Rayman | Rayman 2: The Great Escape | Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc | Rayman Origins/Legends | Rayman Party Games | Rayman: The Animated Series
Characters who first appeared in the first Rayman video game.
For tropes applying to the titular character, check the Rayman sheet.
open/close all folders
Rayman's Allies
Betilla the Fairy
Click here to see her design from Rayman
Voiced by: Emmanuelle Cosso (Rayman), Gabrielle Shrager (Rayman Origins)
The benevolent yet fiercely protective Betilla from the original Rayman is back with a vengeance. She is the eldest Nymph, one of the Bubble Dreamer's first and most beloved creatures. She and her sisters will grant Rayman and his entourage the powers they will need to complete their quest.
The eldest of the Nymphs and Rayman's "mother".- Adaptational Attractiveness: In the first game she's just a silly fairy thing. The Origins gives her curvaceous human-like figure and skimpy clothing.
- The Bus Came Back: For Origins, anyway. She never appeared again in the games that came after.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Not present since her debut until Rayman Origins. She seems to be missing in Rayman Legends as well.
- Damsel in Distress: At the end of the original game and in the beginning of Origins.
- Evolutionary Retcon: In the original game, she resembles a cartoonish fairy with Floating Limbs. Rayman Origins makes her more humanoid and gives her actual arms and legs.
- Fairy Sexy: Her redesign in Origins definitely qualifies, with the curvaceous figure and skimpy outfit.
- Fanservice Pack: Compare her Rayman
◊ appearance to her Rayman Origins◊ appearance. - Floating Limbs: Originally, before the retcon.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her redesigned appearance in Origins gives her a much more human like body with wide hips, and an outfit that shows a lot of skin.
- Odd Name Out: Of the five main Nymphs rescued in Origins, Betilla is the only fairy without a Punny Name.
- Older Than They Look: In Origins. Seriously, could you even tell she's the oldest of the nymphs?
- Redhead In Green: Post-Origins, she was redesigned with red hair and a skimpy dark green outfit.
- Sealed Good in a Can: Mr. Dark traps her in a crystal ball.
- Stripperiffic: In Origins.
The Magician
Click here to see his design from Rayman
Voiced by: Chris Bernard (Rayman, unconfirmed), Doug Rand (Rayman Origins)
The Magician will help you throughout your quest. He's always willing to trade you Electoons for Lums, which will help you unlock new worlds and maps. At your service, his magic hat will provide tips and tricks galore to help you survive.
Rayman's friend in the original game, who sends you to a bonus level if you find him and collect 10 Tings. Returns in Rayman Origins with a much bigger role.- Bald of Evil: In Origins, the revelations that the Magician is the Big Bad and wears a blue wig to cover his bald head come in the same level.
- Big Bad: He is the main villain of Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends.
- The Bus Came Back: After his first appearance in the original game, he never appeared in a major game again until Origins.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: In Legends, his clones are Megaton Punched by Rayman into the moon, leaving them stuck in craters. Then some imps arise and start playing music by poking their butts with a pitchfork, causing each clone to respond with different grunts and whimpers.
- Design Preservation Villain: His redesign in Origins takes after Mr. Dark, switching from the purple clothing in the original game to almost entirely black clothing with purple color motifs. The unused script for suggests it was deliberate due to being a fan of Mr. Dark.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: This otherwise minor supporting character turns out to have been behind the events of Origins.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The characters all call him "the Magician". In an early script for Origins, his real name is Ales Mansay.
- Evolutionary Retcon: He was originally a limbless being like Rayman, but Origins turns him into a Teensie.
- Evil All Along: His Face–Heel Turn isn't revealed until much later in Origins, where he tries using the Lums you collect in each stage to Take Over the World like his idol Mr. Dark tried to do in the original Rayman.
- Fanboy: Of Mr. Dark. His room in Origins has a signed picture of said character, and his actions throughout the game are meant as a tribute to his idol.
- Floating Limbs: He originally had detached limbs much like Rayman, before Origins retconned him into being a Teensie.
- Freudian Excuse: In an early story script for Origins, he was bullied by the other Teensies in Magician's School for having poor magical abilities, which led him to evil and later led to him secretly idolizing Mr. Dark from the original Rayman, and taking on the mantle.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: His debut appearance in Rayman had blonde hair and he is a frequent ally of Rayman. Averted with his redesign in Origins, as he wears a blue wig and is a villain in said game.
- Large Ham: He's very boisterious in the original game."You've done it! You saved the WOOOOORLD!"
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: His status as a villain in Legends spoils the biggest twist of Origins.
- Magicians Are Wizards: He's dressed like your stereotypical stage magician, but he's apparently capable of legitimate magic. Not the case in Origins, where his prowess lies in machines more than magic.
- Manipulative Bastard: An early script for Origins revealed that he was the one who sparked the Livid Dead's hatred for Rayman and his friends by planting a microphone in the Snoring Tree while they slept, causing the Livid Dead to become annoyed with the heroes' loud snoring. Throughout the game, he has you (the player) collect Lums in each stage so that he can use them to power his machines, which he would use to conquer the world.
- Meaningful Name: His scripted name, Ales Mansay, is a play on Alesman-Say, which is pig Latin for Salesman. This references his role in exchanging Electoons for Lums. It also foreshadows the fact that he’s not so honest about being a magician.
- Me's a Crowd: There are five of him in Rayman Legends, with one for each world.
- Narrator: He's this in the original game.
- Non-Action Big Bad: In Origins, he simply lets you do all the dirty work for him, and when confronted, he simply runs away as opposed to fighting the player directly. This also applies to all five of him in Rayman Legends, though you at least land the final blow for them.
- Pig Latin: Much like the Nymphs, his speech is made entirely of pig latin.
- Ship Tease: Rayman Activity Centre has a moment with this; if Betilla's picture appears on the canvas, he'll mention that she's his "favorite fairy".
- The Smart Guy: Although not canon games, Rayman CP describes him as "crafty", and "Rayman Junior" states he's the guardian of the Book of Knowledge. Rayman Origins puts a sinister spin on this, turning him into a diabolical mastermind with an army of machines under his belt.
- Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: The Magician first appeared as an ally or at least a neutral friendly character to Rayman during the first game (well, he offered a series of always more difficult challenges with an extra life as prize in exchange of an amount of tings/lums, so maybe "ally" is hazardous), and appears to remain a "friend" during his return in Origins. It's all an act in the latter game's case, as he's undergone a Face–Heel Turn to become the Big Bad of Origins.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: He wears dark clothing (which includes a hat), has magic powers, and functions as the Big Bad much like his long-absent idol, Mr. Dark. This could even border on Legacy Character, as his file names in Legends start with the prefix "mrdark".
- Those Two Guys: With Betilla in the educational games; they're always seen side-by-side in cutscenes.
- Uncanny Family Resemblance: He has four cousins (Andrew, Pierre, Hans, and Pedro) in the educational games who all look identical to him aside from the colors of their outfits.
- Unexplained Recovery: Legends shows that he somehow survived the explosion of the Moody Clouds.
- Walking Spoiler: Many of the tropes listed under his role in Rayman Origins are covered due to his importance in the games.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In an early story script for Rayman Origins, part of the reason why he became a villain was because he saw how the Bubble Dreamer's nightmares were constantly plaguing the Glade of Dreams and its inhabitants, so he wanted to put an end to it by using a diabolical plan to conquer the world and get rid of the Bubble Dreamer, whom he sees as a very incompetent leader who won't even protect the people from his own nightmares.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: An early story script for Origins pegged him as a victim of childhood bullying, which would've made his Face–Heel Turn in that game more believable.
Electoons
- The Bus Came Back: In Origins.
- Gotta Catch Them All: Of the Important variety in Origins (having more gets you further into the game), but of the Crucial variety in the original. Collecting all of them was required to reach the final levels and Final Boss.
- Floating Limbs: They notoriously retain it in Origins.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: They are pretty adorable, which may have been done as an incentive for the player to free all of them.
Enemies
Mr. Dark
Voiced by: Doug Rand (Rayman, unconfirmed)
The main antagonist of the first game. An enigmatic and wicked sorcerer with no regards for peace and tranquillity, he steals the Great Protoon and throws the Glade of Dreams into anarchy and chaos, prompting Rayman to set things straight.- Affably Evil: Despite being billed as a rather sinister customer, his evil base is a colorful cheery land made of cakes and candy, staffed by goofy clowns. He's even courteous enough to warn the player of how difficult his contracts are in Mini.
- Ambiguously Human: He's rarely been seen without his hat and cloak, so it's hard to tell if he looks like Rayman underneath (similar to a few minor characters that appear in the game), or if he looks totally different. The only time he's seen without them is when he burns up into a purple smoke-like ghost◊ in the Game Boy Colour Rayman. His silhouetted pictures in Origins and the world's Evolutionary Retcon don't help things either, though he does appear taller than a Teensie at least. Although said Evolutionary Retcon is itself retconned in Rayman Mini, in which Mr. Dark is depicted as one of very few characters with no limbs.
- Big Bad: Of Rayman.
- Card-Carrying Villain: The narration introduces him as the 'eeeeeevil' Mr. Dark.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: His fate post-final battle is left totally unexplained, and he's never appeared anywhere in sequels. This is more jarring by the time of Origins and Legends, where the Magician (Mr. Dark's self-proclaimed #1 Fanboy) is the Big Bad with nary a hint of his existence.
- The Bus Came Back: Finally averted come Rayman Mini; after a twenty-five year absence, he's made a "triumphant" comeback. However, not a exactly as an antagonist nor in a canon game.
- Conspicuous Trenchcoat: Having raided Darkwing Duck's coat closet, he is now setting his sights on grander crimes.
- Dark Is Evil: Naturally; evil enough to make it his name. And so is his "#1 Fanboy", the Magician.
- Evil Is Petty: After stealing Rayman's telescopic fist, he seemingly felt the need to put it on a rope and yank it out of his reach whenever he gets close just to toy with him.
- Evil Sorceror: It is said to be a very talented one, too, with his entourage allowing him to conjure deadly clones, shapeshift, and make use of Elemental Powers.
- Evil Sounds Deep: He only has one short laugh in the entire game, and it's rather low-pitched. He keeps it when he comes back in Mini, with some Power Echoes applied to it.
- Evolutionary Retcon: While in the first game, he (like everyone else) had no limbs, his shadowed pictures in Rayman Origins show him with arms and a redesigned hat. This isn't the case as of Mini however, in which he appears as an updated version of his original limbless design.
- Floating Limbs: Like everyone else in the first game, he has no visible arms or legs. He is shown in pictures in Rayman Origins with arms, however. His appearance in Mini returns to the limbless look.
- Flourish Cape in Front of Face: He always covers his face with a cloak held by hand while performing tasks with his free hand. In later games, he can use both hands freely while still having a cloak held over his face.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: His motives for taking the Great Protoon for himself are never explained. We can only assume he's just pure evil by nature as his name hints and wanted to bring anarchy to the Glade for funsies.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Despite vanishing after the first game, he remains the idol of the Magician, who becomes the Big Bad of Origins and Legends.
- Heel–Face Turn: Of a sort; he stops antagonizing Rayman and the gang in the mobile spin-off Mini and offers daily contracts for them to complete. He's even "kind" enough to let them into his garden!
- Interface Screw: At one point, he forces Rayman to run nonstop, and reverses all of his controls.
- Legacy Character: He may have been one of these if the Dark Teensies' file names in Legends are any indication. They might be a Mr. Dark (well, Mr. Darks), but he's the original.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Had he not stuck Rayman's one means of attack on a rope to yank away if he tried to grab it and taken so long to kill Rayman, he'd probably have won.
- Obviously Evil: He isn't subtle about his evil, in either appearance or behaviour.
- Orcus on His Throne: He spends most of the game stalking Rayman with binoculars and kidnaps Betilla near the end, but does nothing to stop Rayman himself until the latter reaches his lair.
- Playing with Fire: Used primarily in the first game's Final Boss, where he toys with Rayman, who cannot fight back (at first). He also uses fire in the GBC game's Final Boss.
- Power Floats: He's able to levitate off the ground in the GBC game.
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: The only bright thing about him is his gold eyes under his hat, and he always covers his face under his trenchcooat.
- Shock and Awe: Summons lightning bolts to attack in the GBC fight with him.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: He has yellow sclera.
- The Unfought: After dodging his initial attacks, he flees and leaves Rayman to deal with his abominations. Some believe he shapeshifts into them, but even if he did, you don't fight the cloaked figure himself.note Averted for sure in the GBC game, where he and Rayman duke it out mano-e-mano.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: In the Game Boy Colour game, he's able to turn into a ball of darkness that tries to ram into Rayman. He also may have morphed into fusions of the previous bosses during the second phase of his final fight.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: His fate after the events of the first game is unknown. The Atari Jaguar version of the game, the more experimental one, clearly shows his escape after fighting Rayman. However, in the other versions he seems to vanish for good (as also prototype script for Rayman 2 seems to confirm) after being punched several times by Rayman, made even more explicit in the Game Boy Colour version, and he doesn't appear in the sequels. But he is indirectly involved in Rayman Origins via his "#1 Fanboy", the Magician.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: During the first game's Final Boss, Rayman (who has his only means of attack taken away from him) has to dodge fireballs and moving fire pillars. After a while, the pillars start to close in on him, but by that time some Electoons give Rayman his fist back. Makes you wonder why he didn't just bring the flame pillars together to begin with.
Bzzit
- Art Evolution: His appearance in Rayman 2 redesigns him to have insect like limbs (as opposed to his Floating Limbs in the original game) and makes him much smaller.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: He's a mosquito who is significantly larger than Rayman.
- The Cameo:
- In Rayman 2, members of his species make cameo appearances in the Woods of Light (and many other levels of the game in the Dreamcast port), and in the Revolution port, Bzzit himself makes a brief appearance to help Rayman.
- In the fourth volume of the Rabbids comic book "Gribouillages", a doll of Bzzit can be seen on a shelf at one point.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After Rayman defeats him in Anguish Lagoon, he breaks down sobbing, only for Rayman to quickly make up with him and befriend him, prompting the bug to help him finish the level.
- Floating Limbs: He has these in the original game, but they get replaced with insect-like legs in his cameo in Revolution.
- Heel–Face Turn: Starts off as a bad guy, but turns good as soon as Rayman defeats and befriends him.
- Planet of Copyhats: Various other mosquitos appear throughout the Rayman games that look and act identical to Bzzit, though he's the only one with something resembling a defined personality.
- Punny Name: His name is an obvious onomatopoeia of the sound of a mosquito's buzzing.
- Ramming Always Works: His second method of attack in the PS1 and Saturn versions of the game. Oddly, in the Jaguar version, he can shoot energy balls out of his proboscis when he's made playable in Anguish Lagoon.
Moskito
- Advancing Wall of Doom: Tries to kill Rayman early on by having one of his subordinates chase him with a giant spiked berry, and later does it himself in his own fight.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Another mosquito like Bzzit.
- Death from Above: The primary way he fights differently from Bzzit; He'll fly offscreen and begin dropping increasingly large spiked fruit on Rayman.
- Palette Swap: Of Bzzit.
- Red Is Violent: A red, incredibly territorial mosquito.
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: His name is a more phonetic version of "mosquito", with a hard K instead.
Mr. Sax
- Evil Is Bigger: Is by far one of the largest enemies in the game.
- Mook Maker: Can create Sour Notes, small enemies that travel along the ground.
- Musical Assassin: Comes with the territory of being a living instrument.
- Skippable Boss: Can actually be skipped in his boss level provided the player doesn't activate the checkpoint halfway through the level and then intentionally falls into the bottomless pit near the end since all six cages are on that initial part of said level.
Mr. Stone
- The Berserker: Most of his attacks involve violently stomping around, smashing his fists into walls or just charging at Rayman on sight. He's one of the only bosses to roar when he's on the offensive.
- Dishing Out Dirt: He can knock and throw around giant boulders that explode on heavy impacts.
Space Mama
- Acrofatic: She's pretty big around the waist, but still manages perfect ballet posture on the tips of her toes.
- Rolling Pin of Doom: Her primary weapon, and a versatile one at that.
- Space Opera: The genre that her stage takes the form of once you fight her in full.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Her rolling pin acts as both a spring-loaded knife launcher and a laser cannon.
Mr. Skops
- Breather Boss: Coming off of the frustrating second battle against Space Mama, Mr. Skops is quite easy by comparison having a shorter health bar for one thing and for another, has a predictable easy to dodge attack pattern.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mr. Skops fires a beam that homes in on Rayman. While Rayman's punches can't make it past Mr. Skops's carapace, these beams can, and they specifically try to home in on Rayman's fists.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Instead of getting into a prolonged fight or a chase right away, Mr. Skops's pre-fight encounter involves him trying to push Rayman into the lava below and be done with it by taking away any footholds he can.
- Scary Scorpions: With one, extra-sharp claw.
Bad Rayman
Voiced by: Steve Perkinson (Rayman), Doug Rand (Rayman Legends, unconfirmed)
An evil clone of Rayman conjured by Mr. Dark, hell-bent on destroying the original.- Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear whether the Legends Dark Rayman is the same entity as in the original game, or another one entirely. note
- Dramatic High Perching: In this screenshot◊ for the Game Boy Color version of Rayman.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference : Bad Rayman goes from a purple-and-teal colour scheme in the original Rayman to grey-and-black with a black aura as Dark Rayman in Legends. note
- Evil Laugh: In Legends, where he has a high-pitched, reverberating version of the original Rayman's laugh.
- Evil Knockoff: Of Rayman, created by Mr. Dark for the sole purpose of killing him.
- Floating Limbs: A trait he shares with the original Rayman.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: Averted, due to not technically being a boss, though he dies once his portion of Candy Chateau is compelete.
- Mirror Match: He copies every move Rayman does to a T, and if you aren't careful, he will catch up with you.
- Never the Selves Shall Meet: Rayman and his evil clone will both die instantly if they come to close contact with each other.
- Sudden Name Change: He's named "Bad Rayman" in Rayman Designer, then "Dark Rayman" in Rayman Advance and Rayman Legends. This leads to debate whether he is or not the same character from Rayman M.
- Unexplained Recovery: All dependent on whether or not the Dark Rayman from the original is the same one from Legends, not even clear if he was created or recrested by the Dark Teensies or by Polokus as a nightmare.
