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You dare hit a woman?! I'll crush you into dust!!

– The Matron

The Matron is the sixth boss enemy in Dark Deception who makes her first appearance in Chapter 4 in the level "Torment Therapy". She shares the level with the Reaper Nurses.

Appearance[]

The Matron appears to be an overly obese woman, with unnaturally pale skin, wearing a dirty Reaper Nurse's uniform, slightly different from that of a Reaper Nurse, and has noticeable stripes on the arm-regions of the shirt and a few dirt stains are found on it.

Like the Reaper Nurses, she also wears a bag with a black first aid symbol on her head and a red helmet comb on the top. Like the Reaper Nurses, her legs have wheels, although they are connected to a metal bar with visible metal restraints on the legs that completely replace her feet.

As for her size, she is alarmingly big as she's not only larger than the Reaper Nurses, but an entire ambulance as well.

Personality[]

I think you will find that she is not as hospitable as we are.

– A Reaper Nurse warning Doug about the Matron

The Matron is rough and brutal and is not to be underestimated. Unlike the Reaper Nurses, she readily shows her disliking of Doug, being very upfront and loud about it. Due to her role as the matron of the Therapy Center, she's also straightforward and clear about her commands to the Reapers.

During her boss fight, she reveals much more of her savage, misandrist side, calling Doug a "stupid man" and telling Doug if he dares hit a woman, also showing her dialogue as very simple as well. As such, The Matron (like the Reaper Nurses) has a strong hatred for men. Much like Doom Ducky, she also doesn't hesitate to break anything in her path in order to kill Doug, including the ambulances. That said, her ruthless demeanor enables her to have very little to no regard for her Reaper Nurse underlings. Even when nurses are on top of the ambulances, she ignores them entirely when destroying the vehicle along with the nurses, seeing them as expendable.

Abilities[]

Invisibility[]

Like Reaper Nurses, Matron can become invisible as said by the Creator. However, she does not use it as it is pointless during her fight with Doug.

Saw Proficiency[]

During her boss fight, The Matron is shown wielding two buzzsaws with surprising efficiency.

Hoverboard Proficiency[]

The Matron is shown to be able to move and balance on her hover board without much effort, allowing her to move incredibly fast despite her girth.

Brute Strength[]

Thanks in large part to her sheer girth and weight, the Matron is strong enough to dual wield two giant buzzaws and instantly break ambulances, doing the latter either with the buzzsaws or if she just falls on one.

Relationships[]

Malak[]

As with Malak's other minions, the Matron is eternally loyal to him, obeying his requests without fail. Other than this, it's likely that her relationship to Malak is similar to the Reaper Nurses'.

Doug Houser[]

Since Doug is a man, the Matron is incredibly hostile to Doug's sheer presence, telling the Reaper Nurses to kill him the moment she sees him. She continues to treat him as such during her boss fight, often mocking him in a very simpleminded manner.

Reaper Nurses[]

As their leader, the Matron considers the Reaper Nurses her underlings, telling them upfront to obey her commands as quickly as possible. No thanks to her brutal behavior, she also shows no hesitation in killing any Reapers who stand in her way, as shown whenever she destroys an ambulance with a Reaper on it.

Behavior[]

Now that's a huge woman.

– Bierce remarking the Matron's colossal stature.

Chapter 4[]

Torment Therapy[]

Act II[]
Matron Guarding Altar

The Matron is first seen sitting in her receptionist's desk at the garage, guarding the Ring Altar. Doug must avoid getting seen by both the Matron and the Reaper Nurses standing above the ambulances and bypass them undetected, otherwise she'll alert the Reaper Nurses to him once spotted. She may even try to kill Doug if he is too close.

Boss Battle[]

Upon collecting the ring piece and taking an ambulance outside to return, a cutscene plays with the Matron alerting all the Reaper Nurses to chase after Doug with her coming from behind them. One of them reached Doug on the ambulance and proceeded an attempt to stab him with the syringe, but he dodged it, then stunned her and knocked her back with the syringe.

MatronCH4Trailer

The Matron has the ability to destroy ambulances with the two buzzsaws that she holds. When she attacks a nearby ambulance, it explodes and lights up the tunnels for a brief moment. She is able to travel slightly quicker than the speed of an ambulance when the vehicle is moving. She also follows whichever direction Doug teleports on the ambulances. After some time has passed, she will try to charge at him by destroying two ambulances in front of her, but this can be prevented by pushing her back with Primal Fear.

To defeat her, Doug must stun the Reaper Nurses across the ambulance with a Stun Orb or Primal Fear, before knocking them away using their giant needles. If Doug hits them without stunning them first, they will block the attack instead and proceed to kill him immediately. When knocked away, the Reaper Nurse will fall from the ambulance and crash into the Matron if she's in the lane, damaging her. Doug must knock 4 of them away to hit the Matron a specific amount of times to defeat her. Once defeated, she will loose balance and trip over herself. She will then stare at the now escaping Doug and let out a frustrated moan.

After the Matron has been defeated, Doug reaches the hospital and the rest of the Reaper Nurses will proceed to pursue him until he escapes through the portal.

Themes[]

Symbolism[]

Going by the theory suggesting that each nightmare portal is tied to one of Dante Alighieri's Nine Layers of Hell, with the monsters inside them being manifestations of sin, The Matron and her underlings, the Reaper Nurses, might symbolize Lust as they are all young, attractive, and flirtatious women and the entrance to their domain would appear as a twisted cross between a hospital and a strip club, but at the same time, they have an uncontrollable desire to maim and torture any man foolish enough to enter their hospital. They embody the souls of feminists or misandrist women; their hatred and scorn of men turned them into monsters, as quotes like "Men Are Pigs" and "Destroy All Men" show up throughout the hospital and compare men to disease, calling them a "virus". In addition, the hospital is also known to attract the souls of misogynistic abusers as "patients specifically," leading to how the two groups complement each other perfectly. Despite her misandrist nature, the Matron still respect Malak and even accommodate the Gold Watchers, likely only because of their similar goals. It is unknown whether the Matron was never a mortal, being simply a monster created by Malak, or was indeed a mortal or an amalgamation of mortals that gained their position for having done the same sin as the Reaper Nurses, but to a far greater extent. Assuming the latter theory, the Matron could have been either a handicapped woman who was abused by a caretaker, or a collection of misandrist women, as she's in charge both because she was older and her hatred might be more potent, because she knew she couldn’t get away. She gave the other nurses roller skates to give them what she didn’t have, a means to get away.

The Matron's obesity and unattractiveness could symbolize Doug's deep-seated inner feelings of inadequacy or repulsion towards certain aspects of himself or his life, as well as the weight of his own feelings of emotional burden and stagnation, particularly his mistreatment or objectification of women. Obesity often represents excess and immobility, suggesting an overwhelming weight that Doug carries, possibly stemming from guilt, regret, or unresolved issues from his past. This could be linked to his infidelity or his actions that led to the demise of his family. Alternatively, her obesity could symbolize the literal cancer growing within Doug's body, which lead to his hospitalization in the first place. Her amputated legs could also symbolize Doug's sense of powerlessness and loss of control. Doug may feel crippled by his past actions, unable to escape the consequences or make amends. The wheelchair represents his inability to move forward or change his circumstances, while the amputated legs signify a loss of agency and freedom. This could reflect Doug's realization that he has irreversibly damaged his life and the lives of the people whom Doug has harmed or oppressed (his wife, daughter, mistresses, etc), leaving them figuratively "unable to stand on their own" due to his actions or influence, much like the Matron confined to her wheelchair. The wheelchair-bound aspect might suggest feelings of being figuratively "crippled" or hindered by past relationships or interactions with women, the people whom Doug has harmed or oppressed (his wife, daughter, mistresses, etc), leaving them figuratively "unable to stand on their own" due to his actions or influence.

Like the hotel in "Monkey Business", both the Matron and the Reaper Nurses themselves seem to represent Doug's infidelity, more specifically, the secretaries themselves. Meanwhile, the hospital appears to represent how Doug seems to represent how Doug is currently dying from cancer on a hospital bed, being stuck in a comatose state and undergoing treatment by the many doctors and nurses while also dealing with the admission of his wife and daughter to a psychiatric hospital for their mental health issues. The syringes and defibrillator traps symbolize Tammy's experiences during her time in the hospital. Being a child, Tammy likely harbored fears of medical procedures, such as having her vitals checked or blood drawn. Additionally, the pills thrown by the Reaper Nurses to stun the player seem to represent Elise's struggle with drug addiction, which often led to violent behavior as she attempted to stab Doug with a pair of scissors after a fight. This addiction, as implied by Doug in a letter, was so consuming that Elise may not have noticed if her pills were substituted with something else, a mistake that lead to the car accident that claimed the lives of Elise, Tammy, and two other people.

According to the newspaper article found in "Crazy Carnevil," where Doug was arrested for the sexual misconduct involving five separate women, both the Matron and her fellow Reaper Nurses could also represent these five victims that Doug sexually assaulted. Their highly sexualized, somewhat revealing attire represents Doug's lustful and objectifying behavior towards women, and the bags over their heads suggest Doug's disregard for their individual identities, viewing them solely as twisted objects of physical and sexual desire. The choice of bags instead of actual masks emphasizes not just the identity they are trying to conceal, but also the suffocating abuse they suffered at the hands of men, as well as Doug's perception that these women lack any true identity. Their ability to turn invisible further underscores their insignificance in Doug's eyes during his acts of abuse. All of these are also supported by their New York accent, which is the exact location where Doug confessed to the cops.

Parallels and Inspirations[]

The Matron is heavily inspired by the Big Daddy from Bioshock, Chris Walker from Outlast, The Keeper from The Evil Within, and the Nurses from Silent Hill franchise, while her personality is very reminiscent of Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Trivia[]

  • Despite the Reaper Nurses' in-game model being in the game's preview for Chapter 4, she was confirmed to be a stunt double model, and the real model wasn't revealed until the YouTube channel of Glowstick Entertainment reached 33,000 subs. The old model of the Reaper Nurses' appeared as an overweight female on wheels that wields a gigantic sharp syringe in her arms, which could be a potential weapon.
  • It was speculated that the Matron's name was Mary, until it turned out to be false.
    • The name Mary was most likely a reference to Bloody Mary.
  • She may represent Tomophobia, the fear of surgical operation and medication; Nosocomephobia, fear of medical places like hospitals, infirmaries, and asylums; Latrophobia, fear of doctors and various medical staffs, including nurses; and Cacomorphobia, fear of overweight or obese people.
  • Originally, as stated by Vince Livings, she was supposed to be a completely different character in 2014 back then, and she wasn't supposed to be a nurse at all. As such, she was originally going to be conceptualized as a prison guard akin to the Spider Pig and Evil Vulture Guard, but was scrapped and was later technically changed, so they revised her concept into an actual nurse in 2015 and so forth.
  • The Matron was often misconceptualized by many people to be a medieval knight/crusader after the release of Chapter 3, possibly due to the position where she wields her gigantic syringe weapon in her arms, which can sometimes be easily mistaken for them wielding a sword, and the fact that the symbol on her mask is (coincidentally) confused to be a Knights Templar symbol while in the game it supposedly was meant to represent a common everyday first aid symbol.
    • To add on to the hilarious misconception, they also thought the "Knight" was riding on a Segway.
  • The Matron is the second female boss, the first being Agatha, and third being Mama Bear.
  • She was originally intended to be the main enemy of "Torment Therapy" before being replaced by the Reaper Nurses. As such, she has an unused portal icon, she appeared in the teaser after Chapter 3, and she was featured alongside other monsters in the old header for Chapter 4.
  • The Matron is the fourth boss to be voiced, as well as the second one to actually speak.
  • In the 8th Q&A, Vince confirmed that the Matron is the fastest enemy in Chapter 4.
  • In the same Q&A, Vince described her as a "large, powerful woman".
  • In the 11th Q&A, The Matron's personality was described as "Brutal".
  • The Matron will be found in one of the two zones before her boss fight.
  • Sneaking past the Matron and the Reaper Nurses undetected will unlock the "Stealthy Survivor" achievement.
  • SuperHorrorBro estimated her height to be about 30 feet.
  • The Matron is one of the only enemies to not have visible feet, with the other being Red Stalkers.
  • The Matron is the second fastest enemy in the game, with the first being the Red Stalkers.
  • The Matron is the third enemy that chases Doug on wheels, with the first being the Clown Gremlins (Clown Car) and the second being the Reaper Nurses.
  • She is the second boss enemy who have appeared on the menu, the first being Agatha.
    • Interestingly enough, they are both voiced by the same person.
  • Said by Vince, it is implied she will return by his "all enemies return" statement, meaning she's alive.
  • She is the first boss character in the game to have killed her subordinates.

Voicelines[]

The Matron is voiced by Kathryn Cressida.

Expand to view this content.
Voiceline Used Audio File
*Breathing and beeps* Her preview at the end of Chapter 3.

"Reapers, stop him!" When spotting Doug.

"Reapers, after him! Don't let him reach the portal!" Before the boss fight.

"I'll crush you!" During the boss fight.

"I'll crush you into dust!" During the boss fight.

*screams* When charging at the player.

"You dare hit a woman?!" When damaged.

"You'll pay for that!"

*grunts*

"Take your medicine!" During the boss fight.

"Eat this!" During the boss fight.

"Take this!" During the boss fight.
"Die!" When charging at the player.

"Now I'm angry!" When damaged.


Gallery[]

In-game[]

Dark Deception[]

Super Dark Deception[]

Models[]

Miscellaneous[]


Navigation[]

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DD Navigation
Characters
Main Characters
Doug HouserBierceMalak
Enemies
MalakMurder MonkeysAgathaGold WatchersDread DuckiesClown GremlinsReaper Nurses
Lucky the RabbitHangry the PigPenny the ChickenJocelynTrigger TeddiesMama Bear
Red StalkersDark StarUnknown Monster 2Unknown Monster 4Unknown Monster 3Unknown Monster
Mecha Monkey
Bosses
Chef MonkeysAgathaTitan WatchersDoom DuckyGoliath ClownsThe MatronJoy KillMama Bear
Puppet KingDark Star
Other Characters
Tammy HouserElise HouserVictorEdgarDoug's MotherMistressMinor Characters
Locations
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Levels
Monkey BusinessElementary EvilDeadly DecadenceStranger SewersCrazy Carnevil
Torment TherapyMascot MayhemBearly Buried9th Level
Chapters
Chapter 1: No Way BackChapter 2: Into MadnessChapter 3: Retribution
Chapter 4: Mortal RamificationsChapter 5: Fated Conclusion
Mechanics
Environmental HazardsPowersLevelDeath TipsSteam Achievements
Music
OSTDark Deception: Chapters 1-3 (Original Soundtrack)Dark Deception: Chapter 4 (Original Soundtrack)
Bad RabbitThe Notorious PigAlways NearI'm Dead
Games & Versions
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