Douglas
Douglas' Profile
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From laid-back cowboy to lawman . . .
Douglas started life with an early association with the Yewess Military - his father served in the Corps of Engineers. Douglas followed in this father's footsteps, being sent to Endía to assist with the construction of a bridge over the perilous Mammoth Gorge. Later, Douglas was enlisted into a hastily formed militia to fight against the native Endíans. Douglas was placed in a regiment overseen by Captain Thomas Shallowhorne. Appalled by the attack on innocent women and children, Douglas defected right along with Captain Shallowhorne. He became a fugitive in what was later dubbed "The Shallowhorne Gang."
After the famous Battle at Box Canyon, the exonerated officer decided to stay on Endía. He became the Chief Deputy of Plymouth City - once again Tom Shallowhorne's right-hand man. In the years that followed, Douglas married one of Maria Shallowhorne's hired helpers at the "New Liberty" saloon - Emily. He was also joined in Plymouth City by his younger brother, Wayne, who likewise began to serve as a deputy.
The "Uncreated" Character
I never created the character of Douglas - the story created Douglas. I knew that Shallowhorne was going to have a gang, but I never decided on how many, or how pivotal they were going to be as individual characters. As I wrote the story, I assigned all lines other than Tom's and Otis' to a generic character named "Douglas" (Could be a first name, could be a last). This was the same technique I was using for Victor Hawthorne's aides - assigning all the lines to Nathaniel Pilchard. After the first draft of West World was complete, I split the lines of Pilchard to the other aides as I intended, but I found that I liked "Douglas" as he was, so I made no changes. Thus, West World created Douglas, not me!