Black

Black (ブラック, Burakku), real name William Macbeth, is the older brother of White. Since the first Great Collapse, he shares a body with The King of Despair.

Appearance
A young man with short blonde hair and blue eyes, he wears a black hooded jacket, and round glasses.

Personality
Black is a fairly talkative person with a sweet and caring nature. Upon meeting Leonardo for the first time, he readily introduces himself and acts in a relaxed and friendly manner.

During Leo and Black’s lunch together, it is established that the two have a lot in common, especially when it comes to having low self-esteem. Black is shown to feel rather insecure about himself and his abilities, showing no hesitation in talking down on himself when recounting memories of being bullied in his younger years. Along with this, Black is also shown to be awkward and clumsy when he spills his drink all over himself in front of Leo, and is shown to panic in the embarrassing situation in an exaggerated manner.

Despite his insecurities, Black seems to have no trouble poking fun at Leo in a good natured way, often laughing at Leo when he gets flustered and teasingly referring to him as a ‘Tortoise Knight’ after Leo tells him that is the nickname Michella gave him. He also seems to enjoy sharing the knowledge he has with others, as seen when telling Leo about the Halloween traditions of his hometown in Episode 7, and when recounting the events of the collapse he has memorized to Leo and some passing school children in Episode 8. When a little girl tells Black that her parents are casters, he expresses that he believes that is something to be proud of. However it is also hinted that the great collapse has caused Black to not want to be a part of the casters himself, implying that the events of it have caused him trauma that he does not want to think about.

Black is incredibly protective of his younger twin sister White, as seen in multiple occasions throughout the series, especially when he is seen desperately trying to keep the King of Despair from involving her in his plans. As children, he and White were raised lovingly by their parents, however Black ended up developing an inferiority complex due to the fact he was born with enough psychic power for both him and his sister, yet he felt as though he was unable to amount to anything more than that, which stemmed from his belief that he was nowhere near as emotionally strong as White. He came to this conclusion when he and White were making mud balls together when they were very little, and when White made a better mud ball than him he used his psychic powers to burst the ball out of frustration. He expected White to start crying, but instead she just went straight to making another mud ball, and Black ended up being the one crying. Due to this, Black felt as though he was much weaker than his sister, and showed great self-restraint in distancing himself from his powers as much as possible in order to try to better himself as a person, even going as far as letting bullies beat him up without fighting back. At one point he nearly drowns jumping into a river after White’s camera when he could’ve just used his psychic powers to catch it, and even when he was in hospital afterwards he did not realize how much danger he had put himself in and how big of a deal that was until White broke down in front of him.

Another trait of Black’s is that he is rather sensitive, and this is especially exhibited in flashbacks to his childhood where he is shown to cry very easily, such as when the family dog knocked the ice cream he was eating out of his hand and when he started crying when White did when he was in hospital after jumping in the river.

Plot
In Episode 6, Black is officially introduced as White's older brother when Leo walks in on the two talking in her hospital room. Black is unaware of the day Leo met the King of Despair on the subway, and introduces himself to Leo while he is confused. In a later scene Black and Leo are seen sharing lunch at Dianne's diner. Black is seen to be clumsy knocking over his own drink and apologizes profusely for his actions. When Leo asks about White's condition, Black states she has had a weak heart but it's been under control for a while now. The two of them bond over their mutual insecurities, and when Leo tells Black about his own sister, Black laughs at him.

When a little kid bumps into a waitress holding a pot of coffee, she drops it but Black stops the liquid short from falling on Leo, to which the waitress and Leo both are confused and arguing over something. When Black can no longer concentrate hard enough, the coffee falls onto Leo and he apologizes because he's not good at using his abilities.

At the end of the episode, Leo sees Black walking among the crowd and waves to him. They are seen having a conversation on Leos bike. Black notices a Halloween store and says "The people really love Halloween!" and then goes on to talk about the place where he and White grew up and how, though they don't get candy on Halloween, the people still believe the otherworld and their world are closer than ever on that particular night. Sometime into the conversation, Leo mentions how White referred to herself as a ghost and jokes about it, asking if that type of spiritual humor runs in his family. Black looks down, frowning while he says no. Black apologizes for making Leo go out of his way to drop him off at home, but he has an early morning ahead of him. He tells Leo to not mind the things White says, because she's just a silly girl who's really nice.

In a flashback, Black is seen holding an unconscious White while two people fade way into a wall of fire, giving light on him and his sisters past.

Black is seen to be knowledgeable about the events of the first Great Collapse, and speaks about the Casters that managed to prevent it with high regards. A child runs over to him and exclaims that their parents are casters too, and Black kneels down to pat their head saying that that's something to be proud of. When he stands back up, Leo asks about himself. Black states that he wishes he was born without the powers he was given, but nothing else is said about the subject.

In Episode 11, White and Black's true names are revealed to be Mary and William Macbeth. Their past is revealed, he is the only child who inherited his parents powers as psychics. Mary did not inherit any special power. During his time in school he often got bullied, but refused to use his power due to a little accident in his past, which he feels bad about. He swore to himself that he will not use his power until he gets stronger. When some bullies at their school take White's camera, he demands that they give it back to her. The camera is then thrown over a bridge by one of them, and Black jumps after it in an attempt to save the camera but almost drowns in doing so.

William and his sister are present during the first Great Collapse. He and Mary are seen in front of a mysterious being cloaked in flame, The King of Despair, but William refuses to let the being take over his sister. Instead he offers his body to save and protect his sister from being possessed.

In Episode 11, The King of Despair has White lure Leonardo to the church, and she places a device over his eyes in hopes that she will get her brother back. After this, King is seen dragging Leonardo down into the other world after being knocked out by the device on his eyes. He uses the device on Leonardo's eyes to destroy a seal, which sets off explosions in Hellsalem's Lot.

At the end of the episode, inside the same church, The King of Despair is seen sitting next to an unconscious White. He then proceeds to point a gun at her chest and shoots. However it is not shown that Mary took the bullet to the chest and died.

As Hellsalem's Lot begins tearing itself up, The King of Despair is seen sitting at the alter of the church humming as he waits for someone. Klaus Von Reinherz appears before him, and he asks what will happen to Black after this is all done. He says he hasn't given up on Black, and when Klaus holds him up by his neck, King of Despair is seen telling Klaus mockingly to save him from himself.

When Leo appears midst of their fight, King of Despair denies the claims that they all had over him, telling both Leo and Klaus that William had willingly accepted him, but is interrupted by Leo who says even if that's true he can still see Black. Through Leo's broken vision, he can see Black standing behind King of Despair crying while saying he doesn't want to die, but wants to live. When Leo forces his eyesight upon King of Despair, he pushes Leo away angrily while telling Black to go back to sleep. As a ghostly version of White walks up to him, King's body soon gives out and he passes out. Black wakes up and White is laying her head on his chest and he asks her what she's doing, to which she replies she was simply checking if he was still alive or not. White offers herself to be used as a sacrifice in order to complete the seal, and Black begins crying saying he cannot live without her as a life without her is no life at all.

When she convinces him of what they must do, he agrees with tears in his eyes. White effectively banishes King of Despair from Black, but also becomes a part of the seal that protects the city. Black is shown watching Leo cry from a distance, talking to White as if she were still there. He calls Leo their hero, commenting on how he looked brave even while crying.

Power & Abilities
He possesses very powerful psychic powers, however he appears to not be able to control them very well as seen when he stopped a coffee jug from spilling on Leonardo for only a short period of time before he couldn't hold it any longer. The King of Despair seems have a much better grasp of Black's psychic powers, as we see him easily tear apart Hellsalem's Lot using them alone.

Trivia

 * He shares the same seiyū as White.
 * He is an anime-only character.
 * Black's parents are implied to be two of the Casters that gave up their lives to create the barrier prevent the first Great Collapse.
 * He and White are not native to Hellsalem's Lot.