Franklin Clinton

Franklin Clinton is a character in the Grand Theft Auto series who appears as one of the three protagonists in Grand Theft Auto V, along with Michael De Santa and Trevor Philips, and as a main character in Grand Theft Auto Online as part of The Contract update, also appearing as one of the two playable characters of the Short Trips mission series and the Double Down Adversary Modes, along with Lamar Davis.

Franklin was born and lived his entire life in Los Santos. He became a gangbanger at a young age and joined the Chamberlain Gangster Families alongside his best friend Lamar Davis, committing various small crimes for a living. They and their fellow CGF homies from Forum Drive would later form the independent Forum Gangsters to stay away from CGF's "retro gangster" nonsense. Franklin's story revolves around his desire to become something more and make something of himself, which he succeeds when he meets Michael, who becomes a mentor figure to him and recruits him in all of his robberies and various jobs for other criminals, leading to Franklin's eventual success and wealth. Franklin also befriends the third protagonist, Trevor, who, although not as close to him as Michael, still becomes somewhat of a mentor for him.

Franklin is described as ambitious, but perhaps to a fault, and very eager to take on new illegal challenges. He is also described as calm, smart, rational and a "logical way of showing a young man with a lot of hope", with Dan Houser claiming that this would be a nice contrast from Michael. He is also a person that, even though he's being mentored by Michael in crime, mentors Michael in life. This helps build up the Father-Son relationship between the two, in contrast to their own actual father-son relationships (Franklin's father abandoned him before his birth and Michael's relationship with Jimmy soured years ago).

Franklin is much calmer than both Michael, who has a very short temper, and Trevor, who is a violent psychopath. This calm personality is often displayed during missions where he keeps it cool while fulfilling the task at hand, and when he is forced to act as the peacekeeper between Michael and Trevor when they get into an argument. Though Lamar drives him crazy at times, Franklin still cares for his best friend as he saves him from the Ballas with the help of Michael and Trevor during the events of Lamar Down. He is also the same toward Michael and Trevor as he is seen helping them out with most of their problems, like when Amanda cheats on Michael and he and the latter chase Amanda's tennis coach during Marriage Counseling, and when he helps Trevor and Michael hunt down the remaining O'Neil brothers during Predator. This, however, also leads to others around him to consider him "disloyal", most notably his Aunt Denise, to such an extent that Denise threatens to call the police on him if he sets foot in their yard. Despite what Denise says, Franklin does demonstrate loyalty for people that are close to him and for people who change his life, like Lamar, who is Franklin's best friend, and Michael, who helped him become a "three-bit" gangster and high-profile criminal.

Unlike Michael or Trevor however, his relationships with those close to him are even more fragile and in the end fail to heal the rift with his associates, unlike Michael and, to a lesser extent, Trevor. His messy breakup with Tanisha is left unresolved and ends on less than satisfactory terms when she chooses to marry another man over saving their relationship. His aunt turns his room into a safe shelter for women after he moves out and Stretch remains on antagonistic terms with Franklin. Franklin also potentially jeopardizes his relationship with his partners in crime Michael, Lamar and Trevor should he choose to kill either Trevor or Michael as the survivor loses their trust in Franklin, and Lamar is forced to hide from Stretch.

Many characters in the game (Denise, Lamar, Tonya, Stretch, Tanisha) accuse Franklin of being disloyal, arrogant, and abandoning his "homies". For the most part, however, these accusations seem unfounded - ironically, most of these discussions happen while Franklin is actually helping out his friends. Franklin's hostility towards Stretch becomes justified late in the game when it becomes clear Stretch has betrayed him and Lamar. However, if the player chooses ending A or ending B, the above accusations are confirmed.

Franklin's ambition is also his greatest weakness. In all of his work, aside from Lester's assassination jobs, several major heists he was roped into, and Michael's repayment for doing him a favor, Franklin never earns a single cent out of his dealings due to his shortsightedness and poor choice of people to work with. All of Lamar's jobs ended up with both of them nearly being killed by the Ballas and his work for Weston ends with him being taken advantage of in both instances where he does his bidding.

Despite not knowing them very well, Franklin also gets along with Michael's family, as shown when Jimmy befriends him and when Amanda responds kindly whenever Franklin greets her while she is home. He doesn't get along with Stretch very well, due to Stretch trying to pull Franklin back into the life that put him in jail in the first place, Stretch's reckless and unintelligent personality, and later on, his disloyalty; he sells out people who are associated with Franklin.

In contrast to Michael and especially Trevor, Franklin is an incredibly tidy person, always trying to keep his image, his vehicles, and his house clean. This is evident in some switch cutscenes, where he can be seen cleaning his Buffalo S and his Bagger. While his personal bedroom at the Clinton Residence was somewhat messy, after moving into his mansion he makes an effort to do house chores like taking out the garbage or ironing his clothes. He likes also to keep his body in shape, as he's seen doing exercise, like pull ups on the free-use bars at Vespucci Beach, or push-ups in his room or the backyard, and after moving, next to his pool. He is also mindful of what he eats; when having Phat Chips, he will remark on what level of exercise he will have to perform to work off the calories, or how he needs to buy some healthy food (so that he doesn't end up reaching for junk food instead).

Franklin seems to suffer from depression/self-hatred due to the perceived lack of success and his breakup with Tanisha, when he is high on marijuana he often comments on how empty and alone he feels. He shows some regret with his decision to become a criminal but feels he is in too deep to walk away. In a similar vein to Trevor during shootouts, Franklin might shout at his enemies to shoot him. His lack of initiative hints at insecurity, which further demonstrates a possible mood disorder. Lamar calls Franklin a "moody motherfucker" when giving him the Bagger they stole from Simeon after repossessing it. His Switch Scenes implies he is lonely, as many show him roaming around the city alone, and further in the story, he rarely leaves his house due to lack of friends and family who are on good terms with him. The situation improves or worsen at the end of the game depending on the choices he makes involving Michael and Trevor. If he chooses to save them, he finds new-found support with them as dysfunctional but great friends, however if chooses to kill either of them, the other person breaks off contact with Franklin and Lamar goes into hiding. Franklin is also quite tolerant of other people's sexualities as he says to Beverly that he doesn't care if Clay Jackson is gay.

Franklin does not appear to be able to handle pressure very well. If the player chooses to kill either Michael or Trevor, Franklin tries to justify his actions by claiming it "wasn't really his decision," or that he "didn't have a choice". He lacks initiative and assertiveness when confronted by people who were more influential than he was. Rather than attempting to bargain with Haines or Weston to at least pay him for betraying his closest friends, he only realizes after committing the deed that he was ultimately used and discarded by both of them when asking for more opportunities to work for them. If the player chooses the Deathwish ending, Franklin will initially complain to Lester that he "can't kill both of 'em" before eventually coming up with a plan to spare them both.

In Grand Theft Auto V, Franklin has been described as "fit" and "fashion conscious". He is 6' 1"[13] (1.85 m) in height. He is mostly seen wearing a blue button-up shirt, a white long-sleeved t-shirt, dark blue jeans with white stripes and a pair of wheat-colored boots.