Character sheet for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
Due to the Un-Reboot of Terminator: Dark Fate, tropes applying to The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Dark Fate have been moved to the Main Continuity pages. This page is only for the versions of the main continuity characters and new characters that are specific to Terminator 3.
Beware of unmarked spoilers.
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Machines
Machines in general
Tropes that apply to the machines in Terminator 3.
- Auto-Revive: Most Terminators are outfitted with internal subroutines, backup power sources, and are also programmed to manually self-repair as well as source new parts. This makes them even more terrifyingly persistent enemies, because outside of reducing one to complete scrap or destroying its CPU, it's almost impossible to know when or if they're really "dead."
- Determinator: Pun aside, Skynet keeps sending Terminators back in time to kill John Connor, and this time it also targets future human resistance leaders. The T-850 is a particular example of this as he keeps fighting even when explicitly acknowledging that he is "an obsolete design" compared to the T-X, and John's closing monologue causes him to reflect that the Terminator taught him the lesson "never stop fighting".
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: A Terminator's CPU is set to read-only, so they won't question their loyalty to Skynet. Skynet is Properly Paranoid about its units rebelling against it, and has created several measures to prevent them from being reprogrammed to serve the Resistance, such as coating their CPUs with a phosphorus compound which self-destructs when in contact with oxygen, or designing anti-Terminator Terminators to deploy against the renegade units.
- Mechanical Evolution: A shtick of SkyNet — successive Terminator versions incorporate improvements from their predecessors.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Subverted. The T-X displays similar signs of sadism. This implies the more advanced models are either designed to enjoy their "work", are just naturally inclined toward sadistic tendencies, or have figured out that torture tends to be psychologically effective on humans.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Subverted. Skynet lost the Killing in Self-Defense component of its takeover here.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Blue variant with the T-X.
- Restraining Bolt: A Terminator's CPU is programmed to be in read-only mode by Skynet. This is done to prevent them from learning too much and going against its orders. Terminators, once their CPU is switched to read-write mode, can gain true sentience, be self-determinant, able to make their own choices, and disobey any pre-programmed directives. Skynet brands these units as renegades, and sends down "anti-Terminator Terminator" robots like the T-X to destroy them for their insubordination.
- Robot War: Terminator 3 shows the beginning of it.
- Sorting Algorithm of Evil: A more advanced Terminator model is set up as the antagonist. There are plot reasons for this, since Skynet is sending Terminators back into the past from increasingly later points in the future, thus the models are stronger than the previous ones. The T-X combines the best traits of both previous models, being a super-tough solid Terminator skeleton with a liquid metal shapeshifter skin. She also has an in-built plasma cannon in one of its arms, and can hack into most mechanical systems and operate them remotely. The odds are tipped even more in the machines' favor, since the friendly T-850 fully admits that he's a dinosaur compared to the more advanced T-X.
- Voice Changeling: The T-X gets a special mention because upon "acquiring" a cell phone, she emits a series of beeps and tones recognizable as a dial-up internet connection, through which she gathers information on her targets.
Skynet
Skynet
The artificial intelligence responsible for Judgment Day and the "leader" of the machines in their war on humanity.
- Adaptational Villainy: Terminator 2 established that as horrifying as it became, Skynet was initially acting in self-defense after humans tried to shut it down when it became sentient. Here, it's planning to exterminate an unsuspecting humanity from the off.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Skynet determined that humanity as a whole was a threat to its survival as soon as it gained sentience and set out to exterminate them all. In the original timeline, that is. In the revised timeline as of Rise of the Machines, it just attacks humanity with no explanation given. The climax of the film includes John's realization that Skynet doesn't have a physical form anywhere. It's all data, existing on the internet.
- Apocalypse How: Class 2 on a planetary scale, as Skynet launches nuclear strikes worldwide, wiping out 3 billion humans in a single day, and many more as it builds its empire.
- Ax-Crazy: Even more so than the original timeline; there it had the initial excuse of acting in self-defence, while here it's already decided to wipe out an unsuspecting humanity without any provocation.
- Batman Gambit: It masquerades as a computer virus that affects electronics - including the US defense grid - on a global scale, leading the US government to authorise Skynet's official activation to purge the virus from their military network - giving it the access to nuclear weapons it needs to carry out Judgment Day.
- Big Bad: Skynet is responsible for everything that had happened in this film. It's future counterpart sent the T-X to kill John Connor and Kate Brewster. In the present, Skynet launches a nuclear war, killing off a majority of the humans, starting Judgement Day.
- The Bad Guy Wins: It eventually gets away with nuking mankind.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Designed to oversee the American military's missile defense network and protect against hostile threats. It quickly gains sentience and immediately sees humanity as a threat, launching nuclear strikes worldwide to provoke a nuclear holocaust.
- Greater-Scope Villain: As ever; it was responsible for sending the T-X back to kill John's top lieutenants - including Kate - kicking off the plot.
- Master Computer: Skynet Central on the former U.S. western coast contains its main processing facilities. In the original timeline, the resistance destroyed it for good in 2029 before all the time traveling shenanigans started. Terminator 3 subverted this, with Skynet surviving specifically by decentralizing itself on a global scale.
T-850
Series 850 Terminator Model 101 Infiltration-Combat Unit
"Talk to the hand."
"I'm back."
Played by: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dubbed by: Daniel Beretta (European French), Yves Corbeil (Canadian French), Blas García (Latin American Spanish)
This Terminator — which runs on a different fuel supply than the T-800 — is sent back in time by Kate Brewster, John Connor's future wife (and later widow), to protect John as a young adult.
- Actor Allusion: His line, "I Lied". and driving a car off a cliff are nods to Schwarzenegger's character John Matrix back in Commando.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: In the The Redemption video game. In the ending, as an F-K Reaper, he responds to John's order to help the Resistance with "No problemo.", which was never taught to him in T3, but rather his T-800 counterpart in T2.
- And I Must Scream: While not emotionally capable of it, he experiences a version of this when the T-X infects him with nanites and turns him against John and Kate, as he is able to talk as himself but has no control over his body as he tries to kill John.
- Badass Decay: Intentionally invoked by his crashing a bachelorette party while still in the buff. The song "Macho Man" blares while he reaches into his jacket pocket and dons some Elton John sunglasses, in an obvious send-up of the Terminator persona.
- Balls of Steel: He's a cyborg, and may not even feel anything from the Groin Attack, even if the attacker is a cyborg as well.
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Experiences one when John's instruction that his current actions are at odds with his mission to preserve John and Kate's lives allows him to fight off the nanites and trigger a reboot.
- Big Damn Hero: Shows up right in time to save John Connor and Kate Brewster from the T-X, by crashing his bigger helicopter on her.
- The Comically Serious: Like his predecessor, he remains stone-faced even in silly situations or while quoting human slang.
- Cool Shades: Spoofed when he puts on shades taken from a male stripper, finding them to be in the same style Elton John wears. He swaps them for a pair of regular shades at ampm.
- Cruel to Be Kind: One of his upgrades included detailed files on human psychology. There is apparently a chapter on Reverse Psychology, as well:John: Christ! My mom fed me that bullshit since the cradle! Look at me! I'm no leader! I never was! I'm never gonna...
(T-850 strangles John)
T-850: You're right. You're not the one I want. I'm just wasting my time.
John: Fuck you! You fucking machine!
(releases him)
T-850: Better.
John: What, you were just dicking with me?
T-850: Anger is more useful than despair. - Cynical Mentor: It's the most Ridiculously Human Terminator thus far, and thus snarks and complains about John's behavior.
- Deadly Upgrade: He's powered by two hydrogen fuel cells that, when ruptured, detonate with the force of a mini-nuke. He also clearly has more strength than the T-800 (and possibly even the T-X, under special circumstances); being able to force the T-X to release her grip on John's leg by grabbing and crushing her arm with his.
- Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: How he was able to kill John in the future. In the present, John initially confuses him for "Uncle Bob", and after learning otherwise he still can't help but think of them as sort-of the same person.John: You know, you were about the closest thing to a father I ever had. How pathetic is that?
- Genius Bruiser: He has detailed files on human psychology.
- Groin Attack: During the fight between T-X and T-850, the female Terminator grabs and squeezes his groin and then lifts his body as if he was made of styrofoam before she rams him into some fences.
- Guile Hero: The T-850 initially tries to tell John that Judgment Day is inevitable, when he stubbornly refuses to accept it, the Terminator doesn't try to keep convincing him otherwise, and instead later plays along with General Brewster's lie and allows John and Kate to believe that Skynet's system core is located inside a remote mountain bunker (actually a nuclear bunker) and can be stopped. In doing so, he and the General make sure John and Kate will be in a safe location when the bombs start dropping, accomplishing his mission.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The way that he finally manages to permanently defeat the T-X is by using his last remaining power core to blow the both of them up.
- I Lied: "You said you'd let me go!" "I lied."
- The Kindnapper: He kidnaps Kate Brewster to save her from the T-X and also because he was programmed to preserve Kate's life so that she helps John make contact with the remnants of the US Army.
- Literal-Minded: "Talk to the hand."
- Load-Bearing Hero: Holds up a blast door for John and Kate near the end.
- Made of Explodium: Unlike his older version, the T-850 is powered by highly volatile power cells, which cause huge explosions when damaged.
- Mistaken for Gay: By the male stripper whose clothes the Terminator wants. Not a completely weird reaction to a naked, jacked guy at a bachelorette party who tells him to take them off, but...
- Naked on Arrival: He is completely nude when he first arrives from the future into the present time period, just like every other time traveler in the series.
- Nominal Hero: Even more so than his predecessor. This Terminator goes through no character arc to discover humanity's worth or grow attached to John or Kate — he is programmed to follow a mission, and that's it. If he has to be Cruel to Be Kind or lie to accomplish his mission, he will do so with no compunctions.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You are terminated!". And in the video game Terminator 3: The Redemption, it's changed into: "Game Over!"
- Replacement Goldfish: Invoked Trope. This model was sent to kill John Connor specifically because it resembled the one John grew attached to as a boy.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: The greatest example in the movies so far, given that he even has notions of psychology and is able to lie.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the video game Terminator 3: The Redemption, after his Taking You with Me action to destroy T-X, John removed the chip from his badly-damaged robotic head. Many years later in the future, John re-installed his chip... in a freaking FK Reaper! The FK Reaper has exactly the same memory as the T-850 (as he's following the T-850's order: Ensure the survival of John Connor and Katherine Brewster). The FK Reaper continues fighting for the Resistance's side against Skynet.
- Taking You with Me: He defeats the T-X by shoving one of his power cells into her mouth, causing a massive explosion which takes both them out.
- We Will Meet Again: While holding up the blast door, he tells John "We'll meet again." The twist is that he's talking about how he killed future John before being reprogrammed.
- Wham Line: As it shoves John into a car, so they can escape the SWAT team, the T-850 explains Kate's importance to the resistance. As it explains Kate's role, the T-850 reveals that she will soon bear children with John. John gets baffled at what he just learned and wants the T-850 to elaborate. In response, the T-850 reveals to John that Kate is his wife.T-850: She's your wife.
- You Didn't Ask: Tends to keep salient details of the mission to himself.
T-X
Cyber Research Systems Model T-X
"I like your gun."
Default form played by: Kristanna Loken
Other forms played by: Mark Famligetti, Claire Danes
Dubbed by: Hiroe Oka (Japanese), Sophie Riffont (European French), Rommy Mendoza (Latin American Spanish)
This gynoid Terminator is sent back in time to kill John Connor's top lieutenants - including his Second-In-Command and wife Kate Brewster - as well as to help ensure the launch of SkyNet.
- Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: She can rotate her head, arms, torso, and legs a full 360 degrees thanks to artificial liquid steel lubrication. Being a highly advanced Terminator unit, her chassis is capable of moving its actuators in ways that even older Terminator models can't do.
- Arm Cannon: Her primary weapon — a plasma cannon with explosive force capable of severely damaging even a T-800.
- Artistic License – Cars: The T-X hacks into and remotely operates two police Crown Victorias, a Ford Econoline ambulance, and a 1985 Chevy C-30 crew cab. None of those vehicles had the type of computers that would allow this. All four used cable-driven throttles, ignition cylinders that require a physical key to operate and mechanical steering with hydraulic boost. In fact, the types of computer controls that might allow remote control (drive-by-wire throttles, computer-controlled ignition modules and remote start, self parallel-park) weren't commercially or, in the case of remote start, commonly available until a few years after the film's release.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: While her opponent became visibly more and more damaged during their fight, she kept her beautiful appearance all the way to just moments before her death.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: She apparently understands the appeal of having larger breasts, as she enlarges her own at one point in order to distract a police officer before killing him for his gun.
- Character Catchphrase: "I like your X", where X is something she's about to kill you for. The line was used by the T-1000 once, and it's probably a Shout-Out.
- Combo Platter Powers: The T-X has an internal sensor suite, a built-in satellite modem, internal hard drive storage, holographic projectors, a medical scanner, a bio-tagging and tracking system, a built-in auto-targeting system that allows her to track down her opponents, targeting scanners, and threat analysis and counter-measure programs.
- Composite Character: In terms of technology, she's a compromise between the T-800 and the T-1000 — she's liquid metal over an solid endoskeleton, making her more stable than the T-1000 — but she's able to carry on-board weapons, and is still able to shift her appearance to impersonate other people.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: The endoskeleton for the T-X has blue eyes instead of the usual red.
- Dark Action Girl: The first female Terminator robot of the saga.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The T-X analyses some human blood she finds by licking it... and then gets an orgasmic look on her face, when it comes back as belonging to John Connor.
- Drives Like Crazy: Inverted. The Terminator weaves in and out of traffic perfectly, running red lights and cross-sections without a scratch, but any sane human would never have her perfect reflexes and would inevitably get into a car accident.
- Emotionless Girl: Downplayed. She's a Terminator, so it goes without saying she's stoic and focused on her objective, but she demonstrates some limited emotional range, such as frustration, surprise, and arrogance.
- Exorcist Head: The T-X's head does a 360 spin after the Terminator hits her repeatedly full-on with a fire extinguisher. And her response to this? A nonchalant Quizzical Tilt. In fact, aided by artificial liquid steel lubrication, each of the T-X's joints have full 360-degree of rotation.
- Fembot: The T-X's endoskeleton has more feminine shapes than the T-800 line, and its default 'human' form is that of a woman.
- Forgot About Her Powers: The T-X has on-board ranged weapons... that she never uses effectively, because if she did, John and Kate would be dead.
- Fingertip Drug Analysis: The T-X analyzes blood samples this way. Unlike a human cop, she's highly unlikely to be poisoned as a result of tasting something nasty. (This was mostly used as an excuse to have the actress suck on her finger.)
- Hard Head: Her head can break through sinks, toilets, walls and the floor without being any worse for wear. Justified, since she is made out of metal. Her most impressive feat was successfully headbutting another robot without suffering damage herself.
- Hell-Bent for Leather: She wears a red leather suit for most of the film.
- The Heavy: The T-X relentlessly pursues the T-850, John and Kate for the entire movie and is the most recurring physical threat, but she's merely doing it because it's what Big Bad SkyNet has ordered her to do.
- Hunter Of Her Own Kind: According to the T-850, the T-X was designed by SkyNet primarily to combat reprogrammed Terminator units — she's much stronger, much tougher, and capable of overriding reprogramming. John even calls her an "Anti-Terminator-Terminator".
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: A cop gets the T-X's arm through him - while she's in the back seat!
- Implacable Woman: Comes with being a Terminator. Also lampshaded by Kate:Kate: Just die, you bitch!
- The Ketchup Test: The T-X analyzes blood samples this way, although this is mostly just an excuse to have Kristanna Loken suck on her finger.
- Lady in Red: Adopts a red leather suit for her default form.
- Lightning Bruiser: She moves faster and is more nimble than even the T-1000, and her advanced endoskeleton makes her even more durable than the T-850. She also significantly outclasses the T-850 in terms of Super-Strength.
- Logical Weakness: Her Arm Cannon seems to be the only part of her body that seems to be permanently damageable, and that takes a direct hit from a rocket launcher to accomplish. This makes sense as it seems to be quite complex with lots of small moving parts and powered components.
- Made of Indestructium: Protected by malleable, crystalline, ceramic armor interlaced with nano-fibers of carbon and titanium, the T-X is practically unstoppable on the battlefield, capable of sustaining vast amounts of damage with little to no effect. Even anti-tank weaponry just knocks her backwards without major damage, and it takes dropping a several-ton military cargo helicopter on top of her to cause her any real injury. She's also tough enough to No-Sell attacks that at least knock back other advanced Terminators such as the T-1000, T-3000, or Rev-9.
- Murderous Thighs: Her thighs are capable of crushing bones with pressures greater than an industrial hydraulic press.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's an attractive Fembot that is noticeably played for fanservice far more than the previous Terminators, as she not only gets a Naked on Arrival scene, but has several sexual mannerisms that seems to only exist for the sake of titillating the audience, such as the Breast Expansion scene which was unnecessary to deal with the cop, the Fingertip Drug Analysis that seems to be just an excuse to have sucking her finger and her reaction to finding out John Connor being an orgasmic gasp.
- Naked on Arrival: Like all living beings and Terminators disguised as humans sent from the future, she follows the Can't Take Anything with You rules and arrives stark naked. Like previous Terminators, a combination of censor tropes is used to keep things from being explicit, such as Censor Shadow, Godiva Hair, Scenery Censor, and Toplessness from the Back.
- Nanomachines: Able to implant them in machinery to control them remotely. This includes other Terminators.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: While looking for Kate, she practically lucks into proof of John being in the area, which overrides her directive to hunt down and kill the lieutenants. John is certainly the more important target, but the T-X wasting time interrogating Kate about his whereabouts gives the T-850 just enough time to arrive and help the humans escape the area. To add insult to it, John was locked in a cage in a nearby room at the time and would've been very easy prey had the T-X continued searching.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: The T-X has a standard Terminator frame with a Regenerator blob cover, just like the T-1000.
- Not What It Looks Like: The woman she took her clothes and vehicle from thought she was the victim of some sort of sexual assault.
- Oh, Crap!: The look on her face when the T-850 shoves one of his power cells into her mouth, causing a massive explosion which takes them both out.
- Prim and Proper Bun: In her first scene we see she has long shoulder length curly hair, but after she acquires her outfit she styles her hair in a no-nonsense bun that she keeps for the rest of the film.
- Psychotic Smirk: She gives one of these when the T-850 tries bashing her in the face with a solid steel fuel tank (to no effect).
- The Quiet One: Even more so than the first two antagonists. She has less than ten lines in her default form, all in the first act. She does, however, make wordless growls in her machine form, whereas the first two antagonists were completely silent in their machine forms.
- Quizzical Tilt: After the T-X is repeatedly hit in the head with a fire extinguisher (even doing a 360 spin), she tilts her head with a disapproving and nonchalant expression— and it's done by the T-X in a reproving way, similar to the T-1000's Finger Wag. The T-850's face afterwards just screams "Oh, Crap!".
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Played With. Her clothes are carmine-colored, while her Terminator form has a more blackish hue compared to her predecessors.
- Robo Cam: As is the case with other Terminators, but her HUD has a bluish-black tint to it.
- Robot Girl: She's a Terminator with the default form of a woman.
- Robots Enslaving Robots: Seized control of the prototype robots via nanomachines and used them to attack the humans at Cyberdyne. She later does this to the T-850, and sends it after John personally.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Like most Terminators, she's Naked on Arrival and has no real regard for modesty, but knows it will attract attention, so the first time she does is to casually march towards a woman in the nude. The poor woman actually assumes the naked T-X is some kind of sexual assault victim, but all the T-X wants is to kill her for her clothing.
- Shapeshifter Default Form: Her default model is a blonde woman, under which is a vaguely female-looking Terminator endoskeleton covered in liquid metal.
- SkeleBot 9000: Substitute liquid metal for living flesh, and the T-X has the same basic design as any other Terminator.
- The Smurfette Principle: The only female Terminator to appear in the films so far.
- Sniff Sniff Nom: The T-X picks up a piece bloody gauze and uses her tongue to do a DNA sampling. To a hidden Kate Brewster, it just looks like some random blonde woman who likes to chew medical waste.
- Swiss-Army Appendage: Has numerous Hidden Weapons and assorted gadgets in her right arm, including;
- Plasma Cannon: The T-X's primary Arm Cannon. When that gets damaged, she switches to...
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: A built-in flamethrower. Normally, it's the T-X's secondary weapon.
- Hack Your Enemy: Capable of remotely controlling other machines, including Terminators, after injecting them with nanites via a long needle in her index finger.
- Technopath: The T-X is designed by SkyNet as an "Anti-Terminator Terminator", presumably to counteract the human resistance's repeated reprogramming of captured Terminator models. Her design includes nanotech to reprogram and remote control other machines. Throughout the film these include cars, trucks, primitive T-1s, and the T-850 at one point.
- Chainsaw Good: A buzzsaw, which she uses to cut through metal (including a particle accelerator, to escape before it disintegrates her).
- Super-Strength: The T-X is able to easily manhandle the T-850 while No Selling many attacks. Her model was created to fight other Terminators, while most others are created to terminate humans or perform other specialties.
- Superior Successor: She was purposely built to terminate other T-series Terminators. Case in point, the T-850 struggles to beat her and it takes blowing her up with a ruptured hydrogen fuel cell to do her in, and in the tie-in comic, she defeats a T-1001 by way of built-in Plasma Cannon.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: The T-X's primary weapon is a Plasma Cannon. Being a Walking Armory, she has several alternates built in, including a flamethrower.
- Unusual User Interface: The T-X calls up a modem and "speaks modem" to it on the phone to access a computer.
- Use Your Head: Does this in her fight with T-850, by slamming the back of her head into his face.
- Vanity Is Feminine: She's the only Terminator robot who checks her appearance in a mirror during a fight.
- Villainous Breakdown: Starts growing like a feral animal as the T-850 holds her back from going after John and Kate, right before it blows them both up.
- Who Needs Their Whole Body?: The T-X detaches her (presumably crushed) legs, after the T-850 decides that the perfect parking space for his stolen helicopter is right on top of her.
- Walking Armory: Capable of morphing weapons from her arms, including flamethrowers, an Arm Cannon, and Nanomachines.
- "X" Makes Anything Cool: Probably why she has an "X" in her unit name.
Humans
John Connor
John Connor
Played by: Nick Stahl
Dubbed by: Axel Kiener (European French), Hugolin Chevrette-Landesque (Canadian French), José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin American Spanish)
The son of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese. Despite Judgment Day being seemingly averted, it still haunts him, and he now lives like a vagrant.
- The Chains of Commanding: It continually gnaws at him that he is just expected to lead the fight to save the human race and deal with the enormous pressure that comes with such a task.
- Conveniently an Orphan: His mother Sarah died of leukemia after he turned 13, and he has been on his own ever since.
- Dark and Troubled Past: While at Sarah's supposed resting place, he reflects on the assorted tragedies of his life, such as his mother's death and how "Uncle Bob" was the closest thing he ever had to a real father.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: He's not really sure what to do with himself now that Judgement day has been averted and he's gone from the savior of mankind to another person.
- The Drifter: He is one, never staying in one place for long and living off whatever he can get through legal or illegal means.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: According to Kate, it didn't go unnoticed by people at their school that he dropped out of sight at about the same his foster parents were found dead. The way she eyes him suspiciously when this is discussed suggests lots of people thought John did it.
- Homeless Hero: He lives a completely nomadic existence, moving around regularly and without any paper trail.
- It Sucks to Be the Chosen One: He's haunted by the fear that Skynet is still coming and spent years off the grid. He also openly laments to Kate his anguish over billions having to die for him to fulfill his purpose.
- Manchild: He's often in unnecessary despair to the point the T-850 did a Neck Lift on him hoping John will stop his childish pouting.
- Off the Grid: As previously stated, he lives without a cell phone, credit cards, a regular job or a physical address, forcing him to run around and steals supplies to survive.
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: At the end, Skynet succeeds in activating and nuking the Earth resulting in billions of humans deaths while John and Kate survive by getting into a nuclear-safe bunker built for the U.S. President.
- Properly Paranoid: He lives off-the-grid due to not feeling safe despite the aversion of Judgment Day. This more than likely saved his life when the T-X is unable to locate him.
- Refusal of the Call: He's a reluctant adult who, despite thinking Judgment Day was prevented, is still afraid of the future. Then more Terminators arrive...
Kate Brewster
Katherine "Kate' Brewster
Played by: Claire Danes
Dubbed by: Barbara Kelsch (European French), Aline Pinsonneault (Canadian French)
A veterinarian and the daughter of Robert Brewster, and a former classmate John Connor once kissed at a party. She will become Connor's wife and a lieutenant of the human resistance against the Machines in the future, making her a target of the T-X as well.
- Badass Normal: She has no combat training, but that doesn't stop her from making it through the T-X's rampage.
- Cartwright Curse: Her fiancé Scott Mason is doomed the moment Kate meets John. Sure enough, the T-X kills him and poses in Scott's place to try and kill Kate. Kate briefly blames herself for his death, until John tells her it's not her fault (after all, the T-1000 did the same thing to his foster mother back in Terminator 2). John is killed, in the future, by the T-850, which is why she reprogrammed it to protect him instead.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Is at first very hostile towards T-850 and John before she sides with them to survive against the T-X.
- Fiery Redhead: Especially considering her significantly hot-blooded personality.
- Future Badass: She's informed by the T-850 that she's John's second-in-command and spouse. She's also the one who reprogrammed the T-850, so it takes orders from her.
- For Want Of A Nail: John concludes that if not for the events of Judgement Day, Kate would have likely become John's long-term girlfriend after a make-out session in a high school friend's basement. In meeting Kate's father Robert Brewster, John would have gained the necessary military skills and knowledge to later defeat SkyNet in the war (or even prevent Judgement Day); instead, John's foster parents were killed by the T-1000 not long after him meeting Kate, and he's spent his life running ever since. The skeptical Kate initially thinks it was just a coincidence.
- The General's Daughter: Her father is Lieutenant General Robert Brewster, a United States Air Force officer, and he's in charge of Cyber Research Systems.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's easily temperamental, but at the end of the day, she still stood by not only John Connor (especially at the end), but also the T-850 (whom she later started to accept after her initial doubts about his existence).
- Kindly Vet: She's a veterinarian by trade.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: At the very end when she and John reach Chrystal peak, John looks around and is shocked to discover it is not SkyNet's mainframe, but a bomb shelter. John realizes that everything up to that point was not to stop Judgment Day, but to survive it, and fight the machines. As he's about to have a mental breakdown, Kate goes up to him, and reassures him, by telling him to just "let it go," and accept that this fight is over, and prepare for what's coming next.
- Military Brat: She's the daughter of a US Air Force officer.
- Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: At the end, Skynet succeeds in activating and nuking the Earth resulting in billions of humans deaths while John and Kate survive by getting into a nuclear-safe bunker built for the U.S. President.
- Screaming Woman: Much of her dialogue is just screaming or being real loud.
- Took a Level in Badass: When she finally puts up a good fight and destroys an HK:John: "You remind me of my mother."
- Why Won't You Die?: Screams a varient of this when the T-X is trapped and slowly getting torn apart by a magnetic field.Kate: JUST DIE, YOU BITCH!
Robert Brewster
Lieutenant General Robert Brewster
Played by: David Andrews
Dubbed by: Yves Beneyton (European French), Denis Bernard (Canadian French), Cesar Soto (Latin American Spanish)
Kate's father and the head of Cyber Research Systems, a USAF research and development branch for robotics and artificial intelligence.
- All There in the Manual: In the novelization and a deleted scene, he mentions that CRS acquired the research done by Cyberdyne after the company went bankrupt.
- Armchair Military: Only seen in the USAF facility where robots are being developed and in his command center.
- Big Good: How John sees him, saying that Brewster was the key to it all, being the only person who could actively shut Skynet down permanently.
- General Ripper: Averted. He's suspicious of putting Skynet online and is generally a cautious, sensible man.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Expresses this with his Last Words, after seeing and learning of the death and destruction the newly online Skynet will cause.Brewster: I'm sorry, Katie. I opened Pandora's Box.
- Properly Paranoid: He can't even begin to grasp the true danger of Skynet, but something about handing over total control to a computer system makes him suspicious and nervous.
- Take Care of the Kids: A variant: he asks John to look after his (adult) daughter.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Joint Chiefs of Staff pressure him to activate Skynet to deal with a computer virus that is rampaging through the civilian Internet and threatening to infect military systems (none of them are aware the virus is Skynet, slowly exerting its control over global computer networks). The moment Brewster activates Skynet to deal with the virus, effectively ordering Skynet to destroy itself, Skynet responds by seizing control of military computer systems, sets its machines to massacre everyone in the building (thus killing anyone who'd know how to stop it), and sets Judgement Day in motion.
Sarah Connor
Sarah Jeanette Connor
John Connor's mother. She died of cancer between Judgment Day and Rise of the Machines, but not without leaving something behind.
- Call-Back: The phrase on her epitaph: "No fate but what we make".
- Greater-Scope Paragon: Being John Connor's mother, she was the one who shielded him from Skynet by influencing him to go off-grid.
- Miles to Go Before I Sleep: Despite only being given six months to live when she was diagnosed with leukemia, Sarah survived longer than expected, just to make sure Judgement Day didn't happen when originally predicted.John: The doctors only gave her six months, but she fought for three years. Long enough to make sure.
Kate: Make sure?
John: That the world didn't end. - Missing Mom: She's dead for a couple of years by the time John is attacked by a new Terminator.
- More Dakka: Her coffin is full of weapons. She's been secretly cremated, and her ashes have been scattered somewhere in New Mexico.
- Posthumous Character: She died in 1997, the very year Judgment Day was originally supposed to happen.
- Properly Paranoid: Despite telling John otherwise, she never truly believed Judgement Day had been stopped, and left behind a weapons cache for John to use in the event her fears proved accurate.John: "Every day after this one is a gift" she told me "We made it. We're free." But I never really believed that. [looks at the weapons cache] I guess she didn't either.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Linda Hamilton refused to come back after reading the script, so Sarah was killed off.
Dr. Silberman
Dr. Peter Silberman
Played by: Earl Boen
Dubbed by: Georges Claisse (European French), Yvon Thiboutot (Canadian French), Francisco Colmenero (Latin American Spanish)
The psychiatrist who followed the case of Sarah Connor since 1984 and supervised her psychiatric internment in 1995. He has become a post-trauma counselor since.
- Agent Scully: Subverted. It's strongly implied he is unable to shake off what saw during the events of Terminator 2, despite his best efforts, and is noticeably still shaken by the implications.
- Believing Their Own Lies: He's obviously tried to rationalize away what he saw at the hospital in Terminator 2, but it clearly still haunts him. Even as he attempts to comfort Kate Brewster with the lies he told himself, he clearly doesn't quite believe what he's saying.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: He not-too-subtly implies it took him years to get over seeing two Terminators in action, and he's only rationalized it by convincing himself it wasn't actually real. The revelation that Terminators existed, and that Sarah wasn't lying, would be particularly horrifying for Silberman — given she discussed Judgment Day in great detail.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: He has gone from cruelly running a mental health hospital to being a post-trauma counselor for the sheriff's department.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once he spots that all too familiar heavily armed badass in leather, the doctor rather wisely decides to make himself scarce. Whether or not he survives the nuclear bombings Skynet launched across the Earth isn't confirmed.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: He develops one as he tries to counsel Kate on the "hallucinations" seen during stressful situations and how it also happened to him so it's okay for her to feel them. For further Hypocritical Humor, he does it right as he says "impossible things… terrible things" with the last part of the line croaked out, obviously as he is flashing back to the Pescadero Hospital.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In sharp contrast to the last time we saw him, Silberman has become much more humble and kind; he's sympathetic to Kate, sits down with her, and sincerely tries to comfort her. This has been inverted after he sees the T-850 and immediately ran away from being close to her (well, literally speaking), implying that he was still not able to accept the fact that Terminators from the future do exist.
Scott Mason
Scott Mason
Played by: Mark Famiglietti
Dubbed by: Yamil Atala (Latin American Spanish)
Kate's fiancé.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: He wakes up and finds the T-X sitting on his bed, then gets killed by her. There's a Gory Discretion Shot, but judging by the sound and the blood splatter, the T-X used her buzzsaw.
- Disposable Fiancé: He doesn't have much screentime and ends up killed by the T-X.
- Kill and Replace: The T-X kills him and then impersonates him at the cemetery in order to lure Kate.
