Death

**Death** is the omniscient narrator during the events of Hard West's main and secondary campaigns.

## Events of Hard West

Death is the narrator of Hard West's events and is thus present in every stage in the game, both thematically and literally. Although Death does not interfere at first in any of the events, he appears to be omnipresent and omniscient, thus knowing all characters' motivations and desires, including other supernatural beings such as the Devil himself. He is therefore aware of the hellish master plan to thwart the world's order by seizing the souls of all beings.

### Graveyard Shift

Initially, Death is either indifferent or unaware of the Devil's true goals, and thus does not interfere in the affairs of the world to correct its course. However, it can be said that after the events of "As Good as Dead", Death realizes that since Warren was resurrected by the Devil, no one else is able to be sorted into Heaven or Hell, as their souls are now trapped in Purgatory forever, allowing the Devil's power to increase over the West and turning it ever more hellish. Death then looks to the Undertaker, Warren's father, cursed to bringing death and misfortune for those around him to solve this growing issue. When the Undertaker tries to commit assisted suicide by his companions after all his attempts at ending the curse fail, Death prevents him from dying, which allows the Undertaker's posse to repel the invading demons and move to destroy the region's current demon prince.

The Undertaker, after cleansing the region from the Devil's influence, decides to do so in the rest of the West, hunting demons and destroying the Devil's supporters everywhere he finds them, all while seeking his son Warren to end this once and for all.

### In Earth, as It Is in Hell

Death appears in the ending of the game, depending on which posse the player chose to play as in the final battle:

#### If the player opted to play as the Undertaker and his posse (good ending)

Death speaks directly to Warren, informing him that the Devil could have never resurrected Florence and would not even do so if his plan succeeds, as he has manipulated every single event in the young man's life in order to change the world's order. When Warren and his posse fall, Death states that the Devil's plan failed, and that Purgatory will now allow souls to be sorted into their respective resting places. Florence, Death judges, had a good soul and is allowed to proceed to Heaven, while Warren, evil and corrupted, is sentenced to spend eternity in Hell.

#### If the player opted to play as Warren and his posse (bad ending)

Death also speaks directly to Warren after he succeeds in breaking into Purgatory. With the success of the Devil's master plan, the ruler of Hell seizes all souls in existence to his own gain, including Florence's. Warren, as an undead, is allowed to remain on Earth as the only being, sentenced, indirectly, to spend an eternity alone in an empty world of his own making.

## Description

Analytic and dispassionate, Death describes all of the game's introductions and events, possessing intimate knowledge of the characters involved and their motivations. While never shown in-game, Death's portrait indicates that he possesses the appearance of an extremely pale man with black parted hair, white glassy eyes, wearing a monocle and a dark three-piece suit.

During the course of the game, it is implied that Death acts as a defender of the "status quo" of the world, hoping to prevent the Devil from succeeding in his master plan and subverting the natural holy order of life and death. Indirectly, Death moves to counter the Devil's increasing influence on the world and thwart his plan by eliminating his evil adversary's agents with his own champion, the Undertaker.