James (Video Game)

"The Whisperers were my... family... from a young age. In that time, I witnessed a lot of death and suffering. Eventually, I became the cause of it. Weakness was considered a poison. And I believed in that. Fiercely. So much so, that when one boy expressed sympathy for our enemy before an attack... I slit his throat. I didn't talk to him. I didn't consider who he was. What he felt. Honestly, I don't even remember his name. All I knew was someone like him would only slow us down. (...) After he died, I kept hearing his words in my head: "Those people are like us, just on a different path." I stopped killing after that. I changed. But no one else did."

- James to Clementine about his past.

James is a main character who first appears in Telltale Games' The Walking Dead: Season Four. A young boy at the beginning of the apocalypse, he was a member of a group known as the Whisperers. Having survived with the Whisperers for a significant portion of his life, James demonstrated fierce loyalty to the Whisperers' way of life, but later renounced their ways and left after his grisly killing of a dissenting fellow Whisperer. James isolated himself from other survivors, and has since adopted an extremely pacifistic outlook on life, refusing to kill either humans or zombies.

Overview
Upon his introduction, James shows himself to be a solemn, quiet, but goodhearted young man, ready to help those in need. He is rather awkward around other people, due to spending so much time alone. It is later revealed that, when James of the Whisperers, he was a ruthless killer that despised weakness. When one boy in the group expressed doubts about fighting another group, James slit his throat without feeling a thing. This, however, made James realize what he was becoming and made him reevaluate his life choices. James decided to leave the Whisperers, and became a pacifist to an almost extreme degree, refusing to kill even walkers. Instead, James used his Whisperer mask to camouflage himself from the dead and travel in herds for protection. James even started gathering the dead in a barn to "protect" them. He is very reluctant to use the walkers as weapons, as he doesn't want them to get killed and isn't enthusiastic about causing the deaths of other survivors either. Nevertheless, he will make exceptions if he believes the cause to be just, but will never participate in the fighting himself, due to his conviction.

Washington, D.C.
Not much is known about James' life prior to the outbreak, except that he helped his father run a food truck and had a boyfriend named Charlie. On the night the apocalypse began, he visited Charlie and was sat hanging out with his him. Suddenly, alarms started going off and screams could be heard, to which Charlie went back indoors to investigate, while James discovered that the world was beginning to end via an emergency message. Once he said goodnight to his family before going to Charlie’s place, he never saw them again.

Post-Apocalypse
Sometime after the outbreak, James became a member of the Whisperers. When they attacked another group, James did not want to be a part of it and left the Whisperers. He eventually started living by himself in the woods, but still uses the Whisperers' tactic of skinning walkers and wearing their hides to walk among the dead. At some point later, he learned of the war between the Delta and another community, and that the former has been abducting other survivors to fight for their cause and have their sights set on the children residing in the Ericson's Boarding School. He has since then steered clear of the conflict between all three groups and remained in the woods.

"Suffer The Children"
James is first seen among walkers that Clementine is killing, wearing a disguise made from walker skin. Having previously directed a small herd towards Clementine in order to stop Lilly and Abel's pursuit, he arrives to help in person upon realizing that she has been surrounded. He walks towards her, mimicking a walker, stopping her before she attacks him. Realizing that he's attempting to help her, Clementine lowers her knife, and James proceeds to distract the approaching walkers by throwing a rock into the woods. He then asks Clementine to follow him, and guides them back to his campsite.

There, he has Clementine use her knife to remove the shrapnel from AJ's torso that he sustained from Abel shooting him. He holds the boy down then uses tape to patch up the wound. He then goes to his fire, nursing it with a stick. Clementine carried AJ to the fire and asks James to reveal who he is. James mentions that he used to a member of the "Whisperers", a group that figured out a way to walk among the dead by skinning them and wearing their hides. He offers a hungry AJ an apple, to which Clementine accepts or denies. He remarks they got into a war with another group which prompted him to leave and survive on his own instead. He also reveals he is from Washington City and was close with his father. Seeing Clementine exhausted, he volunteers to keep watch and allow them to sleep safely, as he doesn't need sleep. Clementine can still stay up and help keep watch (Determinant).

The next day, James escorts Clementine and AJ back to the boarding school. However, because of his disguise, Willy mistakes him for a walker and shoots at him, narrowly missing. Before entering the school, Clementine invites James in, claiming he is allowed to stay. James declines, stating that he is not ready yet and walks back off into the woods.

"Broken Toys"
James is first seen at his camp after it had been attacked by walkers. He requests Clementine and AJ's assistance as he had been separated from his mask, which was still in his bag in the middle of the camp. He asks Clementine to spare the walkers, to which Clementine has the decision to either kill none, kill some, or kill all. While James sneaks into his camp to grab his mask, Clementine will have to hold off against multiple walkers, either slaughtering them against James' wishes or risking her life and sparing them for his sake. After James gets the bag he thought his mask was in, he finds that it's not there and the bag that has it is in the middle of several walkers. AJ yells and throws a rock at the walkers to get their attention, much to Clementine's dismay. Clementine and James proceed to push an abandoned Delta cart to make noise to draw the walkers away from AJ, saving his life. After he recovers his mask, James will appear either appreciative of Clementine's remorse or upset by her bloodshed.

Clementine asks for James to escort a walker herd to the Delta's ship as a distraction so the Ericson Boarding School survivors can sneak in and rescue their friends. James takes Clementine and AJ to his barn and opens the doors to show them the walkers he had rounded up and was protecting. James says to Clementine that he sees the walkers as "...Not people, exactly. Something in between," and thinks that a part of the person who turned is still in the Walker. Clementine can agree or disagree with James. James asks both Clementine and AJ if someone they care about turned; AJ tells James that Clementine had a friend named Lee who was bitten and either left to reanimate or shot in the head to prevent reanimation. James, upon hearing that Clementine had shot Lee before reanimating, will apologize to her for bringing up tragic memories and drop the subject. Alternatively, if Clementine had left Lee to reanimate, he will ask her if she thinks that some part of Lee is still out there, even after he had turned. Clementine can feel comforted or disturbed by James' question.

After their talk, James tells Clementine that in order for him to help her, she has to walk among the walkers in the barn and touch the wind chimes in the back, and hands her his mask to mask her scent. When Clementine exits the barn, she gives him back his mask and James asks her if she still thinks walkers are just monsters. Clementine can either agree that there might be more to walkers, or claim they're still just monsters, much to James' elation or chagrin. James agrees to release the horde within the barn and allow the Ericson survivors to use it as cover for the rescue mission, and informs Clementine that it will take a while to guide the horde to the Delta's ship and to be ready by tomorrow night.

James is seen next preparing for the mission with the Ericson survivors, and feels accepted among them even with his Walker mask on and his past Whisperers affiliation. Clementine can invite James to the boarding school. (Determinant) James shows Clementine a picture of his ex-boyfriend, Charlie, another survivor he was in a relationship with before the apocalypse and joined the Whisperers with. He says that joining the Whisperers changed both of them due to the suffering and death they had witnessed and eventually became the cause of it. After a fellow Whisperer expressed sympathy for an enemy they were about to attack, James slit his throat without any hesitation and felt justified in doing so. Afterwards, however, James remembered his final words and stopped killing altogether, but no one else did. James expresses that hearing AJ say he had killed someone in the past reminded him of himself, and feared that AJ, should he take another life, might not be able to go back.

James is seen once more at the end of the rescue mission, having been captured by the Delta and questioned by Lilly. Just before a Delta member executes James with a shot to the head, Tennessee takes the pistol from her hilt and points it at both Lilly and her. After Lilly takes the gun from Tennessee, she attempts to shoot him in the head but is stopped by AJ biting her right hand. Before Gina can shoot AJ, James attempts to disarm her, succeeding just in time before AJ shoots a mortally wounded, pleading Lilly in the head. James pleads to AJ, claiming Lilly is no longer a threat, and approaches him, asking for the gun in AJ's hands.

In-Game Decision
Tell AJ to shoot Lilly (Alive): Clementine tells AJ to kill Lilly, and AJ does so promptly. After AJ repeatedly shoots her, James tells him to stop.

Tell AJ to lower the gun (Undead): Clementine tells to AJ to lower the gun. He approaches AJ and he gives James the gun, James smiles at this and is glad he did not kill Lilly. Suddenly he is stabbed in the back by Lilly with the knife that had been stuck in her leg. He falls to the floor and is quickly seen bleeding to death from his injury on the floor.

Say nothing (Undead): James will grab AJ's gun out of his hand before he can pull the trigger. The scene then plays out as though AJ was told to lower the gun.

"Take Us Back"
James will appear in this episode either alive or as a walker, depending on if Lilly was killed in the previous episode or not. If James is alive, he helps the group escape from a herd of walkers by leading them into a network of limestone caves. Enraged by Clementine telling AJ to kill Lilly, James attacks her and tries to take AJ away, threatening to break her leg if she tries to stop him. If Clem accuses him of breaking his vow of pacifism, James will respond that she pushed him past his limits. However, AJ lacerates James' palm to get away and breaks up the fight by confessing he enjoyed killing Lilly; stating that he'll gladly kill anyone who threatens him or Clementine. Seeing that Clem is just as horrified by this as he is, James permits her to try to talk AJ out of becoming a bloodthirsty murderer.

When counter arguing James' point about his philosophy, if she tells him anything else other than that he can't force it upon others, he will leave the cave in anger, leaving his mask behind to be picked up by AJ. If Clementine does tell him that he can't force his philosophy onto others, he will stay, however as the walkers enter the cave, James pulls out his knives and offers to buy time for the others to escape while also regarding them to be safe.

For the remainder of the episode, James' fate is left unknown. However according to Kent Mudle, he is alive and is remaining in the forest but is no longer on speaking terms with Clementine.

If James was killed in the previous episode, Clementine, AJ, and Tenn will encounter a zombified James in the cave as he attempts to pursue them. When the three make it to the other side of a stream and go deeper into the cave, AJ tells Clementine that there is nothing after death, and that when he looked into James' eyes, he wasn't there. James is then seen looking up at the sealing of the cave.

Death (Determinant)
After Clementine, AJ, Tenn, and James took care of Lilly's people, they set their sights on her. Injured from Clementine's knife stuck in her leg, Lilly fell to the ground, begging for her life. Clementine either remains silent or tells AJ to lower his gun, and he does. James, appreciative, approaches AJ to take the gun, however, he is stabbed in the back by Lilly, who had been feigning her defeat all along. James is seen on the ground struggling to breathe, but the decision results confirm that he bled out on the deck and died. Given that his brain wasn't destroyed, he later turns and follows Clementines group to a cave.
 * Killed By
 * Himself (Indirectly Caused)
 * Clementine (Indirectly Caused, Determinant)
 * Lilly (Alive)

Killed Victims
This list shows the victims James has killed:
 * Himself (Indirectly Caused, Determinant) 
 * 1 unnamed Whisperer
 * Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people

Clementine
Clementine and James have a bit of a stable relationship as they trust each other on some occasions. Their relationship is mostly determined by Clementine’s choices. When he saw that Clementine and AJ were in danger, he uses walkers to help them escape from Lilly and Abel. After saving her from her fate of being killed by walkers, he helps get the shrapnel out of AJ’s wound that he sustained from Abel earlier. While they are resting at his camp, he offers an apple to Clementine and AJ. Clementine can choose whether to accept or decline the apple. It is hinted that he trusts her as he reveals his past before the apocalypse. Clementine can choose weather to tell him she originally came from Georgia or not. Either way, he lets her stay at the camp for the night. He then guides them back to the boarding school. After Willy alerts everyone that Clementine is back, Clementine offers James to stay with them, but he declines, saying that he is not ready. Later on after two weeks, Clementine needs help from James to help bring a walker horde to ambush the Delta’s ship that is docked somewhere. After helping him get his walker mask, he wants Clementine to understand that there may be people inside walkers. After this, he decides to help her with the attack. Near the end of the third episode, James may be disappointed at Clementine for having AJ shoot Lilly dead. If Lilly was killed by AJ, James' relationship with Clementine is severed and becomes hostile, attacking her and threatening to break her leg if she tries to stop him. If Lilly was spared, then after witnessing Lilly stabbing James in the back, Clementine looks in horror as he is fatally wounded and falls down onto the deck.

Alvin Jr.
AJ and James have a good relationship as AJ trusts James. Their relationship is a little bit determined by Clementine’s choices. He saves both AJ and Clementine from walkers and helps AJ while he was injured by Abel. He lets him and Clementine stay at his camp for the night. He later offers an apple for him to eat as he was hungry. The next morning, he leads them back to the boarding school as AJ needed more help than what James had. After two weeks, Clementine and AJ seek help from James, who can lead walkers to other places. He trusts them enough to use his walkers for the attack. Soon towards the end of the episode, depending on Clementine’s choice in the end whether to shoot Lilly dead or spare her. If Clementine tells AJ to shoot, AJ will coldly shoot Lilly’s corpse after killing her, much to James’ horror and shock. After escaping into a cave, James will act hostile and try to take AJ away from Clementine, believing that he can raise AJ better. If AJ is told not to shoot Lilly, he will be happy with AJ for a short period before he is stabbed by Lilly. AJ is then left in shock and horror as he watches James as he bleeds out on the deck.

Lilly
Lilly and James don't interact that much, but the few interactions between them show their hostility towards each other. He dislikes their methods of capturing survivors and training them to fight in their wars. James seems to know details about the battle Delta are fighting and says he didn't want to be a part of it. Lilly highly dislikes the Whisperers, and isn't fond of James due to the fact that he was a Whisperer. Nearing the end of the episode, if AJ is told not to shoot Lilly, she will use a knife to stab James in the back, fatally wounding him. She shows no remorse for his death.

Abel
Abel and James aren't seen interacting, but it can be assumed that James considers Abel to be a bad person due to his involvement with Delta. He dislikes their methods of capturing survivors and training them to fight in their wars. James seems to know details about the battle Delta are fighting and says he didn't want to be a part of it. Abel's feelings towards James are unknown, but he probably would hold the same dislike for him.

Tennessee
While James and Tenn barely interact, James protects Tenn from being killed by Lilly on deck of the Delta’s ship. If he survives “Broken Toys”, he may buy Tenn, Clementine, and AJ some time from the walkers, showing that he views him as an ally.

Season 4

 * "Suffer The Children"
 * "Broken Toys"
 * "Take Us Back" (Alive or Zombified)

Trivia

 * James was a big fan of horror movies.
 * James is the first and only member of the Whisperers to appear in the Video Game.
 * This also marks the ninth time a member/ex-member/future member of an established group from the comic series has crossed over into the video game, the first seven being Hershel Greene, Shawn Greene, Glenn, Michonne, Pete, Siddiq, Elodie, and Jesus.
 * He is the first to not actually appear in the comics.
 * James reveals to Clementine that he hasn't used his name in a while, referring to the Whisperers not using their names and using terms like "Alpha" and "Beta" instead.
 * James reveals to Clementine before the rescue mission that he had a boyfriend named Charlie and shows her a photograph of the two. They split after James left the group due to the violent nature of the Whisperers.
 * James is the only determinant character with an alive or undead status.
 * James is one of twelve LGBT characters to appear in the game, the others being his ex-boyfriend Charlie, Matthew, Walter, Zachary, Jonas, Paige, Javier García, Paul Monroe, Violet, Minerva, and Clementine.
 * This makes him one of the two characters in the video game series to become an determinant antagonist, the other being Jonas and Violet.
 * If James died, the survivors will make a symbolic grave for him.
 * James has displayed several traits of being a pacifist.
 * He left the Whisperers because he refused to help them attack a community.
 * He resents the Delta for engaging in acts of war.
 * He asks Clementine to spare walkers instead of killing them.
 * He shows genuine concern for the undead and mourns how Clementine killed some within the herd that he sent.
 * He is upset if Clementine vows to take vengeance on Lilly and Abel.
 * He advocates for Clementine to spare Lilly. If Clementine does spare Lilly, then she will kill him.
 * James is one of the twenty-seven characters with confirmed ages. The others being Lee Everett (37), Duck (10), Glenn (22), Sarah (15), Anna Correa (28), Luke (26-27), Clementine (Season 1: 8-9, Season 2: 11, Season 3: 13, Season 4: 16), Alvin (43), Alvin Jr. (Season 2: 0, Season 3: 2, Season 4: 5), Samantha Fairbanks (22), Paige (22), Greg Fairbanks (16), James Fairbanks (13), Alex Fairbanks (7), Mariana García (10), Gabriel García (14), Violet (18), Louis (18), Marlon (18-19), Brody (18-19), Aasim (18-19), Tennessee (12), Willy (12), Omar (15-16), Ruby (17-18), and Mitch (17-18).