Portrait of a Character – Milton Walker
Milton Walker is complex.
Origins
Jeremy Irons as Milton Walker
I needed a ringleader for the Perfectionists, someone who would have murky motives for mucking about in time. He would also be an Eligian Order monk, allegedly devoted to St. Eligius. Enter Milton.
Portrayal
Milton is played by veteran actor Jeremy Irons. He’s smart and can play mysterious and creepy rather well.
Personality
Highly intelligent and initially motivated by somewhat pure motives, it all goes south rather quickly for Milton and his immoral, bratty daughter, Dr. Helen Walker. By the time he’s ordered the killing of agent Anthony Parker, Milton’s soul is lost.
Relationships
Enid Walker
Next to nothing is known about Helen’s mother. They are divorced when the series begins.
Empress Hoshi Sato
In order to escape the Temporal Integrity Commission, Milton hides out in the past, and in the Mirror, and begins an affair with the Empress. Much like with her other conquests, she doesn’t care about him one bit.
Mirror Universe
I haven’t written a Mirror Universe version of Milton yet.
Mirror Milton
There are a lot fewer Mirror counterparts in the deep future as the odds stack higher and higher against them. But if there was to be a Mirror Milton, I think he would be just as furtive, but his motives would be a lot worse.
I think he would have a lot fewer qualms about using his position to order the death of someone like Parker.
Quote
“You were a philanthropist, you donated all sorts of services and goods to the research into curing dreaded maladies like Piaris Syndrome and Irumodic Syndrome. People thought you were kind and great, a Santa Claus for hospitals! And then you got the idea that improving and perfecting time would lead to earlier medical breakthroughs. You idiot.”
Upshot
So Milton doesn’t have a lot to recommend him. He’s ruthless, he’s careless, and he’s also not above killing an incalcitrant agent or telling his own daughter to try to ensnare Richard Daniels.
I like him as a character, but definitely not as a person.
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