Dan, a character from the It Lives In The Woods book, is a student of Westchester High School. He is first seen in Chapter 1, when an evil spirit is impersonating him; the actual Dan debuts in Chapter 3.
Appearance
Dan has brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. He wears an indigo hoodie over a white shirt.
When he was possessed by Mr. Red, his skin color becomes gray and his eyes are yellow and glowing surrounded by black vein-like markings.
Personality
Not much is known about him other than he is a football player and he is a skeptic of the supernatural. He went back into the woods to prove that Mr. Red wasn't real but ended up getting kidnapped by him.
According to Stacy, Dan became very depressed after the death of Jane, getting wasted and having breakdowns, with only Stacy being there for him. She also added that as a football star, he kept his feelings bottled up because he feared that expressing them would put his reputation at risk.
In Chapter 6, it is revealed that he suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and was speaking with a therapist named Dr. Emily Chambal. He was apparently quite resistant to the idea of therapy until agreeing to text-based counelling, something his mother attributes to his being "stubborn" and "[his] father's son."
Chapters
It Lives
It Lives In The Woods
- Chapter 1: Old Friends
- Chapter 2: What Are You Afraid Of? (Mentioned)
- Chapter 3: Sticks and Stones
- Chapter 4: What's Coming to You
- Chapter 6: A Bitter Pill to Swallow
- Chapter 7: Party Favors
- Chapter 9: Ungrateful
- Chapter 10: I'm Not Scared
- Chapter 11: You Again (Mentioned)
- Chapter 12: Homecoming (Mentioned)
- Chapter 13: Fight or Flight
- Chapter 14: In the Dark
- Chapter 15: Everyone Plays Together
- Chapter 16: In Memoriam
It Lives Beneath
- Chapter 5: Gone Fishing (Determinant)
Relationships
Main Character
They were very close friends when they were children but they drifted apart after Jane's death. He texts Main Character and the other former friends very early in the morning to warn them that Mr. Red is real. He is initially horrified that Main Character came into the woods to rescue him, because his/her arrival means that Mr. Red can now leave the woods. When Main Character goes to visit him in the hospital in Chapter 6, he becomes temporarily possessed by Redfield because the original group of friends is back together. He later is possessed by him again in the woods in Chapters 13 and 14. In this state, Main Character is able to talk to him about their childhood before Redfield and then mentions that they used to catch frogs in the backyard. They also once dressed up as Captain Incredible at Halloween and instead of being mad, Dan called them the "Dynamic Duo".
Gallery
Other Looks
Miscellaneous
Trivia
- He strongly resembles American actor Jared Padalecki.
- His mother's signature dish is macaroni and cheese with hot dog pieces mixed in.
- Dan is the only character among Main Character and friends whose Nerve score starts at the Rattled range instead of the Tough As Nails range.
- His surname is revealed in Chapter 2, and his full first name is revealed to be Daniel in Chapter 6.
- He shares the same name as Daniel from the Rules of Engagement series, Danny Cardinal from the Open Heart series and Daniel Fong from Laws of Attraction, Book 2.
- He shares the same surname as the Pierce family (Antoine, Bartholomew and Claire) from the Rules of Engagement series, and the default surname of MC from Ms. Match as well as her father.
- The name Daniel is of Hebrew origin and means "God is my judge".
- The surname Pierce is of English and French origin, which means "rock". It's a variant of Piers, other version of the name Peter.
- If Main Character reads Dan's texts in Chapter 6, his mother mentions that he has a cat named Picard.
- The writing for Dan's character is inspired by the song "Flagpole Sitta" by American alternative rock band, Harvey Danger.[1]
- If he survived the final game of "Are You Scared?", he shows up in Chapter 5 of It Lives Beneath, wearing the same outfit he wore in It Lives In The Woods. He is studying to get a psychology degree and wants to be a trauma counselor.