Harlow Jordan is a survivor encountered by the Hero in Dead Island: Riptide and serves as the game's hidden secondary antagonist.
Overview[]
Harlow is the first character the Hero meets after the ship is wrecked at the island during The Storm. She helps the Hero up and informs them of the need to move to Paradise Survival Camp. During most of the early game, she is the main quest giver for the hero, tasking them with heading around the Flooded jungle in search of a boat and way to Henderson, where their salvation lies, though other members of the team slowly take over from her as the main quest givers.
She is part of team and can be found with them until they reach Henderson in the main quest The Ferry. Harlow remains present at Henderson Marina before completing the main quest Front Row, and after securing the Old Town Cinema Harlow will disappear when the survivors move from the Marina to the Cinema. After the team arrive in the Cinema, a fight breaks out after Harlow's disappearance is noticed, causing a division in the team until Samuel Hardy rallies the group to pull together again.
She is largely forgotten about, though, as the team busy themselves prioritizing a rescue first and then finding Harlow secondly. She is not seen for the vast majority of the group's time in Henderson, though she does make one final appearance when the Hero breaks into the Quarantine Zone to find a boat during the final main quest of the game With the Tide.
Towards the end of the quest, when travelling through the final dock portion of Quarantine, the heroes find a lab hidden in the docks area and this is where Harlow is finally found. It's here that she reveals all to the hero, revealing her immunity and that she was trying to sneak into the lab when she was caught and the mutagen tested on her. She also reveals that the outbreak on Palanai was deliberately caused by Serpo and his employers, the Consortium, in order to observe the progression of the mutagens they created in their plans of weaponizing the plague for profit.
She then proceeds to attack the heroes, first with a Rifle and later with a Chainsaw and Molotov Cocktails after she takes the mutagen. She is incredibly strong, forcing the Hero to take the mutagen to fight her. After taking the mutagen, the hero finally has the strength to defeat her. Dying, Harlow mutters out a stark prophecy and warning, saying to the Heroes, "You are the angel of Death". She then finally breaths her last breath as zombies pour into the lab, causing the heroes to run. It is assumed that Harlow's body is then eaten by the zombies.
Appearance[]
Harlow is a young woman with short, somewhat unkempt black hair. She wears a white tank top, rolled up blue jeans held by a brown utility belt, and brown shoes. She also wears a silver watch on her right wrist, a white knee guard on her right knee, and a silver seashell necklace.
Notes[]
- Interestingly, while in her mutated form, her veins pulsate in almost the same fashion as the Grenadier's exposed body, though to a much lower physical degree of distortion.
- The exact details of her disappearance are rather obscure: Chimamanda claims that the heroes allowed Harlow to be left behind, when in fact Harlow was with the survivors who were not immune.
- Frank Serpo claims that Harlow is a terrorist, and was planning to sell data on the virus to the highest bidder.
- It is, of course, possible that Serpo's claims about Harlow are false, given that he had lied to the heroes several times throughout the story.
- Harlow has her own Team Quests, although they can be difficult to complete due to her disappearance soon after arriving in Henderson as the final item she requests, Insulating Tape, is only found in Henderson Dead Zones. It is best to raid Dead Zones in Henderson before securing the Old Town Cinema, or collect the tape and give it to her in a second playthrough.
- The heroes do not tell the other remaining survivors about killing Harlow in self defense, instead lying to them and claiming that she wanted to stay behind.
- Harlow's immunity is hinted in the team menu tab as all other non-immune have the words "non-immune" next to their name except Harlow.
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