Character HISTORY: the big o wikiar. dorothy wayneright @ the big o wikia R. Dorothy Wayneright's story likely began in a lab, spurred into action thanks to a pricey commission between a greedy scientist and a grieving parent: Timothy Wayneright, the father of Dorothy Wayneright -- the
real Dorothy Wayneright, that is, who was famous around Paradigm City for her enchanting stage presence and beautiful voice. This tenderfoot songstress had allegedly died due to "The Incident" 40 years from when the story begins, sending her father into grief so unbearable that he decided to commission a Dorothy recreation in a city where androids with largely life-like qualities were common, if you could afford to meet the cost with a little less than an arm or leg. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's
The Nightingale, which tells of a Chinese Emperor who fascinated himself with the songs of a mechanical nightingale, Timothy Wayneright enlisted the job to Miguel Soldano to construct an android of Dorothy in her likeness, built with some of her memories and all her musical finesses. Miguel Soldano's expert skills were unmatched in all of Paradigm City, and Mr. Wayneright got his wish: dubbing this new creation R. (Robot) Dorothy Wayneright. In his eyes, the loss of Dorothy's personality was an inevitable price he was willing to pay, so as long as he would never forget the sound of his daughter's melodies.
R. Dorothy Wayneright quickly became the next target for underground dealers who made their livelihoods by holding quality androids hostage in exchange for a hefty price. When she gets abducted by Jason Beck and his gang of crooks, Paradigm City's top Negotiator, Roger Smith, is called to the scene on the assumption that he was to mediate a trade-off between the
real Dorothy Wayneright and suitcase full of cash. He quickly finds out that the real abductee was merely an android, concludes with a certain amount of distaste that he has been scammed, and sabotages his own negotiation, leaving Beck and Co. without the money and R. Dorothy Wayneright without a place to go. With no small delay, Dorothy tracks down Roger's mansion to let him know that it was only Soldano who put up the money for her retrieval, stirring up more suspicions over the nature of the deal. On top of that, Dorothy forcibly manages to weasel her way into Roger's affairs, on account that Mr. Smith would protect her from some nebulous, looming threat. Roger accepts her request, albeit begrudgingly.
When Dorothy and Roger take a trip to Soldano's factory, they find Miguel among the buildings' ashes and ruins with one foot already in the grave. With his last breaths, he declares that he never wanted to build "it" for "people like them", and calls Dorothy "Dorothy-II, Nightingale, his real daughter". Before Roger could press for more details, Miguel Soldano dies in his arms, leaving the negotiator with a set of unanswered questions. Dorothy and Roger manage a spry escape when the factory comes under attack by Beck, looking to get retribution and an upper-hand. It's barely a moment out of the crossfire before they discover a giant mecha, referred to as a Megadeus, roaming the streets of Paradigm City, destroying everything in its path.
This Megadeus happened to be constructed by Miguel Soldano himself as Dorothy-I, and is skyjacked by Beck and his associates in an effort to break into a Paradigm Bank for mint plates. This makes R. Dorothy and Dorothy-I sisters, in a sense, which is nothing if not an unsettling discovery to Dorothy herself. Dorothy-I is apprehended by Roger's own Megadeus,
Big O, but later resurrected when Beck kidnaps Dorothy for a second time in order to use her body as a generator for the robot.
Roger honors his newfound role as Dorothy's bodyguard by literally pulling Dorothy out of Beck's clutches -- the core of the Megadeus where Dorothy was embrangled in a web of interconnected wires and tubes. Dorothy-I is defeated for good, and Dorothy joins Roger in his negotiation business in the aftermath, living in his mansion as a glorified maid (along with Roger's butler, Norman) while simultaneously acting as hired muscle whenever Roger finds himself in hot water. Roger gradually throws his doubts over Dorothy's potential overboard, time and time after Dorothy proves herself to be much more capable of defending herself than Roger ever was alone.
Negotiation after negotiation, Dorothy and Roger bring to light the mysteries
¹ behind Paradigm City and The Incident 40 years ago in small, gradual increments. Paradigm City is a city under a large dome -- the only human settlement as far anyone was aware -- where the inhabitants live under an umbrella of haunted pasts and developmental stupor. The Incident stripped everyone clean of their memories. Everyone had to relearn their now-foreign streets, their now-alien technology, and their pasts, which came to people in disturbing visions or nightmares. These Memories, too, could be found as physical artifacts around the city, which were of high value for those who wished to piece together a vision of the Truth -- the whats and whys of The Incident, and the elements that spurred it into action.
While most of the citizens lived in destitution, the rich lived in gross extravagance, surrounded by disproportionately advanced technology that they operated by mere instinct. Roger Smith is a constituent of this exclusive group within Paradigm, and together with Dorothy, Norman, and a mysterious woman named
Angel, he smokes out the Memories of his past, and his peculiar role in The Incident of 40 years prior.