Daniel Powell

Overview

History

Relationships

Daniel Powell
Aliases	Dan Powell
Nicknames	Sport (Davenport) Little Buddy (Davenport) Boombox Fuckboi (Cynthia) 87.9 (Cynthia) Decker (Cynthia) Jonny-5 (Cynthia) Radiohead (Cynthia) Videodrome (Clara) Human Boombox (Clara) Mr. Boombox (Clara) Nest (The Green Woman) Mapmaker (Rat, Clara)
Pronouns	He / Him
Affiliation	LMG (former)
Occupation	Temporary Archivist (former)
Biographical information
Species	Human (Modified)
Family	Unnamed Parents
Status	Alive
Meta information
Portrayed by	Daniel Powell
First Appearance	01 - A Body in a New Place

"I, Daniel Powell, a temporary archivist for the Housing Historical Committee of New York State, give complete verbal consent to be recorded"

Daniel Powell is the protagonist of the first two seasons of Archive 81, and a minor character in season 3.

Dan is employed as a temporary archivist for what he believes to be The Housing Historical Committee of New York State, where, in an isolated archive in the woods, he begins the task of digitizing the tapes in Archive 81, recorded all the while as he does so. The Tapes in Archive 81 house the audio logs made by Melody Pendras, a survey of the Visser building.

Personality

SPOILER WARNING This article may contain information that can spoil later episodes of Archive 81. If you have not listened past Season 1, then you may want to proceed with caution.

Dan is curious and intelligent, but also gullible. He is always willing to try to stand up for himself, but is not particularly assertive, and with any resistance struggles to hold any ground in an argument. As a result, he finds himself pushed around a lot.

Dan is very learning-driven and naturally curious to the point of being nosy and obsessive, and when he becomes interested in something can be very dedicated and driven. He has a tendency to be outwardly vague, which he does not seem to be aware of, often calling other people out for the exact same thing. He can be a bit pretentious, both in relation to his interests and tendency to critique. Dan is an inherently kind person and cares for the people around him, but has difficulty showing it. He takes a very "treat others as you'd like to be treated" attitude. He has few reservations putting himself in danger to help relative strangers, but is somewhat stumped by emotional matters and rarely gets further than "are you okay?" or "do you want to talk about it?". He seems comfortable with animals, quickly befriending a wild rat, and asking Tanya to say hi to her pet for him.

Despite his tendency to be loud and swear on tape, he is a quiet person who spends a lot of time in his head. He can be emotional and is prone to short outbursts, which seem to resolve fairly quickly when he becomes embarrassed or gets distracted. He frequently breaks things when angered, but has a hard time directing it at other people, often saving his outbursts for in private, and he is never physically violent. His self esteem is not especially high. He has a keen interest in music and all things audio, showing decent knowledge of equipment, music composition, and musical artists. He has a somewhat childish sense of humor, enjoying puns and jokingly teasing people. He gets sarcastic when annoyed.

Dan's personality is affected somewhat over the course of season 1 as he is forced to hold a piece of Visser, and becomes lost in its story (it is possible the extended isolation could have contributed to this). Dan becomes vague, detached, and obsessive beyond the normal degree. Much of this seems to resolve when the piece of Visser is pulled out of him, though as we do not see much of him beforehand, it is difficult to make accurate judgement.

After his operation in season 2, Dan's personality remains remarkably unaffected. In contrast to many other Weird People, Dan's self remains intact, with only minor changes in personality and effect on his personal memory. The Boatwoman notes Dan's personal memories are "unattached", weaker, though the only outward evidence of this is misremembering Tanya's name, later realising his mistake. Interestingly, this does not seem to extend to anyone else, and he recalls an array of other people, events, and personal interests with no issues. It seems while his memories are weaker, Dan hasn't started to forget things altogether. Dan has possibly been affected in two other respects; he is always fairly vague, but progressively becomes more outwardly cryptic, both in season 2 and 3. After the operation, he also develops a far more "may as well happen" attitude, taking fairly significant events to shake him up, where a simple power-cut could in season 1. In all other respects, he seems internally unchanged.

It's not clear how much of Dan's crypticness in season 3 is him, and much is because of his difficulty getting his voice on tape, though he gets a lot more talkative when able to do so. Tired and suffering some level of derealisation from his time in the in-between space, Dan otherwise appears to retain his kind and curious nature, though is understandably very wary of all things weird, and eager to return to his normal life.

Appearance

Season 1

Dan himself is not described in any detail. He is not long out of college, so he's probably in his early or mid 20s. It is implied he is not unattractive, and gives off the air of being a bit of a hipster.

Season 2

At the start of season 2, Dan is forcefully modified by Rat on behalf of LMG, becoming a self-described "tape-cyborg". His machinations, "tape body", "new body" or "new flesh" replace around a third of his previous body, though the exact amount is not specified, stated as a little as a quarter and as much "almost half". The new body is quite fragile - parts sometimes coming loose with minor impacts - and hinders his movement; Dan finds extended walking exhausting, and initially also very painful. The surgery makes him useful on several levels: as a "Weird" individual, Dan is more "in-tune" with the city, and able to handle the effects of the tapes even better. Rat also takes the opportunity to incubate a new leviathan within Dan's body, with neither Dan's knowledge nor consent.

The modifications extend over half his chest, and seemingly to his abdomen as well. They also replace his left arm (now mechanical) and parts of a leg. He retains a human shape, still able to wear boxers, an open shirt, and shoe(s), sitting and lying without issue. At one point he jokes about passing the changes off as intricate tattoos. It is implied his flesh parts are still in good condition, but the modifications are obvious enough that he could not completely hide them if he wanted to. His wrongness seems to come primarily from being anatomically impossible, rather than overtly monstrous. His appearance in the mirror is alarming enough to make him ill, (though this may be shock), but not enough for him to assume his co-workers would treat him as inhuman.

He is implied to move wrong in some way initially, his movements becoming more comfortable for him, as well as quieter, and less overtly mechanical sounding, as he adjusts to the alterations. It is unclear if this is individual parts or his body as a whole, and it's possible his awkward movements occur as his brain and body are initially still "syncing up" with his new flesh. His movement sounds more mechanical following exertion, such as using a new ability.

Dan's main organ area is clearly modified, Clara suggesting he is missing some. He can't, and doesn’t need to eat, and while he doesn't need to drink in order to survive, it's unclear whether or not he is able to. Rat suggests he may still need to use the bathroom (at least initially). His junk is unaffected, but seems the modified parts extend close. His heart is still fully functional, and he has at least one lung. Dan's breathing becomes somewhat mechanical in pattern when asleep, relaxed or deep in thought. It is unclear if his face is affected, but it seems all his major facial structures are intact, though his voice is not entirely disconnect, with his body echoing him (and nobody else) in episode 11, and he is able to shatter glass by using his voice and device in tandem in episode 19.

Dan's new body has two tape recorders: a main one, the Master tape, near his heart, which is always recording, and a secondary lower down for playing tapes. The second has a pull-able "flesh button" that makes a meaty sound when opened. Similarly, the sound when attempting to rip out the first would indicate it is also flesh adjacent. In addition to the recorders, the tapes appear to play binaurally, possibly from two speakers. Comments from Cynthia, Clara and Dan himself suggest boombox-like speakers. The rest of the device is various other radio parts, audio equipment, and unspecified objects, and enough of his torso and abdomen has been replaced that he could appear to be able to theoretically "warp around" a bullet. He receives an additional piece later on, which rings when the mother radio is called, allows him to connect with it, and later, allows him to receive calls without it. It's noted to reverberate in his bones, so it may be hooked up to his ribs. When Dan is walking after surgery, Rat notes wanting to check his cartilage is synced up to the wires, which could refer to a knee, ribs, shoulder or, most likely, spine. Audibly, it seems at least one left side joint is replaced; probably from the shoulder, though possibly the hip.

At the end of the season, Dromen cuts part of the device from Dan's body, and leaves Dan in a space between Earth and The City, until he can figure out away to make him "normal" again. The extend of the removal is unclear, though the little information given suggests it may simply be the Master Tape that is removed.

Season 3

During season 3, Dan retains whatever tape body Dromen has left post-modification. In episode 32, Dan is able to use the ██████ Ritual to regain his human appearance, which was confirmed in the following Q and A to carry over to Earth. Dan also notes that "in this particular bubble you don't get a weird cyborg", which may suggest the remaining device exists in some form, and that in other bubbles, may reappear.

Skills and Abilities

• Archival Skills: While inexperienced, Dan seems to be a relatively competent archivist.
• Shortcut: Dan employs Visser's signature teleport when fleeing the outpost, before his piece of Visser is pulled from him completely. He also seems to jump ahead in time slightly, as when he lands, The Archive is under some kind of attack in the background. Without his piece of Visser, it is doubtful he could ever do this again.
• Tough Soul: Dan naturally has a high tolerance for "weird shit", and is able to handle a large number of tapes, or weird stuff without significant damage to his psyche. He also does not suffer headaches the same way Melody does. His tolerance for it increases again after his operation in Season 2, when he becomes weird in part himself.
• Accelerated Healing: While his new body is fragile, Dan heals abnormally fast from his operation, and recovers quickly from other taxing events.
• Tape Recorder: Dan's new body can play tapes, and is always recording.
• Insight: Dan seems to take in, process, and recall information from tapes played in his body with greater accuracy and ease than would otherwise be expected.
• Hearing Leviathans: Green states Dan is able to hear Leviathans directly because he is always recording.
• Walkie Talkie: With the aid of Rat, Dan is able to connect to short range communication devices, such as walkie talkies, cutting through interference that a standard device would not. It is a taxing process.
• Broadcasting: While asleep, Dan is able to broadcast to radios and recorders, even when they are switched off. He can listen and speak through radios, but only listen on a recorder. He can also turn on recorders remotely. With a strong enough emotional connection, Dan can also enter people's mindscapes if he is thinking them when he falls asleep, as demonstrated in The Contest. While broadcasting, he can hear everything around him, and move outward to explore the immediate surrounding area, but cannot see anything. While broadcasting, the master tape records what Dan is hearing, rather than his physical surroundings. He may also be able to record what he hears to tapes, as he is able to acquire a tape recording of Xkryxx's song somehow. Broadcasting is, however, quite exhausting to do.
• Receiving Calls: Dan is given a piece later that rings when the mother radio receives a call, allows him to connect with it, and later, to receive calls directly to his body without it. It hurts when it rings, feeling "like [his] bones are being scraped together".
• Tuning: Dan can be "tuned" to emit certain sounds, as demonstrated when breaking the glass of the Outpost windows. This is most effective when used in tandem with his voice.
• Sending Tapes: From his space between worlds, Dan is able to send Christine Anderson tapes remotely, via her vomiting them up. The connection to do this is made when he breaks into the ██████ Ritual, Chris drowning herself in the bucket after the initial cleansing ritual does not go as planned. It is unknown how Dan accesses these tapes.
   

Trivia

• Like his namesake, Dan is a big fan of the band Death Grips.
• Unlike in much classical horror, Dan neither rejects his new body in disgust (as Caroline does), nor becomes engrossed with his new flesh (as Rat does), instead retaining his humanity and relative normalcy, while becoming physically comfortable with his new Other aspect. While he resents what was done to him, and that it would prevent him from living a normal life, in the end he does not seem to resent the body itself.
• Dan was once a big fan of canned peaches.
• He played tennis in high school, but overall does not much like sport, and from Tanya's reminders, does not seem to exercise, or even go outside very much.
• Dan has only heard the first couple episodes of the podcast.
• Some of Dan's favourite movies include Troll Hunter, Burden of Dreams, and Aguirre.
• Dan was singer in a band at some point.
• In his spare time he enjoys reading, writing, watching Netflix, and listening to music.
• He had an Xbox.
• His go-to casual outfit is blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt.
• Post-operation, Dan is not allowed to wear t-shirts (it would "interfere with the recording"), but acquires at an open shirt some time between episode 11 and 17. His footsteps would also indicate the addition of shoe(s).
• The master tape is the same recorder Dan carries around in Season 1.
• Dan hears all main-season episodes, carrying the recorder for season 1, being the recorder in season 2 and being sent the contents of Chris and Nicholas' tapes in season 3.
• Since he knows what happened to Mark, he may have heard The Golden Age as well. Alternatively, Dromen may have explained it to him.
• Dan dislikes other people fiddling with his new body, often requesting he do it himself.
• While in The Outpost, Dan is the only member of the team to use his real name.
• Dan seems fairly familiar with the layout of Aleister's house, so it is a reasonable assumption he can broadcast there. This is likely through the two-way radio Aleister leaves in the first room (which Chris immediately destroys), and Nicholas' recorder.
• Dan is named for the real Daniel Powell, but at some point Marc offered to name him Don (Donald) Powell instead.
• As with all characters, Marc imagines Dan to look like his voice actor, in this case, the real Daniel Powell.
• The real Daniel Powell has described Dan's personality as an exaggerated version of himself.

Quotes

• "Being a part of these kinds of stories, even by listening… it’s not a good idea. It changes you in ways that you aren’t prepared for"

Theories and Speculation

Always Recording: The Master Tape is originally implied to have to keep running for Dan's continued survival, though this is not true, Dan surviving after it is cut from him. In actuality, it is probably needed for the successful incubation of the Leviathan Dan is carrying.

Assistive Technology: On the basis of Dan's anatomical impossibility, mechanical breathing (when asleep/relaxed/deep in thought), initial mechanical movement, need to "sync up with the wires", and walking around right out of surgery, it's possible he has some kind of assistive technology with his movement, that would come into effect when low-energy or 'out of it'. Unlike his regular movement (which sounds more natural), Dan's pained and tired movements sound more inorganic, and, from other's reactions, are likely offputting/uncanny. It would explain Clara and Lou's discomfort at his initial movements ("Why does he move... like that?"), and why he freaks Clara out so much when deep in thought.

Retaining Power: It is unclear if Dan retains any powers after returning to Earth, but is often speculated that he would, though to a milder degree. The implication his tape body may return in other spaces lends to the idea it, and by extension, the connection to his power, still exists in some capacity. Alternatively, if Dromen removed the majority or entirely of the modifications following season 2, the continued use of Dan's powers would indicate the device is no longer required for their use.

Train Recordist: While unclear exactly who The Train Recordist is, he is generally speculated to be a possible future version of Dan, an alterate universe version of him, or both.