James Maxwell

* Main
* Quotes
* Trivia
* Gallery

   **"Strictly Enforced!"**
This article contains spoilers!
If you haven't finished the game, please proceed with caution.

*"They're not people, Pup! Are you going to side with the robots, or with human beings?"*
— James to Roger near the end of the DLC.

## James Maxwell

### Role

Passive NPC
(*We Happy Few*)
Deuteragonist
(*They Came From Below*)

## Appearances

### Appears in

*We Happy Few*
*They Came From Below*

### Voice Actor

Unknown (Act I)
 Joe Sims (Act II - III)
(*They Came From Below*)

**James Maxwell** is an assistant to Dr. Faraday, as well as the romantic partner of Roger Bacon. He plays a minor role in *We Happy Few*, and serves as the deuteragonist in the *They Came From Below* DLC.

## Appearance

James has black hair, green eyes, and is most commonly seen wearing a navy blue jacket with a white and navy blue striped collar shirt underneath. He wears beige pants and adorns a sailor hat.

He wears a mustache and black rectangular glasses on top of his happy face mask.

## Personality

He's the more stressed out assistant of the two, often yelling profanities when in a panic. He's also deeply protective over Roger, often scolding him for doing things recklessly while still loving him dearly.

Despite being very protective over Roger, he is also deeply loyal to Dr. Faraday, trusting her to know what's best for the population of Wellington Wells and often takes her side rather than Roger's.

## History

Not much is known about James' past, he served in the navy with Ollie Starkey, and it was there he met and got together with Roger before they both became Dr. Faraday's houseboys.

## Events of *We Happy Few*

### Act I

James is first found in the greenhouse yelling at Roger, who's frollicing inside the house. When he spots Arthur Hastings, he yells at him to leave them alone before returning to Roger. It doesn't take long before he begs Arthur to find them a new valve, or else he and Roger gets sent away.

James will let Arthur into the lab after he's given the valve.

### Act II

Sally Boyle overhears James and Roger arguing about a girl Roger was dancing with a few months ago.

after announcing her presence, James lies, claiming Dr. Faraday died in a lab explosion. After a slip up, they let Sally enter.

### Act III

Ollie Starkey finds James and Rodger locked inside the lab after Faraday used the portal. They want him to help them with watering and pollinating Faraday's flowers, since they can't do it themselves. They search for the underground blueprints while he's out.

## *They Came From Below*

On the 16th November, 1962, James Maxwell and Roger Bacon were both living in Inis Holm working for Dr Helen Faraday. While Roger is out shopping, James helps Faraday at the lab until an explosion erupted.

Roger finds him unconscious, but alive, on the floor. He wakes up after Faraday gets sent through the portal.

He looks around the lab for any notes that might help the two find her, before following Roger down the secret hatch under the stair's to the "basement". Roger presses a button, despite James warning him not to. Leading them down into a secret underground laboratory. James is just as amazed as Roger is.

When Roger finds the Ray Gun, James warns him not to use it as neither of them knows what it does, nor knows how powerful it is. Before Roger is able to go through the Power wing, James is ambushed by a robot, contacting Roger via their walkie-talkies to come shoot it for him. The ambush left James slightly injured, limping up the stairs to the control room they first arrived in so that he can guide Roger on his journey.

While Roger is away, James warns him to be careful every step of the way, urging him not to do anything reckless that may get himself killed.

After Roger runs back to Faraday's Workshop after rescuing Wellies from being massacred by hoards of Robots, James tells Roger to stay home and let him find Faraday, though Roger refuses.

As the journey continues, James gets increasingly agitated by Roger's actions and hypotheses, wondering why Roger is suddenly siding with the same robots that have done nothing but killed every person they've come across. In a gondola ride, Roger snaps back at James for thinking it's safer to be terrified of everything unfamiliar to him, calling him a coward in the end.

After Roger learns that the robots have emotions, and what Faraday is planning to do with them, he attempts to convince James to join his side and help stop Faraday. However, James is unconvinced, stating that the robots' existence was to be mechanical servants.

Later, after Roger manages to destroy the positronic converter, James orders Roger to come back to the control room, having lost his patience. In the control room, James has decided he needs to stop Roger from making a terrible mistake, stating that he doesn't have a choice. James is knocked unconscious by Roger.

In the end, James has come back to his senses and runs down to where Roger and Helen Faraday are fighting, he yells that he still thinks Roger is an idiot, but that he'd rather die with him than without him, throwing a ring of five bangers at the Headmistress.

When Faraday is defeated, James still doesn't trust the robots, believing they're going to execute her. When Roger is conflicted whether he's going to join the Robots or not, James encourages him to go, that there's nothing keeping him here. Roger tells James to come with him, though James is sure he's not going to convince the Robots of anything.

Depending on the player's choice, James either joins Roger on his journey, or stays behind.

## Act I

* It's fucking stuck. ROGER! WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE FUCKING VALVE?! YOU OVERTIGHTENED IT, DIDN'T YOU? Jesus Fucking Christ. Why'd I have to fall for a stupid fucking mechanical imbecile. I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE THE PLUMBING THE FUCK ALONE. Fucking eyebrows. It's always the fucking eyebrows.
* What the fuck are you doing here? Leave us alone! Why won't you leave us alone!
* SHE'S GOING TO FUCKING KILL US IF WE KEEP FUCKING UP! Don't worry, Roger, I'm going to fix it. Because that's what I do, apparently.
* I'm fucked. We're both fucked. The professor is going to kill us. She's going to tell them to send us away!
* I'm always mucking things up for her. And Roger's worse. He breaks everything. The Professor's gonna send us both away. Can you get us a new valve? I'd let you use the Professor's lab. It's brilliant.

## Act III

* Thank God. We've been cooped up in there forever. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. There's been an absence of absence, I'm afraid.
* We served together. At Ramsgate.
* Jealousy doesn't look good on you, Roger.
* Oh, yes! That was one of the first things she did on her own, after Mr. Faraday went on holiday!

## *They Came From Below*

* We have a basement? Did she tell you we had a basement?
* Don't press a button if you don't know what it does!
* It just goes down and down, doesn't it? Shut up, you.
* Sorry to be a bother. I just hate to think how you'd manage if I was dead.
* You do know how to make a bloke feel thick.
* Now don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed, all right? I'd never forgive myself.
* You're near some sort of security room. Maybe you can unfuck things there.
* Sorry pup. I forgot to go to the best schools.
* Don't shoot a gun at something you're not trying to kill, all right? That's the first lesson we learned in the Army.
* Why don't you goddamn listen to me, Pup? I was kind of hoping you'd outlive me!
* All right, think before you do anything else reckless!
* If you fall and break your neck, your Mum's going to bloody well haunt me till I die!
* Don't think! Get out of there!
* Thank God you're okay, Pup, I was going out of my mind.
* Look, you did your part. Now you stay safe and I'll find her.
* Damn it, Roger, I'm the soldier!
* Is there someone else you'd be happier with?
* I'm quite positive that YOU are not "supposed" to use it.
* You're the smart one, figure it out.
* Don't turn any robots on! Roger, this isn't some philosophical hypothesis to wank on! This is an actual fucking situation!
* Go fuck yourself, Roger. I left everything for you.
* Hate to break it to you. Robots don't feel sorrow, mate!
* No, Rog, no! That doesn't make any sense! They're robots! Out of control homicidal robots that are killing people!
* Roger! This is not you and your posh mates pontificating philosophy in the dining hall! It don't matter why!
* Did you have a nice spot of tea with your new robot friend?
* They are mechanical servants, Roger. That's the whole fucking point of their existence.
* I suppose I'd be blissfully happy, wouldn't I? Nothing like being in love.
* Not like you do, no. You grew up expecting to be free. That's the lovely thing about you. You never look down to see if you were on solid ground, so you just look at the moon and the stars all day long. But where I come from, everybody has a job. And nothing's worse than not belonging to anybody.
* We're going to find Dr. Faraday, who is smarter even than you, and we're going to help HER do whatever SHE thinks makes sense. All right?
* They're not people, Pup! Are you going to side with the robots, or with human beings?
* I'm sorry, Pup, but you have lost your mind. And I have to stop you from making a terrible mistake...
* I don't have any choice, my love.
* Dr. Faraday? I quit!
* I still think you're an idiot! I'd just rather die with you than without you!
* You have to go, Roger. Or you'll always wonder what you missed. In fact, if you don't go over there, I'm kicking you out of the house. So look, there's nothing keeping you here.
* Oh... what would I do there? Wherever that is? I'm not going to be much use convincing alien robots of anything.
* But I've always taken care of you.
* (*Convince James*) All right. I guess we're going through the looking glass, then.
* At least they won't give us shit for being in love.
* I do love you, Roger.
* (*Leave James*) Look. We were never meant to be together. If it wasn't for the war, we'd never have got together in the first place. And you were always meant for greater things.
* Bye, love. Take care of yourself.

### Responses

* Don't do anything rash!
* Don't do anything stupid!
* I never know quite what you're thinking.
* Pup.
* Puppy.
* Shut up, you.
* Try to be sensible, Pup?
* Try to stay in one piece, would you?
* What are you up to...?
* You think too much.
* You're too clever by half, Pup.

## General

* James' pet name is Moo.
* James is the first LGBTQ+ character introduced in the game.
	+ Other LGBTQ+ characters include Roger Bacon, Prudence Holmes, Murray Davis, and Constable Burne-Jones.
* James is a former soldier who served in the army along with Ollie Starkey.
* James has a talent for baking. Some of his notes to Roger mention baking pies and an apple crumble. Presumably, he also made the Christmas cookies that Dr. Faraday mentions in her journal entry, Stimulus.
	+ It's unknown who made the cake seen in the kitchen, though the files refer to it as James' cake, possibly indicating that he was the one who baked it.
* He mentions in his argument with Roger that 'Nothing is worse than being without a job or not belonging to anybody', this is further shown during Act I, where he cries over the thought of Dr. Faraday sending them both away.

## Other

* No matter what choice the player makes, Roger still ends up together with James again in the main game.
* His name is reference to Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell, being the founder of classical electromagnetism and Maxwell Equations.
* The term "houseboy" has three backgrounds, a houseboy would've been a British Empire/Military term for a male house cleaner, it's also a term in homosexual culture as someone who performs domestic work.

###  'We Happy Few' / 'They Came From Below'

James reading a newspaper.An upset James.A robot and James.End game choices.Convincing James to join.Leaving James behind.