| “ | "You know that old parable about the scorpion and the toad? I can't change my nature, Astrid. Just like you and your family can't change yours. No matter how much you try."
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Nils Grønbekk is a character appearing in Silent Hill: Ascension. They are the host of Exit Wounds, a popular true crime podcast covering murders around the world and a native resident of Stilledalen, Norway. Fifteen years prior, Nils was critically injured in a shooting spree that permanently scarred him and tainted their friendship with Brit Johansen.
History[]
Background[]
Nils grew up in Stilledalen, Norway. Most details about their family and social life during their childhood are unknown. In their teen years, Nils befriended Eva and Brit Johansen, the older and younger (respectively) sisters of a troubled family in town. As their friendship developed, so did Nils develop a crush on Brit, which wouldn't go unnoticed. Unbeknown to Nils, Eva's mental state was in rapid decline from the abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, Ingrid. As Eva believed Nils to hate her, and Brit struggled with her own addiction to drugs, Nils would find themselves in the middle of a plan crafted by Eva to punish the town. [2]
15 years prior to the events of Ascension, Brit set Nils and several of their other friends up for a "prank" Eva was planning in Stilledalen's town square, in exchange for drugs to calm her addiction. As they hung out in the area, along with other bystanders, Eva opened fire on the crowd with her father's guns, proceeding to gun down everyone present in the square. Nils was critically wounded by the hollow-point gunshots to their torso, but barely managed to survive long enough to receive medical help, living on as one of the few survivors of Eva's rampage. [3]
As they were receiving treatment in the hospital, recovering from their wounds, Nils expected Brit to visit them. Brit was too ashamed of her actions to visit Nils, who, as they realized that Brit had set them up and abandoned them, began to harbor a deep resentment for the Johansen family, believing them to be responsible for the pain Nils was in.
The injuries sustained in the shooting left Nils with severe nerve damage, causing them chronic pains throughout their body for the rest of their life. This led to dependency on pain medication to be able to live normally. Unable to leave things behind with those constant reminders of their trauma, Nils moved out of Stilledalen and attempted to take control of their life by working on a true crime podcast named Exit Wounds. [4][5][6]
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
Astrid and Brit listen to Exit Wounds.
Nils eventually found out that Orson Johansen, the son of Brit's elder sister Astrid, had gone missing during Ingrid's funeral. Having covered many crimes between loved ones, Nils believed that Astrid herself was responsible for Orson's disappearance and traveled back to Stilledalen for an investigation. He discovered that Astrid was now the main suspect of Orson's murder investigation following an anonymous tip, and didn't hesitate to out the information through their podcast, calling her a monster in it. Though Astrid suspected Brit was Nils' source, it was never proven. [7]
Nils meets up with Astrid in the bar.
As the investigation stalled due to detective Haugen being removed from the police force, Nils decided to go straight to Astrid for new information, sending her an anonymous message to meet up at the ice hotel.[8] Once there, Nils attempted to persuade the distrustful Astrid to give her testimony for his podcast, saying it would be her chance to tell the world her side of the story. Seeing Astrid's hesitation, they warned her that the podcast episode would happen with or without her, and urged her to decide soon.
Nils begins recording the interview.
Some time later, after a routine psychological check-up at Stilledalen's hospital, Nils trespassed into Astrid's lab and started a recording, pressuring Astrid into giving her testimony. Astrid lowered her guard and agreed to the interview, leaving her exposed when Nils' started their questioning with detective Haugen's suspension, rumors of fabricated evidence, and the gruesome state of Haugen's daughter's body in the shooting fifteen years prior. When Astrid stumbled on her words, Nils applied more pressure by accusing her of blaming the victim for saying that she shouldn't have been where she was at the shooting. They finally stopped the recording and refused to give Astrid another chance, saying that they had all they needed, before reminding her of the fable of the scorpion and the toad and that neither of them can change their nature. They then left the lab with a bitter smile and a slight limp from the pain. [5]
Days later, Stilledalen was struck again by another incident during the memorial for the victims of Eva's shooting. Karl Johansen, Eva's father, was misguided by visions of her into aiming his rifle at the memorial's attendees, receiving a bullet to the chest by one of them in self-defense. Nils, who was attending the memorial at that moment, was later interviewed by the news about their experience, describing it as Karl seeming like he was trying to protect Eva, and how their mind rushed to feel like they were reliving the day of the shooting. When asked about their feelings on Karl's disappearance after the incident, Nils felt sympathy for him, but claimed that it didn't take away from the damage the Johansen family had done. [2][4]
Nils awkwardly accepts Brit's apology.
Orson returned to the Johansens eventually, but Nils stayed in town as it seemed like there was more to be found there. While he finished recording a self-admittedly disappointing episode, Brit approached them for help with Astrid's investigation on "the Lady of the Woods," the woman who took Orson all those weeks. Nils opened with a spiteful remark about their nerve damage caused by Eva, but Brit promptly offered her apology for abandoning them all those years ago. Though they continued to be defensive, they begrudgingly accepted the late apology and to help with the Lady of the Woods, as long as Brit and him could catch up on what they had done in their time apart.
Nils and Brit encounter a Stinger.
Following a lead from one of Nils' listeners, Brit and him went into the woods near Stilledalen in search of the Tredame, a tree with a knot resembling a woman's face. Though the search turned out to be in vain, the duo was attacked by a Stinger in the fog. While Brit tripped and stayed behind, Nils managed to run away from the monster and returned to the ice hotel for safety. [6]
After days of not knowing anything from Brit, they met again when she visited Nils' hotel room. She asked them to hide their pain medication from her, prompting them to comment how they spent so much time feeling sorry for themself, but "now, [they] just feel sorry for [Brit]." Despite that, they went through with the request and hid their pills in a safe place. [9]
Orson aims at Brit and Nils.
Upon waking up the next day, Nils found their room ransacked and a flask of his medication missing. He went to check on the Johansen farm and encountered Brit, asking her if someone had broken into her house as well. They were then interrupted by Orson wielding a handgun, claiming that Brit gave it to him. While Brit questioned Orson and denied giving him a gun, Nils began to panic over the memories of Eva's antisocial behavior. They followed Orson to the shooting range and tried to get the gun from him, but despite Brit's attempts to make him understand Nils' vulnerability around guns, Orson shot at them and ran back into the house, missing the shot.
Brit stops Nils from saying more about Eva.
As they rushed into the house to chase him, Nils started talking about the 'darkness' they saw in Orson's eyes, being eerily similar to Eva's back then. They said that all of the Johansens had it, but some hid it better than others. Orson listened to the conversation and dropped the gun, being more curious about Eva's story. Though Brit was apprehensive about telling him, Nils began to talk about Eva's actions and how she killed people, making Orson doubt if he'll be like her before Brit prevented Nils from continuing. [10]
They later accompanied Brit and Orson into town, trying to find Astrid. With the town completely plunged into the fog, they discussed the situation with Brit and how to approach Orson's family history. Though they initially wanted Brit to tell Orson the whole truth, the ensuing discussion about Brit's inaction and regret made them rethink it, worrying that Orson might see Eva's story as his legacy. Nils then split up from Brit and Orson, returning to the ice hotel while the others returned to the Johansen farm.
Nils and others in the ice hotel shelter.
Upon arriving to the hotel, Nils learned that the town was effectively conducting a witch hunt on the Johansen sisters, believing them to be the source of the fog and monsters that had slowly invaded Stilledalen. Hotel owner and bartender Lejo Kant took it upon himself to protect the survivors sheltered in the building, even as the sisters eventually found their way in there. They watched as a group of them confronted Astrid and Brit and demanded for them to leave, despite Lejo's attempts to welcome them in. Once the situation defused, Nils offered Brit to stay in their room, but Astrid ultimately chose for her, Brit and Orson to stay with Haugen in her room. [11]
Nils proposes the plan.
After catching up with Brit the next morning, the altercation between survivors and the sisters continued, with a man suggesting to give Orson away to the monsters to appease them. Though Lejo cut the argument short, the man directed words at Nils to think about what the Johansens had done. After visibly pondering what to do, Nils and a few townspeople came up with a plan to get rid of the Johansens. Nils would lure Brit to the docks to search for a boat, where she'd be ambushed and left to drown in the sea. They later presented the plan to the sisters later, keeping Astrid and Orson out of it, and ensuring Brit would be with him.
Nils and Brit loop in the fog.
On their way to the docks, Nils had another flare up of their pains. Brit checked on them, but they said they were okay enough to be the distraction if they encountered the hunters. As they heard a horde of monsters in the distance and Brit ran ahead, Nils seemed to hesitate before continuing behind her, carrying a noticeable limp. They then got stuck in the fog looping around the same place for a while, losing their sense of direction and time. Nils attempted to backtrack and retrace their steps, but while Brit wanted to go to the hotel to check on Astrid, Nils vanished in the fog. By the time they got back to Brit, they heard her speaking alone, and she became defensive about it. [12]
Nils and Brit make amends.
When they arrived at the docks, they came across the group of hunters searching for the Johansens. Nils offered to be the distraction himself and for Brit to make a run for the boat, but she insisted on doing it herself. While she faced the survivors, Nils went down to the pier and stood in wait, taking their pills and staring at the sea. Brit eventually reached them and confronted them about their betrayal, having found out about the plan to kill her. Nils began to rant about his motivations: the chronic pain that pills don't help with, not allowing them to move on from Eva's shooting. When Brit replied that it wouldn't have made them feel better and that she thought they were now friends, he just said that it was the same way he felt back then. Despite all that, Brit understood them and offered to forgive them as long as they both moved on. Nils, taken aback, thought they didn't deserve Brit's forgiveness, to which she replied that he indeed doesn't, but that they have to take it anyways. [13]
Nils checks on the knocked Brit.
After some time away from each other, Nils came across a fight in Stilledalen's town square. Brit, temporarily possessed by the Other Brit (a being born of her spite and grudge), lured Astrid to the fountain in order to kill her and end their struggles. Astrid managed to fight back and knock Brit out, before running away to ask for help. Nils approached Brit's unconscious body and helped her wake up. Besides expressing confusion as to why the sisters were fighting, they remembered the time Brit had lured them to the shooting all those years ago. Brit then asked Nils that, if she were to not come back, they make sure Astrid is safe. Nils was left confused as Brit ran into the fog without them. [3]
Nils and Astrid in the woods.
Astrid arrived on the scene shortly after to look for Brit. After seeing Nils nearby, she accused them of hurting her, knowing that they had tried to kill Brit before. Nils defended himself and said Brit left on her own, making Astrid force them to help search for her. After hours of searching in town and the surrounding woods, no trace of Brit was found, leading Nils to believe that she wasn't meant to be found anymore. Wanting Brit's story to be told, but not to become muddled and forgotten, they pulled out their phone and started recording for Astrid to give her account of who Brit was.
Nils sets out to correct the family's image.
As Nils asked for the truth, they got Astrid's word of Brit's struggles, blaming herself for not being there for her when she needed it. Nils thanked her for the testimony and walked away, vowing to tell the story "right" and to fix the Johansens' image in the public eye, for people to know them as fellow victims and not as monsters. Following their last words, Nils set out into the fog and vanished. [14]
Nils' fate, after disappearing in the fog with redeeming intents, is unknown.
Behind the scenes[]
| “ | Nils Gronbekk. 23 to 33 years old; African, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, Mediterranean, Mixed Ethnicity, North African, West Indies/Caribbean; man. A ridiculously charming online journalist who uses their charm as a weapon to get people to expose themselves for their audience. They're fully emotionally armored against a world that rejected them from childhood -- they were not only a Somali growing up in a small Norwegian town, they were also a shy nerd -- and then someone tried to kill them. They were bullied for being different and then nearly killed by one of this small town’s only other “freaks” while trying to ingratiate themself into the cool kids set. They are still full of self-doubt. Being an asshole and coming at people before people can come at them keeps them safe -- so they think. They developed charm, wit, and bravado so they’d never be a victim again. Nils is a driven person, always willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his own goals. Yet he's always able to mask that ambition in a highly charismatic and charming personality.
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Nils Grønbekk first appeared in the interactive television series Silent Hill: Ascension, voiced by Marcus Ellison.
Gallery[]
Silent Hill: Ascension[]
References[]
- ↑ Nils' gender
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 10: REGRET
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 19: IGNITED
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 11: RIGHT
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 9: DECEIT
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 13: CONSUMED
- ↑ Chapter 7: QUALMS
- ↑ Chapter 8: VISION
- ↑ Chapter 14: REVELATION
- ↑ Chapter 15: PURSUIT
- ↑ Chapter 16: JUDGMENT
- ↑ Chapter 17: SANCTUARY
- ↑ Chapter 18: ENSNARED
- ↑ Chapter 20: REPENTANCE
- ↑ https://www.backstage.com/casting/murkwood-2590037/?role_id=4583499
| 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 |