Daniel "Danny" Dickens (2024)

Danny (ダニエル・ディケンズ, Daniel Dickens) is one of the antagonists in the game, Satsuriku no Tenshi. He first appears on floor B5. He was Rachel Gardner's counselling doctor. He is obsessed with Ray's eyes, particularly the lifelessness they display.

Appearance[]

Danny is a young man of average height and a slim build. His short, olive-green hair is parted down the middle. As Danny was born without a right eye^[1], he usually wears a dark-coloured glass eye in its place. His left eye is a golden brown colour. In addition to his prosthetic eye, Danny wears rimless, over-shaped glasses. Danny also possesses an unusual glass eye which contains two different coloured irises, one a bright red and the other a vibrant green. He swaps to this prosthetic when preparing to attack Rachel.

Danny’s outfit consists of dark brown slacks and dress shoes, a matching dark brown vest and a blue button-up shirt. In addition, Danny wears a green, red and black striped tie. The long, white lab coat he wears on top gives him the appearance of a doctor.

Danny is seen to be wearing a similar outfit in the manga prequel Angels of Death Episode 0. This outfit removes the brown vest and occasionally includes a long brown trench coat when Danny is not working.

As a child, Danny has been depicted as wearing a white, short-sleeved dress shirt, a dark-coloured sweater vest, a pair of shorts, knee-high socks and loafers. To conceal his missing right eye, Danny wears a white, medical eyepatch.

Personality[]

At first, Danny appears to be a normal doctor assisting Ray, his only abnormality being his constant want for Ray to take care of her eyes. However, their time together soon fell apart when Rachel found and read a bible left by Gray.

Danny's obsession with eyes stems from his childhood after witnessing his mother's dead eyes^{[citation needed]}. Since then, Danny began collecting them which was shown on his floor.

Danny is very clever as he survived throughout most of the experiment, pretending to be dead even after being targeted by the protagonists^{[citation needed]}. Unlike Zack, Danny is more monstrous and cunning, wanting nothing more than to love Rachel's eyes in isolation even if it means to go against her own wishes or to disregard the lives of his co-workers. He even mocked Zack for caring for Ray, taunting him with the medicine he took from his own floor as Ray attempted to retrieve them to treat Zack's wounds^{[citation needed]}.

Despite his malicious impression, Danny is a pitiful character. The persecution he experienced due to his handicap made Danny view himself as degenerate and ugly, believing that no one but his deceased mother would ever love him for who he is^{[citation needed]}. According to Gray, Danny's obsession to keep Ray close was because he wished for her to love him back, which implies that Danny actually yearns to be accepted and loved regardless of his missing right eye^{[citation needed]}.

History[]

Born without a right eye, Danny was subjected to discrimination from society: people shunned him for his handicap, his parents argued about him and even received beatings from others^[2]. This discrimination extended to his mother who was blamed for giving birth to a disabled son. The sad look from his mother's eyes which reflected nothing at all gave birth to Danny's obsession with eyes as he came to the realisation that his mother's blue eyes were beautiful despite how empty they had become.

Not wanting to suffer anymore, Danny's mother committed suicide by hanging herself, which saddened Danny as he no longer could see her beautiful eyes, though at the same time he still found her eyes beautiful in death. After his mother's death, he was left in the care of his father who refused to accept Danny as his son due to his handicap. Since then his mother's suicide, Danny's obsession with eyes grew exponentially which carried into his adulthood.

Longing to see the same eyes that his deceased mother had, Danny continued his education and attended an unnamed university. Here he met fellow medical student Henry and inadvertently introduced the man to his fascination with eyes. However, due to his birth defect, Danny would be unable to become an ophthalmologist himself^[3] and instead qualified as a psychiatrist.

Whilst working as a counsellor at an unnamed prison, Danny made the acquaintance of prison guards Cathy and Lucy^[4]. This profession was chosen not because Danny wanted to help those in need but because he felt that locating people with his idea of perfect, beautiful dead eyes would come easily to him in a depressing location.

However, in time, Danny found that this work was not fulfilling for him^[5]. Inspired by a fanatical patient at the prison, Danny travelled to a small parish community where he would meet Gray. Inspired by Gray's words, Danny decided to assist Gray in his experiment by searching for potential people to take on the role of "Angels" in Gray's experiment. In time, Danny would recruit Cathy and Shin^[6]. During his time at the underground facility, Danny was assigned as the master of Floor B5 while still continuing his job as a psychiatrist.

A few years after becoming the floor master of B5, Danny was assigned to counsel Rachel, the sole witness of her parents' murder. The moment he met Ray, Danny instantly became obsessed with her eyes, since they looked much like those of his dead mother ^[7]. Finally finding the eyes he had been searching for, Danny brought Ray to the experiment building and demanded that Gray make her the floor master of B1, despite Gray's objections ^[8].

For a while, Danny spent most of his times taking care of Ray in B1, helping her in setting various traps while bringing her gifts that he thought she would like^[9]. Unfortunately for Danny, their days together ended when Ray discovered and read a bible that someone left in her floor ^[10]. It is assumed that this bible was left by Gray as he wasn't pleased with the idea of Rachel being a floor master ^[8]. Reading this bible caused Rachel to develop faith in God and also made her undergo dissociative amnesia, as she realized that she is a "sinner". As Gray's experiment is to study faith in God, this effectively made Ray fit in the criteria to become a sacrifice. Without a choice, Danny had to allow Ray to be sent to B7 as a sacrifice, hoping that she'll eventually return to her old self and resume her role as the floor master of B1.

Plot[]

Episode 1[]

Danny makes his first appearance within the story when Ray arrives on floor B5. He walks out of a room near the entrance and is quick to jog Ray's memories of him being her psychiatrist. He explains that the building is the playground of a psycho killer and that if either of them is caught they'll be murdered. He proceeds to accompany Ray through the floor, which is designed to look like the inside of a hospital. Whilst Danny appears to be a kind, attentive doctor, Rachel finds herself becoming more and more suspicious of him due to him forgetting about having certain keys, and making various eye comments as the two progress. He seems more concerned with Ray's eyes than anything else, asking if her "peepers" need rest and yelling at her not to get dust in her eyes.

When the two arrive in an operating room, Danny tasks Ray with finding "something important," as he puts it. This item of his turns out to be his unique glass eye that has two different coloured pupils within it. He asks Ray to wait in the other room while he puts it in, to which she complies though realises that he's acting strange and that she isn't sure if she should wait. Upon discovering that Danny has locked the door, Ray locates a crowbar and pries the door open. Just as she finishes, Danny appears behind her and confesses that he is the master of B5. His twisted face is then revealed, now wearing the unusual glass eye and allowing his long tongue to hang from his mouth. He easily captures Ray and secures her to the operating table. Ray struggles to escape, saying that she just wants to see her mom and dad again.

Danny then makes a passing comment that she'll see her parents in Hell. This causes Ray to recall the traumatic death of her parents. Danny notices the light vanishing from her eyes and he releases her, only to be slashed by the killer from the B6, Zack. Zack also attempts to kill Ray, though he is bored with her reaction. An announcement states that Zack is a traitor for leaving his own floor and attacking Danny. As a result, he is now to be classed as a sacrifice. Upon hearing the announcement, Zack leaves, shortly followed by Ray. At this time, Danny appears to be dead on the ground, however, the player can see him move upon leaving the room.

Episode 3[]

Danny reveals himself to be alive on B2, after finding Zack unconscious due to the self-inflict wound from B3. Danny had intended to kill Zack, but the latter regained his consciousness before Danny could make his move. Danny reveals to Zack that he expected him to leave his floor to chase after Ray, so he had prepared safety measures by wearing a bulletproof vest and blood transfusion packs beneath his jacket. He then questions Zack where Ray is and becomes enraged when Zack suggests he had already killed her, exclaiming that her eyes belong to him. He then realises Ray must still be alive as Zack wouldn't have made it to B2 without her. Danny offers to tend Zack's wounds using the medicines he has in return for Ray's eyes, but Zack rejects the deal. Knowing Zack is still stronger than himself despite his injury, Danny leaves while he can.

Later on in the episode, Danny is present at Ray's trial. When he appears, Danny declares he is on Ray's side. However, his testimony unsurprisingly focusses on the quality of Ray's eyes, resulting in him being admonished by Gray. He concludes that Ray's soul cannot be saved as it consumes others without mercy or remorse. Danny leaves the trial after his testimony is completed, revealing he was there in person and not an apparition created by Gray.

At some point in this episode, Danny meets with Gray and leaves the medicine he carried with him in order to lure out Ray.

Episode 4[]

Danny tricks Zack into coming out of the room where he left the unconscious Ray and then locks it from inside, preventing Zack from entering. He instructs Zack to search through the whole B1 floor to know more about Ray as the floor itself is her essence, promising to let him enter the room if he does so without harming Ray. After Zack completed the task and realizes that Ray is, in fact, the floor master of B1, Danny explains more in detail that he was the one who brought Ray and made her a floor master until she was made a sacrifice for reading a bible. He explains that Ray has been deceiving Zack so she could die by his hands to get away from her sin and taunts Ray that deep inside she actually wants to make Zack her own.

When Ray begins to try to kill Zack after he rejected to become her God, Danny retracts his earlier promise to let Zack escape the building and assists Ray. Once Zack has Ray cornered in the living room, Danny points a gun at Zack's head from behind to allow Ray to deal the finishing blow. However, to his shock, Ray shoots him because she wants to kill Zack himself. Danny collapses to the floor, presumably dead. When Zack and Ray leave the living room to activate the elevator, Danny, who was pretending to be dead, breaks Ray's handgun and proceeds to activate the self-destruct sequence of the building.

Just before Zack and Ray can exit the building, Danny reluctantly shoots Ray. He then proceeds to shoot Zack multiple times when he tries to attack him, in order to stop the promise between him and Rachel from being fulfilled. He taunts and mocks Zack for failing to keep his promise with Ray. When Ray says that she doesn't mind Zack not giving what she wants because he is only human, Danny becomes enraged and reminds her that he has given her food, clothes, toys, floor B1 itself and kept her alive, while Zack only gave her an old knife and a ridiculous promise. Distraught by Ray's rejection, Danny attempts to shoot Zack one final time to kill him, but he is stopped by an arrow shot by Gray, which allows Zack and Ray to escape the building.

Danny questions why Greay stopped him, as he was complying with the rules of the experiment building and that his actions had contributed in Gray's experiment. Gray explains that Danny was being selfish but also confirms that Danny did contribute to his experiment as his actions let Gray witness the growth between Zack and Ray's relationship which led him to realize that all of them are humans. As Danny laments that he can no longer love Ray's eyes because she is gone and no longer alone. Gray shocks Danny by pointing out that Danny's desire to stay by Ray's side and continue to love her eyes was because he was hoping that one day Ray would return his love. Danny then asks Gray for one last time what he sees of humanity, to which Gray answers that he sees both ugliness and beauty, and Danny is one of them. With his end near, Danny tearfully laments how late Gray calls him beautiful, and at his last moment accepts his fate.

Afterwards, it was reported in the news that several unidentifiable bodies were found beneath the remains of the destroyed building, one is presumed to be Danny.

Modus Operandi[]

Before becoming a floor master, Danny targeted his patients with eyes that he thought closely resembled his dead mother ^[11]. As all of his victims were his patients with mental problems, whatever claim they made of their eyes being stolen was noted as mere delusional ravings in their charts^[12]. He initially only took their eyes using his bare hands while still letting them live and then preserved the eyes as trophies.

After becoming a floor master, Danny would kill his victim first before taking their eyes. His exact method of killing is not known, but one of his known victims is shown to be killed by hanging^[13].

Quotes[]

• "I'll give you a hint: my eye is alexandrite." – Episode One, to Ray
• "I must be the one to sing Rachel's praises." – Episode Three, to Gray
• "I wish that your eyes would forever stay this way, dark and brilliant...so that I could grant your wish, whatever it might be." – Chapter 40 of manga, to Ray
• "but now...I can't love her eyes...because...if she...isn't alone...then...there's no one in the world who'd accept someone as ugly as me!" – Chapter 52 of manga, to Gray

Relationships[]

Rachel Gardner[]

Danny was assigned to be Ray's therapist but he became obsessed with Ray's eyes as they closely resembled his mother's ^[7]. This led him to bring her into the experiment building and demand that Gray make her the floor master of B1 with the intention that he could keep her to himself. Once this came to pass, Danny made sure that Ray would continue to live in solitude as he believed that only then would she accept him as he is^[14]. As a result, Danny dedicated himself to fulfil Ray's wishes.

Even after Ray was made a sacrifice and temporarily lost her memories, Danny was still obsessed with her. According to Gray, Danny's devotion for Ray while showering her with love was done because Danny actually hoped that one day Ray would return his love. Therefore, Danny was enraged and heartbroken when Ray rejected him, which would serve as a driving factor for his attempts to kill her^[15].

Zack[]

Zack's growing relationship with Ray caused Danny to grow jealous of him^{[citation needed]}. Danny was determined to reattain his previous relationship with Ray, by killing or turning Zack against Ray, and "heroically" stepping in to save her. Danny further despisedZack after Ray grew to genuinely carefor him while rejecting Danny despite all that he had done for her^{[citation needed]}.

Cathy[]

Having worked for the same prison as a psychiatrist and warden respectively, Danny and Cathy have known each other long before Gray designated them as Angels. Danny and Cathy were aware of each other's twisted actions and came to a mutual agreement to overlook each other's penchant for death^[16].

Danny has stated several times how he doesn't like Cathy, usually talking to her only if it's necessary, though he doesn't seem to hate her either. Cathy, on the other hand, has shown an interest in Danny after discovering his obsession with eyes, often confiding to him about certain prisoners to gain more information that could be useful for her punishments. Despite being normally civil, Danny is also wary of Cathy and kept some distance with her as he knew that she also views him as a sinner that she wishes to condemn if she could, something that Cathy admits herself.

Gray[]

When meeting Gray for the first time, Danny is effected by Gray's chemicals and so becomes wary of him. On the other hand, Gray is immediately interested in Danny upon viewing his private desires^[17]. He informs Danny that he does not see his imperfections as relevant to his worth as a human but considers his intelligence and honesty to be an asset^[18].

Danny is the first person to be offered the position of Angel in Gray's experiment which is testament to how much Gray trusts in Danny's abilities. Danny accepts Gray's offer in the hope that it will fulfil the emptiness he feels in his daily life^[5]. Danny holds a certain level of respect for Gray, the man who gave him a platform to act out his desires. However, when Danny becomes blinded by his obsession with Ray, he even turns on Gray.

Trivia[]

• Danny was born with anophthalmia.
• He is the first "Angel" to be recruited by Gray.^[19].
• In the novel, it's revealed that Danny originally wanted to be an ophthalmologist, but changed his mind when his father mocked his intention because he lacks one eye^{[citation needed]}.
  • However, in Episode 0, it is stated by Henry that Danny was unable to become an ophthalmologist because of his disability ^[3].
• When Danny finds that his initial attempts in B5 to remind Ray of the past are unsuccessful he decides that killing Ray and taking the her eyes is the best option as they no longer retained the dead, lifeless state he desires. However, he takes back this decision when he sees Ray's eyes change back to their original state when he tells her that her parents are waiting for her in hell ^[20][21].
• In the manga, Danny chains up Rachel on his operating table in B5 ^[22]. This changes in the anime where he instead pins her down on the table with his hands ^[23].
• In the manga, Danny intended to team up with Rachel to help her reach her floor ^[24][25]. However, this changes in the anime where he insists for Rachel to stay on his floor ^[23]. See below for the comparison of lines within the same scene:
  • Manga - Danny to Rachel: "Rachel! Ah, yes! I knew it! What a gorgeous look in your eyes! I'll take these [chains] off right away! Now Rachel. Let's go! I feel so blessed!"^[24].
  • Anime - Danny to Rachel: "Beautiful. That's more like it, you're eyes are more bewitching now than ever! Please, please stay with me Rachel. I've been so unbearably lonely!" ^[23].
• The following theories are made based on significant evidence from the anime and manga; however, as none of these theories are explicitly proven within the story, their validity is still somewhat questionable.
  • It is highly unlikely that Danny was really prepared for Zack coming up to his floor as the time it took for him to recover is too long for him to ensure that Rachel is alive and alone^[26][27][10]. Due to this, it can be assumed that Danny's protective vest was really a bullet proof vest intended for Rachel if she was to shoot him in B5, this also makes sense given that the vest wasn't as effective against Zack's attack in B5.
  • Danny’s offer to Zack of medicine in exchange for Rachel’s eyes is highly questionable because Danny intends to keep Rachel alive with her eyes as long as she retained lifeless eyes and allowed him to live with her^{[26][28][29][23]}. Because of this, it can be assumed that Danny's real intent in the scene is to turn Zack against Rachel so that he can heroically step in to gain some level of trust with Rachel.

References[]