Let's face it, it was feared that this 10th December it would never come. A date awaited for years for a publication that will leave an important mark on the world and in the history of videogames. Obviously you are talking about cyberpunk 2077, the most anticipated game of recent years. The son of CD Projekt RED is heating up the consoles and the PC of many gamers, collecting honors and criticisms… but that's another story. Now that the lights are all on this incredible title and Night City it has become a destination for explorations and the scene of clashes, one figure in particular has attracted the attention and curiosity of many. That's right, just him: Johnny Silverhand.
We are talking about a very important character, who at times could be considered the true protagonist of this ambitious project. Johnny Silverhand was reborn thanks to an Oscar-winning interpretation of Keanu Reeves, in a guise that convinced everyone. We remember with great pleasure the announcement of his presence, such a surprise certainly does not happen every day. But who is really Johnny Silverhand? Who is this impulsive, evil man, ready to set the whole Night City on fire?
The origins
To get to know Johnny Silverhand better - and the whole Cyberpunk universe - you need to take a dip in the past and arrive in the 80s, precisely in the 1988. In that year it came out cyberpunk 2013, the paper role-playing game signed by Mike Pondsmith that revolutionized the world of RPGs, thanks to a new system and a setting never seen before. From the fantasy worlds in which heroes threw themselves into adventure, we passed into one technological city, futuristic and bent by the power of Corporations. A sinister and not at all bright scenario, despite all those neon lights.
It is in the streets of Night City that you meet Johnny Silverhand, a revolutionary artist who made his ideals a real weapon. Member of the famous band Samurai up to 2008, scored a fundamental stage for music. His songs are real hymns of freedom, declarations of war on the bosses and the oppressive system. A kind of punk, one rock'n'roll spirit son of the years in which he was born. And it is precisely this rebellious streak that will determine his legend.
Like all real ones rockstar, the ideal is more important than the chords that accompany the lyrics. Thus began a ruthless war against the corporations. There Arasaka Corporation is the sworn enemy, the symbol of power to be overthrown in order to live in an equitable society and put an end once and for all to Fourth War of the Megacorporations. He decides to attack the Arasaka skyscraper together with Morgan Blackhand, but reality is often stronger than dreams. In fact, Johnny Silverhand falls under the blows of Adam Smasher, while the skyscraper was demolished by his partner with a nuclear charge. Since that time nothing is known of the much loved rock star.
Johnny Silverhand, however, was also a sort of forerunner towards Cyberpunk: the paper role-playing game, which today boasts 3 versions (2013, 2020 and the most recent Red, which acts as a link between the second edition and the video game), in the first due has always had an introductory mini-campaign called Never Fade Away. This is also the title of a Samurai song, Johnny's band, and it is the moment in which we are allowed to know the character. If in fact the plot of Cyberpunk 2077 may seem disconnected and well explained, it has very deep roots in the original game.
The return(?)
We therefore arrive in 2077 where the legend is still remembered on the streets of Night City. His name can be read on the walls and someone listens to old Samurai records hoping for a revolution, perhaps with a happy ending. Chippin'in still plays loud, and when it was thought that everything was lost, the savior makes his entrance. Johnny Silverhand returns to V's mind, the protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077, but the reason is still to be discovered. With Mr. Silverhand, things are never easy.
Hero or villain?
Johnny Silverhand embodies all the "qualities" of a "hero" of cyberpunk genre. An individual who recognizes the oppression exercised by huge companies - often multinationals - indifferent to the state of the population. An individual who, driven by his ideals, he will fight with all his strength to establish a different order, where social organization allows a dignified life. As for the ending, one can guess, not always everything can be rosy.
In a future where surviving is a daily challenge, we are witnessing human depravity. Ethical or moral issues for the individual are set aside to follow individual needs. The boundary between "good" and "bad" becomes very blurred, these two dimensions are hardly distinguishable. Why? You have to survive at any cost, here's the reality.
Thinking about this scenario it is easy to think that the rebel is a sort of hero, a real liberator as mentioned above. And the figure of Johnny Silverhand has been just that for several years in hearts and minds of the inhabitants of Night City, a man capable of convincing the people to fight. A martyr, given the fate he seems to have done after the nuclear explosion in which he was involved. How much, however, has remained in the legend and how much in reality? Johnny Silverhand is an impulsive man, he sometimes appears irrational and irresponsible. It is known that he is a type who always moves on the "razor wire". His actions, however noble, have consequences that leave us to question.
Did we really need a character like Johnny Silverhand? Yes, because with him you can experience cyberpunk in a way authentic, with the adrenaline that only a rocker can give. Yes, because it manages to combine that romantic vision of the rebellion and the decadence of a not so distant future, after all 2077 is "near". And yes, we needed Johnny Silverhand because he demonstrates - in his own way - how ideals can move the earth. He wouldn't just write it on social media.
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