The Judge

"Huh? Oh god. I'm in the judge's seat. No. Oh, fuck, no. I was supposed to get out..."

―The Judge

The Judge is one of the Victims and the primary objective in Vindicate the Guilty. She is a rather snappy woman strapped to a chair with a bag over her head and a noose around her neck.

Background[]

It was unclear what her career was, although it is very likely that she was a Reagent implied by her knowledge of the Trials and how she would be executed. She also mentioned that she was supposed to get out, possibly referring to the freedom that she was promised by Easterman (and Murkoff Corporation) after completing the Trial. Instead, she was taken back as an objective, being labeled as the Judge.

Physical Description[]

The Judge is a woman of average height and build with her face obscured by a neutral green fabric bag. She is wearing a traditional judge's gown with one of the sleeves being torn, and black dress shoes. She has splatters of blood on her sleeve and a deep gash on her left knee.

Personality[]

Her dialogue tends to be very snippy, as she is angry with the Reagents for siding with Murkoff. She will occasionally be sarcastic and yell at the Reagents, telling them to not perform the assignments and let Coyle kill the "Avellanos" mannequin before lashing out at them when they disregard her requests. Although not much is known about her, The Judge might be someone who easily holds a grudge and is willing to be egoistical to save herself, as her panic is mixed with rage.

She also seems to be somewhat realistic and hard to fool, which may cause Murkoff to consider her to be "The Judge." During her final moments before execution, The Judge begs Coyle for help which he obliges. However, killing the Reagents and stopping all of them from tampering with his justice is his main priority before saving her. When she is about to get executed, she either pleads the Reagents to stop, yells to finish her off, or plays along with her supposed role like The Snitch.

Story[]

When the Reagents are being transported to Vindicate the Guilty, Dr. Easterman tells them that they represent justice and loyalty. He does not want to let the court condemn the people who have been guiding and protecting them, before tasking them to sabotage the court and kill the Judge. Once Reagents arrived in the trial, the Judge is mentioned on the television broadcast by the mannequin lawyer accusing her for perpetrating obsession with evidence and facts against his defendant, the mannequin version of Avellanos.

When Reagents initially met up with her, she awakes and cries in despair, stating she got betrayed by Murkoff after promising she would "get out" or calls them "evil sons of bitches". When Reagents press the button, it starts the first sequence of lawyer greeting the courtroom and requests the Judge to present the evidence. She is very aware of the Trial and tries to convince or beg the Reagents to not perform their assignments and let Coyle kill the mannequin Avellanos since it is only a doll.

After Reagents completed their tasks of destroying the evidence (thus ignoring her pleas), they return to the courtroom and press the same button to start the second sequence. Due to lack of substantial evidence, the lawyer requests the case to be dismissed before the prosecutor interrupts with the request for a recess to gather the witnesses. The Judge becomes more concerned and tries to act reasonable by informing them that none of what they experience in the Trial is real and that killing her would achieve nothing. Sometimes The Judge will scream and hoping the Reagents will be killed by Coyle or plead the Reagents to kill her quickly so she won't have to suffer through the drawn-out execution.

Once Reagents killed all the witnesses, they returned to the courtroom to start the third and final sequence. The lawyer is frustrated that the Judge allows his defendant to be filed without any evidences and witnesses while the courtroom reveals the contraption used for the Judge's execution. The Judge demands the Reagents to avoid proceeding further, lashing out at them verbally, and begs Coyle for help as her last act of desperation to stop them. Coyle runs after the Reagents throughout the courtroom and tries to prevent them from cranking the gears connected to the hammers. The crank charges the hammers before striking each of her limbs, starting from her legs, arms, and then being hanged in the noose briefly before finally crushing and severing her head. After her death, the Reagents evacuates the Courthouse to exit the Trial.

Trivia[]

The hammers that are being used to kill the Judge are possibly a nod to the Gavel, a hammer that is used by a judge to open the court, proclaim justice, and warn the unconducive attendants. Three taps of a gavel symbolizing the court has officially closed.
She is considered as one of the victims revealed to be former Reagents in Trials based on their dialogues.
While the Reagents hallucinate when being transported to the Trials, they see the Avellanos mannequin holding the decapitated head of an unknown woman in front of them, which could be their interpretation of the Judge without the mask.
The Judge and the Female Big Grunts are currently the only female victims.