Main Index The Races The Terrans | The Zerg | The Protoss | Other races Terrans Characters and Factions Raynor's Raiders | Terran Dominion | Ghost Corps | Other Factions | Independent Terrans Zerg Characters and Factions Sarah Kerrigan | Zerg Swarm | Other Zerg Protoss Characters and Factions The Daelaam | Protoss Empire | The Nerazim | The Tal'darim Co-Op Commanders
"If society is defined by how well its members comprehend one another's interests and culture, the Protoss manage to eclipse us merely by existing."
— Jake Ramsay
The bulk of the Protoss race who live on Aiur follow the Khala, the teachings of the philosopher Khas that encourages unity and peace through their communal psionic link. The Protoss Empire operates under a caste system, divided into the Templar, the warriors; the Judicators, the politicians; and the Khalai, the working class. Each caste in turn consists of different tribes, and are overseen by the Conclave, an elite group of elders mostly taken from the Judicators that act as the rulers of the race.
When Aiur was invaded by the Zerg, the Conclave's efforts to fight them fell short of success, and it was only through the intervention of Raynor's Raiders and allies of rogue Executor Tassadar that the Overmind was destroyed and the invasion thwarted. Yet the Conclave was destroyed in the war and the planet too heavily infested to be saved after the losses suffered, thus the Khalai Protoss fled to Shakuras to rebuild their civilization alongside the Dark Templar, becoming the Daelaam.
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Entire Faction
- Alien Non-Interference Clause: The Protoss once used lethal force to pacify a race locked in a civil war, and, ashamed of themselves, they made a law vowing to never interfere with the matters of other races unless they pose a threat. This is why the Terrans were left alone when they arrived until the Zerg arrived on the scene. The first game's manual explains that most of the hundreds of worlds of the Protoss Empire actually don't even know that they're part of it, as no protoss live there. Rather, the Protoss Empire simply finds worlds inhabited by primitive sapients and declares them under their protection, with the people there being unaware of their silent guardians sitting out in space.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: The Khalai believe that the greatest of them can become one with the Khala upon death.
- Blue Is Heroic: The player's Protoss forces are usually blue, sometimes brown. The exact name of the faction varies between Protoss Warband and Fleet of the Executor. Played with in the lore — blue is the tribal color of the Sargas Tribe, which historically were of dubious loyalty to the Conclave, and more Dark Templar spawned from their ranks than any other tribe.
- Break the Haughty: Of all the Protoss factions, Khalai were by far the proudest and most self-righteous in the original game, treating the Dark Templars like heretics for refusing to follow the Khala and looking at the Terrans with disdain. By Brood War, their beloved homeworld has been taken over by the Swarm, their glorious civilization is destroyed, and they only managed to survive by accepting the hospitality of the very Dark Templars they banished from Aiur in the first place. Legacy of the Void pushes it even further by revealing a large part of their culture was a lie and the Khala they built their entire society on was a tool created by Amon to better control them. To their credit, they actually learn from this.
- Color-Coded Armies: Each Protoss tribe is colored differently in-game. The Judicators are the Ara Tribe and Shelak Tribe, red and white respectively. The Templar consists of the tribes Akilae (teal), Auriga (orange), Sargas (blue), Velari (yellow), and Venatir (brown). The only Khalai tribe seen is the Furinax, purple. Franchise-wide the Khalai Protoss are usually represented by yellow and blue, with the colors factoring prominently into most of their units and buildings, faction colors aside.
- Condescending Compassion: The Protoss, especially the Khalai, traditionally treated other sentient species under their nominal protection as wayward primitives, while their non-hostile interactions with sympathetic Terrans like Raynor started out patronizingly. By Legacy of the Void, however, this is all but jettisoned outright, with the Daelaam viewing humanity as equals worthy of respect and Artanis personally vouching for the Terrans.
- Corrupt Church: Their main faith, the Khala was established as a way to unify the Protoss Race. Over time though, its leaders, the Conclave, became increasingly oppressive as they preached The Evils of Free Will, which led to further division such as the persecution of the Dark Templar, Protoss who wanted their individuality. If Tassadar's words were of any indication, the Judicators, a ruling caste within the Conclave, have long steered the Templar for their own ends.
- The Empire: They used to form an empire throughout the sector until the fall of Aiur.
- End of an Era: At the end of the main campaign in Legacy of the Void, the Khalai protoss abandoned the Khala by severing their nerve cords, after Amon corrupted it to mind-control them. That, and the Khalai and Nerazim finally reunite under one banner, with the Purifiers (and some Tal'darim) joining them.
- Everyone Has Standards: They may have been jerkasses in the past, but if Rohana's sentiment is of any indication, they consider the Tal'darim as brutal and savage, and because they worship an evil god.
- Force and Finesse: They're the brute and straightforward Force to the stealthy and shady Finesse of the Dark Templar. This carries into gameplay; the Nerazim-influenced units (Stalker, Dark Templar, Oracle, Void Ray), are best used as precision strike forces that hit hard and then retreat, while the Khalai units (Colossus, Immortal, Archon, Carrier, etc) mostly have you send them straight at enemies wrecking anything in their path.
- However, this is a problem for them as well. Many characters, including some of the Khalai themselves, note their stubborn and straightward styles of thinking and fighting can backfire. They charge headfirst into any conflict knowing no fear, but they often lack any long-term plans beyond that and are stymied if it doesn't work.
Kerrigan: You protoss are all so headstrong and predictable. You're your own worst enemies.- It's also a major reason they lost Aiur to the Zerg. The Zerg have basically infinite numbers, so even when the Protoss won the small battles, they were steadily losing the war as their warriors fell and the Zerg just kept growing more numerous. Frontal assaults on hive clusters accomplished nothing in the bigger picture, and it was only through the assassination of the Cerebrates by Zeratul that Tassadar and his allies struck a significant victory over them.
- Irony: The Conclave believed in the evils of free will and believed the Khala was the best way to keep peace. The true purpose of the Khala is to enslave the Protoss to Amon's will, who created it with that specific purpose in mind. Then have them rampage across the galaxy and kill everything they can.
- Galactic Superpower: At their height they were the most powerful faction in the sector, if not the galaxy, holding hundreds of sapient species under protectorates (unknown to said species themselves - including the early terrans) and being capable of technological marvels that are unrivaled in the 26th century. A single expeditionary fleet of theirs (Tassadar's expeditionary force) had several dozen ships under it,note and was capable of winning the Great War on its own with only minor help from the terrans. What undid the Empire was their lack of redundancy: Aiur was their only population center of note, so when the Overmind poured the bulk of the Zerg Swarm into it and the protoss were forced to either abandon or glass it, they didn't have any fallback to continue the war effort with comparable infrastructure. It's particularly notable though that the refugees that escaped Aiur's fall, when they join up with a fringe faction that separated from the Empire centuries prior, are still capable of churning out a fleet of hundreds of ships in under seven years when they set their minds to it. The Golden Armada, it should be noted, was explicitly the most powerful naval force assembled in galactic history. Imagine what Aiur at its height could've produced in a comparable time if they really wanted to...
- Knight Templar: The Protoss have mostly good intentions, but they can be extreme with their beliefs. This mostly manifests in their zealous purging of anything that remotely Zerg-like, including potentially curable infested Terran colonists. There's a reason members of the warrior caste are called Templar, and their footsoldiers are named Zealots.
- Light Is Good: The Khalai Protoss as a whole are associated with light (in contrast with the darkness and void theme of the Dark Templars), with bright blue psionic energy and golden armors or structures. Not all of them qualify as truly good, but even the worst of them are just well-intentioned bigots or Knight Templars. However, there's a horrible truth behind their "light"—their Psychic Link was created by Amon so he could enslave them later.
- Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering: From what we know of the Conclave, they were so wrapped up in tradition that what little they elected to do took a lot of deliberation and arguing to authorize, and ended up not being effective anyway. Tassadar repeatedly lampshades their incompetence and idiocy when they engage in a Civil War with him and his followers even as Aiur is in the midst of Zerg invasion.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: The Conclave is deeply steeped in tradition and are controlling to all three castes, paranoid that dissension could lead to a second Aeon of Strife. This means that any time someone steps out of line or acts contrary to their beliefs, they get suspicious and shut them down.
- Path of Inspiration: The Khala is aptly known as "The Path of Ascension", established to unify the Protoss and end the Aeon of Strife, based on a psychic communal link formed between all adherents. However, the reason for the link was because Amon created the original link, as a means to control them later. In an interesting twist to the trope however, no one in the Khala knew about this; Khas only rediscovered it without knowing the true, nefarious purpose it held, and was genuinely trying to make things better for the Protoss by using it.
- Red Is Heroic: Not exactly heroic, but in charge and viewed as correct. The majority of the Conclave hail from the Ara Tribe, which use red as their faction color. Inverted, when Amon takes control of the Khala and turns them red.
- Took a Level in Kindness: At the beginning of the original game, they were Scary Dogmatic Aliens with Knight Templar tendencies who would bomb Terran planets to stop the Zerg with no real care for the human lossnote and no warning, as well as seriously racist toward the Dark Templars. The actions of Protoss like Tassadar and Artanis, as well as the fall of the Conclave, have eventually caused them to develop into a faction that can be considered unambiguously good.
Tassadar
The Twilight Messiah.
"The Overmind has come to destroy all that we hold dear and assimilate us into itself. And I say to thee, this shall not come to pass! Aiur shall not fall!"
Voiced by: Michael J. Gough (Starcraft) and Michael Dorn (Starcraft II) (English), Nikita Prozorovsky (Russian)
The initial Executor (Protoss military commander) of Starcraft I before being replaced by Artanis, Tassadar was ordered to raze a bunch of Terran planets infested with Zerg. He tried to kill the Zerg while sparing the Terrans, but while his actions were largely successful (though he left alive one person he'd later regret) he fell in with the dark templar, who contrary to their names were not at all evil. Tassadar realized this, and being about the only person in existence to realize the true threat the Zerg posed, enlisted the dark templar's help to defeat the Zerg, with the help of Jim Raynor. In the climax of the original Starcraft, he crashes his command ship, the Gantrithor, into the Overmind, manifesting dark templar energies into the hull of the ship to destroy it in a Heroic Sacrifice.
Provides examples of:
- Beware the Nice Ones: He gladly lays down his life for his own kind and spared Terrans on the infested worlds, but don't go testing his patience. Just listen to this exchange with Duke:Duke: Protoss Commander, this is General Edmund Duke of the Terran Dominion Armada. You are in violation of our air-space and have endangered human lives in your reckless attack against the Zerg. I order you to withdraw your ships immediately. If you fail to comply, I will not hesitate to open fire upon your vessels.Tassadar: General Duke, I am Tassadar, and you are well known to me. Whatever leniency I extended to you and your comrades before, may have been in error. If you persist in halting our course, we will burn your pathetic fleet down to the last man.
- Big Damn Heroes: In the hidden mission "Biting the Bullet," he saved a lot of Terrans, including Raynor and Duke, from a Zerg onslaught.
- Big Good: He was hailed as a hero among the Protoss, and the one leading them against Zerg in the first game.
- Cool Starship: the Ganthritor carrier, which the player is able to control in the final mission (though sadly unlike the battlecruiser hero units, it's just a carrier with more HP and shields).
- Cultural Rebel: Started out as one; before the Khalai Took a Level in Kindness, he was the first Protoss introduced to not be a Knight Templar, actively trying to avoid pointless casualties among Terrans during his time as an Executor and advocating the rehabilitation of Dark Templars.
- Crucified Hero Shot: He explodes from the massive energy he is channeling with his arms held out to the side.
- Dead All Along: Despite his appearance in the sequel trilogy, it is revealed in the epilogue of Legacy of the Void that Tassadar is indeed long dead. Ouros contacted Zeratul assuming the guise of Tassadar because he believed he would rather listen to his old friend than a Xel'naga.
- Defector from Decadence: Played with — while he never betrayed the Conclave, he defies their commands because he didn't agree with them, but was always loyal to Aiur and the Protoss. When the Conclave attacks him when he returns to Aiur and he realizes their zealotry is driving them to civil war when they should be working together against the Zerg, he and his allies fully turn against them.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He manages to kill the Overmind by charging his carrier with light and dark templar energies and ramming the thing.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: He successfully kills the friggin' Overmind.
- Frontline General: Executors are the protoss equivalent, and any general with an in-game unit would qualify.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Tassadar is said to have both High and Dark Templar abilities. However, unless you count his Psi Blast ability (a default attack which no other High Templar has in the final product, though it did exist in beta), he only displays High Templar abilities in-game.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Fools Kerrigan into chasing him around while Zeratul kills Zasz. Kerrigan even admits she learned her lesson after he had fooled her so easily.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Gives his own life to end the Overmind's.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Averted. He's actually a really good judge of character, but the Conclave thinks otherwise for allying with the Dark Templar. Aldaris even acknowledges both his and the Dark Templar's efforts:Aldaris: Executor. Tassadar. This comes too late to you. But the Conclave has witnessed your defeat of the Cerebrates. They know now that they cannot deny the necessity or the valiancy of your actions. We sought to punish you, while it was we who were in error. Now you represent what is greatest in us all, and all our hopes go with you. EN TARO ADUN, brave Sons of Aiur!
- Messianic Archetype: After he dies, even his former enemies elevate him to messianic levels, using the battle cry "En Taro Tassadar!" in place of "En Taro Adun", who is worshipped as a demigod more or less. Considering that the Protoss campaign bears an uncanny resemblance to the Gospels, with Tassadar as Jesus (Crucified Hero Shot and all), the Conclave as the Pharisees, etc, it makes sense.
- He even fulfills the Dark Templar prophecy of the Twilight Deliverer, a title held by Adun up to that point.
- One-Man Army: His Gantrithor carrier.
- Psychic Powers: Other than the Overmind and Kerrigan, he's probably the strongest psychic in the game.
- Shock and Awe: Psionic Storm.
- Master of Illusion: Pretty much how he deceived Kerrigan while Zeratul killed Zasz.
- Ramming Always Works: He kills the Overmind by ramming it with his carrier imbued with Dark Templar energy.
- Remember the New Guy?: The first time the player sees Tassadar, he mentions having met Kerrigan in the past, prior to her infestation; but the Terran mission in which they first met was cut from the game, resulting in this trope.
- Rogue Agent: Tassadar was declared a traitor for working with Terrans and Dark Templar.
- Rousing Speech: His quote above.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: His refusal to adhere to the rules of engagement in order to help protect the Terrans in the Koprulu Sector earns him the ire of the Conclave.
- Spirit Advisor: In Wings of Liberty, Zeratul is surprised to find his spirit still intact on Aiur, and gets some advice. Subverted when it turns out it was a Xel'naga using Tassadar's form.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Drops many of this trope on Aldaris when he's in Idiot Ball mode throughout the first game.
- Yin-Yang Bomb:
- He is one: as a High Templar (the most powerful psionic warriors of the "Light" Khalai Protoss), he received training from one of the most powerful Dark Templar, his mentor and friend, Zeratul. Combining the different philosophies of the two factions has allowed him to unlock all of the Protoss psionic potential, making him insanely powerful.
- At the end of Starcraft he becomes the "Twilight Deliverer", something which, given the nature of how Protoss psionics work, Zeratul claims has only been achieved by one other person in history, that person being Adun himself. It's how he destroys the Overmind in the end.
Fenix
A Meaningful Name if ever there was one.
Voiced by: Bill Roper (English), Igor Staroseltsev (Russian)
Artanis' Number Two during his time as an Executor on Aiur, Fenix was a Blood Knight warrior who loved the honor and rush of battle, and advocated an alliance with the now-rogue Tassadar, having been his best friend. However, once the initial attack on the Cerebrates failed due to a lack of information, the Protoss high council turned against Tassadar. Not that it mattered for Fenix, because he was shortly thereafter killed by pack of Hydralisks... or was he? He came back, his mortally wounded body encased in a Dragoon exo-skeleton walker, helping in the assault against the Zerg when Tassadar returned to Aiur.
In Brood War he was left on Aiur with Raynor, and the two became close comrades in spite of being of different races. The two allied with Kerrigan against the UED, but once she shattered their main forces on Braxis and Korhal, Kerrigan betrayed them and killed Fenix.
Provides examples of:
- Back from the Dead: He is rescued and brought back as a dragoon.Tassadar: Fenix? It can't be! The Executor told me how you fell before the Zerg! How is that you live and breathe?
- The Big Guy: He is phyiscally the strongest hero for the Protoss in the campaigns.
- Blood Knight: He was more than happy to be brought back as a Dragoon, as this allowed him to keep fighting for Aiur.
- Breakout Character: Not on the level of Kerrigan, but Fenix was a fairly minor character in the original Protoss campaign, where he essentially was just a starter hero and Sacrificial Lion who happens to be brought back. His popularity was such that even though he was technically Killed Off for Real in Brood War, the writers still found a way to sort of bring him back in Legacy of the Void.
- *Drool* Hello: In a cutscene, he walks along a hallway when slime drips onto him. He looks up... to see two hydralisks coming after him.
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: "The Khala awaits me, Kerrigan. And although I am prepared to face my destiny, you'll not find me easy prey!''
- Fire-Forged Friends: Fighting alondside Raynor breaches the species barrier, and they become true comrades.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: See the "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner above, and the player can still make Fenix an easy prey by letting a Queen use a Spawn Broodling on him, killing him in one hit.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Fenix's sole playable appearance in Brood War is in "The Kel-Morian Combine", the third mission of the Zerg campaign.
- Man in the Machine: After being turned into a Dragoon.
- Meaningful Name: Quite possibly the most obvious one in fiction after Hiro Protagonist.
- Memetic Badass: In-Universe and Played for Laughs. In Legacy of the Void, the Purfier that has Fenix's memories uploaded into it goes through records of his predecessor's deeds and finds that some of the battles his namesake fought in are Whole Plot References to famous action movies: Fenix evidently took part in the Protoss equivalents of Die Hard, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Under Siege, The Rock, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, First Blood, and Predator. The Purifier is certain these records must be exaggerated, because there's no way any real warrior, even Fenix, could be this badass.
- Number Two: To Artanis, thanks to the Player Character in the original Protoss campaign being retroactively made him. It's mentioned multiple times Fenix was his friend and most trusted companion.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: All the Protoss are this to an extent, but he especially stands out as one.
- Sacrificial Lion: Poor guy gets to be this twice.
- Sophisticated as Hell:Do not let the fact that I am 368 years older than you dull your impression of me, young Raynor. I can still — how do you Terrans say it? — 'Throw down with the best of them.'
- Unwitting Pawn: He was fooled by Kerrigan; and ended up dead.
- We Can Rebuild Him: It only worked once.
- Worf Had the Flu: First death. He could have wiped out those Hydralisks had his psi-blades NOT malfunctioned in that time.
- Worthy Opponent: Kerrigan decides to kill Duke because it will effectively cripple Mengsk. Fenix on the other hand she recognizes as a genuine threat.
Aldaris
"I have been sent by the Conclave to serve and counsel you."
Voiced by: Paul Eiding (English), Alexey Ryzhkov (Russian)
Aldaris was Artanis' original commander during Starcraft until he allied with Tassadar. Aldaris, too set in his ways to accept that the dark templar could be anything except the most absolute of corrupting evils, refused to help them and indeed kidnapped Tassadar to stand trial for treason. In the end of Starcraft I, as Tassadar, Raynor, Zeratul, and Fenix prepared for their attack on the Overmind, Aldaris wished them luck. In Brood War, Aldaris is the only surviving member of the Protoss Conclave, the rest having been consumed by the Zerg. He opposes everything having to do with allying with Kerrigan, and then stages an unsuccessful coup in the Protoss ranks when he realizes he was actually right instead of just whiny. He was the only Protoss to realize Kerrigan was mind-controlling Raszagal until she revealed it herself. She struck him down before he could tell Zeratul ("helped" by the fact that Aldaris babbled like a deranged zealot instead of coming out with the truth right away).
Provides examples of:
- Anti-Villain: In the second half of the Protoss campaign. He's leading the Conclave forces trying to arrest Tassadar for treason, but he genuinely believes the Dark Templar are evil heretics and that Zeratul has corrupted Tassadar's mind.
- Cassandra Truth: He tells everyone that Kerrigan is a liar and is using them. No one believes him.
- Defiant to the End: Yes, though he really should have put his final words to better use.Zeratul: It is finished, Judicator. Surrender your remaining forces, and join us in eradicating the Zerg.
Aldaris: I would sooner die, dark one, than tarnish the memory of Aiur by joining with you! - Hate Sink: Aldaris, along with the entire Conclave in the base game is this. According to Tassadar, the Judicator have just been using the templar for their own ends. For much of the game, Aldaris is a smug, Holier Than Thou Jerkass Knight Templar who does nothing but speak disparagingly about Tassadar, and even his tone towards the player is demeaning. Because of his adherence to the Khala, he harbors deep hatred against the Dark Templar, and sees them as nothing more than unrepentant heretics. Worst of all, Aldaris puts Aiur in danger by declaring war on the player and ordering the Dark Templar's and Tassadar's executions, and such actions stop them from saving their entire race.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the last mission of Episode III, he sees the error of his ways as he sees that the Dark Templar do have the power to kill Cerebrates permanently, and blesses the rest of the heroes for the final battle against the Overmind. Later, in Brood War, he joins Artanis and Zeratul in fleeing Aiur. The destruction of the Conclave and the assurance that the planet was pretty much lost to the Zerg likely influenced his decision.
- He Knows Too Much: Kerrigan made sure he would shut up before revealing she was manipulating the Protoss.
- Holier Than Thou: He is very self-righteous that he will not welcome the Dark Templar on his home world because of their heretical ways. He will not tolerate those who harbor or even involve the Dark Templar, and all of this makes him fail to see the bigger picture.
- Idiot Ball: In the first game, he decides that the arrest of Tassadar is far more important than protecting Aiur from the Zerg invasion. Tassadar lampshades how ridiculous the whole situation is many times (see Too Dumb to Live).
- Just like Stukov, he went about telling the others what he knew in the stupidest way possible. Unfortunately, both of them ended up dead either directly or indirectly as a result of Kerrigan's actions. To be fair to him, Kerrigan came out of no where and no one stopped her from getting close to him. In Zeratul's words, it was a protoss matter and no one saw the assassination coming.
- Irony: In the first game, he was the Obstructive Bureaucrat who dismissed the Only Sane Man Tassadar and his friends when they had the only way to stop the villains. In the expansion, HE'S the Only Sane Man trying to warn everyone about Kerrigan and Raszagal while the heroes are ignoring him. Karma's funny sometimes.
- Jerkass: Big time in the base game. Not only is he a classic Knight Templar, he considered Tassadar a failure for trying to avoid killing the humans while destroying the Zerg.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He's much less of one in Brood War, being quite respectful to Raszagal when they first meet and acquiescing to her and Zeratul's leadership. He reverts back to Jerkass when Kerrigan shows up, and is the only Protoss not to trust her. Turns out he was right.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: "While you were securing the crystals, I discovered that your Matriarch has been harboring a dark secret! She has been manipulated by de-"
- Knight Templar: Classic example, his strict adherence to the Conclave and their laws blinds him to the idea that Zeratul and the ways of the Dark Templar may have merit. However, it's more justified than most examples, since historically he was taught that the Dark Templar are heretics that nearly destroyed Aiur and caused a civil war.
- Last of His Kind: Played straight and subverted. He's the last of the Conclave by Brood War, but he wasn't the last of the Judicator Caste. Those Judicators would outlive him and go on to appoint Artanis to Hierarch along with the Shadow Council of Sakuras.
- Master of Illusion: In "The Insurgent", he makes three illusionary versions of himself.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Zealously follows the Conclave's doctrine.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: In the first part of the Protoss campaign in the base game.
- Only Sane Man: In Brood War, he's the only character to see through Kerrigan's lies and refuse from the start to work with her.
- Poor Communication Kills/You Have to Believe Me!: There were better ways to handle the secret he discovered than stirring up a rebellion and babbling like a zealot until Kerrigan was right in his face.
- Rousing Speech: At the start of the final mission, he sends a transmission to Tassadar's forces, admitting that he and the Conclave were in error, their efforts against the Zerg have indeed proven more effective than the Conclave's, and all of Aiur wishes them luck in their final stand.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Unwittingly, his decision to have Fenix's memories uploaded to the Purifier program despite the Conclave's usual reluctance to trust roboticized warriors not only proves to be the key to him obtaining the warriors needed for Artanis to defeat Amon, but also undo the injustice that the Purifiers had suffered at the orders of the Conclave.
- Thanatos Gambit: Though unintentional, Kerrigan killing him disgusts Zeratul and earns her banishment from Shakuras, potentially avoiding a much more disastrous reveal of her true nature if she had stayed.
- Too Dumb to Live: He becomes this when he considers the arrest of a single (allegedly) rogue protoss templar of greater priority than, say, dealing with a race of man-eating aliens that are invading his homeworld. Partially averted in the first game as he does survive, but played straight in Brood Wars where he then decides that, instead of letting everyone know what he found out about Kerrigan, he just starts a civil war between some of his loyalists and the Khalai protoss that joined forces with the Dark Templar. Tassadar lampshades it best:Tassadar: I never believed that they would go so far. In the face of total annihilation they still cling to their failing traditions!
- Uriah Gambit: While Aldaris, Zeratul, and the Executor are away, Raszagal controlled by Kerrigan declares him a traitor as he gathered support for his rebellion. Apparently either he didn't tell anyone else the exact details of Raszagal's situation or all the high ranking templar he did tell were killed in the fighting. Why he doesn't just message Zeratul directly with his claim, but it could be that he believed others were also being manipulated the same way. This would also explain why he only tried to tell Zeratul about Raszagal being controlled when they were face to face. Zeratul isn't in the Khala so he may have needed proximately to Zeratul to tell that he was clean. He may also have been suspicious of Zeratul being in on the plot, but no mind controlled as Zeratul started trusting Kerrigan rather easily... It probably gives him too much credit, but he may have figured he couldn't trust anyone except those who willingly followed him and only was going to reveal the idea of Raszagal of being mind controlled as a desparate hope that none of the other Protoss were willingly part of the plot.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As stated above, he clings to the old traditions to the point of foolishness, but really does it to prevent the Protoss from falling apart, something he has been raised to believe would happen should the Dark Templar return.
Mojo
Voiced by: None. (by Glenn Stafford as a unit)
A Protoss Praetor in charge of an expeditionary fleet captured by Alan Schezar, he contacted Alpha Squadron's forces during their pursuit of Schezar to request their aid. Canonically they aided him and Mojo's fleet helped them defeat Schezar's forces.
Provides examples of:
- Came Back Strong: Returns as a heroic Scout purifier personality serving Fenix in Co-Op.
- Cool Starship: His base unit is a Scout with vastly superior stats, with more shields than an Archon and almost as much firepower. His Purifier namesake in Co-op has an autocasting missile barrage that does area-of-effect damage to enemy air units while also stunning them.
- Demoted to Extra: He was prominent in Enslavers but was only in one mission of Dark Vengeance.
- Enemy Mine: With his fleet imprisoned and no other options available, he allies with the Dominion to defeat Schezar.
- We Cannot Go On Without You: A pointed aversion — in contrast to the other hero units of the original game and Brood War, the Enslavers missions do not require any hero to survive to win, including Mojo.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Blizzard has made it known which branches of Enslavers and Dark Vengeance are canon, but not if Mojo survived them. Co-op Mode in Legacy of the Void has Fenix commanding an army of Purifier champions based on fallen Protoss heroes; Mojo is among them, heavily implying he died sometime prior to the war with Amon, but it isn't known if it happened during the Enslavers conflicts.
Zamara
Zamara
A protoss Preserver, containing all the memories of past protoss, she is one of a few left and was hunted down by Ulrezaj. Wounded and carrying valuable information, she preserved herself in stasis to transfer herself into the mind of a protoss, if they ever found her. Due to a flash of insight on their language, though, Jake found her first, and Zamara's consciousness entered his mind.
- He Knows Too Much: Why Ulrezaj wants her dead.
- Last of His Kind: Ulrezaj's efforts to wipe out the preservers have been effective, and she believes she may be one of the last left. Stacraft II revealed at least three others, though in captivity at the time, also remain.
- Remember the New Guy?: Side-stepped — while she was accompanying Tassadar's forces during the time of his expedition to Char in the first game, she isn't mentioned in Queen of Blades, the novelization of that time. This is explained by Tassadar fearing for her safety and so ordering her to stay aboard his ship while he had his adventures on the surface.
Historical members
Khas
Savassan ("Khas")
A member of the Shelak Tribe during the period of civil war called the Aeon of Strife, he yearns to find more in life than just killing other protoss and guarding a few mysterious xel'naga relics they can't understand. He gets his wish when he rediscovers the lost communal link known as the Khala and reunites the race, earning his more-well known moniker "Khas" ("He Who Brings Order"), and being immortalized in Protoss history.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: According to Word of God, he lived out his life peacefully and became one with the Khala upon his death.
- Crucified Hero Shot: It is implied by the narrative that this was his pose when he rediscovered the Khala from touching a massive khaydarin crystal.
- Martial Pacifist: He disliked killing and violence, but he would resort to them if needed.
- Meaningful Name: "Khas" fittingly means "He Who Brings Order", precisely what he did.
- Messianic Archetype: And for a damn good reason, being that he single-handedly ended a planet-wide civil war and united the species as one again. Before the time of Adun, the saying went "En Taro Khas".
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Most Protoss only know him as "Khas"; his true name is lost to almost all outside the preservers.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Legacy of the Void reveals that the Khala was created by Amon's Xel'naga as a means to control them, which is precisely what he did in Legacy of the Void. Savassan's rediscovery of it ended the Aeon of Strife and united the Protoss, but millennia later Amon used the Khala to enslave the Protoss to aid in his goal of galactic destruction.
- Unwitting Pawn: The giant khaydarin crystal he found that helped Protoss rediscover the Khala? It was left by Amon (Or his followers) so that they can get another opportunity at enslaving the Protoss (By having one, in this case Khas, find it), which, as mentioned above, does happen in Legacy of the Void.
Temlaa
Temlaa
Savassan's apprentice of sorts, and the only one of the Shelak Tribe who is able to understand his teachings.
- First-Person Peripheral Narrator: He plays this role in-universe in The Dark Templar Saga; while Zamara may possibly have the memories of Savassan himself that Jake could experience, instead she has Jake relive Savassan's journey through the eyes of Temlaa.
- The Lancer: To Savassan, as his closest friend and confidante and the only one who goes with him when he leaves the tribe to seek greater knowledge.
Adun
Adun
The templar who, long ago in Aiur's history, was assigned to track down and exterminate protoss who had begun to reject the Khala. When he discovered that contrary to the Conclave's propaganda, the rogues were not evil or anarchistic, he instead taught them to hide themselves using psionic powers coming from a place other than the Khala, creating the band that would become known as the dark templar.
- Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: Implied and believed by some protoss.
- Messianic Archetype: To the Khalai Protoss for "saving" them from the Dark Templar, and to the Dark Templar for sparing their lives. All those times you hear the Protoss say "En Taro Adun" or "Adun Toridas," they're talking about this guy and invoking his name in reverence.
- The Paragon: The Conclave's most decorated and seasoned warrior, and in the present one of the most legendary Protoss to ever live.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: In so much as he and his subordinates refuse the extermination orders and help the dark templar.
- Meaningful Name: In Malay, "adun" means "blend/ mix". One of Adun's greatest achievements was to be the first protoss to combine dark and light psionic energies.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Which is why he didn't blindly accept his orders to kill the Dark Templar.
- Second Coming: It is believed that when the Protoss race is in peril, Adun will return to them to save them once again. Depending on how you interpret Tassadar and Artanis learning to wield the two psionic energy types, they could be seen as the trope coming true.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Become one by combining dark and light psionic energies.
Vetraas
Vetraas
Adun's advisor, an old warrior that questions his commander's judgment but does see the value of his beliefs.
- First-Person Peripheral Narrator: He plays this role in-universe in The Dark Templar Saga, where Jake experiences the story of Adun and the Dark Templar through Vetraas. Zamara explains to him that she does have the memories of Adun himself from that time, but she believes there is another kind of knowledge in seeing the Dark Templar incident play out through the eyes of another rather than Adun himself.
- Intergenerational Friendship: He is much older than Adun, but they're the closest of friends.
- The Lancer: To Adun, as his right-hand man and a deeply trusted friend and advisor.
- Older and Wiser: He's more cautious about aiding the rogues than Adun and worries they cannot control the powers they are learning to wield. He was right.
Kortanul
Kortanul
The head of the Conclave during the hunt for the dark templar, he wishes to see them wiped out for fear dissention from the Khala could cause another Aeon of Strife.
- Knight Templar: If Adun is the ancient equivalent of Tassadar, this guy was his Aldaris — an obstructive, fanatical superior who refuses to consider more moderate measures.
- Moral Event Horizon: An in-universe example — when he physically strikes Adun, the Dark Templar and Conclave are both horrified and think he's gone too far. Not only is it implied to be one of the few times since the Aeon of Strife when one protoss has attacked another, but because of their mental link from the Khala, Kortanul literally knows that Adun genuinely believes he did the right thing. But in the heat of the moment his rage blinded him to reason and he lashed out, and almost provoked a riot in the process.
