What's In a Name is an episode of the in-universe television series Night Springs, found only in the Remastered version of Alan Wake.
Plot[]
An old man known as the "Magus" is craving some words in a steel wall under a bridge with a screwdriver while his apprentice enthusiastically watches. A police officer arrives and tells the Magus that the police have been receiving complaints about him defacing various places all over the town. While the old man admits to have done that, he denies being a vandal. The officer asks him what he is exactly doing, to which the apprentice replies that the Magus is writing his name on the town. The Magus confirms this and explains that his name is the "entire and complete description of [his] soul". The officer is skeptical, but the Magus tells him that words have power, especially names and titles. The officer then asks for the old man's name, to which, at his master's request, the apprentice reveals that it is "Night Springs". Confused, the officer states that that is the town's name, to which the apprentice states that it is from now on. Having finished writing his name, the Magus disappears. The officer asks where he went, but the apprentice tells him that he knows where he went and what he is before telling him to drive away and to remember which town he serves. Without showing any sign of resistance, the officer immediately obeys and walks away. The apprentice looks up and says that the Magus' will be done.
Transcript[]
Night Springs Narrator: Magic. Parlour Tricks. Smoke and Mirrors. But for some, magic is more than that. It's a way of working the secret machinery of reality itself, and more than one member of that eldritch brotherhood can be found in... Night Springs. Tonight's episode: "What's In A Name".
[The Magus is carving into a steel wall with a screwdriver while his apprentice watches]
Night Springs Narrator: We find an old man standing on an old, rusting, derelict bridge, clinging his bony frame against the cold steel, and though he looks idle, he is hard at work. His young apprentice attends to him as good apprentices do.
Magus: Yes, yes! Coming along nicely. Don't you think, boy?
Apprentice: Yes, Magus.
[A police officers appears]
Officer: Sir, we've been getting some complaints. Are you defacing the bridge?
Magus: Oh? No, I wouldn't do that.
Officer: Sir, I can see the screwdriver in your hand and the scratches on the steel beams. You've been spotted doing this all over town.
Magus: Yes. I have been very busy, but I'm no vandal, officer.
[The Magus continues to carve]
Officer: Exactly what are you up to, sir?
Apprentice: He's writing his name on the town.
Magus: [still carving] The youngster is correct. I'm writing my name. My whole name. The entire and complete description of my soul on the town. I'm almost done.
Officer: Yeah? Well, all I see is an old man tagging public property.
Magus: Oh, I should bow down to the wisdom of your years? Words have power, young man. Names and titles especially.
Officer: Uh-huh, and what's your name, supposed to be?
Magus: Ha ha ha. Tell him boy. Tell him while I finish the carving.
Apprentice: Officer, it's- it's-
Magus: Say my name, boy! Say it!
Apprentice: It's Night Springs, officer.
Officer: But, isn't that… that's the name of the town, isn't it?
Apprentice: Yes, it is from now on.
[The Magus disappears]
Officer: Wait. Where did he go? Where is he?
Apprentice: Oh, officer. You know where he is, and what he is, don't you? I think you should get in your car and drive away, and remember which town you're serving.
[The officer turns around and walks away]
Apprentice: [looking and extending his arm upwards] Your will be done, Magus.
[The shot fades into the Night Springs background]
Night Springs Narrator: Ah, yes. There are too many little towns to count, all of them with some little magic of their own. But some towns have more personality than others, and none more so than… Night Springs.
Location[]
The television holding this episode and The Doomed Samaritan can be found in a small withdrawing room in the Cauldron Lake Lodge.
Notes[]
- This episode, along with The Doomed Samaritan and Eternal Endurance, were cut from Alan Wake. They were released online by Remedy Entertainment to help promote the release of Alan Wake's American Nightmare. This episode and The Doomed Samaritan were later re-added in Alan Wake Remastered, replacing the two real-life commercials that played in the television mentioned above.
- The episode's concept of the power that words have is present throughout the Alan Wake series, the best example being the titular character's ability to stir and rewrite reality through his writing.