| “ | I came here to this place many millions of years ago, before mankind was even upright. As eons came and went, mankind appeared around me, and found names for me. Demon, spirit, Tuurngait. | „ |
| ~ The Tuurngait |
The Tuurngait are the main antagonists of Frictional Games' Penumbra video game series.
They are an extraterrestrial entity of unknown origins that resides deep beneath the surface of northern Greenland. The Tuurngait are controlled by a centralized hive mind, using its powers and intelligence to transform the sanest, smartest humans on Earth into mindless, flesh eating zombies.
The Tuurngait Hivemind was voiced by Lani Minella.
Biography[]
The Tuurngait made its way to Earth during or even before the prehistoric times - during an era where mankind wasn't fully evolved to what it is today. How the Tuurngait made their way to Earth is never explained. It is also unknown how it came to the attention of humans in later times.
Long before the arrival of the Archaic, the Tuurngait was worshiped by the Inuit, who believed it to be a benevolent spirit. However, once it was disturbed by the Archaic researchers, it spread itself through the ranks of the Shelter and turned them into husks that housed the Tuurngait's will within them, which was later revealed to be an act of self-defense. This is also done to guard dogs in the mines, as well as earthworms.
Before mankind had expanded, the Tuurngait were on friendly terms with the Inuit, even "infecting" humans as a way to pass on knowledge. However, as mankind expanded, the Tuurngait began to notice the human race changing for the worse. Though humanity could create so much and form large communities, some were also selfish and petty. At this point, the friendly connection between humanity and the Tuurngait was severed.
Penumbra: Overture[]
The presence of the Tuurngait is minor in the first game, but the enemies its created are still encountered by Philip throughout his descent into the Northern Greenland mines. The primary enemies in the game are Tuurngait infected guard dogs, as well as spiders. Although, it is likely the spiders are just territorial, and not infected by the Tuurngait. Many notes and pieces of physical evidence indirectly reference either the Tuurngait itself, or the events of past residents being infected by the Tuurngait in some way.
A man trapped in the mines, named Tom Redwood (who usually goes by just "Red"), acts as vocal guide for Philip. Though Red has retained a fraction of his sanity, he is still shown to be mentally unstable, due to a combination of being trapped alone in a mine for so long, and being infected by the Tuurngait to the point where he's not even allowed willful suicide. This is because of how the Tuurngait tries to keep its host bodies alive.
Philip finally reaches Red, who is residing in a giant incinerator. Red begs Philip to give him peace by finally killing him, a request Philip hesitantly grants by turning on the incinerator. Red was seemingly trying to keep Philip from making further progress and "protect" him, as well as keep some secrets from him. The presence of the Tuurngait may have been one of these secrets.
Philip uses a key that Red was keeping on him to descend further into a well-hidden science research center known as The Shelter. As Philip walks down a long hallway, he sees a mysterious humanoid figure in the distance. As Philip advances toward it, the lights begin to shut off, and an unseen assailant grabs Philip, knocks him out, and drags him to a holding cell in The Shelter. This begins the events of the next game.
Penumbra: Black Plague[]
The presence of the Tuurngait is much more prominent in this sequel, as the Tuurngait infected roam the halls of The Shelter. Philip discovers that he has been infected with Tuurngait virus, although his symptoms are extremely unique from others who have been infected. Instead of Philip turning into a mindless hostile husk, he hears a voice in his head, who gives himself the name "Clarence", a reference to the movie It's a Wonderful Life.
Clarence is actually an entity that belonged to the Tuurngait, but somehow got trapped in Philip's consciousness. In this game, the events linked with the Tuurngait are explained more, through notes and recordings found in the game, as well as from Clarence himself. It is revealed that unlike humans - who have their own separate consciousness - the Tuurngait have a hive-mind. When enough of the Tuurngait entities are close together, their intelligence can surpass that of a smart human.
Throughout the game, Clarence expresses his hatred of being trapped in Philip's mind, and constantly messes with his mind to alter his perception of reality. The nature of Clarence's mental manipulation range from childish pranks to attempts to get Philip killed. Clarence wants Philip to die, so that Clarence can be released from Philip's body.
Philip has a video chat with a trapped Shelter researcher named Amabel Swanson, who is more than willing to help Philip find a cure for his infection and rid Clarence, although Amabel wishes to be rescued in return. Philip comes across a locked library, which needs a fingerprint and retinal scan. Philip comes across Dr. Richard Eminiss, who explains that he "communicated with the Tuurngait on a different plane", possibly gaining a large amount of knowledge from the Tuurngait. Unfortunately, Eminiss undergoes a transformation into another infected husk and gaves chase toward Philip. Philip, however, outsmarts the husk by trapping it in a room.
Philip eventually collects all the chemicals needed to make a cure, although Clarence constantly assaults his mind to prevent this. Philip creates the cure and injects it into himself, and his finally rid of Clarence. However, Clarence finds a corpse nearby and takes control of it, with the intent of killing Philip out of revenge.
Once Philip escapes the room with Clarence, the Tuurngait don't focus on attacking Philip, and instead come together by killing Clarence, likely as punishment for his separation from the hive-mind. The Tuurngait hive-mind, at this point of the game, shows no more hostility toward Philip, and sends Philip into his own mind, making him perform tests. To pass these tests, Philip must escape stone dungeons by making only unselfish, heroic choices. The tests are eventually passed by Philip, proving to the Tuurngait that not all of humanity has bad morals.
The hive-mind informs Philip that it wishes no harm to humans, only wanting to be left alone. However, there are no signs that the Archaic actually wished harm to the Tuurngait, despite its claims to the contrary, and the notes found by the player all state that the Tuurngait virus was unleashed immediately after the discovery of the ruins.
This means that it's very possible that the virus was attempting to manipulate Philip, which would explain why the monsters attempt to kill him throughout the series, despite the Tuurngait's statements that it wishes no harm. Left unexplained are the reasons that the Tuurngait felt it necessary to kill Clarence instead of simply reintegrating him, though it is likely that this is simply a punishment for Clarence leaving the Tuurngait in the first place and being deemed unfit to rejoin. It's also unexplained why the animals in the game were of lesser intelligence, according to Howard. The worms and spiders aren't explained either, but it seems likely that they were infected by the Tuurngait far earlier than when the Archaic set up shop there, and mutated over time to fit its needs.
At the end of Penumbra: Black Plague, the hive mind explains to Philip that The Tuurngait is not the invader, mankind is, as The Tuurngait was harmlessly slumbering far away from mankind, until their resting place was invaded.
The game ends with Philip succumbing to some form of infection, despite the Tuurngait's assurances that he was 'stronger' than Howard. Though the fate of Philip is somewhat ambiguous, it's heavily implied that he dies or is trapped in his own mind.
Penumbra: Requiem[]
As this game takes place in Philip's mind, the presence of the Tuurngait is ambiguous. However, it is possible the Tuurngait's infection causes Philip to see what he sees throughout the course of the game. There are no enemies in this game, but there are many references to many enemies encountered in previous games, as well as Clarence himself.
Recordings by a former Shelter employee named Eloff Carpenter can be found in Penumbra: Black Plague, while his ramblings are heard in Penumbra: Requiem. Given the mad ramblings heard from other characters in the series, especially that of Eloff Carpenter, it is heavily implied that those who fall by the hands of the Tuurngait are not given rest after death, but are instead doomed to suffer by wandering in an abyss of swirling confusion and madness, which includes hearing the voices of others who fell victim to the Tuurngait, given the mechanics of the Tuurngait sharing a hive-mind.
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 Villains
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Penumbra | ||