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| “ | Mourn- [pauses] Perhaps. I had not thought that… It is lamentable that a fellow doctor became infected, but the work continues. Regrettable as… as it was, Dr. Hamm's death provided important insight. Living human subjects are the only way to proceed forward, I am decided. My cure is of little use on dead flesh, and I have gleaned all I can from your generous supply of corpses. My desires turn towards tending to those still living who suffer from the disease. | „ |
| ~ SCP-049 to Dr. Itkin. |
| “ | Life was a burden on those who carried its loathsome spark upon their souls. A bundle of contradicting impulses, cruel desires, and nonsensical emotions. Life was an ever-multiplying beast, and in his profession, such creatures had only one name. A surgeon he was, the Surgeon he was, and he was the one to figure out what life was, what it was really all about. | „ |
| ~ SCP-049's inner monologue from "Surgery". |
SCP-049, also referred to as the Plague Doctor, is a Euclid-class object under the SCP Foundation's containment. It is a humanoid figure that resembles a 15-16th century European Plague Doctor, with a black robe and a white-beaked mask.
Biography[]
Origin[]
SCP-049's origin from "Ashes. Ashes. We All Fall Down".
During the time of the black plague, SCP-049 was just a simple poor man living in a village with his wife and daughter. Suddenly he saw an actual plague doctor riding a horse near his house before falling in front of him and succumbing to the plague. The man looked at the now-dead doctor and had the idea to steal the doctor's garments and disguise himself as a doctor to scam people and gain money for his family. However, unbeknownst to him, by taking the garments he made a deal with Small Death of the Brothers Death which caused the man to become cursed as one of the many agents of Small Death.
He visited different regions and spread death, with people believing he was a real doctor since he was somehow immune to the plague. After becoming rich he returned to his home to reunite with his family, but to his horror, found his wife had succumbed to the plague and was partially eaten, while his daughter was soaked in blood, but was thankfully still alive, thanks to her immunity which she had inherited from her father.
It is unknown what happened after, but it is presumed that the man did surgeries on himself, removing parts of his organs in order to store his tools inside his body, removing his own skin and grafting his costume and mask to his body, and removing parts of his brain and even replacing it with another brain altogether.
Alagadda[]
SCP-049 in the Kingdom of Alagadda.
After some unknown amount of time, the doctor relocated to the dimensional nexus of the Kingdom of Alagadda. However, the doctor was annoyed by the imbecility of the natives and their lack of logic. To make things worse, the doctor was unable to find the book in which he had written his findings causing frustration in him. After telling some visitors to leave him alone, the doctor got an invitation from the Black Lord of Alagadda.
Upon arriving at the lord's palace, the two met and introduced each other. The Black Lord was curious about the doctor's medicine and asked if he could cure him of any disease he might have, but the doctor was discouraged and was afraid he could not. Then a monster appeared from the walls of the palace heavily injuring the lord, leaving the doctor to perform surgery on him, and during the procedure, the doctor finally remembered his cure. After the lord was cured, he only gave the doctor his gratitude and told him to leave.
1666[]
After finally remembering his cure the doctor decided to leave Alagadda and return to Earth. In 1665-1666, the time of day and night went haywire, with the sun not coming out on London for several days, or when it came out would not set. At this time, the Black Plague seemed to have returned so the Plague Doctor took the chance to take the bodies of the recently deceased and reanimate them, which caused mass panic throughout London.
After the day and night time schedule went back to normal thanks to Lord David Blackwood killing the faerie hybrid who was responsible for the disruption, the Plague Doctor took residence inside a monastery of the Fifth Church where he was revered as a holy figure, although he himself didn't think much of the place. He operated on the members of the church for some time making their bodies into abominations so they could be more fitting for their religion's ideals.
SCP Foundation[]
SCP-049 was discovered in Montauban, France when the SCP Foundation was investigating some mysterious disappearances. They found 049 surrounded by the people he had turned into SCP-049-2. While the Foundation exterminated the SCP-049-2, SCP-049 took notes on what was happening, and then willingly surrendered to the Foundation. Under their custody, 049 kept doing experiments with various mammalians provided to him by the Foundation in order to keep him calm.
On April 16th, 2017, when was being interviewed by Dr. Raymond Hamm--a doctor who spent a lot of time with 049 and considered him a friend--049 became agitated and attacked Hamm, killing him and turning him into a 049-2 in three hours, since security wasn't activated.
On August 12, 2020, while SCP-6118 was evading containment, it encountered SCP-049. The two engaged in discussion before they were dragged apart and recontained. The meeting had quite the impression on both entities, and is followed up on in the UnHuman canon.
When SCP-049 and SCP-6118 return to the Main Canon with the help of SCP-507, they were obviously separated by the Foundation. This caused SCP-049 severe distress, begging to be able to see SCP-6118; he even went on to murder multiple Foundation personnel with brute force due to his conception of them trying to keep his "patient" away from him.
Some personnel were sympathetic to their relationship, possibly after seeing SCP-6118's deteriorating mental and physical state, as well as how caring and affectionate SCP-049 was towards SCP-6118 during their interactions. Said personnel assisted in a containment breach, letting SCP-049 and SCP-6118 escape to the safehouse the former had set up.
Médecin, Not Medicine[]
Shortly after all of humanity was wiped out in the UnHuman canon, SCP-049 escaped his containment chamber and immediately headed to SCP-6118's containment chamber. He turned the corpses of the Foundation personnel that had been guarding that wing into 049-2. Soon after, he used a keycard he had obtained to unlock SCP-6118's cell, allowing it to freely roam Site-19. SCP-6118 encountered SCP-035 and was badly injured; SCP-049 intervened and nursed SCP-6118 back to health. Under the threat of SCP-035 attacking them again, they decided to leave Site-19 and relocated to a city containing other survivors of the Calamity.
After a mistake forced them to returnto Site-19, SCP-035 began stalking SCP-6118 and then kidnapped him. SCP-049 became very distressed, searching the entire area until finally finding them; SCP-6118 injured and SCP-035 likely about to kill him. SCP-049 proceeded to decommission SCP-035 by breaking the porcelain mask into pieces.
Because of the trauma it re-triggered in SCP-6118, the two's relationship was put under some strain. An SCP-6440-2 instance that they'd been staying with encouraged them to talk to each other, and when they did, SCP-049 revealed that he had nullified his ability to kill people through physical contact alone, stating that it was because he wanted so badly to never hurt SCP-6118. The two grew closer, as SCP-6118's physical health deteriorated due to being away from his home planet for so long. They eventually decided that they would use their friendship with SCP-507 to their advantage, "jumping" back to the Main Canon, where the majority of humans werere still alive.
Upon doing so, the pair were separated, causing significant distress for both. SCP-049 became threatening and violent in the presence of Foundation personnel, as mentioned above, but when allowed one meeting with SCP-6118, he treated the alien with much caring and softness. It turned out that 049 was just extremely protective over SCP-6118, as seen through many interactions that the two had with others - such as when they breached containment after SCP-049 terminatesdmany Foundation personnel, and the bus driver they met after their escape. The bus driver expressed concern for SCP-6118's wellbeing, but crossed a line when they became a little bit flirty with him. This appeared to upset SCP-049 considerably, but he only acted aggressively until they reached the safehouse. Once inside, SCP-049 pulled SCP-6118 down onto a bench by the entryway and hugged him tightly, then confessed some of his feelings for the other. He stated that being apart from SCP-6118 was agony, and started crying when he mentioned the idea of "losing" the alien. SCP-6118 comforted him, letting 049 hold him while he returned the sentiment, talking about how he felt like he was just waiting to die until he met 049.
The two hitched a ride to SCP-6118's home planet, where they encountered his former handler and cell donor (similar to a biological parent for a human), who interrupted a heated moment between the two with a shotgun. The Handler was obviously intoxicated, and almost shot SCP-6118 before SCP-049 gave it a concussion, grabbing SCP-6118 and driving away. The two spent a lot of time in the car together, with SCP-049 taking care of 6118's medical needs and taking notes on him when they fell asleep together. The tension between them built, SCP-6118 almost kissing SCP-049 on their walk to meet Unit 7cb7, but becoming too nervous at the last moment due to SCP-6118 physically not being able to reach SCP-049's mouth. This issue was later nullified after 7cb7 made their feelings plainly obvious to each other, then left them alone to talk about their relationship. However, instead of talking about their relationship, SCP-049 pinned SCP-6118 up against a wall and licked away blood that had been collecting on the alien's mouth. The two were then interrupted again, 7bc7 stating worry that 049 would hurt his friend.
They then were invited to live at a station run by the resistance against the Kepler government, to which both accepted.
The Hanged King's Comedy[]
While sitting in his containment room 049 heard the alarm going off, which was not unusual. Suddenly the wall of his cell began corroding and SCP-035 possessing a D-Class stepped through. 035 remembered his interaction with the doctor, but the doctor could not remember it. After 049 realized that they actually met in the past, 035 asked him to perform his surgery on a female D-Class it had brought along in order to for her body to not be affected by its liquid. 049 complied and after turning the D-Class into 035's perfect host, the two SCPs managed to escape the site.
On the run, 035 dropped 049 to Marshall, Carter, and Dark ltd.. Under their employment, 049 began conducting surgeries on several individuals for the money-hungry group, earning them quite a lot of money. After a long day of work, 049 approached a man who lay dying. He assured the man that he did not have the pestilence and stayed with him until his final moment.
Appearance[]
X-Ray image of SCP-049's skull.
SCP-049 is a tall humanoid figure that appears to be garnished in long black robes and a white-beaked mask. However, upon further investigation, it was revealed that these items are a part of SCP-049's physical body, being similar in biological structure to muscle.
Personality[]
| “ | No, doctor. The cure is not something you or your organization would understand. No matter how much you claim to understand me, my methods, the pestilence, and my cure, the fact of the matter is that despite all that I tell you, you never really listen. | „ |
| ~ SCP-049 to Dr. Elijah Itkin from "SCP-049-ΩK". |
SCP-049 is very well-mannered, respectful, and polite and has a cordial demeanour. In addition, SCP-049 appears to have largely accepted its containment, and so makes very few attempts at escape. It seems to truly believe what it is doing is for the greater good, stating that its cure is "most effective". It is unknown why SCP-049 believes that it must eradicate this "pestilence", or what the "pestilence" truly is.
SCP-049 is also extremely courteous and affable to both humans and fellow SCPs alike. It states that it does not like to speak because of the melancholy and pensive nature of the "victims of the Pestilence", and that they do not react well to conversation. This shows that it still has its victims' best interests in mind when performing its procedure.
When 049 encountered SCP-682, 049 tried to cure the creature of the pestilence, but after being attacked by the monster, 049 was left shaken by the encounter, as it was shocked that its methods seemed to fail to work on him.
Behavior and Procedure[]
SCP-049's touch is extremely lethal to humans, killing those that come into contact with it within minutes. SCP-049 then produces out of his body a black bag filled with medical and surgical tools, then begins surgery on the victim, inserting several unknown chemicals into the corpse.
After a few minutes, the subject's vital signs will resume and the subject (now an instance of SCP-049-2) will begin to function normally, except any higher brain function. The victim will be rendered completely feral, violent, aggressive, and dangerous, and will wander until it encounters another human. It will then attack and kill the human before returning to its unintelligent and brainless state. However, when 049 does his operation on a mechanical creature, such as Leslie of SCP-3774, the robots will be reanimated but will keep their memories and intelligence as before their death.
SCP-049 was once thought incapable of speech, but this was later debunked when it spoke in a male voice, saying that while it can speak, it simply prefers not to. It explained that it seeks to eradicate "the Great Pestilence" from the world, which is assumed to be the bubonic plague. However, this is unconfirmed, as SCP-049 senses the "Pestilence" in subjects who do not possess the disease, and it has not seen it in some other human subjects. SCP-049 believes it is doing a great service by "curing" the infected. When confronted about the effectiveness of the cure, SCP-049 would not continue. It is possible that the "pestilence" is life itself, which 049 believes that it destroys the souls of people and that it should be ridden from their bodies.
SCP-049 is kept in a secure holding cell. Should personnel want to converse with it, it must be removed by a Level 2 or higher personnel and sedated before being placed in an iron collar and accompanied by a minimum of two security guards. During a containment breach, SCP-049 came into contact and had conversations with SCP-035.
In the "End of Death" continuity in which a resurrected O5-11 of the O5 Council killed the embodiment of Death causing everyone to gain immortality, 049 became agitated when he saw that his touch couldn't kill anyone anymore, and fell in a state of depression since he considered his death touch to be integral to his "cure". The Foundation tried to elevate his mood by allowing him to help personnel in the site's medical center, but this didn't completely help 049 with his depression.
During "There is comfort in not seeing, there is bliss in not knowing." Where SCP-096 encountered 049, SCP-049 felt a large amount of sympathy for the creature, viewing it as a suffering, helpless and scared child. Despite telling the pale humanoid creature he could not save it, he said he can help it. SCP-049 then injected something to calm 096, in 049's view. They were both underneath a black tree, with mirror shards hanging from the branches, as 096's crying grew louder and more intense. 049 reflected on his own life and questioned whether or not if he was a doctor, 049 also noticed that the "child" had several cuts around its body with blood leaking. He was going to find a syringe to staunch the flow, but 096 ran and hugged him. While in reality, 096 and 049 sat down together, until 049 was dragged out.
In "Nothing in the cry of Cicadas Suggests they are About to Die", an alternate version of 049, later dubbed SCP-049-1, arrived at the main universe right inside a church where a 2852 Black-level event was taking place. 049-1 was also affected by SCP-2852 and took part in the event in which he operated on the participants causing cicadas to emerge from their stitched-up bodies.
In Other Media[]
In Video Games[]
SCP - Containment Breach[]
| “ | Hello. Greetings. Oh my, yet another victim of the disease… You are not a doctor. I sense the disease in you. I am the cure. Do not be afraid, I am the cure. Stop resisting, I'm here to cure you… | „ |
| ~ SCP-049 approaching the player. |
Here, SCP-049 was voiced by Aaron Mckee, better known as TheVolgun, a YouTuber who is best known for his voice acting on the SCP-related material, who also voiced in the game SCP-035, SCP-939, SCP-990, and D-9341.
SCP-049 is a major enemy in SCP - Containment Breach. It will wander the halls and elevators, killing and "curing" any human it comes across, including the player. While it is not especially fast, it can be a major obstacle if it is blocking a path or pursuing the player. Touching the Plague Doctor will kill the player, and they will wake up a reanimated corpse, killed by a security guard. However, SCP-049's touch is not lethal when wearing SCP-714.
SCP: Secret Laboratory[]
In the Secret Laboratory, one of the players has the role of controlling SCP-049 and murdering the other remaining players. Out of all the SCPs in-game, SCP-049 is the slowest. SCP-049 is capable of killing anyone instantly if he gets in range to use his death touch. He can also create "zombies" with his victims. The zombies are also known as SCP-049-2. They are following SCP-049 to protect him from other players and can turn them into SCP-049-2 as well. SCP-049 can take more shots than other SCPs in-game. The Tesla-Gate could potentially kill SCP-049 or significantly damage him.
Indie Game Battle[]
SCP-049 was set to appear as a playable character in Indie Game Battle before the game's cancellation.
SCP: Sedition[]
| “ | Et donc, l'étudiant devient le maître. (And so, the student becomes the master.) | „ |
| ~ SCP-049 |
In this non-canon, fan-made series, there is a set of two videos that expand on SCP-049's purpose and background. His aim to cure "the pestilence" remains in this video series in the same way as the standard SCP mythos. SCP-049 also discusses his encounter with SCP-035, which is a very different version of the same story that SCP-035 gave in its respective video within the series. SCP-035, much like in the original mythos, can speak many languages, but its true language is not comprehensible by humans.
In the second video featuring SCP-049, he is interviewed by a Foundation member named "Jacobs", at the end of the interview, he intends to sacrifice himself to the SCP. Right as SCP-049 is about to touch Jacobs and "cure the pestilence", SCP-049 withdraws himself and doesn't touch Jacobs, explaining that "the pestilence has receded from him", and that Jacobs has a different fate in store for him.
In another video of the same series, a video about SCP-343, SCP-343 states that "a darkness follows" SCP-049, possibly hinting "the pestilence" that SCP-049 speaks of is something that's a part of the latter, rather than something others are infected with.
Trivia[]
- The first original photo of SCP-049 got taken down and replaced because the SCP Foundation could not reliably get sourced as being Creative Commons Compliant. The image was not licensed by the SCP wiki, which is why the photo was not to be used in derivative works that utilize content involving the SCP Wiki.
- SCP-049 is based on a plague doctor, who are medical physicians who treated victims of the most devastating pandemic of the whole humanity known as the Black Death.
- SCP-049 was originally written by author Gabriel Jade before he rewrote alongside djkaktus, with the original one being archived.
- The original version of SCP-049 was referenced in SCP-███ (SCP-5356) as being temporarily preserved by the Department of Abnormalities before being claimed by the Foundation as SCP-049-ARC.
- SCP-049 appeared as #21 on Tat's TopVideo's Top 22 Scariest SCPs.
- There is a bug in SCP - Containment Breach where SCP-049 will remain in its crouching position even after the player has already been turned into an SCP-049-2.
- The Foundation was able to cure some of the individuals turned into SCP-049-2 thanks to SCP-500, mysterious red pills which can cure all diseases.
- Another SCP designated SCP-049-J, also known as "The Plague Fellow", is an SCP looking nearly identical with the classic 049, with the exception that it is made mostly of moss, wads of tissue, and other, smaller plague doctor masks. Its behavior is also similar to that of 049, but seemingly to a less degree of intelligence, as he claims to be a powerful magical doctor wizard, capable of curing anything, despite the fact he had cured nothing and instead made things much worse, for example crushing a patient's throat with a shoo-in hope of curing her sore throat and tried to escape the facilities he was held in through childish ways.
- SCP-049-J, is one of the few Joke SCPs which is directly related to the SCP with the same number designation and was also created by the same co-author. According to the tale Boiled, Scrambled, and Fried, SCP-049 gave birth to SCP-049-J through laying an egg, despite saying that he is not a bird.
- During an encounter with SCP-729-J, SCP-049 stated that the plushie had the plague and attempted to cure him but fainted.
- In SCP-5555, it is revealed that the Administrator of the Foundation, and other leaders of the other GOIs are actually powerful immortal beings who use the SCP universe and its inhabitants as just a playboard game with roleplaying for their own entertainment, and after one of them wins, the game starts over and the universe resets, but with the with major differences, such as the Plague Doctor being a simple modern doctor with a gas mask in the previous game before becoming a medieval plague doctor in the current one.
- When the Foundation used SCP-978 to take a photo of SCP-049, the picture showed him embracing a six-year-old child, most likely his daughter, while various 049-2 were seen roaming in the background.
- The child in the picture of SCP-978 with SCP-049 could also be SCP-096, hinting that SCP-049 wants to help the creature.
- In a cross-testing experiment, SCP-049 encountered SCP-096, viewing the creature as s injured and distressed child. SCP-049 told SCP-096 he couldn't cure it, but he could help it. Afterward, SCP-049 injected something into SCP-096's body, also during this. When SCP-049 was "treating" SCP-096, he had doubts whether he was a real doctor because of the "suffering" it was going through. SCP-096's "child" form hugged SCP-049, while the actual creature sat down with SCP-049.
- In an alternate universe, during the Black Plague, SCP-049 had created so many monsters that they began taking over the world. This forced a young O5-5 to abandon this universe and join an interdimensional group made out of his counterparts from other universes.
- In the dead timeline of SCP-5000, where the SCP Foundation decided to destroy the human race via the usage of the SCPs, after creating a collective consciousness between their staff they became aware of the malicious memetic entity inhabiting the human collective consciousness who was the cause for the creatures feeling pain and suffering and could only be defeated by killing the collective. This means that this entity is possibly the "pestilence" SCP-049 was referring to.
- When D-77544 looked to SCP-049 through some glasses which let their wearer know how much costs the objects the wearer sees, he said that "049 costs
634610648625600-650 rats infested with the Black Death". - It is theorized that SCP-343 or Mr. Deeds might be able to translate his notes, but it is expected that they wouldn't be helpful if translated.
- When the Foundation's Department of Multiverse Analysis began pulling webpages from alternate universes, they came across a Wikipedia article about a musical called "Containment Breach The Musical". This musical features multiple SCPs and Foundation researchers played by actors, including SCP-049, who is played by an actor named Troy DuChamp.
- When D-4977 and D-2818 looked into SCP-4491, a ninety-nine-minute-long video which despite displaying only a black screen humans are able to see certain scenes, they saw SCP-049 sharing a milkshake with SCP-035 in a diner with a 1950's aesthetic. When D-1843, D-2343, and Dr. Cimmerian saw SCP-4491 it displayed to them another diner scene in which Cimmerian advocated the other seven attendants for the destruction of multiple Euclid and Keter-class anomalies, including SCP-035, SCP-049, and SCP-343.
External links[]
- SCP-049 on the Villains Wiki
- SCP-049 on the SCP - Containment Breach Wiki
- SCP-049 on the Versus Compendium Wiki
- SCP-049 on the SCP Database Wiki
- SCP-049 on the SCP Wikidot
