- "To do good, you gotta do some bad. When we shit we bury it, that's how it works."
- — Shepherd
General Herschel Shepherd is a mentioned character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, the secondary antagonist of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, and a major character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. He also is heard in the opening cinematic for the Shadow Siege event in Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0.
Biography[]
Verdansk[]
On April 6th, 2019, Shepherd, then a Lieutenant General, was personally involved in overseeing an operation with Bravo 6 operatives John Price, Johnny "Soap" MacTavish, Simon "Ghost" Riley and Burns when Vladimir Makarov and the Inner Circle launched a terrorist attack on the Acropolis National Arena in Verdansk, Kastovia. Shepherd gave the team orders to capture Makarov alive while he and Ghost later flew in to help escort a captured Makarov away. However, the stadium attack turns out to be a distraction, as several explosions rock the nearby airport, and Shepherd tells Makarov he will "rot in hell" for it.
Forming Task Force 141[]
In November 2019, Shepherd, now a General, gathered the files of Kyle "Gaz" Garrick, Soap and Ghost for Price. Together with Agent Kate Laswell of the CIA, these individuals went on to form the counter-terrorism unit Task Force 141, which fell under Shepherd's command.
Assassination of General Ghorbrani[]
Shepherd oversaw the assassination of General Ghorbrani, the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, on July 15th, 2022. The operation was jointly carried out by Task Force 141 and the PMC Shadow Company, which was led by Commander Phillip Graves. Ghorbrani had traveled to a site outside Al Mazrah in the United Republic of Adal to purchase weapons from the Russian military. Ghost scouted the meeting and confirmed Ghorbrani's presence. Shepherd then ordered Graves to carry out a missile strike, which killed Ghorbrani and the Russians.
Arms smuggling[]
Meanwhile, Shepherd had been working with Shadow Company to conduct an off-the-books operation smuggling American weapons to allies in the Middle East to aid them against the Russians. While Shepherd established this operation with good intentions, it was nonetheless illegal, and proved to have dire consequences.
In August 2022, a Shadow Company convoy transporting a shipment of three missiles was ambushed by Russian PMC Konni, who seized the missiles under the employment of Russian Ultranationalists. The Russians then gave them to Major Hassan Zyani, Ghorbrani's second-in-command, who was coordinating with Al-Qatala to carry out a revenge plot against the United States. However, Shepherd knew only that the missiles had been taken, not by whom, and over the following months he attempted to bury all documentation of his illicit activities while having Shadow Company quietly search for the missiles.
Hunting Hassan Zyani and the missiles[]
In October 2022, Task Force 141 stumbled across one of the stolen American missiles during a mission to capture Zyani in a warehouse near Al Mazrah held by Al-Qatala. Shepherd and Agent Laswell were overseeing the mission from his office in Washington, D.C. Laswell suggested that quickly analyzing the missile's systems could determine how it fell into Zyani's hands, but Shepherd ordered the missile's immediate destruction, arguing it was too dangerous to risk even the smallest chance of the enemy reclaiming it. Laswell acquiesced to her superior officer's order, but began digging into Department of Defense files under the general's nose to learn more about the background of the missiles.
Seeing the opportunity to destroy the missiles, protect his reputation, and neutralize Zyani all at once, Shepherd assigned Task Force 141 to cooperate with Shadow Company in the hunt for Zyani. The Mexican special forces unit Los Vaqueros was also looped into the operation after Zyani was found to be working with the Las Almas Cartel. Zyani had been paying the cartel to smuggle two of the missiles out of the Middle East by way of Spain to be used in attacks on the United States. One missile was set up on an abandoned oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that the cartel had been using for its drug running, and was intended for a strike on New Orleans. The other missile was brought into the United States at Chicago and kept in Arch Industries Tower, which was owned by a shell company of the cartel, and its target was to be Washington, D.C. The cartel was fully aware of what they were smuggling and what the missiles would be used for, with its leader, Valeria Garza, reasoning that spurring America to redouble its war on terror would distract it from countering the cartels' drug business.
Task Force 141, Shadow Company, and Los Vaqueros captured Garza in Las Almas in a raid on the mansion of the Las Almas Cartel, then they interrogated her for the locations of Zyani and the missiles. Garza cut a deal to provide the intel piecemeal in exchange for her release. She revealed that the second missile was placed on an abandoned oil rig, off the Coast of Mexico, which Task Force 141 and Shadow Company successfully destroyed. At this point, Shepherd was confident that the final missile and Zyani would soon be neutralized, and he, out of paranoia, moved to cut Task Force 141 and Los Vaqueros out of the mission so that Shadow Company could finish cleaning up his mess with no one else the wiser about his involvement. Shepherd ordered Shadow Company to seize Los Vaqueros' headquarters facility to use as a base; when Task Force 141 and Los Vaqueros resisted, Shadow Company detained Colonel Alejandro Vargas and his men, and attempted to kill Ghost and Soap, who went on the run in Las Almas and managed to elude Graves' forces.
Upon escaping from the city and freeing Los Vaqueros, Laswell and Price informed the group why Shepherd had turned against them: Laswell's research had uncovered redacted files detailing the general's off-the-books arms deals. Task Force 141 and Los Vaqueros banded together, forming a temporary joint task force, they then assaulted and retook the headquarters, supposedly killing Commander Graves in the process. After they had secured the base, the team confronted Garza, who was still in custody in the headquarters, she divulged that Zyani was with the last missile in Chicago. Task Force 141, with the help of US MARSOC Marines, infiltrated Arch Industries Tower on November 4, 2022, and killed Zyani. Although the Major managed to launch the missile before his demise, Soap successfully detonated it mid-flight before it impacted Washington.
Overseeing Shadow Company[]
After Task Force 141 discovered Shepherd's malfeasance, the general went off the grid. However, he continued playing a beneficiary role towards Shadow Company to a significant extent.
On August 17th, 2023, Shepherd oversaw Operation Rogue Arsenal carried out by Phillip Graves, Osmund Ryan, and a team of Shadow Company operators. Shadow Company launched an assault against Konni Group in Al Mazrah, capturing missile launchers from the enemy and destroying the Zaya Observatory to recover chemical weapons stored in an underground bunker and tunnels. During the assault, Shepherd and Graves discovered that Vladimir Makarov was the commander of Konni with Shepherd noting that Makarov should be detained in a gulag. Knowing Shadow's Company's plan, Makarov tasked several teams of Konni soldiers to disguise themselves with Shadow Company gear and hijack the helicopters carrying the gas canisters. At least one team, comprised of Ivan Alexxeve and Andrei Nolan, was successful in securing the gas for Makarov.
Makarov's Return[]
In November 2023, after Makarov's escape, Shepherd and Graves came out of hiding to make a deal with Laswell and Task Force 141, who were reluctant at first to accept any intel. However, the intel proved useful in infiltrating the island residence of Makarov's financier Milena Romanova. Not long after, Shepherd was captured and taken prisoner by Konni and escorted to an old prison in Siberia. During the transport, Shepherd was indirectly rescued by Task Force 141, who were not aware he was the target to rescue. After being confronted, Shepherd gave all the intel he had on Makarov and agreed to testify before Congress about his activities in exchange for rescue. Shepherd told them of Makarov's plans to blow up the Gora Dam in Verdansk, a plot which was foiled by Soap and Ghost.
Shepherd later assisted via radio support to Task Force 141, Farah and Shadow Company's assault on Konni's FOB in Urzikstan, though when Price stated that Makarov's body was not confirmed amidst the wreckage of the assault, Shepherd ordered them to stand down, which they did in spite of their skepticism of Makarov's demise.
Congressional Hearing[]
Sometime later, Shepherd appeared before a Congressional committee, testifying that Task Force 141 and the ULF helped stopped Makarov, and confirming that Farah and the ULF were allies to the West and not terrorists opposing them, as well as confirming that for a decade he was the one illegally supplying the ULF with arms to fight Al-Qatala and the Russians. However, he denied giving Shadow Company orders to kill Task Force 141 in Las Almas, while Graves, who was in the same committee chamber, testified that he was given these orders by Shepherd while claiming he didn't act on them.
Death[]
After the incident in London and Makarov's escape, Shepherd returned to his office in the Pentagon one night to work. However, Price emerged from the shadows in a corner of the office, and Shepherd soon figured out that Laswell had let Price in. He reached for a gun under the desk but was stopped by Price, who carried his own silenced pistol. Shepherd tried telling Price that he was better than this, and that the job was about "making sacrifices for the greater good" to which Price agreed. Shepherd pointed out that Price had a body count of his own and it would come back to haunt him, as Price aimed the gun at his head. Shepherd defiantly stated that he would not beg for his life to Price or anyone else, to which Price said it would not help him right before shooting Shepherd in the head and leaving his body at his desk.
Gallery[]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II[]
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III[]
Trivia[]
- Shepherd's first name, Herschel, is a reference to a comment from Robert Bowling claiming that Shepherd from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was named Hershel von Shepherd III.
References[]
- ↑ Rank patch on Shepherd's plate carrier in Flashpoint indicates he was a 3-star general (lieutenant general) in April 2019. Shepherd is a 4-star general at the beginning of Modern Warfare II's story, indicating that he was promoted some time prior to the events of the game. Laswell in Modern Warfare states that Shephed was a general by then, suggesting his promotion was sometime before November 2019.
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