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| “ | Well... let's just say I've... died on the Beach before. You of all people should understand. The loneliness. Tens of thousands of years of just... wandering. Without you... Fragile... Amelie... anyone... I couldn't fuckin' take it. And just... when I finally embraced oblivion, these dead folks right here... up and called me back. Four thousand poor bastards who joined with APAS in a convergence. To them, I was another ghost. Just another... lingering soul. Well, with so much in common... they thought I should team up with their little "company." And me being me, I played along. All the while, I was working towards my own... personal goal. | „ |
| ~ Higgs' breakdown before his final confrontation with Sam. |
| “ | Yeah...that's it! Suffer for me baby! Ain't no turning gazer for you, Sam. No crossing over to the other side. So suffer! Yeah... suffer... Rue the day you were born! | „ |
| ~ Higgs torturing Sam to death in an endless loop. |
Higgs Monaghan is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Cliff Unger) of Kojima Productions' 2019 action-adventure game Death Stranding and the main antagonist of its 2025 sequel, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.
Once a carrier in a world devastated by a cataclysmic event called the Death Stranding, Higgs pledged himself to Amelie Strand, an Extinction Entity destined to bring forth the Last Stranding. Now the new leader of a terrorist organization called Homo Demens, Higgs used his power to ensure that humanity would go extinct for good. His plans were eventually thwarted by Sam Porter Bridges, who showed Amelie that humanity deserved to live another day.
Disillusioned by Amelie's change of heart and left stranded on the Beach by his enemies, Higgs spent a millenial wandering in complete solitude, forgotten by all and without purpose. Hell bent on revenge, he plotted in the shadows and eventually came back from the dead to threaten humanity like never before.
He is also the arch-nemesis of both Sam and Fragile, with Higgs having developed an obsession with defeating and killing the former, and the latter of whom is the CEO of FRAGILE Express, the same delivery company that Higgs once worked for, before he betrayed them for his own personal gains.
He was portrayed and voiced by Troy Baker, who also voiced the Joker in Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Shadow, Pagan Min in Far Cry 4, Joel in The Last of Us series, Revolver Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Magni in God of War (2018), and many others. In Japanese, Higgs was voiced by Satoshi Mikami.
Quick Answers
What role does Higgs Monaghan play in Death Stranding?
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Biography[]
Origins[]
In some point following the cataclysmic event of the Death Stranding, as a child, Higgs was raised by his uncle, who was physically and emotionally abusive to him, and would keep him trapped in their shelter due to raving about how the outside world and everyone left were dangerous and couldn't be trusted.
One day, in self-defense, he killed his uncle, also learning that the man may not have been his uncle at all; while waiting with the dead body, he realised that he could see the souls of the deceased. Thus, he left the bunker, and became a porter, since he could see Beached Things and so could avoid their notice.
Despite him becoming a successful porter, and even forming a partnership with Fragile, he met the Extinction Entity, whom changed his entire mentality and granted him vastly stronger powers far beyond just his ability to see BTs; he went to lead the militant separatist organization known as the Homo Demens, taking to wear a black hood with a golden mask of chiral matter on it, which he could remove to summon BTs and control them, even giant versions, such as an octopus-like BT he is able to manifest, in addition to his capability to teleport himself.
Death Stranding[]
On a routine corpse disposal with two disposal men and Sam, whose repatriate abilities allowed him to sense beached things (known as BTs), Higgs ambushed the group with a swarm of BTs and caused a timefall storm (which causes everything it first touches to age). The disposal vehicle crashes, injuring the driver; the unhurt man, Igor Frank, hands their BB over to Sam, to boost his sense to sight of the entities, and so Igor can pull the driver to safety. However, the BTs discover the injured man, dragging him away; Igor executes the driver to spare him a worse death. Igor prepares to commit suicide, but likely Higgs flips him upside down, carrying him high into the open maw of a giant BT; this triggers a voidout. Sam and the BB are the sole survivors.
While Sam visits his dying adopted mother, President Bridget Strand, in Capitol Knot City, Higgs supposedly kidnaps Amelie Strand, the President's daughter. Bridget begs Sam to continue the expansion and completion of the chiral network, a communication network that will unite the divided settlements, however, Sam refuses. After Sam completes the delivery to cremate Bridget, he returns to Capitol Knot City, in which the Vice President, Die-hardman, and through a hologram (chiralgram), Amelie, discuss how the latter was kidnapped and held by the Homo Demens in Edge Knot City, but she is able to communicate freely. In order to save Amelie, so she can become the new President, Sam agrees to the westward expansion of the chiral network.
Sam completes numerous deliveries, eventually arriving at a hub to transport further, Port Knot City. Higgs introduces himself to Sam; Higgs has teleportation powers that he uses for emphasis and to taunt Sam by triggering his aphenphosmphobia. Higgs jokes about the deceased Bridget, as well as taunting the nearby Fragile, while also noting that Amelie isn't a good replacement, alluding to some fact about her being unfit for politics due to her being a danger of causing worldwide annihilation, because she is an Extinction Entity. Higgs mentions he has "connections" to every side of life and death, after which he summons a large, unique BT to battle Sam. Higgs vanishes, but Sam is able to defeat the BT.
Higgs later disguises himself as a BRIDGES employee, handing a package to Sam, which was a nuke; Higgs planned to trick Sam into delivering it to Lake Knot City. However, Sam realises the deception, and with the help of Fragile (who had suffered the deception in the past), they dispose of the nuke in a lake of tar, Crater Lake, which sinks deep enough to the other side that the detonation is harmless.
In one of Sam's vivid dreams with Amelie - which may actually be her communicating to his mind - Higgs stabs Amelie, and steals the quipu that Sam made for her. Later, Sam needed to escort Mama from her lab; outside Higgs appears again, mockingly noting he didn't expect two people. Nevertheless, Higgs summoned a giant lion-like BT, giving Sam the challenge to avoid being eaten.
When Sam overcomes the vast ocean of tar to reach the shores of Edge Knot City, Higgs materialises behind him, wearing Amelie's quipu. Sam questions Higgs, yet also tries to attack him; Higgs effortlessly dodges the punches, while expounding upon the upcoming mass extinction. Higgs uses humanoid BTs to restrain Sam, and continues to monologue down at him; Higgs licks his face, then takes a drop of chiral matter from Sam's eye, drawing a pharaoh-like line from his own eye. Higgs final taunt is that it will be race to Amelie, and whomever reaches her first gets to usher in the apocalypse. He releases Sam and vanishes again with cruel chuckle.
Sam connects the Edge Knot City hub to the chiral network, thus completing the network from coast to coast, reconnecting the remnants of America. Sam has a haunting dream of Amelie, wearing Higgs' gold mask, and saying that she is the Extinction Entity; she removes the mask to show a deranged grin. Sam awakens due to the dream and an alarm.
Sam exits the facility, greeted by Higgs; he summons a colossal BT and, with a seemingly "possessed" Amelie trapped inside, Higgs repeats to Sam the truth about Amelia, that she is an Extinction Entity; Amelie appears in front of Sam, before speaking Higgs plants his gold mask on her face. Amelie haltingly confirms Higgs' assertions that she is the sixth Extinction Entity, and that she must be the one to start the Last Stranding. Higgs reappears, explaining that she is the cause of the DOOMS and the nightmares that comes with the condition. While Sam is astonished, Higgs takes control of the colossal BT and confronts him, with him and Amelie implanted in different parts of its chest. However, Higgs is defeated again. Despite this, Higgs damages BB's pod and wounding Sam, albeit the BB that Sam called Lou was - thanks to their bond - able to use the Odradek to block some bullets to Higgs' disgust; however, enough shots get through to kill Sam, who then comes back to life as he is a repatriate, yet Higgs had already absconded with Amelie to the beach.
Thanks to the BRIDGES crew and Fragile, Sam is able to jump to the beach that Higgs and Amelie are located. Sam awakens on the beach, and to his confusion, Higgs is kneeling in reverence to Amelie. When Amelie notices Sam, Higgs jumps up; Higgs is stunned, but seems to take control by telekinetically gripping Amelie. Higgs hovers her into a space between boulders on the beach, creating a black spiderweb-like net that cocoons Amelie and holds her in suspension. Sam interrogates Higgs about his plans, which Higgs retorts that he "protect" Amelie and will usher in the sixth extinction, arguing that humanity has no more than a few hundred thousand years left, therefore believing the inevitability may as well be reached now.
Higgs mentions that if one of them die on this beach, there will be no repatriation, as death here will take one straight to the afterlife; he challenges Sam one last time with a final fourth wall-touching tirade. Higgs teleports around Sam, firing his machine gun, however, Sam is able to use destroyed deliveries that manifest on the beach, throwing them at Higgs to throw him off-balance, after which Sam beats and ties up Higgs to weaken him. In a rage, wanting to prove himself, Higgs discards his gun, relying on a chiral blade; again, Sam is able to dodge his attack, then retaliate with fists and kicks.
Sam appears to defeat Higgs, so he goes to rescue the restrained Amelie. Yet once again, Higgs intercepts him, ranting about how they have DOOMS, which means they are doomed to fight and die. Below Amelie, Higgs and Sam engaged in a brutal fistfight, Sam gaining the upper hand; Higgs continues to rave about how is the "particle of god," while the normally stoic Sam vents about traversing the continent, back and forth. A final punch from Sam makes Higgs collapse into the water.
Sam drags Higgs to shore, to save him from drowning due to a promise to Fragile, who wants her own revenge against the man that ruined her life and body. In exhaustion, Sam collapses on his back, adjacent to Higgs on the sand. Higgs laughs about how Sam had to touch him to drag him to safety, making fun of his aphenphosmphobia. Higgs, defeated, requests to be finished off, however, when Sam gets up he leaves, and a shadow appears above Higgs - the Homo Demens leader is surprised to see Fragile.
Amelie is lowered from the black web into Sam's arms. Higgs, now denying his defeat, tells Fragile that his bond is "made of stronger stuff." Higgs reaches out, attempting to telekinetically pull Amelie towards him, however, she only removes the gold mask herself, and nothing else happens, except the usual sound his powers made now becoming a broken groan. Fragile now gets to taunt Higgs, mockingly noting that she might not have revenge because he is "already broken." Higgs spits a rejection at this claim, insulting her as "damaged goods." Fragile removes a glove, then rubs her elderly hand up and down Higg's face; Fragile then punches him, retorting his own insult back at him.
With Amelie rescued, Fragile offers to teleport Sam back to Capitol Knot City, however, Amelie rejects the offer on behalf of Sam, noting that Amelie herself will use the chiral network to take Sam home. Fragile seems hurt, which Sam tries to console, yet they part at this point, leaving Higgs, bound, and in her custody.
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach[]
While Sam was doing a job for Fragile, she took care of Lou - his former Bridge Baby - for him. Higgs, somehow returned to life, tracked her down and seemed to have killed Lou. With nothing left, Sam agreed to assist the expansion of the chiral network in Australia. Meanwhile, on the Southern continent, Higgs opened a factory that spread weaponry throughout the land, especially to bandits.
Sam was met by Higgs, who claimed to be a ghost seeking revenge on him and Fragile. Higgs admitted that he won't try to kill him because his status as a repatriate makes death impossible for Sam, however, he would instead undertake methods to make him suffer. Before departing, Higgs summoned a giant "ghost mech" to battle Sam.
Sam was sent to destroy production at the weapons factory, which he achieved, but was captured by Higgs and his ghost mech soldiers. Higgs taunted Sam repeatedly, but was interrupted by the arrival of the Red Samurai, a unique ghost mech that appeared to be independent of Higgs's command; it destroyed his squad and cut off his hand, which also disarmed him. Higgs retreated through tar again.
Prior Sam's journey throughout Australia, a voidout destroyed a supercomputer called APAS and 4000 people, which converged into one entity on the Beach; this new entity desired to take control over humanity for the sake of evolution. To advance its plan of expanding the chiral network throughout Australia to open more plate gates (dimensional gateways that allowed travel between continents), APAS 4000 resurrected and empowered Higgs to serve as the "common enemy" to promote unity through the expansion.
However, Higgs had his own scheme, which was to restart the Last Stranding, partly to spite Sam, Fragile, and Amelie, but also due to his overwhelming nihilism and greater misanthropy that were born due to being abandoned on the Beach by Fragile; due to the time displacement, Higgs spent tens of thousands of years alone, until he eventually resorted to suicide - his oblivion was ultimately delayed by APAS 4000, hence his return to bringing humanity to extinction.
Powers & Abilities[]
- DOOMs Affliction: Higgs gained DOOMs after killing his alleged uncle. Higgs is considered to be a level 7 or higher DOOMS sufferer and displays the following abilities.
- Extrasensory Perception: Higgs can see and sense BTs without the need of Bridge Babies. This ability to detect, see, and avoid BTs made Higgs into a highly successful porter.
- Teleportation: Higgs displays the power to jump from one point to another using his or Amelie's beach; akin to teleportation. Higgs still retained this ability after Amelie severed their connection.
- Strategic Thinking: Being trained by Coffin, Higgs is a highly skilled porter who shows impeccable leadership skills, and made a successful career as a famous and beloved porter before becoming a terrorist. Higgs is also an extremely gifted and powerful leader to the Homo Demens, using them as sort of "pawns" to advance his agenda. Higgs also sued this skill to manipulate APAS into thinking he was part of their plans, all the while plotting to betray them.
- Skilled Combatant: Under Coffin, Higgs also learnt hang-to-hand combat and gunmanship skills and possessing a surprising pain tolerance.
- Psychological Warfare: Thanks to being so manipulative and cunning, Higgs is known to be a very skilled psychological warrior, demonstrating it when licking Fragile's and Sam's faces or using his Beached Things as an obstacle to others. Higgs, under the alias of Peter Englert, also had Sam undertake nearly impossible pizza delivery missions just to mess with him.
Former Powers[]
- Supernatural Empowerment: After meeting Amelie and being granted a strong connection to her, Higgs developed a myriad new and powerful preternatural abilities.
- BT Manifestation: Higgs gained the power to summon, manipulate, mind control, and even merge with powerful catcher BTs.
- Chiralium Manipulation: Higgs can create any object he desires out of chiralium, a type of otherworldly dark matter. He can use chiralium to amplify his weaponry and attacks.
- Timefall Manipulation: Higgs can use his powers to summon timefall whenever he chooses, the intensity of it's effects, and even choose who will be affected by timefall and who will not.
- Tar Manipulation: Higgs can also use his powers to manipulate the otherworldly primordial tar and even generate tentacles out of it to summon BTs and Catcher BTs. He was also able to create a spider's web made of the otherworldly tar around Amelie during Sam and Higgs' fist fight in Amelie's beach.
- Spatial Manipulation: Higgs also displayed some power to manipulate space to an extent, such as levitating himself and other platforms, and telekinetically ragdolling Amelie.
- Illusion Projection: Higgs displays the power to project realistic illusions, such as making his chiralium mask levitate around Sam in Edge Knot City, making Sam see Amelie in various forms, and even making Sam think Higgs is Amelie while hugging him in Edge Knot City.
Weakness[]
- Powerful Beings: Despite Higgs' immense powers, he can still be overpowered by more powerful beings such as the Red Samurai, or god-like beings like Amelie, and(or) Lou/Tomorrow.
- Link to Amelie: As the majority of his powers were granted by Amelie, the Extinction Entity, they could also be taken away by her.
Personality[]
Ever since that he was existing, Higgs is mostly known as an extremely intelligent, dark, cold, manipulative and often destructive individual, whose seeking nothing but maintaining the independence of Edge Knot City, believing that the United Cities of America and the Bridges Company led by Die-Hardman, is doing anything wrong and causes further damage to the rest of the world like it has not suffered enough before, that is why he is always making such dark usage in the Homo Demens against Bridges and the UCA.
Higgs is proven to be a gifted and powerful anarchist, who would use any kinds of murderous or savage actions to carry out his actions, and, he is even a ruthless sadist as he manifests his Beached Things in order to make the cargo man facing a challenge; avoid being eaten alive to death. He is claiming of knowing the titular Death Stranding event, and attempts manipulating people into joining him to "know the truth", doing so to Sam.
Additionally, Higgs is shown to be an extremely flamboyant, charismatic, and sarcastic when speaking with Sam, taunting Sam by asking "Sound like fun?" after throwing a perilous challenge the deliveryman's way, with also being shown as an extremely smug and prideful toward his work and his actions, evidenced when he brags about his connection to the "other side".
More evidence to his ruthless sadistic nature is shown, as he holds Amelie on his shoulder and forcefully licks Fragile's and Sam's faces, in addition to being a near-predator-like individual.
He commands the Homo Demens, but didn't actually create the group; he was originally recruited by its founder, Coffin, who is also the mother of Fragile. The group's initial purpose was to stop the UCA from undertaking their bridge baby experiments, albeit after taking control, Higgs twisted it into a terrorist organisation that sought to destroy the UCA itself. Before her death, Coffin asked Higgs to look after Fragile, however, he instead ended up betraying and maiming her daughter; his choice to betray the request of his mentor may simply be indicative of his cruel psychopathy, although it is plausible he felt jealous and resentful that he wasn't considered the most important person to Coffin, thus became obsessed with tormenting his "arch-nemesis" This is a similar to his obsession with Sam, as he feels insecure that his "God" shows real affection for Sam, but not him, her acolyte.
Higgs was implied to have been driven mad by meeting Amelie, who revealed that she was the sixth Extinction Entity (or technically the soul of one), a being born to exterminate all life on Earth; his rule of Homo Demens seemed to be originally a genuine attempt to avoid what they perceive as subjugation from the UCA, but after becoming Amelie's prophet of sorts, he abandoned any support to his people, merely using them as tools to spread chaos. Due to his pre-existing mental health issues, stemming from trauma, the state of the world after the Death Stranding, and learning his nightmares from DOOMS were actually potential futures, all contributed into making him into a cruel terrorist. In spite of the madness, he remained highly intelligent, manipulative, and charismatic.
Higgs patterned his uniform on Egyptian pharaohs, which is likely due to Egyptian mythology in which the pharaohs are worshiped in life, but are also considered gods in death; thus his commitment to usher in the sixth extinction is possible inspired by this belief, and by enacting it, he will be granted eternal greatness. Despite his arrogance and self-aggrandising, Higgs seemed to also suffer from extremely low self-esteem; this bled through his torture of Fragile, as he notes he wears a mask due to disliking his own face, and while it was tied to emotionally destroying her, it was a case of him being honest, thus even his eccentric persona of the apocalyptic herald can't completely diminish his prior insecurity. Part of his self-aggrandising may be from overcompensation, as despite being confident as Amelie's "champion," he shows signs of being threatened by Sam and Amelie's emotional intimacy.
After his revival by APAS 4000, his existing malice had become far worse as he took even greater glee in sadistically tormenting his enemies, choosing to let them live to suffer rather than kill them immediately when he could. He had also developed an even greater spite against Sam, as well as Fragile and Amelie; he resented Amelie for what he believed was her abandoning him, he hated Fragile for condemning him to millennia of isolation on the Beach, and he hated Sam for humiliating and defeated him. Higgs still aimed to bring about the extinction of humanity and all life, however, he no longer had any ambitions of godhood, rather he desired to exterminate mankind out of pure misanthropy., and sought oblivion himself.
Quotes[]
| “ | I don't care for my face; that's why I hide it. But you? I bet you just love yours, don't you? Your daddy must've been real proud. | „ |
| ~ Higgs taunting Fragile before giving her a choice between terrorism or self-mutilation |
| “ | Oh, Sam Bridges. Careful, contents are fragile. Like the world and everything in it... Me? (chuckles) I'm no exception. (licks Sam's face) | „ |
| ~ Higgs taunting Sam, while keeping him restrained by BT's |
| “ | Poor, sweet Amelie. She's holed up in the Beach nearby. Tell you what, let's see if we can make it a race. Whoever wins gets to usher in the end of days... Nothing like the Eve of Extinction to bring focus to the mind... Makes folks honest. There'll be no need for masks soon. But I wonder? When you look Death in Her eye, will you blink? | „ |
| ~ Higgs coaxing Sam to continue into Edge Knot City by reinforcing Amelie's dire situation |
| “ | Sam: What are you gonna do to her? Higgs: What I'm supposed to do: keep the Extinction Entity safe until the slate is wiped clean. There's no stoppin' the Sixth Extinction. No matter what you, me, or anybody else does, humanity has a few hundred thousand years left... tops. Why don't we just cut to the chase? Accept our fate, like the creatures before us? We all know what's comin', why delay the inevitable. Those of us with DOOMS, her; we're all bound here for a reason. We are - all of us - a part of the Death Stranding. This place, this fucking Beach... there's no repatriation here, no. One of us dies, that's it; he goes to the other side. It's nice, huh? Lucky loser gets to put an end to this rinse and repeat bullshit once and for all. So, no BTs, no voidouts, no bull shit. Just a good ol' fashioned boss fight. Stick vs. rope. Gun vs. strand. One more ending before the end. One last game over. |
„ |
| ~ Higgs delivering a nihilistic monologue before beginning the final fight against Sam Porter Bridges |
| “ | I don't need the gun, Sam. I can beat you. I can beat you!! | „ |
| ~ Higgs experiencing denial over Sam's persistence |
| “ | You just don't get it, do ya? ... We can't stop this thing. No one can. We got DOOMS, Sam. This was only ever gonna end one way. Now COME ON! | „ |
| ~ Higgs descending further into insane rage |
| “ | You gettin' a little touchy-feely there, Mr. aphenphosmphobia... (chuckles then coughs repeatedly) Well, congratulations. You won the game... Too bad it didn't stop shit.... Well, get on with it. | „ |
| ~ Even defeated Higgs mocked Sam, yet his nihilism making him indifferent, thus insisting that Sam just kill him already |
| “ | Higgs: Fragile? Fragile: Guess I left a lasting impression. I'm Fragile, but not that fragile... This time, you're the one who is going to break. |
„ |
| ~ Despite Higgs accepting his loss to Sam, upon finding someone he judged as worthless as Fragile loom above, he attempted to siphon more power, only to find that Amelie had cut him off. He petulantly taunted Fragile instead, who knocked him down as a prelude for revenge. |
| “ | Hey, brother. Didja' miss me? Yeah, I figured you'd pay this place a visit, seeing is how I've been distributing the fruits of this factory all over the continent. With guns and violence, the whole damn world could be yours - same as it ever was! Oh... looks like you've decided to trade in your rope for a stick this go 'round; well, I suppose even a porter has to pull the trigger from time to time. | „ |
| ~ Higgs reuniting with Sam in DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH – State of Play Announce Trailer |
| “ | This time, I'll make a lasting connection with the Lady in Red. A perfect ending humanity deserves. | „ |
| ~ Higgs in the DEATH STRANDING 2: ON THE BEACH trailer |
Trivia[]
- This is Troy Baker's second collaboration with Hideo Kojima, the first was Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, where Baker voiced Revolver Ocelot. Ironically, Satoshi Mikami had also voiced Ocelot in the Japanese version of the same game.
- He is named after the Higgs boson.
- Higgs has committed the Seven Deadly Sins for the following reasons:
- Pride: He constantly sees himself as "The Particle of God that permeates all existence”, and his arrogance in believing he is destined to reshape the world and control death itself.
- Wrath: He harbors a misanthropic hatred towards life itself, and his violence against people like Sam and Fragile, and obsession with annihilation manifests a burning fury.
- Envy: Higgs is jealous of Sam, because the latter has a true bond with Amelie/The EE, which Higgs lacks, feeling that he isn’t the “chosen” savior which pushes him deeper into nihilism.
- Greed: Higgs desires control of the Death Stranding, and the power of extinction itself.
- Sloth: His sloth is more spiritual as instead of finding meaning or healing, he gave in to nihilism and despair, avoiding responsibility.
- Lust: He is overtly invasive towards Sam and Fragile when he licked their faces without their consent.
- Gluttony: While not literal, Higgs "devours” on suffering, as he indulges in destruction on the fear and despair of others.