Terminator (franchise)/Characters

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For the characters/character-specific tropes specific to The Sarah Connor Chronicles spin-off, see that series' character sheet.

Machines

T-800, Mark 1

Played by: Arnold Schwarzenegger (1984)

This Terminator was sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor before she could give birth to her son John, who will become the leader of the human resistance in the war against SkyNet and the machines.

• Antagonist Title
• Artificial Human
• Badass
  • Badass Automaton
  • Badass Biker
• Ballistic Discount: "Hey, you can't do that!!" "Wrong."
• Cool Shades
• Determinator
• Eye Scream
• My Own Grampa: Its travels back in time "fathered" its own master Skynet.
• Naked on Arrival
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast
• No One Could Survive That: Except him.
• Out of the Inferno: One of the most famous examples of the trope.
• Punch Clock Villain: He feels no pleasure in killing. He's only doing what he's programmed.
• Serial Killer: Picking its victims methodically out of phonebook like the textbook example of an 1980's Slasher Movies killer/rapist.
• Skele-Bot 9000: The T-800's true form.
• Squashed Flat: The only way it could be stopped.
• The Unfettered

T-800, Mark 2

Played by: Arnold Schwarzenegger (1991)

This Terminator, reprogrammed by John Connor, is sent back in time to protect himself as a pre-teen.

• Action Hero Babysitter
• Artificial Human
• Badass
  • Badass Automaton: Eventually subverted as he earns his humanity.
  • Badass Biker
• Battle Butler: "Alright!! My own Terminator!!"
• Big Brother Mentor
• Comically Serious
• Cool Shades
• Determinator
• Do Androids Dream?: If he didn't have a soul when he came into our time, he most definitely would have earned his by the time he left.
• Doting Parent: A better parent than Sarah Connor turned out to be (messed-up, violent wreck that she ended up being) by her own admission.
• Final First Hug: With John.
• Go Out with a Smile: Or more accurately, Go Out with a Thumbs Up.
• Heel Face Turn: The T-800's good-guy status in T2 was a big surprise at the time, but today, it's firmly in It Was His Sled territory.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: "I need your clothes, your boots and your motorcycle."
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Trope Namer.
• The Kindnapper: His way of protecting John Connor from the T-1000 involves kidnapping him.
• Kung Fu Jesus: The T-800 is the ultimate kick-ass savior; he even gives his life to save humanity's future like the good carpenter of Nazareth did.
• Literal Genie: Doesn't kill, but definitely maims.
• Manly Tears: "I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do."
• Martial Pacifist: After John made him take his vow of mercy.
• Messianic Archetype
• Naked on Arrival
• Papa Wolf: Enough so to defy John's orders so he could better protect him and humanity's future.
• Pick Your Human Half
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Hasta La Vista, Baby."
• Technical Pacifist
• Terrifying Rescuer: Probably the most famous example in film.
• Tin Man: "Why do you cry?"
• What Is This Thing You Call Love?

T-850

Played by: Arnold Schwarzenegger (2003)

This Terminator -- which runs on a different fuel supply than the T-800 -- is sent back in time in Terminator 3 by Kate Brewster, John Connor's future wife to protect John as a young adult.

• Artificial Human
• Big Damn Heroes
• The Comically Serious
• Cool Shades
• Cynical Mentor
• Deadpan Snarker: "You said you'd let me go!" "I lied."
• Determinator
• Genius Bruiser: He has detailed files on human psychology.
• The Kindnapper: He kidnaps Kate Brewster to save her from the T-X.
• Load-Bearing Hero
• Made of Explodium
• Mistaken for Gay
• Naked on Arrival
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You are terminated!"
• Taking You with Me
• We Will Meet Again: While holding up the blast door, he tells John "We'll meet again." The twist is that he's talking about how he killed future John before being reprogrammed.

T-1000

Default form played by: Robert Patrick (1991) Other forms played by: Jenette Goldstein (1991), Dan Stanton (1991), Leslie Hamilton Gearren (1991)

This Terminator was sent back in time to kill John Connor as a pre-teen.

• Artificial Human
• Blob Monster
• Chrome Champion
• Deceptively-Human Robots: He can talk and behave more like a human than both versions of the T-800. If it wasn't for his Robotic Reveal when T-800 shot him, he would've continued fooling the audience into thinking he was human, let alone the hero.
• Determinator
• Finger Wag: After Sarah shoots him multiple times but runs out of ammo.
• Impersonating an Officer
• Intangible Man: He can allow physical blows to pass through him, he can shrug off bullets, he can even pass through metal bars.
• Kill and Replace
• Literally Shattered Lives: Unfortunately, he gets better.
• Naked on Arrival
• Not So Stoic: Like all Terminators, normally stony-faced and uncaring, but is genuinely surprised/shocked when hit in the chest by a grenade by the T-101 (giving an Oh Crap look).
• Power Incontinence: In the extended edition, after being frozen, shot, thawing, and reassembling, he begins glitching and his body parts take on the texture of whatever surface they touch.
• Pulling Themselves Together
• Railing Kill
• Shapeshifter Default Form
  • Shapeshifter Swan Song
• Shapeshifter Weapon

T-X

Default form played by: Kristanna Loken (2003) Other forms played by: Mark Famligetti (2003), Claire Danes (2003)

This Terminator was sent back in time in Terminator 3 to kill John Connor and several of the human resistance's top fighters, as well as to help ensure the launch of SkyNet.

• Arm Cannon: Her primary weapon.
• Artificial Human
• Breast Expansion: One of her special features.
• Catch Phrase: "I like your X" where X is something she's about to kill you for.
• Dark Action Girl
• Determinator
• Handy Remote Control: Literally in her hand.
• Naked on Arrival
• Nanomachines
• Robot Girl
• Shapeshifter Default Form
• Swiss Army Appendage: The chief improvement of the T-X over the T-1000.
• Technopath

SkyNet

The artificial intelligence responsible for Judgment Day and the "leader" of the machines in their war on humanity.

• AI Is a Crapshoot
• Big Bad
• The Ghost
• Master Computer
• Offstage Villainy
• Turned Against Its Masters
• Ultimate Evil

Humans

Sarah Connor

Played by: Linda Hamilton (1984-1991)

• Big No: Sarah almost makes it out of the asylum, but she see the T-800 walking out of an elevator. After saying "no" in a low tone of disbelief, it turns into this out of sheer terror.
• Broken Bird: Second movie.
• Dark Action Girl Action Mom: Second movie.
• Crazy Prepared: Third movie, posthumously of course since she is... you know... dead.
• Dawson Casting: 28-year-old Linda Hamilton playing 19-year-old Sarah Connor.
• Determinator She becomes like this during the second movie.
• Final Girl: During the first movie.
• Good People Have Good Sex: With Kyle in the first movie.
• Her Heart Will Go On: End of first movie.
• She Who Fights Monsters: She practically became a Terminator herself, right down to her enemy's musical motif and choice of sunglasses, when she tried to murder Miles Dyson in order to prevent Skynet's creation.
• Hot Amazon: Sarah is ripped when she's rescued from the hospital.
• Lady of War: Second movie.
• Mama Bear: Almost to the point of being a Knight Templar Parent.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Silently after the attempted hit on Dyson. Exacerbated by the fact that not only had she taken on a dimmer view on human life than the Terminator she was traveling with, but had adopted the MO of the Terminator that first tried to kill her, right down to its weapon of choice (.45 Longslide with laser sighting).
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: In the second film as a result of having lost her paramour to a cyborg that was hunting her down with the intent to kill her.
• Take the Wheel: Is made to do this in both the first and second movie.
• The Other Sarah: Played by Linda Hamilton's real-life twin sister, Leslie Hamilton Gearren, in Terminator 2. Leslie is seen as both the fake Sarah inside the steel mill and as the waitress Sarah in the nuclear nightmare scene. She is also seen inside the garage operating on the fake Arnold's head (Linda is seen with the real Terminator) in the Special Edition.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch: "You're terminated, fucker!" Also a Pre-Mortem One-Liner and Precision F-Strike.
• Time Travel Romance: One where the romance has a good deal of plot significance.
• Time Travel Tense Trouble: Sarah has a problem with Reese telling her of all the things she hasn't done yet.
• Took a Level In Badass: During the events between the first and second movie.

John Connor

Infant John Connor played by: Dalton Abbot (1991) Young John Connor played by: Edward Furlong (1991) Adult John Connor played by: Michael Edwards (1991), Nick Stahl (2003), Christian Bale (2009)

• Delinquents: Second movie.
• Final First Hug: With T-800 Mark 2
• Future Badass
• Heroic Bastard
• Heroes Want Redheads
• Honor Before Reason: Will not tolerate the death of even a single innocent human being, even if it means stopping a nuclear holocaust from happening.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• Kid with the Leash: Oh, are we all so very glad he made the T-800 take his vow of mercy...
• Laser Guided Tykebomb
• The Messiah
• Messianic Archetype: Even shares the same J.C initials as the Son of God Himself.
• Morality Pet: See Kid with the Leash.
• The Other Darrin: More people have portrayed him than have James Bond!
• Playful Hacker
• Rebel Leader: His main plot in the story.

Kyle Reese

Played by: Michael Biehn (1984) , Anton Yelchin (2009)

• Badass Longcoat
• Badass Normal: makes his fight against an unstoppable killing machine much more badass.
• Bodyguard Crush: Kyle's attraction to Sarah is what conceives John Connor in the first place.
• Child Soldier: he was born into a world with killbots attempting to destroy humanity, so yeah.
• Come with Me If You Want to Live: Trope Namer.
• Dawson Casting: 27-year-old Michael Biehn playing 21-year-old Kyle Reese.
• Death by Sex: His fate is sealed the minute he and Sarah make love.
• Determinator
• Drives Like Crazy: Without a doubt. Justified in that he learnt to drive After the End. He also instinctively drives cars at night without the headlights on, as doing so in the future would draw Aerial Hunter-Killers.
• Future Badass
• Gaia's Lament: A deleted scene would have had Kyle sobbing when he saw how beautiful the world used to be.
• Heroic Sacrifice
• The Kindnapper: He kidnaps Sarah Connor to save her from the T-800 sent to kill her.
• Love Before First Sight: Fell in love with Sarah after seeing her picture.
• MacGyvering: Makes pipe bombs out of mothballs and ammonia.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: Subverted for the first three-fourths of the film.
• Naked on Arrival
• Pet the Dog: Reese instinctively allows the dog at the roadside hotel to sniff him. They use dogs to sniff out Terminators where he comes from.
• Sawed-Off Shotgun
• Scannable Man: Got his tattoo in a SkyNet work camp.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Undoubtedly so, given that he was in a SkyNet work camp complete with a tattoo before he was liberated by John Connor and even afterward spent all of his time either fighting against SkyNet's machines or hiding from them.
• Time Travel Romance: One where the romance has a good deal of plot significance.
• Zipping Up the Bodybag

Kate Brewster

Played by: Claire Danes (2003), Bryce Dallas Howard (2009)

• Damsel in Distress
• The Medic
• Military Brat
• Pregnant Badass: Fourth movie.
• Red-Headed Heroine: Though surprisingly not a Fiery Redhead since hair colour aside she is much more a Brainy Brunette personality-wise.

Dr Peter Silberman

Played by: Earl Boen

• Agent Scully
• Butt Monkey
• Dr. Jerk

Miles Dyson

Played by: Joe Morton

• Black and Nerdy
• Heroic Sacrifice
• My God, What Am I Going to Do?

Blair Williams

Played by: Moon Bloodgood

• Action Girl
• The Heart
• Lady of War
• Rescue Romance: With Marcus.

General Ashdown

Played by: Michael Ironside

• Badass Grandpa
• Knight Templar
• Reasonable Authority Figure

Lieutenant General Robert Brewster

Played by: David Andrews

• General Ripper: Averted. He's suspicious of putting Skynet online and is generally a cautious, sensible man.
• Papa Wolf
• Reasonable Authority Figure

Ed Traxler

Played by: Paul Winfield

• Da Chief
• Police Are Useless
• Reasonable Authority Figure

Hal Vukovich

Played by: Lance Henriksen

• Police Are Useless

Barnes

Played by: Common

• Black Best Friend
• Hot-Blooded
• The Lancer

Star

Played by Jadagrace

• Child Soldier: she and her buddy, Kyle Reese, grew up After the End, so yeah.
• Cute Mute: her back story is that she was traumatized by events that took place before the start of the 4th movie.
• Little Miss Badass: dropping a car on a Terminator? Figuring out that a flare is needed to light the gasoline to blow up a Hunter-Killer? Badass.