Jim Raynor

James Eugene "Jim" Raynor was a former terran marshal turned rebel who became one of the major figures in the Koprulu sector through his work to bring down the Terran Confederacy and, later, his long struggle against the Confederacy's successor, the Terran Dominion. Born a farm boy on Shiloh, he served as a Confederate marine in the Guild Wars, lived for years as an outlaw alongside Tychus Findlay, and became a colonial marshal before joining Arcturus Mengsk's rebellion. He was one of the few terrans to engage in a lasting alliance with the protoss, and his life remained bound to Sarah Kerrigan through every stage of her transformation.

Shiloh and the Heaven's Devils#

Jim Raynor was born a farm boy on Shiloh, taught hunting and shooting by his grandfather and how to brawl by his father, who taught him where to draw the line rather than simply to take a stand. By 2488 the Confederacy had been embroiled in the Guild Wars for three years, and recruiters pressed young people into service. Raynor enlisted in the Confederate Marine Corps and was shipped to the warzone world of Turaxis II for basic training, where the poor conditions and shortened training first made him wonder what he had got himself into.

His in-field leadership earned him command of a squad and eventually a place in the Special Tactics and Missions Platoon under the corrupt Colonel Javier Vanderspool. There he met Tychus Findlay, who at first tried to intimidate him but soon became a close friend and accomplice. The platoon's assault on a Kel-Morian internment camp, into which Raynor infiltrated disguised as a captured pilot, earned the unit its name, the Heaven's Devils. Raynor lost many friends across the campaigns on Turaxis II, including the brutal crossing at Polk's Pride, and was jailed for striking a superior who had wasted resocialized troops. When Vanderspool's treachery at Korsy left much of the platoon dead, Raynor shot the colonel and went AWOL with Findlay.

Outlaw years and the marshal of Mar Sara#

Raynor and Findlay became outlaws, conducting heists across the Koprulu sector for years, hitting the Shale Express at least a dozen times. They kept a rough moral code, rarely harming bystanders, and Raynor regularly sent loot home to his mother on Shiloh, though his parents never accepted it. The pair eventually fell into the service of crime lord Scutter O'Banon on Dead Man's Rock, a relationship that wore on Raynor as he was pursued by the relentless bounty hunter Ezekiel Daun and learned of his mother's death.

The partnership ended on Bacchus Moon, where a bank job intended for a charity's funds turned into a massacre. Raynor renounced O'Banon, and Findlay held off the closing authorities long enough for Raynor to escape, a sacrifice that landed Findlay in prison and left Raynor in his debt for years. Raynor afterward accepted an offer from his old friend Myles Hammond, the magistrate of Mar Sara, to become a marshal in exchange for clemency. He married a woman named Lidya and had a son, John, who was identified as psychic and taken by the Confederacy. After the family received word that John had died in a shuttle accident, Lidya never recovered and soon died of illness, leaving Raynor to bury himself in his work and grow prejudiced toward psychics.

The Sons of Korhal and the break with Mengsk#

When the protoss attacked Mar Sara's neighbor Chau Sara and the zerg incursion began, Raynor defied Confederate orders to relieve Backwater Station and was arrested for destroying Confederate property. A Sons of Korhal task force rescued him from the prison ship Merrimack, and a disillusioned Raynor joined Arcturus Mengsk's rebellion, taking the rank of captain and leading a unit unofficially called Raynor's Rangers. A raid on the Jacobs Installation revealed live zerg in Confederate captivity, and Raynor was sickened to learn the Confederacy had known of the zerg and kept it secret.

On Antiga Prime he met Sarah Kerrigan, Mengsk's second-in-command. Their first meeting went poorly, as Kerrigan read his mind and disliked what she saw, but over months of fighting together the two became a formidable team and, later, close. Raynor's unease with Mengsk grew as the rebellion's methods darkened, culminating at Tarsonis, where Mengsk used psi-emitters to lure the zerg against the Confederate capital and then abandoned Kerrigan to the Swarm. When Mengsk ordered the fleet to withdraw rather than evacuate her, Raynor severed his ties, gathered his men, and formed an independent force. He attempted to rescue Kerrigan but could not locate her, and led his unit, now known as Raynor's Raiders, in a fighting retreat from the system.

Protoss alliance and the Brood War#

Six weeks after the fall of the Confederacy, Raynor's recurring dreams led the Raiders to Char, where they were overrun by zerg under an infested Kerrigan. She allowed him to flee, but the psychic link between them remained. Stranded and pressed, Raynor used his tracking skills to find the protoss Tassadar and the Dark Templar Zeratul, and the three set aside their animosity to fight the zerg together. Raynor's connection to Kerrigan gave the alliance intelligence on the Swarm, and the friendships forged there, especially with Fenix, would prove pivotal. The Raiders followed their protoss allies to Aiur and joined Tassadar in the final assault that destroyed the Overmind.

During the Brood War, Raynor and Fenix covered the protoss retreat from Aiur and were for a time thought lost. At Kerrigan's warning they reluctantly rescued Mengsk from the United Earth Directorate and forged an uneasy alliance against the invaders. Raynor helped Kerrigan destroy the UED's psi disrupter and retake Korhal, only for her to turn on her allies, killing Fenix. Enraged, Raynor vowed to one day kill Kerrigan in vengeance. He returned to terran space to lead the Raiders against the spreading Dominion, networking with anti-Dominion groups and aiding civilians wherever he could, while Mengsk used the state media to marginalize him.

The Second Great War and Mengsk's fall#

By 2504 Raynor still led the Raiders against the Dominion when Tychus Findlay reappeared, freshly out of prison, offering a deal to recover alien artifacts for the Moebius Foundation. Unknown to Raynor, Findlay was secretly bound to Arcturus Mengsk and sealed in armor that would kill him if he disobeyed. The Raiders' campaign exposed Mengsk's hand in the fall of Tarsonis by broadcasting recovered evidence across the Dominion, inciting riots against the emperor.

When Valerian Mengsk revealed himself as the Foundation's owner and offered a chance to make Kerrigan human again, Raynor allied with the prince for an assault on Char. The xel'naga artifact deinfested Kerrigan, and when Findlay moved to execute her on Mengsk's orders, Raynor blocked the bullet and shot his old friend, choosing Kerrigan over the debt he had carried for years. He carried her from the hive and joined the running flight from Arcturus Mengsk's fleet. Captured during a later Dominion raid, Raynor was secretly imprisoned aboard the prison ship Moros while Mengsk declared him dead. Kerrigan, now restored, rescued him with the help of Valerian and Matt Horner. Raynor fought alongside Kerrigan in the final assault on Korhal, throwing Mengsk aside and destroying the device that disabled her so she could deliver the killing blow. He continued to fight through the End War against Amon, aiding Kerrigan and the protoss in the final battle.