This guy's a bit more important than you think he is.
Hey Buddies. As it turns out, we might just have another potential Poppy Playtime villain here to keep our friends company here. Fittingly enough, it's another one of Playtime's higher-up. Now while he may not be as interesting or entertaining like the Poppy NPEs we have here, I'd say he's a good shot for this wiki. I'll explain how. Let's get to it.
What's the work?
Poppy Playtime is a 2021 indie mascot horror game where you, The Intruder, a former employee of the now disbanded toy company Playtime Co, returns to the factory after 10 years when they receive a letter from an unknown individual, informing them that their former co-workers are indeed still alive in the factory. The Intruder begins their journey inside the Playtime factory as we discover the dark and heinous secrets and immoral experimentations held beneath the surface.
Who is he?
Eddie M.N. Ritterman is a supporting antagonist in the Poppy Playtime franchise. He's one of the heads of Playtime Co., specifically, he's the Head of Research. Truthfully, he handles less research than he does "business". As the self-proclaimed "Businessman" of the Playtime Co., Eddie was in charge of overseeing the construction of several secretive and immoral projects. Eddie contracted Warrenbach Construction's Darwin Silva, who accepted his work on behalf of the company.
During the construction of the prison, Warrenbach's owner, Darwin Silva voiced his concern about what they were building, and why a toy company would need a on-site prison. Eddie, politely reminded Silva of their contract's agreement, and cornered him over the ledge, threatening to murder him otherwise, and told about the company's obligation to Playtime Co., as per the contract which Silva signed.
Eddie would oversee Warrenbach company's many constructions, such as the Game Station, Labs, and the Prison, all of which Eddie greenlit. In 1993, when Sawyer committed his "theatre incident", it was Eddie that was responsible for cleaning up evidence and making sure it doesn't go public. Due to Sawyer's reckless and unsubtle nature, Eddie and the other higher-ups, including Leith Pierre planned on punishing Sawyer by turning him into an experiment himself. It was not known what become of Eddie following the Hour of Joy in 1995, but he's either dead, or alive like Leith. Most likely the latter.
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?
Heinous Acts
| “ | I'm a businessman, Mr. Silva. And I don't like to get angry. I get paid to see that things get done. And this, like everything else, will get done. | „ |
| ~ Point proven. |
So, Eddie has the gift of being one of the few higher ups in Playtime Co. to actually get shit done, like Leith and Harley. Eddie is responsible for the construction and facilitation of various immoral Playtime Projects, such as the Labs, but most importantly, the Game Station and the Prison.
In chapter 4, we see just how horrible the prison Eddie built is. Several toys deemed unruly are kept as prisoners, and treated as much, much worse. Don't forget that these are kids, and the toys held prisoner down there are subjected to much more brutal and torture and experimentations there. By the time of Hour of Joy, several corpses of toys are seen piling on top of each other, and several toys in the prison were barely hanging on. It's also responsible for many tragic deaths, like with Riley. All of these are what Eddie intended when he built it.
Eddie is seen as being the one keeping Playtime in the shadows, and is notably emphasized as being the one who keeps things in the dark and prevents the public from knowing about it, same with the prisons he built. So he's definitely an important figure in keeping the evil operations of Playtime active for all these time, and not some generic "orders things guy". His evil is definitely refined, and he's very clearly portrayed as a very evil person, like when he threatened to kill Warrenbach's owner when he kept questioning him.
Heinous Standards
So, Poppy Playtime's HS is indeed high, as expected from an indie mascot horror game. But to be honest, Eddie comfortably manages to stand out enough at least. Poppy Playtime's got a unique Heinous Standards system where Toys and Humans have their own separate Heinous Standards, so neither have to compete with each other, so no Prototype or CatNap.
Now, let's see what the staff of Playtime Co. have to offer.
- Leith Pierre: Head of innovation and CEO of Playtime following Ludwig's death. Responsible for facilitating practically all of Playtime's evil and illegal acts by hiring Harley Sawyer, covering for him, letting him operate on children, and also abusing and overseeing the general experiments following Sawyer's removal, which he acts upon with similar cruelty.
- Harley Sawyer: The one who sets the Heinous Standards. He experiments on hundreds of humans, specifically children and subject them to a horrific and painful fate worse than death by ripping their organs out and stuffing them in giant toys, while also abusing and neglecting them. Also responsible for grooming and manipulating a child named Quinn Navidson and turning him into a mindless guard dog/slave. His actions as a bigger body (The Doctor) can't be compared.
- Stella Greyber: Very standard despite her high position, we don't exactly know what she contributes to the bigger bodies initiative other than conspiring, but whatever it is doesn't hold a candle to Eddie's prisons.
- Other Playtime staff: Standard. Generic following orders and such.
Compared to them, Eddie manages to be one of the more heinous playtime co employees, right up there with Leith and Sawyer, by being the reason for the complete construction of very important projects such as Gamestation, The Labs, and the Prison, all of which continue to worsen and subject the toys to worse and worse fate. The prison especially, is one of the more darker and messed up places of Playtime Co., being responsible for hundreds of orphans being tortured and experimented on even worse than they were above on the factory.
Mitigating Factors?
I kinda forgot to add this, mostly because there is literally nothing to talk about here. There is nothing else to mention which might potentially mitigate him. Despite his VERY limited appearance, he establishes enough personality to characterize himself as an arrogant, impatient, smug, murderous, and most important of all, really damn evil.
There is no indication that he views his fellow Heads of Playtime as friends or anything, nor does he care for them. Their relation is very vague, and like every other higher-up at Playtime, insanely sociopathic. SO I doubt he really cares for them besides being "business partners".
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?
Ultimately, when you have what is essentially the mixture of William Afton and Joey Drew, it'd be exceptionally hard to stand out, which Eddie unfortunately suffers from. I'm of course, talking about Harley Sawyer. While the prisons Eddie built are indeed cruel, Harley still manages to do worse by subjecting the orphans to a fate worse than death, and being responsible for turning them into toys in the first place. Both Harley and Eddie had the same resources, with both being roughly the same level of higher-up position at the bigger bodies initiative.
I don't think he fails to Leith. Leith has much higher resources than Eddie due to being the CEO of playtime itself. And Leith's evil lies in facilitating Playtime's evil acts, whereas Eddie does something else entirely by being responsible for building the hellish prison beneath Playtime Co,
Verdict?
I'll give him a Yes.