Ernst

Ernst is Viktor Fleischer's most powerful and twisted undead experiments.

Appearance
Ernst is a giant of a man, towering over the many survivors he comes across. Upon his head he wears an iron mask made of several strip sections that can open up to reveal his true zombie like face. His skin is blue in hue and stitched onto a bloody head, his eyes are completely milk white, lacking working eyes. The bolts sticking out of his mask are also sticking out of his face.

He wears a tattered trench coat stained with dry blood from his various kills. On his waist he wears a belt with various torture devices attached to it. He wears a brown pair of trousers, and buckled boots.

Ernst has a pair of chains located in his hands that he can shoot out to spear victims and enemies.

History
Prior to the events of Rise of Nightmares, Ernst was a perfectly normal human being and he and his wife Yeli were kidnapped by Viktor Fleischer who holds them captive and performs cruel experiments on them in order to their life force, a substance known as O Zhuvindo. After the two somehow escape their cell, Ernst offers to act as a decoy to attract the 'Altered' allowing Yeli enough time to escape the castle. His plan works and his wife manages to escape, but he himself is unfortunately captured again, experiemented on and eventually altered into the masked monstrosity he is today.

Ernst's first physical appearance in the game is pursuing Aaron and Katja, a pair of European survivors who are terrified by the creature having seen him killed survivors and run into a death trap as a result of attempting to escape him, being crushed to death between a pair of moving walls.

Ernst first appears within the game's main story kidnapping Kate, Josh's wife, after having slaughtered several passengers within the same train car as her. Two military men attempt to stop Ernst, training their guns on him, but he throws out his drill tipped spear chain slicing them clean in half before fleeing the train, derailing the cart the pursuing Josh and Yeli(who was also aboard and recognised him) and causing it to crash.

The survivors of the train crash make their way to an island cave as something is killing the survivors in the woods. Whilst exploring the cave, they come across a manor on the other side, and begin to explore it. One survivor gets beheaded and thrown into a wall, with Ernst being the creature responsible for her death, before he closes in on Josh, subduing but not killing him, delivering him to his master.

Ernst is next seen as a roaming antagonist after Josh escapes. Ernst's eyes are very poor but his hearing is acute. forcing Josh to either freeze and hide to escape Ernst, who will instantly kill him if he catches him, or run away from the monster hoping Ernst cannot catch up with him. Ernst continues to patrol, catching the survivor Jane by surprise, pulling her out of a wall. Josh continues to avoid Ernst as best he can until he obtains the powerful eldritch weapon Azoth, which allows him to overcome Ernst when Viktor sets him on him specifically.

The fight allows Ernst to regain his memories and humanity for a moment, which allows him to help aid Josh and Kate, giving them a chance to escape, asking them to tell Yeli that he loves her when they see her again. Viktor, angered by Ernst's betrayal, executes Ernst.

Ernst's body is later used as a vessel for Josh's mind, when Viktor snatches his body to fool Kate. Whilst trapped in Ernst's body, Josh is imprisoned by Viktor (in Josh's body) in a prison cell, but is rescued by Aaron and Katja accidentally when they open his cage whilst trying to escape. Josh attempts to catch up to them to help them in turn, causing the two to get caught in that trap seen earlier in the game. Josh continues through the mansion pursuing Viktor and Kate, using Ernst's body to fight off the Altered.

Josh eventually comes across Yeli, who offers to help Josh get his own body back, transporting Josh into Viktor's dream realm. Josh defeats Viktor, managing to force the Viktor parasite from his body and regaining control, but this causes Yeli to die as a result. She dies holding Ernst's dead body, embracing her husband as she passes.

Trivia

 * When playing as Josh in the beginning of the game, he can look in a bathroom mirror and briefly see a flash of Ernst's reflection looking back at him. This was likely foreshadow for the later events of the game.
 * Ernst's mask opens up when he hears an enemy.
 * Ernst appears as a purchasable outfit for male Xbox users Avatars.