SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION!
If you haven't played Mystic Messenger completely, you might read something that will reveal to you the complete story of the game. So please pay attention!
Personality
Vanderwood is seen to have a disliking towards 707 at the start of the route, often saying he will 'taser' him if he doesn't complete his work on time, which is a very harsh thing to do. Vanderwood seems to be rather shut off from people, including Seven and appears to do everything his 'boss' tells him to do.
His personality seems to change in the after ending, as he changes from the boss's pet to a bit of a risk taker, as he took Seven's offer of running away from the agency and the boss, as they were going to dispose of Vanderwood for failing to capture and silence 707. After this Vanderwood becomes scared and uncertain where to go next, and decides to take Seven's option of changing his name and running away with Seven, MC and Saeran.
Appearance
Vanderwood has pale skin, light brown eyes, and shoulder length light brown hair. He is seen wearing a black shirt with a purple collar, and a black jacket with animal print patterns on the underside.
Background story
Where or what background Vanderwood comes from is a big mystery, as he had joined the agency, and anyone joining the agency is required to have no family. He is told that Seven ran to the agency away from a drunken, abusive mother and to help his sick brother, but no one knows what Vanderwood has had to suffer to get where he is now.
Relationships
707
Vanderwood works in the same agency as Seven, and often goes to his house to check on his work. When he visits, he usually cleans Seven's house, which results in Seven giving him the alias of his housemaid. Seven gives him the fake name of Mary Vanderwood 3rd when he is mentioned in the RFA messenger.
Although at times Vanderwood seems like he dislikes Seven, this is proven wrong as he seems to care about the other hackers safety, which includes going to length such as saying seeing Seven's dead body would ruin his life. It is unclear whether these are romantic feelings or not, but it is implied that he does care about Seven. It is also said that Seven cares for him, so much as to hack into the government's documents and get Vanderwood a new identity to keep him safe from harms way.
MC
Vanderwood is tasked with watching over MC when Seven has to work, and he seems rather indifferent towards her initially. Later in the game, when he sees how caring she is towards Seven, he notes that she's "so devoted", and seems to respect and possibly admire her for it.
Unknown
In Secret Ending 01, Vanderwood doesn't seem to particularly care for Unknown as he is their hostage. They aren't hostile towards Unknown and talks with him in some parts.
In Another Story, Vanderwood is impressed by him since he can keep up and even outmaneuver 707. They consider about taking him into the agency afterwards, as he would be a great asset to have.
Trivia
- Due to a translation error, and Seven jokingly referring Vanderwood as Mary Vanderwood the 3rd or as Madam Vanderwood, Vanderwood was often mistaken for a woman by fans.
- The RFA's original Secret Book refers to Vanderwood as "she", although this is proven to be a translation error. The 2nd and 3rd batch versions have confirmed that it was a mistranslation and have since fixed this error.
- Because of Seven's security gate, Vanderwood carries an Arabic dictionary.
- Vanderwood carries around a taser and is according to Seven, "basically a walking box of weapons".
- He also works for the same agency as 707, which infers he too has ran away and left his family behind.
- Vanderwood appears to have a strange sense of humor, as when Seven gets paranoid and tells him he heard laughing and doesn't know where it came from, Vanderwood proceeds to laugh in rather mocking way, and asks Seven if he was happy now.
- Vanderwood doesn't trust romantic feelings or relationships, as he says they put the agent and the lover in danger.
- He has been Seven's minder/handler since the younger man has at least been in college.
- In the Christmas DLC, it's stated he doesn't celebrate Christmas.
- In Secret 01, Vanderwood states he has been an agent for 7 years, making him Seven's senior by 1-2 years.
- Vanderwood has stated, after much provocation from Seven, that he hates his name or code name. If he had to choose a new name, it'd be Stark.