The Suitors are the main enemies encountered in Amnesia: Justine. As their name suggests, they are ex-lovers of Justine Florbelle.
Information
Suitors can be seen around the basement, having been kept there by Justine (revealed in a loading screen message), to make them a part of the very "psyche testing" she set up for herself. When idle, they make rasping or wheezing sounds, and when they walk, their chains can be heard dragging across the floor. They are also the only enemies that speak, which is similar in design to the enemies in Penumbra: Black Plague, in which the enemies can speak short lines. Another similarity between the suitors and the enemies in Penumbra: Black Plague, is that the suitors are in fact human, despite the fact the enemies in Black Plague are reanimated corpses.
Each Suitor has a unique disposition, demeanor, and reason for finding and attacking Justine.
The three suitors that are encountered are Aloïs Racine, Basile Giroux, and Malo de Vigny.
Suitors
The Suitors are blind, use this advantage for when encountering them. You can get close to them, but only by crouch. Beware, running or simply walking near them alerts them of your presence.
Aloïs Racine
Main Article: Aloïs Racine
“Is that you, my love?
”Aloïs
The first Suitor, Aloïs.
Aloïs has a self-destructive fixation with Justine and was voluntarily cutting and self-mutilating in order to prove his mad love for her. His note implies that Justine is romantically involved with both other Suitors, and also that Basile has abused her in some way. Aloïs is the first obstacle encountered in the prison cells when Justine enters the first cell to the far left. Within the cell where Aloïs was kept is written in blood on a table "Forgive me" and another on the wall right of the cell door "I am so sorry", being private messages to Justine. Aloïs is the only monster to leave the area completely after a while, but will eventually appear again if the player chooses to sacrifice the victim to get the ladder down from the ceiling. Making noise before he has left completely can also summon him back. Also, going back to the beginning area where Aloïs went can bring him back.
According to a note found in a cell, Aloïs made several sacrifices in his career and family in order to be with Justine, much to the disdain of his mother. It was in fact Aloïs' mother who sent Dr. Victor Fournier (the first victim) to Justine's estate, so that he could diagnose her as a hysteric, and have her incarcerated. His father, Lucien Racine, is also very worried about his well-being ever since his affair with Justine, and even more so after his long absence from his loving family and career. He hires Inspector Marot to investigate into his whereabouts, unknowing of the danger involved as Justine captures him and leaves him at the mercy of one of the other Suitors, Malo, who is now so completely insane that he practices cannibalism.
From the way he talks, it is obvious he is still in love with Justine, as he will speak in a mild-mannered tone even when attacking her. It is implied that Aloïs was a racquet sport player, as Justine can find a racquet in the same room where Aloïs left his blood-written "forgive me" message, and flashback-esque racquet-hitting sounds play upon entering the room coupled with grunting noises that sound like Aloïs.
In-game, despite the seemingly friendly and outwardly gentle personality of Aloïs, don't be fooled. Aloïs may have initially helped play a role in the downfall of the other two Suitors. In his note to Justine, he confesses he is madly, and jealously, in love with her and would gladly murder Basile on a whim. He mentions he'll sedate the carpenter just to please her. Doing so may have provided Justine the opportunity to blind the man. Aloïs poses the same threat as the other Suitors, and the way he speaks is somewhat haunting.
Aloïs is voiced by Scotty Campbell.
Basile Giroux
Main Article: Basile Giroux
“Get over here... I'll rip your head off!
”Basile
The second Suitor, Basile.
Basile Giroux is the angry one of the three Suitors and the second to appear. His rage is justified however and thus Basile appears to have retained the most sanity of the three Suitors, and simply wants to exact retribution upon the woman who ruined him. In the phonograph recording, one can hear an exchange between him and Justine. Basile regains consciousness after being drugged and finds himself restrained in some strange device. He's clearly not in the mood for Justine's "games" but nevertheless is forced to read from a script she prepared for him which states "her beauty is blinding". At that moment, an uncredited weapon or method (possibly the hot poker in the nearby fire) damages his eyes and he screams. Justine laughs at him and Basile curses her for blinding him and threatens to kill her. He appears in the basement area after leaving the library section, whispering threats as he hunts for Justine. When he appears, all the lights in the basement will be blown out, and the door will slam shut, locking you in.
Once spawned, Basile does not de-spawn and will continue to patrol the area looking for the player. It is necessary to sneak past him in order to continue. However, this isn't too difficult as long as you do so without making too much noise, since he is blind after all. Once the player passes a group of chairs near the exit of the area, the Suitors' chase tune will begin playing and Basile will automatically be alerted of the player, however, at that point you're close enough to the exit that it usually won't make a difference. It is possible that Basile was a carpenter, as entering the empty prison cell between the other two cells (where Aloïs and Malo were) cause flashback sounds of sawing wood and hammering. Other elements in the game that hint to Basile's former career is that Aloïs' note stated Basile was strong, and if the player enters any other cell, it won't produce flashback sounds that require physical work (apart from the racquet sounds in Aloïs' cell and violin sounds in Malo's). Also, it is notable that several bricks in Basile's cell were removed, but not without it causing injury as there is blood around the brick slots and on the bricks themselves.
Basile is voiced by Jon St. John.
Malo de Vigny
Main Article: Malo de Vigny
“Justine. Let me taste you.
”Malo
The third Suitor, Malo.
Malo de Vigny appears to be the insane one of the three Suitors. He is the prisoner of the cell to the right of the first cell block. It was mentioned in notes that Malo was once a very talented violin virtuoso. Before his downward spiral into a mutilated monster, Malo got drunk before an evening concert. It was to be a grand première of several new arrangements of songs, but Malo was so drunk he couldn't play properly and eventually the audience heckled and jeered at him.
The stress was too much for the young musician; he threw his bow into the audience in frustration and collapsed. He had to be escorted away from the stage by the other Suitors, Basile and Aloïs, and was replaced by another violinist. All the while, Justine was sitting among the audience, seeming very amused by the event. It is believed from rumours in the conservatory that Malo's apparent intoxication was entirely her doing.
Malo is the last monster to encounter in the sewer area. He's seen as the most violent and crazy of the three men, as he threatens to — and will if he has the chance - actually eat Justine, since he's grown tired of his own flesh. Despite what he's become, he speaks in a friendly, sarcastic demeanor. Inspector Marot is locked up nearby. Justine has a choice to make; either guaranteeing her own safety by leaving the policeman to be brutally murdered by Malo, or saving the inspector and risking the mad suitor catching her. In Malo's cell, chunks of flesh and smears of blood — presumably his own — can be found.
Malo is impossible to hide from. Though he is blind, he is always aware of Justine's presence. If you hide from him, he'll make a beeline toward the room you are in, making it impossible to hide. This is possibly because he was a violinist, so the man had to develop a very refined sense of hearing to distinguish between tone and sound when playing music, this means he can easily detect Justine trying to sneak away in a flooded basement, as the water makes Justine's movements much easier to hear.
If the player is quick enough, they can run into the second room, close the door with the lever to their left, secure Inspector Marot's door, and then hide behind the left set of bars as Malo breaks in. Malo will then make an awkward search patrol back and forth between the exit door and Marot's cell door. Each time Malo leaves the exit door, the player can crawl up to it and undo it a little, repeating this until the player can simply flee at which point, Malo will begin the normal chase sequence in the final hall.
Even though Basile is said to be the strongest of the Suitors, Malo is the only one who actually shows immense strength. He breaks down the door connecting the first flooded chamber in only a few moments, and when Justine is bringing the missing cogwheel with her to open the next door, he tears that one down in about 10 seconds or when Justine put the cogwheel on the machine and is at the gate, he will bash down the door. Once Justine saves/sacrifices the inspector, a very intense pursuit occurs as Malo chases Justine through the final dark winding hallway; destroying both the final metal door and any obstacles in his way in less than a second.
Malo is voiced by Jeff Buchanan.
Script
Though sharing a character model and a series of wheezing, screeching and growling noises, each Suitor has his own unique voice and personality, along with specific lines of dialogue, depending on whether he is noticing, searching for or chasing the player:
Aloïs
- Idle:
- "Is that you I hear?"
- "Why did this happen?"
- "Come back!"
- Discovery:
- "Is that you, my love?"
- "You came for me!"
- Giving up on search:
- "Where did you go? Come back...!"
- "Please, come back!"
- Attacking:
- "NO! Stay!"
- "[angrily] Don't leave again..."
- After kill:
- "Hush now... It's all right."
Basile
- Idle:
- "I will find you."
- "I will kill you, you cunt!"
- "Yes, keep making those sounds."
- Discovery:
- "[laughs] You won't get away this time."
- "I have you now!"
- ''Get your raggedy ass over here''
- Giving up on search:
- "I found you once, I'll find you again."
- "This isn't over yet!"
- Attacking:
- "Get over here!"
- "I'll rip your head off!"
- After kill:
- "You thought you'd get away, didn't you!?"
Malo
- Idle:
- "Justine...let me taste you... [chuckles]"
- "I grow tired...of my own flesh..."
- "I can't believe...this is what it feels like... [giggles]"
- Discovery:
- "I see you..."
- "Bonjour~"
- Giving up on search:
- "[singing] Hide and seek, hide and seek..."
- "Come out... You'll like what I have planned..."
- Attacking:
- "[laughs] Come here!"
- "I want you...!"
- After kill:
- "[disturbing biting/chewing sounds and laughter]"
Gameplay
Similar to Grunts and Brutes, Suitors spawn whenever Justine performs certain triggering actions, such as completing a puzzle or entering a particular area. They drain sanity when looked at, are accompanied by their own harrowing theme while nearby, and utter a variety of sounds and phrases when they first appear and as they wander around. The Suitors speak while patrolling, calling out to or threatening Justine while searching for her (see Script). Like the Gatherers, the Terror Meter is played when the Suitors are alerted to Justine's location and are giving chase.
As stated in one of the loading screens, Justine abacinated at least two of the Suitors, likely Basile and Aloïs, as the former is heard being blinded, and neither react to the player being within their range of sight. Instead, they rely only their senses of touch and hearing to locate the player once alerted to their presence. While she is crouching, Justine is much harder if not impossible to pick up on, provided nothing is broken, slammed or knocked over while the Suitor is around. If she is some distance away from them and not making much noise, they probably will not find her. Malo is the exception; while it is never stated whether or not he has been blinded, and though he appears to have no eyes like the other two, he plainly states that he can "see" Justine, although it's impossible to tell if he is telling the truth due to his insanity. He is much harder to hide from and escape, likely as a result of this.
If a Suitor chases Justine long enough, they will eventually pick up their running speed. They can kill the player with just one or two hits, resulting in the game ending, since--as stated in the opening slides--it is impossible to save in this add-on.
Origins
During the game, Justine finds several notes featuring her past; letters from her father and even diary-entries which she wrote herself at age 8, 9, 10 and 11. These reveal that Justine has a serious mental condition that causes her to display traits in similarity to sadistic sociopaths.
She was always told by her father never to go down to the basement, but as her father was killed by her, there was no one to deny her curiosity and this became the start of her experiments with the human body and psyche.
The Suitors had been originally just that, normal human beings with careers who were each involved in a relationship with her and apparently in competition with one another for Justine. Over time, the sadistic woman destroyed their minds and lives, gradually turning them completely insane, a shell of their former selves. One of the loading screens reveal that abacination (heat radiating from a red-hot metal plate in front of the face) was the method Justine used to blind the Suitors.
She tortured and mutilated all three of them, surgically attaching strange metal contraptions such as cartwheels, which in early times were used as torture instruments to render the wearer almost sleepless; due to the painful manner, the contraption would apply awkward pressure to the neck if the wearer tried to lie down. Eventually, her mad Suitors became her guinea pigs, just like Daniel became Alexander's in The Dark Descent. Not only this, but she also uses herself in her experiments and soon finds a liking to drug herself and explore her cellar. The malformed monsters that used to be her Suitors are part of the tests that she is putting herself through.
Trivia
- Suitors deal about the same amount of damage as a Brute from the main game, meaning they can usually kill the player in one single hit if not at full health just as they do to Daniel respectively. Another similarity is that they run noticeably faster than Servant Grunts, making them even more dangerous and fearsome.
- Suitors bear a slight resemblance to the infected human enemies from Penumbra: Black Plague; not only do they share a similarity in the shape of the body, but both enemies are the only ones capable of speech in their respective game series.
- The actor that voices Basile (Jon St. John) is the same one that voices Duke Nukem.
- Despite being referred to commonly as monsters, there is no evidence that any of the Suitors have actually died, meaning the "creatures" chasing Justine are just as human as she is — if not, more so — in spite of their deformities. They are not monsters, but mutilated, living men.
- A glitch exists where Basile can be de-spawned by placing a chair in the way of the door to the basement and preventing it from closing and locking, while then running back after he spawns.
- When the player walks into a room with a rack, right after finding out that Justine blinded Basile, it is very likely that Basile woke up tied to this very rack as a large blood-trail leads into the room.
- Suitors are hard to distinguish from each other just by looking at them, as they all look the same. They can only be distinguished from each other by their voices and quotes. Aloïs sounds sad, Basile sounds angry, and Malo sounds insane.
- In the Library, there is a boarded up room, and if the player tries to open it, something will pound on the door from the other side and the moans of a Suitor will be heard. It is most likely Basile is the one on the other side of the door, but it is unknown how he would leave the room to go to the basement.
- When Aloïs is roaming through the Cells, it is odd that he does not attempt to kill or break into the hostage's (Dr. Fournier's) cell, even though he can speak to the player asking for their help easily as when Aloïs isn't there, he will not attract his attention. He also will not cause Aloïs to return if he speaks while Aloïs is still around. It's most likely Aloïs is only interested in finding Justine, and ignores the Doctor.
- Despite being three different people, all the Suitors' whimpers, wheezing, and moans seem to sound only like Aloïs' voice.
- Despite the fact that Aloïs regarded Basile the carpenter as "strong", it is actually Malo, the former musician, who surprisingly turns out to be the strongest of the three, able to smash down gates/obstacles with a single blow.
- The Suitors' mouths do not move when they speak, as their voices "emanate" from them in a ghostly, eerie manner.
- It is possible that the wheels are used to keep the Suitors from sleeping, choking them if they do.
- Despite being inhumanely mutilated and injured by Justine's torturing, they somehow have the strength and speed to catch Justine. The reason for this is unknown.
- In the last chamber, before the exit, Malo doesn't actually break the door down until Justine starts to turn either the wheel that close the door to secure inspector Marot, or the wheel that opens the door to the exit. If Justine is just in there without turning any of the two wheels, or try to turn the wrong wheel that is stuck, Malo will just keep hissing and slamming on the door, without breaking it down. This gives the player an opportunity to take a good look at Marot, who's tied up in his little chamber.
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Video
Below is a collection of all three of the Suitors' voice clips.
Gallery
