General Armin Metrac is the main antagonist in Killzone: Liberation. After the death of General Joseph Lente, Metrac became the commander of the Helghast Third Army in which Autarch Scolar Visari personally entrusted him with the task of capturing Southern Vekta.
Biography
Metrac was born on Helghan during the time of the great depression. He was a very different kind of Helghast, and was born with distinctive human-like features. He joined the military and proved to be a good soldier.
After being made Lieutenant General, he took special interest in a case where a soldier named Tendon Cobar was on death row for shooting his senior officer for being weak and stopping a training exercise due to a soldier sustaining wounds. Metrac looked into the case and found Cobar's actions and reasoning to be true, so Metrac had the case called off. This left a message to the rest of the Helghast army: there is no room for weakness.
He invited Cobar to join a group he had formed called the Colonial Guard. He was a follower of Visari, who was quickly rising to power. Visari had brought power to the Helghan military through rearmament programmes. Metrac gained favor with Visari (despite his human qualities which Visari would have hated) and became a General. He was also an adviser to Visari, along with General Joseph Lente, Colonel Mael Radec, and Metrac's good friend, Colonel Tendon Cobar.
Metrac was not heavily involved with the invasion plans of Vekta. He was second in command of the army, just below General Lente, who would lead the invasion. Metrac was in contact with the two ISA traitors, Generals Stuart Adams and Dwight Stratson. The invasion began in early August 2357, and Metrac was on Helghan at the time, until the Helghast forces were defeated.
Southern Vekta
After the death of General Lente, Visari personally entrusted Metrac in September with the task of conquering Southern Vekta where the remaining Helghast troops were holding out. He was given full command of the Third Helghan Army. He ordered the deployment of an additional fleet, along with two additional armies: the Eighth and the Ninth Helghan army, which contained approximately three million troops combined. He advanced from their location in the Adlez Mountains and pushed forward in all directions.
He eventually took over the eastern part of the continent with the help of Colonel Cobar. Over the course of the month Metrac became infamous among the ISA forces as he brutally pushed through their defenses. He set up a hidden base in the mountains of the Redavni Plains, and staged further attacks that pushed the ISA back to Rayhoven.
In early October the ISA Minister of Defence Heff Milcher, General Dwight Stratson, and scientist Evelyn Batton met at the Rayhoven Base to discuss the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the Helghast. Metrac attacks the base with the purpose of capturing and extracting information from the ISA VIPs. The ISA forces and VIPs present were forced to evacuate. Metrac secretly has the shuttle carrying the VIPs from the meeting shot down in the Reag Swamplands. Metrac later arrives at a base in a refinery in the Magus Harbour with Cobar, who he sends to find and capture the VIPs. He is then attacked by a team of ISA soldiers, led by Sergeant Rico Velasquez, but manages to kill most of the team except for Rico.
Metrac leaves and offers a truce to ISA command to buy time for Cobar to find the hostages. He asks that the ISA abandon the south with the promise of no more conflict. After learning of Batton's capture, Metrac then heads for the swamps to bring Batton to his base for interrogation.
He is followed by Rico who was later captured. With Batton and Rico as hostages (Milcher was dead, and Stratson had escaped after killing Cobar), Metrac threatened the ISA to surrender or he will use the nuclear weapons that were recently given to him by Stratson. However, Metrac was unable to use the weapons as they needed the launch codes. Metrac resorted to torturing Batton for the launch codes in which she only gave him the wrong codes. Metrac later planned to have Rico transferred to Stratson in Sedah City to frame him for betraying the ISA.
Death
Metrac later learned that the ISA had discovered the location of his base and will soon bomb it. Metrac prepared to leave with Rico to for Sedah City before being confronted by Captain Jan Templar confronts him. Metrac ordered his men to leave without him so that he can deal with Templar. After a long fight, Templar wounded Metrac, who asks for a warrior's death. Templar demands Metrac for Rico's whereabouts as the bombing begins (creating a large gap in the platform they are on) but Metrac leaps across to Templar with a knife. However, Templar quickly shoots at Metrac, who then falls to his death.[1]
Metrac's body was later recovered by the Helghast. In spite of his death, Metrac managed to deliver the ISA nuclear weapons to Helghan.[2]
Characteristics
Metrac is an evolved form of Helghast, and has the appearance of a human. However he retains the dark characteristics of a Helghast. Even his traits make him no ordinary Helghast.
Unlike the more somewhat honorable and professional General Lente, Metrac is shamelessy barbaric, sadistic and cruel, and is known for his unconventional tactics and his brutalities against human civilians and soldiers alike. He uses sadistic interrogation techniques, possibly with the help of Cobar.
He has been the most successful commander against the ISA so far, as he managed to conquer most of Southern Vekta and, thanks to his leadership skills, his armies managed to continue operating somewhat well even after his death. He is second in command of the army before the death of Lente, although he appears to be quite skilled in battle and possess better tactical and strategic skills. He is almost a mix of Lente's leadership skills, and Radec's combat skills. He is the only known Helghast to not fear Colonel Cobar and Cobar respects him out of friendship.
Description
Metrac is a very tall man who has more human-like appearances than the Helghast. He has a strong, athletic build with human-like white skin and somewhat sharp facial features. He wears a very decorative cuirass, a fine silver armor plate on his left shoulder and a dark-red cape, similar to the Helghast banner. He would usually possess a pistol and knife as an officer, although he uses a heavy machine gun/grenade launcher when battling Templar.
Conversations
| II.3 - Assault |
|---|
|
Metrac: "Rayhoven proved more difficult than I thought." |
| IV.2 - Revelation |
|---|
|
Metrac: "Your fleet is about to attack, Sergeant Rico. It seems General Stratson puts little value on the lives of his men." |
| IV.3 - Confrontation |
|---|
|
Templar: "Rico - !" |
Gallery
Trivia
- Metrac is seen in a painting in Visari Palace in Killzone 2. He is depicted with Visari and the other Helghast villains of the series. The painting can be also seen in a museum in Killzone 3.
- Metrac made a brief cameo in Killzone: Mercenary during the cinematic intro.
References
- ↑ Killzone: Liberation, Chapter 4: Confrontation
- ↑ From High Command