Metro 2033 Characters | Metro 2034 Characters | Metro: Last Light Characters | Metro 2035 Characters | Metro Exodus Characters (Aurora Crew) | Major Factions | Mutants and Paranormal Phenomena
Characters that appeared in Metro 2035.
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Lyokha
Lyokha/Aleksei Zvonariov
- Amusing Injuries: While the severity of his injuries is never downplayed, they are much more commonly Played for Laughs with him, than they are with Artyom.
- Big Bad Friend: He starts as The Lancer to Artyom for the majority of the story. Then comes the trek to Arbat station, where he is revealed to betray his friend Artyom by working as the second-in-command to the Watcher's leader Aleksei Bessolov. It ultimately starts his fall to grace.
- Butt-Monkey: He shares Artyom's terrible luck and quite possibly even surpasses it. However, it is seemingly subverted, when he later betrays his friend after working with Bessolov and the Invisible Watchers, where he is played more seriously.
- The Dragon: He later betrays Artyom after their imprisonment, who is revealed to have been working with Aleksei Bessolov, the leader of the Invisible Watchers, as his second-in-command.
- Game Changer: His act of betrayal to Artyom by becoming Bessolov's number two is considerably played more seriously in Lyokha's run as a character, who is often a Butt-Monkey. This catalyses the betrayal of the Moscow Metro's residents, including Homer, towards Artyom and Anna.
- Humiliation Conga: His visit to the Mendeleyevskaya station. First, he gets hungry and decides to go eat, but it turns out that the only food he can get from the station is a raw egg covered in feces that he has to drink through a straw. Then he drops his bullets in water and when trying to look for them underwater, his hand gets cut by shattered glass and then he almost gets shot by Hanza guards when he's looking for help to his injury and he very nearly bleeds to death due to his injury before he arrives to Tsvetnoi Boulevard.
- The Lancer: He serves as Artyom's sidekick. That is, until his betrayal to Artyom began, when he becomes The Dragon to Bessolov.
- The Pig-Pen: He's described to smell absolutely terrible because of his job in the Riga station, which involves him carrying pig feces over to Exhibition.
- The Tooth Hurts: His teeth get shattered during his and Artyom's assault on the Hanza's radio jammers above ground and he has much trouble speaking for the rest of the novel.
- You Are What You Hate: He ends up joining the Fourth Reich's Iron Legion after Letyaga manages to convince him about their anti-mutant agenda. Only it turns out that he has a tumor that ends up sending him straight into a concentration camp.
Letyaga
Letyaga
A veteran ranger who fought alongside Artyom in the Battle of D6. Two of them have been loyal friends ever since.- AB Negative: He shares Artyom's blood type, which saved his life in the Battle of D6 after he was wounded.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He is clearly a very close comrade of Artyom and they virtually consider each other blood brothers after the above mentioned blood transfusion in D6.
- Taking the Bullet: He saved Artyom this way during the Battle of D6.
- Undying Loyalty: He is willing to protect Artyom even in spite of his orders and ends up dying for this.
Dietmar
Dietmar
Nazi officer who Lyokha and Artyom meet in Tsvetnoy Bulvar and who recruits both of them to the Iron Legion.- Big Bad: Of 2035's first two-thirds. He's a ruthless Fourth Reich official and the leader of the Iron Legion who forcibly conscripts Artyom, Homer and Lyokha on a Suicide Mission to bomb the tunnels to the Theatre station. He's also a Big Bad Friend because of his outward friendship to Artyom, but he does so to send him on that said mission, with the threat of killing Homer should he not follow.
- Big Bad Friend: Starts off with a cordial face in his first encounter with Artyom with Homer and Lyokha to the Reich's home station after the former lost his passport and they were subsequently conscripted into the Iron Legion. But he quickly drops that facade when he sends Artyom on a mission to bomb the tunnels to Theatre station, before threatening Homer if Artyom does not follow his demands, making him the Big Bad of the first two-thirds of 2035.
- The Chessmaster: He's the one who orchestrated Reich's invasion of Theater station.
- Disc-One Final Boss: While he is the threat to Artyom and to the protagonists, not only he dies during the attack on the Theatre station against the Reds, but his death only ends the first two-thirds of the story's conflict. The final third deals with the much bigger elephant in the room and the novel's true Big Bad: Aleksei Bessolov and the Invisible Watchers, who are a bigger menace to Artyom.
- Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto Us: He justifies his plan to invade Theater station by claiming that Red Line is planning to take the station in a few days anyways and the Reich thus has the right to protect the station from communism. Of course this is just a flimsy excuse and after Artyom tells him that the Red Line is having a severe famine due to a mold epidemic in their mushrooms and is not in the condition to invade the Theater, he has no intentions of calling the attack off since he was already aware of the mold epidemic and it was even part of his plan.
- Dragon-in-Chief: He is the highest-ranking officer of the Reich, who works with the Reich's leader Führer/Yevgeniy Petrovich, a character who barely appears in the novel. But Dietmar is the one who is running most of the Reich's invasions to the Red Line. And more so when he even outsmarts the Führer during the Reich-Red Line War, being the one who instigated it without his knowledge.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He is very critical of the Fourth Reich's former racial policies against non-whites and states that it is stupid to judge people simply based on their ethnicity.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's very polite and friendly to Artyom, even when he's forcing him to accept a Suicide Mission at gunpoint or sending him into a concentration camp.
- Killed Offscreen: He dies fighting against the reds in Theatre station while Artyom is enslaved in Pushkinskaya.
Duke
Igor Dukov
Voiced by:
English: Dimitry Rozental
Russian: Alexander Gavrilin
One of Artyom's companions in 2035 and Exodus. In 2035, he is one of the older rangers who survived the Battle of D6 with Artyom. In Exodus, he's a fresh recruit and is the youngest ranger aboard the Aurora.
- AB Negative: He points out that he and Artyom share the same AB+ blood type. This foreshadows that he is one of the key people needed to save Artyom's life later.
- Ascended Extra: He has a larger role in Exodus than he did in 2035
- Blood Knight: Being the youngest and least experienced in the group, he's the most prone to take risks during missions, much to Miller's concern.
- Canon Immigrant: He was originally the protagonist of one of the Expanded Universe novels, but entered the main Metro universe in 2035.
- Composite Character: His personality and background in Exodus combines aspects of Lyokha and Letyaga from 2035.
- Dub Name Change: Only known as Duke in the English dub with his real name never being used.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the bad ending of the Volga chapter, Duke is shot and wounded. Rather than try and escape, he willingly stays behind to lower the bridge and allow Artyom to return to the train.
- Hero-Worshipper: He looks up to Artyom according to Miller and Anna. He is a bit envious that Artyom gets all the adventures.
- The Lost Lenore: Duke has a fiancée back in Moscow that he wanted to return to. He will be denied that chance if Artyom fails to defuse the situation with Silantius' cult.
- New Meat: Downplayed; while he's considered a rookie by the other rangers, he has served in the order for at least a year since he survived the Battle of D6.
Sam
Lance Corporal Samuel Taylor
A California-born US Marine who was a member of the security detail at the US embassy when the nukes hit. During the chaos, he fled to the safety of the Metro, where an angry mob nearly killed him for being a "soldier of the enemy". He was saved by Miller, and returned the favor by joining the Spartan Rangers as the Colonel's personal bodyguard. He serves as one of Artyom's companions in 2035 and Exodus, and as the protagonist of the Sam's Story DLC.
- Abusive Parents: Though he laughs it off, Sam makes it clear he had a poor relationship with his dad before he enlisted. That said, apparently Sam still promised his father that guarding the embassy would be his last tour.
- Arch-Enemy: He serves as one to Klim in Sam's Story.
- Ascended Extra: He goes from a minor character in 2035 to one of the main characters in Exodus and later having his own playable DLC.
- Big Damn Heroes: When Artyom, Anna, and Miller had been captured by cannibals, Sam and Idiot manage to sneak up on and ambush the enemy to rescue the rest of the crew.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: He is Miller's personal bodyguard, pledging himself after Miller saved him from a lynch mob. Reminder that Miller is the leader of the biggest badasses in the Metro. He shows he is more than capable of doing this job, as Miller gets captured and almost eaten, had it not been for Sam (and Idiot) rescuing him.
- But Now I Must Go: After the events of Exodus, Sam bids farewell to his fellow Rangers and set out to Vladivostok, to (hopefully) find a way to return to his homeland, which sets up the events for his personal DLC, Sam's Story.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Post-Exodus, he becomes the titular main protagonist of his own DLC, which is a sequel that takes place after the game's good ending, and he heavily contrasts to The Hero Artyom.
- Artyom is Russian and is a younger man in his late-20s. Sam is an American who is in his late-40s to early-50s and is noticeably bigger and much fitter despite his age.
- Artyom's goal focuses on freeing the Moscow Metro's people from the Invisible Watchers. Sam's goal is on The Homeward Journey opposite to Artyom's, where he plans to leave Russia and head back to the United States by seeking the only method of doing so in Vladivostok to find his (hopefully alive) father.
- Sam is also not a Silent Protagonist and a Heroic Mime, unlike Artyom who embodies the very trope, and he consistently speaks in many instances throughout the DLC.
- While Artyom started out as a survivor in Metro before becoming part of the Order one year after defeating the Dark Ones, Sam is an Experienced Protagonist as he has an extensive military background prior to joining the Order and has been working with Miller as his personal bodyguard for 20 years.
- Deadpan Snarker: Much of his dialogues have him snarking at something or someone.
- Eagleland: A Type-1 Beautiful example in a Russian work. Sam himself is a loyal and experienced Ranger despite his nationality. Unlike Miller, he had doubts on the invasion of NATO and the claims of "official" war with them after the apocalypse.
- Experienced Protagonist: In contrast to Artyom from the first game who is a case of From Zero to Hero, who only becomes The Hero after defeating the Dark Ones in 2033 and saving D6 from the Reds in Last Light, Sam already has experience from the start of his own story, as he's been working with the Order as Miller's bodyguard for two decades and his military background also reflects this heavily.
- Foil: To Idiot. Like Idiot, Sam is close to Miller. If Idiot is Miller's Right-Hand-Man, then Sam is his Left, serving as Miller's personal bodyguard. Between the two, Sam is the brawn, using his combat prowess to support Miller and leaving the tactical planning to Idiot. Their preference in weapons are also directly opposite, with Sam preferring More Dakka and Stuff Blowing Up, while Idiot prefers to be a Friendly Sniper and make his shots count. Both are also thoughtful individuals, but where Idiot habitually speaks in riddles and references, rarely getting to the point or stating what he really means, Sam is much more direct, and will tell you exactly what's on his mind.
- Going Native: He is teased by the other Rangers that if he does go back to California they are gonna mistake him for a Russian. Sam agrees, questioning if he even remembers how to speak English.
- Gratuitous English: Normally averted, and with good reason, but if the game is played with Russian audio on, Sam will often pepper his speech with heavily-accented English. About one in five lines will be spoken like this, most commonly when he's taunting or cursing at his enemies.
- The Homeward Journey: TheSam's Story DLC basically involve Sam trying to find a way to get back to the United States, which heavily contrasts to the previous protagonist Artyom's main goal.
- I Owe You My Life: Miller kept Sam from getting lynched immediately after the bombs fell. An angry mob realized that Sam was an American, one of the countries that had just nuked them, and attacked him in a misplaced sense of revenge. Sam, just as horrified by the bombardment, couldn't bring himself to blame them nor defend himself. It was only Miller showing up, restoring order, and saving/protecting Sam, that Sam survived. Sam has been loyally guarding Miller since that time.
- I Should Write a Book About This: After parting ways with the Aurora crew, Sam contemplates writing about his adventures after he's made his way home.
- Jack of All Stats: Artyom notes him as this in his journal entry. Sam isn't the fastest, strongest, smartest, or best marksman of the Rangers, but he is competent enough in all of those categories to hold his own against the best.
- Just a Stupid Accent: Mixed with Translation Convention - Sam is an American, but is speaking Russian just like all the other characters, and even mentions he may not remember how to speak English anymore. The end effect (in the English version of the game, at least) is everyone from Moscow has a Russian accent except for him, who speaks with an American accent.
- Last of His Kind: As far as Sam knows, he's probably the last American left on Earth, at least until the revelation that triggers the plot of Exodus. Discovering that he's actually not eventually leads him to head out on his own in search of a way home at the end of the main game.
- Meta Guy: Plays this role a bit in the Volga chapter. As the only American, he's the most likely to point out holes in Miller's cover story of Russia being occupied by NATO forces. He also sarcastically notes that asking him what a NATO base looks like after twenty years out of the American military was at best a fool's errand. Notably, unlike much of the crew - such as Damir and Anna - this brings him almost to Only Sane Man status, as he doesn't seem to have ever believed he'd find other Americans in the first place.
- More Dakka: He tends to prefer maximum firepower in Exodus:
- When rescuing Artyom and Anna and escaping on the Aurora during the prologue, he carries a Shambler with a drum magazine and a silencer, suited for the close quarters of the Metro and fighting mutants.
- During the early Volga mission, he carries his AK decked out with: a heavy stock, long barrel, reflex sight, and drum magazine (this modification not even available to the player until much later). Essentially this makes his AK more like an RPK.
- During the escape from the Ark, he apparently managed to acquire a Gatling gun. He puts it to good use too.
- Nonchalant Dodge: A cannibal thinks he has a chance to kill Sam, while Sam was looking away and backing up. Que Sam effortlessly spinning off the guy, knocking him to the ground, and executing him with a couple of bullets to the head. All in one smooth move, with Sam looking like he isn't even putting in any effort.
- Promoted to Playable: Sam is the playable character in the second story expansion, aptly named Sam's Story.
- Remember the New Guy?: Downplayed - he's not mentioned or seen in 2033 or Last Light, but is said to have known and worked with Miller for twenty years. He was benched with a severe wound during the battle for D6, explaining his absence there, but no such explanation for why he didn't make the trip to the Library or Ostankino Tower with Miller.
- Shout-Out: When asked about the post-war NATO military forces, Sam makes a less than subtle reference to Fallout 3. Specially Liberty Prime.
- Considering the bombs fell in 2013, but Fallout 3 came out in 2008, it's likely Sam has played it and realizes the similarities between that game and his situation.
- Stuff Blowing Up: While rescuing the crew in Exodus, Sam throws a grenade into an elevator to pulp the hostiles inside. After a few second, he realizes that the team REALLY could have used that elevator. How American can you get?
- Team Chef: Seems to be the main cook aboard the Aurora since he is often seen there.
- Token Heroic Orc: From the Russian perspective, he's an ex-member of the foreign military that nuked Russia, but the Rangers nor anyone else really hold any enmity against him.
- Token Minority: The only non-Eurasian character in the cast.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In the Volga, if Artyom chooses to kill the river traders to seize their boat, Sam will bitterly and sarcastically congratulate him for needlessly killing a bunch of innocent traders. He gets one himself earlier in the chapter, sneaking up on Damir and pretending to be a NATO soldier as a prank. Damir remarks that his finger was on the trigger and he nearly shot Sam out of reflex, and although Sam brushes it off mentions he should tell Miller about the stupid stunt Sam just pulled.
- Would Not Shoot a Civilian: Sam eventually admits that when the mob of people tried to kill him as a representative of America immediately after the bombs fell, he didn't even try to fight them off because most of them were scared and angry women and children and he couldn't bring himself to even raise his fists to them. This also comes into play in the Volga chapter, as mentioned above — Sam treats you with unbridled disgust for shooting defenseless traders.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Being one of the few Americans who are unlucky enough to be in Russia at the time when the bombs fell, Sam dread he will never be able to return home but still dreams about it for twenty years. After the conclusion of the main story in Exodus, he attempts to try his luck and journey east to the Pacific Ocean, hoping he can find a way home to meet his father again.
Stepan
Voiced by:
English: Brad Grusnick
Japanese: Kosuke Goto
Russian: Mikhail Belyakovich
One of Artyom's companions in 2035 and Exodus. He is a survivor of the Battle Of D6 and the Spartan Rangers' heavy weapons specialist, later joining Artyom's crew aboard the armoured train Aurora.
- Didn't Think This Through: Stepan is selfless to a fault. When he willingly offers his bedroll to Katya and Nastya and volunteers to sleep on the soot, Miller shuts him down by saying he'll just die on his first watch duty because he would never properly rest. He is also out of commission during the Caspian chapter due to him giving his water ration to them, resulting in a heat stroke.
- Gentle Giant: Argues with Commander Miller in favor of letting a hapless wasteland mother Katya and her daughter Nastya join them aboard the Aurora. He also skipped his rations of water in secret so the others would have more.
- Happily Married: After recovering from heat stroke in the Caspian Desert, Stepan and Katya tie the knot.
- Hidden Depths: In spite of his big and rough appearance, he is a remarkably gentle and romantic man. He is also able to play a guitar well.
- Informed Attribute: Despite being listed as the Aurora crew's Heavy Weapons Specialist, he is only ever seen using the AK. Sam is the one who tends to find and use the BFGs.
- The Big Guy: Taller than the rest of the Spartans and crew of the Aurora.
The Mastermind (Unmarked Spoilers)
Aleksei Feliksovich Bessolov
The leader of the Invisible Watchers and the true leader of the Moscow Metro. Once a former TV journalist before the War, Bessolov is the puppet master behind the creations of the main Metro factions, controlling them within the shadows, all for the sake of control.Due to his nature as a Walking Spoiler, there are no spoiler tags for this entry!
- Adapted Out: In Metro Exodus, Bessolov is barely even referenced at all, despite being the main contributor to the infamous reveal of Metro 2035.
- The Bad Guy Wins: In Metro 2035, he and the Invisible Watchers are able to propagandise the citizens of Moscow Metro, leading to all of them but Anna to no longer believe Artyom's truth regarding life above the surface.
- Big Bad:
- In Metro 2035. After Dietmar's death, Bessolov becomes the main villain for the rest of the novel. But unlike Dietmar, Bessolov is the true Big Bad and the biggest threat to Artyom. He is the true leader of the Invisible Watchers, seeking to control the entire Moscow Metro to his whim on the delusions of power and authority, while making life in the Metro miserable and with its people kept in the dark regarding the surface above. He's also responsible for the creation of the Moscow Metro factions and controls them in the shadows.
- Series-wide he is also the Greater-Scope Villain of the franchise, as he is the true wirepuller of the series' main conflicts, including the Battle for D6. It just happens so often that anything regarding the Invisible Watchers is incomplete without Bessolov into the picture, due to his status as a Walking Spoiler.
- Black Mail: Seems to be fond of this to keep the people he controls in line. Bessolov reveals to Artyom regarding an envelope containing several blackmail materials, including a picture of the Führer's mutated daughter.
- Blatant Lies: His primary MO as the propagandist leader of the Invisible Watchers.
- The Chessmaster: Being the creator of the Fourth Reich, Hanza, Spartan Rangers and the Red Line, Bessolov is notoriously known for his infamy of controlling these factions through putting them into wars within each other, all for the sake of his twisted attempts of population control.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In contrast to the Führer and Korbut, who are both leaders with genocidal plans for power and have military armies to back up with, Bessolov heavily leans into propaganda and political manipulation than straight-up violence for his malicious intentions of controlling the Metro's people, where he has a group of members of the remnant Russian oligarchy on his side.
- Corrupt Politician: Despite being somewhat of a Well-Intentioned Extremist, Bessolov is the extremely corrupt leader of the Invisible Watchers, as he is the mastermind of all the main factions in the Moscow Metro. He shows clearly no hesitation of abusing his power to brainwash the gullible residents of the Moscow Metro with his venomous, conspiratorial propaganda, which is just used as an excuse to keep everyone in the Metro in the dark.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Polis, Hanza, Reich and the Red Line and the major conflicts that happened would not exist without Bessolov's manipulation. He's the one who's actually pulling the strings behind the scenes, making him the real mastermind of the franchise.
- Hypocrite: Nearly everything he says about how life above the surface due to the "NATO Invasion" is all but bullshit, as he only uses it to control the population in his lust for power.
- The Man Behind the Man: He is as manipulative as he is, having been able to manipulate the leaders of the four main Moscow Metro factions as his Unwitting Pawns in his schemes, given that he virtually created them in the first place. Everything about the events in the series including the Battle for D6 is mostly his doing.
- Manipulative Bastard: His modus operandi is to force feed the citizens of Moscow Metro propaganda by "warning" them with more Blatant Lies, in an attempt to force them to stay underground. This later becomes a successful tactic, as he was able to completely convince the residents via his propaganda in a whim, leading them to turn against both Artyom and Anna.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Averted. Bessolov, while he never uses force and chaos to obtain power across the Metro, relies more on blackmail, propaganda and manipulation where he actively manipulates everyone in the shadows and has the most significant iron grip on them. His Manipulative Bastard nature makes him essentially more dangerous than both Korbut and the Fuhrer combined.
- Puppet King: Not Bessolov himself, but the Moscow Metro faction's leaders he manipulates. The faction leaders including Miller, Loginov, Moskvin and Petrovich/Führer themselves are revealed to be under Bessolov's control, where their authoritative power is merely them being Unwitting Pawns to Bessolov, who is the one really having most of the power and is running the show in the first place.
- Propaganda Machine: A clear-cut example. Bessolov uses (or rather abuses) his position of authority to endlessly feed lies and propaganda to the residents of the Moscow Metro in an attempt to put them on line.
- Shadow Dictator: Bessolov is the true leader of the Invisible Watchers and has a significant iron grip across the Moscow Metro and its people, essentially turning the entire Metro populace ignorant regarding the truth above the surface. Not even the four Metro faction leaders know who or what he even looks like. Cue 2035 as he makes his first real appearance during Artyom's visit to GO-42 military installation, where he reveals to Artyom regarding the true extent of his and the Watchers' manipulations across the Metro's people and the leaders of all four factions.
- Walking Spoiler: Everything about Bessolov is considered spoiler without mentioning 2035's biggest reveal. As such, mentioning about him will spoil the fact that he's the man behind the four factions of Moscow Metro.
