Everett Rourke

Everett Rourke is the main antagonist of the Endless Summer series. He is the C.E.O. of Rourke International and the one who built "The Celestial" hotel. He is first seen in Book 1, Chapter 1.

Appearance
Everett has brown hair and beard, blue eyes and fair skin. He wears a brown suit with a white shirt, dark brown tie and white pocket handkerchief. He is shown to be remarkably physically fit for a man of his age, being described as "Shredded" by Craig. When he is shirtless, it is revealed that he has a tattoo of a Hydra on his left bicep.

When he is piloting the Omega Mech, he dons a high tech pilot uniform.

Personality
Everett is a very wealthy and successful businessman, being described as "Cartoonishly rich" by Zahra. Based on your Character's dream/premonition, it is revealed that he is sinister and selfish. If you collect all the clues of Act 1, a bonus scene shows he has files on Jake, Estela, Quinn, Sean, and Your Character. The files on your classmates have information such as their date of birth, personal history, psychological profile and a threat level. He is involved in several self-centered projects named after gods such as Project Hermes and Project Janus. It is shown that he is psychopathic and has little regard for human life. He is willing to kill innocent people for mere pleasure and entertainment, as well as to preserve his own reputation; he supposedly murdered Estela's mother after the latter discovered his crimes.

It is known that he is a fan of the arcade video game series "Most Wanted". For an unknown reason, he has been aliased as The Hydra. He is completely ruthless as he threatened to murder Diego in order to get a Catalyst Idol. In Raj's Catalyst Idol, it is revealed he has a sadistic sense of humor when he tries to force Raj to cook and serve the Fox to him. In Zahra's Catalyst Idol, Rourke kills Zahra after her betrayal - along with Estela's mother, this shows that he doesn't care about the lives of traitorous employees.

When he socializes, he initially attempts to come off to strangers as a refined gentleman before revealing his true colors, but only after securing his safety from opposition. According to the Endless, he isn't one for loose ends and will kill anyone who stands in his way or isn't beneficial to his plans' success. Additionally, he has an extreme superiority complex and compares himself to figures from Greek Mythology such as Prometheus; he even declared himself the god of the island.

Book 1

 * Chapter 1: This Must Be Heaven
 * Chapter 2: We’ve All Got Secrets
 * Chapter 5: It's What You're Meant For (Determinant)
 * Chapter 6: The World Has a Habit of Crushing You (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 10: No Escape (Determinant)
 * Chapter 13: One of Us Isn’t Supposed to be Here (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 14: Last Night on Earth (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 15: It Was Not Meant to End Like This (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 16: Here's to Adventure (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)

Book 2

 * Chapter 1: The Unknown Has Always Been a Comfort to Me (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
 * Chapter 2: Time Is of the Essence (Determinant)
 * Chapter 3: Those Left Behind
 * Chapter 4: Island Justice (Determinant)
 * Chapter 7: Everything at Once (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 8: Let's Promise We'll Do This Again (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
 * Chapter 9: Toward a New Horizon (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 10: Every End is a Beginning... Except the Last One
 * Chapter 11: Trust is a Fragile Thing (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
 * Chapter 12: Last Chance to Turn Back
 * Chapter 13: All We Have is Now
 * Chapter 14: You Can’t Promise Anything Anymore
 * Chapter 15: Self-Destruct

Book 3

 * Chapter 3: What Doesn't Kill Us (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 4: You've Come Into Your Own (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 5: The More Things Change (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 6: The Ties That Break
 * Chapter 9: All Our Yesterdays
 * Chapter 10: I Was Lost Until You Found Me (Mentioned; Physical Appearance Determinant)
 * Chapter 11: Like There's No Tomorrow
 * Chapter 12: You Mean The World to Me

Vol. 1

 * Chapter 9: Burnout (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 14: Prisoner's Dilemma (Mentioned)

Your Character
At the start of the series, Your Character has only had a vision of Everett in a recurring dream. In the dream, he is seen taunting Your Character and claiming that he/she hasn't understood a thing. For an unknown reason, Everett keeps a file on you. He is more than willing to put you in peril for the mere sadistic entertainment. His file on you shows that he knows nothing about you except for your date and place of birth, and considers you extremely dangerous because of your mysterious origin.

If you get all the character folders (or use 50 diamonds) and correctly guess the password to Rourke's computer (which is ALCCADDSCCUP), you will be able to open the marble column in his office to reveal Everett Rourke himself, floating naked in the column, surrounded by green liquid and pipes. The green liquid in the column could be related to one of the clues found in Book 2, Chapter 1 when your MC discovers iridescent green liquid on the floor of the atrium, possibly the liquid from the same column.

He is very interested in you, claiming he had people search for you all over the world. He also states that you are his idealistic child and ruffles your hair, though you snap at him to not touch you.

Your Character feels nothing but hatred for him after he threatened Diego with a knife to get a Catalyst Idol and is dedicated to stopping Rourke's plans.

When they finally meet again in Book 2, Chapter 13, Rourke orders you (disguised as an Arachnid soldier) to retrieve your "corpse" along with Zahra, Craig and Sean, stating that you are essential to whatever he has planned.

Despite the fact that they are enemies, Rourke is shown to respect you and instantly gives you credit whenever your group accomplishes something.

In Book 3, Chapter 6, he attempts to get you to join his side, stating that you will soon understand what you must do. In a twisted way, he believes that by trying to kill your friends, he is helping you reach your full potential. In Chapter 9, it is revealed that he sees you as his heir and states that eternity will soon belong to the two of you. In the final chapter, your final choice will see Rourke rule the world as a dictator, killed or imprisoned for his crimes.

If you choose the Endless's ending, you can choose to tell him to 'burn in hell' after you kick him into the vortex, showing that you feel no remorse for his death and believe that it was justifed given his crimes and psychotic nature.

If you choose Vaanu's ending, you sacrifice yourself to put time back together where you give your friends the recordings and he is imprisoned or institutionalized for his crimes and nature.

IRIS
IRIS was Everett's personal assistant. He often consulted her but is shown that he does not care for her. He asked her to delete herself, technically telling her to commit suicide, so that she could not help the students when they arrived on La Huerta. In Book 2 Chapter 8, it is revealed that IRIS is the artificial intelligence of Everett's deceased wife, Imogen.

He is shown to be verbally abusive to her, and it is implied that he had an affair with Olivia Montoya. In Book 3, Chapter 11, she betrays Rourke by releasing Estela from the Omega Mech.

Aleister
Aleister is Everett Rourke's son, and despite being named after him, Aleister feels nothing but contempt for his father. This is because Rourke had been absent for a large portion of Aleister's life. According to Aleister, on his 10th birthday and the day of his graduation from high school, Rourke was abroad on both occasions. In fact, the whole reason Aleister is on the island to begin with is that he wanted to confront his father and cut ties, but Rourke was under the impression that his son was looking to make amends. When they finally do talk in Book 2, Chapter 2 (if your character finds Rourke), he talks to Aleister in a sarcastic and condescending manner. He even admits to Your Character that he wishes Aleister was more like you.

In Book 3, Chapter 6, he says that Aleister was his biggest mistake. In Chapter 9, it is revealed that Aleister is his clone instead of his son.

Lila
""Mr. Rourke, I don't understand. You promised Aleister that--" "That I would not harm them. And I won't. I don't harm anybody, Lila. That's why I have you. That's why I've always had you.""

- Lila and Rourke

Lila is a staff member at the Celestial Hotel. IRIS was designed to resemble her, and if Your Character comments on this in Book 1, Chapter 14, IRIS will conclude that Rourke has a "type" when it comes to girls. It is hinted she has a crush on him. Lila is unquestionably loyal and devoted to him, as she believes that he saved her life by giving her a job when she was homeless and follows every order without batting an eyelash. Estela's Catalyst Idol reveals that Rourke has been planning to kill her because he considers her a loose end. In Book 2, Chapter 15, Lila finally comes to terms with the fact that Rourke is psychotic and evil and will betray her.

Olivia Montoya
Rourke was responsible for Olivia's death. He didn't want to kill her, but after she discovered his crimes and attempted to expose him, he ordered Lila to kill her in order to protect himself. It is revealed in Book 3, Chapter 11 that Rourke is Estela's father. It is implied that he was in a romantic relationship with Olivia and he admits that he truly regrets her passing.

Trivia

 * Jake calls him "Lex Luthor" because of his evil businessman persona, and "Phony Stark" because of his slight resemblance to actor Robert Downey. Jr, who is well known for playing Tony Stark aka Iron Man. Jake also calls him "Daddy Weirdbucks" due to the fact that he is wealthy and insane.
 * The Catalyst Idols show that, in alternate timelines and possible futures, he is directly responsible for the deaths of Raj, Grace, and Estela, and can be held accountable for the deaths of Aleister, Diego, and Varyyn.
 * He considers Your Character, Estela, and Jake the most dangerous individuals of your group. His Profiles show that he has marked Jake as a Level 9 Threat, Your Character as a Level 10 threat (mostly due to the mystery surrounding your history), and has marked Estela as "Do not approach". Aleister is annoyed that Rourke considers you to be more dangerous than him.
 * Book 2, Chapter 9 implies that he is rivals with Silas Prescott, the main antagonist in Hero, Vol. 1. Hero, Book 1, Chapter 14 contradicts this by stating that the two of them are old friends.
 * All of his major projects' code names have a mythology theme such as Project Hermes and the Janus Project. This comes from his extensive knowledge of Greek/Roman Mythological figures. The Janus Project is Rourke's attempt to interfere with the space-time continuum and remake mankind in his image. It is unknown what the purpose of Project Hermes is.
 * If you enter the correct password into his computer at the end of Book 1, then at the start of Book 2, he will say "I'm sorry Olivia...", referring to Estela's mother (who he had killed). In Book 3, Chapter 11, he admits that he truly regrets her passing.
 * Due to his alias, he has a large amount of snake themed paraphernalia.
 * Even before he revealed his true nature, nobody in the group liked him. Estela and Jake accused him of being a criminal, Michelle and Craig found him creepy and untrustworthy and Aleister was furious at his father for not being there for him in his childhood.
 * He likes Colombian coffee.
 * His favorite movie is Freaky Friday.
 * His crimes include kidnapping, attempted murder, numerous illegal experiments, and genocide.
 * Some fans consider him the evil counterpart (doppelgänger) to your character given that they are both natural leaders of their respective groups, as well as the fact that you are the main protagonist while he is the main antagonist.
 * The writing for Rourke's character is inspired by the song, The Man Who Sold the World by Midge Ure.
 * In the bonus scene of Act 8, it is revealed that he has a daughter. This is later revealed in Book 3, Chapter 11.
 * His status is determinant on which ending you choose. If you choose his ending, he successfully rewrites history and becomes an Emperor known as "His Eminence". If you choose the Endless' ending, you kill him by kicking him into the vortex. If you choose Vaanu's ending, he is arrested.
 * Rourke in alternate timelines:
 * He was murdered by the Arachnids during a battle between them and the Vaanti.
 * He fenced with his son on a burning building.
 * He used a device to mentally control Estela and made her obedient to him.
 * At the end of Book 1, Chapter 16, you can type in his password "ALCCADDSCCUP". The group originally misinterpreted the password as meaning that Rourke's computer held answers to the mysteries of La Huerta. It was revealed in Book 3, Chapter 9, that he was referring to Aleister "adding up" to him.
 * His son and he share the same name as Everett Merkseyer from The Elementalists series and Everett Flynt from Slow Burn.