Jake McNeil

"I want peace..."

- Jake McNeil, during his conversion

Jake McNeil was a high ranking GDI officer stationed in the Norwegian Hammerfest base during the Second Tiberium War.

Jake is a loner who has problems fitting in with the crowd. He also has trust issues when it comes to authority figures and hidden anxieties concerning his brother's fame. Nevertheless, he is also idealistic and wants a world of peace, not war.

Biography
Jake is the brother of Michael McNeil. He was taken prisoner along with his parents during the First Tiberium War and placed in a medical colony. His mother gave birth to his little brother Michael while in the camp. His brother's DNA was considered perfect for augmentation by Nod researchers, who took him away. When the McNeils resisted, they were shot by security, leaving the McNeil brothers orphans. Jake never knew what the Brotherhood researchers were doing to his sibling, he only knew that his brother was still alive.

When the medical colony was liberated by GDI Commander James Solomon and his troops, both boys were placed in GDI care and grew up under the UN wing. However, Jake's deeply rooted distrustful attitude towards authority figures hampered any attempts by Solomon to develop a relationship similar to the one he had with McNeil.

Jake set aside his distrust and joined GDI after his brother rose in rank rapidly, seeing the pride with which he served. As a normal human (Michael was augmented by Nod in the medical colony, a fact no one in GDI knew about) he can't match his brother's accomplishments, a fact which gnaws at him a little, but he serves as best he can. He does his job well enough for no one to complain, although he often gets compared to standards higher than what he is capable of.

Second Tiberium War
Jake was carrying out an inspection of Hammerfest base during the Second Tiberium War. When the base was overrun by Nod, Jake was one of the GDI officers in that base. He was the most tragic casualty for McNeil who was unable to rescue and defend him.

After Hammerfest was recaptured by GDI, Kane informed Michael that Jake was killed.

Alternate history
CABAL identified Jake McNeil as an exploitable flaw of the Hammerfest base. Slavik thus had the commander captured by toxin soldiers while he was on an inspection tour of the Arctic GDI bases. Once he was brought in, Slavik and Oxanna talked to him, playing up his anxieties and fears in order to bring him to their side. Oxanna even traded sexual favors with him. However, it should be noted that his sadness with his station in life was never really hidden - he knew that in the end, he would always be in his brother's shadow. Oxanna and Slavik thus only had to peel off the veneer he had maintained his whole life.

Jake's loner personality and anxieties finally gave way and he agreed to power down the Hammerfest's perimeter, so that Nod forces could enter the base. He stayed true to his word and disabled the Firestorm perimeter, surrendering one of GDI's most important bases to the Brotherhood.

After Nod's victory it is unknown if Slavik allowed him to live.

Behind the scenes

 * It is possible McNeil's brother's name, Jake, is a reference Jake Fury, the brother of Nick Fury, a famous Marvel character. The two pair brothers share some aspects of similarity such as both younger brothers betray their older ones.
 * Ironically, Jake McNeil is played by Daniel Kucan, younger brother of Joseph D. Kucan who potrayed Kane. Daniel Kucan also played Joshua Mitchell, general of GDI Steel Talons in Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath and appears in a cutscene of Emperor: Battle for Dune, portraying a Fremen soldier.