Jolene July

* Old
* Young

**Jolene July** was a guest starring character on AMC's *NOS4A2*. She was portrayed by Judith Roberts.

She was a Strong Creative who initially used white roller skates and in her later years, a wheelchair to transport herself to her inscape, The Dark Tunnels, where she can astral project to anywhere in the world without being seen.

## Early Life

In 1954, during her youth, Jolene resides in Saugus, Massachusetts, where she was in a romantic relationship with Charlie Manx. Jolene never had children, but it was during this time in her life she thought she would and that Charlie would be their father, that is until he tried to kill her after she discovered the truth about Christmasland and that he had been lying to her. From there, she made it her life's mission to stop him, even at the cost of her own well-being.

## Throughout the Series

### The Gas Mask Man

Haverhill, Massachusetts. Essex County Psych Ward. Jolene’s radio suddenly stops working. All that can be heard is static as Charlie Manx walks down the hall of the psych ward, nearing her room. The temperature drops drastically in a matter of moments. A much older Charlie Manx enters her room. The two are familiars. He remarks that time has not been kind to her and that she had such potential. He suspects her involvement with the Shorter Way, asking if she’s been building her Inscape without him. However, Jolene is bound to a wheelchair. Even still, he’s not sure if she’s telling him the truth. He has a way of learning the truth. He places roller skates on Jolene’s feet. Apparently, they’re her Knife. Manx recalls how fast she could move in them. He lifts Jolene to her feet, but she can’t stand on her own, leaving Manx to conclude that she’s not the Strong Creative he felt. He worries that this new Creative’s interests may be a threat to his, as Jolene’s once were. He throws her to the ground and leaves.

Maggie Leigh enters Jolene's room. At Jolene’s feet lies a candy cane, leading Maggie to conclude that Manx had been there. Maggie explains that she’s a medium and her Scrabble Bag told her that Manx was hunting a Strong Creative in Haverhill. Maggie questions why he visited Jolene. She then finds an old photo of Jolene on her night stand wearing roller skates. Maggie deduces that the skates are her Knife. She looks to Jolene and then looks over to the wheelchair sitting in the corner and realizes that it was Manx who crippled her.

### The Dark Tunnels

Saugus, Massachusetts, 1954, a young Jolene July works as a local car hop. She’s also in a relationship with Charlie Manx, who dreams of spending the rest of his life with Jolene. He describes everyday feeling like Christmas morning in hopes that she’ll say yes to joining him as he leaves Saugus and never look back. Manx proposes to Jolene, but she declines him. They get inside the Wraith, where they discuss her refusal to marry him. Jolene wishes to see Christmasland before agreeing to give him her hand in marriage. He’s told of the children and how he wishes for her to be their mother, yet she hasn’t met them. She also knows that he hasn’t been going to work as a driver for months. She pleads with him to tell her what he doing with the children. Manx claims he’s their father and that he saved them. He’s offering Jolene the same as he loves her, but she doesn’t want it. Later that night, as Jolene’s getting off from work, Charlie tries to run her down in his Wraith, but she escapes him on her roller skates that allow her to teleport out of harms way and causes Manx to crash his Wraith into a parked car.

Jolene gets a new roommate, Vic McQueen. The radio turns to static as Vic enters the room. She whispers to Vic "Charlie Manx." Vic soon realizes that Jolene is the Strong Creative Maggie discovered that Manx was responsible for putting in the hospital. Vic asks Jolene if she can get her to Christmasland. Before she can answer, the nurse brings them their medicine. Vic is reluctant to take her meds, but does so in fear that she might be forced to stay longer. Much like Vic, Jolene is reluctant as well, forcing the nurse to resort to injection rather than pills. Jolene’s a paranoid schizophrenic and will act out without her meds. As the nurse leaves the room, Vic dumps Jolene’s meds down the drain and informs the nurse that she took them.

Vic returns to her room, where Jolene is sitting upright, talking to herself. She tells Vic she needs her skates, or she can’t get to work. Instead, Vic grabs her wheelchair and places Jolene in it, hoping it’ll lead them to Christmasland. Vic pushes Jolene down an empty hall in her wheelchair. The lights flicker and they disappear.

Jolene and Vic reappear in Jolene’s Inscape; The Dark Tunnels. In her Inscape, Jolene is cognitive and can walk. She tells Vic that the wheelchair wasn’t always her Knife, but it is now. Much like Vic, Jolene didn’t know that Creatives could have more than one Knife. She didn’t come into this discovery until after Manx stole her skates and left her bedridden. It was then that the wheelchair found her and got her moving again until she was too weak to get it up to speed. Jolene knows of the Shorter Way, describing Creatives as magicians with different tricks. Vic explains that it allows her to find lost things, but she couldn’t find Haley after Manx took her to Christmasland. She was hoping Jolene could get her inside.

Jolene takes Vic further into the tunnels, where she has missing children posters plastered all over the walls. She’s been tracking Manx since the 50s, and not one of the kids have been seen since. The only way there is in his Wraith. There isn’t a single Creative in the entire World of Thought who has seen Christmasland besides Manx. She urges Vic to accept that Haley is gone forever. She then takes Vic to what appears to be a tunnel filled with static and white noise and offers to show Vic her "magic trick."

Their bodies drop to the ground, and the two of them astral project to Manx, who sleeps inside his Wraith, parked in a barn. Vic watches as Jolene haunts him, disrupting the radio and blowing in his ear. He comes to realize that she is the culprit. Jolene doesn’t stop there. She dismantles the Wraith, causing the engine to smoke. Manx struggles to exit the vehicle. He manages to get the door open and stumbles out the barn, morphing from his more youthful appearance into a shriveled up, feeble old man. He grabs the water hose and sprays down the Wraith. Vic watches as this unfolds. Manx yells out to Jolene, certain that she's the cause of this.

Jolene and Vic return to their bodies in the Dark Tunnels. Vic recalls Manx growing old right before her eyes after Jolene destroyed the engine to his car. If Vic wants to stop Manx, she has to destroy the Wraith. Vic hopes that Jolene will join her and Maggie in the fight to stop Manx, but Jolene’s days of fighting are long over. He won. And she’s tired. But, she couldn’t rest until she knew someone could pick up the fight. While Vic couldn’t save Haley, Jolene’s counting on her to save the next kid. Manx visited Jolene after 50 years because he fears Vic. Jolene isn’t going back, but she advises Vic to tell the doctors what they need to hear so that they’ll release her. Lastly, she warns Vic against taking their meds. It’ll only dull her mind and Knife, and she’ll need to be full strength to take on Manx. Jolene never had kids. She always thought she would. There’s a time when she thought Manx would be their father. She knew him before he became what he is. He was handsome, charming, and sweet. But every Strong Creative pays a price. Manx paid with his soul. Jolene knew what he was deep down, but she didn’t want to see it because she loved him. Now, it’s up to Vic to stop Manx. Jolene then lays down on the ground, her eyes filled with static.

Vic rolls Jolene’s lifeless body back into her room and turns the radio on before pulling the alarm. Next, she attends another session with Dr. Janes and just as Jolene advised her, she tells him exactly what he wants to hear.

## Physical Appearance

During her youth, Jolene had light brown hair, similarly colored eyes, and very pale skin with a slim figured. After being crippled by Charlie Manx, she spent many years in a psych ward. As she got older, her hair turned white.

## Personality

When Jolene was younger, she was filled with joy and love. Her relationship with Charlie Manx blossomed until she became suspicious of him and learned that he was not the man who he claimed to be. And so, she made it her life's mission to stop Charlie Manx and rescue the children from Christmasland, however, she was severely hurt in the process and subsequently spent many years in a psych ward, where they kept her heavily sedated. Still, her determination to stop Manx remained, and she didn't wish to rest until she knew someone had come to take her place.

## Appearances

### Season 1

* The Gas Mask Man
* The Dark Tunnels