Preston Marlowe

"You know what they say about that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? It's there. I've seen it. It's just really, really hard to get to..."

- Marlowe

"So there I was... on a ship that was supposed to be lost... looking for something that should've stayed buried. I had my reasons. We all did. Going home. But then I found it. And everything changed..."

Private Preston Marlowe is the protagonist and main character the player takes control of in the Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Single Player campaigns.

Biography

 * Also see here for more information

thumb|300px|right|Preston's video blog, where there is much irony with the story of Battlefield: Bad Company Preston is not the first soldier in his family. His father fought in Vietnam and his grandfather fought in the European theater during World War II. It was this lineage that caused him to join the Army and "fight for truth, justice and the American way".

Transfer to Bad Company
The details of the incident that led to Preston Marlowe's transfer to "the B" are unclear, but it resulted from his growing boredom while waiting for orders at the overcrowded military base. Even before the incident, Marlowe guessed that he would do something foolish to distract himself. It somehow involved him flying and trying to land a helicopter, and if he had only landed "just a few yards to the left" his charade would have gone unnoticed. Instead he managed to crash the helicopter into a general's limousine. One statement also hints that Preston did this in order to get transferred to Bad Company after longing for real action, while at the same time he knows he could have just as easily wound up in jail.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, he carries an XM8 with an ACOG 4x scope. Near the end of the game, when everyone has given up hope, he holds the squad together. At various points in the game's story, Preston acts as a narrator of sorts.

Trivia

 * Prior to his transfer, Marlowe shared the common belief that "the Legionnaire" was a myth.
 * Despite his delinquent act that landed him in Bad Company, he is a very eager and somewhat by-the-book soldier, as can be seen by his use of "Sir, yes Sir" terminology when addressing Redford in the opening cutscene.
 * In Battlefield: Bad Company, he is the only American soldier with goggles - the Legionnaire Mercenaries are the only others to wear them.
 * He is always shown holding an M416 during the cut scenes in Battlefield: Bad Company, despite what gun the player uses in the last mission or before the cutscene. In Battlefield: Bad Company 2, it is normally an XM8 with an ACOG Optic, but his scope appears almost consistently in all cutscenes, being absent in a few.
 * What Preston says in his video blog is very ironic. He says he will be going to keep a low profile and not getting into trouble, but by the end goes AWOL. He says he won't be taking on the Russian army all by himself, but in Battlefield: Bad Company's Campaign, for a short period of time, he was alone taking on a vast number of Russians, while his team was fighting elsewhere. He also said he wouldn't be doing any crazy things like searching for gold, but in the end along with his squad, steals the Legionnaire's gold.
 * Marlowe seems to be an incredibly talented soldier. He is proficient at driving and gunning light vehicles and armor, piloting helicopters, and has extensive knowledge of handheld weapons, both small arms and explosives, American and Russian designs alike. He is also a talented marksman with high-powered rifles, as shown in some missions of Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
 * Marlowe also appears to have some knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, as seen in a few cutscenes in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.
 * Marlowe rarely curses, only swearing when Kirilenko escapes in Cold War, calling him a piece of shit, and when the squad gets pinned down by flames in the mission High Value Target, something Haggard and Sweetwater congratulate him on. Finally, he curses near the end of the game when no one wants to try and stop Kirilenko's plane, saying "Fine, I'll go my fucking self."
 * Preston seems to have become a better marksman in Battlefield: Bad Company 2, as do the rest of his squadmates.
 * Preston never speaks in a mission or during first-person cutscenes. He only speaks in third-person cutscenes (such as beginning or ending cutscenes, or during important moments during missions).