William Pierre Malakoff

*Love never dies a natural death.*

## Relations

### Relatives

Henry Claridge (Father), Annalise Claridge (Mother), James Claridge (Brother), Juliet Claridge (Sister), Marco Malakoff (Cousin), Harrison Hargreaves (adoptive father), Charlotte Hargreaves (adoptive mother), Alexander Hargreaves (adoptive brother), John Hargreaves (adoptive brother), Benedict Hargreaves† (adoptive brother)

### Relationships

Noël Mikkelsen (lover, husband), René Picardi (lover, ex-husband)

## Behind The Scenes

### Portrayed By

Hugh Dancy

*This page is incomplete, and will be updated as books are published.*

**William Pierre Malakoff** is the anti-hero lead of the *Firestarter* book series.

Will is a professional pastry chef who has worked for internationally-known restaurants and bakeries across Europe. He is a deeply troubled person who has survived unimaginable trauma.

When Will was six years old, he suffered horrific physical, sexual, verbal, and emotional abuse at the hands of his birth and adoptive fathers: Henry Claridge and Harrison Hargreaves. Will's unresolved trauma controls every aspect of his life, and makes many typical human behaviours impossible for him to understand. He is difficult to love, and to trust. He is thoughtful, but not always kind. He is good, but he lies. He doesn't make friends easily, but underneath his hardened exterior is a soft, sweet, and sensitive person who endlessly searches for the proof that he is worthy of love.

## Biography

### **Early Life**

*There is nothing you could ever do to impress me. You fail me every single day.*

William Pierre Malakoff was born (1 Jan. 1996) in London, England to Henry and Annalise Claridge. As a child, Will lived in an eleven-bedroom house on Hyde Park Corner. His family was the envy of Knightsbridge—the "perfect" family, and what everyone strives to be. Will and his siblings were blessed with parents who fulfilled their every thought and desire, giving them all they could ask for and more. His father, Henry, was an author and part-time book editor. He was perfect to a fault, but also profoundly selfish and narcissistic. He is described as "loving his garden more than his own children." He is the polar opposite of his wife, Annalise, who is strong-willed, determined, and radiant with love and joy. She is kind, and refreshingly happy, as few people are. However, she suffers from a severe and untreated case of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which she passes on to Will. She is the first person Will ever saw purposefully hurting themselves, although he didn't understand until much later that she couldn't help it. Annalise committed suicide when Will was twenty-one.

Will's relationship with his father was not always abusive—it began with strict discipline, which spiralled out of control. He quickly came to fear his father, until the sound of his voice sent Will running, to hide under the bed. When putting him in the corner was no longer and effective form of punishment, Will was beaten with a strap. His arm is broken in an attempt to shield himself, and his father pulls him out of bed in the middle of the night, slamming him against the nearest wall. At the hospital, he tells the doctors that Will fell out of bed and broke his arm, and although he wants to tell them that this isn't the truth, he cannot bring himself to do it.

School becomes a sanctuary for Will, because he is a brilliant and gifted student in constant pursuit of knowledge. He receives the highest marks in his form, and is thought highly of by his teachers, who assure Will that he has a very bright future ahead of him.

But while Will excels in his studies, his life at home is falling apart. His father continues to beat him, often with the metal end of a belt, until one day, he takes Will to the kitchen and turns on the gas burners. He rips Will's broken arm out of the sling and douses it in olive oil, then holds it over the flames. When he finally releases Will, after a great deal of struggling to keep him in place, his skin is burnt down to the bone, fat melting away from the muscle beneath. The petrol can is emptied over his head, and he is lifted onto the burners. He manages to roll off and onto the floor, but not before sustaining severe burns to his back and chest. His father begins to beat him once more, but is caught in the act by James, returning home from school. Will is sent down to the wine cellar, where he vows never to give his father the satisfaction of seeing him beg for mercy.

For months, Will is denied the privilege of eating, except things that are not meant for human consumption (ie., raw chicken, pet food). He begins to steal food at school, from both his peers and the cafeteria, until the teachers begin to lock the others' lunches in the supply closet and keep a closer eye on him. He attempts to steal from the supermarket during break, with remarkably little success. When his father realises that he is getting food somehow, he orders Will to vomit it up again. He protests, but Henry rams his fingers between Will's teeth and forces him to do so. He is then told to scoop it out of the toilet with his hands and put it in a bowl. Later that night, he is made to eat it, after which he is violently sick. He is given a choice: either he will eat it off the floor, or sleep in it. Will chooses the latter.

After this, Will meets a kind Italian grandmother who takes pity on him, and feeds him in the morning, on his way to school. When his father discovers this, he forces Will to drink bleach from the bottle. When he does not finish the washing up in time, he is stabbed in the stomach with a hunting knife. He attempts to clean and dress the wound himself, after it becomes severely infected.

By October, Annalise no longer returns to the house except to gather her things and say her goodbyes. Without her presence to keep him under control, Henry starves Will for ten consecutive days and attempts to drown him in the bathtub. He is made to put his clothes back on without drying himself and dragged out to the garden, where he sits and listens to his family eating dinner through the window above.

One morning, Will is sent to the school infirmary, where the nurse discovers that Will is being beaten by his father, and has been self-harming with a razor blade he found in the cellar. She involves a child psychologist and social worker, who come to the house to meet with Will and his father. Throughout the week prior, Henry was uncommonly kind and generous to Will—an attempt to make it seem as though things had truly changed. After the social worker leaves, Will is kicked down the cellar stairs, and as he lies at the bottom, he realises that his father is incapable of love.

December comes, and Will has given up on all hope of survival. When he is fed, he devours it without pausing for breath, for fear that it will be taken away. He begins to hate the world and everyone in it, and thus becomes a danger to himself and others. This is the beginning of Will's life-long suicidal ideation. He is unable to concentrate at school, falling asleep at his desk because he can no longer sleep at night. After his father burns his yearly report (report card), he becomes determined to end his life. When he is locked in the bathroom with a bucket of watered-down bleach for company, he sits down and drinks it all. Although, when Henry attempts to drown him in a bucket of undiluted bleach, he fights back, because that wasn't how he wanted it to end.

On the last day before leaving to spend Christmas in Zürich, Henry invites his wife over for dinner. She arrives at eleven o'clock at night with a man on her arm, who helps her fetch her belongings and load them into the car. Before she leaves, Annalise kneels in front of Will and tells him that she loves him. He begs her not to leave, but she does, and there was nothing he could do to stop her.

On their way to the airport, Henry and the children stop to meet Annalise at St. Ermin's Hotel, where she has been staying until she can find permanent lodging. Will is left in the car during this exchange, but his mother brings him his one and only Christmas gift: her wedding ring, with "TOGETHER IN PARIS" engraved on the inside. Will wears it around his neck until the day he dies—a reminder of the only promise his mother ever kept to him.

Five days after their arrival in Zürich, Will is taken from his father's custody, and put into the care of the Malakoff family, and under the protection of the Swiss Confederation. He never sees his father again.

## Quotes

* *"Save me, Saint Jude, helper and keeper of the hopeless. Have mercy, and deliver me from evil."*

## Trivia

* Despite his size, Will is shown to be a strong, skilled fighter, as he is able to defend himself against his father.
* Even from a young age, Will has an incredibly high pain threshold. He has survived the unimaginable on multiple occasions, and is lucky to be alive.
* Will's greatest love in life is food and wine. He has always wanted to own a chocolate shop in Zürich.
* Will has been diagnosed with PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder (severe, with psychotic symptoms), Paranoid Schizophrenia, Anorexia/Bulimia Nervosa, and a mild case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and is on five psychiatric medications.