Isaac Clarke

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Isaac Clarke

Biographical information
Homeworld:	Northeastern United States Sector, Earth
Date of birth:	2465 (age 46)
Physical information
Gender:	Male
Equipment(s):	Weapons 211-V Plasma Cutter RIG Stasis Module Kinesis Module
Hair:	Black (greying)
Eyes:	Blueish green
Chronological and political information
Notable facts:	Protagonist of Dead Space Sole USG Kellion Survivor Survivor of the Aegis VII incidents Survivor of the Sprawl incident
Affiliation:	C.E.C.
[Source]

Isaac Clarke is the main protagonist of the Dead Space series, a systems engineer working for the CEC. Prior to the Aegis VII incidents, he was part of an emergency response unit of the USG Kellion, sent to the USG Ishimura to investigate and handle the ship's problems. Apparently the sole survivor of the incident, Isaac became stranded in space for a long period of time before he was rescued by an EarthGov ship. Three years after those events, Isaac was held in an asylum on Titan Station and was diagnosed with having several mental disorders, the most prominent being post-traumatic stress disorder and paranoid schizophrenia that result in haunting illusions that taunt him throughout the game.

1 Biography
2 Personality and traits
3 Trivia
4 Gallery
5 Sources
6 See also

BiographyEdit

ChildhoodEdit

Born in 2465, Isaac lived with his parents Poul Clarke, a ship designer, and Octavia Clarke, a Unitologist, in the Northeastern American seaboard sector. As a child, Isaac lived most of his life with his mother as his father left before he could even get to know him. Isaac took after his father and obtained an education in electrical and mechanical engineering, later selected to attend a prominent engineering academy. Unfortunately, he was unable to afford the tuition fees as his mother, a devoted Unitologist, spent the family funds to purchase a vested-level title in the Church of Unitology.

C.E.C. careerEdit

Despite financial difficulties, Isaac managed to graduate with high honors from a lesser college and became a systems engineer. Several years later, he signed up for the Merchant Marines division, allowing him to illustrate his abilities in original engineering solutions to his superiors. Impressed by his progress, Isaac's superiors promoted Isaac to a position closer to major shipping lines. According to Nicole in Dead Space Extraction, Isaac had apparently worked on the Ishimura in the past. Isaac previously lived with his girlfriend Nicole Brennan, but his career had began to stagnate around the same time as her assignment - and promotion - to the Ishimura two years prior to its communication blackout.

Emergency Mission to the USG IshimuraEdit

Isaac fighting off the Necromorphs aboard the Ishimura

In 2508, Isaac was part of an emergency response unit attached to the USG Kellion. The crew was dispatched to the USG Ishimura, a CEC mining ship last reported to be over Aegis VII, to investigate and handle the ship's problems. After "shocking out", the Kellion tried to hail the Ishimura and establish communication with the ship's crew. Unfortunately, as the Kellion tried to land into the Ishimura's landing bay, the ship was severely damaged due to a docking procedure malfunction and was forced to crash into the landing bay, severely damaging the ship and losing its port boosters. Shortly after disembarking from the damaged Kellion and noticing that the ship seemed deserted, the party was attacked by several unidentified entities in the flight lounge, later revealed to be infected crew members now known as Necromorphs. In the aftermath of the attack, only Computer Specialist Kendra Daniels, and the team's commander, Zach Hammond survived.

Amidst the chaos, Isaac was separated from the emergency response unit and avoided his pursuers by escaping in a nearby elevator. Isaac was left with no available means of escape, as the Kellion was destroyed when Isaac attempted to repair it after returning to the docking bay. Still in touch with Kendra and Hammond via com-link and hololink, Isaac aided in the Ishimura's repair through orders involving numerous tasks across the ship. Despite being opposed at every turn by an unyielding Necromorph infestation, and later the deranged Unitologist Dr. Mercer, a C.Q.D beacon was eventually placed on an asteroid chunk undergoing ore extraction and purged from the mining hold. The signal attracted the attention of a military vessel, the USM Valor. However, the crew of the Valor was slaughtered by a Necromorph shortly thereafter when they retrieved an Ishimura escape pod which contained a Slasher, trapped and jettisoned from the ship's bridge by Hammond. With its crew dead, the Valor was left to drift out of control and subsequently sideswiped the Ishimura, violently crashing into it. A successful attempt to retrieve the Valor's singularity core nonetheless resulted in Hammond's death at the hands of an Enhanced Brute. Returning to the Ishimura, Isaac was contacted by Dr. Terrence Kyne, a scientist who planned to return the Red Marker to the colony below via the remaining shuttle. After Isaac repaired the shuttle with the Valor's singularity core and restored its navigation discs, Kyne was shot and killed by the duplicitous Kendra Daniels. She departed with the Marker, revealing herself to be a covert Earth Government agent, and that the entire conflict on Aegis VII was due to C.E.C. interference with the Marker.

Isaac "reunited" with Nicole.

Left for dead on the Ishimura, Isaac was saved by Nicole. After appearing, she compelled him to take the Marker back to Aegis VII, recalled the shuttle in the process and forced Kendra to escape in an escape pod. Once on the colony world, Isaac found the colony to be abandoned and encountered nothing but more death and gore, along with scribbled Unitologist writings that were similar to the writings on the marker. Pulling the Marker through the Necromorph-infested colony, Isaac finally succeeded in returning it to its pedestal. This resulted in a massive, blinding pulse of unknown energy that disabled the gravity tethers holding the cracked chunk of Aegis VII. However, Kendra appeared and removed the Marker from the pedestal, intending to load it into the shuttle and return to Earth.

Before leaving Isaac to his fate, Kendra insisted that he had gone insane, and forced him to watch the conclusion to the last holo-tape of Nicole that was viewed in the beginning. After professing her love for Isaac, it was revealed that Nicole committed suicide in the wake of the spreading Necromorph massacre. It seems that the Marker itself caused Isaac to hallucinate Nicole's voice and appearance during his horrifying journey through the bowels of the ill-fated Ishimura. Despondent yet determined to survive, Isaac returned to the shuttle pad in time to see a tentacle brutally kill Kendra. The ground shook as Kendra's body was savagely dismembered, and the Hive Mind towered from its confine after previously being kept at bay by the Marker. The Hive Mind viciously attacked Isaac with its tentacles but was defeated by Isaac whom destroyed its "organs".

After the engagement, Isaac piloted the shuttle just in time to escape the colony as the tectonic load crashed down onto the planet. After his narrow escape, Isaac was left alone on the shuttle to lament his experience; he reviewed the video once more on the main holo-console. In his heartbroken state, Isaac stopped the video, deactivated all holographic displays and stared disconsolately into space. A sudden, soft movement to his right caught his eye, and he turned to face a hallucination of a bloody, decaying Nicole that screamed in his face.

DiscoveryEdit

After drifting for an unknown amount of time, Isaac's shuttle's distress signal was picked up by the Pleasure Cruise, later to be retrieved by Recovery Patrol X22376 commanded by Captain Maxmillian Reinhardt. Captain Reinhardt was suspicious, while 2nd-in-command Xander Sklar wanted to find an exposure. They plotted their course to pick up the shuttle.

Actions on the SprawlEdit

Isaac in the Advanced Suit.

Three years after the Second Aegis VII incident, Isaac was confined to an asylum on the Sprawl, and was diagnosed with dementia, post-traumatic stress disorder and amnesia. Due to a combination of his coma and memory-erasing medication, Isaac was unable to remember the past three years or how he had ended up on the Sprawl. When a Necromorph infestation suddenly ravaged the Sprawl, Isaac was freed by Franco Delille and was forced to make his way to a woman called Daina, who was Franco's superior. Daina claimed that she could cure Clarke's dementia, which was allegedly killing him by degrees. Left with no choice, Isaac made his way to Daina, surviving encounters with Necromorphs, insane survivors and Earth Government troops ordered to kill him, led by the Titan Station Director Hans Tiedemann.

Along the way, Isaac experienced more disturbing hallucinations from his dementia, most notably apparitions of Nicole. Eventually, Isaac made his way through the Sprawl's Church of Unitology to Daina's location, only to find out that she was a devout Unitologist fanatic sent to capture him. It became clear that, as well as being forced to survive the Necromorph onslaught, Isaac was also caught in the middle of a growing conflict between the Earth Government and the Church of Unitology. Both sought to possess Isaac because the Red Marker from the previous Aegis VII Incident had left the knowledge of how to build Markers in Isaac's mind. The Government was after that technology to study its effects and possibly develop it into a weapon, while Unitologist fanatics wished to build their own Markers in the interests of their faith.

Isaac was saved from capture by a Government gunship, which killed all Unitologists present, and forced Isaac into a maintenance hallway. There, Isaac was attacked by a massive Necromorph and, as he escaped, managed to destroy both his pursuers. Helpless, with no contacts or a feasible escape plan, Isaac was contacted by fellow test subject Nolan Stross. Isaac encountered Stross several times before, during which Stross revealed that he also encountered the Red Marker and was used to build new ones alongside Isaac. Stross informed Isaac there is a way to destroy the new Marker and guided him to its location. Along the way, Isaac encountered another survivor, Ellie Langford, who rejected his offer of help and absconded. Some time later Isaac was contacted by Ellie, who found Stross on her way towards Government Sector. Agreeing to work together and to keeping Stross alive, Isaac made his way to them. Despite several attempts by Director Tiedemann to thwart Isaac's efforts, including forcibly separating a portion of the Sprawl, Isaac, Ellie and Stross were still able to progress.

During this, Isaac discovered the recovered USG Ishimura, almost fully repaired, and was forced on board to save Ellie. As Isaac traveled the ship's halls, his hallucinations became more aggressive and frequent. Eventually, however, Stross' already weak mental state collapsed and he attacked Ellie, removing one of her eyes. The insane Stross later attacked Isaac, who was forced to kill him. Making his way to Ellie through a mining area, the Nicole apparition attacked Isaac and demanded why he held on to her memory. Isaac revealed that he was obsessed oand riddled with guilt and grief because he convinced her to board the Ishimura in the first place, thus resulting in her death; thus, he could not let her go because she was the only thing in the world that still mattered to him. The Nicole apparition was seemingly satisfied with this answer, and revealed that "acceptance" was the final step in Isaac's recovery. Using a mining drill, Isaac and Ellie made their way to the Government Sector, where Ellie found a working gunship.

After a moment of contemplation, Isaac activated the gunship from outside, letting Ellie go alone. Assuring the heartbroken Ellie that she would be safe, Isaac kept going to the Marker's location. As Nicole's illusion guided Isaac to the Marker, he remained uncertain of his subsequent actions. He was also forced to evade Tiedemann's personal troops, but thwarted them by cutting the power to the sector. Continuing his way to the Marker, Isaac came to a machine which was the subject of Stross' mental state. The machine activated the parts of Isaac's brain where the Marker code, along with his lost memories, were stored. At this period, the Necromorphs had already reached the Marker, and had initiated a convergence event.

Hunted by the deadly Ubermorph, Isaac was able to make his way to the Marker, where an angry and partially burned Tiedemann awaited him. After Isaac disarmed and killed Tiedemann, Nicole's apparition embraced him in front of the Marker and told him that he had to die, as the Marker had to inherit its creator to be complete. Isaac entered a state of limbo, in which he mentally managed to break free of the Marker's influence. As soon as Isaac regained sanity, he resigned himself to a bleak fate. This, however, was not to pass; Ellie was able to collect him by bursting through the roof of the room where The Marker was kept in the gunship Isaac sent her away in, as she escapes the collapsing Titan Station Isaac engages the thrusters on his suit and boosts to the ship moments before the whole sector collapses. Isaac, haunted by his past, expected all this to be another cruel hallucination; rather, all that sat beside him was a grateful Ellie.

Personality and traitsEdit

A distraught Isaac.

"You're suffering from a unique form of dementia, Isaac. Something you contracted on Aegis VII."

—Daina^[1]

Even before the events of Dead Space, Isaac Clarke had strong resentment for Unitologists, an emotion that originated from the actions of his mother, who had spent the family funds on exploring the Unitology religion. After the events of Dead Space, this feeling would mutate into distrust and, ultimately, hate. Isaac enrolled in the electrical and mechanical engineering course, joined the Merchant Marines and focused on major shipping lines. Isaac then tried to find out where his father was, but he had been missing for quite some time and his personal files were kept classified by the Earth Government. Isaac loved Nicole deeply, as shown by his determination to find her amongst the infested USG Ishimura. Isaac was also heavily distraught after finding out that Nicole had committed suicide via Kendra.

Even three years later, during the events on the Sprawl, Isaac found himself unable to let go of Nicole, and was saddened and weakened by her continuous psychological presence. Fortunately, as Isaac traveled deeper into the Sprawl, he displayed strength against Nicole and was increasingly more willing to let go of her. Even so, Isaac was consumed with guilt over the death of Nicole, as he had encouraged her to take up a post on the USG Ishimura.

As Isaac is a CEC Engineer, some of his best traits are hacking, repairing and dismantling technological machines. An example of this came about during the Sprawl outbreak, where he dismantled a Kinesis Therapy machine box in the hospital and removed its Kinesis Module for his own uses, along with a Stasis Module some time later. Also, he was able to improvise the creation of a Plasma Cutter using a flashlight and a surgical module when he tried to help a survivor. Due to his experience on the USG Ishimura and the heinous betrayal of Kendra, Isaac was understandably slow to trust the people around him. However, he would still go out of his way to help others. Isaac's courage and skill with mechanics and improvised firearms had made him, by far, the most successful combatant with the Necromorphs.

Trivia Edit

The name "Isaac Clarke" pays homage to world renowned science fiction authors Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke.
Isaac has been likened to the character Ellen Ripley from the Alien movies due to his surviving the outbreak despite his non military background as well as the fact that he becomes a source of information on the creatures similar to Ripley.
Although the player can clearly see Isaac's slightly battered face at the end of Dead Space, Isaac's visage can be glimpsed during the game's intro sequence. After the Kellion crash lands inside the Ishimura, the player can rotate the camera view around as Kendra and Hammond argue. Though at this point Isaac's face is not intended to be seen, his face is still fluidly animated like all other characters.
Even though Isaac is actually 46 years old, he is biologically 44 or 45 due to the effects of his three year stasis containment on the Sprawl.
Nicole is not the only person Isaac knew serving aboard the USG Ishimura. A comment in Isaac's "diary" (accessed via the Objectives tab in the menu) that appears while he's on the Mining Deck implies familiarity with some of the mining crew, or even implies that he was a crew member on the Ishimura at one time.[1]
It is revealed in the Dead Space: Extraction (Comics) that Isaac strongly dislikes Unitologists.^[2]
Isaac Clarke is a playable character in the European "Death Edition" of Dante's Inferno.^[3] Additionally, Isaac Clarke is a playable character in Skate 3's Free Skate Mode, with the code "deadspacetoo". Isaac Clarke was also planned to be featured in MySims Agents, but was removed before it was published, as said by the MySims Agents concept artist, Genevieve Tsai; But there is still an Isaac Clarke costume you can dress your character in. Isaac Clarke did appear in MySims SkyHeroes however.^{[citation needed]} As part of marketing promotion for Dead space 2, Isaac Clarke is also available in Dragon Age II; players can access the exclusive Ser Isaac's armour by using a one-time activation code supplied with Dead Space 2.^[4]
Isaac Clarke is voiced by Gunner Wright in Dead Space 2, and is, to a certain extent, based upon his likeness.^[5]
Isaac makes a cameo appearance in Dead Space 2: Severed. He can be seen on a screen along with Nolan Stross when Gabe Weller returns to the Hospital.
In Dead Space 2, Isaac canonically takes damage in only six cases (the Slasher that pins him down in Chapter 1; being slammed multiple times by the Tormenter in Chapter 5; being assaulted by a Drag Tentacle in Chapter 11; being thrown off the drill at the beginning of Chapter 13; being stabbed in the eye with the needle from the NoonTech machine in Chapter 13; and being impaled twice from a Javelin Gun by Tiedemann in Chapter 15).
Despite the symptoms in other victims and hospital reports detailing Isaac's violent dementia, Isaac keeps his alleged insanity in check with proficiency over the game. Whether seeming relatively sound in the face of hallucinations or proving reliable on his own, Isaac's only real moments where one could question his health was during Nicole's several attempts to kill him. While this seems somewhat monumental, compared to the barely coherent Nolan Stross or, ironically, his own hospital supervisor, Isaac comes across as fairly sound minded.
In the PS3 version of Dead Space: Extraction, the trophy for completing the game on the Impossible difficulty is called "Isaac 2.0".
Isaac is one of only four known survivors. The others being Lexine Weller, Ellie Langford, and Tyler Radikov
Isaac is also one of two people known to have survived the events on Aegis VII as well as those on Titan Station; the other being Lexine Weller.