In the City of Dreams, even the most veteran Solos out there make sure they have a reliable network to fall back on, because lone wolves become dead wolves before long. Therefore, it's important to have a few chooms you can trust on your side, just in case the lead starts flying. The following lists the allies you'll meet along the way in Cyberpunk 2077,

open/close all folders

V's Team

Jackie Welles

"Lemme explain somethin' to you, V... My whole life I've spent in this shit around us! And I ain't goin' back!"

Voiced by: Jason Hightower (English), Jacek Król (Polish)^note

A gun for hire, Jackie is a highly-skilled assassin. He's also a former member of the Valentinos.

Abusive Parents: On his father's side, at least. His dad used to beat Jackie and his mother with a belt, until Jackie broke his arm and chased him off, threatening to kill him if he returned. Jackie still keeps the belt in case he ever comes back.
Bad "Bad Acting": During the Arasaka heist, he tries to play up their status as being high class corpo execs, making up fake stories about their trip to Zurich as they are walking through the lobby. It comes across as rather forced and T-Bug quickly tells him to knock it off.
The Big Guy: He is quite burly compared to V, almost a head taller than female V and far more muscular. Checking his garage shows a weight lifting set with V remarking that Jackie always liked lifting and exercise.
Bling-Bling-BANG!: His iconic pistols have golden plating.
Boisterous Bruiser: He revels in both fighting and partying.
Cool Bike: Owns a custom ARCH motorcycle that V inherits after his death.
Decoy Protagonist: Decoy Deuteragonist to be exact. He's V's best friend and partner for the prologue and Act 1. However he's killed off after the Konpeki heist, paving the way for Johnny's engram to take over as the true Deuteragonist for the rest of the game.
Dies Wide Open: He passes away looking into V's eyes, though they close by the time V wakes up after the biochip being implanted.
Easily Forgiven:
- In the Streetkid Lifepath, Jackie holds V at gunpoint while the latter is about to jack an expensive car to help clear a friend's debt. When Stints beats them, throws them both in an alley and the two have a chance to talk, neither of them holds anything against the other, despite that they screwed up each other's attempted car theft. It may have something to do with the fact that V is also from Heywood in this lifepath.
- In the Nomad Lifepath, once the smuggling job has gone wrong, Jackie confesses he intended to keep V salary's share for the job if it had went well. V thanks him for his honesty and accepts his offer for help in settling in Night City.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: For certain values of "bad man". He's a former Valentino gangoon and still very involved in the criminal underworld, but he is also very close to his mother and regularly visits her for dinner. They have their disagreements (like the fact that Jackie's dating Misty), but it's clear they love each other.
Everyone Has Standards: Despite being willing to take on most merc jobs, Jackie has nothing but disgust for the Maelstrom gang. In the Corpo Lifepath, he’s also appalled that V is following orders to off a fellow Corpo, and refuses the job despite the generous funding V was given. After rescuing Sandra Dorsett, he says outright he can’t take another horrific job like that. More generally, despite his past as a gangbanger and his present as a mercenary, we never see or hear of Jackie doing anything morally reprehensible.
Face Death with Dignity: He dies trying to reassure and comfort V, telling them that it always could’ve ended this way and that they’ll be a legend in his stead.
Face of a Thug: His big build and intimidating appearance belies the fact that he's a very affable and friendly guy.
Facial Markings: His cybernetic facial augmentations. They look similar in style to Maori facial tattoos.
Fate Worse than Death: Or rather a Worse Fate After Death. Should V elect to not send Jackie's corpse to Mama Welles, his corpse will be collected by Arasaka (either by collecting him from the cab or by breaking into Viktor's practice). In all non-Devil endings, when V enters Mikoshi, they're greeted by a construct of Jackie, though it quickly becomes clear that Jackie isn't cognizant whatsoever and simply repeats words he's spoken to V when he was alive, speaking of their "lucky" meeting with Dexter DeShawn and how they'll be hitting the major leagues. Needless to say, V is very disturbed by this.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Twice in the early game Jackie can apply his stocky large build to blindside someone and knock them on their ass. Once is in the time passage montage, cutting off their quarry in an alley chase by slamming them into a dumpster (with V being the initial pursuer) and a second time when V distracts the Scavver with a heavy machine gun by flanking during the pair's rescue job in a scavver den.
Foil: To Johnny. Both Johnny and Jackie are V's closest companions throughout the game, and both are responsible for writing in V's questlog. Where Jackie is friendly, affable and approachable, Johnny is an aloof, bitter Jerkass. Jackie's relationship with Misty is very harmonious and loving, while Johnny's relationships with Alt and Rogue were strained and tense. Jackie's ofrenda in "Heroes" is a community event, with Jackie's mom, friends, and (possibly) girlfriend in attendance, with everyone reminiscing about how much Jackie meant to them and how great of a guy he always was, while Johnny died alone in Arasaka captivity via unwanted Brain Uploading, and his body was unceremoniously dumped in an empty oil field.
Foreshadowing: His death is foreshadowed during the intro montage. When the radio host is talking about Night City’s legends ending up in the graveyard the camera is focused straight at Jackie posing with his dual handguns.
- It's also foreshadowed by the reading Misty gives him after V returns from Vic's clinic in "The Ripperdoc". She tells him to avoid "mean reds, anything red". The heist that leads to his death is conducted against Arasaka, which has a distinct black and red motif, and the Relic itself glows dark red.
- When V and Jackie meet outside the Afterlife, Jackie just gets off the phone with his mother, saying she was checking in that "he wasn't dead in a dumpster like the other Welles boys".
- If all the above foreshadowing was too subtle for you, when V and Jackie go the Afterlife club, they learn that all the drinks are named after Night City legends, which is what Jackie aspires to be. He then asks what you have to do to get a drink named after you, which turns out to be dying, preferably during a spectacularly botched op. During this conversation, Jackie even goes as far as to recommend a recipe for his own drink, and surly enough, he ends up dying due to Act 1's spectacularly botched heist.
Gangbangers: Jackie used to be a member of the Valentinos, with him praising their holiness and honor. At Jackie's ofrenda V asks another Valentino if he met Jackie while they were both members (to which the guy snarks that he met Jackie "in the fucking Bible book club.")
Genius Bruiser: Can identify rare species of iguana by sight, at one point in his life kept a salt water aquarium, and always reads Hemingway before a gig.
Gratuitous Spanish: He's prone to peppering his dialogue with Spanish swear words and terms of affection.
Guns Akimbo: His firearm preference are two gold-plated semi-auto pistols, La Chingora Doradas, one in each hand. V can obtain them if they send Jackie's body to his family, where they'll be resting on his Ofrenda though they cannot dual-wield them.
Hand Cannon: His signature weapons are a pair of customised Tsunami Nues (magnum pistols similar in size and in-universe role to the modern Desert Eagle) with extended barrels. It's implied that only someone with his colossal organic and artificial muscle-mass can effectively wield two of them at once - certainly, V can't do it, and finds out that they have fairly impressive recoil when they shoot one of them.
Hidden Depths:
- He reads Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls before every serious gig.
- When looking through his garage, V and Misty discover that he was secretly making a sand mandala despite seemingly disregarding Misty's mysticism.
- In the Nomad lifepath prologue, he's able to correctly identify the exact species of an iguana him and V were smuggling. He says he knows it because he watched a documentary on iguanas once. In "Heroes", we find out that he kept a miniature shark as a pet in a tank in his garage, implying an interest in exotic animals in general.
- During the start of the Konpeki heist, he's also shown to be remarkably good at improvising on the spot, being able to pass himself off convincingly as a corpo tourist fresh from Europe.
Hired Guns: Works as a mercenary for various mob bosses, corrupt executive, or anyone with a job to do and money to pay.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Much stockier, taller and stronger than his girlfriend, Misty. Can also form a platonic variant with female V.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the Street Kid Lifepath, Jackie tries to steal the car V is hotwiring and even aims a gun in V's face. When the NCPD catches them, Jackie also protects V from being killed at the car owner's orders to the cops.
The Lancer: He's V's best friend and greatest ally in Night City.
Legacy Seeker: Is obsessed with becoming a "legend" of the Night City — i.e. to accomplish something so epic, that his name will be remembered for decades alongside Morgan Blackhand, Rache Bartmoss, and Johnny Silverhand (all iconic characters from the original RPG). Through his friendship with V, he manages to infect them with this obsession, too, although it is left up to the players whether V continues to pursue this goal or abandons it in favor of something more important to them; this is reflected in the game's Multiple Endings, one of which, "The Sun", does see V become a legend.
Like Father, Unlike Son: "Heroes" reveals that Jackie's dad was a deadbeat perrennially-drunk Valentino gangbanger who was aggresive towards his wife and son. While Jackie likes to party, he's also a hard worker who loves and looks out for his mother and is nothing short of a gentleman towards his girlfriend. Jackie was actually the one who kicked out his father and threaten him that if he ever comes back, he'll kill him.
Macho Latino: A huge bruiser who lets the Gratuitous Spanish fly.
Named Weapons: Has a pair of gold-plated pistols called "La Chingona Dorada".
Nice Guy: A true friend who always has V's back. He's extremely friendly, gets along with almost everyone, supports V regardless of their actions, and is a caring boyfriend to Misty. It's rather telling that he and V immediately hit it off in the Streetkid lifepath despite Jackie introducing himself by putting a gun to V's head.
Noodle Incident: In the Corpo Lifepath, when V mentions how if word gets out about what they're about to tell Jackie they'll be ruined, Jackie responds he's in a similar situation after what transpired in the Mexican border. The incident isn't elaborated on, but it somehow involves the cartels, V themselves, and that Jackie saved V's life.
Obsessed with Food: Frequently talks about food before or after missions.
Odd Friendship: With Corpo V. Jackie is a streetkid who grew up in Heywood and makes no secret of his distaste for corpos, yet he gets along well with V, a member of Arasaka counter-intelligence. Their friendship likely comes from the Noodle Incident in the Corpo Lifepath where V did something in Mexico that would land them in hot water if anyone found out.
One Degree of Separation: Streetkid V grew up in the same neighborhood as Jackie and knows the same people that he does, including his mom. When V recognizes his surname he lampshades how incredibly unlikely it is that they've never met. Regardless of origin V's social circle when the game itself begins consists entirely of people they met through Jackie.
Parting-Words Regret: Jackie gets into an argument with Misty over the phone before he and V go to meet Dexter DeShawn at the Afterlife. It's the last time they'll ever interact with each other again, as Jackie dies at the end of the heist.
Platonic Life-Partners: His friendship with a female V is strictly platonic since he's already got a girlfriend in Misty (who for her part never shows any signs of jealousy towards the two).
Poirot Speak: He inserts Spanish into nearly every sentence he speaks, despite clearly being fluent in English.
Posthumous Character: Downplayed, since he is alive in the first act, but many of his Hidden Depths only come out at his ofrenda, such as his interest in Hemingway and his past regarding his father and the Valentinos. V's speech which they can give at his ofrenda is essentially a summary of his character that V got to know in the six month Time Skip that we only saw in occasional flashes after the lifepath prologue and the few hints that Jackie drops during the first act, such as his desire to escape the slums of Night City.
Sacrificial Lion: Jackie is V's (and the player's) guide and most trusted companion in Night City. He meets his end bleeding out in the back of an autonomous taxi shortly after stealing the relic.
Satisfied Street Rat: Downplayed. While Jackie grew up in the gang-ruled Heywood, works as an edgerunner, and never seems particularly unhappy with life, he does openly aspire to become a "legend" and never have to do merc work again.
Schrödinger's Question: Or, more precisely, Schrodinger's Career Choice. No matter which Lifepath you choose for V, V and Jackie always end up as partners; the only difference is how.
- In the Corpo lifepath, Jackie and V are already acquainted with each other through a Noodle Incident involving the Mexican cartels. After V gets burned by Abernathy when their boss oversteps, Jackie helps get them back on their feet and start fresh in Night City.
- Streetkid V meets Jackie shortly after they return to Heywood from Atlanta, helping Kirk do a job to steal a Corpo's car that Jackie coincidentally also attempts to steal, only for the two to be caught by the police. Once Jackie and V have been beaten and tossed back on the street, they become partners.
- Similar to the Streetkid lifepath, Nomad V meets Jackie for the first time in a smuggling job, which the latter assists them with. Once they arrive safely in Night City and escape from border patrol, Jackie warms up to V and offers a more permanent partnership.
Street Samurai: Fits the cyberpunk Ronin figure. His hairstyle is reminiscent of a traditional Japanese top-knot and his facial augmentations frame his face like a Menpō. He is also fearless, loyal, and very dangerous in combat.
Trailers Always Spoil: One of the earlier trailers shows Male V and Jackie diving into the back of the Delamain cab and driving off. While V rejoices in their escape it's clear Jackie's dying of his gutshot wound and does moment's later after a heartwrenching farewell. While the circumstances of his death differ between the main game and the trailer, the latter nonetheless spoils the fact that Jackie will bite the bullet.

T-Bug

"You want nice, supportive? Call a damn helpline."

Voiced by: Cynthia Kaye Mc Williams (English)^note

A netrunner who frequently collaborates with V and Jackie, serving as their support during their gigs.

Affectionate Nickname: V and Jackie call her "Bug".
Black and Nerdy: A talented netrunner who never takes part in direct combat and quotes Aristotle multiple times during the game.
Black Dude Dies First: Everyone taking part in the Konpeki heist, from the client to the fixer to the netrunner to the two on point, dies. Even V, technically. T-Bug was the first to go down, getting fried when Arasaka netrunners coming on for an emergency audit when Yorinobu pulled the lockdown lever caught her in the subnet.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Gets her brain fried when Arasaka netrunners log into the Konpeki Hotel system. According to Yoko, who runs a netrunner shop in Kabuki Roundabout, the experience is akin to a hundred thousand daggers stabbing your body all at once.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Her death is so abrupt and ambiguous that a player can easily miss it until other characters start referring to her in the past tense.
Heroic Sacrifice: The very moment the hotel went into Lockdown, she would have known that a sweep of the subnet was going to happen and could well have cut her wires and abandon them. Instead Bug stayed and tried to help Jackie and V, right up until that sweep catches her.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As aloof and detached as she comes across, T-Bug is still shown to genuinely care for V and Jackie in her own way. She even stays online to help them when the Arasaka heist goes south, having every reason to bail on them, until finally being killed.
Killed Offscreen: Because she's acting as your mission control during the Arasaka heist, you only get to hear her blood-curdling scream as she's caught by Arasaka netrunners and gets her brain fried. It's so sudden that players might be forgiven for not even realizing she's dead until later dialogue confirms it.
Mauve Shirt: She gets a fair amount of screentime to flesh her out before getting killed off-screen during the botched Arasaka raid early in the game.
Mission Control: She provides necessary information to her friends and notifies them if anything doesn’t go as planned.
Never Trust a Trailer: In a cinematic trailer for the game, when V returns from the botched mission at Arasaka, Dex sics T-Bug on him while trying to have him killed for his failure (and putting a giant crosshair on all their backs). In the game proper, not only is T-Bug already dead by the time this scene occurs, she doesn't seem like the type who would just turn on V like that, with how much they worked together in the past apparently.
Non-Action Girl: Serves as Jackie and V's Mission Control and never participates in their jobs in person. During "The Rescue", Jackie can reassure her that she's a valued team member and just as important as him or V, and V can agree with him.
Only Known By Her Nickname: She is only ever referred to by her handle/nickname, and her real name is never mentioned, leaving it ambiguous whether Jackie or V even know it.
Playful Hacker: T-Bug has a penchant for messing around in a light-hearted manner, such as altering the Militech combat training shard to make it less boring for V. She also snarks at Jackie's remarks when the three are doing missions together.
Retirony: The Arasaka Heist was going to be T-Bug's last job, after which she intended to cut all ties with her Night City contacts and disappear. Sadly for her, it didn't work out.
Ungrateful Bastard: She has a shade of this during the Heist briefing, when she states that after the job, she intends to disappear from Night City and cut ties with everyone present (including V and Jackie). It's not hard to blame her, though, as you've already seen how nasty merc work in Night City can be - after all, your first mission ended with Jackie (himself a tough bastard) swearing he'll never take another job like that.

V's Friends

Viktor Vektor

"Go on, kid. Show 'em what you're made of."

Voiced by: Michael Gregory (English), Miłogost Reczek (Polish)^note

Night City's finest ripperdoc, running his own clinic after going out of corporate business.

Alliterative Name: Doctor Viktor Vektor.
Anger Born of Worry: By the end of the game he's deeply frustrated with V since they are on their final legs and there's nothing he can do about it save for telling them to make a choice about what they're going to do.
The Anti-Nihilist: A downplayed example. He says his secret to being happy in Night City is not to have any aspirations, but other than that, he's not all that into discussing the meaningfulness of life.
Back-Alley Doctor: While Vik's clinic isn't the most well-furnished place in Night City, he's considered to be one of the most capable ripperdocs around to the point that Biotechnica is trying to hire him while in the Tower ending, Zetatech succeeded.
Badass Bookworm: He's a very talented ripperdoc who used to be a boxer, and was good enough at the latter to spar with Jackie (despite being significantly smaller and older than him). Even in the present, where we never see him fight, he's still in decent shape for his age.
Brutal Honesty: Vik doesn't mince words when explaining to V that the Relic is killing them, that they may not be long for this world, and that there's nothing he could really do to fix it, however much he wishes otherwise.
Cool Old Guy: He's getting into age and he's a sympathetic and pleasant guy to be around, even willing to install cyberware to V while they're deep in the red. Of course, V has to pay off the tab before he'll do any further business with them, but he'll wait as long as V takes to pay up without even nagging them.
Cool Shades: He wears a pair of darkened glasses everywhere, be it his own clinic or a friend's funeral.
Creepy Good: While Viktor himself is anything but creepy, his clinic is essentially a dingy basement, far from a place where you'd expect such a capable medical professional to operate from. As you quickly find out, Viktor is incredibly kind and good at his job, not to mention one of the most morally upstanding people V meets.
Defector from Decadence: He used to be a famous boxer, living a life where "all that mattered was who's who, what's what, and how's why" but he left it all behind to become a humble ripperdoc. He's much happier with his new standard of living, remarking that he's had a lot less sleepless nights since, while even V remarks how he seems to be one of the only people in Night City who's remotely content with their life at all.
- He carries a Trauma Team hipbag on him, implying he may picked up his medical skills from being a former MedTech in that company.
Glory Days: Vik used to be a rather successful boxer, the shelf above his desk is filled with trophies he's won. Nowadays he's too old and nowhere near in the shape to fight, and decries how the omnipresent augmentations have changed the sport. Dialogue during Jackie's ofrenda shows that he and Jackie are part of the Night City Boxing Club (notably, the item he leaves on Jackie's funeral shrine as part of the homage is a pair of boxing gloves). He hasn't completely cut ties with the sport, and still participates on a hobby level.
Godzilla Threshold: Whatever went down in Night City during the Time Skip in "The Tower" ending was severe enough that it finally forced Viktor to cave in to pressure and become a Corpodoc.
Gone Horribly Right: Near the end when it becomes clear that V is near the end of the overwriting process, Viktor offers V a pistol as a potential “solution”. But during the ending if V actually commits suicide with it, he's horrified that they would actually go through with it.
Humble Hero: Despite still being seen within Night City as something of a living legend, whether as a boxer or as a ripperdoc, he consistently brushes the acclaim aside. He's just happy to do his thing, and with living a quiet life.
Hypocrite: Downplayed, and about as sympathetic as this trope can be. During the finale his words indicate that he thinks V committing suicide is far better than them slowly wasting away or losing their identity to Johnny. If they actually go through with it, however, his grief-filled message also has a hint of condemnation to it for V's choice.
- On a downplayed and more lighthearted note, one of his conversations with V has him complain about how all modern boxers have upgraded themselves with cyberware to the point of being more machine than man... this coming from someone who installs chrome in people like V for a living.
I Did What I Had to Do: The Tower ending reveals that in the wake of the power vacuum left behind by Arasaka's departure from Night City, he finally caved in to pressure and became a Corpodoc for Zetatech. He clearly isn't happy about it, though, but it's allowed him to continue his career.
Inconsistent Spelling: His name is either spelled "Viktor" or "Victor", same thing with his second name, "Vektor" or "Vector". It's spelled "Victor Vector" on his tattoo, "Viktor Vektor" one the contacts menu/V's phone, and the official artbook takes the cake, because it spells his name as "Vicktor". The in-game character glossary spells it as both "Viktor Vector" and "Viktor Vektor". Sebastian Kalemba, the head of animation in CDProjekt and Viktor's face model said that "It's Victor in the passport and ID and Viktor for friends".
Intergenerational Friendship: With Misty, V and Jackie, who are likely in their twenties, while Viktor is around sixty.
Meaningful Name: While his name is most likely a reference to Frankenstein, it also literally means "winner", referencing his past as a decorated boxer and how he quit the sport to lead a quiet life, and seems to be very happy about it.
Nice Guy: He's easily one of the friendliest characters in the game despite his seemingly shady occupation, acting as both V's friend and doctor. When paying back their debt, Viktor will try to tell V to keep the money before they insist.
Older Than They Look: Downplayed. While Vik looks middle-aged, he's old enough to remember the glory days of Johnny Silverhand and to have lived through the Fourth Corporate War.
Sell-Out: As sympathetic as this trope could be. In "The Tower" ending, during the two years that V was in a coma Viktor was finally pressured into becoming a Corpodoc for Zetatech, selling out Misty's Esoterica to them. While he's allowed to continue operating his clinic he's clearly chafing under being forced to work under Corpo standards on top of being encouraged to move to San Francisco. It does not help that selling Misty's Esoterica caused a rift between him and Misty to the point they rarely speak to each other anymore.
Retired Badass: If a message from him to one of the Scav bosses is to be believed, Vik still has the old skills from being a boxer. Specifically, he split one of the Scav bosses subordinates jaw in two for trying to operate in Viktor's neighborhood. He'll supply them chrome like anyone else, but on his turf, ripping people’s implants out and kidnappings won't be tolerated. It's also mentioned during Jackie's ofrenda that he while he's formally retired, he still keeps ties with his old boxing buddies and participates as a hobby.
Storyboard Body: His sleeve has a boxing motive, referencing his past as a boxer and ringside physician.

Misty Olszewski

"People in this town, they've lost their spiritual connection. But, well, you know... I'm here to serve them, not the other way 'round."

Voiced by: Erica Lindbeck (English), Aleksandra Skraba (Polish)^note

"We shouldn't fear change itself, but only who we might change into."

Jackie's girlfriend and an owner of an esoteric goods shop. She rents out some of her space to Vik for his clinic, and serves as said clinic's unofficial nurse.

Berserk Button: Surprisingly for someone so tranquil, V choosing to disregard her Tarot card readings actually makes her chew them out. That said, she apologizes and cites Anger Born of Worry.
Bourgeois Bohemian: As a New Age mystic who's implied to be Secretly Wealthy, she falls into this by default. Unlike most examples, though, she's extremely sincere and kind-hearted, and strongly believes in giving back to her community (both through her shop and - perhaps more substantially - by helping out at Viktor's clinic).
But Now I Must Go: In "The Tower" ending (obtained by completing the Phantom Liberty expansion and giving Songbird back over to the NUSA), Misty is one of the few people in V's life who remains in contact with them as everyone else has moved on or is dealing with the corporations (either forced to make contracts with them or on the run from them). That said, she's in the process of actually leaving Night City behind, though not before she offers V some last advice on what do with their life.
The Cutie: A sweet and gentle woman with a gothic fashion sense.
Dating What Daddy Hates: Jackie's mother disapproves of her since she's not from Hispanic diaspora. If V helps them fix their relationship, Mama Welles will treat Misty as a surrogate daughter to dull the pain of losing her son.
Expository Hairstyle Change: In the Phantom Liberty-exclusive Tower ending, Misty has grown out her hair to beyond shoulder length as yet another sign of how much the world has changed during V's absence.
Fortune Teller: Not her main occupation, but it's one of the services she offers at her shop. She gives V a few tarot readings that turn out to be suspiciously accurate.
Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: While she's dressed in goth fashion, with heavy makeup and a collar with spikes on her neck, she's by far the sweetest and kindest character in the game, always looking out for her friends and offering help.
Granola Girl: A positive example. She's an intelligent, empathetic young lady who happens to be very into New Age mysticism, and while her jargon can sometimes get faintly ridiculous, the insights beneath it are always worth paying attention to.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: She's much smaller (and less aggressive) than her lover Jackie.
Intergenerational Friendship: She's very close to Viktor, who is about forty years older than her.
Like a Daughter to Me: Mama Welles will see her as a surrogate daughter after Jackie's death, assuming that V encourages the two to bond.
Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Her tarot readings are eerily accurate and match the endings picked. Lucky coincidence or actual fortune telling? The story never explains either way.
Meaningful Name: Misty sounds similar to "mysticism", and she runs a shop with esoterica.
Nice Girl: A kind and spiritual young woman without a mean bone in her body. Moreover, despite all the hints of her being Secretly Wealthy, at no point does she flex or flaunt it to anyone.
Parting-Words Regret: She and Jackie get into an argument over the phone before the latter and V go off to steal the biochip from Arasaka. They never get the chance to make up afterwards, as Jackie dies after the botched heist.
Perky Goth: She dresses up in a modern goth fashion, but her sweet and caring personality contrasts the choice of her clothing.
Replacement Goldfish: If V encourages the two to get along, Mama Welles treats her as a surrogate daughter after Jackie's death. Misty herself worries about this and if V says it's a good thing she states that she's doing things like sending Misty meat even though she knows Misty is a vegetarian, likely because she did the exact same thing for Jackie. She says that it's unhealthy and comes from a place of grief.
Secretly Wealthy: Despite growing up in Heywood like Jackie and a Streetkid V, it’s implied she's more well-off than she appears. During Jackie’s ofrenda she mentions moving to the Himalayas for a couple of years and she never appears in dire financial straits despite getting almost no customers for her shop. In "The Devil" ending, if V calls Viktor, he will say that Misty isn't available because she went on a trip to visit her family in Poland. "The Tower" ending also has clues to this, as when V meets Misty again, she's on her way to rent a Delamain taxi to the Night City spaceport so that she can catch a flight to Poland. None of those services are cheap by any means and would be well out of the reach of the average Night City citizen.
Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: She's a Bourgeois Bohemian running a very stereotypical New Age store, in a setting cynical enough that that would normally be enough to peg her as a predatory scam artist. She's actually a stalwart pillar of the local community, and her interest in matters mystical is not only genuine and benign, but surprisingly helpful.
Shout-Out: Her outfit and hairstyle recalls Pris from Blade Runner.
Smarter Than You Look: First impressions suggest that she's your standard ditzy Granola Girl peddling worthless New Age junk. Instead, she's one of the most intelligent and perceptive characters in the game, and her mystical insights aren't suspicious because they're inaccurate, but because they're far more accurate than they should be.
Tragic Keepsake: In "The Tower" ending", Misty has taken to wearing Jackie's jacket.

Judy Alvarez

"Slow deep breaths. Nothing happened, you're alive and well."

Voiced by: Carla Tassara (English), Marta Żmuda Trzebiatowska (Polish)^note

"Once upon a time, people were talking to graves and nobody batted an eyelid, right?"

Judy Alvarez is Night City's premier braindance technician, highly respected for her skills, innovation and creativity. Motivated to change things for the better, she joined with the Moxes.

Ace Custom: On a lot of her braindance equipment at Lizzie's, the only part that's not personally customized is the casing.
Action Girl: While her role in the main quest is mostly supportive, she has no problems with using a gun and taking up a more active role during her line of sidequests.
Affectionate Nickname: V can refer to her as "Jude". Judy herself calls a romanced V "calabacita", much to the latter's confusion.^note
All for Nothing: Regardless of whether you follow hers or Maiko's plan, Judy's efforts to make Clouds independent and protect the dolls working there end in failure. Either the Tyger Claws retaliate for the deaths of their lieutenants, or Maiko takes over and doesn't change a damn thing. Judy herself even lampshades it, wondering if all she did was meaningless in the end.
All of the Other Reindeer: Her personal quest "Pyramid Song" reveals that as a child she was bullied by other kids for her poor upbringing and being an orphan. Now, as an adult, she is shunned by her boss, Suzie Q, for being too idealistic and wanting the Moxes to protect and take care of prostitutes. Comments by other Moxes about how she is constantly embarrassing herself paint a picture that Judy is still somehow an outcast, even among her fellow gang members.
Kid: Alvarez is so poor, she can't even afford to have parents.
- However, she is respected for making some of the best BDs in the city. The Mox door guard (Rita Wheeler) and one of the prostitutes either talk her up or defend her from mocking by saying that she's the reason their business is still afloat. Judy seems to believe this should allow more say in the gang's decisions than she has.
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Grandparents in her case. If romanced, Judy will accidentally tell her grandmother Ainara that she's dating V, prompting her to panic and for Ainara to message V sometime afterward.
Amicable Exes: During her line of sidequests, she's forced to work with her ex, Maiko. Neither of them are too happy about it, but they manage to be at least civil, since their final goal is ultimately the same. She will break up with V in "The Devil" and "The Sun" endings, and while their goodbye is sad, they seem to understand each others' goals and part on decent terms. "The Tower" ending is far more bitter however, thanks to V still recovering from the shock of their 2 year coma, causing them to take the news a lot worse.
Beautiful Dreamer: Can be a subject of this for V in "The Sun"/"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending, as well as if V sleeps with her during the hangout events introduced in Patch 2.1.
Better as Friends: If V romanced her and goes for the Tower ending, they'll find out that Judy left Night City and got married during their two-year coma. While she's still more polite to V than River or Panam, and congratulates them on finally getting cured, she makes it clear that whatever budding relationship the two had is over, and they should just be friends now.
Born Unlucky: Let's just say that the world has not been kind to Judy, and that's really saying something. Judy's dad was never with her and her mom died shortly after she was born. Other kids teased her for the fact that her grandparents took care of her and that she was poor. The firetruck she fixed up as a teen was confiscated, and she was put in juvenile hall because the cops thought that she stole it. When she grew up and joined up with the Moxes, her boss, Suzy Q, would put her down constantly. She went through a tumultuous breakup with her ex-girlfriend, Maiko, who might get killed by her friend, V. Another woman she was (seemingly) in love with, Evelyn, gets horrifically maimed and commits suicide in Judy's home when she left for a moment. The coup she planned to better the living conditions of her friends and co-workers backfires, forcing her to leave the town in shame. Her best friend/partner, V, is terminally ill and either commits suicide, give their body to the ghost haunting them or has six months left to live. It's telling that she says that she's "the happiest she ever was" when she leaves Night City with her partner, V, to live on the road with a Nomad group.
Break the Cutie: The game is not kind her. If V commits suicide, she breaks entirely.
Breakout Character: She became insanely popular the instant she first appeared in a Night City Wire episode and, as a result, was featured in more promotional material up until the game's release.
But Now I Must Go: A possible conclusion of her questline. After Evelyn's suicide and the conflict with the Tyger Claws, she moves to Oregon where she ultimately becomes much happier. Not even romancing her can change anything about this, but it can be averted by making the right choices during her questline.
- She also breaks up with V in every single ending besides the Nomad one, wishing to get away from Night City and all the shit that is connected to it. As V is too attached to it all to leave, she feels that they just won't end up well together. However, in the Nomad ending, she happily joins V out in the wild outside the cities to help potentially find a solution to V's brain degradation.
- Phantom Liberty's new ending has Judy leave Night City for Pittsburgh some time in the two years V spent in a coma. By the time they reconnect with her, she's living a happy, married life with her new wife Bianca, and with no intention of letting herself be dragged back into NC business.
Cartwright Curse: Poor Judy. Maiko, who she used to date, can be (optionally) killed by V if they choose to stick to Judy's plan. Evelyn, who she clearly adores (though the exact nature of their relationship is left ambiguous) slits her wrists in Judy's bathtub when she leaves for a moment. Even her potential relationship with V ends with V either committing suicide, giving their body away to Johnny Silverhand, getting uploaded into Arasaka's "Secure Your Soul" program, or leaves them with weeks or months (at most!) to live, with only the "Star" ending giving a chance of V finding a cure outside of Night City, and the "Tower" ending having Judy move out and get married on her own after V disappears for two years, leading to an uncomfortable conversation when Judy realizes that V was comatose from the surgery that saved their life, but they can't go back to what they once were.
Clear My Name: If you read the messages on her computer in her apartment, you'll find one titled Compensation about her contacting a lawyer for when she first got sent to juvie as a teenager for fixing up a firetruck she found in a junkyard, only for it to be taken away from her because the cops were convinced she stole it. Unfortunately, from the tone of Judy's message, it makes it clear that the lawyer either doesn't believe her, or is completely uninterested in the case.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Never towards V or Ev specifically, but email messages found on Maiko's terminal make it clear that she was one herself when she was in a relationship with Maiko. However, she was hardly the only factor in the relationship, as Maiko's manipulative behavior also served to drive them apart.
Defrosting Ice Queen: She's initially distant and distrusting of V and gets hostile when they tell her they want T-Bug to help them go over Evelyn's braindance of her meeting with Yorinobu. Understandably, after the heist goes south, she's incredibly cold to them. She eventually starts to warm up to them as they help her out, both in the main game and in her sidequests.
Demoted to Extra: Judy is an important secondary character in act I and plays a major role in the first story of act II, but after the mission "Both Sides, Now" she doesn't appear in a single main story mission. Said mission unlocks her personal quest, but doing it is entirely optional, meaning that if the player doesn't complete it, the next time they'll see Judy is during the ending credits, where she'll leave a message for them.
Despair Event Horizon: If V commits suicide before the final battle Judy is absolutely devastated. Her voicemail in the credits has her laying in bed, makeup streaking down her face, and can barely keep herself together before breaking down crying again, unable to continue her message.
Didn't Think This Through: A Fatal Flaw of hers. Maiko accurately tells her that she has a bad habit of not thinking about the long-term or what happens afterwards. Johnny quips that she's the kind of person who foregoes the door and jumps out the window, and is surprised when she gets hurt on landing. This can even lead to some very tragic consequences, the most prominent being her inability to realize the Tyger Claws might want revenge for the deaths of their lieutenants.
Disappeared Dad: In her own words, 'Dad was never in the picture'.
Doomed Hometown: Laguna Bend, the neighborhood she grew up in, is currently completely underwater thanks to people protesting the building of a new dam.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Completing her side quests results in her finally realizing how poisonous Night City has been for her, and leaving for Oregon. If her voice mails to V in the endings where they don’t die and/or give their body to Johnny are any indication, she’s significantly happier there. If you romance her and take the 'Star' ending, she will follow V off to ride with the Aldecaldo nomad clan and will be positively glowing during the end credits.
- Alternatively, following the new The Tower ending added in Phantom Liberty, Judy moves to Pittsburgh after V's disappearance and marries a woman named Bianca. Reconnecting with her as a male V or a female V that hasn't romanced her has them congratulate her on the marriage. A female V that has romanced her... takes it worse.
Electronic Eyes: Her eyes glow blue at the end of "Pyramid Song", when she gives V access to her pad, implying that they're cybernetic.
Expository Hairstyle Change: In the call V makes to her in The Tower ending, when they wake up from a coma, Judy has breast-long dark hair, likely undyed, which shows that she has left Night City behind for good for Pittsburgh and is content with her new life with her wife, Bianca.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Aside from her lopsided Delinquent Hair, the left strap of her bib is always loose.
Fatal Flaw: Not thinking things through. Her series of Side Quests will end in tragedy should V follow her plan to the letter because she didn't anticipate that the Tyger Claws wouldn't take her launching a coup in one of their brothels and murdering one of their lieutenants lying down. Johnny's assessment of her is cruel, but accurate.
Johnny: She's all over the place. Refuses to take the door, jumps out the window, then acts all surprised when she gets hurt.
First Girl Wins: She's the first romance option introduced in the game, as she appears in act one. Trope comes into play if V decides to romance her.
Foil:
- A hotblooded, artistic, reckless individual who hates the powers-that-be, refuses to sell out to them, has beef with a Japanese organization and is even more driven to bring that organization down after losing a loved one (a woman at that) due to among other things associations with Arasaka. Johnny or Judy?
- To Panam. Judy is an artistic, city-based Techie who doesn't like to fight on the frontlines. Panam is a nomad who is rarely in Night City, rushes to the frontlines and only uses tech to blow things to hell. Both women nonetheless desire to leave Night City for good, both are incredibly reckless and do far more damage than their male counterparts.
- To Kerry. Both of them fell in love with people who were tragically killed due to their ambition (Kerry fell for Johnny, while Judy did for Maiko and possibly Evelyn). Judy became disillusioned with Night City and will always leave if her questline was finished, even if the player romanced her, while Kerry fell in deeper, becoming one of Night City's biggest stars. Judy supports her fellow Mox members and wants to help them lead better lives, while Kerry is openly antagonistic to Us Cracks and tries to sabotage their concert (though V can convince him to give them a chance).
- To River. Whereas Judy is a Hot-Blooded underground techie girl who, as Johnny put it, prefers to jump out a window than take the door and then "acts surprised when she got hurt" River is a quiet-voiced cop who makes sure he has a plan before going on the offensive. He's got his Hot-Blooded side, as all V's love interests do, but it tends not to show unless things get really personal.
- To Alt, in a similar way to how Rogue is one for Panam. Both Judy and Alt are (possible) love interests for V and Johnny repectively, and they're both highly tech-savvy (Judy with her braindance editing skills, and Alt with her netrunning and programming). They both want to change the world (Judy wants to help her friends at Clouds and Alt wants to revolutionize the world with Soulkiller), and their ideas lead to disaster (Judy has to leave Night City in disgrace after her coup fails, and Alt gets kidnapped and accidentally killed by Johnny). That said, whereas Judy is very emotional and prone to both anger and melancholy, Alt is quite stoic in comparison after living as an AI, though her actions on both the Voodoo Boys and Arasaka suggest she's not as emotionless as she presents herself.
Foreshadowing: When she first meets V and learns of Evelyn's plans, she tells them that when she looks at them, she sees two "walking, talking corpses" due to the stakes of the heist. Evelyn gets her brain fried and then commits suicide not long after, and prior to the release of Phantom Liberty V gets flatlined at the end of the heist, and either commits suicide themself, gets replaced by Johnny, or doesn't have much time left.
Gadgeteer Genius: She's a highly skilled technician, braindance editor and hobby roboticist.
Gayngster: Downplayed, as the Moxes aren't really a typical "gang", but they are classified as one in the game. Interestingly, she's the only available romance option that's explicitly stated to be a member of one of the gangs in Night City.
Gay Option: One of the same-sex romance options alongside Kerry, but only for a female V.
Hackette: She's the one who teaches V to navigate and edit Braindance feeds. Numerous sources praise her as one of the best Braindance editors in the city.
Has a Type: Maiko, Evelyn, V, the three women Judy fell for all seem to share a single personality trait. Raw unchecked ambition and unflinching refusal to be satisfied with their lot in life. Strong powerful women who are undeterred by circumstances and willing to relentlessly pursue their dreams, no matter what life throws at them really seem to be Judy's type through and through.
Happily Married: The Tower ending exclusive to Phantom Liberty. When V wakes up from their two-year-long coma, they learn Judy moved to Pittsburgh and married a woman named Bianca. She talks about her wife with love and fondness and asks a romanced V to not destroy her happy life by trying to get back together, which implies that she is happy with Bianca.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a set of black leather overalls as her main piece of clothing.
Hidden Depths:
- V can find a datashard in her apartment that contains her submission to a braindance editors' quarterly magazine in which she muses about the more philosophical aspects of the technology.
- She also has a shard titled "Bushido and Neopostmodernism" in her apartment, implying that she's interested in media analysis, cinema and movie directing.
- There's a stack of old vinyls in her home, with even Johnny, who until now wasn't very impressed with Judy, commenting that she's "got taste".
Hot-Blooded: She has a bit of a problem with impulse control, especially when she's under pressure and things aren't going the way she wants.
Implied Love Interest: For female V. She's the only love interest for female V introduced in the main story (River is relegated to a side mission), and pretty early in her line of sidequests Johnny can say that he can see the way "(Judy) is looking at (fem V)", and that it makes V feel all "mushy inside". While Judy isn't as involved in the endings, like Panam, she is the only other love interest who will leave together with V in "The Star" ending.
Incompatible Orientation: If male V flirts with her, she will be friendly in response, but clearly not flirting back. When she invites him to go diving with her, V can ask "is this a date?" to which she will respond that he's "not her type". He can also compliment how she looks in the diving outfit made out of spandex, to which she will answer "Don't go there, dude.", clearly not appreciating the comment.
Indy Ploy: By her own admission, coming up with thought-out plans is not one of her strong suits, so she prefers to improvise. It backfires on her badly during her questline. If you do what she wants by killing the Clouds' Tyger Claw bosses during the takeover, the Tygers' retaliation is swift and brutal, ultimately leading to Judy leaving Night City for good regardless of being romanced or not.
Intimate Marks: She has a cat tattoo on her groin, which can only be seen in the sex scene with her if romanced.
I Will Wait for You: Subverted. In The Tower ending, if V romanced Judy, they learn she got married during the two years they've been in a coma.
Leitmotif: "Bells of Laguna Bend". You can hear it multiple times during missions with her (when you find Evelyn in "Disasterpiece" and talk to her on the roof after "Both Sides, Now"), and variations of it play all throughout "Pyramid Song". She even hums it at one point during the quest. The melody apparently exists in-universe, it's called "Only you" by Etta Sorentino.
Lesbian Jock: Used to play street hockey with other kids when she was a child and remembers it fondly.
Living Emotional Crutch: It becomes increasingly clear that V, male or female, becomes this to her as her storyline progresses. She breaks completely in the ending where they commit suicide and takes it the hardest even above people who knew them longer like Misty or Viktor.
Love Cannot Overcome: Will leave V in any ending that isn't "The Star", because she can't cope with staying in Night City anymore and desperately wants to leave.
Loving Bully: During "Pyramid Song", she admits that, when she was a kid, she used to steal and hide the doll of a girl she had a crush on, because dolls are "lame" and she wanted to get some attention from her.
Missing Mom: Her mother died when she was very little. Judy admits to V she barely remembers her and whenever she looks at her picture, she sees a stranger.
My God, What Have I Done?: It's shown during "Pyramid Song" that she hasn't taken kindly to what becomes of Clouds, however much she tries hiding it. Whether or not V follows Maiko's plan, Judy considers it her fault for both conceiving the whole scheme and dragging them along for the ride.
Non-Action Girl: She does accompany V on missions a few times but makes it abundantly clear that she's not cut out for this kind of fieldwork, being more at home behind her computers. True enough, she only wields a weak smartgun that makes her virtually useless as an armed backup.
Named Weapons: She will give V a unique shotgun called "Mox" after they finish her questline. She never uses it in-game though.
Put on a Bus: If you complete her questline on the platonic route or choose to remain in Night City on the romantic route, Judy will leave Night City and depart to Oregon to live with her grandparents. If you take up the NUSA's offer, however, she's revealed to have moved to Pittsburgh and even married someone else over the Time Skip.
Queer Establishing Moment: Judy's sexuality is revealed when she off-handedly mentions that she used to be in love with her co-worker and new boss, Maiko Maeda. Reading the emails on Maiko's terminal reveals that she and Judy actually used to be a couple in the past.
Raised by Grandparents: During her and V's visit to Laguna Bend, she mentions that she used to be raised by her grandparents, with other kids teasing her for not having parents. She thinks fondly about them, owing to her grandpa her interest in tech and her temper to her grandma. Apparently, they've moved to Oregon and Judy still visits them sometimes, so their relationship has to be pretty strong.
Romance Sidequest: Judy is one of four romance options in the game and pursuing her requires completing an entire quest chain. Available for a female V.
Rough Overalls: Worn with one-strap nonetheless
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She has been planning to leave Night City for quite some time. Romancing her gives her a (temporary) reason to stay, but getting the bad end to her quest line makes her leave the city out of regret and disgust regardless. In the "Tower" ending, it's revealed that moved to Philadelphia during the Time Skip.
Shotguns Are Just Better: Although she never uses it herself in-game, the weapon she gives V when befriended is a unique Carnage shotgun called Mox that's stated to have belonged to her.
Smoking Hot Sex: Her and V share a cigarette during their sex scene.
Spicy Latina: Her background, sass, and impulsiveness check all the boxes, and the sultry part comes should she be romanced with V.
Storyboard Body: Several of her tattoos reference her life and experiences. She has a tattoo of the Moxes gang logo, as well as of the firetruck she fixed as a teen, and the 13 on her bicep references May 13th, the day Lizzie died and the Mox gang was created in response. There is one that references lyrics of "Pyramid Song" by Radiohead, which in the 2077 timeline would be over 75 years old and another that's a Ghost in the Shell reference.
Synchronization: She invents an entirely new BD scrolling method that combines the sensations and emotions of two different scrollers. When she and V test it in her last side quest, they discover they can pick up on each other's thoughts. This method also allows Judy to hear Johnny.
Tarot Motifs: Possibly "The Magician": The graffiti for it can be found outside of Lizzie's, where we first meet her. It represents inspired action, resourcefulness, power, great talent and confidence; reversed, it means manipulation, poor planning, untapped talents and immaturity. Judy is an incredibly talented BD editor who wants to organise a coup in the Clouds to better the life of the workers, but tends to be incredibly Hot-Blooded and doesn't really plan ahead. It's possible that the graffiti might reference Evelyn, or both of them.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Judy is quite a tomboy in comparison to the likes of Maiko or Evelyn, with her more masculine clothes, ways of carrying herself and a passion for tech and machines, but she still wears quite heavy makeup and has painted nails.
A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Played With. If you go with her plan, then the Tyger Claws will retaliate and one of the dolls joined up with you will die, which is of course really bad. On the other hand, going with Maiko will mean that the Dolls will be alive and Cloud will be stable, but Maiko treats them no better than before, and Judy wonders if it was even worth it.
The Tragic Rose: Has many rose tattoos and she's a pretty girl with a heart of gold who goes through tragedy after tragedy since childhood.
Tranquil Fury: If you choose to assassinate Woodman, she lets V do the talking and says nothing until she's had enough of Woodman's spiel. She only spits in disgust and pulls out her gun with a calm, contemptible one-liner.
Trauma Conga Line: As the above examples indicate, Judy does not make it through the game unscathed. Leaving Night City together with a romanced V in "The Star" ending prompts her to admit that this is the first time in her life that she's felt happy.
Vengeance Feels Empty: After V helps her rid the earth of Woodman, she slumps back into the elevator and finds no satisfaction in his death at all. V can either lampshade this trope, or console her into knowing he won't be hurting anyone else like he did Evelyn.
Wakeup Makeup: If romanced in the "The Sun" ending, she wakes up in her usual full makeup.
Wrench Wench: One of the email exchanges on her computer talks about how she fixed an abandoned firetruck when she was a teen.
Your Favorite: When you tell her what your favorite pizza topping is during the call before "Talkin Bout A Revolution", said pizza will be waiting for you when you get there for the mission.

Panam Palmer

"We got a handful of tents on a heap of sand. A hell of a promised land. I wanted something different, better."

Voiced by: Emily Woo Zeller (English), Małgorzata Kozłowska (Polish)^note

"The city of dreams. I'd gladly kick the balls off the idiot who thought that one up."

A Nomad merc who lives separately from her clan and runs gigs for Rogue, put in touch with V to help them find Anders Hellman.

Action Girl: Does gigs for Rogue and has no problems with taking up arms. She joins the action alongside V when they work together.
Aerith and Bob: Among V's companions, there's Saul, Mitch, Cassidy, Judy, Kerry, among others... and then we have Panam.
Alliterative Name: Panam Palmer.
Amicable Exes: Becomes this with V in "The Sun" ending. Despite separating due to mutual differences her message is very intimate and flirtatious and both of them promise to see the other again if V survives the Crystal Palace heist.
Anger Born of Worry: If V calls her during "The Devil" ending, she will be fuming with anger, that she later reveals was due to how worried about V she was.
Animal Motifs: A horse, like all the Aldecaldos, since a skeletal horse is their emblem and Panam has a patch with it sewn onto her top. Horses are usually a symbol of freedom, mirroring the Aldecaldos motto of "forever free". It applies twice as much to Panam, who's noted to be rebelious even for a Nomad.
Anti-Hero: She is not above pushing you into killing Nash Bane just because of her wounded pride, transporting for 6th Street, stealing corporate property or attacking their convoys without regards to possible casualties. Unlike Judy, who had only a peripheral (and non-violent) role in illegal activity, Panam's criminal records reveals some serious past crimes, like car theft and arson. Not only that, but the good ending for her questline consists of you helping her re-establish her clan as a successful international smuggling organisation.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: She and Saul are butting heads all the time, but deep down they both respect each other deeply even if they're both too proud and stubborn to admit it. It makes it all the more heartwarming when they finally bury the hatchet.
Badass Driver: Comes with the territory of being a nomad merc. In one mission, she has no problems with driving through the Badlands with a bulletgraze wound on her stomach.
Badass Normal: Compared to (possibly) V and the other Aldecaldos she doesn’t seem to have any cybernetics outside of her neural interface system. It doesn’t stop her from being a dangerous combatant who helps V fight Adam Smasher and an entire team of elite Arasaka agents and drones during "The Star" ending.
Battle Couple: Forms one with a romanced Male!V especially in "The Star" ending, where, after Saul lays down his life to blast a hole through Adam Smasher's gut, she fights alongside V to take down Adam Smasher (on top of about a dozen or so Arasaka guards and drones).
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Despite spending most of her life in the desert, in her sweltering car, or driving her sweltering car through the desert, Panam always rocks clean clothes and immaculate makeup, hair and skin. This hold true even when she switches her sealed car for a motorbike. The gunshot scar she picks up in her questline does very little to distract from her perpetually flawless looks, either.
Berserk Button: Dishonesty. Betraying her trust or going back on your word with her in any way, no matter how minor, is a good way to earn her undying hatred. While Nash making off with her car and goods was reason enough to piss her off, Panam took his betrayal especially personal because he was the one who helped her grow accustomed to Night City when she got there. If you screw up her sidequests, Panam will also come to hate V and cut off all contact with them permanently. One of the way you can screw up is by ratting out her plan to raid the Militech convoy and steal the Basilisk tank to Saul.
BFG: Her signature weapon is the Overwatch, a custom Techtronika Grad. The Grad is one of the largest human-portable weapons in the game, an enormous anti-materiel rifle that requires 10 Body to be wielded effectively, and the Overwatch is even bigger than the stock model thanks to its massive custom silencer.
Big "NO!": Screams this in reaction to Saul's grisly death by Adam Smasher during V and the Aldecaldos raid on the Arasaka building.
But Now I Must Go: Leaves Night City with the Aldecaldos in every ending, with the exception of Temperance where it's left unclear. This is the case regardless of if a male V has romanced her or not, as you can either leave with her and the Aldecaldos in the Star ending, or amicably split with her and promise to meet again in the Sun ending. The new ending added in Phantom Liberty similarly follows suit, but with the distinction of a very upset Panam not wanting anything more to do with V.
Can't Take Criticism: Downplayed. Panam gets very annoyed when people, including V, question her plans. This likely stems from Nash's betrayal and Saul's patronizing treatment of her. If you ask questions and express skepticism in the lead up to the Basilisk heist but agree to go with her anyway, she will be very confused but greatful.
Chekhov's Gunman: She's present in the Afterlife during V and Jackie's first visit. She goes on to become one of the most important characters in the game since one of the endings depends entirely on befriending her and completing her side quests.
Crazy Enough to Work: Along with Refuge in Audacity. Panam's ideas tend to resolve around application of such overwhelming force that no one sees it coming. She blows up an entire power station to bring down a single hovercraft, derails a convoy by driving a locomotive into its path, hijacks and fixes up a tank to defend her camp against the Wraiths' small-arms fire, and her plan to "infiltrate" Arasaka involves taking the entire Aldecaldo forces, a massive seismic drill, and aforementioned tank and slamming them all into the tower's basement.
Defrosting Ice Queen: She's initially cold towards V, especially when she learns that they're only helping her because of Rogue, who she thinks screwed her over by not telling her that Nash was a Raffen Shiv. She gradually warms up to them to the point of asking them for help and getting them involved in what would otherwise be Aldecaldos affairs.
Determinator: She simply does not give up once she has a goal in mind and she does not accept that V is living on borrowed time. She will find a way to save her friend/lover no matter what, which leads to the incredibly optimistic "The Star" ending. If V elects to kill themselves or dies in the suicide attack on Arasaka, she is absolutely pissed at them, giving them an earful in her farewell message because she feels like V gave up on her (or in the latter, considers their sacrifice to be selfish).
Developers' Desired Date: Played with. She's one of the four love interests in the game and shares the same level of importance as the rest of them (though like Judy, she's the only other romance option that it is mandatory to interact with during the main story). If you pursue her questline, however, you'll have the option of raiding Arasaka with the Aldecaldos and unlocking "The Star" ending, which while no less bittersweet than the "Temperance" and "The Sun" endings, is still better than "The Devil" or the 'path of least resistance'. Oh, and Johnny approves of her too.^note
Early-Bird Cameo: You can spot her arguing with Nash when you first visit Afterlife with Jackie in act I. She gets properly introduced in the middle of act II.
Earn Your Happy Ending: If V helps her then she buries the hatchet with Saul and rejoins the Aldecaldos, putting an end to her self-imposed exile. It's slightly Bittersweet in "The Star" ending since Saul and a few of her friends die during the Arasaka Tower assault but she pushes on regardless, especially if she romanced V.
Foil:
- She's all for standing up to corporations and making their life hell, has a fiery personality, enjoys being in the thick of it and has your back through thick and thin. She's to V what Rogue was to Johnny, especially if she's romanced. Probably explains why Johnny actually approves of V romancing her unlike the other love interests. It's also worth mentioning that if the player decides to raid Arasaka tower for their ending, they will either have a choice of doing this as Johnny (in V's body) and Rogue, or as V (as themselves) and Panam (not counting the "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" variant of the ending).
- To Kerry. Panam is new in Night City and doesn't seem to understand its ins and outs just yet, while Kerry is a well-recognised celebrity who made Night City his own and managed to stay afloat for over fifty years. Panam has a large family, the Aldecaldos (most notably Scorpion, Mitch and Saul), and while they have their misunderstandings, they're always ready to help and support eachother. Kerry, on the other hand, lives alone in a mansion, and seems desperate for company, and his old friends are either straight up avoiding him or are more like acquaintences. Panam will break up with V if he stays in Night City because she has her duty to the Aldecaldos, while Kerry breaks up with V if he decides to leave, because he still feels like he has something to prove to Night City. Both of them love V tremendously, but are bad at being upfront about it, so Panam tends to mask her worry with anger, while Kerry avoids talking about his true feelings straight up, prefering to meander and use indirect language.
- To Judy. Judy is an artistic, city-based Techie who doesn't like to fight on the frontlines. Panam is a nomad who is rarely in Night City, rushes to the frontlines, and only uses tech to blow things to hell. Both women nonetheless desire to leave Night City for good, both are incredibly reckless, and do far more damage than their male counterparts.
- To River. Both are very family-oriented, but Panam provides for the Aldecaldos by breaking the law, while River struggles with earning a living by upholding it. Panam has to leave Night City to keep her family safe and secure, while River has to stay, because leaving his sister and her kids would certainly make their lifes much more difficult. Panam is fiery, and shows her gentler nature only to people she knows well and trusts, while River is more calm and only really shows anger if he's pushed to it.
- To Goro Takamura. Both are formerly members of their respective groups held in high esteem, separated from them for their own reasons, but despite this, are still intensly loyal to their respective groups, and attempt to help them even if working from the outside, and especially by defying the current person in charge, to return their groups to the "old ways" they used to be. They also both hold personal honor in high regard, and react poorly when said honor is challenged or taken for granted. However, whereas Takamura was exiled from Arasaka because Yorinobu is trying to cover up his murder of Saburo, Panam left the Aldecaldos voluntarily because she could not stand working with Saul. Panam is also very progressive-minded, her beef with Saul being that he is stuck in his ways and refuses to take risks to keep the Aldecaldos independent, while Takamura is a staunch conservative, who sees the divergent ambitions of Yorinobu and his faction as a betrayal of Arasaka's ways (even setting aside Yorinobu's murder of his father).
Friendly Sniper: She wields Overwatch, the only suppressed sniper rifle in the game and a massive beast of a weapon. She gifts it to V after completing a bunch of her missions.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: She's the sniper support to a male V specced into melee combat.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Do not make Panam angry or you'll regret it. Easier said than done, though. Just ask Nash after he backstabbed her.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: Panam's relationship with a female V can basically be summed up as "sisters from another mister."
Hot-Blooded: So much so that V can actually criticize her for having a twitchy trigger finger and refusing to think things through.
I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: She falls hard for a male V and eventually admits to him she was afraid of acting on her feelings for fear of losing him entirely.
Implied Love Interest: For male V. Notable in that she is the love interest who can have by far the most impact on V. Helping her out leads to unlocking an extra ending. She is the only love interest who can join you for the final mission. She is the one most determined to help you get better and her ending involves you two building a future together, whether as friends or lovers, including a Hope Spot hinting that her family's contacts will finally fix V's head once and for all.
Incompatible Orientation: If female V puts the moves on her, Panam rather awkwardly weasels her way out of it and asks them to just be friends.
Indy Ploy: She specifically designs her plans to be adaptable, with plenty of room for improvisation if things go sideways, and she's very good at swinging into action when they do. The way she works to keep herself and V on top of the rapidly-escalating Disaster Dominoes of the Hellman kidnap mission is an excellent example of this.
Insufferable Genius: One of her main problems. She's a genuine tactical prodigy who's an invaluable asset to her clan, but getting people to see that past her cocky attitude and Hair-Trigger Temper is... challenging.
Interrupted Intimacy: A male V who does everything right can have sex with Panam in the cockpit of the Basilisk tank. But the Wraiths unfortunately choose this moment to mount an attack on the Aldecaldos, forcing the duo to reluctantly stop and bring the Basilisk to bear on the bastards.
The Lad-ette: Happy to booze, curse, and shoot up camps of scavs with V.
"Leave Your Quest" Test: Downplayed. After resolving the Basilisk plotline and burying her carbine with Saul, she'll give one of these to V, asking them to join the Aldecaldos and leave with them, unaware that V is slowly dying. On V's part, they don't have an option to accept, with the best answer pretty much being along the lines of, "Maybe once I tie up my loose ends here in the city," but they don't even get that far, since a Relic attack cuts V off mid-sentence and sends them into a seizure. This causes Panam to make V tell her what's going on, and indirectly leads to Panam and the Aldecaldos deciding to help V get to Mikoshi in the endgame.
Leitmotif: "Outsider No More" plays during your stay at the makeshift motel and when she and V overlook Night City in "The Star" ending.
Living Is More than Surviving: The root of her problems with Saul's leadership. Saul makes decisions that keep the clan alive, but at the cost of slowly, but surely handing over power to the Wraiths and corpos. Panam wants to take these enemies apart so the clan can thrive, rather than just survive.
Locked Out of the Loop:
- In the "Temperance" ending, alongside Rogue. She is not aware that V gave Johnny their body willingly and instead believes he took over their body by force, which has her swear she'll hunt him down and kill him herself for revenge.
- In the "Tower" ending, she's the companion who takes V's unexpected two year coma the hardest, to the point of cutting off all contact with them and refusing to return their calls. Mitch will later contact V and say that while he's glad they're alive and well, they should just stay away from the Aldecaldos going forward.
Love Cannot Overcome: Will leave V in any ending that isn't "The Star", because she can't stay in Night City and abandon the Aldecaldos who she's responsible for now. However, her attitude towards V is still very intimate and flirtatious, and they promise to see each other again, showing that the seperation was out of necessity than falling out of love, and there's hope they will reunite again.
- Played very much straight in Phantom Liberty's The Tower ending. During the two years V spent in a coma, Panam and the Aldecaldos left Night City for parts unknown. Whether you romanced her or not, Panam took V's disappearance hard, and even learning about their predicament doesn't change how she wants absolutely nothing to do with V anymore.
Making Love in All the Wrong Places: Panam and V consummate their relationship in a tank of all places.
Male Gaze: Her bikini model body and formfitting pants, coupled with her frequently walking in front of V in her missions, is just asking the player to stare at her butt for minutes on end. There's one mission where she ascends a long winding staircase, again in front of V and with her posterior conveniently at eye level the whole time. Hell, her very first mission introduces her butt-first while she's trying to fix up her car's engine. The fan community of course took note and began joking that "Follow Panam" is the most popular mission objective in the game.
Meaningful Name: "Panam" is shorthand for "Pan-American", which, along with being a defunct airline company that operated across the globe, can literally be translated to "Across America"; and she's a member of a nomad group who travels all across the country looking for work and wares to sell.
Mistaken for Flirting: She gets very comfortable around V very fast, such as resting her feet on V's thighs when they sit on the same sofa. If female V interprets it as flirting and reciprocates, things get very awkward.
Mood-Swinger: Can go from playful and jokey to snappish and sullen on a dime, especially if someone's questioning her plans. She's also quick to panic if something goes wrong during a mission, but immediately returns to a focused professional once the problem's fixed.
Ms. Fanservice: She's easy on the eyes, and the game goes out of its way to give you opportunities to appreciate that via subjecting her to Male Gaze.
Named Weapons: Her sniper rifle is called "Overwatch". She will give it to V as a reward for completing her questline.
Nonstandard Character Design: Inverted, in a sense. In a world where pretty much everyone is visibly augmented, Panam sticks out by not having any obvious cyberware installed in her body. The only chrome she's shown to have is the usual neural interface system.
Platonic Life-Partners: Towards Scorpion and Mitch. Also towards a male V if she's not romanced.
Put on a Bus: If you finish her questline so that she becomes a second leader to the Aldecaldos, or romance her and decide to stay in Night City, Panam will always leave Night City to lead the Aldecaldos.
Race Lift: An interesting, regional example; in the European Spanish version Panam's voice is provided by a Mexican voice actress that uses her native jargon, swears and colloquialisms, much like Judy. This, coupled with Panam's feisty personality, would make her a Spicy Latina.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- If V starts the mission to go save Saul from the Raffens but decides to go do something else, they'll receive a scathing message from Panam telling them that she'll never talk to them again and hope that they'll be betrayed just like they betrayed her.
- If V decides to kill themselves, Panam (regardless of your relationship) will chew them out for basically making her efforts in vain.
- If V decides to give their body to Johnny, Panam's last message will be a hate-filled promise to come after Johnny for betraying them and to save V even if she needs to rip them out of Johnny's head.
- She doesn't mince her words if V calls her during "The Devil" ending, though she does reveal that it was mostly due to Anger Born of Worry.
- In the "With A Little Help From My Friends" quest, it is possible to do this to her. If V refuses to help her, and also rats Panam out to Saul, she will call V in anger at being betrayed. V can choose to shut her down by telling her she is going through with a terrible plan that risks the entire clan purely to play into her rivalry with Saul. After that, all she can really do is hang up in anger.
Rebellious Spirit: Played With. She dislikes following Rogue or her clan leader's orders, but she has pretty good reasons for doing so. Rogue's orders may lead to making a buck, but Rogue left out vital information that lead to her getting betrayed by a partner in a previous gig. Her clan leader, Saul, makes decisions that take on the symptoms of the clan's problems, rather than the problems themselves. As a result, eventually Saul makes Panam his co-leader, whe he realizes she was right all along.
Revenge: Don't double cross her. Just ask Nash. She also vows to hunt down and kill Johnny for what she thinks he did to V in the end credits for the "Temperance" ending.
Romance Sidequest: Panam is one of the main four romance options, available for a male V.
Scars Are Forever: She's wounded at the hip during a mission and will have a visible scar for the rest of the game as a result.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: She's constantly at odds with her clan leader Saul because she follows this mindset without giving two shits about his opinion on the matter.
Smarter Than They Look: At first glance, she's an arrogant young hothead who's mainly interested in finding creative ways to get herself killed, and that's what a fair number of the characters who meet her write her off as. Anyone who looks a little closer, though, will find a keen tactical and strategic mind that can plan a path through even the wildest adventures and adapt effectively whenever things go wrong. Most of her story is about V helping patch up her relationship with her clan so they can realise what an enormous asset she can be to them.
Synchronization: She and V have to do this at one point, to pilot a Basilisk, and if you romance her this is where the sex scene occurs. Do the math.
Tarot Motifs:
- "Strength". You can find the corresponding graffiti in the shipping yard you meet her for the first time. It symbolises inner strength, courage, compassion, persuasion, influence, taming emotion, overcoming self-doubt, hard work and focus; reversed, it means self-doubt, low energy, raw emotion, vulnerability, lack of confidence, feeling inadequate and low self-esteem. Panam is an incredibly headstrong woman who's determined to prove herself in Night City. She's also completely new in it and doesn't quite knows the ropes. She's worried that Saul was right about her not being able to handle Night City, and she will be forced to come back to the Aldecaldos and admit that she was wrong.
- Possibly "Wheel Of Fortune". You find it near the Sunset Motel, a location that features prominently in many missions with her. It represents good luck, karma, life cycles, destiny, a turning point, changes and soul mates; reversed, it can mean bad luck, resistance to change, breaking cycles, misfortune, losing control, setback and disruption. Her relationship with V is what allows them to see that there is an alternative for them outside of Night City.
To Absent Friends: If you tell her about Jackie, she will quietly raise a toast in his name during the Aldecaldos campfire in "A Little Help From My Friends".
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: While Panam is a mercenary Lad-ette Action Girl, she has painted nails, heavy makeup on her eyes and her hair is kept in a pretty complicated and ornamental bun.
Undying Loyalty: Towards the ones she cares about, especially V. The moment she learns about the Relic and how it's killing V, she immediately starts thinking of a way to save their life. She succeeds and rallies the Aldecaldos for a raid against Arasaka.
Unresolved Sexual Tension: If romanced, she and V will want each other, but she simultaneously wants to take things slow and is too afraid of losing what they currently have to risk a Relationship Upgrade. It's ultimately subverted in the final mission of her questline where they go at it in a tank.
Verbal Tic: When speaking she tends to avoid using contractions, causing her to sound slightly like someone from the Old American West. She doesn't always hold to this convention, but she does it often enough for it to be noticeable and distinctive.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: If the player enters into a romance with Panam, she becomes fiercely protective. In "The Star" ending, when V tells her they're dying, Panam leads the Aldecaldos on a suicidal raid on Arasaka in the slim hope that V's condition can be fixed.
Wakeup Makeup: In the "The Sun" ending, she's shown taking her morning shower with full eye makeup.
Wrecked Weapon: Indirectly. A curious Running Gag of her questline is that whenever she puts you behind a mounted machinegun, it will break down at an inconvenient moment, requiring you and her to either fix it or abandon it.
Wrench Wench: As a Nomad, Panam posesses at least some knowledge about cars, and we first meet her proper when she's working on a car she borrowed.
You Are in Command Now: With Saul dead, Panam becomes the de-facto leader of the Aldecaldos in "The Star" ending.
Youthful Freckles: She has quite a lot of them, likely due to how much time she spends in the blistering heat of the Badlands, and she's easily one of the most youthful characters in the game, due to her drive, energy, and rebelliousness.

River Ward

"A good ninety percent of any detective's job is talking."

Voiced by: Robbie Daymond (English), Jan Aleksandrowicz-Krasko (Polish)^note

A hard-boiled NCPD detective, one of the very few with an intact moral compass in all of Night City.

Artificial Limbs: His right arm and left eye are cybernetic.
Badass Longcoat: Easily the most iconic part of his outfit.
Badass Native: One of the holo-text conversations he has with V indicates that he and his family have Native American ancestry, specifically of the Pomo tribe which were indigenous to California, though he also notes that he's lost touch with his roots in the generations since. He is, however, certainly up-to-date on his Badass Credentials.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: A tall, muscular man with a cybernetic eye, willing to use violence to push the case he's working on forward. He's also a caring uncle and brother, devoted to keeping the citizens of Night City safe and is incredibly sweet when confessing his love to V.
By-the-Book Cop: Played with. He would be this in most circumstances, but the book he's playing by doesn't exist any more, and may never have existed. Unlike 99% of the NCPD, including his own partner, he’s an honest and well-meaning cop. It actually gets him kicked off the force and he chooses to be a Private Detective instead.
Character Death: Uniquely among V's love interests, River can actually die during his questline. Skipping out of the mission to rescue his nephew will result in him staging a one-man assault on the kidnapper's farm, only to get shredded by the place's automated defenses. It's by far the worst Downer Ending of any Romance Sidequest in the game.
Cool Uncle: His sister's kids are always excited when he visits.
Early-Bird Cameo: Downplayed and completely optional; Net 54 does a news story on the cyberpsycho attack that leads to the questline that introduces River, and River is named in the story as having saved the Mayor's life, though the network doesn't show a picture of him.
Earn Your Happy Ending:
- Just like many of V's friends, if V helps him out with his quest chain then he reconciles with his family, saves his nephew from a Serial Killer and quits the very corrupt NCPD to start anew as a Private Investigator specializing in kidnappings.
- Ironically, later patches would make it easier to fail River's quest by allowing the player to exit Harris' braindances without picking up all of the clues to identify the location where his victims were being kept - originally, the game would keep the player locked into the recordings until every clue had been found.
Electronic Eyes: His left eye is a prosthetic.
Face of a Thug: At first glance his bulky physique, shady clothes, and scarred face (complete with a very obvious cybernetic eye replacement) makes him look like someone you wouldn't want to meet him alone in a dark alley under any circumstance, but he's actually a very decent man, especially by Night City standards.
Foil:
- To Judy. Whereas Judy is a Hot-Blooded underground techie girl who, as Johnny put it, prefers to jump out a window than take the door and then "act surprised when she got hurt" River is a quiet-voiced cop who makes sure he has a plan before going on the offensive. He's got his Hot-Blooded side, as all V's love interests do, but it tends not to show unless things get really personal.
- To Kerry. River is a By-the-Book Cop who strives for upholding the law, while Kerry is more than happy to break it, be it through arson, theft, threatening people at gunpoint or blowing things up. Both are Hot-Blooded, but River tends to come off as the more calm and easygoing, and only gets angry if things get personal, while Kerry is definitely more prone to anger, and shows off his more introspective and sensitive side to those he knows well. River serves as a father figure of sorts for his sister's kids, while Kerry is an absent parent to his own kids.
- To Panam. Both are very family-oriented, but Panam provides for the Aldecaldos by breaking the law, while River struggles with earning a living by upholding it. Panam has to leave Night City to keep her family safe and secure, while River has to stay, because leaving his sister and her kids would certainly make their lives much more difficult. Panam is fiery, and shows her gentler nature only to people she knows well and trusts, while River is more calm and only really shows anger if he's pushed to it.
Hand Cannon: His weapon, Crash, is a customised full-auto version of the Malorian Arms Overture, a behemoth of a pistol that serves as the game's resident magnum revolver. As the name suggests, it makes up for its slow rate of fire by hitting like a traffic accident.
Happy Ending Override: The Tower ending exclusive to Phantom Liberty has River reveal that he's gotten in deep trouble two years after V fell in a coma. If V helped him on his personal quest, he reveals that, to pay for Randy's rehab, he abandoned his honor and became a mole for Trauma Team, and got caught selling classified NCPD info. As a result, he's now on the run from the law and is so ashamed that he cannot bear to meet up with V.
Hard Boiled Detective: Badass Longcoat? Check. Massive revolver? Check. Jaded and cynical? Check. Willing to go to any length to see justice served? You bet.
Hot-Blooded: A running theme among V's love interests, as it seems. River means well but tends to be too impulsive for his own good, especially when things get personal. How well that ends for him comes down to V's influence.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: About a head taller and much more muscular than female V.
Hunk: Handsome and very muscular. Let's just say..."woof."
In Spite of a Nail: If the player fails to thoroughly analyse Harris' braindance recordings, it's possible for V and River to head to the wrong location when they head out to find Randy. Heading to the wrong farm results in a firefight with the Wraiths, and the duo getting to the correct farm too late to save all but one of Harris' victims, with Randy as one of the casualties.
It's Personal: He's dedicated to finding the victims of the serial killer during his questline; one of them is his nephew. After saving them, River seriously considers killing Harris in spite of the fact that he's both catatonic and in police custody; if V and River fail to save Randy, he goes through with it.
The Last DJ: Played with. River is certainly a classic old-school hero cop in a world with no interest in such things, but it's unclear whether that 'old school' ever existed in the first place outside of pulp fiction and propaganda. Whatever the case, his worldview is completely incompatible with the NCPD in its present state.
Locked Out of the Loop: The voicemail he sends in the "Temperance" ending after being romanced plays this straight with him being confused as to V's whereabouts and pleading with them to call him back, not knowing that Johnny has taken over V's body. However, if the player chooses to tell him about the biochip, viewing the messages on V's phone reveals that it's actually a subversion. He spams messages pleading for V to answer his calls at first, but manages to piece together the details, with his final message reading "Johnny...? Just one call, you owe me that much".
Love Cannot Overcome: Will break up with V in "The Star" ending, because he can't leave his family or his duty to the city behind to look for the cure with her. Implied to be subverted in his credits message, however, as it turns out he and V keep in touch and are still on very good terms, even going so far as to say he wants to try and visit V sometime once home life is settled some more.
Manly Man: He's about as hyper-masculine as a character can get without diving straight into parody - a massive, ruggedly handsome Hard Boiled Detective with a shaved head and intimidating-looking cybernetic implants who wears a heavy leather overcoat over sleeveless top, uses a full-auto Hand Cannon as his weapon, and drives a huge Thorton Mackinaw pickup truck. Even his dietary choices are stereotypically manly - either burgers at the local diner or jambalaya cookouts at home with plenty of beer.
Meaningful Name: "Ward" basically means "to protect", befitting a By-the-Book Cop that River is. "River" also fits: rivers are either associated with tranquility or with aggressive rapids; River is a very calm, friendly, and composed man, but he's also Hot-Blooded and not afraid of using force when necessary. Doubles as an Ironic Name, since his family lives out in the dry, arid Badlands.
More Dakka: His iconic revolver's special trait is a full-auto firing mode, making it the only revolver in the game with such a feature. Its usefulness is debatable, though.
Named Weapons: His unique revolver is called "Crash". He'll give it to V if they finish his questline.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: He looks a lot like Kanye West.
Real Men Cook: His romance quest begins with River inviting V over for dinner with his sister's family. V can assist him in preparing the meal, with the result apparently being leagues ahead of what his sister would've done with the ingredients.
Real Men Wear Pink: River is a loving uncle and a caring brother, loves to cook (and he's quite good at it) and wears a lot of ornamental jewelry.
Revolvers Are Just Better: He wields a unique automatic Overture revolver called Crash that he passes on to V after his questline is concluded.
Romance Sidequest: A romance route for female V.
Seen It All: When V kills themselves in the 'path of least resistance' ending, River mentions a partner who also killed himself, Jamie Sheen. The fact that he doesn't seem incredibly upset heavily implies that he's witnessed other suicides and no longer finds them surprising.
White Sheep: One of only two non-corrupt cops V encounters in Night City, River does his best to do what a cop is supposed to do while the rest of his colleagues do what the corpos tell them. Unsurprisingly, his career with the NCPD doesn't last long after his and V's first meeting.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Believes that his job as a police officer is to solve crimes, track down criminals, and protect the general public. This hasn't been true in Night City for decades, if it ever was in the first place. A major part of his character arc is realising this and finding other ways to do what he actually wants to do.

Mama Welles

Guadalupe Alejandra Welles

Voiced by: Krizia Bajos

Jackie's mom, Mama Welles is a highly influential figure in Heywood who runs El Coyote Cojo.

Anger Born of Worry: In "The Star" ending where V leaves Night City with the Aldecaldos nomads, Mama Welles initially lambasts V for their perceived recklessness, though she quickly calms down and asks them to stay safe before telling them to visit her every now and again.
Cool Old Lady: Aside from being a well-respected bar owner in the gang-infested Glen subdistrict, she cares a lot for V and does not resent them for being involved in Jackie's dangerous merc activities or for being the only survivor of the heist that got Jackie killed.
Early-Bird Cameo: You don't get a chance to interact with her before Act 2, but she is briefly seen in the Time-Passes Montage following the prologue, apparently being visited by Jackie (and V) between gigs. Also, if the Streetkid lifepath is chosen, then the game begins at her bar and she can be seen speaking to some people about making peace with someone (implied to be Jackie), though the player can't interact with her.
Everyone Calls Her "Barkeep": The patrons of El Coyote Cojo all call her "Mama Welles", with few ever calling her by her actual name Guadalupe.
Love-Obstructing Parents: Mama Welles never approved of Jackie dating Misty, even calling her "the girl Jackie fooled around with". According to Misty, this is because she preferred Jackie's last girlfriend Carmilla over her despite Jackie having broken things off with his old output. If V convinces Mama Welles to give Misty a chance and to actually get to know her, she eventually comes around.
Outliving One's Offspring: She had other children besides Jackie, all of whom she has outlived. The Konpeki Plaza heist robs her of her last son, leaving her a depressed wreck.
Replacement Goldfish: After Jackie's offrenda, if V calls Misty and asks how she's getting along with Mama Welles after convincing the latter to get to know Misty, she says they are getting along. That said, Misty also makes it clear Mama Welles is using her as this to help deal with Jackie's death, even feeding her roasted chicken despite knowing Misty doesn't eat meat.
Uncertain Doom: In "The Tower" ending, according to some thugs, El Coyote is no longer in business.

Johnny's Friends

Rogue Amendiares

"Anyways... feelings be damned, I've always said. This is pure biz. You need my help, so get those eddies ready."

^{Click here to see Rogue in 2023}

Voiced by: Jane Perry (English), Laura Breszka (Polish)^note

An old flame of Johnny's and one of the best mercs Night City has ever seen, Rogue is now the "Queen of Fixers" based out of the Afterlife club in Watson.

Action Girl: She was one of the members of the original Arasaka Tower raid crew and has no problems with picking up arms again, even if she mostly works as a fixer nowdays. "The Sun" ending has her join Johnny for a reprise of the original Arasaka Tower raid.
Action Mom: "The Sun" ending reveals that she has a son. Doesn't stop her from working as Night City's best fixer and going to raid the Arasaka Tower with Johnny.
- Mike Pondsmith has said that her son is most-likely Trace Santiago, a Media first appearing in the Cyberpunk Red core book, one of the edgerunners in the Black Dog short story near the back of the book. It's not considered fully-canon as yet as Mike hasn't worked out how to introduce it in the story yet. There is, however, a photo of him and his crew behind the Afterlife's bar in 2077 as an easter egg.
Ambiguously Bi: The only person she's ever shown attracted to was Johnny, but she's willing to have sex with him in V's body regardless of their gender (though it's hard to say if this is indicative of her sexuality, or more of a If It's You, It's Okay kind of situation, because she cares more about the fact that it's Johnny in control of the body). There's also this line she can say to a female V when she says that she wants to capture the Kang Tao transport with Hellman onboard:
Rogue: Got 'nads on you, girl. Don't like that on every woman, but they seem to suit you.
Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Alt's Veronica. Rogue may have been a merc, but she was the more stable and reliable relationship in Johnny's life. She was also more similar to him in terms of lifestyle and philosophy.
Broken Pedestal: Whatever trust she had in Johnny is completely lost in the "Temperance" ending, if you chose not to enlist her in Arasaka Tower raid. She believes that Johnny coerced and/or tricked V into giving up their body rather than it being their choice and tells Johnny that she never wants to see him in Night City again with the implicit threat that she'll kill him otherwise.
Casting Gag: Her English voice actress, Jane Perry, has something of a history voicing the handlers of superhuman assassins.
Character Death: Dies if her help is enlisted for the assault on Arasaka Tower for "The Sun" path.
Contralto of Strength: She has a distinctive deep voice. She's also a ruthless, cunning fixer - and fighter.
Cool Car: Night City's top fixer naturally has to have one of Night City's top rides. Hers is a unique emerald-green custom Quadra 66 (a high-performance muscle car that's been an icon among edgerunners and street racers for twenty years) called the 'Mistral'.
Cool Old Lady: The first time V and Jackie come to Afterlife has Jackie praising her as the best fixer in Night City and mentioning that she worked as a fixer way back when Dexter DeShawn was still a kid. Her combat skills also haven't dulled with age as she proves in a late game side mission and "The Sun" ending.
Dying Moment of Awesome: In "The Sun" ending she goes out damaging Adam Smasher with a grenade.
Early-Bird Cameo: Jackie and V spot her during their first visit in the Afterlife. We also see her in one of Johnny's memories at the start of act II. She's properly introduced around the half of it.
Edgy Backwards Chair-Sitting: Sits like this after V wakes up after Johnny's bender in "Chippin' In".
Expository Hairstyle Change: She used to have a blue mullet in 2023. In 2077, her hair is still long, but it looks more like a classical cut, and is grey, to show that she's matured into the "Queen Of The Fixers".
Hidden Depths:
- Gig "The Union Strikes Back" reveals that she sometimes works pro bono for people in a bad life situation who can't afford the help of fixers. In this case, she decides to help workers at large that try to act collectively from the predations of a private contractor group called C-team that specializes in violent union-busting by putting out a hit job on the outfit's boss.
- If you've adopted Nibbles the cat during the game, she shows up in Rogue's end game call in "The Tower" ending, and V has texts on their phone from their landlord about someone buying Nibbles after they were exmitted for not paying rent. This means that Rogue not only bought out Nibbles, but she also looked after her for the two years V was in the coma.
Honorary Aunt: In the description for the gig "Family Heirloom" she reveals that Nancy's/Bes Isis' son, Dan, used to call her "auntie" when he was a kid.
If It's You, It's Okay: By all accounts she's only ever been attracted to men but she's perfectly willing to sleep with Johnny inhabiting a female V and backs off for unrelated reasons to V's gender. Presumably she's focusing more on the male Johnny being in control than the body he's actually inhabiting.
Interclass Friendship: She's likely much more wealthy than V (if the lifestyle V can afford in the "The Sun" ending is anything to go by), but they can become friends.
Intergenerational Friendship: With V, who is about 50 years younger than her. Also with Weyland, especially since it's implied she was friends with his father.
Kindhearted Cat Lover: Well, as "kindhearted" as Night City's Greatest Fixer can be- she's far from soft, but she has her more emotional and nicer side too. She demonstrates it during "The Tower" ending if V adopted Nibbles the cat- turns out that Rogue bought her out and looked after her for two years when V was in a coma.
Living Legend: She's considered one of the premier legends of Night City as an Edgerunner involved in some of the biggest events of the setting and surviving long enough to retire, effectively being one of the few true "winners" in a lifestyle where most can simply hope to go out in a blaze of glory. As she admits, this came at the price of selling out to Arasaka in the past.
Locked Out of the Loop: If she's alive in the "Temperance" ending, she's unaware that V gave Johnny their body willingly and of their own volition in spite of Johnny's protests, and as a result, like Panam, she believes he either tricked or coerced V into doing so.
Named Weapons: Has a unique assault rifle called "Prejudice" and a custom pistol called "Pride".
Not Enough to Bury: The grenade explosion she triggers to damage Adam Smasher completely vaporizes her, leaving behind only her Iconic pistol "Pride."
Meaningful Name: "Rogue" as an adjective means "behaving in ways that are not expected, authorised or not normal, often in a way that causes damage". Rogue used to run with Johnny Silverhand and was a part of the Arasaka Tower raid crew, causing massive property damage and civilian casualties. She's also the best fixer in Night City, often dabbling in less than savory business.
Older Than They Look: She's around 80 years old, but thanks to cybernetic surgery and extremely advanced medicine being commonplace by 2077, she only looks about 50 or so. It helps to be the biggest Fixer in the city, as she’s probably wealthy enough to extend her youth far beyond natural means indefinitely.
Red Baron: Is known throughout Night City as "The Queen of Fixers".
Redemption Equals Death: After Johnny died, Rogue ended up working with Adam Smasher and the Corps during her rise to power as queen of the Afterlife. She regrets it and ultimately dies at the hands of Smasher during the Arasaka Tower raid during "The Sun" ending, inflicting heavy damage on him and leveling the playing field for Johnny's long awaited rematch with him.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Most characters have Occult Blue Eyes when they interface with tech, but hers glow red (presumably due to her packing unusually old and/or unusually high-end cyberware). She's neither evil nor antagonistic, but it makes her look suitably intimidating as the deadly, ruthless queen of Night City's underworld.
Retired Badass: While she's still active as "The Queen of Fixers" by 2077, Rogue has otherwise retired from being an Edgerunner, being notably one of the only ones who lived long enough to retire at all. She's still more than capable of handling herself as an old woman, however.
Silver Fox: Eighty years old and with grey hair and still looking good (though it's probably at least partially thanks to cybernetics and anti-aging treatments).
Simple, yet Opulent: She favours this aesthetic, as opposed to the ostentatious glitz of lesser fixers. Her car, her guns, her chrome, and her outfits are all obviously high-quality, but not absolutely top-shelf, bleeding-edge tech or slathered in gold plate and unnecessary decoration like the Conspicuous Consumption of Dino or Dex.
Something Only They Would Say: V allows Johnny to take over their body in order to prove to Rogue that the rockerboy is inhabiting V's head via the biochip. Somewhat interestingly, it is implied it wasn't so much what Johnny said while in V's body but how he acted; Rogue explicitly says that there is no way she would have mistook Johnny for V due to the sheer difference in behavior between the two, regardless of their appearance.
Still Got It: She was a legendary mercenary in her youth, and she's just as comfortable fighting by V's side in her 80's.
Tarot Motifs: "The Empress". You can find the coresponding graffiti near the Afterlife club. It represents the feminine, beauty, nature, nurturing, creativity, fertility and sexuality; reversed, it symbolises creative block, dependence on others, and losing your power due to putting too much energy into the affairs of others. Rogue is referred to as "The Queen of Afterlife/fixers" multiple times during the story. The last reverse meaning might relate to her selling out to the corps for power, but losing her principles and self-respect in the process.
Undying Loyalty: To Johnny. Even if he was a narcissistic jerkass who cheated on her with multiple women she still helped him out despite her vocal complaints. Even after 50 years, despite her reluctance, she can choose to help him attack Arasaka tower - and burn up all of her bridges and influence in the process - just because he asked. She pays for it with her life.
Youthful Freckles: Had them when she was young and still has them today, likely to show that despite her age she's just as capable of kicking ass as she was in 2013 and 2023.

Alt Cunningham

Altiera "Alt" Cunningham

"You can be such a bastard sometimes, Johnny."

^{Click here to see Alt in the net (SPOILERS)}

Voiced by: Alix Wilton Regan (English), Marta Markowicz (Polish)^note

A netrunner for the ITS corporation and Johnny's on-off girlfriend back in 2013, whose death was the reason for his two assaults on Arasaka Tower. Considered one of the best netrunners of her time.

She is also the original creator of the Soulkiller program, one of its victims, and by 2077, one of the highly dangerous A.I.s behind the Blackwall.

Adaptational Modesty: Most of her art from the tabletop game shows her in lingerie (since she was a model in that continuity), but her main outfit in the game is a leather jacket, white tank top, long jeans and boots.
Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Cyberpunk 2077 depicts Johnny and Alt's romance as more of an on-and-off/friends with benefits situation, whereas in the original TTRPG they were in a more firmly established relationship.
Adaptational Villainy: The game makes Alt a mysterious and threatening figure when her AI version was always an ally to both humane AI as well as humanity as a whole.
Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: By the time you meet her, Alt has already spent fifty years as a digital being, and is now more akin to an ascended data 'spirit' than a human being.
Assist Character: She takes over Arasaka's security systems and has their drones gun down their human staff while frying others.
Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Rogue's Betty. While she was no merc like Rogue, Alt was the woman who consistently called Johnny out on his behavior and challenged him at every turn, which is one of the reasons Johnny fell for her so hard. She was a glamorous, corporate netrunner who didn't really believe in changing the world. In other words, everything Johnny was not. Fittingly, Johnny loses her for good, whereas the more familiar Rogue is still alive 50 years later.
Conspicuous Consumption: Biosculpting to look more beautiful and a white gold cyberarm.
Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Uploading her brain to the dark 'net has eaten away at her empathy, leaving her merciless against her enemies. She participates in the brain-frying of the Voodoo Boys (and likely would have done the same to V had she not detected Johnny with them), slaughters non-combatant personnel at Arasaka Tower (including Hanako), and hacks their other security systems and features including a space station to death. Mind you, it's hard to blame her given the way Arasaka treated her.
Digitized Hacker: A textbook example. She is permanently trapped inside cyberspace by Silverhand's premature disconnection.
Dramatic Irony: The Voodoo Boys sought to contact Alt Cunningham to join with her against humanity in an upcoming Robot War. Alt Cunningham helped Netwatch create the Blackwall along with the Transcendental A.I.s.
The Faceless: Alt's AI form obscures where her face would be, further adding to how unnerving she comes across.
Foreshadowing: Despite Alt claiming that her current AI form has long shed much of her humanity, there's a noticeable tinge of palpable spite in her voice when both speaking to Johnny and talking about Arasaka. It's a hint not only that her personality is still intact, but also of how her brain-frying rampage at Mikoshi is all too personal.
A Form You Are Comfortable With: When interacted with she retain the appearance of Alt, and she says it's because it's a form that both V and Johnny are familiar with.
Foil:
- To Judy, in a similar way to how Rogue is one for Panam. Both Judy and Alt are (possible) love interests for V and Johnny respectively, and they're both very tech-savvy (Judy with her braindance editing skills, and Alt with her netrunning and programming). They both want to change the world (Judy wants to help her friends at Clouds and Alt wants to revolutionize the world with Soulkiller), and their ideas lead to disaster (Judy has to leave Night City in disgrace after her coup fails, and Alt gets kidnapped and accidentally killed by Johnny). Whereas Judy is very emotional and prone to both anger and melancholy, Alt is quite stoic in comparison, and completely loses her humanity after living as an AI.
- To So Mi/Songbird in Phantom Liberty. Both of them are seen as the most talented netrunners of their respective generations. Just like Alt, So Mi even helped create an AI program that captures and rips apart the minds of any netrunners unlucky enough to be caught in its grasp. Both women are also willing to go to extreme lengths to achieve their objectives, though So Mi doesn't have any lingering personal connections that would otherwise convince her to be more upfront and trustworthy, lying to everyone if it means she can be free. Note that while Alt has lost much of her humanity since fleeing into the net, she's still cordial and willing to help V because of their association with Johnny. Whereas So Mi progressively becomes more of a hollow shell in a way that makes even Alt seem human by comparison.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a leather jacket, leather gloves and boots in Johnny's memories.
Hoist by Their Own Petard:
- She was the original creator of the Soulkiller program, and wound up one of its victims.
- In all but the "Devil", "The Reaper", and "Tower" endings, she's a key player in the destruction of Arasaka, thanks to all the powers she gained as an AI, which would not have happened if Arasaka didn't kidnap her.
Ink-Suit Actor: Her model looks precisely like that of her VA, Alix Wilton Regan.
It's Personal: Her indiscriminate rampage on Arasaka personnel at Mikoshi strongly suggests that she never forgave the MegaCorp for what they forced her to do.
Kick the Dog: When she takes over Mikoshi she kills everyone inside including the non-combatants. V or Johnny (depending on who's in control), along with their allies, express shock and disapproval at this.
Leitmotif: Blackwall
Logical Weakness: Being a known threat to Arasaka means that Alt's been unable to get past its formidable ICE and netrunning defenses even with all her power as a posthuman AI from beyond the Blackwall. Alt even says their defenses literally have her name written on them, with Johnny comparing it to a tailor-made jumpsuit, hence why V is key to her being able to make it into Mikoshi.
Loss of Identity: Subverted. By 2077, Alt has seemingly become much more cold, detached and alien as an AI entity. There are hints, however, that this is at least partially an act she's deliberately playing up, and that her original personality is still very much alive.
The Lost Lenore: Johnny never got over her death. 10 years after her passing he leads another assault on Arasaka to avenge her. "Never Fade Away" is Johnny's eulogy to her.
The Masochism Tango: Her dynamic with Johnny when she was still alive alternated between rough and passionate sex to calling him out on his numerous flaws. Johnny, in turn, belittled her, didn't give her a clear view of their relationship (whether they were a couple or just friends with benefits) and, in an optional interactions in his flashbacks, he can even grab her by her hair and threaten her.
Not So Stoic: Despite maintaining an air of cool impartiality and aloofness, there some moments where she displays more of her original personality than she'd care to admit. It's hinted in her interactions that she is at least partly putting on a front in an effort to spurn Johnny for causing her death, and V can even refer to the barbs they trade in their interaction as the equivalent of a lover's spat. Additionally, she goes on the warpath when let into Arasaka Tower's network by V and their chosen tower assault partners (if any), turning all the armed automated security systems on anyone associated with the company, in reprisal for their perverting her creation into Soulkiller and for imprisoning her in Mikoshi.
Pay Evil unto Evil: She'll casually brain fry all of the Voodoo Boys' Netrunners, Brigitte included, should V accept NetWatch's offer to remove the malware they installed in them, having replaced it with malware of their own to infect their BBS and capture Alt. Given how unpleasant the Voodoo Boys have been to that point, it's hard to feel too bad for them.
Person of Mass Destruction: As befitting of anyone that can bring a space station crashing down as she does in "The Sun" endgame.
Pet the Dog: Despite showing nothing but disdain for him in their interactions, Alt will admit to V in one of the endings that the primary reason she's helping them is simply because Johnny asked her to, though being able to liberate Mikoshi is a definite bonus. Additionally Alt will take the time to talk over options with V and Johnny in regards to V's body while musing on what each means and offering her opinion of what she would prefer showing that she hasn't lost her consideration for humanity.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: One way to interpret her actions in Arasaka Tower is taking revenge on the corporation for killing her in the first place.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: A non-comedic variant. At one point V will call her Johnny's girlfriend and she flatly denies it. However, V can then joke that they would've made a good couple.
Tarot Motifs: "The Hermit". You can find the graffiti in Pacifica, near the church underneath which the Voodoo Boys have their hideout. It symbolises soul searching, introspection, being alone, meditation, solitude and inner guidance; reversed, it can mean isolation, withdrawal, loneliness, paranoia and unhealthy separation. Alt says that being turned into an AI helped her to see the world from a different perspective, unbound by limitations of the body. It's clear that she lost at least some of her humanity in the process, however.
That Man Is Dead: Having spent over half a century as an AI, she says that she doesn't consider herself to really be "Alt" anymore having developed beyond that. How true this is, based upon the above examples, is ambiguous with hints that her personality remains somewhat intact despite radical changes in her behavior.
A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: What her original death amounted to. Had Johnny simply waited a few seconds more to unplug her cyberjack, she would've had the time to get back in her body and out of the net. Instead he inadvertently wound up severing her connection and left her mind stranded in the net as an AI. Her interactions with Johnny in 2077 make it clear that she's still angry with him over it.
Transhuman Abomination: She counts as this by the very fact of being a human who transcended into a powerful Digital Abomination. However, her powers, near-immortality and slowly waning humanity classify her more as Posthuman than a Transhuman.
Uncanny Valley: Alt's AI form still resembles her human self...somewhat, with enough of her appearance looking just off enough to be unnerving.
Uptown Girl: She was a rich and talented corporate netrunner back when she was alive, and was in a relationship with Johnny. We don't know his exact wealth at the time, but it's implied multiple times that Samurai didn't make much money, that the members often lived in squats and, after buying all the necessities like strings and guitars, they didn't have much money left.
Was Once a Man: Originally one of the best Netrunners in Night City, now an extremely powerful AI locked in the Blackwall.
What Happened to the Mouse?: As V does not assault Arasaka Tower in "The Tower" ending, instead getting treatment for the Relic with the FIA's help, Alt makes no appearances and is otherwise unmentioned. This also goes for "The Devil" ending where V sides with Arasaka to get the Relic removed.

Kerry Eurodyne

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kerry_old_body_3.png

"Free to sing until you're blue in the face, nobody hearin' a thing? It's just another kind of cage."

^{Click here to see Kerry in 2023}

Voiced by: Matthew Yang King (English), Damian Ukeje (singing voice), Jacek Beler (Polish)^note

A washed-up rockerboy who used to be a member of Samurai alongside Johnny Silverhand. Currently lives in his new mansion in the North Oak neighbourhood.

'80s Hair: Sports a mullet in Johnny's memories.
Acquainted with Emergency Services: If V manages to get their wanted level high enough, the cops will start complaining if this is another of Eurodyne's antics.
Affectionate Nickname: Johnny sometimes calls him "Ker". V can call him that too, if you progress far enough into his Romance Sidequest.
All Guys Want Bad Boys: They seem to be his type. His relationship with Johnny could only be described as "toxic", with Johnny frequently belittling Kerry. Johnny also often abused alcohol and drugs, and pulled dangerous stunts for no real reason (shooting into the audience during a concert) or for petty reasons (bombing the Arasaka Tower as revange for Alt's death that he himself caused). His feelings for Johnny are so strong that it's implied he's still in love with him 50 years later. V is a downplayed example, because while he isn't nearly as toxic as Johnny was, he's still a dangerous mercenary who kills and steals for a living. In his "Temperance" ending call if V romanced him, he mentions that he used to date a guy who he caught cheating, and another one who nonchalantly dumped him via text. Kerry himself lampshades it during his "The Sun"/"The Devil" romanced call:
Kerry: Don't get me wrong; I love having a (boyfriend) who's also Night City's bad boy(...)
All Love Is Unrequited: It's shown that he had feelings for Johnny while in Samurai with him, with Johnny being fully aware of it but uninterested (supposedly). It's implied he still holds a candle for Johnny in even in 2077. Subverted if he gets into a relationship with V.
Almost Kiss: During "Boat Drinks", when V helps him with the destruction of the yacht, Kerry loses his balance and falls right at V. The player has the option to either kiss him, or turn him down.
Amicable Exes:
- His relationship with his ex wife seems to be at least civil if a little frosty, with Kerry being willing to provide for their kids financially but not meet them in person. In "The Star" ending, Kerry and V will break up, but they seem to understand each other's reasons, with Kerry asking V if he will listen to the demo of his new album if he finds some time, and asks him to contact him if he will ever come back to Night City.
Beautiful Dreamer: V can do that to him in "The Sun"/"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending.
Big Fancy House: Bought one after the release of the fourth samurai album. It's a lavish villa in a rich neighbourhood, and Kerry admits that he almost never leaves it.
Birds of a Feather: Seems keen on befriending a man named Ariel he met on a party mostly because both of them are of Filipino ancestry. You can find their exchange on his computer.
Bling-Bling-BANG!: Downplayed. While "Archangel" isn't the flashiest gun around, it's very elegant with its dark wood and metal, and it's one of the few weapons in the game that has engravings.
But Not Too Bi: He's bisexual but can only be romanced by a male V, and the game showcases his attraction to men moreso than women. Possibly justified, as he could just have a preference for men.
Camp Gay: A fusion of this and Straight Gay: Or bisexual. His persona and mannerisms are evocative of several queer male rockstars in Real Life, such as Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, who blended camp and traditionally masculine traits. In Kerry's case he maintains the persona and mannerisms of being a masculine rockerboy, while also having camp traits like Guyliner, flamboyant clothes, a flair for drama in his personal life, and he speaks with a slight lisp in the Polish and English versions.
Captain Crash: At least in his youth. Johnny reminisces that "[they] always wound up in a ditch whenever Kerry drove". Because of this, when he picks up V for one of his missions it's in a shitty car that he borrowed rather than one he actually owns.
Chekhov's Gunman: He first appears in both playable Johnny Silverhand's flashbacks, long before he can be physically encounter by V in the Samurai-themed questline.
Comfort the Dying: Zig-zagged. In the "The Sun" epilogue V isn't dying just yet, but his fate seems sealed, and Kerry promises to be with him "when the time comes" if the player chooses the right dialogue option.
Cool Car: Owns a Rayfield Aerondight "Guinevere", which is something that Johnny Silverhand, who otherwise snarks like crazy at Kerry's expense, admits "Ok, I'll give him that one."
Dead Sparks: Subverted. Kerry is the only romance option in "The Tower" ending that is wholly willing to resume his relationship with V when they wake up from their two-year long coma.
Disappointed in You: If V is a friend or in romantic relationships with Kerry, he will express his disappointment for 'not giving a fuck about V's friends' if V decides to kill themself in the 'path of least resistance' ending. Given the heavy implication that V's befriending him is what helped keep him from committing suicide himself, it is somewhat understandable why V's fate disappoints him so.
(Shaking his head) What a fucking waste...
Double Entendre: In the Polish version, If V romances him and decides to call him before making the final choice on the rooftop, he can ask Kerry about his new song. Kerry will answer that he's working on a piece titled "Seamurai Goes Down", referencing both the yacht they sank together in "Boat Drinks" and the sex scene that occurred there. In the English version the song's title was changed to "Seamurai in Smoke", which sadly loses the dirty pun.
Drives Like Crazy: According to Johnny, who has a minor O.O.C. Is Serious Business moment when he dispenses with the genital banter and admonishes V to get on Kerry's case about driving safely. Apparently, Kerry often put cars in ditches back in the day...
Early-Bird Cameo: You first see him in Johnny's memories, right at the start of act II. You actually get to interact with him in person as V at the very end of act II/start of act III.
Earn Your Happy Ending: If V helps him out then he rekindles his passion for music and ends up going on tour with Us Cracks after the game's end.
Easily Forgiven: Us Cracks don't mind at all that he broke into their dressing room and waved a gun in their faces while making threats, and immediately offer to collaborate with him. Likewise, he never held much of a grudge against Johnny for his behaviour and even tried to dissuade him from his assault against Arasaka, despite everything he'd done up to that point.
Eating the Eye Candy: Will check out V when he showers during "The Sun" ending if romanced.
Electronic Eyes: They glow blue at a few points in the story (like when he's trying to activate Seamurai), implying they're cybernetic.^note In Johnny's memories, his eyes were brown, while in the current timeline, they're blue, further cementing this.
Emotionally Tongue-Tied: There's multiple situations during his personal sidequest where it seems like he wants to say something more emotional, but he cuts himself off. After the Samurai gig, when he gives V his gun, he says "and that before... nevermind". During "Boat Drinks", he says that "[V] makes [him] feel... I mean(...)" and continues with more general statements about V, and not his feelings. During "The Sun" ending he has the option of telling V that he doesn't want to lose him before V departs on the casino heist, which is treated like a big moment of Kerry finally admitting to how much V means to him. In "The Star" ending, he has troubles with telling V he wants to break up with him, with V being able to say that he knows Kerry well enough that "babbling means he's hiding something".
Expository Hairstyle Change: Kerry goes through three haircuts: in 2013, his hair is short and messy. In 2023, he's sporting a mullet, signifying that he's grown into his rocker persona. In 2077, his hair is kept in a modern cut, but it's completely grey, showing that, despite his age, he's still young at heart, for better or worse. In The Tower his hair is shoulder-length and still gray, likely implying that he threw himself entirely into the debauchery of rockstar life without V in his life to keep him in check.
Fake Relationship: When Johnny asks him how is he going to explain the biochip situation to the other members of Samurai, Kerry just shrugs and say that he will introduce V as his new fling. It's unclear if he actually did it or was just joking, since none of the other bandmates say anything about your supposed relationship. This is also long before V gets an option to openly flirt with him.
Flames of Love: He and V have sex on a yacht they've set on fire.
Flirtatious Smack on the Ass: What he does to V when he exits the shower in "The Sun"/"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending. Unlike most examples, V doesn't react.
Foil:
- To Johnny. Johnny was fervently against corporations and working with them, ultimately dying a free man (relatively, of course as he probably didn't count on the engram). Kerry was more willing to work with corpo labels, and ends up exploited by them in current times. As a result, Samurai is barely remembered by anyone but niche afficionados, while Kerry's solo music is listened to all around the world. You can also see that with their romantic relationships: Johnny's relationships with Alt and Rogue were strained at best, and toxic at worst, with Johnny frequently cheating on them both. In comparison, Kerry's relationship with his ex wife is decent enough, and his potential relationship with V is very loving and devoted on Kerry's part.
- To Panam. Panam is new in Night City and doesn't seem to understand its ins and outs just yet, while Kerry is a well-recognised celebrity who made Night City his own and managed to stay afloat for over fifty years. Panam has a large family, the Aldecaldos (most notably Scorpion, Mitch and Saul), and while they have their misunderstandings, they're always ready to help and support eachother. Kerry, on the other hand, lives alone in a mansion, and seems desperate for company, and his old friends are either straight up avoiding him or are more like acquaintences. Panam will break up with V if he stays in Night City because she has her duty to the Aldecaldos, while Kerry breaks up with V if he decides to leave, because he still feels like he has something to prove to Night City. Both of them love V tremendously, but are bad at being upfront about it, so Panam tends to mask her worry with anger, while Kerry avoids talking about his true feelings straight up, prefering to meander and use indirect language.
- To River. River is a By-the-Book Cop who strives for upholding the law, while Kerry is more than happy to break it, be it through arson, theft, threatning people at gunpoint or blowing things up. Both are Hot-Blooded, but River tends to come off as the more calm and easygoing, and only gets angry if things get personal, while Kerry is definitely more prone to anger, and shows off his more introspective and sensitive side to those he knows well. River serves as a father figure of sorts for his sisters', Joss', kids, while Kerry is an absent parent to his own kids.
- To Judy. Both of them fell in love with people who were tragically killed due to their ambition (Kerry fell for Johnny, while Judy did for Maiko and possibly Evelyn). Judy became disillusioned with Night City and will always leave if her questline was finished, even if the player romanced her, while Kerry fell in deeper, becoming one of Night City's biggest stars. Judy supports her fellow Mox members and wants to help them lead better lives, while Kerry is openly antagonistic to Us Cracks and tries to sabotage their concert (though V can convince him to give them a chance).
Functional Addict: Implied. His house is littered with empty alcohol bottles and it's suggested in a few ocasions that he does drugs of some kind. We never see him (clearly) drunk or high though.
Gay Option: A gay romance option for Male V.
Gift of Song: If you romance him, he'll send you a message about writing a song inspired by V and a few lyrics. You never see him perform it, but you can read all the lyrics on his computer.
Gold Makes Everything Shiny: Wears a lot of golden jewelry and some of his implants have a golden finish, most notably the ones on his chest.
Guyliner: As expected of a rockerboy, he always has heavy makeup on his eyes.
Hand Cannon: He and Johnny don't agree on many things, but they're both just as keen on enormous Malorian Arms pistols. In his case, it's a custom Overture revolver called Archangel that fires special electrical rounds.
Has a Type: Both Johnny and V are driven young men who are more than happy to break the law, live tenaciously, and whose ambition has either already has, or slowly is, leading them to an early grave.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Kerry has multiple outfits during the game, but his "main" one has a leather vest, and he's always wearing mid-calf leather boots and a spiked band made out of leather on his arm.
Hidden Depths: Says himself that he has "spiritual needs", and visits his guru named Khian in the Philippines every few years. He's very proud of his heritage.
- Despite his rough demeanor and rockstar persona, he's a suprisingly sweet and devoted lover to V. In one of the text exchanges he mentions that he's writing a song inspired by V, text to which you can find on his computer. In the "The Sun" ending he says that he's there for V if he wants to talk about Mikoshi or his fears regarding his health and mortality, and says that he has a "black belt in cuddling". He urges V to be careful and come back safe from his casino heist, and will openly admit that he doesn't want to lose V. Kerry also reassures V that he will be with him untill his death. In "The Devil" ending, if V decides to call Kerry, he will urge him to come back to Earth as soon as possible, and will fret over V being all alone while he recovers from his surgery. In his credits call for those endings, he will say that he wouldn't mind if him and V could just stay home for once and watch garbage TV together. In "The Tower" he's not mad at V for being in the coma and not staying in contact, and is happy to take him back and resume life with him as a partner the second he comes back from his tour, he even says that he'll take V on a trip wherever he wants once they're reunited.
Hot-Blooded: What's the best way to deal with the fact that a band you don't like is going to cover your song to promote their tour? According to Kerry, it's to set up a trap with spikes and grenades to stop the car transporting the band's instruments, hold the terrified drivers at gunpoint and threaten them, then blow up the car and instruments with a grenade as the drivers flee in panic, and run away from the cops as fast as you can. If that won't work, break into the band's dressing room and threaten them at gunpoint. If you find out it's your agent's doing, steal his yacht and set it on fire.
Interclass Friendship: Kerry is a rich musician with his own villa and an absurdly expensive hypercar, but he can be friends with V, who's a lone-wolf edgerunner and lives in a dingy apartment in a run-down Megabuilding.
Intergenerational Friendship: With Us Cracks... eventually. Also with V.
Interrupted Suicide: It's all but stated openly that Kerry was actually going to shoot himself in his shower the day V and Johnny barged into his house. Johnny states that media reported about his alleged suicide attempt before, that Kerry quickly dismisses as a "promo strategy". He comes straight out of the bathroom with Archangel in his hand, implying he took it with him to shoot himself. In an optional dialogue branch, he can tell Johnny that his cook had a day off today. When he gives V Archangel after "A Like Supreme", he says that this is the gun he almost shot Johnny with when him and V broke into his villa; V will say that "Meanin', you almost shot me", to which Kerry responds with "Yeah, and earlier... uh, nevermind.", getting tense and uncomfortable.
Just Like Making Love: If you stay in the dressing room after "I Don't Wanna Hear It", you can hear Blue Moon asking Kerry if he wants to hear about their new single. Kerry will scoff and say that talking about music is like "fucking in a bed of azaleas", that is to say "Unnecessary, uncomfortable, and ultimately kitsch as all fuckin' get-out."
Lampshade Hanging: Not by Kerry himself, but the devs seemed to have been well aware that Kerry's iconic Archangel revolver isn't nearly as useful as it is flashy when they gave it the item description of "a piece of art that should never waste away in a display case".
Last Guy Wins: Zig-zagged. We see him for the first time in Johnny's memories, all the way back in 2013. In the game proper, however, he's one of the last characters introduced, as it's impossible to meet him earlier than the tail end of act two, right before the ending sequence. Trope comes into play if V decides to romance him.
Locked Out of the Loop: In the "Temperance" ending, if the player romanced him, Kerry will send a hurt message to V, thinking that he just slept with him and skipped town without contacting him again. He doesn't know that V gave up his body for Johnny and that V is essentially dead, while Johnny left Night City seemingly without contacting Kerry to let him know about the whole situation.
Love Cannot Overcome: If V decides to leave Night City with the Aldecaldos in "The Star" ending, Kerry will break up with him, because he's unable to leave Night City and couldn't cope with losing V to illness so far from home. It's subverted in "The Tower" ending; unlike the other romance options, Kerry's the only character who's still willing to be with V. Hell, he's not even angry that they disappeared for two years, though the only caveat is that he's currently away on tour at the moment.
Making Love in All the Wrong Places: A yacht stolen from Kerry's manager that him and V set on fire certainly fits the bill.
Manchild: Despite being in his eighties he can sometimes come across as a temperamental teenager, though not nearly as bad as Johnny. His entire quest chain is due to a one-sided grudge against Us Cracks for making a cover of his song and in his final quest he decides to pay his manager back by burning down his yacht. V can even lampshade this by saying his (somewhat) calmer viewpoint at the end of his questline is just him growing up.
May–December Romance: Though he certainly doesn't appear it thanks to having the wealth needed to have anti-aging procedures, Kerry is at least well into his eighties considering he was a founding member of Samurai when it was formed in the early 2000s. V, on the other hand, is 27 years old according to the timeline.
Men Can't Keep House: His Big Fancy House is a mess, filled with empty takeout boxes and alcohol bottles, various clothes likely left by his past hookups and filled up ashtrays. Johnny seems to imply that Kerry can't cook, saying that he only ever ate takeout back when Johnny was alive. Though it's worth noting that Kerry seems to have depression, which might've contributed to the state his house is in.
Named Weapons: Has a custom, engraved revolver called "Archangel" that he gifts to V after the concert in "A Like Supreme".
Nice to the Waiter: In "Rebel, Rebel!", he's polite and friendly to Rachel, a waiter in Caliente, where he's a frequent customer. She seems happy to see him too.
Noodle Incident: If you cause enough trouble to warrant the NCPD coming after you while in Westbrook, one of the cops responding to Dispatch implies Kerry did something there that earned the cop's ire.
NCPD Cop: I swear to Christ, if it's Eurodyne again...
Older Than They Look: Just like many rich people he has access to anti-aging treatment. Exaggerated in his case — apart from his white hair (but not beard), he could easily pass for someone in his thirties despite being in his eighties by the current timeline.
Parental Neglect: You can find an email exchange with a woman named Louise Nordin Eurodyne on his terminal, where she thanks him for sending gifts to their kids, Ted and Kim. She says that they want to visit him, but Kerry tries to weasel out, by saying that his house is "no place for children". Louise writes back that she read the message to their kids out loud, and Kerry offers to buy them an expensive trip as an apology, once again trying to avoid actually going with them. He's willing to support his kids financially, but not actually be a part of their lives.
Putting the Band Back Together: After learning about Johnny's new lease on life, he decides to get the remaining members of Samurai back together for a gig.
Queer Establishing Moment: Kerry is revealed to be attracted to men when we see him in Johnny's memories, where he's about to get a blowjob from a male Samurai fan in an alley. Kerry is actually bisexual, which you can tell when you visit his mansion much later in the game, and you can see bras strewn around his house and an email from his ex wife on his laptop.
Really Gets Around: Played straight at first, then subverted. One of the first times we see him, in Johnny's memories, he's about to get a blowjob in a back alley from one of the Samurai fans you can see in the audience in the scene before. In the current timeline, his house is littered with clothing that clearly doesn't belong to him and you can find condoms in a drawer next to his bed. When Johnny asks how is he going to explain to the other Samurai members who V is, he just shrugs and casually says that he will introduce them as his new boyfriend/girlfriend. If you follow him after he leaves the room after "Holdin' On", Kerry will say that he's going to have a power nap and sultrily asks if V wants to join him. He throws an innuendo towards V in "Rebel! Rebel!", but after that he stops flirting with them completely and becomes a lot more sincere (and, in case of male V, even somewhat shy). If you choose to romance him, he's shown to be incredibly devoted. In his "Temperance" ending call, he bitterly reminisces about his two exes who cheated on him. Johnny can lampshade this trope when the player visits Kerry between missions and learns that, after Samurai broke up, Kerry went to the Philippines for some soul-searching. Johnny will scoff and say that Kerry probably went there to "Get high and fuck everything that moved", though Johnny is noted in-universe to be an Unreliable Narrator, so take his opinion with a grain of salt.
Replacement Goldfish: Zig-zagged. Word of God confirms that Kerry is initially interested in V because they're a vessel for Johnny's engram, allowing him to spend more time with his old friend/crush. He seems noticeably disappointed at the end of "A Like Supreme" when Johnny departs V, leaving very quickly after realizing that Johnny isn't "there" anymore, and he gets sad when he finds out it was V, not Johnny, who picked up his call at the start of "Rebel, Rebel!" As Kerry and V spend more time together, he seems to see them more as a separate person and befriends/falls in love with V as themselves. At the end of "Off The Leash", Kerry asks "Is [Johnny]...?" before V kisses him, to which V says "Does it matter?" and Kerry answers "No, not anymore." Further cemented in "The Sun"/"The Devil" endings, where Kerry stays in a relationship with V despite being fully aware that Johnny's engram stayed in Mikoshi/V got rid of the biochip altogether.
Revolvers Are Just Better: His Iconic Weapon is Archangel, an Overture revolver that does electrical damage. It's the same gun that he waves in V/Johnny's face in their first encounter. After the Samurai reunion gig, he gives it to V as a gift.
Rich Boredom: When the player first meets Kerry proper, he lives by himself in his mansion that he never leaves and lost his inspiration for writing new music. V and Johnny manage to take him out of his stupor.
The Rock Star: The second most popular member of Samurai (after Johnny), who still works in the music industry and writes new music. At the current point in the timeline, he's actually more well-known and recognised than Johnny.
Romance Sidequest: Getting together with him requires completing a chain of quests.
Secret Character: Unlocking his storyline requires completing Johnny's line of quests and it's entirely possible to miss him during a playthrough.
Secret-Keeper: Among the original members of Samurai, he's the only one who knows the truth about Johnny and V. The rest just think V is just Kerry's newest fling who's serving as a stand-in for Johnny.
Sell-Out: A recurring comment from Kerry's critics is how he sold out both his rockerboy credentials and Samurai past by being a famous music star. Kerry himself, however, still holds true to his ideals and love for music, even if he's long grown jaded regarding both.
Significant Wardrobe Shift:
- Zig-zagged. If you look closely at the back of his vest, you can see that this is the same one he used to wear back in the Samurai days, just with the patches removed (you can still see stitchmarks where they used to be). Some of the studs are also crooked, implying that they were added by him DIY-style, and not factory- or professionally made. The vest looks different, implying that he has moved on from Samurai, but the stitches left over seem to suggest that he still hadn't let go entirely. The change seems significant, but it only serves to show that he's actually still stuck in the past.
- In similar fashion to Johnny, his sunglasses also appear and disappear. When they're on, he's Kerry Eurodyne the stage persona, America's god of rock. When they're off, he's more open, honest and vulnerable, ditching his mask and just being himself.
Silver Fox: Thanks to anti-aging treatments he looks like he's still in his prime. Besides just being big fans of his, it's easy to read Us Cracks as all having a crush on him despite their first meeting being Kerry waving a gun at their face.
Singer-Songwriter: Writes and performs his own music. He actually wrote a majority of Samurai songs, but gave up his rights to them for Johnny.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: His initial relationship with Us Cracks. It's revealed when they meet face to face that they're actually big fans of him and wanted to do a cover for his song out of honest admiration for his work.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: His "main" outfit consists of a white tank top and a sleeveless leather vest. Closer examination reveals it's still the very same vest he had back in the Samurai/Solo-Tour-With-Johnny days a half a century ago, personally altered as the years went by.
Smoking Is Cool: He's shown to be a smoker in the "The Sun"/"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" ending.
Something Only They Would Say: Twofold, though the first isn't something said but something played. When Johnny shows up in V's body playing one of their old songs on a guitar, Kerry steps out of the bathroom and looks like he's seen a ghost after hearing nothing but a few beats of his old band's song, and already seems willing to accept that his best friend who's been dead for fifty years is back from the grave from Johnny's guitar work alone. The last words question only confirmed his suspicions. When Johnny answers correctly, this puts him in quite a shock—followed by a pistol-whip across the face.
Storyboard Body: His right sleeve is stylised like a Japanese woodcut with his logo composed into it, and the number "2023", which is the year Johnny "died". His left sleeve is comprised of traditional Filipino tribal designs.
Troubled, but Cute: Sure, he's an angry, aging rockstar with substance abuse problems, depression and an explosive temper, but he's also very sensitive, kind, thoughtful and willing to admit that he was wrong. He's also incredibly sweet and caring towards a romanced V.
Uptown Guy: He's much more rich and famous than V, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for either of them. He's notably the only love interest in the game who's of such high status, with Judy, River and Panam being roughly on V's level. This gets mitigated somewhat in the "The Sun" ending, where V becomes about as wealthy as he is.
Wakeup Makeup: If romanced in the "The Sun" ending, he wakes up next to V in his usual eyeshadow.
White-Dwarf Starlet: A rockstar version, but fits the bill as a washed-up has-been. He still has some star power, as the Us Cracks girls go fangirl over him and his promo event with them is a big deal partly because of his presence. His phone call to V if they complete his side mission quest has him say he's about to go on-tour again.
You're Not My Type: While he's bisexual, he's mostly attracted to a male V due to his lingering feelings for Johnny and will quickly turn a female V down.
Youthful Freckles: While he's technically far from young, he still keeps a relatively youthful appearance and behaves like someone much closer to V's age. His face is also dotted with freckles.

Bes Isis

Nancy "Bes Isis" Hartley

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nancy_42.jpg

Voiced by: Kosha Engler

Samurai's keyboardist, still around in 2077. Currently, she's a media reporter for Channel 54, under the name "Bes Isis".

Affectionate Nickname: Kerry calls her "Nance".
Beware the Nice Ones: Although she's a perfectly peaceful and nice woman whenever V interacts with her, scanning Nancy shows that she's wanted for extortion, racketeering and first-degree murder. How exactly she got a rap sheet like that is never revealed.
Cool Old Lady: Works as a journalist and isn't afraid of going into the Maelstrom-owned club called Totentanz to interview them about their music. She happily organises the Samurai reunion gig and manages to get Johnny's original guitar as a bonus in the quest "A Like Supreme". And if you turn around to look at your bandmates during the finale of the quest, you can see the old rockergirl headbangin' away to "A Like Supreme" while at the keys. In "Killing In The Name", she says she will pay V with "caviar and champagne" for informations on Swedenborg.
Electronic Eyes: Her eyes have red irises, implying they're cybernetic.
Going for the Big Scoop: She was doing a report on Maelstrom club music and needs V's help to sneak the info she gathered out without being caught.
Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears an oversized leather jacket for the Samurai gig.
Hidden Depths: When first met, she's wearing a denim jacket with the Mox's logo on it. Whether for purely aesthetic value, a connection to the Mox, or simply in solidarity of them isn't known
I Did What I Had to Do: By 2077, Nancy has seemingly "sold out" by joining the NUSA/Militech-aligned N54 News as a reporter. She considers this a means to an end, however, in order to support her persistent pursuit of stories nobody else dares to cover.
Intrepid Reporter: Despite her age she's still an active reporter who's willing to find dirt on gangs and at one point even joined a band of Nomads stranded in Latin America as they took a long walk back home in America.
Ironic Name: Bes and Isis were both Egyptian gods associated with motherhood, the pinnacle of which Bes Isis most certainly is not.
Meaningful Name: In spite of what is written under Ironic Name above. Bes was also the god of music and pleasure, both of which have played key parts in Bes Isis' life, and Isis could very well reference her status as Team Mom to the Manchildren that made up the rest of Samurai.
Older Than They Look: Like all members of Samurai, she's likely about 70-80, but looks to be in her mid fifties. She actually looks slightly older than her bandmates due to having grey hair and some wrinkles, but still looks nowhere near her actual age.
Parental Neglect: She doesn't get along with her son Dan, who himself admits he's become unused to hearing his mother's name, used to her more commonly heard title of "Bes Isis". He also bitterly remarks about what it's like to grow up the child of someone famous.
Refuge in Audacity: The absurd lengths she goes to getting a good story, as well as the stories themselves, help give her both an edge over other corporate media and the sort of leeway most others wish they had.
The Reliable One: She's the one who actually organises the venue for the Samurai gig in "A Like Supreme" and manages to track down and buy an authentic guitar that belonged to Johnny Silverhand. Johnny is very impressed and implies that this is how Nancy always was, saying that she "just gets shit done." If you choose the right dialogue choices in "Never Fade Away", Nancy will be the one responsible for organising the concert that was used as a distraction during the first Arasaka Tower raid.
Stealth Insult: According to Pondsmith, she was the one who came up with the name of "Samurai" as a band due to viewing real-life Samurai willing to lay down their lives without question as suicidal morons and decided to appropriate it as a form of mockery. Johnny and Kerry however rolled with it because they thought it sounded cool.
Women Are Wiser: She and Denny are the only members of Samurai who seem to have their lives together by 2077. Nancy is a well known journalist and Denny is a successful musician, while Johnny is dead, Kerry is depressed and stuck in the past, while Henry is a drug addict who lost control over his life.

Denny

Samurai's old drummer. In 2077, she's still in the music industry, writing new music. She lives in North Oak and is a neighbour of Kerry Eurodyne, although the two don't really stay in contact.

Afro Asskicker: Sports a prominent afro and is fully capable of kicking someone's ass.
All Drummers Are Animals: Subverted. While Denny has a temper, she's by far the most reasonable member of the band. Johnny even says that he always thought Denny was too smart and talented to hang out with them.
Batter Up!: Threatens Henry with a gold plated baseball bat described as being "Infused with Denny's rage" that the player can later pick up and use for themselves.
Big Fancy House: Lives in one in an affluent neighbourhood called North Oak. She even has her own pool!
Bling-Bling-BANG!: Her signature weapon is a gold-plated baseball bat.
Electronic Eyes: Her eyes have silver irises, implying they're cybernetic.
Has a Type: According to Kerry, Denny tends to go for losers since they play on her naturally nurturing side. This led to her relationship with Henry, who was a chaotic drug-addled mess.
Older Than They Look: She's probably about the same age as other members of Samurai (70-80), but looks to be in her 30-40s due to having the money for anti-aging procedures.
Static Role, Exchangeable Character: You can pick her or Henry for the Samurai gig in the mission "A Like Supreme". Other than some dialogue, nothing really changes.
Women Are Wiser: She and Nancy are the only members of Samurai who seem to have their lives together by 2077. Nancy is a well known journalist and Denny is a successful musician, while Johnny is dead, Kerry is depressed and stuck in the past, while Henry is a drug addict who lost control over his life.

Henry

Samurai's old bassist who was also working as a techie on the side. In 2077, he's a drug-addled mess who's in an on-and-off relationship with Denny.

Addled Addict: Henry's drug habit ruined his relationships with many people, including Denny, and made his life spiral completely out of control.
Hidden Depths: Downplayed. He was actually working on a human interface prototype with Blazetech after Samurai broke up... but got his brain fried during a failed test.
Never My Fault: We don't see much of him, but it's clear that he shares Johnny's habit of never accepting responsibility for the shit he causes. When V first meets him in 2077, he's but moments from getting his skull bashed in by Denny because he poured cement into her pool.
Nobody Loves the Bassist: Henry is the least loved member of the band, with everyone barely tolerating his presence (if even that).
The Quincy Punk: He looked like that in 2020s, with a spiked haircut and a choker around his neck.
Sex Drugs And Rock N Roll: He's fully embraced his lifestyle after the breakup of Samurai, indulging in many vices to the point of coming apart at the seams.
Static Role, Exchangeable Character: You can pick him or Denny for the Samurai gig in the mission "A Like Supreme". Other than some dialogue, nothing really changes.
Ungrateful Bastard: He kicked Denny out of his life after she helped him overcome his drug habit, but when he relapsed again and begged her to help, she rightfully refused to do so.

Spider Murphy

Voiced by: Erica Lindbeck (English)

A legendary netrunner and a protege of Rache Bartmoss, she joined Rogue and Johnny during their assault on the Arasaka Tower.

Affectionate Nickname: Johnny calls her "Spider" and "Murph".
Animal Motifs: A spider, of course, likely a pun on her being a netrunner.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's pretty eccentric, carefree and tends to babble to herself when she's working, but there are no doubts about her being a great netrunner.
Cloudcuckoolander: Played With. While she is perfectly lucid when conversing normally (e.g. she points our that Johnny's manifesto sounds insane, even to a chairjock like her), she tends to babble endearingly absurd nonsense while her mind is preoccupied with hacking.
''Is grass green, do birds fly, do cats eat bats, do rats shit gnats?
She sought it with timbles, she sought it with care, pursued it with forks and hope...''
- It's also interestingly a contrast to her presence in the 2020 lore, where she was depicted as the Cloudcuckoolander's Minder and Only Sane Man to the frequently hyperbolic, over-the-top Rache Bartmoss. Then again, given that the "endearingly absurd nonsense" she babbles is made up of quotes from and allusions to the works of Lewis Carroll, it becomes increasingly unclear what is actually going on.
Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Subverted, as she is the only person among the Arasaka Raiders to come decked out in full combat gear, including a tactical helmet. Justified since, as a chairjock, she's not as physically resilient as rockerboy Johnny, cyborg Shaitan or merc Rogue, meaning she needed the armor so she didn't get shot down by the first bullet flung her way.
Odd Friendship: With Rache Bartmoss, whose apparent death at the hand of corporate edgerunners is the entire reason why Spider agreed to join Johnny in his attack on Arasaka Tower.
One-Shot Character: Despite being a major character in the 2020 lore, she only appears in a single flashback scene in 2077, when she hacks into the Arasaka frame to let Rogue and Johnny inside the Tower.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When V tries to decrypt an old Zetatech device to be sent to Nix in "Spellbound", they can extract a number of log entries identifiable as from Spider Murphy herself just by how lively and irreverent they come across. Her last one, however, dated 2023, is far more somber and straightforward, as it involves her disillusionment with Rache Bartmoss' Net Crash and how it did nothing to change the status-quo.
What Happened to the Mouse?: We don't know what happened to her or if she's even still alive, since no other character even mentions her. That being said, Johnny mentioned that Rogue was the only one of their original merc crew who had a happy end. Make of that what you will.
- The tabletop lore confirms she survived the raid, as the second of the Fourth Corporate War sourcebooks closes on a conversation between Spider and Rache Bartmoss' digital ghost at some point afterwards, but beyond that her fate is left to the imagination. Given her connections to both Johnny and Rache (and thus both the Downtown Bombing and the Net Crash), however, it does limit the likely outcomes.

Shaitan

A full-borg mercenary with a burning hatred towards Arasaka, he among the others accompanied Rogue and Johnny during their assault on Arasaka Tower.

Arch-Enemy: Shaitan hates Arasaka, to the point of actively creating or modifying jobs purely to trash their property and rebuilding himself to take them on.
Demoted to Extra: In the original 2020 materials, Shaitan had a much bigger role in the raid, including briefly going toe to toe with Adam Smasher until Morgan Blackhand arrived. In 2077, he's reduced to manning a machine gun on their AV then being incapacitated by fire from some Arasaka guards.
Good Counterpart: To Adam Smasher; while Smasher is an amoral mercenary with clear misanthropic qualities and a psychopathic streak, Shaitan is a well-intentioned cyborg who wants to take revenge on Arasaka, but doesn't display any psychopathic traits.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name is the Arabic word for "devil" or "demon" (but not the Devil).
One-Shot Character: Despite being a major character in the 2020 lore, he only appears in a single flashback scene in 2077, when he mans a machine gun and gets injured during a firefight.
What Happened to the Mouse?:
- We don't know what happened to him or if he's even still alive, since no other character even mentions him and he was last seen with a critical wound. That being said, Johnny mentioned that Rogue was the only one of their original merc crew who had a happy end. Make of that what you will.
- The tabletop lore confirms he survived the raid, as he was pulled out of the fight and brought back to health.
The Worf Effect: Despite being a full-body borg capable of going toe to toe with Adam Smasher, he's incapacitated during the raid's initial firefight and plays no further role.

Santiago

Santiago "Nomad" Aldecaldo

Also known as Nomad Santiago, he was a rising star in the Aldecaldos clan in 2013 when he first met Johnny Silverhand. He was a reserved, quiet and hard-working man who often came across as a slightly crude Nomad stereotype. This also masked how much of a skilled negotiator, and eventually leader, he came to be known as in time.

Been There, Shaped History: Santiago crossed paths with both Rogue and Johnny in 2013 and took part in the ill-fated Arasaka raid that led to Alt Cunningham's death.
Cool Shades: He wears biker shades in every scene he's in.
Deadpan Snarker: Santiago seems to have had a knack for this as part of his rough Nomad image.
Everyone Has Standards: As cool and deadpan as he comes across, Santiago seems taken aback by Johnny's flippant attitude towards Rogue.
Hero of Another Story: Even from his looks alone, it's clear he's seen his share of escapades out in the wastelands of post-Collapse America.
Military Brat: Santiago was born at a US Army hospital in Germany, arriving back in America just as the Collapse was underway.
Obfuscating Stupidity: He purposefully played up an image of being a rough, stereotypical Nomad in his youth. Not only as an excuse to pursue fast women and faster bikes, but also to fool the "statics" into letting their guard down.
One-Shot Character: Despite being a major character in the 2020 lore, he only appears in a single flashback scene in 2077, specifically when Johnny meets up with Rogue in 2013 and the first Arasaka raid.
Only One Name: For the longest time, he'd always been known as just Santiago, though he would later on take up the Aldecaldo surname as his own upon being leader of the Nomad clan.
Our Founder: While Santiago wasn't the actual founder of the Aldecaldos, he's a close second in importance, given his role in not only helping set up the Seven Nations, but also making his Nomad clan one of the largest and most influential of them all. He's also become an inspiring model for later Aldecaldo leaders like Saul Bright and potentially, Panam to emulate.
Posthumous Character: He's long dead by 2077 and is only seen when V accesses Johnny's memories.
Really Gets Around: He's had a long track record of lovers over the years, including Rogue at one point. It's implied that Trace Santiago from Cyberpunk RED is his son with her.
Young Future Famous People: While Santiago had already begun making a name for himself as a Nomad in 2013, his legendary days as leader of the Aldecaldos would still be on the horizon.

Thompson

Lyle Thompson

Voiced by: Joseph May (English)

A seasoned media and leading reporter for World News Service, who crossed paths with Johnny Silverhand in 2013 and had previously covered various conflicts across the globe. His work covering Arasaka was suspected to have lead to the death of his wife, to which he'd stop at nothing, putting anyone, including himself, on the line to get revenge.

Camera Fiend: Thompson is shown donning early cyberoptics over where his left eye would be and kept recording even as Alt died.
Hero of Another Story: As it turned out, he was the person Alt Cunningham was intending to meet before being kidnapped by Arasaka. It's also hinted that he's seen his share of adventures.
Intrepid Reporter: Played With. While his commitment to getting the truth and exposing corpo crimes are genuine, he's all too happy to exploit anything if it means showing all that to the world up to recording Alt's corpse, to Johnny's anger.
It Will Never Catch On: Downplayed. Despite Arasaka already becoming a powerful MegaCorp by 2013, supplementary material reveals that Thompson compared it unfavorably with Euro Business Machines, at the time one of the biggest conglomerates on Earth. By 2077, Arasaka has long since taken up that position while EBM imploded at some point following a failed coup in Germany.
One-Shot Character: Despite being a major character in the 2020 lore, he only appears in a single flashback scene in 2077, specifically after saving Johnny from Arasaka thugs in 2013 and the first Arasaka raid.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A mutual hatred in Arasaka was just about the only thing Thompson and Johnny had in common, as they evidently didn't like each other.
What Happened to the Mouse?: According to Johnny, he had no idea what happened to Thompson, as he never worked with him again after Alt's death. Though given that he's reportedly alive in 2077 and also was present during the Arasaka Tower raid in 2023 (he can be heard in the helicopter during the 2023 raid worrying about the civilian deaths the "distractions" for the Tower Assasult cause), it's likely Johnny pretended he wasn't there.

Characters / Cyberpunk 2077: Allies

V's Team

Jackie Welles

T-Bug

V's Friends

Viktor Vektor

Misty Olszewski

Judy Alvarez

Panam Palmer

River Ward

Guadalupe Alejandra Welles

Johnny's Friends

Rogue Amendiares

Altiera "Alt" Cunningham

Kerry Eurodyne

Nancy "Bes Isis" Hartley

Denny

Henry

Spider Murphy

Shaitan

Santiago "Nomad" Aldecaldo

Lyle Thompson

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / Cyberpunk 2077: Allies

Edit Locked

V's Team

Jackie Welles

T-Bug

V's Friends

Viktor Vektor

Misty Olszewski

Judy Alvarez

Panam Palmer

River Ward

Guadalupe Alejandra Welles

Johnny's Friends

Rogue Amendiares

Altiera "Alt" Cunningham

Kerry Eurodyne

Nancy "Bes Isis" Hartley

Denny

Henry

Spider Murphy

Shaitan

Santiago "Nomad" Aldecaldo

Lyle Thompson

Previous

Index

Next