The Servant Brutes are the rarer, more dangerous type of the Gatherers in Amnesia: The Dark Descent. They deal much more damage than a Servant Grunt, and are able to kill Daniel in one hit, even at full health, making survival harder.
The appearances in the Prison are scripted and not dangerous. However, encounters from the Morgue onward become extremely hazardous.
Behavior[]
Similar to Grunts, Brutes will make an initial moan to signal that it hears Daniel and is coming to investigate. Brutes make distinctive bellows and groans similar to the sounds emitted by moose or cattle. The Brute appears blind, but is neither blind in gameplay nor lore/story.
The Brute's large grafted arm-blade is their primary form of attack. They can obliterate doors with it in only two hits and annihilate Daniel in as few hits as only one, if Daniel is at the "A few cuts and bruises" health stage. When Daniel is attacked by one, there will be a long slash mark on the screen, as opposed to the relatively small claw marks caused by Grunts.
Unlike a Grunt, the Brute does not look in fright with its hand/and cleaver to its face when it hears a noise, it will simply turn around to investigate at once.
Strategy[]
Brutes can be distinguished quickly from the Servant Grunts via their silhouette: their split-heads and large hamstring bladed arms make them recognizable. Their greener color and metal garb provides further visual differentiation. More likely the player will first be alerted to the Brute's presence by hearing their distinctive deep groans. Their relative location can be further divined from the metallic scraping of their legs as they walk.
Brutes are similar to Grunts, with a few differences.
Their attacks deal more damage, killing the player in 1-2 hits instead of 2-4.
They break down doors twice as fast (two hits instead of four).
Their eyesight is worse, having a range of 13 world units, almost half of the Grunt's 20.
1 unit is approximately half the length of a door.
They turn slightly slower.
They are more aggressive when it comes to running toward the player after spotting them.
The distance at which they start running is further.
After a Gatherer lands an attack on the player, they briefly walk instead to run, giving the player a chance to escape. This time is shorter for Brutes.
They start running sooner if the player runs at them.
While Brutes are notably more dangerous, they are rarer. They appear predominantly in the Sewer and in the Choir – Main Hall, although they do make minor appearances in the Chancel and Morgue as well. They can also be heard in various other parts of the game, but do not yield dangerous entities. Therefore, they cannot harm Daniel in these encounters, but may reduce his Sanity.
Description[]
The Brute is an amalgamated creature of torn flesh and riveted metal. It is a kind of golem of Alexander's design.
Physical appearance[]
The Servant Brute has a distinctive brown-green color, unlike the pale white of their Grunt counterparts. They are noticeably thinner than Grunts, as well. They have heads that are split open in an almost floral shape, with teeth lining the inside of the opening along with a single small eye hidden far back. It is difficult to see this eye from afar.
Brutes wear leg-less, metal rivets layered over each other and have metal plates and nails that connect their arms and legs at the joints. They are missing the index toe on their left foot. These plates make metallic scraping noises when the Brute walks, making it relatively easy to know whether or not he is coming towards Daniel or not. In place of a left forearm, they have a metal shaft with a massive attached billhook blade.
They can be distinguished from the Servant Grunts by their split-head and the large blade that has been grafted into their left arm, as well as the other plates grafted into their legs and their other arm. They wear what appears to be a crudely patched metallic tunic with no leggings; this tunic does not cover the Brute's back, however.
Personality[]
Much like the Grunt, the Brute also seems to have emotions, when whimpering or crying, with distress, and when attacking Daniel, with aggression. Unlike Grunts, however, they do not gasp and hold their hand(s) to their mouths before looking around when an object is thrown and makes a loud noise, which could imply that the Brutes are braver than the weaker Grunts.
Intelligence[]
Brutes, like Grunts, have intelligence enough to understand and follow orders from their master Alexander. They have a slightly higher intelligence to the Grunts, however, as Brutes will fully search a room that they suspect Daniel is hiding in. They will also pursue him for much longer.
Origins[]
There is very little concrete information about how Gatherers were created, though it can be assumed that Alexander of Brennenburg created them somehow to do his bidding.
Speculation[]
There is some evidence that the Brutes may have been former victims of the Shadow. In one of Daniel's diary entries recovered in the Machine Room, he mentions that the victims of the Shadow had their heads split open, skin boiled and limbs scattered. This matches the description of the brute. Its head appears split open, and the limbs appear to be reattached with metal fixings. Since the Brute's brain is obviously destroyed, it indicates that there may be some sort of supernatural force that causes it to move.
It is possible that the dead Grunt in the Sewers was killed by the Brute.
If the theory about Wilhelm and his men being the Gatherers is true, it may be that there is, in fact, only one Brute, who is a sort of leader to the Grunts. If this is also true, it is possible that specific Brute is Wilhelm himself.
When Daniel enters the Choir, he will sometimes come in and encounter two Brutes at the same time. Whether this is a glitch or intended, it suggests there might be more than one Brute.
Trivia[]
A torn apart Servant Grunt can be found in the Sewers, presumably killed by The Shadow. However, it is possible he was killed by the much stronger Brute, although that is purely speculation.
A Brute can also be heard in the Wine Cellar, in an attempt to open a locked door. It appears that the Brute is in the next room. As you enter, rock entities will fall from an opening in the ceiling, suggesting the Brute has somehow climbed up this area.
Brute's voices resemble whale sounds, although some of its sounds mimic a moose/cattle. A few sounds are a bit gurgled like some sounds heard while it's guarding the entrance to the Nave.
If the Brute breaks a door, it will enter the room but not too far from the broken door, as compared to the Grunt which will only stay on the entrance of the room after breaking the door before it leaves.
The Brute's very early concept art (as shown from the right) depict it as a "Lovecraftian horror"-like creature with scythe-like arms and a long slit where its head should be.
Another early concept portrays it as a bloated, nearly-headless humanoid wielding an executioner's axe instead of a blade-arm.
Even older Brute concept arts can be seen if you use the Secret code on the .zip file in redist called SuperSecret.
The Brute in the Chancel can sometimes be stared at without losing sanity.
