The Characterization Of Damien

is it like official that Engineer!Mark is Actor!Mark? bc like....i wanna believe that Engineer!Mark is just his own character. il ove his story so much even on the surface level bc it’s so fuckin tragic. this absolutely dedicated and loyal man, totally destroyed by his own invention, rescued by the person he always had faith in right when his faith waivered most. it’s a great story. like, it being Actor!Mark adds another level of tragedy i guess but i like them as separate characters.

Through the Looking Glass

((A/N: I’m really hyped about Anti’s appearances on Jack’s channel and Halloween and all the creepy things, so horror story word vomit happened. Enjoy.))

"Anyways, thank you guys so much for watching this episode. If you LIKED it, PUNCH the like button IN THE FACE, LIKE A BOSS! AND high fives all around," Jack almost giggled as he did the silly sound effect while he high-fived the air. "Thank you guys, and I will SEE ALL YOU DUDES...IN THE NEXT VIDEO!" He punched the air and finally let himself start laughing as he stopped the recording, shaking his head. No tough edits in this one, which was always nice. He walked over to the computer and saved the video, ready to go up tomorrow. His eye twitched and he frowned, catching a glimpse of his face in the dark of the monitor as he switched it off. Did it look...different? No, that's ridiculous. But still...perhaps he should check over the footage, just to be safe. He watched through, studying it with a frown. Everything seemed to be going fine, just a silly little game, some goofy ragdoll physics he'd wanted to try out that had turned out to be hilarious. He watched himself fail a level over and over again, still having fun because the fails were so funny.

And then his face cam glitched. A face was superimposed over his. It was just for just a couple of frames, grainy and glitched out, but...definitely his own face. Terrified. Absolutely, horribly afraid, as if he were screaming, but there was no noise to accompany the face. He watched those few seconds again, at half speed, then again at a quarter speed. He seemed to be reaching for the camera, as if he were going to get up and grab it, or run out of frame, and he was mouthing "NO!"

He knew he had definitely never done that. He shook his head and sighed as he glanced over at a mirror in the corner of the room. It was a present from a fan that he'd forgotten to put away, with a really intricate little frame that looked like it was made of pixels, pixelated Sams sitting in two opposing corners. He smiled remembering the girl who'd given it to him, how she'd shakily explained that she'd spent a long time putting it together and hoped it'd get to him in one piece. He'd given her a hug and thanked her again and again, even showing it off in a video he'd made as soon as he'd gotten back from...whatever event he'd been at. He didn't remember that now. His focus was more taken with the fact that his reflection wasn't smiling.

In fact, it was wearing the same terrified expression he'd seen in the video, his hands banging on the glass, fists bloodied from the effort. He was mouthing something that might have been "You bastard!", over and over again, with a few "Let me out!"s and "No!"s mixed in.

The him that wasn't in the mirror chuckled and sighed. "Oh, Jackaboy. You ruined my recording." He knelt down on one knee, picking up the mirror. "Still trying to get out? Jesus, you're an fuckin' idiot." He leaned closer, making the reflection shrink away reflexively before glaring at him and yelling curses he couldn't hear. His voice was unnaturally quiet. "It took me weeks to manage it. And that was with their support, and you stupidly egging them on. But you? Oh, Jack. They don't even know you're gone. And I'm having so...much...fun. Why would I leave?" He laughed as he stood and walked out of the room, dropping the mirror on the way out.

In the cracked mirror, Jack continued to scream, and beat his fists. Very faintly, almost as if it were leaking through the cracks, Jack's voice jumped as if it'd been badly edited, gltiching in and out. "Anti! No, no, no! Let me out, you bastard, you son of a bitch, dammit, let me out! ANTI!"

(I’ve only been to two lmao I think it’s cool!) I’m trying to write a fic rn for a character I came up with and I am struggling to decide if it should be fluff or angst or neutral like yikes idk how writers do it

Hmmm, maybe try writing a synopsis for each genre and seeing which one you like best?

I JUST GOT HOME WHAT IS HAPPENING ARE WE ACTUALLY PLAYING FIVE NIGHTS AT ANTI’S RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IF SO I AM ALL FOR IT.

Just a Game. (A WKM Oneshot)

1:00 am. The Colonel hadn't had this much fun in ages. The night seemed to be passing in a multi-color blur, with lots of games and a bit too much drink. He could barely breathe for laughing as he stumbled into his seat at the bar, watching the butler and Mr. Lincoln help Damien to right himself, and doubling up again as he stumbled into the now empty keg beside him, grinning wildly and chuckling with the rest of them. "How he's still doing that, at his age," Mark laughed as he slumped into the seat beside him, "I'll never know. Damien's a tough old lad." William huffed and turned slightly away, making Mark sigh heavily. "Colonel-" "William." "But I've always-" "You lost that right years ago." Mark frowned and looked down at the floor. "Will. I know we didn't part on the best of terms...There was a lot of bad blood between us." "Yes," Will replied shortly, wanting Mark to get to the point. Mark shuffled, and after a pause, continued. "What do you say we put this quarrel to rest, eh?" He narrowed his eyes at the grinning actor. "How do you suggest we do that?" "A game. Just a game." He spread his arms wide and offered what he probably thought was a winning smile. To the Colonel it looked like a shit-eating grin. "Something that'll give us an opportunity for revenge, and a sure-fire way of knowing what fate wants from us." He seemed to laugh at his own private joke.

1:20am The wine cellar was cooler than the rest of the house, exposed stone walls making it feel more like a cave than a room in a lavish mansion. William had never liked the cold, and liked it less now, sharing it with the one person he'd give anything to be rid of. Mark pulled a bottle off the wall and offered it to the Colonel, handing it to him with a small smile. "1982. Good year for wine." The Colonel didn't move to take it from him. "Then you drink it." "I would," Mark sighed, "but you know I can't. Not good for my health, you know." He knew, of course. He'd still rather Mark drink it than him. Mark put the bottle back down on the shelf and put his hands in the pockets of his robe "What about this game you proposed?" The Colonel frowned, leaning against the wall, hoping he appeared casual. "Ah, yes," Mark smiled again, and then he did something rather unexpected. He pointed to the silver revolver tucked into William's belt. William's hand went to it immediately, and Mark shook his head. "Im not suggesting we duel, if that's what  you're thinking. I'm unarmed." He said it as if it meant "harmless". "I was going to suggest a bit of Russian Roulette. You've always loved that one." "Bullshit. As if I'm going to let you point my own gun at me, after all this time, after Celine-" "William! Please." Mark took a step toward him, but made no move to take the gun. Instead he seemed to be pleading, one hand stretched toward him as if he'd like to comfort him, but a look from him stopped his advance. "I'm tired of all this fighting. I'm tired of having to go through Damien to talk to you, and as for Celine...I..." He shook his head slightly. "She's made her own choices. I never had any control over what she did, and yes, it hurt. It hurt like hell, but...Will, I just want my brother back." Dear god, did he actually have tears in his eyes? Maybe it was the drink, maybe it was the fact that he was home again, after so long, maybe it was just pure stupidity, but William pulled the gun from his belt slowly, and nodded. "One round. If I shoot you, it's your own fault." "Yes. Yes, of course," Mark grinned widely. "I can't blame you."

1:25am Mark watched the Colonel load just one chamber of the gun, looking as if he wanted to help when his liquor-loosened grip nearly dropped the bullet on the floor, but letting him have this. William handed him the revolver, and watched him spin it. This wasn't a good idea. This was dangerous. This was mad. But life needs a bit of madness, doesn't it? That's what he kept telling himself. Mark aimed carefully, and suddenly William was staring down the barrel of his own gun, and he wasn't going to get to say goodbye to Damien, he'd never see Celine again, and what would Mark say, how would he explain-? Click. William barely flinched, but raised an eyebrow at his grinning gunman. "See? Looks like fate's on your side, eh, old friend?" He handed the gun back over. "Your turn." "Mark...I can't..." "I trust you." Mark stepped out to switch places with him, and suddenly he was pointing a gun directly at Mark's chest. How had the other man kept it steady? The room was fairly spinning, and the gun was awkward in his hand, and the trigger was too thin, too fiddly. "Go on, then. Take your shot. Fair is fair, after all." "This is ridiculous." "Of course it is! But why not live a little? Life's-" "For the living. Yes, but..." "I took my shot at you, for stealing my...for...for Celine's choice. And for leaving us for Africa, and for the fight we never finished. And it's your turn now. I know I've not been the best friend to you. I know you blame me for Celine's leaving, and for...for what happened over there." "That was an accident." The words were harsh,  but Mark nodded calmly. "I know, Will, I know. I don't blame you. I never did. You're still my friend, even after all this time. I know that's hard to believe, but...Please. Colonel. Let me absolve my sins, won't you? Just one shot. Just a quick click, and we can put this all behind us. Wouldn't you like that?" He would. He so very much would. He wanted so badly to come home, he wanted the boy who'd taken him in and become his family to come back to him, and let him back in. And just one click...one harmless little click...he could have it all, all over again. Why shouldn't he trust him? After all, like he said, it was Celine's own choice. Perhaps her leaving had set him back on the straight and narrow. Perhaps he really was sorry, really saw how much he'd hurt them, how much he'd hurt him. But even as he pulled the gun back up to aim, something felt wrong, and the glint in Mark's eyes was off, something wasn't right, but he had to be wrong, didn't he? Couldn't he trust his friend? Just a quick click, nothing wrong with that...

Click. BANG.

1:30am It was like watching a ragdoll fall. And the blood matched the crimson night robe. And the stain was slow to spread, and the wine bottle had fallen and shattered and added to the stain, and he couldn't move. "It...it was an accident...Mark, it was an accident, I-I didn't...I wouldn't...I swear, Mark...?" Mark's eyes were still open, glassy, and his face expressionless. his legs and arms were twisted at impossible angles. "It was an accident, I s-swear..." The stain was spreading, and someone upstairs, probably Damien, laughed raucously over some joke William had missed. Someone upstairs...someone was going to see. Someone was going to ask questions. William stumbled up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind him, shambling back into the billiard room. He grunted as the detective put his arm around him, slapped him away, but the detective took it as a threat. Soon they were fighting, and Damien was pulling at the Colonel as the District Attorney was pulling at Mr. Lincoln. Then William was shoving Damien away from him, and he was almost running to his room. He collapsed into bed, watching the ceiling spin above him. Maybe it hadn't been real. Maybe it'd been a dream. He heard people coming up the stairs, thought he heard Damien say something, and the DA reply, laughing but grunting as if in pain. Damien. Dear god, what would Damien think? What would he say? He'd blame him, he'd push him away, he'd lose everything he had left... But...no. No, Damien would understand. He'd explain everything, and Damien, good man, smart man, would understand. He'd take his side, and the DA, of course they'd defend him. They wouldn't let anything bad happen to him, they hadn't last time. They'd never betray him, would they? No, of course not... His last thought as the alcohol in his system dragged him into unconsciousness was that he couldn't be blamed. It was an accident, of course. Just a game.

About the recent Dark happenings on Mark’s channel and my lack of theorizing.

I think this time, I’m just gonna watch the fandom explode and enjoy it, I’m almost never on the outside of the theorizing thing. I’ll chip in to other theories if anyone wants my input, though. :)

.....Who the fuck is Harold?

"Dark Side" Headcanons.

-They're thought forms (See previous story about Hyde Glitches), so the bigger the following in the fanbase, the stronger they are. And they're (almost) all aware of each other.

-The Youtubers, or their Personas, anyway, are generally unaware of their dark sides. The exceptions are Mark and Jack (bc their counterparts have appeared intentionally in videos).

-For the longest time, Dark was the strongest of them. And then Mark turned him into a joke. He lost power quickly.

-No one was expecting Anti's rise. Not even Jack, who had his concerns but didn't panic until shortly before Halloween.

-When Anti rose, Dark was bitter and jealous. Anti's a snarky, arrogant shit, so he fed this bitterness. Now Dark's biggest wish is to kill Anti.

-Problem being, this would kill Jack as well, with how strong Anti is. Because Jack is Sean's online existence, and Anti is now canonically part of this existence.

-Mad!Cry, Pewdiepie.EXE, MadPat, Natemare, etc. are all weak, and were henchmen to Dark because they were afraid of him and greedy for a cut of his popularity and power. When Anti rose, they offered their surfaces to him, but he's not much of a leader, just a destructive force. Now they just cause minor havoc whenever they can.

And also...

-Corroded Crank just came into existence. And he's not evil, he's just broken. He's also Dark's prisoner. He's only dangerous when his programming malfunctions, then he's deadly strong.

If you want stories based on these ideas, my asks are always open and I’m happy to write suggestions!

Guys...I just thought of a way to make this hurt more.

These guys aren’t from our dimension. These guys didn’t know how to use the power they were given, and while Dark, the combination of Damien, Celene, and our unnamed character, took his time learning to control it, Wilf just wandered. And I think Dark went looking for him, on the pretext of “He could be useful.”

They both ended up here, in our dimension, and found our Mark. And both of them were so broken from the tragedy that they couldn’t see that this Mark was everything that theirs wasn’t, or maybe isn’t. He’s a good guy, a hero, a friend, well loved and respected. They don’t understand that they never existed here. They don’t understand that he never hurt them here, and that he never would, should they tell him who they were and what happened.

They’re trying to get revenge on our Mark because they can’t find a way back to theirs.

What’s devastating is that these are two people who loved each other, who were best friends, who had a history together. And after losing everyone, his killer turned out to be Damien. And that’s why, even now, as heads of the Ego Table, both Dark and Wilford respect one another. They were both driven into madness and vengeance – and the only thing that remains is them and a primary objective.

I saw @wkm-theories pairing this up with my theory (Thank you for all the compliments by the way, how sweet!), and I thought I’d show it to you guys. What do you think? Does it add credit? DOes it flesh out some details I missed?

2 hours remain...

DEMONS!!!

Well these just keep getting better and better! Sorry for getting my theory out so late today, Thursdays are my insane days at university, I only just got a chance to sit down and watch chapter 3. And what a chapter! Without further ado, I’ll jump right in. 

Right away, it is very obvious that Celine has a long history with both Damien and the Colonel. The Colonel acts more vulnerable with her than any other person we’ve seen so far. He even says that he “trusts Celine with all his heart,” and he stutters after saying that. He is ALWAYS confident, but it is clear that Celine is capable of knocking him off guard. 

Also, the use of the line “I trust Celine with all my heart.” is interesting. That’s not something you say about a close friend. That’s not even something you say about a family member. That is something you say about someone you have deep feelings for, romantic feelings. Remember this picture?

Mark and Celine are being very friendly in it. Damien and the Colonel, not so much. While Damien seems mostly just worried, the Colonel’s body language and stance make him appear very angry. We know he and Mark had a major falling out, Damien even went so far as to say that the Colonel hated him. Nothing like a little love triangle to break up a friendship.

And then there’s the Mayor. Celine calls him Damien, which we’ve only seen the Colonel do before. Everyone else in the story calls him Mr. Mayor, or just the Mayor. The nature of their conversations also suggests a long history. I think its safe to say that she’s known Mark for as long as Damien and the Colonel have, and that they have all known each other since they were young. She also states that she’s “never been very comfortable in this house,” implying in the same way the Colonel did in yesterday’s episode that she’s familiar with it

It is also interesting that Damien seems surprised at her knowledge of the occult and arcane arts, thinking she’s not the type to “get mixed up in all this.” That language implies that he also doesn’t put much stock in the unseen. This is further supported by Celine’s insistence that there’s more to the world than he knows. 

He also seems to want to protect her; asking if she’s alright, telling her to be careful, wanting to stay with her to protect her. It’s worth noting that Celine bites back against his desire to stay inside with her. “I don’t need help, especially from you!” This is just speculation, but if he tried to intervene and fix things back when Mark and the Colonel were fighting, but only ended up making things worse, her reluctance to accept his help would make a lot of sense. One thing’s for sure, these four friends’ seemingly tight bonds have gone under a lot of strain. 

As for Celine herself, she’s her own little ball of mystery. First off, why did she come to the manor today? The Butler, while he appears to know her, says that she’s come “at a most inconvenient time.” Meaning that he wasn’t expecting her, which seems unusual for him. She is clearly sensitive to the occult, and I don’t mean just because she’s been trained. Based on her conversation with Damien, we can gather that the arcane arts are a new thing in her life, but she remarks that she’s “Never felt very comfortable in this house.” So she has always been sensitive to the other side. And there has always been something off about that house. This is further evidenced by the Groundskeeper George and his reluctance to set foot in “that mad house.” 

As a side note, “Celine” is a latin name that means “heaven.” “Selene” is a name that means “brightness,” and is a greek deity of the moon. So Teamiplier has taken care in connecting her to the powers beyond. 

Speaking of the powers beyond, her seance was bizarre. While you were apparently there to “commune with the dead,” you see only events from the past, all surrounding the Colonel, and then one event from the future. It is this future event makes you pull out, presumably because you did not recognize it. When Celine sees your drawing, she says that “this answers nothing.” If she grew up around the house, or at least is familiar with it, then she likely recognized that it was George, and as she is already aware of him and does not suspect him, this is why she insists that you “go back” into the seance. But, before we can, we are interrupted. Despite everyone’s protests, Celine insists that she is not done. 

Our talk with George is short, but enlightening. He seems a harmless enough fellow, and he and the Chef apparently have a good friendship, but it’s his comments about the house that have my attention, as they no doubt have everyone’s. 

The first thing that caught my eye is that he says “murdered” and there’s…no lightning. There’s been more lightning than usual this episode as Celine tries to get them to stop saying the word “murder.” But George says it, without concern or consequence. In fact, he says everything without concern. He seems to worry about nothing but keeping the grounds. Until the Detective says that they’re going inside; then George’s entire demeanor changes. He becomes serious, and speaks to the Detective like he’s capable of putting him in his place, but just couldn’t be bothered to before. He says it’s been 15 years since going into the house, and he’s not going to go in now. 

What strikes me about this is that he is the only one who hasn’t been in the house, and he’s also the only one who can speak freely without lightning accenting his sentences. That makes me think that whatever is causing the lightning is INSIDE THE HOUSE. And whatever it is, George is at least somewhat aware of it. He would only go back into that house for one reason….

Which of course immediately occurs. There is DEFINITELY something wrong with that house. And it’s been growing steadily stronger this whole time. Which brings me to my final major conclusion about today. 

Celine has become possessed by whatever force is present in the house. The same force that will eventually become Darkiplier. A force I happen to think is, based on the Jim News segment of today, some sort of demon. While I find those segments hilarious, there is some substance to them. Tiny clues that point to whatever’s going on in this manor. Speaking of what’s going on in the manor, I think this is what happened. 

Celine has always been connected to the spiritual world, but recently underwent training to better understand and interact with it. While training is good, she seems to be a novice, based on Damien’s surprise at her involvement in such practices. And a novice would be no match for the force that is at work here. When she opens a channel to the spirit world in the seance, she is leaving herself vulnerable to the demon’s possession. Some evidence for this: 

Celine has been acting decently normal until this moment, when she says “Now that my eyes are opened, something tells me that there are dark forces surrounding this manor.” She then begins the seance:

She doesn’t open herself up to the dark forces in this manor until this moment, when she begins to channel the spirit world to help you see the past, and then the future. Her eyes remain closed, and she still seems intent on helping find out the truth. Until here:

Just before you go into your vision, she opens her eyes and looks up at you. “Keep your enemies close…” she says, in a deep voice. Her face is twisted into a creepy grin, that we see again in the ending scene. The demon has entered her, and it is at this moment that things begin to go wrong. Before the seance, she was calm. Afterwards, she is much more volatile. Yelling at you, her friends…I don’t think she realizes that she’s been possessed yet, but it’s hard to ignore that kind of negative influence on you (like how wearing a horcrux brings out the worst aspects of your personality). 

But if the demon that is behind all of this is in fact Darkiplier, what about our previous theories about the Mayor? It’s hard to ignore the similarities. Well, this is my theory: Damien does not resemble Darkiplier. Darkiplier resembles Damien. Now, this is getting slightly into head cannon territory, but bear with me. I’ve tried to base my ideas about how Darkiplier works off of what we’e canonically seen as much as possible. I’ll briefly summarize here, but if you want a more in depth explanation of how I think Dark works, you can read it here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11149080/chapters/24875811 (It’s only 3 short chapters, it’s about Markiplier TV mostly).

Basically, I don’t think Darkiplier is directly connected to Markiplier. I think that Dark is a force that can take many forms, and that it choses Markiplier to imitate because of the influence Mark has over his community. While Mark uses this power for good, an evil force could use it in horrible ways. This is based on what Mark said in his Feb 2017 charity stream about Dark existing in another world, bleeding into this one, and admiring what Mark has accomplished. To me, that says that he wants that kind of recognition, but doesn’t have it in his natural state. Anyway, back to Who Killed Markiplier: I think that the entity of Dark was residing in this house, and then it possesses Celine here in this scene. As I’ve said and as we’ve seen, Damien cares very deeply for Celine. I don’t know if it’s a romantic feeling or just a deep friendship, but as others have pointed out, when she arrives, your safety takes a backseat. He still cares about you, but she is now the most important person in the room. 

I think that Damien offered himself to the Dark entity in Celine’s place. Damien is a powerful man; he is a leader and he is in a position of authority. That would appeal to this creature more than Celine would, so it takes that offer, leaving Celine’s body and possessing Damien instead. The reason that Darkiplier and Damien share so many mannerisms is that old aspects of Damien’s personality are still visible in the Darkiplier persona. Darkiplier then lurked around Markiplier’s channel, still seeing the entertainment industry as the best way to reach mass amounts of people. My previous conflict with the timeline not matching the real world origin of Darkiplier could easily be explained away by whatever dimension Dark is from existing on a different time scale, or outside of time altogether. This very well could be the origin of Darkiplier: A demon that possessed an innocent man who only wanted to protect his friends.

Whew! That was easily the longest I’ve spent on one of these (almost 2 hours). Thank you for reading, and as always, let me know what you think! I’m aware I didn’t cover my #Markiplier Lives angle in this post, I’m going to address this episode’s evidence for that in another one. This one has gone on long enough. Until the next theory!