Shard.12: Solomon Reed - The Curse of the Nation. A Spy's Gruesome Life at the Intersection of Conviction and Madness

Introduction: The “Living Ghosts” Lurking in the Dark City and the Curse of Nationalism

Within the deep shadows cast by the neon lights of Night City, countless ghosts lurk. They are not the corpses discarded in back alleys. They are “living ghosts” who breathe, eat, and sometimes chase away drunks at club entrances. Solomon Reed was the very epitome of this. An exceptional spy belonging to the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) of the New United States of America (NUSA), he is a man who has literally “executed” all of the state’s dirty work—from thwarting assassinations, negotiating with kidnappers, extortion, and sabotage, to orchestrating a coup d’état in a South American republic. In the expansion DLC Phantom Liberty, we cross paths with him in the lowest depths of Dogtown.

However, his true singularity lies not in his overwhelming combat prowess or espionage skills, but in his maddening, even self-destructive loyalty to the colossal monster known as the “State (System).” While Transhumanism in cyberpunk literature is often depicted as “the loss of the physical body and humanity through Chrome (mechanization),” it is not an excessive installation of Cyberware that strips Reed of his humanity. Although distinctive Cyberware can be seen embedded in his temples and neck, the true culprit robbing him of his free will is the abstract curse named “NUSA” and “President Rosalind Myers.”

In this report, we will thoroughly dissect the psychological structure of the man named Solomon Reed through fragmented shards, communication logs, concealed past operations, and the branching endings. We will reveal the structure of exploitation behind the “cause” he blindly believes in, and the Existentialism-driven tragedy of a spy where conviction and madness intersect. Through this meticulous research, we will unravel the full scope of causality as to why he sacrificed his own life on the altar of the state, and why he dragged those around him into its flames.

1. The Unification War and the Betrayal of 2070: A Pawn Discarded as the Price of Peace

An unavoidable historical turning point when discussing the man Solomon Reed is the “betrayal” incident that occurred at the end of the Unification War in 2070. At the time, Reed’s cell (team of operatives), tasked with the top-secret mission of building an FIA intelligence network in Night City, was ultimately offered up as a “sacrifice” to Arasaka by his own master, President Myers.

Regarding this gruesome event, we clearly distinguish between the “facts” explicitly stated in the game and the “observations” derived from the circumstances and conversation logs of the time, presenting them in the following structure.

As this observation indicates, despite being abandoned by the state and nearly assassinated, Reed never turned toward hatred of the system. Rather, he prevented the collapse of his own identity by sanctifying the fact of his abandonment as a “sacrifice for the greater good.”

The fact that he stood at the entrance night after night as a bouncer, disguising his identity with a baseball cap and sunglasses at Dino Dinovic’s bar in the City Center, speaks volumes about how empty his seven years were. He boasts that it was “to keep an eye on Night City,” but the reality is that he was unable to step forward into life as a free man; he was nothing more than a chained dog waiting for the return of his former master. In this world where mega-capitalism and nationalism intersect, a state in which an individual’s right to self-determination is completely exploited—that is the true nature of Reed’s seven years.

1.1 The Basement of “The Moth”: Unending Surveillance and Intelligence Networks

The underground boiler room of the bar “The Moth” in Dogtown’s Longshore Stacks is an FIA safehouse that Reed and his subordinate Alex have used for years. Investigating this space, where dust-covered, outdated technology slumbers, makes it clear that Reed was not simply living a frightened life of seclusion.

The information terminals and the shard “FIA: OPERATIONAL RECON IN ‘DOGTOWN’” left in this room meticulously recorded the movements of the major gang organizations ruling Dogtown. According to Reed’s records, Barghest, led by Ross Ulmer, is conducting large-scale smuggling of weapons, drugs, and Cyberware, and is steadily becoming heavily armed. He had also uncovered the structural collusion wherein a Netrunner splinter faction of the Voodoo Boys, led by Ayo Zarin, had seized control of the stadium’s servers, taking charge of encrypting Barghest’s personal data and providing technical support. Furthermore, he had grasped the fact that Scavengers were smuggling weapons under the guise of humanitarian aid transport routes.

Even while playing dead, Reed constantly continued to monitor the dark underbelly of Dogtown, accumulating vast amounts of information for the day of his “reinstatement” when someone would finally come for him. For him, no identity existed other than “FIA operative,” and the option to redefine himself as something else (for example, becoming just a Merc or an ordinary citizen) was entirely absent from the beginning. His sorrow lies in the fact that his overwhelming competence as a spy constantly functions as a strong chain binding him.

2. Alex and the Medellín Operation: A Blood-Stained Past and the Trap of Perfect Espionage

The tragedy of Solomon Reed does not conclude solely within his own mind. He possessed a rare talent for discovering and nurturing capable individuals. However, the talents he discovered were ultimately destined to be thrown into the meat grinder known as the state. Reed firmly believes without a doubt that he “saved” them, but the reality is that he merely “forced them into servitude to the system.”

One of the most prominent victims of this is Alex (Alina Xenakis), who had remained in hiding for years, posing as the bartender Daphne at the Dogtown bar “The Moth.” She, too, was someone scouted by Reed at the young age of 19 and dragged into the grueling world of espionage. In the main job Birds With Broken Wings, V is told the full story by Alex and Reed of a grueling operation they undertook in Medellín, Colombia, in the past.

This episode of the Medellín operation highlights the ruthlessness of the FIA, the structural vulnerabilities inherent in Reed’s team, and his tendency to ultimately resolve situations through violence. The target of the operation was Luis Hernandez, a major arms dealer who managed the smuggling of corporate technology under the protection of the Colombian president. Alex took on the extremely dangerous mission of stealing the identity of a technical engineer who was a close aide to Hernandez, and infiltrating the organization alone.

As preliminary preparation for the operation, it was a young Songbird (So Mi) who compiled the dossier investigating the backgrounds of the target and the person to be impersonated. However, there was one fatal omission in the seemingly perfect intelligence she had prepared. The real engineer had an “abnormal phobia of dogs.” During the infiltration, when one of Hernandez’s associates appeared with a Doberman, in a situation where she should have shown extreme fear of the dog, Alex unconsciously pet the dog and called it a “good boy.” Due to that momentary inconsistency, that slight human reaction, her perfect disguise was instantly seen through, and she found herself staring down the barrels of armed men’s guns.

The moment the covert operation collapsed, the action taken by Reed’s unit was not that of a meticulous intelligence agency, but an “annihilation” through overwhelming violence. Reed and his team “kicked down the door” and slaughtered Hernandez and his subordinates, leaving them in a sea of blood. Then, to cover up this catastrophe, the FIA fabricated a false report in their official announcement, claiming it was “the result of a fierce conflict between rival cartels.”

This episode should not be consumed merely as a heroic tale of the past. It demonstrates “the harshness of the spy world where a trivial omission of information can literally be fatal,” while simultaneously serving as a microcosm that foreshadows the subsequent fates of these three: “Songbird’s slight mistake,” “Alex falling into a crisis because of it,” and “Reed’s extremely violent resolution of the situation and subsequent cover-up.” Alex wished to escape the system, dreaming only of “retiring” from the FIA and spending the rest of her life in Monaco. She was not a blind puppet like Reed; because she faced reality, ironically, if one chooses Reed’s path (the route to capture Songbird), she meets a tragic death at the hands of Kurt Hansen.

3. Love and Hate with Songbird (So Mi): A Protector Forcing Servitude to the System

The relationship between Reed and Songbird (So Mi) is the very core of the most gruesome existential conflict in this work. Reed has a past where he “saved the life” of So Mi—who grew up in Brooklyn and, in her youth, was targeted for death by NetWatch and mega-corporations due to her exceptional Netrunning abilities—by pulling her into the FIA in the nick of time. In Reed’s subjective view, this was an act of absolute good, a righteous deed that rescued a helpless girl from certain death. However, from So Mi’s existential reality, it was merely the beginning of an endless hell where, in exchange for escaping “instant death,” she was forced into a straitjacket named the state, and her soul and body were gradually worn away as a “living weapon of mass destruction” used to access the abyss of the Blackwall that separates humanity from The Old Net.

Reed’s internal contradictions culminate here. He genuinely cares for So Mi, and upon learning the fact that she is being forced into reckless dives beyond the Blackwall by President Myers’ secret orders, and that her mind and body are being chipped away by AIs as the price, he firmly vows to save her. Yet, his version of “salvation” is always predicated on “keeping her under NUSA’s control” and “bringing her back to Myers to receive official medical treatment.” He stubbornly continues to avert his eyes from the fact that So Mi herself views Myers as the greatest threat to her life, and that she is convinced true freedom and healing can only be obtained by abandoning the country and fleeing to the Moon (an independent orbital medical facility).

So Mi betrayed everything in order to survive. She lied to the protagonist V, claiming “there is a cure for two,” orchestrated the crash of Space Force One carrying Myers to lure her into Dogtown, and even attempted to ensnare her former benefactor, Reed, in her schemes. Even so, Reed forgives her atrocious acts and reaches out to “rescue” her. This abnormal level of obsession is no longer pure affection or paternalism. It is nothing but selfish egoism and madness, an attempt to prove to himself that “his actions (his past choice to bring her into the FIA) were not a mistake.”

The disconnect in perception between the two can be organized into the following clear oppositional structure.

4. Comparison with Goro Takemura: The Duality of Loyalty and the Abandonment of Existence

In the lore of Cyberpunk 2077, to highlight the unique psychological structure of Solomon Reed, a comparison with Goro Takemura, another “fanatical loyalist” in the main story, is indispensable. Both devote their all to colossal power structures (the state and the megacorp), and are depicted as entities who either oppose or fight alongside the player (V) depending on the story’s branching paths.

Takemura is a “corporate samurai” serving the absolute monarch, Saburo Arasaka. Despite hailing from the slums, he feels infinite gratitude for being picked up, educated, and empowered by Arasaka. His loyalty is rooted in the feudal Japanese spirit of Bushido, characterized by his genuine belief that “the corporation known as Arasaka brings order to the world.” To him, the logic of the corporation is synonymous with the truth of the world.

In contrast, Reed pledges his loyalty to the “state” of NUSA and the “cause.” However, Reed’s case is even more grim than Takemura’s, carrying a stronger hue of psychological escapism. This is because Reed painfully understands from his own experience in 2070 that the FIA and Myers are not necessarily pure and innocent, and are an organization capable of cold-blooded betrayal. While Takemura believes in the cause despite knowing some of Arasaka’s darkness, Reed harbors a deep guilt that “he ruined the lives of others (So Mi and Alex),” and to justify that guilt, he has fallen into the circular reasoning that “the state he believed in must be right.”

From V’s perspective, although Takemura is an overwhelming threat, his behavioral principles are extremely clear and predictable, centered solely on “loyalty to his master.” On the other hand, Reed gently speaks words like “I’m doing this to save you,” while ruthlessly coming to strip away freedom from behind as a cog in the state machine. Because he deludes himself into thinking he is a “benevolent protector,” the madness Reed harbors is far more insidious than Takemura’s, perfectly embodying the “unconscious exploitation of the individual by a massive system” that cyberpunk literature critiques.

5. The True Face of Solomon Reed Revealed by the Branching Routes

In the endings of the expansion DLC, which branch based on the player’s (V’s) choices, the contradictions and madness harbored by Solomon Reed are exposed to the light of day in an irreversible manner.

5.1 The Abyss of Cynosure (Reed Route): Liberation through Destruction, or Eternal Servitude?

In the main job Firestarter, if one chooses the path of aiding Alex and Reed’s plan to neutralize and capture Songbird in the stadium right in front of Hansen (the prerequisite for branching to King of Pentacles / King of Cups), the situation heads toward the worst possible ruin. Realizing the betrayal, So Mi falls into a Cyberpsychosis-like rampage, annihilates the responding NCPD MaxTac squad, and flees into “Cynosure,” an abandoned facility deep underground where Militech once secretly researched Rogue AIs.

At the bottom of this lightless abyss, V discovers So Mi, whose mind and body have been largely corrupted by AIs that crossed the Blackwall, leaving her on the verge of almost completely losing her humanity. There, mustering the last of her human will, she desperately pleads with V, “Please, kill me.”

Choice: End So Mi’s Life (King of Cups) If V honors her wish, unplugs the cables connected to the life support core, and ends her suffering, Reed’s plan to “bring her back alive to the NUSA” completely collapses. Later, in the job Four Score and Seven, V reunites with Reed at the basketball court in Dogtown where they first met. He initially blames V for the unilateral killing and implies that, having lost So Mi, he has been given the cold shoulder by Myers as a “failed agent.” However, at the end of the dialogue, he admits a bitter defeat, saying, “Ultimately, you might have been right.” Only when confronted with the reality of So Mi’s absolute death does Reed lose any escape from the truth that “it was impossible for the NUSA to save her from the very beginning.” He is slightly freed (at least mentally) from the curse of the NUSA, and finds himself torn over whether to answer the summons from Washington D.C., in order to reexamine his own life. This ending is the most painful for him, but at the same time, it serves as his only catalyst for an “awakening.”

Choice: Keep So Mi Alive (King of Pentacles) On the other hand, if V ruthlessly rejects her plea, telling her, “I need the FIA’s help. So I need you alive,” and hands her over alive to the arriving Reed. Reed is relieved that he “saved her,” but in their later conversation at the basketball court, he shows a terribly hollow expression. This is because he realizes that although So Mi’s life was prolonged, she has been cast into a hell worse than death—kept alive with her ego sealed away, merely as President Myers’ “Blackwall puppet” to connect to the Blackwall. Through the loyalty he swore to the NUSA, Reed has completely obliterated the “soul” of the very person he wanted to save the most. He desperately tries to justify it by saying “this was for the best,” but his heart is eaten away by a bottomless void, and his former convictions have come crashing down.

5.2 The Duel at the Spaceport (Songbird Route): The Price of Freedom and the “Final Forgiveness”

If one chooses to trust So Mi in Firestarter and helps her escape the stadium, it leads to the final mission The Killing Moon, where a fierce pursuit unfolds set at Orbital Air’s Night City Spaceport (NCX). Carrying So Mi, who has reached her limit, V heads toward the shuttle bound for the Moon, only to be confronted by a heavily armed Reed acting under Myers’ direct orders.

Here, Reed mercilessly draws his gun on V and issues an ultimatum: “Put her down. Take another step, and I shoot.”

Choice: Shoot Reed and Send So Mi to the Moon (King of Wands) If V stubbornly refuses to hand over So Mi, a slow-motion duel (standoff) occurs on the rainy launch deck, and V must shoot Reed dead with their own hands. The moment the bullet pierces Reed’s chest, he collapses and quietly breathes his last. In this ending, Reed is finally liberated from the unbearable weight of his “duty to the state.” From his corpse, one can obtain the Iconic Tech Pistol “Pariah” (meaning an outcast or exile). He had always been a pariah of the organization, yet he clung to it. This death is the price for So Mi’s freedom, and at the same time, a kind of “salvation” for Reed. In community discussions, it is often said that “Reed subconsciously wanted someone to stop him, and perhaps realized that he could only escape the curse through death.” Furthermore, So Mi herself hoped that Reed would forgive her somewhere deep down, and V sending her to the Moon becomes a ritual of ultimate, agonizing parting for the two of them.

Choice: Hand So Mi Over to Reed (King of Swords) If, upon being told the fatal truth (betrayal) by So Mi during the train ride that “there is only enough cure for one,” V, out of despair and anger, opens comms with Reed and makes a deal. V sets So Mi down on the ground in front of the shuttle and hands her over to Reed. True to his word, Reed arranges for V’s life-saving treatment (the removal of the Relic) at an NUSA medical facility. This ending serves as a direct route to the new main story ending, “The Tower,” which will be discussed later.

5.3 The Ending of The Tower: Overwhelming Isolation and the Existential Terror of a “Quiet Life”

V, having received treatment in exchange for handing Songbird over to the NUSA, heads toward the new ending “The Tower,” unlocked by installing the expansion DLC. This ending is precisely a grand mechanism designed for the player themselves to experience the ultimate consequence of “exploitation by the state and castration in the name of safety,” which the man Solomon Reed embodies.

As a result of major surgery utilizing the NUSA’s advanced medical technology, the Relic is successfully removed, and V survives. However, the price was far too cruel. V falls into a long coma lasting two years, and upon waking, finds their nervous system severely damaged, regressed into a fragile, organic body incapable of using most Cyberware, let alone combat implants. Johnny Silverhand, who was in their head, is completely erased during the surgery, and former companions like Panam, Judy, and River have walked their own paths; the two years of time have decisively severed their relationships with V.

To V, who has lost everything—the power of Chrome, friends, and their reputation as a legendary Merc—Solomon Reed, who has taken a desk job training the next generation at Langley (CIA/FIA headquarters), reaches out. He offers V a safe desk job as an intelligence analyst for the NUSA. Reed’s attitude as he says, “I’ve got an office set up for you right next to mine. Come by whenever you’re ready,” is filled with pure goodwill. However, from the player’s perspective, this is a “castration in the name of protection” that is of the same nature as, or perhaps even more grotesque than, the Arasaka servitude contract in “The Devil” ending, one of the worst endings in Cyberpunk 2077.

This is the reason why many players shun “The Tower” ending. It is because they are completely stripped of the core of Existentialism in Night City—the right to “choose life and death by one’s own will and leave a name behind, even if it is short-lived (Blaze of Glory)“—and are ultimately reduced to a cog (NPC) of a corporation or state, as a powerless entity unable to even defend themselves in a city ruled by violence. Reed genuinely believes that V, now defanged and isolated, can “live a Quiet Life.” He completely lacks the imagination to understand the immensity of what V has lost (freedom, relationships, pride, the right to self-determination). This is because he himself is someone who, despite losing everything in 2070, accepted starting over as a “cog in the state.” He is merely forcing upon V the same “happiness of a defanged dog” that he himself experiences.

5.4 The Hidden Voicemail: A Man Who Cannot Understand the Freedom to Choose Death

On the path leading to “The Tower” ending, there exists a highly intriguing hidden element that symbolizes the philosophy of this work. If, on the rooftop just before undergoing surgery, or at the final stage of decision-making, V “rejects” the NUSA’s offer of treatment and chooses the path of facing death in the little time they have left (or the path toward other endings like Don’t Fear The Reaper), a secret voicemail from Solomon Reed plays during the end credits.

“I heard about your decision. I don’t understand it. You were one step away from living… When it comes to showing gratitude, the NUSA knows how. And yet, for no comprehensible reason, you chose to wait for death.” (Paraphrased)

This short message perfectly illustrates Reed’s psychological limits and the fact that he is completely assimilated into the system. Faced with the biological absolute imperative to “survive” and the safe option of “entering the protection of the state,” he truly cannot comprehend in the slightest why V would abandon that to choose “dying by their own will.”

Furthermore, in another message related to this secret route, it is mentioned that he is completely isolated in Dayton, Ohio, a “middle-of-nowhere country town,” without contacting anyone. This message strongly suggests the tragic fate of “V, who received treatment but left Night City and became completely isolated,” or the “absolute void of one severed from their own past.” What lies at the end of the “path to survival” that Reed offers out of “goodwill” is by no means glory or hope, but an overwhelming silence and isolation experienced only by those whose entire past has been denied.

6. Reminiscence at The Moth: The Metaphor of “Reprogramming” Shown by 1R-0NC-LAD

Around the stadium in Dogtown, the base of operations for Reed and Alex, there exists a bizarre piece of environmental storytelling that seems to metaphorically represent their fate. It is a hidden quest involving a broken robot named “1R-0NC-LAD,” hidden among the shipping containers of the stadium.

This robot has been abandoned by its owner and asks V to rebuild its system. When V collects the five software boxes and reboots the robot, the player is given three choices:

1. Wipe its memory (strip away its past).

2. Leave it as is (allow it autonomy, but as a result, the robot ends up killing a former acquaintance).

3. Use high Intelligence (Intelligence 15) to peacefully “reprogram” it, transforming it into a new entity that plays the guitar.

This series of processes overlaps astonishingly with what Reed attempted to do to So Mi, and what the NUSA attempts to do to Reed and V (the redefinition of V’s memories and abilities in The Tower ending). The state constantly seeks to “reprogram” individuals, remaking them into convenient cogs (or Blackwall weapons) for its own purposes. The only reason 1R-0NC-LAD could become a peaceful guitarist is that an individual named V was able to offer a path other than “servitude to the system.” However, Reed lacked that high Intelligence (philosophical insight in the truest sense), and could only think of wiping So Mi’s memory and initializing her into the system known as the NUSA.

Conclusion: The Clockwork State and the Demise of the Man Who Sold His Soul

Solomon Reed embodies another face of the “system,” distinct from corporate domination, in the world of Cyberpunk 2077. If massive multinational corporations like Arasaka and Militech directly grind humans down through capital and military force, the state power of the NUSA hacks the human mind from within using irresistible rhetoric such as “patriotism,” “the cause,” “loyalty,” and “protection,” causing them to voluntarily grind down their own souls.

He is neither a bloodthirsty murderer nor a cold-blooded psychopath. Rather, he is a “good and noble man” who constantly worries about the safety of his subordinates, always keeps a promise once made, and is entirely willing to sacrifice himself for others. That is precisely why the fact that his sublime goodness is utterly exploited to maintain the atrocious system of Myers’ ruthless ambitions is so supremely grotesque.

He tried to save Songbird from the brink of death, tried to give Alex a peaceful life in retirement, and tried to provide V with guaranteed life-saving treatment and a new workplace. However, deeply rooted at the foundation of all this was the totalitarian logic that “for the sake of the greater cause, the free will of the individual ought to be stripped away.” Songbird risking her life to flee to the Moon (freedom beyond), and V desiring a “Blaze of Glory,” were both ultimate rebellions, staking their very existence against this “being tamed and kept alive within the giant cage of the state (= the death of the soul).”

Reed’s gruesome way of life thrusts a poignant question upon us:

“When one entrusts their own beliefs and morals to a colossal power structure, to what extent can a person maintain their sanity while continuing to exercise madness?”

On the asphalt battered by the cold rain of Night City, or against the backdrop of the blinding exhaust flames of the shuttle heading to the Moon, Reed either takes a bullet to the chest and collapses, or learns the truth and stands paralyzed in despair. The “single phone call” he had been eagerly awaiting for seven years at Dino’s bar was never an order from the President announcing a new mission; perhaps it was a single bullet that would pierce his contradiction-filled existence and eternally liberate him from this endless hell of loyalty.