- List of Blade Runner characters
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This article is a list of characters in the film Blade Runner.
Contents
Rick Deckard
Main article: Rick DeckardRick Deckard is a "Blade Runner", a special agent in the Los Angeles police department employed to hunt down and "retire" replicants. His ID number is B-263-54, which is stated twice in both the 1992 Director's Cut & the Final (25th anniversary) cut of the film. He is the protagonist of the film and the narrator in the original cinematic release. Deckard is played by Harrison Ford.
Roy Batty
Roy Batty Blade Runner Replicant character Portrayed by Rutger Hauer Information Gender Male Model NEXUS-6 N6MAA10816 Roy Batty is the leader of the renegade Nexus-6 replicants and the main antagonist of the film. He is very intelligent, fast, and skilled at combat, and yet still learning how to deal with developing emotions. With an A Physical Level (superhuman strength & endurance) and an A Mental Level (genius level intellect), he is probably the most dangerous of all the fugitive replicants. He is a combat model, used off-world for military service. He and five other replicants come to Earth, hoping to find a way to lengthen their life span. He is able to use J.F. Sebastian to get a meeting with Tyrell, the head founder of the company and his creator. Tyrell refers to him as his "prodigal son", and tells him his life can not be extended, but that he should revel in the life he has as he has done and seen things others could only dream of. Following this, he kills Tyrell and Sebastian.
Deckard retires the remaining replicants and is hunted by a dying Roy. Trying to escape, Deckard ends up dangling from a building and saved from the fall by Roy. As he dies, Roy tells Deckard about the things he saw in his life and how all those memories would be gone forever. He then smiles, saying, "Time... to die." and passes away.
In the original novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, his name was spelled "Roy Baty," and was the leader of the eight androids (or "andys" as they are often referred to) who killed their human owners so that they could escape their life of slavery on Mars. Roy was married to Irmgard Baty, another android. Roy's relationship with Pris (who was his lover in the film) in the novel is only that of friendship.
In the novel Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human, Batty is one of a series of replicants based on a mercenary of the same name. The template for these replicants suffered from "neural malformation," which made them unable to experience fear. This, it is suggested, might be one of the reasons replicants of this particular series were so difficult to kill.
Played by Rutger Hauer.
Harry Bryant
Bryant is the captain of the Rep-Detect department of the Los Angeles police department. His job in the film is to deal with a group of escaped Nexus-6 replicants (whom he refers to as "skinjobs") that have landed on Earth. His top Blade Runner, Holden, was in hospital on a Medical ventilator after an encounter with a replicant. Bryant uses thinly-veiled threats against Rick Deckard — a retired blade runner — to enlist his aid.
In the original theatrical version, Deckard, during his narration, compares Bryant to the racist cops of the past. "Skinjob, that was Bryant's term for Replicants. In history books, he's the kind of cop that used to call Black men niggers."
Played by M. Emmet Walsh.
Hannibal Chew
Hannibal Chew works for the Tyrell Corporation as a genetic engineer - his job is to create the eyes for the replicants, Roy and Leon's, in this case. In the film, the replicants visit him while he is working in a freezer. The replicants pressure him into telling them who can get them into Tyrell's inner sanctum - J.F. Sebastian.
Played by James Hong.
Gaff
Gaff, a mysterious character in the film, presents his compulsory invitation to Deckard in a street lingo called Cityspeak, a mixture of German, Spanish, and Japanese.[1] He is played by Edward James Olmos. As a fellow cop, he is quickly identified as being very different from Deckard through the ways he dresses and behaves. He tends to make little Origami figures. The last words heard in the film (Director's Cut & Final cut versions) are spoken by him: "It's too bad she won't live. But then again, who does?"
Gaff walks with a cane and a noticeable limp.
The sequel by K.W. Jeter mentions that Gaff is killed in the line of duty. At the beginning of the novel, Bryant has just returned from the funeral and expresses his distaste for the Cityspeak written on Gaff's headstone.
Holden
Holden, played by Morgan Paull, is the Blade Runner testing new employees at the Tyrell Corporation on the premise that the escaped Replicants might try to infiltrate the company.
During a Voight-Kampff test, Leon shoots Holden and leaves him for dead. Later, Bryant mentions that Holden is alive but his breathing is assisted by machines.
There were two hospital scenes with Holden and Deckard that were filmed but not used in the movie. One scene is shown in the documentary On the Edge of Blade Runner. Both scenes appear in the deleted scenes section on the Blade Runner Special Edition DVD.
Leon Kowalski
Leon Blade Runner Replicant character Portrayed by Brion James Information Gender Male Model NEXUS-6 N6MAC41717 Leon Kowalski, who is played by Brion James, is a replicant who came to Earth with five others looking to extend their lives. He has an A physical level, which enables him to have super-human strength and endurance (according to the Final cut he was used as a 180 kg/400 lb nuclear-head loader in the outer space colonies as well as a front-line soldier). Leon is classified mental level C. He doesn't have the speed of thought that Roy does when it comes to solving problems. Leon shoots Blade Runner Holden as he administers the Voight-Kampff test on him while he works at the Tyrell Corporation, which he has infiltrated. Leon attacks Deckard after he witnesses Deckard kill Zhora, but is himself killed by Rachael who shoots him with Deckard's discarded gun.
Leon cherishes photographs of his friends. Unlike Rachael's false photos of her childhood, these include current photos of people who mean something to him.
Taffey Lewis
Taffey Lewis is the owner of Taffey's Snake Pit Bar. The bar features music, exotic dancing, and something being smoked in pipes. He dismisses Deckard's threats with a free drink.
Played by Hy Pyke.
Pris
Pris Blade Runner Replicant character Portrayed by Daryl Hannah Information Gender Female Model NEXUS-6 N6FAB21416 Pris is a "basic pleasure model" portrayed by Daryl Hannah (incepted on St. Valentine's Day). She meets with and becomes friends with J.F. Sebastian. Pris is also the girlfriend of fellow replicant Roy Batty. At an A Physical Level, she is shown to have super-human endurance (as in the scene where she grabs a boiling egg with her bare hand without harm). Her B Mental Level puts her at a lower intellectual level than Roy. She sets a trap for Deckard in the Bradbury Building, where she disguises herself as a mannequin and uses her gymnastic skills to ambush Deckard; however, she is retired by Deckard.
Her punk outfits were inspired by a new wave calendar.[2]
It is suggested in Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human that Pris was in fact an insane human who believed that she was a replicant.[3]
Rachael
Rachael Blade Runner Replicant character Portrayed by Sean Young Information Gender Female Model NEXUS-6[citation needed] Rachael, played by Sean Young, is the latest experiment of Eldon Tyrell. Tyrell believes that as the replicants have such a limited lifespan, they have little time to develop control of their emotions, causing difficulty managing them. He believes implanting them with memories would create a cushion which would allow for emotional development, and make them more controllable.
Rachael has the implanted memories of Tyrell's niece, and she is led to believe that she is human. It is not revealed in the film how long she has been living, but Tyrell admits that he thinks she is beginning to suspect the truth of her existence.
When Rachael learns the truth, she is ignored by Tyrell. In desperation, she turns to Deckard, who has been told by Captain Bryant to retire her. He eventually falls in love with her.
Both of them are allowed to live: Roy saves Deckard from falling off a building, and Gaff does not kill Rachael. Gaff leaves his calling card, an origami model (this time, shaped like a foil unicorn), at Deckard's apartment to show he's been there. At the end of the film she and Deckard flee his apartment to go into hiding.
J.F. Sebastian
J. F. Sebastian is a genetic designer working for Tyrell. He is not allowed to emigrate off-world because he has Methuselah Syndrome. Because of this he ages faster and has a shorter life span, something he has common with the replicants. With the Bradbury Building all to himself, he makes the most of his talents, even making his own Toy-friends.
He is approached by Pris, whom Sebastian takes in because he thinks she is homeless, and Roy comes to stay with him soon after. Roy and Pris point out that because of his condition Sebastian has much in common with them, and argues that if they don't get Tyrell's help to extend their lives Pris will die soon. He takes Roy Batty to see Tyrell, but when Tyrell claims that he can't extend Roy's life, Roy kills Tyrell. A police radio message heard by Deckard after Tyrell is killed states that Sebastian's body was also discovered by the police with Tyrell's at the Tyrell Corporation.
The makeup for J.F. was a "stretch and stipple" technique with no prosthetics.[2]
Played by William Sanderson.
Dr. Eldon Tyrell
Dr. Eldon Tyrell is the genius who has built up the large Tyrell Corporation. His creations are Replicants, some of which have been given away as an incentive for people to emigrate to the Off-World colonies. Others are used in combat to protect those settlers. Roy Batty, along with J.F. Sebastian, finds Tyrell, and asks him to extend his life beyond the four-year limit built into Nexus Six replicants. However, Tyrell claims this request is impossible to satisfy. Upon hearing this, Batty kisses Tyrell before crushing his head with his bare hands.
Played by Joe Turkel.
Zhora
Zhora Blade Runner Replicant character Portrayed by Joanna Cassidy Information Gender Female Model NEXUS-6 N6FAB61216 Zhora, a replicant, has an A Physical Level (Super-human endurance) & a B Mental Level (Intelligence equal to that of Pris). She managed to get a job as an exotic dancer at Taffey's Bar (using her own pet snake). Tracked down by Deckard from a snake scale, she soon realises that he is dangerous. Zhora has been used in murder squads. However, he escapes death by the slightest of margins as people walk in just before Zhora delivers a killing blow. She tries to escape from Deckard by running into a busy street. However, she is eventually shot in the back and so retired by him.
Unnamed Replicant(s)
According to dialogue spoken by Bryant in the Final cut of the film, two other unnamed replicants (only one in earlier versions) were killed while attempting to enter the Tyrell Corporation. The term used by him when describing their deaths ("Two of them got fried running through an electrical field") suggests they were stopped by an electrical barrier or security device of some sort.
Earlier drafts of the script name these replicants as Hodge and Mary. In Hampton Fancher's early drafts of the script, Mary lives while Hodge is the only replicant fried in the electrical field. Mary was intended to reflect the novel's character of Irmgard Baty, and was meant to be a "mother figure" model of replicant, performing housework and childcare duties, and she was supposed to be reminiscent of the stereotypical housewife of the 1950s. Her incept date is given as November 1, 2017.[4] Mary was to be played by Stacy Nelkin, who had originally tried out for the role of Pris, but Mary's scenes were cut before filming.[5][6]
References
- ^ The Blade Runner FAQ (via Internet Archive)
- ^ a b Future Noir: Chapter VIII - The Crew
- ^ Jeter, K.W.. Blade Runner 2: The Edge Of Human.
- ^ http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/Blade-runner_early.html
- ^ http://www.brmovie.com/FAQs/BR_FAQ_SixthRep.htm
- ^ Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (Blade Runner: The Final Cut DVD). Warner Bros.. 2007.
Blade Runner Novels Games/comics Characters Rick Deckard · Other charactersLocations Other topics Philip K. Dick · Vangelis · Soundtrack · Themes · Versions · Replicant · Voight-Kampff machine · SpinnerRelated articles Categories:- Blade Runner
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