The Daughter is the child of The Painter and The Wife. She also has an unknown name. The protagonist can find drawings and markings on the wall with crayon made by the child throughout the main game and the DLC Inheritance. She plays a central role in his downfall and becomes a protagonist in the DLC.
Biography[]
From mementos and flashbacks throughout the main game and Inheritance, the child was, at first, treated well by both her parents. She was given a room filled with toys and had crayons to scrawl art. She played checkers with her father.
However, after the fire which scarred her mother, her situation declined as well. She was pressured by her father who wanted to make her into his artistic heir. He constantly tried to train her in painting (while her mother tried to train her in music). A note can be found in a bureau in the beginning of the game that states that he needs to work on his temper, and everything he does, he does with her best interest in mind. This means the Painter truly believed his daughter could artistically achieve what even he could not. He would critique her childish drawings with a red pen, as if she were a student of his. He regarded her crayon works as "childish nonsense", seeing art not as a hobby or childish pastime for her, but a career and serious passion. Her grades in the arts were excellent, but her other grades fell as her father wanted her to focus on her talents.
She was often caught in the middle when the Painter and his wife started to fight after her accident. Both parents lashed out their daughter during this time, and therefore she was often isolated. It is likely during this time that she found her favorite toy. Quoting the wife, "She naemd it Mr. Quiet. Mr. Quiet is her favorite toy. He never screams, she told me. He never makes a sound.” Given how Inheritance begins with the daughter explaining how she would just lay in bed at night and listen to her father scream, this makes sense that she would crave quiet as a child.
She would play with Popiel (the dog) whenever she could. Anytime there would be an outburst from the Painter with his daughter, he would feel guilty and console her by offering to buy her a doll, something that got out of hand to the point where the wife had to write him a note about it. However, he still worried about her well being, going so far as to fire nannies that he felt endangered her, not wanting to take risks - and trying to keep a wooden soldier toy out of her reach, as he felt it wasn't a good toy for her.
After the wife committed suicide, the daughter was taken away by social services some time later.
The Painter attempted to steal her back, but failed in the process. As he was arrested, he screamed over and over that "she's all I have left." It is unknown what happened to the child in the years after her removal. All we know is she was adopted by a couple, simply called Mr. and Mrs. Kirkstein. In a note from Inheritance, the Painter pleads for them to give his daughter back over and over.
As an adult, the daughter returns to her childhood home to collect her inheritance and to decide whether or not she should forgive her father.
Endings in Inheritance[]
- Forgiveness: The protagonist sees the good in her father, and decides to forgive him. In the future, the protagonist, now a parent, is given a drawing from her child. She asks "Why Pink?", echoing her father's complaint about drawing a pink horse. Pills and unknown paperwork are the backgrounds by the TV, and the painting she received her father hanging on her wall emits a black corruption. Although she has moved on from her traumatic childhood and forgave her father, the Forgiveness ending hints that her childhood experiences and inherited mental illness will play a role with how she raises her own child, repeating the cycle of madness.
- Unforgiving: The protagonist cannot forgive her father for the years of abuse and neglect she suffered at his hands. She decides to destroy her father's painting in revenge. She accidentally knocks over a candelabra, causing the fire to spread. It collapses a part of the house's structure and pins her down to the floor, presumably killing her.
- Discover Your True "Inheritance": The main protagonist discovers the hidden messages her father sent her in her own childhood drawings found throughout the game. She arranges them on a wall to form her childhood face. When she turns off the light, she finds her father's map to her true inheritance. She discovers a hidden room containing a canvas with her father's unfinished Magnum Opus. She decides to finish what her father started, saying, "I was told insanity runs in my family...let it run". She unveils the Empty Canvas, the unfinished starting point her father went to when starting over his attempts at his Magnum Opus. The shadow of a cradle gently rocks in the background, indicating that she will continue her father's work and his insanity.
Trivia[]
- It is likely that her father's mental condition is at least partially genetically inherited, judging by the protagonist's hallucinations and the hints given in the endings. It may also be that the Painter, through his actions, has passed down his obsessions to her daughter who, in the Forgiveness ending, will pass them to her child in turn.
- In the Unforgiving ending of the DLC, some blocks in the father's shrine to his daughter spell 'REGINA', a latin name for Queen. This could be a nod to her original nickname. She used to be called 'Princess', and now is all grown up to be a 'Queen.'
- In the 2023 game, she is also referred to as "Birdie" or "my little bird".
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