Characters / Rayman

aka: Rayman 1995

Character pages for the Rayman video game series.

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Characters by order of first appearance

• Rayman ^note Betilla the Fairy, The Magician, Mr. Dark, Bad Rayman, Electoons
• Rayman 2: The Great Escape ^note Globox, Ly the Fairy, Murfy, Admiral Razorbeard, Robo-Pirates, Polokus (The Bubble Dreamer), Clark, The Guardians, The General, Jano/The Guardian of the Cave of Bad Dreams, Teensies, Lums, The Grolgoth
• Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc ^note André, Reflux, Begoniax, Razoff, The Hoodlums
• Rayman Origins/Legends ^note Teensy Queen, Mister Death, Raymesis, The Nymphs, Holly Luya, Edith Up, Annetta Fish, Helena Handbasket, Fée de la Mort/Big Mama/Voodoo Mamma, Wendy Weather, The Kings, Carnivora, The Mocking Bird, El Stomacho, Creveton, Barbara
• Rayman Party Games ^note Henchman 1000, Tily, Razorwife, Dark Rayman, Dark Globox, Globette, Raving Rabbids
  • Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• Rayman: The Animated Series ^note Betina, Lac-Mac, Cookie, Flips, Rigatoni, Inspector Grub

The Title Character

Rayman

Clockwise: Rayman 1, Rayman 2, Origins and Legends, and Rayman 3.

Voiced by (French): Fabrice Melquiot (Rayman Dictées), Michel Mella (Rayman Maternelle and Rayman CP), Pierre Alain de Garrigues (singing voice in Rayman Maternelle and Rayman CP, Raymanian voice track in Rayman 2: The Great Escape), Emmanuel Garijo (Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Rayman: The Animated Series, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc), Sébastien Mineo (Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope), Guillaume Darnault (Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix)

Voiced by (English): Steve Perkinson (Rayman, Rayman Junior and Languages with Rayman), Billy West (Rayman: The Animated Series), David Gasman (Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Rayman M, Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc, Raving Rabbids games, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope), Doug Rand (Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends), David Menkin (Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix)

The limbless hero of the Glade of Dreams, and the eponymous protagonist of the series, always raring for a fresh adventure to save the world.

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• Achilles' Heel: Rayman's Floating Limbs may be good for long-range combat and grant him additional agility, but if he somehow loses them he's essentially helpless until he retrieves them again. During the first section of Hoodlum Havoc, Rayman could do little more than a weak kick after Globox accidentally stole his hands, and in the first level of the GBA version of Raving Rabbids he's practically defenseless.
• Adventure Duo: With Globox.
• Ambiguously Human: While it's never directly stated what he is, he does look vaguely human. That is, until you compare him to the human princesses in later games, which don't look like him at all.
• Anime Hair: Rayman's signature 'do predominantly consists of two — in his first appearances, three — big rabbit ear-like bangs that always remain separate... and that he can spin like helicopter blades to glide.
• Art Evolution: With every passing game, his design changes with the art style.
• Badasses Wear Bandanas: He wears one in the mobile game Rayman Adventures.
• Bag of Spilling: Often loses his abilities from past games. This is actually justified in Rayman 2, in which it's explicitly said that the destruction of the Heart Of The World caused the loss of most of, if not all of, his powers, and averted in Rayman 3, where still retains his core powers from 1 and 2, and Rayman Legends, in which he keeps his full skillset from Rayman Origins.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He may be goofy and manic, especially in the UbiArt games, but he's still perfectly capable of knuckling down when push comes to shove.
• Big Eater: He eats fruits, rhythmically, like no tomorrow.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: Rayman is the little guy to Globox's big guy.
• Blood Knight: Not in the first few games, but Origins onwards replaces his fairly standard heroic personality in favor of one that, while still heroic in his own way, loves beating up bad guys.
• Born as an Adult: As shown in the early trailers of Origins, Rayman looked no different when he was first created by Betilla than how he looks in the other games (well, aside from the different artstyle). Then again, this backstory comes from an early version of the game, so it may or may not still be canon.
• Brooklyn Rage: Downplayed example. In the animated series, Rayman has a Brooklyn accent — courtesy of Billy West — but is otherwise the same level-headed hero he is in the games of the time.
• Butt-Monkey: Is subject to no small number of indignities in the Rabbids games, where the Rabbids delight in making him their plaything.
• Cartoon Creature: You look at him and try guessing what he is. A man? A vegetable? A thingamajig?
• Character Development: The creators of Rayman Origins were originally going to give him this to show how he became the hero he is today, but their plans were severely derailed (see Manchild for more information).
• Characterization Marches On: In Rayman 2, he has a fairly standard heroic personality, while Rayman 3 gives him more of a sarcastic and cocky edge. Sparks of Hope leans into a happy medium between the two; selfless and courageous, but slightly egotistical and cautious of his foes.
• Conjoined Eyes: From Rayman 3 onward.
• Costume Evolution: Trades his scarf for a drawstring hood as of Hoodlum Havoc, which has remained an integral part of his design ever since.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In the Origins continuity, he's kind of an airhead, but when evil shows up, he can, and more often that not will, lay down a beating.
• Deadpan Snarker: Rayman gains a bit of a dry wit in Hoodlum Havoc and Hoodlums' Revenge, and occasionally gets some amusing quips in.
  Murfy: Hey Rayman, I think we are almost at the end of the level!
  Rayman: Really? Maybe that's why there's this big "Exit" sign here.
• Demoted to Extra: In the original Rayman Raving Rabbids game, he was plot-critical and the only playable character. In the second game, he's still playable, but you can play as a Rabbid and Rayman's story doesn't get resolved. In TV Party, he only appears in cutscenes. He's missing entirely in the succeeding Raving Rabbids games, as from Rabbids Go Home onward, his series and the Rabbids' series were separated.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
  • His initial appearance in the first game gave him giant, bulbous Sphere Eyes. Rayman 2 shrinks them down immensely, and Rayman 3 onward gives him completely flat Conjoined Eyes. His Sparks of Hope design restores the sphere eyes.
  • Rayman wore a neck bandana for Rayman 1 and 2, as well as the games associated with them. Starting with Rayman 3, his outfit was modernized and changed to be a hoodie.
• Energy Ball: In some games — most notably Rayman 2 — Rayman has an ability known as the Magic Fist, which lets him generate bouncy spheres of energy in his hands to throw at enemies. He also later gains the ability to charge them up to make them bigger and more destructive.
• Floating Limbs: Trope Codifier. The real-life reason is because his arms and legs were too difficult to animate in the early 1990s. The in-universe reason (as of Rayman Origins) is because the nymphs that were tasked with creating him dropped some Lums while running away from Zombie Chickens.
• Fragile Speedster: In Origins and Legends, he is very agile, but can be defeated by taking only a single hit or two. In earlier installments, due to having a health bar, he was more of a Lightning Bruiser.
• Good Morning, Crono: In most titles, Rayman is usually first seen snoozing or otherwise lazing about before being forced into action. Even his very first appearance in a game (in the intro cutscene to the original Rayman) had him chilling in a hammock on the beach.
  Magician: They definitely need a hero, don't cha think? RAAAYMAAAN TO THE REEESCUUUE!
  Rayman: (gives a lazy thumbs-up without moving from his hammock) No problem.
• Goth: One of his alternate costumes in the first two Rabbids games dresses him up as a goth, wearing an all-black ensemble and having noticeably paler skin.
• Guile Hero: Exclusive to Rayman: The Animated Series, as he relies more on his wits than his powers in order to get his friends and himself out of trouble.
• Heli-Critter: Thanks to his below-mentioned hair that he can spin super-fast, Rayman can use it to glide or fly. Interestingly, Hoodlums' Revenge has Rayman mention that he's been able to do it all his life, but he was actually granted it as a mid-game superpower by Betilla the Fairy in the original Rayman.
• Helicopter Hair: Rayman's other main defining trait is his hair, which he can spin like a helicopter rotor to either glide through the air or outright fly with certain power-ups.
• The Hero: The main character of all the games — except for Raving Rabbids, where he takes a backseat to the Rabbids themselves — and the only character playable in all of them.
• Heroic BSoD: During the Downer Beginning to Rayman 2, Rayman has been captured by Admiral Razorbeard's Robo-Pirates — having recently lost his superpowers from when they blew up the Heart of the World — and is quietly despairing in his cell by the time Globox gets thrown in with him. However, when Globox gives him a Silver Lum to escape, Rayman returns to form.
• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: In Origins and Legends, where he's much more of a mischievous loon who, while still heroic in a different way, loves a good fight and beating up villains. Notably, he and the rest of his friends have no issue with inflicting various Amusing Injuries on each other.
• Heroic Mime: A downplayed example in Hoodlum Havoc, leaning more towards The Quiet One: Rayman makes all sorts of grunts and such, and occasionally says "Yay me!" and "Yes!" after winning more difficult fights in gameplay, but during scripted dialogue, you will only hear him actually talk a grand total of six times in the game; two of which are in the video cutscenes.
• He's Back!: A major part of Rayman 2. The majority of his Heroic BSoD isn't really shown, however, and only implied by the game's manual; the game proper starts right before his return to form when Globox gives him a Silver Lum to restore his Magic Fist, or his Telescopic Fist in Rayman Revolution.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He and Globox are rarely seen apart.
• Iconic Outfit: Rayman's outfit never changed between games. It includes a purple sleeveless shirt with an "O" emblem and a red scarf — swapped out with a drawstring hood starting from his redesign in Rayman 3 — white gloves and yellow and white-trimmed sneakers.
• Idiot Hero: In the UbiArt games, implied to be as a result of his age and/or having lost several crucial parts of himself — most notably, his limbs — when he was first created by the Nymphs.
• The Leader: In the animated series, he's usually the one coming up with the plans for the group and organising them. Generally acts as this in the UbiArt games also.
• Lightning Bruiser: He is very agile, his fist attacks are quite powerful, and in most games — especially Rayman 2 and 3 — he is shown to survive normally deadly hazards like falling from very high places on solid ground without as much as a scratch. Due to game mechanics, however, he's shown to be more of a Fragile Speedster in Origins and Legends.
• Manchild: The original idea for Rayman Origins was to show his evolution from immature buffoon to the hero he is today. This got severely derailed during its development; and so in that continuity, he's a fun psychopath who likes bashing enemies' faces... and sometimes his own friends'.
• Mascot: Shares this role with the Rabbids for Ubisoft and Unicef.
• Meaningful Name: Rayman is a variation of "Raymond" meaning "wise guardian", reflecting his level-headedness guardianship of the Glade of Dreams. Not so much in the Origins continuity though, where he's more of a lovable loon with an impetuous and comically-violent streak.
• Megaton Punch: Rayman's go-to method of attack are his floating fists, which he can use to punch with incredible force. Often, he can outright send enemies flying with a single blow.
• Metalhead: The musical levels in Legends, which are mostly rock-based, show him headbanging and platforming through them without missing a single beat. When he comes back in Sparks of Hope, he brings his guitar with him and can still belt out a tune with the best of them.
• Moses in the Bulrushes: In his Rayman 2 backstory; he was found by fishermen off the coast of the Glade, with no-one knowing how he got there. Collecting all of the Yellow Lums expands on this, revealing that Rayman was in fact the only being in the Glade of Dreams not to have been dreamed up by Polokus, and that he's the only one who can receive powers from the Fairies.
  The Knowledge Of The World: Some say you are the Chosen One of all the Gods. Who knows...?
• Multiple-Choice Past: As evidenced by all the retcons, it's hard to tell which version of his genesis is the real one. At this rate, it's probably easier to just pick your favorite.
• Mysterious Past: The first Rayman implied that he was already an established character in his world. It wasn't until Rayman 2 that his past was to be explored. In the game, it claims he was found washed up on the beach by a fisherman on the Sea of Lums, that he's the only being who can receive superpowers from Silver Lums, and unlike every other living creature in the Glade of Dreams, was not dreamt up by Polokus. Rayman Origins states that he was created by the fairies to combat the First Bad Dream. The PlayStation Vita version also tells us that he was bald and had a wife, who left him after orange hair-like creatures latched on to his head; which also explains his Helicopter Hair.
• Nice Guy: A selfless and bold hero who'll go through hell and back to protect his friends and world.
• Older Than They Look: Rayman is at least a hundred years old by the time of Legends, maybe even older if his various origins are taken into account.
• Pals with Jesus: He's a good friend of the Bubble Dreamer — aka, Polokus — in Origins and Legends.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: His general height is a little inconsistent, but he appears somewhere between 3 and 4 feet tall. Averted in Sparks of Hope where he's a more reasonable height due to Rabbid Peach and Mario being a lot shorter than him.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Globox's Blue, at least in the early games.
• Retcon: His backstory seems to change with every game:
  • He was a native to the Glade of Dreams and was part of a species just like him.
  • He was found by a fisherman, is the only being who wasn't dreamt up by Polokus, and the only one who can use Silver Lums. It's generally implied that this carries into Rayman 3.
  • He was created by the fairies to fight the first nightmares of Polokus. He also used to be bald and had a wife... but only in the PS Vita version, for some reason.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Does a hilarious one in the opening for Origins, when he realizes he's holding a living skull. This gets everyone else screaming.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: In the third game, he's the Manly Man to Globox's Sensitive Guy.
• Spin Attack: His running attack animation is this in Origins and Legends, as well as the iOS games Jungle Run, Fiesta Run, and Rayman Adventures.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: His role as the lead character in Rayman & the Phantom Show has him doing this with the Rabbids, at least at first. He seems apprehensive to even approach Rabbid Mario and Peach considering his history with their species; not helped by Rabbid Peach immediately pulling her gun on him when they first meet. He does, however, develop a genuine bond with them through their battles together.
• Temporary Bulk Change: In Origins and Legends, Rayman can briefly increase the size of his hands and feet to perform superpowered punches, kicks and two-fisted spin attacks with.
• Took a Level in Smartass: Is noticeably more snarky and gains a bit of an arrogant streak in Hoodlum Havoc compared to Rayman 2, but he's still as selfless as ever deep down.
• Useless Protagonist: Is reduced to little more than a Butt-Monkey in the Rabbids games: he fails to save the baby Globoxes in the first, plays no role in actually stopping their invasion in the second (to the point where he accidentally contributes to it), and has to deal with them being trapped in his TV for most of TV Party.
• Would Hit a Girl: Had no problem beating up undead grannies in Origins, and as of Legends, you could, if you so choose, have Rayman give Barbara (or one of the other princesses) a good whack or two.

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