Takeshi Kovacs is the lead protagonist of the Netflix series Altered Carbon, based off of the sci-fi punk novel by Richard Morgan. The series is centered around a dystopian world several centuries into the future. Filthy rich people known as meths rule the world. Discrimination towards the poor and weaker section of the society has never been more pronounced.
Men with tremendous power, money or influence can live for centuries because of a new invention. Antihero Kovacs is a former member of a rebel army. Today, we shall be sharing ten facts about Kovacs which were not featured in the show.
Personal History
Takeshi Kovacs, affectionately called Tak by his loved ones, was born on 35th May, 187. He was born in a very poor family in the slums of Newpest, Harlan’s World. It has been mentioned in the book Broken Angels, by the AC author.
Kovacs had very few loved ones, but he is very highly respected and feared in society because of his military career and the Envoy status. He is a native resident of the Harlan’s World. His life changed when he was arrested by the forces.
Family
Kovacs grew up in slums and was mostly raised by his single mother. He had a poor dysfunctional family. His parents’ relationship was extremely toxic and conflicted resulting in a tense home environment. In the books, he was a single child. In the Netflix show though, he had a younger sister, Reileen.
They had one parent of Japanese and the other of Eastern European (Hungarian) descent. His father's name was Jakub Kovacs and his mother has not been named either in the books or the series.
Early Life
Kovacs saw his father for the last time in 195. He started indulging in criminal activities from a very young age. He was arrested for the first time at an age of 15, for some organic damage to a police officer. Soon after in 203, he joined a criminal gang “Shonagon’s Eleven” and killed a man, the first of the countless many he would kill, in the future.
In the series, on an eventful day, his father murders his mother. Shortly after that, a scared Kovacs kills his father. He and his sister get arrested for the murder by the CTAC.
Character Analysis
Kovacs is an anti-hero. He feels no qualms about slaughtering a mass of people, but, has good chemistry and friendship with an AI. He tries his best not to hurt innocent people, but, does not hesitate to do so if money or freedom is involved. Despite all his sins, he has a good streak too.
He betrayed the Protectorate and CTAC for the love of his sister and turned on to his own people for the love of Quell. He is much more reserved and brooding in the books, than in series.
Childhood Trauma
His childhood was not a happy time of his life. His father was physically abusive towards them and drank a lot. When Kovacs was very young (8 years old), his father abandoned them shortly after he got himself an upgraded sleeve. He was raised by his single mother.
Unlike what is depicted in the series, his father had not killed his mother and nor did Kovacs kill his father afterwards in the books. He did not have a sister named Reileen either, in the books. Much of his childhood trauma was caused by the incessant fights between his parents and the eventual absence of his father from his life.
Love Interest
After Takeshi abandoned the army when the Envoys were slaughtered by the Protectorate forces, he stayed on the Harlan’s World in hiding, for the next four years. He took up a job of a local mercenary, where he met another fellow local mercenary Sarah.
They teamed up later and worked on many assignments together before falling in love. Eventually, they ended up dating each other. In the series, Kovacs is shown romantically involved with Quellcrist.
CTAC Career
Kovacs enlisted himself in UN marine corps and joined the Protectorate forces on 11 September, 204 in the books. He served for 17 years after which he got selected for the Envoy corps and was trained by Virginia Vidaura . This was shortly after he had left his criminal gang. In the show, when he is arrested by the Colonial Tactical Assault Corps, a Senior Officer Jaegar talks to him in the virtual and offers him a choice to pick one from either getting imprisoned or joining the CTAC. Kovacs chose CTAC.
Jaegar starts liking the kid and takes him under his wing to train him. The kid Kovacs is resleeved into an adult body and put on the job. Kovacs is bright, brave and extremely hard working. He soon becomes the top-performing officer.
The Last Envoy
Kovacs is hailed as the last envoy throughout the series. In the second season, even when Quellcrist is revealed to be alive and kicking, everyone still called Kovacs, the Last Envoy.
However, in the original storyline of the books, he is not the only Envoy still alive. Envoys still exist and they are not a bunch of rebellions, but an elite and highly trained group of fighters, funded by government. Also, pretty strangely, the Envoys are not dead in the books, rather they are still in operations and very much thriving.
Post Envoy Career Graph
After the army of the envoys is infected by the Rawling virus, all of them turn insane and their stacks are severely corrupted. All of them die and seeing all of this, Kovacs gets disturbed. He abandons them and goes in hiding from the CTAC. He becomes a local mercenary and once again engages himself in the criminal activities. In the books, after he leaves the Envoy corps, he stays on New Kanagawa, where he sees his former trainer, Virginia Vidaura getting arrested for robbery and organic damage.
General Details
Takeshi Kovacs was more than 344 years old when he died after Angelfire crisped him up. His full name is Takeshi Lev Kovacs and his aliases are Tak, Mamba Lev, The Last Envoy, One Hand Rending, The Icepick and Ken. Takeshi is a child of a Slavic-Hungarian father and a Japanese mother. He calls his parents a match made in hell. His girlfriend Sarah was shot in the stack and RDed, by Jaegar because Kovacs had defected the CTAC.