"The truth is my shepherd. Whatever happens, I will find answers. And justice will be restored. I will perform the operation."
Bachelor Daniil Dankovsky is one of the three healers at the forefront of Pathologic's story. He is one of the first characters the player is introduced to - in Pathologic 1, he is the character most players will play first. In Pathologic 2, Artemy Burakh meets him very early on in the story. Daniil is a Bachelor of Medicine hailing from the Capital. His life's work is to try and overcome Death itself, and he founded the institute 'Thanatica' in order to do just that. Dankovsky is brought to the Town-on-Gorkhon, the setting of the game, when he learns of the seemingly immortal Simon Kain. Being allegedly over 150 years old, this man could serve as evidence to Dankovsky's claims that death can be defeated. Of course, when he gets there, Simon Kain is already dead, and he is faced with a different problem entirely - the plague.
Dankovsky as a person is a... pretentious? I think pretentious is a pretty good word. He's a pretentious and kind of self-important man, first of all. Just look at him. He stands out; look at his absolutely hideous snakeskin coat and fancy style of dress. He's educated and intelligent, and frequently pulls out Latin quotes in conversation. He can be quite dismissive to people he views as knowing less than him, something that causes no shortage of friction between him and the townspeople of the Town-on-Gorkhon. Logic, reason, progress, and justice are all very important to him. There's clearly a desire to help people within him - throughout the game he does what he can to stop a plague, and his life's work is to defeat death - but over time this becomes overshadowed by his mounting disillusionment with the town and the people within. Dankovsky can, and will, take actions that are harmful, even cruel, in his efforts to stop the plague that endlessly ravages the town, though this aspect of his character is not necessarily unique to him.
Daniil Dankovsky is for sure one of my favorite characters in the game. Don't mistake me for a Daniil defender though - I also hate him and I would like to grind him up into a fine powder. (Hahaha) He's a very interesting character, and there's a lot of aspects to his person that I really cannot do justice with my limited writing and analysis ability. I also just enjoy his character design from a visual standpoint. (Even if his in-game model is kind of silly.) Whatever is going on with him and Artemy is strange and unsettling and fascinating and I enjoy it a lot. Daniil is human, painfully so, for the better and for the worse. Probably the best way to do this character justice would be to explore his character and his person much further than I'm doing here, but the second best way is whatever this is I think