Laird Byron

Laird Byron is a villain in the 2017 horror game Outlast 2.

Past
Laird is a deformed, small man who is a member of the Testament of the New Ezekiel. To counter his phsysical weakness, Laird is constantly seen riding atop the mindless brute Nick Tremblay. Laird even uses a saddle and has a quiver strapped to Nick's back. Laird himself carries a bow, using fire arrows against his enemies.

Laird seems to be in control of the malformed and sick part of the Testament of the New Ezekiel. Deeply loyal to Sullivan Knoth, Laird keeps the deformed part of the population in a camp outside of Temple Gate on Knoth's orders. From time to time, Knoth sends them food.

Outlast 2
Laird and a group of his men capture Blake Langermann after Blake escaped Temple Gate. Laird thanks God for this incident as he believes Blake to be the new messiah. To make sure, Laird forces Nick to wrench open Blake's mouth and then cuts his own hand, pouting the blood down Blake's throat. The results seem to appease Laird who declares that Blake is indeed the new messiah and that they will help him ascend. They bring Blake towards a near hill and while dragging him, Laird reveals that they plan to nail Blake to a cross, intending to having him suffer the same fate Jesus did. By then burying the corpse and eventually uncovering it and eatingit, Laird and his group hope to heal their physical deformities.

However, while they are about to nail Blake to the cross, Laird gets irritated. He asks Blake why he is not delivering his gospel, as the messiah is supposed to do exactly that. He then sees Blake's camera and states that a modern messiah would not deliver his gospel by book but by camera. Happy with the result, Laird then orders Blake to be crucified. After Blake's hands have been nailed to the cross and the cross has been erected, Laird and his men leave Blake to die. When Blake rips himself free, Laird is informed eventually and he is horrified and angry at his men for letting the messiah escape. However, he then realizes that Blake will surely attempt to reobtain his "gospel" and thus has his men walk back to the shed where Laird left Blake's camera.

Although Blake manages to get his camera before Laird can do so, Laird sees Blake leaving the hut and fires an arrow at him. The arrow misses and thus, Blake is warned that Laird is near. Blake runs off and Laird eventually loses him. Nonetheless, Laird's men remain vigilant. Eventually, Laird spots Blake again and forces him to flee once more while Laird tries to shoot him with his arrows. Blake stumbles down a slope but does not realize that a barbed wire fence is located underneath. Blake crashes into the fence and is impaled on its spikes. Laird approaches him, claiming that everything will be alright but also stating that the gospel is not done yet. He has Nick grab Blake and free him from the spikes, only to place him in a wooden coffin. While Nick buries the coffin Blake is located in, Laird claims that Blake must complete his gospel by filming his own resurrection. After covering the coffin with enough earth, Laird and Nick leave. However, blake breaks free from the coffin almost immediately after and brushes off the thin earth layer used to bury him.

After Blake's escape, Laird's men at first believe that he has actually been resurrected. However, once Laird sees Blake, he realizes what truly happened. He fires arrows at him again, angrily ranting about how Blake's weakness prevented the deformed group from reaching paradise. Now out for revenge, Laird screams at his men once more to find Blake. When he sees that Blake is about to escape by using a rope to climb down into the woods below their enclave, he tries to stop him. However, Laird's men still believe that Blake is the reborn messiah and when they realize that Laird is about to kill him, they attack Laird and Nick instead. After a brief struggle, they push Nick over the edge of the cabin. Nick falls into the shaft Blake is currently climbing down, dragging Laird with him to both of their deaths.