#Peter Englert is Higgs' real name

[because-i-am-barely-even-human]

***

Sam and Peter, who is now known as Higgs, met many years ago when Sam just had a falling out with Bridges.

Back then Peter was an independent porter, bound to no one and answered only to himself. Sam liked that, anyone who wasn't affiliated with Bridges was good in his books. He wasn't in a good place after losing his wife and unborn child, so he shut himself out from everyone and everything.

Both Peter and Sam took orders in the same area, so they met quite often. The guy was overly friendly, sarcastic, and sometimes downright annoying. But... there was something about him that left Sam wanting to see him again, even if in passing.

Peter had DOOMs, like Sam. The fact he discovered when they were unlucky to end up in a BT territory. Together they managed to avoid BTs without a problem.

And just like that Sam wasn't alone anymore.

Ten years have passed.

Peter and him have been living together for over six years now. Sam managed to rebuild his life after the tragedy, something he couldn't image possible before.

It wasn't easy. The first two years nightmares and guilt over what happened with Lucy and their baby kept him awake at night. But Peter was there for him, even when Sam was lashing out.

Peter had his own demons to battle, too. When Sam found out about his childhood, about what Peter's uncle did... He almost lost his cool. It was the first time he wanted to hurt someone badly, nevermind that the bastard died a long time ago. It was an ugly feeling. Peter was speechless. No one has ever cared about him like this before.

The life was good, great even. That was until Bridges tracked him down again. Of course they wouldn't leave him alone, fucking leeches.

Peter's nightmares are back. He wakes up screaming, looks sick too. It's been like this for a few weeks now. Peter was getting distant. This... wasn't normal sickness. Something's not right.

***

Two feet standing on a principle.

«This was only ever gonna end one way... »

***

Two hands longing for each others warmth.

«Oh... Sam Bridges... Careful, contents are fragile. Like the world and everything in it. Me, I’m... I’m no exception.»

***

Hate is spitting out each others mouths.

«You think that you've got it tough!?»

«Getting a little touchy-feely there, Mr. Aphenphosmphobia.»

***

But we're still sleeping like we're lovers.

«Just don't keep me waiting too long, you hear?»

---

AU: Sam met Higgs right after he left Bridges the first time. Sometime later they fell in love and got together. Higgs never joined Fragile Express, so he and Sam are independent porters.

Amelie went after Higgs not long before Bridget died. Higgs was getting horrible DOOMs nightmares and was poisoned via golden mask in a dream, he didn't even know it happened. Amelie got control over his mind.

Sam went on a journey to cure Higgs and free him from Amelie's control.

[raiden-brannigan]

Higgs' real name being Peter Englert is INSANELY funny to me cause that implies he he either couldn't come up with or bother to come up with a fake name to order pizza under. Yeah fuck it use my birth name Sam won't know the difference

[little-red-fool]

Hi, I was wondering if I could ask for your opinion based on a post from someone else made recently. Would you consider rrfering to higgs as "peter englert" to be deadnaming higgs ? I know you haven't finished the game yet or the dlc, but so far what you think.

(I do this not to stir up discourse, but to be respectful to you when interacting with your blog and discussing higgs with you)

That’s alright, I appreciate you asking! (also sorry if this doesn’t make a lot of sense I’m pretty tired so my thoughts are a little muddled lol)(also also I just realised how long this is I’m so sorry lmao)

TLDR: I think it’s mainly up to individual interpretation as to how you refer to him, and I have no strong views either way. I mainly just call him Higgs since it’s easier for me.

Personally I have no strong opinions on it, as you said I haven’t finished the game or read the book so I don’t know everything about Higgs. I originally thought that Higgs Monaghan was his real name and Peter Englert was an alias he came up with, although I’m seeing some people saying that Peter Englert’s his original name (I’m not completely sure if it’s confirmed or not so I can’t really make up my mind on how I view it just yet). I guess if that’s the case then it’s more up to interpretation, for example if we stay with the idea that Peter’s his original name and he now goes by Higgs, then Higgs could either be his preferred name, or an alias and he still goes by Peter depending on the occasion. For me it largely depends on the context that you view the character in, I personally wouldn’t consider calling him Peter as deadnaming him as I feel Higgs is just another name for him (either as an alias or how some people like having multiple names—possibly for different situations—similar to a nickname).

I generally just refer to him as Higgs as it’s easier for me, but I have no strong opinions either way since I’m not currently aware if that was actually his name or if he has any strong preference as to how he’s referred to. Whether or not someone thinks that referring to him as Peter is deadnaming or not would largely depend on how they view him since I’ve seen a lot of different interpretations, and whilst I understand that some people might have certain opinions I don’t think that trying to push your interpretation onto other people is the best way to go around it, especially since it seems quite vague (I could be wrong, please correct me if that’s the case). Either way I don’t mind however you refer to him when talking about him with me, as I said I think it depends on how you view him as a character so I think it’s more of a personal preference rather than there being a strict right and wrong answer.

I say all of this as a trans guy who has two names aside from his deadname—my first one is my main name and preferred name which is what I often refer to myself and what most other people call me by (which is also the one I want to legally change my name to), and there’s my second name which is reserved for family. Whilst my second name originated from a nickname of my deadname, it still feels like a completely separate name for me and I don’t mind when people call me that, as opposed to being referred to by my deadname which I hate, even though they’re quite similar, so maybe Higgs’ situation could be similar to that, like I said with some people having different names depending on the occasion or how they’re feeling at the time, maybe Higgs mainly goes by Higgs and Peter is saved for the people he was/is very close to which is mainly how I view it, so again I’d say it’s mostly down to interpretation.

Sorry this was so long, but I hope that answered your question!

[hnnnnnnnm]

tell me about this higgs fellow

Hello anon!!! :D

Higgs Monaghan (real name Peter Englert) is a character from the 2019 game Death Stranding, produced by Kojima Productions on the Decima engine and published by Sony. He’s portrayed by Troy Baker and serves as one of the major antagonists of the game.

I don't know if you know anything about DS nonnie but it's basically a game about rebuilding America via porters and the Chiral Network [which is basically the internet]. After the "Death Stranding" America and the whole world went to shit, with The Beach, BTs, Timefall, and Extinction Entities being massive threats to absolutely everyone. If you want a further explanation on what any of that means just shoot me another ask and I'll go in depth, but I'll explain what I need to in this ask :]

So in DS Higgs is a terrorist leader of a militant separatist group named the "Homo Demens", responsible for the nuking of Middle Knot City and the subsequent ruining of Fragile Express' reputation [a delivery company]. In the game he's introduced to the player somewhat early on, and he's portrayed as this kind of evil dickhead, who's obviously having fun causing chaos. He cracks a few jokes, breaks the fourth wall, is partially unnerving, but most importantly he actually summons a BT [a beached thing, souls stranded in the living world], which is insane because that just hasn't been done by a living human before in game. You can watch the cutscene here, it's so good.

In general Higgs is sadistic, violent, kind of creepy [both normally and sexually [?]], maybe even a tad boyish during a lot of the scenes with him. It's not until his journals, notes, late game, and the DS 2 trailer that we really see anything else. A sort of vulnerability, a past altruism [whether or not genuine is hard to say], a fucking nerd ass personality [he is obsessed with Ancient Egypt]. He's also incredibly jealous and prone to stalker like behaviour [that of which is born from jealousy, a desire to be special], which is a lot more interesting than the kind of otherwise cardboard personality we are given. I do say that affectionately, because Troys' performance is an absolute joy to watch and the writing for him is good, but compared to what we learn through otherwise missable items it's definitely kind of lackluster.

One thing we do learn early on though is that Higgs suffers a condition called DOOMs, which comes from Amelie and results in a greater connection to "the other side" It's characterised by a chiral allergy + greater resistance to chiralium, nightmares of world-wide extinction and destruction, and the ability to sense, see, or control BTs [dependent on the DOOMs level]. It is worth noting that those with DOOMs may also show suicidal, erratic, or homicidal tendencies, a trait also shared with those suffering Chiral Contamination - Higgs shows violent tendencies and - somewhat - poor impulse control. Higgs also fucking hates himself and is heavily nihilistic, so suicidal tendencies is likely LMAO

We also lean that the catalyst for his DOOMs was his uncles death, who had necrotised and popped a BT before he could be incinerated. We know that Higgs, then Peter, became a porter before joining a terrorist organisation, that the group died andthat he ended up becoming a porter AGAIN [a famed one too], before then joining ANOTHER terrorist group and betraying Fragile/joining Amelie. This man is up to no good and so easily susceptible to manipulation it's insane.

So I don't go full analysis TL;DR: Higgs is fucking insane mate

[vyragosa]

you think kojima wouldn’t make an alan turing reference to continue “oh higgs is GAY by the WAY” you think he wouldn’t do that? i think he totally would do that actually

and oh wait, peter englert already being named after scientists? nonono you have to believe me on this, if this turns out fucking real? i don’t know what i’ll do

[woundedheartwithin]

Death Stranding spoilers ahoy!

But this needs to be said

The reveal that Peter Englert was Higgs is the best twist in the whole game, because it was the only one that I either hadn’t already figured out or wasn’t completely ridiculous

BUT that’s still not his real name

Peter Englert is a combination of the names of the two physicists who won the Nobel prize for theorizing the Higgs mechanism, Peter Higgs and Francois Englert

So where tf does Monaghan come from? Cuz that has nothing to do with the Higgs boson! (There are some Monaghans in particle physics but none of them relate to said particle)

Good question! Let me present my theory and head canon!

Higg’s real name is Peter Monaghan. Maybe he was reading about the Higgs boson as he was radicalizing (found a copy of The God Particle by Leon Lederman?) and saw Higgs’s and Englert’s names and, being the edgelord that he so endearingly is, went hey my first name’s Peter and this god particle thing is cool, I’ll just take their names!

[sparrowsabre7]

Ok, standard, "the real stranding was the friends we made along the way"/"if I don't make it back..." speech time. It's a nice moment even if it doesn't quite land since we've actually spent very little time with anyone who's not Deadman. However, Sam giving Lou to him to take care of is actually affecting in a way I didn't anticipate.

Oh! Unrelated to the main plot, but got a mail from Peter Englert and he wasn't Kojima he was fucking Higgs. Like... okay? I don't know how to feel about that. It is revealed in an email from Engles where he essentially says, come chill at my house, btw I'm Higgs, in the least satisfying twist reveal ever. Ok, let's go to the beach-each.

The music swell as Fragile and Sam join hands to send him to the beach works really well too as a powerful stirrer of emotion. I think it's impossible to not be moved by a solid score, regardless of what's actually happening. Good music will accentuate an existing feeling without telling the viewer how to feel.

So another first person flashback, Amelie is putting Sam, as a baby, into the water on the beach and seems to be descending into the seam. So, I guess this means Sam was a BB at one point then?

I'm back in control in what looks like the End of Evangelion, blood red sea looking towards earth. I try walking into the ocean and following these weird strands but I just got washed back up. I sprint as far as I can until Sam gets tired, he sits down and a cutscene begins. Amelie is there, but in a black dress instead of red, but she sounds older, she turns around and is wearing Higgs' mask. Sam turns around and Bridget is there, lying in her hospital bed, the moment from the start replays in essence where Bridget lunges at Sam and says "I'll be waiting for you on the beach", as the camera pans her face changes from Bridget to Amelie. So.. they were the same person all along? That seems... unnecessary.

To my mind there are two good kinds of twists, ones that shock the audience with a surprising revelation that changes our understanding of a character, and ones that make everything that's come before make sense or changes the perspective. This, kind of does neither. Bridget/Amelie has always been a confusing connection and having them be the same person maybe makes more sense but the reason to hide that fact doesn't. It doesn't recontextualise the game, ultimately Bramelie has been treated like a damsel/macguffin throughout so the fact she's not who we thought changes nothing. She's still the extinction entity, she's still related to Sam. It just changes very little narratively speaking.

But I digress, Bramelie says the last stranding has already begun and a seam has formed between her beach and all other beaches.

I am given two choices: stay with Bramelie and watch the world die, or kill Bramelie to cut her beach free from the other beaches connected by the Chiral network, sparing humanity.

Essentially, die today or let the world struggle on a little longer.

The cutscene transitions into gameplay again and I have six shots. I feel like Sam would sacrifice himself to save the world at this point so I fire off a shot. Goes straight through. I fire the rest, none hit...

Ok.

Right, maybe I can... attack another way? I put the gun away and approach, but as I get to her there's a prompt: R2 - Hug.

Sure, why the hell not.

Sam embraces Bramelie and says "I'm here for you always, like you were there for me". Cut back to child Sam on a beach with Bramelie approaching, replaying the dream catcher sequence. "When you're all grown up, you'll need it to stop me." She says she's a fixed point in time and couldn't tell Sam what to do, only guide through dreams and nightmares to find a connection that bound it all together: the most important thing was the bonds that brought humanity together.

She says she is The Beach and has to stay to complete the Stranding, but she can shield the other beaches from the stranding. She says that extinction may be inevitable, but before each event, life rebelled and hope endured to push on and evolve in order to survive. The extinction is not just an ending but an opportunity. She says goodbye and pushes Sam I to the ocean to be repatriated.

I am definitely going to need one of those "ending of death stranding explained" articles.

Sam wakes up next to the photo of his family and one of the baby dolls. Bramelie's words echo in my ear "guns won't work here, but still have a role to play". Am I meant to shoot myself? Can't seem to equip it so I run. The credits begin and then stop when Sam runs out of steam and Bramelie appears to monologue some more. Now more running and credits. Hey I recognise that rock, I think this beach may be infinite. Bramelie is recounting her operation for uterine cancer and during it she went to the beach, but didn't fully come back, Bridget the body in reality and Amelie in the beach. That's why Amelie aged and Bridget did. Oh we're doing the name reveal with air writing Voldemort style: Ame is french for soul and lie is english for lie: soul lie. Clever.

Ok stand up for more credit running. More monologuing. I guess that's one way to make sure people pay attention for the credits. She talks about how extinction is a catalyst for evolution and survival, refusing to surrender to the will of the universe.

More credit run. Honestly my mind's gone at this point. She says, I think, that she killed Sam as a baby and then regretted it and sent him back from the beach, and began spreading her nightmares to everyone with DOOMS when she sent him back.

Ok now credits proper. Bloody hell this is long. I'm just crouched and rapidly tapping R2 to make it look like Sam's wanking just to relieve the tedium and because I am a child.

Right. Jesus, this must be it. Gun won't help quote again. Yep, shoot himself. I figured that out before this began but you wouldn't let me. Oh, nope, it's empty, I wonder if it always would be or just because I fired all the shots. Bramelie says I have to live and she brought me back together with Cliff.

I see five BTs floating over the ocean, try to get the but again washed back. BT hand prints stomping by. I just want to leave now. I can hear the other characters' voices, finally see Bramelie again, run to her and wander into the sea. This time it works and I'm dragged under by Deadman holding Lou.

That took an hour and sixteen minutes.

How much more is there? *checks youtube* Oh fuck me, a whole extra hour!? I don't have time for this right now. I'll come back later. That's longer than your average Star War. Jesus Hideo, get an editor.

[gulfportofficial]

I stubbornly refuse to accept any post-game additions to Death Stranding. Like for example the revelation in the books that Peter Englert is Higgs’ real name. Absolutely not. I will never accept that, even though it is officially word of god. I disagree.  It is central to his character that he is actually named Higgs Monaghan and belligerently insists upon carrying his patrilineal Irish surname forward with him in the apocalypse. Kind of like how he orders fucking hot pizza in the apocalypse except much darker than that. It’s deliberate and painful broadcasting of legacy, an attempt to rewrite the past by controlling the future. It’s the complicated act of still feeling connection to something that hurt you very badly and insisting that you can do better, bolder things.  It’s striking too, because it’s made obvious. He’s the one person without a self-chosen mono-name or a surname that refers directly to their function in the broken future. He was absolutely called Higgs Monaghan when he was born and so he shall remain until he dies. 

[woundedheartwithin]

Another excerpt from a different fic. I’ll get around to posting it eventually. Gotta rewrite a lot of it, but I like this scene and wanted to go ahead and share it. It’s a Higgs/Fragile fic, but there’s a healthy dose of Higgs and Sam BroTP in there for sure

Peter wakes feeling better, a little more human, and sits up and stretches like a cat, wincing at the sore pull in the long muscles of his back. He stands and walks to the sink, taking a clean glass from the cupboard and filling it with water straight from the tap, sucking it down so fast he nearly chokes. He fills it again and sips slowly this time, then wanders over to the monitor and turns it on. He’s surprised to find Sam still in the shelter, sitting on the cot and rocking his BB pod gently in his hands, his lips moving as he speaks to the fetus within it. Peter watches for a while, curious despite himself, then leans forward to press the talk button on the intercom.

“Hey, Sam?” He asks, grinning when he scares the hell out of the man. “How long’s it been since we were both on Amelie’s Beach?” And Sam frowns at that, considering as he watches the BB press its palms against the glass and stick its tongue out at him.

“About six months since we fought at Edge Knot City.” He says after a long moment, and Peter leans back in his chair and tips his head back, staring at the ceiling. Six months. He’d been on the Beach for six months. Shit. “When did you come back?” Sam asks hesitantly, and Peter snorts and hits the button again.

“Couple hours ‘fore you showed up here, I think.” He replies, looking at the timestamp on the video feed. “Don’t know what time exactly.” They’re quiet again for a long time, and Peter can tell that Sam has something to say. “Spit it out, Bridges.” He huffs into the intercom, and Sam flinches and screws his face all up.

“What’s your plan, Higgs?” He asks, almost tentatively.

“First, I’m gonna ask you not to call me that anymore.”

“Why not? Isn’t that your name?” And the other man doesn’t sound like he’s mocking him, just genuinely curious.

“No.” He huffs, regretting even mentioning it. “It’s Peter.”

“Really? Like in your pizza emails?” Sam asks, astonished. Peter winces and sighs.

“Yeah, you know, Peter Higgs and Francois Englert. The folks who theorized the Higgs mechanism? Won a prize for the god particle.” He says quietly. “Real name’s Peter Monaghan. I know it’s stupid.”

“Okay.” Sam says after another long pause, seeming to accept the explanation. “So what’s next, Peter?” He winces again and considers.

“A big fat nothin, Sam.” He says at last. “Probably just stay here til I die.” Sam frowns again and says nothing, and Peter is about to call that the end of this particular conversation and shut off the monitor when Sam finally takes a deep breath and looks up into the camera.

“Want me to bring you food from time to time?” He asks plainly, and Peter stares, almost able to convince himself that Sam is really looking at him instead.

“Sure, I guess.” He says hesitantly, wondering what the catch is.

“Pizza?” Sam asks wryly. Peter snorts.

“Only when it’s convenient for you.” He replies.

“Since when have you cared about that?” Sam huffs, almost teasing, and Peter laughs.

“Since now, asshole.” He retorts, grinning widely, and Sam smiles and shakes his head.

“I’ll see what I can do.” He says, then turns back to his BB, cooing softly at it and rocking it in his hands once more, effectively ending their conversation. And suddenly Peter feels like he is intruding in his own damn home, so he shuts off the monitor and busies himself with something else.