William Bell
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| Talk | William Bell | Theories |
| Doctor William Bell | ||
| Profession | Scientist, Founder - Massive Dynamic | Portrayed by:  Leonard Nimoy | |
| Also Known As | Belly, Willam, Dr. Simon Paris | ||
| Connections | Walter Bishop - former lab partner. Nina Sharp - Employee. Nicholas Boone - ZFT co-conspirator. David Robert Jones - Mentee. | ||
| First Seen | Bad Dreams (voice) There's More Than One of Everything | ||
| Seen In | 4 of 35 episodes | ||
| Last Seen | Grey Matters | ||
| Status | Alive - seems feeble | ||
| Remarks | First mentioned in Pilot as the founder of Massive Dynamic. | ||
Dr. William Bell is the former lab partner of Walter Bishop and founder of Massive Dynamic.
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About
With his company's total wealth in excess of $50 billion, he is considered one of the wealthiest men in the world. Evidently he also possesses great technical knowledge and expertise; Nina Sharp says her fully functional robotic arm was built by Bell himself. Since Bell shared a laboratory with Walter Bishop, it is likely he also has an in-depth knowledge of Fringe Science. Walter himself states that Bell was the only other person who really knew what their experiments were about.
Nina revealed to Olivia in Ability that Bell theorized the human mind, at birth, was infinitely capable. That every force it encounters; social, physical, intellectual... is the beginning of the diminishing of that potential. Bell's development of Cortexiphan in 1981 was meant to reduce, or negate that process, and prevent the natural shrinking of brain power. After Bell's allegedly harmless testing on children, he abandoned his research on Cortexiphan in 1983.
Was heard on a decades old video cassette tape in Bad Dreams.
Dr. Nicholas Boone has alleged that Bell is behind ZFT, in his taped video confession in the episode Midnight.
Dr. Walter Bishop vehemently defends Bell in The Road Not Taken, reminding everyone that Bell was many things; ambitious, egotistical and temperamental - but that he wasn't a madman. Nina defends him as well to Broyles - William Bell is not a terrorist, and is not the enemy.
Olivia Dunham searches for him in There's More Than One of Everything. She is pulled into the parallel universe, greeted by William Bell (first appearance). Olivia discovers that she is near the 100th floor of the World Trade Center at the end.
Olivia is asked to remember details of who she met with (William Bell) in A New Day In The Old Town and Night Of Desirable Objects.
Was briefly envisioned by Olivia in Fracture during a bout of severe nausea.
Briefed Olivia on the state of affairs between universes in Momentum Deferred, and warned of the infiltrators in her universe
In Grey Matters, appears to be the chief culprit behind the institutionalization, and mental deteriorization, of Walter Bishop.
Biography
The following biography on William Bell appears on the There Is More page on Fox's website. Details are at There Is More.
Appearances
- He is heard in Bad Dreams, at the end of the episode as Walter watches an old VHS tape found in his files.
- He is first seen at the end of There's More Than One of Everything.
- He reveals the full gravity of the coming war to Olivia Dunham in Momentum Deferred.
Trivia
- Bell has been depicted in the Fringe Comics, as an understudy of Walter Bishop initially, and then as his lab partner in later issues.
Quotes
"I've been waiting quite a long time for this." - (to Olivia, on his initial meeting with her)
Unanswered Questions
| Theories about these unanswered questions should be placed and read at William Bell/Theories |
| Unanswered questions |
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- Did he author the ZFT manuscript?
- Why and how did he bring himself to an alternate universe?
- Why can't he return?
- Is his apparently weakened state a result of traveling and/or the reason that he can't return?
- Why was there an oxygen tank in his office?
- Why is his office in the World Trade Centers, and not alter-Massive Dynamic?
- Where is the alternate universe's William Bell, and what is his current status? Is he involved with any of the Pattern-related events?
