“ We have to be monsters. It's the only way we can get justice. - Emeline Shaw”
Emeline Shaw was the founder and the cult leader of the Outcasts. She was an Asymptomatic Carrier of the virus who was hellbent on destroying those who betrayed her.
History[]
Before the Green Poison outbreak, Shaw was a prosecutor with a no-nonsense personality, as she aggressively stated evidence against a defendant who had brutally murdered his girlfriend. At one time before the outbreak, she and her daughter Savannah visited Manning National Zoo and saw a Polar Bear and her cub together, telling her daughter that bear was watching them to make sure they don't hurt her baby, as that is what mothers are supposed to do.
Quarantine and Vengeance[]
Emeline was forcefully separated from her daughter Savannah during the quarantine, and she later learned that Savannah had died due to mistreatment at Roosevelt Island. This trauma forms the foundation of Emeline's quest for vengeance against everyone responsible, and everyone who stood by and let it happen.
Emeline became aware of her condition as an asymptomatic carrier of the disease, something which she took a certain perverse pride, as she willingly allowed her blood to be extracted by her followers to be used as a weapon to spread the virus.
Through strength of charisma, she led the Outcasts to break out of Roosevelt Island and into Washington D.C in a quest of relentless vengeance against everyone. This included civilians who were trying to survive, as Emeline saw everyone who's not an Outcast as guilty.
Becoming Monsters[]
Throughout the Outcasts' crusade, they caused a campaign of terror against the True Sons, the Hyenas, and anyone who stood in their way. They captured civilians, JTF, and True Sons to summarily execute them and left their mangled bodies to serve as an example.
At one point, Harlan Lloyd (who took the moniker of The Strategist) talked to Emeline about the number of prisoners they've captured for slave labor on whether to feed them. Emeline requested to have them killed after outliving their usefulness and dumping their bodies, so their enemies can find them. Her reasoning that it will provoke fear in their hearts and weaken them, further arguing they need to be monsters as it's the only way they get their ''justice''.
Galvanizing/Controlling the Narrative[]
Still, there were some Outcasts who had some doubts about their mission, wondering if what they're doing is right. With her oratory skills, she convinced them by telling them that their enemies are not Human, thus what they're doing is justice. That included that one time when she provoked a captured True Son soldier who confessed to murdering a woman who happened to be a wife to one of her followers, so that Outcast can kill him.
At one point, Harlan Lloyd informed her of reports of the JTF's arrest on Antwon Ridgeway. Aware that the truth could weaken the Outcasts, Emeline ordered him to burn every copy of the reports he could find, so she could control the narrative, for if the truth came out, her followers would've defected or turned against her.
Setbacks[]
Unfortunately for Emeline, her Outcasts suffered major setbacks by the Division as agents arrived to D.C to take it back under control. This included the labs that were set up in DCD Headquarters, the capture of Harlan Lloyd in Potomac Event Center, and her Outcast strike force led by The Bloodgound decimated before they got to kill Maya Walsh, who was then rescued by Division agents, and a number of high-ranking lieutenants in her ranks,
It has to mean something[]
Before his capture by the Division, Emeline requested Harlan Lloyd to hold the Outcasts together and galvanize her as a martyr in the event she dies. Her worry that if no one would try to keep their movement going, the Outcasts would scatter and dissolve,
Harlan Lloyd accepted her request, though he'd never fulfill it due to his capture.
Escape from Roosevelt Island[]
Anticipating the Division's assault, Emeline Shaw and a number of her followers made their escape from Roosevelt Island, while their brethren kept the agents busy using the docked boat as a decoy, until they were killed and the boat was destroyed, making the Division believe that Emeline was inside there. At least, for a while.
Final Stand at Manning National Zoo[]
Emeline and her Outcasts had set up a stronghold in Manning National Zoo, setting up a radio repeater for their comms, as well as modifying one of the trains to put up a mini-gun there in case of an attack. During the Division's campaign in D.C's outskirts, the agents found her and her followers set up in the Zoo and made their assault.
Emeline galvanized her people to fight, but even they were no match for the agents as they eliminated through waves of them, eliminating her lieutenants, disrupting their comms. In a final stand, Emeline attacked them with the mini-gun train, until she was forced out of the train by C4s destroying the pillars holding the train, fighting her enemies on foot.
Her Outcasts tried to protect her to no avail, and Emeline was eliminated, but not before telling the agents her Outcasts will live on and that killing her will only make her a martyr. Afterward, the agents discover an ECHO of Emeline and her daughter Savannah during their time in the Zoo, as
Legacy[]
“ As long one Outcast remains, I'll live on! - Emeline Shaw”
As predicted, Emeline's final words proved true as the Outcasts still kept going after her death, terrorizing communities or attempting decastating attacks. For the latter, they killed JTF Task Force Proteus except for their leader, Jack Arnold, and used the equipment and the Mobile SHD Server thise JTF troops had to enact a surprise attack on D.C. Even then, they were swfitly eliminated by Division agents who answered Arnold's distress call to Kenly College premises and stopped them.
Over time, the Outcasts made alliances with Rogue Agents, starting with Rogue Agent Carter "Hornet" Leroux and his cell, using the Eclipse Virus to continue their reign of terror. However, the Outcasts scattered after Hornet and his cell were eliminated by Division agents. Even their alliance with Skyler "Belfry" Williams didn't last long when the Division killed that Rogue agent during their Manhunt against Bardon Schaeffer, forcing them to scatter once again.
Sadly for Emeline, even in death, her movement have degraded to a pack of bandits who were nothing more than a nuisance. Though her words suggest that "as long as one Outcast remain, she will live on!" that her movement will keep going, no matter the losses and defeats.
Indeed, with the upcoming pact they've made with the Hyenas and the True Sons, the Division would find themselves in a conflict against three enemy factions, with Outcasts wanting to settle scores with them.
Personality and traits[]
Shaw is a charismatic and ruthless manipulator who exploits the weak. She has no known close friends, but an inner circle which she trusts implicitly.
Shaw managed to gather a group of like-minded quarantine survivors (such as Harlan Lloyd, who would eventually become Shaw's lieutenant and administrative coordinator), eventually becoming the faction's leader whilst at the same time, thanks to her charismatic oratory abilities.
Although she enjoyed high levels of control over the Outcasts, many rank-and-file drudges gave Emeline their unconditional support, as many were poorly treated in Roosevelt Island just like herself, not to mention a lot of the Outcasts share the same fury as herself. This included some civilians who became enamored with her faction and their cause, willing to put the hurt against the city's populace.
However, Emeline Shaw's vengeful crusade against the population of Washington, D.C. had only made the Outcast Matriarch transform from a loving mother to a delusional sociopath and frantic killer; Shaw's rage and anger had completely blinded her from telling who was responsible for the Roosevelt Quarantine and who was not. So much so she ordered Harlan Lloyd to burn copies of a JTF report detailing Ridgeway's arrest, all so her Outcasts can still stand after her death, even if it meant controlling the narrative.
Emeline was also concerned about the future of her people, as she requested Harland Lloyd to keep the Outcasts going after her death and make her a martyr, so the movement she cultivated had to mean something. Even if said movement were made up of psychotic murderers who want to cause waves of destruction.
Shaw was evacuated by Outcast members when a squad of Division agents made an offensive into the Roosevelt Island headquarters of the Outcasts. While a perceived escape craft was destroyed by Division agents, there wasn't a valid visual of Shaw. Her escape was confirmed when she was tracked down to the Manning National Zoo.
Emeline was forced to fight back by using a minigun-grafted train to repel any Division agent attempting to apprehend her and when The Division finally stopped her from escaping, Shaw had to fight back as an Outcasts Incinerator. Shaw was no pushover, but by the time she and her drudges fought hard, she was too weak and too few to resist.
Afterward, The Division found an ECHO as to why Emeline would choose to hole up in Manning National Zoo, she has a lot of memories with her daughter Savannah and chose the Zoo to recuperate and to remember the good times she had with Savannah.
One might ask if there was a possibility that the path of vengeance that Emeline Shaw took could've been avoided. Unfortunately, that path was already set in stone after the death of her daughter. In fact, one Outcast asked her if this hell they've been going through will ever end, she admitted that it'll only end if she woke up and this was all a terrible dream with Savannah still alive, and that she didn't die alone and afraid. As far as she was concerned, nothing will make this right until DC is burnt to ashes.
In short, Emeline Shaw was a no-nonsense leader with charisma who lost herself in her trauma and led a road of destruction, that only her death brought her peace.
Abilities[]
Emeline Shaw is the final boss of Manning National Zoo. She first appears in an armored monorail car armed with a minigun, firing on Division agents. Once the agent has killed three elite supports and planted C4 on the pillars supporting her monorail car in the Polar Exhibit, she appears in the gap behind the third pillar.
She is a scorcher armed with a flamethrower and proximity mines which explode when the agent gets within range. However, she does not have the weak point of conventional scorchers - she does not carry a fuel tank on her back. She drops 3 high-end equipment items on normal difficulty, 4 on hard and 5 on challenging.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Although you do not fight her during her faction's downfall at Roosevelt Island (as it was confirmed by The Division that she obviously slipped through the player's fingers), she proves to be a worthy adversary at the climax of the Zoo with a minigun-grafted train and a flamethrower.
- Emeline Shaw and her faction are very similar to Joe Ferro and his Cleaners from Tom Clancy's The Division.
- Both of their factions' creation stemmed out of the death of a family member (Joe with his wife, Shawna and Emeline with her daughter, Savannah) and both are angry at the JTF (Joe believes they aren't doing enough to stop the Green Poison and Emeline suffered greatly from the quarantine).
- Personality wise, both were originally normal people who became warped by the Green Poison and the chaos that ensued. As leaders, they're both charismatic and look out for their followers' well-being. Their factions are also similar in the usage of homemade weapons and equipment, as well as possessing great zeal and discipline to their cause.
- What separates both factions and leaders is their goal. Joe and his crew wish to wipe out the virus and will achieve this by any means necessary. Emeline and her followers seek revenge by spreading the virus even further.
- Despite their differences and being labeled as villains, both are portrayed with a hint of sympathy (both to the audience and JTF leaders). At the end of Dragon's Nest, Roy Benitez stated he would have commended the Cleaners' efforts if their methods weren't so extreme, indicating that he understood their noble, yet misguided, goal.
- At the end of the Roosevelt Island stronghold, Manny Ortega expressed his understanding on how much the Outcasts suffered during the quarantine and why they wanted revenge. He wishes that those that have died would find peace in the afterlife. In addition, Alani Kelso mentions the waste of life that Emeline put herself through, feeling like things could've gone better if Emeline and her Outcasts used their resources to make D.C. a better place.