Declan O'Day (Eden Rising)

"It’s obvious I have no place in this group. I’d like an opportunity to be alone. By the time we meet again, I’ll be a changed man. I just want to prove it to everyone."

- Declan, explaining his motivation to split from the group.

Declan O'Day is a mysterious outsider with a dark past and a will to redeem himself for his past mistakes. He was a prisoner when the outbreak unleashed, in jail for his involvement in a gang rape while he was a teenager. After stumbling upon the town of Glenley, Declan became a farmhand, responsible for providing Glenley of its crops and main food source. It seems to be a common theme of Declan's character that he tries to open up to people by taking care of them, children in particular, as he attempts to fill the empty void in his life left by his fiancée Gillian and her son, who he hoped he would one day be reunited with. After his past as a prisoner was revealed to the group, Declan decided to go on his own and try to find his own path to Eden, hoping to reunite with them at the bio-dome paradise as a changed man. They did reunite, but not in the way either party expected, as Declan became a member of the religious group known as the Last Chance Society. After reuniting with his friends and learning that the Last Chance Society's hierarchy was corrupted, Declan was reunited with Gillian's son PJ. He learned of Gillian's death, but was able to recreate a relationship with the boy he helped raise.

Pre-series
It is revealed that Declan was once engaged to a woman named Gillian, who had a child named PJ, whom he helped raise. However, as a member of a gang rape when he was a teenager, Declan was wracked by guilt of the situation and went to prison in order to pay penance for what he did.

After the outbreak occurred, Declan was freed from prison by The General, who stormed the prison in order to recruit people to be part of his elite army known as the "Jugulators". Declan, instead, fled on his own and attempted to find his family to no avail. He then stumbled upon Glenley and took refuge at an elderly man named Bart's farm, where he learned to appreciate nature and the wide open space and work as a farmhand.

Season 1
Despite the importance of his job in Glenley, the townsfolk don't know much about him, considering he wandered upon the town on his own and was just taken in by the resident farmer Bart to work on the farm and help him out. After the death of Bart, Declan is forced to take over the farm, with Gwen of New Venice stepping in to help him. Declan and Gwen have drunken sex after encountering each other in the town's bar and Gwen being allured by the "mysterious outsider" thing Declan has going on, though neither shows interest in taking their fling to the next level.

After The General storms over Glenley, Declan flees with the others. Shortly after the group starts to hit their stride and figure out what they're doing and where their ultimate destination will be, Declan's past comes out in the form of one of his fellow prisoners showing up, a man named Jasper. Declan begins to question his position in the group, feeling further guilt as Gwen admits to him that she was once raped. When she is attacked by Jasper and he flees, Declan feels it's responsibility to find and take care of him. Jasper is found dead, ripped apart by a biter inside a mansion he took refuge in. Upon clearing out the mansion, Declan decides it would be a good place for the group to stay and the others agree with him.

The next day, young Joey goes missing. Declan stays behind to contemplate his position in the group, and soon decides to abandon them and go on his own to prevent further conflict. He wants to find himself and decides to take a different path, to a different "pick-up station" than the others, in order to maybe one day reunite at Eden. He heads off on his own, to parts unknown.

Season 2
Sometime after leaving, Declan is discovered by John Smith and his gang at the Last Chance Society. He admits his past to them immediately, and Smith allows him to join the group, having a great deal of respect for Declan's honesty. Declan begins to take care of a young girl named Chrissie, the daughter of an insane woman named Maude, who was recently banished from the group for her obscene and disturbing behavior.

A few weeks after leaving Tom's group, Declan and Bray are out hunting, he reunites with Kelvin in the forest. Bringing Kelvin alongside Gareth to the Last Chance Society, he introduces them to the religious group. Declan's devotion to Chrissie is seen as a form of redemption and trying to set things right in his life by helping her.

However, when Chrissie is murdered along with the town's other children four months later, Declan falls into a dark place again. He and Ivy, a fellow resident of the Last Chance Society, begin to suspect John Smith and his regime, and the pair go behind the back of Kelvin and Benedict's investigations for their own. They discover nothing except for a conspiracy behind the birth of John Smith's baby with poster girl Libby.

Later, when more of Tom's group arrives in the Society, things start to blow up in a civil war between John Smith and Father Warden, and Declan gets caught in the middle. He and Ash are locked up in the 'Red Zone' by Kelvin, who claims it's only for their protection, but they are later set to be executed under orders of John Smith. Kelvin interrupts the execution, sacrificing himself to save Declan and Ash.

Declan ends up leaving the Society and heading to the airport with the other survivors, where he finally reunites with PJ. The reunion is not quite as emotional as he expected, realizing the young boy he helped raise is now a teenager he can barely recognize, a teenager who barely remembers him at all. Along with the others, Declan boards a rescue plane to Eden.

Killed Victims

 * Numerous counts of infected

Trivia

 * Despite the group arguing that Declan was a dangerous man and they didn't want him around, he is ironically one of the few of the main cast to have not killed any human characters and only infected individuals.