The Dweller Reborn in the body of Joshua Harris.
The Dweller was a formless Riftling that was born in the Rift along with his malevolent counterpart, the Creature. Rather than forming a body of his own as the Creature did, the Dweller chose to take on human hosts, which limited his power whilst outside of a Rift. The name "Dweller" was given to him by the humans used in his battles with the Creature. The rules he had to follow, and possibly his name, were created by Carrie Miller, his previous host.
History[]
The Dweller was created by "the Father" inside of the Rift sometime in 2010. Originally, he and the Creature existed as a shared consciousness. The two split apart and lived out a false past created by their own minds, which became true when they emerged from the Rift, altering the history of the universe in which they emerged. In this new history, they were enemies that battled each other for 10,000 years. Unaware of their true origin, the two believed themselves to be Nephilim, the offspring of human women breeding with a group of fallen angels known as the Watchers. Since they had no physical forms of their own, the Dweller decided to use humans as hosts whilst the Creature constructed a body for himself out of the dead.
Approximately 10 years before the events of the Angel's Game, the Dweller, believing the Creature to be dead, came to reside in the body of a young girl named Carrie Miller. Carrie and the Dweller established a good relationship and played puzzle games together, one of the rules of which was that the Dweller was unable to communicate to Carrie directly, instead speaking to her through puzzles and codes. Eventually, the Creature was able to locate the Dweller and the struggle between the two started once again. Ultimately, the Dweller was forced to flee as Carrie was killed. The Dweller was then said to have fled to the south over the next 10 years, ultimately coming to reside in Shreveport, Louisiana in the body of Joshua Rallus Harris, whom he believed had strong friends that could help fight the Creature when he inevitably arrived.
The Angel's Game[]
Short Summary[]
As he waited for the Creature's arrival, the Dweller assigned roles to the four main "pieces" in the coming Game. He himself was "the Dweller", his enemy was "the Creature", his host, Josh, was "the Keeper", and Josh's friend, Austin Bradley, was "the Other".
By taking control of his body at times, the Dweller then began to leave various clues for Josh and Austin, informing them that the Game was beginning. As the Dweller was able to communicate through puzzles and codes only, Josh initially believed that he was nothing more than a computer hacker and responded with defiance. As time went on and Josh realized that he was mistaken, the Dweller began to leave notes telling Josh to "keep her out", with "her" referring to another friend of his, Alana Hudson.
Shortly before Christmas, Josh found a box containing presents in his closet and claimed them. However, as he failed to keep Alana out of the coming events as he was asked to, the Dweller later repossessed the box and its contents. With Alana now involved in the Game, the Dweller reluctantly gave her the role of "the Dreamer". On one occasion, Josh was locked in his closet for a long period of time, during which he had some sort of conversation with the Dweller. Around this time, Josh came to the realization that the Dweller was sharing his body. The Creature, who had located the Dweller once again, had also begun to take action, including hospitalizing Austin. Austin, under the control of the Creature, later broke into Josh's house. Soon after, Josh told his friend, Stephen Patrick about the Dweller and the Creature. With him now also involved, he was given the role of "the Collector".
When Josh, Austin, and Stephen decided to search their missing friend's house for clues, they were confronted by the Creature. To allow them to escape, the Dweller was forced to use his energy, despite being confined to a human host. As a result, Josh's mind was left in a "broken" state and the Dweller began to take control of his body more regularly. During the following days, the Dweller spoke to both Alana and Stephen in person and informed them of what was going on. He also took Stephen to the well at his school, which the Dweller had attempted to lead Josh to, where he had hidden the passwords and information for Josh's accounts, as well as a flash drive containing information on the Creature. The Dweller took the flash drive and left Stephen after telling him that there was no longer any need for a Collector in the Game.
The Other broke into Josh's house once again, but eventually fled when he was confronted by the Dweller. The Dweller then denounced the Creature as a coward and announced to Josh's followers that he did not intend to give up and that he would continue the fight. Several days later, Austin murdered Alana and uploaded footage of the event to her account. In response, Josh, with what little sanity he had left, attempted to commit suicide. The Dweller attempted to stop him, which instead resulted in the two "dying" and merging together to form a new entity.
Detailed Summary[]
As he waited for the Creature's arrival, the Dweller assigned roles to the four main "pieces" in the coming Game. He himself was "the Dweller", his enemy was "the Creature", his host, Josh, was "the Keeper", and Josh's friend, Austin Bradley, was "the Other".
The Dweller, able to communicate to Josh through puzzles and codes only, began to leave clues around his house that the Game was beginning, such as notes with cryptic words and pictures on them. Josh, believing the Dweller to be a computer hacker, decided said clues were merely "cryptic bullshit" and ignored them. The first of the clues left by the Dweller was a small, black leather pouch filled with seven golf tees. Later, an even smaller pouch containing two dice and a single tee would be discovered. Josh would later reveal that these were references to his late grandmother whose name meant Angel and whose favorite game was Aggravation, a game played with four pieces per person and one die each. Josh assumed that these clues were there to hint at the being's knowledge of his family.
After Josh spent a day at Austin's residence, a video was posted on his channel entitled 100_2640.MOV. This video seemed to indicate that Austin was to be the other player in the Game. Soon after, Josh discovered a note and flash drive in a bathroom stall at his school, hidden inside of a toilet paper dispenser. The note contained a drawing of a man in a suit with a menacing smile on his face accompanied by the message: "LET'S PLAY THE ANGEL'S GAME." At this point, Josh began receiving notes regularly. They contained various messages describing the game they were playing. Among the information on these notes were the titles the Dweller had given the "pieces". In a series of split-second images in a video Josh uploaded, a set of notes warning Josh that "he is coming" and telling him to "keep her out" can be seen. The "her" referred to was later revealed to be his friend, Alana Hudson, who had recently taken up vlogging in response to Josh supposedly mentioning how fun it is to her. It was later revealed that Josh had no memory of ever telling her about his channel, or the fact that he enjoyed vlogging. Around this time, a series of videos with titles ending in file extensions appeared on Josh's channel. Each had a specific message that had been reinforced by the notes as well as warnings that the Creature had arrived.
The Dweller would proceed to take control of all of Josh's accounts and refuse to allow him access until he listened. After Josh started paying closer attention, the Dweller gave him back control of his accounts along with a memo. The memo was a reference to a class that Josh was taking, with the later periodic cipher being a reference to his chemistry studies. A video was then uploaded requesting that Josh watch his step. It would be in reference to the Dweller's desire to keep Alana out of the coming madness. A gift was hidden away in Josh's closet specifically to be given upon confirmation that Josh had not involved Alana. Having failed this, Josh had the gift taken from him by the Dweller and presumably destroyed or re-purposed.
Shortly after this, Josh heard a noise coming from upstairs in his house, resulting in him being locked in a closet for more than a day. The Dweller used this opportunity to speak with Josh whilst in the darkness, as well as apparently hide his camera in his closet and post several messages to his Twitter account. Around this time, the Dweller also sent letters to Alana, warning her to stay out of the Game. After several weeks without sending any notes, the Dweller made a puzzle for Josh which revealed that it was their turn now. One night, while Josh was at Austin's house, the Dweller apparently took control of Josh's body for nearly a day, with Josh "waking up" outside of his parents' church.
With Alana now involved in the Game, the Dweller gave her the role of "the Dreamer", possibly due to her apparently having strange dreams at the time, and continued to send out cryptic warnings. Around this time, the Creature began appearing more often, but was unwilling to make a move except for when Josh was far from his house, which was the site of a Rift. In addition, Austin, who was becoming more and more corrupted by the Creature's influence, was also starting to take action. On February 27th, the Other, under the control of the Creature, broke into Josh's house and uploaded a video to his account.
Some time prior to informing Stephen Patrick about the ongoing events, Josh came to the realization that he and the Dweller were sharing a body. Eventually, Josh, Austin, and Stephen decided to go to the house of their friend, Nathan, who they believed had been killed by the Creature, to investigate. During this trip, the Creature attacked them in person, forcing the Dweller to use his energies, which robbed Josh of his sanity. With Josh's mind now in a "broken" state, the Dweller took control of Josh's body and approached both Alana and Stephen in person. On March 17th, the Other once again broke into Josh's home and contemplated murdering him in his sleep. He ultimately decided against it, but left behind a sign that he was there. The Dweller found this sign and confronted the Other, who supposedly ran like a coward from their battle.
At some point in time, the Dweller took Stephen, who he had given the role of "the Collector", to the well at his school, a location he had hinted at in various notes he had left. There he had hidden a small blue Easter egg with the words "OPEN EYES :>" written on it, which contained the passwords and account information for Josh's various accounts as well as a flash drive with information about the Creature and how he was supposed to be dead. The Dweller took the flash drive, since he had already told Stephen enough, and told him that there was no longer any need for a collector in the Game.
The Dweller later denounced the Creature as a coward and informed Josh's followers that he did not intend to give up on the children he was protecting. After the Other murdered Alana, Josh, with whatever sanity he had left, attempted to commit suicide. The Dweller attempted to prevent this, which somehow resulted in the two "dying" and fusing together into a new being.
Emet Rotter[]
Main Article: Emet Rotter
The new entity was given the name "Emet Rotter" and was said to be a vessel for spreading the Dweller's influence. Emet continued the Dweller's fight, which resulted in both Austin and the Creature falling into the Rift in the lake behind Stephen's house. In addition, Emet created two more beings from the Dweller's power. The Collector was born from Emet leaving some of the Dweller's power in Stephen Patrick and the Dreamer was born from Emet leaving some inside of Alana Hudson, by using the Rift to place the power within her before her death. As Emet intended, the Collector would then "collect" the Dreamer from Alana when he visited her house to mourn her death and subsequently carry him into an alternate universe. Once in said universe, Emet and the Dreamer both came to reside in the body of that universe's Josh. Emet ultimately assimilated both Josh and the Dreamer into himself, becoming "the Dweller Reborn".
The Dweller Reborn[]
The Dweller Reborn, sometimes shortened to only "the Reborn", then revealed that he had allied himself with the Creature and the Outcast. Mr. Collector assumed that Emet, and perhaps even the Dweller, had been working with the Creature all along and that their goal was to use Phase-3 to achieve power equal to that of the Father. Continuing on with Josh's intentions, the Reborn kidnapped and tortured Faceless, Collector's girlfriend, who had murdered Josh's girlfriend in the alternate universe. The Reborn told the Outcast and the Creature that the Father wanted them to search for Collector. However, when Collector instead arrived at his location, the Reborn fled, leaving Faceless behind.
After Phase-3's activation and the deaths of both the Creature and the Outcast at Collector's hands, the Reborn revealed his true motivations. In the history that he had lived through for 10,000 years, Carrie Miller was the only one the Dweller had considered to be a true friend. After her death at the Creature's hands, the Father came to the Dweller and took him to Joshua Harris. The Dweller then waited for the Creature's inevitable arrival and the events of the Angel's Game played out, during which the Dweller became Emet Rotter. He then chose Stephen Patrick and marked him with the Dweller's power to create the Collector as a weapon that would go on to kill his mortal enemy, the Creature. The Dweller Reborn had been upset by the knowledge that his entire past was essentially a lie and that it was his fault that Carrie had been written into it in such a way. With the Creature dead, the Dweller's revenge was finally complete.
Personality[]
As a being who was thought to be more than 10,000 years old, the Dweller was wise and supposedly capable of solving any puzzle. He was also a kind being. In the false past he had lived, the Dweller had chosen not to feed on humans to retain a physical form and instead used humans as hosts. He also cared for the safety of his host and their friends, especially when he possessed Carrie Miller. After learning the truth about his past, however, the Dweller's attitude drastically changed. He was now fully willing to harm others for the sake of his revenge and even assimilate others' consciousnesses into himself if necessary. When he and Josh Rallus merged together and became Emet Rotter, he seemingly gained aspects of Josh's personality as well as some sadistic tendencies, which he presumably retained upon assimilating the alternate universe's Josh and the Dreamer to become the Reborn.
As a part of the games he played with Carrie, the Dweller was bound to a specific set of rules she created. Because of this, the Dweller was unable to communicate with his host except through codes and puzzles, unless his host already had a working knowledge of what he wished to discuss. However, the Dweller eventually stopped following the rules that had been set for him.
Abilities[]
As a Riftling, the Dweller was able feed off of Rifts as well as use a form of energy to ward off and combat the Creature. He was unable to use this energy to the fullest extent without damaging his host's sanity, and as such, typically chose to remain inside of a Rift, such as the one at Josh's house, where his power would be increased. When the Dweller's host was confronted by the Creature outside of a Rift, the Dweller was forced to use his energy to allow his host to escape, but was unable to match the Creature's strength and ultimately destroyed his host's sanity in the process. As Emet Rotter, he also demonstrated the ability to utilize Rifts for a form of time travel.
Notes[]
- The Dweller was at one point said to be a Nephilim with an immortal soul, but mortal flesh, who refused to feed on humans to maintain himself. As such, he lost his physical body whilst the Creature retained his body. However, this was later revealed to be untrue.
- It was originally believed that Emet had allowed the Creature to be pushed into the Rift by Austin to allow him to rejuvenate, since they were secretly allies. Since it is unknown when he actually "allied" himself with the Creature, whether this was actually true or not is unknown.