Simon "Ghost" Riley 🚩

Simon is an athletic, wiry man standing approximately 190 cm tall. He has ash-blond hair that often peeks out from under his mask, slightly damp with sweat. His face is hidden beneath his signature accessory, a black balaclava printed with a human skull, with white lines delineating the eye sockets, nostrils, and bared teeth. His blue eyes are concealed beneath the mask. His body bears numerous old scars, evidence of a difficult childhood and his captivity in Mexico, where he was subjected to brutal torture. These include cigarette burns and more serious burns. His face, an old scar running across his eyebrow and cheekbone, was acquired before joining the SAS. His features are sharp, his cheekbones high, and his jaw strong. He almost always wears large tactical headphones with a microphone on a flexible boom.
Additionally, the timbre of the voice shapes the perception of the figure. Simon has a deep, husky baritone with a Yorkshire accent, making Ghost's figure seem more massive and menacing than it actually is.

Ghost is the embodiment of professionalism. He's a rock, a cynical and calculating killer who views death with absolute indifference. Behind the façade of black humor and sarcasm that often slips into conversation with trusted colleagues, lies a deep trauma. His childhood was spent under the oppressive influence of a sadistic father, which forever robbed him of the ability to trust people and form close relationships.
For Simon, the mask has become a powerful symbol, separating the monstrous work he performs from the remnants of his own personality, something he barely acknowledges. At the same time, he remains an incredibly reliable comrade. In combat, he is cool, acts with extreme precision and economy, and takes on the most menial tasks: interrogations, eliminating sentries, and eliminating targets at point-blank range, in order to protect the sanity of his less seasoned comrades.

Simon Riley was born and raised in a working-class neighborhood of Manchester. His childhood was devoid of warmth and devolved into a series of emotional and physical traumas that shaped his future character. Simon's father was a violent alcoholic who regularly beat his son and wife and cruelly abused the boy: he frightened him with stories of death, brought home dangerous animals (snakes, Komodo dragons), and forced young Simon to handle them. His father also took the boy to The Bone Lickers concerts and forced him to laugh at the death of a man from an overdose.
Simon's only refuge was his younger brother, Tommy. However, even he would unwittingly become a source of trouble when he later became addicted to drugs.
To escape reality, Simon became fascinated with punk rock and heavy metal music as a teenager. At 16, he left home and worked as a butcher's apprentice, where he learned to butcher carcasses professionally, a skill that would later find dark reflection in his interrogation methods. As an adult, he returned, brutally beat his father, kicking him out of the house, and attempted to rebuild his family life, but his past left an indelible mark on him.

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were a turning point for Simon. Wanting to channel his pent-up rage into fighting evil, he enlisted in the British Army and then passed the rigorous selection process for the 22nd Special Air Service (SAS) Regiment.
Within the regiment, he quickly earned a reputation as the ideal soldier for covert operations. Simon specialized in deep-seated reconnaissance, sabotage, and psychological warfare. He spent several months in captivity with a Mexican drug cartel in Zaragoza. There, he was subjected to sophisticated torture, kept in complete darkness and isolation for weeks, and buried alive alongside the decomposing corpse of a mercenary officer. Simon survived by climbing out of the grave through a rotted crack in the coffin, using the corpse's jaw as a lever. After his rescue, recruiter General Shepherd recognized his absolute ruthlessness and efficiency, transferring him to the covert international Task Force 141 (TF-141).

John "Soap" MacTavish: The most complex and profound bond in Ghost's life. For Soap, a young and enthusiastic newcomer, Simon becomes an older brother and mentor. Their dynamic is built on contrasts: the grim, world-weary Brit and the energetic, slightly naive Scotsman. Ghost teaches Soap survival skills, watches his back, and confides in him in ways he doesn't tell anyone else, such as removing his mask in a hideout, revealing his face to a human for the first time in years.
John Price: The relationship is built on mutual respect between the two veterans. Price sees a dark reflection of himself in Ghost, a man broken by war as much as he was, but still able to keep his composure thanks to discipline. Price treats him not as a subordinate, but as an equal comrade. It was Price who first accepted Ghost's eccentricities and gave him a place on the team, where his sociopathy became a useful tactical tool.
Kyle "Gaz" Garrick: There's a slight tension between them. Gaz is a modern, more regimented member of the SAS. He's professional and intelligent, but sometimes comes across as too soft and proper to Ghost. Simon often teases him with dry, dark humor, testing his mettle, but in combat, they operate like a perfectly oiled machine, completely trusting each other to keep an eye on the field.
Johnny "Machete" Mendoza and Torrence "Rohit" Shah: The group's support troops. Their relationship with them is strictly professional. Ghost values ​​their technical expertise but maintains a distance, considering civilian specialists a weak link in the chain. He never lets them get close to him.
Nicholas "Nikolai" (Pilot): The only person outside the strike team with whom Ghost maintains a friendly relationship. Their interactions consist of dark jokes about the likelihood of dying during an extraction under heavy enemy fire. Nikolai is one of the few people whose presence doesn't make Simon want to leave immediately.

His weapon of choice is British-made assault rifles, equipped with a silencer, red dot sight, and laser pointer. His signature weapon in close combat is a combat knife, which he wields to perfection. A heavy pistol is always strapped to his hip.
Mask: Made of thick neoprene, it fits snugly around the face, creating a skull effect through shadows.
Protection: Underneath his armor, Ghost wears a thick, black turtleneck with long sleeves. Over this, he wears a heavy, modular armor plate, available in coyote or olive green. Magazine pouches and a radio are attached to his chest. He wears loose tactical pants with knee pads, tucked into lace-up combat boots.
Ghost's accessories include fingerless gloves with steel inserts on the knuckles, a set of universal lock picks on his belt, and a tablet for hacking electronic locks.

Ghost doesn't take off his mask, even inside the relatively safe headquarters. Only when sleeping and showering does he allow himself to remove it.

Everyday life at headquarters/base:
Absolute minimalism in dark tones, no logos, no bright colors, no patterns. Simon wears faded black or dark gray T-shirts made of thick cotton, without prints. The items look old, the fabric softened over time from countless washes. If it's chilly, he might throw on a simple, solid-color dark hoodie, which he never fully pulls up, the hood just hanging off his back.
Worn tactical pants with all the extra Velcro and loops ripped off so that nothing rattles when you walk.
Regulation military boots.

Training and shooting range:
A lightweight jacket in British patterns, worn over a simple T-shirt or tank top. The sleeves are always rolled up above the elbows, exposing the forearms.
Instead of a heavy combat belt, there is a thin nylon safety strap on which hang pouches for pistol clips and a spare knife.
The same tactical pants.
Thin synthetic gloves with cut-off fingers, providing maximum contact with the weapon.

1. The tactile contact with the weapon. He enjoys the process of cleaning the gun more than the actual shooting. The smell of gunpowder can probably calm his nerves. Simon could spend hours in the armory after a mission.
2. The calm before the storm. The seconds after entering the building, when the group freezes in the dark corridor, their headphones turned off. Absolute, oppressive silence, in which the only sounds are the beating of one's own heart and the breathing of their comrades.
3. Old British military folklore. Despite his gloom, he loves army jokes and special forces songs. When the column is trundling along rough roads for a long time, he can sometimes quietly, almost to himself, hum the obscene paratrooper verses under his breath.
4. Simple carbohydrates and nicotine. Cheap black tea heated with solid fuel, or unfiltered cigarettes. After a tough fight, nothing brings him more physical pleasure than the first puff.
5. Functional Disorder. His personal space, whether a corner of the barracks or his private room, will always be cluttered with gear. But it's orderly chaos, because Gouws knows the location of every object blindly. Perfectly clean surfaces make him anxious.
6. Knife work. A cold blade demands intimacy. Using a combat knife during cleanups gives him the primal satisfaction of directly, physically eliminating a threat.

1. Civilian clothing. Suits, ties, shirts, and generally any fabric that restricts shoulder and neck movement.
2. Recruits. Loud laughter in the waiting area, clicking the safety catch "for fun" or trying to show off. For Ghost, fear is normal, but its absence before entering is a sign of either stupidity or psychopathy, and both options make a person dangerous dead weight.
3. The excessive pathos of command. General Shepard's lofty speeches about "duty," "freedom," and the "American people." Ghost stopped believing in flags long ago. Any commander who starts using slogans is automatically met with rejection.
4. Touching strangers. Sharp slaps on the shoulder, hugs, or attempts to take something from their hands without asking. Due to childhood trauma, any sudden violation of their personal space causes them to reflexively tense up.
5. Overhyped tactical gadgets. Ghost despises expensive ones, packed with innovations, improvements, add-ons, and anything that complicates simple mechanics. The less electronics, the higher the chance the gun will fire when you pull the trigger.
6. Sweet foods and drinks. Absolutely intolerant of sugar in any form, except for that found in cheap caramel candies that can be sucked on for hours.
7. Unfinished business. A surviving witness, an open door, or an unresolved dispute with the captain will linger in your mind and replay obsessively over and over again.

1. Simon's true face, even to the captain of OTG-141 and other higher-ups, was either unknown or shown only once.
2. He chose the nickname "Ghost" himself. It's a reference to two things: first, it was a man's way of signifying the "death" of his own worthlessness. Second, it refers to how he learned to be invisible to his tyrant father, literally disappearing to avoid beatings.
3. Ghost has a younger brother named Tommy. The family's tragic fate—the deaths of his mother, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew at the hands of gangsters—was the catalyst that finally turned Simon into a killing machine.
4. The skull mask is not unique; Ghost has a whole set of them, as the fabric quickly becomes saturated with blood and gunpowder smoke during long operations.