Sean Miller

Sean Miller is the main antagonist of the Patriot Games novel and the film of the same name. He is a highly skilled Irish terrorist and jack ryan arch nemesis In the film, he holds a grudge against Jack Ryan, who is responsible for his brother's death.

Biography

Patriot Games

Novel

Sean Miller is a member of the Ulster Liberation Army. He and his associates launch an attack on the car of the Prince of Wales in London. They are stopped when Jack Ryan, who was angered and offended by the violence, jumps into the street battle and kills several terrorists. Sean Miller is arrested as a result and given a brief trial. He is then sentenced to a British prison. While he's being transferred, the convoy is attacked. Sean's compatriot, Kevin O'Donnell leads the assault and Sean is freed. They escape to Northern Africa to hide out in a Libyan terrorist training camp. Sean and Kevin plot to find Ryan and kill him and his family. This was done primarily out of revenge but to also undermine public (and specifically American) support for their rivals, the Provisional IRA.

They later travel to America to carry out their plan. Sean Miller attempts to kill Ryan's wife, Caroline Ryan, and daughter, Sally, on the highway by spraying their car with gunfire, causing it to crash. Believing them to be dead, he kills a highway patrolman and escapes. Unbeknownst to Miller, however, Cathy survives with only minor injuries though Sally is gravely wounded and lies near death. Additionally, the assassin sent to kill Ryan is intercepted before he manages to complete his task. The crash ultimately drove Ryan to rejoin the CIA to help him find Miller and O'Donnell.

Later, the Prince and Princess of Wales come to visit Ryan in America. Miller and the ULA see this as another opportunity to capture the Royal Family, kill Ryan and his family, and weaken support for the IRA, thereby allowing them to assassinate senior IRA leaders so the ULA can take over. The attack ultimately fails, and Jack and the Prince, with the help of Naval Academy midshipmen, coast guard and local police, arrest the terrorists on a freighter they had planned to use for their escape. Ryan almost executes Miller to get revenge for his family but ultimately decides he is not worth it. Additionally, Ryan is particularity gratified that Miller had been arrested after committing murder in a state with the death penalty. Miller is later sentenced to life in prison while awaiting death row.

Film

Sean Miller is a terrorist who participates in an attack on Lord William Holmes alongside his younger brother, Patrick Miller, and ULA leader Kevin O'Donnell. However, they are thwarted by Jack Ryan who kills Patrick but is wounded while doing so. A shocked and distraught Miller is then arrested and put on trial, where he claims he will get back at Ryan for what he has done. While Ryan receives a knighthood for his actions, Miller is driven in a police van to Albany Prison on the Isle of Wight. However, along the way, he is freed by his associates and they kill the policemen present.

In order to take revenge on Ryan, Miller attacks Ryan's wife and daughter on a highway and cause them to crash. They survive the crash but are seriously injured. Miller then travels to a ULA camp in Libya to complete various training exercies. When Dennis Cooley comes to the ULA camp and demands to be brought on the next mission, Miller shoots a gun at his feet to test him. When he fails this, Miller kills Cooley, with O'Donnell's tacit approval.

Afterwards, Miller and his accomplices travel to the US to capture Lord Holmes who is visiting Ryan and his family at their home. The group of terrorists raid the house in search of Holmes, but Miller searches for Ryan instead. Ryan leads his family away from the house but the terrorists quickly follow, so Ryan takes a boat alone and drives out into the distant waters to lure them away from Holmes and his family.

Out at sea, Miller fires at Ryan, determined to avenge his brother. However, when the other terrorists realize that Holmes isn't on the boat, they try to convince Miller to turn round. Miller grows increasingly frustrated with them to the point that he guns them down before continuing his pursuit. He drives up to Ryan's boat and after failing to shoot him, he jumps into the boat himself and the pair of them fight. Miller tries to attack Ryan with an anchor but it ends up getting lodged in the boat. After being throttled with a mooring pole, Ryan catches Miller off guard and pushes him backwards onto the anchor, which impales him through the back. Miller gasps and dies soon after, and Ryan leaps off the boat just as it reaches a group of rocks and explodes.

The Sum of All Fears

Miller is mentioned to have been executed, alongside the rest of the captured ULA members, three weeks prior to the events of the novel, after years of exhausting every legal opportunity, demonstrations, and appeals to the Governor of Maryland and the President for executive clemency.

Trivia

In the film, Miller is given a somewhat sympathetic drive behind the reason for his intense hatred of the Ryan family, with his brother dead at the hands of Jack Ryan. However, the book gives the reader a vastly different Sean Miller: a ruthless sociopath who is so devoted to his cause that he quietly sits through his own trial and coldly executes several individuals during his escape from the ferry transporting him to prison. This is a vastly different Miller from the driven and emotional man seen in the film.
In the book, Miller is described as short, slender, and with acne-scarred face, much different than his counterpart film character.