Character Overview:
Denial is one of the four Griefs the player must confront. Denial is desperate and manipulative, chained to its own false reality. Denial persuades and pleads all beings to look away and take shelter in the comfort of lies.

What is Denial?

Denial is the first stage of grief outlined in the 5 stages of grief model. Denial is a defense mechanism that people use during the grieving process to protect themselves from the shock of a difficult situation. It’s a period when someone refuses to accept the reality of a situation, such as the death of a loved one.

Design Process

For denial I wanted to look into the concept of instability and anxious attachments as well as desperation. One of my main concepts was the idea of multiple heads and or faces, this is because I felt that Denial will present itself into any form to get the player to stay, constantly changing and morphing to present a new excuse or reason to avoid accepting the reality of loss. This was my main research point and below are images I collected that I thought best represented the idea, I was particularly drawn to the use of masks and chains.

Upon doing further research I began branching out from the original idea and looked at more creature-like designs where I started looking at serpents and gorgons. The concept of a serpent ties well into my characterisation of Denial because of its religious connotations i.e. the creation story and the serpent being the first thing to lie in the garden of Eden causing the downfall of humanity (“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made.” Genesis 3:1A). Giving it a snake-like body allows for really interesting movement such as slithering and quick attacks as well constriction – a physical and fatal manner of keeping a person or thing stuck – the idea of constriction is super intriguing in terms of it making sense with the grief cycle, denial continuosly traps a person in grief.

Whilst researching I discovered the “False Hydra” a sinister homebrew Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) creation. It’s not an official monster from any published material, but rather a concept created by the community that has gained popularity due to its eerie and psychological horror potential. A False Hydra is a terrifying monster with pale skin and multiple heads on long necks. Instead of dragon heads like an original hydra, it has human heads with blackened eyes and large white teeth – they are insidious creatures that take root in communities as a result of rampant falsehood.

I think that the image on the top left best depicts all of my ideas together and I will begin creating my designs heavily considering the existing art work.

Concept Sketches

Final Concept

I chose this design because it blended all of my previous ideas together in one and created a really interesting character, as well as a unique depiction of Denial. If I were to continue developing this character I would look at different colour palettes and faces, perhaps trying more feminine features and playing with the idea of shape shifting. But as it stands, I’m happy with this concept.