 |
This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | On the other side of this door is sovereignty. Power. Tomorrow's history. You are on a rope over an abyss. From base disgusting human, to something far greater. Trust the therapy. We are turning you into something capable of walking through that door. Something wonderful. | „ |
| ~ Easterman justifying his therapy. |
Doctor Hendrick Joliet Easterman is the main antagonist of the 2023 survival horror video game The Outlast Trials, a prequel to Outlast.
He is an enigmatic employee of the Murkoff Corporation, and one of the driving forces of its countless sadistic experiments on human subjects. He is the creator of Project LATHE, a collection of experiments involving brutal trials and brainwashing. He remains a mysterious figure throughout the game, providing commentary for the game's main protagonists - the Reagents - while keeping himself uninvolved in the experiments, but still a driving force for the project.
His experiments involve putting unfortunate volunteers into trials involving disturbing and grueling tasks, populated with the Experimental Population (also known as the Ex-Pop) acting as the game's main enemies. These trials take place in a building known as the Sinyala Facility.
He was voiced by Carlo Mestroni, who also voiced Laird Byron and Nick Tremblay in Outlast 2, Edward Braddock in Assassin's Creed III and Rourke in Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Biography[]
Before entering the Murkoff Corporation[]
Details on Easterman's past life are limited, but evidence folders can be found scattered throughout the game's trials, with each one giving insight to both his recruitment into the Murkoff Corporation and Project LATHE's creation. The first piece of evidence found, is a message sent to Easterman by a Jameson Lawler, a CIA liaison to Murkoff. Easterman had a brother named Stanley, who was a lieutenant, that allegedly killed himself in Korea, with the true details being inconclusive. It is also revealed that he has a wife named Irene.
Sometime in February 1953, Easterman writes a letter to his wife after traveling to Hong Kong in an effort to uncover the truth behind his brother's death, also complaining about the conditions of the country. In the same letter, he demands that his wife burn it after reading. Despite this, the Murkoff Corporation still had access to it.
Joining Murkoff and Project LATHE[]
Easterman's research is recognized by high-ranking Murkoff employee Olivier Baranczyk, the Assistant Director of Behavioral Medicine at Mount Massive Asylum. This information Baranczyk had was given by Jameson Lawler. Baranczyk explains that his work is compatible with that being done by Murkoff's dream therapy, and that he can be brought to Los Alamos to meet with the Corporation. Given the fact that Easterman was given sensitive information, it is heavily implied that Easterman would be punished if he didn't take the offer. Easterman accepts the offer and is taken to New Mexico.
The development of Project LATHE is plagued with finance issues, more specifically, taxes. Murkoff purchases a controlling share of a meat hauling company, using its vehicles to transport many test subjects at once, cutting cost of transport down by 72%. These test subjects would become the Experimental Population, which are taken through volunteers from Charity Outreach Centers created by Murkoff. On top of this, due to using vehicles purposed for meat transport, they were unsanitary, much to the dismay of the transported volunteers.
The first instance of Project LATHE becomes active, but many casualties from the Ex-Pop, Murkoff staff and some visitors are suffered through Easterman's Limbic Aggression Therapy (which was another name for the first Project LATHE). With these casualties, blame was being placed on Easterman as examples of his incompetence. Easterman created a second, more successful version of Project LATHE, using the Prime Assets (Leland Coyle, Mother Gooseberry and Franco Barbi) and the Ex-Pop as living obstacles against the true subjects of the experiment, the Reagents.
Project LATHE Two[]
Easterman made sure that the would-be Reagents were not mentally damaged or charismatic killers, but instead unremarkable individuals that would not go missed. This included people that were down on their luck, lost and helpless, which heavily included the homeless. This also included people who had blemishes on their records, both private and public, and wanted that information erased. Easterman also makes sure to not be directly involved in the Reagents' trials, remaining as a mysterious individual to them, but still providing information between trials.
In other words, Easterman needed each Reagent to be a "blank canvas", and could not use the Prime Assets as his subjects, as their personalities were too distinct and/or well-known. The Ex-Pop were also unable to be utilized as sleeper agents like the Reagents, as they were too mentally damaged by Phase One and too hostile and violent for the kind of testing that Easterman needed. Early Reagents in the program were discovered to have tumor-like growths in their brains, due to the crude conditioning they went through.
This led to Easterman refining the mental conditioning. This led to all Reagents, when under the effects of psychosis gas, being able to see a mysterious manifestation of Easterman himself known as the "Skinner Man": a suit-wearing male that appears to have the head of Easterman when far away, but turns into a skull with glowing red eyes when nearby. The conditioning is also able to implant a feeling similar to temptation into a person's brain, causing them to act on it, leading to methods of controlling a person.
Thanks to Easterman's efforts, as well as his methods of reducing costs compared to the first Project LATHE, Project LATHE Two was officially authorized by the Murkoff Corporation, and was a massive success. This has also led to the development of Project MKUltra, MKDelta and MKNaomi. The effects of MKUltra were seen during the events of Outlast and Outlast: Whistleblower. Easterman then chooses to redesign the trials, using the Prime Assets as the recognizable leaders of the trials, playing into their most prominent traits: Coyle believing as if he is a cop enforcing the law, and Mother Gooseberry in her own world of "teaching children". The redesign also contains violent and complex elements to punish the Reagents for simply being competent, so that they strive for to be better than average.
The Outlast Trials[]
Easterman does not appear in person, but is seen on-screen when the Reagents are being transferred from the Sleep Room to the location of a trial. Once the Reagents are strapped in a chair, television screens will lower from the ceiling and show a silhouette of Easterman, giving short, encouraging speeches, as well as explain the trial that the Reagents are traveling to.
When a Reagent has collected enough release tokens via completing the hardest trials in the facility, they are able to earn their freedom through one final trial, with the entire process known as "Rebirth". Before the 2023 Halloween update, the Reagent will suddenly wake up in a bedroom in Cuba after the final trial's completion. A phone rings, and once answered, the words "Spider. Eye. Lamb." from Easterman is heard, triggering a hallucination, with Easterman himself appearing in a mirror and looking back at the Reagent. The game then ends. After the aforementioned update, the ending cutscene will feature the Reagent driving with a time-bomb attached to their chest, running out of time and eventually exploding.
The update after that changed the ending to the Reagent being locked in a tank that's filling with water, while Rudolf Wernicke sits outside. Another update that added Franco Barbi as the third Prime Asset, the ending was changed to the Reagent waking up in a bed next to an unknown man, with both of them reacting to a drug overdose in a hotel or apartment. The man in the bed soon dies. A knock is heard at the door, and the Reagent answers. The words "Spider. Eye. Lamb." are heard once more, and a projection of Easterman very similar to the Skinner Man grabs the Reagent with tentacles and pulls them in. The next ending features the Reagent being executed in a foriegn country along with other hostages, once "Spider. Eye. Lamb." is mentioned, the Skinner Man is seen approaching the Reagent, causing them to black out, and wake up revealing that they somehow killed their captors. They are shot and killed soon after.
Appearance[]
The true appearance of Dr. Easterman is never fully revealed to the player. When giving his speeches before a trial, most of him is covered in darkness. The closest the player comes to seeing a detailed view of Easterman's face is in two specific instances: when a Reagent is caught by a Pusher Ex-Pop, they will spray gas into the Reagents' face, causes them to undergo psychosis. Under psychosis, the Skinner Man will appear and give chase. It is only when the Skinner Man is far away from the Reagent that Easterman's head is seen, as it will morph into a skull when close by.
Easterman is also seen during the game's ending, when a Reagent undergoes rebirth by completing the final trial. When the view switches to that of a Reagent sleeper agent in Cuba, they will see Easterman staring back at them in a mirror, while undergoing some sort of mental alteration due to hearing a trigger phrase. In the mirror, Easterman is still partially hidden in darkness.
Personality[]
| “ | Before you could even speak, you had instincts. A primal you. Those... are an animal's instincts. You have to forget them. | „ |
| ~ Easterman during the Reagents' first trial. |
An intelligent, reserved, well-spoken and charismatic scientist, he was able to successfully create a workable project for the Murkoff Corporation, despite the blame and doubts he received in the program's early stages, showing that he maintains his efforts well under pressure. In a delusional way, he sees himself as "a kind father figure" to the Reagents, also believing that the Reagents share the same amount of love and respect back to him.
He always speaks to the Reagents in a warm, comforting tone. When a trial begins, Easterman speaks as if the Reagents are his children, even telling them that he "loves them", and that he would not ask his subjects to do anything they would not be able to do. Whether he truly believes this, or if this is just a component of his mental conditioning, remains unknown.
In his interviews found in evidence documents, it is possible that Easterman does indeed have a flicker of respect for the Reagents, as in one document, when another scientist calls the Reagent rats, Easterman corrects this with "These are human beings, not rats." Regardless of the scientist's true views of his Reagents, he mentally alters and uses them as pawns for his own horrific experiments and personal benefit.
Gallery[]
External Links[]
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Murkoff Corporation The Variants Testament of the New Ezekiel The Scalled Experimental Population Central Intelligence Agency Others | ||