| “ | Jennifer, you've been a terrible daughter... My... my son is DEAD because of YOU!
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” |
Mary Barrows (メアリー・バロウズ Mearī Barouzu) is the main antagonist of Clock Tower: The First Fear. She plans the demise of four girls, unleashing her son, Bobby Barrows as her main form of murder.
She is referred to as "Miss Mary" by Jennifer, Anne, Laura, and Lotte. While she seems to simply be a quiet and innocent woman while bringing the four girls to their new home, it is soon revealed that the horrors of that night in September were all orchestrated by her, in an attempt to slaughter the innocent girls. Mary was killed during the clock tower mansion incident.
Appearance[]
Mary's appearance, depending on the media and artwork, is somewhat inconsistent. However, she always appears as a blonde to brunette woman in a blouse, skirt and high heels.
In-game, her blouse is grey-white and her skirt is black.
In the manga adaptation and some art, Mary appears to wear earrings, red lipstick and red nail polish.
In the guidebook artwork, she wears a blue blouse, green skirt, Blue tights, green high heels, and a necklece.
Personality[]
| “ | Jennifer, do not trouble me. I'll punish you... maybe then, you'll be a NICE, QUIET CHILD!
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” |
Mary's religious shrine.
Mary is a very warped, violent, vengeful and cruel woman, obsessed with the dark arts and occult. She sees no ill with murdering innocent people to get what she wants. Considering the occult imagery throughout the mansion, as well as a ceremony room with a giant pentagram on the floor, it could be theorized that Mary is a demon-worshiping Satanist or a member of Theodore Barrows' religious cult which worshiped the Great Father.
Mary has a two-faced nature. She displays a level of cunning and manipulation, as is successfully able to hide her crimes and the existence of her two monstrous children from the rest of the world, and successfully feigns kindness towards Jennifer, Anne, Laura and Lotte, gaining their trust only to break it later as the murders occur.
Despite her ruthlessness and lack of empathy for her victims, Mary does appear to love her two sons and is very protective of them, becoming hysterical and vowing vengeance upon Jennifer for killing Dan in one possible ending. Mary also murders Dr. Walter Simpson for threatening her children. While unconfirmed, it's possible that Mary also cared about her pet parrot.
Given her behavior in the game's climax, her willingness to harm others with no remorse and reports of her behaving "erratically" while employed at the orphanage, that she is a very mentally unstable individual and a possible psychopath. Her cool demeanor is a complete facade. Mary is probably the closest female figure the girls had to a mother/maternal figure, adding to the tragic nature of Mary's betrayal of them.
Biography[]
Mary is a member of the Barrows Family, although whether or not she was married into the family with Simon Barrows is unclear. It is likely she was married into the family as it's more common for wives to take their husband's name.
Walter assisting one of the Barrows' birth.
At some point in time, she married Simon Barrows and gave birth to a pair of twins, Bobby and Dan, with the help of Dr. Walter Simpson in November 1986. However, they were not normal twins, as they devoured Dr. Simpson's right hand. Dr. Simpson immediately discovered that the children were demons, and they should have died instead. This is due to a curse inflicted hundreds of years ago on the Barrows family.
As a result, Mary had Dr. Simpson sealed in a secret room, where he died three days later of suffocation.
Simon learned of this and attempted to kill Mary, but he failed. At an unknown point in time, she locked him inside the shed within the courtyard of the mansion. Originally, Mary intended to kill Simon, but decided to keep him trapped, possibly for years, in order to make him suffer more. She may have also fed him her human victims, forcing him to become a cannibal to survive, given that he refers to Jennifer as "food".
According to the guidebook, Clock Tower Official Strategy Guide: Guide for Victory, five years prior to the events of The First Fear, around 1990, Mary started working for the Granite Orphanage as a teacher, at which time she became known for her erratic and hysterical behavior; it's also implied that she didn't use her real surname while working at the Orphanage, which explains Jennifer's shock when she finds out that Mary is in fact the Devil Twins' mother.
Mary became interested in black magic and occultism after her demonic children were born. She decided to sacrifice people, as her children needed to eat human flesh to survive (it seems animal flesh was not an option, likely due to the sadistic nature of the curse). Hifumi Kono revealed that Mary sacrificed a large number to feed Dan, implied to be somewhere from 30-100 people ("numbering not in the tens but many times that amount"), before the events of The First Fear. How no one was able to realize that Mary was responsible is unknown. One of Mary's victims included Julia, the sister of Nolan Campbell.
Clock Tower: The First Fear[]
Using her position as teacher in the orphanage as a means to act as a go-between for her husband, Mary adopted four orphan girls, Jennifer, Anne, Laura, and Lotte from the Granite Orphanage to live with her and Simon at their mansion in Norway.
Before they arrived, it is heavily implied that Mary locked all the doors, windows (leading to the outside, the inner courtyard windows wouldn't matter) and possible exits of the mansion to prevent the girls from escaping.
Mary disappears after leaving the girls.
When they arrived, she had them wait in the main foyer while she left to get "Mr. Barrows" (Simon), however, this is later revealed to be an excuse for her departure. She was scheming, along with Bobby, the demises of the four girls in order to feed their remains to Dan. If any of the girls escaped, then Mary could easily pin the blame on Scissorman and she could still appear innocent. If any of the remaining girls survived the initial Scissorman murders directly, then she could finish them directly with her knife or a shotgun. Mary also prepared poisoned sleeping drinks for the girls to make her murders easier.
Mary giving Jennifer a drugged sleeping drink.
Mary will later be found in the lounge. She will comfort Jennifer by giving her a wine glass, which poisons her, and then Mary will lock her in the shed along with Simon, where she (if Jennifer does not have the Green Key) later kills Lotte with a shotgun and attempts to kill Jennifer in the same manner. Jennifer will then have to pick up a wooden board next to the door in order to knock Mary out once she enters the shed in order to escape; otherwise, Mary will shoot and kill Jennifer, who would either be standing still or hiding inside a nearby box, thus resulting in a Dead End.
If Jennifer finds out about her father's demise first, Mary will simply attempt to kill Jennifer in the lounge with a knife.[1] However, if the player exits said room and re-enters it, Mary will have strangely vanished without a trace (either due to developer oversight or a secret passage), with the glass (containing the Silver Key) she was supposed to give to Jennifer on the table.
Fate[]
In some of the endings, Mary either kills Jennifer herself, and/or lives. Mary canonically met her demise at the top of the clock tower. Depending on the path selected:
- Ending S: After Bobby dies, Jennifer walks over to Anne/Laura, only to hear Mary tell Jennifer from the shadows what a terrible daughter she's been. She proceeds to run after Jennifer, choking her from behind and triggering a Panic. Suddenly, if the player succeeds, a flock of crows (including the one Jennifer saved earlier) come out and begin to peck at Mary, pushing her over the edge of the tower entrance.
- Ending A: Same as above, except Mary comes out of the shadows and throws Anne/Laura into the Clock Tower gears, killing Anne/Laura. Jennifer then struggles with Mary before the crows push her off the tower.
Mary being electrocuted in Ending B.
- Ending B: Anne/Laura is already dead by this point. After Bobby's death, Mary comes out of the shadows and struggles with Jennifer, only for Jennifer to force her into the generator that she used to activate the tower, electrocuting Mary to death.
Mary chasing Jennifer up the clock tower in Ending C.
- Ending C: As Jennifer exits the elevator, she encounters Mary. Having seen her father's corpse or having been confronted by Mary in the shed, Jennifer asks the deranged mistress why she is doing this to her and her friends, only for Mary to pull out a knife and attempt to kill Jennifer, thus trigger a Panic. Jennifer escapes Mary's clutches and dashes past her, running towards the balcony outside as Mary screams for Bobby to kill Jennifer in order to avenge Dan's death. Jennifer climbs up a ladder leading to the top of the Clock Tower as Mary follows close by, grabbing one of her legs, thus triggering a Panic. If the player succeeds, Jennifer will kick her off and Mary falls off the tower to her death below.
Although Mary doesn't appear in Ending G, she is indirectly alluded to when it reveals that Jennifer, upon returning to the orphanage, was found dead in her room three days later. Hifumi Kono, the game's director, confirmed that Mary was indeed directly involved in her death during that time, although the exact cause was unknown.[2]
In the Japanese novelization of Clock Tower, though, Mary met her demise from being pecked and flung off by the crows. Canonically, Mary died in the incident, as reports say that Jennifer was the only survivor.[1]
Creator's comment[]
| “ | There is no direct relationship between Mary and Kay. However, both of their personalities are egoistic and they can't control their obsession with things, so it is easy for them to act along with Scissor Man (Even still, Kay intended to keep balance with her social life). So, when considering what kind of person to create with such a mentality, that type of appearance fit the best.
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” |
| “ | Before Mary lured Jennifer and her friends into the mansion, she had been giving a sacrifice (toy) to her boys in the same manner. According to the police search, there are thought to be many undiscovered victims other than those in the stuffed body room, numbering not in the tens but many times that amount.
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” |
Quotes[]
- "Now isn't that a pity... Jennifer, don't move a muscle. I will punish you." (after murdering Lotte)
- "There's no point in hiding. Come out wherever you are, Jennifer. Hiding in a place like this. Just like a thief!"
- "You... YOU... KILLED MY SONS!" (trying to murder Jennifer)
- "Jennifer. Only you... Only you... I am prepared for you!" (trying to murder Jennifer)
Trivia[]
- In Japanese, Mary is called "Mary-sensei" (メアリー先生), which literally means "Teacher Mary".
- If the player discovers Walter Simpson's corpse, then encounters Mary in the lounge, she will attack Jennifer with a knife. If Jennifer turns off the lights, Mary flashes between a normal woman to a sprite in bright colors. The lights will turn back on automatically and Mary will turn back to normal. This is an error that only appears in the SNES version.[3]
- Mary wears perfume which Jennifer must use to sneak past a guard dog familiar with Mary's scent.
- Mary could be seen as an antithesis or inversion of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.
- A possibility is that Mary was impregnated by Satan himself or some other malevolent entity (such as "the Great Father").
- An interview with Kono implied the existence of Mary having a brother who is never mentioned in the game or anywhere else.[4] However, he later clarified this was a typo, and the "brother" was simply referring to Bobby/Dan.[5]
- It is possible that Mary was partially inspired by Betsy Palmer's portrayal of Pamela Voorhees in the original Friday the 13th.
- Rosemary Reed, protagonist of Remothered: Tormented Fathers, was inspired by Mary. Rosemary was originally envisioned as the villain, but she became the protagonist, with the "Jennifer" character being a villain. This is a unique role reversal. Also, Mary in Clock Tower is implied to be theistic (as she worships the Great Father and is involved with the occult), while the Rosemary of Remothered is an atheist.
References[]
Gallery[]
