| This article, Debbie, contains spoilers. |
| "I'm not one of them! I'm stuck in their world. I thought I found my home before, but it was just a living memory, a mirage. Please, just listen to me!" |
| — Debbie in Sweet Dreams & Flying Machines |
Debbie is the first name of an entity associated with the Void. She claims to be a human, and has been trapped in the Void for an unknown period of time.
Personality[]
Debbie is the only known being in the Void who does not appear to be under direct control of the Shadowmaker. It is unknown how, or if really, she was able to escape his control.
She tends to speak rather cryptically, expressing knowledge of certain things while simultaneously claiming not to know why those things are the way they are. From time to time she claims she doesn't know anything about subject matter she's addressed before, such as Jack Wright. She also uses somewhat formal and flowery language, such as when she refers to the outside world as "the Land of Light" and Cecil's body as "the Vessel".
Her intentions are unknown, mostly because her continued attempts to contact the outside world are also impeded by the Shadowmaker, who hunts her down every time she successfully establishes a connection. Despite this, she has shown herself willing and capable of drastic action, like attempting murder.
When calling the station, Debbie is able to assume control of all phone lines, effectively forcing Sammy and Ben to listen to her. In Desperate Times, Debbie is able to use her powers to shut down the whole station, and in Late Fees shows she can force the lights on in the King Falls Public Library, then later start a fire.
Debbie receives all of her information from a prophecy, assumed to be in the form of a diary which she finds in memories in the Void. She relies heavily on the contents, trusting it deeply.
Backstory[]
Debbie's specific circumstance is unknown, although it is likely that before she was taken by the Void, she moved to King Falls.
King Falls AM[]
Debbie first appears in episode thirty-five, in which she calls the station in confused state, claiming that she has been instructed to do so. She explains that she has just moved to town after an arduous trip and was supposed to call, but didn't know why.
While trying to explain how she ended up calling the station, she says it feels like she's been here forever, but claims that she has just moved into an old house on Old Sycamore Canyon Lane. She describes the attic, which she found while investigating a mysterious thumping. Within the attic she has found a single book, a diary apparently belonging to a little girl named Nancy Fletcher, who Ben Arnold claims disappeared back in the 1950s. She claims it was drawing her toward it.
Debbie then explains she called the station because she dropped the book while leaving the attic. It opened to a page showcasing the station's phone number in bold letters. It was full of strange information relating to Debbie's life and the citizens of King Falls, including Sammy and Ben, as well as various hieroglyphic-like writings she couldn't read.
| "There was a lot of other writing. Some of it was symbols, like, hieroglyphic-looking, but most were names, dates, scribbles. It’s a little… serial killer-y." |
| — Debbie in Dear Diary |
Ben asks if he can see the notebook, suggests she leave her house and not be alone. Debbie refuses defensively, before the diary comes to life, trapping Debbie in the room. The diary responds to Nancy Fletcher's name, which Debbie recognises, by getting more violent. It begins to leak darkness before a low, deep laugh heralds the arrival of a dark, shadowy monster, who momentarily assumes control of Debbie to tell Sammy and Ben that he will see them soon before the call ends.
When Troy Krieghauser arrives at Debbie's address to investigate, he finds that the entire neighborhood has been long since demolished. The shadow monster appears in the form of a "nightmare tornado" that chases Troy away.
Debbie appears again in episode forty-four, when she calls the station to warn Sammy Stevens that Ben should not try to save Emily Potter; she tells him that she is not meant to return. Debbie tells Sammy more about her situation, explaining that she is currently in "the Void", in which she and other abductees float in and out of each other's memories, which are separated by an empty space.
During this call, she explains that she's in someone's memory of a radio station, and has found a/the notebook again. She says that Emily's return is "unwritten", and that such an event would pose an existential threat to all those in King Falls. Since Debbie cannot escape the Void, the least she can do is help those on the outside. The sudden arrival of the Shadowmaker once again forces Debbie's call to be cut short.
In episode forty-eight, Ben mentions the nightmare tornado from the previous October and Sammy gets dodgey, avoiding talking about Debbie's more recent call to the station, as he doesn't want to reveal Emily's involvement.
In episode fifty-two, during a call to the station, Cecil Sheffield claims that he has been receiving mysterious calls and hangups "all hours of the day and night", featuring the indistinct voices of all kinds of people at once. The only person he has actually conversed with is Debbie, who apparently "sounds like [his] granddaughter". Cecil explains that she sounded scared, and was looking for a book. In the same episode, Cecil and Herschel Baumgartner discover that Cecil's house has become infested by shadowy beings. These beings try to attack Herschel and Cecil, who are forced to escape from Cecil's property with the help of Herschel's shotgun.
In episode fifty-nine, Debbie calls the station to chastise Sammy for not stopping Ben from saving Emily, nor telling him that she doesn't belong. When Sammy attempts to stop her repeated calls, Debbie uses her powers to shut down the station. She explains that when to recently rescued hiker who found in Perdition Wood spoke of "the Dark Omen" and "the One", the others in the Void were greatly angered. Before being chased away by the Shadowmaker, Debbie gets Sammy to reveal the truth about Emily's rescue to Ben. Before the Shadowmaker takes her over, she tries to get the lights back on in the station, for fear that if she doesn't the Shadowmaker will be there with them. A few seconds after hanging up, Debbie calls back, this time under the influence of the Shadowmaker, who taunts Ben.
| "I will end you. All that you know, all that you love, everything in this world you hold dear. And you will never see it coming." |
| — The Shadowmaker, through Debbie in Desperate Measures |
Debbie makes her next appearance in The King Falls Chronicles: Part Two, in which she calls the Wright On team several times throughout their stay in King Falls. Finally, she leaves a voicemail on Mike the intern's phone warning that Lily Wright and her team should leave King Falls at once. If they don't, they risk becoming like Debbie, or Lily's brother Jack, who disappeared while investigating King Falls years earlier. Mike then disappears without a trace soon after, just like Jack.
In episode sixty-eight, Sammy explains to Ben that he knows Jack is in the Void because of Debbie's call to Lily aired on Wright On.
| "When has anything ever come back from Debbie? It’s a losing battle." |
| — Sammy Stevens in The Best Imitation of Myself |
In episode seventy-one, the Shadowmaker uses Debbie, alongside Edna and Esther, to convince Cecil going with him is a good idea. Debbie can be heard alongside the Shadowmaker, exclaiming that she needs more time.
Debbie calls again in episode seventy-five. When Sammy attempts to join Jack in the Void by opening the Devil's Doorstep in Perdition Wood, the show receives a call from Cecil, who is in the hospital. Debbie assumes control of Cecil's body, which she refers to as "the Vessel". Debbie warns that once the Shadowmaker finds out about the opening of the Doorstep, everyone will be in grave danger. She also warns that Emily should "run, run now", since the Shadowmaker perceives her presence as a threat. She also explains that since the Door is open, the Shadowmaker can now possess Cecil due to his status as the vessel, and that as such Cecil should be killed for everyone's safety.
Debbie is quiet for a while, but can be heard in the background while Emily recounts her nightmare in episode eighty-two, shouting "The One" alongside her.
She finally calls again in episode eighty-nine, claiming to want to help. Seeing as Sammy and Ben always attempt to shut her down, they decide listening might be worth something and give in. She finds out quickly that Emily is on the other line, and begs to speak with her. Emily wants to speak with her too, and hence Debbie claims Emily is The One, specifically The Unwritten One. She says the Shadowmaker doesn't know how to contend with her actions, and those in the Void are punished for what she and the others do in "The Land of the Light".
She asks that Emily let her help, but Sammy rewinds and asks about the others in the Void. He questions her about Jack, but she claims she doesn't know who he is, but that didn't mean he wasn't in the Void.
Debbie explains she's been in the library, and knows where the notebook is. Emily requests her help in finding it, and she agrees. She explains that the Unwritten One can defeat the Shadowmaker, and that those in the Void must be freed. Sammy and Ben try to convince Emily to do this later, but Debbie lashes out, claiming it had to be now. She explains she needs them to save her.
Debbie manages to turn the lights on, apparently with some fatigue, but she then guides Emily to Mrs. Kilpatrick's apartment in the library. She explains that she woke up there, not knowing it was a library until she left the room, but upon returning she could hear thumping beneath the cot. She looked under, and there was a floorboard missing, with the book inside. Emily follows her lead, and finds the hole. Debbie instructs her to reach in, but Emily begins to panic as Debbie lashes out as she realises the Shadowmaker is close.
The wind picks up and Emily tries to leave, so Debbie locks her into the apartment, trying to convince her to grab the book and switch places with her and save Debbie. Black light pours from the hole, and when Emily refuses to take it, Debbie takes bold action and lights the apartment on fire.
| "Death by Damnation! You did this to yourself, Potter. You did this to me! We could’ve switched! We could’ve-! We could’ve done this together. Now he knows. He knows, and it’s over. You did this!" |
| — Debbie to Emily Potter in Late Fees |
After starting the fire, she drops the call on her own, and leaves Emily to die.
After episode ninety, Sammy and Ben don't trust Debbie. They discuss her attempt on Emily's life, but they also reason that she's the only thing they know of that claims to be in the Void, which Sammy describes as "something", but not inherently "useful".
Relationships[]
Sammy and Ben[]
For a long time, Debbie had a difficult relationship with Sammy Stevens and Ben Arnold due to her association with the Shadowmaker and the Void, as well as her mysterious nature and tendency to call during bad events. During her calls, Sammy often tries to cut her off, to no avail. Ben tends to be more receptive to what she has to say, although cuts her off just as frequently. Both are quite scared of her, but Debbie keeps up pretenses of wanting to help. As of Late Fees, after attempting to kill Emily, they likely have no trust for her left.
Emily Potter[]
Emily Potter makes Debbie nervous, although she believes she is important to defeating the Shadowmaker. As Emily is unwritten, he can't predict what she will do, and Debbie believes this will work to her advantage. In Late Fees, Debbie attempts to force Emily to switch places with her, claiming they could help each other, but when she refused Debbie locked her in the burning library. Debbie's intentions were not clear, although she established that she can see a use for Emily.
Cecil Sheffield[]
For the months leading up to his coma, Cecil Sheffield had been recieving phone calls from Debbie. He claimed she was nice, but seemed scared, and she reminded him of his granddaughter so he talked to her. Upon entering his coma, Debbie used him as the Vessel to continue to try to communicate with Sammy and Ben.
Jack Wright[]
Leading up to his disappearance, Jack had been getting phone calls that Sammy couldn't make anything out on. He believes Debbie was the one talking to him, and later Debbie calls the Wright On team to attempt to get them to leave town. She mentions Jack, and asks them not to end up like him. Later, she claims to Sammy that she didn't know anyone by his name or description.
Trivia[]
- Debbie is the 5th recurring character introduced in Year 2.
- Debbie's average words per appearance is 525. She is one of 15 characters who have said more than 1000 words in an episode, saying 1187 in Dear Diary.
- Debbie's found what she calls "the notebook" and "the diary" in three known locations. These locations are the house on Old Sycamore Canyon Lane, in the form of Nancy Fletcher's diary, an abandoned studio, potentially as Jack Wright's notebook, and finally in the King Falls Public Library, as the book Death By Damnation: A Tale of Perdition Wood.
- When Sammy jokingly asks if the diary contained their Twitter handles, Debbie replied that she didn't know what that meant. This could imply that she was taken by the Void before 2006, or at least before Twitter was a mainstream social media.
- In Sammy's tape for Ben for Christmas 2017, he mentioned Debbie's omens as one of the problems they had faced.
Fan Art[]
Appearances[]
| Year 2 | ||||||||||||
| 25. "Happy Sammiversary": | Absent | "Election Special: Rock The Vote": | Absent | |||||||||
| 26. "A Second-Hand Emotion": | Absent | 38. "Democracy Derby": | Absent | |||||||||
| 27. "Cronkite, Brokaw, Ben Arnold": | Absent | 39. "Take a Look, It's In a Book": | Absent | |||||||||
| 28. "Are You Gonna Go My Way": | Absent | 40. "A King Falls Christmas Story": | Absent | |||||||||
| 29. " Dread, White and Blue": | Absent | 41. "This Little Light of Mine": | Absent | |||||||||
| 30. "Bright Lights, Little City": | Absent | 42. "A Little Help From My Friends": | Absent | |||||||||
| 31. "The Forgotten": | Absent | 43. "Rumor Has It": | Absent | |||||||||
| 32. "Smokey & The Banshee": | Absent | 44. "Sweet Dreams & Flying Machines": | Debut | |||||||||
| 33. "E.T., Text Home": | Absent | 45. "Will The Real Tim Shady Please Stand Up?": | Absent | |||||||||
| 34. "Blind, Deaf & Dumb": | Absent | 46. "True Detectives": | Absent | |||||||||
| 35. "Dear Diary": | Absent | 47. "Burger King of Kings": | Absent | |||||||||
| 36. "Polter-Heist": | Absent | 48. "Mo Money, Mo Problems": | Mentioned | |||||||||
| 37. "In a Row?": | Absent | |||||||||||
| Year 4 | ||||||||||||
| 75. "The Ben Arnold Show": | Appears | 78. "First Loser": | Absent | |||||||||
| "Doyle's Conspiracy Cavern": | Absent | 79. "Blackbird": | Absent | |||||||||
| "Doyle's Conspiracy Cavern 2": | Absent | 80. "Three's Company": | Absent | |||||||||
| "The King Falls Chronicles: Part Three": | Absent | 81. "You're The One That I Want": | Absent | |||||||||
| "The King Falls’ Sheriff Brawl 2018": | Absent | 82. "And A One, And A Two...": | Appears | |||||||||
| 76. "A King Falls Christmas Carol": | Absent | 83. "Pretty Little Hate Machine": | Absent | |||||||||
| 77. "Homecoming": | Absent | 84. "Red Comforter": | Absent | |||||||||
| Year 5 | ||||||||||||
| 85. "All You Need Is Love": | Absent | 92. "Words: Greater Than Pen, Greater Than Sword": | Mentioned | |||||||||
| 86. "Boxed In": | Absent | 93. "Head Hunters": | Absent | |||||||||
| 87. "Cause And Effect": | Absent | 94. "Misdirects": | Absent | |||||||||
| 88. "Backbones and Welcome Homes": | Absent | 95. "I'll Fly Away": | Absent | |||||||||
| 89. "Late Fees": | Appears | 96. "Dark Horse": | Mentioned | |||||||||
| 90. "If You're Hungry And You Know it": | Mentioned | 97. "When It All Falls Down": | Absent | |||||||||
| 91. "In The Still of The Night": | Mentioned | 98. "TBD": | Absent | |||||||||