DOOM Creator Officially Confirms Doom Guy's Name, Ending The Argument

John Romero, creator of Doom, has had the final word on the iconic figure's real name. His name is Doom Guy.

It was always thought that "Doom Guy" was a placeholder for the hero's name over the numerous iterations of their battles against the forces of Hell. In the novels published in the 1990s, they were named "Flynn Taggart." Then, in the Doom 3 novels, they were called "John Kane." The version of the character portrayed by Karl Urban in the film adaptation is dubbed "John 'Reaper' Grimm," if you want to count that as a canonical source. The Doom Guy is also a descendant of B.J. Blazkowicz, the protagonist of the Wolfenstein series of games, so one would expect there to be a 50:50 chance of his surname being Blazkowicz (on the proviso that humans in the future still follow the naming conventions of most families in the 21st century).

Now, with Romero's steadfast attestation that Doom Guy's name is literally Doom Guy, this opens multiple avenues of inquiry into the characterisation of the hero, who is otherwise a blank slate for the player to project onto. Right now, we know that "Doom" is not a popular name for babies, based on the little research I've done and our own common sense. Usually, if a baby is to be named after a noun, values, or elements in nature, and places are standard fare. I don't think that "Doom" is going to be up there with names like Patience, Poppy, or Paris.

id Software

It is possible that, with the precipitous events of 2020, that babies born in 2021 could be named after something a bit more ominous. Like a sort of talisman, or ward against these things. Look, if it worked for Calamity Jane, there's no reason why it can't work now. Perhaps, we will see an increase in children on the primary school register named Allergy, or Queues, or It's Raining And I Left My Umbrella At Home. In such a class, the young Doom Guy would be in good company.

Doom Eternal, the latest game in the series, is now available through Xbox Game Pass. As part of Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda's parent company, we could expect many more games under their umbrella to be on their way to the subscription service. One of these is confirmed to be Starfield, which will be playable on Xbox and PC from launch.

Topics: DOOM