Major and recurring characters from the military science fiction series StarCraft are listed below, organised by respective species and most commonly affiliated faction within the fictional universe. The story of the StarCraft series revolves around interstellar affairs in a distant sector of the galaxy, where three species are vying for supremacy: the Terrans, a highly factionalised future version of humanity; the Protoss, a theocratic race of vast psionic ability; and the Zerg, an insectoid species commanded by a hive mind persona. The latter two of these species were genetically engineered by the Xel'Naga, a fourth species believed extinct. The series was begun with Blizzard Entertainment's 1998 video game StarCraft, and has been expanded with sequels Insurrection, Retribution, Brood War, Ghost, Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void. The franchise has been further extended with a series of novels, graphic novels, and other works.

Seventeen characters from StarCraft universe appear as playable heroes within crossover multiplayer online battle arena game, Heroes of the Storm. All the three races—Terrans, Protoss, and Zerg—have been represented in the game.

Casting and design

The characters and story of the StarCraft series were created by Chris Metzen^[1] and James Phinney.^[1] However, as Phinney was not involved in StarCraft: Brood War, Chris Metzen alone is credited for the development of the plot in the expansion.^[2] Despite the series success globally, particularly in South Korea, Blizzard Entertainment has not made any major comments regarding the development of the characters and the storyline of the StarCraft series.

However, interviews with the two of the voice actors have given a glimpse into small parts of the development process. An interview with Robert Clotworthy, the voice of Jim Raynor in all released StarCraft games to date, has revealed that for the most part the voicing for the characters was done over only a few days in sessions of up to four hours,^[3] a fact mirrored in a similar interview with Sarah Kerrigan's actress, Glynnis Talken Campbell.^[4] Clotworthy also stated how the concept art for the game usually used for the visual development of characters and locales in games was used by him in order to develop the personality of his character.^[3]

Visually, most of the characters and units in the games were developed from artwork by Metzen and Samwise Didier, although at least two other artists—Glenn Rane and Peter Lee—have developed concept art for StarCraft II. It is also implied by some of the authors of the novels that the development of the characters in their books was influenced by Metzen^[5][6] as well as Andy Chambers and Evelyn Fredericksen.^[7] This is particularly notable for characters later appearing in the games, such as Valerian Mengsk.

Main characters

Jim Raynor

• Voiced by Robert Clotworthy

Jim Raynor is the primary Terran protagonist and player character in the StarCraft franchise. Raynor is the ubiquitous character of the series, having participated in all critical plot points and military conflicts in the sector, except one. He is also the only character to have established inter-species alliance.

A former colonial marshal on the backwater planet of Mar Sara, Raynor joins Arcturus Mengsk's revolutionaries in their fight against the tyrannical and corrupt Terran Confederacy, where he develops a relationship with Sarah Kerrigan, Mengsk's second in command. However, he quickly comes to realise that Mengsk is far from the force for good when he abandons Kerrigan and the entire population of a planet to die by the hand of the Zerg to satisfy his own thirst for power. Disillusioned and embittered, Raynor deserts Mengsk and becomes a persona non grata in the new Terran Dominion. The situation gets no better when Kerrigan, who was captured by the Zerg, is assimilated into the swarm and becomes one of their most powerful assets. After desertion, Raynor and his forces take part in major combat operations across the sector: He fights alongside the Protoss templar Tassadar in the battle that leads to the fall of the Zerg ruler, the Overmind, and splinters the Zerg into several factions. When the expeditionary forces of United Earth Directorate (UED) arrive in the sector to subjugate it, Raynor, Mengsk, and Kerrigan combine their Terran, Zerg, and Protoss allies to repel the invasion. No sooner than they fall, the alliance shatters.

Four years later, Raynor's rebel movement is contracted by a group called the Moebius Foundation to recover pieces of a Xel'Naga artifact which is ultimately used on Char by a combined force of Raynor's Raiders and Terran Dominion expeditionary fleet to deinfest the Queen of Blades, restoring Sarah Kerrigan's humanity.^[8] After her deinfestation, Kerrigan is relentlessly pursued by Arcturus Mengsk; during one such raid Arcturus's Dominion forces capture^[9] and allegedly summarily execute the rebel commander.^[10] It is later revealed that Raynor was not in fact executed, but held prisoner as a hostage to keep Kerrigan in line.^[11] After being freed from his prison Raynor assists Kerrigan as she storms the Dominion capital of Augustgrad on the planet Korhal^[12][13] After a showdown with Arcturus Mengsk inside his Palace, Kerrigan manages to gain the upper hand with help from James Raynor, and kills Arcturus by overloading his body with psychic energy, causing him to explode.^[14] In Legacy of the Void, Raynor and his Raiders are now part of the Dominion military under the new Emperor Valerian, and with the aid of Artanis and his protoss forces, defend Korhal from an attack by Amon. Joining with Artanis and Kerrigan later on, Raynor watches as Kerrigan ascends to become a Xel'naga and destroys Amon once and for all; two years later, Kerrigan – in human form – visits Raynor at the bar on Mar Sara where he began in Wings of Liberty, and he leaves with her. He is not seen or heard from again.

StarCraft creator Chris Metzen designed Raynor as a rough-living and dangerous man; Clotworthy describes Raynor as a man who other characters "wouldn't mess with".^[15] Nevertheless, his depiction is meant to be that of an ordinary man.^[16] Critics connected sympathetically with Raynor's plights,^[17][18] and GameSpot named him one of the best heroes in video gaming.^[19]

Raynor also appears as a playable character in Heroes of the Storm.

Sarah Kerrigan

• Voiced by Glynnis Talken Campbell in StarCraft; by Tricia Helfer in StarCraft II; by Vanessa Marshall in Heroes of the Storm.

Sarah Kerrigan is the primary Zerg protagonist and player character in the StarCraft franchise. Kerrigan serves as the primary antagonist of all but the first and last two games. As "The Primal Queen of Blades", Kerrigan is the de facto leader of the Zerg Swarm and mentor to broodmother Zagara.

Originally a Terran ghost agent for Arcturus Mengsk, she is betrayed and abandoned to the Zerg, who transform her into a Terran/Zerg hybrid with vast psionic powers under the control of the then unknown Amon. Following the death of the Overmind, Kerrigan asserts her independence, striking out at those who betrayed her and who seek to contain her, eventually taking control of the entire Zerg Swarm. Four years later, Kerrigan invades the Dominion in search of a number of Xel'Naga artifacts; these artifacts are instead retrieved by Raynor at the behest of the Moebius Foundation, who assembles them into a device that reverts Kerrigan to a human and releases Amon's grip on her. After her deinfestation, Kerrigan is mercilessly pursued by Arcturus Mengsk, however she successfully escapes Arcturus's Dominion forces. After willingly allowing herself to be reinfested on Zerus,^[20] Kerrigan is reborn as the Primal Queen of Blades, after which she successfully reunites the Zerg Swarm and storms the Dominion capital of Augustgrad on the planet Korhal^[12] with help from Raynor's Raiders.^[13] After a showdown with Arcturus Mengsk inside his Palace, Kerrigan manages to gain the upper hand with help from James Raynor, and kills Acturus by overloading his body with psychic energy, causing him to explode spectacularly. In the aftermath of her victory, Kerrigan gathers the Swarm and departs in search of Amon.^[14]

According to Zeratul, Kerrigan factors prominently into a Xel'Nagan prophecy^[21] concerning the Zerg, the Protoss, and the Hybrids.^[22] Heart of the Swarm reveals that Kerrigan is the only being powerful enough to stop the fallen Xel'naga Amon, though exactly how is not revealed.^[23][24][25] Though originally intended as a throwaway character, Kerrigan grew on the developers, who gave her a greater role in the series.^[26] Talken Campbell described Kerrigan's transformation as "going from good girl to bad girl";^[27] many of the aspects of Kerrigan's infested character design are inspired by the Greek gorgon Medusa.^[28] IGN rated Kerrigan as the fifth most memorable video game villain,^[29] while readers of GameSpot put Kerrigan as the most evil video game villain.^[30]

During the events of Legacy of the Void, Kerrigan enters into an alliance with Artanis while investigating the Xel'Naga homeworld Ulnar. Some time after Artanis's reclamation of the Protoss homeworld of Aiur, Kerrigan sends a psionic call to Raynor and Artanis for assistance in permanently killing Amon in the Void. During the joint Terran Dominion/Zerg/Protoss assault of the Void, the full context of Zeratul's prophecy about Kerrigan is made clear: Only a fellow Xel'Naga is capable of killing Amon, and only Kerrigan is capable of ascension. With the remainder of the joint armada, Kerrigan is successful in killing Amon during her psychic backlash in the void. During the aftermath, Kerrigan returns to Raynor in human form and disappears.

Kerrigan also appears as a playable character in Heroes of the Storm.

Artanis

• Voiced by Patrick Seitz in StarCraft II and Heroes of the Storm

Artanis is the primary Protoss protagonist and player character in the StarCraft franchise. Artanis is a high templar^[31] and a military commander introduced in Brood War. Later retcons, particularly with the character's appearances in the novels Queen of Blades and Twilight, have established Artanis as the identity of the nameless 'Executor' for the Protoss campaign in the original StarCraft.

An ambitious leader, Artanis is the youngest templar to achieve the rank of praetor and executor.^[31] Artanis holds Tassadar in high esteem and despite being a strong believer in Khalai system, he also holds to the idea of reunification with the Nerazim and Tal'Darim.^[31] Artanis is responsible for the initial defense of Aiur alongside Fenix before being dispatched to arrest Tassadar by Aldaris; Artanis, however, sides with Tassadar and helps him defeat the Overmind. Artanis later organizes the evacuation of his now devastated home world of Aiur, and with Zeratul undertakes measures to cleanse the Zerg presence on Shakuras through the use of a Xel'Naga temple.^[32] When Sarah Kerrigan's actions result in the deaths of Aldaris, Fenix, and Raszagal, Artanis commands a fleet to bring Kerrigan to justice on Char, and despite allying with both the Dominion and the UED remnants, his forces are defeated by her Zerg.^[33] Artanis returns to Shakuras to rebuild the Protoss civilization; with Zeratul having disappeared, Artanis becomes the hierarch of the unified Protoss Protectorate, the Daelaam, but struggles with reintegrating the two estranged branches of his people, with many of the Aiur survivors desiring to retake their home world. He makes a brief appearance in Wings of Liberty in the vision of the Protoss's last stand against the hybrids and their Zerg swarm.

Artanis is the central character of Legacy of the Void, the third and final part of StarCraft II. He leads the Protoss to invade Aiur but as the invasion went on, many Protoss fell under Amon's control. Amon has seized the Khala and is controlling the Protoss via their nerve cords. Artanis initially fell under their control but Zeratul severed his nerve cord, dying in the process. Shortly afterwards, Artanis leaves Aiur behind in the ship Spear of Adun and begins his quest to destroy Amon. Upon repelling Amon from Aiur, Artanis joins Raynor and Kerrigan in destroying Amon and his forces in the void. During the aftermath, Artanis maintains a peaceful alliance with Valerian Mengsk's dominion.

Artanis also appears as a playable character in Heroes of the Storm.

Zeratul

• Voiced by Jack Ritschel in StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War; Fred Tatasciore in the sequel trilogy.

Zeratul is a Nerazim prelate and one of the main Protoss protagonists. A renowned psionic warrior and assassin, Zeratul is somewhat secretive and calculating, but is nevertheless honorable and loyal to his species. He teaches Tassadar how to use dark templar energies and facilitates the final attack on the Overmind by slaying several cerebrates. Following the death of the Overmind, Zeratul tries to put in motion the reunification of the Khalai survivors with the wayward dark templar and unmask the secrets of Samir Duran's experiments. After Duran revealed he had been breeding Protoss-Zerg hybrids for a greater master, Zeratul set out to find Duran's master and his plan, which encompasses all of his activities in the three installments of StarCraft II. In Wings of Liberty, he gives Jim Raynor a crystal with his memories to emphasize the importance of the latter's mission to de-infest Kerrigan. In Heart of the Swarm, he guides Kerrigan to Zerus, the original home of the Zerg, and encourages her to re-infest herself so she can stop Amon, a fallen Xel'naga who is revealed to be the master of Duran and seeks to destroy all life in the Korpulu Sector and remold it in his image. Zeratul also features in the events of Legacy of the Void (originally believed to be the central character, the actual protagonist of the story is Artanis). He appears early on but is killed as he severs Artanis's nerve cords to cut him off from Amon's control. He is described by GameSpot as a "dark warrior who champions the light" and a "willing scapegoat" for his people and ranked in their top ten heroes chart.^[34]

The character of Zeratul was created by Blizzard Entertainment's Chris Metzen, with concept art produced by other Blizzard artists such as Samwise Didier.^[35] Chris Metzen mentioned that Ritschel died some time during the development of the game, and thus Fred Tatasciore has taken over as the new voice actor.^[36][37] Tatasciore described Zeratul as an incredible character, a "Darth Vader" who invests so much in the survival of things, and one of the best characters he has ever played.^[37] GameSpot described all the characters in StarCraft as "three-dimensional, full of personality and complexity", and then continued to comment: "Yet even among this star-studded cast, it is Zeratul who stands out as the most noble of heroes, although he is shrouded in a cloak of mystery and aloofness".^[36]

Zeratul also appears as a playable character in Heroes of the Storm.

Nova

• Voiced by Grey DeLisle

November Annabella Terra,^[38] call sign "Nova", a.k.a. "Agent X41822N", is a ghost agent and the protagonist of the StarCraft: Ghost sub-series. Despite the indefinite postponement of the Ghost video game, she appears in Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm, as well as a series of novels, including StarCraft Ghost: Nova and StarCraft Ghost: Spectres. Nova is the subject of her own RTS campaign, Nova Covert Ops, which was released on March 29, 2016.^[39]

Nova is the daughter of one of the highly influential Confederate Old Families; despite having unusually high psionic potential her father prevents her from being taken into the Confederate Ghost Program.^[40] However, after her family is murdered by an anti-Confederate resistance movement, Nova flees to the undercity of Tarsonis, where she is forced to work as an organized crime enforcer.^[41] Nova is rescued during the Zerg invasion of Tarsonis, and ends up in the possession of the newly formed Terran Dominion, who train her as a ghost. At her request, her memories are erased.^[42]

Nova also appears as a playable character in the crossover video game Heroes of the Storm.^[43] In the game, she is a ranged assassin who can ambush enemies from stealth. Her strongest point is her exceptional long-ranged single-target burst damage. In addition, she is able to use "holographic decoys" to confuse and distract the enemy, as one of her three primary abilities. Her baseline ability "ghost protocol" can be activated to instantly grant stealth to Nova. "Triple Tap" and "Precision Strike" with global range, are her two heroic abilities. Nova is one of the six Blizzard characters who appear in the Heroes of the Storm cinematic trailer.^[44]

In the team-based shooter Overwatch, there is a Nova skin for the playable character Widowmaker.^[45]

Terran characters

The Terrans of the Koprulu sector are descended from the survivors of a disastrous 23rd century colonization mission from Earth. Compared to the Protoss and Zerg, the Terrans are technologically inferior, lacking in genetic-diversity, and highly factionalized, but possesses psionic potential. The seven dominant terran government factions are the Moebius Foundation, the Kel-Morian Combine, the Tarsonis Republic, the Mar Sara Republic, the Terran Dominion (formerly the Terran Confederacy), the Umojan Protectorate, and the United Earth Directorate. Terrans are in a constant state of conflict: whenever they are not caught in the two-front pitched battle crossfire with their alien neighbors' interstellar conflicts, they endure frequent political assassinations, civil wars, and revolutions amongst themselves. Nevertheless, Terran ingenuity and unyielding stubbornness have helped elevate them as the three dominant species of the galaxy.

Raynor's Raiders

Matt Horner

• Voiced by Brian Bloom

Matt Horner is the captain of the Raiders' flagship Hyperion and Raynor's second-in-command. Described as "young and idealistic" and guided by strong moral principles, Horner is originally a supporter of Mengsk, but becomes disgusted by Mengsk's deliberate attacks on civilian Confederate targets.^[46] Having come to admire Raynor's bravery and loyalty, Horner follows Raynor when he abandons Mengsk's cause, and is keen to strike at the morally bankrupt Terran Dominion. Horner is only an average combatant in personal combat, but is otherwise an excellent pilot and tactician.^[46] First introduced in the novel Queen of Blades, Horner commands the Hyperion as it comes under attack from Zerg in orbit of the planet Char and is forced to withdraw from the system, leaving Raynor and a small group of Raiders stranded on the surface; Horner is only able to return several months later to evacuate the survivors.^[47] Horner continues in a similar role in Wings of Liberty,^[48] acting as Raynor's conscience and trying to keep his commander focused.^[49] After the capture of James Raynor by Arcturus's Dominion forces in Heart of the Swarm,^[10] Matt Horner assumes temporary command of Raynor's Raiders, leading the rebel movement for much of the game until Raynor's return to the Hyperion after the raid aboard the prison ship Moros.^[11] During the events of Legacy of the Void, Horner is now an admiral commanding the Dominion fleet, joining the joint Dominion/protoss defense against Amon and his Moebius Corps forces. After Amon falls, Horner is the Dominion's chief military leader, as he and Emperor Valerian pledge to maintain peace and prosperity for the Dominion.

His actor, Brian Bloom, also voiced a supervillain by the ship's name in the animated series, Avengers Assemble.

Rory Swann

• Voiced by Fred Tatasciore

Rory Swann is the chief engineer of the Hyperion. Swann came from a family of tech-savvy miners who opened a successful private mining operation on Meinhoff: however, their operation was crushed by ever-rising taxes. Swann lodged a complaint to the Kel-Morian Combine officials and discovered that Tavish Kerr, whose mining operations weren't burdened with taxes, bribed officials to put rival claims out of business through excessive taxation. Swann started a miner's revolt, claiming independence from the Kel-Morian Combine. However, Combine forces arrived and mercilessly crushed the revolt. Swann himself lost an arm, along with many friends, and was only saved because Raynor's Raiders responded to their distress signal. Swann had nothing left, so he joined the Raiders.

Egon Stetmann

• Voiced by Scott Menville

Egon Stetmann is a former scientist from the Terran Dominion's science project in Tyrador III that involved a cyborg program using New Folsom Prison inmates as experimental lab rats. He tried to protest the experiments, but his former colleagues silenced him. He uses a virus to escape the facility, then goes into hiding at Deadman's Port. Raynor rescued him from attackers, and he became the Hyperion's engineer/scientist and researcher. After the events of Wings of Liberty, Stetmann was left to set up a research outpost on the planet Bel'Shir, where he went insane due to exposure to terrazine, believing that the planet itself spoke to him.

Tychus Findlay

• Voiced by Neil Kaplan

Tychus J. Findlay is a marine and past associate of Raynor's who becomes affiliated with the Raiders. He appears in the novel Heaven's Devil and in Wings of Liberty as one of the main characters. Findlay is known for his charisma and toughness, and by his friendship with James Raynor. Findlay is introduced in the cinematic trailer for StarCraft II, in which he is shown being encased into powered combat armour. Once he is fully suited up, Mengsk addresses him by name, saying that he is ready for action. "Hell, it’s about time," Findlay responds. Findlay is surrounded by rumours regarding his reputation; on the one hand, he is held as a loyal soldier who risks his life to save his comrades, while on the other, he is regarded as an amoral scoundrel. Findlay and Raynor fought together for the Confederacy several years prior to the events of StarCraft before becoming outlaws; Findlay was eventually captured and incarcerated.^[50] By Wings of Liberty, Findlay escapes from prison, tracks down Raynor, and recruits him to work for the secretive Moebius Foundation, where, according to Metzen, Findlay acts as the metaphorical devil on Raynor's shoulder.

After the events of the Campaign, it is revealed that Tychus was only released from his prison by Arcturus Mengsk under the condition that he had to assassinate Sarah Kerrigan. If she dies, Tychus would go free; otherwise, his combat armor would kill him. After Kerrigan is de-infested by the Xel'naga artifact's energy pulse and freed from Amon's control, when Tychus revealed this to Raynor, Raynor blocked Tychus' shot intended for Kerrigan and shot his friend dead.^[51]

Tychus also appears as a playable character in Heroes of the Storm.

Gabriel Tosh

• Voiced by Dave Fennoy

Gabriel Tosh is a mysterious arms dealer and a "spectre"—an elite ghost agent enhanced through the use of terrazine, a potent psionic reagent. Though originally created for Ghost, Tosh is introduced in the novel Spectres and Wings of Liberty. Metzen describes Tosh as a "Boba Fett-type character"^[52] while Andy Chambers feels Tosh is "quasi-Rastafarian".^[53] Tosh possesses a nihilistic personality and believes that he must always look out for himself in order to survive.^[54] As such, he acts as a foil for the idealistic and honorable character of Matt Horner.^[54] Tosh represents an amoral influence on Raynor, and the temptation to cut corners and act like a pirate,^[53] although he is not inherently evil.

The player can choose to help him break his former friends out of New Folsom Prison, or ally with Nova to end the project.

Ariel Hanson

• Voiced by Ali Hillis

Dr. Ariel Hanson is a scientist who becomes associated with Raynor's Raiders after her home colony on the planet Agria is invaded by Zerg in Wings of Liberty. A selfless and altruistic individual, she mainly wishes for life to return to normal. She is considered to be the moral opposite of Tychus Findlay, acting as a metaphorical angel on Raynor's shoulder,^[51] and represents a positive moral influence on Raynor. Originally designed as a male character, Hanson was changed in development to female to act as a love interest for Raynor, albeit limited by Raynor's status as a mercenary and fugitive, and moreover the fact that Raynor is still trying to sort himself out in relation to Sarah Kerrigan.^[52] In the course of the campaign the player discovers that the Zerg infestation had spread to Agria, and the Protoss had dispatched a fleet to purify the planet as a result. The player can help her colony by eliminating the Protoss mothership, which ends in her staying behind and continuing research for a cure to Zerg infestation. Alternatively, if the player chooses to purify the colony themselves, she will end up infested while desperately researching a cure, forcing Raynor to kill her.

Terran Dominion / Terran Confederacy

Arcturus Mengsk

• Voiced by James Harper

Arcturus Mengsk was the emperor of the Terran Dominion, which presided over the majority of the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector. The main antagonist of the series, he is voiced by James Harper and is the primary subject of the novel I, Mengsk. Mengsk is extremely intelligent and is capable as both a strategist and tactician. While Mengsk does not empathize with people well, he is highly skilled at oratory and propaganda and possesses a remarkable ability for manipulating other people.

Born on Korhal IV, the scion of a powerful founding family of the Terran Confederacy, Mengsk was a colonel in the Confederate Marine Corps and a veteran of the Guild Wars, who became a successful prospector after war's end. Though trying to distance himself from the actions of his father, a prominent Korhal senator and vocal dissident against the Confederacy, Mengsk became a revolutionary himself when his father, mother, and younger sister were murdered by Confederate assassins. His activities soon spurred the Confederacy to launch a nuclear attack against Korhal, wiping out its population; Mengsk swore vengeance, and formed a revolutionary group he called the Sons of Korhal. Years of open conflict successfully weakened Confederate control over the fringe worlds, during which he recruited followers such as Sarah Kerrigan, Jim Raynor, and Edmund Duke. Raynor and Kerrigan grew uneasy with Mengsk's increasingly extreme methods, namely luring Zerg to attack Confederate targets, leading to Mengsk abandoning Kerrigan to the Zerg on the Confederate capital of Tarsonis (another reason for the latter was Kerrigan had been the assassin who murdered his father). With the destruction of Tarsonis by the Zerg, Mengsk crowned himself emperor and styled himself as a benevolent dictator.

In Brood War, the Dominion is invaded by the United Earth Directorate, and Mengsk narrowly escapes capture with the reluctant help of Raynor. Faced with execution and the destruction of the Dominion as alternatives, Mengsk allies with Kerrigan and Raynor to defeat the UED, but Kerrigan eventually betrays their alliance and delivers a crippling blow to Mengsk's forces. Nevertheless, Mengsk rebuilds, and the Dominion remains the dominant Terran power. In Frontline, many of the stories in the anthology paint Mengsk and the Dominion overall as tyrannical and corrupt, no different from the Confederacy.

In Wings of Liberty, Mengsk and his son Valerian find the Dominion opposed by several rebel and paramilitary groups, including Raynor's Raiders. Mengsk suffers compound setbacks during the game, initially due to the mass invasion of Dominion space by Zerg forces,^[55] which catches the Dominion military and Mengsk unprepared,^[56] and later from Raynor's Raiders who capture and broadcast proof of Mengsk's war crimes during the events of StarCraft.^[57][58] Despite these setbacks, Arcturus manages to overcome these hardships, maintaining his position as Emperor of the Dominion for the remainder of the game. During the events of Heart of the Swarm, Mengsk tries to have Kerrigan killed on several occasions, including issuing an obituary about Raynor. Kerrigan however, successfully reunites the Zerg Swarm and storms the Dominion capital of Augustgrad on the planet Korhal^[12] with help from Raynor's Raiders.^[13] After the final showdown inside Mengsk's palace, Kerrigan manages to gain the upper hand with help from James Raynor, and kills Mengsk by overloading his body with psychic energy, causing him to explode spectacularly.^[14] In the wake of his death, Valerian ascends to the throne.

GameSpy cites Mengsk as a classic example of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again" lyrics "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".^[53] Mengsk was responsible for the release from prison of Tychus Findlay, with the specific purpose of tailing Jim Raynor and killing Kerrigan; Raynor foils this plan by killing Tychus.

Edmund Duke

• Voiced by: Jack Ritschel, Doug Stone (StarCraft II)

Edmund Duke is ranking officer in first the Confederacy and later the Dominion. Duke also appears in several novels, including Liberty's Crusade, Shadow of the Xel'Naga, and Queen of Blades. A scion of one of the influential Old Families of Confederacy with a long career in the military,^[59] Duke is a methodical and experienced tactician,^[60] but also as an egotistical and xenophobic man.^[61] As a colonel, Duke commands the Alpha Squadron of the Confederate Security Forces, and he is the face of the Confederacy for the player in the early parts of StarCraft. Duke initially leads the defense of Confederate colonies Chau Sara and Mar Sara from the Zerg and the Protoss fleet commanded by Tassadar, for which he is promoted to general.^[62]

Duke is later charged with quelling rebellion on the Confederate world of Antiga Prime, but is defeated by Mengsk's forces. When Duke's flagship Norad II is shot down by the Zerg during the battle, Duke is rescued by Raynor on Mengsk's orders in return for the defection of the general and his squadron,^[63] and Duke's knowledge is vital to Mengsk's assault on Tarsonis. Mengsk, still skeptical of Duke's loyalty,^[64] later dispatches Duke on expeditions to investigate the Zerg on Char and a Xel'Naga artifact on Bhekar Ro in Shadow of the Xel'Naga, engagements that decimate Alpha Squadron.^[65] In Brood War, Duke organizes the Dominion's fleet defenses against the United Earth Directorate,^[66] and later follows Mengsk into alliance with Kerrigan and her Zerg. However, as part of a surgical strike against the Dominion's military capabilities, Kerrigan has Duke's flagship destroyed, killing the general.^[67]

Valerian Mengsk

• Voiced by Josh Keaton

Valerian Mengsk is the son of Arcturus Mengsk and his successor as Emperor of the Terran Dominion. Valerian is first introduced in The Dark Templar Saga series of novels, while his backstory is further developed in I, Mengsk. Valerian was created as Metzen felt that Arcturus' story had been effectively told in StarCraft and Brood War.^[68] While Blizzard stipulated Valerian's physical description, The Dark Templar Saga author Christie Golden was given the freedom to develop the character as she wished.^[69] A disciple of Japanese martial arts and a keen archaeologist, he is described as "brilliant... and probably a bit arrogant for knowing it".^[70] Valerian is particularly interested in Xel'Naga artifacts, which he employs mercenaries and leading archaeologists to retrieve and study. Valerian was raised in secrecy on a number of worlds across the Koprulu Sector during his father's campaign against the Confederacy.^[71] While Valerian shares Arcturus' passion for liquors and ancient weapons, his relationship with his father is adversarial due to Arcturus' disdain for both him and his mother in his childhood. Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Nova_(StarCraft:_Ghost)
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