Simon "Ghost" Riley

"Let's do this!"

- Ghost's catchphrase

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, and 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.

During Modern Warfare 2: Ghost #2 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 the reader sees 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 completely free of drugs. During these flashbacks, many of Riley's adversaries are seen wearing "ghostly" makeup (presumably a hallucination of Riley) of similar style to that worn by participants in the Day of the Dead celebration. Eventually, the USSOCOM members Sparks and Washington 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 Pezz.

At the start of Modern Warfare 2: Ghost #3 By using Vernon's lower jaw bone Riley digs himself up from the grave, which took him thirteen hours, and later found by a Texas sheriff. The story then jumps to December 18th 2010, Riley is being debriefed about his experience to his superiors. Physically Riley is fine, but his superiors fear that his mental state is still in question. Riley has nightmares everytime he sleeps, with Roba haunting and taunting him. While spending Christmas with his family, Riley gets a surprised visit from Sparks. While having a beer together at a local pub, Sparks and Riley rehash old times and their experience during those hellish months in Mexico. Sparks tells Riley that he and Washington are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan. As they are walking back home Sparks approaches a young woman he previously saw at the pub and tries to sweet talker to bed, the young woman is not impressed. Angrily Sparks knocks the woman out, and orders Riley to help him get her inside her house so that they can rape her. Riley secretly calls the police, and they arrive just before any harm could be done to the woman, forcing Riley and Sparks to retreat. Once they both arrive at Spark' hotel room, Riley suspects that Sparks is up to something and when he finally pieces together the clues Sparks points a gun at Riley's head. Riley immediately disarms Sparks, and interrogates him. Sparks reveals that he and Washington have been working for Roba, showing that they had been successfully brainwashed, but before Riley could get any more information Washington arrives from a task and attempts to gun down Riley. Riley escapes by jumping through Sparks' hotel window, slightly injuring his leg, and steals a cab to make his get away. Remembering what Roba said about his family, Riley speeds towards his family's home and witnesses a shocking display. His mother, brother Tom, Tom's wife Beth, and his nephew Joseph have all been executed, no doubt by Washington himself. In the end Riley claims that he will kill them all; Sparks, Washington, Roba and his entire organization.

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's 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's 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 Russian-American war rages on. 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 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 Roach is betrayed by Shepherd who shoots Ghost, before he could level his ACR, 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, Ghost is undoubtedly lit on fire along with him (the soldiers would not have left unless they were sure they both were dead).

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.
 * 40 miles east of Petropavlovsk, Russia - Assisted Task Force 141 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.

Quotes
"Copy. Any sign of Rojas's right hand man?"

- Radio communications between Ghost and Captain MacTavish in Takedown

"Roger, I'm on my way!"

- Ghost to Captain MacTavish after Rojas' assistant shot the driver of the car.

"I've got you Roach, hang on!"

- Ghost helps an injured Roach after hit by a mortar round in Loose Ends

"Roach, hang in there!"

- Roach starts to pass out in Loose Ends

"No!"

- Ghost upon seeing Roach being shot by Shepherd in Loose Ends

"Bloody hell those trucks are bulletproofed!"

- Ghost after seeing Two trucks come out of the mansion on Loose Ends

"50/50 chance to take out Makarov eh? Captain Price, request permission to take the safehouse with Roach."

- Ghost talking to Price and Sheperd during Loose Ends

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.
 * Craig Fairbrass (who voiced Gaz in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare) provides the voice of Ghost.
 * Like Gaz, the two have had great time in the running course, Gaz having 19 seconds and Ghost having 18 seconds.
 * 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.
 * In "Museum" after the cliffhanger cutscene, if you zoom in with a sniper rifle, you can see that Ghost's eyebrows are orange, implying he is most likely a ginger type of hair color.
 * Ghost's ever rising popularity has even prompted people to make their own balaclavas based off of Ghost's.
 * 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.
 * 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 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 18.28 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. But it's not known if Ghost is really dead yet or not. Alternatively it could mean that Ghost-as a character is dead, but as part of the Call of Duty franchise he will live on; this is more likely, given X-Box magazine's alleged confirmation of his own game and the fact he has a six part comic series.
 * According to X-Box magazine, Ghost will be getting his own DLC.
 * If you watch the video below you can see two separate fires, one on yourself (Roach) and the other on Ghost (Or where his body should be lieing from your viewpoint)
 * In some levels, Ghost's M4A1 can be seen with a foregrip. However, if the player watches Ghost firing the weapon, he uses the standard offhand stance, without using the grip.
 * 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, Just like Gaz did.
 * 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 suit with the word "Titanium" written on it.
 * Ghost may be an homage 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 antagonists (Zakhaev and Shepherd), both were shot with a high-caliber sidearm, both are more vocal throughout the game compared to the other soldiers in their squad, and both of them were voiced by Craig Fairbass.
 * 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 dark places.

Video
thumb|left|300px|The General betraying and killing Ghost and Roach

Appearances

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