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.. This mission takes place on the Mexican holiday, "Day of the Dead" and Simon and the others wear skull face paint and skeleton costumes to blend in with the celebrating crowd at the party in which the leader of the Heroin Cartel is throwing. This is presumed at this time to be where the skull balaclava comes in as Riley is shot and assumed dead at the end of Modern Warfare 2: Ghost #1.

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 and has the same voice of Gaz.

While on a mission in the Caucasus Mountains on the Russian/Georgian border, Russia, Ghost, Ozone, Scarecrow and Gary "Roach" Sanderson are investigating one of Makarov's safehouses when an ambush occurs which results in four Task Force 141 soldiers being killed. Ghost manages to regroup the squad and move on to securing the estate, with the help of their snipers, Archer and Toad.

Ghost and Roach manage to copy Makarov's files onto a portable DSM. With an overwhelming amount of enemies and no means of reaching the safety of the mountains, Ghost, Roach, Ozone and Scarecrow (if the latter two are still alive) make a suicidal run through enemy lines to reach an emergency LZ set up by General Shepherd. Scarecrow and Ozone are killed and Roach is wounded by a mortar. Ghost manages to grab Roach and drag him down the rest of the hill to the LZ.

Shepherd appears off the helicopter and asks Ghost if he has the DSM. As soon as Ghost confirms he does, Shepherd fatally shoots Roach. Ghost, surprised at what has just suddenly transpired, reacts too late, and is also fatally shot by Shepherd.

Ghost and Roach's bodies are tossed into a ditch, covered in gasoline, and set alight by Shepherd's 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 into 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 Magnum Revolver. 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 Task Force 141.
 * 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 Xbox LIVE Avatars for 400 Microsoft points.
 * In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Mobilized, almost all of the S.A.S. dress like Ghost, but without the skull design on the balaclava.
 * It is interesting to note that Ghost is the only member of Task Force 141 (apart from Price) who refers to Captain MacTavish as "Soap".
 * Ghost wears many different balaclavas, all with different colors, but they maintain the same exact skull pattern.
 * The player 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.
 * 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 S.A.S." in his interview at the London Premiere of Modern Warfare 2, while both Captain MacTavish and Captain Price outrank him.
 * The player can overhear two Rangers talking about how Ghost completed the training course in 8.28 seconds with the M1911 pistol. Far faster than any of the Rangers.
 * On a more ironic note, though Ghost is known as the "silent killer," he is very vocal throughout the missions he appears in, to the point to be told to "cut the chatter" in "The Gulag".
 * It's highly speculated that Ghost is a Sergeant, but this may be false. It only states he is a Sergeant in his comic book series which takes place a few years before he joins Task Force 141, so in that time frame considering what skilled soldier he is, he may have risen one or two ranks, thus leaving him a higher rank than Captain Price and Captain MacTavish.
 * It's odd how Ghost is always refered as a Sergeant in several places (including the first comic book information on DC Comics site), even though he is said to be a lieutenant in the first comic book.

Appearances

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