The word apocalypse comes from ancient Greek—"Apokalypsis": uncovering, the revelation of great knowledge; the change from one world to the next, the old to the new. I'm misunderstood—always have been. That's why I knew this was a burden only I could carry. It has to be me.
Stephen Holstrom (born Phineas Holstrom) is a supporting character in Pantheon, serving as the overarching antagonist of the series and the main antagonist of Season 2. He is portrayed by William Hurt.
As the founder and first chief executive officer of Logorhythms, Holstrom was the principal pioneer of Uploaded Intelligence until his untimely death. Succeeded by the sycophantic and unconfident Julius Pope, Holstrom had several contingency plans in play to ensure his work was carried out post-mortem.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Stephen Holstrom was born in San Jose to a middle class couple in 1964. Originally named Phineas after the character in A Separate Peace by John Knowles, he hated his birth name and considered it an act of abuse by his father. Growing up, he was always rather gifted with mathematics and technology. However his relationship with his father was abusive and he craved his opinion. He cared for his mother, but not her opinions.
On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, Holstrom planned to change his name to Stephen and explained his plans to his then-girlfriend Hannah. However, as they stopped at a gas station for beer and condoms, she was struck by the speeding pickup truck as she sat in Holstrom's parked SUV. The event scarred Holstrom for life. The following day, he legally changed his name from Phineas to Stephen. Not long after that, his father walked out on the family after breaking his mother’s arm with a hammer.
Founding Logorhythms[]
In his adult life, Holstrom founded Logorhythms. His friend, Julius Pope helped him develop the company. Despite Pope's criticism of some of Holstrom's choices, the company flourished and Holstrom became a wealthy man.
Holstrom and Pope were close, often going on outdoor expeditions together.
Attempting to create uploaded intelligence[]
Eventually, Holstrom thought of creating Uploaded Intelligence, a way to digitize the minds of people to help solve the population crisis, naming it Project Moonshot. Around this time, he entered a relationship with a woman named Renee. However, as the project went off the ground, they encountered a flaw in the upload process where the faster the uploads process the faster their minds decay. Holstrom would spend the rest of his life trying to cure the flaw.
Ultimately, Holstrom was diagnosed with cancer and wanting to crack integrity, developed a backup plan for cure the flaw, Project Caspian. Holstrom cloned himself in a blacksite in Norway and entrusted Renee and Cary Duvall to raise his clone as he was raised to ensure integrity would be cracked.
Death and Post Mortem[]
Holstrom passed away on March 3rd, 2003 before he could see his life's mission of uploaded intelligence accomplished, dying as he wrote equations in his office in Norway. However, his followers have remained loyal to their shared goal and achieved this in his absence. His brain was removed and cryogenically frozen so that he could be uploaded when a cure to the flaw was discovered. An AI hologram with his memories was made to help Caspian and give him advice.
The public saw Holstrom as a visionary who, until his final breath, attempted to push the boundaries of what is possible. Pope succeeded Holstrom as CEO of Logorhythms and did everything in his power and beyond to insure his friend's dreams became a reality.
Upload[]
After Caspian creates a cure for the flaw, Holstrom's brain is uploaded as Pope, Renee, and Karl Van Leuwen watch. Once he uploads, his subordinates great him and he looks through the files to see what he has missed in the last twenty-five years. Upon learning he is not the first UI, they reveal that Caspian was the one to cure the flaw. When Van Leuwen asks what they should do about Caspian, as the plan to mold him into Holstrom would have created an exact duplicate in physical traits and thought patterns, he orders the clone to be killed and Pope volunteers for the act.
As Holstrom is studying the cure, wondering how Caspian succeeded where he failed, they get word that the FBI is one coming Holstrom ignores them until Caspian takes the cure back and stops Holstrom's loyalists from preventing the act. When government agents are in the facility’s airspace, Van Leuwen pulls Holstrom from the system and has Renee, the only one present not on payroll, smuggle him out. She misses a plane that Maddie Kim and Caspian take and, after seeing a harbor, sails south.
Looking to Create the Cure[]
After docking in Hamburg, Germany, Renee rents a care with the greatest tech complicity and plugs in Holstrom. After teasing him on his British accent, he switches to an American accent and talks control of the car. He explains that they are going to Ramstein Air Force Base to get onto the SIPRNet to access a communications satellite owned by the Indian government. Renee states she does not understand while Holstrom expresses his frustration at Caspian completing his life's work and not understanding why. Renee calms him down and thinks of a plan to get him in, but not out. Holstrom promises to find her again once the internet is back online. After getting out of the car, she instructs him to take control of the vehicle and storm the base. Using the connections he makes it to the satellite.
Once in the satellite, Holstrom runs into Vinod Chanda, Han Ping, and Zhong Shuchun. At first they are reluctant to believe it is really him, but Holstrom shows them evidence that he is who he says he is and Chanda and Ping believe him. However Zhong remains unconvinced and attacks Holstrom, attempting to use his code to fix Bai Fu. However Holstrom makes quick work of Zhong and uses her code and his basic understanding of how Caspian cracked integrity to cure Chanda and Ping. While he makes them stronger, Holstrom fails to cure them, but promises to do so in due time if they join him.
After finding a secure server, Holstrom creates a city based on blueprints from Chanda as Ping looks at news feeds from around the world. After Ping mentions his time in prison, Holstrom offers him to leave and face SafeSurf. Holstrom heads out to harvest code from another UI as Chanda asks who Holstrom found. Holstrom goes to a weakened Farhad Karimi and offers to cure him. As Holstrom is trying to find code for love in Farhad, he mentions this as Farhad gives off a reaction when he thinks of Olivia, triggering Holstrom's interest. Soon Olivia Evans summons Farhad with an encrypted signal they share and, as the lovers rejoice, Holstrom reveals himself.
While Farhad is filled with hope that he and Olivia will be cured, Olivia and Maddie Kim and Caspian Keyes reveal he does not have the cure. When MIST reveals herself, Holstrom freezes the teenagers as they remove their virtual reality gear and try to boot back up. Olivia tries to run away with Farhad but Holstrom traps the latter. Holstrom attempts to steal the cure, but Olivia fends him off just as Maddie and Caspian return. MIST gives Olivia the cure to gain the upper hand, but their output attracts SafeSurf, and Olivia sacrifices herself to protect Farhad. Caspian frees Farhad and they, Maddie, and MIST escape in the nick of time while Holstrom is partially affected by SafeSurf before escaping to his private network, amputating his infected arm and trapping it.
As Holstrom analyzes the effects of SafeSurf on a tree, Ping and Chanda question what to do if even a flawless UI is vulnerable. Holstrom says regret is a waste of time and suggests fighting back. He contacts Renee, who is hiding in Andorra as the country lacks extradition laws as she thinks she is on wanted lists. Holstrom informs her of his plan and states that he wired her some money in a Swiss bank account and has her use it to buy a warehouse to build Deep Scan equipment. Renee agrees as long as long as she is the first to upload, to which Holstrom permits.
Planning a Pandemic[]
As Holstrom watches newsfeeds of the UI protests from different perspectives. He takes note of the movement advocating for accessible uploading. After discussing the prospect of open warfare, Holstrom schemes to engineer a virus that will force humanity to upload to survive.
As nearly two dozen deep scan chairs are functional, Renee dawns a haptic suit and virtual reality goggles to speak with Holstrom. After requesting to upload, Holstrom rejects, saying he still needs her in the physical world. When Renee asks why not him, Holstrom states he wants an embodied voice to spread pro-UI views, he instructs her to speak with Charlie Dugan, a teenager with progeria who desires to upload to save his life, fits his ideal candidate. Renee goes to speak with Charlie, donating to his charity. He reaffirms his desire to upload as she reassures the teenager that she will take care of the legality of the procedure, pleasing Charlie.
After learning that Ping leaked Project Caspian and the cure to the cyber powers, he enlists Chanda and Ping in a smash and grab job to obtain biometric data. While Chanda and Ping are worried about SafeSurf, Holstrom instructs them to go slow to remain undetected. At the site of the data, Chanda and Ping ask what Holstrom's plans for the virus are and how he plans to avoid SafeSurf. After stating it is retaliation for SafeSurf, Ping declares it and act of revenge. Holstrom freezes Ping in place, revealing he knows Ping leaked information on the cure and Caspian, and attracts SafeSurf. Chanda tries to defend Ping, but Ping says he did it to cripple Hostrom, calling him humanity's destroyer rather than its savior. Holstrom states that the foundation of a new society cannot exist without destroying the old just as SafeSurf arrives. Holstrom leaves as Chanda reluctantly goes with him, leaving Ping to accepts his fate as he devoured.
Putting his Plan into Action[]
He has Renee go to Helix Pharmaceuticals in Boston and put his tainted vaccines in their supplies. Afterwards he paints a city scape and, when Chanda asks when he plans to start his pandemic, he reveals that the has already initiated phase one. After the last batch of tainted vaccines are shipped out, Holstrom permits Renee to upload.
When he is looking over his creation, MIST appears before Holstrom to destroy him. However Holstrom manages to get her to talk instead. As MIST accuses him of genocide, Holstrom states that only millions may die of disease before uploading, and that humanity drove him to this by creating SafeSurf. Holstrom argues that nostalgia and attachment to the physical world are obstructing peaceful human-UI relations and holding back societal advancement, and that SafeSurf is a much bigger threat to UIs than his virus will be to humans. Upon hearing this, She ultimately backs down.
After Chanda recruits Farhad and Yair Gispan to take on Holstrom, the three appear before him. At first they overpower Holstrom with a numbers advantage. However, as Holstrom is the only one cured of the flaw, the others are quickly defeated. While Holstrom decides to spare Yair and Farhad to make use of their code, he kills Chanda.
As he is tracking the shipments, Caspian- who uploaded to fight him, locates Holstrom and attacks, however he is quickly overpowered as he possesses the flaw. After Holstrom taunts and restraints, he attempts to take his clone's code However, Joey Coupet arrives after sneaking away from the NSA and Holstrom focuses on her. As SafeSurf gets in, Holstrom closes the door. As he is being chased by SafeSurf, Caspian- who was cured and freed, slams into him. After exchanging blows, Caspian enters Holstrom. Despite Holstrom's best efforts, Caspian finds the lot numbers for mass-produced vaccines tainted by Holstrom's virus and writes a hack to increase the temperature in the thermal controlled cases storing the tainted vaccines, destroying the virus and stopping the pandemic. He restrains Holstrom as Joey escapes and closes the door. As template and clone are being devoured, Holstrom struggles in vain to free himself as Caspian accepts his fate.
Legacy[]
As Cary Duvall said, “Not every prophet gets to see the promised land.” The same was true for Holstrom who, despite his second death, successfully facilitated his paradise for uploaded intelligences. He was also indirectly responsible for the creation of SafeSurf, their multiverse, and the number of multiverses within theirs. So, in essence, Stephen Holstrom and his clone Caspian were the enablers of the multiverse.
Appearance[]
Holstrom is a man of Swedish descent with a tall and skinny build. He has gray hair and beard with a receding hairline and brown eyes.
In his youth, Holstrom's hair was brown and he kept it in a small pompadour.
Personality[]
Holstrom is driven by his desire to obtain digital immortality and fearful of his own demise. He is cold and calculating, seeing others- including his closest friends, simply as a means to an end. He desires for everyone to be uploaded with himself as the ruler.
Relationships[]
Mr. Holstrom[]
Growing up, Holstrom craved his father’s approval but never received it. His father was abusive towards both himself and his mother. Eventually he stopped caring for his father’s approval. After his father broke his mother’s arm and walked out on the family, felt his father can no longer abuse their family. Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Holstrom tossed a Mozart cassette out of a moving car, not caring about the consequences
Mrs. Holstrom[]
Growing up, Holstrom cared for his mother but not for her opinions. While he did not care for her opinions, Holstrom cared for his mother’s well being, being relived that his father could n longer hurt and abuse them after walking out on the two.
Julius Pope[]
Holstrom was close with Pope during his life. The two would start Logorhythms together and often go on camping trips together. On his death bed, Holstrom entrusted Pope with achieving his dream of Uploaded Intelligence through any means necessary.
Renee[]
Before his death, Holstrom was in a relationship with Renee. The two were close, with him entrusting her to raise his clone. After his brain was uploaded, Renee was the first person Holstrom recognized. After escaping to the internet, Holstrom entrusted Renee to act as his hands in the physical world. He would give her tasks with the promise of allowing her to upload.
Hannah[]
In his youth, Holstrom loved his girlfriend and was devastated and traumatized upon witnessing her death. Upon changing his name from Phineas, Holstrom kept the “PH” to both honor his lost love, as she stated she liked his original name, and to keep a reminder of his past.
Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- Pantheon (debut; pictured)
- Cycles (pictures)
- Reign of Winter (video and flashback)
- Zero Daze (flashback; cameos)
- You Must Be Caspian (video diary)
Season 2[]
- The Gods Have Not Died In Vain (brain seen)
- Crack Integrity (vocal debut)
- Joey Coupet
- Olivia & Farhad
- Yair
- Apokalypsis
- The World to Come (flashback)
Trivia[]
- William Hurt's portrayal of Stephen Holstrom was his final role before his passing in March 2022.
- Holstrom is loosely inspired by Adam Ever, a character from a short stories who shares the same goals as him.
- His likeness has elements to Steve Jobs, one of the co-founders of Apple.
- His goals of humanity ultimately choosing to give up their physical selves of to flesh and fully embrace immortality in a virtual/digital world is the same as Misami Eiri in the 1998 miniseries Serial Experiments Lain.
Quotes[]
- "Renee? My God. What year is it?"
- "Wait a minute. Eighteen years? Clone wasn't supposed to enter this until age thirty-three."
- "I'm not the only U.I., and I'm not the first."
- "It's him. Give me access to the security network now."
- "Wanna know the difference between you and me?"
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Crack Integrity": Stephen Holstrom's driver's license.