Characters that appear throughout Penumbra.
open/close all folders
Philip Buchanon
- Voiced by: Tom Jubert (Overture), Bram Floria (Black Plague & Requiem)
- All There in the Manual: His full name, Philip Buchanon, is only revealed on the back of the official physical releases for Penumbra: Overture and the Penumbra Collection.
- Badass Bookworm: He's an English physics professor who relies on his wits to survive.
- Badass Teacher: Being a Physics professor, he's very well educated, which helps when he's trapped in a mine with zombie dogs, giant spiders, and worms, or a facility overrun by hive-linked infected.
- Cowardly Lion: Being just a Physics teacher, he's not equipped to deal with the horrors he encounters through the games, but is capable of surviving through his wits and the occasional displays of force.
- The Dog Bites Back: Philip finally exorcises Clarence from his body, ignoring his pleas for mercy. Depending on your interpretation of the ending, Philip having the Tuurngait killed may count as this, too.
- Doom Magnet: Pretty much everyone Philip comes into contact with, dies, albeit with different circumstances. He's forced to kill Red, in order to proceed further into the mine; he kills Amabel Swanson when Clarence causes him to hallucinate her as an Infected; his separation from Clarence directly leads to his death at the Tuurngait's hand; he finally seals the Tuurngait's fate by telling the outside world to kill it once and for all.
- Doomed Protagonist: Regardless of the ending you choose in Requiem, Philip doesn't make it out of the Archaic facility alive, either joining Red in the furnace and thus dying where he lay at the end of Black Plague or trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop, forced to undergo the events of the series all over again.
- Fighting from the Inside: Much like Red and his father Howard, Philip was able to overcome the Tuurngait or at least gain some level of control over it. This unfortunately has a side effect in the form of Clarence.
- Heroic Mime: He only speaks in the prologues but never in the games proper.
- I Lied: When the Tuurngait asks Philip to destroy all evidence to the ruins, thus allowing the Tuurngait to rest in peace, he agrees. But he later sent an email to a friend, giving them the location of the mine and telling them to destroy the Tuurngait.
- My God, What Have I Done?: He's wracked with guilt over killing Red, the closest thing he had to a friend in the first game. It gets worse when he kills Dr. Swanson, courtesy of Clarence's Mind Screw tricks.
- Non-Action Guy: The only violence he inflicts is clubbing zombie dogs with a pick axe... and he sucks at it.
- Silent Protagonist: He never speaks in gameplay, but you can hear him in the prologues, as well as read his thoughts as you progress.
- Vocal Evolution: He goes from a fairly English-sounding voice to an American accent between the atwo games, due to the first selling well enough the developers were able to hire a more professional voice actor for Black Plague.
- Walk It Off: The regenerating health system means all he has to do is wander around for a few minutes, even if badly hurt.
Tom "Red" Redwood
- Voiced by: Mike Hillard
- The Aloner: He's been trapped in the mine for thirty years, since the age of 14.
- Barbarian Long Hair: While we never see him in Overture, an illustration in the prologue of Black Plague depicts Red with long, unkempt hair.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: In a letter exclusive to the soundtrack booklet, Red notes his desire to be locked away from the world where he can read his books without interruption. He gets it and a massive dose of Sanity Slippage for his troubles once he runs out of material to read.
- Big Good: A very mentally unstable one, mind you, but he's the closest thing Philip has to an ally in the first game.
- Cloudcuckoolander: He often goes into random spouts of poetry when talking to Philip. It turns out, he'd been reading up on Shakespeare in his spare time.
- Deuteragonist: The secondary character of Overture by virtue of being the only other living soul in the mine alongside Philip. With all of the context behind his past, the game is as much his tragic story as it is Philip's.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: If Red's note is to be believed, he's been trapped in the mine for thirty years by himself, so he has more than a few screws loose by the time Philip meets him. Despite this, he's able to retain enough sanity to help Philip navigate the mines throughout the game.
- Kill Him With Fire: His ultimate fate. When Philip finally reaches Red, he's shut himself in an incinerator and asks Philip to end his life. Philip complies, albeit very reluctantly.
- I Am a Humanitarian: Late in the game, he reveals that he feasted on those who died in the mine, but swears he only did so when the corpses started to decay.
- I Cannot Self-Terminate: More than anything, Red wishes to die and end his prolonged life of misery, but he claims that it's "against the rules" to kill himself. Black Plague reveals he was infected with a form of the Tuurngait virus, which would not allow him to willfully take his own life. After killing him, Philip can find a noose in Red's living quarters, implying a failed suicide attempt.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: Red constantly reiterates his longing for a friend due to having lived in the mine for nearly thirty years with seldom any social interaction.
- Manchild: Though well-spoken and articulated, a result of reading Shakespeare in his spare time, Red's mask occasionally slips to reveal the scared 14 year old boy who was trapped in the mine thirty years ago.
- Manipulative Bastard: An extremely sympathetic one. Thirty years of isolation has done a number on Red's psyche and the virus prevents him from killing himself, evident by the noose found in his living space. When Philip arrives, Red guides him through the mine under the pretense of offering him answers should they meet. When he does, however, Red admits he lied and that although he enjoyed Philip's company, he really lured him there so that he could finally be put out of his misery. He also warns Philip against forging ahead and tries to incinerate the key to the doors with him to spare Philip of the horrors that wait for him on the other side. Philip doesn't begrudge him for it and reluctantly complies with his final request.
- Mercy Kill: After being trapped in the mine and suffering significant Sanity Slippage for thirty years, Philip puts him out of his misery by incinerating him.
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: Communicates with Philip via radio, and is clearly insane from isolation and the effects of the Tuurngait virus. He's retained just enough of his bearings to guide Philip through the mine, but often lapses into nonsensical ramblings.
- Mood-Swinger: On occasion, he'll fly into a tangent and lash out at Philip, accusing him of denying his help because he believes him to be a deranged madman, only to apologize shortly after.
- Sanity Slippage: His time in the mine has caused his sanity to degrade considerably, but he still retains enough to assist Philip on his journey.
- Talkative Loon: Aside from Philip's prologue, Red's the only voiced character in Overture and he's not all there in the head.
- Third-Person Person: When recounting his experiences in the mine, Red sometimes refers to himself in the third person.
- This Is Gonna Suck: If Philip decides to join him in the incinerator in Requiem, he assures that it's going to hurt like hell.
- The Voice: He's only ever heard through the radio Philip acquires early on in the game, and even when you finally reach him, he's shut himself in a furnace...
Clarence
- Voiced by: Robert Pike Daniel
- All for Nothing: Spent the whole game trying to get Philip killed or to take control of his body to be free. Once he finally gets his own body, he gets quickly killed by the hivemind he used to form a part of.
- Arc Villain: Of Black Plague, with the Tuurngait as the overall Big Bad.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With the Tuurngait in Black Plague. Although the Tuurngait is responsible for the virus, Clarence is just as big a threat to Philip's well-being and directly causes him more distress.
- Deadpan Snarker: To the extreme, with his smug condescension only growing as the plot progresses.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Philip spends almost all of the second game trying to get rid of him. Once he's out of the way, he's stil got to deal with the Tuurngait.
- Fantastic Racism: He looks down on the human race and derogatorily refers to Philip as "monkey".
- Enemy Within: He spends most of the game as a voice in Philip's head and makes several efforts to kill him by giving away his position to the Infected or inducing hallucinations.
- Enemy Without: When Philip cures himself of the virus, Clarence is transferred into an Infected corpse, reanimating it, which he uses to attack Philip directly.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He's quick to make insensitive remarks and not-so-subtly joke about getting Philip killed, but the worst has to be when he makes Philip kill Dr. Amabel Swanson.
- Hate Sink: An obnoxious voice in Phillip's head, he makes his life hell by constantly insulting him and causing him to see hallucinations, which he uses to trick Phillip into killing Dr. Amabel by having him hallucinate her as a monster.
- Hearing Voices: He manifests in the form of a voice in Philip's head, at least until he gets a body of his own.
- Hypocrite: For all his hatred of humanity, Clarence is more like them than he realizes, which the Tuurngait points out after killing him.
- Interface Screw: He's able to screw with your vision, making you see things that aren't there or even crafting imaginary images.
- Karmic Death: Spends the whole him looking down on humans, calling them "monkeys". When he finally gets his own body at the end, he quickly gets killed by the Tuurngait, since his individuality developed so much he wasn't a part of the hivemind anymore. As the Tuurngait itself points out, he was closer to being a human than he would've liked.
- Kick the Dog: He cracks jokes at Philip's expense after he realizes he killed Dr. Swanson in a hallucination induced by Clarence, complete with a Did You Actually Believe...? line.
- Manipulative Bastard: When Swanson creates a cure and offers to help Philip, Clarence, in an effort to save himself, makes Philip hallucinate Swanson as an Infected, which causes him to kill her in self-defense. It backfires spectacularly when, rather than push Philip over the Despair Event Horizon, it strengthens his resolve to rid himself of Clarence, and he succeeds.
- Meaningful Rename: As part of the Tuurngait, he had no name to speak of, merely being part of a greater whole. He picks up the name Clarence from It's a Wonderful Life because it rolled off the tongue nicely. This is the first sign of him developing his own individuality and thus, becoming more human.
- Screw Destiny: Clarence openly voices his disdain of the concept of fate and destiny, viewing it as "merely the war cry of those too scared to think for themselves."
- Taking You with Me: When it's clear Philip can, and fully intends, to purge him from his mind, Clarence begins to unleash more deadly hallucinations in an attempt to kill Philip than let him regain control.
- Villainous Breakdown: Once it becomes clear that Phillip is going to exorcise him from his mind despite his begging, he begins shouting in rage.Clarence: You'll never do it, you don't have the balls! Go on, I dare ya! You're some coward four limbed freak, you barely evolved out of the swamp! You haven't got it in ya!
- Villains Want Mercy: After all the crap he puts Philip through, he has the nerve to beg for his life when he's about to be exorcised from Philip's consciousness. However, it devolves into a Villainous Breakdown once it's clear it isn’t working.Clarence: Look, just wait a minute, maybe we got off on the wrong foot... you don't have to go through with this! We can be friends! I don't want to die Monkey! [...] Please, I could learn to live like this, it might not be so bad. We'd be like room-mates! We could take it in turns to drive! Just think about what you're doing.
Archaic
A science research organization centered on xenology. The facility Philip finds belongs to them, and his father used to conduct research. They found the Tuurngait Tomb years before the start of the series, kickstarting the subsequent events.
Dr. Roberts, the "Spider Hater"
A Lower Caste scientist that got himself trapped on the old mine. He survived by eating the spiders, which he hated.
- An Armand A Leg: Had his leg injured while trying to escape, which left him trapped in the mine.
- Big Eater: Started to eat a huge amount of spiders once he ran out of actual food. We all know how that ended.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets injured and trapped in the mines, has to eat spiders to survive, said spiders grow in size and start to attack him, has to amputate his own tongue due to toxins and, moments after the player finds him, he gets dragged off to his death.
- Eating the Enemy: As noted in the note, spiders started to become really aggresive and bigger after a while. He kept eating them anyways.
- Killed Offscreen: Gets dragged deeper into the excavation by Frisk while inside his room, a scene that Philip can't witness, but can hear. His death is confirmed by Carpenter later in Black Plague.
- Lifeor Limb Decision: Had to amputate his own tongue due to the spider's toxins messing it up. It can be found by Philip in the same room.
Eloff Carpenter
Another scientist trapped in the Shelter. He apparently found a way to deal with the infected. He was also in charge of writing a report about Wilbur Frisk's performance.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: As revealed in Requiem, he became a part of the Tuurngait's hivemind after his death.
- Apocalyptic Log: His report on Frisk, which starts to show less accurate deaths as he describes his transformation. Philip also finds a casette where he can hear his death.
- He Knows Too Much: Gets killed by an infected right before he reveals their weaknesses.
- The Voice: In Requiem, where Philip can hear his ramblings throughout the expansion, but can never actually meet him.
Dr. Richard Eminiss
A scientist working for the Shelter. Despite being infected, he tries to help Philip.
- An Arm and a Leg: Offers to cut his own hand so Philip and use it on the scanner. Sadly, he's overtaken by the infection before he can do so.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: In Requiem, it's revealed he's now part of the Tuurngait hivemind.
- Bait-and-Switch: Once Philip hands him the saw, he starts screaming in pain. It would be reasonable to assume that he's just cutting his own arm as he promised, but as it turns out, he actually just completed his transformation, and destroys the door with the intention to attack the player.
Dr. Amabel Swanson
A chemist hiding inside the Shelter. By the time Philip contacts here, she might be the only non-infected person in the base.
- Accidental Murder: Philip accidentally kills her while confusing her with an infected due to Clarence's meddling.
- Big Good: In Black Plague, guiding Philip through the facility and trying to help him get rid of Clarence.
- Contrasting Replacement Character: To Red. Red had few social skills and spoke with weird, sophisticated words. Amabel is more easy-going, maybe a bit too much for the situation she finds herself in, and makes more comical, light-hearted remarks. Red is clearly insane due to the isolation and is infected with the Tuurngait, while Swanson can still communicate mostly normally and is physically healthy. Red is associated with, well, the color Red, while Swanson is contacted via computers, which have a deep blue interface. Finally, Red asks Philip to kill him, while Swanson gets accidentally killed while trying to help.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Of Red. Both serve as mission control to Philip during his journey, being the only human character that speaks to him and the only sane enough to try to help him. Both die by Philip's hand too, in a way that deeply affects him and pushes his resolve to continue his journey.
- Only Sane Man: Sane would be too generous, but she's certainly not infected while talking to Philip.
Howard LaFresque
Philip's father, a French linguist that worked as a translator for the Shelter. He abandoned his family decades before the start for the game to focus on his work, so he was presumed deceased. He sents Philip a letter after his mother's death, which kickstarts the plot.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: He was this to Philip, with no explanation of what happened to him besides that he died (which may or may have not been a way to avoid explaining his dissappearance).
- Dead All Along: He turns out dead in his hideout. In-Universe, Philip was expecting this, but still felt in shock when he found him.
- Disappeared Dad: To Philip. By the time his son arrives to his location, he's nothing but a corpse.
- Marriedtothe Job: Left his family to work on the Shelter, to the point they declared him dead. He deeply regrets this decision.
- Posthumous Character: By the time Philip learns that he's alive, he's most likely dead. By the time he finds him, he sure is.
Wilbur Frisk
The Chief Overseer of the excavation on the mine. By the time Philip meets him, he's become something else.
- Ascended Extra: Previously another random name in the files of the first game. In the second game however, he's one of the major monsters. He also becomes a main threat in the fan mod Necrologue.
- Arc Villain: Of the Necrologue fan mod, where Frisk stalks Philip throughout the last stretch of his adventure.
- Body Horror: Based on the Hunter's appearance, Frisk's limbs elongated and he started moving on all fours while keeping some of the other deformities of the Tuurngait infected, making him resemble an alien beast rather than a zombie as the other infected.
- Dirty Coward: Holed himself up in the Kennel along with the dogs to stay safe after the virus started to spread. As we all know, that only caused him more pain.
- Elite Mook: Zig-Zagged. Unlike the other infected, Frisk cannot be killed, but he's also more limited in his movement.
- Foreshadowing: In the first game, Philip witnesses the Spider Hater being dragged underground by a mysterious creature. Rockworms are way too big for this and they'd rather eat their prey than drag them off. Come the next game, we know that this guy took care of him.
- The Heavy: In Necrologue, while the Tuurngait is still the overall Big Bad, Frisk is the most persistent enemy in the mod and chases Philip several times.
- Married to the Job: Stated to be very enthuasiastic and commited to his job by the report. Wether this was caused by the infection, a lie to keep Carpenter off his back or a genuine trait is anyone's guess.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Despite being making noises through his sequence and even being able to kill Philip, the player never gets to see Frisk's actual appearance. It's commonly assumed that Frisk's transformed appearance is that of The Hunter, an enemy that was cut from the original tech demo, since Frisk's descriptions and quirks fit perfectly with said enemy. The Hunter model would be later reused for Frisk's full appearance in the fan mod Necrologue.
- One-Scene Wonder: Frisk only appears in a single sequence during the series, but he's one of the most memorable encounters.
- Puzzle Boss: Philip must pay attention to the lightning patterns in the hallway to avoid staying in the dark, keeping him at bay.
- Spiritual Predecessor: To The Beast from Amnesia: The Bunker. While their mechanics are somewhat different, the overall concept is similar: a mutated human, now devolved into a feral beast that fears light and stalks the player character in the dark.
- Was Once a Man: As with the other infected, Frisk was a normal person before the infection took a toll on him. Frisk is a special case however, since he became more of a feral beast instead of a mindless zombie.
- Weakened by the Light: Frisk's transformation gave him heightened senses, but also made his eyes weak to lightning, which Philip can take advantage from to avoid him
The Tuurngait
- Ambiguously Evil: The Tuurngait claims to be benevolent and that it wishes no harm, but there is evidence to the contrary, suggesting that it attacked the researchers as soon as its tomb was uncovered, and its Infected continually antagonize Philip as he traverses the facility. That being said, it seems to treat Philip decently when they meet in person and places its fate in his hands, for better or worse.
- Big Bad: Everything Philip goes through across the series is a result of the Tuurngait attacking the Archaic researchers after they disturbed its tomb.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The Tuurngait is the biggest threat in terms of scale and is ultimately responsible for the infection that kills the Archaic researchers, but Clarence is a more personal threat to Philip, and directly causes him more distress than the Tuurngait did.
- Eldritch Abomination: It's a vastly intelligent cosmic being with the power to infect and manipulate humans to its will, making it very much this.
- God Guise: The Tuurngait was worshipped by the Inuit, who believed it to be a spirit of their religion.
- Greater-Scope Villain: For Overture. Some notes throughout the game reference the Tuurngait and is the source of the virus afflicting the creatures in the mine, but it doesn't have a major role in the plot until Black Plague.
- Hive Mind: The Infected are extensions of will, all linked together.
- Individuality Is Illegal: This is why it kills Clarence, rather than reintegrate him. He'd become too human and unique.
- Our Zombies Are Different: The Infected are technically an undead Hive Mind, but they still retain some measure of their former personality.
- Uncertain Doom: Whether Philip's friend receives his email and succeeds in destroying the Tuurngait or not is never revealed.
- Unreliable Expositor: The Tuurngait claims that it has no desire to harm humans, only attacking in self-defense, and ultimately wishes to be left alone, but this is contradicted by the fact that its Infected have been relentlessly pursuing Philip throughout the game with intent to kill, and there are no indicators that the Archaic researchers had any intention of harming the Tuurngait, merely wishing to study it. In fact, some notes state that the Tuurngait virus started to spread as soon as its ruins were uncovered, bringing its claims of peace into question.
- Villains Want Mercy: After Philip passes its tests, the Tuurngait puts itself at Philip's mercy, asking him to destroy all evidence of the ruins, so that no one will disturb it again. Philip agrees, only to send a letter to a trusted friend, telling them to destroy the Tuurngait once and for all.
- Voice of the Legion: Its voice sounds like multiple individuals speaking in unison. This is more literal when it communicates through multiple infected.
- You Will Be Assimilated: Anyone infected by its virus are assimilated into its Hive Mind, becoming shallow husks and an extension of its will.
