Walt Lawson

Walter "Walt" Lawson is a character in the comic series Hand of Fate, appearing as the protagonist of "Invitation to Your Wake" in issue #21.
Lawson is a fantasy writer who works for an unnamed magazine. Responding to an invitation to inspect a copy of the Necronomicon, he discovers a supernatural conspiracy to slaughter all fantasy writers and decides to fight it, eventually sacrificing his life to defeat the undead hordes.
==Biography==
Walt is invited by an unknown author to visit Rhenish Castle in the Catskill Mountains to read a copy of the demonology book known as the Necronomicon as inspiration for his work. His fiancé Ellen tries to dissuade him but he goes anyway, as the Necronomicon is the only book of the occult he's never seen. When he calls Frank, his editor, he discovers that every other writer who works for Frank received the same invitation and decides to arrive at the castle early so as to beat them there.
Arriving in the Catskills, Walt witnesses hordes of undead monsters heading for the castle without noticing him. Once new arrivals stop turning up, Walt sneaks over to the castle to listen in on their conversation and hears their leader, the demon Belial, declaring war on all fantasy writers and editors. Walt and others have been using authentic occult sources to write their stories and revealed real secrets on destroying the undead, so Belial has lured them to the castle to kill them.
Walt realises he must escape and warn the world, but as he leaves he is accosted by another writer named Phil Byerly. He tries to warn Byerly, which draws the attention of the undead and forces him to flee. Byerly is killed but Walt escapes by drawing a chalk pentagram on his back, which drives the forces of evil away. His final act before returning home is to sabotage the road sign leading to Rhenish Castle so that no other writers will fall victim to Belial's trap.
Walt then returns to the city and tries to warn Frank of the danger, as Belial mentioned that editors of supernatural magazines would also be targeted. Arming himself with mandrake powder, wolfsbane and silver, he goes to Frank's apartment and finds Belial's vampires trying to break the window. Walt slays the vampires with silver iodine but their corpses transform into dead bats, and Frank fires Walt believing him to be crazy.
The next day Walt goes to visit Ellen and finds Haitian zombies casting a voodoo spell on her. Ellen is turned into a cat by the spell, and although Walt's mandrake powder reduces the zombies to dust he can't change her back. He finds a message from the monstrous hordes telling him to surrender to Belial at the castle if he wants her turned back. Walt realises what he has to do and writes a full account of his struggle against evil, to be delivered to Frank once Ellen is free of the spell.
Walt urgently checks his research books and goes to a nearby drug store to buy belladonna before renting a small plane and flying to the Catskills, as he is apparently a skilled pilot. Walt has learned from his books that the voodoo spell on Ellen will be broken if he kills Belial, and that belladonna if burned will destroy all supernatural creatures. As Belial awaits his surrender, Walt instead crashes his plane into the castle, blowing it up and killing him but also incinerating the belladonna which destroys the undead hordes.
In the aftermath of Walt's sacrifice, Ellen is turned back into a human and delivers his story to Frank. Frank realises that he was wrong about Walt and decides to publish Walt's account of the events as a tribute to him.
==Gallery==
Lawson pilot.png|Walt prepares to sacrifice himself
Category:Comic Book Heroes
Category:Suicidal
Category:Selfless
Category:Monster Slayers
Category:Deceased
Category:Male
Category:In Love
Category:Exorcists
Category:Honorable
Category:Fantasy Heroes
Category:Fighters