Robert West

“I'm sorry, let me introduce myself. I'm Dr. Robert West. I've been examining the blood of several natives suffering from this infection and it appears to be a virus of some kind, but it mutates so quickly it's impossible to classify.^[1]”
— Dr. West introducing himself and talking about the disease.

Doctor Robert West was a survivor featured in Dead Island.

Background[]

He was a doctor, virologist, and was the leader of the survivors barricaded inside the Laboratory. He is first met by the Heroes during main quest River Trip, when the heroes travel to the Laboratory. After meeting them, he takes a sample of each of their blood in order to attempt a cure for the virus.

He then gives the main quest Man of Faith, in which the Hero must travel to the nearby camp of natives and take some blood samples. He later gives the hero the quest Pure Blood, in which he asks the hero to get the blood of tissue of a native who has not come into contact with the mutated Kuru virus.

According to Yerema, he was taking multiple shots of blood from her and was about to kill her. She tells the Hero that she went to school in Moresby and knows a person can lose only a certain amount of blood. Yerema then locked herself in the cage, threatening West to open it. When he attempted to during the quest No Time to Talk, the remaining cages containing zombie test subjects were accidentally opened and West was killed. This may foreshadow a darker West, or Yerema may have been over-reacting due to her abusive upbringing.

It is revealed during the events of Ryder White's Campaign that Dr. West was working for Charon and the Consortium, tasked with producing a "super virus" derived from the original zombie virus carried by Yerema. When Dr. West expresses his intentions to produce a cure for the virus as well using the blood of Yerema and the Heroes, Charon remotely opened the cages containing the zombie test subjects, allowing them to overrun the lab and kill Dr. West and the other scientists. Charon then tricks Ryder White and the Heroes into believing the super virus sample is in fact a vaccine, in order to manipulate them into bringing it to him.

Dead Island: The Book[]

Dr West is rather different in the novel adaptation of Dead Island. In the book, he's more of a shrewd, calculating and shady researcher, caring more about his continued research than the heroes. However, he does eventually decide to help them and get them a cure. However, the lab and himself suffers the same fate as he does in the game, where an infected is released and kills them all.^[2] However, he is shown more cruel than his game counterpart, such as when Yerema explains West locked her in a cage when she refused to let him test out the vaccine on her,^[3] showing him to be a more evil man than the otherwise kinder man of the game.

Appearance[]

Dr. West is an older man with balding grey hair and a clean shaven face. Like all other scientists at the lab, he wears white overalls with black boots and a white belt. He has a GeoPharm logo patch over his heart on his overalls like the other scientists. He also wears black-rimmed glasses.^[4]

Trivia[]

Doctor Robert West is reference to the character Herbert West, from the short story Herbert West — Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft. His death also mirrors that of Herbert West: both are torn apart by the undead when their labs are overrun.
The character model for Dr. West bears a resemblance to the American actor Ed Harris.
West also bears a resemblance to Richard Widmark's character Dr. George Harris from Michael Crichton's 1978 film adaptation of the novel Coma by Robin Cook.
West's model was reused for a Doctor in a Cutscene in Dead Island: Riptides prologue.^[5]