Markiplier's YouTube Channel Has Been Taken Over by Lunky, but Who Is That?

As one of the most popular YouTubers in the gaming world, Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Edward Fischbach, has created an expectation from his fans that they'll be delivered content on a fairly regular schedule. In recent months, though, that schedule has been disrupted slightly by the introduction of Lunky, a crude animated drawing that has now taken over Markiplier's entire channel. 

Normally, Markiplier films his streams and commentaries with the help of Lixian, who helps Markiplier edit his videos and has a gaming channel of his own. Lixian is also responsible for much of the animation work on Markiplier's channel. Lunky was introduced as a temporary replacement for Lixian in a video released in October. Lixian was on vacation, and Lunky was created to give Markiplier someone to talk to. 

Since his introduction, though, Lunky has become a more and more prominent part of the channel. Typically, Lunky appears as a simple stick figure with two vertical lines for eyes and a horizontal line for a mouth. He has two line fingers with four lines sticking out of each to represent his finger, and three lines coming off of one side of his head to represent his hair. 

Since his introduction, Lunky has continued to take on a prominent role in Markiplier's videos, and has even become a rival for Lixian. Typically, Lunky interrupts videos with severe jump cuts that are often accompanied by disturbing sound effects. Then, Lixian returned and, through a short animated segment, imprisoned Lunky in a cage where he was trapped for a time, and therefore absent from Markiplier's videos. 

Lunky's time in a cage didn't last long, though. On Dec. 22, a video was posted to Markiplier's channel with the title "He Escaped..." The video is entirely animated, and starts with Lunky where viewers left him, inside a cage under Lixian's guard. Because he's been consumed by rage, though, Lunky eventually amasses enough power to cause a massive explosion and escape from his cage. 

From there, Lunky levitates above the burning wreckage where he was held captive and strikes Lixian down with a fireball. Then, Lunky flees into the darkness. After the video was released, the imagery on Markiplier's homepage was swapped out for images that feature Lunky. The same happened to Lixian, with images of him crossed out and replaced with close-up shots of Lunky. Lixian's Twitter account was also renamed "LIXIAN IS DEAD," which suggests that Lunky actually killed him. 

Lunky's escape and subsequent takeover of the channels is a hilarious development, but it's also likely an excuse for Lixian and Mark to take a break from their regular posts over the holidays. Now that Lunky's in charge, the two of them can focus on things besides posting regular content.

Although Lunky is fairly new to Markiplier's gaming universe, he's already become a fan favorite. Since he took over the channel, a huge swath of memes have been developed that feature the character prominently. Now that he's escaped, it's impossible to say what kind of mischief he'll get into next.