“. . .”
–Wes
Wes is one of the two playable Characters that are not unlocked via Experience in Don't Starve and one of the 17 playable characters in Don't Starve Together (DST). He is a fragile French mime that uses pantomimes to communicate instead of speaking. Wes's purpose in the game is to provide a challenge to experienced players.
Contents
- 1 Origin
- 2 Unlocking
- 3 Trivia
- 3.1 In-Game
- 3.2 Lore
- 3.3 Cultural References
- 4 References
Origin
“Some people just seem to attract more than their fair share of bad luck... and even those people are grateful they aren't Wes.”
–Official description for C'est La Vie
Wes's backstory was revealed in an animated short titled C'est La Vie. An official summary of the short was provided in DST's Compendium:
Despite a life plagued by terrible luck, Wes has never been one to utter so much as a word of complaint. Rather than dwell on his own troubles, he has instead dedicated his life to making others smile... even if it's at his own expense.
His journey to the Constant itself was nothing if not a tragic comedy of errors. After a series of snowballing missteps, Wes found himself accidentally taking the place of a stranger caught in the grip of a shadowy portal bound for the Constant. His unexpected arrival infuriated the Nightmare King, who quickly exacted his vengeance on the poor mime for interfering with his plans. Wes was banished to his own private prison, far from sight, where he would remain until he was rescued by the Constant's other Survivors (being the kind soul that he is, Wes holds no grudge against Maxwell... though he does continue to give him the silent treatment.)
Had Wes known what fate awaited him on his last day on Earth, he likely wouldn't have done anything differently. In truth, there is a part of him that is happy to be in the Constant with the other Survivors - for who could be in greater need of cheering up than those poor souls?
According to the passport on the table at the girl's house and the box marked with the name in the lower right corner, the stranger who was replaced by Wes was George T. Witherstone, the former creditor of William Carter. This also explains why Maxwell angrily imprisoned Wes after he failed to retaliate.
Unlocking
“Maxwell's statues are trapping him.”
–Wilson, when examining Wes.
“He's trapped by those mean statues!”
–Willow, when examining Wes.
“Is puny man trapped by statue men.”
–Wolfgang, when examining Wes.
“Trapped by Maxwell's statues, forever alive.”
–Wendy, when examining Wes.
“SILENT HUMAN TRAPPED BY STATUES”
–WX-78, when examining Wes.
“Poor sod is being held here by those statues.”
–Wickerbottom, when examining Wes.
“Who's that hoser?”
–Woodie, when examining Wes.
“A performance artist! Who could have imprisoned him like this?”
–Wagstaff, when examining Wes.
“I'll save yöu, silent mörtal!”
–Wigfrid, when examining Wes.
“Hello? Can you hear me?”
–Webber, when examining Wes.
“You probably want me to like, free you or something, huh.”
–Walani, when examining Wes.
“I'll get you out, mon ami!”
–Warly, when examining Wes.
“'E be locked up tight!”
–Woodlegs, when examining Wes.
“'TIS UNSPEEKING UNPIG”
–Wilba, when examining Wes.
“... ...”
–Wormwood, when examining Wes.
“Just say the word and I'll get you out of there.”
–Wheeler, when examining Wes.
In the third chapter of Adventure Mode, a set piece may appear (if the map is not Two Worlds), which will have two chambers with a Maxwell Statue in each one, and a third one with Wes in the middle.
When players break one of the statues, it will release various non-damaged Clockwork Monsters. After breaking all the statues and defeating the Clockwork Monsters, go to the chamber where Wes is trapped. More Bishops, Knights and Rooks will spawn and the player will need to defeat them.
After all monsters are cleared, Wes will pass out, fall on the ground, and disappear. Wes will then be unlocked as a playable character.
In Don't Starve Together, Wes is available to play from the start, with no unlocking required.
Trivia
In-Game
- Wes was added in the Insanity! update on February 12, 2013.
- Wes was made unlockable through Adventure Mode, in The End of the Beginning update.
- Wes used to be the sixth unlockable character via Experience.
- The Pile o' Balloons was added in the Strange New Powers update.
- In singleplayer version of Don't Starve, Wes has higher maximum Sanity than Willow, Wigfrid, Webber, and Woodlegs, and higher maximum Health than Maxwell and Wheeler. All his stats are higher than a non-upgraded WX-78.
- When struck by Lightning, Wes is shown to have bones in his hair.
- In RoG, the Pile o' Balloons can be given to a Catcoon to befriend them, but this is not advised as to get them back the Catcoon must die and similar results can be achieved with simple Twigs.
- Instead of using an actual paddle, Wes pantomimes one to move Boats in the Shipwrecked DLC.
- When The Gorge event first began, Wes's Culinarian skin was missing his red cheeks. This was later fixed in an update.
- In Rhymes with Play #201, it was revealed that Wes's Victorian skin was to have a soot cloud effect when he walked. This was not implemented as it would have made the skin more complex and thus more valuable compared to the others.
- For April Fools' Day 2020, Wes was given a fake character rework along with an animated short.[1]
- Wes is the only character whose favorite food can only be cooked in Warly's Portable Crock Pot.
- His idle animation is blowing a red balloon, which audibly pops, surprising him.
- Ironically, despite being a silent character, he is the only character so far to have an audible idle animation.
- Wes will still say "I can't do that" when attempting to do an impossible action (this is corrected in ).
- Wes's original pantomime movements were animated by Alex Savin.[2]
- During the preview stream for A Little Rain Must Fall, developers said that Wes has an invisible bicycle, a likely reference to his cycling action.[3]
- Additional pantomimes were added to DST for Wes's refresh update.
- According to Rhymes with Play #279, the pantomime in which Wes waves both his hands is based on the American Sign Language (ASL) sign for applause.
- The pantomime in which Wes puts a hand to his forehead and looks around is recycled from an animation for the Crabby Hermit .
- Wes is the only character without an actual quote
- In Don't Starve Together's A Little Drama and QOL update, the game files include dialogue strings for Wes's soliloquy. These are never seen normally in-game since he is coded never to access dialogue strings. The text is in French, and translates to "Are you trying to understand my thoughts? How kind of you! I am flattered.:)"
Lore
- Wes's birthday is listed as April 16 in the Compendium. This date is observed as World Voice Day. It is also the birthdate of silent film star Charlie Chaplin.
- According to the description for Wes's Roseate skin, he feels "his rosy cheeks [are] his best feature.".
- According to the description for his Verdant skin, Wes is an "avid landscape painter.".
Cultural References
- In the Valentine's Day card for 2018, it appears that Wes is using the American sign language (ASL) sign for "love".
- Wes's Guest of Honor skin may be based on a man's ballet outfit. This could be a reference to ballet mime.
- Wes's Victorian skin may be based on Bert from the Disney film Mary Poppins. Bert was played by Dick Van Dyke, who performed a mime act early in his career. [4]
- Wes's Pierrot skin is based on Pierrot, a stock character in the French pantomime and form of clown.
- Wes's Magmatic skin is based on a bullfighter's uniform. In addition, the design takes inspiration from the titular character of The Scarlet Pimpernel, a novel by Baroness Orczy. The name of the individual skins call him the "Sulphur Pimpernel". Also, the skin's flavor text describes him as a dandy by day and a "swordsmime" by night, not unlike the Scarlet Pimpernel himself.
References
- ↑ Wes's Refreshing Character is Still Available. Posted on April 1, 2020.
- ↑ Alex Savin on Tumblr: "Wes the Mime! Because he didn’t have any dialog strings in the game I animated these loop-able actions that he uses instead!" Posted on August 20, 2014.
- ↑ Archive of forum thread "What the Devs said during the live stream", March 11, 2013
- ↑ http://www.officialdickvandyke.com/biography/ "In 1947, Van Dyke was persuaded by Phil Erickson to form a comedy duo with him called “Eric and Van—the Merry Mutes.” The team toured the West Coast nightclub circuit, performing a mime act and lip synching to old 78 records."
| Characters | |
| Don't Starve |           |
| Reign of Giants |   |
| Shipwrecked |     |
| Hamlet |    |
| Don't Starve Together |       |
| Removed |  |
| Unimplemented |        |
| Other |        Minor Characters |
