Oleander Calloway

This article is about Fearne Calloway's father. For the Green Seeker detective, see Olly.

Oleander Calloway
Official art of Ollie Calloway, by Bree Williams.
Type	NPC
Actor	Matthew Mercer
Character Information
Name	Oleander Calloway
Pronouns	he/him
Also known as	Ollie Papa (by Fearne)
Creature type	Fey
Race	Fey elf
Class	Bard (possibly)
Age	Probably more than 50 (in 843 PD)
Languages	Common, Sylvan[presumed]
Places	Feywild Exandria (currently)
Family	Calloway family (through marriage) Morri Calloway (honorary mother-in-law) Birdie Calloway (wife) Fearne Calloway (adopted daughter) Unnamed mother with the "Squint"
Connections	Seelie Court (outcast) Yu Suffiad (chaser)
Profession	Musician (formerly) Thief Oracle
Status
Status	Alive (as of 843 PD)
Appearances
First seen	"Reunion & Revelation" (3x30)
Last seen	"A Test of Fate" (3x109)
Stream	Campaign Three (8 episodes)

Oleander "Ollie" Calloway is a fey elven man and Fearne Calloway's father. As an NPC, Ollie is played by Matthew Mercer.

Description

Appearance

Fan art of Oleander Calloway, by Ekaterina Victoria.

Ollie is a fey elf, occasionally described as bearing a resemblance to his daughter Fearne. He is "ruggedly handsome", with shaggy dark brown hair, golden eyes, and tanned though somewhat sallow skin. When Bells Hells met him, he was covered in soot and dust and wore a small satchel of tools. He is about a foot shorter than Fearne, or slightly over 5 feet tall. He described himself as "spry".

Personality

Dusk described Oleander as very kind. Imahara Joe considered both him and Birdie nice and jovial.

His wife Birdie said that Oleander was a good, moral man driven by a sense of personal justice.

Biography

Background

Oleander was born in the Feywild, and in his youth he manifested an oracular ability, the Squint, inherited from his mother, that allowed him to prevent and avoid dangers.

Around 831 PD, he was part of a wandering troop of musicians who used magic to affect the faerie environment when it became troublesome, earning money in the process. It was then, according to the story told to Fearne, that in a small village he met Birdie Calloway, who out fleeced him, and after his initial anger they started drinking together, liking each other. Ollie tried to convince her to join the troupe, but in the end she was the one who convinced him, and he left the rest of the musicians. They fell in love and got married. Birdie described their life as just getting by, enjoying occasional revelries and pranks, taking what they needed without harming others unless they deserved it, living "on the outskirts" and making visits to the Material Plane.

The true story of how they met (regardles of how much truth there was about their lives in the former tale) was much darker: Ollie was made a prisoner by the Unseelie, due to his double dealings with the courts. He was kept in the Underbrush Prison in the Twilight Citadel, and it was there where he met Birdie, the satyr lover of Athion Zathuda, and the mother of Zathuda's only daughter, who had been born under the light of Ruidus under the direction of the Sorrowlord himself. Although at first Birdie didn't care too much about the prisoner, the longer she knew him (and the longer her ties with Zathuda grew weaker), the more she realized she was falling in love with him. Eventually the fey woman realized that her usefulness among the Unseelie had gone, and she explained her situation to Ollie. He understood, and together, with Birdie's help, they escaped the Twilight Citadel, taking Fearne with them and deciding to raise her as their child in common.

Fan art of the Calloways with infant Fearne, by Ro Smith.

Knowing that their daughter had been born under the light of the red moon, the Calloways learned what they could about it. Oleander "got into a bad patch, just some root and herbs, as we like to gather, imbibing and and went down a bit of a mental rabbit hole for a couple days," having a vision of the moon following them, its redness eating away at the Feywild. When Ruidus suddenly began appearing in the Fey, the Calloways discovered that Unseelie magic was being used to keep others from paying attention to it, and that the Unseelie Court was meeting with Exandrians to design a machine focused on Ruidus for an unknown purpose.

About seven years before the events of Campaign Three, the Calloways stole the machine's shiniest piece, the Moontide Crown, to disable it, displeasing Lady Elmenore, Matriarch of the Seelie Court, and left with it for the Material Plane. Fearne's honorary grandmother Morri Calloway cared for Fearne after her parents left, telling that they had had to leave on a very important mission to save the Material Plane, and were travelling all over, sending postcards and letters to their family. The latest one Fearne had received had allegedly been sent from Aeor. Fearne later learned that Morri had probably created the cards herself.

In reality, they were in the Hellcatch Valley of Marquet, where Oleander was working with Ira Wendagoth, the Nightmare King, attempting to build a machine which Ira told them would gather information about the red moon to combat its danger. When Bells Hells encountered Ira Wendagoth in Jrusar, he recognized Fearne's "family essence" and later confirmed her identity as a Calloway watching her fight.

Dusk told Fearne that at some point in the process of leaving the Fey Realm, Dusk had met the Calloways and joined them in their travels, getting separated from them when they arrived in Exandria. However, Fearne later learned that this was a lie and that Dusk had never met either of the Calloways.

Campaign Three: Bells Hells

While in Bassuras, the Bells Hells and their new friend Dusk talked with each other, discovering that not only did the elf come from the Feywild, but she actually stated she had met Fearne's parents. After she showed them the portraits she had of them Imogen felt confident enough to try to contact them with her magic. She talked to Birdie, and during her response Birdie yelled at Ollie to inform him who she was talking to. She told the human that Oleander and she were outside of Bassuras, but Birdie would meet her at "Joe's".

Fearne reunited with her father after her mother brought her and her friends to their hideout in the Hellcatch Valley, where Oleander greeted Fearne joyously, expressing surprise at her age, 112. Fearne gave him the Weave Lens and Ollie immediately gave it to Ira Wendagoth, who installed it in the Veilscatter Scope. During their conversation, the Calloways came to the realization that there was a possibility that Morri considered Fearne herself her payment in exchange for creating the Weave Lens. Oleander also told Fearne about his occasional visions and how he met her mother.

After Ira absconded with the Moontide Crown, Oleander agreed to let Imogen and Fresh Cut Grass into his mind. They discovered that there were indeed areas of his memories of Ira that were blurred or missing. They tried to force exploration of a partial piece of one of Ollie's memories, of Birdie crying, and saw both Calloways angrily intent on leaving somewhere. Ollie began to bleed from one nostril and they pullled back. Later, Ollie and Hondir stayed at the hideout when the party returned to Bassuras.

Many days later, on a second encounter in the Calloway Layaway, Fearne decided to be friendly with her parents, not wanting to have a mean attitude in case it was the last time she saw them before the potential end of the world.

Not long after, before apogee solstice itself started, Ollie's Squint warned him about the Layaway being about to be under siege, so he, Birdie, and Hondir left and buried it. They went to the nearest fey portal, and managed to reach Ligament Manor, where Ollie tended the garden while Birdie was taking care of Morri, who was still recovering from her wounds after her battle against Zathuda and Gloamglut.

When Bells Hells arrived, Birdie told Ollie, who went to hug his daughter, very happy to see her. They agreed to help the adventurers during their retreat in the Fatestitcher's domain. In a conversation with her daughter, Birdie revealed that Sorrowlord Zathuda was her biological father, although stating that Ollie was her father in every aspect that mattered, and that he had chosen to raise Fearne and care for her (even though the druid argued that none of them had really raised her). Birdie told her to let Oleander know she knew the truth, and shortly after Fearne made an announcement in front of everyone, including the fey elf.

Ollie helped with the breakfast for Bells Hells on their last morning in Ligament Manor, and promised Fearne that, even though his Squint hadn't worked since the apogee solstice, he would let Morrigan know any new visions he got so that the adventurers would be informed. After exchanging promises with the druid about spending more time together in the future, the Calloways said goodbye to their daughter. Days later Bells Hells visited Ligament Manor again, while Oleander was resting, and left without talking to him. When he and Birdie heard that Bells Hells had returned from their mission, that same day, they went downstairs to see their daughter, and on the way there they met Dorian Storm, who greeted them in a hurry as they were trying to introduce themselves. They made some light conversation with Fearne until Morri asked Birdie to cook a meal for the guests.

The next morning the Calloways talked to their daughter again, telling her to be safe and asking Bells Hells to ensure that (including a threat about Morri punishing them if they didn't). Birdie also asked them to get some Marquesian pastries if they had the chance, since she wanted them for Ollie's birthday.

Appearances and mentions

• Exandria Unlimited
  • "By the Road" (E1x04), mentioned only
  • "Exandria Unlimited: Kymal, Part 2" (E2x02), mentioned only
• Campaign Three
  • "Heart-to-Heartmoor" (3x17), mentioned only
  • "A Taste of Tal'Dorei" (3x25), mentioned only
  • "Hidden Truths" (3x26), mentioned only
  • "A Race for the Prize" (3x27), mentioned only
  • "Dark Portents" (3x29), mentioned only
  • "Reunion & Revelation" (3x30) (first appearance)
  • "Breaking Point" (3x31)
  • "A Desperate Call" (3x36), mentioned only
  • "Night at the Ligament Manor" (3x46), mentioned only
  • "The Aurora Grows" (3x49)
  • "Embattled in Bassuras" (3x70), mentioned only (unnamed)
  • "Fractures" (3x78)
  • "To Hurt Is to Heal" (3x79)
  • "The Eve of the Red Moon" (3x81)
  • "Unseelie Interrupted" (3x106), mentioned only
  • "Looming" (3x108)
  • "A Test of Fate" (3x109)

Quotations

• Oleander: (explaining how he met Birdie) We were on a good thing for a while, and then there was one small village that I got out-fleeced. There was this young girl, bright and beautiful, just vibrant as the day is long, bubbly, and she took me for everything I was worth, and I was angry for a second, and then we laughed it off over a few drinks, and I realized I loved her. So I asked her to come with me, and she went, "No." Then she asked me to come with her, and I said, "Yeah."

Trivia

• His name has a confusing etymology. A possible option is that it comes from the Latin term lorandrum, which in turn derives from the Greek Rhododendron, meaning "pink tree". Another possible meaning is "olive tree", interpreting olea- as the Greek term for "olive". A third theory suggests that oleander combines the Greek οllyo (I kill) and andros (man). This last option is also fitting due to the fact that the oleander is a poisonous evergreen shrub that grows white, pink or red flowers.
  • His name and his daughter's name follow the pattern of thematic names related to plants in the Calloway family.
  • Fearne likes oleander flowers a lot, possibly because they remind her of Ollie.
• He's the only known elf who is also a fey, as well as the first eladrin to appear in a main campaign. He doesn't seem to have an associated season.
• He took his wife's last name after marrying her.
• Depending on his connection with the rest of the family, he might have siblings (either adoptive or by blood), since Fearne has several uncles and aunts.
• Him upgrading his Squint to full visions and prophetic dreams using plant based substances matches the process of how seers and oracles use oloore root to amplify their powers.
• Nowadays he sings only for Birdie.
• He has a sweet tooth.
• Since his birthday was coming up, as of "A Test of Fate" (3x109), that means that according to the Exandrian calendar he was born in the last days of Quen'pillar, or in Cuersaar.

References

Art: