Deadliest Warrior/Characters

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The various warriors featured in the show:

Tropes about Season 1 warriors

Apache

Appeared in the first episode fighting against the Gladiator.

• The Archer
• An Axe to Grind: Well, it's actually a tomahawk.
• Badass Boast: Fierce, scalp-taking master of death.
• Badass Native
• Knife Nut

Gladiator

• Badass Boast: Crowd thrilling killer of ancient Rome.
• Blood Sport
• Power Fist: The Cestus and Scissor.
• Suffer the Slings: One of his weapons.
• Prongs of Poseidon: Uses the trident & net as a mid-range weapon.

Samurai

• Samurai: DUH!
• Badass Boast: Japan's lightning-fast dealer of death.
• The Archer
• Katanas Are Just Better: Their experts certainly thought so. The katana was said to be a "two body blade", as it cut through two whole pig carcasses.
• Blade on a Stick: The Naginata.
• Carry a Big Stick: The Kanabo.
• Sengoku Period: The test was based on the samurai of this time frame, fighting more on foot than on horseback and wearing more practical gusoku type armor rather than a heavy and complex o-yoroi.

Viking

• An Axe to Grind
• Badass Boast: The battle-crazed berserker who terrorized Europe.
• Horny Vikings: Averted.
• Shields Are Useless: Viking shield fails to withstand kanabo strike. Which would not be the case if shield would have been used properly.
• Armor Is Useless: Averted. Katana does nothing against chain mail. Unless, of course, you thrust with it.

Spartan

• Badass Boast: The battlefield butcher from ancient Greece.
• Elite Army: As one of the smallest armies in Greece, their military power was second only to the Athenian Navy.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: One of the most noted things about the Spartans are how well their shields stand up against attacks.
• The Spartan Way: Trope Namers.
• Greco Persian Wars
• Peloponnesian War: Although most people know them from the Persian Wars, this was where they were most militarily successful and historically important.

Ninja

• Badass Boast: The legendary master of death from Japan.
• Combat Pragmatist: Mentioned by the experts.
• Eye Scream: The main purpose of the glass eggs.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Sadly...
• Poisoned Weapons: The blowgun anyways.

Pirate

• Badass Boast: Murderous killer of the high seas.
• Boom! Headshot!: The pirate does this at the end of the re-enactment, removing the Knight's visor and blasting him right between the eyes with his pistol.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The first warrior (on the series, that is) to use an explosive weapon - in this case, a primitive grenade.
• War of the Spanish Succession: Many pirates of the type and period described on the show were veterans of this war, either as naval officers/sailors or privateers.

Knight

• Badass Boast: Sword-wielding slayer of the medieval age.
• Hundred Years War: Based on the info given at the beginning of the episode, the Knight would have fought here.
• Rock Beats Laser: Averted. The pirate's more advanced technology (read: gunpowder) is cited as the reason the knight lost the matchup.

Mafia

The Sicilian crime family who flourished in the 1920s New York. Appeared first in Episode 5 fighting against the Yakuza.

• Awesome but Impractical: The Molotov Cocktail turned out to be one in the fight.
• Boring but Practical: The baseball bat may not have been the flashiest weapon (especially compared to the Yakuza's nunchaku), but it was perfectly legal to carry, and pretty effective, too. A smart swing from one of the experts visibly snapped several of a test pig's vertebrae.
• Badass Boast: Deadly enforcers on the mean streets of New York.
• Improvised Weapon User: Two of their weapons are baseball bat and icepick.
• The Mafia: Of course.
• More Dakka: Their firearms.

Yakuza

• Badass Boast: Cruel warlords of Japan's underworld.
• Yakuza: Of course.
• Yubitsume: The show goes into depth about the ritual and the reasoning behind it.

Green Beret

• Badass Boast: One of America's most elite soldiers, fighting the fiercest battles.
• The Vietnam War: Gained their reputation here.
• Cold War
• Gulf War: The technology and tactics displayed on the show were those of G Bs from around roughly this time.
• The War on Terror

Spetsnaz

• Badass Army
• Badass Boast: Top secret commandos, the spearhead of the Russian army.
• Cold War
• Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: The version of Spetznaz that were highlighted on the show were roughly from this time period.

Shaolin Monk

• Badass Boast: The ultimate kung-fu killing machine from China.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Averted, but they still used their martial arts skill in the fight.
• Swiss Army Weapon: The Twin Hooks, described as four killing tools in one.
• Thou Shall Not Kill: Unless in self-defense.
• Underdogs Never Lose: Went into the final confrontation with three of the four 'edges' going against him, and then won by a very large margin.
• Warrior Monk: Of course.

Maori Warrior

• Badass Boast: Fierce, unforgiving slayer of the south seas.
• Dance Battler: Well, they started their fights with a war dance, in any case...
• I'm a Humanitarian
• Underdogs Never Lose: Fell prey to this against the Shaolin.

William Wallace

• Badass Boast: The legendary Scottish rebel who led a bloodthirsty army of Highlanders against the mighty English empire.
• Historical Domain Character
• Heroes Prefer Swords and in this Scottish Hero's case a...
  • BFS called the Claymore.
• Drop the Hammer
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His war against the English was essentially this, according to the experts.

Kieran Elliot: "[William Wallace] married a lovely girl, and the English murdered her, and that's when he just went off the rails..." (Cue Skyward Scream, cut to Wallace kicking ass)

• Violent Glaswegian

Shaka Zulu

• Badass Boast: The fierce African warlord who built a Zulu army that killed two million enemies and transformed a continent.
• Blade on a Stick: The Ikwla spear, so named for the sound it made while stabbing someone and being removed.
• Historical Domain Character

Irish Republican Army

• Badass Boast: Unstoppable urban guerrilas, who waged a bloody, savage war for Irish independence.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: The LPO-50 flamethrower.
• Mad Bomber: Their nail bombs are one of their key advantages, and they really seem to like using them.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: The army fights for Northern Ireland's freedom from Britain.
• The Troubles

Taliban

• Badass Boast: Hardline religious extremists who back their beliefs with bullets.
• Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan: Many of them "made their bones" resisting this.
• The War on Terror

Tropes about Season 2 warriors

SWAT

• Badass Boast: The elite special forces of US law enforcement who take on the country's most dangerous police missions.

GSG-9

• Badass Boast: The top-secret paramilitary arm of the German police known as the most lethal counter-terrorism squad in the world.
• Badass Crew: What the GSG-9 are trained to be; they completed their first ever deployment in under 7 minutes with no civilian casualties.
• The War on Terror: It could be argued that they were the first elite force specifically designed for it.

Attila the Hun

• Badass Boast: The notorious barbarian horseman who terrorized and ravaged the European continent.
• The Conqueror
• Historical Domain Character
• Horse Archer
• Improbable Weapon User: Attila's mid range weapon, the lasso. However, he may have been onto something, as, with the proper timing and aim, one could cause a hangman's fracture.

Alexander the Great

• A God Am I: The Oracle of Delphi told him he was the son of a God.
• Awesome but Impractical: The Gastraphetes was a huge crossbow that certainly did damage when it hit its mark, but its insanely long reload time (1+ minute per shot) severely limited its effectiveness.
• Badass Boast: The warrior king, whose brutal tactics carved out one of the largest empires in history.
• The Great Conqueror
• Heroes Prefer Swords: and his is the Kopis.
• Historical Domain Character
• The Magnificent
• Greco Persian Wars: His wars of conquest were sold to the Greek populace as a continuation/revenge of this.
• Macedonian Succession Wars: His death set these off, and his tactics were emulated by everyone involved.

Jesse James

• Badass Boast: The vicious outlaw whose bloody crime sprees made him the most famous bank robber in America.
• Guns Akimbo: The Colt Revolvers are always wielded one in each hand.
• Historical Domain Character
• The American Civil War: Took part as a guerrilla in Missouri. Half of his weapons on the show were designed for this war as well.
• True Companions: James' gang is portrayed as this; J.W. Wiseman, one of his experts, had this to offer about them.

"The James Gang worked as a democracy. They looked out for each other. They took care of you and you took care of them.

Al Capone

• A-Team Firing
• Badass Boast: The ruthless gangster whose criminal empire bloodied the streets of Depression-era Chicago.
• Bad Boss
• Historical Domain Character
• More Dakka
• The Mafia: Arguably the best known and most famous leader of the Chicago Outfit.
• World War One: Erroneously claimed to be a veteran of this war. Also, half of his weapons on the show were specifically designed with this war in mind.

Aztec Jaguar

• Badass Boast: Swift moving slayer of the ancient Mexican empire.
• Badass Native
• Human Sacrifice: The Jaguars were the cornerstone of the Aztec's sacrifice business, being responsible for the capture and execution of victims.

Zande

• Badass Boast: Ferocious barbarian of Central Africa.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Just take a look at the design of their weapons. "It's a symbol of masculinity!"
• I'm a Humanitarian: Invoked and subverted. They pretended to be cannibals to terrorize their enemies, but were just faking it.

Viet Cong

• Badass Boast: The ragtrag guerilla force that took the U.S. military head-on... and won the Vietnam War.
• Improbable Weapon User: Punji stakes, which are sharpened bamboo covered in human feces.
• The Vietnam War

Nazi Waffen-SS

• Badass Boast: The fanatical shock troops who led Adolf Hitler's evil charge for world domination.
• Fire-Breathing Weapon: The Flammenwerfer 41.
• State Sec: There's a reason they're the trope image.
• World War II

Roman Centurion

• Badass Boast: The killer commander whose brutal assaults led Rome to conquer the world.
• Punic Wars: The Roman Centurion highlighted on the show came much later than this, though.
• Jewish Revolts

Rajput

• Awesome but Impractical: The aara; which was deemed capable of mainly lacerations, but ended up getting zero kills in the sim.
• Badass Boast: India's menacing martial arts master who defeated enemies with a diabolical arsenal designed to kill.
• BFS: The Khanda.
• Rings of Death: The Chakrams.
• Whip Sword: The Aara.

Somali Pirate

• Badass Boast: Africa's deadly new breed of high seas hijackers who make millions holdings merchant ships hostage.
• Enemy Mine: The ships fishing in the waters of Somalia were a common enemy for people who once fought each other in the Somali Civil War, from fishermen who spent their lives in the water to militiamen who knew guns.
• More Dakka
• Ruthless Modern Pirates

Medellin Cartel:

• Badass Boast: Colombia's killer drug lords who built the world's largest cocaine empire.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money: At the height of their power, the Cartel made up to $65 million a day; they put it to good use by paying off government officials.
• The Cartel: Of course.
• More Dakka

Persian Immortal:

• Awesome but Impractical: Played with via the chariot scythes. They look nice, and tore through two pig carcasses, but was deemed to lack true killing power and lost the edge to the Celt's burda club. However, it still got over 100 kills.
• Badass Boast: The precision killer in a massive war machine who forged the largest empire the Middle East has ever seen.
• Elite Mooks
• The Empire: Because history is written by the winners, and they were imperial troops.
• Spiked Wheels: What the Immortals' chariots become with the scythes attached.
• Greco Persian Wars

Celt

• Badass Boast: The savage, war-loving barbarian from 400 BC who dominated Europe through brute force and raw fighting skills.
• BFS: The Celtic Longsword.
• Punic Wars: Loads of these guys fought in these wars.

KGB

• Badass Boast: Communist Russia's secret police, whose reign of terror left nations marred with blood.
• Dirty Communists
• Secret Police
• Cold War

CIA

• Badass Boast: America's elite corps of espionage artists, fighting an undercover war around the globe.
• Cold War

Vlad the Impaler

• Ax Crazy: Allegedly, not only did he kill babies, and forced the parents to eat the corpse, but he dunked his bread in the blood of his enemies.
• Badass Boast: The medieval Romanian prince whose insatiable thirst for blood inspired the legend of Dracula.
• Hand Cannon: Vlad's special weapon is literally called this.
• Historical Domain Character
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His favorite form of execution.
• Irony: The same Turks who beat and tortured Vlad when he was a child fell by his hand when he was an adult.
• The Magnificent: in format, though it also doubles as a name to run away from really fast
• Fall of Constantinople: Lived around this time and in the region, and was famous in his lifetime for successfully fighting against the very same sultan who took the city.

Sun Tzu

• Badass Boast: The ruthless Chinese warmonger who revolutionary "Art of War" led to the massacre of millions.
• Big Book of War: The Art of War, which has, according to the show, been called The Bible of Battle Tactics.
• Historical Domain Character
• The Strategist

Ming Warrior

• Badass Boast: The merciless 14th century weapons innovators who launched China's greatest dynasty.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Nest of Bees.
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Nest of Bees.

Musketeer

• Badass Boast: The king's ruthless personal guard and fierce defenders of France's borders.
• Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: The representatives like to avert this trope and portray the Musketeers as super badasses. They're right.
• State Sec: Yes, they did exist. The French Musketeers (the kind examined on the show) was divided into two branches: one worked to guard the king, the other for the cardinal.
  • Making them also an example of a Praetorian Guard.
• Thirty Years War

Comanche:

• Badass Boast: The born-in-the-saddle killers who terrorized the 18th century American plains.
• Horse Archer
• Injun Country: Protecting their lands is often described as one of the reasons why they fight.

Mongol

• Badass Boast: The vicious Asian horse warriors who used pure savagery to conquer more territory in the 13th century than any empire in history.
• Blade on a Stick: The Glaive.
• Horse Archer

Navy SEAL

• Badass Boast: America's amphibious special force, trained to neutralize any enemy, any time, anywhere.
• Elites Are More Glamorous
• The Vietnam War
• Cold War
• Gulf War
• The War on Terror

Israeli Commando

• Badass Boast: Israel's top secret assassins, who fend off terrorists dedicated to destroying the Jewish nation.
• Badass Israeli: Do we really need to say it?
• Arab-Israeli Conflict

Tropes about Season 3 warriors

George Washington

• Asskicking Equals Authority: Became the first American President
• Badass Boast: The American hero who against all odds, defeated the mighty British army.
• Historical Domain Character
• Macross Missile Massacre: scattershot
• The Stoic: After winning, George calmly cleans his sword and stares off into the horizon.
• Seven Years War: Washington made his warmaking bones in this war.
• The American Revolution

Napoleon Bonaparte

• Badass Boast: The bloodthirsty French emperor whose maniacal dream was to conquer the world.
• Bait and Switch: His tactic that earned him the victory at the Battle of Austerlitz: fool the Prussians into thinking he and the Grande Armee were surrendering, luring them onto the hill Napoleon and his men were just on; then, obliterate the present forces when a dense fog overcame the area.
• Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey: Averted. Even though he lost, it was a difference of 60 battles.
• The Conqueror
• Historical Domain Character
• Macross Missile Massacre: grapeshot
• The Napoleon: Averted. The experts mentioned how 5'6" was normal height for a European man of that time period.
• Napoleonic Wars

Joan of Arc

• Badass Boast: The teenage French fighter whose battlefield heroics defeated England's superior army and ended the Hundred Years War.
• Historical Domain Character
• Little Miss Badass: At the age of 17, Joan led the entire French army to win the Hundred Years War; without her, a British victory would've been inevitable.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Greatly outsized by William the Conqueror.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: In Real Life, she actually did not personally fight, but rather held on to the flag to keep herself from killing.
• Wounded Gazelle Warcry: How she managed to be Little Miss Badass while adhering to Thou Shalt Not Kill.
• Fan Service Pack: In the game, she suddenly upgrades a couple cup sizes, gets a form-fitting breastplate, and marches around in heels.
• Hundred Years War

William the Conqueror

• Badass Boast: The daring and deadly French duke who crushed his English enemies and crowned himself king.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Edward the Confessor promised William that he would be the next Duke of Normandy. After Edward's death, when William found out that the new duke became the son of Edward's advisor, William felt that he was betrayed and started a campaign against Harold.
• Eye Scream: How William used his crossbow to kill Harold.
• Historical Domain Character
• I Have Many Names: Also known as Duke William of Normandy, and William the Bastard before earning the one above in becoming King William I of England.
• Large and In Charge
• The Magnificent: He actually gets this treatment twice (see I Have Many Names Above) and one of them just so happens to be The Conqueror, which he is also.
• Would Hit a Girl: He is momentarily surprised to find himself fighting a teenage girl, but it doesn't stop him.

U.S. Army Rangers

• Eagle Land
• Elites Are More Glamorous
• The American Revolution: Not directly, but as explained on the show, they're based on Rogers's Rangers.
• Cold War
• Gulf War
• The War on Terror
• The Korean War: The situation described on the show would technically be a continuation of this.

North Korean Special Operations Force

• Dirty Communists
• Yellow Peril
• Seppuku: Ok, they're Korean, not Japanese, and it is with guns by someone else, but the crucial elements of being Asian and making a big deal about submitting to their own deaths for honour are there.
• The Korean War: Technically, the situation described on the show would go here.
• Cold War

Hannibal

• Ambiguously Brown
• Beast of Battle: The War Elephant.
• Historical Domain Character
• Punic Wars

Genghis Khan

• Awesome McCoolname: His birth name "Temujin" roughly translates to "Iron Man".
• The Conqueror
• Enemy Mine: The tribes located throughout central Asia were all at war with one another prior to Genghis uniting them.
• Historical Domain Character
• Neck Snap: His grapple kill in the second game ends with his opponent's neck being broken.

Saddam Hussein

• Cold-Blooded Torture: Acid Baths
• Historical Domain Character
• Sanity Has Advantages: Or at least relative sanity anyways. His higher psychological health compared to Pol Pot was considered an X-factor advantage.
• Iran-Iraq War
• Gulf War
• The War on Terror

Pol Pot

• Axe Crazy
• Child Soldier: Pol Pot himself led the Khmer Rouge as an adult, but it was mentioned that the average age of his soldiers was 16.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Electric Torture
• You're Insane!: The show made it abundantly clear just how gonzo this guys plan was.
• Historical Domain Character

Theodore Roosevelt

• Awesome Yet Practical: While having a less advanced arsenal than Lawrence, his Gatling gun was more reliable and his Krag rifle was more functional despite being less powerful.
• Badass Mustache
• Historical Domain Character
• Gatling Good: Uses the Trope Namer. Barely manages to win the fight for Roosevelt.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Theodore Roosevelt was a golden gloves boxer in his younger days.
• Nice Hat
• Underdogs Never Lose: Most of the x-factors were against him and even most of his weapons and tactics were rated lower than his opponent, yet he still came out on top.
• World War One: Tried to enlist in this, but was turned down by President Woddrow Wilson; partly due to his advanced age, and partly for political reasons. At least two of his sons fought in it though, with one getting killed.

Lawrence of Arabia

• Historical Domain Character
• Gatling Good: Actually a Vicker's. Just, you know, not as good as a proper Gatling Gun.
• World War One

Ivan the Terrible

• A God Am I: Believes he is the Archangel Michael.
• An Axe to Grind
• Axe Crazy
• Badass Boast: Russia's sadistic sixteenth century Tsar, who's murderous death squads built Europe's largest empire of its time.
• Bad Boss: Used one of his own soldiers as a meat shield during the sim.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: With such variety and such a hands on approach as to be his own Torture Technician
• The Conqueror
• For the Evulz: During the sim he doesn't let Cortez's attack stop him from torturing and killing a peasant.
• Historical Domain Character
• Husky Russkie: 6' some say 6' 3", they went with the smaller one, but still
• Knight Templar
• The Magnificent
• Power Born of Madness: How else does a 51 year old man with a bad back kill his healthy adult son?
• Sanity Has Advantages: This is played straight in Hernan Cortes VS Ivan the Terrible, and is one of the biggest reasons why Ivan lost the fight.
• Tsarist Russia: Russia's first Tsar, who went on to double the size of his new tsardom

Hernan Cortes

• Badass Boast: The brutal Spanish explorer, who's conquistadors conquered the largest empire in North America of the sixteenth century.
• Badass Spaniard
• Cold-Blooded Torture: His methods are simple compaired to the others, but effective
• The Conquistador
• Even Evil Has Standards: He looked positively disgusted when he saw Ivan torturing and killing a random peasant.
• Gold Fever: At the end of his match against Ivan, Cortes helps himself to the Tsar's purse after killing him.
• Historical Domain Character
• Only in It For the Money: His stated motive.
• Sanity Has Advantages: This is played straight in Hernan Cortes VS Ivan the Terrible, and is one of the biggest reasons why Cortes won the fight.
• Swiss Army Weapon: The Alabarda has a pike on top for thrusting, a hook on the back for dismounting mounted opponents/pulling invaders off ladders, and an axe head for cutting.
• The Sociopath: He was stated by the experts to display signs of psychopathy.

Crazy Horse

• Doomed Homeland: Crazy Horse's ongoing motivation.
• Historical Domain Character
• Injun Country

Pancho Villa

• Badass Mustache
• Handicapped Badass: Pancho Villa had his hands crippled by arthritis. He was still able to use guns with them and win the battle.
• Historical Domain Character
• La Résistance: One of the more well-known members of the Mexican Revolution.
• Magnificent Mustaches of Mexico: Villa's is very famous, but one of the experts had a mustache that was particularly magnificent.
• Nice Hat
• Mexican Revolution

French Foreign Legion

• Legion of Lost Souls
• World War II

Gurkhas

• Kukris Are Kool: One of their signature weapons.
• Nepali With Nasty Knives
• World War II

Zombies

• Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Nobody was expecting a fantasy creature to appear in Deadliest Warrior.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Technically lost the fight, but then the vampire gets infected...
• Oh Crap: Cited as an actual X-Factor. They are physically incapable of feeling any human emotions, such as fear.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Romero version, more or less.
• The Virus: Stated as the reason the zombies need to feed on living flesh is to pass this on.
• Zerg Rush: Their primary tactic is to swarm and overwelm the opponent by sheer numbers. This is why they decided to pit an entire horde of almost-200 zombies vs 3 vampires.
• Zombie Apocalypse

Vampires

• Genre Blindness: What's the first thing to do in a zombie attack? Split up! There is no way this can possibly go wrong.
• Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Nobody was expecting a fantasy creature to appear in Deadliest Warrior.
• Last Stand: Sort of. The final vampire can't escape because the sun is rising, and thus has to fight back against the remaining horde of Zombies. Does it end well? Yes.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If those 189 zombies were the extent of the zombie outbreak then the three vampires may have saved the world a Zombie Apocalypse.
• Oh Crap: Cited as an actual X-Factor. As powerful as they are, they are still capable of feeling human emotions, like fear. Sure enough, the vampires freeze up, stare, and then retreat upon seeing a comrade get torn to pieces and then eaten.
• One-Man Army: A fair fight was considered near 200 zombies vs. 3 vampires because one on one the vampires would win every time thanks to being able to One-Hit Kill zombies thanks to their superior strength. The vampires win.
• Our Vampires Are Different: 30 Days of Night version.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Technically won the fight, but then infection starts to set. Though the experts couldn't decide on rather becoming a Zombie Vampire was this trope or Cursed with Awesome.
• Rise From Your Grave: Three vampires rise up from their coffins as soon as the fight begins.
• The Smurfette Principle: Followed it in regards to the female vampire.

The hosts

Geoff Desmoulin

• Badass
• Large Ham
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot / Expansion Pack Past: Canadian forces veteran, EMT, biomedical engineer, black belt, and Ph.D

Max Geiger

• Cool Shades: A pretty enviable pair of aviators, often seen whenever the group ventures outside.
• Teen Genius: Implied to have been this, given his young age (23 at Season One's start) and obvious aptitude and experience with computers.

Doctor Armand Dorian

• Nice Guy
• Captain Obvious: Often when one of the experts goes to town on one of their test targets with a weapon.

Richard "Mack" Machowicz

• Badass
• Bald of Awesome