It Gives Him WAYY More Character And Depth - Tumblr Posts

Why I’m a firm believer in Willcare

William cares about his kids, but he still abuses them. That is the real horror of their dynamic. It’s why abuse can hurt so much, because more often than not, it’s coming from your loved ones.

I do think when writing fiction, people tend to forget how abuse can be in real life. Media often portrays it in an almost cartoon-villain and unrealistic manner. To state that William loves and cares about his children does not contradict the fact he still abuses them. That is how abusers get their victims to stay, that is why people often can’t escape abusive situations. It really bothers me when people are so against William loving his kids, when in my opinion it makes him so much more interesting. It gives him twisted humanity, and a starting point for his descent into madness.

To me, William instantly has much more depth and is a much more realistic abuser if you factor in the paternal love he has for his children. People seem to think he becomes less of a villain if he is capable of love, but I think the opposite. William is infinitely more horrifying when his abuse takes such a real form. He acts out of his own twisted version of love, and hurts his own children and children of others because “I’m doing this for your own good”.

William being capable of murdering innocent children becomes more impactful if you remember he is also a father to his own children he loves. How is a fellow father capable of taking away other peoples children? How can he not imagine how painful that is? Oh right, he doesn’t have to imagine it, because his own son dies because of his general negligence as a father. That guilt eats William alive and it festers until it turns into hatred and envy towards other parents and other children.

His murder of Charlie would make no sense if his only sole motivation was science, and nothing else. William IS a man of science, but what drives him to investigate and test and build? A fear of death, and fear of the death of his children. To give William human motives, trying to prevent death by giving spirits “life” in a new vessel, it makes him more real. And more real means more terrifying as a villain.

I think the portrayal of William being this stoic, heartless villain is more boring than the latter.