Howard LaFresque

“To think I left my family for this place, for this organisation. Which is more horrible, that I have sacrificed something so dear, or that I do not regret it for a second?”

―Howard LaFresque ~ Penumbra: Black Plague

Howard LaFresque
Died:	2001 The Shelter, Greenland
Sex:	Male
Nationality:	French
Spouse:	Ms. Buchanon †
Children:	Philip Buchanon (Son) †
Occupation:	Archaic Chief Translator
Status:	Deceased
Appears:	Penumbra: Overture (Mentioned) Penumbra: Black Plague

Howard Buchanon is a French linguist and the father of Philip Buchanon. In Penumbra: Overture and Penumbra: Black Plague, Philip's whole plan is to find his father and learn of his work.

Background

Howard deserted his wife and son in 1973 for his work in a secret facility called The Shelter, located somewhere in uninhabited area of northern Greenland - a decision he deeply regrets decades later. For the past thirty years he had worked there and therefore was presumed deceased by his family.

Biography

As an employee of the Shelter, he worked as Chief Translator, deciphering ancient languages.

In February 2000, just before the virus was released, Howard sent a letter to the person he believes he could trust the most: his son Philip. He received it few days after his mother's funeral.

The letter contained Howard's plea for his son's forgiveness, a key to a safety deposit box and instructions for Philip to retrieve files from an unnamed bank at Mayfair in London and dispose of them, in hopes of destroying any evidence of Shelter's existence and bury all its secrets with it.

Puzzled by the indecipherable book he had retrieved, Philip's curiosity got the best of him and he left nearly a year later to the uninhabited location in northern Greenland that was indicated in the notes.

Penumbra: Black Plague

Thanks to Amabel Swanson's help, Philip learned that Howard's last known location was in the library. When he enters a secret room in the library, the protagonist finds him dead. When the player right clicks on Howard's body, Philip says "Father... somehow I knew it would end this way", making it clear that he didn't truly expect to find him alive. In the same room, there's a note containing Howard's last words, which motivated his son to complete his old man's work.

Trivia

• Howard's name, along with Philip's, comes from H.P. Lovecraft's full name: Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
• His last name, LaFresque, is French for "The Fresco." Fresco is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid lime plaster. The technique is mostly associated with Italian Renaissance painting. This is most likely a reference to Leonardo da Vinci and his student Francesco Melzi - the person who laid the foundations for and the founder of the Archaic, respectively - as both were Renaissance painters, suggesting a link between Howard and the Archaic.
• LaFresque could also be an allusion to the surname Lovecraft, as both sound similar in pronunciation.