#prudence holmes

Dr. Faraday is the least ambiguous of a concept that I think permeates the entire game, but is not understood by people who think there are "rules of narrative fiction" that say you have to take everything at face value unless it's contradicted otherwise.

She is a contextual villain.

This is an idea that exists in lots of other media, but I saw it explained most memorably in one of Kieron Gillen's BTS essays for Phonogram: Singles Club. It's in the back of Laura's issue, right after you've watched the girl who you thought was Penny's mysterious and aloof ride-or-die bestie turn out to be her bitter, overshadowed plus-one.

In Arthur's act, Faraday is presented to you as a victim of her own utility to Wellington Wells, imprisoned in her own lab and conscripted to make security devices against her will. You are made to sympathize with her desire not to contribute any further to the subjugation of the populace and assist with her escape plan (although you are admittedly more motivated by the need for her to fix the Plassey Bridge for you). Her stated wishes are altruistic and ethical in this context.

In They Came From Below, however, she is the main antagonist and you find that her lack of emotional intelligence prevents her from seeing what Roger readily can: that the robots she's discovered are sentient and have feelings. Consequently, she's out here committing atrocities and shit. Not very sympathetic now! Although, to her thinking at the time, her motivations were still altruistic and ethical: the people of Wellington Wells had stopped farming so she meant to reprogram the robots to do it for them. If the robots had been exactly as they appeared, this would not have been a problem.

It is for this reason that in my story, her change of heart is actually not emotional, but logical. She's been convinced that the robots have their feelings, but she must reconcile that if forcing them to feel ways convenient for civic use was wrong, then it also wrong to do so to the people of Wellington Wells.

But consider that Roger, after all this, remains loyal to her. It's not just the job or the security she's provided either; after she's gone, he's reluctant to hand over his bee cannon to Ollie because "she made it for me". Roger's seen her at her worst and he's seen her at her best too. He's weighed all her actions together and made his decision about her.

It's rather special what They Came From Below does as well, in making her an antagonist. It poses a question: are you sure about your impression of this character? Do you have the full picture? In Arthur's and Sally's Acts, Faraday is witty and even a bit charming for someone so devoid of empathy.

Dr. Verloc is described the same way, you know.

But let us imagine they gave us a Verloc DLC. Do you think he'd be a villain in it? No, 'cause he'd be the protagonist. A Byng DLC? Same thing. You'd be forced to reconcile their world view with those you'd already been shown. Might they still wash out to be villains overall? Maybe. Probably, even.

The only reason why these guys are so thoroughly vilified is because we never get to see them on their own terms or from any perspective other than that of their enemies (particularly each other actually, which is pretty funny!) But they are surely as dimensional as anyone else in this world.

And this goes the other way too. You play as Arthur and immediately you meet a character who knows him: Danny Defoe. And Danny does not like him! Now granted, this is because when they worked at the O' Courant together, he copied one of Arthur's articles word for word and submitted it as his own, Arthur told on him, and he got fired. Which reflects poorly on Danny, but we also know by this point that Clive Birtwhistle isn't exactly Arthur's biggest fan either. And maybe Clive's not as diligent a worker as Arthur, but he also thinks Arthur's a kiss-ass and we learn from the Ploughboys later that this may not be an unsubstantiated opinion. 0-2 for coworker relations. When you find Prudence's diary in the Maidenholm hatch, we learn she didn't like him much either. Paints a picture. I mean, Arthur's the only constant in this equation.

And Sally. Lordy, for someone so popular and friendly, she sure does have a lot of people not particularly pleased with her.

Ollie at least understands he's a miserable prick and how that informs his relationships with everyone else. But Arthur, Sally, James, and even Victoria and General Byng speak of him fondly so we know he's actually being more critical of himself than they are (without yet knowing he has his buried reasons to see himself that way).

We were given all this, and yet a lot of people were still asking why Arthur and Sally's versions of events are so different and who was "right".

In being so obviously and unambiguously shown in a controverting light from her established impression, Dr. Faraday is the game's invitation to question your perception of every character.

prutoria the women you are .. 🫶

(separate post for the other ship)

Send me a ship for the ship bingo chart: Victoria Byng / Prudence Holmes ( We Happy Few )

Let's go lesbians! Let's go!

Victoria and Prudence are such a classic case of lesbian pining. While I think the idea of them being together would be nice, we know from Prudence’s diary, letter, and notes that she never acted on her crush and she was fairly certain that even if Victoria returned her feelings, still nothing would come of it. That Victoria would “never stray from her appointed path, no matter how much she loved anyone.” 

Victoria inherited that strong sense of Duty from her father, taking it to a level of sincere devotion that even Gen. Byng never achieved. Prudence notes that she had to be the most English Englishwoman to walk the earth due to being half Indian and needing to prove her Englishness. Victoria was dedicated to Wellington Wells first and foremost and everything else came secondary. In late-stage WW, the general public can’t be arsed to care about sexuality anymore, but I imagine that would have been something Victoria was aware of. Being with a woman wouldn’t be upstanding-proper-Englishwoman-like, not to mention the distraction from her responsibilities that any romantic relationship would pose. 

Prudence suspected that Victoria might know, and even suspected that her feelings might have been returned, but that didn’t change the reality that there was likely nothing to come of it. So she loved her quietly in their friendship. In the way Prudence writes to and about Victoria, it’s clear that they were friends and that Victoria cared for her dearly. In classic lesbian fashion, it’s unclear if that caring was exceptionally affectionate friendship or some sign of romantic attraction. 

If Victoria returned her feelings and they did get together: 

They would be cute in the way that romance blossomed of friendship is cute, but there are definite conflicts there. Victoria’s steadfast devotion to Joy and the Wellsian Way of Life. Prudence’s questioning thereof, going off Joy, and plotting to escape. In her diary, Prudence remarks: “I could still go to a Mood Booth and pretend nothing happened. But I won't. I won't do it. Not even if she meant the way she looked at me.”

Prudence loves Victoria, but even that love doesn’t outweigh the misery of living in Wellington Wells when you aren’t drugged out of your mind. Maybe the relationship would delay the inevitable, but it would cause extra tension between them because Victoria is sharp about that sort of thing. She would notice if Pru was acting strange – showing signs of not taking her Joy (even if she was on Sunshine as a substitute). It would be harder and harder for Pru to get away with it. When she finally reaches her breaking point with Wellington Wells and makes plans to escape, she wouldn’t ask Victoria to leave with her. She already knows what her answer would be. Telling Victoria would only result in her being given Joy against her will “for her own good.” And Victoria would truly believe she was doing what was right, because she hasn’t been off her Joy in years. So Prudence would leave a letter and make her escape. And Victoria would stay behind and wish she had noticed the signs sooner so she could have stopped Pru from going Downer. 

Alternatively, if Pru was still around when Ollie forces Victoria to go off her Joy, then they could burn it all down together, but I’m not sure that timeline fits narratively with the game. Still, it might be a bit fun to have Victoria, off her Joy, talking to Prudence about everything that’s going on, Pru not being shocked at all, and that being the moment Victoria realizes that Pru really has been off her Joy all this time. 

If Victoria didn’t return her feelings and it was just Pru’s wishful thinking:

So this is a very silly idea that came up a while back when chatting with some friends. What if Victoria cared about Prudence in the same way she cared about Arthur? Both of them are her employees under her care, both of them are showing signs they may be high risk of going Downer. What do they need? Accountability and a pick-me-up. If the two of them got together, they would surely dash away these silly notions of going off their Joy. And keep each other accountable to take it regularly going forward.

So Victoria subtly tries to matchmake them, but she doesn’t want it to look like that’s what she’s doing. So she invites Arthur into the conversations when Prudence comes to talk to her. She makes sure their offices are right next to each other so they might bump into each other in the hall more often. She encourages them to talk to each other when they’re at a company party and Pru and Arthur are both being proper wallflowers. 

Maybe it starts to work on Arthur. Making those “googly eyes” at Prudence that she complains about. Arthur never says anything about it and fumbles his chance at every turn because, well, he’s Arthur. And because Prudence catches on sometimes that he might be trying to work his way around to asking her to lunch and finds a way to derail the conversation and excuse herself every time. 

Prudence Holmes from We Happy Few aesthetic

Dearest V,

By the time you read this, I will be gone. Leaving you is the hardest part of what I have to do. You were right about my being off Joy -- the others were easy to fool, but you of course were always so attuned to my moods. I'm sorry for saying you were just imagining it, but I did so to protect you. You must by now know my true feelings for you (though I suspect they are not reciprocated). Please don't come looking for me. We both know that your sense of Duty is at the core of your being. I will always remain your true friend, even though our paths must now diverge.

Yours truly,

Pru