Perhaps it could be said that William puts the "grim" in grim reaper. It’s an easily drawn conclusion (and an accurate one at that) seeing how he appears from the outside: no frills, no nonsense, a reaper of rules and order who follows the code* all reapers operate by to the letter. It’s also quite easy to dismiss him as being all these things and nothing more but it would take a closer eye to notice the finer facets of what exactly makes a reaper a reaper. The most presented before us is William as the manager of his department. The boss. The dude who makes newbies cower with one glare but that’s just one facet. Though most of his personality seems to stem from his work ethic, there’s almost something more, the man beneath the suit, so to speak.
Simply put, he can be the boss from hell. Of course, this all depends on your own work ethic. Do well enough and he’ll leave you alone. Otherwise, he has his eyes on you with no intention of letting up on that surveillance. Normally, William can be seen with a rather dour expression: the eternal lineface so to speak. This sets him far apart from his two subordinates, Grell Sutcliffe and Ronald Knox. Someone has to be the brains of the operation, after all and if he won’t, who will? Unfortunately for his subordinates, William seeks perfection in the workplace. Everything must be just so: hair perfectly done, uniform pressed and worn the right way, reports handed in on time, souls stamped and filed away. One can say William holds rather strict standards for both himself and his work environment. But despite the fact he works rather closely with Ronald and had known Grell since their training days (as according to anime OAV canon), he shows them no measure of favoritism. If anything, it seems he’s far stricter toward them than he is with anyone else. Other people are treated with either mild respect or indifference, this of course depending on how William is treated in turn but those two? They can never get a break.
William’s training method to curb his subordinates misbehavior seems to lie in force, as if that would be the only method they would understand. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to drive his point home very well or those two happen to be terribly thick headed. A common threat comes in the form of overtime (which Will hates as much as Ronald does, apparently) and paycuts but his most favored method involves his scythe which takes the form of extendable pruning shears. He will, without any hesitation and quite literally get all up in your face with said scythe if he finds something offensive about what you’ve just done/said. William shows no qualms about sending the blade out without caring where it lands or if the target manages to avoid it. Truth be told, he uses his scythe for most everything. It acts almost like an extension of his arm and William can be hardly ever seen without it in hand. He seems to be skilled with its use both in and out of combat, be it for using it to serve as a way to get from one place to another or adjusting his glasses or beating up Grell.
As a reaper, he deals greatly in death. This would normally be the sort of subject matter that weighs heavily on one’s shoulders. Other people balk at the idea, some are sent spiraling into depression and haunted by having witnessed so much death but to William, it’s just a job. Just a nine-to-five that pays the bills. Getting attached to the job is unheard of. There is no place for emotions whatsoever. Souls are souls and therefore are easily collected and filed away. No one deserves mercy or special treatment unless they have proven themselves worthy. This line of thinking leaves William with the sort of exterior that portrays him as hardly affected by anything at all. It takes quite a bit to get a reaction out of him and even then the closest you would get to an outward reaction would be a scythe to the face. His own emotions are so easily hidden behind that ice-cold face that one could indeed go so far as to call them repressed. He never shows outward joy, outward surprise, outward sorrow... unless of course this is something that disrupts the order he requires to do his job.
Truth be told, it seems that work is all William really knows and perhaps it is. As mentioned, he clings to these rules death gods follow as a way of life. There is nothing for him but work. “Slave of Commandment” as his image song is so aptly titled. Even the lyrics themselves speak of someone proud and indeed dedicated to their work but the word slave seems so aptly used. He follows these rules but seems to be rather chained by them as well.
The only thing in his life is work and without this, perhaps he would indeed find himself rather lost. Due to his having closed off his emotions, William gives off the air of one who appears rather socially inept though this is hidden beneath a frigid, distant exterior. Without a sense of delicacy, he attempts to react to ways best he knows how without a thought to shame or grasp of the situation. Most the time, he has a goal to accomplish and he’s not going to sugarcoat anything to get it to happen. He’ll take the most direct path without any distractions. While this is all well and good for production’s sake, this does nothing at all for William as an individual. Perhaps one can say all this repression leads to a measure of emotional constipation, maybe even confusion if he’s faced with something he’s normally unable to face… say things like fear and love for one. Things are supposed to be just so and if something disrupts that order, panic ensues. Well, panic or a scythe to the face depending on who was involved and what happened.
It's during the short stint he has with the circus that we see just what sort of reaper William is when taken out of his usual environment. He remains as no nonsense as ever, not even bothering to disguise who he is and remaining direct to the rest of the carnies. However, he doesn't make any move to befriend any of them. Even compared to Ciel who managed to "befriend" Freckles for the sake of staying undercover and trying to find out more about the circus, William remained as standoffish and as distant as ever. He left them with no remorse, no regret nor any sense of missing them. He isn’t sociable. Far from it, really. He doesn’t rub elbows or go out of his way to make friends. He’ll treat people with respect due them as long as they give it back in return. Unless of course that person happens to be a demon.
Demons happen to be the bane of his existence. When you’re a reaper fighting for order, what else would get in your way more than a demon seeking to steal away your work after all? The punishment for allowing a demon to make off with a soul lined for reaping is a written apology done in triplicate, after all. Apparently even the Board is aware of the threat. Demons are cause for extra work, cause for disorder, cause for further overtime so it isn’t any wonder that William feels a rather strong hatred for the creatures. One can even call it near racism for being so. To him, a demon is nothing more than filth, a hated animal, something so utterly vile that he’d rather not have anything to do with them whatsoever. And yet his ways of dealing with them when faced with one are childish to say the least. When forced to share sleeping quarters with Sebastian when they were both undercover at the circus, he reacted by drawing demarcation lines between them and outright refused to touch him even if he had to. His biases toward demons appear rather childish to say the least but perhaps it's the way that William treats all people. First impressions do matter when it comes to him as these seem to be what he bases his idea of you for the rest of your interactions
One can see that William’s own personal time is very valuable to him. Despite the fact that he seems to be married to his job, he detests overtime as much as Ronald does which seems to be one reason why he wants to get as much work done as quickly and as accurately as possible. Perhaps it isn’t just his personal time, it’s everything about his person. Truth be told, he hardly seems to talk about his personal life. William does strike one as a very private man, one who holds strict rules about his personal boundaries and just how much he is willing to open up toward someone. To be able to actually get William to talk about himself, you either have to be very patient or have managed to present yourself as someone he can trust. He keeps strict demarcations between his personal life and his work life, clearly not being the type who wants to mix both. His time is his and no one is allowed to disrupt it or take away from it. Fitting as he seems to devote his waking hours to public service. Surely the precious little time he has for himself he's allowed to be selfish about.
here ya go!
Simply put, he can be the boss from hell. Of course, this all depends on your own work ethic. Do well enough and he’ll leave you alone. Otherwise, he has his eyes on you with no intention of letting up on that surveillance. Normally, William can be seen with a rather dour expression: the eternal lineface so to speak. This sets him far apart from his two subordinates, Grell Sutcliffe and Ronald Knox. Someone has to be the brains of the operation, after all and if he won’t, who will? Unfortunately for his subordinates, William seeks perfection in the workplace. Everything must be just so: hair perfectly done, uniform pressed and worn the right way, reports handed in on time, souls stamped and filed away. One can say William holds rather strict standards for both himself and his work environment. But despite the fact he works rather closely with Ronald and had known Grell since their training days (as according to anime OAV canon), he shows them no measure of favoritism. If anything, it seems he’s far stricter toward them than he is with anyone else. Other people are treated with either mild respect or indifference, this of course depending on how William is treated in turn but those two? They can never get a break.
William’s training method to curb his subordinates misbehavior seems to lie in force, as if that would be the only method they would understand. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to drive his point home very well or those two happen to be terribly thick headed. A common threat comes in the form of overtime (which Will hates as much as Ronald does, apparently) and paycuts but his most favored method involves his scythe which takes the form of extendable pruning shears. He will, without any hesitation and quite literally get all up in your face with said scythe if he finds something offensive about what you’ve just done/said. William shows no qualms about sending the blade out without caring where it lands or if the target manages to avoid it. Truth be told, he uses his scythe for most everything. It acts almost like an extension of his arm and William can be hardly ever seen without it in hand. He seems to be skilled with its use both in and out of combat, be it for using it to serve as a way to get from one place to another or adjusting his glasses or beating up Grell.
As a reaper, he deals greatly in death. This would normally be the sort of subject matter that weighs heavily on one’s shoulders. Other people balk at the idea, some are sent spiraling into depression and haunted by having witnessed so much death but to William, it’s just a job. Just a nine-to-five that pays the bills. Getting attached to the job is unheard of. There is no place for emotions whatsoever. Souls are souls and therefore are easily collected and filed away. No one deserves mercy or special treatment unless they have proven themselves worthy. This line of thinking leaves William with the sort of exterior that portrays him as hardly affected by anything at all. It takes quite a bit to get a reaction out of him and even then the closest you would get to an outward reaction would be a scythe to the face. His own emotions are so easily hidden behind that ice-cold face that one could indeed go so far as to call them repressed. He never shows outward joy, outward surprise, outward sorrow... unless of course this is something that disrupts the order he requires to do his job.
Truth be told, it seems that work is all William really knows and perhaps it is. As mentioned, he clings to these rules death gods follow as a way of life. There is nothing for him but work. “Slave of Commandment” as his image song is so aptly titled. Even the lyrics themselves speak of someone proud and indeed dedicated to their work but the word slave seems so aptly used. He follows these rules but seems to be rather chained by them as well.
The only thing in his life is work and without this, perhaps he would indeed find himself rather lost. Due to his having closed off his emotions, William gives off the air of one who appears rather socially inept though this is hidden beneath a frigid, distant exterior. Without a sense of delicacy, he attempts to react to ways best he knows how without a thought to shame or grasp of the situation. Most the time, he has a goal to accomplish and he’s not going to sugarcoat anything to get it to happen. He’ll take the most direct path without any distractions. While this is all well and good for production’s sake, this does nothing at all for William as an individual. Perhaps one can say all this repression leads to a measure of emotional constipation, maybe even confusion if he’s faced with something he’s normally unable to face… say things like fear and love for one. Things are supposed to be just so and if something disrupts that order, panic ensues. Well, panic or a scythe to the face depending on who was involved and what happened.
It's during the short stint he has with the circus that we see just what sort of reaper William is when taken out of his usual environment. He remains as no nonsense as ever, not even bothering to disguise who he is and remaining direct to the rest of the carnies. However, he doesn't make any move to befriend any of them. Even compared to Ciel who managed to "befriend" Freckles for the sake of staying undercover and trying to find out more about the circus, William remained as standoffish and as distant as ever. He left them with no remorse, no regret nor any sense of missing them. He isn’t sociable. Far from it, really. He doesn’t rub elbows or go out of his way to make friends. He’ll treat people with respect due them as long as they give it back in return. Unless of course that person happens to be a demon.
Demons happen to be the bane of his existence. When you’re a reaper fighting for order, what else would get in your way more than a demon seeking to steal away your work after all? The punishment for allowing a demon to make off with a soul lined for reaping is a written apology done in triplicate, after all. Apparently even the Board is aware of the threat. Demons are cause for extra work, cause for disorder, cause for further overtime so it isn’t any wonder that William feels a rather strong hatred for the creatures. One can even call it near racism for being so. To him, a demon is nothing more than filth, a hated animal, something so utterly vile that he’d rather not have anything to do with them whatsoever. And yet his ways of dealing with them when faced with one are childish to say the least. When forced to share sleeping quarters with Sebastian when they were both undercover at the circus, he reacted by drawing demarcation lines between them and outright refused to touch him even if he had to. His biases toward demons appear rather childish to say the least but perhaps it's the way that William treats all people. First impressions do matter when it comes to him as these seem to be what he bases his idea of you for the rest of your interactions
One can see that William’s own personal time is very valuable to him. Despite the fact that he seems to be married to his job, he detests overtime as much as Ronald does which seems to be one reason why he wants to get as much work done as quickly and as accurately as possible. Perhaps it isn’t just his personal time, it’s everything about his person. Truth be told, he hardly seems to talk about his personal life. William does strike one as a very private man, one who holds strict rules about his personal boundaries and just how much he is willing to open up toward someone. To be able to actually get William to talk about himself, you either have to be very patient or have managed to present yourself as someone he can trust. He keeps strict demarcations between his personal life and his work life, clearly not being the type who wants to mix both. His time is his and no one is allowed to disrupt it or take away from it. Fitting as he seems to devote his waking hours to public service. Surely the precious little time he has for himself he's allowed to be selfish about.