History Characters / StarcraftTaldarim

* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: This is how he takes control of the Tal'darim from Ma'lash.
* AuthorityGrantsAsskicking: Like Artanis. He is the Tal'darim First Ascendant, the second highest rank in their hierarchy, and appropriately is one of their most dangerous warriors in combat. Played even straighter when he becomes Highlord.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In "Wings of Liberty" and "Heart of the Swarm" they were just a generic antagonistic Protoss faction without even the red and black aesthetic, let alone any other unique characteristics, that they had in "Legacy of the Void".

* FantasticRacism: While it's clear the Tal'darim hate Terrans, their racism towards Khalai and Nerazim Protoss has quite a depth. They consider other Protoss inferior to themselves, priding themselves as being "The Chosen" by Amon, whereas other Protoss are weak and spineless. The Tal'darim even disparingly refer to other Protoss as "the Firstborn", as if they were seperate from them (which ironic because that term collectively describes all Protoss, even the Tal'darim). Furthermore, their response to any Khalai or Dark Templar they see is to capture them. Even towards their Terran allies, they have contempt for. This seems to have changed as of ''Nova Covert Ops'' as Alarak shows interest in the Terran Dominion becoming a WorthyOpponent, and was willing to be dilomatic with Nova to achieve a shared goal of eliminating the Defenders of Man.

* KlingonPromotion: The most common way to move up the "Chain of Ascensions" is to kill your superior in ritual combat. However, this can lead to LoopholeAbuse: One can also "persuade" his superior to challenge ''his'' superior in ritual combat. As long as someone above your rank dies in whatever manner you can think of, you'll be promoted, even if you had no personal hand in it.

* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: As with the other Tal'darim he wears black armor with red psionics. Unlike Alarak, Ma'lash plays it straight all the way through.

* TheHeavy: He's not the real leader of the Tal'Darim, just their commander in ''Wings''. Then, we later find out from Alarak that he's a ''renegade'' Tal'darim commander.

*** Ties into gameplay as well. Artanis' abilities are mix of support and offense, allowing him to deal damage and keep friendly units alive. Alarak's abilities are focused entirely on dealing damage and keeping himself alive
** Alarak also shows contrasts with Arcturus Mengsk, who just like him, was the evil leader of a faction that used red as its primary colour. Both got their positions through an uprising against the previous evil leader of their factions, with the help of a playable faction, and both see some of the people they lead (Alarak to the weakest of the Tal'darim; Mengsk towards the fringe world colonists) as cannon fodder. The main differences are that while Mengsk was FauxAffablyEvil, hiding his evil intentions to the public underneath a charming persona, Alarak is an AffablyEvil CardCarryingVillain, who doesn't bother hiding his intentions and never denies that he's in an EnemyMine situation (on the contrary, he seems quite proud of it). While Mengsk did a FaceHeelTurn, Alarak did a HeelFaceTurn. Finally, while Mengsk puts up a front of caring about his people but has no qualms throwing them under the bus for his ambitions, Alarak postures himself as someone who sees his people (or at least, the weakest of them) as slaves, but actually gives a damn about what they go through and will **violently** avenge them if he perceives that they have been wronged.

* JerkassHasAPoint: InUniverse. As much as he is an advocate for violence and ruthlessness, he is right to point out that Artanis's optimism is dangerous, and that they cannot expect to save everyone. [[spoiler:This proves very prudent during the final mission, that as much as Artanis wanted to save the possessed templar, the Daelaam had to kill off a number of their brethren in defense, which was a rather painful choice]].

** Alarak also shows contrasts with Arcturus Mengsk, who just like him, was the evil leader of a faction that used red as its primary colour. Both got their positions through an uprising against the previous evil leader of their factions, with the help of a playable faction, and both see some of the people they lead (Alarak to the weakest of the Tal'darim; Mengsk towards the fringe world colonists) as cannon fodder. The main differences are that while Mengsk was FauxAffablyEvil, hiding his evil intentions to the public underneath a charming persona, Alarak is an AffablyEvil CardCarryingVillain, who doesn't bother hiding his intentions and never denies that he's in an EnemyMine situation (on the contrary, he seems quite proud of it). While Mengsk did a FaceHeelTurn, Alarak did a HeelFaceTurn. And while Mengsk has no problem throwing his people under the bus for his ambitions, Alarak actually gives a damn about what his people go through and will go out of his way to seek vengeance against those who wrong them, even if he considers them his slaves (as is common in Tal'darim society).

-> '''Voiced by:''' Gary Anthony Williams (English), Nikita Prozorovsky (Russian)