Where are the Stars: Ranger

What about me? What about Ranger?

Ranger is the protagonist from Quake.

Ranger is another creation of the id stable, and originally appeared in Quake, the hit game from 1996, which introduced the gaming world to true 3D. His task was to explore military bases and travel to distant dimensions, and find magical runes which would open up the doorway to the ultimate enemy, Shrub-Niggurath.

“Imagine a big ugly plant-looking thing.” He claims.

He also starred in two mission packs for Quake, titled Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity.

Ranger was shocked when he learned that there would not be a sequel to the game in terms of continuity.

“Quake II my @ss! They took the name and put it to a completely different series of games! Heck, Quake II even got a sequel!”

Ranger hates Bitterman, the guy from Quake II, with a passion.

“He stole my job! He took over the “Quake” series in Quake II, and that should have been ME! I tell you, every time Bitterman got fragged in Quake III… it was me. I owned you, b1tch!”

Ranger made an appearance in Quake III Arena along with all the “other id puppets”.

“What happened to single-player games?”

For the first time, in Quake III Arena, he met Wrack, a fellow slipgate explorer.

“Where the hell was he when I needed him? I was there all alone the whole time, and you mean to tell me that there were others?! Not that I was glad to see him anyway- he was an arrogant old man who kept going on about the good old days. He’s such a faker though, because I was the one who did all the work.”

Ranger now spends his days trapped in one of the gothic medieval dimensions that he was tasked with exploring, bitter and alone, besides the other vicious creatures that inhabit the place with him.

Where are the Stars: Ranger

Where are the Stars now: B.J. Blazkowicz

B.J. Blazkowicz is the protagonist from Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and is under contract to star in Wolfenstein, the sequel to RTCW.

William Joseph (B.J.) Blazkowicz, of Polish descent, served in the O.S.A. branch of the United States Military during World War II. He was captured and held prisoner in the depths of Castle Wolfenstein in a dark, dank cell, on his own. He managed to break out and made his way through level upon level until he reached the exit and escaped the castle.

He then embarked on a quest afterwards to take down some of the major figures in the Nazi regime and German army, foiling their plans for biological warfare in the Nocturnal Episodes of Wolfenstein 3D. Eventually he ended the dream of the third Reich, eliminating Hitler down in his bunker.

“It was complete balls- not historically accurate- because Hitler killed himself, as anyone will tell you.”

Then id made a prequel to the events, in Spear of Destiny. He had to retake the legendary Spear that pierced the side of Christ; else it would stay in the wrong hands and turn the tide of the war. B.J. made a comment, saying, “It got really bizarre. The things in Spear of Destiny were way different from Wolf 3D, with angels and bats with guns and weird stuff.”

Id then put out what has been referred to as the lost episodes of Spear of Destiny, and B.J. had to go back and finish up with those.

After having waged a lone war against the Nazis for two whole games, B.J. was then forced to star in another game, this time it was Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which was basically a remake with modern technology, but sent B.J. to places that he hadn’t been before, which he claims made a nice change instead of Spear of Destiny, which was basically like Wolfenstein 3D, but with the enemies having a wardrobe change, and new music playing in the background.

B.J. now has orders to star in yet another id game, Wolfenstein, which is the sequel to RTCW.

“You think they would have come up with more original names. Out of all the games, only Spear of Destiny is different. The other three all have 'Wolfenstein' in the title.”

B.J. usually refers to himself as William and hates his nickname for certain reasons. He also doesn’t like to abbreviate Spear of Destiny, as it “spells a rude word”.

“They’re a bunch of sickos, the people who thought up this stuff.” He claims.

He married Julia Marie Peterson after World War II and later had a son. Their son, Arthur Kenneth Blazkowicz, or A.K., became a television talk show host in Milwaukee and later changed his last name to Blaze. His son was named William Blaze or Billy Blaze for short, the protagonist in an earlier Id Software title, Commander Keen.

“To think they made it so I was related to that little pogo pouncing squirt; of all the nerve.”

B.J. lives in a chateau in Germany, where he is currently working with id and Raven Software on Wolfenstein.

Regarding the parodies and references to Wolf 3D in other games, like Telltale Games' Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, where there is a mini-game referred to as "Castle Poopenstein", B.J. says that they have “no respect whatsoever”.

When asked to comment on whether Rise of the Triad should have been part of the Wolfenstein series, he said, “Of course! I was geared up to be in that game, and then they changed their minds, and it ended up starring all these other people instead and things changed. I would have been psyched to star in it.”

When he was asked if it was true that he once had romantic ties to Gretel Grosse from Wolf 3D, he said, “I’d sooner kiss her brother, Hans.”

Where are the Stars now: B.J. Blazkowicz