Vincent Waltz, often referred to simply as Waltz, is a major character and the main antagonist in Dying Light 2 Stay Human. A former doctor and scientist who worked under the Global Relief Effort to try and discover a cure for THV, by conducting numerous, traumatizing experiments on children. Waltz was later fired for his unethical tests. Now, enhanced with powerful drugs called Inhibitors, and with the support of The Renegades, Waltz will stop at nothing to cure his daughter Mia. Even if that means the destruction of Villedor, the last true bastion of human civilization.
Summary[]
Pre-Fall[]
Dr. Waltz was a scientist working with the Global Relief Effort. At some point he met an unnamed woman and had a child named Mia.
02 February 2022
12 February 2016
30 January 2015
The Fall[]
Waltz experimented with the virus THV on young children. He hoped to create a perfect bioweapon that would make the host merge with the virus, without killing or causing the host to turn, whilst also trying to create a vaccine to battle the already widespread pathogen. Eventually, he was fired by the GRE when they discovered that his experimentations were highly unethical and immoral. However, it was too late; the THV soon brought about the collapse of civilization, leading to the annihilation of a large percentage of the human population in a horrendous event known to many as The Fall.
Post-Fall[]
After the Fall, Waltz allied himself with Colonel Williams in Villedor, the leader of the Renegades, and set up his main base in a GRE laboratory. He once again began experimenting with THV on other Renegades, and eventually himself. He later betrays Williams and convinces some members of the Renegades he experimented on to join him. Waltz then starts looking for the rare GRE key that can grant him access to an abandoned but still functional facility called X13 so that he can cure his daughter Mia from the virus. He hires the Peacekeeper Commander Lucas to search for it. The former GRE doctor also became infected with a mutated strain of THV during his experimentations which granted him superhuman abilities but with the consequence of also having the instincts of an Infected, particularly the Volatile.
When Lucas finally found the GRE key, Waltz sent a former Nightrunner named Hakon to kill Lucas and retrieve it for Waltz. It was later stolen by Dylan, who knew of the dire consequences of the doctor’s actions should he ever get his hands on the key. Waltz and the rest of his men soon begin to track down Dylan, eventually discovering and killing him in the subways. Yet, Waltz fails to obtain the Key as prior to this Dylan had already given it to Aiden.
Dying Light 2 Stay Human[]
Waltz was first introduced when Aiden mentions him to Spike in the outskirts of Villedor, after conversing with him in regards to his reasons to entering the city. He is then seen in a dream of the past by Aiden during the child experimentations in The City before the Fall. Waltz is soon encountered by Aiden in the present when he kills a defector from the city named Dylan in the Metro Systems after he steals the GRE key from the doctor. Waltz spots Aiden hidden inside a vent and orders his men to capture Aiden, but Aiden manages to evade the Renegades.
Waltz is mentioned in the Missing Persons quest by bandits working for the doctor, who state that he is looking for the GRE key. He is once again mentioned by Hakon when it is revealed that the former Nightrunner was forced into working for Waltz and killing Commander Lucas who had the Key.
Aiden encounters Waltz once again when first entering the Central Loop through a hidden tunnel. Waltz is attacked and seemingly captured by Aiden, and a group of Peacekeepers, including the new commander of Old Town, Aitor. However, he later kills most of the Peacekeepers and injures Aitor. He steals the GRE key from Aiden - without attempting to kill him - after which he heads towards an abandoned car factory to activate an old world console by using it. Aiden later arrives in the same factory guarded by a group of Waltz’s Renegades and proceeds to either easily dispose of or sneak past them until he reaches Waltz. Aiden then attacks the doctor but is easily overpowered and is almost choked to death until he is saved by Lawan who shoots Waltz. Due to a side-effect of the experimentations he conducted on himself, Waltz begins to turn, showing a behavior similar to that of a Volatile. In the nick of time, Aiden takes the GRE key and after a lengthy pursuit manages to successfully escape Waltz together with Lawan.
Later, Waltz sends his Renegades armed with cannons to invade the Central Loop and take it over, but the attack fails. However, the attack creates a rift between himself and Colonel Williams, a hated enemy of both the Peacekeepers and Survivors. Waltz then manages to deceive the leaders of both factions that the assault was launched by his former ally, Williams.
Aiden gets in contact with Veronika Ryan and the two meet at the GRE Observatory where Aiden thinks he can find information on Mia. Unfortunately, it turns out that they aren't alone in there and as it turns out Waltz and his Renegades are looking for the two. Waltz finds Veronika while Aiden is busy fighting the Renegades, and attempts to get the key from her. Aiden arrives just in time and proceeds to hit Waltz on the head, stunning him and allowing the pair to run away, but eventually the mad scientist catches up to them and fights Aiden. Despite getting the upper hand in the fight, Aiden's infection begins to flare up and Waltz uses this moment of weakness to throw Aiden towards the other observatory. Due to an overconsumption of Inhibitors, combined with the effects from being infected, Aiden temporarily loses control and enters a semi-turned state during which he brutally decapitates and kills Veronika. Afterwards, Waltz gets the GRE key from Veronika's corpse before launching a missile strike thus destroying significant sections of the city and covering them in dust clouds.
With Waltz in possession of the key, he is finally close to executing his plan of going to Site X13 and destroying the city in order to save Mia, who we find out is actually his daughter as well as being the person Aiden had been looking for. Aiden travels to X13 either with or without Hakon but Lawan meets him there too. In spite of Aiden insisting numerous times that it's dangerous and that she must leave, Lawan ignores him and finds where the missiles are located along with many explosives that can only be detonated manually.
Aiden then confronts Waltz and the two fight a hard battle, during which they both come close to fully turning but ultimately Aiden defeats Waltz. An extremely frail Mia then appears and tries to give Aiden the GRE Key to stop the missile strikes, but Waltz knocks it out of his hand into chemicals, therefore destroying it. Mia then collapses on the ground unconscious and is taken to a bed by Walz where she is temporarily resuscitated. At the same time, Aiden is contacted by Lawan who says that she can detonate the explosives in order to stop the missile strikes, but as they must be manually detonated, she would have to sacrifice herself to do so. Aiden is given a difficult choice to either go after Lawan and stop her from detonating the missiles or take Mia while Lawan detonates the missiles (depending on the player's previous choices, Hakon can save her from dying in the explosion if he is still alive).
Relationships[]
Aiden Caldwell[]
Aiden was one of the many children Waltz had experimented on. The drugs given to Aiden had the strongest effect on him and is the reason for his superhuman strength. As a child Aiden and Waltz seemed to have a good relationship but during the events of the game, Aiden despises Waltz and on numerous occasions mentions the inhumane actions he and Mia were subjected to while still only being 5 year old children. It's unclear if Mia and Aiden are maternal half-siblings with different fathers or are not actually related.
Mia[]
Waltz is Mia's father. Not much is known about their relationship prior to the events of the game but from his actions and dialogue it's clear he deeply loves and cares about her, so much so that he is willing to go out of his way to destroy an entire City and kill all who stand in his way just so he can save her.
Lawan[]
Lawan hates Waltz due to also being subjected to his experiments as a child and he is thus ranked highly on her kill list.
Colonel “The Butcher” Williams[]
Waltz was the Butcher's right-hand man and the two worked together for a while but Waltz eventually betrayed him and left with a majority of the Renegades by promising to increase their power and abilities using inhibitors.
Factions[]
The Global Relief Effort[]
Waltz was the chief medical officer of X13 but was fired after it was discovered he was experimenting on children. However, he worked with his own team of scientists outside of GRE influence so that he could keep his objective of finding a cure going into the Fall.
The Renegades[]
Vincent Waltz was the right-hand man of Chris Williams but left with most of the Renegades with the promise of enhancing them with inhibitors.
Conversations[]
| Show: Pilgrim's Path |
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Informant: "Let's get the fuck out." |
Gallery[]
