The Butler is the second antagonist encountered in Very Little Nightmares. He appears in Levels 6, 12, 13, 15, and 17.
Twitter Description
His head is always bowed to his Mistress, but his patience for grubby little creatures who dare to skitter across his path is… lacking.
Appearance
The Butler is a tall slender humanoid but is constantly hunched over with his arms locked behind his back by gold colored cuffs. He possesses very pale skin and his scalp is balding with a few strands of hair remaining. He wears a dark grey tuxedo with matching shoes and since he has telekinetic powers, he is constantly shown levitating above the ground.
Personality
The official Twitter description implies that the Butler can't stand those who sneak up on him. This is mostly shown during the vicissitudes of the game, where the Butler will make the best use of his telekinesis to eliminate the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat as soon as he gets the chance. Despite his behavior, he shows great loyalty to his mistress, the Pretender. In fact, the Butler is always willing to obey her and carry out her orders.
Strategy
The Butler is a very dangerous enemy as his telekinetic powers allow him to kill the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat without having to make physical contact with her. He can see and hear just fine so revealing your location to him will cause him to throw various objects at high speed towards the raincoat girl, killing her instantly.
The Butler is shown to be reckless as he will not hesitate to throw valuable artifacts or appliances to kill the girl. He is also persistent as he will chase down both Six and the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat through the garden in the game's finale.
Very Little Nightmares
The Butler is first seen shortly after the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat escapes from a box in the elevator. The girl watches from atop a wood plank, high enough so as not to be spotted by the Butler, who eerily floats through the corridor before demonstrating his telekinesis by opening a door using only his mind.
The Butler is not seen for some time until after completing a coat hanger puzzle, where he appears ironing clothes. The girl is able to cause a distraction by burning some clothes with a spare iron and sneaks past the Butler into a laundry room. Here the girl turns on a washing machine which alerts the Butler to it. The girl quickly hides inside a laundry box and sneaks back into the ironing room to retrieve a key while the Butler is preoccupied with the laundry. Later, in a different laundry room, the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat has to hide inside open washing machines to stealth past the Butler who is still managing laundry.
Some time later, the girl finds an escape chute at the end of a set of boiler rooms. She's able to open it but the sound alerts the Butler once more. However, using a pipe system, she's able to blast hot steam onto the Butler which stuns him long enough for her to escape. The irritated Butler then drops a heavy box down the chute with her, in the hopes of crushing her with it. However, this box is not seen in the following shot as the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat lands safely in a pile of web sacks.
Later, while walking on the boards, the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat spots the Butler taking a doll with familiar clothes into the dining room. Some time later, the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat finds a long room filled with seated dolls facing active televisions, where the girl will switch them off prompting the Butler to enter and switch them back on again. The girl must sit in an empty chair to blend in with the dolls as the Butler investigates the room, but finding no disturbance, exits the room with the door open, allowing the girl to progress.
The Butler's last encounter has him ambushing the girl with a falling chandelier as she makes for the mansion's main entrance to flee. The girl dodges his attempt and a long chase ensues. Both the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat and Six have to work together to bypass various gates and obstacles while avoiding the Butler's many attempts to crush and impede them with falling objects. The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat is finally able to barricade against the Butler inside a shed, leaving Six outside, and escapes through a hatch. It is unknown how Six evaded the Butler after this.
Powers and Abilities
- Telekinesis: Like the Lady, the Butler is gifted with the ability to move things with his mind. Because his arms are locked up, he uses this ability to perform his various chores around the Nest. In addition, he uses it to float instead of walk and to throw things at the protagonist. The limitations of this ability are unknown, as he is seen to be able to pick up objects as large as washing machines and move things over long distances.
- Electrical corruption: An ability that is most likely correlated to his telekinetic capabilities is his ability to corrupt electronics that he walks by. We first see this when he makes his first appearance in a hallway of clocks and when he was tricked into coming into a washing machine room. His presence caused the lights in these rooms to flicker. Not all electronics exhibited abnormal behavior, implying that he may be able to control it or that it may be dependent on certain factors such as emotion.
Trivia
- The Butler's various chores in the Nest includes ironing clothes, laundry, serving tea, and tending to the Pretender's needs.
- The Butler will throw a wide variety of objects at the Girl in the Yellow Raincoat, including but not limited to vases, clocks, washing machines, dryers, laundry carts, jugs of detergent, boxes, tea pots, and chandeliers.
- The Butler shares some similarities to the Twin Chefs and the Teacher. All four of them are the second bosses encountered in their respective games and are not actually killed by the protagonist, and the main protagonist narrowly escapes them.
- There's a key on a dish in the final secret area of the game that heavily resembles the Butler's lock. It's hidden in a small crevice past the tool shed at the end of the island.
- A miniature doll resembling the Butler can be seen in the Nest's playroom.