Sarah Kerrigan—who calls herself the Queen of Blades—is a character in the fictional StarCraft universe.

Biography

Early Life

Sarah Kerrigan was born "psychically gifted", meaning she has the ability to read minds. Terrans who are born psychically gifted were taken by the Terran Confederacy at an early age to begin Terran Ghost training. Ghosts usually hold the rank of specialist and serve as covert operations specialists.

Not much is known about Kerrigan's early life, although there are clues in the game that suggest that she was part of an experiment or experiments dealing with the Zerg. It has been speculated that these experiments created secret military technology, but aside from the psi-emitter there is little evidence to back up this claim.

In StarCraft: Uprising a little more of Kerrigan's early life is revealed.

She became part of the experiment at Vyctor 5's Fujita Complex involving Zerg. It was found that Zerg naturally responded to her telepathic commands. It was here that she was rescued by the Sons of Korhal and eventually became Arcturus Mengsk's right-hand woman.

As part of the Sons of Korhal, she was involved in a nearly suicidal attack on the Ghost Academy on Tarsonis. She found Lt. Rumm (who had been promoted to Major) and took her rather messy revenge.

The Sons of Korhal

Kerrigan's first appearance in the game comes during the Antigan Revolt. Kerrigan - now a 26-year-old Lieutenant with the Sons of Korhal - was dispatched to Antiga Prime to scout out the terrain and make contact with the rebel leaders. She assassinated the Confederate officers in charge of the Antigan base, placing it under the player's control. Later, Kerrigan and her men were sent to place a psi-emitter in a Confederate base on the planet to break Confederate lines in order to escape undected.

New Gettysburg

Late in the Terran campaign in the original Starcraft, after the Zerg were lured to the Confederate capital Tarsonis through the use of the [[psi-emitter], Kerrigan is ordered to protect the Zerg hives from the Protoss. This action would prevent the Confederates from escaping. Jim Raynor had pleaded with her not to go to the surface, but she insisted that she had to, and Raynor wished her luck. Upon completing her mission the Terran position was overwhelmed with Zerg, and Kerrigan issued a desperate plea for evac; Raynor, anticipating this, began dispatching transports to the surface. Mengsk, on the other hand, ordered the entire Korhal fleet to disengage from the Tarsonis system, and (to Raynor's horror) left Kerrigan and her men to die on Tarsonis. This caused a rift in Mengsk's forces, as Raynor and many men loyal to him defected.

Rebirth

While on Tarsonis, the Zerg Overmind sensed Kerrigan's power, and ordered the swarms to capture her. Over the course of the first few Zerg missions Kerrigan is contained within a chrysalis, where she uses her telepathic power to reach out and contact Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk. In each case the Terrans sent out a force to recover Kerrigan, and in each case they failed. Sarah Kerrigan is reborn into the Zerg Swarms, and adopts the name "Queen of Blades". She quickly developed her psionic abilities after discovering the secrets of Ghost Conditioning, and develops numerous abilities, including the Psionic Storm. From here, she begins a campaign of terror against the Protoss, namely Tassadar and Zeratul.

In-game, she is represented by a unique unit with similarities to an Infested Terran. However, instead of exploding, she is equipped with eight "tentacles" sprouting off her back, giving her powerful melee attacks. She can also ensnare opponents (like a Zerg Queen), can cloak (it is unknown if this is a psionic, biological or technological ability) and can even consume other Zerg to use their biological energy to increase her energy bar. After she discovers the secrets of Ghost Conditioning, she also develops the ability to project a powerful psionic storm.

The Overmind says of her: "The greatness of her spirit has been left to her; that the Swarms might benefit from her fierce example. Fear not her designs, for she is bound to me as intimately as any Cerebrate."

Ascension

The final battle on Aiur ended when the Zerg Overmind was destroyed by Tassadar, which left the Zerg Swarms extremely vulnerable. During this time, many Zerg Cerebrates desperately tried to create a new Overmind for the Swarms; however, Kerrigan began a campaign aimed at eliminating these Cerebrates in order to rule over the Swarms by herself. To do this, she took control of the Dark Templar Matriarch, Raszagal, and allied herself with the Protoss of Shakuras. Exploiting the fear of the United Earth Directorate, she put together a coalition with Fenix, Jim Raynor and Arcturus Mengsk, and began actively fighting beside them to defeat the UED. During this time she blackmailed the Protoss warrior Zeratul and used the Terrans - namely Raynor and Mengsk - to achieve her goals, and in the end became the Queen of every remaining Zerg Brood. However, there is evidence to suggest that she is unhappy with this acquisition and longs to be human once more.

As Kerrigan says it herself in the mission briefing of the final level of StarCraft: Brood Wars: "As far as I see: I'm pretty much the big queen-bitch of the universe right now."

External Links/References

• Kerrigan's Biography @ Blizzard Entertainment - official site.
• StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment
• Battle.net StarCraft Compendium