Samuel Ward

Samuel Ward is a private investigator based in San Francisco, California and the main protagonist from the short story The Nightmare of Samuel Ward.

Background
In the original short story, almost no details are given about Samuel Ward or his past. In the canceled video game adaption of the short story, Samuel Ward worked as a private investigator in San Francisco, California before the events of the short story. It would also have been shown that Samuel Wards was part psychic, having an almost supernatural intuition on the cases that he's investigating. As a child he was plagued by nightmares (or psychic visions) of his death at the hands of a man with pure black eyes.

Several months before the events of the short story, San Francisco was plagued by a series of gruesome murders similar to those committed by Jack the Ripper in 1888. Samuel Ward was hired by one of the victim's family members to investigate the murders and find the killer. After several weeks into his investigation, Samuel Ward was soon tormented by nightmares featuring the same figure that tormented him during childhood.

The Nightmare of Samuel Ward (Short story)
On November 3, 2014; Samuel Ward experienced his most intense nightmare with The Black-Eyed Man. In it the private detective found himself in a spectral city filled with crowds of people from various centuries. Discovering that he was having a nightmare after attempting to get the attention of one of the members of the crowd, he soon encountered The Black-Eyed Man.

After attempting to question the entity, who responded with cryptic answers about "choosing" Samuel Ward for something, he seemingly found himself within a small cabin where a disheveled man sat behind a desk. After a tense encounter with the man, Samuel Ward was forced to hide as The Black-Eyed Man arrived, and, to his horror, he soon witnessed the disheveled man's brutal murder by The Black-Eyed Man. Samuel Ward was soon violently thrown from the room and into a dark cavern. His encounters in the "Dead Pit" including the discovery that the place was a body drop for many of Jack's victims, and their rising from their cold resting places to torment the horrified detective. The undead mob soon fled in terror upon the arrival of Jack, who proceeded to put Samuel Ward in a choke hold. The detective's desperate attempts to free himself from his attacker's grip managed to reveal the true face of The Black-Eyed Man.

This revelation was enough to awaken Samuel Ward from his fevered slumber, discovering Jack standing beside him. Revealing the truth behind the murders, and Samuel Ward's role in them, the detective was soon murdered by Jack. It was later revealed that Jack had framed Samuel Ward for the San Francisco murders.

Personality
Samuel Ward is markedly different from most investigative characters, most notably his almost supernatural intuition he feels whilst investigating a case. Since his childhood, he has been plagued with nightmares/visions of his own demise at the hands of a shadowy figure (Jack). He also has within him a deep desire to see through his job to the end, this also grows to the point of obsession and little regard for his own life which ultimately leads to his demise. In spite of all this, Samuel Ward is a good person, hiding his vulnerabilities and troubles behind the facade of emotional detachment and indifference. However, when it comes down to it, he is a man who will do anything for the ones he cares about. Throughout his investigation of the San Francisco serial murders he is tormented by Jack and gradually unravels, with all his repressed emotions bubbling to the surface.

Trivia

 * Samuel Ward's name was partially inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft character Charles Dexter Ward from the 1927 short horror novel The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.