She’s barely two weeks old and already looks like she pays rent.
Rosy cheeks. Wrist rolls. Chubby fists that curl like dumplings. König holds her like she’s the rarest thing on Earth—which, to be fair, she is.
She fits in the crook of his massive arm, snug like a loaf of bread. He sits shirtless on the couch in the soft glow of the nursery lamp, murmuring to her in sleepy German as she kicks her fat little feet against his chest.
“Schau dich an, meine kleine Kämpferin… schon so stark.”
He says she’s strong. You say she’s just heavy. Your back is in pieces. Your arms ache. Every time you lift her, she grunts like a baby sumo wrestler.
But König?
He’s in awe.
“Look at her legs, Liebling,” he whispers, gently patting her chunky thigh,
“Look at these! She could crush a man.”
You groan from the bed, eyes half-shut.
“She’s going to crush my will to live if she doesn’t let me sleep.”
But you’re smiling. Because König’s entire world has collapsed into a 7.8 kilogram bundle of chaos who hiccups like a tractor and sleeps like a rock on his chest.
He sings to her sometimes. Off-key lullabies, whispered dreams.
“Maybe she’ll be a boxer,” he says one night. “Or a wrestler.”
“Or a professional eater,” you mumble. “She took out 9 ounces and still looked hungry.”
He laughs. The baby squeaks in agreement.
König pulls her close and gently brushes his nose against hers.
“Whatever she becomes,” he whispers,
“she will know that her papa thinks she is the strongest girl in the world.”
And in his arms—safe, soft, and ridiculously overfed—
She already is.
This idea spawned from the thought:
What if Price knew Simon before Ghost? That's why he said "It's good to see you again Simon." during the whole mask scene. To me, Price is a guy that puts a lot on himself. So... this came out.
are you good at character analysis? I wanna know what your analysis would be for Gaz, I’m trying to figure out his story since he’s my favorite out of TF 141
KYLE GAZ GARRICK
BASIC OVERVIEW — BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Kyle “Gaz” Garrick is a British Black man who enlisted into the British Army around 2008 or 2014 (unfortunately, the developers have inconsistencies). His operator biography states 2008 while the official activision website in a blog post about MW2019 states 2014, however it does make sense for him to enlist in 2008. He would have been at least sixteen years old which is the minimum age requirement to enlist. I would like to quickly throw in that Gaz is indeed older than Soap, as this is a misconception that I surprisingly see a lot! Gaz’s blood type is B- and he currently ranks as sergeant (which according to the official British Army website, it typically takes at least twelve years in the service, however it implies it also depends on the person’s abilities).
Gaz spent four years in the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment. During these four years going through a multitude of tests and challenges before passing selection for Special Air Service (SAS). The activision blog says during MW2019, it’s his sixth year serving as a sergeant. However, as Gaz had been selected for TF141, I believe their ranks have paused in time. Gaz has mostly spent his time in anti-terrorism in his military career. He’s an expert in demolitions, VIP escorting, weapons tactics, covert surveillance, and target elimination. He’s been awarded multiple medals, and earned his Parachute Wings whilst spending time at Camp Lejeune in the U.S. whilst collaborating with Navy SEALs. Kyle is a master of evasion and deception, being the only candidate in his entire class to escape capture from the facility and evade detection during resistance training.
When Gaz first meets Cpt. Price, Gaz is currently assigned to an SAS specific counter-terrorism program in the UK who collaborate with the police, which is another misconception that Gaz was a police sergeant at one point (he was not! I believe some people think this because at E3, Gaz was wearing a police baseball cap).
CHARACTER OVERVIEW
Like true to the original Gaz, he is Price’s protege, being his student. Gaz is overall a serious and hardworking man, loyal and unbreaking. He knows when to joke and he knows when to reload. However, Gaz is not perfect and he does lose his cool (we see subtle development with this later down the road). While being loyal, Gaz does not hesitate to question Price’s choices and actions. We see this multiple times during the series, the most prime example being in MW2019 when Price and Gaz are interrogating The Butcher with Yegor. The Butcher taunts Gaz, causing Gaz to lunge and Price to send him off to fetch.. “The package”. The package being, The Butcher’s family. The reboot games, you have choices, so I’ll give the very basic run down.
You have the option to opt into the interrogation or to opt out of it. If you opt out, Price bursts out of the room with the information (if you go near the door, you hear The Butcher’s family sobbing). If you opt in, you have so many options. At the end of the day, Gaz is mostly silent and follows orders from Price. In the police cruiser scene, Gaz questions Price in the car—he did not expect to be using women and children as bargaining chips and he makes that clear, and this is a big teaching moment between Gaz and Price. We have to remember that Gaz is young and considering everything, inexperienced to an extent. Price makes up for that inexperience, teaching him along the way. During the interrogation scene, Price makes a remark: “We’ve taken the gloves off.” This is because Gaz lashed out. Later in the car, Price says “When you take the gloves off, you get blood on your hands, Kyle. That’s how it works.” after Gaz questions him.
CONCLUSION
Overall, Gaz is a very complex character and I enjoyed watching his development during these games. I’ve seen people claim Gaz is boring or plain, but I genuinely do not believe that to be the case. Gaz, in my opinion, is also the most relatable character. He’s young, ambitious, and determined. He’s charismatic and efficient. I don’t believe a character has to be extremely traumatized, or look very very unique to be a well-crafted character and Gaz is a great example for this.
Gaz is just a man who enlisted; someone who is smart and well-rounded (as much as an SAS member can be), he’s quick on his feet and he molds into group work fantastically. He’s extremely versatile and is a quick learner—and wants to learn. He has his flaws that make him human. Gaz develops great self control, is level-minded and is able to think for himself. A great student questions their mentor in everything and you see this with Gaz.
You see Gaz struggle with morality in the series in a sea of characters who kill and do things without a second thought. We see him question things, we see his emotions and his extreme reluctance. We definitely see some development down the road as Gaz becomes more ruthless, but he never quite forgets his humanity in a way, compared to Price where he can easily disconnect humanity (ex. Calling The Butcher’s wife and son “the package/leverage”).
Along with this, we see him struggle with the rules in place. I also think this is why Gaz and Price’s dynamic is great. There are rules for a reason, and both Price and Gaz know when to break them—but Gaz learns that breaking some rules doesn’t always happen for the most heroic of actions (again, Price’s quote about bloodying your hands after taking the gloves off). Gaz wants to save people and keep the peace, we see this in Piccadilly during the terrorist attacks and the aftermath scene with Price where Gaz lets the Captain know that he and his unit had actionable intel on the terrorist cell who committed the act. Of course, we see later down the road that taking the gloves off removes all limits, not just some of them. We also see a glimpse of Gaz’s conflicting feelings when 141, Farah & Alex, as well as Laswell learn about Hadir and his plans, as well as when Farah’s forces are deemed a terrorist organization.
I think I rambled on a lot about him, hopefully this is understandable!
Sources: price & gaz activision blog intros (2019), inconsistency in enlistment date, cod fandom wiki, gaz scenes mwi & mwii, official british army website.
farah gets the shakes sometimes. a thing from her childhood that's loyally followed her to now. her whole body will tremble, and if it's a bad enough episode, her teeth will also chatter.
and she hates it. it makes her feel so incredibly fragile, so intensely out of control. this thing that wracks her body when it's decided it's had enough, it's mortifying...
she's the commander of the ulf, there are so many people that depend on her. and there are some days where she dreads holding anything, for fear she'll break it.
she takes herself to hadir when she gets like this. he's the only one she trusts to see her in such a vulnerable state. she knows he won't judge her, won't loose faith in her or her abilities.
but then he betrays her, and she has no one to go to. she has no one to soothe her, to hold her shaking hands in theirs to lessen the trembles.
- - -
farah is surprised- elated, really, when she finds out that alex is alive. she missed him dearly. she had warmed up to him much faster than she ever thought she would, and she had mourned who they could have been had he not asked her to order him into that room.
but she doesn't need to mourn anymore. he's right back at her side.
he's at her side the day hadir dies. he stays with her when they get back at base. he walks with her to her room, follows her inside. he stays with her as her hands start to shake.
he kneels in front of her where she sits on the edge of her bed, and takes her hands gently in his, and holds tightly. he sweeps his thumbs back and forth across her knuckles. just like hadir used to...
and that makes farah finally break, she sobs, leans forward in pain, and rests her head on his shoulder.
she cries, and she trembles, and throughout it all, alex is with her. he holds her shaking hands in his steady ones, and tells her it'll be alright, tells her that he's here, he's got her.
