Strelok

Strelok
Rank	Rookie - Expert Player Controlled
Affiliation	Loners
Equipment	Leather Jacket Stalker Suit SEVA Suit AKS-74U
Rank	Veteran
Affiliation	Loners
Equipment	Stalker Suit AKS-74U Sig Sauer 550
Rank	Expert
Affiliation	Loners
Equipment	AKS-74U SEVA Suit

I don't know whether I was right or wrong, I guess I'll never know... But I made it. And I guess I should be thankful for that.
― Strelok

Strelok, the "Marked One", (Mеченый-Стрелок) is the protagonist and player character of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The character also appeared in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Etymology

Mеченый (The Marked One), as it is written in Russian, roughly translated means "The Marked One". Giving a generally broad term rather than a name for the player character is a fairly common occurence in video games because it allows the actual player to substitute the title (in this case Marked One) with any name that they wish.

Стрелок (Strelok) in Russian literally translates to "Shooter" or "Gunslinger".

Story

Clear Sky

The story of Strelok begins in Clear Sky, with his first departure into the Zone with his group members, Ghost, Fang, Doctor and Guide. He is chased by Scar in an attempt to prevent him from reaching the center of the Zone. At the Chernobyl NPP, Scar disables Strelok's psychic field nullifier using the electromagnetic quality of the rounds fired from Scar's Gauss Rifle. As Strelok's anti-psy device goes offline, an enormous emission occurs. Meanwhile, members of his group - particularly Ghost and Doctor - are busy attempting to decrypt the lock on a peculiar door they find hidden deep inside the power plant that is heavily guarded by the members of the Monolith faction. The group manages to escape, leaving Strelok behind, but Fang and Ghost later die. Doctor retreats to Red Forest, and Guide bides his time pretending to be a Rookie near the Cordon. It is revealed in the ending of Clear Sky that Strelok already has the mark S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on his arm. It is viewed as Strelok, along with other Stalkers that took part in the Chernobyl NPP offensive, as being brainwashed by the Monolith.

The Mark S.T.A.L.K.E.R on Strelok's arm

Shadow of Chernobyl

Strelok is captured by the C-Consciousness, and reprogrammed with a singular mission - to kill himself. The C-Consciousness made a mistake; it was attempting to assassinate a Stalker that was beginning to learn too much, unaware that it had just captured the very Stalker it wanted dead, due to Strelok's emission induced amnesia. Brainwashed, and having no recollection of the Zone (and yet with an affinity for finding and avoiding anomalies) he quickly begins to piece together his past. Every time he has to find a new contact, it takes him deeper, back into the heart of the Zone.

He finally finds Ghost's corpse in X16, When Strelok manages to escape Lab X16 with the documents from Ghost, he learns of Guide, a member of his group. Upon finding Guide, Guide tells him about Doc, who was in the group's hideout in the Agroprom underground. After making his way there, Strelok tripped an explosive tripmine which knocks him unconscious. When he awakes he finds Doctor, another member of his group, who tells him that the Monolith is actually just a lie - it was made in a laboratory inside the Sarcophagus - and of a decoder that Fang assembled, hidden in an apartment in Pripyat.

Now, with Strelok remembering the most important information, he proceeds north to the Brain Scorcher, where he manages to overcome numerous Monolith troops to deactivate the Brain Scorcher and then makes his way to Pripyat, where he finds Fang's grave and the decoder that Fang hid in an abandonded apartment complex.

With the aid of a few expert Stalkers, Strelok fights his way to the Chernobyl NPP interior, fortified by fanatical and dedicated veteran and elite Monolith troops; not to mention Spetsnaz agents accompanied by APCs and Hind Gunships.

Against all odds, Strelok fights through the hordes of Monolith soldiers, with the Military nipping at his heels, and manages to enter Reactor #4. Whilst in the Sarcophagus, Strelok faces off with Monolith's most elite troops, and with considerable effort, manages to neutralize them. He finds a strange, code-locked door that he is able to open with Fang's special Decoder. After defeating more of Monolith's elite agents, he destroys the generators which powered the Monolith, thereby destroying it. A hologram appears in place of the destroyed Monolith, presumably a worker of the C-Consciousness experiment. The hologram answers some of Strelok's questions, such as the purpose of the Death trucks and C-Consciousness' ulterior motive. The hologram then prompts Strelok to either join them or be killed. Strelok chooses the latter and is forced to fight his way through still more elite Monolith troopers. Using his AKSU-74, Strelok shoots the stasis pods that support the C-Consciousness subjects and manages to escape from a seemingly convenient portal that appeared.

Call of Pripyat

Strelok is curiously absent through most of the early going of the game. However, stashes belonging to him can be found via a UAV module in the Yanov area. He apparently abandoned the SG-550 Arrow he used in Clear Sky, leaving it for Fang, but his comrade obviously never recovered it. The player can recover the rifle and Strelok's notes - as well as the last notes Ghost and Fang left him prior to their fateful trip.

He finally appears in Pripyat as a fourth, massive emission strikes. While he does not state to the player or the Major what he has done, he wonders aloud if he made the right choice. The player can turn the notes over to him, which wins the player his gratitude - it also extends his durability and efficiency in the game's finale. After the emission hits, he explains to the Major what needs to be done, and an evacuation is called.

Strelok aids the Military during their escape of Pripyat, cutting through the gathered horde of zombies, taking the group to the Prometheus Cinema where rescue awaits. The game has two ending 'portions' dedicated to him - one where Strelok survives the evacuation, and joins a team dedicated to researching the Zone as an 'advisor', and another where he dies, taking the secrets of the Zone with him.

Gallery

Strelok "Marked One"

Strelok in the Heart of the Zone

Notes

• In his In-game Avatar in Shadow of Chernobyl, he wears a Stalker Suit, which was his signature suit.

• He is undoubtedly the most influential character in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series as he set into motion the events that shaped the entire S.T.A.L.K.E.R. storyline.

• He uses an AKS-74U as his signature weapon, and in the entire S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series he is the only one to fire his gun in a cut scene. However in Clear Sky he makes use of a SIG SG-550 during the final gunfight in the Chernobyl NPP area. In Call of Pripyat, his custom SIG SG-550 Arrow can be recovered from a cache.

• Strelok's suit changes during his ending in Shadow of Chernobyl. It uses the kevlar vest that uses the design of the SEVA Suit as well as the suit itself but does not incorporate the basic HAZMAT helmet utilized by SEVA Suit. He then uses a SEVA Suit during Call of Pripyat although again, does not make use of the helmet.

• Strelok is the only surviving Stalker inducted into the ranks of the Monolith known to be marked with the C-Consciousness acronym "S.T.A.L.K.E.R."

• Strelok probably has a military background due to his uncanny affinity with every firearm in the Zone.

• Strelok is the only character who assumes the roles of Protagonist, Antagonist and NPC in the entire S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series

• He is one of the few characters to appear in all 3 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.

• Despite his appearance in all three S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, the only game the player can see his real in-game face is in Call of Pripyat (since in Shadow of Chernobyl and Clear sky, his In-game face is different from what it looks like in the cut scene).

• You can find a crashed death truck in the Cordon, near the entrance to the Garbage. It is highly irradiated and there is a backpack, which if you find the stash info, has a few Antiradiation Drugs. However, this does not appear to be the truck the Marked One was in as the truck landed on its wheels (or axles since the wheels were blown off), whereas the crashed truck at the Cordon was on its side. Also, the bodies it was carrying were scattered around the truck while the truck at the Cordon had everyone still in the back.

• There is a unique SIG SG-550 in Call of Pripyat that is in top condition, and has an 'S' engraved in the stock along with 16 crosses. It is assumed it belonged to Strelok. The fact that the weapon is in a stash of his group, has an 'S' engraved on it, and that he meantions leaving a weapon for his group in his stash notes, lends credence to this.
• The 16 crosses mentioned on Strelok's custom SIG SG-550 Arrow are probably marks left by Strelok indicating that he has killed 16 times of the same type of enemy (Bloodsuckers?) or has collected 16 different types of artifacts throughout his life in the zone. If he had only killed sixteen other Stalkers, it would make it vaguely ironic that he would go on to kill dozens of Monolith Stalkers in the events of Shadow of Chernobyl.