Forward/Lore

—Anniversary Tales Collection Booklet

**William Webb Ellis**, also known as the **Forward**, is one of the **43** playable Survivors added to Identity V.

This page is a compilation of lore and story content for this character.

## Backstory

### Character Introduction

*Rugby football is attracting attention, but William Ellis, who claims to be the founder of this new sport, is being forgotten. He joined a small rugby club, but not everything went his way. Can the owner of Oletus Manor help him?*

### Character Relations Menu

Rugby is garnering attention, yet William Ellis, who claims to be the inventor of this emerging sport, is being forgotten. He joined a small rugby club but soon realized that things weren't going the way he wanted. Maybe the owner of Oletus Manor can offer him some help?

## Deduction Quests

*All completed Objectives reward the player with +335 Logic points for the Logic Path. After the character's deductions are completed, their Worn Clothes will be available and their diaries unlocked.*

### Deduction Summaries

These are summaries found in the Character Relations menu, which can only be obtained by completing the corresponding Deduction Quests.

***Deduction 1: Touchdown***

William invented the game of rugby in school.

***Deduction 2: Blindsided***

William's talent shone alone during rugby matches.

***Deduction 3: Retirement***

William witnessed an accident during a magic show and discovered its secret.

## Letters

This page contains the letters received after completing all quests part of the Forward's Birthday event (May 15th) each year.

* 2020
* 2021
* 2022
* 2023

## Lore Connections

### An Invitation for William Ellis (2020)

Dear Mr. William Ellis.

People often discuss how you have an "unfair advantage" in Rugby. Contrary to what they've blabbered about, I see your "advantage" as an "extraordinary reform" to the sport. You've embedded sophistication under that muscular body of yours and successfully fooled everyone that you're merely a brute charging headlessly with a rugby ball.

Your talent in exploiting the loophole within the rules has revolutionized the sport. For this, we welcome you to participate in this new game we have created. Your role in this operation is to polish the game rule, for the game requires a person with your physique and mind. Your participation in this treasure hunting game of ours at Oletus Manor is crucial.

Well, of course, as a token of our appreciation, we will fully support you, with no strings attached, in your future reform at the Rugby club.

We look forward to your presence.

The Host

## Lore Connections

### Forward's Diary (2021)

November 2

It's snowing up a storm outside! I received word this morning that the game will, unfortunately, be postponed due to the weather. We've been told we have to stay indoors and will be punished if we go outside...Damn their threats of punishment! Now it's not just a curfew, we're not even free to walk around outside during the day!

I really can't bear to stay in this house! With those three around, the environment here is worse than the freezing weather outside! This morning, I bumped into that guy Murro in the kitchen again. He looked at me and brought his breakfast back to his room without saying a word! Hmm...I don't know why he's so twitchy. Maybe he just doesn't like me?

I remember that when I first arrived yesterday morning, there were only two people in the house, Murro and me. He seemed to be very familiar with the place, showing me where my room was, and then he just left without so much as a good bye...William Ellis, why are you cursed to always be treated like this?

When will the game begin? I miss the pitch, the win, seared meat fresh off the grill...As soon as I win the prize, I'll get the guys on the team to throw a party! Damn it...I just want to get my hands on the money and get the hell out of this godforsaken place!

## Lore Connections

### Mentioned Playable Characters

* Mercenary
* Magician

### A Page from William Ellis' Experiment File (2022)

Serial No. 9-?-2

Name: William Ellis

[Test Indicators]

1. Naive

2. Impulsive

3. Unguarded

[Inclination]

A fool who falls for traps

[Test Results]

1. Overall Evaluation

No. 9-?-2's social experience was comparatively lesser when compared to the other subjects in the same group. Due to the simple environment he grew up in, his naivety made him rarely get swept into conflicts. But like a sheep fallen into a tiger's mouth, simple-minded people always become the stepping stones of others in competitions.

2. Methodology

During the experiment, No. 9-?-2 was unguarded against other subjects without any direct conflict against him. He didn't reject No. 9-?-1's advances and easily became trustful of No. 9-?-3 who had lent him a helping hand.

The only difference was his attitude towards No. 9-?-4. No. 9-?-2 was very vigilant towards No. 9-?-4 as he had witnessed No. 9-?-4 killing a teacher. This led him to make No. 9-?-4 the first subject when he was poisoned, and with the other subjects deliberately guiding him toward this conclusion, he rashly interpreted an accident as intentional and became hostile toward No. 9-?-4. No. 9-?-2 may not have been the actual culprit, but he indirectly created the conflict.

3. Analysis Summary

Spending most of his life in a school made No. 9-?-2 naive and easily accept others as companions upon having gotten on with them for some time. When things got tense, he still warmly invited No. 9-?-3 to have roast pork with him. He isn't good at scheming against people, and he easily believes those he considers to be "good." In order to gain the approval of his teammates, he shared his information without any reservation and was eager to prove himself.

No. 9-?-3 took advantage of that to justifiably eliminate anyone who stood in the way. No. 9-?-2 was lucky because No. 9-?-3, the most dangerous of all the subjects, considered that he was of no threat. In the end, No. 9-?-2 remained ignorant to the fact that he'd been used as the blade to kill. However, even if he was ignorant, those who broke the rules were still punished. His foolishness gave him a chance to survive, but it was also predetermined his end. In the trial of human nature, his rashness and recklessness were his crimes...

## Lore Connections

### Mentioned Playable Characters

* Mercenary
* Gamekeeper
* Mad Eyes

### An Unsent Letter (2023)

Dear Sir,

I'm willing to be your arrow, but I still have doubts about your plan.

You punish the cruel criminals, judge the greedy hypocrites, and expose the pompous dreamers. But why do you involve the insignificant fool and watch as his hope grows and crumbles, over and over again?

After he witnessed the execution, the man attempted to hide in the forest, but Burke and I spent a day finding him and bringing him back.

When he looked at me, the fear in his eyes was like that of a wild beast gazing into the barrel of a hunting rifle. I was surprised to find out that humans who are so used to slaughter would actually have such a strong survival instinct.

We locked him in the processing room. He struggled without end and sought answers about his companion's whereabouts. Yet even until the moment before he fell unconscious, he still failed to realize that it was that very companion who had caused this.

Foolish trust leads to dashed hopes. Perhaps this is the ending you planned?

Or perhaps the foolish who are not linked to sin will be a part of future experiments?

Please excuse my curiosity, and please tell us how to deal with this tenacious test subject.

Your loyal servant,

Bane Perez

### Letter Summaries

These summaries are found in the Character Relations menu after the letter has been received.

***William's Invitation***

In the invitation, the Forward's reform on rugby was recognized.

***Forward's Diary***

As described in the diary, the Forward and two others invited to the manor were trapped indoors by the snow.

***A Page from William's Experiment File***

As stated in the experiment report, the Forward didn't die from drinking the poisoned wine, but someone took advantage of the fact that he was poisoned.

### Rewards

Every letter comes with 30 Fragments, and depending on how many years the player has participated and completed the Birthday Event would determine which letter they receive and the extra reward.

* If this is the first time the player has completed the event, they would get a portrait for the character and the 2020 letter.
* If this is the second time the player has completed the event, they would get a portrait frame and the 2021 letter.
* If this is the third time the player has completed the event, they would get a dynamic graffiti and the 2022 letter.
* If this is the fourth time the player has completed the event, they would get an emote and the 2023 letter.

2020 Portrait2021 Portrait Frame2022 Dynamic Graffiti2023 Emote
## Character Resources

The in-game documents for this character include:

* Character Relations
* Quotes & Media
* Diaries
* Event Appearances
* Surprise Game
* Mentions

The Character Relations menu shows how certain characters are connected and how they feel about each other. It also contains other personal information on characters that cannot be found anywhere else. It can be found in the Notebook, under the "Clues" tab. Although the web of relations for Forward have not been released, we know a few of the characters that would be on it, which have been included below.

### Personality Quiz Results

*You are an impulsive person with a restless soul in your body. You like to pursue excitement, but sometimes you are too simple-minded and do not like to think about the consequences of putting yourself at risks. Compared to brainwork, you prefer physical exercise, which is simple and direct. At the some time, you are eager to do everything to bring honor to yourself and enjoy being admired by others.*

### Birthday Questions

*Only the questions and answers relating to his backstory were included here. The other questions not listed relate to gameplay.*

* 2022 Birthday questions:
	+ Question 4: *"What sport is William Ellis most talented in?"* Answer: *"Rugby"*
	+ Question 5: *"Who did William Ellis meet unexpectedly outside the Manor?"* Answer: *"Servais Le Roy"*
* 2023 Birthday questions:
	+ Question 4: *"What did William Ellis accidentally ingest and get poisoned from in the manor?"* Answer: "*Wine*"
	+ Question 5: *"What is William Ellis' jersey number?"* Answer: "*13*"

### Quotations

* Qixi Festival 2018 quote:
	+ *"Hey, what if you run fast enough?"*
* Chinese First Anniversary quote:
	+ *"Charge! Nothing can stop your determination!"*
* Deduction Star 2019 quotes:
	+ *"Yeehaw! Hey, hey, hey, cheer up everyone! Yay!"*
* Deduction Star 2020 quotes:
	+ *"Rugby, anyone?"*
	+ *"Let me show you how it's done!"*
	+ *"Fighting gets me all riled up!"*
* Manor IQ Test quote:
	+ *"You have the intimidating decisiveness of an athlete"*
* Deduction Star 2021 quotes:
	+ *"Sports are the happiest and simplest thing in the world. Do you agree?"*
	+ *"One look at this thing makes me sleepy, but thanks anyway!"*
	+ *"Dare to compete with me?"*
* Valentine's Day 2023 Cards:
	+ *"Are you a fan of mine? Haha, this is so embarrassing. Happy Valentine's Day to you too!"*
	+ *"How did you know I was going to give you a card? Is this what they call a pair of connected hearts? Haha, I hope we can go out for dinner and a game next time. Oh, I'll treat you to these exquisite little desserts on the card!"*
* 5th Anniversary Congratulatory Video quote:
	+ *"Happy, happy, happy birthday, happy 5th anniversary! Oh yeah, don't drink too much, we still have a rugby game tomorrow! There can't be only one day of feasting and celebration!"*

### Japanese Twitter Replies

Please press "Expand" to see in-character replies from the official Japanese Twitter.

The William Ellis Diaries are transcribed on their own page due to length and complexity of content. Below are summaries from the Character Relations Menu.

### December 5

William and Naib, the Mercenary, searched for Murro, the Wildling, in the manor. They then ran into Servais, the Magician.

### December 6

The Forward saw the Mercenary drag a wild boar out of the building. He also overheard a secret between the Mercenary and the Magician.

### December 7

The Forward uncovered many mysteries and traps in the manor.

### December 10

The Forward roasted a pork leg in the manor kitchen and had a glass of wine.

### Manor's Stormy Night "Surprise" Game

My old school had the best team in the city! Hey, you know, I used to be a member of that team... Oh, I'm not trying to brag about my past glorious days, but today's topic reminds me of someone I met when I was on the team.

The seniors would always give rookies a hard time. They'd just make us... Ahem, I mean, they'd just make the rookies fetch balls and ride the bench. This was no big deal, but there was one new kid who was really odd and out of place. He was pale and as thin as a beanpole, and he never got involved with the others.

I was bored one day and started watching him, trying my best to engage him and work with him. I soon noticed that every time he handed the ball to a senior, he would sniff them discretely, and then mutter something to himself.

After passing the ball to the first senior, he said, "Pork chops."

At first, I thought he was insulting them in his own weird way...

Then there was a short little senior, who he smelled and said, "Milk."

Milk? He wasn't even that pale! Maybe he was trying to insult the fella, saying something about his height?

Then he came face to face with one of the most popular guys, who also happened to be the richest kid on the team. He looked at him and said, "Man."

Huh! This shrimp was too much of a coward to insult someone like that!

Then along came a seriously chubby senior, and he said, "Spinach."

The more I heard, the less I understood. Shouldn't this senior be a pork chop, too?

The next day, a big commotion erupted at our school. We didn't know all the details, just that the police had arrested a psycho serial killer. The news terrified everyone, and a lot of students transferred. But who was the killer anyway? Later, my gossipy buddy told me that, "The only lead the police had was that the killer was mainly active near our school, and because of the gross way he killed them, they hired someone with this peculiar ability to smell what people have eaten before.

So, they sent him to our school to investigate. "

I instantly thought of that skinny kid watching everyone silently from the corner, and all the different "dishes" he uttered that day...

**Forward** has been mentioned in the following documents for other characters:

### Letters

* Explorer's Letters (2021 & 2022)
* Magician's Letters (2020 & 2023)
* Mercenary's Letters (2021 & 2022)

### Diaries

* Kurt Frank Diaries
* Servais Le Roy Diaries

## Canon Manor Game

We can gather who was in a canon Manor Game together by information in Letters and Diaries, and very occasionally from character quotes during events.

Edits to this table can be made here.

## Compiled Overview

The following section contains an overview based on canon information.Please note that some information may be missing as it may not have been provided from official sources. See the given references for further information.
### Background

William Ellis was a successful student who was considered to have a good future ahead of him and was an important member of the football team. However, he had a tendency to play too aggressively. One day, he severely injured another player's leg. It seems this caused him to be kicked off the team.

It seems William attended a magic show after being kicked off the team. When he snuck backstage, he saw one of the magicians fiddling with a chain, before he was chased away.

However, because he loved the sport, running with a team, and the fame that could come from it, William began to come up with a similar but new sport that allowed for more aggressive plays, which he called Rugby Football. The sport soon became popular all across the country, but even the people who played it didn't remember him as the one who made the sport what it was. Without a reputation, a college graduate can only join a small club. At this period when he was wallowing in despair, a mysterious invitation changed the direction of life.

### Events at the Manor

William was the second one to arrive at the Manor, and spent all of November 1st alone with Murro (who he described as "twitchy"), before Kurt Frank and Naib Subedar arrived on November 2nd. Due to weather, the Manor Game was postponed, and none of the participants were allowed to leave the manor, which William felt was stifling. In December, Murro went missing, and it was assumed he had run away through his bedroom window. A new participant, the magician Servais Le Roy, was brought to the manor as Murro's replacement and William recognized Servais.

On December 4th, Explorer and Forward were discussing what to do in the Manor since there is not much to do and they aren't allowed to go outside. Explorer suggested Forward to look for Naib while he looks for Murro.

William Ellis heard a portion of one of the arguments between Naib and Servais, leading him to believe Naib and Servais didn't like him. Due to his craving for meat, however, he requested a portion of the boar Naib hunted. Upon receiving the boar meat from Naib, William happily began to prepare it for dinner, but when rat poison got into his wine he was unable to continue his diaries, though he did survive the poisoning.

William bedridden, tells Kurt that he knows that Servais is the one who poisoned him and believes that Servais is trying to silence him from telling everyone what he witnessed in the magic show years ago. Kurt then leaves the room to confront Servais about the incident.

William was confirmed to have escaped the Manor Game he was a part of along with Naib. However, as an accomplice to Naib, he was "punished" for breaking the rules. He was taken to the Processing Room to prepare for their punishment (execution). William witnessed this and tried to escape into the forest only to be caught by Gamekeeper, and Mad Eyes. He was then locked in the Manor and it was unknown what would happened to him after that.

## Gallery

Profile from the official Reference BookArtwork for his Manor's Stormy Night "Surprise" Game story about his pastAnother artwork for his story
## References

1. ↑ Official Reference Books
2. ↑ Backstory from official website - https://idv.163.com/character/index.html
3. ↑ The answer to this question was originally shown incorrectly as "Murro" but it was later corrected to "Servais Le Roy."
4. ↑ Original Chinese: 嘿，如果你跑的够快会发生什么？
5. ↑ Original Chinese: 冲锋吧！没有什么能拦住你的决心！
6. ↑ Translation by @IdentityV\_\_Sub.
7. ↑ Translations by @fc\_idv.
8. ↑ Referring to American Football
9. ↑  William is likely the "young boy" mentioned by Servais in his 2020 letter, who was given as his excuse for "forgetting to check all the stage props" on the day his teacher died.
10. ↑ See William's 2021 letter, which is also his first diary
11. ↑ Servais put the rat poison in the kitchen (see Servais Le Roy Diaries) to combat the rats, and so this poisoning was likely accidental - unless Servais recognized William, then it may not have been.
12. ↑ See Naib's 2022 letter

### Translation Notes

1. ↑ "November 2nd" is a mistranslation of "12月2日" in the original chinese version of the letter meaning "December 2"

### Manor Game Table References

1. ↑ This Manor Game is suspected to be at the Forest of No Return, as this is the location protected by Gamekeeper, Bane Perez.
2. ↑ According to the note found by Forward during his third diary, the "hunt" would begin on December 19th. However, the elimination of Kurt Frank and Murro Morton in First Stage caused the Game to end prematurely. Moreover, Mercenary's 2023 Letter seemingly implies that the Game ended before December 15th.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 See Mercenary's 2021 Letter.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 See Forward's 2023 Letter: "*After he witnessed the execution, the man attempted to hide in the forest, but Burke and I spent a day finding him and bringing him back.*" The executed participant could possibly be Naib, but William asked where he was after being re-captured.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Details and confirmation of Naib killing "anyone who got in his way", which included his main target Murro and then two others, is found on his 2022 Letter.
6. ↑ Despite escaping, due to him making a mess of the game, he was successfully recovered by one of the Manor's "Executioners" and punished by execution. See the "Follow-up Records" part of his 2022 Letter.

### Deduction Quest Changes

Forward's Deduction Quests were adjusted to be easier on April 27th, 2023.

2. ↑ Previously:*Basic Objective: Open 1 chest* / *Advanced Objective 1: Open 2 chests* / *Advanced Objective 2: Open 3 chests*
3. ↑ Previously:*Basic Objective: Rescue 1 teammates from rocket chairs* / *Advanced Objective 1: Rescue 2 teammates from rocket chairs* / *Advanced Objective 2: Rescue 3 teammates from rocket chairs*
4. ↑ Previously:*Basic Objective: Stun the hunter with a pallet 1 time* / *Advanced Objective 1: Stun the hunter with a pallet 2 times* / *Advanced Objective 2: Stun the hunter with a pallet 3 times’’*
5. ↑ Previously:*Basic Objective: Tackle the hunter 1 times* / *Advanced Objective 1: Tackle the hunter 2 times* / *Advanced Objective 2: Tackle the hunter 3 times’’*
6. ↑ Previously:*Basic Objective: Tackle the hunter into an object 1 time* / *Advanced Objective 1: Tackle the hunter into an object 1 times* / *Advanced Objective 2: Tackle the hunter into an object 2 times’’*
7. ↑ Previously:*Basic Objective: Escape from the hunter 1 time* / *Advanced Objective 1: Escape from the hunter 3 times* / *Advanced Objective 2: Escape from the hunter 5 times*
8. ↑ Previously:*Basic Objective: Struggle free from the hunter 1 time* / *Advanced Objective 1: Struggle free from the hunter 1 times* / *Advanced Objective 2: Struggle free from the hunter 2 times*