Prologue

"North Yankton, 9 years ago."

- GTA V description at the Rockstar Games Social Club.

Prologue is the first mission in Grand Theft Auto V, involving Michael Townley and Trevor Philips. It is set in 2004 in the town of Ludendorff, North Yankton.

Description
In 2004, Michael Townley, Trevor Philips and Brad Snider rob a bank in Ludendorff. After locking several hostages in a closet, Trevor wires an explosive to the vault doors, and Michael detonates them via his phone. Michael and Trevor enter the vault and steal just under $180,000. As the team make their escape, Michael is held at gunpoint by a security guard, who also removes the mask from his head. Michael advises the guard to forget what he saw and leave, but Trevor shoots him in the head.

The trio blow open another door and exit the bank, but are already swarmed by the local law enforcement. A massive gunfight erupts, forcing the team to hold off the police before escaping. The team reach their getaway vehicle and proceed to drive away, but they are pursued by more officers, and their hired getaway driver is shot in the head. Michael pushes his body out of the door and grabs the wheel, crashing one of their pursuers' car into a roadside tree. The group continues towards the helicopter waiting for them, but are forced to change course after encountering a police roadblock. They then cross over train tracks, but are hit by an oncoming train causing them to lose control and crash their car into a tree. The three survive, and Trevor suggests an alternative route to their getaway chopper, but Michael insists that they stick to the plan.

The group continue on foot through the town, but realize the chopper is nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Agent Dave Norton, hiding around a corner, shoots Brad with a Sniper Rifle and kills him. Dave fires again, this time at Michael. He behaves as if he is injured, though has no visible injuries. Trevor is forced to take out the attacking cops alone, refusing to leave his team behind, but Michael convinces him to leave. After briefly taking a woman hostage, Trevor successfully escapes into the snowy fields whilst still pursued by armed locals.

Some time later, in a local cemetery, a funeral for Michael (though it is actually Brad who is being buried) is held. Dave, the sniper who "shot" him, supervises the proceedings, whilst Michael himself watches from the distance and flicks away his cigarette.

The next mission Franklin and Lamar will automatically begin after the introductory theme.

Deaths

 * Jaspers - Killed by Trevor Philips for brandishing a gun at Michael.
 * Unknown hired driver - Killed by the police during the chase.
 * Brad Snider - Killed by Dave Norton while attempting to escape after a robbery.

Trivia

 * Outside of the bank there is a dead security guard with a gunshot wound on his head; it is likely that he was killed by Trevor during the heist.
 * The aiming in this mission is set to "Traditional GTA" by default.
 * If Michael is taking too long in moving the hostages inside the room, Brad will come and do that for him.
 * In the mission in the enhanced version, Dave Norton wears a beanie and has no sunglasses.
 * Due to the mission being set nine years before the main storyline, Michael and Trevor's appearances are considerably different. Trevor has a near full head of hair and a mullet with a handlebar mustache as opposed to his receding hair in the main storyline. He also lacks most of his facial scars. Michael has fewer wrinkles and a shorter haircut.
 * During the mission Friends Reunited, Trevor will mention that after Michael and Amanda got married and had kids, Michael became "soft" and was less interested in crime and violence. This can be seen here as, while Trevor shouts and attacks the hostages, Michael will instead talk to them calmly to get them to the other room.
 * Michael and Trevor's character icons in the selection wheel show their 2004 appearances rather than their 2013 appearance. Trevor's icon is him wearing the ski goggles and the balaclava until the shootout with the police when he takes his mask off, then his icon changes to show his 2004 face.
 * This mission is set in 2004, the year Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was released; this was the last game before GTA V to feature Los Santos.
 * This is, chronologically, the first mission in the HD Universe, taking place four years before the events of GTA IV.
 * If Michael or Trevor are killed at any time during the mission, the mission will fail and the text displayed will say "M died" or "T died" due to both characters not being properly introduced by name until the next mission.
 * This is the first appearance of Michael De Santa, Trevor Philips, Dave Norton, and the only living appearance of Brad Snider (he reappears in Bury The Hatchet as a corpse).
 * The early version of this mission can be seen in the second trailer. In it, the team wore slightly different outfits.
 * This mission is set in December or early January after Christmas Eve 2003, due to a Christmas tree being visible in the window of the house to the right of the barn during the final shootout as well as Christmas decorations around the main sign in the bank's foyer. Interestingly enough, when the player returns to North Yankton in the mission Bury the Hatchet, the Christmas tree is still up. This is most likely just a developer oversight, as the North Yankton setting would have simply just been re-used with no changes made to it. This does not mean the main missions are also set in December nor January.
 * Michael and Trevor's outfits from the Prologue can be worn after GTA V is complete (however, the player must choose the Deathwish ending if they want both characters to wear their outfits).
 * The cell phone in this mission is different from the main story and is an older, outdated model, since the mission takes place in 2004.
 * Michael and Trevor cannot use their special abilities in this mission.
 * This is technically the first heist in the game; however, it is not counted as one.
 * There are five small blocks of money on the floor after entering the depository. They add $500 each ($2500 total) to this heist's reward and also to Michael's “Money picked up” statistic.
 * Foreshadowing later revelations about the background of this mission, Michael does not bleed out at all when he is shot, as compared to Brad, who bleeds after he is shot. It is explained later in the game that Michael was wearing a bulletproof vest and this entire mission was a setup to get Trevor and Brad both killed/arrested so that Michael could end his criminal life and live in peace in Los Santos. Another piece of foreshadowing seen in this mission is after the security guard is shot by Trevor, and Michael tells Trevor that he didn't have to do that; Trevor replies with "There will be time for grieving later" to which Michael says, "You've got that right". This is a reference to the plan that Michael and Dave had set up already before the heist.
 * Despite that, Michael does not have any body armor in the mission, most likely to not reveal too much of the plot before the player is able to find out themselves.
 * During the cutscene when Michael tells Trevor to run and he is going to bleed out, Brad can be seen finally succumbing to his wounds, and his body will not move after this, indicating that he has died.
 * This is the only time where the Police Roadcruiser and the Police Rancher appear, along with several snow-covered vehicles, which include the Emperor, Rancher XL and the Fieldmaster. The only difference to Bury The Hatchet is that Sadlers, Mesas and the unique Asea appear.
 * As with all the other missions (with the exception of Dead Man Walking), if the player chooses to replay this level anytime during the main storyline, the characters weapon wheel will have the weapons already collected in game.
 * If Trevor's Carbine Rifle has a Suppressor, when shooting at the police from the getaway vehicle, the muzzle flash will appear as if the suppressor wasn't there; also, the gun's sound will not be suppressed.
 * Similarly, if Michael's Carbine Rifle has a Suppressor, once he proceeds to take the money in the cutscene, the weapon is placed near and the suppressor will trespass the wall.
 * Some police officers in the mission have the same character model as Dave Norton in this mission.
 * Many characters who refer to this mission mention that it happened "ten years ago", despite the mission actually happening in 2004, nine years before the storyline. This strongly reinforces the context that the mission takes place in early January 2004, where Christmas decorations from 2003 weren't removed yet.
 * It is possible that it happened in 2004, as Trevor will say in Friends Reunited it's been nearly ten years, and that in New Year 2014 it would have been ten years, further suggesting it was January 2004 when the heist occured.
 * The left headlight and some windows of getaway vehicle will be broken before the player gains control of it. However, if the player fails this sequence (either by abandoning car or changing route) and repeats it, the car will be in almost perfect condition with only windshield broken.
 * If the player is fast enough, they could actually be hit by the police cars just before reaching the getaway vehicle.
 * After Trevor kills the guard, he can return to the area with the hostages, but there is nothing to interact with.
 * It is possible to crash into the oncoming police car with the getaway vehicle, though it changes nothing.
 * With the exception of the getaway vehicle, the player cannot enter any of the vehicles encountered in this mission.
 * During the final shootout Brad's shotgun can't be picked up (even though it flashes like any other dropped weapon), since leaving the cover will automatically skip the shootout and end the mission.
 * Trevor and Brad's balaclava designs are unique to this mission, Brad wears a stripped balaclava and ski goggles, while Trevor wears a stripped balaclava and a ski mask/face guard combo. These are not obtainable and only appear in this mission, they are possibly exclusive to Ludendorff ski shops, as it snows a lot there.
 * This mission shares some similarities and (some differences) with the mission The Job in GTA Vice City.
 * Both missions show three men robbing (Tommy Vercetti, Cam Jones and Phil Cassidy in the aforementioned GTA VC mission while Trevor referred to as T, Michael referred to as M and Brad Snider in this mission) a bank while a fourth man serves as the driver/lookout who would both be the first men to be killed (Hilary King in GTA VC and the unknown accomplice in this mission).
 * Only two men remain after the events of this mission. Trevor and Michael from this mission and Tommy Vercetti and Phil Cassidy after the events of The Job in GTA VC. The only difference is that Brad is scripted to die in this mission, while Cam Jones' death depends on the player (he no longer appears regardless of whether he dies or not).
 * The wanted level in this mission does not add time to the wanted level-focused stats (Last Wanted Level duration, Longest Wanted Level duration, and Time spent with a 5 star Wanted Level) for Michael and Trevor.
 * The jacket Michael wears during the funeral can only be worn if one was to have the Special/Collector's edition, or the enhanced version (PS4/Xbox One/PC)
 * It is mentioned in The Merryweather Heist that Lester had advised against going through with this heist, possibly knowing what was going to ultimately happen.
 * When directing the hostages inside the room you can see a Windows Vista background on the computer on the desk to the right, even though Windows Vista wasn't released till 2006, about 2 years after the Prologue, this is likely an oversight on Rockstar's part

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