New StarCraft II Portraits and Spoilers
Posted 13th Jul 2010 01:37 PM by Leord
UPDATE!
We've been updating more of the unknown portraits, and are continuing to do so! Thanks all for helping out.
Once again, our news-sniffer Kuangtu has brought us a bunch of new StarCraft II portraits that you will see listed below the break. Most of these, we haven't seen before, not even me who had a brief preview at Blizzard's offices, where I was not allowed to take photos. It seems they have been working very diligently since then, and there's now loads of portraits from the Single Player campaign used on Battle.net as avatars.
For more information of older pictures, make sure to check out the first Single Player screenshot guide from 2009 and the one from May this year.
The very existence of some of these will act as spoilers, so I'll be sorting them after how much of a spoiler they are, with explanation on WHY they are spoilers. Basically, don't read any further than the spoiler warnings if you want your SC2 experience to be pristine! In either way, click through for portraits and spoilers.
Non-Spoiler Characters
All of the following have been seen before in revealed, gameplays or otherwise should be familiar to you by now. Arcturus Mengsk, who we have seen in a screenshot, art, as holo-representations as well as statues in-game, so I am putting him here. It's not like it's a massive surprise he will have a portrait in the game that is a lot about taking him down now is it?
Main Characters
These are the characters that bring the story forward, and the story is revolving around. Without these, there's no Wings of Liberty.
Arcturus Mengsk
Emperor of the Dominion
Arcturus Mengsk is no surprise. He was one of the main characters from StarCraft I, and is seen again in StarCraft II. This time he is a full-blown Emperor instead of a rebel, and is doing what he can to quench the resistance movement that is lead by Jim Raynor, in search for vengeance to what Mengsk did to Sarah Kerrigan. Although this render of Mengsk has been sighted only once, he has also been portrayed in concept art and sighted in the games as a statue and wireframe holograms to deal propaganda.
Jim Raynor
Rebel/Terrorist Leader
The main protagonist, Jim Raynor has been seen before loads of times, and even with his new Marine armour, the CMC combat suit, or "hardskin" as the grunts call them. If you read our single player previews, you know pretty much everything there is to know about Jimmy. He's a bit out of luck, and feel down, taking up drinking a bit, and everything is looking pretty dark, 4 years after the "defeat" of the Zerg.
Sarah Kerrigan / Queen of Blades
Ghost Operative / Zerg Leader
This wild card of a character, Sarah Kerrigan starts out as a love interest of Jimmy, and ends up his fiercest enemy. Whether there's still any human emotions left in her, or she's truly corrupted is the main plot of the first game, and will likely be so in the second. One thing is clear, the Zerg has spent the 4 last years evolving and improving, and they will not be defeated easily. What actually will happen with Kerrigan is a mystery.
The fact she'll appear in the game is no news. We've seen lots of Kerrigan in previous SC2 media, and she's an essential character. There were some misconceptions about Kerrigan having dreads in the first game, which is hard to make out with the low resolution. Regardless if it was just a low polygon count that made her red hair look like it had dreads, or if it is an actual change in art direction, any thoughts on dreads are now directed to low polygon/pixel count. She did, officially, NOT have dreads! However, the Queen of Blades is a whole 'nother topic...
Zeratul
Dark Templar Leader
Zeratul, the leader of the Dark Templars and friend of Jim Raynor, is looking for ancient prophecies of the Xel'Naga in the videos and gameplay material we have seen. What he finds he finds out he gives to Jim Raynor to take part of. Basically, the Xel'Naga is coming, or so he reckons. The Zerg with the Queen of Blades leading them are looking for the same thing. The plot thickens...
Tychus Findlay
Military Thug
Tychus Findlay. Military buddy of Jim Raynor (pic), and the devil sitting on his left hand side, tempting him to the dark side. Although definitely not evil, and definitely fond of Jim Raynor, he is mostly out for himself. Well, perhaps Jimmy as well, by proxy. He's happy to share with friends. Besides being a ghost from the past in Raynor's life and contacts in the Moebius Foundation, the role of Tychus in StarCraft II isn't well known yet. If nothing else, he's well known to fans for his epic intro cinematic quote "Hell it's About Time", and the accompanied portrait.
Matt Horner
Captain of Hyperion
If tychus is the devil, Matt Horner certainly is the angel. He is another close friend of Raynor, who looks up to him and supports him. He helps to be the moral backbone, and is an excellent pilot. Hyperion is by all means an impressive Battlecruiser. Except for an advisory position on the Bridge, little is known about his role in the game either.
Gabriel Tosh
Rogue Ghost Agent
Gabriel Tosh is another character first seen outside of the games (Tychus and Matt coming from novels), and he's a dreadlocked Ghost agent with his own agenda, looking for Terrazine. He's the rastafari sort of character, wielding a Jamaican accent as well as his sniper rifle. Looking at some of the old screenshots, it looks like Tosh is some sort of artist, as there's a poster mentioning Tosh as a singer in the Cantine. Exactly how he became part of Jimmy's crew, and what he wants to do with the Terrazine is unknown.
Supporting Characters
Ariel Hanson
Doctor
These are known supporting characters to the game. Besides the odd comment we learned from our previews, nothing should be a spoiler here.
I wasn't sure to put Ariel Hanson in supporting or main characters. It's a character Jim rescues from Zerg off of a planet called Agria that the Dominion has abandoned. She takes up room in the Hyperion Laboratory, helping researching new advances using Protoss artefacts and Zerg biomechanical functions. She's also featured on a funny poster, looking a lot less uptight than in the game itself. The extent of her role is unknown.
Egon Stetmann
Lab Assistant
First seen in the gameplay demos (and seen by myself in the Single Player demo game I tried) Egon Stetmann seems to be a regular NPC for handling the research. Possibly even comic relief, since he seems a little bit funny in general. What his relationship is with Ariel Hanson is unknown, but they do share the Hyperion Laboratory together.
Rory Swan
Chief Engineer
One of the first NPCs ever shown, Rory Swann, Chief engineer in Hyperion's Armory. He was available as early as BlizzCon 2007, although he has received a little bit of a facelift since then, looking a lot less depressing now. He's the master of all your unit design and production, and you can ask him what to put your hard-earned money on. Whether or not he has a greater role than just acting as your average merchant NPC and mission advisor isn't known at this point.
Kate Lockwell
UNN Reporter
Kate Lockwell is a "replacement" for Mike Liberty, the famous reporter from the days of the Confederacy. While this info isn't by any means a spoiler, only people who read the StarCraft: Frontline manga comics would know that Lockwell was rescued by Mike Liberty from a Dominion Battlecruiser. She had taken video recordings of civilian corpses tucked in within a cargo bay and the rebel cellpens. Most people who knew she took the video were dead, so she gave the recording to Liberty and stayed behind at UNN. She is kind of a rebel spy at the heart of the Dominion news networks. Here's another pic of her. She's usually seen on the big TV screen in the Cantina, reporting the ongoings of the world.
With her she also has Donny Vermillion, the news anchor, who is on the list below for NPCs found in the game, but no portrait just yet. He is definitely in the game though, as he has been spotted in many screenshots and videos. Like this shot here. If these will just act as Dominion propaganda throughout or if they get actual roles in the story line or not is unknown. Donny's affiliation of Dominion/rebel is not known either.
Graven Hill
Mercenary Recruiter
Graven Hill is the NPC you go to in the Cantina on Hyperion to recruit Mercenaries. The known War Pigs (from the comics) and other groups of mercenaries are available. Graven was first seen back in the 2009 preview, sitting by his computer, and has not moved much by May 2010, except he has received a computer upgrade in this picture.
Just like the majority of portraits here, we don't actually know what significance Graven Hill will have on the story besides being an NPC merchant as such. Also, as soon as you hire a group, they are with you for ever, so it's possible to buy all of them. Would Graven leave the ship then?
Nyon
Tal'darim Leader
Nyon has been seen in the gameplay demo. He is the leader or at least officer of the now deranged Tal'darim Protoss. Whether or not they really are crazy is hard to say, but they were left behind on Auir when the Zerg invaded, so if they are, who can blame them. In the missions, it seems they mostly were protecting Protoss artefacts, so I am not so sure how crazy they are. Regardless, this is one of your enemies in StarCraft II, early game. He can be found in pictures like this one.
Supporting, Unknown, Characters
These are new characters that are presumed to not have a major role in the game. Nothing is known about most of these. If you know something about one or more of them, please post in the comments, and we'll update the article, giving you credit! Also, they link to the wiki, but most will be lacking a proper article. Feel free to maek a stub with the image uploaded to that article to help building the knowledge database.
Here comes the spoiler warning though: Right after these portraits we'll start the spoilers, so don't scroll too fast if you don't want to see these.
Additional known names, but missing portraits:
Bralik
Cooper
Dr. Narud
Earl
General Warfield
Karass
Lee Keno
Spoilers and Speculation
Here we go! Finally the good stuff! This is the surprises, and here's the speculation, and here's the potential spoilers. They are of course potential, because just because a portrait exist does not mean it will even in Single Player. Either way, let's get on with it!
Mike Liberty
There's no portrait for him, but he was a major character in one of the (few) good early StarCraft novels: Liberty's Crusade. He was a UNN (the main Terran news network) reporter under the Confederate regime, and his own story intertwines significantly with Raynor's and Mengsk's. He's met both of them, and in the end joined Raynor's Raiders, but in a freelance capacity - as journalists do...
In an interview with Chris Metzen Medievaldragon discussed Mike Liberty, and Metzen said they first thought to have him as the news reporter. However, he's way to independent to be back on the UNN pay roll and Dominion propaganda-controlled stations so they made some other people do the reportings. Since the Brood War ended, he has been one of the heads of the rebellion, doing what he can to get the truth out there. He's definitely a pal of Jimmy, and the fact his name is mentioned shows he's likely to return.
Nova
Ghost Operative
Nova is back! Supposed to star in the StarCraft: Ghost console game, which was first put on ice and then cancelled, but is now at least making a cameo in StarCraft II. There has been heavy rumour about a camo or even a role in the game, but her portrait here shows she will be featured in one form or another. Hopefully something prominent.
Valerian Mengsk
Dominion Prince
Another character with back story from the novels, Valerian Mengsk is of course Arcturus Mengsk's son. He has previously been sighted in the concept art for StarCraft II, and been around since the game was first announced in 2007. Not much has been revealed of him, however, and he's not been part of any gameplay demo or cinematic. All we know for sure is that the NPC portrait is a field photo, as he's nowhere near as made up and pretty as his painted portrait.
Selendis
Protoss Executor
Selendis is one of few female Protoss characters. StarCraft I only really featured one single Protoss female, the Dark Templar leader. Other than that, it's mostly a suasage fest. This one has also been displayed before in the art, and is an Executor, one of the higher ranks within the Protoss hierarchy. She commands troops, and takes to battle, likely as a Zealot. Selendis was featured in the Dark Templar Sage, the SC Trilogy.
Artanis
Protoss Leader
Not a major surprise to see one of the Protoss leaders return - Artanis! A staunchy ally of Jim Raynor, and a fierce enemy of the Zerg, Artanis is back in what is likely some sort of aircraft and here to help Jimmy and the boys. Besides leading the Protoss to new (and old) worlds, we don't know much of what he has been doing in the last 4 years since the Zerg attacks.
Ajendarro Ybara
Human/Zerg Hybrid
Now the real spolers start to show. This is clearly a human/zerg hybrid. While Infested Terrans exist aplenty, we haven't really seen any named ones besides Sarah Kerrigan before. Whether or not this will be a massive story plot is unknown, but I think the existance of portraits like this kind of implies it will... Basically, there's more mixing of bloods in the new game, and there's more to that below! As for poor (or perhaps voluntary) Ajendarro Ybara, it's hard to know if he's just a random Terran being infested or truly a Hybrid.
Hybrid Destroyer
Protoss/Zerg Hybrid
This is what was hinted on in the Easter Egg mission of StarCraft: Brood Wars. Protoss and Zerg hybrids. Some explained them as being the ultimate being, and the plan of the Xel'Naga, but in either way, it seems Samir Duran is involved. What this weird character is up to is unknown, but it was revealed in StarCraft I that he was planting pods on many different systems designed to create hybrids, most likely these ones specifically (could it be like this). Seeing as they are added now, and not in the upcoming Protoss part of the 3-game story implies we will see at least a little bit of these Hybrid Destroyers...
Dark Voice
Omnipresent Being?
Could this be what is behind the new hybrids, and/or part of the Xel'Naga? The Dark Voice seems to be filling the same sort of role Zeratul did in the original game with darkness and mystery. However, we do not know yet if he's good, evil or just very sensitive to sunligt. I'm thoroughly looking forward to finding out!
Tassadar
Archon
Now we're really getting freaky. A apparition/Archon version of Tassadar! This can really only mean one of three things: Either he is back in a sort of "may the Force be with you" kind of way, back in some more physical way (as an Archon) or it's just added to the avatar galleries for coolness. Well, I hope for one of the two prior ones, and specifically the second. He could very well come back with some Overmind powers as well, considering that is how he died.
Overmind
Zerg Leader
Finally, the biggest piece of news. It does indeed seem the Overmind might be returning in a reincarnated form. Killed by Tassadar on Aiur, it's possible some hidden Cerebrates could return to recreate the Overmind again, or perhaps something did survive the crash after all... In either way, seeing the Overmind here is quite a surprise. Besides being important in the original game, there wasn't much story to the Overmind. He was not present at all in the expansion either. It would be interesting if there's more in store for the supernatural mind.
Final Words
So that is that for now. If you find any more details, post them in Kuangtu's thread or below here for us to update it.
One thing is for sure, even with these hints, we're still looking forward to revealing a lot of StarCraft secrets!
Thanks Medievaldragon, Aftermathmatical, AStev and zingazhangzu for information updates.
