| “ | Is it just me, or are you getting a real strange feeling right now? | ” |
Private Joseph Roberts, also known as Joe, is one of the two false protagonists and a playable character in The Dark Pictures Anthology's first installment, Man of Medan. He was an American soldier who, along with his comrade Charlie and the entire crew of the SS Ourang Medan, fell victim to the ship in 1947. He was voiced and motion captured by Adrian Burhop and was modelled on Jack Green.
Appearance[]
Joe is a man with a light white complexion. He has gray eyes, short black hair combed to the right and a slightly visible trimmed beard. Joe also gets a black eye when he returns to the ship drunk.
Joe wears a standard military uniform, including a white shirt, brown pants and brown shoes. He also wears a silver pendant with ID hanging from his chest, and a silver watch on his left wrist.
Personality[]
Joe is introduced as a responsible yet jocular man, and though he suggests they return to the ship after a drink, he is fine with Charlie's offer to have a little fun in the market. During the session at the fortune teller, Joe is shown to be a caring father, but also selfish, as he might ask about his son's future or whether he will be rich.
When the two begin to wander around a ship filled with dead soldiers, Joe, though frightened, is more restrained and braver than Charlie. However, this bravery borders on recklessness as Joe always tries to directly confront an unknown threat.
Biography[]
Joe was one of the soldiers tasked to board the Ourang Medan alongside his comrade Charlie. On June 11, 1947, as the ship was picking up cargo, the two got drunk and almost got into a fight, but were stopped. Joe was supposed to go with Charlie to the brig for 10 days, but was hit in a fight and sent to the sick bay instead. On June 22, when the ship was caught in a storm and people began to mysteriously die, Joe reunited with Charlie and tried to escape only to both die like the rest of the crew.
Man of Medan[]
| Chapter Appearances | |||
| Chinese Market | Debut (Death) | ||
| The Duke | Absent | Finding Friends | Absent |
| Wreck | Absent | Ritual | Determinant (Dead) |
| Dive | Absent | Pressure | Absent |
| Uninvited Guests | Absent | Plunged | Absent |
| Ghost Story | Absent | Glamor Girl | Absent |
| Intrusion | Absent | Revenge | Absent |
| Storm | Absent | Open Deck | Absent |
| Abandoned Ship | Absent | Distress Signal | Absent |
| Trapped | Absent | Depths | Mentioned in Text |
| An Escape | Mentioned in Text | Junior | Absent |
| Danny | Absent | Olson | Absent |
| Caskets | Absent | Flooded | Absent |
| Echo | Absent | Matters of the Heart | Absent |
| The End | Absent | ||
Prologue[]
As the military loads cargo on the SS Ourang Medan in the Manchurian port, Joe and Charlie are seen drinking in the market place. When it comes time for them to return to the ship, Charlie spots a training dummy while Joe goes to learn his future from a fortune teller and then switches places with Charlie. After trying his hand at a training dummy, the guys then return to the ship, where in a drunken state they try to start a fight. However, the two are stopped by Sergeant Ferris, who knocks Joe out and orders to take him to the sick bay.
Joe awakens in the sick bay and tries to find the key to the locked door when he discovers the body of one of the ship's doctors. After getting out of the sick bay, Joe finds Charlie locked in the brig nearby and frees him. The two try to get out of the ship and along the way find many dead soldiers, as well as a sergeant from earlier, who panics and shoots at an unknown threat.
Upon reaching Cargo Hold 3, Joe and Charlie are examining a pile of bodies when they suddenly hear gunfire. The two quickly arm themselves, with Joe taking a submachine gun, after which they walk down the hallway to Cargo Hold 2. Joe spots a child in the aisle and follows him into the cargo hold where he finds Charlie's dead body. Joe confronts the child again, armed with a knife, and Joe is able to shoot him. However, regardless of his efforts, Joe dies, either by being stabbed in the chest or from a heart attack.
Main Story[]
Fliss can find Joe's corpse, as well as the protagonists who went down into the lower deck can find information about Joe in various documents.
Possible Deaths[]
| Chapter | Mechanism of Kill | Caused by | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Market | Heart attack | Manchurian Gold | Joe chose to shoot the child (Theatrical Cut). |
| Charlie asked the fortune teller if Joe would return two of his quarters (Curator's Cut). | |||
| Charlie asked the fortune teller if the voyage would go well; Charlie chose not to stab the fortune teller (Curator's Cut). | |||
| Stabbed | Charlie | Joe chose not to shoot the child (Theatrical Cut). | |
| Charlie asked the fortune teller if the voyage would go well; Charlie chose to stab the fortune teller (Curator's Cut). |
Killed Victims[]
| Chapter | Character | Mechanism of Kill | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese Market | Charlie | Shot | Joe chose to shoot the child (Theatrical Cut). |
| Charlie asked the fortune teller if Joe would return two of his quarters (Curator's Cut). |
Relationships[]
Charlie[]
Charlie and Joe are comrades. They were shown as close friends, drinking together at the market, but at the same time ready to fight over trifles, such as fifty cents Joe borrowed from Charlie. When the ship was in chaos and the crew begins to die, the two tried to stick together. Though they both thought each other dead post-separation (a fact to which both Joe and Charlie were horrified), in reality they began hallucinating and during the reunion, Joe and Charlie failed to recognize each other, causing them to kill each other in the fight.
His son[]
Joe cared about his son, as during a seance with a fortune teller, Joe can ask about his son's future, and he also has his photo.
Trivia[]
Playability[]
- Joe is playable in the Theatrical Cut of Chinese Market.
Facts[]
- Joe has a son who became the source of his hallucination. His photo can be found on the nightstand next to Joe's bed.
- Apparently, Joe knows Chinese as he understood what the market trader and fortune teller were saying.
Other[]
- Joe shares the same face model as:
- Noah Riggs from Hidden Agenda.
- Billy Bates from The Inpatient.
- Jason Kolchek from House of Ashes.
- The judge from The Devil in Me.
- The Journal secret refers to Joe as "Wilson" for an unknown reason. It is possible that Wilson was his original surname during production, his middle name or that reference is an error.
- Joe is similar to Salim as they both have sons and serve in the military.
Trophies[]
- Joe, along with Charlie, are associated with the trophy "Karate Master".
Gallery
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| Protagonists |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antagonists | |||||||
| Supporting Characters | |||||||