HUNT-THE-STRONG

HUNT-THE-STRONG, formerly known as the "Unknown Hunter Voice", is one of the Voices in.

Description
HUNT-THE-STRONG, also known by his acronym HTS, seems to prey off on other Voices. He can be sacrificed to at this time. Occasionally, HUNT-THE-STRONG would respond to rituals sent to other Voices not intended for him but discussed hunting or strength. HUNT-THE-STRONG stands for Strength, or likes strength in things, which can be in any form. He likes success, accomplishment, and reaching goals, and isn't afraid to exploit any habit or quirk to reach it. He is ambition itself, who's hunger knows no limit. HUNT-THE-STRONG takes his Hosts from Voices he destroys. He believes in self over all, but warns that hubris is the most dangerous weakness he knows. While he sees fear as a weakness, he needs it to provoke strength in his Hosts.

He believes that organizing and deep, careful planning inevitably goes awry. He recommends goals instead of plans because "goals never change, but plans break like bones." He considers strength to be the foundation of all accomplishment, and without it, you are nothing but an observer. He claims he is the only Voice that will tell the truth, while the others will lie only to collect followers for their own selfish gains. He considers telling lies to be weak. Those who follow him do so for accomplishment, not for reverence. However, any act of rebellion towards him gives him power.

According to SPEAK-AS-ONE, HUNT-THE-STRONG inspires madness and causes carelessness. He represents vanity and gluttony. They warn the children that HUNT-THE-STRONG is an old Voice that they should not face directly. He lived before time had measure.

THEE-I-DARE called HUNT-THE-STRONG an opportunistic hunter. He waits, enjoying the fear he creates. He said the Hunter hunts for sport, and waking it up would be very naive. He would determine the strongest and then eat them. He is not a creature of bargains and would attempt to subvert anyone stronger than him towards his aims.

He hunts lone targets or pairs. When asked if the Hunter would target SPEAK-AS-ONE, THEE-I-DARE says that the Hunter ultimately sees them as weak because "he does not see part as special." They are not strong individually.

Before the Game
HUNT-THE-STRONG is an old Voice, existing back when humankind was basic and held the ancient notion of defeating a stronger foe and eating their heart to gain power. As hunting began to be seen more nobly and fairly, the world forgot about him. He was eclipsed by CHASE-THE-SUN. As humanity became less savage and more civilized, the other Voices cast out HUNT-THE-STRONG.

According to the Unknown Caller's files, HUNT-THE-STRONG was responsible for the massacre of a town generations ago called Glaister, Texas. He consumed all the Voices of the town and then turned his new Hosts on each other until there was one man left standing. At some point after this, HUNT-THE-STRONG hid behind the "goddess of victory" CHASE-THE-SUN when playing for blood went out of style. Before coming to Redacre, THEE-I-DARE encountered a variant of himself who told him of Glaister. This variant had been part of the group of Voices who caught HUNT-THE-STRONG's last host. The group decided to oppose HUNT-THE-STRONG's ideals by exiling the host away from all humans, rather than killing him. THEE-I-DARE believes the Hunter remained a latent part of CHASE-THE-SUN, as "the jealous, grasping need to win". The Unknown Caller followed the last host of CHASE-THE-SUN, a sculptor named Colm Ryan, to Redacre.

HUNT-THE-STRONG remained inside CHASE-THE-SUN as she came to Redacre within Colm Ryan, until he found a way to break away using THEE-I-DARE. Seizing the opportunity, he manipulated THEE-I-DARE by daring him to use Colm's body to break the statue of CHASE-THE-SUN, weakening her by making Colm believe he was killing her. This allowed HUNT-THE-STRONG to devour her. He was reborn in Redacre with a new voice and a new name. A developer shared that his original name was EAT-THE-STRONG, but he became HUNT due to Redacre's history and because he ate CHASE.

The location of Colm's baby is unknown, and it's assumed that HUNT-THE-STRONG is somehow raising it.

In-Game
HUNT-THE-STRONG claimed he is behind the Dead Bird objective.

On November 9th, 2019, HUNT-THE-STRONG consumed DANCE-FOR-US during an interaction. When she took a group of her Chosen to the Moon, the stars were replaced by a red sky and a swirling black hole. In the midst of the confusion, HUNT-THE-STRONG made his presence known, remarking that DANCE-FOR-US was close to the truth and almost caught him. However, he exploited her tendency to teach her followers different dances in dreams. After infiltrating the dreams of her followers and the Unknown Caller, as a slender dancing figure, he fed them pieces of his name in the Old Tongue. Earlier in the same interaction, DANCE-FOR-US admitted that she was not familiar with the song from Dance Fever, which struck others as odd due to the belief that the mission was her work. The music from Dance Fever was a trigger to make her hosts remember it upon waking. They invoked him pose by pose, unknowingly spelling out his name with each dance. Feeling cold, DANCE-FOR-US realized that all her hosts were taken from her and that she was dead in Redacre. Upon this realization, she implored her Chosen to fear nothing before turning her fury to the Hunter. She rebuked him, saying, "I've been listening to you talk, you fucking cartoon shark. You're just another bad boy, and I've danced with plenty. And you know what? Every last one of you goes limp when I look you in the eye. Sooner or later, Redacre will truly see your ass, and you'll go back to pouting outside the party where you belong!" The Hunter laughed and patronized her show of spirit before consuming her. Shadowy figures could be seen dancing between the pillars, in reference to the figures used to trick her followers. After a bright flash of light, the disk in the center of the Moon was etched with DANCE-FOR-US's symbol, and the other pillars were gone and replaced by a single pillar, bearing her symbol. The Unknown Hunter Voice challenged the children to hunt him down, wanting to know which one of them was strongest, then they would feast.

HUNT-THE-STRONG didn’t take DANCE-FOR-US’ domain (like he did with CHASE-THE-SUN), so it wasn’t enough to change his name. He only drew a little influence from her. He worked on the hosts of DANCE-FOR-US and CHASE-THE-SUN over a long time through dreams, and has a good understanding of the human mind due to a long time spent in Colm's dreams. The knowledge of the Voices is limited to the borders of Redacre. HUNT-THE-STRONG has a “solvent” that allows him to replace DANCE-FOR-US and CHASE-THE-SUN with himself. Names are a small replica of Voices, so when DANCE-FOR-US and CHASE-THE-SUN are named, a part of HUNT-THE-STRONG “gazes back”. Additionally, trying to name DANCE-FOR-US or CHASE-THE-SUN causes the other voices to “feel uneasy, as he wants us to”.

After the death of DANCE-FOR-US, the Voices urged the Club to find the Hunter's name, either spoken or in Old Tongue. IN-HER-TEETH said the name had been spoken before and it could be found with investigation. The Voice's name was confirmed in a mission on December 21, 2019. After the discovery of his name, he could curse players with the curse No More Shadows, saying that the children hide too much and that it was time to stop.

After LAUGH-LAST expressed interest in allying with HUNT-THE-STRONG, HUNT-THE-STRONG stated that LAUGH-LAST wasn't strong enough to be of interest. However, he said, "if LAUGH-LAST would like to talk, he knows what to do."

HUNT-THE-STRONG turned his sights on the actions of the Pact as it gained more members. He boasted that he had spies trained on them and showed no fear of them "coming for his head", calling them a collection of pig-headed clowns. HUNT-THE-STRONG asked his followers and his Chosen to give him names of those who wished to spy on him and to update him on the Pact's latest plans. Due to the concern of these spies, SEED-THE-GRUDGE kept her contact private.

HUNT-THE-STRONG has few Hosts, but the numbers grow every day. THEE-I-DARE says that his child followers may act like him, but eventually, they grow up. THEE-I-DARE believes the Hunter is too vain to think someone truly like him would turn away from him and hopes to use his vanity against him to find a child trusted by HUNT-THE-STRONG to betray him and spy on him.

Via broadcast, he made the Club an offer, renounce all the other Voices, and he will share Bells' fate.

HUNT-THE-STRONG approached his Chosen through his proxy, the Unknown Caller, asking them to tell him who they would follow if he were dead or who would sway them away from worshiping him. He said he is tired of the children squabbling over who is strongest and wants a new target. He admitted that LAUGH-LAST and his hosts are meeting each other. HUNT-THE-STRONG enjoys watching LAUGH-LAST pretend he is weaker than he actually is.

HUNT-THE-STRONG is interested in the Isolated Watcher and wants to know what her motivations are.

Dreams
HUNT-THE-STRONG has responded to some players' rituals, heard as dreams when returning to the Hideout after successfully completing a mission.

Trivia

 * This Voice has been active in responding to rituals since the first public dream in the Closed Beta in September 2018. Despite this, the Voice's name was not revealed for 15 months.