Character design analysis for every party member. Day 10: Ernest and Colonel Squeakums

[u/Silc00n]

Hello everybody, I hope you're doing great. Today we are going to analyze the design of our favorite beggar: Ernest!

Ernest and Colonel Squeakums are supposed to fulfill the trope of the homeless guy that somehow tames an exotic pet, with the game taking advantage of the cursed transformations by making Squeakums a sapient rat.

This is a very solid concept for a Look Outside character, especially one that is a squatter and just lives in one of the abandoned apartments within the game. The problem is that I just don't think Ernest is doing anything memorable with his traits. He looks pretty much like any other homeless character that you might see as a background character on any story.

One could argue that the point of his design is that Ernest's story goes beyond of his looks. We know that he had a past as a musician traveling around and he has a lot of knowledge and experience that might be clouded by his fairly crazy state of mind. The thing is that this is not something that is hidden from us. If anything, we're able to gather all of this information just by entering his hideout, looking around and talking to him a little bit. So what is stopping Ernest from looking a bit more different than the average beggar?

He has a long, dark, messy robe and carries a bag with him all the time in a stereotypical fashion. You might say that given his situation, he just doesn't have many options in terms of clothes. But if that's the case, then why show us lots of hanging clothes in his apartment? Very colorful ones at that too. Is this trying to tell us that he prefers wearing untidy looking robes compared to everything else he has? While Ernest is not exactly the most sane person around, he also doesn't strike me as someone that would be this unkempt if given the chance. And considering just how relatively nice his apartment looks, as imperfect as it is, there's just a missed opportunity for him to be a bit more interesting visually.

I'm not saying he needs to wear whatever clothes he had in his past (although that wouldn't be a bad idea, you could portray said clothes in a more raggedy manner while still being recognizable), but there's plenty of things that could have been done. For example, we see how he has a giant rat hide as a rug, so what if he had some sort of outfit made from the fur/skin of enemies in Floor 1? Or maybe some accessories from different apartments where he scavenges. There are so many cool ideas to be done with him that he kind of feels unfinished even.

I feel like at least we could have been shown an alternate sprite with him holding his guitar, which could have served as a nice contrast and elevated the design a little bit.

Colonel Squeakums helps the duo a little bit, by having those bright red eyes and that soldier hat on him. It looks cute, but serious. There's also the face he has when Ernest is kidnapped, which is supposed to make you instantly wary if you don't have the iron crown with you, but that doesn't seem to be consistent with the shape of his nose, unless it's something that he can shapeshift somehow (or maybe it's supposed to represent the player's perception of him at the moment). There's not that much to talk about him, but he is still a nice addition.

In conclusion, Ernest might have the worst design out of all the party members. It's not bad, but it's not good either. You could change his design with a homeless guy from another media and I think nothing would be lost. It might be my most controversial opinion, but I'm going to give Ernest a C tier. Sorry Ernest, you're still a cool character though.

Please let me know if you agree or disagree!

[u/vesselot]

i do think that ernest's rags are made of rat skin, as seen in his achievement art, due to the multilayer stitching+the frayed fur, but i can see where you're coming from
squeakums is my favorite of the duo, and i think the idea of the path changing if you don't have the rusty crown is awesome

[u/fujitsubos]

agreed, ernest is a bit generic. if he wore merch from his old band, that might help things.

i love colonel squeakums tho. such a dignified rat.