#codlorist answers

[callofdutylorist]

Love your blog! As someone who never played the games, I recently read that the connection between Roach and Ghost is often overlooked in the fandom today. Could you please elaborate on that?

It is overlooked now that I think about it

Roach not appearing in the recent game means that Soap takes up most of Roach's old role, especially in the betrayal scene

Roach is set as the main playable character for the 09 Modern Warfare 2, so he accompanies Price, Soap, Ghost and few others the majority of the time. His captain is actually Soap, and he forms quite the strong bond with all three of them.

In fact he a has a bit of a link with Soap as well, who constantly saves his life, but in the end fails to catch the many red flags and in Soap's and Price's eyes they simultaneously fail to save both Roach and Ghost's lives.

Soap acts as the mentor character towards Roach, much like how Price is towards Gaz in the 2020 games, and that's all Price needed to know in order to like Roach.

Oh yeah- Ghost

Ghost and Roach do a lot of the missions together, with Ghost joking around a lot with him. They finally go on a mission together completely alone, and the betrayal occurs killing them both in the end.

Roach gets injured, and Ghost seemed incredibly distressed in the situation risking his life to secure Roach and head to Shepherd's vehicle for safety. Then Shepherd betrays them both and burns their bodies together. So they're mostly linked through their deaths.

In fact....

Soap is kind of both Classic Soap and Roach in 2020s Games

For instance

Roach misses a jump to a helicopter and has to be guided back alone through walkie-talkie by Soap and Ghost in a foreign area VS. Soap gets injured and has to be guided back alone through walkie-talkie by Ghost in a foreign area

Ghost and Roach get betrayed VS. Soap and Ghost get betrayed

Anything that Soap does during missions is basically the same thing Soap and Gaz end up doing

I wonder if the two alternate versions of Ghost and Soap feel like they're missing a silent someone

[callofdutylorist]

Hi! How old do you think Ghost was when his family died?

In order to join the SAS you have to at least be 18, so we know when he joined in 2001 he had to have been at least 18.

5 years pass before he loses his family, meaning for the youngest possible age Ghost was 22-23.

(Yes this makes him in his early thirties during most of the events of the game)

[callofdutylorist]

Hi friend! Do you have any idea as to why Ghost has such an intense need to remain unknown and all that? some people here and there were speculating whether it's because maybe he has a secret family or something but that's highly unlikely and unplausible especially given the fact that Activision made a post about him being CoDs legible bachelor/one man only. Nevertheless perhaps it's because of the things he's done in the past and has probably made alot of enemies. Thoughts??

Although n!Ghost (Reboot Ghost) doesn't have an outright explanation, there are many shown reasonings. o!Ghost (Classic) definitely does come out and say so, in the Call of Duty Comic Series released before Modern Warfare 2.

o!Ghost

Ghost, a.k.a Simon Riley, grew up in an incredibly abusive household, under the boot of his father. To get away he joined the SAS, where is talent in brutal efficiency marked him as a super soldier. (Reasoning 1)

As an SAS soldier he was sent to track down Manuel Roba, a drug cartel leader. Things didn't go well. He would be captured by Roba, tortured, and left for dead.

Upon escaping his death Roba decided to get back at Ghost by killing the family members Ghost did have left, being his mother, brother, and nephew, all whom he did like. It was his identity that lead his family to become such a target in the first place, and he was obviously already growing ashamed of it. (Reasoning 2)

Roba sent a fellow SAS soldier to do the dirty work, which wouldn't be the first or last time SAS soldiers would betray him (Reasoning 3)

Their deaths were committed in a way to frame Ghost. Enraged he tracked down the man who did it, and swapped dog tags after killing him, and burning down the place. Meaning Simon Riley in the system in dead, and he simply views himself as a Ghost to that person. (Reasoning 4)

(He also murdered his father)

Ghost promptly does a lot of covert, dangerous, and morally questionable work. That alone is also a good reason why to keep an identity hidden.

n!Ghost

Although this Ghost's backstory is never really given, we are still shared a lot of potential reasons his character would prefer to remain unidentifiable.

There are also a few references in the Modern Warfare 2 (2022) campaign that references the comic, so perhaps the backstories are shared anyway, but it's not confirmed.

Ghost is a lone worker, even more so in the Reboot Universe. He specializes in clandestine, highly classified missions. As part of the SAS he is one of the few detailed taking missions solo, with zero back-up. He does a lot of dirty work similar to his alternate universe counterpart. (Reasoning 1)

Before joining taskforce 141, Ghost worked for a group known as Armistice. Armistice would fall, with members of the force betraying each other, several splitting off to work for Zakhaev. This included soldiers viewed to be Ghost's level, and wouldn't be his first or last betrayals. (Reasoning 2)

Ghost is shown working with several types of organizations not tied to the SAS, so he is likely even his own entity when it comes to things.

My thoughts?

Whatever has happened to Ghost, he likely doesn't view himself as alive as a prior version of himself was anyway. Hence the Callsign. Either way both have a lot going for them.

[callofdutylorist]

Okay that post you reblogged about Ghost had me in thoughts! "He wears his mask to honour someone he lost"

his family? Another comic reference?? Or perhaps Roach? imagination running wild rn!! What do you think?

Could be his family, or someone not yet mentioned

I mostly think the someone he lost is himself, as he is super detached from his own identity. Maybe perhaps both.

Examples for my reasoning

Comic reference: Ghost says Simon Riley is dead, and faked his death. That he is simply a ghost of himself.

Only characters close to Ghost refer to him as Simon Riley

When Ghost takes off his mask before assembling team ghost, Price makes the comment, "Welcome back Simon."

There are no pictures of himself connected to his files

Ghost and the mask as a motif runs throughout the series as a replacement for identification, symbolling only a powerful soldier, or a team of them.