Arthur Edwards

Karen Wyman (Wife)

Sara Edwards (Daughter)

Skylar Briony Edwards (Daughter)

The Partners (Superiors; formerly)

Janus (Mentor/Colleague)

Sophia Washington (Apprentice/Colleague)

Zoe Washington (Apprentice/Colleague)

Diana Burnwood (Temporary ally)

Tamara Vidal (Trusted Ally)

Quinn Cooper Coates (friend)

Alexia Lorena Conrad (friend)

Ty Alberta Aston (friend)

**Arthur Frederick Edwards**, formerly known as **The Constant**, was Providence's Constant, or chief controller/second-in-command, answering to the Partners, He takes over Providence after 47 assassinates the Partners. He is the overall primary antagonist of the *World of Assassination* trilogy, being as the overarching antagonist of *HITMAN™*, and the main antagonist of *HITMAN™ 2*, and *HITMAN™ III*. He is a target in the *HITMAN™ III* mission Untouchable.

## Background

*Arthur Edwards was the second Constant of Providence, but since the deaths of the Partners, he has assumed full control of the organization.*

*Small and inconspicuous, Edwards' mild, soft-spoken demeanor hides a staggering and terrifying intellect. Devious, calculating and a master manipulator, he is an enigma, who has meticulously erased his own past in order to become invisible and untraceable. A partial file recovered at Isle of Sgàil reveals that Edwards attended the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1976 on a scholarship, indicating that he did not come from money like his ultra-privileged late employers. But nothing else is known about his life before becoming the Constant, including his relationship to the first Constant, Janus.*

*As the top controller and chief strategist of Providence, Edwards was the only person who reported directly to the Partners, and was entrusted with their true identities. He was the architect behind Providence's every machination, and the head of the "Heralds"; Providence's corps of field handlers who communicate the Partners' orders down the ranks of the organization.*

*For decades, Edwards has ranked among the most powerful individuals in the world. And yet, his smug and patronizing demeanor hides a deep-seated inferiority complex. A middle class meritocrat, Edwards long expected to eventually make Partner. But when he realized that, despite all his diligence and dedication, Stuyvesant, Ingram and Carlisle would never acknowledge him as an equal, he instead plotted their downfall.*
*Edwards' infatuation with Diana Burnwood appears to be of an entirely cerebral nature. He sees Diana as an intellectual equal, and his ego demands that he not only outmaneuvers Diana, but converts her to his cause. This is his Achilles' heel, allowing him to make an unusual lapse in judgement. By trusting Diana, Edwards has left himself momentarily exposed. It will likely never happen again.*

## Events of *HITMAN™*

After a mysterious Shadow Client assassinated Providence Herald Eugene Cobb and manipulated the ICA into foiling two of Providence's plans (the development of a virus weapon by Ether and a coup to take over Morocco), Edwards and Cobb's successor, Alexander Fanin, visited the Providence archive in New York. Upon discussing the recent events, Edwards deduced that Providence had been compromised; he and Fanin discovered that the Shadow Client had raided the vault and obtained information on all their assets and operatives.

Providence collaborated with former ICA training director Erich Soders to gain control over the ICA's activities and deploy them in their war against the Shadow Client. The ICA learned of Soders' treachery and retaliated by sending Agent 47 to assassinate him and Providence Herald Yuki Yamazaki in Hokkaido, Japan, thwarting a transaction in which Providence was to receive a list of active ICA operatives. In the aftermath of Soders' death, the Constant personally confronted 47's Handler Diana Burnwood on a train. He assured her that there would be no action taken against the ICA for the recent transgressions and proposed a partnership between Providence and the ICA to eliminate the Shadow Client. Though she initially rebuked his offer, Diana capitulated when Edwards presented her a photo of a young 47, implying Providence knew about his past.

## Events of *HITMAN™ 2*

One week later, the ICA board accepted Edwards' contract to eliminate the Shadow Client and, after 47 eliminated one of his top lieutenants, Alma Reynard, reported that Edwards gave them carte blanche into dismantling the Client's operations--especially after a recent string of attacks on Providence-backed CEOs. Edwards then approved for the ICA to eliminate two Providence defectors, Robert Knox and his daughter, Sierra.

Though Partner Marcus Stuyvesant was concerned about "axing their own" as they were already steadily losing operatives, Edwards assured he and the other Partners that the Knoxes were traitors and would have caused significant damage to Providence had they not been eliminated. Continuing a tense discussion with his supervisors, Edwards revealed the identity of the Client as mercenary Lucas Grey; he then informed the ICA, who subsequently sent 47 to neutralize Grey's operations in Santa Fortuna, Colombia, and Mumbai, India.

Following Janus' assassination at the hands of 47, the Partners worried that Edwards had almost exposed all of them. To ensure his loyalty, they forced Edwards to implant himself with a poison chip linked to a kill switch entrusted to the Washington sisters, much to his chagrin. As per usual, Edwards attended the annual gathering of the Ark Society, a clandestine survivalist club for billionaires founded by his late predecessor, where he was later kidnapped by 47 and Grey.

Edwards is later held hostage aboard their boat, his chip surgically removed. He reveals the names of the Partners after being interrogated by Grey, Diana, and 47, suggesting that they "follow the money" in order to determine their whereabouts. After the Partners faked their deaths and allegedly took on new identities, all of their corporate silent shares were transferred to Edwards, who eventually managed to escape his captivity.

## Events of *HITMAN™ III*

Following the assassination of both Carl Ingram and Marcus Stuyvesant, Edwards calls Burnwood from her office. After she accuses him of planning the Partners' deaths, he states that he played the hand he was dealt with, believing that the Partners were complacent. He then tells her that she will soon understand that Providence can be an agent of change.

Edwards then sends a team of CICADA mercenaries to eliminate Grey, causing Grey to commit suicide to protect 47, before confronting Burnwood in her office. Believing she would be valuable to Providence, he hands her 47's contract to assassinate her parents Nancy and Peter, telling her that she owes 47 nothing. Edwards calls Burnwood from his private office soon after. Believing that the Partners' assassinations did nothing to undermine Providence's power, he offers her a role as a Herald, something she accepts after the ICA is exposed by 47.

After Burnwood lures 47 to Argentina to eliminate Edwards' aides Don Archibald Yates and Tamara Vidal, she then activates a sedative poison to incapacitate him. On board a train to a private CICADA base in Mongolia, Edwards personally administers an advanced version of the memory-erasing serum to 47, believing that he would be a powerful tool. However, 47 fights off the effects, regaining consciousness as the train passes through the Carpathian Mountains, before fighting his way through the train.

47 then confronts Edwards at the front carriage of the train. Realizing that Burnwood had manipulated him into trusting her, he refuses to believe that she would refuse Providence's power. He calmly offers 47 another dose of the memory-erasing serum, asking him to embrace who he was always meant to be. After 47 refuses, Edwards calmly expresses his defeat and stands up, allowing 47 to assassinate him.

After either killing him or injecting him with the serum (resulting in Edwards surviving, but losing all of his memories), 47 stops the train and exits it. With Edwards neutralized, Burnwood takes over from him as Constant and dismantles Providence. However, if 47 had a change of heart and injected the serum into himself, Arthur would thank him, take him to the Asylum, and 'take care of him'.

## Trivia

* In *Another Life*, Janus tells 47 (undercover as his physical therapist) that he left Providence during the initial decline of Ort-Meyer's laboratory, and never found out what became of the project. Therefore, the Constant seen in the comic series *Birth of a Hitman* is Edwards, who assumed the role of Constant by 1999.
	+ Janus recalls the day he passed the torch to Edwards during a private concert in Vienna, Austria.
* "The Constant" is first mentioned in-game during Ezra Berg's interrogation of the captured Herald, William Candler, in Freedom Fighters.
* Edwards will converse with several of his Heralds across the two games:
	+ During Situs Inversus, Yuki Yamazaki will have a phone conversation with him regarding Soders' surgery and Hajun's death.
	+ During The Ark Society, he will call Mikhail Kadir regarding the ICA's involvement in Janus and Nolan Cassidy's mysterious deaths, as well as a robbery in Belgium perpetuated by Orson Mills, now ex-militia.
* He appears as a VIP during The Ark Society mission, in which his death will cause the mission to fail.
* There have been fan theories that Edwards and the Mystery Man from *Hitman 2: Silent Assassin* are the same person.
* The Constant is the first and only main antagonist to have an undetermined status. He is one of several targets to have this distinction, alongside Lenny Dexter and the targets of Flatline, Murder at the Bazaar, Temple City Ambush, Invitation to a Party and Apex Predator.
* According to two Heralds in The Farewell, Edwards' master plan as new leader of Providence entails transforming the secret shadow cabal into a fully legal, entirely official supra-national corporate entity called "Destiny Group" by merging its corporations under a single roof, beyond any state jurisdiction--in effect, creating the world's first sovereign corporate state, its headquarters based at the Ark Society's Hyperborea site in Greenland.
* Edwards suffers from Buerger's Disease.
* In an Alternative Universe Arthur dies at the age of 94 with Cerebrovascular Disease or luckily Dementia, Heart Disease and Pneumonia.
* Arthur is Straight.