Mr. Wakefield assumes a fatherly and charismatic facade, akin to most infamous cult leaders/the Wizard of Oz. He frequently calls people by their first names; his goal is to over-familiarize himself with you, so that when you step out of line, his disappointment alone shatters your self-assurance. Whether he actually believes the words he preaches in his sermons, I cannot say, but he has something to gain from keeping everyone under his spell.
Laurence Smith is dressed to the nines in corporate jargon, and will verbally debase a person in the same banal cadence as a press conference. He worships hierarchy more so than the demons themselves, and sees himself fit to serve the role of Wakefield’s right hand man. The only reason he of all people believes what the Curtain preaches is that he’s living proof of it—like Rebecca, he holds some connection to the Static that (with her help) enables him to broadcast portals when linked to the world of the show. His abilities also grant him access to incorporeal parts of the brain, which lend themselves to his warped version of neurosurgery. His cold, calculated presence, combined with his grisly line of work, has even led some within Hameln’s ranks to nickname him the Butcher. He doesn’t take any offense to the label. It’s just business, after all.
