monitor ciphers.
• Dark Is Evil: He is the big bad of the Time of Reunion event, and has a dark color scheme and association with black birds.
• Enemy Within: The final cutscene of the Time of Reunion expansion heavily imply that he is Orpheus's Split Personality and that he continues to haunt and torment Orpheus in the present day, although there is also enough evidence to say that he is actually Orpheus "good side". Depending on how accurate Orpheus's recollection of the past in Time of Reunion is, "Nightmare" may have played this role far before the fire that broke out at the manor.
• Hidden Depths: Though what little information we have on him presents him as a Mad Scientist of sorts, one of his listed interests is theology, the study of the divine and religion.
• Mad Scientist: Is heavily implied to be the one responsible for producing and administering the drugs that are used on the manor's guests. If he is indeed the author of the Experiment Files, he treats each of the games as being part of different stages in one big experiment.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Wears a plague doctor mask made to resemble a raven.
• Plague Doctor: His raven-shaped makes him resemble one.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: His abilities can be used to find and keep an eye on Survivors very easily.
• Superpowered Evil Side: The Detective and Novelist's Hunter persona, capable of targeting and eliminating other Survivors.
• Tarot Motifs: Nightmare's chosen tarot card for the official "Arcana Series" merchandise is The Devil.
• Tattoo as Character Type: Possesses a tattoo of a neat row of sheet music with music notes written in grey scoring both of his arms and wrists. It is as of yet unclear if these are meant to be a personal emblem, part of some form of code, or simply a complex design.
• Tragic Monster: Implied. His character notes and skins imply that he represents the part of Orpheus's psyche that feels bad about his vile actions.