| “ | I just wish we all could've made it. | „ |
| ~ Anthony. |
Anthony Clarke is one of the two playable characters in the prologue of the second installment of Supermassive Games' The Dark Pictures Anthology Series, Little Hope, the other being Tanya.
He is the adopted son of James and Anne, the adoptive younger brother of Tanya and Dennis, the adoptive older brother of Megan, a bus driver, and, as will be known at the end of the game, the true protagonist.
Anthony is voiced and motion-captured by Will Poulter, who also voices and motion-captures Andrew and Abraham Alastor. Poulter also portrays Eustace Scrubb in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Kenny Rossmore in We're the Millers, Gally in The Maze Runner and Maze Runner: The Death Cure, Jim Bridger in The Revenant, Philip Krauss in Detroit, Roderick "Roddy" Ayres in The Little Stranger, Colin Ritman in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Mark in Midsommar, Billy Cutler in Dopesick, and Adam Warlock in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Biography[]
Background[]
Anthony was born in the early 1950's and was adopted by James and Anne Clarke, being the youngest brother among the siblings. The Clarkes lived in Little Hope with their 4 children; Tanya, Dennis, Anthony and Megan. Months before the start of the fire, the Clarke children grew defiant of their parents, especially the youngest daughter Megan. To manage the situation, Anne sought the help of Reverend Carson to mentor Megan in September 1971. The attempts proved futile, and the Clarke family began resenting each other, especially Megan. Anthony was the only one who didn't resent his little sister and maintained a positive relationship with his family members.
The Fire[]
January 16th, 1972, was an especially bad day for the Clarkes. James and Anne engage in an argument over Megan's poor grades and misbehavior, but James ignores the family's problems. Stressed with the possibility of losing his job at the textiles factory, James drinks until he passes out. Meanwhile Anthony spends time with Dennis, until Dennis scolds Megan for stepping on his vinyl. Overhearing the argument, Anthony defends Megan and Dennis walks away to put away his record collection in the attic. Once Tanya arrives home from work, Anthony requests Tanya to check on Megan. Anthony lights the stove and boils a pot while he waits. Eventually, Anthony hears Tanya screaming from outside and exits the house to check on her. Tanya states she got locked out on the balcony and asks for his help. Suddenly, A fire starts in the kitchen while Anthony is locked out himself.
Anthony attempts to help his family escape but he can only watch them die one by one. James, Anne, Dennis, Tanya and Megan all die inside the house. A passerby notices Anthony holding the box of matches and accuses him of starting the fire. In a futile attempt, Anthony runs inside trying to help, burning his left ear in the process. He is eventually pulled out of the fire and arrested by Little Hope police under the suspicion he killed his family. Under police supervision, Anthony attends his family's funeral along with Tanya's boyfriend, Vince. Vince resented Anthony for decades, and blamed him for (allegedly) starting the fire. Anthony would be jailed until the police eventually cleared his name and ruled the fire to be a freak accident caused by Megan's doll. While he may have survived, Anthony was alone and scarred by the incident. Eventually, Anthony buried his trauma and became a bus driver.
Return to Little Hope[]
In 2019, during one of his drives, Anthony is stopped by a police officer. Due a car accident up ahead, Anthony is forced to take a detour through the now abandoned Little Hope. Anthony (unknowingly) has a psychotic break and hallucinates passengers aboard the bus. As Anthony takes the detour, he hallucinates his sister Megan in the middle of the road and swerves to dodge her, flipping the bus in the process.
The concussion combined with his psychosis, gives Anthony amnesia and he hallucinates himself as his 18 year old self. Anthony's fractured mind creates the "passengers" to subtly resemble his late family members and contrives a situation to make them appear as reincarnated beings. The passengers greet Anthony and call him "Andrew". Due to his amnesia the passengers introduce themselves as Andrew's college classmates Taylor, Daniel, and Angela; along with his professor, John. They explain they were on a field trip when the bus crashed and now they need to find help. A thick fog surrounds them and prevents them from leaving, the only direction they can travel is to go deeper into Little Hope.
As the group ventures into Little Hope, they are plagued by visions of the "past," all the while, they are hunted by monstruous deformed demons seeking to kill them. The further they venture, the more they discover about Little Hope and its dark past. But in reality, none of it was real. Not the 1692 flashbacks, not the demons hunting them, and not even the other characters. The danger was Anthony's trauma, manifested as hallucinations. Anthony was really wondering about Little Hope alone while reconciling in his mind the kind of people his family were, and deciding who was to blame for their deaths.
However, during their exploration, the group stumbles upon the only inhabitant of Little Hope, Tanya's boyfriend, Vince who is more concerned with drinking than helping them out. Despite their attempts to talk to him, in reality, Vince is only communicating with Andrew/Anthony and ignores the latter's symptoms of psychosis. Until Vince follows Andrew/Anthony to the church. Anthony hallucinates a demon behind Vince and locks Vince out of the church. Vince demands to speak to Anthony and the latter can either scare Vince away or convince him to go get help.
Realization[]
After returning to the remains of his family's home, Anthony must reconcile in his mind who is to blame for the deaths of his family. Under the illusion of a witch trial, Anthony can choose to blame Reverend Carver/Carson, Mary/Megan, or the doll (accept the fire was just an accident). Depending on his final choice and their traits, the other characters will either die inside the house or join Andrew/Anthony and finally leave Little Hope.
Survivors[]
If some of the group members survived, they will be walking on the main road when Vince shouts for Andrew. Vince recognizes Andrew as Anthony and is either somber or enraged. If angered prior, Vince will have Andrew arrested on the scene for suspicion of murdering his family. As Anthony is arrested, he reassures the others and himself that he will be ok.
If Andrew was kind to Vince, Vince will apologize for resenting Anthony for so many years and informs him of a diner with a working phone. He warns Andrew to never return to Little Hope, "ain't nothing here for [him] no more." The group arrives at the diner and is optimistic of their future before Andrew apologizes for putting them through a near-death experience. The characters reassure Andrew it wasn't his fault before the hallucinations fade and Andrew is revealed to have been Anthony, the bus driver. Anthony seemingly reconciles with his trauma from the fire and moves on.
Sole Survivor[]
If every character died either losing to their demons or by Andrew convincing Abraham to condemn Mary, Andrew sits alone in front of the Clarke house. If provoked, Vince accuses Anthony of murdering his family. Andrew shouts for Vince to leave and that he lost everything and everyone, but Vince is dismissive. Vince then has Andrew arrested for suspicion of murdering his family.
Otherwise, Vince will empathize with Andrew about how they both lost everything and advises him to leave the Clarke house and never return to Little Hope. Andrew will then attempt suicide if he kept the gun. If Andrew condemned Mary, Megan will scream and scare Andrew into shooting himself. His body being revealed to be Anthony's. If Andrew saved Mary, Megan will intervene and stop Anthony from shooting himself. Alternatively, if Andrew ran out of bullets, he will fail in his attempt and begins to cry with his head in his palms. A depressed Anthony will be seen siting on the front porch; if Mary was saved, Megan will be seen comforting him.