Francis Pritchard

Francis 'Frank' Wendell Pritchard, also known by his handle Nucl3arsnake, is the head of the cyber-security division at Sarif Industries in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Human Revolution comics. By the time of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, he is working as a freelance hacker.

Work for Sarif Industries
As the head of the cyber-security division at Sarif Industries, Pritchard is responsible for the overall digital well-being and security for the company. His performance evaluations have noted him to be remarkable at "thinking outside the box" when it comes to his work ethic, but his ineffectual behavior towards co-workers has been under evaluation.

At one point, Pritchard was arrested for "fraud and related activity in connection with access devices and computers" charges, along with four other additional unknown accomplices.

In 2026, Pritchard works with Adam Jensen and gives him advice through Jensen's Infolink on security conditions on the field. He is highly knowledgeable about security layouts, and various points of entry, tending to side with indirect, covert routes. He was the one who told David Sarif the company needed to have a physical security team for protection, but wanted Dynacore, Sharp Edge or Belltower, all top private security contractors, and not Adam.

Pritchard strongly disapproves of Jensen as a choice for security chief. This is evidenced by his many snide comments and an e-mail trail through Sarif Headquarters, searching for an employee who has been stealing Neuropozyne from the company; Pritchard enlists the help of some co-workers with the specific statement of "WE MUST FIND THE EVIDENCE AND PRESENT IT TO DAVID BEFORE JENSEN EVEN KNOWS ABOUT IT", indicating Pritchard was trying to solve a workplace crime in order to "outwit" Jensen, or portray him as incompetent. Despite his determination, none of the many people suspected of being the thief by Pritchard are the actual culprit, even though he was made aware of the real thief by another source.

However, as the story progresses, Jensen and Pritchard eventually move from their distaste for each other, to a point where Jensen entrusts Pritchard with sending a security team to Michelle Walthers' apartment without informing Sarif. During the same quest, Pritchard sincerely asks Jensen to be careful.

Pritchard is first seen in Human Revolution during the prologue, heading up to Athene Margoulis' desk to explain the methods that will be used in tracking SI scientists during the augmentation hearing in Washington. Later, after Adam returns from his post-augmentation sick leave, Pritchard quickly fixes his retinal display, saying that right and left image processors were not completely in sync, goading Jensen in the process. During the Milwaukee factory mission, he provides logistical support for Jensen, and serves as a way of communicating with David Sarif.

Jensen recovers the Neural Hub from a dead augmented Purity First member and Pritchard examines it, revealing that it has been modified with a wetdrive that allows someone - the real hacker - to turn the hub's owner into a human proxy. Pritchard sends Jensen to disable a transmission in Derelict Row, and afterwards traces the origin of the hacker to an abandoned factory in Highland Park.

After Sarif Industries
Following Sarif Industries' bankruptcy after the Aug Incident, Pritchard found new employment as a freelance hacker under the alias of "Nucl3arSnake", while still basing himself in Detroit. Despite not believing Jensen's claims about the Illuminati, he nonetheless supplied him with news extracts that he believed could potentially link certain powerful individuals to them.

After taking up residence in Detroit's Rialto movie theatre, Francis is contacted by Jensen and helps Jensen and Stacks escape from Alaska. After making it to Detroit, Pritchard then aids Jensen in stopping the illegal theft of former Sarif Industries augmentations, with some help from members of the Juggernaut Collective.

Several months later, Pritchard contacts Jensen, now in Prague, and reminded Jensen that he owed him for aiding in his escape from Alaska. Pritchard asks Jensen to return the favor by helping him vet the Santeau Group for a client of his. Ultimately, Jensen aids Pritchard by infiltrating the Palisade Blade and accessing its mainframe to extract the information Pritchard needed from it, inadvertently causing the largest Breach in Palisade's cyber-security in history.

Notable mission appearances
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
 * Welcome to the Revolution – First appearance in Human Revolution
 * Back in the Saddle – First meeting with Pritchard
 * Acquaintances Forgotten – Pritchard asks Jensen to investigate a backdoor tunnel that someone opened through Pritchard's firewalls, revealing that David Sarif hired an investigator to dig up information on Jensen's past.
 * System Rift

Augmentations
While he shows no physical signs of mechanical augmentation, it is suggested that Pritchard is augmented; after he contacts Jensen during the second visit to Hengsha, and the augmentation glitches are mentioned, Pritchard replies with "We've all had them," suggesting that he was experiencing the glitches as well. He also states that he will look into the new biochip more before getting it himself. Evidently he did not decide to upgrade before Hugh Darrow's signal is broadcast, since he communicates normally with Jensen over the comms at the beginning of the final mission. It can be assumed that he has cerebral hacking augmentations. This is also evident as there is a Cyberboost Energy Bar on his desk in Sarif Industries. In System Rift, when Adam tells him the Human Restoration Act would force a lot of Augmented people to move to Rabi'ah, Pritchard responds "I hope it doesn't come to that, Jensen. For any of us."

Trivia

 * Pritchard's parallel in Deus Ex is Alex Jacobson; Alex's terminal had an e-mail listing all of UNATCO's logins and passwords, sent to Joseph Manderley. In Human Revolution, there is a similar e-mail on Pritchard's desktop to David Sarif. Both e-mails instruct their recipients to delete the e-mails as soon as they are read, but neither Francis nor Alex promptly deleted the replies from their own inboxes.
 * If you went into the women's restroom at the beginning and then talk to him, he will say, "Oh by the way, Jensen, I know you have went through a lot of physical changes of late, but you didn't become a woman, stay out of the ladies restroom". This parallels Manderley's reprimanding of JC for entering the UNATCO women's restroom in Deus Ex.
 * There is a small easter egg in Pritchard's office. If you go straight to the back wall from the door to the corkboard on the wall, then look down at the thick cables on the floor, you will notice the serial number on the cable is "NCC-1701-D". This is a reference to the registry number for the starship Enterprise in the popular 90's TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation.
 * Pritchard has a poster in his office for Final Fantasy XXVII, a reference to one of Square Enix's long-running game series.
 * The Deus Ex: Human Revolution Collector's Edition Guide contains concept art of Pritchard's office, where a figurine of Bender from the popular sci-fi cartoon Futurama can be seen on display.
 * When returning the Typhoon, Pritchard will sarcastically refer to Adam as "Atilla the Hun, fresh from the killing fields" or "Mahatma Gandhi himself, come to honor us all with his life-preserving presence", depending on whether Adam handled the purists lethally or non-lethally in Milwaukee Junction.
 * He maintains a hacker alias of "Nucl3arsnake", and was still using it as his e-mail address as evidenced by his login/password e-mail to Sarif. Also, an e-mail by Arie van Bruggen found in the Pangu says "I gotta deal with nucl3arsnake again. He's becoming a real pain in my ass." indicating Pritchard was using the alias while investigating van Bruggen. This alias may be a reference or easter egg regarding Metal Gear Solid, another stealth/action series.
 * Hacking Pritchard's computer reveals a reason for his bitterness towards Adam. He was pestering Picus TV about his idea of a TV show with a hacker protagonist who would use his wits rather than brute force, clearly modeled after himself. The Picus editor instead suggests an ex-cop hero, who incidentally sounds like a carbon copy of Jensen, saying he's more likeable.
 * In Mankind Divided, civilian NPCs may sometimes remark that Jensen looks like the main character of a movie called 'Nucl3arsnake', seemingly implying that Pritchard's script was eventually picked up, and that the main character was modeled on Jensen. If Jensen talks to them again, they will reveal this character has longer hair, no beard, and is named 'Francis', implying the character was modeled on Pritchard as well. During the first day in Prague, a tour-guide outside the closed Red Light District can be heard telling visitors that they may recognize the Red Queen nightclub from the new Nuclear Snake film.
 * On Jensen's coffee table a copy of the screenplay can be found, signed by Pritchard, perhaps indicating that he sought Jensen's opinion on it. A copy can also be found in Nomad Staněk's apartment, and two in Laura Vale's apartment.
 * Pritchard owns a stun gun in Deus Ex: Black Light.
 * In Deus Ex: Black Light the verbal password to Pritchard's security system at the Rialto is "Aerith Lives," a reference to Final Fantasy VII.