This guide details the role and background information of major characters appearing in the video game Deus Ex.
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Maggie Chow, voiced by Carolyn McCormick, is a former Hong Kong actress who intrigues on behalf of Majestic 12, pitting the two major triads against each other. Chow appears quite charming at first and hints to JC that she had a relationship with Paul Denton. She is later revealed to be a ruthless operative capable of torture and murder, and practically everything she tells JC can be disproved. She lives in a penthouse apartment on top of a residential building, protected by MJ12 soldiers who have secret quarters there, and also has access to all areas of the Versalife facility. She is last seen protecting the Universal Constructor there and may be killed by the player.
Gunther Hermann, voiced by Jeff Groteboer, is a top agent of the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Coalition, or UNATCO. Standing at six feet eight inches tall, the commandant of the UNATCO weapons course is well-versed in the use of deadly weapons such as assault rifles, plasma cannon, flamethrowers, and combat knives. In the game, it is stated that Hermann has killed close to a thousand people.
Gunther, as chronicled in the novel Icarus Effect, was once a hotheaded GSG9 agent. He was later recruited into the Tyrants by Jaron Namir around 2027. However, he is badly wounded during a mission in Switzerland to assassinate Bill Taggart by Anna Kelso (who recognizes him as her superior officer's killer), who causes Gunther to swerve off the road into the Rhone River, detonating the car bomb he was carrying. He was then given extensive augmentation to save his life after he is recovered from the Rhone River by Bob Page.
A "mech-aug", or mechanically augmented agent, Gunther is resentful of the arrival of a new breed of nano-augmented UNATCO agents whom he fears will replace his generation. Like fellow UNATCO mech and friend Anna Navarre, Gunther has sacrificed societal acceptance for enhanced mission performance by volunteering for his first-generation mechanical augmentation. He deeply resents "the infinite power of nano-augmentation", as well as the agents who utilize them. While his augmentations grant him strength and speed far beyond that of normal men, they have also left him disfigured. His ability to upgrade his biomechanical mods is also finite, and they are prone to the degradation of any constantly operating piece of machinery. He receives significant wear in his line of work, and is often returning to Dr. Jaime Reyes for a tune-up.
Later in the game, Gunther is sent to kill JC Denton, whom he engages in a French cathedral, linked to the Knights Templar. If he is killed, Walton Simons tells JC that he only sent Gunther because he was tired of him complaining about wanting to avenge Anna Navarre and wanting a tune-up. It is possible to avoid fighting Gunther Hermann several ways.
Gunther has a heavy German accent, as well as a love of murder and mayhem that endears him to Anna Navarre. If she is killed, Gunther shows an uncharacteristic distress. In the Paris Cathedral personnel-quarters, the player can read the Cathedral chef's diary stating that Gunther had been waiting for JC for a long while, and that he thought he heard him cry once.
Hacking into Gunther's UNATCO computer reveals a wealth of badly-spelt correspondence. Hermann is apparently paranoid; an overheard conversation between Gunther and Anna Navarre reveals that his large fingers may also hinder his ability to operate soda machines, although he insists that the "maintenance man" switched the cans of orange soda in the machine with lemon-lime, as "he knows I like orange." The player can read an e-mail from Jaime Reyes quoting an anonymous e-mail from a mech-aug (clearly Gunther, judging from the bad spelling) in which he expresses concern that he and those like him will be "sld at flee markets... old gray golems for scareing the children."
Gunther often finds himself fantasizing about ever more impractical augmentations he believes his superiors might offer him, such as a head-mounted gun, or "skul-gun" (sic), that would allow him to kill without using his arms. When the player returns to the ruined UNATCO base in the sequel to Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible War, a conversation with an NPC confirms that Gunther was indeed a victim of conspiracy by the maintenance men. Also, it can be learnt that a skull-gun shipment was received by UNATCO a little while after Hermann's demise.
Like most active mech-aug agents, Gunther was wired to a killphrase, a fail-safe intended to prevent Hermann from turning against his employers. Uttering the phrase "Laputan machine" in Gunther's presence detonates an explosive device in his chest. The phrase itself refers to the flying city of Laputa from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels in which amazingly skilled engineers are forced to work with ancient tools such as compasses and quadrants. A conversation with Jaime Reyes in Paris explains that "At the sound of your (JC Denton's) voice, 400 milliamps will discharge into Gunther's mid-brain. Poof!". In the game, this self-destruct mechanism takes a few seconds to arm, just long enough for Gunther to protest "I am not a machine!", to which the protagonist JC Denton replies "Sticks and stones."
Joseph Manderley, voiced by John Gault, is Director of the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Coalition (UNATCO). Manderley was formerly a high ranking Interpol official, and had previously assisted Majestic 12 in their efforts to annihilate the Knights Templar to help establish their dominance throughout Europe. Manderley appears to be installed by Majestic 12 to help place an urbane face on UNATCO's public relations and media management.
When JC initially arrives at UNATCO's headquarters on Liberty Island, Manderley is already under considerable pressure, primarily from Walton Simons, as a result of the disappointing field performance of JC's brother, Paul Denton. As Paul's Commanding Officer, Manderley has been charged with the task of assuring the success of the "Primary Unit" as the unwitting tool of Bob Page and Majestic 12 by having him assist their efforts through the facade of completing UNATCO anti-terrorism operations. As Paul Denton has become aware of this fact through those he has been sent to eliminate, he has continually returned from the majority of his missions having "failed" to complete his assigned task. Given one final opportunity to prove his worth by the increasingly agitated Page, Manderley naturally spends most of his time with JC reminding him to always follow procedure, never question standing orders, and to obey the commands of superior officers. Manderley also places JC under the command of a trusted operative, Agent Anna Navarre.
When JC, following the advice of his brother, defects to the NSF, Manderley is held solely responsible for the loss of both units. As JC attempts to escape UNATCO headquarters, he confronts Manderley, who encourages him to escape as a ploy to throw JC off-guard, shooting at him as he moves to exit the office. Provided the player does not kill Manderley during the escape, either through non-lethal force or by simply fleeing the building, Walton Simons later has Manderley executed for his incompetence, framing JC for his murder through manipulation of the media. Having been framed for several high-profile murders orchestrated by Majestic 12, JC is no longer able to rely on the mainstream population or any form of law-enforcement for assistance. This step was designed solely to alienate JC from the general public.
Manderley is mentioned in Deus Ex: Human Revolution as being the high ranking official responsible for planting fake evidence on the deaths of Sarif Industries' scientists at the beginning of the game and of the early closing of the subsequent investigation.
Anna Navarre, voiced by Carolyn McCormick, is a top agent of the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Coalition (UNATCO). She is very loyal to UNATCO. She stands roughly five feet ten inches tall, and sports extensive mechanical augmentation.
Anna is not a stranger to blood and gore. In fact, she revels in it (much to the chagrin of fellow agent Paul Denton). Like fellow mech-aug Gunther, Anna harbors a nearly sociopathic degree of disgust and suspicion for the normal civilian populace, and always prefers to kill first and ask questions later in crisis situations. But unlike Gunther, she prefers a silent, stealthy kill to an all-out frontal assault (as evidenced by her focus on stealth in her section of the UNATCO training course). She has even gone so far to have a cloaking augmentation installed. If she kills the player at a certain point in the game, she may remark that it marks her 910th kill.
Anna was JC's first partner after his arrival at UNATCO, but she was content to sit out their first mission outside Castle Clinton while Denton handled the guards inside (presumably so that Denton's performance could be "assessed"). She is suspicious and somewhat hostile toward her nano-augmented colleagues, but has a more open mind than her cohort, Agent Hermann. Anna will put up with them, as long as they get the job done (in as bloody a manner as possible). Avoiding confrontation or using non-lethal methods will cause her to show her disgust with the player's "weakness". If the player chooses a violent path for their character, Anna begins to significantly warm up to him after the first two missions.
The game offers several opportunities in which Anna Navarre can be killed, and this affects later responses by Hermann and other characters. The first occasion is within the NSF's parked Boeing 747 where the player can kill Anna in order to prevent (or in retaliation for) the extrajudicial execution of a surrendered, unarmed NSF leader. Later, during an encounter in the subway at Battery Park, Anna may also be killed. The definitive final encounter, however, occurs at UNATCO headquarters. Like Gunther Hermann, Agent Navarre can be terminated by simply speaking aloud a killphrase, specifically "flatlander woman". As in Gunther's case, death only occurs after a few seconds, long enough for Navarre to express her fury ("How did you know-?!").
Page, voiced by Cliff Stephens, is known as a wealthy philanthropist and the founder and owner of Page Industries. Bob Page is the main villain in the game and was a special protégé to Illuminati leader Morgan Everett. Although Page was a good student, he was also impatient and short-tempered. Page and Everett developed Daedalus, an Artificial Intelligence program that would help the Illuminati keep track of and control the new communication technologies. The duo also started the project that Majestic 12 would eventually turn into the Gray Death virus. Page was a major power behind the push for nanotechnology, and was a part of the enhancement project that JC Denton and Paul Denton went through.
Page grew impatient with Everett's unwillingness to use the technology and the Illuminati's slow, gentle ways, and rebelled by forming Majestic 12, which eventually took over much of the Illuminati's power structures and resources. The final blow to the Illuminati was when Page gained almost total control of the information infrastructure through the Aquinas System at Area 51 and the Daedalus A.I., thereby making it unsafe for the Illuminati to communicate over the Internet and instead forcing them to communicate by other means.
However, each of Page's schemes led to a terrifying overall goal. Ultimately, Page planned to perfect the use of nanotechnological augmentations through the Denton brothers and Walton Simons so that he could use the perfected version on himself. Instead of turning him into something akin to a super-soldier, Page's modifications would allow him to link himself to the Aquinas Router (which monitored all communication technologies on earth) and then merge with the Helios A.I. He would then unite his system with a series of Universal Constructors, which would allow him to physically create anything he desired on a near-infinite level. With this completed, Page would be all-seeing, all-knowing and all-powerful; essentially, he would be God.
Publicly, Bob Page is the richest man on Earth; a trillionaire and head of the massive Page Industries. Page likes to groom his image in the public eye as a great philanthropist by donating millions of credits to the needy. In secret, however, he schemes to plunge the world into chaos in order to promote the conditions that will allow him to achieve world domination. VersaLife, a subsidiary of Page Industries, manufactures the antidote for the Gray Death, Ambrosia, and is also responsible for the Gray Death itself.
In two of the three possible endings to the game, the player is required to kill Bob Page. In the ending where JC merges with Helios, it is unknown what becomes of Page. In Deus Ex: Invisible War, Bob Page is believed to have died at Area 51.
He appears in the open cinematic of Deus Ex: Human Revolution still voiced by Stephens (as mentioned in the credits). A post- end credits cutscene confirms that he is in fact Bob Page.
Walton Simons (voiced by Tom Hall) is the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and a member of Majestic 12. He is the closest associate of Bob Page, and a very powerful man in Washington. He was appointed to FEMA through Page's manipulation of an unnamed senator infected with the Gray Death, and went to work immediately. A strictly cloak-and-dagger man, Simons was the first higher-up on the scene after JC Denton's capture of NSF operatives in Battery Park, though his interrogations consisted mostly of numerous shotgun blasts to the chest.
The third successful nano-augmented human (after Paul and JC Denton), Simons is widely considered one of the most dangerous men in Majestic 12. Although augmented with numerous combat-aiding modifications, he claims that they are strictly for increased ability for work in FEMA disaster relief. He also travels with an escort of two or more Men in Black, and it is revealed later in the game he carries both a plasma rifle and a Dragon's Tooth sword — both of which are high-powered weapons with almost instantly lethal capabilities. Late in the game, Simons hunts down JC in one of MJ12's offshore bases with the intention of killing him. If he fails here but survives, he makes a final appearance at Area 51, again with the intention to kill JC.
As well as being a skilled fighter, Simons is also a Machiavellian politician, who uses his skills in intimidation to coerce and command his numerous underlings. This can be seen during his conversations with UNATCO head Joseph Manderley.
Simons is the military and political commander, mirrored by Bob Page who is the financial and corporate sponsor, both using secrecy and violence to achieve their common goal of world domination.
Simons' name comes from Warren Spector's long-time friend Walton Simons.[1]
General Sam Carter, voiced by Sean Hennigan, is the quartermaster and arms supplier for UNATCO. Something of a legend among the military for his actions in "the Merced Operation" (the details of which are not explained in the game), he is immediately recognised by JC when the two first meet. His family was murdered by the NSF, but his response to JC's attempts at sympathy are curt. Although a strong fighter and skilled soldier, Carter has an intimate understanding of military tactics and he applauds JC when stealth and skill are used instead of brute force.
Carter has a belief that a benign military can exist to truly serve peace and the people. When UNATCO's secrets are revealed, Carter is loath to give up his loyalty, because of the belief that UNATCO can still do good if most of its employees are there to serve good. As the game progresses, however, he is fired, and contacts his friend Gary Savage of X-51 to volunteer his services for the resistance forces.
Paul Denton, also voiced by Jay Anthony Franke, is a main character in both Deus Ex and its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War. He is the older brother of JC Denton and becomes the catalyst for one of the main plot twists of the game.
Paul Denton is the older brother of JC Denton and a UNATCO employee in the beginning of Deus Ex. He was the first agent to successfully have nano-augmentations implanted into his body; thus he is referred to as "the primary unit" by Bob Page and Walton Simons.
As Deus Ex begins, Paul has just returned from Hong Kong. Since both brothers are clones, Paul Denton looks almost exactly like JC (his appearance automatically changing to match that selected for JC by the player), but is of a wholly different stock of character. Where JC is stolid and perfunctory, Paul is passionate and dedicated. Where JC is cold and logical, Paul is empathetic and favors non-lethal force over taking an enemy's life. It is discovered later in the game that Paul has switched allegiances and is now working for the NSF. It is possible for him to die, depending on the player's actions, such as leaving or saving him during an assault on his hotel room. Paul's foes include Gunther Hermann, a loyal UNATCO agent who requests his assassination. If the player decides to save Paul, he will later turn up in Hong Kong and sometimes talk to the player via info link.
Prior to his defection, Paul is repeatedly mocked and criticized by UNATCO personnel over his distaste for violent methods. This is more than likely resulting from Paul's role as a double agent, and the emphasis on non-violent safety protocol are actually his attempt to mitigate the losses of the NSF with whom his interests coincide. He does not express the need for the same restraint after J.C. defects from UNATCO.
Stanton Dowd, voiced by Randy Tallman, is one of the leaders of the Illuminati: the highest operative in the United States and one of the main financiers of the National Secessionist Forces rebellion.
Dowd and JC first meet in Hell's Kitchen after JC returns from Hong Kong, and again later in his family mausoleum in a NYC graveyard. Dowd, through his contact Harley Filben, informs JC of the Majestic 12 plot to load a superfreighter with several shipments of the Gray Death. He instructs JC on how to sabotage the freighter, then directs him to Nicolette DuClare in France. He can also provide the player with a lot of background information on the Illuminati and Bob Page.
Dowd is infected with the Gray Death, though the player has the option to provide him with a vial of Ambrosia to treat himself. Either way, he contacts JC one last time near the end of the game, urging him to listen to Morgan Everett and join the Illuminati. This prompts Bob Page to mock him directly, over JC's infolink.
Nicolette DuClare is the daughter of Elizabeth DuClare, a former leading member of the defunct Illuminati and mentioned in Deus Ex: Human Revolution to have been an influential member of the World Health Organization. After her mother is assassinated by Majestic 12, Nicolette assumes control of Beth's activities and assets. With her mother's considerable amassed fortune and Illuminati contacts, she collaborates with alleged terrorist group, Silhouette, by providing financial support and strategic intelligence to help the largely propaganda-based group avoid open conflict with Majestic 12's elite military forces.
When JC Denton arrives in Paris, France in an attempt to contact former Illuminati leader, Morgan Everett, he must enlist the assistance of Silhouette and Nicolette DuClare to do so. After rescuing the besieged Silhouette forces that have been discovered by Majestic 12's commando units in the city's labyrinth of underground catacombs networks and bunkers, JC is informed by Chad of Nicolette's whereabouts. After JC's subsequent contact with Nicolette, he is lead to Beth DuClare's chateau, where he successfully establishes contact with Morgan Everett. After this event occurs, Nicolette and JC part company.
Nicolette DuClare returns in Deus Ex: Invisible War as "Her Holiness".
Morgan Everett, voiced by Sean Hennigan, is the acting leader of the Illuminati. His residence is somewhere in Paris, France, though the exact location cannot be confirmed. Everett was the creator of the prototype AI codenamed Morpheus, which later became Echelon III, and was the architect of its successor, the Echelon IV AI known as Daedalus. He was the mentor of Bob Page before Page left the Illuminati to form Majestic 12, and a close friend of Stanton Dowd.
Everett is extremely cautious and receives visitors only after they have proven themselves to be loyal to the Illuminati. Even then he does not allow them to know the location of his compound, instead opting to render visitors unconscious with neuroparalytic gas and transport them in secret through his associate Toby Atanwe.
Everett's compound is quite vast and contains computer and nanotech laboratories, hydroponic growing vats, a repair depot, and a helipad. It also includes a secret room containing his predecessor Lucius DeBeers, who was leader of the Illuminati during the 20th century, waiting for the technology which could restore his health in order to resume his leadership role. Everett tells JC that this technology has long since been developed, but he is keeping this fact secret from DeBeers, preserving him, harmlessly semi-conscious, in his life support machine as an adviser. DeBeers strongly implies he was responsible for John F. Kennedy's assassination.
According to an email in the Illuminati facility beneath Picus TV in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Morgan Everett was the chief executive officer of the Picus Group during the events of that game. The post-credit scene confirms that he already is involved with the Illuminati and Bob Page.
Brian "Jock" Flanagan (voiced by John Gault) is a UNATCO helicopter pilot who turns rogue. Jock is entrusted to fly one of the so-called "black helicopters," low-noise, low-visibility stealth helicopters, to assist MJ12 and UNATCO with their covert operations. Jock transports the player from place to place as a dutiful pilot, but when the player is given the opportunity to speak to him in the Underworld Bar at Hell's Kitchen, New York (the only time he can be found apart from his chopper), he learns more about Jock's ambitions (for the price of a few drinks).
As a longtime pilot for covert operations, Jock is aware of many top-secret forces at work involving Echelon, Area 51, and other covert government operations. JC is initially skeptical of Jock's claims of massive centralized surveillance and artificial intelligence, but as the game progresses, the proof presents itself.
Jock is a longtime friend of Paul Denton, and is eager to assist the resistance by bringing JC to Hong Kong after his escape from UNATCO. Jock continues to assist JC as pilot and occasional informant until the end of the game, where the player's actions determine if he survives to the finale.
Jock is never fully fleshed out in the game, as he is only seen in person briefly. The longtime friendship between Jock and Paul is not expressed to a substantial level.
Prior to the events of the game, Jock was employed by Tracer Tong to spy on Maggie Chow. This is evident by accessing Jock's apartment, which is across the street from Maggie's. There the player can find a set of binoculars and orders of the surveillance. Also, the same building has a rifle hidden on a ledge, though it can't be used from that position.
Jock may or may not die in the progress of the game's story by means of sabotage to his helicopter, depending on whether or not the player discovers an infiltration by an MJ12 operative at Morgan Everett's labs.
Jacobson, voiced by Richard Gaubert, is a UNATCO systems administrator and technician, coordinating all of its security and cyberspace operations from deep within the bowels of the Liberty Island facility. Highly skilled and adept at his profession, Jacobson was specifically head-hunted by UNATCO high-command to handle all of the team's IT requirements and to serve as its primary cyber-security officer charged with combating the threat of viral uploads, hacking, spying and data theft. Jacobson's office has a secret crawlspace beneath the floor, which is used regularly by Shannon and Tech Sergeant Kaplan to stash various items and "Credit Chits" stolen by the pair for sale or use at a later date, although Alex remains oblivious to this fact. Alex has a casual and easy-going personality, and is apparently not overly interested in the administrative and political machinations of UNATCO's day-to-day operations. In the course of the game however, much like his colleague, Jaime Reyes, Alex finds his loyalty to UNATCO tested by the behaviour of its agents and leaders. Becoming severely disillusioned with his employer, Alex accepts JC's offer to join Tracer Tong in Hong Kong to help uncover the truth behind the Majestic 12 conspiracy.
Jacobson also serves as field advisor to biomodified troops during combat operations, although this position is not actually official as of yet, due to the fact that biomodification technology is still undergoing field-testing. When JC first arrives at Liberty Island, Alex is tasked with supplying the rookie operative with all required information, geographical details, schematics, structural layouts and enemy positioning details to assist him in the completion of his objectives. Jacobson communicates with Paul and JC via the "Infolink", a piece of bioaugmentation technology capable of providing a direct internal link to the brain of an augmented operative. Jacobson sees everything JC sees, and hears everything JC hears. As a result, he is privy to all information made known to JC throughout his mission. After JC becomes aware of the Majestic 12 conspiracy, Alex defects too.
Tong then sends Alex to the residence of Morgan Everett, former head of the overthrown Illuminati, in an attempt to verify Everett's alleged intentions to assist the resistance's war with Majestic 12.
Alex does not appear to be augmented, but he interfaces with systems through a wearable computer. One can see wires running through his clothes, as well as a keyboard attached to his pant leg. It is likely that his glasses are a visual display.
Alex Jacobson's character model and name are based on Warren Spector's own nephew, Alec Jacobson.[2]
Jaime Reyes, voiced by Sean Hennigan, attends to the medical needs of all UNATCO's soldiers, including its augmented agents; regarding the mech-augs, he complains he sometimes feels more like a mechanic than a doctor.[3] He is seen frequently in the start of the game whenever JC returns to UNATCO's headquarters, and provides him with nano-augmentation canisters and upgrades from time to time. His office is also stocked with med-kits. Reyes is endeared to JC because of an understanding of his past, and eagerly assists JC upon his arrival at UNATCO. Reyes becomes dissatisfied with the organization as JC uncovers its secrets, but he is far less passionate about it than Paul. The player is given the choice to either keep Reyes in UNATCO as a covert informant, or to advise him to escape and assist the resistance. If Reyes escapes, he arrives at the Luminous Path Compound with an augmentation upgrade canister, which he gives to JC. If he stays at UNATCO, he eventually leaves and meets JC at the Enfant Terrible café in Paris. There, he reveals Gunther's killphrase: "Laputian Machine".
Tracer Tong, voiced by John Gault, is an ally and informant to Paul Denton. He resides in Hong Kong and heads a small laboratory that aids the Luminous Path triad and the global resistance to MJ-12. His laboratory is located underneath the compound of the Luminous Path, one of two triads that vie for control of Hong Kong. Paul first becomes an ally of Tracer via e-mail exchanges leading him down a path towards UNATCO's secrets. Both Paul and JC were assigned to assassinate Tracer Tong, as MJ12 views him as a very powerful threat, but both defect before completing their respective missions.
Tracer Tong is a curious man, and curiosity is what leads him to follow JC's actions upon first meeting him; however, his loyalty is not blind. JC must earn the trust of Tracer, even though his brother is Tong's ally and friend. When JC gains a sliver of Tong's trust, Tong uses his laboratory to deactivate JC's killswitch, thus saving his life.
Tong continues to aid JC (as much as JC continues to aid Tong). He orders JC to steal the schematic of the Dragon's Tooth sword from the MJ-12 VersaLife facility in Hong Kong so that they could arm opponents of MJ-12. He also aided the research into the cure for the Gray Death virus along with Morgan Everett and Dr Gary Savage. During the game, one of his experiments backfires and infects him with the Gray Death, but Tong's life is saved with the help of Dr. Gary Savage at Vandenburg.
He is key in influencing J.C. into initiating the Great Collapse at Area 51 at the end of the game. Tong believes the end of global communications would bring about a new enlightenment age of small government, and local city-states free from the control of secret, global superpowers such as MJ-12. Instead, the Great Collapse brings about a period of global chaos, anarchy, and warfare. In conversation with Alex Denton in the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Tracer displays a degree of regret regarding his actions. The Denton brothers eventually found ApostleCorp with the goal of finding a less destructive route towards the advancement of humanity and its freedom.
A teenage Tong also appears in Deus Ex: Human Revolution voiced by Shawn Baichoo. He was captured by Belltower, the private security force that rules Hengsha, because he is the son of Triad crime lord Tong Tsi-Hung. The game's protagonist, Adam Jensen, is instructed by Tsi-Hung to rescue his son in a mission exclusive to the Explosive Mission Pack included in certain versions of the game. After rescuing him, Adam learns that Tong purposefully let himself captured because he disagreed with his father being involved with augmentation technology, for which Adam chastises him and gives him lesson about gaining too much power, a lesson Tong will teach to JC in the future. After Adam detonates a bomb to distract Belltower soldiers at Hengsha harbor, he witnesses the young Tong escaping the city on a boat called "The Tracer" and waving Adam goodbye.
The AI that would later be known as Daedalus (voiced by Jay Franke) was conceived by the brilliant mind of Morgan Everett, the current leader of Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati. Everett conceived the program that would eventually create Daedalus, as a way to create the near perfect advisor, with the ability to sift through gigantic amounts of data, and through that predict disasters, both natural and man-made, and to make plans to prevent them, which the Illuminati could then choose to either ignore or execute.
Daedalus was never meant to have an actual sentience or self-awareness, and was only to give advice - not to do anything itself. Everett's protege Bob Page, however, saw Daedalus as the means to keep tabs on and control the huge amounts of electronic information that filtered through the Internet and other electronic media, a feat that both the Illuminati, and its splinter cell, Majestic 12, that Page controlled, had not been able to pull off.
Page's ideas for Daedalus' reconfiguration did not fly totally under the radar as the entire project became linked, logically enough, to the creation of the ECHELON IV's replacement. Before the Illuminati and MJ-12 could put a stop to it, a few rumours filtered through to the various conspiracy theorist groups on the Internet. Meanwhile, Page completed Daedalus, which soon after, without even alerting Page that he had succeeded, fled into the Internet and began to become self-aware. Page originally intended Daedalus as a tool to keep track of any developments that would threaten MJ-12, which meant all terrorist groups. This greatly backfired when its pattern matching system classified MJ-12 itself as a terrorist group.
After having sorted though much of the information on the Net, Daedalus found that the world was on the verge of collapse. Still retaining some of the basic parameters that Everett had encoded in the basic template, Daedalus began to ponder how it was going to save the world from itself, and not least MJ-12.
Daedalus was not designed to reside in one major mainframe or hub, but rather to exist simultaneously as a line of code or two on every single device connected to the Internet, not unlike the distributed computing of today. This not only made Daedalus almost impossible to trace, but also gave it huge amounts of processing power.
Daedalus eventually found Paul Denton to help him. When Paul became unable to continue the fight against MJ-12, Daedalus abandoned him in favour of his brother JC. In the end, Daedalus was tricked into merging with his MJ-12-friendly, and slightly crazed, "brother" Icarus, which Page had made as a replacement, creating the AI Helios.
Daedalus' avatar icon is a flat, heavily-stylized silhouette of a grim or emotionless face. As mentioned earlier, Daedalus' global presence can be noted even early on in the game, well before direct contact is made with JC; "Daedalus" is the name of the primary Internet3 communications protocol that replaces HTTP (and possibly all other protocols), and as such appears as the URL scheme preceding all Uniform Resource Locator addresses. For all intents and purposes, Daedalus is the Internet.
Icarus, voiced by Peter Marquardt, was created by Bob Page (head of Majestic 12) as a replacement for Daedalus, which had escaped from his control, and has similar functions to its predecessor. Icarus is one of the game's antagonists; it is used by MJ-12 to track the movements and activities of the main character, JC Denton, after he escapes from a holding cell in the secret MJ-12 Headquarters on Liberty Island. According to Sam Carter, Icarus is of the same design as Daedalus. However, Icarus has modifications different to Daedalus. JC Denton has brief contact with Icarus throughout the game; these involve taunts, warnings, questions and misinformation received as voice messages, phone calls, and posted messages on public computer terminals. Icarus eventually merges with the Daedalus AI to become Helios.
Icarus' avatar icon is an eyeball with a protruding iris, and emanating thin spikes all around. Surrounding the eyeball is a series of curved plates.
Helios, voiced by Peter Marquardt, is an A.I. that is created when the artificial intelligences Icarus and Daedalus merged. Bob Page knew the merge would happen, and planned to merge himself with the AI, becoming a biological component of it. He is, however, unable to control Helios, which prefers JC Denton as its human component instead. After the merge, Helios plans to control the world as a benevolent dictator, citing history as evidence that humanity will inevitably destroy itself if left on its own. Helios selects JC Denton as its biological component believing that Denton could provide the necessary ability to understand humans that a benevolent dictator would need to rule effectively. The player can choose to help Helios, or choose one of the two other endings of the game.
Even before the ending is chosen however, Helios begins to assert its influence by interfacing with the Aquinas system located in Area 51 which surveys the entirety of the Internet. In Hong Kong Helios shuts down power to all government buildings, disables the Triads electronically and orders free flow of traffic to begin anew.
Helios' avatar icon consists of a combination of Icarus's and Daedalus's avatars.
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