What are the Killers Motivations? [And how do they relate to The Entity?]

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I want to check I understand certain things correctly and I’ve not missed anything. And I want to propose some theories as well:

DBD takes place in a pocket dimension called “The Fog” run by an omnipotent force/intelligence called “The Entity”. The Entity imprisons hapless survivors in The Fog and forces them to play an endless game of life or death called “The Trial”.

The motivation for the survivors is clear: they’re prisoners and can’t escape the fog (and presumably go through less pain if they get through the gate instead of being hooked). But what about the killers?

What are the Killers motivations for taking part in the trial? There is more difference intra killers than there is intra survivors. I’ve read all the killer bios but sometimes their motivations aren’t very clear. I’ve narrowed down four possibilities:

1] Force
Maybe some killers are prisoners of The Entity? In a sense, no less tragic than the survivors. Maybe disobeying The Entity is worse than murder? Or the killers will become survivors? Whatever the underlying reason for the force, being forced to participate in the trial is the most sympathetic.

Maybe: [Trapper, Wraith, Pig]?

2] Coerce
Maybe some killers don’t realize they’re in a pocket dimension? Or they are otherwise being tricked or mind controlled by the Entity?

Maybe: [Cannibal, Huntress]?

3] Exchange
Maybe some killers got/get something more? They approached the Entity (or The Entity approached them) and offered them an exchange: power, a chance for revenge, whatever, in exchange for participation in the trial. Maybe some kill because it’s akin to a job with payment? Kinda Faustian if you think The Entity is the devil.

Maybe: [Hillbilly, Nurse, Hag, Spirit]

4] Cruelty
I’ve saved the worse for last. Maybe some killers just really like murder? They approached the Entity (or The Entity approached them) and they take the greatest sadistic joy in the trials. I’d make the argument that these ones are the “most” irredeemably evil.

Maybe: [Shape, Doctor, Nightmare, Clown]

I just want to see if I missed something in their bios or whatever.

Comments

  • LightsOut88
    LightsOut88 Member Posts: 123
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    From my understanding the killers dont want to be in the fog or trials anymore than the survivors do. Maybe minus the clown or Hilbilly, because based on their bios Hillbilly is just a ruthless killer by nature it is all he knows; and the clown seemed to enjoy killing before he stumbled into the entities realm.

    Lore wise Leatherface didnt like to kill, he did so out of fear that his family would be found out to be cannibals. Freddy, according to his bio had his powers changed by the entity, which I dont think he would have appreciated. Let alone the fact that he was always the type to haunt a victim and toy with them. Now the entity forces him to kill like a common slasher. 

    I guess the way I see it, all characters, killers and survivors alike are all sucked into the entities game and forced to play it over and over again against their will. Whether they enjoy the sport of the kill is trivial almost to the point of being irrelevant. No one who enters the entities realm has any form of choice. As far as we know...

  • Dabrownman1812
    Dabrownman1812 Member Posts: 1,857
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    From my understanding the killers dont want to be in the fog or trials anymore than the survivors do. Maybe minus the clown or Hilbilly, because based on their bios Hillbilly is just a ruthless killer by nature it is all he knows; and the clown seemed to enjoy killing before he stumbled into the entities realm.

    Lore wise Leatherface didnt like to kill, he did so out of fear that his family would be found out to be cannibals. Freddy, according to his bio had his powers changed by the entity, which I dont think he would have appreciated. Let alone the fact that he was always the type to haunt a victim and toy with them. Now the entity forces him to kill like a common slasher. 

    I guess the way I see it, all characters, killers and survivors alike are all sucked into the entities game and forced to play it over and over again against their will. Whether they enjoy the sport of the kill is trivial almost to the point of being irrelevant. No one who enters the entities realm has any form of choice. As far as we know...

    Wasn't clear if freddy was forced, he moved but he couldve felt at home. The spirit, it wasn't clear what her power was, there is hinted that there is something that runs in her family. The spirit had inheritance, not sure what. Maybe devs can answer this.
  • LightsOut88
    LightsOut88 Member Posts: 123
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    There are several boards devoted to this topic and basically all we know is that the entity feeds on the hope of the survivors. Like previously stated, not much is known about the relationship between the killers and the entity other than that they all were somehow drawn to or randomly stumbled upon the entities realm.
      
    Ive heard rumors that their are golden toolboxes you can see in the maps, just out of reach, and of ways to permanently escape the trials that no one has figured out yet. Even a way to kill the killer like in f13, but through a very specific series of events and circumstances. BUT, its all probably just hype the devs use to build suspense and promote the game. We shall see 
  • DarkFox85
    DarkFox85 Member Posts: 74
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    Thank you very much for the responses :). Some food for thought.

    If “the killers don’t want to be in the fog or trials anymore than the survivors do” it makes the killers very sympathetic. They are, at least in part, just as much victims of The Entity as the survivors. I can believe this for Trapper, Wraith, Pig and a few others, but I just can’t believe that’s the case for at least some of them. These people are evil monsters. I guess we don’t know, but I can speculate.

    I disagree with Leatherface lore. I think he does like killing but I doubt he “appreciates” it as a crime correctly. He clearly has a very serious mental disability. I don’t see a reason to think he just does it for the family. And hell, all of them seemed to like the killing as well.

    Freddy is an odd one. I wonder how he feels about it all?

  • Boss
    Boss Member Posts: 13,614
    edited September 2018
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    The general motivation is: Don't do your job? Get tortured for all eternity until you do your job.

    Of course, you got shitbags like Shape & Nightmare who don't care at all, poor souls like Hillbilly & Cannibal who don't really understand anything etc.

  • thekiller490490
    thekiller490490 Member Posts: 1,164
    edited September 2018
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    What if all killers with white entity touched eyes (Billy, spirit, ect) all are "alive" due to the entity letting them live in the fog? While hag disproves this as she is literally a roting corpse without the white eyes the hillbilly may be dead in the real world with that disease on his arm holding the chainsaw. Nurse is literally being carried by the entity so she is being helped too. In order to get this help they have to serve the entity at all costs 
  • TatsuiChiyo
    TatsuiChiyo Member Posts: 686
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    Reading the lore, here are the branches:

    Forced to Kill:
    -Trapper by way of the hooks that hold up his clothes
    -Nurse from the pillowcase around her head
    -Wraith snapped when he discovered he was killing in his human life. He's a toss up since we don't know fully what happened to him.
    -Hag, made a deal to gain the power to kill her cannibal captors and is now coerced into killing for the Entity. (May also choose to kill, up in the air on her)
    -Spirit made a deal with the Entity to get revenge on her father, maybe the Entity is withholding the Father as a "reward"

    Perhaps by killing Survivors, their own torment is lessened.

    Chooses to Kill:
    -Hillbilly has an animalistic mindset, seeking only to kill due to his horrendous childhood.
    -Shape (Micheal Myers), apparently made a deal with the Entity to kill Survivors over and over since killing is the only thing that brings him any peace.
    -Huntress, finds hunting humans to be the greatest kind of hunt.
    -Cannibal (Leatherface), Entity provides him peace so he kills to please it.
    -Doctor, likes inflicting torture.
    -Pig, follows Jigsaws philosophy but doesn't believe in it. Specifically says there was no chance for redemption, they were meat and meat deserves to die.
    -Nightmare (Freddy), sure he's lost a large chunk of his power, but I doubt he's displeased with the whole affair.
    -Clown, dude was a serial killer in life, now he gets to kill for the rest of eternity.

    For these Killers, the death of Survivors is it's own reward.

  • DarkFox85
    DarkFox85 Member Posts: 74
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    @TatsuiChiyo said:
    Reading the lore, here are the branches:

    Forced to Kill:
    -Trapper by way of the hooks that hold up his clothes
    -Nurse from the pillowcase around her head
    -Wraith snapped when he discovered he was killing in his human life. He's a toss up since we don't know fully what happened to him.
    -Hag, made a deal to gain the power to kill her cannibal captors and is now coerced into killing for the Entity. (May also choose to kill, up in the air on her)
    -Spirit made a deal with the Entity to get revenge on her father, maybe the Entity is withholding the Father as a "reward"

    Perhaps by killing Survivors, their own torment is lessened.

    Chooses to Kill:
    -Hillbilly has an animalistic mindset, seeking only to kill due to his horrendous childhood.
    -Shape (Micheal Myers), apparently made a deal with the Entity to kill Survivors over and over since killing is the only thing that brings him any peace.
    -Huntress, finds hunting humans to be the greatest kind of hunt.
    -Cannibal (Leatherface), Entity provides him peace so he kills to please it.
    -Doctor, likes inflicting torture.
    -Pig, follows Jigsaws philosophy but doesn't believe in it. Specifically says there was no chance for redemption, they were meat and meat deserves to die.
    -Nightmare (Freddy), sure he's lost a large chunk of his power, but I doubt he's displeased with the whole affair.
    -Clown, dude was a serial killer in life, now he gets to kill for the rest of eternity.

    For these Killers, the death of Survivors is it's own reward.

    An excellent post and exactly what I was looking for.

    The only point I really disagree with is Pig. There’s a sub-motivation for “Chooses to Kill” that suggests an innate enjoyment or sadism to murder. Amanda Young just doesn't strike me as innately sadistic. I honestly don’t think she’s that evil (indulge me).

    Before she died and started her murders after becoming disillusioned with Kramer, her motivation seemed to be sheer despair in the face of (what she felt) was the futility of it all. I’m taking a leap of faith thinking she’s become imprisoned by the Entity like (some of) the others. She doesn’t enjoy killing and is now doomed to kill forever – and to eternally wallow in her own self-pity.

    Huntress as well. She’s lived a life of extreme isolation and can’t be judged by our values. Given she captured little girls and didn’t understand that children just can’t take care of themselves in the harsh wilderness, chances are she doesn’t see her murdering as something innately evil. At the very least she isn’t fueled by malevolent sadism.

    She’s still evil! But operates on a different level. She doesn’t understand that mask is creepy. She doesn’t understand that humming is creepy (and dissonant). Kinda like Leatherface in that she is simply reacting to her situation.

    At least they’re not like Myers, Clown, Kruger or Doctor. Those guys... that’s TRUE evil. Sadistic monsters. We love them!

  • DarkFox85
    DarkFox85 Member Posts: 74
    edited September 2018
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    [double post]

  • Cass
    Cass Member Posts: 47
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    @DarkFox85 said:
    The only point I really disagree with is Pig. There’s a sub-motivation for “Chooses to Kill” that suggests an innate enjoyment or sadism to murder. Amanda Young just doesn't strike me as innately sadistic. I honestly don’t think she’s that evil (indulge me).

    Before she died and started her murders after becoming disillusioned with Kramer, her motivation seemed to be sheer despair in the face of (what she felt) was the futility of it all. I’m taking a leap of faith thinking she’s become imprisoned by the Entity like (some of) the others. She doesn’t enjoy killing and is now doomed to kill forever – and to eternally wallow in her own self-pity.

    Given the movies Amanda tried to be fair ahem. But turned to murder by manipulation from someone else then Kramer (trying to avoid spoilers).

    Huntress is a sad story too. Perhaps the saddest. I don't know how this whole entity idea works on her,.What power would the entity hold over her since she is so used to take care of herself.

    The one killer I would really fear is the Doctor. He shows too much sadistic pleasure in torture.