Narrator (Darkest Dungeon II)

The Narrator of Darkest Dungeon II is a new character called the Academic. He has a similar role to the Ancestor in the previous game, and is also voiced by Wayne June.

Identity
In peaceful years long past, the Academic met the player at the University in The Sprawl. Together, they studied the metaphysical structure of the world and learned a horrifying truth. The player left and secluded themselves at their home in The Valley, but the Academic continued his research. Later, as the world teetered on the brink of oblivion and madness overwhelmed all, the Academic tracked down the player, shook them out of their complacency, and charged them with taking The Flame to The Mountain to stop the source of the evil.

Narrator's Responses
The Narrator reacts differently to many events and actions of the player. He will comment on a grand variety of events and parts of the game including the opening cinematic, critical hits, bosses, and various interactions throughout the game.

The Howling End Trailer
"In the howling darkness of the end - men will become monsters, but hope will ride those courageous enough to carry... The Flame."

A Glimmer of Hope Trailer
"You were right to fear the world. It has gone mad. The gutters brim with poets, and decency lies burning in the street. But this is not a time for heroes. Look instead to those battered souls who have known fear and failure in ample portion, but rise again to reclaim a glimmer of hope from the spreading stain of the Darkest Dungeon."

Intro Cinematic
"Ruin has found you at last. My protégé - my friend - our calculations were correct: the ephemeral equation is unbalanced. The earth spins on a strange and terrifying new axis and everywhere... unbridled consequence. The world is a wasteland of failures past, and you must ride out into it, unafraid. Take this - it is Hope. The very last of it. It is yours now. You were bold once. Be bold once more. Free yourself from this suffocating stillness, fix your gaze on the horizon, and face the fearsome truth... of the Darkest Dungeon."

Denial
Selection "You have cowered in your crumbling denial long enough." "The Shackles of Denial must. Be. Destroyed."

Extras "Commonalities between the mythos of ancient cultures was not a new area of study for either of us, but it was there that we first noticed the pattern." "The university's resources were impressive and yet, on occasion we relished in... firsthand experience."

Introduction "I remember our first meeting on the steps of the University - a collegial handshake that would doom us both. Your insightful questions during my lectures gave me pause, and I recognized in you something... of a kindred spirit. Despite our differences in age and position, we shared a keen fascination for archaeology, folklore, and of course, occultism."

Conclusion "It was you who found the cypher, scribbled hastily in the decaying margins of some long forgotten tome. Scribbled... in blood. Whether by providence or happenstance, we stumbled upon the mark of some strange power invoked the world over, reflected in cultures predating mankind itself. A semicircle, radiating five points of power - a symbol hidden deep in the iconography of every ancient empire. The Iron Crown... enigmatic, and ubiquitous."

Resentment
Selection "Left unsurfaced, grievances gain a terrible strength." "Let us drag your agglutinated indignities out into the light."

Extras "We had managed to grasp a thread of connective worship - that stretched across vast gulfs of time and tribe. but we did not understand it." "I understood your eagerness to build a reputation, and it pained me greatly to hold you back." "You mistook my abundance of caution for a lack of confidence, and would perseverate on your grievances at length."

Introduction "Your vociferous calls to bring our findings before the faculty were dangerously premature. Given the gaps in our understanding, doing so would risk ridicule, or worse, robbery. I took no pleasure in asserting my seniority - stifling your protestations with a strict mandate of absolute secrecy. You acquiesced, but your plaintive susurrations betrayed a burgeoning resentment."

Conclusion "The blaze began in the east wing of the Great Library. Within hours, the entirety of our effort lay in a smoldering, ashen heap. I braced against your rancorous buffeting, avowing a certain hesitant relief at our freedom from that mocking sigil. The uncanny arrival of the letter, however, heralded a new, pernicious phase of our investigation..."

Obsession
Selection "Mania and misery - companions to the last."

Extras "Our host assured us of the groups anthropological values, but I sensed his designs extended well beyond the theoretical." "As the night wore on, circles were drawn carefully in chalk, and salt was laid upon the floor. This was not research, it was ritual. And I could not stifle my repulsion."

Introduction "We set out immediately into the kaleidoscopic wilds of the countryside, and by sundown, reached the remote manor whose whereabouts formed the sole contents of that cryptic invitation. At the behest of our charismatic host, we feasted beneath a banner of the iron Crown; questioned exhaustively by an eager cabal of masked delegates."

Conclusion "We awoke to an empty house. the garroted bodies of the attendees lay around the basement dais, each prostrate along a point of the Crown; our host conspicuously absent. I could scarcely countenance such obscenity, but you were transfixed, eyes ablaze with inspiration. The failed ritual would become your obsession - from that pivotal moment, you were blind to all else."

Highwayman
Recruitment "Hunted, harried - a fugitive seeking to outpace the past."

Man-at-Arms
Recruitment "Pride - more devastating than the horrors of a hundred campaigns."

Death "At last, the battlefield has claimed its due."

"Another old soldier lays down his life in the dirt of a distant land."

Grave Robber
Recruitment "Avarice slips unseen into the catacombs of the mind."

Death "She fades into the shadows for the last time..."

Plague Doctor
Recruitment "Indiscriminate science stains the surgeons hands."

Death "She understood death, but could not defy it."

Hellion
Recruitment "Beneath the bloodlust and fury, there is emptiness... and shame."

Death "A warriors death - redemptive and transcendent." "She sought a glorious death, and found it."

Runaway
Recruitment "Nothing remains... save a burning will to survive."

Death "Snuffed out before her time."

"Extinguished, she can run no further."

Jester
Recruitment "A murderous melody lingers long after the final chord has been struck."

Death "The minstrel takes his final bow." "The final chord is struck."

Leper
Recruitment "Making peace with adversity is the very essence of existence."

Death "He was mourned years ago, now he is simply... gone."

Occultist
Recruitment "To know the abyss, one must embrace it."

Death "He courted the unthinkable, but to no avail." "He will drift among the stars."

Bounty Hunter
Recruitment "A glint in the shadows - the hunter is here." "The thrill of the hunt. The promise of payment."

The Crossroads
"The Crossroads - who will step forward into the light?" "The Crossroads - where lost souls hope to find their way." "The Crossroads - wait by the lantern's light and welcome what help may come."

The Valley
"Onward - and let us hope enough yet remains of the world..."

"Onward once again, though all the worlds horrors bar the way." "The road calls once more to its dark passenger." "The point of no return welcomes you with open arms..." "You see? Even your valley is not immune to the spreading stain."

The Foetor
"The rancid crop grows unchecked and abhorrent..."

"The tainted crop continues to spread its tendrils of rot and pestilence." "First, they ate the rotten flesh of their animals. Then, still hungry, they turned upon themselves." "They emptied their larders, gorging themselves as the world began to crumble."

The Sluice
"Tread carefully and quickly. This is swine country."

"The swine were first reported by denizens of a small hamlet nestled on the western coast."

The Tangle
"War rewards only resignation."

"Emptied of mind and spirit by some existential shock, the poor devils roam aimlessly amidst the trees." "These seasoned soldiers were deployed to a winding front, meant to prevent the cult's descent from the Mountain."

The Sprawl
"Behold the great cities of man - ruined and aflame."

"Our great cities burn. All that beauty and knowledge, ash on the wind." "Centuries of human learning and achievement, ruined, by riotous contempt." "The fanatics feed themselves to the fire. Their flesh melting like candle wax."

The Shroud
"Propriety floats listless on the tide, brined in noxious degradation." "The docks are choked once again with the repellant stench of rotting fish." "To save themselves, they would slip beneath the brackish waters and be reborn in the image of their aquatic demiurge."

The Mountain
"At last the great Ziggurat - temple of failure and regret!"

Healing an Ally
"A little help, impeccably timed." "Welcome relief from caustic agony..." "This wound at least has been tended to."

"This road cannot be walked alone." "Relief comes rarely in these times. Savor it."

Self Healing
"Self-reliance is a rare and wonderful thing."

Killing an Enemy
"Another impediment cleared with impunity."

Killing a weak enemy
"Let us hope to finish this quickly." "The work continues..."

Killing a large enemy
"Persistence will overcome even the greatest of threats." "All problems have their solutions... even the big ones."

Killing an enemy with a strong attack
"Easily dispatched!"

Inflicting Blight, Bleed, or Burn
"A slow dissection... an unavoidable end." "A slow suffering begins..."

Striking a critical hit
"A brilliant conclusion!" "Excellent work!" "A breakthrough!"

Recieving a critical hit
"Steady yourself!"

Recieving Horror
"A slow suffering begins..."

Recieving a Deathblow
"An unforeseen complication..."

Winning a battle
"Experience, however painful, is the greatest teacher of all..." "By confronting the past, we learn to face the future." "The means of mastery!"

Encountering Cultists
"Emptiness and dissolution have wormed their way into the world!" "Behold - the infinite emptiness of the void!" "Reality comes asunder before our eyes!" "The beautiful illusion that was the world - fragmented and undone."

The Shambler
"The walker from beyond the stars - a shambling horror!" "We tread beyond the realms of reason!" "A star-spawned child of the infinite void!"

The Antiquarian
"The Antiquarian wants what we have and she will not be denied." "Once she had a sliver of decency now, only greed." "She searches the dying world for the keys to her own salvation."

Amorous
"While the heart still beats, desire will never die."

Inseperable
"Two facets of the same stone - never one without the other."

Resentment
"Resentment - the slowest poison and deadliest poison of them all."

Suspicious
"Narrowed eyes, muttered threats. All trust is lost."