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Harlan Ogilvy is a character featured in the 2005 film adaptation of The War of the Worlds.

While the character shares his name with that of Ogilvy, a character in the original novel, he is a combination of that of the Artilleryman and the curate. His first name is a reference to author Harlan Ellison.

Biography

When Ray Ferrier and his daughter Rachel flee a pitch battle between the military and the tripods, Harlan calls to them from an abandoned farmhouse and offers them shelter from the carnage. Harlan explains that he has theorised that the aliens had buried their technology there millions of years ago and that he and Ray can deduce their weakness by observing them, as their refuge is right in the middle of an alien camp. He offers to look after Rachel in the event that Ray is killed and tries to console Ray about the apparent death of his son Robbie, but Ray insists that Robbie is still alive. The three successfully hide from an alien probe, apparently undetected, for two days.

Harlan's machinations come to an end when he and Ray witness the aliens harvesting living human specimens to fertilise the Red Weed, he descends into a manic frenzy of shoveling into a tunnel in an attempt to escape. Unable to reason with him, Ray is forced to kill him to prevent the tripods from discovering them.

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