Recently introduced in Season 3 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Ronin’s persona is revealed to be derived from a true-to-life soldier.
In addition, he is also the first one to be modeled after a green beret veteran.
Ronin is based on the life of a Vietnamese refugee, Tu Lam, who escaped his communist country in 1979 for America.
Having grown in the states, Lam eventually joined the United States Army where he became a member of the Special Forces.
Being in the military for 23 years, Tu Lam had at least 27 countries visited in his profile. A large majority of his deployed locations are warzones or conflicted regions.
By 2016, the military veteran left the service with the title of a Master Sergeant.
From Military Service to Business
Retired from active service, Lam soon ventured into a business where he runs Ronan Tactics. It is a civilian equipment and training company.
Coincidentally, Lam is a big fan of the Call of Duty franchise. He even revealed the fact that people in the service are, in general, fans themselves. Particularly, with the purpose of boosting everyone’s morale.
Lam subsequently came across Infinity Ward where he was contracted to become part of the game, leading to the creation of Ronin.
Part of the deal is to have an actual full-body motion capture. The aim is to make an authentic representation of the character, at least by physical proportion.
The body scanning took place in Infinity Ward’s Los Angeles studio.
Furthermore, Lam was also tasked to perform a move that will consequently be Ronin’s ‘finishing move’ in-game.
For a demo of the aforementioned maneuver, check out this Instagram video below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Qhb02lYA7/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again
A Virtual Reality
Having a real-life person appear in games is nothing unprecedented. However, for the Call of Duty franchise, it truly is.
Many would argue that depictions of real-life personas in games are an over-exaggeration of what is real. To a certain extent, they do.
But to those who know the real person behind the personification, it creates a different feeling. To them, at least, the figure is ‘real.’
Lam himself admitted that not everything about himself transfers directly in his digital personification.
If anything, it is merely a depiction of a legend, known mostly by his peers.
Otherwise, it is simply something we will never truly see, if not in the battlefield.
Image used courtesy of Instagram/ronintactics.