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."

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."

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..."

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."

Random Party
"Let us suffer the pitiless whim of chance then."

The Intrepid Coast
"Hail, the vessel of your deliverance."

The Working Fields
"Spare a thought for tools of iron - such implements will serve us well." "Every twinkling recollection is another implement at our disposal." "New instruments will help us diagnose the world's affliction, and overcome it."

The Living City
"These are beaten, broken souls - and yet, our fortunes ride with them." "Look to those who have known fear and failure in ample portion."

The Timeless Wood
"Memory is the hearth that warms the mind." "A memory of pleasure can dull a moment of pain." "Bask for a moment in the light of distant days." "A fleeting impression, a flickering light." "The more they have to hold on to, the harder they will fight."

"When all is lost, we cling to what we can remember."

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."

"This was a beautiful place once... what a pity..." "The point of no return welcomes you with open arms..."

"The time for denial has passed." "Sanctuary. As fleeting as a dying star." "The road is yours to travel, but you are not alone." "You came here seeking solace but found stagnation instead." "Once more into the maelstrom, in search of what hope yet remains." "You can feel it - a change in the air." "The winds whip more harshly on the far side of the brook." "You see? Even your valley is not immune to the spreading stain."

"Push on to the Inn. Rest and resupply await you."

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

"The tainted crop continues to spread its tendrils of rot and pestilence."

"The farms and field of our kingdom, overrun with putrescence and rot." "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."

"They thrill to the succulent flavour that grows up from some nightmare pit far beneath the earth."

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."

"Unmapped, unexplored. A risky proposition."

"Abandoned waterways, home now to far worse than rats." "Hidden in warrens and ancient waterways, the swine proliferate unseen and unchecked." "The pitiless stamp of cloven hooves can be heard ahead..."

The Tangle
"War rewards only resignation."

"Mud and rain. Resignation and death. This land is truly barren." "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."

"Another nameless city, another inferno of mutilation and madness."

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!"

"There is nothing for it now but to press on, come what may."

"Behold, the source of the stain. Gateway to incomprehensible emptiness." "The collagenous cathedral, malign temple of the Iron Crown." "The nightmare gate is revealed. Beyond, only infernal nihility and nonexistence."

Loathing
"The Loathing consumes." "The Loathing spreads." "The Loathing howls." "The Loathing whispers." "The Loathing festers." "The Loathing abates."

The Watchtower
"Reliable information brings accurate insight after all." "The fog is parted. Our way is made clear." "Look to the horizon and lament." "Everywhere, in all directions, destruction has claimed dominion." "The value of such a view is matched only by its unsettling awfulness."

The Field Hospital
"If you hope to heal, you have chosen wisely." "She heals the injuries of others, while ignoring her own." "She understands the futility of her work but undertakes it nonetheless." "She weeps for the fallen, and knows she will join them soon enough." "Joints ache, and muscles burn. The body requires attention."

Locking a Quirk
"Strength comes in many forms." "We must preserve what is best in us."

Removing a Quirk
"Even the worst habits can be overcome." "We need not be defined by our shortcomings."

The Desperate Few/Assistance Encounter
"Lost and desperate - they need your help." "This is no place for decent folk." "Let us temper this world's cruelty, just a little." "Giving into madness is easier than holding out against it. They are heroes." "Look upon their noble struggle and be humbled by it." "The Flame sputters. You must give hope to get it." "Desperate and wanting. Will you rebuff their earnest pleas?" "You must be strong enough to shoulder more than your share of the burden." "Facing oblivion, these folk have kept their honor. Have you?" "Let us hope their desperation can be eased."

Shrine of Reflection
"Who will face the half-remembered horrors of their past?" "Look ahead - a place to reflect, remember, and reconcile." "We must understand the past if we are ever to be free of it." "It is a difficult thing to face the past, and even more so to reconcile with it." "Only when we acknowledge the past can we be free from it." "Acceptance requires honesty, painful as it might be."

"By confronting the past, we learn to face the future."

The Hoarder
"He chatters incoherently - but his prices remain fixed." "Let us hope the madman's scrounging has borne fruit." "His attention is unfocused, as though he is in two places at once." "He struggles to decide what is real, holding back fits of laughter, and tears." "His stifled smirking betrays a malign madness."

The Academic's Study
"Up ahead the seat of our regrettable research." "A place of research and inquiry. A monument to a once prestigious career." "This unkempt study evokes a feeling of the familiar does it not?" "An academic's study. Full of the forbidden, and the forgotten." "Rummage through the shelves, laden with echoes of indistinct ideas." "The inscription reads, "The sacrifice of Hope opens the gate to ruin. Offer of yourself if you crave the Void."" "Despite being in perfect working order, it remains damnably stuck, just before twelve." "An early experiment. Gerd yourself, and don't stand too close." "We found the pathetic creature chained to an obelisk a half mile beneath the old church ruins." "The theory at the time was that harm could be rendered to a subject, by proxy." "The well-worn seat of our research, still littered with notes, diagrams, and dusty journals." "I regret ever buying that cursed clay from which sprung this anathema." "Recovered from the sunken temple off the wind-whipped coast, it emanates an antediluvian power." "We were able to replicate the dark song, albeit in a more conventional key." "It would be unwise to open this hateful portal, if memory serves." "You painted without rest for days, babbling incoherently about distant, half-imagined places." "We reasoned that the mind must be dissected if it is to be understood." "A rare and impressive collection of folklore, ancient wisdom, and sinister secrets." "A handsome rendering of some wealthy degenerate." "There is something unearthly in the tannin of this unsavory vintage."

Creature Den
"Sharpen your blades, that we may properly excise our portion."

Supply Cache
"Take up these goods and imbue them with purpose." "Supplies this way if you can make it." "Karma abhors waste. Best to take all you can." "My wealth and possessions, bundled into this meager pile." "Perhaps I left this for you. Perhaps you left it for yourself. Perhaps it is not here at all."

"An impressive haul; put it to good use."

Oblivions Ingress/Cultist Encounter
"The avatars of oblivion, clergy of the spreading stain." "The beautiful illusion that was the world - fragmented and undone." "Reality comes asunder before our eyes!" "Emptiness and dissolution have wormed their way into the world!" "Behold, the infinite emptiness of the void!"

Resistance Encounter
"You will fight so that others may flee." "Chaos must be met with unwavering resolve." "Perhaps you are finding your courage at last." "To arms, though it brings no satisfaction."

"Pity a soul so twisted by despair."

Lair
"I trust you have calculated your odds carefully... this will not be easy." "Steel yourself, the hulking horror inside will not fall easily." "Beware what awaits you inside." "Foul winds and foul tidings, no doubt the source is within." "This is a den of absolute evil and wretchedness. Prepare yourself."

The Great Library
"The Library burns - and with it, the remains of philosophy, reason, and insight." "He teeters madly upon his ladder, reveling in the fiery destruction of human accomplishment!"

Inn
"At last, respite within reach."

"The hearth calls out to the weary."

Road Battles
"Your path lies through them, and so they must fall." "They revel in debauchery, debasing themselves in the face of the end."

"Pillaging brigands, enriching themselves as the world collapses," "It is low indeed to profit in destruction." "The hooded watchers howl to their horrid kin."

Fork in the road
"Consider all variables... but do it quickly." "The destination is never in question, only the route you take to get there." "A simple choice. At least, it should be." "An elementary problem, is it not?" "Myriad options require careful deliberation." "When deliberation is exhausted, trust your instincts."

Stopping
"Destiny will not be denied." "We must keep moving." "Analysis is invaluable, until it becomes an excuse for inaction." "Push forward - lamentably, there is no other choice."

"Onward, while there is still time!"

Overencumbered Wainwright
"Your coach is laden - you can carry no more."

Arriving
"We would come here in summers of years gone to write, think, and rest." "Rest now, for a time."

"The place is a little worse for wear, but familiar nonetheless." "Lower your guard, soften your gaze - it is safe here."

Select Route
"Consider your position and plan accordingly." "The provinces and cantrevs of our land, crumbling and undone."

The Wainwright
"Each improvement a new variable in the equation of your fate."

"Planning and mindfulness, as vital to survival as sharpened steel." "Your coach must be maintained if it is to carry you where you must go." "Bolt it on and be off. The Mountain will not be denied."

Mastery Trainer
"Experience, however painful, is the greatest teacher of all." "The means of mastery!"

"Learn what can be taught, that you may stand just a little taller at the end." "Listen, practice, improve."

The Provisioner
"Spend what you can, for wealth no longer has meaning - if indeed it ever did." "Conventional fare, but fairly priced." "A bit of comfort on the road to damnation."

"Anything that lets us travel further is worth the cost."

End Expedition
"Learn a little, and begin again." "Will you press on into uncertainty... or claim what you can?" "Shall we continue, or is the lesson too demanding?"

Respectful
"Tried and tested - a bond to be counted on!"

Hopeful
"Aspiration unites the hopeful!"

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

Hateful
"Cruelty and callousness have claimed dominion here."

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

Envious
"Each covets what the other has, and plots to take it."

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

Healing an Ally
"A little help, impeccably timed."

"This wound at least has been tended to."

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

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

Stress Healing
"Compassion quiets the howling mind."

Buffing an Ally
"Empowered - emboldened!" "Cooperation is the key!" "In crisis, we can rely only upon each other." "Collaboration confers advantage..."

Removing DoT
"Welcome relief from caustic agony..."

Killing an Enemy
"Another impediment cleared with impunity."

"Take heart! And do not relent!"

"Let us hope to finish this quickly." "The work continues..."

"They falter - so press your advance!" "Easily dispatched!" "A righteous action!" "Straightforward, and effective!"

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

Applying DoT
"A slow dissection... an unavoidable end." "A slow suffering begins..."

"The enemy weakens and wanes!"

Striking a Critical Hit
"A brilliant conclusion!" "Excellent work!" "A breakthrough!"

"Bravo!" "Well done!" "Stupendous!" "A masterstroke!" "Lethality writ large!"

Receiving a Critical Hit
"Steady yourself!"

Missing an Attack
"A miscalculation, perhaps?" "An opportunity, squandered."

Receiving a Stun
"Bafflement and vexation!"

Receiving Stress
"Anxiety foments insidious fears..."

Arriving at Death's Door
"And now, the greatest test of all." "Once again, teetering on that terrible precipice."

"A setback, nothing more."

Receiving a Deathblow
"An unforeseen complication..."

Winning a Battle
"Experience, however painful, is the greatest teacher of all..."

"The past is gone. Let it die." "We are the Flame, burning brightly for all the world to see." "Amidst the spoils, an artifact of unparalleled power!" "Scavenge what you can and be off once more." "Cut down these nightmares and blaze the trail to your redemption." "Though unpleasant in the extreme, this work is noble... and necessary." "The wainwright awaits, eager to ply his trade." "Abandoned or forgotten - it is ours now."

Partial Victory
"When myriad options align themselves against you, it is wise to desist."

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."

Victorious Journey
"Success, so long pursued, is rewarded only with creeping revelation."

"At last, the veil begins to lift."

Failed Journey
"On and on, over and over, until the truth is laid bare, and you are finally free." "Try and try again. You will break through this gloaming murk." "Learn from each attempt. Deepen your understanding and victory will come."