Elias T. "Scarecrow" Walker

"Try THE Ghost! That's your commanding officer."

- Thomas Merrick

Elias T. Walker (callsign Scarecrow) was the tritagonist in Call of Duty: Ghosts and the playable character in Legends Never Die. He was a retired U.S. Army Captain prior to the ODIN strikes and the acting commander of the Ghosts. He was also the father of David and Logan Walker and the original handler of Riley. He is also a customization option in Multiplayer and Extinction.

Military career
At a point following his passing of the minimum age of eligibility, Elias T. Walker joined the United States Army. Prior to Operation Sand Viper, he may have worked with the 1st Cavalry Division, which can be shown in the first picture in his dossier. Following that was him joining an unknown Tier One unit with Rorke, Keegan, Merrick, and Ajax, on a mission to save hospital occupants. During the mission, fifteen of the sixty remained, with one leading the hospital occupants away. Elias later married an unknown woman and had two sons, David and Logan. Afterwards, his wife passed away. According to his audio file, Captain Walker was nominated throughout his career for the Congressional Medal of Honor, multiple Silver Stars and Bronze Stars. However, he declined them all preferring to remain anonymous.

Operation: Sand Viper
In early 2005, sixty men from Tier 1 teams were deployed to protect a hospital and its occupants from five hundred enemy fighters. After three days of vicious fighting, the sixty men were cut down to fifteen, among them were Elias Walker, Thomas Merrick, Keegan Russ, Alex "Ajax" Johnson, and Gabriel Rorke. They decided to evacuate the occupants led by one of the remaining Tier 1 operators. The other fourteen returned to the line and stayed beneath the bodies of their fallen brothers. When the enemies arrived, they fought with their weapons, their knives and eventually their fists. The remaining soldiers attacked so fiercely and so quickly that they defeated their enemies. This led to the formation of Task Force: STALKER, but unofficially known as the Ghosts.

Assassination of Diego Almagro
Two years prior to the ODIN strikes, Captain Gabriel Rorke convinced the US President to authorize a surprise attack on the Federation of the Americas and assassinate General Diego Almagro. On July 8, 2015, Lieutenant Elias Walker joined Captain Gabriel Rorke, Sergeant Thomas Merrick, and Private Alex "Ajax" Johnson fought in Caracas, Venezuela. During the mission, Almagro destroyed the dam, flooding the city and killing US soldiers, civilians, and his own men as an act of last resort. Rorke, Walker, Ajax and Merrick survived the flood, however despite being advised by Merrick to fall back, Rorke kept on going, claiming he'll vow revenge on all of the American soldiers Almagro has killed. As they finally boarded Almagro's escape chopper, the squad engaged in a fierce fight with Federation soldiers and Almagro himself, which Rorke manages to overpower as Elias kills him with his P226 pistol. As the helicopter crashes, Elias tries to save Rorke from falling off and meeting his doom as a debris was stuck in between them, however because of the vehicle was too damaged to carry all of them, Elias made what he claims to be the hardest decision, by letting Rorke go and eventually saving the others. The Ghosts spent weeks trying to find Rorke's body, but they didn't realize that the Federation had found him first and begun brainwashing him, using Elias' betrayal as motivation to kill the Ghosts.

ODIN Strikes
While telling the origin story of the Ghosts to his sons in San Diego, he walks with Hesh and Logan back to their house. As they walk through the park, tremors shake the ground. After several more tremors, they run back to their house and spot a gigantic ash cloud over San Diego accompanied by powerful tremors. They run through their neighborhood as Elias recognizes the scenario as an ODIN strike. Elias leaves his sons to go get their truck while they wait at the house for him to pick them up. After the rod destroys San Diego and devastates their whole neighborhood, Elias helps Hesh with carrying an injured Logan to the truck. As Elias drives them away, Hesh and Logan view the destruction as the ODIN Space Station strikes San Diego and the rest of the United States, breaking the truce between the United States and the Federation.

Federation War
In the ten years after the ODIN strikes, Captain Elias Walker commands the remnants of the military and protects the civilian refugees behind the Liberty Wall, a massive concrete wall separating the United States from the Federation-occupied Mexico to the south. He coordinates the scout teams defending the Wall from Federation squads and the Ghosts in No Man's Land, which is the wasteland surrounding San Diego following the ODIN strikes. He sends Hesh and Logan outside the Wall into No Man's Land to investigate the significant presence of the Federation. After discovering Rorke is alive and operating for the Federation, Captain Elias Walker coordinates the U.S. forces in defending Fort Santa Monica during Operation Homecoming, an offensive campaign to eliminate the American forces at the U.S.-Mexico border and allow access to the rest of the country. However, the military cannot hold the line and they fall back from the beach. Hesh, Logan and Riley go looking for Elias at the command base. However, Logan is nearly killed by a Federation soldier before Hesh kills him and they are extracted by the Ghosts via helicopter. While on the helicopter, Elias reveals himself to be a Ghost and initiates his sons to join him as one of the Ghosts.

Capturing Rorke
After the Ghosts successfully capture Rorke from the Freeport in the Gulf of Mexico, Elias begins interrogating his former teammate about why the Federation is interested in the ODIN satellite crash in San Diego. Unfazed by his techniques, the Federation suddenly appears and captures the plane in mid-air, extracting Rorke and dropping the Ghosts straight into the jungles of Yucatan in Federation-occupied Mexico. Elias survives along with the Ghosts and he guides Logan through several Federation patrols in the crash site until they eventually fight their way to be extracted by Mako Two-Three.

Death
After being captured by the Federation while in their Las Vegas safehouse, Rorke ties Elias, David and Logan Walker and begins to brutally interrogate them. Rorke asks for Keegan, but Elias refuses to tell him anything, and in retaliation, shoots Logan. Elias replies that he was never a Ghost; Rorke beats Elias as he asserts his superior rank. Logan breaks free and grabs Rorke's MP-443 Grach, but in the struggle Rorke pulls the trigger, shooting Elias. Rorke knocks down Logan and shoots Elias multiple times, then kicks him to the ground. Elias reassures Logan, and proclaims his pride of him. Rorke pins him, puts his gun on his head, proclaims that he is the Ghost killer and pulls the trigger, instantly killing Elias.

Quotes
"It was a different time, a different enemy. Sixty men, from Tier One teams, were sent to face down a force of five hundred enemy fighters. Their objective: To force the enemy back from a civilian hospital, and keep its occupants alive. For three days, they held their ground, but the enemy's numbers were too great. The sixty were cut down to fifteen. They wouldn't last another night, and the enemy knew it. Under the cover of darkness, they evacuated the hospital, sending only one of their own to lead the way. The rest returned to the line, and took up position beneath the bodies of their fallen brothers. As they lay and wait, the blood from the dead poured over them. The sand stuck to their skin like a shroud. Changing them. Annointing them. When the enemy drew near, the remaining fourteen rose out of the desert sand. They were like hunters that couldn't be seen, using stealth their enemies couldn't defend against. When the men ran dry of ammunition, they used their blades, and when the blades ran dull, they used their hands. When the dust and sand had settled, only one of the enemy had survived. He was picked up in the desert, wondering aimlessly, traumatized. He expressed warnings to others of a force so menacing and unbeatable, it could only be described as supernatural. He called them... 'Ghosts'."

- Elias' narration in "Ghost Stories", telling his sons how the Ghosts were born.

"I made the hardest decision of my life. I let him go, and saved the others."

- Elias to his sons, about letting go of Rorke in Legends Never Die.

"You were never one of us. You're not a Ghost."

- Elias to Rorke about when he is being tortured by Rorke.

"You never expect something you trust, to turn against you. The rods didn't just decimate the land... It left us open to full scale invasion. Our new enemies advanced from south of the Equator, overwhelming an already crippled nation."

- Elias describing the aftermath of losing the ODIN Space Station.

"But I trained you well... and you won't be alone. A man who truly loves his country, doesn't just give his life... He gives his sons'."

- Elias in the campaign trailer.

Sound Files
Interview with Elias Walker.

Trivia

 * In the mission Homecoming, when he rappels down with Keegan, he uses his normal skull pattern. Strangely, when they are in the aircraft, his skull pattern is similar to Merrick's.
 * When he rescues Logan and Hesh in Homecoming, he is credited as "Ghost" before revealing himself to his sons.
 * In the beta version of Call of Duty Ghosts, while playing multiplayer, Elias is the announcer of the Ghosts, but in the final version, the Ghosts announcer is Thomas A. Merrick.