Captain Martin Walker

In an interview with GamesRadar, lead writer Walt Williams explained that the development team of Spec Ops: The Line desired to do a "dramatic, more raw war story", something that no other entity in the video game industry was attempting at the time. In particular, it undermines the notion that intervention from the United States military is based on virtue; challenges the portrayal of war in popular media which is often inconspicuously devoid of civilian casualties; highlights the traumatic effect of war on surviving soldiers; and exposes the ambiguities between battlefield friends and enemies. The 1990 film ''Jacob's Ladder'' provides a reference point in characterizing Walker's post-war traumatic experience. At one point during the development of The Line, Williams decided to reframe the story. He introduced a plot twist which takes place by the end of The Line, which reveals that Konrad was already dead prior to the arrival of Walker's squad in Dubai and that he was hallucinating Konrad's messages to him the entire time. North explained that with Walker, players are actually "walking in his mind" as opposed to walking in his shoes. This connects players with Walker at an emotional level that very few shooter games will reach in North's opinion, as soldier characters are often portrayed in an overly simplistic manner as individuals who are seemingly invincible physically and mentally. North explained that Walker is "a soldier, through and through, but he’s also just a man", and that ultimately he just needed to put as much of himself into the character in order to prepare for his role. ==Appearances==

Captain Martin Walker is a Delta Force operator who leads a three-man squad consisting of himself, First Lieutenant Alphonso Adams, and Staff Sergeant John Lugo to undertake what initially appears to be a recon mission, designed to reconnect with the 33rd Infantry Battalion of the United States Army who are trapped in a sandstorm-ravaged Dubai. Shortly after their arrival in Dubai, Walker and his squad would encounter a series of conflicts between insurgents instigated by CIA agents and the remnants of the 33rd. After he comes across refugees being rounded up by the 33rd, the team intervenes, but the 33rd soldiers mistake them for CIA operatives and begin a firefight. Walker then elects to disobey standing orders and find Konrad, the last known leader of the 33rd, due to his desire to be seen as a hero. Walker's squad soon find themselves embroiled in a conspiracy by CIA agents active in Dubai, who manipulate Walker into furthering their goals. A pivotal moment which occurs halfway through the game's narrative marks the tipping point of Walker's descent into madness and implicates him in the killing of civilians through the deliberate use of chemical weapons at a heavily fortified location called the Gate. Walker leads the squad to assault the Gate and continue the efforts of Gould, a CIA agent who had earlier aided the squad but is captured and killed by the 33rd. Determined to break the 33rd's hold on the Gate, Walker ordered the deployment of a mortar that fires white phosphorus, even though he is fully aware of the consequences of its destructive capability. When challenged by Lugo, Walker insists that they do not have a choice; this is reinforced by the game's structure as it is impossible to progress the story without using the white phosphorus. After the mortar is fired and the Gate's defenses are breached, Walker's squad walk through the carnage they have caused, and discover that civilians that were taken from the Nest have also burned to death alongside the 33rd soldiers who were defending them. A cutscene depicting a tense confrontation between Walker and his squadmates ensues, as his suitability for leadership as well as the validity of their military action are questioned. Walker rationalizes that Konrad and the 33rd forced his hand and vows vengeance over the incident. Walker begins hallucinating radio communications from Konrad after he acquires a small radio from a room where the squad discovers Konrad's executed command team. Walker also undergoes a change of personality as he continues to push forward in his fight against the 33rd, changing from his friendly wise-cracking banter with his squadmates and professionally measured engagement with enemies to rage-driven acts of killing, which he openly celebrates as if he is provided with an adrenaline rush. Walker's squad eventually encounters another CIA agent named Riggs, who directs them into assisting his sabotage of the city's key infrastructure to wipe out the remaining population of Dubai, with the goal of covering up the 33rd's prior atrocities and protect the United States' international reputation, though hinted he knew even before the water heist. Walker then leads the squad to a radio tower to broadcast their intention to evacuate the city. The squad is attacked shortly after they leave the building by commandeering a Black Hawk helicopter, which crashed following a brief firefight. Walker and his squad survive the crash, but he loses Lugo to a civilian lynch mob, and later Adams to a contingent of the 33rd outside a tower in downtown Dubai where Konrad's penthouse is located. Upon his arrival inside Konrad's penthouse to confront his former superior, Walker realizes that Konrad is long dead after a suicide, and is instead confronted by a hallucination of Konrad, who tells Walker that he is responsible for the horrific consequences of his own actions since his arrival in Dubai, as his desire to become the hero killed the very people he was meant to help. Walker's ultimate fate is decided by the player; Walker may commit suicide during his descent into psychological turmoil, possibly accepting responsibility for his actions, or he may regain his senses and delivers a request for evacuation of Dubai using Konrad's radio. In the event of the latter, the player may further decide Walker's actions and fate during the post-credits epilogue, when a convoy of Army rescue Humvees encounter Walker. ==Reception and analysis==

As the player character of Spec Ops: The Line, Captain Martin Walker has been the subject of extensive discussion by critics, with regards to how video games address and define player agency. Writing for the 2017 publication 100 Greatest Video Game Characters, Nick Robinson noted that through the actions that the player has to undertake in the game and Walker's deterioration physically and mentally as a consequence of the player's actions, his character "forces reflection" on the notion of a video game about war as well as its players who "play war". In an article written for PopMatters, G. Christopher Williams offered a less enthusiastic view of the creative direction behind Walker's story arc and opined that the set-up of the game's "win-state" that culminates in an inevitable loss is a "tragedy". Williams explained that The Line essentially "reverses" the plot of Heart of Darkness, a major inspiration of The Line, and that Walker’s character development differs from most other video game characters as it is far from positive and does not lead players on a journey to a emotional state of mind where they would feel "empowered, practiced, and competent". He argued that it leads to "an effort that has to be endured because the end seems as if it is almost in sight", and that "psychic suicide feels warranted" for Walker after what he has done as controlled by the player over the course of The Line. Writing for the New York Times, Chris Suellentrop criticized the game's heavy-handed handling of its dark themes and the lack of subtlety with the way it presents Walker’s obtuseness regarding the horrific consequences of his actions. Critical analyses of Walker's story arc have appeared in multiple peer-reviewed published journals. Henrik Andergard analyzed Walker's role in the narrative of The Line in his discussion of the concept of a traditional hero-narrative as well as the essential elements of the hero-character archetype. He concluded that Walker is a "conscious subversion of the modern military hero-narrative", and that the developers initially sets up expectations of The Line adhering to the genre and theme, which is later flaunted and actively criticized through Walker's failure to live up to that role. Toby Smethurst was fascinated by the premise of The Line, which involves the player in the interactive perpetration of atrocities through a gradual process of coming to empathize with Walker. He observed that even though The Line seemingly "punishes the player for playing it" by holding up their actions as an example of their complicity in violent content within video games, it remains compelling "in spite of, or perhaps because of its attitude towards videogame violence". He argued that The Line showed that the videogame medium has the potential to radically alter its players' relationship with "controversial memories of perpetration" by demonstrating the extent to which a strong empathic link between the player and its protagonist is possible, which provides a reasonable contrast against the direction most memory studies tend to adopt by universalizing the innocent’s perspective in the wake of violent conflict. Walker has appeared in multiple "top" character lists. IGN staff included Walker in their list of the best new video game characters of 2012. Geoff Thiew from Hardcore Gamer ranked Walker among a 2014 list of the most memorable soldier characters in video games, citing the exploration of his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and his story conveys a potent message about the veneration of warfare by popular media. Ron Whitaker discussed Walker's significance as a notable video game protagonist in a 2015 list published by The Escapist. Walker is often cited as one of the most notable roles of Nolan North, a prolific voice actor in the video game industry. In an essay written for Grantland, Tom Bissell opined that The Line is about "Nathan Drake going insane", which alludes to one of North's best known characters and the quality both Walker and Drake share as a "playable everyman character" archetype. == References ==