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| “ | Agent 47: I have your money here, where are my weapons? Ivan: Hmmph, your merchandise can be collected in the appointed warehouse. Agent 47: The samples looked promising - let's do business again sometime. Ivan: I want my money! GIVE IT TO ME! Agent 47: Okay, okay calm down. Here it is. [47 hands him the suitcase and Ivan snatches it aggressively] |
„ |
| ~ Agent 47 feigning an arms deal with Ivan. |
Ivan Zilvanovitch is a supporting antagonist who appeared in the 2000 stealth-action game Hitman: Codename 47 as a VIP in the 10th mission titled "Gunrunner's Paradise" and as a non-target minor antagonist in the 11th mission "Plutonium Runs Loose". He's a weapons dealer running his operations under the guise of a travelling circus director, who so happens to join Arkadij Jegorov, a major antagonist in the series, in a routine operation in Rotterdam, intending to sell a batch of firearms to the local biker gang.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
In a dossier provided by Diana, it's stated that Ivan grew up as a poverty-stricken drug fiend waist-deep in gambling debts in the streets of Moscow, who could barely afford feeding his two addictions by pickpocketing. Eventually, the detrimental effects of this lifestyle have culminated in Ivan's decision to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge in front of a train.
Fortunately for Ivan, his timing was off and he crashed through the roof of a railway wagon belonging to a travelling circus, right in the middle of a heap of props - a coincidence that has completely sent him over the edge, making him burst into a fit of demented laughter. The incident has marked a new beginning in Ivan's life, as in his mind it was a undeniable proof of his immortality, thus leading to him joining the circus and taking up a rather risky occupation of a daredevil clown, then slowly working his way up in the circus' hierarchy, until one day he became its director. Despite the chance to become an honest man and part ways with his criminal past, he instead opted to use the circus as a front for his gun-related dealings.
Gunrunner's Paradise[]
In an effort to locate the primary target, Arkadij "Boris" Jegorov, the Agency has concocted a plan that involves tracking his partner back to his ship via the GPS and some trickery. They deploy 47 at the Rotterdam harbor, in the vicinity of a unassuming strip joint built amidst the dozens of deserted warehouses and railroads, that serves as a hideout of the Flaming Windmills, a Dutch biker gang and international crime syndicate that has arranged a meeting with Arkadij's accomplice, Ivan, who's tasked with collecting the money for the weapons that the two gunrunners sold to them. Multiple gang members are expected to arrive to one of the warehouses, where even more criminals are waiting for them with a suitcase full of cash - and here's where the tracking device comes into play.
The protagonist infiltrates the strip club by "borrowing" clothes from one of the bikers in the harbor, noting that the car parked in front of the joint is being guarded by a single gang member. While inside, he also notices a scantily clad girl performing on the stage and strikes up a casual conversation about her with a bartender, who eagerly offers the services of the striptease dancer to the agent and suggests him to meet her in the dressing room after she finishes her performance. 47 happily follows his directions and speaks to the woman, however, instead of endulging in her services himself, the agent pretends to be an acquaintance of the guard outside and asks her to entertain the man as a reward for watching his car so diligently. She walks up to the biker and, after a brief and awkward dialogue, leads him away from the car for a private dance, which lasts long enough for the agent to attach the GPS transmitter to the vehicle.
A short while later, all the gang members present at the bar get into the car and drive to their destination, with the protagonist being able to track them via a GPS receiver to a certain warehouse surrounded by a high fence, with the added protection of multiple trained dogs. 47 doesn't fret at the securely locked gates, taking notice of a automated train circling all over the harbor as a potential solution. He changes the course of the train by manipulating the railroad switches, making it crash through the gates, which grants him entry to the warehouse. 47 proceeds to gun down everyone in and around the building, including the Dobermans and all the bikers. The meeting is about to start in a few minutes and the gunfight's aftermath has left an awful mess, which is cleaned up by the agent who conceals the bodies on the elevated platforms so as to not leave a clue of what has transpired in there. Mere seconds before Ivan arrives, 47 retrieves the GPS tracker from the bikers' car and plants it in the suitcase containing the payment. Once the peculiarly dressed man exits his limousine and approaches the protagonist, 47 masterfully feigns a genuine meeting, inquiring about the location of his merchandise and even proposing to do business in the future. Ivan, however, doesn't share the agent's enthusiasm and rudely demands the money. 47 obliges and the impatient criminal hastily snatches the suitcase from his hands, then scurries back to his car and drives off.
Plutonium Runs Loose[]
Little did he know, Ivan has paved the path straight to Arkadij's layout for the agent, who isn't only informed of the exact whereabouts of his ship, but is given the coordinates of a small arms depot (presumably, the same one Ivan was referring to while mentioning the "appointed warehouse" during the faux meeting) and a last minute detail that tremendously raises the stakes of the assignment - a nuclear bomb is stored somewhere in the bowels of the ship. The most concerning aspect of this discovery is the fact that the weapon isn't there just for sale, since Arkadij, who's a known drug user prone to the acts of sheer desperation, will not hesitate to arm the bomb with a remote controller to obliterate the ship, and the entire harbor with it, most likely to destroy any evidence of his smuggling operations and eliminate whoever was bold enough to interfere with his business. Apart from the main objective of taking Boris out, the protagonist is expected to defuse the warhead once the gunrunner decides to arm it (which is inevitable, no matter what route the player takes), then steer the ship to a designated point in the international waters.
Befitting of a minion and a fall guy, Ivan was installed in the engine room to watch over the nuke, along with several machine crew members, who will prevent 47 from starting the vessel's engine until every single one of them is taken care of. Should the agent set foot into the room and be caught by him, the shrewd criminal will immediately recognize 47 from their earlier encounter. To complicate the matters further, as soon as Ivan's alarmed, Arkadij will activate the bomb (which can be explained by the two communicating via a radio) and both will begin their escape to the white limousine that Ivan was seen driving in the previous mission, ensuring that even if 47 tries to get to the nuke before assassinating Boris, he will still have to disarm it. It's safe to assume that canonically Ivan was shot dead somewhere on his way to the limo by 47, while his egotistical partner, who decided to abandon his short-legged associate to his fate and get to the car first, was killed along with multiple other goons by the vehicle exploding due to the car bomb the agent rigged it with, which was, ironically, obtained from the container whose location could have been provided by Ivan himself, if that arms depot is indeed the merchandise brought up by him during the false deal.
Appearance[]
He's presumed to suffer from dwarfism or some form of stunted growth, potentially linked to his drug usage at an early age. Aside from the the obvious sign of the very short height for an adult male, his voice is abnormally high-pitched and raspy (almost clown-like). Given his nationality, it comes as no suprise that he speaks with a strong Russian accent.
Ivan is a rather short Caucasian male in his early fifties with dark hair, blue eyes, a light stubble, large reddish nose and a sturdy build, standing 5'2 and weighing 180 pounds. He's dressed in a ragged, deep red clown suit with a green bullseye symbol on its back and purple side flap pockets, collar stand, roll line and sleeves with orange cuff buttons. His pants are the same color as his jacket and have purple vertical stripes on them. His outfit is complemented by a long green tie with red circles, purple shoes with orange laces and a red top hat with a purple hatband wrapped around it, whose loose end is left dangling over the brim. Both his jacket and hat are covered in red and green patches.
His weapon of choice is a Beretta 92.
Personality[]
Raised in the environment marred by poverty, addiction and gambling, it's no wonder Ivan grew up to be a mentally unstable, bitter and ferocious criminal. Due to all the hardships he has faced in his early life, he's highly impatient, uncouth and cherishes money a bit too much, as demonstrated by his behavior during the meeting with 47: not only did he snap and shout at the protagonist when he was trying to complement Ivan's weapon samples instead of going straight to the point, he also grabbed the briefcase from 47's hands with such force and cradled it with such defensive hostility, even 47 - a cold-blooded assassin who's witnessed some of the most egregious manifestations of humanity's worst vices - seemed like he was caught off guard by his lack of tact and immense greed.
Although initially he might come off as composed and reserved, violence greatly excites him, even more so than the other carnal pleasures like drugs and sex. At the smallest hint of violence around him, Ivan gleefully and readily springs into action with a complete disregard for his victim's well-being, which's best exemplified by his target footage. In it, he's seen accompanying Boris and a crew member of his ship in a strip club, sitting next to the female dancer. While Boris and the sailor are clearly enjoying themselves, Ivan doesn't seem engrossed in the performance, dragging his fingers on the stage and inspecting the dust boredly - that is until the sailor started getting a bit too handsy with the stripper, and Boris, angered by his companion's boldness, smashed him in the face with a bottle. As soon as the unfortunate pervert tumbles backwards, Ivan instantly leaps over the stage and savagely beats the already dazed sailor, which either knocks him unconscious or even kills him, considering how soundly he was battered. He then strikes a pose, admiring his own brutality. While Boris' act was aimed at protecting the woman, Ivan's barbaric deed was most likely done with no courtesy in mind, since the crew member didn't seem like he needed any extra thrashing after Boris' strike.
It's suffice to say that while the circus wagon incident has has distorted his perception of reality to a degree, prompting him to delude himself into believing he was invincible, Ivan's criminal tendencies were already there to begin with and so deep-rooted from the years of suffering he just couldn't let go of meddling in nefarious dealings even after gaining proper employment and a steady source of income, not from the lack of skill to do anything else, but due to the lack of will to do so. Despite his apparent delusions of immortality, Ivan has managed to remain somewhat sane and notably cautious after his breakdown or, at the very least, has acquired a certain amount of common sense over the years. While attending the metting with the bikers, he will abort it at the most obvious signs of foul play, whether it's a no-brainer like a dead body on the premises of the warehouse, or slightly more implicit red flags like having to wait a couple of seconds too long for the briefcase or someone to show up at the deal. Furthermore, he demonstrates a surprisingly sharp memory (as far as goons in the Hitman universe go) by recognizing 47 after enountering him as one of the bikers at the meeting and seeing through all of his disguises in the engine room. It's also worth mentioning that his job as a daredevil has become such an inseparable aspect of his character, Ivan wears his clown outfiit everywhere he goes.
It's left ambiguous as to why or at what point Ivan chose to join Boris and what the general dynamics between them are during the game's events. Nevertheless, it seems like he wasn't astute enough to fathom that Boris didn't really respect him or view him as a genuine partner, using him as a patsy, so much so that he was completely unprepared for Boris' betrayal when he left Ivan to fend for himself after the former armed the nuke and bolted for the car instead of waiting for him.
Powers and Abilities[]
- Agility and Hand-to-hand combat: As a result of years of working as a daredevil, Ivan possesses an impressive amount of dexterity, coordination and melee combat skills. He was able to leap over the stage in a single, fluid movement by grabbing onto the dancing pole and then use a combination of punches and kicks to either knock the sailor out or, possibly, end his life, kicking the ship crew member so powerfully he flew several feet away, even though Ivan was much smaller in stature.
Quotes[]
| “ | Oh, a dead body. Excellent. I need to be here like I need a hole in the head. | „ |
| ~ Ivan reacting to the dead bikers in case 47 has failed to hide them (the player is supposed to be able to trigger this voice line in the game, but it's impossible due to a bug). |
| “ | Hello, where is everybody!? Hello, where are you? If you don't show up within ten seconds the deal is off. | „ |
| ~ Ivan becoming suspicious if 47 forgets to show up (the player is supposed to be able to trigger this voice line in the game, but it's impossible due to a bug). |
| “ | But where is the money? I was supposed to get a suitcase. If the suitcase is not here within 30 seconds, the deal is off! | „ |
| ~ Ivan becoming suspicious if 47 forgets to take the suitcase (the player is supposed to be able to trigger this voice line in the game, but it's impossible due to a bug). |
| “ | Ah... ahahahahahahaha! | „ |
| ~ Ivan's diabolical laughter (the player is supposed to be able to trigger this voice line in the game, but it's impossible due to a bug). |
Trivia[]
- His outfit could have been inspired by the Mad Hatter's attire, as both characters are described as short and wearing a large top hat with a hatband, as well as being mentally ill and unpredictable.
- Even though it's implied by the mission's briefing that Ivan should be alarmed by the bikers' bodies in the warehouse, he won't notice the corpses under any circumstances if the player decides to leave them lying around, and will become hostile only if the player starts dragging any of them right in front of him. As a matter of fact, the game's files contain the fully voiced lines for Ivan in case he discovers the bodies, has to wait too long for anyone to appear at the meeting or encounters 47 without the briefcase in hand, but in the game itself the protagonist can "sell" him the suitcase even if he doesn't have it in his inventory, however he will still cancel the deal if the player takes too long to show up, although without any dialogue or warning of any sort. Considering that the string of code required for these events to happen can be found fully intact, it's very likely a bug and the developers intended for all these lines and behaviors to occur, but somehow forgot to properly implement them.
- While he's depicted as quick and limber in the target footage, Ivan's running speed is lower than that of the other armed guard NPCs, resembling a hurriedly hopping gait to compensate for his short legs, with his pace and general durability (although it's hard to calculate, because of the sporadic nature of the NPCs' resistance to bullets) being comparable to that of the unarmed civilian NPCs, if not ever so slightly faster.
- With this in mind, it's plausible that the developers intended for Ivan to be shot and killed before Boris instead of dying in the exploding limo, which would make the main target's death quite ironic, since by outrunning Ivan and intending to leave him out of his own selfishness, Boris only brought his karmic demise closer. Additionally, when Ivan gets to the limo after it's already exploded, he will stand by it idly without reacting to the player's actions, until they decide to shoot him, meaning that the developers probably didn't plan for him to get to the car at all. The same will happen even if the player kills Boris and allows Ivan to reach the vehicle, since he doesn't have the keys to it.
- A compelling explanation for Ivan's expulsion from "Deadly Cargo", a mission from Hitman: Contracts that combines "Gunrunner's Paradise" and "Plutonium Runs Loose", is 47's personal revulsion towards the character. Unlike Tzun, who's a minor character from the first game that could have been removed from Hitman: Contracts without any substantial bearing on the plot, but was included in the remade mission nonetheless, Ivan is somewhat of a pivotal figure in the plot to assassinate Boris, as without him the Agency would be unable to locate the primary target, making it unlikely that he was not present simply because the developers deemed him to be too minor of a character. Thus, it's possible that the agent didn't remember him due to subconsciously viewing him as a "little" man (both figuratively and literally) - petty, greedy and pathetic. The fact that the training dummy/scarecrow from Hitman 2: Silent Assassin is dressed in Ivan's clothes adds even more credibility to this theory, as it might showcase 47's special kind of disdain for the gunrunner. Although it could be just a non-canon Easter Egg, serving as a simple homage to the previous game, since realistically it would have been quite difficult for the agent to obtain Ivan's suit after he was left dead in the harbor.
External Link[]
- Ivan Zilvanovitch - Hitman Wiki
