 |
This Article Contains Spoilers - WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
| “ | Wow, great job... Please try and do worse though I need t- [Glitching] |
„ |
| ~ Null to the Explorer Student - his most famous quote.
|
Null, also known as filename2, is the overarching antagonist of the Baldi's Basics video game series.
He is a guy from the real world who accidentally gets teleported to a world full of ugly and low-polymer models, resulting in him being trapped in the world, especially in a school, and turning into an invisible and glitched human. While trapped in the school, Null would learn about the backstory of the school's owner and the eye-like entity that would monitor him in the school.
Several years ago after learning all the clues from the school, when the building was about to close, he saw a student who wanted to return to the school again where his friend had left seven notebooks because of the eating practice, then he targeted the student by controlling all the staff and students at the end and telling him to destroy the game. However, after telling the student off several times for not listening and continuing his journey with the lore, he eventually decided to chase him at the end of the fight, before finally being erased from the world.
He is voiced by game creator Micah James "Mystman12" McGonigal, who also voiced Professor Baldi Baldimore, Playtime, It's a Bully, Principal of the Thing, Gotta Sweep, and Dr. Reflex in the same series.
Why Isn't He Heroic Nor Villainous?
- Although Null can be considered villainous due to his desire to destroy Baldi's world, he is not on the Villains Wiki due to not having enough information on his crimes, the ramifications of destroying the game world, or even if anyone aside from him could be considered "sentient". As such, any crimes he does commit fall too heavily into fridge horror to fully count.
- While he does technically go after the player in NULL Style, he is aware that he is in a video game and incapable of harming the player. All he does is force the game to shut down.
- While Null tries to warn the player about the potential danger that the game can cause, trying to get them to stop playing and destroy the game, there is absolutely no elaboration on this, making his claims dubious at best.
Appearance
Null is a floating invisible humanoid entity wearing a red T-shirt and blue jeans, permanently stuck in a T-pose. Null's hair, eyebrows, and eyes are the only parts of his body fully visible, the rest seems to be crudely removed the sprite. A notable dithering effect can be seen around his body.
As revealed in a secret post-NULL Style crash screen, Null appears to be a regular human with fair skin.
Prior to Classic Remastered, Null's sprite was far more high-quality. Little to no dithering was present on his sprite, and anti-aliasing was still enabled.
Personality
Null is a sentient real-world entity, seemingly the only one considered truly "sentient" in the game world. When speaking, he not only breaks the fourth wall directly to the player, but he also speaks to one of the students in the school building, Explorer Student. Given that he cannot really interact with other characters, his opinions of the other characters are unclear. His presence in the game world changes the behavior of the owner of both school buildings, Baldimore, in other words controlling the teacher's mind, although it is unclear whether this is intentional or not.
In his first appearance, Null is quite friendly towards Explorer Student with his desire to destroy the game world. While he seems to want to protect him from delving deeper into the game world and whatever caused him to be in this state, Null is unable to explain further, due to interference censoring him. He carries a somewhat panicked tone, but also seems to crack jokes about the haunting of video game tropes.
As time goes on, Null becomes increasingly upset, fully aware that people are playing the game and are intentionally seeking him out. Now that every interaction seems to cause him physical pain, Null begins to act sarcastic and cynical towards whoever is listening, barely containing the fact that he's grown tired of having to deal with the game's state getting worse and worse.
His anger reaches a boiling point as Explorer Student begins to scour every nook and cranny of the game to find him, feeling that everything he says will never get through to anyone, leading to him going on a rampage to force the game to shut down. During his titular mode, Null is much more rude and arrogant, going out of his way to make Explorer Student become distorted and stretched; much like his teacher Baldi did in the original game's secret ending.
Biography
Backstory
Note: According to a hidden message on the Basically, Games! website, NULL just showed up in the game one day. Mystman12 allegedly didn't really think of deleting him, seeing it as fodder for potential theories to be made.
Since Null's origins are still ambiguous, there are some hints that the game seems to give a glimpse of him in a rare post-NULL Style crash screen that occurs randomly after he disappears in NULL Style. In this rare crash screen Null appears without any visible body parts next to a lake. The image of the lake then changes, his screams are heard as he disappears from the image and then bit by bit the image of the lake completely disintegrates, before the game closes.
It can be inferred that the lake is the last location Null was seen in the real world, before he was teleported to the Baldi's Basics world, which is implied to be after he drowned in the lake.
Introduction
Null's voice (or at that time Null's name was not revealed yet) is first heard after all seven notebooks are collected, interrupting Baldi by yelling (or controlling his mind). He is then heard again during the normal ending screen via telepathy, as he congratulates Baldi's student, the Explorer Student, but tells him to do worse because he needs something the next day. The Explorer Student listens to him and will return to Baldi's teacher's school the next day.
After answering every math question wrong in all seven notebooks and completing the game, once the Explorer Student reaches the final exit, he is transported to a short hallway near Baldi's teacher's office, who tells him to go to Baldi's Office for repairs. Instead of meeting Baldi's teacher and upon entering the office, he is instead met by the Entity who is seen standing behind a desk with a banana to his right floating above him, accompanied by Baldi with his sprite distorted and stretched; as it is suspected that the Entity stole the true power of the head teacher of the Schoolhouse. The Entity seems surprised by the arrival of one of Baldi's students and warns him to never tell anyone about the game, to close it, destroy it, and never play it again. Once the Entity finishes his speech, the game will crash.
Name revealed
Several months after the events of Classic, despite what the Entity tells the Explorer Student, he ignores him and continues on his way to his teacher Baldi's school. This is likely because he wants to know the "lore" behind the world of Baldi's Basics, the world he and his teacher Baldi live in. After answering all of the Math Machines correctly and then answering the six bonus questions correctly, the Explorer Student will be given a Portal Poster, where he must then use it in class with the Safety Scissors poster inside. This will reveal a ladder leading to Baldi's Basement. When the Explorer Student enters the room with the shrink machine inside, the Entity will appear behind him, asking him why he hasn't destroyed the game yet, before going on to explain that he knows that he wants to know the lore of the game world.
However, the Entity tells him to stop doing that and that for once he should listen to him. Also, the Entity tells the Explorer Student that he doesn't have a real name, so the most logical thing to call him is "Null". Eventually, the Entity, now revealed to be Null by his nickname, tells the Explorer Student that he is sick of everyone playing this game world and even though he could get in trouble for it, he decides to force the game to crash.
Glitched school
Normal ending
One year after the events of Demo Style, despite Null's last warning, the Explorer Student still ignores him a third time and continues on his teacher's birthday journey.
Null can be found in the Principal's office, if the player uses the "Dangerous Teleporter", or enters the code 53045009 (this only works in Birthday Bash) into the You Can Think Pad after the glitched school goes dark. He is once again surprised by the Explorer Student's cleverness in finding him but disappointed that he has not yet destroyed the game. He warns him again that something bad will happen if he does not destroy the game in time. After he finishes speaking, the game crashes again.
Second alternate ending
If the player lets the Baldloons spawn, then goes to the Principal's office, Null is left speechless and starts yelling at the Explorer Student about why he didn't destroy the game world, instead panicking as the world begins to fall apart. This ending also causes the game to crash.
Finale
The Boss Battle
After beating any style with all Fun Settings activated, the player unlocks NULL Style.
Null is fed up with the Explorer Student not listening to him. So he decides to face him in a new game style, which is very different from the others.
Null has all the abilities of Baldi, but improved, being smarter than Baldi himself. He listens every time the Explorer Student grabs a notebook and he doesn't make any noise when moving. Also, unlike Baldi and the rest of the original cast, he can sees through the windows and even break them to try to catch the Explorer Student.
After the Explorer Student manages to grab all the notebooks and tries to leave the school as usual, Null closes the last exit, something that shouldn't happen, thus breaking the game. But the Explorer Student doesn't give up, he grabs nearby objects and throws them at Null to try to defeat him once and for all. Every time Null is hit by an objects, he becomes faster and also tries to block the Explorer Student's path with random objects that block the corridor. After the Explorer Student throws 10 hits at Null, he fails to defeat him and the Explorer Student is teleported to Mystman12's office.
Presumed death
In the office, there is a message from Micah "Mystman12" McGonial himself, congratulating the Explorer Student on completing the game's most difficult challenge and revealing that almost everything in the game is irrelevant to the direction the series is going to take. After he closes the book, Null appears in the office, stating that everything in it was a lie. Trying hard to glitch the game so that it closes normally, Null seems to overexert his powers, his coughing and glitching getting worse. Realizing that something is wrong, he screams, screaming as his body begins to distort and deform before suddenly being erased.
After Null is defeated, the game is heavily changed. His influence on it was scrubbed clean, and his endings were changed to Baldi simply having a good time with the Explorer Student.
Null can only show up one final time after the game's completion. Upon getting a game over after completing NULL Style, there is a low chance for a photo of a lake to appear, the sounds of intense glitching soon following. Null's skin, the thing that was missing throughout the entire game, shows up, before Null screams in agony, removed from the game once and for all.
Post-Baldi's Basics
In the beginning of the April of 2024, the error page for Basically, Games! website started to glitch out, endlessly repeating the words "Null", seemingly the workings of either him or Mystman12 trying to communicate. As part of an Alternate Reality Game started with the release of Classic Remastered, participants were involved in a hunt to try and solve the passcode, seemingly to try and get Null to return.
Upon finding the correct password, a message from Mystman12 was recovered. Null is present in each and every copy of Baldi's Basics Classic Remastered, and he disappears once the game is reverted back to its original state. While nothing not already known, and that although he will likely be removed from Plus no matter what, the message leaves the possibility that Null could return in the future in someone else's work, perhaps stubbornly staying in it just as he had done with this game before.
Quotes
Classic
| “ | Oh jeepers! You found me! Good job I'm glad you found me... Look I have something- Kind of important... To say. [Glitching] It's about the game, uh- Don't [Glitching] Ah- Ooh- Don't- [Glitching] Don't- [Laughing] This is... This is probably looking pretty ridiculous. [Glitching] Don't tell anyone about this game. You wanna- Don't- Don't bring attention to yourself. Destroy- Destroy the game. Destroy the game... Before it's too late. [Glitching] -at I'm saying is... Y- Get out of this while you still can. [Glitching] Just, don't- Don't- No, uh- You probably- No I'm not someone trapped inside the game, that would be ridiculous no, um... [Glitching] can't- This isn't- I'm not- The game is kind of- [Glitching] I got really corrupted. Yeah, I- [Glitching] I don't know what to say. Just- Just trust me. You gotta- [Glitching] This isn't- This seems... I- Yeah it seems- Oh- [Glitching] "Vague?" No, I "Vague intentionally?"... That's, I guess... I can't- I can't tell you e- Some stuff is classified. I can't say it. [Glitching] ish I could say more... I can't talk normally, I It's corrupted... There's [Glitching] Yeah... [Glitching] Just... Close the program. Destroy it. Never come back. | „ |
| ~ Secret ending in the original game.
|
Birthday Bash
| “ | Jeepers. You found me again? Wow... [Glitching] You must be pretty clever. I didn't think you'd find me here. Umm, well... [Glitching] You sure aren't clever enough to listen to me! I told you to destroy this game before something bad hap- [Glitching] You know... This is more bad than good, I have- [Coughing] It's weird, it's... Completely dif [Glitching] unfinished. [Glitching] I don't- Idiot- [Glitching] -cided it would be a great idea to produce the demo completely separated from the ma- [Glitching] Oh my gosh... Heh, haha- [Coughing] [Glitching] Just listen to me, and uh... Stop messing around with this- [Glitching] [Coughing] I don't know why I'm... Coughing. [Coughing] How does- [Glitching] sick [Glitching] That's besides that fact that I- I'm really [Glitching] Look, I told you once. This is the last time I'm gonna tell you. DESTROY THIS GAME! Don't let anybody else know about it. Before [Glitching] [Coughing] [Glitching] something terrible happens to you. | „ |
| ~ Secret ending in Birthday Bash
|
Classic Remastered
Party Style
| “ | Jeepers. You found me again? Wow... [Glitching] You must be pretty clever. I didn't think you'd find me here. Umm, well... [Glitching] You sure aren't clever enough to listen to me! I told you to destroy this game before something bad hap [Glitching] It's weird, it's... Completely dif [Glitching] unfinished. [Glitching] I don't- Idiot [Glitching] cided it would be a great idea to produce [Glitching] Oh my gosh... Heh, haha- [Coughing] [Glitching] Just listen to me, and uh... Stop messing around with this [Glitching] [Coughing] I don't know why I'm... Coughing. [Coughing] [Glitching] sick [Glitching] That's besides that fact that I- I'm really- [Glitching] Look, I told you once. This is the last time I'm gonna tell you. DESTROY THIS GAME! Don't let anybody else know about it. Before- [Glitching] [Coughing] [Glitching] something terrible happens. | „ |
| ~ First secret ending
|
| “ | Look what you've done. LOOK WH(AT) [Glitching] |
„ |
| ~ Second secret ending
|
Demo Style
| “ | Wha-? Wha-? What are you doing-? What are you doing down here?! [Glitching] Why won't you listen to me? [Glitching] You know what I think I get it! You don't realize... [Glitching] You just wanna know, [Chuckles] the- Oh- [Glitching] the- right, you want to explore to figure out the lore. I get it. Well, hehe, lucky for you [Glitching] re's a lot of lore down here, yeah! Yeah, did you see that [Glitching] those books? That was- Huh yeah that was weird huh? And oh! How about this room? How about this right here? [Glitching] This weird conspiracy... Billboard thing! That's- Yeah! Oh- You don't even- You can't even begin to know. [Glitching] Did you know my- My name is- is "Null"? [Glitching] Not- Not- [Glitching] Not literally "Null" it's just- My name- I have no name [Glitching] the most sensical thing to call me is "Null", but uh... That's- That's not the point! [Glitching] Look... Okay, look. I know you're very... accustomed to there be [Glitching] figure out the story and the lore! But I'm telling you [Glitching] forget all that... And uh [Glitching] Just never, uh, come here again! I'm getting really angr [Glitching] cause some serious problems. You're gonna- You're gonna bring about some reall [Glitching] bad things if you keep on [Glitching] you shouldn't mess with. Um. Um. Ohhhh! I wi- [Glitching] ish I could tell you- Just tell you, hehe, but I can't... Uhhhhhh [Glitching] at You know what? I'm just gonna force close the game. Um I can do that. Uh, I might get in trouble for it, [Glitching] na do it, because I'm fed up with you. I'm fed up with anybody who [Glitching] Who plays this game, and I'm fed up [Glitching] I'm fed up with the whole world okay? So bye! Don't play this ga [Glitching] Destroy it. Please. For crying out lo [Glitching] Destroy it. Please take me seriously for once. Bye. | „ |
| ~ Secret ending in Demo Style
|
NULL Style
| “ | Are you bored yet? | „ |
| ~ Null |
| “ | I've had enough! I've had enough. | „ |
| ~ Null
|
| “ | Hey! Wherever you are I'm gonna find you, so you might as well just quit the game now! | „ |
| ~ Null yells to the Explorer Student.
|
| “ | There's nowhere you can hide. | „ |
| ~ Null |
| “ | !emaaaaaaaaaaag eht yortseD !emag eht yortseD !emag eht yortseD !emag eht yortseD |
„ |
| ~ Null scares the Explorer Student.
|
| “ | Let's see. No items. You're out of stam [Glitching] and uhh I'm faster than you. Uh-oh! Looks like you're gonna lose and there's liter [Glitching] nothing you can do. | „ |
| ~ if the player has no items and is out of stamina.
|
| “ | Please stop. After [Glitching] ing you've experienced in these games, do you really think the ending i [Glitching] worth your time? | „ |
| ~ Null
|
| “ | Aha! You idiot! You- You really thought that you could actually beat this? No no no no. [Glitching] No. No, you see, I've closed the last exit. [Glitching] Which means there's literally no w- [Glitching] -ay you can win. That- That's not supposed to happen! There's nothing you can DO now! So- [Glitching] quit the game... and NEVER [Glitching] ck. PLEASE! Just PLEASE! [Unintelligible] Just leave. Just leave and [Unintelligible] Just... STOP! [Glitching] sten to me!.. Oh my gosh... Oh- [Glitching] I... I... [sigh] IUUHHH [Glitching] EEEHHH I don't even know what else to say, 'cuz I've said everything- I can. I've said EVERYTHING that [Glitching] You- You need to know to KNOW that YOU SH- [Glitching] and just GIVE UP! [Stuttering] Game's broken. I [Glitching] I BROKE the GAME. There's NOTHING you can DO now. So just... Quit! Just quit it! [Glitching] JUST QUIT IT! I'D LIKE YOU TO GO!!! Okay?! Understand? Okay. I'm waiting. | „ |
| ~ Null before starting the boss fight.
|
| “ | Hmmm. [Glitching] Just waiting for you to close the game. [Frustrated inhale through nostrils] Nothin' else you can do. This is it. GAME OVER [Glitching] -just waiting. You can quit whenever you feel like it. Or you can just... Stay here... So ummm... While nothing happens... Yeah. Um... [Glitching] Yep. Just go ahead and quit the game. Don't just um... Sittin' here. Standin' here. | „ |
| ~ The looping voice that plays before Null gets hit by an object thrown by the Explorer Student, subsequent to the voice at the beginning.
|
| “ | AAAGHH | „ |
| ~ Null gets hit by an object.
|
| “ | Hehehe- Okay, okay! You know what? You are really going to regret that one. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! |
„ |
| ~ Null’s breakdown after getting hit by an object for the first time.
|
| “ | Ah, I see you found a note from the "developer." We [Glitching] this is what I think of that [Glitching] everyone else who tell [Glitching] same lies! GRRRRAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! [Coughing] Gosh- I- [Glitching] Oh- [Glitching] Ohhhh- [Glitching] I need... To keep calm. [Glitching] One... Two... Three... Four... Okay. I know why you keep playing- [Glitching]. -game. It's because you honestly think- [Glitching] is a game. You're not taking my- [Glitching] -arning seriously. Well let me spell it out for you: THIS [Glitching] A GAME. [Glitching] -I said it! Heck, you've probably never- Played anything that's- [Intense glitching] -t a game. Guess what? just because all you- [Intense glitching] doesn't mean [Intense glitching] UH- OOH- AAH- NO- [Intense glitching] OOGH- [Glitching] -AAH- U- AAH [Glitching] AUGH- [COUGHING]- [Glitching] NOOOOOOOOOO!!! | „ |
| ~ Null’s defeat.
|
Gallery
Images
Renders
Screenshots
Trivia
- Null is the first character to be corrupted in the series.
- Null is actually an edited image of Mystman12 in chroma key, by using GIMP.
- After disappearing from the game, Null will no longer appear in the secret endings, instead being replaced by Baldi.
- The itch.io releases for the original game and Birthday Bash contain Zalgo-text warning players to steer clear of the game. It's likely that these were written by Null, given his motivation.
- Null breaks the fourth wall as he tells the player to delete the game. This does not land him into detention despite the fact that one of the school rules is "No fourth wall breaks", as Principal of the Thing is not around at the time.
- However, Null being found in the Principal's office in Birthday Bash and Party Style of Classic Remastered might imply that the Principal caught him breaking the fourth wall.
- Prior to his name being revealed to be Null, he was conjecturally named
filename2by the Baldi's Basics community due to the filename of his sprite in the files.- The first mention of his new name was in the ending of version 0.3 of Plus, but it was not established as such until the release of Classic Remastered, in the speech that Null gives in Baldi's Basement.
- Null is the only character in the Baldi's Basics series to directly mention the god of the video game universe, the ME. At the end of NULL Style, after the player reads and closes the ME's message, Null refers to him as "the developer".
- NULL Style can technically be unlocked before encountering Null. However, doing so is pointless, as notebooks cannot be picked up, thus preventing Null from ever spawning.
- Although Null was first added in the original game of version 1.3, he was retroactively introduced in the version 1.0 as it wasn't retconned that he was the source of the "GET OUT WHILE YOU STILL CAN!!!" scream until Classic Remastered.
- After completion of the ARG involving him, Null was placed in the public domain under the CC0 1.0 Universal License. While the in-universe justification is as a precaution if he shows up in another game to not cause any legal troubles, it's also stated that Mystman12 no longer has any desire to use Null, with his story seemingly completed in Classic Remastered and is not set to reappear in the full version Plus.
- The license only extends to the character himself. All assets from the original games still belong to Micah McGonigal and Basically Games, LLC.
External Links
- Null on the Baldi's Basics Wiki
|
| ||
|
Canon Corrupted Easter Eggs See Also | ||
