Noah Marshall

Noah, a character from the It Lives In The Woods book, is a student at Westchester High. He is first seen in Chapter 1.

Appearance
He has long brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a navy blue and black beanie and a denim jacket.

Personality
He is very withdrawn due to the grief of losing his twin sister Jane. He also seems to be vengeful because he wants to make Mr. Red pay for killing his sister. In most of the conversations, Noah is heavily sarcastic and skeptical.

He is the loner of the group, seeming to have made no new friends outside of the group. He also appears to abhor the party scene. His reluctance to make new friends could stem from him fearing losing more loved ones (and thus, prevents himself from getting closer to more people out of the fear of getting attached and losing them). Ironically, however, his conversation with you if you choose to talk to him at Brit's party indicates that he is the one member of the group dislikes being alone the most.

He hints at resentment at being left alone after Jane's death (mother blaming him and friend group falling apart) and snaps at you that you do not really know him anymore before apologizing for the unfair outburst. It is acknowledged by both you and Noah that everyone in the group pulled away from him (but we have yet to see any of the other characters address this issue with him)

He does have a softer side in that he dreams of opening up his own diner one day ("Baby Jane's"), though he is skeptical that this will ever happen due to lack of money. He is embarrassed but happy when you encourage him to not give up and find a way.

He can also be considered the "conspiracy theorist" of the group, in that he is the person that your character will often confide in about Redfield. He attempts to dissuade your character from going to Redfield alone, but you go anyway.

Depending on his nerve in Chapter 15, he will either fight against Jane's influence or try to kill you.

Jane
Jane is Noah's late twin sister whose death caused a lot of grief in him. It also strained his relationship with his friends, whom he accused of not caring about Jane's death as much as he does. If you choose to have a conversation with him during Brit's party, he will tell you that because his parents were often too busy to make them dinner and he and Jane tired of frozen dinner, he learned how to cook for the two of them. His first meal he made on the stove was grilled cheese for Jane, who said that it tasted like happiness.

Jane is still very important to Noah, as he dreams of having a diner named "Baby Jane's" one day.

If you choose to listen to Noah's story, he will reveal that he was jealous of Jane and your character's close relationship; when Jane asked who would walk home with her, eat the crusts of her sandwiches, and help her find their hamster Gizmo when he escapes the cage if Noah ran away, Noah jealously says that your character will do those things for Jane.

In Chapter 14, It is revealed that Noah was communicating with Jane's spirit and lured his friends into a trap.

Your Character
Your Character and Noah are arguably the two childhood friends most affected by Jane's death (Noah for obvious reasons but you also feel guilt for not protecting Jane). Your character is heavily implied to be on awkward, strained terms with Noah prior to the events of the book, as you awkwardly tried not to sit next to him during the assembly. Despite the awkwardness, it appears that Noah is least resentful towards your character (as well as Lily and Ava) about attempting to move on from Jane.

Having experienced the most grief from Jane's death, Noah is also the first character to believe in your character and support her/him in reuniting the friends against Mr. Red. He also confides in your character that he feels like Jane's death lead to him losing all of his family and friends. You can choose to empathise with him or tell him that he didn't lose you. If you did the latter, Noah regains nerve. In general, it appears that he and your character are both determined to figure out Redfield and put a stop to him. Even though he is upset with the group, he notices you slip out the back door of school and manages to track you down to the coffee shop.

At Brit's party, you have the option of suggesting you take a walk together. Doing so will result in Noah confiding in you: about the reason why he came to the party ("Being in a place that you hate with your friends is still better than being alone, right?") and his dream of having a diner named "Baby Jane's". In the conversation, Noah does snap at you when you express surprise at his fondness for cooking, saying "You don't actually know much about me anymore." He apologizes for the outburst, but this implies that while he doesn't blame you about attempting to move on from Jane, he is still resentful of the deterioration of your relationship. In the next chapter, if you choose to apologize for pushing him away, he will be surprised but thank you and say that he's past that now.

Later at the party, he (as well as Stacy) is upset with you when you decide to play "Are you Scared?" with Ava, Lily, Brit, Cody, and Tom. He leaves, muttering "That's messed up", and you do not speak with him afterward.

It can also be possibly interpreted that as a kid, Noah greatly admired your character; he is upset with Jane for going to the woods without him and without telling their parents as she could get hurt, but when Jane says that your character was there with her to protect her, he backs down. At the same time, he was also jealous of your close relationship with his twin, feeling that Jane may have preferred you over him.

In Chapter 14, he lures your friends into a trap and threatens you with Ava's knife.

In Chapter 15, if he can't resist Jane's influence, he will attempt to kill you.

If you are alive in Chapter 16, you can choose to either praise Noah, offer sympathies to him, or insult him at the memorial.

Events of It Lives In The Woods
Your character first meets Noah during a pep rally, when there was an empty seat next to him. You hesitated at first, but Cody and Jocelyn demanded that you sit down, leaving you no choice but to ask Noah whether you could sit next to him. After he allowed you to, you exchanged silent glances to each other until the pep rally finally began. After Noah commented on Lucas being student body president and Andy joining the basketball team, a blackout occurred in the school, and Noah was one of the students who could hear whispers saying, "Everyone... plays... together..."

Later at night, you and your old friends gathered around the school to discuss Dan's disappearance and the text messages he sent to them. Andy suggested that they call the police to handle the matter with Redfield, but Noah and Ava believed it would be futile, and Andy took back his words. Noah teased him by getting Redfield to testify, causing an angry Andy that he already understood what Noah meant. When the group realised they had to go to the woods to investigate Dan, some members refused to go, causing Noah to accuse them of cowardice and not grieving for Jane's death as much as he did. This leaves the group with your character, Noah, Ava, and Andy; the latter two wanted to go despite their schedule conflicts, and you could choose to bring one or both with you and Noah.

After dealing with Britney, Stacy, and Lily, you and Noah (and possibly Ava and Andy) went to Gunther's Hardware. Noah told you that after Jane's death, his parents divorced, and his mother blamed him for what happened. Afterwards, you found a baseball bat covered in barbed wire and a flashlight for sale. If you bought the latter, Noah will use it to look around the woods for Dan.

In the woods, you and some of your old friends encountered monsters resembling skeletal wolves covered in moss, chasing you. After running from them, you found an unconscious Dan surrounded by more of the monsters, and a fight ensued. If Noah had the flashlight, he would use it as a makeshift weapon against the monsters.

In Chapter 14, he lured you and your friends to go in the ruins. He later revealed that Mr. Red is gone ten years ago and that Jane took his place. Later in Chapter 15, you demand he explain how he knew it was Jane all this time (diamond choice). He knew that Mr. Red was in fact Jane after Britney's party. He was walking alone alongside the road and "Mr. Red" was watching him. He approached Noah and told him not be scared. Noah started to blame Mr. Red for killing his sister, Jane. "Mr. Red" told him that Jane is here all along. After the ritual, Noah went back to the ruins and saw Mr. Red and now believed that Jane is actually Mr. Red. Noah wanted to save Jane by playing the game "Are you scared?" which will allow Jane to be free and someone to take her place.

Trivia

 * It is confirmed that Noah and Jane are twins in Chapter 8.
 * His dream is to go to culinary school and open a diner called "Baby Jane's" in memory of his sister.
 * Some people are hoping to see him become a love interest for the main character. However, this seems highly unlikely given his betrayal.
 * Similar to the Endless Summer character, Aleister, his actions have divided the fandom: Some fans are sympathetic to him wanting to avenge his sister, while others fans believe that he is mentally ill and intends to sacrifice you.
 * Some fans believe that he intentionally did something to disrupt the spell that would permanently banish Jane/Redfield to the ruins.
 * In Chapter 15, you have the option to allow Noah to commit suicide and take Jane's place as Redfield or volunteer to take her place.
 * His status as a redeemed character is determinant on his nerve score. Depending on his nerve, he will either fight against Jane's influence or try to kill you.
 * In Chapter 15, Ava calls Noah a Sociopath. By definition, a Sociopath is an individual who exhibits extreme anti-social behavior and lacks a moral conscience. Noah shows several examples of sociopathic behavior throughout the story, hinting that he may be suffering from a mental illness.
 * The last names of Noah and Lily are revealed in the final chapter of book 1.