| “ | The deepest secrets of the Marker - Convergence, even the Hive Mind itself - could be ours. If you trust me. | „ |
| ~ Dr. Mercer to Brant Harris. |
| “ | Try and relax, Mr Clarke. Convergence is so close. Maybe your death will tip the balance. | „ |
| ~ Mercer to Isaac Clarke. |
Challus Mercer, commonly known as Dr. Challus Mercer or Dr. Mercer, is the secondary antagonist of the survival horror video game Dead Space released in 2008 and its 2023 remake.
He is an omnicidal, psychopathic, fanatical Unitologist Doctor aboard the USG Ishimura who became fanatically obsessed with the Necromorphs. He believed that the Convergence is the way for life after death.
In the original game, he was voiced and motion-captured by Navid Negahban. In the remake, he was voiced and motion-captured by Faran Tahir.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- His ultimate plan is to bring convergence to humanity to make them whole by delivering Marker 3A to Earth and the Necromorphs of the USG Ishimura.
- Despite knowing that this isn't the divinity promised by the Church and will result in the end of humanity.
- He cares nothing for the survival of the Ishimura crew, and doesn't hesitate in experimenting on them to learn more about the Necromorphs ravaging the Aegis VII colony and the USG Ishimura.
- What makes this worse is that he does this not to just study the creature: He tries to create more dangerous variants of Necromorphs like the Hunter by experimenting on Brant Harris of the Aegis VII colony by implanting Necromorph tissue directly on Harris' frontal lobe.
- Although Mercer is portrayed as a devoted member of the Church of Unitology, he possessed no true love for his fellow Unitologists or true devotion to the Church's teachings.
- He would later encourage those who remained to each other to become Necromorphs in the crew deck. Those who did not kill themselves or others were instead gassed by the Leviathan's toxic gas that Mercer still had left.
- Lured several survivors of the USG Ishimura into his laboratory with the promise of medical help. Only for them to be drugged and experimented on by him in order to create stronger Necromorphs. Most of the victims either died, or were left in a state of complete agony.
- Those who were considered “failures” in his experiments were left to be used as hosts for Swarmers (A smaller variant of the Necromorphs).
- When Isaac Clarke refuses to cooperate with him, he murders Jacob Temple, the boyfriend of Elizabeth Cross, right in front of him via stasis, and a shot to the head with a rivet gun. Giving him a slow and painful death in the process, all just out of spite towards Isaac.
- Despite his 2008 counterpart being insane and possessing moral agency issues. In the 2023 remake, he is shown to have clear moral agency, regardless of his insanity. He is able to deduce that Marker 3A is causing everyone on the ship and on the Aegis VII colony to suffer from a unique form of dementia.
- This is proven when learning that Dr. Kyne was having hallucinations of his dead wife, Amelia, talking to him, even though she had been dead for over 7 years. Proving he is not suffering as much from the markers affects as everybody else and is still countable for his actions.
- Although, he does appear to be shocked when Isaac finally kills the Hunter (A special Necromorph of his own creation). It is not out of affection for the creation he has created; rather, he is astonished that the Hunter did not kill him.
- Showing that he has no care for any of his monstrous creations.
- He is a coward, as it was stated by Dr. Kyne and Nicole that Dr. Mercer feared death above all. And that throughout the game he tried to initiate a convergence event to transcend death and be made whole by the marker.
- However, he was betrayed and killed by the Marker as he was no longer needed as Isaac Clarke would be used to ensure that marker replicas can be made to start convergence elsewhere using a large population.
- Despite the heinous standards of the Dead Space franchise being high as mass murder is common in the franchise, Dr. Mercer stands out due to his unethical experimentation on the USG Ishimura crew. He also would willingly create more Necromorphs to aid Marker 3A in its efforts to turn the crew of the Ishimura into Necromorphs for convergence. This is something not seen with other Unitologist antagonists like Daina Le Guin and Jacob Danik.
Trivia[]
- He is the only villain in the Dead Space franchise that is Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- Dr. Challus Mercer on the Villains Wiki
- Challus Mercer on the Dead Space Wiki