William Bludworth is the mysterious Mt. Abraham medical examiner in the Final Destination
franchise, that seems to know a little bit too much about Death.
The movies provide us with more questions than answers about this character, leading
fans to come up with their own theories and speculations.
Is he the incarnation of Death itself?
Is he the Devil?
Or is he something else entirely?
In this video I’ll be going over his entire known history to bring you the answers, so
if you want to find out, stick around to the end of this video.
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Welcome to Horror History.
The Final Destination franchise has always done a great deal to pay tribute to the horror
genre, naming many characters after classic horror icons.
You can learn all about that in my Things You Missed episodes, but with William Bludworth,
they paid a different kind of tribute by casting The Candyman himself, Tony Todd.
So don’t be surprised if you see his face on another episode of Horror History one day.
Before I get into his history, there is an important note I have to bring up.
It seems there are actually multiple universes within Final Destination.
In the Final Destination 1 universe, the Volée Flight 180 crash takes place on May 13th,
1999, but in the sequel universe, it takes place on May 13th, 2000.
It’s certainly possible that this was just a mistake, but I prefer to cover it up with
the existence of two timelines.
“You think they’re still up there?
Somehow.
Flight 180 are they still on the flight?
Somewhere.
Are they safe?”
“I have thought a lot about that somewhere Alex.
It exists, that place.”
So for the purposes of this video, I’ll be analysing the story based on the events
of the sequel timeline, because it contains the most information on Bludworth’s story.
To understand who Mr. Bludworth really is, let’s take it back to his earliest chronological
appearance in the series.
William Bludworth’s earliest known appearance was as the funeral held by Presage Paper for
the 17 employees who perished during the North Bay Bridge Collapse of 2000.
He tried to warn two of the survivors, Sam and Peter, what’s about to happen to them.
“Death doesn’t like to be cheated.”
They chalk it up to him just being a creepy guy, and he goes on his way, whistling.
Right from the beginning, Bludworth knows about how Death goes after those who escaped
it before, and Death would reclaim one of the victims not long after.
Bludworth is called to Westdale College to pick up the remains of Candice Hooper, who
had suffered a horrible accident in her gymnastics routine.
This accident, it wasn’t just like the judges gave her a six.
Like she died.
She literally died.
*screams*
“What’s up guys... I never wanted to make a video like this.”
At the scene of the accident, Bludworth makes eye contact with Sam, the man whose vision
saved himself and seven others during the bridge collapse.
The next victim that death catches up with is Isaac Palmer, who was unable to overcome
a series of accidents that occured during his massage.
Bludworth is once again tasked with picking up the body, but this time, he’s recognized
by Sam, who asks him why he’s at the scene of each accident.
William tells him that he’s simply doing his job, and explains that he warned them
at the funeral because he’s seen what happens to accident survivors before.
“A lucky few survive a disaster, and then one by one, Death comes for them all.”
He also tells them that they “changed things” on the bridge, that they created what he calls
a wrinkle in reality.
This means he’s not only aware of how Death operates, but he knows that something caused
one of them to alter the course of history in order to escape.
He does offer a solution though, if they let Death take someone else in their place, they
may be able to take that person’s remaining lifespan.
“Then the books are balanced.”
William presumably is also responsible for cleaning up after Olivia, Dennis and Nathan,
after each of them is unable to avoid Death during a two week span at the beginning of
May 2000.
Remember, we’re using the sequel timeline.
He hears about how six students and a teacher got off of Volée Flight 180 before it’s
crash on May 13th, and expects that two of the survivors will be visiting him at the
morgue before long.
This tells us that he’s not just an expert on death, he seems to be able to predict when
things are going to happen and even knows people’s names when they’ve never met
before.
His first job after the plane crash was to pick up and examine Tod Waggner, who was previously
believed to be a suicide, until William discovered cuticle lacerations; proving Tod had actually
been pulling on the wire that wrapped around his neck and choked him -- he was trying to
escape.
As predicted, he does get a pair of visitors that night, Alex Browning and Clear Rivers.
He tries to get his point across to them.
“In death there are no accidents.
No coincidences.
No mishaps.
And no escapes.”
He tells them everything that happens is part of Death’s design, that their friend’s
accident proves it now has a new design for them.
They must figure out when their next appointment with Death is before it arrives.
Bludworth’s seemingly all-knowing apprehension about Death, his generally creepy demeanor,
his voice, and just the fact that his name is William Bludworth like he’s some kind
of 2000s alt-metal frontman have led many fans to believe that he is the human incarnation
of Death, but I think this scene says otherwise.
For one, if Death is trying to reclaim the lives of those who escaped it’s grasp, why
would he be warning them by giving them a heads up that Death is coming back at them.
If Bludworth was Death, he probably wouldn’t want them to know he’s coming for them.
He also refers to Death and The Grim Reaper in the third person.
“And you don’t even want to **** with that mack daddy!”
So, while I don’t believe that he’s the human embodiment of Death himself, I do have
a theory about who he really is, which I’ll get into later on in his story.
This time, he doesn’t tell about the loophole where you can theoretically take someone else’s
life and be awarded their remaining years.
I like to think this is because he actually has good intentions, and doesn’t want to
see one of them turn into a killer like Peter Friedkin did a couple weeks before.
So basically, he learned his lesson.
He says goodbye to Clear and Alex, telling Alex he’ll be seeing him soon, another example
of Bludworth seeming to know what’s in store…
We don’t see him for a while after that, but we can assume he’s involved in the autopsy
of Terry Chaney, Valerie Lewton, Billy Hitchcock, and eventually Alex Browning.
Exactly one year after Volée Flight 180, there is another major accident, and once
again, William Bludworth finds himself tangled up with the survivors.
The morning before the next accident, a girl named Kimberly Corman hears Bludworth’s
voice call out her name as she wakes up, but does not yet know whose voice it is.
What follows is a huge pile-up on Route 23 in Mt. Abraham, New York that leaves William
with a lot of work to do -- there are 18 casualties, and there would be many more to come, due
to the fact that Kimberly prevented herself and seven other potential victims from getting
on the road after having a premonition.
Like the survivors of previous accidents, they too start to perish, only this time the
order of their accidents is reversed from the order they were destined to die in during
the pile-up.
The first to go after the pile-up is Evan Lewis, and while William takes care of the
body, Clear, the lone remaining survivor from Flight 180 takes Kimberly and another Route
23 escapee back to his morgue to try to get some more information on how to survive.
William is expecting them when they arrive.
“Hello Clear.
I’ve been expecting you.”
This time he tells them that only new life can defeat Death.
“The introduction of life that was not meant to be… that can invalidate the list.
Force Death to start anew.”
He also calls Kimberly by her name without her ever telling him, and that’s the end
of the interaction.
So if not Death, who is William Bludworth, and how do I explain his uncanny knowledge
and ability to see the future?
Well, in each Final Destination movie, the protagonists have one thing in common, they
are the visionaries that have premonitions to help them avoid Death’s design.
My theory is that long ago, William Bludworth was one of these visionaries.
He realized Death was coming for him, and he avoided it.
However, he was much more gifted than Alex, Kimberly, Wendy, Nick or Sam.
And he was able to avoid Death not one time, but continually, and as time went on, he got
better and better at seeing the signs.
As he became more in tune with his clairvoyant abilities, he started to learn how to control
them, and was eventually able to look into the future more or less at will, not just
when there was a major accident ahead.
He ended up becoming a coroner so that he could study Death, and find the patterns that
Death used to take out others to ensure he does not make the same mistakes.
That’s why he seems to already have an understanding of what Alex went through before walking off
of the plane when they first meet.
I think it’s even possible that he has a bit of a psychic ability as well, and he may
have been the one to cause Kimberly to have her vision, thus explaining why she heard
his voice as she awoke the morning of.
“Kimberly.”
When he detects these accidents, it’s in his best interest for survivors to escape,
because then he’ll get to see how Death comes back for them and learn even more about
Death’s tendencies.
This could maybe even explain why Death eventually tries to clean up the evidence after taking
out Tod, by having the water that he slipped on recede, making it look like a suicide,
but Bludworth, to his credit, doesn’t fall for it.
So he’s actually kind of a good guy, even if he only really has his own best interests
in mind.
Finally, this could also explain his disappearance.
He does first make an appearance in the novel, Final Destination: Death of the Senses, where
he fills in for a coroner in New York City where he’s visited by serial killer escapees
Jack Curtis and Amy Tom, and gives them the usual vague advice.
He doesn’t appear again after that, but we do hear his voice in Final Destination
3, seemingly warning Wendy Christensen about the danger that awaits her on Devil’s Flight.
“HAHAHAHA!
You can run!
But you cannot hide…
This is the beginning of the end.”
🎵 This is the beginning! 🎵
After that, he doesn’t show up again in the original 5 Final Destination films.
If he really is Death’s longest standing target, it was only a matter of time before
The Grim Reaper caught up with him.
Afterall, he knows better than anyone that Death does not like to be cheated.
If you want to learn about the histories of other Final Destination characters, click
that playlist on the left.
And if you love horror, remember to subscribe to CZsWorld for new horrors every week, ring
the deathbell for notifications and “I’ll see you soon.”
Assuming we both survive.
If you want to beat death, use a facemask and social distancing.