| “ | You wanna try raising a family like this? The Devil himself would struggle with you guys. | ” |
James T. Clarke is a supporting character in The Dark Pictures Anthology's second installment, Little Hope. He was the patriarch of the Clarke family and also one of those who died during the fire in their home in 1972. He was voiced and motion captured by Alex Ivanovici and was modelled on Sukesh Khosla. His motion capture performance was assisted by Ian Staples.
Appearance[]
James is a man with a white complexion and a rounded build. He has brown eyes, covered with a pair of black rimmed glasses, and medium long thick dark brown hair slicked back, which makes James' forehead look large. He also has creases near the nose.
James wears a button down cream-colored wool vest and dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to his elbows underneath, completed with a navy blue tie with a diagonal gray line. He also dons dark brown pants and brown leather brogues. His accessories include a gold watch matching the wedding ring on his ring finger, both on his left hand.
Personality[]
As head of the Clarke family, James cares deeply for his wife and children and wants his family to be cohesive and happy. However, the critical situation at the factory and the fear of losing his job overwhelmed James, making him short-tempered and addicted to alcohol. This, in turn, led James to ignore family problems and quarrel frequently with his wife over them.
Biography[]
James was born on April 8, 1929. At some point he met Anne and they got married on November 4, 1948. They could not have biological children, so they adopted 4 children - Tanya, Dennis, Anthony and Megan. Some time before the events of the prologue, the factory where James worked is on the verge of closing. This led James to drink and spend little time with his family, especially with his youngest daughter Megan, who had problems at school, causing James to argue frequently with his wife.
January 17, 1972 was a usual day for James to spend his time in the house, fighting with Anne and watching TV while drinking beer. However, while doing the latter, a fire started within the house. James, who fell asleep from a beer, found out too late about the situation and was crushed by falling debris.
Little Hope[]
| Chapter Appearances | |||
| Diversion | Absent | Family | Debut (Death) |
| Darkest Dreaming | Absent | Lost | Memento |
| Reunion | Absent | Troubled History | Absent |
| No Escape | Absent | Pursued | Absent |
| Vince | Absent | Surrounded | Absent |
| Playing Tricks | Absent | Low Point | Absent |
| Confrontation | Absent | Reflections | Absent |
| Off Track | Absent | Ruined | Pictured |
| Another Way | Absent | Heavy Burden | Absent |
| The Crossing | Absent | Full Circle | Indirectly Present |
| The End | Absent | ||
Prologue[]
James is first seen in the bedroom, where he listens to Anne's repeated rebukes about his drinking and ignoring Megan's problems. When James says he can't handle it now and tries to leave, Anne starts accusing him of not being able to handle anything and forcing her to keep the family together by herself. This causes James to snap at his wife and saying that if they had had children of their own, none of this would have happened, leaves the bedroom.
James goes down to the kitchen for a beer, after which he goes into the living room. As he sits down to watch TV, he changes the channel, causing Megan to retire to her room. While watching TV, James is knocked out by the beer, but wakes up when Anthony tries to turn off the sound on the TV. The duo talks about the difficulty of raising their family, especially Megan, before falling asleep again after a while.
During the fire, James continues to sleep as the fire engulfs the entire living room. Anthony, trying to help his father, breaks a window with a rock and wakes James up. He begins to crawl toward the window, but fails to reach Anthony as part of the ceiling collapses on James, crushing him to death. After a while, James is buried in the cemetery with the rest of the deceased family members.
Main Story[]
As the protagonists make their way through Little Hope, they can find secrets related to James and his family. At the end of the game, when it turns out that everything was Anthony's hallucination, James is revealed to be the prototype of John, Joseph, and the Crushed Demon.
Relationships[]
Anne[]
Anne is James's wife. At the beginning of their marriage the two were happy, but a few years later their relationship deteriorated when the factory where James worked was threatened with closure. This led to James drinking and neglecting his family, forcing Anne to take care of the family alone. The two argued often over this, but their last quarrel was very tense as James, tired of hearing Anne complaints about Megan's problems, snapped and said that if they had children of their own, none of this would have happened, which seriously offended his wife.
Tanya[]
Tanya is James's adopted older daughter. The two didn't interact in the prologue, but it can be assumed that they had a strained relationship due to James's alcoholism. Also according to Tanya's diary, James didn't like her dating his co-worker Vince.
Dennis[]
Dennis is James's adopted older son. The two didn't interact in the prologue, but it can be assumed that they had a strained relationship due to James's alcoholism.
Anthony[]
Anthony is James's adopted younger son. The two had a strained relationship due to James's alcoholism, but still treated each other well, as shown in their dialogue in the living room and in Anthony's worries about his quarrels with Anne. At the time of the fire, Anthony tried to help James, who had fallen asleep and realized too late about the fire, and was horrified when his father was crushed by the debris.
Megan[]
Megan is James's adopted younger daughter. He was aware of his daughter's problems, but pretended she was fine and ignored Megan. This is well shown when James switched the channel on the television despite the fact that Megan was watching it. However, despite the neglect, James showed some concern for his daughter by asking Anthony to keep an eye on Megan.
Vince[]
Vince is James's co-worker. The two didn't interact in the prologue, but according to Tanya's diary, James disapproved of Vince dating his daughter.
Trivia[]
Secrets[]
- James is associated with some secrets:
- He is depicted on Team Photo, Family Photo and Wedding Photo.
- Memorial Plaque is dedicated to him.
Facts[]
- Anthony recreated James as a сollege professor John in 2019 and Puritan Joseph Lambert in 1692.
- He is also recreated as one of the soldiers in 1917.
- According to the date on the wedding photo, James got married at 19.
- James worked at the factory and given his position at the center of the photo, he may have been one of the top employees.
- The frequent quarrel between John and Taylor in Act 1 can be related to the fact that James was displeased that Tanya was dating his colleague Vince.
- According to the grave, James's middle name begins with T.
Deaths[]
- James is the first major character who dies in Little Hope.
- James is one of the many characters in the anthology who always dies.
- James is one of the many characters in the anthology who dies from being crushed. In James's case, he is crushed by debris.
- James is the first member of the Clarke family to die in the fire.
- James's death from being crushed by debris became the basis for Joseph's execution and John's death from the Crushed Demon.
- When James was crushed, his limbs (most notably his right arm) were also broken. This trait was later passed on to the Crushed Demon, who had all of his limbs broken.
Other[]
- James shares the same face model as:
- John and Joseph Lambert from the same game.
- Dar Basri from House of Ashes.
- Henry Howard Holmes and Granthem Du'Met from The Devil in Me.
- Robert from Switchback VR.
- The brand of beer that James drank - "Singing Nickel" is mentioned in the War Newspaper in the anthology's third installment, House of Ashes.
- James is one of the many characters in the anthology who has confirmed relatives. In James's case, he has Anne as his wife and Anthony, Dennis, Megan, and Tanya as his children.
- James shares the same name with a minor character from the anthology's first installment, Man of Medan, a minor character from the anthology's third installment, House of Ashes, and a minor character in the anthology's fourth installment, The Devil in Me.
Quotes[]
| “ | James: What's wrong with Megan? She looks okay to me. Anne: Everything looks okay after ten beers. |
” |
| “ | You're not the only one who feels pressure. The factory situation is serious Anne, real serious. Not right now.
|
” |
| “ | James: You need to keep an eye on your little sister... Mom is real worried about her. Anthony: It's okay Dad. Tanya is checking on her right now. James: You wanna try raising a family like this... The Devil himself would struggle with you guys... |
” |
| “ | James: Keep it down, will ya? Trying to sleep here! Tanya: Now you've done it, sleeping beauty wakes... |
” |
| “ | Help me!
|
” |
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