Simon "Ghost" Riley

"Bloody Yanks! I thought they were the good guys."

Sergeant Simon "Ghost" Riley was a British character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 graphic novel comic series Modern Warfare 2: Ghost. He is the second in command of Task Force 141 who is known as the "silent killer" in MacTavish's squad. Ghost is seen wearing red sunglasses and a skull patterned balaclava.

Modern Warfare 2: Ghost
The comic miniseries tells of Ghost's exploits before and up to the Modern Warfare 2 conflict. The first mission depicted in the series has a captured operator wearing a skull balaclava in a Ukrainian school that has been taken over by terrorists (who threaten to kill one child each hour if their demands are not met). The operator passes the time by telling a story of his friend, Simon "Ghost" Riley on a mission in Mexico. The SAS loaned him to USSOCOM to bust a heroin cartel that has recently begun smuggling terrorists into the U.S. At some point in time, he dons his iconic skull mask and moniker.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Ghost starts actively participating with Task Force 141 when they are deployed to Rio De Janeiro. He helps MacTavish interrogate Rojas's right-hand man Faust and later helps take part in cornering Rojas. He then later helps in securing an oil rig in Russia to facilitate an infiltration operation in a Russian Gulag. He seems to have replaced Gaz as the technical specialist.

While on a mission in the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian/Georgian border, Russia, Ghost and Gary "Roach" Sanderson are investigating one of Makarov's safehouses. Ghost and Roach manage to copy Makarov's files, only to later witness Sanderson get shot by Shepherd and before he can act he is also shot by General Shepherd during the middle of extraction. Ghost and Sanderson's bodies are tossed in a nearby ditch, doused in petrol, and incinerated by Shepherd's lit cigar.

Trivia

 * According to December's DC Comics advance solicitations, Ghost's real name is Sergeant Riley.
 * Upon close inspection, it can be seen that his Skull mask is actually sewn onto his Balaclava.
 * Craig Fairbrass (who voiced Gaz in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare) provides the voice of Ghost.
 * At the end of "Loose Ends", Shepherd shoots Ghost once with his .44. Yet when his body is tossed into the ditch next to Roach's, it looks like there are 2-3 more bullet wounds to his torso. It is likely that he was shot off-camera by a Shadow Company soldier to make sure he was dead.
 * Coincidentally, he also dies in manner similar to Gaz, being shot with a high-caliber pistol on Day 6.
 * In military terms, a "ghost" is someone who is undetectable and is nearly impossible to follow.
 * Ghost is the multiplayer announcer for TF141, this has been confirmed from audio heard in the recent Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 press conference footage.
 * Ghost is also the announcer for most (but not all, such as Time Trial) Special Ops missions.
 * On Infinity Ward's website Ghost was voted the most favorite (new) character in Modern Warfare 2.
 * His outfit can be bought and worn by your Xbox LIVE Avatar for 400 Microsoft points.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, almost all of the SAS dress like Ghost, but without the sunglasses.
 * Ghost wears many different balaclavas, all with different colors, but they maintain the same exact skull paint.
 * You can briefly see his eyes behind his scuba goggles in the beginning of "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday".
 * One of Ghost's melee takedowns is exactly identical to the one in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare when Roycewicz is taken down and killed by an OpFor soldier in "The Bog".
 * An article on IGN has revealed that Infinity Ward is discussing a spin-off game for Ghost, possibly a prequel for him.

File:MODERN-WARFARE-2-2-1-.jpg|Ghost issue 2 File:Ghost-Museum-wood.png|Ghost in the "Museum", wearing a MULTICAM™ & gray outfit from the "Loose Ends" level File:Ghost Black.png|Ghost wearing his diving outfit from "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday" and "The Gulag" File:Ghost-Museum-Urban.png|Ghost wearing his urban outfit from "Takedown" and "The Hornet's Nest" &lt;/gallery&gt;
 * It has been highly speculated that Ghost's rumored game will be featured as Downloadable Content, and that it will take place in the events of his comic series Modern Warfare 2: Ghost.
 * It is strange how voice actor Craig Fairbrass referred to him as being "like the head of the whole SAS" in his interview at the London Premier of MW2, while both Captain MacTavish and Captain Price outrank him
 * The Bushmaster ACR shown with Ghost during "Contingency" (pictured at the top of the page) may be another nod to Gaz, who's signature weapon is a G36C with a Red Dot Sight, which, by physical comparison, is similar. He also uses this weapon and an M4A1 Carbine throughout most of the campaign, save for The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday, in which he discards the weapon for a Suppressed MP5k.
 * If you wait a minute or so at the main menu without doing anything, a scene plays. Halfway through the clip, the scene from "Takedown" is shows MacTavish and Ghost interrogating Rojas's right hand man. A man with electrical pliers stands next to the captive testing the pliers. In campaign this is Ghost, but in the scene he is seen without his skull balaclava and earmuffs. He is seen wearing clear glasses. This is strange since in the rest of the scene he has the balaclava on.
 * &lt;/gallery&gt;
 * ile:Modern-Warfare-2-Comic-MW2-Ghost.jpg|Ghost issue 1
 * ile:MW2-Ghost-Cover-Art-Issue-2.jpg|Ghost issue 2 (sketch)

Appearances

 * (1 game, 1 comic series, 2 comic books)
 * Modern Warfare 2: Ghost (First appearance)
 * Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2