Night Ripper

**“***This Night Ripper that's been going around... maybe it's the city's redemption. Maybe it's like the white blood cells, that this is the city taking care of its own disease. A disease of filth, of prostitution, of drugs, of homosexuality...***”**
— **Nathan Talbot's defense of the Night Ripper**

The **Night Ripper**, possibly **Nathan Talbot,** is the titular killer and main antagonist in *The Night Ripper*.

## Description

### Appearance

The Night Ripper is a slim, reasonably tall man, who wears an all black outfit consisting of a buttoned-up overcoat, pants, shoes, gloves, and a Fedora hat, as well as a yellow duck mask. He wields a flashlight in one hand and a switchblade in his other to slash his victims.

### Personality

Unlike most killers, who have no preferred victim type and murder indiscriminately, the Night Ripper fixates on prostitutes. Coupled with his targeting of Rachel, despite there being no indication of her being a working girl, imply a sexist stance on women. He still seems to hold a considerable sense of self-preservation, unseen with the majority of other killers, as a single gunshot aimed in his direction will send him running. Nevertheless, the Ripper will remain persistent in his pursuit of her all the same, showing that, while he can be dissuaded momentarily, the Night Ripper is obstinate about his objective. A particularly mangled corpse found in the later stages of the game indicate that failing to immediately take Rachel out has hurt his pride and thus made her death a matter of personal principle for him, even devolving by skipping over his usual methods and rites to let out his frustrations through a marked increase in brutality.

### History

The Night Ripper is a misogynistic Jack the Ripper-esque serial killer who preys on the population of New York City's slums in 1981. His *modus operandi* consists of tracking down viable targets, which have been exclusively female, primarily sex workers, in the dead of night, scoping out his operating area in a black sedan with no license plate. Once in reach, he viciously assaults them, usually killing via stabbing through use of either a knife or other sharp weapon, then engages in violent necrophilic intercourse with the corpses before dumping their bodies in secluded, but public locations like dumpsters, yards, shipping containers, or back alleys, where they can be easily found. He is known to imitate a duck's quacking during the attacks, in reference to his mask.

His gruesome deeds have garnered a significant amount of attention since his discovery some five weeks back, although recent findings suggest that the span of murders may have already began in August last year and his hunting grounds could reach as far north as Greene County. The Night Ripper killings have since become a high-profile case, leading to an, as of yet, unsuccessful manhunt by the city's entire police force, all the while leaving notes and photos as clues and catty derision for the NYPD to find. Some went as far as moving out of the city in wake of the crimes, but a number of natives to the area remain out of pride and refusal to give in to the newly created climate of fear.

## *The Night Ripper*

On the 5th of August, 1981, in the midst of the Night Ripper's killing binge, he catches sight of Rachel, an after-hours commuter, and assumes her to be a prostitute on her late-night walk home, and thus relentlessly hunts her from all across the city from Manhattan to Brooklyn in his infamous black sedan, sometimes tailing her on foot, patrolling crack dens and seedy neighbourhoods for Rachel and other potential victims. The Ripper murders a hooker he incidentally finds during his search, savagely beating and maiming her with a glass bottle, but loses track of Rachel after she successfully flees into her apartment. What follows is left purposely unclear, but in the after-credits scene, a window is heard shattering, followed by distorted quacking, implying the Night Ripper has forcibly entered the flat, still determined to finish Rachel off.

### Possible identity and motives

Throughout the game, there's a DJ named Nathan Talbot heard over the radio trying to justify The Night Ripper's actions, describing him as a righteous vigilante and fulfiller of conservative justice. Futhermore, Talbot appears to be obsessed with the idea of morality and seems to have a pathological hatred for prostitutes, referring to them as "drug-addled" and "disposable", generally being overtly preoccupied with rationalizing the murders of the Night Ripper, to whom he gives constant praise and hails as a hero whenever he is brought up. It's heavily implied Talbot is the Night Ripper's public alter-ego. An unattended radio broadcasting station found within the confines of his territory further cement this theory. On the other hand, in contrast to the Night Ripper's apparent sexism, Talbot works with a woman named Sara, his technican and occasional co-host, who openly holds views contradictory to his own and mostly just debates and disparages her in a passive-aggressive manner.

If true, however, the Night Ripper's motives can be gleaned from his rantings while on air. He is seemingly mission-oriented, with the goal of ridding the world of prostitutes, punishing them for their perceived immorality by engaging in fornication and using drugs, attributing the rise of moral corruption, sinful behaviour and homosexuality, as well as the spread of venereal diseases, most prominently AIDS, to their presence, making himself out to be a modern day crusader delivering redemption upon NYC, when he's little more than a chauvinistic moral entrepeneur with an unspoken messiah complex. This either stands in conflict with or is a cover for his necrophilia, which, along with the Ripper's visible reveling in the exposure he has been receiving from the media for his atrocities, point to sexual hedonism and attention seeking as likely being his actual reasons for killing.

## Victims

* At least seven unnamed prostitutes
* Unnamed woman (*survived*)
* Lisa Mueller (*off-screen, cited*)
* Unnamed prostitute
* Rachel (*possibly*)

## Trivia

* Nathan Talbot, the radio shock jock, was voiced by film critic Josh Hadley of the Filmdrome podcast, who had previously provided the voice for the radio announcement in *Babysitter Bloodbath*.
	+ According to Hadley, the script was acted out as a "1989 late night New York City shock jock who is a provoker and evocateur". Though his character mentions that they are "entering the 90's" and once outright says that it is the year 1989, the finished game puts the setting in 1981, as seen in the inventory screen.
	+ Talbot's co-host Sara was voiced by Hadley's actual co-host Sara Hanley.
* The Night Ripper is an homage to the Italian giallo slasher *The New York Ripper*.
	+ He also shares his name with the titular villain of *Night Ripper!*, as well as the Italian thriller *The Monster of Florence*, known in the German release as *Night Ripper*, the movie poster of which inspired the game's VHS cover. All concern nocturnal, knife-wielding, Jack the Ripper-inspired serial killers targeting women.
* The Night Ripper originally had a red coat. It was replaced with a black coat in the final version, as it seemed more fitting.
* The Night Ripper appears in a Puppet Combo summer sale advertisment along with Emma, the Nun, Megan and the Driller Killer.
	+ He also stars in the end of summer reminder along with the Night Shift Abductor, Grandma, the Nun, the Driller Killer, and dead Jeff West.
* According to a joke tweet by Puppet Combo, the Night Ripper started killing prostitutes after he caught an STD, specifically crabs, from sleeping with a hooker.
* He and the Easter Ripper are the only known killers with a confirmed survivor that isn't the protagonist.
* His attire, especially the brimmed hat and beaked mask, is supposed to be a modern take on the gear of a medieval plague doctor, befitting his apparent motivation of "curing" the city of the "plague" of prostitutes. Ironically, plague doctors were notoriously ineffective at containing the spread of disease, similar to how the Night Ripper ultimately fails at carrying out divine intervention.

## Gallery

Night Ripper on the VHS game cover.Night Ripper driving his black sedanSpottedNight Ripper chasing Rachel on streetsNight Ripper inside a crackdenInside of the building searching for RachelKilled by the Night Ripper.Old Night Ripper model with red coat.Night Ripper stalking Rachel.Night Ripper as a lifeguard.Night Ripper dancing.
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://podbay.fm/p/radiodrome/e/1506671001
2. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13635944/fullcredits?ref\_=tt\_cl\_sm
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/PuppetCombo/status/1281599698940440577
4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDrB7MbZfgI
5. ↑ https://twitter.com/puppetcombo/status/1434143056387878916
6. ↑ https://twitter.com/PuppetCombo/status/1616436131280703488?cxt=HHwWgMC-8ZuG3u4sAAAA