Anderson Brothers

The Anderson Brothers
Biographical information
Physical description
Gender:	Male(s)
Vital statistics
Faction:	Human(s)
Status:	Alive
Location:	Bright Falls
Behind the Scenes

The Anderson Brothers are aged members of a rock group called the Old Gods Of Asgard who undergo treatment at Emil Hartman's Clinic as they both have dementia, but still keep their spirits up and keep in their rock god personas.

Background

They have a fondness for Norse Mythology, so far as to change their names to Tor & Odin. The Anderson's used to live near the lake on The Anderson Farm. The place seems to be lived in when Alan Wake finds it, suggesting that they still live there from time to time. They have chosen that place so they could be close to the lake and it's mystical powers. They were very successful in the 70s, going on nationwide tours. Sometime in the 70s they came in contact with the Dark Presence. They fought it and survived. They seem to know a lot about the Dark Presence and the Lake, but are of little help to Alan Wake due to their dementia.

Alan Wake (Season 1)

The Anderson brothers are a catalyst for Alan's escape from Cauldron Lake lodge. They start behaving unruly, angered by Hartman's attempts to exploit the residents of the lodge and his lack of attention to the dark presence threat. Eventually they knock out the Nurse Sinclair with a hammer and corner Nurse Birch, a tough-talking orderly who flees from them to hide. The lodge is then attacked by the Dark Presence. Wake starts his escape with the help of Barry in the midst of all the chaos. The Old Gods also manage to find their way out, leading a group of the lodge's former patients.

One of their songs is the key to finding out how Alan must progress to find his wife, within one of their songs 'The Poet And The Muse' a lyric states:

"And now to see your love set free
You will need the witch's cabin key
Find the lady of the light, gone mad with the night
That's how you reshape destiny."

Alan manages to work out that he needs to find the lady who checks the light bulbs around town, Cynthia Weaver.

At one point Alan and Barry must protect themselves using the Anderson's old band stage, using the stage lights & the other equipment lying around, whilst Old Gods Of Asgard's song 'Children of the Elder God' plays in the background.

They are last seen during the ending cinematic of the game dancing together and laughing with their moonshine.

The Signal (DLC)

Though never seen directly the Anderson Brothers have cardboard cutouts located within the DLC.

The Writer (DLC)

The Andersons are seen at the end of the DLC as enemies. When Wake fights with Barry Wheeler, he is attacked by Taken clones of people he knew in real life. The Anderson Brothers fight together as Fast Taken, and they both wield guitars as weapons.

Manuscripts

Alan Wake

The Anderson Brothers in the 70s

It’s 1976. Madness reigns at the Anderson Farm. Contrary to all logic, the headiest ingredient of their moonshine is unfiltered water from Cauldron Lake.

The Andersons feel like gods.

Odin can’t stop laughing, he contemplates cutting his eye out.

Tor runs across the field, naked, shrieking, hammer in his hand, trying to catch lighting.

Their songs have power, something ancient is stirring in the depths, coming back.

Tor Hits Nurse Sinclair

Lighting flashed behind the window of Cauldron Lake Lodge. Tor Anderson laughed and held the steel hammer above his head. Nurse Sinclair was trying to calm him down without success.

Tor grinned madly and shouted: “My hammer’s up! Here’s a friendly poke from Mjöllnir, wench!”

He brought the hammer down with all the might on Sinclair’s head. “We’re on a comeback tour, baby!”

The Patients Escape the Lodge

The storm raged on as the Anderson brothers walked unsteadily away from the clinic with the other patients in tow, knowing, that this time they wouldn’t return. The darkness around them seethed with horrors, but Tor and Odin were unafraid.

Their eyes glinted with guile they knew every secret path, and there was blood on their hands. They had fought these shades before.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare

Old Gods of Asgard

Tor and Odin Anderson. Old Gods of Asgard. I still don't quite know what to make of them. I know they used to be rock stars who modeled their stage personas after Norse gods. I know they're old. I know that in their day, they fought the darkness as I do. I know they're demented and insane, ravaged by age and self-abuse.

But there's something in them, something powerful that took hold when they were touched by the powers beyond, a thing that goes far beyond just stage names. Something godlike.

Barry and the Old Gods

The Anderson brothers should probably have been in a facility somewhere, despite their tendency to escape from such places. It could be argued that they had no business being on tour, considering their condition. Their lives mostly revolved around a laundry list of ailments and their endless quest for liquor.

But Barry Wheeler managed them now. And whatever else they might say about Barry, he knew how to make things happen...

And honestly, it wasn't like the Andersons were the most difficult clients he ever had.

Old Gods in the Studio

Getting the Andersons into the recording studio was a struggle and a half, but once they actually picked up the instruments, something happend.

They were two old men, and they weren't; they were doddering bags of bone, and they were barely contained power... And there was music.

Barry rubbed his hands together; he knew how to pick a winner. Now all they needed was some direction on how to make things a little more modern.

Barry had never produced a thing in his life, but he knew what he liked. He knew "Balance Slays the Demon" was going to be a hit.

Trivia

• Tor is 72 while Odin is 70.
• The Anderson Brothers had their own distillery, where they made moonshine. The secret ingredient was unfiltered water from the lake. It seems to have a strong effect on the mind. It is said to help 'clear the mind'. When Alan Wake drank it, it helped him piece together the memories he had lost.
• Tor seems to have an obsession with hammers. One of the manuscript pages describes him running around naked with only a hammer in his hand. Inside the Hartman Clinic he keeps a squeaky toy hammer and he keeps hitting objects with it. Finally, it's Tor who hits the nurse on the head with an actual hammer. This is probably why he chose the name Tor, like Thor the Norse God who always carried his trademark hammer Mjöllnir.
• Odin tells Alan Wake how he used to have two ravens called Thought and Memory, but the Dark Presence took them both away. The Norse God Odin also had two Ravens called Hugin (Thought) and Muninn (Memory). It's possible these two ravens are the origin of the flock of birds that the Dark Presence now uses.
• It is possible that Odin's two ravens could be the same two ravens in the study where Alan wrote "Departure" under the influence of the Dark Presence.
• A manuscript page reveals that Odin took out his own eye out of curiosity, under the influence of their own moonshine. The Nordic God Odin only had one eye as well. It could be that this was the inspiration for Odin to take out his own eye as well.
• Even though they are suppose to be locked up in the clinic, they seem to escape on a regular basis. Alan Wake first meets them in the Oh Deer diner in Episode 1, and in Episode 4 Alan and Barry notice that the Anderson Farm seems like they are still living there. Also, at the end of the game you can see them celebrating and drinking moonshine during Deerfest.
• The Anderson Brothers refer to Alan Wake as Tom, which has to be short for Thomas Zane. Whether this is just their dementia confusing the two writers or a clue that Alan and Thomas are alike is not clear.
• It is implied that the brothers were the ones that first awoke the Dark Presence from its long slumber sometime during the 70s after Zane had stopped it. They tell Alan that he "opened the door," but that it was already "open a crack," presumably by the two of them. This is also implied by a manuscript page written from the perspective of the Dark Presence, it talks about 'the rockstars'.
• One of the manuscript pages details their journey through the night along with the other patients of Dr. Hartman's lodge and suggests that they have faced the Dark Presence and the Taken before.
• Tor and Odin referenced Barbara Jagger (Baba Yaga) because she had taken something away from them. This could also mean that they had met Barbara Jagger in her Dark Presence form. They also knew that Barbara Jagger took something from Alan, they could refer to Alice. Also "Baba Yaga" is evil witchlike character in Slavic folklore, that usually guards the border between world of mortal and the land of the dead. It may be a clue to a nature of Dark Presence. In russian "Baba Yaga" loosely means "old witch".
• Both Tor and Odin knew Thomas Zane very well, and even offered some home-made "medicine".
• The two songs in the extras section of the game composed by the Old Gods of Asgard are actually made by Poets of the Fall which is a real band. Their songs are available on iTunes however these songs are not.
• In Alan Wake's American Nightmare the Biker taken is wearing an Old Gods of Asgard shirt.
• Odin's appearance and name bears a similar resemblance to the character Alfred Woden from Max Payne as they are both are a reference to Norse mythology and have an eye patch.

Unanswered questions

• In the 70s The Anderson Brothers came in contact with the Dark Presence. What exactly happened?
• Is the Dark Presence behind their dementia?