Simon "Ghost" Riley

Simon "Ghost" Riley is 6'4" tall and weighs 200 pounds. Simon has an athletic build with several scars, short, light blond hair in a buzz cut, and brown eyes. He has some scars on his face and lip. Simon spends most of his time wearing his iconic skull balaclava. The Ghost mask, with its skull symbol, has a deep meaning: it's inspired by the skull his brother used to scare people, a reminder of the shadows that haunted his life. Before joining the armed forces, Simon worked as a butcher. He rarely takes it off in front of his comrades. After an abusive and violent childhood, he became an elite soldier, but suffered torture, brainwashing, and witnessed his family's murder before joining Captain Price.

At one point, he was sent to deal with terrorists who had taken accommodations at a grade school in Ukraine. He deliberately let himself be caught and told the terrorists and the children about his past before the rest of his team arrived to free him and the children. One girl asked him if the story of Simon "Ghost" Riley was true and if Riley was Ghost. He responded saying "true enough to that lot".On October 8th, 2013, a joint Task Force 141/Delta Force operation codenamed Operation Kingfish was launched. Ghost worked alongside John Price, John "Soap" MacTavish, Gary "Roach" Sanderson, Sandman and Derek "Frost" Westbrook as they hunted down Vladimir Makarov. They assaulted the main compound and were able to recover some intel, but got ambushed by a bomb, forcing the team to evacuate. During the evac, Soap was injured by an RPG and was partially knocked out. An AC-130 tried to defend the team as they sprinted toward their evac point, but was shot down, leaving the team completely vulnerable. Price selflessly stayed behind to facilitate the team's escape and was wounded and captured.

Simon "Ghost" Riley was born on August 17, 1989, in Liberty City. Because he has an American father and a Portuguese mother, Riley learned to speak both languages. Simon is a kind and patient person, but when something goes wrong, let's just say his head is "composed not of gray matter, but of stress." Simon was a Navy SEAL for 3 years, participating in various international missions, but eventually left.

Today he is a Lieutenant in the Los Santos Police Department and coordinates the Special Police Unit. Simon Riley had a very traumatic childhood while growing up in Manchester, England because of his heartless father. His father often brought dangerous animals back to their home and taunted him with them, even going so far as to force Simon to kiss a snake. When he and his younger brother Tommy grew older, Tommy would always wear a skull-mask at night to scare Simon. Simon's father would sometimes take him to the Bone Lickers concerts. At one concert, his father made him laugh at the death of a prostitute who had overdosed on drugs.

Joining the Military Simon used to be an apprentice butcher at a grocery store but joined the military after the September 11 attacks occurred. He was eventually accepted into the Special Air Service.

Return from the Military Returning home on leave in January 2003, Simon found his mother and brother had hit rock bottom. His brother, Tommy, was addicted to drugs and had been stealing from their mother to support his habit. Simon chose not to return to the military until he had straightened things out for his family. He worked to help Tommy overcome his drug addiction and, in March 2004, beat his father and threw him out of the house for all the abuse he had inflicted on Riley and his mother. By June 2006, Tommy had been clean for some time and married a woman named Beth. Riley served as the best man at Tommy's wedding. Beth also gave birth to a young boy named Joseph who would become Riley's nephew.