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“ | You... shall... all... die! | „ |
~ Dr. Roy Curien in The House of the Dead. |
Dr. Roy Curien is the secondary antagonist of The House of the Dead game series. Once a renowned scientist, he was driven mad by his own research and unleashed a horde of zombies upon his staff and threatened the world with destruction. Curien later returned in The House of the Dead III, which explores his past motives involving his relationship with his son Daniel through a series of flashbacks. He was "resurrected" as the game's final boss, the Wheel of Fate.
He is the main antagonist of The House of the Dead and its remake and The House of the Dead III.
He was played by the late Sid Haig in the live action film, who also played Captain Spaulding in The Devil's Rejects. For the games, he was by Charles Martinet in the third installment and by Brian Conner in the remake version.
Personality[]
Curien is an intelligent scientific researcher who seeks upon destruction of mankind. He is also shown to be insane, guiltless and remorseless in the first The House of the Dead videogame, as he unleashed and watches his creations massacring, even on his own staff. Curien also sees Thomas Rogan, G and the AMS as no threat.
Despite his evil intentions, in the flashback of third game, he is shown to be a loving father and has a more deeper sympathy in his character. He would do everything to save his son's life, even it means to cross the borderline of life and death. It is implied in the first and third games, he was possibly a generous scientist who wanted to solve the world and humanity's problems but insanity took the best of him due to his obsession with his research.
Biography[]
Background[]
Doctor Roy Curien is an eminent scientist working under the DBR Corporation as a research director, whose aggressive direction gained the admiration and respect of his staff. Among his researchers was Sophie Richards, who was engaged at the time to AMS agent Thomas Rogan. Born of a noble family, Curien lived with his son Daniel in a mansion in Europe built during medieval times, where the DBR research facility was also located, hiding the nature of its experiments from the public.
Sometime later, Daniel fell into a terminal illness, with doctors claiming he had no hope of recovery. In desperation, Curien worked to create a cure. While doing so, he began performing experiments in hopes of removing the barrier between life and death; his findings eventually caused him to descend to insanity.
1998 Mansion outbreak[]
On 18 December 1998, Doctor Curien released his undead creations upon his staff. Seeing that everyone around her was getting killed, Sophie made an urgent call to her fiancé for help. Rogan and his partner G arrive as quickly as possible, and they infiltrate the zombie-infested mansion to stop Curien and his creations from causing any more chaos.
The agents finally encounter Doctor Curien in person deep underground, where he compliments their efforts before summoning Hermit, a large undead beetle-like monster to take care of them. The agents defeat the creature while Curien takes the opportunity to escape, and they soon chase him further underground, where he awaits them in one of the laboratories below. When the agents have him cornered with no way out, Curien once again compliments them but boasts that they will never be able to stop him, letting them bare witness to the awakening of his master creation, the Magician. However, the Magician does not recognize Curien as its creator and, refusing to take orders from a lesser being, attacks him. Mortally wounded, Curien just has time to express his confusion regarding his creation's loyalty before succumbing to his injuries.
After the Magician is destroyed by the AMS agents and they take their leave, the head of the DBR Corporation, Caleb Goldman, visits the mansion and takes all of his research as well as Curien's corpse. While the incident would be regarded as the Curien Mansion Incident in The House of the Dead 2, it is revealed that Goldman had financially backed Curien's research and simply used him to further his own goals. Like his predecessor, Goldman would meet his demise when his own plans failed to come into fruition in 2000, but not before arranging a backup plan that would lead to the world's collapse in 2003.
Italy outbreak[]
Curien is seen in a flashback in the game's introductory sequence.
2006 Scarecrow Mansion incident[]
Ryan finds a picture of Curien, along with Goldman and Thornheart. It is also revealed that he, Goldman and Thornheart worked together on a project called "Noah's Ark". Curien's tombstone is also seen in the final chapter along with Goldman's in the game.
2019 Resurrection[]
Dr. Curien's discoveries play a large role in The House of the Dead III, which explores his past as well as his previous motives through flashback segments. It is revealed that several years before the Curien Mansion incident, Curien was seeking a cure for his son Daniel, who was terminally ill with doctors claiming he had no hope of recovery. Curien, portrayed as a loving father who would never give up on his son, claimed he was willing to step into forbidden territory if it would save his life. After carrying out many experiments, Curien revealed that he had discovered the key that would remove the barrier between life and death, and that there was no need for his son to fear death any longer. He later appeared to his comatose son again, asking him if he had overstepped the bounds of human morality, confused and somewhat depressed that many of his researchers had left him. However, Curien soon descended into madness after realizing that he now held the power to manipulate life and death at his will.
Following his death, the huge majority of Curien's research, as well as his body and his son Daniel, were moved to the EFI Research Facility, located in a desert wasteland somewhere in the United States. In 2000, Curien's body was later used as a test subject for his final creation, the Wheel of Fate, by an unknown source (most likely Goldman) and undergo a resurrection process that would take nineteen years to complete (some have speculated that this is why Goldman appeared before Curien's corpse after the mansion incident, and what he had done with it, but this remains unconfirmed). Daniel, now cured of his disease, spent his whole life in the facility and watched his father's transformation.
During the actual events of The House of the Dead III in 2019, civilization has collapsed. It is revealed that the being had become one with Curien and Daniel was finally prepared to put an end to his father's failed works. Meanwhile, retired AMS agent Thomas Rogan and his paramilitary team conduct a botched raid of the facility, believing it to be main source of the world's collapse; this resulted in his entire team being killed, leaving him and Dan Taylor as the only survivors. The duo find Curien's Wheel of Fate form still in incubation, which they conclude to be the core source only to be attacked by a behemoth zombie acting as the facility's security force, which kills Taylor and injures Rogan. After rescuing the latter, Daniel secretly hacked the program to give an opening advantage before the being's awakening, Two weeks later, Rogan's daughter Lisa and G organize a rescue mission where they manage to get Rogan to safety. When Lisa questions if Daniel really wants to fight his own father, he claims that he is ready to carry the burden of his father's crimes and that the future of the world belongs to the people who are alive here and now.
With the Wheel of Fate awakened, it identifies itself as Curien and reveals its motives to destroy mankind, with the intention of rebuilding it without the conflict associated with humans. The Wheel of Fate then engages the pair in a fierce battle, attacking them relentlessly through the power of electrokinesis, but is finally defeated. Curien then tries to make one last appeal to Daniel, claiming that the world is overpopulated and that his son still needs him. Daniel rejects his father and all that he has become, and he and Lisa open fire, destroying Curien for good.
Other Media[]
House of the Dead II: Dead Aim[]
Dr. Roy Curien is a minor antagonist in the 2005 live-action movie House of the Dead 2, which is a sequel to the 2003 film House of the Dead and is portrayed by the late Sid Haig, who also portrayed Captain Spaulding in House of 1,000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects, and 3 From Hell.
Curien has contained his son Rudy (the protagonist of the first movie) and another survivor Alison to try and find out the cause of the latter's immortality, despite the rotted state of her body. Curien creates a serum which he believes can bring back the dead and create immortality. He murders one of his students at the university he works for and injects her with the serum. She comes back to life as a zombie, bites Curien, and makes her escape. He is later seen as a zombie. Walking to back of a restaurant, the chef gives him food thinking he's an homeless man, but ends up biting him on the hand, he's never to be seen or heard from again. In this version however, while still maintaining a "Dr." title, he is addressed as Professor Roy Curien.
SEGA Heroes[]
Dr. Curien appears as one of the four playable characters in The House of the Dead which was added to sega heroes in February 2019. He is a Red Epic Controller Hero that can be unlocked after 50/10 Shards are collected. He is playable in Campaign, Arena, Events and Survival.
His Max Skills is Unleash Creature which requires 12 Mana, deals 8 hits of dark damage to each enemy and shuffles the board.
His Star Skill is Bio Reactor which requires you to match a red star tile or a super red star tile, resorts health to an ally with the least amount of health and if the ally is downed, then they gain 8 mana.
His Passive Skill is Mad Scientist, where if any allies get revived,they gain growth indefinitely and if you make a match 5/greater, then converts a random star tile into a super star tile.
His Traits:
- Campaign
- Controller
- Original
- Tech
- Scoundrel
Quotes[]
“ | I must compliment you, I didn't think you could make it this far. However, this is it! Let's see how good you really are! | „ |
~ Curien to Rogan and G before summoning The Hermit. |
“ | I must admit, I really respect your consistency. But you will never, ever defeat me! Say hello to my masterpiece! | „ |
~ Curien to Rogan and G about The Magician. |
“ | What happened? Why won't you follow my instructions? | „ |
~ Curien's last words before dying. |
“ | I am Curien... I shall destroy everything, and... resurrect everything. | „ |
~ Curien's first words after his resurrection as The Wheel of Fate. |
“ | This is the world you humans wanted... The world... is overpopulated... Even you... must realize that! Daniel, you need me... | „ |
~ Curien's last words before his second demise as The Wheel of Fate. |
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Dr. Curien's name is likely derived from that of acclaimed French physicist "Hubert Curien".
- Since Caleb Goldman is the one who hired Dr. Curien, funded his research and discovered the scientist's corpse, there is a strong possibility that Goldman was the one who revived Curien as the Wheel of Fate in The House of the Dead III.
- Another possible party who masterminded the scientist's resurrection is Thornheart, as he declares after the Magician's third defeat in 2003 that no one can stop the Wheel of Fate. Thus, it is implied he secretly continued this work.
- A portrait of Dr. Curien can be seen in The House of the Dead III, in the EFI Genome Ward during the beginning of the level.
- In the 2003 live-action film adaptation House of the Dead, the protagonist Rudolf reveals his surname to be Curien, seemingly implying that he is Roy Curien and that the movie serves as a prequel to the main game series and (presumably) the events inspire him. However this is contradicted with the third game (which came out the same year) as it provides a different backstory to Curien.
- In the 2005 movie sequel House of the Dead 2 a Professor Roy Curien appears as is played by Sid Haig and is Rudy's father.
- Dr. Curien appears as the main antagonist in Loving Deads: The House of the Dead EX with a slightly different look to him, and he orders his creations to imprison Zobiko in the dungeon.
- During the early development stages of The House of the Dead, Dr. Curien was originally named Dr. A.
- Although he is stated as "American" in manuals, his genealogy bearing "noble blood" and his notable accent indicates that he is British.
- The Curien mansion is located in an unknown country in Europe but is indicated to be in the United Kingdom or Ireland, due to the AMS' agents' car being a left-side drive (driver on the right), a characteristic of motor vehicles in the British Isles.
- Shares Similarities to Resident Evil Franchise Antagonist Albert Wesker:
- Both wear sunglasses
- Both are highly intelligent scientists
- Both are killed in their first game by monsters they tried to use as weapons
- Both return although Wesker was revealed to be alive and injected himself with the virus.
- Both were killed in the end after their resurrection.
- Both also have son, whose rebels and disapprove their misdeeds.
- He is also similarities with Dr. William Birkin from Resident Evil 2:
- Both have a sick child. While Birkin is responsible for infecting and abandoned his daughter, Curien will do anything to save his beloved son life even if his action was against human society rules.
- Both become monsters, although Birkin injected himself willingly with the G-virus. Where as Curien unwillingly turned into The Wheel Of Fate after his resurrection.
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