Characters that appear in We Happy Few.
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Main Protagonists
Arthur Hastings
Portrayed by: Alex Wyndham, Harry Baxendale (young)
"I am coming for you, Percy. I haven't got it all figured out, but I will find you."
The first playable character. Arthur worked in the local Censorship Office until the day he stopped taking his Joy after uncovering a newspaper article about himself and his brother, Percy.
- Action Survivor: For an office drone, he proves to be surprisingly resourceful (assuming the player doesn't get him killed).
- Apologetic Attacker: He whispers an apology to everyone he takes down from behind.Arthur: Look, it's not you, it's me.
- Big Brother Instinct: Subverted, at first he mentions how he was always looking over his little brother but made the mistake of correcting the Germans on his age which got them separated, he then vows to leave Wellington Wells and find Percy. However he remembers at the end of his story that he was the little brother and tricked his older, more dependent brother into taking his place. Finally realizing he has always been about self-preservation.
- Black Comedy: Seems to be his coping mechanism.
- Cowardly Lion: Not very noticeable in the gameplay, but whenever he talks, Arthur's tone of voice is nothing short of pure terror. Poor guy.
- Deadpan Snarker: As a kid he uses to rib on Percy this way, as an adult it feels more forced.Percy: Were you being sarcastic?
Arthur: Yes I was.
Percy: I hate when you're being sarcastic!
Arthur: Yes I know. - Dirty Coward: He was this as a child, where he used Percy's identification card to escape from the police rather than going with him as planned. Given the circumstances, however - and the fact that he was a child - it's easy to sympathize with him.
- The Everyman: He was a simple bureaucrat ending up having to survive on his own.
- Foreshadowing: There's some foreshadowing concerning what really happened to Percy.
- The fact that Arthur sounds younger than Percy in flashbacks isn't just a fluke, it's because he is younger, but pretended not to be to escape the train.
- In the Train Station, you can find a list of kids who were taken to Germany on the train. Arthur is on this list, but Percy isn't, since he was never supposed to go in the first place.
- One of the memories you can find is one of Percy comforting Arthur, who keeps saying he doesn't want to go to Germany. The reverse ended up happening.
- Girly Run: While on Joy.
- It Began with a Twist of Fate: It was another day at the office, until one of the papers he came across was of him and his brother, who went missing in an undisclosed event at the end of the war...
- I Will Find You: Arthur's quest to find Percy is the driving force behind his story. He's fully aware that finding Percy will be almost impossible but he does know that Percy certainly isn't in Wellington Wells.
- Jerkass: As a child, he persuaded Percy to accompany him on the train to Germany, and then used his identification card to avoid being sent away, leaving Percy to be sent away alone. This act of selfishness can be justified because he was a child, but he maintains his self-preserving attitude in adulthood, as we learn in Sally's part of the game that he still chose to revoke his offer to escape together even after learning that she has a baby. While he later expresses regret for what he did to Percy, he does not express the same sympathy to Sally despite, at that point, having no idea what became of her after he left.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: One of the things he can say to Wastrels.Arthur: It's not my fault! I'm being controlled by someone I've never even met!
- Nerd Glasses: His glasses are square and boxy.
- No Sympathy: He's angry at Sally for having sex with his dad, but it's implied that his father blackmailed her into doing it and she didn't have a choice. Arthur doesn't consider that idea, either unwilling to view the situation that way or because his memories are still addlled from Joy.
- Obfuscating Insanity: When talking to Wastrels, Arthur can pretend to be just as insane as they are to fit in better.
- Spanner in the Works: In his quest to escape Wellington Wells, Arthur stumbles upon and presents the truth of the German tanks left behind by the occupation to Ollie. This would trigger a series of events that lead to Ollie broadcasting Uncle Jack's Lost Episode where he breaks down and confesses that the city is doomed and the Wellies should stop taking Joy. In addition, this leads to Victoria, who was forced off her drugs by Ollie, to destroy Wellington Wells' joy factory and ending Anton's reign for good.
- Stealth Expert: Gameplay-wise, he specializes in sneaking around and avoiding detection.
- Trauma Button: An article of him and Percy ends up on his desk as one of the documents he has to redact, leading to him having a sound-only flashback of when he got separated from Percy.
- Unreliable Narrator: Arthur only stopped taking Joy right at the beginning of the game (unlike Sally and Ollie, who've been Downers for a while), so his memories and perceptions are still pretty scrambled.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: We nearly get a nice first-person view in the prologue, as Arthur barely holds his lunch down after seeing the dead rat. The trope is played straight whenever you drink Sick-Up Tea, and after the flashback on the first bridge.
Sally Boyle
Portrayed by: Charlotte Hope
"Arthur, we are practically the only two people in this entire city not stoned out of our minds on Joy!"
The second playable character. Sally is a bright young woman and a childhood friend of Arthur's. She's a chemist, running a drug store called "Sally's Interplanetary Travel Agency". However, she's hiding a dangerous secret...
- Affectionate Nickname: "The Salamander" in her youth by her ex-best friend, Arthur.
- Badass Bookworm: She had to rely on her intellect, chemistry, and wits to make sure she survives in Wellington.
- Chemistry Can Do Anything: She can create drugs and poisons thanks to her knowledge as a chemist.
- Children Are Innocent: Averted. She does dirty things to Arthur's father for survival. Since Sally's parents died before they could teach her about this sort of subject and Arthur's mother was too sick to do anything about it, Sally had no knowledge on how to approach it and accepted his advances. Even in her adulthood, she still believes she would have been the bad guy for rejecting him.
- Dark and Troubled Past: When the German Occupation demanded the children to be put on a train bound for Germany, her mother killed her younger siblings with poisonous soup as well as killing her father so that he wouldn't freak out. Sally was being escorted home by a patrol officer when they found the aftermath.
- Dramatic Irony: Arthur accuses her of being selfish. It's implied when she tried reasoning to him that she couldn't exactly say "No." to his father for a sexual favor that it was because, rather than not wanting to pass up the opportunity, she felt she owed him out of obligation for taking her in after her Dark and Troubled Past. And in the present, she's constantly giving herself to other people, such as having sexual relations with the General, cooking up Joy for hostile individuals, and caring for Gwen, the former two because it's the best way to survive in her eyes and the latter because any mother would.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Go through some of the articles at the beginning of Arthur's story, and at least one will mention Sally being a Junior Commander for the 1945 Battle of Flower Parade. Some articles also have ads for commercial chemists.
- Everyone Has Standards: Though she's had to do questionable things to survive and to keep her daughter Gwen alive, Sally still has a moral compass. She's sad when she learns that an old WWI veteran is being neglected by his children because they want his inheritance faster. Later, she's utterly horrified when she learns that the Space God People are about to commit a mass-suicide; she's particularly disgusted by their leader, wanting to kill him and referring to him as a "sick, dying bastard" and "a swindler who convinced himself."
- Femme Fatale: Has the look down, and can use her Charms in gameplay. Jury's out on whether she's a straight example or not.
- God Is Dead: When confronting the leader of a suicide cult, he says that she can't prove nor disprove that their deity, the Pickup Vehicle, exists, just like God. Sally snarks that Wellington Wells is pretty good proof that God doesn't exist.
- Good Girls Avoid Abortion: In one flashback Sally finds out from the witches that she is pregnant. They offer her Rue to use as an abortifacient, and inform her that she'll be in a lot more danger if she keeps the baby, but she does anyway.
- Guilt Complex: When Gwyn has a need, such as to be cleaned or fed, the longer it takes for Sally to complete this the more guilty she feels about unable to being able to provide for her daughter. This guilt literally weighs down on her, reducing the amount of weight she can carry. It's represented in-game with items called Totems of Parental neglect that take up a lot of weight and only disappear after Sally takes care of her daughter.
- Human Resources: One ability Sally has is to use a drill to harvest pituitary gland extract from people. This acts as a method of non-lethally incapacitating people, and the extract is used as a crafting material.
- Mama Bear: She's motivated by the need to protect her baby daughter, Gwen.
- When the Germans demanded to round up the children for Germany, her mother told her she intends to keep her younger siblings from going, to which Sally replied apathetically. In response, Sally's mother explained that it was a mother's instinct and that she wasn't sure if Sally would ever understand this one day. And then she goes on lethally poison her two youngest children, herself, and her husband.
- In contrast pretty much all of Sally’s actions are focused around improving things for Gwen. This includes combat, murder, drug dealing, and smuggling.
- The Muse: She was this for one of the shop owners, communicated in a conversation with his wife. The wife mentions how his ambitions noticeably increased with Sally’s encouragement.
- Parental Neglect: While Sally loves Gwen very much, due to having to keep her existence a secret from the residents of Wellington Wells, Sally occasionally has to leave baby Gwen alone in her apartment for long stretches of time while on missions, which factors into the game, as she can earn totems of parent neglect that essentially remind the player to go back and check on her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gets on the receiving end of this by Arthur in their last conversation, in which he calls her out for seducing his father and having sex with him in his own parents' bed. Sally tries to reason that "How could [she] say no?"
Oliver "Ollie" Starkey
Portrayed by: Allan Cooke
"IT'S NOT A LOVELY DAY FOR IT! IT'S A FUCKING TERRIBLE DAY FOR IT!"
The third playable character. Ollie is a skeptical Scottish veteran with a few stitches loose and was Arthur and Sally's neighbour during their childhood. Life has taken a toll on him; he's got diabetes, severe memory problems, and hallucinates his daughter, Margaret. After finding out the truth about the German encampment, Ollie sets out to uncover what's really going on in Wellington Wells.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: By the time Arthur meets him, Ollie has been talking to the picture of his assumed daughter Margaret and mannequins for many years.
- Crazy Is Cool: Yes, he hears voices, but they give him good advice. Combine that with his comical belligerence, and aptitude for blowing things up, and you effectively get a one-man steamroller rumbling very loudly through the otherwise creepily polite and oppressive Wellington Wells.
- Cruel to Be Kind: While tying up Victoria and forcing her to remember traumatic events is certainly cruel, it was the only way he could make sure that she wouldn't dope herself on more Joy.
- Dark and Troubled Past: His neighbor, Jack Worthing, was hiding his daughter, Margaret, so that she wouldn't be taken away to Germany. Ollie reported them to the authorities, not realizing the consequences of his actions until it was too late.
- Dented Iron: His age and stay in the wilderness hadn't been kind to his mind and body, but the notable issue was he had developed Diabetes that caused difficulty in managing his diet in an environment with little to no medications to control his blood levels.
- Dirty Coward: He was actually complicit in covering up the fact the Germans didn't have real tanks.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Initially seeming to be just some NPC that Arthur would encounter during the story in the early versions of the game, it turned out he is, in fact, one of the playable characters and has just as much of a role as Arthur and Sally do.
- Excrement Statement: While he's escaping Wellington Wells in the hot air balloon, he pisses over the edge of the basket while flipping the V at the city.
- Friend to All Children: Ollie fondly remembered Arthur and the children evacuees, many of whom are now adult inhabitants of Wellington Wells at the station. Though he didn't apply it to Jack's daughter, who he ratted out to the Germans. Nevertheless, he felt guilty enough to see hallucinations of her and assumed her as his daughter.
- Only Sane Man: In the E3-trailer, he talks to Victoria about everything that the citizens of Wellington Wells have been trying to ignore by taking Joy. Though he did hallucinate Jack's daughter Margaret as his daughter.Ollie: People in town are getting a tad bit skinny! I think they're starving to death! And they're painting the streets in fucking rainbows! Have you not noticed?!
- Papa Wolf: Ollie is protective to his "daughter," Margaret, which Arthur was fuddled by the fact that she was not present except as a picture. It turned out that Margaret was, in fact, Uncle Jack's daughter that Ollie turned to the Germans, which he began to hallucinate as a result of his guilt.
- Regretful Traitor: If General Byng is to be believed, Ollie knew that the German tanks were fake, or at least should have figured it out on his own, yet kept quiet. He also turned Margaret in which got her shot, and his guilt was so much that he took an Oblivion pill to scramble his memories, which caused him to hallucinate Margaret.
- Sergeant Rock: Based on his three chevrons on his uniforms, he may have been an NCO before the events of the game.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Thanks to his experience with the German invasion and having lived by himself in the wilds against wastrels for decades, his mind has not been in good shape. In the cutscene where Arthur meets him in person, he nearly beats him with a cricket bat, both out of mistakenly assuming him as a wastrel and a brief traumatic flashback when Arthur questions his sanity and doesn't seem to realize he was attacking Arthur just a moment before when he does recognize him.
- Tragic Keepsake: The handkerchief tied to his left arm belonged to Margaret, who was turned over to the Germans and caused overwhelming guilt to Ollie.
- Violent Glaswegian: His general demeanor is more aggressive than Arthur or Sally and gameplay-wise is meant to be more combat-capable than either of them.
Citizens of Wellington Wells
Government and other authority figures
Uncle Jack
Portrayed by: Julian Casey
"Wakey wakey, everyone!"
The face of Wellington Wells, Uncle Jack effectively serves as the local government's spokesman. As the only source of news, advice and entertainment, Uncle Jack's show is broadcasted throughout the town every day on monitors, loudspeakers and radios.
- Affably Evil: He's always polite and cheerful, even when he's discussing creative ways to kill Downers.
- Berserk Button: A minor example- he doesn’t seem to like it when people address him as "Jack" or "Mr. Worthing".
- Character Catchphrase: "Take it from me: Jack Worthing!" to use his authority as assurance, and "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it seems we have come to the end of our time." when announcing the conclusion of one of his episodes. In his final episode, he uses the former to beg his viewers to stop taking their Joy, and he uses the latter while breaking down.
- Chekhov's Gun: If you go through some of the articles at the beginning of Arthur's story, one article will mention a Jack Worthing and his daughter, Margaret Worthing.
- Fantastic Racism: In addition to expressing bigotry against Germans, Uncle Jack also expresses this sentiment towards Downers and Wastrels, encouraging hatred of the former and fear of the latter. At one point he even suggests that human sacrifices take place in the Garden District.note
- Historical In-Joke: He makes a lot of these, despite encouraging the Wellies to forget the past. Things he references include British Maritime Traditionnote , King George IIInote , Queen Mary Inote , and human sacrificenote .
- Jerkass Has a Point: Though he is helping to uphold a dystopian society, his show still gives good advice at times. This includes reminding people to consume Vitamin C to avoid scurvy and advising them to avoid unexploded bombs.
- He states in one of his shows that the "Joy Spiral" is very unlikely, pointing out that even if one were to take too much of it, they would most likely pass out before any serious health problems were to arise, and then wake up later with their memory restored.
- Les Collaborateurs: He was the voice of the Occupation Authority during the War.
- Lost Episode: His final episode before he was presumably Released to Elsewhere was never aired, as it featured his breakdown over his past and the truth of the city's situation, neither of which are acceptable.
- Mysterious Past: The civilians of Wellington Wells have no idea who he was before he was Uncle Jack. An article that Arthur can read in the prologue states that he was an actor, and Ollie later says that he became the voice for the Occupation Authority radio station. He was also a father.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Uncle Jack's show is live-action, while the rest of the game is made entirely with 3D animation.
- Papa Wolf: He tried to hide his daughter so that the Germans wouldn't take her away. It would've worked if Ollie hadn't ratted them out.
- Politically Correct History: Despite encouraging the Wellies to forget about the past altogether, people kept asking about it, so Uncle Jack wrote and released a book about the events of the War. It almost certainly presents a false account of the war.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Several of the Jokes that Jack reads on his show include digs at non-English ethnic groups; he mostly makes fun of Germans, but Scottish and Irish people are also targets.
- Posthumous Character: He's been gone ever since he revealed the truth about Wellington Wells on his last tape.
- Trauma Button: His last tape was on the subject of dolls. And then he remembers how his daughter Margaret used to love dolls...
- Signing Off Catchphrase: "Well, I'm afraid we've come to the end of our time." It becomes a Madness Mantra during his final broadcast.
General Robert Byng
Portrayed by: Stephen Boxer
"The safest secret in the world is a secret no one wants to hear."
Former Commander of the Home Guard and an infamous figure throughout Wellington Wells.
- Arc Villain: The main antagonist in Sally's storyline.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Arguably fills this role with Dr. Verloc for the whole story in general.
- Broken Pedestal: For Victoria, after she learns of his plan to retreat to a bunker, where he has been hoarding food in the middle of a famine, and leave Wellington Wells to its eventual destruction.
- Chekhov's Gunman: In Arthur's story, look through a couple of articles on your redactor machine at the beginning and some of the articles will talk about a General Robert Byng. One article also mentions that he has a daughter, Victoria Byng.
- Dirty Coward: He certainly has a penchant for taking the easy way out to save his skin. In India, rather than coming to an agreement with his wife over how to raise Victoria, he instead had her arrested as a spy. After World War II, he collobarated with the Germans even though he knew their threats were merely bluffs. As Wellington Wells collapses, rather than actually do anything to solve the problem, he builds a safe house for himself to hide in.
- Dirty Old Man: He is shown to be attracted to, if not outright obsessed with, Sally Boyle, a woman younger than his own daughter.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He does seem to care about his daughter, Victoria. Though Victoria implies that their relationship is strained.
- When Sally infiltrates his bunker, a crayon drawing made by a young Victoria depicting her and her father, calling him her hero, can be found on the wall of his office.
- When Ollie says that he'll go ask Victoria to help him reveal the truth about the tanks after arguing with him, General Byng immediately shuts him down and sets off the alarm.
- Eye Scream: When Sally slashes him across the face with a shard of glass she slices through his left eye.
- The Ghost: Though Arthur sneaks through his office in the military camp in his story, he doesn't meet him. It's implied that he was visiting Sally in her story at the time.
- The Heavy: He serves as the main antagonist in Sally's storyline and also plays an antagonistic role in Ollie's storyline, but despite his high rank in society he isn't actually the one running the show (that would be the all-powerful Executive Committee).
- Hoist by His Own Petard: After being beaten in a boss fight by Sally he attacks her from behind and knocks her into a fire extinguisher box, Sally manages to grab a piece of glass from it and slash him across the face allowing her to escape.
- I Did What I Had to Do: A guard shares a story to his coworkers about how during his tour of duty with the General in India, an elephant killed a soldier and ran off. Though the General found the elephant peacefully eating in a field and the owner begging him not to kill it, the General killed it anyway. The guard uses this story to prove that a real man does what is necessary and that the General is a prime example of it.
- Implacable Man: Sally's lack of combat skills aside there doesn't seem to be anything that can stop him for long, whether a scotch bottle to the head, a room of knockout gas or a shard of glass to the face.
- Ironic Name: Shares a last name and rank with General Julian Byng
note , a famous British commander during the First World War, who commanded the Canadian Corps and the British Third Army during some of their greatest battles against the Germans, including the First Battle of Cambrai, which was the first surprise attack using tanks, and would later become Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (a.k.a. the actual Bobbies), where he would do an excellent job reforming and modernizing the service. This General Byng collaborated with the Germans in the Second World War even when he knew their tanks were fake, and it resulted in the society of Wellington Wells, whose Bobbies are basically the opposite of Julian Byng's. - It's All About Me: General Byng seems all too aware that Wellington Wells' society is completely unsustainable and on the verge of total collapse, but instead of using his influence and the advantage of being the Only Sane Man to try and do anything about it, he's more concerned about making sure that himself and those closest to him are taken care of, as evidenced by his personal bunker filled with horded supplies.
- Les Collaborateurs: He knew the German tanks were papier-mache fakes, he still let the Germans do what they wanted, reasoning that the people of Wellington Wells would still have surrendered anyway after suffering enough casualties from German infantry.
- Loved I Not Honor More: He arrested his Indian wife Lili for supporting Indian independence. In a letter she wrote to him, she accused him of having only married her for her connections.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: His design is confirmed to have been modelled on Neville Chamberlain, the champion of appeasement.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Unlike the other Wellington Wells leaders, including Dr. Verloc, there's nothing at all bumbling or comedic about General Byng. Being the only person in authority who's not whacked out on Joy seems to help a lot in that regard.
- Only Sane Man: Subverted. Though he doesn't take Joy (although does use Sally's chemicals) and seems to look down on it for what it's done to everyone's psyches, he's a highly-respected figure. However, he is not benevolent or compassionate, as he let the Germans do as they pleased with Wellington Wells and refuses to reveal the truth about it to the populace, and his relationship with Sally keeps him from being a Reasonable Authority Figure.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: He is noted to have been quite traumatised by his time in the military.
- Would Hurt a Child: He let the Germans make off with the children and implicitly threatens to hurt Gwen to Sally.
Executive Committee
The people who are officially in charge of Wellington Wells.
- Cloudcuckoolander: They're as mad with Joy as anyone else in town.
- Clueless Boss: Even though General Byng and Dr. Verloc ultimately answer to them and are carrying out their orders, they turn out to be as Joy-addled and nutty as everyone else in town.
- Head-in-the-Sand Management: They're only response to any problem is to pop a Joy and forget about it.
- Only Sane Employee: Invoked, but subverted. When Ollie goes to the Committee to report the food shortage, the one member he talks to explains that they rotate the "Dread responsibility" of not being high on Joy to be this. Unfortunately, that one member admits to having a little Joy herself!
Chief Inspector Peters
Portrayed by: Julian Casey
A constable Arthur encountered at the train station in his youth.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- When Arthur meets him at the Britannia Bridge, it's not clear if he's real or just a figment of Arthur's imagination as Arthur faces the truth about his past for once and for all. Arthur even wonders this and asks him this, to which he answers that it doesn’t matter, but what really matters is what Arthur wants to do.
- It's also not certain if Peters recognizes Arthur.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He appears sporadically in of Arthur's flashbacks, forbidding him from boarding the train as he is too old to go to Germany. He later appears in Arthur's finale as one of the handful of sentries on Britannia Bridge.
- The Ferryman: Patrols the bridge's span and discretely takes the Wellies who manage to reach him out to Great Britain proper.
- Meaningful Name: St. Peter is in charge of deciding whether to let people through the Gates of Heaven or to keep them out.
- Only Sane Man: He is the only Bobby in the entire game who isn't stoned out on Joy, either by choice or natural immunity, and thus has retained his memories and sanity. However it is not clear if he is really a Bobby or just Arthur's conscience.
- Given his posting, it's likely he is aware of the status rest of the rest of Great Britain as well.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Not only is he the only Bobby who isn't hostile to you, he actively escorts Downers who reach him with Letters of Transit out of Wellington Wells to mainland Britain.
- In a final flashback, it's revealed that Arthur had actually attempted to trick the Constable into thinking he was over 13 with Percy's passport. Though it's debatable whether or not he believed Arthur's lies, he allowed Arthur to return home in the end.
- Still Wearing the Old Colors: Whether intentionally modeled as such or not, the Constable still wears his older uniform compared to the other Bobbies.
- Threshold Guardian: Gives Arthur a choice through a single Joy pill: to either cross the bridge and escape Wellington Wells, or return to his old Joy-induced oblivion.
John Constable
Portrayed by: Julian Casey
A Bobby, and the protagonist of the 'Night Watch' arcade mode. His duty is to patrol the streets each night and take down as many Downers, Wastrels, and other miscreants as possible.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: In addition to the risk of being killed by enemies, Constable can also die if his Joy meter runs out. He must take Joy each night to survive, but every night the price of it increases, meaning he has to kill and loot more enemies just to keep himself going.
Department of Archives
Victoria Byng
Portrayed by: Katherine Kingsley
"Truth is the enemy of happiness. Isn't that the decision we all made?"
The Director of the Department of Archives at City Hall and Arthur's boss. She is the protagonist of the final DLC, "We All Fall Down."
- Affectionate Nickname: Vickie, by her mother.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: While she was held captive, she constantly begs Ollie to give her Joy.
- Ambiguously Brown: The E3 2018 trailer shows her being darker skinned than most characters in Wellington Wells. Her father was stationed in India and met her mother there. Apparently, Victoria's parents were frowned upon to the point of her mother's arrest and she was trying to keep her true ethnicity a secret to avoid racial discrimination.
- Ambiguously Gay: She lives alone, and letters suggest that she is close with Prudence Holmes. However, we never hear from Victoria herself what she thinks of Prudence.
- Anti-Villain: Just like everyone else in Wellington Wells, she believes taking Joy to forget their past sins is the right and healthiest thing to do. When some close friends such as Arthur and Ollie are off their Joy, she offers them her own out of concern for them rather than immediate hostility.
- Awful Truth: She believes that it's better to take your Joy and forget about everything because the truth is too awful to face. Being off her Joy for a time leads her to confront the truth.
- Beautiful All Along: Like many others in Wellington Wells, she wears a mask so to shape a smile on her face. It intentionally comes off as Uncanny Valley to the player. When Ollie forces her to detox, she ends up taking off her mask, and she's rather attractive.
- Building Swing: Her primary weapon in her DLC is a whip that she can use to grapple onto certain points.
- Daddy Issues: Implied. While Ollie holds her captive in her own home, she mutters that her father has forsaken her.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- As a young woman, she helped the German Occupation by calming the children and playing with them before they would be taken away by the train. She holds immense guilt over this.
- As noted under Missing Mom, she also had a falling-out with her mother after she was imprisoned for resisting the British occupation of India.
- Deadpan Snarker: In spite of being consistently cheery and full of smiles, she has some pretty sarcastic comments on occasion.
- The Dragon: She's one of the most powerful people in Wellington Wells. According to All There in the Manual, she's only second to the Chief Constable, who is presumably General Byng.
- Groin Attack: Does this to Ollie after tricking him into letting her go.
- Heel–Face Turn:
- After being held captive by Ollie and deprived of Joy, she seems to be convinced that taking away Joy from the city and revealing the truth is the right thing to do, and says that she'll join Ollie in his goal and help get the Executive Committee on his side. Turns out she was just lying so that Ollie could free her, using this to blindside him and run off.
- Has one for real in "We All Fall Down", as Wellington Wells' descent into absolute anarchy due to how everyone is too high on Joy to maintain the city causes her to abandon the government's cause and Joy itself.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: In the "We All Fall Down" DLC. She's made a Heel–Face Turn and knows that she'll be hated for depriving everyone of Joy, especially since she had a large role in making Wellington Wells as it is in the first place, but comes to accept her status as a pariah by the end.
- I Will Find You: After destroying the sources of Joy and becoming a pariah to the city, the hallucination of her mother tells her that if anything, she can return to India to find her, as she's "probably" still alive, an idea that Victoria seems to be taking into consideration.
- Les Collaborateurs: Like her father, she was very accommodating to the Germans.
- Missing Mom: Her mother was arrested in India while she was a child, and that was the last time she ever saw her. Whether she's still alive or not is never revealed, which she considers finding out personally at the end of her DLC.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Victoria's reaction when she remembers that lacing Wellington Wells' water supply with Joy was HER idea.
- Pet the Dog: When Arthur shows signs of being off his Joy she initially offers him hers and only calls him a downer when he refuses it. Later, when Ollie breaks into her home, she only calls for help after trying to persuade him into taking Joy to forget.
- Precision F-Strike: She usually doesn't swear, but when Ollie destroys the Joy pills from her pillbox when she expected him to give them to her, that's when she finally does.
- Prim and Proper Bun: She always wears her hair in a bun to highlight her status.
- Promoted to Playable: In the final DLC, 'We All Fall Down'.
- Reformed, but Rejected: At the end of "We All Fall Down", Victoria has finally put an end to the whole Joy business... but the people of Wellington Wells who are still left are perfectly aware the whole thing was in large part her fault to begin with and turn their backs on her.
- Royal Blood: Her mother was a maharajah's daughter, making her Indian royalty.
- Stepford Smiler: While every Wellie qualifies, Victoria's arguably the worst of the bunch since she was the one who got the children to go onto the train by singing to them despite knowing full well that Germany's tanks were fake, meaning the children were never in any real danger.
- To Be Lawful or Good: Duty is very important to Victoria. Above all else, she chooses duty even when it has adverse effects, such as supporting the Authority during the German Occupation, or making sure everyone takes their government enforced drug when Joy was developed. "We All Fall Down" has her realize that Wellington Wells is in Joy Spiral of destruction, so her duty becomes getting the Wellies off their Joy so they can save themselves.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In the vanilla game, her fate after she escapes Ollie and he broadcasts Uncle Jack's last tape is unknown. The "We All Fall Down" DLC deals with her fate afterwards.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gets on the receiving end of this by Ollie, who points out that having everyone hide from all their problems using Joy will just doom everyone to a slow and starving death. This seems to get through to her after he forces her to detox ... until she blindsides him right after. However, come "We All Fall Down", she seems to have realized he was absolutely correct; while off her Joy, she quickly sees how badly Wellington Wells is falling apart from its citizens' addiction. It causes her to quit the drug completely and try to force everyone else to stop taking Joy.
- However, when she does destroy the town's Joy supply, the survivors point out that her actions caused the destruction of Wellington Wells and the slaughter of the majority of its population. Not only that, but some survivors blame her for denying them their Joy while others remember all the horrible deeds she committed. Either way, none of the surviving Wellies want anything to do with her. While Victoria was expecting this reaction, it still hurts her feelings greatly.
- Whip of Dominance: Victoria Byng is the duty-obsessed Director of the Department of Archives at City Hall and is something of a Control Freak. She is frequently carrying a whip with her, as a visual symbol of her 'duty' motif, and as her DLC "We All Fall Down" shows, she's very adept at actually using it in combat.
Prudence Holmes
A co-worker of Arthur at the Department of Archives at City Hall. She's been on vacation for a while.
- Ambiguously Gay:
- Numerous diary entries from her that you can find in Arthur's story point towards her being in love with Victoria. She talks about having dreamt of swimming with her out of Wellington Wells and how well she knows Victoria.
- When you go to Victoria's house in Ollie's story, you can find a letter on her desk from Prudence. In it, she apologizes to Victoria for leaving and says that she loves her in a way that would not be accepted in Wellington Wells.
- In the Damp Diary she says she's aware of Arthur's crush on her and absolutely hates it.
- Hero of Another Story: After the prologue, Arthur can discover through documents that Prudence was off her Joy and attempted to escape Wellington Wells. She also became associated with Mr. Kite, who claimed to be a member of the supposed Resistance.
- Posthumous Character: Near the end of Arthur's story, he finds her corpse in the Motilene mines.
- Secret-Keeper: She knew that Victoria was half Indian and conceived from a relationship General Byng had while stationed in India.
- Signs of Disrepair: After she went "on vacation", her co-workers decorated her office for her return, including setting up a "Welcome back" banner and a basket of fruit. When Arthur goes by it for the first time in quite a while, the "wel" part falls off and the fruit is rotten with flies.
Clive Birtwhistle
Another of Arthur's co-workers.
- Brick Joke:
- Later in Arthur's story, Arthur complains that Clive probably has his nice office by now.
- He doesn't come back up until Ollie's story, where Ollie learns at Victoria's house that she hates Clive's constant whining about wanting Arthur's office. His name is also on the Jack O' Bean club blacklist for reasons you can probably guess.
- The Game Over screen for Victoria's story reports that he has been promoted to her position while she's promoted to elsewhere.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Victoria is tired of his buttkissing and complaining (although she doesn't make this clearly known), and his co-workers are neutral about him, except for Arthur, who comes to mutually dislike him after learning of his envy of him.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever got him banned from the Jack O' Bean club that Ollie has to go to in his own story.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: He constantly tries to suck up to Victoria in his letters so he can have Arthur's window office.
- Unknown Rival: Arthur can learn from documents he can find at work in the beginning of his story that Clive hates him and wants his office specifically.
Scientists
Anton Verloc
Portrayed by: Michael Schaeffer
The director of Haworth Laboratories and the head of research and development on Joy.
- Big Bad Ensemble: The closest thing the main game has to a main antagonist, along with General Byng.
- Domestic Abuse: Was in a relationship with Sally prior to the events of the game, which was clearly abusive. Case in point, his way of dealing with her disobeying him is to lock her out of their lab. In the rain.
- Klingon Promotion: A non-lethal example. He became head of research and development on Joy, by sabotaging his superior's credibility and turning him into one of his test subjects.
- Laughably Evil: As malicious and amoral as he is, Dr. Verloc is every bit as nutty and bumbling as anyone else in town, as evidenced when you confront him personally.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Is believed by General Byng to be the father of Gwen, and the fact that Sally both doesn't say otherwise and describes the father of her child as "evil", implies that this is true.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: He's a brilliant scientist who is helping to keep the people of Wellington Wells in their drugged-out states.
- Playing with Syringes: He seems to have no trouble using human test subjects for his experiments, which leave them as insane, near-braindead husks.
- The Sociopath: Appears to have no sympathy for anyone but himself, and is perfectly fine with creating something that will likely end up practically lobotomising an entire town of people. Sally outright calls him heartless.
- Stealing the Credit: Quite a bit of his research, which he takes quite pride in, was actually developed by his former lover, Sally Boyle. Verloc simply took credit for a majority of it.
- Smug Snake: Verloc isn't nearly as brilliant as others or himself think to be. It turns out most of his breakthroughs were stolen from other more talented scientists like Sally, and all of his attempts to create a permanent version of Joy have yielded no results.
- Uncertain Doom: His fate in the "We All Fall Down" DLC. While Victoria is successful at blowing up Haworth Lab, it's unclear if he managed to get away or died in the explosion.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: He flees down a pneumatic escape tube after trapping you inside an electric stun field when you confront him in person.
- Woman Scorned: Gender-Inverted. He clearly isn't happy with Sally for leaving him and becoming his competition, and attempts to have her arrested when she comes to him for help.
Helen Faraday
Portrayed by: Samantha Lee
The scientist responsible for the development of many of the more esoteric technologies in Wellington Wells.
- Big Bad: She serves as this in the They Came From Below DLC.
- Cloudcuckoolander: She acts a bit daffy when Arthur seeks her out.
- Meaningful Name: Faraday cage.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: She developed several of the technologies used to oppress the citizens of Wellington Wells, including the Shockers and the bridge gates. She seems to regret it, though, and her refusal to create any more leads to her getting put on house arrest by the time the game starts.
- The first DLC indicates that she used to be a straight example of this trope, until Roger and James helped her robot slaves turn the tables on her and send her away to be 'reprogrammed' into a better person.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Her use of robot slaves is treated by Roger as an especially heinous crime.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Her plan is to use the robots to solve the food problem for Wellington Wells. Even if it means forcefully "reprogramming" the sentient robots through means that would be inhumane to them.
Richard Arkwright
The director of the Department of Scientific Research.
- Graceful Loser: When Arthur uses Arkwright's technology to blast his way into Arkwright's office, Arkwright doesn't get mad—he praises Arthur's scientific acuity, and just hands over the device Arthur came for.
Journalists
Margaret Oliphant
The editor of the O Courant paper.
- Intrepid Reporter: She publishes several articles detailing the truth about Wellington Wells... which leads to her paper getting shut down.
- Only Sane Woman: She isn't on Joy and tries to spread news instead of propaganda, but after Arthur left only Gemma reports actual news while everyone else simply reports on the new flavor of Joy.
Gemma Olsen
A reporter working for Oliphant.
- Femme Fatale: Notes in Verloc's lab indicate that Olsen had begun trying to seduce the staff in order to escape.
- Intrepid Reporter: Even moreso than Oliphant. She searched out facts relating to the various malfunctions in the motilene network, as well as the problems with recent batches of Joy.
- Lobotomy: Notes in Verloc's lab state that she has been scheduled for this procedure.
- Sex for Services: Her chart in Haworth Labs notes that she offered sex to one of her guards in exchange for favors. It didn't work, and she was denied food for three days as punishment.
Musicians and other entertainers
Nick Lightbearer
Portrayed by: Jay Simon
A famous singer and songwriter. Arthur can encounter him as part of a sidequest. The "Lightbearer" DLC focuses on him.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He defeated the dangerous Serial Killer Foggy Jack.
- Deal with the Devil: Discussed in the DLC. After finding a dead groupie on his bed, and erroneously concluding that he's Foggy Jack, he asks Virgil if he made a deal with the devil. Virgil tauntingly states that if he had his music would be much better.
- Electrified Bathtub: How he (seems to) die, at least in Arthur's story.
- Not Quite Dead: Revisiting his house in Sally's story shows he's merely unconscious, meaning Arthur mistook him for dead due to either lack of medical training compared to Sally, his perception being messed up due to Joy or both.
- Embarrassing Last Name: His birth name is Norbert Pickles. No wonder he uses his stage name.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: After a particularly bad trip he swears off of Joy and alcohol. In turn, they no longer raise his sanity after that.
- Luke Nounverber: Nick Lightbearer
- My God, What Have I Done?: He has this reaction in the DLC after he comes to believe that he's Foggy Jack. Fortunately it turns out he's not when he meets the real Foggy Jack.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Subverted. While "Old Nick" is a slang name for Satan and "Lightbearer" is the meaning of Lucifer, Nick Lightbearer doesn't seem very demonic. He's more of a harmless washed out musician.
- The trope is played with, but ultimately subverted, in the Lightbearer DLC.
- The Power of Rock: His weapon in the DLC.
- Really Gets Around: Apparently has a string of ex-wives, and regularly wakes up to find a woman in bed with him.
- The Rock Star: His archetype.
- Sanity Meter: His health meter is actually this.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Due to his lifestyle Nick's perception of reality is skewed even by Wellie standards. Taking Joy, alcohol or caffeine actually makes him more lucid than normal.
- Your Costume Needs Work: In the DLC he accidentally participates in a Nick look-alike contest, and the judge states that he's not a believable Nick.
Morrie Memento
One of Nick's former bandmates.
- The Pete Best: He was with Nick in the early days, but Nick fired him and went solo.
The Make Believes
A popular band in Wellington Wells. Their music appears in several places in Wellington Wells, and they also appear in one of the promotional videos.
- Meaningful Name: Their "La La La" video shows that while the Make Believes (And everyone else on Joy) think their playing a hit song in a brightly studio, the reality is that it's all a drug-induced hoax. In short, they're people that "make believe" they are a band.
- The Reveal: One of them undergoes this in a promotional video for the game. They're all playing their latest hit song when one's Joy wears off and he realizes that their studio is a dilapidated wreck, and their instruments are actually junk. However, the other band members compel him to take another Joy pill and continue playing.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: A lot of their music does this. For instance, during the butcher sidequests (in which Arthur is compelled to help a butcher cut up human flesh), a soft, peppy muzak song by the Make Believes plays through the butcher shop's intercom.
Shopkeepers
Reg Cutty
A butcher who resorts to... unusual sources of protein.
- I'm a Humanitarian: He forces Arthur to help him butcher a human corpse for meat and to press said meat into bunt cakes. Cutty intends to sell it to the Wellies as food, and it's made clear that he's been doing this for awhile.
- Those Wacky Nazis: Although not actually a Nazi, he's implied to be from the game's equivalent; he slips into German at one point and Ollie refers to him as a collaborator, implying he may have come over with (or at least be aligned with) the Germans who occupied England.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims to be this. When he finds out that Arthur sabotaged one of his corpse-butchering machines, there's a chance he'll shout out that the people in Wellington Wells are starving. When he's being dragged away under arrest by a Bobby, he'll again shout this point to justify himself.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The last we see of him, he's being dragged away by a Bobby arresting him. It's unknown that if he was thrown in a jail, given to the Doctors for experiments, or summarily executed out of sight.
Lionel Castershire
Portrayed by: Simon Peacock
A pawnbroker who knows Sally.
- Handy Man: He builds things out of random scraps, which is why Sally asks him to build an automatic watering machine.
Davy Hackney
A fashion designer.
- Back for the Dead:
- After appearing near the end of the Arthur's quest and then being absent during Sally's, Ollie can stumble across his corpse during the trip into Apple Holm.
- Near the end of Ollie's story when Ollie enters the Parade District via the Fashion Institute hatch, Hackney's catwalk models have been turned into Plagies and the whole building is a mess.
Richard Bates
The proprietor of a music store.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He excoriates Nick Lightbearer for his sins.
Miscellaneous Wellies
Edmund "Ed" MacMillan
Portrayed by: Joe Sims
Cutty's apprentice and assistant.
- Accidental Hero: He inadvertently warns Sally of Verloc's attempts to frame her for murder, thinking he was planning to throw her a party instead.
- Birds of a Feather: He was friends with Percy as they were both "different" from everyone else.
- Butt-Monkey: Every time he appears, he's hard done by. When Arthur runs across him, he's being beaten by the Plough Boys gang. When Sally encounters him, he's been captured by a cult and is about to be sacrificed. And that's not even counting anything he had to undergo while working for Mr. Cutty.
- Named After Someone Famous: His name references Edmund McMillen, the creator of such indie games as Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac.
- Recurring Extra: He is one of the few NPCs to appear in all three main stories.
Roger Bacon and James Maxwell
Roger on the left, James on the right.
Faraday's assistants. The DLC "Roger & James in: They Came From Below!" focuses on them.
- Big Damn Heroes: Halfway through the final battle in the DLC, James shows up to throw a banger at Dr. Faraday's robot, further bringing the boss's health down to a fourth of its full health.
- Big Damn Kiss: At the end of the DLC if Roger convinces James to come with him through the portal.
- Cloudcuckoolander: They are like this in the main game. Not so much in the DLC.
- The Cynic: James. He has a pessimistic way of looking at things, and he worries that Roger's idealism will get him into trouble.
- Hidden Depths: In the DLC, Roger mentions knowing hieroglyphics and other alphabets, including Hangul and Devanagari.
- I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You!: When Sally Boyle arrives to ask Dr. Faraday for an engine, James tried lying - presumably per his instructions.James: "She said she died in the explosion!" *realizes what he said* "Oh fuck!"Roger: "She's upstairs."
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: At the end of the DLC, James tells Roger that he can leave him to explore space. However, Roger can choose to convince him to come with him.
- Mistaken for Gay: Inverted. In the DLC, a shopkeeper tells Roger that she's their Secret-Keeper... in that the two are actually Irishmen, which Roger claims isn't true.
- Moral Myopia: After learning that the robots are sentient and he's been killing Brainwashed and Crazy robots, Roger meets a robot still attached to an operating table after being tortured. The robot asks Roger to Mercy Kill it, but he refuses, because it would be murder...
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Roger in the DLC. His reaction to encountering a race of sentient robot aliens is to want to communicate with them and learn from them, and he rejects all the arguments that the robots are dangerous and should be preemptively destroyed.
Captain Strawbeard
An ostensible pirate who needs Sally's help.
- Dirty Coward: He admits to being one when Sally first meets him. Edmund MacMillan has been kidnapped by Yam Cultists and was about to be sacrificed, but Strawbeard was too afraid to attempt a rescue attempt.
- Pirate: He dresses and acts like one, anyways.
Petunia Penny
The wife of Norbert Pickles, also known as Nick Lightbearer.
- Awful Wedded Life: Her marriage to Nick was horrible, at least according to a letter detailing why their divorce was granted.
- Woman Scorned: Nick cheated on her a lot while they were married so she divorced him, took 90% of his income in the settlement, and opened a museum dedicated to airing all his dirty laundry.
Virgil
As viewed by Nick
Nick Lightbearer's manager. During the "Lightbearer" DLC, Nick hallucinates that he's a talking rat. (Or is Nick hallucinating that a rat is talking like Virgil...?)
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He serves as this to Nick.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Nick sees him as a talking rat, even after learning he was murdered by Foggy Jack. It's never clearly stated whether he's a ghost or a hallucination.
- Meaningful Name: His name is Virgil, he is Nick's sole companion in the DLC, and at one point Nick goes through a vision of Hell.
- Self-Deprecation: If he's a hallucination then he shows how much Nick hates himself.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Virgil seem to have had this relationship; the vision of him Nick sees regularly criticizes Nick's lifestyle and talent, but is trying to help him remember the truth that he witnessed Foggy Jack's murders. Nick even avenges him by either killing or apprehending Foggy Jack.Nick: "This one's for Virgil!"
Harry Plantagenet
One of Dr. Verloc's unwilling test subjects. He's gone mad as a result of being experimented on, and believes himself to be the rightful King of England.
- Historical In-Joke: On the diagram he drew explaining why he's the rightful King (see Room Full of Crazy below), he includes reasons why the claims of other Kings are weaker than his but doesn't include specific names. This includes "Henry VII Tudor Usurper" note , "Fat Divorcer"note , "Girls" crossed outnote , "Stewards off with his head!"note , "Filthy Commoners"note ,"Restoration Wankers"note , "Weak Willed Dandy Pri-" (the rest of the word was obscured by the cell wallnote , and "German Fakes"note .
- Madness Mantra: "The King Awakes! The King Awakes! The King Awakes!"
- Man Bites Man: Noted to do this to his caretaker.
- Rightful King Returns: Believes himself to be this trope, even claiming to be only two generations removed from the last Plantagenet King.
- Room Full of Crazy: He scrawled a crude lineage diagram showing his alleged descent from the House of Plantagenet.
Miscellaneous Wastrels and Downers
Johnny Bolton
Portrayed by: Jay Simon
A wastrel living in a Garden District treehouse.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Even in a game full of them, Bolton stands out. His first demand is that Arthur rescue a 'secret agent' which, upon investigation, turns out just to be a doll. And he only gets crazier from there.
- The Cuckoo Lander Was Right: After giving Arthur the recipe for the Blending Suit, Bolton tells him to infiltrate Dr. Verloc's lab. Later on, Arthur does exactly that.
- Companion Cube: A collection of teddy bears he considers his secret agents. He tasks Arthur with "rescuing" one called Peachy.
- Mad Bomber: In "We All Fall Down", he reveals that he was planning to blow up Haworth Labs and cut off Joy production forever when the Bobbies caught him. Victoria has to do it in his stead.
- Real After All: "We All Fall Down" confirms he actually is a Counterintelligence officer and at least has or can build an improvised taser.
The Weird Sisters
Portrayed by: Samantha Lee
Three sisters living in the Garden District who are supposedly witches.
- The Atoner: One of them admits to having been on the lab that first developed Joy, and immediately after revealing this states that she hopes the Goddess she worships will forgive her.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: It's left unclear if they actually have powers or if the services they provide are mundane. For instance, after Sally completes one of their rituals (lugging special bricks across the Garden District to put them in a specific box), Sally notices that she feels stronger, but then points out that she could just have gotten stronger from the exercise it took to move the bricks—the effect wasn't necessarily magic.
- Secret-Keeper: Were aware of Sally's previous pregnancy and, as such, are the only people in Wellington Wells aware of Gwen's existence.
- Shout-Out:
- To Macbeth.
- Their names are once again Arthurian Legend references. Nimue and Vivienne are different names for The Lady of the Lake, Morgause is the name of Mordred's mother and Morgaine le Fey's sister.
Children
Percival "Percy" Hastings
Portrayed by: Bradley Henderson
"People shouldn't lie. I hate it when people lie."
Arthur's missing older brother.
- Berserk Button: One flashback reveals that Percy has a strong dislike for sarcasm. It's the only time he ever really seems angry.
- Naked People Are Funny: One flashback has him swimming naked in a public fountain.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: He knows because of his condition he would get into less trouble than his brother if he says he was peeping on a girl to the mom, since he is "slow" and not a pervert.
- Parental Neglect: Percy mentions only Arthur is talking to him, when Arthur tries to say their dad does too he admits that not really. His dad doesn't sound particularly angry or devastated that Percy is the one the Germans grabbed instead of Arthur even if he suspects Arthur had a hand in it.
- Posthumous Character: A possibility. He and the other children were taken on a train to Germany, where he likely died.
- Subtext: If you have Arthur take his Joy after reading the article at the beginning, Percy's voice calls out to Arthur before being drowned out by the Joy.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Percy's presence in Arthur's life leads his brother to escape Wellington Wells, convince Ollie to reveal the truth about the German Tanks, and finally, Victoria to confront her past and end Anton's reign.
- Younger Than They Look: Subverted. In the flashbacks, he looks and sounds older than Arthur and acts smarter and more mature (save a few times) than him. In fact this is because he is older than Arthur - old enough to not have had to go on the train.
- Uncertain Doom: It is unknown if he is still alive in Germany or surviving in the wilderness or killed off during the train accident.
Margaret Worthing
As imagined by Ollie
Portrayed by: Eloise Webb
Ollie's daughter, having been taken to Germany by the train. In the present day, he hallucinates about her.
- Children Are Innocent: When the Occupation wanted the children on a train bound for Germany, she believed that it was going to be a fun trip.
- Deadpan Snarker: The imaginary Margaret has quite a sharp tongue.
- Death of a Child: She missed the train because her father kept her from going by hiding her, but Ollie reported them. When the authorities came to take her away, she tried to run and was shot, traumatizing everyone at the scene including Jack and Ollie.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Arthur mentions that a Margaret Worthing went to school with him, Percy, and Sally. Justified, as they all live in the same town and it's small enough that almost everyone knows each other.
- Foreshadowing:
- At the beginning of Arthur's story, do some work on the redactor and one of the articles will mention a Margaret Worthing and her father, Jack Worthing.
- Margaret calls Ollie by his name rather than calling him "father" or similar. He's not her dad. Also, she's not alive.
- When Ollie confronts Victoria in her house, they talk about the missing children and the train. Ollie mentions that his daughter was on that train, to which Victoria responds with curiosity. She doesn't know what he's talking about, because she doesn't know that Ollie had a daughter. Because Ollie never had a daughter.
- It's briefly mentioned that her surname is Worthing, while Ollie's surname is Starkey. Could be a result of the Maiden Name Debate... but it later turns out that Uncle Jack's surname is Worthing and Uncle Jack is Margaret's true father.
- Helpful Hallucination: Ollie's vision of Margaret is the one telling Ollie what to do, and acts as The Conscience to him.
- One Degree of Separation: One of the articles you can read at the beginning of Arthur's story mentions that Sally won a contest the year previous to Margaret and passed down the title to her as part of the award ceremony.
Guinevere "Gwen" Boyle
Sally's baby daughter.
- Death of a Child: What Sally is trying to avoid. Most people in Wellington Wells do not react well to pregnant women and babies, with stories going around of violent assaults on pregnant women, resulting in forced miscarriages. Sally's chapter starts with a Wellie trying to kill Gwen when he finds her.
- Dramatic Irony: Being a baby, Gwen is entirely unaware of the danger she and her mother are in.
- Escort Mission: The first part of Sally's final mission is carrying Gwen to the boat house. Sally will not be able to hold items or attack during this time.
- Living MacGuffin: Due to being an infant in a swaddle, Gwen has no real in the game beyond "Someone Sally has to take care of".
- Villainous Lineage: Sally seems to believe this about her, mentioning in her diary that she's afraid of Gwen growing up to have her father's heart. Even though Sally is the only real parental figure in her life.
- Who's Your Daddy?: Sally mentions earlier on that Gwen's father is a smart but evil man. We're later introduced to the General, and it is hinted a few times that she's also been with Dr. Verloc. The General, upon learning about Gwen's existence, deduces that she's Verloc's.
Other
Foggy Jack
Portrayed by Julian Casey
A purported Serial Killer who attacks Wellies that stay out past curfew.
- Big Bad: Of the Lightbearer DLC
- Card-Carrying Villain: In the DLC, Nick outright asks him if he's the devil. His answer? "One tries you know."
- Expy: Of Jack the Ripper.
- The Ghost: Never appears in the game proper.
- He finally makes a physical appearance in the second DLC
- Loony Fan: To Nick Lightbearer
- Real After All: In the main game it is never made clear if he is actually a real person, or simply a rumor. He shows up in the flesh near the end of the Lightbearer DLC
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: His mask possesses red eyes, and he’s a serial killer who attacks Wellies in the fog.
- Secret Identity: It's implied he may be associated with Uncle Jack in some way, or may even be the secret identity of Uncle Jack himself. He's said to use the same catchphrase ("we've come to the end of our time"), and Uncle Jack jokes at one point that he might become a killer if he went off his Joy.
- The DLC implies this to be the case, given that they both share the same voice actor and mannerisms
- Serial Killer: Who he's supposed to be.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: He wears a very sharp all black suit, complete with black gloves. Nick even mistakes him for the Devil when he first meets him in person.
- Stage Magician: His dialogue seems to imply he's one of these. He appears to possess an assortment of supernatural abilities, although it's unclear how much of this is stage magic and how much is Nick tripping balls.
Mr. Kite
A figure said to be affiliated with some sort of resistance movement. Seems to know Prudence.
- The Ghost: Never appears in the game proper.
- La Résistance: He's said to be part of it, though his actual role is far from clear.
The Robots
A race of sentient robots from another world.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Subverted. They only act hostile because Dr. Faraday programmed them to. Otherwise, they have the same level of sentience and awareness as humans. Faraday seems to believe that they destroyed their creators, though.
- Heel–Face Turn: Invoked. After they capture Dr. Faraday and take her to their planet as a prisoner, the arresting Robot says she's going to stand trial. When James asks if they'll execute her, the robot clarifies that they're going to find the cause of her "malfunction" and attempt to correct it.
- Humans Are Bastards: Some, including the one you find still attached to an operating table, believe that humans are this due to their sole exposure to Dr. Faraday. Though after the actions of Roger, they turn around.
- My God, What Have I Done?: One of the robots, Overseer_045, was initially loyal to Dr. Faraday and incinerated many other robots who defied her, including a robot infant. He tried ignoring his guilt over this, but it became too much. Overseer_045 is dead when Roger finds him.Overseer_045: "SIGNIFYshamesorrowregretregretregretregretregretregret"
- Mysterious Past: They were built by another race, but they died off for unstated/unknown reasons. Dr. Faraday suspects that the robots killed their creators, but there's nothing to confirm or deny this claim.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: When they become hostile.
- Shock and Awe: One type can use an electric shock attack.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Dr. Faraday and James dismiss the robots as just being tools and non-living things, and thus, they can't feel or be like humans.
Maharajkumari Indira Devi, AKA Lilli
As imagined by Victoria
Victoria Byng's mother, and wife of General Robert Byng. An Indian princess, she supported independence from the British which got her arrested, by her husband no less. During the events of "We All Fall Down", Victoria begins to hallucinate her mother's presence at times.
- Ambiguous Situation: As Hallucination!Lilli herself admits, it's unknown if the real Lilli is still alive, or died in prison.
- Dating Catwoman: While she spoke out for Indian independence, she was married to General Byng.
- Deadpan Snarker: She has quite the sharp tongue. "One clearly sees the superiority of Western civilization."
- Early-Bird Cameo: You can see a portrait of her in Victoria's house.
- Helpful Hallucination: The Lilli that appears in the DLC acts as The Conscience, similar to Margaret for Ollie.
- I Have Many Names: Her name on her portrait is "Maharajkumari Indira Devi", while she ends her letters to General Byng as "Lilli".
- Meaningful Name: Her first name is a combination of "Maharaja" (great ruler) and "Kumari" (Princess/Goddess), her middle name "Indira" is a reference to the first female Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, and her last name "Devi" is Hindi for Goddess.
