Maxine Caulfield (Before the Storm)

Life is Strange

Before the Storm

Template:Infobox character

Maxine Caulfield, better known as Max (born September 21, 1995), is Chloe Price's former best friend and the playable protagonist in "Farewell". She was voiced by Hannah Telle.

William Price, Chloe's father, died in 2008, and Max moved to Seattle shortly afterwards as her father Ryan Caulfield had obtained a job there. Chloe and Max remained in contact but eventually Max started forgetting or ignoring Chloe's messages, and they fell out of touch. During the events of Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Chloe feels abandoned and forgotten by Max and writes unsent letters to her. Max is not seen in any of the episodes of Before the Storm, other than the bonus episode "Farewell", but her texts to Chloe can be viewed anytime during the game and her presence can be felt in many ways throughout the story.

For the image gallery, click here.

Personality

It seems that Max is very shy and introverted based on Chloe's comments throughout. She also has a strong love of photography as mentioned several times by Chloe.

Appearance

Max is only physically seen in "Farewell". (TBC)

It can be assumed that she had a similar style to that of her appearance in the original Life is Strange as Chloe often comments that she "hasn't changed".

Biography

Chloe's journal entry about Max is as follows:

Max Caulfield, MIA ex-best friend extraordinaire. This artsy motherfucker loves photography more than life itself and definitely more than me. She even uses old instant cameras. It's probably not healthy for anyone to be that stuck in the past, but who am I to tell people how to live their lives?

When we were kids we would dress up like pirates and eat ice cream and write and draw these stupid comic books where we had powers and saved people and shit.

Then my dad died, and her dad got some job up north and she moved away to Seattle. It was probably the moment when I needed her most, and she bailed. Thanks, Max, for teaching me that I can't rely on anyone. I mean it. Life lesson learned.

The worst part is that even though we haven't spoken in months, even though she habitually ignored my texts so much that I just stopped trying, even though I know, deep down, that she doesn't care about me anymore and that she probably has all new friends up in fucking Seattle... I still miss her. If she came back tomorrow and said "hey Chloe, want to dress up like pirates and be stupid together?", I would take her back in a heartbeat.

In a heartbeat.

Background

Max grew up in Arcadia Bay, where she and Chloe were close childhood friends who always hung around each other and used to play as a pair of pirates at their home or in the woods, dreaming of their future and the adventures they would experience together.

In 2008, when Max was 13, she was with Chloe at Chloe's house when Chloe's father, William Price, tragically died in a car crash. 3 days after the accident, Max moved to Seattle with her parents, leaving Chloe and her old life behind. The two fell out of touch and Chloe grew resentful towards Max, not only for leaving shortly after William's death, stating that she needed her most at that time but also for being inconsistent with her emails and later text messages.

Episode One - "Awake"

Max does not appear at all in this episode and is only mentioned by Chloe to herself and briefly Rachel Amber. When exploring Chloe's room, many mementos of Chloe and Max's friendship can be found.

In Chloe's first dream a letter from Max can be seen in the journal.

In Chloe's second dream a disturbing picture of Max hanging from a tree can be seen in the journal. Scrawled onto the tree are the initials MC and the date 26th January 2009. It is unknown if the date has any meaning.

Episode Two - "Brave New World"

Chloe continues writing unsent letters to Max and the tone of these shows that she still misses Max dearly.

During the opening scene in the bathroom, Chloe sketches Max on one of the stalls.

Chloe mentions Max when looking at an old restaurant sign in the junkyard, commenting that the two of them used to go there "all the time". Chloe mentions that she is more jealous of Max "than anything" when looking at the smashed camera in the junkyard.

Episode Three - "Hell Is Empty"

Chloe continues to write unsent letters to Max commenting on her abandonment of her. During the nightmare, the journal shows that Maxine Caulfield is the writer and director of the play involving her father William being killed. Eliot mentions that he is the only one who cares about Chloe after the death of her dad and the loss of Max. Chloe can open up to Sera about how Max left her and how much she meant to Chloe.

Bonus Episode - "Farewell"

Max is first seen in Chloe's room with Chloe about to blow up two dolls with a firecracker. Max is worried about getting into trouble with Chloe's mom. Max ponders to herself about leaving for Seattle in a few days and wonders how to tell her best friend she is leaving her. (If Max chooses to try and tell Chloe now, Chloe will interrupt her which prevents her, anyway.) Max then searches Chloe's room for things to get rid of, as per Chloe's mom's request. They both listen to a cassette tape of their 8-year old selves talking about some treasure they buried and search Chloe's room for the map to the treasure. The map reveals that they need an amulet to find the treasure, and Max remembers that they also need a telescope. Max proceeds to the attic to look for the amulet while Chloe heads the the garage to find the telescope.

Max stacks several items to help her reach the attic door and begins to navigate her way through the attic, finding mementos throughout. She manages to retrieve the amulet and can sit down and watch Chloe playing in the back yard, pondering on their great friendship. She is spotted by Chloe who urges her to come downstairs to meet her.

Max joins Chloe at the "pirate ship" (swing set) in the backyard and hands her the amulet. After attaching the amulet to the telescope, Max looks through it to direct Chloe to the X by lining up the drawing on the amulet with physical features in the yard. The two then dig up the "buried treasure" and find something different to what they had previously buried. They discover that their treasure (a time capsule made from a pirate lunchbox) had been found by Chloe's dad and placed inside a more weatherproof container. It is filled with old mementos of their friendship and the things they enjoyed at that time. Max examines the items and they both read out the letters they wrote to each other's future selves. Chloe takes the Scratch Art pad from the time capsule and heads over to the sofa to draw something. Max can play a message on the answerphone in the hallway to hear an angry message from a mother of one of the students at Blackwell, who is not happy with Chloe's behavior towards her daughter. If Max read the emails on Chloe's parents' computer earlier in the day and listens to the message on the answerphone in the hallway, she can warn Chloe that her parents already know about the answer machine message. Max is concerned about Chloe and can push her to tell the truth.

Max has another opportunity to tell Chloe about the move to Seattle now. If she chooses to tell Chloe, she finds out that Chloe already knows, because she had overheard her parents talking. Max is shocked as to why Chloe didn't tell her that she knew and learns that Chloe didn't want their day together to be ruined. Max is reassured by Chloe that it isn't "the end of the world." Max and Chloe get up off the sofa to prepare more fun when Joyce enters the house in tears with a police officer seen leaving in the background who has brought her home. Max remains still while Chloe rushes to her mom. Max looks at a photo of William and Chloe on the table and is shocked and bursts into tears at the news of William's death.

Max attends William's funeral with her parents and stands next to Chloe in front of William's coffin at the burial service. Max's father pats her on the shoulder as a sign that they will be leaving now, and Max is distraught that she has to leave Chloe. Max looks over to Chloe one final time as if wanting to say something or catch Chloe's attention before she walks away to join her parents. As they drive away, Max gazes out of the back window at Chloe with tears in her eyes.

In the epilogue of the episode, Chloe arrives home and goes straight up to her room and stumbles on her tape player with a note on it saying "I'm sorry" which is revealed to be from Max. The tape's content will be dependent on whether Max told Chloe about her leaving or not. She breaks into tears as she listens to Max's recorded voice and embraces the recorder as she curls up into a fetal position as if holding Max.

Mentions

Episode One - "Awake"

• There is a photo of Max and Chloe together with William to the left of Chloe's bed. If Chloe looks at it, she says, "Hey, Max. Hey, Dad. Another day in paradise, right?"
• In one of her drawers Chloe can find a mix CD that Max made her for her 10th birthday. When looking at it, she says, "Max made me this mix CD years ago. And because it was Max, not a single song was pirated."
• When looking at her pirate hat, Chloe says, "I bet Long Max Silver traded her hat for beer and booty long ago."
• The picture of Max and Chloe dressed up as pirates can be found hanging up at the Price household's living room walls. If Chloe looks at it, she comments, "Aaaaarrrrgh-n't you glad you left for Seattle, Max? And never looked back?"
• Chloe can look at the stains that are left from their wine tasting sessions and comment, "From when Max and I spilled mom's wine."
• If Chloe checks the mailbox in front of her house, she comments, "Does Max picture me pathetically checking this mailbox every two seconds for letters that never come?"
• In Chloe's first dream a letter from Max can be seen in the journal.
• Chloe can mention to Steph Gingrich that she and Max used to play tabletop games together.
• When smashing objects at the junkyard, upon seeing a camera, Chloe says, "I've never understood your hard-on for cameras, Max. You took a million pictures of us, and not a single one of them showed that you were gonna leave when I needed you the most. Fuck cameras."
• In Chloe's second dream a disturbing picture of Max hanging from a tree can be seen in the journal. Scrawled onto the tree are the initials MC and the date 26th January 2009. Next to the tree is a butterfly, possibly representing Chloe.

Trivia

• According to herself in "Farewell", in 2003, Max's favorite animal was an Arabian horse, her favorite food was lobster roll and her favorite class in school was Art or Library.
• In "Awake", we see Chloe using the same phone that she had decorated with Max two or more years ago (as seen in Episode 3 of Life is Strange if Max had opened one of Chloe's bedroom drawers). Other characters are using smartphones, so for Chloe to hang onto an old phone like this that is decorated with youthful stickers shows just how sentimental it is to her and how truly missed Max is.

Gallery

Main article: Max Caulfield (Prequel)/Gallery

A photo from Chloe's room depicting Max, Chloe, and William ("Awake").

A photo of Max and Chloe from their time capsule ("Farewell").

A Halloween photo from Max and Chloe's time capsule ("Farewell").

Another Halloween photo from their time capsule ("Farewell").

The first page of Max and Chloe's old pirate sketchbook ("Farewell").

The second page of Max and Chloe's sketchbook ("Farewell").