The Hidden Monster Among Us: Julian, Mikaela, and The Unknown
I’ve been connecting dots between Mikaela’s lore, The Unknown’s lore, and some cultural analogies, and it seems clear: Julian was never really her best friend. He was The Unknown in disguise, targeting Mikaela as the intended host.
1. Julian as The Unknown (Mask & Predator)
- Julian appears to be Mikaela’s supportive roommate and friend. He records her performances, submits her to the Endless Halloween Festival, and is present during her summoning.
- But this “perfect friend” persona is too convenient. What if Julian was always The Unknown, a shapeshifter wearing his face as a mask to get close to Mikaela?
Netflix analogy: Think Tyler Galpin from Wednesday: a seemingly normal barista who’s secretly monstrous. Julian mirrors this, hiding a predator behind a friendly facade. Likewise, Mikaela worked as a barista at the quirky, artsy Moonstone café.
Lore evidence:
“In the meantime, she worked as a barista at the Moonstone, an independent and eccentric coffee shop in the artsy part of town, Julian, her best friend and roommate, recorded some of her shows and posted them online. Also, unbeknown to her, he submitted one of her performances to the Endless Halloween Festival" — Mikaela’s lore
2. Mikaela as the Host (Smile Parasitic Analogy)
- In Smile (2022), a parasitic entity latches onto a person, haunting them with hallucinations and fear until it can devour them.
- Mikaela shows all the classic signs:
- Precognitive nightmares → haunting phase.
- “Nerves playing tricks” → paranoia and distorted reality.
- Fatigue and distraction → vunlerable and ready for devour
Lore Evidence:
"As days passed, exhaustion, anxiety, and stress took a toll on her. Often distracted, her coffees at the Moonstone were rushed, acrid, or going to the wrong customer. She no longer blessed the coffee beans in the morning nor looked for omens in the leftover coffee grains. Her energy was low, and her magic felt drained."
Key point: Julian/Unknown’s goal isn’t to befriend Mikaela — it’s to position her as the host for its parasitic cycle.
3. Bathroom Encounter = The Predator becomes the Prey
- Two perspectives converge:
- Mikaela’s lore: Julian witnesses the spidery fang crash through the bathroom door.
- Unknown's lore: Olivia sees a bulky, tentacled figure being dragged into the Fog, hearing inhuman cries.
Lore Evidence:
"He looked down the hallway and saw a large, spidery fang slam through the bathroom door. Amidst the commotion, Mikaela woke. She saw the black spidery fang shredding the bathroom door and jumped out of bed. She slammed her bedroom door shut and shouted at Julian to help her barricade the door. Before he could react, however, the power went out. The room was submerged in sudden darkness."
“A sleepless night followed. When she returned… Julian was not there… She looked for him all day and waited for him all night…” — Mikeala
"The Unknown dwells in darkness and can mimic its victims…Yet she couldn’t help but notice that the disappearances in Greenville included one detail the other stories didn’t. The fog… Maybe the Greenville disappearances didn’t relate to The Unknown but some other darkness.”For a moment Olivia wondered what would happen if one urban legend encountered another…Now it was after 2AM and Olivia was exhausted…Fear spread in long waves through her, and a terrible realisation bloomed within her that The Unknown was behind the bathroom door, was preparing to make her pay for her hubris. But then the voice rose, cracked, and distorted in sudden panic as if the brooding creature behind the door were under attack. The lights turned off, but she could still hear the strangely inhuman cries. Hesitantly, Olivia creaked the door open to see a bulky shape with frenzied tentacles being pulled into a thick mass of fog, vanishing slowly into the darkness like a dying shadow." — Olivia
Smile analogy: This is the “devouring phase.” The Unknown is attempting to consume its host, but the Entity intervenes, dragging it into the Fog.
Key point: Julian and the Unknown both disappeared, each colliding with the Entity in the bathroom. What had been predator becomes prey. Julian/Unknown may have been the second antagonist. This could explain why Julian never appeared in the Fog as a survivor, nor was he mentioned again after his disappearance. Another possibility is that Julian himself was merely a victim of the Unknown.
What if Julian/Unknown was only the secondary antagonist (as mentioned above)—while the true mastermind, the real "architect" behind it all, was someone else pulling the strings? …"Guess who’s invited."🎭️ - 9.22.25
Comments
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While this is an interesting outlook, I don't think it's exactly true. The Unknown, as a far as we know, has a very poor perception of what a human looks like, and can only mimic their voices convincingly.
I don't think Mikaela would be unable to distinguish the difference between a human and monster. Unless she had a Velma moment and lost her glasses for a long time.
Plus, if I understood the lore right, the Unknown only strikes once the target defines it. This long setup would fit the entity more, or if we are talking about a monster, some kind of monster feasting on magic.
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Then what happened to Julian? Why did Sable replace him?
-2 -
julian is mikaela’s best friend. Sable’s best friend is mikaela. For all we know mikaela doesn’t even like sable but puts up with her.
Also since there is a multiverse in dbd, mikaela and sable may both be from different universes. The mikaela we know may have never met sable.
4 -
Mikaela's nightmares have nothing to do with The Unknown. A theme in the lore is artists and people with some supernatural connection being able to have glimpses into other worlds and even the entity's realm. The entity also influences victims through visions their dreams.
4 -
Goth girl sells better than a normal-ish guy.
And, for all we know, Julian might be quite likely a survivor in a future chapter.
1 -
It’s an interesting theory, but it doesn’t really hold up to scrutiny. Setting aside the fact that The Unknown’s mimicry of humans is extremely unconvincing (which is deliberate), why is The Unknown posing as some random girl’s roommate? Remember, The Unknown is not willingly working for The Entity, so there is no reason for it to target Mikaela.
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Correct - the Unknown is not working for the Entity but picture this way. Mickalea, as the conduit, attracts two antagonists: Unknown and TRYKS. Unknown hides as a friend but is actually a parasite targeting her, like in SMILE.
Main antagonist TRYKS/Jezable (orchestrator behind the scenes like Agatha Harkness) - who is also Sable- is drawn to Mickalea because of her magical awakening. TRYKS is testing her resolve. If she fails, well… then she gets devoured. It’s a high-stakes trial.
In Sable’s lore:
“One evening, Sable challenged Mickalea to tell a real horror story at Moonstone’s Annual Halloween Festival. ‘Scare the crap out of people. Stop dancing around the horror and embrace it. Tell a story about The Unknown. Make them imagine it. Make them believe The Unknown will show up on stage. Nothing terrifies an audience more than a show that could potentially kill them.’”
Again, this is just a FUN lore theory idea that might work.
Post edited by Starlesque on-1
