The Protagonist (also known as "The Stranger",) is the main character in the second half of the Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and the Epilogue.

This unnamed man is clad in a worn coat wearing a big rimmed, weathered hat, and, if his self-image in the mirror is to be believed, a distorted face half-covered by a scarf.

The vast majority of the game is portrayed from the Protagonists perspective, as the descriptions of everything in the game is written in a first-person view from his perspecitve.

The Protagonist has been rendered mute as a result of his infection by the Plague, his journal entries indicates that he has a very blunt and gruff personality, and loathes himself. Although his actions are entirely up to the player to decide, he is willing to greatly hurt people for his own benefit, this is also likely partially the result of Plague, one of which many symptoms are increased aggression and delusions.

Backstory

This section contains major spoilers. Reader discretion is advised.

Prior to the start of the game, the Protagonist lived in a block of flats with his wife/girlfriend and his pet dog. He had been into the Woods multiple times as part of military expeditions prior to the events of the game.

The Protagonist is a member of the Outsiders (specifically the Polish military, though this term might apply to anyone that was not resident to the woods), and entered the zone approximately two weeks before the start of the game through one of the many tunnels that run beneath the surface of the woods. He was part of a team working in the sector closest to the Being, the team of which were studying the entity, it's electrical properties, growth, and effects. The team were unexpectedly attacked by a large group of Savages, leaving the team little time to fight back. They were overwhelmed. It is unclear if they were all killed, only one soldier is found with his gas mask off in the campsite, but nearby two further soldiers have been tied to trees by the Savages and have died. A third tree surrounded by torn bloodied rope and fabric, and a nearby scarecrow adorned with the torn hazmat suit, heavily implies the third soldier was the Protagonist who escaped and, for unknown reasons, removed his damaged hazmat suit and switched it for the clothes of the scarecrow. From here he fled into the Swamp, eventually making it close to the Doctor's house where he collapsed.

Infected by the Plague, due to the loss of his gas mask and hazmat suit, and possibly accelerated by the injection of essence given to him by the Doctor, the Protagonist has been rendered mute (the Doctor will comment on this in Chapter 2 if he is alive and on good terms with the Protagonist). He no longer requires rest, food, or water, but craves essence and Mushrooms. While not seen directly by the player, the Protagonist has an either heavily deformed or injured mouth (the Elephant Mother directly says this), such as his face looks like a "disaster" and "barely even human", this however is not the cause of his muteness as both he and Savages are capable of vocalising even after losing their ability to talk. Due to the usual path of progression for the Plague when becoming a Savage (and Chompers), it's most likely that the Protagonist deformity is actually horrific injury likely sustained during the attack on his camp by the Savages - the glass visor on his gas mask (now on the scarecrow) has been completely smashed in, and could have theoretically lacerated his face.

Plot

At the start of the game, the Doctor finds the Protagonist stranded in the forest east of the Doctor's House. The Doctor takes the Protagonist back to his house and interrogates him for the location of the Underground Entrance before leaving with the Big, Metal Key.

At this point, the Protagonist escapes captivity and explores the Doctor's House - killing Janek in the process - before being overwhelmed by multiple Black Chompers (heavily implied to actually be villagers ransacking the house in search of the Doctor). The Protagonist somehow manages to get out of the house, at which point the Trader finds him in the woods, and brings him to Dry Meadow Hideout.

From there, the game's core mechanics are unlocked to the player.

The Protagonist then progresses through the plot of the game - his primary objective is first to reclaim the Big, Metal Key from the Doctor, and then to escape the Swamp through The Road Home, either by burning the Talking Tree down or by escaping through the Radio Tower Bunker.

In the Epilogue, the Protagonist has finally escaped Darkwood - he traverses through a peaceful city block and is greeted by a neighbor. In his apartment, he will then take off his coat and hat, and finally go to sleep, triggering the Ending Bliss.

Alternatively, if the Protagonist explores his apartment block, he discovers that things are not as they seem. Tree roots will be coming out of the walls, and lead toward his bed. Prying away the flooring and moving aside the bed reveals a large hole in his bedroom. Leaping in will have him awaken naked and dirty in a giant valley, filled with massive tree roots endlessly coiled together to form giant networks of wood. The valley is filled with emaciated, dying people, dreaming happily. Exploring the valley will eventually lead the Protagonist toward The Being. At this point, the Protagonist can either surrender to it, or locate the Sleeper, Maciek, who clutches a rusty flamethrower. Taking the Flamethrower from Maciek, the Protagonist torches down The Being, sacrificing himself in the inferno in the process. The fire quickly spreads through the valley, and eventually to the forest itself.

In hindsight, the fate of the Protagonist is sealed from the start of Prologue, he must die in the Woods no matter what he chose to do.

Trivia

• The Protagonist never sleeps; only upon death (with permadeath disabled) or after visiting The Church or The Grave in his hallucinations does he seem to wake (as if) from a bad nightmare.
• The Protagonist expresses boredom and distain for his life in his journal notes (retrieved from the Doctor's fire in Chapter 2 if the player failed Train Dream Sequence), and was looking forward to visiting the woods again.
• The Protagonist had already visited the woods many times before the incident that led to the events of the game.
• In prior versions of Darkwood, a Partly Digested Finger could be found on enemies that had killed the Protagonist — implying that his deaths were canon.
• The Protagonist is seemingly married as implied by a note left in the apartment, as well as one of the dream sequences. He also owns a dog named Szurek, which is seen in the Epilogue.
• The Protagonist has dark brown hair, as revealed by two of his sprites.
• Being a part of the Outsiders and thus the military, the Protagonist is fairly adept at the use of firearms.
• The Protagonist and the Trader are heavily implied to be one and the same, the Trader cloned by the Being prior to the Protagonist escaping from the tree the Savages had tied him too. When the Doctor first finds the Protagonist he notes that he only has "a journal and key on him", the same two identical items (albeit pale and warped) can be found on the Trader's body. The Trader is also said to be covered in growths and fused to his gas mask, another trait common with clones as the Being is incapable of making perfect replicas or telling different organisms/objects apart whether they are organic or not.
• There is a high possibility that it was the Protagonist that killed the Trader in Chapter 2 during a hallucination or moment of confusion. Interacting with his corpse, the Protagonist no longer appears to recognise him. The writing on the Trader's mask "Liar" makes the most thematic sense to be written by the Protagonist, as the Three do not know the Trader nor do they show any violent tendencies, even when attack by the Protagonist. In addition, the argument that the Three wrote Liar on the helmet because Thief is written on their house's floor makes no sense as it was not the Three that wrote "Thief" on their own floor, and their house was not the only one to be targetted with this graffiti.
• The Protagonist is an unreliable narrator, his memory is incomplete and continuing to deteriorate, he suffers from both auditory and visual hallucinations as a result of the Plague, and especially under the influence of essence. Such scenes where this is very apparent include the opening sequence after the Doctor leaves in the prologue, and the Church dream. In the Church dream, if the Protagonist succeeds in killing the Black Chomper by cutting it in half, and then returns the next day, he will find in its place the body of a human being chopped in half.
• In the Genocide ending the Protagonist is referred to as a "monster in a scarecrow's disguse", alluding to him swapping his gear for the scarecrow's clothing on the northern fields near the military camp.

Gallery

The Protagonist's top-down view.