Sarah Kerrigan - Character Design

Character Design

The character of Kerrigan was created by Blizzard Entertainment's Chris Metzen and James Phinney, with her physical appearance designed by Metzen, although other Blizzard artists, Samwise Didier and Glen Rane, have exhibited influence on her portrayal in later works. Kerrigan was not originally intended to be a major character, and was only meant to appear on a single level. Initially based around the character Tanya Adams in the Command & Conquer: Red Alert series, Kerrigan was named after Nancy Kerrigan, who at the time was involved in a feud with Tonya Harding. However, Kerrigan's character grew on the developers, who decided to give a far greater role to the throw-away character.

Many of the aspects of Kerrigan's infested character, especially her hair, are inspired by the Greek mythological creature Medusa. At one point in StarCraft, Kerrigan declares to the Protoss dark templar Zeratul that "her stare can reduce him to ashes"; one of the powers reputed to Medusa was that her gaze could turn men to stone. In addition, prior to its announcement StarCraft II was codenamed "Medusa". Kerrigan's self-proclaimed title is the Queen of Blades, which is gradually introduced to other characters to the point where it is synonymous with her. Chris Metzen has explained that it was meant to be an honorific title; a blade is a weapon designed to rip enemies to pieces, making the title fitting for Kerrigan, who evolved to be the greatest agent of the Zerg Overmind.

In an interview, Kerrigan's voice actor, the author and voice artist Glynnis Talken Campbell, described Kerrigan's change in personality during her infestation as "going from good girl to bad girl", and has said it was more of a change in personality than voice when providing her voice work. Kerrigan's voice also consisted of many grunts, growls and screams, and her unique infested voice was provided by doubling up Talken Campbell's voice. She has also claimed that, were she to pen a StarCraft film or novel, she would rather have Kerrigan's relationship with Jim Raynor—the series' primary male protagonist—portrayed as one of admiration, sacrifice and "them saving each other's butts" than actual romance due to StarCraft's action-oriented nature. Whilst Talken Campbell had confirmed that she will return to voice the character in StarCraft II, and had voiced the character in several promotional trailers, it was later reported that a new voice actor had been hired for Kerrigan and that Talken Campbell was no longer involved with the project. Tricia Helfer is now the new voice actor for Kerrigan in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, as well as Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.