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Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades

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

The self-proclaimed Queen Bitch of the Universe.

"Every living thing in the universe will bow before the Queen of Blades, or else they will die. Obedience or oblivion. That is why we fight."

Voiced by: Glynnis Talken-Campbell (Starcraft) and Tricia Helfer (Starcraft II) (English), Polina Shcherbakova (Russian)

Sarah Louise Kerrigan was a Confederate Ghost operative with exceptionally powerful psychic abilities. When Arcturus Mengsk freed her from the Confederacy, Kerrigan joined the Sons of Korhal and became his lieutenant. After meeting Jim Raynor they became partners both on the battlefield and behind closed doors. Then the invasion of Tarsonis came. Mengsk, harboring resentment to Kerrigan for her assassination of his father years ago, and displeased with Kerrigan's protests over his increasingly extreme methods, left her to die as the Zerg overwhelmed her position.

Unfortunately for Mengsk, Kerrigan didn't die — the Zerg infested her with a technique more advanced than normal, that transformed Kerrigan into a dangerous psychic Zerg beyond anything seen before. Taking the moniker "the Queen of Blades", Kerrigan was a devoted servant of the Overmind until the Zerg leader died on Aiur, and Kerrigan eventually took control of the entire Zerg Swarm. Now commanding the most powerful force in the galaxy, Kerrigan was, in her own words, "pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe". However, though she had the power to swiftly crush all her enemies under her heel, she didn't — she sensed something else on the horizon.

In Starcraft II, after four years of relative quiet from the Zerg, they invade Dominion space again with Kerrigan leading the charge, seeking the same Xel'naga artifacts that Raynor and the Moebius Foundation are after. But Zeratul believes that Kerrigan has a grander role to play in the fate of the galaxy than even she realizes, and the greatest enemy the Terrans and Protoss have ever known may just be their one hope to survive the coming apocalypse.

Provides examples of:

Absurdly Sharp Blade: Her organic claws and Razor Wings can somehow cut through steel. In her Primal form, a closer examination reveals they are reinforced with small psionic blades at their tips.
Action Girl: A Dark Action Girl as an Infested Terran.
Aesop Amnesia: When Raynor manages to acquire the second piece of the Xel'Naga artifact before her in an early Wings of Liberty mission, Kerrigan admits that she had forgotten how resourceful and clever Raynor could be, and wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating him again. Only to understimate him all the time during their following clashes, culminating with her suffering a massive defeat where most of her swarm in Char is wiped out and she ends up deinfested.
Alien Hair: Her hair turns into dark brown dreadlock-like tendrils after she becomes infested. Even when her infestation is reversed and her humanity restored at the end of Wings of Liberty, her hair retains its tendril shape.
Ambiguously Evil: Heart of the Swarm is all about her personal journey to redefine herself in terms of being a hero or a villain, and wrestling with which she is now and which she wants to be. After slipping back into Evil Overlord for a while, she turns herself around and grows into a Noble Demon, and then an Unscrupulous Hero by the time of Legacy of the Void.
And I Must Scream: What the process of her infestation was described as. Heart of the Swarm mentions that she was conscious during the entire time, saying she felt her body right down to her bones being taken apart and rebuilt. No wonder she hates Mengsk for leaving her to that.
And Then John Was a Zombie: Goes from a Terran fighting the Zerg to a powerful Zerg herself.
Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: At the climax of Legacy of the Void, she becomes a Xel'naga after absorbing the essence of Ouros, another Xel'naga who was imprisoned by Amon deep within the Void. She succeeds in killing Amon for good and saving the universe, and some time later, as seen in the epilogue, she mysteriously comes out of nowhere for Raynor, who leaves with her; the two of them are never seen or heard of again.
The Atoner: In Heart of the Swarm, she mentions a few times she will answer for what she's done, after she's finished with Mengsk. She also shows regret for many of her actions, both before the game and the ones she commits during it. When asked to become a Xel'Naga so she can defeat Amon, she agrees with no hesitation, stating she considers it a way to make up for the blood she has on her hands.
- Come the ending of Legacy of the Void, nothing can challenge her, as she becomes a xel'naga, while both Narud and Amon are pushing up daisies.
Badass Boast:
- In Brood War:
  Kerrigan: I am the Queen of Blades, and my stare alone would reduce you to ash!
  Kerrigan: I don't think so, Admiral. You see, at this point... I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe. And not even all of your little soldiers or spaceships will stand in my way again.
- In the Heart of the Swarm trailer.
  Kerrigan: I am the swarm. Vengeance shall be mine!
- Another one in the ending when talking about the threat of Amon.
  But I will not face this enemy alone. I am the Swarm.
The Bad Guy Wins: By the end of Brood War, she successfully becomes the new leader of the entire Zerg Swarm and is effectively one of the strongest beings in the Sector, with all other factions crippled, exterminated or with their leaders dead.
Battle Couple: With Raynor whenever they're on the same side. When they suit up together in Heart of the Swarm, there's some banter about it being "just like old times".
The Beastmaster: Now that the Zerg is no longer the tool of Amon and she has become a Primal Zerg herself, this side of her has become more emphasized.
Became Their Own Antithesis: For most of her life, Kerrigan was a Cosmic Plaything who was manipulated all her life and after her infestation became the Big Bad responsible for billions of death. By the end of Legacy of the Void, she has become a Physical God who makes the choice of saving the Universe by defeating Amon, and is implied to now be spreading new life on planets.
Being Evil Sucks: When she betrays Mengsk on Korhal and calls him out for having abandoned her to the Zerg, she calls her infestation "hell." And shortly afterward, after killing Fenix and his Protoss forces as well, she says she is "weary of the slaughter."
Berserk Button: In Heart of the Swarm, if you're from the Dominion, don't even think of bringing up the topic of Jim Raynor, EVER.
- Predictably, the topic of Mengsk fills her with homicidal rage.
- Berserker Tears: When she thinks Mengsk executed Raynor.
Big Bad: Played with in Brood War, where she is a mix of this and Villain Protagonist fighting the UED. Played straight in Wings of Liberty.
Body Horror: Her infestation. It's horrifically painful to start (she feels Abathur vivisecting her and rearranging her skeleton), and the end result is not pretty, and in fact resembles a demon of some kind. Her cameo on the unit selection is unnaturally pale, with her jawbones distorted to the point she resembles a chimp, and the skin of her cheeks is drawn thin. Her portrait on the Brood War startup screen and Campaign Selection hologram has green-gray skin with bags under her eyes (and in the former, her lips appear to be outright rotting). By II, she's covered in glistening, purple musculature and an exoskeleton over her abdomen that looks like a corset made of living bone.
Book Ends: She is infested and later deinfested on the planet Char.
- Out of universe, the cutscenes in Brood War and Heart of the Swarm where Kerrigan's story arc conclude are called "Ascension"; In the first case, she was an arrogant monster who had forsaken humanity, in the second, she is a Noble Demon who values life and is no longer alone.
- By the end of both Brood War and Legacy of the Void, her power cannot be challenged within the sector.
Brainwashed and Crazy: During her time as the Overmind's agent; during Brood War and Wings of Liberty, she was more a case of More than Mind Control influenced by Amon.
Breakout Character: Was initially intended to be a minor character, only to end up being one of the most iconic figures in the franchise. See What Could Have Been.
But Now I Must Go: At the end of Heart of the Swarm, she takes off to her Swarm in order to prepare the fight against Amon, leaving Raynor. At the very least, they go separate ways on amicable terms.
Card-Carrying Villain: She happily admits she's a monster and the "Queen Bitch of the Universe" after her Face–Heel Turn.
The Chessmaster: She plays all her enemies against each other in Brood War to the end result of all of them being weakened and demoralized while she controls the Swarm and rules the galaxy.
The Chosen One: Enough of one that if she's killed, the galaxy is doomed; the Overmind specifically designed her to succeed him so she could be the one freeing Zerg from Amon's influence and prevent the Bad Future.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Eventually turns on everyone she allies with in Brood War, from the Protoss, to fellow Zerg commanders, to her own former Terran friends.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: As the Big Bad, Kerrigan had yellow Volcanic Veins and Glowing Eyes of Doom. After her Heel–Face Turn in Heart of the Swarm, she gets Volcanic Veins and Glowing Eyes of Doom colored purple.
Combat Stilettos: In her Zerg-infested form, Kerrigan has chitinous spikes protruding from her heels that act like organic stiletto heels. They do not seem to hinder her during combat, and she's quite physical as a fighter.
Contractual Boss Immunity: All Heroic units are usually less affected by certain powers. But Kerrigan is completely immune to the Hive Mind Emulator that can take possession of any zerg. Averted with the psi-disrupter that the UED and later Mengsk uses.
Cosmic Plaything: She's been used and manipulated by other people for their own ends her entire life, and it usually ends up going badly for her. Even her actions in Brood War were influenced by Amon. Heart of the Swarm is the first time Kerrigan has fully been in control of her own life and has no superior to answer to or live in fear of.
Amon: You are but a product of a flawed cycle. Manipulated for the entirety of your existence.
- Inverted come the ending of Legacy of the Void. As xel'naga, Sarah has great, cosmic-level power.
Creepy Good: Becomes this in Heart of the Swarm. The general rule of thumb is that the artifact removed most of Amon's influence, and her primal transformation removed what little was still left, and as such, she is much more human in character after the reinfestation than she was when she appeared human.
Cruel Mercy: Let Zeratul and Mengsk live on different occasions she had them at her mercy so they could suffer more. In Zeratul's case, it was because he had been forced to kill his matriarch. For Mengsk, she wanted him to be able to reclaim his power so that his eventual downfall at her hands would be that much worse for him.
Cute Monster Girl: Her monstrous infested form emphasizes her breasts and curves, and her face continues to look like that of an attractive, human woman. In fact, many characters comment she's good-looking in spite or because of her infestation.
Dark Action Girl: The Queen of Blades, who achieved vengeance against all her enemies and made herself ruler of the Zerg swarm and Kroprulu sector, which fears her return.
Dark Messiah: The Overmind created her to save the Zerg from Greater-Scope Villain Amon, a role Kerrigan embraces in Heart of the Swarm.
Deadpan Snarker: Generally has a very dry, caustic wit.
Kerrigan: At this point... I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe.
- Of course, sometimes it's not so caustic.
  Kerrigan: (to Jim, after being separated on Umoja) Jim, I'll take your ship. But if you get yourself killed... you're in huge trouble.
Despair Event Horizon: Amon invoked a More than Mind Control version on her during her initial term as the Queen of Blades. She was aware of him, but the relics of the Overmind's programming nudged her into believing opposing Amon was pointless, and the only reasonable solution was to enjoy life while she could and go out in a blaze of glory. Subverted after her purification and becoming the Primal Queen-she still thinks it's unlikely he can be destroyed, but that's no reason to not try.
Determinator: When Kerrigan wants something done, it gets done, and anything that tries to stop her is in for an unpleasant experience.
Deuteragonist: Kerrigan gets the second most focus in the franchise after Jim Raynor, while Artanis serves as the Tritagonist.
Did Not Get The Guy: Despite all the sacrifices she does to save Raynor, ultimately Kerrigan doesn't end up with him. The universe is cruel to this woman. However, this is averted as of Starcraft II Legacy Of The Void.
Didn't See That Coming: She didn't know that Mengsk had the Xel'Naga artifact at the end of Heart Of The Swarm.
Disc-One Final Boss: She's the final opponent in the first Starcraft II episode, Wings of Liberty.
Discard and Draw: Loses her Ghost abilities after becoming infested only to gain new Zerg abilities. Then loses most of her Zerg abilities but gains new psionic abilities after being exposed to the Xel'naga artifact at the end of Wings of Liberty (it's not entirely clear if the narrative intent was to show that her psionics were this powerful before infestation, or if it was another artifact from her life as the Queen of Blades). Finally, she returns to the Swarm, and picks up new Zerg abilities, and becomes re-infested during Heart of the Swarm, she picks up some entirely new Zerg abilities (which, for one mission, are required, but she can switch back to her previous abilities afterward, subverting the "discard" part of the trope).
The Dragon: Serves as the Overmind's new second in command in Starcraft.
- Co-Dragons: ...Along the Overmind's right-hand Cerebrate, Daggoth.
- Dragon Ascendant: Rises to ruler of all Zerg over the course of Brood War.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Even before her ascension, she made it quite clear she had her own plans aside from being a servant of the Overmind, leading her to frequently be in conflict with Zasz. In a twist, however, the Overmind didn't mind. Becomes Fridge Brilliance in Starcraft II, where we find out her having more liberty than the other leaders of the Swarm was a major part in his Thanatos Gambit to save the Zerg.
The Dreaded: Almost everyone in the setting is absolutely terrified by the Queen of Blades, and with good reason, considering she is essentially the biggest mass-murderer in Koprulu's history and is personally one of the most powerful beings in the sector even without her command of its largest army. Until Amon entered the picture, she was considered the most powerful antagonist force in the setting.
Do Not Go Gentle: Her reasons for fighting Amon despite him having "power beyond imagining"?
Kerrigan: Because the only other option is to lay down and die.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Deep down within Kerrigan’s Queen of Blades self, there was always a part of her that still loved Raynor.
Evil Feels Good: When confronting Raynor right after her infestation, she informs him she genuinely feels better as a Zerg. It appeared to have been a side effect of her being brainwashed however; in Brood War, she makes it quite clear she didn't enjoy being the Swarm's slave at all.
Evil Overlord: Ascend to this by the end of Brood War when she becomes the Swarm's single ruler.
Exposed Extraterrestrials: As her Queen of Blades form is a Zerg/human hybrid, this makes her part-alien in that form. In said form, she does not bother wearing any clothes, though her design subverts the trope by having bone-like exoskeletal growths over her naughty bits, and purple chitinous "skin" over almost everything else.
Eye Colour Change: Sarah started with green eyes, then when she became infested, they became yellow with red sclerae, which would occasionally glow a solid yellow when she was charging up an attack. Then back to green when deinfested, though they would turn yellow when she was interacting with the swarm, and still occasionally glow yellow when using her psychic abilities. Then she went Primal and they turned violet, and would glow with the same color.
Face–Monster Turn: Turns into a monstrous terran zerg hybrid after going evil in Starcraft.
Fallen Hero: One of the heroes of the Sons of Korhal who aided in the saving of many Terrans from the Zerg and Confederacy, turned into the leader of the Zerg and a mass murderer with a body count in the billions by association.
Fanservice Pack: Zig-zagged in the same game. Her cinematic model is certainly fanservice-y in its own ways, however her SCII gameplay unit is significantly more top-heavy and wide-hipped than in cutscenes or even her model when in the HUB area in Heart of the Swarm and Co-op missions. Which makes it odd when you go back and forth between gameplay and cinematics, seeing her go from curvy to downright voluptuous then back repeatedly.
Fatal Flaw: Overconfidence. Kerrigan is at her most dangerous, paradoxically enough, when she's the underdog. In those situations, Kerrigan is forced to rely on her wits and employs plenty of manipulation, cunning, deception and foresight to overcome impossible odds and defeat enemies with access to resources and armies far greater than hers, as seen in Brood War and much of Heart of the Swarm.
However, when she's in a position of power, all the tactics, cunning and caution go out of the window in favor of crushing her enemies with sheer numbers, and just can't stop herself from constantly underestimating her foes, since she believes she simply can't lose no matter what. This led to several defeats at the hands of Tassadar and Jim Raynor in vanilla Starcraft and Wings of Liberty, respectively, who like her, used clever tactics and deception to beat her by outsmarting her despite their resources and troops being vastly inferior to hers. While she does get better over the course of Heart of the Swarm, she never completely grows out of it, as she went to confront Mengsk alone after successfully breaching the defenses of his palace, thinking that a mere human couldn't pose a threat to her. Cue Mengsk revealing he had the Xel'Naga Keystone all along. If it wasn't for Raynor's timely intervention, Kerrigan would have died then and there.
Fiery Redhead: Had long red hair before being infested by the zerg.
- Her hair literally becomes fire when she ascends into a Xel'naga form.
Fighting from the Inside: Confirmed in Heart of the Swarm. Much of her prior "incompetence" was due to a complicated plan by the Zerg Overmind to purify the negative influence and control Amon had instilled into the Zerg to use as his puppets.^note As a result, her decision to lead from the front and not use clever tactics against Raynor becomes a sign of either Sarah or the Overmind's influence on her wanting to let Raynor win.
Fire-Forged Friend: Becomes this with Artanis during the Ulnar mission.
Flashback with the Other Darrin: In II, a flashback to the New Gettysburg battle from Starcraft is voiced by Kerrigan's II VA, Tricia Helfer, instead of the original VA Glynnis Talken-Campbell.
From Nobody to Nightmare:
- Goes from a Terran foot soldier to the Evil Overlord of all Zerg to Physical God more powerful than anything else in the universe.
- Becomes this meta-style too, she was originally just another character that was suppose to die after the Terran Campaign, with the focus shifted to the Overmind thereafter. The dev team liked her enough to keep her in past the campaign, and she ended up becoming one of the most iconic villains and heroes in fiction.
General Failure: At first. She was very overconfident in her abilities, and Tassadar could easily trick her into making foolish mistakes. This lead to the death of the episode II cerebrate. Then again in Wings of Liberty where she overstretches her forces and leaves her one planet (which is in the Core Worlds, mind) open to a decapitation strike.
Glass Cannon: Not in gameplay, but it's implied in one cutscene in Heart of the Swarm that, despite her immense psychic powers and resistance to blunt force trauma, a single pistol bullet to the head could kill her.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: As a powerful psychic, her eyes glow every time she's about to unleash a wave of destruction with her mental superpowers.
- In Wings, she has the glow on by default.
God Save Us from the Queen!: She's the Evil Overlord "Queen of Blades" who rules over all Zerg in Brood War and Wings of Liberty. Downplayed and eventually subverted in Heart of the Swarm, where she gradually gets better over the course of the campaign.
Guest-Star Party Member: Kerrigan's sole playable appearance in Brood War is in "The Quest for Uraj", the fourth mission in the Protoss campaign, and then again in Legacy of The Void, where you control both her and Artanis.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: She started out an operative of the Confederacy, was freed and sided with Mengsk until the Zerg took her, was revived as Queen of the Zerg, was freed from the Overmind's control and helped the Protoss, was revealed to be using them and took control of the Zerg to dominate the sector, then was freed of her infestation to be mostly human again and aided Valerian and Raynor. Heart of the Swarm shows her still swaying between Anti-Hero and Anti-Villain, finally settling on an Anti-Hero Noble Demon but until then edging on Villain Protagonist in her darker moments. By Legacy, she's settled on Face becoming a Xel'naga and choosing freedom for all.
Heel Realization: It's when Raynor expresses disgust at what she's become that she finally realizes how selfish and myopic her quest for revenge is, and what ultimately motivates her to spare the citizens of Korhal despite it being impractical.
Heroic BSoD: When she realizes that Mengsk had forsaken her and left her to die on Tarsonis as the zerg closed in on her.
Healing Factor: Common place amongst the Zerg, she can lose one of her "wings" and it will grow back. Being stabbed in her vital areas is more of an issue though given that she took multiple blows from a psionic Laser Blade and her own Razor Wings, there might have been some other factors that caused that.
Horrible Judge of Character: Towards the end of her stint as a Ghost fighting for the Sons of Korhal, she chooses to trust Arcturus, against Raynor's suspicions that he may not be much better than the Confederation they're trying to overthrow, and against her own knowledge that the would-be dictator knew she was directly responsible for the deaths of his parents. Then Arcturus' predictable betrayal came...
Humanoid Abomination: As the Queen of Blades, she is essentially a Zerg-Terran hybrid with insanely powerful psychic powers who gets more and more like a human-shaped Overmind as the story goes on. By Heart of the Swarm, she has essentially become a Physical Goddess who hunts down and devours Eldritch Abominations to power up. In Legacy of the Void, she even becomes a Xel'Naga to boot in the penultimate mission.
I Am a Monster: Struggles with this.
I Am the Noun: Fond of "I am the Swarm", particularly in Heart of the Swarm.
I Did What I Had to Do: Gives this as her reason for re-infesting herself in Heart of the Swarm.
Raynor: What have you done?
Kerrigan: What I had to...
"I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: The climax of Wings of Liberty has Raynor trying to free Kerrigan of Amon's influence using a Xel'Naga artifact.
Human Kerrigan: Don't give up.
I Lied: To Mengsk in Brood War when she tells she didn't hold a grudge against him, she in fact hates him more than anything else in the universe because of him abandoning her led to her infestation, which she describes as agonizing.
Informed Attribute: Prior to her de-infestation, where she shows a lot more of competence, to the point of being able to raid three warring races against a common enemy and winning, she's regarded as a very powerful telepath, a tactical genius and an adept manipulator... All things she fails tremendously at.
- On the telepath side, she was used as a tool by Arcturus Mengsk, Samir Duran and Amon. That being said, it could be related with Mengsk being that good a manipulator, and Duran and Amon being Xel'Naga.
- On the manipulative side, her manipulations in Brood War are entirely dependent on every other character holding the Idiot Ball with implied mind control going on from Duran. Had anyone exhibited any common sense, her plans would've been undone instantly (e.g. Aldaris never tells his rebels what they're rebelling for, DuGalle chooses to trust a sketchy traitor over his friend of decades, Raynor and Artanis randomly just choose to take her at her word that she's trustworthy when she's Obviously Evil).
- On the tactical side, her actual performance shows her to be a comically terrible commander who only gets by on numbers, and is incompetent enough that she can even bungle that advantage. In the climax of the original game, Tassadar easily tricks her with a feint, resulting in the Zerg Swarm being defeated and the Overmind killed. In Wings of Liberty, she overstretches her forces trying to occupy every Terran world, which leaves Char open to a decapitation strike. She tries to recall them, but they don't arrive fast enough. After that, her Swarm turns into a Keystone Army (her back-up plan of leaving sapient queens apparently not being sufficient) and begins to get curb-stomped by the Dominion. And that decapitation strike still wouldn't even have worked if she hadn't chosen to lead from the front on Char instead of just opening a wormhole and leaving. Or if she had chosen to set up shop literally anywhere other than an ex Core World, like a planet that the Terrans didn't know about. This is a particularly embarrassing performance because she chose to invade after four straight years of build-up while the Protoss were busy and the Terrans were in inter-factional and civil wars - and she still lost.
It's Personal: Arcturus Mengsk is responsible, directly or indirectly, for most of the awful things that have happened to her throughout the series. After he claims he had Nova assassinate Raynor, she spends most of Heart of the Swarm preparing to finally kill him.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Heart of the Swarm after being turned back to her original personality; she is bitter to get revenge on Mensgk, tends to act aggressive on both Terrans and her own Zerg minions, and still occasionally trolls people (Valerian being a noteworthy example in the first mission). However, unlike her in Brood War, she displays a softer side, tries to avoid useless casualties when she can and is more well-intentioned in the end. Specifically, she coordinates with Valerian during the invasion to minimize civilian casualties and ensure a relatively clean succession of rule over the Dominion to Valerian.
Karma Houdini: Assuming you believe that she really did live at the end of Legacy of the Void, rather than that being a hallucination of Raynor's, then she got a happy ending despite killing billions of people out of greed and spite. If you don't, then it's a case of Redemption Equals Death, as she originally intended.
Kick the Dog: Turning on the Protoss in Brood War and also killing the retreating UED that were just injured soldiers.
The Kingslayer: Personally delivers the killing blow on Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, ending his tyranny over the sector.
Large Ham: As the Queen of Blades.
Leg Focus: Raynor was thinking about her legs when the two first met.
Locked into Strangeness: When she was remade into the Queen of Blades, her red hair was replaced with finger-thick, segmented tendrils which appear to be attached right to her skull. Even after being deinfested, her hair still stays this way, though she took to tying it into a ponytail again rather than letting it free. She lets it glow free again as the Primal Queen of Blades.
Meaningful Name: "Sarah" means princess or noblewoman, and "Kerrigan" means dusky or dark. Purely coincidental, as the creators named her after ice skater Nancy Kerrigan on a whim.
Moral Event Horizon: Invoked in Heart of the Swarm. After regaining her humanity and then turning back to the Swarm and using them to massacre Protoss colonists on Kaldir and destroy the Dominion fortress on Char including killing Warfield, Kerrigan explains to her allies that there's no going back after this: if being restored to human form eased anyone's fears, now they have new reasons to fear her, and they won't give her a second chance now that she's spit on the first one.
More than Mind Control: Amon spent years subtly influencing Kerrigan and the rest of the Swarm into destroying the other races. Kerrigan is eventually freed of this influence after being deinfested at the end of Wings of Liberty.
Ms. Fanservice: As a human she's usually seen in a Spy Catsuit, and in her infested form she's a Cute Monster Girl. Both forms are quite shapely, and though infested her face is still that of a beautiful human, just colored differently.
My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That:
- If you click on her Ghost unit enough times she sighs:
  Kerrigan: Doesn't take a telepath to know what you're thinking.
- Her first meeting with Raynor and seeing into his mind. Novels would later reveal he was checking out her legs.
  Kerrigan: You pig!
- And in Heart of the Swarm:
  Kerrigan: Really, Jim? Six years later and you're still a pig.
  Raynor: What can I say? Old habits die hard.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: You probably don't wanna mess with someone named the "Queen of Blades".
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero / Unwitting Instigator of Doom: After infiltrating Niadra aboard the Protoss ship, Kerrigan gives Niadra the command to eradicate the Protoss, though she apparently doesn't limit her directive to the ones inside the ship, and then forgets about Niadra after the ones inside are eliminated; Niadra simply takes her orders as meaning "eradicate all Protoss in the universe", and later still seeks to fulfill this given mission long after Kerrigan is gone.
Nipple and Dimed: Though technically nude as the Queen of Blades, her nipples are not visible even in close-up shots; persumably they're hidden under the purple skin-like chitin that covers her breasts.
Noble Demon: In Heart of the Swarm. For all of Kerrigan's talk of giving up her humanity, she ultimately shows herself to be an honorable person after being freed of Greater-Scope Villain Amon's influence.
Not Quite Back to Normal: Even after being deinfested at the end of Wings of Liberty, she retains her hair tendrils and the ability to control the Zerg.
One-Man Army: In the original game and Wings of Liberty, her infested form moves quickly, does massive damage, and has a variety of spells to handle enemies with. Her spells in Heart of the Swarm, used correctly, allow her to solo some parts of the level, and she will rack up dozens upon dozens of kills. One of her unit's move/attack quotes (human form only) references this trope verbatim.
- There's even an achievement during one mission for having Kerrigan rack up 500 kills.
Orcus on His Throne: She pretty much keeps quiet after Brood War, as evidenced in some of the novels. Although part of what she does is look for ways to make the Swarm stronger.
- Averted for the most part in the sequel; she personally leads the Swarm in the search of the Xel'Naga artifacts in Wings of Liberty, and the only missions in Heart of the Swarm to not involve her on the field are ones where her presence would go against the objectives or where she is unavailable.
Our Angels Are Different: Legacy of the Void ends with our favorite psychic assassin-turned-mass-murdering Half-Human Hybrid transformed into the last xel'naga, an omnipotent Energy Being with a body and flowing wings made of pure golden light. The first thing she does in her new form is kill Amon, the setting's resident Satanic Archetype. Once that's over and done, she takes to seeding dead corners of the universe with life to atone for her past atrocities. Doesn't get much more different than that.
Pet the Dog: In Heart of the Swarm she gets some such as allowing the wounded Dominion soldiers that don't pose a threat to her to escape and holding back on assaulting Mengsk' palace to allow the civilians to escape.
Pick Your Human Half: Her personality in Heart of the Swarm basically follows this line. She is much more ruthless and "zerg-like" in her personality, even being ready to choke out Valerian at one point, during the earlier half of the campaign, when she more or less looks human aside from her hair. After she undergoes her transformation into Primal Zerg, however, she acts much more human-like, as while she is still dead-set on killing Mengsk, she is willing to comply with Valerian's requests to prevent as many civilian casualties as possible. Slightly justified by the fact that the same transformation that turned her back into a more Humanoid Abomination in appearance also cleansed her of Amon's influence.
Physical God: First as the Primal Queen of Blades, then taken much further as Xel'naga.
Power Echoes: After becoming the powerful Queen of Blades, she speaks and uses telepathy at the same time, making it appear her voice is echoing.
Power Gives You Wings: Aside from the Symbolic Wings she uses in her Zerg forms, once she becomes a Xel'Naga in Legacy of the Void, she becomes an energy being with actual wings.
The Power of Hate: Heavily implied to be the only thing keeping her from being consumed during her evolution into the Primal Queen of Blades. Abathur, the guy who spins DNA for a job is going through all the reasons why Kerrigan isn't strong enough to survive. Her reply is that her hate is strong enough.
Pragmatic Hero: After her Heel–Face Turn. Both her actions and her advice to Artanis in Legacy show she isn't afraid of doing morally questionable things if she feels it's necessary:
"Gather allies, subjugate enemies, do whatever you can to ensure victory. Survival is never pretty"
Pragmatic Villainy: In Brood War, she keeps her word to Arcturus and does help him free Korhal from the UED... because this allows her to weaken the UED's grasp on the sector. As soon as the planet is freed, she promptly turns on him.
Pstandard Psychic Pstance: Her telepathy is strong enough for her to not bother with this most of the time, but in Heart of the Swarm she does it a few times to give orders to far-away Hive Queens that wish to rejoin the Swarm. Seeing how these queens may well be on the far side of the sector, it's understandable that even Sarah needs to put in a bit of effort and concentration to communicate with them.
Psychic Powers: Rates a 12 out of 10 on the PI scale, giving her a wide range of mental superpowers. After becoming Primal Queen of the Zerg, her power level becomes "unclassifiable".
- Telepathy: Like all Ghosts, she can read and project her own thoughts into others' minds. As the Queen of Blade, this ability is what allows her to control her Zerg and see through their eyes.
- Invisibility: After being infested, she uses her psychic powers instead of a Spy Catsuit cloaking device to disappear. This power no longer is available in Starcraft II, not that she still needs it at this point.
- Mind over Matter: Can levitate objects and people. In-game, this power manifest through various abilities, including telekinetically crushing things, or paralyze enemy squads while making them levitate in the air.
- Mind Rape: It's implied she was subjected to this while in the chrysalis. As the Queen of Blades, she was able to use this ability to submit and manipulate Raszagal, a Protoss matriarch.
- Power Floats: She displays the ability to fly in a cutscene of Heart of the Swarm.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Used them to contact Raynor and Mengsk for help while in the chrysalis. Mostly unintentional.
Person of Mass Destruction: Her psychic powers are such that she can pretty much annihilate everything that she doesn't take apart in melee combat, her Primal Zerg form is this even more so, with her emergence from the cocoon resulting in a massive energy storm that can be seen from orbit. And those two don't even hold a candle to her Xel'Naga form, where she basically becomes completely unstoppable and simply swats aside everything that opposes her.
- Shock and Awe: She has Psionic Storm in the base game, and attacks with psionic bolts in Heart of the Swarm.
- Fantastic Nuke: Her Apocalypse power in Heart of the Swarm, which allows her to deliver a blast as powerful as a tactical nuke game-wise, with the added bonus of being Friendly Fireproof. And then, her transformation into a Xel'Naga upgrades it to a form that cleans up the entire damn map.
- Your Head A-Splode: What her unrestricted psionic power did to her mother when she was a child. She later does this, willingly, to Mengsk at the climax of Heart of the Swarm. It managed to blow out the entire office, though Raynor in his power armor is able to survive being in the room largely unharmed.
Purple Is Powerful: Her upgraded form in Heart of the Swarm glows purple, to show she's even stronger than before when she glowed orange-yellow.
(after being completely re-infested) I always did look better in purple.
Readings Are Off the Scale: Three times, in fact. When Kerrigan as appointed as a ghost by the Confederacy, they had to change the 1-10 psionic power scale so that she could be rated as a 10. After being infested, the scale does not change, but she's rated as 12 (Though 12 is used just to describe her psionic power is over 10). When she becomes Primal in Heart of the Swarm, Terran Adjuntants simply don't try rating her anymore.
Redemption Demotion: From a gameplay perspective, she's much more powerful as an evil enemy unit in Wings of Liberty than as a hero unit in Heart of the Swarm. It's justified in that she's been made human again, but even when Primal and leveled to max, she has less health and damage than her former self. She also loses the powerful Implosion and Razor Swarm abilities in favor of the weaker Kinetic Blast and Crushing Grip.
Redemption Promotion: Her being freed of Amon's programming of the zerg and reawakening of her more empathetic qualities also marked her becoming an even more powerful version of the Queen of Blades—whereas before she just controlled the Swarm, now she is the Swarm—a true successor to the Overmind.
Redemption Equals Life: In the last cinematic of Heart Of The Swarm, it's because she truly changed for good that Raynor decides to help her, and eventually saves her from being killed by Mengsk.
- Then again at the end of Legacy of the Void, after her final battle against Amon, if the game's epilogue is to be believed.
Reformed, but Not Tamed: In the latter half of Heart of the Swarm onward. While Kerrigan technically is heroic by that point, she is shown to still not be above taunting her opponents, and very willing to get her hands dirty if needed.
Reformed, but Rejected:
- Double subverted in a bittersweet way. She re-infests herself in order to save Jim Raynor. The newly re-infested Queen of Blades is a significantly more moral person than the old version, but Raynor leaves her anyway after she saves him. While Raynor eventually decides to help her in annihilating Arcturus Mengsk, he then lets her go, for she is the Heart of the Swarm.
- Played straight in another instance. Sarah was one of the Confederate Ghosts responsible for killing Arcturus Mengsk's entire family, but after her defection to the Sons of Korhal he said that he had finally come to forgive her. He had not.
Restraining Bolt: Her Ghost conditioning limited her psychic abilities before it was removed.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Her goal in Heart of the Swarm is to kill Arcturus Mengsk, the man who betrayed her in the original Starcraft, even if she has to go through his entire interstellar empire.
Kerrigan: Armies will shatter, worlds will burn. Now, at last, on this world, vengeance shall be mine.
She Who Fights Monsters: In Heart of the Swarm, when she learns of Jim's supposed demise at Mengsk's hands, she willingly re-infests herself and becomes the Queen of Blades once more. As the reborn Queen, she leads the swarm against Mengsk's forces and protoss alike, destroying everything in her way. Subverted in that, while ruthless to her enemies, she retains her morality: her heart still beats for Jim, and she gives Valerian multiple chances to evacuate civilians on Korhal before launching her final invasion.
Shoot the Dog: In Heart of the Swarm, she infests Lessara with a Chest Burster parasite and uses her to decimate a whole ship of Protoss. She had no choice, however, seeing how said protoss would have warned their planet of her presence, which would have doomed her. Moreover, she clearly doesn't take any pleasure in doing that.
Split-Personality Merge: At the end of Heart of the Swarm it's pretty obvious that Sarah has embraced the 'Kerrigan' part of her personality and is able to swap between the warlike Horde of Alien Locusts Hive Queen and diplomatic semi-relatable figurehead with said Horde of Alien Locusts as backup at will. Raynor even tells her to "put her warface on" during the assault on Mengsk's palace.
Spy Catsuit: Her Ghost uniforms in Starcraft and Heart of the Swarm are skintight Future Spandex made for stealth missions.
The Starscream: Never seemed entirely loyal during her enslavement to the Overmind, which concerned the other cerebrate, yet in Brood War, Kerrigan claimed she was under his control.
Still Wearing the Old Colors: In the original Starcraft, she still wears some of the parts of her Ghost hostile environment suit that survived her infestation. She seemingly discards them at the end of the game, as there's usually no sign of them in other media.
Super-Strength: In the final Heart Of The Swarm cinematic, she uses her claws to push a metal door open.
Symbolic Wings: Her Queen of Blades form has large claws on her back that have the approximate shape of a bat wing's bone structure.
Thong of Shielding: In her Queen of Blades form, she's technically naked, and yet she has a thong-shaped chitinous growth running along where her gluteal cleavage would be.
Took a Level in Badass: To the extreme and still gaining more levels over the course of the story.By the end of Heart of the Swarm she's a Physical God who controls the Swarm with the power of her personality alone and can blow up a base by looking at it funny. Legacy of the Void eventually ditched the physical part as well by turning her into a virtually omnipotent xel'naga, an Energy Being with the power to create life from nothing and generally do pretty much anything she damn well pleases. And to think Sarah was a Shrinking Violet as a kid.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Goes from a friend to the backstabbing "Queen Bitch of the Universe" in Starcraft.
Took a Level in Kindness: Goes from a Manipulative Bastard to a Noble Demon over the course of Starcraft II, going from massacring a civilian Protoss research colony to the last in the beginning of the campaign to actively working alongside Valerian to minimize civilian casualties during the invasion of Korhal as much as possible and ensuring a smooth transition of power to Valerian to avoid unnecessary chaos. This is what persuades Raynor that despite being reinfested, Kerrigan is more human inside than she had ever been even as a Ghost all the way back in the original Starcraft.
Tron Lines: Her futuristic Spy Catsuit in Heart of the Swarm features glowing yellow lines running up and down it.
Tranquil Fury: Her rampage through the evacuated Augustgrad and into the citadel to kill Mengsk is rife with this.
Turned Against Their Masters: Twice. First, by Mengsk, against the Confederation; then, by the Overmind, against Mengsk and humanity in general.
The Vamp: She convinces Jim Raynor to rescue Mengsk from standing trial with the UED, and then has both Jim and Fenix help her and Mengsk defeat the UED as well.
Villainous Breakdown: During the final mission of Wings of Liberty, "All In", she goes from smug taunts to screaming she'll annihilate everyone as the Power Nullifier you've acquired gets closer to crushing her.
Villainous BSoD: When she is rejected by Jim Raynor on him seeing her primal zerg form and realize she is in charge of the zerg forces, she closes her mind off from the entire swarm and will scarcely speak a word during her Heel Realization.
Sarah: Oh, Jim. There are no words.
Villain Protagonist: In the Zerg campaign of Brood War. Still a bit at the beginning of Heart of the Swarm, but she gets better as the campaign goes on.
Viral Transformation: Textbook example with her infestation creating one of the most powerful entities in the series.
Voice of the Legion: After her transformation into a Zerg, her voice echoes when she speaks.
Volcanic Veins: Her Queen of Blades form has glowing veins running along her skin in Starcraft II.
Waif-Fu: Ever since she got her primal form, Kerrigan's fighting style has become incredibly over the top. Including leaps of several stories high that usually end with an entire army exploding.
Wham Episode:
- Her coming Back from the Dead as a Zerg in Starcraft, complete with the Overmind giving a Wham Line with the announcement of her name as she emerged from the chrysalis.
- From her perspective, the scene on the prison ship. When she gives Raynor the opportunity to kill her, Raynor instead spares her, but it turns out it was only due to the Prophecy he learned from Zeratul (that and he can't really bring himself to kill her). The wham comes when she realizes Raynor sees her as a Broken Pedestal.
Winged Humanoid: Her Infested form sports Absurdly Sharp Razor Wings.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity:
- She is one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy after her infestation... doesn't do much for her sense of morality though. Word of God mentions that while the Queen of Blades and Sarah Kerrigan are most definitely the same person, while she was infested Kerrigan was heavily influenced by massive amounts of psionic energy and zerg mutagen affecting her at the cellular level.
- Even when returned to human form, she still remains dangerously unstable, requiring Raynor to act as her Morality Chain.
- Subverted by the end of Heart. Her powers reached new heights compared to her Queen Bitch days, but thanks to her transformation into a Primal Zerg removing Amon's influence, she is generally quite sane.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: As a villain. This woman has been through more hell than any other character in the franchise, most of the people she cared about and trusted either betrayed her or are now dead, and a significant portion of the galaxy hates her and wants her dead. In the novel Flashpoint, Kerrigan despairs that either as a Ghost or as an Infested Terran, "everything I touch dies", showing how utterly broken she is inside when she's not being an antagonistic force. She is firmly this in Heart of the Swarm, her belief that Raynor, the one person she had left and who loved her and had never betrayed her, has been killed by Mengsk, pretty much shatters her humanity and drives her back to full-time villainy until she learns he's still alive.
Xanatos Speed Chess: Plays a mean game of it over the course of Brood War, manipulating her enemies against each other and securing more power for herself in the process, until she commands the Zerg without dissent and all her enemies are dead or limping away in defeat.
You Don't Look Like You: Her appearance◊ in the first game depicted her as a Green-Skinned Space Babe with some sort of black armor or chitin covering her, and her portrait◊ implied she was wearing the remains of her Ghost suit, or some other metal collar around her shoulders and neck. After the first game and Brood War, artwork for expanded universe material and later the sequel would refine her look into the primarily purple design she has now, which is quite different from the original game. Her design◊ in Starcraft: Remastered does a good job of bridging the two games, and makes it clear the black in her design are indeed the remains of her Ghost suit, which she presumably discarded over time.
You Fool!: She says that a few times.
You Have Out Lived Your Usefulness:
- The moment she has defeated the UED on Korhal with the Dominion's help, she turns on Mengsk, Raynor and Fenix.
- Heart of the Swarm has her playing this trope straight when she abandons Niadra, but otherwise defying it; Stukov expects her to kill him once their alliance has reached its goal, but she instead spares him and allows him to stay in the Swarm, and she angrily declines when Zagara suggests turning on Raynor's Raiders.
You Said You Would Let Them Go:
- Zeratul says this to Kerrigan, who responds that the Matriarch is free to do as she pleases (after having mind-controlled her).
- Averted in Heart of the Swarm, where she grants mercy several times, first allowing the Dominion's soldiers on Char to escape after Warfield's pleading. However, She kills Warfield first, meaning he dies believing the soldiers would be wiped out as per this trope. She later makes the Swarm land outside the capital city of Korhal to give the civilian populace a chance at evacuation. She keeps her word both times, technically.