John Smith (TV Series)

This article is about the What Remains character. For other pages with the same name, see: John

What Remains

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John Smith
Gender	Male
Hair	White; Brown
Age	67
Occupation	Warehouse Associate: The Home Depot (Pre-Apocalypse) Monstrophist: The Crows, Lake Erie, PA (2017-2023); Unaffiliated, Monroe, NY (2024-2025); The Crows, Monroe, NY (Present) Fogger: "The Crows, Lake Erie, Ontario; The Deadlands, KY (2020-2022) Phasmophist: The Crows, Monroe, NY (Present)
Family	Unknown
Status	Unknown
Series Lifespan	"The Key" to Present
Ethnicity	African American

John Smith is a character in GWR's What Remains. He was introduced in Season One, Episode Six: "The Key," as a solitary inhabitant of the Northern Barrens, investigating a string of disappearances in the area.

A former member of The Lake Erie Crows, John's travels as a 'Monstrophist,' or close-encounter researcher of Red Eye variants, has spanned across several adventures in Monroe County, NY. Allegedly an independent investigator, Red Eye 'Banisher,' and wayward explorer, the old man's whereabouts (and even whatabouts, at times) are often unknown.

While the Monstrophist profession's exact disciplines persist in obscurity throughout The New West, it is known that there is often more than meets the eye, when it comes to Oculurubrus researchers, hunters, and all things phantasm-related. Seemingly well-connected in odd ways, and with a proclivity for unexplained departures and arrivals alike, his road-bend appearances are rarely without the undertow of a person's history alluded to.

As a self-stated pacifist and similarly proposed nemesis of The Man In Red, the extent of John Smith's ventures aren't readily ascertainable. He has episodically appeared in a supporting role to several main characters, including Kaari, Terry Winters, and Jinichi, and is the inventor of several notable utilities of Monstrophy: Bright Mites, Mus Rubras, The Ion Map, and The Shield of Monroe.

Alluded to as a senior Crow of Monroe under the flock-wing of 'Father' Eototo, John Smith is of unknown disposition to most factions sans The Republic of Monroe, to which he expresses both a great fondness and care for. He is rarely seen without his 'compadre,' Simone Doe, and often refers to her as his daughter in passing's brevity. The two best friends played notable external roles during the raid on the Miller plantation in S1E8, "Rebirth," identified the residential radius of the Dogmen nest in S2E3, "The Long Dark," and developed a trade route for The Republic of Monroe in the prelude to S2E4, "The Mouth of Madness."

He has since been seen in the Northern Barrens, as well as the city of Monroe, and is frequently barefooted in linen attire. With a fishing rod on his back, and a tackle-box swinging at his side, The Monstrophist proudly walks the local fields and haunts: His iron kettle hat, never left at home.

Early Life

Childhood

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Adolescence

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Adulthood

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What We Become (TV Series)

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2015

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2016

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2017

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2018 - 2025

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2026 - 2028

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What We Become, Part II: Character Prelude (Short Story)

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One: "Librarians are Notorious Liars"

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Two: "The Elevator" (Omitted)

“The Elevator” is an omitted (1) backstory SidequelI which briefly explores the histories of those around John Smith: The familial generations preceding referenced characters unrelated, directly, to the events of What We Become, Part II: What Remains, Betty and Jerrick--or 'The Lost Crows' of Lake Erie.

The narrator of "The Elevator" relays events having unfolded in 1964, New York City, during the historical protests of schoolchildren facing racial segregation. While John's own family is not referenced directly, the contextual 'Crow' connections are implied as a parallel to John’s in-universe story. (2)

While the Sidequel’s story begins with John's childhood environment as the focus, it instead follows the generational treacheries of another family: A rather wealthy one exploiting the mortgage market's prevalent discrimination, at the time. Told from the viewpoint of this family's grandson (3), the events recounted, secondhand, involve the Glass-Steagall Act's lobbying culture, intrafamilial assassination, and an estranged sister--ending with news coverage of the assassination of Malcom Little in February, 1965.

Three: "Knick-Knack"

"Knick-Knack" is both the Prelude's final section and the first section of John's What We Become, Part II: What Remains in-universe story. Aforementioned in name, previously, "Knick-Knack" itself appears in mirrored form between John Smith's conceptual tale, in application, and "Knot in Tow's" beginning:

^{"For each of our regrets is but a notch in a tree trunk. A scar, once white, green, and bleeding may yet brown, blacken, and grey in the wooden weave: That which remains by day and night—every day; every night—as a mark scored, scourged, by a lonely sunset long, long ago."}

The narrator, presumably John, has scribbled on a section of posterboard--one tucked into a mattress's box spring. The paper itself is burned at the lower edge, and another poem has been glued to it with rubber cement. Taking place during the intro of S1E6, "The Key," the absence of John himself leaves only the letter to continue: It goes on to describe a 'pup's' pack, presumably that of the Dogmen, and then ambiguously describes a recipe--one which is apparently of 'inheritance,' yet is also secret in nature:

^{"The pup’s pack’s grown a’ stained spindle. Matted fibrous roots. Wires. Capillaries. Leaches. Buzzing. Buzzing. A deer fly’s struggling—stuck in the muck, even up above. Two-fifths nature. Three fifths nurture. Bottled thrice this century: rice; yarn; licorice. Ask, but you don’t. Ask, but you can’t. Queried again? Never-ending consumption. Such a delight taste—god bless. It is inheritance, yes?"}

What We Become, Part II: What Remains (TV Series)

Intro: Non-Character Entry

John Smith's physical introduction, in S1E6: "The Key" takes place simultaneously with an alternative intro, one which did not appear in the Sidequel lineup itself. As a story technically unverified as canon, the events of "Cat's Ladle" follow the What We Become universe closely, and a majority of its details, themselves, are of verified canon. As such, it's likely that the story's events could have indeed happened, in some way, shape, or form. (Again, however: disclaimer) (1)

"Cat's Ladle," Draft I (Short Story)

The story is relayed through an unnamed character, talking about past events to unfold in the post-apocalyptic city of Rochester, NY. The character talks about an apparent murder: A woman named Betty Larson has been brutally killed at a Texaco gas station (2), her murderer having apparently committed the act with a rusty shovel.

Betty is explained to have been the owner of a post-apoc Irish pub in Rochester, Third Street Bill's, and the narrator states that he knew her. He goes on to explain the Irish pub, itself, as a commonplace for Rochester's less fortunate refugees, travelers, and general passerby, alike. Rather than expounding on the pub, however, the narrator rapidly points out another past event of violence: An attack on the Rochester Strong Museum via chlorine bombing. This interruption occurs immediately after the narrator relays Betty's own words about Third Street Bill's. While the statement itself is innocuous, the narrator implies that it is, more or less, a good summary of the pub's importance to locals:

^{"Keep you out the rain," she'd go. You, the ghost, likely in tow.}

The narrator then reflects up the locals' visitation of Third Street Bills for a particular reason: They congregate to drink its Guinness, as they assume it has a high number of calories. Presumed to be starved post-apoc survivors, the common locals are then 'pointed out' by the narrator as being not only incorrect in their assumptions, but also as being exploitative, or even unstable, people in general. Further lambasting the locals for not knowing Guinness's caloric count is that of Bud Light (despite this fact being less commonly known), the narrator calls them 'blues baggers,' and 'carpet bombers.'

His insults rapidly escalate into frenzy, equating the locals to geese that are 'looking for new nest eggs.' Soon after, he explains that a particular subgroup of these people, who are apparently 'flat-earth' conspiracy theorists, are, themselves, the murderers of Betty Larson. Despite them apparently being staunchly conspiring, however, the narrator also points out that they're not really flat-earthers at all. He suggests they are either knowingly lying, are conspirators at large, or are simply stupid in general.

His leading theory for this, apparently, is due to their usage of tin cans as cups for drinking. Their constant use of 'string magnets,' too, is one of the narrator's stated confounding factors. Rather than elaborating on the wayward theories he himself makes, the narrator instead talks about Betty's murder--stating that it was actually an assassination, that Betty was shot, rather than bludgeoned, and that perhaps the military was behind it. For whatever reason, the narrator also indicates the East Shilo Resort as a place of interest--yet then stating conflicting dates of the military's actions at a nearby A1 Outdoors storage facility: That they'd 'black-holed' it after 'boarding it up.' Neither of the events are further explained.

As the narrator's frenzy continues, his inconsistencies quickly become blatant lies. Whether the narrator is aware of this is left ambiguous, yet the details pertaining to the alleged assassination's location, dates, and timeframe in general continue to contradict. This soon devolves into the theory that Betty Larson was murdered due to her selling of Guinness--or even her possession of Guinness, itself: That its nitrogen contents, in slight implication, may have been used to commit the Rochester bombings, mentioned at the beginning of the story.

While the bombing appears to be of significance in the narrator's suggested implications, it is unstated why the Strong Museum of Play, itself, is of note. Whether this is due to its prominence as a doll museum, too, is left unknown by the narrator--and his narration, in general, soon becomes incredibly chaotic, yet ever-decisive in his assertion that flat-earthers, for whatever reason, are ever the causers of the mayhem in general. The story ends with an abrupt shift in the narrator's coherence--becoming far calmer, or seemingly calculative. Describing Rochester as a 'lightless' city, and that the 'sky's a Cat's Cradle,' he soon reveals, likely unintentionally, that he himself is probably a flat-earther.

An ending excerpt of "Cat's Ladle"

^{You ever fancy a quiet stroll, quiet night on quiet bridges—nothing but low, living breath, auto-shells—better times—in quiet (why so quiet?) weeks of October? You let another weatherperson know. You let me know. And we will walk.}

^{And I will show you crossed Nissan's high beams in the rain, titanium trunk maws, and spiderwebs woven from glass. I will show you paper-thin hay cinders, swimming orange in midair. And we will walk atop bowed, knotted roots beneath twisted treetops. All these things. Outside; in between.}

^{Because I will tell you what. Forecaster to forecaster.}

^{Whichever way you see it. And I do really mean it:}

^{Any way at all.}

^{These metals, these fires, tires, algae and all? As a forecaster, you will see them as they are. Luminous things—no longer crude. It is simply fireflies. Fireflies and windchimes in autumn weather. These bridges—yes. They’re for looking up. So, look up.}

"The Key"

John Smith is introduced in S1E8, "The Key" as a highway traveler of Monroe's north outbound. Having traveled from Lake Erie, his three-month venture is presumed to have involved many side-treks. It is known that two weeks were spent in Rochester, yet the journey's remaining time-frame is never clarified. Of note, however, is that several extended 'detours' were necessitated by an unexpected threat somewhere along Interstate 490: The appearance of, and subsequent assault by, a previous Erie Flock member turned bounty hunter: The allegedly 'self-titled' ex-flock member, 'Tan.' Said to have been a cohort to the Erie chieftess's murderer, Tan is not given a visual description. Neither the Interstate 490 conflict's details nor outcome are given.

In present time, John reaches his home, a stilted house alongside a river's dirt road, to find it ransacked. Windows shattered, and with a yard marred by slightly overgrown tire-tracks, the lot's damage is presumed to have been locally caused. Strangely, a number of John's then-possessions, consisting mostly of old travel clothes and garden equipment, were reacquired from a household down the road--having been neatly stored within an otherwise empty living room's large, wooden laundry chest. (WiP)

"The Key" Sidequel: "Knot In Tow"

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"The Third Door"

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"The Third Door" Sidequel:"Phasmophobia"

The night spent in The River West House, seemingly, had taken quite a toll. Windows re-boarded, and makeshift camp buckled down, John waits out the sweeping, green tide's reach across The Barrens. True sleep ever-elusive, what arrives instead are a number of hypnagogic phantasms. Despite Maude Ma's teachings buffering the brunt, psychosis in full-swing would soon descend: Severed head a bobber in the living room's dead-eyed limelight, any semblance of humanity present was simply what had remained of the residential tomb's slumber--the splayed bodies.

Onwards into the Barrens, radio-chatter's tale continued to unfold. Monsters at the Monroe gates, it'd seemed, were not so easily rid of. To this, John stood once more: It was very late, and even the Green Fog's glint against what light existed would not persist long enough to provide adequate travel light. Even so, one utility existed which might ward the airborne toxins enough to press forward--to the CPF station, perhaps, before consciousness was finally lost. In worst-case scenario, it might yet save him if Rubrum Nebula had arrived. From the vapor itself, at least.

John removes the utility from his rucksack, applying what little had existed. A risk worth taking, the application would nonetheless be rendered worse than ineffective. The Dogmen's haunts, simply, had taken too much of a toll--and the surrounding atmosphere, laden with corpses and notes from their killer--would not heed the meditative state required for success.

The very same utility, which would later be used successfully in S2E3, "The Long Dark," had failed. Without so much as a step towards the front porch's crooked door, John falls.

And the worst of his past's memories, soon, arise (WiP)

"The Third Door" Sidequel 2: "Static Pop" (Omitted)

"Static Pop" recounts John's encounter with The Dogmen of S1E6, "The Key," in conjunction with the previously alluded to events of Lake Erie. While complete in form, it was ultimately omitted (mostly), for structural reasons: While the tale was grounded in unaffected prose in the event's depiction, about half took form in stream of consciousness. This was done to 'phase in' the descriptions of Dogmen attacks upon the character's psyche--yet the story's placement between "Phasmophobia" and "Applesauce" resulted in higher degrees of incoherence within an already affected approach to prose, in general.

While "Static Pop" might've been placed elsewhere, it was further left by the wayside due to the story's content, itself, which explained the Erie events a little too quickly. The story was also framed by John's implementation of infrasonic radio signals while speaking with another unidentifiable character, ambiguously dubbed, "Friend," on the hillside of a graveyard, overlooking the landscape: As the two reminisced about past happenings in Rochester concerning an attack upon a (presumably) Crow-protected water tower, the story would soon divert to the city's waterworks system, itself: A scene intended as an allusion, later on, during "Phage Rhizobia."

^{Mid-Section of "Static Pop"}

^{"...In the filtration junction there are four in-line coolers not three but four but the metal’s production, (“blood,”) add-it-ives are gas-cooled none-the-less, (“Nonetheless, John,”) and a secondary coolant solution—in-line salt piping prevailing, (“who is to say…”) yields temperature regulation equal to, (“you did not murder her…”) that which remains, (“as a Rachter…”) Maude Ma: a daughter of Mother, (“yourself?”) they will call composite valve: Cospline; (“Three of us.”) yet prime equals—yes—Spline Triumvirate; (“You should have known,”) tangential Crow-talk is not becoming of Tian-Tan’s flock, John Smith; (“we’ll call,”) It a-wake! There, (“her,”) is the Dogman’s, (“Ma de,”) jaws they, (“Maw,”) consume the, (“Ma…”) mind, (“De-mawn!)}

^{Daytime thicket.}

^{Nighttime s’-swell.}

^{Maude Ma is no Rachter, salt-sweat-salt, Dogmen’s frigid—no Friend.}

^{No Maude.}

^{No Tian-Tan. Or Spline.}

^Cospline.

^{It is Monroe County. Around midnight. Monroe County. Ten or so tan tents hang ‘round every tree trunk—corners tatters. He’d been walking. North—to Rochester. To see the good folk: Audubon’s under-awning crowd. To deliver produce."}

"The Third Door" Sidequel 3:"'A' is for Applesauce"

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"The Third Door" Sidequel 4: "Haunt"

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The Third Door" Sidequel 5: "What We Become"

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"Rebirth"

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"Rebirth" Sidequel:"The Other Side"

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"Rebirth" Sidequel 2: "Cat's Ladle, Part II: Phage | Rhizobia"

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"Questionable Ethics"

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"Oppressor"

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"The Long Dark"

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"The Mouth of Madness"

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Personality and Traits

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Equipment

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Inventions

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Relations

Personal

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Killed Victims

This list shows the victims John has killed in What Remains. For the main series, see the main article: John Smith (TV Series)

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Trivia

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References

https://gatewayroleplay.org/threads/john-smith.1119/