Overview

The Dark Place is an alternate dimension connected to the real world through multiple thresholds or gateways, mainly Cauldron Lake in Bright Falls, Washington, and most importantly in Control, the Oceanview Motel. During the events of the AWE expansion, Alan Wake was still trapped in the Dark Place. He had been reaching out to FBC Director Jesse Faden through the Hotline, an Object of Power that enables those who successfully bind to it to communicate with entities from otherworldly dimensions.

Background

A nightmarish and dark reality described by an inter-dimensional entity as a "mirror that reflects all possible realities," it "operates on dream logic, shifting and looping, drawing its appearance from the mind of whoever comes in contact with it."^[1] Art created inside the Dark Place can possibly shape other realities, although the process is gradual, is bound by extensive limitations and must meet the Dark Place's "standards". It also grants its inhabitants the ability to see visions of other realities. It is unknown whether it does this to all or some of its residents (Alan Wake can manifest this power even when outside the Dark Place). He would make use of this to affect what Jesse encounters in the Investigations Department in the events of the AWE expansion.

Control

After the AWE of Bright Falls in 2010, the Federal Bureau of Control established a Research Facility known as the Lake House to study Cauldron Lake and the Dark Place beneath it, however interest in the Dark Place began to gradually devolve as fewer incidents were being recorded overtime. Alan Wake would use every opportunity presented at hand to try and escape the Dark Place, and he realized that the FBC might be able to help him. When he witnessed, through the Dark Place, glimpses of the Hiss invasion, and that the darkness-possessed Dr. Emil Hartman had set himself free in the Investigations Department a few years prior, he saw an opportunity to bring Jesse Faden's attention to the Dark Place, in hopes she would try to help him escape. Jesse received a Hotline message from Alan Wake, encouraging her to visit the Investigations Department. He'd written Hartman's Final Act, bringing into existence the Thing-that-Had-Been-Hartman. The Taken Hartman was now also corrupted by the Hiss, becoming the Third Thing and terrorizing the department. Faden eventually defeated Hartman and cleared the department of the Dark Presence threat. This whole drama might have influenced the FBC to steer to the direction of Cauldron Lake as it put Agent Kiran Estevez on a higher alert for any upcoming AWEs in that vicinity. However, the presence of the FBC later in Alan Wake 2 hardly helped as they couldn't contain the Dark Presence when it was set loose anyway.

Dr. Casper Darling

After the events of Control, Dr. Casper Darling implied he'd gone to a different "plane of existence". In Alan Wake 2's The Final Draft, he is confirmed to be trapped within the Dark Place. Knowing Darling, he instantly became fascinated by how the Dark Place is shaped around dreams and imagination. He also noted how Alan Wake sounds so similar to him. Just like Wake, Darling would try to escape the Dark Place. After acknowledging how the Dark Place reacts to art, he made a collab with Thomas Zane to try and find means to escape together. It is not yet known if they've succeeded.

Notes

• During the first cutscene in the AWE expansion, Faden opens the door marked with a spiral symbol in the Oceanview Motel. This symbol is associated with the Dark Place, confirming that the Oceanview Motel is a threshold. Sometime around 2020, she witnessed visions of Alan Wake and Thomas Zane discussing their escape plan. This is reflected in Alan Wake 2 (2023), in which Faden is heard saying "Hello?" to Wake and Thomas Zane through a Night Springs-themed episode on a TV. This is either the same encounter she had with them through the Oceanview Motel (as time does not flow linearly in the Dark Place), or some form of a loop that happened later in 2023 as the dialogue and setting were not 100% identical between the two games.