Jim Raynor

Template:StarCraft character James Raynor, better known simply as Jim to his friends, is a fictional character in the StarCraft universe. He is a Terran, originally from the colony of Mar Sara.

In StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War, Raynor is voiced by Robert Clotworthy.

In the Starcraft Map Editor, he appears as the hero version of the Terran Marine, Vulture and Battlecruiser.

Biography

Relatively little is known about Raynor's past before his appearance in the game, only that he is the marshal of the colony on Mar Sara and has apparently been so for a long time, having seen and done much in the course of his duties. He was married once to a woman named Liddy, and they had a son. However, Raynor's son was lost to the Confederate Ghost Program and was killed during training, causing Raynor to develop a deep resentment towards telepaths. What happened to Liddy is not known, but it is hinted at the end of StarCraft that the rest of Raynor's family were killed by the Zerg.

Fall of the Confederacy

When the player first encounters Raynor in-game, he is a 29-year-old marshal on Mar Sara who is part of its colonial militia. Under orders from the Terran Confederacy, he escorts key colonists of Mar Sara to the wastelands in preparation for their abandonment of planet, which is under attack by the Zerg.

Raynor's in-game portrait.

Raynor's in-game portrait.

While safeguarding these colonists, he receives a distress signal from a Confederate outpost named Backwater Station. Alpha Squadron General Edmund Duke tells the colonial magistrate not to interfere, as he will send help, but Raynor believes Duke will take too long. He takes a detachment the local militia to fight the Zerg, defeating them and destroying their Infested Command Center, encountering Michael Liberty in the process. The Confederacy later arrests him (ostensibly) for destroying Confederate property. Liberty later arranges for Arcturus Mengsk and his faction, the Sons of Korhal to free him from the Confederate prison ship and Raynor decides to join their cause. He persuades the colonial magistrate to ally with them as well. Raynor takes part in many battles with the Sons of Korhal against the Zerg and the Terran Confederacy. After overcoming his prejudice against telepaths he sparks a friendship with Mengsk's second-in-command, Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan, to whom he becomes strongly attracted. The actions of Raynor, Kerrigan and Liberty later rescue General Edmund Duke from his crashed flagship on Antiga Prime and help ensure that the Terran Confederacy is eventually defeated at their capital world of Tarsonis.

Toward the end of Rebel Yell Mengsk leaves Kerrigan to die at the hands of the Zerg on the New Gettysburg space platform orbiting Tarsonis, causing Raynor to sever his ties with Mengsk for this cold act of indifference. He and the Magistrate desert the fleet, and to Raynor's suprise he is joined by a small army of his former militia and some members of the Sons of Korhal. Edmund Duke tries to prevent them from fleeing from Tarsonis using an orbital Ion Cannon, but Raynor's new forces destroy the cannon and escape. Having lost his homeworld and the support of a prominent Terran faction, he strikes out on his own. Parting ways with Michael Liberty, Raynor's forces raid the shipyards at Dylar IV in order to acquire long-term transport. The raid is so successful that Raynor was able to hijack Mengsk's flagship, the Hyperion, when Duke arrived with it to defend the shipyards.

Raynor's Raiders

Whilst Raynor contemplates his next move, he is drawn to the planet Char by the psionic emanations of Sarah Kerrigan in the form of dreams, believing that Kerrigan may be alive and that she could be rescued. However, his forces are overrun by the Zerg under the command of the newly Infested Kerrigan and Raynor is shocked to see her alive and in this condition. Kerrigan defeats his forces, but allows Jim and the remaining survivors on the ground to flee. However, the Zerg attack both Raynor's fleet and an orbiting Dominion fleet, forcing the Hyperion to withdraw to avoid destruction and stranding Raynor's crew on Char. The sudden arrival of the Protoss destroys the remaining vessels of Raynor's fleet.

Raynor links up with the forces of Tassadar and those of Zeratul both of whom were also drawn to Char by Kerrigan's psionic eminations. At first Raynor's troops did not fight alongside the Protoss, but after the Swarm departed for Aiur he was forced to do so to survive. During this time he becomes one of the few humans to learn directly about Protoss history and culture .

Eventually relief arrives as the Fleet of the Executor, accompanied by Aldaris arrives to arrest Tassadar. Despite Aldaris' contempt for Raynor, he stays close to his Protoss friend and his forces assist in retrieving Zeratul from an infested Dominion installation on Char. The Hyperion also returns, providing Raynor's crew with a means off the planet. Raynor returns with Tassadar to Aiur to assist in the war against the Zerg. Whilst on Aiur he forms a strong friendship with Fenix. At the end of Episode III, Raynor's troops are instrumental in the defeat and death of the Overmind, for which Tassadar sacrifices himself.

The threat from the UED

The temporarily leaderless Zerg rampage over Aiur, killing 70% of its inhabitants. The Protoss make the decision to evacuate Aiur through a Warp Gate to Shakuras, homeworld of the Dark Templar. Raynor and Fenix stay behind on Aiur to guard the Aiur side of the Warp Gate so that the surviving Protoss can escape. This is the beginning of Raynor's friendship with Fenix. This unlikely bond between a Terran and a Protoss is one of the strongest and most enduring in the entire storyline of StarCraft.

During Episode V, Raynor makes a brief appearance in the Hyperion, backed with a Protoss support fleet, to rescue Arcturus Mengsk from being captured by the United Earth Directorate and later escapes with him through the Warp Gate on Aiur.

At the beginning of Episode VI, Kerrigan asks him and Fenix to bring Arcturus Mengsk to her. Kerrigan deceives all three into thinking they are allied against a common enemy - the UED. Kerrigan uses them to help her destroy the UED's Psi Disruptor, as well as retaking Korhal for Mengsk. Then, when Kerrigan has no more use for them, she has Fenix killed. Raynor finally realizes Kerrigan's treacherous nature, and in one of the strongest moments of the game, swears to kill her, after which he strikes out on his own again. For the rest of Brood War we see no more of Raynor, and after the final mission we are told that "James Raynor and Zeratul went their separate ways, and have not been heard from since their departure."

However, Raynor made an appearance in the StarCraft 64 map, Resurrection IV, which takes place after Brood War. Resurrection IV occurs on the world Braxis. Here, he works with Artanis and other Protoss to help capture Alexei Stukov, who is now an infested Terran, and return him to human using nanotechnology.

Alignment

Raynor is one of the very few major Terran characters in StarCraft to be fundamentally good throughout the game . Even when he assisted Kerrigan, it was to overthrow the UED, which he suspected would enslave or kill all three races in the sector (in essence, he chose what appeared to be the lesser of two evils). Raynor is also the only known Terran closely associated with, and trusted by, the Protoss.

Game unit

Jim Raynor appears in StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War in three separate units. We first see him piloting a Vulture hover cycle. He raids the Jacobs Installation as a Marine, and he commands the Hyperion, a battlecruiser, during Episode III as he fights alongside the Protoss. His vulture hovercycle has 300 hit points, and does 30 points of concussive damage. The Hyperion has 850 HP and does 30 points of normal damage. He appears in all three forms in StarCraft: Brood War as well. Although he appears throughout Brood War, he is not a playable hero during those episodes. The only exception is a brief moment during the first mission of Episode 4, when he helps Zeratul and the Khalis escape from Aiur. This is also notably the only time players can command an invincible hero.

Trivia

• As of May 26, 2007, the Battle.net Web Site contains a hidden image of Infested Kerrigan saying "Help me Jim Raynor...you're my only hope!". The animated GIF image and the text can be found at the bottom of the main page. In order to reveal them the user has to click the round object above the Blizzard image. This is a reference to Star Wars specifically, Princess Leia's message inside R2-D2. Some speculate that this may also be hinting at Raynor's role in the plot of the upcoming sequel StarCraft II.
• In the 2.0.3 Patch for the Blizzard MMORPG World of Warcraft, a level 70 NPC named Lord Marshal Raynor was added at the Dark Portal opening event. This is almost certainly a Blizzard self-referential cameo.
• Raynor is the only hero in the game appearing in three units (Marine, Vulture and Battlecruiser). Both Raynor's Vulture and Hyperion have slightly higher fire rates than their normal counterpart.
• Raynor is one of the characters confirmed by Chris Metzen to appear in the Starcraft II.