Jim Raynor

"Howdy, boys. I'm Jim Raynor, Marshal of these parts."

- Raynor introducing himself to the Mar Sara colonists

James "Jim" Raynor is a Terran, originally from the colony of Mar Sara. Raynor is voiced by Robert Clotworthy.

Biography
When we first encounter Raynor in-game, he is a 29-year-old marshal on Mar Sara and part of its colonial militia. Under orders of the Confederacy, he escorts colonists of Mar Sara to the outlying wastelands.

While safeguarding these colonists, he receives a distress signal from an outpost named Backwater Station. Alpha Squadron's General Edmund Duke tells the Colonial Magistrate to sit tight, as he will take care of it, but Raynor knows that Duke will take too long. He takes the local militia to save Backwater from the Zerg, defeating them and destroying their Infested Command Center. Duke arrests him for destroying the vital Confederate installation. Raynor remarks, "Guess you wouldn't be a Confederate if you weren't a complete pain in the ass."

Captain in the Sons of Korhal
Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal free him from the Confederate prison ship, however, and Raynor decides to work with them, being granted the rank of Captain. He persuades the Colonial Magistrate, who receives the rank of Commander, to ally with them as well. They remain the leaders of the Mar Sara Colonial Militia, which is now part of the Sons of Korhal. Raynor raids the Jacobs Installation, Mar Sara's Confederate outpost. Inside, Raynor discovers Zerg in the holding pens. Mengsk tells him that he saw a Zerg within Confederate holding pens himself over a year ago. Raynor accesses the Confederate network and downloads data discs, believing them to contain weapon designs.

The Sons of Korhal flee to the border colony of Antiga Prime, which is ready to begin open revolt against the Confederacy who, aware of this as well, station a large detachment of Alpha Squadron troops there, under the command of General Duke. Raynor meets up with Mengsk's second in command, Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan, whom he discovers to be a telepath. They free the Antiga Prime Colony and assist them in destroying the Alpha Squadron detachment.

General Duke is unable to respond because his command ship, the Norad II, is attacked by Zerg in high orbit and crash-land on the planet, where they are being hit hard by the Zerg. Mengsk orders Raynor to move in and save Duke. Although he doesn't like it, he obeys his orders. After Duke is convinced to join forces with the Sons of Korhal, Raynor tells Mengsk, "I can't believe you're really going to trust this snake!" Arcturus replies, "Don't worry, Jim. He's our snake now."

Mengsk calls a meeting, which Raynor attends, at which he explains that the data discs didn't hold weapon designs after all, they contained designs for a psi-emitter, a portable machine with the ability to lure Zerg to its signal. After using an Emitter on a Confederate strike force which had just arrived on Antiga Prime, the Sons of Korhal make their escape.

They travel to the Confederate capital world of Tarsonis, where Raynor is impressed by Duke's plan to assault the central of three primary orbital platforms, allowing a small force to break through the planetary defenses. He had never figured Duke for the frontal assault type. However, Duke plants Psi-Emitters on the platform with Mengsk's authorization. Raynor agrees with Kerrigan that it's insane, and tells Mengsk, "Think this through." Mengsk replies, "I have thought it through. Believe me. You all have your orders. Carry them out.."

Betrayals and Failures
The main Protoss fleet descends upon Tarsonis to engage the primary Zerg Hive at the major Tarsonian city of New Gettysburg. When Mengsk sends Kerrigan with a strike force to engage the Protoss, Raynor is angered at him and tries to stop Kerrigan from going down there, but she does anyway, insisting that Arcturus knows what he's doing. Once they neutralize the Protoss, the Zerg advance on her position. Raynor is angered when Mengsk orders the Korhal fleet to move away from Tarsonis despite Kerrigan's call for evacuation.

After the fleet loses contact with the ground forces at New Gettysburg, Raynor tells the Commander, "I can't believe he actually left her down there! I'm gone, and you'd better come with me. There's no tellin' who Arcturus'll screw over next." He cuts of a transmission from Mengsk, in which he's saying, "You don't seem to realize my situation here. I will not be stopped. Not by you, or the Confederates, or the Protoss or anyone! I will rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around me. If you try to get in my -."

Raynor, the Commander, and their Mar Sara troops become a rebel faction called Raynor's Raiders. They keep the Sons of Korhal command ship, Hyperion, as their own. General Duke successfully activates Tarsonis' primary defensive weapon, the Ion Cannon. Raynor destroys the Cannon and escapes the planet.

In Episode II, Jim Raynor is drawn to the planet Char by the psionic emanations of Sarah Kerrigan, but his base is overrun by the Zerg under the command of Infested Kerrigan. Raynor is shocked to see her alive ... and in this condition. Kerrigan allows Jim to leave. We know little of Raynor's whereabouts or activities afterwards.

Alliance with the Protoss
His next appearance is in Episode III, when it is revealed that he has joined forces with Tassadar, a Protoss, on Char. Raynor says that Tassadar laid it on the line for him and his crew.

Tassadar is also in a weak position, and needs the help from Protoss reinforcements from Aiur (who actually came to arrest him) in order to rescue Zeratul and the Dark Templar. After rescuing them, the Executor, Tassadar, Raynor, Zeratul and his brethren, and Tassadar's followers all return to Aiur, where they meet Fenix. The Protoss Conclave seeks to arrest Tassadar and execute Zeratul. Tassadar is forced to rebel against the Conclave, but later surrenders, though the Executor, Raynor and Fenix escape. Zeratul and the Dark Templar disappear, and Raynor, commanding the Hyperion, helps Fenix and the Executor to get Tassadar out of the Conclave's custody. This is the beginning of Raynor's friendship with Fenix.

At the end of Episode III, Raynor is present at the final attack on the Zerg Overmind. His forces are instrumental in its final defeat, which resulted in the death of the Overmind, along with Tassadar.

The Brood War
The temporarily leaderless Zerg rampage over Aiur, killing 70% Aiur's population. Raynor bands together with Aldaris, Fenix, and Zeratul in order to unite and lead the scattered survivors. Zeratul makes the decision to evacuate Aiur through a Warp Gate, which can take them to Shakuras, homeworld of the Dark Templar. Raynor and Fenix stay behind on Aiur to guard the Aiur side of the Warp Gate, so that the surviving Protoss can escape to Shakuras.

During Episode V, Raynor makes only a brief appearance when he rescues Arcturus Mengsk from being captured by the United Earth Directorate and later escapes Aiur with him through the Warp Gate. At the beginning of Episode VI, Kerrigan asks him and Fenix to bring Arcturus Mengsk to her. Kerrigan deceives all three into thinking they are allied against a common enemy - the UED. Kerrigan uses them to help her destroy the UED's Psi Disrupter, as well as retaking Korhal for Mengsk. Then, when Kerrigan has no more use for them, she has Fenix killed. Raynor finally realizes Kerrigan's treacherous nature, swears to kill her, and strikes out on his own again. For the rest of Brood War we see no more of Raynor, and after the final mission we are told that "Zeratul and James Raynor went their separate ways, and have not been heard from since their departure."

Later Appearances
Raynor made an appearance in the StarCraft 64 map, Resurrection IV, which takes place after the end of Brood War. Here he works with Artanis and other Protoss to right a grievous wrong on the world Braxis.

A Call for Help
As of October 9th 2005 the Battle.net Web Site contained a hidden image of Infested Kerrigan saying "Help me Jim Raynor...you're my only hope!". The animated GIF image and the text can be found at the bottom of the main page. In order to reveal them the user has to click the round object above the Blizzard image (this doesn't work with all browsers).

Jim Raynor in StarCraft: Ghost
Robert Clotworthy was hired to voice act for Jim Raynor in StarCraft: Ghost. Other StarCraft characters such as Infested Kerrigan or Zeratul were not projected to play an important role in the game.

Jim Raynor in StarCraft II
Jim Raynor will be "the central hero and character of the Terran campaign." According to Mike Morhaime, Raynor has become bitter since the end of the Brood War, drinking heavily, "running out of belief" and resenting how Arcturus Mengsk used him. He will be leading his mercenary/freedom fighter group, the Raynor's Raiders, against the Terran Dominion itself, but they don't have alot of money. Mengsk, a media darling, has used the media to "dismiss" and "marginalize" Raynor, making him out to be a great criminal.

Appearances in non-video game products

 * Main article: StarCraft: Liberty's Crusade

In Liberty's Crusade, he had a psionically-gifted son, who was killed in 'an incident' during the Confederacy's intense Terran Ghost training.


 * ''Main article: StarCraft: Queen of Blades

The Queen of Blades, presents a slightly different account as to the whereabouts of Raynor during StarCraft Episode II. Rather than building a base that gets attacked, Raynor leads an expedition down into the caverns beneath the surface of Char, where he comes face to face with Kerrigan as she emerges from the chrysalis. The Zerg then massacre his troops, with Kerrigan sparing him alone as she does in the game. She then steals his shuttles and uses them for the boarding attack on the Amerigo, as well on the ships of both Raynor and Duke's fleets. Raynor is only able to save the Hyperion and a handful of troops on the ground as Tassadar's fleet arrives and wipes the infested ships out.

Through the course of the story, Raynor finds that Kerrigan has linked her mind to his, this allows him to understand the Zerg's communications and other psionic speech, allowing him to personally witness many important events of Episode II, such as the death of the Cerebrate Zasz, as he tracks the Zerg, Protoss, and Dark Templar across Char. In addition, he also ends up sharing dreams with Kerrigan of the two of them living a normal life together.

The novel also goes into detail of his time with the Protoss and Dark Templar, showing how he earned the respect of both Tassadar and Zeratul.


 * ''Main article: StarCraft Adventures

He also makes appearances in StarCraft Adventures, an Alternity-based tabletop RPG.


 * Main article: Lord Marshal Raynor

A character similar to Raynor appears in World of Warcraft.

Alignment
Raynor is one of the very few major Terran characters in StarCraft to be fundamentally good throughout the game. Even when he assisted Infested Kerrigan, it was to overthrow the UED, which he suspected would enslave all three races in the sector (in essence, he chose what appeared to be the lesser of two evils). Raynor is also the only major Terran leader closely associated with, and trusted by, the Protoss.

Game Unit
Jim Raynor appears in StarCraft and StarCraft: Brood War in three separate units. We first see him piloting a Vulture hover cycle. He raids the Jacobs Installation as a Marine, and he commands the Hyperion, a battlecruiser, during StarCraft Episode III as he fights alongside the Protoss. Although he appears throughout the Brood War (in all three forms), he is not a playable hero during those episodes. The only exception is a brief moments during the first mission of Episode IV, when he helps Zeratul and the Khalai escape from Aiur. This is also notably the only time players can command an invincible hero.

Raynor's Marine form appears to be the most popular version.

Trivia
Jim Raynor is based on the undercover police officer of the same name in the film Rush. Chris Metzen and Robert Clotworthy based his character in part on an image of a space cowboy riding a hover cycle.