Barbara Jagger is a character in the Alan Wake franchise. She was a long-time resident of Bright Falls, Washington, who fell in love with poet Thomas Zane. On July 10, 1970, Jagger died at the age of 25 when she drowned in Cauldron Lake. After her death, Zane tried to bring her back to life using the paranatural properties of Cauldron Lake. However, in doing so, Jagger's body was taken over by a paranatural entity known as the Dark Presence. Realizing the danger the entity posed to the world, Zane saw no other choice but to erase himself from existence. However, the poet managed to save both himself and Jagger by creating a "baby universe" for the two to live in. After the two vanished, the Dark Presence continued to use the body of Jagger as its vessel until it was destroyed by writer Alan Wake four decades later.

Appearance

Barbara Jagger was a Caucasian woman. While it cannot be said with certainty due to all known photos of her being in black and white, it appears that she had a light hair color.

By 2010, while the Dark Presence used her guise, Jagger appeared as an old woman with dark hair. She wore a black funeral dress, with a veil covering her face and a pearl necklace around her neck. She also had a ring on the middle finger of her right hand. When Alan Wake confronted her in the Bird Leg Cabin, she now had a hole in her chest.

Personality

Jagger was described as being a humble and kind person. She was well liked by the residents of Bright Falls and often contributed in her community. Even Cynthia Weaver, who envied her for her relationship with Thomas Zane, acknowledged that Jagger was a good person. Jagger's vibrant and cheerful personality was even capable of captivating the heart of Zane, who, before meeting her, was a rather unhappy individual.

Biography

Early life

Born in 1945, Barbara Jagger was a resident of the town of Bright Falls, Washington. Jagger was well known and loved within her community due to her kindness and generosity. She was also known for her beauty, having won the Miss Deerfest pageant three times. She would also bake muffins for community events.^[1]

In the 1960's, Jagger met poet Thomas Zane and the two fell in love. The young woman had a positive influence on Zane, who was otherwise a gloomy and depressive man. The poet's fascination with Jagger was such that he considered her his muse.^[2] The two moved to a cabin built on a small island in Cauldron Lake, named "Diver's Isle" due to Zane's love for diving.

Death and resurrection

On July 10, 1970, Jagger drowned while swimming in Cauldron Lake. While some found her death to be suspicious given that Jagger was a capable swimmer, no evidence of an intentional or premeditated murder was found, thus an official investigation was deemed unnecessary by local authorities. Jagger's death was greatly felt among the residents of the town.^[1] Devastated by the loss of the love of his life, Zane, encouraged by his young assistant, Emil Hartman, decided to bring her back to life using the supernatural power of Cauldron Lake, which could turn fiction into reality.^[3] Zane was partially successful: while Jagger came back to life, her body was taken over by an entity known as the Dark Presence, originating from an alternate dimension known as Dark Place, to which Cauldron Lake served as a Threshold.

Under the influence of the Dark Presence, Zane was compelled to write a work of art that would free it from the Dark Place. Nevertheless, the poet managed to regain his senses. Realizing his mistake, Zane captured the possessed Jagger and tied her to a chair. Jagger tried to persuade him to unite her, promising to help him complete his masterpiece and love him forever, but the poet instead cut her heart out in an effort to banish the Dark Presence from the young woman's body. This, however, failed.^[4][5] Zane eventually concluded that the only solution was to erase out of existence everything that had made the Dark Presence's release possible, including himself.^[6] After writing another poem and leaving a countermeasure for the day the Dark Presence inevitably returned, Zane put on his diving suit and untied Jagger. As the poet dragged her to the pier, Jagger tried in vain to shock free from his arms before the two dived into the lake.^[5] As they sank deeper, the two encountered another entity known as the Bright Presence, which took over Zane's body. Nevertheless, the couple's "essences" continued descended ever deeper until Zane recited a final "master poem" which, thanks to the power of the Dark Place, created a "baby universe" for he and Jagger to escape and live in.^[7]

Legacy

The Scratching Hag

While Jagger and Zane's spirits were transported to another universe, their bodies remained as the vessels of the Dark and Bright presences, which were locked in an eternal war.^[7] Six years after Zane's disappearance, Tor and Odin Anderson, members of Old Gods of Asgard, inadvertently unleashed the Dark Presence once again during the 1976 Deerfest. Based on the brothers' later accounts, it seems that Jagger attacked them on their farm, accompanied by an army of Taken that emerged from Cauldron Lake.^[8] However, it appears that the Andersons manged to fend them off through some unknown means. Based on its lyrics, the song "Children of the Elder God" may have been inspired by or be the cause of this event.

Because of the Anderson's actions, the Dark Presence was reawakened, albeit not fully. Although it remained confined within the Dark Place, it was capable of manifesting in the real world in the form of Jagger. Over time, Jagger's name became part of an urban legend circulating in the Bright Falls region, with many referring to her by names such as the "Scratching Hag" or the "Granny Claws". Some details of these tales bore similarities to the Slavic folklore legend of Baba Yaga, such as her living in a cabin that stood in giant chicken legs. Another recurring detail, which tended to resurface whenever a child went missing, was that she ate children. However, not many people believed in this and the stories were mostly shared among children, perpetuated by their parents as a way to discourage them from venturing into the woods.^[9] It also appears that some elements became intertwined with the legend surrounding Witch's Ladle. Notably, the witch depicted on a sign describing this legend closely resembled Jagger herself.^[10]

Bright Falls AWE (2010)

In 2010, writer Alan Wake, along with his wife, Alice, traveled to Bright Falls for a vacation. Upon sensing the writer approaching, the Dark Presence woke up from its slumber.^[11] When Wake went to the Oh Deer Diner to retrieve his cabin keys from Carl Stucky, the Dark Presence found a spot in the building dark enough to manifest as Jagger.^[12] Intercepting the writer before he could met Stucky, the entity gave him the keys of the Bird Leg Cabin and directions to Diver's Isle instead. That night, following an argument between Wake and his wife, the Dark Presence captured Alice and dragged her to the bottom of the lake.^[13] Putting him under its spell, the entity convinced Wake that Alice had drowned, but that he could bring her back by writing a story. With Jagger serving as his editor, the Dark Presence made sure that the story would free it from the lake. However, before writing the ending, Wake managed to regain control and wrote the Bright Presence, in the form of Zane, into the story to help him escape.^[14]

Over the course of the next week, Wake was relentlessly hunted down by the Dark Presence and its forces, with the entity occasionally assuming the form Jagger when appearing to Wake and other people involved, such as Rose Marigold or Ben Mott. After he and his allies found the countermeasure Zane had left for him - an old light switch known as the Clicker - Wake returned to Cauldron Lake and entered the Dark Place. While finding his way to Bird Leg Cabin, the writer heard echoes of a conversation between Zane and the Dark Presence in the form of Jagger from when the latter cut out her heart. When Wake entered the cabin, the entity warned him that it would find a new face to wear and someone else too free it. The writer placed the light switch in the old woman's chest and activated it, destroying Jagger's body and vanquishing the Dark Presence.^[15]

This House of Dreams

In 2012, Samantha Wells, a resident of Ordinary, Maine, found in the attic of her new house, a shoebox containing photographs of Jagger and Zane, along with poem sheets written by the latter.^[16] The couple's faces, however, where covered with black ink stains. Excited by the mystery, Wells tried to learn more about the couple's identity.^[17] By inquiring with the family of the previous owner of the house, she learnt that the shoebox was most likely acquired on a yard sale.^[18] Over the course of the next few months, strange events related with both the box and Alan Wake began to occur in the young woman's house, culminating with her being visited in one of her dreams by the Bright Presence - still using the guise of Zane. The entity told Wells the history of the shoebox, the couple and their ultimate fates.^[7] The discovery of the shoebox, as well as all the event leading up to the visitation of the Bright Presence, were documented by Wells on her blog, This House of Dreams.

Rewritten history

Some time after 2012, the history of both Jagger and Zane was altered. In this new version of events, Baba Jakala was a Finnish actress and the lover of the renowned filmmaker Thomas Seine. Emigrating to America, the couple settle in Bright Falls, where they established an artist commune known as the Oceanview Hotel. The two also changed their names to Barbara Jagger and Thomas Zane respectively.^[19] During their time in Washington, Zane created a film named Tom the Poet, in which Jagger starred as The Dark Presence. The movie seems to depict the events of the original history of Jagger and Zane. Mirroring both the movie and the history of their counterparts, Jagger drowned in Cauldron Lake and her body was taken over by the Dark Presence while Zane vanished shortly after.^[20] Unlike their counterparts, however, Zane became trapped in the Dark Place, with no indication that Jagger is with him. Just as in the original version of events, the Dark Presence continued to use Jagger's appearance until it was vanquished by Alan Wake in 2010.^[20]

Trivia

• Barbara Jagger's name is a reference to the old Slavic folk legend of Baba Yaga, a witch that lived in a hut that stood upon chicken legs. The name of her and Thomas Zane's cabin, Bird Leg Cabin, is also a reference to this. Moreover, the Anderson Brothers also refer to her as "Baba Yaga" in Episode 4: The Truth.
• In the Alan Wake novel, it is said that underneath the veil, her face is really just a skull.

Behind the Scenes

• In early missions and tests for the game, Jagger seemed to be the one guiding Alan Wake and giving him the manuscript pages.

Appearances

• Alan Wake
  • Episode 1: Nightmare (Dark Presence)
  • Episode 2: Taken (Dark Presence)
  • Episode 3: Ransom (Dark Presence)
  • Episode 4: The Truth (Dark Presence)
  • Episode 5: The Clicker (Dark Presence)
  • Episode 6: Departure (Dark Presence)
• Night Springs (Dark Presence)
• Alan Wake 2 (photograph only)

Gallery

Alan Wake

Concept art for Barbara Jagger (From 'Alan Wake- The Library')

A photo of Barbara from "The Alan Wake Files"

Barbara in the Oh Deer Diner

Alan Wake 2

An old photo of Barbara with Thomas Zane

Barbara playing "The Writer's Widow" in the short film "Nightless Night"

References