Johnny Silverhand

Johnny Silverhand, born Robert John Linder,[1][Twitter 1] was a famous and influential rockerboy and lead singer of the band Samurai before its breakup in 2008.[2] 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 was also known to be irrational, impulsive, and manipulative.[3]

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."[Reddit 2] 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."[4][citation needed]

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.

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 lay dying of his wounds in the 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 could have also reconnected with old friends like Rogue on Kerry, with the engram mentioning in one dialogue branch in "Holdin' On" he never slept with Kerry because he's a man.