Lore Dive: The Alchemist

icemancat

Overview:

Throughout the past few years that Dead by Daylight has been out, there was one character that was introduced to the community; The Alchemist. The Alchemist is one of the main characters in the lore of the game and has caused many people to speculate a variety of theories regarding The Alchemist ranging from him and Vigo being the same person to whether he will become a future killer in the game. Thankfully, we have a solid amount of information on The Alchemist that we can use to try and have a better understanding of him. I am going to attempt to theorize all of the different things that have to deal with The Alchemist to try and explain how The Alchemist is actually a very important character to the game’s lore. REMINDER: In no way is every bit of the information below confirmed. Some of the information is just theorized. Also, spoiler alert for those who have not made it through Tome I and 2 of The Archives.

General Background:

From what we know about The Alchemist, we know that he studied alchemy, an old philosophy and study which involves changing basic materials such as metal into other substances. Additionally, we learned that he was a researcher during The Hallowed Blight Event when players read the 20 October - Vigo entry from Benedict Baker’s Journal, revealing that he owned a laboratory for his work. 

“I discovered a hidden laboratory while running away from a monster. Its stocks are uncommonly plentiful. I observed shelves of alkaloids, crates of silver syringes, piles of protective clothes and a journal signed “Vigo”. Its pages are filled with notes on an ancient force that controls the nature of this place—that shapes it. I also noted a few drawings of the growing cankers I've seen on trees.”

This entry in Benedict Baker’s Journal also reveals that the lab belonged to someone named Vigo, suggesting that Vigo and The Alchemist are the same person. This is further backed up by the fact that players were given the option to unlock or later purchase The Hallowed Blight cosmetics for survivors, which are labeled as Vigo’s Apprentice, Vigo’s Pupil, and the other cosmetic which would later be released during the Withering Blight event, Vigo’s Marauder. The fact that these cosmetics belonged to people who worked for Vigo shows us that Vigo was fairly organized, making sure to gather a team of people capable of helping him with his work. Vigo was also responsible for the creation of a few Offerings for Survivors, Vigo’s Shroud and Vigo’s Jar Of Salty Lips, increasing their chances of survival. However, we learn that things clearly did not go the way Vigo planned, as we witness a climactic scene at the end of The Alchemist’s Archives, making Vigo appear to start an intense confrontation with The Entity. Let’s see if we can figure out what happened to The Alchemist and any additional information we can learn about him in this lore dive.

The Alchemist’s Purpose:

As mentioned above, The Alchemist used to study alchemy and was at some point in time, captured by The Entity. We know nothing of his background or what he did prior to being captured, but what we do know is that he participated in dozens of The Entity’s trials. Eventually, The Alchemist is thrown into The Void; a place where Survivors go when they finally lose all hope making them useless to The Entity. This confirms the fact that The Alchemist was a survivor. However, it is revealed that The Alchemist somehow escaped The Void with a specific type of flower, a Pustula as shown in Memory 1749.

“Home… he doesn't even remember where home is. He only remembers The Void. Hundreds maybe thousands of discarded survivors. Not dead. Not alive. Something else. Alive but dead inside. Burnt. Emotionless. Useless to The Entity. He remembers… he remembers rising from The Void, finding… a flower... Had this flower been his salvation? Had the flower been his way out? He falls to his knees and shouts at the abyss and the abyss answers with… silence. The silence is so deafening it hurts. He buckles over. Climbs to his knees. He needs… serum…”

These Pustulas only show up on rare occasions when The Entity experiences a purge, as explained in Benedict Baker’s Journal Entry: 21 October - The Blight

“I have been obsessively deciphering Vigo's Journal. His work is elegant but erratic, drawing obscure conclusions from disjointed fields. Most entries mention a powerful force, The Entity, which undergoes a purge that occurs once a year. During this period, The Entity is infested with blight. According to Vigo, cankers bloom into “Pustulas”, a type of flower that spurts putrid nectar—the thick fluid I saw oozing from the trees. The last pages of the journal mention a serum distilled from the nectar, but the pages detailing its effects and preparation were torn out.”

From this, these Pustulas contain a special substance that we know as the Putrid Serum, the substance of which The Alchemist would now dedicate time and effort to understand the effects of the serum. As a result, this new found hope grants The Alchemist a second chance at life with a new purpose: To Escape The Entity’s Realm. However, this “second chance” is a double edged sword, as this new found hope does not go unnoticed by The Entity, and now throws The Alchemist back in the trials now that he is an additional beacon of hope that The Entity most certainly feeds off of. However, The Alchemist now has more tricks up his sleeve, as he would participate in the trials less frequently.

The Alchemist’s Motivation

Now that The Alchemist has escaped The Void, he would most certainly be more motivated to escape The Entity’s Realm. As mentioned earlier, the one object that allowed The Alchemist to escape from The Void was the Pustula. I believe that after this event, The Alchemist would begin to theorize that since he was able to escape The Void thanks to the Pustula, the contents of the flower could potentially allow one to escape The Realm of The Entity altogether. However, testing would have to be done in order to successfully escape. Therefore, The Alchemist would begin his research. Although The Alchemist was beginning to form a plan of legitimate escape, The Entity was still watching him and frequently pulling him into the trials. I think that this is when one of The Alchemist’s offerings come into play, Vigo’s Shroud. The description of Vigo’s Shroud reads,

“I found marvels through the years in the fog, but only now do I understand how to bend the fog's irrefragable rules." -Vigo's Journal

It is possible that after The Alchemist’s escape from The Void, he managed to have a little time before The Entity would capture him for more trials. Therefore, after getting tired of The Entity interrupting his research, he would begin attempting to create methods of temporary escape from The Entity, creating Vigo’s Shroud as a result. The effect of Vigo’s Shroud involves spawning you as far away from the killer as possible at the start of the trial. As a result, this item of The Alchemist’s would grant himself a brief escape from The Entity until he would have to create one again. This action of The Alchemist’s was even noticed by The Observer. I believe that the creation of Vigo’s Shroud is subtly referenced in Arcus 632 of Tome II of The Archives.

“Through a rift I believe I culled another memory of Vigo manifesting reality within The Entity with something reminiscent of the Auris. How he came to understand the machinations of The Fog is both puzzling and inspiring. It suggests to me that perhaps this place enhances one's connections to our infinite selves throughout the omniverse.”

Now that The Alchemist has found a consistent way to stall The Entity, he can now begin his work.

The Alchemist’s Experiments Begin

With a way to stall The Entity, The Alchemist can now work at his own pace. During this time, it is likely that The Alchemist would go on to recruit other fellow survivors to assist him in his work. This likely consisted of the people who wore the cosmetics that we know today as Vigo’s Apprentice, Vigo’s Pupil, Vigo’s Marauder, and potentially a few others. Together, The Alchemist along with his workers would go on to conduct various experiments in hopes of truely escaping, with Vigo’s Apprentice and Pupil both experimenting alongside The Alchemist himself while Vigo’s Marauder would go on raiding and looting various locations for required supplies, as marauders are quite literally, looters. This could potentially mean that the name of Vigo’s Marauder was Aizeyu. To clear up confusion, a perk that relates directly to looting is Plunderer’s Instinct. The quote provided by Plunderer’s Instinct reads,

“The pioneers used to loot these babies for hours." — Aizeyu, The Lost Tapes

From this, it is possible that Vigo’s Marauder was Aizeyu, the character depicted in the quote from Plunderer’s Instinct. While I am aware that the names on the quotes of some of the general perks for survivors are references to moderators for the game, I like to think that these characters are actually part of the lore. For that reason, I believe that all of the characters mentioned on general survivor perks with “The Lost Tapes” were survivors at some point in time. It is unknown where these survivors currently are, but I believe that the survivors involved in “The Lost Tapes” could have been one of the first generations of survivors to have been captured by The Entity. This would also make The Alchemist part of the early generation of survivors captured by The Entity due to The Alchemist potentially associating with Aizeyu as well as other Lost Tapes survivors.

The Alchemist most likely decided that the perfect test subjects would be the very thing that hunted him along with his allies; the killers. With this idea, The Alchemist likely pitched it to his allies to which they most likely accepted. This is when the quote from the perk No One Left Behind can come into play. The quote on No One Left Behind reads,

 

“... yeah, no sh*t. But I believe we can outsmart and overthrow him if we work together. Don't be predictable and selfish!" — Clyde, The Lost Tapes

Once again, this quote features another character involved with The Lost Tapes. Additionally, this quote may imply the part about outsmarting and overthrowing the killers that The Alchemist's group may need to capture, further implying that the survivors from The Lost Tapes could have teamed up with The Alchemist at some point. However, I believe that this quote from Clyde holds another meaning that many would glance over. This meaning behind Clyde’s quote and even the name of the perk “No One Left Behind” may demonstrate some of Clyde’s last words before he along with the rest of The Lost Tapes survivors were killed and betrayed by the one man they trusted, The Alchemist.

The Alchemist’s Betrayal

Early on during the process of The Alchemist’s experiments, I believe that The Lost Tapes survivors could have discussed the topic about what The Alchemist’s true goal was. It is possible that someone who may have worked close to The Alchemist may have put two and two together or more possibly have read his journal about the serum and its effects. After reading the serum’s true effects, either Vigo’s Apprentice or Vigo’s Pupil most likely gathered everyone to then later confront The Alchemist about his true intentions of escaping. This is when Clyde’s quote is a very important part for understanding what may have happened to The Lost Tapes survivors. 

“I believe we can outsmart and overthrow him if we work together.”

This part of Clyde’s quote may be discussing how they will plan to overthrow The Alchemist. However, there is more to Clyde’s quote that must be analyzed to understand what truly happened to The Lost Tapes survivors.

“Don’t be predictable and selfish!”

While this quote could be referring to a specific killer that they are trying to escape from, this could also be referring to The Alchemist. However, if The Alchemist was in fact predictable and selfish, then the quote implies 2 key details. 1. The serum of which The Alchemist was trying to obtain at the time is very limited. He could have planned to use most of it for the experiments and then keep the limited remains for himself and none for his allies, making him selfish. 2. If he was predictable, why couldn’t The Lost Tapes survivors stop him? 

The perk name itself, “No One Left Behind” literally explains the scenario that The Lost Tapes survivors are now in. I believe that The Alchemist’s intentions were to use his allies just so he can escape himself, but people such as Clyde may have been one of the people that believed otherwise, possibly explaining how he believed that The Alchemist should not leave anyone behind. As a result, no one would be left behind and they can all escape together. This vision of Clyde’s, however, was unfortunately not the case as The Alchemist’s betrayal would now occur.

Although it is unknown what happened to The Lost Tapes survivors, I have a legitimate idea with what may have happened to them. Somehow, The Alchemist may have deceived The Lost Tapes survivors by knowing ahead of time that they would try to take the serum for themselves, backing up the idea of The Alchemist being selfish and only keeping the serum he currently has for himself. I believe The Alchemist did one of two things in order to prepare for this encounter.

The Alchemist would fight the Lost Tapes Survivors himself.

This plan is insane. The Alchemist would have to have one strong weapon in order to defeat The Lost Tapes survivors. We know there are 8 Lost Tapes survivors. The eight being Murf, Nikki, Sujan, Dylan, Clyde, Aizeyu, Andy, and Sassy. That is 1 against 8! I have no idea how The Alchemist would be able to defeat 8 people by himself which makes me believe he got help from others. Specifically, he got the killers to do his dirty work.

The Alchemist trapped The Lost Tapes Survivors in hopes of stopping their pursuit by using the killers.

This plan is more likely as the killers are far more capable of fighting the Lost Tapes Survivors rather than The Alchemist would alone. Somehow, The Alchemist would trap the Lost Tapes Survivors in a confined area and then release a few killers to go after them (via putrid serum timer) similar to how The Trapper was restrained by chains only to escape with his brute strength after being injected with the serum. This “trap” would serve as a trial run, the perfect experiment to see what “too much” serum would do to people. Once the survivors were trapped and the serum injected into the killers, The Alchemist’s experiments would truly begin to reach a level of discovery as the killers would begin to brutalize and mutilate the Lost Tapes Survivors, incapacitating them or quite possibly killing some of them during the process. It is unknown how The Alchemist would manage to capture these killers as that would seem like a relatively difficult and very dangerous task. 

I personally believe that the second option I provided was what happened to The Lost Tapes Survivors. However, there’s still more to cover. After the bloodshed went down and the killers wandered off into the darkness, I believe The Alchemist went back down to his “hunting grounds” to retrieve something very in particular. Specifically, I believe that this is when The Alchemist acquires his Jar Of Salty Lips. I picture it like this. The Alchemist, once his “experiment” was complete and the killers were far gone from the area, he would go back down to where The Lost Tapes Survivors were incapacitated and begin tearing off each one of their lips. Why The Alchemist would do this is currently unknown, but another theory I have is that the lips would be used as another one of his offerings to influence his survival and to “bend the fog’s irrefragable rules”. After all, Vigo’s Jar Of Salty Lips does increase the luck of all survivors now. One reason I believe that The Entity would allow this offering to change its rules is that the event that took place involving the offering’s initial creation may have impressed The Entity to a degree, ultimately giving itself 8 more sources of hope to feed off of until they inevitably lose any remaining hope they had after that encounter with The Alchemist. I believe that The Lost Tapes Survivors now lost a majority of hope they had once they were beaten nearly to death and betrayed by the one they trusted, resulting in the eight of them being thrown into The Void to be forgotten only to leave fragments of their memories behind in hopes of others escaping (their one perk that each of them left behind). This event could even be used to determine the aftermath of our current survivors once they are thrown into The Void. One possibility is that if a survivor we currently have in-game one day gets thrown into The Void, at least one of their unique perks will turn into a general perk for future generations of survivors to use. It can also be concluded that if this truly were the fate of The Lost Tapes survivors, then all of the perks that they were mentioned on were one of their own unique perks. The survivors’ own perks are a gift and a curse, giving the survivors abilities used to reinvigorate their hope of escape that will ultimately be fed off by The Entity and only one of their perks will be left behind for the next generation to learn, as a true “teachable” perk.

As for the aftermath of this tragic end to The Lost Tapes Survivors, I believe that The Lost Tapes survivors outfits would later be salvaged by the survivors we know today. We know that there were at least 8 Lost Tapes Survivors so the 8 survivors that I believe would receive their outfits as cosmetics would be Dwight, Meg, Claudette, Jake, Nea, Ace, Feng Min, and David King, the first 8 original survivors to be introduced to Dead by Daylight. The Alchemist would learn from his mistakes made in trusting people ever again with his work. The Alchemist would go back to his laboratory and continue dozens of experiments until he had collected enough data. These experiments included injecting the serum on dozens of killers. For example, The Trapper, The Wraith, The Hillbilly, The Nurse, The Hag, The Huntress, The Doctor, The Clown, The Spirit, and The Plague were among the killers that we know for fact were experimented on. Additionally, one other detail we know is that each killer was labelled with a number on a tag that was put on their putrid serum injector. There is also a chemical element put on each tag too. We don’t know why symbols of chemical elements were put on the tags for each killer. It is a possibility that The Alchemist may have put each specific chemical element mixed with the putrid serum into each killer, but it is not confirmed. Once enough data was collected and countless experiments of trial and error, I believe that The Alchemist now comes to a final conclusion: 1. A correct dose of the serum must be used in order for the escape to be a success. Using too much serum, while giving the user great strength, won’t work and using too little has no effect. 2. A specific element must be used in conjunction with the serum in order for the procedure to work. Using the incorrect chemical element will result in failure. 3. The correct location of where you must inject the serum may also play an important role, as injecting it in the user’s upper spine doesn’t seem to work and injecting it into the arm does not seem to work either.

Injecting the serum into the user’s arm is further proven to “not work” by Benedict Baker. However, we do not know the exact amount of serum that Benedict Baker used, but he insists that he did everything correct, but with no avail as seen in 28 October - At Last and 29 October - The End of Benedict Baker’s Journal.

28 October - At Last

“Based on Vigo's calculations, tonight is my last chance. I filled a syringe with the last drops of serum and injected it into my arm.”

29 October - The End

“I did everything right… and failed. I am stuck in this infernal place with no serum and nowhere to hide.”

With these final notes of which The Alchemist has taken, he abandons his laboratory, but not without removing pages from his own journal describing the exact effects and preparation were removed as explained in Benedict Baker’s Journal entry 21 October - The Blight.

“I have been obsessively deciphering Vigo's Journal. His work is elegant but erratic, drawing obscure conclusions from disjointed fields. Most entries mention a powerful force, The Entity, which undergoes a purge that occurs once a year. During this period, The Entity is infested with blight. According to Vigo, cankers bloom into “Pustulas”, a type of flower that spurts putrid nectar—the thick fluid I saw oozing from the trees. The last pages of the journal mention a serum distilled from the nectar, but the pages detailing its effects and preparation were torn out.”

The fact that extremely important details such as the serum’s exact effects and preparation were removed could actually mean that Benedict Baker’s attempt at using the serum himself IS FLAWED. Despite Benedict Baker claiming to have done everything “right”, he missed the details that The Alchemist kept to himself to prevent anyone else from stealing or using his work, similar to how he thought The Lost Tapes Survivors would do.

Nonetheless, with the information he needs, The Alchemist embarks on his ultimate attempt of escape by entering The Void once more. However, something seems off about The Alchemist as seen throughout his own memories provided by The Observer. This is the tragedy of The Alchemist.

The Alchemist’s Tragic End

As The Alchemist makes his way to The Void, I believe he is contemplating all of the experiments and different things he has done as provided by the memories from The Observer. 

The first memory of The Alchemist, Memory 1746 reads,

“He moves through the death and decay of the void. He doesn't remember his name. Everything's a blur. He feels pain in his stomach. In his arms. In his veins. He needs… he needs to find one of those… flowers… the nectar… the sweet serum that gives… strength. Strength for what? He remembers… the killers… experimenting on them. Why? Why was he experimenting on them? He doesn't… remember. He caused a lot of suffering, but he doesn't feel remorse. He doesn't even know if he should feel remorse. He doesn't feel anything but an ache in the pit of his stomach for power.”

This is The Alchemist contemplating all of the experiments and suffering he has caused. This “suffering” involves putting the killers through his experiments and possibly causing the demise of The Lost Tapes Survivors. It is revealed, though, that he does not feel bad for causing all of the pain to the killers and potentially The Lost Tapes survivors. Also, as we read through the memory, we can see that The Alchemist is beginning to experience memory loss as he doesn’t even remember the reason why he was conducting his experiments, which we as the readers know his reason for the experiments: To Escape The Entity’s Realm.

The next memory of The Alchemist, Memory 1747 reads,

“He has flashes of The Doctor. His screams. His agony. Turning the tables on him. Experimenting on him like he had done with so many others. Where? Not here. Somewhere else. Another world. All of these… these… survivors… marooned from other… worlds... How does he know this? He doesn't remember… He remembers the experiments. What was he trying to understand? The nectar? The serum? The right dose? The right dose… to use without hurting himself. Too late.”

As The Alchemist continues walking through The Void, we see that he contemplates even more things and specifically remembers The Doctor. Also, we see that he remembers all of the survivors that he has come across, possibly The Lost Tapes Survivors and dozens of others. However, The Alchemist by no means remembers everything, as he believes that his experiments were done in an entirely different world (The Alchemist is kinda right. For example, The Void is in a different sub-realm of where his laboratory was located) and The Alchemist doesn’t remember how he even remembers remembering the location of his experiments. Towards the end of this memory, it is revealed that one of the reasons to use the correct dose of serum was to avoid hurting oneself, but there is no going back now, as The Alchemist goes further and further into The Void.

The next memory of The Alchemist, Memory 1748 reads,

“He feels the hunger. Not for food or drink. Not for talk or fun. For a flower. A single flower. For serum. He knows The Entity is watching him. He knows it. Feels it inside his bones. He doesn't want to be snatched for another trial. To suffer or cause suffering. And to what end? The great horrible mystery of it all. He wants to understand this place. He does. But he senses that to know… to really know would drive him… mad. Madness. That's what this place is. The embodiment of madness. He doesn't want to be pulled into another trial. He wants to return home. He must return home. That's why he was studying the serum. It gave him insight. Insight to what? He doesn't remember.”

This memory confirms that The Alchemist was a survivor that participated in The Entity’s trials. The memory also shows us how The Alchemist does not want to go back to suffer (being sacrificed) or to cause suffering (dealing with the pain of leaving a fellow survivor to die in a trial). The memory continues to describe to the reader how if one were to really know how The Entity’s Realm worked would drive them insane and how The Alchemist’s true desire is to escape, possibly letting us know that The Alchemist is beginning to remember his true intentions only for The Alchemist to forget his understanding of the serum and how it may be able to be used to truly escape The Entity’s Realm.

The next memory of The Alchemist, Memory 1749 reads,

“Home… he doesn't even remember where home is. He only remembers The Void. Hundreds maybe thousands of discarded survivors. Not dead. Not alive. Something else. Alive but dead inside. Burnt. Emotionless. Useless to The Entity. He remembers… he remembers rising from The Void, finding… a flower... Had this flower been his salvation? Had the flower been his way out? He falls to his knees and shouts at the abyss and the abyss answers with… silence. The silence is so deafening it hurts. He buckles over. Climbs to his knees. He needs… serum…”

This memory just explains how The Alchemist doesn’t remember where his original home was, but does remember escaping The Void some time ago by finding a Pustula, the object that prompted The Alchemist to start his big plan of escape in the first place. We, as the readers, also begin to notice his urges for the serum at this point throughout his memories.

The Alchemist’s final memory, Memory 1750 reads,

“He's lost. He doesn't know where he is. He sees things like tentacles reaching out for him from the fog and he knows they're not real. None of it is. He's losing his mind if he hasn't lost it already. His eyes play tricks on him. He sees giant, nameless creatures looming over him. Doesn't matter. They're not real. None of it is. His hunger confuses him. Oppresses him. He'd do anything for that feeling again. Anything. Even… return to the trials. He would. He'd rip survivors and killers apart limb from limb for that feeling again. He begins to mumble words. A promise… one flower… one flower… and I will do anything…”

The Alchemist has reached the point where The Entity may have finally mentally broken him, as The Alchemist is at the point where he doesn’t even remember where he is anymore. It is safe to assume that he has lost his mind. The “giant, nameless creatures” are most likely the “ancients” mentioned by The Observer in Arcus 54. Additionally, The Alchemist is still trying to tell himself that he’s hallucinating, despite experiencing madness. However, all of this is put aside when we read that The Alchemist’s “hunger” is beginning to confuse and enslave him and how he would do anything for “that feeling” once more. “That feeling” I believe is the feeling of true escape, the feeling that The Alchemist was able to experience when escaping The Void some time ago. The Alchemist then thinks that he would even return to the trials and even go as far as killing survivors and even killers for that feeling once again. The fact that The Alchemist is having these thoughts confirms to us that The Entity has finally won the long battle of trying to persuade The Alchemist into giving up on his true endeavor of escaping The Entity’s Realm. However, as revealed in The Alchemist’s Cinematic, he injects the last of his serum into his right arm and then screams at The Entity, possibly preparing for a final encounter, revealing that he still has a little bit of his sanity left in him. After The Alchemist’s scream, the cinematic cuts off to black, leaving us, the readers and players on a cliffhanger.

So what truly did happen to The Alchemist after his supposed final confrontation with The Entity? I have two final theories as to the whereabouts of The Alchemist.

Theory 1: The Alchemist Escaped

This can be seen as the “good ending” for The Alchemist. After injecting the serum, The Alchemist could have potentially fought The Entity and ended up escaping its realm once and for all. We don’t know where The Alchemist would go and we certainly don’t know how that fight would have played out, but it has not been unconfirmed by the devs so it is still a possibility. Personally, I can somewhat see this playing out, but I believe that my next theory is what truly happened to The Alchemist and ultimately, the more likely outcome of the confrontation.

Theory 2: The Alchemist Becomes A Killer

This can be seen as the “bad ending” for The Alchemist. After injecting the serum, The Alchemist may have had some sort of battle with The Entity, but eventually lost the fight. As a result of this, The Entity would likely be very displeased with The Alchemist and his attempts to trick it. For punishment, The Alchemist would end up being tortured by The Entity and The Entity would then constantly taunt The Alchemist that at some point, he will acquire the flower he wants while never fulfilling that promise for The Alchemist. If you notice in The Alchemist’s cinematic, he injects his right arm. We know that the majority of killers (with the exception of Huntress since she’s ambidextrous) use their main weapon in their right hand. Since the serum likely mutated The Alchemist’s right arm, he would most likely use his mutated right arm as his main weapon. Furthermore, as more punishment for The Alchemist, he would be forced to go up against his own creations now that he is a killer, those creations being two survivors offerings, Vigo’s Shroud and Vigo’s Jar Of Salty Lips as a reminder to never deceive The Entity. Overall, I personally believe that The Alchemist is now a killer out there in The Entity’s Realm, waiting to be seen.

Thanks For Reading!

If you made it this far in my lore dive, then ultimate props to you. I really wanted to do a full-out analysis on The Alchemist since I feel like he has potential to now become a new killer in Dead by Daylight and just one of the more interesting characters in the game’s lore in my perspective. It is very possible that he does, in fact, become a new killer in the month of October. We did, after all, get The Halloween Chapter released October 25, 2016 so it is definitely possible that we see The Alchemist get released in October this year. Fingers crossed! Let me know what you thought about this lore dive! I’ll gladly take feedback as usual! I am aware that some of these theories are leaps, but I’m hoping that I provided enough support to back up my ideas to make them more appealing and overall, more possible in Dead by Daylight’s Lore. Again, thank you if you made it this far in my post.

Thank you,

icemancat     

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Great read, but the part where you lose me is linking The Lost Tapes with The Alchemist. I mean, if No One Left Behind's description really is plotting to overthrow the Alchemist, I think it's a stretch to say that conversation was recorded. I also think saying "Don't be predictable and selfish!" could be referring to The Alchemist being predictable and selfish is very clearly not what that's referring to. It more means not abandoning other Survivors for your own safety, which would be a strange warning to give in the context you speculate. At most, I guess it could mean more "don't take the serum for yourself!"

Plunderer's Instinct's description is also IMO just referring to a period of time where people perhaps willingly entered The Entity's realm (or, at least, were in The Entity's realm but were making the best of it) and were able to easily take advantage of the Chests in the trials to create useful stuff from the Fog. We know The Entity "grows in power" in vague ways by consuming the hope of Survivors, so my personal headcanon is that the Trials started out much less deadly and more profitable for Survivors to better lure them, but as The Entity accumulated Killers and refined its techniques they became what they are now.

Vigo's Jar of Salty Lips could also be explained via Vigo using The Fog to create it, or harvesting from dead bodies he was able to find.

I DO think Vigo had the assistants you describe and those assistants definitely didn't have a happy ending, though I think the Killers escaping and killing them is a more likely explanation than Vigo creating entire encaged hunting grounds for them and setting them loose on Survivors. Just think The Lost Tapes Survivors are probably their own thing, and unfortunately don't look like they'll be revisited. (even though I quite like their entries!)

EDIT: Looking over the Serum Killer skin descriptions, they seemingly confirm that they were probably escapees, not used as weapons. Plague's reads "She emerged from confinement ..." Hag's is "She escaped ..." and Spirit "She emerged from captivity ... ". All these descriptions describe the Killers in question gaining unexpected strength to do so, and as the serum version of the Doctor reveals that the Killers did have different containment procedures (as he got ankle restraints) I think it's reasonable to infer that they just escaped containment due to the serum having unexpectedly potent results, which is what caused the deaths.

Parts of the descriptions like Trapper's serum cleaver also seem to state that the Killers had enough time to incorporate some of the Alchemist lab's serum into their own weapons themselves, and considering how valuable this serum seems to be I highly doubt it'd be deliberately wasted like that via releasing the Killers voluntarily.

Also worth noting the Serum verison of Trapper says he was "injected with metalloids congealed at high temperatures" so the nature of the experimentation was probably pretty diverse. Also noticed Trapper's Serum skin looked far younger and less leathery, so IMO it is pretty probable that this was indeed a past event that happened to the Killers, and while the Entity obviously reverted some of the Serum's effects to keep its Killers in working order, Evan was probably a recent addition to the lineup by this point.