Caleb Goldman was a major antagonist in the House of the Dead game series, appearing in House of the Dead 2 and posthumously in House of the Dead 4. He was the director of a major financial group and an expert on the Genome Theory.
Harbouring a deeply misanthropic worldview, Goldman believed that the world was doomed to total destruction because of humanity's overpopulation. After financing the work of Dr. Roy Curien, Goldman used the doctor's research to engineer a biological attack in 2000 as part of a scheme to revert humanity back to its "natural state". While he committed suicide after being confronted by the AMS, Goldman's plan continued in 2003 when Pandora's Box was opened, leading to the collapse of civilization.
History[]
House of the Dead[]
While Goldman did not appear in the first game, it is confirmed that he had funded Dr. Curien's BioReactor project. Curien had been driven to insanity by his work and unleashed an army of zombies and monsters to destroy mankind, but ended up being killed by his final creation, the Magician. Shortly after the incident at the Curien Mansion, Goldman visited the estate where he witnessed Curien's corpse. He would confiscate the doctor's research materials in order to recreate the BioReactor to further his own plans.
House of the Dead 2[]
In 2000, Goldman launched a biological attack on an unnamed city in Europe. When the AMS sent in agents to contain the incident, Goldman contacted them, civilly inviting them to the city's Coliseum. James Taylor and Gary Stewart arrived at the Coliseum where they were contacted by Goldman via a giant screen. Their fellow agents Harry Harris and Amy Crystal had been captured by a giant creature called Strength, which then attacked. After defeating Strength, James and Gary freed Amy and Harry, but had to continue on towards Goldman's headquarters without them. Meanwhile, Goldman saw to the final touches of his ultimate creation, the Emperor, which was to rule over humanity.
James and Gary later arrived at the Goldman Building where they fought against Goldman's most advanced creatures, including a resurrected Magician. After defeating Magician and fighting their way through the building, the two agents confronted Goldman in his office. Goldman remained calm while at gunpoint, explaining the reasons behind his actions, how mankind had deviated from the cycle of nature and that he was attempting to protect the Earth by controlling the human population. He then gestured towards the laboratory where the Emperor was emerging from stasis, the lab floor being elevated up to the building's roof. The Emperor awoke and attacked James and Gary, but the two agents persevered and managed to kill the creature.
Seemingly unperturbed by the loss of the Emperor, Goldman calmly stated that the agents' struggle was not over yet, that one day a "successor" would come. After bidding farewell to James and Gary, Goldman leaned back over the edge of the roof and fell to his death.
House of the Dead 4[]
Three years after his death, Goldman's plan continued as a resurgence of creatures occurred. AMS agents James Taylor and Kate Green struggled to suppress the tide of zombies while also racing against time to stop a nuclear missile launch. James received several cryptic PDA transmissions from Goldman, providing clues for where he and Kate needed to go while also referring to something called "Pandora's Box".
James and Kate eventually arrived at Goldman's abandoned headquarters where they would witness the emergence of the World, a creature designed to succeed the Emperor which had been maturing beneath the courtyard of the building. Upon emerging, the World attacked James and Kate. After a long, drawn-out battle, the World appeared to have been defeated, but James realized that the monster was still growing and would eventually regenerate. In order to stop the World once and for all, James set his PDA to self-destruct and ran towards the creature. The explosion killed James, but the World was destroyed along with him.
In another message on Goldman's computer, he cryptically told the viewer to "travel north", concluding that hope "is such a splendid thing".
Personality[]
Goldman was a stoic, calculating man who always seemed to exude a calm, yet stern presence. Regardless of how he was addressed by his enemies, he never reacted with anger or hostility. However, his serene demeanour belied a deep-rooted disgust with the state of the human race; Goldman viewed humanity as sinful due to its excessive breeding and its tendency towards destructive behaviour. Convinced that the Earth was facing destruction due to humanity's overpopulation, he wished to restore the balance of nature by regulating humanity's population.