Katherine Sunday is a main character in Endless Ocean, acting as the player's assistant residing on the Gabbiano.
In-Game
Character
Plot Relevance
Katherine acts as the main catalyst for the game's plot, which revolves around her mission to search for the Ancient Mother.
Her father, Patrick Sunday, was a scientist who saw the Ancient Mother twenty years before the events of the plot. His subsequent attempts to prove her existence ruined his reputation, as the people of Pelago were outraged that he would dare search for such an important Pelagoan deity. One day, he went on a dive in Green Garden and never returned. Since then, Katherine's life mission has been to find the Ancient Mother, finish her father's work, and clear his name.
She didn't commit to realizing this mission until the player found her father's pocket watch while diving in Green Garden. Her and the player then commit to searching for the Ancient Mother, which they eventually find after placing sensors in different spots around Manoa Lai to detect creatures larger than a blue whale. Katherine is elated by the sight, becoming overcome with emotion and thanking the player for their help.
In-Game Dialogue (Examples)
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| At one point, Kat will be leaning against the railing of the Gabbiano, humming quietly to herself and lost in thought, when she's taken off-guard by the player approaching:
"🎵 ...Mmmmmm hmmmmmm…🎵 Whaaa! Stop sneaking up on me! What, that song? Oh, it's nothing. It's just…just a song I like. My mom used to sing it to me when I was a kid. This'll sound weird, but...I couldn't remember it for the longest time. But once I came back to Pelago, I couldn't get it out of my head. Actually, I remembered it the moment I saw the ocean. Yeah, so, that's it. That's my story. I'm just thinking about the song and mom and other memories..." At another point, the player will return from a dive to find Kat lounging in the deck chair aboard the Gabbiano. She seems to be in a state of melancholy: "Hey. How's it going? Me? Naw, I'm fine. I'm just...thinking. Deep thoughts, right? Hey, do you ever think about your life mission? You know, like...your destiny or whatever? I think everyone has a purpose. you just have to find it. I was born here in the Pelago Commonwealth. 'Course, you probably knew that… My mom was native, but my dad was from Europe. I loved it here, but I had to leave when I was a kid. There were...problems. Yeah, so I grew up overseas and just kept trying to get back here, and… And so, yeah! Here I am! Twenty years later, and I'm right back where I started! Anyway, that's why I've been thinking about my life mission. ...I'm sorry, I'm.... I'm talking like a crazy person again, huh? Sorry, I just… I spend so much time alone, and I… Look, just forget it, OK? I'll stop rambling. Promise." After the player receives an email from Alfred Thorman rejecting a request for some highly-specialized - and therefore expensive - equipment, they exit the cabin to be greeted by an agitated Kat: "Yeah, I saw Thorman's email! So what?! ...I mean… Wait, that's not what I meant. Look, I know that's some pretty crazy equipment. And I know it isn't really necessary for the work we're doing. I've been thinking about my life mission, and I think… Just...trust me on this one, okay? I'll take care of it, I promise. It's my problem anyway! ...I shouldn't have said anything." After this, she goes silent and refuses to say anything more to the player, which is a sharp contrast to her usual chatty, friendly nature. The only way to get her to open up is to read an email from Doug offering a hint about her behavior, which directs the player to look in Green Garden. Finding Patrick's Pocket Watch, which used to belong to Kat's father, will prompt Kat to explain everything: Is that... Oh my gosh... Oh my gosh... That's Dad's. He...he went into the ocean to chase his dreams and never came back. ...Look, I can't... I can't keep holding things back from you anymore. I'll tell you about my life mission. I told you how I was born here in Pelago, right? Well, there's a certain Pelago legend that has existed for ages. It's about a creature called the Ancient Mother. The details can differ, but the stories are usually some kind of creation myth. People have searched for the truth behind the myth for ages, but... Twenty years ago, my father saw the Ancient Mother. 'Course, dad was a realist. He didn't think it was some kind of whale god. He just thought it was a UMA--an unidentified mysterious animal. He believed that it was a creature even bigger than the blue whale. Which, of course, would make it the largest animal in the world. Dad started a scientific operation to track and find the creature, but... But a lot of Pelagoans are superstitious about the Ancient Mother. They were outraged that Dad would dare to search for her. They hated us for it. And then one day Dad just... vanished. He was taken by the Manoa Lai Sea. My life mission is to finish his work! I'm going to find the Ancient Mother. I'll clear his name and make sure the world knows what he accomplished! So you can either help or...or...or not! ...And then I don't know what I'll do. ...Sorry. That must all sound crazy. Thanks for listening. After this exchange, Katherine will ask the player for help in accomplishing her life mission, to which she will be grateful when the player accepts. This also kickstarts the process of trying to find the Ancient Mother. |
Personality
Katherine is friendly and amiable, warming up to the player right away. She makes frequent jokes on the topic at hand, and can be playfully sarcastic at times. She frequently offers advice and directions, either through conversation on the boat, notes on her hint board on the cabin window, or communication via a radio on the player character's suit.
Her nickname is "Kat" - which she tells the player they can call her when they are first introduced. A coworker and childhood friend of hers, Douglas Banner, refers to her by it whenever he talks about her over email.
Though she cannot swim and fears swimming (hence why she wears a life vest at all times), there is a camera on the player's diving suit that she receives video feed from, which allows her to see all that they see. As such, she can provide them with directions, instructions, advice, knowledge, and other comments.
Katherine is very intelligent and intuitive, and appears to have the ability to understand animals to an extent; she can read their body language and vocal signals to translate what she believes they are saying, as was first displayed in the presence of an African penguin that arrived on the Gabbiano. She also has extensive knowledge of history and oceanic archaeology, as can be surmised from the surprisingly extensive information she provides the player with whenever they recover a salvage of importance or discovers a unique area. Nonetheless, she is in contact with numerous specialists in various fields, who will give further explanation on certain topics through email.
As is detailed in her description in the official guidebook, she is averse to superstition, potentially stemming from the superstition around the Ancient Mother ruining her family's reputation. She seems particularly uneasy about the Deity Idol, a small figurine that can be found in fragments in the Underwater Ruins of Mo'ia Atoll, which she describes as "creepy".
Additional Content
Official Guidebook Description
Notes
- Katherine's hairstyle is nearly identical to the Perky black hairstyle that the female player character has unlocked from the start of the game, with the only differences being the lack of a flower pinned to the hair, and the addition of bangs.
- Katherine is indirectly mentioned in Endless Ocean 2 by Jean-Eric Louvier. He speaks of some divers in Pelago who discovered the Ancient Mother a few years ago who were "good friends with the whales". Although he refers to the people who discovered the Ancient Mother as divers, which Katherine is not, him mentioning that more than one person discovered the Ancient Mother most likely groups Katherine in with the first game's player character.
