One of the most important characters in Grand Theft Auto 3 doesn't even have a name. Known simply as the Old Oriental Gentleman, this mysterious figure is the reason 8-Ball and Claude manage to escape from the prison convoy at the very beginning of the game, thus setting GTA 3's story in motion. The Colombian Cartel ambushes the convoy and kidnaps this unnamed Asian fellow, freeing Claude and his bomb-loving new buddy in the process. You have no idea what's going on at this point, though: you're just happy to be free. The Colombians don't care who you are or pay any attention to your escape. They just want the old man.
It's only when you meet enigmatic businessman Donald Love later in the game that you realise your former fellow inmate has friends in high places. Donald Love is one of the most memorable and distinctive characters in Grand Theft Auto 3, largely because much of what he does is left intentionally opaque. Love is as shady as the mobsters, yakuza, and corrupt cops you've worked with up until this point—but somehow more sinister than all of them, because nothing's scarier than a rich white guy in a suit with a secret. His first mission, Liberator, tasks you with rescuing the Old Oriental Gentleman from his Colombian kidnappers.
It would have been easy for the actor portraying Love to play him as an exaggerated, obnoxious businessman or a stereotypical smarmy yuppie. But Kyle MacLachlan (of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Dune, and, uh, The Flintstones fame) approached this role in a much more interesting way. Love is softly spoken, articulate, and careful with his words. He comes across as educated and erudite, even when he's instructing you to assassinate a yakuza or some other major felony. Beneath his clean-cut veneer you can tell he's utterly ruthless. Slick corporate player on the outside, cold-blooded crime kingpin on the inside.
It's later revealed that the Colombians kidnapped the Old Oriental Gentleman to extort money from Love. But why is this guy so important to him? And what's the nature of their relationship? It's never revealed, and beyond seeing them enjoying a spot of tai chi, there's no insight into their dynamic. Love's screen time amounts to just under 4 minutes in GTA 3, which further adds to his mystique. Then, once you've finished all the jobs he has to offer you, he vanishes along with his Asian friend. His final mission, Love's Disappearance, is really just a cutscene. Claude turns up to his penthouse and finds a curiously empty box.
In 2009, Rockstar addressed the ambiguous nature of the character and his uncertain fate. "No one is quite sure what happened to Donald Love," it said. "He certainly crossed a few boundaries and was trying to find a way back to normality. Whether or not he managed this, and what happened to the elderly Asian gentleman are matters we cannot speculate on." With the Grand Theft Auto series having since long moved on from the so-called '3D universe', it seems unlikely we'll ever see Donald Love again or discover his fate. But that's a good thing, because the mystery is ultimately what makes his role in the game memorable.
Alas, spin-off Liberty City Stories spoils the fun somewhat. He plays a much more prominent role here, and it's revealed that, among other things, he's a hedonistic corpse-eating cannibal. He's voiced by another actor in this game too (Will Janowitz, who played Finn DeTrolio in The Sopranos), further separating him from the low key, enigmatic figure we met back in GTA 3. That's prequels for you, though. In the same way Boba Fett was a more compelling presence before he took off his helmet, Donald Love's expanded role in Liberty City Stories ultimately detracts from his character. Sometimes it's better not knowing.