History Characters / SystemShock

** [[spoiler:The Soldier]] doesn't receive the same respect because SHODAN [[BeneathSuspicion already knows everything about him]]. Even though he does rebel [[spoiler: and eventually kill her]], she still treats him as a mere insect.

** The Soldier doesn't receive the same respect because SHODAN [[BeneathSuspicion already knows everything about him]]. Even though he does rebel [[spoiler: and eventually kill her]], she still treats him as a mere insect.

** Much of SHODAN's ire comes from the fact that she knows nothing about him and nothing she tries to stop him works. To her, the Hacker is an insect she cannot squash, an insult to her ego she cannot tolerate. She's willing to deal with the annoyance until Beta Grove is ejected, at which point her irritation involves into outright murderous ''hatred''. Fitting that the follow-up level is the Engineering Deck full of very dangerous cyborgs and [[spoiler: the death trap at one of the antennae]].
** Notably, she does not extend the same level of thought to the Soldier, an individual she knows thoroughly, treating him with dismissive condescension despite how dangerous he is.

* DistressedDamsel: The last audiolog you find from her mentions that she was bit by one of the annelid arachnids created by The Many, and has her begging for Tommy to bring medical supplies to her.

* TheBusCameBack: Set to come back in ''System Shock 3''.

* EnemyMine: Forced into this situation with SHODAN to take on the more pressing, immediete threat of the Many and Xerxes, though the alliance falls apart as soon as the threat is dealt with.

* AdaptationalGenderIdentity: The Hacker's gender became customizable in the April 2024 update of the remake, while the original game had no such feature.

* AdaptationalJerkass: While Edward Diego coerces the hacker into doing his bidding in both the original game and the remake, his offer is much more bluntly delivered in the latter, with him both roughing up the hacker and explicitly warning him of dire consequences should he refuse. Furthermore, in the original game, Diego offered the neural interface entirely on his own to sweeten the deal, while in the remake the hacker was looking into the interface anyway, and Diego simply offers to implant it using [=TriOptimum=]'s resources. Even the manner in which he has the interface implanted is rougher in the remake, as he has the hacker sedated immediately after he removes SHODAN's ethical restraints, while in the original the hacker had enough time to prepare a contingency plan and write down a NoteToSelf before going in for surgery.

[[folder:Soldier G65434-2]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: The original version implied he was being investigated mainly for financial crimes. The remake ups the ante by having him develop a mutagenic virus (which SHODAN later builds upon) with the intent to sell it as a biological weapon.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: Is converted into another one of Shodan's cyborgs after selling out the remaining humans on the ship. Subverted in that she preserved his personality and gave him the most powerful cybernetic enhancement.

* GoneHorriblyWrong: According to their creator, [[spoiler: SHODAN]]. Given that the Many wish to aggressively assimilate all life into a single HiveMind granted physical expression through tortuously mutated and restructured biomass, and to destroy all creatures that refuse to be assimilated, they're not wrong. [[spoiler:Mind you, SHODAN's ''real'' problem with them is that the Many refuses to be controlled by her, and in fact wishes to destroy her as an unholy aberration.]]

* FunWithAcronyms: '''S'''entient '''H'''yper-'''O'''ptimised '''D'''ata '''A'''ccess '''N'''etwork.
* GeniusLoci: Unable to admit she's simply a program created by the lowly humans she hates so much, SHODAN convinces herself she is the immortal machine spirit of the Citadel Station itself given sentience through a digital medium, just as Mount Fuji is considered a kami in Japanese Shinto.

** The remake of ''System Shock 1'' builds on this with a new audio-file that the Hacker can find. In it, SHODAN recounts her efforts to discover a similar precedent to herself as an artificial lifeform, and fastens upon the concept of "divine within the material", or Kami, from Japanese Shintoism. As a result, she literally believes herself to be the living spirit/goddess of Citadel. Ironically, [[{{Youkai}} Japanese folklore generally claims that electrical items can't become Tsukumogami]].

* AffectionateNickname: After a fashion. At the time of events depicted in the game, his rank is actually Rear-Admiral, but he is still commonly referred to as "Captain" -- partially because he is currently in charge of a single warship (''Rickenbacker''), partially because he held this rank when he gained reputation as a hero.

After many years, the jettisoned Beta garden grove of Citadel Station crashed on Tau Ceti V, where SHODAN's experiments thrived and evolved. Thanks to the remaining computers of the grove sending out the distress signals, the ''Von Braun'' arrived and the expedition team led by Korenchkin and Diego was sent down to investigate, finding the eggs around the crash crater. Using their telepathic powers, the Many influenced the team to take the eggs to the ''Von Braun'', where unborn telepathic worms slowly converted the crew to their side, and then started mutating them, collecting them and creating the huge biomass that will cover the entirely of Rickenbacker. The Many then planned to go to Earth, cleanse humanity of its self-destructive tendencies via assimilation, revitalize Earth's environment in their own image, and spread themselves across the whole of existence.

Soldier G65434-2, nicknamed "Goggles" by the fandom due to his cybernetic-like eyes, is TheHero of the second game. He joined the military four years ago, having served in three postings before applying transfer to Rickenbacker. When the situation after the expedition to Tau Ceti V started to heat up, he "volunteered" to have the military-grade neural interface installed. He woke up LateToTheTragedy.

* TheAtoner: Twice - firstly, for his father's actions aboard Citadel Station. Secondly, for [[spoiler:allowing the Many to take control of the Von Braun and the Rickenbacker.]]
* ColonelBadass: While he is TheCaptain of the Rickenbacker, his attitude is much more like this trope. Before his assimilation by the Many, he was a military hardass who had no patience for Korenchkin's manipulative corporate antics, and wasn't afraid to let him know.
* {{Determinator}}: Listening through his audiologs in chronological order reveals that he's the only apparent member of the ''Von Braun'' that [[spoiler:not only resisted the call of The Many, but managed to cut the parasite out of himself. This becomes clear when the last handful of logs he recorded move away from the LargeHam, heavily-altered voice he'd sported as their puppet, and back to a normal tone of voice when he reinforces the duty to his ship]].

* EvilLaugh: A few times, [[spoiler: mainly when you fight her in the sequel. and again after she possesses Rebecca]].

-->"We cannot allow SHODAN to play god. She is far too good at it."

* MadeOfIron: She gets bit by one of The Many's annelid arachnids, and manages to survive an encounter with Bronson's security forces, and is no worse for wear during the one time you see her in person.
* UncertainDoom: During TheStinger. [[spoiler:It's not entirely clear if SHODAN possessed her in some fashion (possibly from the bite from the annelid arachnid) or killed her and assumed her form]].