Black Mirror Walkthrough by Peter Olafson

The only interactive
object here at the moment is William’s watercolor painting of the
castle. Take a peek — it’s really very good — and then talk to Henry
about the painting. (He’ll tell you he’s been looking after it for
Victoria.)

You’ll find the
greenhouse locked (permanently) in Chapter V.

Other hotspots: a pile
of branches to the right of the grinder, bags of leaves to the left
and the pail beneath the grinder — all found outside the structure.
Indoors: nothing else for now. That’ll change in Chapter II.

The stable:
To the left of the manor is the stable. The path at the far corner
of the rear garden is blocked by bushes, so you’ll have to go
around front to reach this location. Outside, you’ll find the groom
Morris outside chopping wood.

Morris may make you uneasy.
Partly, it’s that weird, slow-burn fashion in which most character
turn around to face Samuel when he speaks to them. And, partly, it’s
because Morris always seems to have a potential weapon in his hands
— an axe here and a hammer in chapters II and IV.

The bad vibe gets worse
if you right-click on the groom and learn he’s not to be trusted.
True enough. Ultimately, Morris will be shown to be a liar and a thief.

However, he’s harmless,
and you don’t even have to talk to him until Chapter II, when
you’ll have to take up the issue of Henry’s blackmail
note. But he does figure in some purely conversational sub-plots here

— notably those relating to his feud with the gardener.

Initially, you can talk
to Morris only about Bates and William. The former is "the same
old standoffish mope." And Morris barely spoke a few sentences
to William.

But, as with other characters,
Morris picks up additional topics as you make your way through the
story. If you: a) retrieve the "strange object" from the
bush at the left front corner of the castle, b) talk to the gardener
Henry on any topic, c) talk to Robert about Black Mirror, d) click
on the label of the wine bottle on the work table in the stable or
e) talk to Victoria about Henry and select a "positive"
response …

… Morris can: a) point
you toward Murray’s Pawn Shop in Willow Creek, b) reveal that Henry
is a drunk, c) go off on a rant (about Henry spreading gossip about
him) that morphs into an account of the old wing’s general creepiness,
d) say he received the wine from William (more on this below) or e)
agree to board up the estate’s dry well.

(We’ll take up this
last topic again at its source below under the first of the two “Entering
William’s Study” sections. For now, it’s just worth
noting that the well in the left corner of the screen appears to be
already boarded-up!)

The stable interior is
a significant location here and in Chapter V. Enter by the right-hand
door (the two others being non-functional), open the drawer of the
work table on the right and click on the hammer.

If you haven’t yet tried
to pull the boards off the study door by hand, Samuel says he doesn’t
need to repair anything. If you have, you’ll be able to take it. (In
Chapter V, you’ll also find a hair sample on Morris’s cap on the wall
between the stalls at the rear. The cap doesn’t appear until that
time.)

The only other item of
interest here is the empty wine bottle on the back corner of the work
table. Click on it for a close-up of the label, then on the label
itself, and Samuel reckons it’s from the castle’s own cellar. (I’m
a little unclear on how Samuel knows this, being that he hasn’t yet
visited the cellar and hasn’t been here in 12 years!)

This enables you to ask
Morris about the wine. He says William gave it to him — the same
William with whom Morris claims he’d barely exchanged a few sentences.
Samuel figures he must have gotten hold of the wine in some other
way. You’ll learn how in Chapter II. (It’s connected to the blackmail
note and topic c) above.)

Other hotspots: Outdoors:
the large door on the left side of the stable, the wooden stairs up
the Morris’s quarters and the hay bags on the wagon. Indoors:
the light switch on the left support pillar for the right-hand stall,
the shelves on the left side of the work table, the pile of hay in
front of the left-hand stall and the vice on the work table. (Samuel
gives the handle a turn.)

Curiously, the interactivity
of other stable hotspots is turned off when you click on the bent
section of fence at the castle’s left front corner. There’s
connection between that action and these locations — they’re
all inconsequential — but clicking on the fence does enable a series
of new actions and, conceivably, the game has a ceiling for the number
of possible player actions accessible at a given time.

In any case, these
additional hotspots include the wooden water pail to the left of the
pillar with the light switch, the bucket beside the work table, the
right-hand of the two ladders up to the hay loft, the metal box on
the right side of the work-table drawer and both `the broken-down
carriage on the right side of the screen and the coat-of-arms it bears.

The
Major Threads

That concludes
our tour of the premises. Let’s focus on what we’ve found.

The
Torn-Up Photograph

… from the fireplace
in the old wing.

Put it together again by
right-clicking on the pieces in your inventory. It’s much easier if
you to first assemble the white-edged border and then work inward.

The game gives you a little
help with its two jigsaw puzzles. (The second involves reassembling
a torn-up letter you’ll find in Dr. Hermann’s trash in
Chapter II.) If you have a rough idea of a piece’s position, drop
it where you think it should go. If the piece is in its proper orientation
— you can rotate a selected piece with right-clicks — and within
about a half-inch of the target, the game will adjust the piece to
its precise position. Just make sure you build the picture within
the four cornices displayed on-screen. If you’re off, the game
won’t recognize your completed picture.

The end result: a rather
wild-looking man Samuel doesn’t recognize. Nor does anyone else in
or around the house.

Or so they say. Your uncle
Robert is evasive, answering your question with a question: "Why
are you asking?"

This is one of many questions
in the game to which you can give two different answers. Here, the
“positive” one (the truth) gets you more information.

Robert’s response: "Given
the fact that someone has torn up the picture, the person in it is
probably not important. Forget about it." (In the “negative”
answer, Samuel lies, claiming to have found the picture in a drawer.
Robert’s response: "No, I’m afraid he does not [remind me of
anyone].")

Thus, if you respond positively,
you’ll come to suspect Robert knows and is somehow involved
with the man in the picture — in fact, he’s very likely the
one who tore it up! — and is trying actively to discourage your interest.
But why?

You’ll eventually
have to challenge Robert’s lie and you can’t until after
you’ve talked to Victoria about the photo. That requires an
extra step: You’ll have to remove the boards from the door to
William’s tower study at the far end of the attic and then click
on the locked door twice to set up a chat with your grandmother. (The
central topic is the study key, but, if you’ve reassembled the
picture, you’ll be able to ask after it as well.)

Victoria then reports it’s
a grown-old picture of an orphan who lived at Black Mirror as a child
until he went mad and taken to Ashburry as Robert’s patient.

That’s not the whole
story. You won’t get a sense of the man’s deeper connection
to the family until the end of the chapter, won’t name him conclusively
until Chapter III and won’t confirm his true relationship to
the Gordons until Chapter IV.

But it’s just enough
of the truth to to contradict your uncle’s claim of ignorance.
Robert must know this man. And sure enough, if you try again, your
uncle, his back to the wall, now allows that the man "resembles
one of my patients."

So why did Robert try to
bluff you before with talk of the picture being unimportant? Why did
he tear up the picture? What is Robert covering up?

Odds & ends: You’d
think that, as along-time family servant, the butler Bates would be
able to ID the picture. Is he also covering up a family secret?

Not likely. There’s
no hint of duplicity about Bates. He confesses he’s just not
good at remembering faces.

The only off-site characters
with a take on the photo are the child Vick in Willow Creek (later
in this chapter) and Eleanor at the Gordon Manor in Wales (in Chapter
III). Vick takes the opportunity to make a joke at Samuel’s
expense, but the words he chooses later prove telling.

The
Symbol

… on the
wall at the castle’s left front corner.

Here you’ll find
the bent section of fence where William’s body landed. Click on it.
The music swells, Samuel identifies the spot and says he won’t leave
Black Mirror without learning the truth.

Now you can talk to Bates
about "the place of William’s death." Samuel asks to see
the spot and Bates reluctantly leads you right back to the castle’s
left front corner.

Odds & ends: Samuel?
I would like a word with you. We just found that same spot on our
own. Why do you need to be shown the location again?

Bates now points out a
"strange spot": a circular mark on the wall just right of
the casement window nearest the bent section of fence. (You can see
the spot on your first visit to this screen, but can’t interact with
it until Bates points it out.) Click on this "stain" for
a close-up view of a reddish-brown symbol — it looks like an “n”
— accompanied by a rush of other-worldly whispers. (Bates then makes
his way back into the house. You’ll now find him in the kitchen.)

Odds & ends: This
is the first of five such symbols. One turns up at each of the murder
scenes and all five (along with three others) in a puzzle that opens
the entrance to the Black Mirror catacombs in Chapter VI.

No, they don’t
spell anything. But for an original take on their provenance, see
the “Plot Holes” section on “The Backseat Game Designer”
page at http://www.geocities.com/ataniel/mirror9.htm. The author,
Lora Redish, writes that the symbols are drawn from the Hebrew alphabet
(they correspond to the letters T, Y, V, N, and L) and apparently
are used by Satanists in pentagrams.

Make sure you click on
the symbol itself before you proceed. Samuel then says he wants to
record it. It’s not clear to what purpose — it’s really just so you
can remember it in the endgame — and this process proves rather involved.

You can snap a picture
with the camera from the locked bottom drawer of the dresser in your
room. The key’s up on the inner doorframe. Right-click on the doorframe
to find it.

You couldn’t take the camera
before you saw the stain. Now you can. But you’ll need some new film
for this purpose — the rolls in the drawer being at least 12 years
old.

Talk to Robert. He volunteers
that he has usable film in his chest in the attic. The attic entrance
is at the right rear of the old wing. Head right along the balustrade
from the head of the stairs and enter the ruined chamber at the end
of the corridor. This is the fire-damaged section of the house where
Cathrin died. (If this is your first visit, Samuel will reminisce
briefly about the fire.)

Naturally, the door is
locked. Bates would be the natural fellow to ask about a key.

But where is Bates? The
main hall is now empty.

As mentioned earlier, the
butler gets around. Bates gave up his position beside the fireplace
after he showed you the “strange spot” on the castle wall.
He’s now working at the range in the kitchen …

Odds & ends: …
unless, subsequent to learning about the “strange spot,”
you asked Bate to light a fire in your room and then left the castle
by using a door (as opposed to using the map).

In that case, make
for the hallway outside your room. You’ll now find Bates non-interactively
exiting that chamber. He stops , reports that he’s built the
requested fire and that he’ll resume his duties in the main
hall. (This “hall” reference always appears, regardless
of Bates’s actual destination. He goes back to the main hall
only if you haven’t had him show you the “strange spot.”
Otherwise, he’ll reappear in the kitchen.)

Note that Samuel must
witness this scene for Bates to reappear downstairs.

Bates directs you to the
hooks to the right of the cellar door in the kitchen. Grab the key
and drag it onto the attic door and you’re in. Robert’s chest is just
where he said it would be. He neglected to mention it was locked.
So back to Robert’s room for another quick doorjamb dialogue. He’ll
give you the key. Use it on the chest and then open the chest to get
a roll of film. Use the film on the camera and you’re all set for
your closeup. (If you’ve previously visited the attic and tried
to open the chest, you’ll be able to ask Robert for the key
immediately without making a second trip for this purpose.)

Now get back to the corner
of the the house and use the camera on the "stain" in either
the closeup or third-person view and Samuel will wonder aloud where
he can get this masterpiece developed.

Robert had film. Robert
might know where to get film developed. Sort of. He’ll point you to
Murray’s Pawn Shop in Willow Creek.

This eventually proves
to be a red herring. The developing machine at the pawn shop is broken.
Dr. Hermann will develop your pictures in Chapter II. However, you
still need to ask Robert about the topic to reach Willow Creek.

The
Strange Object

… from the bush to the
right of the symbol.

After Bates shows you the
spot where William died, you can click on the "stain" on
the castle wall … and also on the bush over to the right. A left-click
just yields the information that the castle is surrounded by bushes.
Duh. But a right-click and you’ll come up with a circular item with
a square-ish hole at the center and symbols engraved around the outside.
Right-click on the item in inventory and Samuel opines that it seems
"incomplete."

That’s true. This is the
first part of a three-part key you’ll use in Chapter II to open a
hidden vault under the Warmhill church.

You can show it around.
Bates, the groom Morris and Victoria (after you’ve tried the locked
door to William’s study) can all comment on the object immediately
and they’re all helpful in one way or another. Morris mentions Murray’s
Pawn Shop in Willow Creek. (Has he been returning the favor by spying
on Henry?) Victoria ties the object back to William. She once saw
something similar on his desk. (We didn’t see it on his desk
in the intro, so it must have been in his pocket when he fell.)

However, the only person
you must talk to about the object at this stage is Bates. He first
suggests passing the object along to the police detective investigating
William’s death — not possible; you can’t interact with the detective
in-game until Chapter IV — and then checking in with Henry, who was
working in the flower beds nearby the evening William died.

Odds & ends: This
doesn’t quite work. Henry would have had to have been working in the
flowerbeds after William’s fall to recover an item that fell with
him. And who works in the garden at night … or in a thunderstorm?

Once you’ve talked to Bates,
Henry can reveal he found something similar.

Does Henry still have it?
Of course not. That’d be too easy. He pawned it at Murray’s Pawn Shop
in Willow Creek. Does he have the pawn ticket? Of course not.

Or so Henry says. Samuel
doesn’t believe him, gets royally bent out of shape and, after a second
go at the pawn ticket topic, that’s where things leave off. You won’t
reconnect with this thread until you visit Willow Creek.

As mentioned earlier, Samuel
is wound too tightly. But he’s right to doubt Henry’s word. The gardener
not only has the receipt — you’ll recover it from his belongings
in Chapter II — but has also been disingenuous about what precisely
he pawned. (He kept the jewel he mentioned. That’s the third part.
You’ll find it when you go dumpster-diving in Chapter II.)

Odds & ends: A
couple of oddities surface in this exchange with Bates. First off,
when Samuel asks him if he thinks William’s death was an accident
or suicide, Bates said he’s already offered his opinion on the
matter … and he hasn’t! (Bates never does directly address
William’s death. I’m guessing that the matter to which
Bates refers here is the strange object itself.)

Samuel then tells himself
uncertainly that Bates seems to know something … and never comes
back to the topic again!

It’s also the
first reference to Collier — the detective who investigated William’s
death. He appears non-interactively in chapters II and V and interactively
in Chapter IV.

Finally, it’s
the first example of Samuel’s innate resistance to cooperating
with authorities. He blows off Bates’s suggestion about turning
over the strange object. He’ll lie outright to Collier at the
beginning of Chapter II and then, against Bates’s advice, drain
the fountain in the rear garden without consulting the detective.

What’s this about?
As so often occurs in The Black Mirror, the reason is implied but
not stated explicitly.

“This thing may
help us discover something new,” Samuel tells Bates. He’s
determined to conduct his own investigation — perhaps out of distrust
of the detective who too readily accepted William’s death as
an accident.