The biography of Gary Smith from the 2006 action-adventure video game Bully.
Background[]
| “ | Hey, relax friend, you're all pent up. Go easy, or they'll put you on medication. They did to me. Boy - nearly sent me insane. | „ |
| ~ Gary briefly explaining his mental trouble to Jimmy Hopkins. |
Assuming the events of the narrative occur in 2006,[1] Gary Smith's birth can be estimated to have taken place around 1991 or slightly earlier, which would make him approximately fifteen years old, similar in age to Jimmy Hopkins. Nonetheless, school gossip presents a different perspective, as the non-clique student Christy Martin claims to have heard from somebody that he is “actually a lot older”.[2] This perception is likely influenced by his distant position, exceptional cunning and rhetorical abilities, which surpass those of his peers and render him, at times, difficult for them to fully comprehend.
His early life is veiled in obscurity, albeit apparent to be a troubled one much like the other students enrolled in Bullworth Academy. At some time, he got a large scar over his right eye for unknown reasons, which may slighly hint his troubled childhood. Along with pretty much everything and everyone else in the Western civilization and the world itself, he specifically enumerates his parents as one of his "problems".
His mother is allegedly acquainted with Miss Abby, an elderly resident of the Tenements in New Coventry, who speaks of her unfavorably.[3] However, this claim may be unreliable, as Miss Abby is widely regarded as delusional, such as asserting that “all of her grandchildren” are enrolled at Bullworth[4] and even referring to Jimmy as her grandson, suggesting that her statements may not reflect reality.
The wealthy Old Bullworth Vale resident Mr. Smith is suggested to be Gary's paternal grandfather as they share the same surname and he expresses dissatisfaction with the family's situation. Some of his additional quotes refer to his business and "empire", that carries some similarities with Gary's ones, which further suggests that they are related. Thus, his son is speculated to be the father of Gary, having inherited his vast business empire but has proven inept at managing it, resulting in significant financial losses. According to the nerd student Donald Anderson, he was kicked out of Bullworth Academy and later went to prison,[5] which may ultimately explain that Gary's unstable behaviour coming from an unhealthy family life.
Regardless, Gary's troubled past drove him to be suffered from various mental disorders, particularly attention deficit disorder (ADD) as being admitted by Gary himself. He was a therapy patient of Dr. Bambillo, who refers Gary as "untrustable"[6] and "clinically delusional (or roughly nuts)",[7] and is worrying about him being out of control.[8] Eventually, he began taking a behavior medication, which he was heavily complainant for how the medication nearly sent him insane and ruined his physical condition.
He was eventually enrolled in Bullworth Academy, in which he possesses an infamy amongst the other students and even staff, and is negatively referred by them. The nerd student Algernon Papadopoulos describes him as a sociopath, the preppie student Pinky Gauthier claims that he likes to torture people, and the English teacher Mr. Galloway thinks that "he can't be up to any good (which is also said by the non-clique student Trevor Moore)" upon frequently seeing him in the staff office.
As a student, he generally lives a school life distinct from the other students sans Pete Kowalski, whom Gary only uses as a punchbag and constantly abuses both physically and psychologically. He also specifically feels a deep hatred towards the non-clique student Constantinos Brakus for unknown reasons, showcasing his hatred by saying that he hates "that Constantinos guy" even more than the nerds.[9]
Gary's Bullworth Academy yearbook photo, alongside some of the other students' ones.
Unlike other Bullworth students, Gary refuses to align himself with any clique or establish dominance through brute force. Instead, he envisions himself as a master manipulator destined to control others, regularly fantasizing about ruling over a criminal empire. His ultimate ambition becomes the takeover of Bullworth Academy itself, achieved not through direct confrontation but by pitting the various groups against one another. Yet, despite his ambitions, Gary lacked an effective outlet for his schemes until he met Jimmy Hopkins, a tough newcomer whom Gary regarded as the perfect subject to manipulate and shape in his own image.
Although it remains uncertain whether Gary attempted to manipulate other students prior to Jimmy’s arrival, since he is only observed interacting with Pete Kowalski, it is highly plausible that he did. This inference is supported by several students’ remarks regarding Gary and Jimmy’s emerging association. For instance, Tad Spencer sardonically comments that the two are becoming “all buddy-buddy”,[10] while Bryce Montrose observes that Gary has found a “new flunky” upon befriending Jimmy.[11]
Befriending and Betraying Jimmy[]
| “ | Listen to me tough guy, you just arrived at the toughest school in the country and I'm offering to be your friend. Trust me, in a place like this, you're gonna need friends. So it's up to you. You gonna play nice, or what? | „ |
| ~ Gary warning Jimmy about the situation of the school and offering him to be friends. |
The fifteen-year-old Jimmy Hopkins meets Gary Smith at the start of the new term, when his mother and new stepfather drop him off at the strict Bullworth Academy. Gary gives him advice on increasing the chances of survival in "the toughest school in the country". Despite Jimmy brushing Gary off in irritation, Gary still insists on making friends, then Jimmy accepts. Gary then shows Jimmy to his room, and Jimmy changes into the school uniform that was left there. As Jimmy sits on his bed and thinks, another, younger boy nervously enters and offers Jimmy a friendly handshake.
When Pete Kowalski introduces himself to Jimmy, Gary follows behind him and makes fun of Pete by introducing him as the school mascot. When asked why he is such a bully, he explains it is due to his hatred of western civilization among other things. He then rudely demands Pete to leave and "play with his imaginary friends."
Gary shows Jimmy the cafeteria and school cliques.
In the mission "This Is Your School", he meets up with Jimmy on campus, shows him around and having him perform various tasks to "train" him, such as deescalating a fight with Russell Northrop, lockpicking his locker when he leaves and retrieving a stolen chocolate for Eunice Pound. He shows disgust when Jimmy makes out with Eunice. He takes Jimmy to the cafeteria and introduces him to its four cliques, who constantly fight and bully one another out of petty rivalries and popularity struggles. The bell rings and they both leave, getting chewed out by a prefect along the way, then head to their separate classes.
In the mission "Slingshot", Jimmy finds him in the TV room of the boys' dorm where Gary, in his usual fashion, is harassing Petey. Jimmy strides into the room, and Gary immediately stirs up Jimmy's ire by arrogantly suggesting that Jimmy should defer thinking to him. Further stoking Jimmy's anger, Gary falsely accuses Petey of disparaging Jimmy's intelligence. Despite Petey's protests, Gary brands him a liar and delivers a painful blow by kicking him in the groin. Ignoring Petey, Gary then focuses his attention on Jimmy, expressing a desire to witness Jimmy's proficiency with his new slingshot. Without waiting for Petey, they depart from the room.
Gary confronts the Hobo.
In the mission "A Little Help", Gary is bullying Petey and threatening to have him tell a teacher until Jimmy arrives. Gary is offended when Jimmy calls him boring. He "apologizes" for his lapse of anger and suggests doing something to have some fun. He decides to take his frustrations out on a homeless man (who he refers to as a "helpless and unfortunate man") that lives behind the school's broken-down school bus, taking the Jimmy and a reluctant Petey with him. When the three boys find him, Gary mockingly says that he didn't know Jimmy's dad lives on campus. The man scares off Gary and Pete, not before Gary insults him by saying they should leave him to his welfare payments (although Jimmy stays behind and befriends the hobo.)
In the mission "Defend Bucky", he is seen making fun of Petey for watching the swimming Olympics, wondering if he's attracted to the girls in their swimsuits or even the guys. Jimmy enters to greet him then they are interrupted by Algie who wants to rescue his friend Bucky from the autoshop. Gary suggests that he should do it to show Russell who is in charge. Once Algie leaves, he tells Jimmy of his plan once more to rule the school once taking care of Russell and his boys. (Although Jimmy has no desire to run Bullworth, believing it to be nothing more than a bid for becoming the most popular students, something he cares nothing about.) Jimmy leaves to do his mission then Gary goes back to bullying Petey.
Gary prepares for Halloween with Jimmy.
On Halloween (in a mission of the same name), he dresses up as a Nazi officer and meets up with Jimmy (dressed as a skeleton) in his room, talking about what a curse it is to be "thinking all of the time." They meet Petey (dressed as a pink bunny.) They leave the dorm to begin their night in which he suggests pulling multiple pranks to have fun and follows the group around tormenting other students via a "Kick me sign", marbles, stink bombs and others. For his last prank, he feeds a dog ransid meat and then collects it's poop in a bag. Petey backs out of the prank but then him and Jimmy sneak into the school so he can set it on fire and leave it outside Mr. Burton's door to trick him. Him and Jimmy manage to escape any trouble.
For some time, Gary stops taking his medication and becomes increasingly paranoid, persuading himself that Jimmy is plotting against him, while he just wants to graduate under the radars with his friends.
In the mission "Help Gary", Jimmy enters the lounge of the boys' dormitory to find Gary behaving oddly, tapping his fists on his legs and murmuring to himself. Gary excitedly claims he has made an extraordinary discovery and insists that it will revolutionize their lives. Jimmy, hesitant due to past troubles, expresses reluctance, but Gary reacts brusquely. Despite his reservations, Jimmy eventually yields and follows Gary's lead. Gary takes Jimmy to the parking lot, where he provokes bullies Trent, Davis, and Troy into attacking them. Then, Gary guides Jimmy to the basement of the building. Navigating through various rooms in the basement, Jimmy must activate switches to unlock doors and utilize a fire extinguisher to suppress a steam blockage hindering their path in a hallway.
Gary betrays Jimmy in "The Hole"
Gary guides Jimmy to "The Hole," a concrete octagonal fighting arena. Once there, he abruptly turns his back on Jimmy, accusing him of planning to betray him before he can supposedly do the same. Surrounding them, Gary has assembled members from all cliques as spectators. Adopting the persona of a sports announcer, he introduces Russell to the audience. Fabricating false claims, Gary alleges that Jimmy made derogatory remarks about Russell's mother and animals from his barn, inciting Russell into a furious assault.
Following Jimmy's victory, Gary launches into another monologue, outlining his intentions to seize control of the school and labeling Jimmy as a liability. With a contemptuous parting remark, he departs, taunting Jimmy with a final "See you around, moron" as he leaves, with disappears into the background, creating trouble for his “friends” down the long run and behind the scenes for a while.
Manipulating the Cliques[]
| “ | I hear Jimmy secretly got rid of Gary so he could be the king of the school. Some people will do anything for status. | „ |
| ~ Bryce Montrose believingly talking about one of Gary's rumors about Jimmy. |
Gary helps the Greasers surround the nerd Cornelius.
After betraying Jimmy, Gary's personal hatred towards him keeps growing, and he starts to work on making him despised by the Bullworth students for a whole year by both manipulating them into believing that Jimmy is spreading rumors on all of them, and helping them with their actions against the other cliques.
In autumn, he first convinces the Preppies clique to turn against Jimmy, claiming that Jimmy called their comrade Tad Spencer inbred and hermaphrodite shortly before they intend to egg Mr. Hattrick's house, which caused the friendship between Jimmy and the Preppies getting immediately ruined and turning into a hostility. He appears again in winter, helping Johnny Vincent and his Greasers clique surrounding and threatening the nerd Cornelius Johnson to learn Algie's whereabouts. Gary then again disappears into the background, but also turns the Nerds against Jimmy in spring, feeding their leader Earnest Jones with his charade of taking over the school, which forces Jimmy to have to pacify them before pursuing his feud with the Jocks.
As of summer, Jimmy eventually manages to defeat the four clique leaders and snap them out from Gary's manipulative rumors, becoming a trustworthy figure for the school cliques for a short time.
Complete Mayhem[]
| “ | Awww man, I hate that school. My parents couldn't afford to send me there and now I'm stuck in this dump of a town. Gary said we'd make them all pay. | „ |
| ~ Edgar admitting to Jimmy that he and his clique are manipulated by Gary. |
The burning Bullworth gymnasium, which is considered to be the most heinous action ordered by Gary.
After Jimmy defeats and befriends every clique leader, Gary turns the Townies (a clique of dropouts) against him and convinces them to start an open war against the Bullworth population. Gary then sows discord by unleashing rats in the library (the Nerd's lair), setting fire to the Jocks' gym that almost caused multiple students die, having the Townies steal the Preppies' boxing trophies, and trapping the Greasers' leader in Happy Volts Asylum, framing Jimmy for it all. This causes all the cliques to turn against Jimmy, accusing him of having worsened a situation he promised to solve.
Jimmy solves every problem, but Gary's slander worked, and he soon finds himself despised by everyone in school, save for Pete. After returning from defeating the Townies in their lair of Blue Skies Industrial Park, he is expelled by Dr. Crabblesnitch, who learnt from Gary that Jimmy defaced the Town Hall. In fact, this was yet another of Gary’s crimes he was framed for.
Utterly disgusted, Jimmy goes to town and befriends Zoe Taylor, a Townie girl who was expelled like him. When Pete tries to get him back to business, he first rejects him but finally gets convinced to clear his name, enlisting Zoe and Russell's help. Meanwhile, Gary uses the troubles he caused to get into Dr. Crabblesnitch's good graces, being named Head Boy. He wastes no time in manipulating the four cliques into openly attacking one another, causing such chaos with his lies that a riot soon rages on the school campus, forcing most teachers to flee.
Jimmy, with help from Zoe and Russell, defeats the Townies' leader Edgar Munsen, discovering that he too bought Gary’s charade. Learning from Zoe about the sheer chaos at Bullworth Academy, Jimmy enlists the Townies to put an end to Gary’s demented schemes once and for all. Together, they pacify the school, first by defeating the leaders once more, then by defeating the out of control prefects.
Final Showdown[]
| “ | Why not? I won, I tricked everyone, starting with you, the head, the loser kids in town, and the prefects. Me! I won. | „ |
| ~ Gary gloating to Jimmy about all of his commitments. |
Right after, Gary insults Jimmy on the public announcement system. Jimmy chases his former friend to the roof to get even. Fully aware that he is the weaker one, Gary opts to lure him onto the construction scaffoldings around the dilapidated belltower for field advantage.
Jimmy cuts Gary's gloating, stating that he just "won" the hatred of everyone, but Gary does not care. He gleefully boasts that his status as Head Boy would get Jimmy into further trouble. Jimmy’s final plea falls on deaf ears, and Gary insults his mother's virtue, enraging him.
The first stage of the final battle consists in chasing Gary through the scaffoldings. This can prove tricky as Gary throws bricks at him as he crosses gaps on small planks, and empties wheelbarrows or rubbles as he climbs ladders, before fleeing further up. Jimmy must duck the former and get on the side for the latter. If he gets hit by a brick, he hangs over the void and must regain footing before the next hit or plummet into the abyss.
Gary's breakdown as he gloats to Jimmy before their final fight.
The second stage starts after Jimmy dodges the bells Gary makes fall one after the other and tackles him into the scaffoldings below. Despite Gary proving a better brawler than expected, having moves similar to Jimmy's own and being able to counter his blows and pin him on the railings if he gets an opening, a physical threat he is not and he shall fall quickly. Jimmy must pummel him and not hesitate to kick him when he is down. As soon as he loses a life-bar, the scaffolding breaks and they fall on the one below. Until the third one sends them into the principal’s office.
Gary is absolutely no match for Jimmy, who knocks him out. They fall through the glass roof into Dr. Crabblesnitch’s office, who overheard his gloating. Gary is expelled and dragged out of the office by a gleeful Jimmy. As a reward, Jimmy and Zoe’s expulsions are overturned and Pete is appointed Head Boy at Jimmy's suggestion. The game ends with Jimmy receiving well-deserved applause and praise from the entire school, followed by a kiss from Zoe.
Fate[]
| “ | Finally, everything is sorted out, more or less. I mean, I don't want to say we're going to live happily ever after or anything like that, but life is certainly going to get easier. | „ |
| ~ Jimmy's narration after Gary's defeat. |
While he is effectively defeated by Jimmy and expelled from the school in addition to ultimately being seen to be not dead but heavily harmed and exhausted, his ultimate whereabouts remain unspecified, even lacking a clear mention in Jimmy's final narration with him only stating that his life is going to get easier upon the defeat of Gary.
Gary's well-deserved defeat
Despite his expulsion, Miss Danvers continues to make announcements over the public address system, calling him to Crabblesnitch's office. Rumors suggest that he is either hiding in the Academy’s belltower or living near Blue Skies Industrial Park with the Townies. Troy mentions hearing that Gary "went off to join terrorists or something",[12] while the non-clique student Pedro De La Hoya claims to have heard that Gary will return and "save" everyone.[13] There are also indications that he might have been confined to the Happy Volts Asylum due to his mental health issues, as he is known to have been a patient and reportedly discontinued his medication.
Nevertheless, considering him being ended up known and despised by pretty much everyone around Bullworth Town for his actions, he will most likely become a pariah for the rest of his life.
Notes[]
- ↑ Although Miss Danvers, in an introductory statement once published on the game’s now-defunct official website, welcomed students to the “2006 term” at Bullworth Academy, the game’s precise temporal setting has never been canonically confirmed. Various in-game references suggest alternative dates, ranging from 2007 back to the 1950s. This indeterminacy appears to be a deliberate design strategy employed by the developers to construct a sense of timelessness within the narrative environment. Nonetheless, specific elements, most notably the world maps displayed in geography classes, anchor the setting within a historical framework spanning the post-Soviet period to the dissolution of Serbia and Montenegro, thereby situating the events roughly between 1991 and 2006. Given that the game was released in 2006, and that the most substantive evidence situates its events around this period, it is methodologically safest to adopt 2006 as the primary reference point for its temporal setting.
- ↑ "Somebody said Gary is actually a lot older."
- ↑ "I never liked that Gary! He's no good! Just like his mother!"
- ↑ "All of my grandchildren go to school at Bullworth Academy."
- ↑ "Mr. Smith got kicked out of here and went to prison."
- ↑ "That Gary is not to be trusted."
- ↑ "That Gary is clinically delusional, or as we say, nuts."
- ↑ "I'm beginning to worry about Gary, he's been out of control lately."
- ↑ "I hate that Constantinos guy even more than the nerds!"
- ↑ "I heard Gary's getting all "buddy-buddy" with the new kid."
- ↑ "I heard Gary has a new flunky. Some kid named Jerry or Jimmy or Jesse or something."
- ↑ "I heard Gary went off to join some terrorists or somethin'."
- ↑ "I heard that Gary's gonna come back and save us all!"
Certain details within the synopsis are drawn from concealed or incidental dialogue occurring during the game’s free-roam segments, material that frequently escapes player attention but has been documented through archival recordings.