Johnny Silverhand

Johnny Silverhand, born Robert John Linder, sang for Samurai and set the template for every rockerboy since. A deserter from the Second Central American War, where he lost his left arm, he took his stage name from its silver cybernetic replacement and later denounced the war on record. With Kerry Eurodyne he made Samurai a chart-topping act, and he kept attacking megacorporations, Arasaka above all, long after the band split.

In 2023 he joined the assault on Arasaka Tower that ended in a nuclear blast downtown, and many still blame him for the bomb. Adam Smasher shot him during the attack, and Arasaka’s Soulkiller program copied his mind into an engram just before he died. The engram later ended up on the Relic, a prototype chip V and Jackie Welles steal from Konpeki Plaza. Lodged in V’s head, the chip wakes Johnny, whose personality slowly begins overwriting V’s.

Played by Keanu Reeves, Johnny shares the spotlight with V for most of the story. He shows up uninvited, rarely keeps his opinions to himself and tries more than once to seize V’s body, while the chip drags V through his memories. Depending on V’s choices, the two stay at war or settle into a grudging partnership, and side jobs reunite him with his old bandmate Kerry and his ex, Rogue Amendiares. Chippin’ In and his other Samurai tracks still have a devoted following.