| John DeFoe | |
|---|---|
 John | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Title | The Bridgekeeper |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Wraith |
| Affiliation | N/A |
| Appearances | 5 Days a Stranger, Trilby's notes [flashback], 7 Days a Skeptic, 6 Days a Sacrifice |
John DeFoe (also known as the Welder, the Child, and the Bridgekeeper) is a supernatural being appearing throughout the Chzo Mythos series, and acts as the main antagonist in 5 Days a Stranger and 7 Days a Skeptic. He is the twin brother of Matthew DeFoe and was born on the July 28th, 1806. He usually appears as a large man dressed in a leather apron, wearing a welder's mask with a green tinted visor, and wielding a machete. However, he occasionally appears in his true form, a dirty, disfigured child.
Birth and creation[]
Because his mother, Belinda DeFoe, died while giving birth to him, and also because of his physical and mental deformities, John is hated and unwanted by his father, Sir Roderick DeFoe, who imprisoned him in the basement of DeFoe Manor shortly after his birth.
Matthew eventually discovered John, who would communicate to his brother by hitting the wall, and started refers to him as "The boy behind the door". As read in the diary of Matthew in 5 Days A Stranger and more explicitly in the first flash back from Trilby's Notes, Matthew befriended John to the alternating wrath or vehement denial of Sir Roderick.
On the night of July 28th, 1821, Sir Roderick snapped due a combination of feeling insulted by the man he brought over to appraise the African Idol, the day of his wife's death, Matthew having slid his painting under the door to share with John and simple drunkenness. This caused him to enter the basement late that night, dressed in a leather apron, and bringing along the African idol, which he used to beat John to the brink of death with. Matthew attempted to help him by bandaging him up, but this could not stop John from dying shortly afterwards. Cabadath, who's soul was bound to the idol, then used his powers to turn John into a wraith and bound his soul to the idol along side his own. Using his newfound powers, John managed to possess his dead body.
Wearing the leather apron spotted with his own blood, an old welder's mask beloning to the gardener of DeFoe Manor, and wielding Sir Roderick's machete, John hunted down and killed Sir Roderick and Matthew. Due to a limitation of his powers, John lost control over his old body shorty afterwards, and all of his aspects became separated and slipped into the manor. His mind went into the walls of the manor and his body went into the floor, while his soul came to rest in the idol. Slowly, as people would enter the manor for one reason or another, they would become trapped, most likely by John's influence over the house using the aspect of his mind, and end up dead to the confusion of any who would later examine the scene.
5 Days a Stranger[]
172 years later, John's influence over his home is still felt. According to a newspaper found by the Manor's front door, the previous owners, Sir Clarence DeFoe and his bride Julia Swanson-DeFoe, were found in the inherited home hanging from a tree in the front yard and stabbed to death respectively. Investigator on the scene Jacob Barnes ruled it as a murder-suicide and closed the case, leaving the unsettled story as bait for reporters, the rumors of the manor being haunted a ripe spot for the mischief of young men or a point for interest for paranormal investigators, and it's various valuables irresistible to treasure hunters and thieves.
Over the course of a few days are five people by the names of AJ, Philip Harty, Simone Taylor, Jim and Trilby trapped within the manor. On the night Trilby arrives, John manages to possess Philip through the idol, and kills off AJ who is present because of an assignment from The Ministry of Occultism. Trilby is the next to be possessed and under John's control, he kills Philip. Jim is also possessed and nearly kills Simone and Trilby, but is stopped by a bit of quick thinking from the latter.
Trilby, determined to escape from the manor, decides that John must be destroyed. He uncovers John's bones and brings them back to life with black magic, an event that also causes Simone and Jim to be possessed by the ghosts of Sir Roderick and Matthew DeFoe, after which the possessed Simone shoots John's bones with Sir Roderick's old hunting rifle. John's remains falls into the manor's fireplace, which sets the manor ablaze, giving Trilby, Simone and Jim a chance to escape and destroying the aspect of John's body in the process.
Trilby's Notes[]
John DeFoe is seen in his original human form for the first time in a flashback depicting the origins of Matthew's final painting, which was completed on the night of the latter's 15th birthday. For the last 15 years, John had been a complete prisoner in a dingy room hidden behind the kitchen of the DeFoe manor. Deprived of sunlight, proper nourishment, or any form of human affection, John is extremely weak and mute. On July 28th, 1821, Matthew shoves his latest painting under the kitchen door in order to show John his latest work. Later, Roderick enters the room with the African idol in hand, and attempts to beat his son to death. Matthew's screams for his father to stop went unheard before the scene cuts back to Trilby's present.
Later, at the end of the game when Trilby acquires the idol, he launches it into outer space alongside John's apron, machete, and mask.
7 Days a Skeptic[]
Nearly 400 years after the events of 5 Days a Stranger, John DeFoe's remains are picked up by the Earth Federation Navy whilst exploring the Carcus Galaxy. John breaks free of his box and proceeds to mysteriously influence the crew of the Mephistopheles into killing each other. John chases each crew member around as he tries to kill each one, but is eventually stopped by Malcolm Somerset, and his idol is incinerated.
In an easter egg cutscene, a coherent John converses with Malcolm about his ill-fated attempts to please the father who always hated him, such as trying to construct a sculpture from his boogers. He prompts Malcolm for a diagnosis, but Malcolm breaks the 4th wall to remind John that he is not actually a certified psychologist. John then grumbles about how he wish he had been told that before paying for 18 sessions.