John Carver

John Carver
Biographical information
Date of birth	April 21, 2477 (age 37)
Physical information
Gender	Male
Equipment	Special Forces Suit Bullpup Rifle
Hair	Black
Eyes	Brown
Chronological and political information
Notable facts	Survivor of Uxor incident Survivor of New Horizons incident Survivor of Second Tau Volantis incident
Affiliation	EarthGov Earth Defense Force

"Let's get one thing straight, Clarke. We came to this frozen shit-hole to stop the Markers. And nothing — not you - or your obsession with Ellie — is gonna get in my way. You got that?"

—Carver

Sergeant John Carver is a soldier for the Earth Defense Force. A survivor of the Necromorph outbreaks on Uxor and Keyhole Station, Carver aided Isaac Clarke in the completion of his wife's mission to destroy the source of the Marker signals.

Biography

Early life

Sometime during Carver's life, he joined the Earth Defense Force and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He met a woman named Damara and together they had a child whom they named Dylan. In the audio logs that Carver recalled during his hallucinations on Tau Volantis and also in an audio log on the Eudora, it was revealed that Carver had a difficult time being with his family, not wanting his son to be like him as Dylan told his mother that he wanted to grow up to be a soldier like Carver. Thinking that he was not a worthy father for not being there for his son and wife, he made a recording of his supposedly final words and was about to commit suicide when Damara entered the room that he was in. Horrified by what she was witnessing, Carver quickly lied and stated that he was just thinking.

At some point, the family moved to an EarthGov research facility on Uxor that housed a Red Marker. Carver was tasked at guarding the facility.

Dead Space: Liberation

At an unspecified point of time, John Carver got into an argument with the captain of the Earth Defense Force unit stationed on Uxor and smashed the captain's vidscreen in a fit of anger. He believed that the captain was spreading the troops on the planet too thin. As possible punishment for his actions, Carver was assigned to patrol the perimeter nearest to the Marker Shroud 4 site.

His wife, Damara contacted him. She was frustrated with his behavior. On top of missing his son’s bedtime, his actions cost the family promised vacation time. Equally as frustrated with his own behavior as his wife was, Carver suggested that they may be better off without him after Damara made an offhand comment about raising Dylan “on her own”. Carver discovered a sabotaged scanner and a long-sight laser marker triangulated on the position of the Marker's containment dome. Realizing too late what was happening, Carver warned Damara and Dylan to get to safety as a missile destroyed the Marker's dementia suppression dome.

Captured

Carver barely recovered from the explosion before an EMP from the Marker took out the surrounding tech which brought a large ship crashing down on the residential complexes. Fearing the worst, Carver rushed to reach his wife and son. However, he was attacked by twisted, unknown life-forms . Inside, he was captured by the Circle, an extremist Unitologist group led by Jacob Danik.

Their attempt to get answers from him unearthed information about his family. In a fit of rage, Carver broke free and attacked them. After a successful escape, he reached his home. To his horror, Dylan and Damara are killed by the Unitologist fanatics and their bodies are transformed by an Infector. He killed them and suffered a momentary breakdown as Ellie Langford contacted Damara.

Carver heard her out, grabbing the data stick that his wife hid in a stuffed doll. Knowing that the transmissions are likely being monitored, he used Ellie as bait to lure the Circle out into the open in order to spring their trap. Robert Norton and the USM Eudora arrived in time to get them safely off the planet.

Continuing Damara's legacy

The data stick contained precious information and a message from his wife explaining that she found the source of the Marker signals. Carver, proud of his wife's endeavors decided to help Robert and Ellie to see Damara's mission through. Their first destination was Ptolemy Station, but as they made their way to the station, the crew realized that the Circle was there and the station was infested by the Necromorphs. They managed to locate the Master Signal and headed out. After destroying the station, they headed to Keyhole Station in order to get the beacon necessary to reach it's location. During the transit, Ellie and Carver bonded. Carver expressed his guilt to a silent Ellie, reaffirming that he could set things right if he could successfully complete his wife's work.

On Keyhole Station, Carver, Norton and Ellie are separated by the combined efforts of the Necromorphs aboard and the Circle attacking the station's exterior. As Carver and Norton are unable to reach her, Ellie decided to make the blind jump to Tau Volantis without them, knowing that they would follow after her. They destroyed both the ShockRing and the station to prevent Danik and his men from following Ellie. Norton decided that it was time to begin the search for Isaac Clarke.

Dead Space 3

Meeting Isaac Clarke

After some time, Carver and Norton finally located Clarke on the New Horizons Lunar Colony in the Earthrise Apartments. However, the Unitologists already made it there and began their first step of plunging the city into chaos. Through unknown means, Carver infiltrated his apartment, allowing Norton to distract the engineer long enough for Carver to blindside him. Carver held him down at gunpoint as Norton explained the situation to Clarke just as the Circle attacked the concourse. Isaac agreed to help the two as the Unitologists are breaking everything apart in an attempt to locate Clarke. As they arrived at the extraction site, the Unitologist fanatics attacked the trio. After a brief gunfight, a suicide bomber destroyed their getaway car and knocked Isaac and Carver into a nearby sewage ravine, separating them from Norton.

With their plans sidetracked, the two had to fight their way to the extraction site where an EarthGov unit was waiting for them while the Unitologists attempted to slow them down. Upon arriving at the rendezvous point, the Unitologists discovered the extraction team and killed them all. They quickly subdued them both with Danik forcing Isaac to witness as he blew the city's Marker containment shroud protecting the outside from the Marker's signal. Danik prepared to execute Isaac, but he managed to evade the shot, falling to a pile of corpses below and blacking out for some time.

Later, Isaac and Carver woke up with all hell breaking loose as the Necromorphs started ravaging the colony. However, due to the outbreak, they successfully managed to evade the Unitologists long enough to head to their final destination which was Washington Station, encountering swarms of Necromorphs in the process.

Making their way to the train station, the Unitologists finally caught up with them with the USM Eudora arriving just in time, saving Clarke and Carver from certain death.

Arriving at Tau Volantis

During the transit through ShockSpace, Clarke woke up and noticed Carver sitting next to him. He attempted to make small talk with Carver, inquiring about his son and offering his sympathies when he learned that Carver's family was killed by Danik. Carver made it clear to Clarke that the two of them are not friends and a stronger effort to cooperate with their mission was mandatory. Norton directed the two to get to the bridge while briefing the crew with their mission. Upon arriving at the bridge, the USM Eudora deshocked to Tau Volantis and they realized that the space was littered with old junk from the Sovereign Colonies' ships and picked up Ellie's distress beacon. However, the Eudora was soon afterward bombarded by mines and sustained heavy damage.

Norton tended to keeping their pilots, Mark Rosen and Locke alive within a sealed room while Clarke along with Carver went to secure an EVA Suit for the engineer, barely managing to put it on him just in time. Once Clarke released the room from its seals, it was blown into the debris of the flotilla. Carver, Norton and Clarke fought to keep the box in control while they veered out of the path of the mines. They regained control of the sealed room and headed for the CMS Roanoke. They noticed the bloodstains and coffins with Carver realizing that there are executions.

Realizing that the ship was not so dead after all, they encountered a bunch of Necromorphs on their way toward the distress beacon as well as managing to reactivate the ship's core. With the power up and running, they finally found Ellie, Santos and Austin Buckell. Carver was dismissive of Clarke's feelings in regards to Norton and Ellie when the engineer rebuked him for not being informed about their relationship. The duo arrived at Marjorie Graves' quarters. There, Clarke discovered that Graves was obsessed with building a Machine that could “control” the Markers. Ellie assumed that they found the “Marker Homeworld” and they combined their efforts in figuring out how to get down to the planet. During the salvage of parts, Carver overheard the voice of his son begging for help and decided to investigate the CMS Brusilov. Inside, Carver continued to hear his son. The two restored the life support systems to the ship and discovered a small Marker surrounded by bodies. Despite Clarke's efforts to stop him, Carver approached a toy soldier sitting on the floor. They are ambushed by the Necromorphs who destroyed the life support systems. Once they escaped, Clarke asked what the Marker showed Carver. Carver avoided the question.

After the CMS Crozier was repaired, Carver and the others used the flight path to head down to the planet. The shuttle, however was severely damaged and crashed upon re-entry. Separated from the others, Clarke and Carver struggled through the freezing temperatures of the storm system. They took shelter inside a bunker where they found Buckell moments before he died from hypothermia. The others managed to find suits to keep them warm, but Buckell chose to remain behind, too afraid of what lurked below on the lower level to search for another suit. Carver and Clarke butt heads during the search to find the others. Carver's point of contention was Clarke's obsession with Ellie and his brazen and disregard for the mission. Eventually, they regrouped with the others who discovered a means to locate the Machine that Graves mentioned.

The unexpected appearance of the Circle separated Clarke and Carver from the group and they are forced to fight their way through the Unitologists as they began to swarm the dig site. Once they lost them, they regrouped with Santos and the others in the warehouse in time to hear how they planned to locate the signal of the Machine using the corpse of the “Nexus." Restoring power to the generator, Carver and Clarke need to collect the parts necessary to build the sensor.

With the coordinates given to them by Santos, Carver and Clarke headed for the path that would take them to the warehouse. Off in the distance, Carver saw his wife, bloodied, crying and shaking from the cold. Clarke, unaware of what the soldier was seeing and wanting to make sure that he was okay decided to follow him when he said that he saw a woman. Heading inside the Archaeology Warehouse, the elevator broke down and Carver began to experience acute hallucinations of his family with their eyes gouged out on the walls of elevators.

Inside the warehouse, tin soldiers are lined up against the walls or containers, varying in size. Voices of his wife and son haunted Carver the further inside the warehouse that they went. Visions of children's toys, presents, party streamers adorned with messages (“Daddy hated me”, “dead inside”) fed into Carver's hysteria. The whole time, Clarke remained silent as they fought through the underground. Upon reaching the end of the warehouse, Carver blacked out and Clarke revealed that they stood in the elevator for over five minutes. They returned to the surface and Carver was visibly shaken by his experience.

The parts that they found allowed them to build the sensor and locate over a thousand signals beneath the surface of the planet. Santos and Ellie headed out of the complex while Clarke and Carver are left with Norton who locked them in the cage. Norton was subdued by Danik and his men moments before Clarke and Carver joined them. Carver was enraged when he learned that Norton betrayed them to Danik for his and the others' survival in exchange for Clarke.

Clarke managed to prevent Norton's execution, allowing the three to gain the upper hand on the Unitologists. Their firefight, however was short lived. The Nexus appeared and attacked them. Carver and Clarke managed to get Norton out of the line of danger, almost at Clarke's expense. Carver covered Norton and the engineer and soldier battled the creature. After Clarke and Carver killed and escaped the belly of the beast, they are attacked by Norton who laid the blame of their situation on Clarke. Clarke killed him with a shot to the head.

Carver justified killing Norton, reminding Clarke that he had no choice in the matter. Regrouping with Ellie and Santos, the news about Norton's death did not go over well. Santos believed that the mission was lost. Carver reminded her that she would be left behind if she became a liability. Ellie and Santos stayed behind while Clarke and Carver climbed the cliffs. They found a cargo cage for them to use and later located the winch to reactivate the cage's generator. Ellie exited the cage seconds before the beast that hunted Isaac and Carver appeared and grabbed onto the cage, endangering Santos. Isaac tried to save her, but Carver, realizing that they would be dragged down along with the face of the cliff cut the wire rope of the cage at its base, killing Santos. Clarke and Carver are separated from Ellie when the Necromorph attacked the cliff and pulled them down with the collapsing structure.

After rendezvousing with Ellie at the Rosetta Lab, Carver and Clarke set out to search for the pieces of Rosetta. Carver once again began to experience hallucinations of tin soldiers. He saw the visions of his wife imposed over Clarke's face. They headed down into the warehouse where Carver was taken to a landscape similar to the one that Clarke experienced when facing “Nicole” at the Site 12 Marker. The landscape was covered with birthday presents, jagged stone and photographs of Damara and Dylan.

The voice of Damara spoke to Carver, beckoning him to join his family in death. With his death, the family would be "made whole again." Each time that Carver was pulled out of the world, Clarke told him that he did not need to face the Marker. Carver, determined to face it was repeatedly taken into the world inside his mind and faced off against the shadow creatures. He got close enough to the Marker to shatter it with his weapon and broke the connection. When he came to again, he and Clarke are standing in front of a Marker. Afterward, Carver reminded Clarke about their conversation earlier on the planet. He told Clarke that he would see the price for the things that he did “paid.”

Retrieving all of the pieces of Rosetta, they discovered that the pieces are of alien origin. Activating the Codex, Clarke learned that the Machine that they are searching for prevented the true source of the “Marker signal” which was the Moon above the planet from being made whole with Convergence. Danik reached their location while Clarke was preoccupied. He apprehended the Codex as soon as the engineer recovered. Clarke activated the decontamination system, flooding the room with the toxin. Carver and Clarke escaped the room, but need to close the door manually. Ellie urged them to go on without her, believing herself lost to the decontamination process. Closing the door, the two resolved themselves to completing the mission.

The pursuit of Danik led them down into a strange alien city. Observing the massive landscape below, Carver asked Clarke to finish the mission if he did not make it, hoping that his efforts so far would count for something. Clarke reassured him that they both would get this done and told Carver that he was a good man and they are only human. Following the audio logs of Earl Serrano, Carver and Clarke quickly realized that the city was the dormant Machine that the scientist spoke about. Using the promenade, they travelled through the Machine city to reach the control center for the Codex.

After they configured the Machine, Danik tried to use Ellie who survived the decontamination protocol to stop them from destroying the Moon. Carver, believing that Clarke had a second chance with Ellie reminded him to “not let everything go dark” and threw the Codex to Danik. The Unitologist deactivated the Machine, restarting the Convergence Event and was killed shortly after by the falling debris. As Ellie prepared to leave, Carver told her to return to Earth and warn “them” about what she knew.

Separated, Carver and Clarke fought their way back to the Machine. They came face to face with the “Moon” which was a Necromorph of impressive size. They battled it and the horde of Necromorphs that it spawned. After severely damaging the "Moon", Clarke and Carver used the Kinesis plate to pull the Machine free from the injured creature. Upon making it to the island, Carver helped the injured Clarke up onto the island over to the Machine. Activating it sent a pulse through them and the surrounding area. Carver was blown off the crumbling island as the Convergence Event was halted.

Dead Space 3: Awakened

It appeared that Carver as well as Isaac survived after reactivating the Machine as their goal was to escape from Tau Volantis to get back to Earth on the CMS Terra Nova while fighting the Necromorph Cult.

The two defeated the newly formed Unitologist Cult and their so-called prophet and piloted the Terra Nova back to Earth, only to discover that the other Brethren Moons already arrived. One of the Moons arose, causing both Isaac and Carver to suffer further damage from dementia. The screen cut to black. Their status was currently unknown.

Personality

Carver was a soldier dedicated to his duty, willing to prioritize missions over the livelihood of himself and those who might accompany him. A solitary man, he played his emotions close to his chest, even in the company of his family. Several logs throughout the game suggested that Carver may be experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress and suicidal tendencies because of the things that he did as a soldier. An incident relating to the alleged abuse of his son suggested the starting point of his emotional distance from his family.

After Carver was forced to kill his family, the unresolved issues with them lowered Carver's already low opinion of himself. He thought that he was directly responsible for his wife's secrecy relating the hidden information she unearthed about the Sovereign Colonies. His disdain for his position as a soldier revealed that he did not want his son following in his footsteps. Carver was quick to lose his temper at any given moment which complicated both his military career and personal life. Carver chose to be standoffish, sarcastic and rude to others. He was particularly short and had a small comic relief with Clarke who thought little of the mission in comparison to the safety of Ellie.

Carver blamed himself for his family's death and believed that completing Damara's work and stopping the Markers was the only reason for him to stay alive. As he spent more time with Isaac and came closer to completing the mission and after confronting Damara's hallucination in his mind, he became slightly more understanding. He showed genuine sympathy for Isaac over Ellie's alleged death and entrusted him with finishing the mission should he not survive. Isaac calling him a good man seemed to brighten his spirits as well.

As the game progressed, while he lost none of his edge, he is not as blunt as Isaac or Ellie.

Spoilers end here.

Trivia

• Carver is voiced by and modeled after actor Ricardo Chavira, who also voices Alejandro Borges in Dead Space: Aftermath.
• The left side of Carver's face is noticeably damaged with large scars running down it. The origin of this facial damage is never revealed.
• Despite the Pulse Rifle being standard-issue to EarthGov Soldiers and Marines in past games, Carver uses a Bullpup Rifle variant, which seems to be based on the Rail Accelerator tip.
  • Carver is seen holding a Pulse Rifle-like gun in early promotional art.
• As a playable character in co-op, scripted events in Dead Space 3 changes in his presence to accommodate Carver's presence and expound upon his own story as new dialogs.
• In some ways, Carver is similar to Hammond in the original Dead Space. He has military training, can hold his own against the Necromorphs but suffers from dementia, provides help to Isaac throughout the game, and is largely adamant about completing his original mission.
• According to producer John Calhoun, Carver's original name was "John Cooper" (a play on the term "co-op"). "Carver", a play on strategic dismemberment, was chosen instead during the last nine months of development.
• Carver's health and Stasis glows a darker shade of blue than most RIGs, and uses the original Dead Space horizontal pod-stack design as opposed to the diagonal-stack design from Dead Space 2; his visor glows red instead of emerald green as well.
• In accordance with his military background, Carver's helmet vaguely resembles that of the Advanced Soldier RIG in appearance. Carver's armor is called the Special Forces Suit in-game. This RIG can only be worn by Carver.
• Carver receives variations of each suit worn by Isaac Clarke. However, Carver's version of these suits are somewhat the counterparts of Isaac's RIGs, as Carver's Legionary Suit uses the model of Isaac's Elite Suit and vice versa. The armor values remains the same, however.
• In an interview with Producer Shereif Fattouh, he confirmed the survival of both Carver and Isaac after the destruction of the Necromorph moon. Dead Space 3: Awakened continues on from where the game ended.
• Carver's stance is different from Isaac's. Isaac, when walking and running, has his hands down and below his stomach. In contrast, Carver holds the butt of the gun towards his shoulder and the barrel down to his waist. Carver also holds a one-handed weapon with both hands.
• Earlier screenshots and videos of Dead Space 3 before it came out, Carver had Isaac's light blue RIG.
• In an optional mission where Carver hallucinates a pop-out sun appears sitting on a pile of objects inside Carver's head, this is a throwback to Dead Space 2's elementary school with the sun jumpscare.
• At a few points in the campaign, NPC Carver can be seen taking on the game's enemies. He is first seen shooting at Unitologist soldiers after Isaac meets Norton for the first time and the trio is ambushed by the fanatics. He is then seen killing several Necromorphs when Isaac rejoins the rest of the crew on Tau Volantis. Finally, he appears on a ledge, shooting at Danik and his soldiers, as Isaac chases Danik in the Research Compound's Silo down to the Alien Machine.

Bugs

• Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and PC: After falling off the cliff in Chapter 13, Carver may have Isaac's walking animation, instead of walking and running with both hands on the gun.
• Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC: In the cinematic where Isaac, Norton, and Carver are captured and the Nexus appears, Carver may be frozen in a crouch position with no head, only the neck glove. When it comes time for Carver to throw Isaac his gun, it is will look as if it was picked up by an invisible force and thrown at Isaac.
• Xbox 360, PC: In Chapters 17 and 18, sets of rooms may fail to load for the client playing as Carver, forcing him to fall out of the world. This also happens more frequently on the final cliff-climb sequence.
  • Another place this can happen is when Isaac or Carver descends in lifts, the character running on nothing until they reach certain parts (such as ramps or stairs) where they'll fall.
• PC: If a new game is started in Co-op, and the Carver player has a custom weapon equipped, it will not show up during the Chapter 1 introduction scene. Once the scene is over, Carver will appear as if he is holding nothing. Aiming or switching weapons causes them to appear normally.
• In the Armory optional mission on single player, when Isaac retrieves the key to enter the last areas of the complex, Carver's dialog will suddenly appear for no reason out of nowhere as if that part of the game was never updated to single player.

Gallery

Character Render for John Carver

Carver as he appears in the graphic novel.

A closeup of Carver

Carver and Clarke

Closeup of Carver's helmet

Carver in his suit

A photo of Damara and Dylan

Isaac Clarke and John Carver working together

Carver's face concept art