Vitali

Vitali (Russian: Виталий), or Vitalik the Splinter, is a character in Metro 2033, a childhood friend of Artyom and a former resident of VDNKh/Exhibition. He is mentioned in both video games but is never featured, aside from in flashbacks, as he died before 2033.

Novel
In the novel, Artyom only mentions Vitalik the Splinter when he remenisces about his past - not long after the war, he, Vitalik, and Zhenya were friends. As children, they often ventured outside VDNKh to explore the Metro. On one such occasion, they ventured north, Artyom with a stolen shotgun. They arrived at Botanicheskiy Sad station, but wanted to see more - Artyom says he cannot remember whose idea it was, but presumes it was Zhenya's. Artyom opens the hermetic door to the surface to see the world they can only remember from when they were small. Artyom mentions that they were very lucky that it was night time when the door opened, as they would have been blinded by the sun, though they had no idea of this at the time. They were astounded by the stars, and stared for ten minutes before a loud noise scared them away. In their hurry, Artyom dropped the shotgun and failed to close the door. They were punished for going out alone, but all three friends kept silent about what really went on.

However, in The Gospel According to Artyom, Artyom reveals what really happened that day - instead of a loud noise, the group were cornered by mutated dogs. Artyom told the others to flee, and he attempted to shoot them, but his gun jammed. He was saved by the Dark Ones, who met their first human being here.

After this, Vitalik is never mentioned again. What's known is that he was killed around the age of 18 (and Artyom is 16) whilst guarding the VDNKh southern tunnel - bandits were trying to break in, but Vitalik was alone, with Artyom and Zhenya being back at the latter's, smoking pot in an attempt to forget their experience. The bandits snuck up on Vitalik and shot him in the back of the head. As a result, one of the southern tunnels was collapsed to prevent any more bandit raids. Artyom regrets this, but only recalls it when hearing Mikhail Porfirevich's poem. However, as it does not seem to affect Artyom too greatly, it's likely they were not close friends.

Games
The games expand a little more on Vitalik, called Vitali here. The story is much the same though - the three friends venture up to Botanicheskiy Sad and leave the door unlocked, eventually allowing the Dark Ones to be let in. Again, Artyom does not fully remember the details, but knows they were frightened and ran home. However, in this version, Artyom knows he was the one who suggested they open the door, and regrets it.

When the Baby Dark One makes the connection with Artyom, he reveals what really happened that day - it's very similar to The Gospel According to Artyom, with Artyom being the first human to make contact with the Dark Ones, after being saved by them.

Artyom mentions that Vitali is dead, along with Eugine, as of 2034, so they both possibly died in the same manner; Vitali from a bandit attack, Eugine from fighting the Dark Ones.

Виталик-Заноза