Charles Marlow
Marlow's name may be inspired by the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Conrad's father was a translator of William Shakespeare who doubtless would have known of Marlowe's work as well. Some intertextual interpretations of "Heart of Darkness" have suggested that Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" may have influenced Conrad. Charles Marlow describes a character as a "papier-mache Mephistopheles", a reference to the Faust legend. Marlow's and Kurtz's journey up the Congo River in "Heart of Darkness" also has similarities to another work by Marlowe, "Dido, Queen of Carthage", in which Aeneas is stranded on the shore of Libya and meets the African queen Dido.
Alone in the Dark
Edward Carnby is the main protagonist of the series, and is a private detective. In the first three games, he is depicted as a middle-aged private investigator during the 1920s. "The New Nightmare" depicts him as a younger adult in 2001. In the 2008 installment of the series, Carnby's appearance was drastically changed. He has been the main protagonist in every game to date, with the exception of the mini game, "Jack in the Dark", which instead features Grace Saunders, a character who appears in "Alone in the Dark 2". He is also the main character in two movies loosely based upon the games.