Steve Haines

"I guess you getting involved with a clapped out, old agent who's been living off his past glories was your first mistake. You're my boy now, amigo. My career depends on this, and that's very important to me. So seeing as we're all boys now, that makes it important to you."

- Steve Haines

Steven "Steve" Haines is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series, appearing as a central character and one of the two main antagonists in Grand Theft Auto V.

Steve Haines is voiced by Robert Bogue, who also voices Troy in The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Background
Nothing is known about Haines' early life, apart from him joining the FIB in 1993 and in the following years becoming such a highly decorated and high-ranking FIB agent, to the point that he was given to lead his own FIB unit and becoming handler and boss of several well-known FIB agents, including Dave Norton, who in 2004 faked the death of infamous bank robber, Michael Townley, and provided him with his new identity of Michael De Santa. However, despite the decorations from the Bureau, leading his own unit and being famous as the host of a TV show called The Underbelly Of Paradise, where he makes reports on gang activity and the overall criminal underworld of Los Santos since 2008, Haines (as well as his FIB unit) was infamously corrupt and also known to be on the payroll of several wealthy and powerful people, including eccentric billionaire Devin Weston, whom Haines considers a "friend".

Events prior to Grand Theft Auto V
At the time GTA V takes place, the FIB and the rival IAA are in a heated battle to secure government funding after cuts had been made to the budgets of both organizations and Haines is one of the main FIB agents that actively engages in attempts to sabotage the IAA, in order to gain more prestige within the Bureau and secure more funding from the US government.

Events of Grand Theft Auto V
In 2013, Haines uses his influence over agent Dave Norton to force Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips, and Franklin Clinton to aid him in his plans to sabotage the IAA's operations and thus secure more government funding for his own agency. The first of these plans involves kidnapping Ferdinand Karimov, an IAA prisoner/informant and getting information out of him to kill a suspected terrorist called Tahir Javan, which they succeed in.



Under Steve's orders, the protagonists hijack a security van containing IAA money; rob a corrupt bank in order to obtain funds to raid an IAA compound and steal an experimental neurotoxin that was going to be used by the IAA to launch terrorrist attacks and receive funds from the government as well as break into the FIB building to steal compromising information about Haines.

As the missions progress, more and more suspicion begins to fall upon Haines, especially after the raid of the FIB HQ, making him become increasingly paranoid. Intending to cover his involvement in the raid, Haines meets with Michael and Norton at the Kortz Center and attempts to frame and arrest them for the raid, but he gets betrayed by his associate agent Andreas Sanchez, who alerted some of his enemies to their location. Separate groups consisting of IAA agents, led by the United Liberty Paper contact, rival FIB operatives, working with Sanchez and a Merryweather battalion arrive. The situation quickly breaks into violence as Haines is shot in the leg by a member of the FIB team and in retaliation, Haines shoots Sanchez in the head, killing him and escapes, leaving Michael and Norton behind to die, however they manage to shoot their way out of the center and escape, with the help of Trevor, who removes his vow of killing Michael and wants him in for the "Big Score" - robbing the Union Depository.

After the shootout, an infuriated Haines wishes to have all three protagonists killed, but Dave manages to calm him down. Ultimately, Haines decides to spare Michael and Franklin, but insists that Trevor has to die. Haines later resurfaces after the investigation into him goes away due to lack of evidence and witnesses and meets with Franklin, whom he tasks with killing Trevor, out of fear that Trevor's actions would bring further heat and attention to Haines, as Dave Norton was able to convince him that Michael could at least be controlled and kept quiet. However, unknowingly to Haines, Devin Weston simultaneously hires Franklin to kill Michael. As he can't kill both, Franklin is left with three choices: kill Trevor, kill Michael or save them both and team up to take down their enemies.

Endings
If Franklin chooses option A, he kills Trevor with Michael's assistance. Afterwards, Franklin calls Haines to inform him that he's done as requested and also to ask him to persuade Devin Weston not to go after him for sparing Michael. Haines tells Franklin that he'll handle Weston, because Merryweather has lost its licence to operate in the state, but also tells him never to contact him again.

If Franklin chooses option B, he kills Michael on Devin Weston's orders. Afterwards, Franklin calls Weston to inform him that he's done as requested and also to ask him to persuade Haines not to go after him for not killing Trevor. Weston tells Franklin he's already handled Haines and Norton, but tells him he's no longer useful to him and tells him never to contact him again.

If Franklin chooses option C, he, Michael and Trevor lure Haines' corrupt FIB unit and Weston's private Merryweather batallion to a foundry and take them out in a massive three-way shootout, thus eliminating both Haines' and Weston's criminal muscle. After surviving the shootout, they decide to eliminate their enemies once and for all, agreeing to kill those they weren't directly associated with to throw off suspicion. They call Lester Crest, who tells them the current locations of Haines, Devin Weston, Stretch and Wei Cheng. Trevor eagerly leaves to kill Haines, who is shooting an episode of his show at the ferris wheel on Del Perro Pier due to the fact that Trevor wanted to kill Haines since the moment he met him, while Michael and Franklin kill Stretch and Cheng respectively. Trevor arrives at the pier and while Haines is talking infront the cameraman, Trevor takes out a sniper rifle (or any other weapon, based on the player's choice) and shoots Haines, killing him.

Personality
As stated above, Haines is a corrupt FIB agent, who does not hesitate when it comes to breaking the law and Bureau procedure and policy if there is an opportunity to further advance his career. At first, Haines is shown to be selfish and overly confident, thinking solely about his career, however over time, he is revealed to be a particularly arrogant and sociopathic individual. His true colors are shown when Michael begins to jokingly mock Haines and his partners over their rogue activities. At first, Steve plays along and even compliments Michael on his quick wit, however his temperament quickly changes when he grabs Michael by the throat and threatens to strangle him to death if he continues to disrespect him. He is despised by almost everyone he comes into contact with and claims a personal friendship with Devin Weston (it is implied that it was Weston's influence that brought Haines to his current position in the FIB) Haines also has no qualms with torturing and killing suspects or people he sees as standing in the way of his career. This is shown when he has Trevor Phillips brutally torture a seemingly innocent man for information on another possible terror suspect, before casually ordering Phillips to murder the man for no other purpose other than that he had no more use for him. Also the man was more than willing to reveal the information to Steve without being violently tortured, implying Haines is a sadist and truly enjoys the suffering of others.

Haines is an opportunist: he uses Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips, and Franklin Clinton to do his dirty work and ends up betraying them when not having any further use of them and is also willing to sacrifice others to save his own skin which is evident when he attempts to have Dave Norton and Michael De Santa arrested to deflect blame for all the criminal activities they participated in. Haines claims several times that he is a patriot and would do anything for his country, but when planning to raid the IAA compound and steal an experimental neurotoxin that was going to be released by the IAA in a metropolitan area in order to receive funds from the government, Haines is shown not willing to get his hands dirty and preferring to stay behind and leaving the protagonists to do the job themselves. This implies Haines' cowardly nature and further implies it in The Third Way, when if Trevor accidentally shoots Haines' cameraman and runs over to Haines, Haines will be in a crouching position, with his hands over his head.

Characters murdered by Steve Haines

 * Andreas Sanchez - Murdered for passing information on Haines' criminal activities and for working with a rival FIB team.

Mission appearances

 * GTA V
 * Three's Company
 * By The Book (Boss)
 * Blitz Play (Boss)
 * Paleto Score Setup (Boss)
 * Derailed (Post-mission phone call)
 * Monkey Business (Boss)
 * Cleaning Out the Bureau
 * The Wrap Up  (Betrayal)
 * Lamar Down
 * Something Sensible (Option A; Boss/Post-mission phone call)
 * The Third Way  (Option C; Killed)

Trivia

 * Haines is similar to Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption antagonist Edgar Ross. Both men are corrupt federal agents that blackmail the protagonists into doing their dirty work, and both eventually betray the protagonist by setting them up to be killed. Unlike in Redemption, Haines' plot to have the protagonist he betrayed murdered can fail or succeed based on the player's choices.
 * Agent Haines bears many similarities to LSPD Officer Frank Tenpenny, the main antagonist of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Both Haines and Tenpenny are corrupt law enforcement officials who use their position to force the protagonist(s) to commit crimes on their behalf to further their own careers. However, unlike Tenpenny, Haines can get away with his crimes if the player chooses to assassinate either Michael or Trevor.
 * After Haines' death, a news article will reveal that he was unmarried and lived with his mother. This references real-life FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who was unmarried and lived 43 years with his mother.
 * Even if Franklin chooses option A or option B, after some time, a Bleeter post will appear about Haines' death. This is more than likely an oversight.
 * Even after his death he will still appear on his show, although these could be reruns.
 * According to the Rush Casting Call, Haines' beta name was Mitch Hayes.
 * In his show, The Underbelly of Paradise, he implies that the FIB (or his unit, at least) have a community approach with the Ballas. As he tries to prove this, he greets a Ballas member, only to be amusingly talked back and insulted by the gang member, who clearly knows about Haines and his show.
 * Haines is one of the few characters to survive a canon gunshot. A few others being, Roman Bellic, Pathos, and Sean "Sweet" Johnson.
 * He has been shot twice in the leg. First at the IAA compound when he shoots himself in the leg and second at the Kortz Center when he is shot in the leg by a FIB operative.
 * His voice actor is Robert Bogue, who previously voiced another GTA character, Troy. In the end of The Ballad of Gay Tony Troy is promised to get his own reality show. Ironically, Steve has his own reality show, The Underbelly of Paradise.
 * After Haines' death in The Third Way, Dave Norton calls Michael to reveal that he is going to replace Steve as the host of the Underbelly of Paradise program.
 * His phone number is/was 328-555-0150.

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