| “ | He's right. I am getting more powerful. Powerful enough to fulfill your every wish. That's why you're here, isn't it? | ” |
– Bierce | ||
Helen Bierce, commonly referred to by her surname, is the deuteragonist of Dark Deception. She is the person who appoints Doug Houser to collect the pieces of the Riddle of Heaven and had a history with Malak.
Appearance[]
Bierce is a tall woman with a slightly tanned skin tone. She has white hair that appears to 'float' to the right side of her head, teal eyes framed by dark eyeshadow. She wears a long-sleeved skintight black rubber/latex dress that exposes her torso and abdomen, though part of this exposure is divided by a single round gem holding parts of the dress together. A necklace with three of these different forms of soul shards also connects the side of her dress just below the neck. She wears two of these jewels as earrings as well. She has red nails and dark eyeliner.
Personality[]
| “ | If you believe her, you're dumber than you look. Once she gets what she wants, you're done. | ” |
– Malak, warning the player about Bierce's treachery | ||
Bierce is shown to be a snarky, mindful, and very bored individual, often commentating on anything and anyone the moment something catches her attention. Whether it's her own allies or enemies, she's very quick to think of something at the current moment, especially if someone does something she doesn't like or doesn't appeal to her liking. Due to spending years semi-isolated from life, she gets impatient very easily, and she's more than willing to express that frustration to Doug if he gets even remotely distracted from his duties, even going so far as to mock him excessively if it means motivating him or just for the sake of it. Even if things seemingly go right, she sometimes comes off as arrogant, either in her own abilities or Doug's actions to some extent. This also extends to her viewing any visitors she comes across as possible
Outside her sheer amount of apathy, she comes across as pretty aware and informative. Throughout the game, she's willing to give Doug hints on using his powers or whatever information she can discern from the current situation, or on occasion just simply comment on her life. Due to being pretty much her only chance at furthering her goals, she still shows some care for anyone who still trusts her. In Doug's case, she goes so far as to help him out of certain obstacles and, over time, outright shows care for his situation. However, how much of this is really genuine is unknown at this point, and both Malak and some of his lackeys point out that she's manipulating him (which, to an extent, is true).
Bierce's past and current personality is expanded on in her diaries. Throughout her diaries, Bierce is shown to be extremely arrogant and cold-hearted towards others, often viewing most people as nothing but stepping stools to her own personal gain, including her own husband, whom she married only for wealth. This soon develops into downright psychopathy, as she goes so far as to killing a young girl to help contact Malak. She even goes so far as to try backing out of Malak's deal by using the Riddle of Heaven against him, and even afterwards she chooses to stay in the middle of nowhere rather than give him her soul, showing her off as petty under the right circumstances.
Behavior[]
| “ | Bierce! Stay out of my room!
You're both cheating! |
” |
– Agatha, after Bierce opens the door. | ||
Throughout the game, Bierce will aid Doug in his quest to collect the Soul Shards to rebuild the Riddle of Heaven. This aid comes in the form of advice, unlocking powers for Doug and a radar to show him where the Soul Shards are. Bierce is rather confident in her abilities and her knowledge, shown in her cocky attitude. She is also able to influence certain events in the Nightmare Realms such as opening the doors after Agatha trapped the player in her room and providing them with mallet to help them vanquish the Goliath Clowns.
Abilities[]
High intelligence[]
Bierce is a genius, even before the game she was the one who used her brains and tactics, throughout the game she uses her brain to assist Doug, such as telling him how to defeat bosses, which mainly succeds.
Acting skills/Manipulation[]
As a famous film star in 1930s Hollywood, Bierce is likely a very skilled actress, she also knows how to manipulate people, such as Doug, whom she gaves hopes and sweet words to fight in nightmares.
Knowledge of Riddle of Heaven[]
Mostly because of Edgar, Bierce is the most character seen to show proficiency in magic, even more than Malak, she uses knowledge to give Doug powers or to fight on her own.
Telepathy/Clairvoyance[]
From the start, Bierce reveals herself to have a form of psychic ability, or at the very least, clairvoyance and telepathy. She has shown this by reading Doug's thoughts and memories, talking to Doug when in the Nightmares, and able to connect with Doug's senses.
Portal control[]
Seen in game and heavily implied by Doug, Bierce has the power to unlock or lock portal to the nightmare.
Telekinesis[]
While very limited, Bierce is revealed to perform telekinesis to some extent, as she's capable of controlling the ring pieces and granting their abilities to Doug. She's also capable of controlling certain objects at Doug's need in the nightmares, although it's implied that she can only do so while connected to Doug there, and the momentary usage of it suggests that it's weak in some capacity. During her skirmish with Malak, she reveals her more offensive use of telekinesis when she uses it to pick up and attack him.
Immortality[]
Presumably due to the ring piece she has, Bierce cannot age like a normal human, allowing her to survive in the ballroom for at least a century since she came there. This also extends to her in a physical sense as well, as she's able to survive getting impaled by Agatha and manages to heal from the wound later on.
Affliction[]
While not directly shown, Bierce points out that she could change Doug's physical appearance at her own behest (presumably gained from the ring pieces), such as changing his size or turning him into a cockroach.
Banish[]
Shown how invasion in her ballroom ends, Bierce has ability to banish anyone she wants.
Relationships[]
Edgar[]
Edgar is Bierce's late husband. Bierce states in her diary entries that he was a wealthy man working in the film industry and she only married him for his money and connections. Bierce had a low opinion of her husband from the start, referring to him as a fat pig and calling him and his friends degenerates for their odd partying habits. It's heavily implied that her husband was a philanderer when Bierce calls other women in the industry "Edgar's tramps".
Not much is known about how Edgar felt about Bierce, however given his implied unfaithfulness, it is most likely he too did not have a high opinion of his wife. He is initially baffled by Bierce's sudden popularity as an actress, though he seems to be unaware of her true doings.
Edgar died early in the relationship (Bierce implies it took six months) due to arsenic poisoning by Bierce's hand.
Victor[]
Victor was a strange man Bierce met during one of her husband's parties. Not much is known about him other than he has a strange accent and states he came from a place known for black magic. Victor is the one who influenced Bierce enough to try her hand at a deal with demons, which is how she met Malak. What Victor's true intentions were are not clear, as he disappeared shortly after Bierce completed her deal with Malak.
Agatha[]
Agatha is one of the many demons loyal to Malak who roams the school seen in "Elementary Evil". Bierce herself does not say much about Agatha, however Agatha clearly has a deep hatred for Bierce, drawing unflattering pictures of her on the wall, yelling at her to stay out of Agatha's room, and attacking Bierce. As confirmed by Vince Livings in Q&A 16, Agatha was the child Bierce sacrificed in order to make a deal with Malak, explaining this hatred.
Malak[]
Bierce first met Malak when she enacted a demonic ritual to ask him to make her a movie star. Malak gave her seven years and a day and after which, he will take her soul as payment. Initially, Bierce was alright with this arrangement, however she later cheated Malak and later found herself within the ballroom she resides in. The two have a deep distaste for each other: Malak can't get Bierce's soul while she's in the ballroom, and Bierce can't get the ring pieces because Malak has them scattered about. The two frequently try to pull Doug Houser back and forth on who is actually trustworthy, though Bierce usually seems to win the argument in the end.
Doug Houser[]
Doug Houser is a man who finds himself at Bierce's mercy when he attempts to find a way to correct his mistakes in life regarding his familial relationships. Bierce has promised Doug that she will give him a better life if he can recover all of the ring pierces scattered throughout the realms. As the story goes on, Bierce is routinely impressed by Doug's progress after initially stating that he disappointed her when they first met, even seeming relieved when he returns to the ballroom alive after being captured by Malak and Mama Bear in Bearly Buried. On that same note, Bierce becomes a lot more demanding and aggressive as Doug progresses and will make fun of him when he dies.
Elise Houser[]
Elise Houser is Doug's late wife and the previous guest of Bierce's ballroom. Bierce states that Elise is the one who left the tablet behind after being killed by the Murder Monkeys. Bierce refers to Elise as a very clever girl "but not a very fast runner". Unbeknownst to Bierce, Elise survived the Murder Monkeys and continued into each realm on her own.
Reaper Nurses[]
The Reaper Nurses are a group of female demons bound to Malak. While the Nurses are implied to usually be very kind towards other women, they do not care much for Bierce, referring to her as "the Dealbreaker," and stating that she is only using Doug, though Bierce claims to not know what they are talking about.
Mama Bear[]
Mama Bear is a demon loyal to Malak. Much like Agatha and the Reaper Nurses, Mama Bear does not like Bierce, referring to her as an abomination and not wanting Doug to return to her.
The Original History of Bierce[]
Helen Bierce was born in the 1930s of British descent. When she grew older, she came to Hollywood to become a popular actress but was inexperienced, so she married a rich man who had strong connections to the film industry, Edgar, only for his money. Edgar stole movie costumes and performed fake satanic rituals with his friends for fun. Eventually, a man from Hungary named Victor who came from a culture that strongly believed in dark magic was called over by Bierce and Edgar. Bierce, running out of options on how to become a successful actress, turned to Victor for help.
Bierce thought Victor could teach her about dark magic to get what she wanted, so she convinced him to mentor her. Victor rented out a flat and mentored Bierce for months until he taught her about a ritual on how to summon a demon called Malak, which was to sacrifice someone's daughter and he will come and grant you a wish. It will last several years until he comes to get your soul as payment. As soon as Bierce performed the ritual by sacrificing the daughter of a maid, Malak came and made her a successful actress for those 7 years. The day after the ritual, all the film studios were calling her to be in their movies, becoming a successful actress and getting what she wanted. Even though Victor disappeared, Bierce killed Edgar via poisoning and inherited his wealth.
Bierce didn't plan to stick to her deal with Malak, so she looked for a way to repel the demon. She learned of a ring called the Riddle of Heaven which could strip Malak's power away. She found it in a faraway country, when Malak came to finish their deal. Bierce tried to suck away Malak's power with the ring, making Bierce gain a bit of his power before he banished her between Heaven and Hell, but the ring created a pocket dimension which was in the middle of the afterlife. The ring fell into Hell and Bierce was stuck in a Ballroom pocket dimension, a purgatory for souls who did both good and bad in their life. Personal Hells opened up between pillars in the pocket dimension, along with a gateway to Hell.
The Riddle of Heaven appeared to be a giant altar which was shattered into pieces all over her personal Hells. She sent these souls into the portals to collect the shattered crystals, Soul Shards, to rebuild the altar to strip away what's left of Malak's power to become an actress and do whatever she wants. Malak created monsters to guard the Soul Shards which got most of the souls killed. But upon meeting Doug Houser, everything changed.
Family tree[]
| Edgar |
| Helen Bierce | ||||||||
Monsters & Mortals[]
 "Are you not aware that she offers only lies?" This article contains information on a subject that isn't considered canon in Dark Deception franchise.
|
Bierce returns as a playable mortal in Monsters & Mortals.
As a Mortal of the Support class, she is more than average in movement speed, great at collecting soul shards, has the 2nd most health a Mortal can have at max, a fast attack cooldown, and if she uses her heavy attack on a teammate, it will automatically heal them for 5 HP. However, she doesn't do a lot of damage. She is useful in shard collecting and healing teammates.
Her ultimate ability, "Helping Hand", when used will cause her to regen all of her health over time and will cause her teammates to regen 25% of their max HP over time. This doesn't work on other Support Mortals so she will need to heal them with her heavy attack. She attacks and heals with her hands via slapping.
| Team | Mortals |
| Class | Support |
| Health | 200 |
| Speed | Average (>) |
| Light Attack Damage | 10 |
| Heavy Attack Damage | 20 |
| Ultimate Ability |  Helping Hand
|
| UA Description | Bierce rapidly regenerates 100% of her health over 10 secs. All non-support allies are healed 25% as well. |
| UA Duration | 10 seconds |
Skins[]
| Image | Name | Rarity | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Bride |  Common
|
In the Bride skin, Bierce's appearance is the same as her default skin, but her outfit is replaced by a white dress with flowers. |
 |
Geisha |  Rare |
In the Geisha skin, Bierce has black hair and wears makeup. Her fingernails now have glowing purple nail polish. Her outfit is replaced by a blue dress with cherry blossoms. |
 |
Empress | Rare |
In the Empress skin, Bierce has the same appearance as her Geisha skin, but without makeup. Her outfit is replaced by a red dress with two dragons at the bottom. |
 |
Queen of Hearts | Rare |
Halloween Collection
In the Queen of Hearts skin, Bierce now has black nail polish on her fingernails, Red hair, her dress is now black, white and red with red hearts covering it, and the soul shards are now red in color. |
Trivia[]
- In the 2014 build of the game, Bierce's voice was heard, but she was never seen in the game itself.
- However, it is heavily implied Bierce is a flying crystal ball in her ballroom in 2015 version, imprisoned or changed into different form and must be free/restored by all ring pieces, all the reasons to suspect this are:
- In her old description, there's a part of legend saying Bierce will show up if ring completed.
- In alpha, the ring altar existed but was not added in her ballroom, like in the remaster.
- In one of her cut lines, she orders the player to unlock the puzzle. The puzzle itself is blue flying crystal, although it is a ball in 2015.
- Her voice was also a little different, though still voiced by the same actor.
- Bierce's earrings and necklace are soul shards, as revealed in the 7th Q&A.
- A portal of Bierce was found at the end of an old 2015 video. When the developers were asked about it, they said that there will not be a portal for her and that it was just some old art.
- In the 2014 and 2015 builds of the game, Bierce was presumably going to have originally been the one who picked out Evan's nightmares instead of Malak as she claims that the monkeys were just "a little something (she) plucked from your worst nightmares". Although, this could be a Deception based on her unexpected reactions during 2015 build where she's more focused on getting the ring piece rather than wanting to see Evan's worth, along with Malak chasing after Evan getting the ring, proves the point she may have lied.
- At the beginning of Monkey Business, Bierce mentions a female "guest" that arrived before Doug. This, along with the number of soul shards in the nightmares, suggests there were multiple guests here before the events of Dark Deception, leading to some speculation that the realm Doug is in is a variant of Purgatory.
- Agatha, the primary antagonist from the Elementary Evil level, seems to have a distaste for Bierce, hinting that they have some history with each other. This may be a hint towards one of Bierce's recordings in which she states that she sacrificed her maid's daughter.
- This connection was eventually confirmed by Vince in the 16th Q&A.
- Despite being an apparent ally of Doug, Bierce seems to have little to no regard for his survival, as she will taunt and mock Doug upon his death.
- Bierce's indifference towards Doug is also evident in Deadly Decadence, as she ponders whether to be impressed or disappointed that he is still alive.
- Also, if Doug dies in any of the nightmares, Bierce will just laugh at him after saying 'You Are Dead.'
- Additionally, in Torment Therapy when Doug gets knocked out by a Reaper Nurse, Bierce will just unfairly call Doug an idiot and a careless oaf despite him being caught off guard.
- In 2015 version of the game, Bierce was much more careless for Doug's well-being, she would be much more impatient over Player's slowness.
- An example would be player attempt of reaching remaining soul shards but is cut off by upcoming murder monkey and using an empty hall of the maze to escape can result Bierce unfairly insulting him.
- Despite mocking Doug near the beginning of the game, she presumably actually cares about Doug being alive judging by her reaction to seeing him after Bearly Buried.
- It is speculated that Bierce may be the last enemy of the game, due to the portal depicting her image and the existence of a second Bierce beneath the staircase, with a suggestive purpose.
- It was originally speculated that Bierce's portal was meant to be the 10th portal in the Ballroom before it was deconfirmed by Vince himself.
- Although, this may have originally been the case in the 2014 and 2015 builds as her claiming that she plucked the Monkey's from the player's worst nightmares implies that she was the one picking and controlling Doug's nightmares instead of Malak.
- The name 'Bierce' comes from an American short-story author and Civil War veteran: Ambrose Bierce, who had a daughter named 'Helen'.
- Malak mentions that Bierce relies on Doug's vision to witness what happens in each level, explaining how she can observe, react to, and comment on each of the chases.
- In a cut voiceline, Bierce jests about Doug being fed arsenic tea, alluding to how she murdered her husband, Edgar.
- Her voiceline from Stranger Sewers upon dying from Doom Ducky or the Dread Duckies, "Yes, your corpse will float too." may be a reference to the 2017 film IT.
- Another voiceline she makes in the level, "Oh, but it makes bathtime so much fun. Doesn't it?" is an obvious reference to the Sesame Street song "Rubber Duckie"
- Vince Livings said in the fourth Q&A video that Bierce was initially designed to look like an old woman. This can be seen when looking at some of her concept art.
- She is tied with Clown Gremlin, Murder Monkey, and Gold Watcher for the most alternative skins (4 variations, not counting default) in Dark Deception: Monsters & Mortals.
- Her voice line in Crazy Carnevil upon dying to the Clown Gremlins or Goliath Clowns, "It would be funny if it weren't so sad" might be a reference to the song "Want you gone" from Portal 2.
- Her voiceline in Mascot Mayhem upon dying, "You've been terminated. Humanely, I'm sure." might be a reference to "The Terminator".
- In Bierce's Diaries, specifically her eighth diary, there is a strong indication that Bierce has Musophobia (fear of rats) and Arachnophobia (fear of spiders).
Voicelines[]
Bierce is voiced by Carolyn Seymour.
- Main Article: Bierce/Voicelines
- Main Article: Bierce's Diaries
Gallery[]
In-game[]
Dark Deception[]
Super Dark Deception[]
Models[]
(Monsters & Mortals)
Miscellaneous[]
![[Voice Vault] Cut! Helen Bierce Lines Thumbnail](/wiki/File:Cut_Helen_Bierce_Lines_Thumbnail.jpg "Cut Helen Bierce Lines Thumbnail.jpg (69 KB)")
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Concept Arts
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