Characters / MechWarrior

Mechwarrior 3

Lance Leader/Connor Sinclair

The leader of Damocles Commando Team 1, originally set to drop alongside Dominic "Gunner" Paine. Also the player character, who has to deal with it when the mission goes bad and rally what's left of the Damocles Commando to complete it and escape. In Pirate's Moon, he leads the same lance for what was supposed to be some light protection until they encounter said pirates.

• Everyone Calls Him Lance Leader: Until Pirate's Moon when he was given a character and voice.
• The Faceless: None of the members of the Damocles Commando are ever shown, only heard.
• Featureless Protagonist: Up until the expansion Pirate's Moon.
• Heroic BSoD: Has a pretty spectacular one in the Pirate's Moon bonus mission after facing off against his lancemates.
  WHO'S NEXT? Anyone? Anybody LEFT?
• Only Sane Man: Spends about half his time in Pirate's Moon trying to get his lancemates to shut up and behave.
• Precision F-Strike: In the bonus mission.
  Susie Ryan: I've changed my mind. It's time for you to die.
  Connor: Come and get some, bitch.
• Trapped Behind Enemy Lines: Sinclair and the few survivors of his company are initially trapped on the wrong side of a Smoke Jaguar army from the only DropShip that can get him off the planet. Finding your way off is a major concern throughout the entire game.
• With This Herring: Justified considering that most of the Damocles Commando got shot down, but Lance Leader still starts with a Bushwhacker and 3 MFBs to topple an entire planet of hostiles, and frequently has to step up and accomplish things that were intended to be done by whole lances or companies with only a couple of 'Mechs or a lance.
  • During the game you will have to complete at least one operation that has wiped out another team; when you move into Operations Area 2 you are informed that Damocles Commando Team 2 managed to blow the dam that was their first objective, but were destroyed by responding Clan units. Now you and Dominic have to do the rest of their work, along with tracking down and destroying the factory that was the target of Operation 1 but moved before you got there.
  • Set up in the backstory as well - Damocles Commando is drawn from troops that assaulted Huntress, sent off on a side mission while the remaining troops move on Strana Mechty for the in-lore Great Refusal. The two companies of Mechs were all that could be spared, and almost half of them didn't even make planetfall.

Dominic "Gunner" Paine

Damocles Commando 1-2, Sinclair's lancemate prior to the drop, and met up with at the end of Operation 1. He starts with a Shadow Cat Prime there. He's the last lancemate you get in Pirate's Moon, having stolen a pirate Atlas.

• The Cynic: If there's a cynical take to be made, Dominic will make it.
• Deadpan Snarker: And how.
  (while going through a tunnel) Why do I feel... like I'm walking up the barrel of a large gun?
• Evil Laugh: Gives a fairly impressive one in the bonus mission.
• The Faceless: None of the members of the Damocles Commando are ever shown, only heard.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Given the nature of the game, his kidnapping an enemy MechWarrior and stealing their Atlas gets one sentence in a mission debriefing.
  • Incidentally, the debriefing says he stole an Atlas, but the mech the game actually gives you is an Awesome. Thus making it a literal Offscreen Moment of Awesome.
• Properly Paranoid: Where the Damocles Commando is involved, expecting the worst is usually a safe bet.
  Dominic: We are not going to like this.
  Sorenson: No, you're not.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Fairly often, with your MFB commander of all people (who gives as good as he gets).
  Sorenson: Good to see you all! Even you, Gunner.
• Sour Supporter: Most evident in Trial Under Fire, the novelization, wherein much of his lighter snark didn't make the cut. This leaves him bordering on The Eeyore most of the time, and when he's not earning being called sullen in every other sentence, he's doing things like jumping his mech over Connor's to take the bullet from Brendon Corbett and two of his starmates.
• Stealth Pun / Accidental Pun: "I bring the Paine."
  • Accidental nothing. Dominic is repeatedly shown to have the greatest sense of humor on the lance, which he applies most often to annoying your other lancemates.

Epona Rhi

The third lancemate, who was once part of Damocles Commando Team 3 and met up with at the end of Operation 2, where she initially pilots a Bushwacker just like you did. She's the first lancemate you meet in Pirate's Moon. Tends to be somewhat dour and usually the least-appreciative of anyone's joking. During Pirate's Moon, she established a relationship with one of the locals before he was killed in action.

• Oh, Crap!: A highly memorable one, give that the fight you're about to have going to her rescue can easily go catastrophically wrong at high difficulties.
  Blake's blood, I'm dancing with an Annihilator in here!
• Deadpan Snarker: Less often than Dominic (not that that's saying much), but she keeps the deadpan part alive and well.
  Connor: I'd like to think this is going to be a milk run, but...
  Epona: But you're a sensible man, with an IQ above his waistline, and realize that the pirates have been anything but predictable.
  Connor: Close enough, Epona. Close enough.
• The Faceless: None of the members of the Damocles Commando are ever shown, only heard.
• Hartman Hips: According to Alan in Pirate's Moon. She's furious at the suggestion.
  Love you too Epona, wide hips and all!
• Number Two: Implied to have been the leader of Damocles Team Three. Pirate's Moon confirms her as Connor's second in command.
  Deuce: I hear Sinclair's number two is a better pilot.
  Trey: Why? Because it's a she?
• Precision F-Strike: In Pirate's Moon, after Werewolf is killed.
  You're going down, bitch. Count on it.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Trial Under Fire explains it only as 'cultured', whatever that means.

Alan Mattila

The last lancemate you get in MechWarrior 3, he was the last man out of the DropShip Black Hammer before it crashed, and initially pilots a Sunder. He's the second lancemate you get in Pirate's Moon. Alan is more optimistic and personable than Epona, with a generally sunny disposition.

• Bait-and-Switch: Picked up during a series of missions where you are moving to link up with MechWarrior Keith Andrew.
• Big Damn Heroes: The first clue that he even exists is in the last wave of a defensive mission, when a horde of assault mechs are advancing on your position from all directions.
  Epona: Hey, isn't that Sunder one of ours?
• Boisterous Bruiser: Primarily evident in Pirate's Moon.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's no Dominic either, but he has his moments, particularly on Tranquil.
  Jaguar Avatar: At your best! We defend this spaceport, or we die trying.
  Alan (after the Avatar is destroyed): Wouldn't you know it? He died tryin'.
• The Faceless: None of the members of the Damocles Commando are ever shown, only heard.
• The Gadfly: Seemingly goes out of his way to annoy Epona in Pirate's Moon, at least until things get serious, after which he merely annoys her incidentally.
  • Exactly one of your lancemates decides to taunt Brendon Corbett to his face. Guess who?
• See You in Hell: One of his kill callouts.
• Spell My Name With An S: You'd think this wouldn't be an issue, but the ingame displays give his name as Alan Mattila while the credits give it as Allen Matilla. Trial Under Fire helpfully goes with Allen Mattila.
• With This Herring: Downplayed, but he's been hitting and fading against the Jaguars with zero support until he links up with the player's lance. While he's riding in a 90-ton Mech, he explicitly mentions he had no way to make repairs or even ammunition reloads, meaning he had most of his firepower unavailable. As his Sunder is in the Prime configuration, that means all he had were two Large and two Medium Lasers, which is considering average for a 'Mech half the weight of a Sunder.

Keith Andrew

A fellow member of Damocles Commando, Keith pilots a Catapult. While he initially intended to link up with the rest of Damocles after the drop went sour, things don't go as planned.

• Death from Above: His Catapult is outfitted with Arrow IV missiles, highlighting it as a C3 or C5 model.
• The Ghost: We never see him, never meet him.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He launches several Arrow IV missiles, saving Connor's group from near-certain death, but this reveals his position. He's hunted down as a result.
• Killed Offscreen: Sorenson mentions that the Jaguars pinned him down and killed him.
• Run or Die: He spent virtually his entire time on Tranquil running for his life and trying to link up with the player character's lance. He never made it.
• Say My Name: Epona radios a thank-you to him, but receives no answer and drops this trope.

Mechwarrior 4: Vengeance

Omega Lance / The Resistance

• Badass Crew: Omega Lance are the heavy hitters of the Resistance. They get sent to do all the operations no one else in the Resistance can do.
• Canon Foreigner: With the exception of Ian Dresari, whose existence was verified by the FedCom Civil War sourcebook for BattleTech, none of these characters are mentioned outside of the MechWarrior 4 games. As is standard for canon in BattleTech with regard to MechWarrior games, unless they appear in an official sourcebook or novel, their existence is ambiguous at best.
• La Résistance: The Resistance opposes the Lyran Alliance's occupation of Kentares IV, out of loyalty to House Dresari, a royal family whom is loyal to Victor Steiner-Davion's Federated Suns.
• We Do the Impossible: Omega Lance does the jobs no one else on the Resistance can do. As they are the best MechWarriors the Resistance has, over time they gain this sort of reputation.

Ian Dresari

Lord Roland: "Then what do you want!?"

Ian Dresari: "I want my family back."

Player Character of 4: Vengeance. Being unlikely to inherit the throne, he adopted a most disgraceful style of life, causing his father to send him away to join the military and become a 'Mech pilot. He fought with distinction in the wars against the Clans as part of the 1st Davion Guards (his time on Port Arthur is mentioned, suggesting he may be one of the pilots from the first MechCommander; but Ian doesn't look like any of them). Ian mustered out and was on his way home, seeking a reconciliation, when his family was killed. The game opens on his father's last message to him.

• And the Adventure Continues: The good end, where Ian gives the throne to Joanna and departs; other planets need liberating too, in his opinion. Black Knight suggests this isn't canon, but then again Black Knight itself may not be...
• Bring It: Ian gives this to Kulin before their confrontation.
  Ian: "Kulin, this is Ian Dresari. I know you're here. You wanted to wipe out my family? Here's your chance to finish the job."
  Kulin: "Good of you to offer me the opportunity, Mister Dresari. Lord Roland will be grateful to be rid of you. He'll be pleased when I tell him of your demise. You may just earn me a promotion. My thanks."
  Ian: "First, you have to make it happen, Kulin."
  Kulin: "I have your position now. It... won't take long."
• The Faceless: Makes no on-screen appearances in Black Knight outside his 'Mech, so we don't know what's changed^note Other than his voice. in the time since Vengeance, where this was averted.
• The Hero: When you're playing as him.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's the son of a duke of Kentares IV, and actually becomes duke in one end; in the other, it goes to his sister.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: In Black Knight, becoming a Disc-One Final Boss due to actions taken by the game's Big Bad. According to materials outside the game, he was smeared by Katherine Steiner's Loyalists and may not have actually done anything to piss off the Black Knight Legion, the latter of which are unknown to be canon in BattleTech at large.

Casey Nolan

Peter Dresari: "Ian, your lancemate on this mission will be Casey Nolan. You'll learn to ignore him; the rest of us do."

A wisecracker in general, but the lancemate with the closest thing to a real friendship with Ian during Vengeance. The first permanent member of Omega Lance you meet, you run missions with him and your uncle early on. Casey is also one of the two most talkative lancemates; you'll spend more time both in and out of mission listening to him than any other lancemate save perhaps Jen McQuarrie. He's the first member of Omega Lance you have to face in Black Knight, where he pilots a Mauler in a "boss" encounter relatively early.

• Let's Get Dangerous!: Casey tends to be first in line when it comes to advocating immediate, violent action in response to whatever Steiner atrocity has just been threatened or carried out.
  • Particularly, when Burke calls up to gloat about killing Sir Peter, Casey gets angry.
  "Sir, I'd like to volunteer to take any other volunteers and wipe the smirk off that tank driver's face with my 'Mech's foot!"
• Nice Mean And In Between: In the early game. Casey tends to act as a voice for the collective desires of Omega Lance, advocating immediate strikes against Steiner to make them pay for their actions. He retains this trait long after the team of three collaboration portion of the game, but is generally more collected about it as his faith in Ian grows.

Jules Gonzales

"It's Gonzales, sir."

A formal and by-the-book MechWarrior, the man who'll probably fill your fourth slot most of the campaign, you meet him early in the game during the Lunar sequence but only briefly. He drops with Peter Dresari onto Kentares itself, but has to break away and manages to link up with you, while Peter is intercepted and killed. He is fought in Black Knight late in the game, alongside Ian.

• Nice Mean And In Between: Gonzales usually provides a more stable, long-term view of the situation than Casey, but is more determined to attack and destroy the enemy than Rathburn, functioning as a balance between the two in the early game.

Jen McQuarrie

"I was beginning to think they'd just keep coming!"

The second permanent member of Omega Lance, she's met in the last Lunar mission. Relatively softspoken outside the cockpit, Jen seems to have some kind of feelings for Ian Dresari, as she shows more concern for him than any other character and at one point essentially confessing that she'd lose her will to live if Ian dies. In another quiet moment, she comes close to asking Ian out before Rathburn breaks into the conversation with another crisis that needs solving. She returns in Black Knight as one of Ian's lancemates; dropping in a Mad Cat MK II.

• The Heart: Of Omega Lance. While the other lancemates are usually focused outward on the state of the rebellion or Steiner's actions, Jen is more concerned with things inside Omega; how her performance in combat is seen and how Ian is handling whatever crisis is currently being inflicted on him.

Terra Risner

A MechWarrior who was originally part of the Royal Guard when the planet fell to Steiner occupation, you rescued her among other PoWs on the way to be executed late in the desert sequence. Firey, and trained as an assault specialist, Terra prefers to go toe to toe. She speaks to you relatively little after she joins your lance compared to Casey or Jen, but is vocal enough on the comms.

• Insistent Terminology: She usually refers to Ian as "Commander" or "Sir", in contrast to Jen's "Lead" or "Ian".

Damon Squire

A MechWarrior who was originally one of Joanna Dresari's bodyguards, he's fairly skilled but picked up late enough in the game it's likely your core pilots are more capable than he is. He wants to serve the Dresaris, and will abandon you to try to rescue Joanna if you don't attempt it yourself in the endgame. Conversely, if you try to rescue Joanna, he'll drop with you as a fifth member of your lance. In Black Knight, he's part of the anti-Ian resistance movement, likely in response to Ian abandoning his sister.

• Pay Evil unto Evil: Squire makes it clear in the mission to rescue Joanna that if the Steiner forces start shooting ambulances, he's going to start shooting down their ejection pods.
• Undying Loyalty: To Joanna. As noted above, when you are given the choice to rescue Joanna or raid an enemy weapons cache, he will attempt to rescue her regardless of your orders.

Elise Rathburn

"Omega Support, sweep the operational area. Window, two hours, twenty minutes."

Your tactical officer during Vengeance, she plans missions, interfaces with the rest of the Resistance, and tells you what needs to be done in the short term while your character sets strategic goals. Despite this, you don't actually converse with her until the second mission, and don't hear her outside of mission opening and closing until the last mission in the Lunar series. Early in the game she regards Ian as unproven and frets of his ability to provide leadership to Omega and to the Rebellion, vocally expressing these doubts after Sir Peter Dresari's death. She comes around during the Alpine sequence and supports Ian fully from then on. Rathburn is notably the only character who supports abandoning your sister in the lategame of Vengeance.

• Mission Control: Of Vengeance. It is unknown if she is still working for Ian during Black Knight.
• Nice Mean And In Between: Rathburn is more cautious in the early game, in contrast to Casey's desire to close with the enemy and destroy them and Gonzales' more measured aggression. Some of this is a function of her doubts about Ian; after she trusts his skills more Rathburn becomes notably more aggressive in her approach towards the missions and what jobs Omega takes on, culminating in the Capital sequence where the Resistance is sending her requests for Omega Lance to take on the missions that the Resistance itself can't do.

Karl Sontag

"I kept your father's 'Mechs in shape for him. I'll do the same for you, young Dresari."

Chief engineer for Omega Lance; before that point, he served the Duke of Kentares as his chief tech, and treats Ian with somewhat grandfatherly concern. He is a man of strong moral convictions, and is notably not supportive if you abandon your sister in the lategame, telling you he's setting up your 'Mechs one last time and then leaving your service. This may explain his fate in Black Knight. It also makes a painful contrast; Karl, more than any other character, is consistently supportive of Ian in the face of the doubts of others and the obstacles of the moment, having all but total faith in victory.

• Defector from Decadence: He ended up in a Dresari prison during the events of Black Knight.
• The Engineer: Gives you advice on what weapons and 'Mechs to deploy in the missions you go on throughout the Vengeance campaign and is stated to be the one working your MechLab there.
• Insistent Terminology: He refers to Ian as "young Dresari" through most of the campaign. During the Alpine sequence, he adds "young Duke" as well, and it also turns up for the rest of the campaign.

Peter Dresari

"Now, if you're the man your father thinks you are, you'll get suited up for drop."

Ian Dresari's uncle, he was the Colonel of the 4th Davion Guards regiment before the events of the game, and brought at least some of the MechWarriors and Rathburn with him from that posting. You start the game off under his command during the Lunar sequence of missions. He gets Mentor Occupational Hazard'd late in the first sequence of missions on Kentares itself, though he's not directly seen from the end of the Lunar missions, having made a separate drop to divert Steiner forces. His death is a major low point the game, and seems to hit Rathbone particularly hard, suggesting they had a relationship.

• Dare to Be Badass: In the opening scene of the campaign, he cautions Ian against revenge, but gives a speech about being the man Ian's father thought Ian was; this constrasts with the last message of the Duke, who encourages Ian not to confront Steiner.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: After the Lunar missions he's still alive a little longer, but you don't see his 'Mech in person: he's ultimately killed leading Steiner forces away from you. Though he tried to eject, Burke shot his ejection pod.

Joanna Dresari

"It's true. You came back. You came back."

Ian Dresari's sister, she's met midway through the campaign. She wasn't in the palace when it was attacked, and it's revealed she and her father had a split over her father's sending Ian away. She's not a MechWarrior herself, and has served the resistance in support roles and as infantry a couple times. The choice about whether to rescue her or raid an armory late in the game determines the ending. The events of Black Knight emerge from the armory raid, as without your rescue Joanna dies.

• The Heart: Joanna feels the suffering of Kentares' people keenly and always pushes for what's best for them. Though Ian does most of the important fighting, Joanna is the one who handles the Resistance as a whole. In the ending she survives in, Ian recognizes this and has her crowned Duchess rather than becoming Duke himself.

Omega Forward/Foxtrot/Private Eye

"Just follow the big skid marks in."

The most visible (relatively) of Omega Lance's field support teams, Forward is composed of Omega's recon units, going under various callsigns like Forward, Foxtrot, and Private Eye followed by a numeric. They are sometimes seen and often heard in missions, using their Swiftwind scout cars to provide intel and updates in real time to Rathburn or others. Despite being a "minor" character, Forward One appears earlier than the majority of lancemates, in the third mission of the game, and the various parts of Forward remain fixtures throughout most of the campaign.

• A Father to His Men: Forward One loses a scout party in one mission and asks Ian to look for them during it. Unfortunately, you can't find them.
• Deadpan Snarker: The comment that's used for Forward's quote? It's about a crashed DropShip. Similarly, other elements of Forward make a few snarky comments about Steiner forces they're observing, including one where they outright complain about almost being stepped on and still not noticed by a pair of Steiner Vultures.
• The Faceless: The most that's ever seen of Forward are their scout cars in-mission, and often not even that. Forward are apparently very good at their jobs.

Steiner Invaders

Lord Roland

The Steiner politician and noble who actually handles the day-to-day running of Kentares, he tends to the authoritarian and does not appear familiar with Kentares' history; if he was, he wouldn't order quite so many massacres as one of the planet's formative events was the Kentares Massacre when Kurita forces killed over 80% of the planet's population during the Second Succession War. Vanda Castro points out his tactics are exceptionally poor choices for this particular planet. He doesn't listen.

• Card-Carrying Villain: Roland definitely fits the trope with all the massacres he orders and his blatant abuse of his political position. He's also very disrespectful to his subordinates, even when most of his issues are due to his own blunders.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Genuinely can't seem to understand just why Ian Dresari is so upset about the murder of his family.
• Fat Bastard: Though never seen save in the small comm window, he appears to be carrying some weight.
• Fictional Geneva Conventions: Lord Roland seems to think violating this trope regarding prisoners of war and firing upon civilians will end the rebellion on Kentares, not realizing (or seemingly caring) that it will achieve the opposite effect and just make the populace angrier with House Steiner's occupation of the planet.
• Never My Fault: He never once takes responsibility for his countless blunders that lead to House Steiner losing control of Kentares and constantly puts blame for any failures on his subordinates.
• We Can Rule Together: Makes this offer to Ian in the final level, as Omega Lance advance on his Dropship. Ian is having none of it and kills him to avenge his family.

Vanda Castro

An older woman and Steiner Major, she has formal authority over Steiner military operations on Kentares but in practice has relatively little actual power, as her nominal "subordinates" are both issued orders directly by Roland and share her rank despite her supposedly commanding them. She's a savvy commander who only a couple of hours after introduction is raining 'Mechs on your head, but her authority is frequently undermined by Lord Roland and the other two Steiner majors are semi-controlled mad dogs on their good days.

• Big Bad: Subverted. She's introduced as a dangerous and competent commander, and she counterstrikes against Omega Lance within hours of becoming aware of their activities... but ultimately doesn't play much of a role in the game due to Roland, Kulin and Burke constantly undermining her.
• The Cassandra: In the collection of psychopaths and megalomaniacs running the Steiner war effort, she's the only one with sound tactical sense and repeatedly predicts the Resistance's moves. Nobody listens.
  • It's so bad that towards the middle of the campaign Jen McQuarrie actually lampshades that no one listens to Castro and that the Resistance is lucky they don't.
• Magnificent Bastard: Castro is by far the most dangerous and competent of the named Steiner characters. Not only she immediately suspects that the lunar comm facility destroyed in the first mission is not experiencing technical problems but as soon as the lunar arc ends, it only takes one mission planetside for her to request three companies of 'Mechs and armor to go after the rebels with. And when the spy sat launch facility falls, Castro is quick to point out that since it happened after Peter's death, there are still rebel forces operating planetside.
  • In fact, the only reason Ian and co. even escaped from the moon is because Castro wasn't given veteran pilots like she asked Kulin for.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lays a blistering one on Roland when he decides to carpet bomb a city to deal with rebels. Roland doesn't give a damn about her opinion.
  "Kulin starts executing military prisoners, and now you're playing at genocide?! Are you insane? Do you know anything about the history of this planet?! You won't stop rebellion this way, you're going to spread it, not just on Kentares but beyond! I refuse to be a party to this madness!"
• The Starscream: If Ian chooses to raid the armory in the finale, Castro reveals that she already found it long ago, but kept its existence a secret and hoarded the gear for herself to overthrow Roland with, in case he botched the occupation.
• The Unfought: Castro is only fought if you do the armory raid mission, which also condemns your sister to death. If you save your sister and do the palace attack, she doesn't appear, leading to...
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Presumably she was killed by Resistance forces somewhere if you don't make the armory raid, but this is never explained. As the only remaining Drop Ship in Steiner hands was at the palace, it's unlikely she escaped.

Duncan Burke

The technical slayer of Peter Dresari, and the organizer of an attempted massacre that you must thwart along the coastal swamps before you proceed to the capital in the mid-late game. Burke brags about Peter's death and generally comes across as thoroughly unpleasant and possibly psychopathic. He's noted to have been responsible for several atrocities while fighting against the Clans; considering the nature of the Inner Sphere's wars against the Clans as defensive or reclaiming lost territory, this almost certainly means whatever he did was against his own side!

• Ace Custom: He pilots a custom Thor loaded with twin Clan PPCs backed by an LB-10X autocannon and a small SRM launcher.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: After Ian wins their duel, Rathburn asks if Burke ejected; Ian says no, and speculates Burke was afraid to. Left unstated is that that Burke probably expected he'd be killed in his ejection pod if he punched out, just as he'd killed Peter.
• Sink the Lifeboats: As Peter found out the hard way.
  "I thought he'd be more of a challenge, but he ejected before I was more than halfway through with him. Lot of good that did... he and his escape pod are scattered over the better part of a kilometer. Messy."
  • In a karmic twist, after killing him, Ian notes Burke must have been afraid to eject himself.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For James Kulin. They look very alike down to the moustache, are bloodthirsty to the point of psychosis, attempt to stage a massacre, pilot a custom Clan heavy built around a dual-ER-PPC armament, are killed by Ian, and are explicitly stated to have not ejected from their dying 'Mech. They have very different personalities, however.

James Kulin

A Major in the Steiner military, and one of the bosses Ian has to fight during the final mission of the desert campaign. Due to the resistance's growing success on the Hadra Peninsula, he tries to deny them resources: specifically, the planet's former defense forces who were taken prisoner. He does this by ordering mass executions at first, and later attempts to directly destroy a POW camp the Resistance and Ian are liberating. He pilots a Mad Cat, and commands a lance of three Vultures.

• Ace Custom: He pilots a custom Mad Cat, basically a downgraded Mad Cat D from the tabletop; twin Clan PPCs backed by a pair of Streak SRM-6s and two machinegun arrays.
• Insistent Terminology: Always refers to Ian as "Mister Dresari", explicitly denying any title of nobility to delegitimatize him.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Kulin is killed in his cockpit, as he intended to kill the POWs you're liberating when you encounter him. If she's present, Terra Risner will be vocally pleased with his appearance in the mission area and his death; Jules Gonzales will opine that it's one less cockroach infesting the planet.
• Smug Snake: Kulin is full of barbed politeness and relatively softspoken, in comparison to Burke's brash psychopathy.

William Dresari

Ian's cousin and titular Duke of Kentares under Steiner, youngish (probably about Ian's age), seen little and somewhat sinister of aspect. Ian refers to him as having been a bully all his life, and good at it. He defeats Peter Dresari in 'Mech combat, then lets Burke kill Peter after he ejects. He's faced in the last mission of the game, where he pilots a customized Daishi packing a huge number of Ultra AC-5s in the original. In the patched game after installing Black Knight or the compatible standalone patch, he's instead loaded out with a large number of pulse lasers and a single Clan PPC. The patch also changes it so his start position is more logical and you are not immediately under fire from him.

• Ace Custom: Attempting to recreate his original Daishi in the MechLab will reveal it's been significantly tinkered with in base stats, including engine, to mount the number of guns it does. It is by far the hardest single opponent to fight in the game, using what's easily the most broken weapon in stock Vengeance. The fit used by William in the patch is significantly easier to fight, but doesn't seem to overheat at all, though it quickly should.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Unpatched MechWarrior 4 leaves him equipped with a plethora of the most broken weapon in the game, magically appearing in combat range at the end of a brief cutscene. The patched version of the game still gives William an edge, but it's nowhere near as insane.
  • The player can defy the "magically appearing in combat range" part of William's edge over them if they're quick enough to crouch their 'Mech before the cutscene's autopilot starts; the game's autopilot AI won't take you anywhere, as it apparently doesn't know how to un-crouch.
• Puppet Duke: A figurehead to create the illusion of a legitimate ruler. So long as Roland provides him with plenty of wine and whores for parties, he doesn't give a damn.
• Rival Final Boss: He appears in the final mission once you take down Roland's dropship and the palace guards.
• We Can Rule Together: As the Resistance closes in on the capital, William offers Ian a chance to leave Kentares in exchange for another world to rule, or to share power on Kentares. Ian of course refuses.

Mechwarrior 4: Black Knight

Black Knight Legion

• Canon Foreigner: These guys do not appear to officially exist outside the 4: Black Knight expansion, although 'Mechs bearing their insignias can be fought at points during 4: Mercenaries' campaign, most noticeably during a mission on Wernke, where Spectre Lance (see the 4: Mercenaries folder) has to destroy a dropship guarded by such 'Mechs^note  Spectre will note that they have "no discernible markings", suggesting either the insignias aren't actually there in-universe, or they are the Black Knight Legion and Spectre has absolutely no idea who they are. before having to fight Burr's Black Cobras.
• Private Military Contractors: They're all mercenaries.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: As a Vengeance expansion following up on the events of said game, this was probably going to be the motivation for these guys' actions at some point during the campaign; after an assault on one of their bases by combined Steiner and Dresari forces that cost them their leader, they seem to take some time off from mercenary work to get revenge on their aggressors.

Eric McClair

Player Character of 4: Black Knight

• The Hero: Of Black Knight.
  • Anti-Hero: He's a mercenary.
• The Leader: Essentially takes Col. Lawhorn's place after his death, even taking up the latter's callsign "Black Knight".

Colonel Lawhorn

• Ace Custom: While technically in stock configuration by the standards of the game, the very nature of Lawhorn's Black Knight suggests his was unique at the time he was using it. Unlike a normal Black Knight, it is an OmniMech, which theoretically enables it greater freedom in possible weapon loadouts than an ordinary BattleMech would. This version of the Black Knight would become the standard throughout the appearances in the MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries campaign. To this day, however, no OmniMech version of the Black Knight exists in BattleTech, and it remains a Canon Foreigner, never to be seen again outside MechWarrior 4: Black Knight and MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries as the original BattleMech versions were used instead in later games; that being said, the BLK-NT-xx line of Black Knight BattleMechs from the Dark Age period onward officially utilize this version's aesthetic.
• Colonel Badass/The Leader: The leader of the Black Knight Legion and first to use the callsign "Black Knight" in the campaign's run. The 'Mech he uses in his very first appearance on the field happens to be the only one of its kind to appear in the campaign, the 75-ton Black Knight, which Eric eventually gets to use himself after his demise.
• Killed Off for Real: Pretty early on in the campaign. The events that led to his death are the motivation for the protagonists' actions throughout the rest of the campaign.

Mechwarrior 4: Mercenaries

Spectre

An opportunistic mercenary loyal only to whoever's footing his bill.

• The Ace: Spectre graduated at the top of his class in the pilot program on Outreach for larger mercenary outfits to "sponsor" smaller ones.
• Deadpan Snarker: Definitely a smart-mouth, and not above handing out sass over the comm to anyone he feels has earned it.
• It's Personal: Spectre develops a deep connection to whichever mercenary unit sponsored him, to the point of telling the Jade Falcon commander her forces are "trespassing on our territory" if sponsored by the Kell Hounds or saying he would do a mission against the Gray Death Legion's historic enemies "for half salvage and a thank you note" if sponsored by that unit.
• Player Character: The framing device is an aged Spectre (post-Jihad) telling the tale of his exploits.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: Implied. Regardless of what outfit sponsors him, during Clan-related ops he demonstrates considerable understanding of Clan customs and traditions, up to and including potentially conducting a proper Trial of Possession against a Clan Jade Falcon Star Colonel, suggesting at least a background in Clan culture.^note The rites of zellbrigen practiced in Clan ritual combat are suspended at no penalty, which is either an acceptable break from canon for the benefit of players unfamiliar with such Clan practices and their questionable AI lancemates or a logical consequence of the trial being conducted with Inner Sphere mercenaries at all. Either is a valid interpretation.
• Only in It for the Money: "We're here for the paycheck, not the politics."
  • Changes later on, when you have to chose a side because the other side has blacklisted your mercenary command after completing missions involving attacking the other side primary mech factory and destroying their latest mech prototypes for the side you choose.
  • Averted on two occasions if the player chooses to take missions which offer zero pay. In the first instance, Spectre and his lance escort peace delegates to safety despite their being unable to pay for protection. In the second, Spectre effectively abandons his unit to fight a Trial of Position for the right to join Clan Wolf and petition the Wolf Khan to rescue Katrina Steiner. The alternative to the latter is the unit saying "Screw This, I'm Outta Here" to the lost cause and claiming a freehold in the Chaos March.

Spectre's Mercs (Various)

There are many, many mercenaries Spectre can recruit to his side.

• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three female lancemates with lance commander credentials you can hire at the outset: Mustang, Goat, and Blaze, respectively.
• British Stuffiness: Beowulf.
• Brave Scot: Claymore, complete with imitation Sean Connery accent. Plunk him in a Highlander to complete the trope.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Some of your potential lancemates have distinct personality quirks, ranging from Falcon's constant use of Clan terminology and speech patterns, to lancemates described as "marching to the beat of his own drummer," all the way to, "gives a new meaning to the word 'weird.'"
• Cowgirl: Mustang, the most expensive and highly skilled (at the outset) pilot you can hire, even has the cowgirl accent.
• Fiery Redhead: Blaze, a highly skilled potential secondary lance commander evokes it with her name, even. In a more literal sense, her bio states she has a preference for flame-based weapons.
• New Meat: Scooter's said to be "wet behind the ears".
• Psycho for Hire: Goblin, described as giving new meaning to the term "weird" in his bio, and who sounds particularly deranged over the comm systems.
• Street Smart: Rubius was "raised on the streets".
• Terse Talker: Spirit is rather quiet. Most evident during ready-op call. She just goes "Spirit. Ready-op."

Castle

Spectre's mission control.

• Berserk Button: Towards the Clans. Read other tropes for her below for details.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Castle was orphaned by the Clan Invasion. The period the game takes place is about fifteen or so years after the Clan Invasion period, putting her in her thirties.
• Mission Control: The two constant voices in all (non-Solaris) missions are Spectre and Castle.
• Norse by Norsewest: Castle hails from the Free Rasalhague Republic, which is basically Scandinavia IN SPACE, and it shows in her accent. Before the Clan Invasion, it was an entire former Draconis Combine march that eventually seceded with tacit approval from Luthien (basically to make it a buffer state against the Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth), but it was unfortunately right in the center of the Clan Invasion Corridor. The Clan Invasion reduced it to a scant handful of worlds, none of which are the original capital world of Rasalhague.

Aisa Thastus / Falcon

A fierce trueborn Jade Falcon Star Colonel whom Spectre encounters on New Exford. Depending on how events play out, Spectre can wind up taking her as a bondsman.

• Defeat Means Friendship: Maybe "friendship" is pushing it; defeating Thastus and her Binary of Jade Falcon Clan 'Mechs in the "Beach Fight" op on New Exford instead of the alternative "Backstab" op will have her join your unit as a free Lance Commander-type MechWarrior; you're even guaranteed her Mad Cat MK II as salvage for the mission.
• First-Name Basis: In her pre-mission ready check, she doesn't use her callsign (Falcon), but her first name. No one else responds with anything but their callsign.
• Mauve Shirt: She is the antagonist of the New Exford mission chain and joins your unit after defeating her in "Beach Fight", but can die just like any other hired pilot after you get her. Fortunately, being a Clan MechWarrior and a former Star Colonel from a society where Asskicking Leads to Leadership, she won't necessarily go down easy if you equip her properly.
• Pet the Dog: She's the only one who won't complain if you choose to help with the evacuation on Styk.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: from possibly the most ardently Crusader-minded of the Clans.

Duncan Fisher

Solaris announcer, commentator, and Breakout Character extraordinaire who loves almost everything about the games.

See Battletech NG Os And Others

Colonel Burr and the Black Cobras

A rival mercenary unit who often show up to get in Spectre's way.

• Private Military Contractors: Just like Spectre and his unit, they're mercenaries.
• The Rival: To Spectre's unit. Depending on how events play, this can come to a head on Wernke, where Spectre fights Burr himself, who brings a lot of Mechwarriors with him, outnumbering and potentially outgunning Spectre's lances for that mission.

Victor Steiner-Davion

Leader of the Federated Suns side of the civil war, opposing his sister Katherine.

• The Ghost: Never appears or even speaks in-game, though Davion-aligned missions are under his employ, by proxy if not directly.

Katherine Steiner-Davion

Leader of the Lyran Alliance side of the civil war, seeking to take the title of Archon-Prince from her brother Victor.

• The Ghost: Like her brother Victor above, she does not appear or speak in-game here. However, Steiner-aligned missions are taken in service to her and her loyalists.

Peter Steiner-Davion

Younger brother and ally to Victor Steiner-Davion, and eventually the Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth after the ouster of his power-mad sister Katherine.

• Ace Custom: Pilots a modified Fafnir into battle. His is not unique; a few Fafnir pilots that can be fought in Solaris matches can be seen using the same build, however, he's the only one seen using it outside Solaris.
• Hero Must Survive: An NPC variant; in every mission he appears as a combatant, "Peter Steiner-Davion must survive" is one of the mission objectives. Justified, because replacing Katherine with him as Archon was the reason you were hired in the first place, and it's not that big of a deal to begin with; he's enough of a badass, he's more likely to pull you out of hot water during a firefight, and his Fafnir, being an assault 'mech, can give and take a lot of punishment.
• Supporting Leader: For the Davion path in the latter parts of the game. You even fight alongside him in the finale.

Nondi Steiner

Sister to the illustrious Archon Katrina Steiner, who is Victor's and Peter's maternal grandmother, and a very high-ranked flag officer in the Lyran armed forces.

• Four-Star Badass: While her sister was known mainly for her political acumen, Nondi is a military officer through and through.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Partly denial, partly nationalism, this is why she was loyal to her mentally unstable great niece Katherine (who fancied herself "Katrina"). She goes down fighting against you and Peter in the Davion path.

Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries

Nik's Cavaliers

The player's unit. Started by Nik and Chloe Mason, their base on De Berry is overrun by a rival mercenary unit called Black Inferno. With just a Leopard DropShip and a couple of BattleMechs left to their name, the player and their staff may eventually rebrand the unit and start anew, with any unit name they desire.

• All There in the Manual: Their origins as the Cavaliers are detailed in the fully canonical anthology The Mercenary Life by Randall N. Bills, originally released as a free tie-in series of short stories eventually compiled into the MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries – Origins anthology. The game itself doesn't fit criteria for BattleTech canon of course, but the original version of the unit, many of the unit's initial members, and its associates are corroborated by these stories, with the player character in the manner depicted being the only Canon Foreigner before Freeman joins your company.
• Anti-Hero: As mercenaries in the Inner Sphere, they may commit acts that are morally questionable at best depending on the player's decisions in taking contracts.
• Posthumous Character: Chloe Mason is dead by the time the game begins. The game makes no mention of her, while in the tie-in short stories, she was a very prominent character.
• Private Military Contractors: They are mercenaries.

Nik Mason

The father of the player character. He is the instructor of the game's tutorial, piloting a Victor.

• Mentor Occupational Hazard: He dies in the cutscene immediately following the tutorial.
• Secret Identity: Clues from Act 3 of the Campaign indicate that Nik was an advance scout for the Clans investigating the Inner Sphere.

Jake Mason

The player character, and son of Nik Mason. He takes command of the Cavaliers after the death of his father, starting the game in a Centurion and, for a brief time, a Javelin.

• Been There, Shaped History: With the game's various Downloadable Content applied, the player may at their own discretion take part in various conflicts throughout the Inner Sphere, such as the Fourth Succession War, the Ronin War, and the War of 3039.
• Featureless Protagonist: Played with. The tie-in short stories mentioned Nik and Chloe Mason had a child, but did not specify anything beyond that. When the game initially released, he was given a gender, but did not reveal his first name. A revision on the opening cutscene from the later Steam release gave him the first name of Jake, though the name never comes up again. Additionally, while the main campaign and the Heroes of the Inner Sphere expansion feature considerable amounts of dialogue from him, content from later expansions don't give him any lines at all. Until Solaris Showdown, that is, where he's even more talkative than he was in the base game's campaign, and even mentions his first name multiple times.
• Feeling Their Age: Mason complains he's getting too old to deal with Duncan Fisher. Seeing as the campaign canonically starts in 3015 and the mission where he complains takes place in 3041, he's approaching fifty at the youngest.
• Meaningful Name: In Masonic terminology, "will no-one help the widow's son?" is used to indicate a member of the organization is in distress, and the game's storyline begins with the death of his father.
• Player Character: He is your representative in the Inner Sphere throughout the game, and the only MechWarrior in the unit who cannot die if his BattleMech is destroyed.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: This may come with the territory to an extent, but it is nonetheless rather noticeable that he may ultimately be doing to several other people over the course of the game the very same things that set him on his own path of revenge against Black Inferno. He really is quite fortunate that most people, even in the BattleTech universe, are not MechWarriors like himself, mercenary or otherwise.

Leon Freeman

Your first lancemate, and the only one who has involvement in a mission prior to joining you. You meet him in the field when you are hired to reinforce his unit and protect an archaeological dig site searching for Star League relics. He joins upon mission completion, bringing his Jenner with him.

• Mauve Shirt: Despite being present for a scripted mission, with plenty of lines of dialogue as the mission progresses, after joining your unit he can die just like any other hired pilot.
• Sole Survivor: Aside from the Blackjack you may attempt to save on your way to his location, which will die in short order – practically guaranteed at the level of progression you would normally play this level at, though it is possible to save him in Instant Action playthroughs after-the-fact – Freeman is the last soldier standing in defense of the dig site.

Ryana Campbell

An ex-Eridani Light Horse MechWarrior who served with the Cavaliers founders prior to them striking out on their own, and your adjutant within the Cavaliers.

• Brave Scot: She is of Scottish descent, and originally piloted a Highlander into battle before she took up command positions in her later ventures.
• Dirty Business: Though an experienced merc herself, Ryana has a clear distaste for bandits and needless civilian casualties (and particularly bandits who cause needless civilian casualties). This doesn't stop her from supporting you if you choose to engage in some questionable missions yourself, though she'll make the occasional comment about hoping you don't make a habit of it.
• Mission Control: Ryana is the voice you will hear most frequently throughout the game besides those of your lancemates.