Darkling

* Render
* In-game

> A creature formed from the sticky darkness that gathers in the forgotten corners of the human soul, the Darkling has been trapped in a nether world for centuries, and now knows only hunger.
>
> -Epitaph

> For centuries, the Darkling has been trapped in a nether world, unable to reach the mortal planes. It hungers for souls.
>
> -Beta Epitaph

**Darkling** is a Shadow who is the main focus of Summoners Not Included, The Blair Wisp Project and What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?. Freeing him is the main objective of the base game.

## Appearance

Darkling is a being made out of darkness from human heart. He is a skinless creature, with his muscles and tendons exposed. Darkling is quadrupedal, using his hands and legs as means of locomotion. His hands are very long and skinny, with sharp, claw-like fingers on his hands. His legs are short and end with white hoofs. Darkling's body consists of a slender torso with visible ribs and a long head with two black eyes and a mouth filled with long, crooked teeth. Darkling has the ability to consume the souls of mortals.

## How To Free

Darkling can be freed by disabling Dr Krauss's trap powered by the inmates of the asylum. To do this, you need to open the doors trapping the inmates. However, the asylum is protected by indestructible astral ward. Additionally, one of the inmates, Bruce Elm, is in a catatonic state and can't walk on his own. You will need to sneak a ghost capable of destroying electrical equipment as well as a Sandman using either an Ethereal Gift or Trojan Gift. The upper floors of the hospital are inaccessible to most mortals besides the four asylum staff members: Orderly Luther Laneuville, Orderly Paco Lacamara, Nurse Valerie Goldberg and Nurse Mildred Fletcher. These fours will regularly travel from the asylum floor to the bathrooms below as well as the patient rooms. You can use a Fetch bound to the bathroom mirror or a Trickster bound to Kevin Caulkin to create a gift which will allow ghosts to infiltrate the upper levels of the asylum. Binding an electrical ghost to guard room on the asylum floor and using electrical powers will open all doors allowing all inmates to escape except Bruce. Bind a Sandman to him and use Sleepwalk. Alternatively, you can create a thunder storm using strong wind and rain. This will also open all asylum doors. A sleeping mortal can also be used to gain access to the asylum as sleepwalking mortals will eventually go upstairs. A scared mortal may also wander upstairs and open the doors themselves, however this is unreliable most of the time. After disabling the trap, Darkling will consume the soul of Dr Krauss, if he's present, and will become free.

## Cut Content

Darkling's plot went through two known revisions during development:

* One of his earliest versions placed the spirit in Groundhog Night, this stage of Darkling's existance is not fully known unfortunatly.

* The next version of his plot would have went mostly the same as it does in the base game however it diverges following the events of The Blair Wisp Project where he is instead taken by the military and brought to their base. During the events of Full Mortal Jacket freeing the Darkling would have been one of the levels main objectives, it would have been done by finding a tape containing the reccording of the summoning ritual and bringing it to a nearby reccorder. With the Darkling freed he would then become a required ghost in the What Lies Over the Cuckoo's Nest?, as he would be the only ghost capable of defeating the Nether Spirit however, through unknown circumstances Darkling would have been captured again by the Man In Black who would take him to their base which the Ghost Master would attack in order to free the spirit in Ghost In the Military Machine.

## Gallery

**Concept Art**

Darkling's Concept ArtDarkling's Early Design**Model Renders**

Darkling's Collector's Edition Render**In-Game Screenshots**

Darkling As A Restless Spirit In The Blair Wisp ProjectDarkling Being CapturedDarkling As A Restless Spirit In What Lies Over Cuckoo's Nest?

**Other/Promotional Materials**

Darkling As Seen In A Trailer
## Trivia

* Darkling's design based on The Beast from the 1982 horror movie, Poltergeist.
	+ Originally, Darkling was intended to have a ghost made out of shadows however due to the limited technology and a design which the team considered "underwhelming to be the 'big bad' in our story" it was eventually scrapped and changed.
* Despite being the central focus of 3 missions, he only shows up on the level poster of What Lies Over The Cuckoo's Nest?.
* Despite Ghost Master's ability to buy new powers for the Darkling, he wouldn't be able to use them in the base game version without Class of Spook 'em High.
* Darkling appears on the summoning book from Summoners Not Included and The Blair Wisp Project.
* Darkling has the largest amount of voicelines among all ghosts in the game with 13, however, 7 of these are unused.
* Darkling, along with Daydreamer, is the second least recommended ghost as he has only one recommendation.
	+ If you were to play the base game version without Class of Spook 'em High, he would share the first place with Blair Wisp with 0 recommendations (although Blair Wisp is only this way due to a bug).
* In earlier drafts, Darkling would play much less significant role in the story.
* Based on the files relating to the power Phobia, Darkling would have originally had it as well, and the fear he would cause would have been Trapped
	+ Despite Trapped being the fear he would inflict, Darkling doesn't have a single power that inflicts the fear of Trapped which could mean that he had a different power set originally.
* Darkling used to have a slightly different name in early versions of the game where he was called "The Darkling".
* According to a developer, the Darkling might have been named after a character of the same name (but currently going by the name Asylum) from Marvel comics.

      **Full List of Haunters**

AetherArclightAzraelBanzaiBlack CrowBlair WispBlue MurderBooBrigitBuckCarterClatterclawsCogjammer**Darkling**DaydreamerDragoonElectrospasmFingersFiretailFlash JordanGhastlyHard BoiledHarrietHogwashHypnosKnucklesLady RoseLuckyMaxine FactorMoonscreamMoribundQuiverRaindancerScarecrowShiversSick PuppySmokin' JoeSoulscreechSparkleStaticStonewallStormtalonTerroreyesThe PainterThorneTorchyTriciaWavemasterWeatherwitchWendelWhirlweirdWhisperwindWindwalkerWisakejak
**Cut Ghosts**
Alfred Hunchcork, Barker, Crazy Bill, Documentarix, Ghost with No Name, Harlequin, Julie Wu, Kintu, Miss Hoover, Mr. Suitcase, Railrage, Romeo Martinez, Rustle, School Spirit, Sekhmet, Tempest, Timeshadow, Wes Graven, New Mexico Ghosts