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Hero Overview
Synopsis

I am a soldier. I've served my country for twenty years. But if I'm captured or killed, I know that nobody will come to rescue me. I won't even get a funeral. Because the nation I protect can never admit that I exist. So my death would go unremarked, my bones would go unclaimed. I don't know if that day will come... but I do know that it must not be today. I am invisible. I am relentless. I am Sam Fisher. I am... a Splinter Cell.
~ Sam Fisher in Chaos Theory.
My name is Sam Fisher. I used to be a hero — now I'm a wanted man. I used to hunt terrorists — now I am one. I used to take orders — now I execute them. I've become... a double agent.
~ Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Version 1).
Few presidents have ever granted the Fifth Freedom. It's the right to defend our laws, by breaking them. To safeguard secrets, by stealing them. To save lives, by taking them. To do whatever it takes to protect our country. The Fifth Freedom is mine alone. I am Sam Fisher. I am a Splinter Cell.
~ Fisher in the Splinter Cell: Blacklist trailer.

Samuel "Sam" Leo Fisher (born August 8, 1957) is the main protagonist from Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series. He also appears as a supporting character in the downloadable content of Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, and a playable character and Rainbow Six: Siege expansion, Operation Shadow Legacy.

He is a legendary military hero and a top-class Splinter Cell operative who is sent on dangerous missions to stop terrorist threats and is capable of detaching himself emotionally for each mission to complete them no matter the cost.

He is voiced by Michael Ironside in the series, as well as providing motion-capture in Wildlands and Breakpoint of the Ghost Recon series, while Eric Johnson voiced and motion-captured the character in Splinter Cell: Blacklist, as Jeff Teravainen voiced the character in Rainbow Six: Siege.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Samuel Leo Fisher was born on August 8th, 1957, in the Baltimore County of Towson, Maryland to unnamed parents, whom he lost when he was just a child. As a result, he was taken in by his grandmother, Sarah, who proceeded to enroll him into a military boarding school during the 1970s. After graduating from boarding school, Sam enrolled in the United States Naval Academy where he majored in Political Science and worked a brief stint as an operative for the Central Intelligence Agency. He was sent to Eastern Europe undercover as an diplomatic aide, where he began an affair with an NSA analyst named Regan Burns. Once she became pregnant with their child, the two had a quiet wedding in Germany, and Regan later gave birth to their daughter Sarah (named after her paternal grandmother).

Despite loving each other, Sam and Regan's relationship strained due to their profession, and burns later left the United States with Sarah. In 2000, Regan died of cancer, and Sam gained guardianship of Sarah and moved back to America to raise his child.

Military Career[]

Sometime between the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, Fisher joined the Navy SEALs, where he reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and served from the Persian Gulf to Kosovo. Fisher was renowned for his skills, focus and dedication to missions, willing to complete them no matter the cost. He participated in numerous operations, such as Operation Just Cause in Panama, and Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in the Middle East during the Gulf War in 1991. During the war, Sam became friends with Colonel Irving Lambert of Army Intelligence and served with fellow SEAL teammate Victor Anthony Christopher Coste, who later rescued him after he was captured by the Iraqi Republican Guard on a mission in Iraq. During his service, Fisher received numerous medals, such as the Silver Star and the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, and numerous others for his heroism. He also became acquainted with Douglas Wayne Shetland, who was serving in the Marine Corps as a member of the Division Recon in the 1990s.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell[]

Due to his skills and heroism during the Gulf War, Fisher was contacted by the NSA to travel to Virginia to undergo training in "The Farm". Around August or October, Fisher participated in the course and proved himself capable of being a member of the NSA's new initiative, Third Echelon, and its training project, Splinter Cell Program. Once he completed the course, Fisher was greeted by Lambert, who congratulated him and introduced Vernon Wilkes, Jr., and Anna "Grim" Grimsdottir as his allies. Sam was then assigned his first mission - rescue CIA agents Alice Madison and Robert Blaustein since Third Echelon believes they were compromised in the Republic of Georgia, a former Soviet country. In T'Bilisi, Fisher came into contact with Thomas Gurgenidze, and discovered that Madison and Blaustein were murdered by Vyacheslav Grinko. Fisher then learns that President Kombayn Nikoladze was invading Azerbaijan to perform an ethnic cleansing.

Once this information was learned by NATO, they intervene by sending soldiers into Azerbaijan, which results Nikoladze to go underground and declare war against America. Fisher is then tasked by Echelon to recover data from an exchange at the Caspian oil rig and finds files on a laptop that speaks of a device called the "Ark" and a CIA double agent. When American soldiers are captured in the republic, Fisher is tasked with saving them. During this time, Nikoladze dismantles the United States' electrical infrastructure and smuggles the "Ark" into the states. Once Kombayn's network is discovered to be connected to a Chinese embassy in Myanmar, Fisher is sent there and learns from an ambassador that the Georgian president is working with a rogue Chinese general named Kong Feirong. Sam captures and interrogates the general to confirm the ambassador's information and manages to learn that is true before Feirong dies from alcohol poisoning.

When tasked to eliminate the Georgian president, Fisher learns that the "Ark" is a nuclear bomb, that it was planted in Hope's Gate, Maryland to cause a crisis. Confronting Nikoladze, the president makes a bargain to give the key to him if he is given safe passage. Through Fisher reluctantly agrees with Georgia's new president Varlam Cristavi escorting him, Sam is held to be executed until he is saved by Lambert who's causing a blackout in the palace. Fisher then tracks down Nikoladze and kills him, and the National Guard is able to locate the "Ark" and prevent a terrorist attack. Once Nikoladze was dealt with, the U.S. government had Fisher eliminate Kombayn's ally Philip Masse in Russia. Sam then returned home to watch over his daughter but received a phone call from Lambert for another assignment.

Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow[]

When the terrorist organization Darah Dan Doa wants to remove America's presence in East Timor, their leader Suhadi Sadono captures the U.S. embassy while placing biological weapons in the United States. Fisher is sent to East Timor to gather information while the military re-takes the embassy, but the Indonesian government comes into conflict with America since they want to protect Sadono. Fisher learns of Sadono's scheme and infiltrates the Darah Dan Doa to learn where the biological weapons are located, as Sadono has made it so that if he is killed or arrested, the weapons will be released. He learns where they are located, and Shadownet is sent to neutralize the bombs as Fisher captures Sadono on orders of Third Echelon.

Despite succeeding in stopping Sadono, Third Echelon learns that Norman Soth has betrayed the United States by taking one of the weapons for his own purpose. Located at LAX airport in Los Angeles, Fisher travels and eliminates Soth, and has the police deactivate the bomb, thus ending the Indonesian conflict.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory[]

After Japan forms the Information Self-Defense Force (I-SDF), they spark war with China, North Korea and the United States when they launch a silkworm missile at a U.S. warship. Fearing the spark of World War III, Third Echelon tasks Fisher with investigating the incident. He learns that Shetland has been recruited by the I-SDF into attacking the United States, as Japan intends to militarize their country after losing World War II. Given the fifth freedom, Fisher is tasked by Third Echelon to stop the I-SDF, and eventually kills Shetland when his company Displace International orchestrates the attempt to start a war.

Afterward, the I-SDF's leader Toshiro Otomo attempts to return Japan to its imperial rule, and Echelon assigns Fisher to capture him by granting the splinter cell agent the fifth freedom. He manages to stop Otomo's plan, who then proceeds to perform seppuku on himself to avoid capture. However, Sam saves his life, allowing the admiral to stand trial for his crimes.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent[]

Following a mission in Iceland, Fisher learns from Lambert that his daughter was killed by a drunk driver. Sam grieved over the loss of his child to the point that he retired from the agency, but Irving assigns to infiltrate Emile Dufraisne's organization, the John Brown's Army. The terrorist group first asked Fisher with rescuing Jamie Washington from Ellsworth Federal Penitentiary and managed to do so once befriending the latter. Wanting to test his loyalty, Dufraisne assigns Fisher to eliminate Cole Yeager, a news helicopter pilot that Sam hijacked during the Ellsworth escape. While completing missions for the JBA, Sam's relationship with the NSA is affected, but he gains an ally with JBA weapons expert Enrica Villablanca.

While acting as a double agent for the JBA, he learned that they had a substance known as Red Mercury and intended to launch it in major cities across the United States. Third Echelon then orders Sam to obtain samples of the substance, and to eliminate rogue Pakistani scientist after retrieving his notes. Once the JBA construct their bomb, they send Sam to test the sample in Cozumel, and depending on the player, can activate the bomb, jam the signal, or frame Enrica. After assassinating/extracting undercover CIA agent Hisham Hamza, Fisher returns to the JBA's base, and is tasked by Emile to kill Lambert. The player has the choice to either shoot Lambert or Washington, but shooting Irving is canon.

After shooting Lambert, he orders Fisher to stop the JBA from using Red Mercury, and Sam manages to kill Emile and Carson Moss and stop the detonation of the bomb. As SWAT arrives, Sam evades capture as Lambert dies of his wounds.

Splinter Cell: Essentials[]

Still on the run, Fisher visits his daughter's grave before being captured by the government. The NSA believes that Sam assisted the JBA in committing terrorist attacks, they have agents question him of their suspicions. Sam tells the agents of his past by joining the splinter cell program and performing missions such as saving Shetland. During his interrogation, Grim contacts Sam and informs him that Third Echelon's director Lawrence Williams tampered with his files to make him appear as a rogue agent. Upon learning this, Fisher escapes and confronts Williams in his office, taking the evidence with him.

Splinter Cell: Digging in the Ashes[]

Sam remains on the run but does freelance work for Ruslan Lupul to steal some devices from Nexegen Technologies in exchange for information on Sarah's death. During the infiltration, Sam learns from Lupul that Nexegen is a front for the North Korean's research department before being betrayed by Ruslan. Sam manages to evade being killed and confronts Ruslan on the information, but he is then killed by a sniper, forcing Fisher to run. Afterward, Fisher gets into contact with an unnamed individual to give them files from Ruslan that he obtained from the mansion.

Splinter Cell: Conviction[]

While on the run, Sam travels to Malta to learn more about his daughter's death being a hit-and-run but is contacted by Grim that his daughter is alive. She then informs him that a gang has been hired to kill him and assists him in evading them at first until he can eliminate them himself. Interrogating the gang's leader Dmitri Gramkos, Sam learns that an arms dealer named Andriy Kobin was the man behind the hit-and-run on his daughter. Sam then infiltrate's Kobin's mansion and interrogates him for information, but he is captured by Splinter Cell operatives after Grim convinces him to allow them to take him. Awaking at the Black Arrow airfield in Virginia, Grim informs him that she is working for President Caldwell and needs his help in investigating Third Echelon's new head Tom Reed and a stolen EMP in exchange for his daughter's whereabouts.

Escaping the airfield, Sam meets with Coste at the Washington Monument, who provides information on Black Arrow's CEO Lucius Galliard has his men at White Box Technologies who are working on EMP technology. At the building, Sam discovers that Black Arrow operatives are eliminating scientists to commit a clean sweep. Gaining information on the EMP, Fisher leaves and is tasked by President Caldwell to eavesdrop on Reed and Galliard. Sam then interrogates Lucius and learns that Reed intends on using EMP on Washington and that Megiddo funds many operations across the world. Galliard is then assassinated by a hitman, which results in Sam giving chase until the hitman is killed by a bomb planted in his car.

Leaving the Lincoln Memorial, Sam travels to Third Echelon's headquarters where interrogates Kobin, learning that Reed is conspiring with Vice President Calvin Samson in killing President Caldwell. Reed intends on using the EMP devices to act as a distraction to allow him to eliminate Caldwell, which will give him control of the presidency with Samson as his puppet. He also learns from Kobin that Grim ordered him to fake Sarah's death, which leads to Sam to confront her in an empty office via teleconference. Grim reveals the truth that Lambert orchestrated this since he was looking for a mole in Third Echelon, as the mole was threatening Sarah's safety to have Sam do what they wanted. Though angered by the information, Sam agrees to head back to D.C. to stop Reed and his plans from coming to fruition.

At the reservoir in Michigan, Sam marks the location of one of the three EMPs for Coste to destroy, but two other EMPs activate and disable security across Washington. Fisher reunites with his daughter but has Coste take care of her while he travels to the White House to stop Reed. Sam and Grim then work together to stop Reed, who reveals that he was mole within Third Echelon. Sam then leaves the White House after Grim executes Reed, and rescues Coste from Black Arrow. After the end of the conspiracy, Fisher returned to civilian life with Sarah, but decided to become a consultant for Coste's private military corporation Paladin Nine Security. During his time with Paladin, Fisher became acquainted with tech specialist Charlie Cole.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist[]

While working for Paladin Nine Security in Guam, the Engineers attack the military base, which results in Coste being heavily injured from a grenade. Once the Blacklist reveal their intentions to cripple the Western interests, specifically the United States, Fisher is contacted by President Caldwell, who gives him the "Fifth Freedom" to lead Fourth Echelon with Grim, Charlie, and CIA agent Isaac Briggs. Going to Benghazi, Fisher is assigned to extract a man at a CIA safe house but finds that it has been compromised. Sam then continues on his mission and discovers that the man he has to rescue is Andriy Kobin, and despite his hatred of the man, takes him to the Paladin. Interrogating him, Kobin reveals that he has buyers of his weapons that are tied to a training camp in Iraq.

Fisher enters with Isaac providing cover fire and infiltrates a terrorist training camp where he confronts Jadid Haidos, a former MI6 agent who joined the Blacklist. After Haidos is eliminated by Fisher or kills himself, Sam enters the next room and discovers a message by the Blacklist's leader who ran the Engineers, former MI6 agent Majid Harata Sadiq. Returning to the Paladin, Cole provides information of the Engineers possibly starting their attack in Chicago. Sam agrees to go there and discovers that the terrorist organization is attempting to poison the water supply, but Fisher is able to prevent it. Fisher is then sent to Paraguay to locate Reza Nouri, a former associate of Kobin who provides arms to the Blacklist. Sam infiltrated his estate and safe room and captured him but decided to let him go to act as an asset but reveals his true intention by bugging his phone.

After getting information from Nouri, Fisher and Briggs head to London to find the Engineers are moving nerve gas at an abandoned mill. Fisher manages to place a tracker on one of them, but is infected and captured by Sadiq, who interrogates him on information about who he is. Briggs arrives and saves Fisher but allows Sadiq to escape so he can Sam can be extracted. Sam is angered since Briggs disobeyed his order and takes him off duty. Around this time, it's revealed that the Engineers have incriminated Iran in causing the attacks in order to cause tension between the country and America. To prevent this, Fourth Echelon sends Fisher to Iran to infiltrate the embassy, where he uses General Ali Rohani to do so. Fisher then escapes with the data by having Briggs drive him out and Grim using a drone to get them out.

The data proves that Iran was not behind the attacks, and Fisher comes to his senses after having a conversation with Grim on leading Fourth Echelon. Fisher and Briggs are then sent to Philadelphia to rescue hostages and prevent a bomb on the subway terminals, but Fisher is arrested by a local cop when hunting down a Blacklist member. Preparing to stop the next Blacklist attack, Fourth Echelon is stopped when the Engineers plant a virus on the Paladin. After having Kobin fly the plane, Fisher and the team learn that the Engineers have successfully attacked a natural gas facility in Louisiana. Despite this, Fisher is able to stop it by having Charlie activate the defenses again and interrogate a Blacklist member on Sadiq's next target. The target revealed that Majid was planning to attack Site F's bunker, as he used the attacks to gather government files which would be transferred to the bunker.

At Site F, Fisher disguises himself as a hostage while Briggs infiltrates the bunker and kills the secretary of defense before he could give information to Sadiq. Fisher then defeats Sadiq in combat and decides to keep him alive to get information on all his operations with the Blacklist while he is announced dead to the public. Sam then reunites with a recovered Coste, who prepares to interrogate Sadiq for information.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands[]

In 2019, Fisher is assigned to recover sensitive information from a CIA agent that has gone rogue but has Grim contact Ghost Recon to assist him in his mission. Working with Nomad and his teammates on retrieving the information, Fisher commends their skills before having a coffee break with Karen Bowman and leaving Bolivia on a recovery mission code-named "Empty Quiver", a name designated to recover stolen nuclear devices from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Rainbow Six: Siege[]

Fisher appears as in Rainbow Six: Siege expansion "Operation Shadow Legacy", where he appears as an attacking operator and is given the code-name "Zero" after joining Team Rainbow in 2020.

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint[]

In 2025, Fisher is assigned to capture a high-valued target named "The Strategist" on Aurora, where he reunites with a recently promoted Nomad and his new team.

Abilities[]

I've been a ghost my whole life. Time to see if a ghost can really disappear.
~ Sam Fisher.

Due to his extensive military and covert intelligence training, Sam Fisher is one of the best covert operatives in the world. These are the known abilities and skills that Fisher uses throughout his life-long career in the Navy SEALs, CIA, Third Echelon, Paladin Nine Security, Team Rainbow and finally Fourth Echelon.

  • High Intelligence: Having graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Political Science and served in the SEALs, CIA, Third Echelon, Paladin Nine Security, Team Rainbow and Fourth Echelon, Sam is highly intelligent, utilizing his techniques and resourcefulness for any given situation.
  • Intimidation: Despite not being known in the world unless being part of special forces units, Fisher is a dreaded operative who is able to detach himself emotionally from his line of work. His intimidating personality allows him to intimidate anyone he comes across, which allows him to get information from his enemies.
  • Multilingualism: He can speak his native language English but can speak numerous other languages.
  • Extensive Military Training: A man renowned for his skills and abilities, Fisher received extensive training when he joined the SEALs during the 1990s and later the CIA, then the NSA black ops unit called Third Echelon. His training was further improved due to his experience during the Gulf War, which gave him abilities and techniques that got him recruited into Third Echelon.
  • Expert Interrogator: Fisher is an expert in interrogating techniques, utilizing his environment when confronting his targets.
  • Peak Human Condition: Due to his extensive military training, Fisher is on the peak physical condition, having fast reaction time, peak strength, speed and endurance.
  • Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: He is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant as a result of his training in the SEALs, and primarily utilizes Krav Maga when performing close-quarters combat. His fighting skills allow him to disarm his opponent swiftly, such as Dmitri Gramkos, Andriy Kobin and a Black Arrow field commander.
  • Expert Marksman: Due to his military training, Fisher is an extremely skilled marksman, capable of hitting his targets from great distances. Having no equal, Fisher is capable of marking and executing his targets, and can hit them without missing a shot.
  • Weapon Proficiency: Fisher is capable of using any firearm he comes across and being ambidextrous allows him to use any weapon with both of his hands. However, he mainly uses sidearms since he preferred to use stealth when infiltrating areas.
  • Knife Mastery: Sam is skilled in using combat knives, as he utilizes a Karambit during the Blacklist attacks and uses a knife to interrogate his enemies while also using them to break locks at times.
  • Stealth Mastery: Due to his extensive training and his line of work, Fisher prefers to remain in the shadows to sneak on his targets or get through an area undetected. Noted to be more of a threat in dark environments, Fisher relied on several improvised techniques and his athletic abilities to remain stealthy. He also utilized stealth to move around in the dark, as he could better see due to being on night operations in the past.
  • Master Acrobat: Despite being 68 years old, Fisher is flexible, athletic and agile, capable of free running and climbing through areas. He was capable of pulling off tough maneuver for great periods of time, such as a split jump or holding onto pipes and rails upside down.
  • Gadget User: Having the resources from Third and Fourth Echelon, Fisher has numerous gadgets he utilizes during any mission such as sticky cameras, sticky shockers, and the OCP for disabling lights temporarily.
  • Resourcefulness: Even without Third Echelon's connections or resources, Fisher relied mostly on his own training when unraveling on the conspiracy between Third Echelon, Black Arrow and Megiddo.

Quotes[]

You have the right to freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. From want. From fear. These rights would not exist without a fifth. The right to protect all other freedoms, by whatever means necessary. It's my freedom. It's my duty. It is my war.
~ Sam Fisher.
I used to want them to forget about me - it made sense at the time. I'd lost my daughter, I'd shot my best friend, I'd seen the agency I gave my life to turn around and throw me to the dogs. So I made a deal: I wouldn't bother them and they wouldn't bother me, and we'd both let sleeping dogs lie. It was good enough for a while, when all I wanted to do was be someone else and forget everything I'd done. But that never lasts... You always come back to who you are, you always come back to what's important. I started asking questions, I started finding answers. When those answers took me back home, that's where I went. The only thing worth hunting is the truth, no matter where it's hiding. Maybe they did forget about me, maybe they didn't. They're sure as hell gonna remember me now.
~ Fisher in the Splinter Cell: Conviction trailer.
I have a message for those who stand in my way... Pray.
~ Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell: Conviction trailer.
Looking for me, asshole?
~ Fisher to Gramkos.
Do not lie to me about this or I'll kill you. Do you understand? I. Will. Kill. You.
~ Fisher to Grim when she reveals that Sarah is alive.
Haven't lost the touch.
~ Fisher after clearing an area in Conviction.
Once an agent...
~ Fisher after clearing an area in Conviction.
You really need to work on that bullet proof thing.
~ Fisher to Vice President Samson.
Trust? Funny you should say that. Goodbye, Grim.
~ Fisher to Grim, leaving the White House.
A guy once said, 'The price of success is hard work and dedication.'
~ Fisher in Ghost Recon: Wildlands.
Then it's only me...
~ Sam after learning that he's the only one left of the covert operatives.
You should know better than to write me off. Consider this a teaching moment.
~ Fisher in Rainbow Six: Siege.
Prepare, execute, vanish.
~ Fisher in Rainbow Six: Siege.


Trivia[]

  • In Splinter Cell: Fallout, it is said that Sam and Lambert served together in the U.S. Special Forces (Green Berets) and later in Delta Force. This doesn't make sense considering that there is no mention nor visual evidence that they were both actually part of the unit. It is most likely that Sam (a Navy SEAL) and Lambert were part of JSOC.
  • In the cutscene for the "Lighthouse" mission in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, while aboard the USS Walsh, Arthur Partridge asks Sam Fisher "when was the last time he saw him" to which Sam replies by saying "I'm afraid I have no recollection of that, Senator," which is a reference to a line said in Clear and Present Danger.
  • In the book Splinter Cell Blacklist Aftermath, that takes place after the events from the game, Sam Fisher uses a SIG P226 Mk.25 (the pistol used by Navy SEALs) in addition to his FN Five-seveN.
  • In the book Splinter Cell (chap. 5 p. 47), Sam Fisher owns a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4 with 265 hp and the V8 engine.
  • As of 2019, Fisher is around 59–62 years old around the LA Cruz mission, and as of 2025 for Operation Greenstone, he is 68 years old.
  • The Age ranked the character as the seventh greatest Xbox character of all time.
  • The character was voted twelfth by Game Informer's of the top character of the 2000s decade.
  • Listed as the twenty-fourth most popular video game character in the 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition.
  • Ranked 18 by Complex as the greatest soldiers in video games in 2013.
  • GamesRadar ranked him as the 37th "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in games in 2012.

External Link[]

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