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- "People won't face facts. Not until we take their Joy. And when we do that... they'll murder each other in the street."
- — Victoria voicing her concern about taking away Joy.
Victoria Byng is a major antagonist in We Happy Few. She is the Director of the Department of Archives, Printing, & Recycling at the Wellington Wells City Hall and is the first encountered character at the beginning of the game.
She is the protagonist of the We All Fall Down DLC.
Appearance
Victoria Byng is a British-Indian woman, described to be "Eye-Catching" by the public. She has dark skin, brown eyes, and long black hair that's kept in a bun. She's often seen wearing a rounded black boiler hat.
She wears a brown twill coat with yellow rims, and a matching dress vest underneath. She also wear a white buttoned shirt underneath the vest, adorned with a big red tie.
Her pants are coloured beige, held up by a black leather belt. Her knee high black boots cover the pant legs.
Throughout Story Mode, she's seen wearing red gloves. However, because the gloves are absent in the DLC, her fingernails are shown to be painted red, and she's wearing a silver ring on her left middle finger.
Personality
Victoria Byng's core drive in life is duty, instilled in her from a young age by both her militaristic British father and aristocratic Indian mother, and she is determined to carry out her Duty even if such an action has adverse effects.
This is demonstrated through notes and interaction with her throughout the game, showing that she will choose doing her Duty over all else. During the German Occupation, her Duty was to assist the Authority with her father. In the present day of We Happy Few, her Duty is to keep the populace on their Joy, so that nobody has to endure the horrors of their past.
While her emphasis on the preserving the "Stiff Upper Lip" does make her character frequently cold in nature, she is known to occasionally show moments of tenderness and feeling. In the past, Victoria was kind to Ollie when he began to lose his mind after Margaret's death, and, though not outwardly, Miss Byng appears to have inwardly reciprocated Prudence Holmes's affection for her through their interactions. However, her core drive for Duty always comes first.
Victoria's best interests is in Wellington Wells, keeping it safe and secure for everybody. And while it's very likely that she's aware of the severe food shortages and the ever-growing Plague, she decides it's best for everybody if they stay on Joy, for if they don't, chaos ensues.
However, because of Ollie depriving her of her Joy in Act III, she finally sees the real horror that's going on within the city. Knowing that the civilians aren't as safe as she's imagined while on Joy, coupled with the realization of her Father's negligence for their people's safety, her sense of Duty redirects towards getting everybody off their Joy, so that they can finally set things right.
Background
Early Life
Victoria Byng was born in British India at some point in 1920 to British officer Robert Byng and Maharajkumari Indira Devi, the daughter of the king in one of India's princely states. At a young age, her mother was arrested for being in support of the Indian Independence Movement from British rule and, as a result, was raised primarily by her father in English custom. At some point after 1932, Victoria moved with her father from India to Wellington Wells, England.
During the German Occupation
During the German Occupation of Wellington Wells, Miss Byng assisted her father in his work as Municipal Liaison to the Occupation Authority. On August 22, 1945, she accompanied him to the Bolshevism Against Europe Gala held at City Hall.
In 1947, when the Wellies were made to register their children under thirteen with the Occupation Authority and three people accused of sabotaging the registry were lynched, Victoria wrote a cold-toned letter to the editor of the "The 'O' Courant" vigorously disagreeing with the editor, stating that everyone must do their Duty, and that the selfish saboteurs deserved to be hanged.
On July 20, 1947, Miss Byng conducted an orientation with the youngest children of Wellington Wells, singing songs and playing games with them, in preparation for their forced trip to Germany. This act, in contribution to the "Very Bad Thing", would eventually come to deeply haunt and traumatize Victoria, and as such became a prime reason for her strong support of Joy.
Post-Occupation Life Prior to We Happy Few
Following the end of the German Occupation, Miss Byng maintained a prominent position in the civil service of Wellington Wells. Victoria was the one who suggested Joy's introduction to the public water supply, and was in charge of a Joy-related campaign called "Happy Faces" which was a rousing success.
At some point, she was named Director of the city's Department of Archives, Printing and Recycling and, in 1962, was made Executive Counsel to the Executive Committee of Wellington Wells. As head of the Department, she was the superior of Prudence Holmes, Arthur Hastings, Clive Birtwhistle, Hopkin Jones, Deirdre, and others.
Events of We Happy Few
Act I
At the beginning of Arthur's story, Byng reminds Arthur of an office birthday party being held in honor of their colleague, Deirdre. She becomes briefly suspicious of Arthur after finding his Joy pills on the floor, but ends up taking them herself after Arthur reassures her of him being on the drug. She waits for him to put in a new power cell and comments on whether Arthur approves or censors the article surrounding Arthur and Percy before leaving the room for the party.
When Arthur finally shows up at Deirdre’s party, Victoria encourages him to hit a piñata set up for the occasion until it breaks. However, after Arthur, who is slowly snapping out of his Joy-induced state, smashes the “piñata”, he sees that it is in fact a rat that they have just beaten to death. Subsequently, Victoria and her colleagues eat the rat’s innards thinking it's sweets, which makes Arthur gag. Seeing this, Victoria sees that he really is off his Joy and offers him one of her pills. However, after witnessing his hesitation, she realizes Arthur has become a Downer and calls security before Arthur runs out of the room.
Act III
Later in the game, Victoria is surprised to see her old friend, Ollie Starkey, standing in her foyer. She initially steps around his questions surrounding the state of the crumbling city, but eventually reveals to him that she does remembers the truth about the "incident" everyone is trying to forget. However, she claims that it is better not to remember, that truth is the enemy of their happiness. Ollie then takes her hostage, knocking her out and tying her up to a chair, deciding to deprive her of her Joy.
Suffering from Withdrawal, she becomes increasingly abrasive and ill as she vividly remembers the role she played in the "Very Bad Thing." She states that she believes that without Joy, the people of Wellington Wells will murder each other in the street. However, she eventually breaks and takes Ollie's side on the matter, stating that she'll help him in convincing the Executive Committee to get rid of Joy entirely, giving him the elevator code needed to access them in City Hall.
However, as soon as she's released by Ollie, the cooperation is revealed to be a ruse, as Miss Byng quickly incapacitates the Scotsman with the chair she was tied to before running out from her house, leaving him to deal with the Bobbies she presumably called on him.
We All Fall Down
October 23rd, 1964. After Ollie Starkey withdraws Victoria of her Joy during Act III, she knocks him out and escapes her house to The Bridle Path. As she wanders through Dunkerton District in search for a Mood Booth she discovers the true state of the city, with people eating charcoal due to the severe food shortage, the Plague finally having spread to the Village, corrupt Bobbies threatening to call citizens Downers for hoarding food, and dead bodies lying in the streets. She ultimately decides that they cannot keep living like this, and goes off of Joy to keep a clear head.
After escaping the Bobbies, she hides out in ransacked building, there she starts to hallucinate her mother talking to her, but shuts her out for the time being. After searching the crumbling house she finds that a group of people had committed suicide via arsenic during a farewell party, further showing her how worse the situation in Wellington Wells is becoming.
She escapes to the sewers and is confronted by the Wastrels who live there, scorning her whilst she's on her way to her Father.
After using the Underground tracks to get the Victory Memorial Camp, she confronts her Father, who is dismissive about the city collapsing, stating that even if he does do something, the people would panic and would tear each other apart for what little food remains. Victoria then leaves to see Dr. Verloc who supposedly has a solution to their problems.
After crossing the dilapidated bridge, fighting off plague-riddled townsfolk, and passing through the ruined streets, she makes it to Waterloo District. Entering Haworth Labs.
There, she discovers that the Lab is not only undergoing 'Beautification', but that it's actually going through a riot. Victoria takes down the rioters and meets with Verloc, who is no better at finding a solution than her Father is, stating that they can sustain whoever is left alive.
Victoria leaves the office, encountering another hallucination of her mother again, who advises her that the citizens need to get off their Joy, as they will kill themselves otherwise. Victoria soon gets the idea of cutting off the Joy supply by destroying the Allocator hub, hoping that when people come to their senses, her Father will finally be able to do something; which is easier said than done, as Verloc now knows that she's off her Joy and has sent his Joy Doctors after her.
While Victoria succeed in destroying the Allocator hub, people are still getting their Joy from the water supply, which prompts her to cut off the water to the city too. However, Verloc is aware of what she's doing and tries to stop her while she's in the Waterworks facility. In the end, Victoria succeeds in cutting off the water supply, too.
Despite this, it makes things even worse. As people start panicking from the lack of Joy in the Mood Booths and water, causing them to riot and become Downers as they're slowly starting to remember their guilt of sending the children away, combined with the realisation of the dire situation they're all in; one woman even commits suicide in front of Victoria.
Victoria doesn't get far, as she's ambushed by a couple of Bobbies and gets sent to jail. She sleeps in her cell and recalls a memory of her mother being sent to jail in India. After waking up, she's remorseful towards her mother, believing she let her hate her. Surprisingly, she finds her cell door unlocked.
After exploring the prison, whose inmates are all Downers or Wastrels, she runs into Johnny Bolton. Johnny tells her that the only way to fix things is to get rid of Anton Verloc and his lab, as he's the one keeping everybody on Joy. He convinces her to blow up Haworth Labs with explosives that he put in her house, along with blueprints that he hid in his Hideout in Waterloo Square.
Victoria regains her whip and Dart Gun, using them to escape the prison before running into her Father, revealing that he was the one who left her cell door open. It's here that he shows his true side to his daughter, showing that he has no qualms running away to save his own skin, which greatly angers Victoria.
Now that she's escaped, she goes to her house to get the explosives, soon discovering that it's being occupied by Constables who are all looking for her. After getting the explosives and plans from Johnny's hideout, she storms Haworth Labs. Confronted by Bobbies, Doctors, and Security Systems, all while Verloc taunts her over the intercom. Despite this, she sets up the explosives and runs off, however, they go off too soon and blocks the main entrance, prompting Victoria to escape via the roof.
She escapes, is knocked out in the fall and briefly gets buried in rubble, right as Ollie Starkey broadcasts Uncle Jack's last tape explaining that Wellington Wells has fallen, that there's no food left, and begging for the people top stop taking Joy.
When Victoria comes to her senses, she's greeted to a city completely in disarray. The streets and buildings are ruined with dead citizens and rubble all over.
Now that there's no more Joy, combined with Jack's last tape being sent out, and the guilt that they've trying to suppress all this time, regular people and even the Bobbies are starting to wake up from their drugged induced apathy, causing them to become Downers, or rather, regular people.
Victoria comes across a group of survivors who lash out at her for what she's done, stating that they do not want anything to do with her ever again.
Victoria's Mother returns to her daughter one last time, saying that she did what needed to be done, even if the survivors don't see it that way. She then suggest Victoria go back to India, as the real her might still be alive.
Victoria, now alone, hopes that she did the right thing and that her mother is proud of her.
Much like Arthur, Sally and Ollie, Victoria has a skill system in the We All Fall Down DLC.
Unlike Story Mode, however, the player must get Contraptions in order to unlock her skills.
As well as that, the player is not required to unlock one skill in order to unlock another, meaning the player is free to pick whichever skill they want.
| Icon | Name | Description | Effect | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Soft Landing | Make less noise when landing and take less damage from falls. | -50% noise from falls
-50% damage |
4 |
 |
Oh, Shush | Allows you to choke out taller enemies. | Unlock stealth takedowns on Bobbies and Doctors | 6 |
 |
Silent Step | You are more difficult to detect when walking. | -50% noise when walking | 3 |
 |
Don't Interrupt | Electricity no longer stuns you and it deal less damage. | Electricity no longer stuns you -50% damage from Electricity | 5 |
Prologue
TBA
Idle
"Do you have any idea how hard it was to find flour for a cake? I'm going to be quite put out if it goes stale."
"Do you know I used real butter in Deirdre's birthday cake? And that was the last of it!"
"I do hope you're planning on finishing by Victory Day."
"I love what you've done with your office. It's so... homey."
"If there were an emergency, would you be able to find the doorknob, or should I tie a bright yellow ribbon on it?"
"I'm afraid I lack my father's common touch. So could you just pretend that I know how to motivate you?"
"It can't be this hard to finish up a day's work, can it?"
Accepting Article
"A happy society is built on a happy past"
"Right. Nobody's having nightmares over that."
"That's a past we can remember safely."
"Yes. One could read that without a ripple in one's teacup."
Censoring Article
"Arthur! Those who remember the past will be doomed to repeat it!"
"If that's upsetting you, I dare say you're not taking enough Joy."
"Oh, Arthur. For heaven's sake, focus! That one was perfectly harmless."
"We don't blot the whole past here, Arthur. Just the bad, sad parts."
Act III
"If you take enough Joy, sometimes one forgets the silliest things."
"You should get one! They shape your face into a smile. And when you smile, you can't help being happy!"
"No, Ollie. People do not need to know the truth. Truth is the enemy of happiness. Isn't that the decision we all made?"
"It's better not to know. You of all people should understand that."
"They won't listen. You'll only upset them. And then they'll take more Joy and forget. They don't want the whole truth. No one wants the whole truth!"
"I made them sing, Ollie. So they wouldn't be afraid. But then they had to get on the train. Do you remember how they screamed?"
"O father why have you forsaken me."
"All right. The tanks were paper mache. The children didn't have to get on the train. Poor Margaret Worthing didn't have to die."
"People won't face facts, not until we take their Joy. That's what we have to do, Ollie. And when we do that, they'll murder each other in the street."
"There hasn't been a baby in Wellington Wells in 17 years. We don't talk about that."
"In an hour, you horrible little man, I won't even know you exist."
We All Fall Down
"I -- I can't take my Joy. I have to keep a clear head!"
"Couldn't we give them all blackberry? They could make plans, plant vegetables. Even start the trade over the bridge again. They don't even know they're starving!"
"There's no food coming over the bridge, and we're not growing any. So how many of us are sustainable, Tony?"
"Tony, I'm not someone you can throw into a cell like poor mad Harry."
"He's just lost hope! Everyone's let him down! You can't lead if no one will follow."
"Damn it. It's after dark. The bobbies won't care whose daughter I am if I'm breaking curfew."
"I can't believe we built an elaborate system of pipes to "allocate" pills to the Mood Booths. Whose idea was that? ... I hope not mine."
"One must do one's duty even if it isn't pretty. Isn't that what you always say?"
"When they put you in charge of things, you don't have the luxury of idealism, Mother. You have to weigh how much you're going to hurt people."
"Does it occur to no one to grow vegetables? I suppose they remind people they're hungry."
"They're all going to die if they don't stop taking Joy! You've anesthetized a bleeding patient!"
"They're killing each other! And it's my fault!"
"Why couldn't you be a mother? Instead of a revolutionary, and a bloody traitor? [...] I don't want your stupid country!"
"You saw what happened! One half of the town will kill the other half - I might as well be murdering them myself!"
"But God help me, I can do no other."
"I suppose I'll never live here again. Not sure I deserve to, either."
"And all along, mad Johnny Bolton was doing the only sensible thing, while I sipped tea and popped pills."
"I am become Death, destroyer of worlds."
"Goodbye Mother. I hope you'll be proud of me."
We Happy Few
Concept Art
Official Art
In Game
Other
General
- Her weapon is a horse whip as seen in We All Fall Down DLC, it can also be used a lasso.
- Her other weapon is a shocking dart gun.
- When she was younger, she had a polo pony, a special kind of horse that is primarily used to play polo.
- In the note, In Which Oliver Gets a Headache, it is said that she keeps the riding crop in memory of the pony.
- In her game over death screen, a news article stating Victoria being promoted to regional manager.
- When she was sick as a child and couldn't eat anything else, Robert made her coffee yogurt. She may have disliked that, too.
- Victoria donated to the Pheonix Theatre found in Oh, Behave! And gifted the Wellington Wells Health Institute with a "Light Rain" fountain.
- Although not stated outright, it is hinted that she had a very close relationship with Prudence Holmes that leaned on homosexuality. However, Prudence speculates in one of her notes that her feelings were not reciprocated.
- In one of Arthur's lines to a Wastrel, "Did we go to school together? Miss Byng's class?", it is suggested that she was a teacher in her earlier years. This is further suggested when she had to conduct the orientation for all children under 13.
- Edmund MacMillan also mentions to Arthur that "Miss Victoria said Percy was dim" when they were children.
Other
- She is the first character to be both an antagonist and a playable character.
- Her father's nickname for her is "Doodlebug", which has many meanings and definitons, though it's most likely a reference to the V-1 flying bomb.
- She is so far the only character to wear red lipstick as opposed to the middle class Wellies who wear a nude color.
- The Music that plays inside her home in Hamlyn Village is an excerpt from Henry Purcell's Abdelazer Suite.