"You got on the Camerata's shortlist. More than just a name to them now." -- Unknown
Red is the player character and one of the two main protagonists of Transistor. The Crash() Function is derived from her Trace.
Red was a well-known performing artist in the city of Cloudbank before her voice was stolen in a terrifying incident after one of her shows. Together with Unknown, a voice speaking from inside a powerful weapon called the Transistor, she fights her way through the Process ravaging the city to discover why she was attacked and how to stop the disaster happening around her.
In the context of the game, all vocal songs in the Soundtrack were written and performed by Red. These vocals were provided by Ashley Barrett, while Red's other voicework was provided by Kristin Wilson, who also voiced Sybil Reisz.
Appearance[]
Red has bright blue eyes and deep red hair in a wavy pinned-up style. At the start of the game, she wears a gold dress with a large white-feathered collar, a plunging neckline, and moderate cleavage. Her bodice is yellow with thin horizontal stripes, and the waistband is black and features a gold and yellow triangle in the center. She wears a gold triangle-shaped ring, yellow nail polish, and heeled black boots with gold accents. Although the dress originally had a slinky floor-length skirt composed of multiple yellow-gold tiers, she had made it more suitable for movement and combat by tearing its skirt to thigh-length and breaking the heels off of her boots. In the game's first image, she is seen donning Unknown's oversized dark black overcoat with its glowing yellow equilateral triangle on the back; although she removes the coat for occasional cut-scenes, it is a consistent part of her outfit during gameplay.
The yellow equilateral triangles in her outfit and Unknown's are mimicked by the animated icon which appears in the lower left corner of the screen when the game is saved. Equilateral triangles are also one of the design elements prominent throughout the game.
After the Process "took [her] voice," Red was unable to speak or sing with words, though she was still able to hum and occasionally communicate via text on OVC Terminals.
Trace[]
The Crash() file, which makes enemies vulnerable, is derived from Red's Trace data. It is unique in that unlike most of the Transistor's other Traces, this data came simply from her voice, not her entire being; its status is therefore identified in its Function File as "intact" rather than "integrated" or "recorded."
History[]
Red, 27, was a popular Cloudbank singer and composer. She lived in the Highrise District, at Apartment 3, Terrace Apartments, Terrace Plaza; was a fan of the Highrise Hammers; and enjoyed Sea Monster flatbread from Junction Jan's. Her proactive personality, reticent nature, and fierce protectiveness of her city and loved ones impel her decisions throughout the game.
| Spoiler warning! This article contains major spoilers for Transistor. |
Red's interest and career in music began early in life. Despite studying at Traverson Hall, which specialized in city planning, she spent the majority of her education developing the academy's new arts program and was the first student on record to Select two nontraditional disciplines, Music and Linguistics, on graduation. She frequently performed at the Empty Set, holding a five-year ranking in which her songs consistently charted among Cloudbank's top tenth percentile of contemporary performing artists. Reticent as to her background and influences, she claimed no intent to stir controversy, believing that her work spoke for itself.
After an audience erupted into violence during one of her performances, the first such incident in Cloudbank in four years, Red, accused of instigation and provocation, fully understood her work's impact and decided to take certain precautions in the future. She withdrew from the public eye for a while to develop new material, ignoring swirling rumors. It may have been during this time that she entered into a relationship with Unknown, who might have been serving as a bodyguard or protector. While they found their relationship joyful and fulfilling, Sybil Reisz, who had developed an infatuation toward Red while furthering her career in her capacity as an event planner, blamed Unknown when Red grew increasingly distant toward her, believing that he had turned Red against her.
One night after Red's reemergence into the spotlight, while she was rehearsing her new material after a performance at the Empty Set, she was confronted by the Camerata, who attempted to take her life with the Transistor. However, Sybil had falsely told her Camerata colleagues that they would find Red alone, hoping that Unknown would intervene and be killed instead. Her plan worked, but contact with Unknown caused the Transistor to malfunction, unexpectedly transporting Red and Unknown's lifeless body to an unmarked alley east of Goldwalk Bay.
Red, hearing Unknown's voice from the sword protruding from his body, pulled the weapon free, inadvertently signing on as its new primary User, with access to the Functions derived from her stolen voice and Unknown's damaged, nonrecoverable Trace. She took the sword with her and, despite Unknown's urgent suggestion to skip town and escape, headed back toward the Empty Set to find answers. While moving through the offline part of Cloudbank, she found the partially Processed bodies of Lillian Platt and Preston Moyle, integrating their Traces into the Transistor and using it to fend off hostile instances of the Process which were beginning to appear all over the city. As she continued to use the Transistor, more of the Functions it had previously integrated became accessible to her, giving her more options in combat. In the meantime, the events at the Empty Set were investigated, though few details were released other than a probability that one of the serious injuries reported there might be Red.
At the Set, Red and Unknown were attacked by Sybil Reisz, who had by that time been severely affected by the Process but still insisted that she had been trying to "save" Red and that the Transistor must be returned to the Camerata. Red was forced to defeat Sybil, earning access to the Backdoors to Sybil's Sandbox, and Unknown learned from Sybil's Trace where other members of the Camerata were hiding. While fighting their way through Highrise, Red and Unknown were pursued by the Spine, and Red, distressed by its effect on Unknown, vowed to find it and "break its heart." When the Spine finally confronted them on the Bracket Towers facade, she fulfilled her promise.
As Red ascended Bracket Towers, she received and replied to several private OVC messages from Asher Kendrell, a Camerata member who provided some disjointed explanations and self-justifications for what the organization had been trying to achieve. However, when she and Unknown finally breached the Bracket Towers firewall, they found Asher and Grant Kendrell dead in the clutter of their research on the Transistor and the Process, having committed suicide rather than facing the destruction they had unleashed on Cloudbank. Integrating their Traces provided directions to the Camerata's last living member, and Red and Unknown released a tame cluster of Process creatures to fly them back to Goldwalk. By that time, thousands on the eastern perimiter of the city, unable to receive her public messages through the rash of OVC malfunctions, had gathered in vigil to mourn her assumed death.
After retracing her path through the mostly-Processed district, with Red's distress and isolation increasing as it became apparent that the city's entire population was doomed, Red was met by the Proxy of Royce Bracket, the fourth and last member of the Camerata. By that time, Red's User access was permitting her to make unilateral decisions about Cloudbank's architecture and climate, and she authorized the trailing proposal for a bridge connecting Goldwalk and Fairview Island. Royce, absently expositing about the Transistor and the Camerata as he led Red across Fairview, explained that returning the Transistor to its Cradle would allow the Process to be sent away, but the damage to the city would have to be undone personally by the Transistor's User. With no other choice, she did as he asked, but then found herself inside the Transistor with Royce, who intended to trap her there by defeating her in battle.
After defeating Royce, Red escaped the Transistor, finding herself on the Fairview bridge in the depopulated, Processed city. With the Transistor's power, she sang part of the bridge back into existence, but when she did the same for Unknown's body, he regretfully confirmed that he could not be returned from it and would never escape from his imprisonment. Hugging the sword, she seated herself next to the body and lifted a hand, causing the Transistor to aim itself at her and, despite Unknown's panicked protests, using it to kill herself. With her dead body left behind, its head leaning on her lover's shoulder, the rest of Red's Trace was taken into the Transistor, where, as the game's credits rolled, she regained her voice and was reunited with Unknown in a sunlit wheat field under a brilliant blue sky.
Function Files[]
Background[]
Ranked in the top percentile of Cloudbank's contemporary performing artists for five years, Red demonstrated early interest in music despite studying at Traverson Hall. Traverson groomed many of the city's most ambitious civic planners, though Red spent the majority of her time developing the academy's nascent arts program, and was the first on record to select two nontraditional disciplines. Records indicate she was reluctant to explain, citing personal reasons. She remained reticent even after gaining the spotlight, and when asked about her past and influences, would often say her work spoke for itself. She did admit, however, that she never wrote her music with intent to stir controversy.
Career[]
To appreciate the impact of Red's music, consider first the current state of Cloudbank's social climate and how it evolved over the past two decades. When an altercation finally erupted in the crowd during one of her performances, it was the first such incident in four years. It escalated to the point where administrators were summoned to the scene. As one of the suspects was banned from the premises, he accused Red of being an instigator and provocateur. Red later stated it was in this moment that she fully understood the potent effect her music had on people. She decided to take certain precautions from that point, receding from the spotlight to compose new material in relative privacy. Rumors swirled. Then, once she finally re-emerged, trouble followed.
Disappearance[]
The Camerata found her one night once the crowds dispersed after one of her performances. They had reason to believe that she would be alone, rehearsing said new material. But she was not alone, and the presence of another individual disrupted aspects of the Camerata's plan for the night. Red survived the incident, becoming separated from the Camerata due to these unforeseen events on their part. Although her trace data remains intact, partial transfer did occur, including transfer of ownership status of something the Camerata believed theirs.
Legacy[]
Red, 27, Mourned as 'Process' Toll Climbs
Vigil held for popular musician after she vanished in the week's catastrophic outbreak.
IN MEMORY
One of Cloudbank's most influential voices has gone silent amid the 'Process' epidemic spreading through the city unchecked. Red became active as a musician from a young age, though her popularity surged in recent years, as her songs consistently charted in the top tenth percentile for the past five years according to OVC data. While Red is but one of thousands of disappearances this week, thousands more gathered to honor her life and her music on the eastern perimeter, as the sound of her voice cut through the darkness.
Trivia[]
- Red is the only character other than Olmarq to be listed with a single name, possibly a professional alias, rather than a given name and surname.
- Unknown describes Red as having an excellent memory, always having a plan, never missing a show, and being able to take care of herself just fine. The first time he saw her on the Empty Set's stage, he felt that everyone there loved her except for "them." Since he was not aware of the Camerata as an organization at that point, he might have been referring to individuals who considered Red's work irresponsibly provocative.
- The soundtrack's vocal songs are diagetically attributed directly to Red as her own works in-universe. These include We All Become, In Circles, Paper Boats, The Spine, and later releases such as Signals and the "hummed" versions of the game's instrumental tracks.
- Posters of Red appear on walls throughout Cloudbank. Red can stop to look at some in Goldwalk Plaza which have been there for 48 days. Later, several Snapshots surround the wall of posters, taking pictures of them and ignoring Red unless provoked.
- Some instances of the Process act strangely around Red, particularly the Snapshots and a large group of Cluckers which take all the seats at the Empty Set and respond without violence when Red Hums there.
- It is likely that Red's voice was integrated due to a malfunction when the Transistor's integration of Unknown was stalled by its inability to relate him to Cloudbank's census data, where he was apparently not on record. While Unknown blocked the Transistor from reaching Red, she may have made some slight physical contact with it or with Unknown while he was being integrated, or it may have been able to take part of her Trace without touching her since she and Unknown were in close physical proximity. This may also explain why Red was teleported away from the Empty Set along with Unknown. While unused dialogue from Royce Bracket states that one side effect of killing someone with the Transistor is that the device itself will "take you away - wherever you are, it'll take you away", the fact that the Camerata had never before lost control of the Transistor suggests that he was referring to their Traces being taken from their bodies rather than a situation where they would have had to hunt for it and its dead victims all over Cloudbank.
- In throwing the Transistor at Red, Grant inadvertently ceded User access to it, losing control of the Process and leaving himself vulnerable to it. Upon retrieving the Transistor from Unknown's body, Red inadvertently signed in as its new User, with the site where she laid hands on it later designated "User Sign-In Site." Unlike all the other Trace Banks inside the Transistor, whose occupants are listed by name, Red's Trace Bank is labeled CURRENT_USER.
- Red's name likely comes from the color of her hair, but this is not confirmed.
- When Unknown is in the Transistor and unaffected by the Spine, he can see Red "where the sky should be."
- A chryon associated with a news post by Amelia Garbur, dated 06-27-67 at 05:04, reads, "Performing Artist Red Unreachable After Empty Set Incident." Despite Red's public comments at various terminals, her survival is not noted by the OVC; a later post by Garbur, timestamped 06-27-67 at 09:08, details a vigil held in her honor.
- Greg Kasavin did not confirm whether or not Red's User access to the Backdoor changed the Sandbox's appearance to reflect her own tastes; with no canon as to what it looked like under Sybil's control, it is impossible to know. He attribute's Red continuing her career after the controversy to music being an important part of her life and identity. Her proactive personality is strongly conveyed in Paper Boats, with Kasavin remarking that she is "no shrinking violet."[1]
- Paper Boats is the only song in which Red's voice is accompanied by Unknown's. While a song written during Red's career would have originally been recorded before the events of the game, its use in the credits aligns with Red and Unknown being together once more inside the Transistor.
- Red's Steam trading card bears a quote from her Function File: "When asked about her past and influences, she would often say her work spoke for itself."
Development[]
Ashley Barrett, who provides Red's singing voice, was also the voice of Zia in Supergiant's previous game, Bastion.
Red was originally conceived as the dead lover of the Boxer, who would have been the game's main character and fought with his fists rather than a weapon. She was always intended to be a singer, and would have appeared as a spirit companion, accompanying the Boxer through a "more noir-ish" story as he tried to find a way to bring her back to life. The concept of a companion for the player character was intended to make the game's world feel less lonely. While a great deal of material was developed for this version of Red and the Boxer, months of dissatisfaction with his story led to their roles beig switched, drawing on a much older fantasy game idea about a woman working at a tavern whose traveling-wizard lover is killed by a demonic blade which traps his spirit inside itself, after which she, able to hear his voice from within the blade, wields it in a quest for revenge. Galvanized by the new direction, the developers changed the blade and fantasy setting to a more high-tech one and Unknown became the dead lover guiding Red through Cloudbank.[2]
According to Greg Kasavin, the idea for a mute woman protagonist with a talking sword dated back to 2011. Her name, Red, was apparent almost immediately, though there was a controversy as to whether to add more to the name due to her importance as the main character. Her motivations are up for debate, but Kasavin remarked that "it's fair to say she had a lot on her mind" and did not consider the game's ending strictly sad.[3]
Gallery[]
References[]
- â Transistor Devs Q&A. Archived by the Wayback Machine; retrieved 04 August 2024.
- â The Untold Story Behind the Design of Transistor - Documentary (2020). Noclip - Video Game Documentaries. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
- â Transistor Devs Q&A. Archived by the Wayback Machine; retrieved 04 August 2024.