- "IT'S NOT A LOVELY DAY FOR IT! IT'S A FUCKIN' TERRIBLE DAY FOR IT! LOVELY DAY FOR FUCKIN' WHAT, ANYWAYS?"
- — End of We Happy Few
Oliver "Ollie" Starkey, also known as the "Mad Scotsman", is the third and last protagonist of We Happy Few. At least for the main story.
Ollie doesn't consider escaping Wellington Wells until way later in his Act, once he realises he, too, can't go back to how it used to be. He decides to take matter into his own hands to spread the truth to the rest of the population.
Appearance[]
Ollie is a burly fellow, with reddish-brown hair on his balding head, and a thick beard of the same colour.
It is said on his Letter of Transit that he is 172 cm tall, and weighs 100 kg.
Ollie wears a Sergeant's Nr. 2 Service Dress with a tool belt and webbing system with large pockets, reddish-brown pants as well as ankle boots and puttees wound up his legs.
Personality[]
Ollie is a survivalist and an excellent craftsman who has gone a bit looney ever since the War. He's quite jovial and vulgar, especially when his blood sugar is low.
It's not uncommon for Ollie to get confrontational towards others who get violent towards him, or who he believes are in the wrong. He's shown to strongly hold onto grudges against the awful things people did in their pasts, his Nr. 1 enemy is Uncle Jack. He also has great distaste for authority figures, such as the Constables.
However, Ollie also shows a great deal of kindness towards people who he perceives to be his friends, such as Arthur Hastings and Margaret Worthing.
More often than not, he doesn't care much for strangers, though he is willing to lend a helping hand if he feels like it. Other times, he's not the sort to rat people out, such as when he's tasked on answering where Prudence Holmes has gone.
Quests & Quotes[]
See Ollie's Quests and Ollie's Quotes
History[]
Born on the 28th of July, 1914, Ollie hails from a lower-class worker family in Scotland. In his youth, he was a song and dance man.
During World War II, Ollie served in the British Army and fought in Ramsgate alongside James Maxwell and David Livingstone, before the surrender in 1943. During the German occupation, Ollie became the General's secretary, who asked him to get them a bunch of newspaper and glue for the papier mâché tanks, purposefully built so that the citizens would be too scared to rise up against the German soldiers.
In 1947, right before the train was going to send all British children under the age of 13 to Germany, Jack Worthing was hiding his daughter from the German soldiers so that she wouldn't be taken away. However, Ollie knew about the secret. Some time after an argument at a pub, Ollie told the Germans where to find Margaret so that he could get revenge on Jack, though he never expected her to get shot.
Because of this horrifying event, Ollie became so distraught by his actions that he distanced himself so far from the truth that he convinced himself that it happened the other way around, that Margaret was his daughter, and that Jack had ratted them out. This delusion would only amplify with the production of Joy in 1951.
It wouldn't take long for Ollie to hallucinate Margaret around him, taking the role as his voice of reason.
While living in Hamlyn Village, he'd watch as the town developed over the years, with Jack Worthing, now Uncle Jack, becoming the face of the city. Because of Ollie's resentment towards him, he'd vandalise every TV around him so that he wouldn't have to see Jack's face everywhere. One day, Margaret convinced him to move to the Garden District, as there are no TVs there.
While in the Garden District, Ollie would set up camp at the abandoned Train Station, creating various machines that'd help him get higher up the tower as he wished.
In 1963, one year before the events of We Happy Few, Ollie remembered that the tanks at the Victory Memorial Camp were made of papier mâché, telling General Byng about it, though he'd convince Ollie to go see Sally Boyle for an Oblivion pill, completely erasing and scrambling most of his memories in the process, returning to surviving in the Garden District.
Events of We Happy Few[]
Act I[]
Arthur first sees Ollie shouting frantically and aggressively the Headboys atop his stronghold, [[The Train Station}}. Arthur then finds the railway completely blocked, and soon finds Ollie inside of the station. Ollie doesn't instantly recognise Arthur, believing him to be a Wastrel who snuck inside the station to come after him. Before Arthur receives a heavy blow from Ollie's bat, he manages to get through to Ollie, after multiple statements that he is indeed Arthur.
They decide to help each other out, as Ollie needs a few supplies from the Home Army, and Arthur needs to find his long lost brother, Percy. It's unknown how Ollie did during the raid, though Arthur risked his life for seemingly useless supplies.
During the raid, Arthur managed to damage one of the papier mâché tanks, bringing a piece of it back to the Train Station to show Ollie. After seeing this, Ollie becomes distraught and starts rambling to himself while Arthur remembered that he had lied his way off of the train to Germany. As part of their deal, Ollie gives Arthur an odd device before sending him off on his journey to pose as an undercover bridge inspector to Constable Wright at the Salamanca Bridge.
Act II[]
Ollie is not seen during Act II, though he is mentioned by Sally Boyle upon searching the train station, after the events of its destruction.
Act III[]
Meeting a Friend and Losing One's Home[]
Ollie learns that the tanks were made out of papier mâché thanks to Arthur, which then causes Margaret to start asking him whether he knew they were fake this whole time, as he was the General's secretary, and doesn't see how he couldn't have known. Ollie insists, and after he helps Arthur go to Maidenholm, he decides to visit the General to make sure he never knew about the tanks being fake.
However, before Ollie manages to go see the General, the Headboys from earlier manage to infiltrate the Train Station and they begin blowing it up using explosives they stole from the Victory Memorial Camp.
When Ollie discovers that all the exits have been blocked by rubble, he decides to use his parachute to jump off the building and land safely, retrieving it among the mess. He returns back to the top of the station and jumps off the building, landing somewhat safely on the ground.
Left without a safe place to live in, Ollie first locates the kidnapped Soldier that the Headboys kept hostage to get the explosives, getting information from him to cross Inkerman Bridge.
Hostile Cooperation and Hostage-Taking[]
Making his way into the the Military Camp, Ollie barges into Byng's office and tells him the truth, though the General reveals that Ollie not only knew the truth, but that he was complicit in the act, Margaret becomes upset over this.
Ollie then tells Robert that the people have to know the truth, which Robert explains isn't going to happen, which then causes Ollie to suggest getting Victoria Byng, Robert's daughter, to let him tell the Executive Committee the truth. Byng sounds the alarm, and Ollie escapes with the help of another fellow Soldier.
Making his way to Maidenholm, Ollie finds Victoria's house and attempts to reason with her, though he calls for help and attempts to escape, forcing Ollie to knock her out and hold her hostage in her own home until her Joy runs out so that he can explain their situation to her.
Eventually, Victoria agrees to help Ollie get to the Executive Committee to spread the truth of the city. This, however, turns out to be a ruse as Victoria immediately kicks Ollie between his legs and knocks a chair over his head before making her escape. Starting the events of We All Fall Down.
After taking the Letter of Transit, Ollie decides to head to the Executive Committee on his own.
On a Quest to Forward the Truth[]
The Bobby on Mount Badon Bridge refuses to let Ollie in the Parade District as the Executive Committee has quarantined it, though they claim it isn't because of the plague. Bobby jokes that Ollie should dig a tunnel into the Parade if he wants to visit, to which Margaret suggests Ollie should take the Motilene tunnels to get into the Parade.
Ollie heads to Faraday's Workshop to get the blueprints of the underground tunnels, finding that Dr. Faraday has escaped and that her houseboys, James Maxwell and Roger Bacon, are under house arrest. They search for the blueprints while Ollie helps them water and pollinate their plants.
Roger finds that the nearest tunnel is located under The Jacobean Society's club, the society that worships Uncle Jack. Ollie heads to the club and breaks in through the back door, stealing their giant Parade Balloon as a form of escape if things don't turn out as planned at the Broadcast Tower. While in the Parade, Ollie steals a hydrogen tank for the balloon at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
In the Broadcast Tower, Ollie finds that the Committee isn't as functional as he once believed, as they rotate who takes responsibility, but that the one responsible person still secretly takes Joy and doesn't want anyone to know about the truth.
Concluding that they're completely incompetent, Margaret tells Ollie he should get Uncle Jack to tell everyone the truth as everyone in the city is willing to listen to whatever he says, he takes the elevator to the shooting room.
While there, Ollie discovers that Uncle Jack is gone, and that all of his shows has been re-runs in order to avoid people getting suspicious. Ollie finds the last recorded tape of the event and takes a look at it for himself.
The Truth Shall Set You Free, And It Shall Make You Mad[]
As Ollie watches the last recorded show, he once again finds out the truth, that Margaret was never really his daughter, and that he was the one who got her killed. In the same tape, Jack says that they all have to stop taking their Joy and that they're all going to starve to death. Margaret tells Ollie he needs to broadcast that tape, which he does.
The Executive Committee finds what Ollie is attempting to do and shut off the power, hoping that is enough to stop the tape from being aired, though Ollie cranks the emergency power to broadcast it. During this time, Ollie has to fight incoming Bobbies, stop them from tampering with the tape, and keep the power going for a minute and 45 seconds.
An End to it All[]
After the tape has been broadcasted, Ollie decides to go up to the roof and take the Parade Balloon away from Wellington Wells, and hopefully back to Scotland.
Margaret appears to Ollie one last time and tells him he needs to let go of her, which he agrees with.
Epilogue[]
Ollie is seen during Constable Peters' monologue, where he is still aboard the balloon, letting go of a picture of Margaret.
Relationships[]
Arthur Hastings[]
Ollie was a former neighbour of Arthur and the boy would often play in his house together with Sally. He calls Arthur 'little Artie'.
Sally Boyle[]
Similarly to Arthur, Ollie's and Sally's relationship isn't explicitly stated, though she has helped him in his times of troubles by giving him an Oblivion pill.
Margaret Worthing[]
The former neighbour of Ollie Starkey, it's unknown what their relationship was like before The Occupation, though it's likely they saw each other enough for Ollie to have a general idea of her likes and dislikes, her interests, skills, and her attitude on certain situations.
It's important to note that Ollie's hallucination of Margaret isn't the real Margaret, as the hallucination of her acts as Ollie's voice of reason and moral compass.
Donald Johnston[]
One of the few friends Ollie has left, they're both from Scotland and served together in the British Army. Ollie presumably did something to strain their friendship a little, as Donald tells him "Don't make me regret helping ye, Ollie. Not again."
Related Notes[]
Skills[]
Ollie's abilities is centered mainly around direct combat as he can single handedly knock out Bobbies and Joy Doctors alike. He has the second-highest health and deals the second-most damage out of all the playable characters (second only to John Constable).
Ollie's traits, however, bring him more negative effects than positive ones:
Icon | Name | Description | Effect |
---|---|---|---|
Unwell | Must use syringes to regulate blood sugar. | Low and high blood sugar have negative effects. +20% more throw damage. | |
Slow | Can't run fast. | -20% moving speed. | |
Strong | Can choke out unaware people, including bobbies and doctors. Can carry more weight. | +33% inventory capacity. Stealth takedowns enabled on all types of NPC. | |
Troublemaker | People don't like Ollie, for excellent reasons. | Wellies with red hats will automatically aggro upon spotting Ollie. | |
Mechanic | Mechanically adept. Chemically hopeless. | Can't use chemistry labs |
Ollie's style of play centers more on combat and survival, as he doesn't have a Stealth Skill Tree.
Survival allows Ollie to obtain more resources from plants, obtain more health from healing items, run faster and longer, find better items in loot containers, carry more items, eat rotten food without becoming sick, have his crafted weapons last longer, sell items at shops for greater profit and buy items more cheaply.
Combat allows Ollie to gain more health, deal more damage per attack, stun enemies and break their weapons when blocking attacks, use less stamina when attacking and blocking, deal damage to multiple opponents with one attack and inflict bonus damage onto unaware opponents.
His Super-Duper abilities allow him to throw things further and inflict more damage, give a small chance to knock enemies unconscious when hitting them, have any weapon that he uses degrade more slowly, and allow him to use less stamina while attacking and blocking. It also gives him the ability to attack faster and have the chance for enemies with less than 10% of their health remaining to run away.
Ollie is also somewhat of a moonshiner and improviser as he has access to two unique crafting recipes; Ollie's Grog and Ollie's Black Powder.
- Ollie's Grog functions as a sort of "cure-all" and a substitute for Phenocycline Jabs, Sick Up Tea, and Neximide as it will cure Plague, Infection, Food- and Joy poisoning when consumed.
- Ollie's Black Powder is a craftable version of Black Powder, which can be used to create Bangers.
Ollie is also a decent craftsman, as he has access to a much wider array of crafting recipes for survival items, tools, and weapons, at the expense of having far less chemical crafting knowledge.
Handicaps[]
Ollie has a major disagreement with the Jacobean Society regarding Uncle Jack, this'll reflect in-game as there will be Jacobean Society members patrolling the street. There's very few of them, but they'll see and recognise Ollie regardless of what disguise he wears. They can be identified by their large red hats and striped brown suit, they also tend to sit on Benches. (In Survival, they won't be bothered by Ollie)
Ollie also suffers from Type 1 Diabetes, or as the game calls it, "Unwell", so the player has to regulate his blood sugar by crafting syringes. Alternatively, the player can eat different kinds of foodstuffs like pie slices or scotch.
If it goes too high, Ollie will begin to lose health, and if it goes too low, his maximum health will be cut in half, he will deal less damage and he will become very sour and cranky, causing him to start insulting NPCs on sight, alerting them to his presence and turning them hostile.
General[]
- Ollie likes dancing.
- General Byng mentions that Ollie used to be a "song and dance man" in the We All Fall Down DLC.
- When Ollie was younger, he was thin.
- Ollie plays the piano quite well, in comparison to Arthur and Sally.
- James Maxwell mentions that he served together with Ollie at Ramsgate.
- Ollie's favourite book as a child was Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
- On his Letter of Transit from Victoria Byng, his birth date is revealed, along with his height and weight.
- Ollie weighs 100 kg (220 lb), and he's 172 cm (5,7 ft) tall.
- It is mentioned by one of the Home Army NPCs that Ollie was stationed in Punjab at one point, a province in British-India.
- Ollie could be called a "Half-Wastrel," as he can take Joy, but it's still somewhat dangerous to his health as it will cause heavy vomiting, which makes him hungry and thirsty, all the while he suffers a sugar crash, followed by almost instantaneous Joy withdrawal.
Other[]
- When Ollie is typing on Victoria's typewriter, he types "piss off".
- The preview video of Ollie's skill "Unwell" is called "Diseased" in the files.
- Whether this was the original name for the skill is unclear.
- He is the first playable character who doesn't wear a Happy Face mask.
- It's possible to find a letter from Ollie to Uncle Jack in mailboxes inside Hamlyn Village, simply titled "Jack". The letter is signed "Your Nemesis, O.S".
- In earlier versions of the game, this was a hint to his character before he was shown in the game.
- Ollie's blood sugar condition, based on the mechanics, could be Type-2 diabetes. This may suggest that once Ollie gained more weight and became generally more unhealthy, developing the condition.
- If the player attempts to use a chemistry set, Ollie will end up causing a huge chemical explosion, blowing himself back and destroying the chemistry set. He will not take any damage from the explosion.
- It's possible that Ollie is inspired by the real-life Oliver Starkey, an English knight who lived in the 16th century and was the only English knight present during the Siege Of Malta.