What kind of cult calls themselves a cult? - ― Ilmo Koskella
The Cult of the Tree is a faction in Alan Wake 2. A successor group to the Torchbearers, the Cult protects the towns of Bright Falls and Watery from the Taken. Its members eliminate the Taken and spread rumors amongst the people of Bright Falls, presenting themselves as a murderous neopagan cult that performs ritualistic murders on people found in the surrounding woods, in order to scare them away from Cauldron Lake and the Dark Presence within it. After killing a Taken that was once former FBI agent Robert Nightingale, the string of murders is investigated by Agents Alex Casey and Saga Anderson.
History[]
The cult was created in 2013 by the Koskela Brothers as a means to protect the areas of Bright Falls and Watery after the Torchbearers disbanded long ago, leaving no one to protect the community. Whenever the cult would find people emerging from Cauldron Lake, which they knew held the Dark Presence, they would have to kill them before they turned into a Taken. Their attire involved long coats and deer masks to protect their identity, and the ritual would involve tying down the hostage, cutting open their chest, removing their heart and using the Clicker to fill their body with light, similar to what Alan Wake had to do to banish Barbara Jagger.
Across the forests of Bright Falls, Watery and around Cauldron Lake, the Cult would hang stick ornaments in the shape of a tree as a means to scare anybody walking in them at night, so that they might turn and run to safety instead of walking the forests where it was not safe. When the Federal Bureau of Control set up a monitoring station at Cauldron Lake, the Koskela Brothers would purposely tamper with it so that the cult would be informed of lake activity instead of the Bureau.
They also prepared for the eventuality that Alan Wake might one day return, as since the writer's disappearance in September 2010 manuscript pages had been floating up from the lake, as well as more Taken. Although the group's purpose is to stop people turning into Taken, sometimes their own cult members unexpectedly turn into them.
Over the years they have succeeded and failed to recruit numerous townsfolk, with Ilmo Koskela pushing for Vladimir Blum to try and recruit the Anderson Brothers but to no avail.
Events of Alan Wake 2[]
When Robert Nightingale emerged from the shores of Cauldron Lake, the Cult were already waiting at the scene in the Cauldron Lake General Store. They hunted him down and strapped him on a table behind the store, removing his heart. They were about to complete the ritual by using the Clicker inside his chest, however they were interrupted by Ed and Tammy Booker, where the cult fled after them.
Over the years, with the cult performing these series of ritualistic murders around the area of Bright Falls ever since on anybody who emerges from Cauldron Lake, this would draw in various governmental authorities. In September 2023, it later drew in the FBI agents Saga Anderson and Alex Casey to investigate the cause, though as they made their way to Bright Falls, they learned about the latest ritual killing of Nightingale. Some members, including Mulligan and Thornton, would also be possessed by the Dark Presence and would have to be put down by Saga.
The Cult, weary of the FBI, kept quiet until they learned that Alan Wake escaped from Cauldron Lake and so went to the Elderwood Palace Lodge, where he was being held for questioning, to kill him. However many of the cultists were killed by Scratch, and when they were eventually able to track down Alan, Saga stopped them from killing him, and many remaining cult members were arrested. The captured Alan was later revealed to be possessed by Scratch, who killed Jaakko after being mocked by him.
Known Members[]
Trivia[]
- A note containing the words "Cult of the Tree" can be spotted during the frantic visions towards the end of Control's AWE expansion.
- There is a sign in the Dark Place featuring the cult as the premise of a stage play.
- Cult members wear green robes, deer masks and pendants featuring two triangles side by side. The latter has also been used as a symbol that can be spotted on trees. According to Rose Marigold, the deer masks are typical costumes for Deerfest.
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