Doctor Simeon

Walter Simeon’s life changed forever during one snowy day in 1842. As usual he was playing on his own, watched over by his fretting mother who remarked, ‘He never talks to anyone... He’s so alone.’ But moments after she walked away, something incredible happened. Walter spoke to the snowman he was building and heard it reply. A sonorous voice concurred with his own thoughts. Don’t talk to them, the voice told him, they’re silly. Hadn’t he always said that? But still, the experience shook him… He began to run until the voice continued. ‘You don’t need anyone else!’ Walter paused… Whether he realised it or not, his life had just become colder…

Doctor Simeon appeared to be the Great Intelligence’s most important human servant and his devotion was absolute. ‘I serve you in this,’ he once declared, ‘As in everything else.’ Certainly, this misplaced loyalty was extraordinary and he was prepared to kill for the Intelligence, ruthlessly letting his army of deadly snowmen loose on unarmed workers. His dedication was all the more remarkable insofar as the on-going plan entailed ‘the last winter of humankind’. But Simeon’s childhood disregard for other people had mutated into something more sinister and extreme, leaving him hell-bent on the destruction of his fellow man. bbc