Mystery is something that drives us all to curiosity. Whenever there is something that we cannot truly grasp the truth of, we wish to find that truth out, we wish for it to be clear to us, rather than just remaining a mystery. It is only human for us to want the truth in a mystery, rather than try to ignore it, the thoughts of it eating away at us, only increasing our curiosity.... I mean, how else did stuff like shock videos get so popular? But disgusting and horrifying fetish videos aside, we're here to talk about video games as usual. Specifically, characters from video games that are just so mysterious. Be it their motivations, their background, or even their entire identity, these are the top ten most mysterious video game characters. And what I consider to be a mysterious character may differ from what you consider to be one. If we have full information on who the person is, than that just ruins the mystery, doesn't it? That said, on with the list.

~#10~

Resident Evil... not a very subtle franchise when it comes to its writing. It can have very subtle moments, but in terms of subtle writing.... not so much. And when it comes to making plot twists, well, just look at the first game. There is a traitor amongst the S.T.A.R.S. team? Oh gee, I wonder who it could be. It couldn't be Albert, who wears shades in dimly lit areas and goes by himself completely and, biggest of all, still alive. But regardless, there is one character that Resident Evil keeps a mystery, even to this day.

#10: The Merchant from Resident Evil 4



Everything about The Merchant is just odd when you think about it. Being in a country far from home, and even further from help, with the only people not wanting to kill him being dead or completely useless, Leon can find solace in just talking with The Merchant. A man who is always able to make it somewhere far before Leon arrives, with all of his wears with him. No matter where you are, The Merchant is never too far off. However, there are still some things about him. His accent clearly proves that he isn't a local in this area, yet the Ganados never attack him. Speaking of the Ganados, one thing that is noticeable about them is that, at a certain point in the game, their eyes start to glow a sinister red. And The Merchant, at that point of the game, also has the exact same glowing eyes. However, he still never attacks you. He just keeps doing business with you. And if you kill him, he always comes back, as if it never happened. Why do his eyes glow? Does he have the parasite in him as well? If so, why is he able to control it? Is he just as powerful as Lord Saddler when it comes to controlling the one inside of him? Is there multiple Merchants? And goddammit, why did they never bring him back? Seriously, if he was in RE6, it would be a slightly less worse game. Not better, just less worse.

~#9~

The Legend of Zelda games have a range of mystery. From the neat little surprises of Wind Waker and Ocarina of Time, to the many mysterious events of Twilight Princess to you're not even fucking trying anymore of Triforce Heroes. But I think Majora's Mask has the most mystery. While I could include the mask itself, there was a character that just interesting me more when it came to their end goals of the game.

#9: Happy Mask Salesman from Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask



The Happy Mask Salesman never really goes by any other name than this, but that's the last thing you'll be thinking of. The Happy Mask Salesman did appear once in Ocarina of Time, but only for a sidequest and really had no big purpose of being there. However, for some reason, he was given a much greater role for Majora's Mask. And oh boy, it sure is something. From the start of the game, he already behaves in an odd manner, knowing of Link's dilema and wanting to help if he can get the mask back. But once Link gets the Ocarina back, and not the mask, the Happy Mask Salesman breaks the curse on Link and turns him back to his normal self, only to freak out at Link when he hears that he doesn't have the mask, going from rage, to sadness, to begging Link to get the mask back. The Happy Mask Salesman knows everything there is to know about Majora, from its creation to the tribe that made it to the power that it holds. But if the tribe that made it is long gone, how was he able to know. I'm willing to believe there were documentations of the tribe, but how did this lead him to finding the mask? And when Link does manage to give the mask to him after destroying Majora from within, the Happy Mask Salesman is almost disappointed to see that all of the power in it is now gone. With that, he leaves and fades away. Not disappear from sight, actually fades like a ghost. I want to say that this was just limitations with the N64, but no, he did this as well in the 3DS remake, which was much stronger hardware than before. So, clearly, him just fading was intentional. Is the Happy Mask Salesman a ghost, or even human (Or Hylian, in this games case)? What is his relation to Majora? And how in the hell did he get a giant organ into the clocktower and make it disappear just as fast? Seriously, that one really baffles me.

~#8~

Team Fortress 2 is a pretty fun game, and the characters are all just as enjoyable. You have the cocky and obnoxious Scout, the insane Medic, the cool-headed Sniper, and the wonderful Spy. But while they are all fun, not much of them are mysterious. In fact, we know a bit of knowledge about plenty of them, especially thanks to the comics. But one of them, we have little knowledge of.

#8: The Pyro from Team Fortress 2



The Pyro is just as the time implies. It is a soldier that is best with a flamethrower and the occasional axe, burning its enemies alive once it has them trapped. But other than that, there is nothing that is known about The Pyro. Its name is a mystery, as well as its face or even its gender. All it wants to do is kill its enemies with brutal means, leaving them to burn in the chaos that it has created. Even its own teammates are terrified of it, barely able to comprehend what kind of things go on inside the mind of The Pyro. Thankfully, in the Meet The Pyro trailer for the game, we were able to get a glimpse inside the mind of The Pyro. And it's not what you'd expect. it's a joyful world where The Pyro is just skipping across meadows with everyone being happy and joyful, playing a giant trumpet. What it sees, all the bloodshed and terror, is really just rainbows and candy canes to it. And it's actually kind of disturbing at how devolved from actual human thought The Pyro really is and is still capable of defeating its enemies with such cruelty. Aside from what we know what it sees, that is all the info we get on The Pyro, and I think that makes his thoughts a little more disturbing.

~#7~

(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR PHOENIX WRIGHT ACE ATTORNEY: DUAL DESTINIES)

The Ace Attorney games are all about mystery. Always having to find the killer amongst a cast of idiots, assholes, and liars, and if you're lucky, you'll just run into one person who has an opinion and that's it. But the characters are always fleshed out, and always have their backstory, their full identity, what their favorite flavor of toothpaste is, all that, laid out before the trial is done. Except for one character, the main antagonist of the final trial of Dual Destinies.

#7: The Phantom from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies



The Phantom, unlike other contract killers in the franchise, is a person that is so devoid of any human thought or emotions, that he has completely forgotten everything about himself. His name, his face, even the ability to feel emotions, all has been removed from him so that he can perform his work effectively. Being responsible for a bomb explosion in the court house just to destroy the one piece of damning evidence against him, as well as killing the childhood friend of Apollo, he takes up the identity of one of the major characters of the game to make sure that any evidence against him is removed completely. And that character is the main detective of the game you work with, Bobby Fulbright, a very emotional man who has a strong sense of justice, only for it to turn out to be nothing more than a fib to hide his true identity. As it turns out, Bobby was dead before the game even started, and The Phantom used this to hide himself in plain sight. The reason why he needed this moon rock was because his blood was on it after he was given a job to sabotage the stations launch, and after being caught by Athena's mother, he killed her, but not before being injured and leaving traces of blood on the rock. And from then on, a multitude of plot twists involving The Phantom unfold from being the one to frame Blackquill, the one who blew up the court at the start of the game, and other such things. But after being found out to be watched by a sniper from more hired assassins, he finally does show one human emotion: Fear.

~#6~

Another Valve game on the list, and knowing the one mysterious character that they have created, you can bet that this won't be the last one. While Portal has a lot of smart, witty humor, it can still be a relatively creepy game at times, and one of the more uncanny things about the game are the many writings that you will inevitably find in this game.

#6: Doug Rattmann A.K.A Ratman



Despite having a comic detailing his life before the events of Portal, Ratman still manages to be a very odd and mysterious character. A man who once worked at Aperture Science, he could already see that GLaDOS was a very dangerous creation that would only lead to something worse, but was unable to do anything but prepare for the worst. Once the day arrived where GLaDOS released neurotoxins throughout the labs, Ratman was able to survive and, using tunnels that connected places around the testing lab, he was able to have Chell be the first test subject in the hopes that she could stop GLaDOS. By the events of Portal 2, Ratman is in a sort of chronogenic sleep after being shot by the turrets. Whether he survived or not is still a mystery, as is to be expected with someone such as Ratman. Being a delusional man, he is clearly suffering from the after effects of GLaDOS' attack, and though you are never able to meet or even see him yourself, you can find traces of him clearly being here. He leaves graffiti on the walls of the labs to warn Chell that GLaDOS is a dangerous machine, even creating the popular quote that took a long time for the internet to shut up about, as well as empty cans of food, and in one moment, you can actually hear him talking to himself just behind the walls. We may never know the fate of Ratman, but I think that adds to the mystery. So Valve, you keep doing what you do. By that, I mean just keep making money of Steam and never make a new game ever again.

~#5~

The world of Fallout is full of mystery and intrigue. From the bizarre creatures that were formed from either radiation or experimentation, to the areas you find that have been warped due to nuclear warfare. But one staple that always remains true is the one character, one who is clearly important to some characters, and more than just an upgrade item. I mean, this guy has Mysterious in his name.

#5: Mysterious Stranger from Fallout



In every single Fallout game, the Mysterious Stranger always makes an appearance. From the first two games, he has a completely different appearance by the one we see in the modern ones. He wears a black suit like a raider and depending on what gender you choose, he could either be a man or a woman. But, by Fallout 3, he was a male by default. From there, things start to get interesting. The Mysterious Stranger shows up at random with a guitar rift whenever you are in a fight and can kill enemies in one hit guaranteed. No matter what it is you are against, they will die in one single hit. But once he is done, he is gone without a trace and you won't be able to see him again until you get into another fight at random. He could just be considered a nothing character that should be ignored, but because other Fallout characters know of his existence, it becomes a lot harder to ignore. In New Vegas, the character, The Lonesome Drifter, says that he is looking for his father, who became "mysterious" at one point and that he was like a "stranger". If you convince him to work at the Tops Casino, he may give you a gun as a reward, called the Mysterious Magnum, which plays a guitar rift, the same one that you hear from the Mysterious Stranger. In Fallout 4, the character Nick Valentine is looking for the Mysterious Stranger, suspecting him to be a crazed killer. If you have Nick in your party and the Mysterious Stranger appear, Nick will freak out and try to catch him. Other than this, nothing else is known about him. If the Lonesome Drifter and Nick Valentine didn't talk about him, the Mysterious Stranger would just be a throwaway character, but because of this, it makes him a bit more interesting than just a random skill perk.

~#4~

Fighting games don't usually work well with having writing in them. For a fighting game to work, you need the gameplay and the fighting to be fun. Sure, you could get some fun and amazing characters in there, but I don't think that there is room for mysterious characters in fighting games. Well, you know, until Street Fighter: Third Strike came along and proved people wrong.

#4: Q from Street Fighter 3: Third Strike



Q is a very interesting case for this list, in which, since this is his only appearance and there is little info on him, I have very little to talk about. Which I guess works in his favor as a mysterious character. Q is a man who is a mystery in every single way. His name, his gender, his motivation. Hell, given that he moves in a very mechanical way when he fights, it isn't even sure if he is human or not. And if that wasn't enough, considering that he is always able to be at different parts of the world in such a short amount of time, it may be possible that there is more than one Q. Because of this, and because he is always near disasters, the CIA are hunting him down, yet he is always one step ahead of them, and is never caught by them. His behavior is also a mystery. He doesn't seem to have one set emotion at any given moment. One moment, he could be sympathizing with his opponent and feeling sorry for them, and the next opponent, he's stomping on their face as a victory pose. He also speaks very rarely, and only as thoughts in his head, and they are always one word sentences, never really meaning much. Q really is a mysterious figure. According to Capcom, he is currently under investigation by C. Viper. It is unknown if Q will make a return, and as of the time of this article, we know nothing about him. By I am holding out hope that Q will return one day. Seeing him come back will make me real happy.

~#3~

(WARNING: SPOILERS FOR RED DEAD REDEMPTION)

With a world as big as Red Dead Redemption, you are bound to find somethings that make you curious. There were millions of theories going on about what could be found in this game back in the day. From having werewolves to having ghost people to even a dinosaur in the desert, so much mysteries went about. And there was nothing more mysterious than one optional side quest called, "I Know You".

#3: The Strange Man from Red Dead Redemption



Another character with very little information on him, and all the more mysterious. Unlike Q, the Strange Man is not only lacking in any information on his name or motives, but he also has complete knowledge on who John Marston is, even knowing his past self from when he was a member of Dutch's Gang. He asks John to help him with some tasks, such as asking him to help a friend who is planning on cheating on his wife, and either choosing to convince him not to or encourage him to. The second task has John go see Mother Superior, a nun in Mexico, to donate money to her to help her church. After that, when John heads to the northern area of the game, he will meet the Strange Man for the third and final time, and they meet at the spot where John Marston will be buried at the end of the game, which the Strange Man says is a nice spot. He tells John Marston that he is accountant, "of some sort" and when John Marston damns him, he tells him that "many have". After that, John shoots him three times, yet the bullets do nothing to harm him and with that, he disappears, never to be seen again. And it's at this point when clearly there is more to this than something else. How does the Strange Man know so much about John and how is he suddenly immune to bullets? Some speculate that he is God, the Devil, or even Death. Despite these theories, Rockstar has not given a clear answer on who the Strange Man is. And I think that works well in this characters favor.

~#2~

Half-Life is a game that is filled with some mystery. The multitude of alien races, the invasion of earth, and just the whole underlying feeling of it. You really do start to question the world around you in the entire franch- It's G-Man, so why should I stall any longer?

#2: G-Man from Half-Life



G-Man is a very interesting case amongst mysterious video game characters. When he's not terrorizing the world of Garry's Mod videos, he can be seen from any point in the game, watching Freeman's progress through an alien invested world, with otherworldly beings and soldiers ready to kill him at any second. And through the entire warfare, G-Man is just watching from a distance before he fixes his tie and moves on. But it's at the end of the first game where even more questions start to arise. After defeating the final boss, G-Man tells Freeman that the world has fallen to total shit and that he may as well join G-Man in making sure that things don't get worse. Once that is done, G-Man starts to show off how much power he really does have. He is able to appear at any place at the snap of a finger, can travel dimensions to meet with one person and one person only, and can even freeze time with everyone locked into place as he moves around like it's nothing. All that is known about G-Man is, despite his appearance, he is clearly not human. That and how he speaks just make him appear far less human. He speaks English, yet how he does so makes him appear like he is struggling to get words out, like he can't comprehend human language. The other information that is known is that he is working for someone else, a "benefactor" as he calls them. Who is this? In fact, who is G-Man? Is he an alien, like the many others that you find, but just on a different plane? Or is he something completely different? Considering that Half-Life 3 is nothing but a dream, we may never know.

~#1~

(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR YUME NIKKI)

This one is a little harder to describe. So, I won't even give a detailed starting description. Just.... go with it.

#1: Madotsuki from Yume Nikki



It's really hard to describe what kind of a character she is. Despite having all of the information laid out to us in subtle detail throughout the game, it's hard to describe who exactly Madotsuki is. All we know is that Madotsuki is a hikikomori, a shut-in, who keeps a dream journal to remember the bizarre dreams she has. She refuses to leave her apartment, and all you can do is go to sleep, and enter the bizarre world of dreams from there. Once inside, the game suddenly becomes a much more interesting experience. Everything that you see in the dream world of Yume Nikki, all relate to Yume Nikki in some way. But what they relate to, that really all depends on what the player sees. Some creatures could be her deep depression that she tries to mask. Another creature could be a friend of hers that is long dead. One creature could be the image of her total isolation from the world. Another character can be the manifestation of a horrible tragedy, like a rape. And in the end of the game, do you have any answers? No. What we have is Madotsuki walking out to her balcony and jumping off of it to her death. You are only left with more questions than answers by the end of the game. You have all the pieces here to help you understand her character, and yet with each piece you have, all you can do is ask yourself what this is and how it relates to Madotsuki. Even the games creator, Kikiyama, is very secretive. Very little is known about this person, just like very little is known about Madotsuki, so I assure you that you won't be getting any answers out of the games creator. It only causes you to question her character even more. And I think that is the uncanny beauty that Yume Nikki brings.