Characters / Sniper Elite V2

SOE, OSS, and allies

Lt. Karl Fairburne

Fairburne during the Berlin Offensive in 1945

^{During the North African campaign in 1942} 

^{During the Italian campaign in 1943} 

^{During the Normandy campaign in 1944} 

Voiced by: Tom Clarke-Hill

The Hero of the series. An officer in the SOE and later the OSS of British-German heritage^note Father was the British ambassador to Germany, mother, German, born on US territory, his legal citizenships are, complicated. who grew up in the United States. First seeing action in North Africa taking missions under the British SOE, he is later assigned to assist the Allied Invasions of Sicily and Italy. It is here that he begins taking missions for the OSS. In mid-1944, he is immediately reassigned to help with the Allied Invasion of France, and begins aiding the French Resistance and US Army Rangers in their missions to stop the Germans from pushing the Allies back. In 1945, under the orders of the latter organization, he undertakes a solo mission into Berlin to go after the heads of the V2 rocket program intent on selling their secrets to the Soviet Union.

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• Adaptational Nationality: In the original Sniper Elite, Karl was German-American. Here, he's revealed in 4 to be British-German who grew up in the United States. 5 clarifies that he is a German born British-German and is a native speaker of German, but moved to America in his childhood.
• All Germans Are Nazis: Averted. He's of German descent, but clearly despises the Nazis, killing them brutally by the dozens whenever he can.
• And This Is for...: Says this as a Bond One-Liner after killing Gen. Tobias Schmidt during the first level of 4.

"This is for the Orchidea, chum."

• Art Evolution: In V2, he looked to be in his 40s and had more pronounced wrinkles. By 4 and in V2 Remastered, the latter of which uses the former's design, he looks to be in his 30s and has a slightly darker skin tone with less wrinkles on his face.
• Baritone of Strength: He has a notably deep and gruff voice, is a skilled sniper, and has killed hundreds if not thousands of Nazis, Italian Fascists, and Imperial Japanese officers..
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Inverted. Karl makes it a point to remember the people he kills when Vahlen taunts him that and he and Karl are similar.
• But Not Too Foreign: He's half British and half German, and spent the majority of his life living in the United States, explaining why he can work seamlessly with both the SOE and OSS.
• Characterization Marches On: In the V2, he's utterly stoic and barely speaks beyond his inner monologues.III and 4 softens his personality with him showing some camaraderie with Brauer, Colonel Weaver, and the Allagra partisans. By 5, he's become outright friendly and even cracks several jokes, especially with his old friend Charlie Barton.
• Cold Sniper: He's almost always composed, and is a very ruthless and efficient sniper. It takes serious effort to make him mad, which only makes him more effective.
• The Dreaded: He's become this to the Nazi forces by the time of 5, gaining a reputation as "the Shadow" who has destroyed multiple wunderwaffe. Möller in particular is quite afraid when he learns that his activities have drawn the Shadow's attention.
• Experienced Protagonist: When we first see him chronologically during the Siege of Tobruk in III, it's already evident that Karl is a veteran of previous campaigns, an experienced and skilled sniper, and a huge cut above the New Meat British and Commonwealth soldiers he's helping defend Tobruk with.
• Friendly Sniper: Seamlessly transitions to this the moment a firefight is over. When working with the LRDG, the Allagra Partisans, the US Army Rangers, and the French Resistance, he's shown to have friendly relations and conversations with Brauer as well as Lucio, Sofia, Giancarlo, Charlie, Marie, and eventually, Sullivan.
• Genius Bruiser: In addition to being a skilled sniper, he's rather knowledgeable on the inner workings of German vehicles, military facilities, and factories, as well as how the German High Command operates. Justified, since he's a West Point graduate, and many of his missions require him to know on how all of these work, so that nothing comes back to bite the Allies later on.
• Good Is Not Nice: He's stoic to the point of rudeness and is outright disrespectful to anyone who hasn't earned his trust. Notably in 4, he refuses to shake Colonel Weaver's hand until the end of the game after Weaver has proven himself.
• Good Is Not Soft: He's clearly loyal to the Allied cause and is shown to be quite jovial and chatty with anyone fighting against the Nazis regardless if they're La Résistance or The Mafia. However, he's absolutely brutal when fighting against Axis troops, not hesitating to commit quite a few questionable actions here and there just to take them down. It gets downright brutal in melee, and he Buried Alive at least one Nazi in concrete to fake an accident.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Justified, since he always works behind enemy lines, where an American or British helmet would give him away much more easily. Can become a Subverted Trope in 5, where Karl can wear either an American M1 Helmet or British Paratrooper helmet as part of the Character Customization system.
• Hollywood Silencer:
  • His Welrod pistol makes almost zero noise, allowing him to sneak up to and kill enemies without detection.
  • In later games, he gets access to the High-Standard HDM and the Delisle Carbine, which also have equally quiet suppressors built into them.
  • In 4, he gets access to specialized subsonic ammunition that allows him to fit suppressors onto conventional rifles and pistols, which cause them to emit almost zero noise at the cost of range and stopping power.
  • It's significantly more realistic in 5, where it takes using both subsonic ammo and a silencer to reduce rifle rounds to single digit meters of sound. The Welrod, HDM, and other pistols with silencers are still very quiet, especially with subsonic ammo.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He looks like a younger and more physically buff Tom Clarke-Hill.
• I Work Alone: Zig-Zagged Trope. One on hand, most of his missions are carried out solo due to being infiltration missions deep behind enemy lines, where large groups of people would attract unwanted attention from the enemy. On the other, he can and will provide help to nearby allies when necessary, such as covering Brauer from Italian reinforcements at Fort Rifugio, or helping the Allagra Partisans repel Axis troops.
• Nazi Hunter: Often, he's tasked by several groups such as SOE, OSS, La Résistance and even The Mafia, into tracking down and killing several high-ranking German and Italian officers.
• Not So Stoic: The few times he does break that cold exterior of his is when people he's grown close to are killed, which can clearly be seen when Brauer and later Sofia are killed right in front of him. He's also visibly saddened when Schwaiger is killed.
• One-Man Army: He's more than capable of wiping out entire companies of enemy soldiers with just a sniper rifle, submachine gun, pistol, and a few explosives. It particularly stands out in 5, where he single-handedly liberates several entire French towns all on his own.
• The Quiet One: In V2, he's only shown speaking to Schwaiger and otherwise keeps his monologues to himself, never once speaking in combat. Subverted in III and 4, where he's shown to be far chattier. 5 has him fairly talkative off the battle, but he still monologues in firefights.
• Red Baron: His reputation earns him a couple nicknames from the Axis. In III, he's known as the "Desert Ghost", while in 4 and 5, he's known as "the Shadow".
• Retcon: Originally, he was German-American and operating solely under the OSS as stated in V2 and later III. 4 changes this to him being German-British who grew up in the United States, before studying at West Point and then being recruited into the SOE during the North African campaign, before taking missions for the OSS by the the time of the Italian campaign. 5 slightly refocuses it by saying that he lived in Germany as German-British in his early childhood but moved to America.
• Sniper Rifle: His primary weapon is always a sniper variant of a bolt-action or semi-automatic service rifle used by either the Allies or the Axis. This can now be a Subverted Trope in 5, where the rifles he can carries can now include the standard-issue infantry versions that only use their iron sights.
• Sniping Mission: Notable in that all of his missions are sniping missions, given that he's always armed with a sniper rifle, and often has to take out important targets from long distances in order to proceed.
• The Stoic: Most of the time, he just executes his missions in a cold and calculated manner.
• Trap Master: He has access to several types of booby traps and explosives, which he can use to take out either enemy infantry or vehicles depending on the type of trap.
• Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: Where his missions usually take place, behind enemy-occupied lines. The sole exception is during the Second Battle of Tobruk, where he helps defend the city from attacking Afrika Korps troops. Even in that mission he sneaks past the advancing Panzers to silence a rocket battery after the initial firefight is over. When deployed as part of the Allied invasion force in Operation Overlord, he flies over most of the enemy forces in a Glider and infiltrates a well-defended town.
• Villain Killer: He's responsible for killing hundreds of German, several Japanese, and later, rogue Soviet, soldiers, as well as numerous high-ranking Nazi officers and important scientists, several of whom were either an Arc Villain or that campaign's respective Big Bad. In fact, he's responsible for the destruction of at least six Nazi wonder-weapon prototypes, three of which have come remarkably close to pushing through and destroying important Allied targets. In fact, to German veterans of the North African Campaign, he's in fact The Dreaded and is nicknamed "The Desert Ghost", and "The Shadow" amongst other Axis units.
• Weapon Specialization: He always wields the Welrod silenced pistol in all three of the reboot titles. Makes sense, since he's always working behind enemy lines.
  • In III, he prefers the M1D Garand and Sten Submachine gun by default.
  • In 4 and the first half of V2, he prefers the Springfield rifle and the Thompson.
  • In the second half of V2, he switches his Springfield out for a Mosin-Nagant and later, a Gewehr 43.
  • In 5, his default weapons are the SREM-1 and the Welgun.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: In III, when General Vahlen applauds Karl's work in killing without remorse and even making a "Not So Different" Remark regarding their roles as soldiers in war, Karl becomes utterly disgusted, to the point he doesn't hesitate to kill Vahlen especially coldly later.

Dr. Efram Schwaiger

One of the German rocket scientists Karl Fairburne is tasked with assassinating during the Berlin Offensive. As Fairburne continues investigating, however, he finds out that Schwaiger had made attempts to defect to the Western Allies. As a result, the OSS agent changes his plan to rescuing and hopefully gaining useful intelligence from this potential new asset.

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• Almost Dead Guy: By the time Fairburne manages to make contact with him, he barely has enough strength to tell him about Wolff's Evil Plan and a something called "Tabun", before bleeding out.
• Anti-Villain: Turns out the Nazis were coercing him into helping develop the V2 rockets, and that he was even reluctant to aid in the project in the first place.
• Blood from the Mouth: He begins coughing up blood in his dying moments, preventing him from divulging to Karl the entirety of Dr. Wolff's Evil Plan.
• Heel–Face Turn: Unlike the rest of Wolff's associates, Schwaiger chooses to defect to the Western Allies, knowing that the Soviets are no different from the Nazis in how they operate. However...
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: He bleeds to death after being caught in the crossfire between the Germans and Soviets, just as Fairburne manages to get to him.
• He Knows Too Much: Wolff sees him as a liability once the former finds out about Schwaiger's attempted defection to the Western Allies. Thus, he orders his execution.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: He bleeds to death just before he can tell Karl about the true nature of Tabun.
• Non-Action Guy: He's a scientist, and not a soldier, which is why Karl has to cover him from the German and Soviet crossfire as the frontline begins reaching their position.
• Token Good Teammate: Of the German scientists and officers involved in the V2 rocket development project, he's the only one with a conscience and distrust of the Soviets.

Hans von Eisenberg's Team

Dr. Hermann Wolff

A German chemical weapons specialist, and one of the heads of the V2 rocket program. Originally under the command of General Hans von Eisenberg, he becomes the head of the group after Fairburne assassinates his superior. It then turns out he has other plans in mind...

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• All There in the Manual: Intelligence retrieved in Sniper Elite 4, set two years before V2, reveal his first name to be Hermann, and that he's a close associate of Dr. Andreas Kessler, Heinz Bohm, and even Prof. Wilhelm Bosch.
• Attack on the Heart: Fairburne shoots him in the chest just as he's escaping near the Brandenburg Gate, causing him to lose control of the car he's driving and ultimately die from the resulting crash and bleed out from the aforementioned wound.
• Big Bad: Ultimately, he becomes the main villain of the story when Fairburne tracks and kills the other members of his and Eisenberg's team, and Schwaiger is killed in the crossfire between German and Soviet forces. In addition, he comes up with the plan to test Tabun on London by convincing the Soviets to pull off a False Flag Operation.
• Commie Nazis: He was the latter, only to become the former by selling his military secrets to the Soviets when he defects.
• Dirty Coward: He makes it a priority to flee at every single possible instance when Fairburne just might be close to getting to his position. Heck, he sells out his own country's military secrets to the Soviets with zero hesitation, just to avoid getting killed by them.
• Doctor von Turncoat: Initially a high-ranking scientist in the Nazi regime, once the Soviets are close to Berlin he decides to defect to the communist side to save his own skin, and convinces his colleagues to do the same.
• Evil Old Folks: 65 years old during the events of the game, and a very notorious Nazi-turned-Soviet collaborator who doesn't bat an eye at committing mass-murder.
• False Flag Operation: He comes up with a plan to launch a Tabun-filled V2 rocket at London, with Soviet help and supervision, in order to test the lethality of the gas. In order to avoid any repercussions, Wolff and the Soviets will promptly blame the whole incident on the Wehrmacht.
• For Science!: His entire reason for defecting to the Red Army and then coming up with his False Flag Operation was to see the results of his research firsthand.
• High-Class Glass: Wears one on his left eye, though the game doesn't indicate if he's of German nobility at any point.
• Hypocrite: He has Schwaiger executed for attempting to defect to the Western Allies, while he and most of his associates attempt to defect to the Soviets with zero regard for the repercussions of their actions.
• Lack of Empathy: He clearly only cares about seeing the results of his research, even as his own countrymen are being executed by the Soviets.
• Mad Scientist: When you're the kind of scientist who wishes to target civilians with a prototype wonder-weapon no matter what, you definitely count.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Not once does he raise a gun and attempt to kill Fairburne, instead making attempts to flee from the OSS agent each time the latter comes close to finding him.
• The Unfought: He's never encountered nor fought in person, with Fairburne simply shooting him as he tries to desperately escape Berlin.
• Turncoat: He decides to sell out the collapsing Nazi regime for the equally oppressive Soviet Union, first by selling out all of his military secrets to them, then providing them with a "live-fire exercise" in the form of a False Flag Operation.

General Hans von Eisenberg

The German General in charge of the V2 rocket program. Karl is tasked with killing him first during his mission into Berlin, in order to prevent him from pushing through with his and his team's defection to the USSR.

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• Character Death: Fairburne snipes him during the game's prologue, ending his role in the story rather quickly.
• Commissar Cap: Wears a German General's cap, indicating his high rank in the Wehrmacht, and helps to confirm to Karl that he is the target he's after.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a vertical scar on his right eye, helping to indicate that he's up to no good.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears in the prologue mission, but his attempted defection to the Soviets helps to drive the rest of the plot.
• Starter Villain: He's the first antagonist Karl is tasked with killing, as part of the prologue mission.

Colonel Muller

A German doctor and Colonel, and Karl Fairburne's third target.

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• Character Death: Karl, who had sneaked into a flak tower snipes Muller, who is himself hiding in an adjacent flak tower.
• The Dragon: He's the second-highest ranking member of Eisenberg's team, and takes over command of the group after the latter is killed.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: His last reported location when Karl goes after him is a Flak Tower located in Berlin. By the time Karl reaches the area where the tower is, it's practically the only intact structure, as every other building in the area is on fire due to an Allied bombing raid going on, giving off a really sinister vibe.

Dr. Gunther Kreidl

A member of Eisenberg's Team. He is Karl Fairburne's second target.

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• Bald of Evil: Bald, and part of a Nazi scientist group planning on defecting to the Soviets in exchange for their lives and research notes.
• Character Death: Fairburne kills him by ambushing the convoy he's escaping Berlin in.

Other Targets

Major General Rodebrech

The main antagonist and target of the St. Pierre Downloadable Content mission. He becomes a priority target for the Allies after rising through the ranks and defeating the Allies in several German defensive victories.

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• Arc Villain: Of the St. Pierre mission. He's been sent by German High Command to improve the defenses in the area, which would have caused massive Allied casualties if he hadn't been killed.
• Commissar Cap: Like Eisenberg in the main campaign, he wears a German General's cap, which helps to distinguish him from the rest of the German soldiers in the level, as well as confirm to Karl that he's the target.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Is seen smoking and then throwing away a cigarette as he and his convoy are driving into St. Pierre.
• Straight for the Commander: Karl can simply snipe Rodebrech from the church tower and then leave the area.
• Villainous Valor: Should Karl try to kill him from up close, the General will fight back by firing his pistol at Karl, rather than flee.

Adolf Hitler

Hitler's final chronological appearance, as seen in Sniper Elite V2.

The Fuhrer himself. Or, rather, his numerous body doubles sent to represent him in his stead. He or his body doubles usually serve as an Arc Villain in certain Downloadable Content missions throughout the series.

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• Adolf Hitlarious: Admit it, you'd be laughing too watching Hitler get killed in numerous, sometimes amusing, ways, from getting shot in the testicle/s to having a church bell dropped on him.
• Ambiguous Situation: Is he the real Adolf Hitler, or are all of the ones that Karl has killed a Body Double posing as Hitler? The game itself makes this really ambiguous, with Karl himself wondering whether he's managed to finally end the Fuhrer or not.
• Antagonist Title: He's the titular antagonist of all the Downloadable Content campaigns he or the Body Double posing as him appears in.
• Body Double: Implied, given that Karl assassinates him no less than four times. Karl himself also heavily suspects this, wondering if he actually killed Hitler or not.
• Code Name: In Sniper Elite III's Downloadable Content mission, he's given the codename of "The Grey Wolf", in an attempt to prevent the Allies from going after him. It doesn't work, as Karl manages to uncover the identity of the VIP anyway through fresh German intel at the place Hitler himself is visiting.
• Greater-Scope Villain: All of the high-ranking Nazis faced in the campaigns? All their orders and wonder-weapons were approved by this man.
• Groin Attack: Karl can shoot him in the groin, complete with a slow-mo Arrow Cam showing his testicle being blown apart in detail.
• Historical Domain Character: He's one of the few Real Life people in the series, alongside Allied leaders such as Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• Non-Action Big Bad: His first action when being fired upon will always be fleeing for safety, with the main threat always being the Mooks protecting him.
• Straight for the Commander: Karl's assassination missions on him are intent on targeting him specifically to cripple the German war effort and their will to fight. Unfortunately, due to the Hitlers being very likely Body Doubles, these missions don't do much in the long run, with more taking the previous ones' place.
• They Killed Kenny Again: Even when Karl confirms in assassinating him, he somehow, inexplicably comes back in the next game in one piece. Possibly Justified in that Karl is killing a Body Double and not the real deal.