Ryan Gray (born as Ryan Fitzgerald in Recollection) is a major character in Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories and its remake Another Code: Recollection.

In the original game, he is a scientist employed by J.C. Valley, and a scientific prodigy who has been working since his teenage years. He was a colleague of Richard and Sayoko Robbins when they were working at M.J. Labs.

In the remake, Ryan has a completely revamped backstory.

Spoiler warning! This article or section reveals major plot details below.

Background

Original

Ryan was a child of two scientists, his father being Judd Fitzgerald. His mother died when he was a young boy, which emotionally broke him. He was fed a formula by his father as part of an experiment to make him forget all of his childhood memories. It is suggested that Judd wanted him to forget the painful memory of his mother's death and help him move on, and that if Ryan was used as a test subject, then such research could help other people with trauma. Ryan's memory erasure was also known by Bill Edward and Sayoko. Ryan was then misled to believe that Judd was not his father, only his mentor.

Ryan was a child prodigy; he attended university at the age of 10, and became scientist at 16. Ryan was recruited into M.J Labs, and later, J.C. Valley. He received a cherry blossom kaleidoscope as a gift from Sayoko when he was 17 around 1989; Sayoko's mother originally owned it.

At some point in time, Bill told Ryan the truth about his childhood memories being erased and of Judd's biological relationship to him. Enraged, Ryan then wanted revenge on Judd, and planned to use Bill as a tool to enact his revenge, pretending to ally with him. Ryan planned to kill all of Judd's successors, such as Sayoko, as his form of revenge. Ryan also orchestrated the funding disaster that befell MJ Labs. It is also possible Ryan had plans to murder his own father after.

In 2006, he sent Richard an anonymous e-mail, calling him a blissfully ignorant fool and claiming Sayoko's death was orchestrated and that there was more to it than he knows.

Remake

Like in the original game, his mother passed away, however it is explained that she saved Ryan from being hit by a vehicle, unfortunately she died doing so when he was three years old. This event occurred around 1983. This left a deep emotional wound in his heart and he closed himself off, no longer allowing himself to feel. He stopped speaking as well.

In 1992, Judd used the Another, which was still a prototype at the time to heal that wound so he could restore his son's emotions. Judd wanted to erase Ryan's memories of his mother and her death. Plus, his son became the first test subject at the age of 12. Only Sayoko, Rex and Judd were there to see this experiment unfold. Sayoko was aware that the experiment was dangerous but Judd was obsessed with bringing back his son. Richard and the other workers didn't know this because the experiment was conducted in total secrecy because of Judd's orders. Unfortunately for Ryan, he became paralyzed and later died (because the Another was incomplete). The experiment was a failure and Judd was emotionally hurt by this. Ryan's memories were extracted during that experiment. They were recorded through liquid memory and stored in a tank in the J.C. Valley's basement storage. After Ryan's death, his body was buried in an island and a gravestone was placed there. It is shown that he has the surname Fitzgerald on the gravestone.

At one point, Sayoko noticed that a "conscious life-form" was born from Ryan's memory data. A construct version of Ryan remembered that they had the feeling of swimming through a sea of memories and they read their memory, learned and slowly grew. Sayoko reported her findings but Judd quickly dismissed them. He states that self-propagation of memory data is impossible and he never tried to understand him unlike Ashley's mother. Once she left, he would glance at the tank every so often. One day, he started talking to it. He said "I'll find a way to revive you, Ryan". Judd continued developing the Another alone and he started a new experiment which involved overwriting memories using the Another. He began writing Ryan's memory data onto other subjects in a attempt to revive his son. Carrying out these experiments required him to create many copies of Ryan's data. He extracted his test subject's memories and accumulated them all into liquid memory. Judd's experiment was a failure since it wasn't possible to complete the Another without Sayoko. The ability to overwrite memory never came to fruition. He abandoned its development and sealed up the lab housing the Another.

Six years prior, a "terrible" storm tore through Lake Juliet. J.C. Valley lost electricity and the building was destroyed. The tanks storing the liquid memory were damaged and they leaked into the lake. These are the ones that contained not only Ryan's memories but many others'. It became one with the water, so in a way it felt like that this lake had become their brain. Overtime, the construct of Ryan was able to access J.C. Valley's network, specifically in Judd's computer, this allowed them to access all sorts of information. This is also when they learned about Sayoko's murder, including the person who killed her and that whoever he was working for was connected to Judd.

Upon finding out about Sayoko's death, they understood that the sorts of moments that can produce such strong emotions. They never felt more but at that moment, all they felt was sadness. They then wanted to tell Judd: "why did Sayoko have to die". They infiltrated the system to gain access to Judd, who was in the process of developing the remote controlled Another by then. Judd was surprised and confused by the holographic form of Ryan and asked "what are you?". Judd reached out to this form of Ryan to see if they were real but he couldn't touch them and he simply stared at them for quite a while. The holographic form of Ryan then asked him the same question from before. However, Judd remained silent and looked at them with an expression the holographic form of Ryan couldn't interpret. They asked the question once more. Judd didn't answer and muttered Ryan's name. He understood the nature of their existence. Judd then was stricken with grief and guilt and even trembled. He passed away in the lab afterwards.

Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories

He is a trusting figure to Ashley Mizuki Robbins who enjoys having lunch with him. Unaware to her, he previously aided Sofia Callaghan in stealing Ashley's bag and can be seen briefly as the one driving the black car after Ashley gets off the bus.

Ryan appears at the Robbins cottage and tells Ashley she should not be friends with Matthew Crusoe due to the history between Crusoe Resort and J.C. Valley. He invites her to his cottage so they can discuss more about it. Matt, who overhears the conversation, comments that Ryan has a "cold" and "unfriendly" voice, although Ashley dismisses it as just him being a calm scientist. Once Ashley arrives at his house, Ryan tells her more about the history. He also gives Ashley the kaleidoscope he received from Sayoko.

Near the end of the game, it is revealed that Ryan is essentially the game's main villain, along with Sofia. At J.C. Valley, Gina Barnes leaves Ashley in Ryan's care. However, she soon discovers Ryan is a manipulative psychopath who is emotionally detached from others. First, Ryan erases 17 years of her father's memories. When Ashley becomes visibly upset by crying, Ryan snaps at her to stop crying, incapable of understanding her emotional reasoning as to why she cries, and uses cold and analytical reasoning as to why people cry, reducing it to a mere psychological defense mechanism used by weak-willed individuals. He coerces Ashley into a memory overwrite experiment in which she will replace her memories with her mother's, but it fails when Ashley does not want to replace any of her important life memories, causing Ryan to become frustrated.

Ryan reveals he intended to break a promise with Ashley and orders her to leave. When she becomes emotional again, Ryan taunts her but Ashley shouts at him she won't cry in front of someone who does not know how to feel and does not understand basic emotions. Ryan hears Ashley has her TAS and claims he will use it to recover her father's memories, but Ashley refuses as he already betrayed her trust, prompting Ryan to hold her and Richard at gunpoint. The two are saved by Rex Alfred who tackles Ryan; Rex ends up being shot in the shoulder before Ryan flees.

Richard and Ashley give chase to Ryan on a small island. Upon being confronted, Ryan reveals he encouraged Bill to kill Sayoko and steal her research on Another back in 1994, and that he was the one who lured Richard to Lake Juliet. Ryan intended to manipulate Richard into completing Another, and then sell Another to a company Bill also dealt with. Ryan tries to kill himself by asking Richard to kill him and even passes Richard a gun and orders him to shoot, but Richard can not shoot Ryan.

Ryan then attempts suicide by jumping off a cliff, but Richard pulls Ryan up. Richard tells Ryan that suicide is for the weak, and points out that Ryan hates weak people. Richard tells Ryan that death won't absolve him of his crimes, encourages Ryan to find ways to atone, and asks Ryan to ponder why Judd removed his memories in the first place. Ryan, Ashley and Richard take a boat back to J.C. Valley and Richard has an unseen talk with Ryan. Later, Ryan goes to the police to turn himself in and admit his crimes in as a form of repentance. It is unclear if Ryan is put on trial and how many years he would receive.

Another Code: Recollection

Ryan first appears at the campsite, far from everyone at the back, and has a brief exchange with Ashley about her interests, why doesn't she want to be a scientist like her parents, what is like to grow up with a scientist as a father, and memories of Sayoko. Once the conversation is over, Ashley briefly turns around and he disappears.

The next time they meet is at the cottage area. Ryan is at the front door of the green cottage and invites Ashley in when she is investigating with Matt. He does not appear to see him, and the cottage has a for lease sign at the front door. Once inside, they talk more about Sayoko and how she helped Ryan when he was going through some "treatments". He gives Ashley a kaleidoscope that Sayoko had given him.

Once Ashley reaches J.C. Valley, Ryan is seen interacting with Sofia, revealing they have been working together on leaking information about the ANOTHER project. Ashley mentions Ryan to Ian, Gina and her father, but none of them seem to know him despite supposedly being colleagues.

When Sofia is discovered and Richard confronts her, he sends Ashley to the exit through the elevator to ask for help. Ryan stops the elevator between floors and takes Ashley to the ANOTHER lab, which had been sealed off by Judd years ago. He puts her into the ANOTHER and proceeds to try to overwrite her memories with Sayoko's using the pnemonic fluid from her pendant. Inside Ashley's mind, Sayoko prevents this using the RAS. By that point, Rex and Richard have accessed the lab and found Ashley unconscious in the Another. There's no one in the control room and they wonder who is operating the system.

Ashley awakes and finds Ryan besides her. He firsts calls her Sayoko, thinking that the overwriting process has been successful, but Ashley corrects him and explains how Sayoko protected her and rejected her memories using the RAS, and that she doesn't want her daughter losing her memories to come back. Ryan is distraught and disappears. Rex and Richard enter the ANOTHER room and ask Ashley what's going on. When she mentions Ryan, Rex takes them to his office to reveals a series of things:

• Judd had a son named Ryan, who passed away years ago. Judd used the ANOTHER prototype to try to erase Ryan's memories of his mother's fatal accident, which had traumatized him.
• Judd erased Sayoko's memories with Rex's help when she decided to quit in order to focus on being a mother. Rex gave her the pendant with memories of the day Ashley was born.
• J.C. Valley was responsible for the pollution of the lake. Years ago, there was a storm that badly damaged the labs. It broke tanks that contained mnemonic fluid and it filtered to the lake, causing its contamination. Judd used ANOTHER through the security cameras to manipulate the residents of Lake Juliet so that they turned on Crusoe Resorts and blamed them for the contamination, causing their bankruptcy.

Once everything is revealed, Gina and Ian check all the places Ryan appeared to Ashley through the security cameras and they see Ashley talking alone. They determined the stored memories of Ryan have somehow acquired consciousness and presented themselves as an adult version of Ryan through ANOTHER and the cameras to Ashley.

Richard and Ashley go to the island in the middle of Lake Juliet and discovered the source of the lake's water, and Ryan's grave. Making Richard unconscious, Ryan appears one last time to explain how he was formed to Ashley, and to reveal that Sayoko knew about him and wanted to see her one last time when he found out about her death. He also revealed himself to Judd asking him why Sayoko had to die, but Judd was stricken with grief and guilt after seeing his son again, albeit in holographic form, and died without answering his question.

Ryan then reveals that the water from the island is cleansing the mnemonic fluid from the lake and that he and all the other memories that were leaked to the lake during the storm will soon disappear. He laments that no one will remember know that Sayoko and Judd are gone, but the RAS reacts with a message from Sayoko saying she will never forget. Ashley also promises that she will remember him and he will be alive in her heart, much like D. With peace of mind, Ryan passes away.

In the ending, it is shown that someone has left flowers at Ryan's grave, but it is not shown who.

Personality

Original

Ryan is intelligent, but he is also essentially a sociopath, and perhaps a psychopath, who diminishes the value of human emotions. He is very bitter and resentful towards his father, because Judd violated his bodily autonomy when he was a child by making him a test subject for memory research, which Ryan did not consent to. Ryan mentions he has never really cared about Judd once in his entire life, and wishes revenge on his legacy. He is also shown to be manipulative and able to hide his darker and very dangerous side, gaining the trust of people such as Richard and Gina, hiding behind a facade.

There is also a good amount of evidence suggesting Ryan is depressed or suicidal, unable to find much happiness or meaning in life, besides his work. He also appears to be quite lonesome with no evidence of any close friends. He lives in an modern-looking house with lots of gray walls and furniture. When Ashley asks him about his choice of interior decoration, he admits he does not care about any of it as he barely lives in it, showing he is far from being materialistic. However, this could also serve as a hint of Ryan not being attached to "earthly things" or the "human realm". Ashley remarks his house is eerily clean, but not in a "it has been cleaned" sense, rather a "it has not been used" sense. Ryan also appears to be a drinker as Ashley finds a bottle of wine in his kitchen. His house also lacks personal items, though it does have some abstract art and lots of science textbooks, as well as Sayoko's kaleidoscope.

Ryan can be somewhat condescending, although it is unclear if he is aware he comes off this way. For example, he makes some comments towards Ashley that can be interpreted as backhanded, as if he views Ashley poorly and a simpleton. When Ashley comments she is 16, Ryan explains to her, "Which means that thirteen years ago, you were three." He explains to her that flashbacks are sudden memories from one's past. He bluntly asks her if she has any traumatic childhood memories. If Ashley tells him she wants to be a musician, he attributes it to her young age, saying, "although it is rather unlikely to become reality, one is free to dream as one pleases." After a conversation about how brilliant Sayoko was, he says that while Ashley resembles her, she is just like her father. When Ashley asks what he means, all Ryan can initially say is "a hard worker", despite not asking Ashley about her work ethic. He later says, "He's the exact opposite of Sayoko and myself." Later in his cottage, he tells Ashley about an event that happened 17 years ago and mentions it happened before she was born.

Remake

In Another Code: Recollection, Ryan's personality was modified and rewritten to establish him as a less cruel person and having a more kind and empathetic personality. Ryan being a more sympathetic antagonist is possibly due to the writers not wanting him to be a rehash of Bill Edward again.

Ryan is smart and even manipulative like in the Wii version, but he doesn't have a vendetta against his father or Sayoko and he wanted to interact with her again. Like in the original as well, Ryan used others and even saw them as tools (including Ashley), so he could finish the Another even if his kindness and politeness is genuine. Additionally, he can be very introspective and self-reflective when he had a existential crisis since he questioned his purpose and birth.

As a child, Ryan was seemingly a joyful person. However, he became emotionless, mute and closed himself off after his mother's death.

Quotes

Original

• "To this day, I have yet to meet someone that could even hope to surpass her." (regarding Sayoko)
• "Honestly? How can you say that? I don't understand you, Ashley. I don't understand why you wouldn't be willing to turn your back on your father."
• "Ashley... STOP CRYING! NOW! Don't make me repeat myself. I don't like seeing people cry. I believe that the emotions that trigger crying are unnecessary for humans. In fact, crying is more of a defense mechanism. Nothing more. When the weak believe they will be subject to emotional distress, they always resort to tears. They pour their stress into these eye secretions in an attempt to expel it from their own bodies. It is a defense mechanism, designed to protect people from their own feelings. And even if those emotions are misguided, these weak-hearted people justify them with tears. The foremost example is small children whining and crying. From this, it seems fair to conclude that tears are nothing more than a sign of weakness. And thus, I despise crying."
• "Never. Not once in my entire life." (when Ashley asks if he has ever cried)
• "This is unfathomable. You've rejected all of Sayoko's memories? Ashley, I really thought that you were smarter than this. Hasn't it occurred to you that the memories of your mother, a true genius, are more important than your trifling, pathetic recollections?"
• "That promise was made to be broken, Ashley."
• "Ashley, I have no more use for you. Leave. Oh, are you going to cry again? I wonder which emotion will overwhelm your heart this time. Sorrow? Anger? Regret?"
• "So, I am not even worth shooting. Goodbye, Ashley..." (before attempting suicide)

Remake

• "A drive for knowledge. I have always felt that, too. Why was I born? What is my purpose?"
• "I've never encountered someone like you. Someone who wished to know me."

Trivia

• Ryan's theme can be considered to be Spring of Memories due to it often playing whenever he appears.
• Ryan can be viewed as Ashley's foil; both have scientist parents and their fathers distanced themselves from their lives and fabricated lies. Their mothers died trying to protect them. Ashley was said to be a crybaby after Sayoko died, while Ryan was severely affected when his mother died. They have also been quite lonely for most of their lives. Their hairstyles are also somewhat similar. The difference between Ashley and Ryan, however, is that Ashley learned how to forgive her father while Ryan sought vengeance.
• Although not explicitly said, it can be speculated that Ryan's lack of emotions and sociopathic tendencies are the side effect of the formula Judd fed him as a child. The formula affected Ryan's brain in order to make him forget, so it may have affected the region regulating emotions as well. If this theory is true, then Ryan could be viewed as a victim of a tragic upbringing due to matters outside his control, just like Ashley was.
• It can be speculated that Ryan may have been the one who burned down Judd's villa recently, given Ryan's resentment of Judd, though the true cause of the fire is never revealed.
• It can also be theorized Ryan was the one who killed his father by tampering with his car brakes.
• In Recollection, Ryan Fitzgerald's gravestone has 1980-1992 and reads: "BORN AN ANGEL / YOU MAKE ME WHOLE / GONE TOO SOON / YOU LEAVE ME HOLLOW"
• In Recollection, the way Ryan's memory/hologram fades away by touching Ashley's hand is similar to how D moved on from the world as well.

Gallery

Another Code: R - A Journey into List Memories

Ryan as a child closing himself off after his mother's death

Ryan can be seen through the window of the car for a single second in the opening.

Ryan holding Ashley at gunpoint.

Rex tackles Ryan.

Ryan knocked off balance by Rex.

Ryan after shooting Rex.

Ryan aiming a handgun.

Ryan aiming a handgun.

Another Code: Recollection

Ryan's introduction

Ryan and Judd in the remake

Ryan's memory disappears.