Michael De Santa

"I want to be a good dad, love my family and live the dream. But at the same time, I really want the other stuff too."

- Michael talking to his therapist

Michael De Santa, formerly Michael Townley, is one of the three main protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V.

Background
"You see it in the movies. I wanted to retire. From what I was doing, you know? From that, that... line of work. Be a good guy for once, a family man. So, I bought a big house. Came here, put my feet up, and thought I'd be a dad like all the other dads. My kids, would be like the kids on TV. We could play ball and sit in the sun. But well, you know how it is."

- Michael during Trailer #1

Michael's background is unknown at the moment, but it has been said that he is from somewhere in the East Coast and was a possible associate of the mob. some point in his young life he became a bank robber, and through the years he became highly successful at his  job. Whilst young Michael somehow ran into an ex-military pilot named Trevor Philips, who also had a flare for criminal acts and the two became close friends, performing several major heists in the past.

One day however, Michael, Trevor, and a fellow robber did a job that led to disastrous results. The crew was ambushed by over a dozen police officers ready to arrest or kill them. Michael drove the crew to where he claimed an escape chopper was to be, but they found the location to be another ambush spot. The other bank robber was killed and Michael was wounded, forcing Trevor to escape. In reality, Michael had made a deal with an agent in the FIB, which resulted in Michael Townley to be pronounced dead and for Michael to be redubbed "Michael De Santa". Michael later met Amanda, who he married and had two children with;  Jimmy and  Tracey.

Events of GTA V
Years later after the events of his false death, Michael's domestic life is spiraling out of his control. Amanda no longer loves him and his children have little to no respect towards him. With all of this, Michael goes through a mid-life crisis.

Jimmy later buys a SUV from Simeon Yetarian, an Arab car salesman who sells the car to him with unaffordable prices. This led to Yetarian's repo man, Franklin Clinton, to "repossess" the SUV from the De Santa household. However, Michael spotted Franklin sneaking in and hid in the backseat of the car as Franklin steals it. Michael reveals himself and holds Franklin at gunpoint, ordering him to go to Yetarian's shop and drive the SUV through the store's window. Afterwards, Michael pays Franklin to leave and beats Yetarian into submission, threatening more violence if he pulls another of his sale tactics on him or his family again.

At home, Michael attempts to relax by his pool, only to be interrupted by Franklin, who takes up his offering of a drink earlier. Suprised that Franklin actually took it to heart, Michael decides to sincerely take him out drinking. Unfortunately, Jimmy calls that instant and reveals he has tried to sell Michael's boat, ending with the "buyers" highjacking the yacht themselves. Enraged, Michael and Franklin drives after the boat, saving Jimmy but was unable to rescue the yacht. Michael becomes angry at Jimmy but becomes fond with Franklin, who he tells to visit him anytime and maybe be friends with Jimmy.

After the fiasco with the boat, Michael discovers Amanda sleeping with her tennis coach, leading him and a recently arrived Franklin to give chase. Furious, Michael chases the coach to an exotic house on the side of the Vinewood Hills. Michael then orders Franklin to hook their truck's winch onto the supports of the house and pulls them loose, causing the house to collapse, much to Franklin's shock and Michael's joy. However, it turns out that the house did not belong to the coach, but the girlfriend of a powerful Mexican gang leader named Martin Madrazo, who sends men after Michael and Franklin. The two manages to fend them off, but Madrazo arrives at the De Santa residence and demands that Michael pays for the damages by paying him about two million dollars, money that Michael does not have.

With no other choice, Michael decides to return to bank robbing and contacts his old partner Lester Crest. Crest agrees to help Michael get the money if the latter agrees to sabotage founder of LifeInvader Jay Norris' phone. Michael does so and causes Norris' death when he calls the entrepeneur's sabotaged phone, which exploded next to his head.

After collecting information about a jewelry store and its gems, Michael and Lester set up a heist, with Michael insisting that Franklin be a part.

Personality
Michael's good side is that he is thoughtful and calculated and likely to keep his motives hidden. But, he also has a composed side as well, which is his large ego, an inability to control his temper, his willingness to make large moral compromises and his hypocrisy. He wants to compartmentalize and be a good guy some of the time. But yet, Michael also wants to return to his old life that place him in this predicament. Another bad thing about Michael is that he hasn't been a good husband or father. Michael's aggressiveness towards his family and his addiction to chaos makes him alienate them. But yet, he loves and cares for his family. Dan Houser has also stated that despite seeming to be the good guy (at least compared to Trevor), he might end up being worse than Trevor in the end.

Relationships With Other Characters

 * Trevor Philips - Trevor's relationship with Michael started at an unknown time period, but the two had a long and often troubled friendship with one another. But both men had a falling out which caused a rift in between their friendship (some believe that it was Michael's deal with the FIB that caused that rift). Since that brief rift, it caused both men to stay friends but with an even more troubled relationship with one another. When the two old buddies see each other, they often bicker a lot.


 * Franklin Clinton - After meeting one another, Franklin and Michael began this father-son relationship with Michael holding some affection for Franklin, and saw potential and a younger Michael in Franklin, and Franklin doesn't really have a family but wants to move up in the criminal underworld but at the same time, 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."


 * Amanda De Santa  - Amanda's relationship with Michael also started in an unknown time. The two fell in love with one another, got married and had two children. During the events of the game, she can barely tolerate him anymore (mainly because Dan Houser also confirmed that Michael has been awful to her in the past few years). One of the reasons she fell in love with Michael is because she is bound to him by their past lives, but now both of them can't stand each other anymore (another statement by Dan Houser).


 * Jimmy De Santa - Jimmy's relationship with his father is rocky as well and even though Michael is far from perfect, so is his son. They've both got a confused and awful relationship with each other. Michael does try to improve their relationship by spending time with his son, but all to no avail.


 * 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.

Appearance
Michael has a nice clean-cut appearance, along with nice clothes, usually seen in screenshots and artworks with a gray, black or dark blue dress suit with a light green or white dress shirt underneath. In the "Michael, Franklin and Trevor" artwork he is seen dressed with a creamy-yellow collared shirt with blue dress pants. During the opening scene in the second trailer, Michael walks outside to his pool with nothing on but sandals, swimming trunks and a pair of glasses, showing us that he is a small portion over weight but still in good shape.

Skills and Abilities
Like Franklin and Trevor, Michael has a special ability to slow down time while shooting (Bullet Time).

Development
As Rockstar Games made their way into the character development stages of Grand Theft Auto V, Michael was the first protagonist they came up with.

Reception
Michael has had a very positive responses 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.

Dan Houser's Description of Michael
"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."

"A guy who's in his mid-40s and on the cusp of middle age who doesn't know what to do, but made a bunch of money and does not know what to do with it. He's theoretically won, but the spoils of victory aren't necessarily what he imagined. For us that's a very interesting character, unlike what we've done in the past or what we've seen in much entertainment in general, let alone any video games. That was interesting."

Trivia

 * Michael was the first protagonist that came to Rockstar's mind when they began the development of Grand Theft Auto V.
 * Michael is the only protagonist in the entire series to be a family man.
 * As seen in Trailer one and two, Michael is seen with green eyes and an older look. In the Michael and Gameplay trailer, Michael has brown eyes and a younger look. This includes a Beta version of this protagonist.
 * Being in his mid 40s, he is the oldest protagonist in the GTA series.
 * The song that plays in the Michael trailer is "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen.
 * Michael's special ability might be a reference to Max Payne, another Rockstar-owned franchise, where the title character possess an ability called "Bullet-time", that allow him to slow down time. Elements for Michael's ability might also be taken from Rockstar's Red Dead games, which feature a similar ability called "Dead-eye".
 * The quote that Michael uses in Prologue and the Jewel Store Heist, "You forget a thousand things everyday, make sure this is one of them.", is from the Solomon Richards movie Author's Penny Sanatorium, although slightly modified. The original line is "We forget a thousand things everyday, can't we just make this one of them?"

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