"...flicking the switch would turn on a magical light that would drive the beast away."
Clicker is a cut-off lightswitch Alan's mother gave him when he was a child because he used to be afraid of the dark. The clicker First appear in episode 2 in a flashback three years back. When the power goes out in Alan and Alice's apartment, Alice freaks out and Alan tell her the story of how his mother gave him the Clicker, and then gives it to her. She does not believe the story, but accepts the gift anyway. The Clicker does not appear again until the and of Episode 5: The Clicker, where Alan finds a shoebox in the Well Lit Room Thomas Zane had made sure would not disappear, even when he himself did. Along with the clicker, Alan also finds a manuscript page that describes how he's standing at Cauldron Lake where Diver's Isle used to be, and then clicking The Clicker. The page is narrated by the voice of Thomas Zane, and also contains elements of Alan's childhood, suggesting Zane had an influence in 'creating' Alan's life with his writing (though this is refuted by Zane in The Writer DLC.)
Characteristics
The Clicker has the power to drive away darkness just like Alan's mother had said. Whether this power was present all along, or if it originated with the writing of either Zane or Alan is unknown.
Uses
When Alan first uses it, inside The Well-lit Room, it seems nothing happens, but when he leaves the power plant, he realizes its not night anymore but in the middle of the day, Alan is not certain, but thinks The Clicker did this.
Later, Alan uses it when he stands where the Island used to be, and he jumps into the lake. After that, he wakes up in bed with Alice, which tries to convince him it was all just a dream, but Alan does not believe her, and then finds The Clicker to call for Tomas Zane.
Alan uses The Clicker one last time againt the Shade of Barbara Jagger, by putting it in the hole where her heart should have been, and then clicking the switch to 'kill her'. This does not, however, destroy the Dark Presence.
Manuscript
In the end of Episode 5: The Clicker Alan finds a manuscript page that does not appear in his inventory. this page, is about the Clicker.
Alan, seven years old, would fight sleep to the bitter end. When he did sleep, he soon woke up, screaming the nightmares fresh in his mind. One evening, his mother, sitting by his bed, offered him an old light switch. She called it the "Clicker" and flicking the switch would turn on a magical light that would drive the beast away.
To imbue the talisman with all possible power, she added that it had been given to her by Alan's father. Alan never knew him, and anything of his took on mythical proportions in his mind. With the clicker firmly in his hand, Alan finaly slept like a baby.
Now almoust thirty years later, Alan thought of this as he stood on the rim of Cauldron Lake, the Clicker in his hand. He took a deep breath and jumped.
