Deon Govender

Deon Govender was a teacher in Elysium City on Eridanus II in the early 26th century.

Life
Govender taught at Elysium City Primary Education Facility Number 119 around the time the school was attended by a boy who would grow up to be John-117, the Master Chief. Govender passed away circa 2551.

Impersonation
In 2558, reporter Benjamin Giraud was hired by the Office of Naval Intelligence to write a story on John-117. Govender's name was on a list of interviewees provided to Giraud by ONI. The man Giraud interviewed claimed to have taught at Elysium City Primary Education Facility Number 119 during the future Master Chief's childhood. His first anecdote accurately relayed the story of John's dominance in games of King of the Hill.

From here however, the stories "Govender" told diverged into fiction. He told a story of a twelve-year-old John showing up to a high school boxing league and easily defeating the older boys. A year later, John and his parents were kidnapped by Insurrectionists. According to "Govender", rising above this traumatic experience was instrumental in forging John into the man he would become.

While digging through old records scavenged from Elysium City, Giraud found an old census registry which listed John (actually his flash clone) deceased at the age of six in 2517. Then, before publishing the first episode of Hunt the Truth, Giraud allowed Ellie Bloom, a former resident of Elysium City, to listen to a rough cut of the episode. Bloom challenged the interviewee's version of events, calling him a liar. According to Bloom, there was never a boxing club at any high school in Elysium City, because youth boxing had been banned planet-wide for decades.

These inconsistencies left Giraud deeply confused and conflicted. In order to confirm his theories, Giraud asked his friend Ray Kurzig to look into Govender. Kurzig confirmed that Govender had been a real person, but that he had died seven years prior. The man Giraud interviewed was an ONI plant intended to keep the journalist from learning the truth about John's history. Various commenters on Giraud's audio blog even claimed to have met the false "Govender", who was supposedly once a homeless drunk.

After receiving coordinates from Petra Janecek, Giraud went to Bliss, where he found an active ONI communications relay station and discovered who "Govender" really was: an actor hired by ONI called Simon Kensington.

Production note
Govender's impersonator, Simon Kensington, is portrayed by American actor Phil LaMarr. LaMarr also voices Thomas Wu and Ray Kurzig in Hunt the Truth.

List of appearances

 * Hunt the Truth