Simon "Ghost" Riley

"Let's do this!"

- Ghost's catchphrase.

"What the hell kind of name is Ghost?"

- John "Soap" Mactavish

Lieutenant Simon "Ghost" Riley was a British special forces operator 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, and is seen wearing dark red sunglasses and a skull-patterned balaclava along with headphones with a mic.

Pre-Military
Simon had a very traumatic childhood at Manchester, England because of his heartless father. On most days, his father brought back dangerous animals and taunted him with them, even going so far to force him to kiss a snake or threaten to kill him with them. When he and his younger brother, Tommy, got older, Tommy would always wear a skull-mask at night to scare Simon. At one concert, his father had made him laugh at the death of a prostitute who was addicted to drugs.

Joining the Military
Simon used to just be an apprentice butcher at a grocery when he grew up. After the occured, he joined the military. He was very good which got him into the S.A.S.

Return from the Military
Simon came back home one day on January 2003, and found his family in a predicament. His mother was constantly getting cheated on and his brother was addicted to drugs. He opted to not go back to his life at the military until he fixed their lives.

Going after Manuel Roba
Simon was pulled out from shipping out for an operation in Iran and was set to take down the Zaragoza Drug Cartel headed by Manuel Roba. When he and his team made their move and the Day of the Dead, the commanding officer betrayed them to the enemy. Getting three of them captured and brought to a torture and brainwashing facility. There, he had been driven mad and tortured. At one point, he was buried alive and left by his captors. He used this opportunity to escape and got back home.

It took him four months to recover from all of that but he was still having temper-management issues so he was not accepted back into the military. After having an episode with his former-colleague, Kevin Sparks, his entire family was killed by Sparks and Marcus Washington.

He killed the perpetrators and went after Manuel Roba once more. He ambushed Roba's right-hand man, Gilberto and tortured Roba's location out of him. He arrives at Roba's compound and steals all of the information on the company and kills Roba. When he left, he was approached by General Shepherd and recruited into the Task Force 141 under the name of Ghost.

Small Job
At one point, he was sent alone against some terrorist in a grade school in Ukraine. He deliberately got himself caught and told the terrorists and the children there of his pasts before the rest of his team arrives to free him and the children.

Operation Kingfish
Ghost worked alongside Sandman, John Price, and "Soap" MacTavish on Operation Kingfish in 2013.

In Rio de Janeiro
Lt. Simon "Ghost" Riley is first seen in Takedown talking to Cpt. John "Soap" MacTavish via radio while they search for Alejandro Rojas's assistant. After John "Soap" MacTavish and Sgt. Gary "Roach" Sanderson begin pursuing the assistant, Ghost meets up with them at the Hotel Rio and joins the chase. Once the assistant is taken down by Roach, he is seen with MacTavish preparing to interrogate him. Ghost is then heard via radio for the rest of the mission as he attempts to pursue Rojas through the Favela. After the capture of Rojas, Ghost is heard requesting extraction from Command but to no avail. Ghost appears in the mission "The Hornet's Nest" with Task Force 141. He manages to escape with Captain MacTavish and Roach aboard Nikolai's helicopter.

Infiltration of the Russian Oil Rig and rescuing Prisoner 627
"That's the control room up ahead! I can use it to find the prisoner! I'll tap into their system and look for the prisoner! It's gonna take some time!"

- Ghost to Captain MacTavish in "The Gulag".

He then takes part in the infiltration of the Russian oil rig, which is being used as a makeshift SAM (Surface-to-Air-Missile) site in "The Only Easy Day...Was Yesterday" to rescue hostages. After clearing the oil rig, Ghost takes part in the operation to rescue Prisoner 627 from a Russian gulag. He takes control of the gulag's security systems and guides Soap and Roach to the prisoner.

Infiltration of a Russian submarine base
"We have a nuclear missile launch! Missile in the air! MISSILE IN THE AIR!! Code Black! CODE BLACK!!"

- Ghost to command after price launches the ICBMs.

Ghost also appears in "Contingency", where he helps Captain Price infiltrate a Russian submarine base along with other Task Force 141 members. However, he is shocked when Price launches an ICBM at Washington D.C. where the Russian-American war rages on. Ghost contacted command of Code Black, the statement that a threat of a nuclear weapon has been launched and must be disposed of immediately. It is possible that he retracted this though after he learned of Price's intention.

The Search for Vladimir Makarov and Death
Ghost's final appearance is in "Loose Ends" where he leads a strike-team to search for Vladimir Makarov at his safehouse on the Georgian-Russian border. However, Makarov is nowhere to be found but the safehouse is loaded ( "a bloody gold mine" as Ghost said) with intel. Ghost along with Roach, Ozone and Scarecrow with sniper support from Archer and Toad, protect the DSM while it downloads information regarding Makarov's operations. As the team head to the LZ set up by Shepherd, Ozone and Scarecrow are killed by enemy mortars and Roach is injured. Ghost manages to get Roach to the LZ but Roach and Ghost are betrayed by Shepherd who fatally shoots Roach and Ghost in the head/chest at point-blank range with a .44 Magnum before he could use his ACR. Ghost's body is then thrown into a ditch and set on fire along with Roach's.

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Shepherd betraying and killing Ghost and Roach.