Wendigo (Until Dawn)

The Wendigos are the main antagonists in the video game Until Dawn. They are humans, turned into cannibalistic monsters by a Native American spirit after they ate the flesh of other humans around the mines. After Hannah Washington desperately eats the flesh or her deceased sister she turns into a Wendigo, becoming the main antagonist.

Characteristics
The Wendigo are known to have some sort of set pattern. This begins with the tracking of the prey. This can take up to several hours. It seems they like to hunt prey that end up by themselves, than in packs and are shown to have great predatory skills. They seem to not lose their humanity completely as they can use some human-like tricks to lure their prey.

Their main way of communication is by screeching. They use this screeching as a way to scare prey into moving, leading to a gruesome kill. It's interesting to note however, that they have the ability to mimic the voice of someone they hear. It's unknown how this happens.

Despite their frail appearance, Wendigo are incredibly strong, capable of crushing a human skull with their bare hands. They seem to favor brutal, deliberate methods of killing their prey, such as gouging out the eyes of their victims or impaling them on hooks rather than simply slashing them with their claws, indicating that Wendigo are sadistic rather than merely animalistic killers.

Prologue
On the night of the prank on Hannah, a Wendigo tracks Hannah and Beth when they run into the forest. Victor Milgram tries to kill the Wendigo, which ultimately leads to Beth dying and Hannah breaking her leg from the fall. During the month that Hannah writes in her diary, she becomes extremely hungry, and digs up Beth's corpse and cannibalizes it. From the moment she eats, the Wendigo Curse enters her, making her stronger and transforming her body into a Wendigo.

One year later
The Wendigo haunt the Blackwood Pines, killing animals and humans alike. Emily and Matt almost encounter the Wendigo when they find a dying deer on the mountain, its throat ripped open by claws.

While Josh, Ashley and Chris use a Ouija board, they contact the spirit of Beth, who warns them of upcoming danger, meaning the Wendigo.

When Mike and Jessica plan to have sex in a hut on the mountain, they are disturbed by sounds outside. Believing it to be their friends, Jessica heads outside and screams that she and Mike will not fall for this. When she returns into the hut, she is grabbed by a Wendigo and pulled outside through a window. Mike pursues them. If the player decides not to take the shortcuts, Mike finds Jessica in the abandoned mine, her jaw ripped off by the Wendigo. If he takes the shortcuts he finds Jessica hurt but alive, but the elevator she lies on falls to the ground which leads Mike to believe Jessica is dead.

A Wendigo follows Emily and Matt to the radio tower. I trips the motion sensor on sight, and attempts to gain access to the top of the tower by banging on the door. When this fails it cuts the table that stabilizes the radio tower, which causes the tower to topple over, possibly killing Matt by impaling his head on a hook if he has not found the flare gun earlier.

When Emily runs away through the mines, she is followed by Victor Milgram of whom she thinks as an enemy. When the Wendigo appears behind them, Victor throws her a flare and tells her to run while he attacks the Wendigo with his flamethrower. In the mines the Wendigo pursues Emily which, due to the players decision, can lead to her death. If she doesn't die, the Wendigo bites her in the neck but Emily manages to escape.

After Emily's return, the teenagers at the loft are visited by Victor Milgram, who tells them about the Wendigo, telling them that the spirit of the Wendigo will be unleashed if anyone in the mountains resorts to cannibalism. Mike then remembers that someone watched him when he found Jessica. He then tells his friends that he left Josh in the hut when he heard Emily screaming. Although Victor tells him that Josh is already dead, Chris plans to get him before the Wendigo kills him. On the way to the hut, Victor tells Chris that guns won't kill Wendigo as their skin is like armor until it is burned off by fire and that they only hunt at night. He also tells him that they cannot see someone if he is standing still as their sight is based on movement.

Arriving at the hut they find no sign of Josh except a broken chair. Victor tells Chris that they have to leave as there is a Wendigo nearby. The Wendigo then appears and beheads Victor. Chris runs back to the lodge, followed by the Wendigo. It depends on the player if Chris makes it back or gets beheaded by the Wendigo.

At the hut, the teenagers find out that Emily was bitten by the Wendigo. Afraid that the bite will turn her into a Wendigo, Mike has the option to shoot Emily to not endanger the rest of them. The player has to decide if Mike kills Emily or not. It turns out that the bite of a Wendigo is harmless. After, Ashley reads Victor's diary to find out more about the Wendigo. The journal contains information, stating that Victor killed 6 Wendigo and that killing a Wendigo should be the last resort because death releases the Wendigo spirit into the air.

Realizing that Josh has the only key for the cable cart, Mike tries to find him to get off the mountain. Returning to the sanatorium he finds the wolf of Victor and might take him with him as Victor cannot care for him anymore. Mike and the wolf (depending on Mike's choices) are then tracked by the Wendigo throughout the Psychiatric Wing of the Sanatorium. There he learns about the history of the Wendigo followed by a brief footage of a partially or fully transformed Wendigo breaking his bonds, attacking and killing the medical staff. During this time, he also encounters a Wendigo. It follows Mike through the sanatorium and tries to kill him more than once. Depending on Mike's reaction time, he can flee from it or get killed. In the basement of the sanatorium he finds many Wendigo that were imprisoned by Victor. When pursued by two Wendigo, Mike can use a oil barrel to kill them, shooting at the barrel thereby blowing it up.

Another Wendigo may kill the wolf if Mike makes the wrong decisions.

After more Wendigo attack, Mike has to blow up more barrels which kills the Wendigo as well as blasting Mike through the door into the wilderness.

The spirit of a deceased Wendigo flies towards Sam while she tries to find Mike. Seconds later, Mike and a burning Wendigo bust through a door next to her. Both of them manage to keep the Wendigo off long enough for it to burn to death.

After following the path, Sam and Mike find Beth's grave, realizing that someone dug her up. Investigating, they find Hannah's diary which reveals that she ate her dead sister to not die from starvation. This act turned her into a Wendigo. Sam and Mike are observed by a Wendigo which they do not realize. After finding Josh, Mike and Josh try to find a way out of the caves. While walking through a pond, Mike gets pulled under by a Wendigo. When the Wendigo comes for Josh he recognizes it as his sister Hannah. Hannah, dependent onto the players decisions, either crushes Josh's head or knocks him out and takes him with her. When Matt (if he survived) and Jessica (likewise) meet in the caves they hear a Wendigo coming closer. They can either try to run, which leads to their deaths, or hide and thereby evading the Wendigo.

Upon Mike and Sam's return to the lodge they find Ashley, Chris and Emily running from the Wendigo who managed to enter the lodge. Mike and Sam, who stay calm, witness the Wendigo fighting each other as their vision is based on movement and the Wendigo are the only ones moving. In their fight, they damage a gas pipe which gives Mike the idea of blowing up the lodge with the Wendigo inside. Dependent on the players decision, Sam and Mike either give their friends the time to escape and blow the lodge up after getting out themselves, killing only the Wendigo, or blow the lodge up with everyone inside, leaving no survivors.

Trivia

 * If the player completes the "Events of the Past" video, they will learn of an alpha Wendigo known as Makkapitew, which was the one who chased Beth and Hannah at the beginning of the game, and was killed by the stranger. Seeing as Hannah's Wendigo form is bigger and stronger than the others, it's likely Makkapitew possessed Hannah, making Makkapitew the games true main antagonist.