Mr. Butler

**Mr. Butler** is a character in Bandersnatch.

## History

He is Stefan Butler's father and is the husband of his late wife. He appears to be a loving and caring father towards Stefan, but is not fully aware of the former's disdain towards him for taking away his stuffed rabbit as a child and inadvertently causing his mother to catch a train that was doomed to derail, causing her death.

In most paths, Mr. Butler married a woman and had a son. They named him Stefan. When Stefan was young, Mr. Butler held a disdain for his stuffed rabbit, since his wife's parents kept insulting him for this, causing him to take it away from him and hiding it. This caused Stefan to look for it while he was going to go with his mother to his grandparents' house. This delays their travel as they miss the 8:30 train. Unable to find the rabbit, Stefan refuses to leave without it, forcing his mother to go without him, taking the 8:45 train. Unfortunately, Stefan and his father watch the TV only to discover that the 8:45 train derailed, killing everyone on board, greatly saddening both of them. Because of this, Stefan developed a burning hatred towards Mr. Butler because of him taking his rabbit, which caused his mother to take the doomed train.

Sometime in the future, Mr. Butler put Stefan in psychological treatment by making him go to therapy sessions with Dr. Haynes, a therapist.

In the P.A.C.S. path, it is likely that "Mr. Butler" became an employee of Program and Control Studies (P.A.C.S.) and was handed the profile for Stefan Butler. Since then, he has been controlling Stefan's behaviors with Dr. Haynes by making him take some pills, which are behavior drugs.

Several years later, Stefan prepares to go to Tuckersoft, but before he does so, he asks Stefan which cereal he wants to eat. Regardless, Stefan finishes his breakfast and leaves for Tuckersoft.

### Taking Thakur's Deal (End)

After taking Mohan Thakur's deal, Stefan completes the game with the company, but it receives 0 out of 5 stars due to it not feeling like a good homemade game. Stefan is upset by this after watching the review on TV with his father, with the former wanting to try again while the latter tries to cheer him up.

### Refusing Thakur's Deal (Continuing)

Later, while Stefan is struggling to test the game, but it keeps glitching, his dad walks in and asks Stefan to accompany him to lunch. Stefan either spills his tea onto his computer, destroying it and ruining his progress, much to Mr. Butler's dismay, or lashes out at him, prompting him to demand Stefan to get his coat as they are leaving. Instead of going to lunch, it turns out that Mr. Butler drove them to Dr. Haynes' office. From here, Stefan notices Colin Ritman walking down a sidewalk and Stefan can either follow Colin or enter the office. Choosing the former results in Stefan angrily walking away from his father, while the latter tries to call Stefan back to no avail. Later on, it is unclear what becomes of Mr. Butler if Stefan chose to jump off of Colin's house, causing his demise. If Colin jumped instead, it is revealed that it was all a dream and they stop at the therapy office. Stefan goes inside for a session. They eventually return home afterwards.

Later on, if Stefan takes his prescription pills, the two of them watches a review on TV for the game, which still receives poor ratings. Stefan vows to try again.

If Stefan refuses to take pills, he later struggles with the game. If he destroys the computer, Mr. Butler rushes into the room fast and comforts Stefan while he cries out of despair. Otherwise, Stefan will get upset and bang his hand against his desk, and Mr. Butler does not charge into the room.

If Stefan grabs the family photo, he may have a dream with Mr. Butler in it, about his past.

### Netflix

Later on, as Stefan realizes that he is being controlled, if the player reveals Netflix to him, Mr. Butler will ask Stefan if he should ring Dr. Haynes, which he accepts.

Later, if Stefan fights Dr. Haynes, Mr. Butler bursts into the office and begins fighting his own son and eventually gets the upper hand and proceeds to strangle him. Regardless of whatever Stefan does next, he breaks free but is dragged out of the building, presumably to a mental institute, unless it is in the same universe as the next ending.

If Stefan tries to escape, it is all revealed to be a movie set, with Mr. Butler likely to be an actor.

### Black Mirror

If the player shows him the Black Mirror symbol, Stefan enters a panic while his father attempts to calm him. If the player does not decide to kill Mr. Butler, Stefan gains control and cries as Mr. Butler comforts him.

If the player decides to force Stefan to murder his father, Stefan takes a glass ashtray and splits Mr. Butler's head open, killing him instantly.

After this, Stefan asks the player for guidance on what to do with the body and the player can either chop it up or bury it.

If the player chooses to bury the body, Stefan encounters many obstacles, including an angry call from Thakur about the time where the game will be finished and demands it to be done by the end of the day. Choosing no will result in Thakur coming to the house, only to discover Mr. Butler's corpse and Stefan preparing to kill him. Stefan is then arrested for the murders.

If Stefan says yes, then either Colin (if he did not jump in the dream sequence) or Kitty (Colin's significant other; only if Colin jumped) will arrive at Stefan's house. If it is Colin, Stefan admits to the killing and can choose whether to spare Colin after this discovery or kill him to cover it up. Either way, Stefan is arrested, either after the bodies were discovered or after Colin reports the crime. If Kitty arrives, she will not discover the body and Stefan successfully buries the body. Unfortunately, the neighbor's dog digs it up, resulting in a witness reporting it and Stefan is subsequently arrested.

If the player chooses to chop up the body, this proves to be fruitful as most days, Stefan works on the game silently without worry or bother, but also spends some of his days chopping up the body. He visits Dr. Haynes and creates a lie, saying that he is visiting his sister in France. Eventually, Stefan goes crazy and leaves marks of his father's blood all over his room and his head on top of a dresser. Eventually, after finishing the game, Stefan is caught and arrested.

### P.A.C.S.

If Stefan follows Colin and manages to get to the safe in a dream sequence and enters "PAC", Stefan will find his files and Mr. Butler walks in, confused and shocked at what Stefan managed to find. Stefan gets infuriated and prepares to bludgeon Mr. Butler with an ashtray. If the player shows him the P.A.C.S. symbol, Stefan realizes that it is a reality and goes to the kitchen as Mr. Butler walked into Stefan's room after hearing him yelling. Stefan tells Mr. Butler that he knows all about the program and instead of the player deciding for him, Stefan chooses to kill Mr. Butler for this and bludgeons him in the head with the ashtray. He then calls Dr. Haynes' office, telling the assistant to tell Dr. Haynes that he knows about P.A.C.S. and plans to kill her next. He is subsequently reported and arrested due to the fear of the assistant.

### The Rabbit Toy

If Stefan manages to get the rabbit toy and decides to go with his mother in a dream, Mr. Butler is seen waving at Stefan and his mother as they leave. In the present day, after Stefan died due to him dying in the train crash in the past, he is seen kneeling beside Stefan's body and begins to sob over his loss.

## Relationships

### Stefan Butler

In the past, it is assumed that their relationship was either neutral or passive. In the P.A.C.S. path, it can be assumed he was a bit abusive. Otherwise, in other paths, he is gentle and passive with his son. However, due to him taking away his stuffed rabbit, their relationship was greatly strained, but Mr. Butler still loves his son regardless. Their relationship can change throughout the story.

### Wife

The two loved each other, but their relationship became a bit strained due to the dispute about Stefan's stuffed rabbit and her parents insulting Mr. Butler. He is greatly saddened when he heard his wife died.

## Notes and Trivia

* He appears to be a loving father and is caring for his family, despite Stefan being upset at him. He shows concern for Stefan's mentality as it deteriorates, especially due to his stressful job working on Bandersnatch for Tuckersoft. However, if the player takes the path where Mr. Butler presumably works for P.A.C.S., he can be secretive and deniable. If the player takes the path where you reveal to Stefan the reason why you can control him (through Netflix) and you choose to fight Dr. Haynes, he will be hostile.
* Mr. Butler's death in the "Perfect Game" ending is possibly canon as it leads to the credits during the ending before the end screen.