Death Stranding 2: On The Beach‘s lineup of characters is about as peculiar and unorthodox as its plot is expected to be. Many of the main characters from the original Death Stranding are returning in the highly-anticipated sequel, including Sam Porter Bridges, Fragile, Heartman, and Higgs, but there are a bunch of new additions to the cast, as well. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach features a mysterious woman named Tomorrow, a pregnant Drawbridge member known only as Rainy, an eccentric ship pilot called Tarman, and a smuggler-turned-BT named Neil, who oddly looks a lot like Metal Gear Solid‘s Solid Snake.
One of the strangest new characters in Death Stranding 2, though, is a talking doll named Dollman. This suit-wearing sentient puppet seems to have a role similar to Mimir in God of War: Ragnarok, in that he assists the player and provides exposition during certain portions of the game. Unlike every other individual in DS2, however, Dollman is animated at a halved frame rate, making him look like he came straight out of a stop-motion cartoon. It’s not exactly clear how Dollman ended up as a puppet, much less a living one, but the latest Death Stranding 2 trailer contains some blink-and-you’ll-miss-it clues that hint at his origins.
Related
Death Stranding 2 Shows What Happens When a Developer Has Total Creative Freedom
Death Stranding 2 is proof that when developers are given total creative freedom, they can produce some of the most compelling worlds and narratives.
Death Stranding 2’s Latest Trailer Has Some Important Clues About Dollman’s Past
A Mysterious Man in the DS2 Trailer Looks a Lot Like Fatih Akin, Who Dollman is Based Off Of
At SXSW 2025, Kojima Productions and PlayStation Studios revealed a bonkers, 10-minute-long trailer for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach that showcased tons of new gameplay footage and story sequences. Dollman showed up multiple times throughout the trailer, but some of his appearances were so vague that it was hard to tell whether it was him or not. For instance, at around the 2:10 minute mark, viewers can see Fragile holding a doll over what appears to be a dead human body beside a lake. Then, at 6:09, a man is shown pointing a flashlight at a BT, with a child standing beside him. The man in question suspiciously resembles Fatih Akin, the real-life person that Dollman’s likeness is based off of.
For those out of the loop, Fatih Akin is a Turkish-German film director who’s best known for his work on German-language films like In the Fade and Head-On. He is one of many celebrities to be featured in the Death Stranding universe, alongside the likes of Mad Max creator George Miller and Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn. Although Dollman had been designed to look like Fatih Akin, he is actually voiced by American actor Jonathan Roumie in-game, who players may recognize from his role as Jesus in The Chosen.
Dollman Was a Spirit Medium Before He Was Turned into a Puppet
Kojima Productions has largely kept details about the new characters in Death Standing 2 close to its chest, but it has shared some interesting tidbits of information about Dollman and his past. During a livestream with the Japanese cast of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, it was revealed that Dollman was originally a spirit medium who helped people get in contact with their dead relatives. For some unknown reason, though, he lost his powers, and his soul, or ka, later became trapped inside a puppet. While it seems that his human body was lost, Dollman’s soul lives on in this form.
In the world of Death Stranding, the ka and ha are terms used to refer to a person’s soul and body, respectively. These words were used by Ancient Egyptians in real life to describe the experience of a soul leaving a human’s body after death.
The Corpse and Mysterious Man Shown in DS2’s New Trailer is Likely Dollman in Human Form
Bearing all this information in mind, it seems very likely that the corpse depicted in the Death Stranding 2 trailer actually belongs to Dollman. The man that’s shown shining a flashlight on a BT, meanwhile, is likely Dollman in human form. Putting the clues in these scenes together, it’s possible that Fragile is the person responsible for placing him inside a puppet and saving his soul, but it’s hard to say for sure. Whatever the case may be, Dollman will likely have a larger role in Death Stranding 2‘s story than some may expect, despite him looking like a comic relief character.
