William Vanderboom

**William Vanderboom** is a member of the Vanderboom clan and the protagonist of Rusty Lake: Roots. He is an alchemist and worked alongside his brother Aldous. After his death, James, his nephew and sole heir inherits his house at Rusty Lake. He is eventually reborn as his great great great grand niece, Laura.

## Rusty Lake: Roots

In 1859, he and Aldous are working in their laboratory to attempt to create a powerful potion known as the Elixir of Life and Death. Although he successfully mixes the Elixir, upon drinking it he dies and becomes a Corrupted Soul. He finds a seed inside of his corpse, which he gives to Aldous. After transforming into Mr. Crow from the Elixir, Aldous tells William not to worry, as "*we are always here in our past and future lives*". He also explains that the fate of Rusty Lake lies in the seed from William's corpse, which is sent to James.

Once James arrives at the house in 1860, William's Soul follows his nephew's progress to grow his family tree from the seed. In order to be reborn, he requires ten sacrifices from the Vanderboom family, as well as three timepieces to open the gate. During the Summer of 1860, William opens the clock in the house and finds his corpse. He takes the heart out of the body and places it in a jar, making it the first sacrifice.

As James has three children, he watches over them as they become adults and have more children. Whenever a member of the family dies, he takes a piece from their corpse to use as another sacrifice. In 1919, Rose communicates with William's Soul through a Ouija board. By asking him questions, she learns that he wishes to be resurrected and that he needs ten sacrifices and three timepieces. For the next few years, he follows his three descendants Rose, Frank, and Leonard, and helps them find the three timepieces.

Finally in 1935, the three grandchildren meet together in William's laboratory. After the timepieces are locked into place in the lab's back room, Frank and Leonard are constrained by the tree's roots. The roots also wrap around Rose, trapping her inside of the grandfather clock. When all of the sacrifices are balanced equally on the scales, the tree's roots takes them in. The sacrifices are transferred from the tree to William's Soul, whom after absorbing them is resurrected as a newborn baby. The grandfather clock's time spins forward and the tree's leaves fall. Rose stands in the middle of Rusty Lake, holding the resurrected William.

## Samsara Room

After his death, William finds himself in the Samsara Room in 1935, appearing in the mirror as a Corrupted Soul. After activating the portal on the wall using candles and a fish, he travels to an alternate version of the room filled with water, where he has a fish's head. After using a gecko, a worm and a bird's egg to enter three more versions of the room (activating the portal with shells, marbles and feathers respectively) he eventually gains possession of a human infant. Using this item on the portal allows him to be reborn, emerging from the Lake as a real baby, held in the arms of Rose Vanderboom.

In an alternate ending, William finds a shrimp instead of a bird's egg, and travels to a different room. There he finds his own body inside a giant shrimp and extracts the Elixir of Life and Death from his mouth. Using the alchemical elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water to reopen the portal and the Elixir to direct it, he travels through and peers through a window at himself in the future, as a young girl.

## Trivia

* In the original non-canon version of Samsara Room the naked fat man who falls dead from the clock is not William, but still used the same animation that was later reused for Rusty Lake: Roots by the canon William.
* His appearance in a window seen through a telescope on the moon resembles a similar appearance by his reincarnation Laura in Cube Escape: Seasons.
* When he is resurrected as a baby in 1935, he is swaddled in the dress worn by his reincarnation Laura.
* In one of the puzzles in Cube Escape: The Cave, William drinks the Elixir and dies, becoming a Corrupted Soul. His Soul is enveloped by the Vanderboom family tree, and he is reincarnated as Laura. She then also becomes a Corrupted Soul, and produces a black cube.
* He is mentioned in the book found in Cube Escape: The Cave. In the first chapter, titled "*The Vanderbooms*", and he is labelled as the "*Last Creator of the Elixir of Life and Death*". This chapter details the Vanderboom family tree, and that Laura is the reincarnation of William.