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Michelle Payne (May 12, 1964-August 22, 1998) was the wife of the New York City Police Department detective Max Payne, and the mother of Rose Payne.

At some point during the mid 90's, Michelle began to work at the District Attorney's office. One day, in January 1997, while walking near an alley in New York City, Michelle was assaulted by two men, who attempted to steal her bag. She was then saved by the man who would become her husband, Max.

Following their first meeting, the two began to hang out together, drinking at bars, until they get married six months later, and had their honeymoon in Montauk. Nine months later, their daughter, Rose, was born.

Whlie working at the District Attorney's office, she found some documents related to a canceled government project, sent to her, by a mysterious senator. The documents belonged to the CEO of Aesir Corporation, Nicole Horne who saw Michelle as a threat and vowed to eliminate her.

On August 22, 1998, Horne sent three valkyr subjects to kill both Michelle and her child Rose. They broke into the Payne house, and killed both Michelle and Rose. Max arrived at the the house, and killed the valkyr-addicted men, finding Michelle's corpse in their bedroom and breaks down in tears.

Max vowed to find the murderer, and for the next three years, he investigates anyone who had anything to do with Valkyr. With the help of Alfred Woden, Max finds Horne, and kills her on the roof of the Aesir Corporation HQ, avenging Michelle.

Michelle's death kept haunting Max even after he got his revenge towards Horne. Also, his affair with assassin Mona Sax did not help the situation. He finally accepted her death later in his life.

Biography

Background

Early life

Michelle Payne was born on May 12, 1964. At some point during the mid 1990's, she began to work at a District Attorney's office.

Meeting her husband

"I thought I would be her knight in shining armor."
―Max, on saving Michelle.
MaxMichelleFirstMeet

Max and Michelle's first meeting.

One day, circa January 1997, in Hell's Kitchen , Manhattan, Michelle was assaulted by two robbers who tried to steal her bag, but she was saved by a young NYPD officer named Max Payne, who had beaten up the robbers.

The two began to hang out together, with Michelle often teasing Max, and married six months after meeting each other, circa June 1997. The two went to Montauk on their honeymoon. Nine months later, on February 4, 1998, she gave birth to Rose.

Later life

Work at the D.A.

"An army dossier found its way to my desk yesterday. Valhalla? Isn't that about Vikings? I tried to tell Max about that, but he was busy, that cute frown on his brow. Guess it's nothing, just a mix-up at the courier service..."
―Michelle in her diary, on her discovery.

Prior to 1998, Michelle Payne worked part-time at the District Attorney's office. During her work on some papers, she came upon the Project Valhalla documents that Alfred Woden had sent to incriminate Nicole Horne. Michelle tried to tell Max about her find, but as he was too busy to hear about her find, she let it go.

It was finding these documents that eventually led Horne to disperse several Valkyr test subjects into the Payne residence to kill Michelle and her family and steal the evidence leak a few days later, a grave mistake that would seal Horne's fate three years later.

Death

Main article: Payne residence massacre


"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
―Max upon finding Michelle's corpse.
Michelle Payne Dead

Max finding a deceased Michelle at their bedroom.

One summer evening in 1998, three green jumpsuit-wearing Valkyr-pumped maniacs break into the Payne family's New Jersey house and wreck havoc, destroying property and holding the terrified Michelle in her bedroom, along with her baby daughter.

Her husband Max arrives at the Payne residence at the moment of its invasion and hears her screaming in terror for help. Although the detective rushes to aid her, killing the invaders in the progress, he arrives too late and, to his terror, finds Michelle and Rose shot dead. Max holds Michelle's corpse, whilst crying in pain and anger.

Legacy

"We'd only been married a short time. By now, she had been dead longer than I knew her."
―Max Payne near Michelle's grave, 2012.
Michelle ve Rose Payne

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Michelle Payne and her daughter's deaths are what sets Max Payne to begin his journey to get revenge on those who are responsible. He joins the Drug Enforcement Administration to build the Valkyr trafficking case. After three years of investigation, he starts to work undercover in the Punchinello crime family. During his search for Michelle's murderer, Max was framed in murder of his partner Alex Balder (who was actually killed by B.B.). Eventually, after three long years, Max, with the help of Woden, discovered Nicole Horne's part in Michelle's death, and killed her in a final showdown at the Aesir HQ.

Michelle and Rose were buried in the Golgotha Cemetery, in a single grave. In 2012, Max comes to the cemetery to pay respects to his deceased family one last time, before leaving New Jersey for Sao Paulo, following a job offer from an old friend.

A few hours before the events leading to his escape from New Jersey, Max sat at Walton's Bar in Hoboken, and looked back at much of his life prior to Michelle's death, including their first meeting, marriage, and daughter's birth.

Max Payne's nightmares

Michelle

Michelle in Max's nightmares.

Payne hears Michelle's voice many times during his haunting nightmares. When Max finds her diary in one nightmare he has, he reads aloud that Michelle had merely stumbled across the Project Valhalla documents and wasn't fully aware of the matter.

Michelle Payne appears in Max's nightmares during his 2003 Cleaner Case. In one nightmare, the NYPD detective forsakes Michelle in a bid to win Mona Sax. He immediately regrets the decision. Michelle is later mentioned after Max has killed Vladimir Lem and witnessed Sax's death. Max seems to finally make peace with her passing, as he mutters: "I had a dream of my wife. She was dead, but it was all right."

Personality and traits

During her years prior to marrying Max, Michelle was a rather talkative and witty woman, and seems to enjoy teasing her future husband in various ways. She was also more careless and relaxed, freely talks about various subjects. She was a very sarcastic person, cynically laughing at her husband's name, which is a pun on the word 'Max(imum) Pain".

Following her marriage to Max, she became a more serious and responsible person, devoted to her role in the family as a mother, and deeply cared about her husband and daughter.

When she met and married Max, she had a rather shorter and spikey hair, similar to her husband's during this time. By the time of her child's birth, she still had a similar hairstyle, and by the time of her death, she had a bit longer and wavy hair. Her hair color was brown, though a family picture shows blonde hair, hinting that she dyed her hair to blonde or golden-brown during the six months between the birth of her child to her death.

Trivia

  • According to Max in "Hoboken Blues", Michelle used to drink gin and tonic.
  • It appears that Max's Birth year is in 1969 According to fans of the series, making Michelle Older than her husband by 5 years.
  • Max and Michelle were married for a exactly a year and two months as Max and Michelle married in June of 1997 and Michelle died on August 22 1998.

Gallery

Appearances

External links


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