Retired...ish ## Personality Michael De Santa, formerly Michael Townley, is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as one of the three protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V, alongside Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips. He is portrayed by Ned Luke. Michael is a former bank robber and career criminal who faked his death to retire and live a peaceful life with his family in Los Santos. However, his unhealthy relationship with them takes its toll and he soon gets pulled back into his criminal life, forcing him to return to his old ways. Michael's story centers around how his seemingly idyllic and halcyon lifestyle is halted as his past demons and morally dubious lifestyle choices come back to haunt him. Meanwhile, his midlife crisis pushes him to his ultimate snapping point, and he becomes determined to achieve something more with his life while also attempting to escape his past, become a free man and start a new life with his family. Michael is an old friend of fellow protagonist Trevor, and, early on in the storyline, he also befriends Franklin and becomes a mentor figure to him. He is the husband of Amanda and the father of Jimmy and Tracey. Michael was born in either 1965 or 1968, possibly in the Midwest. As a child, he did not have the luxuries and privileges that his own children have, and grew up in the deprived environment of a trailer park with his parents. [6] Like Trevor and Franklin, Michael had a tough upbringing due to his alcoholic and physically abusive father, who later abandoned him. [7] Michael's mother, who also abandoned him, was told numerous versions of why his father left, which included, but were not limited to, him skipping town, being run over by a train and joining the navy. [8] In his high school years, Michael was an acclaimed quarterback for an all-state football team, even putting an amazing performance during his games and occasionally had his picture in the local newspaper. Still, his temperament issues and constant injuries ultimately forced him to quit. As a young adult, Michael began a life of crime. According to Michael, he was imprisoned twice by the time he was twenty. While in prison, Michael learned many skills, including using a tattoo gun by tattooing his name on his cellmate's buttocks. He committed his first robbery in 1988, where he managed to steal $10,000 from a small business on the outskirts of Carcer City. Michael perfected his criminal skills to become an expert marksman and efficient heist leader despite his failures and shortcomings. During this period, he associated himself with Lester Crest, an exquisite planner who would later assist Michael in planning out heists and other tasks. Michael met Trevor Philips while he was escorting cargo across the border. While Trevor waited to meet his unknown employer, he noticed not one but two dust trails coming up the road, although he was told there would only be one person meeting him with the cargo. Michael exited the first vehicle while an older civilian got out of the second. As it turned out, the more senior civilian had been carjacked by Michael. As Michael tried to make a hasty escape on foot, the older civilian attempted to get Trevor's attention on what had just happened. Trevor approached the civilian and fired a flare gun into the man's eye, brutally killing him. He and Michael dumped the body into a lake afterwards, which Trevor later described as horrible as the flare was still burning inside the man's skull. Trevor and Michael both threw up since the stench from the burning corpse remained. After noticing how well they worked together, Michael brought an aimless Trevor under his wing as a partner for various crimes he would commit. They were both somewhat successful in their profession. Still, Michael claims they were always impecunious and constantly on the run from the law, as Trevor's rage issues would cause him to murder someone in broad daylight, while Michael's circumspection, foresight, and distinctive style of quoting from Solomon Richards' films drew attention, which caused him and Trevor to quickly leave town after completing a job. A few years later, Trevor met a fellow crook named Brad Snider and introduced him to Michael. Michael and Brad never showed empathy for each other and often expressed mutual distaste and distrust when working together. According to Trevor, Brad planned at one point to cut off Michael and work solely with Trevor, but Trevor refused out of loyalty to the man who gave his life purpose. The trio, along with Lester and a few other accomplices, committed robberies across the Midwest for a while. In 1991, Michael, Trevor, and Brad went to a strip club where they met a stripper named Amanda. Though she initially took a liking to Brad, she eventually came onto Michael. After flirting with each other, the couple started a romantic relationship. Using money earned from illicit activities, Michael bought Amanda breast implants, which would help with her stripping and prostitution career. This led to Michael creating his own prostitution racket. After a few months of dating, Michael married Amanda and had two children, Tracey and Jimmy, and lived at a trailer park in the Midwest. Eventually, Trevor began to consider Michael "soft", as he started to question his criminal lifestyle, fearing for his family. As a result, Michael began to dislike Trevor and his mentally unstable antics, feeling that he might one day hurt his wife and kids. At some point in 2004, Michael met corrupt FIB agent Dave Norton and made a clandestine agreement to cut ties with Trevor and Brad in exchange for the ability to disappear and start a new life. By paying Dave a monthly five-figure amount, he would relocate Michael and his family to Los Santos and provide them with new identities to start over. As a result of this corrupt deal, Michael informed Dave of their upcoming robbery at a cash storage facility in Ludendorff, North Yankton. The two devised a plan in which Norton would wait for the trio near their getaway site with a Sniper Rifle and kill Trevor, due to his borderline insanity and whom Michael believed would come after him and his family should he find out about his role in the plan; shoot Michael, who, while actually wearing a bulletproof vest, would pretend to bleed out; and arrest Brad. The plan would benefit both Michael and Dave: Michael would walk away with a clean slate and Dave would be given a career boost for taking down the supposed "Most Wanted Man in America". The staged robbery, however, was a disaster in execution after the guard at the front gate was shot in the head and killed; Trevor murdered a guard who snuck up on Michael, pulled off his balaclava, and held him at gunpoint; and when Michael, Brad and Trevor were ambushed by over a dozen police officers ready to apprehend them, giving the robbers no choice but to shoot their way out. During the getaway, their driver was killed by pursuing police, forcing Michael to take the wheel and drive the crew to the ambush point he and Norton had agreed on, where he claimed there was a helicopter waiting upon their arrival. The plan almost failed after their vehicle was hit by a train at a railroad crossing as they attempted to avoid a roadblock of North Yankton State Patrol vehicles.After the incident, Michael Townley was declared dead and given a funeral, but actually it was Brad who was buried in Michael's grave, having died from his gunshot wound. Michael attended, watching from the distance. News reports stated that Michael had been killed, Brad had been imprisoned, and Trevor remained at large. Michael eventually concluded that Trevor had ended up getting himself killed, but never received confirmation of this assumption. Upon their relocation to Los Santos, Michael and his family moved into a mansion in Rockford Hills, using the new surname "De Santa", which was a long-term alias of Michael's. Michael's life in Los Santos slowly pirouetted into a living nightmare. He grew increasingly unhappy from leaving his criminal life behind for the family life he believed he desired. He spent most of his days numbing his depression by either getting drunk, miserably lounging by his pool, or cheating on Amanda with another stripper, which Amanda eventually caught in the act. Michael's neglect and narcissism, along with his cheating, caused Amanda to philander on him as well and spend much of their savings on plastic surgery, while Tracey and Jimmy showed him very little respect as he occasionally chewed them out for their less than ideal lifestyle choices: Jimmy for being a lazy, video game-obsessed stoner and Tracey for being a diva willing to do anything to become famous. Suffering from a midlife crisis and a deteriorating marriage, Michael began visiting Isiah Friedlander, an overpriced psychologist who cared very little for Michael's problems. Michael is a Caucasian male, aged either 45 or 48, with grayish-black hair and light green eyes. Michael is of heavy build and is 6' 2" (1.88 m) tall and weighs 210 lbs (95 kg). Medical examiners in Dead Man Walking describe Michael as overweight, with fat deposits on his abdomen suggesting a "fondness" for Bleeder Burgers, leading them to suspect his "death" as a result of coronary failure. They and Trevor in Derailed have noted his poor hygiene due to his drinking and smoking cigarettes, giving him discolored teeth and fingers, with the examiners estimating he smoked approximately a pack of cigarettes a day with cigars. The medical examiners also noticed broken capillaries around his nose to indicate his alcoholism and deduced he has an unhealthy liver. In official artwork, he is shown to have blue eyes. His default appearance is a cleft chin with a Lexington hairstyle and short stubble around his face. Michael's physique is thicker and more heavily built than the likes of Trevor and Franklin, having burly and veiny arms and legs. This most certainly comes from his time as a quarterback and his stint in prison. Although Michael isn't obese or out of shape, many people around him will occasionally make fun of his rather large midsection, such as Jimmy and Trevor or even Michael himself at many times. Michael's movement is also much slower than Franklin and Trevor's, as he's much older, and on top of the fact that his ten-year retirement from crime meant he is not as physically active as the other two. During Pack Man, Trevor tells Lamar that when he met Michael, he was "kinda fat, but strong underneath". Michael's initial wardrobe sets him with a gray two-piece suit without a tie and casual attires like beach shorts with sandals or polo shirts. His gray suit is his default outfit used in most of his artwork and concept art. He shows approval as he's trying out outfits at Ponsonby's, as opposed to the clear disdain of buying items from Suburban or Binco. His Prologue appearance has him with shorter, shaven hair. It is between his default Lexington and The Wood hairstyle, somewhat similar to the Cesar haircut of CJ. His facial features are still the same. Michael's beta appearance can be seen in Trailers one and two, where he is seen with green eyes and an older look. This was changed later in the character's development to make him look like he wasn't too old to perform some of his actions during gameplay.Michael is muddled, even confused, by his "good and evil" personalities. He spends an unusual amount of time in his head, where he can comfortably think or reminisce about certain things or aspects that give him a brief moment of nostalgia from his glory days. Nevertheless, it also constrains him into a world of wistfulness and bewilderment as he ponders why things aren't going in the direction he planned. Michael is obsessed with materialistic appearance and images, making it the main reason he dreamt of living out his "Vinewood Dream" with his family. He claims to Franklin that he has lived a repeated pattern of "Chase things, get em', hate em'.". Michael holds a deep-seated amount of self-hatred, due to him wanting to live a false lifestyle, rather than coming to the conclusion that his troubling mistakes have brought a great deal of misfortune upon himself, his family, and old friends and associates of his (his agreement with the FIB is a prime example). The self-hatred gives him an exceptionally short temper that he does not know how to control, which fills him with rage and causes him to not think at times. One example is when he caught Amanda having an affair with her tennis coach, Kyle Chavis. He chases Kyle to a mansion and pulls it down a hillside believing that it belonged to him, despite Chavis himself stating that it was far too expensive for him to own on his tennis coach salary. Sarcasm is something that Michael firmly grasps because of his self-hatred, as he does not know how to respond to his family or friends properly at times without it. He indicates this in the mission Paleto Score Setup, where he proclaims that sarcasm is one of the only things he has left in this world that cannot be taken away from him.Michael is a highly egotistical and narcissistic person. He only shows concern about the issues he is being pulled through instead of the situations he constantly puts his family or friends through. He will often get unfairly defensive when someone rightfully criticizes him. A case in point of this wrongdoing is shown in one of the many heated arguments he has with his wife, Amanda. At the start of "Fame or Shame", she castigates him for not giving her any support in raising their children and only wanting to cater to himself by Getting drunk, or you're staring miserably at the clouds, or you're out there doing God only knows what. He responds with the fact that he, Pulled you out of a midwestern trailer park, got you a big mansion in Rockford Hills, and that the only thing she'll have to worry about is What part of your body you want to have chopped off or sucked out again. Another instant is in the same mission, where Trevor chides him for letting Tracey humiliate herself on public television the way she did and labeling it as Poor parenting. Michael responds defensively, Yeah, thanks for the fucking feedback. It means a lot coming from you. The same goes for Lester and Franklin as well. During Predator, Trevor criticizes Michael for instantly thinking about himself, claiming it is "typical" of him. During The Paleto Score, Michael argues with Trevor over the latter's kidnap of Patricia Madrazo, resulting in their exile in Sandy Shores to avoid the wrath of her husband Martin. Michael complains that Trevor is not making his situation any easier, with Trevor again criticizing Michael for only thinking about himself. At the beginning of The Bureau Raid (Fire Crew entry), when Lester is explaining the plan to Michael, Michael describes it as "a bit idiotic". Lester explains that he tried his best and that Michael chose this method. He then claims that Trevor "has a point" about Michael "whining too much", to which Michael responds by giving Lester the finger. At the beginning of the Roof Entry setup for the same mission, Lester continuously reproaches Michael for his constant bickering about the former, managing to still stay calm and collected as they prepare to pull off a dangerous raid on one of the most secure buildings in the country. Michael gets annoyed that he refuses to give Lester's cane back to him unless he retracts everything he stated previously. Lester does so reluctantly. When Michael tries to pull the same bickering move on Franklin, the latter fires back at him with irritation, leaving Michael to apologize for not noticing how self-absorbed he's been. Another of Michael's negative traits is his hypocrisy. He frequently scolds the people around him for their mistakes and bad habits but refuses to acknowledge his own. At the start of the mission "Daddy's Little Girl", he criticizes Jimmy for slouching all day in front of the TV, playing video games and eating profusely, despite the fact he does almost the exact same thing. With Tracey, he denies her the opportunity to become famous by intervening against her wishes while actively currying favor with Solomon Richards to be a renowned movie producer by working with unsavory individuals. With Amanda, he claims she is "wasteful" with his money even though she notices that Michael's day trading is hurting the family finances during "The Good Husband" on their way home. He does the same thing towards Trevor, openly judging his will to maim, kill, and steal with ease and pleasure while not showing any signs of remorse, even though Michael himself displays little to no remorse for the various people he kills while he actively provokes trouble with Simeon, Blake, Lazlow and Madrazo over petty issues his family has. During The Paleto Score, Michael complains to Trevor that he misses his family. Trevor angrily retorts that Michael never paid any attention to them and only misses them now that they've left him. Although he openly claims to his therapist that he does the same thing, he hides it underneath multiple lies, a few of them being that he does not enjoy the "thrill of the action" or that he does not hold a "plain yet wilfully strong addiction to chaos". The see-through hypocrisy can simultaneously show how easily and massively dishonest he is. Regardless of whether it is himself, his family or friends, Michael displays difficulty when trying to convey the truth. For instance, whenever Trevor brings up a subject involving Brad, Michael will immediately yet vaguely change the topic. Once Trevor realizes that Brad is dead, Michael continues to lie about his grave being empty instead of it actually containing Brad's corpse. Even after Brad's corpse is exhumed, Michael will unwittingly lie about his death instead of coming out with the truth about the staged robbery nine years ago, which causes Trevor to grow irritated and angry. At the end of the mission Surveying the Score, Franklin questions Michael's past relationship with Trevor to the point where Michael has to steadily ask him to stop in hopes of covering his tracks and not letting Franklin catch wind of his deal with the FIB nine years ago and quite possibly letting Trevor know in the process. His judgement calls will also cause negative repercussions. After being "green lit" by Martin Madrazo, he brushes it off, telling Franklin that he's known worse human beings. He then begins to take it back after receiving an astringent blow to his midsection with a baseball bat delivered by Madrazo himself. He even declares Martin a terrifying psychopath. With Devin Weston, he wanted no part in Weston's plans to highjack several high-end vehicles, that is, until Weston promised to arrange a meeting with Michael's idol, Solomon Richards. After this, he chooses to keep Devin in a positive mood to ensure that none of his business ventures are ruined, even if that means making Franklin work for Devin continuously without payment. Despite all the negatives, Michael does possess a good side to his personality. He is a very considerate individual, as he paid Franklin for doing what he was forced to do and drive through the front of his boss' business, even though the latter broke into Michael's mansion. Despite all the problems he has in his family, he dearly loves them. Still, he is frequently angered with Tracey's social life, Jimmy being jobless, lazy, and a video game addict and Amanda spending most of his money and cheating on him. However, Michael's family issues slowly started to dissolve after their reunion. It should also be noted that it is very clear that Michael cares for his friends more than he shows. If Franklin chooses to kill Trevor in the end, Michael will stop hanging out with Franklin for a while because he is devastated by Trevor's death. However, he will later apologize to Franklin and reassure him they are still friends. If the player chooses to kill Michael, his extremely

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