Template:Character Infobox Template:Article Quote Nicole Brennan was a Senior Medical Officer of the USG Ishimura and girlfriend to systems engineer Isaac Clarke.
Biography[]
CEC career[]
Prior to her attachment to the USG Ishimura, Nicole lived with her boyfriend, Isaac Clarke. She was uncertain of her future career aboard the Ishimura at first, but changed her mind when encouraged to take the job by Isaac.
Second Aegis VII incident (Events of Extraction)[]
Though not directly involved during the initial stages of the Second Aegis VII incident, Nicole was aware of the groundside situation. When inspecting four survivors from the Aegis VII colony of potential infection, whom were arrested on reasons of smuggling aboard the ship, a lockdown status was triggered, forcing former P-Sec Nathan McNeill to rescue them by crawling through the vents and unlocking the door from the outside. The four survivors took Nicole to a security barricade where she would be kept safe with a squad of officers. At some period, Nicole assisted the local security by treating the wounded. Nicole eventually surrendered to fate, sending her final words to Isaac via video log. She committed suicide as she lethally injected herself to prevent herself from being brutally slaughtered by the Necromorphs.
Events of Dead Space[]
Nicole makes her first physical appearance to Isaac from a distance when he was instructed to obtain the Mining Key in the Ishimura's Mining Deck. She offers her help to open the door for Isaac while he defends her from Necromorphs at a distance. Successfully doing so, she promises to find a way to him and runs, remaining unseen until the penultimate level.
Isaac meets Nicole again after Kendra revealed herself to be a Government agent and escaped the Ishimura with the Marker. The two called the shuttle back to the Ishimura, forcing Kendra to eject from the shuttle in an escape pod. The two of them descend to the planet's surface to place the Marker back where it was originally found. In doing so, Nicole disappears as the intense light from placing the Marker consumes her. Shortly after this, Kendra confirms to Isaac that she has been dead all that time.
Nicole makes her final appearance as a frightening and bloody hallucination that screams at Isaac, setting the stage for Dead Space 2 and Isaac's developing dementia.
Events of Dead Space 2[]
- "MAKE US WHOLE!"
- —One of "Nicole's" recurring lines
Nicole returns in Dead Space 2, primarily as one of Isaac's hallucinations and the main antagonist. Throughout the course of the game, she manifests as a voice or an image on a view screen. When she makes physical appearances to taunt Isaac, she is shown in her Ishimura uniform covered in blood and with an eerie light shining from her open mouth and eyes. As the game progresses, the episodes become more disturbing and violent, with "Nicole" making attempts to harm and even "kill" Isaac.
Later in the game, "Nicole" threatens to kill Isaac unless he explains why he can't "let [her] go". Isaac reveals that he is not hung up on her over guilt and grief, but because "you were my everything. And if I let you go...I've got nothing left." Seemingly satisfied with this answer, "Nicole" releases Isaac and reveals that "acceptance" was the final step in Isaac's recovery.
"Nicole" sheds her haunting visage and appears as she did while still alive aboard the Ishimura. She continues to appear to Isaac in order to offer encouragement and advice on how to stop the Marker. However, she still displays behavior similar to a hallucination from the Marker; after sending Ellie Langford away, "Nicole" pleads for Isaac to "make us whole", to which he replies: "I can't." Eventually, "Nicole" leads Isaac to the machine that Nolan Stross mentioned to be the first step in destroying the Marker. Isaac follows her instructions to uses the machine to gain the necessary power to destroy it.
After Isaac dispatches Hans Tiedemann, "Nicole" suddenly gives up any pretense of being anything more than a hallucination broadcasted by the Marker. She explains that Isaac must be killed and absorbed, since he made the Marker from his mind and was thus needed for Convergence. Betrayed and infuriated, Isaac destroys the phantom "Nicole" inside a vision simulating his own mind, ending the Marker's influence over him once and for all.
Appearances and Personality[]
Dead Space[]
Nicole is first seen as the main purpose of Isaac's arrival on the Ishimura. She is seen in a video log stating that she wants Isaac to come to the Ishimura; her body language and voice shows that she is in desperation and fearful. On board the Ishimura, Nicole is shown to be stressed dealing with the infection on board. The hallucinations Isaac faces may or may not be her personality. In the end she succumbs to all the stress dealing with both the infection and attack of the Necromorphs. She commits suicide around two to three hours before Isaac's arrival.
Dead Space: Extraction[]
Nicole is seen in the ER treating Nathan McNeill along with his group. Through this, Nicole's personality can be identified closer. Nicole's voice is slightly different in the game. She seems to have a calm voice and stays vigilant. She has a very calm posture, and even refers to the infection as a "small infection". She is somewhat protective with Lexine, and she seems very devoted to her profession. As Nathan leaves for the Tram Station, Nicole decides to stay behind, in case there are survivors for her to treat. Sometime later Nathan and Lexine watch in horror as they see her commit suicide on a video monitor, having unintentionally intercepted her final transmission, while they are attempting to return to the shuttle bay.
Dead Space: Downfall[]
Nicole is seen being rescued by the protagonists of the animated film Dead Space: Downfall.
Dead Space: Extraction (Comics)[]
The comics offer a detailed view of Nicole's life and personality; her feelings toward Isaac as well as her overall social tendencies and views are focused upon greatly.
Dead Space 2[]
As a hallucination, Nicole is much more aggressive, often screaming her words as an attempt to hasten Isaac's descent into insanity. When her death becomes accepted, she becomes much like she was when alive and is encouraging towards Isaac to destroy the new Marker. Template:SpoilerThis ruse is eventually dropped at the base of the Marker and Nicole attempts to twist Isaac's mind to kill himself aggressively in order to make the Marker whole, hence the term: "Make us whole." Template:Spoiler endAlso, it should be noted that Nicole's RIG health bar is empty. This can be seen in Chapter 13 when she shows Isaac the way. Simply walk behind her to see this before she disappears.
Overall[]
Nicole's personality throughout the series suggests she was a strong person when alive but constantly breaks down amidst the chaos. She is able to redeem herself when she is needed.
Trivia[]
- Iyari Limon is the original voice and likeness of Nicole in the first Dead Space game and Dead Space: Extraction. In Dead Space 2, Nicole's voice and likeness was changed to Tanya Clarke.
- In the E3 Debut Trailer for Dead Space, Nicole appeared different from the final version. In the trailer, she has shoulder-length, brown hair.[1]
- Oddly, in Dead Space, when you have to defend Nicole to unlock the storage room, she can somehow die, even though she's already dead, which nets you a game over. This is probably meant to fool the player into thinking that Nicole was alive.
- Occasionally during Dead Space, random voice messages from Nicole will pop up asking Isaac for help. This is a side effect of Isaac's developing dementia. Michael Altman experienced a similar event late in Dead Space: Martyr, when he received a communication from his dead girlfriend Ada, asking him where he was and begging him to find her.
- In Dead Space, the first letter in the name of each of the game's chapters spells out, in order, "N.I.C.O.L.E. I.S. D.E.A.D.".
- Prior to the release of the Dead Space: Extraction Comics, there was some contention to Nicole's status as a physician. In the original game she refers to herself only as a "Senior Medical Officer", prompting speculation regarding her professional title aboard the Ishimura. However in the Dead Space: Extraction Comics she refers to herself, and is referred to, as Dr. Brennan.
- In the Dead Space: Extraction (Comics), Nicole first notes the anomaly with Lexine's scans. The comic depicts several patterns resembling Marker symbols appearing within her brainwaves. Whether or not these were simply an hallucination due to the marker is unknown.
- In the animated movie, Dead Space: Downfall, Alissa Vincent meets a frightened crew member that strongly resembles Nicole. She asks if the crew member has a boyfriend, prompting the woman to nod in response.
- According to Visceral, Nicole's appearance in Dead Space 2 was to serve as a look into Isaac's psyche. Her bloodied clothes represents Isaac's guilt of her dying, and the eerie lights with the audio effects was to represent memories of Nicole and to reference the last video Nicole made, which was the only thing Isaac had left of her, as well as her voice, which sounds as though it is spoken over an audio log or a video, the only thing Isaac saw of her on the Ishimura.
- It is interesting to note that, even though she understood the virus, Nicole still killed herself in a way that left her vulnerable to the transformation.
- The room Nicole committed suicide in can be accessed in Dead Space; it is unknown what happened to her body after her death. It is possible, however, that Nicole's body was infected and turned into a Necromorph.
Death Scenes[]
In Dead Space 2, it is possible for the hallucination of Nicole to kill Isaac, either during one of the two dementia scenes involving the hallucination, or during the final boss battle of Dead Space 2.
First death scene with the hallucination
Second death scene.
The final scene, which the hallucination forced Isaac to commit suicide.
First Scene: During the first struggle, the hallucination lunges at Isaac as he exits a maintenance shaft, and attempts to stab him in the eye with a needle (presumably the same one Nicole used to kill herself in the first game). If the player fails the subsequent quick-time event, the hallucination kills him. If the player survives the attack, it is revealed that Isaac was trying to stab his own eye out as a result of his dementia.
Second Scene: During the second scene, the hallucination grabs Isaac by the throat as he gets off of a freight elevator in the Sprawl's mines. It effortlessly smashes him against the walls, before attempting to suffocate him, demanding that he tell her why he can't move past her death. If the player fails the following quick-time event, Isaac refuses to accept that Nicole is real, and the hallucination successfully snaps Isaac's neck.
Third Scene: During the final scene, the newly created Marker attempts to kill Isaac with the Nicole hallucination so that it can "absorb" him and be "reborn." If Isaac comes into contact with the hallucination during the fight within his mind, or accidentally wanders too close to it, it will grab him and scream loudly in his face. In reality, the hallucination forces Isaac to shoot himself in the face with Tiedemann's Javelin Gun, presumably allowing the Marker to "absorb" him in the process. Although it is interesting to note that Isaac drops Tiedemann's gun before he turns to Nicole.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- Dead Space: Downfall
- Dead Space: Extraction
- Dead Space: Extraction (Comics)
- Dead Space
- Dead Space 2
Sources[]
Template:Characters
es:Nicole Brennan