Charlie has been sighted!

[Thieverpedia]

This seems to support my theory that Charlie wasn't transformed into something so horrifying, she wishes to hide in the dark. Rather, she IS the darkness, assaulting all those who can't see past the illusion.

[subzero22]

The way that attack is it almost seems as though shes trying to drain your soul or at least rip it out of you.

[Asparagus]

It can be equipment for any slot 

Night_visionSword!! O__O

[ThaumicParrot]

But if charlie's only able to attack in the dark, or when she can't be perceived, why doesn't she attack sleeping players? Or mobs? Maybe she's only able to attack not when others can see her, but when others are fearful, or afraid of what lurks in the dark?

[CaptainFun]

But if charlie's only able to attack in the dark, or when she can't be perceived, why doesn't she attack sleeping players? Or mobs? Maybe she's only able to attack not when others can see her, but when others are fearful, or afraid of what lurks in the dark?

I'm guessing it's fear of darkness itself that allows her to attack. Kinda like Pennywise, actually. 

[ImDaMisterL]

I'm guessing it's fear of darkness itself that allows her to attack. Kinda like Pennywise, actually. 

But if that was the case, Wendy would be invulnerable to Charlie, since she's comfortable with darkness.

[ThaumicParrot]

But if that was the case, Wendy would be invulnerable to Charlie, since she's comfortable with darkness.

Yeah, then maybe charlie only attacks when she can hear her prey wail cries of human pain.... 2spooky5me.

[ImDaMisterL]

Yeah, then maybe charlie only attacks when she can hear her prey wail cries of human pain.... 2spooky5me.

But WX-78's a robot...

And Webber's half-spider...

And I'm still not fully convinced Wickerbottom's a human, someone with that big of an intellect simply cannot be part of out race...

[ThaumicParrot]

But WX-78's a robot... And Webber's half-spider... And I'm still not fully convinced Wickerbottom's a human, someone with that big of an intellect simply cannot be part of out race...

Maybe Charlie feeds on knowledge? Would make sense, considering she's a product of forbidden intellect. 

[ImDaMisterL]

Maybe Charlie feeds on knowledge? Would make sense, considering she's a product of forbidden intellect.

But then when she attacks you, you would naturally forget how to craft some items you already prototyped, wouldn't you.

[GuyNamedChris]

But thn en when she attacks you, you would naturaly forget how to craft some items you already prototyped, wouldn't you.

DONT GIVE KLEI ANY IDEAS

[SillyWilson]

Maybe she became a Grue (like in Zork. There's a little evidence she's based off one, on Charlie's don't starve wiki page, look at the seccond to last bullet in the trivia section.) 

Perhaps the reason she doesn't attack other animals is that either they sleep during the night (beefalo, birds,) they have evolved to have night vision to survive in the dark (moleworms, spiders,) or they have a lightsource (pig houses.) Or she simply doesn't eat animals because she eats adventurers.

 

Quote wikipedia's Grue page,

" The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale. "

 

The only contradiction to the descrption is that the werebeaver doesn't see jaws, he sees a shadowy hand forcing a path from inside wilson to outside of this body via his mouth, or maerializing right behind wilson and slicing into his body from his back and exiting again through his mouth, with tendrils of darkness exploding out behind him. Certainly doesn't look like something biting him.

 

What makes me think it materializes from behind and slices through wilson is because he is lifted up off the ground, maybe from the impact of the hand forcing in and up at the same time from the small of Wilson's back (along with maybe a pinch of magic,) thus lifting wilson as the hand passes through the body and up out the mouth. Maybe what causes so much damage is the hand passing through your heart on the way up and snatching some of your health and sanity to feed off of (kinda like how a Slurper feeds off your hunger points,) and the biting sensation is the hand entering wilson's body through his back, though not being able to actually slice flesh.

 

That's just what I think is happening (no intentiosn to steal ideas if someone already thought of that theory.)

 

[The Letter W]

For those wondering, night vision is fully supported now.  The best way to mod it is to create a piece of equipment and give it the "nightvision" tag. It can be equipment for any slot 

 

Time for a Night Vision coconut bra mod.

[Dipps]

Maybe she became a Grue (like in Zork. There's a little evidence she's based off one, on Charlie's don't starve wiki page, look at the seccond to last bullet in the trivia section.) 

Quote wikipedia's Grue page,

" The grue is a sinister, lurking presence in the dark places of the earth. Its favorite diet is adventurers, but its insatiable appetite is tempered by its fear of light. No grue has ever been seen by the light of day, and few have survived its fearsome jaws to tell the tale. "

 

The only problem with these statements is the fact that they are based on two wikipedia articles, and as we pretty much know the principles of a free encyclopedia that allows everyone to alter or delete the information, I wouldn't consider anything written there completely accurate unless proven otherwise (especially anything that goes outside of the programmation field of a videogame, since the story's interaction with the gameplay in DS is scarce).That unless it was foreshadowed by Kevin; we can't know for sure if he strategically vomited true canon all over the place. To find this out, check the changelog in the history and see if you can find his IP in there (it's 127.0.0.1, don't worry, I'm a professional).

 

The animations put in place for the nightvision seem more like the easiest and smartest solution to set up rather than a thought scheme that could follow future storyline, although for all we know they might have taken advantage of the eficiency of the said animation to add it into the lore (or it pursued it from the get-go, IDK, IDK). Seems like a puzzle could fix this dilemma quickly!

[SillyWilson]

@Dipps 

 

Ah, you have me there, and I'm too lazy to go to the trouble of proving my theory :>

I guess it is just a blob with no legs to stand on for now, if theorys were creatures. the animation could indeed just be something they threw in with the nightvision. I would love to see a puzzle though. 

[Mobbstar]

I, personally, love the fact that charlie is still not seen, just the shadow/darkness that form around her claw when hitting something. That's like water condensing on a glass pane!

 

Analyze every single part of that animation for riddles!!1!

[SuperPsiPower]

Yeah, and why haven't you gotten a Charliebuster title yet?(and why haven't I left Junior member yet while you're at it, JoeW?)

I'm saddened that I didnt get a title, but who cares! Atleast I got to show everyone this awesome animation!

[ImDaMisterL]

I'm saddened that I didnt get a title, but who cares! Atleast I got to show everyone this awesome animation!

I still think you deserve a title, though...

[GalloViking]

So Charlie attacks you... From within? That's, uh... Unexpected.

[Mobbstar]

I still think you deserve a title, though...

 

Let's start a petition!

[SuperPsiPower]

Let's start a petition!

Thats up to Klei if they decide to XD

[ThaumicParrot]

But thn en when she attacks you, you would naturaly forget how to craft some items you already prototyped, wouldn't you.

But you do lose sanity when you die, which is kinda like knowledge maybe? Or maybe Charlie feeds on insanity, which is why she doesn't attack dumb mobs or sleeping players who can't experience it as well as an awake, sentient being. 

[Johnny5isAlive]

which is why she doesn't attack dumb mobs or sleeping players who can't experience it as well as an awake, sentient being. 

It seems we're exhausting the theory of Charlie looking for specific creatures for specific reasons. So allow me to shovel a fresh heap of crazy on top.

 

Pig's are all terrified of the dark because they used to be players. They represent the noobs of the game that just make a basic house and stay there until they eventually run out of fuel and die to darkness, their souls reincarnate as a Pig. What about the Pig King I hear you ask? Legend tells of a mighty noob, less experienced than all before him, they say this noob was so nooby that he would make torches as Willow, top hats as Maxwell, and even Boomerangs as Wendy! He evolved past the point of merely wandering around his camp and instead simply stood still in order to properly defend it from the crows. So goes the legend. 

 

Merms are smelly. They do not fit my infallible lore, just kill them all.

[Dipps]

But you do lose sanity when you die, which is kinda like knowledge maybe? Or maybe Charlie feeds on insanity, which is why she doesn't attack dumb mobs or sleeping players who can't experience it as well as an awake, sentient being. 

 

When the nightvision rolled in, the storywise mechanics behind Charlie were largely unknown away from the basics. The questions were challenged in a silent manner, however, and the balances took a shape. Ever since then, we were simply able to fool the Grue without mistake by using the Goggles and the Werebeaver means. This implies that not the presence of darkness itself or the adversity against light are the frontal problems of Charlie, but rather your ability to perceive her as a whole. The deeper we get into this statement, the responses differ somewhat more than just having an existential issue and murdering everyone as an aftereffect.

 

It can get pretty scary in theory. Because she doesn't seem to interact at all with witless mobs, the players may be her pet peeve instead; taking on different angles of the narration, her personality was most likely messed up by being forced into the Don't Starve world. The reason she joined it in the first place was because of a fellow's mistake in a dubious "magic" act, that's pretty overwhelming. It's possible that she got thirsty after revenge over her own species because of one's big fnck up and she started finishing them off. No one is sure about the main character's backstory apart from Wilson and Maxwell. Therefore we can't say how much time did Charlie spent on hunting them and how much she did so alone, but after a reasonable amount of time, it's also credible that she'd give up on retaliating on the one that virtually caused the event and go for the responsibles that literally stole her from our world. If she could.

 

What I would bet my points on though, is that what she aims is the fear of the individual that strives to understand her. Whilst animal's fears rely mostly on instincts (or A.I in this case) and can be simpleminded, it may seem unsatisfactory to resort to destroying the fauna. A behavior that could support this is the pigman's; your average pigguy isn't really that smart and acts dumb even in combat, but he's aware of the danger that lays in the darkness. Even though his constant panic is noticeable, he may be off Grue's standards by being classed as a local animal; he isn't that special, after all. The humans can't really hide under this preface, however, the night monster herself was once a person. She's mindful of their potential, which renders them exponentially more vulnerable, and focuses on their weak points; unlike beasts, people have a complex consciousness and react distinctly depending on the circumstances. If you can exploit this, the result is a crying scaredy cat waiting for its end. 

 

Another lead to why humans are a target can relate to her knowledge over people's destructive impulses, which can cause heavy inconsistencies in the ecosystem and chaos overall. We have already seen that plenty of times in the real world by the time people got trapped in DS, and it only worsened from there. That way, maybe she accepted this land as her own and desires to be protective over the habitat and its fauna, like some sort of Mother Nature. But if we take into account the probable perspective in which she was stolen from everyone she loves into an unknown place, disfigured and not conscious of what reality is anymore, it perhaps looks unlikely.

 

Every route so far has a certain common detail inside them that centers about the culprits of the incident. I only took in consideration the Grue's will over her actions beforehand, although it's more than plausible that once she stepped in as the hunter or the guardian of this place, she continued being controlled by Them, being categorized as a toy. It may have spoiled her identity (ha-ha). At this point, the reasons and plans behind Their activities are pretty vague, and it's sorta hard to talk about it on a large scale leaving anything more than the tag of speculation, but there is an interesting detail most of us overlooked. Them already had a horrific experience with living beings alike to humans in the past; that'd be the Ancient Civilization, down the ruins.

 

The experience was terrible not only because of their tremendous efficacy and intelligence which allowed them to abuse huge amounts of nightmare fuel, but also their location in the deepest accessible point of the caves, which allowed them to abuse the substance even further and to occupy what you could consider Their home (hence the Nightmare Lights). Of course that after a mass overdose, major extinction smited upon the ancients; but if we play with the meanings of the words, it can be interpreted as a disease or assault triggered by the Shadows. Not to mention that Shadows themselves are made by nightmare fuel, so it may be necessary food.

 

After such a close episode to permanent vanish, the Nightmares decided that it could be a good idea to take precautions so they will not permit a similar occurence to ever happen again, hiring Charlie as the keeper of their creation. That may even be the reason for which shadows contact us whilst we are insane, to make sure things don't get out of hand again. Nightmares aren't affected by a silly thing such as sanity, which may be an authentic trait that classifies them as the rulers of the Ruins, or the whole world for all we know. Humans are vicious beings.

 

We may be their biggest worry. Or we may not be, concluding with the fact that it's supposed that They got us in in the first place. Kevin shall lighten our minds.

 

[Asparagus]

But if we take into account the probable perspective in which she was stolen from everyone she loves into an unknown place, disfigured and not conscious of what reality is anymore, it perhaps looks unlikely.

This one ^

 

I remember writing things down (my theories) when the William Carter Puzzles just ended...

 

After the events that have occured to both Maxwell/William and Charlie; Maxwell having the knowledge and abilities to combat the Shadows as seen in Introsus, was deemed somewhat incorruptible but useful as he is and was captured and enslaved retaining his human appearance and given the task to govern (or sustain) the world they were brought into while as Charlie, having no such power was at the mercy of the Shadows and was also enslaved and transformed into a (presumably formless) shadow creature as payment for having been given the Power of the Shadows (Let's call it that for now).

 

Turning Charlie into the night monster could be a way to punish Maxwell. Since he can resist them to some point, he would put up a fight, but turning the one he loves most into a monster who wouldn't recognize him would be a fate worse than death. Maxwell slowly went mad and became filled with anger, remorse, guilt, and despair...

 

After years passed, and his insanity persisted, Maxwell came to a state of absolute and infallible insanity... he sank too deep into insanity that he went to a state of complete sanity... he has developed a resistance to insanity...

 

IDK O__O

 

EIDT: While we're at it, why don't the Shadow Creatures have any descriptions when clicking on them like other things?

*thinks*

Oh, I guess it would give out HUGE CLUES...