Whiterose

**Whiterose** is the leader of the Dark Army, a Chinese hacker group. She is a transgender woman masquerading as the male **Zhi Zhang**, the Chinese Minister of State Security. She's also the founder and leader of the Deus Group. She is played by BD Wong.

## Background

Whiterose is shrouded in mystery. By the mid-90s, she has risen to her position of power within the Dark Army and has set up a relationship with E Corp. In 1995, she had the E Corp CEO killed in a plane crash over matters concerning her interest in the Washington Township power plant. Her group recruited Francis Shaw, a white 10 year old outcast living in Shanghai in 1996.

The Dark Army has garnered the reputation of having no code, hacking for anyone including Russia, North Korea, Iran; giving the impression that they hate U.S. capitalism. It is said that many Dark Army haven't even met Whiterose and believe their leader to be a man.

Records indicate that Zhang does not have a sister. She also wear a watch that beeps whenever a minute has passed due to her obsession with managing time. She has an extremely rigid schedule, rarely seeing anyone twice.

Whiterose has a personal project situated at the Washingtown Township power plant. Both Emily Moss and Edward Alderson unknowingly contributed to the project during their employment at E Corp, and it was the raditation from the power plant which contributed to their deaths. The details of her project are unknown, however she has a strong interest in the plant and is willing to go to great lengths to protect it.

### Season 1

In early 2015, the Dark Army is prepared to participate in fsociety's attack on E Corp by destroying the redundant backup data housed in China. Their contact Cisco is in talks with Darlene. On the night of March 31st, the Dark Army bans her from IRC and cuts off all contact. She learns that they have pulled out of the operation. (“eps1.6\_v1ew-s0urce.flv”)

In May, Darlene has stolen Cisco's handle and is trying to convince the DA to rejoin the attack. Cisco informs her of a meeting between Whiterose and Elliot Alderson. On May 7th, Cisco forces Ollie Parker to send Elliot on a menial task to Blank's Disk Recovery at 36th and 5th at 2:00, assuring him not to be late. There, Elliot is led by a man in a hazmat suit downstairs into a Faraday Cage, which prevents electromagnetic interference. Elliot meets Whiterose smoking a cigarette as she fixes the drives he gives her.
In their 3 minute conversation, Elliot is flustered trying to convince the Dark Army to join the attack. Whiterose eventually tells him that electing to frame Colby caused Gideon Goddard to install a honeypot on the security server. The Dark Army hacked Allsafe using Ollie and Angela to be safe and discovered the trap. She chastises him for wasting time and gives him 50 hours and 23 minutes to remove the honeypot. At the end, she says she will never see Elliot again, according to her schedule. (“eps1.7\_wh1ter0se.m4v”)

On the night of 5/9, Elliot contacts the Dark Army to initiate the hack. They do so. Whiterose is next seen appearing at a gathering of rich, international men as Zhang in a mansion. She brings up business about coltan mines in Congo with the distressed CEO of E Corp, Phillip Price. Whiterose was told they know who was responsible for the lawsuit emerging against the Washington Township power plant, to which Price assures they will handle that person as they usually do. Whiterose notes a woman playing a harp and muses, as her watch beeps, about the legend of Emperor Nero merrily playing the lyre as Rome burned. (“eps1.9\_zer0-day.avi”)

### Season 2

In late June, Whiterose is applying her makeup in a bedroom while speaking to Price over the phone using her male, Zhang voice. They discuss using “her,” Angela, to achieve something for Whiterose’s purpose of keeping the power plant open. Price is annoyed at the ticking clock (her beeping watch), claiming pressure needs to cook in order to push the President to swing a UN vote. Whiterose hangs up when Price sarcastically asks for more time as her assistant, Grant, enters the room. She speaks in Chinese and her feminine voice, displeased that Price is opting for his E Coin strategy. They discuss Stage 2, which is six months’ minimum from complete. Grant shows her an FBI file about the discovery of fsociety's arcade. Whiterose wishes to be informed. She asks for an opinion on earrings and kisses him. (“eps2.2\_init1.asec”)

An FBI team consisting of SAC Santiago, Agent Dominique DiPierro, and others come to China to investigate 5/9. Santiago has a photo op with Minister Zhang at a government before they all go behind closed doors to talk. Santiago wants to visit the E Corp backup sites, which is set for Tuesday, July 1st.  He begins to dance around a subject when Dom bluntly brings up the Dark Army, drawing stares from everyone. Zhang agrees to provide a dossier before inviting them all to a party on Monday night.

At the party, Zhang finds Dom alone upstairs in his room full of different clocks. Dom says the rare, German clock is something her parents bought from Kmart. They talk about her being New Jersey born and raised and that she joined the FBI because of her disgust and fascination for the selfish brutality of the world. Zhang takes her to see a painting in the library and gets her to tell her origin story, of how she quit law school on the day before graduation because the person she was dating proposed. Zhang takes her to a dresser and shows Dom beautiful Chinese dresses. When she asks to whom do they belong, Zhang says his sister. Zhang then gets tearful, wondering aloud what the world be like without 5/9, if there are alternate realities where they are living different lives. The clocks strike midnight. Zhang walks away and says they must get back to the party. On Tuesday morning, as the FBI are in the hotel lobby for their inspection, gunmen attack, killing many, only to kill themselves when Dom fires back. (“eps2.3\_logic\_b0mb.hc”)

In mid July, Elliot is saved from an attack in prison by Leon. Elliot is told to tell Whiterose Leon did good and to do as a letter he will receive tells him to do. (“eps2.5\_h4ndshake.sme”)

In early August, Whiterose is in the United States at the grave of Lester Moore in, the former CEO of E Corp until he died in 1995: a plane “crash” rather than an “accident” Whiterose stresses. She tells her assistant he was going to shut down her project after the Washington Township scandal before he died. She says she is in the mood to repeat herself. As her watch beeps and her assistant urges that they’ll be late, Whiterose feels it is important to urinate on his tombstone.

After Elliot is released from prison on August 6, believing it to be the work of Whiterose, teams with Darlene and Cisco to investigate the Dark Army. They hack the phone of Xun, Cisco's contact, and meet with him to demand to know about Stage 2, hoping to eavesdrop on his later conversations.
Zhang and Phillip Price walk with umbrellas in the rain on a large estate. Zhang laments the state of the United States, which Price wonders if it may be intentional. Zhang congratulates Price on Angela succeeding. Price addresses the failed bailout, due to the shootout in China, which he blames on Zhang. He explains that on Friday, in two days, the federal government will seize E Corp facilities, including the Washington Township plant. Zhang reminds the CEO what happened to his predecessor, but Price reminds him that his death will not save the plant. Only cash will. He proposes that China lend E Corp the money at little to no interest. Zhang agrees, but upon making a further threat, Price says the next step is World War 3 and he would gladly take Zhang down with him. Price leaves.

Later that night, as Darlene is listening in, Xun brings up the encounter with Whiterose. She finds it odd, since Stage 2 is Elliot's plan. She knows he is a master at this stuff and breaks Xun's phone. (“eps2.7\_init5.fve”)

Around the same time, China loans the E Corp 2 trillion dollars and Price pulls strings so the UN will vote on China's annexation of the Congo. Early morning on Aug 7th, Angela is kidnapped by the inconspicuous man and woman who have been following her since 5/9. (“eps2.8\_h1dden\_pr0cess.axx”)

She is taken to a NJ suburb and placed in a strange room. For hours, a little girl who looks like her asks her bizarre questions using old technology after showing a bruise on her own body to make Angela comply with the test.

Once the fish is dead in a tank that had been slowly emptying, Whiterose enters the room and sits across from Angela. She lights a cigarette and says these past hours were to ensure this meeting, given a generous 28 minutes, wasn’t a waste of her time. She says it has been nearly 4 hours yet Angela never tried to walk out the door. Whiterose finds doors fascinating, as their infinite potential is hindered by a lock to those who are lazy. Angela notes that the fish died, making her captor a terrible person. She assures her the girl's bruises were makeup. Whiterose says it was part of the test to gets sensitive information out of someone who should have been dead 90 days ago on 5/9. Whiterose claims to be a woman of time who keeps finding Angela like an annoying penny for whom Price is endangering their relationship. She tells Angela that they have an event and person in common, the Washington Township scandal and Elliot Alderson. Angela asks about Elliot, only to be told that their parents died for a reason, to bring humanity to the next level.

Whiterose won’t kill her, but prove why she should drop the mission. Angela sheds a tear and agrees to give up the files she stole from E Corp on Washington Township if she can go free. She finds Angela still a threat to her project so she wants her belief. She asks if Angela believes in willing things into existence through her imagination. Angela says she did, but she admits that’s not the real world. Whiterose is interested in defining “real.” (“eps2.9\_pyth0n\_pt1.p7z”)

### Season 3

A blackout occurs on the night of August 8th, as a scientist gives a walking speech to others about the truth of reality and a parallel universe at the E Corp Washington Township nuclear powerplant. Minister Zhang and Assistant Grant, walk by. In a room, Zhang looks at Irving’s photos and calls Elliot crazy. Grant begins to say “they are both-” before Zhang reminds him that practice makes perfect. The man insists that they (Elliot and Tyrell) are both unstable and asks to be put in charge of Stage 2. Zhang recounts that Elliot’s father used to work on his project unknowingly and contributed to its early successes. He notes that it must be a coincidence that Elliot works for them. You don’t believe in coincidences, the man contends, to which Zhang emphasizes that it was Elliot’s drive to destroy E-Corp that was the opportunity for their plan. However, Elliot lacks focus. Time presented Elliot to the Dark Army, therefore his will must be their guide. Once he completes his work, then Elliot can die, just like his father. Zhang and the man are looking out a window at a massive hadron collider which transitions into Elliot’s open eye. (“eps3.0\_power-saver-mode.h”)

In September, Zhang is seen in attendance at the G20 Summit in Turkey, watching Price give a speech condemning China for being the only holdout against E Coin, thus weakening the economy by waging a currency war for Bitcoin. Afterwards, Zhang finds Price in a backroom for a brief meeting, simply because it was on the way out. Price demands China sign the Accord to not cause doubt in other countries, as in 11 days the UN will vote to allow China's annex of the Congo. Zhang tell Price that his success is secondary. When Price threatens that the UN vote could not go through, Zhang threatens Angela, having spoken to her and seeing why Price likes her, yet contemplating putting a bullet in each of her eyes had they not been so hypnotizing. Zhang insists that Price not mistake generosity for generosity.

Later, Zhang is seen in a curtained limo, ordering that Stage 2 occur on the day of the UN vote regardless if it goes their way. Grant warns that Stage 2 was only supposed to be if Price failed, as it has serious implications. Zhang says that it's time Price's hand got slapped. (“eps3.1\_undo.gz”)

## Trivia

* Her hacking skills are not yet known. She has stated that she "hacks time". (“eps1.7\_wh1ter0se.m4v”)
* The way Whiterose's legal name is given in the show is incorrect. As she is Chinese where they put surnames before personal names when giving full names the name should be referred to as Zhang Zhi, not the other way around that's used in the show.