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The characters of the Killzone series, organized according to their affiliation and the game in which they first appeared.
Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA)
The ISA in General
The ISA's Icon
An interplanetary military organization under the command of the United Colonial Nations (UCN) headquartered in the planet Vekta. Originally formed as a police force to further the UCN's agenda and to protect their citizens after the Helghan Corporation/Administration became too powerful to control, they became the official defense force of Earth's colonies in Alpha Centauri following the First Extrasolar War. However, their weaponry and military technology is notably obsolete in comparison to the United Colonial Army (UCA) and the Helghast Empire. The Intelligence division of the ISA is the Vektan Security Agency (VSA).- Break Out the Museum Piece: Most of the ISA's technology is either decades old or based on old designs. This was on purpose by the UCN to prevent the Alpha Centauri colonies from seceding from the UCN like the then-Helghan Administration did. However, this left the ISA very under-equipped and unprepared during the Second Extrasolar War.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: ISA command has been willing to commit war crimes against Helghan citizens if it means breaking the Helghasts' war machine and they fully planned to replace the Helghan dictatorship with a puppet government that would serve them by giving them access to Helghan's highly valuable resources. Then, during the Vektan Cold War 30 years later, they would mistreat and eventually deport all part-Helghan citizens to New Helghan (the Helghast-administered part of Vekta) out of hatred and paranoia after a series of terrorist attacks on ISA cities.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture: To NATO as it is an alliance of various free-market semi-democratic colonies in Alpha Centauri. However, they are more NATO without the US due to how weak and technologically-disadvantaged they are in comparison to the Helghasts.
- Space Police: The ISA was originally formed to be this until the First Extrasolar War where they became the official defense force of Alpha Centauri.
- Standard Sci-Fi Army: Due to the UCN's embargo on advanced military technology on Alpha Centauri, they use very mundane military weapons and gear that looks just slightly more advanced than current real-life military gear.
Introduced in Killzone
Colonel Jan Templar
Voiced by: Kal Webber (Killzone), Nigel Whitmey (Liberation), Qarie Marshall (Killzone 2)
An infantry captain of the ISA and the one of the four heroes responsible for discovering the traitor that allowed the Helghasts' ground invasion of Vekta, and later led the operation against Helghast General Armin Metrac during the ISA's counterattack. He is promoted to Colonel during the Time Skip between Liberation and Killzone 2 and is assigned as the commander of the second invasion force sent to Helghan.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He gets promoted to Colonel by the time of Killzone 2, in no small part due to his central role in fighting off the Helghast invasion of Vekta.
- Bad Liar: Called one by Radec when he claims his security clearance was revoked.
- Character Death: He is shot by Radec and left to bleed to death, but not before doing one final act of heroism by crashing the ISV New Sun onto the petrusite grid and therefore eliminating the petrusite defenses.
- Demoted to Extra: Templar was the main character for the first two games but in Killzone 2 he is no longer a playable character
- The Hero: He's the most unambiguously heroic character in the series, which is also part of the reason he's not the player character of Killzone 2 (the devs want to go Darker and Edgier with that game).
- It Has Been an Honor: His speech during the Helghast counter attack:
- "This is Colonel Templar... I've asked a lot from each one of you, you've never let me down. Now I'm going to ask one more thing: "Evacuate the ship and put your trust on me one last time, to do what needs to be done. Get off the ship, head to the ground or the surviving cruisers. Continue the fight, beat the Helghast and go home as heroes. It's been an honor to serve with you... and a privilege." Templar Out".
- Jack of All Stats: He's the most balanced of the 4 player characters, and the one that plays most like a standard FPS hero.
- Master of None: He lacks the special abilities of the other 3 characters, particularly Luger's one-hit-kill Sniper Pistol and Rico's chaingun and heavy body armor, and his more balanced stats don't really compensate for this. He even has slower health regeneration than Hakha, who's also a Jack of All Stats.
- The Kirk: Acts as the arbitrator between logical, Spock-like Hakha and "Hulk Smash" Rico.
- Parental Substitute: General Vaughton was this to him after his father died and was left under his care. After Vaughton is killed by Adams, he... Didn't take it well.
- Shout-Out: In the first game, he would sometimes quote lines from TV shows or movies like Dirty Harry and the A-Team.
- Younger Than They Look: In the first Killzone, he is a Captain in his 20's. In the second Killzone, he is now a Colonel who strangely looks like he is in his 40's, even though it has been stated that Killzone 2 is set two years after the first.
Sergeant Rico Velasquez
Voiced by: Tom Clarke Hill (Killzone 1 and Liberation), Charles Everett (Killzone 2 and 3)
A hot-blooded corporal with a burning hatred for the Helghasts after losing his entire company in the early days of the invasion of Vekta, and one of the four heroes that helped turn the tide against the Helghasts. He is promoted to Sergeant during the Time Skip between Liberation and Killzone 2 and is assigned to the second invasion force sent to Helghan under the command of Templar.- Anti-Hero: The slaughter of his friends has hardened Rico to the point where he's arguably as ruthless as the Helghast in Killzone 2. He gets better somewhat in Killzone 3.
- Badass in Distress: He's captured at the end of Liberation and is only rescued in the free downloadable missions.
- Berserk Button: An ISA soldier found out the hard way that mouthing off Templar in front of Rico, especially after he made an heroic sacrifice, wasn't such a good idea.
- The Big Guy/Stone Wall: He's a huge guy in full plate armor with a heavy combination chaingun/rocket launcher. Do the math. As a player character, he's slower and can't mantle over objects or climb ladders, but he's able to tank significantly more damage than anyone else. The extra enemies he fights during his missions are just fodder for his primary weapon. He loses the heavy armor from Killzone 2 onwards, and switches from a chaingun to a slightly smaller LMG.
- Blood Knight: He is absolutely merciless towards the Helghast, and has no qualms about killing them. The only time where he hesitates is where he and Sev meet a civilian train conductor, but even then he angrily tells the conductor to "get the fuck out" when he stops the train.
- Character Development: Character-wise in Killzone 3, Rico realizes his horrid mistake of killing Visari and makes up for it by saving Jammer, Sev, and Narville. He and Jammer also take up command of a whole squad of ISA Intruders and use them to great effect! In terms of gameplay, Rico can help you get back on your feet every time you get shot down... that is, if he's close enough to do it.
- Disc-One Nuke: In Killzone 1, his heavy armor and chaingun make playing as him significantly easier than as Templar, though he is less effective at long range.
- Fantastic Racism: Rico hates the Helghast with a passion after they killed his entire squad. Also, Rico doesn't like working with Hakha (a half-Helghast defector). Plus, in their first meeting, Rico was more than willing to shoot Hakha if not for Templar intervening. However, by the end of the game, Rico seems to be on better terms with him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his nasty temper, he's loyal to his comrades. The third game downplays his jerk tendencies, showing him to be an effective leader to his raiders.
- The Lancer: Serves as Templar and Sev's best friend and right-hand man throughout the series.
- Leeroy Jenkins: His solution to every single problem is to bust in and shoot everyone. While this is often the best solution in a straight-up firefight, his recklessness can have lethal consequences for those with him, as in Killzone 2, where he gets Garza killed, leading the other members of The Squad to give him a lot of griefing. it gets much worse when he's in a position to make a major decision affecting the whole campaign, like shooting Visari dead, causing the Helghast population to rise up with fanatical zeal against the ISA invasion and setting up a power struggle between the relatively-stable Visari loyalists and the decidedly-less-so Stahl.
- He averts this in Killzone 3, where his plans start to become more reasonable, and actually turn out to be more effective than Narville's.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Thanks to his Leeroy Jenkins tendencies, he rarely—if ever—considers the consequences of his actions, getting his own guys killed, escalating the war, and costing millions of lives.
- No One Gets Left Behind: During the evacuation of the New Sun, when he learns that Templar was shot by Radec, he tries to get off of the Intruder transport to rescue him, exclaiming that he won't leave without him. Natko has to restrain him from leaving.
- In the third game, when the ISA forces are retreating back to their remaining cruisers and depart from Helghan, he goes out of his way to rescue Jammer and her squad.
- One-Man Army: In the first game, Rico is introduced singlehandedly wiping out a Helghast tank and the squad of infantry accompanying it, and when you play as him he's basically a walking nuke. In the last level, you singlehandedly chew through a platoon of Elite Mooks and one of them even cries out a horrified "he's unstoppable!" Unfortunately he's much less effective as an A.I. controlled squadmate, and in the 2nd and 3rd games he loses his enhanced health and massively overpowered chaingun, instead wielding a standard LMG instead.
- Perpetual Frowner: His default facial expression is an angry scowl.
- Scary Black Man: Well, scary dark-skinned Hispanic dude, anyway. The second game gives him a Race Lift.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: By Shadow Fall him and Sev are nowhere to be seen, but are considered war criminals by both the Helghast and Vektans for being responsible for the death of a billion Helghast by the end of 3.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Rico's actions in Killzone 2 gives out a brutal deconstruction of this trope and shows exactly why invading armies don't prefer to do this in many instances no matter how terrible the person they're after is. Basically, him killing Visari at the end of 2 causes a terrifying case of Surprisingly Realistic Outcome as the Helghast are sent into a power struggle with no one for the ISA to use as a bargaining chip of surrender, while the rest of the army and population is frenzied at the death of their beloved leader and begin an insurgency and onslaught against the invaders.
- Younger Than They Look: Like Templar, Rico seems to have aged a good 10 to 20 years in the 2 year period between Killzone 1 and Killzone 2.
Shadow Marshal Luger
Click here to see her unmasked
Voiced by: Jennifer Taylor Lawrence.
A Shadow Marshall with a past history with Jan Templar, and one of the four heroes that helped turn the tide against the Helghasts during the Invasion of Vekta.- Action Girl/Dark Action Girl: Although she's one of the "good guys", she's also a stone-cold assassin.
- Cold Sniper: She's thoroughly cold and emotionless, and fights best by silently taking down enemies from long range.
- Disc-One Nuke: Her ability to one-hit-kill most enemies from long range make playing as her a lot easier than as Templar, provided you play smart and don't try to Rambo through a level.
- Emotionless Girl: With some exceptions.
- Fragile Speedster: Being an assassin, she moves faster than the other 3 player characters and can vault over objects and crawl through vents, but her light armor also means she can survive noticeably less damage (though to compensate, her health does regenerate faster than everyone else's).
- Glass Cannon: The secondary fire of her primary weapon is a Sniper Pistol function that can kill most enemies (except Elite Mooks, Heavily Armored Mook, and Praetorian Guard) in one shot, and even those tougher enemies go down in one hit if you can headshot them. It also uses regular ammo instead of special bullets, so you're not likely to run out anytime soon. The drawback is that she can't take a lot of hits, and thus gets mowed down fairly easily at close range.
- Love Interest: Formerly to Templar.
- Night-Vision Goggles: She wears a pair of heat-vision goggles that can be toggled on or off to spot enemies.
- The Sneaky Guy: Luger is all about using stealth to bring down enemies, as rushing at Helghast mooks guns blazing will quickly get her killed. Her usual modus operandi is to bring down enemies from afar with her weapon's silent secondary fire, and in enclosed spaces, she has a knife for stealth-killing enemies from behind.
- Spy Catsuit: Averted. Her black uniform is fairly form-fitting, but it also has light metal armor plates over most major areas, and even the unarmored areas are reasonably sensibly fitted instead of skin-tight.
Colonel Gregor Hakha
- Voiced by: Sean Pertwee
A Half-Human Half-Helghast agent, and former second-in-command to General Lente, who defected to the ISA after having enough of the Helghasts' totalitarian and fascist society.
- But Not Too Foreign/Half-Human Hybrid: He's half-human and half-Helghan. Helghast are slighty mutated humans, reproduction between them and unchanged humans should still be possible.
- Cultured Badass: Hakha is calm, cunning and exceptionally well educated when compared to most Helghast, and his knowledge of the old maxim involving Shakespeare and monkeys is apparently no longer common knowledge in the future.
- Defector from Decadence: Despite holding the rank of Colonel in the Helghast army and even being the Chief of Staff for General Lente, Hakha eventually defected to the ISA out of concern over the fascist direction Scolar Visari was taking the Helghan people.
- Deadpan Snarker: The most likely member of the team to have a witty quip ready for any situation, usually directed at Rico.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Despite their initial mutual dislike, Hakha and Rico eventually find themselves on much better terms with each other, to the point where Rico goes out of his way to save an injured Hakha while fleeing the SD platform.
- Jack of All Stats: Like Templar, Hakha plays very much like an "average" FPS character (in contrast to Glass Cannon/Fragile Speedster Luger or Stone Wall Rico), the main twist being that he specializes in Helghast rather than ISA weapons (and thus doesn't have to worry about ammo management as much since enemies drop ammo for the weapons he's best with). However, he has better health regeneration than Rico and Templar, and like Luger, he carries a knife for close combat. He can also override Helghast security systems, opening up alternate paths in levels and allowing him to take control of Helghast attack drones.
- Not So Stoic: One of the few times he is shown to lose his cool is when he is attacked by Rico who accuses him of setting them up on an ambush planned by General Adams.
- Put on a Bus: He is never seen again after Killzone.
- The Smart Guy: His expertise on Helghan tactics earned him an immediate death mark from the Helghast.
- Stalker with a Crush: Judging by his description of Jan and Luger's relationship, its implied that he has sort an affection for the latter.
- The Spock: Is the most reasonable and logical of the four player characters.
- Token Enemy Minority: The only friendly Helghast character in the series until Shadow Fall introduced Echo.
- Tranquil Fury: Hearing Lente's mocking confession that he murdered his brother only gets him a scowl and a shotgun round to the gut.
General Stuart Adams
- Voiced by: Ronny Cox
- Bad Boss: He breaks the skull one of his own men out of frustration after being told his planned ambush of Templar's squad has failed.
- Big Bad: He's the main antagonist of Killzone.
- Dreadlock Rasta: Has a rather unique appearance, consisting of dreadlocks and a soulpatch.
- Hate Sink: A Smug Snake who not only willingly becomes complicit in the Helghast invasion of Vekta, but he is also not afraid in gloating at his traitorous allegiance to the Helghast when he and Stratson disabled the orbital defences. He is a selfish Jerkass who does not hesitate to berate his own men, even going so far in breaking one of his men's skull for failing to stop Templar's squad. When he goes into an incoherent breakdown, Adams is ultimately shown to be a Dirty Coward at the end, ranting at how Templar and his allies are a "little band of fuck-ups", and his death at the hands of Templar is all but satisfying for the backstabbing hypocrite he is.
- Jerkass: He is... not a nice guy at all. Even at the best of times, he's thoroughly impatient and snappy with the men under his command.
- Made of Iron: Although not a full boss fight, he can take a remarkable number of bullets before you finally put him down for good.
- Mole in Charge: For the Helghast.
- Not Quite Dead: When you finally catch up to Adams, you pump about two dozen rounds of assault rifle fire into his head and chest before getting in an escape pod and leaving the space station. Still, in the ending cutscene, he's shown clinging to life and crawling futilely as the station collapses on top of him before exploding.
- Obviously Evil: He’s very pale, (almost like a vampire) has sharp features, a low, threatening voice, and tends to have vaguely menacing conversations with his subordinates. The fact that he's in league with the Helghast really doesn't come as a surprise.
- Smug Snake: Acts haughty and full of himself when in control, but breaks down when his plans go awry.
- Villainous Breakdown: Adams breaks down into insanity after the many constant failures to kill Jan and his team. And especially at the end of the game before his death.Adams: What are you going to do? Kill me? It won't solve a goddamn thing. You got Lente, but it wasn't enough was it?! No! Templar and his little band of fuck-ups have to come here and save the day! If only you could see the visions Visari has shown me, the power, the lengths to which they are willing to go, they will never stop; they will never be bargained with. If if only you could see how insignificant this 'victory' of yours is to them. Your friends have been captured. The platform is breaking up. DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND??!! YOU DON'T STAND A FUCKING CHANCE!
- Walking Spoiler: He's not revealed to actually be The Mole until a few levels in, but it's not hard to figure out beforehand given the guy's attitude.
Introduced in Killzone: Liberation
Dr. Evelyn Batton
- Character Death: Shot dead by Radec in Killzone 2 to prompt Templar into giving the information he wanted.
- The Smart Girl: Her work on the Red Dust nuclear weapons is ahead of her colleagues throughout the United Colonial Nations.
General Dwight Stratson
- Voiced by: Vince Marcello
- Big Bad: After Templar kills Metrac in the base game's final chapter, Stratson becomes the main villain in the true final chapter of Liberation.
- Blatant Lies: Before his arrest, he vitriolically rants how his willing defection to the Helghast is for the greater good of Vektans, as well as the ISA needing him to retrieve the Red Dust from the Helghast... And nobody including Templar buys his bullshit.
- Boomerang Bigot: Despite being a Vektan, Stratson is shown to be bigoted to his own race, citing that Vektans like the ISA are "soft and weak". He is willing to sell out his own race by joining with Adams in disabling the orbital defences for the Helghasts to invade the planet, all for the while he claims to Sev that what he does is to let Vekta be occupied by the Helghast and to be a part of the Helghan Empire.
- Final Boss: Of Liberation.
- General Ripper: A literal example. When Cobar was defeated at the hands of Templar, Stratson summarily executes Metrac's second-in-command before revealing his true colours as a traitor to the ISA. After Metrac's defeat, he embodies this trope and takes the leadership role of the Helghast forces in Vekta, planning an attack on Sedah City and murdering the rest of ISA generals including General Murphy, long before he reveals to Rico about his treachery.
- Mole in Charge: Revealed to be a traitor working for the Helghast after Templar kills Metrac, as well as him being responsible for disabling the orbital defenses with Adams.
- Powered Armor: Stratson is seen piloting an EXO-skeleton suit as part of his Final Boss battle.
- Social Darwinist: Claims to Sev how the ISA have become "soft and weak" who are incapable of winning against the Helghast, citing his true intentions of why he betrayed the ISA in the first place.
- Villainous Breakdown: Said this line at the end of the game when he was unceremoniously arrested for his treachery.Stratson: You fools! I acted for the good of Vekta. The ISA can't win! It's soft and weak - [...] The Rayhoven nukes are already in Helghan! You need me! Vekta needs me!
Introduced in Killzone 2
Sergeant 1st Class Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko
- Voiced by: Demetri Goritsas (Killzone 2), Andrew Bowen (Killzone 3)
- The Hero: In Killzone 3. In Killzone 2 he was more The Lancer to Rico.
- Naïve Newcomer: As a teenager, he joins the ISA Marines seeking adventure, excitement, and a chance of becoming a hero. What he got was less than he expected.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In the novel, Killzone: Ascendancy, it is revealed that during the Helghast Invasion of Vekta, Sev's parents were brutally murdered and his younger sister Amy developed severe PTSD and got put in a mental hospital. This still haunts Sev with nightmares and drives him to fight the Helghast to the death.
- Dressing as the Enemy: He and Rico disguise themselves in Helghast uniforms in order to inflitrate a Stahl Arms base holding Narville and other captured ISA personnel.
- Heroic BSoD: He gets one after Garza is killed.
- My God, What Have I Done?: What he thinks after realizing that he and the surviving ISA troops have accidentally nuked Helghan.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He and company accidentally poison all of Helghan and indirectly kill millions of Helghast civilians. The alternative however was allowing the Helghast to nuke Earth.
- The above also makes him indirectly responsible for the events of Shadow Fall, where the surviving Helghast were forced to settle alongside their sworn enemies on Vekta, and Helghast nationalists carry on a bloody insurgency against the ISA.
- The Quiet One: In the second game, he has relatively few lines compared to the rest of the cast and is totally silent during actual gameplay. The third game makes him a bit more talkative, though he's still silent when you're actually controlling him.
- Time-Passage Beard: Whilst he already had a beard, he grows a larger one during the months stranded on Helghan.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: By Shadow Fall him and Rico are nowhere to be seen, but are considered war criminals by both the Helghast and Vektans for being responsible for the death of a billion Helghast by the end of 3.
Lance Corporal Dante Garza
A friend and fellow squadmember of Sev who's part of the second invasion force.
- Character Death: Gets fatally wounded after being captured by Radec.
- Nice Guy: Easy going, affable, laid back. You can see his death coming a mile away.
- Master of Unlocking: Always the one to hack a locked door.
- The Smart Guy: He's the squad's resident tech expert.
- The Heart: He's certainly tough, but his optimism and joking nature made him the emotional core of his squad.
- Your Mom: Is quick enough to sabotage one of these jokes by saying she just made him a nice sandwich.
Corporal Shawn Natko
An vulgar and bitter squadmember of Sev and Rico's who's part of the second invasion force.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Enjoys his job killing Helghans a little too much.
- Demoted to Extra: A supporting character and squadmember of Sev in Killzone 2 to only appearing as Player 2 in Killzone 3's co-op with no role in the story.
Captain Jason Narville
Voiced by: Mikey O'Connor (Killzone 2), James Remar (Killzone 3)
An ISA Marine captain leading an infantry company in the invasion of Helghan. The severe casualties suffered by the ISA's ground forces mean that is soon in charge of much larger formations as the highest-ranking officer left alive on the ground. He commands all ISA ground forces in Pyrrhus City during the final push on Visari's palace after Templar's death. He leads what remains of the ISA forces after they become stranded in Helghan during Killzone 3
- Ascended Extra: Whilst he had a fairly important role in the second game, the third game gives him a larger role and expands his character. He also gives combat support on some of the levels.
- The Captain: Captain Jason Narville is a hardass with a low tolerance for failure, but he never puts his men through things he wouldn't do himself. He also gets such results that earn him respect from both his superiors and his men. In the sequel though, he has become overly focused on survival and escape rather than resistance, gaining a tendency to make questionable command decisions with his insistance on prioritizing the lives of his men above all else, which isn't a bad thing for a superior, but shows that he's not the best overall commander to have.
- Face Death with Dignity: As he is about to be executed, he simply closes his eyes and accepts his fate. luckily for him, his executioner turns out to be Sev in disguise and proceeds to free him.
- A Father to His Men: He cares deeply for his men. Despite his questionable decisions, he ultimately wants to keep them alive and ensure that they all return home.
- Doubles as his fatal flaw, as any good commander knows that the mission has to take priority over the lives of the men trying to accomplish it. And in a war like the one with the Helghast, anyone who tries to keep their men alive is bound to be disappointed.
- Jerkass to One: In the third game, he's significantly more abrasive towards Rico than to the other men under his command. Given the fact that Rico killed Visari and disrupted the ISA's plans for the invasion], it's not hard to see why.
- Jerkass Has a Point: His attitude toward Rico is quite justified since Rico is stubborn and a bit of a jackass, and he completely fucked the goal of the invasion when he killed Visari.
- My Greatest Failure: It is explained that he feels greatly ashamed for not being on Vekta during the Helghast invasion (he arrived just after the utter defeat of the Invasion force), and strives to prove his worth during the invasion of Helghan.
Introduced in Killzone 3
Jammer
A covert operations officer that joins Rico's resistance.
- Action Girl: Fully capable of fighting with the others.
- The Heart: The most relaxed of the group.
- The Smart Girl: Extreme technical skills with mechanical systems and piloting.
- In the Hood: Wears a grey hood usually.
- Remember the New Girl?: She appears without introduction at the beginning of Killzone 3. Apparently she was added after many people noted that there were no female characters in the second game outside of Evelyn (who was killed off by Radec).
Hooper
A fellow soldier that later joins Sev and Narville's resistance.
- Mauve Shirt: Hooper appears in several cutscenes, acting as Captain Narville's aide-de-camp, being the engineer trying to deactivate the petrusite grid, and saving Jammer from a Helghast soldier. Despite having quite a bit of screentime, he only has a couple lines and gets virtually no characterization.
Introduced in Killzone: Mercenary
Arran Danner
- Voiced by: N/A
A former UCN veteran and member of the Phantom Talon PMC, a mercenary faction that accepts contracts from both the ISA and the Helghast. Player character of Killzone Mercenary.
- Bad Ass And Child Duo: With Justus.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike the previous Killzone protagonists who are often affiliated with the ISA and are all conversational, Danner is the only protagonist who is a Silent Protagonist and is a mercenary.
- Cool Shades: Wears these often.
- Groin Attack: One of his moves during brutal kills has him stabbing opponents' groin with his knife...Ouch.
- Heroic Mime: Compared to the other player characters, Danner never speaks.
- Hired Guns: Duh.
- Hitman with a Heart: In the final fight, Benoit asked Danner if he grew a conscience or if someone cut him a deal.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: How he gets the intel from officers. Though when used on Benoit, that's another story.
- Limit Break: The VAN-Guards.
- Death from Above: Sky Fury.
- Deflector Shields: The Carapace Defense System.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The Porcupine missile launcher.
- Invisibility: The Ghost generator.
- Nominal Hero: As a merc, is motivated purely by money, and doesn't really mind shooting the hell out of everone, be it Helghast troopers, ISA soldiers, or even his own co-workers.
- Would Not Hurt A Child: As ruthless and in it for the money as he is, when Benoit suggested selling Justus on the black market, Danner drew the line right there.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As soon as he finishes interrogating Helghast/ISA Officers, he kills them off, either by snapping their necks or slitting their throats. He's on the receiving end of it as Benoit manipulated Grey into telling him to leave Danner to die on the refinery. Kratek, of all people, sent in a dropship to rescue him.
Phantom Talon Corp.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With the ISA led by Grey and Helghast led by Kratek.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To the Helghast Military of the previous games. The Helghast Military is the military arm of the Helghast Empire, who oftentimes incite wars against the Vektans in the name of the Helghast banner, while the Phantom Talon Corp's members are seasoned mercenaries hailing from former military organisations, and have no actual allegiance to both sides of the war. Whereas the Helghast fight their wars for the cause of the Helghan and Visari, the Phantom Talon Corp's members are a Wild Card to the conflict, fighting on whatever side they are in and only care more for the money and paycheck than anything else.
- Only in It for the Money: They're hired guns whose intents and purposes is to profit off from the Second Extrasolar War by working on both sides of the conflict, irrespective of human lives.
- Private Military Contractors: They were a mercenary organisation hired by the ISA and Admiral Grey to stop the Helghast invasion led by Kratek in Diortem.
- Psycho for Hire: They are a for-profit PMC, who are Only in It for the Money just to get a paycheck at the end, regardless of how many casualties happening on both sides.
Commander Anders Benoit
- Voiced by: Corey Johnson
- Arch-Nemesis: He serves as the most personal threat to Danner, due to him sending his former companion to near-death during the attack on the Petrusite refinery.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: At the end of Mercenary he puts up a Radec-level boss fight against Danner, thanks to having a unique energy shield and a ton of health.
- Bald of Evil: A bald-headed mercenary with zero morals and loyalty towards others, only caring for the paycheck than anything else.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Kratek and Grey.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He betrays Danner during the attack to the Petrusite refinery and leaves him for dead, before he betrays Kratek near the end of the game, in his intent to steal the bioweapon and the trigger for himself.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Armin Metrac. General Metrac is the General of the Helghast Military during the invasion of southern Vekta, whereas Benoit is the commander of the Phantom Talon Corp. hailing from Earth. General Metrac is a ruthless sociopath who is openly sadistic and brutal, causing carnage for the fun of it, especially towards the ISA, in his twisted Helghast morals. Benoit is a ruthless, greedy schemer, serving as a Wild Card where he has no affiliation to both sides (Helghast or ISA) and is a high-ranking money-driven mercenary commander, only using the war for monetary gains and purposes regardless of casualties, while "allying" with them to get what he wants in the intent of backstabbing them at the end. Both of them have different plans: Metrac planned to murder the rest of the Vektans and conquer the south of Vekta, including Diortem, while Benoit actively wants to kick the Helghast out of Diortem, before soon betraying Danner during the attack on the refinery and initiate his own plan of finding the bioweapon and the trigger Justus, so that he can sell both to the black market. Benoit's also a boss in Mercenary and is comparably closely similar to Metrac, being adept in combat and also lead a group of men on their side. Metrac is the Climax Boss of Liberation, while Benoit is the Final Boss of Mercenary. Both use heavy weaponry and are long-range attackers who attack from a distance, as Metrac uses a Frankenstein heavy machine gun/grenade launcher, whereas Benoit uses a VC39 Accelerator Rifle as his signature primary weapon, as well as an energy shield in ground combat.
- Deflector Shields: Used by him in the final battle to significantly up his durability in a straight fight.
- The Dragon: Temporarily to both Grey and even Kratek in separate occasions, but it is clear that he's only acting out of his own interests, where he's more intent on killing Danner for refusing his offer than "acting" as the Number Two to both of them.
- Dragon with an Agenda: He only acted as The Dragon to Grey and Kratek separately, just to simply achieve his self-serving goal of retiring as a rich man. Shown afterwards after Grey was killed by Danner and Kratek was killed by Benoit, with Benoit's primary focus is to kill his former companion turned nemesis and achieve his own goal.
- Final Boss: Of Mercenary.
- Flunky Boss: He did promised a bonus to whoever takes out Danner, after all.
- Kick the Dog: He coldly leaves Danner to die on the exploding refinery when admiral Grey orders him to do so without question, clearly so that he can get all the payment for himself.
- Manipulative Bastard: He influences Grey into abandoning Danner by misleading her into believing he was about to betray her, and turns out to only be working for Grey and later Kratek in order to get his hands on the virus the two of them are fighting over.
- Nothing Personal: What he says to Danner when he leaves him to die at the exploding petrusite refinery.
- Only in It for the Money: He doesn't care for the Vektan-Helghast conflict, all he cares about is the paycheck. Even in mission briefings, he emphasizes that its all about the money. His strategy for the war says it all.Benoit: "My strategy for this war: Get rich and get out."
- Taken to its logical conclusion where he told Danner, after killing Kratek, that he plans to sell both the virus and Justus (who got the trigger in his body) to the highest bidder.
- Retirony: The intel you get from him indicated that he planned to retire after the war. After selling the virus and the trigger (which, by extension, includes Justus) to the highest bidder as retirement fund.
- Villain Ball: If he had not decided to betray Danner or screw over Grey he might have lived and fulfill his "get out, and get rich" plan.
- Wild Card: In spades. While Grey and Kratek are affiliated to their own respective faction and are close to killing each other, Benoit is within the middle, grey ground of the Helghast-Vektan conflict, and as such one of the main reasons why he and the PTC were hired by the ISA. His allegiance to one of the factions is unpredictable and pragmatic when he initially sides with the ISA to stop the Helghasts in Diortem before he betrays Danner. He then later sides with Kratek for the Virus and betrays the Helghast Colonel, leaving him and the PTC mercs as the main threat to Danner.
- You Kill It, You Bought It: Once it becomes clear Danner has beaten him and is about to kill him, Benoit bequeaths the entire mercenary business to Danner, then tells him to get it over with.
Damian Ivanov
- Voiced by: N/A
- Cool Shades: Wears red ones.
- Covers Always Lie: The games cover makes it look like he's going to be a secondary major character, yet he dies by the second mission.
- Every One Has Standards: After seeing Kratek's cruelty and ruthlessness, Ivanov states that he'd kill Kratek for free.
- He also states that he would do freebies if it meant getting the Helghast off of Vekta.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He stalls the detonation of the Helghast Cruiser's core long enough for Danner to escape with the encrypted codes.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies by the second mission.
Justus Harkin
- Voiced by: Spike White
- Big "NO!": When his parents are killed.
- Harmful to Minors: His parents are killed before his very eyes.
- Plus, he has to witness several deaths of Helghast soldiers during his journey with Danner.
- Half-Human Hybrid: His father is a human whilst his mother is a helghast.
- Hide Your Children: He is the very first child to appear in a Killzone game.
- In the Hood: He wears one, though its merely an accessory.
- Living Macguffin: The plasmid trigger, which made Kratek's bio-weapon non-contagious, is in his bloodstream. Which is why both Kratek and Grey seek to obtain him (for malicious purpose).
Admiral Alex Grey
- Voiced by: Lucy Newman-Williams
- The Announcer: For the ISA of Mercenery's multiplayer
- Big Bad Ensemble: She, Kratek and Benoit serve as the main villains of the game.
- Climax Boss: She serves as the penultimate threat to Danner, before facing off against Benoit.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Dwight Stratson. Both serve as high-ranking officials of the ISA and are both extremists for different reasons. Stratson was an ISA General who led his unit in Southern Vekta before revealing to be a traitor to the Helghast, claiming that by allowing the Helghast fleet to attack ISA and Vektans within Vekta (whom he proudly calls them as "soft and weak" despite being one), where he is also openly Turncoating to the Helghast by taking Metrac's position as the leader of his forces after his death, before proceeding to murdering the rest of ISA generals and attempt to defeat Templar for one last time. Grey is the Admiral of the ISA Navy who led her unit to halt the Helghast invasion of Diortem and is the opposite to Stratson's General Ripper personality, and she is more openly willing to commit morally ambiguous actions to win the war against the Helghast, including her attempt to commit mass-genocide with a bioweapon as well as kidnapping a child for the virus' trigger to wipe out the other race completely, all for her goal of ensuring peace on the Vektans. While Stratson actively helps the Helghast to successfully win their brutal cause, Grey is openly enemies with the Helghast and hires the Phantom Talon Corp., a mercenary organisation, for extra firepower, in order to win the tide of the war to the Vektans against them.
- Dying Curse: Should the player use the alternative death for Grey (trapping her inside the sample room with bombs) she curses Danner before meeting her fiery end.
- I Owe You My Life: Subverted. The real reason for rescuing Harkin and his family was to obtain the plasmid trigger that Doctor Savic promised her.
- Kick the Dog: She orders the destruction of a Helghast refinery rather than capturing it even though there are civilians working there. Even worse, Danner is there causing its destruction and she leaves him there to die under the assumption that he was going to sell out Doctor Savic to the Helghast.
- Kill It with Fire: If the player doesn't kill her before leaving the vault, she'll be set on fire when you set off the bombs.
- 'Tis Only a Bullet in the Brain: She gets shot in the head by Kratek in the first mission, but survives. It's heavily implied that the injury to her brain caused her descent into madness.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She wants to ensure total peace and security on Vekta, and if it means killing off all the Helghast, whether they be soldiers or civilians, then she will do so.
Blackjack
- Voiced by: Trevor White
A mysterious weapons dealer who provides the mercenaries with equipment.
- Arms Dealer: Many of his shops are located in the game that can provide the player with a variety of weapons, equipment and such.
- Cool Shades: Black shades.
- Every One Has Standards: He is disgusted that the Helghast would experiment on innocent civilians just to perfect the Virus Bio-Weapon.
- He also regards Admiral Grey as a nutcase for wanting to end the War by virus bombing all of Helghan.
- Face Framed in Shadow: His face is usually hidden from view.
- Pragmatic Villainy: He encourages Danner to destroy the virus and stop the genocidal master plans of Grey and Kratek, not because he wants peace, but because the absence of WMDs will limit the war to conventional fighting, thus prolonging the war and leading to more profits for the mercenary groups.
- War for Fun and Profit: Though he clearly is more about the profit than the fun part.
Introduced in Killzone: Shadow Fall
Shadow Marshal Lucas Kellan
- Voiced by: Gene Farber
- Anti-Hero: Averted. This is notable, since Killzone 2 and Mercenary had darker protagonists to fit the Darker and Edgier tone, while Shadow Fall is probably the darkest in the series, while Kellan is as heroic as Templar from Killzone. Despite having a dislike of Helghast (which no one blames him for at all), he doesn't let it interfere with his judgement as a Shadow Marshal, and can give one of his adrenaline packs-the only thing stopping him from dying should he go down in a firefight-to an injured Helghast woman, stop a homeless Helghast from killing himself, and save a shop owner from being killed by Helghast troops.
- Attack Drone: Kellan has one that is not only capable of offensive attacks, but is also capable of generating a shield, an ability to stun targets and shoot ropes to create a zipline.
- Death from Above: When Kellan is above an enemy npc, Kellan can jump unto them and kill them by stabbing them with his knife.
- Enemy Scan: Kellan has an ability to scan the current locations of enemy troops within a short radius.
- Harmful to Minors: Whilst attempting to escape to the Vektan side of Vekta with his father 30 years prior to the current events of the game, he saw his father get shot and killed before his very eyes.
- The Hero Dies: Executed Helghast style by his own father figure after he attempts to destroy a weapon that targets either the Helghast or Vektans, but will wipe out all half-breeds.
- Le Parkour: Kellan is capable of this, to a degree.
- Sniper Rifle: Apart from the other sniper rifles that he can wield, his weapon (as seen in the picture on the right), can change from a sub-machine gun to a sniper rifle.
Director Thomas Sinclair
- Voiced by: David Harewood
- Bald of Evil: While Sinclair still has some small traces of hair, he is bald in nature, is a bigoted racist and acting as one of the game's Big Bad, who is clear on wiping out the Helghasts for his own hatred against them.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Stahl in Shadow Fall, he's one of the main antagonists of the game. But unlike Stahl who's bent on starting another war with both the Helghast and ISA as a revenge after the events of 3, Sinclair also shares the same thing, but instead decidedly betrays his own son figure to do the same thing.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Alex Grey. Both serve as part of the Big Bad Ensemble, are racists towards Helghast and are high-ranking officials of the ISA, but Grey was the Admiral of the ISA Navy, while Sinclair served as the Director of the Shadow Marshals and now the director of the Vektan Security Agency, the espionage arm of the ISA. While both are born as Vektans, Grey is a Caucasian, pale-skinned, 46-year-old woman, while Sinclair is a dark-skinned, 51-year-old man. Both share the same racist ideology towards the Helghast and are willing to exterminate the other race but for different reasons. Grey is a Well-Intentioned Extremist wanting to use Kratek's bioweapon to ensure peace to Vekta at the cost of the innocents on the other side. Sinclair is Grey's polar opposite, who is a Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist and a General Ripper, willing to kill the remaining living Helghast on the other side of the Wall out of his paranoid racist views towards them, regardless of the ensuing collateral damage to the Vektans. Both act as former allies to the main protagonists. Grey is only an ally to the protagonist, Arran Danner, with no relation to him, whereas Sinclair also served as a mentor and a father figure to Lucas Kellan before killing him at the end. While Grey failed to kill Danner, Sinclair is a Hero Killer who murdered Kellan for attempting to stop the reignition of the Helghast-Vektan War and for siding with Echo.
- Fantastic Racism: He seems to have a hatred for the Helghast, and at one point refers to them as animals.
- General Ripper: Wants to restart the war with the Helghast, and even kills Kellan when he finds out.
- Hate Sink: A black-hearted racist towards the Helghast, who equates them as animals and only cares about killing them, regardless of collateral damage on both sides. Uses his own son figure Kellan to achieve his own goal, while ultimately betraying and killing him at the end for attempting to stop his plans and for siding with Echo. Ulltimately, his racist paranoia gets the better of him when he was killed by Echo through a sniper round to the head for ratting and murdering Kellan, making his death swift and satisfying.
- Hero Killer: He personally kills Lucas Kellan.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Sinclair's appearance
◊ is based off his voice actor. - Laser-Guided Karma: Sinclair had been planning on restarting war with the Helghast, and kills Kellan for trying to stop his plans. He gets his comeuppance with a sniper round to the head courtesy of Echo.
- Mirror Character: Sinclair hatred towards the Helghast makes him one to Jorhan Stahl. Both are considered extremists even by their sides standards, attempted to use a biological weapon to wipe out their opposing side, and have killed an ally of their when they got in the way (Stahl killed Orock; Sinclair killed Kellan). The fact that Sinclar's last name starts with an "S" and is part of the Big Bad Ensemble with him for Shadow Fall, really shows how similar Sinclair is to Stahl.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He claims to be fighting for Vekta’s benefit, but it becomes clear that his motives are solely out of bigotry towards the Helghast, and shows no hesitation in killing Vektans should they interfere with his plans. Just ask Kellan
- Properly Paranoid: He thinks that despite the peace treaty and the wall the separates the Vektans and Helghast, he believes that the Helghast still desire revenge and seek to conquer Vekta.
- The Spymaster: Director of the Vektan Security Agency and the Shadow Marshals.
- You Are What You Hate: He executes more than a few people the same way the Helghast do, and slowly but surely approaches Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. Crosses the
Moral Event Horizon when he murders Kellan for trying to defuse the war.
Dr. Hillary Massar
- Voiced by: Azura Skye
An ISA scientist working on a genetically engineered bioweapon designed to wipe out the Helghast on Vekta as a deterrant. During her extensive study of Helghast biology, she decides that the Helghast are the next step in human evolution and repurposes her bioweapon to wipe out humanity instead.
- Mad Scientist: An arrogant woman who uses both Human and Helghan alike as test subjects.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Aside from annoyance when interferred, she shows no emotion about her work potentially killing milions and instead looks forward to it like an artist would see his work displayed.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Her reason for switching side with New Helghan: once she has finished making her bioweapon for the VSA, she would be dispose as a "loose end".
The Helghast
The Helghast Empire in General
Duty. Obedience. Loyalty
An Empire (formerly a republic, more or less) settled on the harsh and barren planet of Helghan, populated by the descendants of the Helghan corporation, who fled to Helghan after being exiled for their defeat during the First Extrasolar War.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted by 3 and Shadow Fall, in that there's a great deal of civilians, neutral parties and others who want nothing to do with exterminating the ISA. Much of the franchise's conflict stems from their horrible living conditions and treatment being exploited to violently lash out like the Nazis. Problem is that almost every Helghast character is typically a part of the Empire or the Black Hand, and thus are the prominent enemies of the franchise that have to be killed by the droves; you can count the number of "good" characters on one hand. Combine this with their intimidating appearances and the sheer scale of their brutal war crimes that indiscriminately murder Vektan citizens and soldiers alike without mercy, and even more heartful ISA members have a hard time sympathizing.
- The VSA was explicitly built up by Sinclair to believe this for the sake of keeping one up on the Helghast while exploiting their new cold war circumstances to their advantage and being ready to fight on a moment's notice with the ultimate goal of killing all the helghan left. Considering the Time Skip only made the helghan hatred and paranoia fester from their walled-in ghetto circumstances, they end up building a genocidal WMD for self-defense, only further vindicating and aggrandizing Sinclair's beliefs.
- Arch-Enemy: To the ISA on Vekta.
- Commie Nazis: They are basically Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia and North Korea mixed together. Though Nazi Germany is the dominating influence. Helghan lost a major war with the ISA and UCN (World War I), was governed by a weak republic (Weimar), which was supplanted by the charismatic fascist Visari (Hitler) and espouses genocide and expansion.
- Killzone 2 and 3 gives us an expy for Baathist Iraq. To wit, the ISA invade Helghan, kill the tyrant Visari and are plunged into chaos once they realize they're stranded in an endless war with the Helghast. Much like how USA invaded Iraq, ensured Saddam's death, and faced an insurgency with little end in sight. Ironically, Arab nationalism itself is rather syncretic as an ideology itself, and by Shadow Fall, the Helghast also draw from Palestine and North Korea (which also has a syncretic ideology) in terms of being in an on and off conflict with their neighbours who they felt wronged them.
- In Shadow Fall, the Helghast also become a clear reference to East Germany. Not only do they succeed a ruined fascist state, but the Helghast separated from the ISA by a wall and in the middle of a Cold War with them with scientists from both sides trying to out do each other in the creation of weapons and technology.
- Doom Troops: The entire army, what with their red-eyed gas masks, Stahlhelm-inspired helmets, gray trench coats, and lack of anything resembling basic decency.
- Dying Race: During the time of Shadow Fall, after the destruction of Helghan.
- Evil Brit: All the Helghast sport british accents. Though as of Shadow Fall, this is no longer fully straight, as some helghast now sport american accents. This may or may not have to do with their resettlement.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Originally wore masks to prevent themselves from dying from the toxic atmosphere, they have now evolved and wear them as symbols of pride for enduring Helghans deadly atmosphere.
- The Great Depression: Before Visari's rise to power, the helghast people were suffering from an economic crisis.
- In the Hood: Several members of the Black Hand wear hoods.
- Human Subspecies: Due to the toxic atmosphere, many of the helghast evolved into mutants who cannot breathe outside of Helghan. Their common appearance is men usually having bald heads (all Helghast women seen so far have full heads of hair), sickly looking like radiation poisoned victims with green eyes. Though its revealed in the third game that the upper class Helghast look more human than the lower class. This may be due to the former having better living conditions and medical treatment than the latter.
- Master Race: They believe themselves to be above their human ancestors, who they see as unjust, greedy and corrupt.
- The Resenter: The Black Hand are at odds with the new helghan government for seeking peace with their former enemies rather than avenging helghan and the many millions who died.
- The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Black Hand, a helghast terrorist splinter-group consisting of radicals, zealots and former military personnel, who seek to reignite the Vektan-Helghast war through acts of terrorism, sabotage, brutality and chaos.
- Sociopathic Soldier: Many of the helghast troops have been shown to be sadistic and cruel to enemy soldiers and civilians alike. Jorhan Stahl's private army are shown to be even worse than those of the military.
- We Have Reserves: The Helghast (or at least their leaders) don't care how many of their own die, as long as they are victorious or deal a crippling blow to their enemies, they'll gladly send more troops to the meat grinder.
- Though, as of the events of Shadow Fall the new Helghast Government has changed the doctrine of the military from lightly trained troopers who use Zerg Rush tactics into more skilled and highly trained soldiers with more advanced weaponry than their predecessors, since the great decrease of population, the helghast cannot afford spending too many of their soldiers lives.
Introduced in Killzone
Autarch Scolar Visari
- Voiced by: Brian Cox
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Visari is a nationalistic, charismatic orator, who, after attaining power, oversaw the rabid militarization of his nation with the intention of expanding into territory's ceaded away from them in a prior conflict, and who eliminates any within his own government he considers dissonant. Essentially making him "Space Hitler."
- Anti-Villain: While an extremely ruthless dictator, he really did care about Helghan and it's people, and all his actions were him trying to make his planet free of Vektan control, and blames them for all the misfortune Helghan has ever had. He isn't even wrong either, considering how Vekta has treated Helghan in general.
- Bald of Evil: Not a hair on his head, and is extremely ruthless in his decisions.
- Big Bad: Of the first two games. While he doesn't show up in person until the second game, he's the leader of the Helghast Empire and the ISA's primary target. Even in death, his actions cast a long shadow over the third game, as his death is what sparks the plot.
- Catchphrase: He always starts his speeches with "My people, sons and daughters of Helghan".
- The Caligula: Visari was perfectly willing to sacrifice many of his soldiers by nuking his own City if it meant dealing a crushing blow to the ISA invaders.
- A bit of fridge brilliance comes to play when you realize that the nuke was actually stolen from Vekta during Killzone Liberation, and that the nuking of his city was a way to frame the ISA of a crime that would most likely make the Helghast fight the ISA with even more determination.
- Character Death: His death even kicks off the main plot of 3.
- Dark Messiah: Views himself as this, having transformed the Helghast from a race of dying refugees into an interstellar superpower. In the end of Killzone 2 he even boasts that if he was to be killed, then the Helghast will never forget his sacrifice, and will be more determined to destroy the ISA. Being murdered by Rico proved him right, escalating the war into total genocide.
- The Emperor: The Helghast Senate were intending to give him the title should he successfully repel the ISA invasion in Killzone 2. Though strangely, even though he wasn't yet officially declared emperor, some Helghast soldiers would call him "Emperor". Presumably, they thought he had already claimed that title.
- Enfante Terrible: When Sev finds a picture of a young Visari, he describes him as a "little demon kid".
- Evil Overlord: An extremely brutal tyrant, who maintains his control over his forces with an iron fist.
- Expy: He is where Degwin Zabi meets Gihren Zabi. Degwin's building and fortifying a nation of the banished and oppressed. Gihren's continued strengthening of the military, pro-war speeches, supremacist rhetoric, force of will and Cult of Personality. In terms of appearance he is in the middle as well. Bald like Degwin, but leaner like Gihren.
- Fantastic Racism: It was he who introduced the racial supremacist ideology to the Helghast. Though it is implied that even he doesn't believe or care for his ideals.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Downplayed. The way he wears his coat. He tucks the right side in and hangs the left side out.
- Glorious Leader: He was modeled after Hitler and Kim il-Sung, so the cult of personality is to be expected.
- Greater-Scope Villain: For 3. Despite being killed off in the second game, it's his death that sparks the plot and conflict of the third game between Stahl and Orlock.
- Large Ham: This is to be expected when he's voiced by Brian Cox.
- Master Race: He claims the Helghast race are superior to Humans. However, his claim is hypocritical considering that many high ranking Helghast (including his daughter) look almost or completely human.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: He explains to Sev and Rico that should he be taken or killed, it would only inspire the Helghast to fight even harder and that he is the only thing keeping the Helghast from descending into chaos. He gets killed by Rico anyway.
- Rousing Speech: He does spectacular ones for the first, second and third games' intros. Made even more epic by the superb voice acting of Brian Cox.
- Undying Loyalty: The Helghast utterly worship him and would gladly give their lives for him. This level of loyalty was because of him solving the Helghast's economic crisis and creating a prosperous empire and a powerful military. It also helps that all dissenting voices got stood against a wall and shot.
General Joseph Lente
- Voiced by: Steven Berkoff
- Aerith and Bob: The only major Helghast character to have an "ordinary" first name.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Not to the boss-level extent of the other Helghast military leaders, but he's still as tough as his own Elite Mooks.
- Bald of Evil: No hair and a ruthless commander of the Helghast.
- Fantastic Racism: He fiercely believes the Helghast race to be above humans, and shows contempt in working with General Adams.
- Leave Him to Me!: After Adams repeated failures to kill Templar and his team, he decides to deal with them personally... Big mistake.
- The Dragon: To Visari.
- Smug Snake: He spends most of his screen-time lording "Helghast superiority" over General Adams, and clearly enjoys needling Adams whenever Adams suffers a setback.
- Suicidal Overconfidence: His plan to stop Templar's squad was to fly down to the planet and face them personally in combat. This gets him killed extremely quickly. In contrast, General Adams' plan to stop Templar's squad involved luring them into an artillery killzone without actually being anywhere near the action, a plan which while more cowardly was also much more tactically sound.
- You All Look Familiar: Lente looks nearly similar to his bodyguards (the difference being that he doesn't wear a helmet). So unless you were being perceptive, you may be confused as to why he was laying on the ground wounded.
- You Killed My Father: He reveals to Hakha that he ordered his brother's execution after he spoke against the Helghast's cruel and inhumane acts. This revelation gets him killed.
Introduced in Killzone: Liberation
General Armin Metrac
- Voiced by: Chris Fairbank
- A Good Way to Die: When wounded by Templar, he asks him to kill him so he could have a warrior's death.
- Bad Ass Cape: He wears one.
- BFG: He equips one integrated with a grenade launcher during his fight with Templar.
- Big Bad: For the first four chapters of Killzone: Liberation, as the commander of the Helghast forces Templar battles throughout the game. But he is the Climax Boss and not the Final Boss, where it is instead given to Stratson, who takes his Big Bad spot after his death.
- Climax Boss: Becomes this before the true endgame with Stratson, the true final boss of Liberation.
- Disney Villain Death: He falls from his collapsing mountain base, but not before Templar riddles him with bullets.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Killing Metrac only ends the first four chapters of Liberation. However, the fifth and final chapter, despite being a DLC, is part of the game's story after the base game, where Stratson takes Metrac's position as the game's Big Bad.
- Genius Bruiser: He is not only a tactical genius who was able to hold the southern part of Vekta long after General Lentes death, he is also a capable fighter who can match Templar in combat.
- Helghast Subspecies: He is the most human looking Helghast who can both breath in Helghast and non-Helghast environments. This may be due to him being from the upper-class Helghast who had better living conditions than the lower class.
- The Sociopath: He inflicts brutalities to both ISA civilians and soldiers just for the sake of it.
- Villainous Friendship: He and Cobar shared one. This came during the time when Metrac investigated Cobar's crime of killing a high ranking officer who stopped a training exercise because a recruit got injured. Metrac vouched for Cobar and ensured that weakness would not be allowed in the Helghast army.
- White Hair, Black Heart: White hair with zero morals in regarding to civilian casualties.
Colonel Tendon Cobar
- Voiced by: Blake Ritson
- Ax-Crazy: He is best described as utterly psychotic. To put his bloodlust into perspective, he murdered his own commanding officer during training.
- Blood Knight: Cobar doesn't hide that he is only in the invasion for destruction and mayhem.
- Earlier in his academy days, he killed his training instructor due to him stopping a firing exercise after a recruit got injured, and would have been executed if not for the intervention of Metrac.
- Determinator: Even when his tank is destroyed and mortally wounded, he still tries to kill Templar with his pistol before finally being shot in the head by General Stratson.
- Disproportionate Retribution: He murdered his commanding officer for halting a training exercise because a recruit got injured.
- The Dragon: For Armin Metrac in Killzone: Liberation.
- The Dreaded: He is so feared that even his own men are terrified of him. The only one who isn't afraid of him is General Metrac.
- Fantastic Racism: His genuine belief of Helghast supremacy reaches zealous levels.
- More Dakka: His KIT-AN1 Tank sports a chain gun and can fire missiles, shoot out several grenades at once, and release spidermines.
- Punny Name: His all-terrain tank known as the KIT-AN1... Guess why its punny.
- Red Baron: He is known as the "White Death" by his troops.
- Undying Loyalty: To Metrac and the Helghast.
Introduced in Killzone 2
Colonel Mael Radec
- Voiced by: Sean Pertwee
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Given the sheer intensity of his boss battle he earned his rank.
- The Announcer: He is this for the Helghast of the second games' multiplayer.
- Bad Boss/A Father to His Men: Radec is a very rare example of both being a Bad Boss and yet a genuine Father to His Men. He's a leading teacher at the Helghan Academy and personally trained many of the Helghast soldiers defending Pyrrhus, and also gives rousing speeches to his men over the radio, yet is also completely ruthless and even had two of his men executed for uniform violations.Helghast 1: Did you hear? Two grunts from our unit got executed by Radec?
Helghast 2: No shit? What for? Cowardice? Defeatism?
Helghast 1: Uniform violations. I shit you not.
Helghast 2: 'The Dress Code is the foundation of discipline...' - Better to Die than Be Killed: Commits suicide upon defeat to avoid capture by the ISA.
- Blood Knight: He relishes on war and bloodshed.
- Breakout Villain: Easily the most memorable character in Killzone 2 for his awesome design, intimidating voice, and boss battle. His popularity was what landed him a spot in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale as the representative of the Killzone franchise.
- The Cameo/Guest Fighter: He's playable in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
- Colonel Badass: Highly professional, extremely skilled, and tactically brilliant in all forms of combatant with strong leadership to boot.
- Colonel Kilgore/Sociopathic Soldier: Certainly enjoys the war more than most even though he lacks genocidal tendencies. He’s also extremely ruthless to both his enemies and his allies. Willing to execute soldiers for Dress Code Violation, and perform harsh actions to his enemies.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Stuart Adams. Both have similar views towards Scolar Visari and are also the enemies of the protagonists, but their goals and intentions are different. Adams is an ISA traitor who sees Visari as an inspiration to betray his own allies and is responsible for shutting down the Orbital Defenses with Dwight Stratson, allowing the Helghast Army to launch an attack. Radec is a born Helghast, who is The Dragon to Visari, serving as his personal second-in-command and is a more personal antagonist to Rico, being the known killer of Jan Templar. Adams is the General of the ISA, while Radec is the Colonel of the Helghast Military. Adams rarely uses combat but his gun against the protagonists, while Radec is a full-blown Combat Pragmatist and Colonel Badass, who is adept in firearms, knives and actual close-quarters combat. Adams is a Smug Snake who openly gloated into siding with the Helghast, revealing to be a Dirty Coward at the end as he went through a massive Villainous Breakdown after he failed to kill Templar, before dying from a very unceremonious death at the hands of Templar. Radec is a combat-hardened, honourable Helghast who never backs away on combat, successfully killing Templar single-handedly before squaring off against Rico in a one-on-one fight inside the Visari Palace, before Radec killed himself at the end after his defeat as a sign of honour.
- The Dragon: To Visari in the second game. Fittingly, he's the last obstacle before Sev and Rico confront Visari.
- Fantastic Racism: Subverted in that he doesn't care for Visari's ideals of helghast supremacy over humans, all he desires is to be pointed to the enemy, so that he can annihilate them.
- Final Boss: Of the second game.
- Genius Bruiser: He's a tactical genius, as well as a master of personal combat and seemingly as strong as a Giant Mook (as shown in his brief fight with Colonel Templar).
- The Heavy: Of the second installment. He's the one in charge of the Helghast forces and the villain who is at the forefront of the plot.
- Hero Killer: Is responsible for the deaths of both Templar and Garza.
- Hidden Depths: Out of the all the Helghan Leadership he is the only one to stay and witness the nuke being dropped. Hinting at him feeling some level of responsibility over the killing of his fellow Helghans even if it was to stop the invading ISA.
- Kick the Dog: He remorselessly shoots a captured ISA marine during an interrogation. He also shoots Evelyn when she tries to delete the nuclear codes.
- Made of Iron: He can soak a few magazines worth of bullets before going down. Unlike other endbosses in the series, he does this without the benefit of Deflector Shields.
- Villainous Valour: Though a pragmatic tactician, Radec is every bit as willing, and eager, to enter the thick of battle as any Helghast soldier, being the Final Boss of Killzone 2. An exchange between him and Visari pretty much confirms he prefers to be a Frontline Colonel over relying on high-tech fortifications to stall the ISA, and only restrains himself at Visari's request—not wanting to risk losing a valuable commander.
- Worthy Opponent: He sees Templar as one. When he meets Templar during the Helghast counter-attack on the ISA ships, he expresses disappointment that they couldn't meet each other on the battlefield like soldiers. That doesn't stop Radec from killing him to complete his objective.
Introduced in Killzone 3
Admiral Orlock
- Voiced by: Ray Winstone
Supreme Commander of the Helghast military tasked in dealing with the remaining ISA troops stranded on Helghan after a huge counter attack that forced the ISA ships to retreat. He is at odds with Jorhan Stahl. He becomes Autarch after Stahl humiliates himself for failing to kill Visari's killers and allowing them to escape. His position is short lived after Stahl kills him with one of his prototype irradiated arc cannons.
- Arch-Enemy: To Stahl.
- The Announcer: He is this for the Helghast of the third games' multiplayer.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: Named Visari's successor. Unfortunately, it doesn't last more than an hour due to Stahl...being him.
- Bad Boss: Like Stahl, his default method for motivating his troops is to threaten them with execution for failure.
- Big Bad Ensemble: With Stahl for the third game.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He's saddened by the Enemy Civil War with Stahl, and genuinely horrified by the idea of wiping out humanity.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: An extremely short-tempered and violent man with few morals.
- Large Ham: His high level of patriotism leads to him a boastful and powerful speech.
- Leave No Survivors: In Multiplayer, should the Helghast win in Operation mode, a cutscene shows the Helghast with captured ISA. Orlock demands the ISA soldiers to be executed.
- Meaningful Name: Killzone is made by a Dutch studio and the Dutch word for war is 'oorlog'. Pronounced almost exactly like the Admiral's name.
- Out-Gambitted: Stahl saw his You Have Outlived Your Usefulness play coming a mile away, and planned accordingly.
- Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: This...is...an...out-rage!.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: At first, he can barely stand to be in the same room as Stahl, who constantly insults and berates him for not killing the ISA quickly enough, but Orlock still needs his weaponry to fight the war. By the end of the game, the two are straight up trying to murder each other.
- Your Head A-Splode: Courtesy of one of Stahl's weapons, wielded by the man himself.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Orlock, who had been made Autarch after Stahl made a fool out of himself for failing to kill Visari's killers, intended to have Stahl executed after he turned over his Petrusite weapons. Unfortunately, Stahl killed him first.
Chairman Jorhan Brimve Stahl
- Voiced by: Malcolm McDowell, Gideon Emery in Shadow Fall
The chairman of Stahl Arms, Stahl an ambitious Helghast who seeks to become ruler of the Helghast Empire in the wake of Visari's death. He is at odds with Admiral Orlock over how to deal with the remaining ISA forces stranded on Helghan. He has developed irradiated petrusite weapons and plans to use them to destroy Earth. He kills Orlock during a Coup d'état, but is apparently killed after Sev and company destroy his cruiser.... or not, given that he survives well into Shadow Fall.
- Arch-Enemy: He and Orlock spend the entirety of 3 at odds with one another, each with their own plans for Helghan's future.
- Bad Boss: Stahl holds enough contempt for the regular armed forces, and he's not much better to his private army, constantly berating them and willing to sacrifice them to further his own ends.
- Big Bad Ensemble:
- In the wake of Visari's death, Stahl spends the majority of 3 competing with Orlock in the ensuing power vacuum. Stahl edges out by the end when he kills Orlock and becomes the sole big bad for the game's final segment.
- He returns as the true mastermind of the Black Hand in Shadow Fall, but finds himself competing with yet another Big Bad in the form of Sinclair.
- Black Mail: He threatens to reveal senator Kuisma's infatuation with young boys if he didn't give him his support.
- Blatant Lies: In his broadcast to Helghan nation, he refers to himself as an honest businessman... which nobody, not even the Helghan Senate, buys.
- Bond One-Liner: After killing Orlock, he merely scoffs, "Shit! That had to hurt!"
- Boom, Headshot!: His final fate in Shadow Fall , courtesy of Sinclair.
- Cluster F-Bomb: He's surprisingly vulgar for someone of his status, casually throwing curse words around like nobody's business.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist:
- To Scolar Visari from the previous games. Both are rivalling Arms Dealers and the CEO of their respective weapon comapanies: Stahl Arms and Visari Corporation, as well as the Autarch of Helghan. Whereas Visari was the first Autarch and the founder of Helghan, who was elected fairly by the majority, Stahl became the last Autarch through usurpation by killing Orlock and caused Helghan's end via the Terracide. Even their weapons companies display a similar contrast. Visari's weapons in his company are all high-tech and futuristic in nature, whereas Stahl's weapons from his company focuses on high fire rate that is reminiscent to 21st-Century weapons up until he gets his own personal weapon: a Petrusite-powered cannon. Visari is commanding but also formal and loyal to his men and his cause during the Helghast-Vektan War, while Stahl is arrogant and abrasive who freely throws curse words all the time, as well as an Omnicidal Maniac, caring little for the Helghast and his own unit of soldiers from his company in an attempt to destroy not only the Vektans but also Earth in a nihilistic act of revenge. Visari is shown to have some form of care to the Helghasts, his own people, albeit in a twisted cause to fight their own war against the Vektans. Stahl is a Boomerang Bigot, noting his hatred for the Vektans, but he is also an overt racist against his own race, claiming that the billion people (Helghasts) who died during the Terracide in his home planet are considered weak. While Visari was killed by the main protagonist Rico in Killzone 2, Stahl was killed by Sinclair, one of the main antagonists of Shadow Fall.
- He's also a contrast to Mael Radec from 2, being that both of them serve Visari, but they too significantly differ from one another. While Radec is devoted to Visari and would serve him until death, Stahl instead opted on betraying Visari, which is a trait that he inherited from his father Khage who also did the same thing to him but ended in failure.
- Cool Starship: The Khage, an advanced Helghast cruiser equipped with an irradiated petrusite cannon, energy shielding and a warp drive.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: By the end of Shadow Fall, Kellan finds Stahl hooked up to life support as he's not only 84 years old, but likely suffering from radiation sickness after the events of 3.
- Diabolical Mastermind: A Corrupt Corporate Executive with his own private army and plans to take over the Helghast Empire after he eradicates all life on Earth in 3, then continues to operate as the leader of the Black Hand in Shadow Fall.
- Evil Old Folks: He's well into middle-age in 3, and lives to be 84 in Shadow Fall. Age certainly hasn't dampened his depravity.
- Eviler than Thou: He proves to be more evil than Orlock when he reveals his genocidal plans for Earth. Even Orlock was disturbed.Orlock: Listen! Even if you win, do you really think Helghan's enemies will allow you time to rebuild? Look around you, Stahl! You're destroying our people!Stahl: Unless, what if I had no enemies left to fight? What if I used my weapons and killed everyone on Earth? The colonies would be terrified. They will fall into line, and I wouldn't need your help!
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Stahl is seen smoking cigarettes while undertaking villainous actions, such as plotting with the council or uploading battle plans.
- Humiliation Conga: First, he fails to execute Visari's killers and manages to embarass himself in front of the entire Empire on a national broadcast, then the Senate declares his rival Orlock the new Autarch, and is finally forced to turn over all his weapons and personnel or be declared an enemy of the state. Cue Villainous Breakdown.
- Kick the Dog: Shoots an ISA prisoner at point-blank. He also orders his ships to destroy the space station after evacuating in an attempt to kill the ISA troops, including any Helghast still onboard.Soldier: But, sir, the men...
- Large Ham: He is played by Malcolm McDowell after all.
- The Man Behind the Man: In Shadow Fall, he's the real mastermind behind the plot to exterminate the human population of Vekta.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His own Petrusite weapons are misfired at Helghan, killing a billion of his people and ending the war with an ISA victory.
- Non-Action Big Bad: As of Shadow Fall. Stahl, who is revealed to be alive, has been operating in the shadows and is the mastermind behind the Black Hand's existence, who is its own financier. But he is non-action as he's already on life support due to the radiation. It gets on his head when Sinclair kills him.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Stahl seems to have been created from an amalgamation of at least three Nazi Party members.
- The first and obvious is the Minister of Propaganda himself, Joseph Goebbels. Like Goebbels, Stahl is a fiery, charismatic orator who uses propaganda to inspire his countrymen, and his role as a speaker in Search and Retrieve further reinforces this. His antagonism toward Orlok mirrors Goebbels' tense rivalry with fellow Nazi Herman Göring, who succeeded Hitler's Head of State and Chancellor offices, like Stahl and Orlock, who became Autarchs after Visari died. Furthermore, his bankrolling of the Black Hand in Shadow Fall blatantly references the Nazi guerilla movement Operation Werwolf, which Goebbels created to oppose the Allied occupation of Post-WWII Germany.
- Hitler's Chief Architect and Minister of Armaments and War Production, Albert Speer, is another visible influence on Stahl. Both play a significant role in supporting the war efforts of their respective dictatorships, serve as close confidants of a fascist dictator and were the only ones who survived the collapse of their cabals.
- Stahl, to some degree, is a serial-numbers filed off take on Ferdinand Porsche, the engineer who designed the Volkswagen and launched Porsche AG (yes, that Porsche). Given Porsche's status as an honorary SS officer who had strong relations with everyone's favourite genocidal German, coupled with his job of developing hardware for the Nazi military, such as bombs and war machinery like a prototype heavy tank called the Elefant, it's to ignore that Guerrilla Games might have taken inspiration from Porsche when creating Stahl.
- Not Quite Dead: He supposedly met his end at the end of 3 when his cruiser crashed back on the irradiated Helghan. However, Shadow Fall reveals he survived.
- Omnicidal Maniac: Oh, is he ever. Unlike the other Helghast villains, who want to conquer the colonial worlds, Stahl plans to use his new superweapon to eradicate all life on Earth and force the colonies into submission through fear, and isn't above using them against his own people should they stand in his way. In Shadow Fall, he intended to wipe out Vekta's human population using a bio-weapon the ISA originally designed as a deterrent.
- Precision F-Strike: "The time has come for some new fucking management."
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Right before popping Orlock's head like a pimple...Stahl: Like I said, you're predictable!
- Sanity Slippage: After the Senate declares Orlock Visari's successor and forces him to yield to his authority, Stahl gets certain ideas and rallies his armada to set course for Earth.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: In spite of his age, he is not well-mannered, to say the least, nor does he care enough to try.
- Smug Snake: Stahl has complete confidence in any plan he comes up with but quickly falls into a swearing fit whenever things so south.
- The Social Darwinist: He considers the Helghan Terracide a good thing for making the Helghast people stronger by culling the weak.
- The Starscream: Apparently a family trait. His father, Khage Stahl, was this to Scolar Visari. Khage made an attempt to usurp power from Visari, but failed, and died a disgraced and broken man. Jorhan secretly despised Visari for this, and wasted no time trying to wrest control of the Empire from Orlock and the Senate after Visari's death.
- Surrounded by Idiots: He frequently remarks about how incompetent the Helghast military and even his own men are. Granted, these rants usually come after Sev and Rico have just dealt the Helghast another major blow.
- Taking the Bullet: Subverted when he quickly uses a nearby soldier to unwillingly take the bullet when Sev tries to kill him.
- Technologically Advanced Foe: Stahl's forces are equipped with cutting edge technology more than a few steps more advanced than what the Helghast or ISA have. In Killzone 3 Orlock is astonished that Stahl's ships have energy shielding, with his single supercarrier able to singlehandedly wipe out the entire Helghan fleet. In Shadow Fall, his Elite Mooks have personal energy shields, a first for the series.
- Villainous Breakdown: Has one after it's revealed that the Helghan Senate has declared Orlock Autarch instead of him, and intends to force him to hand over all of his weapons to the military or face being declared an enemy of the state, and this comes hot on the heels of his intended gambit to rule Helghan being ruined when Sev and Rico break the ISA prisoners out of his weapons facility on a national broadcast. This ends up making him worse as he goes behind the Senate's back and assembles his fleet to take Earth himself and cripple the Helghan state so that they submit to him.
- White Hair, Black Heart: One of the few Helghast with hair and it's stark white to contrast the darkness of his deeds.
- "You!" Exclamation: Does one when Sev reveals himself from his disguise.
Introduced in Killzone: Mercenary
Colonel Vyktor Kratek
- Voiced by: Nicholas Boulton
Helghast Colonel tasked by General Metrac with crushing ISA resistance in Diortem and ending the war in southern Vekta. After Metracs defeat at the hands of Jan Templar, he fled back to Helghan and was assigned by Visari to develop a new weapon that could change the tide of the war.
- The Announcer: For the Helghast of Mercenery's multiplayer.
- Big Bad: Of Killzone: Mercenary, though he's robbed of Final Boss status when he's betrayed by Benoit. Nevertheless, he's still the antagonist for most of the story.
- Deadly Euphemism: Non-fatal example, but his way of making Danner, after his men rescue him, comfortable is knocking him out.
- The Dragon: To Armin Metrac.
- Dragon Their Feet: He outlives both Metrac and Cobar.
- Enemy Mine: He employs Danner to help him stop Admiral Grey from destroying Helghan through the use of the bio-weapon that he created.
- Final Boss: Subverted. Though he is built up to be a major threat, during the final confrontation, he is unceremoniously shot in the back by Benoit, the true final boss.
- High Collarof Doom: Just look at the picture on the right.
- Kick the Dog: During his interrogation of Admiral Grey, he gases ISA marines from a nearby cell to coerce her into revealing more information.
- Large Ham: He is a Helghast, this is to be expected.
- Skull for a Head: The top half of his helmets front resembles a human skull.
- Tested on Helghast: He experimented on helghast civilians during the development of the bio-weapon, where he then has the audacity to claim that they willingly gave themselves up for experimentation for the helghast cause (even though its greatly suggested that they were taken by force).
- The Virus: He created a bio-weapon made from a stolen viral agent from Vekta and plans to use it on Vekta.
- Would Hurt a Child: Intel captured during the final mission reveals that he will have Justus killed after he extracts the plasmid trigger from his body.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He shoots Admiral Grey when she refuses to give more information. However, she manages to survive.
- Whether or not Danner would give him the virus sample, he would have had him killed either way. And when he gets a chance too, he is shot by Benoit.
Doctor Mandor Savic
- Voiced by: Angus Wright
- The Atoner: After realizing Krateks true intentions, he sought to defect to the ISA and reveal everything he knows. Too bad Admiral Grey was as much a psycho as Kratek.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Even after telling her the location of the secret facility containing the virus, he is left under the mercy of ISA soldiers who proceed to beat him up whilst he's tied to a chair.
- Defector from Decadence: He sought to defect to the ISA because he learned of Krateks plan to use the Virus on Vekta (Savic thought it would be used as a safeguard for Helghan.
- Dirty Coward: Subverted. He quickly left during the attack on the vektan embassy because he believed if Krateks men would learn he was not there, they would instead divert their attention to finding him and leave the Harkins alone.
- I Have a Family: He was forced to develop the Virus under threat of his families safety.
- Reluctant Mad Scientist: See above.
- What Have I Done: After all the shit he's been through, he simply slumps on the ground, and laments of the things he did.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He reveals everything to Danner, Kratek, who was listening, demands Savic's death.
Boris
- Voiced by: Nathan Constance
C.Borischek, or Boris, was a Helghast heavy trooper and the loyal bodyguard of the Harkin family.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Over the five years of service to the Harkin family, he had grown attached to them (most especially Justus). As such, he will die trying to protect them.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: Bitterly invokes this trope to Danner moments after Sepp and Valeria Harkin are killed.
- Every One Has Standards: When Sepp and Valeria Harkin are killed during the assault on their residence Boris expresses disgust that Helghast soldiers would kill civilians, which he calls the lowest of the low.
- Jerkass: He says out loudly that Vektans are cowards (despite Justus being near and the fact that Justus is half vektan), expresses disdain with working Arran Danner and calls Justus' mother a whore (even though she died minutes before).
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nonetheless, he is loyal to his employers and is determined to fulfill the promise he made to Justus' father by getting the child to safety (even if it costs him his life).
- Go Through Me: One of his quotes during battle has him exclaiming that if the helghast soldiers want to get Justus, they'd have to go through him.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He dies getting Harkin and Danner out of the embassy.
- Undying Loyalty: His loyalty to the Harkins surpasses his loyalty to the helghast. He will defend them even if it means that he has to kill fellow soldiers.
Introduced in Killzone: Shadow Fall
Echo
- Voiced by: Jamie Gray Hyder
A Helghast intelligence operative who like Kellan is tasked with preventing another war between the Helghast and Vektans.
- Action Girl: A highly impressive combatant, and hacker.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: The final mission has you in control of Echo as she sneaks into a VSA compound and assassinates Sinclair from afar, avenging Kellan's murder. This also counts as the first time in the series where you play as a Helghast in the campaign.
- And This Is for...: "For Kellan"
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: She heavily contrasts to many of the companion characters introduced in previous games. In general, most of them were affiliated with the ISA and are pure-blooded, while Echo is a half-breed and is not affiliated with both sides, despite being an intelligence operative for the Helghast. She's also the first companion character who is biologically related to the antagonist, that being her mother Hera and her late grandfather Scolar.
- Half-Human Hybrid: The only reliable intel the VSA has on her pegs her as this.
- Uneven Hybrid: According to Massar, she's actually more than half-Vektan. Which means her mother, Hera, is one too. Which gives Echo even more reason to prevent genetically targeted genocide.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Looks just like her voice/mocap actress, Jamie Gray Hyder◊, albeit with striking green eyes
- In the Hood: Wears a red coat.
- Rebellious Princess: Is of the Visari dynasty, but chose to prevent the repetition of the mistakes of her predecessors through direct action.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Is nowhere near as xenophobic compared to the majority of the Helghast. She even admits they are just as guilty as the ISA for causing Helghan's destruction.
- Only Sane Woman: Is one of the few Helghast who desires peace with the Vektans.
Chancellor Hera Visari
- Voiced by: Lisa Banes
The daughter of Scolar Visari who assumed leadership over the now disenfranchised Helghast after their homeworld's destruction.
- Anti-Villain: Echo says she's one of these in the Story trailer.Echo: Visari is doing this because she thinks she doesn't have a choice. If you attack, she will not back down! She'd be defending her people, their home!
- Illustrated very well later in the game. She clearly desires to maintain the peace, but will protect her people and wants a position of power with which to negotiate. Unfortunately, this means she's allowing the development of a WMD. One which Stahl fully intends to use, and so does Sinclair if he can get his hands on it.
- Ascended Extra: She was promoted from being a very brief character during the third games intro to a full character with an important role in Shadow Fall.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To her father from the previous games. Both follow the ideals of a Helghast, but unlike Scolar who would go such lengths to start a war with the ISA, Hera wants to protect her people and is much more war-averse than him despite fronting Stahl's plans of a WMD.
- Daddy's Little Villain: She is Scolar's daughter.
- Dating What Daddy Hates: A serious and probably post-patriarch-mortem version. It's how she gave birth to Echo.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Has to be one if Massar comments on Echo being over half Vektan are true.
- Knight Templar: Is committed to doing whatever it takes to defend the Helghast people from "foreign agression".
Vladko Tyran
- Voiced by: Crispian Belfrage
The zealous leader of the Black Hand who seeks to re-ignite the war between the Vektans and the Helghast.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Throughout the game Kellen beats him up repeatedly in cutscenes, but at the end he puts up a prolonged boss fight thanks to an energy shield and a number of other high-tech gadgets courtesy of Chairman Stahl's technology.
- Agony of the Feet: Suffers this thanks to Kellan.
- Doubles as Laser-Guided Karma, since he had earlier stabbed Kellan.
- Badass Boast: "We are the Black Hand! Forged in the fires of Helghan, and this is our day!"
- Big Bad Wannabe: He's clearly got more in common with Caesare Borgia than Scolar Visari. From the very beginning Tyran is obviously far too hysterical and Ax-Crazy to be a credible threat, and it's no big surprise when Chairman Stahl turns out to be the one secretly pulling the strings.
- Blood Knight: He has sworn that he will never stop attacking the Vektans until the entire city runs red in Vektan blood.
- Climax Boss: Is fought as a boss fight about halfway through the final level, just before storming Stahl's inner sanctum.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Vyktor Kratek from Killzone: Mercenary. Both are Helghast zealots who have an equal, seething hatred towards the Vektans, are Ax-Crazy and are also The Dragons to the Big Bad. Kratek is a sadistic Colonel of the Helghast Military who is the subordinate of Metracnote during the invasion of Diortem, as well as a Mad Doctor who intents to use his bioweapon and kidnap Justus, the proverbial plasmid trigger, to wipe out the Vektans in an act of genocide. Tyran is the second-in-command to Stahl, where he is a zealot Blood Knight and the leader of the Black Hand, who is more so intent on causing chaos and destruction in Vekta than outright genocide, heavily contrasting to Kratek's goals, in an attempt to restart the war between the Helghast and Vektans. Kratek is a 40-year-old man dressed prim and proper with a gas mask on his head, as well as a cape. Tyran is a unkempt 30-year-old man, dressed in the standard Black Hand insurgent gear including a grey robe and infiltrator projectors, as well as having an unknown piece of plastic material that serves as his "cape".
- Death by Childbirth: One of the audiologs on Helghan reveals that Tyran's mother died giving birth to him. Fortunately, a good Samaritan discovered her and promised to take care of him before she died.
- The Dragon: To Stahl.
- For the Evulz: Doesn't care about the casualties he causes in his terror towards the Vektans, as long as he sees the "streets run red with blood".
- Large Ham: Enough to give Scolar some competition. In his terrorist broadcast to Vekta he's practically dancing for the camera.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Despite news papers suposed confirmation of his dead, Tyran turns up alive and well with seemingly no injuries.
- Revenge: His entire motivation is to avenge the deaths of the billion Helghast lives lost during Helghan's destruction.
Anton Saric
- Badass Longcoat: An impressive brown coat.
- Bald of Evil: As typical for the Helghast.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: At some point in the game, he tortures Kellan with a taser like rod.
- Expy: His design is quite similar to Bane from the Dark Knight Trilogy. he sounds a bit like him too.
- Karma Houdini: Other than Visari and Echo (who are presumably needed for the sequel), every single named character in Shadow Fall dies over the course of the game. Except this guy. He just kind of disappears about halfway through the game.
- To be fair, he's no Black Hand. So he gets a pass.
- Harmful to Minors: As a child, he witnessed his homeworld's destruction. This clearly made him suffer a case of the crazies.
