APPEARANCE

A boy still growing, Walter has noticeably (and somewhat awkwardly) long arms and feet that can give off a little clumsy first impression of him. However, his long, curly blond locks, green eyes with long and thick eyelashes and the mole near his right eye give a more graceful balance to his overall appearance. He usually keeps his eyes closed or in a barely noticeable squint, often opening only one of his eyes as a result of being ashamed of them. When wide open, his eyes are hazy green and somewhat unfocused, and his right eye often points in a slightly different direction than his left. He also has a tint of red at the outer corners of his eyes.

Although Walter has the appearance reminiscent of fairy tale princes, his expressions are usually everything but kind and gentle, and he is oftentimes seen with a smirk on his face. Likewise his gestures are usually very masculine, and he has no intentions of trying to look or act pretty just because he has the kind of appearance he does.

He is always seen with a light, wooden cane he uses to walk around. He switches to a white cane when 16, as they become publicly available only then.

SKILLS & ABILITIES

• Can read braille

• While he can’t read the notes, Walter has a good muscle memory and he has learned to play various songs on piano by ear. Despite being quite the skilled pianist, playing it is only a hobby to Walter and he has no intentions of making a career out of it. 

• Walter's optic nerves were destroyed by an illness in childhood, and as such he is completely blind and doesn't perceive any light. He uses a custom-made cane to navigate around and has likewise learned to use especially his sense of touch and hearing to observe the world around him. 

• Has a good overall memory & memorizes places easily once he visits them and gets to have a feel of the things around. He is able to walk around the school premises with relative ease as he has memorized everything well enough, and isn't afraid of asking for directions if he somehow does end up getting lost or confused about his whereabouts.  

• A natural talent for sniffing out drama and knowing where to be at the right time. He is also good at memorizing details of gossip and forwarding the essential information to his friends. 

• Has good people skills combined with a sharp and witty tongue. Walter wants to have the last word in everything, and he usually also gets to have it.

TRIVIA

• While Walter does have valid reasons to be wary of Claude and not trust him, the biggest reason why he doesn't like him is because deep inside Walter knows he and Claude are very alike. He sees his own flaws in Claude and hates him for it, and it’s the same way for Claude as well.  

• He keeps his eyes closed around people he doesn't really know or trust, largely because he’s been bullied in the past for the way his eyes look. While Walter doesn’t perceive any light with his eyes, keeping eyes closed is still a bother and he’s slowly trying to become comfortable with keeping them open. 

• Walter's cane is just a regular cane, albeit a bit lighter than most and custom made for him. The white canes used now are still not a widespread thing in his setting and are just becoming known. He’ll start using one after the end of middle school. 

• Walter is the only member of the main Sinfonia-original cast (which excludes Thomas who was created much earlier) who wasn't directly based on a vintage shoujo trope. By the time of his creation Sinfonia was no longer a joke project.

PERSONALITY

There is not a single person in Lottenberg who wouldn’t know of Walter: witty, funny and a great storyteller, Walter is well liked and even respected by the other boys. He has a habit of commenting on things in a witty or sarcastic manner, and although this can bother some, Walter usually means no ill will. Despite his constant joking around he does have a more serious side to him, and he is very concerned about his friends and only wants the best for them.

Although he can be very resentful and hostile towards those he dislikes, Walter generally doesn’t want to cause any real harm to people. That being said, he still enjoys practical pranks and is full of dangerous yet entertaining suggestions for things to do. Only his great speaker skills have made Walter avoid getting detention over most of the things he has done, further confirming words indeed are his greatest weapon. Despite his budding verbal skill he is still young, and Walter often speaks more than he should, is blunder than required to be and can come across as a tad cruel and unreasonable to people who may not know him all that well.

Walter is an entertainer and a talker to the core, characterized by a sense of anarchy and a drive to make others laugh. He doesn’t like strict rules and often vocally criticized conventions and ordrs he thinks are stupid and taken for granted. Very much like Claude, Walter is also a powerful ally to have but in turn makes a fearsome enemy to people who he dislikes. He is generally not very group confirming but might, in order to protect other people, sometimes do things against his own nature.

Blind since childhood, Walter claims the only reason he is able to attend the school is because he is from a rich family and he himself refused to drop out of education just because of his blindness. Although the world is still not very considerate to people with disabilities, Walter has no intentions to give up on his education. He takes his studies pretty seriously, even if his witty and clever way of portraying things in his works often annoy teachers for being "too unique" and "crude" in nature.

HISTORY

Walter comes from an aristocrat family of low standing and is the only child. He lost his sight at the age of 6 to an illness that fatally damaged his optical nerves, making him completely blind. It was considered a miracle Walter even survived such a dangerous illness with no known cure, and Walter himself is grateful for the second chance he got in life.

Walter himself got used to his condition relatively fast, but the despairing of his parents and the fact they found it bothersome to always look after their disabled child made him quickly realize the love of his parents was conditional. Walter turned to his servants and teachers for comfort and support, ultimately making his relationship to his parents a reserved and cold one.

Having a clever and bright mind from an early age, Walter grew up surrounded by friends, and aside from his parents' undivided attention not many things were lacking from his life growing up. He insisted on continuing with his studies and was homeschooled until he decided he wanted to go to a boarding school, mainly to get some distance from his bothersome family. He picked Lottenberg for its relatively close location and the fact they were the most willing to personalize a curriculum for Walter that would accommodate his needs.