Be advised: Spoilers for the single player campaign ahead.
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USMC
Staff Sergeant Henry "Black" Blackburn
- "You can't just walk away from the threat!"Voiced by: Gideon Emery
The hero of Battlefield 3, Henry Blackburn is a US 1st Recon Marine who propels the narrative of the story through his flashbacks. He is the player character for the majority of the game's singleplayer missions.
- I Did What I Had to Do: He kills his own commanding officer after encountering Dima in the Iranian villa mission to protect Dima and the mission.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Blackburn started out as a US Marine sergeant serving his country, before an incident in 2014 found him in the middle of a plot to start a war between the US and Russia. Despite preventing nuclear devastation in New York, Blackburn was forced out of the Marines for killing his commanding officer and subsequently disappeared for many years. He would later form the Arkangel Corporation, eventually becoming powerful enough to manipulate the US government and conduct illegal operations across the world without fear of consequences.
- Heroic Mime: Averted in cutscenes. We get his side of the story constantly. Played straight when you control him, though.
- Hero Protagonist: He's the main protagonist of the story and aims to do what's right.
- How We Got Here: The story is mostly a framing device of Black's missions and circumstances that led to him crossing paths with Solomon, all framed by an interrogation prepping his court martialing over shooting his CO.
- One-Man Army: In some missions played straight when Black is forced in a situation when he has to do a task alone. In others he is part of a fireteam, the Misfit 1-3 squad or even a platoon sized force.
- Only Sane Man: He's the only major good guy in the cast not to be drinking stupid juice. Cpt. Cole causes a major international incident by picking a fight with Russia unprovoked, the CIA plug their ears up and go "lalalalala" whenever Blackburn tries to warn them about Solomon's plans, and even Dima impatiently picks a fight with French police, wasting enough time to allow the nuclear detonation they were trying to prevent.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: He's the heroic protagonist of Battlefield 3, working to prevent nuclear destruction when terrorists plot to ignite a war between the United States and Russia. Battlefield 2042 reveals that despite his heroism in New York he was court-martialed anyway, and by the 2040s the embittered Blackburn has eventually become no better than the terrorists he once fought against, with his company Arkangel conducting inhumane experiments on kidnapped soldiers and implicating Russia to be responsible when it looks like his operation might be exposed.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He's in military detention because he killed his commanding officer, Cole, to save Dima's life, and ends up escaping from the authorities to save New York City from a nuclear threat regardless of where this lands him. Considering his CIA interrogators are idiots, they force his hand on this.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Disappears off the face of the Earth in Battlefield 4. Given his public conflict with and execution of Solomon in broad streets after escaping interrogation, it's not liable to be anything good, but it does keep him out of later conflicts in the timeline. The novelization goes out of its way to show Dima reading a news article headline that he was cleared of all charges and declared a hero, at least. However...
- Season 6 of Battlefield 2042 "Dark Creations" reveals that, despite his heroic actions, he was still dishonourably discharged from the Marines for his murder of Cole, dropping off the grid for several years before re-emerging in the 2020s as the leader of a large and elite PMC. He would later form the incredibly powerful Arkangel Corporation and begin kidnapping and experimenting on people in order to create augmented super-soldiers at a secret facility in Scotland.
Sergeant Jonathan "Jono" Miller
Another playable character, in the tank mission "Thunder Run".
- Empathy Doll Shot: The shot of his son's dinosaur.
- Sacrificial Lion: At the end of his mission, his tank is disabled and he is captured by the enemy. He is then shown being executed on camera by Solomon and Faruk Al-Bashir. His execution drives the Marines to strike back at Al-Bashir with extreme prejudice, thus kick-starting the climax of the game.
Lieutenant Jennifer Colby Hawkins
Yet another playable character, in the jet fighter mission "Going Hunting". Callsign is "Wedge".
- Affirmative Action Girl: The first female player character in the Battlefield series.
- Meaningful Name: The name "Hawk" for a character who is the weapons officer in fighter jet.
Sergeant Steve Campo
"Let's get this over with"
- Voiced by: Eric Loren
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Is suddenly and unceremoniously killed by an SU-25 strafing run alongside Matkovic. His death is shown to weigh heavy on Montes.
- The Lancer: He's Captain Cole's second-in-command and takes over as squad leader when he's not around (despite Blackburn being a higher rank than him.) Unlike Cole however, Campo is shown to be a rather competent leader.
- He also shares this role with Montes towards Blackburn, accompanying him and providing support on several missions.
Private First Class David Montes
- "There's no we. There's just us, and then there's you."Voiced by: Ronan Summers
- Deadpan Snarker: He immediately endears himself to players with his banter.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: In the final mission in the game, he is the one who helps Blackburn pursue and stop Solomon, but is killed in the aftermath of the car crash.
- The Lancer: David works alongside Black in several missions in the game, even to the point of being interrogated with him by the CIA in a New York safehouse.
Private First Class Christian Matkovic
"Thirty-four minutes... I've been asleep for thirty four minutes. Drinking a vanilla milkshake."
- Voiced by: William Meredith
A non-player character who is part of the Misfit squad.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Is killed by an SU-25 Frogfoot strafing run.
- Southern-Fried Private: His name may be a little odd for one, but he definitely has the requisite accent.
Captain Quinton Cole
"I do not want a bin Laden style resolution here."
- "The battle for this city is nearly over. Let's finish it today."Voiced by: David Harewood
Commanding officer of Blackburn's unit in Iran.
- Asshole Victim: While not to the extent of the actual villains like Al-Bashir or Solomon, Cole is still a promotion-seeking glory hound who forces his squad into increasingly dangerous engagements until two of them are ultimately killed trying to follow his orders and he doesn't seem to care. It's therefore almost cathartic when Blackburn puts a burst of rifle fire into his chest, killing him to protect Dima.
- Bad Boss: Cole is shown to not really care much for the lives of the men under his command, instead only seeing them as tools to further his goals for promotion. To this end, he continues to send them into increasingly dangerous life-threatening situations until Campo and Matkovic are killed. Blackburn, probably already pissed off from the aforementioned incident, doesn't even hesitate to shoot him when Dima tells him to.
- Glory Seeker: Unapologetically so; he pushes Black and Campo to their absolute limits in dangerous enemy territory just so he can take Al-Bashir in alive and look like a hero, hopefully earning the promotion he thinks he's entitled to.
- The Neidermeyer: He lets his thirst for glory blind him as he orders his outnumbered unit to take on a Russian battalion in "Rock and a Hard Place," yet he remains undeterred, even as a majority of his unit is put out of commission.
- Never My Fault: Doesn't take any responsibility for the deaths of Campo and Matkovic in an SU-25 strafing run after ordering them and Blackburn to shoot it down, simply passing it off as "people die in war." While he does admit he probably could've done something differently, it's pretty clear he's just trying to save face with his remaining two marines.
- Unfriendly Fire: Black kills him to help cover Dima's escape, so that the two of them can work to stop Solomon's terror plot without intervention.
Private Jack Chaffin
"Quit being a fucking hippie Montes."
- Voiced by: Anthony Richard Denman
- Flat Character: We don't learn anything about him as a character, as he's wounded shortly after his first appearance and never seen again.
- Sole Survivor: He's badly wounded early on and presumably sent home, ironically making him the only ally in the player's squad to survive the events of the game.
Snake 6- 6
- Voiced by: Joseph May (Player 1), Mikey O'Connor (Player 2)
Codename for a couple of Marines involved in high-value operations such as assisting fellow Marines in defending American military camps, rescuing hostages and capturing PLR leaders. One of them in Caucasian and the other is African-American.
- Friendly Sniper: They provide sniper backup to their allies through the co-op campaign.
- Hero of Another Story: The two are tasked for anti-terrorism ops against the PLR.
- No Name Given: The Marines are not named.
- Those Two Guys: You (and your online buddy) play as those two Marines.
Gunslinger 5- 7
Codename for a couple of pilots assigned to fly a USMC AH-1Z Viper to support Marines on the ground in Iran.
- Big Damn Heroes: They take out hostile armored vehicles and provide CAS strikes for the Marines.
- Gunship Rescue: They are literally present in "Fire in the Sky" solely to provide air support.
- Those Two Guys: Once again like Snake 6-6, the two pilots are seen together for the mission "Fire in the Sky".
CIA
Agent Gordon
- "Eighteen hours ago I get a call from Homeland Security saying there's a Marine in detention I need to talk to. Some story about a terror plot in New York and the Marine claims he has information to stop it."Voiced by: Glenn Morshower
One of two CIA agents interrogating Blackburn during the course of the campaign.
- All There in the Manual: The cast call suggests that Gordon used to be in law enforcement before he got recruited to the CIA. This is possibly why he's willing to listen to Blackburn in a good cop way with Kovic being the bad cop.
- Idiot Ball: Despite all of Blackburn's incredibly in-depth reports and genuine camera footage that implicates Solomon as a traitor to the CIA, Gordon and Kovic consider it all bullshit and try to pin the entire conflict on Blackburn being manipulated by the Russians. In the same monologue he admits that maybe Solomon did "get too close to the fire", but that's the risk with all assets, meaning solely because Solomon is on the CIA payroll, they refuse to do anything about it. Were it not for Blackburn going AWOL because of this, Gordon and the entirety of New York City would be having a nuclear winter shortly thereafter.
- Nice Guy: Even though he has suspicions of Blackburn with regards to his information on Solomon, he's willing to give him a chance to hear his side of the story.
- Oh, Crap!: When he finally has had enough of hearing that Solomon is some nebulous, nuke-stealing traitor and runs his patience thin, it seems he's about to leave when he gets a call. It stalls up corporal punishment for Blackburn and allows him and Montes to escape."What do you mean, you lost a train?"
Agent Laszlo W. Kovic
Click here to see his appearance in Battlefield 4
- "This is not a trial, you are guilty. I know how your fucking story ends!"Voiced by: Thor Edgell
The other CIA agent interrogating Blackburn during the campaign.
- All There in the Manual: In the Battlefield 4 tie-in novel "Countdown to War", Kovic mentions that he hates being claustrophobic.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: A Chinese helicopters kills him on the USS Valkyrie in 4.
- Former Teen Rebel: Didn't join the rest of his family in working with Ford as an employee since he believes that it was a matter of time before the job would be irrelevant.
- Hero of Another Story: Kovic's actions in the CIA, including being in charge of a black op mission at the Chinese-North Korean border.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Being the bad part of the Good Cop/Bad Cop dynamic with Gordon and refusing to legitimately listen through on Solomon's betrayal earns him his head slammed to the desk by Blackburn in the final mission.
- Pet the Dog: While he spends most of his screentime in Battlefield 3 being an antagonistic prick, he does briefly sympathise with Blackburn's anger over the deaths of his friends due to Cole's uncaring attitude, relating to a similar incident in his past where he lost four friends in a rocket attack because the soldier on watch was sleeping.
Glavnoye razvedyvatel'noye upravleniye
Dimitri "Dima" Mayakovsky (Russian: Дмитрий Маяковский)
"A chain is only as strong as its weakest link."
Click here to see his appearance in Battlefield 4
"We can avert war between our nations. Just two of us. No politicians, no money changing hands. Just two soldiers speaking the truth."
A Spetsnaz-trained Special Forces career soldier and special agent in the employ of the Russian intelligence agency GRU, who may be beginning to question where his loyalties lie. He spent most of his time with Vympel.
- Dark and Troubled Past: During his time in Paris, he fell in love in a French woman whose upper class family won't approve of because he came from the USSR after she was pregnant with his son. Dima was not able to raise him since he lived apart from him, most likely thanks to the woman's family after she was found dead.
- Driven to Suicide: Appears to be about to kill himself at the end of the game before a knock on his door stops him.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Unceremoniously killed off in a cable car crash in Battlefield 4 that leaves the other three characters unharmed.
- Elites Are More Glamorous: Before he became a GRU agent, he was a Spetsnaz soldier. Not just any Spetsnaz soldier either, but part of the Vympel unit, said to be the elite of the elite.
- Foregone Conclusion: The suicide scene fades to black before we find out what Dima does, but it was known prior to the game's release that the tie-in novel was about what he did after the game, so we pretty much know he didn't actually blow his brains out.
- Hero of Another Story: His time with Vympel in various operations against terrorists and separatists.
- Military Maverick: His GRU superiors, in the novel, had sent him to Iran to train Iranian Revolutionary Guards after Dima personally assassinated a GRU station chief in Paris after learning of his plans to defect to MI:6 and shot a Russian soldier for killing French nurses in Afghanistan while he was on drugs.
- Omniglot: Can speak Arabic, English, Farsi, French and Russian. It's implied in Battlefield 4 that he can understand Mandarin Chinese.
- Private Military Contractor: Only in the novel version, after he decided to go solo from the botched job in 1991 in Lebanon.
Vladimir Kamarivsky
- Voiced by: Ilia Volok
- Anyone Can Die: He's the first character in the game to bite it, demonstrating to us that nobody is safe.
- Boisterous Bruiser: Acts like one
- Boxed Crook: He was sprung from his incarceration in Butyrka prison (for drug trafficking) for the express purpose of serving on Dima's team. He thinks it was a prank gone wrong.
- Cop Killer: Is willing to take out French Gendamerie/Police Nationale officers as long as they can take out the PLR in Paris.
- Fallen Hero: A well-known GRU Spetsnaz operator who got involved in the drug trade.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: Vladimir was a drug trafficker prior to the start of the game.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: The right side of his face has a straight, long scar that goes from the corner of his eye to the cheek, but the left side of his face has many vicious-looking, intersecting scars as well as a possibly-blind left eye. He's a good guy though.
- Hidden Depths: The novel states that his knowledge of the Koran was based on his time served in Iran.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: To elaborate, an RPG blast sends bits of shrapnel flying at high speeds towards Dima, Kiril and Vladimir. The result is a piece of rebar or piece of a fence slamming through his chest.
- Irony: Vladimir's a Russian-Jewish man of Latvian origin and infiltrated Iran.
- Sacrificial Lamb: He's killed by an RPG blast in Paris while hunting down the stolen nuclear device, leaving Dima severely shaken..
- Spared by the Adaptation: Survives during the infiltration op in Paris in the novel adaptation, unlike in the game, where he is killed by an RPG blast.
- The Prankster: Shares this spot with Kiril.
Kiril
- Voiced by: Andrew Byron
- Only One Name: His last name is never revealed.
- The Prankster: Shares this spot with Vladimir.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Nowhere to be seen in the sequel, although Dima mentions that he can possibly die at any time since he has radiation poisoning like him.
Kroll
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kroll can't hear very well as he was captured and tortured by pro-independence rebels in Chechnya during his tour of duty in the 1990s before he was rescued. He also was involved in the hostage crisis in Beslan and was wounded fighting against Chechen separatists.
- Hero of Another Story: His time in Chechnya and Beslan.
- Original Character: He only appears in the novel version, taking Kiril's position in the 3-man GRU team infiltrating Paris.
Hassan Zirak
- But Not Too Foreign: Implied that he's a Russian of Azeri origin, a Shia from Lachin.
- Omniglot: Speaks Farsi, Russian and Tajik.
- Original Character: Only included in the novel version of the game.
Gregorin
- Original Character: Only included in the novel version of the game.
Omorova
- Last-Name Basis: Her given name, Katya, is only revealed a large part of the way into the novel.
- Mr. Exposition: Her job as an analyst includes informing GRU operatives on what's happening in the field.
- Original Character: Only included in the novel version of the game.
- Rogue Agent: Forced to go into hiding after GRU scapegoats her for helping Dima and the others steal a nuke since they failed to get it back from Solomon.
People's Liberation and Resistance
Solomon
"It's not about winning."
- "But loss is part of growing up, isn't it? Part of growing up is accepting the inevitability of death. The inevitability, Mr. Miller, of death. My father told me that. You will be a hero to your children too. I hope that gives you comfort."Voiced by: Mark Ivanir
- The Bad Guy Wins: Battlefield 4 shows that Solomon's plan to start a global war between the U.S. and Russia was a success, despite all of Dima and Blackburn's efforts.
- Big Bad: Of Battlefield 3.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He's got it pretty bad. According to the novel, he started out as a foreign mujahid in Afghanistan who was picked up and drafted by the Russians, serving under them for a while before defecting to the US in '94, and proceeded to serve America for the next 20 years before betraying them as well with his nuke plot.
- Extreme Mêlée Revenge: Blackburn ends up bashing his head in with a brick during a close quarters fight in Times Square.
- Evil Wears Black: In every mission Solomon appears in, he's seen wearing a black jacket, as well as black shoes.
- Hand Cannon: His Taurus .44 revolver. Used to lethal effect against Montes.
- Kick the Dog: According to the novel, he chose Paris as one of two locations for a nuclear terrorist plot solely because Dima's illegitimate son happened to be working there.
- He also mocked the grief that Miller's death would bring to his family, before cutting his throat.
- Manipulative Bastard: Al-Bashir makes note of this in his dying breath.Al-Bashir: "He uses everyone!"
- The Mole: Posed as a US whistleblower who fed them intel on Al-Bashir, but turned out to be a terrorist himself.
- Loss of Identity: Part of his origin backstory. Solomon was given his current name due to his omniglot ability.
- Omniglot: Solomon can speak many languages, including American English fluently, which was the reason why he studied in America under the care of American missionaries from a refugee camp in Lebanon in the novel.
- Revenge: Apparently wants revenge, according to the dialogue in "Comrades." Revenge for what, however, we're never told.
- The Starscream: Al-Bashir states that Solomon betrayed him, and is the one responsible for giving the Americans the intel they needed to locate and kill him. He also states that he only wanted the nukes as leverage, whereas Solomon has stolen them from Al-Bashir and plans to actually detonate them. It's heavily implied that Solomon is only using the PLR to deliver his nukes, rather than having any affinity for their cause.
- Straw Nihilist: Likes to lecture his victims about the inevitability of death and how meaningless their efforts are.
Hamid Al-Zakir
A high-raking figure in the PLR, he appears in the co-op campaign where he willingly defects from the group.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Surrenders himself due to his family being in danger.
- Mr. Exposition: Off-screen, he provides info to what the PLR plans to do during the co-op campaign.
Abu Muhammad
A PLR fighter sent to Paris where he starts a hostage crisis and faces off against the GIGN.
- Arc Villain: For the "Drop 'Em Like Liquid" stage in the co-op campaign.
- Human Shield: Used several in the embassy siege in Paris, starting a Hostage Situation.
Abdul Rahman
A high-ranking PLR leader in charge of its operations in the Greater Paris Area.
- Big Bad: Of the co-op campaign.
- Human Shield: He takes one of the PCs as a human shield when Snake 6-6 corners him.
- The Dreaded: Masterminded the PLR's terror campaign in the UK.
Gazul Halen
The man in charge of gathering intelligence for the PLR. Gets killed during a GRU-backed op in "The Russian" novel.
- Dirty Coward: Didn't care about leaving his wife in Tehran after the earthquake.
- Groin Attack: Dima threatened to shoot his crotch off with an AK when they met each other in Tehran.
Faruk Al-Bashir
- "Shame. You come to our country to murder us, yet we are the terrorist when we try to protect our nation and our people?"Voiced by: Ray Haratian
A former Iranian Air Force General who deserted and went rogue, Faruk Al-Bashir went on to become the leader of the PLR, and eventually became President of Iran itself in a violent coup after a catastrophic earthquake destabilised the country's government.
- General Ripper: Is the leader of a terrorist insurgency, and has an extreme hatred of the Americans invading Iran.
- The Generalissimo: Comes to power in Iran in the aftermath of a coup.
- Hypocrite: Before Miller's throat is cut, Al-Bashir calls shame on the Americans for invading Iran, killing their people, and having the gall to call the PLR terrorists, yet these same terrorists later set off a nuke in Paris and earlier had used the opportunity of an earthquake to launch a terrorist-sponsored coup.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He looks nothing like him, but he seems to be a pretty transparent substitute for then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The way the war in Iran plays out, along with his aspirations of acquiring WMDs, could make him a probable expy of Saddam Hussein as well.
- President Evil: Becomes the leader of Iran in a coup, and he just happens to be working with Solomon.
- Rogue Soldier: Used to be with the Iranian Air Force before he led a coup against the ayatollahs and led the PLR, becoming an Iranian terrorist.
- Smug Snake
- Unwitting Pawn: In the end, he was nothing more than a tool in Solomon's ultimate plan, only realizing it near the end of his own life.
Others
Amir Kaffarov
- "I don't have them! Do you understand? It's not me you want, it's not— it's Solomon!"Voiced by: Endre Hules
- Dirty Coward: Not only does he flee when Dima and his men come after him, but he also tries to offer him the contents of his Swiss bank account before immediately selling out Solomon and his whole plan in the hopes of being let go.
- From Camouflage to Criminal: A pilot in the SAF who became an arms dealer after the end of the USSR.
