Henry Barrow is the secondary antagonist of the indie game Killer Frequency from Team 17 Digital.
He is the son of the deceased George Barrow and of Marie Campbell, with the latter being his only remaining family. Manipulated throught the years by his mother to help her into her quest for vengeance, he becomes a serial killer to avenge the death of his father, and in order to do so he takes on the identity of the Whistling Man, a murderer that killed people in Gallows Creek during the '50s.
Appearance[]
His real face and appearance is never shown in the game, since he only appears physically while hidden behind his Whistling Man persona, but given the time in which he was born he is a young kid that is roughly 18 years, but despite this he is a visibly muscular individual.
While wearing the costume of the Whistling Man, he is pretty much identical to his mother, Marie Campbell, and most likely the original Whistling Man too. In this façade he has short black hairs, a long dark coat and a white, ghostly mask. This last detail is the most prominent feature of those that takes on the Whistling Man identity, and is a white mask with two big dark hole in place of the eyes and the lower half missing to allow the one that wear it to speak normally.
Personality[]
Contrary to his mother, which does all of the speaking compared to him, Henry doesn't show much of his personality, being silent for the entirety of the game, to the point that he might even appear as mute. He speaks mostly throught his actions, being shown multiple times to be ruthless and extremely violent, having to problems in killing people and even going as far as to attack someone completely unrelated to the death of his father simply because he challenged him.
However, it's debatable how much this is on him and how much this is on his own mother who, despite genuinely loving him, basically raised him in order to be her own muscles in her plan to enact revenge upon everyone that wronged, directly turning him into a serial killer for her own purposes. This makes his action a direct mirror of the ones of his own mother, to the point that he looks more like a pawn in her hands rather than a separate individual, being nothing more than a bloodthirsty killing machine.
He often does show himself to be a rather cruel individual, obeying the orders of his mother without even any kind of remorse, but this actions are more than anything dictated by the way he was raised, making him a rather tragic character and, indirectly, a victim of her own mother's obsession with vengeance.
Biography[]
Henry is the son of Marie Campbell and George Barrow, of which he takes his surname. Before his birth, his father died during a prank from Teddy Gallows Jr., who made him fall down from Whistling Point (the place where years ago a serial killer known as the Whistling Man met his demise) down into a river. Given that Teddy was the son of a powerful business magnate who basically owned the town, a huge cover up was made to hide what really happened, bringing Marie to leave Gallows Creek, without anyone knowing that George impregnated her before his tragic death.
After leaving the town, she gave birth to Henry, and during the next 18 years she raised him so that he would become his muscles in her quest for vengeance against those who wronged her. Obsessed by her desire of revenge, she raised him as a combactive individual that could be able to fight anyone who got in their way, and also as a obedient accomplice that would carry out any of her orders without a second thought.
Raised only to murder anyone her mother ordered to kill, he was an effective tool for Marie's revenge, and with him they began their own quest for vengence. According to Clive, one of the individuals that were involved in the cover up, they started by killing several individual that were involved with the Gallows in the past, going closer and closer to their real objective, Gallows Creek, where George died and where most of the people that were involved with the death of George lived.
In the night of September 2nd of 1987, after finally reaching Gallow Creek, the two of them dress up as the Whistling Man, a serial killer that haunted that same town in the 50's and the costume that Teddy Fallows Jr. wore during the prank that killed George, and starts their killing spree by killing an unknown individual, probably Clive, near the radio station and attacking the police station of the town, killing Sheriff Matthews and stunning deputy Sara Martinez in the process.
As a consequence of this and the Whistling Man attacking the station cutting the phone lines to comunicate with other towns, the only agent still conscious agent, Leslie Harper, decide to contact the radio station of the town, KFAM, and redirect any call that would arrive to the police station to the radio instead, so that the two working there, Forrest Nash and Peggy Weaver, can help the people that will most likely be attacked by the two. After doing this, she decide to go to the nearest town in search for help, with the life of Sara being dependant on the decision that Forrest will make.
During the rest of the night, the two attacks several individuals involved in the death of George, with several of them calling the police and ending up talking with Forrest instead, putting their life in their hands. In fact, the pair targets Sandra Sharpe, who was the one that found George's body near the river, but ended up changing her story under the treats of the Gallows. Later on, they attack Maurice Russell, the journist that covered George's death and that, according to Marie, "killed the story" that she presented to him regarding what happened that night. Both of their life are dependant on Forrest's choices and suggestions to the two. If Maurice manages to survive, he will lock the Whistling Man, which in this case is Henry himself, within a room, only for him to be freed soon after by her mother.
Hearing about everything that is happening, a man called Murphy calls the radio station and challenges the Whistling Man to a fight at the Waste Disposal of the town, and Henry accept his challenge since Marie taught him to never back down from a fight. Easily overpowering him, he lock him within a dumpster before attempting to burn down the whole structure with him inside of it, but Forrest can save him by taking the correct decision in the situation.
Throught the rest of the night, the pair targets several other individuals, like Virginia Sullivan, who was forced by Clive to alter the results of George's authopsy, Eugene, whose only "crime" was being the son of two people that attended to the party in which the prank was made, and the people that were directly at the party, which according to Marie were all directly resposible for what happened. All their life are in the hands of Forrest, who can save them by giving them the correct advices.
While Forrest talks with a caller about the identity of the Whistling Man, suddenly there is a blackout in the structure, forcing Forrest to go into the basement to re-activate the power. While returning to the recording boot, he hears the whistles of the Whistling Man and, worried about Peggy's safety he rushes up the stair into the sound studio where she was, founding it empty. Before he have time to process what is happening, Henry appears in the doorway and locks him inside the room, before going to the main chamber to watch Forrest directly, with only a thin layer of glass separating the two.
He than indicates to Forrest to press a botton in order to accept a call, which he discovers being from a woman known as "Dawn", which in reality is nothing more than the name that Marie took to prevent being recognized by the population of Gallows Creek. Marie reveals that he have captured Teddy Gallows Jr., revealing what happened that day to Forrest while Henry watches him, leaning on the glass in a disturbing way. Campbell than explain who the other Whistling Man is, explaining that he is the son of George Barrow and introducing him to the whole town through the radio, with Henry being indifferent to all of this and instead treatening Forrest by making a throat-cutting gesture with his right hand, with her mother saying that he regrets never teaching him proper manner.
If Forrest didn't save enough people during the night, Marie will just decide to end things without wasting too much time, slitting Teddy's throat and than ordering Henry to kill Forrest, something he does without a second thought. However, if he managed to save enough people, Marie will concede an interview to him before killing him, explaining why she did everything and explaining why she targeted all those people, giving time for Leslie to reach Gallows Creek and the reinforcements from the nearby town to surround the radio station. Noticing the lights of the police, he approaches the window, only to start fleeing once the officers starts shooting at him, with Marie screaming at him to run away.
However, he is unable to run away as, after going out of the door, some officers seems to be waiting him, telling him to freeze. During the credits, it is confirmed that one of the suspects, almost certainly Henry, was arrested, while the other is refusing to give up and is running through the forest while chased by the police. Reaching Whistling Point, Marie threw herself from the cliff, seemingly dying, just like George, and leaving Henry without any parents, alone and in prison,
Trivia[]
- Just like how the mask of the Whistling Man is inspired by several slasher movie villain, Henry's portrayal seems to be inspired by them too, with his muteness being one of his most prominent features.
- In most of the calls, it is hard to understand if the Whistling Man attempting to murder the caller is Henry or Marie, but there are some situations in which the former was confirmed to be the one behind the mask:
- If Maurice manages to survive and lock the Whistling Man inside a room, Marie will confirm during the final call that the one attempting to kill the journalist was her son rather than her, with Marie being the one that helped him escape.
- During the last scall, if Forrest mentions Murphy, Marie will also confirm that Henry was the one that beat him up and attemptd to kill him by burning down the Waste Disposal site.