Westworld: 5 Times We Felt Bad For William (& 5 Times We Hated Him)
William has always been one of Westworld‘s most complex characters. Fans first met him as the ruthless Man in Black played by Ed Harris, but the character grew more nuanced as fans realized he was also young William played by Jimmi Simpson. Young William was idealistic and had a good heart, but he quickly became a corrupt and manipulative heir to James Delos’ empire.
As he grew older, the outside world viewed William as a successful businessman and philanthropist. When he visited Westworld, he became the Man in Black, a cutthroat individual who felt free to unleash all his deepest and darkest desires. Through all the character’s transformations, there were standout moments where William was worthy of sympathy, and others where he proved to be a despicable individual.
10 Felt Bad: Logan Tormented And Stabbed Dolores
Logan got fed up with young William’s feelings for Dolores. In order to prove that Dolores wasn’t real, he tied William to a chair and forced him to watch a “visceral demonstration.” After manhandling Dolores, Logan stabbed her in the stomach and tore apart her skin to reveal the mechanical gears underneath her skin.
Logan was the one who dragged William to Westworld in the first place, and when he didn’t like how attached William got to one of the hosts, he tortured the host in one of the cruelest ways possible.
9 Hated Him: Scalping And Bleeding Kissy
Fans didn’t know Kissy well, but seeing William bleed him out and scalp him was still distressing to witness. These actions were inherently despicable and they were made even worse by William’s enjoyment of it all.
He laughed as he watched Kissy try to run away and stumble over himself. William soaked in every moment of Kissy’s screams and lecturing about games and wisdom in ancient cultures as Kissy bled out and begged for his life.
8 Felt Bad: Dolores Had No Memory Of Him
During his first trip to Westworld, William and Dolores fell in love with one another. When William found her again, though, she had no memory of him and their experience of falling in love. Like all the hosts, her memory had been wiped, and she’d been reset to go through her narrative again as if it was the first time.
It was devastating for William to see that the woman he loved no longer remembered him. It made him question everything about himself and his reality for such deep and emotional feelings to come out of a fictional narrative that Dolores participated in over and over again.
7 Hated Him: Sexually Assaulting Dolores
As the Man in Black, William sexually assaulted Dolores. It was clear that this wasn’t an isolated incident and it was something he did every time he came to Westworld.
Sexual assault is always an evil and inexcusable act. Nothing can erase the fact that William was a sexual predator who took sickening pleasure in assaulting Dolores.
6 Felt Bad: Juliet’s Suicide
Losing a loved one to suicide is always a heartbreaking experience. William’s relationship with his wife Juliet was problematic on many levels, but that didn’t make her death any less tragic.
The look of shock and devastation on his face when he found her in the bathtub said it all. Not only did William have to live with this loss, but he also had to live with the knowledge that his actions and deceit drove her to kill herself.
5 Hated Him: Tormenting Lawrence And His Family
William didn’t just kill and assault the hosts, but he also reveled in psychologically torturing them. One of the most memorable examples of this came when he tormented Lawrence and his family in order to get information about the Maze.
Lawrence and his daughter were forced to watch as William danced with Lawrence’s sobbing and terrified wife. William made it clear he could kill her at any moment and he eventually did. William spoke about how the hosts were most real when they suffered and clearly enjoyed seeing their helplessness.
4 Felt Bad: AR Therapy
Returning to the outside world didn’t offer William any solace. Thanks to Dolores’ manipulations, William ended up in an asylum where he was forced to undergo AR therapy. This brutal “therapy” involved strapping him to a chair, placing virtual goggles on his face, and forcing him through hallucinations created by his psyche.
To make matters even worse, William was abandoned by the asylum orderlies and left to stew in this AR therapy as it happened in the middle of the Incite data profiles being leaked to the entire world. The hallucinations created a group therapy session where he confronted past versions of himself and ended up beating them all to death with a folding chair.
3 Hated Him: Killing A Child As A “Test”
William became even more unbalanced after his wife’s suicide. His daughter blamed him for her mother’s death. As a “test” to see if he was truly evil, William decided to create his own story instead of one of the regular narratives. In this story, he sought out Maeve–who was programmed to be a peaceful homesteader at the time–and Maeve’s daughter.
He plunged a knife into Maeve and as she bled out, she watched William shoot and kill her daughter. William’s monstrosity in this moment was further emphasized by his admission that he felt nothing after murdering an innocent child and her mother.
2 Felt Bad: Killed By A Host Version Of Himself
In a season 3 post-credits scene, William continued on his mission to destroy all the hosts. His mission ended rather abruptly when a host version of the Man in Black slit his throat and killed him.
William could be a monster and he made many others suffer. Nevertheless, dying at the hands of a host version of himself was still a brutal and unforgiving way to go. William would never have an opportunity to find redemption and his legacy would instead live on through the host version of the Man in Black.
1 Hated Him: Murdering His Daughter
Though he admitted to being a monster when he went to Westworld, William always prided himself on the idea that he treated his family well and that he was a good person in the real world. That false dichotomy was forever shattered in the shocking moment when William murdered his daughter Emily.
He killed her because he believed she was a host sent by Ford to torment him. William was wrong and his actions killed the one person left in the world who still loved and cared about him.
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