Quake (1996) | Quake II (The Strogg) | Quake III Arena | Quake IV | Quake Champions
See also:
- the Shout Out page for the series
- the Mythology Gag page for the game
Tier 0
Distaff Counterpart of Doom, though she makes her debut in this game. Formerly, Doom's military instructor. Now, she trains and introduces the newcomers to the Arena Eternal.
- Action Girl: She was the one who taught Doom how to do what he does. Considering he was able to single-handedly wage an onslaught on Hell itself, it's safe to say she knows her way around the battlefield as well.
- Distaff Counterpart: A female version of Doom.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Subverted. Despite basically being a drill sergeant she is rather nice.
- Punny Name: Crash, a military instructor, gives you a crash course on how the Arena Eternal operates.
- Remember the New Guy?: She didn't appear in Doom, but she did train that game's hero.
- Space Marine: Modelled after the Trope Codifier, after all.
- Warrior Therapist: Advises the player while blowing them to bits.
- Zero-Effort Boss: In the lower levels, you have to be trying to lose to her, since she only walks very slowly around the map and prefers the shotgun (ignoring the perfectly good plasma gun). Of course, this is only because the point of the map is to get acquainted with the controls and gameplay. Stops applying in the Nightmare difficulty and in Live.
Tier 1: Trainee
The Player Character from the first Quake, Ranger is a veteran of the Slipgate wars. His experiences left him more alien than human. The player fights against him in the Arena Gate.
For tropes regarding him, go to the Quake (1996) character sheet.
Another counterpart to Doom. He led the invasion of the demon-haunted tunnels of Phobos, where he was betrayed by his superiors, who thought they could learn more from watching him die than studying his reports. The player fights against him in the House of Pain.
- Graceful Loser: Most of his chat messages after getting fragged are him complimenting his killer's skills and wondering how far he and them would go as a team."Congratulations, [Player], I am victim to your victor."
- Palette Swap: He has the same model as Doom, just colored yellow.
- Remember the New Guy?: According to his backstory, he was the leader of the mission to Phobos depicted in the original Doom. This could mean that he was one of Doom’s Red Shirt "buddies" mentioned in that game's instruction manual, but regardless, he was never named or described in Doom at all.
- Space Marine: He's modelled after the Trope Codifier, after all.
Not much is known about her, other than her occupations: porn star, master assassin and fashion model. She's part viper, part black widow, and all woman. The player fights against her in the Arena of Death, alongside Orbb.
- Action Girl: As capable of kicking ass as the men.
- Femme Fatale: Has the looks and the ability to kill, being an assassin.
- Ms. Fanservice: A former porn star.
- Statuesque Stunner: The tallest of the women on the roster. And that includes Sorlag.
Once an Arena watcher, he evolved beyond his specifications and became a deadly combatant. The player fights against it in the Arena of Death, alongside Mynx. Later, he appears in the Place Of Many Deaths and the Camping Grounds.
- Adapted Out: He's absent from Arena Arcade.
- Faceless Eye: Literally, his whole form is an eye with techno-organic legs and a weapon-carrying unit.
- Oculothorax: An eye with techno-organic legs.
- Your Mom:"Your parental unit."
"Your female parental unit."
A combat veteran. Not much is known about him. The player fights against him in the Powerstation 0218.
- Advertised Extra: He's prominent in promo materials and appears in the intro cinematic of the game. In the game proper, he's just the first boss the player faces in the campaign.
- Cigar Chomper: Both the intro and his model have him with a cigar, meaning he's never without.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Has shades of this judging from his quotes.
- Final Boss: Of the demo ladder.
- Last Stand: Attempted in the intro, against a horde of Strogg. He's warped out by the Arena masters before that happens.
- Mid-Boss: The final boss of Tier 1.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Was in the middle of fending an invasion before being pulled out to the Arena Eternal.
- Suddenly Voiced: Gets voicelines in Quake III: Revolution.
Tier 2: Skill
The main Player Character of Quake II, he's a veteran of the Strogg wars. According to the manual, the Strogg did some experiments on him, which left him more Strogg than human. The player fights against him in the Place Of Many Deaths, the Camping Grounds and Brimstone Abbey.
For tropes related to him, go to the Quake II character sheet.
One of the characters from Quake II. Nathan Grunt is a Strogg invasion veteran who still fights a war that ended years ago. He's fought in the Place Of Many Deaths, the Camping Grounds, and the Temple of Retribution.
- Ascended Extra: A selectable multiplayer skin in Quake II, he becomes a full-fledged warrior in this game.
- Decomposite Character: He's the default selectable skin in II, so he's usually associated with the name Bitterman. In this game, Bitterman is a separate entity from Grunt, with the former having the name and personality in addition to an exclusive look, while the latter has the appearance and the name alongside his personality.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": "Grunt" is a slang word for a rank-and-file soldier such as himself, but it's also his actual last name.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Survivor of the Strogg invasion and posterior assault on Stroggos.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Following the default appearance in II, this hero of the Strogg war uses sleeveless armor, showing his huge arms.
A character who looks like a big fat guy who would have been out of place here. The manual says that he's nimbler than that. The player fights against him in the Forgotten Place and the Camping Grounds.
- Acrofatic: Has a pot belly, and moves and jumps at the same speed as the rest of the characters.
- Lightning Bruiser: In-universe, the manual shows him like this.
- Palette Swap: The model selection screen lists him as an alternate skin for Biker, who nevertheless appears later than him in the single-player mode.
A Bounty Hunter who doesn't care who or what is in her sights. The player fights against her in the Forgotten Place, the Camping Grounds and the Temple of Retribution.
- Bounty Hunter: As specified in the manual.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Sprouts a lot of lines such as "Hasta la vista", "Adios" or "Te hablo luego".
- Palette Swap: A reskin of Major.
- Statuesque Stunner: One of the tallest women on the roster.
The second boss character of the game. She's an inhabitant of Tau Ceti who seeks revenge against the Sorg, Sorlag's race, for destroying her village. She's fought in the Proving Grounds.
- Demoted to Extra: ZigZagged. A boss in the PC version, a regular foe in Revolution... then back to a boss in Arena Arcade.
- Mid-Boss: The final boss of Tier 2.
- Ms. Fanservice: An alien-hunter who wears next to nothing.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: What she wants on the Sorg race, especially Sorlag, according to All There in the Manual.
- Statuesque Stunner: One of the tallest women on the roster.
Tier 3: Combat
- Evil Laugh: Shares the same hammy laughter as Visor.
- Palette Swap: Of Visor.
- Rhymes on a Dime:"Here lies, <player>, the scab. Fought a god and bought a slab."
"Here lies, <player>, the whining puke. He'd have had more chance if he swallowed a nuke."
- Palette Swap: A recolored Ranger.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: A survivor of the Slipgate Wars.
- Double Entendre:
- Hit her without killing her, and you get this gem:Ooh, I like the rough stuff.
- There's also this other gem when she dies in the lava:Now you think I'm hot, right?
- Hit her without killing her, and you get this gem:
- Insistent Terminology:"Robot?!?! I'm a synthetic humanoid, thank you very much."
- Take That!:"Hey, <player>, repeat after me ... I WILL brush my teeth."
- Turned Against Their Masters: After being created by a sculptor to be his ideal companion, she lashed out and killed him.
A test subject for cybronic implants who entered the Arena Eternal.
She gets a bit of extra story in Champions: It was her grandmother's music box. Its tiny ice-skater twirled to Swan Lake. She loved it. She couldn't sleep without hearing its tune. Then she heard it in her dreams. Then always. She would become a skater herself. She would twirl and twirl until the music stopped. But it never stopped. She began to see dark, spidery things. When the clozapine didn't help, she turned to heroin. In the shooting gallery, she met Anarki. He saw things, too. They became inseparable... until the things they saw became real.
Her active ability in Champions is "Plasma Trail". When activated, Slash leaves a destructive trail of plasma behind her. By activating the ability a second time, she can cause the trail to explode, dealing more damage. Her passive ability is "Crouch Slide". If Slash crouches while moving, she continues moving at full speed for a short time.
- Artificial Limbs:
- Outright stated in her III bio to be a "test bed for cybronic implants".
- Confirmed in Anarki's Lore Codex in Champions to be a transhuman like him.
- Credits Gag: Trying to control her skates in The Stinger of the PC version of III.
- Cute and Psycho: According to Champions, she still has the teddy bear from her childhood, while being a murderous drug addict.
- Cyborg: Downplayed Trope compared to her III's appearance, where her variants tend to show her with no cybernetic implants except for implied ocular implants for her "Darque" skin variant and "Kitty Tail" implant.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Slash has plenty of spiked accessories (among other details usually found in bad guys such as plenty of sharp objects made for cutting and, well, slashing) across her costumes, yet her evilness or goodness is left ambiguous.
- Electronic Eyes: Her eyes while wearing the "Darque" costume in Champions are this. Even the head attachment "Unknowable sights" provides another style.
- Flipping the Bird: She does this when activating "Plasma Trail" in Champions.
- Foil: According to Champions, both she and Anarki are rebellious extreme sports enthusiasts who met each other at a shooting gallery and went into the portal. The major differences are that Slash generally appeared to be "normal", her preference for in-line rollerskates, and her minuscule amounts of cybernetic implants tend to be subtle ones like electronic eyes for Darque set and raised in an impoverished background.
- No Name Given: Her Lore Codex entries in Champions refuse to reveal her name, just adding [juvenile] where her name should be.
- Rollerblade Good: She doesn't walk or run, she skates. Several costumes in Champions have additional decorations for it such as blades and spikes. Too bad she can't use them in battle.
- Stripperiffic: Many of her costumes in Champions bare the upper part, some of them bare her midriff and display a bit of leg meat to say the least.
- Mid-Boss: The final boss of Tier 3.
Tier 4: Warrior
- Ascended Extra: Just for being an offspring between two mooks.
- Activation Sequence: One of his start quotes.Power up ... systems on-line. Pathetic carbon-based [fighter]s targeted.
- Badass Boast: In chat, he's very to the point about his threats and overall has a confident cadence about him.Selecting [random enemy] for initial termination.
Sensors indicate [random enemy] as best choice for minimal risk 'frag.'
Nothing but inferior lifeforms indicated in [map name]. - Distinctive Appearances: He doesn't resemble the Tank enemies in Quake II, his head seems more organic than his predecessors, who had the skin of their presumably organic selves, stapled on their endoskeleton. His legs do not match the plantigrade anatomy, looking more along the lines of a chicken walker digitigrade. His orange color doesn't match the metal-green tones nor the red and black of the regular Tanks or their commander class. He doesn't even have the neck cables his counterparts have. There is also the fact that despite being a cyborg, he doesn't have pain sounds/flinching, something his Quake II contemporaries have. Ironically he looks more properly consistent than his fellow cyborg, Bitterman.
- Composite Character: His arm weapons (what seems to be some sort of maul and a blade) make him resemble a Berserker Strogg.
- Robo Speak: Many of his dialogues in the text chat revolve around.
- Silicon Snarker: Tank Jr. During chat often boasts in a stilted, stereotypically robotic way. Sometimes it is hard to tell if some of what he says are just sarcastic remarks (like having a nuke inside of him, that he can't activate) or plain facts. He mocks his enemies and sometimes references the Strogg modus operandi of removing his enemies' flesh to supply his own. He even says some things that aren't as dispassionate as he usually is:Systems indicate sniveling baby that's ready to die.
DATA INQUIRY: How many hits to reach the juicy center?
PLAYBACK RECORDING: '[fighter]! Scumsucking re-wound ball of puke!
- [If the player kills himself] Opponent [enemy] successful in activation of self-destruct sequence.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Described as "a sort of hip, Cyber Vampire" in his profile, with pale skin and gruesome cybernetics contrasting his biker aesthetic.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Wears the USA flag as his bandanna.
A street punk who turned into transhumanism... out of boredom.
In Champions, he gets a bit more backstory: Anarki's rebellion began with the usual self-vandalism, but he craved something greater and found it in transhumanism. Using family riches, he underwent increasingly extreme cybernetic surgeries. After a microelectrode pierced his pineal gland, Anarki perceived a surreal, alien reality breakthrough. He eagerly sought more procedures, ignoring the insomnia. Each strengthened his perception of the hidden realm. But only once he met a girl who saw it, too, was he sure he could reach it.
Anarki's active ability in Champions is "Injection". On use, Anarki restores his health to full while also permanently increasing his maximum health and gaining a temporary speed boost. His passive ability is "Hoverboard Pro", which allows Anarki to change direction more easily when in the air.
- Artificial Limbs: His robotic left arm in Champions and most of his body in III.
- Bourgeois Bohemian: A darker example of the trope, in Champions he was implied to be a member of a privileged background where he was able to obtain funds to sport his extensive cybernetic implants.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: To the point that his grip on reality, according to Champions, began to loosen as he replaced more and more of himself with machinery, and he started to perceive eldritch alternate realities.
- Cyborg: His bio in both games states that he underwent extreme cybernetic surgeries to achieve transhumanism.
- Delinquent Hair: Sports a mohawk in Champions.
- Dem Bones: His "Bone Daddy" costume in Champions turns him into an undead skeleton.
- Foil: In Champions, both he and Slash are extreme sports enthusiasts with rebellious streaks, which act as a catalyst for their friendship when they meet together at a shooting gallery. In contrast to Slash, Anarki is a (former) member of the upper class who used his wealth for his extensive cybernetic surgeries along with his use of a skateboard.
- Heal Thyself: Anarki can regenerate his entire health bar in Champions with his "Health Injection" ability, and increase the top health up to 125 health points, two pints each time the ability is used. As a countermeasure, its cooldown time is the highest in the game (45 seconds).
- Hover Board: In both games, though it's purely cosmetic in III. In Champions it's what allows him to benefit from "Hoverboard Pro".
- Leet Lingo: He's prone to using this in most of his chat messages.
- Mid-Boss: The final boss of Tier 4.
- Mouth Stitched Shut: It's never explained why his lips are stitched together, but that's why all of his vocalizations sound like they're going through a closed mouth.
- Musical Assassin: His "Shrieker" guitar accessory in the "Vanity" category in Champions. The guitar itself was sold to him by a musician who made a Deal with the Devil, so the guitar whispers dark thoughts in Anarki's mind after he stops playing it.
- Painting the Medium: His name appears in a rainbow coloration to further cement his showboating personality.
- Pineal Weirdness: According to Champions, he began to perceive alien dimensions after a microelectrode pierced his pineal gland.
- The Quincy Punk: He's the futuristic cyborg version of this trope.
- Rollerblade Good: His skateboard, which allows him to stay in the air for a bit longer than his enemies.
- Totally Radical: His chatlines are written in Xtreme Kool Letterz format, and has several of these attitudes, as seen in taunt lines from III:"Oh ~d00d! <map> is like my totally favorite place to hang."
"I ride in kewler circles, lamer. CU L8r." - The Undead: His "Bone Daddy" costume in III is the logical extreme, turning him into a punk skeleton.
- Verbal Tic: Has a tendency to repeat "d00d!" every sentence in III.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Anarki's default costume in III.
Tier 5: Veteran
Visor is an enigmatic combatant of the Arena Eternal.
In Champions he gets a bit more of backstory: To produce the perfect infantry, Moscow’s GRU deployed cybernetics, genetics, and even cloning. The result: tireless operatives impervious to panic or pain, with “manageable” psychopathy. But their senses were dulled—especially sight. The GRU turned into a cryptic American scientist and double agent. Just 3 of 20 subjects returned, each with a grafted mask, inexplicably normal vision, and the ability to see through matter. Attempts to reverse-engineer the mask were fatal and revealed only a layer of putrefied blood within the mask. Disposal of the casualties remains unconfirmed.
Visor's active ability in Champions is "Piercing Sight", which allows him to see enemy players through walls for 5 seconds. His passive ability in Champions is "Full Sprint", which gives him a Light champion's speed and a higher speed cap.
- Artificial Limbs: His legs are cybernetic, which allows him to pick up extra speed with "Full Sprint" in Champions.
- Ascended Extra:
- Bears a distinct resemblance to the basic Strogg Guards fought in Quake II.
- Quake Champions indicates he has no relation to the Strogg at all, and is a Russian cyborg Super-Soldier from the same cyberpunk alternate universe that Slash and Anarki are from.
- Bilingual Bonus: Most of his voice lines in Champions are in Russian.
- The Blank: Courtesy of the visor on his face.
- Body Horror: Aside from that lovely tidbit about his mask, Visor's skin isn't strictly part of his body according to flavour text - he simply grafted his old human skin over his cybernetics, and some of his alternate costumes play this element up for a patchwork appearance.
- Cyborg: Everything below his waist is cybernetic, as well as various other parts of his body, most notably his face.
- Evil Laugh: His taunt in III: Arena is a particularly hammy one.
- Facial Horror: According to his Champions bio, the masks on Visor and his fellow super soldiers are grafted onto their skulls and impossible to remove without killing the owner. The GRU attempted to surgically remove one of the masks for study and found nothing but unidentifiable blood and gore underneath.
- My Brain Is Big: The "Psionic" costume in Champions features a swollen, malformed forehead with an optional armored covering.
- Psychic Powers: Alluded to in his "Psionic" costume in Champions. One of the remaining supersoldiers in Visor's unit had such power, and the project to further explore this was terminated when he convinced a team of researchers to rip out their organs.
- Soviet Superscience: While not Soviet, according to his Champions bio, Visor was created through Russian supersoldier experiments. He has the accent down though.
- X-Ray Vision: His "Piercing Sight" ability in Champions allows him to see through walls.
The Terran Coalition's reverse-engineering of Slipgate travel created new frontiers – and wars. In the Subic system, thousands of mining colonists were slaughtered by the Klesk, an indigenous chitinid race. The first casualty: Lance Corporal Ben Keel, a marine on perimeter duty. To learn what happened, Coalition scientists used neuroprosthetics and poorly understood xenobiology to resurrect Keel. He returned to life with a mostly robotic body but with his mind and memories seemingly intact. Only weeks later did the fugues start, each bringing longer-lasting visions of a shadowy hellscape.
His active ability is "Grenade Swarm", which simply consists of him firing his shoulder-mounted grenade launchers. It can charge several times before use and can be used alongside conventional weapons, giving Keel some serious firepower. He has two passive abilities: "Stockpile" reduces the cooldown time of his active ability every time he collects an ammo pickup, while "Reinforced" reduces the splash damage by 15%.
- Back from the Dead:
- Died during an insurrection in his backstory in III, was revived as a Cyborg.
- In Champions, the cause of his death was slaughter at the hands of the Klesk.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Has no problem in cracking jokes and just goofing around while blowing his opponents to bits.
- Crazy-Prepared: Plenty of his accessories in Champions are supplies.
- Cyborg: In both games, reconstructed after his body was torn.
- Grenade Launcher: In the form of his two shoulder cannons in Champions.
- Or Was It a Dream?: It's insinuated in his Champions backstory that the cybernetics were what ultimately led him to see the wartorn setting of the game, but given that it's a reality for multiple characters, perhaps the scientists who gave him his upgrades were a figment of his imagination.
- Robotic Reveal: His team skins in III point out that he's indeed a cyborg, in case you haven't figured already.
- Scary Black Man: He's an imposing cyborg with a very deep voice.
- Shoulder Cannon: Two grenade launchers attached to his shoulders in Champions.
- Secret Snack Stash: His artifact in Champions, obtained as the last piece of his Lore Codex, is a piece of cake he hides in his suit for "a very bad day".
- Spam Attack: "Grenade Swarm" in Champions gives Keel another weapon to fire alongside the weapon he's currently holding. Since it's his ability, just by filling 20% of the meter he gets one grenade, and the meter can be further filled by picking up ammo boxes, Keel has the potential to fill the land with grenades.
- Mid-Boss: The final boss of Tier 5.
Tier 6: Master
- Buffy Speak:"This gauntlet thingy gnaws right to the bone."
- Dem Bones: It's an animate skeleton packing heat.
- Fridge Logic: Invoked:(Description in the manual) "This fearsome foe showcases the powers of the Vadrigar, for it has no true life of its own. But it begs the question: Where do the gibs and blood come from??"
- Pungeon Master: He can get away with jokes about death and... bones:"Yo, <player>, I got a bone to pick with you."
"I'm NOT gonna need to work my fingers to the bone to beat this crew."
"They all die! Isn't that enough! How many more will be thrown at me?"
- Adapted Out: Is absent from Live due to his gory design.
- Implacable Man: According to his backstory.
- Pungeon Master: In the same vein as Bones, he makes death and corpse-related puns and jokes. His are more morbid and less funny than Bones, though.
The UAC's most remarkable discovery was in Hell's Kadingir Sanctum. Surrounded by nearly impassable terrain, the team discovered a sealed tomb – its entrance and walls covered in protective runes and imprisonment incantations. The tomb revealed many artifacts, including the Praetor suit. Most notable, however, was an enormous sarcophagus bound to the centre bedrock of the tomb with thick iron bands – seemingly anchored to prevent anything from getting in or out. It was believed this sarcophagus must hold a rare or powerful demon, but when later opened, it revealed the body of a man. Unrelenting; unforgiving; driven by a rage that cannot be contained. The Doom Slayer has been to Hell and brought it to its knees. He has no records, and he seems to vanish as quickly as he appears. The few witness accounts available detail a ruthless killer.
His active ability in Champions is "Berserk". Upon activation, the Doom Slayer enters a berserk state for 6 seconds (signed by the first notes of the Doom (2016) rendition of "At Doom's Gate"), only being able to attack his enemies with bare hands, but his damage output increases dramatically. If the ability is used during this state, Doom will lunge at his enemy with a massive blow. His passive ability is "Double Jump". The Slayer can jump twice in succession.
For tropes related to his Doom appearance, go here. For his Doom (2016)/Doom Eternal incarnation, go here.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Invoked in a taunt in III:"You and your little dog Toto too!"
- Call-Back: Every one of his skins in Champions is a call back to the armour worn by older Doomguys of his franchise. This includes Doom I and II, Doom³, and his Quake III incarnation.
- Crazy-Prepared: His "Arena" skin in Champions includes a foot ornament called "Combat Knife", used "for last-ditch efforts" as well as a helmet with laser sightings and an armband filled with Shotgun shells. All of that for display, obviously.
- Double Jump: His passive ability in Champions.
- Hero of Another Story: He's the main character of Doom.
- Named in the Sequel: This is the first game to give Doom's protagonist a name, although the simple name of "Doom" wouldn't stick; later games in his series, as well as Quake Champions, would christen him the Doom Slayer.
- Space Marine: The original! Accept no substitutes.
- Suddenly Voiced: In Champions, he went from The Voiceless to having the pain grunts from Doom Eternal played when taking damage.
- Theme Music Power-Up: When he uses his "Berserk" ability in Champions, a snippet of At DOOM's Gate from DOOM plays.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: He seems to be under the impression that the rules of single-player Doom still apply in his current situation, as he mentions searching for colored keys to unlock doors multiple times, despite keys not existing in this game."Over? I haven't found the blue key card yet!"
A mercenary Sorg merchant who resorts to every measure to get ahead of the trade.
In Champions, her backstory is extended: Her clan harvested the most warmbloods; they gorged themselves and had flesh-stock left over. Many credited the Haruspex, who could open terrifying windows to the Other Place using the warmbloods' steaming guts. As their best hunter, Sorlag credited herself. She would expose him by using the warmblood's forcefield devices to spill his "sacred" bowel-bowl. Morning came, the ritual began, and all saw the Other Place—dark, metal, cold. Sorlag leapt with the device. But her claws had crossed the window. She saw the bowl topple as she was pulled in, screeching.
Sorlag's active ability in Champions is "Acid Spit". Sorlag vomits up a potent acid, dealing damage over time to enemies hit by it and also coating the ground to damage enemies that step in it for a short time. In addition, she has three passive abilities: "Bunny Hop" allows her to gain speed by repeatedly jumping in a single direction. "Acid Fiend" makes Sorlag immune to her own Acid Spit, as well as those of enemy Sorlags. Lastly, "Leaping Lizard" allows her to alter her movement direction in the air.
- Damage Over Time: The effect of her "Acid Spit".
- Expy:
- Her iteration in Champions: she can throw a puddle of acid on the floor which damages her enemies, there's her lizard motif, and she has a rather lengthy tongue. It brings Reptile to mind.
- Her design in Champions also bears a resemblance to the Lizard Men from The Elder Scrolls: Arena, which are also a race of carnivorous Lizard Folk that are known to hunt in packs and have a paralysis attack comparable to Sorlag's Acid Spit.
- Hollywood Acid: Her "Acid Spit" ability spits an area-of-effect acid pool which causes damage over time and can cause blindness if hit directly.
- Like Cannot Cut Like: The "Acid Spit" doesn't work on other Sorlags.
- Lizard Folk: At first glance, she seems like a conventional play on this trope with a huge zeal for hunting, but she is also understandably very protective of her unhatched children and will make a trophy out of anyone who harms them.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Her "Savage" costume in Champions turns her into a fully-armored lizard.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her "Void" costume in Champions description. A Void interloper dared to eat her unhatched eggs, so Sorlag went on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge and tore the interloper a new one, using its remains as armor.
- The Rival: To Hunter, according to her bio in III.
- Samus Is a Girl: Being a non-humanoid character with a voice consisting of hisses and snarls in III, there's nothing to really indicate her gender one way or another, to the point that even some official sources refer to her as a "he" by mistake. Champions makes her gender reveal more obvious, if only by way of giving her a female voice actor.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: While par for the course in the game, she's introduced in Tier 6, composed entirely of platform maps set in the middle of space.
- Distaff Counterpart: Towards Bitterman. They're both heroes and survivors of the Human-Strogg war pulled out into the Arena Eternal.
- Gender Bender: Quake II has a multiplayer selectable skin called "Major", but that game's Major was a man.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Of the Stroggos campaign.
- Statuesque Stunner: One of the tallest women in the roster alongside Sorlag and her Palette Swap Daemia.
Tier Z: Elite
The Final Boss of the base game, Xaero is the sole inhabitant of Tier Z and is as difficult as that suggests.
- Artificial Limbs: Has a third arm that looks and acts mechanic. It's all for show, though.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: His goal, and what happens to him when you finally defeat him in the PC version.
- Boss-Arena Idiocy: Tends to jump towards the BFG10K trap more often than not - and getting him to either bump into the crusher or get smashed by it is pretty easy to do every time. Xaero can also make you lose frags this way, though it's less likely he will get to the switch first.
- Final Boss: Of every version, sans the PS2 port, where you fight him before confronting Vadrigar for the last time.
- Robotic Reveal: His team skins point out that they're indeed cyborgs, in case you haven't figured already.
- Sniper Duel: The map you fight him sets up the final battle to be this, with a railgun in short range of every spawn point. Not only that, he prefers to use the railgun and is deadly accurate with it as well.
- SNK Boss: Can easily snipe you from a mile away, all in the blink of an eye, and makes sniping him a lot more difficult by maneuvering and bouncing around. That said, it's also very likely he could fall off the arena you fight him in.
- Taken for Granite:
- When you defeat him in the last match, he magically becomes this before the credits roll.
- In the ending of Arena Arcade, he uses his third arm to inject some sort of substance in his back that petrifies him.
Introduced in Quake III: Team Arena
- Adapted Out: Left out of Live.
- Ascended Extra: Originally a selectable character in the PC version and the first opponent in the small 4-map duel ladder exclusive to Team Arena. He eventually became a full-fledged AI in Arena Arcade.
- Leet Lingo:"Well lookie here! It's the infamous <player>. Time to ph34r those l33t 5k1ll5 again, eh?"
- Palette Swap: Subverted; he lacked them in Team Arena, only receiving them in Arena Arcade.
- Ascended Extra: Became a selectable member of the roster in Live and Arena Arcade after being just a skin over which all other Team Arena characters are generated.
- Featureless Protagonist: Exists as a male base for the other teams in Team Arena.
- I Coulda Been a Contender!: In Live, as a bot James gains chat messages with various Shout Outs to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. One of them is this.
- Ascended Extra: Became a selectable member of the roster in Live and Arena Arcade after being just a skin over which all other Team Arena characters are generated.
- Featureless Protagonist: Exists as a female base for the other teams in Team Arena.
- Adapted Out: Left out of Live.
- Ascended Extra: Originally a selectable character in the PC version and the second opponent in the small 4-map duel ladder exclusive to Team Arena. She became a full-fledged AI in Arena Arcade, and even made it as a boss.
- Mid-Boss: The last fought before Xaero in Arena Arcade.
- Palette Swap: Subverted; she lacked them in Team Arena, only receiving them in Arena Arcade.
Introduced in Quake III Revolution
- Ascended Extra: A Palette Swap for Razor in the PC version, a full-fledged AI opponent in Revolution.
- Ascended Extra: A Palette Swap for Sarge in the PC version, a full-fledged AI opponent in Revolution.
- Defeat Means Playable: Win the bonus rung in order to unlock her.
- Guest Fighter: From the Dungeon Keeper games, based on the Dark Mistress.
- Stripperiffic: Extremely skimpy.
- Defeat Means Playable: Win the bonus rung in order to unlock him.
- Guest Fighter: From the Dungeon Keeper games, based on the Horned Reaper.
The ruler of the Arena Eternal itself, as well as the game's announcer. In Revolution, he becomes the Big Bad.
- Announcer All Along: He's the announcer of the game and the Big Bad of Revolution.
- Big Bad: The main villain of all the games, if Revolution is anything to go by.
-
Descended Creator: One of the Id developers, Christian Antkow, voices him. - Final Boss: Of the PS2 version.
- I Shall Taunt You: In the final match he taunts you at whatever action you do:(Disabling the shields) "It seems I have caught you well. Maybe you're strong."
(Halving his health) "You are strong, indeed, but you will not have victory!"
(On frag) "Ha! Ha! Ha!"
(On hit, but the player not dying) "Beware, warrior! You were weak!"
(On being hit, but no dying) "Is that your best? This will be easier than I thought!"
(On being fragged) "Ah! Enjoy that moment! You shall not have it again!" - Non-Action Guy: In all versions not named "Revolution", he's only limited to announcing awards and in-game events.
- Ornamental Weapon: He is in possession of a large sword during his appearance in Revolution, but he never uses it in combat.
- SNK Boss: Starts with 400 health points, full armor, has every weapon, and attacks you like crazy. In the initial phase of his match, while you're trying to disable the shields so you can confront him, he attacks you from the safety of his place. Fortunately, unlike you, he has only one life.
- Sufficiently Advanced Aliens: And the most powerful of them, to boot.
- This Cannot Be!: And just halfway from the game!"What kind of trickery is this? Never has a warrior triumphed in so many of my arenas! Are you more than you appear? No matter! You will now taste and swallow the bitter pill of defeat!"
- Winged Humanoid: He possesses two sets of wings; one pair angelic, and one pair demonic.
- Ascended Extra: Just a Palette Swap of Uriel in the PC versions, became a full-fledged character in Revolution and Arena Arcade.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: You won't find him as a fightable opponent in the campaign of Arena Arcade outside of challenges.
Introduced in Quake Arena Arcade
- Ascended Extra: Just a Palette Swap of Klesk in the PC versions, became a full-fledged character in Arena Arcade.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: You won't find him as a fightable opponent in the campaign of Arena Arcade outside of challenges.
- Ascended Extra: Just a Palette Swap of Biker in the PC versions, became a full-fledged character in Arena Arcade.
- Masked Luchador: Dressed as one. A heavyweight one.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: You won't find him as a fightable opponent in the campaign of Arena Arcade outside of challenges.
- Ascended Extra: Just a Palette Swap of Biker in the PC versions, became a full-fledged character in Arena Arcade.
- Fighting Clown: He's dressed as if he came back from a party. Not fitting for an "Arena warrior".
- No Campaign for the Wicked: You won't find him as a fightable opponent in the campaign of Arena Arcade outside of challenges.
- Non-Indicative Name: His namesake can be either the Strogg race or the planet inhabited by them.
- Ascended Extra: Just a Palette Swap of Slash in the PC versions, became a full-fledged character in Arena Arcade.
- No Campaign for the Wicked: You won't find her as a fightable opponent in the campaign of Arena Arcade outside of challenges.
