The Fireplace, or more commonly known as the flame, is the sentient, polymorphic entity that delivers missions to the Reaper. The reaper themselves usually also refer to the flame as their "employer", for their tasks and acts are basically the orders of the flame.
Background[ | ]
In the demo version of DEADBOLT, the flame is depicted as the "God of Life" (referred so in the level editor) that lends the gift of life to people through a fire that lives and grows with them as they lived on[1]. When people pass away, the fire is expected to be returned. However, the fire won't return if the person possessing it dies through unnatural manner, such as drug overdose, suicide, and any other "modern form of deaths"[2].
These people will not "return" properly, and come back as what commonly known as the Undead, still possessing the fire and lives on miserably in the Place. The Reaper is said to be a properly "returned" being[3] that is tasked to hunt down undeads, end their misery and return their fire as ordered.
In the release version of DEADBOLT however, the flame is said to never speak in prose, delivering the entirety of his speeches in a cryptic, nearly poetic way.
The flame also hired another form of entities called Candles, said to be the eyes and ears of him. Later it is revealed that the flame's true form himself is a giant anthropomorphic Candle.
Trivia[ | ]
- If one somehow manages to enter the debug hidden room (a replica of the Reaper's hideout where one can talk to the flame but not proceed to mission selection), the flame will taunt the Reaper and ask how he managed to end up there.
- In the beta version, the flame will then proceed to tell the player not to edit games files, while in the release version he would simply say "ror2 when", which is a reference to the way Risk of Rain players are said to constantly bug Hopoo Games, the developer of both games, on a sequel release.
References[ | ]
- ↑ "Everyday, I lend people the gift of life; their fire," the flames said. "They live and grow, and with it their fire grows as well. In return, I expect it back when they pass. But some have managed to... slip past the cracks."
- ↑ "Drug overdoses. Suicides. Faulty wiring. Modern forms of death. I haven't get used to it, and I can't catch their fire in time. They get stuck here, somewhere between life and death, still in possession of my gift. That's why I have you."
- ↑ "Another life, well returned!" said the flames.