For the Alan Wake game, see Alan Wake (Game). For the novel, see Alan Wake (Novel).

Alan Wake is the titular protagonist of the Alan Wake franchise and a major character in the Remedy Connected Universe. Wake is a bestselling novelist most known for his crime-thriller series, Alex Casey. After suffering from a two-year writer's block following "The Sudden Stop", Alan and his wife Alice vacationed to Bright Falls, Washington. There, Alice was kidnapped by the Dark Presence and Alan fought through the possessed townsfolk to rescue her. Meanwhile, Alan experienced the events of a story he didn't remember writing. After realizing the Dark Presence took Alice as collateral to force Alan into releasing it using the power of Cauldron Lake, Alan instead wrote himself into the Dark Place to set Alice free.

In the following thirteen years, Alan fought his own insanity and made numerous attempts to escape the Dark Place. Meanwhile, his doppelgänger Scratch, who was sent to reality in his place, was corrupted by the rumors of Alan's disappearance and transformed into the Herald of Darkness, placing Alice in danger. In 2012, Alan managed to destroy Scratch's body, but his essence remained with Alan and continued to haunt Alice. Alice then remembered what had happened to her and Alan and reentered the Dark Place through Cauldron Lake to help Alan escape, meanwhile Alan continued to write his escape by requiring the help of FBI Agent Saga Anderson. In 2023, Alan was finally freed from the Dark Place by Saga, but was released along with Scratch. With the help of Saga and Alice, Alan was able to destroy Scratch.

Biography

Early life

Alan Wake was born in 1977 to Linda Wake and an unknown father. From birth, Wake suffered from a rare condition that made him extremely sensitive to light and prone to migraines.^[2] At the age of 7, Wake began having recurring nightmares involving "dark shadows." Unbeknownst to him, these nightmares were in fact visions from future events.^[3] Due to the nightmares and his fear of darkness, his mother gave him a light switch, which she called "The Clicker". She told him it was magical and could keep monsters away simply by flicking the switch. She also claimed that it once belonged to Alan's father, knowing that this would make Alan believe in its power.^[4] In reality, however, the light switch originally belonged to poet Thomas Zane who had left it as a countermeasure against a paranatural entity known as the Dark Presence. While Zane made it so that it would be an object from Alan’s childhood, it is exactly unknown how it ended up in the hands of the Wakes.

Linda suffered from a psychiatric illness and spent a lot of time in mental institutions while Wake grew up. At some point in his life, he formed a close friendship with Barry Wheeler, which would last for years thereafter into their adult lives. The two often got into trouble, typically due to Wake’s fault, but Wheeler consistently managed to bail them out.^[5] In his teen years, Wake became a fan of Stephen King, who inspired him to pursue a career in writing.^[6]

Writing career

Wake wrote his first short story at the age of eighteen, titled Errand Boy, which was published in the Dark Visions magazine, in November of 1995. The story followed a young man named Daniel who receives a letter from his estranged father, Willem Carrey. The boy’s father asks him to visit him, claiming that he wants to see him at least once before his alleged impending death. However, the young boy soon discovers that the true purpose of this was so that his father could offer him as a sacrifice to his cursed crew. Nevertheless, Carrey ultimately has a change of heart and decides to save his son from the undead. The short story contained many motifs which would become staples of Wake's writing, including absent or mysterious father figures, and a battle between darkness and light.^[7]

In 1998, two years later, Wake was arrested by Minneapolis police for public drunkenness and battery. The following year, he was once again charged for disorderly conduct and battery in West Hollywood, though the battery charges were later dropped. Ultimately, neither incident led to jail time.^[2]

Night Springs

With the help of Wheeler, who used his connections, Wake secured his first writing job as a semi-regular writer for sci-fi horror anthology show Night Springs.^[8][9] As part of his application, he submitted a script for an episode titled “Over the Threshold, Darkly.” The episode centered on the “Federal Bureau of Night Springs,” where the agency’s director, despite warnings from a scientist, opens a portal to another reality in an attempt to control an interdimensional entity, with disastrous consequences. Many aspects of the episode’s plot resembled a calamity that would later befall a clandestine government agency known as the Federal Bureau of Control nearly two decades later.^{[10][11][12][13]}

During his time on the show, Wake, being the youngest writer among the staff, was desperate to leave his mark.^[14] While he initially felt embarrassed by the job, believing that it was beneath him and not the “great American novel” he was yearning for, working in Night Springs taught him invaluable lessons in discipline and craft - something he would later acknowledge.^[8][9]

One of Wake first stories for the show, titled Dead of Night, followed a group of survivors - Eloise, Darren, Adrian and Michelle - trying to find a way back home as they are pursued by a horrific creature that they had summoned called “the Dread”.^[15][16] The group subsequently finds a book bound in flesh and uses it to escape. Upon reading this, however, the showrunner pointed out that the book was a Deus ex Machina as it was introduced into the plot out of nowhere and solved the problem. While he hated to admit it, Wake acknowledged that he was right. The showrunner told him to rewrite the ending, this time with the protagonist’s escape being more meaningful.^[17] The revised story now ended on an ambiguous note, with the survivors walking through a wall of fog and disappearing, leaving their fates unknown. After Wake presented it to the showrunner, the latter smiled and shook his hand. This made Wake feel like a genuine writer for the first time in his life. On the night the episode aired, Wake celebrated with his friends his first actual writing credit on Night Springs.^[18]

Another story Wake wrote for the show followed a character known as the “champion of light” as he fought against his evil double, the “herald of darkness,” as part of an ancient conflict between light and darkness.^[19]

Meeting Alice

At some point after moving to New York City, Wake took various odd jobs to find inspiration for his writing. One of these jobs was working as a night watchman. It was during this period that he met Alice, an aspiring photographer who had also moved to New York to pursue her dreams as an artist.^[2] She also suffered from the same nyctophobia that tormented Wake during his childhood. The two soon fell in love. Alice had a significant impact in Wake's life; before meeting her, he would spend his time alone.^[17] Alice also prompt him to try things that he otherwise never would, regardless if it made him look ridiculous.^[20] At some point in the following years, the two married and moved to an apartment in Parliament Tower.

Alex Casey and raise to fame

In the early 2000s, Wake, now a more experienced writer, began working on his first book, a crime novel - a genre he was fond of - titled “Alex Casey”. The story centered around a hardboiled and “perpetually miserable” detective who, after losing his wife and child, follows the clues left behind by a murder cult. Unbeknownst to Wake, what he believed was inspiration steaming from his dreams, were actually visions of the life of an FBI agent also named Alex Casey.^[21]

After he landed his first book deal, Alan and Alice celebrated with a bottle of champagne.^[15] The novel became an instant success, with copies selling as fast as they hit the shelves. Wake continued the series with titles including “What I Can't Forget”, “Return to Sender”, “The Things That I Want” and “The Fall of Casey”, which brought him both wealth and fame.^[22] At his request, Alice designed the covers for each of the books and also took his promotional photos.^[23] Wheeler, meanwhile, became his literary agent. During this period, Wake frequented parties and some of New York’s most exclusive clubs, which earned him a reputation as a late-night party animal.^[24] Eventually, Wake grew bored of writing such a depressive character and decided to kill Casey off in his next book, "The Sudden Stop."^[25]

In 2007, during a particularly intense winter storm, Wake went out to buy groceries. Returning to his apartment, he was asked by Alice to check the cover mock-ups she had made for The Sudden Stop. Seeing them, he expressed his approval before the lights suddenly went out, much to Alice’s discomfort. Checking the fusebox, he discovered it was a general blackout. Alan subsequently lit some candles and placed them in the living room. As they cuddled on the sofa, Alice asked her husband to tell him a story. The writer proceeded to tell her about his childhood fear of the dark and the magical lightswitch his mother had given him. Wake then gave the Clicker to Alice to help her with her fear. While she teased him of having made the story up, he promised that it was true. Regardless, Alice accepted the gift and the two shared a kiss.^[26]

On another occasion, when the Wakes were preparing to attend a party, Alan chose to wear an old outfit from the 1990s, prompting Alice to joke that it looked “grunge.” Although embarrassed, Wake stood by his choice. The day after the party, the couple left for a vacation in the desert.^[27]

Dealing with the fame

While attending a gala celebrating the publication of The Sudden Stop, Wake assaulted Gazette photographer Peter Villadsen while he was trying to take a photo of him. Allegedly, Wake shouted something in the lines of “party’s over, moron” before slamming the camera into Villadsen's eye, leaving the photographer with a bruise. Wake immediately fled the scene. The New York Police Department subsequently issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of assault and battery. The following morning, Wheeler made a public statement on his client’s behalf, claiming that Wake regretted the “misunderstanding”. However, when asked if Wake would turn himself in, Wheeler vaguely stated that Alan would do “the right thing”. He further tried to distance him from the incident, claiming that it was not clear who was actually responsible for the assault.^[2] Rather than harming his career, the incident solidified Wake’s reputation as “The Bad Boy of Fiction.”

In 2008, during his publicity tour for The Sudden Stop, Wake appeared on The Harry Garrett Show. Also attending were Sam Lake, and the rock band Poets of the Fall. During the interview, Garrett praised the book, claiming that he read it “from cover to cover”, and declared himself a fan. Discussing the death of the main character, Wake explained his reasons for killing Casey and expressed his desire to explore new things, describing his next work as a “departure from the old.” When Garrett jokingly asked if Casey’s misfortunes in love were autobiographical, Wake clarified that they were not and cited his own happy married life. The host then inquired how the publicity tour had been treating him. Wake responded that it was great, but that he was glad to be back in New York. The conversation turned awkward when Garret brought up the incident with the paparazzi, much to Wake's annoyance. The writer justified himself explaining that the paparazzi “was really in [his] face”, which caused him to lose his temper, and conceded that “it wasn’t cool” on his part.^[25]

After the show, Wake and Wheeler attended another party. Despite promising his wife that he would return home by midnight, an intoxicated Wake arrived at seven in the morning and passed out mid-sentence.

The next day, Alan woke up with a severe hangover. After donning sunglasses and taking painkillers, he listened to a message from Wheeler. At his request, he watched the recording of The Harry Garret Show on his television. While he didn't think too highly of the interview, Wake noted that, if nothing else, he had been funny. Returning from shopping, Alice greeted her husband and asked him if he had watched the program; Wake was quick to tell her that he had not said anything stupid. Alice responded by asking him if he wants an aspiring, but Alan took this as her complaining about his drinking, much to her annoyance. After Alice explained to him that she was not mad at him, Wake apologized and attributed his attitude to the pressures of the press tour. Alice reassured him that the tour was almost over and that he would soon be able to write again. Wake, in turn, proposed that they take a vacation together.^[28]

Writer’s block

After the publicity tour ended, Wake attempted to begin working on his next project, a horror novel titled “Departure”. However, he soon found himself unable to make any progress, having developed a severe case of writer's block. In an attempt to cope with his creative struggles, Wake started attending parties and engaging in reckless behavior.^[29] However, this only worsened his condition, which also became an increasing source of worry for Alice. By 2010, Alan had made virtually no progress on his novel and would spend long hours in his study without being able to write anything.^[30] His behavior grew increasingly erratic and volatile. While assisting at an event of some type, Wake caused $30,000 worth of equipment damage.^[31] In addition to that, he also began to struggle with insomnia.^[30][32]

Despite Alice’s ongoing efforts to help, Wake refused her support and dismissed her concerns, becoming more and more engrossed in his own problems. While he was convinced that she would remain by her side,^[29] this lack of communication between the two, coupled with Wake’s self-destructive attitude, led to the slow deterioration of their marriage, leaving Alice overwhelmed and exhausted. After reading a book titled The Creator’s Dilemma, she reached its author, Dr. Emil Hartman, to discuss her husband's issues - doing so behind his back. Dr. Hartman eventually convinced her to have Wake visit his clinic in the town of Bright Falls, Washington. However, knowing that he was too stubborn to accept his help, Alice kept this from Wake and instead told him that they were simply going on a vacation.^[30] Wanting to take a break from his current situation, he agreed to go.

Bright Falls AWE

Nightmare

The Wakes arrived in Washington around August 30. On their way to Bright Falls, the couple passed by the site of a car accident. A deputy informed them that the driver most likely lost control of his car while trying to avoid a deer, and advised them to drive carefully. Wake thanked him and continued their way.^[33] The couple later took a ferry trip to the town.

During the trip, Wake fell asleep and had a nightmare. In the dream, he found himself driving by a coastal road by at night to a lighthouse, where something important awaited him. However, as he exited a tunnel, his car struck a passing hitchhiker. Wake got out to check on the man, but he was dead, much to his dismay as he was sure that he would go to prison and never see his wife again. The car's lights suddenly went off; when Wake looked back at the hitchhiker's body, it had disappeared. With the vehicle disabled due to the collision, Wake had no choice but to continue toward the lighthouse on foot. As the wooden bridge ahead was broken, he was forced to take a detour through the hiking trail. Suddenly, the hitchhiker, now covered in shadows, reappeared in front of his car before appearing in front of him. The hitchhiker began attacking Wake with an axe while taunting him about his writing skills. Nevertheless, the writer managed to escape.

After a second encounter with the hitchhiker, Wake realized that his attacker was actually a character from the story he had been writing. The hitchhiker subsequently transformed into a tornado, forcing Wake to flee to a nearby cabin. Outside the cabin, Wake encountered a man named Clay Steward. While the writer did not recognized him, for the last years, Steward had been experienced recurring nightmares similar to this one, involving Wake and shadowy figures like the hitchhiker.^[34] When Wake entered the cabin, the door shut behind him, leaving Stewart outside to face the hitchhiker alone. Steward tried to defend himself, but the hitchhiker impaled him with the axe as Wake watched in horror. Trapped inside, Wake heard the hitchhiker's voice taunting him from a set of televisions him before the cabin began to shake, injuring the writer. The cabin backdoor was then disintegrated by a mysterious luminous entity - the Bright Presence.

Being told to follow it, Wake reached a Safe Haven and his injuries were healed under the pool of light cast by it. Claiming that it had something important to tell him, the Bright Presence recited a poem: For he did not know, that beyond the lake he called home, lies a deeper, darker ocean green, where waves are both wilder and more serene. To its ports I’ve been. To its ports I’ve been. Wake, however, did not understand what it meant with this. Guided to a clearing, Wake Wake learned that the Bright Presence had entered his dream to teach him and that an entity known as the "Dark Presence" would awaken once it sensed his approach. When the hitchhiker returned, the Bright Presence explained that he had been taken over by the Dark Presence and could no longer be saved. Provided with a flashlight and a revolver, Wake was instructed to burn away the darkness protecting the hitchhiker using the light and then use the firearm to finish him off. After Wake succeeded, the Bright Presence congratulated him and said it would return control of the dream to him before departing.

Resuming his journey to the lighthouse, Wake encountered and fought more copies of the hitchhiker along the way. Reaching the road, the hitchhiker transformed into a tornado once again and chased the writer to the lighthouse, hurling heavy objects in his path. Nevertheless, the writer managed to reach the building and enter. Inside, Wake heard the tornado being destroyed by the lighthouse’s beam. As he explored the building, the light suddenly went off. Moments later, an entity descended from the top of the lighthouse toward Wake, causing him to scream in fear.^[35]

Arriving to Bright Falls

Wake woke up in his car; Alice calmed him down and reassured him that he only had a nightmare, having dozed off. Wake remarked that anything other than that would have been "news." His wife then informed him that their ferry had almost reached Bright Falls. Wake stepped out of the car and contemplated the view of the town. When Alice asked him to stand beside an old man by the railing for a photo, Wake quipped that the picture should be titled "A city boy moments before he got eaten by a bear." The old man greeted him and informed him about the upcoming local festival, the “Deerfest” before introduced himself as Pat Maine. Wake likewise introduced himself, but Maine told him that he already knew who he was. Revealing that he was the host of the local radio station, Maine asked him if he would be interested in an interview, but Wake politely declined and asked to keep his presence in town a secret, which Maine agreed to do.

Wake then received a call from Wheeler, who wanted to know if they had already arrived in town and whether the new setting was already helping with his writer’s block, but Wake told him that they had not even arrived yet. Wheeler also let him know that he could call him should the locals give him any trouble. After the call, Alice joked that Wheeler would keep calling, but Wake said he could simply turn off his phone. Moments later, Wake received a text from his friend asking him to say hello to Alice for him. During the ride, Wake also encountered a man making hostile comments towards him. Once in town, Alice drove to the Oh Deer Diner, where they were to meet with Carl Stucky, the landlord of the cabin they were renting. While his wife went to refuel the car, Alan was tasked with retrieving the cabin key. Before leaving, Alice thanked him for agreeing to the trip. Wake responded by telling her that he loved her too and joking that he would behave.

Entering the diner, Wake saw a cardboard standee of himself before being greeted by waitress Rose Marigold, who enthusiastically introduced herself as his number one fan, much to his annoyance. Asking her about Stucky, the young waitress told him that he had just gone to the restroom at the back of the building. While waiting, Wake met some of the town residents, namely park ranger Rusty Johnston, who suggested he try the coffee; the old, local rock stars Tor and Odin Anderson, the latter of whom Wake did the favor of putting Coconut on the jukebox; and Cynthia Weaver, the “town’s eccentric.” Weaver warned him not to enter the dark corridor leading to the restroom, but Wake, tired of waiting and irritated by Marigold’s eagerness, dismissed the warning and went in anyway.

Wake knocked on the men's restroom door for Stucky before he was startled by an old woman dressed in funeral clothes. Claiming that Stucky had "taken ill" and that she had come in his place, the woman handed him the cabin key, along with written directions to the lake. She then wished him a good stay, stating that she would later check on them and meet his wife. When Wake returned to the front of the diner, Wake encountered the Andersons again, who referred to him as "Tom." Leaving the diner, Wake rejoined Alice and the two set off to their cabin. Unnoticed by them, however, Stucky rushed out of the diner moments later, trying to tell them that he had not given them the key. Unbeknownst to all of them, the old woman - Barbara Jagger - was in reality the avatar of the Dark Presence and had led the couple to the only place it still had power.

Arriving at Cauldron Lake, the couple discovered that their cabin stood on a small island called Diver’s Isle. Wake went ahead to restore the power for his wife. While exploring the cabin, he found a shoebox containing poetry books written by Thomas Zane, of whom he had never heard of. Hearing footsteps from the first floor, he went upstairs to investigate, but found no one there. In the study, Wake felt a strange sensation that reminded him of the nightmare he had experienced on the ferry, which was followed by a vision of Jagger. By turning on a radio on the back porch, Wake learned, to his annoyance, that Marigold had revealed that he was visiting Bright Falls. Outside, Wake found an old generator and used it to restore power to the cabin. While Alice went inside, he continued exploring the island.

By dusk, Alice called Wake upstairs and told him she had a surprise for him. In the bedroom, he found her in her underwear, much to his pleasure, but she clarified that the real surprise was in the study. There, Wake found a typewriter, much to his confusion. Alice admitted the true reason for their trip, mentioning doctor Hartman and his clinic. However, Wake furiously accused her of trying to have him committed. Alice tried to explain herself, but was interrupted when the lights suddenly went out. Unbeknownst to the couple, Jagger was already inside the cabin with them. Refusing to listen, Wake stormed out, leaving Alice heartbroken and vulnerable to the Dark Presence.

Wanting to be alone, Wake stepped outside, knowing well that his wife would not follow him into the dark. As he crossed the wooden bridge away from the island, he tripped and fell. Resting by the railing, he laughed at himself before he heard Alice calling for him. It was then that the Dark Presence decided to make its move and dragged Alice into the lake. Hearing her terrified screams, Wake rushed back toward the cabin. On his way there, he was attacked by a flock of Taken birds, which disintegrated on the beam of his flashlight. Entering the cabin, Wake heard Alice scream followed by the sound of a splash. Going to the back porch, he saw her shape sinking beneath the water, and without hesitation, he jumped in after her.^[35]

Trapped in Bird Leg Cabin

Wake resurfaced from the lake shortly after, unable to find his wife. Believing she drowned, he was overcome by grief, leaving him vulnerable to the Dark Presence’s influence. Giving him hope that Alice might still be alive, Jagger guided him back to the cabin study, only to tell him once there that she was dead and that it was his fault. Wake screamed in agony, but the old woman told him that he could use Cauldron Lake’s reality-bending properties to bring Alice back by writing a story. Already under the Dark Presence’s influence, Wake obeyed and began writing a manuscript titled “Departure.” Although he believed he was saving Alice, the manuscript’s true purpose was to free the Dark Presence from the Dark Place the lake lead to.^[36]

Trapped inside the cabin, which was transported to the Dark Place, Wake wrote almost non-stop for a week. Although outside there was only darkness, Wake could still sense Alice’s presence, which pushed him to keep working.^[37] Jagger acted as his “imaginary” editor, guiding him and gradually making more changes to the manuscript. With her revisions, the genre and direction of the story slowly began to shift to horror. While he hated it, due to the Dark Presence’s touch, Wake was unable to oppose.^[38] Despite anything outside of writing was a struggle, Wake eventually managed to make his way downstairs, where he found the shoebox containing Zane’s books and papers. The writings described the true nature of Cauldron Lake, the Dark Place, and the poet's own history with the Dark Presence, but Wake was not lucid enough to understand that his editor was the entity described in those writings. Regardless, he decided to incorporate details from them into the story.^[39]

Eventually, Wake was able to realize that his editor was not human, noticing that there was a hole in the old woman’s chest where her heart should have been, and understood that he had made a terrible mistake.^[40] By that point, the manuscript had allowed the Dark Presence to regain power and begin spreading through the Bright Falls area. After considering every possible course of action, Wake concluded that his only chance was to write himself into the story as its protagonist. By doing so however, he would be bound by the events like everyone else in it, including the Dark Presence. In addition, the story needed to remain true to the horror genre in order to work, requiring to be victims along the way.^[41]

Before finishing the manuscript, Wake wrote the Bright Presence, in the form of Thomas Zane, into the story to free him. Despite being weak, “Zane” was able to use its light to bring the cabin and the island back to the surface. As a barely conscious Wake struggled to leave of the island, the Dark Presence returned to the cabin and banished the Bright Presence back to the Dark Place. However, Zane managed to take the manuscript pages with him before disappearing. Wake got into his car and drove away from the lake. Nevertheless, due to having spent a week without sleeping, he finally gave in and lost consciousness. The car veered off the road and crashed on a cliff in the woods near Stucky’s Gas Station.^[36]

Waking up to a nightmare

Wake woke up dazed and confused behind the wheel of his car. His memories of the week he had spent trapped in the cabin were gone; the last thing he remembered was jumping into the lake after Alice. Upon seeing Doctor Hartman's book, The Creator's Dilemma, in the car trunk, he was reminded of their argument. Wake then noticed the gas station in the distance and decided to head there to get help. Making his way through the woods, Wake saw a flash of light ahead of him and found two pages from the Departure manuscript: the title page, and another page describing the protagonist being attacked by an axe murderer in the woods. The Bright Presence had started spreading the pages around Bright Falls for Wake to find. The writer would continue to encounter more of them for the remainder of the AWE.

Wake soon arrived at one of the campsites of the Biltmore Logging company, where he thought he hoped to find help. Much to his horror, however, he encountered a man covered in shadows who had just murdered someone. The man was Carl Stucky, now taken over by the Dark Presence. Wake was attacked by Stucky, forcing him to take refuge in a nearby lit office. Inside, he found and grabbed a revolver and a flashlight. He subsequently tried to call the police for help, but the telephone poles were knocked down by Stucky. Immediately afterward, a Bulldozer came to life and swept the office. Nonetheless, Wake managed to escape before the office was pushed over a cliff, hoping that Stucky had also met the same fate. With no other option, he resumed his journey to the gas station.

As Wake continued through the woods and the remaining logging camps, he was forced to fight more people possessed by the Dark Presence; their bodies disintegrated once they were killed. A message written with light sensitive painting revealed to him that these beings were known as “Taken.” By following arrows made with the same paint, the writer would also find hidden supply stashes. Wake soon discovered that the Taken Stucky was still alive and was still stalking him. After facing him again and killing him, Wake finally reached the gas station. There, he learned that a full week had passed since he first arrived in town. When he entered through the garage, a television turned on by itself and showed footage of him during his time trapped in the cabin.

After Wake used the gas station phone to call the police again, Sheriff Sarah Breaker arrived at the scene shortly after. Wake tried to explain that his wife had disappeared, mentioning that they were staying in a cabin in Cauldron Lake. However, Breaker told him that that was not possible as both the island and the cabin sank during a volcanic eruption in the 70s, much to Wake's confusion. When the sheriff asked him if he had seen Stucky, Wake realized that he could not tell her about his encounter with the Taken without sounding insane. On their way to the sheriff station, the two passed by the lake. To Wake’s shock and surprise, the cabin and the island were gone.^[35]

Finding Alice

Alan was taken to the police station, where he was subsequently contacted by a man named Mott who claimed to have kidnapped Alice. Mott told Alan to meet him at Lover's Peak in Elderwood National Park to negotiate Alice's return. Now accompanied by Barry, who had arrived at Bright Falls to find Alan, Alan headed to the park and worked his way through the Taken to find Mott. Mott demanded that Alan give him the entire manuscript of Departure for Alice, and escaped, with Alan returning to Barry to rescue him from the Taken. The next morning, Barry was contacted by Rose Marigold, a waitress at the diner and fan of Wake's, who claimed to have found Alan's manuscript. Alan and Barry arrived at Rose's trailer park, all while Barry explained to Alan the local history; the cabin on Cauldron Lake was owned by Thomas Zane, a poet, who lost his lover Barbara Jagger when she mysteriously drowned in the lake. A week later, the volcanic earthquakes of Cauldron Lake sank the island, taking Zane with it. According to Barry, all of this information had been written by Cynthia Weaver, a local recluse, with her articles being the only existing record of Thomas Zane's existence.

Alan and Barry met with Rose, only to find her under the influence of the dark force. Rose knocked out Alan and Barry, who awoke hours later to find the police arriving at the trailer park. Alan was confronted by FBI Agent Robert Nightingale, an unstable and drunk individual willing to kill Alan without mercy. Alan escaped as the Taken began to attack and kill the police officers, and made his way to Mirror Peak, where the kidnapper had said he'd be waiting for Alan. However, as Alan arrived, he found Mott despairing at the mercy of the dark force, which appeared before him in the form of the old woman from the diner. Mott revealed that he never really had Alice and that he'd made up kidnapping her in order to get Wake to cooperate with his boss's wishes. At that point, Alan and Mott were hurled off of the edge of a cliff into the waters of Cauldron Lake, with Alan losing consciousness just as an unseen figure pulled him from the lake.

Learning the Truth

Alan awoke in the Cauldron Lake Lodge under the care of Dr. Hartman, who claimed that Alan had suffered a psychotic breakdown as a result of Alice drowning in Cauldron Lake. Alan did not believe Hartman, but cooperated in order to prevent an incident. While staying at the lodge, Alan met Odin and Tor Anderson, former rock musicians who had past experience with the supernatural events in Bright Falls. The Andersons instructed Alan to travel to their farm, where they had hidden a clue to stopping the darkness. The lodge was then attacked by the Taken, giving Alan a chance to escape with Barry. Along the way, Alan discovered that Hartman was the one behind Mott's deception, having used audio recordings of his discussions with Alice to fool Alan into thinking he'd kidnapped him. Hartman's intent was to take advantage of the power in Alan's writings, as he had been attempting to do with the other artists under his care for years.

Alan and Barry arrived at the Anderson Farm, discovering a record of their song "The Poet and the Muse," which seemed to indicate that Cynthia Weaver was the key to stopping the darkness. That night, Alan, under the influence of the Anderson's moonshine which had been infused with water from Cauldron Lake, experienced a vision of what happened during the missing week. Alice had been kidnapped by a supernatural force known as the Dark Presence, which enticed Alan to write Departure in order to bring her back. Cauldron Lake possessed the power to turn works of art into reality, and by writing Departure, Alan was facilitating the Dark Presence's emergence into reality. The Dark Presence had done this once before with Zane in order to bring back Barbara Jagger; however, the end result only saw Jagger return as a demonic shadow of her former self, controlled by the Presence. Zane had written himself out of existence to erase what he had done, taking the Dark Presence back beneath with him. Having realized the Dark Presence's deception, Alan had changed the story of Departure, writing himself in as the protagonist and having Zane arrive at the cabin to help Alan escape.

Returning to Cauldron Lake

In the present day, Alan, upon awakening, was arrested by Robert Nightingale and brought to the Bright Falls Sheriff Station. That night, the Dark Presence once again attacked, taking Nightingale and forcing Alan, Barry, and Sarah Breaker to free. The trio headed to the Bright Falls Dam to seek out Cynthia Weaver, who revealed to Alan that Zane had given her the key to the Dark Presence's defeat. Alan found that this was none other than the Clicker, which Zane had written into the story to give Alan a fighting chance. Determining that he alone had to stop the Dark Presence and save Alice, Alan left Barry and Sarah behind and headed for Cauldron Lake.

Alan arrived at Cauldron Lake and dove into its waters, finding himself in a surreal alternate dimension known as the Dark Place. Unlike Alan's world, the Dark Place was subjective and conceptual, making it subject to manipulation by works of art, which then manifested in reality. Alan navigated the Dark Place with the aid of Zane, in the process encountering a mysterious doppelganger of himself referred to as "Mr. Scratch." Reaching the submerged cabin, Alan encountered Jagger, and destroyed her using the Clicker. Realizing that the story demanded balance, Alan began writing the ending of Departure, allowing Alice to escape from the Dark Place while trapping himself there indefinitely.

Trapped in the Dark Place

Still trapped in the Dark Place, Alan found himself pursued by Taken, seemingly controlled by an insane version of himself. Zane appeared before Alan and explained to him the Dark Place's dreamlike nature, stating that Alan had become split into two facets of his existence, with the insane Alan giving in to Alan's doubts and fears, and the rational Alan attempting to restore control. Alan worked his way through the shifting landscape of the Dark Place, evading the chaos brought into existence by the insane Alan, and eventually found his way back to Bird Leg Cabin. Regaining control of his other self, Alan began work on a sequel to Departure which would allow him to escape from the Dark Place. This novel was known as Return.

Night Springs, Arizona

While Alan continued to write Return, the power of the Dark Place continued to act upon reality, eventually unleashing Alan's doppelganger, Mr. Scratch. Mr. Scratch's inception was catalyzed by rumors and conspiracies about Alan, viewing him as an insane, sadistic serial killer. Mr. Scratch personified this fictionalized Alan, and came to life in the real world seeking to take over Alan's life. Alan, in an attempt to stop him, used the concept of one of his old Night Springs episodes to write himself back into reality in the nonexistent town of Night Springs, Arizona, where Mr. Scratch had also appeared. Alan began work to actualize the manuscript he'd written in order to defeat Mr. Scratch, doing so by using the power of the Dark Place to make scenes from the town match those of Return and thus catalyze shifts in reality.

Alan eventually managed to make his way to a drive-in movie theater where the ending of Return existed. However, Alan discovered that this was in fact a trap, and that Mr. Scratch had created a time loop which would prevent Alan from ever defeating him. Restarting from the beginning, Alan once again worked his way to the ending, piecing together more clues about the final scene of Return in order to make it more accurate. After a third and final loop, Alan was able to activate the ending, revealed to be a movie made about Alan by Alice as a tribute to their relationship. The film seemingly destroyed Mr. Scratch, and depicted Alan reuniting with Alice.

Federal Bureau of Control

The Federal Bureau of Control - a clandestine U.S. government agency tasked with investigating supernatural phenomena - deployed agents to Bright Falls shortly after the events of Departure concluded. The FBC classified the incident as an Altered World Event, having previously responded to similar incidents in Bright Falls in the 1970s (the sinking of Diver's Isle in 1970, the Anderson Brothers' fight against Barbara Jagger in 1976, and another incident in 1978). Alan's whereabouts were unknown to the Bureau, and he was listed as possibly deceased. A coffee thermos was collected from Bright Falls and categorized as an Altered Item, and contained at the Bureau's New York headquarters, the Oldest House. Nine years later, in August 2019, the Bureau discovered one of Alan's manuscript pages inside of the Oceanview Motel & Casino, a supernatural location connected to the Oldest House. The manuscript page had been pushed under one of the unopenable doorways in the motel, marked with a spiral. Two months later, in October 2019, the Oldest House was violently attacked by a force known as the Hiss, which possessed most of the Bureau's agents. Jesse Faden, the Bureau's new director, discovered the manuscript page and coffee thermos while exploring the Oldest House in search of her younger brother, Dylan. When Jesse approached the manuscript page, a otherworldly apparition of Alan appeared, describing his maddening experiences in the Dark Place, before vanishing.

Some time later, Jesse sensed Alan a second time when she received a message from him on the Hotline (a supernatural Object of Power capable of communicating with extradimensional beings). In the Hotline messages, Alan spoke in prose while frantically writing on his typewriter, describing Jesse's actions and thoughts in the third-person. Matching Alan's prose, Jesse entered a new sector of the Oldest House, the Investigations Sector, where she entered the Oceanview Motel & Casino. There, through the slightly ajar spiral door, Jesse saw Alan conversing with a doppelganger of himself. This doppelganger claimed to be Thomas Zane, despite his different appearance and voice. Zane informed Alan that the Zane he'd previously encountered was a "character" he played in his previous "film," describing himself as a "filmmaker." He told the confused and delirious Alan that he'd been writing and had found a way to escape from the Dark Place. Alan expressed concern about "his double" (possibly Mr. Scratch), but Zane dismissed these worries, to Alan's confusion and agitation.

As Jesse continued to explore the Investigations Sector, she found more evidence of phenomena related to Bright Falls and Alan. She learned that Emil Hartman had been captured by the FBC after being Taken by the Dark Presence, and was held in the Investigations Sector. Alice, meanwhile, had begun experiencing frightening visitations by an Alan-like figure in their apartment. In 2017, the Bureau brought her to the Investigations Sector to interview her about these events; when Hartman sensed her near, he broke out of containment, forcing the FBC to evacuate the sector; Alice had already left by this time. Jesse learned of these events through Alan's prosaic messages. Alan also implied having a larger role in the events of the Hiss invasion; he wrote the Hiss incantation, an obsessive chant repeated by those possessed by the Hiss. He mentioned needing "a hero" and that his hero needed "a crisis," and that he had used elements from his life, including his city and his wife, to make his story come true. A Night Springs episode written by Wake, and found by the FBC, also described events similar to those of the Hiss invasion, including the actions of former Director Zachariah Trench and former Head of Research Dr. Casper Darling.

Approaching the Bright Falls AWE area of the Investigations Sector, Jesse entered the Oceanview Motel & Casino again and saw Alan in the spiral room. After killing Hartman, Jesse was informed by her subordinate, Frederick Langston, that an AWE had been detected in Bright Falls, but the date on the alert was from several years in the future. In the motel, Alan noted that if the alarm was true, then so too was the reason for the alarm.

Writing a Way Out

For many years, Alan had been trying to write his escape out of the Dark Place, though without any success. Somehow he found himself in a television studio, where he seemingly appeared on a late night talk show called In Between With Mr. Door. On it, the host, Mr. Door talked to Alan about writing Departure as well as its sequel, Initiation, though Alan could not remember writing Initiation. Mr. Door then questioned if everybody in the studio is just part of his story, and in that moment the lights of the studio went out. As Alan tried to leave the studio, he was attacked and killed by an unseen force.

He then woke up in his Writer's Room, a location he manifested in the Dark Place as a place to write his numerous escape attempts. He realised that he must write Initiation to try once again to escape, as it appeared as a plot summary on his plot board. He began writing, where he once again found himself on the set of In Between With Mr. Door, only this time they talked about his Alex Casey novels, where an actor named Sam Lake was portraying him in movie adaptations of them. The lights went out again, and Alan searched the studio for a way out, where he encountered a man named Ahti, who told him to check the basement of the studio for something left in a Shoebox. Upon finding the shoebox, he found an object called the Angel Lamp which allowed him to pull light sources from one area and carry it to another, which would subsequently change the environment. He found a small room which he used it on, which created a way out of the studio.

Meeting Alex Casey

Upon leaving the studio, he found himself in a dark, twisted and empty version of New York City, full of Shadows that would fade in and out of existence. He began hearing a pay phone in the distance ringing, where upon picking it up a man could be heard that he thought he recognised. The man told him to go to Caldera Street Station though the connection then cut out. Using a subway pass he found by the phone, he began searching for the station, though he couldn't find it. He needed to find a light source in order to make the station appear, and headed down an alley way where he could pull light from, however here he met with Alex Casey, who initially he mistook for the actor at the studio, Sam Lake. Casey asks Alan about the manuscript of a novel which a cult had been using to commit sacrifices. Suddenly the light at the end of the alley went out, and Casey went to investigate, where he shot at, and was killed by an unseen force. Alan took Casey's weapon, as well as pulled the light source which reignited, and headed back to the subway entrance where he used the Angel Lamp to make it appear.

Meeting Zane

Alice's Fate

Escaping the Dark Place

Alan woke up on the shoreline of Cauldron Lake, awoken by Saga Anderson, who asked for his name. He panickily introduced himself, where Saga told him he had been missing for 13 years. Due to time working differently in the Dark Place, Alan was unaware on exactly how much time had actually passed in reality. Casey also arrived on the scene, much to Alan's bemusement of Casey having the same name as the detective from his books, and the pair took him back to the Elderwood Palace Lodge for questioning.

Upon being questioned, he told them about being trapped in the Dark Place all these years and how it can affect works of art. He also told them about Scratch who he claimed wrote the story of Return, the pages Saga and Casey had been finding. Alan told the duo that the only way to defeat Scratch was by using the Clicker, which Alan informed the Cult of the Tree had in their possession, where Saga headed to Watery to find it, leaving Casey to continue questioning Alan.

Casey continued to interview Alan, though Casey brought up the fact Alan's book were very closely related to Casey's own life. Suddenly however, the pair were attacked by the Cult of the Tree, claiming to be after Alan. Casey left Alan in the investigation room whilst he went to fight them off, though as Alan heard the gun shots, his head began hurting, seeing visions of Scratch, where he then passed out. Upon waking up, Alan found the investigation room to be trashed, with dead bodies of cultists all around him, as well as his clothes covered in blood. He heard Casey still fighting the cultists and went off to find him. Upon finding him, he passed out once again due to visions of Scratch, though one of the cultists, Ilmo Koskela almost killed him, but was saved by Saga Anderson. The Koskela Brothers and Alan were then arrested by the Federal Bureau of Control.

Scratch

Alan found himself in the Bright Falls Sheriff Station where the FBC set up their new base of operations, though it was attacked by some of the Taken. Saga arrived and dispatched them, and entered the jail cells to finally give Alan the Clicker she had found in Watery. Just as she was about to hand it to him, Alan once again had severe visions of Scratch, only this time he became possessed by him, killing Jaakko Koskela in the process. Alan, now seemingly revealed as Scratch, tried to kill Saga, but Saga managed to dispatch of him using strong lights within the parking lot of the Sheriff Station, forcing Scratch to flee.

With Saga believing Alan to still be trapped in the Dark Place, she, the Anderson Brothers, Kiran Estevez and Alex Casey tried to summon him back to Bright Falls using the song named Dark Ocean Summoning, which worked, though it sent Alan back two days into the past instead where Saga found Alan on the same shore line. This led Saga to realise that Alan and Scratch are the same person. Scratch then arrived at the lake to try and take the Clicker from Saga, though again Saga was able to use the bright lights scattered across the beach to trap Scratch in a cage, causing it to explode.

With the huge burst of light, Scratch stopped possessing Alan, and instead inhabited the body of Casey, stealing the Clicker from Saga. Scratch then threw Saga into the lake and left to go to Bright Falls. Alan, now free from Scratch, spoke with Kiran Estevez, and stated that he needed to stop Scratch, where Estevez gave him an arsenal of weapons to do so. He then made his way through the forests of Cauldron Lake, fighting Taken along the way. Upon reaching Saga's car, he then drove back to Bright Falls.

Rewriting the Ending

Alan made it to Bright Falls in the early morning of Deerfest, where within the main town he saw that reality had been warped in the center of it. Alan, having only just escaped the Dark Place and terrified, headed into the warped town, where he then found himself in the middle of Deerfest, where every one of the townsfolk were gushing about his new book, Return. Realising he needed to write a new ending to the book to fix everything, he had to find a copy, though everywhere seemed to be sold out. He eventually found a book on a standee of him, where upon picking it up, the townsfolk then turned on him, forcing him to flee.

After escaping the townsfolk, he made his way to the Valhalla Nursing Home, where he recognised the windows of his Writer's Room, realising that is where he would need to go to fix the ending. He was then attacked by the Dark Presence itself, though Alan managed to escape into the home, where he was greeted by Rose Marigold. Rose claimed that she had received his messages loud and clear about preparing for a new hero of the story, though Alan claimed to have never sent her any messages. Alan then went upstairs to the spiral door of the Writer's Room, where he was greeted by Ahti one more time. Alan, asking for Ahti's help, was then given access to the room. Within the room, Alan viewed a vision of him and Saga discussing how Return should actually end, where they claim the hero would have to pay a price; Saga also told Alan that her daughter Logan Anderson, who according to the story drowned, and Casey would both need to survive. Alan, knowing what he needed to do, began writing the new ending of Return, though claimed it wouldn't work without the Clicker, which he had no idea where to find it.

As Alan finished the ending, Saga Anderson suddenly appeared in his Writer's Room, Clicker in hand as well as the Bullet of Light. As Alan was going to activate the ending with the Clicker, Saga told him that she needed to do it, so Alan handed her the manuscript. Scratch, possessing Casey's body, then arrives in the Writer's Room. As he was about to attack, Saga pressed the Clicker, activating the ending, causing Scratch to leave Casey's body and re-enter Alan's. With Scratch now back in Alan's body, Saga shot Alan in the head with the Bullet of Light, lodging the bullet into Alan's skull, where it killed both Scratch and seemingly Alan along with it.

Later, still in the Writer's Room, Alan woke up, coming to a sudden realization about his journey towards escape:

The Final Draft

Other Media

Dead by Daylight

According to the lore for Alan Wake within the video game Dead by Daylight, one of Alan's escapes from the Dark Place between 2010 - 2023 involved him having to remember the script for a Night Springs episode named "Dead of Night" .

Phasmophobia

Another one of Alan's attempted escapes from the Dark Place involved him writing a script named Phasmophobia .

Personality

Alan Wake is a complex individual whose personality ranges from melancholy and pensive to aggressive and angry. According to recollections by Wake and Barry Wheeler, Wake was a troublemaker for much of his childhood, and this behavior continued into his adult years, with Wake getting into frequent altercations with news media and others. Alan has a history of substance abuse, fighting a longtime struggle against alcoholism. Throughout the events of Alan Wake, Alan often displays an aggressive and stubborn nature, sometimes bordering on vindictive and resentful. Alan's behavior has led to conflicts with those closest to him, including Barry and Alice; it is also implied that Alan has very few friends because of this. Alan's fame also resulted in a bout of narcissism and arrogance, which is reflected in Mr. Scratch. He can also sometimes be sarcastic and mean, even towards those he considers friends, such as Barry.

However, there are also more positive aspects of Alan's personality, which are primarily reflected in his intimate relationship with Alice. He deeply cares for his wife, and is willing to sacrifice anything in order to save her in the events of Alan Wake. Alice sees a brighter side of Alan and is more sympathetic towards him. In Alan Wake and particularly the Rick Burroughs novelization, Alan is depicted as caring for the people of Bright Falls and doing his best to protect them from the Dark Presence, even being willing to sacrifice himself to ultimately ensure their safety. He develops a friendship with Sarah Breaker and the Anderson brothers, the memories of whom are fond in Alan's mind as he struggles in the Dark Place.

Behind his outward aggression and cynicism, Alan is a deeply insecure, self-derisive, and troubled man. Since the ending of the Alex Casey series, he has lived in a constant struggle against his writer's block, one that has only deepened and amplified his frustration and confusion. In the Dark Place, Alan's troubled mind is reflected as chaotic and nightmarish, and Alice herself describes Alan was writing "horror stories" in his head whenever he makes a mistake. Alan is ultimately able to overcome his self-doubt in order to retake control of himself in the Dark Place, enabling him to begin plotting his return.

Alan practices at a shooting range, and has a decent knowledge of hunting rifles, shotguns, and pistols. In the novel, it is explained that he spent time at the shooting range to get research done for his Alex Casey crime series, though Sarah Breaker comments that Alan's knowledge of guns is limited. Alan is also a quick thinker, using his knowledge to get past environmental puzzles and to evade numerous Taken at once. He can adapt to a wide array of weaponry quickly.

Prior to his experiences in Bright Falls, Alan was a self-proclaimed skeptic, rejecting the supernatural as little more than a reflection of the human psyche. This attitude would later be reflected in the universe of Control, in which paranatural phenomena are intrinsically tied to the human psyche, particularly the Jungian concepts of collective unconscious, synchronicity, and archetypes.

Bibliography

Errand Boy

Errand Boy was Alan's first published story, published in a magazine called Dark Visions. A transcript of Errand Boy was featured in Clay Steward's book, The Alan Wake Files.

Night Springs

During Alan's time on Night Springs, he wrote several episodes for the show, which kicked off his larger career in writing fiction. One of these episodes focused on the "Federal Bureau of Night Springs," and was possibly later adapted into the events of Control. Another episode was adapted into the portion of the Return manuscript from the events of Alan Wake's American Nightmare.

Alex Casey

Alex Casey was an action thriller series written by Alan, which revolved around the titular character, a hardened New York City cop. Six books were made in the series:

1. Alex Casey
2. What I Can't Forget
3. Return to Sender
4. The Things That I Want
5. The Fall of Casey
6. The Sudden Stop

Alan ended the series by killing off Alex Casey in The Sudden Stop, as he wanted to move onto other projects. He planned to write a new story, Departure, but instead faced a severe strain of writer's block which held off his writing for more than two years. Following Alan's disappearance in 2010, a Hollywood studio picked up the rights to create a film series adaptation of the Alex Casey books.

Alex Casey has numerous similarities to the Remedy Entertainment video game Max Payne. In Control, Dylan Faden makes a comment lampshading this similarity:

Alan Wake 2 reveals that Alex Casey is a real FBI agent whose life story had been used in Alan's writing, which Alan was completely unaware of. It is suggested that Alan had been receiving visions of the real Alex Casey even before entering the Dark Place, which he had always assumed to be inspiration from his own mind, and had worked them into his writings.

Departure

Departure was originally intended as Alan's new project following the conclusion of Alex Casey. While Alan suffered from writer's block and was unable to write Departure, he was eventually forced to work on the manuscript by the Dark Presence in Barbara Jagger. The completed Departure rewrote reality and told the story of most of the events of Alan Wake, with Alan himself as the protagonist, and ended with Alan trapping himself in the Dark Place.

Return

Return is the sequel to Departure and Initiation which Alan wrote in the Dark Place. Alan wrote many drafts of the Return manuscript, including one which created the events of Alan Wake's American Nightmare, before realizing that he would not succeed because he had failed to write Initiation first: Alan was following Campbell's Monomyth (a three-stage hero's journey) but was attempting to skip from the hero's "departure" to the "return" without the middle step.

At some point, Alan actually gave up on writing Return, depressed by the realization that his writing was causing actual harm to people's lives in the real world. According to the filmmaker version of Thomas Zane, Zane grew desperate at this point and started collaborating with Scratch to write Return, which went undetected by Alan because of his constant memory loss from the Dark Place's effects. In reality, "Scratch" was Alan, having given in to his negative emotions and become taken over by a Dark Presence generated as a result. This version of Return became a horror story which would see the Dark Presence escape the lake during Deerfest 2023, giving way to the events of Alan Wake 2.

Initiation

Initiation is the second book of Alan Wake's "hero's journey," which he wrote in the Dark Place as part of his plan to escape Cauldron Lake. While it is only the second book in his escape plan, it is technically the last book he "wrote" since he had been working on many drafts of Return before writing Initiation, and he wrote it while attempting to edit the final draft of the Return manuscript created by "Scratch."

This House of Dreams

In the ARG blog, This House of Dreams, Alan Wake is mentioned, not by name but by appearance and description. In the beginning of Samantha's second "Shoebox Dream", she was visiting the previous owner of her new house at the nursing home. The person she was visiting wasn't an old woman like she thought, but a young man. She remember that the man had dark hair and was "wearing a funny jacket with old-fashioned elbow patches". Samantha explains that even though the place was brightly lit from the sun outside, the man was "very anxious and wanted her to turn on the lights on". He kept telling her that "the place was too dark". She remembered that "all of the lights were on already, but that didn't calm him down". Then, Samantha started to freak out, thinking that "something horrible was coming to take them away, and that's when she woke up". Suddenly, right after she woke up, Samantha was thirsty and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. And in the hallway, coming back, she saw a dark silhouette of a man outside of the window. Being really frightened, she rushed through the house and turned on all of the lights. (Just like the man told her to do in her dream). She was about to dial 911 but thought about it first, thinking that it was all apart of her imagination, she instead called her friend, Joss. Joss then wanted to check on her and look around her house just in case there were robbers in the area, but there was "no sign of anyone outside". (http://thishouseofdreams.blogspot.com/)

The man "wearing the funny jacket with old-fashioned elbow patches" was most likely Alan Wake, trying to warn Samantha to "turn the lights on" in the real world after she woke up, right before she was almost attacked by a "dark silhouette". (most likely a Taken).

Trivia

• Alan Wake is voiced by Matthew Porretta and played by Ilkka Villi.
• He has previously won an award called "The Golden Glocks", which sits on his office shelf in his apartment.
• Remedy Entertainment has called Alan "kind of a dick," noting that he "hates most people" and has many problems with his marriage. The intent of this characterization was to separate him from most golden-hearted characters and "space marine" G.I. Joes. This is intended to add a layer of realism and depth to Alan, making him a more relatable character with moral failings of his own as opposed to a larger-than-life hero with high moral standards.
• He is also shown to have deep seated anger issues and is notorious for his temper (though it is not shown to be dangerous as nobody, even his wife who experienced the worst of it, shows any fear of him when he's angry) though Mr. Scratch, which is his "dark" side, is predominantly in a feral enraged state suggesting his anger issues go much deeper.
• As with other Remedy Entertainment games, Alan Wake's name is a pun, in this case on the word "awake." This is evidently meaningful, as it has been lampshaded several times in the story of Alan Wake 2.
  • One of the Writer's Journey videos, Drowning, has Alan questioning his own name, wondering if he is merely a character in a story someone has written.
  • The Dark Place is, several times, referred to as a "dream" of sorts. In The Final Draft, one of Dr. Darling's messages has him calling the Dark Place a "dreamscape," wondering who the "dreamer" is and how he can "wake them up." The dreamer's voice is revealed to be that of Alan Wake. In the second QR code video from Alan Wake Remastered, Vision 02, Alan describes the Dark Place as an "endless waking dream" where he receives visions "carried by the ebb and flow of different dream states."
• One of the books in the Alex Casey series that Alan wrote is titled The Things That I Want. This is the name of a level in the Remedy game series, Max Payne. Another is titled "The Fall of Alex Casey", just like the subtitle for Max Payne 2. On some of the TVs in that game, a 'return to sender marathon' of the fictional show 'Address Unknown' is played, giving another book title. Max muses that "when entertainment turns to a surreal reflection of your life, you're a lucky man if you can laugh at the joke". He refers to the coincidental parallels between fiction and his life as opposed to the rewriting of events that the manuscript pages of Alan Wake describe.
• The idea behind Wake ending the Alex Casey series by killing off the main character is most likely influenced by the Stephen King book Misery, where the main character Paul Sheldon, also a writer, ends his series of books by the same method and for the same reasons.
• There are several Xbox avatar outfits of Alan's clothes, including his early and final appearences in Alan Wake one and the cloths he had in American Nightmare.
• One of the pictures of Alan in Rose's shrine in Alan Wake 2 is of Alan in his original outfit from the early trailers and screenshots of the first game.

Appearances

• Bright Falls
  • Episode 2: Time Flies (first appearance)
  • Episode 4: Local Flavor
  • Episode 6: Clearcut
• Alan Wake
  • Episode 1: Nightmare
  • Episode 2: Taken
  • Episode 3: Ransom
  • Episode 4: The Truth
  • Episode 5: The Clicker
  • Episode 6: Departure
  • Special 1: The Signal
  • Special 2: The Writer
• Alan Wake's American Nightmare
  • Act I
  • Act II
  • Act III
• Control
  • Expansion 2: AWE
• Alan Wake 2
  • Prologue: The Cult
  • Return 1: Invitation (voice only)
  • Return 2: The Heart
  • Initiation 1: Late Night
  • Initiation 2: Casey
  • Initiation 3: Haunting
  • Initiation 4: We Sing
  • Initiation 5: Room 665
  • Initiation 6: Return
  • Initiation 7: Masks
  • Initiation 8: Zane's Film
  • Return 3: Local Girl
  • Return 4: No Chance
  • Return 5: Old Gods
  • Return 6: Scratch
  • Return 7: Summoning
  • Initiation 9: Gone
  • Return 8: Deerfest
  • Return 9: Come Home
  • The Final Draft
  • Expansion 1: Night Springs
    • Episode 1: Number One Fan (as The Writer)
    • Episode 2: North Star (as The Brother)
    • Episode 3: Time Breaker (as The Master of Many Worlds)

Gallery

Artworks and References

Live Action

Alan Wake (original)

Alan Wake's American Nightmare

Control and AWE

Alan Wake Remastered

Key art and Renders

Official Screenshots

Alan Wake II

Key art and Renders

Official Screenshots

Rose's Shrine

Other Media

Fortnite

Dead by Daylight

References