Sheriff William "Billy" Holme was the former quartermaster of Fort Laramie, the former sheriff of the Black Hills, and the main antagonist of the Shadow arc of Age of Empires III Warchiefs. He is a corrupt sheriff who initially was a friend of Chayton Black, before becoming consumed by greed for the gold discovered in the Black Hills, leading him to try to kill the Sioux in order to claim it.
He was voiced by Phil Hayes.
Biography[]
William Holme was the quartermaster of Fort Laramie and a Civil War veteran who had served at Antietam and Gettysburg. Holme escorted Chayton Black up the Bozeman Trail and proceeded to help Chayton secure the trail by defeating both of the Sioux towns constantly raiding the trail. After securing the trail, Chayton and Holme come across the remains of a convoy of wagons, where the residents have clearly been butchered and mutilated. Holme remarks that they should have kept to the trail, and comforts Chayton over the massacre by citing all of the losses at Antietam and Gettysburg. He and Chayton then proceed to settle down the trail, resulting in a temporary peace with the Sioux.
10 years later, Holme is elected as Sheriff of the Black Hills and discovers a large amount of gold in them. Becoming obsessed with greed, and desiring all of the gold in the hills despite the Sioux owning the territory, Holme summons Chayton, now the CEO of Falcon Company and shows him the gold. Holme gambles that Chayton can add some legitimacy to an illegal expedition, infuriating the Sioux, who are livid with the truce being broken. After fighting off the Sioux and Spanish bandits, Holme argues everyone wants the gold, but Chayton points that they shouldn't be on the Sioux land. Holme urges Chayton to find Crazy Horse and try to arrange a deal. However, Holme informs Chayton that the Sioux wont let him just walk to their leader, and proceeds to leave with a few miners. Once Chayton finds Crazy Horse, Holme ambushes the two and tries to kill Crazy Horse, all but guaranteeing a war. Chayton demands to know what Holme has done, and Holme doesn't deny Crazy Horse's claim that the miners broke the truce first. Holme then has Chayton help build a fort, then orders him to burn down the village. A horrified Chayton argues he cant burn down a village, as they have not done anything, but Holme argues that he cant claim the gold until the Sioux are off the land. Chayton protests he cannot attack women and children. Holme says he has been patient, but he is getting tired of Chayton's pacifism, and declares he is either with him or against him. Chayton points out that the destruction of the fort would leave Holme too vulnerable to conduct raids. Holme says he thought he taught Chayton better than this, to which Chayton retorts he did. Chayton allies with the Sioux and destroys the fort causing Holme to go into hiding. Chayton informs George Armstrong Custer about Holme's role in instigating the war, and proceeds to ally with the Sioux to take down Holme's criminals. Cornered in a cave, Chayton demands to know why Holme did all this, and Holme admits he did it all for the gold. When asked by Chayton point blank if he would have killed the US settlers for the gold, Holme admits that only gold matters. Holme argues that nothing he says is going to stop Custer from killing the Sioux and tries to kill Chayton with his pistol, but Chayton shoots Holme and he falls into a mind shaft with some TNT, the resulting explosion killing him.
Personality[]
Billy Holme initially was a fair, kind, and honorable man, as shown by his accepting of Chayton being half Sioux, and comforting Chayton when they came across the results of a Sioux massacre. However, after discovering gold in the Black Hills, Holme became obsessed with greed and saw Chayton as only a pawn to be used to gain legitimacy for his expedition. Holme also had no problem killing the Sioux as he saw them as an obstacle to the gold, which he believed belonged to him alone. When Chayton realized that Holme was consumed with greed and would have no low he would not stoop to, Holme had no problem trying to kill Chayton despite the friendship the two once had. When cornered by Chayton and asked, Holme admitted that if the land belonged to the settlers, he would have no issue killing them to get the gold seeing it as the only thing that matters. This showed that Holme had become an enormous sociopath by the time of his death. Holme was also racist, clearly making racist comments about Crazy Horse and later Chayton when the latter turned on him.
Trivia[]
- Billy Holme is one of the darkest villains of the Age of Empires series, as his sole motive was greed and racism, whereas other villains had merely wanted immortality and were merely designated the villain with no real background.
- Although he didn't live to see it, Holme's decision to provoke the Sioux would result in the United States completely taking over the Black Hills and claiming the land, meaning Holme won, posthumously.
- While Age of Empires III largely skirted around the impacts of colonization, Holme clearly represented the racism and greed that fueled much of the era.
External Links[]
Sheriff Billy Holme on the Age of Empires Wiki
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 Villains
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Age of Mythology Age of Empires III | ||