Artanis ("noble woman") is also the 'father-name' of Galadriel, a character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.

Artanis is a young Protoss Praetor in the fictional StarCraft universe. At only 262 years old, he has been given great military responsibility. Artanis is a good tactician who practically worships Tassadar. He sneers at the Terrans, thinking of them as weak, although this appeared to change throughout the game due to his tutelage under Zeratul.

When starting to play StarCraft: Brood War, you can see a close-up of a 3-D model of Artanis. In this image, he is missing his psionic appendages, leading some to believe that he is, in fact, a Dark Templar. Blizzard Entertainment has admitted this error, however - Artanis is a High Templar and has not lost his appendages.

A young warrior in the service of the now defunct Conclave, Artanis is among the few remaining heroes of his race and among the last of its great Templar leaders. Though he employs unconventional tactics and is a dynamic, flexible leader, his youth is the sire to arrogance and a brash demeanor.

Artanis was appointed Praetor several days after the apocolyptic battle that saw the destruction of the Overmind and death of Tassadar. Among the fledgling High Templar 's first assignments as his role as line commander was the escort and safeguarding of Khalai refugees; he performed admirably and saved countless lives. He went on to serve as part of the core advisory council of the Executor and played a large role in many subsequent campaigns.

However, in his high position of power Artanis sometimes found himself given to his overweening pride, as he hopes to becomes as great a leader as Tassadar; a path which could cause him to forsake his better judgement.

During the second confrontation between Protoss and Zerg forces on the much hallowed Xel'Naga Temple grounds of Shakuras Artanis was instrumental in breaking the Zerg blockade and activating the ancient weapon on Shakuras. Wielding the golden Uraj crystal he manipulated the world's cosmic energies to eradicate all Zerg life on Shakuras. Artanis later went on to lead an assault on Kerrigan's base of operations on Char; in a desperate alliance the Protoss, Terran Dominion, and United Earth Directorate combined their resources and assaulted the world, attempting to secure the Omega platform to use as a staging point for the destruction of Char. However, the plans and strategies for the siege were inadequate and the alliance crumbled before the might of the Swarms; Artanis and few survivors fled back to Shakuras after the debacle.

References

• StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment
• Battle.net StarCraft Compendium