The Embrace

— The Embrace's signature line

**The Embrace**, also called **Shadow Chase** in the game's files or **the tulpa** when discussed by the cast, is an antagonistic force that appears in Echo. It is a supernatural presence that appears to haunt Leo Alvarez and some of the remaining citizens of Echo.

## Appearance

The Embrace's appearance mimics that of Chase Hunter around the age of 18. As a result, it manifests as an anthropomorphic otter whose features and clothing are near identical to Chase's. However, the Embrace notably lacks 21-year-old Chase's dyed goatee. Furthermore, it is heavily shadowed, blurry, and has only black circles where Chase's eyes would be. At times, it is shown to have red "irises."

As a paranormal entity, The Embrace has the ability to appear and disappear at random. It seems to be partially intangible as a result, though it is possible that it has somewhat of a physical form based on the interactions Leo describes having with it. The Embrace also appears to be able to manifest in reflections even when it otherwise not present in the real world, as well as in dreams.

The Embrace is often associated with static, recordings, and reflections, and speaks primarily by playing back dialogue previously spoken by the real Chase.

## Personality

Little is known about The Embrace's true personality or goals due to its paranormal origins and sparse appearances. Having seemingly manifested itself based on Leo's idealized version of Chase, it appears driven by a desire to satisfy Leo's internalized desires for how Chase "should" act. As such, The Embrace seems to devote itself primarily to Leo and frequently reiterates its love and assurance that it will never leave him. Its existence is shown to be tied directly to Leo's continued desire for it, and as such it is extremely possessive of him and expresses jealousy toward others who occupy his interest and affections, particularly the actual Chase.

Ultimately, however, it is unclear whether the Embrace demonstrates a genuine capacity for individual thought and action or if it is merely a projection of Leo's mind, given form by Echo and acting as a conduit for the larger forces at work in the town.

## Story

### Prior to Echo

The Embrace's origins are extremely uncertain, and little is known about what it exactly is or how it is able to manifest. The Embrace appears to be a byproduct of the supernatural phenomena that occur within Echo, which are often tied to the regrets and fears of its residents. Apparitions in the town often take the form of dead people, but several, like the Embrace and the static creature, have more nebulous forms.

Leo seems to have begun seeing the Embrace because of the strong sense of regret and lack of closure he was left with after his "break-up" with Chase. Leo mentions that to help cope with Chase's absence, he began to imagine his presence and hold imaginary conversations with him. It is speculated by Micha and Jenna that in doing so Leo inadvertently manifested a tulpa, an entity resembling an imaginary friend with a physical form and its own distinct personality, emotions, and capacity for action.

About a week prior to the start of Echo, "Chase" began to appear to Leo physically. As an entity whose form seems to be based on Leo's thoughts and perceptions, the Embrace manifested itself as Leo's idealized perception of Chase. As a result, it lacks the goatee that Leo found distasteful and bases most of its actions around Leo's desires. The Embrace is said to have showed up occasionally to "surprise" Leo and to express its love for him in various ways. In the Embrace's presence, Leo seems less able to discern what is real, but it is unclear whether this hazy state is the result of the apparition's influence or willful self-delusion on Leo's part.

For unknown reasons, The Embrace also began to appear to other residents of Echo, such as Duke and Dale, who would glimpse the shadowy figure of "Chase" peeking in their windows or lurking around their houses. This put the citizens of Echo who sighted it on edge, particularly Duke. Due to the Embrace's appearance, Duke began to theorize that Chase, Leo, or their friends likely had something to do with the increasingly strange happenings in town, and planned to confront Leo regarding "Chase's" sudden reappearance.

In October 2014, Carl sees what appears to be Chase in his car with him during an acid trip. As he drives, "Chase" tells him about college and how much he misses Carl, before shifting to vague warnings and then disappearing when Carl crashes the vehicle. It is unknown whether this was actually The Embrace itself manifesting to Carl or simply a result of Carl's trip, though Carl notes that he could feel what seemed to be Chase touching his horns at one point during the experience. Regardless, this experience scarred Carl and he spent months fearing that the police were covering up the fact that they had found Chase's dead body in the wrecked car.

### Leo's route

Because Leo's route focuses directly on Leo and Chase's relationship, The Embrace is a recurring presence throughout it. As in other routes, the Embrace's appearance in Echo is revealed to be the reason that Duke and Brian kidnap Chase and Leo.

On Tuesday, Leo admits to Chase that he feels like he is going crazy, and explains that the week before he saw an otter that looked like Chase outside his window. While sleeping over at Leo's house, Chase has a nightmare immediately afterward in which he sees a version of himself with dark holes for eyes posing naked and seductively, and then senses something tapping at the window like it wants attention. The last thing Chase hears before he awakens is "he's mine," seemingly indicating that The Embrace is motivated by a possessive jealousy.

On Wednesday night, Duke confronts Chase and Leo and asks when Chase arrived in Echo. Duke's suspicion is eventually revealed to be because he has also been seeing The Embrace for some time, and has been trying unsuccessfully to question Leo about it for days.

Later, Leo breaks off an intimate moment with Chase because he apparently sees something in his bathroom mirror that startles him badly. This could be The Embrace, which is sometimes associated with mirrors and reflections, but it is also speculated to be another entity, possibly the Mirror Man.

While interrogating Chase, Duke mentions that The Embrace started appearing to him after Leo mentioned it once while they were drinking together, possibly indicating that Leo can pass the Embrace on to others.

When Chase is restrained in Brian's trailer, The Embrace appears as an eyeless reflection in the mirror above him. Later, as Chase and Kudzu are preparing to break into Duke's house, Chase thinks he sees a figure behind some sagebrush with a thick tail like an otter, but its true nature is left ambiguous.

Near the end of the route, Leo reacts to Chase returning to his home with bewilderment, stating that he was just cuddling with him in the bedroom. This seems to indicate that Leo was in reality spending time with the Embrace.

### Flynn's route

On Thursday night, after he falls asleep in Flynn's house, Chase has a hallucination in which he sees a version of himself without his goatee reflected in a window. He then receives a text from Leo's number that simply says "Hey." This greeting is used repeatedly by The Embrace on the rare occasions when it speaks, and the message includes full capitalization and punctuation, which Leo almost never uses. Instead of Chase's own face, The Embrace can then be seen reflected back at him in his phone screen immediately afterward. Notably, this scene is one of the instances of The Embrace manifesting while Leo is not present, which may possibly be related to Leo's jealous suspicion that Chase and Flynn are having sex behind his back. Later, in one of the versions of the CG depicting Chase in The Smoke Room with Flynn, the Embrace can be seen appearing faintly over Flynn's shoulder.

Depending on how Chase treats Leo, The Embrace may continue to appear later on in the route. If Chase talks to Daxton instead of confessing his fling with Flynn to Leo on Friday, Leo becomes increasingly unhinged when the Hysteria begins the next day. When Leo ultimately learns the truth from Flynn in Town Hall, the Embrace suddenly appears. Afterward, Leo claims to have received phone calls from Chase despite his phone being dead and displays an uncanny disconnection from reality.

When Duke tries to incite the townspeople into apprehending Chase, he relies on his sightings of the Embrace as the basis for much of his suspicion.

As the gang tries to escape from Echo by car, Leo may see The Embrace in the rearview mirror right after he tells Flynn to stay away from Chase. It then appears in the backseat beside Daxton, who remarks that 'Shadow Chase' greatly resembles a version of Chase that he has seen in his dreams. Leo says it visits a lot and seems unable to distinguish between the real Chase and The Embrace.

### Jenna's route

Jenna's route goes into more depth about the circumstances of The Embrace's creation, with Jenna explicitly characterizing it as a tulpa brought about by Leo's obsession.

The dreams that occur throughout the early part of the route depict The Embrace as it seemingly plays back the argument that precipitated Chase and Leo's breakup.

As a result of his sightings of The Embrace, Duke shows his usual wariness towards Chase on Thursday when Chase and Jenna try to question him about Carl. Duke's suspicion eventually leads him to coordinate with Brian to kidnap and interrogate Chase and his friends.

The next day, when Chase interrupts Leo's rampage on Jasmynn Street, Leo claims to have spoken to Chase the night before. He explains that it was "Chase" that told him to attack Clint and Jeremy for covering up Carl's disappearance, which leads to disastrous results.

After Leo is beaten up by Brian, Jenna and Chase take him back to the motel to recover. Leo, who is having difficulty remaining lucid after his injuries, claims that "Chase" recently came back to Echo to surprise him, and that he had shaved his goatee and was doing everything he could to look cute for Leo. The Embrace manifests soon after, and when Leo says he loves it, it replies in kind in Chase's voice.

Later, the group encounters a mysterious van in the desert that plays distorted clips of Chase's speech through its radio that sound just like The Embrace. Its words initially mesmerize Leo, but he and Micha are able to address an incident from their past related to the van and Leo becomes much more rational. He admits that he has been obsessively pretending that Chase is still around and has lost track of what is real, and The Embrace is seemingly dispelled by this clarity.

## Relationships

### Leo

Leo seems to be the Embrace's inadvertent "creator" and directly provides it with the ability to physically manifest itself. As a result, The Embrace acts as a "perfect" boyfriend to Leo and mimics the actions he otherwise desires from the real Chase. As The Embrace's existence seems to revolve around Leo's continued dependence on it, its interactions with him center on pleasing him and encouraging his continued love. In doing so, it can be extremely possessive. On Jenna's route, The Embrace can be seen encouraging Leo to forget his friends and focus purely on it both emotionally and physically. This may be a way of sustaining itself, as on occasions when Leo comes to his senses the tulpa stops manifesting completely.

### Chase

Despite being based on Chase in appearance The Embrace appears to carry a bitter hatred for him, possibly perceiving him as a rival for Leo's affections. On some occasions it appears to threaten Chase, telling him to stay away from "[its] boyfriend" and accusing the otter and his friends of just wanting to hurt Leo further or steal him away. Despite its evident resentment of Chase, The Embrace frequently stalks him for unknown reasons.

## Trivia

* The sounds resembling radio static that tend to accompany the Embrace's appearance are somewhat reminiscent of the creature shown to haunt the woods near Echo in Arches. Furthermore, both presences appear to be made out of shadow and have red eyes. However, it is unknown if there is a connection between the two beyond being byproducts of Echo's influence.
* Several other characters mention hallucinating the appearance of dead or missing loved ones. One of the most notable cases of this is Heather, who during the events of Jenna's route claims to be haunted by a version of Keith that tells her "awful things." This false Keith can briefly be seen in Heather's house in a closet before fading away. Given this, it is possible, though not confirmed, that Heather manifested a tulpa of Keith in a similar vein to the Embrace.
* The animated sequence of The Embrace walking that plays during Jenna's route is composed of 112 individual images appearing in succession.

## Gallery

Default spriteA previous design for The Embrace used in earlier buildsA painting referencing The Embrace, seen in the background of Opgedoekt in Glory Hounds.