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xxxxxWalter was born shortly after WWI, in Auvergne, France, to a farmer and an undertaker. The family had emigrated from England shortly before the start of the war, and was lucky to have survived the losses sustained. He lived a relatively normal young life, with his twin sister, at a small dairy farm until the age of 11. One Sunday morning, during services at the Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral, they began to hear voices. At first, they ignored them, but every time they were near the grand cathedrals cemetery, the voices became more insistent. A frightening outburst caused his family and the church to suspect demonic possession in both siblings. They were put through ritualistic exorcism, until this process injured him and killed his sister. This took place when he was 13, and so he ran and found his way to London, England, to his remaining family.
His uncle, Atticus, who was long estranged from his brother (Walters father), took him in and sent no word to his parents. Atticus was no stranger to mutant abilities, and was able to help Walter cope with his own while also stressing the importance of keeping his identity out of the hands of the wrong people. The family Atticus worked for was wealthy and old, and run by a man of science that held a special interest in those with abilities like Walter and Atticus. While he never experimented on Walter directly, he used his ability for his own gain. Walter was soon trained and educated by this household in order to be used as a tool by the head of the home. Many other mutants came and left through this home, most only left through death or escape.
Walter was educated by tutors, private teachers, as his growth had been mysteriously stunted. While his peers in school would have looked their ages, Walter would have appeared to be far younger than them. His one and only attempt at public school was met with bullying and ridicule. And so he stayed within the walls of this household, tutored, and eventually trained in combat and espionage by the head of the household. He used his ability to hear, what they discovered, was the voices of the dead in order to gain certain kinds of intelligence. He became a personal assassin and spy, making a name for himself as “The Angel of Death” among the enemies of this household for his youthful appearance and deadly disposition.
When he turned 19, in 1939, England entered World War 2 in an effort to halt Nazi Germany by force. With a desire to stop the Nazi’s deadly march and spread through the world, Walter attempted to enlist finally in 1944. His uncle, Atticus, had already been fighting them for years. Though he was 24, he had only aged to 14 years old. He was not allowed to join the efforts, until the head of the household arranged specially for him to join the battle and his uncle's side through their own means. Walter fought brilliantly but his uncle lost his life. He returned to the home and assumed his uncle's previous position, as head butler and manservant for the household alongside his own job as personal espionage. Here he stayed and eventually earned his way into Oxford university, becoming a leading mind in Theology and mythology due to his long term relationship with the dead and their stories.
In 1977, a daughter was born to the current head of the Blackwood household and another later in 1985. Walter soon became their sole guardian by proxy, as their mother had passed in childbirth and their father was an absent one. His connection to these girls changed much about his outlook on life. In 1989, when the eldest girl was just 12, her father was murdered by his own brother in an attempt to gain control of the Blackwood estate and all of the wealth that provided. He had made an attempt on her and her sister's life as well, but Walter stopped him and put an end to him for good. The trauma of the situation had awakened latent mutant abilities in the younger sister
In 1994, the Daughter chose to move the Blackwood household to the USA after hearing about Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters. The girl was not a mutant herself but wanted to create a world safer for her younger sister. Their efforts were subtle and discreet, mostly tracking and cataloging mutants and their movements for scientific research and to quiet those that meant to stir discontent between Humans and Mutants. They did not act often or in any large capacity, and largely stayed away from mutants, preferring to keep a distance from the community as a whole.
Walter has been residing in New York in the Blackwood estate since then, and has taken on the surname in order to be the outward face of the house while the eldest was the true decision maker behind the scenes.
Currently, Walter is 103 years old but appears, to most, to look as if he is in his late 30s. His role has switched, subtly, as the eldest daughter now appears older than him and they claim to be siblings.
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