Lincoln McQuoid

**Lincoln** is a character in *It Lives Within* and one of Main Character's love interests. He is first seen in *Chapter 1*.

## Appearance

Lincoln has black hair he always keeps pulled back, dark brown eyes, and wears black studs in each earlobe. He has a tattoo sleeve on each arm and another symbol tattooed over his chest. He wears a gray short-sleeved V-neck and jeans.

## Personality

Lincoln seems cold and aloof and prefers to stick to himself. Due to his upbringing, he has trust issues which prevent him from wanting to form friendships, which makes it a little difficult for him to open to Your Character at first. Despite this, he is not unkind. He is honest with himself and others, often saying the hard truth that others don't want to hear. He is generally laid back and hard to offend, but if the topic touches a sensitive topic he will get easily riled up and blow up.

He is very artistic and sees tattooing as a form of self-expression. Despite having a gift from the Power, he's not particularly interested in using it.

## Chapters

It Lives Within

* Chapter 1: No Running
* Chapter 2: Familiar Faces
* Chapter 5: The Missing Link
* Chapter 6: Erased From Reality
* Chapter 7: Dead in the Water
* Chapter 8: Conflicting Interests
* Chapter 9: Too Close to the Sun (determinant)
* Chapter 10: The Truth Never Hides For Long
* Chapter 11: Dance With the Devil
* Chapter 12: Chasing Phantoms
* Chapter 13: A Thousand Lies
* Chapter 14: Purification
* Chapter 15: Mirror to the Past
* Chapter 16: Kindred Spirits
* Chapter 17: To Be Human (determinant)
* Chapter 18: Cabin Fever
* Chapter 19: Three, Two, One, Fun
* Chapter 20: No Way Home
* Chapter 21: Vertigo Cave
* Chapter 22: Home At Last (determinant)
* Chapter 23: It Lives (determinant)

## Relationships

### Main Character

Lincoln begins training Your Character to control their Power in chapter 5. He is one of your main love interests. Your relationship with him changes drastically depending on your choices.

#### Romantic

>
> > I'd take the hurt over and over again if it meant that someday, I'd get to meet you.
> >
> > - Lincoln McQuoid, It Lives Within Chapter 18
>
>

If you pursue a romantic relationship with Lincoln, he will initially be resistant to your advances. However, if you persist, he will eventually break down and come to reciprocate. While initially aloof and somewhat cold, it becomes clear that he is simply trying to protect himself from getting too close to people, due to negative experiences he's had in the past. Once you get past his hard exterior, he reveals himself to be sensitive, kind, and romantic. He feels very protective of Your Character, as shown in various scenes throughout the game where he will jump to your defense against perceived threats, such as his father. His romance arc shows centers around Your Character helping him realize that he can allow himself to trust and love. Depending on the ending you receive, there are two endings where you both survive and stay together. You can both leave Westchester and move in together (Blood), or embark on a long distance relationship with Your Character remaining in Westchester while Lincoln returns to his tattoo shop in Las Vegas. If you return to the Power in the shadow ending or are killed by Matthias, Your Character will leave Lincoln behind and he will be left to mourn you.

#### Platonic

> Just promise me something ...Be careful. You’re one of my closest friends, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.
>
> - Lincoln McQuoid

If you do not romance Lincoln, you can pursue a platonic friendship with him. Similarly to the romance route, he will start out at a distance, not seeming particularly interested in getting to know you or build a friendship with you. If you persist, he will come to care for you deeply, even to the point where he may tell you that he considers you one of his closest friends if your relationship is high enough. He will react protectively if bad things happen to you, and some of his dialogue will change depending on how he feels about you.

#### Antagonistic

> I’m sorry your mom died, but GUESS WHAT! You’re not the only one who’s lost people! I lost my whole goddamn family and you don’t see me moping! I’m gonna go out and do something about it!
>
> - Your Character, It Lives Within Chapter 15

If you do not romance Lincoln or pursue a platonic friendship with him, you can have an antagonistic relationship. There are a handful of responses where you can insult him, such as criticizing his tattoos in chapter 7 or calling him a "self-absorbed, scared, selfish little *kid*" after he explains about what happened with his mother and uses it as a reason as to why he doesn't want to join Your Character and the crew in the Pine Springs seance. If his nerve is too low, he will abandon Your Character in chapter 21, leaving you to go deeper into the caves with your remaining crew.

#### The Love Triangle From Hell

> It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t know, [Rowan]! He’s my dad! You should know enough to realize that you don’t mess around with both a father and his son!
>
> - Lincoln to Your Character, It Lives Within Chapter 21, upon him finding out that Rowan slept with both him and his father

If you romance both Lincoln and Matthias, you unlock a route that is affectionately referred to by many as "the love triangle from hell", but pursuing this route will prevent you from getting a happy ending with Lincoln. If you join Matthias in his quest to complete the Blood Moon ritual and betray your friends, you will reveal your relationship to the rest of the It Lives Within crew, and Lincoln will discover the truth. If you don't join Matthias, he will expose your relationship to your friends out of spite. When Lincoln finds out that you were sleeping with both him and his father, he will become extremely angry, hurt, and betrayed, and not want anything to do with you, and he will break up with you. In addition, his relationship score will drop to 0.

### Matthias McQuoid

Lincoln and Matthias have a very poor relationship. Not much is known of the details at first, but the relationship is clearly so bad that Lincoln hasn't spoken to his father in years and becomes visibly upset when he thinks Matthias may have done something to Your Character and Connor in chapter 8. In chapter 15, Lincoln opens up about his relationship with Matthias in an optional flashback scene. You find out that when Lincoln was young, he actually loved and looked up to his father and wanted nothing more to make him proud. However, no matter how hard Lincoln tried, he felt that he was never able to be enough for him. Additionally, he felt that he was never able to truly be himself, because his father wanted him to be an entirely different person. Despite all this, a part of Lincoln always hoped that they could mend their broken relationship and be father and son again. In chapter 20, it's revealed that Matthias was planning on sacrificing Your Character for his ritual, to which Lincoln says he'll never forgive him, and in chapter 21, Lincoln discovers that his father is responsible for Silvia's death. Once that revelation happens, any hope of reconciliation disappears completely.

### Silvia McQuoid

Lincoln was very close with his mother. They bonded over many things, especially art. Her death hurt him deeply and still impacts him to today. One of the main reasons he came back to Westchester was to investigate the truth behind her death.

### Abel Flint

Abel and Lincoln were best friends growing up. The two had a falling out after an event in high school, when Lincoln roped Abel into carrying out a prank with him that ended up getting both of them arrested. Lincoln was bailed out of jail by his parents but didn't tell them that Abel was there as well. This event greatly impacted Abel's life, and he still holds a grudge because of it. In chapter 21, the two will either reconcile or have an absolute falling out, depending on their nerve scores. If they reconcile (both nerve scores above 50), both Abel and Lincoln will apologize for the mistakes they made and the way they hurt each other. Lincoln apologize for the prank and for not helping Abel in the aftermath, and Abel apologizes for not being understanding of Lincoln's relationship with his father and not taking his trauma seriously. If they don't reconcile (one or both nerve scores below 50), one or the other (or both) will lash out before abandoning the group.

## Powers

As a boy, Lincoln was forced by his father to make a deal with the Power in exchange for gifts. He received psychometry, which allows him to see the history of objects by touching them.

## Trivia

* Lincoln used to visit the Philippines with his mother at least once a year. He enjoyed the trips and spending time with his grandparents and cousins.
* Lincoln worked at a tattoo shop in Las Vegas before the game began, and if he survives, he will return to that job once the game is over.
* Although the characters have been confirmed by the game developers to be bisexual, Lincoln's attraction to men is explicitly mentioned in the text in chapter 8, when he states that he went to senior prom with a boy named Daniel Jackson.
* He and his mother planted a rowan tree together when he was 6 years old. The tree is very meaningful and precious to him. This retroactively makes the MC's default name meaningful in hindsight.
* If Lincoln survives to the end of the game, he will legally change his last name from McQuoid to Aquino, which is his mother's maiden name.
* After carrying out the wild prank with Abel, Matthias sent Lincoln to a military academy for a few months.
* He is one of two characters you can unlock the "Scarring Hearts" achievement with ([Character] has broken up with you). To get this achievement, you must either romance both him and Matthias or kill Jocelyn in Chapter 21.
* Lincoln's death sprite is widely considered to be the most disturbing of the four love interests.
* If Lincoln dies in Chapter 21 and you have the watch, it's highly recommended that you use it to revive him. In Chapter 22, if MC loses to Matthias and Lincoln is dead, they will not be able to use the watch even if they have it, since only Lincoln can use it.
* His relationship score starts at 15.