Who is Harley Sawyer in Poppy Playtime: Chapter 4? The Doctor, explained

The Doctor is one of the most interesting characters in Poppy Playtime. While it’s clear he’s one of the antagonists, you cannot help but listen to his evil Bond-villain monologues and wonder if there’s some truth behind his words. After all, what would he get for lying to The Player?

Here is everything we know about Harley Sawyer in Poppy Playtime, including his backstory and role as the doctor in Chapter 4: Safe Haven.

Poppy Playtime: Harley Sawyer’s story

Originally part of the Young Geniuses Program, Sawyer’s time at Playtime Co. was cut short by founder Elliot Ludwig, who grew concerned about his experiments. Sawyer later became Head of Special Projects, leading him to create the Bigger Bodies Initiative as a solution to Playtime Co.’s financial decline.

While many experiments were conducted on orphans and staff volunteers, the first successful experiment was Boxy Boo. His main directive is unknown, but evidence shows that Boxy-Boo may have been Sawyer’s cleaner, meant to consume the flesh of staff who tried to expose the Bigger Bodies Initiative (i.e., Rowan Stoll). Sawyer had an affiliation with Yarnaby, an orphan he manipulated and experimented on for the Bigger Bodies Initiative. Loyal only to him, Sawyer took advantage of this to create a subservient puppet that he could control.

Sawyer went missing following the Theatre Incident, which he caused, resulting in the death of over 60 visitors, including a dozen staff members. While it was theorized this incident was caused solely by Boxy-Boo, the specialists refer to the killer as “these things,” implying it was multiple entities (likely Nightmare Critters). The massacre took place around 1994, where punishment was inflicted on Sawyer, but we were left in the dark as to what was done with him prior to Safe Haven.

Leith Pierre ordered the termination of Sawyer by transforming him into The Doctor, a security system capable of monitoring the entire facility and moving his consciousness from one mechanical body to another. The goal was to restrict his movements to purely thinking, locking him up as a brain in a vat, where he’d be forced to feed staff information if he wanted to live. The Omni-Chip gave him access to the entire network, letting him use the security robots and cameras as his eyes and body.

The most interesting part of this betrayal is how Leith Pierre uses the same quote from Sawyer, almost like turning him into an experiment is a form of payback, rather than doing what’s right for the company. Pierre says to Sawyer, “So fight, or give in, or whatever.” Meanwhile, Sawyer says, “Speak, or don’t. Fight, or give in” to The Prototype (Log 24459). This can’t be just a coincidence, so does it point to some kind of affiliation between Pierre and The Prototype?

Before his transformation, it’s clear Sawyer and The Prototype had nothing in common. They both observed one another and found pleasure in peeling back layers through experimentation and torture. This ended once Sawyer became an experiment. Incapable of controlling his subjects, Sawyer would be limited to what he could to against The Prototype. Said to be working together, the only thing that these two had in common was one tiny problem that continued to get in their way: Poppy.

What is The Doctor in Poppy Playtime?

The Doctor is one of the main antagonists in Poppy Playtime: Safe Haven. While his identity wasn’t known until Deep Sleep (the third chapter), he first came to light in PROJECT: PLAYTIME. This character had depth later added to his story for the third chapter and expanded upon further in Safe Haven (Chapter 4). Unlike other experiments, The Doctor appears more metal than flesh, making him more like The Prototype. But this isn’t his true form. These mechanical entities act as the security of the Prison, where The Doctor can tap into their feed and move them (although their movement is limited). His brain removed from his body, he gained access to the security system, where he could control door mechanisms and lockdowns, all while carefully watching over Playtime.

The Doctor’s demise confirms that the death screen is dialogue from The Prototype, not Sawyer. “Get up” is used as both to motivate and command, a quote we believe Sawyer used to say to Prototype during their many interactions. The Prototype likely saved this recording of Sawyer and would use it to condition the experiments into doing his bidding. We believe “get up” originally belonged to Harley Sawyer (as heard on the radio during Deep Sleep‘s nightmare section) but has since been used by The Prototype, likely as the command to start The Hour of Joy and to manipulate and control his fellow experiments. The Player is the newest victim of Sawyer’s words.