SOMBRA
The smart rule, the strong command, the fast work, the weak die.
The main villainous group of World Edition (Season 3) of Criminal Case. SOMBRA is an global crime organization who create as much trouble as they can for The Bureau, as well as using terrorism to advance their goals. Beware of unmarked spoilers. open/close all folders
In General
- Cosmopolitan Council: SOMBRA has influence across the entire world and it’s Agents agents are of various nationalities.
- Nebulous Evil Organisation: They are a global shadow organization that commits terrorism in order to achieve world domination.
- The Social Darwinist: Their main belief and seek to impose this ideology on the rest of the world
- The Syndicate: They are a criminal organization that has influence across the world.
- Take Over the World: Their main objective, starting conflicts to destabilize regions, in order for them to take control from behind the scenes.
- Would Hurt a Child: They kidnap children and raise them under their ideology, then they force them to participate in games where they kill each other until the last one survives in order to mold them into their personal assassins.
El Rey
El Rey (Arsenio Castillo)
Click to see him
SOMBRA's "king", rumored to be the one who started the organization several decades ago.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Acts like a forgetful old man in front of the Bureau, but is actually responsible for everything that SOMBRA's done in the series.
- Evil Old Folks: Only Obaasan matches him for age and evil.
- Greater-Scope Villain: While he stepped down years ago, he's responsible for SOMBRA's birth.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Evil as hell, and chomps on a cigar.
- Hero Killer: Kills Michelle Zuria.
- Knight of Cerebus: Since it's El Rey, it's to be expected. But when he steps out of the shadows and kills Michelle, the entirety of Case 48 is nothing but dark and serious.
- Mr. Exposition: Post-incarceration, he gives Carmen and the player a history lesson in how SOMBRA truly got its start and Chief Ripley's (and the CIA in general) involvement in such events.
- Revealing Cover Up: The reason he gets caught is because he killed Michelle while the Bureau was in Campanilla.
- Smug Snake: When he's exposed, he taunts the Bureau saying that SOMBRA won't be done with them yet.
El Rey's successor
El Rey's successor (Hector Montoya)
Click to see him
The next leader of SOMBRA, chosen by the first El Rey himself.
- Bald of Evil: His hair is actually a wig.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Is a Goodwill Ambassador and seems like a decent man until he kills Jason Stone.
- Body Horror: When he removes his wig, there are horrid burns underneath.
- Decapitated Army: Oh so averted. Everyone thought putting Montoya behind bars would mean the end of SOMBRA, but as you can already tell by Interface Spoiler, there is still one case left to World Edition. The final case has the organization no less dangerous and going all-out in their scheme.
- Devil in Plain Sight: The only clue given by El Rey about their identity; they've apparently met the Bureau before the events of Case 48. How fitting considering that he appeared literally a case before.
- Knight of Cerebus: Just like his predecessor, things become darker when he is involved.
- The Sociopath: Despite his claims to the contrary, he meets the checklist for the criteria. He is responsible for committing numerous acts of terrorism, orchestrating wars and armed conflicts, assassinating political leaders, ordering the kidnapping and murder of children, preforming human experimentation, supporting a dictatorship, and nearly starting World War 3 without any remorse or regard for the innumerable lives lost from his and SOMBRA’s actions. Oh yes he is definitely not a sociopath.
SOMBRA Affiliates
Promethian Leader (Archibald Gilchrist)
- A Glass of Chianti: Loves him a glass of sangria.
- Arc Villain: Of the Europe District.
- British Stuffiness: His British Stiff Upper Lip dictates that he doesn't fuss over something as trivial as murder, unlike Americans.
- Cult: Runs the Promethians.
- Dastardly Whiplash: Has the top hat and mustache of the character.
- Evil Old Folks: He's 61.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Inverted. He claims that his British Stiff Upper Lip dictates that murder of all things is a trivial matter that he shouldn't fuss over.
- Kick the Dog: He planned to demolish a children's hospital to make way for another branch of his banking company, something which appeals Jack. He even goes so far as to claim that having another branch of the company is worth there being a few more sick kids.
- Lack of Empathy: If he has to have a children's hospital demolished to have enough room for another branch of his banking company, then so be it, even if that means many children with life-threatening illnesses won't receive treatment.
- Manipulative Bastard: He knew exactly which buttons to push for both Sofia of Girona and Cassandra Papadakis.
- Morally Bankrupt Banker: Even before he's revealed to be the Promethian leader, his plan to demolish a children's hospital to make room for another branch of his banking company shows his amoral nature.
- Murder by Cremation: His method of murdering Jacqueline Proust was burning her to death inside a brazen bull.
- Villain with Good Publicity: He was knighted, no less.
- Wicked Cultured: Speaks fluent Aramaic and is highly knowledgeable in the classics.
- Would Hurt a Child: Downplayed. While he is not shown to directly harm any children, his plan to demolish a children's hospital to make room for another branch of his banking company would definitely have resulted in many children not receiving life-saving treatment.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Of the blackmail variety. He claims the payments he made to the Promethians were blackmail. But they weren't.
The Sword (Omar Bahir)
- Arc Villain: Of the Sahara Region district.
- Faux Affably Evil: Before his identity as The Sword is revealed, Omar Bahir presents himself as a soft-spoken professor who is nothing short of polite to the main characters.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: One of the most evil characters, and sports a thick pair of glasses.
- Knight of Cerebus: The Sword is probably the most dangerous criminal the player's dealt with up to date, from shooting the Chief to luring the player into a trap in the Sahara. When the person behind it finally reveals himself, he proves himself to be extremely ruthless and deadly. He kills a man who he doesn't need anymore, orders the kidnapping of a little boy, poisons Dupont, and leads Carmen and the player into a trap where he attempts to kill them too. The Sword is arguably just as bad, if not worse than The Crimson Order.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: The Bureau only know The Sword by their codename.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Omar wears a pair of glasses and knows many skills, such as linguistics, tribal organization, and chemistry.
- Wicked Cultured: Speaks fluent Arabic and knows chemistry, befitting a professor.
COSMORUS Mole (Natasha Romanova)
- Abusive Parents: Marina doesn't trust Natasha because she has been verbally abusive to her since she was a child.
- Ambiguously Evil: The mole had appeared before, and while some people hinted at possible dark motivations, their allegations appeared to be unfounded. This changed after the reveal.
- Arc Villain: Of the Eurasia district.
- Back for the Dead: Returns as the victim of case 56.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She was first introduced as a kind and reasonable woman, and she casts Marina in a bad light when the latter tries to warn the others about her mother's untrustworthiness.
- Evil Matriarch: To Marina. When she is killed, Marina can't decide whether to mourn her or not.
- Evil Redhead: She's a redhead. And she is definitely evil.
- Faux Affably Evil: Acts very civil and calm towards the Bureau, but she quickly drops this façade when she's exposed.
- Freudian Excuse: In Travel In Time case 10, it is shown that Lev is not only a terrible husband to his wife due to his affair with another woman, but he was also verbally abusive to Natasha when she was still young. Marina ultimately understands why her mother treated her in the same way as she did with Lev when she was still a child.
- Friendly Enemy: Pretends to be friends with the Bureau.
- Gone Horribly Right: In the trial, Natasha tells Judge Adaku that he can't place her in prison since she has many friends from ''high place'' that will help her as soon as possible. In Case 56, SOMBRA help her to be free from prison, only to use her to kidnap the president and be killed to trigger a new conflict between the USA and Russia.
- Manipulative Bitch: Tricks an unwitting Yelena Tereshkova into killing someone who gets in her way.
- President Evil: She's the head of COSMORUS, and is the one leaking information from her own organisation to SOMBRA.
- Sacrificial Lion: In her final appearance, SOMBRA kills her after kidnapping President Hewitt in order to establish her role in the kidnapping incident and trigger a conflict between USA and Russia.
- Silver Vixen: 56 years old, and is not bad looking in the slightest.
- Unwitting Pawn:
- While the mole truly is power-hungry and villainous, SOMBRA dumps her as soon as she launches the satellite, breaking their "promise" to give her control of Russia.
- Happens again when SOMBRA uses her to kidnap the US president and stir political unrest, but this time she is killed off in order to blame the kidnapping on Russia.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: In Travel in Time case 10, it is shown that Natasha used to be an innocent and Cheerful Child. In her adulthood, she becomes a wicked mother and Manipulative Bitch who is an ally of SOMBRA.
- Villains Want Mercy: She wants to be protected when she is caught since she is a loose end. She doesn't get it.
- Villain with Good Publicity: The mole is respected by all, as they are the head of the COSMORUS. The only one who suspects them is dismissed until they're caught.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Pulls this on the Bureau in the second case where she's a suspect, where she gets upset when the Bureau tells her there might be another COSMORUS mole and says they're victimizing her. She tries this again when she's being arrested by her own daughter, Marina, only this time it doesn't work.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Sarah Bennett offs her as soon as she brings her President Hewitt.
Warren Goodfellow
- Affably Evil: He is really nice and an NGO worker, no less. Until he guts Sandeep Sadhra.
- Arc Villain: Of the South Asia district.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Hides in plain sight as an NGO worker aiding relief efforts.
- Card-Carrying Villain: After his scheme has been outed, he's PROUD of declaring himself a SOMBRA agent.
- Fat Bastard: A bit portly, and certainly evil.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Sports a pair of frames, and his remorseless killing of Sandeep certainly qualifies.
- Ironic Name: Warren Goodfellow isn't exactly a good fellow...
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Guts Sandeep after he does his job of framing the guru.
Obaasan
- Arc Villain: Of the East Asia district.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Even more than Warren, she seems like a harmless old lady, but is a cruel, calculating bitch.
- Evil Old Folks: Considering she's willing to brainwash and murder children, she's certainly one.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: Is noted to be good with a crossbow.
- Knight of Cerebus: In the finale of East Asia, she drops her sweet old lady act, even before she is discovered to be part of SOMBRA. She's also the first member of the organization to kill a child with her own hands.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: She plays up her eccentric old lady shtick.
- Shaped Like Itself: Her name means "old woman" in Japanese. She's an old woman.
- The Social Darwinist: Believed that the weak die at the hands of the strong, and forced this ideology on children.
- Virtue Is Weakness: When Judge Adaku sentenced her to life imprisonment, she mocked the sentence as a sign of Adaku's weakness because that meant she would still be fed and clothed, leaving her able to continue plotting.
- Would Hurt a Child: She ordered children to kill each other until one was left, and she killed Hiroshi herself when he refused to participate.
The Head Hunter (Ronin Ozawa)
- Affably Evil: He's constantly polite to the Bureau despite his dirty work, and is the only major member of SOMBRA who actually agrees to help the Bureau's investigation until Michelle joins the team.
- Karma Houdini: As the Head Hunter, Ronin trafficked orphans for SOMBRA and supplied them with weapons, but the judge let him go scot-free after he leaked some vague information about SOMBRA's next activities to The Bureau.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: He claims not to know of SOMBRA and their child trafficking plan despite the Bureau knowing otherwise.
- Red Herring: He's the Head Hunter that The Bureau's been searching all over East Asia for, and is connected to the child crisis in the region. However, there's something much more sinister at play and he's only a small part of it. He also turns out not to be the main villain of the region.
- Tattooed Crook: He's covered in tattoos, and works for SOMBRA and the Yakuza.
- Yakuza: He's not actually a member of SOMBRA. Instead, he's a part of the Yakuza group that deals closely with SOMBRA.
Anbu Devanesan
- Crocodile Tears: He bursts into tears whenever the player talks to him, pretending to be grief-stricken by the death of his lady love. He drops the act and shows his true colours as a ruthless SOMBRA agent when he is revealed to be her killer.
- Ironic Name: His name means "love" in Tamil, yet he killed his own girlfriend.
- Jerkass: His killing of Constance (and the reason for it) is so mean-spirited that Elliot calls him a disgusting human being.
- Knight of Cerebus: After being exposed as the killer of Constance Tan, the tone of Case 32 quickly darkens-particularly when he kidnaps Elliot and wounds both him and Jack in the process.
- Would Hit a Girl: More like "Would Murder a Girl" but the trope still applies given what he did to Constance Tan.
- Would Hurt a Child: While Elliot isn't exactly a kid, he's one of the younger major cast members and Anbu pulled no punches in his treatment of Elliot after kidnapping the teen.
Doctor Marshall Metcalf
- Accidental Murder: The victim of one, courtesy of Brice LeBeau.
- Asshole Victim: Such victims aren't unusual in this series. But Metcalf is so much one that it causes his killer to be sympathetic. After all, LuBeau acted in self-defense, Metcalf was attempting to murder him first.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: He has blue skin, the result of his own experimentation on himself.
- Evilutionary Biologist: Dear God, yes.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Nonconsensual human experimentation, and he sports a pair of glasses. They are a clue to catch his killer.
- Morally Ambiguous Doctorate: Well, human experimentation certainly qualifies.
- Playing with Syringes: His favorite pastime.
- Tested on Humans: Interestingly, he includes himself with those humans.
Baxter Fraser
An American champion kickboxer living in Indonesia, Baxter is actually an assassin, one of the "Next Level" human experiments.
- Big Brother Is Watching: He was afraid that SOMBRA was tracking him, and goes into hiding because of it. In New Zealand, this is revealed to be true, and it causes him to panic nonstop.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Next Level SOMBRA recruits are supposed to function as deep cover agents, triggered when the moment is right. Baxter is no exception and can be forced to follow orders. Sarah Bennett uses this to force him to kidnap President Hewitt.
- The Dog Bites Back: His treatment at the hands of SOMBRA made him want to kill Marshall Metcalf, the man who experimented on him. Metcalf's paranoia and Brice's self-defense merely beat him to the punch.
- Escaped from the Lab: He ran away from SOMBRA. He pretended to return to SOMBRA to kill Marshall Metcalf, the man who experimented on him. Marshall was killed by Brice LeBeau first.
- Evil Me Scares Me: Baxter is scared of his SOMBRA-induced programming that makes him carry out orders, as he wants nothing to do with their organization. Marina helps him cope.
- Heel–Face Turn: He wanted nothing to do with SOMBRA or their plans for him. In the season finale, he fully solidifies this by promising to contribute something good to the world.
- Heroic BSoD: Is found having a nervous breakdown in Times Square. He fears another SOMBRA lieutenant can use his mental conditioning to make him hurt people.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: This was his plan for hiding out on the Ringed Lord set by blending in as an extra. He wouldn't look unusual compared to people dressed up for a fantasy movie.
- I Owe You My Life: Baxter saved President Hewitt from assassination and became one of the President's bodyguards as a result.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He's the victim of one of these. When Elliot gives Baxter the SOMBRA tracking device to destroy, Baxter instead panics and runs away.
- Revenge Before Reason: In the last case of Oceania, he reveals that he was bent on getting revenge on Metcalf, and is so angry throughout the case that he keeps on lashing out at the Bureau when they interrogate him.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: Wears a fancy suit when serving as Hewitt's bodyguard.
- Super-Strength: Among other things, the human experimentation was supposed to give him this, although it's never shown until the final case, where Baxter breaks out of his holding cell with his bare hands.
- Tested on Humans: He's the victim of such tests.
- Unwitting Pawn: In the finale of World Edition, the Vice President (who is a SOMBRA lieutenant) takes advantage of his brainwashing to force him to help her kidnap the president. Throughout the case, he's shown to be driven insane by her control.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Baxter makes this statement about Riaja and Veronica, two other kids who were in the same boat with him. Baxter himself is also pretty nice when he's not plotting his revenge.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: The yellow eyes are a side effect of the genetic mutation, all of the kids who underwent the tests have them. But Baxter is on the run and doing his best to hide, even disguising himself as an extra in a movie.
Lavinia de Brills
- Boom, Headshot!: In Case 42, she was found dead in her cell with a Pretty Little Headshots.
- Lady Drunk: She gets completely plastered on champagne.
- The Mole: Chief Ripley was revealed to have been attempting to turn her into one for SOMBRA. The Bureau learns this only after Lavinia dies, and it leads Ripley to be a suspect in Lavinia's death. It also causes a great deal of friction between Ripley and Ingrid.
- Non-Idle Rich: Invoked, she states she smuggles diamonds simply because she's bored to tears with the high life.
- Pretty Little Headshots: Justified. Angela is not only well trained with firearms and could get a clean shot easily (assisted by the fact that Lavinia trusted her), but she had the opportunity to mostly clean up before the player and Michelle arrived.
- Rich Bitch: Is she ever.Lavinia: What dreams these peasants harbor.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Like so many other criminals, leaves clues at the crime scene, and literally thinks she can outwit SOMBRA simply because she's rich.
- Sex for Solace: With Jack, since he was grieving over breaking up with Asal.
- She Knows Too Much: She gets offed before she can reveal the identity of the SOMBRA mole.
- Tempting Fate: At her trial, she exclaims that she won't spend a day in jail. She turned out to be right, but not in the way she expected.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Tries to play off that she's a victim, and that SOMBRA is after her.
Bureau Mole
A SOMBRA spy within the Bureau, who sent orders to kill the team before they reached Kenya. Heavily implied to be one of this season's main characters.
- The Mole: For SOMBRA, within the Bureau. More details can be found under Angela Douglas's name.
President Adolfo Herrera
- The Generalissimo: A Latin American dictator who uses corrupt methods to remain in power, enforces unfair laws that oppress his people, and silences anyone who opposes him, he meets the criteria.
- Glorious Leader: He is seen as such by the citizens of his country. Not that they have any other choice or they face the Los Patriotas.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: His name invokes a similarity to Adolf Hitler, physically resembles Josef Stalin, his attire and status as a South America dictator resembles that of Augusto Pinochet, and his title as “Beloved Leader” is based on titles by Kim Jong-il.
- President Evil: Adolfo Herrera had been president for the last 30 years, due to having SOMBRA financing his electoral campaign to guarantee his re-elections.
Claudio Aguirre
- A God Am I: He believes himself divine, to bring the Wrath of God on the world. He's not.
- Enemy Civil War: He was staging a mutiny against SOMBRA.
- Improbable Aiming Skills: It takes some skill to knife someone in the heart from a distance. Clues show he'd been practicing for a long time.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His last name is reminiscent of Lope de Aguirre, a conquistador known for his madness, like Claudio.
Joel Heller
- The Ace: He's an extremely capable agent and a masterful liar. Clearly, one of the brightest agents SOMBRA has. Also, extremely capable with tech and weapons.
- Genius Bruiser: He can pull off a masterful plan and make it look like nothing, and he's capable of weapons.
- Kick the Dog: His plan was just to kill Virtanen, but he also shoots Jack to stir up public outrage, then taunts the Bureau saying that he wouldn't have been shot if they'd just stayed out of the Unified Nations' affairs.
- My Death Is Just the Beginning: This was his plan for Virtanen's death.
Sarah Bennett
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Managed to hide her true nature as a SOMBRA agent from the entire world, including President Hewett.
- Dragon Ascendant: Reappears in the World Edition season finale, setting El Rey's plan into motion even after his arrest.
- Hero Killer: She shoots Jack (although Dupont winds up Taking the Bullet), and it later kills him.
- Knight of Cerebus: In the case where she kidnaps the President, everything about it is played seriously. She's also the only SOMBRA member besides the first El Rey to successfully kill off a main character.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Her overall appearance is based on Hilary Clinton, while her name, glasses, and position as VP to a (presumably) Republican President harken to Sarah Palin as well.
