History Characters / StarcraftNerazim

** Another one delivered [[spoiler:posthumously]] in ''Legacy of the Void'':

* CharacterDevelopment: Between Brood War and the second installment of the series, Zeratul's attitude has completely mellowed out to the extent that the irritability and aloofness that had previously distinguished him is no longer present.
* TheChessmaster: He's manipulated events behind the scenes in order to [[spoiler:stop the coming apocalypse, including showing Jim Raynor why Kerrigan had to live, and then sending Kerrigan to Zerus--both to become stronger, and also to cleanse the last remaining bit of Amon's dark influence. His effort pays off nicely in the end, when Kerrigan proves to be the one to end Amon once and for all.]]

* {{Deuteragonist}}: He's never been the central protagonist in any of the games, but he has his own subplot that runs ''through'' the storylines of ''Brood War,'' and ''Starcraft II'' concerning the return of Amon.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: How he's introduced--he ''permanently'' kills a Cerebrate, something thought impossible by the Protoss. It's what interests Tassadar and eventually leads to the Dark Templar being accepted by the other Protoss.
** BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: As noted below, doing so connects his mind with the Overmind. This lets the Overmind learn the location of Aiur, which leads to its fall.
*** Also pulls this trope when fighting Kerrigan in ''Wings of Liberty''. He's held in the air for brief moment via telekinesis, but breaks free and slices off a portion of her wing. However, he injures his arm doing so and is forced to fall back (plus, Kerrigan's wing grew back).
* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:Artanis carries Zeratul's warp blade for most of the war, uses "En Taro Zeratul" before the final battle, and later has a grave constructed overlooking the first rebuilt city of Aiur]].
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:He fights an Amon-controlled Artanis in a brutal battle and manages to sever Artanis' nerve cords and free him from Amon's control. He is fatally wounded, but he gave the Protoss a fighting chance in Artanis.]]
--> '''Zeratul:''' [[spoiler: My life... for Aiur!]]

* FlashStep: Other Dark Templar don't have such ability. [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking It must be a Prelate thing]].
* FromACertainPointOfView: Zeratul claims to have served Raszagal for many millennia, an impressive feat, considering he's "only" 635 years old, and Raszagal is barely over 1,000. Depending on the revolutionary period of Shakuras compared to Aiur, he could possibly have served Raszagal for many Shakuras-millennia while still being only 635 Aiur-years old. Or vice-versa.
* FrontlineGeneral: Prelate is something like the dark templar equivalent, and his in-game unit is a OneManArmy.

** [[spoiler: He pulls a real one to save Artanis from Amon's control, giving up his life to sever Artanis' nerve cords.]]
* HeroWithBadPublicity: In the first game, the Conclave see him and his people as heretics. In the second game; many Protoss, including Vorazun and Selendis, are mentioned to see Zeratul as a heretic and a traitor who murdered the Nerazim matriarch, and brought ruin to Aiur. When he comes back in ''Legacy of the Void'', Artanis has to stop his forces from arresting him. Selendis more or less forgives him later on, even to the point of trusting him to keep Artanis safe. [[spoiler:Vorazun has completly forgiven him at the end of the Legacy of the Void campaign by saying, she will never stop honoring him.]]
** Averted with Karass, the Zhakul Preservers and Talis who still respect him and aid him in his quest. The two Praetors (Karass and Talis) also treat him like a hero and/or a brother (much like Artanis) and fight with him without any grudge or hesitation, going as far to sacrifices themselves to permit Zeratul to escape for the sake of their entire race (in both cases, Zeratul didn't want to leave them to their demise).
* IDidWhatIHadToDo:
** "Damn you, Kerrigan, for what I must do." Occurs as he kills Raszagal rather than let her live as Kerrigan's mental slave.
** [[spoiler: Occurs again in ''Heart of the Swarm'' when he directs Kerrigan to Zerus, wanting her stronger for the fight against Amon, even though he's fully aware the rest of the Protoss will ''NOT'' be pleased upon hearing that he helped their most hated enemy. That is also not going into the special hatred he must have for her brainwashing his beloved matriarch and forcing him to kill her to free her from it.]]

* LaserBlade: the Warp Blade, infused with the energy of the Void, the only weapon that can destroy a cerebrate or the Overmind permanently.
* MundaneUtility: he uses his warp blade as a lantern in a cutscene.

* {{Ninja}}: He is a ninja in everything but name (though with his shields in both games he take a ton of damage), and is it surprising that he's one of the most popular characters in the series?
* OneManArmy: However, he does the most normal damage of any unit you can control in the game. There's even an achievement in ''Wings of Liberty'' invoking the trope's name, where he has to kill 50 enemies.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: His BadassBoast (above) to Aldaris also has vibes of this.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: In the main campaign of Legacy of the Void. [[spoiler:He only lasts two missions into the campaign before he dies in a HeroicSacrifice by severing Artanis' nerve cords and freeing him from Amon's corruption. But this ensured the Hierarch survives and is able to lead the remaining Protoss to victory; indeed, his sacrifice was the beginning of a ''long'' HumiliationConga suffered by Amon at the hands of Artanis' forces]].
* TakeUpMySword: Though he doesn't voice the request, [[spoiler:when he dies in ''Legacy of the Void'', Artanis takes his gauntlet from him and uses it for the rest of the game, projecting his warp blade from it.]]

* TraumaCongaLine: Episode 6 is this for Zeratul. He's forced to MercyKill Raszagal and watches the remnants of the Protoss fleet get handed yet another crushing defeat by Kerrigan. And, to top it all off, he travels to a dark moon to find Artanis but instead discovers the Hybrid, [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that have been seeded across the universe. Unsurprisingly, he enters a HeroicBSOD upon returning to his ship.
* YouAreInCommandNow: After he slays Raszagal to free her, she charges him to take command of the dark templar. Really, he'd been the ''de facto'' commander all along. So far he hasn't returned to Shakuras to actually take the role, however. [[spoiler:And given his death, he never will.]]

* MindControl: Kerrigan had taken over her far before she even arrived on Shakuras.
* MindRape: On the receiving end from Kerrigan.

* PsychicPowers: She was one of the most powerful protoss minds during her prime, but as time passed and she grew old, her powers waned and she fell victim to Kerrigan's mind control.

* ActionGirl: She's a dark templar and has a good arm with a warp scythe. Also the first protoss female to take the field and fight personally, as Selendis pilots a carrier.

** While she admits, in one of her StopPokingMe quotes, that most templar would not be able to complete the Shadow Walk, the Nerazim would enjoy seeing them try.

* HeadbuttingHeroes: Not a fan of [[spoiler:Alarak]], and wonders whether the alliance with the [[spoiler: Tal'Darim will change the Daelaam for the worst.]] When he arrives, Vorazun spends her time in the War Council room to stay away from him. [[spoiler:Ironically, she is teamed up with him during the mission to destroy the Matrix on Aiur.]]

* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: A surprisingly benevolent version. [[spoiler: In the ''Legacy of the Void'' campaign, Amon's zerg had completely overrun Shakuras. Instead of letting it stay that way, Vorazun decided to destroy the planet. She justifies this by saying that Auir was always her people's true home, even if she's never seen it for herself]].
* YouAreInCommandNow: Represents the Nerazim on the Twilight Council [[spoiler: after Mohandar's death]].

* CasualDangerDialog: Mohandar is such a [[TheStoic stoic]] during "In Utter Darkness" he's the only one of the Protoss heroes that does not express regret at their choice of killing Kerrigan or shock upon being killed. Mohandar just calmly states he's "returning to the Void".
* CoolStarship: as with Urun, he too appears piloting an awesome Void Ray.
* CoolOldGuy: Especially to Vorazun.

* KilledOffForReal: No, In Utter Darkness doesn't count because it was merely ''vision''. He dies during ''Children of the Void'' short story.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: A weird [[GenderInverted gender-inverted version]]; he is by no means the only male Nerazim, but he's the only male Nerazim that has led, given how Dark Templars are usually matriarchal.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: He has none in the cutscenes he is in, nor does his in-game sprite.

Not all Protoss found peace and unity in embracing the Khala. Some Protoss sought to keep their individuality, fearing that the communical psionic link would lead to a loss of self. They thus refused to indulge in the Khala, and as a symbol of this rejection, severed their psionic nerve cords, cutting them off from the Khala permanently. The Conclave, paranoid of a second Aeon of Strife, sent the Templar Adun to arrest and execute the rogues in secret. Instead Adun took them under his wing, teaching them psionic skills to help them to hide from the Conclave, but without the guidance of the Khala they had trouble controlling their powers. Massive psionic storms broke out over Aiur, causing chaos. Unwilling to admit the existence of the rogues and the treason of their most decorated warrior, since that would just make everything much worse, the Conclave exiled the rogues from Aiur and concocted a cover story that Adun was responsible for this.

Zeratul is introduced with a bang: the shadowy Dark Templar achieved the seemingly impossible and murdered a top Cerebrate of the Zerg Overmind. With the knowledge that Dark Templar could permanently harm the Zerg, Tassadar makes a highly-controversial alliance with Zeratul, and the two of them, along with Jim Raynor and Artanis, return to Aiur, where Tassadar uses what he's learned from Zeratul to kill the Overmind. Zeratul then leads the Khalai survivors to the Dark Templar homeworld Shakuras, and eventually forms an uneasy alliance with Kerrigan to fight the rogue Zerg. When she betrays them he banishes her, but she returns later to kidnap Raszagal and blackmail Zeratul into killing the Overmind for her. Zeratul kills Raszagal rather than let Kerrigan control her, and as he leaves he finds Duran's experiments on Hybrids on the dark moon. Canonically, he hasn't been seen since, but resurfaces in ''Starcraft II'', having learned something horrible and omninous.

* DarkIsNotEvil: He constantly hides in the Dark, his powers are based on Darkness and Void, and he is a member of the ''Dark'' Templar (or was supposed to be), but he is pretty much as heroic as Tassardar or Fenix. Blizzard even stated he was designed with "Darth Vader on the side of the Rebellion" in mind.

* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:Artanis carries Zeratul's warp blade for most of the war, uses "En Taro Zeratul" befor the final battle, and later has a grave constructed overlooking the first rebuilt city of Aiur]].

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: With Selendis to begin with, as neither of them particularily like or respect the other. They grow out of it after a while.

* OutOfCharacterAlert: Zeratul starts suspecting something is not right with her when the usually peaceful and reasonable Raszalgal coldly orders them to eliminate Aldaris. This is the first sign indicating she is under Kerrigan's influence.

** Supplementary materials and expanded world building have established the Dark Templar as having their own tribes and character among them rather than being one single band of assassins. This is integrated into the game in ''Starcraft II'', the two different Dark Templar models said to be from different tribes. The Dark Templar themselves are also known as the Nerazim now.
** ''Legacy of the Void'' introduces Nerazim skins of some units and buildings, to emphasize that the Dark Templar utilize different designs from the Khalai.

* DarkIsNotEvil: He constantly hides in the Dark, his powers are based on Darkness and Void, and he is a member of the ''Dark'' Templar (or was supposed to be), but he is pretty much as heroic as Tassardar or Fenix. Blizzard even stated he was designed with "[[DarthVaderClone Darth Vader]] on the side of the Rebellion" in mind.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's not revealed what happened to him after the events of the ''Dark Templar Saga'', and he's never been mentioned again. In ''Legacy of the Void'' Shakuras is [[spoilered:invaded by Amon and destroyed]], so it's unclear if he's evil still alive, though [[StopPokingMe unit quotes]] from the dark archon imply that he is.

* ColorCodedArmies: In contrast to the Khalai Protoss usually using blue and yellow, the Dark Templar are blue/green and silver, shown through the Stalker, Void Ray, and Oracle. Their art and expanded lore has them with green and purple highlights, but in multiplayer it makes them look too much like the zerg, hence the focus on blue and silver.

* NotSoDifferent: Mohandar thought one of Raszagal's reasons to welcome the Khalai survivors to Shakuras was to [[DefiedTrope defy this trope]], as she would have been just like the Conclave that banished the Nerazim from Aiur if she didn't let the survivors stay in Shakuras.

--> '''Zeratul:''' [[spoiler: [[FamousLastWords My life... for Aiur!]]]]

-> '''Voiced by:''' Debra [=DeLiso=] (English), Natalia Grebenkin (Russian)

->'''Voiced by:''' JackRitschel (''VideoGame/{{Starcraft|I}}'' and ''Starcraft: Broodwar'') and Creator/FredTatasciore (''VideoGame/StarcraftII'')

-> '''Voiced by:''' Debra [=DeLiso=]

-> '''Voiced by:''' Rachel Robinson

-> '''Voiced by:''' Creator/ArminShimerman

* NoSell: [[spoiler:Amon's possession does not work on them because they don't have nerve cords. When it happened, they were in the position to save corrupted Protoss and cut off their nerve cords]].

* DyingAsYourself: In her last words, she is freed from Kerrigan's control and thanks Zeratul for killing her, leaving him in charge to save Protoss.

** StrawmanHasAPoint: [[note]]From the Conclave's point of view.[[/note]] Turns out that, in ''Legacy of the Void'', that there was a better reason to reject the Khala, as [[spoiler: it makes Protoss vulnerable to Amon's mind control]].

* VindicatedByHistory: In-universe example: in ''Legacy'', the protoss [[spoiler: eventually abandoned the Khala due to Amon's corruption, which allows him to mind control them en masse]].

** In the Overmind's vision, "In Utter Darkness," he dies along with the rest of the Protoss.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: In the main campaign of Legacy of the Void;[[spoiler: he only lasts two missions into the campaign before he dies in a HeroicSacrifice by severing Artanis' nerve cords and freeing him from Amon's corruption. But this ensured the Hierarch survives and is able to lead the remaining Protoss to victory; indeed, his sacrifice was the beginning of a ''long'' HumiliationConga suffered by Amon at the hands of Artanis' forces]].

* DeadpanSnarker: Does this when communicating with Alarak. Unfortunately, Alarak's tongue is just a hair sharper than hers.

** She's also one to Zagara. Both are NumberTwo to their respective leaders, complete with a history of disagreements (in Zagara's case, violently). While Vorazun remained in her NumberTwo position, [[spoiler: Zagara eventually took over the Swarm after Kerrigan's departure.]]
* HeadbuttingHeroes: Not a fan of [[spoiler: Alarak]], and wonders whether the alliance with the [[spoiler: Tal'Darim will change the Daelaam for the worst.]] When he arrives, Vorazun spends her time in the War Council room to stay away from him. [[spoiler:Ironically, she is teamed up with him during the mission to destroy the Matrix on Aiur.]]

-->"Alone...it is said that those of our kind suffer.Separated from the glory of the Khala. (Pause.) But none of us are ever truly alone.For our warrior hearts are bound by honor, tradition... Battle is waged in the name of the many.... The brave who generation after generation choose the mantle of.. Dark Templar!"

* BadassGrandpa: He's ancient, even by [[Really700YearsOld Protoss]] standards, and is still capable of putting up a good fight with or without his AceCustom Void Ray.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: A weird inversion; he is by no means the only male Nerazim, but he's the only male Nerazim that has led, given how Dark Templars are usually matriarchal.

* RedHerring: What he ended up being in the ''Dark Templar Saga''. As a leader of the Tal'darim on Aiur and hinted to be serving a mysterious master even more powerful than him, the novels seemed to be setting up Ulrezaj as an antagonist for ''Starcrafy II'' leading the Tal'darim and/or working for Duran or Amon. However, WordOfGod has since said that Ulrezaj's Tal'darim have no connection to the Tal'darim serving Amon other than taking their name from the same historical source, and Ulrezaj's master was not Amon.

* {{Matriarchy}}: For much of their existence, they were ruled by Matriarch Raszagal. After her death, Mohandar, a male, ruled for a time, and was then replaced by Raszagal's daughter Vorazun. While the Nerazim have no problem with male leaders (Zeratul is the most obvious one), they seem to prefer females as overall leaders of the tribe.

** [[spoiler: Occurs again in ''Heart of the Swarm'' when he directs Kerrigan to Zerus, wanting her stronger for the fight against Amon, even though he's fully aware the rest of the Protoss will ''NOT'' [[UnderStatement be pleased]] upon hearing that he helped their most hated enemy. That is also not going into the special hatred he must have for her brainwashing his beloved matriarch and forcing him to kill her to free her from it.]]