William (Westworld)

"Any special tricks for us? They teach you to sit up, beg? How about I give you the first shot, hm? After all, every dog has his day..." "You know about games, don't you Kissy? Well, this is a complicated one. You're livestock, scenery. I' play! The others, they just come here to get their rocks off, shoot a couple of Indians. But there's adeeper level to this game. And you're gonna show me how to get there."

- The Man in Black to the captured Host An unknown visitor, called the Man in Black, is a villain in the HBO show Westworld. He is portrayed by Ed Harris, who also portrayed Mitch Wilkinson.

The Man in Black is a mysterious client of the theme park Westworld, whose goals are not clear as of yet. What is known is that he plans to infiltrate the deeper levels of Westworld.

Background
The Man in Black is a visitor in the Westworld themepark and claims to have been so for thirty years. Westworld is simulating the wild west in which androids, called Hosts, are playing civilians from that time era and are involved in different storylines. These storylines eventually reset, so that new visitors can participate in them as well. The Hosts are programmed so that they cannot harm or even kill the visitors.

Westworld
After two of the Hosts, Teddy and Dolores, return to Dolores' home at night, they find that two bandits have killed Dolores' family. While Teddy heads into the home, Dolores remains outside and is approached by the Man in Black. Frightened, Dolores draws a gun from her father's corpse and aims it at the Man in Black, who swiftly disarms her and strikes her across the face. Alerted by the sound, Teddy runs outside where he threatens the Man in Black with his gun. Aware that Teddy cannot harm him, the Man in Black provokes Teddy into shooting him. Although Teddy hits him multiple times, the Man in Black is unaffected and even sarcastically aims Teddy's gun at his own head. Teddy is shocked as from his position, his opponent seems invincible. In awe, Teddy falls to his knees and the Man in Black turns around and grabs Dolores, dragging her away from the house.

To save Dolores, Teddy jumps up and shoots at the Man in Black again, hitting him in the back two times. Again, the Man in Black is not affected as the Hosts cannot harm the visitors. Having lost his patience with Teddy, he turns around and shoots him in the chest, then continues walking off, dragging Dolores with him while Teddy falls to the ground dead.

After the simulation is reset, the day resets as well and thus, everyone is alive again. This day however, Teddy is unable to meet Dolores in town. Instead of Teddy, the Man in Black approaches Dolores. He hands her a can she dropped previously and then heads into the saloon. He sits down next to some Hosts gambling and joins the game. Later, at night, the Man in Black returns and cuts the throat of one of these men while he is standing outside. He grabs the bleeding man and drags him away, out of town. In the mountains, he has the man fill three buckets with his blood. After that is done, the Man in Black tells his victim that he now lost three litres of blood and that losing anymore would kill him. The man attempts to stumble away, which amuses the Man in Black. After the bleeding man has collapsed near the edge of a canyon, the Man in Black easily catches up to him. He reveals to his victim that, while all the other guests only come to "get their rocks off or to shoot a couple of Indians", the Man in Black has discovered a deeper level of the "game" and plans to use his captive to get there. Claiming that there is a lot of wisdom in ancient cultures, he then grabs a knife and tells that it is time to dig deeper into his. He then attacks his victim with the knife, scalping him and revealing a maze-like design on the inside of the head of the Host.