Chapter.12: Deadman & Heartman & Mama (Lockne) - The Scientists Who Supported the United Cities of America

The monumental undertaking of rebuilding America was not accomplished merely through the dissemination of political ideology or the physical restoration of logistics networks. At its core lay the painstaking dedication of brilliant scientists who unraveled the physical laws and metaphysics of a world shattered by the Death Stranding phenomenon, sublimating them into practical technological systems such as the “Chiral Network” and “Anti-BT weapons.” Deadman, Heartman, and the twins Mama and Lockne. Defined by Heartman as “Homo Faber” (Man the Maker), they are all beings who straddle the boundary between life and death with their own bodies and souls, harboring an unhealable sense of loss and deficiency.

This report traces their trajectory from Death Stranding to the latest installment, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, thoroughly unraveling the scientific and metaphysical causality behind the technologies they built, as well as the sorrowful subtleties of their emotions. Their story is deeply rooted in the ancient Egyptian concepts of “Ka” (soul) and “Ha” (body), serving as a modern myth that embodies the curse brought about by connections (strands) and the salvation that lies beyond. The personal tragedies they bear function directly as a microcosm of the resistance against the extinction facing all of humanity.

1. Basic Concepts: The Metaphysics of “Ka” (Soul) and “Ha” (Body) in Ancient Egyptian Mythology

To understand the highly peculiar modes of existence of these three (or four) individuals and the scientific theories they derived, it is necessary to premise the ancient Egyptian view of life and death, which is frequently mentioned in the game. As inspired by director Hideo Kojima and recorded in the in-game interview files such as “Egyptian Mummies, Pyramids, etc.” and “The Ancient Egyptian View of Life and Death,” Egyptian mythology posits that human existence is not a single element but consists of multiple spiritual and physical components.

In the worldview of Death Stranding, and in the philosophy of these scientists, the most important concepts are “Ka” and “Ha.” Ka refers to the “soul” or “vital essence,” a spiritual entity that leaves the body after physical death and heads to the afterlife (in this work, the “Beach” and “The Seam” beyond it). On the other hand, Ha means the “body” or “physical vessel,” serving as a physical anchor to keep the soul in the world of the living.

The reason ancient Egyptians created mummies was to protect and preserve the physical anchor (Ha) from decay, so that the Ka, having journeyed to the afterlife, could return to the world of the living. Furthermore, it was believed that the source of human consciousness and personality lay not in the brain but in the “heart (Jb)”; thus, during mummification, the brain was discarded, while only the heart was left inside the body or strictly preserved.

The Death Stranding phenomenon is precisely the state in which this law of separation and union between Ka and Ha has collapsed. Before the body (Ha) undergoes Necrosis, a soul (Ka) with lingering attachments to the living world forcefully attempts to return, giving birth to a BT (Beached Thing). When the matter of the living comes into contact with the antimatter of the dead, it triggers a Voidout. The scientists who supported the United Cities of America, ironically, all literally harbor this abnormal state of “separation, sharing, or deficiency of Ka and Ha” within their own bodies. Their science is not a mere armchair theory but the product of poignant self-reference, using their own bodies as test subjects.

2. Deadman: A Soulless Vessel of Flesh and the Sorrow of Frankenstein

Deadman is the leading expert in medical technology, Bridge Baby (BB) management, and BT research within the United Cities of America, yet his origins and very existence are the product of crossing ethical boundaries post-Death Stranding. As his name “Deadman” suggests, he is a sorrowful artificial human who deviates from the definition of the living, a man harboring the ultimate void of a soulless existence.

2.1 [Fact] Birth as Frankenstein’s Monster and the Turning Point in DS2

Deadman was not brought into this world through natural reproduction or a cesarean section. He was artificially cultured from iPS cells (stem cells), and his failing organs during his growth process were replaced with transplants from actual corpses (donors). A staggering 70% of his body (Ha) is made up of parts from other people’s corpses, and he refers to himself as “Frankenstein’s monster” with self-deprecation and resignation.

Due to this artificial origin, he has a fatal deficiency. He possesses no “soul (Ka)” and therefore has no “Beach” of his own. In the world of Death Stranding, not having a Beach means having “no destination after death” and “not being counted as a spiritual entity.” Because of this, he initially treated BBs merely as “equipment,” adopting a cold demeanor that disregarded their dignity as living beings.

However, in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, his mode of existence undergoes a dramatic and tragic transformation. His body, a patchwork of imperfect organs, finally reaches its limit, leading to his physical “death.” Yet, his story did not end there. After losing his body, he takes the astonishing action of remotely controlling the mysterious mechanical soldier “Red Samurai” from the Beach, saving Sam from dire predicaments time and again in Mexico and Australia. The Red Samurai possesses superhuman physical abilities and leaping power utilizing Tar, demonstrating combat prowess that overwhelms even Higgs. In Deadman’s old laboratory, several Red Samurai suits are hung, suggesting that he anticipated his own death and meticulously prepared these “new vessels” to support Sam from beyond the grave.

Furthermore, he has acquired the peculiar ability to hijack not only the Red Samurai but also his own corpse, or even Heartman’s body like a “puppet” while Heartman is asleep (in cardiac arrest), to interfere with the real world.

2.2 [Analysis] The Loneliness of a “Philosophical Zombie” and the Mechanism of Possession Brought by an Empty Ha

Why was he, who supposedly possessed no Ka, able to interfere with the living world from the Beach and control machines or the bodies of others in DS2? This metaphysical paradox is thought to be deeply related to his very “lack of a soul.”

2.2.1 Acquisition of a Soul as a Philosophical Zombie and Reaching the Beach

Deadman had long defined himself as a “philosophical zombie” (an entity that lacks inner experience or a soul but behaves exactly like a human). However, through his grueling journey with Sam and his interactions with Lou (BB-28), he acquired a spirituality of “love” and “self-sacrifice” that transcended a mere collection of parts. It is presumed that his Ka, which originally should not have existed, was formed a posteriori through strong “connections (strands)” with others. The depiction of him being on the Beach in the DS2 trailers and in-game signifies a literary salvation: “The monster who had no soul finally acquired his own soul and afterlife peace (the Beach) by loving others.”

2.2.2 The Metaphysical Mechanism of Body Hijacking (Possession)

The reason he can control Heartman’s body and the Red Samurai is none other than the fact that he himself was an entity specialized in “living by borrowing the parts (Ha) of others.” According to a prominent hypothesis (and in-game testimonies), a physical connection that transcends mere friendship exists between Deadman and Heartman. As mentioned that “Heartman has Deadman’s heart,” it is highly likely that after Deadman’s death, his organs (such as his heart) were transplanted into Heartman, or that they shared a relationship of sharing Ha in some form even while he was alive.

Freed from the yoke of the flesh and becoming pure energy of will, Deadman’s Ka can enter empty vessels where the binding of the soul (Ka) is loosened (such as the sleeping Heartman, his own corpse, or the unmanned machine, the Red Samurai) as if “transplanting” his own Ka. The Red Samurai fighting while playing BB’s Theme (a lullaby) was a sign for him to convey his true identity to Sam. Ironically, the reason Higgs was later able to hijack the Red Samurai was because Higgs, possessing greater power, imitated and overwrote the method devised by Deadman of “controlling an empty Ha from the Beach.”

His story is the embodiment of ultimate humanism, where a man who was nothing more than an artificial body (Ha) acquires a soul (Ka) through love and dedication, and even in death, rushes across dimensions to protect his friend.

3. Heartman: The Sisyphus of 21 Minutes and the Wandering Heart

Heartman (real name undisclosed) is the world’s foremost authority on the Death Stranding phenomenon, past mass extinctions, and the Beach. However, behind his calm and intellectual demeanor lies a sorrow akin to madness, repeating an eternally unrewarded penance like Sisyphus of Greek mythology. He continues to pursue a forever lost love while whittling away his own life.

3.1 [Fact] Death Every 21 Minutes and the Enlarged, Externalized Heart

In the original DS1, Heartman intentionally stops his heart every 21 minutes, spending “three minutes” on the Beach before being resuscitated by an automated external defibrillator. This maddening routine stems from the tragedy where a terrorist nuclear attack (Voidout) occurred while he was undergoing heart surgery, claiming the lives of his wife and child. When his life support stopped and he temporarily stood on the brink of death (the Beach), he witnessed his wife and daughter walking away toward “The Seam.” However, backup power was restored immediately after, pulling him back to the living world. Since then, to search for his family’s souls, he has repeated death and rebirth about 60 times a day, totaling over 218,549 times.

Due to the “Myocardial Cordiformia” he suffers from, his heart has literally deformed into a “heart shape (❤︎).” Furthermore, his Beach possesses the property of a “bypass (coronary artery) connecting to all Beaches,” similar to what other Extinction Entities (EE) have, which is also the factor that makes him an unparalleled Beach researcher.

In DS2, his condition has undergone an even more peculiar change. Due to the grueling repetition of death and resuscitation, his heart has enlarged to the point where it can no longer fit inside his body, beating within a transparent container attached to the outside of his chest. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, while he is asleep (or in cardiac arrest), his body is sometimes controlled by the supposedly dead Deadman.

3.2 [Analysis] The Mythology of the Heart (Jb) and the Curse Named Mourning

Heartman’s story is deeply connected to the concept of the “heart (Jb)” in Egyptian mythology. In Egyptian mythology, the heart is the seat of human consciousness and the soul, the most important organ weighed against the feather of truth in the judgment of the dead (the Court of Maat).

3.2.1 The Family That Did Not Become BTs and Heartman’s Karma

When he lost sight of his wife and child on the Beach, they quietly headed toward the sea (from The Seam to the afterlife) without becoming BTs. Normally, those with strong lingering attachments or grudges toward the living world remain as BTs. While his wife and child readily accepted death, only Heartman, left behind in the living world, is bound by the intense lingering attachment (ressentiment) of “obsession with his family,” tethering his own soul (Ka) between the living world and the Beach. The reason Heartman’s Beach has a peculiar structure is that his “heart = seat of the soul” rests not, constantly continuing to explore the Beaches of others. He harbors the painful contradiction of behaving like the dead while being among the living, pursuing a family that has accepted death.

3.2.2 The Meaning of the “Externalization of the Heart” in DS2

The state in DS2 where his heart is housed in an extracorporeal pod is a metaphysical metaphor that transcends medical limits. It can be said to be a metaphor for his sorrow and obsession no longer fitting within his personal interior (body) and overflowing into the physical world. Also, the fact that he shares a body with Deadman (having transplanted Deadman’s heart, or having a bypass of souls connected) suggests that they have transcended the framework of individual “Ha” and are in a symbiotic state, compensating for each other’s deficiencies.

As the boundary between the physical heart (organ) and the spiritual heart (soul) blurs, he continues to support Sam’s journey even while on the verge of self-collapse. His actions are both pure love for his family and the very “disease of mourning” that cannot permit his own death. The day he finds true peace may not arrive until his own heart completely stops and the boulder of Sisyphus comes to rest at the summit.

4. Mama and Lockne: A Shared Soul (Ka) and the Architecture of Connection

Mama (real name: Malingen) and Lockne are the genius twin scientists who jointly built the Chiral Network. Mama handled the hardware, and Lockne handled the software; their very existence has become a symbol of the United Cities of America’s communication infrastructure. They are goddesses who embody both the miracles brought about by connection and the gruesome tragedies it causes.

4.1 [Fact] One Ka and Two Ha, and the Destruction of APAS

They were born as conjoined twins to parents who worked at NASA before the Death Stranding. Even after undergoing separation surgery, they remained in the highly peculiar state of “sharing one soul (Ka) across two bodies (Ha).” They possessed telepathy, reading each other’s thoughts without exchanging words, and this state of sharing a soul was the very inspiration for the Chiral Network (Q-pid).

However, an irreversible tragedy occurred when Mama was trapped under rubble during a terrorist attack. The child she was carrying as a surrogate for the infertile Lockne died in the rubble and remained as a BT. Mama’s body (Ha) should have met its death at that point, but the umbilical cord (spiritual strand) of the baby turned BT tethered her to the living world, and her time completely stopped. Her body did not undergo Necrosis, entering a state of “being alive while being a corpse” in the space between life and death.

When Sam severed the umbilical cord, the baby BT passed on, and Mama’s body finally met its death. However, her soul (Ka) did not vanish; instead, it migrated to the body (Ha) of her counterpart, Lockne. With Lockne’s right eye changing to the same blue as Mama’s, they reached a state where “two minds coexist in one body.”

Although their appearances in DS2 are limited, they play a crucial role that shakes the very foundation of the story. The AI system “Automated Porter Assistance System” operated by the private company Automated Public Assistance Company was plotting a plan to fuse the souls of 4,000 victims of past Voidouts in the United Cities of America with servers, forcibly trapping humanity within the network to stagnate evolution (a dystopian managed society to escape the fear of death). Lockne (and Mama living within her) conspired with Die-Hardman and secretly embedded a “kill switch” into the software of the new Q-pid created for the Automated Porter Assistance System. The moment Australia was connected to the network, this kill switch activated, severing the connection between the 4,000 souls and the Automated Porter Assistance System program, liberating them from eternal stagnation. In the ending, they are seen heading to the Beach in pursuit of Higgs.

4.2 [Analysis] The Philosophy of Connection and Severance, and the Intersection of Motherhood and Technology

The story of Mama and Lockne condenses the fundamental theme of Death Stranding: the obsession brought about by “connection” and the true liberation achieved through “severing” it.

4.2.1 The Strand Named Fetus (BT) and the Curse of Motherhood

What bound Mama within the rubble of the living world was her intense motherhood and obsession with her dead baby (the future). Born from the dual motherhood of Lockne’s egg and Mama’s womb, that child was the proof of their own existence and hope itself. Severing the umbilical cord by Sam’s hand seemingly signifies a cruel parting (the acceptance of death). However, it was ultimately an inevitable rite of passage to release Mama’s soul from its chains and regain the “original perfect union” with Lockne. Here lies the paradox that to achieve a true connection, one must sometimes sever old obsessions.

4.2.2 The Metaphysical Significance of the Automated Porter Assistance System (Automated Public Assistance Company) and the Kill Switch

Her greatest achievement in DS2, the “kill switch for the Automated Porter Assistance System,” is highly symbolically linked to her own past trauma. The Automated Porter Assistance System was a system that attempted to trap the souls (Ka) of 4,000 people who had lost their bodies (Ha) into an “artificial Ha” known as a data server, aiming to stagnate them eternally. This perfectly aligns with the situation where Mama was once tethered to the BT of her dead baby beneath the rubble, her time having stopped.

It is precisely because Lockne (and Mama) had the experience of being liberated from eternal stagnation through “severance” that they could design a kill switch to cut off false connections (the exploitation of souls by the system). As a fusion of hardware (physical binding) and software (spiritual liberation), they rejected the digital connections that strip away humanity and restored the natural cycle of souls. They can be called true saviors who refused to retreat into a shell out of fear of extinction, choosing instead to advance toward a true future, even if it meant getting hurt.

5. Integration of the Science of the Beach: Structural Contrast of Facts and Analysis

The metaphysical states of these three (or four) individuals who supported the United Cities of America are each built upon an abnormal balance of “Ka” (soul) and “Ha” (body). While harboring their own deficiencies, they compensate for one another, forming a single massive “network of life and death.” The table below compares and integrates their modes of existence.

The reason they were able to invent the Chiral Network and anti-BT technologies was not merely due to their high intelligence. They themselves were incorporated as part of the Death Stranding phenomenon, and by literally making the deficiencies of their own bodies and souls the subjects of observation and experimentation, they were able to reach the truth of the world for the first time. It is no exaggeration to say that their very existence was the scientific foundation of the United Cities of America.

Conclusion: The Curse of “Connection” and the Resistance Against Extinction Beyond It

Deadman, Heartman, and Mama and Lockne. The story of these “Homo Faber” (Man the Maker) is filled with the overwhelming brilliance of intellect (science) while simultaneously enveloped in a despairing sorrow (poetry).

Deadman was ashamed of his soulless self, mocking himself as a monster outside the circle of the living, yet he cared for his friend (Sam) and Lou more humanely than anyone else, wielding a sword across dimensions. Heartman could not cease mourning his lost family, whittling away his life to the point where his own heart deformed and became exposed outside his body, yet he continued to unravel the mysteries of the world to save humanity. Mama and Lockne tasted the despair of losing a beloved child and half of themselves, yet they integrated their souls and created the key to liberate thousands of souls trapped in false connections.

The science of the United Cities of America that they built is by no means a collection of cold logic. It is the crystallization of a poignant “prayer” attempting to fill the massive void named loss. Just as the ancient Egyptians created mummies wishing for the eternal life of the dead and prepared a place (Ha) for the soul to return, they too built an infrastructure (vessel) for the people living in a shattered world to connect once again.

In Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, the danger of technology sometimes transforming into an inhuman control system like the Automated Porter Assistance System was suggested. A dystopia that attempts to escape extinction by digitizing souls, even if it means halting evolution. However, what shattered that system was also the science and technology they wove, and above all, human “will.” The scientific achievements and metaphysical explorations they left behind continue to illuminate the future of Sam and humanity as the most powerful weapons to break the curse brought about by connection and resist the inevitable fate of extinction. Through their own deficiencies, they proved to the world the true form of “connection” that humanity must never lose.