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| “ | Your future, the future of our race ends here! | „ |
| ~ Dr. Mercer talking about the Necromorphs in the original game. |
| “ | The deepest secrets of the Marker - Convergence, even the Hive Mind itself - could be ours. If you trust me. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Mercer to Brant Harris in the remake. |
Dr. Challus Mercer is the secondary antagonist of the 2008 survival horror video game Dead Space and its 2023 remake.
He is a scientist aboard the USG Ishimura who became fanatically obsessed with the Necromorphs. He believed that the Convergence is the way for life after death.
In the original game, he was voiced and motion-captured by Navid Negahban who also voiced and motion-captured Arash Kadivar in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and portrayed Abu Nazir in Homeland, Hassan Nadir in Criminal Minds, Al-Owal in the TV show Arrow, Abir in the 2009 film Dead Air, and Prior Sala in Castlevania. In the remake, he was voiced and motion-captured by Faran Tahir, who also played Ishmael Bakir in Lost, Raza in Iron Man, Osiris in Supernatural, Tivon Askari in Criminal Minds, Abasi Hakim in Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Captain Nemo in Once Upon a Time, and Ra's al Ghul in Injustice.
Overview[]
Background[]
Challus Mercer was one of the numerous Unitologists aboard the USG Ishimura, assumedly introduced in the massive turnover caused by the Church of Unitology to Captain Benjamin Matthius a main part of devouts composing the crew.
Original game[]
Despite being unconfirmed, there is quite a possibility that Mercer was a high-ranking member of the Church of Unitology until he joined the Ishimura; a large Marker ornament could be found on a table near the place where he died on the Crew Deck. Furthermore, he was shown making a speech to fellow Unitologists, asking them not to abandon their faith regardless of the current outcomes of the extraction mission.
| “ | I can only hope one of his beloved Necromorphs finds him before I do. | „ |
| ~ Isaac Clarke in his personal log. |
Even until the beginning of the Necromorph infection, the signs of insanity were already shown on Mercer, making fellow doctor Terrence Kyne distrust him. Before succumbing to dementia himself, Mercer was ironically one of the medical officers to study the colonists suffering from it, like Brant Harris. He even advised Kyne to bring more subjects to the ship in order to discover the cause of the incident.
When the Necromorph outbreak hit the colony, Mercer saw first the recordings showing the Hive Mind and the Necromorph transformation. He was convinced that they were the divine beings prophesied by Michael Altman. Mercer was even the one who gave the name "The Hive Mind" to the massive creature, making it one of the few named Necromorphs in-game.
When the infection reached the ship, Mercer performed experiments with the Necromorphs at his office that became a laboratory. His room was covered with Marker symbols, a drawing of the Marker on the floor, and several messages including "Make us whole!", "Save the Marker!" and "To join is to survive". One of his subjects became the Hunter which can regenerate its head and limbs as a result of his said experiments. When the decapitated heads are found in his room, it is evident that Mercer also attacked and killed several crew members and patients as the ship fell into chaos. After performing his experiments, Mercer devised a plan to have the infection reached Earth by bringing some frozen Necromorphs back to it, regardless of the heavily deteriorated condition of the ship by then.
During the first encounter with Mercer, he tries to hinder Isaac Clarke's efforts to kill the Leviathan by locking doors. When Isaac reaches the Chemistry Lab in order to get the poison capsule, Mercer presents himself through a nearby window. He tries to convince Isaac about the Necromorphs being the salvation of mankind, the next step of evolution, and unleashes the Hunter attacking Isaac until Mercer leaves the room by locking the door once again, trapping Isaac inside the lab with the creature. When Isaac finds the required DNA sample, Mercer attempts to kill Isaac again while decompressing the entire Medical Deck and locking Kendra Daniels out of the controls. Mercer is last seen at the Cryogenics Lab where he tells Isaac about his evil plan. Mercer then leaves him to die at the hands of the Hunter, once more trapping him in the room with the same creature. While Isaac was busy killing the Leviathan, Mercer unfroze the Hunter. After Mercer interrupted Jacob Temple and Elizabeth Cross reuniting and tied the pair to each chair while gagging them, Mercer killed Elizabeth by ramming a metal spike into her head, a process that was used by the Unitologists in preparation for the Necromorph transformation. He then killed Jacob in the same way as Elizabeth as Isaac could only watch this helplessly. There is a hint through the scenery that Mercer went to the Crew Deck to murder any remaining infidel survivors and to advocate mass suicide among his fellow Unitologists, presumably after unfrozing the Hunter.
| “ | Your time has come. No need to be frightened. No reason to fight. Many have gone before us, and now it's time for us to take the voyage together, to transcend death... and let the future take its course. Join me, as I gaze upon the face of God! | „ |
| ~ Dr. Challus Mercer's last words. |
Mercer's death at the hands of an Infector.
After the defeat of the Hunter at the hands of Isaac, Mercer allowed himself to be killed by an Infector turning him into an Enhanced Slasher. When Isaac encounters him, Mercer is missing his head, presumably to reflect his "blind faith". If Isaac is quick enough to arrive, he would stop an Infector during the process of turning Mercer into a Necromorph. Otherwise, once an Infector finished turning Mercer, the mutated Mercer would attack Isaac.
Remake[]
| “ | Try and relax, Mr. Clarke. Convergence is so close. Maybe your death will tip the balance. | „ |
| ~ Mercer to Isaac. |
Mercer was one of the medical officers to study the Aegis VII colonists suffering from dementia and had especially an interest in Brant Harris' ramblings, considering them "religiously significant". During a conversation with Harris, Mercer revealed that he gained knowledge from Marker 3A's signal, similar to those individuals who would receive Marker blueprints. However, the knowledge Mercer gained was instead new surgical techniques and new technical designs, which he used to experiment, and this led to the creation of the Hunter which would regenerate its head and limbs.
During the outbreak, Mercer desperately tried to initiate a Convergence Event, with the intention to transcend death and finally be "made whole". When the Marker told the doctor that "makers must be absorbed", Mercer answered to mean that he must create new forms of Necromorphs.
Mercer tricked Jacob Temple into rescuing him at the Flight Deck. Mercer took Jacob hostage and ordered him for the preparation of the Red Marker for a Convergence Event.
After Jacob transported the Red Marker to the Crew Deck, he injured Mercer by shooting him with the Force Gun during the confrontation head-on, only for Mercer to counter him with a Stasis shot. After Mercer had a brief conversation with Isaac, Mercer shot Jacob in the head while still in stasis, prolonging Jacob's death.
After Isaac killed the Hunter by activating the Executive Shuttle's engines, Mercer checked up on the creature, and angrily yelled at and insulted Isaac for this before turning and looking at the Marker to beg it for Convergence. But instead, a giant tentacle grabbed Mercer, dragged him down to the cargo hold with Marker, and crushed him to death.
Personality[]
Although Mercer was a devout member of the Church of Unitology, he was a loyal and hardworking crew member aboard the USG Ishimura. After the Necromorph outbreak, he became insane and attempted to aid the Necromorphs assaulting the ship, believing they were sent by God to destroy humanity. He sided with Captain Benjamin Matthius in the belief that the Red Marker was a holy artifact, but could tell that Dr. Kyne wanted the Marker outside of the Ishimura.
Original game[]
There is an interesting note that, despite being insane, Mercer was still able to point to those who fell under the influence under the Marker, as he did when making the detail how Dr. Kyne mentioned speaking about his wife Amelia Kyne who died some years ago. It is uncertain how much Mercer was acting due to his dementia and his pre-established fanaticism. Mercer did not care about the survival of the Ishimura's crew. He praised Isaac for surviving snare after snare, but believed that all what Clarke attempted to survive on his part was pointless. Mercer was also very inhuman as he trepanated on the conscious colonists in order to infect them when they lived. He also bored holes into the skulls of other dead colonists to ensure they were infected easily.
Remake[]
Kyne stated to Nicole Brennan that he ever feared about death; it was because of this fear that Mercer desperately attempted to make the Marker initiate a Convergence Event, as the doctor believed it would finally allow him to transcend death. Mercer's predatory behavior, luring victims into becoming subjects for his experiments and create new forms of Necromorph, was the doctor's way of fulfilling the Marker's request that "the makers must be absorbed" for Convergence to take place.
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 Villains
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Necromorphs Earth Government / Titan Station Security Force Unitologists Others | ||