The Undertaker (Emesis Blue)

This article's content is marked as Mature
Needlemouse found something very brutal for those with a weak heart. The page The Undertaker (Emesis Blue) contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, and/or graphic images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older.
If you're 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page.

“	Jane Doe: So the hand-off was an Undertaker? Jacques Murnau: Almost.	„
	~ Soldier and Jacques, discussing the Undertaker.

“	Soon the Man In Black will come... [...] He'll make mincemeat out of you!	„
	~ Dialogue from the movie M (1931), signifying the presence of the Undertaker.

The Undertaker is one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside Jules Archibald) of the 2023 YouTube psychological horror movie, Emesis Blue.

He is an enigmatic figure appearing as a former Medic submerged in shadows and donning a plague doctor mask, now associated with the Conagher Brothers and their team of mutated, renegade mercenaries. Despite not having a major physical role, he is responsible for luring all of the main protagonists into the Slaughterhouse, where they would learn the truth about the Gravel Wars conflict and the nature of the Respawn Machine.

He also frequently appears as a visual hallucination to Dr. Fritz Ludwig and is an apparent representation of the darker parts of his personality, which could potentially mean that these two are one and the same.

Biography[]

Background[]

The Undertaker is really elusive, so much so that it's unknown whether he's an actual physical being or a collective hallucination caused by the Respawn Machine's side-effects. And given the time-bending capabilities of the Conagher Slaughterhouse, finding out an actual point of origin is nigh-impossible.

He's seen in Soldier's flashback to the war, playing chess with Dr. Fritz Ludwig in a call-back to Scout's death scene. Given the dream-likeness of the sequence, it's certain that this wasn't how the events played out, but it does imply that he was present in the Gravel Wars (which the flashback seems to be alluding to) in some capacity.

It's also implied that he had been stalking and taking photos of Jeremy, the former BLU Scout, to later incriminate Fritz.

Emesis Blue[]

In the film, he's first seen in one of Fritz's nightmares, where the latter experiences brief glimpses into the future and culminates with the Undertaker reaching his hand out to him in his own office. Fritz is awakened by Jeremy before the nightmare continued however.

The Undertaker also serves as the hand-off for the briefcase Stalingrad was commanded to send to the Slaughterhouse. When he dies at the hands of Jacques Murnau's personal assistant, Jane Doe, Jane is ordered to go back to his boss's car to get the camera so they could get at least get a picture of the body. It is then when the Undertaker attacks, pointing a gun to Jacques's face as a distraction to pick up the Intel and leave the area. Jane, however, takes a picture of him driving off in his black hearse.

It's implied that he also took a major role in the death of Jeremy's mother and her son's kidnapping, whistling the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King", a feat that would be impossible for the Butcher to accomplish given their burnt vocal chords. He might also be the one to hold her severed head to further scare Scout.

In a later hallucination, Fritz sees a disfigured version of himself committing the murder; and later in the film, he mimics the severed head trick, which could confirm he took a role in it.

When Fritz passes out upon finding the scene in Scout's house, he awakens in his office, where he receives and opens an envelope full of the pictures the Undertaker took of Jeremy, incriminating him even further. A big message, written on what's presumably Scout's mother's blood, in his office reads his location: Conagher Slaughterhouse. Medic goes there, not bothering to clean up the mess in his office.

His messy office is later found by Jacques Murnau and Jane Doe, who were investigating the case, leading to them also going to the Slaughterhouse.

Through the rest of the film, the Undertaker takes a minor role, only appearing in the background of brief segments. Examples including the funeral scene at the end of the movie, where he sees Fritz embrace his darker side and murder detective Jacques before he steps up as the new Director of the Board of BLU.

Possible Identity as Ludwig's Split-Personality[]

One of the most popular theories regarding the Undertaker is his relation with Fritz Ludwig, most specifically, how they could be one and the same.

There are several clues, ones more explicit than others, that support this theory.

For starters, the movie has made it clear that, whenever Fritz is subconscious, he can go on murderous rampages described as him looking like he was in drugs and becoming strong enough to be able to stab a police officer with his own sidegun. Fritz also seems to actively fight off and even communicate to this "split-personality" of his through the mirror, with him hallucinating the split personality physically retaliating by coming out of the mirror. Jane and Cyclops even describe him as a "sleeper agent" for the Conaghers when they initially distrusted him.

He's also seen playing chess with Dr. Ludwig in Soldier's flashback. Chess was earlier portrayed as a reference to the BLUs and the Conagher Mercenaries, which signifies that Ludwig is literally playing for both sides and trying to outsmart and win against himself. Not only does this portray how he's a key element in both storylines, but also his inner conflict.

The Undertaker can also briefly be seen in one of Ludwig's visions, sitting in a funeral, with Ludwig in the casket, which implies that this is his funeral. This vision later comes true in the final chapter of Emesis Blue, Blood Brothers, where Ludwig hides in Jules Archibald's casket to surprise-kill Jacques. It is also in this chapter where Ludwig fully embraces his darker, murderous side, and goes on a murderous rampage before escaping town. This could be interpreted as Ludwig's personality dying (with his physical body dying shortly after).

After showing Ludwig's afterlife, the film cuts to a shot of the Respawn Machine in the abandoned, burning remains of the Slaughterhouse. The Respawn Machine opens its doors, revealing a silhouette akin to a Medic. It is often believed that this is Ludwig respawning, having gone through "Eternity" like the rest of the Slaughterhouse Mercenaries and subsequently going insane, kickstarting his career as the "Undertaker" using the anomalous time properties of the Slaughterhouse to ensure his existence.

Gallery[]

Images[]

Trivia[]

His appearance and demeanor when finding a victim is a reference to Hans Beckert, the main antagonist of M (1931).

External Links[]

The Undertaker on the Villainous Benchmark Wiki

Navigation[]

Villains

Emesis Pharmaceuticals
Jules Archibald | The Detective

Others
Fritz Ludwig | Agent Stemmons | The Mann Brothers (Redmond Mann, Blutarch Mann)

Fanon Villains

Merasmus: Never Anger a Magician! | Gimme my Eye back! | I Got a Bucket of MAGICAL Chicken!

Music
Mercenaries (Random Encounters) (Medic, Heavy, Spy, Engineer, Soldier and Demoman, "Sniper") | The Mercenaries (The Stupendium)

Fan-Fiction
Announcer (With Apologies to Harlan Ellison) | Captain Chrome