The Narrator (Telltale)
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- "The Narrator" redirects here. For the Narrator from Sam & Max vs. the Uglions, see The Narrator (Animated series).
The Narrator comments on and strings together the episodes of The Devil's Playhouse. In The City that Dares Not Sleep, it unveils he is actually a personification of Max's Superego.
[edit] Character Detail
The voice of the Narrator was used in the preview site, and The Narrator himself appears in the trailer. He makes further appearances in each episode, usually opening and closing an episode, talking directly to the player. He lives deep inside of Max's brain. The Narrator is seen in black-and-white except for the red rose on this chest. He appears to be a likeness of Rod Serling, host of the famous 50's /'60's era sci-fi shows "The Twilight Zone" and "Night Gallery", and of which the Devil's Toybox series is a homage to.
At the beginning of The City that Dares Not Sleep, the Narrator shows pictures of almost all of the characters from The Devil's Playhouse series so far, stating that "one of the characters you see before you" will betray Sam & Max before the end, and that he will appear again around the halfway point to give the player a last guess as to who it is. However, he himself is also standing among these portraits when he says this. When the halfway point occurs (right before Sam enters a locked door in Max's brain), he indeed makes good on this and begins a rundown of the characters yet again. However, Sam unexpectedly walks in, interrupting the monologue and revealing The Narrator's true location. After Sam demands answers, the Narrator explains that he is Max's superego and has been getting frustrated about Max ignoring him his entire life and using the Toys of Power -at least, in his view- too irresponsibly. He arranged some of Max's problems in an attempt to kill him- even though that means killing himself and destroying the entire East Coast of the USA along with them. Thus, this reveals that he is the "character before you" who will betray them- as even though he seemed omniscient and disconnected from the events that transpired, he was counting himself amongst these characters when he stood among their portraits.
When Max later commits his first truly selfless act by telling Sam and the others to save Sybil, the Narrator realizes his mistake and tries to save him, but then Max gets hit by a nuclear-armed Maimtron and they die within minutes.
It is unknown if Max X has his own personification of his Superego as well.
[edit] Notes
The Narrator is always colored in black and white and red for his rose, even when he leaves the room for the end cinematic of The City that Dares Not Sleep. When Sam enters the room in Max's brain where the Narrator lives, he turns black and white with red for his tie but goes back to his normal colors when he exits.
In the first trailer for Season 3, the Narrator welcomes people to "my playhouse of the bizarre." The title is later explained to have come from the saying that "Idle hands are the devil's playthings." By this logic, an idle mind would be the "devil's playhouse". The name of The Devil's Toybox most likely refers to the fact that the Toys of Power, rather then being used for any constructive purpose, are being used for meaningless purposes by the aforementioned "idle minds". As Max's neglected Superego, The Narrator explains that this is why he referred to it as his playhouse in the beginning - he's an entity of Max's mind, but Max only uses his incredible powers for the most pointless things.
