Chapter.07: Clifford Unger (Cliff) - The Robbed Father, A Ghost Wandering the Battlefield

Introduction: The Singularity Trapped on the “Beach” Called the Battlefield

In the North American continent, where the boundary between life and death has collapsed due to the “Death Stranding” phenomenon, and which is covered in otherworldly Tar and the time-robbing rain (Timefall), ghosts of the past wander the world of the living as purposeless Beached Things (BTs). In this world of nothingness, where countless souls attack the living driven only by a blind thirst for life, there is a single entity that maintains an exceptionally unique will, a resilient ego, and a human appearance. This is the “Combat Veteran”—Clifford Unger (commonly known as Cliff).

This report aims to reconstruct and unravel the full picture of Clifford Unger, the character who embodies the deepest sorrow and the most gruesome tragedy in the narrative world of Death Stranding, based on scattered records and metaphysical phenomena. He is neither a mere vengeful spirit nor an Extinction Entity (EE) leading the world to its demise. He is the embodiment of a father who was unreasonably robbed of his beloved family by the violence of power and a “totalitarian cause,” and who continues to wander the battlefield transcending time and space solely to reclaim his child from the literal “brink of death.”

This article reconstructs Cliff’s life, death, and posthumous behavioral principles as established facts (lore). Furthermore, through the paradox of the “Rope” and the “Stick” in Kobo Abe’s literary philosophy, the views on life and death regarding “Ha” (body) and “Ka” (soul) in ancient Egyptian mythology, and a comparison with the new character Neil Vana in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, it deeply examines the existential themes of “connection” and “disconnection” presented by his existence. In this desolate world where intellect and sorrow intersect, we trace the trajectory of the bullets and lullabies left behind by Cliff.

2. [Facts] The Life and Death of Clifford Unger

Based on facts constructed from hologram archives, testimonies of those involved, and fragmented memory flashbacks, the personal history of Clifford Unger and the causality that drove him to the brink of death are defined below.

2.1 The Combat Veteran and His Philosophy as a “Protector of Life”

Before the Death Stranding phenomenon irreversibly transformed the world, Cliff was a capable captain in the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets), a soldier who traversed the world’s most severe conflict zones, including Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo. His remarkable humanity lay in the fact that, even on battlefields where death and violence were everyday occurrences, he possessed an absolute sense of responsibility and deep affection, determined to “always bring his subordinates back alive.” John Blake McClane (Die-Hardman), who would later become the director of Bridges and the highest authority in the United States, was once one of his subordinates and had his life saved by Cliff numerous times on the battlefield.

Within the ultimate apparatus of violence that is the battlefield, Cliff paradoxically functioned as a “protector of life.” This fact forms an extremely vivid and cruel contrast with the cold utilitarianism he would later face—the ideology of the United Cities of America (UCA) and Bridges, which advocated “sacrificing young lives for the greater cause and future of the nation.”

2.2 The Tragedy of Lisa (Anomalisa) and the Dark Side of the BB Project

After retiring from the military, Cliff and his wife, Lisa, were blessed with a new life. He was supposed to abandon his blood-stained past and lead a peaceful life as a father. However, due to an unforeseen accident, Lisa fell into a brain-dead state. Lisa, who barely escaped Necrosis thanks to life support systems, and the premature baby residing in her womb, were housed in an isolation facility run by Bridges.

What is noteworthy here is the fact that Cliff called his wife Lisa by the unique pet name “Anomalisa.” This is a coined word combining “Anomaly” and “Lisa.” As a literary and cultural background, this has been confirmed as a clear homage to the 2015 stop-motion animated film Anomalisa, which deeply impressed director Hideo Kojima. In that film, for the protagonist suffering from a delusional disorder where every person in the world has the same face and voice (a world homogenized and enveloped in loneliness and nothingness), the only singularity (Anomaly) with a different voice was a woman named “Lisa.” For Cliff, who had lived in a homogenized world of death and violence as a soldier, it can be interpreted that Lisa and his unborn child were the only “singularities” in a sterile world, serving as the salvation that proved his own humanity.

However, the true objective of Bridges (and practically, President Bridget Strand) was not Lisa’s treatment or humanitarian aid. Their goal was to process the fetus of the Stillmother into a biological component and communication weapon known as a “Bridge Baby (BB),” serving as a human sacrifice to construct the “Chiral Network,” an extra-dimensional communication system connecting the world of the dead (the Beach) and the world of the living. While Cliff believed in his wife’s recovery, offering cake to his child in the pod, singing, and talking to them, a ruthless, nation-scale experiment was progressing behind the scenes.

2.3 The Rescue Operation, the Fatal Bullet to His Wife, and the Birth of a Repatriate

Upon learning the truth unfolding in the depths of the facility, Cliff plotted a desperate operation to rescue his child with the help of John Blake McClane, his former subordinate who was then part of Bridges’ security forces. John tampered with the facility’s systems, forging Lisa’s vital signs in an attempt to let Cliff escape.

However, they could not evade Bridget’s surveillance network, and the plan was exposed. Completely surrounded within the facility and with nowhere to run, Cliff made a heartbreaking vow to his brain-dead wife, Lisa, that they would “always be together,” and shot her in the head with his own hands to release her from the endless agony of the experiments. Ultimately, under strict orders from Bridget Strand, John Blake McClane pointed his gun at his former benefactor, Cliff. Cliff fell to the fatal bullets of his former subordinate and the state, still holding his child (Sam, who was a BB) in his arms.

In this gruesome tragedy, the infant (Sam) taken from his father was also caught in the crossfire and lost his life. However, on the Beach, which serves as The Seam, he was exceptionally resurrected by Amelie (Bridget’s soul and an Extinction Entity), becoming the first “Repatriate” in human history. This very event became the primordial causality that opened the door from the sea of death to the world of the living, triggering the Death Stranding phenomenon in earnest.

3. [Analysis] Decoding Cliff’s Battle Through Kobo Abe’s “Rope” and “Stick”

To examine Cliff’s story more deeply in a literary and philosophical context, the concepts presented in Kobo Abe’s literature, particularly his short stories “Rope” and “Stick” (or the lineage of works like Irrelevant Death and The Cliff of Time), are indispensable keys. In Kobo Abe’s philosophy, which is also quoted at the beginning of Death Stranding, the “Stick” is defined as humanity’s oldest tool to keep away negative space (malice and danger), while the “Rope” is the second tool, used to pull good things and things one wishes to keep close.

3.1 The Soldier as a “Stick” of Defense and the Father as a “Rope” of Love

As a soldier, Cliff was an entity who had mastered the “Stick” (violence and exclusion) in the form of firearms to protect the national interests of his country and the lives of his subordinates. However, what he truly craved at the endpoint of his life was not a stick to keep others away, but a “Rope” (love and connection) to tie down the irreplaceable existence of his wife and child.

Paradoxically, the United Cities of America (UCA), under the leadership of Bridget Strand, was attempting to forcibly connect a divided humanity using a massive “Rope” known as the Chiral Network. However, the material used to weave that “Rope” was the inhumane “violence (Stick)” of sacrificing innocent infants (BBs). The state exercised “exclusion (Stick)” to create “connection (Rope),” and Cliff was ultimately forced to take up the “Stick (gun)” himself to protect his “connection (Rope).” This ultimate twist and contradiction form the existential tragedy of Clifford Unger.

3.2 The Paradox of Reclaiming the Bond (Rope) Stolen by Bullets (Stick)

After death, when Cliff, stranded on the Beach, appears before Sam (the player), he always manifests a battlefield (a spacetime distortion caused by a supercell) that embodies the history of the “Stick” (slaughter) waged by humanity—the trenches of World War I, the urban warfare of World War II, and the jungles of the Vietnam War. He summons and commands skeleton soldiers (the ghosts of the subordinates he once led) from the mud, and while firing the “Stick” of an automatic rifle, he continues to wander single-mindedly in search of his lost “BB (Rope).”

At the root of his posthumous behavioral principles is the endless paradox of continuing to exercise the “Stick” (the violence of the battlefield) in order to reclaim the “Rope” (his beloved child). The sorrow of this contradictory struggle is highlighted by the beautiful melody of “BB’s Theme,” which Cliff hums and which echoes in the intervals of battle throughout the game.

“See the sun set. The day is ending… Though I, can’t stay with you. Oh I, won’t stray away from the truth. I, remember your warmth… And I’m, still learning to love anew.”

These lyrics—expressing that amid the sunset (a metaphor for global extinction), though he cannot stay with his loved one, he will never forget their warmth (connection = Rope)—are the ultimate elegy directed from Cliff to his child. He is forced into a struggle to reclaim his “connection” on an eternal battlefield of death.

3.3 The Existential Significance of “Disconnection” in an SNS Society and Excessive Connection

This narrative structure is also directly linked to director Hideo Kojima’s sharp critique of the theme of the pros and cons of “excessive connection” in modern SNS society. Modern society has lost the “Stick” to maintain an appropriate distance from others, and everyone is forcibly tied together by digital “Ropes.” The resulting consequences are the runaway of empathy, the loss of privacy, and the increase of mental entropy. This is exactly the world of Death Stranding itself, where information and souls are muddled, and excessive connection triggers a Voidout.

Cliff’s battle depicts how the “true connection” (parental love) held by an individual is trampled upon by the “totalitarian connection” (Chiral Network) forced by the state and the system, and how one resists it. Cliff’s act of ultimately discarding his gun (Stick) and embracing Sam is nothing less than an existential resistance—retying the original “Rope,” which had been sterilely managed and severed by the system, through the absolute will of an individual.

4. Metaphysical Causality: Ancient Egyptian Mythology and the Eternal Wandering of the “Ka” (Soul)

The worldview of Death Stranding, particularly the mechanism of the “boundary between life and death,” is strongly rooted in the views on life and death in ancient Egyptian mythology. As clearly mentioned in the vast interview files present in the game, the ancient Egyptians believed that humans were composed of two elements: the “Ha” (body) and the “Ka” (soul, or life force).

4.1 The Necrosis of the “Ha” (Body) and the Lost “Ka” (Soul)

The essence of the Death Stranding phenomenon in the physical laws of this world is a phenomenon where the “Ha” (body) meets death and undergoes Necrosis, causing the “Ka” (soul), which has lost its vessel (anchor) to remain in this world, to wander from the Beach (the boundary realm between the afterlife and this world) into the world of the living. When wandering souls (BTs) come into contact with the living while possessing antimatter properties, it triggers a massive explosion known as a Voidout.

4.2 The Truth of an Entity That is Neither a BT nor an Extinction Entity (EE)

Ordinary BTs are merely the remnants of “Ka” (souls) that have lost their intellect and personal memories, groping around the world of the living driven only by a blind attachment to life. On the other hand, an Extinction Entity (EE) like Amelie (Samantha America Strand) is a higher being integrated into the cycle of Earth’s biological evolution, overseeing the network of death (the Beach) itself and freely controlling her own death and the resurrection of others.

However, when organizing the facts from the perspective of a lore scholar, it becomes clear that Cliff is an extremely unique entity (Anomaly) belonging to neither category. He forms his own independent domain (battlefield) within the network of the Beach while perfectly retaining his memories from life, tactical intellect, and human form. According to the lore, Cliff possesses absolutely no transcendent power to manipulate life and death (the abilities of an Extinction Entity). The causality behind his maintaining a solid form as the unique “Combat Veteran” cannot be dismissed with mere words like “lingering attachment to the living world.” It is the crystallization of pure spiritual energy—“love and obsession as a father”—strong enough to resist even the increase of entropy in the universe.

His own “Ha” (body) has already been destroyed by John Blake McClane and Bridget. His “Ka” (soul) actively continues to wander the eternal purgatory of the battlefield, seeking not his own lost body, but the stolen “other vessel” (the BB, which is his future itself).

4.3 Coincidence with the Myth of Osiris, King of the Underworld

From an analytical standpoint, Cliff’s existential structure functions as a mythological metaphor for “Osiris” (King of the Underworld) in Egyptian mythology. Osiris was once a great king who lived in the mortal world, but he was murdered through the machinations of his brother Set (corresponding in Death Stranding to John, who was forced into betrayal, and Bridget, who seized hegemony), his body torn to pieces, and he became the ruler of the world of the dead (Duat = the Beach). Cliff, too, had his body and family torn apart by the system of the state, and reigns as the king of the battlefield leading an army of the dead.

The sight of him summoning skeleton soldiers from the mud of Tar and manipulating them at will perfectly resonates with the figure of Osiris, who presides over the flooding (rebirth) of the Nile’s mud and commands the dead. And just as Horus, the orphaned son of Osiris, later avenges his father and becomes the king of the living world, Sam (Horus), the orphaned son of Cliff, is burdened with the mission to reconnect the worlds of the living and the dead.

5. The Unbreakable Curse: Die-Hardman’s Confession and the Punishment of Forgiveness

In discussing Cliff’s tragedy and its influence, the existence of John Blake McClane, also known as Die-Hardman, is inseparable. John’s psychological collapse and the decades-long curse he bore highlight the spiritual immensity of the entity known as Cliff.

In the final stages of the story, after returning from Amelie’s Beach and with all the truths of the past finally revealed, Die-Hardman, who has assumed the office of the new President of America, falls weakly to his knees before Sam, removes the mask (persona) that had covered his face for many years, and wails. The intense guilt of having shot to death with his own hands his commanding officer, Cliff—whom he respected and loved the most—even if it was under state orders, continued to torment his soul even after more than 30 years had passed.

“I loved him, as much as I loved her.”

The true tragedy of this soul’s confession lies in the fact that, right before his death, Cliff never resented John for shooting him, but rather died offering words of “forgiveness” that seemed to show concern for him. The “unconditional forgiveness” left by the dying can become an “absolute punishment (eternal Stick)” for the living who pulled the trigger, more cruel than any condemnation. Cliff’s tolerance was etched into the depths of John’s soul as an original sin that could never be atoned for, binding him to an existence where he literally could not die (Die-Hard).

At this time, there is a depiction where Sam is so unresponsive to the tear-soaked Die-Hardman begging for forgiveness that he appears cold, and attempts to walk away. This is not because Sam is cold-hearted, but simply because he himself had finally been freed from the “curse of the past known as Cliff,” and was looking toward the “future (the living)” rather than the old men trapped by the conventions of the past. Sam ultimately returns the gun that John once pointed at Cliff back to John himself, telling him, “That gun won’t help you here.” This was, borrowing Kobo Abe’s context, a ritual of existential forgiveness and an appointment to the future from the son who inherited Cliff’s blood (Sam) to Die-Hardman, meaning: “Let go of the ‘Stick’ (gun) used to judge past sins or exclude others, and from now on, hold the ‘Rope’ to guide the nation.”

6. The Ghost of a New Era: Structural Comparison and Repetition with Neil Vana in DS2

After Cliff’s soul was completely saved in the original Death Stranding, the latest installment, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, introduces a new character, “Neil Vana,” played by Luca Marinelli, as the structural and spiritual successor to his story. As director Hideo Kojima clearly stated, “Because I love Cliff deeply, I will not have him appear in DS2. The easy resurrection of a dead character would ruin the sense of loss and beauty left by his story,” Cliff’s own story is complete. However, the universal theme he left behind—“the love of an individual falling victim to a massive system (the state)“—is varied in a new form through Neil.

6.1 The Structure of Repeated Extinction and Tragedy

As a matter of fact (lore), Neil Vana is a character burdened with deep tragedy, having a profound connection with Lou (Louise) and Sam’s wife, Lucy, and is said to have been involved in past smuggling operations from Mexico and the unprecedented Voidout (the annihilation of UCA-01-032) that occurred before DS1. Just as Cliff was robbed of his wife and child by Bridges (the will of the state), Neil, too, had his loved one (Lucy) torn away by a massive fate and the ulterior motives of an organization, and was driven to ruin.

6.2 The Psychological Contrast Between the Commander (Cliff) and the Prisoner (Neil)

Both are extremely similar in their in-game roles, “appearing clad in military uniforms (or similar gear) accompanied by soldiers in the sea of Tar (the Beach).” However, there is a decisive contrast in their internal psychological states and metaphysical modes of existence.

Cliff was a “Commander (King)” who commanded his past subordinates (skeleton soldiers) with his own strong will and actively dominated the battlefield toward a clear objective (the reclamation of his BB). In contrast, Neil is depicted as a “Prisoner” in his own Beach (mental landscape), forcibly dragged out while blindfolded, handcuffed, and gagged by the surrounding Tar soldiers.

Analytically speaking, while Cliff’s Beach was constructed from “anger against absurdity and an obsession with reclamation,” Neil’s Beach is constructed from “self-hatred and intense guilt over failing to protect his beloved Lucy and Lou.” If Cliff is the incarnation of a blade directed at others (the system), Neil is the incarnation of self-harm, continuously punishing himself.

The following table summarizes the differences in their metaphysical modes of existence and themes.

6.3 The Narrative Perfection Proven by Cliff’s Absence

In some communities, there is a critical view that Neil’s appearance is a “structural repetition” of Cliff’s story and merely a rehash. However, from the expert standpoint of the lore (narrative background), this very repetition embodies the essence of the Death Stranding phenomenon: “repeated extinction and tragedy (the spiral of entropy).” Precisely because the intense “ghost of the past” known as Cliff made a beautiful exit, it was necessary in the world of DS2 for a ghost with a new sorrow (Neil) to fill that void and prove the repetition of history. Cliff’s absolute absence itself endorses his perfection as a character and the universality of the themes he left behind.

Conclusion: The Curse of “Connection” and the Paternal Figure as a Bridge to the Future

The reason Clifford Unger repeatedly stood before Sam and dragged him across spacetime to the Beach of the battlefield was not out of madness or malice. It was the wailing of a soul blindly searching for the love (Rope) that had been severed by absurd violence (Stick). He remained a father who had been robbed, even in death.

In the final stages of the story, after repeated fierce battles, Cliff finally arrives at the truth. The baby on the chest (Lou) he had relentlessly pursued was not his own BB; rather, the young man before him who had defeated him time and again, Sam Porter Bridges, was his own son whom he had once risked his life to protect. The moment the souls of parent and child resonated across thirty years of time and the boundary between life and death through the whistled melody (BB’s Theme) played by Sam, the madness of a war demon dwelling in Cliff’s eyes vanished, returning to the gentle gaze of a father.

Cliff tears off the dog tags that symbolize the state that killed him, tightly embraces his grown son, and declares:

“I realized Lou is not my BB… You are my bridge to the future.”

This single phrase is the ultimate sublation of the “Stick” and the “Rope” in Kobo Abe’s philosophy. Cliff let go of the “Rope” of attachment trying to forcibly tie down the past, and fully affirmed the very existence of Sam as a “Bridge” leading to the future. He accepted the chain of biological evolution: by sacrificing himself, he connected his son to the world of the living, and that son would further reconnect a divided world.

In a world of nothingness where The Sixth Extinction known as the Death Stranding approaches and excessive connection drives humanity to madness, the trajectory of Clifford Unger is a metaphysical proof that no matter how absurdly life and bonds are stolen, the human spirit can transcend even spacetime (the Beach) through the absolute connection called “love.”

He sublimated from a ghost wandering the battlefield into a father entrusting the future, discarding his name (Unger/Anger) and returning to eternal silence. The reverberation of love he left behind continues to echo even now in the wasteland where the Timefall pours, as a beautiful lullaby connecting humanity.