Herbert Friedman

Herbert Friedman
Full name	Herbert Friedman
Date of birth	September 30th, 1859
Age	144 (chronologically) 62 (appearance)
Gender	Male
Status	Deceased
Relations	Leonard (Twin Brother) Elisabeth Wickson (Sister-in-law) Jedidiah (nephew)
Occupation	Principal of Leafmore High
Appearance	ObsCure ObsCure II (mentioned)Final Exam

"Yes... take advantage of the sunshine while it lasts..."

Herbert Friedman is the main antagonist in ObsCure. He is the principal of Leafmore High School and the brother of Leonard Friedman. Herbert is responsible for the alleged kidnappings of missing students both in the past as well as the present. He makes a reappearance in the 2013 spin-off series, Final Exam.

Background

The Friedman brothers were close and shared a common and mutual interest in both science and Africa. This is where they spent time collecting unknown plant specimens. However, their lives changed when they found the Mortifilia plant. It was a mysterious plant that emitted spores with immense regenerative and youth restorative properties.

Herbert and his brother, Leonard, experimented with the plant in the hopes that its regenerative capabilities could be transferred to a human body.

Sadly, their attempts at gaining recognition and grants for their work failed as their experiments were considered too morally and spiritually controversial. The Delta Theta Gamma Brotherhood was interested in their research, but they rejected their help. The brothers needed a way to test what they'd created without anyone knowing, and in a desperate attempt to prove his theory, Leonard decided to inject himself with the serum he and his brother had made before exposing himself to sunlight.

Unfortunately, the spores reacted in a way that neither of the twins expected. Leonard's body began to mutate to the point that Herbert had to lock him in a lab underneath their estate, in the depths underneath the school. Without any proper fund to build a lab to create a cure for his brother, he used his remaining asset to build a high school so he could use students as guinea pigs, but even the students weren't enough.

Desperate, Herbert sought after the Delta Theta Gamma Brotherhood for help and they sent him further lab rats for his experiment. Herbert began experimenting on students alongside Leonard's wife Elisabeth Lucy Wickson, hoping to find the means to reverse the process. As time went on without a cure, Herbert and Elizabeth eventually exposed themselves to the spores. Fortunately for Herbert Friedman and Leonard's wife, Elizabeth Lucy Wickson, they managed to have some splendid results: They found a source of immortality and were able to make use of it. Although they had become immortal, they had to avoid direct sunlight.

Leafmore Incident

As the story progresses, the students/player(s) would discover what the cruel and selfish man had in mind. In the depths within where Kenny was kidnapped, there lay an underground facility where the "missing" students were held and being experimented on for Friedman's own scientific and medical ambitions. It appears that Herbert used the students as his guinea pigs for his experiments with some plant spores plaguing the school, with these experiments turning into the enemies that students encounter.

Later in the game, it is revealed that Herbert did not have money to fund a proper facility for his infected brother.

Trivia

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Audio of Friedman, apparently ordering a monster to stop (Spanish).

• There's an audio clip in the game's files that suggests that Herbert was able to give the monsters orders. (Note: The audio file included here is from the Spanish version of the game. It translates to: "That's enough. I want him alive"). This audio file seems like it would've played in the game's intro if Kenny does not make it to the ladder in time, which would explain why even if you get killed in this scene, Kenny will still be alive later.
• As seen in the recordings, Herbert was the one who locked Kenny in the basement, and likely also the bag thief in the beginning. The prologue was likely Herbert's attempt at abducting another student.

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