Janus

"To them, every outcome is a degree of victory. That is why they think they will win. We'll prove them wrong."

- Janus about the Illuminati

Janus is a mysterious figure opposing the Illuminati, and the leader of the Juggernaut Collective. Janus' true identity is unknown, even to fellow members of the Collective.

Background
Janus has been fighting the Illuminati for many years. When asked about the reasons behind doing so, Janus claims that the Illuminati killed someone who was important to Janus. Janus displays impressive hacking skills in helping the Juggernaut Collective uncover information about the Illuminati.

Janus goes to great lengths to ensure that their identity remains a secret. When contacting people directly, Janus uses voice scrambling software that makes it impossible for others to ascertain Janus' gender or nationality. When communicating, Janus often uses a "ghostly" image of a human face superposed with static as an on-screen depiction. Alternatively, Janus has also used a human face whose features constantly change. Due to the emotionless nature of the computerized voice, it is difficult to discern Janus' emotions or to tell whether or not Janus is telling the truth. This may make it difficult for some people to trust Janus at initial contact. However, Janus claims that revealing their identity would endanger not only Janus' own life, but also the lives of the other Juggernaut Collective members.

According to an Interpol file, Janus became the leader of the Collective at around 2024, succeeding Juggernaut Collective founder "Eli" as the group's leader. Although Janus is regarded as the leader of the group, fellow Juggernaut Collective member Garvin Quinn characterizes Janus's leadership role as merely being one member of a collaboration whose voice carries more weight than those of others. In response to Francis Pritchard's claim that Janus runs the Collective, Quinn retorts by saying that nobody "runs" the Collective, suggesting that Janus does not operate by way of a formal command hierarchy.

Deus Ex: Icarus Effect
Janus wants to learn about and expose the Killing Floor, which the Illuminati use to give orders to the Tyrants. First, Janus attempts to get this information from Mikhail Kontarsky. However, Kontarsky has only begun to upload the data when he is assassinated by the Tyrants. Janus then resorts to requesting the help of Ben Saxon. As a member of the Tyrants, Saxon has direct access to the computer terminal on board the Tyrant Jetliner that can access the Killing Floor. Saxon acquires data needed to hack into the Killing Floor, and escapes from the Tyrant Jetliner by jumping into the ocean. Saxon is rescued by an automated trawler submarine reprogrammed by Janus.

Janus also seeks to recruit Anna Kelso, who recently escaped from Tyrant member Yelena Fedorova and has now made her way to a hideout used by Juggernaut and New Sons of Freedom members. Remotely communicating with Anna through a display screen, Janus shows Anna a vision to convince Anna that the Illuminati are real and detrimental to the world. Shortly later, Saxon arrives with the data needed to access the Killing Floor. Upon accessing the Killing Floor, the group at the hideout discover that the Tyrants are heading to Geneva, Switzerland to assassinate Bill Taggart of anti-augmentation activist group Humanity Front, which would make Taggart a martyr for his cause and push for a UN vote on augmentation regulation. The group at the hideout decide to intercept the Tyrants and prevent this assassination from going ahead.

Unfortunately, the usefulness of the information obtained from the Killing Floor is compromised when a member of the Juggernaut Collective betrays the group and informs the Tyrants of their plans. Anna is captured by the Tyrants, but Janus manages to track down the location of Anna Kelso using only the code-name Icarus. Icarus turns out to be the name of an Illuminati-owned yacht, which Janus flags with an Interpol stop-and-search warrant. Janus provides the location of the yacht to Saxon, who boards the yacht and confronts the Tyrants. In the confrontation, the Icarus is destroyed, and Saxon and Anna manage to escape its wreckage. After the episode, Saxon and Anna remain as Juggernaut operatives.

Janus does not get physically involved in the Collective's Switzerland mission described in Icarus Effect. Thus, Janus maintains safety from the Tyrants' ambush that leaves many of the Juggernauts and their allies dead.

Recruiting Adam Jensen into the Collective
In 2026, Janus is in contact with Juggernaut Collective member Garvin Quinn, who is stationed at the Rifleman Bank Station, an Illuminati black site owned by Belltower Associates. As depicted in The Missing Link, Adam Jensen winds up at Rifleman Bank Station, and escapes with the help of Quinn. Once Quinn has safely escorted Jensen from Rifleman Bank, Quinn contacts Janus. Quinn thinks Jensen could have been a useful ally and should have been recruited into the Juggernaut Collective. Janus dismisses the idea, stating that Jensen is currently too obsessed with finding Megan Reed. However, Janus also states that Jensen will find the truth in due time and that if Quinn follows Janus instructions precisely, the Collective will know how to find Jensen when that time comes.

In 2027, one year after the collapse of Panchaea and the Aug Incident, Adam Jensen wakes up at an Illuminati-run facility in Alaska and later escapes to Detroit. Janus finds out that Jensen has resurfaced and convenes a virtual meeting of the Juggernaut Collective to inform the other members of his finding. At the meeting, described as unprecedented in the number of Juggernaut attendee, Janus states that Jensen is now ready to deploy, and that the Collective has "waited a long time for these conditions to come into synchrony." Janus affirms that the Collective is committed to recruiting Jensen.

Quinn and Alex Vega (who had been introduced to Collective by Saxon ) make contact with Jensen in Detroit, and explain to Jensen that the Collective can help him take down the Illuminati. Jensen expresses interest but does not yet commit to the Collective.

At the time, the Illuminati are working to extract military-grade augmentation from Detroit for use in Europe through use of local proxies and the arms dealer Sheppard. Jensen helps Interpol's Task Force 29 stop Sheppard from air-lifting the augmentation out of the city. However, the Illuminati, who are still after the augmentations, plan to size a train that is carrying the augmentations en route to a military base for disposal of the augmentations. Janus manages to track down the course of the train, and has Quinn make contact with Jensen once again with this information. Quinn also explains that TF29 has been compromised by the Illuminati, who intend to turn the task force into a military order to serve their ends.

Utilizing Janus' information, Jensen boards the train and prevents Illuminati from seizing the augmentations on the train. Afterwards, Jensen decides to join the Juggernaut Collective, stating he's had enough of innocent lives cut short by Illuminati.

Janus informs the Collective members that the heart of the Illuminati's infiltration of TF29 is in Eastern Europe, specifically Prague, and that Jensen, who had made a positive impression on the TF29 operatives in Detroit, is the best option for investing TF29's unit in Prague and its local commander Jim Miller. Janus also states that he "understands" Jensen, and that Jensen will help the Collective bring down the Illuminati, or perish in the attempt.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
By 2028, Jensen is now an agent of TF29's unit in Prague. Alex Vega acts as a go-between for Janus and Jensen.

Janus creates a "whisper chip" used to tap the secure network used by Task Force 29's directors. Janus instructs Jensen to connect it directly to the Neural SubNet's motherboard so that the Collective can eavesdrop on their communications. With the whisper chip in place, the Collective obtains a voice recording suggesting that Miller had received orders to frame ARC for multiple attacks, including a break-in at the pharmaceutical giant, VersaLife. Jensen investigates further by personally entering TF29's NSN to access stored data, finding that a conspirator ordered TF29 director Joseph Manderley to poison Rucker with something called the Orchid. Janus tells Jensen that this conspirator is Bob Page, CEO of VersaLife, and suggests investigating VersaLife's vault located in the Palisade Property Bank.

Jensen has the option of breaking into VersaLife's vault, by completing the mission The Heist. If Jensen follows through with this mission, Janus will gather information on the Orchid using a seeker rod delivered to the vault by Jensen. Janus will also provide Jensen with a lead to further Jensen's current TF29 investigation into the bombing of the Růžička Station.

Later, Jensen and TF29 head to London to stop Marchenko's impending attack on Safe Harbor Convention, a convention hosted by Nathaniel Brown to persuade UN delegates to block the passage of Human Restoration Act. In London, Janus informs Jensen that the Illuminati seek eradication of the augmented through passage of the Act, and that saving Brown and delegates is the only way to prevent the Act from passing. When Jensen must apparently choose between saving Brown and the delegates and preventing Marchenko from detonating bombs planted in nearby residential buildings, Janus urges Jensen to save Brown and the delegates because the rights of billions of augmented are at stake.

Regardless of the outcome of the London missions and whether the Act passes or not, in ending of Mankind Divided, Jensen states that he wants to find out who Janus really is, and tells Alex that Janus can either set up a meeting face to face, or Jensen will find Janus by himself.

Illuminati efforts to unveil Janus
In Black Light, Lucius DeBeers acknowledges to his confidant Elizabeth DuClare that Janus is an uncommon foe, given the precise and perfectly pitched nature of recent occurrences tied to the Collective. DuClare tells DeBeers that she has formulated a plan of action to uncover Janus. Specifically, she and DeBeers will need to play a "subtle and lengthy game" in order get close to Janus.

In the mid-credits scene of Mankind Divided, it is revealed that DuClare and DeBeers intend to utilize Adam Jensen to get close to and uncover Janus. It is suggested that Jensen and his memories have been altered by the Illuminati for the purposes of achieving this goal.

Abilities
Janus has the ability to hack many objects and databases. For example, when recruiting Ben Saxon, Janus remotely hacks an advertisement blimp to display the words "What master do you serve?" as well as a phone number for Saxon to contact Janus. At a later stage, Janus hacks an autonomous trawler submarine which then safely transports Saxon to Baltimore, USA. Janus manages to track down the location of Anna Kelso using the code-name Icarus and subsequently flag with an Interpol stop-and-search warrant.

On many occasions, Janus shows access to information that is presumably difficult to obtain. For example, Janus has somehow gained access to the psychological profiles of Jaron Namir and Ben Saxon who, as members of the Tyrants, presumably have highly classified files. In addition, Janus claims to know "all about" other Tyrant members such as Scott Hardesty and Yelena Fedorova.

In Black Light, Quinn also says that Janus has access to intel that the rest of the Collective members can only dream of. Quinn tells Jensen that Janus is aware that there are factions within the Illuminati, in which opposed elements are working toward different agendas. Upon hearing this, Jensen asks Quinn whether Quinn himself ever wonders how Janus manages to obtain such information, to which Quinn replies, "All the time."

Trivia

 * In Roman mythology,, who possesses two faces, is the god of beginnings, transitions, doorways, endings, and time.
 * Janus's avatar and voice resembles Daedalus.