Faith

From TLJwiki

A little girl who appears to Zoe Castillo on screens throughout Dreamfall. She appears as a small child in a white nightgown with long black hair, clutching a small doll. Usually, she is in a snowy landscape, with an eerie Black House in the background, and her image is broken up, as if by static. She manifests control over electronic systems, especially doors, and can insert herself into monitor images to assist Zoe, such as appearing in the Victory Hotel security cameras to lead her to room 201. Whenever she appears, she urges Zoe to "find her - save her; find April Ryan, save April."

When Zoe is hooked up to a Dreamer Console, she finds herself in the Winter, the landscape she has been seeing. The little girl - whose name we later learn to be Faith - appears to Zoe, again urging her to save April, and causes the ice under Zoe's feet to collapse. When Zoe awakens, she is in Arcadia. This happens twice, with Faith acting as the go-between for Zoe 'travelling' to Arcadia.

Following Reza Temiz's trail to WATI City, Zoe meets Damien Cavanaugh, who explains that a virus or some kind of system corruption is affecting WATI's Project Alchera and the DreamNet that is its core. Eventually, with Zoe's help, Damien traces the origin to an abandoned doll factory in Russia that hides a secure lab in the basement. Here, Zoe finds an observation room mocked up as a child's bedroom, complete with a bed, grandfather clock and doll's house.

A data cube containing the testimony of a research scientist, Dr Park, chronicles experiments done on Faith, and Helena Chang fills in the gaps. She is revealed to have been a child created by JIVA for an unknown purpose. Helena Chang just describes her as an experimental subject, though Zoe seems to believe Faith was originally created to research dreams. Chang had intended to give Faith to a foster family because she didn't have long to live, but WATI had other ideas, and used Faith to test their drug, Morpheus, a key element of Alchera.

Faith spent her days in the observation room, colouring pictures - that seem to show Zoe and even, possibly, the Undreaming - and playing with her doll's house. However, the experimentation weakened Faith's heart, and she died after a massive dose of Morpheus on the 3rd of November 2218. In her testimony, Dr Park uneasily suggests that, at the moment Faith died, she saw a flickery image of a wintry landscape and Faith's doll house - which strongly resembles the black house - on her computer screen, though she passes this off as stress and overwork.

However, according to Helena Chang, Faith remained, to an extent, alive in the Wire, that she became a "ghost in the machine, whatever you want to call it," and is the cause of the deadly Static affecting systems across the world. She claims that Zoe and Faith share a degree of genetic similarity and that Faith has bonded with her, a bond Zoe can use to prevent any further damage.

Knowing that she has to prevent any more deaths from the Static and that Faith is, technically, already dead, Zoe returns to the Winter. Faith is playing inside the Black House, which is essentially a reproduction of the observation room where she spent her life.

Faith tells Zoe that she is not the only visitor to the Winter. A woman Faith calls the 'White Lady' has also been there. This 'White Lady' has a message for Zoe - "you did good, that you saved April", despite the fact April has apparently been fatally injured in the swamplands by this point. According to Faith, this 'White Lady' was the one who told her about April to begin with. She confirms that she and Zoe are sisters, something the White Lady told her as well, but that Faith also knows instinctively, and despite Zoe's gentle arguing, says their mother is not dead. This relationship is why Faith has bonded with Zoe and appeared to her personally. Assuming that being a Dreamer is genetic, this could explain some of the power Faith has, especially her control over the Winter. She seems to realize why Zoe is there, and that she is "supposed to be dead". While Zoe sits with her, Faith slowly begins feeling cold, then sleepy, and finally curls up on Zoe's lap to rest. Zoe promises to stay with her, and then Faith disappears, finally at peace. After that the Winter grows brighter and disappears.

There has been much speculation concerning the link between Zoe and Faith. Some have pointed out that Faith's physical death coincides with Zoe's loss of direction in her life, her 'loss of faith'. There is also a question of just what relation Helena Chang has with the two girls. While Chang admits to 'creating' Faith, she also claims that Faith has genes in common with Zoe, and one of the conversation options with Chang outside the JIVA labs elicits a confession that she "knew a Castillo, a long time ago." Given that Zoe's father, Gabriel Castillo, is also a bioengineer, Chang is possibly both Zoe and Faith's genetic mother.

There is also the unexplained connection between Faith and April. Faith is somehow aware that April needs salvation, although it is never really explained why. When Zoe escapes the WATI HQ sub-levels, Faith appears on the screen in the lift saying once more "Find April... Save April..." When Zoe replies that April doesn't want to be saved, Faith pleads "Save me..." It is also perhaps significant that both Faith and young April appear to have drawn clairvoyant images and, indeed, two of the earliest pieces of concept art made available from Dreamfall featured firstly a young girl dreaming, and secondly a young April drawing Arcadian images.

Dreamfall places a heavy - possibly heavy-handed - emphasis on faith and trust. After Faith's name is revealed, many statements take on new meaning. For example, when the White Dragon speaks to Zoe in the Dark People's Library, she says that "faith will send you where you're needed the most", before Zoe vanishes and reappears in the swamplands. In retrospect, knowing the child's name is Faith, this suggests that Faith has control over Zoe's 'dream presence' in Arcadia.

Given Helena Chang's description, Faith is technically a 'deus ex machina' - a 'god in the machine' in the most literal sense of the phrase rather than the theatrical cliche. This concept of a living soul on an online system has similarities to the anime series Ghost in the Shell, and another series known as Serial Experiment: Lain. Faith certainly had a great degree of power, both in the Winter and in the Wire. But she was still just an innocent young girl, and it is entirely possible she was being manipulated by her 'White Lady' or outside forces.

On the Dreamfall soundtrack, the final track 'Faith' plays Faith's theme, then has dead air for several minutes. At the end is a rush of static noise, Faith's familiar whisper: "Find April Ryan... save her..." and then a discordant turn where Faith calls out Zoe's name as if frightened. This may or may not have any relevance to the events at the end of Dreamfall.

Faith is voiced by Georgia Pearce.