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| “ | Mr. Payne, it's time to show you the benefits of my brew. Be a good boy now. | „ |
| ~ Nicole Horne just before injecting Max Payne with deadly Valkyr dose. |
| “ | All this because your wife stuck her nose into things that were none of her business. It's ridiculous that you've made it this far. You won't be alive when they get here. | „ |
| ~ Horne to Max Payne. |
Nicole Horne, also known as The Witch, is the main antagonist of the 2001 video game Max Payne.
She is a cold-hearted, sadistic and unethical businesswoman, who is responsible for not only the crisis in the game, but is directly responsible for all the tragedy in Max Payne's life as well. She serves as the CEO of her company Aesir Corporation, and the archenemy of Max Payne.
She was portrayed by Tuula Järvi, and Jane Gennaro provided her voice.
She was played by Kate Burton (who also played Mademoiselle in the Martyrs remake) in the film.
Biography[]
Background[]
Nicole Horne is the president of the pharmaceutical company Aesir Corporation, and one of the most powerful women in New York City. As president of the largest medical company, she arranged for the mass production of the hallucinogenic drug known colloquially as Valkyr. Initially, the drug was developed to aid the skill and performance of US soldiers on military missions, but the drug had very dangerous side effects. Scientific objects kept in laboratories after taking the drug for a long time turned into mad murderers, and the Project Valhalla was shut down. Despite its closure, Horne continued to manufacture the dangerous drug illegally. She blackmailed everyone involved in the project to silence them, and struck a deal with the powerful New York mafia - the Punchinello Family in distributing the drug in New York City.
Three years before the events of the game, Max Payne's wife, Michelle Payne, who was then working as a deputy district attorney, found military papers on the Project Valhalla, the Valkyr, and the Aesir Corporation affiliation to it on her desk. Michelle decided it was some kind of mix up at the courier service and let it go. Unfortunately, Horne found out about the data leak, which caused her to send three test subjects injected with a double dose of Valkyr to her address in New Jersey on the pretext of observing their behavior in an urban setting, so that those in cold blood would murder Michelle and her infant daughter in fear of another leak.
Michelle's husband, Max a NYPD police officer by profession, came home from work to discover that someone had broken into it, judging by the demolished interior and the graffiti on the wall. Max's first contact with Horne was by phone, as she called his home to see if the test objects were at his home. When Max tells her to call the police because someone broke in, she tells him she can't help him and hangs up. Max manages to kill the maddened drug addicts, but arrives too late as his wife and daughter have already been killed.
Max Payne[]
For three years, Max and his friend Alex Balder investigated the Valkyr and discovered that the Punchinello family was a drug dealer. During their meeting at the Roscoe Street Subway Station in 2001, Alex is killed, and New York City police believes that Max Payne is the cop's killer.
Inside the Lupino Hotel in room 216, Max comes across a diary of a prostitute named Candy Dawn who lives and works there, which says that she sent a "mysterious hag" (or Horne as later turned out) a pornographic tape with One-Eyed Alfred and that she is the one who pays her for the films with his participation (which later turned out to be how Horne blackmailed Alfred Woden).
After killing Jack Lupino at the Ragnarock Nightclub, Max meets Mona Sax, who tells him that mob head Don Punchinello was responsible for Alex's death and that he framed him. When Max raids his Manor, kills his men and chases him into a corner, Punchinello pleads to spare him, telling him that he was only doing what he was told to do. Before Max has a chance to kill him, Horne's private army bursts into the building to kill Punchinello and Max. Horne, instead of killing Max with a gun, decides to inject him with a lethal dose of Valkyr so he will die in torment. Max, after going through massive hallucinations about the death of his family, manages to survive.
Max decides to go to the "Cold Steel" Foundry, which was mentioned by Horne before leaving Max to die. After examining the complex, Max discovers that the foundry houses the entrance to a secret laboratory that produces Valkyr. Max also learns that his family had been killed for the data leak and that the killers were nothing but the project's guinea pigs sent to his New Jersey address for "urban research". Due to Max's investigation, Horne destroys the entire lab and foundry to cover up all lab ties to Aesir Corporation.
After escaping from the Foundry, Max contacts his partner in the DEA under the alias "B.B." Calling him "Backstabbing Bastard," Max discovers that B.B worked for Horne from the start and he was the one who killed Alex in the subway and framed-up Max for his murder. B.B. tries to escape but Max manages to kill a corrupt cop. After his death, Alfred Woden contacts Max, inviting him to meet him at the Asgard Building, and promises to explain to him who Nicole Horne really is.
During a meeting with Woden and the other members of the Inner Circle, Max learns the identity of Nicole Horne and learns that she is the one who is pulling the strings and blackmailing all the important personalities in New York to keep her empire at the top, and among the people Horne is blackmailing are Alfred Woden and his associates who were once members of the Project Valhalla. In addition, he also learns that it was Horne who ordered drug addicts to be sent to his house, which resulted in the death of his wife and daughter. Woden promises him that if he can kill Horne, he will make sure that all charges against him are dropped. Moments later, Horne's men raid the Asgard Building to kill Woden, Max, and the other members of the Inner Circle. However, this attempt fails as Woden and Max emerge from the attack unscathed.
Max, with nothing to lose, heads straight to the Aesir Corporation Headquarters and bursts inside, ready to kill Horne. After fighting through the building, Max meets Mona again. Horne tells her through the loudspeaker that she wants Payne dead, and this reveals that Horne hired Mona to kill Max but the young woman decides not to kill Max as he's a nice guy and she doesn't kill nice guys. For this insubordination, Horne orders her army to execute Mona and they succeed although Mona's body disappeared after the elevator she was killed in returned. After activating the elevator to the Horne's penthouse on the top floor, Max comes face to face with his archenemy. The woman tells him that this whole situation is only Michelle's fault as she was the one who stuck her nose in somebody else's business. Horne escapes to the roof of the building where a helicopter is waiting for her. Max fires at the lines that hold the great mast. Due to the heavy wind and no lines, the mast breaks off falling straight onto the Horne helicopter. The landing field collapses and falls to the ground causing an explosion which results in her death and the end of her empire and reign of terror.
Years later, in late 2011, when Max visits Michelle's and Rose's grave, he sees the mausoleum where Horne was buried in the eight chapter. Max thinks for a moment, remarking that she was responsible for the murder of his family, and that he felt it would be appropriate to leave Horne corpses instead of flowers.
Personality[]
Nicole Horne is a cruel, opportunistic, and greedy woman. Everyone including her minions were expendable to her and anyone in her way could be murdered at any moment either when they stopped being needed or when they talked too much. She is highly intelligent and cunning, using her wealth to turn the mob into her own personal enforcers and her intelligence to control the government from the shadows.
She is also sadistic, taunting Max about his dead wife and daughter and drugging him with the intent of killing him painfully and making him suffer instead of simply executing him. She also has no empathy whatsoever, genuinely believing that Max's wife and daughter deserved to die for being in her way and he can do nothing about as he will never bring them back. She also doesn't care about her business partners as soon as they become obsolete to her she decided to silence them by execution simply because they know too much and did their job for her.
Quotes[]
| “ | Is this the Payne residence? | „ |
| ~ Horne calling Max at his home. |
| “ | Gentlemen, we are done here, take me to Cold Steel. | „ |
| ~ Horne to her men. |
| “ | What do you mean he's unstoppable? You are superior to him in every way that counts. You are better trained, better equipped, you outnumber him at least twenty to one, Do. Your. Job. | „ |
| ~ Horne to her men. |
| “ | How sweet, I get to kill two birds with one stone. | „ |
| ~ Horne. |
Trivia[]
- Horne was keeping a very low profile throughout her conspirator. Even Don Punchinello (Horne's minion) did not know exactly who she was, believing her to be a government official.
- Horne was so powerful, that she even ordered the assassination of the mayor of New York due to the fact he wanted to get rid of Valkyr from the city; however, the order never seemed to get the green light as his assassin, Rico Muerte was killed by Max.
- So far, she is the only main female antagonist in the series. She is also the second woman Max Payne kills, the first being Candy Dawn, and the third being Valerie Winterson.
- Horne isn't fought directly, as the closest you get to a fight with her is when she shoots at you while making a break to her chopper.
External Links[]
- Nicole Horne on the Max Payne Wiki
- Nicole Horne on the Pure Evil Wiki
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 Villains
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Max Payne Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne Max Payne 3 Max Payne (film) See Also | ||