Winona

Winona
Curio Cabinet Bio	Winona is a former assembly line worker with a boisterous attitude and a love of all things mechanical.

“Ha! I know all your moves!”

–Winona, to Charlie

Winona is a Character exclusive to Don't Starve Together, released on September 13th, 2017. On March 7th, 2019, she received an update to her perks and starred in an animated short.

She is a former Voxola factory worker who dislikes laziness and, to a lesser degree, things from high society. She is Charlie's older sister.

Origin

“Armed with her indomitable spirit and trusty mending tape, Winona seems to have been plucked straight off the factory line and dropped into the world of Don't Starve for something or someone's unfathomable amusement. There may be more to her arrival than it appears, however, as more than a few eyes will be watching the next move of the newest survivor...”

–Description from her introductory forum post

Don't Starve Together Next of Kin Winona Animated Short

After the disappearance of her sister Charlie in 1906, Winona began a years long search for the truth of what happened that day. She amassed a board of various pieces of evidence which lead her to believe that Robert Wagstaff, owner of the Voxola Radio Company, had something to do with Charlie's disappearance. She applied to work at the factory.

One day at work, an explosion in an office caused the factory to fall apart. After making sure all the other workers were able to get out of the factory safely, Winona rushed into the office to investigate the cause. She found a machine that produced a portal pulling someone in, their yellow-gloved hands gripping the edges. She grabbed their left hand and tried to pull them out, but to no avail. She was left with a lone yellow glove, the portal now inactive and the machine broken.

The Voxola factory going up in flames.

Determined to save them, Winona quickly got to work, using her mechanical skills to fix the portal. Once the portal was running again, she was startled to see her sister Charlie staring out of it. Charlie reached out for her and Winona grabbed her hand, trying to pull her out. However, Charlie then turned into a monstrous version of herself and pulled Winona into the Constant. The portal machine turned off and a piece of debris fell from the factory ceiling, destroying it. 

The factory went up in flames, and Winona's fellow workers presumed her dead.

Special Powers

Main article: Engineering Tab

These are special abilities unique to Winona.

• For a small hunger cost, she crafts items & structures at twice the speed as other Characters, finishing one craft in 0.5 seconds.
• She can dodge a single hit from Charlie after walking away from a light source. This means that she takes no damage or Sanity loss from the first attack after entering darkness.
• She has access to her own crafting tab called Engineering from which she can build five special items.
  • Trusty Tape – Winona's signature item that can be used to repair damaged Clothes. It is also a material component of her buildable structures. She starts with three Trusty Tapes in her Inventory.
  • Winona's Catapult – A structure that deals area-of-effect damage and needs power from a generator.
  • Winona's Spotlight – A structure that illuminates nearby players and needs power from a generator.
  • Winona's Generator – A structure that powers her catapult and/or spotlight for up to one day. It is fueled by Nitre.
  • Winona's G.E.M.erator – A structure that powers her catapult and/or spotlight for up to six days. It is fueled by any Gem but the Iridescent Gem.

Disadvantages

When Winona crafts, she loses a small amount of hunger (5 hunger) if she hasn't crafted in the last minute. If her hunger is below a certain threshold (50 hunger), her crafting is slowed to a normal rate, and she no longer suffers the hunger cost.

Tips

• Using her Trusty Tape, she can effectively repair Clothing items where there are no Hounds. This makes her a useful asset when spelunking.
• Webber can easily supply Winona the Silk she needs to make her Trusty Tape, making its single use less of a problem.
• The Trusty Tape is especially useful for surviving tougher Seasons, as some clothing items used to delay Freezing/Overheating are not durable enough to survive an entire winter/summer season.
• Her increased crafting speed really shines when she is building complex structures or items that require refined resources (like an Alchemy Engine); crafting all the components at once saves more time.
• Her increased crafting speed is also helpful when dodging or fleeing (e.g. being chased by a group of Spiders, Shadow Splumonkeys or Terrorbeaks). It's much easier to find the shorter time window to craft a new torch or weapon when dodging or in pursuit.
• Utilising her special ability to dodge a single hit from Charlie, she can be in the dark longer and can go insane quite quickly, if one wanted to farm Nightmare Fuel from Shadow Creatures.
• Winona's favorite food is Spicy Vegetable Stinger, meaning that she gains 15 bonus Hunger pointes when the food is consumed.

Trivia

In-Game

• Winona's voice sounds similar to a percussive PVC pipe instrument such as a tubulum.
• A hot-fix in late March, 2017, accidentally added her speech files into Don't Starve Together. After they were noticed and discussed on the forums, the files got removed in the next update.
  • Winona's existence as an official playable Character was announced on September 6th, 2017.
• She is the first Character to be exclusive to Don't Starve Together.
• When struck by Lightning, Winona, like most other Characters, is shown to have bones in her hair.
• Winona does not have an animation for dodging Charlie's attack as of now.
• She is the first Character to get reworked as part of the series of Character Updates for 2019–2020 in Don't Starve Together.
• Prior to her Character update, Winona's perks were different: "Is a skilled builder. Gets one free hit from the dark. Brings her own tools."
• She has a unique idle animation in which she stretches her shoulder.

Lore

• She was first hinted at in the William Carter Puzzles, in which Charlie writes to Maxwell that she has a sister, then left unnamed.
• In the Metheus Puzzles, there was a small piece of writing that read 13/9/17, a hint at what would be Winona's release date.
• She may be the silhouette briefly seen through the Ancient Gateway in the What Lies Beyond? clip. In addition, her name can be seen in Charlie's dress ^{[Verification Needed]}.
• Several of her old speech file quotes reveal that she was a coal miner, and she didn't like the job. When she was released, the coal aspect was omitted from her quotes.
  • In addition, a few of her leaked speech file quotes directly referenced the Great Depression (such as Hoover Stew in the Crock Pot examination), but in her official release, the more direct references were removed. This may be due to the canonical fact that she was transported to the Constant when the Voxola factory was destroyed in 1919, about ten years before the Great Depression started.
• She may have found Charlie somewhat annoying, according to her quote for a live Mandrake ("This is exactly what having a little sister's like.").
• Given her quote for a Maxwell Statue ("So THIS is 'Maxy'"), she appears to have known of Maxwell (presumably from Charlie's letters to her) but has never met him before entering the Constant.
• As confirmed in the Next of Kin animated short, Winona entered the Constant to save Charlie and possibly find Robert Wagstaff. Her quote for the Ancient Gateway in the Gorge is "I might not be good at rescue missions."
  • In the Forge, she says that the Ancient Gateway is similar to the one she came through.
• As written in Charlie's second letter to Maxwell in the William Carter Puzzles, she & Winona have a "family cabin up in BC" (likely British Columbia, Canada). In examining a Bug Net, Winona is quoted "Just like vacations at the cabin."
• Winona's quotes for a Winter Hat ("Perfect for winters in the tenement house") and for an occupied Pig House ("Fuller than a downtown tenement house") suggest that she lived in a tenement.
• In her unused Adventure Mode quotes, Winona identifies the head of the Divining Rod as a Voxola radio. She also says of the Divining Rod that "[She's] probably one of the few left that knows how to use [it]." This was the earliest indication of her work in the Voxola factory.
  • In examining the Divining Rod Holder, she says "Just like in the bossman's workshop," possibly talking about the Voxola founder Robert Wagstaff.
  • Her original speech file contained a different examination quote for the unlocked Divining Rod Holder: "Is... this how the bossman disappeared?" referring to the disappearance of perhaps Wagstaff. Her latest examination quote is "At least I assembled this right."
  • She has an especially negative relationship with fire. Her quotes for another Winona as a fire starter ("Haven't we lost enough to fires?") and for a burnt Rainometer ("Must fire take everything I love?") plus Maxwell's quote for her as a fire starter ("You were the last one I expected to start fires") likely all refer to the Voxola factory's destruction.
• Her first animated appearance was in the Next of Kin animated short.
  • She is the second Character in the Don't Starve universe with an animated origin story, the first being Wilson.
• Winona's birthday is listed as September 13 in the Compendium.
  • September 13, 2017 was the day Winona was added to DST.

Cultural References

• Winona's design strongly resembles Rosie the Riveter, a cultural icon who represented women working in factories during World War II.

Gallery

Winona's Portrait. Winona in-game. Winona's icon on the Map. Winona struck by Lightning in Don't Starve Together, showing she has bones in her hair. Winona frozen in Don't Starve Together. Winona put to sleep by a Mandrake. Winona's ghost. Winona as seen by the Werebeaver, not performing any animation as she dodges Charlie's first attack. Winona's idle animation. Winona Guest of Honor Skin Portrait.png Portrait of Winona's "Guest of Honor" skin. Winona Survivor Skin Portrait.png Portrait of Winona's "The Survivor" skin. Winona Shadow Skin Portrait.png Portrait of Winona's "The Triumphant" skin. Winona's Hallowed Nights Grass Gekko costume skin. Portait of Winona's "The Gladiator" skin. Winona Rose.png Portait of Winona's "The Roseate" skin. Winona Verdant Skin Portrait.png Portrait of Winona's "The Verdant" skin. Portrait of Winona's "The Victorian" skin. Portrait of Winona's "The Creature" Skin. Portrait of Winona's "The Magmatic" skin. Portrait of Winona's "The Industrious" skin. Portrait of Winona's "The Fixer" skin in DST. Portrait of Winona's "The Merrymaker" skin in DST. Winona in the character selection screen. A promo poster for Winona, and her first appearance. Winona as seen in a promotional image for the 2019 DST character refresh announcement. Winona in a promotional image for an animated short associated with her Character Update. Winona in a promotional animation for her Character Update. Winona looking at Wilson improperly tinkering with a broken Alchemy Engine in a drawing from Rhymes with Play #158. A sketch of Winona's Shadow skin from Rhymes with Play #181. Winona as seen in a summer-themed DST drawing from Rhymes with Play #189. Winona as seen in a summer-themed drawing from Rhymes with Play #201. Winona as seen in a New Year themed drawing from Rhymes with Play #220. Winona as seen in a drawing from Rhymes with Play #235. Winona as seen in a Hallowed Nights 2019 comic from Rhymes With Play # 264. Winona as seen in a drawing from Art Stream # 59. Winona as seen on the 2018 Valentine Cards. Winona in her Victorian skin from a vignette exclusive to The Gorge. Winona in a comic for Winter's Feast 2018. Winona in a loading screen from Winter's Feast 2018. Winona featured in the Hallowed Nights 2019 comic. Winona's turnarounds for the Next of Kin animated short. Key art of Winona for her refresh update. Photo of Winona's family from Next of Kin. Winona saving her coworker Genny in Next of Kin. Winona fixing the Voxola factory portal in Next of Kin. Winona trying to save Charlie in Next of Kin. Winona just before being captured by Monster Charlie in Next of Kin. Rough animation featuring Winona trying to save Wagstaff in Next of Kin.

Sounds

Winona's voice.
Winona getting hurt.
Winona dying.
Winona sinking.
Winona's ghost voice.
Winona's voice as she performs the /pose emote.
Winona sighing, as part of the /sleepy emote.
Winona yawning, as part of the /yawn emote.
Winona singing the Starver's Carol, as part of the /carol emote.