Tratos

Actor: Christopher Winfield - Patrick Bauchau

Name: Tratos*Affiliation:* The Forgotten; temporary ally of the GDI*Role:* Spiritual and political leader of the mutants*Specialities:* Tiberium research, translation of Tacitus, limited precognitive visions*Protégée / bodyguard:* Umagon*Allies:* Cdr. McNeil, GDI, the Daedalus team*Enemies:* Kane, the Brotherhood of Nod, C.A.B.A.L.*Associated artefact:* Tacitus*Conflicts:* Second Tiberian Dawn, Firestorm Conflict*Appearances:* Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, Hydra Missions
Status: Deceased, assassinated on the orders of C.A.B.A.L.Tratos is the leader of the Forgotten, humans transformed by prolonged exposure to Tiberium. A charismatic leader, a particularly intelligent scientist and one with limited precognitive abilities, he offers the mutants a community and a form of order in a world that regards them as outcasts. His importance, however, extends far beyond his own people: Tratos is one of the few beings capable of understanding and translating the Tacitus.

Leader of the Forgotten

As Tiberium transforms part of humanity, many mutants are rejected by mainstream society. Tratos unites some of these communities under the banner of the Forgotten and provides them with refuge, protection and a sense of belonging.

His authority is based more on respect than on a truly centralised military structure. The Forgotten remain made up of numerous relatively autonomous tribes, but Tratos becomes their principal leader and symbol.

His bodyguard and closest combatant is Umagon, one of the most formidable mutant warriors among her people.

The Tacitus

Before the Second Tiberium War, the Forgotten came into possession of the mysterious Tacitus, an alien data matrix containing, amongst other things, extremely advanced knowledge about Tiberium.

Tratos and his people studied it in the hope of discovering a way to cure their mutations. But Kane also realised the immense value of the artefact. He managed to deceive Tratos and persuaded him to translate part of its contents for him, with the assistance of C.A.B.A.L.

This mistake would have catastrophic consequences.

Using the information obtained, Kane develops, amongst other things, chemical weapons capable of transforming matter into Tiberium and prepares his ultimate plan: to convert the entire planet into an environment dominated by the crystal.

Tratos then realises that, by helping Kane, he has unwittingly contributed to endangering the whole of humanity. This guilt haunts him deeply.

Prisoner of Nod

Kane eventually has Tratos imprisoned. Nod holds him in a medical facility that also serves as a centre for experimentation on mutants, in Mexico. The treatments he undergoes severely damage his health.

Umagon then meets Cdr. McNeil and offers him a deal: The Forgotten will provide the GDI with intelligence on General Vega if McNeil agrees to free their leader.

The GDI agrees.

A team of mutant fighters infiltrates the facility, frees Tratos and evacuates him before GDI forces destroy the Nod base.

Alliance with the GDI

After his release, Tratos temporarily joins the GDI and spends much of his time aboard the Kodiak. His physical condition is initially so poor that he can no longer walk, but he gradually recovers.

Above all, he reveals to Cdr. McNeil the true scale of Kane’s project: the leader of Nod intends to use the Tacitus’s knowledge to transform Earth into a world no longer capable of supporting conventional human life.

The Forgotten thus become valuable allies of the GDI. In particular, they contribute to operations against Nod’s chemical facilities and its experimental technologies.

Umagon and the Antimutagen

The relationship between Tratos and Umagon is particularly significant. She is not only his bodyguard, but also one of his most loyal protégés.

After Kane subjects Umagon to his Divination experiments, Tratos desperately tries to save her. He develops a prototype antimutagen designed to halt the transformations caused by Tiberium.

The treatment fails tragically.

Instead of curing her, the serum causes Umagon to undergo an extremely severe mutation. Her condition deteriorates to the point where she must be confined to a padded cell and a straitjacket. She is believed to have succumbed to her mutations shortly before the Firestorm conflict.

This failure demonstrates that even Tratos’s exceptional knowledge is insufficient to fully control Tiberium.

Research with the GDI

Following Kane’s defeat, Tratos nevertheless continues his research.

He works with the GDI, and in particular with Dr Gabriella Boudreau’s Daedalus team, studying Tiberium, its mutagenic effects and, above all, the Tacitus.

The global situation then becomes critical: GDI scientists estimate that the spread of Tiberium could render the Earth’s atmosphere uninhabitable for humans. Tratos’s ability to translate the Tacitus therefore becomes potentially essential to the survival of humanity.

This is precisely what makes him a target.

Assassination by C.A.B.A.L.

C.A.B.A.L. realises that Tratos poses a threat to its own plans. The artificial intelligence then manipulates Nod’s forces by portraying the mutant leader as a dangerous enemy of the Brotherhood of Nod.

In particular, it claims that Tratos is, apart from itself, the only being capable of translating the Tacitus and therefore orders his elimination.

Despite a significant GDI military presence and the protection of elite Forgotten fighters, a Nod force manages to penetrate its research centre.

Tratos is ultimately shot dead near an orange Tiberium Crystal he was studying.

His death was therefore indirectly caused by C.A.B.A.L., which used Nod to eliminate one of its main rivals in deciphering the Tacitus.

Consequences of his death

Tratos’s assassination was a catastrophe for the GDI.

Without him, the organisation loses its chief translator of the Tacitus at a time when the spread of Tiberium directly threatens the planet’s survival. Gabriella Boudreau then proposes an extremely risky solution: to capture C.A.B.A.L. and use artificial intelligence to continue the translation.

This is exactly what C.A.B.A.L. had anticipated.

His manipulation ultimately leads to his full reactivation and to the crisis that becomes the Firestorm Conflict. Tratos’s death also contributes to the deterioration of relations between the Forgotten and the GDI; deprived of their leader, the mutants become even more fragmented.

Personality

Tratos is portrayed as a charismatic, compassionate and extremely intelligent man. Unlike the military leaders of the GDI or Nod, his primary objective remains the protection of a people rejected by the rest of humanity.

He also possesses premonitory visions, sometimes called Pentosi, which allow him to foresee certain events or dangers. These reinforce his almost spiritual status amongst the Forgotten.

His main trauma, however, remains his involuntary collaboration with Kane. Convinced that he played a part in the possible destruction of humanity by translating the Tacitus, he subsequently seeks to atone for this mistake by assisting the GDI and continuing his research.