Michael De Santa


 * "Look, you wake up one day and your legs, they just give, and you just can't run anymore."
 * ―Michael De Santa to Franklin Clinton, explaining why he betrayed Trevor in Fresh Meat
 * Michael De Santa, formerly Michael Townley, is one of the three protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V, along with Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips. He is voiced 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, he suffers from his unhealthy relationship with them, and 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 brought to a halt as his past demons and morally compromising mistakes 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.

Background

 * "I'm just a fat washed up jock who can't get his head around the fact his high school football career didn't play out the way that he planned. The only way I'm content and competent is with a gun in my hand or a price on my head."
 * ―Michael during his therapy session.
 * Michael was born in either 1965 or 1968, possibly in the Midwest, which would explain why he spent some of his criminal career in North Yankton or on the East Coast, possibly indicating why he committed his first robbery in the outskirts of Carcer City. As a child, he didn't have the luxuries and privileges that his own children have and grew up in the deprived environment of a trailer park with his parents. Like Trevor and Franklin, Michael had a tough upbringing due to his alcoholic and physically abusive father, who later abandoned him. Michael's mother, who also left him, was told numerous stories of why his father left, all of which included but weren't limited to him skipping town, being run over by a train and joining the navy. 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, but his temperament issues and a constant string of injuries ultimately forced him to quit.
 * As a young adult, Michael began the life of crime. According to Michael, he was imprisoned twice by the time he was twenty. He committed his first robbery in the outskirts of Carcer City in 1988, where he managed to steal $10,000 from a small business. While in prison, Michael learned many skills, including learning how to use a tattoo gun by tattooing his name on his cellmate's buttocks. Despite his failures and shortcomings, Michael perfected his criminal skills to the point where he became an expert marksman and efficient heist leader. During this period of time, he associated himself with Lester Crest, an exquisite planner that would later assist Michael in planning out heists, as well as other tasks.
 * In 1993, Michael met Trevor Philips while he was escorting cargo across the border. While Trevor waited on the runway to meet his unknown employer, he noticed not one, but two dust trails coming up the road, despite the fact that he was told there would only be one person meeting him with the cargo. Michael exited the first vehicle, while an older civilian exited the second. As it turned out, the older 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 as to what just happened. Trevor approached the civilian and fired off a flare gun into the man's eye, brutally killing him. He and Michael dumped the body into a lake after landing a plane. Trevor described the experience as horrible as the flare was still burning from the inside of the man's skull as they dropped him off into the lake. Trevor and Michael both threw up after landing the plane since the stench from the burning corpse remained in the cockpit. After noticing how well they worked with each other, Michael brought an aimless Trevor under his wing as a partner for various crimes he would commit. They were both somewhat successful at their profession, but Michael claims that 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 and Michael's circumspection and foresight as well as his distinctive style of quoting from Solomon Richards' films drew attention, which caused him and Trevor to quickly leave town after completing a job.
 * Michael met a stripper named Amanda at a strip club. After flirting with each other, the couple started a romantic relationship. Using money earned from illicit activities, Michael was even able to buy Amanda some breast implants, which would help with her stripping and prostituting 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. Now a family man, Michael began to question his criminal lifestyle, much to Trevor's annoyance, describing him as being "soft."
 * A few years later, Trevor met a fellow crook named Brad Snider and introduced him to Michael. Michael and Brad never showed any empathy for each other and would often express mutual distaste and distrust when working together. According to Trevor, Brad planned at one point to cut off Michael and work solely with Trevor. For awhile, the trio, along with Lester and a few other accomplices, committed robberies all across the Midwest.
 * At some point in 2004, Michael met FIB agent Dave Norton. Fearing for his family's safety, Michael made a clandestine agreement with Norton to cut ties with Trevor and Brad in exchange for the ability to disappear and start a new life. By paying Norton a monthly five-figure amount, Norton would relocate Michael and his family to Los Santos and provide them with new identities to start a new life. By accepting the deal with the FIB, Michael informed Norton of their upcoming robbery in Ludendorff, where Michael would pretend to be shot by Norton, while Norton would actually kill Trevor and arrest Brad. The plan would favor both Michael and Norton, whereas Michael will walk away with a clean slate, Norton 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 Trevor murdered a guard who held Michael at gunpoint and when Michael, Brad and Trevor were ambushed by over a dozen police officers ready to apprehend them. During the getaway, their driver was killed by pursuing police. Michael took the wheel and drove 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.Screenshot 2021-04-22 220052.pngs yet again deviated from the original plan when instead of Trevor, it was Brad who was accidentally shot by Norton when he walked in front of Trevor. Michael pretended to be shot as well and begged Trevor to leave him behind. Enraged beyond sense, Trevor proceeded to shoot numerous arriving police officers before barely escaping the ambush with his life. Trevor was never caught by the police and eventually went into hiding.
 * After the incident, Michael Townley was declared dead and given a funeral, but it was Brad whose body was buried in a grave marked with Michael's name, having died from his gunshot wound. News reports stated that Michael had been killed, Brad imprisoned at Bolingbroke Penitentiary, and Trevor still remained at large. Michael eventually concluded that Trevor had ended up getting himself killed, though there was never any confirmation to 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" (a long-term alias of Michael's).

Living The Vinewood Dream
Michael's life in Los Santos slowly pirouetted into a living nightmare. Michael 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 catches happening. Michael's neglect and narcissism, along with him cheating caused Amanda to cheat on him as well and spend much of their savings on plastic surgery, while Tracey and Jimmy show him very little respect. Suffering from a midlife crisis and a deteriorating marriage, Michael began visiting Isiah Friedlander, an overpriced psychologist who cares very little for Michael's problems.

Appearance

 * "White male. Overweight. In his late forties."
 * ―Medical Examiners in Dead Man Walking

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 result of coronary failure. They, as well as Trevor in Derailed have noted his poor hygiene due to his habits of drinking and smoking cigarettes, giving him discolored teeth and fingers, with the examiners estimating he smoked approximately a pack of cigarettes a day, along with cigars. The medical examiners also noticed broken capillaries around his nose to indicate his alcoholism and deduce 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 a 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 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 has forced him to not be 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, opposite to the clear disdain of buying items from Suburban or Binco. His Prologue appearance has him with shorter, shaven hair. It is somewhere 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 the things he would do during gameplay.

Personality
Michael is a very muddled person, even confused by his "good and evil" personalities. He spends an uncommon 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 the reason why things aren't going in the direction he planned it would. Michael has an obsession for materialistic appearance and images, making it the main reason for why 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'.".