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Talbot Grimes, also known as The Blight and formerly known as The Alchemist, is one of the playable killers in Dead by Daylight. A Scottish chemist with unrestrained ambition, Talbot sought to help humanity, however, his chemicals resulted in the unintentional deaths of many.
Biography[]
To understand the human condition, one must rise above it. This was the credo of Talbot Grimes. As a boy, he was a popular child bright, charismatic, and unafraid to challenge authority, yet despite his social graces, he was fiercely independent, spending much of his time exploring the fields near his town alone. After a near-death experience with a patch of poisonous foxglove when he was a child, Talbot was fascinated by how a single flower was able to affect him. Into his adult years, Talbot attended the London School of Medicine and excelled at his studies and became a chemist. His willingness to push the limits secured him a position with the British East India Company, and within seven years he was made head chemist.
In time, he completed one of his greatest achievements: a chemical that could increase a worker's productivity while reducing their need for rest. Talbot was rewarded with a secret lab beneath a prison camp on Dyer Island where he used prisoners from the Opium War to test chemicals that allowed soldiers to withstand incredible amounts of pain. However, the chemicals had a side effect that made a group of soldiers who took it went feral and massacred villages. There were no official reports on the subject, and Talbot refused to blame himself for what could only be exaggerated war stories. Soon Talbot was abducted and a sickly man showed him a mass grave filled with hundreds of bodies. Unbeknownst to Talbot, his productivity-increasing chemicals nearly killed a whole factory's worth of workers. He couldn't defend himself against the anger and accusations of his abductor. He was beaten and thrown into the grave with the other bodies and left for dead.
Barely clinging to life, Talbot was rescued by the disciples of an ancient mystery school posing as a monastery. There, monks studied forbidden texts, striving to expand the human mind in the search for other dimensions. In return for saving Talbot, they asked for his help, believing his knowledge could lead them to their goal. He agreed to help the monks until he fully recovered. Talbot's knowledge expanded and his mind opened during his time there and he dreamt of ushering humankind into a new period of enlightenment, but he still felt guilt over the deaths he caused and kept having nightmares over it. When Talbot nearly reached his breakthrough, the monks had him drugged and dumped into an opium den. Talbot soon awoke, looking frantically for his notes and letting out cries for help that would fall on deaf ears as a dark fog manifested around him.
Talbot awoke in the Entity realm without being able to recall how he has come to this place and the memories of the opium den are the last he remembers before waking up. He met other survivors and was forced to join trials like them.
He later discovered Vigo's hidden laboratory while running away from a killer and in it, he found Vigo's journal. He learned from the journal that he can escape the realm using the Cankers when it blooms into Pustulas, a type of flower that spurts putrid nectar, and that the Entity undergoes a purge that happens once a year and during this time the Entity is infested with blight and become weak, the Pustulas only show up during this time. Wanting to escape, he decided to follow what the journal says and start creating serum from the Pustulas. Talbot couldn't create the same serum from the journal because Vigo's journal had some of these pages torn out. When he was experimenting with the serum on a dead rat, it came back to life for a short time and bite him, which caused him to be addicted to the serum. He was able to capture killers and he only experimented on them. Talbot experimenting on the killers were strictly business, it was not for enjoyment. He needed to find the best process for creating the serum without the bad side effects, that's why each serum injection has its own number with the material that was mixed with written on it for each killer. He also experimented on himself but he didn't hurt the survivors, he helped them by sharing a more stable serum with them.
The serum Talbot created allowed him to travel to different areas in the realm that no survivors or killers can go, he also was also able to get himself out of the void. When the Entity's yearly blight ended the Pustulas died and he couldn't find anymore, the Entity took advantage of the situation because of his need for the serum and drove him crazy causing Talbot to inject a high dose of the serum (Compound Thirty-Four) into himself, mutating him into a feral beast. As The Blight, he hunts the unfortunate survivors trapped in the Entity's realm to be sacrificed.
The Archives[]
The Hallowed Blight[]
The Entity undergoes a purge that happens once a year, and during this time the Entity is infested with blight. Visceral Cankers and Pustula flowers start to appear during this time. Talbot, in attempt to escape the realm, used his alchemy knowledge and what he learned from Vigo's journal to create a serum from the Pustula flowers to assist him in his attempt.
The Hunger[]
Talbot is in the void. He started to lose his memories and could not remember who he is, and what he was trying to understand, as well as why he was trying to get the right dose for the serum. His craving for the Pustula flower had affected him and clouded his mind, and he promised to do anything for even one Pustula flower.
Doors Unknown[]
The events are within Talbot's mind as he was trying to gain control over it as the serum was taking over, turning him into a feral monster. The Entity was also manipulating and tormenting Talbot with the remnants of his memories, and later destroyed these memories.
The Human Quotient[]
Talbot is recounting his memory from a mental journey when Junius took him to meet an old school friend, Tomas, who had been hospitalized. Upon departure from the hospital, Talbot wondered what could have broken such a brilliant mind and read the journal that he had taken from Tomas. Upon reaching a remote location in North Africa, a soldier from the Company showed him the entrance to the Fog which Junius had referred to as the "Bleed". Talbot entered the Fog with three soldiers, one of them went missing at the entrance, and one of them hacked at the vines in the fog despite Talbot's warnings and had his leg ripped off by the vines. Talbot then administered laudanum on him which killed him, and the Fog then took the third soldier. In a series of events after, Talbot encountered a tree made of people, and was grabbed by a man-beast who recognized him after which Talbot woke up in the desert with the blue and purple flower in his hand from the Fog.
Trivia[]
- According to the developers, Talbot is very close to the Entity and he is one of the only characters that was out of trials in limbo and could visit the void and other zones of The Entity that other characters can't go. They also mentioned that he was able to harness and use part of the Entity's own power.
- The developers mentioned the inspiration behind Talbot and The Blight is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
- Talbot was retconned to be the speaker in 2018's Hallowed Blight journal entries, originally attributed to Benedict Baker.
- Talbot/Blight is still in the possession of Vigo's Journal even after his transformation.
- The flower the Blight is using is directly from The Entity itself.
- Talbot holds Vigo in high regard to the point he sees him as a god.
- The events in Tome V: Doors Unknown are mental.
- The Blight/Talbot lore entries are:
- The Hallowed Blight Journal
- Tome I - Awakening - The Alchemist: The Hunger
- Tome V - Unleashed - Talbot Grimes: Doors Unknown
- Tome XII - Discordance - Talbot Grimes: The Human Quotient
