William Wilson first appeared in Episode 25 of Nevermore. He's shown briefly talking, adding onto a comment that Montressor* previously said, "Oh, that trial was so easy, it almost felt like we cheated," -Montressor. "The entire maze was easy! I can't believe anybody failed." -William. Before this, we see the rest of Annabel Lee's group, already introduced, talking in the lavish dining hall. Their conversation is about the recent trial. Annabel Lee is not paying attention as they talk on and on, her focus on the missing in the presence of Lenore.
William is an odd story when it comes to his personality. When he's not seen with an Oppressor such as Montressor, Sally, and Johnny, he's a lonely yet honestly happy-go-lucky dude. Though as these characters are introduced, he seems to get small and quiet down, feeling more like a nuisance than anything around people, doing whatever he can to please others, even throwing his morals out the window to get some sense of being wanted… of being noticed. In episode 120 alone, it reveals a lot of William's feelings about his stance on people. Constantly blaming himself if he's ever in a situation where people are harmed, physical or not. He says he thinks about it a lot, "It's my fault, y'know. Your leg wouldn't be broken if you didn't come to the cellar to save me." "First, the maze. Then the cellar. And Tonight. That's three times," "I lived and then I died. Doubt anybody really bothered mourning me. Left behind little more'n a tombstone," William is very self-deprecating; he seems to always put himself down because of the others around him. Always agrees or beats people to it, constantly throwing comments on his self-worth. He seems to fall into some sort of category where he's actively aware of the abusive nature of the attention he gets, yet chooses to ignore it because, no matter what, it's attention. No matter what, none of this should make you pity him; if you do, you're simply as bad as Montressor. It's almost like falling back into what was happening when they were with the person. If you do this, treat him like an adult, not a child who needs to be protected. You aren't being considerate, you're babying him and abuse victims like him.
William is based on the Edgar Allen Poe original, "William Wilson" . In this story, the narrator lies on his deathbed, shielding himself using the name "William Wilson" as an alias. This narrator feels the need to hide himself for fear of recognition. He tells a tale of meeting a replica of himself in numerous places, as if he were following him. Out of fear, one night masked in the same costume as his doppleganger, he lures him away and stabs him. His replica turned into a mirror, saying that he had just stabbed himself with his true self. Will and William may share a name, but the story when you pick it down lines up with his crushed personality hidden by a shroud of antagonizing people. In William Wilson, not only does the Doppelganger represent his Spectre form, quite literally being called the Doppelganger, but also the power of duplication and mimicry. Will being entirely different around Montresor correlates to the story of his true self being the one he stabbed, ultimately getting rid of his original personality for the new one. Will also spills his guts as he's dying next to Montresor, maybe going back to the narrator telling everything on his deathbed.
William is a lightly tanned white male. He’s skinny and almost even scrawny, and his character design shares a monotonous palette throughout. His hair was a dusty brown color, almost gray, matching his eyes. His eyebrows are noticeably darker than his hair and thicker. Spiked to the side with one strand falling just a bit at his forehead. William wears the school uniform, a blazer, and matching slacks. The iconic black and white with matching buttons. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, though. He wears a button-up beneath a light-brown knitted vest. His white slacks are rolled up past his knees, and his boots cover up the rest of his legs. He wears a black tie around his neck.
William wears a green plaid trench coat or a robe. He has brownish red patches covering up his elbows, seemingly hand-sewn on. This is likely a hand-me-down, as it was mentioned that he had 14 siblings before. Possibly being altered to fit him as he grew. Tied at the front with a darker green ribbon. He’s wearing underneath seems to be a one-piece white outfit. He had a button-up collar and what is likely a long-sleeved shirt underneath his robe sleeves. He wears a pair of brown slippers, losing one against the dogs. Finding it with the help of Montressor, who points him to it.
As he works in a general store, he’s seen wearing a white apron. Tied around the back in a bow. Underneath that lies a striped pair of overalls, likely nice because it’s specifically work attire. He has a white button-up with rolled-up sleeves under that. Then, a pair of black boots.
His spectre is a gray ball-jointed mannequin esc figure. The mannequin body itself is faceless, yet there are theatre masks that fly around its head, acting as a physical representation of his emotions, usually a sad or scared mask. He has black ribbons around his body wrapping at certain areas, and they are also seen dragging as he levitates around the Manor area.
William can replicate a person down to the details he can remember. Being seen as he transforms into Duke for the Manor arc, his bowtie being the incorrect color, quickly switching back as Eulalie points it out. He uses this ability three times to our knowledge, taking the shape of Monty to lure Eulalie and Berenice away from the real Montressor, once to lure Duke, and once to impersonate him.
Using his blood outside of when using his Spectre form, he’s able to duplicate himself, making mimics. He uses this once when fighting back the Hounds. Luring them away with copies of himself. They appear from the blood pouring from the horns of the Stag.
This ability is the ribbons you see around the Spectre mannequin. He’s able to move these around using Entanglement and capture people in them like wrapping a present.
His death is currently unknown, and with the way he talks about how quickly and unmeaningful his life was, it will likely not be brought up. He and Morella have this shared characteristic of being two characters whose deaths are unknown to us.