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The true soul of a person shows in the hard choices they make. What you decide when the chips are down and time has run out... That is who you truly are!

― Will

Will, also known as the King of Spiders, is one of the Commanders of the Black Mage, and is also the main antagonist of Zero's story as well as the sixth region of the Arcane River, Esfera.

Story[]

Introduction[]

Will was a magician and a scholar who was deeply interested in the Black Mage and his goals. While the Black Mage was still sealed, the Interdimensional Portal appeared in Maple World and Will grew increasingly curious about its role in the Black Mage's grand design. Through his research, he learned that the Interdimensional Portal was an aberration that occurred when a Transcendent stripped the power from another Transcendent and used it.

He concluded that the Interdimensional Portal was a sign of collapse, and that if left unchecked, Maple World and Grandis would destroy one another. Though he initially wondered whether it was part of the Black Mage's plan to destroy Maple World, he refused to believe that simple destruction was all that the Black Mage had planned, as there were far simpler methods to destroy the world.

He noted that the Black Mage had deliberately introduced countless variables into his plan, despite knowing that they would get in the way of his goal. Will pondered endlessly about the Black Mage's goals and wondered whether it was ambition, a thirst for immortality, intellectual curiosity, or simply a desire to plunge Maple World into chaos. He soon began to grow frustrated when his research simply brought him back to the beginning.

Just then, however, that thought triggered an epiphany. He decided to look back to the beginning when the Black Mage had been the White Mage, before he had become the Transcendent of Light. Will successfully finished his research and concluded that the Black Mage's goal was to create a new, perfect world that was free from the influence of the Overseers. He also realized that the Black Mage's sealing was part of his plan, and so he became certain that the Black Mage would return.

After the Black Mage's seal was destroyed, Will sought him out and became one of his most loyal Commanders, intent on satisfying his intellectual curiosity by seeing the new world that the Black Mage planned to create. With the spider-like powers he received from the Black Mage, Will became known as the King of Spiders.

Creating Mirror World[]

Shortly after the creation of the Elite Bosses, Hilla and Will had a conversation about their purpose. Hilla accepted that over the course of hundreds of thousands of battles and pledges, a soul could be refined into one of incredible power. However, by mixing in the power of a Transcendent, the Black Mage had created monsters and asked what use he could possibly have for such unthinking puppets.

Will told her that given the Black Mage's ability to see the future, he had likely created such powerful monsters because he had anticipated that an enemy with similar strength would one day arise, to which Hilla told him that she could scarcely imagine such a foe. Though he didn't tell her, Will also realized that it meant that the Elite Bosses would be unimpeachably loyal to the Black Mage, incapable of betraying him under any circumstances.

Soon after, the Black Mage entrusted Will with ensuring that the child of Rhinne would never awaken as the new Transcendent of Time. Inspired by Ergoth Dunamis' ability to create a perfect replica of Sharenian, in which he had trapped the Elite Bosses, Will recreated the dimension in which the Black Mage had trapped Rhinne and her child into what he called Mirror World, a replica of Maple World.

However, Will soon realized that he was unable handle the immense power of Rhinne's child. In order to weaken them and to corrupt them with his influence, he split the child into two beings. He trapped the girl inside the Child of the Goddess' own temple and brainwashed the boy into serving him and his Shadow Knights, who had been tasked with keeping the boy trapped inside Mirror World. He then shattered the Goddess Teardrop - the coagulated power of time - and spread its pieces across Mirror World, where they took human shapes and led new lives.

Shadow Alchemist[]

Eventually, however, the boy encountered his counterpart in the Umbra Temple, where the Shadow Knights stopped him from freeing her and wiped his memories. This repeated seven times in total, with the boy being given a new name each cycle until he became known as Seven.

During his time as Seven, he once again encountered his counterpart in the Umbra Temple, where Will convinced him to leave her, calling her a corrupted being. However, Will soon wiped Seven's memories and renamed him as Eight.

During a Shadow Knight meeting, Will and his second-in-command, Lyra, went over their strategy, which was to make Eight, whom they called the Impure One, believe that they were defending their town of Shadowvale from the Darklings, though their true goal was to stop him from getting close to the Umbra Temple.

The next day, Will observed a Shadow Knight alchemist named Fang wistfully watching Eight head out to fight the Darklings. Will knowingly told Fang about the irony of the deceiver envying the deceived, adding that Eight's work as a fighter must be glamorous compared to Fang's role on the medical corps. Though he understood Fang's feelings, Will emphasized the importance of their mission and reminded Fang that there was no room to harbor doubt. He also warned Fang that the Shadow Forest's curse was getting stronger and told him to stay away from local vegetation or wildlife.

Some time later, Fang accidentally ate a primrose fruit during one of his missions. Fang soon decided to report to Will and went to his office. Just as he was about to confess what he had done, he noticed a detailed board and asked Will about it.

Will explained that it was a schematic for a mirror that could show one's true self outside of Mirror World, as he knew that Fang had lately grown curious about the outside world. He told Fang that it was a reward for his hard work and explained that it would likely be ready by the next cycle, though he added that it was conditional on Fang not making any mistakes. Hearing this, Fang lied and told Will that he had nothing to report.

Soon after, Eight confided to Fang that the Shadow Knights seemed to be suspicious, as they seemed unaware of strange occurrences that occasionally happened to them. Some time later, Will called Fang to his office, where Fang confessed that he had eaten the primrose fruit and discovered a book containing potion recipes, including one for a Potion of Truth.

Will told him that he himself had encountered the recipe in his research, and that it had taken him a long time to find an alternative for the ‘handful of moonlight' ingredient, though he added that he had never tried using it. Fang wondered if Will had also considered using a primrose and asked why he had never tried it. Will replied that it seemed pointless after a while to use alchemy to reveal the truth and asked Fang if he thought the practice to be strange.

Fang then recalled how Eight had asked him to remain vigilant about whether anyone else had noticed unusual things. Before Fang left, Will reminded him that questioning their purpose on the mission was considered treason. He warned Fang that Eight would try to get to the Umbra Temple, and that he would use the Potion of Truth to bait Fang into helping him.

After Fang left, Kyson and Lyra arrived and asked Will if they should be worried by Fang's determination to get to the truth. Will told them that he would have been worried if it weren't for the fact that primrose was only a flower, and that its connection to moonlight was merely a fairytale.

Soon after, Will traveled to the Umbra Temple, which Fang had entered and found that the so-called monster of the temple was a sleeping girl, the other child of the Goddess. Fang asked Will for the truth, to which Will showed him the mirror that he had completed, which could show one's true self outside of Mirror World. Upon looking into the mirror, Fang realized that he was actually a Darkling created by Will in Mirror World.

Fang confronted Will about lying to them about the outside world, but Will reassured Fang that he could still make it happen if Fang followed his orders. A few hours later, Eight himself arrived and fought his way into the Umbra Temple before facing Will. Will then revealed the truth about Mirror World - that the Shadow Knights had been created in order to keep him trapped, and that the endless time-loops and monster hunts were all a ruse to keep him distracted so that he could never awaken as the Transcendent of Time.

Just then, Fang arrived and Eight asked him if what Will had said was true. Following Will's orders, Fang hesitantly told Eight that it was all true, and that Eight needed to drink the brainwashing Shade Neutralizer. Eight told Fang that he trusted him and readily drank the neutralizer, causing him to lose his memories again. As he was unable to recall his own name, Will told him that his name was Nine, and that he was a member of the Shadow Knights.

Once they returned back to town, Will thanked Fang for his help once again. Fang was surprised to know that it had happened before, and so Will explained that though Fang's choices varied each time, he always ended up helping Will reset the cycle. Soon after, Fang returned back to will's office, where he asked if Will had been responsible for the book.

Will replied that he had planted the book, but that Fang himself had added the notes in previous cycles, except for the last page, which Will had written himself. Fang recalled what had been written on the last page: “Once the seed has been planted, doubt grows like a weed. In the end, it chokes the mind entirely. No potion in the world can stop it. But if you distract the mind with a single anchor of truth, the roots of doubt will never truly take hold.”

Fang realized that he himself served as the anchor for Nine, and that as long as Nine trusted him, he would drink the neutralizer every time. Fang called Will out on all his lies, including the lie that Will would make him real. Will asked if Fang truly believed that he would allow him to leave Mirror World. Fang replied that his plan wouldn't work, as Will couldn't even control his own illusion.

Will suddenly grew angry and shot out a long spider leg to crack the ground in order to intimidate Fang, threatening him to do exactly as he said. Like a switch, Will returned back to normal and apologized for letting his emotions get the better of him. He then told Fang to return back to his quarters, where Milo would bring the neutralizer. He added that Milo had made an especially big contribution in the last cycle, and that he would be rewarded for it.

Soon after, Will confronted Fang, who was brewing a Potion of Truth. Will noted how impressed he was that Fang had learned how to harness moonlight. However, he asked Fang if he knew what would happen if he went through with his plan. Fang told him that he already knew that he would take on his true Darkling form, but added that he was still resolved to bring the potion to Nine. Will then used his magic to attack Fang, who was quickly defeated. As Fang collapsed on the ground, Will stood before him holding the red Shade Neutralizer and the blue Potion of Truth.

Will then laughed and smashed the bottle of Truth Potion on the ground before giving Fang one more chance to drink the neutralizer and starting a new cycle, promising that he would ensure that Fang would get everything that he wanted if he were to return to being his old self again, as long as it was limited to within Mirror World. Unexpectedly, Fang refused and crawled to the puddle of Truth Potion that had spilled on the ground. Upon drinking it, he transformed back into his true Darkling form before retreating in search of Nine.

Disturbed by Fang's unexpected choice and his inability to have anticipated it, Will consulted with the Black Mage, who told him that it would now be difficult to keep Nine subdued. Though Will told himself that he had exceeded expectations in keeping the Transcendent of Time imprisoned, he couldn't shake his sense of unease.

Alpha and Beta[]

Before disappearing, Fang was able to warn Nine about the truth of the Umbra Temple. As a result, Nine began growing suspicious and began dumping his Shade Neutralizer in the bushes.

Some time later, Nine returned from a successful Darkling hunt and was promoted from a cadet to an official Shadow Knight. He then asked if he could switch assignments with Keene and purchase supplies from the towns outside of Shadowvale. However, Will forbade him from doing so and explained that their mission to protect the world from the Darklings was too important for Nine's combat skills to be wasted on supply runs. However, as an apology, he allowed Nine to take the rest of the day off.

Soon after, Nine was sent on a mission to fight the Darklings. After his mission, he entered the Umbra Temple and discovered a scroll containing information on the Transcendents. After heading outside, he found Will leading a meeting, in which he ordered the Shadow Knights to destroy everything in the Umbra Temple.

As the knights began to move out, Will pulled Nine aside and told him that he was planning to keep him on the sidelines for the battle. Nine protested that he was ready, and so Will agreed to allow him to join the mission, provided that he drank his Shade Neutralizer. Realizing Will's plan, Nine relented and told Will that he would be content with staying on the sidelines.

After the knights headed out, Nine fought his way into the Umbra Temple, where Will confronted him and encaged in battle. Their fight caused the glass container to shatter, making the girl fall to the floor. Defeated by Will, Nine desperately reached out towards the girl and touched hands, causing her to awaken.

With both Children of the Goddess reunited, the power of time awakened within them, returning the Umbra Temple back to its original state and freeing all the priests from their stone prisons. The Umbra Temple then disappeared into a space between Mirror World and Maple World, preventing Will and the Shadow Knights from entering.

As the two children of the Goddess - Alpha and Beta - began collecting the Goddess Teardrops, one of the temple priests, Cassius, secretly betrayed them to Will, as he believed that the Black Mage was too dangerous for them to face. By helping Will, he hoped to keep them safe inside Mirror World. With Cassius' help, Will was able to learn where Alpha and Beta were going, allowing him to send his forces to intercept them.

Soon after, Will began an experiment to indoctrinate a test subject named Arsen into believing that he was a Goddess Teardrop that hated the Transcendents' hold over him. After infusing him with a false power of time, Will released Arsen in Edelstein, where Arsen kidnapped Gabrielle in order to draw out the twins. As Arsen's mental state appeared unstable, Will injected a new dose of brainwashing serum to suppress his memories. However, when Arsen's false power of time came into contact with the true power of time inside Alpha, an explosion was triggered that severely injured Arsen.

Will then sent another test subject named Rachael to trick the twins in Magatia. After they saw through her ruse, Rachael told them that Will had sent a message: “You never see what's right under your nose”. She warned them that the mark of the spider signified one who had been corrupted by Will before vanishing.

Following Rachael's warning, the twins discovered that Cassius was the traitor. After Cassius fled the temple, he soon disappeared, as the priests were unable to live outside it. However, Will was able to resurrect Cassius, who had a spiderweb mark on his face.

After the twins recovered all the Goddess Teardrops, they attempted to escape to Maple World, but were instead transported to the Mirror World Control Room. There, they met Will, who explained that they stood in the same area where the Black Mage had sealed Rhinne. He revealed that he had constructed the control room in order to manipulate her powers and showed them a sealed Rhinne.

Will explained that he had split them in two, not only as a matter of convenience, but also to subject them to his influence in order to corrupt one of them, which had thrown the powers of time out of balance. He also revealed that they could never awaken as Transcendents unless the corrupted one were to be killed.

Though the twins struggled to determine which one of them was corrupted, they ultimately refused to harm each other. They then confronted Will, believing that defeating him would lift the corruption. They arrived at the Mirror World Control Room, where Will amusedly told them to watch what happened when an unstable entity attempted to become a Transcendent.

Rhinne fights back

Rhinne breaks free and attacks Will

Suddenly, Rhinne teleported out of her containment chamber and poised herself to attack. Will explained to the shocked twins that it was in her nature as a Transcendent to prevent incomplete and corrupted beings such as themselves from stealing her powers, adding that she was likely eating away at her own life force in order to move against her bindings.

However, Rhinne instead attacked a surprised Will and explained that though it was in her nature to stop any corruption to her own power, it was a mother's instinct not to harm her own child, which was far more powerful than the calling of the Transcendents. After Will retreated, he attempted to use Rhinne's power to revert all time in Mirror World. However, Alpha and Beta were able to defeat him, causing them to awaken as the new Transcendents of Time following the destruction of Mirror World. With their new powers, however, they recreated Mirror World and resurrected Rhinne in the form of a child.

Esfera[]

After Arkarium was killed in the Morass, Tana escaped and soon regained her memories and sanity. However, she was soon captured by Will in Esfera, where the Black Mage had tasked him with enacting a ritual that would allow him to steal Tana's powers of creation as Grandis' Transcendent of Light, allowing him to hold the powers of creation and destruction. Before he could finish the ritual, however, a masked Orchid appeared and attacked him, causing him to lose his hold on the glass coffin containing Tana, which fell into the Origin Sea.

Soon after, the Adversary and the advance guard of the Alliance arrived in Esfera, where Will found the Adversary and Ollie using Melange's staff to view the memory of how he had lost Tana. Will then launched an attack at the Adversary, though Ollie immediately came between them and blocked the attack with her sword. Will merely laughed and told Ollie that he had come to see the Adversary, adding that he was reminded of the words that had inspired him, “The ultimate light can only be found in ultimate darkness.”

He told them that they could only face him after learning the truth behind his words, after which he disappeared.[6] After he left, Will thought to himself that he didn't expect ‘the child' to have gotten involved, though he believed that it would change nothing. Nevertheless, the experience brought back unpleasant memories for him.

Soon after, Will returned to find the Adversary and Ollie being attacked by the Light Executors created by Tana's influence on his Mirror World. The Light Executors, which recognized the spider mark that Will's previous attack on Ollie had caused, soon began overwhelming them, though the Adversary was able to have Ollie extracted.

Will then launched a powerful attack on the Adversary, which surprised them, as they had believed that Will was weaker because of Tana's power interfering with his power over Mirror World. However, Will explained that they themselves had weakened Tana's power when they had fought off the Light Executors attacking Ollie. He then laughed that Ollie was merely a pawn to sacrifice in the Adversary's place.

When they expressed confusion, Will explained that they were the great Adversary, the only one with the power to face the Black Mage, and that the obvious choice was to sacrifice others to save them if necessary. He then called out for Orchid, who was hiding in the shadows, to reveal herself.

A decision must be made

Will throws the Adversary into the Origin Sea

He told Orchid that he had seen through her plan of trying to have him use the power of Mirror World by fighting with the Adversary. He then gave her a choice between saving the Adversary and stopping the ritual before throwing the Adversary into the Origin Sea. Orchid immediately moved to save them, allowing Will to escape with Tana.

Will then traveled to the White Sun, where he entered a Mirror World inside Mirror World. He then created a mirror at the Alliance base camp in Esfera, which the Adversary and Melange entered in order to follow him. The Adversary then entered the inner Mirror World alone, as Melange could not follow, and confronted Will, who was impressed that they had actually come to face him.

However, he added that the ritual had gone too far, and that the only way to stop it now was to kill Tana. The Adversary realized that killing Tana was what Neinheart had meant about the choice that they would have to make. However, they resolved to both defeat Will and save Tana, and engaged in a fierce battle against the Commander.

As the Adversary continued fighting Will, their battle took them deeper into Mirror World, finally leading them straight into its heart. After a fierce battle, the Adversary successfully bested Will, who was impressed by their strength. As a reward, he cured Ollie of the poison from her spider mark and asked what they would do next. The Adversary then turned to find that Tana was unconscious and in terrible pain.

Though the Adversary knew that they needed to kill Tana in order to stop the Black Mage, they nevertheless struggled to take her life. As they battled between their reason and their morality, Tana called out to Jean in her dream to save her. Upon hearing Tana begging to be saved, the Adversary, against all odds, chose to spare her life instead.

Will was utterly shocked and asked the Adversary if they understood what the consequence of their actions would be. The Adversary told Will that they knew that the Black Mage would gain the power of the Transcendent of Light from two worlds, but they believed that they could still save everyone, including Tana. Suddenly, Tana disappeared as Will laughed that though he admired the Adversary's conviction, the ritual could not be stopped anymore.

As Tana's power had faded, Will regained full control over Mirror World and summoned a horde of spiders to destroy the Adversary before disappearing, though he inadvertently dropped his book containing key information on the Black Mage, his prophecies, and his goals, which was picked up by Melange.

Will then retreated into the deepest recesses of Mirror World in order to prevent Melange from following him. Though he wished that he could have presented the Adversary to the Black Mage, he took comfort in the fact that he would be able to witness the time of Genesis. He eagerly expressed his excitement to be able to witness the creation of a perfect world free of shackles and unchecked powers with his own eyes.

Just then, however, Orchid arrived and confronted Will, who was shocked that she was able to follow him into the deepest part of Mirror World. Orchid told Will that he could not escape, to which Will, realizing that he had no choice, decided to settle their feud once and for all. As the two began fighting, the White Sun was absorbed by the Black Moon, transforming it into the Black Sun, Tenebris. Orchid was soon able to defeat Will, who fell unconscious as the battle of Tenebris raged.

Convergence[]

Will locked up in Ereve

Will in Ereve's underground prison

Following the death of the Black Mage, the Alliance began a mission to capture the remaining Commanders of the Black Mage. They discovered Will lying unconscious in Esfera after the battle, after which they arrested him and placed him in a secure prison in Ereve. As Will's powers had been tied to the Black Mage, he lost his abilities following the Black Mage's death. The Alliance then began questioning Will, who was unexpectedly cooperative. to the point that Neinheart began growing suspicious.

Soon after, Grendel the Really Old was called by Neinheart to interrogate Will, who realized that Grendel had seen the core fragment inside Gloom, which contained every future that the Black Mage had erased by setting the world on the Path of Destiny. Grendel told Will that he had seen the future in which the Adversary had chosen to kill Tana, though that future had been averted.

Will amusedly asked what made Grendel believe so, to which Grendel had told him that Gerand Darmoor was also working to overturn the natural order. He then demanded that Will tell him everything that he knew about the Transcendents, and so Will gave him another core. Upon touching it, Grendel vanished in a flash, after which Soot monsters had begun appearing.

Immediately after, Neinheart and the Adversary arrived and confronted Will about what he had done to Grendel. However, Will replied that he had merely given Grendel a nudge in the right direction on the path laid out by the Black Mage. He explained that Gloom's core was but a shadow, and that the one which he had given Grendel contained the Black Mage's innermost thoughts, plans, and his deepest despair. After the Adversary and Grendel's apprentices, Lily and Elwin, left to follow Grendel, Will was able to escape his prison in Ereve.

Karote[]

Following Will's escape, Mihile and the Dawn Warriors were dispatched to track him down, though Mihile reported during a meeting that he had so far been unsuccessful.[7]

Gallery[]

Videos[]

References[]

  1. Response to a fan on Twitter
  2. Also provides the voice(s) of Limbo, Albaire, Havoc, Mu Gong (AWAKE Opening Cutscene), Khalid, and Sharen III.
  3. Also provides the voice(s) of Albaire, Limbo, Elwin, White Mage (Borderless/Convergence), Master Tai Yu, Ryan, and Alter Angler.
  4. Announcement on official Japan MapleStory's Twitter page
  5. Announcement on official Japan MapleStory's Twitter page
  6. Zero gets some exclusive dialogue while encountering Will. When he first appears, Alpha and Beta start threatening him to back down, to which he laughs and says that he had only come to say hello. When they demand to know what he's planning, Will tells them not to be impatient and jokingly suggests that they catch up over a cup of tea. The dialogue then transitions back into the generic script that has him talk about the ultimate light and ultimate darkness. After that, he then tells Zero that though he normally enjoys the anticipation, this time feels special to him, adding that it might be because of them. He then calls Zero an incomplete Transcendent split in two and tells them not to make him wait for too long before disappearing.
  7. If the player is Mihile, Neinheart will instead have led the Dawn Warriors in Mihile's place.
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