Blood Ravens | Retribution | Multiplayer Characters | Dawn of War III
This page is only for characters who appear exclusively in the story mode of the Dawn of War II expansion, Retribution.
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Imperial Guard
Inquisitor Adrastia
"My chief weapons are surprise and fear."
Voiced by: Kirsten Potter
A friend of Gabriel Angelos, she is the one he turns to to halt the Exterminatus of the subsector. A member of the Ordo Hereticus, she is willing to use any means necessary to investigate the charges leveled against Chapter Master Kyras, including working with Xenos and wielding forbidden weaponry.
- Comically Small Bribe: She tries to hire Bluddflagg by offering him a fight with three imperial regiments... Which, even if she was planning to pay him in the first place, would be a fairly paltry thing to offer considering she's hiring him to fight a (much tougher) space marine chapter first. In an inversion, Bluddflagg was willing to do it just for the fight and her hat.
- Cool Sword: She can wield a large variety of swords, including one that used to belong to a certain Inquisitor named Gregor Eisenhorn.
- Enemy Mine: She's willing to hire Orks and Eldar to investigate Kyras.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Ork campaign ends with Bluddflagg ambushing her, berating her for trying to fool him and stealing her hat.
- Jerkass: Well, that's what you get when you denigrate the existence of an entire sector to a mere distraction, Inquisitor. She planned to annihilate every inhabited world in a sector where no one, traitor, xenos, or loyal, would be spared and have the Blood Raven Chapter labeled as heretics and burn with the rest of the sector unless Kyras was proven to be the traitor.
- Odd Friendship: With Gabriel Angelos. The origin of their friendship is not revealed except that it was in Angelos' "darkest hour, which implies that it might have been the burning of Cyrene.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: She lacks anything as devastating as Merrick's artillery strikes, Castor's air-dropping Leman Russes or the massive buff Lord Bern's Summary Execution gives when maxed out. Doubly so as the honor guard that replaces her is a squad of Stormtroopers, late game high tier infantry who can turn even a Superboss into a joke when armed with Meltaguns. It's to the point where running a campaign with Adrastia on the field is something of a Self-Imposed Challenge.
- Psychic Powers: She has some, including her base ability, 'Hammer of the Witches'. Nothing like a Librarian, but still.
- The Spock: She encourages pragmatism to the good Lord-General Castor. She is very adamant that her investigation be carried out by the book.
- Sword and Gun: A Force Weapon or Power Sabre and Inferno Pistol. The pistol can be upgraded to a Bolter-Stake Crossbow if you invest in her Offense discipline tree.
Lord General Castor
"The Imperium will win here. No other solution is tolerable."
Voiced by: Richard Doyle
General Castor commands the force requisitioned by Inquisitor Adrastia for the investigation of Kyras. A veteran of many wars, he is a pragmatic man, leading and inspiring his men through fear if need be. His only goal is to win the war and secure the subsector for the Imperium.
- A Father to His Men. Played With. He isn't unwilling to spend the lives of his men where necessary, but absolutely disagrees with We Have Reserves.
- Artificial Limbs: Which allows him to accurately fire a sniper rifle with one hand.
- BFG: Which he wields one handed, thanks to his augmetic arm.
- Battle Trophy: He's less a general and more a big game hunter who hunts giant Tyranid bioforms.
- Blood Knight: "We live to fight and we fight to live, right here!"
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: The smooth to Merrick's rough.
- Great White Hunter: An understated part of his personality. He likes hunting 'Nids, as it means more heads for his trophy wall.
- Fire-Forged Friends: By the end of the Guardsman campaign, he's built up enough mutual respect with Merrick that he's willing to (mostly) overlook the latter making a crack about shooting him for incompetence.
- Four-Star Badass: Amongst the most badass ever.
- Hidden Depths: He's shown to be much more insightful than what the aforementioned Great White Hunter aura suggests, such as figuring out Kyras' whole plan early on (although he only managed to piece it all together by the time they reached Typhon).
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Takes a You Bastard! speech without losing his cool until he hears the words "because of your incompetence."
- The Kirk: Strikes a balance between the pragmatism of Adrastia and the humanity of Merrick.
- Old Soldier: In the Tyranid campaign, he mentions he has a century or two of campaigning under his belt.
- Putting on the Reich: He's a general in the Imperium.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Most Imperial commanders would've executed Merrick for attacking his commanding officer. Castor considers this "wasteful" and opts to talk Merrick down instead.
- Shout-Out: A Brick Joke off of Adrastia's above; when facing the Eldar on Tython he remarks, "We have lost the element of surprise, and they do not fear us. Perhaps they will appreciate our devotion to the Emperor and ruthless efficiency."
- Sword and Gun: A Power Sabre and a BFG of the player's choice.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He becomes this with Merrick. They share some dry snark at the end of the campaign.Castor You are to be commended on your performance these past few days. Which is why I am putting you in for a medal, and not having you shot for insubordination.
Merrick: Thank you, sir. And you've turned out to be a good commander. (Under breath) Which is why I didn't shoot you for incompetence... - We Have Reserves: His job has always been to lead Guardsmen to places where they can die. But even so, a man who dies pointlessly cannot perform his service to the Imperium, so Castor does not waste his men. But he also knows that if a thousand deaths shall achieve victory, well, the Martyr's grave is the keystone of the Imperium of Man.
Sergeant-Major Merrick
"Well, we came out here to make war, didn't we?"
Voiced by: Scott McNeil
Sergeant-Major Merrick is the soldier's soldier, and is a veteran of the defense of Angel's Gate, and the poisoning of the Tyranid Hive Mind. After that, he served for a decade throughout subsector Aurelia, including the Chaos incursion, until he was drawn into the investigation of Chapter Master Kyras.
His concerns for the safety, well being and general dignity of his fellow Guardsmen often puts him at odds with his more pragmatic commanding officers. Merrick is no weaker for this humanity, a great soldier and fearless warrior, he does what the Emperor commands of him though he is weary now, and sarcastically claims that were he a smarter man, he would have left the sub-sector years ago.
- Ascended Extra: His appearance in Chaos Rising gained him a lot of fans, leading to his ascension to playable character in Retribution.
- Badass Normal: Consider the fact that he lived through the Tyranid invasion in Dawn of War II, the Chaos incursion in Chaos Rising and a decade of constant combat until Retribution with no augmentations at all.
- BFG: He has to set them up first, but being able to carry and operate these by himself makes him quite the Badass Normal.
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: Rough to Castor's smooth.
- Deadpan Snarker: He's prone to making snarky remarks about the weight of his equipment and the odds of his survival."Give us a target, this ammo's heavy."
"Sure, I'll lug all this a lil' further."
"(after receiving an upgrade) Of course it would be even heavier."
"Sure, I'll fight a Dreadnought..." - Death from Above: Can call in artillery strikes with the right wargear. This can allow him to decimate whole armies.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Over the course of the Guard campaign, he goes from targeting to Castor with a blunt You Bastard! speech to admitting that he's turned out to be a good commander.
- Manly Man: He fights hard, holds honour and humanity above mere victory and generally sees those serving with him as his brothers. He also has the balls to hold a gun to his general while the Political Officer is right behind him, all too ready to pull the trigger.
- The McCoy: Easily the most emotional of the Imperial Guard heroes and the most sensitive to the deaths of Guardsmen. He even calls Inquisitor Adrastia out on gambling the lives of the sector in order to amass 'proof' of Kyras' (obvious) involvement.
- Permission to Speak Freely: The one time he actually asks is so out of character that Castor is actually taken off-guard. It also represents the moment he realises you can win.
- Sergeant Rock: He can beat any alien or heretic he fights and can hold a gun to Castor's head during the scene mentioned in You Bastard! below even when Commissar Lord Bernn is standing right behind him with his gun pointed at Merrick.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: His relationship with Castor becomes this. See the quotes in Castor's page.
- With Due Respect: Snarks his superiors so often that this is practically his catchphrase.
- The Worf Effect: In the Tyranid campaign, he's the first victim of the Tyranid Hive Tyrant. This is shortly after telling his men that Tyranids, if you know what you're doing, are no dangerous than Meridian Razor Slugs. Fans compared his death there to that of Robert Muldoon. note
- You Bastard!: He accuses Castor of this when he allows the Imperial Guardsmen stationed on Typhon to die when it undergoes Exterminatus.
Commissar Lord Bernn
Commissar Lord attached to the force lead by General Castor for the investigation of Kyras. He exemplifies power and bravery, making him a natural leader. Like other commissars, he's willing to execute his own men, however, he's just as willing to lead by example.
- Badass Boast: Delivers quite a few. Helps inspires the troops, after all."Be like General Tarsus of yore, bulletproof and free of fear!"
"We are the dukes of our destinies, bestowed victory by our Emperor!"
"No fear! Only victory!"
- The Generic Guy: Has no role in the story and nothing is known about his personality outside his combat quotes.
- Irony: Bernn is arguably the best support hero in the game, but he supports his troops by shooting one of them stone dead so the rest will fight harder.
- Power Fist: He can be equipped with one.
- Sword and Gun: He starts with a power sabre and a laspistol.
- You Have Failed Me: When using his basic skill, named "Inspire Courage". Notably, it still kills Guardsmen when the ability is maxed out despite the buff it grants making the army immune to damage."Behold the price of failure!"
Orks
Squad
Kaptin Bluddflagg
"I like yer hat, by da way!"
Voiced by: Patrick Seitz
Kaptin Bluddflagg is the leader of the Ork Freebooterz in subsector Aurelia. Unusually for an Ork, he's more interested in loot than in fighting, though he's perfectly happy to indulge in both. Also uncharacteristic for an Ork, he understands subtlety, and knows how to pick his fights for maximum profit.
- Badass Boast: He delivers a pretty good one to Autarch Kayleth:Kapt. Bluddflag: "Oi, Twiggy! What do all ya boyz and a smashed up jammy paste have in common? Come 'ere, I'll show ya!"
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: His relationship with Adrastia has shades of this, which is especially impressive in light of the fact that "he" is an asexual fungoid who reproduces via spores.
- BFS: The cutlasses he can wield are almost as long as he is tall.
- Blood Knight: Like all Orks. He especially likes to fight Chaos Marines and Space Marines; as they are "dead 'ard".Kaptin Bludflagg: *Upon hearing that Kyras has no reinforcements* "Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be an ambush or sumfing!!"
- Chainsaw Good: Aforementioned chainaxes.
- Cool Sword: His ultimate weapon, the Kaptin's Kutlery, is a huge cutlass-shaped choppa that's stated to have been his favourite weapon, which he lost at the beginning of the story when his Krooza was shot down.
- Eyepatch of Power: It's even stuck in his skull.
- Genius Bruiser: By Ork standards, anyway. Behold his intelligent deduction of Kyras' whereabouts!!
- He also manages to identify Adrastia as an Inquisitor based on her appearance - which is impressive since most Orks don't have any concept or understanding of a uniform since Large and in Charge is biologically enforced for them.
- He's also apparently literate and capable of elementary calculus. Which for an Ork is pretty amazing. Definitely the smartest member of his own crew.
- Handicapped Badass: He has only one eye but that doesn't stop him from being a dangerous Ork warboss.
- Hidden Depths: His accent disappears when he loses his cool or when there's nobody else around, suggesting he's putting it on for the sake of theatrics.
- Large Ham: Oh, Patrick Seitz certainly enjoyed voicing this character.
- Laughably Evil: Bluddflagg is a major part of why the Ork campaign is so lighthearted, and his appearance in a given scene usually turns it comedic.Kayleth: Before I slay you, Ork, tell me: have you seen any humans infesting this jungle?
Bluddflag: Why? Dere sumthin' in me teef? - Magikarp Power: If you invest in various offensive, defensive, and energy upgrades for his WAAAGH ability, he becomes unarguably the best support hero in the game, except maybe Bern.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: He doesn't have the same balls-out melee power as Eliphas, nor Diomedes' resilience and speed.
- Ninja Zombie Pirate Robot: He's a Cornish Ork Warboss Space Pirate Captain.
- Power Fist: He can use Power Klaws.
- Psycho for Hire: For the Inquisition in Retribution.
- Rule of Cool: Why is there an Ork Space Pirate in such an epic, dramatic and serious story? No reason, its just awesome.
- Sincerity Mode: Kaptin Bludflagg genuinely likes Adrastia's hat. In fact, he was willing to accept Adrastia's offer of fighting with three of her imperial regiments... on the condition she gives him her hat as well.
- Slasher Smile: Just look at dat big toofy grin!
- Space Pirate: Don't 'e look da part?◊ He's even got the accent!
- Spanner in the Works: Kyras laughs at the idea that his plans would be stopped by a random Ork pirate. He's not laughing for long.
- Stealthy Colossus: In his ending cutscene, Captain Bluddflagg manages to sneak up on an Inquisitor, despite being about a size of a Dreadnought.
- War for Fun and Profit: His motivation in life is this. He's strange for an Ork, as he seems to care more about the "profit" part than the "fun" part (though he's still a massive Blood Knight).
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: A bizarre mixture of general 'Orky' lower-class accent with a bit of fluctuating Cornish (stereotypical pirate) Scottish and Irish thrown in.
- Worst Aid: Of course, this is Ork healing we're talking about...Just stick da bone back in.
It just wants a stitch or two. - You Got Guts: When he is about to defeat Autarch Kayleth in the first mission.Bluddflagg: You got guts skinny, I'll give ya dat. And dey're getting all over da place, yeugh!
Kayleth: Gibbering slime! Silencing you is reason enough for your death!
Mister Nailbrain
"I've set me gitfinda to Panzee. Dere over dere!"
Voiced by: Keith Ferguson
Mister Nailbrain is both the first mate and the engineer of the Freebooterz' Kill Kroozer. Somewhat unhinged, as befitting a Mek, he's an essential part of the crew regardless.
- BFG: The heavy weapons specialist of Bluddflagg's crew. Odds are the weapon he uses will be much bigger than him.
- Combat Medic: He has Ork Fightin' Juice to heal people, while he also has a gigantic machine gun/laser cannon/rokkit launcher.
- Genius Bruiser: In the sense that apart from Bluddflag himself, he's the only member of Bluddflag's crew that seems to have any brains. Hence why he outranks Spookums and Brikkfist in the crew despite being smaller than them (Ork hierarchy normally being determined by size).
- Everything Sensor: His status reporta allows him to deduce that the orks are stranded on some kind of hulkey thing. IN SPACE!.Bluddflagg: Wot, like... a space hulk?
- I'm Taking Her Home with Me!: His reaction to a Battlewagon. He even promised to take it on walks (or "rukks," short for/a pun on ruckuses).
- The Lancer: He's Bluddflag's second-in-command.
- Mission Control: He takes care of intelligence gathering and weapons manufacturing.
- More Dakka: His default Big Shoota, and Dakka Deffguns.
- Number Two: He's Bluddflagg's first mate.
Kommando Spookums
"It ain't like I can hides in da lava! Mork knows, I ain't tryin' DAT trick again!"
Voiced by: Robin Atkin Downes
Spookums is Bluddflagg's bosun, and the most dangerous kind of Ork, a sneaky one. He revels in stealth operations, and enjoys spreading terror throughout the enemy ranks. Also the only not-so-hammy Ork in the team.
- Bling of War: Bluddflagg orders him thusly on finding him knocked out: "Meby you should snazz up yer armor dere! It's embarrassin'!".
- Crazy-Prepared: If ordered to use the "throw all explosives" ability without having any equipped, he ends up throwing a tyranid ripper swarm.
- Fluffy the Terrible: His name is Spookums.
- Fridge Brilliance: His tendency to use explosives despite his focus on stealth. Orks lack the aiming ability for one hit sniping techniques and an Ork who is stealthy is usually not as strong as his kin in melee, making the traditional stealth special attacks of other races unusable for him. Appearing out of nowhere and throwing a massive amount of explosives is actually the best stealth attack option for an Ork.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: One upgrade gives him one. It somehow also allows him to un-KO other heroes before yanking them back towards himself.
- Hyperspace Arsenal: His upgraded offense tree allows him to throw a ridiculous number of stikkbombs, smoke bombs, melta bombs, truck tires... if he doesn't have any explosives equipped, he can end up throwing tyranid rippers instead.
- Macross Missile Massacre: His Rokkit Barrage ability if he's using a rokkit launcher.
- Mad Bomber: His Offense discipline tree mostly focuses on giving him the ability to throw around a large number of stikkbombs and other explosives.
- Magikarp Power: His default equipment and abilities are largely ineffectual. However, upgrade his stealth and offensive abilities and give him explosives and an energy boost, and he will dominate entire missions on his own.
- Ninja: He's an Ork ninja with a preference for explosives.
- Noodle Incident: As his quote reveals, he once tried to hide in lava.
- No Sympathy: One of his revival quotes is "Get up, ye're an embarassment to da whole ork species!"
- Playing Possum: What he claims to be doing after you revive him from being down-but-not-out:Unconscious? Nah, dat was just a trick!
- Plucky Middie: Bluddflagg refers to him as "young master Spookums".
- Shotguns Are Just Better: His default weapon. Well, the Ork equivalent at least. He enjoys it because the range he needs to enter to use it gives the pleasant side effect of painting his face with blood. His ultimate shotgun is called "Red Paintbrush".
- Throw Down the Bomblet: Ironically for being a stealthy character, his most powerful abilities involve him using explosives. His higher level armors even show stikkbombs strapped to his chest and land mines strapped to his back.
Stormnob Brikkfist
"Wot I wouldn't give ta strap one a' dem huge zog-off planet-krumpin missiles to me back..."
Brikkfist is Bluddflagg's other bosun, and is far more traditional in his methods.
- Axe-Crazy: The axe craziest of Bludflagg's crew."BLOODY MURDER! 'BOUT DAMN TIME!!"
- Boisterous Bruiser: From what few lines he has, he seems to be one."Toofy grins all 'round, you lot, ol' Brikkfist is back! Wot'd I miss? Why's da Kaptin' all grim?"
- Dumb Muscle: He's... not very smart. It's pretty clear he leads other Orks because he's bigger and stronger, not because any actual ability to lead.
- Large Ham: Practically screams every line he has.
- In Love with Your Carnage: He reacts very positively when he sees Kyras crush Gabriel with his giant, flaming daemonic fists. He also wants to strap a bomb used for Exterminatus on his back because of how huge they were.Worr! Now DAT was a proppa' smack!
- Jet Pack: Or rather a huge rocket strapped to his back, like all stormboyz.
- Theres No Kill Like Over Kill: Achieves this by Stormboy standards with one of his top-tier skills. He essentially launches himself up to the clouds, screaming "WAAAGH" all the way. His voice fades and then slowly returns, ending with him landing on your target with a massive explosion. He is completely unscathed and ready to smash anyone who somehow survived his meteoric reentry. THAT is how you use a jetpack, ladz. Mind you, that's because these jetpacks are all he has. The first thing he says when he sees Exterminatus missiles coming down is he wants one of those strapped to his back instead.
Enemies
Warboss Smashface
" You'd betta be lying to me boy, and you'd betta be dead, before I get dere, because I don'ts like getting lied to!"
Warboss Smashface is leading a WAAAGH! on Calderis. His convoy is attacked by the player-led faction for supplies. He shows up in the final wave of the convoy, and is killed by the player faction.
- Bad Boss: Promises to smash everyone's faces after the battle. Curiously enough, his Number Two is more worried about the fact that they'll have to gather up more equipment than the boss death.
- Insane Troll Logic: His belief that driving over the shiny bridges brings good luck. While this occasionally works for Orks, it didn't work for Smashface. Guess enough of his Boyz didn't believe him. Perhaps he figured they would be ambushed on bridges without any cover at all, which IS good luck for Orks? Gold is universally accepted as a lucky color for Orks, but the trukks never get the chance to go over them (the game encourages the player to destroy the golden bridges ahead of time, funneling the convoy along bottlenecked alternative routes).
- Meaningful Name: He threatens to smash his Boyz' faces when they fail him. Hence his name 'Smashface'.
- Mini-Boss: You get to fight him at the end of the mission. Given how easily he goes down you might not even notice.
The Mad-Mek
"Oh, I getz it. You's come ta steal me tellyporta! Well nothin' doin'! It took me better'n a decade ta squeeze da juice outta... dat fing back dere. Should only be anodder decade or so before I get ta zzzap me outta dis BUG. INFESTED. 'ELL'OLE!!!"
An Ork Mek who got trapped on the Space Hulk Judgment of Carrion sometime after Chaos Rising.
- BFG: Carries around one that will absolutely demolish any vehicles that come his way.
- Irony: He wants to teleport himself off the Space Hulk, so he builds a tellyporta to do so. However, he doesn't have the power to get off the Hulk to safety so he draws the power out of a nearby contraption that he doesn't understand. It will take another decade to get enough power to escape. The contraption in question? In all campaigns but the Tyranid one, it's a teleportation device.note
- Large Ham: Out hams a cast of hams in about three lines.
- Mad Scientist: He's even crazier than a standard Mek. He's been stuck on the Space Hulk for slightly more than a decade trying to build up energy to escape, under constant attack by Tyranids all the while. He isn't happy in the slightest and hates the Space Hulk. He might be the first Ork ever who isn't happy about having a perpetual war.
- Magitek: His machines draw power from the standard teleportariums, webway gates and tellyportas used by Imperial, Eldar and Orks, but even Warp Rifts if playing as Chaos.
- Sophisticated as Hell: "Oi! Trespassahz! Invadahz! 'ooligans and ne'er-do-wells! [...] Now piss off!"
- Teleporters and Transporters: He can teleport anything that strikes him in melee combat off in a random direction. He abuses this to hell and back in his boss fight.
The Forces of Chaos
For Eliphas the Inheritor, see Characters.Dawn Of War
Sorcerer Neroth (Black Legion)
"For a thousand years, I have cultivated the power of the Dark Gods!"
Voiced by: Scott McNeil
Neroth is an atypical sorcerer, meaning that he revels in forthright destruction rather than Machiavellian scheming, as Lord Eliphas does enough of the latter for the two of them. He serves as Eliphas second-in-command and advisor, as well as his source of magical knowledge. Neroth's assistance is invaluable, as he is capable of opening a warp rift which acts as the Black Legions only remaining means to traversing subsector Aurelia.
- Ascended Extra: He may very well be the same Chaos Sorcerer that Apollo Diomedes "kills" in Chaos Rising.
- Axe-Crazy: "We will bathe this jungle with flame and bury them in the ash."
- Evil Genius: Subverted, he's knowledgeable in matters of the arcane, but when it comes to practicality he's not very bright. He can't even work out where Kyras runs off to escape Exterminatus, despite an ORK being able to figure it out and there being only one place in the sector the Ordo Maelleus wont think to look.
- Evil Sorcerer: He's a Chaos sorcerer, so naturally he is evil. Unlike the typical sorcerer, who participates in the Machiavellian scheming that is associated with Tzeentch, he revels in causing destruction rather than using people as pawns. He also works for the Warmaster of Chaos, Abaddon, and was tasked with keep an eye on the new Lord of the Black Legion, for The Despoiler is most anxious to see his bargain fulfilled.
- Fireballs: His Artifact of Ahriman allows him to throw these things every second.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: His exchanges with Eliphas are an excellent example of this.
- Kill It with Fire: His preferred method of killing things.
- Magic Knight: Should you give him a Force Sword. However, by virtue of Eliphas and Kain being unstoppable close quarters death machines, you won't get to see the merit of doing so.
- Mission Control: While Eliphas handles planning the attacks, leading the charge, killing and generally the meat of the warband's campaign of terror, Neroth is concerned with making sure that the Black Legion has an adequate means of transportation. He also provides intelligence on missions.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Neroth might have been the most badass character in Retribution. Alas for him, Eliphas the Inheritor is in the game.
- Playing with Fire: He loves setting things on fire. Unsurprisingly, he has a Warp Staff that turns his standard ranged attack into massive fireballs.
- Pyromaniac: He absolutely loves burning things and people and will sulk if denied the opportunity.
- Smug Snake: Towards the end of the Chaos Campaign he begins to make some value judgments about Eliphas' efforts and begins to predict his defeat at Kyras' hands. Noooope. And Eliphas ends up ascending to daemon princehood also. All in all, things don't look good for Neroth.
- Squishy Wizard: His Doombolts can decimate most squads with a single strike. In melee however, he's a sitting duck and will go down like a sack of bricks. Keep him at range where he belongs.
- Teleporters and Transporters: This matter is a Chaos Sorcerer's specialty, according to him, anyway.
- Wreathed in Flames: Coruscating Flame let's him do this. Basically a neutered version of Champion of Khorne, which is a passive ability used by Eliphas.
Plague Champion Varius
"And Grandfather Nurgle visited ten thousand plagues upon them..."
Voiced by: Tom Kane
Varius is a Plague Champion of the Black Legion. He has pledged himself as a servant of Eliphas and serves as his bodyguard.
- Combat Medic: Acts as a healer for Eliphas' warband. Ironic, considering his patron...
- The Generic Guy: Serves as a Hero Unit and nothing more.
- Harmful Healing: He heals other units by deliberately infecting them with a disease that causes wounds to be sealed with rapidly growing cancerous tumors.
- Necromancer: His Energy discipline tree is based off this trope.
- Power Fist: The only Chaos character who can equip them.
- Walking Wasteland: Festering filth and rot spread across the ground in his wake.
Aspiring Champion Kain
"Battle is my art! Chaos is my master!"
Voiced by: Paul Dobson
Kain is the strongest and most brutal of Eliphas' Chaos Space Marines. He leads from the front, and aspires to to be the favoured of the Chaos gods.
- Blood Knight: Even if he has no lines in the cutscenes, Kain loves it when you order him to attack something.
- The Brute: While Eliphas pretty much does all the fighting himself, Kain's purpose in the group is basically to lead his armies when he's off doing or killing something more important.
- The Generic Guy: He has no real role other than to serve as a Hero Unit.
- Informed Attribute: Apparently, stone silence is the new 'belligerent and loud'. To be fair, he's quite loud in battle.
- Large Ham: In combat and his select quotes.Kain: I WILL KILL THEM ALL!
- Name of Cain: His name is 'Kain', the common alternative spelling of 'Cain'.
- Primal Stance: If wielding a melee weapon or any ranged weapon lighter than an autocannon or a lascannon.
- The Voiceless: Outside of combat, much to the dismay of some. As such, there really isn't much to this character.
Spoiler Character
Abaddon the Despoiler (Black Legion)
"The Blood Ravens are MINE! Body and soul!"
Voiced by: Patrick Seitz
Abaddon the Despoiler makes an unexpected appearance in the ending cutscene of Chaos Rising should you kill Eliphas during the last mission, and plays a role in Retribution's Chaos campaign as a NPC.
- BFS: Seen carrying Drachnyn in the end cutscene of Chaos Rising.
- Call-Back: Abaddon's obsession with the Blood Ravens in Retribution is basically a call back to a line of writing in the after-action report shown when Eliphas defeats the Blood Ravens in Dark Crusade. Exactly why he hates them is never stated, and in in-universe that idea of him holding a grudge against a chapter whose founding doesn't even date back to the Horus Heresy is noted as bizarre.
- The Dreaded: Eliphas is terrified of him. That should say something.
- Eviler than Thou: He sends Eliphas after the Blood Ravens because there's no way he's going to let Kyras get there first, thinking he plans to usurp him in the eyes of the Chaos Gods.
- Greater-Scope Villain: As Araghast and Eliphas' superior.
- It Amused Me: Why he spared Eliphas after the man failed to kill Kyras.
- Large Ham: Not to do the degree of other Chaos Space Marines, but there.
- The Man Behind the Man: The man from whom Eliphas directly gets his orders from. Much to the eternal rage of Chaos fans, because you know...
- This Cannot Be!: Eliphas' initial reaction to being contacted by him in Retribution's Chaos campaign, to which Abaddon replies his Sorcerers can let him speak to anybody anywhere.
- Voice of the Legion: He has an echoing sounding voice whenever he speaks.
- Walking Spoiler: The fact that he's a Greater-Scope Villain in Dawn of War II is the reason why he's considered a spoiler character.
Eldar
Autarch Kayleth (Alaitoc)
"We slay you for the sake of our kin. You are nothing."
Voiced by: Megan Hollingshead
Kayleth leads the Alaitoc forces attempting to save the damaged Craftworld buried on Typhon Primaris. Arrogant and pragmatic, she assists Inquisitor Adrastia's investigation in order to prevent the Exterminatus from destroying the Craftworld.
- Alpha Bitch: She possesses all the arrogance of the series' previous Eldar leading ladies and then some with much less refinement, tact or self-awareness to get in the way. Even by her species' standards, Kayleth is cold, curt and pragmatic.
- Break the Haughty: Of the trio, she's the most visibly shaken by the Exterminatus on Typhon destroying the planet and the dead craftworld buried under the surface. After all, it's all her fault it happened in the first place.
- Chainsaw Good: Because Space Marines don't get all the fun.
- Death from Above: Her specialty. The upgraded form of her Jump, Skyleap, lets her jump even further than usual and drop grenades as she falls.
- Fragile Speedster: She's one of the quickest and most manoeuvrable heroes in the game, able to leap into enemy troops and vault over cover, but she has one of the lowest health values and alone against strong opposition, she will crumble quickly.
- Hypocrite: During her Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu? speech against Kyras, she mocks him saying the Eldar outgrew the pettiness humans and daemons had long ago. One barely even needs to look through the lore to see how wrong that statement is. Although to be fair, Craftworld Eldar did abandon a lot of their pettiness after the Fall (which was over ten thousand years ago) and even some time before it, so Kayleth's statement is somewhat true... which is really more of an indicator of just how astonishingly petty and cruel the Pre-Fall Eldar were that their current attitude is a significant improvement.
- Jack of All Trades: To a far greater extent than the other main heroes. Kayleth's equipment is highly customisable, she can take different aspects and wargear which will let her tackle any battlefield role.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In all the campaigns, you have to face the Biel-tan Eldar on Typhon, and removing them results in Exterminatus being called down on the planet. However, it's even worse for Kayleth and her band as not only did they needlessly massacre their own kind, but the resulting Exterminatus destroys the craftworld buried under the surface of the planet, dooming each and every one of the soulstones buried with it to Slaanesh (or possibly to Khorne, assuming Kyras wasn't lying that their souls would be offered to him instead of Slaanesh... for all the good that does). She does not take this very well.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: A gender-inverted example. Like all Eldar, she's an excellent yet proud, curt, and condescending warrior. Emphasis on the "Proud".
- The Strategist: Not quite a standard example, since she fights on the front line too, but she's the one who plans the battles.
- Sword and Gun: Her default weapons.
Pathfinder Ronahn (Ulthwé->Unaligned)
"Do remember your ancestry, Veldoran. The only Eldar that lived to this day are the ones who ran."
Voiced by: Keith Ferguson, Simon Chadwick (Dawn of War III)
Ronahn first came to subsector Aurelia as part of Idranel's force. After it was defeated, he renounced his ties to Ulthwe, and wandered the stars, until he joined Autarch Kayleth's warhost. He possesses a distaste for the Eldar's reliance on prophecy, due to past events.
- Ascended Extra: Made a minor appearance in Dawn of War II during the Eldar attack on Angel Forge note and is now a playable character in Retribution. Subverted in Dawn of War III, where his role is basically centered around retrieving Taldeer's Soulstone from Kyre.
- BFG: His sniper rifles are about as big as he is, continuing the tradition began by Cyrus.
- Big Brother Instinct: His motivation in the second half of the campaign is basically to save Taldeer. It continues in Dawn of War III where he's willing to do anything, even set Orks on his fellow Eldar, just to get her soul stone out of Kyre's hands.
- Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: He provides a wise, world-weary, down-to-Earth (so to speak) foil to the haughty Kayleth.
- Cold Sniper: Much like his mentor, a ranger killed by the player in one of the early missions in Dawn of War II.
- Commander Contrarian: He can't go for 10 minutes without snarking at or insulting either Veldoran or Kayleth.
- Deadpan Snarker: He shows off shades of this when speaking with Veldoran.
- Due to the Dead: Pays this to Taldeer, by retrieving her Soulstone from Kyras.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: To Kayleth. She's an Autarch and he's a lowly Pathfinder, but at Meridian, she dismisses a full-on assault as suicide while Ronahn comes up with a good plan that eventually leads the notoriously squishy Eldar to victory over the traitor Guard there. Makes you wonder who should really be in charge...
- Meaningful Name: Ronahn sounds somewhat like "Ronin", a Japanese term for a warrior without a master.
- Must Make Amends: Dawn of War III implies that Ronahn wants to make amends to his sister by being a better brother to her in her death than while she was alive.
- Psychic Dreams for Everyone: He gets some really pleasant ones! Mostly about his sister Taldeer's soul being brutally tortured by Slaanesh.
- Ranger: He's a Pathfinder, which is like an Aspect Warrior version of a Ranger.
- The Reveal: He's Taldeer's twin brother, as revealed in Retribution.
- Speak of the Devil: Played with in one of his conversations with the other heroes. In one notable instance, he calmly refers to Slaanesh/" the Great Enemy" by his actual name, which causes Veldoran to visibly brick himself, fearing it might draw the dark god's attention.
- The Spymaster: In Dawn of War III, he serves as Lord Kyre's spymaster, having come into his service after events conspired to prevent him from returning Taldeer to their Craftworld. In truth, he only serves Kyre to find an opportunity to rescue his sister from the fanatical Autarch, and to this end he subtly helps Farseer Macha to undermine Kyre.
Warlock Veldoran (Biel-Tan)
"We are fortunate your years of running have gifted you with some wit."
Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore
A veteran Warlock, he assists Autarch Kayleth in preventing the prophecy of the Craftworld's destruction from coming true. He interprets the visions of the Farseers, and uses his psychic might to destroy the warhost's enemies.
- Ascended Extra: Is likely to be the Warlock that's Idranel's second in command in Dawn of War II, and is mentioned in a piece of wargear in Chaos Rising.
- Psychic Powers: And just as annoying to the enemy as they were to the player during DOWII.
Farseer Elenwe
- Voiced by: Christine Dunford
A master of divination and prediction, she guides Autarch Kayleth through subsector Aurelia, to prevent the realization of a prophecy that would destroy a Craftworld. How she delivers these predictions is unknown, as she never talks outside of battle.
- Combat Medic: She's primarily a healer, but can be a decent melee fighter too, with the right build.
- The Generic Guy: Like Kain, Varius, and Bernn. She has no role in the story.
- The Voiceless: Out of battle, she doesn't speak a word.
- You Look Familiar: She has the same character portrait as Idranel.
Tyrea
An Eldar Howling Banshee exarch under Idranel's warband that was present in the attack of Angel Forge. She reemerged after Typhon was destroyed by Exterminatus, who was planning to return to the webway after the stranded craftworld was destroyed.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the Eldar campaign, she was named the Young King so that she may be sacrificed and fight again as the Avatar of Khaine.
Tyranids
Hive Lord
The Hive Lord is an avatar of the Hive Mind's will, and is attempting to reconnect the feral Tyranids in subsector Aurelia to the Hive Mind.
- Dungeon Bypass: The Hive Lord is a Monstrous Creature, meaning the game engine considers him a vehicle when it comes to smashing through stuff. This means taking huge shortcuts or counter-flanking ambushes on missions that were designed without vehicles in mind.
- Expy: Of the Swarmlord from the tabletop game's canon.
- Flunky Boss: A playable one, no less. It gets better for you the more you level up his attack and energy skills, which allow the Hive Lord to call down increasingly potent squads for free.note Eventually it gets cheaper to suicide/decompose squads and recall them rather than reinforcing. Makes sense, as 'nids have reserves and plenty of them.
- Legacy Character: The Hive Lord doesn't travel between worlds. Instead, when its job on each planet is done, it gets broken down at a spawning pool so it's DNA can be assimilated and used to spawn a new, identical Lord where it's needed.
- Made of Iron: Has more health at Level 1 than many other heroes have at Level 10.
- Mighty Glacier: Slow, but hits like a battleship.
- Outside-Context Problem: Similar to Eliphas, Gabriel mentions everyone overlooking the Tyranids in their campaign has doomed the sector.
- The Voiceless: It's a Tyranid, so naturally it doesn't speak.
The Hive Mind
- Voiced by: Lani Minella
The central intelligence that controls the Tyranid forces and directs them in their invasion of the sub-sector.
- Assimilation Plot: Like in 40k itself.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Being the controller of the Tyranids would make it the Big Bad of the vanilla Dawn of War II campaign and one of the major villains in the game's lore.
- Large Ham
- Mission Control: For the Tyranid campaign.
- Putting the Band Back Together: It plans to reunite the Hive Fleet splinter and let the consumption of the sector continue as planned during Retribution. It takes this into the background and sends the Hive Lord to stop Kyras after it sees the threat he poses to its plans. By the end of the campaign, it has finally succeeded.
- The Voice: The only characterization a race of alien locusts can get.
