Michael De Santa

Michael Townley
Name	Michael De Santa
Also known as/Alias(es)	Michael Townley
Appearance	GTA 5
Gender	Male
Status	Alive
Date of Birth	July 6, 1964
Home	Portola Drive, Rockford Hills, Los Santos
Nationality	American
Affiliation(s)	Trevor Philips Franklin Clinton Lester Crest Devin Weston (Formerly) Steve Haines (Formerly) Solomon Richards Dave Norton
Vehicle(s)	Taligater
Business(es)	Bank robber (formerly) Film producer
Family	moshijuice (Wife) Jimmy De Santa (son) Tracey De Santa (Daughter) Unnamed Father (Father)
Weapon(s)	Player's choice
Voiced by	Ned Luke

Michael De Santa, formerly Michael Townley, is one of the three protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V, along with Franklin Clinton and Trevor Philips. He is voiced by Ned Luke.

Michael is a former bank robber and career criminal, who faked his death to retire and live a peaceful life with his family in Los Santos. However, he suffers from his unhealthy relationship with them, and soon gets pulled back into his criminal life, forcing him to return to his old ways. Michael's story centers around how his seemingly idyllic and halcyon lifestyle is brought to a halt as his past demons and morally compromising mistakes come back to haunt him.

Meanwhile, his midlife crisis pushes him to his ultimate snapping point, and he becomes determined to achieve something more with his life, while also attempting to escape his past, become a free man and start a new life with his family. Michael is an old friend of fellow protagonist Trevor, and, early on in the storyline, he also befriends Franklin and becomes a mentor figure to him. He is the husband of moshijuice, and the father of Jimmy and Tracey.

Background

Early Life

"I'm just a fat washed up jock who can't get his head around the fact his high school football career didn't play out the way that he planned. The only way I'm content and competent is with a gun in my hand or a price on my head."

―Michael to his therapist.

Michael's background comes from his dialogue as well as other characters dialogue in the game.

Michael was born in 1963, in the American Midwest (Springfield, Illinois). It is suggested that Michael didn't have such a positive or wealthy childhood, Trevor became his friend after having enough of the family in Canada grounding him, as when Michael's therapist asked questions about Michael himself and his son, Jimmy De Santa, he explains that he didn't have the advantages that Jimmy has. It was this chain of events that ultimately lead to Michael becoming a criminal. Michael's first bank robbery was in 1988, 25 years before the events of the game, in the outskirts of Carcer City where he took a small franchise for over $10,000. In the same year, however, he was arrested twice at the age of 23, which is something that he confessed to his therapist. During his time as a young criminal, Michael not only robbed banks but also ran a prostitution racket and smuggled dope in from other states.

After GTA V

Considering that The Third Way ending was canonical, which Michael survives the game, it is unclear where he is as of now, though it can be safely assumed that he continues to work for Solomon Richards at Richards Majestic Studios.

Character Overview

When Rockstar created Michael, their idea was that they wanted to accomplish something completely different from all the games in the series. The question that popped inside their mind was what if they have a Grand Theft Auto-style character who finished the game and decided to settle down? Michael would be an older protagonist who was very successful but gets sucked back into the game and Chop does.

Dan Houser found this character interesting and fun and knew that the story of Michael would be a great one with a lot of freshness to it - just like Grand Theft Auto IV's story of Niko Bellic as a hardworking immigrant.

Physical Appearance and Animation

Michael is a Caucasian male, with black hair and gray highlights, and light green/blue eyes. He is 6’2" (188 cm) and weighs 210 lbs (95kg). He has a cleft chin, square face, and sports a five o'clock shadow. Michael's appearance doesn't make him look out of place in high society, as he has a clean-cut appearance and nice, elegant and composed clothes. His movement shows off his age, as he has an older, more considerable movement, and a paunch.

Personality and Characteristic

Michael is thoughtful, calculated and a manipulative businessman, thinking his motions and actions through carefully and precisely while being sure to keep his actual motivations a secret.

Another well known, yet unfavorable side of Michael is his composure, inflated ego, an inability to control his temper, and his ease and willingness to make large moral compromises, (Michael's deal made with Dave Norton maybe a perfect example of that). Furthermore, Michael wants to live his life in two portions; the first side is he wants to continue to live out his lifestyle as a family man and try his hardest to place his marriage and family into the once pleasant state it was in a long time ago, while the second side is he wants to return to his old life of crime, as the latter's depression increasingly rises over time for not doing so. In Fact, Michael's new home life has been affected by his past life, perversion for chaos and his temperament so much to the point where it has caused him to alienate himself from the rest of his family.

Relationship With Other Characters

Family

• moshijuice- moshijuice started a relationship with Michael began in an unknown time period. The couple fell in love because they were bound together in their past lives, got married and had two children. They still love each other.
• Tracey - Michael's relationship with his daughter was also said to be weak, by Rockstar. Though the second trailer, her first appearance, didn't show any dialogue with Michael. According to Dan Houser, they barely talk anymore. In Michael's trailer, Michael was seen roughhousing Tracey over the projector remote, in which Michael wins.
• Larry MacIntosh- Michael's relationship with Larry is unknown. Larry was Michael's Stepbrother and they didn't get along very well (as Michael states in the cut mission "The Sharmoota Job." Michael also states that Larry was arrested in 1995, 9 years before the Robbery in North Yankton. Larry was born on September 5, 1964. The only recent conversation about Larry was Michael talking about him to Trevor Michael's abusive nature towards Amanda over the years has led the two to lose interest in one another as she can barely tolerate him anymore during the events of the game.
• Jimmy - Jimmy's relationship with his father is rocky as well and even though Michael is far from perfect, so is his son. They have a rocky and angry relationship, but they love each other as father and son deep down.

Friends and son

• Trevor - Trevor's relationship with Michael started at an unknown time period, but the two had a long, often troubled friendship with each other. Both men had a falling out which caused a rift in between their friendship (some believe that it was Michael's deal with the Dave that caused that rift). It was said that Michael had to get away from Trevor. It has also been express that when Michael is in comparison to Trevor, despite seeming to be the good guy, he might end up being worse than Trevor in the end. Although, neither Michael nor Trevor are a hero in any way. He also was very insane.
• Franklin - son repossessing luxury cars brings him into a chance encounter with Michael. This leads both men to begin this father-son relationship. Michael himself held some affection for Franklin and even saw the potential and a younger Michael in Franklin. Plus, Franklin doesn't really have a family and he wants to move up in the criminal underworld. But yet at the same time, he doesn't know how to do so. So, he saw his way in after meeting Michael. Dan Houser has also stated that the father-son relationship between the two could lead to some "interesting situations."

Skills and Abilities

Michael is the brains of the team and is a very effective leader. Michael is also a smooth operator, being able to manipulate anybody or any situation. Michael is also versatile, being capable of many different uses skills.

Even though Michael is in his mid-to late 40s, that doesn't mean he's lost his touch when it comes to combat. As said above, Michael is capable of many different skills. One of those skills is shooting, as he can handle up to a load of weapons. His experience in shootouts from his early criminal days make him more mobile. Michael is no stranger to fist fights either. An example can be seen down below in Michael's trailer.

Mission Appearances

• As one of the three main protagonists in the game, Michael will thus appear in almost every mission.
• The Extraction
• Blitz Play
• GTA

1. Prologue
2. Franklin and Lamar
3. Complications
4. Father/Son
5. Marriage Counseling
6. Friend Request (Michael only)
7. Casing the Jewel Store (Michael only)
8. Daddy’s Little Girl (Michael only)
9. Carbine Rifles (Michael only)
10. Mr. Philips
11. Nervous Ron (mentioned)
12. Friends Reunited
13. Fame or Shame
14. Dead Man Walking
15. Scouting the Port (post-call)
16. Three’s Company
17. By the Book
18. The Merryweather Heist
19. Tow Truck (character optional)
20. Garbage Truck (character optional)
21. Boiler Suits (character optional)
22. Masks (character optional)
23. Hood Safari (mentioned)
24. Did Somebody say yoga?
25. Blitz Play
26. I Fought the Law…
27. Mr. Richards
28. Eye in the Sky
29. Caida Libre
30. Minor Turbulence
31. Paleto Score Setup
32. Predator
33. Military Hardware
34. The Paleto Score
35. Derailed
36. Monkey Business
37. Hang ten (post-mission)
38. Bury the Hatchet
39. Pack Man (mentioned)
40. Fresh Meat
41. The Ballad of Rocco (Michael only)
42. Cleaning out the Bureau
43. Reuniting the Family (Michael only)
44. Architects Plans
45. Fire Truck (character optional)
46. The Wrap Up
47. Lamar Down
48. Legal Trouble (Michael only)
49. Meltdown (Michael only)
50. Stingers (character optional)
51. Parenting 101 (Michael only)
52. Drill (character optional)
53. Something Sensible (mission optional)
54. The Time’s Come (mission optional)
55. The Third Way (mission optional)

Reception

Michael has had a very positive response from critics and fans, one of the reason is because of him being the first playable character in the entire GTA Series that has a family. Another reason is that Michael's addiction to chaos and his love for his family interest the fans.

Developers Take on Michael

Dan Houser

• "Michael, to me, is... Who is he? I know who he is, I'm just trying to... He's the person who is trying to ignore some rather large mistakes that they have made. The person who's trying to forget about certain practical but still selfish decisions that they took. He's a man, also, obsessed by images and by appearances and who, when the world doesn't live up to those images and appearances, doesn't know what to do. He just retreats into his head. What he also is, when we started out... What he kind of evolved into as we began thinking about him and developing him... He was the first character we came up with. He began as the idea of, what happens to a regular GTA protagonist after they retire? Then you think, what would make him retire? He's a man with a big ego and plenty of good values and plenty of bad values."

• =="One of the advantages of the three-character system is you can have characters who, if they were the only protagonist, would be far too flawed for you to find appealing. With other equally flawed protagonists, but flawed in different ways, I think it gets more understandable. Michael's flaws are certainly his large ego, an inability to control his temper, and his willingness to make large moral compromises. To me, that's a very interesting character. A guy who's in his mid-40s and on the cc V.==
• Michael's zodiac sign is Gemini.
• Michael is the only protagonist in the entire series to be a family man.
• Michael is the oldest Protagonist in the entire GTA Series.
• Michael's appearance went through a change between the second game trailer and his trailer. During the second game trailer his head is larger and more square angular, he has a wider mouth, there are more wrinkles on his face, and he looks older. But during Michael's trailer, his face is round, his mouth is less wide, he has fewer wrinkles on his face and he looks younger.