Maxwell (character)

For Maxwell, the antagonist, please view here.

Maxwell is the eighth unlockable Character, taking on his mortal form. Maxwell has overall lower health, but his sanity increases by 20/min because of his dapper style. Maxwell has his own set items upon the start of a new world. Because of his natural sanity gain, Maxwell's need for sanity-boosting items and clothing is minimal. This natural sanity gain also matches the drain of either the Dark Sword or the Night Armor, allowing Maxwell to use such items with minimal downsides. Players must be cautious when fighting, as Maxwell only has a maximum health of 75.

When Maxwell wakes up upon the start of a world, he is not greeted by the NPC Maxwell because the player is basically playing as him. When waking up, he will shout: "Freedom, at last!"

Maxwell is currently one of two characters that can not be unlocked by gaining Experience, the other being Wes.

Special Power
In addition to starting with a Dark Sword, Night Armor, 1 Purple Gem, and 4 Nightmare Fuel, Maxwell also starts with his own book called Codex Umbra which allows him to fragment his mind.

Codex Umbra acts similar to Wickerbottom 's books, but has an infinite durability. Upon reading, a shadow puppet with the sillhoute of Maxwell will appear. Using the book costs 15 health and 2 Nightmare Fuel. For every Shadow Puppet that exists, Maxwell's maxium sanity is reduced by 55. The player may have up to 3 puppets, at which point Maxwell will have 35 sanity and will be unable to spawn more. The shadow puppets will live up to 2.5 days and die off. They will aid Maxwell in combat, and assist him in actions such as mining, and choping down a tree. Upon death of a puppet, Maxwell's maximum sanity will be restored by 40.

Unlock
Players can only unlock Maxwell by completing Adventure Mode. After beating five consecutive Chapters (escaping from five randomly-ordered and themed Adventure Worlds), the player will find themselves in the Epilogue Chapter. Once there, if the player chooses to take pity upon Maxwell, they can attempt to release him from imprisonment in the Nightmare Throne by inserting a Divining Rod into the throne's Nightmare Lock. Once this happens, Maxwell becomes a playable character. For a complete description and spoiler of the Epilogue and other Chapter Worlds, see the Adventure Mode page.

Trivia

 * Maxwell's voice is sounded by a harmonium.
 * Maxwell's name is thought to be a reference to the scientific thought problem "Maxwell's demon."
 * Maxwell is the only playable character whose name doesn't start with "W".
 * Maxwell's playable character appears to be named "Waxwell" in game's files. This suggests that he was likely named Waxwell in the game's files to avoid any file conflicts between the NPC Maxwell and the playable Maxwell.
 * The playable version of Maxwell was also nicknamed by fans "Waxwell" prior to his release.
 * Maxwell is probably based on Woland from Michael Bulgakov's novel, The Master And Margarita. Note that Bulgakov's version of the name starts with W.
 * It is likely Maxwell actually created a lot of the monsters in Don't Starve. This can be held up by the fact that he sometimes says "They don't recognize me!" when seeing hounds.
 * At the end of the trailer for the End of the Beginning Update, Maxwell has a rounded chin, but, in the game version, he has a flat chin.


 * When examining a pig house, he says "I'll huff and puff!" This is a reference to the popular children's story "The Three Little Pigs".
 * Upon examining the Dark Sword, Maxwell says "Snicker-snack!" refering to the Vorpal Blade in Through The Looking Glass.
 * Before the "Underground" update (when the entrances to caves were covered by Basalt), when examining a basalt boulder, Maxwell would say "I made a rock so heavy that I can't lift it", which is a reference to the Omnipotency paradox, perhaps solidifying the idea that Maxwell is the God of whatever realm the game takes place.