The Shadowman

The Shadowman is the Apothicons’ salesman: a former Keeper corrupted by the Dark Aether — once Monty’s charming best friend — who whispers empires into ruin rather than building them. Robert Picardo plays him in Black Ops III with the confidence of a man who has never once told the whole truth.

The voice

His fingerprints predate his debut: he is among the voices that corrupt Richtofen at the MPD, and the whisper that talks the Alcatraz Warden into building a pocket dimension. Shadows of Evil is his masterpiece — as the human “Tony Hale Rapt” (an anagram of Nyarlathotep, for the readers in the audience) he manipulates four sinners into unleashing the Apothicons on Morg City, and is trapped in the Summoning Key for his trouble.

The end

Released in the House through the soulless Maxis, he is defeated in Revelations by Primis with S.O.P.H.I.A. and the Kronorium, and returned to the Key — which is where he is when Nikolai destroys it at Tag der Toten, ending the Aether saga’s first villain by demolition. A later, separate “Shadow Man” haunts the rebooted MWZ era; the original’s contract was settled in full.