Viktor Reznov



Viktor Reznov is a central protagonist in Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. He is voiced by Gary Oldman.

Reznov first appeared in World at War, as a Sergeant in the Red Army. He appeared throughout World at War 's Russian campaign as a compatriot of the player-controlled Dimitri Petrenko. Reznov and Petrenko lead the Red Army's assault on Stalingrad and were instrumental in the death of Nazi General Heinrich Amsel, and later were heavily involved in the Red Army's advance through Germany to Berlin. During the Battle of Berlin, Reznov watched Petrenko raise the Russian flag atop the Reichstag.

Months after the end of World War II, both Reznov (now promoted to Captain) and Petrenko were members of Unit 45 of the 3rd Shock Army, under the command of Major General Nikita Dragovich and Colonel Lev Kravchenko, to capture Freidrich Steiner, an ex-Nazi scientist who developed a deadly nerve agent known as Nova-6. However, they were betrayed, and Dragovich tested the poison on them, then made off with Steiner and the Nova-6. Reznov managed to escape, but Petrenko was not so lucky, and soon succumbed to Nova-6.

Reznov was later captured and imprisoned in the Vorkuta prison camp. After spending nearly two decades in Vorkuta, Reznov befriended Alex Mason, a former U.S. Marine and CIA operative, who'd also dealt with Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Steiner; he had, in fact, been brainwashed and was intended to become a Soviet sleeper agent able to understand numbers broadcasts, and with the goal of assassinating the American President, John F. Kennedy. But after Mason was thrown into Vorkuta, Reznov sabotaged Mason's programming and re-programmed him to go after the three. Reznov and Mason would rally the other prisoners and would sucessfully overthrow Vorkuta. However, Reznov wasn't able to make it out, and was killed.

Years later, however, in 1968, Mason (now a member of the MACV-SOG) begins seeing visions of Reznov, first believing him to be a Russian defector in Hue City, Vietnam. The imaginiary Reznov accompanies Mason during his entire quest to eliminate Dragovich and his men, in Vietnam, and into Laos, where they eliminate Kravchenko.

After killing Kravchenko, "Reznov" accompanies Mason on an authorized assault of Rebirth Island, location of Steiner's Nova-6 research and development labratory. Upon locating Steiner, Mason apparently witnesses Reznov shoot Steiner to death. However, CIA operative Jason Hudson, who had arrived on Rebirth Island earlier, witnesses Mason shooting Steiner, proclaiming and believing he is Reznov.

During Mason's interrogation, Hudson and Grigori Weaver revealed that the real Viktor Reznov had been dead for five years, having been killed in the escape from Vorkuta. Having brainwashed Mason, Reznov was able to complete his personal objective of killing Dragovich, Kravchenko and Steiner; leading Mason to become obsessed with pursuing them in spite his other objectives, inadvertently continuing Reznov's posthumous legacy. The Reznov witnessed by Mason was a guardian angel-like hallucination, possibly developed by multiple personality disorder.

After Mason finally killed Nikita Dragovich, he heard the voice of Reznov commending him for doing what Reznov himself could not do and for completing his legacy.