Cree

Cree
A Cree totem pole.
Type	Indigenous First Nation Tribe
Appearances	1400s-1850s
Location	Blackwood Mountain
Inhabitants	Algonquian Tribe Members

The Cree is a group of Algonquin-speaking Native Americans. They represent the largest group of the First Nations in Canada, with a total number of 220,000 members, and 135 registered bands.

The Cree have great influence over the story of Until Dawn.

History and Legends

From the 1400s until the 1850s, the Cree inhabitated Blackwood Mountain, which they named Mount Madahee. They believed the mountain to be sacred. They foretold prophecies of butterflies guiding ones good or bad fortune, and believed harming any animal on the mountain - or the mountain itself - would bring bad luck to that person and the Cree, and so they would hunt elsewhere. The Cree's shamans also told of many legends, one being of a tall creature "born in ice," and called it the Wendigo. It is said to cause their victims a feeling of insatiable hunger and the desire to eat other humans.

The Cree's inhabitance came to an end when European explorers and mining concerns arrived in the area in 1893, eager to make their fortune through tin and radium. They mined deep into the sacred mountain, harming it greatly. The Cree says at that moment the mountain cried out and the Wendigo spirit was released, initiating its curse. Decades later, another group of miners came to dynamite the mountain in 1952. During that period, the spirit still cursed the mountain and a terrible fate grasped onto the miners after being trapped in a cave-in, turning half of them into Wendigos after cannibalizing the dead miners.

Cree legends claim that a Wendigo can grow from the bite of another Wendigo, but the bite is harmless. There is only one way: if any man or woman resorts to cannibalism on the mountain, the spirit is unleashed, transforming them from a human into a Wendigo.

According to Melinda Washington's Native American Letter, it is believed the people of the tribe still feel an attachment to the land of their ancestors.

Signs and Symbols

A protective shrine found in the mine, either originally put there by the Cree or copied by Jack.

The Cree protected themselves against the Wendigo by performing rituals and constructing artifacts to ward it off and keep its presence at bay.

According to the Native American Book, which can be found in the cabin, hunters of tribes such as the Cree used signs and symbols to communicate with other tribe members. Some symbols told of fortunate hunting grounds, while others warned of danger, as they believed some symbols were a genuine protection against evil: the Mystical Symbol, drawn as a deer skull in various places, serves as protection against evil spirits. The symbol can be found when Mike and Jessica walk through the mineshaft in Chapter 2, or when Sam explores the mines in Chapter 10.

The Stranger eventually found the native artifacts of the Cree on the mountain, including totems, herbs and feathers. He copied these artifacts and placed them on the mountain. The artifacts will only work on the mountain and keep the Wendigo at bay. But inside buildings, they do not work.

Notes

• Although the location of Blackwood Mountain is fictional, the Cree are a real group of Indigenous people in North America.