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Harlan Wade
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| “ | It is the way of men to make monsters...and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers. | ” |
Harlan Wade (voiced by Grant Goodeve) is an elderly scientist who worked at Armacham Technology Corporation for decades. He pioneered the Origin project, and was also the one that initiated the shut-down of that very same project. He is the main antagonist in F.E.A.R. 3.
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Background
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In 1979, Harlan's wife gives birth to a daughter, Alma Wade. Almost immediately, Alma begins to show signs of being mentally unstable; including suffering fits of hysteria, delusions, and vivid nightmares. Harlan mentions the problem to his coworker at ATC, Marshall Disler, who theorizes that Alma may be telepathic. Upon learning this, Harlan allows ATC to begin experimentation on Alma. Some of the tests are more mundane, such as testing to see what abilities she naturally has. Others, such as electroshock, are far more horrific. Alma becomes so frightened of her father that she cowers from him whenever he grows angry, suggesting that he may have also abused her. When Alma begins to use her powers to fight back against the people experimenting on her, Harlan ignores her desires and pushes on with the experimentation. Eventually, Harlan comes to the understanding that Alma is becoming too dangerous to control, leading to the founding of Project Origin. Harlan and his coworkers use Alma's DNA to create a prototype fetus, whom they hope will grow into a powerful telepath. However, Harlan is not satisfied with this. He argues that the prototype will be much more likely to be telepathic if it was also carried in the womb of a telepath. ATC agrees, but Alma is still only 7 years old, not yet old enough to carry a child.
It is unclear who comes up with the idea of putting Alma into an induced coma until she reaches puberty, but Harlan can be heard arguing against it in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, until the person is able to convince him. Harlan allows ATC to lock Alma away in an induced coma, which she remains in until she is 14 years old. She is removed by Harlan and his fellow scientists, and is impregnated with the first prototype. She is removed again when she is 15, to give birth to the baby. During the birth, Alma awakens and begins to scream, much to everyones' horror. Despite this, Harlan ignores her screams and pleas, and removes the child from the room as soon as it is born, leaving the other scientists to put her back into the coma again. When the first prototype proves to be unsatisfactory, Harlan has Alma impregnated a second time.
10 years later, when the second prototype suddenly goes rogue, Harlan is the one who personally cuts off Alma's life support, leaving her to die over the course of 6 days.
Both TimelinesEdit
F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault ReconEdit
Harlan Wade serves as the main antagonist near the end of the game. He is the man seen in the dream sequence at the very beginning of F.E.A.R., in which he states, "You will be a god among men", referring to the F.E.A.R. Point Man, the first "prototype" produced by Project Origin.
In voicemails, Harlan sides with Charles Habegger in his recommendation to suspend the Perseus project, saying in one message to an employee that they should listen to the "expert advice" they're being given. He is infuriated when Genevieve Aristide decides to reopen the original location of the Origin Facility after two decades of lockdown and is determined to keep her away from the Vault. Harlan goes to the Origin facility, where he shoots Norton Mapes when the younger man attempts to stop him from entering the Vault. At the end of the game, after hearing of the plans to destroy the Origin Facility outright, Harlan decides to release Alma Wade, remarking to the Point Man, "She has suffered enough, don't you think?". Harlan is immediately and gruesomely killed by Alma upon the opening of the Vault. He seems to have no intention of avoiding this, however, stating earlier in a recorded video that, "It is the way of men to make monsters...and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their makers."
It is revealed at the end of F.E.A.R. that Harlan is Alma's father, (making him the Point Man's and Paxton Fettel's grandfather). He is something of an enigmatic character, and it is not clear how much guilt he feels for the horrible things Alma endured as part of Project Origin.
Added by AlessaGillespieVivendi TimelineEdit
F.E.A.R. Extraction PointEdit
In F.E.A.R. Extraction Point, he can be seen sitting in a corner of a cell during a hallucination at Auburn Hospital. An apparition pops up in front of the cell window if the Point Man looks at Wade for too long, closing the window.
Monolith TimelineEdit
F.E.A.R. 2: Project OriginEdit
Harlan is featured in flashbacks about Alma's early life and heard early in the game by Michael Becket, hinting at Alma's situation and the atrocities she would commit later during the game. Intel suggests that Harlan had quite the temper, and Alma would become almost catatonic with fear in his presence during these episodes. His death at Alma's hands is seen on a screen in Genevieve Aristide's safe room.
F.E.A.R. 3Edit
Harlan plays an integral part of the game's story, and the collective memories of Alma and her sons seem to form a monster called the Creep - a creature that attempts to kill Point Man and Fettel and which even Alma fears. The Creep is the only memory of Harlan left. Despite the monstrous nature of the Creep, Harlan remains a complex figure, as the true intentions of his abusive and cruel methods can not be fully discerned.
TriviaEdit
- Alma can be heard screaming, "I hate you Daddy!" in the initial stage of the first game.
The Wade family consists of Harlan Wade (Alma's Father), Alma, Alice Wade (Alma's sister), Point Man, Paxton Fettel, and the 3rd child.
