Rambo (novel)



Rambo is the main protagonist of the 1972 novel First Blood and its 1982 film adaptation. While he was portrayed as a more heroic character in the film, he is ruthless, psychotic, and murderous due to his PTSD in the novel. And unlike the movie counterpart, this version of Rambo slaughters innocent people.

Role in the novel
Rambo is first introduced hitchhiking through Kentucky when he is picked up by Chief of Police Wilfred Teasle who offers him a ride. After conversing with the young man, Teasle decides that it would be best if Rambo doesn't stay in his town so he drives him to the city limits and asks him to leave. After several failed attempts to return to town, Teasle is forced to arrest Rambo on the charges of vagrancy.

While spending time in a cell, Rambo begins getting flashbacks to his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam which triggers a mental breakdown. When Teasle asks his deputies to cut his hair, Rambo begins panicking. When a deputy approaches him with a razor to cut his hair, Rambo snaps and slashes the deputy across the abdomen with the razor and escapes the police station.

After stealing a motorcycle, Rambo meets a hunter and his son and insists they hide him for the night. Providing him with clothes and a hunting rifle, Rambo proceeds to kill all of Teasle's men during the manhunt for him. Leaving only Teasle, Rambo warns him to leave him alone, a warning to which Teasle doesn't take kindly. Taking refuge in a cave, Rambo is contacted by his old mentor captain Sam Trautman, who tries to talk him out of the violence, only for Rambo to ignore this and curse Trautman for siding with his enemy.

Now assisted by the National Guard, Teasle tracks down Rambo to the cave he is hiding in. After deciding to try and wait him out Rambo finds a way out of the cave and escapes. Stealing a police cruiser, Rambo returns to town and a shootout commences resulting in the deaths of many civilians, policemen and national guardsmen. When it comes down to Rambo and Teasle, they manage to mortally wound one another. Acknowledging he is going to die, Rambo tries to get Teasle to finish him with honor by returning fire in the hopes Teasle would finish him off. To his dismay, Teasle is fatally hit and begins to bleed out. Rambo is eventually killed by Trautman who blows his head off with a shotgun. Receiving the death he wanted, Rambo dies satisfied while showing remorse for his actions against the town.