Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

"Beware the Ink Demon. Stay out in the open for too long and he will find you."

- Physical Alice warning Henry about Ink Bendy. "He was there for the beginning, but he's never seen... The End."

- Joey Drew explains Ink Bendy's weakness. "One weird note, the first figure ever created was a failed attempt in the likeness of the character called "Bendy". Since that time, no other attempts of this particular figure have emerged. And the one that did. I dunno, there's just something unworldly about him."

- Thomas Conner talking about Ink Bendy.

Bendy, or rather his corrupted physical form Ink Bendy, is the titular main antagonist in the 2017 horror episodic video game Bendy and the Ink Machine and the titular main protagonist in the mobile spinoff video game Bendy in Nightmare Run. A cartoon devil created by Joey Drew and Henry for their cartoon, Bendy was then brought to life susceptible by the Ink Machine as Ink Bendy, who is a malformed ink humanoid version of Bendy made by the Ink Machine by Joey Drew in an attempt to bring cartoons to life.

Appearance
Bendy resembles that of an old-fashioned cartoon character: having a black and white color scheme, cartoonish gloves, and a cheerful-looking expression (which apparently never changes). In addition to this, the top of his head resembles cartoony "horns", he wears a white bow tie, and sports black shoes. His eyes are in a pie-cut style, resembling that of an old, 1920s cartoon character.

Ink Bendy is an ink character similar to the original Bendy, except that he himself has a huge humanoid shape; his face is covered with dripping ink, has a large left arm and a small right arm. His left hand appears to have a glove, whilst his right hand appears to have a glove "painted" on it. His bowtie is also crooked on his body, being more in the center of his chest rather than the top. His right foot appears more claw-like, while his left foot appears to just be a blob. This form is also notably taller than Henry.

Beast Bendy is the second form of Ink Bendy, having a slight similar appearance. However, unlike Ink Bendy, Beast Bendy is taller and more skinnier, showing much broader spines on the back and the shoulders, and bearing rows of sharp teeth and longer but slender horns.

Personality


Unlike his original, who is implied to be a friendly, harmless and kind cartoon character, Ink Bendy is hostile, dangerous, destructive and homicidal, as he first appeared to have attacked and tried kill Sammy and then tried to kill Henry next. Ink Bendy, however, has seemingly spared Henry multiple times. One example is in Chapter 4, when Bendy appears to save Henry from the Projectionist when he corners Henry in a Little Miracle station. While they traded blows, Ink Bendy overpowers Norman and strangles and decapitates him, and afterwards looks into the Miracle Station and sees Henry, only to drag The Projectionist's corpse into the darkness with him.

In Chapter 5 a audio log from Joey Drew showed that Ink Bendy used to be harmless and merely wander around the studio, not harming anyone but was locked up by Joey, due to concerns that he would scare people and was implied to have been driven insane as a result.

Chapter 5 also shows the one thing that can wipe that grin off of his face is discovering that his show has ended, meaning that he isn't supposed to exist anymore which cause him to breakdown, as he disintegrates as a result of this.

Chapter 1: Moving Pictures
Bendy first appeared in the first chapter, although as a cardboard cutout. Several of these can be seen throughout the Workshop (the setting in the game). Some of these cutouts appear to move on their own, especially the one that pops up near the theatre room, and the other appearing behind Henry in a hallway.

Bendy also appears on multiple posters throughout the workshop and sticker-like objects on the wall and desks. Several sketches of the character also appear on some desks, especially one of his head with a sticky note reading "NO" on it. After Henry collects all six items, Bendy appears on a projection in the theatre room.

After Henry activates the Ink Machine, the entrance to the Ink Machine's room is suddenly boarded up. Upon getting closer, Ink Bendy will burst from the boards, attempting to grab Henry while screeching. After seemingly failing, Ink Bendy retreats back into the Ink Machine room, whilst the hallway that Henry is in begins to fill with ink.

Ink Bendy can be seen again when in the Pentagram Room. He appears for a split second in two flashbacks, along with a Wheelchair and the Ink Machine, before Henry passes out.

Chapter 2: The Old Song
Bendy reappears again in Chapter 2, again as a cardboard cutout. However, these cutouts can be destroyed by Henry with an axe. Some cutouts, especially ones in front of a pentagram, reappear when Henry turns his back on them, seemingly untouched.

In the orchestra room, several Bendy cutouts appear, depending on where Henry is in the room. If downstairs, multiple cutouts spawn in the upstairs room, increasing if Henry leaves and reenters the room. This also occurs if Henry is in the upstairs room, only the cutouts spawn downstairs on stage. A maximum of nine Bendy cutouts can appear here.

Bendy also appears as sketches, drawings, and "stickers" throughout the music department, both on desks and on walls.

Near the end, Sammy Lawrence summoned Ink Bendy in an attempt to sacrifice Henry and appease him, hoping that Ink Bendy would free him from his Ink-covered body. However, Ink Bendy seems to kill Sammy instead, although this is unofficial because the death happens off-screen.This gives Henry time to escape. Near the exit, Ink Bendy will suddenly pop up in front of Henry, blocking the exit. Forced to find another way out, Henry is then forced to run from Ink Bendy, until he reaches the vault. Having blocked the door, Henry is seemingly safe from Ink Bendy.

Chapter 3: Rise and Fall
Ink Bendy appears once again in Chapter 3. He lurks throughout the department, where Henry is forced to hide from him in order to escape. Physical Alice seems to despise and even fear him and his ink.

Ink Bendy is able to teleport to Henry by warping through the walls if he lingers for too long in an area. Henry can avoid him by hiding in one of the Little Miracle Stations, after which he will see Ink Bendy lumbering past him before disappearing into another wall. Henry may also escape him by returning to the elevator before he is caught. Ink Bendy cannot be hurt, let alone killed, by any of Henry's weapons, including the Tommy Gun which has the ability to kill the Projectionist in seconds. Physical Alice also mentions that Ink Bendy hates it when his cardboard cutouts are destroyed, and after Henry destroys them, Ink Bendy chases him down once again.

At the end of the Chapter, if Henry chose the Demon path earlier, the post-credits image shows Ink Bendy in the doorway with a Searcher and several Butcher Gang members, implying that he is raising a massive army of ink creatures.

Chapter 4: Colossal Wonders
Bendy and his inky counterpart appear in Chapter 4. Despite having villainous intent in the last chapters, Ink Bendy appears to be an anti-hero, as he appears to be protecting Henry and attempting to help him when he encounters the Projectionist, though he may only be keeping him alive so he can kill Alice.

Chapter 5: The Last Reel
Ink Bendy returns in The Last Reel, the fifth and final chapter to the game as the final boss. Bendy is first referenced inside the Film Vault, where he had previously stolen a film reel from the vault for a unknown reason, forcing Henry to go into the demon's lair. Later, as the player is walking to the lair, he is spotted walking a parallel hallway, a glass window between the two sides. Afterwards, the player come across a ink river between them and Ink Bendy's lair, causing Henry to leave Allison and Tom behind, for they can't cross it safely. Walking into the lair, Henry rather quickly finds a makeshift throne for the beast, made out of objects and surrounded by screens showing snippets of Bendy Cartoons. Henry then finds and plays a cassette recorded by Joey by the throne, explaining that they created life both on the screen and in the hearts of those who saw the moving pictures. Joey then goes on to say when the tickets stopped selling, "only the monsters remained... shadows of the past.", but Joey explains Henry can save them, and says there's one thing Bendy never saw: The End.

Immediately after this recorded speech, Bendy suddenly appears behind the "throne", before transforming into "Beast Bendy", a monstrous form with a short lower half, giant, muscular arms (which, due to his short and weak legs, are used as legs) and his face becoming a large ghastly maw of razor-sharp teeth. After swatting Henry away, the first stage of the final boss starts, where Henry must flip switches in the hallways before the throne to open a door while avoiding the stampeding Bendy, for touching it is a instant kill attack. After opening the door into a small room, Beast Bendy appears and the second phase starts, where Henry must trick the brute into slamming into all four of the large, ink-filled, glass pillars in the room, breaking them. After breaking all four pillars, the lights in the room flicker off, and the beast vanishes, but once Henry walks back to the "throne room" and pushes in The End Tape into the film player by the throne, the beast reappears, but gets distracted by one of the screens turning on. Once two screens show the end, the beast tries to make a grab for Henry, but a very bright light (possibly coming from all the screens in the room showing the same ending card.) stuns, then disintegrates the beast, ending the threat once and for all.

Bendy in Nightmare Run
Bendy appears in the spinoff as the main protagonist, where he partakes in endless runs being chased by monsters and collecting Bacon Soup.

Trivia

 * Despite the presumed melted ink covering his face, Ink Bendy can still sense Henry around him.
 * It's implied that the sense can be either through the ink around the Workshop or through Henry's silent breathing. It is also implied that Ink Bendy may also be able to sense the vibrations caused by Henry's footsteps.
 * It is possible that Ink Bendy cannot really see, and believes that Henry may be Joey, which could be why he attempts to attack him. Although it is also likely that Ink Bendy can see just fine.
 * Bendy originally had three darts on his gloves, but they were redesigned into two buttons on each due to a potential similarity with Mickey Mouse (i.e. the gloves).
 * There were several theories involving the origin of Ink Bendy until Chapter 5 confirmed that he was really a failed attempt to bring cartoons to life:
 * One theory states that he possessed a victim in a ritual, which explains a wheelchair seen in Chapter 1 and the fact that Ink Bendy himself has a twisted ankle.
 * However, other theories suggested that Ink Bendy is Bendy but a failed attempt to be created into the latter.
 * It is also predicted that Ink Bendy is in fact Bendy himself, incarnated by the Ink Machine.
 * It may be that Joey transformed himself into Ink Bendy, this being hinted at by the fact that the Demon path contains a recording of Joey while the Angel path contains one of Susie. In the recording, Joey discusses the idea that belief can make one powerful, rich, and even enable them to cheat death, musing over such a positively silly thought but with such a tone that he seems to want to try it. This implies that Joey, in his older years, was suffering from health conditions and may have been the one bound to the wheelchair until he learned to control the Ink Machine, turning himself into his own character so as to become immortal. This would explain why Joey was obsessed with keeping the Machine running.
 * With Joey later turned out still alive albeit remorseful for damage he had done on the studio, it's turned out that Ink Bendy is indeed Bendy incarnated by Ink Machine in an attempt to bring his characters to life to help the public understand how he perceives them by letting them meet in person. The project took a blow when an attempt to create Bendy had a less-than-favorable outcome and no attempt to perfect the dancing demon was attempted ever again.
 * Ink Bendy's design from beta lacked in arms and legs and had a different head shape. During this time, Ink Bendy also had a different behavior in Chapter 1: Instead of trying to grab Henry, Ink Bendy just looked around, seemingly checking the place out.
 * Bendy appears on the loading screen in the bottom right corner for a short time.
 * Bendy appeared on a Steam Summer Sale banner in a 1920's swimsuit.
 * From the audio logs in Chapter 5, Ink Bendy seemed like a harmless entity, as he only wondered around the studio. Although, the other workers at the studio seemed to have felt threatened by his appearance and behavior, and was eventually locked away.