James Donovan Halliday (1972-2040) is the posthumous overarching protagonist of of Ready Player One, and the posthumous overarching antagonist of its sequel, Ready Player Two. He was the creator of OASIS, a massive online simulation used by billions of people in the story's dystopian future setting. When the story begins, the late Halliday has just willed a major prize to whosoever finds a unique, hidden easter egg in his VR realm, the OASIS. The terms of the will would give the finder his half-trillion-dollar fortune, along with administrative control over the OASIS itself.