Until Dawn
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| Video game fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name | Until Dawn |
| Abbreviation(s) | UD |
| Developer(s) | Supermassive Games |
| Release date | August 15, 2015 |
| External link(s) | Until Dawn official website |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
Until Dawn is an interactive survival horror video game produced by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Canon
Seven friends gather at the Washington Lodge on the anniversary of the deaths of twins Hannah Washington and Beth Washington. They must survive a series of pranks, a mysterious man with a flamethrower, and Wendigos while collecting clues to solve the mystery of how the twins died.
Protagonists
- Josh Washington, the troubled older brother of the twins
- Chris Hartley, Josh's geeky best friend
- Ashley Brown, the girl-next-door and Chris' romantic interest
- Sam Giddings, an adventurous girl who was also a close friend of the Washington siblings
- Emily Davis, the mastermind behind the prank leading up to the twins' death
- Mike Munroe, class president and Emily's ex-boyfriend
- Matt Taylor, a pushover jock and Emily's new boyfriend
- Jessica Riley, Mike's new girlfriend who seems to always be ready for sex
Fandom
Shipping
Chris Hartley/Josh Washington is the dominant pairing of the fandom. Another non-canon pairing, Sam Giddings/Josh Washington, is also quite common in fanworks. These are likely due to Chris and Sam's close relationships with Josh in canon, as well as the popularity of Josh's actor, Rami Malek. The three canonical pairings during the main portion of the game, Ashley Brown/Chris Hartley, Emily Davis/Matt Taylor, and Mike Munroe/Jessica Riley, also receive some level of attention from the fandom. Some fans may read Sam's canonical lack of a romantic interest as her being queer, and ship her with one of the twins, with the pairing of Sam Giddings/Beth Washington being the more common of the two.
Common Tropes
Due to the characters' young ages, high school and university AUs are common, often with canon divergence where Hannah and Beth never died. Post-canon fics involving the characters dealing with grief and PTSD are also common, and sometimes bring different perspectives on which relationships last after the canon events. Fics often use the ending for Josh where he becomes a Wendigo instead of dying, which may lead to him eventually turning back into a human or living as a part-human part-Wendigo hybrid. Hurt/comfort is another common trope, especially in fics where Josh is a main character. These may include fics where the other characters support Josh through his canonical mental illness, potentially leading to canon divergence where he does not invite the group back to the lodge.
Representation
Native American Cultures
There have been some criticism from Native Americans on how their cultures are handled in the game. Two of the major plot devices in the game, the Wendigos and the totems, are derived from different Native American tribes, neither of which have been present in the Rocky Mountains of southern Alberta, where the game takes place. There is also question as to the amount of input the game developers sought out from Native American tribes. See this tumblr post for more discussion on this representation.
Mental Illness
There has been criticism from some fans about how Josh, a mentally ill character, is implied to be the true killer before the characters find out about the Wendigos.
Example Fanworks
Let's Plays
Fanfiction
Fanart
Archives & Fannish Links
- Until Dawn wiki
- Until Dawn works at AO3
- Until Dawn Reddit
- Until Dawn tag on Tumblr