Olivia Dunham
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| Talk | Olivia Dunham | Theories |
| Olivia Dunham | ||
| Profession | Special Agent, FBI | Portrayed by:  Anna Torv | |
| Also Known As | "Sweetheart", "Liaison", "Livvie," "Liv", "Libby", "Olive", "Livvy", "Han" | ||
| Family | Rachel, sister — Ella, niece — Aunt Missy — Stepfather, name unknown | ||
| Connections | John Scott, Lucas Vogel, Col Henry Jacobson, Nick Lane, William Bell | ||
| Seen In | All episodes | ||
| Status | Enjoyed The Time She Shared With Ella | ||
| Remarks | Recovered From Injuries | ||
| Images of Olivia | |||
Olivia Dunham is a young, tough, FBI Special Agent assigned to the multi-agency task force (Fringe Division) with the mission to identify and confront the spread of the unexplained phenomena and events known as - The Pattern, and the shape-changing soldiers preparing for war on her universe.
See Also: Jeff Pinkner's comment
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About
She leads a Science Team comprised of Dr. Walter Bishop, a brilliant, but previously institutionalized, scientist whose work might be at the center of the controversial events they are investigating; Peter Bishop, the genius and pragmatic son of Dr. Bishop; and Astrid Farnsworth, a Junior FBI Agent and a resourceful and insightful young woman who handles many of the support needs for the Team as well as providing a conventional science perspective to the investigations.
Dunham was involved in a secret intimate relationship with her partner and fellow FBI Agent John Scott in the year leading up to the Flight 627 incident in Pilot. They were sharing a bed at an unidentified motel at the time the plane made its automated landing. When Olivia's cell phone rang, she addressed the caller as "sir" and immediately dressed and left the motel. She was later annoyed when Broyles trivialized her participation in the investigation by referring to her as "liaison" in a sarcastic tone, sending her on what appeared to be a useless inquiry at a storage facility and quibbling over her identification of Walter Bishop as a potentially valuable person. While investigating, Olivia has her first encounter with Nina Sharp, who mentions The Pattern. By the end of the first episode, Olivia had won Broyles' respect.
When assigned to investigate the death of a woman who died giving birth of baby who, in turn, died of old age within three hours, Olivia recognized similarities to a serial murder case she and John Scott had worked. The serial murderer killed his victims to remove their pituitary glands. Olivia has her second encounter with Nina when the Science Team needs to borrow a high technology camera. While waiting to see Nina, Olivia imagined Broyles asking her if she was "safe" the last time she was intimate. She was startled, then entered a dream sequence in which she became pregnant nearly to term; the dream ended when Nina's assistant announced that Sharp was available to talk to Olivia. After tracking down the killer, who was unable to acquire enough pituitary glands to prevent his aging. Olivia watches as the man dies of old age. Olivia is surprised when, upon returning the camera to Massive Dynamic, Nina offers her a job at Massive Dynamic, luring her away from her Federal law enforcement duties.
On her birthday in The Cure, she received no birthday mail from her stepfather; however, when she returned home that evening, she found inside her front door an envelope with no postage containing an unsigned card. The message on the card was "Thinking of you."
Dunham confides in her friend, FBI Special Agent Charlie Francis, who was aware of her secretive relationship. He consoles her on the loss of Agent Scott.
Background
When she was three years old, Olivia was living in Jacksonville, Florida because her father was stationed at the local military base. During a telephone conversation with Nina Sharp in Ability, she learns that a small trial of the drug Cortexiphan, previously thought to have been tried only in Ohio, was held in Jacksonville, using school children as test subjects.
As a child, Olivia suffered because her stepfather, when drunk, would accuse her mother of seeing other men and beat her. Olivia's mother never reported the assaults to the police. When Olivia was nine, her stepfather broke her mother's nose and left the house, driving away. Olivia heard her stepfather's car returning; she picked up his handgun and shot him twice when he entered the house. She regrets not having killed him. He recovered from his wounds and one day, without warning, departed for an unknown destination. Olivia told Peter that she first knew what she wanted to do in life since she was nine.
While serving as a US Marine Corps special investigator, Dunham helped prosecute the best friend of her current supervisor, DHS Special Agent Phillip Broyles. Charges involved the assault of three Marine Corps privates.
At some point in her life, Olivia acquired the ability to remember sequences of numbers and to count cards.
Every birthday, Olivia receives mail from her estranged stepfather to remind her that he is still out there somewhere.
In Bound while abducted, Olivia underwent a spinal tap ordered by David Robert Jones to determine if she had Cortexiphan in her system; the result was positive.
Quotes
- "I've been trained for a lot - hostage crises, terror campaigns, suicide bombers, chemicals attacks, but, you know the things I have seen since I started working for you... If I'm gonna do this job, I need to know what it is I'm dealing with." - (Trying to convince Broyles she needs more disclosure from him in The Ghost Network.)
Trivia
- Olivia was named Olivia Warren in the original script.
- In The No-Brainer, Akim pinpoints the address of Olivia's apartment: 1124 Strathmore Blvd, Brighton, MA 02135
- Olivia's office number in Pilot is 2168... in Power Hungry it is 3233.
- Olivia offered 7-18-6-22-7-9 to identify herself when she needed to have her cell phone traced in The Arrival.
- Olivia introduces herself to David Esterbrook as Amanda Bennet in The Cure after selecting Bennet's name tag from an unattended table.
- Olivia speaks German fluently during In Which We Meet Mr. Jones.
- Olivia introduces herself to a bartender in Safe as Stephanie.
- Olivia speaks Mandarin in Midnight.
- Olivia understands and speaks some Arabic in Momentum Deferred.
- Olivia Dunham appeared in all 35 episodes.
Unanswered questions
| Theories about these unanswered questions should be placed and read at Olivia Dunham/Theories |
| Unanswered questions |
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- Why, at the motel in Pilot, was she hesitant to tell John Scott that she loved him?
- Why did she see her Uncle's kayak during her vision of John?
- Why did her uncle's kayak have the Circles?
- Who sent Olivia the unsigned card?
- Is Olivia's stepfather so significant, and is he connected to The Pattern?
- Is Olivia's superior memory a result of having Cortexiphan in her body?
- Is it possible that Olivia only visited one alternate universe, or did she "bounce around" others also?
