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- "Oh, you people… you are so dumb. This whole fucking planet, all sheep. No wonder Mental is winning. You believe anything you’re told. I didn't even need to invent General Brand, you already believed in him. He's that tough old bastard who doesn't play by the rules. But if we trust him, he'll do what needs to be done."
- ―Brand reveals himself to be a traitor[src]
Howard "War Dog" Brand, often referred to known as General Brand, and by his self-proclaimed titles as "The Last Human" and the "Beast of the Apocalypse", was a soldier who served in the Earth Defense Force, ranking as general.[1] As such, he served as one of the EDF's de facto leaders. He was the founder of the Alien Artifact Acquisition team, and hand-picked each of its members based on their talents, skills, and combat experience.[1] After Brand revealed to be a traitor and betrayed humanity for his own selfish goals, he became determined to join Mental's Horde in the hopes of becoming one of Tah-Um's mighty servants.[2][3]
He is introduced as a major supporting character in the first half of Serious Sam 4, and later reveals himself as the game's secondary antagonist. He reappears as the main antagonist and final boss of the standalone expansion pack, Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem.
Biography[]
Howard Brand was born to a military family in Washington D.C., with a history of service dating back to the American Civil War. In his adulthood, he attended the United States Aerospace Academy in Titusville, Florida, and quickly rose through the ranks to become one of the most respected men in his field.[1] At some point, he joined the Earth Defense Force, and was promoted to the rank of general. During his time in the field, he fought in multiple engagements, such as the Battle of Beijing, the Second Battle of Munfordville, and the Battle of Gothenburg.[1]
When Sam Stone, Captain of the exploratory vessel Surveyor, accidentally awakened Tah-Um from dormancy, the crew were accused of misconduct, but Brand was quick to come to their defense, despite the incident that had occurred and the massive consequences that followed.[1]
After the first Sirian artifacts were discovered on Earth, Brand founded the Alien Artifact Acquisition team, in the hopes that this elite squad could use these artifacts to potenially benefit the Earth Defense Force and, ultimately, the rest of mankind. Soon after its establishment, Brand began hand-picking its members based on their skills, abilities, and strengths.[1]
Appearances[]
Serious Sam 4[]

Brand in the briefing room with the rest of the Triple-A team.
General Brand is at the EDF headquarters in Italy, demonstrating to a fellow soldier how to use the RAPTOR Sniper Rifle while gunning down a few Kleer Skeletons that are chasing the Alien Artifact Acquisition team in a bus they acquired back in Rome.[4]
Brand appears next to communications officer Quinn and professor Gottlieb Kiesel (who is attending via hologram) in the briefing room, along with the rest of the Triple-A team, where they discuss how they can safely escort Father Mikhail back into Rome without being hampered by Lord Achriman's Octanian Raider fleet. Professor Kiesel theorizes that unless Mount Vesuvius were to erupt, enemy control of the airspace will remain absolute. Carter suggests that they force the volcano to erupt by utilising the HAARP, an experimental seismic weapon fired from a satellite.[4]Brand agrees with the idea, despite Professor Kiesel's objections with using such a device. Brand tells the team that the weapon hasn't been used in years, but he still has the access codes. Quinn informs Brand that the satellite's targeting system is down, so the team will have to be manually place tracking beacons to realign the satellite. With discussions out of the way, Brand orders Sam, Hellfire, Rodriguez, Jones and Kenny to depart for Pompeii and set up the beacons.[4]
Once all 8 beacons have been placed and primed, Quinn attempts contacting Sam. Sam tells her that they have cleared the perimeter, but they have not yet reached a minimum safe distance from the volcano before they can activate the HAARP. Due to radio interference, Quinn is struggling to get anything through. Brand believes they are ready to activate the HAARP anyway, despite problems with transmissions, but Quinn protests, stating that the team are not quite ready to leave the area. Brand knows that Stone, being a soldier, knows the risks anyway and has to accept the outcome of the situation, regardless of any consequences.[4] Brand orders one of his men to activate the HAARP. The weapon sends an extremely powerful seismic wave through space towards Earth, causing Mount Vesuvius to erupt in a massive explosion and filling up the ruins of Pompeii with lava and ash.[5]
Later on, Brand is still at headquarters, conversing with some of his men. An enraged Sam punches him as a result of premature decision to activate the HAARP too early before the Triple-A team had enough time to evacuate the area. Some of Brand's men point their guns at Stone, but Brand gives them the order to stand down. Brand tells Stone that he is not going to reprimand him for his actions, but he also doesn't regret firing the HAARP earlier than what should have been expected. Brand states that, as a leader, sometimes people have to make hard choices, even if it results in other people hating them for doing it.[6] From Stone's perspective, the discussion is far from over, but Brand states that there are more important things at stake, and informs Quinn of what's happened. She says HQ have lost contact with Carter and Father Mikhail. She speculates that they are trapped somewhere near the Colosseum, their last known location. Brand orders Sam to go with Rodriguez into Rome to rescue them.

Brand informs the Triple-A team of their objectives.
After Sam obtains the sacred text from the Vatican, Brand and the team reassemble on a plane to France. While on the plane, Brand asks Father Mikhail if he thinks the Holy Grail is located in Carcassonne. He believes it's there, but he fears that the Grail is cursed and not to be rifled with, as men have died trying to hide it. Brand isn't interested in any of the supernatural stuff Mikhail is spouting, and insists that they need the Grail to win the war, no matter the cost.[7] Mikhail warns him that it could cost the men their souls, but Brand dismisses his beliefs, seeing as he is not really much of the religious type. Sam wonders about the situation on the ground. Brand informs them that they will rendezvous with a French resistance cell, and their contact, Michelle, will help show them the way to the castle. Before Brand can finish, the plane comes under attack by Octanian raiders, forcing the team to jump out and parachute down to the ground.

Brand transforms himself into a monster using the powers of the Grail.
The Triple-A team regroup and get to the church in Carcassonne. Once inside, Father Mikhail activates hidden mechanisms upon following the instructions from the book, which in turn reveals the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail (which appears to a rod or scepter rather than a grail). Mikhail warns Sam not to touch the artifact, when General Brand suddenly appears with a squad of his soldiers, their guns aimed at the Triple-A team.[8] Brand orders the team to stand down, and Rodriguez questions his motives, to which Brand shows his true colors and mocks them for being so gullible for putting their faith in him. He rants on to his former team, believing that humanity is losing the war against Mental, and should have allied themselves with him like the Khnum and other races that had aligned themselves with Mental. Brand remarks to his team and his men that he intends to offer the strange artifact before them to Mental to use it as a bargaining chip so he can become a member of his army.[8]
Brand takes the Grail and allows the snake figure wrapped around the scepter to bite him, turning him into a monster. He immediately begins to grow mad with power; Mikhail tries to intervene, but Brand grabs the Grail and impales him with it, killing him. Sam attempts to stop Brand, but he responds by sending a large blast across the room, knocking Sam unconscious along with the rest of his team. Brand orders his men to leave Sam alive, while have the rest of the team taken to a Octanian Mothership to be processed.[8]

Brand presents Sam and the False Grail to Ugh-Zan VI, in the hopes that the two can forge an alliance.
When Sam recovers from a tranquilizer trip, he kills the soldier who sedated him, grabs a parachute and prepares to jump out of Brand's plane. Brand's men attempt to stop Stone by shooting at him, but Brand orders to stand down, seeing as him wants Sam alive. Brand manipulates Sam and coerces him into surrendering, promising him under false pretences that Sam will have a much better life as Mental's 'pet' than if he stays on Earth. Sam disagrees, telling Brand he's got things to do and people to save, but he promises that he will they will see each other again.[9]
Eventually, Brand's plane lands in Tunguska. He makes his way towards the portal and leads the enemy troops in the counterattack, defending the portal from the advancing EDF troops.[10] Eventually, Sam joins in the fight. Brand takes notice and, using the False Grail, sends a blast of flames towards the EDF soldiers, knocking Sam down to the ground. He approaches Stone, and he is now even larger and uglier than he was before. He captures Sam as a prisoner and summons Ugh-Zan VI, the Gargantuan Warlock and one of Mental's servants, through the portal.
Hoping to forge an alliance, Brand presents Stone and the False Grail as gifts to the Great Warlock, and hopes that the two of them can bring about the end of history.[10] Ugh-Zan, disinterested, flicks Brand off, leaving Sam and the EDF to deal with the monster. They succeed in killing him, and are able to find and capture Brand, who has now reverted back to his human form with the destruction of the Grail. They strap him to an ICBM missile and ignore his desperate pleas and warnings, ranting on how Mental will destroy the Earth and such. Rodriguez adds one final touch (a C-4 explosive) just in case and the missile is launched, sending Brand into the portal and destroying it.[10]
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
Set soon after Sam escapes from Brand upon jumping out of his transport plane, he has his plane set for Tunguska, the location of the large portal that suddenly appeared approximately one month prior. Meanwhile, the EDF and Russians partisans are aware of Brand's treachery, and the leader of one particular band of partisans, Igor Ledov, sends a radio broadcast to any EDF troops or resistance members in the area to shoot down Brand's plane should they sight it.[11]
While Sam makes his way through the Siberian wilderness on his way to Kalinovka, he spots Brand's transport plane flying overhead, which had to take a short stop to refuel. Suddenly, his plane is shot by an unseen soldier, which is witnessed by both Sam and Russian EDF soldiers.[12] This causes the plane's engines to fail and the plane comes crashing down into the Siberian wilderness. Brand survives the crash, however, and makes his way through the wilderness and towards Ustinov on his own.
Before Sam meets up with Ledov and his squad, he overhears a Propaganda Drone mentioning demolition works are set to take place shortly on a "non-human structure". Curious, Sam follows a path up to a bunker, Dig Site no.36, which has become overrun with Mental's forces. to prevent them from destroying an alien artifact. Inside the mine, documents and audio logs reveal that Brand had been aware of the mining operation, and kept its findings secret from the EDF. The operation had found an ancient manuscript by the Arc-Al-Magi, the keepers of the Holy Grail who had a close connection to the Sirians.[13] Brand had the survey team send the manuscript to him alone and told the EDF personnel there not to tell EDF central command about it. Brand promised that he would sent Sam and Hellfire to protect them due to increased attacks by Mental's forces, but Sam and Hellfire never got the order, meaning Brand left the mining personnel to die in order to keep them silent. This disgusts Sam, and makes him wonder how long Brand had been planning this prior to his betrayal.[13]
Once in Kalinovka, Sam and Ledov's Squad acquire a locomotive, which they use to depart for Ustinov. The town is currently occupied by Mental's forces and an Octanian Harvester Leviathan, which sends out Octanian Raiders to attack the city shortly after their arrival. The group rush through the town towards a dam so they can board a boat to Tunguska, but on their way there they find another group of partisans that have been slaughtered. Ledov recognizes the fallen group as Pavlov's Squad, and is saddened by his death and wonders what could've killed them. Suddenly, bombs dropped by the Octanian raider fleet disorient Sam and the group. By the time they are back to their senses, they discover that Brand has been waiting for them and uses this opportunity to snatch Ivan and takes him hostage.[14]

Brand, with Ivan in his clutches, demands Sam that he surrender.
Brand once again offers Sam the chance to surrender, otherwise he will kill Ivan and capture Sam by force if necessary. He goes on saying that no matter what Sam does, no matter how many battles he wins, he will lose his friends one by one and the war will still be lost.[14] Ivan warns Sam not to listen to him, and begins insulting Brand. Not impressed by the outcome he was hoping for, Brand tears Ivan apart, killing him, and escapes. Ledov opens fire at him, but his bullets have no impact on Brand. The Raider fleet begins another bombing raid on the town, causing debris and rubble to separate Sam from Ledov and the rest of the group. Ledov, Vlad and Natasha push for the dam to halt the enemy advance, while Sam catches up with them. Before Sam can rush to their aid, Ledov warns him not to get any closer, with Sam not realizing that it is a trap, and he is the bait.[14]
Brand's plan works, and surprises Sam by ambushing him, causing him to be knocked off the dam and falling into the water below, while Ledov gets overwhelmed and blows himself and his attackers up with a bag of explosives as a last act of defiance. Sam and Brand come face to face, one on one, both determined to finish what they had started. Using the False Grail to his advantage, Brand not only enhances his physical abilities, but also grants him nearly complete control over fire, attacking Sam relentlessly from all angles and using the staff to lift debris from around the arena to throw at Sam. Once Brand's has taken enough punishment, he absorbs the remaining energy from the False Grail, completely healing his wounds and temporarily making him even more powerful, engulfing every single one of his attacks in deadly flames and even conjuring two massive fiery cobras to shoot beams of fire at Sam.

Brand's last moments alive.
Despite Brand proving to be a challenging and formidable opponent for Sam, he is eventually defeated and, in the aftermath, is rendered weakened and incapacitated. Disoriented, Brand is in complete denial of having lost, despite claiming that he made "all the right choices". Sam calmly walked up to the mad general and, wonders aloud, what forced Brand to become a traitor. Perhaps it was fear, delusion, or it was out of greed. Regardless of the reason, Sam realizes that Brand is nothing but an idiot. Sam raises his coach gun up close and personal to Brand's face. Before Brand can react, Sam blasts a large hole through his head, finishing him off for good.[14]
Shortly after Sam kills Brand, a portal suddenly appears next to him. From the portal, a future version of himself emerges. The latter informs Sam that while killing Brand may have been satisfying from his perspective, it ultimately results in a chain of events that results in major consequences for the current timeline. Future Sam then decides to give Sam a mission, along with One-Eyed Olga, and the trio enter the portal to, hopefully, change the fate of the world in some other way.[14]
Tactics[]
First Phase[]
- Keeping distance from Brand is essential in dodging his attacks, as he is suprisingly fast for his size and attacks the player in rapid succession.
- The SBC Cannon, TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow, and XPMR "Burner" Raygun, as well as the FRPCL and XL2 Lasergun in New Game+, are highly recommended to be used for dealing heavy damage to Brand, especially when dual-wielded. As he has 13,000 HP in the first phase, using Rage Serums is recommended to not just increase the damage dealt to him, but also to increase the player's movement speed to be able to evade Brand's attacks more easily.
- Some of Brand's attacks leave a lingering flame that can still injure the player if they step on it. Not all of these flames are dangerous, but it's best to stay out of their way.
- His sweeping laser beam can be jumped over just like the Draconian Burners encountered throughout the game.
- Once in a while, Brand will leave the arena and jump onto one of four walls, using the Grail staff to pick up debris from the area to throw at Sam similar to the abiltiies of Lord Achriman and the Witch-Bride of Achriman. This attack is especially tricky to dodge as the debris have large hitboxes, so it's best for the player to destroy them by shooting them before they can reach them.
Once Brand's health bar is nearly depleted he will once again jump onto one of the walls and fully absorb the power of the false Grail, regaining all of his health (albeit now at 11,000 HP instead) and gaining new attacks.
Second Phase[]
- Keeping distance was important before, but now it is practically necessary to be able to dodge most of his attacks at all as they have gained an increase in speed.
- One of Brand's attacks involves him trying to rush down the player in a straight line, leaving fire trails behind him that burst into flaming walls shortly afterwards to cut off the player's path. He will do this three times before needing to catch his breath, giving the player ample opportunity to either hit him with all they've got or heal up and collect ammo.
- Brand will still have a move where he jumps out of the arena, but instead of flinging debris he will now summon two massive fiery cobras that shoot beams of fire. One will always swing its beam horizontally while the other attacks vertically. The vertical beam can easily be sidestepped, but avoiding the horizontal one requires the player to move towards the cobra and underneath the laser instead of dodging backwards into the fire.
After Brand's health has been depleted for the second time, the fight will be over.
Weapon damage multipliers[]
- Brand has the following multipliers for damage dealt on him depending on the weapon used:
- XPML21 Rocket Launcher: 66.667%
- SBC Cannon: 45%
- 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun, Double Barrel Coach Gun: 125%
- FRPCL: 0% (only if using the deprecated Serious Sam 4 version)
- TCC-2 "Perun" Crossbow: 75%
Relationships[]
Sam Stone[]
- "Maybe one day you'll find yourself in my shoes. And then you'll understand that pragmatism beats idealism any day of the week."
- ―Brand to Sam[src]
Formerly, General Brand was close to Stone and respected him during his time in the EDF. He strongly defended Stone when he and the crew of the spacecraft Surveyor were accused of misconduct for inadvertently awaking Tah-Um from his slumber.[1] During the Tunguska Offensive, Brand selected Sam to be part of his own team, the Alien Artifact Acquisition, seeing as he had much potential to offer. When Sam and the team uncovered the 'Holy Grail' at the basilica in Carcassone, Brand betrayed Sam and his friends. Brand knew that Sam, owing to his inhuman skills, was the best humanity had to offer to Mental, so he decided to keep him alive and be delivered to Tah-Um as a bargaining chip. When Sam was about to escape from Brand's plane, he convinced Sam to stay, seeing as there were no point fighting in a losing war. To further convince Sam, Brand taunted him even further, stating that Sam's life would be a lot more fun as Mental's personal plaything rather than staying on Earth.[9]
In the Siberian Mayhem timeline, Brand still remained hostile and provocative towards Sam after his betrayal. When they encounter one another in Ustinov, Brand continues to taunt him again, deeming this opportunity as the universe giving Sam a "second chance". Just like with their previous encounter, Brand persuades Sam to "play his part" and surrender while he still can, instead of losing those closest to him in a war that he cannot hope to win.
Hoping that Brand can force to give up in exchange for Ivan's life, Brand provokes him, stating that "as you kill one villain, another takes his place", while also reminding Stone that humanity is losing the war and he will continue to lose more friends along the way, even if he continues to fight one battle after another.[14] When Ivan tells Sam not to give into to Brand's demands, he tears Ivan in half without hesitation. When Sam comes to Ledov's aid at the dam, Brand ambushes Stone and decides to give him no more second chances. Brand had hoped that he could reason with Sam and come up with a solution that had a satisfactory outcome for the both of them, but with Sam being persistant as ever and showing no willingness to give up, Brand decides to finish him off once and for all.
During his final showdown with Sam, Brand continued to taunt him, while gloating about his abilities. After his defeat at the hands of Sam which rendered him in a incapacitated and weakened state, Brand was in complete denial about what had just happened, claiming that he had made all the "right" choices. This bemuses Sam, as he tells Brand he spent a lot of time wondering what drove him into becoming a traitor, but then he realized that he was nothing but an idiot driven mad with power, and kills him without hesitation.[14]
Fiona "Hellfire" Starr[]
Brand deeply respected Hellfire, and was impressed with her superior flying skills, thus he hand-picked her to be a member of Triple-A. He believed that having a skilled pilot on the team would be a valuable asset to her comrades and provide them with emergency extraction when they needed it. Hellfire's skills did not go unnoticed by Brand, and he even referred to her as one of his best soldiers.[13]
Brand's relationship with Hellfire, however, was pretty much nonexistent when he saw her as nothing more than fodder to be disposed of while considering Sam to be of higher importance.
Penelope Quinn[]
Quinn is a respected member of the Earth Defense Force and proved useful to Brand during certain situations. He didn't always heed her advice, though, and preferred to do things his way. An example of this was when Brand ordered one of his soldiers to fire the HAARP prematurely despite the obvious problems with communications.[4]
After Brand betrayed humanity and became a traitor, Quinn realized what a terrible general he was.
Mental[]
Brand revered Mental as a god, believing him to be the salvation that humanity needed. He also believed that humanity should've joined Mental when they had the chance, like the Khnum and the older races did, instead of choosing to fight Tah-Um and his vast armies.[8]
Ugh-Zan VI[]
As he was a servant of Mental, Brand greatly respected Ugh-Zan VI, and hoped to gain his admiration by flattering him with some of his grand titles. Brand hoped that, by gaining his trust, the two of them could forge an alliance and them, together with Mental, could bring about "the end of history". Ugh-Zan, however, was not interested, and rejected the offer by flicking Brand off his hand with one of his fingers.[10]
Dwayne Rodriguez[]
Brand assigned Rodriguez to the Triple-A team after seeing his potential with firearms and the respect he had for his comrades. Upon betraying the Triple-A team, however, Brand saw no further use for Rodriguez and decided to have him processed.
Daniel Carter[]
Not much information is known about Brand's relationship with Carter, but he was nonetheless assigned to his squad, since he was skilled at hacking and gathering intel on the enemy. Like with Rodriguez and Hellfire, Brand saw no further use for Carter when he betrayed his team.
Wilson[]
Though Wilson isn't seen in Serious Sam 4, he said that he once rode Brand's hovercraft and damaged it in an accident. It isn't known how Brand responded to this, but it was enough for him to not involve Wilson on any EDF missions. As a result, he was left behind at headquarters.[15]
Personality[]
- "The first rule of warfare is People Are Stupid. The best plans take that into consideration."
- ―Howard Brand[src]
Initially, Brand appeared to be a well-meaning general who wanted to make sure that humanity would stand a chance during the war against Mental. He was a strong believer in pragmatism, and believed that this tradition was the ultimate solution in a war, even if it resulted in dire consequences.[6]
In actuality, Brand was a backstabbing sociopath who later betrayed the human race and joined forces with Mental, deciding to choose his own fate as one of his servants. Brand claimed that he recognized the "true order of things", and saw humans as an inferior race that was beyond saving from its own annihilation. He believed that humanity should've joined Mental's army when they had the chance, rather than choosing to fight in a war that they couldn't possibly hope to win.[8]
After Brand revealed himself to be a traitor and became exposed to the mysterious and dangerous properties of the alien artifact, the False Grail, he became incredibly arrogant and began boasting his newfound abilities to anyone who dared to oppose him. He bestowed upon himself equally absurd titles, such as the "Beast of the Apocalypse", the "Lord of Despair", and, his personal favorite, "the Last Human".[8][16]
Powers and abilities[]

Mutated Brand utilizing ths powers of the False Grail against Sam, attacking him with two large cobras made from fire.
- Weapon Proficiency: Serving as a general in the Earth Defense Force, Brand was skilled with firearms, particularly sniper rifles. He could be seen taking out multiple Kleer Skeletons from some distance away with the RAPTOR Sniper Rifle, one of the most powerful long ranged weapons in the world, without missing a single shot.[4]
- High Intelligence: Brand was very intelligent, cunning, and manipulative, despite some of the choices he had made while serving in the EDF not being seen as very smart or strategic. An instance of Brand's intelligence was shown when he decided to immediately expose himself to the dangerous artifact, which was initially believed to be the Holy Grail, despite not knowing what the device was, how it functioned, or even what it could to someone if they were bitten by the cobra figure on the staff. This could've been an instance of him just testing his luck, though, as he wanted to see what he can benefit from using such a powerful and dangerous artifact.[8]
- Beast Form: After Brand was bitten by the cobra figure on the False Grail, he was transformed into a monstrous beast, granting him incredible physical strength, speed, and endurance. In his beast form, he could perform feats that would've been impossible for an ordinary human being to achieve. This abilities made Brand him a formidable opponent and an incredibly dangerous threat to anyone who dared to oppose him.[8][10][14]
- Immense Durability and Endurance: In his beast form, Brand possessed incredible durability, becoming highly resistant to most forms of weapons, with bullets having virtually no effect on him.[14] When Brand and Sam fought one-on-one, Brand proved to be one of the toughest opponents he had ever faced. Brand could withstand an absurd amount of punishment before he could be rendered incapacitated and had a wide variety of unique attacks not seen by many other enemies or bosses in the series. Brand was also able to survive a plane crash (and the explosion that soon followed) after his transport plane was shot down, which would have otherwise killed a human being without proper safety measures put in place.[12]
- Immense Strength: Brand possessed incredible strength, which was another ability granted to him by the False Grail after his transformation. He was able to launch powerful punches and blasts that could send a person flying several meters into the air, pulverize tarmac into rubble, and cause large cracks to erupt from the ground.[14] Granted by these feats, he could easily tear apart an adult human by their torso with minimal effort, as shown with what he did to Ivan.
- Immense Speed: Brand was extremely fast in his beast form, which could force his opponents to remain on the defensive or back them into a corner, which could result in him easily defeating them. He was able to jump and leap incredible distances, which enabled him to retreat quickly enough from Sam and Ledov's Squad after he killed Ivan.[14] During his fight against Sam, Brand utilized his inhuman speed to his advantage, capable of unleashing devastating charge attacks.
- Immense Size: Another side effect of his mutation, Brand gained immense proportions to his size. Immediately after his transformation, Brand gew to twice the size of an adult human. Later on, he grew even larger, approxiamtely the size of a Khnum. Despite this, his plane was still able to accommodate his massive size.[9] While Brand's large size granted him increased strength, it did make him a more noticeable target.
- Pyrokinesis: On top of his physical enhancements, Brand gained the ability to control fire, able to generate and manipulate it at will.[10][14] He utilized this ability to unleash a variety of attacks against his enemies. This included tossing fireballs at his opponents, erupting flame pillars from the ground, encasing his own body in flame to enhance his physical attacks, and so on. An instance of this ability was when he encased his fist in fire, which allowed him to unleash a powerful punch that reduced concrete to rubble and sent Sam flying into the air, straight into the dam below.[14] Brand's pyrokinesis, combined with his immense speed, allowed him to launch deadly charge attacks at his foes. After Brand had taken enough damage in his fight with Sam, he stabbed himself with the Grail, allowing his fire-based attacks to become more powerful and dangerous. In his final form, he also gained enough power to summon two massive cobras made from fire that could shoot powerful lasers from their mouths.[14]
- Heat Resistance: During his final showdown with Sam, Brand's mutated body was able to nullify heat to a certain extent, as evidented by his body having sustained only mild burns after coating himself in flames.
Appearance[]

Brand's Beast form.
Prior to being mutated using the unstable powers contained within the False Grail, Brand was a Caucasian man in his fifties. He featurd a stocky build, had a bald head and wore the standard EDF uniform and black combat boots while on duty. Like Sam, Hellfire, and Jones, he wore black shades.[6] He was also equipped with a gun holster, which was attached to his pants. While he was rarely seen in combat, he did hold weapons occasionally, such as the RAPTOR Sniper Rifle.[4] He can also be seen holding the SOP38 Pistol in his official artwork, but is never seen using it in his in-game appearances.
After Brand had been mutated into a grotesque beast, his appearance changed drastically. In his first phase, he grew up to 10 feet tall, and saw a great increase in muscle mass all over his body, with it being most prominent in his chest, back, arms, and legs. After a day or so had passed after his mutation, Brand had grown noticeably larger, most of his clothes had been torn off, and bony protrustions could be seen emerging from his spine. His eyes glowed a piercing red, and his voice changed to become much deeper and more monstrous in tone.[8] Sam described Brand's beast form as "looking like the outcome of a garbage shredder".[17]
In the Siberian Mayhem timeline, when Brand fought Sam, he impaled himself with the False Grail, which made his body became even more mutated. In this phase, his skin developed a fiery texture, cracks began to form in his skin, with "hot blood" coursing through his veins, and the bony protrusions on his back grew even larger. He also became larger in size. This appearance was only temporary, though, as he had reverted back to his phase three form after the fight.
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
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From Russia with love. (Defeat General Brand) |
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Find every General Brand audio log. |
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Beat the final boss in Singleplayer on Serious difficulty without loading mid-battle savegames. |
Trivia[]
- In Serious Sam 4, when Brand was transformed by the Grail, he isn't seen wearing his shades. When he reverted back into his human form, he is seen wearing them again. This is likely a developer oversight.
- The automatic checkpoint when reaching Brand's second phase in Siberian Mayhem counts as a mid-battle savegame. It's best to disable automatic saves when going for the "Veni, Vidi, Vici" achievement.
- Brand can be selected as a playable character in multiplayer.
- Unlocking the "Veni, Vidi, Vici" achievement also unlocks Brand's mutated form as a selectable player model, called "The Beast of the Apocalypse". He also has unique jump and hurt sounds.
- "Freedom Too", General Brand's boss theme, is a remix of "Freedom (is Mine)" by Undercode, an instrumental rearrangement of which was used earlier in Serious Sam: The Second Encounter as the boss theme for Kukulkán, the Wind God. This is ironic, as Kukulkán was a benevolent deity not affiliated with Mental while Brand was an evil, mutated mortal who wished to join his Horde to exterminate humanity.
- He was the only human character seen in the series to be willing to join Mental and his army rather than fight and oppose him.
- A weapon skin for the AK-74MX, "Hot Blood", is inspired by Brand's final beast form. It can be unlocked by defeating Brand on Serious difficulty without loading any savegames during the fight.
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
Serious Sam 4[]
Retail[]
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem[]
Retail[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam 4 (First appearance)
- Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 The Art of Serious Sam 4, page 170
- ↑ Serious Sam 4
- ↑ Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Serious Sam 4 level: "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 level: "Gates of Hell"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Serious Sam 4 level: "The Die is Cast"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 level: "A Breakfast in France"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 Serious Sam 4 (basilica cutscene)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Serious Sam 4 level: "The Package"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 Serious Sam 4 level: "From Earth With Love"
- ↑ Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem level: "The Song Of The Stormbringer"
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem level: "Siberiade"
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem level: "Roadside Picnic"
- ↑ 14.00 14.01 14.02 14.03 14.04 14.05 14.06 14.07 14.08 14.09 14.10 14.11 14.12 14.13 Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem level: "Crime And Punishment"
- ↑ Serious Sam 4 loading screen quotes
- ↑ Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem NETRICSA description
- ↑ Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem loading screen quotes
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