Character page for the 1985 film Red Sonja.
For the characters of the comic books, see here.
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Sonja and her Allies
Sonja
Red Sonja
Played by: Brigitte Nielsen
Dubbed by: Evelyn Séléna (European French)
A woman whose family was slain by Queen Gedren, and she was herself raped by Gedren's men. A spirit came to her, and gave her the strength to seek vengeance. She went on to train with the best sword masters and became a formidable warrior.
- Action Girl: She becomes a fierce badass very few people can hope to defeat after training with the best sword masters.
- Badass Normal: Sorcery does exist in her world, but being a superbly trained warrior in said world is more than enough.
- Character Title: Red Sonja.
- Cool Sword: When comes the time to choose a sword, she's guided by the voice of the spirit that granted her the strength to seek revenge. The sword she chooses has quite elaborate hilt ornaments, a golden half-moon most notably.
- Does Not Like Men: After her rape, Sonja disliked being touched by them, understandably, although she still felt affection for the Grand Master who taught her. Sonja tells him that she doesn't really hate all men though, but refuses to let them touch her unless they're able to equal or defeat her in combat. Later, she slowly warms up Kalidor, and kisses him.
- Doomed Hometown: Her family and farm are destroyed by Gedren's men at the beginning of the film, and she gets raped.
- Fiery Redhead: Sonja is a red-haired, hot-blooded swordswoman who has righteous fury for Queen Gedren, who had her raped and ordered Sonja's family slaughtered, on whom she has sworn vengeance.
- Friendly Rivalry: She has one with Kalidor, as both are equally great sword fighters.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: She's the story's heroine, and she trained to wield swords.
- Master Swordswoman: She becomes one after training with the best sword masters. Only Kalidor is her match.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: Being a woman, she can touch the Talisman safely.
- Rape and Revenge: She has been raped by Gedren's men. Nothing should stand in her way to get revenge.
- Rape as Backstory: See above.
- Red Baron: "Red" Sonja. Comes from the fact that she's a redhead.
- Stripperiffic: Her outfit's sexiness is quite downplayed compared to her comics
◊ counterparts◊, but it's still very Wonder Woman-esque. - You Killed My Family: Gedren had her whole family slaughtered.
Kalidor
Lord Kalidor of Hyrkania
Played by: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dubbed by: Richard Darbois (European French)
A warrior who was sworn to protect the Order of the Talisman. After the Talisman is stolen by Queen Gedren, he teams up with Sonja in order to find and destroy it before it destroys the world.
- Amazon Chaser: Being a great warrior himself, he's attracted to Sonja due to both her beauty and her prowess in combat.
- Captain Ersatz: Of Conan, for copyright reasons. It could actually be Conan, since he's used many aliases before. He's also called "Lord of Hyrkania" — Hyrkania is a country that's part of Conan's lore (Subotai comes from there in the 1982 film, besides), it's even where the comics version of Sonja is from.
- Cool Sword: Wields a pretty cool sword, with a golden shield ornament on the hilt.
- Friendly Rivalry: He has one with Sonja, as both are equally great sword fighters.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Like Sonja, he's a Master Swordsman.
- Heroic Build: Being played by Arnold Schwarzenegger helps, even though he has no Shirtless Scene to display it to the full, unlike the Conan movies.
- Master Swordsman: The equal of Sonja in sword combat.
- One-Man Army: He tears through Gedren's army without a scratch and takes on Brytag's army alone to allow Sonja a chance to flee the fortified gate.
- Super-Strength: Just as Conan did in his two movies, Kalidor can lift weights way beyond possible for a normal human being.
Tarn
Prince Tarn of Harblock
Played by: Ernie Reyes Jr.
Dubbed by: Jackie Berger (European French)
The young prince of the kingdom of Harblock, which was destroyed by Queen Gedren using the Talisman. He projects to raise a new army and joins Sonja in her crusade against Gedren.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He thinks he's much stronger than he is, and it's up to Sonja to teach him discipline, humbleness and better combat techniques.
- Cool Crown/Cool Helmet: He wears a helmet (or is it a crown?) decorated with red silk and a Pickelhaube-esque spike.
- Defiant to the End: He still utters death threats to the bandits that are about to quarter him.
- Fearless Fool: He doesn't hesitate to jump on Kalidor thinking he is a threat to Sonja. He isn't afraid to confront Ikol alone either.
- Flynning: Subverted. Sonja shows him why this wouldn't really work in a real fight.
- Machete Mayhem: His sword has the shape of a machete (the prop likely was one).
- Pride: His character flaw, although he's young and eventually grows more humble after receiving a few lessons courtesy of Sonja.
- Royal Brat: He starts as purely this, bossing Falkon around and being quite arrogant, but Sonja gives him several lessons that make him more humble over the course of the movie.
- Stay in the Kitchen: He arrogantly invites Sonja to work for him as a cook the first time they meet.
- Too Dumb to Live: He hates hunting and thus orders Falkon to go hunting alone, which gets him easily captured by bandits and nearly quartered.
Falkon
Falkon
Played by: Paul L. Smith
Dubbed by: Mario Santini (European French)
Prince Tarn's loyal bodyguard and last remaining manservant.
- Acrofatic: His girth doesn't prevent him from climbing the castle's wall along with Kalidor and Sonja. He still has this line upon reaching the stone duct:"Tomorrow I start my diet..."
- Bad with the Bone: He uses a big bone as club, and offers a smaller one to Tarn before climbing the castle with Sonja and Kalidor.
- Battle Butler: Since he's Tarn's only servant left, he doesn't limit himself to bodyguarding the little prince but also goes hunting and cooks for the both of them.
- Big Eater: He can't resist eating a bit of Gedren's men's chicken as he has landed straight onto their refectory table, even as the fight is about to begin.
- The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: He is quite good at knife throwing.
- Cool Helmet: His headgear looks more like a metallic hat than a helmet actually.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He can look and act goofy in his dedication to protect Prince Tarn and do whatever Tarn orders him to do no matter how stupid it is, but he's still a force to be reckoned with.
- Enemy Eats Your Lunch: A hilarious inversion of the trope. He ends up eating the bad guys' lunch.
- Fat Comic Relief: He's overweight, and quite a goofball at times.
- Undying Loyalty: He has sworn to protect Prince Tarn and obeys every one of his orders. He never bothers discussing said orders, no matter how stupid they can prove to be, and he never even thinks about giving the prince much-needed corrections for his bratty behaviour, even with no one left to punish him for touching a royal heir.
- Yes-Man: He'll obey every order of Tarn, no matter how stupid they can be since his prince is an immature child. Best illustrated when Tarn gets captured by bandits while Falkon was away hunting for food... Tarn didn't care for hunting and thus Falkon didn't insist for Tarn to follow him...
Temple of the Talisman
Varna
Varna
Played by: Janet Ågren
Dubbed by: Béatrice Delfe (European French)
Sonja's sister, who joined the order of priestesses who guard the Talisman.
- Action Girl: She trained as a warrior as all the priestesses guarding the Talisman seemingly did.
- Almost Dead Guy: She eventually dies from the crossbow bolt that was shot in her back, but not before warning her sister about the Talisman having been stolen.
- Dies Wide Open: She dies with her eyes open.
- Sole Survivor: She's the only priestess not to get killed inside the temple by Gedren's men or thrown in the pit beneath the Talisman's pedestal by them... though not for long as she gets shot In the Back with a crossbow bolt as she was using a zipline to escape.
Kingdom of Eternal Night
Gedren
Queen Gedren
Played by: Sandahl Bergman
Dubbed by: Paule Emanuele (European French)
The evil queen of the Kingdom of Eternal Night. She destroyed Sonja's family and seeks to use the Talisman to dominate the world.
- Ambition Is Evil: An ambitious queen who wants to rule over the world using an Artifact of Doom.
- Big Bad: The massacre of Sonja's family on her orders drives the plot.
- The Caligula: She's Ax-Crazy and ultimately leads her own kingdom to ruin by coveting the Talisman.
- Cool Crown: Her crown's design seems to be based on the Crown of the Holy Roman Empire.
- Dark Is Evil: She dresses mostly in black.
- Expy: Of Queen Taramis.
- Evil Laugh: She lets out quite a few evil laughs towards the end of the film.
- Evil Overlord: She rules Berkubane, the Kingdom of Eternal Night, a Mordor-esque land.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: A mad queen who wants to dominate the world using the Talisman.
- Lady of Black Magic: An ambitious, evil queen as well as a sorceress.
- Malevolent Masked Woman: She wears a golden mask after Sonja scarred her face.
- Minor Injury Overreaction: When Sonja accuses Gedren of slaughtering her family, she dismisses the accusations as from her point of view, the victims' lives are nothing in comparison with the scar Sonja made on her cheek.
- Psycho Lesbian: She's a mad queen, and also attracted to women. Sonja's refusal of her advances (plus cutting her cheek) enraged her. She had her family killed, and Sonja raped for it.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Gedren really doesn't shy away from combat and gives Sonja one hell of a fight in their final battle.
- Red Right Hand: A scar on her cheek, courtesy of Sonja at the beginning of the film.
Ikol
Ikol
Played by: Ronald Lacey
Dubbed by: Serge Sauvion (European French)
Queen Gedren's vizier.
- Dark Is Evil: He dresses all in black and serves an evil queen.
- The Dragon: He is Gedren's second in command.
- Karmic Death: He dies fighting Tarn when trying to flee with gold that was plundered in Tarn's destroyed kingdom.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When it becomes clear that the Talisman's power can't be contained and the castle starts collapsing because of this, he decides to leave before it's too late, no matter what Gedren thinks of it.
- Stock Ninja Weaponry: He uses shurikens on occasion, as seen when he kills the High Priestess of the Talisman, signaling Gedren's troops to start assaulting the temple.
- You're Insane!: He says this to Gedren before attempting to leave the collapsing castle.
The Aquatic Monster
The Aquatic Monster
A mechanical aquatic monster that's unleashed by Ikol upon Tarn, Falkon and Sonja as part of a trap Tarn activated in a rainwater pit.
- Achilles' Heel: Its eyes, which Sonja and Kalidor eventually gouge, rendering it blind and causing it to writhe about uncontrollably.
- Mechanical Lifeforms: It looks mechanical, but it also seems to suffer like a real animal upon being blinded.
- No-Sell: As it's made of metal, weapons are useless against it. Its eyes, however...
- Schmuck Bait: The monster is unleashed via a trap linked to a big pearl in a rainwater pit, which Tarn wants to use to rebuild his kingdom. The pearl is hard to remove but Falkon pulls it off... with the expected consequence.
Other Foes
Brytag
Brytag
Played by: Pat Roach
Dubbed by: Jacques Deschamps (European French)
The keeper of the gates leading to the Kingdom of Eternal Night.
- Beard of Barbarism: Brytag and his men are depicted no differently than barbarians in the Conan movies that came before Red Sonja, and he's bearded.
- Beard of Evil: He's bearded and won't hesitate to massacre those who won't pay him a tax. Plus he's a Dirty Old Man expecting women who want to cross his gate to pay him a "favor".
- Bling of War: He wears a mail/plate armor that's adorned with gold.
- Cash Gate: One has to pay him a tax to enter the Kingdom of Eternal Night.
- Cool Key: He uses a big key to open his door and wears it on a necklace.
- Dirty Old Man: He won't let Sonja pass through his door unless she does him a "favor".
- Evil Gloating: Gloats about the sufferings he will inflict to Sonja while fighting her.
- Evil Redhead: He's a Dirty Old Man and a greedy bastard, and he's red-headed.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Sonja ends up running him through with her sword.
- Large and in Charge: He's much more heavily built than his men.
- Leave Him to Me!: He decides to kill Sonja by himself when it becomes clear he won't have it his way with her.
- Villain of the Detour: He's not under Queen Gedren's orders but Sonja needs to cross his gate in order to get to Gedren's kingdom. Sonja opts to kill him to get the key to the gate and confront his army.
Djart
Djart
Played by: Terry Richards
Dubbed by: Marc François (European French)
The leader of a gang of bandits who kidnap Prince Tarn and torture him hoping he'll tell them where he hides his gold (not believing that he's broke since the destruction of his kingdom).
- Beard of Evil: He's bearded, and ready to torture and murder Prince Tarn and even giggles about it.
- Giggling Villain: He giggles while fighting Sonja.
- The Highwayman: A bandit who preys upon isolated travellers.
- Karmic Death: He captured and tried to quarter Prince Tarn and he's likely a misogynist as well, and ends up gutted by Sonja's sword.
- The Leader: Of his gang of bandits.
- Underestimating Badassery: He confronts Sonja while confidently giggling about it (despite she already made quick work of one of his men), probably thinking that because she's a woman he can't lose against her. Needless to say, it's the last mistake of his life.
- Villain of the Detour: Another threat to one of the story's heroes who's not under Queen Gedren's orders.
- Would Hurt a Child: He has no issues with quartering Tarn.
