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1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3!!Main characters
4[[folder:Deacon]]
5!!Deacon Lee St. John
6[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deacon_st_john.png]]
7--> Voiced by: Creator/SamWitwer (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Dmitry Polyanovsky (Russian)[[/note]]
8
9->''"Do you know why we keep going? Because what the hell else are we going to do?"''\
10
11A biker in the Mongrels MC, a native of Farewell, Oregon and a veteran of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, Deacon barely survived the opening days of the Freakers' outbreak. He now ekes out a living as a bounty hunter, doing jobs for the handful of survivors' communities that have risen in the years since the fall of civilization.
12
13----
14* AllBikersAreHellsAngels: He and Boozer are explicitly one-percenter bikers, with their experience as outlaws being contributing to their ability to thrive in the collapse of society.
15* AmbiguouslyChristian: While he dodges the question when directly asked if he believes in God, Deacon demonstrates a capable knowledge of Christian doctrine. He is able to recognise a vague reference to the Decollation of John the Baptist made by a NERO soldier, and corrects Colonel Garret when he claims that the story of Noah’s Ark comes from the Book of Revelation. In particular, he might come from a Mennonite background, as he seems annoyed by Weaver’s suggestion that Mennonites forbid music and snaps at him that they love music, it’s dancing that they don’t approve of.
16* AntiHero: Deacon is willing to do whatever it takes to protect his loved ones in the apocalypse and is willing to help innocent survivors in need, but his brutality, anger, short-fused temper, and need for vengeance causes him to do things that leave his allies shook, such as [[spoiler: drowning the entire Ripper camp after learning who Carlos really was, an act that Rikki, Iron Mike, and eventually even Boozer, his best friend and his partner in that act, were disturbed by.]]
17* AntiNihilist: As noted in his quote above, he and Boozer keep moving forward because that's all that's left to do.
18* AwesomeMcCoolname: According to Taylor, whose mind is completely blown by the name.
19* BadassBiker: Deacon is a one-percenter biker who can craft weapons and use the environment around him in his quest to survive against the horde of zombies.
20* BerserkButton: If Deacon sees you harm a woman, ''especially'' one who might not be able to defend herself on her own, you're pretty much already dead and just don't know it yet.
21* BewareTheNiceOnes: He's not as nice as he used to be, but he's still a decent person. However, the horrors of the apocalypse and the loss of his wife have caused him to develop a deep well of anger that's frightening when unleashed upon bandits, Rippers and Freakers, whom he seems to take a savage glee in killing.
22* BloodKnight: He has a streak of this at times clearly enjoying the violence he unleashes upon his foes.
23* BookDumb: A high-school dropout who didn't do well academically, but judging from the things he regards as collectibles, he seems to have a genuine interest in history, botany (thanks to Sarah), and other peoples' business.
24* BountyHunter: He typically gets hired by the various camps to deal with troublemakers.
25* BrainsAndBrawn: Played with. On the surface Deacon's a tough biker who never finished school and Sarah's a genius with two [=PhDs=]. However, he's more intelligent and sensitive than he appears and she's both tougher than she looks and a bit naïve.
26* CannotSpitItOut: While somewhat justifiably cautious, there are plenty of times in the story where Deacon could probably avoid several problems and arguments with other characters if he would just ''explain himself'' properly, or stop for a minute to provide details on what he's learned or how he knows something. And ''every'' single time, Deacon will avoid doing this, tell a half-truth, or outright ''lie'' about something and make things that much harder on himself.[[spoiler: It becomes especially egregious when Skizzo is accusing him of being a criminal to get Colonel Garret to execute him, and Deacon maintains he doesn't know who Skizzo is instead of explaining that it's Skizzo himself who is a traitor and saboteur.]]
27* CharacterDevelopment: Deacon starts the story as a hardened and cold survivor who believes that caring about people will just get you killed. But as he begins to grow closer and work with other survivors, Deacon learns that caring about people can make you stronger and that not caring can get you killed just as easily [[spoiler: (just as it got the selfish Skizzo killed at the end)]]. He also slowly becomes slightly more hopeful and kind, especially after [[spoiler: finding Sarah and a newfound purpose for living.]]
28* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: [[spoiler:As ''Days Gone'' is a StealthSequel to ''Syphon Filter'', Bend's previous game series, Deacon is this to Gabriel Logan, the hero of the ''Syphon Filter'' games. Both are ex-U.S. Army soldiers who served in Afghanistan and are the AntiHero main protagonist of their games, though Logan served in the SovietAfghanWar while Deacon served at an unknown U.S. campaign in Afghanistan akin to TheWarOnTerror. But unlike Logan who actively works with the IPCA, a governmental organization, and is actively operating in stopping {{Synthetic Plague}}s including the titular Syphon Filter virus, Deacon is extremely antagonistic against government agencies like NERO and instead affiliates mostly with survivors from survivor camps across Oregon, showing unbridled disgust towards NERO for being ignorant of the Freaker outbreak. While Logan is a CelibateHero and is unmarried, Deacon is married to Sarah Whitaker. Logan emphasizes lethal stealth in combat while Deacon is forefront in attacking enemies front and center, preferring MoreDakka.]]
29* CrazySane: He tends to talk to himself while taking down camps or stalking enemies, or just when he's alone, but otherwise comes off as reasonable and well-adjusted. It seems to be his way of coping with the constant danger he's in.
30* CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:He and Boozer are partially responsible for the Rippers, as "Carlos" is actually a former member of their MC that he helped restrain as he got his tattoos removed via blowtorch. This drove Jessie insane and led him to create a cult of lunatics]].
31* DeadpanSnarker: Before the apocalypse he had a pretty sharp tongue and clever sense of humor--now it's not so much "deadpan" as "bitter".
32* DeathByChildbirth: Not Deacon himself (obviously) but his mother, who barely lived long enough to give him his first name.
33* DeathSeeker: It is heavily implied he has a death wish due to his reckless actions and several characters suggest it.
34* DemolitionsExpert: His Army company was trained in demolitions, [[spoiler:and he's able to tell Boozer where to plant dynamite in order to take down a dam]].
35* TheExile:
36** Prior to the events of the game, Deacon was exiled from the Lost Lake Encampment by its leader "Iron" Mike because they scouted survivors to send to Ada Tucker's harsh work camp, which Mike saw as tantamount to selling her slaves. It's also implied to have been partly due to Mike and his peaceful ways being at odds with Deacon's BloodKnight tendencies and the tension thereof. [[spoiler:He is ''not'' pleased when Deacon is forced to return to the camp in order to get medical aid for Boozer, but grudgingly accepts them so long as Deacon works for the camp]].
37** [[spoiler:And then just when he and Deacon were mending fences and getting to understand each other, Deacon goes and drowns the Ripper camp, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands of people. Deacon coincidentally needing to go south to find Sarah, Mike agrees to take him on a trail to Southern Oregon as long as he '''never comes back''']].
38* {{Expy}}: Deacon St. John and Daryl Dixon from ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' have a lot in common, such as both being badass bikers, expert trackers, hardened loners, and are both good with a crossbow. He also has a bit of [[Series/SonsOfAnarchy Jax Teller]] in him, best shown through his relationship with Sarah.
39* FamedInStory: At one point he lampshades this, noting that he and Boozer had made something of a name of themselves in northern Oregon with their exploits.
40* FromCamouflageToCriminal: His skills are justified as him being a soldier before the apocalypse.
41* IDidWhatIHadToDo: His attitude towards [[spoiler:drowning the Ripper HQ.]] Noticeably, he '''never''' budges from this stance, even though he expresses much remorse for mutilating [[spoiler:Jessie/Carlos]] which put them on the path of insanity.
42* InkSuitActor: He heavily resembles Sam Witwer, especially when he was clean-shaven.
43* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Once the player gets all of the 18 IPCA Tech pieces, Deacon will have the IPCA Stun Gun. IPCA is a governmental agency and Deacon is known to be antagonistic towards them including NERO.]]
44* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Deacon can seem cold and pragmatic when interacting with people, but in the end, he does what he can to help his friends and any other innocent survivors. His interactions with Lisa and [[spoiler:the puppy he got for Boozer]] are clear signs he cares deeply about other people but prefers not to let anyone in the post-apocalyptic world he lives in see his softer side.
45* KnightInSourArmor: Deacon is resigned in the belief that everybody will eventually die and there's no point trying to fight the freakers, especially after losing Sarah at the start of the game. However, that doesn't stop him from helping anybody he comes across.
46* LikeBrotherAndSister: He sees Sarah's little sister as being his own sister.
47* TheLostLenore: He's constantly looking for any information of Sarah even after seeing how billions of other people have died or become monsters in the aftermath of the outbreak.
48* MadeOfIron: Even before the outbreak, in one of the flashback missions, Deacon manages to shrug off a beating from three guys. ''After'' the outbreak, he goes through one of the trickier parts of the game after [[spoiler: Carlos takes an acetylene torch to his arm.]]
49* MercyKill:
50** [[spoiler: Deacon, after offering a dying Leon a quick death in exchange for the location of drugs he stole for Copeland, shoots him in the head to keep him from being torn apart and eaten alive by a Horde.]]
51** [[spoiler: After Wade accidentally kills Doctor Jiminez while trying to steal drugs from the infirmary, Deacon tracks him down and discovers Wade is crying on the floor of an old ski resort cabin, broken and fearing his imminent hanging at the hands of Colonel Garret and the Milita. Wade begs Deacon not to let them hang him and so Deacon kills Wade via drug overdose to save him from that fate.]]
52** [[spoiler: When Deacon and Skizzo sneak into Ripper territory to find detonation cords for a plan to seal a Horde living in a cave near Lost Lake, they find a woman that had been tortured and left for the Freakers by the Rippers. After they cut her down and see that her legs are broken, thus meaning she can't go any further before Freakers or more Rippers arrive, Deacon suffocates her to death while telling the woman "it's going to be okay". Deacon sounds heartbroken to have to do this to a woman, considering his moral code against hurting or killing unarmed women.]]
53** [[spoiler: Deacon mercy kills a dog Boozer had found after Rippers hunted the dog down and shot it for no reason. Refusing to leave the dog to suffer, Deacon put it out of its misery.]]
54* MissingMom: Deacon's mother died in childbirth, although she was able to give him his name first. (Deacon mentions it in the completion text for one of Wade's missions.)
55* MrFixit: He talks about having worked as a mechanic before the Apocalypse, and is pretty adept at fixing things with scrap, though it seems he leaves more dedicated repairs and alterations to his bike to practicing mechanics.
56* MotorMouth: Deacon is prone to angrily muttering his thoughts out loud, typically commenting on his current situation or responding to someone. He's also uneasy in conversation with strangers and tends to trail on, even if he could just say a simple "yes" or "no".
57* TheMourningAfter: Never got over the death of Sarah. Others call out the fact that it's stunting his decision-making - Deacon can't (or won't) focus on the future in any way, focusing solely on the "now".
58* MyGreatestFailure: Deacon's past being a "recruiter" for Tucker's camp in exchange camp credits. Given that Tucker effectively runs her camp as a Prison Camp, Deacon doesn't take it too well whenever anyone refers to that period of his life as him essentially "capturing slaves" for Tucker.
59** [[spoiler:Deacon's participation in Jessie's torture and violent rejection from the MC led to Jessie becoming Carlos and founding the Rippers. He did not take the revelation well upon meeting Carlos/Jessie face-to-face.]]
60* NiceGuy: Before the apocalypse, Deacon was someone with a bit of a rough side but was overall a kind-hearted gentleman who helped Sarah back when she was only a stranger to him, respected his girlfriend's dedication to her work, and was even willing to be less involved in the Mongrels in an effort to get Sarah's family to come to their wedding. The only time he was ever not so nice was when he was provoked, such as when a security guard at Sarah's workplace disrespected him when he tried picking her up to teach her to ride or when a couple of red necks nearly rode him and Sarah off the road before messing with Sarah's rental car. Even on the night of the apocalypse, he tried to reason with a man driven over the edge by the death of his wife [[spoiler: before being forced to kill him when the man blamed Deacon for his wife's death and nearly shot him in the face.]]
61* ObfuscatingStupidity: One of his in-jokes with Sarah was pretending not to know about something elementary/obvious and tricking her into explaining it to him.
62* OneManArmy:
63** The game depicts Hordes as a relentless threat, with dozens, if not hundreds of rabid freakers in each colony, and are best avoided at all costs. Even if you don't do any of the optional missions, Deacon takes a Horde out by himself ''four separate times'' over the course of the story, by using speed, the environment, and homebrewed explosives.
64** Once you have better weapons and explosives, Deacon is able to take out every horde in the game all by himself.
65** During the final mission in the main game, [[spoiler: Deacon's plan to besiege Wizard Island hinges upon him and Boozer driving a truck bomb in through the front gate as a distraction, while the entirety of the rest of his assembled forces hit the other entrance. In other words, the whole plan hinges upon Deacon being able to hold up one front of the battle ''by himself'', since Boozer's effectively a noncombatant. It works.]]
66* PermaStubble: Has this after shaving his BeardOfSorrow. It grows thicker towards the end of the game but never back to the same length as before.
67* RankUp: [[spoiler: After joining the Milita, Colonal Garrett starts him with a rank higher than usual for new recruits, citing his military experience. This allows Deacon to have a bit more freedom to explore the region and compete errands.]]
68* RoaringRampageOfRescue: [[spoiler: After Sarah is taken prisoner by Colonel Garret and his men, Deacon organises and launches a major offensive against the militia camp, cutting a swath of death and destruction through any militiaman trying to get between him and Sarah, killing a treacherous Skizzo and finally Garret, before taking his remaining sympathisers prisoner and liberating the rest.]]
69* ScarilyCompetentTracker: He learned how to track people from Boozer, and is good enough to accurately determine the actions people were taking at certain locations. He also gets special training from Copeland about tracking and butchering deer. Depending on how you build him, his skills can get downright supernatural.
70* ShellShockedVeteran: Downplayed. Deacon says outright that serving in Afghanistan messed him up and it seems he joined the Mongrels in the first place because he lacked structure after coming home, but he's well-adjusted in the flashbacks. In the present, it's implied the apocalypse is triggering his PTSD all the time - he's clearly stressed by social encounters, constantly talks to himself and is always on the edge around Freakers, even if other, less lethal characters keep their calm.
71* SpiderSense: Deacon can tell when enemies are nearby--this is shown to the player as red coloration on the minimap. He eventually also gets an upgrade which lets him sense enemy movement through walls...because being a good tracker gives you X-ray vision? Sure.
72* StillWearingTheOldColors: He and Boozer are still wearing their Mongrels regalia (down to the rings) long after the motorcycle club's been taken apart by the apocalypse.
73* SuperDrowningSkills: Deacon can only swim for a few seconds before death ([[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes presumably via panicking and drowning]]) is triggered. At the very end of the game [[spoiler:he manages to overcome his mental block against water in order to swim to Wizard Island and rescue Sarah from the Militia]].
74* SuperSpeed: Extremely downplayed, but Deacon can sprint a bit faster than most Freakers and even outpace them enough to huck a molotov or fire some shots.
75* TeethClenchedTeamwork:
76** He's not very fond of Mark Copeland or Ada Tucker, but they all have a vested interest in helping people survive.
77** He also doesn't like working with NERO or doing missions for O'Brien, but that's the only way he can get information on whether Sarah is alive or dead.
78* TimePassageBeard: Deacon starts the game with a short beard that doubles as a BeardOfSorrow. When he [[spoiler:goes back to Lost Lake with Boozer]] he shaves his beard into a PermaStubble that gradually grows thicker over the rest of the game but it never grows back to the length it was in the beginning.
79* TookALevelInCynicism: The Freaker collapse and the [[spoiler:presumed]] death of his wife hardened him greatly.
80* UndyingLoyalty: To Boozer and Sarah, as these two are his entire world and think about harming either of them and you die, just look at Carlos and Skizzo.
81* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:While the R.I.P. cult existed before Carlos aka Jessie joined them, it's implied that he's the one who made them take their violent turn. Since Deacon and Boozer holding him down while Jack blowtorched his back is what drove Carlos murderously insane, it means that technically the three of them are indirectly responsible for all the deaths the cult caused]].
82* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: During his term in the army, the Humvee Deacon and his troop were riding in was hit by a repurposed anti-aircraft gun and flipped upside-down into the Hari River. Deacon was luckily thrown clear, and when he came to all he could do was dive under seven times to recover the bodies of his companions. After this he developed a mortal terror of being in water deep enough to swim in. This is represented in-game by giving him a ''very short'' timer to get back to land if he's in deep water and a game over if it runs out. [[spoiler:He's forced to face this and overcome it, naturally]].
83* WouldNotHitAGirl: Has a personal code where he won't harm women unless outside of self-defense such as when fighting bandits or Rippers. He also extends this code to other people, and gets really pissed if he sees men attack an unarmed woman. It's implied that he used to play this completely straight, but time in the apocalypse has forced him to be pragmatic about it and only spare unarmed women.
84
85[[/folder]]
86
87[[folder:Sarah]]
88!!Sarah Irene Whitaker
89[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/days_gone_sarah_whittaker.png]]
90 [[caption-width-right:350:]]
91--> Voiced by: Creator/CourtneeDraper (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Polina Shcherbakova (Russian)[[/note]]
92
93Sarah was a botanist before the outbreak. When she and Deacon got married, it scandalized both his friends and her family. In the chaos of the evacuation of Farewell, a little girl lashed out and stabbed her in the stomach, forcing Deacon to put her on a rescue helicopter alone. That was the last time he ever saw her.
94
95----
96* ActionGirl: [[spoiler:As a member of the Militia, she's trained with guns. She also uses a sleeper hold at one point, implying she's had hand-to-hand training as well]].
97* BadassBookworm: Pharmaceutical researcher [[spoiler:and AKA47-toting gunwoman who can keep up with her ActionHero husband]].
98* CharacterDevelopment: [[spoiler:When Deacon finds her, she's just dedicated to the militia without a thought of leaving with Deacon, but after being with Deacon again and seeing the Colonel's mental state cracking, she wants to escape and do anything she can to stop the true evil of the militia and end up with Deacon once again]].
99* DamselOutOfDistress: [[spoiler:After Deacon single-handedly cuts through half the Militia to rescue her, she's already poisoned Colonel Garret (who has her at gunpoint) with hemlock.]]
100* FirstNameBasis: [[spoiler:She refers to Colonel Garret casually by his first name when talking about him, though she quickly checks herself when Deacon questions it]].
101* GuileHero: [[spoiler: By the time you get to the General in the final mission, Sarah's already killed him by spiking his herbal tea with water hemlock. If Deacon hadn't lived to reach the Ark, Sarah would've still effectively decapitated the militia.]]
102* GreaterScopeParagon: [[spoiler:While everyone and Deacon are trying to kill the freakers, she's trying to cure them. This motivates Deacon to further help her with her projects.]]
103* IceQueen: [[spoiler:Sarah cultivated this image after joining the militia. Coupled with her being known as a genius who was allegedly working on a bioweapon, this led to her gaining the appellation of "Wizard Island Witch"]].
104* ItsAllMyFault: [[spoiler:Sarah doesn't take it too well when she learns that her research was used by her company to help create the Freaker virus. Or that she ignored the lowly intern who'd break in to expose it and instead became Patient Zero who spread it to the entire world.]]
105* LikeBrotherAndSister: Sees Boozer as the big brother she never had.
106* TheLostLenore: She was once HappilyMarried with Deacon, but he presumed her dead after finding out the refugee camp she was supposed to be evacuated to was massacred by Freakers. [[spoiler:Two years later, it turns out Sarah is alive and was taken to another camp.]]
107* MaleGaze: One flashback has Deacon pointedly staring at and quipping about her rear when she was bent over, and Weaver comments that she "has a fine ass".
108* NerdsAreSexy: Bring conventionally attractive helps, but it's clear that Deacon loves her for her brains as much as her body.
109* BrainsAndBrawn: As outlined with Deacon.
110* ParentalMarriageVeto: Her parents went no-contact after she married Deacon, and Boozer was the only "family member" present. It seems they also kept her younger sister from attending as well.
111* SarcasmBlind: She always fell for Deacon's sarcastic jokes. [[spoiler: And she still does 2 years later.]]
112* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Pre-Apocalypse, a sweet, smart scientist lady who was terrified of even holding a gun. Post-Apocalypse, joined the Deschutes County Milita, learned how to use a rifle, and has gone on a number of supply runs herself. She also learned how to do a sleeper hold and has apparently seen enough combat that killing a group of Marauders doesn't even phase her]].
113* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: At the end of the game, despite spending the last third finding Sarah and rescuing her, she just vanishes from the game entirely with only some NPC dialogue about her here and there. It became such an issue among gamer complaints that Patch 1.60 made it so she can now be found in Lost Lake sitting next to Boozer.]]
114* WideEyedIdealist:
115** Sure, the government was using some of her research, but they ''totally'' weren't gonna use it to make bioweapons! They even signed a contract saying they wouldn't!
116** [[spoiler:Despite the world gone insane and surrounded by overly-zealous, almost unhinged militia people, she still believes in curing the freakers, and continues to consider them as people, not monsters.]]
117[[/folder]]
118
119[[folder:Boozer]]
120!!William "Boozer" Grey
121[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boozer_4.png]]
122--> Voiced by: Creator/JimPirri (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Denis Stroyev (Russian)[[/note]]
123
124Deacon's best friend and the only other surviving member of the Mongrels motorcycle club, Boozer has joined Deacon in his post-outbreak career as a bounty hunter. He's badly injured at the start of the game, however, which forces Deacon to start improvising.
125
126----
127* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: Requires his right arm to be amputated after he’s injured by a group of Rippers and catches septicaemia.]]
128* BashBrothers: Clearly has this relationship with Deacon.
129* CallToAgriculture: Eventually, [[spoiler:after losing his arm]], he starts to think that being a farmer at Lost Lake sounds like a nice life.
130* DisneyDeath: Appears to be killed [[spoiler: driving the truck bomb to the front gate of Wizard Island]], but it's very soon after revealed that he jumped out at the last moment. He even lampshades it.
131-->Boozer: "You didn't think I was gonna blow myself up, didya?"
132* FaceOfAThug: Boozer is built like a brick shithouse, has a sinister-looking goatee and is covered in tattoos, looking much more like the biker stereotype than Deacon. Of the two, he's more sensitive and friendly with a massive love for dogs.
133* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler: He was able to beat up Deacon with only one arm.]]
134* HookHand: [[spoiler:After losing his arm, he gets fitted with a prosthetic hook that gets switched out with various tools over the game, such as a knife and a scoop for changing truck gears]].
135* InkSuitActor: Picture Jim Pirri with a clean-shaven, tattooed skull and a goatee, and you've got Boozer.
136* {{Irony}}: Boozer's rank in the MC, as evidenced by his cut, is "sergeant-at-arms." [[spoiler:By the end of the game, it's probably more like sergeant-at-''arm''.]]
137** [[spoiler: He also becomes the new Head of Security for Lost Lake after kicking out Skizzo.]]
138* LeeroyJenkins: When he's teamed up with you in battle, [[spoiler:after getting a blade for a hand]] he tends to charge straight for foes. Which can be kind of annoying if you prefer to snipe your enemies from a distance and he keeps fouling your shots and there's no way to tell him to fall back and argh argh argh.
139* LikeBrotherAndSister: Sees Deacon as his brother, and when Deacon hooked up with Sarah, he came to see her as a sibling, too.
140* TheLostLenore: Boozer is a widower. Late in the game, you can find a photo of his wife Joany in his house in Lost Lake. It's not mentioned in the main game what happens to her, but if you go to the storylines section and read some of the descriptions for the missions, it's mentioned that Joany [[spoiler:died after a bike crash as a result of Boozer riding while drunk, which made him extremely guilt-ridden]]. You can find a memorial to her on Highway 97, near where you start the Chemult Horde mission.
141* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Pretty much. His real name is used here and there (mostly by Addy), but he's predominantly called Boozer.
142-->Deacon: "His name is William, or Bill, I've always called him Boozer.....don't ask me why."
143* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Used to spend a lot of time hunting elk with his uncle and taught Deacon everything he knows about hunting and butchering prey at the start of the game.
144* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: His personal gun is a Mossberg 500 Cruiser simply known as "Boozer's Shotgun". He lets Deacon borrow it during the intro missions and gives it to him for good partway through his personal questline.
145* StillWearingTheOldColors: As with Deacon, above.
146* TattooedCrook: Boozer resembles a typical biker thug, but is a subversion, as his lifestyle as a bounty hunter is comparatively more legitimate than the raiders he hunts and his less-overtly-tattooed partner, Deacon is much more [[RedOniBlueOni hot-headed.]]
147* TookALevelInJerkass: A justified example. [[spoiler:He gradually becomes more mean-spirited and hot-tempered the worse his arm gets as his judgment is clouded from battling septicemia. He quickly becomes his normal self again after recovering from the amputation.]]
148* VitriolicBestBuddies: He and Deacon constantly snipe jokes at each other, but are practically brothers who love each dearly, and would do anything for each other.
149[[/folder]]
150
151!!Copeland's Camp
152[[folder:Copeland]]
153!!Mark Copeland
154[[quoteright:344:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mark_copeland_2.jpg]]
155--> Voiced by: Creator/CrispinFreeman (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Ilya Isaev (Russian)[[/note]]
156
157Leader of his survivor's camp. Before and after the Freaker outbreak, Copeland is a very strong believer in American constitutionalism, believing that the U.S. Constitution took precedence over the laws of the day. He even runs his own conspiracy radio show, Radio Free Oregon.
158
159----
160* TheCavalry: [[spoiler:If Deacon has max Trust with Copeland's Camp, Copeland shows up at the end with his men from the encampment as reinforcements for Deacon's assault on the Militia base.]]
161* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Most of his conspiracies are actually about 90% right on the mark, and the only reason he isn't 100% is just due to not having all of the info.
162* ConspiracyTheorist: Copeland claims that he foresaw the coming of the Freaker outbreak, and strongly believes that the Federal government was responsible for causing the outbreak, and that NERO's sudden return is their attempt to reclaim what is left of the United States. [[spoiler:He is at least right about the Freaker virus being created by the government.]] Deacon and Iron Mike are pretty annoyed with Copeland's conspiracy theories in which they deride him as a truther.
163* CrazySurvivalist: John Garvin stated that Copeland is based on every Pro-Second Amendment rights activist he knew growing up.
164* CruelAndUnusualDeath: After NERO helicopters have killed six of his men and wounded more, he declares that anyone he finds working with them is going to be both hanged and quartered while they're still alive.
165* DeathOfAChild: He lost his son Christopher (nicknamed Christy) at some point prior to the game.
166* HonorBeforeReason: At one point Manny insists on going on a supply run, and although he tries to persuade him otherwise Copeland lets him go (with some helpers, obviously) and the mechanic gets captured by raiders. Deacon is scornful, but Copeland says he doesn't tell people how to live their lives.
167* {{Hypocrite}}: When he and his group take resources or territory from others, it's righteous "conquest". When people take stuff from them, it's "robbery" and punishable by death.
168* InsistentTerminology: If Copeland's people come across things that aren't currently in use and take it for his camp, it's "salvage", not stealing.
169* JumpedAtTheCall: One thing becomes evident as you listen to more episodes of Radio Free Oregon: Copeland is ''loving this''. He's an apocalypse prepper who actually got an apocalypse, and is riding high on "I told you so."
170* KickTheDog: It's all but outright stated that, knowing Deacon and Boozer's bikes on sight, he deliberately scrapped Deacon's bike as a way to get him to run missions for his camp.
171* PetTheDog:
172** If Deacon does enough for his camp, he will call him up on the radio and give a genuine apology for scrapping his bike. He also teaches Deacon a better way to skin animals to get more of the meat.
173** Partway through the game, Deacon and Boozer's safe house is discovered by Copeland's men. Rather than "salvage" everything, he tells Deacon about what his men found and subtly implies that he knows something had been wrong with Boozer.
174* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: As part of his "MightMakesRight" beliefs, he thinks that the trampling of Native American culture is completely justified since it proved that they were weak.
175* ProperlyParanoid: [[spoiler:He's dead on the money when he accuses the government of causing the outbreak. Though he is wrong about the Freaker virus being "foreign" made in which Deacon lampshades that if Copeland knew that the virus originated in his home state then he would have a heart attack.]]
176* RightForTheWrongReasons: During the disaster he called NERO's refugee camps "death camps", because his distrust of the government led him to believe they existed for some nefarious, potentially fatal purpose. When the Freakers started showing up ''en masse'', those camps ended up as all-you-can-eat buffets. So they died, but not because of the government, right? ''[[ZigZaggedTrope Well...]]'' in at least one case when Freaker Hordes were on the way, NERO bugged out without so much as ''warning'' the thousands of refugees in their camps, let alone letting at least a ''few'' (such as children) ride to safety in their vehicles. Which, given what we see of NERO, isn't exactly atypical behavior.
177* ScarilyCompetentTracker: His grandfather took him deer hunting quite a bit in his youth, and he became adept at hunting and butchering deer meat.
178* StrawCharacter: He's a stereotypical anarcho-libertarian with extreme anti-government beliefs. While Deacon treats him as little more than a loon reveling in being vindicated by the world going to hell, Cope is also treated as mostly right as far as the government goes.
179* TheExtremistWasRight: Via his radio program, he spent years warning people to make preparations for a disaster, using Aesop's fable of "The Ant and the Grasshopper" as an example. Although as Deacon notes, once the disaster actually hit many who did the same ''still'' got killed for their supplies, so the parable doesn't exactly hold.
180* VoiceOfTheResistance: He expresses his conspiracy-fueled and extreme libertarian beliefs on his radio station. He begins his tagline "The Truth Shall Set You Free" and ends with "Don't believe the lies."
181
182[[/folder]]
183
184[[folder:Manny]]
185!!Manny Mendez
186[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/manny_1.jpg]]
187--> Voiced by: Andrew Kishino (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Sergey Smirnov (Russian)[[/note]]
188
189The official mechanic for Copeland's camp selling motorcycle parts as well as providing refuel and repair services
190
191----
192* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Despite not being a fighter, he shows up as part of Copeland's reinforcements at the end of the game.]]
193* {{Catchphrase}}: "Keep your nose down, they feed ya."
194* TheLostLenore: Probably. He keeps a card from a lady who calls him a stud among his personal belongings, but we learn nothing else.
195* MrFixit: He's a source of both bike maintenance and upgrades.
196* NonActionGuy: Largely, yes. At one point he feels that he's not doing enough for the camp and decides to tag along on a supply run--only to get captured by marauders. Deacon warns him away from trying that again, telling him that anyone can shoot a gun, but people with Manny's skills are a rarity. [[spoiler:Nevertheless, he joins the final battle--and survives]].
197
198[[/folder]]
199
200
201!!Hot Springs Encampment
202[[folder:Tucker]]
203!!Ada Tucker
204[[quoteright:261:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ada_tucker_1.jpg]]
205--> Voiced by: Creator/DeeDeeRescher (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Olga Kuznetsova (Russian)[[/note]]
206
207Leader of Hot Springs Encampment. Under her rule, all the survivors in the settlement must work to earn their keep.
208
209----
210* BlackAndGreyMorality: How many evil things can you do (forcing the residents of your camp to work backbreaking hours in exchange for food while refusing to let them leave and having armed guards beat them for objecting to any of it) while still having a fundamentally good motivation (the camp keeps people safe and the work has to be done if they want to stay fed and healthy)?
211* EnemiesList: She's got an actual "Who can I trust?" list with a lot of marked out names, little notes and question marks. Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.
212* EvilOldFolks: Ada is one poisonous old lady.
213* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Briefly shows what appears to be a kinder side when Deacon brings back Lisa, a young girl who used to live up the street from her, embracing her and calling her survival a miracle. Then when Deacon tries to ask her to go easy on the traumatized girl, she makes it clear she intends to work Lisa just as harshly as everyone else and mocks Deek for getting "soft." When later (falsely) informed of Lisa's death, she only rues losing a worker.
214** However in a later side mission when taking out a Ripper Camp, she does sound more vicious in her desire for Deacon to kill them all, noting how they killed Lisa as her reason.
215* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: If less dramatically than [[spoiler:The Colonel]]. Deacon believes she's in the process of doing this - trying so hard to keep people alive that she's losing perspective on what a life worth living is like.
216* TheLostLenore: You can find her husband's [[spoiler:suicide note]] if you go back to her house in Marion Forks.
217* WardensAreEvil: Prior to the outbreak, Tucker previously worked in prison as a matron of the women's ward. She applied her work experience on her camp, which she sees it no different from running prison.
218* WellIntentionedExtremist: ''So far'', whatever you think of her methods of doing so, she's still one of the rare people with the skillset and personality to be able to build something to keep humans safe from Freakers.
219[[/folder]]
220
221[[folder:Alkai]]
222!!Alkai Turner
223[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alkali_2.jpg]]
224--> Voiced by: Jonathan Joss (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Alexander Hoshabaev (Russian)[[/note]]
225
226Ada Tucker's second-in-command, Alkai is also the gun merchant for the Hot Springs encampment.
227
228----
229* ArmsDealer: He's the primary vendor for weapons for the early parts of the game.
230* BeleagueredAssistant: He takes a lot of heat from Ada whenever something goes wrong, but sticks by her nonetheless.
231* TheCavalry: [[spoiler: If Deacon has max Trust level with the Hot Springs, Alkai shows up at the end with fighters from the Hot Springs as reinforcements for Deacon's assault on the Militia base.]]
232* TokenEvilTeammate: Sort of. Alkai himself never seems like too bad a guy (not that Deacon ever does anything but buy supplies from him), but Deacon is astonished to see him and other representatives of the Hot Springs camp ride to Lost Lake to join him for the final assault. Deacon's relationship with Tucker growing increasingly sour over what a (all but literal) slavedriver she is, it might have made sense for them to sit this one out.
233
234[[/folder]]
235
236!!Lost Lake Camp
237
238[[folder:Iron Mike]]
239!!"Iron" Mike Wilcox
240[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/iron_mike_1.jpg]]
241--> Voiced by: Creator/EricAllanKramer (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Igor Staroseltsev (Russian)[[/note]]
242
243A former forest ranger and leader of the Lost Lake Camp.
244
245----
246* BigGood: Serves as the moral center for the Lost Lake camp as well as being the most stable and idealistic of the Camp leaders, and clearly influences Deacon's cynical outlook.
247* ChildHater: Mike mentions (when talking about the Newts) that he never ''did'' like kids much as they got on his nerves, which had been always a point of contention between him and his late wife.
248* DarkAndTroubledPast: Iron Mike was one of two survivors who survived the massacre in Sherman's Camp. Mike was part of one group of survivors violently opposed to another group. After Mike's group's ammo ran out, they called for a truce in which both sides only ended up killing each other. This left Mike traumatized and making him to completely rejecting violence towards human survivors.
249* DentedIron: He has earned that nickname "Iron", but it's also clear he is not as tough as he used to be after everything that has happened.
250* ForgetfulJones: Downplayed. Many characters comment that his memory isn't that good, with some dialog here and there suggesting that he has been told some information before but forgot about it. However Iron Mike will sometimes use this to his advantage and pretend to state he "doesn't remember" after someone states he told them not to do something.
251* GrumpyOldMan: Downplayed. He tells Deacon that he actually ''likes'' very few people, but can tolerate most.
252* HonorBeforeReason:
253** Iron Mike believes in pacifism and strongly refuses to seek violent resolution when dealing with other humans. This includes honoring a peace deal with the psychotic Rippers from intruding on each other's territories. [[spoiler:But when a vengeful Carlos comes for Boozer and Deacon by attacking Lost Lake ''and'' then demanding Mike turn them over in return for restoring the peace, Iron Mike ISN'T sold on it, and forces Carlos and his Rippers to leave at gunpoint.]]
254** [[spoiler:Rather than hanging Skizzo for being responsible for the Rippers attacking the settlement, Iron Mike chooses to banish him. This ultimately costs him his life as Skizzo soon returns with the Deschutes County Militia to attack Lost Lake again.]]
255* LargeAndInCharge: Iron Mike is a mountain of a man and the leader of the largest survivor community north of the mountains.
256* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Iron Mike's pacifistic ideals ultimately turned against him: [[spoiler: though Skizzo is directly at fault for leading to Rippers to attacking Lost Lake and killing numerous settlers, Iron Mike refuses to execute Skizzo and chooses to banish him instead. Skizzo soon repaid Iron Mike's kindness by leading the Deschutes County Militia to attacking Lost Lake again, and Iron Mike is fatally wounded in the process.]]
257* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He cares about protecting his people and helping anyone that needs help, even Deacon and Boozer regardless of their past fallout. This is mainly due to what he had experienced in Sherman's Camp. He also doesn't accept unnecessary battles that would repeat the same tragedy as what he lived through in Sherman's Camp.
258-->"The thing is? Not caring will get you killed just as easy. What the good folks of Sherman Camp did was stop caring about anyone else but themselves and their own."
259* RedBaron: Don't let his age fool you. There's a reason he's nicknamed Iron Mike.
260* SoleSurvivor: Iron Mike was one of the sole survivors of Sherman's Camp after a vicious battle with another group of survivors that left everyone in town dead, the other being a woman named Nora.
261* SurvivorGuilt: After becoming one of two survivors in the Sherman's Camp massacre, Iron Mike admits that he sometimes wishes that he hadn't walked out of town alive.
262[[/folder]]
263
264[[folder:Skizzo]]
265!!Raymond "Skizzo" Sarkozi
266[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skizzo_1_2.jpg]]
267--> Voiced by: Creator/JasonSpisak (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Vladimir Golitsyn (Russian)[[/note]]
268
269If you listen to Skizzo, he was a small-time gang member before the Freaker outbreak, although nobody's quite sure how seriously to take that. He's become the head of security at Lost Lake just the same, throwing around his authority and constantly clashing with Rikki.
270
271----
272* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:He ambiguously begs mercy after his throat was slit by Deacon, but it's clear that Deacon simply wants to kill him for real instead of sparing him, a mistake that Iron Mike made, after many of the crimes he had done to Lost Lake, making his death satisfying on top of being a SmugSnake.]]
273* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:While Garret and the Deschutes County Militia are the utmost threat to the survivor camps up north, as well as being the primary threat to Deacon, Skizzo serves as a personal nemesis to Deacon for the entire story.]]
274* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler:Betrays Deacon to appease the Rippers (which inadvertently brings the Rippers to Lost Lake), and later betrays Deacon again to the Militia, and this time deliberately leads the Militia to destroy Lost Lake]].
275* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Worms his way into becoming Col. Garret's number two by the end of the game. In addition to becoming a part of the BigBadEnsemble, since he's later revealed to be the one actively fuelling Garret's agenda of destroying rival human camps, particularly Lost Lake.]]
276** DragonWithAnAgenda: [[spoiler:While he takes Kouri's place as the second-in-command to Col. Garret nearly at the end of the game, he only uses his Captain rank and the Militia army to ''personally'' target Deacon and the rest of the Lost Lake Camp's dwellers, as a ''warning message'' for his banishment from the camp. This is also because of his personal beef with Deacon.]]
277* EvenEvilHasStandards: As much of a bastard as he is, he does still show some lines he's unwilling to cross, [[spoiler:at least until he goes completely crazy]]
278** He's freaked out by the Rippers for being AxeCrazy maniacs.
279** He first tries to get Deacon to ignore a woman the Rippers strung up to be killed by Freakers before eventually changing his mind and trying to help. When he sees that her legs are broken, he urges Deacon to perform a MercyKill and tries to reassure him afterwards that he did the right thing.
280* EvilGloating: [[spoiler:After the Militia attacked Lost Lake, Skizzo radios Deacon and brags about [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty having Sarah under his watch]] and how the Colonel will use her skills to make hemlock to poison other survivor settlements.]]
281* EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler: Uses the Militia to attack Lost Lake because he was banished from there.]]
282* TheFarmerAndTheViper: [[spoiler:Iron Mike spares his life after he betrays Lost Lake to the Rippers, letting him go after knowing that he wouldn't get a fair trial. Skizzo repays this by telling the Militia the location of the encampment, and kills Iron Mike in return.]]
283* FinalBoss: [[spoiler:He's effectively the final obstacle before the ending is reached. Rather than a straight-up shootout however, Deacon hits an explosive that both disarms and critically injures him and must make his way to Skizzo (who is armed with a laser-scoped gun) to engage in a QTE fight]].
284* GangBangers: Skizzo claims of being one and bragging that he had been smuggling drugs and guns between California and Oregon. Deacon believes he's a poseur, suspecting Skizzo was just a fratboy working a food stand in a mall. [[spoiler: If you search his house after he's thrown in jail, you can find a greeting card from his grandparents. Skizzo was a young accountant.]]
285* HateSink: Obviously the most hated character in the game as he serves as a slimy asshole with a talent for worming his way to positions of authority and constantly causing trouble for everyone around him, with his only purpose in the story being as a hateable personal nemesis for Deacon.
286* TheHeavy: While [[BigBad Colonel Garret]] is the primary instigator of the conflict during the finale between the northern survivors and the militia, Skizzo has the most screentime of any other villain in the game and drives most of the story up to the end.
287* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler:Skizzo claims that turning over Deacon and Boozer to Carlos and the Rippers is the only way to ensure Lost Lake's safety. But his betrayal only had Carlos ordering his Rippers to go on a revenge frenzy and directly attacking Lost Lake.]]
288* InformedFlaw: Various characters call him a LazyBum who never really does anything except bark orders. This doesn't mesh well considering he goes on multiple missions with just Deacon as backup and never seems afraid to put his life on the line.
289* {{Jerkass}}: He likes to flaunt his authority as Iron Mike's second-in-command, and has a clear dislike for Deacon and Boozer.
290* JerkassHasAPoint:
291** Skizzo is very skeptical of Lost Lake's peace treaty with the Rippers and believes it wouldn't last long to prevent a cult of self-mutilating psychopaths to massacre Lost Lake. He makes the astute observation that the real reason Rippers don't attack Lost Lake is that Copeland's camp and the Hot Springs are much closer.
292** While most of the names on his "enemies list" are just people with the guts to stand up to him (including Deacon, Boozer, and Rikki), a few of the names on the list later turn out to be murderers and end up becoming Bounty Targets. On the list Skizzo also notes his suspicion that [[spoiler:Addy isn't an actual medical doctor]], which turns out to be true.
293* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:He’s stabbed and has his throat slashed by Deacon, the man he tried to backstab and throw to the Rippers, in the retaliatory strike against Wizard Island after he betrays the Lost Lake camp to the Militia.]]
294* {{Narcissist}}: Skizzo constantly flaunts his title and thinks he's better than everyone else and has no regard for anyone else, luckily this gets him killed by Deacon.
295* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Repeatedly states he never meant to kill Iron Mike, even though his actions deliberately led the Militia, who are in genocide mode, to Lost Lake's doorstep.]]
296* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: In Lost Lake, he's only ever called Skizzo. [[spoiler:When he joins the Militia however, the Colonel calls him Captain Sarkozi]].
297* PervertRevengeMode: On the receiving end from Rikki, where she threatened to shoot his cock off if she caught him watching her or Addy taking a shower again.
298* TheStarscream: He is very open about the fact he wishes to be the one running Lost Lake to the point Iron Mike is fully aware of it.
299* SmugSnake: He’s a suck-up who likes to throw his weight around for any reason, and after Iron Mike imprisons him for trying to sell Deacon and Boozer to the Rippers, he escapes, signs up with the Militia and becomes Garret’s toady instead.
300* UltimateJobSecurity: Despite a good amount of the people running Lost Lake disliking him, him spying on Rikki and Addy while they were in the showers, and being so open about being TheStarscream that even Iron Mike is fully aware of it, he remains Head of Security [[spoiler: until he made a deal with Carlos that lead to an attack on the camp. Though after he was kicked out he is able to join the Militia and instantly become the Col. right hand man.]]
301* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler: He should have been executed for his actions that caused the Rippers to attack Lost Lake, but Iron Mike allowed him to just be banished from Lost Lake. He thanks this mercy by manipulating Colonel Garrett into attacking Lost Lake with the Militia.]]
302* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler:After Skizzo is imprisoned for attempting to betraying Deacon and Boozer to the Rippers, and putting Lost Lake in danger, he quickly loses his shit and begs for his life when Deacon gleefully taunts him of what he and Boozer will do to him when Skizzo is declared guilty: tie him up and leaving him in the middle of a highway to be [[DevouredByTheHorde torn apart and devoured by a Horde]]. But unfortunately for Deacon, Skizzo's life is spared by Iron Mike and he is only punished with exile from the settlement.]]
303[[/folder]]
304
305[[folder:Rikki]]
306!!Rikki Patil
307[[quoteright:219:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rikki.jpg]]
308--> Voiced by: Nishi Munshi (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Inna Koroleva (Russian)[[/note]]
309
310Rikki used to ride with Deacon and Boozer, but split with them over the dispute that made them leave Lost Lake. Now she serves the Lost Lake community as Iron Mike's effective second-in-command. Before the apocalypse, she was in school to become an electrical engineer and had a factory job with Boeing.
311
312----
313* ActionGirl: Rikki holds her own in a couple of fight scenes.
314* IChooseToStay: After riding with a group of people that included Boozer and Deacon for quite some time, she eventually chose to settle down in Lost Lake. Deacon thinks it might be because of Addy.
315* TwoferTokenMinority: East Indian and presumably bi/pansexual.
316* WrenchWench: While Rikki doesn't handle the bike repairs in Lost Lake, she's always tinkering with hers, and you accompany her on several different missions that involve restoring the local electrical grid.
317[[/folder]]
318
319[[folder:Addy]]
320!!Addison "Addy" Walker
321[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/addison_walker_1.jpg]]
322--> Voiced by: Creator/DebraWilson (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Anastasia Lapina (Russian)[[/note]]
323
324Commonly known as Addy, she is a former veterinarian who became the community doctor of Iron Mike's Camp. She is also the romantic partner of Rikki Patil.
325
326----
327* ClingyJealousGirl: Addy gets very upset when she learns that Rikki and Deacon went on a ride together without telling her, making a scene when they get back. Somewhat justified: the apocalypse made relationships very hard and Rikki is much less committed to the relationship, as she basically admits to Deacon when she tries flirting with him.
328* CombatMedic: [[spoiler:Rides out to the battle against the Milita with Rikki and a handgun, then starts immediately patching people up after the fight]].
329* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Addy is a veterinarian and is the closest the settlement has for a medical doctor. She believes herself to being ill-suited to help people, but Deacon helpfully reminds her that she has come a long way in being adapted to healing people [[spoiler:including successfully amputating Boozer's infected arm.]] [[spoiler: Jiminez, a trained doctor, even notes that she did good work on Deacon's bandaged arm.]]
330** [[spoiler: She later accepts the role of being a Doctor at the end of the game.]]
331* TwoferTokenMinority: A black lesbian. You can find a note from her parents on her desk in the Lost Lake infirmary, trying to get her to renounce her homosexuality.
332[[/folder]]
333
334!!NERO
335The National Emergency Response Organization ([[FunWithAcronyms NERO]]) is a U.S. government agency that was tasked, and failed, to control the Freaker outbreak.
336
337----
338[[folder:In General]]
339[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nero_14.png]]
340* ArmiesAreEvil: [=NERO=] have no interest in helping other survivors and are willing to shoot them if they try to interfere in their work.
341* FacelessGoons: All [=NERO=] personnel wear armored hazmat gear that completely conceals their faces. [[spoiler:TheStinger implies that they wear this to conceal their evolved Freaker forms.]]
342* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: [=NERO=] is essentially a stand in for the [=CDC=] and FEMA, with a little bit of the CIA thrown in.
343* KickTheDog: Deacon mentions seeing some of their number shoot civilians during the outbreak--and even now they're willing to fire ostensible warning shots at people who get too close to what they're doing.
344* MeaningfulName: NERO shares the same name of the Roman emperor who was known for "fiddling while Rome burned," which is a comparable situation to NERO's dormancy to the Freaker plague.
345* HiddenAgendaVillain: [[spoiler: Their exact agenda has yet to be revealed, with even O'Brian and the other field teams being in the dark about the ultimate goal of studying the virus. But the ending implies that it involves controlling the virus so it's members can become intelligent Freakers.]]
346* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Given the government's abandonment of its citizens, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who thinks well of them.
347[[/folder]]
348
349[[folder:O'Brian]]
350!!James O'Brian
351[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/o27brian.jpg]]
352--> Voiced by: Bernardo de Paula (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Ivan Kalinin (Russian)[[/note]]
353
354O'Brian is as a graduate student who helps Deacon St. John evacuate his wife Sarah at the beginning of the Freakers outbreak, only to be believed dead afterwards.
355
356He later is reintroduced as a lieutenant and a member of the National Emergency Response Organization. He is forced into working with Deacon to find out about Sarah's fate, while Deacon helps him investigating N.E.R.O. operations.
357
358----
359* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: By the end of the game, O'Brian is revealed to be [[spoiler:an evolved form of Freaker who retains his sanity]]. It's left ambiguous if the rest of [=NERO=] share this condition or are aware of it (though the complete lack of reaction from his comrades strongly suggests this), but [[spoiler: O'Brian's sudden speech imediment in his final radio transmission to Deacon]] suggests this was a recent development.
360* DefectorFromDecadence: He and a few other [=NERO=] personnel are dissatisfied with the plans their superiors have for the rest of the world, though, while he's willing to secretly provide Deacon with some assistance in the end, [[DownplayedTrope it seems he's unwilling or unable to directly oppose his leaders.]]
361* DudeWheresMyRespect: When Deacon starts aggressively wringing him for more information after finding out that [[spoiler: Sarah wasn't at the overrun NERO Refugee camp but O'Brian doesn't know where she ended up, O'Brian snaps back that he went above his pay grade helping her as best he could before getting her treatment, which pissed off his bosses.]]
362* TheFaceless: Barring the prologue of the game where his face can be seen on his badge. By the time he and Deacon meet after the apocalypse, he's always seen with his face covered by a helmet or his suit. [[spoiler:It helps hide the fact that, at least by the end of the game, he is an evolved Freaker]].
363* NonActionGuy: He's a scientist, not a fighter, and despite carrying a sidearm he folds immediately whenever Deacon starts physically threatening him.
364* NotSoAboveItAll: He will sometimes snark back at Deacon or mess with him when he can tell Deacon is in a more tolerable mood.
365* NotThatKindOfDoctor: O'Brian makes it clear that he is not a medical doctor.
366* RankUp: Two years prior, O'Brian was just a grad student who volunteered during the outbreak. In the present, he is now a Lieutenant in NERO.
367* WillfullyWeak: [[spoiler: Despite being an Intelligent Freaker, described as being as strong as a Breaker and nimble as a Newt]], he cowers anytime Deacon threatens him.
368** This would further enforce the idea that [[spoiler: his transformation into a sentient freaker]] is a development which took place near to the end of the game, though Deacon's journal notes after this occurs indicates that he believes that O'Brian and the other NERO personnel were like that the whole time.
369[[/folder]]
370
371!!Deschutes County Militia
372[[folder:Colonel Garret]]
373!!Matthew Garret
374[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garret_4.jpg]]
375--> Voiced by: Creator/DanielRiordan (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Vladimir Antonik (Russian)[[/note]]
376
377A former U.S. military leader, Garret founded the Deschutes County Militia in the early days of the apocalypse to eradicate the Freakers. However, his fanatical religious views gradually warped his mind, resulting in him becoming dangerously unstable.
378
379----
380* AlasPoorVillain: You can’t help but feel a little sorry for the man, because unlike many of the other unsavory characters Deacon runs into, he was actually helping on making the world a better place through eliminating the Freaker swarms in the region, [[spoiler:until he goes crazy from Jimenez’s death.]]
381* AsTheGoodBookSays As time goes he quotes the bible more and more frequently, seeing the bible as a metaphor for the world around him and as justification for his actions.
382* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: While he doesn't engage in combat at any point in the game, in the ending he [[spoiler: appears to manage to overpower and start to choke out the much younger Deacon, before abruptly dying of hemlock poisoning.]]
383* BigBadEnsemble: [[spoiler:After Deacon kills Carlos/Jesse and Taylor's murder of Dr. Jiminez, Colonel Garret becomes the BigBad for the rest of the game's final act and the last enemy Deacon has to deal with. However, on the other side of the conflict there's Skizzo who wormed into TheDragon to Garret, where later willingly joined Garret in order to further his cause of mass-murdering rival human camps including Lost Lake and his inhabitants, as well as planning to kill his nemesis Deacon.]]
384* CharacterDevelopment: The worst kind, as he goes from a well-intentioned ideal leader to a genocidal fanatic after Jiminez's death and becomes the final BigBad as a result.
385* EqualOpportunityEvil: The Colonel doesn't discriminate based on race, sex, or (despite being TheFundamentalist) even sexual orientation or gender identity. However, he has no tolerance for criminals and only assigns them to work duty rather than being part of his armed forces.
386* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: He plans to store as much of humanity's knowledge as well as seeds and other essentials, in the caverns near Crater Lake so that humanity will not lose it before his plans to rebuild come to fruition.
387* TheFundamentalist: He's a devout Christian and frequently references scripture.
388* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope:After [[spoiler:his MoralityPet Dr. Jiminez is murdered]], the Colonel decides that HumansAreTheRealMonsters and decides to [[spoiler:wipe out all survivors who aren't part of the Militia]] rather than wiping out the Freakers like he originally planned.
389* KnightTemplar: Although he starts out simply as a strict leader of Wizard Island, [[spoiler:after the death of Jiminez he comes to see all other camps as full of degenerates, thieves, drug addicts and murderers and seeks to purge the world of all but his followers]].
390* LargeAndInCharge: The Colonel towers over everyone else and is the leader of the largest and most well-organized human survivor faction in the game.
391* MissionFromGod: One day, he was struck with the idea of creating an ark of knowledge and supplies in preparation for the Biblical apocalypse he was certain would come to pass. And then the outbreak happened. Naturally, he believes it was divine inspiration.
392* MoreExpendableThanYou: He has this mindset when it comes to his higher officers. They have very specialized skills that makes them much more valuable than the rank and file. So he will usually forbid them from leaving the safety of the camp unless absolutely necessary. [[spoiler: Then he all but locks them up in the Ark after Jiminez is killed.]]
393* PoliticallyCorrectVillain: In one of his "fireside chats" he openly states that he will accept any man or woman into his militia (who is not a criminal) and does not care if they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. While he invokes God in so doing, he straight-up says those are innate characteristics no person can change.
394* TheUnfought: By the time Deacon returns to the Militia Camp to rescue Sarah, [[spoiler:Sarah had already poisoned Garret's tea.]]
395* VillainousBreakdown: The Colonel's sanity completely snaps after [[spoiler:Dr. Jiminez is killed, which begins his fall into genocidal villainy.]]
396* VisionaryVillain: He's the only character in the game with anything close to a viable strategy for retaking the world from the Freakers, and seems to have the resources to actually pull it off. Also, while his rule can be harsh in certain ways, it's much closer to tough but fair than capriciously tyrannical. Unfortunately, events over the course of the game push him into JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope.
397* WellIntentionedExtremist: While he is a strict disciplinarian, the Colonel is determined to find a way to eliminate the Freakers and rebuild society. Unfortunately, as time goes on, he switches his focus from eliminating the Freakers to rival human camps.
398[[/folder]]
399
400[[folder:Captain Kouri]]
401!!Derrick Kouri
402[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/derrick_kouri_1.jpg]]
403--> Voiced by: Creator/PhilMorris (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Radik Mukhametzyanov (Russian)[[/note]]
404
405Garret's second-in-command.
406----
407* BaldOfAuthority: He's a bald black military man who leads the Diamond Lake outpost as well as TheDragon to the Colonel.
408* TheDragon: To Garret, he's his second-in-command who oversees the militia's missions [[spoiler:before betraying him after he goes off the deep end.]]
409* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Somehow was unable to spot that Taylor was a junkie despite having all the obvious signs, [[spoiler:and thus put Taylor on guard duty at the medical post while already high on oxy thus leading to Jiminez's murder.]]
410* TheLostLenore: He had a wife and children before the outbreak, and keeps both a picture and what seems to be their last letter to him.
411* MirrorCharacter: Kouri and Deacon are both former soldiers who have lost a loved one and carry a picture of them to remember by. [[spoiler:Their commonality gives enough reason for Kouri to save Deacon from being hanged.]]
412* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He's a solid, reliable, level-headed officer and ultimately [[spoiler: saves Deacon's life and abandons the Colonel after he [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumps off the slippery slope]].]]
413* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: After [[spoiler:the Colonel goes completely insane and orders the extermination of every other survivor camp]], Kouri decides to [[spoiler:desert the Militia and head for Reno with his like-minded subordinates.]]
414[[/folder]]
415
416[[folder:Doctor Jiminez]]
417!!Arturo Jiminez
418[[quoteright:338:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/i_know_the_look_3.jpg]]
419--> Voiced by: Al Coronel (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Anton Eldarov (Russian)[[/note]]
420
421He is a physician serving in the Deschutes County Militia, holding the rank of captain and possibly the last actual trained doctor in the world.
422
423----
424* CombatMedic: We never get a chance to see him in action, but he tells Deacon that he knows his way around The Shit and asks to go on a run with him. The Colonel forbids it.
425* FailedASpotCheck: Okay, maybe it's possible that everyone ''else'' in the camp didn't notice that Taylor had drug problems, but a ''trained doctor who worked the poorest streets in LA'' couldn't spot a junkie right in front of him?
426* GratuitousSpanish: A typical case, right down to repeating a word or phrase in Spanish right after English. Also his surname, Jiminez is actually badly written Spanish, the surname would be Jiménez.
427* LastOfHisKind: Colonel Garret notes he is probably the last medical doctor alive and won't let him ever leave the camp because this makes him irreplaceable.
428* MoralityChain: For Colonel Garret. [[spoiler: After he is killed Garret [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope loses it]].]]
429* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:His giving Taylor Oxy for the pain from his severed ear brings the young private's addiction roaring back, and he kills the doctor while trying to rob him]].
430* VetinariJobSecurity: PlayedForDrama, as it means he cannot be allowed to leave the camp. [[spoiler:The Colonel also notes how the biggest tragedy following his murder is that Jiminez was their only trained doctor and may have been the only one left in the world]].
431[[/folder]]
432
433[[folder:Lieutenant Weaver]]
434!!James Weaver
435[[quoteright:307:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/james_weaver_1.jpg]]
436--> Voiced by: Darien Sills-Evans (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Peter Ivaschenko (Russian)[[/note]]
437
438Weaver's knowledge of chemistry has made him one of the officers in the militia. His research involves coming up with new, improvised explosives to use on the Freakers.
439
440----
441* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler: Weaver unexpectedly provides a distraction to aid in Deacon and Sarah's attempt to escape from the Militia camp.]]
442* DemolitionsExpert: He's developing explosives, so he'd better be.
443* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:After the Colonel goes crazy, Weaver is all too happy to side with Deacon.]]
444* MildlyMilitary: Weaver makes repeated requests to Deacon that he drops any military formalities around him.
445* YouAreInCommandNow: [[spoiler: Post-game with Garret dead and Kouri having gone AWOL with his troops, this leaves Weaver as the de facto leader of the remnants of the Militia camp.]]
446[[/folder]]
447
448[[folder:Taylor]]
449!!Wade Taylor
450[[quoteright:316:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taylor_1_5.jpg]]
451--> Voiced by: James Allen McCune (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Peter Kovryzhnykh (Russian)[[/note]]
452
453A new recruit to the Militia, he claims to be an experienced Drifter, but his attitude and behavior have Deacon wondering how he could possibly have lasted so long.
454----
455* AddledAddict: Deacon can tell from the way Taylor acts in their first conversation that the guy is probably high on something and certainly not all there. At first his behavior is a source of humor, [[spoiler:then tragedy]].
456* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: After Deacon tracks Taylor down for [[spoiler:Doctor Jiminez's murder, Taylor breaks down and claims he didn't mean to hurt him and doesn't want to be publicly hanged by the Colonel. Deacon takes pity and gives Taylor a MercyKill by overdosing him on drugs.]]
457* EarAche: While he's out marauder hunting [[spoiler:that is, looking for drug connections]], one group captures him and the leader sadistically cuts off his right ear.
458* FunctionalAddict: He was able to hide his problem from everyone in the camp (even Deacon says he only had his suspicions). It's noted that he kept going on solo missions all the time--turns out it was to get connections.
459* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:When Deacon finds him he's absolutely miserable with regret and guilt at killing Jiminez, noting how the doctor had helped him]].
460* PluckyComicRelief: He practically exists to bring a good laugh. His first impressions are making a crack on Deacon's last name and making some lustful remarks on Sarah's photo in front of Deacon (who is restraining himself with a [[DeathGlare disapproving glare]]).
461* RecklessGunUsage: At one point he waves around his rifle without care who's standing in front of it, visibly scaring Deacon who faces the barrel several times before he manages to get Taylor point it downwards.
462* RecruitersAlwaysLie: He joined the Militia for the food and protection they offered, not to be ordered around or forced to attend public hangings. Shortly after he and Deacon join, Taylor suggests going AWOL.
463* SecretKeeper: When Deacon first gets to Southern Oregon, he shows Taylor Sarah's picture and says he's looking for her. Later after they're part of the Militia, Taylor recognizes Sarah as Lt. Whitaker, but keeps his mouth shut, which Deacon is grateful for. [[spoiler:Although Deacon doesn't say it, it can be inferred that this is why he didn't report Taylor's possible drug addiction]].
464* ShooOutTheClowns: [[spoiler: After he is killed, the story gets a lot darker.]]
465* SmallRoleBigImpact: While initially seeming like an annoying comic relief character, [[spoiler:his murder of Dr. Jiminez kickstarts Col. Garret's descent into genocidal madness.]]
466* TheStoner: Taylor is a junkie [[spoiler:and his addiction causes him to murder Doc Jiminez for the camp's narcotics.]]
467* SympatheticMurderer: [[spoiler: He didn't mean to kill Doc Jiminez, he just wanted to get the drugs and didn't expect Doc Jiminez to return early and killed him out of panic. When Deacon reaches him, he is a crying mess.]]
468* TooDumbToLive: Nearly gets himself killed tracking a suspicious recruit, despite Deacon constantly warning him not to. He also even suggested going AWOL on an unsecured line, until Deacon asked him if it was one and then secures it in a panic.
469[[/folder]]
470
471!!Other Survivors
472[[folder:Carlos]]
473!!Carlos/[[spoiler:Jessie Williamson]]
474[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/carlos_days_gone.jpg]]
475 [[caption-width-right:350:]]
476--> Voiced by: Scott Whyte (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Andrey Waltz (Russian)[[/note]]
477
478Leader of the Rippers. [[spoiler:Formerly Jessie Williamson, an ex-member of the Mongrel MC who harbors a grudge against Deacon and Boozer.]]
479----
480* BigBad: [[spoiler:He's the cause of Deacon and Boozer's troubles in the game, who is responsible for sending the Rippers to blowtorch Boozer's MC tattoo. Carlos is revealed to be Jesse Williamson, the former member of the Mongrels MC and Deacon and Boozer's nemesis. [[DiscOneFinalBoss But killing him only ends his own villain arc and Garret is still the final villain Deacon has to face]].]]
481* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler:Killing him ends only the first act of the game, leading to the final, second act with the Militia, who are a much bigger threat than the Rippers. Colonel Matthew Garret later becomes the BigBad from that point onwards.]]
482* {{Expy}}: [[spoiler:He is very much like Kyle Hobart, an excommunicated member of the Series/SonsOfAnarchy who also had his MC tattoo forcibly removed via blowtorch.]]
483* {{Hypocrite}}: Part of the Rippers' belief is to remove all connections to the past. [[spoiler:Carlos however clearly hasn't let go of his grudge towards his former biker gang members and have been hunting them for some time.]]
484* RankScalesWithAsskicking: He's got twice as much health as a normal enemy and a much more wilder and aggressive moveset with a longer reach (you actually have to time your dodges against him instead of just rolling out of his attack range). If you've fully upgraded your melee skill tree you can still slice him to pieces fairly effortlessly, but he can be a decent fight if you haven't.
485* SlashedThroat: [[spoiler:Deacon finishes off Carlos/Jessie by slicing his throat.]]
486* UnknownRival: Carlos puts a bounty on Deacon and Boozer, who are confused as to why the Rippers are after them. [[spoiler:It is not until Deacon recognized Carlos as his hated former MC buddy.]]
487[[/folder]]
488
489[[folder:Lisa]]
490!!Lisa Jackson
491[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/days_gone_lisa_jackson.jpg]]
492 [[caption-width-right:350:]]
493--> Voiced by: Creator/LauraBailey (English)
494
495A teenage survivor who has been living alone in her family house for two years since the outbreak.
496----
497* BadassBiker: After brief turns at the work camp and Ripperhood, she ultimately gets a mototcycle and becomes a bounty hunter like Deacon.
498* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: [[spoiler:Despite slowly losing her hope and her faith in humanity, she still risks her life to save Deacon in the Ripper camp because he was kind to her when no one else was.]]
499* BelievingTheirOwnLies: Deacon manages to get her to convince herself that her mother might be at the Hot Springs camp, but it's indicated that she had known that her parents weren't coming back and that she had been deluding herself.
500* TheDrifter: After leaving Hot Springs, Lost Lake, and [[spoiler:the Rippers]], she decides against staying in camps and starts hunting for bounties on her own.
501* IRejectYourReality: She's unable to get over her parents' deaths, staying in the house for two years in case they come for her, and running away from every camp she's in. [[spoiler:It culminates in her becoming a Ripper, saying she wants to be like the Freaks because they don't remember who they lost. By the end, she seems to be getting better.]]
502* JadeColoredGlasses: She starts out believing her parents will come for her and things will go back to normal. It doesn't last.
503[[/folder]]
504
505[[folder:Jim Moore]]
506!!James "Jim" Moore
507[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/days_gone_james_moore.png]]
508 [[caption-width-right:350:]]
509--> Voiced by: Scott Whyte (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Ivan Zharkov (Russian)[[/note]]
510
511A former security guard working for Cloverdale.
512----
513* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:He is killed this way by Sarah.]]
514* IDidWhatIHadToDo: [[spoiler:He claims he couldn't take the risk of running out of food by letting his co-workers bring their families to Cloverdale and its crops, so naturally he had to murder them]].
515* IronicEcho: Jim's "can't take the risk" line is used by [[spoiler:Sarah for refusing to let Jim get away with his murders.]]
516* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:All the people Jim saved proceed to attack Deacon and Sarah when they enter Cloverdale and die anyway. Well, one of them may have sensibly run off]].
517* {{Jerkass}}: Was not so polite to Deacon on their first meeting. [[spoiler:In the early stages of the apocalpyse, he executed some of his surviving co-workers to stop them from contacting their families and bringing them back to Cloverdale as it would mean having to share their limited food with them.]]
518* {{Nepotism}}: [[spoiler:Kind of funny how most of the people Jim chose to spare seem to be wearing security uniforms. Did he deliberately pick people who were already used to following his orders]]?
519[[/folder]]
520
521!!Enemies
522
523[[folder:Freakers]]
524Infected humans and animals that are turned into ravenous cannibalistic monsters.
525----
526* TheBerserker: Breakers are this trope in the Freaker hierarchy, able to tear them, and an unlucky Deacon, limb from limb.
527* EnemySummoner: The Screamer's sole function: let loose an ear-piercing, disorienting scream that attracts other Freakers, [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere then run away]].
528* EvilSmellsBad: Several characters repeatedly notes that the Freakers smell horrible from being covered in urine and excrement. They smell even worse when they join in a Horde.
529* EvolutionaryLevels: O'Brian says that Reachers have gone through millions of years of evolution in the short period since the disaster.
530* ExtremeOmnivore: They eat any meat they can get, including years old carrion, and a researcher notes that they're adapting to not only eat plants, but a wider variety of plants than humans are capable of, due to their stomachs being able to break down cellulose like a deer's.
531* ItCanThink: They possess some form of pack behaviour, and even a fairly stable social hierarchy, and one [=NERO=] researcher even notes that "Stage Two" Freakers even change their clothes and maintain jewelry. They also construct nests of branches and underbrush instead of sleeping out in the open. At one point, a Newt apparently is smart enough to move some flares Deacon and Skizzo had dropped to mark their trail, in order to lure the two of them into an ambush.
532* HumanSubspecies: They have been so mutated by the virus that they might as well be, and seem to be treated as such by NERO researchers.
533* KillItWithFire: Fire is one of the best ways to deal with clusters of Freakers, and the only way to destroy their nests to make fast travel easier on your gas.
534* LightningBruiser:
535** Runners can hit sixty miles an hour while still being able to rip a bike apart with their jaws.
536** Breakers are not slowed down in their slightest by their massive muscles.
537** Reachers are easily the fastest enemies in the game (rivaled only by Runners), and will rip you to shreds if you don’t dodge their attacks.
538* NoZombieCannibals: Swarmers and Bleachers don't harm each other, and no one seems to harm Screamers. That's about it, actually, as different types of Freakers will happily kill each other. That is, ''furiously'' kill each other. Newts will dogpile Swarmers, Ragers will battle Breakers and you can sit back and see how it all plays out, provided you're in a concealed spot.
539* OurZombiesAreDifferent: "Freakers" are TechnicallyLivingZombie and are very fast and agile. Also they have a social order and ecosystem based on physical maturity. Newts, the adolescencents and teenagers, are attacked and eaten by adult Freakers; in response they stick to roofs and high places for protection as it appears most adult Freakers can not climb or at least not as well as Newts or Deacon. It’s found out later that the Freakers also are suffering from almost-constant mutations inflicted by TheVirus.
540** They also don't need to eat meat to survive, they just prefer it. A NERO researcher can be overheard explaining that they have found evidence of the Freakers eating plants, similar to deer. Meaning the survivors can't just wait for them to starve to death.
541* RaisingTheSteaks: TheVirus affects animals as well, which so far includes "Runners" ([[SavageWolves wolves]]), "Ragers" ([[BearsAreBadNews bears]]) and "Criers" ([[FeatheredFiend crows]]).
542* SuperScream: Screamers let out a shriek which knocks Deacon off his bike if he's riding, drains all his stamina, summons a small group of Freakers from thin air as well as alerting any nearby and can get the attention of a Horde. Snipe from a distance if possible.
543* WasOnceAMan: Freakers are human beings who have contracted a virus which transforms their bodies into creatures who are outwardly human but have been altered in sometimes particularly drastic ways.
544* ZergRush: The zombies in this game can either attack alone or in overwhelming hordes, as the gameplay trailers demonstrate. Most Freaker groups encountered in the game world are much smaller than the huge horde seen in the trailer, though still consisting of large numbers. It becomes a mechanic to clear out each and every horde nest in the game for not only camp trust, but also OneHundredPercentCompletion.
545
546[[/folder]]
547
548[[folder:Marauders]]
549Unaffiliated gangs of bandits who prey on other survivors.
550----
551* AlwaysChaoticEvil: ''Deacon'' sure thinks so, and admittedly as soon as he approaches (and they see him) they invariably whip out their weapons and start trying to turn him to a fine red paste, even if they seem to be minding their own business beforehand.
552* CaughtInASnare: One of the traps they use is sticking something of interest like a corpse in a spot, and then setting a leg-grabbing tree snare near it. If caught, Deacon awakens in a marauder camp with everything but his knife stolen and has to get it back from the box they stuck it in.
553* ColdSniper: One trap they use is setting up a sniper to shoot Deacon's bike, throwing him off while a couple of people rush up to attack the dazed biker and the sniper offers fire support. [[SniperDuel Best to get]] ''[[SniperDuel them]]'' [[SniperDuel first]].
554* DisasterScavengers: This is true of mostly everyone who survived into the world, and marauders are no different.
555* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Unsurprisingly, many of them are less than happy when you shoot their friends.
556* ImAHumanitarian: Some groups of Marauders have resorted to cannibalism.
557* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: One of the accusations constantly thrown at them by Deacon when assaulting marauder camps. While certainly not unlikely in such a lawless world, women are mostly shown to be on pretty much equal footing as men in these gangs, with Deacon and Skizzo even running into a small group being ''led'' by a woman. The only instance in the game of a marauder shown actually committing said act is during the Lost Lake camp job ''Gone Fishing'', but [[spoiler: his would-be victim stabs him before he can actually do it]].
558* TripTrap: One of the traps they use is stretching a rope across the road to knock bikers off their bikes, while a couple of people rush up--Look, a good plan is worth repeating.
559[[/folder]]
560
561[[folder:Rippers]]
562The Rest In Peace cult, or known simply as Rippers, are a group of very psychotic humans that worship the Freakers and the virus that created them, and are hostile to other humans for clinging on to the last vestiges of pre-outbreak civilization.
563----
564* AddledAddict: It is revealed one of the factors to their degraded minds is taking Bath Salts, which is a true drug that causes people to act like rage zombies.
565* AxCrazy: Their minds have degraded so badly that they’re now Freaker-wannabes, and mentally are not too far off from the real thing, either.
566* BaldOfEvil: All the cultists are shaven bald to emulate the hairless Freakers.
567* {{Cult}}: They are psychotic cultists who worship the Freaker virus and openly seek infection.
568* DespairEventHorizon: A number of their members are willing subjects who've joined in an effort to forget everything they lost two years ago.
569* FunWithAcronyms: They are members of the "Rest In Peace" cult.
570* HumanSacrifice: They like to take people, string them up by their arms, and break their legs so Freakers can get them.
571* ImAHumanitarian: They are a gang of cannibals.
572* JoinOrDie: First they torture you, if you survive they offer you the chance to join them. If you say no they just continue to torture you till you die.
573* KickTheDog: Midway through the game a brief sidetrack reveals that the Rippers have been killing non-infected dogs, apparently so that the only dogs left will be Runners. It's noted that this is particularly pointless as Runners like to eat the Freakers that Rippers worship best of all.
574* KillItWithFire: Some Rippers wear a bandolier of molotov cocktails, ignite themselves, and rush at Deacon in an effort to "purify" him.
575* NoNeedforNames: Rippers ditch their names because Freakers have forgotten theirs.
576* PsychoSerum: They do a lot of drugs including the above mentioned Bath Salts, and the more advanced ones ''literally cover'' themselves in PCP. Despite not wearing any armor, they've got nearly twice as much health as Marauders do, and Deacon notes that the more psycho ones FeelsNoPain. If you search their bodies you'll occasionally get drug cocktails.
577* TheRemnant: The Rippers are [[spoiler: rendered leaderless and scattered after Deacon killed Carlos and flooded their main camp.]] However, the Rippers still remain a threat in which Deacon is savvy enough to realize that someone else will [[spoiler:take Carlos's place.]]
578* WeHaveReserves: Rippers are high on PCP and bath salts and don't have the best self-preservation instincts; some of the most fervent members will actually set themselves on fire before trying to tackle you, and when faced with Freakers they'll often submit willingly to their fate instead of trying to fight. They can do this and still remain a credible threat as a faction due to their sheer numbers. Deacon notes that the Rippers number in the hundreds and possibly even in the thousands; meanwhile the total population of Copeland's Camp, the Hot Springs, and Lost Lake ''combined'' probably doesn't even add up to 100.

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