Simon "Ghost" Riley

"Let's do this!"

- Ghost, right before engaging the enemy

Lieutenant 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 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 conflict. The first mission depicted in the series has a captured Special Ops soldier wearing a skull-patterned balaclava in a classroom filled with children of 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 soldier passes the time by telling a story of his friend, Simon "Ghost" Riley on a mission in Mexico. The SAS loaned "Ghost" 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", when Riley and the others wear skull facepaint 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 he dons his signature skull-patterned balaclava as Riley is shot and assumed dead at the end of Modern Warfare 2: Ghost #1. It is revealed that Ghost and his team are captured by the Mexican cartel, and during their captivity they endure continuous torture and brainwashing techniques in order to be used as hired guns for various criminal and terrorist groups. Throughout this ordeal we see flashbacks of Riley's early life, from his childhood and how he had to endure an abusive fiend of a father. To his early years in the SAS and how he, after coming back from his first tour of duty in Afghanistan on January of 2003, takes care of his abused mother and helps clean up his drug-addicted younger brother named Tommy. In March of 2004 he finally puts an end to his father and in June of 2006 Riley is seen as best man at his brother Tommy's wedding, who is now completly free of drugs. During these flashbacks, many of Riley's adversaires are seen wearing a "ghostly" makeup (presumably an hallucination of Riley), the same makeup that people wear in the festival celebration in Day of the Dead. Eventually, the USSOCOM members are able to escape, having learned that the Mexican cartel plan to kill them due to the fact they can not break them down, but are forced to leave Riley behind. Moments later, Riley is buried alive with the decaying corpse of Major Vernon.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Lt. Simon "Ghost" Riley is first seen in Takedown talking to Captain MacTavish via radio while they search for Alejandro Rojas' assistant. After Soap and Roach 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 where Task Force 141 attempts to escape Rio de Janiero while being pursued by the Brazilian Militia. He manages to escape with Captain MacTavish and Roach aboard Nikolai's helicopter. 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. 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 Security systems and guides Soap and Roach to the prisoner.

Ghost does not reappear until Contingency where he helps Captain Price infiltrate a Russian submarine base along with other Task Force 141 members. However, he is shocked after Price launches an ICBM at Washington D.C. where the American-Russian war rages on. Ghost's final appearance is in Loose Ends where he leads a strike-team to search for Makarov at his safehouse on the Georgian-Russian border. However, Makarov is nowhere to be seen but the safehouse is rich 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 they are betrayed by Shepherd who shoots Ghost in the chest at point-blank range with a .44 Magnum. Ghost is last seen being thrown into a ditch along with Roach. Although the player only sees Roach being covered in gasoline and set on fire, logically Shepherd would have ordered that Ghost be set on fire as well.

Locations
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Task Force 141 (Technical Specialist and Assistant Field Commander)
 * Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Caught Rojas, Tortured Rojas and Rojas' right-hand man and escaped on Nikolai's Pave Low helicopter.
 * Vikorevkha 36 Oil Platform - Secured hostages and the oil rig. Phase one of Prisoner Extraction operation.
 * Petropavslok, Russia - Assisted TF141 in the rescue of Prisoner #627. Phase two of Prisoner Extraction operation.
 * 140 Miles East of Petropavslok, Russia - Raided a submarine base with Captain Price and Roach.
 * Georgian-Russian Border - Secured a DSM on Makarov's intel. Betrayed along with Roach and killed by General Shepherd.
 * Shepherd's submarine - Task Force 141 Mission briefing

Trivia

 * Ghost gets his headgear from one of his first missions in the S.A.S., where he must kill a rogue drug dealer, known as Roba, however most of his team are killed, as he shoots his way out of trouble, but is nearly killed by Roba himself.
 * "Ghost" may simply be a special title or honorary rank given to one elite solider at any given time, such as the Arbiter in Halo 2 or L in Death Note. Whenever the currently active Ghost dies, the next soldier in line steps up and takes on the responsibility of becoming the next Ghost. In Modern Warfare 2, Ghost was Simon Riley, meaning a new operative would become Ghost after Simon Riley was murdered by Shepherd. This theory is supported by his own nickname, as a ghost is something that you can not kill. Robert Bowling's comment "Ghost... isn't exactly dead..." supports this theory as well.
 * According to December's DC Comics advance solicitations, Ghost's name is Simon Riley.
 * 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.
 * Ghost is somehow able to use a SCUBA mask during the oil rig mission, despite wearing a mask and having no mouth hole cut out for the breathing apparatus.
 * Ghost's ever rising popularity has even prompted people to make their own balaclavas based off of Ghost's.
 * 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.


 * On the side of Ghost's 's Avatar clothing's headphones, it says "11/10/09"; a reference to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's release date, which was November 10th, 2009.
 * Ghost's face is never actually seen in the campaign.
 * There is an achievement/trophy named "Ghost", though it actually has nothing to do with the character himself.
 * Ghost is the multiplayer announcer for Task Force 141, and is the announcer for most (but not all, such as "Time Trial") Special Ops missions.
 * On Infinity Ward's website Ghost was voted 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 SAS 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".
 * Due to his past career in the S.A.S. and his calling of MacTavish by his old nickname, he may have worked alongside Soap before joining Task Force 141, and maybe even Gaz and Price.
 * Ghost wears many different balaclavas, all with different colors, but they maintain the same exact skull pattern.
 * One of Ghost's melee takedowns is exactly as 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 only an M1911, 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 odd how Ghost is always referred 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.
 * In an Interview with IGN Robert Bowling was asked if there is a possibility that Ghost is still alive and he stated "Ghost... isn't exactly dead... but you'll see what I mean soon." This means that in the game for Ghost that it might take place after "Loose Ends" or explain what happened to him after the end of "Loose Ends". This could be true because if you watch when the man pours gasoline on them, it only goes on Roach and not Ghost. Or it could be figurative language as it might mean there will be a game with Ghost taking place before his death. Alternatively, maybe another SAS operator takes his name and visage in honor of him.
 * According to X-Box magazine, Ghost will be getting his own DLC.


 * It is interesting to note that in some levels, Ghost's M4A1 can be seen with a foregrip. However, if you watch Ghost firing the weapon, his hand does not hold the foregrip, it rests on the handguard like a traditional shooting stance.
 * It is interesting to note that Ghost has brown/hazel eyes in the comic, but blue eyes in the actual game.
 * It might be said Ghost is a computer hacker, as in The Gulag, he hacks the system to help Soap and Roach find Captain Price.
 * In the reveal trailer for : Modern Warfare 2, one of the scenes in which Soap prepares to interrogate and torture Rojas' assistant, there is someone else holding and sparking the jumper cables. In the game, Ghost would be performing those actions with the jumper cables. This may be the true face of Ghost, but it is most likely just a placeholder character model. However, this isn't too special, as we've already seen Ghost's face in the comic. That is, assuming that Ghost truly is Simon Riley.
 * On the level "The Only Easy Day was Yesterday", you can see a knife strapped to Ghost's with the word "Titanium" written on it.
 * There is a very interesting Irish phrase which says "The Ghosts are the ones who bear the faces of the fallen (skeletons)" which is very similar to Ghost himself.
 * Ghost is more likely a reference to Gaz from Call of Duty 4, as both characters are the right hand of the Squad Leader (Cpt. Price and Soap), both of them got killed by the main antagonist (Zakhaev and Shepherd) By A Large Caliber Firearm, both are more vocal through the game compared to the other soldiers in their squad and both of them were voiced by Craig Fairbass.
 * It's interesting to note how neither Captain MacTavish or Captain Price notice any shared characteristics Ghost has to Gaz as both Captain MacTavish and Captain Price has served alongside Gaz.
 * Ghost always has his glasses on, even underwater or in a dark places.
 * Occasionally, though very rarely, Ghost will throw a frag grenade like a baseball.

Appearances

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