Darkness (Games)

Darkness

Biographical Information
Race:	Demon
Status:	Possessing Jackie Estacado Subdued Trapped in Hell
Gameplay Information
Appears in:	The Darkness The Darkness II
Real World information
Voice Actor:	Mike Patton

"Through you, I am born. You are nothing but my puppet."

– The Darkness as it awakens on Jackie's 21st birthday.^[src]

The Darkness is an ancient entity dating back to the beginning of time. A demon of death, the Darkness feeds upon the souls of those it consumes. As a spirit of shadows, it requires a human host; traveling in bloodlines, it bestows its power on the firstborn male's 21st birthday.

Biography

Early Life

"In the beginning, there wasn't shit. Literally, nothing but void and darkness; and that's how the Darkness liked it. It wasn't until God decreed, "Turn on the lights", that things got nasty. It started out small - a planet here, a sun there y'know. Next thing you know, there are humans, and cows, and stuff running all over the place. Needless to say, the Darkness was pissed."

– Johnny Powell describes the Darkness's origins.^[src]

The Darkness is the soul of the void of chaos which predates Creation. When God allowed the light into the emptiness, the Darkness was pushed back and forgotten. Driven mad by bitterness, the Darkness took possession of living human vessels; tearing its way through human history.

The Darkness

The Darkness resided inside Jackie, waiting until his 21st birthday, when it will be able to awaken once again. As Jackie finally became twenty one during the midnight, the Darkness awakened and proceeded to kill a group of thugs sent by Paulie Franchetti. The Darkness also tells Jackie, that he's nothing more than its puppet.

Later, when Jenny is kidnapped by Eddie Shrote and Paulie, Jackie fights through the hordes of goons that Paulie and Shrote throw at him in order to save her. As he reaches her, the Darkness forces Jackie to watch the confrontation between Jenny and the two murderers. Paulie pistol-whips Jenny in the face and belittles her and Jackie for what they have supposedly done. The two notice Jackie is being forced to watch by The Darkness and drag Jenny over to the door. Paulie continues to mock and criticize Jackie for betraying him. He then forces Jenny against the door and shoots her in the head as the Darkness laughs.

This act by the Darkness, quickly backfires as Jackie shoots himself in the head. As the Darkness fixes the wound, Jackie's consciousness travels to the Otherworld, a realm created by the entity to trap past hosts or its victims. There, Jackie meets with his great-great-grandfather, Anthony, who decides to help his great-great-grandson in taking control of the Darkness. Anthony directs Jackie to a giant cannon with, which he could blow open an entrance to the castle where the Darkness resides. When Jackie reaches the cannon, the Darkness brings him back to real world, as he fixed his body and to stop his actions.

Later the Darkness is enraged, when Jackie detonates a briefcase full of explosives in the Trinity Church, killing both him and Eddie Shrote, who was at that moment, torturing him. Knowing what Jackie is planning to do, the Darkness tries throws numerous obstacles in his path in the form of undead German forces, tanks and even attack planes. When this fails to stop him, the Darkness tries to talk Jackie out of his plan to take control of it. Jackie ignores the entities pleas and threats.

After Anthony gets mortally wounded by a giant beast in the Otherworld, he mentions something about "a light in The Darkness" to Jackie, but before he can finish, the Darkness breaks the ground under his body, causing him to fall to the abyss. The Darkness then tells Jackie, that only it will prevail. It also mocks him by saying that Jackie will forever be alone.

When Jackie arms the cannon and creates an entrance into the castle, where the Darkness resides, it begins to scream threats at him, saying that it will destroy him and that he will lose Jenny forever if he enters the castle. The Darkness also reveals, that it can take Jackie to her. Jackie ignores all of this and proceeds to enter the castle. Inside, he finds the Darkness attached to some short of contraption. As he approaches the extraction machines, the Darkness yells at him, that these devices aren't for him.

Jackie yet again ignores it and uses the extraction machines to free the Darkness from controlling him. As Jackie frees the Darkness from the contraption, the entity is enraged by this action. The Darkness then summons Darklings and set them loose on Jackie for insulting its legacy. It then taunts Jackie, telling, that his efforts are meaningless and it will always win in the end.

Through Jenny's guidance, Jackie figures, that fighting the Darkness will only make it stronger. Instead, he decides to accept the Darkness. Much to the Darkness objections, the entity is absorbed by Jackie, taking complete control over it. Although, the Darkness accepts it's defeat, it points out, that with each life Jackie will take, it will come closer to owning his soul.

As Jackie killed more and more of Paulie's henchmen, the Darkness urged him to completely let go, knowing that this will let the entity to take back the control over Jackie. By the time, Jackie reaches Paulie's whereabouts, an old lighthouse, the Darkness begins for brief moments, take control of Jackie himself. During these moments, the entity proceeds to gruesomely kill Paulie's henchmen. When he finally faces Paulie, the Darkness tells Jackie, that when Franchetti dies, it will own him. Jackie ignores this warning and kills Paulie. As he does this, the Darkness takes over Jackie, but gives a brief moment to meet Jenny.

The Darkness II

After the events of The Darkness, Jackie contacted an ocultist named Johnny Powell to help him suppress the Darkness. Although Johnny succeeds, the Darkness begins to slowly seduce him until he goes insane and decides to run away. Two years later during Swifty's and Brotherhood's ambush at Mama Lucchesi's restaurant, severely wounded Jackie is forced to unleash the Darkness again, much to the entities delight. The Darkness then proceeds to kill the four mobsters facing it and heals Jackie's wounds. Soon after, Jackie sees an illusion of Jenny. Knowing that it was conjured by the Angelus, the Darkness tells Jackie, that the illusion was a lie.

Later as Jackie chases after his attackers into Canal St. subway station, he sees another illusion of Jenny just as a train rams into him. The Darkness in reaction screams in anger, that the host won't die and puts Jackie's soul in otherworldly place taking the form of a mental institution as it repairs his body. It then takes control of Jackie's healed body and finishes off the attackers in an alleyway just as Jackie comes back to reality.

When Jackie attacks Swifty's pool hall, the Darkness urged him to tear and mutilate the mobsters who attacked him. After Jackie defeats Swifty operating a crane, he sees another illusion, this time depicting Jenny working in a dinner. As the illusion disappears again, the Darkness repeats that "It" (The Angelus) deceives him. Jackie in response tells the Darkness to leave him alone to which the entity responds, that he is alone. Eventually, Jackie finally manages to catch up to Swifty and confront him.

Swifty tells him he knows very little about the people who hired him, only they are an extremely powerful and dangerous organisation. Swifty then gives Jackie the envelope that was given to him by Valente as payment, as well as telling him of the brothel that is owned and run by Valente himself. Before he can give anymore, the Darkness acts on its own, much to the objection of Jackie, and rips Swifty in half killing him instantly, in an attempt to keep Jackie from finding out about the Brotherhood.

At Brotherhood's brothel, the Darkness expressed his pleasure in all the suffering happening around Jackie as he walks around the building. Later, when the Darkling navigates the vents in order to turn off the lights blocking Jackie's passageway, the Darkness shows visible contempt upon a Brotherhood member mentioning Victor Valente's name. It also tells Jackie to leave this place, but he ignores this warning. This leads to Jackie getting captured by the Brotherhood and then nailed to a cross as Victor begins to extract the Darkness from him with the help of the Siphon.

Fearing to be trapped inside the Siphon, the Darkness tells Jackie to resist and protect it. Jackie refuses, telling that he's done being the entity's puppet, much to the Darkness anger. Seeing that it must give Jackie a good reason to protect it, the Darkness reveals, that it has Jenny's soul trapped in Hell and because of this he will protect the entity. With new knowledge, Jackie manages to free himself. The Darkness then offers to free Jenny if Jackie retrieves the Siphon from the Brotherhood.

Jackie then returns back to his mansion in order to prevent the Brotherhood from killing Aunt Sarah as the Darkness keeps reminding the suffering Jenny is experiencing and that he can end it if he retrieves the Siphon. At the mansion, the Darkness urges Jackie to rip the Brotherhood members to pieces and take his revenge. Unfortunately, Bragg manages to get a drop on Jackie and shoots him with a shotgun to the face. The Darkness again puts Jackie in Institution as it repairs his body, but this time, the entity begins to toy with his mind in an effort to take control over his body permanently. It tries to convince Jackie that he's just a patient of the mental institution and not the Don of a crime family. To make it more believable, the Darkness fills the asylum with Jackie's friends and enemies taking the form as either patients or doctors.

Much to the Darkness displeasure, Johnny's Institution personification, helps Jackie to escape from the asylum. This causes Jackie to wake up back in reality, four days later after the Darkness heals up his wounds. During Aunt Sarah's funeral, the Brotherhood, lead by Bragg, attacks Jackie and his friends. The Darkness then tells Jackie to take his vengeance against Bragg for killing Aunt Sarah and feast on his flesh. Eventually, Jackie finally catches up to Bragg and proceeds to rip out his still beating heart after interrogating him. The Darkness enjoys this act.

With the location of Victor's whereabouts, Jackie sets out alone to face him and retrieve the Siphon. At the entrance to the closed theme park, Jackie sees another illusion of Jenny and proceeds to follow it into the park. The Darkness yet again warns him, that "It" deceives him, but just like before, Jackie ignores this warning. Later on, when Jackie gets captured in Thorn Bed by the Brotherhood and prepared for the Darkness extraction, the entity puts its host back into the Institution. With the help of the Darkling, Jackie yet again manages to break free from mental facility, but not before the Darkness is extracted into the Siphon, who yells at him to retrieve it or Jenny burns forever.

After Jackie retrieves some Darkness essence from Peevish, the Darkness urges to retrieve it. Jackie then makes it very clear that he's doing this not for the Darkness, but for Jenny. Later, having defeated Victor and the Brotherhood forces, Jackie retrieves the Siphon and proceeds to stab himself with it. This enrages the Darkness, seeing that Jackie would dare to defy it. Just like before, the Darkness sends Jackie to Institution, but this time, the Darkling opens an exit for him and lets Estacado to finally reach Hell. Seeing that even in Hell, Jackie has Darkness powers and realizing, what will freeing Jenny would actually accomplish, the Darkness throws everything it can to stop him.

Even with countless Hell Minions and Darklings thrown at Jackie, he still manages to reach Jenny and free her from her binds. As Jenny is freed, the Darkness tells Jackie that he dooms himself. Jackie in turn response, that she's worth it. After the two lovers embrace each other yet again, the Angelus reveals herself, having used Jenny in order to force Jackie to free her. The Angelus then takes over Jenny's body and leaves screaming Jackie in Hell. Meanwhile, the Darkness stays silent.

Vendettas

During the Vendettas campaign, the Darkness is heard communicating with the assassins during various moments. When the assassins enter the Old Junkyard in search of Johnny Powell, the Darkness tells them to "Embrace The Darkness". As they locate and free Powell, the Darkness begins to laugh out of the fact, that it is Johnny's salvation. At the Broadside Paper Factory after retrieving the Brotherhood artifact used to print strange symbols on the money, the assassins are transported to hellish dimension and attacked by Hell Minions. Meanwhile, the Darkness orders his Hell Minions to silence the assassins from discovering the existence of the Brotherhood.

Later at the Riverside Houses, the assassins confront Luigi Palladino, who secretly worked for the Brotherhood. After using the explosives to get inside his fortified trailer, the Darkness tells the assassins to finish him. The assassins then retrieve the second artifact, which causes the Hell Minions to attack them again. At News Watch 6 headquarters, the Darkness tells the assassins to tear and mutilate members of the Brotherhood.

At Old East Docks during the battle with Amelie Dubois and Jean-Luc Lambert, The Darkness insists the assassins to pursue the two Brotherhood members into the Boathouse and kill them. After the assassins defeat the Hell Beast, the Darkness is overwhelmed with joy and screams victorious "Yes!".

Personality

"All those years alone to think... It lived a thousand lifetimes... and it just went insane."

– Anthony Estacado describes the Darkness.^[src]

The Darkness is a purely malevolent demonic entity and is clearly a sociopathic creature which only gets pleasure from Jackie's negative emotions and violent acts he commits as its host. The entity is extremely cunning and violent, able to manipulate its hosts into doing its bidding as seen when it renders Jackie helpless to save Jenny. By killing the only innocent companion Jackie had, the Darkness aimed to motivate its host into committing more evil through a revenge spree, however, this allowed Jackie to see the true nature of The Darkness which inevitably lead him to try and control the entity as he went about his rampage much to the creature's anger. It also has a sadistic personality, taunting and insulting its hosts as well as tormenting and violently executing its enemies. It appears to enjoy all of the destruction it causes and is pleased by areas saturated with evil such as The Brothel and The Orphanage. It views humans in a manner similar to animals and will blatantly refuse to manifest in areas with multiple civilians. If Jackie tries to summon it in the Subway sections for example, the Darkness will simply state that it refuses to show itself to cattle.

The personality of the Darkness may not have been the original way it used to be as Anthony points out that this behaviour was caused by the human interaction with the Darkness. Having lived through thousands of human hosts, each more sadistic and violent than other, eventually caused the Darkness to go completely insane.

Powers & Abilities

"Through you, I will display my power. Through you, I am born."

– The Darkness to Jackie.^[src]

Powers

Immortality: The Darkness has been described as a creature as old as time itself. The Darkness has endured for many millennia since the dawn of Creation; inhabiting one human vessel after the other across entire generations; effectively living a thousand lifetimes and thus driven more insane.
Possession: The Darkness manifests itself only through possessing a living vessel. The particular way it incarnates is through the firstborn males of a particular bloodline it's come to inhabit; passing from father to son and remaining in slumber until the evening of the son's 21st birthday.
Resurrection: Even if a host has died, the Darkness may repair its vessel and return the soul to the land of the living. During this process, the Darkness may keep its host in a purgatorial portion of Hell such as No Man's Land or the Asylum to keep them from completely falling into Perdition.
Creation: As the primordial being of creation, the Darkness and it's hosts can create virtually anything out of darkness. This ranges from simple tools like weapons or protective armor to entire worlds or life itself.
Host Empowerment: All hosts of the Darkness, gain incredible power to control, create and conjure anything out of the Darkness. They also have their physical attributes, like strength, endurance, durability or speed, enhanced to superhuman levels.

Weaknesses

"Stay in the shadows, Jackie."