Charlie

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.
When being stalked, the player's character will become alarmed, exclaiming things such as "What was that?", followed by a loud "whoosh" to signal her approach. Moments later, a slashing sound is heard and the player will be damaged for 100 and suffer a loss of 20 . The first attack will happen 5 to 10 seconds after the player enters complete darkness, with the player being stalked when 60% to 20% of this time is left until the attack. The attacks will continue every 5 to 11 seconds until the player either dies or finds or creates a light source in order to see. Most characters can survive a single attack, even without armor.
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.
== Don't Starve Together ==
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.
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.
== Light Sources ==
The following light sources will prevent Charlie from attacking:
* All items in the Light Tab or Light Sources Filter.
=== Inventory/Equipped Items ===
* A Thermal Stone at full charge
* A Light Bulb on the ground
* A Glow Berry on the ground
* Dwarf Star
* A Magiluminescence while equipped
* The force field effect of a Thulecite Crown (once activated)
* Infroggles when equipped
* Moggles while equipped 
* A Morning Star while equipped 
* A charged Obsidian Axe, Obsidian Machete and Obsidian Spear 
* A Dragoon Heart on the ground 
* A Cork Candle Hat while equipped 
* A Living Artifact while activated 
* A Festive Light on the ground or on a Winter's Feast Tree 
* An Enlightened Crown while equipped and above 85% sanity 
=== Structures or World Objects ===
* Fires including burning trees, fire pits, endothermic fires, campfires, etc.
* Mushroom Lights
* A Pumpkin Lantern
* An End Table with a Light Bulb
* A Night Light burns brighter with more/fresher fuel
* An Astral Detector activated on the surface after finding all the altar pieces and defeating Crab King, or in the caves anytime.
* A cooking Crock Pot (character must stand in front of it)
* A Lightning Rod when charged
* A Pig Torch (with fuel)
* A Walrus Camp's light when a member of the MacTusk N' Son Hunting Party is occupying it (during Winter)
* A Nightmare Light or Nightmare Fissure while active
* An Ancient Pseudoscience Station (while near)
* Maxwell's Light (while near)
* A Lightning strike
* The light from a Full Moon 
* Light from a Brainy Sprout at night 
* Erupting Krissure 
* A Buoy 
* Light from a Ballphin Palace at night 
* A Lamp Post 
* A Lamp 
* A Wall Brazier (with fuel) 
* A Crumbling Brazier (with fuel) 
* The light from Aporkalypse 
* Interiors Area of Pig Shops and Slanty Shanty. 
* Magma 
* A working Ice Flingomatic 
* Winona's Spotlight 
* An activated Terrarium 
=== Characters, Mobs and Plants ===
* A Light Flower with its bulb(s)
* A Mushtree (intact)
* Abigail's glow
* Fireflies' illumination (coming close to them will cause them to disperse. If the player walks away, they will come back almost immediately, making it possible to "hop" between two or more patches of fireflies and survive the night. It can even be done with just one patch, walking in and out of repeatedly, although this is more difficult, and the player suffers greater sanity loss)
* A Ghost's glow
* A Slurper (while it's awake and/or on a character's head)
* WX-78 on OVERLOAD after being struck by Lightning
* WX-78's sparks when caught in Rain
* Woodie in his Werebeaver state
* A Depths Worm's displayed lure
* Any mob or character that has eaten a Glow Berry
* A Houndius Shootius when charging a shot
* An enraged Dragonfly 
* Light from Bioluminescence at night 
* Rainbow Jellyfish 
* Any mob or character that has eaten a Dragoon Heart 
* Any characters and certain mobs that have eaten a Dead Rainbow Jellyfish 
* Glowfly 
* Wilba in her Werepig form 
* Royal Guard 
* Glowfly Cocoon 
* Magic Flower 
* Iron Hulk 
* Lavae 
* Hutch with a Light Bulb in its storage 
* A Mothling critter when fed 
* Any character spawning on surface during dusk or night or caves during any time 
== 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".
* When exiting Don't Starve Together, a popup will say "Charlie will miss you!" before quitting.
*The Werebeaver and a player wearing Moggles is 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.
* In Terraria, if one inputs seed The constant when creating a world, they get to access to a secret world which referencing Don't Starve's game mechanic. Among those are two references to Charlie:
** After around 3 seconds in complete darkness, players are damaged.
** A cloud may spawn with the face of Charlie on it.
=== 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.From Charlie's note: We really knocked 'em dead last night, didn't we? I thought that old guy in the front wasn't going to make it. Those shadow things are so convincing - they almost scare me, and I'm part of the act!
* 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.Wickerbottom on Charlie's approach in DST: "A noise! And a distinctly floral scent?", Lucy the Axe when dropped on the ground in DST: "Don't leave! I... I think I smell roses!"
* According to Winona, Charlie used to be afraid of the dark.Winona's quote for an extinguished Campfire, Fire Pit, or Endothermic Fire Pit: "My sister was 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.Salty Dog trailer, seen at around 0:54. Posted on October 3, 2019. This is the first time Charlie has been given a voice.
** This laugh is used again in the Hook, Line & Inker trailer.Hook, Line & Inker trailer, heard at around 0:38. Posted on December 12, 2019.
*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.
=== 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.
== Gallery ==
== Sounds ==
The warning cries of Charlie, meant to warn players of an impending attack.	
The sound of Charlie attacking the player. 	
== References ==
de:Charlie
es:Charlie
fr:Charlie (Obscurité)
it:Mostro Notturno (Charlie)
ja:Charlie
pl:Charlie
ru:Чарли
vi:Charlie
zh:查理（暗影怪物）
Category:Periodic Threat
Category:Lore
Category:Gameplay
Category:Health Loss
Category:Sanity Loss