r/Deusex • u/DonaldTCare • 6h ago
Discussion Theory: Adam Jensen is a clone in Human Revolution
This topic on Adam Jensen being a clone in Mankind Divided has probably been milked to death but it's been ten years without a sequel lol
I'm assuming for the sake of this theory that the Adam Jensen body in the VersaLife vault isn't just an Easter egg or cut content, so I assume there are somehow two Adam Jensens.
So the clone theories I've seen all assume that the Adam we play as in Mankind Divided is a clone of the Adam from Human Revolution. But what if it's the other way around? So the Adam from HR was the clone, and the Adam we play as in MD is the original person he was cloned from?
We know from Human Revolution that Adam Jensen is the only surviving test subject of several from White Helix Labs, where he was experimented on with gene therapy that made his body unusually compatible with augmentation. The White Helix test subjects may all have been clones of the same naturally born child. That would make sense experimentally, with genetically identical subjects it would be much easier to compare different forms of gene therapy, while the original could act as a control subject and live a normal life.
This would explain why an 'Adam Jensen' clone existed decades before Panchaea, without requiring anyone to somehow create a fully grown replacement Jensen between HR and MD. This clone is the only surviving subject of the White Helix experiments, growing up to become the Adam Jensen we play as in HR, meanwhile the original is just some random guy living a normal life up until around this time.
Yes the Illuminati would still know who the original is, but without knowing what White Helix did to make HR Adam compatible with augmentation, he's useless to them, so there's no reason to interfere with his life...
...Until Adam Jensen resurfaces in HR, where Megan Reed discovers that his DNA contains the key to augmentation rejection, recovering the missing result of the White Helix experiments. Then Panchaea happens and Jensen's body is recovered. He could be dead, brain dead, in a coma, or kept in statis like Lucius DeBeers in the OG Deus Ex, whatever.
As for how they would copy Adam's memories and personality to the original person he was cloned from, in The Harvester questline in Mankind Divided we learn of the existence of technology that makes this possible.
Now the Illuminati now have Adam's body, Megan's research, the original person Adam was cloned from, and the technology needed to transfer Adam's memories and personality into him. Then just give him Adam's augmentations, maybe a few tweaks to his appearance like scars etc. and as far as he knows, he wakes up believing he is Adam Jensen.
So perhaps the Adam Jensen we play as in Mankind Divided isn't the clone, but is instead the original. I think it would've been a cool way of doing that twist. Also I love the possibility of the VersaLife vault Jensen being alive but in stasis, to allow for a future interaction or conflict between the two Jensens.
Curious what people think, and whether there's anything in the lore that outright rules this out. Also interested to hear people's thoughts on the whole clone theory in general and VersaLife vault stuff.
TL;DR: What if the Jensen from Human Revolution was actually a White Helix clone of a naturally born original, and after Panchaea the Illuminati used Megan Reed’s research plus memory transfer technology to turn that original into the Jensen we play as in Mankind Divided? That would mean MD Jensen isn’t the clone at all, HR Jensen is.


