Sam Fisher
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Sam Fisher (born 1957) is the main character in the Splinter Cell series of games and novel created by author Tom Clancy. Throughout the series Fisher is voiced by actor Michael Ironside.
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Introduction
Sam Fisher is a veteran of the the CIA Directorate of Operations and of U.S. Navy SEAL Team 3. He is 5'10" tall, weighs 170 pounds, usually has a rough-shave, and has black hair and green eyes. He is recruited by Third Echelon, a secretive division of the National Security Agency. As of June, 2007 (Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory), Fisher is fifty years of age, but extremely agile and expert in the art of stealth. Fisher was the first person to be recruited as a field operative, or "Splinter Cell," for Third Echelon. He works alone in the field -- in espionage parlance, he is a singleton. While Fisher was working on an American Air Force base in Germany during the 1980s, he met and later married Regan Burns. She died only a few years after they married from ovarian cancer. Sarah Burns, their only child who was only four years old when her mother died, is currently attending college in Illinois. Fisher resides in a townhouse in Towson, Maryland when not on the job.
His 'handler' or 'controller' is Col. Irving Lambert, USA, Ret. (voiced in the second game by actor Dennis Haysbert). He coordinates intelligence and objective information with Fisher. He is assisted throughout his missions by NSA employees Anna Grimsdóttír, Vernon Wilkes Jr (now deceased) and later Dermot P. Brunton who was Wilkes' temporary replacement. Brunton became the head of SHADOWNET Operations, an "even blacker" operation than Third Echelon, and was replaced by former Marine William Redding. Throughout the course of the first game Fisher travels widely, his missions taking him to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Myanmar, and Russia. The second game takes place largely in Indonesia and environs, though he also travels to France, Israel, and Los Angeles in the US. Locations in the third game include Korea, Japan, Peru, Panama, and New York City.
Background
At first glance it may appear that almost nothing is known his past, but deductions are possible. Given his age of 50 during Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, we know that he was born on 1957 and stands at 5'10" tall, weighing 170 lbs. Ubisoft lead character artist Martin Caya established in early interviews about the game that during his career Fisher had served in Afghanistan, where he had an experience in which he was forced to hide under dead bodies in order to avoid being killed. Caya also established that Fisher had served in East Germany and in "other Soviet sattelite countries leading up to the collapse of the USSR." This fact is echoed on the web sites and manuals included with the games. The novel, for its part, establishes that Fisher was "with the CIA in the '80s." Therefore it would seem that this man was a late Cold Warrior.
The novel establishes that he hated his time in CIA, and that he mostly had official cover (i.e., he was a "diplomatic aide"). The training mission in the first game established that he served in Kuwait; most likely during the First Gulf War. The website for the third game established that by this point he was a SEAL, fully integrated with his team and deploying into the Middle East from a carrier. Other than for anti-terrorist operations, only SEAL Team 3 has a Middle Eastern Area of Responsibility (AOR). Thus the conclusion that he served in ST3. His extreme skill with aimed rifle shots at long range has been demonstrated many times. When he is holding his breath, there is no shaking of the reticule on the F2000 at all. This is even true at thousands of meters. Thus, one can reach the tentative conclusion that he most likely served as the team sniper.
Tactics and equipment
Hand-to-hand
The novel establishes that he "exclusively use[s] Krav Maga" for unarmed combat. He has reached the advanced level of 3B. This system is widely used by special operators, police, and similar personnel. It also bears mentioning that even though he is an American and he specifically states that he is not Jewish, he had an excellent working relationship with Israeli security services, and he seemed intimately familliar with Israeli weapons (including brand new ones). Also, he uses very unorthodox climbing techniques (split jumps, half split jumps, drop kick attacks, neck snaps while inverted, difficult techniques to climb pipes, etc.). Speculation points to his having cross-trained with Israeli hostage-rescue rappelling and climbing sections, also known as "Terror Monkeys." These people are widely acknowledged experts in climbing in order to conduct assaults from above.
In the novel, Fisher's acrobatic manuvers extend to using not only walls, but also furniture and even human beings to push off from in order to escape. Strictly speaking these are not unarmed combat techniques -- they might almost be some form of Parkour.
Fisher may have combined these three disciplines together, if so, then he has perfected something very formidable indeed.
Knife
As an ex-Navy SEAL, Sam's knife skills are second to none. He can use it to break locks, interrogate suspects and kill in all manners and methods. The knife appears to be a double-edged type, the blade roughly 5-inches in length, unsuitable for throwing.
In-game, a lethal cloe-in attack with use the knife to sever the enemies' brain stem, causing instant death. Whilst interrogating, if you have no need for the terrorist anymore, Sam kicks their leg, causing them to fall back onto the knife and die.
Weapons
Through the games, Fisher uses two Fabrique-Nationale firearms, the Five-SeveN 5.7mm Pistol and the F2000 assault rifle. In the games, however, they are called, respectively, the SC Pistol and the SC-20K (SC standing for Splinter Cell), presumably to avoid copyright infringements.
Five-SeveN
The pistol in the game is a 20-round, semiautomatic weapon with a attached suppressor and a OCP (Optically Channeled Potentiator) which gives the pistol the ability to disable electronics. 5.7mm ammo is touted by FN to be able to penetrate NATO kevlar vests and helmets, but in the games the ability to penetrate armour is limited, taking at least three to five shots to the torso to down a foe. The pistol is much more silent than the SC-20K. In the series' third installment, Chaos Theory, the 5-7 is equipped with an OCP, a device that can be used to disrupt electronic devices, including many light fixtures.
SC-20K
SC20K.JPG
30-round, select-fire 5.56 x 45mm NATO bullpup assault rifle with an integral supressor and a 1.5x reflex sight. SC stands for Splinter Cell, 20 probably means the 20th rifle to be used by Splinter Cells and K is Karabiner, German for carbine. In the first two games the SC-20K was always in the 'Launcher' configuration (supposedly a 30mm FN-manufactured pneumatic shotgun, but in reality is was a 40mm grenade launcher, capable of dispensing all manner of useful devices) but in Chaos Theory four configurations are possible.
Foregrip: The standard config, the grip is used to steady firing and counter the effects of recoil.
Launcher: A 40mm grenade launcher is attached, able to fire sticky shockers, sticky cams, gas grenades and other such fun items.
Sniper: A huge modification that chambers the SC-20K for a 20mm APDS (Armour-Piercing Discarding Sabot) round that can rip straight through armour and cover alike. This version has a full scope and modified barrel, increasing range and accuracy, though it is rather loud and unwieldy.
Shotgun: The standard config with a 12-gauge buckshot shotgun instead of the forward attachment. Useful for close-quarters combat.
Impact
The Splinter Cell series is part of the wave of stealth-based third-person video games that became popular in the late 1990s. The originators of the genre, the acclaimed Metal Gear Solid games, have much in common with the Splinter Cell titles in terms of gameplay. It is the gritty realism of SC that draws so many fans though, many of whom favor it over the presentation found in MGS. Splinter Cell has ascended to the top of the video gaming heap in terms of realistic stealth-based adventures, with future titles in the works for the next generation of gaming consoles.
Featured in:
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell — (2002/2003) PC, Xbox, GameCube, PS2
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (2004) PC, Xbox, GameCube, PS2
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (novel) — (2004) Novel by David Michaels
- Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (2005) PC, Xbox, GameCube, PS2, Nintendo DS