Johnny Silverhand

Johnny Silverhand, born Robert John Linder, was a famous and influential rockerboy and lead singer of the band Samurai before its breakup in 2008. A military veteran who defined the rockerboy movement as it is known today, Silverhand was the most prominent figure who fought against the corrupted NUSA government and megacorporations, often being described as a terrorist because of this. Despite being charismatic and quite the charmer, he is also known to be irrational, impulsive, and manipulative.

Silverhand got his nickname from the silvery bionic left arm he had implanted after losing his actual arm in the Second Central American War. Most probably one of the early victims of cyberpsychosis as a result, he then became very temperamental and "on the edge." He is described in one interview as having been driven by "dedication and ambitions, but at the end of the day, he doesn't care much for the people around him as long as they are used to accomplish his goals."

Eventually, Silverhand was killed by Adam Smasher during the Night City Holocaust on August 20th, 2023. However, his consciousness was saved as an engram and stored on a Relic after his encounter with Smasher, but just prior to his bodily death. The engram is not Silverhand's actual consciousness, but instead a digital replication of his personality which, when copied onto Relic 2.0, is engineered to overwrite itself onto its host like a virus.

1988 - 2000s
Robert John Linder was born in College Station, Texas, on November 16th, 1988. Growing up, he became a massive fan of Wendy O. Williams and came to consider her the toughest rockergirl ever.

John enlisted in the military as a teenager after lying about his real age, and it didn't take long for him to see action. He was sent to Nicaragua to participate in the Second Central American War of 2003. While in in the war, John's life was purportedly saved by a friend who died protecting him.

Perpetrated by a corrupt and manipulative US Government, the conflict was devastating. When the government's secrets were exposed, many of the American soldiers dropped their banners and fought back by deserting the military. In response, however, the government used its influence to launch a powerful propaganda campaign against these former soldiers and convinced the American public to despise them as deserters.

John was one of the soldiers who decided he would no longer fight in the corrupt war that ultimately led to him losing his arm and his friend. He left for Night City, staying at the Hotel Pistis Sophia for a whole month after his arrival. The military and the war had changed his life forever.

John changed his name to Johnny Silverhand, with his new surname referencing the bionic arm he had implanted to replace his left arm. Johnny thus began his mission of rebellion and exposing corruption by starting a rock band that would eventually be known as Samurai. He started this band with his friend, Kerry Eurodyne, originally only playing in backstreet clubs.

Johnny's and Kerry's first ever gig was in the Red Dirt, a small bar in Night City. At some point in 2003, while they were playing in a bar called Rainbow Cadenza, a producer named Jack Masters discovered them and signed them to Universal Recording. Samurai was comprised of the co-founders, Johnny and Kerry, as well as Denny, Nancy Hartley, and Henry.

Johnny's music became revolutionary, kickstarting the rockerboy movement and becoming an overnight sensation. He, along with Samurai itself, rose to the top of the US music charts in record time. Despite their success, however, Samurai struggled to maintain as personal issues rose to the surface.

During this time, Samurai's keyboard player, Nancy, was in an abusive relationship. She reached a point in the relationship where she could no longer stand the abuse, and she pushed her boyfriend out of a window. After the NCPD discovered the body, Nancy was arrested and taken to prison.

Without Nancy, Samurai struggled to stay together and finally split up in 2008. Johnny was still one of the most popular musicians at the time, however, and he planned to use his star power to launch a solo career in which to continue pushing his anti-corporation and anti-government message. By then, DBS Music wanted to sign Johnny so desperately that they blackmailed him, threatening to reveal his true identity as a deserter of the Second Central American Conflict.

In defiance of DBS Music's attempts to blackmail him, Johnny instead signed once again with Universal Music. He then released a complete album entitled " SINS of Your Brothers ," in which he admitted to being a deserter and revealed all the terrible actions the government had ordered its military to carry out. The album was wildly successful and changed public perception on what it meant to be a deserter.

2010s
Johnny continued his rebellious campaign into the 2010s. During this time, he performed his famous free benefit concert in Japantown to call attention to the brutal methods the NCPD used to quell the Homeless Riots. Johnny's relationship with Rogue Amendiares also ended at some point in 2011 after she discovered that he had cheated on her.

After giving a concert at The Hammer on August 4th in 2013, Johnny re-connected with his former girlfriend, Alt Cunningham. When the two went for a walk together that night, they were ambushed by a group of thugs hired by Arasaka. The thugs injured Johnny severely and kidnapped Alt as a helpless Johnny watched them take off in a van.

On the 5th of August, 2013, Johnny gathered a strike team consisting of his ex-girlfriend and solo, Rogue, media reporter Lyle Thompson, and the nomad leader of the Aldecaldos, Santiago, in order to infiltrate the Arasaka Towers in Night City to save Alt. As a diversion, he called in a favor from all the members of his old band. Samurai gathered together to perform an entirely free show directly in front of the complex.

Samurai's performance led to a riot aimed at the tower as troops were called in to control the situation. Unbeknownst to Johnny at this time, Arasaka had kidnapped Alt specifically to force her to develop a new version of the Soulkiller software she had written for ITS. In a panic reaction to the attack, Toshiro Harada used Soulkiller on Alt while the assault took place, trapping her inside the Arasaka mainframe.

As Johnny and his team infiltrated the tower, Alt attempted to find a way to escape the Arasaka mainframe and return to her body. The team reached the room where Toshiro and Akira were keeping Alt, and as a rage-fueled Johnny came upon Toshiro standing over Alt, he shot Toshiro dead. Johnny then disconnected Alt from the netrunning chair she was plugged into, assuming she had died as he gathered her still warm body in his arms.

Behind the wall of monitors, a disembodied Alt screamed out to Johnny, but he could not hear her.

After the assault on the tower, Johnny and Santiago left Night City and went into hiding with the Aldecaldos nomad family. In 2015, the two finally returned to the USA from Mexico City. Little is known of what Johnny did during this time, but it was around 2015 that a firefighter by the name of Samantha Stevens saved him from a fire in one of his studios.

2020s
Around 2020, Johnny gave an interview in which he reminisced about a girl he had fallen for. She had told him she was born in Miami around 2004, as she could still remember the destruction of Tampa. Johnny mentioned that she had a biosculpt smile and blue Teknics 2350 eyes, though he did not care how much of her was "real."

On August 20th, 2023, Johnny and Morgan Blackhand, alongside Rogue, Shaitan, Thompson, and Spider Murphy, led a Militech assault team on the Arasaka Towers in Night City, with the intention of destroying the towers with a mini nuke and ultimately ending the Fourth Corporate War. Johnny had another reason for going back to the towers, however: he wanted to find Alt Cunningham. There were more than a few obstacles in the way of this personal objective.

After successfully liberating Alt, Johnny's team was pinned down in the tower labs by Arasaka forces and Adam Smasher. Johnny, who had barely managed to find cover, was conflicted on what to do next. He felt that during his first attack on the towers, he had failed Alt, and was determined this time not to fail her again.

With a Militech SMG in one hand and his Malorian Arms in the other, Johnny resolved to leave cover, shouting at and provoking Smasher while emptying his ammo into the borg. Smasher, surprised at Silverhand's audacity, whipped around and fired his auto-shotgun at Silverhand, ripping the rockerboy in half. This allowed Shaitan to immobilize the Arasaka borg, granting the rest of the team the chance to escape.

Spider Murphy tried to reach Johnny, but she was stopped by Rogue, who told her he was gone. Spider instead reached inside her jacket to pull out a data slug Alt had given to her long ago, and as she whispered to Johnny that she was sorry, she inserted the chip into the back of the dying rockerboy's skull. She then reached for her data suitcase, but realized it had been destroyed in the crossfire, and then escaped with Rogue knowing that both Johnny and Rache Bartmoss would one day be avenged.

Johnny's engram as coded on the Relic in 2077 holds a different tale of the events. In Johnny's version of the story, he escaped the initial fight with Smasher and attempted to reach the helicopter where Rogue was waiting, but was again cut off by Smasher. Johnny was then presumed gunned down by the borg and dead, but was instead recovered and detained by Arasaka.

According to the engram, while in the custody of Arasaka, Johnny was interrogated first by the corp's security and then later by Saburo Arasaka himself with the assistance of a techie. He was subjected to the Soulkiller program, in which his consciousness scanned and stored on an engram and his physical body died. He was then allegedly buried under concrete in the derelict oil fields just outside of Night City.

Despite there being no body to intern, a niche was dedicated to Johnny's memory at the North Oak Columbarium. His epitaph, which uses his real name, reads: "Robert John Linder: Son of a bitch who never gave up. A legend among legends."

Black Dog
Not long after the 2023 Night City Holocaust, firefighter and Johnny Silverhand fan, Samantha Stevens, accessed the Hot Zone after receiving a request from Angel. There, Samantha recovered a non-detonated mini-nuke from a wrecked bunker of the destroyed towers, later tossing its contents into Del Coronado Bay. After finding Johnny's body among the ruins, she placed it into the nuke crate to preserve it.

At some point, Samantha also recovered several of Johnny's possessions, including one of his Malorian Arms and his Porsche. Along with the bomb case, she hid these items in her garage somewhere in Night City, where she protected and took care of them for years.

During the Time of the Red, after encountering a group of edgerunners who were trying to find an unreleased song by Silverhand, Samantha tasked the group with transport the crate containing Johnny's body to Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico. Before they left, Samantha took one of them, a mercenary known as Zara, aside and gifted her the Malorian. She intimated to Zara that the owner was never going to use it again, adding that Zara seemed the right person to carry it for him.

The group of edgerunners managed to deliver the crate to Angel in New Mexico. After opening the crate, she whispered "Hello, my love."

2077
At some point prior to 2077, Johnny Silverhand's engram was copied onto a prototype version of the Relic know as Relic 2.0. This device was stolen by Yorinobu Arasaka and stored within a secure vault in Konpeki Plaza in an attempt by Yorinobu to bait his father, Saburo Arasaka, out into public. The engram and its location were uncovered by the Voodoo Boys, who then planned to steal it and use it establish contact with Alt and pass through the Blackwall.

The Voodoo Boys hired Evelyn Parker to record a braindance of the room and determine its security measures as well as the location of the Relic. Parker instead decided to betray the Voodoo Boys and steal the device for herself to sell to NetWatch. Using fixer Dexter DeShawn, she hired mercenaries V and Jackie Welles to steal the Relic from Yorinobu's room.

The two mercenaries were nearly successful stealing the Relic without getting caught, but their heist instead quickly fell apart after the unexpected murder of Saburo by his son. During the mercenaries' improvised escape, the Relic's storage case was damaged. To ensure the Relic's preservation, a wounded Jackie Welles inserted it into his shard slot, then later placed it into V's hands as he lie dying of his wounds in their Delamain Cab.

Immediately after Jackie's death outside the No-Tell Motel, V inserted the Relic into their own shard slot. Because of this, the Relic activated upon V's murder at the hands of DeShawn, preserving V's life and finally awaking Johnny's engram. It then began transferring the engram to V's brain, overwriting the mercenary's consciousness with Johnny's digital personality, just as it was programmed to do.

Initially attacking V in a bid to take over V's mind and body, Johnny eventually decided to cooperate with V to ensure his own survival or at least ensure the Relic's retrieval from V's head. Johnny appeared to V on numerous occasions, often either to provide advice to V or to offer his thoughts on their respective situations. Johnny also attempted to take control of V's body on a handful of occasions, and the Relic itself placed V into glimpses of Johnny's memories, including his attempt to save Alt in 2013 and his final attack on the Arasaka Towers in 2023.


 * Johnny was angered at V's decision and believed V was too stubborn to see the truth. Because of this, he refused to help V in anyway during the mission. Johnny hated V and being forced to watch as Hanako Arasaka, Goro Takemura, and Anders Hellman worked toward restoring the Arasaka Corporation.
 * Despite his disappointment with V, Johnny was impressed with Yorinobu for his attempt to kill the entire board of Arasaka in a military coup. He even shared his consideration of buying Yorinobu a beer if he could. He took enjoyment in seeing Arasaka fight amongst themselves, but remained distrustful of Hanako and believed he knew where this would end.
 * After Yorinobu was dealt with, Hanako tasked Anders Hellman with taking V to receive the help they needed. During the surgery, Johnny and V spoke one last time, with Johnny sharing his disappointment in V's actions and explaining how they betrayed themselves. Before leaving V for good, Johnny claimed that they had become one mind, that without him, V would feel empty once the Relic was removed, and that ultimately, V betrayed Jackie by taking the easy way out instead of the blaze of glory.


 * Johnny was upset by V's decision, believing V was making a mistake in not trusting him. As such, he did not initially offer to help V during the assault on Arasaka Tower. However, Johnny then learned that V had the Aldecaldos' support, something he did not anticipate.
 * Even though Johnny could not join V, he still rooted for V during the assault and mocked Arasaka for getting attacked by nomads. Alt Cunningham also took pleasure in being right that Johnny was unable to manipulate V into taking control of V's body, and she still helped V in getting to Mikoshi. Despite this, Johnny was still content with the results of the assault since Arasaka was hurt in the process.
 * Once in the Net, V and Johnny met with Alt, who told them that even though the two had finally been separated, the Relic had altered too much of V's brain. Once V returned to their body, they would die after six months. As an alternative to this, Alt advised Johnny to return V's body instead, as it would not reject his psyche.


 * V followed Alt beyond the Blackwall. A few months after the assault on Arasaka, Johnny chose to leave Night City, feeling grateful to live again, but also sad over V's fate.
 * V followed Alt beyond the Blackwall. A few months after the assault on Arasaka, Johnny chose to leave Night City, feeling grateful to live again, but also sad over V's fate.


 * After V gave Johnny bodily control, Johnny formed a strike team with Rogue and Crispin Weyland. The strike time crashed into Arasaka Tower with an AV, eventually reaching Mikoshi after fighting their way down. While assaulting the tower, they were confronted by Adam Smasher, who then killed Rogue in front of Johnny. Devastated by Rogue's murder, Johnny then fought and destroyed Smasher in revenge.
 * Once in the Net, V and Johnny met with Alt, who told them that even though the two had finally been separated, the Relic had altered too much of V's brain. Once V returned to their body, they would die after six months. As an alternative to this, Alt advised Johnny to return V's body instead, as it would not reject his psyche.


 * V followed Alt beyond the Blackwall. A few months after the assault on Arasaka, Johnny chose to leave Night City, feeling grateful to live again, but also sad over V's fate.
 * V followed Alt beyond the Blackwall. A few months after the assault on Arasaka, Johnny chose to leave Night City, feeling grateful to live again, but also sad over V's fate.


 * V did not like the options before them, fearing they could hurt other people. Johnny saw V as his only true friend, and so offered a fourth option: assault Arasaka Tower, just the two of them. While this seemed to be a clear suicide run, they both agreed to trust in each other.
 * Together, V and Johnny brazenly walked through the front doors of Arasaka Tower. V fought against several waves of Arasaka soldiers as Johnny coached V on how to keep pushing ahead, guiding V through to the end and encouraging V by sharing that V was better then any of them. As the two fought their way down to Mikoshi, V and Johnny received support of Alt Cunningham, who took control over the tower and eventually destroyed Mikoshi.
 * V and Johnny faced off against Adam Smasher and were successful in the end. Johnny was pleased with V's work as they finally made it to Mikoshi's access point. From there, Alt instructed them.
 * Once in the Net, V and Johnny met with Alt, who told them that even though the two had finally been separated, the Relic had altered too much of V's brain. Once V returned to their body, they would die after six months. As an alternative to this, Alt advised Johnny to return V's body instead, as it would not reject his psyche.


 * V followed Alt beyond the Blackwall. A few months after the assault on Arasaka, Johnny chose to leave Night City, feeling grateful to live again, but also sad over V's fate.
 * V followed Alt beyond the Blackwall. A few months after the assault on Arasaka, Johnny chose to leave Night City, feeling grateful to live again, but also sad over V's fate.

Albums
Silverhand released six albums between 2008 and 2020.

Dates Consistency
The release dates of some of these albums and songs is inconsistent within the Cyberpunk series.
 * Never Fade Away, Collector's Edition album (April 16, 2009) - As with Chippin' In, the Never Fade Away song was written and composed by Silverhand for his 2013 Cool Metal Fire album.

Ambitions
Johnny Silverhand, after leaving the military, became determined to speak the truth of the corruption and oppression of multiple entities that held a position of power in the world. Johnny always harbored hatred for the world around him; Night City, the NUSA, the police, corps, and mostly Arasaka - his music became an extension of his feelings for the public to hear, though none of it ever made him feel better. He made it his goal to spark rebellion in people to not be blind and fight up against the oppressors as he believed. Johnny concentrated most of his anger to the Arasaka Corporation, and in his life he managed two assaults' of the Arasaka Tower of Night City. Arasaka became an obsession for him, so much so his friends would criticize him for his determination. To him, Arasaka represented corporate colonialism at it's worst, as the Megacorps would take consume the land and take over people's lives, he feared that humanity lost it's freedom.

Johnny lacked empathy for most people; if he needed to kill to prove his point, he would do it without hesitation. Often referred to as a terrorists and anarchist, he still never deviated from his goal of rebellion. Johnny Silverhand believed dying as a legend would spark rebellion in others, and that taking control meant doing whatever it took to bring down the Megacorps.

Flashbacks
Johnny's memories in 2077 are not accurate to what really happened in reality as per Alt Cunningham words.


 * What you saw [Johnny's memories] was his subjective view of what happened. A warped account of events he locked away in his subconsciousness and replayed time and again. It bears no resemblance to the truth.

Conversations with Mike Pondsmith about Silverhand engram's memories in Cyberpunk 2077.


 * In 2013, Johnny attacks Arasaka purely to save Alt. (okay, so he's also pissed at them because they messed with him). Near the end of the 4th Corporate War in 2023, Johnny's old Media pal Thompson finds out that Arasaka has amassed a huge, uncontaminated database that will make it close to all powerful in the wake of Bartmoss's wreck of the Net. Thompson arranges an assault on the database, backed by Militech (who is fighting with Arasaka worldwide). The Bomb is a suitcase bomb that the team brings along to destroy the database if need be (Militech provides the Bomb, along with Morgan Blackhand, who is there to make sure the op goes off).
 * Johnny comes along because his friend Spider Murphy has also discovered that Arasaka has trapped Alt after 10 years of hunting for her. He's mainly there to get her back, but is willing to join up with Thompson and Morgan to get the job(s) done. Johnny's recollection of the events that day are scrambled from the rad damage his body took and the process of recording his engram (CDPR and I have both agreed that Johnny is an unreliable narrator at best). The bomb that went off was detonated by someone in the assault (the actual person is unknown), but Militech and the NUSA both decided to pin the blame on Arasaka anyway.

List

 * The engram states he participated in the Second Central American War in Mexico, while in reality Johnny was sent to Nicaragua instead.
 * He also says his dog tags originally belonged to a soldier who sacrificed his life to save Johnny during the Central American War. Despite this, the tags have Johnny's original name, not his colleague's.
 * The engram says he once thought about inviting Rogue to the cinema, but when V asks her about it, she states it was her idea instead.
 * The flashbacks show Johnny had a last Samurai show before assaulting Arasaka Tower in 2023, despite the band having been disbanded since 2008. The same happens with his 2013 flashback concert.
 * The flashbacks show that he assaulted and planted the nuke in the Arasaka Tower, only to be defeated by Adam Smasher in the building's rooftop, and later be soulkilled by Arasaka. While he did participate in the assault, he died during the event, cut in half by Smasher, and was supposedly soulkilled by Spider Murphy moments later during his last breath. The one who fought Adam Smasher in the rooftop was Morgan Blackhand, who is completely omitted in the engram's memories. The assault was also perpetuated by Militech, who had a mini-nuke that prematurely detonated.

Miscellaneous Items

 * Vinyl Record
 * Johnny Silverhand - Never Fade Away

Shards

 * Samurai: Swords Crossed
 * The Last Rockerboy: The Solo Career of Kerry Eurodyne
 * Kerry Eurodyne - "Second Conflict" - NEW ALBUM REVIEW
 * Eurodyne: The Unauthorized Biography
 * What Really Happened in Arasaka Tower?

Affinity

 * ''For V's percentages, see this page.

Silverhand's affinity doesn't seem to have any major impact in the game, although the secret ending is unlocked via a specific dialogue choice during Chippin' In which also adds to the affinity.

Medical File
During Never Fade Away players can visualize the following information from the ripperdoc's computer:

Note: The information may not be completely accurate due to being in a flashback of Johnny (see above).
 * ID: NC488402-V
 * Blood Type: AB RHD+
 * First Name: Robert John
 * Last Name: Linder
 * Date of Birth: 11.16.1988
 * Gender: Male
 * Birthplace: College Station, Texas

Dog tags
Johnny wears a pair of military dog tags with information about his past. The tags can be seen when Johnny's engram appears, and the real ones during the final phase of Tapeworm:


 * Name: Robert John Linder
 * 35677 - 05_64 - 39233
 * 39233119 - 82 119 - 82
 * Blood Type: 0 NEG

Considering Johnny states these tags belonged to a fellow army companion who died during the war, it would mean "Robert John Linder" is not Johnny's real name. However, it's more likely that this is a mistake of his engram's memories.

Behind the Scenes
Early development trailers and gameplay demos showed that Johnny Silverhand could be selected as a childhood hero, which was the first iteration of the lifepath system. Among the other options was Morgan Blackhand and Saburo Arasaka. During the gameplay reveal, there were hints that Johnny Silverhand had lived until the year 2076, in which he supposedly died or disappeared, with graffities and radio broadcasts telling different stories of his demise.

During the E3 2018 trailer, several pieces of graffiti can be seen asking "Where's Johnny?", alluding to the false reports of his death. In the E3 gameplay reveal, V can be heard listening to Johnny's song, Chippin' In, as well as wearing a Samurai jacket. The jacket was revealed in the released game as a replica of Johnny's jacket.

At the Microsoft E3 2019 conference, Keanu Reeves was revealed to be playing Silverhand. He showed up at the end of the 2019 Cinematic trailer, helping V after they were left for dead in a landfill. In posterior interviews it was revealed he had been approached a year prior to the announcement.

It was revealed that while Silverhand is voiced and his face is modeled after Keanu Reeves, the Samurai soundtrack is portrayed by Dennis Lyxzen from Refused.

Campaign
Silverhand acts as V's guide to the city and will be with them for most of the game. Throughout the game, the player will be haunted by the "digital ghost" of Silverhand, which confirmed he was physically dead. Johnny Silverhand appears at the start of Act 2, he makes comments on the player's actions through voiceover, and will occasionally appear in game as a hologram. Figuring out the mystery of Johnny Silverhand's digital ghost is a large part of the main plot line.

Trivia

 * Johnny first appears in the supplementary booklet, Welcome to Night City, within the mini adventure Never Fade Away.
 * In many interviews, Mike Pondsmith has mentioned Johnny Silverhand may be one of the main characters, but he is far from being the good guy in the story. In Cyberpunk there are no good guys.
 * Pondsmith's original inspiration for Silverhand was David Bowie with a tiny bit of Bryan Adams.
 * Pondsmith said that Rogue and Johnny's relationship was based on a couple he knew during college.
 * While the Black Dog song is said to be a Johnny Silverhand song in the Black Dog story, and being recorded years after the Samurai's breakup, in it is said to be a Samurai song.