Hugh Darrow

Hugh Darrow is a Nobel Prize winner, philanthropist, mentor and friend of David Sarif in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Background
Son of Sir Martin Darrow, founder of the Picus Network, Hugh Darrow's education began with his enrollment in the prestigious Scaitcliffe School and Stowe School. A natural athlete, Hugh was the head of football, rugby union and cricket sports teams during his school years, but found school otherwise boring. He opted not to go to college and continue his education.

He had a personal interest in robotics - designing his first crude robot at 10, a makeshift robotics lab at 16 and finally the Robot Wars in 1994. Despite losing the competition, it inspired Hugh to seek out influential biomechatronic research companies in the US, to allow him to research mechanical augmentation. Eventually, Darrow's groundbreaking work with robotics, biotechnology and human enhancements has changed the face of industry over the years. In the 1990s, he became David Sarif's mentor, inspiring him to found Sarif Industries in 2007. Sometime during 2020s he created the Panchaea installation, designed to stem the tide of global warming.

Despite being the father of mechanical augmentation, Hugh Darrow does not have any mechanical augmentations himself, as he does not possess the genes that allow for compatability between the human body and mechanical augmented prosthetics. Because of this he shares the view that neither augments nor purists should decide on the fate of the human race, and it should be left to evolve naturally.

David Sarif wanted to have Hugh Darrow by his side during the augmentation hearings in Washington, saying that it would go much smoother with him there, given his popularity with the senators. Six months later, the two were talking via the holocomm, with Sarif accusing William Taggart, saying that his speech to the United Nations started the anti-augmentation riots, and pushed Purity First to attack Milwaukee Junction manufacturing plant. Jensen would later meet with Darrow for the first time upon returning to Detroit from Hengsha, with the Nobel Prize winner being quite interested in his augmentations.

Much later, Jensen would find Megan at a secret installation in Singapore and learn that Darrow is actually one of the masterminds behind the entire sequence of events. But whereas the others from the Illuminati were planning to create a universal biochip with a master signal to control mechanical augmented people and force them under the thrall of corporate masters, Darrow had a much different plan in mind.

Giving a speech at Panchaea with the world watching, Darrow insists he will show humanity the true effects of mechanical augmentation, and activates his universal signal, to cause all mechanical augmented people on Earth to suffer mass hallucinations, driving them insane. As the augmented humans of all nations begin to slaughter everyone in their path, Jensen rushes to Panchaea to deactivate the signal. There he meets Darrow again, on his broken throne. The elderly and disabled philanthropist and Nobel Prize winner, father of augmentation, explains his motivations to Jensen and serves as the game's final dialogue challenge, and dialogue boss of sorts.

Explaining that, as a disabled man himself, Darrow once wished for his augmentation technology to enhance humanity and improve the quality of life for everyone, but now sees that his technology has been perverted by the powerful into just another means of control over the less fortunate. People have always corrupted technology and used it against each other, and with augmentation, Darrow feels mankind is on the verge of losing its humanity and its moral center.

Though his actions were extreme, Darrow believes they were necessary to show the world the dangers of mechanical augmentation. He believes that humanity should abandon mechanical augmentation technology and that future generations should grow up whole and human, without the specter of enhancement over them. He also believes that mechanical augmentation technology is too dangerous, particularly as the Illuminati intends to use it as an advanced killswitch for all of mankind.

Jensen can either belittle him as being afraid of change and unwilling to let humanity evolve beyond him (as Darrow himself can never be mechanical augmented), critique him as being too extreme and nothing more than a sanctimonious mass-murderer, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands just to prove a point, or reason with him that humanity has used technology to improve itself every time and that mechanical augmentation will lead to a better life for all. If Jensen can successfully show Darrow the errors in his position, Darrow will give Jensen the code to shut down the life support system of the Hyron Project, making the final boss significantly easier. At this point in the game, Adam may murder Darrow with no reprecussions.

After shutting down the Hyron Project, Jensen will advance to its central hub, where he find the signal controller. There he can send a message to the world of his choice - one of them being Darrow's. Darrow had created a complete video confession, explaining the conspiracy, the Illuminati, the extents of mechanical augmentation technology, everything. He intended to reveal the entire truth to the whole world, and thus start off humanity again on a clean slate. Jensen can choose to release this message and thus earn one of the endings.

Behind the scenes
Hugh Darrow may have been named after Clarence Darrow, the lawyer that defended John Scopes in the 1925 court case The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. This case argued whether the theory of Biological evolution should be taught in public schools.