Deacon had always been viewed as the black sheep of his family — the one that wasn't quite right in the head. As a child he seemed to lack empathy for other humans, which only intensified as he got older. Society felt like a prison to Deacon, always telling him what he could or could not do. It was because of this restraint against his personal freedom that he grew increasingly more interested in the dark and taboo the older he got. A quiet, isolated, and apathetic child grew into an adult that did not hold hate in his heart for fellow man — but did not hold love, either. There was simply... A disinterest in others. By the time he was an adult at 18, he was already living on his own, enjoying a life of solitude with only animals to keep him company. For whatever reason, animals were the only living creatures he cared enough about to show what he perceived to be 'love'. This apathy quickly grew into something much darker in nature.

Society shunned him the moment he was arrested for cannibalism. For Deacon, there was no remorse for his actions. After being despised in both society as well as prison, the man simply accepted that he was different from others, even if he didn't understand why. Being turned into an Infected was perhaps the best thing that ever happened for him — from his perspective at least — as it finally allowed him to become his true self. His old name was shed as soon as he came to, an alias of Deacon presenting him as a new man. Society feared him as a beast, but as a man, he was suddenly no different than the sick rich freaks that inhabited the Inner Citadel. Their craving for something taboo — something human — was a feeling the man had felt long before becoming Infected. But here? It was a welcome desire. How ironic how society changed its mind on what was acceptable.

Today, Deacon believes that society is a construct that only manages to hang together because everyone's simply too afraid to do anything different. But in a world where the only law being upheld is that of the Military's rule, Deacon no longer fears exploring his true self. Apathy for humans has changed and warped because of the virus, humans now being seen as nothing more than cattle to a being that distinguishes himself from them. It's for this very reason that he's donned himself a persona in the Hearts gang — The Butcher. He is the one they call when they need something done about associates that are no longer earning the gang money. He takes them in, to turn them into something more useful for the gang. Having studied medicine extensively as a morbid curiosity as a human, he's able to successfully harvest organs from people to be sold to doctors looking for organ transplants. Most don't even care where the organs come from.

The rest of the body isn't wasted, either — his name comes into play here as he knows exactly how to properly butcher the human body to be sold as human meat. The best parts are kept for himself, as Deacon's inclination for human meat never truly disappeared. Not even though his body mostly only cares for the blood that runs through their veins. On the outside, Deacon appears to have very little personality outside that of the Hearts' Butcher. He is cold, calculating — someone that isn't afraid to speak of the dark desires in his mind. His apathy for society extends to his dealings with other people. He isn't alive to make friends — and that much is very clear from the way in which he handles interacting with others. Even for an Infected, there appears to be very little humanity left inside his heart... If it was even there to begin with.