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"...Portraying Bill as a once heroic army veteran, who though older and wiser, can still excel at physical combat."
―Ariel Diaz, Valve
"Bein' brave doesn't mean you're not scared. It means you're scared as hell, and then you pick up the shotgun anyway."
―Motivating an incapacitated Survivor he is reviving

William "Bill" Overbeck is one of the four playable Survivors in Left 4 Dead. He is a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Army 1st Special Forces Group, and is the oldest of the group. He is usually seen wielding the Assault Rifle (which appears as the M16A2, a real-life assault rifle used by the U.S. Military after the Vietnam War). He often has a lit cigarette in his mouth that only extinguishes when he dies.

Bill is killed prior to the events of Left 4 Dead 2's "The Passing" during the (canonical) events of "The Sacrifice". According to The Sacrifice comic, Bill was attacked by multiple Tanks after he went down to reactivate the stopped lift bridge generator to save his team from the oncoming Horde.

Bill's facial features are based on Bernard Fouquet and he was voiced by the late Jim French.

Official Description

William "Bill" Overbeck
The sacrifice bill 1280 wp Age: Unknown
Hometown: Unknown
It took two eventful tours in Vietnam, a handful of medals, a knee full of shrapnel, and an honorable discharge before the unthinkable happened: Bill ran out of wars. But now an army of infected has declared war on humanity. After decades of aimless drifting and dead-end jobs, Bill's finally gotten back the only thing he ever wanted: an enemy to fight.[1]

Background

Bill 1

Bill served 2 duties during the Vietnam war, during which he suffered a knee injury due to shrapnel boring into his knee, causing permanent damage. Two days after the first Infection, Bill was at a veterans hospital waiting for an operation, possibly relating to his knee injury. While waiting, a resident staff member attempts to make small talk with Bill regarding Bill's missing family and smoking habits. Bill then brushes him off, telling him to go practice somewhere else.

As Bill dozes off from the surgery anesthesia, one of the nurses turns due to infection and kills the operation room staff. Bill somehow staves off his oncoming unconsciousness through sheer force of will as he simultaneously fights off the infected nurse, disabling her momentarily. Defending himself with bonesaw and knife, Bill fights the sudden horde of infected outside the hospital. Back home, Bill takes out his old military fatigues, ready for war.

Relationships with other Survivors


WARNING: The following is conjecture and may not be considered canon.



Select bill

Out of the other three Survivors, Bill stands out most prominently as the leader of the group.

  • Francis
    Bill appears to have some sort of rivalry with Francis, though the precise reason for this is unknown. It is possible that Bill and Francis knew each other prior to the outbreak, and Francis's in-comic comment about knowing Bill the past few weeks suggests this too. Another cause could be Francis's supposed hatred of the military (since Bill was once a soldier), instinctive alpha-male rivalry, or simply Francis's gruff personality rubs Bill the wrong way. Alternatively, what is said could simply be friendly teasing between the two. Even when Francis is dead, Bill can be heard mourning about his death, showing at least a little respect for the latter as he will sometimes say if he sacrifices himself, "Christ, I'm gonna miss that son of a bitch."
    In The Sacrifice comic, while Bill still doesn't particularly get along with Francis, he considers Francis as 'his own', and will desert any newcomer if they have a chance of endangering his group. Francis, despite all his insults, knows Bill well enough to know even when Bill doesn't do the right thing, he does it for the right reasons. When Bill leaves the group to sacrifice himself and does not return, Francis is the first to attempt to go down to bring him back, but is stopped by Zoey as the reality of the situation sinks in, and they mourn for his death.
    In "The Passing", Francis is sometimes not happy that they have to lower the bridge, since it was due to Bill's efforts that it was raised in the first place.[2][3] Also, Francis may be heard saying that they lost a good man getting the bridge up, showing his great respect for the fallen Vietnam veteran.
  • Louis
    As far as the Survivors' relationships go, Louis and Bill do not have much evidence hinting towards each other's dispositions. Bill will, however, seem genuinely upset to see Louis die.[4] Oddly enough, this is in contrast to how unsympathetic Bill can be when Louis is incapacitated outside of the safe room.[5] However, he'll usually follow this by saying he was joking.
    In The Sacrifice comic, Bill is able to see when Louis is planning something (such as ramming a jeep leaking gasoline into a Tank) and react accordingly, and shows surprise at his intuitive thinking. Similar to how he treats Francis, Bill prioritizes the safety of Louis as one of his group above others, even if it means their deaths. Bill also told Louis once they make it to the Keys he'll make him a fishing pro. Louis also bonded with Bill after showing the older man how to make Pipe bombs, although it is not shown, having been a remark by Francis to Zoey.
    In "The Passing", Louis is sad that Bill is gone, but is resolved more than ever to stay with Francis and Zoey. When killing a Tank, Louis may proclaim the kill in Bill's name for revenge.[6]
  • Zoey
    The relationship between Bill and Zoey is fairly strong. Bill is openly sorrowful when Zoey is killed.[7] When Zoey is incapacitated on the other side of the safe room, Bill verbally refuses to leave her behind.[8] Bill seems to view her as a daughter or granddaughter figure. This is strengthened in Part One of The Sacrifice comic as Zoey is seen resting closest to Bill on the evacuation vehicle, and in that he mentions her name first when he's reflecting on sacrificing himself to save the others. To further illustrate this, he attacks a soldier who hits Zoey with his gun when demanding she show the doctor her wound, and when she reflects on how her parents died, she hugs Bill, finding comfort in his arms.
    Their relationship is strained deeply in The Sacrifice comic when he refuses to stop the train to allow the other newer Survivors on board due to his need to protect his group, of which Zoey is a part of. Later on, Bill sacrifices himself to save the other Survivors, leaving Zoey with sadness, as they never really made up prior to their separation. She takes up Bill's conviction to "look after their own" in his place. During his initial jump down the bridge, Bill mentally vents his anger at the Infected, thinking how every time he thinks "she's" safe and he can rest, they're there again like a bad nightmare. "She" in this case most likely refers to Zoey.
    In "The Passing", if Louis and Francis joke about Bill, Zoey may look away or appear very sad, hinting that she is the one who misses him the most.

The Survivors of Left 4 Dead 2 did not meet Bill before his death. However, Francis and Louis joke that Bill would probably have shot Nick quickly due to the latter's disagreeable personality.[9] Rochelle shows understanding and sympathy to Bill's death in certain lines to the original Survivors. Both Coach and Nick have multiple lines regarding the loss of Bill if his death is mentioned.

Quotes and Captions

Main article: Bill/Quotes and Captions

Behind the Scenes

Bill's original beta design was relatively similar to his current appearance. The main differences are in his clothing: a dark olive jacket with a hood and the POW flag on the right shoulder, beret with the 5th SFG insignia, a black military assault vest with the U.S. flag, dark gloves, and dog tags on the neck.

Notes

YoungBill

Young Bill during the Vietnam War

  • Jim French, who voices Bill, was a relatively frequent voice actor in Valve games, having also voiced Father Grigori from Half-Life 2, The Elder Titan from Dota 2, and The Fisherman from Half-Life 2: Lost Coast.
  • Contrary to popular belief, Bill cannot be revived with a Defibrillator during "The Passing".
  • Bill is always seen smoking a cigarette in-game. Even when he is dead, it is still in his mouth. In "The Passing", however, his cigarette is missing from his corpse. When he dies in-game, it is no longer lit. Aside from when he dies, the only other time his cigarette has been shown to not be lit is in the opening video for Left 4 Dead.
  • Bill believes that the Survivors may become Infected at any second. In the earlier versions, seen in cut lines, he was close to being paranoid about the fact they may be Infected, while the virus is mutating in their bodies. Currently, the closest Bill comes to mentioning anything about themselves regarding the Infection is in "No Mercy", where one of his possible lines is him telling his fellow Survivors to shoot him if he turns Infected.[10]
  • Bill is currently the only Survivor on the mainstream continuity with a confirmed full name(William Overbeck). "Overbeck" can be found on his military jacket, and he was addressed as "Mr. Overbeck" in The Sacrifice comic. Zoey may sometimes yell "William" if Bill is attacked by a special infected. Other than Bill, the only characters whose surnames were revealed are the protagonists introduced in Left 4 Dead: Survivors.
  • Bill's original issue combat jacket bears no badges of rank (or suggestion that they might once have been sewn on and then removed). This suggests that, as an enlisted man, Bill did not achieve even the most basic step up in promotion. Such a situation would be most unusual for a long-service soldier during the Vietnam War period, especially one with time served in the Special Forces. It may just be a developer oversight.
  • When viewing Bill's world model, one can see that Bill has a severe limp when he is at critical health. The other Survivors also stagger, but this is further proof that he injured his right leg in his line of work at some point.
  • Team Fortress 2 players who pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 received a unique in-game item called Bill's hat. It has its own small backstory: "While conducting a science experiment on parallel dimensions, Bill's Hat fell off a table into the Team Fortress universe."[11]
  • Bill may have had contact with a Witch prior to the events of Left 4 Dead. There are slash marks in the back of his jacket consistent with her claws. Furthermore, in the intro he tells Zoey to turn off her flashlight when he notices the crying is coming from a Witch; however, this may be because he saw her claws or her general inhuman appearance.
    • Alternatively, these claw marks could have come from a Hunter.
  • If one uses transformation console commands on Bill to turn him into a different Survivor, they would see that Bill possess a unique facial animation. The right side of his mouth tends to be raised, almost as if he is smiling (probably due to his cigarette) and his brows are constantly lowered.
  • At the time of the Infection, Bill appears to be a resident of the city of Fairfield, or the greater Philadelphia area.
  • If you listen the Midnight Riders song "Save Me Some Sugar" in the opposite direction from 2:14 to 2:08, you can hear the phrase "Bill is Dead". Perhaps this is a reference to the legend of Paul is Dead, according to which the bass guitarist and vocalist of the Beatles Paul McCartney died.
  • Bill was voted the most popular Survivor in Left 4 Dead 2 for Xbox 360 and second most popular for PC on the Week 20 poll.[12]
  • Valve created an achievement for Bill in "The Sacrifice" where players are awarded the "Kill Bill" achievement if Bill performs the sacrificing. This is a nod to Bill dying in the storyline. This is the only achievement in either Left 4 Dead game where it is tied to a specific character.
  • Bill smokes Romero brand cigarettes, as seen in The Sacrifice trailer. This is a nod to famous zombie movie director George A. Romero.
  • Bill is mentioned as "namvet" in the resources and code. He has 26 facial expressions, the highest of any original Survivor. 19 of these are unique to his character [sneering, shock, angry battle, hurt, fear 1-2-3, angry 1, shock dialogue, hurt dialogue, hurt 2 dialogue, happy dialogue, evil smile, eh [sic], smile 2, awe 1, awe 2, sarcastic 1, sarcastic 2]. He shares anger 3, gruff dialogue with Francis; happy with Zoey; and concerned dialogue and optimistic dialogue with Louis and Francis. None of his facial expressions are shared exclusively with Louis.
  • If a Survivor other than Bill is being sacrificed in the finale of "The Sacrifice", Bill exclaims that it wasn't supposed to be them.
  • In "The Sacrifice", Bill will occasionally make an ironic remark, "You know who runs around filling up things with gas? Idiots," as the Left 4 Dead 2 Survivors are obligated to do just that in the finales for "Dead Center" and "The Passing". It is also possible that this line could be uttered at the same time as the Left 4 Dead 2 survivors are actively fueling the car in Dead Center, as The Passing is the next campaign in the chronological timeline.
  • If Bill is spawned as a L4D1 Survivor Bot in a Custom Campaigns, he is still capable of tossing the player supplies like Francis and Zoey, despite not appearing alive in The Passing. This dates back to an original concept where a random Survivor would be dead in The Passing. Bill was eventually picked because Valve had trouble contacting Jim French, even for the "Crash Course" campaign.
  • Bill became a playable character in the game Dead by Daylight, included in the Left Behind update.
  • Bill appeared in PAYDAY: The Heist and PAYDAY 2. He can be seen in civilian attire within an elevator of a heist named "No Mercy" in both games.
  • Seen on his model's texture, he smokes an El Kirchmer Tradicional brand cigarette.
  • Upon closer inspection of Bill's beta model, the shirt he wears under his jacket has a green beret insignia.
  • Since The Last Stand Update, Bill's M-16 that can be picked in the finale of "The Passing" comes with a different model consisting of a bright silver hue, with blood splattered at various parts of the rifle.

Gallery

Bill
People
Other

References

  1. http://l4d.com/l4d/survivors.htm Survivors descriptions
  2. Francis: Look, I don't love this bridge. But we just lost a man and... Sorry brother, but you are on your own.
  3. Francis: I've been thinking about this. We lost a good man getting this goddamn thing up. Not real happy about putting it back down again.
  4. Bill: Louis didn't make it. Ah, Christ.
  5. Bill: How well do you really know Louis?
  6. Louis: That is for Bill!
  7. Bill: Ah not Zoey.
  8. Bill: I can't leave Zoey out there.
  9. Louis: You're right, Francis. He's not friendly. I think Bill would have shot him by now.
    Francis: Oh yeah. Bill definitely woulda shot him.
  10. Bill: We been immune so far, but — well, if I start to turn, promise you'll shoot me.
  11. The TF2 Team "Pre-Order Giveaway Madness!" Official Team Fortress Page, November 2, 2009
  12. Week 20
The Survivors
Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2 Others
Bill hud
Bill

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