The release of Hitman 3 has been a success in terms of sales and the excellent reviews that the game has been receiving. For those that have the Legacy missions installed, the third and final entry brings together one of the best videogame trilogies in a nice convenient package.
However, even though the three games do an excellent job of bringing even new players up to speed with the storyline and important characters like Agent 47, The Constant, and 47’s handler Diana Burnwood. The World of Assassination trilogy is considered a reboot on many levels but the games in the series that preceded it are still important in the timeline. Furthermore, there is a comic book series called Agent 47: Birth of a Hitman which delves even deeper into Agent 47’s backstory. Some of the finer details of Agent 47's history are definitely interesting and help bring one of the best stealth games of all time to life.
10 The Meaning Behind 47’s Barcode
Agent 47 is a cloned human designed to be genetically superior to the average human, but he's also designed to blend in like most agents of espionage. One of his only truly distinguishing features is the iconic barcode that is tattooed on the back of his head. Unsurprisingly, these numbers do have a significant and unique meaning relating to Agent 47’s origins.
The numbers he has tattooed along with the barcode are “640509-040147”. “64-05-09” is the date that he was created which means his date of birth was the 9th of May 1964. Then, 04 represents that he is a Series IV clone, “01” marks that he is the first of that line, and finally, his name “47” marks that he is the 47th.
9 Agent 47 Has Five Fathers
Being a clone, 47 already has unusual origins but his creation was thanks to the cloning project that was designed to create perfect assassins willing to kill with question or feeling. 47’s DNA was derived from five mastermind criminals that once served in the French Foreign Legion and came to be known as the Five Fathers.
One of the five was a scientist called Doctor Otto Wolfgang Ort-Mayer and he is the man responsible for the cloning project. The other four men were Lee Hong, Pablo Belisario Ochoa, Arkadij Jegorov, Frantz Fuchs. They funded the doctor’s research in return for donor organs that were harvested from the clone’s bodies. All five men would eventually be assassinated by Agent 47 himself in the events of Codename 47 and Contracts.
8 He Was Raised And Trained In An Asylum
The mental institution where 47 and the other clones were raised was located in Romania and was a cover for Ort-Meyer’s experiments. The asylum was named “The Institute For Human Betterment”.
Subject 47 and the other clones were subjected to cruel psychological experiments and given drugs to make sure that they stayed compliant. 47, was the clone that responded the most “positively” to the training, and even though he quickly started to question what he was doing the doctor considered him to be his greatest success but he would eventually become his downfall.
7 He Killed Diana’s Parents
Diana Burnwood’s voice has become just as much a staple of the franchise as Agent 47’s iconic suits. She’s 47’s handler and narrates all of his missions and guides him to his targets. However, their history goes all the way back to her teens when her parents were killed.
It is revealed in the comic series Agent 47: Birth of the Hitman that 47 and 6 were hired by Blue Seed Pharmaceuticals using their underworld connections to Providence to kill Diana’s parents using a car bomb. It is also hinted at the end of Hitman 2 that was 47 himself that planted and triggered the bomb.
6 47 And 6 Were Like Brothers
The clones at the asylum were created to be emotionless and obedient but 47 formed a close bond with number/subject 6 and often referred to each other as brothers. They were often tasked with completing missions together.
Subject 6, was freer in mind than 47, however, he stopped taking the medication that the clones were being given and planned to escape the institution. Both he and 47 managed to escape as teenagers but were captured and returned to the facility for reprogramming.
5 They Attacked The Asylum Together
Despite the doctor’s attempts at reprogramming Subjects 47 and 6, they still maintained their desire to escape the institution. In 1989, 47 and 6 initiated their plans while taking on missions of their own away from Providence.
They also planned to destroy the asylum and attacked it together with plans to free the other clones and kill Doctor and his workers. After their fail-safe devices were deactivated the clones revolted and attacked the institution’s guards with 6 and 47.
4 Subject 6 Escaped
Despite the surprise attack on the institution which erupted into flames, the doctor was already well-prepared for a revolt and the well-armed guards had initiated military-like tactics that easily overthrew the clones. Pinned down, Subjects 6 and 47 were in a no-win situation and had no chance of fighting back against the guards.
In the gunfight, Subject 47 surrendered in the midst of chaos so that his brother Subject 6 could escape. Subject 47 was then apprehended with a tranquilizing dart and 6 escaped but was assumed dead in a fire. Subject 6 would later become known as the mercenary Lucas Grey and the two wouldn’t meet again until events of the World of Assassination trilogy.
3 47 Had His Memory Wiped
After getting captured, Subject 47 was forcibly injected with a drug to wipe and manipulate his mind so that important events in his level were replaced by insignificant flashbacks and false memories.
This meant that certain events that took place in the Hitman: Enemy Within novel were retconned. This includes the memory 47 had of killing Subject 6 out of revenge for supposedly bullying him and killing his pet rabbit. After this, 47 was reconditioned to take on new missions for Providence without question.
2 The Rest Of The Clones Died
Subject 47 was later assigned new missions to perform for Providence and was teamed up with Subject 81 forming another bond. Unfortunately, as time passed the “memory treatments” continued and 81 and the other clones got sick with depression, starvation, and started dying with only 47 able to complete his missions.
With Subject 81 dying in his bed, 47 put him out of his misery which meant that he was the only living Subject and Dr. Ort-Meyer’s greatest success. Unfortunately for the doctor, Providence and more specifically a man known only as The Constant wanted to take control of 47 for themselves and shut his project down which ultimately would have made him disposable.
1 47 Meets Diana
In order to avoid being a target of Providence, Dr. Ort-Meyer created a window for 47 to make his escape which meant that neither he nor Providence would have control of 47. Moreover, now that the only successful clone was in the wind, Ort-Meyer knew that Providence would allow him to create more assassins for them which meant he was no longer seen as expendable.
After his escape, 47 became a mercenary taking on missions of his own volition for money. He accepted an assignment to assassinate Franklin Marchand a man that Diana Burnwood was also ordered to kill by the ICA. The job put 47 and Diana’s agents in conflict as 47 was ordered to make Marchand’s death look like an accident. 47 subdued all of Diana’s agents to complete his mission which led to Diana offering 47 a job at the ICA leading up to the events on The Prologue for the Hitman trilogy.