Did You Miss Me?: Darkiplier in 2018
For the most part, 2018 was a quiet year. In contrast with 2017, where we were gratified to see Dark's monochromatic visage throughout the year, 2018 carried playful hints and teasing of the elusive entity's presence but no confirmation. There were thumbnails and quick flashes that indicated He was continuing to pull strings, ensuring that His presence was felt but His face never really seen.
Throughout 2017, He'd show up during what us mere mortals consider major holidays or important events. Valentine's Day. Easter. Even Cinco de Mayo got a nod. And of course, the infamous Friday the 13th late in the year.
But 2018? He apparently decided to stay home in the void during our days of revelry, with the possible (though not confirmed) exception of the decidedly strange Fall in Love with MarkiplierĀ video for Valentine's Day. And for the TWO Friday the 13ths in 2018? He was a no-show. In 2017, He'd returned to shake things up in our safe little lives... and in 2018, He left us wanting more, like the skilled manipulative seducer He is.
Getting Over It, Part 8 included a thumbnail with Mark's dour expression and a suspiciously familiar colour scheme. The thumbnail for WATCH OUT!! had Mark reaching for us in a state of panic (which belied the contents of the video itself).Ā
Try Not to Smile Challenge #3, while the smile-free serial killer laugh is creepy, it's not a Darkiplier moment. Though, him joking near the end of the video that people who didnāt smile at some point during the video are "soulless demons" does seem to be a Darkiplier reference of some kind (or maybe a Devilplier reference, since the Cuphead song was released just two months later)?
In Madison, when his game character watches a television that glitches and fades to static, Mark fearfully squeaks, "Darkiplier, is that You?!" While in the description for End My Suffering, just ten days later, Mark wailed, "What malevolent being did I piss off to be cursed like this!"
Brother Wake Up promised "Iāll try to help in whatever way I can but you have to wake up!" Which, while it fit perfectly with the title of the game, the description also fit pretty damn well into the channel lore too. And Umfend's description was likewise ominous: "You shouldn't have forgotten about me... I'll make you remember..."
Meanwhile, the title for the video of Welcome The The Game 2.0 doubles as a callback to an earlier Darkiplier moment: "Don't Play This Game".Ā Horns of Fear did it one better, with the thumbnail featuringĀ many eyes staring out at the viewer (again with an all-too-familiar colour scheme), while the title warned us "DON'T LOOK AWAY..."
In the Warframe playthrough late in the year, Mark's camera briefly freezes. But in 3 Scary Games #9, his camera freezes repeatedly before glitching back to normal, and he implies that "there's something else" messing with the camera.Ā In 5 Nostalgic Games, when Mark gives the definition of ubiquitous and bares his teeth while saying "We're learning today!", the video suddenly glitches.Ā
The thumbnail for Markiplier has fled the countryĀ had Mark lunging at the camera, his face completely darkened by shadow. And the thumbnail for 3.75 Scary Games blatantly toyed with the fandom with text shouting "DARKIPLIER?"
And the fanbaiting didn't stop there. More thumbnails that hinted at Dark included a hand bathed in blue light reaching out to the viewer for the fittingly titledĀ The Devil Haunts Me, and a cartoon of Mark cowering away from Dark's furious glare for You're Perfect. Ā
Markiplier's Tour: The Movie featured the improv teacher stating that Markiplier wasn't at the shows. "I don't know who that guy was, but it wasn't him." Even the Markiplier Animated shortĀ I've Got Boobs?! features a brief scene of a shadowy Darkiplier rising from a well and whispering something unintelligible.
For the most part however, the teasing came directly from out of Markās mouth.
In 3 Scary Games #5, Mark jokes that a ghost (clad in the classic white sheet and glitching somewhat) is Darkiplier. 3 Scary Games #13, the first (jokey) game called "Death Trips" features RGB text and Mark narrating in an echoing voice. In Midnight Shift, a game where Mark is memorably being chased by mannequins, he jokes that an RGB poster on a wall is "expricitly [sic] Darkiplier". In SCP Containment Breach #57, Mark jokes when he sees the intro screen of a pretty lady in 3D with an open third eye, "Look at this Darkiplier ass thing... it's like Celine, straight out of [Who Killed Markiplier?]".Ā
In 3 FNAF Fan Games, he even chortles that the game has āDarkiplier letters.ā In Devil Daggers, he scoffs,Ā āA high-pitched ringing in the darkness. Thatās always good.ā
[Image captured by me, on June 3, 2018.]Ā
Just before midsummer, I received a pleasant surprise. In Imscared: Steam Edition, Mark says "I gotta go get back into the Shadow Realm, the Upside Down." Which, personally, made me very happy at the time. Since I first became active on Tumblr in July 2017, I've been referring to Dark's void dimension as the Shadow Realm, while Mark has referred to it in the past as the Upside Down, making the link fairly clear in this statement. (Somehow, whether by happy accident or serendipity, my terminology and its proper context made its way to Mark. As a fan, I can't describe how pleased that made me, to know he might have actually seen something Iāve made.)
(But enough about me. Iām just an obsessive Darkiplier fangirl. So letās get back to cataloging all the hinty goodness!)
By this point, youāre probably wondering,Ā āOkay, so all those hints are decent. But where the hell is Dark in all of this?!ā But thatās the point, my friends: He was there the whole time. In brief flashes of imagery, in hints and innuendo. Unseen, but his presence clearly felt as our expectations were played with by our channel host.
We expected a wild ride at the beginning, when Mark made two brief livestreams on January 5th, wandering through the theatre he was slated to play for the Youāre Welcome Tour.Ā
The first of the two,Ā āWhatās Going In?!ā, he showed us the back area of the Paramount Theatre, using only improvised narration and acting to build an atmosphere of dread. He claimed the theatre was haunted, and that he could smellĀ āthe scent of deathā, ultimately vowing to protect those who would be visiting the theatre to see him that night. He also declares the EXIT a trap, before being pursued by an unseen entity.
The drama continued withĀ ā...ā (a title that is impossible to find using Youtubeās search options), that begins with an eerie quiet. Tyler eventually finds Markās dropped phone. He asks the viewers where Mark is, before going on a search. Heās eventually attacked from behind and the stream cuts off, leaving those who werenāt at the show that night to wonder how the matter resolved.
In Simulacra, there's a brief flash of Mark in his Big Mood outfit with text saying "WAKE UP". When the simulacra changes the colour of the cellphone's display and begins to speak in a calm, creepy voice, Mark reflexively responds, "Darkiplier?" and sounding unnerved at the mention of "behind your black mirrors", then being stunned as the screen appears to crack.
At the end of Simulacra, he gives an uncharacteristically downbeat speech, declaring that "We're all just digital copies of ourselves, idealized in a digital form. And maybe that's the way that life is just supposed to be. Maybe we should all just roll over and accept it, because there's nothing that we can do to change our fates, after all. And who's to say that it's not better for us just to wear the masks that are our digital personas, and live our lives as those? Maybe that is for the best."
The How To Make Slime video goes from harmlessly silly and takes a twist for the stabby. Mark declares "In order to appease the Dark Gods..." then he instructs the viewer to slice their palm and "whisper the words of power." The words in question? "They shall rise. They shall consume. All will be lost when they rise from the darkness of the ocean. Madness opens up to everything." When the making of the slime is concluded, he adds that "We all get to enjoy three years of peace before the Dark Gods consume us all."
I have no idea what that means, but Iām pretty sure it may involve Cthulhu chomping on my kidneys. (Then again, Darkiplier is a Lovecraftian monstrosity Himself. So, if itās Him whoās one of the Dark Gods? He can have a kidney from me if Heās really that hungry. Kidneys are a redundant system anyway, so you really only need one.)
April Foolās Day brought us the gag gift of The Official Markiplier Rock, with a suspiciously deep voice informing us that the rock is available in white. Additionally, the video warned to alert the SCP Foundation if the rock appears to start talking! (What? My rock has been talking to me since I got it, and thereās nothing wrong with me!)
Baldiās Basics: Secret Ending featured an explanation about attaining the secret ending, with Markās otherwise normal voice echoing slightly with subtle white noise effects. (Hmmm...)
In December, for the charity livestream and archived in a video called Santa Spills The Tea, a Santa Claus that sounded suspiciously like Wilford Warfstache declared that Dark, the master manipulator and Big Bad of Markās channel, was a āsweetheart! He shouts a lot, but heās just a big olā pussy. He canāt even possiblyā¦ he didnāt hurt anybody! He didnāt kill one person! If thereās anybody whoās on my naughty liā uh, on my list of people whoāve been bad, heās the only one not on it.ā (And mind you, in 2017ā²sĀ Markiplier TV, Wilford sang a little ditty about how he killed Santa Claus and the kids wouldnāt be getting any presents that year. And Dark still convinced us to shoot someone in A Date With Markiplier, while apparently feigning regret.Ā But heck, use your own judgement.)
Mark also dropped one heck of a hint of things to come in, of all places, Markiplier Tries Korean Beauty Products. There, the descriptive intro to the following yearās DAMIEN animated feature can be heard at one point.Ā āSnow blankets the field, a pristine meadow of untouched white. No animals call. No birds cry. Only the steady rustling of wind through dead trees accented by the impact of his axe. A crack-like thunder rings out as the ancient pine finally succumbs to his murderous assault. The old giant crashes into the ground. Dami-ā
Wilford Motherloving Warfstache was, of course, focused on the mustachioed entity. But there were elements to the short film that felt like Darkiplier was watching along with us. Particularly the VHS-style glitch at the end of the film.
Of course, there were only three videos that year that potentially contained Darkiplier himself.
One candidate isĀ Fall in Love with Markiplier. Yes, the name on the title is Markās... but is it really him? The entirety of the film is a fourteen minute staring contest with Mark, as he lovingly (and somehow also creepily) gazes at the viewer in different settings -- by the ocean, at a dog park, and in a bubble bath. The only spoken words are in the intro, over the strains of the music from A Date with Markiplier:Ā āItās scientifically proven that you can fall in love with someone simply by maintaining eye-contact for an extended period of time. So now, you can fall in love with Markiplier all over again in these three locations. Happy Valentineās Day.ā
The second candidate is Worldās 5th Quietest Letās Play, released just 5 days prior to the Letās Have a Romantic Staring Contest video. Unlike the previously mentioned video, thereās more going on this time around. The game to be played quietly this time around is Bennett Foddyās infamous rage-inducing creationĀ āGetting Over Itā.Ā
He threatens the developer with the words,Ā āYou will see the inside of your entrails, when I drag them out of your abdomen and show them to you.ā (Ah, how romantic.) He goes even further than that, saying soon after, āThis is a representation of My sins... You will be purged in the fires of absolution, along with all of your ilk. I will burn the heretics that you are harbouring inside of your soul... I will destroy you.ā (Now thereās the smite-happy Hellgod we all love!)
But He doesnāt stop there, snarling under His breath, āYou will burn in the fires of My own hell! And I will choose your pain to last eternity!ā However, He is ultimately defeated by the game, departing our company withĀ āAlas, I leave you now, to slumber amongst the ancients.ā (Aww, poor guy needs a hug. And I know just whoās ready to snuggle with Him...)
But the last of the video to potentially contain Darkiplier is... the four-hour long play through of Hearts & Heroes. Is it canon Dark? No, probably not. Itās a fan game, though the words of dialogue are acted out by Mark himself. But rather than simply recounting key phrases for you, hereās the Boss Battle between Markās team and Dark, edited by the lovely icedpinkpeebles (Markās goofy character names and all!):
So, what does all of this ultimately mean? Why did Darkiplier fade into the background in 2018? And, most importantly, what is He up to now?
The truth is I donāt know any more than you do. I can only guess.
But I can tell you this: We donāt know Darkiplier as well as we all think we do. Many of us (including me) fully expected Dark to raise hell following the events of the jokeyĀ Darkiplier vs Antisepticeye video in 2017 (because He did mention how He hates being mocked!). And while we did get more Dark at the end of that year, it was in the form of an origin story.
Whatever Darkās planning, weāre not going to see it coming. Because Heās playing a long game. And when youāre immortal like He is, you have all the time in the world to get what you want. Be it for love or revenge, Darkiplier remains a force to be reckoned with.
But here we are, in the eye of the storm. Only time will tell before the final wrath of the hurricane makes landfall.
