Wilson Arch

"The things you've set in motion. The ink is calling us, my dear, can't you hear it?" — Wilson speaking to Audrey.

Wilson Arch is the son of both Tessa and Nathan Arch, the man who founded Arch Gate Pictures, allegedly working there as a janitor.

History

Early life

Born to a wealthy family, Wilson was raised by Tessa for most of his childhood, as Nathan was frequently busy with business ventures. Nathan would always speak to renowned business owners, or the "doers", as Nathan called them. This created an image within Wilson's mind, an image that couldn’t live up to. This would eat away at him for years, all coming to a boiling point when he eventually became an employee at Arch Gate Pictures.

Employee at Arch Gate

Wilson's exact position at the studio is unknown, as his coworkers shunned him due to his scar and facial deformities. It reached a point where he was practically unnoticed, and Wilson took advantage of this, realizing he could take any position he wanted. Wilson would eventually take the role of a janitor, which would lead to him discovering the Ink Machine after a delivery mishap when Joey Drew's belongings were being delivered for the "The Man and the Demon" exhibit at Arch Gate. Wilson would discover the ink realm and the potential of the machine, seeing that this was his chance to finally live up to the legacy of his father. However, the world within the machine was untamed and dangerous, and he needed to cleanse the ink realm of the chaos. More particularly, he needed to destroy the Ink Demon so that he could truly take control.

Changing the ink realm

Over the course of several months, Wilson would make several changes to the ink realm, freezing the cycle in place and creating new inhabitants to assist him in his work. Most notably, he would create the Keepers, who he would task with killing the Ink Demon. However, once it was found that the Ink Demon could not be killed, the Keepers would instead compress and trap him inside the form of Bendy, keeping him controlled with the use of the Gent Corporation's signal towers. This allowed Wilson to better control the inhabitants of the ink realm, as he would now claim that he had killed the Ink Demon, and as far as the Lost Ones were concerned, he was.

Despite this, the Ink Demon eventually figured out how to, if temporarily, free himself. Wilson came up with a new plan to dethrone the demon, and created Shipahoy Dudley. The plan was to create an entity more powerful and controllable than the Ink Demon, but to do this, Wilson would need the right soul, and he knew exactly who could give him what he wanted.

Dragging Audrey to the ink realm

On June 18th, 1973, Audrey Drew is working a late shift, leaving just her and Wilson in the building on a stormy night. Audrey ventures out of her office to get coffee, running into Wilson as she is entering the elevator to head downstairs. Wilson, while trying to put on a friendly demeanor, comes off as intimidating to Audrey. Wilson asks if he can join her, to which Audrey hesitantly agrees. Audrey is intimidated by Wilson, getting noticeably uncomfortable when he attempts to make small talk. After the elevator gets stuck due to a power shortage, Wilson asks Audrey to assist him in restoring power. They find themselves in the Joey Drew exhibit, where the Ink Machine is kept. Wilson misleads Audrey and has her collect the ritual objects needed to activate the Ink Machine and turn it on. Once the ritual has been completed, Wilson reveals his true colors. As the room fills with ink, he instructs Audrey to find him inside of the ink realm. Once she does, he will show Audrey "her purpose". Wilson then drags Audrey into the ink, killing them both and taking their souls into the realm.

Wilson is heard speaking over an intercom at a few points throughout Audrey's journey. When speaking over the intercom, Wilson portrays a persona that is quite similar to that of a dictator, frequently telling the inhabitants of the ink realm to trust in his leadership and to ignore any treasonous speech against him. This is further illustrated by the high amount of Wilson propaganda around the studio, coming in the form of posters and wall writing. The Lost Ones seem to dislike Wilson, feeling that he has put a strain on their world. Wilson's emphasis on purpose has also made some Lost Ones almost depressive and suicidal.

Audrey sees Wilson again after being knocked out by a Keeper. Wilson seemingly saved Audrey from death, as the Keepers will not harm anybody that is with him. As Wilson and Audrey approach his retreat, Wilson reveals more of his plans to Audrey, explaining that anything could be created in this world and released into our own. Of course, he is still not telling the full truth, as he lies to Audrey, telling her that he needs her help to save his father's life. Once they arrive at the retreat, Wilson explains why the Ink Demon must be destroyed, and then introduces Audrey to Betty, another creation of his and the housekeeper of his retreat. He then once again disappears to "prepare" the final steps of his plan.

Becoming his creation

Once Audrey meets Wilson in his lab, his true intentions come to light. He explains everything, telling Audrey that he lied about his father, and how he intends to use her soul to bring his creation, Shipahoy Dudley, to life. To put her soul in Shipahoy, Wilson intends to push Audrey into a grinder that will kill her and carry her soul into the ink realm's version of the Ink Machine, where she will would be reborn. However, Audrey fights back, pushing Wilson into the grinder instead. Wilson is reborn as a now horrific and corrupted version of Shipahoy, which Audrey fights. Audrey banishes Wilson's soul, sending him into the dark puddles. It is currently unknown if Wilson is truly gone or if he will simply be rebirthed once the cycle resets.

Legacy

As the son of Nathan Arch Sr, a wealthy, successful, business man, Wilson felt pressure to live up to this image that he didn't have the skills to achieve. His father's attention was more focused on his business and the so called doers and grand creatives such as Joey Drew, led up to growing disdain for both his father and Joey.

Characteristics

Physical appearance

Wilson appears to be an old balding man who seems to be blind in his right eye, most likely caused by the scar that extends from his blind eye to his mouth. He is depicted wearing a mechanic’s jumpsuit with the Arch Gate Pictures logo on the back, and an identification tag on the chest area, with what appears to be an undershirt underneath. He also wears a utility belt with a set of keys on one side and a pouch on the other side. He has a raspy voice. Upon entering the ink realm, Wilson's clothing, similar to Audrey's, get stained in ink. His right eye gains a yellow pupil as well.

In The Archives, it is revealed that Wilson's sickly appearance is due to him travelling to and from the ink realm.

Personality

Wilson initially portrays himself as a frail and harmless janitor, yet beneath lies a master manipulator, using careful language to manipulate Audrey and other inhabitants of the ink realm. His narcissism is evident in his claim of having vanquished the Ink Demon.

He employs manipulation and deceit to maintain control, ordering inhabitants of the ink realm, whom he refers to as the "children of the Machine", to bring Audrey to him. His ultimate goal is to cleanse the ink realm of its existing denizens and replace them with his own creations, establishing himself as a godlike ruler.

Documents

Audio logs

• "Dark Revival" - Found in Bendy: Lone Wolf.
• "How Very Interesting" - Bendy and the Dark Revival teaser only.
• "The Machine" - Found in Chapter 1: Drawn to Darkness of Bendy and the Dark Revival.
• "The Snake" - Found in Chapter 2: The Demon's Domain of Bendy and the Dark Revival.
• "A Gift To Mankind" - Found in Chapter 5: The Dark Revival of Bendy and the Dark Revival.

Behind the scenes

Wilson is one of the antagonists of the Bendy series. His voice was first heard in the last audio log teaser video for the then-incoming reveal of Bendy and the Dark Revival; his identity was unrevealed at that time. His hidden audio log was first found in Boris and the Dark Survival, as of the Symphony of Shadows update and was reintroduced in Bendy: Lone Wolf. He finally appeared in Bendy and the Dark Revival as the main antagonist.

Development

Wilson was originally a one-note villain character who was a servant to "Nathan Arch Jr", a separate character during development but the developers decided that the story would make at lot more sense when two characters are mixed together as one, allowing the story to flow more naturally without any narrative complexities.

Inspirations

"Look pal, if you think I'm doing my job AND yours, I'm outta here!" - Wally Franks

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Portrayal

Wilson was voiced by Tim Simmons. In the early days of development for Bendy and the Dark Revival, prior to hiring Tim Simmons, Mike D confirmed that he was originally going to provide the voice for Wilson; he shows a Soundcloud playlist of four old voice recordings, originally uploaded on September 4, 2024. Mike recycled his Wilson voice for the Seasonal Goblin.

Dialogue

Main article: Wilson Arch/dialogue

• "How very interesting. Such... knowledge."

Gallery

Main article: Wilson Arch/gallery

• 

  The concept art of Wilson Arch from Bendy and the Dark Revival by Audrey Hotte.

In other languages

Language	Name
Chinese (Simplified)	TBA
French	TBA
German	TBA
Italian	TBA
Japanese	TBA
Portuguese (Brazil)	TBA
Russian	Уилсон Арч Uilson Arch
Spanish (Spain)	TBA
Ukrainian	TBA