Eric Borlinghathen

This article, Eric Borlinghathen, is property of Billy cougar.

Eric Borlinghathen
Biographical information
Real name	Ericsson "Eric" Damon Borlinghathen
Also known as	Erik, Eriky, Damon, Mr. Borlinghathen, President's Son, Bill's bro-in-law, Boss, Master Manipulator, Treacherous snake, Strange man, Lucas' kid
Nationality	American
Born	Either June 7 or October 27, 1969
Died	Either sometime in April, 2008 or 28 April, 2017
Age	47 or 38
Status	Deceased
Birthplace	Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
Deathplace	Liberty Island, New York, US
Cause of death/incarceration	Shot by Niko Bellic
Physical description
Eye colour	Blue
Hair colour	Blond
Ethnicity	Aryan-Caucasian
Height	6'0" (183 cm)
Weight	184 lbs (80 kg)
Blood type	AB-
Gender	Male
Career, affiliations and family information
Affiliation(s)	Borlinghathen Dynasty, William Borlinghathen, Niko Bellic (former), Vance Borlinghathen (former), Mikhail Faustin (former), Faustin Family (former), Fortunato Regime, Stillwater Agency
Enemies	Bellic cousins, Florian Cravic, Jacob Hughes, Mikhail Faustin
Occupation(s)	Crime lord, cocaine and drug smuggler, blackmailer
Notable family members	George Borlinghathen (grandfather), Bill Borlinghathen (granduncle), Linda Borlinghaten (grandmother), Lucas Borlinghathen (father), Laura Borlinghathen (mother), William Borlinghathen (brother-in-law), Magda Borlinghathen (wife), Melisa Borlinghathen (sister), Jackson Borlinghathen (brother-in-law), Jessie Borlinghathen (sister), Donald Borlinghathen (brother), Vance Borlinghathen (godfather), Thomas Borlinghathen (nephew), Ralph Borlinghathen (son), Nathan Borlinghathen (son), Sarah Borlinghathen (niece), Samuel Borlinghathen (relative), Mrs. Borlinghathen (ancestor), Pauline Robinson Borlinghathen (would-be-aunt)
Video Games, Movies and Cartoons information
Main appearance(s) (Video Games)	Grand Theft Auto: Vice City's Serbian (BC)
Voiced by (English)	Moti Margolin

"My game is simple: I crush the weakest, I call it Survival of the Fittest, one step closer to my dreams."

— Eric

Ericsson "Eric" Borlinghathen is a major character who appears as number one of the three main antagonists or villains in Grand Theft Auto: 4, along with his relatives, William Borlinghathen and Vance Borlinghathen. Eric is an American mobster who is also a part of the Borlinghathen Dynasty, being the son of the former President, Lucas Borlinghathen. From his younger years on, he choose to serve Mikhail Faustin, a Russian crime boss and was a major and former partner to many people, including Mikhail, his brother-in-law William, Niko Bellic, his godfather Vance and Paul Fortunato. Eric is known for betraying his friends and partners, showing disloyalty to almost everyone.

Info

Eric was born in Birmingham, Alabama, US on either June 7 or October 27 (Eric and his family don't want to show the real birth certificate to the public for some reason), 1969 and served in the American Army during the Cold War, but at some point in time, he befriended Mikhail Faustin, an immigrant from the rival country; Soviet Union (today Russia). They have matching tattoos on the palms of their hands, which means that they are brothers for life, or at least they were. They began their criminal activities in New York, where they were both "selling hash and weed brownies to tourists in town square" and Eric was convicted of murder more than once. However, due to his father being an extremely wealthy man, Eric was never arrested and all charges made against him were quietly dropped due to his father's bribery.

In the mid-1990's or 10's BH, he moved back to NY after spending some time in Texas, as did Mikhail, the place where Eric eventually found his wife, Magda and presumably had something to do with one of Avery Dimmadome's projects. Mikhail moved with his wife and young daughter there as well. Eric was convicted in 1998 and 2000 for extortion and hijacking, respectively, but was never arrested thanks to his father, Lucas Borlinghathen. In following years, Mikhail's addictions to alcohol and cocaine caused his anger and paranoia to spiral out of control. Eric abused painkillers, but remained calm. While Mikhail had taken to an extreme level of violence, even by organised crime standards, Borlinghathen favoured reasoning with people to maximise profits (although he could still intimidate people if necessary), telling Mikhail time and time again that they had to "play by the rules" and calmly. Despite this, Eric secretly enjoyed Mikhail's deteriorating sanity, as it made him easier to control.

GTA

Eric first met Niko Bellic when he and his cousin Roman were kidnapped and interrogated by Andrej for killing Mikhail Faustin's employee Vladimir Papkov at a beach. Mikhail wanted to have Niko and Roman killed, however Eric thought it better to have Niko begin working for them and Faustin agreed. Privately however, Eric, like Mikhail, thought it would be better to have the Bellics killed. After Mikhail had shot Roman in the stomach, Damon shows a kind gesture in having Roman's wounds stitched and kisses his guts. However, when Niko complains that the task he and Mikhail set for Niko (pulling over every van in South Broker and stealing the one selling brand new televisions with soft porn) is impossible he smugly tells Niko that the situation is "a problem for you and your cousin, not me." which means he and Mikhail really don't give a sith about Bellic. Later on, Mikhail orders Niko to kill Vinko Petrović, the son of the country's most powerful Russian mobster Sebo Petrović, because Mikhail had a vague, unfounded suspicion that Vinko was a snitch. Eric tries to reason with Mikhail, saying Petrović is dating his cousin and that law enforcement doesn't need a snitch to keep tabs on them due to Mikhail's methods, but to no avail.

Betrayal

Later, Ericsson meets with Niko privately, claiming that Sebo Petrović would spare them both if Niko were to kill Mikhail. It's possible that Eric lied, but Niko seems to have never gotten any trouble from Petrović as promised, so Eric might've been telling the cold truth after all. When Niko was supposed to collect his payment, Eric revealed that he was allied with his brother-in-law of course, William Borlinghathen, who employed Niko as a human trafficker across the Adriatic Sea until he blamed him for a sinking ship near Albania. Niko said he remembers William and is aware of Eric's relation to him, but thought that William would leave the past behind. Since that didn't happen, he escaped the setup with the aid of his friend Jacob Hughes, but failed to kill the Borlinghathens - both would continue to pursue Niko from then on. The same day, his cousin Roman's apartment building and taxi depot were burned down and poor Roman had to hide in the dumpster for half a day.

Soon after betraying Niko, Eric became a major figure in the NY underworld and started his own cocaine and other drugs importation operation. He soon discovered that Roman still frequented a casino in North Broker and wins on the slot machines. Eric was owed an unspecified amount of money from the Lost MC associate Ashley Butler and used this to his advantage, sending two Slavic henchmen to her place and convinced Lost MC Vice President Johnny Klebitz to kidnap Roman to try to lure Niko to his death, but Niko successfully rescued his cousin and Johnny was left in the dark as to why he had to execute the kidnapping. Nevertheless, Butler is left alone as is Johnny.

In the next month or so, Eric allied himself with American-Italian mob boss Paul Fortunato, becoming his cocaine supplier and profited from his family's rackets. The Deadshot Family learn of this affiliation and decide to steal a shipment of cocaine. His first action was to extort deputy mayor Bryce Johnson to help them control several construction unions, blackmailing him with knowledge of his gay affair with Bernie Crane. Coincidentally, Niko was an old friend of Bernie's and stopped the blackmailers. He also tried to ambush Bernie and Niko by boat while they were having lunch. Niko then destroyed their shipment of cocaine.

Death

"Eric: I'll lift my lamp besides the golden door... Niko: Enough of this bullsith! Y'know, you... You... You're a strange man. You killed your best friend. You betrayed everyone who ever came in contact with you! Including your dam family. You killed.. my cousin! I guess... The survival of the fittest thing really meant a lot to you."

— Bellic's last words to Eric

Near the end of GTA: 4, Eric is allied with his godfather Vance Borlinghathen to receive a heroin deal, and Vinny asks Niko if he could join in on it, the reward being $250,000. While Roman Bellic encourages Niko to put his vengeance aside and go through with the deal, Niko's girlfriend Kate tells Niko that he shouldn't sacrifice his principles for money. Niko choose the former whatsoever as he needed to pay his bills because all of his money went for gambling, although he did so very reluctantly.

Eric and Vance are to deliver the heroin to a third party while Niko and Phil Bell go to the buyer's compound to retrieve the money from them. Eric betrays Niko again by killing the buyer's representatives and taking the heroin for himself. Niko and Phil fight their way through the compound, but retrieve the money regardless. After this, Niko cuts his ties with Deadshots' and Kate refuses to attend Roman's wedding. Later at the said wedding, Borlinghathens send a hitman to kill Niko, but Roman is shot and killed during the struggle instead. Enraged, Niko and his friend "Little" Jacob Hughes follow Borlinghathens' men to an abandoned ship, where the godson and godfather are hiding. Inside, Niko witnesses Eric killing his own godfather, saying he "didn't work this hard to share the spoils of a victory with a relative who barely cared for him after all these years". He then flees to Liberty Island in a chopper, with Niko and Jacob pursuing him in another. There, Niko mortally wounds Eric, and watches as he slowly dies in front of the Statue of Liberty, being shocked of his traitorous and heartless nature.

Trivia

• As Eric's cousin was a girlfriend of Vinko Petrović before his death, Eric was able to make a deal with Sebo Petrović not to kill him and Niko after Faustin's hit. Oh, if only Eric could look into the future, he would probably wish he didn't make that deal.
  • Knowing this, this means that the son of one of the most powerful Russian crime lords in New York City dated a Borlinghathen.
• Eric's brother-in-law, William Borlinghathen, was one of the few people Eric didn't betray. Whether he had any genuine care for him or just didn't have the opportunity to do so is unknown.
• Eric wears an unique helmet when riding alongside another person on a motorbike. His helmet is green, with two brown stripes along the temples, looking like faeces on a grass.
• Eric's full name, Ericsson, is in fact a Swedish surname, despite this Eric has no Swedish ancestry whatsoever despite looking like a Swede as well. His name is more of a coincidence.
• Eric shares some similarities with Gicov Bell:
  • Both see betraying everyone and disloyalty as "Survival of the Fittest" and follow Social Darwinism where, as Marilyn Manson put it, "The weak ones are there to justify the strong".
    • Both have blond hair and blue eyes.
      • Both betrayed their own bosses at some point in their lives (Eric betrayed Mikhail Faustin while Bell betrayed Dutch van der Linde). However, Mikhail saw through Eric's lies at the last second while Dutch eventually sided with Bell despite the betrayal.
        • Both stood loyal to more or less only one person (Eric stood loyal to his bro-in-law William while Bell stood loyal to Leopold Strauss).
          • Both killed one of the main heroes only to get killed by the hero's ally in return (Eric had Roman Bellic killed only to be killed by Niko Bellic in return, while Gicov killed Arthur Morgan only to be killed by John Marston a year later).
            • Both loved to taunt the living daylights out of their companions/rivals, with Gicov teasing Morgan non-stop about his TB, while Eric taunted Niko with disturbing pictures of Roman over the phone.
• Eric also used to be a hunting buddy of Mikhail Faustin, after their times in different militaries and during the time they were mobsters. However, they’ve both hunted in their spare times long before they met each other.
  • Eric and Mikhail loved hunting animals such as moose, elk, caribou, bears, wolves, foxes, badgers, wolverines, weasels, beavers, and different types of deer, birds, and fish. Eric actually once saved a bunch of hares from being eaten by a fox, either unknowingly or knowingly.

Gallery

Eric's closed up face.

Eric and William confronting Bellic.

Eric down in Faustin's basement.

Eric (with Niko standing right next to 'im) pointin' his gun like some gay boi.

Another big head pic of Ericsson.

Eric killing his godfather.

Which one of these Eric clones will betray himself first?

Eric sticking his tongue out.

Theme song

Eric's theme is Judas by Fozzy (main singer is Chris Jericho) which fits Ericsson pretty well and refers to how Judas betrayed that Jewish carpenter guy, Isus Christus. Unlike most of the song, however, Eric probably has no remorse nor apathy or empathy for anyone he betrayed. Now while Eric is probably cooking in a pot down in the Never Never Land, the question remains if his torturer, Clurkicus, will show some remorse to him, as if there is anything left for Eric to save in his afterlife. Well, Clurkicus is dead now and Dis was never known for torturing o' Eric, so... I guess he's okay.

Fozzy (plus Chris Jericho) - Judas