Walter Bishop (Fringe) - Personality

Personality

"Walter is like a King Lear for television. He's got all of those extremes. He goes from the raging fool into these incredibly tender moments. He had moments that, to most of us, are quite insane and then show this incredible lucidity. He can be laser-like at times. But do you know what? I don't know that those aspects of a person are far different from a lot of us, to be honest. It's just that Walter's barriers are so low that he actually does the things that most of us sit on. That's a great opportunity for me as a character actor, obviously."

A mad scientist who has had parts of his brain removed by his partner, William Bell, and who spent more than 17 years in a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, Walter Bishop can best be described as an eccentric man. Once a brilliant scientist in the realm of fringe science, his trials in life have left him with gaps in his memory and with traits that can best be described as child like. While many parts of his intellect remain intact, he suffers from some degree of agoraphobia and has difficulty properly looking after himself, such that in both timelines he requires either Peter or Astrid to provide him with a basic level of care and supervision. He has a great penchant for culinary arts, and can be found cooking and eating at odd times, for example, both in his lab while performing autopsies, and while naked in Peter's kitchen. Red licorice seems to be among his most favorite of foods, though he also has a penchant for custard, root beer floats, and pastries. In line with his child like demeanor, Walter Bishop has a lovable innocence about him which is occasionally interrupted by tantrum like outbursts over largely trivial things. One such outburst occurred in the supermarket when he discovered the use brominated food additives in pop tarts, when he was shopping for pudding, and another occurred in a hotel room, in which he found the thought of being surrounded by germs too great to handle. His personality contrasts sharply with that of his parallel universe counterpart, "Walternate"; the Secretary of Defense, who is cool, collected, serious, and has a clandestine way about him which gives others the impression that he is untrustworthy.

While some of these differences are likely attributed to the fact that Walternate was never been institutionalized nor had parts of his brain removed, there is evidence to suggest that the personalities of the two Walters began to diverge long before the death of Peter Bishop the boy, from the primary universe. In the primary universe, Walter chose to come home the night his son would die, and it was Walter who showed his son how to do the coin trick. In the parallel universe, Walternate chose to remain at his lab, and it was his wife who showed their son the coin trick. Additionally, when Walter crossed over and kidnapped Walternate's Peter by impersonating him, the boy picked up on the subtle differences between the two and accused Walter of not being his real father. Apparently, Walternate does not wear brown jackets. The progenator of this divergence might have inadvertently been William Bell. Walter and William Bell met as children and experimented liberally with drugs such as LSD in their youth, while Walternate never had the opportunity to meet the William Bell of his universe.

Nevertheless, we can occasionally see flickers of Walternate's cold demeanor in Walter, for example, when Walter sedated Astrid without her permission, by jamming a needle into the back of her neck, so that he could sneak away from the lab, and in the future when he coldly responds to a compliment with an insult. Though the latter situation occurred after cells from the removed portions of his brain were used to repair brain damage he had sustained.

Other similarities shared by the two Walters include a tendency to engage in what most would call scientifically unethical behavior, and a stubborn hatred of one another.