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Humanity
The survivors of Judgment Day, and the last of the human race caught up in the Robot War with Skynet. Jacob Rivers
Private Jacob Rivers
The Player Character, and the only survivor of the Pacific Division of the Resistance.
- Badass Normal: A definite must for anyone still alive after Judgment Day, but Jacob fits this better than most given everything he goes through in the entire game, from surviving the Annihilation Line, to escaping T-800s, to evading the Infiltrator who is hunting Jacob specifically. And that's not even going into when he relives these events from a different perspective as the Stranger.
- Child Soldier: Most likely. We never learn of his age, but whether he was born before or after Judgment Day, it's likely he's been fighting since he was very young. The Annihilation Line DLC suggests that he was forced to start fending for himself after his father is killed at the age of 12.
- Field Promotion: Gets a promotion to Sergeant after Baron absorbs him into her Tech-Com unit midway through the game.
- I Did What I Had to Do: You can save two of the scavengers you met at the beginning of the game from being murdered by Terminators by lying to one about their deceased partner and ratting out the other's lack of adequate skills to Baron so that both won't be present when the Terminators attack the shelter. Jacob even remarks during the epilogue that he hopes he gets to explain himself one day.
- I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: If Jacob decides to go back in time and fulfil his role as the Stranger in another timeline after romancing Jennifer, he does so knowing that he might die the same way his future self did, but still hopes they will reunite someday.
- I Let Gwen Stacy Die: If you romance Jennifer, you have a choice of convincing her to leave the Resistance shelter, or stay. Asking her to stay will result in her and her brother being murdered by Terminators when they raid the place. It's only made worse by the fact the Stranger (AKA you) warned you to get everyone you care about out of the shelter prior to the invasion, which you can choose to ignore.
- Jack of All Trades: Via the game's various subsystems, Jacob can pick locks, scavenge numerous trade resources and weapons, hack Skynet terminals, conducts solo operations at the behest of other survivors, and is naturally proficient with a weapon when the game starts.
- The Protagonist: Comes with the Player Character territory.
- Screw Destiny: Depending on the player's choice; When asked if he would volunteer to go back in time to protect his younger self from the Infiltrator, Jacob can decline and allow someone else to take his place, despite being saved by his future self on numerous occasions throughout the campaign.
- Sole Survivor: Of the Resistance's Pacific Division, as of the beginning of the game, due to an ill-fated encounter with a single Infiltrator unit.
- So Proud of You: In the Annihilation Line DLC, he has the response after seeing his father, Frank, deliver the message to Kyle Reese, just before dying.
Jennifer
Jennifer
- Action Survivor: Even in the middle of a Robot War, Jennifer is just a normal woman trying to survive each and every day despite never picking up a gun, at least until before you showed up.
- Big Sister Instinct: She cares deeply for Patrick, and will do whatever it takes to keep him safe. They're not related by blood, but they've been together for so long that they consider each other family.
- Broken Bird: Despite surviving Judgment Day as a kid, Jennifer kept her spirits up thanks to the loving nature of her father, but as the years passed, people became more hostile, and the Annihilation Line came ever closer, paranoia was gripping her tight. The fight and accidental murder of her father was possibly the final straw. It's only thanks to Jacob's timely arrival that she and Patrick survived the invading Terminators, and that she recovered from this state.
- Cassandra Truth: She tried to convince her father that the Annihilation Line was a real threat, but he refused to believe it due to her only picking this up as gossip from passing survivors. She initially believed it to be this too, but the consistency of the rumor between random travelers spooked her.
- Dark and Troubled Past: At the beginning, Jennifer is very tight-lipped over what happed prior to first encountering Jacob. If they bond enough, she reveals both her and Patrick left home after she accidentally killed her extremely paranoid and protective father.
- Damsel in Distress: Jacob meets her in the middle of the Annihilation Line's arrival while she was trying to convince her brother to leave with her. It's safe to say if not for him, she'd have been terminated then and there.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Jennifer has a slight aversion to guns, but will use them if absolutely necessary, particularly when she meets Baron for the first time. Considering she accidentally killed her father with one before the game begins, it's understandable she'd still be traumatized.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first thing she does after she sees you is to step right in front of her brother, Patrick, to try to protect him from a potential threat. It shows her Big Sister Instinct.
- First Girl Wins: She's the first woman you meet in the game, and one of two romanceable partners.
- Master of Unlocking: Being a proficient scavenger, Jennifer is naturally good tampering with locks.
- Never Bareheaded: Jennifer never takes off her gray beanie. The only time she does is if she and Jacob consummate their relationship.
- Nice Girl: Kind, compassionate and always willing to help others in need, she's by far the most unambiguously nice characters in the game.
- Promotion to Parent: Jennifer is Patrick's primary guardian, which causes some friction between them whenever he's not following her every order.
- Took a Level in Badass: By the time you meet up with Baron, she stands up to the gruff officer and even takes up a gun for the first time to help you fight off some Skynet drones. From then on, she's portrayed as a valuable member to the Resistance, particularly on scouting missions.
- What the Hell, Hero?: If you refuse to tell the desperate wife of a fallen Resistance fighter what exactly happened to him, Jennifer will read you the riot act over your lack of compassion.
Patrick
Patrick
Jennifer's younger brother.
- Children Are Innocent: He doesn't understand the full horrors of Judgment Day, and his drive to go out on solo scavenging missions is used to play up drama with Jennifer, who laments how quickly he's having to grow up. Should you not drive Jennifer and Patrick out of Baron's Resistance base, you'll find him dead after the raid — the only example of Death of a Child in the game.
- Death of a Child: If you convince Jennifer to stay in the shelter with Patrick, you'll later find their bodies among the many dead soon after Skynet sent its Terminators to attack.
Ryan
Ryan
The Leader of the scavenger party.
- Break His Heart to Save Him: Should you decide to betray his trust by telling Baron he can't fix electrical equipment, he gets kicked out of the shelter and forced to make do on his own. While he may never know it, Jacob did so in order to save him from being another victim to a Skynet attack.
- Cool Old Guy: He gives plenty of damns about his fellow scavengers, and is willing to part on good terms should they decide to leave. Which only makes it hurt more if you get him kicked out of the shelter to save his life.
- The Leader: Downplayed; while he's the de facto leader responsible for the rest of the scavengers, he lets everyone make their own judgements on how to proceed with things, though he likes to keep in the loop and supervise when necessary. Eventually, Baron replaces him in this role once she shows up. Turns out he was forced into this position when his brother died some time after Judgment Day, and people turned to him for leadership soon after. Luckily, he lived up to the role.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He calls Jacob out on stabbing him in the back if you decide to tell the quartermaster that he asked you to cover for his lack of electrical engineering knowledge.
Erin
Erin
The scavengers' go-to medic.
- The Lost Lenore: Subverted; she has reason to believe her husband is dead, but asks Jacob to keep an eye out for him anyway. After the player finds her husband's corpse during the quest to find Dr. Mack, the player can lie to her and say he's left a note to find her in Mexico, leading her to leave the Resistance base for good.
- The Medic: Despite never graduating thanks to Judgment Day, Erin's the closest thing anyone has to a decent medical doctor, which fittingly enough saved her life, as Skynet deemed her useful for understanding human biology.
- Never Mess with Granny: From surviving Judgment Day, enduring hell to escape a Skynet prison, and making it to the rest of the scavengers Jacob meets, Erin's seen enough to no longer be intimidated by anyone or anything, even the likes of Baron.
- Seen It All: She was only a medical student when Judgment Day came, and since then had seen her fair share of nightmares to the point a Terminator wearing actual living skin doesn't faze her like the rest of the Resistance.
Colin
Colin
A member of the scavengers, their lookout and marksman.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: He's probably the biggest asshole out of all the scavengers, so it should come as no surprise that no one really cares when he gets axed off by the Infiltrator.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His fate after he decides to harass some random schmuck. Turned out said schmuck was the Infiltrator.
- Jerkass: He doesn't really give a damn about what anyone thinks about him, and only hangs around with the rest of the scavengers because they have supplies. They only let him stay because he's the only one who knows how to handle more than just a pistol.
- Karmic Death: When you get down to it, Colin was a complete Jerkass who belittled everyone he worked with, stole and stocked up on drugs for himself, and gave you a hard time despite (or perhaps because of) you being a complete stranger. The last interaction you have with Colin is hearing him over the radio attempt to mug what he thinks is some random scavengernote and ends up getting impaled into the wall for his troubles. Good riddance to the bastard.
Jessica Baron
Commander Jessica Baron
- All There in the Manual: Her rise to prominence as a trusted member of Connor's inner circle and commander of Tech-Com's Pacific Division is covered in the Zero Day Exploit tie-in comic.
- Blood Knight: As far as she's concerned, the Robot War is her life. She admits to Jacob that if it ever ends in humanity's favour, she can't see herself having any place in that world.
- The Bully: She claims to be this, as she states she was never a nice person to begin with, and is constantly itching for a fight. It just so happens that Skynet is the biggest kid in her playground at the moment.
- The Cynic: She firmly believes Humans Are Bastards and claims the only reason anyone's getting along now is because they have a mutual enemy in Skynet. You can call her out on this by asking why she's bothering to fight for humanity, but she'll simply respond that she's just doing what a soldier does in war: fight.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Of the few things she tells Jacob about, she reveals that she had all her possessions stolen and was left for dead by the first two travelers she met after Judgment Day, and was captured by Skynet and taken to a base, where she ended up being sexually abused for months by a human collaborator who had been feeding Skynet intel. The death of her lover, Perry, due to a bad decision (which she blames Mack for) has also influenced her perception of the world.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: She's quite the hard-ass, and she won't tolerate anyone in the shelter who can't pull their weight in a way that benefits the war effort.
- Frontline General: Although her duties mostly confine her to her command bunker, she doesn't hesitate to personally lead her men into battle if the situation calls for it.
- General Failure: Baron is a pretty crappy commander, all things considered. Most of her division's major setbacks during the game's events can be traced back directly to her iron-fisted leadership style, as can much of her forces' low morale. She's also willing to destroy irreplaceable Resistance assets based on nothing but her paranoia and personal grudges. Tellingly, if you want to see the game's best ending, you have to actively go behind her back.
- General Ripper: Feared in-universe because of her tough demeanor, and runs her Resistance cell with an iron fist. Everyone in her shelter is under the threat of eviction for the slightest error or for failing to meet productivity quotas, and she is regarded as hostile and bloodthirsty by those who work with her. Gaining her trust will have her admit to a Dark and Troubled Past that motivates her anger against both humans and machines. She admits that, if it weren't for the war with the machines to keep her focused, she'd probably be some sort of nuclear wasteland bad guy.
- Never Found the Body: Despite being the only survivor Jacob could find after the Terminators invade the shelter, she orders Jacob to leave and take critical intel to John Connor while she stays behind to take as many tin-cans down with her. Though she was a bloody-mess by the time you leave, Jacob recounts in the epilogue that her body was never found.
- No Place for Me There: By her own admission, the war is her life and she can't see herself in a world without someone or something to fight.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the Annihilation Line DLC. When she meets with Reese, she's shown to be far more deferential and understanding compared to her General Ripper persona, expressing concern and caring over Connor's whereabouts and wishing she could dissuade Reese from undertaking the mission to investigate Northridge due to the lack of intel.
- Sex for Services: She attempts to cajole Jacob into murdering Dr. Mack by having sex with him. Notably, this is being used by her as a motivator, she kicks you out of her room immediately afterwards, and the game never forces you to kill him, even if you did the deed.
- Tattooed Crook: Almost. She's heavily inked, and if it weren't for the war giving her a legitimate reason to shoot things, she'd probably be a career criminal.
Alvin Scott
Dr. Alvin Scott
Baron's expert scientist in the shelter.
- Character Death: Regardless of the player's decisions, he is killed when Skynet invades Baron's Resistance base.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: He flips out if he hears loud music playing in his general vicinity. This becomes a minor plot point, as you have to distract him in order to get the neural chip from the Infiltrator in the Resistance base, in order to unlock the best ending.
- Insufferable Genius: He can be pretty uptight and full of himself at times, but to be fair, his living and work conditions are far from stellar. Rivers can make a token effort to save his life along with his friends in the bunker, but Scott's just too irritable to even bother listening to him, which seals his doom.
- Reckless Gun Usage: He has no idea how to use a weapon, and when the Resistance issues him a loaded ("hot") rifle in the lategame, he comments that the gun doesn't feel hot.
Edwin Mack
Dr. Edwin Mack
A lone scientist working from a bunker on ways to fight Skynet even after being kicked out of the Resistance.
- Action Survivor: Should you choose not to assassinate him, the epilogue reveals that he was captured by Skynet during his escape from his hideout, but was rescued by the Resistance shortly after Skynet was shut down.
- Foregone Conclusion: Mack seems like a random crackpot of a scientist, until it turns that, if you don't do his request/kill him at Baron's request, the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day literally cannot be successful for the Resistance, leaving the T-1000 completely unopposed toward its objective, as it turns out that he was the one responsible for ensuring the reprogrammed T-800 was readied and prevented the T-1000 from fully completing its objective.
- Insufferable Genius: At first, though he does warm up to Jacob after completing his tasks. Even moreso if you choose not to murder him on Baron's orders.
- Mis-blamed: In-universe; Mack is blamed by Baron for the death of her lover Perry due to screwing up a critical task that would have tipped the war in their favor. According to him, however, it was because he was pressured into releasing an unfinished un-tested virus which failed to do what it was meant for, resulting in Perry's termination and his exile from the Resistance. The Zero Day Exploit comic shows that Mack's version of the story is the closest to the truth.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Should you fulfil his side-quest, he becomes instrumental in the reprogramming of the T-800 that is sent back in time to protect young John Connor, and subsequently the destruction of Skynet in the past which will prevent Judgment Day.
John Connor
Commander John Connor
The leader of the Resistance and Tech-Com, and Skynet's arch-nemesis. For more details, see his main continuity entry here.
- Big Good: He wouldn't be John Connor if he wasn't this trope. When you finally meet him in the prelude to the last mission, it becomes abundantly clear why so many of his fellow soldiers put trust in his abilities.
- The Chessmaster:
- When you speak to him, he makes it clear that he's well-aware of the changing nature of Time Travel (even before The Stranger spoke to him), and references alternate timelines, which has led him to utilize Xanatos Speed Chess to predict the most unexpected events.
- In the Annihilation Line DLC, it's suggested that he was well-aware of the outcome of the mission to rescue the Northridge Outpost prisoners (namely, getting access to an item that would be of great importance to Reese — the picture of Sarah Connor) and has been plotting strategies with those end-goals in mind for quite some time. (It's even discussed by Reese in conversation with Rivers.) Morever, Evans suggests that Connor already knew that the former would be used as the template for Skynet's new Infiltrator line when he rescued him from a Skynet work camp.
- A Father to His Men: Everyone has nothing but respect for him, and it shows considering how far he's willing to go to protect his fellow soldiers and the rest of humanity.
- It's Up to You: Says this verbatim to Jacob, upon giving him the mission to command a unit to destroy the Time-Displacement Equipment.
- The Leader: His military cunning and compassion for humanity as a whole make him this in the eyes of the entire Resistance.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He only appears proper in the leadup to the final mission, but given his role as The Leader, and how other characters talk about him, his mystique looms large throughout the game and the DLC.
- Xanatos Speed Chess: Shown to be playing a large-scale version of this with Skynet, as he is using knowledge of time travel, knowledge from The Stranger and information from his own past in order to counteract the machines' strategies.
The Stranger (END-GAME SPOILER)
Sergeant Jacob Rivers
A mysterious ally who seems to know more than he should. Actually your future-self from an alternate timeline.
- Aloof Ally: He doesn't hang around much, showing up only when necessary, and disappearing just as quickly. Justified, given how he needs to let time run its natural course as much as possible or risk undoing the very victory he came to preserve.
- Badass Normal: Considering he's your more matured, experienced, and stronger future-self, he's going to be this too.
- Big Good: Aside from John Connor, he also serves this role, though it isn't made clear exactly until John spells it out for you.
- The Cavalry: He shows up to save Jacob and other members of the Resistance several times, right from the beginning of the game.
- Come with Me If You Want to Live: Paraphrases this trope to you in his first spoken line in the game.
- The Determinator: He will stop at nothing to ensure Skynet's destruction and your survival, even at the cost of his own life.
- Future Badass: Funny enough, he isn't that far from the future compared to all the other time travellers known throughout this franchise, but when you compare Jacob's skills between the beginning and end of the game, the parallels become clear as day.
- Heroic Sacrifice: He gives his life to ensure you survive with the location of Skynet's central core.
- Rescue Introduction: He pulls this off twice, once when you hear him over the radio signalling you to dive under a truck to save yourself from a Terminator, and again when he comes crashing through a wall in a truck and charges into the Infiltrator before it can kill you.
- Uncertain Doom: Briefly, as during the escape from the first Resistance base, the player witnesses him fighting the Infiltrator on his own just as a cluster of explosives seals off the passage behind them. The next time you hear from him, though, he's none the worse for wear, and it isn't explained how he eluded the Infiltrator.
- You Can't Go Home Again: As per the rules of time travel in the Terminator franchise, since he's from an alternate timeline and the timeline he's in now has changed too much for him to return to his own.
The Machines
The other side of the Robot War, desiring nothing more than the destruction of humanity. Spider Scout
Spider Scout
Small cat-sized, spider-like Hunter-Killer units that act primarily as reconnaissance units.- The Goomba: They're only able to hurt you at close range, and a quick burst from the M16 is all it takes to take them out.
- Shock and Awe: Attack by getting in close and zapping you.
- Zerg Rush: This is the only way they're a serious threat, and fittingly they're often encountered in large numbers.
Armored Spider
Armored Spider
Four-legged Hunter-Killer units that patrol the ruins around Los Angeles. They're usually equipped with either twin miniguns or plasma guns.- Attack Its Weak Point: They take extra damage to their glowing eye, and massive damage if shot in their exposed rear battery.
- Gatling Good: Most are armed with dual miniguns. The rest have gatling lasers.
- Made of Iron: They have about twice as much health as T-800s and armor plating that significantly reduces the damage they take. However, they can be shot in their glowing eye or rear battery for extra damage, and unlike T-800s they can still be harmed by bullets. However, the ones fought in the first few levels lack the armor plating and have half as much health.
- Shockwave Stomp: They'll do one of these as a melee attack if you get too close. It has a 360 degree radius and also lets out a wall of flames too.
Aerial Drones
Aerial Drone
Drones that search the ruins for humans. Most are armed with electric zappers, but an upgraded variant called the Armored Drone can carry miniguns or plasma guns.- Attack Its Weak Point: Like the Armored Spiders, they take extra damage to their glowing eyes.
- Flying Mook: Act as Skynet's aerial enforcers in small skirmishes.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Armored Drones are able to cover up their eyes with armor plates when they take too much damage, though doing so also renders them temporarily blind.
- Shock and Awe: The Scout Drones attack by getting in close and zapping you.
T- 800
T-800 series Terminator
The feared front-line soldiers of Skynet's army.- Back Stab: If you have any Termination Knives, you can instantly shut down a T-800 by stabbing it in the nape. That said, be very careful not to have it turn around while you're sneaking up on it.
- The Dreaded: The Resistance fears them, and with good reason.
- Elite Mooks: The T-820s are an upgraded variant with almost twice as much health and armed with harder-hitting violet plasma rifles (which do about 50% more damage). Your first encounter with them is a Wolfpack Boss fight about halfway through the game in which you need to clear out an abandoned mansion that's occupied by several of them. T 825 Vs are essentially T-820s armed with dual violet plasma rifles.
- Guns Akimbo: The T-825 and T-825V models carry dual plasma rifles.
- Immune to Bullets: True to the movies, your ballistic weapons are completely useless against them. You'll need to use plasma weapons and explosives to damage them.
- "Instant Death" Radius: Whatever you do, don't let yourself get grabbed by one.
- Kill It with Fire: The T-808s carry flamethrowers, though you can use this against them by shooting the fuel canisters on their back.
- Mighty Glacier: They're all massively durable juggernauts armed with accurate and deadly weapons. None move faster than a Slow Walk, for what little that's worth.
- Not Quite Dead: If you do enough damage with a headshot or an explosion, you can knock out a T-800, but it will get up after a short while to keep fighting unless you destroy it.
- SkeleBot 9000: Of course, they're arguably the Trope Maker.
T- 47
T-47
Massive walking tanks that act as Skynet's heavy infantry. They're armed with either dual miniguns or plasma guns, along with rocket launchers.- Attack Its Weak Point: When they take enough damage, they will open up some exhaust vents on their shoulders that are severely vulnerable to plasma fire.
- Elite Mook: Arguably the toughest machines you'll encounter outside of a boss bottle.
- Immune to Bullets: Just like the T-800s, ballistic weapons do nothing against them.
- Macross Missile Massacre: They'll frequently launch a barrage of homing missiles in between minigun/plasma gun bursts.
- Mini-Mecha: They're about 25 feet tall, have miniguns (or heavy plasma blasters) for arms, and can take several hundred red plasma blasts to bring down if you don't target their weak spots.
HK Aerial
HK Aerial
Large VTOL Hunter Killers that patrol the ruins of Los Angeles.- Attack Its Weak Point: Their engines don't show up as critical hit locations on your HUD, but shooting them there does do noticeably more damage than normal.
- Boss in Mook Clothing: You're all-but-expected to avoid direct combat with the ones you encounter on your own, instead relying on hacked turrets and taking potshots with rocket launchers when available to take them down. The few you're forced to fight are functionally minibosses where you have significant allied backup.
- Hell Is That Noise: Lovingly replicated engine noises from the original T1 and 2 films are a MAJOR INDICATOR that, if you don't have any real proper weapons to fight against it, the moment you even hear a whispering oncoming of its trademark twin jet engines on a course to patrol your current location, you'd best find ample cover to hide behind before its twin searchlight-guided cameras fully spot you, since not only does it have its deadly violet plasma underbelly gun, it also is equipped with equally deadly missiles that, if they make a direct hit, they easily instakill you. The only real reliable way of taking them on when they start actively patrolling an area you're in is by hacking a Skynet violet plasma turret so that it downs the HK Aerial for you whilst you make yourself as scarce as possible to the overhead flying mechanical dragon.
- Immune to Bullets: Not only are they immune to bullets, they're also immune to red plasma. Rocket launchers and purple plasma weapons are the only ways you'll have to fight these things.
HK Tank
HK Tank
A huge tracked Hunter-Killer that acts as Skynet's main battle tank.- Attack Its Weak Point: Blasting it in the head with a rocket will stun it and expose its weak spot: a glowing vent on its back that takes massive damage to explosives.
- Pivotal Boss: The one HK Tank you fight in the campaign was immobilized by an earlier rebel strike, but that doesn't mean it will go down easily.
- Scratch Damage: They're so tough even a rocket to the head does, at most, a sliver of damage. You'll need to stun it with headshots and target its rear weak spot to take it down.
- Tank-Tread Mecha: It's essentially a towering main battle tank with two massive twin-barreled plasma turrets on the end of each of its arms.
The Infiltrator (SPOILER CHARACTER)
Future T-850
- Big Bad: While Skynet is the driving force of humanity's opposition, the Infiltrator serves as Jacob's own personal nemesis throughout small portions of the game, and is the reason the Stranger went back in time in the first place.
- Degraded Boss: After you first fight it, copies start showing up in regular combat as Elite Mooks. They're not as durable as the first one, but can still throw pipe bombs and wields a plasma minigun. In fact they get successively less durable for each one you fight: the second one (which Jacob and the Stranger fight together) has 1/2th the health of the boss version, the third one has 1/3rd the health, and the 3 that show up during the final mission are only slightly tougher than a T-820.
- The Dreaded: Its existence becomes this for the Resistance, due to its ability to successfully pass itself off as a human.
- Grenade Spam: It throws pipe bombs like they're going out of style in its boss fight.
- In the Hood: The "main" T-850 wears a hooded version of the grey biker jacket that the Terminator from the original film wore. The ones fought later in the game are instead Bald of Evil.
- Make Wrong What Once Went Right: It comes from a future where Skynet lost the war and acts as one of its three time-travel attempts to undo its defeat.
- Marathon Boss: Its boss fight has multiple phases and comprises the entire level it's fought in. It also takes a massive amount of continuous plasma fire and explosives from multiple Resistance soldiers to take down.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the T-850 is shown constantly being outclassed and beaten by the even more advanced T-X. In this game, however, thanks to facing off against normal humans and not other Terminators, the T-850 is shown to be much tougher and far more advanced than the normal T-800s encountered.
- Shows Damage: As it takes damage, its flesh layer gets progressively mangled, revealing the machine underneath.
- Small Role, Big Impact: While its presence is few and far between during the course of the game, it leaves an impact as the hardest Terminator to put down for good in gameplay, and in story it provides Skynet with future knowledge and technology it hasn't invented yet much sooner, giving it an edge in the war effort. And if you perform a specific side-quest, its CPU would serve as the reprogrammed chip of the T-800 that would be sent back in time to protect young John Connor.
- Super Prototype: It serves as this for several of the later model T-800s encountered in the story, all of which incorporate the advancements found in this particular model.
Skynet
Skynet
The rogue artificial intelligence that wiped out most of humanity on Judgment Day. For more details, see its main continuity entry here.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Like with all its counterparts across the franchise, Skynet decided humanity was a threat to its existence in a nano-second and instigated Judgment Day, wiping out more than three billion humans in nuclear fire.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: In-universe, the "Annihilation Line" is the "final solution" it's come up with to eliminate the human race — a stacked line of ground and air units, emanating out from a circle around its major complexes, smashing and killing anything and everything in its path. Part of the mission in the Annihilation Line DLC is to get past the self-described barrier, dodging firing lines of T-800 units, numerous HK units and more.
- Greater-Scope Villain: It's the sole force that drives all machines around the world to exterminate the human race, so while it never makes a solid appearance in-game, its presence is still felt through its overwhelming army.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In a long-term fashion, combined with the best endings. Skynet lists Jacob Rivers as #2 on its termination list, and sends back an Infiltrator in an attempt to kill him. After Jacob and Baron's Resistance cell defeat it, Alvin Scott scavenges its neural CPU for further study — and the player can steal the CPU, then give it to Dr. Mack — who will reprogram it for use within a T-800; the same one that is sent back to help John Connor in 1995.
Infiltrator DLC
T- 800 Infiltrator (DLC)
T-800 Infiltrator
- All There in the Manual: The gamefiles confirm that Franco Columbu (the bodybuilder who appeared in a cameo in the original film as an Infiltrator) was used as the basis for the DLC character's design, as his model is nicknamed "Franco".
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Plot-enforced, as the Infiltrator is required to raid Resistance Hideouts in order to gain enough intel to locate and access the Tech-Com hideout.
- The Bad Guy Wins: It ultimately succeeds in its objective to discover the identity of John Connor's mother.
- Bullet Time: Upon entering a bunker or killing the last enemy in an encounter, time will slow down briefly to allow the player to pick and choose their shots.
- Canon Welding: It's stated that the reason why Skynet knew to look for a "Sarah Connor" in 1984 is due to the actions of the Infiltrator in this DLC — he accesses a Tech-Com database at the completion of his mission and ascertains her name.
- Clothing-Concealed Injury: Averted — unlike the Infiltrator from the original film (who was wearing rags, if that), this Infiltrator is wearing much more clothing... but is also missing much of the flesh covering on one-half of its face and the flesh on its left arm, ruining any chance of maintaining the disguise.
- Determinator: It's a Made of Iron robot that is given one mission, and only one mission — find out the identity of John Connor's mother, and kill anything that gets in his way.
- Due to the Dead: Interestingly, the DLC has a villainous version of this — the Infiltrator can strip weapons and tech from fallen Skynet units (even referred to as such by its internal software) in order to prevent the human Resistance from getting control of it.
- Dynamic Entry: This T-800 can breach doors and weakened walls. Doing this has the Infiltrator smash through, getting a brief period of slow-motion to target and and kill the startled enemies on the other side.
- Feet-First Introduction: As per previous introductions of T-800 units, he is revealed in this fashion, having just killed a member of the Resistance.
- Immune to Bullets: Averted, unlike the T-800s from the main campaign. The M16 assault rifles used by non-Resistance Scavengers do Scratch Damage to him (about 1.3% of his health per shot on Normal difficulty), but they still do minor damage, while the T-800s from the main campaign couldn't be harmed with M16s at all.
- Lightning Bruiser: While he makes plenty use of the familiar Terminator steady menacing walk, he can also sprint and jump quite effectively when necessary.
- Made of Iron: Being a Skynet creation, the events of the DLC plot bear the T-800's strength out — he can tank numerous hits from conventional and plasma weapons, has the ability to self-repair without the need for medkits, has the ability to throw soldiers around like ragdolls, and can fall from greater heights with nothing more than a thud due to having a robot chassis. His overall durability is about on par with enemy T-800's from the main campaign.
- Nonindicative Name: Despite being nicknamed the "Infiltrator," there is no actual infiltration in the DLC — this T-800's disguise is blown from the get-go, and Resistance soldiers will shoot at him on-sight.
- Villain Protagonist: The Player Character of the DLC, a Skynet-affiliated Terminator that mows down Resistance cells to discover the identity of Sarah Connor.
Annihilation Line DLC
Frank Rivers
Frank Rivers
Jacob Rivers' father, who is shown in a flashback leading his son on a scouting mission in the year 2012, near the onset of the Robot War.
- Almost Dead Guy: He's on his last legs when you finally find him after he's been trapped in a Skynet gulag for almost two decades, and dies literally seconds after completing his self-appointed mission.
- Determinator: He manages to survive many years in a Skynet work camp, with the intent of completing his goal to deliver a message to the intended recipient (Kyle Reese). He barely manages to survive the attempted cleansing of the work camp before he completes his mission — and dies right afterwards.
- Irony: He manages to meet his son many years after being taken by Skynet — but doesn't recognize him, and dies before his son barely has time to say he's So Proud of You.
- Man on Fire: Allegedly how he bites it, courtesy of a T-600 lighting him up with a flamethrower. Later events in the DLC reveal that he survived and was sent to a Skynet work camp instead.
- Not Quite Dead: Jacob was led to believe his father was dead, but unbeknownst to him, Frank was kept alive and working in a Skynet camp for several years.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Unbeknownst to him, the letter he keeps Jacob from opening in the introductory scene of the DLC contains a photograph of Sarah Connor, placed by John in the time capsule at Reseda High School before Judgment Day, and the letter and photo is eventually delivered to Kyle, who carries it with him and eventually falls in love with her via said photo. In effect, Frank is responsible for completing one of the longest time loops in the franchise's history!
- Tempting Fate: He makes a point of lingering around Reseda High School looking for a time capsule, at a point where he knows (via intel from Connor) that the school and surrounding area are under Skynet's control, and given his son has very little experience with scavenging missions. It ends up getting him seriously injured (and captured) for his trouble.
- You Can't Go Home Again: He laments the destruction that occurred in the past, and planned the scouting mission to the high school in order to find a memento from pre-Judgment Day that he could give to his son as a lasting memory (in this case, a Combat-Carl action figure.) It gets him seriously injured for his trouble, particularly as he refuses to "give up the past" by staying and rooting through the time capsule until it's too late to get away unseen.
Kyle Reese
Kyle Reese
A TECHCOM soldier who enlists Rivers to help him investigate Northridge Outpost during the events of the DLC. For more information on Kyle Reese's role in the original film, visit this page.
- A Father to His Men: Although it often doesn't feel like it due to his aloofness and "the mission comes first" mindset, it's still clear that he's deeply invested in the wellbeing of those serving under him. In-game, if you perform well and follow his orders, he won't hesitate to heap praise on you and thank you for keeping squad morale up.
- The Chains of Commanding: He's very particular about the soldiers who come under his command, and expects everyone to pull their weight — even telling Rivers that he has to step up his situational awareness at one point. The war and the toll it has taken on him are also addressed at several points, as he discusses the choices that lead to his men succeeding or dying with Rivers.
- Jerk Justifications: He's singularly focused on his missions, to the detriment of his squad, who run into conflict after he unilaterally decides to venture behind the Annihilation Line in an attempt to rescue the Northridge Outpost prisoners. Even when Rivers points out that Reese needs to go and talk to Ferro (who's despondent over the situation and looking for support from him), he more-or-less ignores the request and tells Rivers that their preparations always come first.
- Mission Control: Functions as this for Rivers for the duration of the DLC, notably aiding him in Bakersfield during several side-ops.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: His actions in the DLC finally elaborate on and explain the out-of-context flashback he had in the original film of being part of a unit that was destroyed by an invading Hunter Killer/HK-Aerial — it's recontextualized here as the moment that happens after Reese and his unit make it past the Annihilation Line to rescue the Northridge Outpost survivors from one of Skynet's work camps.
- Rewrite: Of the flashbacks we see in the original film (and what we glean from other characters), Reese is a random soldier who nonetheless impresses John Connor enough for his actions that he's chosen to go into the past, but doesn't display any apparent control or leadership abilities. In the Annihilation Line DLC, we not only find out that he's The Lancer to Connor (they apparently have far more awareness of the war and its consequences than others realize), but he normally commands a larger group of soldiers and has been in a position of leadership for several years (given how he speaks about Ferro and others).
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- If you stray from the direct path to do some scavenging during the first half of the first mission with him, he'll tear you a new one for being unreliable and putting the lives of your team at risk.
- Make noise outside Northridge Outpost during a side mission, and he'll chew you out over the radio for not staying quiet.
Charlotte Ferro
Corporal Charlotte Ferro
The explosives expert on Kyle Reese's squad in the Annihilation Line DLC. For information on her role in the first Terminator, visit this page.
- Adaptation Expansion: The DLC gives more characterization for her, including a reason for why she's present in Reese's unit and additional background about her abilities.
- All There in the Manual: Her name and age (15) in the 2029 scenes were only previously revealed in one of the novelizations for the original film.
- Closest Thing We Got: She's the closest thing Kyle's unit has to an IED specialist, having been conscripted into the war at the age of 11 to build homemade bombs to take out Terminators.
- Crippling Overspecialization: She's a proficient explosives expert, but she has no understanding of technology whatsoever, and asks Rivers to help her bypass a Very Easy terminal early on in the mission. She also doesn't appear to have much physical strength, as she's unable to move boxes from a shelving unit without utilizing Rivers' and Evans' help.
- Developing Doomed Characters: She's the squadmate who was blown to bits during Kyle's HK-Tank flashback in the first film.
- Foreshadowing: At several points throughout the DLC, she makes references to "living on borrowed time" and thinking she's going to die as a result of the death of her team and previous missions with Reese. Then she comments that the mission to rescue the Northridge prisoners has given her renewed purpose and she feels like she has hope for the future.
- It's All My Fault: When the explosives she prepared to warn the team of encroaching enemies fails when they're hiding near the cemetery, she blames herself for not being on top of her game and letting the team down (particularly as it resulted in the death of Anselmo and nearly got everyone mowed down by a T-800 firing line). It takes Reese finally talking to her before she admits she was too harsh on herself.
- The Lost Lenore: The loss of her previous team has led her to become distrustful towards others, particularly Evans, as she regrets losing her previous "family" of soldiers. By the end of the DLC, she's moved past this and considers Reese, Evans and Rivers to be an effective replacement.
- Older Than They Look: As per her in-game likeness, she looks (and sounds) much older than her actual age (15), having been presumably toughened up by the ongoing machine war.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: In combat, she can be heard repeatedly yelling, "Fuck you!" at approaching Terminators.
- Spotting the Thread:
- Given the operational intel she's told at the beginning of the DLC by Reese, she's the first to suggest that the scavengers at Northridge Outpost have been abducted by Skynet, far before either Reese or Rivers verbally make the same hypothesis.
- She also makes a point of casting shade at Reese for refusing to share details of his meetings with Connor with her, despite the fact that they've worked together for several years and built a significant level of trust. This is partly due to the fact that John is keeping Reese, his father, close in terms of "need-to-know" information.
- Undying Loyalty: She's been working for Reese for several years, and even Reese himself notes that they're practically joined at the hip, given how long they've been running missions together.
Evans
Evans
A sniper and new addition to Kyle Reese's squad who appears in the Annihilation Line DLC.
- Badass Normal:
- One of the first things we learn about him is he's said to have killed a Terminator with his bare hands. This is later subverted, when he clarifies that he destroyed a disabled Terminator on his way out of the work camp after being rescued by Connor's Tech-Com unit.
- This is also discussed in the DLC, when Rivers notes to Evans that, out of all the test subjects Skynet used for their Infiltrator line, they chose the latter as the ideal likeness for that combat unit. Rivers notes that Evans "won the genetic lottery" and it could be seen as an acknowledgement of his superior survival skills.
- The Big Guy: Tall, muscular and broad-shouldered. It says something that when people hear he killed a Terminator with his bare hands, they don't question it too much. Later you find Skynet used his physical appearance for the flesh cover of an Infiltrator, which has to be unusually large to fit the endoskeleton.
- Cold Sniper: His assigned role within the team. During the infiltration into the Skynet Research Facility, Rivers acts as a spotter while he nonchalantly one-shots T-800 units.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Ferro asks to "ride shotgun" in the group's vehicle during the DLC, Evans counters by claiming that he didn't bring a shotgun, only a rifle. An exasperated Ferro decides to drop the subject.
- Developing Doomed Characters: He's the doomed driver we see in one of Reese's movie flashbacks, who picks Kyle up in a car after he takes out an HK-Tank, and dies when the fleeing vehicle is blasted by an air attack.
- Red Herring: Evans has numerous red flags that make you suspect he's a Terminator; he's a new squad member no one knows who is the sole survivor of his previous squad (though Baron points out the same can be said about Rivers), he's huge and is shown to be abnormally strong, has a rather flat affect and seems to be Literal-Minded, Sarcasm-Blind, and prone to Spock Speak, and expresses a strong desire to meet John Connor. As it turns out, he's entirely human, although Skynet did use his genetic material to create Infiltrators while he was a prisoner in a Skynet prison camp.
- The Stoic: He tends to speak in short, clipped sentences, only responding when Reese asks for a sitrep — otherwise, he refuses to answer questions from the other members of the unit, or outright changes the subject.
- Understatement: When asked how he was able to tear apart a T-800 with his bare hands, he merely responds, "I was angry," before changing the subject.
Anselmo
Anselmo
A survivor at Northridge Outpost, who sends an SOS call to Reese's squad that kicks off the events of the DLC.- Idiot Ball: For a guy who managed to escape from a Skynet work camp and pass the Annihilation Line, he displays a stunning lack of competence when he starts yelling after being woken up during a Skynet raid on the team's hideout.
- Saved by the Coffin: How he manages to steer clear of T-800's in the cemetery where he's hiding — he stays cooped up in a coffin in one of the mausoleums.
- Surprisingly Sudden Death: He wakes up surrounded by T-800s and immediately starts yelling loudly about what's going on. You'd expect him to be gunned down by the Terminators, but instead there's a loud crash from above him, the giant leg of a Centurion walker smashes through the ceiling and stomps him flat instead.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He shows up for two scenes, just long enough to give some information about what happened to the residents of the Outpost who were kidnapped, before he's crushed by a Giant Foot of Stomping just after the team wakes up in the Metro Station hideout.
T- 600
T-600 series Terminator
The predecessors to the T-800. Bulky and armed with miniguns, up until recently they led Skynet's genocidal campaign against humanity.- Bald of Evil: The T-650s are bald; with rubber skin it makes sense they wouldn't have hair.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: Evans points out that the T-600 has been largely phased out by Skynet, and he believes the ones the squad are fighting near the Northridge shelter are no longer even connected to the network. This isn't exactly true, as they keep appearing afterwards in Skynet installations throughout the campaign.
- Flawed Prototype: It's noted the T-650s weren't particularly effective as infiltrators, due to their rubber skin. T-600/650s also lack the T-800's moderate resistance to explosives, and also take more damage from headshots, although they otherwise perform quite similarly in combat.
- Gatling Good: They all carry miniguns.
- Immune to Bullets: Just like the T-800s, bullets don't work against them.
- Mythology Gag: They're not a 100% copy of the T-600s from Terminator Salvation (likely due to the license rights being seperate), but they take enough design cues from them to be very familiar.
- Not Quite Dead: Just like the T-800, the T-600s can be knocked down after taking enough damage, but they will get back up after a short while.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The T-650 is clad with rubber skin. As Ferro comments, it's not very convincing.Ferro: Haven't seen that rubber face in a while.
- SkeleBot 9000: No less intimidating than their successor models.
HK Centurion
HK Centurion
An enormous Spider Tank that attacks Reese's squad in Bakersfield.- Attack Its Weak Point: It's predictably massively durable, but the eyes on its head are rather vulnerable to damage.
- Beam Spam: Attacks primarily with a massive plasma minigun.
- Final Boss: Of the Annihilation Line DLC, acting as the last obstruction between you and Skynet's prisoners.
- Humongous Mecha: Aside from the HK Tanks, this is arguably the single largest machine fielded by Skynet.
- Spider Tank: It looks like an Armored Spider on steroids.
