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Settlers and Resistance
Nicholas Raine
The Ark Survivor (Nicholas Raine)
The protagonist of Rage. He wakes up in his Ark after it malfunctions and kills everyone else inside and quickly makes his way out into the ruined wasteland that awaits him. Things don't go so well at first, with him nearly getting killed by a mutant only to be saved by a local wastelander, but over time he slowly learns to adapt to this new world and makes quite a name, or at least reputation, for himself. The game ends on a cliffhanger as he activates the rest of the Arks, which contain more people like himself to fight the Authority.
- All There in the Manual: His name and backstory are never mentioned at all in the game, and can only be found in the novelization (which has numerous story deviations from the game and thus isn't a 1:1 retelling of the plot). His name is finally officially given in-game in Rage 2.
- Badass Normal: Managed to save the world despite lacking the outright superpowers displayed by Ranger Walker, with his nanotrite abilities essentially limited to the basic defibrillator.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Give him some wasteland junk and some tech equipment and he can make wingsticks, RC bomb cars, sentry turrets, attack drones...
- Legendary in the Sequel: There's a big statue of him in front of the Wellsprings city hall in Rage 2, and you can find posters of him as random junk items.
- Macguffin Guy: Downplayed; every person submitted to an ark has nanotrites in their bloodstream, which the Authority seek to cultivate to help expand their power at the cost of the individual's life. This naturally puts him at odds with a faction that very well wants him dead.
- Nano Machines: He was injected with nanotrites which allow him to revive himself upon death.
- One-Man Army: One of the first things he does upon waking up from his long crytosleep is storm a bandit stronghold armed only with a pistol because some wastelander told him to. Guess which side survives.
- Protagonist Without a Past: Averted. But you won't learn anything about him during the actual game, like how he had a brother named Chris who died before the game begins or that he was a last minute replacement for an Ark resident who was found to have cancer.
- Regenerating Health: Not only can he gradually shrug off severe damage (though bandages may be necessary to quickly deal with excess amounts in extreme situations), but the nanotrites serve as a Magical Defibrillator that can bring him back from the brink of death if successfully activated. In fact his automatically regenerating health is the one advantage he's got over Walker, who needs feltrite shards to heal.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: He gives out a very high pitched shriek when the cave floor suddenly collapses under him in the first Scorcher DLC mission.
- Sole Survivor: The only person to make it out of his ark alive.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He's not mentioned at all in Rage 2 other the opening cutscene and a few very minor references, and his fate after the end of the first game isn't touched upon at all. The most you learn is from a out-of-the-way text log that mentions he and Kavasir both left the Rangers about 15 years ago and neither have been seen since. He appears as a mysterious old man and old friend of Captain Marshall in the "Cult of the Death God" main mission, which is only available for those who pre-ordered the game.
Dan Hagar
Dan Hagar
The first person the Ark Survivor meets upon exiting the Ark who saves him from a mutant attack. He provides the Ark Survivor with his first few missions and rewards him with new weapons and equipment.
- Advertised Extra: He's played by John Goodman (by far the highest profile actor on the cast, which was mostly veteran gaming voice actors) and featured relatively heavily in the game's marketing. He serves as the first friendly human you meet and your main quest giver for the first few missions, then completely disappears from the game and the plot.
- Big Damn Heroes: Shows up out of nowhere to help the Ark Survivor and give him a ride into town.
- Cool Car: He'll even give you your own Cool Car as a reward for helping his settlement and before that he gives you an ATV to use.
- Put on a Bus: If the player returns to the Hagar settlement after completing all of his missions, they'll be informed that Dan has left for the settlement of Gunbarrel and isn't seen again for the rest of the game. In the sequel it's mentioned that he fought in the Authority Wars, became mayor of Wellsprings, and eventually died of natural causes.
Loosum Hagar
Loosum Hagar
The daughter of Dan Hagar, she gives the Ark Survivor a tutorial on the use of wingsticks in the first game. She has a much larger role in the second game, having become the Mayor of Wellspring as well as a key figure in the Resistance against the Authority.- Ascended Extra: Goes from having about two minutes of screen time as a tutorial NPC in the first game, to one of the major characters of the second game. She also has a much larger role in the novelization of the first game.
- Badass Normal: She's a skilled wingstick user and was a hero of the Authority Wars despite being a non-powered Wastelander rather than a nanotrite-powered Ark Survivor.
- Battle Boomerang: Uses wingsticks as her weapons, though she starts also carrying a pistol (or two) as backup in the second game. Her associated skill tree in the second game has several upgrades dedicated to wingsticks.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: In the second game she carries a settler pistol, same as the one the Ark Survivor got from Dan Hagar at the beginning of the game.
John Marshall
Captain John Marshall
The leader of the Resistance in Rage, and a bartender (and spymaster) in the town of Gunbarrel in Rage 2.- Badass in Distress: He's been captured by the Authority in the first game, and you meet him in the process of busting him out of prison. Once out of his cell he does a decent job of fighting alongside you on the way out of the prison.
- The Captain: He's a military Ark Survivor who started a resistance movement against the Authority after learning about their tyrannical methods.
- Expecting Someone Taller: Walker expresses his/her disappointment upon meeting him in Rage 2. To be fair to Marshall, the dude's well into his 70's and long retired from active duty by that point. This contrasts with Loosum Hagar, who impresses Walker by deftly fighting off a Goon Squad attack on her office.
- The Leader: in the first game he's the commander of the Resistance and your primary quest giver for most of the game from the mid-point to the ending. He takes more of a back seat in the second game, but is still a major character.
Doctor Kvasir
Doctor Anton Kvasir
A scientist who worked for the Authority and the one who created the mutants, including most, if not all, of the bigger ones. He assists the Ark Survivor by giving him mind control bolts for his crossbow. In the sequel, he helps concoct a nanotrite virus that will stop General Cross' Resurrective Immortality. He's also created the utterly repulsive 'Legs', a mutant he rides around on. The less said about Legs the better.
- Cool Old Guy: Works hard to help the Resistance and and creates mind control bolts for the main character to use for his crossbow as well as a defibrillator upgrade.
- Death by Adaptation: In the novel.
- Shoot the Dog: Does this often. First creating mutants for the Authority(which was this from their perspective al least), then later casually saying that Walker should kill off any captives they can't rescue to save them from a Fate Worse than Death, and finally sending Walker on what he knew would almost certainly be a suicide mission, without so much as a hint. This almost gets him shot by Lily in the post-credits scenes.
- Mad Scientist: Used to be one for the Authority before he left them.
Sarah
Sarah
A bounty hunter who joins forces with the Ark Survivor in the Scorcher's DLC to help put a stop to the gang's destructive plans for the wasteland.
- Action Girl: She is introduced mowing down a swarm of mutants with the Nail Gun and shortly afterwards takes out a Scorcher heavy trooper by herself.
- Ambiguous Situation: May or may not be the older sister of Loosum Hagar and thus a member of the Hagar family.
- Possibly jossed in 2. Her last name is given as Yeoman, though this might be her married name.
- Big Damn Heroes: She first arrives to assist the player by taking out a swarm of attacking mutants.
- Bus Crash: She married, had a kid, and died at some point in the 30 years between the two games. Walker can find her grave just outside of Yeoman Growery.
- The Lancer: Of all the characters in the original Rage she's the only one that partners with the main character for an extended period of time and helps him out directly in missions, although only in the DLC missions.
- Side Boob: Though her outfit only has this on one side.
Mayor Redstone
Mayor Redstone
The ruthless mayor of Subway town, who the Ark Survivor has to appease to avoid being sold out to the Authority.
- Black-and-Gray Morality: Implied to rule Subway Town through threat of violence, and threatens to sell the Resistance out to the Authority if they're not useful to him. However, compared to the Gearheads who extort money from Subway Town by controlling its electrcity, and the Authority who routinely disappear random citizens, Redstone's actions are downright benevolent.
- The Don: Gives this impression, though is probably not the literal head of a crime family. Surrounds himself with guards that look like gangsters, and controls every aspect of Subway Town. Does him no good when the Authority arrest him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite how harshly he treats you, the missions he sends you on both directly benefit the people of Subway Town, keeping them safe from Mutants, and freeing them from the economic stranglehold of the Gearheads.
- Put on a Bus to Hell: The Ark Survivor's actions against the Gearheads draw the attention of the Authority, who arrest Redstone. He's not seen again.
Ranger Walker
Ranger Walker, the last ranger.
The player character in Rage 2 and The last ranger, kept as a backup in case things when really wrong.- Clothes Make the Superman: Most, if not all of his 'super powers' come from his ranger armour and can't use them when parted from it.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike Raine, Walker is not a Silent Protagonist and frequently comments on the situations he finds himself in and banters with the characters he meets, with a fairly upbeat and quipsy personality. He's also a child of the New World and a civilian maintenance worker (albeit given combat training), rather than a former member of the modern U.S. military. He also has a wide assortment of "superpowers", unlike Raine who was mostly a Badass Normal military dude with Regenerating Health and a Magical Defibrillator.
- Jumped at the Call: Walker always wanted to be a ranger, and during the game he gets his chance.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Walker, as well as every other ranger, don't wear helmets. This nearly ends up killing him
- Hidden Backup Prince: Given ranger training, but not allowed to be one, until the last one dies in front of him anyway.
- Nano Machines: A second generation 'Arkist' Walker somehow inherited these from his parents.
- One-Man Army: By the end of the game he can have nearly wiped out four bandit clans and taken a chunk out of the main bad guys, the authority.
Bandit Clans
Ghost Clan
The Ghost Clan
A groups of cultists who wear little armor, but are a reasonably dangerous foe for the early portions of the game where you have little supplies and equipment.
- Bald of Evil: For whatever reason they all shave their heads or are naturally bald.
- Body Paint/This Means Warpaint: They also paint their body with whitepaint followed by tattoos.
- Combat Parkour: Knife-wielding Ghosts will use the environment to jump, flip, roll, and wall-run to make themselves harder to hit as they charge you. It's pretty effective against your pistol, not so much once you get an automatic weapon.
- The Goomba: The first couple times you fight the Ghost Clan, they've got half health compared to normal mooks and most of them either use pistols or machetes. They're upgraded to standard health and better guns during their attack on the Wellspring water supply.
- Human Sacrifice: The Ark Survivour would have even become one himself if nor for his healing ability.
- Superpowered Mooks: In Rise of the Ghosts they've all received nanotrite powers courtesy of Iris. Most are limited to the basic dodge ability, but the higher level ones can also Dodge the Bullet or Bullet Catch.
- Took a Level in Badass: In the Rage 2 Rise of the Ghosts DLC, Iris has upgraded them with nanotrite powers by injecting them with her blood, making them more dangerous than any of the factions you've faced previously.
- The Unfought: Unlike most of the other bandit clans, you never end up fighting the Ghost Clan Boss, unless he was one of the random mooks you kill during one of the missions involving them.
Wasted Clan
The Wasted Clan
A group of exaggerated Cockney-sounding mechanics who hang out in large car garages and work on vehicles, although you rarely see them fight with any. Not present in 2.
- The Alcoholic: A whole group of them.
- Boom, Headshot!: About the only advantage the Wasted have compared to other early-to-mid game clans is that they wear helmets, which lets them shrug off one headshot without taking damage. It doesn't protect against heavier-caliber ordinance such as the sniper rifle, though.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: They're one of the more multi-racial clans.
- Evil Brit: Or rather "Cockney-accented hooligans".
- The Goomba: Wasted mooks have half as much health as any of the other bandit clans, and tend to be not as well equipped, with a much greater percentage being armed only with pistols rather than assault rifles or shotguns. They're also encountered exclusively in the game's first few missions.
- Meaningful Name: They don't call themselves the Wasted Clan for nothing.
- Vehicular Combat: Seem to specialize in it more than any other clan: their base has an entire garage of cars and their cars patrol a greater territory than any other northern clans.
Shrouded Clan/Immortal Shrouded
The Shrouded Clan/The Immortal Shrouded
A group of exiles from the other bandit clans who have come to together to form this new clan. They quickly prove to be a problem with the citizens of Wellsprings with their annoying RC bomb cars. They return in Rage 2 as the Immortal Shrouded, with high-tech equipment and a cult revolving around a "Gilded God".
- The Atoner: A villainous example in the second game. They regret serving alongside the Authority, and now seek to Take Over the World themselves and impose their own society of law and honour.
- Attack Drone: The closest equivalent being their RC bomb cars. In 2, they're fond of turret drones.
- Big Badass Rig: The Immortal Shrouded have roving Convoys in 2, which tear around the wastes on the largest roads with an escort of smaller vehicles. The main rig is essentially a mobile Cores-and-Turrets Boss, with several large weak points you need to expose and shoot out if you want to destroy them without burning too much ammo. They're entirely optional, but you get a nice pile of upgrade parts for the Phoenix, some cash, and some reputation with one of the friendly 'factions' if you take them out.
- Code of Honor: Not evident in the first game, but the second game retroactively states it's always been a trait of the Shrouded. They take it to Honor Before Reason levels however, as they state that the Shrouded must be masked at all times, removing it only to eat, and that any non-Shrouded who see the face of a Shrouded must be killed instantly. "To see your face is to see your soul", apparently.
- Default to Good: Averted/inverted. In between the games, during The Authority Wars, the Shrouded served with the Authority. It didn't work out well for them.
- Deflector Shields: Their 'heavy' vehicle in 2 is a four-wheeled assault vehicle with a 360-degree coverage turret and, when guarding convoys, a fairly tough energy shield. Unfortunately it's fairly slow and the turret is also painfully weak if you manage to steal one.
- Gadgeteer Genius: Second only to the Gearheads in the first game, manufacturing remote control RC bomb cars and refining Feltrite into explosives. Taken up a level in the second game, where technology becomes their theme.
- Heavily Armored Mook: In 2, they are typically very heavily armored and thus can take far more punishment than other enemy units (a basic Shrouded infantry unit can take 3-4 times as much punishment as a basic Goon or River Hog). Their helmets are also unbreakable, making them immune to headshot kills.
- Katanas Are Just Better: In 2, their melee units wield high-tech katanas into battle and are good enough to consistently deflect bullets.
- Jack of All Stats: In the first game they're the most average bandit clan, being tougher and better equipped than the Ghosts or Wasted, but not as tough as the Gearheads or Jackals. Averted in the second game, where they're very much Elite Mooks compared to the Goon Squad or River Hogs. They're also the only clan that doesn't have a prominent weird gimmick, and mostly act and fight like normal mercs/soldiers.
- My God, What Have I Done?: A purely selfish example. The Shrouded fought for the Authority, but upon realising the Authority was using them as expendable fodder, they went into self-imposed exile before returning for the second game.
- Only Sane Man: As a whole. Of the various bandit clans, the Shrouded come across as the sanest and least psychotic. They behave and fight like a professional paramilitary force rather than a gang of costumed freaks, unlike the other clans. They maintain this in the second game, remaining far more professional than Goon Squad or the River Hogs, though there is the whole 'Gilded God' religion thing.
- Order Versus Chaos: Their conflict with Goon Squad is themed this way.
- Shock and Awe: In the second game their motorcycles can create webs of electricity which they use to attack larger vehicles. Their Giant Mook units are also equipped with electric cannons based on the same tech, but they also have an electrical take on Flamethrower Backfire when they're killed.
- Start My Own: The whole reason they exist in the first place is because their members were kicked out of the other bandit clans.
- Stealthy Mook: In the second game some of their forces can turn invisible.
Gearhead Clan
The Gearhead Clan
A strange clan made up of Russian Gadgeteer Geniuses who wear heavy armor and often use robots such as sentry bots in battle. Not present in 2.
- Character Death: Implied to have been wiped out. Unlike any other clan, they completely vanish after the campaign missions they're involved in. Subway Town revolts against their economic grip, and sends their security forces after the player to attack the power plant. Afterwards, they're never seen in any side quests, and their cars no longer show up in the wasteland, replaced by Authority Predators.
- A Gearhead dig site is the location of one of the main quests in Rage 2's Rise of the Ghosts DLC. They were apparently mining feltrite on an industrial level, but were recently slaughtered by the Ghosts, who took over the mining operation.
- Gadgeteer Genius: They can use several of the wasteland's highest-tier robotics, all made by their own members. They believe technology is the way to humanity's salvation and reject nature.
- Heavily Armored Mook: Covered in armour plating, and second only to Authority soldiers. It can take an entire magazine to take them down. Their elite Giant Mook soldiers can survive direct rocket hits.
- Husky Russkie: Entire clan is made up of them, which is shown by their thick Russian accents and phrases.
- Law of Chromatic Superiority: Their leader wears red armour.
- The Mafiya: Give this impression. They come across more like an armed corporation than bandits; they control the local power plant and force Subway Town to pay increasingly expensive power bills.
- Mecha-Mooks: Make use of robotic sentry robots armed with machine guns.
- Nature Is Not Nice: They believe this in-universe, since the asteroid was a natural disaster they blame nature for humanity's downfall, and reject it in favor of technology.
Scorcher Clan
The Scorcher Clan
A bunch of religious zealots who worship the asteroid that nearly wiped out the earth. They only attack the protaganist with their cars and foot soldiers are never seen amoung their number. However, they appear in person in the DLC Rage: the Scorchers, where they are the primary enemies in the new missions.
- Airborne Mook: They have a number of soldiers equipped with jetpacks that let them quickly fly and land into higher up areas.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: Their giant mooks wield flamethrowers, and their design asthetic overall makes heavy use of flames.
- Jack of All Stats: Stat-wise they're quite similar to the Shrouded, having average health and primarily wielding standard weaponry such as assault rifles and shotguns. Their most prominent gameplay feature is their use of jetpack-wearing mooks.
- Mayincatec: The architecture of their base has this aesthetic.
- Vehicular Combat: Prior to the DLC, they only appear out in the wasteland driving around and trying to kill anything that isn't one of them.
Jackal Clan
The Jackal Clan
One of the more powerful, or at least fearsome, clans who are little more than savage berserkers. They overwhelmingly favor either axes or crossbows, though some of them do use firearms.
- Ax-Crazy: Extremely violent. Often go into straight charges at the player. When its learned that an Ark opened up in their canyon any survivors are immediately assumed dead.
- Gas Mask Mooks: All wear gas-masks, contrasting with their pelts and antlers.
- Lightning Bruiser: Charge at the player recklessly and take quite a lot of punishment.
- Made of Iron: They wear nothing but pelts, yet are among the stronger enemies in the game, taking up to two point blank shotgun shots to take down (headshots not withstanding). Overall they lack armor but have about 30% more health than regular mooks to compensate, and also attack in larger numbers compared to Shrouded or Gearheads.
- Smash Mook: Unlike the agile and acrobatic Ghosts, the Jackals tend to just charge straight at you, relying on their higher-than-average health to shrug off gunfire.
- Trick Arrow: With their crossbows. Flaming Arrows that also explode.
- Wild Man: They wear pelts, yell a Native American dialect or gibberish, and many of them will suicide rush the player with axes. They're also the only clan not to use cars.
- Unique Enemy: They're only encountered in a single mission in the game, and have no vehicular presence in the world due to not having that level of technology.
Goon Squad
The Goon Squad
The face of Rage 2, the Goon Squad are an enormously and exceedingly whimsical clan that rule the wasteland in the second game.
- Always Chaotic Evil: The Immortal Shrouded and to a lesser extent the River Hogs can be bargained with to a degree, as shown by the Trade Coalition Truce Zone locations at Oasis and Jo-Jo's bar in Lagooney. The Goon Squad? Don't even think about trying unless you want your head smashed in and your organs ripped out of you.
- Anarchy Is Chaos: Described as such in official materials.
- Batter Up!: Their melee units love using baseball bats to either whack you or to bat grenades at you like baseballs.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Brightly coloured clothes and hair, take absolutely nothing seriously, and are the dominant post-war bandit faction.
- Glass Cannon: They're much less durable than the heartier River Hogs or the better-armored Immortal Shrouded, but love to spam explosives at their enemies.
- The Goomba: Goons are the most basic and easiest to kill of the enemy factions.
- Grenade Spam: Their primary tactic aside from just running or shooting at you is just to toss a ton of grenades your way.
- The Horde: Have no actual strategy or tactics in their expansion, just numbers. They're a clan of violent nomads.
- Heavily Armored Mook: Their shotgunners wear old scrapped Authority armor which lets them take almost twice as much damage as regular Goons. Their Giant Mook units are also suitably well armored and bullet-spongy.
- Unwitting Pawn: Collectible logs indicate that the Authority is secretly propping them up to cause chaos in the wasteland.
River Hogs
The River Hogs
A bandit faction introduced in the second game, descended from the Scorchers and Jackals of the first game. Indulgent and dangerous hedononists, their aesthetic is a mix of Hillbilly Horrors and All Bikers are Hells Angels and they dominate the Wasteland's new swamp areas.
- Angry Guard Dog: They use jaguar-sized swamp dogs as attack dogs.
- The Hedonist: Unlike most versions, their pleasures include extreme violence.
- Giant Mook: Their Giant Mook units are Shield-Bearing Mook enemies that fight with Molotov cocktails and a Bullfight Boss charge attack. They don't wear armor, but have very high health.
- Heavily Armored Mook: Their shotgunners wear makeshift armor and are more durable than the regular Hogs.
- Machete Mayhem: Their melee units charge in with machetes, and are also equipped with light armor. Their shotgunners will also occasionally pull out a machete and charge at a selected target, with no regard for anything else.
- Mini-Mecha: Create powerful mech suits they call "Junk Meks" which serve as Boss in Mook's Clothing enemies almost on par with a Crusher mutant.
The Authority
The Authority in General
The Authority in General
The most powerful and advanced faction in the Wasteland, the Authority serve as the main antagonists.
- Attack Its Weak Point: in the second game, the more elite Authority enemies (namely Authority Enforcers and Cyber Crushers) are so heavily armored they can only be harmed with bullet weapons by shooting their weak points.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: During a trade with Wellspring they attempt to kill Sheriff Black and take his goods without paying. It's implied that they don't honour the bounties they put out either.
- Their mere formation as a faction also pulled this on the Ark Program: despite the best intentions of the government to save humanity and rebuild Earth, General Cross specifically inserted himself and his loyalists into the programs to be able to wake up, hijack other Ark Program survivors for his research, and proceed to (attempt to) take over the wasteland. This means the Authority, in essence, have backstabbed not only just about everyone they come across in the present, but humanity's last hope from the past as well.
- Elite Mooks: Their Enforcers are the toughest basic soldiers in the first game, using professional tactics and being equipped with advanced body armor that lets them soak about twice as many bullets as regular mooks. Largely averted in the second game, where their forces are now comprised almost entirely of mass produced cyborg mutants.
- The Empire: Certainly what they're trying to create.
- Vestigial Empire: By the time Rage 2 takes place, most of their human soldiers have been wiped out, and they rely on mass-produced cyborg mutants to serve as footsoldiers instead. The few remaining Enforcers have been upgraded to Lightning Bruiser Giant Mook enemies, thanks to heavy cybernetic augmentation.
- Faceless Goons: Downplayed. Authority Enforcers do wear face-concealing armour, but that's easily shot off. Underneath they wear a balaclava, which clearly shows their eyes.
- Mirroring Factions: Their advanced technology and ability to muscle their way into settlements uncontested are really the only things that make them anything more than another bandit clan. The bounties on bandit vehicles even treat the Authority as the same thing!
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: They apparently want to rule to world, but aren't seen doing anything that constitutes leadership. They just show up to arrest people when the Resistance crosses the line.
- Playing with Syringes. Created the mutants as research into the creation of manufactured soldiers.
- Putting on the Reich: Their flag is unambiguously a Nazi warflag.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In the first game they were authoritarian and tyrannical but with the understandable Well-Intentioned Extremist goal of re-establishing a unified national government, while in the second game they've upgraded into full-on genocidal Social Darwinists who want to cull the human race and replace it with their own engineered and perfected version of humanity. It's unclear whether this was their real goal all along or if General Cross went Ax-Crazy due to Clone Degeneration or losing the Authority Wars and being forced underground.
- Totalitarian Utilitarian: Their goal is to restore civilization, and they don't care what they have to do to achieve it.
- 0% Approval Rating: Despite being warned that the Authority has eyes and informants everywhere, not a single person you can speak to seems to like the Authority.
General Cross
General Martin Cross
The "visionary" founder and leader of the Authority. He's The Ghost in the first game, only being heard through pre-recorded speeches in occupied Subway Town. He takes center stage as the Big Bad in Rage 2, seemingly having become considerably more Ax-Crazy in the 30 year time gap between the two games.
- Arm Cannon: Uses a pair of them in his first boss fight.
- Ax-Crazy: Seems to have gone completely off the deep end in the time skip between the first and second games, likely due to losing the Authority Wars and being forced underground.
- Bald of Evil: Not a hair on his head.
- Big Bad: The de-facto one of the series, despite not appearing in person in the first game.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: Uses a pair of them when he gets up close.
- Blood Knight: He sure loves a good fight.
- Body Surf: Is able to come Back from the Dead repeatedly due to transferring his consciousness (or, more likely, his memories) into a clone body. At the end you inject him with a nano-virus that takes away this ability, and he is Killed Of For Real.
- Clone Degeneration: His bio indicates that imperfections in the cloning process used to save his life after the Authority Wars are why he's been reduced to a cybernetic head and torso by the time of Rage 2. It may also be the reason he's gone completely Ax-Crazy compared to the first game.
- Cloning Gambit: His "Longevity Project" involves using nanotrites to transfer his memories into a new clone body to cheat death. Unlike many villains who use this trope, he seems to at least sort of understand that continuity of memory isn't the same as continuity of consciousness, but is too much of a fanatic and megalomaniac to really care.
- Cyborg: Seems to have turned himself into one by the time of Rage 2. Only his head and torso are organic. His bio indicates this is due to health issues caused by Clone Degeneration. His cybernetics are as much life support as they are combat augmentations.
- Evil Old Folks: His age is unknown, but he's definitely up there.
- Eye Scream: At the end of his second boss fight, Walker injects the nanotrite virus into Cross by ramming the needle into his eye.
- Evil Sounds Deep: In the first game he has a rather unremarkable, normal-sounding voice. In the second game he's developed a much deeper, more supervillain-sounding voice.
- Flawed Prototype: He was apparently the first member of the Authority to undergo cybernetic augmentation. He's not fully armored, unlike the cyborg Authority Enforcers, and thus can be shot anywhere instead of having to Attack Its Weak Point. He also doesn't seem to have a personal energy shield or homing missiles like they do. He does have somewhat more health than them, though.
- Four-Star Badass: A general and a very competent fighter to the point of driving many opposing forces away when he takes the field.
- King Mook: When you finally fight him towards the end of Kvasir's quest line, Cross basically fights similar to the regular Authority Enforcers (though lacking shields or missiles), just with more health, a unique ground-pound attack, and a couple unique environmental advantages such as a bubble shield that you need to blow up the power sources of to bring down.
- Hey, You!: Refers to Walker as "Pointless Protege".
- Resurrective Immortality: Any time he's killed, he simply comes back via cloning. Up until he gets spiked with the nanotrite virus, anyways. But Dr. Kvasir even admits that it might not have fully worked, setting up another Sequel Hook.
- The Social Darwinist: A lot of his speech in the second game has shades of this. Completely absent from his speeches in the first game, so he was either hiding it for propaganda purposes or went Ax-Crazy after the human race rejected his "salvation".
- Super-Strength: Thanks to being a huge cyborg. He's strong enough to rip a Redshirt's arm off simply by grabbing her rifle while she's holding it, then decapitating two more Redshirts with a single swing of said rifle.
- Taking You with Me: Once he's completely infected by the nanotrite virus, he breathes some of it onto Walker in an attempt to kill them.
- The Unfought: Is never encountered by Raine. Not so much in Rage 2, where he is fought by Walker.
- Younger Than They Look: The original General Cross died at the end of the Authority Wars. The General Cross you encounter in Rage 2 is a clone implanted with Cross' memories downloaded with a nanotrite device called a "DNAid". You kill that Cross at the end of Dr. Kvasir's quest line, and face another clone in the final confrontation.
Other
Mutants
Mutants
Deformed humans that prowl the wasteland as savage predators. Believed to have been created by cosmic radiation from the asteroid impact. Were actually created by the Authority as an experiment into manufactured soldiers. Rejects were sent into the wasteland and allowed to breed. One intel item in 2 even suggests that the Authority intentionally 'seeds' mutant infestations in order to put pressure on potential threats to their operations, distracting them from the Authority's movements and allowing the Authority to thus act more freely.
- Cyborg: The giant mutant in the Dead City clearly has mechanical components. This is the first hint that they were created by the Authority. Authority mutants are also explicit cyborgs. Since they all have nanotrites in their blood all mutants may count.
- Giant Mook: Ranging from twice the size of a human to the size of a skyscraper, the mutants can get big.
- Mutant
- Was Once a Man: A data log in Rage 2 suggests that at least some mutants are settlers who were captured and mutated by either the mutants themselves or the Authority. Most seem to be generated spontaneously from mutant "spawning pits" created from mutant life glands and a type of organic sludge.
Klegg Clayton
Klegg Clayton
Son of Mayor Clayton from the first game and the owner of Mutant Bash TV and self-proclaimed wealthiest man in the wasteland, he wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become Mayor of Wellspring. He is also working for the Authority.
- Anime Hair: He has a greasy pompadour.
- Big Eater: If the plates of steak scattered throughout his office are any indication.
- Bullying a Dragon: Seems to think he's powerful enough to talk smack to General Cross, the Omnicidal Maniac leader of The Empire.
- Egopolis: Plasters his face everywhere he controls, and even has a pet Crusher dressed like himself in his basement.
- Expy: He's basically an evil version of Hurk from the Far Cry series. This is emphasized by an easter egg that lets you summon him as an NPC companion in combat.
- Fat Bastard: Has quite a girth going on.
- Like Father, Unlike Son: Mayor Clayton never showed any signs of being anything other than a Reasonable Authority Figure (though he did have some Adaptational Villainy in the novelization). Klegg, not so much.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: A very, very dark and bloody example; after failing Cross one too many times, Clayton gets brutalized by a pair of battle-mutants. Cross even instructs them to spare his head and face to make a trophy, so Clayton gets his arms blasted off and left to bleed out.
- Self-Made Man: Credit where it's due; Mayor Clayton might have been the town's mayor, but showed no signs of having the crazy amounts of money that Klegg has. When Klegg says he built up his empire himself, it looks like he's telling the truth.
- You Have Failed Me: Cross eventually decides to kill him after Clayton fails to take over Wellspring, admitting that he wasn't going to let him live either way.
Iris
Iris
A disgraced former Ranger who was exiled from Vineland for conducting human experimentation with the intention of transferring Ark Survivor nanotrite abilities into the general population. She has since become the "Goddess" of the Ghost Clan, imbuing them with nanotrite powers through transfusion of her blood, and hopes to do so with the rest of the Wasteland, by force if necessary.
- 24-Hour Armor: A series of log entries you can find in her HQ indicate that her armor is permanently fused to her due to being overloaded with Feltrite by the Ghosts, and her body is a mass of critical injuries and she's only being kept alive by her armor and the nanotrites in her blood. The Ghosts aren't kidding when they refer to her as their undead goddess.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: After being disgraced from the Rangers she was captured by the Ghosts while fighting the Authority. They were going to use her as a human sacrifice until she uses her nanotrite powers to make their skulls explode. The survivors started worshipping her as a goddess as a result.
- Cynicism Catalyst: Her daughter Jane apparently died from illness during the Authority Wars, something which could have easily been prevented if she had nanotrites in her blood. This apparently was the catalyst for her obsession with imbuing nanotrites into the general population.
- Evil Counterpart: Iris and Walker are the two Last Rangers and both want to save the Wasteland; however Walker does so by protecting the people from threats while Iris wants to forcibly convert the populace into nanotrite carriers, regardless of the serious side effects this entails.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Due to her nanotrite experimentation she has creepy, electrically illuminated eyes.
- Lightning Bruiser: She's crazy fast and can withstand several mags worth of fully upgraded assault rifle fire when you finally face her. In fact she's both faster and more durable than the larger and much more visually armored General Cross.
- Malevolent Masked Woman: She wears a jet black full-face protective mask, so you never get a good look at her face.
- Mirror Boss: She wields an upgraded shotgun, uses wingsticks and grenades, fights with nanotrite powers including Dash, Grav-Jump/Lift, Vortex, Slam, and Shatter, can even use Overdrive to increase her attack speed and regenerate her health, and also can defibrillate herself once when her health is depleted.
- We Can Rule Together: The DLC begins with her luring Walker into a trap and offering them a chance to join her due to the two of them being the last Rangers. When Walker refuses, she becomes quite irate.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She wants to bestow nanotrite abilities upon the people of the Wasteland, regardless of whether or not they agree to it. And she's perfectly willing to cause an extinction event that will wipe out everyone who refuses her "gift".
