aetherkit:

into–the–abyss:

Quick:
what are a few adjectives to describe William?
Cold.  Distant.  Detached.
Emotionless.

It
certainly seems that way….but this manga has a way of playing with our
expectations.  Because Lizzy is just a
cute little anime girl who could never defend herself, right?  Mey-Rin is just a clumsy maid.  Undertaker is just a harmless, but eccentric
old man.  I could go on.  So then, what does this mean for cold,
distant, emotionless dispatch supervisor William T. Spears?

Following
that above logic, then: there’s perhaps more to Will than he lets on.

It
took me a little while to think of all this; and much credit goes to @eviltwintheory , whose extensive conversations helped us both to see William in
a different light.

Here’s
a few things about William that might reveal some hidden depth:

A reaper, alone?

In
the Circus arc, he is shown perched on a roof, looking down at the Circus
troupe, reflecting on the situation at hand; he is no longer the comic relief
tightrope walker; donning his usual black suit and gloves, he has now become a
lone observer of a group of people whose souls he has to judge.  With such gravity and seriousness, he
reflects on the situation at hand, which is about to come to intensify into
tragedy—a tragedy he knows is coming beforehand.

How
would it feel to live with a group of people whose time and cause of death you
knew ahead of time, and whose souls you had to collect when they died violent
deaths?

He
also likely witnessed the children in the Kelvin manor being burned to
death.  It’s easy to miss, but he hides
himself from view as Sebastian and Ciel arrive:

In
the next scene, he is still on the roof, waiting for backup to arrive.  He was likely there the whole time.

What
would it be like to witness the death of a group of imprisoned children—whose
death was caused by a demon under the orders of a traumatized thirteen-year-old
boy—knowing full well there was nothing you could to do stop such a tragedy?

While
many, if not all, reapers face situation, what would this be like for
someone who is painfully aware of their situation?

He
also seems to be alone amongst his own coworkers; in his character song, he
longs to live up to a perfect ideal; he craves an impossible sense of order in
a hopeless, cold world, and under the weight of his own memories and
shortcomings, he has nothing to comfort himself but his own loneliness:

“For
everything to kill its own self,

and
then to freeze up completely,

is
death’s ultimate hope.”

“Ah, if only I could snatch the moon and the stars’ orderliness…”

“Conjuring sins, even if my regulations crumble and collapse,

I’ll embrace my solitude beside me even more tightly.”

“I discipline the foolish death gods and keep all the death records,

as the dust-free soundless library freezes solid.

After I’ve strictly finished my work, and have only loneliness to unravel,

my firmly darkly bitterly clinging memories grow low and distant.”

He
is plagued by memories, unable to let go, and he has nothing to keep him
company other than his own solitary ruminations.  Perhaps he is so detached, so unable to reach
out to anyone, that he thinks he deserves his own loneliness.

The
Cover for Chapter 27 also shows that William is prone to solitary contemplation:

Yana
drew him, sitting alone, going through the To-Die book with the caption:
“To think and think, to ponder and ponder.
However, I cannot finish on time.”
What is there to ponder and think about, exactly?  As Will says himself, isn’t a reaper’s job to
collect souls and nothing more?

She
could’ve easily drawn him stressed out and complaining about overtime, but
instead we get a lonely, contemplative image suggesting a quiet, inner
struggle.

The
Lectures About Emotion

William
is prone to lecturing subordinates about how emotions should never be a part of
the job.  The timing of these lectures
is, however, often quite curious.

Right
after Will witnesses the death of the children at the Kelvin manor, Ronald
arrives and says how it would be easier to be at the Phantomhive manor instead.  William says that is unfortunate, then
launches in a lecture about how a reaper should focus on the task at hand and
leave emotions out of the job.

The
interesting thing is that Ronald isn’t particularly emotional here.  So who, then, is the lecture really intended
for?  Could it be, that after witnessing
such an awful scene, William himself was affected by what happened, and that
lecture was more of a reminder to himself?

Perhaps
William is more sensitive than he lets on—and his cold, detached demeanor is a
way for him to distance himself from the nature of his work.  Otherwise—it might be too much to bear.

His
other lecture about emotions comes right on the heels of William recalling a
traumatic experience during his early days as a reaper.  He had almost “died” while collecting Thomas
Wallis’s soul; which seemed to be an emotional experience for him.  In light of this, his lecture on judging
souls without emotion and without incident is rather telling.  Though this happens in the reaper OVA, it
does seem in keeping with Will in manga canon.

The
B Student

Also
in the reaper OVA, it is revealed that by-the-rules William is no perfect
student, but instead is a straight B-student.
Given that he seems rather perfectionist, could it be frustrating (and perhaps
depressing) to continuously fall short of his ideal goal?  I get the sense that he is rather hard on
himself; though he is harsh to his subordinates, he very well may be the
harshest with himself.  The lyrics in his
character song about longing for an impossible goal further illuminate this.

Upholder of shinigami ethics

William
seems to strive to embody the ideal grim reaper: solemn, dignified,
serious.  Dealing with a demon offends
him to his core; it is likely he deeply believes in these ethics and doctrines
quite passionately.  When someone
violates these ethics, be it demon or shinigami, it therefore might wound him
quite personally.  He takes the
principles of his job to heart—and that could set him up for bitterness and
frustration when reality turns out to be less than ideal.

Nervous
habits

The
character guide implies that Will’s constant glasses adjusting is something of
a nervous habit.  What does he have to be
nervous about, I wonder?

He
also can barely tolerate being within 50 feet of Sebastian during the Circus
arc—whereas other reapers don’t seem that bothered by Sebastian.  Is this just a fussy little quirk of his—or is
there more to his hatred for demons?

He
also doesn’t take kindly to having his behavior pointed out to him, if his
reaction to Ciel laughing at him is any indication: 

Stuck
in a hopeless situation?

He
has a temper, that much is certain, and he always seems under pressure by some
sort of higher-up.  He also seems to have
little control over his situation, given that the personnel department chooses
who accompanies him.  Shepherding Grell
and Ronald while having to do his own work is also quite the responsibility,
too.

He
might very well be middle management—forever stuck between his subordinates and
the higher ups—dealing with pressure on both ends, and stuck in a situation
that is often beyond his grasp.  He
nonetheless does what he is supposed to do, but his situation could be quite
frustrating to him, especially since he seems to crave order and control over
his life.

Therefore:

All
these little clues are like tiny windows into William’s character: he may seem so
cold and distant to be almost unknowable, but perhaps these little glimpses all
add up when taken together.  It may very
well be that his nervous habits, wistful longing about loneliness and order,
and perfectionism all result in a man who possesses much hidden depth.

Whether it is uncovered, however, remains to be seen.

But
in the meantime, try to look at William T. Spears a little bit more closely,
and you might notice something beneath the surface…

YESSSS, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. This is exactly how I read William. You just can’t take him at face value. (Or any of Yana’s characters really.)

And this is why I love Kuroshitsuji so much. Especially the reapers. There is much depth and hidden mystery to the characters. It’s really fascinating. There truly is so much more to the characters and story than meets the eye.