Michael Davies

SPOILER WARNING!!! This article contains HEAVY SPOILERS for Faith. Please read at your own risk!

Michael Davies

A rotoscope of Michael.

Appearances

FAITH
FAITH: Chapter II (Flashback)

FAITH: Chapter III (Apparition)

Occupation

?

Age

Unknown; ~15-17 y/o

Status

Deceased/Possessed

Aliases

"The Chupacabra" (by Sterling locals)
"Naked White Man" (by Cherise Wan)

Relatives

Mr. Davies (Father)

Mrs. Davies (Mother)

Affiliation

Father Garcia (captor/exorcist)

Biographical information

Marital status

N/A

Date of birth

Mid 1970s

Place of birth

Unknown

Date of death

September 21st, 1987 (Determinant on FAITH's Ending)

Place of death

Snake Meadow Hill Road

Physical description

Species

Human (Possessed)

Gender

Male

Height

Over 6"2

Weight

Unknown

Eye color

Black (Formerly)

Red (Currently; Possessed)

Michael "The Chupacabra" Davies, is the main antagonist of Chapter I. He appears in a flashback sequence in Chapter II and reappearing as an apparition in Chapter III.

Michael was a teenage boy who transformed into a thin, pale creature after being possessed by an unknown demon and locked inside of a basement for three months. He broke free of his chains during a failed exorcism session and scurried off into the outskirts of Sterling, Connecticut, destroying anything in his path. He particularly holds a grudge towards people who dress like priests because his captor, Father Garcia, looks like one, which proves to be a problem for the protagonist, John Ward, because he is dressed like one for a different reason.

Appearance[]

Based on the original polaroid photo taken on Day 1 of the exorcism, Michael was a typical-looking teen boy with dark, bushy hair. He was probably quite tall, as he later appears to be slightly taller than John who is 6'2^[1]; although normally it is unlikely someone would grow taller while being chained over a prolonged period, demonic possession may have caused his body and limbs to elongate.

In a polaroid photo named "2 Weeks", Michael's hair was falling and thinning, his sclera were a bloody-red color, and his teeth became sharp & jagged. His pose in the photo may suggest he was sluggish at the time the photo was taken.

Yet another polaroid photo by the name of "3 Months" shows Michael has become unrecognizable. All of his hair has fallen out, and his eyes are bigger, with an inhumanly wide, ghoulish red smile. Blood profusely seeps from his eyes and mouth, causing him to become anemic. His limbs are constitutively bent due to contracting Rickets, a result of 3 months worth of confinement without sunlight. Although still humanoid, he crawls around on all fours like a four-legged arachnid. Judging by the report from a citizen in Sterling, he had an unnaturally pale-white color to his skin. Even though he appears sickly, he boasts incredible strength and is capable of overpowering humans (for example, John Ward).

Personality[]

It is unconfirmed yet what kind of personality Michael had before possession. After not only being possessed by an unknown demon, but being trapped under Father Garcia's care, Michael underwent a transformation into a savage creature that took happiness in slaughtering humans and animals alike. He had a habit of mocking people who looked like priests by referencing the Holy Bible. Michael tends to use vulgarity in Spanish, but it's unclear if he already learned said language, or got it from Father Garcia as a way of taunting him.

Despite his bloody wide smile, a secret animation in Chapter I reveals that he is in pain while being possessed. His demon controls majority of his actions, but at times, he shakes his head in pain and crawls solemnly. These are the only times he ever stops smiling.

Worth noting is that, in the polaroid photo "1 Day", Michael looks completely normal and only grins at the camera. This, among other matters, can cause a debate whether or not he was possessed in the first place. It could be assumed that his parents misinterpreted normal behavior (or even mental illnesses) as possession. However, there is only one minute detail during a flashback sequence that truly shows Michael was possessed.

Biography[]

Mid 1970s[]

Judging by how Michael was between 15 to 17 years old in Chapter I^[2], he was possibly born in the mid 1970s to Mr. and Mrs. Davies.

June 20th, 1987[]

Cardinal Gifford of the Catholic Church assigns a subordinate, Father Garcia, to exorcise Michael ^[3], whose parents believed he's been afflicted with a violent demonic possession and were struggling to find somebody to help him. Taking him into custody, Garcia keeps Michael chained to a bed in the basement of his apartment room to keep him and others safe. Taking photographs of Michael with a polaroid camera, Garcia would date them to show Michael's progress and degradation over time.

July 4th, 1987[]

Father Garcia has been struggling to exorcise Michael, the demon possessing him is strong and will not back down. The possession is taking a toll on Michael's body; his hair is thinning, he looks sluggish, his teeth are sharpening, and his eyes are turning bloody red. Overall, he looks miserable and sickly. Garcia takes another polaroid picture of Michael and intends on showing it to Gifford whenever questioned on how the boy is doing.

August 29th, 1987[]

Cardinal Gifford has been under pressure from Michael's parents since they have not seen him in over a month, while a representative of the Catholic Church/Vatican is assigned to discuss compensation in return for their discretion: the public cannot be led to believe the Church is incompetent or that possessions are real. Gifford mails a letter to demand that Garcia return Michael to his parents^[4], implying that he will be sent to the Vatican and be denounced as a priest after meeting the representative at the Davies House. Garcia does not respond to the letter, continuing to take care of Michael, thinking him too dangerous to be released. By this point, Michael's physical health has declined very sharply.

Before September 20th, 1987 (Chapter II Prelude)[]

Sometime before September 20th, roughly three months have passed since Garcia took Michael into his care. Although he believes great progress has been made with Michael over the past couple of weeks^[5], the demon possessing the boy is taking a very heavy toll on his body. Additionally, being kept in a dark room with no light has caused him to suffer from rickets as well as anemia from continuous bleeding. Garcia feels drained from how much the demon is affecting Michael's body, neglecting to take care of his apartment room and himself. He keeps Cardinal Gifford's letter nearby his bed to remind himself of the gravity of his situation. He takes another photograph of Michael, showcasing how unrecognizable he is.

One day, Father Garcia wakes up in his decrepit bedroom and ventures downstairs into the basement to check on Michael. Attempting to ask how the boy is doing, Michael demands to go home to see his “mommy and daddy” and shouts how they will kill Garcia for how he has been treated by him. Garcia shrugs off the threat and proceeds with an exorcism, causing Michael to spout blood and thrash uncontrollably.

Suddenly, Michael breaks off the chains and the lights cut out. As Garcia is about to walk back upstairs, the lights come back on and he catches a glimpse of the possessed Michael crawling quickly away; instead of killing Garcia immediately, Michael took the first opportunity to escape. Garcia, following the boy, saw satanic pentagrams that were either drawn by Michael around the ascending staircase or having just materialized there ^[6]. These symbols originate from a cult——^[7]the Eternal Order of the Second Death that operated near Sterling, Connecticut^[8]. Given how unlikely it is that Garcia would have taught Michael to draw these, or how unlikely the boy would know them at all, this points to Michael being truly possessed or influenced by a demon tied to the cult.

Father Garcia rushes upstairs and notices the "3 Months" polaroid photo missing; Michael likely took it likely because it is the only photograph showcasing his demonic-looking state. On a whim, Garcia pockets a clown nose from his bedroom closet and steps outside to find Michael devouring a bystander. Michael, sensing somebody staring at him, stops eating and turns to give Father Garcia a small grin as an eyeball rolls out of his mouth. he also at the end of the animation, does the European middle finger V thing lol

Horrified, Father Garcia asks what Michael has done. The creature pauses briefly and promptly leaps through a nearby window, proclaiming "I HAVE THE BODY OF A PIG!" before scurrying away into the dense woodland of Connecticut. Garcia, regaining composure, vows that the demon cannot run away from God and will face the wrath of the Almighty. Taking off his priestly collar, Garcia sprints out of the building to catch up to him, but Michael is long gone.

Temporarily giving up the chase, Garcia returns to his apartment and writes a reply to Cardinal Gifford^[5]. He respectfully explains that Michael needs his help more than ever and that Gifford cannot understand the kind of important work is being done. Garcia continues that great progress has been made with Michael over the past couple of weeks and they cannot let up the fight against the demon afflicting him at such a critical time. He provides another reason as to why he can let no one see him; the demon is straining Michael's body and looks far too unrecognizable to be released. To make sure would be no confusion, Garcia attempts to enclose a picture of Michael taken during one of the many exorcism sessions: however, the photo is missing from the letter.

September 20th, 1987[]

On a Sunday night, a Sterling local named Cherise Wan spotted what she describes as "a naked white man" crawling like a spider near the woodland of Snake Meadow Hill Road^[9]. She contacts the local police, believing that it was a human rather than an animal, but the authorities were unable to locate them.

September 21st, 1987 (Chapter I)[]

Wan's encounter was published in the local morning newspaper; possibly reading about it, Garcia realized that Michael is somewhere nearby Snake Meadow Hill Road. Come nightfall, Father Garcia parks near the road and ventures into the forest to look for Michael. Not wearing his priest collar and carrying a clown nose. he likely wanted to appear as someone friendly in order to subdue him (the priest collar would probably only enrage the demon).

At the same time, an ex-priest named John Ward comes to the secluded Martin House in his silver sedan to complete his year-long botched exorcism of Amy Martin. As John meanders through the trees, Michael spots him and, mistaking him for Father Garcia due to his priest clothes, angrily ambushes him while shouting obscenities. John fends him off with his crucifix repeatedly, causing Michael to reluctantly slink away. If John's reflexes are too slow, Michael gleefully crawls to him, jumps on him, and rips his torso in half.

Gray figure road easter egg — The gray figure snooping as usually, I see.

While walking near Snake Meadow Hill Road, nearly getting ran-over by a speeding semi truck in the process, John sees Father Garcia standing near a tree. Due to it being late at night and not expecting anyone to be here besides Michael, Garcia is startled and retreats out of sight, accidentally dropping the clown nose. John can pick it up if he wants and continue exploring.

John eventually comes across the Martin House, but the front door is locked, so he walks back into the woodland in order to find a key. He finds it in a lone shack not far from the house. Michael, noticing John entering, glares through the broken window before ultimately attempting to ambush him inside. John fends him off and Michael runs away again.

Gray figure window easter egg — The gray figure circled in red

Father Garcia finds the Martin House and peers through a window looking for Michael, but leaves again as John walks closer to the window.^[10].

"Father and Son" Ending[]

While Father Garcia rests next to the dilapidated shed, John approaches and fatally shoots him dead before he can run away. John shambles back to his silver sedan and speeds away, attempting to calm himself with a prayer. However, Michael, having snuck into the car while John was killing Garcia, mistakes him for the priest, screeching "FATHERRRR...!" he tears into John from the back seat with his claws and teeth, causing a crash that likely took them both out.

"When Faith Endures" Ending[]

Having refused to use the gun's single bullet to finish off the wounded Amy, John returns to his car. Before he can get in, Michael attacks one more time from the trees, but John is able to wound him with the gun. Michael bleeds and cries in pain, and as he staggers onto Snake Meadow Hill Road, a truck driver barrels past and runs over Michael, killing him instantly and devastating his corpse. John is completely speechless, glaring at the corpse in horror before quickly getting into the car and leaving, praying to calm his nerves and assure himself that he did the right thing; he may be referencing causing Michael's death as well as how he handled the incident with Amy.

The next day a newspaper article is released titled: "POLICE, ANIMAL EXPERTS INVESTIGATE 'CHUPACABRA' REMAINS FOUND NEAR STERLING". A motorist had called in the remains of an unidentified animal on Snake Meadow Hill Road which locals nickname the chupacabra after an infamous crpytid. Although the motorist mentions the remains looking human, the authorities lean more towards it being an animal, albeit seemingly an exotic or rabid one. Animal experts cannot determine the species, but describe it as hairless, anemic, and suffering from rickets: no one involved was aware they had found Michael's eviscerated body having been hit by the truck. Although Garcia possibly found out about the incident and moved on, it is not stated what happened to the boy's parents or the situation with Gifford.

October 31st, 1987 (Chapter III's Ending I and II)[]

Michael Gary Boss Fight — The summonable "Michael"

When John confronts Gary Miller, the head of the cult hinted to be responsible for Michael's fate, the cult leader can summon a red apparitional version of Michael, using the bad memory to try and undermine John's beleaguered mental defense with trauma. We flashforward a little over a month later to October 31st. Father Garcia and John formed alliances and are trying to cooperate to find Amy's twin brothers, Nate and Jason, to prevent the cult from using them to summon a great demon named Malphas. Garcia instructed John to investigate a daycare center because, for some reason, he's getting reports of children exhibiting strange behavior. Sneaking into the building, traversing through a makeshift tunnel, and exploring a field dotted with white trees, John battles a cloaked man named Gary Miller, the leader of the cult.

October 31st, 1987 (Ending III "A New Vessel")[]

If John refuses to explore the Daycare and goes home to sleep, he wakes up in a panic as enemies invade his home. Opening a door covered in crucifixes to check his psychiatric notes, he sees an illusion of Amy and finally breaks down, unable or unwilling to fight anymore. He is then seemingly pulled into the forest around the Martin House, spotting Michael slinking away. Entering the house, faced with all of his failures and defeats, he simply raises his arms in surrender. Amy and Michael then appear to hold his arms steady, and as everything around him disappears one by one into blackness, a giant red hand grabs him from below and takes him away into the void.

Michael's inclusion in this segment is unclear; it likely means that, next to how he failed Amy in his attempt to save her soul, the manner in how he saw Michael die, even as a distorted and demonic-looking creature, disturbed him to no end and weighed him down.

Gameplay Strategy[]

Michael has a 50/50 chance of appearing in The Forest and attacking you by honing towards your positioning. Once he's fended off by the crucifix, there's an undisclosed countdown timer until his spawn sets randomly between 0.6 to 10 seconds in any of the adjacent rooms (since FAITH was coded on GameMaker Studio 2, "rooms" are just specific areas of The Forest). If Michael was scared off in one room, he will not reappear in that specific room until you leave the room then reenter.

Michael does not have HP; rather, he has a "Special Point System". A point accumulates by 1 every time an enemy is scared away by the crucifix, and they're scripted to stop appearing entirely once points accumulates to a certain threshold; this system is shared by Amy in her First Encounter and Thralls.

Michael is scripted to stop appearing altogether once you fended him off for the tenth time; after doing so, he'll leave behind a note. This also prevents him from appearing after you get the shed key. This coding ensures that you will encounter at least once throughout your whole entire gameplay session, you'd be lucky to not encounter him at all throughout The Forest.

Every time you scare Michael away, his Speed stat increases by 2. By default, his Speed is set at 18, so the maximum Speed he can reach before being disabled is 38. Despite his speed, Michael is an easy enemy to scare off. He is more dangerous if he happens to spawn in right as you are at the edge of a room: as a general precaution, be careful when you're preparing to leave a scene.

Quotes[]

Chapter I[]

Michael Appears[]

"I HAVE THE BODY OF A PIG!" (Likely a reference to The Bible; Mark 5:11-13 details the story of Jesus exorcising two possessed men and the demons flee to inhabit a herd of pigs in fear. The pigs then run into the sea and drown^[11]. It may also be a reference to a fake infamous EVP recording where a demon states that it has the body of a pig^[12].)

"RUN! RUN! RUN!" (a reference to the titular villain of the 1983 video game Sinistar^[13])

"SUFFER!"

"CARNAGE!"

"WORSHIP ME!"

"EN NOMBRE DE JESUS." (Spanish for "IN THE NAME OF JESUS," mocking a Christian prayer)

"CORRUPTION, THOU ART MY FATHER." (Basing off an email written by Airdorf, this is supposed to be a reference to a line spoken in the 2015 film The VVitch^[14], which in itself is a reference to a phrase from the Book of Job, 17:14 ((The King James Version))^[15])

"BLOOD!" (a reference to the Surgeon enemies from Shadowman^[16])

Repelled/Shot[]

"FATHERRRRR...!" (According to an email from Airdorf, Michael is referring to Father Garcia^[17], proving that he regularly mistakes John as Father Garcia.)

"NOOOOOOOOOO...!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"I GO UNWILLINGLY." (Reference to a nightmare Airdorf had where he was trapped in a cage with an insane human-rat hybrid^[17])

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

"POR LA CRUZ INVERTIDA!" ("BY THE INVERTED CROSS!")

"LA SANGRE DE PUTA MADRE!" ("BLOOD OF THE BITCH-MOTHER!"^[17])

"QUE TE JODAN MIL CABRAS!" ("MAY A THOUSAND GOATS FUCK YOU!")

Chapter II[]

Father Garcia's Exorcism[]

(Garcia enters the basement)
Father Garcia: "How are we doing today, Michael?"
"I want to go home..."

Garcia: "You can't go home until you get better, Michael."
"Can I see Mommy and Daddy?"

Garcia: "I need to make you better first."
"When they see what you did to me, THEY'LL KILL YOU!"

Garcia: "Reveal thy name to me, demon!"
"YOU KNOW NOTHING, PENDEJO!" (Pendejo is Spanish for "Idiot" or "Asshole".)

Trivia[]

Michael's exclamation "I have the body of a pig!" likely references a youtube video from 2007 where an EVP of a voice is seemingly captured saying this while the people carrying the camera are exploring an abandoned location.
Michael was not inspired by any particular horror monster (such as the Rake or SCP 096, which have been compared to him on several occasions) but was instead merely based on spiders.^[18]
Michael's name was originally going to be Abraham and would have been much older with facial hair^[19]. This is reflected in Chapter I's files, which refer to him as "abe". His name was changed in order to have a somewhat ironic connection to Michael the Archangel^[20].
There is no background given on how Michael was able to speak Spanish. His usage of the verb 'cojer' in one of his lines indicates that he specifically used a Mexican dialect.
- It is possible that he was of Mexican heritage, although there's no definitive evidence for this, as Davies is not a Spanish surname.
- Real-world possession victims are infamous of being able to speak languages they had no knowledge of before. Michael could be an example of this and had targeted his foul use of the Spanish language against Father Garcia as an intimidation tactic.
- On the other hand, the Sterling community in-game is somewhat influenced by Spanish culture, such as the brief usage of Spanish in Note #38 in Chapter III^[21], the "La Pietta Corrotta" statue featured in Chapter III, a police officer mentioned in Note #22 in Chapter II^[22] alluded to be of Hispanic descent, two of the thralls featured in Chapter II have Spanish surname^[23], and so on. All of this could very well mean that Michael already knows Spanish prior to possession.
If you pause the game while Michael is chasing John, a brief series of animation will play depicting Michael doing various things.
- In order: Solemnly crawling while looking at the ground, standing upright and swinging his head in pain, hurriedly crawling with a cheerful smile (same animation when he catches John), running upright towards the screen.
- This easter egg used to be unused in The Unholy Trinity version of Chapter I because the game would pause normally regardless of if Michael is on screen or not. The animation was reimplemented in an update on Steam in May of 2023.

The animation of Michael if you pause while he is onscreen.

All rotoscoped animations of Michael are sourced from Adobe's Mixamo zombie asset library , which is notable considering that the majority of cutscenes within the series are rotoscoped from Airdorf himself (shoutout goes to Swirls from the FAITH Fan Community Discord for finding this out).

There are three distinct versions of Chapter I back around 2017 that varied on where you downloaded the game from; Game Jolt, indie DB, and itch.io. The only significant difference between these versions is what kind of note Michael would drop when John repels him for the 10th time; a note written by Cindy Martin feeling disturbed upon learning that a "tall man wearing dark clothing" was seen during the Martin Twin's birthday party, a newspaper article detailing Cherise Wan seeing a "naked white man" crawling on all fours on Snake Meadow Hill Road, and a note written by Cardinal Gifford instructing Father Garcia to return Michael to his parents immediately. The Unholy Trinity uses the itch.io version of Chapter I since we get Cardinal Gifford's letter, meaning that Cindy's note and Cherise's newspaper article go unused. Check the Unused Content or Notes wiki page to read them in full.
- Even though we don't see these respective notes, it still applies to the canonicity of the series. For some inexplicable reason, the narrative tends to borrow key plot points from outside sources that are barely referenced in-game, the biggest example being that Amy originally got possessed when she was lured into a clinic by her friends.
Back when FAITH: Deluxe (a "Collector's Edition" of Chapter I) released around 2017 or 2018, Airdorf posted a picture of John grinning near the Martin House on the GameJolt website for April Fools. Michael, who's for some reason running on his legs and more buff than usual, creeps up to him from the background. Unfortunately, with The Unholy Trinity's release in October 2022, all websites; yes, all of them; where you can buy Chapter I and II were removed, so this image basically would've been lost media (unless Airdorf has a copy of it).

The way John and Michael are posing is more than likely a reference to a 2017 meme where Jason Momoa, voice actor of Steve for the upcoming Minecraft movie, tries to sneak up on actor Henry Cavill during the premiere of Suicide Squad (2016). Shoutouts to berT the almighty from the FAITH Fan Discord Server for pointing this out.

When John gets ran over as a Wretch in Chapter II, it is a recolor of Michael's ran-over sprite.

Interestingly, when John smiles to himself in a mirror in Chapter II, the filename for this cinematic is called "spr_CH2_cine_mirrorMike0" and "spr_CH2_cine_mirrorMike02" respectively. When he turns into a Wretch, the cinematic is called "spr_CH2_cine_MikeInAgony".
There's a running visual theme of characters influenced by the Eternal Order of the Second Death having spider-like characteristics, which reference what the UNSPEAKABLE, an evil deity worshipped by cult members, looks like. Here's a list:
- Michael (Predominantly crawls like one, labeled as one by Cherise Wan)
- Amy in 1986 (Nightmare sequences reveal that Amy crawled like a spider back in 86'. This behavior stopped in 87'/Chapter I and just floats around, likely due to the Second Death ritual being performed on her shortly before the game begins.)
- Wretch (Crawls just like Michael)
- Stick Dolls
- Tiffany as a Monstrocity (Crawls like one after her demon was exorcised)
- Gary's "Rain of Spiders" (Visually looks like Tiffany as a Monstrocity, Stick Doll, and Wretch. Also, y'know, "Spiders")
It's difficult to tell due to the perspective, but it looks like Michael is taller than John, judging by his appearance in Chapter III. If that is/was the case, that makes him over 6"2.
During the end credits tune that plays after getting any ending of Chapter III, muffled dialogue can be heard faintly playing within the song. If you reverse said audio, it is revealed to be Father Garcia and Michael's conversation in the prelude of Chapter II^[24]. Credit goes to Jellazticious on YouTube for reversing the audio.
(This is more of a trivia to the wiki page) Shoutout to an individual named Pierrot for sending an email to Airdorf about Michael's voice clips and berT the almighty from the FAITH Discord Server to point out the previously missing citations. The email cleared up a lot of things regarding Michael's voice lines and seems like it hasn't been seen since 2019 (click on the image to read it).