Why Did Raynor Kill Tychus in StarCraft 2?
Raynor killed Tychus to save Kerrigan. Tychus had made a secret deal with Emperor Mengsk to assassinate her in exchange for his freedom, and when he aimed at her on Char, Raynor shot him. Here's the deal, the scene and what each side's choice meant.
Jim Raynor killed Tychus Findlay to save Sarah Kerrigan. Tychus had secretly agreed to assassinate her for Emperor Arcturus Mengsk in exchange for his freedom, and when he aimed at the newly human Kerrigan on Char, Raynor blocked the shot and killed his oldest friend. It's a choice the player doesn't make. It happens in the final cinematic of Wings of Liberty and plays the same way every time. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
The deal with Mengsk#
Wings of Liberty opens with Tychus being let out of prison. In the cinematic The Deal, he's sealed into his old combat armour, and Mengsk tells him his freedom awaits. The game keeps the terms hidden until the end, but the suit is the leash. Over the campaign, Matt Horner grows suspicious of Tychus, and it comes out that the armour could shut down his organs if he disobeyed. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
Tychus then finds Raynor in a bar on Mar Sara and brings him a job: steal alien artifacts for the Moebius Foundation. Those pieces turn out to make up the device that can turn Kerrigan back into a human, and getting Raynor to Kerrigan was the point all along. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
The Showdown#
The final mission, All In, ends with the artifact firing on Char and stripping away Kerrigan's infestation. Raynor, Tychus and a squad of marines walk into the hive and find her lying helpless, human again. Raynor moves to help her. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
Tychus raises his gun. Raynor asks him what he's done, and Tychus answers with his last line: "I made a deal with the devil, Jimmy. She dies, I go free." Raynor steps between them. Tychus fires, and the bullet only dents Raynor's armour. Raynor turns and shoots him in the face with his revolver, then carries Kerrigan out. The epilogue confirms Tychus is dead. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
Christie Golden's novel Flashpoint, which follows on directly, adds two details. The round Raynor used was one he had marked "Justice" and saved for Mengsk, and the Raiders left Tychus's body in the hive rather than risk lives carrying out a traitor. (StarCraft II: Flashpoint)
Why Raynor did it#
The simple answer is that it was Tychus's life or Kerrigan's, and Raynor had already chosen Kerrigan. He'd spent the whole game working towards saving her. He'd also seen Zeratul's vision, in which Kerrigan's death lets Amon destroy all life, so saving her mattered far beyond the two of them. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
It wasn't easy. Tychus and Raynor went back decades, first as marines and then as outlaws, and the game treats him as Raynor's oldest friend. Their history is covered on the pages for the Heaven's Devils and Tychus Findlay. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
The choice, as the games frame it#
The player never chooses. There are branching missions in Wings of Liberty, but none of them saves Tychus or changes the ending. The choice in this story belongs to the two men. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
Heart of the Swarm makes that explicit. Not long after Char, a guilty Kerrigan tells Raynor that maybe he should have let Tychus kill her. Raynor doesn't regret it. In his view, Tychus made his choice, Raynor made his, and she isn't the Queen of Blades any more. (StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm)
There's room to feel for Tychus, and the game leaves that room on purpose. He was trapped in a suit that could kill him, by a man who had trapped plenty of others. Whether he would have pulled the trigger without the suit is something the game never answers, so any view on that is interpretation. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
Raynor afterwards#
Tychus stays with him. In the last cinematic of Legacy of the Void, Raynor sits in the same Mar Sara bar looking at an old photo of himself and Tychus as marines, with Tychus's last words running through his head, just before Kerrigan comes for him. See what happened to Kerrigan after Legacy of the Void. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)
Read more in the full Tychus Findlay and Jim Raynor biographies, and how Kerrigan became human again. (StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty)
Frequently asked questions
- Does Tychus die in StarCraft 2?
- Yes. Raynor shoots him in the face at the end of Wings of Liberty, and the epilogue confirms he's dead. In the novel Flashpoint, the Raiders leave his body in the zerg hive on Char.
- Can you save Tychus in Wings of Liberty?
- No. His death happens in the final cinematic, The Showdown, and plays the same way every time. None of the campaign's mission choices change it.
- What was Tychus's deal with Mengsk?
- Mengsk released him from prison sealed inside his old combat suit. In return he had to kill Kerrigan. Only then would he be let out of the armour, which could shut down his organs if he refused orders.
- What were Tychus's last words?
- He told Raynor he had made a deal with the devil: Kerrigan dies, he goes free. Raynor shot him moments later.
Sources
- GameStarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Blizzard Entertainment, 2010
- GameStarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard Entertainment, 2013
- GameStarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, Blizzard Entertainment, 2015
- BookStarCraft II: Flashpoint, Christie Golden, Gallery Books, 2012
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
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Tychus Findlay: sent to kill Kerrigan
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