Charlie

Charlie
Stats
	Cannot be attacked
Combat
Damage	-100 Health, -20 Sanity
Attack Period	5-10 seconds after entering complete darkness, and 5-11 seconds after previous attack
Traits
Special Ability	Omnipresence in complete darkness
Code
Cannot be spawned

“...Make your jokes. I'll be seeing you soon...”

–Charlie

Charlie, otherwise known as the Darkness or the Night Monster, is a hostile damage source unseen to the player in-game. She only attacks when the character is in complete darkness. She is the secondary antagonist of Don't Starve and its DLCs and the main antagonist of Don't Starve Together.

When being stalked, the player's character will become alarmed, exclaiming things such as "What was that?", followed by a loud "whoosh" to signal her approach. Moments later, a slashing sound is heard and the player will be damaged for 100 and suffer a loss of 20 . The first attack will happen 5 to 10 seconds after the player enters complete darkness, with the player being stalked when 60% to 20% of this time is left until the attack. The attacks will continue every 5 to 11 seconds until the player finds or creates a light source in order to see. Most characters can survive a single attack, even without armor.

Charlie was previously Maxwell's female assistant for his magic shows and became the night monster after entering The Constant with him. She is also the younger sister of Winona. Her night monster form appears for the first time in the A New Reign cinematic. She is shown to have warring personalities consisting of a kinder self that resembles her original human form and a demonic self that is wicked and violent. At the end of the same cinematic, Charlie transforms into her current "Queen Charlie" form in Don't Starve Together in which both of her personalities are combined.

Don't Starve Together

Main article: Cyclum Puzzles

Charlie sitting down on her new throne after combining her two personalities.

In Don't Starve Together, Charlie serves as the main antagonist, carrying on after Maxwell's reign while still being the night monster. After the events of Adventure Mode take place in which Maxwell and Wilson swap places, Charlie approaches Wilson as her "human" self and frees him from the Nightmare Throne. But after the demonic night monster version of her personality overpowers her, she attacks Wilson and sends him back to the wilderness with Maxwell.

After removing Wilson from the throne, Charlie changes the throne area to her will. Her human and demonic personalities constantly fight each other over how the throne area should look. Eventually, both personalities morph into one balanced form as she sits down on the new throne.

After Wilson and Maxwell finish building the Jury-Rigged Portal to bring other characters into their part of the realm, Charlie destroys it and replaces it with her own version, the Florid Postern, marking her new reign in the Constant.

Light Sources

The following light sources will prevent Charlie from attacking:

• Inventory/equipped items:
  • A Heat Stone at full charge
  • A Lantern while equipped or dropped (if not turned off)
  • A Light Bulb on the ground
  • A Glow Berry on the ground
  • A Miner Hat while equipped
  • A Pumpkin Lantern on the ground
  • Star Caller's Staff's Star
  • A Torch while equipped
  • Willow's Lighter when equipped
  • A Magiluminescence while equipped
  • The force field effect of a Thulecite Crown (once activated)
  • Infroggles when equipped
  • Moggles while equipped
  • A Morning Star while equipped
  • A Bottle Lantern while equipped or dropped
  • A Boat Torch while equipped to a boat
  • A Boat Lantern while equipped to a boat
  • A Tar Lamp while equipped to the hand slot or to a boat
  • A charged Obsidian Axe, Obsidian Machete and Obsidian Spear
  • A Dragoon Heart on the ground
  • A Cork Candle Hat while equipped
  • A Cowl while equipped
  • A Living Artifact while activated
  • A Festive Light on the ground or on a Winter's Feast Tree

• Structures or world objects:
  • A cooking Crock Pot (character must stand in front of it)
  • Fire (Campfire, Fire Pit, Willow-made fires, or burning objects)
  • A Lightning Rod when charged
  • A Night Light (with fuel)
  • A Pig Torch (with fuel)
  • A Walrus Camp's light when a member of the MacTusk N' Son Hunting Party is occupying it (during Winter)
  • A Nightmare Light or Nightmare Fissure while active
  • An Ancient Pseudoscience Station (while near)
  • Maxwell's Light (while near)
  • The light from a Full Moon
  • Light from a Brainy Sprout at night
  • Erupting Krissure
  • A Buoy
  • Light from a Ballphin Palace at night
  • A Lamp Post
  • A Lamp
  • A Wall Brazier (with fuel)
  • A Crumbling Brazier (with fuel)
  • Magma
  • A working Ice Flingomatic
  • Winona's Spotlight

• Characters, mobs and plants:
  • A Light Flower when not picked
  • A Mushtree (intact)
  • Abigail's glow
  • Fireflies' illumination (coming close to them will cause them to disperse. If the player walks away, they will come back almost immediately, making it possible to "hop" between two or more patches of fireflies and survive the night. It can even be done with just one patch, walking in and out of repeatedly, although this is more difficult, and the player suffers greater sanity loss)
  • Chester when transforming
  • A Ghost's glow
  • A Slurper (while it's awake and/or on a character's head)
  • WX-78 on OVERLOAD after being struck by Lightning
  • WX-78's sparks (when caught in Rain)
  • Woodie in his Werebeaver state
  • A Depths Worm's displayed lure
  • Any mob or character that has eaten a Glow Berry
  • A Houndius Shootius when charging a shot
  • An enraged Dragonfly
  • Light from Bioluminescence at night
  • Rainbow Jellyfish
  • Any mob or character that has eaten a Dragoon Heart
  • Any characters and certain mobs that have eaten a Dead Rainbow Jellyfish
  • Glowfly
  • Wilba in her Werepig form
  • Royal Guard
  • Magic Flower
  • Iron Hulk
  • Lavae
  • Hutch with a Light Bulb in its storage
  • A Mothling critter when fed

Speech File Comments

Comments from Charlie could be found in Maxwell's DST speech file around and after the time of the Cyclum Puzzles and A New Reign. More comments were added to Winona's speech file in her character update in March 2019 and to Wormwood's speech file in his debut update in June 2019. All of the comments were removed from their respective speech files some time between Warly's character update and Wurt's character update/Hallowed Nights 2019. Currently known ones are listed here, underneath the corresponding quote:

Maxwell

• Maxwell (generic)- "What a dapper fellow!"

  --Pride... Arrogance... Conceit...

• Maxwell (NPC)- "Looking good!"

  --This was your fault...

• Maxwell's Head- "Hey, handsome."

  --You did this...

• Maxwell's Light- "Aw, it remembers me."

  --You...

• Nightmare Lock- "It keeps the master in the chair."

  --You...

• Nightmare Throne- "It's less painful than it looks. Barely."

  --You haven't escaped its pull...

• Maxwell Statue (DST)- "It seems silly now..."

  --Your hubris... Maxy... it was always your weakness...

• Maxwell's Tooth Trap- "I'm... sure I had my reasons when I placed this."

  --...

• Maxwell's Mosquito Mine- "Maybe I shouldn't have put that there."

  --...

• Gramaphone- "That accursed thing!"

  --...

• Florid Postern- "Always did have a flair for the dramatic..."

  --...Make your jokes...I'll be seeing you soon...

Winona

• Maxwell Statue (DST)- "So THIS is 'Maxy'."

  --...

• Charlie announcement- "C-Charlie?"

  --...I'm so sorry, I never meant for you to come here.

• Charlie attack, missed- "Ha! I know all your moves!"

  --This wasn't a part of my plan, but as you're here now...

• Charlie attack, hit- "Yeow! Rude!"

  --...I suppose I'll have to make do.

• Failed to revive Abigail- "No one should ever lose a sister."

  --...

• Campfire (out)- "My sister was afraid of the dark."

  --You've changed so much.

• Fire Pit (out)- "My sister was afraid of the dark."

  --How much time has passed for you?

• Mandrake (mob)- "This is exactly what having a little sister's like."

  --I should like to speak, face to face.

Wormwood

• Maxwell Statue (DST)- "Alive?"

  --...

Trivia

In-Game

• When killed by Charlie, the cause of death listed in the Morgue is "Darkness"; except for Maxwell, whose cause is listed as "Charlie".
• When exiting Don't Starve Together, a popup will say "Charlie will miss you!" before quitting.

Lore

• Her gender and humanity were first revealed by Kevin Forbes (an original Don't Starve's programmer) during a livestream on Caves.
• The first time her name was made known was in the Underground update, in which Maxwell started referring to the Night Monster as Charlie. Her former human version was later shown in some of the solutions of the William Carter Puzzles.
• Night vision renders the player immune to Charlie. This suggests that Charlie is not averse to light itself, but rather the ability to perceive her.
• According to a letter written by Charlie found in the sixth William Carter Puzzle, it is implied that Charlie did not think that the shadows were real until things started going wrong during Maxwell's final performance.
• As seen in the A New Reign cinematic, Charlie has the power to put out lights when she is fully present in an area (shown when Maxwell's Lights turn off at her approach).
• According to character quotes in Don't Starve Together, Charlie smells like flowers, namely roses.
• According to Winona, Charlie used to be afraid of the dark.
• In the opening of the Next of Kin short, the upper half of a letter from Charlie addressed to Winona can be briefly seen. The whole letter was visible in Rhymes with Play #229:

Dear Winona,

How are you?! Congratulations on the new job! I knew you would find something soon. Have you settled in alright? Are you taking care of yourself?

I'm still here in San Fran and things are going well. My magic act partner has taught me so much about showmanship in such a short time. I think you two would really get along! You're both very stubborn. Haha!

Anyway, please write back soon. I want to hear all the latest news from Ohio. Don't leave anything out!

XOXO,

Charlie

• Charlie appears in a stinger at the end of the Salty Dog trailer, punctuated with voice acted laughter. This is the first time Charlie has been given a voice.
  • This laugh is used again in the Hook, Line & Inker trailer.

Cultural References

• Charlie is referenced as Grue in the game files. This is a reference to the iconic monster from the game Zork. In Zork, the Grue only attacks players in pitch darkness after a line of warning, just like in Don't Starve.

Bugs

• If a player enters a Worm Hole just before the night sets, Charlie will not attack when the character comes out of the other side. (This bug is stopped when going into light and then back into darkness again.)
• If the player pauses the game when the sound of Charlie attacking begins and resumes right before the sound ends, Charlie will attack early.
• If the player is killed by Charlie while surfing in the Shipwrecked DLC, the Morgue will list "Shenanigans" as the cause of death.

Gallery

Getting attacked by Charlie in the darkness. Faint Crock Pot light that allows the player to avoid Charlie's attack. A fully heated Thermal Stone can be used as a light source, whether in the inventory or on the ground. Wickerbottom protected from Charlie using the light of a charged Lightning Rod. Wilson standing in a dropped Light Bulb's light. Wolfgang standing next to a Glow Berry. Charlie's attack as seen from The Werebeaver's point of view in Don't Starve Together. A poster of Maxwell's magic show with Charlie as an assistant along with a letter from Charlie as seen in the sixth William Carter Puzzle. Charlie in a red trench coat, entering Maxwell's apartment as seen in the eighth William Carter Puzzle. Maxwell and Charlie on stage in The Final Act. Charlie being grabbed (and then dragged) by Shadow Hands that came out of the Codex Umbra in The Final Act. Charlie with the Nightmare Throne in the A New Reign cinematic. Charlie's face at the end of the A New Reign cinematic. Note that Queen Charlie's feather plume, hairstyle, and dress collar can be seen. Charlie as seen in the A New Reign trailer. Charlie as seen in the What Lies Beyond? clip. Charlie as seen in the Forge cinematic. Charlie as seen in the Forge cinematic. A photograph of a young Charlie with her family from the Next of Kin animated short. A photograph of Charlie from the Next of Kin animated short. Winona trying to save Charlie in Next of Kin. Charlie looming over Winona in Next of Kin. Charlie's face during her jumpscare at the end of the Salty Dog trailer. Charlie's face at the very end of her jumpscare in the Salty Dog trailer. Charlie as seen in a variant of the background wallpaper for a Don't Starve Mega Pack promotional image. Charlie, as faintly seen on Winona's promo poster. Charlie as faintly seen in the final panel of the Cyclum comics. Charlie in the 2016 "Hallowed Nights" comic. Charlie's silhouette as seen in the 2017 "Hallowed Nights" comic. Charlie as seen in the 2019 Hallowed Nights comic. A drawing of Charlie from Rhymes with Play #144. A reference sheet of Charlie's various forms shown during Rhymes with Play # 90.

Sounds

The warning cries of Charlie, meant to warn players of an impending attack.
The sound of Charlie attacking the player.

References

• DS
• RoG
• SW
• Ham
• DST
• All