The Ferryman

* Natural Form
* Disguised

**The Ferryman**, also known as **the Candleman**, is a reoccurring anti-villain in the Little Nightmares *franchise*. In the 2017 *Little Nightmares* comic series, his job is to hunt down children and bring them to the Maw. In the 2023 audio-fiction series *The Sounds of Nightmares*, he works to manipulate the story's main protagonist Noone into giving herself up into the Nowhere.

## Appearance

In the 2017 comic series, the Ferryman appears to be wearing a grey trench coat with a grey hat on his head. This hat has a red stripe around it. Like most monsters in this universe, the Ferryman is gigantic. He has yellow skin, and his facial skin is sagging down to his chest.

In *The Sounds of Nightmares*, Noone described him as having a presence that reminded her of when the tide went out, the scent of ocean filling a room to mark his presence. He is described as wearing a long, filthy jacket and a fisherman's hat. Noone describes his face as moving beneath his hat "like soup," with bits and pieces rising and falling. His eyes appear to be long slits, and his face dripping and sagging, reminding Noone of candle wax, hence her nickname for him, the Candleman.

## Personality

The Ferryman is not like most monstrous humanoids seen in the series. Rather than screaming and chasing after children when he spots them, he kindly offers them his hand and holds them gently. Even so, the Ferryman still desires to bring these children to the Maw, where they will presumably be turned into meals for the Guests.

Like the North Wind, the Ferryman seems to like to play games. He uses his transformation ability to pretend to be a child's dead sister for a prolonged period of time, seemingly because he had a deal with the Wind (as hinted at through the Wind's dialogue).

In *The Sounds of Nightmares*, the Ferryman presented himself as an enigmatic being who attempted to convince children, particularly Noone, to give themselves up to the Nowhere. He prefers to speak in riddles, one of which Noone was able to deduce. Noone concluded that the Ferryman, who she refers to as the Candleman, promised that she would be rid of all ailments and everything that tormented her in her world, if she stayed in the Nowhere. This reveals that the Ferryman uses tactics of manipulation in order to entice his victims. The Ferryman is a patient being, as he ensures to wait for the right time for a child like Noone to fully understand their tormented life is better left behind.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Shape-Shifting**: The Ferryman has the ability to shape-shift. As seen in the first issue, he was able to change his size and appearance to look like the young Refugee Boy's sister.
* **Manipulation**: The Ferryman is a skilled manipulator. In *The Sounds of Nightmares*, he successfully tricks Noone into giving herself up to the Nowhere.
* **Mind Reading**: In *The Sounds of Nightmares*, the Ferryman knew Noone believed she was ill, and was able to figure out Noone's real name all without anyone telling him.
* **Teleportation**: Throughout *The Sounds of Nightmares*, the Ferryman occasionally appears from nothingness and later vanishes.

## *Little Nightmares* (video game)

In *Little Nightmares*, the Ferryman appears in a painting standing at the end of his fishing boat in the Lady's Quarters.

## *Secrets of the Maw*

Similar to his appearance in the first game, the Ferryman appears in a painting among a large collection of paintings in the Residence.

## *Little Nightmares* (2017 comic series)

### Issue 1

The Ferryman spots Six in a crowd of Guest-like figures. He points at her, drawing the attention of the passerby's and causing them to point as well. Later on, he is seen rowing Six to the Maw on his ferryboat.

He is next seen pretending to be the Refugee Boy's younger sister. Disguised as the young girl, he and the Refugee Boy traveled The Grasslands after the Refugee Boy's village was destroyed, all the while being pursued by The North Wind. They eventually found a barn that they hid inside of as the North Wind tried to coerce the boy into coming outside. He eventually convinced the boy the peak out of the barn door, where he showed him that he had his sister's skeleton the whole time. After the boy is confronted with this, the Ferryman transforms back into his regular state. He offers the boy his hand, and scares the North Wind away. The Ferryman then takes the young boy to the Maw.

### Issue 2

The Ferryman can first be seen at the beginning of the story, his foot being visible when the Humpback Girl and her friends were first sneaking into an abandoned house. He appears at the very end of the second issue, escorting the Humpback Girl out of the house. He offers her his hand, and they walk off into the distance.

## *The Sounds of Nightmares*

### *The Workers in the Walls*

The Candleman was spotted by Noone during her first nightmare in a room filled with glass jars.

### *A Penance at the Bathhouse*

The Counsellor noted that the Candleman matches the description of Cici's Ferryman perfectly, and speculated on what he was. The Candleman, was seen beckoning her shortly after she met Jester. Describing his appearance caused Noone to experience distress, and so the Counsellor attached a machine to her head in order to get her to describe him better. After describing his appearance, Noone also detailed that she felt that the Candleman wanted her to give herself up to the location, and that he had always been with her. Shortly after this description, he vanished.

### *The Theater of the Mind*

As the Counsellor's obsession with the Candleman persisted, he insisted that Noone describe her last encounter with the Candleman. Although he prodded her to only talk about the Candleman, she insisted that she tell the entire story.

The Candleman made his appearance inside of the Shopping Mall's theatre, where he made the air smell like the ocean. Without turning, he spoke to her, sounding as if he was underwater because his mouth was under his skin. He told her "The faraway drifts near. Tread long, then, sink deep. Two flows from one. And here, is whole again." before repeating the word "here" over and over. After more pictures flashed on the theater screen, he vanished.

He reappeared at the end of the chapter, where he points at the pendant on Noone's chest. She throws it off and the Candleman reaches his hand toward Noone just as she wakes up.

### *Two of a Kind*

While discussing the Nowhere with Noone, the Candleman was mentioned as being apart of it.

At the end of the chapter, the Counsellor proposed the idea of the Candleman as being a like between the real world and the Nowhere. During this, he referred to him as the Ferryman.

### *A Deluge of the Inevitable*

The Counsellor reveals evidence of the Candleman having already existed for centuries. He has appeared as a mythic entity in the stories of innumerable cultures. In each description of him, his role is always to confront those who seek to enter another world, the Nowhere.

The Candleman later appears after the Sewer floods, floating on a broken door. Noone asks him what he wants from her and he responds, "Cross the seal. Sink in a twinkling. Cast aside the old sleep, to sleep again anew." Noone then asks why she should, but before she could finish, he says "Blight. Not within, but without. Here, all banes be set free."

Noone believes that he means, if she gives herself to his world, she will be cured and relieved of all her problems. She now trusts the Candleman more than she trusts Otto.

### *The Lonely Way*

At the beginning of the chapter, the Counsellor discusses the Ferryman, pondering why he let Noone out of his grasp when she disappeared two nights prior for a record amount of time. He also concluded that if he could not get to the Ferryman, then he would use Noone to bring him to him. After first meeting with Noone, he relented how he wanted to speak to the Ferryman. Noone was surprised that he called him this, and determined that the Ferryman was what Cici referred to the Candleman as.

Later, while in the Threshold, Noone heard a knocking at a door. As it creaked open, it was revealed to be the Candleman. The Counsellor described almost being able to feel his presence. Noone asked the figure why it chose her while the Counsellor asked if he took Cici. The Candleman did not answer, only beckoning Noone to come with him through the door, promising spoils to be within. Noone asked where they were going while the Counsellor asked where his sister was. The Candleman responded win another riddle. As Noone stepped through the door to peer through, she saw stairs that went in every direction at once, and a pulsing red eye the size of a moon with other eyes of every shape and size circling around it. He tells Noone to "sink, sink into these tideless waters" as he took her by the hand.

As the Counsellor continued to demand that Noone wait for him, Noone informed the Candleman that the Counsellor wanted to come. After the Candleman responded in another riddle, she determined that the Candleman was in fact speaking to the Counsellor. Noone tried to relay the last thing that the Counsellor said to the Candleman, but he instead interrupted her with another riddle as the door began to drift away. He told Noone, who he now referred to as Ruth, to sleep until she slept into the Nowhere. She asked if he would hold her hand, as she felt that she would be lost without him.

After Noone disappeared, the Counsellor tried to make sense of one of the Ferryman's riddles that he was able to make out. This riddle consisted of a quarter being granted if a toll was paid. He determined that the Ferryman must have meant that there was another way to cross the Threshold.

## Theories

* In the first chapter of *Secrets of the Maw*, the Runaway Kid will jump over a boat dissenting from the ceiling. Inside of the boat, there appears to be a large body-shaped object wrapped in white tissue. It has been theorized that this boat was the one belonging to the Ferryman, given its heavily resemblance to the one he was seen using in his portrait and the comic series.
	+ It has been further speculated that the object seen wrapped in tissue is a corpse, either of the Ferryman himself or someone else.
	+ This theory might imply that the events that took place in the 2017 comic series and *The Sounds of Nightmares* took place before *Little Nightmares* and *Secrets of the Maw*.

## Trivia

* The comic heavily implies some sort of relationship between the Ferryman and the Lady. The main game also further supports this as the Ferryman's photos appear in the Lady's Quarters.
* The Ferryman's presence in various cultures over centuries could be evidence that he doesn't age, or is completely immortal.
* In a *Penance at the Bathhouse,* the audio glitches as Otto speaks the Ferryman's name.
	+ The audio glitches again, with increased interference, as Noone repeats the Ferryman's words in *The Theater of the Mind*. No glitching or interference is heard again in the remaining chapters.
* In *The Lonely Way*, Noone says she had previously been in the Threshold with the Ferryman.

## References

1. ↑ https://youtu.be/x9ddw8Cn0vQ?si=7lEM7cUeFc-BqXhF
2. ↑ https://mobile.twitter.com/LittleNights/status/877541200655523840

Noone • The Counsellor • **The Candleman** • The Workers • The Prisoners • The Tall Woman • The Child with Gooey Hair • Cici • The Bathers • Jester • The Merchants • The Shopping Mall • The Counsellor's Professor • The Performing Children (Rusty) • The Man in the Purple Suit • The Carnival People • The Dummy • Nomes • The Naughty Kids • The Balloon-Headed Man • The Puppet
Animals • Children • Unidentified Characters