History Characters / LifeIsStrangeTheProtagonists

* DeadpanSnarker: She dusplays a dry-yet-playful sense of humor.

%%* DeadpanSnarker:
* {{Deconstruction}}: She is this of the shy foster kid stereotype. She does have her moments of snark and warmth, but she's also heavily traumatized by her time in foster care around so many volatile emotions, which has led to her appropriately rejecting her 'curse' rather than see seeing it in a positive light.

* PosthumousCharacter: By the start of the original game, [[spoiler:Rachel is already dead and buried in a shallow grave in the junkyard, having been murdered by Mr. Jefferson and Nathan long before Max came along to help Chloe look for her.]].

* PosthumousCharacter: By the start of the original game, [[spoiler:Rachel is already dead and buried in a shallow grave in the junkyard]].

* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:She's revealed to have been murdered by Mr. Jefferson and Nathan long before Max came along to help Chloe look for her.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Implied through a conversation with Chloe when she witnesses one of her influencer friends ODing at a party, lamenting how easily it could have been her just a few years ago while watching the other woman get taken away in an ambulance.

* PlatonicLifePartners: She and Max are two wlw who have a very loving but entirely platonic relationship with one another.

!!(Waves Timeline) Rachel Dawn Amber

* BerserkButton: It's genuinely a good idea to not harm or dehumanize the people she cares about. At best, you'll get away with her ''just'' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech tearing you a new one for your actions]].

** Dragons. She has a tattoo of one on her right calf, the mask for her Prospera costume in ''Before the Storm'' is called a dragon mask, and Samuel describes her as "a dragon made of diamonds" if Chloe asks him about her. Dragons symbolize fame, strength and power, all of which applies to her personality and background. In the Orient, dragons are also associated with wisdom, longevity and regeneration, which matches her academic performance and omnipresence through her missing posters and others' memories of her. In some cultures, dragons also represent greed and impulsivity, both traits Rachel exhibits several times (her LeeroyJenkins tendencies throughout ''Before the Storm'' and [[spoiler:the implications that ''all'' of her significant relationships were used by her in some way to fulfill her dreams of leaving Arcadia Bay]]. Dragons are also linked to fire, as is Rachel through the forest fire she causes in "Awake".

* HomoeroticSubtext: Her friendship with Chloe is hinted to have possibly been more than platonic, which has been confirmed by the writers to be deliberate. On Chloe's part, at least. ''Before the Storm'' does away with the subtext. The ''Wavelengths'' DLC of ''True Colours'' puts the final nail in the coffin as Steph mentions that she was incredibly jealous of the relationship between Rachel and Chloe.

* NeverARunaway: Everybody in Arcadia Bay except Chloe believes that Rachel ran away. Even Max has a moment's hesitation upon finding concrete evidence that Rachel was planning to run away and go to LA. However, Chloe was right all along. Rachel was murdered by Nathan and Mark Jefferson

** Deer, just like Max. [[spoiler: The ethereal doe that appears to Max in the junkyard and guides her in her visions is implied to be her ghost; it stands over the spot later revealed to be Rachel's grave, and when Max and Chloe discover her body, it vanishes into thin air. The developers later confirmed that the doe is "a presence of Rachel that guides Max somehow".]]
** Dragons. She has a tattoo of one on her right calf, and Samuel describes her as "a dragon made of diamonds" if Chloe asks him about her in ''Before the Storm''. Dragons symbolize fame, strength and power, all of which applies to her personality and background. In the Orient, dragons are also associated with wisdom, longevity and regeneration, which matches her academic performance and omnipresence through her missing posters and others' memories of her. In some cultures, dragons also represent greed and impulsivity. Dragons are also linked to fire, as is Rachel through the forest fire she causes in "Awake".

* AnimalMotifs: Deer, just like Max. [[spoiler: The ethereal doe that appears to Max in the junkyard and guides her in her visions is implied to be her ghost; it stands over the spot later revealed to be Rachel's grave, and when Max and Chloe discover her body, it vanishes into thin air.]]

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: [[spoiler: She sees through Chloe's lies with brilliant deduction.]]
* BadassAdorable: Hinted. She is downright beautiful, but after [[spoiler: burning her childhood photo of herself and her cheating father, she screams in anger and it's implied that she controlled the wind while screaming, so it can be hinted that she has a supernatural power]].

* TheBeautifulElite: She's the daughter of the DA, who lives in a very nice house. She's also beautiful, a perfect student, and admired by just about everyone.

* {{Expy}}: Rachel's role in the game make her one to Laura Palmer of ''Series/TwinPeaks''. Both kick off the main plot with their disappearances, both lived perfect public lives while hiding dark problems in their private lives, and both left a lasting influence in the lives of several people.

** Her secret relationship with [[spoiler: Frank]] makes a lot of sense when one considers that he can [[spoiler:''very'' easily supply her with drugs, that he has a well paying (if illegal) job, and his mode of transportation can double as a house.]] He was more or less her best option to get "the hell of Arcadia Bay" at the time of their relationship. Furthering this interpretation is Nathan, who was in fact friends with her, saying that Rachel only used him for [[spoiler: drugs.]] It should be noted however that Nathan's word is questionable given his mental issues and [[spoiler:the fact that he was one of her kidnappers and may have very well have been the one to overdose her.]] [[spoiler:Frank]] himself can even say that he thinks she would have ditched him at some point or another.

* AnythingThatMoves: She's revealed to have been likely dating/sleeping with both [[spoiler:Frank and Jefferson]] at the same time. Depending on how you interpret her relationship with Chloe in the Season One timeline(s) then she was not only cheating on the two above, but Chloe as well.

* NiceGirl: For the most part, Rachel is very friendly and caring towards her friends. Which could be the reason she is so popular with both the students and faculty. However, she is easily angered and is prone to vindictive and destructive behavior.

* HurtingHero: The ''Wavelengths'' DLC reveals that even after five years, Steph is still haunted by [[spoiler: either the destruction of Arcadia Bay and the death of her mother or the murders of Chloe and Rachel, depending on which ending was chosen for the first game]].

* NiceGirl: For the most part, Rachel is very friendly and caring towards her friends. However, she is easily angered and is prone to vindictive and destructive behavior.

* BigManOnCampus: She was loved, or at least respected, by almost everyone. She also had pretty good grades and a good future for herself.

* IconicItem: Her bracelet and blue feather earring(s) are this. She always wears them [spoiler: except in the hospital and unless she's personally gifted the bracelet to someone else.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Thought Rachel is very complimentary toward Chloe, she's also very self-centered. Virtually all of her interactions with Chloe have them doing what she wants to do or solving her problems. Both her astrological sign and her enneagram state that one of her potential flaws is self-centeredness. Ironically, if Chloe interprets Rachel's sudden detachment in the junkyard as a reaction to something Chloe did, Rachel will spitefully state that not ''everything'' is about Chloe.

* MeaningfulName:
** Her name is clearly a reference to "Amber alert" - a massage requesting the public to assist in search of abducted children.
** Her last name, Amber, is also a PunnyName on "ember", as Before The Storm has a recurring theme of forest fires (which Rachel unintentionally causes one at the end of Episode 1).

** She likely had a sexual affair with [[spoiler: Mark Jefferson]]. As indicated in her unsent letter to Chloe, she realizes that Chloe will disapprove of her feelings but doesn't seem to understand that Chloe will interpret it as cheating on her, implying that she and Chloe weren't officially in a relationship.

** She likely had a sexual affair with [[spoiler: Mark Jefferson]]. As indicated in her unsent letter to Chloe, she realizes that Chloe will disapprove of her feelings but doesn't seem to understand that Chloe will interpret it as cheating on her.

* NoSympathyForGrudgeholders: Averted. She suffers no ill consequences whatsoever if she refuses to forgive [[spoiler: Jed]] for [[spoiler: his crimes]]

* {{Tomboy}}: Alex's outfits are mostly jeans and shirts. Steph is shocked when Alex comes to the Spring Festival wearing a skirt, as she didn't realize Alex even owned one.
** TomboyishName: Prefers the gender-neutral "Alex" over her given name "Alexandra" or any of its more feminine variants.

** She was in a relationship with [[spoiler:Frank that was apparently quite volatile on both sides]].
** She likely had a sexual affair with [[spoiler: Mark Jefferson]].

* StepfordSmiler: In ''Life is Strange'', she is extremely popular and is deemed as "perfect" despite hating Arcadia Bay and having lots of other problems...

*** Likewise, it's unclear in season 01 if Rachel reciprocated, if she even knew about Chloe's feelings, if they mutually pined for each other but never acted on it, whether or not they actually did date in the main timeline, and if they did had they ever needed to take a "break" from their relationship over something. Truly the only thing that's clear is that they, ''at the very least,'' had a PseudoRomanticFriendship and that Chloe had genuine romantic feelings for her.

** She wrote [[spoiler: Frank Bowers]] a breakup letter that was also a love letter.

* TheBeautifulElite: No matter what her contemporaries think of her personality, everyone agrees that she's drop-dead gorgeous.

* {{Expy}}: Rachel's role in the game make her one to Laura Palmer of ''Series/TwinPeaks''. Both kick off the main plot with their disappearances, both slept around with a number of people in their hometowns, and both left a lasting influence in the lives of several people.

* TheGhost: As in the first game, she never appears in person and is only seen in some photographs and mentioned by other characters, though this changes in the prequel.

* HomoeroticSubtext: Her friendship with Chloe is hinted to have possibly been more than platonic, which has been confirmed by the writers to be deliberate. On Chloe's part, at least. ''Before the Storm'' does away with the subtext.
** The ''Wavelengths'' DLC of ''True Colours'' puts the final nail in the coffin as Steph mentions that she was incredibly jealous of the relationship between Rachel and Chloe.

* IconicItem: Her bracelet and blue feather earring(s) are this. She's never seen without them [[spoiler: unless she's personally gifted the former to someone else.]]

* PlayingWithFire: [[spoiler: ''Before the Storm'' hints that she's got some sort of fire-related abilities, at least to the point that fires around her flare up when she's very angry. The forest fire she creates is noted to be extremely unusual, almost supernatural, and when she almost dies from being stabbed by Damon Merrick it spontaneously extinguishes itself.]]

* BareYourMidriff: A few of her outfits show off her toned stomach.

* NiceGirl: She's friendly and fun to be around, and puts friendship above everything else, as seen in ''Before the Storm'' when [[spoiler: either Drew or Mikey gets sent to the hospital and she gives up on managing the play to be by her friend's side]].

* Gaydar: In ''Before the Storm'' she (correctly) suspects that the relationship between Chloe and Rachel is more than just friendship.

* ArtisticLicenseArt: [[spoiler: The loss of depth perception]] shouldn't affect one's drawing ability so profoundly. Some artists even find [[spoiler: depth perception decieving, and wear eyepatches deliberately]]. This might explain why Sean's subsequent drawings are just as good as [[spoiler: before he lost his eye]].

* HomeSweetHome: [[spoiler: Will give up on her dream of seeing the world and forming a music band if Alex romances her and chooses to stay in Haven Springs.]]