Dr. Theodore Erswick

Dr. Theodore Erswick is one of the two main antagonists of The Last Lamia, along with the Advocate, Theodore first appears in Episode 6 "After Rain". He wishes to create superhumans by performing painful experiments fusing human DNA with Lamia DNA, hoping for it to mutate the subject into a higher level of evolution, though it usually does the opposite.

He is the sociopathic leader of Avatech's Project Ascension. After forming a Faustian deal with a tribe of Lamias, Erswick has them kidnapped from their beds at night to conduct excessive experiments and Electric Torture on them, before wiping their memories so that his pact can remain intact. Erswick would later gleefully murder off all the Lamias when instructed, and when he comes across the dying Lamia, Sovereign, he tortures her by shooting her repeatedly, then burns her alive for his amusement. Erswick would later conduct horrific and torturous experiments on innocent people, killing them or transforming them into mindless monsters in constant agony. When rebel leader Xander makes a deal with Erswick to save his sister, Erswick betrays him and instead injects all four members of the rebel group with an experimental formula, with Lani burning to death from the inside and technician Brec transforming into another monster as a result.

Why He Sucks

 * 1) He’s a stereotypically "evil mad scientist" seen everywhere, with nothing creative or different to say about him as a sadistic scientist.
 * 2) Even though he is drawn extremely well, his design looks bland and typical of a regular scientist, especially in a realistic form.
 * 3) He has practically no personality other than wanting to torture and kill people, though he’s a bit varied as he targets both his own species and another species.
 * 4) He (almost) always wins, even though he is the villain.
 * 5) Even when Jason escapes (which could allow him to successfully create superhumans), it only seems like a minor inconvenience, since while his escape would most likely result in more failed experiments, he actually enjoys it when a person’s body rejects the formula, since it normally results in someone being burned from the inside out. And if the formula has no effect, he can simply electrocute them until there’s nothing left but ash.
 * 6) Though he brutally murders the resistance group sent after him, he does not consider them to be a serious threat to the company he works for, which makes the brutal murder seem pointless when he’s not even doing it for revenge.
 * 7) On that subject, he brutally murders Lani (who is reduced to blood and ash) and makes her brother Xander watch, even though Lani is his only family left. He then electrocutes Xander to the point where there’s not even a skull.
 * 8) He persuades Xander to betray his friends by promising to cure Lani, which was a simple lie. And yes, Theodore does not look trustworthy at all.
 * 9) He turns Beck into a humanoid monster, and then forces him to try to kill his friend, Scott. And yes, Scott is basically forced to watch his friends all get killed.
 * 10) On the subject of monsters, he kidnaps many people and makes them unable to think, but still able to comprehend orders. And the transformation is painful.
 * 11) He commits genocide against the lamias, after electrocuting some of them for fun. And while he erased the memories of the lamias he kidnapped and electrocuted, it was likely that the lamias would eventually get suspicious if they noticed other lamias were spontaneously disappearing and reappearing.
 * 12) He kills the Lamia Sovereign in a truly horrific manner (shooting her in non-lethal areas, and then burning her alive) when she was already fatally wounded.
 * 13) Speaking of which, his sense of humor is not really funny. It's more humorless and insensitive than twisted in a hilarious wau, as he more or less spends his whole time joking as his victims die in horrible ways, which is just sad. For example, when one of them burns up from the inside out (which culminates in her exploding into blood and ash), he remarks that he’s starting the party (nobody else in the room has fallen victim to him yet) with a bang.
 * 14) His plan to commit genocide against the lamias could actually be considered stupid, as he likes to experiment on them. If he wipes them all out, how can he experiment on them further????

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) His voice actor is decent.
 * 2) He doesn’t always get off scot-free. However, it’s possible to argue it would be much more satisfying if Jason and Amali both killed him, seeing as both have a score to settle with him.
 * 3) Despite looking bland, he’s drawn surprisingly well.
 * 4) One might find him unintentionally hilarious. Though some of his dialogue can be enjoyed unironically.