The Snatcher

The Snatcher
The snatcher over looking his domain
Species:	Shadow Human (formerly)
Role:	Major Character Antagonist
Voice actor:	Luke Sizemore a.k.a. Yungtown (main) Vinton Bruno a.k.a Bit-B (Vanessa's Curse DLC)
Manual Info:	Lurks in the shadows, he’s obsessed with making me sign contracts!

The Snatcher is a major character of A Hat in Time, serving as the main antagonist of Subcon Forest and Death Wish Mode for the Seal the Deal (DLC), and the deuteragonist of Vanessa's Curse (DLC). As his name suggests, he is a soul-snatching phantom, who loves tormenting people and reading books.

After the story of Subcon Forest, He is contractually obligated to be Hat Kid's Best Friend Forever.

Appearance

The Snatcher is a shadow-y, ghost-like phantom. He is commonly seen in his spirit form - a black, long, comet-shaped body, with purple highlights around the edges, eight fur-like extensions around his neck and a pointy tail. He has two noodle-like arms, with 3 claws that act as fingers. The most distinguishing feature of his are his two long eyes, and a grin - both of which are glowing yellow, and two fangs. This is an expression he is often limited to. He stands at around seven Hat Kids tall. However, he normally isn't standing straight up, speculations conclude his true height to be about nine Hat Kids tall. He is a bit smaller when he's reading a book, sitting at around four Hat Kids tall. Being able to shapeshift, he can take the form of anything, anyone or be whatever size he wants. However, his colour and expression remain unaffected in any form he takes.

Personality

The Snatcher is a vile, cold-blooded and manipulative... person? Thing?? Most of the times, he likes to mock and inconvenience his victims in a rather humourous and comical tone, but at times, depending on the situation, he can be more menacing or imposing. He is shown to be very cruel, as he enjoys tormenting his victims, even toying with them just for his own amusement, often in the form of forced labor work through contractual obligations, and the hostage of their souls. This work can range from fun activities, such as delivering mail on a scooter, to intensely life-threatening danger, such as fighting a violent and haunted outhouse. He is also shown to be short-tempered, such as when Hat Kid declines to sign his contract, he quickly gets irritated, and if she persists, he will immediately kill her.

Roles

Contractual Obligations

This is where Snatcher makes his first appearance. Dropping into the forest, Hat Kid will unsuspiciously follow a minion down a path, which leads her straight into a trap: a white dropbag on the ground. After some time, a flock of bats can be seen flying away, and the bag will break. Hat Kid then falls to the ground, just to immediately be greeted by The Snatcher. Snatcher will then mock Hat Kid for falling into his trap. Although he hinted at eating her soul and killing her at first, he quickly came up with an offer: Hat Kid will become his new "towel boy" (or in this case, girl), in exchange of her living. If Hat Kid declines the contract, Snatcher will get visibly angry, stating that her opinions do not matter. If Hat Kid persists, she will be instantly killed. If Hat Kid signs the contract however, The Snatcher will excitedly say that now they're in business, and takes her soul. The contract will then appear in the menu. Following the contract, Hat Kid will enter the Subcon Village. Snatcher suddenly appears again, reminding Hat Kid of their deal, stating that she needs to "dispose of the Fire Spirits" and that he is getting impatient. After Hat Kid burns the paintings and help the fire spirits commit suicide, Snatcher will appear, congratulating Hat Kid for finishing her job, complimenting her and award her with a Timepiece. He mentions that this is the only time he will award her for finishing a contract, because he is not legally obligated to.

Subcon Forest

Throughout the Subcon Forest, Snatcher acts as the overarching character behind the events, without directly contributing to them. In The Subcon Well, Queen Vanessa's Manor and Toilet of Doom, He will stay in his tree hut, reading a book and not interfering. Although, Hat Kid can fall into his other traps, either on purpose or accidentally. If she does so, Snatcher will appear. Not expecting the victim to be Hat Kid again, he will quickly express disappointment, stating that she should avoid doing it, because he can't handle speaking loudly too many times. He will then repeat roughly what he would've said to her if she wasn't already a contractor in a sarcastic tone, and make her sign another contract. If Hat Kid talks to Snatcher inside his hut in The Subcon Well, he will remind her of her task, stating that even "a little thing" like her can't miss the well. But in Toilet of Doom or Queen Vanessa's Manor, he'll tell her to clear out her contracts and stop talking to him.

Mail Delivery Service

In the fifth act of Subcon Forest, Snatcher will wear a blue (ironically) mailman hat and stand at the path that he laid the bag trap on earlier in Act 1. When Hat Kid talks to him, he'll explain her task of the day: deliver mail. He states that he's not heartless, so sometimes, he'll sneak into people's mailboxes and steal their mail, then deliver them to his minions. The goal is to make his minions think that it's almost like someone cares for them. He'll then give her a Scooter Badge for rental. When equipped, Hat Kid will start riding a scooter if she uses her sprint ability. This scooter is different from the regular yellow scooter that Hat Kid owns. It is purple, wooden, has no license plate and has snatcher faces around it. A bag of mail is strapped onto it, which can be used to fire mail by holding and releasing attack. After delivering mail to ten different minions around the forest, The Snatcher will award Hat Kid with a Timepiece, despite stating that he won't in Act 1.

Your Contract Has Expired

Build-up

The finale of Subcon Forest. At this point, Hat Kid has done a lot of work for Snatcher. And after defeating the haunted outhouse, a Timepiece will appear. When Hat Kid is about to grab it however, she will be interrupted by The Snatcher. He will state that the old contractor of his didn't die out of coincidence, but was actually killed by him. And now that all of the inconvenience around his forest has been resolved by Hat Kid, she is no longer of use to him. He then asks Hat Kid if she thought he'd let her keep all the Timepieces, and says that they belong to him, because they fell into his forest. After that, the entire screen will be covered with purple/yellow magic, leaving only Snatcher's glowing face visible. Snatcher will then tell Hat Kid that he's going to kill her, and steals her hat.

The battle begins.

Final Battle

In the first phase of the battle, Snatcher will perform a series nine attacks: blasting four large lasers on the ground with indication, the first directly at Hat Kid's location and the final one right in front of her; summoning minions into the battleground, then circling them around, acting as hazard for Hat Kid to jump over; throwing five blue potions consecutively at Hat Kid's location; throwing 1000 blue potions in batches around Hat Kid; throwing one blue potion directly at Hat Kid; the minion circle attack, but with lasers blasted on the ground; and multiple shapeshifted copies of Hat Kid mocking her. After the first two attacks, Snatcher will pause for a moment, asking Hat Kid if she's expecting him to turn blue. But unfortunately, "blue doesn't suit him", so that means he is invincible. Despite this, he still looks very fashionable with the blue mailman hat in Act 5. After all nine attacks, Snatcher will repeat the minion circle and the 1000 potions attack, until Hat Kid picks up one potion and throwing it at him.

After Hat Kid cheats the system and turns him blue via his own potion vials, He will pause whatever attack he is performing, and turn to Hat Kid. "Did you just colour me blue with my own attack?", he says. He gets very confused, saying that this cannot count. He will start getting angry, which in turns starting the second phase of the battle.

In this phase, Snatcher will use five unique attacks: blasting sets of three lasers on the ground in a clockwise motion; Spinning four laser indicators around the arena, and blasting all four after a few seconds; blasting a lot of red lasers on the ground one after another, in a clockwise motion; Going into the ground and popping up at random spots, sending out a shockwave and stun-locking Hat Kid, with the final time being right behind Hat Kid; Darkening the entire screen and winking in a direction, then surrounding Hat Kid with him and a cardboard cutout of him in either sides, with the one in the side of his wink being him.

With complex, hard to predict and fast attacks, this fight is expected to be very long and challenging. However, after only five smacks, he will be defeated, making for a rather anticlimactic battle.

Aftermath

After defeating The Snatcher, Hat Kid will be sent to an empty, dark space, with Snatcher in the distance. When approaching him, he will say that he feels weak, and requests Hat Kid to spare him. When Hat Kid gets closer, he will stop the crocodile tears, and suddenly grow to a giant size. He tells Hat Kid to take a seat, a bench will then appear. Snatcher will then shrink back to his regular seven-Hat-Kids-tall size, saying that the Timepieces belong to him, because they fell in his forest. A contract will then appear in front of Hat Kid, detailing that she needs to leave the forest and never come back, with Snatcher saying the same. Due to Hat Kid not saying anything, Snatcher will stamp the contract, making the deal even easier for her. Hat Kid will sign the contract, but suddenly, she has an idea. Hat Kid then starts blacking out all the details, replacing them with positive ones, with the final one being "Be My BFF ♡". Snatcher will tell Hat Kid that is not how contracts work, but to no response. Snatcher, out of desperation, gives Hat Kid her soul back, and a Timepiece, ending the story of Subcon Forest.

Hat Kid's Spaceship

After collecting 27 Timepieces, Snatcher will get into Hat Kid's spaceship, and start living in her bedroom, due to him now legally being her best friend. When Hat Kid talks to him, Snatcher will compliment her spaceship, and says that it's a shame that she's still alive and well. He will then inform her of his Advanced Contracts, which if Hat Kid finishes, she will get rewarded Handsomely.

Snatcher will then stay inside Hat Kid's bedroom, reading books, besides the pillow mountain for the rest of her adventure, acting as an entrance for Death Wishes.

Death Wishes

In the Death Wish gamemode, Snatcher will serve the role of the main antagonist, and crafting ridiculously difficult contracts for Hat Kid to die to. When Hat Kid is engaging in the challenges, Snatcher will sometimes say things. Those could be jokes, comments or just small talks, as what best friends do. When Hat Kid dies however, he will taunt and laugh at her instead, which is also what best friends do sometimes.

When Hat Kid finishes a contract, she will sometimes get rewarded with cute outfits, dyes, or badges, it is unknown if Snatcher prepared them for Hat Kid, or it is an out-of-universe thing. But judging Snatcher's first dialogue when he got on Hat Kid's Spaceship, they might be from him.

Bon Voyage!

Snatcher makes a small cameo in the first act of The Arctic Cruise. He can be found inside a crate at the start. When he notices Hat Kid, he expresses disappointment and irritation that she won't leave him alone even on his vacation, and that he is hiding in a crate because tickets are expensive. Hat Kid can't encounter him again on board, but among the floating pool toys, there is a purple ball with a Snatcher face. It is unknown if this is just a random ball, or it is the Snatcher in a shapeshifted form.

Ship Shape

Snatcher does not necessarily appear in the second act of The Arctic Cruise, nor does he have any dialogue. Only his "How to kill kids" book can be found inside the Found L̶o̶s̶t̶ Lots of Stuff.

Time's End

The Snatcher can be seen not standing in line for judgement in the final act of the story. When Hat Kid talks to him, he will tell her that he wants to know who thinks they are big enough of a deal to judge him (in this case, it is Mustache Girl), and says that he has taken a few hundred souls to prove that he is a "Big Deal" (presumably the souls of the people standing in line). He then requests Hat Kid to skip the line and go in to see who's big enough of a deal to judge both of them, and hit that person.

Gallery

See The Snatcher/Gallery

Trivia

• According to the Storybook of Subcon Forest, Snatcher may be Queen Vanessa's prince before getting chained up and left for dead. Queen Vanessa's Manor's description also says that the Manor is Snatcher's old home. This is also hinted at in some of his dialogue lines.
  • This was confirmed to be true in Vanessa's Curse.
  • With this information, The Snatcher is likely a Vengeful Spirit.
• On their backsides, his contracts have alternate English writing that is somewhat legible. It says:
  • "I hereby totally agree to do this Snatcher dude's dirty work. And also absolve him of all injuries I will most likely sustain from this work. Also, I'll give up my soul. no takey backsies."
  • This shows that Snatcher is unwilling to give his contractors their soul back.
• If Hat Kid does not throw a potion at Snatcher, even more potions will stay inside the arena
• If the save file is of Bow Kid, and the cutscene directly before the battle against Snatcher is not skipped, Bow Kid will wear Hat Kid's hat after she collects the Timepiece.
• If Hat Kid talks to the Snatcher in The Finale without having defeated him in Your Contract has Expired, his second line of dialogue will read "Oh, wait. You never quite earned that back, did you?"
• Even if Hat Kid wanted to give Snatcher a cuter hat in Your Contract Has Expired, she can't. The Hat that Snatcher steals from her will always be the default Kid's Hat.
• In some of his Death Wish Dialogue, Snatcher mentions Hat Kid's parents in a sarcastic tone. This is very reminiscent of GLaDOS' Portal 2 dialogue.
• The voice of Snatcher - Yungtown would sometimes stream with a Snatcher avatar and voice.
• Development info:
  • Originally, The Snatcher was simply a 2D shadow that would steal items (such as Timepieces) from Hat Kid. He also had a different personality where he would be fascinated in what Hat Kid has with enthusiasm, and according to Shane Frost, offer "strange, but true" fashion advice.
  • For his two assets (as he appears on a giant rock and in the cut 3rd floor of Vanessa's manor), he only seemed to have four fur-like extensions - with two on each side of his neck. His palette also only consisted of black and yellow, with no shade of orange for the face's glow.
  • His transformation when he steals a key Hat Kid has to obtain (on the Manor's 3rd floor) is a noseless version of her, with his palette and face incorporated into.
  • Luke Sizemore, most known by his alias of Yungtown and the voice of Snatcher, revealed that it had taken him only 4 hours to voice every single line for the character in the main game.
• The Snatcher seems to have been inspired by the demon in the chest in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, as both are purple, shadowy creatures with yellow faces and shout "FOOOOOL" when meeting the player. The music that plays when he makes Hat Kid sign a contract for the first time also sounds very similar to the music that plays when Mario opens up the chest.
• In Act 4 of Subcon Forest, after Hat Kid signs a contract, Snatcher says, "Whatever! I'm off! Smell you later!" This is possibly a reference to Gary's common phrase in Pokémon Red and Blue, where he taunts the player with "Smell ya later!" before he leaves.
• His design strongly resembles Stan from the PS2 game Okage: Shadow King.
• In the game "Billie Bust-Up", a picture can be seen of Snatcher and Barnaby together. This does not connect the games however, and is simply a cameo.
• He had or was going to have a child with Vanessa at one point in time when they were alive and well, as implied by the empty crib in Vanessa’s Manor.