Charlie

Charlie

Darkness

NPC

Gallery

Charlie sitting down on her new throne after combining her two personalities.

Charlie, otherwise known as the Darkness or the Night Monster, is a hostile damage source unseen to the player in-game. She only attacks when the character is in complete darkness. She is the secondary antagonist of Don't Starve and its DLCs and the main antagonist of Don't Starve Together.

Charlie was previously Maxwell's female assistant for his magic shows and became the night monster after entering the Constant with him. She is also the younger sister of Winona. Her night monster form appears for the first time in the A New Reign cinematic. She is shown to have warring personalities consisting of a kinder self that resembles her original human form and a demonic self that is wicked and violent. At the end of the same cinematic, Charlie transforms into her current "Queen Charlie" form in Don't Starve Together in which both of her personalities are combined.

“Wait, is that...?”

–Wilson, NPC Charlie

“Have I seen her before...?”

–Willow, NPC Charlie

“Wolfgang has seen that face in the dark...”

–Wolfgang, NPC Charlie

“Are you the true face of the darkness?”

–Wendy, NPC Charlie

“ALL THAT POWER AND SHE STILL CLINGS TO THAT ORGANIC FORM”

–WX-78, NPC Charlie

“I'd like to give that young lady a stern talking to!”

–Wickerbottom, NPC Charlie

“Her face looks familiar, I think I've seen it in my nightmares.”

–Woodie, NPC Charlie

“Charlie...”

–Maxwell, NPC Charlie

“At last, you reveal yourself!”

–Wigfrid, NPC Charlie

“Are you the lady from the dark?”

–Webber, NPC Charlie

“Mon dieu... Is that the face I've seen peering from the shadows?”

–Warly, NPC Charlie

“Hello lady!”

–Wormwood, NPC Charlie

“Charlie, wait!!”

–Winona, NPC Charlie

“The Shadow Queen is finally seen!”

–Wortox, NPC Charlie

“It the scary night lady!!”

–Wurt, NPC Charlie

“Excuse me, ma'am! It's dangerous here, do you need any assistance?”

–Walter, NPC Charlie

“She looks happy... that doesn't bode well.”

–Wanda, NPC Charlie

Main article: Cyclum Puzzles

In Don't Starve Together, Charlie serves as the main antagonist, carrying on after Maxwell's reign while still being the night monster. After the events of Adventure Mode take place in which Maxwell and Wilson swap places, Charlie approaches Wilson as her "human" self and frees him from the Nightmare Throne. But after the monstrous night monster version of her personality overpowers her, she attacks Wilson and sends him back to the wilderness with Maxwell.

After removing Wilson from the throne, Charlie changes the throne area to her will. Her human and night monster personalities constantly fight each other over how the throne area should look. Eventually, both personalities morph into one balanced form as she sits down on the new throne.

After Wilson and Maxwell finish building the Jury-Rigged Portal to bring other characters into their part of the realm, Charlie destroys it and replaces it with her own version, the Florid Postern, marking her new reign in the Constant.

“It wants something dreadful.”

–Wilson, Charlie Hand

“You want something from me?”

–Willow, Charlie Hand

“Is needing something, yes?”

–Wolfgang, Charlie Hand

“Do I dare approach?”

–Wendy, Charlie Hand

“OFFERING REQUIRED”

–WX-78, Charlie Hand

“It requires materials.”

–Wickerbottom, Charlie Hand

“Not exactly a helping hand, eh?”

–Woodie, Charlie Hand

“I'll... see to it.”

–Maxwell, Charlie Hand

“It seeks an offering.”

–Wigfrid, Charlie Hand

“We think it wants something!”

–Webber, Charlie Hand

“It needs an important ingredient.”

–Warly, Charlie Hand

“Want something?”

–Wormwood, Charlie Hand

“You want something, huh?”

–Winona, Charlie Hand

“It seeks a stone of dread.”

–Wortox, Charlie Hand

“What you want, florp?”

–Wurt, Charlie Hand

“We should give it a hand! Heh. Good one, Walter.”

–Walter, Charlie Hand

“Me? Help YOU?!”

–Wanda, Charlie Hand

As of the Terrors Below update, she can be seen in-game as her human form. After defeating the Ancient Fuelweaver and then giving 5 Dreadstone to a shadow hand, she arrives and repairs the Ancient Gateway, leading to shadow rift cycles underground.

Speech File Comments

Comments from Charlie could be found in Maxwell's DST speech file around and after the time of the Cyclum Puzzles and A New Reign. More comments were added to Winona's speech file in her character update in March 2019 and to Wormwood's speech file in his debut update in June 2019. All of the comments were removed from their respective speech files as of the Woodie Character Update. Currently known ones are listed here, underneath the corresponding quote:

Maxwell Maxwell (generic)- "What a dapper fellow!" --Pride... Arrogance... Conceit... Maxwell (NPC)- "Looking good!" --This was your fault... Maxwell's Head- "Hey, handsome." --You did this... Maxwell's Light- "Aw, it remembers me." --You... Nightmare Lock- "It keeps the master in the chair." --You... Nightmare Throne- "It's less painful than it looks. Barely." --You haven't escaped its pull... Maxwell Statue (DST)- "It seems silly now..." --Your hubris... Maxy... it was always your weakness... Maxwell's Tooth Trap- "I'm... sure I had my reasons when I placed this." --... Maxwell's Mosquito Mine- "Maybe I shouldn't have put that there." --... Gramaphone- "That accursed thing!" --... Florid Postern- "Always did have a flair for the dramatic..." --...Make your jokes...I'll be seeing you soon...

Winona Maxwell Statue (DST)- "So THIS is 'Maxy'." --... Charlie announcement- "C-Charlie?" --...I'm so sorry, I never meant for you to come here. Charlie attack, missed- "Ha! I know all your moves!" --This wasn't a part of my plan, but as you're here now... Charlie attack, hit- "Yeow! Rude!" --...I suppose I'll have to make do. Failed to revive Abigail- "No one should ever lose a sister." --... Campfire (out)- "My sister was afraid of the dark." --You've changed so much. Fire Pit (out)- "My sister was afraid of the dark." --How much time has passed for you? Mandrake (mob)- "This is exactly what having a little sister's like." --I should like to speak, face to face. Wormwood Maxwell Statue (DST)- "Alive?" --...

Trivia

In-Game

• When killed by Charlie, the cause of death listed in the Morgue is "Darkness"; except for Maxwell, whose cause is listed as "Charlie".
  • In Don't Starve Together, it is coded so that both Maxwell and Winona can have "Charlie"—"Darkness" for others—listed as their cause of death in the game's Obituaries as well. However, the game checks for a cause of death matching a string value of "nil" to display it instead of "darkness", rendering this line impossible to be seen without the use of cheats.
  • Still in Don't Starve Together, Maxwell is supposed to be able to have "Charlie" as his cause of death in the game's death announcement messages, though not only does it require the "nil" death cause that is normally impossible to attain, but it also needs the character who died to match a string value, which is never possible by any means. When killed by "nil" using cheats, and the succeeding test inevitably fails, the player's death cause will simply show up as "Darkness".
• When exiting Don't Starve Together, a popup will say "Charlie will miss you!" before quitting.
• In Don't Starve Together, Woodie's Wereforms, as well as players wearing Moggles or who have other means of night vision are able to see other players being attacked by Charlie. It appears as though a hand pulls itself through their mouth as darkness swarms them briefly.

Lore

• Her gender and humanity were first revealed by Kevin Forbes (an original Don't Starve's programmer) during a livestream on Caves.
• The first time her name was made known was in the Underground update, in which Maxwell started referring to the Night Monster as Charlie. Her former human version was later shown in some of the solutions of the William Carter Puzzles.
• Night vision renders the player immune to Charlie. This suggests that Charlie is not averse to light itself, but rather the ability to perceive her.
• According to a letter written by Charlie found in the sixth William Carter Puzzle, it is implied that Charlie did not think that the shadows were real until things started going wrong during Maxwell's final performance.
• As seen in the A New Reign cinematic, Charlie has the power to put out lights when she is fully present in an area (shown when Maxwell's Lights turn off at her approach).
• According to character quotes in Don't Starve Together, Charlie smells like flowers, namely roses.
• According to Winona, Charlie used to be afraid of the dark.
• In the opening of the Next of Kin short, the upper half of a letter from Charlie addressed to Winona can be briefly seen. The whole letter was visible in Rhymes with Play #229:

Dear Winona,

How are you?! Congratulations on the new job! I knew you would find something soon. Have you settled in alright? Are you taking care of yourself?

I'm still here in San Fran and things are going well. My magic act partner has taught me so much about showmanship in such a short time. I think you two would really get along! You're both very stubborn. Haha!

Anyway, please write back soon. I want to hear all the latest news from Ohio. Don't leave anything out!

XOXO,

Charlie

• Charlie appears in a stinger at the end of the Salty Dog trailer, punctuated with voice acted laughter. This is the first time Charlie has been given a voice.
  • This laugh is used again in the Hook, Line & Inker trailer.
• Sometimes a message like this may appear during the loading screen in DST: "In the Constant, the darkness has a name. Have you met Charlie yet?"
• In the Axiom Visus animated short Charlie appears on the Lunar Island. The native Gestalts attempt to swarm her but she produces a Torch similar to the one obtained as a reward for solving the Cyclum Puzzles and absorbs the Gestalts into its light. She then gazes through the white flame and sees Alter sleeping inside the Moon.
• In the Eye of the Storm trailer Charlie is seen entering the Ancient Archive flanked by a Terrorbeak and a Crawling Horror. The reverberations of Alter awakening aboveground cause her to pause and look toward the cave ceiling before hurrying deeper into the Archives.
• When studying The Enchanted Doll A Stage Play, any character will say ""Authored by C.W."", which may indicate that Charlie's last name begins with W.
• In the Taking Root trailer Charlie is seen in the Atrium with a scroll of a mural similar to the ones seen in the Metheus Puzzles depicting the Ancient Gateway in its undamaged state. Using shadow magic she converts Dreadstone into replacements for the missing pieces, bringing them together as the Atrium begins to glow red.
• Charlie and Winona are implied to be of Chinese descent through animated shorts such as Next of Kin and Hide and Seek.
  • Winona, Charlie, and their parents have stylized features common in east Asian populations, such as smaller eyes and low nose bridges. Charlie in specific is shown to have upturned eyes with epicanthic folds.
  • Their cabin in the short Hide and Seek is decorated with traditional Chinese paintings and decor.
  • This may be further cemented by the fact that Charlie is implied to have created the in-game events. This includes the Lunar New Year events, which are heavily inspired by the traditions of Chinese New Year celebrations.

Cultural References

• Charlie is referenced as Grue in the game files. This is a reference to the iconic monster from the game Zork. In Zork, the Grue only attacks players in pitch darkness after a line of warning, just like in Don't Starve.

Bugs

• If a player enters a Worm Hole just before the night sets, Charlie will not attack when the character comes out of the other side. (This bug is stopped when going into light and then back into darkness again.)
• If the player pauses the game when the sound of Charlie attacking begins and resumes right before the sound ends, Charlie will attack early.
• If the player is killed by Charlie while surfing in the Shipwrecked DLC, the Morgue will list "Shenanigans" as the cause of death.

References

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