- "My mother believed in God, but all the praying in the world didn't stop my stepfather from terrorizing her. And her faith just seemed to put her in harm's way."
- ―Olivia about Marilyn.
Marilyn (née unknown, previously Dunham) is the deceased mother of Olivia Dunham and Rachel Blake (née Dunham) in the Prime Universe. She is mentioned several times throughout the series, being a victim of domestic abuse to her second husband. ("The Cure")
Marilyn eventually makes a brief appearance in Olivia's subconscious mind when her daughter is possessed by William Bell. Her first husband, Olivia's unnamed father, also appears during this sequence.
Marilyn later appeared in the non-canonical Fringe tie-in novel The Burning Man (2013) based on Olivia's experiences as a teenager.
Background Information[]
According to Olivia, her mother was a religious woman. ("Unearthed") She mentions that the other Marilyn called her daughter by Olivia's childhood nickname "Olive" just like her own Marilyn did. ("Reciprocity")
Marilyn gave birth to her first child, Olivia in 1979, in Jacksonville, Florida. ("The Road Not Taken") This is where her first husband was stationed at the local military base.
In 1982, her daughter turned three, and was secretly admitted into an experimental drug child on young children by scientists Dr. Walter Bishop and William Bell. ("Bad Dreams") Around one year or so later, Marilyn gave birth to a second child, Rachel in 1983.
In 1986, Marilyn was already remarried to a second husband, either after divorce or her first husband's death. Her second husband was shown to be abusive towards her daughter. ("Subject 13")
Eight years later, she died of cancer when Olivia was 14 years old. ("Olivia")
Original Timeline[]
Sometime around 1989, Marilyn's second husband physically assaulted her so harshly she broke her nose. She cried, and her 9-year-old daughter, Olivia took his gun from his drawer near his bed.
When he opened the door, she pulled the trigger twice. While her daughter states he was looking at her as if he was daring her to finish him off, she could not bring herself to do it. He later recovered, and Marilyn never saw her estranged second husband again before her death. ("The Cure")
Both of her daughters went into foster care after Marilyn died of cancer. ("Novation")
Season 3[]
Inside Olivia's mind, she remembers the last time she felt safe: sometime at age 3 before the Cortexiphan Trials began and before Rachel was born, when her parents were both still alive and married.
They appear at a dinner table observing Peter Bishop who enters their Jacksonville home in search of Olivia. ("Lysergic Acid Diethylamide")
Alternate Timeline[]
In the Timeline Without Peter, her daughter Olivia never opened up to anyone about her abuse from her second husband.
As a result, Olivia was daring enough to kill her stepfather. This meant that Marilyn was widowed twice in a short timeframe. ("One Night in October")
Following her 1994 death from cancer, her children were due to go into foster care. Instead, Nina Sharp pulled some strings and the Dunham sisters went to live with Nina instead. Nina took special interest in Marilyn's children partly due to her guilt for feeling responsible for young Alternate Peter Bishop's drowning after breaking the vial to cure him. ("Novation")
Alternate Universe[]
Her counterpart, Marilyn Dunham is the still-living mother of Olivia Dunham (Alternate Universe) and the deceased Rachel Dunham. She is a recurring character on Fringe season 3 and is portrayed by Amy Madigan.
This version of Marilyn survived 16 more years but was in recent grief over the loss of her youngest daughter who died in childbirth several years prior.
Trivia[]
- She has a brother or brother-in-law, as Olivia mentioned having an uncle and seeing his kayak in the Pilot episode. This family relation is never explored.