Finns and Finnish-Americans in a cult classic videogame franchise.
Nowadays Finland is known as a major player in the global gaming industry. Over the past two decades, many successful videogames and mobile games have been developed there. One of Finnish gaming powerhouses is Remedy Entertainment Plc established in 1995 and located in Espoo. Those, who study the Finnish-American community or are in one or another way connected with Finnish immigration to the US, perhaps will be interested in one of Remedy’s globally acclaimed videogame series.
The Alan Wake franchise consists of Alan Wake (2010), Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (2012), Control (2019) and Alan Wake 2 (2023). They are all united by the same overarching horror-thriller plotline of supernatural events, secret government organizations, and small American towns with sinister secrets. Anybody who have watched the popular 1990s TV series Twin Peaks, Psi Factor and The X-Files or read the books by Stephen King will get the vibe. The titular Alan Wake, a crime novelist from NYC, visits the fictional town of Bright Falls in rural Washington. His peaceful vacation quickly turns into a nightmare as mysterious Cauldron Lake near the town is a home to great power and great threat which Alan is forced to clash with. What is particularly important and distinctive about this plotline, however, is a prominent position that Finns and Finnish-Americans play in the narrative-driven suspense story.
From a missing filmmaker to a sea deity-plus-janitor in the US federal service
Various Finnish-related topics are featured noticeably in the Alan Wake games. Even the protagonist’s own appearance is modeled after Finnish actor and writer Ilkka Villi. Besides, in his fight against the powers of Cauldron Lake Alan faces several Finnish and Finnish-Americans who are major characters in the plot. In the very first entry, Wake meets another prisoner of the lake – Finnish auteur filmmaker and poet Thomas Zane (born Thomas Seine) who came to Bright Falls to establish an artist commune and went missing there in the 1960s. A fellow writer and a kindred spirit identical to Wake in many ways, Zane-Seine becomes his guide through the dangerous surrealist world under Cauldron Lake where written words and other works of art can warp and change reality.
The third game in the series, Control, introduces a fictional clandestine US government organization, the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) which seeks to investigate and contain paranormal phenomena like those Alan Wake has to deal with. Remarkably, there is a Finnish-American among their staff who is a crucial character in the story. The elderly man named Ahti (his appearance is modeled after Finnish actor and singer Martti Suosalo) is a mere janitor, yet this mysterious person has been in the Bureau since the very beginning and in his knowledge of the paranormal he surpasses any special agents of the FBC. It is strongly implied that Ahti is actually one of the keepers of the Bureau although he may look like a somewhat offbeat person who sprinkles his speech with Finnish words and idioms or their literal translations into English. Little is known about Ahti’s origin but given in Finnish mythology and national epic Kalevala the names Ahti and Ahto are born by a heroic seagoing warrior and even a Finnish sea deity, this can tell you something. When this enigmatic janitor goes on vacation, he opens up a bit about his home in America by sending a postcard from Watery, another fictional location in rural Washington, a small Finnish-American community (it will be told about in more detail in the section below). On the postcard from this “America’s Little Finland”, there are saunas and traditional Juhannus or Midsummer bonfires on the shore of a lake. So it looks like even Finnish mythological deities and heroes have taken part in the mass migration from Finland to North America in the 20th century and in enrooting and perpetuating Finnish culture in the new country.
The final entry, Alan Wake 2, brings a player to this “Little Finland” and allows them to get familiar with some colorful residents of the Finnish-American community. The important characters are Koskela brothers, Ilmo and Jaakko (both are played by Finnish actor and screenwriter Peter Franzén, best known for his role as Norwegian king Harald Finehair in the historical drama TV series Vikings), a duo of shady businessmen and bikers of the fictitious local-based Kalevala Knights Motorcycle Club. Ambitious, loud and jovial Ilmo and quiet stone-faced Jaakko may look like a pair of backcountry doofuses but there is more to these twins than meets the eye. They are influential figures in the region and have the noble intentions of saving their home town which is slowly dying-out. To revitalize Watery, the highly entrepreneurial brothers seek to lure tourists there by a number of their products and attractions (and their hilarious low-budget humorous advertisements!), many of which are Finnish-themed. One example is the fictitious local Ahma (“wolverine” in Finnish) sauna lager which allegedly helps to “unleash your inner wolverine” and has a series of suggestions on how to “drink it the Finnish way” including kalsarikännit or the Finnish habit of drinking at home in your underwear. There is also a more serious side of Koskela brothers. Ilmo and Jaakko know about the threat of Cauldron Lake and are secretly involved in fighting against its evil forces.
All in all, these Finnish and Finnish-American characters in the Alan Wake franchise are all lovable and have depths. Sometimes there is kind tongue-in-cheek humor in their portrayal. Finns and Finnishness are neatly woven into the excellent writing of the games and blend seamlessly into the thrilling story.
The fictional town of Watery was founded in 1891 by Finnish immigrants to support the logging and fishing industries in the area.
Not quite fictitious “America’s Little Finland” in WA
In the final entry of the franchise, a great deal of the action takes place in the fictional location of Watery, WA which is a Finntown, an ethnic community with various Finnish-American businesses and activities. In real life, many such Finntowns were established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Finnish immigrants throughout North America to stick together in not always friendly host society. Some can still be seen in the US and Canada. According to the game lore, Watery was founded in 1891 by newcomers from Finland around local logging and fishing industries. However, by the events of Alan Wake 2 set in 2023 the community has been struck hard with economic problems and Watery is slowly becoming a ghost town. Only the most stubborn part of its inhabitants still stays around. Sisu or Finnish grit, as these locals explain their choice.
Finnishness can still be seen on the streets of Watery which has everything the real-world Finntowns usually have. There is Suomi Hall, an old-time Finn Hall, a center for gathering together and organizing various activities which typically used to be a heart of a Finntown. Watery’s Finn Hall has numerous plaques in Finnish and posters of different local events such as raffles with Finnish foods and drinks glögi, korvapuusti and karjalanpiirakka. In the town, there are saunas and log cabins as well as Finnish-American businesses and establishments like the Kalevala Knights motorcycle club, Järvisen Vene Boat Storage and Repair, and Saimi’s Catch of the Day. Anybody who has ever visited a real Finntown such as, for instance, Hancock, Michigan will find many familiar things in Watery.
This fictitious community draws attention to Finnish-American presence in the Pacific Northwest. Although nowadays “Little Finlands”, once scattered throughout the US, are more often seen in such area of Finnish concentration as the Upper Midwest, the Pacific Northwest has also played an important role in the history of Finnish migration to the US. In such communities as Astoria, Oregon, or Naselle, Washington, Finnishness can still be met even today. Local place names like Inglewood-Finn Hill or Wirkkala, Parpala and Torppa Roads show that Finns have become enrooted in Washington. Finnish American folk festival in Naselle still brings numerous participants to celebrate the Finnish heritage of the region. The recent novel Deep River (2019) by New York Times bestselling author Karl Marlantes, who has Finnish roots, pays tribute to the history of Finnish immigrants in Washington. I am glad that Remedy’s Alan Wake franchise also does its part in celebrating Finnish-Americans in the Pacific Northwest. For the first time in their history, Finnish-Americans and their culture have been featured in a videogame. I hope that there will be more games and other new media telling about this interesting but often neglected ethnocultural group in the US. So far thank you Remedy!
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Roman Kushnir, PhD., has graduated from the University of Jyväskylä and is currently an independent scholar. His research interests include Nordic-American cultures and literatures, and ethnic and identity studies in the context of North America. Kushnir’s doctoral dissertation examines the processes of identity construction as represented in Finnish-American literature and particularly focuses on the roles of several material and non-material cultural practices (food, language, sports and music) in this construction.
