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This villain was proposed but was rejected by the community for not being heinous enough or lacks what is necessary to be a Pure Evil villain. Therefore, this villain shall be added to our "Never Again List", where proposed villains rejected by the community shall be placed to prevent future proposals of the same evil-doer. They can be proposed again (with the permission of an administrator) if new elements appear in their series that can change their status as non-PE villains. Any act of adding this villain to the Pure Evil category without a proposal or creating a proposal for this villain without the permission of an administrator will result in a ban. |
“ | Arcturus Mengsk. There's a name that is synonymous with terror, betrayal and violence. A living example of the ends justifying the means. The assassin of the Confederacy of Man. The hero of the blasted world of Korhal IV. King of the universe. A savage barbarian who never let anything or anyone get in his way. And yet, he is charming, erudite and intelligent. When you're in his presence you feel that he's really listening to you, that your opinions matter, that you're someone important if you agree with him. It's amazing. I have often wondered if men like Mengsk don't carry around their own reality-warping bubbles, and all who fall in are suddenly transported to another dimension where the hellish things he says and does suddenly make sense. At least, that's the effect he always had on me. | „ |
~ Michael Liberty describing who Arcturus Mengsk is. |
“ | I will not be stopped. Not by you, or the Confederates, or the Protoss or anyone! I will rule this sector or see it burnt to ashes around me. | „ |
~ Emperor Mengsk's most infamous quote. |
Arcturus Mengsk is one of the main antagonists in the real-time strategy game franchise StarCraft (alongside Sarah Kerrigan and the Overmind), serving as a major antagonist in the original StarCraft, the secondary antagonist of StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, and the main antagonist of StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. He is also Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan's arch-enemy.
He is a Terran born on the planet Korhal IV, who led a rebel faction known as The Sons of Korhal with his fellow Korhalians against the oppressive Confederacy of Man who dominated the Koprulu sector. However, after overthrowing the Confederacy, Mengsk forms the totalitarian Terran Dominion and reveals himself to be a power mad dictator, only concerned with maintaining his own power and crushing anyone who defies him.
He is voiced by James Harper.
History[]
Arcturus ultimately succeeded in overthrowing the Confederacy using genocidal tactics and treason and was responsible for abandoning former Confederate assassin and Sons of Korhal member Sarah Kerrigan, on Tarsonis, which resulted in her transformation into the Queen of Blades by Zerg forces. Disgusted by this, fellow rebel Jim Raynor cut ties with Mengsk and established his own group of rebels entitled Raynor's Raiders.
Upon the fall of the Confederacy, Mengsk established the Terran Dominion, where he crowned himself Emperor. However, he was not much different from the people that he had sought to replace and continued to rule via manipulation and terror. Raynor's Raiders constantly have tussles on with the Dominion on many worlds in their quest to overthrow Mengsk.
Soon after his establishment, the Koprulu Sector was invaded by the United Earth Directorate, which that the intention of defeating the Zerg and Protoss and reclaiming the old Terran colonies. The UED had successfully invaded Korhal and overthrew the Terran Dominion. They then captured Arcturus with the intention of executing him and his officers. However, Raynor's Raiders suddenly interfered and saved Arcturus. Though Mengsk was surprised at Raynor's actions, the rebel reassured him that he wasn't doing this for kindness, but because a mutual acquaintance of theirs (Kerrigan), needed him alive. With the help of the Protoss, the fugitives escaped.
Mengsk was put into cold sleep and later awakened to speak with Kerrigan. Mengsk demanded to know why Kerrigan wanted him around. Kerrigan stated that she needed his Psi-Emitters to gather the Zerg minions to destroy the Psi Disruptor that the UED had taken control of. In return for his help, Kerrigan promised to help retake Korhal from the UED. Mengsk agreed to the deal.
Raynor and Fenix were unwilling to trust Kerrigan, knowing that she will soon betray them. Mengsk agreed that she was untrustworthy but would work with her if it helped him regain Korhal. Raynor responded by angrily reminding Mengsk that he was the reason Kerrigan became the monster she was to begin with.
Kerrigan followed through on her promise and helped liberate Korhal from the UED, however Kerrigan then promptly terminated the alliance and destroyed the Dominion and Protoss bases, killing General Duke and Praetor Fenix in the attack. Mengsk was outraged by Kerrigan's betrayal, but Kerrigan reminded him of his actions on Korhal. She stated that she would let him live to see her rise to power and remember what he had done.
Later on, Mengsk led the remainder of his Dominion fleet along with the Protoss fleet led by Artanis, and the remnants of the UED fleet led by Admiral DuGalle. Kerrigan promptly defeated all three fleets. Mengsk would later return to Korhal to rebuild the Dominion.
He had a son named Valerian Mengsk, who eventually led Dominion forces along with Raynor on a full-scale assault on planet Char in order to de-infest Kerrigan.
In 2505, he finally met his demise at the hands of a vengeance-thirsty Kerrigan on his home world of Korhal, despite rallying his best troops and defenses against Kerrigan's overwhelming Swarm.
Personality[]
Mengsk used to be a brave and righteous man, until years of suffering under the Confederacy turned him bitter and hostile. The loss of his mother and sister was the last straw for him, finally made him into the ruthless and manipulative warlord known today. His excessive use of recruited media for his advantage shows that he's highly charismatic and intelligent, but also oppressive and unforgiving to his foes and subjects alike. In the public eye, he is seen as a just and fair ruler who will do whatever it takes to save humanity by even the greatest lengths, but deep down inside known by a few, he is a cruel megalomaniac with the peerless cunning that Kerrigan recognizes, who cited that Mengsk will take advantage for every mistake and angle she will make and use it against her.
Another thing to note about Mengsk is his hypocrisy. While both Raynor and Kerrigan initially followed him for his supposed ideals to "save humanity", both were increasingly uncomfortable with his methods on how to do it. Another instance was that while Mengsk wanted to "save" humanity, he was also willing to kill them indirectly by leaving them to die by either the Protoss or the Zerg (mostly the latter). Mengsk was also incredibly treacherous as he was deceitful, having left Kerrigan to die by the Zerg as revenge for the murder of his father (despite the fact that Kerrigan never remembered killing the latter, and thus, never apologized to Arcturus).
Mengsk's hypocrisy even extends to how he bursts out at the media after Raynor exposed his past actions to the UNN, mostly because he did not expect Raynor to use the media, his greatest weapon, against him. Raynor proved to be right about Mengsk at a point where Mengsk himself was no better than the Confederacy he hated. Even then, both him and Kerrigan saw the irony that behind his veiled claims to save humanity, he had let humans die by the masses, with that blood left at Kerrigan's hands.
To achieve his goals, Mengsk will resort into extreme methods whenever conventional uses do not work. He commanded Kerrigan to leave out a Psi Disrupter as a tactic to destroy the Confederates just by using the Zerg, which is described as Raynor said it, sell out every person to the Zerg. This genocidal strategy that extended farther results in leaving Tarsonis, the Confederate capital, to be overrun by the Zerg. At one point, he even ordered Dominion scientists to fire an experimental nuke at a trio of Ultralisks, yelling at a scientist (who told him that they don't know how would the nuke go off) that he would be willing to destroy the city to get rid of the Zerg presence there, proving that Mengsk cares about his ambition than humanity itself.
Mengsk's desire to rule the Koprulu Sector or see it burn to ashes around him has proven to be his ultimate downfall. When Kerrigan rebuilt the Zerg Swarm and crushed his Dominion to the last, she cursed that he wouldn't suffer enough for the people whose lives he destroyed. Despite retorting that he made Kerrigan into a monster, she countered that he made monsters out of everyone before killing him.
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Villains | ||
Terran Confederacy Terran Dominion United Earth Directorate Zerg Tal'darim Forces of Amon |