Brown

Brown
The Girl's Dear Friend
Aliases	Filthy Brown The Loyal Dog
Social Rank	N/A
Gender	Male
Age	Unknown
Status	Deceased
Hair color	Light brown
Eye color	Brown
Occupation	Jennifer's companion
Voice actor	N/A

“

The nights were lonely and cold, but you’d always greet me in the morning... Only you greeted me warmly. Thank you so. —Jennifer, remembering Brown.

”

Brown is one of the main characters of Rule of Rose and was Jennifer's pet Labrador Retriever and her loyal companion. He was very protective of Jennifer, helping her throughout the game and was essentially her only true friend.

Brown is also used as an important gameplay device. His sense of smell helps Jennifer find hidden items.

Gameplay

Brown accompanies Jennifer throughout the game after she frees him from rope using scissors in the Sector 9 Turbine Area and returns his collar.

Brown will respond to Jennifer's commands. Jennifer can command Brown to track items by scent, "stay," and be called to her side. Brown cannot attack enemies (except for gnawing at Hoffman's leg, although this only stuns him and does not damage him). Instead, Brown growls, which distracts some Imps and bosses, allowing Jennifer to retreat or land a few blows without fear of retaliation. Brown can not die; he can only be injured to the point of collapse, causing him to stop distracting enemies or tracking an item.

Brown getting a scent.

Brown's ability to locate items is an integral part of the game, used in every chapter of Rule of Rose to progress further. The same system allows the player to find health restoratives and other items which, while not essential to complete the game, can help the player. Players select an item from the inventory for Brown to locate, which is then connected to the "find" command until changed or removed. Every item selected this way can be used to find at least one type of item. When tracking items this way, Brown can lead the player through the game environments, scratching at doors in his way for the player to open.

Most health restoring foods and all tradable items are hidden and must be uncovered by Brown, though the player can choose to avoid searching for these items in order to progress quickly. Dogfood and other items can be used to restore Brown's health if he becomes injured.

Biography

Brown as a puppy.

Around July 1930, when Brown was still a puppy, he was found by a little girl named Jennifer. Feeling pity for the lonely animal, she decided to adopt him. Jennifer brought him to a nearby shed, which became his home.

Jennifer named the puppy "Brown" and eventually came to love and care for him as her best friend. Because of him, Jennifer felt something that she never felt before during her days in the orphanage: happiness and love. She gave him a collar with his name engraved on it, and the bond between the two grew stronger as Jennifer visited him every day.

THIS MONTH'S GIFT: FILTHY BROWN.

Jennifer decided to introduce Brown to her only human friend, Wendy, another child at Rose Garden Orphanage. Jennifer felt happy introducing her new friend to such a lonely child, suggesting both of them care for Brown together. But sensing that Jennifer loved the dog more than her, Wendy became angry and jealous. Wendy kindly asked Jennifer if she could get rid of the puppy and give it away, in hopes that Jennifer would forget about Brown and continue to have herself as her only companion. Wendy also said that such a "filthy dog" did not deserve to be Jennifer's friend. Unfortunately for Wendy, Jennifer refused her request and continued to take care of Brown.

Wendy gave orders to the Red Crayon Aristocrat Club to make Jennifer suffer in order to make her abandon Brown, but Jennifer never gave up, as she still had the dog to keep her strong. Wendy found her plans weren't going as well as she had thought, so as a last resort, she decided to make a final plan: to kill Brown.

Brown's corpse in the bloody bag.

One night in November 1930, the children secretly took Brown and put him inside a bag. Because Jennifer's memories are fragmented, it is never explicitly shown how Brown died. One theory is that the children beat him to death with sticks, as seen in the beginning of the game if Jennifer looks past the orphanage gate. The bag is later buried in a coffin in the courtyard, so if Brown was still alive by that point, he would have suffocated. Diana, Meg and Eleanor are seen building this coffin in the introduction of the game. It appears Jennifer then dug up the coffin to discover her dead friend. Another possibility is that Brown was strangled with rope due to the rope imagery throughout the game. A final possibility is that Brown was beaten with hammers, as seen in the opening. "The Funeral" storybook also implies Jennifer sacrificed Brown.

In the chapter "The Funeral", which is set during November in Jennifer's dreamscape of memories, Jennifer finds scattered papers addressed from the Aristocrat Club, reading "This month's gift: Filthy Jennifer." Brown's whimpers lead Jennifer to the attic, and on the door, she finds the message "This month's gift: Filthy Brown." Fearing what might have happened to her dearest friend, Jennifer hesitantly enters the room.

Brown's Death

Brown's death.

Inside, Jennifer sees Brown dead inside a bloody bag. Jennifer collapses to the ground as Wendy reveals herself to Jennifer as the leader of the club, and the murderer of Brown. Enraged, Jennifer cries, sobbing angrily before standing up and slapping Wendy to the ground. She then sits on top of the collapsed Wendy and begins to slap her repeatedly, demanding that Wendy "go away" and shouting that she'll never forgive her. Jennifer then retaliates against the Aristocrats, stating that they are far from aristocrats, and are merely a bunch of fools for believing Wendy's lies. Wendy then runs out of the room, sobbing and humiliated.

Rule of Rose

Brown being tortured and tied with a rope.

After Jennifer rescues Brown from being tied with rope, Brown helps Jennifer survive in her dreamscape of childhood memories, helping her on the airship and protecting her against Imps.

Brown doesn't have a particularly strong role in most chapters until "The Funeral" chapter when he disappears and a mentally distraught Jennifer begins to hallucinate Brown's body all around the orphanage, eventually being forced to confront and accept her repressed memory of his death.

In the next chapter, when Stray Dog appears and assaults Jennifer, Brown's memory appears as Jennifer's strength to help assist her.

Jennifer hugging Brown in her memory.

If the player gets the Good ending, they unlock the "Once Upon a Time" chapter, which explains how close Jennifer and Brown were. Jennifer locks Brown inside her memories, promising to protect his memory forever and ever until she dies.

Etymology

It seems that young Jennifer named him Brown because of the color of his fur. This has led fans to joke about how Jennifer is unimaginative and simple, as she is the type who sees a brown dog and would name them Brown just because of that. In a way, this could be seen as something a child would do, and Brown is a major part of Jennifer's childhood. Brown's simplistic name adds to the theme of the game concerning childhood.

The color brown represents wholesomeness and earthiness, as well as steadfastness, simplicity, friendliness, dependability, and health. So not only does his name Brown represent him literally, but also his nature and attitude.

The term "to brown someone" means to depress or irritate. This could relate to Wendy's feelings towards him.

Trivia

Jennifer hugging Brown.

• Originally not included in the game, Brown was added to balance out Jennifer's "helpless and unhappy" personality.[1]

• Much of the game shares similarities to Lord of the Flies. Brown can be compared to many of the characters from the novel that were killed because of bloodlust and a lack of reason. There are some references that compare the pig and the Lord of The Flies from the book to Brown.

• Brown has 4 unlockable costumes: A chair, a Gothic Lolita costume, a crab and a rag doll.

• The player can have Jennifer hug and pet Brown using the O button. Jennifer and Brown must be aligned, with Jennifer standing directly in front of Brown. A light tap on the button will result in a pet, while pressing the button down longer and harder will result in a hug.

The hanging dog on the cover.

• Brown's fate appears to be foreshadowed on the game's cover. Of the four prominent animals, the dog is bound in some sort of vine-like rope with a leaf, which could symbolize life. The dog is trapped in what appears to be a noose and has a tortured figure.

• An unused game over scene involved Brown dying.[2]

• When Jennifer wakes up in "The Funeral"'s opening cutscene, the floor around her is clearly empty save for a blanket. When the cutscene ends, Brown has inexplicably appeared on the blanket. This could be a hint as to his true nature (being an already dead hallucination).

• The Little Princess implies that Jennifer may have intentionally given Brown as the monthly gift. It says: "The girl was to sacrifice her very special friend. And when she did, she became a princess." Of course, it's extremely unlikely that Jennifer would have given Brown as the monthly gift if she knew he was going to be killed as a result.

Gallery

to see the gallery of Brown click on Brown/Gallery.