Rita Scanlon

**Rita Scanlon** is a resident of Crowley, Texas. She is murdered shortly before the events of *Dark Seed II*, and the mystery of her killer is part of the overall plot of the game. In fact, her death is part of the plan by the Ancients to invade the Normal World from the Dark World.

Although Mike Dawson sees her as a sweet librarian (similar to Sue from *Dark Seed*), it soon becomes apparent in the game that she had numerous affairs with various men of the city. This earns her ire from many members of the town: Melissa Fleming calls her a "little tramp", while Mrs. Ramirez refers to her as the "Whore of Babylon".

Her Dark World counterpart is the High Priestess of the Temple.

## Biography

Rita Scanlon was born and raised in Crowley, along with Mike Dawson, Jimmy Garder, and Melissa Fleming. Melissa and Rita were originally good friends. When they were sophomores, Dawson and Rita began to date, regularly hanging out at the park and the local diner, where they would go for pancakes after church. Afterward, their relationship dissolved into simple friendship. While Dawson was gone in California, Rita began to work at the local library.

Shortly after the events of *Dark Seed*, Dawson returned to Crowley, where he attempted to relink with Rita. However, Rita was far too busy with her reading club to hang out with him, and wanted to remain just friends. They both attended their 15-year high school reunion together, during which they began to have an argument about their relationship. Shortly thereafter, Rita was found murdered in the park, with her head severed. Many people in the town, including Sheriff Butler, believed Dawson to be the murderer.

## In-Game (Spoilers)

Rita is first seen at the beginning of the game, in which Dawson has a nightmare that he is back in the Dark World. He sees himself running down a tunnel, and ahead of him is the decapitated head of Rita. Rita begs him to help her, before her eyes and tongue both melt. After this, Dawson will spend the game investigating her murder. The murder was particularly gruesome, with her head decapitated by a serrated knife, and her eyes and tongue cut off and left at the crime scene. (Hence the dream at the beginning of the game.)

When Dawson enters the Dark World, he discovers that the Ancients are incubating a new "dark seed", which is the Behemoth. Once the Behemoth is fully incubated, it will cross over into the Normal World and take in all the life force. In order to have the generator at full capacity, the Ancients require four heads - of which Rita's is the first. Dawson will also learn that the Ancients have enlisted the Shape Shifter - a Dark Worlder who can temporarily change forms, and temporarily enter the Normal World. It is the Shape Shifter who killed Rita.

Throughout the course of the game, Dawson will learn that, while Rita was always too busy for him, she in fact had numerous affairs with various men in the town. This included Mr. Ramirez, Sheriff Butler, Mayor Fleming, Doctor Larson, and perhaps countless others. While investigating Rita's home, Mike will find a letter to her mother in which Rita confesses she has no feelings for Mike, even though he follows her around "like a sick puppy", and she's far more interested in her "tall, handsome" neighbor Paul Cooper. This sends Mike into a rage.

After Mrs. Dawson's head explodes (no really), Rita's head appears over the cooking pot she's always using. She explains that Mike is the only one who can destroy the Behemoth. She explains that her reading group started doing seances at first as harmless fun, but soon the Ancients used it to reach into the minds of the group, resulting in the cult forming. Rita's job was to "recruit" new members, hence why she slept around so much. She also points out to him that the ticket to the class reunion, which was found at the murder scene, was not hers, but the killer's, and that the two tickets were bought at the same time. Dawson doesn't understand what this means. When Dawson criticizes Rita for being a pawn of the Ancient, she states that he is a pawn too. The meaning of all this becomes apparent at the end when Dawson discovers that Jack is in the fact the Shape Shifter, who was in fact him all along.

## Quotes

### *Dark Seed II*

* "Help me, Mike..."
* "[Mike Dawson is] a nice guy, but he has some emotional problems."
* "We wanted to contact dead poets and writers, but instead we contacted the Ancients."
* "Your jealousy is clouding your mind again. That was always the problem between us, and it will lead to your downfall."
* "Mike, you poor, innocent fool."

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *Dark Seed II*, in-game dialogue
2. ↑ *Dark Seed II: The Official Strategy Guide*, pg. 129