Waltrout lives in an abandoned cellar near the Reikland Gate. Dressed in stinking rags, his hair matted with dirt, his eyes bulge and his mouth flaps like a dying fish. The simpleton scrapes by a living collecting dung for the tannery. The children chase him away with stones when they see him. He often visits brother Grabbe and assembles small sculptures made of bone. His only other "friend" was Lazarus Mourn, whom he called "master".

"I'm sorry it's master... e's told me fings and dey ring in m'e 'ead dey do... I'm so sorry... pwease understand..."