My first Tumblr post turned video! Yippie! Check it out if you'd rather listen to my (awful) voice instead of reading if your lil eyes need a rest.
Recently, a couple of tweets have stumbled across my timeline making me aware of the fact that there seem to be a lot of IDV players who simply don’t like Alice as a protagonist. Here are the tweets in question (I only covered one of the names for privacy as the rest I believe are okay to see especially Chia’s because she is like THE NUMBER ONE Alice Fan):
It was the first one that really inspired this post.
It’s a bit baffling to me as someone who from Day 1 of picking up the game came to like Alice first and foremost due to binging the main story. In addition, I picked up the game cause of the Ib collab and wanted Ib who coincidentally was given to Journalist as a skin so I was destined to be a Journalist main from the start it seems.
At first, I did think it was just because she was the protagonist of the main story and of course, they're going to write her as likeable. It helps that we see everything through Alice’s eyes but the more I learned about her outside of Ashes of Memory, the more I grew to love her as a character.
Of course, the main story can’t be overlooked. I can’t take seriously the whole “damsel in distress” angle. A damsel in distress is a woman who needs to be saved (usually by a man or men) after falling into some peril or danger.
Yes, Alice is in a dangerous situation at the manor where many have been killed/died before her. Yes, she is surrounded by men (rather attractive men *ahem*). But who exactly is coming to her rescue?
“Orpheus" is the one who set up the whole little farce of the manor game she is participating in and has drugged her multiple times on top of virtually emotionally and mentally manipulating her.
Frederick doesn’t care for Alice either and most likely planned out what happened on the race course with “Orpheus” considering “Mary” or really Frederick goes after Alice who is successfully drugged into passing out.
When Norton arrives after Frederick’s disappearance, he also chases Alice into a position of being chloroformed…and then he drugs her himself in the basement lab (more than likely on “Orpheus” orders but he does it anyway...rather roughly I may add).
1st image: Alice passed out on the racecourse, 2nd image: Alice chloroformed likely by "Orpheus," 3rd image: Norton drugging Alice.
Melly is the only one who shows any concern for Alice’s well-being in the affection system and her letters but it isn’t quite apparent yet in the main story. Yet, Melly also is suspicious herself as she clearly knows more than what she lets on but we have to see what the next part brings.
Regardless, it generally feels like Alice is truly on her own (truly feeling like a "Final Girl") and the girl only wants to find out the truth. Unfortunately, it's to the point that she willingly puts herself in danger. I would even say Alice’s pursuit of the truth makes her a bit fool-hardy and reckless. She is headstrong and brave but these traits of hers has already been shown to lead her into situations that comes at the cost of her well-being.
Simple rule: No wandering at night. Easy...right?
Messes around and finds out real quick why you shouldn't...
I think this self-confidence comes from the fact that Alice has had a load of experience from her career as a journalist. See, I feel as if people like the ones in the tweet above see Alice as this petite little thing who is reduced to being an object of “Orpheus” obsession and just serves as a MacGuffin of sorts to the general plot despite being the PROTAGONIST.
Yet, she is so much more. I have read a number of character birthday letters and while I have a LOT of catching up to do, practically every single character who has been around for at least a few years (typically 5) has an investigative letter written by Alice. This girl has been around. This little journalist has been to places close to home like around England and Scotland to as far as Haiti (when investigating Patricia). Possibly even America (St. Louis to be exact according to Cowboy's 2024 birthday letter or I'm misreading it and she just has connections there).
Speaking of investigations, reading Alice’s Investigation Notes on several characters, one can gleam more of a glimpse into her personality and I must say it’s admirable. Not only does she take the time to write concise and detailed notes on each individual, but she does so with care, attentiveness to the character and their background, and sympathy usually towards their plight, disappearance, or the ones that they left behind. While yes, Alice’s notes can be read as purely observational and objective, if you read a little deeper into it, she’s a very compassionate and intuitive individual.
Here are some examples that stood out to me from Enchantress' 2025 and Forward's 2025 birthday letter:
"Perhaps it was the vow I made that helped: I told them that, if I failed to keep my word, Papa Legba could take my soul. I'm someone who rarely breaks promises, and, truth be told, even without such a vow, I felt compelled to write about the suffering and resistance I had witnessed in this city." (Alice trying to earn the trust of Cap-Haitien citizens as a foreigner in their world.)
"There were tales of their father teaching them to dissect frogs, only for William to smear the walls with the foul innards; of being made to recite the Hippocratic Oath, only for the pages to be torn out and folded into paper airplanes… I could scarcely imagine the shadow such mischievous defiance cast upon young William's heart, and felt a pang of sympathy". (Alice upon hearing how William's father smothered him and his brother with confinement, discipline, and a push towards the medical field.)
The amount of investigations this woman must have done before going to the manor is insane.
It’s a shame. Many, if not all of the characters in IDV whether they are Hunter or Survivor, have or will be investigated into by Alice. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t know more details or lore about any of these characters. To reduce her to nothing about a plot device for “Orpheus” or to label her as a “damsel” is not only degrading to her character but also an insult to the core of what makes up IDV’s lore. Simply because there are those who may overlook the little intricacies revealed about her and everyone else in her investigations and story. Most don't even bother to read the lore properly and parrot what they've been told by others especially if they have little regard for the character.
Alice, far right, in "Faro Lady's" character background trailer. Coordinator is center in between the gates.
Besides that, people also easily forget Alice is possibly a “Faro Lady” trained in the arts of espionage such as lock-picking and disguise. Heck, she WAS supposed to go to the manor in disguise but decided not to after seeing her little Orphy doll (she’s too soft-hearted, I swear. But I also believe it’s another mark of her character being open and wanting to present her true self to her manor mates in the hope they reciprocate in kind).
Unfortunately, these skills came at the cost of an awful childhood and adolescence. Given she was both physically and mentally tortured at the White Sand Street Orphanage (turned Asylum) before being adopted out to some psycho medical researcher named Villhelm Lamb who took her to Australia to experiment on her. It is plausible that he also more than likely had her trained to be a “Faro Lady” like he did with Evelyn. Clearly, Alice’s life has far been rainbows and roses.
Once called "the cursed child/girl" and blamed for her parents' deaths, Alice experienced both mental and physical abuse.
And through all that time, she had no one to rely on but herself. It is incredibly understated how amazing Alice is for even crawling through all that abuse, anxiety, depression, and other such torturous experiences to become who she is today. I mean, look at “Orpheus” who went through a similar experience and see the man who he’s become.
Alice’s character as a whole is so under appreciated by the larger community and it’s honestly saddening to me that she is ignored and treated with such apathy at worse and misunderstanding at best. Even NetEase don’t seem to care much for her outside the main story. Like she is starving for some TLC.
Anyways, this became longer than I thought it would be so I’ll end it here with this from the current Qixi Festival that is going on which shares the wishes of each character in the game:
blakekathryn
stormborns
vaporwave
titsay
kaledo-art
