| “ | Astrid, you don't understand what I've been dealing with here. There's a concerted effort to bring down this family! It's converging on this farm and I have to make a stand! I need to focus on protecting the farm... from whatever is out there.
|
” |
Karl Johansen is one of the six ensemble protagonists in Silent Hill: Ascension. Karl is the patriarch of the Johansen family and one of the main characters on the Norway side of the story, dealing with the hatred of the townspeople over an incident that happened 15 years ago, and suspicions over the circumstances surrounding the death of his ill wife.
History[]
Background[]
Karl was a farmer and hunter living in Stilledalen, Norway. Since a long time ago, he'd been close friends with Lejo Kant, the owner and bartender of the local ice hotel. At some point, he met the Dahl sisters, Ingrid and Mette. Karl had a short but intense relationship with the latter, but they had to break up for unknown reasons. After their separation, Karl had another relationship with Ingrid instead, which resulted in their marriage and the birth of their three daughters: Eva, Astrid and Brit.
His marriage with Ingrid was troubled. She would grow abusive and violent towards the family, including Karl himself. He took on a passive role through the years to avoid causing Ingrid's anger, which led to her actions going unstopped for the entirety of their children's lives. When Eva was around 5 years of age, Karl's mother died, which had him retreat to the bedroom for a week, refusing to leave and angering Ingrid greatly. This unstable family dynamic delved into chaos as Eva's antisocial behavior grew out of control and culminated in the town square massacre and her subsequent death, events for which Karl blamed himself. [2]
The following years were spent in turmoil, as he was constantly a target of the townspeople's harassment over Eva's actions. He would get used to vandals attacking the farm often, but his character wouldn't move too far from the passiveness he had gotten accustomed to show. Mette would sometimes visit, which was perceived as Karl having an affair with her behind Ingrid's back. As Astrid moved away to attend college and Brit left home to escape her mother, Karl was left alone with Ingrid at the farm, with only Lejo Kant remaining as a friend in town. [3]
At some point, Ingrid was diagnosed with a degenerative illness that left her bedridden for most of the time, with Karl illicitly administering her morphine to keep her calm. She would turn her abuse to Karl verbally in this state, berating him so often he would also get used to her behavior. Karl would also be accused of cheating on her with Mette. Eventually, Astrid would move back to town with her child Orson, who Karl loved as much as his daughters, but he still couldn't bring himself to stop his wife from verbally attacking them. As his own mental state deteriorated from the years of abuse endured and witnessed, episodes of dissociation started happening while Ingrid's illness became worse.
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
Karl finds Ingrid's corpse.
One night, after Astrid and Orson left the house over an argument with the bedridden Ingrid, Karl gave his wife a dose of morphine and left the house, escaping her insults and accusations of cheating. Outside, he saw a manifestation of a Wanderer through the bedroom window, attacking Ingrid inside. As he was about to rush back in, another Wanderer pursued him into an Otherworld version of Stilledalen's hospital. Karl survived the ordeal and woke up in Ingrid's bedroom, finding her lifeless body and breaking into tears at her death. Unbeknownst to him, he had murdered Ingrid while in the Otherworld himself.
Karl and Astrid argue over the syringe.
His poor mental state became evident when Astrid and Orson returned, with him avoiding his daughter's questions muttering about the monster he saw in the window and dissociating as she realized what had happened. Once she found Ingrid's body in the bedroom, he bluntly commented that it wasn't his fault and paramedics were on the way. While clearing up the room, Astrid found the syringe Karl used on Ingrid, growing suspicious as she wasn't prescribed any injections. Karl became defensive and insisted on his innocence while asking Astrid to get rid of it, before the ambulance and police arrived at the farm. In the living room, detective Olivia Haugen (mother of one of the late victims of Eva's shooting spree) questioned him about the state of Ingrid's illness at the time of her passing. As her comments shifted into negative remarks about her and the town's grudges against the family, Karl and Astrid led Haugen out of the house.
Karl throws a pan at Astrid.
After an altercation in school, Orson got suspended from classes and Karl took care of him in the farm. While checking on him, Karl found a manifestation of Eva in his living room, expressing great familiarity with her but not acknowledging her death or their parental bond, instead seeing her more akin to a neighbor. Following her advice, Karl broke the news of Ingrid's death to Orson in a tactful manner. Later, he proudly watched Astrid lecture Orson about the altercation and complimented her for her handling of the situation. However, Astrid confronted him about the syringe again, having found it to contain morphine and strongly suspecting the dose to have killed her. The argument escalated into the trauma of living under Ingrid's abuse. Pressured by the vision of a Wanderer sneaking behind Astrid and her accusations, Karl panicked and threw a pan at the monster, scaring the unaware Astrid and prompting her to take Orson away from him.
Haugen confronts Karl.
A few nights later, Karl stood by the goat den of the farm, staring at the inexplicably gutted animals. Detective Haugen arrived to taunt him after being given the morphine syringe by Astrid, which didn't do more than amuse Karl. He called her bluff, claiming that she didn't have the evidence needed to arrest him and just wanted to scare him into confessing. As she tried to explain it as a chance to tell his truth, Karl refused to tell her about the figure in the window, thinking it to be "impossible to believe." Annoyed by his defiance, Haugen left him alone in the farm. [4]
Karl and Lejo at the bar.
After unsuccessfully begging Astrid at work to forgive him and let him see Orson again, Karl went to drink his sorrows away at Lejo's bar. Having shared his struggles with him, he was suggested by Lejo to come clean and tell Haugen the truth about the intruder in the farm the night Ingrid died, or else Lejo would do it for him.
During the day, he got in contact with Brit and told her about Ingrid's death, but she had no plans of returning home for the funeral. As he told Astrid later, he thought that the sisters talking it out over the phone would solve things peacefully, but Astrid was just upset about her. Karl encouraged her to try, feeling sadness over the separation between his daughters and wishing to see them together again.
Haugen interrogates Karl.
The next day, Haugen took Karl into questioning at the police station. He stood quiet while she touched on the morphine topic, certain of his involvement and demanding to know how he came into possession of it. Instead, he hesitatingly told her about the figure he saw in the window that night, and how he withheld that detail so that Haugen wouldn't accuse him of being crazy. As she was about to pressure him harder, they were interrupted by a detective bringing in Ingrid's autopsy report stating, to Haugen's dismay, that Ingrid's official cause of death were complications with her illness, forcing Haugen to begrudgingly let Karl go.
Karl shoots a Snarler.
While catching up with an unhappy Brit on the outcome of her call with Astrid, Karl was pulled aside by Eva's delusion again to show him an animal torn apart by an unknown creature. When he noticed Eva was wielding a gun, she asked him to teach her how to shoot in order to protect herself, but Karl was reluctant about it at the moment. The next evening, Karl found another gutted animal in the farm and was burying it when Eva showed up again, reminiscing of a dead rabbit she found once and could have been killed by the same thing, but Karl suspected that one of the family's enemies was behind it. As he was sending Eva away, the two of them were attacked by a Snarler coming from the woods, which Eva failed to kill but Karl managed to shoot, scaring it away from them.
Karl aims at Mette.
The next afternoon, Karl was chopping wood when he heard gunshots nearby. He found Eva practicing her shooting by herself, prompting him to finally decide to help her learn how to shoot. With a quick lesson on control of the gun's aim, he said that the key to shooting was aiming for the vital organs, but Eva needed further practice for that. Nevertheless, Eva was satisfied with his help, and left the farm. Karl's peace was then suddenly interrupted by the noise of a window breaking, snapping him out of the delusion, and bringing him to the house's porch, where he came across the returning Mette Dahl. [5]
At the bar with Mette.
Karl decided to have Mette stay at the farmhouse during her visit, despite Astrid's visible contempt for her aunt. He didn't hesitate to confide in Mette about the murder suspicions surrounding Ingrid's death, for which he received Mette's complete support. However, the next day he was confronted by Astrid with a vial of morphine she found in Mette's luggage, strongly incriminating her for Ingrid's demise. While Karl seemed distrustful upon hearing of the vial, Mette took him to the ice hotel and convinced him of it being unrelated to her sister's death.
Telling Astrid about protecting the farm.
Growing increasingly worried over the intruder in the property, Karl began making frequent rounds through the farm to catch traces of their presence. During one of those, he was approached by Astrid to give him the news that Ingrid's body had mysteriously disappeared from the morgue while in police custody, causing Karl to become paranoid about the police being in cahoots with the farm's intruders and collaborating to destroy the Johansen family. He warned Astrid that there was something bigger than just vandals attacking them, and the importance of protecting their home in those moments.
A Fighter attacks Karl.
While patrolling the farm grounds with Eva, he came across a trespasser and pointed his gun at him for answers. The man awkwardly claimed to be a forager of wild berries gathering them in the area, annoying Karl into letting him go with a warning and turning back home. Near the farmhouse, Karl followed the advice Lejo gave him a while back and placed protection runes in the soil, in hopes that they'd ward off the evil forces around the house. It paid off when, later, Karl was startled by the runes being thrown apart near him, right before he and Eva were attacked by a Fighter in the fog. Karl missed his shots and dropped the gun, allowing Eva to take it and fatally wound the monster, revealing itself as the forager from earlier. While Eva found a few small bones dropped by the forager, the dying man accused Karl and his family of "ripping the heart from the town." Despite Karl's strong hatred for the man and his accusations, he called detective Haugen to take the man away, but he had completely vanished by the time emergency services arrived. [3]
Arguing with Haugen.
In the meantime, Ingrid's funeral arrangements were being organized by Astrid. Even when she was running the plans through Karl, he continued to have dissociative episodes and become absent from the matter at hand. Astrid made him focus on the topic of Ingrid's ring, which she wanted to bury with the coffin while Karl wanted to pass onto Astrid or Mette, even though the former was strongly against both. Their talk was interrupted by Haugen with the news of Ingrid's body being found, albeit desecrated to an unspecified extent. Enraged, Karl lashed out at Haugen and left the room.
Karl gives Mette the ring.
While searching through Ingrid's belongings later, he found the ring he had discussed with Astrid. Mette told him of the ring's tradition of being passed to each generation's eldest surviving daughter, a custom Ingrid was seemingly not invested on. Although their conversation was also interrupted by the doorbell ringing on its own, Karl would later accept to give Mette the ring, regretting not having given her one back when they were together. Taken in by her unconditional support and the idea of being finally given a second chance, they kissed. [6]
Ingrid's funeral.
The day of the funeral, Karl watched Orson closely as requested by Astrid, after she had caught him and Mette about to kiss and infuriated her the previous night. He hung his head in silence while Astrid gave a bitter speech about the harsh life she endured under her mother's household, unaware of Mette's grimacing next to him. When Orson complained about wanting to see his grandmother in the coffin, Karl became tense and strict with not allowing him to get close to her. However, as the funeral proceedings continued and fog thickened around the guests, Karl and Orson mysteriously disappeared into the woods.
The burnt forest.
Although he was joined by Astrid soon after, he was unable to explain how he lost sight of his grandson, and promptly became separated from Astrid again as she was led away by visions of Ingrid. He joined the search party from a distance, following near them with the manifestation of Eva by his side questioning Astrid's mental health and the intentions of the other searchers. He found her desperately clinging onto a trail of footprints she found, and tried to reassure her that Orson was alright. This time, both of them became separated from the search party and wandered deeper into the forest, unknowingly passing through an Otherworld-influenced sector of the forest (shown as consumed by a wildfire), worrying Karl into trying to go back home. Despite his protests, it took many hours to convince the stubborn Astrid to stop the search for the time being. However, their return proved exceedingly long as well, even coming into contact with an attacking Stinger in the way (which Karl called proof of the evil attacking the farm) before finally being found by the returning Brit. [7]
Haugen briefs them on the three days.
Back home, they learned from Brit that they were, in fact, missing for three whole days in the woods, time in which Mette contacted her to return to Stilledalen. As the reunion became an argument between the sisters, Karl left the table to receive detective Haugen at the doorstep for additional news. She explained that during the three days, many rescuers and volunteers were put in danger trying to find them, and because of the lack of progress on the search besides finding Orson's hunter doll, it wasn't looking good for him. While Astrid left to clear her thoughts, Haugen told Karl privately that the search operation had shifted to a recovery mission, and to tell Astrid however he saw it fit. He tried to do so later, but Astrid reacted with anger and refused to stop searching.
Karl and Mette kiss.
Heavily overwhelmed by the struggles surrounding him, Karl resorted to drinking his sorrows away at home one night. In his intoxicated state, he heard Ingrid's voice calling him from the bedroom, so he stumbled his way upstairs to see her. Instead, he found Mette waiting for him. She tried to distract him from his worries about Astrid's constant search, but more visions of Ingrid in her place scared him into refusing advances for the moment. Once he washed his face and pulled himself together, Mette's humming called him back to her, with Karl finally deciding to make their relationship official. [8]
Paramedics come for Astrid.
Karl was still strongly concerned about Astrid's mental state regarding the recovery mission, so he contacted Aurora, the social worker in charge of Orson's well-being under Astrid, to send an intervention to the farmhouse. When Astrid arrived, she found Karl dissociating in front of the TV, and started to berate him for not helping her to find Orson. Paramedics arrived to take Astrid to the hospital for psychological evaluation, and despite Karl's apologies for his decision, his angry daughter was restrained and taken away from the house. She would be released the next morning after no real grounds for institutionalization were found, albeit in a quite resentful mood.
Karl sees a Wanderer at the support session.
Brit sympathized with Astrid's situation, and knowing that Karl needed to take responsibility for his role in their upbringing, she decided to have him accompany her to one of her AA meetings in the hospital so that he'd earnestly listen to her problems. At the support session, Karl was in a grumpy mood and said that he only joined them because of Brit's begging. After the rest of the group welcomed him, Brit opened her venting asking him to listen to her attentively, and began to describe how much the sisters needed his support and presence with them both when Eva's shooting happened and in the present. Karl, however, began to dissociate and merged the room with the Otherworld, seeing a Wanderer threaten to attack them while Brit talked. As soon as he came back, he yelled out to warn the group of the monsters and to stay in the room, humiliating and deeply disappointing Brit as she realized that he didn't listen to anything she said, before rushing out of the room in shame. [9]
Karl and Mette at the "grave."
While walking around his farm, Karl came across several medical bracelets from Stilledalen's hospital hung on sticks. Mette arrived and recognized the names in the bracelets as patients she treated while covering nurse shifts in town. When Karl asked her how they died, she spoke vaguely of them not really living and needing to be helped, before urging Karl to leave the town with her and sail away, as he dreamed of in his youth. As Karl thought about the offer, he was seemingly unaware of Mette being behind the patients' deaths.
Karl and Eva shift to the Otherworld.
Karl and Eva went to the memorial downtown later, where townspeople placed flowers and candles around the fountain to commemorate the people who died in the shooting spree. Upon seeing him, one of the visitors confronted him for showing up there so close to the anniversary of the massacre, claiming it to be a disrespect to the victims. As Eva took him away from the memorial, both of them shifted to the Otherworld, witnessing several monsters get set on fire and killed by the largest one, the Immolator. Karl protected Eva from the sight of the slaughter against her wishes, holding her tightly behind cover until the Immolator left the scene. Once it left, Eva was furious with him for not allowing her to see what she wanted, and abandoned him. As Karl tried to chase after her, he instead met Zayn Davies, a mysterious man who aggressively accused the Johansen family of having evil running through it, and of being the reason he was there. He vanished as quick as he appeared, leaving Karl alone and confused. [10]
Karl argues with Mette.
He was too distressed by his experiences to be happy when Mette arrived home with news about the passports later. Despite everything, he felt like he couldn't leave his family in such complicated times to fend for themselves while he ran away with his lover. It was then that he realized that Mette was behind the patients' deaths and demanded an answer from her, learning her twisted motivations to euthanize the people afflicted by the Otherworld's influence. Even though Mette was adamant in her having covered her tracks thoroughly and nobody being after them, Karl still felt worried of the possibility of being discovered on the run.
Astrid rejects keeping the farm.
Knowing that he might have to leave town soon, Karl met with Astrid by the broken swing in the backyard. He insisted on Orson coming back and, someday, playing on the fixed swing. He then admitted to her that he was aware of what an obstacle he was during those weeks, and of his poor mental state. Even though Astrid had forgiven his call for psychiatric intervention a while ago, he recognized that he had hurt and upset both her and Brit, and told her of Mette's suggestion to leave so he could get better and stay out of the way. Karl then offered Astrid to take ownership of the farm in memory of the good times they had living there. As a show of hope for Orson's return, he later put himself to work at fixing the swing for him. Astrid, however, told him that she couldn't keep the farm due to the bad memories of her childhood. Saddened but understanding at her decision, he admitted he just had wishful thinking for fixing their pasts.
Karl finds Mette's corpse.
Karl ultimately decided to not go with Mette, and when the time to escape together came, he sent her away to safety on her own. He told her that he understood her actions and that he loved her, but that she would always be on the run and he couldn't live that way. A dense fog enveloped them, and as Mette warned him that he was making a mistake, she vanished into it. Karl shifted to the Otherworld and heard Mette's terrified screaming, searching for her all through the twisted version of the town. Once he arrived at the town docks, he found Mette's burnt corpse, missing a finger, thrown on the floor. He fell to his knees and cried, until Mette's disembodied voice repeating "it's you" alerted him of the Immolator's presence. The monster chased him into a warehouse, where he hid himself until the Otherworld retreated.
As soon as he could, he ran back to the Johansen farm to warn his daughters about what had happened. He found them both in the living room, but being so shocked at the events, he only barely managed to describe her death and what he had seen. Terrified, he warned that any of them could be the next target of the monsters, before running away from the house.
Thinking of Mette.
Back at Stilledalen's square, Karl sat on a bench thinking about Mette. Eva joined him afterwards, sitting next to him, away from the memorial. Eva suddenly started crying, saying that the monsters killed her mother and that they're coming for her next. Karl tried to console her by assuring that he'd protect her, but she didn't want protection: she wanted revenge. Just then, amidst the attendees of the memorial, they saw a Wanderer that Karl recognized as the shadow in the window when Ingrid died, prompting them to follow it into the fog. [11]
The Other Karl in the room.
The Wanderer led them back to the Johansen farm, appearing in the window just as it did when Karl first saw it. However, as Eva pointed to it, Karl saw it take the form of a doppelganger of himself retreating into the bedroom shadow, while Eva smiled knowingly behind him. Karl went into the house and armed himself to confront the figure in the bedroom, and upon slowly opening the door, he was met by the other Karl's uncanny grin before jumping at him as a monster. Karl shot it dead and was left in shock, as Eva walked up to him and told Karl of something Ingrid once told her: it takes a monster to kill a monster. Karl followed her outside, where she revealed her intentions of hunting down the Immolator and kill all of the monsters in town, despite Karl's worries.
Karl is shot in the chest.
While reminiscing with Lejo at the bar the next day, Karl got a call from Eva, claiming that she had found a large group of monsters at the memorial downtown. She hung up on Karl when he tried to make her wait for him. When he tried to call her back, Astrid was called instead, exposing to her and Lejo (who was eavesdropping) that his poor mental state would result in something at the memorial. After telling Astrid that he loved her, he hung up on her and headed to town square. Once there, Eva met with him and gave him the rifle back, announcing that he'd finally learn what happened the day of the shooting, as he wanted. Refusing again to let him protect her, Eva aimed at a horde of monsters with her gun, before Karl rushed in front of her and received a gunshot in the chest. In reality, he had aimed his rifle at the attendees of the memorial and one of them had shot him out of fear, with his daughters, Lejo and Haugen running in to help him. As his consciousness faded, he kept believing that Eva was with him.
Karl fires at the Immolator.
Karl regained consciousness in the Otherworld, alone in the streets of Stilledalen with the Immolator hunting him down. Escaping it, he made his way back to the farm, where Eva waited for him. She confronted him about his inaction during all the years of abuse endured under Ingrid, making him fall to his knees apologizing for having failed her when she needed it, but as Eva said, he didn't help her and now she's gone. Eva's manifestation vanished, leaving Karl to face the Immolator for the final time. Although he was still terrified of it, Karl stood up to the monster and aimed at the gas cylinder on its back, firing the rifle and defeating the beast through the explosion.
Lejo sends Karl to start over.
Somewhere in Stilledalen's docks, the injured but recovered Karl approached Lejo to apologize for his mistakes. Lejo offered him a boat to leave the town and start a new life, even if Karl felt like he was running away. With the idea of starting over and letting the past die with him so that his daughters can find closure in life, Karl accepted Lejo's gift and abandoned Stilledalen, rowing towards Bergen while the rest of the town believed him to have gone missing or died. [2]
In order to move on from the past, Brit would eventually burn a shirt of Karl's, emphasizing his hard-working but stubborn nature.[12] While Karl never returned to the family, Astrid still remembered him fondly once the darkness over Stilledalen was defeated, keeping a picture of him and Eva in a hunting trip by the dining table. [13]
Behind the scenes[]
| “ | Karl Johansen. 50 to 60 years old; all ethnicities; man. A quiet man who wants a simple life, but never got one. He's a goat farmer who blames himself for not protecting his kids from their abusive mom. Karl is an old fashioned guy, rather terse and not usually one to gush about his feelings. He tries to keep to himself, doing his best to keep his family's dysfunction hidden. He’s a battered spouse whose sense of self-worth and what constitutes “too far” was shaped by a life of domestic abuse, a killing in “self defense,” and his daughter’s murder-suicide. He’s not inherently a violent person. It’s something he’s been pushed towards. He’s someone deserving of empathy, a man full of love who tried to give his family a happy, healthy life who was literally and emotionally battered into failing at that. His sanity, values, and entire worldview are going to be increasingly challenged over time.
|
” |
Karl Johansen first appeared in the interactive television series Silent Hill: Ascension as one of the six ensemble protagonists,[15] voiced by Jonas Delerud.
Trivia[]
Karl in the trailer.
- As one of the first main characters appearing in the second trailer [16], Karl was first shown with a very different appearance. He was noticeably older, with more grey hair along his sides and beard, and sported a yellow jacket over a buttoned shirt instead of the brown jacket and grey sweater he wears in the final product. A scene of him being attacked by a Stinger in the porch of the farmhouse was also shown, but it doesn't happen in the show.
Gallery[]
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
Promotional material[]
Live event[]
References[]
- ↑ https://i.imgur.com/okycK36.png
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 10: REGRET
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 3: PENANCE
- ↑ Chapter 1: AMISS
- ↑ Chapter 2: BLIGHT
- ↑ Chapter 4: SEVERANCE
- ↑ Chapter 5: VANISHED
- ↑ Chapter 6: FRACTURED
- ↑ Chapter 7: QUALMS
- ↑ Chapter 8: VISION
- ↑ Chapter 9: DECEIT
- ↑ Chapter 11: RIGHT
- ↑ Chapter 21: ASCENSION
- ↑ https://www.backstage.com/casting/murkwood-2590037/?role_id=4583486
- ↑ https://screenrant.com/silent-hill-ascension-character-reveal-exclusive/
- ↑ [1]
| v · e · d |
|---|
| Characters |
| Major Characters |
| Astrid Johansen - Brit Johansen - Eric Hernandez - Karl Johansen - Rachel Hernandez - Toby Cirelli - Xavier Candless |
| Other Characters |
| Aurora - Barbara - Eva Johansen - Faith Hernandez - Ingrid Johansen - Joy Cirelli - Krista Lee - Lejo Kant - Mette Dahl - Nils Grønbekk - Nora Jackson - Olivia Haugen - Orson Johansen - Zayn Davies |
| Monsters |
| Crawler - Fighter - Hanger - Snarler - Stinger - The Bruiser - The Collector - The Entangler - The Immolator - The Smotherer - Wanderer |
| Locations |
| Hope's Junction - Stilledalen |
| Terms |
| Monster - Fog World - Otherworld - Paul Radcliffe - The Foundation - The Heralds - The Purifier - The Withering |
| Archives |
| Episodes - Story Branches - Cameos - Arcane Library - Soundtrack |