Sam Flynn

Background

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Powers and Abilities

He has access to all of ENCOM’s tremendous wealth, connections to the highest levels of U.S. and international government. Flynn also has access to the technology of the Quantum Teleporter and its products. He sometimes takes the ENCOM Prototype Combat Vehicle out for test runs, or lately to fight Lux and his corrupt ISO army.

In addition to his background as a daredevil amateur stuntman, extreme sports adrenaline junkie, world-class break-in artist and super-high-tech hacker/prankster, he is a consummate leader and technologist. He has developed his innate talents for business and statesmanship to become a prominent figure in world affairs. Sam also has a degree of eidetic memory.

Sam maintains a healthy physical training regimen of running, weight lifting and martial arts. He slowed down slightly over the last five years due to spending more and more of his time overseeing the ENCOM empire instead of hitting the gym or dojo. Quorra reliably kicks his ass in sparring matches, which was the source of neverending teasing in more lighthearted times.

Now that he has turned over day-to-day oversight to this loyal and trusted right hand man Alan Bradley, while maintaining all-but-figurehead CEO status, he has more time to train and work out. And, of course, to hunt Lux. But this may leave the door open for more intrigue at ENCOM.

History

Sam Flynn is the son of Kevin Flynn, inheritor of his legacy. For years, he was kept from embracing his sense of duty to that legacy by his feeling of having been abandoned by his father. His grandparents raised him as well as they could, but he regularly got into fights with other kids and would run off for days at a time, much like his father before him.

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As he got older, he started getting heavily into extreme sports, wanting a real-life rush more than the artificial one he got from video games as a kid. He spent plenty of time reading and playing with electronics and computers, especially when he was laid up with a broken limb for months at a time after a serious accident.

He would talk to Alan Bradley about “stuff” every so often. His father’s friend started trying to encourage him to come work at ENCOM once he finished college, even if only as a programmer, engineer or the like. But he decided he would rather learn from the world and life than finish at Caltech .

He never forgot his father, and kept hoping for his return and even at times searching for him. He had no success, though. Even worse ENCOM seemed to have brushed aside everything Kevin Flynn has stood for in their pursuit of profit at the cost of any benefit for mankind.

Eventually he started taking out his frustration with the direction the company had been taken in by pulling spectacular stunts, pranks and eventually break-ins and hacks. This period of his life finally culminated in the events of Tron: Legacy.

After the movie

In the aftermath of Legacy, he finally took control of ENCOM with the help of Alan Bradley and others. Flynn also brought Quorra along for the ride. After the dust settled, and after spending more time with Quorra, he realized the first priority of the company should be to invest in recreating the miracle of the ISOs.

He also decided the Quantum Teleporter technology was another key element needed to realize the dream his father had of a partnership between the ISOs and human beings. A dream that would lead both races to a far greater understanding of science, medicine and philosophy.

Quorra was critical to making this work, since:

• She had firsthand knowledge of the ISOs.
• She was involved in Kevin’s further research while trapped in the system.
• She had memories of Kevin’s insights into the system technology and the nature of ISOs.

Thus, Quorra became ENCOM’s Chief Scientist. This would help smooth out any bureaucratic speed bumps within the company that might slow down the process.

Initially he had to be very hands-on in the research himself, while Quorra got up to speed on the nuances of human relationships and the real world. Of course, this meant they could spend nearly every waking moment together, so he didn’t mind at all. He had some space adjacent to the lab cleared out and turned into apartments for key personnel, including himself and Quorra.

It’s in the cloud

Their close working and living arrangements made it easy for them to build on the mutual attraction and friendship that started when they first met in the cyber world during the events of Legacy. Soon they were in love, and eventually they moved in together, relocating to a nearby apartment where they would have a bit more privacy than was possible in the ENCOM building.

Eventually, about a year after returning to the real world, their research came to fruition near the shores of Simulation Lake. This was an area in the new ISO Compute Cloud system that filled the same role as the Sea of Simulation, the birthplace of the original ISOs in Kevin Flynn’s system.

Quorra, Sam and their team of ENCOM researchers had worked tirelessly to reproduce virtually the same conditions that had existed in the Sea of Simulation. Into this semi-chaotic digital “soup” they placed copies of portions of Quorra’s code, her “digital DNA”, to try to hasten the process of digital evolution. But for months, no ISOs emerged.

Some team members started to think that the ISOs were a truly unique phenomenon that could not be reproduced. But then, one day… the miracle struck twice. As Quorra and Sam watched, a new ISO emerged from the Lake. Like the first of the original ISOs, he named himself. He choose the name Lux.

Lux

From the beginning, it was clear that Lux was not only the first of the new ISOs, but also a very special new kind of ISO. The original ISOs had always had a unique ability to reshape the system, and had engineered beautiful, nearly organic cities and other creations from the virtual plains that surrounded Clu 2’s relatively plain Tron City on the Grid.

Quorra’s almost naive genius, her instinctual and boundary-free comprehension of technologies and science beyond what most humans could ever hope to grasp, was the last reminder of the promise they held.

But Lux’s abilities surpassed Quorra’s dramatically, and brought new urgency to the resurrection of their race. He could directly alter the patterns and flows of the digital ether. Aided by his seemingly unlimited intellect, Quorra, Sam and their team made huge strides forward in their research.

They quickly coaxed forth more ISOs, many of whom also possessed a limited degree of the same new powers and genius as Lux, although none have yet surpassed him. They also made significant improvements to the Quantum Teleporter, which eventually allowed them to not only bring more ISOs into the real world, but also some of their technology.

For four years, this work continued, in both the real and cyber worlds. Lux showed great interest in working with Quorra directly, and although she still loved Sam, she did fall into a pattern of showing more interest in Lux’s latest achievement than anything Sam was doing.

This combined with Lux’s obvious crush on her, to which she alternately responded with obliviousness and mild flirtation, made Sam incredibly jealous.

This went on for some time, and slowly drove a silent wedge between them, although they remained loyal to each other and continued their relationship. Sam would never give up on her, and he tried many times to reignite the spark.

In a bad light

Eventually Quorra realized she was precariously close to losing Sam. She immediately turned things around and started giving Lux the cold shoulder, hoping her obvious disinterest would give him the push needed to find someone else.

She reasoned that there were many lovely female new ISOs around now. And in a way her status as “mother” of the new ISOs made any notion of a relationship between them unpalatable regardless of anything else. Lux would not give up either, though. Under the influence of Edward Dillinger, Jr., he turned bad.

Sam was deeply upset by this turn of events. He thought Lux would be a key partner in realizing Kevin Flynn’s dream. Instead he threatens to turn it into a nightmare of destruction and conquest, in the name of ISO superiority, and specifically Lux’s own delusional vision of himself as Emperor with Quorra by his side.

Sam turned all of his energies away from running ENCOM, researching and developing ISO technology for beneficial purposes. He put them into creating the means to destroy Lux and his corrupt ISO army.

He also rushed development of a prototype combat vehicle to help government forces protect ENCOM facilities and other buildings and people from Lux and his forces, and to strike back against those forces whenever possible.

He ramped up his physical training and used his clout with the government to ensure a personal role in the war against Lux and Dillinger. He has also involved a small number of good and loyal new ISOs in the fight. They also want to see the end of Lux, who brings disgrace to their people and threatens everything they hold dear, not the least of which is Quorra.

Genesis

The events from the end of Legacy to that point are the story [my] Tron: Genesis [campaign setting].

And so began the struggle that continues in the post-Genesis world of Tron. Sam, ENCOM and his group of ISOs against Lux, Dillinger and their corrupt ISOs. Fighting for the fate of the world, and of Quorra.

Once upon a time you could find Sam hanging out with his dog Marv in his shack by the Bay, enjoying a beer and maybe chatting with the Flynn Lives kids. Times have changed. Now he is usually at ENCOM HQ in the lab checking up on the latest improvements to the weapons and vehicles he needs to fight Lux, or more likely training with his team of ISOs in the Compute Cloud system.

He also checks in regularly with the Lux Task Force set up by the Pentagon at a classified base near San Francisco. He does occasionally make the time to spend some quality time with Quorra, and they still live together. But Lux’s downfall is almost always on his mind.

Description

Sam looks like, well… Garrett Hedlund as seen in Tron: Legacy.

He usually wears the same casual clothing as in the first part of Tron: Legacy, or his motorcycle leathers, when not training or fighting. But he’s in his Grid Combat Suit at least as often.

Personality

Sam is mostly a good person who wants to help and protect humans and ISOs alike. But he is willing to kill Lux and any other corrupt ISO. He views them as being no longer equal to humans in the way Quorra and the good ISOs are.

This is potentially a catastrophic character flaw and his main weakness. Quorra, Alan and others who care about him harbor deep concern that his obsession with destroying Lux will lead him down the same kind of dark path as Lux himself.

Sam also has concerns about keeping the workings of the Quantum Teleporter and his father’s system technology secret. But in order to obtain legitimate access to the rare, naturally-occurring quantum crystals and Dr. Lora Baines’ research notes, as well as the scientists who had worked with her, it was necessary to strike a deal with DARPA and the U.S. military.

This entailed keeping the details classified. However, Sam did manage to obtain a key concession: ENCOM was allowed to reveal publicly the existence, general nature and capabilities of the Quantum Teleporter, the system technology and the the ISOs. This revelation caused a variety of reactions around the world, from awe and wonder to disbelief, shock and even fear.

It also caused ENCOM stock to skyrocket and applications from top scientists, engineers and programmers to pour in from around the globe. ENCOM is now by far the world’s preeminent technology company, even more successful than it ever was.

Leverage

All of this gives Sam tremendous political leverage. He hopes someday to use that leverage to release all of the details of the technology as open source, for the benefit of all mankind. However, in the meantime, he does acknowledge the wisdom of keeping it secret while they ensure that it is safe. This is of particular concern given the problem with Lux. Was it a one-time fluke?

Or was Clu 2 right: are ISOs inherently flawed and dangerous? Are they too unpredictable and powerful to allow them to exist? These are the questions that trouble Sam and others at ENCOM. But for the time being, Quorra has convinced them that the benefits of rebuilding the ISO race will far outweigh any potential problems. The truth of the matter remains to be seen.

Sam also experiences guilt and relatively frequent moments of self-doubt over his inability to bring his father back to the real world at the end of Tron: Legacy, and his continuing failure to restore his father to life in the years since. His lack of progress stands in stark contrast to the miracle of the new ISOs and the continuing improvements in system technology and the Quantum Teleporter.

He believes it will be possible someday, if only he tries hard enough. But between keeping tabs on ENCOM, Quorra, the ISOs, and the fight against Lux and Dillinger, his ability to stay on top of the problem of bringing back Kevin Flynn is limited. This troubles him deeply.

By Bryan Venable.

Source of Character: Tron: Legacy and supporting materials.