The Boss (Saints Row)

"It's our time now! Let's get this shit started."

- The Boss: Saint's Row

"The Protagonist", originally addressed as "Playa" and later called "The Boss" is the leader of the street gang the Third Street Saints, from the video-game franchise Saints Row. He/she is the player character and an ultra-violent street thug who deals drugs, steals cars, commits insurance fraud, acts of vandalism and general murder on a daily if not hourly basis

During the course of the series, The Protagonist has gone from a simple street thug, all the way to the President of the United States and later ruler of an alien empire spanning across the universe.

Joining the 3rd Street Saints
The character's name and identity is unknown, and their life prior to joining the Saints isn't clear. An abused past has been hinted, as well as that the character may have grown up in Stilwater all their life.

While walking down the streets of Saint's Row, the character is caught in a turf war between 3 rival gangs, the Vice Kings, Westside Rollerz and Los Carnales, who have been plaguing the city of Stilwater with crime. The Protagonist is rescued by Julius Little, leader of the 3rd Street Saints, and his right hand man Troy, and he later joins the Saints in a fight against the gangs of Stilwater.

The Protagonist assists the Saints in taking back the Saint's Row District, before being tasked to help takeover the whole city and bring down all the rival gangs.

Taking over Stilwater
The Protagonist meets lieutenants Johnny Gat, Dex and Lin, and assists them in taking down the Vice Kings, Carnales and Westside Rollerz. During the course of the game the player gets to know other people around the city and earn respect by helping them complete tasks and jobs. During the course of the first game the Protagonist successfully helps defeat the 3 gangs, but with the cost of Gat's leg being injured and losing Lin, who is killed by Westside Rollerz financier and boss William Sharp.

After completing the task, The Protagonist is appointed by Julius as second-in-command. When Julius is arrested, The Protagonist takes over temporary leadership in the gang.

Fight with Monroe and Boat explosion
Corrupt police chief Monroe phones the Protagonist and threatens to kill Julius unless they do some "community service". The Protagonist abides and goes to kill Mayor Marshall Winslow, an enemy to candidate Alderman Richard Hughes, who is Monroe's associate. Despite completing the task, Monroe refuses to release Julius and tells The Protagonist, Johnny and Dex he will be in touch. Dex comes up with an idea to assassinate Monroe, and during Winslow's funeral they kill Monroe by blowing him up with an RPG.

Shortly after Monroe's death, Richard Hughes contacts The Protagonist, telling them to meet on his boat, promising that Julius will be there. The Protagonist goes to meet Richard Hughes on his boat, but Richard's motives become clear. He states that he will be using the events of the game to take down the Saints and redevelop the district of Saint's Row, which was frowned upon before the gang violence got out of control. And he tells the Protagonist that rather than paying them off, he is planning to kill the Protagonist. But before Richard's men takes care of it, the boat is blown up, with the Protagonist still onboard.

Awakening
Several years after the boat explosion, the Protagonist has been housed in a prison hospital, kept alive by life support. The Protagonist reawakens and with the help of a fellow prisoner Carlos, escapes back to a much different Stilwater. Stilwater has been redeveloped by the Ultor Corporation, who are now based in the newly redeveloped Saint's Row District.

The Protagonist rescues Johnny before he can be sentenced, and does some catching up, including that Julius is now missing and that Troy, who was an undercover cop, is chief of police.

Resurrecting the Saints
After rescuing Johnny, the Protagonist lays low at Aisha's house, and learns that they, Johnny, and Aisha are the only remaining members of the Saints, so the Protagonist decides to recruit some new Lieutenants in order to rebuild the gang. This leads them to recruit Pierce, Shaundi, and Carlos.

Taking back Stilwater
After recruiting new Lieutenants, the Protagonist assigns each of them to assist them in combating Stilwater's three new gangs: the Brotherhood of Stilwater (led by Maero), the Sons of Samedi (led by The General) and the Ronin (led by Shogo Akuji), assigning Pierce to focus on the Ronin, Carlos to focus on the Brotherhood, and Shaundi to focus on the Samedi.

War with the Ultor Corporation
After taking back the city, conflict ignites between Ultor and the Saints, starting when The Protagonist is ambushed at a nightclub by a Masako Unit, and the lieutenants are kidnapped. After escaping the ambush and rescuing Shaundi and Pierce, they all meet up with Johnny Gat and plan to assault The Pyramid, Ultor's secret facility built underneath and in the perimeter of Mount Claflin. They hope to expose Ultor's rather dastardly plans for the city, and to destroy their weapons and warheads. The Protagonist and Johnny head there, and the assault goes well. Soon, Pierce gives The Protagonist a hint that a luxury cruise ship in the middle of the ocean is where the Ultor executives are having a meeting. The Protagonist goes there and kills all the executives and guards, and shoots down some attack helicopters. This all happens in front of Dane Vogel's eyes, who watches from his top floor office in the Phillips Building.

Vogel holds a press conference outside the Saints Row Church about the incident, and The Protagonist and Johnny plan an assassination. Johnny is spotted by a guard who followed him to the rooftop, and accidentally shoots the sniper rifle in the struggle, which alerts Vogel and his bodyguards. The Protagonist rushes towards Vogel with a pistol, while Johnny takes down any resistance after throwing the guard off the rooftop. The Protagonist jumps onto Vogel's limo, but is shaken off, and they are forced to assault Vogel by hijacking an attack helicopter, taking out the power stations on the Phillips Building, and eventually jumping off the Helicopter's fuselage, onto the top floor of the Phillips Building, where they then confronts Dane. Vogel tries to reason with The Protagonist, who responds by shooting him in the mouth, sending him backwards through the top floor window.

After Tobias arrives in his helicopter to pick up Shaundi and Pierce, and The Protagonist, Pierce asks "So...What do we do now?", in which The Protagonist responds "This is our city, we can do whatever the fuck we want." and they fly off into the city.

Ultor Exposed
In Ultor Exposed former Ultor employee Tera decides to help the saints with exposing the darker side of Ultor. The Protagonist helps Tera dig up dead bodies used for experimentation in order to bring down Ultor. After, The Protagonist is instructed to hijack a truck that has classified Ultor chemicals to try and persuade Jane Valderamma to run the story. However all the effort turns out to be for naught as Jane purposely claims Tera the one responsible with the reasoning that Ultor would just bury the story anyway.

Peace with Ultor
The New CEO of Ultor, Eric Gryphon, comes to The Protagonist for protection from Dex, who Gryphon fears will make an attempt on his life. The Protagonist agrees and saves him from being killed by a Masako team sent by Dex. Eric tells The Protagonist about toxic waste that Dex is going to sell. Along with some Ultor security team members at the power plant, The Protagonist helps Gryphon capture the shipment. Dex later flees Stilwater after getting an emergency transfer to another city. Angry and knowing they can't get Dex, The Protagonist asks Eric for names of people that Dex was close to and then kills them. The Protagonist swears to Eric that they will find out which city Dex fled to and kill him. The Protagonist also assures that the hostilities between the 3rd Street Saints and Ultor are over, as long as Ultor don't try to come after them.

The Syndicate and STAG
Some years after the events in Saints Row 2, the 3rd Street Saints became a household brand name in Stilwater and partnered up with the Ultor Corporation. The Protagonist's ascent to fame is first seen in Saints Row 2; the activities Fuzz, Trail Blazing and Crowd Control introduce them to entertainment industry figures, and their notoriety as a gang leader is enough that Stilwater pedestrians quickly recognize them and commented on their activities.

After many years on the top The Protagonist, Johnny Gat, Shaundi, and an actor named Josh Birk rob a bank as a publicity stunt. Unknown to them, the bank is owned by Phillipe Loren, the leader of Morningstar and the chairman of the Syndicate. The robbery goes wrong and a seemingly endless SWAT team arrives. They fight their way out and The Protagonist attempts to escape by having the vault lifted out by a helicopter, but the helicopter is shot down and they are arrested by the team.

Later in jail, Johnny begins to doubt the Saints, as they once meant something rather than merchandise and movie deals. The Protagonist, Shaundi and Johnny Gat are then taken away by the Syndicate onboard a plane over Steelport. They are given a chance to give a share of their profits to the Syndicate, but refuse and are about to be killed until Johnny breaks free and unties The Protagonist and Shaundi. He takes control of the plane and fights off Phillipe. But he ends up getting abducted by Zinyak, and Shaundi and The Protagonist jump out the plane. After fighting more members of the Morningstar, they land in Steelport where Phillipe has Matt Miller, leader of the Deckers hack into the Saints' accounts and clean them out of their money, and Killbane and his gang to hunt the Saints and kill them. The Protagonist and Shaundi raid an armory and call Pierce to bring the Saints to Steelport.

After the raid on the guard armory, The Protagonist along with Pierce go to check out Steelport and get a car pimped and buying some clothing from Planet Saints, and fight off some attacking Morningstar members and a Brute. Later on they take over a Morningstar penthouse to hurt the Syndicate and kill the Morningstar members there, and The Protagonist chases a fleeing gang member to give them information on distabling a bomb the Morningstar had planted. After taking the Penthouse, The Protagonist and Pierce begin buying property belonging to the Morningstar using deeds found in their lockbox After multiple encounters with the Morningstar, the Saints strike at their headquarters and Phillipe Loren is indirectly killed by The Protagonist. During this they meet a test subject there called Oleg whom the Syndicate where using to clone for brutes, and he joins them to fight the Syndicate

The Protagonist and their crew return home to bury Johnny, but are attacked by Luchadores working for Killbane, who destroy a memorial bridge the Saints are getting chased across, causing The Protagonist, Shaundi, Pierce and Oleg to end up in the river. Oleg reveals the Saints are not ready to find the Syndicate and he knows people that can help. When The Protagonist arrives back in Steelport, along with Pierce and Shaundi he finds ex-FBI agent Kinzie Kensington who is being held by the Deckers, Zimos who was being held at Safeword in the "Pony Barn" and helping ex-Luchadore members Angel De LaMuerte from Killbane's Luchadores. After recruiting the three new lieutenants, The Protagonist gives the 3rd Street Saints a speech that the Syndicate will have to answer for what they have done. At the same time, Killbane takes over the Syndicate.

The Protagonist is called to the Saints HQ by Shaundi when Pierce throws a party, which angers her due to Johnny's recent death and she voices displeasure, although The Protagonist agrees with Pierce that they can't mourn Gat forever. During the party its revealed that the strippers are working for the Morningstar and try to kill the Saints, but The Protagonist manages to fight them off and kill them. After this The Protagonist goes to see Zimos at his crib and says its time to take down the Morningstar. The Protagonist poses as a sex slave to be auctioned off at Safeword and once the Saints and Zimos get in, they disable the security to allow more Saints to takeover and wipe out the remaining Morningstar, and then claim Safeword as their own. After getting a tip off from Viola DeWynter, who was Loren's right hand along with her sister Kiki (who was murdered by Killbane when they threaten to leave the Syndicate) The Protagonist and Zimos invade a Morningstar Cargo ship to collect Prostitutes being smuggled in. After getting the prostitutes The Protagonist receives a phone call from Matt Miller offering to buy back the Prostitues, and the player has a choice to either keep them or bring them to the brothel at Saints HQ.

The Protagonist and Oleg go to meet Viola at the park who offers to help the Saints in order to make Killbane suffer, but the meeting is interrupted by STAG who have been sent to take down the gangs of Steelport. The Protagonist escapes back to the Saints HQ while Oleg fights off the STAG who are attacking. The Protagonist begins fighting against STAG and starts by destroying their bases and kidnaps Josh Birk whose character Nightblade is being used as a mascot for STAG. The Protagonist attracts STAG to the Saints HQ for a massive fight, and at the end is approached by Cyrus Temple the leader of the STAG who asks for them to return STAG and they will keep the attention off the Saints for the while. Whatever choice The Protagonist makes, STAG begins destroying the Saints HQ. When Shaundi is captured by Cyrus' second in command Kia to be taken for question. The Protagonist uses Image as Designed to take on the appearance of Cyrus and takes Pierce and Viola as prisoners to the STAG's aircraft carrier the Thermopylae, where they rescue Shaundi and destroy the base. However this increases STAG presence as they declare martial law in Steelport. When The Protagonist hijacks a plane containing new weapons that STAG is flying in they use a Sonic Boom to try and get into the cockpit but ends up destroying it causing the plane to crash, so escapes in a Tank out the back and fights of attacking F-69 VTOLs attacking. After hijacking a second tank in midair, The Protagonist crashes onto Arapice Island, but falling corpses and debris destroys containers in the Ultor Chemical and Waste Disposal Plant, which releases a green gas that turns the dead corpses into zombies. The Protagonist and Viola go to see the Mayor of Steelport, who turns out to be Burt Reynolds, who asks for the Saints help in dealing with the zombie problem, which The Protagonist happily accepts. After arriving back on Arapice Island, The Protagonist submerges three containers in the water, and after this is told to destroy a chemical truck by Reynolds, who offers to help the Saints and also SWAT Teams to being on their side as a favour for dealing with the problem, although Oleg phones and states that he can use the chemicals to create their own zombie army to help. Whatever choice is made, Cyrus arrives along with STAG to deal with the remaining zombies.

The Protagonist and Shaundi find out from Kinzi that Killbane has set the Saints up for the attack on the memorial bridge back in Steelport and begins badmouthing the Saints name on air. The Protagonist and Shaundi travel around Steelport to track down where the broadcast is coming from and then chase down Killbane's car in a helicopter, but before Shaundi can take a shot at him the helicopter malfunctions and crashes, causing Killabne to escape. The Protagonist steals a powerful computer from STAG before Matt Miller's Deckers get a hold of it and then a chair from the Deckers in order to go up against them. After this The Protagonist enters into the Decker's usernet and faces off against Matt Miller's avatar and finally takes him down, but spares Matt's life when he offers to hack into a company to give The Protagonist discounts, and will walk away, which The Protagonist accepts

Match with Killbane
The Protagonist meets with Viola, Shaundi and Pierce, and Viola reveals the best way to defeat Killbane is to unmask him at Murderbrawl and humiliate him and decide to kill off Killbane's upcoming opponents in order for The Protagonist to enter into Murderbrawl and face Killbane. Using a RC Possessor to control vehicles, The Protagonist uses them on cars, boats and a helicopter containing wrestlers to kill them and make it look like an accident, which leaves The Protagonist as a last opponent for Killbane. After getting Angel's mask back at the 3 Count casino and taking it over for the Saints. The Protagonist helps Angel defeat Killbane at Murderbrawl, humiliating him.

During The Protagonist's remaining takeover of Steelport, they manages to take over the Downtown, New Colvin, Carver Island and Stanfield. districts, finally taking control of Steelport.

Rescuing Shaundi, Viola and Burt
After the Murderbrawl match and Killbane's downfall, a war spirals out between the STAG and Killbane's Luchadores, so The Protagonist, Pierce and Oleg travel around Steelport to help contain the attacks by killing off STAG and Luchadore members. During this The Protagonist gets a phone call from Angel saying Killbane is attempting to flee Steelport, but then gets another call from Kia that a monument will be blown up, which has fellow Saints in it along with Shaundi, Viola and Burt

When The Protagonist goes to save Shaundi at the monument, they removes bombs planted around it with Sonic Boom before facing off with Kia who has Shaundi at gunpoint, but manages to kill Kia, saving Shaundi, Viola and Burt, and preventing the Saints being set up as terrorists by Stag. After leaving the monument, The Protagonist, Pierce and Shaundi are surrounded by photographers, and Cyrus attempts to have The Protagonist arrested but Monica Hughes steps in declaring the Saints as heroes for saving the Monument, allowing them to walk. Cyrus warns The Protagonist he will be back if the Saints slip up once more, and The Protagonist leaves with Shaundi and Pierce after saying " I love you too ."

Ganstas in Space with General Killbane
The Protagonist is then showing leading a group of 3rd Street Saints on Mars, with a mission on going after General Killbane in order to save the earth. The Protagonist faces off with General Killbane at his lair and defeats him, but slips up during a monologue, revealing the scenario to just being a movie for Gangstas in Space, and they go for another take.

Gangstas in Space
The Protagonist gets contacted by filmmaker Andy Zhen who wants the boss to become a star for the new Gangstas in Space film and tells The Protagonist to come by the studio to check out the script. After arriving at the studio The Protagonist revises the script and has problems following it, and there they meet their fellow co-star Jenny Jaros who is playing Princess Kwilanna in the film and she is pleased to be starring alongside them. During the making of the film, The Protagonist and Kwilanna fight Space Amazons in order to save the earth, and The Protagonist stands up for Jenny due to Andy mocking her abilities as an actress. In the final scenes for the film, The Protagonist manages to defeat the aliens, but an angry Jenny who has had enough of Zhen drives the Aegean into him, impaling and killing Zhen. The Protagonist laughs nervously before declaring "Well then, I guess that's a wrap."

Genkibowl VII
The Protagonist takes part in Genkibowl VII after being invited there by Tammy Tolliver. During Genkibowl VII, The Protagonist takes part in many activities such as Sad Panda Skyblazing, Apocalypse Genki, Sexy Kitten Yarngasm and even escorted Professor Genki himself causing murder and mayhem to motivate Genki before he makes public appearances. After completing the activities The Protagonist becomes the next Genkibowl Champion, and when being interviewed by Tammy The Protagonist begins to state he honors their years of murdering, robbing, light treason and more murders and tells children to follow their dreams or they will end up just like their parents.

The Trouble With Clones
In The Trouble With Clones, The Protagonist is contacted by Jimmy Torbitson and asks them to meet him at Smiling Jack's. The Protagonist and Pierce go to meet Jimmy, who reveals he has cloned Johnny Gat, who is now on the loose, so The Protagonist goes with Pierce to look for the cloned Gat. They travel around Steelport searching for Johnny Tag who is causing chaos, and give chase to him with the help of Jimmy while evading and killing the Steelport Police Department who are chasing down Tag, but end up losing him. The Protagonist and Pierce try to attract Tag by dressing Pierce up as the late Aisha to attract Tag while Pierce sings songs that Aisha had. Jimmy then reveals a cloned Aisha Brutella to calm Tag down, but then the SNG arrive and kill her, causing Tag to flee again. Pierce is later captured by Johnny Tag while visiting Jimmy, and Tag knocks out The Protagonist. The Protagonist then develops superpowers from an irradiated Saints Flow given by Jimmy, and goes to save Pierce and Tag from attacking SNG at a bridge, and although they loses their superpowers they manages to fight them and save Pierce and Tag. The Protagonist then tries to reason with Tag, who states the Saints had failed him, however The Protagonist and Pierce convinces Tag they are his friends, and Tag leaves with them.

The Assassination of Cyrus Temple
The Protagonist, along with Pierce and Shaundi, go on a joint counter-terrorist operation with Asha Odekar and her handler Matt Miller to take down Cyrus Temple, who has turned terrorist. But The Protagonist finds that their combat suit's microphone was malfunctioning, rendering them unable to speak. The Protagonist personally fights hand-to-hand with Cyrus, managing to kill him, but not before the former STAG commander launches a nuclear missile targeted for Washington D.C. The Protagonist boards the missile and disables it mid-flight, leaping off it as it explodes and lands right in the Oval Office in the White House.

Presidential Election
Five years later, The Protagonist is President of the United States of America, with Keith David as the Vice-President and members of the Saints as cabinet members. The Protagonist had impulsively angered half of America by publicly saying, "I'm the patron Saint of America. We should probably look to changing the Pledge of Allegiance to Once Nation Under Me", to the annoyance of the other Saints. Just as The Protagonist was about to attend a press conference to deal with this PR disaster, Shaundi informs them that Asha and Matt had arrived to warn them of an impending alien invasion since MI6 refused to believe them. The Protagonist fails to take this seriously before actual aliens attack. Their leader, Zinyak, claims that the best and brightest among humanity shall be spared. As Kinzie quickly claimed to be smarter than everyone in the press room, the alien overlord beams her up. The Protagonist and Shaundi attempt to rescue her but Secret Service pin them to the floor while Shaundi is captured. The Protagonist shakes them off and runs through the White House as members of the Saints are abducted. Getting outside, The Protagonist mounts an anti-air turret and begins shooting down UFOs, ultimately shooting down Zinyak's ship. The Protagonist goes head-to-head with Zinayk but is defeated by the alien's super powers.

Awakening and conflict with the Zin Empire
The Protagonist later wakes up in what appears to be a 50s sitcom set in the city of Steelport, devoid of violence or foul language. The Protagonist realizes this when it starts glitching. They then hears Kinzie's voice, explaining that each of the Saints are imprisoned in their own virtual nightmares. She spawns weapons for The Protagonist to cause disruption to the simulation. This draws the attention of Zinyak, who throws The Protagonist into a Zin-dominated version of Steelport, threatening to destroy the Earth if they try to escape. Nonetheless, The Protagonist escapes with help from Kinzie and meets her and Keith as they escape aboard a stolen Zin ship. But as they head back to Earth to gather reinforcements, Zinyak upholds his threat by destroying the planet. Determined to avenge the Earth, The Protagonist goes back into the simulation to rescue the other Saints and find a way to get to Zinyak. After saving the other saints with the help of C.I.D., The Protagonist learns that Johnny Gat is still alive. After being warned that rescuing Johnny will most likely reveal their location, The Protagonist rescues Johnny from his personal nightmare of constantly losing Aisha and brings him to the ship. After rescuing Johnny, The Protagonist and their crew are ready to overload the simulation but is ambushed by Zinyak's army with Zinyak capturing Kinzie. The Protagonist then learns that Keith betrayed them and hid the MI6 agents in a closet to fool them in order to restore Earth. The Protagonist chases Keith David but is cornered by zen and was about to be killed until Keith pulled a heelface turn saving The Protagonist. With the help of Rowdy Roddy Piper, The Protagonist saves Keith David and goes on to save Kinzie from the same 50's era nightmare he had been in before, where on the ship, she later punches them for mocking her in a poodle skirt. Around the time after The Protagonist rescues Matt Miller and to a point after they save Kinzie, The Protagonist does personal missions for the crew which gains them super powers similar to The Protagonist.

Final Battle with Zinyak
After the simulation is overloaded, The Protagonist races to face Zinyak with power armor stolen from the Zin armory. After a lengthy battle against Zinyak, The Protagonist beheads Zinyak and takes over the Zin empire for themselves. The Protagonist learns through Zinyak's servant Zinjai that the Zin have a way to time travel, allowing them to go back in time before the Earth was destroyed, as well as releasing Jane Austen.

Playa's Character
"Were the Saints sociopathic killing machines hell-bent on destruction? Or puckish rogues living a life of mirth and whimsy?"

- Narrator

The player can shape almost anything about their character from looks to voice to everyday behavior. But though an avatar for the player, the Boss has displayed several default preferences and the games certainly do encourage the player to follow-up on those base instincts. Many acts of massive destruction are simply respect or point earning activities for The Boss, everything from holding up civilians, to streaking, to spraying houses in fecal matter. The Boss took over the gang after the original leader, Julius Little, sold them out to the police and in the sequel games the Boss is the clear and undisputed leader of the Saints who attains and keeps respect amongst the lesser members by demonstrating her/his skills and depravity with various creative acts of crime.

The Boss's gender is up to the player and continually has access to changing it along with skin tone, hair color, facial features and weight, thanks to plastic-surgery. Though the Boss ussually tries to resolve her/his problems with a stern threat to her/his enemies, when that does not work he/she is more than willing to break into a full homicidal killing spree the second anyone tries to take her/his money, territory, friends or challenges her/his reputation. The Boss has been shown willing to do things like kidnap rival gang lieutenants, steal and fabricate drugs, steal entire buildings, and rob front companies from other gangs that try to make trouble for her/him. He/she has demonstrated a willingness to sacrifice/mercy-kill her/his own gang-members and friends if need be but will hold a cataclysmic vendetta against those that forced such a situation.

As of the events of Saints Row 3, the character has somewhat mellowed and isn't nearly as ruthless, although will still kill and go on a disastrous rampage to get what they want. The mellowed character probably came about due to them become international celebrities and drifting away from the Street gang life. This Anti-hero persona continues more into Saints Row 4, when they become President of the United States and fight aliens to save the world and their homies.