Francis Pritchard

Francis Wendell Pritchard is the head of cyber-security division at Sarif Industries in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Background
As the head of the cyber-security division at Sarif Industries, Francis 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 behaviour towards co-workers has been under evaluation.

He was arrested July 17 for "Fraud and related activity in connection with access devices and computers" charges, along with four other additional unknown accomplices.

Frank Pritchard works with Adam Jensen and gives him advice through Adam'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, Adam and Frank eventually move from their distaste for each other, to a point where Adam entrusts Frank with sending a security team to Michelle Walthers' apartment without informing Sarif. During the same quest, Frank sincerely asks Adam to be careful.

Pritchard is first seen in Human Revolution during the prologue, heading up to Athene Margoulis's 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.

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

Trivia

 * Pritchard's parallel in Deus Ex is Alex Jacobson; Alex's terminal had an email listing all of UNATCO's logins and passwords, sent to Joseph Manderley. In Human Revolution, there is a similar email on Pritchard's desktop to David Sarif. Both emails instruct their recipients to delete the emails 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.
 * Pritchard has a poster in his office for Final Fantasy XXVII, a reference to one of Square Enix's long-running game series.
 * If you hack Pritchard's computer, you'll find the following email:
 * Series pitch 3091


 * Mr Pritchard,


 * Thank you for submitting your show concept and script treatment to Picus TV, we have duly reviewed your submission and regret to inform you that there is currently no interest in developing a program of such a nature.


 * In fact, Mr. Pritchard, as this is your fifth (remarkably similar) show proposal in twelve months it behooves me to be honest with you re: your prospects with Picus TV. It is very difficult for us to imagine how a 13-episode dramatic series built around the "Nightly coding exploits" of "Nucl3arsnake: Hacker extraordinaire" would appeal to our target demographic. Our viewers are looking for action, mystery and suspense. They want a hero who's not afraid to get physical, rather than one who skulks in the shadows and ducks for cover behind intellicam. To be honest, the main character seems somewhat underhanded and obsequious.


 * A very popular character-type is the policeman. Or even better the ex-cop who still upholds the law. This is the type of protagonist people can warm to and cheer for. You should give this serious consideration.


 * Sincerely,
 * Celia Patte
 * Editor
 * Picus TV

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. 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.