Mouthwashing's five human crew members are Curly, Jimmy, Anya, Swansea and Daisuke. They work aboard the Tulpar, a Pony Express space freighter. Curly is the captain before the crash, Jimmy the copilot, Anya the nurse, Swansea the mechanic and Daisuke the intern. Polle, the horse figure seen around the ship, is a company mascot rather than a sixth crew member.
The opening sections introduce their jobs without revealing the story's major outcomes. A clearly marked spoiler section below discusses the relationships and failures that give those roles their meaning.
01
The five crew members at a glance
| Character | Role before the crash | What to notice early |
|---|---|---|
| Curly | Captain | His authority and responsibility for the people aboard |
| Jimmy | Copilot | His relationship with Curly and how he describes others |
| Anya | Nurse | Her medical duties and the limits of her workplace authority |
| Swansea | Mechanic | His practical work and supervision of Daisuke |
| Daisuke | Intern | His eagerness to help and dependence on experienced crew |
These are narrative roles, not selectable classes. Mouthwashing follows a written story through conversations, environmental details and changes in perspective. A character's job helps explain what others expect of them; it does not give you a build, a combat specialization or a relationship route to unlock.
02
Curly: the captain
Curly holds command before the disaster. That makes him the person expected to respond when crew relationships become a problem, not simply the person who operates the ship. Watch how he balances his familiarity with individual colleagues against the obligations of his position.
The game's opening premise shows Curly severely injured after the crash, unable to move or speak for himself. His dependence on the remaining crew changes the balance of every interaction involving him. The Curly character guide follows that contrast between formal authority and physical helplessness, with later revelations kept behind its spoiler warning.
03
Jimmy: the copilot
Jimmy works alongside Curly in the cockpit before the crash. Their existing relationship matters because the dialogue is shaped by familiarity, comparison and expectations that reach beyond a single shift. Pay attention to what Jimmy wants Curly to recognize about him.
Jimmy is also central to how the player receives information. When he explains another person's motives, distinguish the explanation from what that person actually says or does. The Jimmy guide examines his viewpoint and behavior in detail. For a first playthrough, simply remembering that a confident speaker can still be unreliable is enough.
04
Anya: the nurse
Anya handles the crew's medical care and psychological evaluations. Her duties put her in a position to observe problems, but observing something does not automatically give her the power or resources to resolve it. Her conversations show the difference between being responsible for care and being supported in providing it.
It is particularly useful to notice who listens to her, who dismisses her and when she chooses to speak indirectly. Read the Anya guide for a fuller account of her work and relationships. Avoid reducing her to nervous mannerisms: the story gives those interactions a context that emerges gradually.
05
Swansea: the mechanic
Swansea is the experienced mechanic supervising Daisuke. His work brings attention to the ship as a workplace: repairs, equipment, confined spaces and decisions about what is safe to ask someone else to do. His bluntness can make an interaction feel straightforward even when the underlying relationship is more complicated.
His connection with Daisuke is an important thread to follow without assuming every harsh remark means indifference. The Swansea guide explores his work, his relationship with the intern and the context that later scenes provide.
06
Daisuke: the intern
Daisuke is the least experienced crew member. He is eager to contribute, and his position makes the guidance of more experienced colleagues especially consequential. His presence also gives the group moments of energy and friendliness that are easy to overlook when concentrating on the horror.
Think about the difference between volunteering because you understand a risk and agreeing because you want to prove you belong. That question becomes important to reading his interactions. The Daisuke guide develops his character beyond his intern label, while separating what the story establishes from popular assumptions about his background.
07
Polle belongs to the company imagery
Polle is the round horse mascot associated with Pony Express. Seeing the character on signs, decorations or in stranger sequences does not add another human employee to the roster. The mascot helps connect the ship's everyday corporate environment to the game's unsettling visual language.
In the official developer Q&A, narrative designer and art lead Johanna Kasurinen discusses taking inspiration from a horse-magazine mascot and deliberately adapting that idea into an unimpressive corporate character. That production background explains the design's origins; it does not make every appearance a literal intervention by a separate creature aboard the Tulpar.
08
Full spoilers: how the relationships change
Full story spoilers from this point onward, including abuse, the crash and the consequences of the crew's decisions. Continue only if you have finished the game or accept those revelations.
The central relationship is not simply a contest over who gets to be captain. Anya's disclosures strongly imply that Jimmy sexually assaulted her, and she tells Curly about her pregnancy and fear. Curly's willingness to preserve his relationship with Jimmy leaves Anya without the decisive protection she needs. His concern does not amount to an effective response.
That distinction is crucial to discussing both men. Jimmy is responsible for the crash; Curly's failure lies elsewhere, including his handling of the danger around him before it happens. Treating either man as wholly explained by a uniform or a single sympathetic scene misses how the story distributes responsibility.
After the crash, Jimmy assumes authority while Curly cannot challenge his account. Anya continues caring for a catastrophically injured man under desperate conditions. The arrangement lets the person doing essential work remain vulnerable while the person claiming leadership controls much of the conversation. The gap between power and care becomes increasingly destructive.
Swansea and Daisuke's relationship provides another view of that imbalance. Swansea's protectiveness and Daisuke's desire to help matter when Jimmy sends the intern through the damaged vent. The resulting injury is not evidence that Daisuke needed a better skill build or a different answer from the player. It exposes what happens when someone with influence transfers risk onto someone with less experience.
09
Keep character interpretation grounded
Mouthwashing's hallucinations invite interpretation, but they do not erase its interpersonal events. In the official Q&A, Martin Halldin relates the late mouth imagery to Jimmy speaking on Curly's behalf. Kasurinen also describes writing Jimmy's movement toward what he considers a search for forgiveness. Neither comment grants him absolution.
Use that distinction when comparing characters: describe the action first, then explain your reading of it. The source material checked for this guide does not establish a complete roster of exact ages, heights or nationalities. Fan estimates should stay labeled as estimates. For the final outcomes and Curly's unresolved future, continue to the ending explanation.