#guy who is totally mentally stable voice: maybe it’s time for a rewatch

[deathishauntedbyhumans]

thinking about balthazar “what do you wear on sundays” cavendish and vinnie “not much” dakota……………………

[princess-of-the-corner]

Tbh I somehow ended up on an Until Dawn kick(currently rewatching Markiplier’s playthrough), and can I just say, like, most of these characters are terrible people? Like, just.... here this is going to be long. 

Mike

Major part of the Hannah prank

Cheats on Jess with Emily even though Emily is dating Matt

Can murder Emily. Slightly justified by the fact that he’s unsure if the Wendigo bite can turn her, but tbh if he had been listening The Stranger said you only become a Wendigo through cannibalism(Seriously, why did they have to read The Stranger’s journals for that tidbit?). That, and he should have gone for the safer ‘okay, you seem chill right now, but if you start getting the munchies we’ll have to put you down for our own safety’. 

Emily

Mastermind #2 of the Hannah prank

“It’s just a prank Han!”

shows very little remorse for getting Hannah and Beth killed until learning all of what happened in the mines(maybe justified because denial stage). However, what regret she feels is more guilt for being responsible for their death than actually regretting her decision to play the prank.

Cheats on Matt with Mike even though Mike is dating Jess

Verbally abusive to her boyfriend Matt 

fights with Jess

Decides to blame Mike almost killing her on Ashley(who was freaking out and asking her to leave in case she was infected, but not on board with the shooting) and slaps her for it

Tried to indirectly kill Ashley by pushing her into a wall and leaving her to the Wendigo chasing them

Jessica

Mastermind #1 of the Hannah prank, very excited to humiliate her.

“She just can’t take a joke”

not much remorse about the prank itself, but guilt that it caused Hannah and Beth’s death.

fights with Emily(slightly justified as Emily started it

Okay with pranking, video taping, and teasing Mike, but gets mad at him if he tries to play a prank on her. Granted she fell in cold water, but the fall is less of her concern. 

This is more inferred than straight out said, but Wendigo!Hannah was the most brutal with Jess. Pulling her through the shattered window, dragging her through the woods and tearing her apart, leaving her injured and unable to move on the elevator. Everyone else gets a quick death, but not Jess, so we can infer that Jess was terrible to Hannah before the prank. 

Ashley

Part of the Hannah prank

can show some remorse for it. She acknowledges it was their fault for pulling the prank in the first place, that it was dumb to do in the first place. 

Literally leaves Chris to die by Wendigo because of Josh’s Saw scenario. If Chris shoots her, even if she begged him to kill her instead of himself, she will literally refuse to open the door for him, watch him die, coldly ignore his death, and lie to the cops about killing him. No remorse whatsoever. 

Matt

part of the Hannah prank, videotaping the experience

“Hmm. We just rode a collapsing fire tower into a fucking mine shaft, and my girlfriend is literally dangling from a detached railing over a probably-death-height drop. I should take this moment to confront her about possibly cheating on me and being a total bitch in general! Then I won’t help her until she either promises to be faithful to only me, or to treat me better!”

Can leave Jess to die in the mines

Hannah

Yeah she was the victim here however I am not counting her actions as the girl who fell in the mines, starved enough to turn to cannibalism, and became a wendigo. I’m counting her actions during the prologue. 

it’s one thing to be in love with a guy despite knowing he’s in a relationship, it’s another thing altogether to try and sleep with a guy despite knowing he’s in a relationship. She wasn’t just taking the opportunity she thought was presented when they pulled the prank, she had been flirting with him and trying to get with him. While this doesn’t justify what happened to her(Especially as Mike and Emily are hypocritical, pranking her for this and then cheating on their respective partners with each other) she’s not an innocent person. 

Now for those who aren’t terrible people and are actually pretty nice:

Josh

Josh has a lot of issues and did many things, but there are a lot of circumstances that, while they don’t excuse what he did, it makes him better than the others and is a lot more sympathetic.

These people got his sisters killed, and he feels a lot of guilt because he was passed out drunk at the time and could have, hypothetically, put a stop to the whole thing.

Yes, he did the whole murder psycho thing, but it was revenge. ‘Just a prank.” for them getting his sisters killed. Yes, his prank was much more traumatizing, but he wanted them to feel the fear Hannah and Beth must have felt. But everyone was physically safe. The first trap where Chris has to ‘kill’ Josh or Ashley is rigged to kill Josh(’s dummy). The second trap with Chris and Ashley has the sawblades that will never reach them and blanks in the gun. He does knock a few people out with gas, but the only time he hurts someone is when Ashley stabs him with scissors.

 People think this is worse than it is, because before we know about the Wendigos, we think ‘the Psycho’ is the murderer, and ‘the Psycho’ turns out to be Josh. We think he’s either killed or attempted to kill Jess, Matt, and Emily.

Some people pointed out that his pranks were only on Chris, Sam, and Ashley. Two of which were not part of the prank. 

However, Sam was only gassed and taken out of the way to make sure she didn’t get caught in anything, and Chris was involved because Josh was trying to force him to confess his feelings for Ashley. 

Also, we have no idea what Mike, Jess, Matt and Emily were supposed to be trapped in. Josh most likely had pranks set up for them. Like Jess’s phone crashing through the window of the cabin while playing music. People blame Wendigo!Hannah but do you really think a cold bony wendigo could manage a touch screen? He sent Mike and Jess to the cabin where their prank was, and he trashed the cable car office to get Matt and Emily wherever. If Mike and Jess had stayed in the cabin and Emily and Matt hadn’t fallen in the mines(both because of the Wendigo), they would have gone through their own shit.

He is also not mentally stable. From his psychiatric report, we can see that he was being treated for depression from age 11 but his symptoms show that he was either misdiagnosed or he also had schizophrenia and was getting no help for it. The fact that none of his meds were helping made him self medicate by taking to much(though apparently his doctor recommended electroconvulsive therapy instead of reassessing his diagnoses), and after his sisters died he attempted to kill himself. He is also probably off those meds and suffering withdrawal during this. 

Still, he cares about them. When Mike accuses him of killing Jess, he’’s confused and apologetic. He didn’t want anything to happen to her. He’s probably trying to figure out what went wrong with whatever their prank was. And again, he didn’t want to physically hurt them, just do some revenge pranks. Hell, Chris is his best friend, and he tries to set him up with one of the girls who killed his sisters. 

Deserved a better ending.

Chris

Chris did not take part in the Hannah prank as he and Josh were passed out drunk.

He voices his disapproval of the prank later on, suggesting he wouldn’t have taken part of it if he had the chance. 

Yes, he has the option to ‘shoot’ Ashley, but considering their options in what they think is going on, along with the fact that she will offer to die(and the fact that she kills him for this), I’m not counting it against him. 

As upset as Chris is with Josh’s actions, he does attempt to defend him somewhat, and returns with The Stranger to save him.

He is the calmest during the ‘do we shoot Emily because we got bit’ section. While he does agree that until they know, she should be separated from them, he is not on board for shooting.  

Sam

Refuses to play the prank on Hannah

Sam is the only non-prank character who had a choice. Josh and Chris were passed out drunk, but Sam was told about the prank and attempted to find Hannah to stop it. 

Does not get involved with the Ouija Board. That doesn’t really count but I’m giving her points for it.

She is the one person who pleads with Mike not to kill Emily

Like, most of these characters are such assholes. Like, why?