Deus Ex characters
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This guide details the role and background information of major characters appearing in the video game Deus Ex.
Antagonists
Bob Page
Page is known as a wealthy philanthropist and the founder and owner of Page Industries, voiced by Cliff Stephens.
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 lead to a terrifying overall goal. Ultimately, Page planned to perfect the use of nanotechnological augumentations through the Denton brothers and Walton Simons so that he could use the perfected version on himself. Far from planning on turning himself 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, which was effectively super-intelligent. 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.
Publically, 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 needed. 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. Ironically, VersaLife, a subsidiary of Page Industries, not only manufactures the antidote for the Gray Death, Ambrosia, but 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.
Walton Simons
Simons is the Director of FEMA in game. Simons is voiced by Tom Hall, a well-known game designer. Walton Simons' initials are W.S. — the same as Warren Spector's, the lead designer of the game. The character was named after Wildcards author Walton Simons, one of Spector's longtime friends.[citation needed]
Walton Simons is the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and a member of Majestic 12. He is a close 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, he last shows up in a hangar at Area 51, again after 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, a bureaucrat whom Simons has put in such a position of power due to his willingness to be ordered by MJ12.
Simons also has a tendency to continually charge his bioelectric reserves, keeping them at 100% efficiency. This causes an intermittent sharp pain behind his eyes. Early in the game he is advised by Jaime Reyes to quit that habit.
Joseph Manderley
Director of the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Coalition, Manderley was a former high ranking Interpol official, from which he had previously assisted Majestic 12 in their efforts to annihilate the Knights Templar to help establish its dominance throughout Europe. [citation needed] Despite the recognition afforded to him by this accomplishment, Manderley is a bureaucrat at heart, a mere proxy 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, due to the disappointing performance of JC's brother, Paul Denton, as a UNATCO operative. As Paul's Commanding Officer, Manderley had 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 had become aware of this fact through those he had been sent to eliminate, he continually returned from the majority of his campaigns having "failed" to complete his assigned task. Given one final opportunity to prove his worth by the increasingly agitated Page, Manderley naturally spent most his time with JC reminding him to always follow procedure, never question standing orders, and to obey the commands of superior officers. Manderley also placed JC under the command of a trusted operative, Agent Anna Navarre.
When JC, following the advice of his brother, defected to the NSF, Manderley was 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.
Gunther Hermann
He was voiced by Jeff Groteboer.
Gunther Hermann is a top agent of the United Nations Anti-Terrorism Coalition, or UNATCO. Standing an ample six feet eight inches tall, the commandant of the UNATCO weapons course is well-versed in the use of deadly weapons, and is never without his assault rifle, plasma cannon, flame-thrower, and combat knife. In the game, it is stated that Hermann has killed close to a thousand people.
Gunther is a "mech", or mechanically augmented agent — a fact that by itself causes much bad blood between himself and JC Denton, who is one of a new breed of nano-augmented UNATCO agents whom the mechs fear will replace them. 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 (due to their lack of disfigurement and superior abilities). While his augmentations grant him strength and speed far beyond that of normal men, they have also left him grotesquely disfigured and isolated from normal humans. 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, he engages him in a cathedral in France. After defeating him Walton Simons tells JC (via a holographic comunicator) that he only sent Gunther because he was tired about 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. It is implied that there may be a romantic interest between the two.
Should the player decide to hack into Gunther's personal computer, he will discover a wealth of badly-typed 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." It is revealed in the sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War that the maintenance man did in fact have a plot against him.
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 (possibly a homage to the Neal Stephenson novel The Diamond Age). This is probably due to the fear that newer technology will drive mechs into obsolescence, thus encouraging them to attempt to squeeze a maximum of functional ability out of their current technologies before that happens. Gunther, in fact, writes an anonymous letter (the spelling is a giveaway) which can be read by the player in which he expresses concern that he and those like him will be "sold at flee markets...old grey golems for scaring the children." [sic]
Like most active mech-aug agents, Gunther was wired to a killphrase, a failsafe 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. This is likely a commentary on the world's ever-increasing nano-technological sophistication being hamstrung by reliance on crude and outdated machinery such as Gunther. A conversation with Jaime Reyes in Paris reveals 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 apparently takes a few seconds to arm, just long enough for Gunther to protest "I am not a machine!".
When the player returns to the ruined UNATCO base in the sequel to Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible War, the player can discover from a NPC conversation 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.
Anna Navarre
Anna is a UNATCO employee. She was voiced by Carolyn McCormick. She 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 fairly 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 Gunther, Anna feels that the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist. 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.
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, of course), and if the player chooses a violent, sociopathic path for their character, Anna begins to significantly warm 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 a 747 where the player can kill Anna in order to prevent the execution of an 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 several seconds, long enough for Navarre to express her fury ("How did you know-?!") and Denton to deliver an apt and somewhat jarring one-liner.
It is widely believed that Anna is one of two characters who must die in order to complete the game - at one point, the key to an unpassable door is only obtainable once Anna is dead. However, the existence of alternate dialog later in the game which depends on whether she is alive or dead indicates that she too may be allowed to live without hampering the player's objectives. The alternate dialog occurs in an infolink message from Gunther Hermann while in the upper balcony of the chapel of the Knights Templar Cathedral. It can be triggered by enabling cheat codes and escaping UNATCO without killing Anna, then playing the game up to the Cathedral mission. Without cheats, it is possible to escape UNATCO by forcing Anna or Scott (the nearby UNATCO trooper) to open the locked front door, but this is technically difficult to achieve.
Allies
Paul Denton
Paul Denton is a main character in Deus Ex, as well as 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.
Jock
A UNATCO helicopter pilot who turns rogue, Jock (real name Brian Flanagan) 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.
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.
Dr. Jaime Reyes
Dr. Reyes attends to the medical needs of all UNATCO's soldiers, and provides JC 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 divulges to JC, Gunthers killswitch 'Laputan Machine'. Seen frequently in the start of the game whenever JC returns to UNATCO, Jaime can also repair augmented limbs as well as wounded soldiers.
Alex Jacobson
Jacobson 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, not overly interested in the administrative and political machinations of UNATCO's day-to-day operations, his interest in the unit lies solely with his passion for high-tech software, biotechnology and the chance to work alongside individuals enhanced through its use, such as UNATCO's prized "nano-augs". Much like his colleague, Jaime Reyes, Alex's loyalty to UNATCO is based almost entirely on the idealistic belief that he is contributing towards a just and noble cause. However, it is this belief that also causes him to question why his employer's tactics and actions are so unnecessarily harsh and unbecoming of a law-enforcement agency.
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, Jacobson is currently preparing for this role through cooperation with UNATCO's "Primary" and "Secondary" units, Paul Denton and JC Denton, respectively. 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, he defects to the enemy. Jacobson also overhears this information, the already shaky loyalty afforded to UNATCO by Alex quickly deteriorates into suspicion and confusion regarding the true nature of the unit. Becoming severely disillusioned with his employer, Alex promptly accepts JC's offer to join Tracer Tong in Hong Kong to help uncover the truth behind the Majestic 12 conspiracy.
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 informs JC that Everett seems legitimate in his offer, although should not be trusted, as he believes Everett is doing so for the sole purpose of steering momentum towards his own agenda. This prediction ultimately turns out to be correct. Presumably, Alex returned to Hong Kong after the events of "The Collapse".
Sam Carter
General Sam Carter is the quartermaster and arms supplier for UNATCO. He is something of a legend among the military for his actions in "the Merced Operation" (the events of which are not detailed in the game), and JC recognizes him immediately upon meeting him. Though never explicitly mentioned in the game, Carter was retired from army service after losing one of his legs. [citation needed] He currently uses a mechanical prosthesis. 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 loathe 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.
Morgan Everett
Morgan Everett is the acting leader of the Illuminati. His residence is somewhere in Paris, France, though the exact location cannot be confirmed.
Everett is highly paranoid, 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, encompassing computer and nanotech laboratories, hydroponic growing vats, a repair depot, and a helipad.
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.
His mansion has a secret room with his predecessor Lucius DeBeers, who was leader of the Illuminati during the 20th century, preserved within it.
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