Killbane

"Kneel before the Walking Apocalypse!"

- Killbane.

Eddie "Killbane" Pryor is the true main antagonist of Saints Row: The Third. He was a masked wrestler who leads the Luchadores who deal steroid drugs.

Saints Row: The Third
After being banished to Mexico after killing an opponent while in the ring, he came back to Steelport in order to regain his lost success. At one point in time he was the tag-team partner to and friend of Angel De La Muerte, and together they ran the Luchadores. He eventually became jealous of Angel's success and proceeded to publicly unmask and shame him, thus forcing Angel into hiding.

By the beginning of Saints Row: The Third, Killbane is still the leader of the Luchadores, and upon arrival of the 3rd Street Saints in Steelport, is instructed to gather his forces and bring the head of The Protagonist to Phillipe Loren (something he never ends up trying to do for some reason).

After the Saints kill Loren, Killbane assumes full control of the Syndicate, despite objections from Kiki and Viola. He soon proves to be a far less effective leader than Loren was, making the DeWynters do most of the work, and violently lashing out against anyone who says something he doesn't like (a trait which scares the hell out of Matt Miller).

Eventually the DeWynters grow tired of Killbane's ineffectiveness as a leader, along with his ego, and decide to leave the Syndicate. Before they do, Kiki insults Killbane by calling him "Eddie", which angers him enough to grab her by the throat, and snap her neck right in front of Viola and Matt Miller. Killbane then advises Viola to remain in the Syndicate or suffer the same fate as her sister, to which she complies. Later in the story, Viola DeWynter would ultimately seek vengeance on Killbane for Kiki's murder by defecting to the Saints, and giving them valuable information on the Syndicate's activities.

By the events of the mission "Live! With Killbane", things really begin to heat up between Killbane and The Protagonist. Killbane feels that the best way to hurt the Saints is to tarnish their reputation. To accomplish this, he arranges a private interview with Jane Valderamma, and gives her some fake (but believable?) footage of Shaundi, Pierce, and The Protagonist destroying a suspension bridge in Stilwater. During the "live" interview, Killbane accuses the Saints of being criminals, not heroes, and encourages the citizens of Steelport to look down upon them.

Kinzie Kensington gets wind of the interview and calls Shaundi and The Protagonist to her location at Smiling Jack's. The Protagonist sees what Killbane is doing, and vows to destroy him for it by any means necessary. Using Kinzie's helicopter, they begin flying around the city (with Shaundi) in an attempt to track the source of Killbane's broadcast signal. When the Saints finally catch up with Killbane and attempt to put a bullet in his head, Matt Miller suddenly intervenes by hacking into the flight computer of their helicopter, and overloading it with an EMP. This causes The Protagonist to lose control of the aircraft just as they had Killbane right where they wanted him. Killbane escapes, and The Protagonist vows to get revenge on the Deckers. Killbane meanwhile, is a winner on that day, for public opinion of the Saints quickly turns to "hatred" and "contempt".

The increasing conflict between the Saints and the Deckers erupts into a full-scale war which ultimately results in Matt Miller's humiliation and defeat. After striking a bargain with The Protagonist, Matt is allowed to live, but he quickly realizes that continuing to work for Killbane would be a death sentence waiting to happen. So, fearing for his life, Matt politely requests his resignation from the Syndicate. Surprisingly, Killbane happily grants the request, and even offers himself to Matt as a reference. Matt Miller leaves town, and is never seen or heard from again.

About two-thirds into the story, after eradicating most of the competition in order to compete in Murderbrawl XXXI, The Protagonist faces off in a wrestling match against Killbane alongside Angel De La Muerte. After winning the fight, the choice is given to either unmask him and bring great shame, as well as getting Killbane's mask available to wear. Or letting Killbane keep his mask and learn the secrets of the Apoca-Fist. Either choice leads Killbane to become extremely angry and promise to burn Steelport. In the following mission, Killbane's Luchadores engage in an all-out war with police and STAG forces throughout the city as Killbane himself attempts to escape in his personal jet at the city's airport. Due to a plot occurring at the same time by STAG lieutenant Kia to frame the Saints for domestic terrorism, The Protagonist is forced to either confront Killbane, allowing Shaundi and Viola to die in the process, or allow him to escape in order to rescue the captured Saints. The Protagonist chooses to save Shaundi and Viola and thus Killbane is able to escape from Steelport.

During the following mission Gangstas in Space, the Saints name the villain of their film "Gangstas in Space" after Killbane. The character "General Killbane" is played by a practically identical actor. Though General Killbane convinces The Protagonist that he is their real father (a la Star Wars), The Protagonist gruesomely impales General Killbane with a lava crystal.

Saints Row IV
A virtual figment of Killbane appears in Matt Miller's nightmare simulation. The Protagonist plays a text adventure in order to rescue Matt from Zinyak's clutches, and helps him stand up to Killbane; eventually defeating him after a few blows to the face.

Although Killbane's death isn't depicted, Shaundi confirms it during her conversation with Roddy Piper when they are both called as homies. Like Angel, Roddy had been seeking revenge against Killbane for years after the latter pulled a dirty stunt which temporarily crippled Roddy, and caused the famed actor/wrestler to miss out on an important wrestling event. Shaundi then assures him that Killbane is dead.

Trivia

 * In Saint's Row IV Shaundi said to Roddy Piper that Killbane is dead, even though in Saint's Row the Third Killbane escaped, this could mean that the Saint's killed Killbane at one point in-between those two games or that Killbane died at the destruction of Earth.
 * When The Protagonist unmasked Killbane, he runs to the back covering his face. This is a nod because in real-life, luchadores honors and reputations are ruined when they'ere mask's are taken off.
 * Killbane himself bears a similar role to Kefka Palazzo and both first appeared to be enforcers to villains who first appeared to be main antagonists until their deaths at the first half of the story only for their enforcers to turn out as the true antagonists.

Licensing
Some content on this page is derived from "Killbane" on the Saints Row Wiki, licensed under CC-BY-SA.