| “ | I don't mind if I only have a year left, or a month, or a single week. I'd be happy with one new day.
— Excerpt from Walter's note
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” |
Walter Finch (ˈwɒl.tər ˈfɪntʃ | Waulter Finch) was the fifthborn and the third son of Sven and Edie. Walter spent 30 years in the basement following his older sister Barbara's death, traumatized and unable to face the outside world until the end of his life.
Personality[]
Walter was traumatized as a child by his older sister Barbara's death, which led him to an extreme fear of the family curse. This led him to erect a bunker underneath the house, wherein he resided for over thirty years of his life. On his last day alive, he finally finds the courage to venture out and face his fear.
Gameplay[]
The player plays as Walter, who is seated in a chair in front of a calendar, a clock, and a can of peaches. Walter slowly opens the can and eats the peaches. The player repeats this action several times, and each time the screen goes black and another can of peaches sits in front of the player, and each time, the date on the calendar progresses. Each time, there is a loud rumble from an unknown source, which is later revealed to be a train running beneath his bunker. After Walter opens the last can of peaches, the screen fades once more, but this time there is no can of peaches and no rumble.
Walter gets up and goes to one end of the bunker, opening a hatch on the floor. Climbing through, he goes down a ladder and over to a brick wall at the end of a tunnel. He takes a sledgehammer and smashes through the wall, stating that he can't keep living the same day over and over anymore. He climbs through and slowly walks through the mouth of the tunnel, which leads outside. As he narrates and walks along the train tracks in the tunnel, he becomes so engrossed in the scenery that he doesn't hear or see the oncoming train.
Trivia[]
- Walking in Walter's footsteps, Edith finds the train tracks long destroyed, possibly abandoned after the accident that lead to Walter's death.
- Walter's tombstone is decorated a rock with a hole in it; if Edith walks up to it, she can look through the hole, which contains a miniature scene of a person staring out at the ocean surrounded by palm trees.
- Walter is the last of Sven and Edie's children to die.
- As evidenced by the letter in his desk, Walter was not aware of his brother Sam’s death (and presumably not aware of any of the deaths that occurred after he entered the bunker).
- Walter probably didn't know that the rumbling he heard each morning was a train. He mentions 'the monster beneath roaring', and the day he didn't hear the rumbling, he left his bunker with the belief that said 'monster' had grown tired of waiting for him. He was hit by the oncoming train, which was presumably late, and probably didn't hear it coming because he was so engrossed in the scenery.
- Walter died when his great-niece Edith was only 6 years old.
- His father Sven died the day of his twelfth birthday.
- It is assumed that Walter felt guilty for his father's death, since the man was killed by a beam while he was building a dragon-shaped slide as a birthday present.
- Walter seems to have been in the bunker since he was 16, as the first time you control him the calendar says "1968". This would make it around 8 years after Barbara's death, and 4 after Sven's. It's possible Sven helped make the bunker as a place for Walter to be alone (since the secret room behind the fridge is not shown in the Barbara comic), and he then started living there permanently sometime after his father died.
Gallery[]
(Link)
References[]
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Dawn's Branch |
Dawn Finch • Sanjay Kumar • Lewis Finch • Milton Finch • Edith Finch • Christopher | |
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Sam's Branch |
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Edie's Branch |
Edie Finch • Sven Finch • Molly Finch • Barbara Finch • Walter Finch • Calvin Finch | |
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Odin's Branch |
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Other |
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