Paul works for a pharmaceutical company and lives in Wolverhampton. Travelling back from a conference in Exeter, Paul collides with the car containing the Narrator and Esther.
Physical appearance[]
Paul does not physically appear in the game; he is mentioned several times by The Narrator and various items which are related to Paul appear in the game.
Plot[]
Paul originally is an ambiguous figure. We know he is at the scene of the car crash, timing how long it takes the ambulance, but not his role. It is later revealed Paul was the driver in the other car. It is debated whether or not Paul was drunk during the time of the crash. The narrator relates that Paul "travelling back from a sales conference in Exeter...stopped for farewell drinks...but had kept a careful eye on his intake." Other places he says Esther was killed by the car of a drunk, but then maintains "he was not drunk Esther, he was not drunk at all." The narrator visits Paul in his home after Esther's death.
Trivia[]
Paul is called "Paul Jacobson" at the end of the story.
He works for a pharmaceutical company. A mug given to the narrator is decorated with chemical symbols which may be the source of the narrator's obsession with these symbols.
It is said that Paul was traveling from Exeter after, "forming a strategic vision for the peddling of antacid yoghurt to the European market." Earlier on in the game, the narrator related that the wrecked ship was carrying " a large quantity of antacid yoghurt, bound for the European market."
He is clearly associated with Paul the Apostle and his conversion
Verses are painted on rocks throughout game
: "And as he journeyed, it came to pass that he drew nigh unto Damascus: and suddenly there shone round about him a light out of heaven: and he fell upon the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: but rise, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men that journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but beholding no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing; and they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and did neither eat nor drink." — Acts 9:3–9
In the 2008 mod version of Dear Esther there was a mistake in the final epilogue regarding Paul's surname. Paul is refered to as Paul Jakobson, rather than Jacobson. This was highlighted and fixed in the 2012 edition.
Paul is an alcoholic in the Narrator's fantasy.[1]
It is suggested on several cues that The Narrator and Paul are the same person.[2]
