| “ | Enjoy it while it lasts. Cause there's always someone out there who's a little faster than you are, and sooner or later, they're going to catch up. | „ |
| ~ Darius's last line to the Player before he leaves Palmont. Also the final line in Need For Speed: Carbon. |
Darius is the main antagonist in Need for Speed: Carbon.
He is the leader of the Stacked Deck crew and initially seemed friendly towards the protagonist, until it was revealed that it was he who set him and Nikki up in the past and towards then.
During the final confrontation, he recruits three assistants who are revealed to be bosses of crews the player previously defeated and victims who Darius had set up in the past, them being Angie, Kenji, and Wolf.
He was portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett, who also played Gadreel in Supernatural, Wes Keenan in Smallville and Michael Hastings in Criminal Minds.
Biography[]
Carbon Prologue[]
Before Need for Speed: Carbon took place (prior to the events of Need for Speed: Most Wanted), he gave the player his heavily customized Toyota Supra to use in their first race with Angie, Kenji, and Wolf, the 3 main bosses of Palmont City. Nearing the end of the race, all of the cars (with the exception of the Supra) get hit by EMP guns used by a waiting S.W.A.T. team, and the police arrive on the scene to arrest everyone involved in the race.
The player however was able to successfully escape custody, and gets handed the bag containing the race's prize money by Nikki, before she too was also arrested by the Palmont Police Department. The player escapes, being led down a side road blocked by a Chrysler 300C which opens to lead the player out before blocking it back. On the run, the player checks the reward, only to discover it contained newspaper scraps and empty checks instead of the prize money.
With nowhere left to hide, Darius advised the player leave the city to avoid police custody and tension with other crews. After the player left, Darius, who was secretly responsible for tipping off the police to interfere with the race and let the player escape, claimed the player was the perpetrator, using the police to have the 3 bosses arrested so they could have the prize money all for themself, thus tarnishing their reputation and making the bosses, including Nikki, despise and condemn the player.
Carbon[]
After the player escaped custody by the Rockport Police Department in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, two years have passed and he in his BMW M3 GTR drives back to Palmont City. Suddenly he gets bumped several times by Nathan Cross, now a bounty hunter after failing to arrest the player in Rockport before.
The player attempts to escape Cross but enters a construction zone resulting in the totaling of his M3 GTR. Cornered by Cross, the player is about to get caught until Darius arrives with his crew and rebukes Cross for bounty hunting in his turf of Silverton without approval. Paying off Cross via his crew mate David, he tells the player that he owes him twice now, and that he should return the favour by assisting in acquiring more territory by defeating the three bosses in the various areas of Palmont, revealed to be the rivals of the race from before.
Darius tasks Nikki to guide the player in his task, with a begrudging Nikki agreeing. After conquering enough areas to rival Darius' turf in number, he approaches the player stating he is impressed and encourages him to continue before driving off to a secret meeting unbeknownst to the player. Nikki soon arrives and confronts Darius on the player earning more territories, and ultimately deducing that he is using the player for his personal gain, only for Darius to refute and state he simply is smarter, and states he can still win over the player, even without racing.
As the player defeats each crew boss and conquering their respective turfs, a former member of the boss' crew will join the player and reveal what happened during that fateful race from before. Conquering all three turfs, Darius requests the player meet with him so he could congratulate them, but the player confronts Darius instead, having known of Darius' interference from before on that night.
Darius then reveals his true colors, saying the player never had an edge over him and was using him all along to take everything the player now owns, selling him out to Cross, resulting in the player arrested. Darius takes the player's current car keys and hands it to Nikki who arrives before driving off himself.
Prior to the first race in Silverton, Darius receives a call informing that Nikki betrayed him by making a deal with Cross and joined the player's crew. Darius then hires the defeated crew bosses that the player fought before for his own team. Winning his first race in Silverton, Darius and his new crew confront and taunt the player.
Eventually, after the player acquires all of Silverton, he challenges Darius to a final race in the city, and a final canyon duel at Eternity Pass with the player emerging victorious. Darius surrenders his Audi Le mans Quattro to the player and tells him that their victory won't last forever with someone bound to be faster than the player and will ultimately beat him. Darius then leaves Palmont City in David's Jaguar XK, never to be seen again, as the player reconciles his relationship with Nikki.
Personality[]
Despite his apparent friendliness, Darius is manipulative and scheming. He had 'saved' the player before in the previous race before the game's events and again from being arrested by Cross at Lookout Point canyon making the player owing him twice, only to realise he set the player up all along.
It was he who tipped off the police on that night of the race to target only the crew bosses, had hired someone to bump into Nikki holding the prize money bag and switching it with an identical one, and paid a cop to let the player escape via a previously blocked alleyway. Giving the player the Supra he owns, he tells the player to run away. With many people involved in the race arrested and the player in exile, Darius is quick to steal the limelight and tarnish the player's name, also acquiring the money from the prize money bag he switched from before to please Nikki. It is very likely that Darius also lied to the crew bosses after their release that the player was responsible for their outcomes since that race.
Darius also tends to be very prideful towards people he dislikes, shown when the player ultimately confronts Darius with the truth, he boasts at the player that he always had an edge over him and the player was never a threat to him at all. Before each race against Darius, he is quick to taunt the player. Despite the player beating him, he still does not hide his disdain towards the player and even continues to mock him to the end with a foreboding message. This is also apparent with a running joke Darius makes when addressing Cross by never calling him by his correct name but instead ignorantly calling him 'Crock' or 'Crawl'.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The name Darius means "he possesses" and "rich and kingly" from the transliteration of the Persian name Dariush.
- A shortened version of "Hype Boys" by Sway is played during Darius' introduction video.
- At some point in the career mode, Nikki confronts Darius due to being curious about his intentions with the player.
- A running gag in Need for Speed: Carbon is that Darius constantly mispronounces Cross's name as "Crock" or "Crawl".
- Darius seems to know Cross, as they were likely acquainted prior to the Most Wanted/Carbon storyline.
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
The Wraiths Blacklist Stacked Deck The Mob The House Law Enforcement Others |