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Don't give up with that girl, Odd. Just look at me, I never lost hope with Yumi!

–William to Odd in How to Fool X.A.N.A.

William Dunbar is one of the two secondary tritagonists of Code Lyoko. He is the sixth member of the Lyoko Warriors, who fell under the influence of X.A.N.A. and served him for many months.

After first appearing in the second season of Code Lyoko as one of Yumi's classmates and love interests, William soon became involved in the adventures of the team, earning their trust long enough to be invited to join them in Final Round. However, on his first trip to Lyoko, he was possessed by X.A.N.A., who quickly turned William into his most powerful general and the group's deadliest foe.

William was finally freed in the episode Down to Earth, where he returned to Earth and attempted to make up for his past actions. During the events of the Code Lyoko Evolution episode Rivalry, he was officially accepted onto the team once more.

Personality

I'm not the kind of guy who likes to steal the show.

–William to his new teammates in Final Round

William displays a laid-back interest towards almost everything, from classwork and school rules to his own interests and hobbies. The lone exception to this is his interest in girls; William was kicked out of his last school for posting love-letters around the entire school, and was no less theatrical when he arrived at Kadic. He claims that love can 'drive him crazy,' and jumps at any occasion to spend time with Yumi. He enjoys flirting and 'casually' bragging about his dedication to her, despite it never leaving an impact.

However, William's playfulness can quickly divulge into harassment. In the episode The Secret, he refused to let Yumi walk away until she 'gave him a kiss goodnight;' in the same episode he later grabbed onto her shoulder after she snuck away from him and tried to talk to her even as Yumi told him to leave her alone. He has little patience for Ulrich, and didn't hesitate to let things get messy with him when he provokes him in A Bad Turn.

William's immaturity and hotheadedness eventually led to him being possessed by X.A.N.A.. He had little memory of this, however, and as such considered the group's rejection of him to be an overreacting for his 'single' mistake.

William was initially able to gain the trust of the Lyoko Warriors through his bravery and resourcefulness. In Lyoko Minus One and The Secret, he fights against his entire possessed class and a construction worker who is also under X.A.N.A.'s possession, respectively. He manages to disarm a bomb with seven seconds to spare, claiming to have learned the skill from his uncle.

William's intelligence is fluctuating at best. He is easily distracted (a point that made him a prime target for X.A.N.A.), and his academic life often suffers because of his lack of focus and clear-headedness. In the episode Aelita he claimed to have learned everything about America History, before realizing that his exam was in math.

Biography

William was kind of a loner at first, having been kicked out of his previous school for posting love letters everywhere, but Yumi soon talks to him as a friend. To nobody's surprise, William wants to be more than just friends, causing conflict between him and Ulrich, when both of them vie for Yumi's affections. His appearances in the show become more frequent during the third season when Jeremie suggests to the team that William should join their group by voting, and everyone except for Yumi agrees. As fighting on Lyoko becomes harder and harder and X.A.N.A. manages to force Aelita to delete the last of four Lyoko's sectors, the group decides to let William join as the fifth backup on Lyoko.

However, X.A.N.A. takes advantage of William's ineptitude and uses the Scyphozoa to take control of his mind and body, effectively trapping him in Lyoko. Jeremie creates a stable polymorphic spectre with William's basic memories, and a basic personality in order to prevent suspicion among the school. Over time, this "clone" becomes much more popular than William was, but due to his 'dumb' personality, he unknowingly causes trouble for the warriors. His personality also became a bit of a gag in the show, best seen in the episode Wreck Room. In Down to Earth, William is finally freed from X.A.N.A.'s control and returns to Earth. However, his behavior pre-X.A.N.A. causes tension between him and the rest of the Warriors (except Aelita), who are reluctant to associate with him any further, as seen in Fight to the Finish.

In tandem with this, in Quest for Infinity, he was a secondary antagonist. However, he was still rescued from X.A.N.A., complete with recycled footage from Down to Earth.

William's role in the sequel series is to seek redemption, which he later succeeds. In Cortex, after Odd got himself locked up in a utility room, William, instead of helping him out, went to the Cortex and takes Odd's place. For this, Odd was really mad at him, even having a thought of devirtualizing him. After rejoining the team, they stop fighting and became friendly to each other. In Rivalry, William and Ulrich put down their disagreements after William saves Ulrich from falling into Digital Sea. William becomes more serious about the missions in order to be worthy for the others to trust.

When the Lyoko Warriors discover the existence of source codes, William appears to be the only one who does not have them. This makes him a more distanced member, as he is the only Lyoko Warrior who cannot deactivate towers. That doesn't stop him from becoming a vital support to the group when X.A.N.A. attacks or while exploring the Cortex, always fighting with passion and resolving many situations.

Being one of the codeless only deprives him of the ability to deactivate towers on Lyoko. On Earth, William is not targeted by spectres. This makes him the only one who can be exposed to them without risk, or almost none.

In Mutiny, William returns in X.A.N.A.'s possession after he falls victim to the Scyphozoa. However, since the monster fails to seize him completely, it remains attached to William. Later, he is freed thanks to the help of his friends.

William is not given a major role in the group's major decisions. Not only does he support his friends in the fight against X.A.N.A. and its spectres, he also supports them in the discovery of the Cortex and Tyron's Ninjas. Finally, he is on their side for all major decisions regarding what to do next, especially after the discovery of Aelita's mother's survival.

After the team infects the Cortex with their virus, William stands beside Aelita and the rest of the group and says that Aelita is strongest of them. When they go to the Supercomputer Room to shut it back down again, it is a clear sign that he earned his place in the group, once and for all.

In Mutiny, Aelita says that William is a very sensitive person and it is easy to hurt his feelings.

Appearances

William has Caucasian skin, black hair, and (what can only be described as) blue eyes, and wears a black T-Shirt with over a bright-red longsleeved undershirt, navy blue jeans rolled up to his knees, and brown boots. As of Season 4, his T-shirt is branded with a red logo, his pants are unrolled, he carries a black satchel, and wears a brown leather jacket that matches his boots.

On Lyoko, he was dressed in white and grey full-body armor with black accents, dark teel leggings and accents underlining his arms and hands, and pale cyan heeled boots. He also had a reddish magenta belt, spots on the medial malleolus of the tibias on his boots, and half handle on his zweihander (the other half being black), which had a triangular insignia on the apex of the hilt and a silver blade with spots of discoloration resembling Damascus steel and a single notch on the curve of the cutting edge.

After XANA enslaved him, he was completely redecorated in its own XANAfied image; his forehead and chest were branded with the sign of XANA and his white armor was replaced with a dark grey catsuit with silver, black, and reddish magenta accents. Other details consist of black sleeves concealed with dark grey gloves ending with striped bands on his deltoids, strips on his black boots resembling laces, a black belt reaching all the way up to his ribcage and two leather belts on his left thigh. His Zweihander was altered as well, changing the elegant triangular hilt to the XANA symbol engulfed with an infectious black growth giving it the exact likeness of a tower.

Season Two

Season Three

Season Four

Code Lyoko Evolution

Video Games

Relationships

Yumi Ishiyama

Unlike Ulrich, William doesn't hide his feelings for Yumi. Ever since William arrived at Kadic, he is often seen together with Yumi, chatting with her, and sometimes acting romantic toward her, as first seen in Saint Valentine's Day. If that wasn't bad enough for Ulrich, Yumi doesn't seem to mind it. In A Bad Turn, William directly declared his feelings for Yumi, even trying to steal a kiss, but Yumi rejected him. She remained silent when William bluntly said she was rejecting him for Ulrich. Nonetheless, William still remained the same throughout, not hiding his feelings for Yumi and refusing to give up on her.

During Season 3, William became a pot of glue, which started to annoy Yumi. She clearly tells him this in The Secret, denouncing his "two-bit Casanova act," saying how it was nice at first, but was now simply annoying for her. Her harsh words upset him. She was also the one who refused to let him enter the team following a group vote, believing he couldn't be trusted, though William was convinced that Ulrich was the one who had rejected him. However, she changes her mind at the end of Double Trouble and thanks to her, William joins the group.

X.A.N.A.'s possession at William gave the complex love triangle between himself, Yumi and Ulrich some fresh air. This event moves the tension far away from matters of the heart. Nevertheless, the veracity of William's feelings is pressed in The Lake. Yumi calls the real William while he is preparing to devirtualize her. The real William briefly resurfaces and tries to stop X.A.N.A. from attacking Yumi. However, he quickly caved back to the mind control again.

After William is freed and X.A.N.A. was defeated, Yumi tells him the truth: he's not the one she loves, and he has to give up hope. However, William will not give up that easily.

In Evolution, William is clearly still in love with Yumi. He shows to be slightly seductive towards her in X.A.N.A. 2.0 by complimenting her hair and tries to give her love poems in Mutiny. He even declares to Odd in How to Fool X.A.N.A. that he has never lost hope with Yumi (to which the latter implied wasn't necessarily a good thing).

However, William seems to have backed down a little, since he never expressed his feelings directly to Yumi as he had done in the past. He even invites Ulrich to support her in Suspicions. In False Pretenses, Odd asked William if he had kissed Yumi yet, to which both the real William and the X.A.N.A. clone responded in the same hesitant answer, saying "Uhh... pass." This made Odd facepalm because they wouldn't answer the question nor did it help distinguish the real William from the fake one.

Ulrich Stern

Since his first arrival at Kadic, Ulrich was the only member in the group who had problems with William, due to both of them competing for Yumi's attention. At first, William doesn't take it too far, but for Ulrich, things quickly turn very hostile. He becomes convinced that William is doing anything he can to seduce Yumi, although, at this point, William's intentions were just to get to know her better. In Marabounta, William quickly found out that Ulrich also has feelings for Yumi. Instead of trying to out-do him, William tries to give Ulrich advice, which, given his huge amount of pride, Ulrich doesn't follow at all, so William decided to take his chance. William gets closer and closer to Yumi, and that's when he realizes that Ulrich is one of the reasons why Yumi doesn't reciprocate his feelings. Since then, William's rivalry with Ulrich became more obvious. William has tried to humiliate him in front of Yumi, insulting and provoking him, even getting into a fist-fight with him in A Bad Turn.

Despite their rivalry, William has shown that he doesn't mind teaming up with Ulrich when the situation calls for it, as seen in Lyoko Minus One, when he joins Ulrich to rescue Yumi from X.A.N.A.'s attack, and when he helped Ulrich to defuse the bomb in The Secret.

During Evolution, William and Ulrich are still on bad terms because both of them are still competing for Yumi's heart, and also because of William's prior possession by X.A.N.A.. However, they decide to put their differences aside in Rivalry, when Ulrich refuses to team up with William in an attempt to prove to everyone that they don't need William. In the end, William and Ulrich decide to become friends after William saves Ulrich from falling to Digital Sea. Since then, they've stayed on good terms, despite William still hoping for Yumi.

Odd Della Robbia

William has a pretty fine relationship with Odd. Odd likes his rebellious side, but deplores his lack of humor. Before William joined the group, they are rarely seen having interactions with each other. The most notable one is in Final Mix, when Odd offered to help him fix a mixing board that William had accidentally dropped, and in A Bad Turn, when he teamed up with Odd to defeat a materialized Krab.

In Cortex, William was very upset at Odd when he refuses to let William rejoin the group, also because Odd reminded William about how he got captured by the Scyphozoa like an amateur. Later in the episode, William get his revenge at Odd by taking Odd's place in a mission and ignoring Odd, who was locked in the locker room (he even asked Odd about how it feels to be trapped like an amateur). Due to this, Odd was very mad at him. After William rejoined the group, they started to have a good relationship again. Often, William gets annoyed by Odd's crazy acts on Lyoko, despite sometimes he finds it helpful.

Jeremie Belpois

During Season 2, William is almost never seen talking with Jeremie. The only time they were interacting in Season 2 was in Attack of the Zombies, where William tried to prevent Jeremie Aelita and Odd from leaving the cafeteria to the Factory because of the zombies.

Even after William joined the team in Season 3 and rejoined in Evolution, they are still rarely seen together. Despite this, they are still good friends. However there were some moments of tension like in Final Round where William ignored Jeremie's warnings about the Scyphozoa which lead to his possession.

Aelita Schaeffer

Just like with Jeremie, William is rarely seen talking with Aelita before he joined the team. The only time they talked in Season 2 was in Final Mix, when Aelita was fixing the mixing board and William offered her to be a DJ in the school party. She was also the only one who defended him after the group rejected his company in Fight to the Finish, saying that he is not their enemy anymore and he was X.A.N.A.'s slave against his will. She also notes to the rest of the group that she was captured several times by X.A.N.A and that anyone could have been in his situation.

After he rejoined the team in Evolution, they become good friends. Often, William saved the day for Aelita in missions, as seen when he saves Aelita in Cortex, and when he sacrificing himself to save her in Suspicions.

Laura Gauthier

Laura appears to be the member that William was being the least open to. He shows to be incapable of stopping her from going to the Factory in Virus. He has never shown to be outwardly hostile about her presence in the group and he accompanies her on her last stand in Mutiny. During this period, he even draws Laura's attention to the consequences her behavior would have on her being in the group. In the end, he remains silent when the group decides to exclude her. This tacit sympathy is due to the fact that Laura is in a more or less similar situation to his.

Parents

Unlike the rest of the group besides Yumi, William regularly contacts his parents. After X.A.N.A. possesses William in Final Round, William's father calls Mr. Delmas a few weeks later in Double Take worried that his son hasn't been answering his phone.

William's mother and father become so concerned that they decide to visit Kadic in Down to Earth to check on their son (really the clone) and ask him why he hasn't called them lately. The clone's behavior disturbs them so much they nearly call the authorities to run tests on him to see if he really is their son until the real William shows up.

William has a good relationship with his parents, who lied about him being expelled from his last school so he could get into Kadic. His parents don't look down on him for his behavior, with his father describing him as "a dynamic, rebellious youngster" to Mr. Delmas. William's mother also calls him by the nickname "Willy" in the French version.[1]

Powers and Abilities

William wields a large sword called Zweihänder. Its name literally means "Two-Hander" in German. Traditionally, Zweihänders are wielded with two hands due to their great weight. Evidence of the sword's weight can be found in the episode Final Round when William attempted to hold it with one hand and then dropped it. His sword also fires energy slashes when he swings it. 

Current Power

  • Super Smoke: An ability much like Ulrich's Super Sprint, but instead of simply running at speed, William transforms into a sentient cloud of vantablack smoke to avoid people, monsters, or other things. William can also throw the black smoke, which can suspend other people in a paralyzed state, granting a certain parameter of telekinesis. He still has this power in Evolution. Since he has no vehicle, this is his only transportation.

Former Abilities (Exclusive to When Under X.A.N.A.'s Control)

  • Second View: The ability to see much farther away in the same sector.
  • Levitation: An ability that allows him to levitate by holding his Zweihänder by both hands and pointing downward.
  • Tower Control: Ability to activate a tower for X.A.N.A., from the inside or outside. This mimics Aelita's power and it is possible X.A.N.A. allowed him to use a version of the Annex Program.

Vehicle

  • Black Manta (Formerly) - A unique Manta for William to ride on as a vehicle.
  • Rorkal (Formerly) - A virtual ship like a Nav Skid created for William, but he was given a black, independent one by X.A.N.A, who made it by using the data it had stolen from the Skidbladnir in The Lake.
  • Nav Skid - One of the Skidbladnir's minimum-sized fighting ships. In the original Skid, there was one more which was probably meant for William. After he rejoined the team, he got one for himself in the new Skid.

Etymology

William is an English variant of the German given name Wilhelm, which itself roughly translates to "the will to protect." Dunbar is a surname of Gaelic origin, taken from the town of Dunbar in southeastern Scotland. The name loosely translates as "fort on a summit," a reference to Dunbar Castle, located on headland overlooking the North Sea.

Trivia

  • William was originally named "Orlando", but according to Sophie Decroisette, that "was very quickly abandoned...".[2]
  • William was created as a result of the producers wanting more supporting characters for Season 2.[3] The initial character concept was for an eventual sixth Lyoko Warrior and someone who served as an opponent for Ulrich.[2][3] For the second season William was written as "[...] a somewhat marginal character who would be like a free electron that could come and go". Director Jérôme Mouscadet had the suggestion early in development that William "fall to the dark side", and the plan changed to have him eventually become an agent of X.A.N.A. instead.[2] According to Decroisette, the writers of the original series didn't intended for William to become a permanent Lyoko Warrior after this change; calling him a "spoilsport" and saying "He had the ability to be a Lyoko Warrior, but he's much too hotheaded and too marginal. And then he's in love with Yumi, which complicates things for Ulrich. This character needed to remain someone who caused trouble within the group and who would eventually become more of an agent of Xana than a Lyoko Warrior."
  • An inconsistency exists in the dub regarding how William was expelled from his last school before attending Kadic. In the French versions of New Order and Down to Earth, it's said it was for sticking posters all over the school with declarations of love on them. In the dub for New Order, this was changed to posters with "love letters", while in Down to Earth "sticking posters" was mistranslated as "gluing stickers".
  • William only makes a cameo in the Code Lyoko Chronicles novels.
  • While possessed by X.A.N.A. in Lyoko, William's sword's appearance changes, similar to the black and white parts of a tower on Lyoko. Before, it had a more elegant, streamlined design with a triangle-shaped insignia on the apex of the hilt.
  • Unlike the rest of the Lyoko Warriors, it's not known what William's original Lyoko form is based on. Some fans have speculated it's based on a Doppelsöldner, a specific type of mercenary who volunteered to fight, which meant they took on extra risks. In exchange, they earned double payment. They also used the Zweihänder sword, which is where the fan-name for William's sword comes from.
  • William's original Lyoko avatar's design bears resemblance to Mister Pück's outfit.
  • He was the first character to receive a new, more modern/futuristic outfit in Jeremie's upgrade, although William's was given to him by X.A.N.A.
  • He was the only character to obtain a X.A.N.A. branded suit (unless one counts the polymorphic clone from Revelation who shape-shifted into an evil version of Ulrich).
  • Despite the possibility of X.A.N.A. using the Scyphozoa to possess Ulrich's temporarily uninhabited body in Nobody in Particular after his brain got separated from it, William is the only male member of the Lyoko Warriors who has been a victim of the Scyphozoa's attacks.
  • In A Bad Turn, William reveals that he participates in a go-kart club, and extends an invitation to Ulrich to join, which he accepts. This club is never mentioned again after this episode.
  • In Vertigo, it is revealed that William has arachnophobia (fear of spiders). Ironically, during his time as a slave of X.A.N.A., and in episodes such as Lab Rat and Dog Day Afternoon, he is shown riding on Tarantulas that resemble spiders.
  • There was an unused Nav Skid on the Skidbladnir when it was created. It was, most likely, intended to be used by William in case he was freed from X.A.N.A.'s control. Once freed, he is seen in his own Nav Skid in The Warrior Awakens.
  • He was the last person in the real world to be possessed by X.A.N.A., before Code Lyoko Evolution, though he still remains the last one as there haven't been any new human-possessions yet.
  • In Final Round, he began to glow violet under X.A.N.A.'s control when he ran extremely fast or levitated. Later in the series, he just uses his Super Smoke ability to accelerate.
  • Odd's laser arrows cannot hurt William while he using his Super Smoke, as seen in Bragging Rights.
  • In Double Trouble, William confesses to Yumi that he recalls the events from The Secret in a dream, despite those events never happening due to a return to the past. The reason for this has never been explored in the series.
    • However, a logical reason could be that the return to the past can cause Déjà Vu to those who haven't been scanned by the Supercomputer.
  • It is possible that William dislikes chemistry class; this is said in Ultimatum as he tells Odd, "Lucky you, we got chemistry."
  • In Season 3, it is strongly indicated that William likes to pull pranks on Jim.
  • So far, he is the only Lyoko Warrior with two battle themes.
  • When William was repossessed by X.A.N.A. in Fight to the Finish, it shows that he doesn't have resistance to X.A.N.A. like the others do.
    • X.A.N.A. easily repossessing him would make sense considering how he only went to Lyoko once and was possessed for the entire fourth season, as it was revealed in Mister Pück that spectres are useless to possess anyone who has been sent to Lyoko and back multiple times. Or that the Scyphozoa somehow took away whatever it is that made him immune to possession as it has been shown the Scyphozoa can do much more than just possess, it can take away digital DNA (as shown in Missing Link when it attacked Yumi), memories (as seen in Season 2), the Keys to Lyoko (as seen in The Key), or life energy (as shown in The Key when Aelita died after the Scyphozoa attacked her).
  • William was the only Lyoko Warrior in Code Lyoko Evolution who didn't have X.A.N.A.'s Source Codes, until Odd had all of his codes taken away in The Codeless.
  • Other than Aelita being shown to land on her feet when being virtualized in a flashback in Aelita, William was the only Lyoko Warrior to land on his feet when first being virtualized.
  • In Evolution, William no longer yells out "Super Smoke" when he uses it.
  • He is the only one to have immediately devirtualized the real Ulrich when Ulrich used his Triplicate ability, as shown in Double Take.
  • Aside from Laura, since she was never virtualized, William is the only Lyoko Warrior who has never been to the Virtual Limbo.
  • In the Evolution episode Mutiny, it is revealed that he is afraid of being repossessed by X.A.N.A.. This can be seen when he frantically asks Laura to devirtualize him (and almost did it himself) as soon as he sees the Scyphozoa.
  • There have been several real people named William Dunbar: a Scottish poet, a Scottish parliament member, a US representative from Louisiana, an explorer, a songwriter, a Cholera researcher, and a missionary.
  • William's cell phone in Evolution has a special case which makes it look like a cassette tape.
  • In the French version of Code Lyoko, he is played by Mathieu Moreau. In European Portuguese, he was played by Quimbé.
  • He was always called Spider-Man, which is reffered to Marvel Comics's Hero.

Gallery

>> More images of William in Season 2

>> More images of William in Season 3

>> More images of William in Season 4

>> More images of William in Evolution


Others


See Also

References

  1. "French vs English - S4 - Part 2" (Down to Earth) - CodeLyoko.fr
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Interview with Sophie Decroisette" - CodeLyoko.fr (2016)
  3. 3.0 3.1 "Interview - Sophie Decroisette, partie 2". Ces Dessins Animés-Là qui méritent qu'on s'en souvienne. March 11, 2014.
ve Lyoko
Characters Franz HopperX.A.N.A.

Lyoko Warriors: Jeremie BelpoisAelita SchaefferOdd Della RobbiaUlrich SternYumi IshiyamaWilliam Dunbar

Locations Sectors: Ice SectorDesert SectorForest SectorMountain SectorSector Five (ArenaCelestial DomeCore ZoneData TunnelsSkidbladnir HangarHeart of Lyoko)

Other: Digital SeaVirtual Limbo

Hardware Factory Interface (Holomap) • ScannerSupercomputer
Virtual Objects Eye ScannerLyoko WiresMegaPodOverboardOverbikeOverwingSkidbladnir (Nav Skid) • Tower (Way Towers) • Transport OrbVirtual World Shell
Programs Annex ProgramAnti-X.A.N.A. ProgramAvatarCodes (LyokoEarthX.A.N.A.Scipio) • DeletionDevirtualizationDigital Genetic CodeEnergizeID CardKeys to LyokoLife PointMemory fragmentPulsationsSector Alteration ProgramSimulation BubbleSuperscanTelephoneVehicle Virtualization Program
Weapons Lyoko Warriors: KatanaLaser ArrowTessen FansZweihänder

X.A.N.A.'s Monsters: Circular LaserFlying MineHallucinogenic BeamLaserPulse Beam

Powers CatclimbEnergy BeamEnergy FieldsEnhanced MarksmanshipFeline ExecutionMonster RidingSecond SightSecond ViewShieldSuper SmokeSuper SprintTelekinesisTeleportation
Other Eye of X.A.N.A.GunshipVirtual Weather
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