History Characters / StarcraftProtossEmpire

* UnwittingPawn: The giant khaydarin chrystal he found that helped Protoss rediscover the Khala? [[spoiler: It was left by Amon (Or his followers) so that they can get another opportunity at enslaving the Protoss (By having one, in this case Khas, find it), which, as mentioned above, does happen in ''Legacy of the Void'']].

* {{Irony}}: In the first game, he was the Obstructive Bureaucrat who dismissed the OnlySaneMan Tassadar and his friends when they had the only way to stop the villains. In the expansion, HE'S the OnlySaneMan trying to warn everyone about Kerrigan and Raszagal while the heroes are ignoring him. Karma's funny sometimes.

* TooDumbToLive: He takes this when he considers the arrest of a single (allegedly) rogue protoss templar of greater priority than, say, ''dealing with a race of man-eating aliens that are invading his homeworld''. Partially averted in the first game as he does survive, but played straight in ''Brood Wars'' where he then decides that, instead of letting everyone know what he found out about Kerrigan, he just starts a civil war between some of his loyalists and the Khalai protoss that joined forces with the Dark Templar. Tassadar lampshades it best:

* TooDumbToLive: He takes this when he considers the arrestation a single (supposely) rogue protoss templar of greater priority than, say, ''dealing with a race of man-eating aliens''. Partially averted in the first game as he does survive, but played straight in Brood Wars where he then decides that, instead of letting everyone know what he found out about Kerrigan, he just starts a civil war between some of his loyalists and the Khalai protoss that joined forces with the Dark Templar. Tassadar lampshades it best:

* HateSink: Aldaris, along with the entire Conclave is this in the base game is this, and according to Tassadar, the Judicator have just been using the templar for their own ends. For much of the game, Aldaris is a smug, HolierThanThou {{Jerkass}} KnightTemplar who does nothing but speak disparagingly about Tassadar, and even his tone towards the player is demeaning. Because of his adherence to the Khala, he harbors deep hatred against the Dark Templar, and sees them as nothing more than unrepentant heretics. Worst of all, Aldaris puts Aiur in danger by declaring war on the player and ordering the Dark Templar's and Tassadar's executions, and such actions stop them from saving their entire race.

* TooDumbToLive: He takes this when he considers the arrestation a single (supposely) rogue protoss templar of greater priority than, say, ''dealing with a race of man-eating aliens'':

* IdiotBall: In the first game, he decides that the arrest of Tassadar is far more important than protecting Aiur from the Zerg invasion. Tassadar lampshades how ridiculous the whole situation is many times.

--> '''Tassadar''': ''I cannot believe they would go so far. In the face of total annihilation, they're still claiming for their failing traditions.''

* IdiotBall: Just like Stukov, he went about telling the others what he knew in the stupidest way possible. Unfortunately, both of them ended up ended up dead either directly or indirectly as a result of Kerrigan's actions. To be fair to him, Kerrigan came out of no where and no one stopped her from getting close to him. In Zeratul's words, it was a protoss matter and no one saw the assassination coming.

* MessianicArchetype: To the Khalai Protoss for "saving" them from the Dark Templar, and to the Dark Templar for sparing their lives. All those times you hear the Protoss say "En Taro Adun" or "Adun Toridas," they're talking about this guy.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Side-stepped -- while she was accompanying Tassadar's forces during the time of the base game, she isn't mentioned in novelizations of that time. This is explained by Tassadar fearing for her safety and so ordering her to stay aboard his ship while he had his adventures on the surface.

* EndOfAnEra: At the end of the main campaign in ''Legacy of the Void'', [[spoiler: the Khalai protoss abandoned the Khala by severing their nerve cords, after Amon corrupted it to mind-control them.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: Of all the Protoss factions, Khalai were by far the proudest and most self-righteous in the original game, treating the Dark Templars like heretics for refusing to follow the Khala and looking at the Terrans with disdain. By ''Brood War'', their beloved homeworld has been taken over by the Swarm, their glorious civilization is destroyed, and they only managed to survive by accepting the hospitality of the very Dark Templars they banished from Aiur in the first place. ''Legacy of the Void'' pushes it even further by revealing [[spoiler:A large part of their culture was a lie and the Khala they built their entire society on was a tool created by Amon to better control them]]. To their credit, [[TookALevelInKindness they actually learn from this]].

* TookALevelInKindness: At the beginning of the original game, they were ScaryDogmaticAliens with KnightTemplar tendencies who would bomb Terran planets to stop the Zerg with no real care for the human loss and no warning, as well as seriously racist toward the Dark Templars. The actions of Protoss like Tassadar and Artanis, as well as the fall of the [[NotSoOmniscientCouncilOfBickering Conclave]], have eventually caused them to develop into a faction that can be considered unambiguously good.

* AntiVillain: In the second half of the Protoss campaign. He's leading the Conclave forces trying to arrest Tassadar for treason, but he genuinely believes the Dark Templar are evil heretics and that Zertatul has corrupted Tassadar's mind.

[[quoteright:274:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2011Tassadar_2160.png]]
[[caption-width-right:274:The Greatest Protoss hero.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fenixdragoon_sc1_cncpt1.jpg]]

* AntiVillain: In the second half of the Base game's Protoss campaign.

* MemeticBadass: InUniverse and PlayedWith. In ''Legacy of the Void'', the Purfier that has Fenix's memories uploaded into it goes through records of his predecessor's deeds, and is convinced they must be exaggerated because no warrior could believably be ''this'' badass. Said deeds are movie references, claiming Fenix played the part of several action heroes in adventures based on famous action films, including ''Predator'', ''Under Siege'', and ''The Rock''.

[[quoteright:274:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2011Tassadar_2160.png]]

** It's also a major reason they lost Aiur to the Zerg. The Zerg have basically infinite numbers, so even when the Protoss won the small battles, they were steadily losing the war as their warriors fell and the Zerg just kept growing more numerous. Front assault on hive clusters accomplished nothing in the bigger picture, and it was only through the assassination of the Cerebrates by Zeratul that Tassadar and his allies struck a significant victory over them.

* ForceAndFinesse: They're the brute and straightforward Force to the stealthy and shady Finesse of the Dark Templar. This carries into gameplay; the Nerazim-influenced units (Stalker, Dark Templar, Oracle, Void Ray), are best used as precision strike forces that hit hard and then retreat, while the Khalai units (Colossus, Immortal, Archon, Carrier, etc) mostly have you send them straight at enemies wrecking anything in their path. Many characters, including some of the Khalai themselves, note this is a problem for them; they charge headfirst into any conflict knowing no fear, but they often lack any long-term plans beyond that and are stymied if it doesn't work.

* KnightTemplar: The Protoss have mostly good intentions, but they can be extreme with their beliefs. This mostly manifests in their zealous purging of anything that remotely Zerg-like, including potentially curable infested Terran colonists. [[MeaningfulName There's a reason]] members of the warrior caste are called ''Templar'', and their footsoldiers are named zealots.

* ForceAndFinesse: They're the brute and straightforward Force to the stealthy and shady Finesse of the Dark Templar. This carries into gameplay; the Nerazim-influenced units (Stalker, Dark Templar, Oracle, Void Ray), are best used as precision strike forces that hit hard and then retreat, while the Khalai units (Colossus, Immortal, Archon, Carrier, etc) mostly have you send them straight at enemies wrecking anything in their path. Many characters, including some of the Khalai themselves, note this is a problem for them; they charge headfirst into any conflict knowing no fear, and are blind to the idea of it not working.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Blizzard has made it known which branches of ''Enslavers'' and ''Dark Vengeance'' are canon, but not if Mojo survived. A personality based on him serves as the heroic Scout serving Fenix in Co-Op mode, alongside a number of canonically dead protoss heroes, so it's heavily implied he died at some point.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Blizzard has made it known which branches of ''Enslavers'' and ''Dark Vengeance'' are canon, but not if Mojo survived.

* {{Badass}}: Her psionic skills give her far greater control over Jake's body than he has himself, making her an excellent combatant in even his untrained body. And through taxing, she can still use psionic attacks.

* PathOfInspiration: The Khala is known as "The Path of Ascension", established to unify the Protoss and end the Aeon of Strife, based on a psychic communal link formed between all adherents. However, the reason for the link was because [[spoiler:Amon created the original link, as a means to control them later.]] In an interesting twist to the trope however, [[spoiler:no one in the Khala knew about this; Khas only rediscovered it without knowing the true, nefarious purpose it held, and was genuinely trying to make things better for the Protoss by using it]].

-->''"If society is defined by how well its members comprehend one another's interests and culture, the Protoss manage to eclipse us merely by existing."''
-->--Jake Ramsay

-->''"The Overmind has come to destroy all that we hold dear and assimilate us into itself. And I say to thee, this shall not come to pass! Aiur shall not fall!"''

-->''"[[BadassCreed I fear no enemy, for the Khala is my strength!]]"''

-->''"I have been sent by the Conclave to serve and counsel you."''