Chris Williams
Chris Williams, better known as the Colonel, is a character and the secondary antagonist in Dying Light 2 Stay Human. A former Colonel of the military stationed within Villedor, Williams now resides within The Dam - Known by Villedor's citizens as "The Stronghold" - under the moniker of 'The Butcher', leading his group of loyalists known as The Renegades in isolation from the rest of the city.
Biography
During The Fall
A Colonel of the military stationed within the walled-off city of Villedor, before his rise as 'The Butcher' Colonel Williams served under General Pratt in the defense of the City from the Tachytransmissive Harran Virus that had by the events of 2023 ravaged most of the known world, along with the GRE and the newly-formed Council of Mankind. A well-respected Officer at the time, Williams took place in the March Massacre of 2024, in which soldiers loyal to him opened fire on dissident forces within Villedor attempting to riot against the Military's new curfews and confiscation of weaponry - And shortly after, with the deactivation of the VNC Tower, the overwhelming influx of infected refugees, the ever-increasing number of outbreaks within Villedor and a successful military coup d'etat against General Pratt, Williams soon found himself in charge of all Military operations within the city of Villedor, even being hailed as "The Man We Need" by a local Villedor newspaper at the time[1].
However, it was not his military accolades that would forever mark Colonel Williams in the annals of Villedor's history. Upon taking control of Villedor's military, he also took control of General Pratt's projects, including the secret development of THV-GENMOD, an experimental chemical intended to be an airborne vaccine against the THV Virus, created as a joint project between the Military and the GRE under the supervision of the now-defunct Council of Mankind. Faced with Villedor's rapid downfall, the increase in infected outbreaks, and potential dissidence within his new military command in the form of Major Jack Matt - Of whom he had been observing for signs of betrayal since 2024[2] - Colonel Williams was pushed to the breaking point.
Black Monday
As a last-ditch effort to save Villedor, both from the ever-increasing Infected outbreaks threatening to activate the city's self-destruct missile systems, and the ever-growing machinations of Jack Matt, Colonel Williams authorized the use of THV-GENMOD in a city-wide chemical dispersal, utilizing ground vehicles and airdropped chemical bombs to, in theory, vaccinate the entire city of the THV virus. However, what instead followed was one of the greatest tragedies to ever strike the city - Black Monday.
Rather than cure the population, the THV-GENMOD irreparably damaged the ecosystem of Villedor, leaving much of the soil around the city, as well as the air itself toxic. To make matters worse, rather than vaccinating the population of the city against the virus and destroying any infected already present, it did the exact opposite: THV-GENMOD left approximately 98% of Villedor's population infected with the THV Virus, and rather than destroying the previously infected, it caused them to mutate rapidly, leaving them more deadly than before. The city's only saving grace was its lack of power due to the deactivation of the Dynamo Car Factory solar power grid, saving it from destruction via automated missile systems in the result of mass infection.
Civil War
Black Monday irreparably damaged Colonel Williams' reputation within Villedor - Both with the city's civilian population, with Juan Rainer heading up a force known as "The Revolutionary Committee" to attempt to oust the Military from the city, and with the Military itself, with Major Jack Matt forming a rebellion against 'The Butcher', and using the fact that he and his men were not ordered to evacuate - A lie formulated by Jack - in order to garner support to overthrow Williams and take control of the city for themselves, which quickly spiraled into a vicious civil war between Colonel Williams' loyalists, and Jack Matt's new 'Peacekeepers'.
This civil war raged for a time, with Jack Matt taking control of an old shipping vessel as his base of operations, whereas Colonel Williams and his loyalists found themselves being pushed back further and further. This however, came to a head when Williams took control of the old Dam in the southwest of the city, and offered an ultimatum - The Peacekeepers would stop their attacks on Williams and his 'Renegades', or they would flood the city in toxic water. This claim created an extremely uneasy truce between the Peacekeepers and Williams' Renegades, turning their open conflict into a barely-withheld cold war.
Present Day
Using the newfound truce to his advantage, Colonel Williams - Along with his wife, Anna - turned the Dam into a thriving community, with farmers, teachers, and clean water available within the walls of the Stronghold. All the while, he continued training his soldiers, waiting for the time that the truce would inevitably break and conflict would return.
At some point, Colonel Williams was joined by prolific GRE Scientist Dr. Vincent Waltz, with the agreement that Williams would provide a working space, subjects, and attempt to find a working, intact GRE Key for Waltz, in return for Waltz's work in creating super soldiers for the Renegades in the event of a break in the truce between the Renegades and the Peacekeepers. However, a rift began to grow between the two, which became a full-blown tear after Waltz split off from the Colonel's faction with his HVM-5 fueled Renegades in order to claim the GRE Key, which he had found in the possession of Commander Lucas of the Peacekeepers.
Interactions
During the events of Dying Light 2, Colonel Williams is mentioned multiple times by many different characters, and his influence can be felt throughout most of the game, however he only makes one physical appearance in the game during the Main Story mission Now or Never in which he will offer his assistance to Aiden in getting to Waltz.
Gallery
Promo image from E3 2019
Aiden confronting the colonel Williams
