Rayne, sometimes called Agent BloodRayne or simply the Dhampir, is a fictional character in the ''
BloodRayne
''BloodRayne'' is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series originally developed by Terminal Reality and published by Majesco Entertainment which began with the game of the same name in 2002.
The franchise f ...
'' series of video games. Created by
Terminal Reality
Terminal Reality is an American video game development and production company based in Lewisville, Texas. Founded in October 1994 by ex-Microsoft employee Mark Randel and former Mallard Software general manager Brett Combs, Terminal Reality deve ...
, she is the series' titular protagonist, appearing in both games and later extended media, such as comic books and films related to the series. In English she is voiced by
Laura Bailey
Laura Bailey is an American voice actress. She made her anime debut as Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of ''Dragon Ball Z''. Her other anime credits include Emily / Glitter Lucky in '' Glitter Force'', Tohru Honda in ''Fruits Basket'', Lust i ...
in ''
BloodRayne
''BloodRayne'' is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series originally developed by Terminal Reality and published by Majesco Entertainment which began with the game of the same name in 2002.
The franchise f ...
'' and ''
BloodRayne 2
''BloodRayne 2'' is an action hack and slash video game developed by Terminal Reality for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. It does not follow on directly from where ''BloodRayne'' finished; instead, it takes place 60 and 70 years ...
'' and Jessie Seely in ''
BloodRayne: Betrayal''; in Japanese she is voiced by
Romi Park
Due to technical issues, Park's name is often written as due to the '' Hyōgaiji'' status of (which is the kan'on reading of the kanji). She has also been referred by 朴路美 and 朴王路美. is a Japanese actress and singer affiliated wi ...
in ''BloodRayne''. She was portrayed by
Kristanna Loken
Kristanna Loken (born October 8, 1979) is a Norwegian American actress and model. She is known for her roles in the films '' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' (2003), ''BloodRayne'' (2005) and ''Bounty Killer'' (2013) and on the TV series ''P ...
in the first live action film, and by
Natassia Malthe
Linn Natassia Malthe (; born 19 January 1974) is a Norwegian model and actress.
Early life and career
Malthe is the second of two daughters. She was born in Oslo, Norway, to a Norwegian father and Malaysian mother from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. H ...
for its sequels.
Appearances
In ''BloodRayne'' games
Rayne is a human vampire hybrid called a
dhampir
In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled ''dhampyres'', ''dhamphirs'', or ''dhampyrs'') are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a mortal human. This union was usually between male vampires and female mortal huma ...
, born in 1915. Her human mother was raped by her vampire father, Kagan.
Kagan later murdered her mother's entire family so that the only family member Rayne could turn to was him. This was a policy for all of the dhampir he sired or "created", possibly so that humans wouldn't revolt and use the vampiric weakness of the Sun, water, and holy relics against them. In the 1930s, she spent her teenage years trying to
hunt down and kill her father, to avenge her family. She led a life of juvenile delinquency; using her vampiric powers and bloodlust to hunt down her father and avenge her mother. Her search led her to Europe, where she murdered several vampires before being apprehended.
She claimed that her victims had been vampires, but was disbelieved by the authorities, but quickly managed to escape from them and continue her hunt. Recognizing her dhampir nature as well as her skills at hunting vampires, she was recruited into the mysterious Brimstone Society via an invitation. The Brimstone Society sent her on missions to eliminate supernatural threats to the world, including those involving vampires as well as demons and unnatural apex predators.
One of these missions required her to use her vampiric powers against the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, who were on the verge of using magical artifacts to bring the demon lord Beliar back to life. Rayne also learned of a plan to use demonic parasites called 'Daemites' against the enemies of the Nazis, after they had been tested on prisoners. The background to the story is influenced by the existence of various historically real Nazi occult groups such as the
Thule society
The Thule Society (; german: Thule-Gesellschaft), originally the ''Studiengruppe für germanisches Altertum'' ("Study Group for Germanic Antiquity"), was a German occultist and '' Völkisch'' group founded in Munich shortly after World War I, ...
.
In other ''BloodRayne'' media
In the first ''
BloodRayne
''BloodRayne'' is a media franchise that originated with an action-adventure video game series originally developed by Terminal Reality and published by Majesco Entertainment which began with the game of the same name in 2002.
The franchise f ...
'' movie that came out in 2005, she is played by actress
Kristanna Loken
Kristanna Loken (born October 8, 1979) is a Norwegian American actress and model. She is known for her roles in the films '' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' (2003), ''BloodRayne'' (2005) and ''Bounty Killer'' (2013) and on the TV series ''P ...
. The movie's setting and date is different from the video games, instead of her being a Serbian American
dhampir
In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled ''dhampyres'', ''dhamphirs'', or ''dhampyrs'') are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a mortal human. This union was usually between male vampires and female mortal huma ...
born in the 20th century, she is a Romanian
dhampir
In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled ''dhampyres'', ''dhamphirs'', or ''dhampyrs'') are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a mortal human. This union was usually between male vampires and female mortal huma ...
born in the 18th century. The storyline is also different from the video games, as she joins the Brimstone Society in the movie while also tracking down her father Kagan (played by
Sir Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and two ...
) in the movie. She also falls in love with Sebastian (played by
Matthew Davis
Matthew Davis, also professionally known as Matt Davis, is an American actor. He is mostly known for his roles as Warner Huntington III in ''Legally Blonde'', Adam Hillman on the ABC comedy-drama ''What About Brian'' from 2006 to 2007 and Alari ...
) who is a part of the Brimstone Society too.
In the sequel to the first film ''
BloodRayne 2: Deliverance'', Loken was replaced by actress
Natassia Malthe
Linn Natassia Malthe (; born 19 January 1974) is a Norwegian model and actress.
Early life and career
Malthe is the second of two daughters. She was born in Oslo, Norway, to a Norwegian father and Malaysian mother from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. H ...
and just like her video game counterpart, she has an American accent. In the film she takes on
Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid (born Henry McCarty; September 17 or November 23, 1859July 14, 1881), also known by the pseudonym William H. Bonney, was an outlaw and gunfighter of the American Old West, who killed eight men before he was shot and killed at t ...
in 19th century USA and is helped by
Pat Garrett in the town of Deliverance. She also meets Muller, who is one of the current members of the Brimstone Society in the 19th century.
In the sequel to the second film ''
BloodRayne: The Third Reich'', Malthe reprises her role. In the film she fights against the Nazis in Europe during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, encountering Director Ekart Brand, a Nazi leader whose goal is to inject
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
with Rayne's blood in an attempt to transform him into an all powerful dhampir and attain immortality. She joins the
French resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
group, whose leader, Nathaniel (played by
Brendan Fletcher
Brendan Fletcher (born December 15, 1981) is a Canadian actor. He first gained recognition as a child actor, winning a Leo Award and being nominated for a Gemini Award his acting debut in the made-for-television film ''Little Criminals''. He ...
), falls in love with her.
Other appearances
![E3 2011 - Bloodrayne (5822675758)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/E3_2011_-_Bloodrayne_%285822675758%29.jpg)
In 2005, Rayne appeared in
Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment Company (formerly Majesco Sales Inc.) is an American video game publisher and distributor based in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986, and was a privately held company ...
's ''
Infected'' as an
unlockable character
A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...
. When asked if she had a storyline of her own for the title, Majesco producer Dean Martinetti stated no, adding that the game's protagonist "just happens" to resemble the character.
Rayne is the first video game character that appeared in ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'', in the October 2004 U.S. edition as part of an article entitled "Gaming Grows Up".
She has also made appearance in
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's "
Video Mods
''Video Mods'' is a television series that aired on MTV2. This show turned video game characters into musicians. It was created by Tony Shiff of Big Bear Entertainment in 2003. A pilot aired in December 2003, having been underwritten by Electron ...
", which a music video portrayed her performing
Evanescence
Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer and musician Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent EPs as a duo in the late 90's, and a demo CD, Evanescence released their debut s ...
's song "
Everybody's Fool
"Everybody's Fool" is a song by American rock band Evanescence from their debut studio album, ''Fallen''. Wind-up Records released the song on May 31, 2004 as the album's fourth and final single. It was written by Amy Lee in 1999 about the prom ...
".
Majesco's vice president of marketing Ken Gold said: "Having ''BloodRayne'' as one of the premiere 'performers' in
MTV2
MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global.
The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...
's 'Video Mods' show is a testament to her popularity and appeal."
In 2009, a model dressed as Rayne was one of several characters featured as part of a "Video Game Girls"
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. show at bar The Bordello in Los Angeles, as a tie-in to the year's
Electronic Entertainment Expo
E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publisher ...
event. Rayne also appear in a cameo scene in the 2018 film ''
Ready Player One
''Ready Player One'' is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American author Ernest Cline. The story, set in a dystopia in 2045, follows protagonist Wade Watts on his search for an Easter egg in a worldwide virtual reality ga ...
''.
Conception and design
Rayne's character was inspired by an existing Terminal Reality character,
the
dhampir
In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled ''dhampyres'', ''dhamphirs'', or ''dhampyrs'') are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a mortal human. This union was usually between male vampires and female mortal huma ...
Svetlana Lupescu,
who appeared in their 1999 game ''
Nocturne
A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night.
History
The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...
''.
Described as initially having a "militant, dark gothic look
..a brunette with tight buns in her hair and a very severe body line",
the character went through several design changes, with an active goal to make her as appealing and distinctive as possible to create a franchise with lasting appeal.
To this end they worked to give her a unique look, relying not only on making the character sexually appealing but also make her stand out in people's eyes, which producer Raymond Holmes her arm blades achieved. Her design was additionally intended to have a presence "both menacing and sexy at the same time", which he felt made her "a particularly strong female lead character with lots of attitude".
Majesco manager Liz Buckley in interviews said her designers had learned from
focus groups
A focus group is a group interview involving a small number of demographically similar people or participants who have other common traits/experiences. Their reactions to specific researcher/evaluator-posed questions are studied. Focus groups are ...
that boys and young men not only liked female lead characters, but that they paid more attention to them. She added that "injecting sensuality" into Rayne's character design, describing her appearance as "lethal erotica" and adding that she felt no problem using the fact Rayne was "inherently sexy" to promote the character. Additional care for detail was done for her face, after noting focus groups wished to see it as compared to solely seeing the character from behind. Buckley went on to state "
T&
A will only get you so far", adding that while the character was aimed at a target audience of males ages seventeen to thirty-four, she felt the character had a female fan following as well due to being "empowering to play".
The character's in-game movements were animated by hand for the first title, and in the sequel were augmented by
motion capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
to "allow for more realist-looking movement".
She added that with ''BloodRayne 2'' the character model had also been heavily altered, adding "about one thousand" more
polygons
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
and using less on her hair to use more on her "curves and body line", as well as give her a more mature appearance.
When questioned about the similarities between Rayne and another female vampire character
Durham Red
Durham Red is a British comics character, originally created in 1987 as a female sidekick and lover for Johnny Alpha in the long-running comic book series ''Strontium Dog'' in '' 2000 AD''. She is a bounty hunter with a mutation that gives her ...
from the comic book series ''
2000 AD'', game designer Joe Wampole stated that while similar they had not previously heard of the character, and added regarding their similar appearance "I think it is just natural to put a vamp chick in black leather and either color her hair black or red."
Laura Bailey
Laura Bailey is an American voice actress. She made her anime debut as Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of ''Dragon Ball Z''. Her other anime credits include Emily / Glitter Lucky in '' Glitter Force'', Tohru Honda in ''Fruits Basket'', Lust i ...
described providing voice acting for the character as "a blast", though added she couldn't say she identified with the character. Bailey stated that during voice acting sessions, the director would occasionally approach her with changes to the game's script; if the dialogue was nasty enough to cause her to blush while saying the lines, he felt the change was good.
Romi Park
Due to technical issues, Park's name is often written as due to the '' Hyōgaiji'' status of (which is the kan'on reading of the kanji). She has also been referred by 朴路美 and 朴王路美. is a Japanese actress and singer affiliated wi ...
stated Rayne's appearance had a large impact upon her, citing Rayne's red hair and her desire to further understand the character. She went further to describe her portrayal of the character as exhibiting "lots of sadness" as well as "strong sense of justice".
Promotion and reception
![Igromir 2016 (29936942572)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Igromir_2016_%2829936942572%29.jpg)
''
Electronic Gaming Monthly
''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews.
History
The m ...
'' featured Rayne in their "Art of Gaming" special, noting her popularity and attractiveness; however, in a later article they decried her appearance in ''Playboy'', stating that further similar exhibitions would damage how the public perceived the character. In
G4's 2005 ''Video Game Vixens'', Rayne was nominated for "Sexiest Finish" and awarded "Most Dangerous Curves". She was named as one of the 50 "greatest female characters in video game history" by
Tom's Games
''Tom's Hardware'' is an online publication owned by Future plc and focused on technology. It was founded in 1996 by Thomas Pabst. It provides articles, news, price comparisons, videos and reviews on computer hardware and high technology. The si ...
in 2005, as well as the 50 "greatest heroines in video game history" by ''
Complex
Complex commonly refers to:
* Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe
** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'' in 2013.
UGO.com
UGO Entertainment, Inc. was a website that provided coverage of online media in entertainment, targeting males aged 18–34. The company was based in New York, New York, United States.
History
The company started in 1997 as Unified Gamers Online ...
described her as "epitome of a video game hottie," placing her fourth on their list of the top 11 "video game heroine hotties" and praising both her appearance and abilities, later and listed as one of the top 50 "videogame hotties" at number twenty with similar sentiments. She also placed 11th in UGO's list of the "Top 50 Sexiest Vampires", which noted that while she represented a negative aspect of video games in 2002, a "scantily-clad heroine in a graphically violent third-person adventure", her feature in ''Playboy'' despite not being real meant "they did something right", and ranked eighth in their list of "the most badass vampire slayers".
GameDaily
GameDaily (GD) was a video game journalism website based in the United States.
It was launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads. The site changed its business model from a flat fee ...
ranked her 12th on their list of the top 50 "hottest game babes", stating "
e only thing sexier than a female vampire is
nethat kills Nazis," also listing her as one of their favorite
red-haired
Red hair (also known as orange hair and ginger hair) is a hair color found in one to two percent of the human population, appearing with greater frequency (two to six percent) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and l ...
females related to video games. ''Complex'' listed her as the 17th hottest video game character in 2012, and ''
Thanh Niên
''Thanh Niên'' (Vietnamese: ''Báo Thanh Niên'' "Young People's Newspaper") is a Ho Chi Minh City-based newspaper in Vietnam. It was the second most circulated newspaper in Vietnam in 2009, with an average circulation of 300,000. ''Thanh Niên N ...
'' ranked her as the eighth most sexy female character in 2015. Several other lists have featured her in a similar context, such as those by
Team Xbox
''TeamXbox'' was a gaming media web site dedicated to Microsoft's Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms. While the majority of content was Xbox and Xbox 360 related, the site occasionally covered general technology and other video game news.
...
and
Spike TV
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was o ...
in 2008.
References
External links
{{Bloodrayne
Fictional assassins in video games
BloodRayne
Female characters in video games
Female horror film characters
Fictional characters with superhuman durability or invulnerability
Fictional half-vampires
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional members of secret societies
Fictional offspring of rape
Fictional vampire hunters
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Fictional hunters in video games
Fictional secret agents and spies in video games
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Vampire characters in video games
Video game characters introduced in 2002
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Spike Video Game Award winners
Fictional people from the 20th-century