John Carver

Sergeant John Carver is the second main protagonist of Dead Space 3. He is a soldier in the Earth Defense Force and a survivor of the Necromorph outbreaks on Uxor and Keyhole Station.

Dead Space: Liberation
At an unspecified point of time, John Carver gets into an argument with the captain of the Earth Defense Force unit stationed on Uxor and smashed the captain’s vidscreen in a fit of anger. He believed the captain was spreading the troops on the planet too thin. As a possible punishment for his actions, Carver is assigned to patrol the perimeter nearest to the Marker Shroud 4 site.

His wife, Damara, contacts him, frustrated with his behavior. On top of missing his son’s bedtime, his actions have cost the family promised vacation time. Equally as frustrated with his own behavior as his wife is, Carver suggests that they may be better off without him after Damara makes an offhand comment about raising Dylan “on her own”. Carver discovers a sabotaged scanner and a long-sight laser marker triangulated on the position of the Marker site. Realizing too late what was happening, Carver warns Damara and Dylan to get to safety as the missile destroys the Marker’s shroud.

Carver barely recovers from the explosion before an EMP from the Marker takes out the surrounding tech, which brings an aircraft crashing down on the residential complexes. Fearing the worst, Carver rushes to reach his wife and son. Inside, he is captured by the Circle, an extremist Unitologist group led by Jacob Danik.

Their attempt to get answers from him unearths information about his family. In a fit of rage, Carver breaks free and attacks them. After a successful escape he reaches his home. To his horror, Dylan and Damara have been killed, their bodies transformed by the Necromorph life form. He kills them and suffers a momentary breakdown as Ellie Langford contacts Damara.

Carver hears her out, grabbing the data stick his wife hid in a stuffed doll. Knowing the transmissions are likely being monitored, he uses Ellie as bait to lure the Circle out into the open in order to spring their trap. Robert Norton and the USM Eudora arrives in time to get them safely off the planet.

The data stick contained precious information and a message from his wife explaining that she may have found the source of the Marker signals. Carver, proud of his wife’s endeavors, decides to help Robert and Ellie to see Damara’s mission through. On Ptolemy Station, they manage to locate the master Marker signal. After destroying the station, they head to Keyhole station in order to get the beacon necessary to reach its location. During the transit, Ellie and Carver bond; Carver expressing his guilt to a silent Ellie, reaffirming that he can set things right if he can successfully complete his wife’s work.

On Keyhole station, Carver, Norton and Ellie are separated by the combined efforts of the Necromorphs aboard and the Circle attacking the station’s exterior. As Carver and Norton are unable to reach her, Ellie decides to make the blind jump to Tau Volantis without them, knowing they’ll follow after her. They destroy both the ShockRing and the station to prevent Danik from following. Norton then decides its time to begin the search for Isaac Clarke.