Margaret Oliphant, is the editor-in-chief of The Hamyln "O" Courant Newspaper Office, as well as the old boss of Arthur Hastings, back when he was a reporter.
Oliphant is one of the few people within Wellington Wells that knows the true state that it is in. Though she doesn't admit it, she lets some parts slip out, and hardly gets any good stories from her journalists as they are all unimaginative and out of date.
Events of We Happy Few[]
Arthur meets Margaret wishing to have his old job back to get a pass to get into Haworth Labs. Margaret has many other people ahead him on the list. However she wishes to know what has happened to Gemma Olsen as she was making a story about the tunnels.
When Arthur returns he tells what happened to Gemma as well as to the condition the tunnels are in they are actually worse that it was first thought were. Oliphant knowing that Arthur wants the pass to get to the labs asks why only the reply to be its 'personal'. Margaret warns that the labs answer to only 'Verloc's law'.
After escaping Haworth Labs with the cod liver oil for Sally Boyle, Arthur finds the "O" Courant shutdown. Sneaking in Margaret's office is ransacked with a decoded note. Moving the cat statues in the right positions opens a secret passage way to a room where Margaret published the "unpleasant issues".
Trivia[]
- In the credits, she is referred to as Mrs. Oliphant.
- She is listed on Sally Boyle's clientele list for Blackberry Joy.
- However, it's very possible she isn't taking her Joy, as she's well aware of the true state that Wellington Wells is in.
- Her last name means "ivory elephant" from Anglo-Norman, Middle English.
- The encrypted note on her desk reads " VERLOC LOOKING FOR PERMANENT SOLUTION"
- Her name is most likely a reference to Margaret Oliphant, a Scottish Novelist and Historical writer, sometimes dwelling into supernatural fiction.
- The author of Diary of a Wayward Girl reveals that Oliphant hid herself away from Wellington Wells until she could give birth to a child out of wedlock, likely giving it away to be raised elsewhere. When she came back, everyone pretended she'd gone to visit her cousins across the bridge.
- If the author is to be believed, Margaret isn't really married, since she also wrote that no one would want to marry her after she came back.