Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995 Video Game)

Malcolm McDowell: Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn

Photos 

Quotes 

• Admiral Tolwyn : The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

• Admiral Tolwyn : When you have a junkyard dog snapping at your heels the best thing to do is turn around and kick it in the chops.

• Admiral Tolwyn : [Tolwyn is giving his final address to the Confederation Assembly before the vote on the declaration of war against the Border Worlds]  A formal declaration of war is a very terrible thing. It should not be undertaken unless all options have been exhausted. I'm afraid to report to you that that is the case. We did not fight the Kilrathi for decades just to have an infection hollow us out from the inside. If there is a cancer amongst us, we must cut it out now! I urge you to vote yes on this declaration. Thank you.

  [while the Assembly applauds, Blairs bursts into the room] 

  Blair : There is a cancer that needs to be cut out!

  Admiral Tolwyn : Seize that man!

  Blair : But it's not on the frontiers of the galaxy but right here before you!

  Admiral Tolwyn : Well, Colonel.

  [to the Assembly] 

  Admiral Tolwyn : This, is the great hero of the Kilrathi war, who has betrayed the Confederation and now fights for the Union of Border Worlds.

  Blair : I fight as I always have, on the side of peace and honour.

• Blair : [Blair is debating with Tolwyn of front of the Confederation Assembly]  Admiral, do you believe the strong always survive?

  Admiral Tolwyn : With every fibre of my being.

  Blair : Is that why the head of the Black Lance forces is a product of the Genetic Enhancement program?

  [consternation rumbles among the Assembly] 

  Paladin : That program was cancelled years ago!

  Admiral Tolwyn : He's more of a warrior than you will ever be, Colonel. He is excellence personified. He is...

  Blair : He is dead!

  Admiral Tolwyn : He is... symbolic of all that we will achieve in the future.

  Blair : And what is the expense of these achievements, Admiral? The lives already lost to your Black Lance forces, the millions more that will die if this Assembly votes for war? Space Marshal Tolwyn believes that our victory over the Kilrathi was a fluke. That we as a race need tinkering with, engineering! If a few billion die along the way, well they weren't worthy anyway! Why can't we be more like the Kilrathi, addicted to conflict, the only meaning in life being found in death, tell us all, Admiral! Is that the price of freedom?

  Admiral Tolwyn : Mankind was at its zenith when fighting the Kilrathi. Now our society is crumbing. We have no goals and no focus, we've grown complacent and confused. Who will protect us when the next race tries to dominate us? Who can tell where that threat will come from and when? No, we must be prepared. Progress only comes through struggle. Fighting keeps us fit. Conflict ensures our readiness and our survival. The Kilrathi understood this. They endured for millions of years and so shall we if we continue fighting. If we continue to perfect our methods of killing...

  [a hand comes down on his shoulder. It is Paladin, the Assembly Master] 

  Paladin : I think we've heard enough. The Assembly will now vote.

• Admiral Tolwyn : [giving a speech to members of the secret Black Lance force]  The strong shall survive! The primary universal law. The species that is weak faces extinction. You know, not so very long ago, our species faced extinction. Now the truth is, our victory over the Kilrathi was not a clear verdict of our superiority, it was a fluke. A temporary perchase of time. We will some day face an enemy far worse than the Kilrathi and it is our duty to prepare, to remain strong and to remain vigilant.

• Paladin : Tell me, is there news? Have there been more skirmishes in the Border Worlds?

  Admiral Tolwyn : News of the worst kind, I'm afraid. Betrayal. It appears that our great hero of the Kilrathi War has defected to the Union of Border Worlds.

  Paladin : Blair? Defected? I find that hard to believe, he was always a hot head, but... what on earth induced him to - What the devil is going on out there?

  Admiral Tolwyn : The intelligence I've collected is erratic, unreliable. "Things fall apart. The centre cannot hold. Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. The best lack all conviction."

  Paladin : "Whilst the worst possess a passionate intensity." Yeats.