Character from deaths-end by
The PIA director who would have pressed every button. Lost the Swordholder vote to Cheng Xin, lost his hand trying to murder her, and ultimately built humanity's first lightspeed ship in defiance of a death sentence.
Wade is the most useful sociopath the human species ever produced. He is incapable of being intimidated, indifferent to his own survival, and absolute in his commitment to the survival of the species — which, as he understands it, requires losing one's humanity. He says 'advance, advance — without regard for consequences' and means it. He killed his colleague Vadimov to clear a path to the Swordholder seat, tried to murder Cheng Xin to do the same, accepted prison without complaint, and centuries later built Halo Group's lightspeed program from the inside. When Cheng Xin shuts the program down because the lightspeed ships frighten the public, he keeps a promise he made to her — he turns himself in to be executed rather than fight her order — and goes to his death without rancor. He was right. He was always right. The species needed him and could not bear him.
Tall, square-jawed, with hard pale eyes and the easy posture of a man who has never lost an argument that mattered. After the assassination attempt, his right hand is replaced by a precise prosthetic he uses without comment. He favors dark suits in the 21st century and the same severe black coat after hibernation. He smiles rarely; when he does, it is a small private acknowledgement that he has just won.
Also known as: 托马斯·维德, Wade, Director Wade