A number of recurring characters appear in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV, set in 2008. The characters that appear in Grand Theft Auto IV are relatively diverse and relative to the respective boroughs of Liberty City they are based in, belonging to various gangs and ethnic groups. The player controls Niko Bellic, an immigrant from Eastern Europe. According to Dan Houser, "virtually none of the characters from the previous games returned, as a lot of them are dead anyway."
Unlike previous games in the series, the voice actors of Grand Theft Auto IV do not include notable and high-profile celebrities, instead opting for lesser known actors such as Michael Hollick, Jason Zumwalt, Anthony Patellis, Moti Margolin, Ryan Johnston, Thomas Lyons, Frank Bonsangue, Timothy Adams and Coolie Ranx. However, several high-profile DJs host the various radio stations within the game such as Iggy Pop, Karl Lagerfeld, Juliette Lewis, Daddy Yankee, and real life DJs like DJ Premier, DJ Green Lantern, Lazlow, and real life comedians Katt Williams and Ricky Gervais can be seen at the Comedy Club and also be heard being interviewed on the in-game radio station WKTT.
For the first time in the series, Grand Theft Auto IV features "morality choices" in several points of the game, in which the player is forced to choose between killing or sparing a character, or killing one of two characters. In some of these situations the player can choose to carry out execution-style killings, which are played out as cut scenes. The game also has two possible endings, which is determined by a decision the player makes with the main antagonist towards the conclusion of the storyline: Revenge or Deal. Each choice affects the missions the player can partake and the fate of some characters.
For the purposes of this list, missions specific to a particular ending in which a character is killed in are labeled "(Revenge)" and "(Deal)" respectively.
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, grand, theft and/or characters:
“Love’s boat has been shattered against the life of everyday. You and I are quits, and it’s useless to draw up a list of mutual hurts, sorrows, and pains.”
—Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930)
“We saw the machinery where murderers are now executed. Seven have been executed. The plan is better than the old one. It is quietly done. Only a few, at the most about thirty or forty, can witness [an execution]. It excites nobody outside of the list permitted to attend. I think the time for capital punishment has passed. I would abolish it. But while it lasts this is the best mode.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“Seeing to it that a youngster grows up believing not just in the here and now but also in the grand maybes of life guarantees that some small yet crucial part of him remains forever a child.”
—Anne Cassidy (20th century)
“The childless experts on child raising also bring tears of laughter to my eyes when they say, “I love children because they’re so honest.” There is not an agent in the CIA or the KGB who knows how to conceal the theft of food, how to fake being asleep, or how to forge a parent’s signature like a child.”
—Bill Cosby (20th century)
“Waxed-fleshed out-patients
Still vague from accidents,
And characters in long coats
Deep in the litter-baskets
All dodging the toad work
By being stupid or weak.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)