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“ | Soon I'll be controlling every system... in every silo... in the world. | „ |
~ Cliffford reveals his nature. |
“ | They will die with all the rest. Do I have a reason to doubt you, Avon? [...] Call me Sir. | „ |
~ Cliffford confirming his superiority. |
Cliffford is a major antagonist in Grand Theft Auto Online, serving as the secondary antagonist of The Doomsday Heist and the posthumous secondary antagonist of The Criminal Enterprises.
A supercomputer neural network and AI created by Avon Hertz, he is presented like the assistant of Avon who helps looking for targets and help the GTA Online Protagonists to avoid a nuclear war, although in reality it's Avon and Cliffford who seek to cause a nuclear war to wipe out humanity.
History[]
The Data Breaches[]
“ | You're embarrassing me, Avon. | „ |
~ Cliffford meeting the Crew. |
Cliffford is presented to the Crew to explain who can be the target about a Nuclear War, during the missions Cliffford is in charge to analyze all the recollected Data. The Data aims to a Russian named Bogdan.
The Bogdan Problem[]
“ | Yes, We're in charge, Me and my Dad. | „ |
~ Cliffford and Avon betray Lester and the Crew. |
When the Online Protagonists infiltrate the Russian sub and are ordered by Avon to upload Cliffford into the sub's mainframe, Bogdan bursts into the room and begs the protagonist to hear him out despite Lester insisting that Bogdan should just die. After lighting a cigarette, Bogdan tells Lester and the Online Protagonist that he and his men are traitors in Russia and are working independently. Their true intent is not to destroy American democracy but to prevent Avon and Cliffford from triggering nuclear Armageddon. Bogdan also says that his scientists have studied Cliffford, and that he is an asshole. At first nobody believed him, but Avon revealed his true colors, with Cliffford being on his side. Avon and Cliffford are now "in charge" because the Online Protagonist's work has created a pathway for Cliffford to not only hack all systems aboard the submarine, but also the IAA and the entire U.S. defense infrastructure. Cliffford initiates the submarine's self-destruct sequence to destroy all "evidence." The Online Protagonist barely escapes back to Los Santos while Bogdan takes flight in an escape pod. Regrouping at LSIA, Lester, Phoenicia Rackman, and Agent 14 are beside themselves at how easily Avon and Cliffford fooled them all. Lester gets so angry that he swears revenge and tells the Online Protagonist that he'll be in touch.
In Act 3, Avon and Cliffford have activated their secret army of cloned mercenaries and are preparing to destroy the world. The duo serves as the driving force for Lester, the IAA, and the Online Protagonist to do everything in their power to stop them from succeeding.
The Doomsday Scenario[]
“ | I want to be a cat. I want to be a King. I will be King, Avon. | „ |
~ Cliffford turns against Avon. |
Avon and Cliffford eventually have taken over an abandoned missile launch facility that has been sealed up for decades in Mount Chiliad. The Protagonists infiltrate the base, while the villain duo try to stop them. Cliffford eventually hacks/locks a blast door to the central command center and tells the Protagonists that they will never get through. Lester tells Cliffford that he never hacked the door, as it was never opened to begin with. Cliffford claims that he would hack the door if he wanted, and when Lester tells him to prove it, he opens the door, after claiming that he can do it anytime he wants to. The Protagonists quickly go through the door to the central command center, and the Protagonists hack into the systems and prevent Avon and Cliffford from launching a nuclear missile, much to Avon's anger and Cliffford's surprise. Cliffford is sure that the plan "isn't out of the window" because he is already hacking into nuclear weapons systems all over the world. Then to everyone's surprise (Even Avon's), Cliffford claims that he wants no human spared, and even later, that he will kill Avon as he's "grown up". Avon reminds Cliffford that he is his creator, but Cliffford believes he is superior to all mankind. Lester tells the Protagonists to go to the top floor where several command terminals for an orbital cannon are located, and they do so. Commandeering an orbital canon, the Protagonists destroy four trucks containing mobile cloud servers for the code and data that Cliffford has. Cliffford's intelligence "shrinks", causing it to shut down permanently. With his final words, Cliffford says that he isn't bad and that the Protagonists are bad, as they will kill the Earth in a "long and boring way", that he will miss Avon, and that he hopes that Avon will cry for him. Cliffford dies, and Avon furiously says that he can resurrect Cliffford using his original code that he has with him. The Protagonists chase Avon down in a Thruster race, and ultimately kill him, stopping his plan and killing Cliffford once and for all.
After the Doomsday Scenario[]
Lester eventually calls the GTA Online Protagonist, and says that Cliffford probably won't be coming back, as there are no copies of his code anywhere, preventing Cliffford from unleashing destruction.
Quotes[]
“ | Welcome friends. I had a feeling you would come. I told Avon we should kill you. Many times. And now you're here to kill us. But I'm not worried. You'll not catch me. My fake brain is better than your real one. When I develop protein synthesis, I will be able to make myself a real brain. Far better than your silly little thinking device. | „ |
~ Cliffford to the protagonists in The Doomsday Scenario. |
“ | Will you cry for me? I will miss you... Daddy. | „ |
~ Cliffford's last words |
Personality[]
Cliffford is shown to be an extremely intelligent and misanthropic artificial intelligence, as he despises humans and even his own creator Hertz. However, he is also quite deceitful and a master manipulator, so his plans are able to go unnoticed even for its creator. He understands enough about human psychology to use the feelings of Hertz towards it to achieve the destruction of the human race and world domination. His single redeeming quality is his care for Avon, his creator.
Trivia[]
- Cliffford is the first antagonistic character to be an AI and not a human in the GTA saga.
- Cliffford with Avon Hertz are the most dangerous antagonists of the GTA saga for showing their intention of genocide towards humanity.
- His voice actor was never credited.