Witness is the name given to a clone of Tattletale created by Echidna. She appeared in the Missing Interlude, an interlude that was posted and subsequently removed by Wildbow.
Personality[]
Like all of Echidna's creations, Witness wanted to destroy everything her original held dear. She carried a murderous grudge toward Lisa and the rest of the Undersiders, devising graphic tortures for each one of them in her head. She also had omnicidal thoughts, wanting to first destroy the city, then the world, and then "all the worlds."[1]
She was one of the clones that retained some loyalty to her creator. Seeing Echidna as likely to cause more destruction than the clones could on their own, she allowed Echidna to be teleported out by an Abhorror, sacrificing her only way out.[2]
Witness was unusually patient for an Echidna clone, willing to restrain herself from hurting people in order to work toward long-term revenge.[3] In her interlude, she speculated that this was due to different clones having their personalities altered to fit their roles;[4] however, Wildbow later stated that he felt that Witness didn't fit in with the other clones' behavior.[5] Even still, Witness carried a seething hatred toward the world that needed to be regularly kept in check.[6]
She disliked arrogant people, who reminded her of her father.[7] Similar to Tattletale, Witness also resented Faultline.[8]
Appearance[]
Witness had a grotesquely enlarged head to the point where she could barely move. Her ability to move her lips was limited, although it improved somewhat with practice. Her legs were weak and atrophied. She had no skull, with an enlarged, visible brain. She had a deformed neck, as her head was fused from the base of her neck to her left shoulder.[9][10]
Abilities and Powers[]
Witness appeared to have the same power as Tattletale, but had a hard time communicating at first, constantly stuttering as she talked.
History[]
Background[]
When Tattletale was momentarily grabbed by Echidna, Echidna created a clone that she held back inside her.[11][12] As a result of being "cooked" for too long, she was severely deformed. She was released when Echidna was briefly trapped underground by the detonation of Coil's base.
Battle against Echidna[]
After being released from inside Echidna, she met Shatterbird, who was trapped underground as well. Making use of her power to manipulate the villain, she persuaded her to leave her alive and protect them both from falling masonry. She then tormented her until Vista found them both underneath the rubble.
She prompted Vista to kill Shatterbird and help her escape, then - realizing the battle against Echidna was over, pretended to be a Case 53 and talked her way into the Irregulars.
Ward[]
A character by the name of Witness was mentioned by Sveta Karelia to be among the list of Case 53's who had been wronged by Cauldron.[13] Witness' appearance is confirmed later by Egg and Weld.[10] However, it is unknown how much it is Witness from the Missing Interlude.
Trivia[]
- Witness is the only Echidna clone shown to name themselves.
- A witness is someone who can attest to a fact or event. The name likely refers to how Witness is able to deduce information, similar to how Tattletale's name references her own deductive ability.
References[]
- ↑ God, she could imagine it. Just thinking about it made her adrenaline surge, gave her that thrill that came with facing down any major threat. Beating the real Tattletale in a game of wits? It was delicious on so many levels. To know how it would nettle the girl, even break her, depending on the degree of the win, while she could simultaneously enjoy the victory?
She’d make the real Tattletale suffer for her stupidity, her hypocrisy, she’d pluck out the girl’s eyes and puncture her eardrums, bite off her fingers before amputating her arms and legs. She’d leave the girl numb to the world, struggling, striving to take in information, slowly going mad.
And when she was done with her alter-ego, she could go after the other Undersiders. Slowly, surely, systematically break them. Then she could destroy this fucking depressing city. The world. All the worlds. - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude - ↑ She couldn’t quite explain why. It just… it made a kind of sense. Do the most damage possible. Maybe if they left Echidna behind, they could get away, find another way to get at the others.
[...]
Except there was no guarantee they’d get away. Too many forces arrayed against them. Echidna had more offensive potential, Echidna was the horse to bet on.
She’d settle for letting Echidna do the damage. Live vicariously through the monster.
She heard the woman’s voice again, speaking to Echidna. - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude - ↑ “I’m angry,” the Grue-clone said. “Uneasy. Like I need to hit things. Hurt people until my hands are raw. Gotta get out of here.”
The Tattletale clone exhaled slowly. She didn’t quite feel like that. She felt oddly calm, given the circumstances. - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude - ↑ The four humors, she thought. It wasn’t quite right, an abstraction, but it made sense that they would gravitate towards certain extremes in behavior. If the Grue was choleric in nature, she was phlegmatic. He was driven to action, she was patient.
A step away from their usual natures, and not in a bad way. It might even make them more effective, for their individual roles. - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude - ↑ The character wasn’t in line with the setting as laid out. Her behavior as compared to other clones was patient. - Excerpt from the Worm FAQ
- ↑ She could remember what Shatterbird had said, about striking a critical blow that might echo outward. To reference that directly would be too risky, but… something to remind herself that she was working towards something, so she could tamp down her bloodlust, bite her tongue at the critical moments. - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude
- ↑ Hate arrogant people. Just like Daddy. I’ll tear you apart. Break you, reduce you to a shadow of your former self, a craven animal, lapping the sand and grime from my feet in mere hopes that I’d give you some mercy. - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude
- ↑ Fuck you, Faultline. Think you’re smarter than me? You’ll figure me out? - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude
- ↑ It was only when she was in the air, feeling the wind on her bare skin, that she became aware of the extent of her deformities. Her legs were small, atrophied and spindly, to the point that supporting her own weight was nearly impossible, her lthighs and calves already burning with the exertion from standing for several seconds. Her head, by contrast, was bulbous, without a skull to contain or protect her brain. Her skin was thin, and she suspected her oversized brain was visible through the membrane of it. It was enough that her neck might have snapped under the weight, but the entire mass from the base of her neck to her shoulders, her left shoulder in particular, was a fused, solid mass. - Excerpt from the Missing Interlude
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 “Portals,” Egg said. “It came up in planning. The big-headed case fifty-three that joined after the Eidolon revelations.”
“Witness,” Weld said. - Excerpt from Infrared 19.a - ↑ Missing Interlude
- ↑ Hmm. Bummer to get this feedback.
It wasn’t stuck on at the last minute, though. I did have the notion that a Tattletale clone was created from the moment I described Tattletale covered in vomit partway through the opening of the arc.
I wasn’t 100% satisfied with this chapter as I was writing it (see above mention of distractions, other appointments; they didn’t help), but I’d promised it and I’d already invested the time to get three-quarters of the way through writing it.
In the end, I opted to include it because it tied up loose ends (What happened to Vista & Shatterbird, the direction Weld’s people took) and also that it kept Weld’s team on the map with a degree of conflict/connection to the main plot.
If people are that unsatisfied with it, though, I could scrap it. We pretend it never happened, I figure out another way to involve that group, and it doesn’t count as a donation chapter written (ie. I write another in a future week to make up for this one not staying up). - Comment by Wildbow on the Missing Interlude - ↑ Radiation 18.3
[]
| Leader | Echidna † |
|---|---|
| Clones | Abhorror † • Apocrypha † • Carnie † • Charlatan † • Chitter † • Gross † • Ignis Fatuus † • Pwn † • Scape † • Temblor † • Unter † • Vizier † • Witness ≠ |
| Leader | Weld ‡ |
|---|---|
| Members | Blesk • Brickhaus • Garotte ‡ • Gentle Giant • Gully • Mantellum † • Matryoshka • Sanguine • Egg • Witness * |