The Formless Man is the primary antagonist of Layers of Fear 2. He relentlessly pursues the Actor as they try to create the character for the movie role.
Character Study[]
On Twitter, additional info about the Formless Man was released, as well as concept art. This is the information given:
- "A violent, aggressive force that instinctively feels the need to break out into the surface, to have a chance at existing. He is a dreadful hunter which aims to destroy any perceived natural threat. He emerged as a result of the actor’s disturbed development, fueled by childhood trauma and a crisis of identity. The actor hasn’t had a chance to fully evolve and define himself and the Formless Man has appeared in exchange."
- "He is a strong, powerful half-human-like-creature, half-phantom. A faceless wraith with a morphing body. At the beginning he seems more like an optical artifact to us, a mirage, but he steadily grows in intensity and deformity."
- "He speaks only with inarticulate sounds - muttering, growing, heavy breathing. He is the walking, stalking, embodiment of what it is to be…Formless."
Speculation[]
- Due to the fact that the monster is regarded as male, it's possible that the Formless Man represents James and his identity crisis. He is unable to let Lily go, having taken in her soul since her death, and also growing up in her shadow by becoming an Actor (as she wanted to be). In this sense, James has no true identity of his own.
- James created the Formless Man’s ‘shape’ of sorts when he was a child, in the form of a clay doll. In the Flame ending, should you choose to be James, the child version of him will be eating the doll, likely to signify that he is accepting his individuality and ridding himself of that unsure part of his being. In the Forever ending, if you instead choose to be Lily, the child James will shoot the doll, and recoil as if he injured himself.
- In Act 5, you come across a mirror. If you pick it up, you hear Lily say, "You tried to fix me. Instead, you broke yourself." This means that in attempting to bring Lily back, James instead destroyed what made him himself, and thus the Formless Man developed.
Gallery[]
Formless Man 1st Form
Variant Designs
Concept Art
A version that was never used in-game