10 Video Game Tragedies That Elevated Stories
4. Everything That Happens With Sarah Kerrigan - Starcraft
Blizzard's Starcraft may have wound down in terms of prominence, but it continues to maintain strong popularity. In addition to being an excellent strategy series, it also features a very involving story. A lot of it is focused on the leading human characters Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan.
In their military service, Jim and Sarah developed strong feelings for each other, something that persists throughout the Terran Great War with the Zerg. The two fill in the roles of rugged soldier and stealth tactician respectively. In a critical narrative moment, Sarah is betrayed by General Arcturus Mengsk and left behind to be captured by the enemy.
Jim loses Sarah to the Zerg infestation and she later becomes something far more twisted. As the Queen of Blades, she is placed in full control of the Zerg invaders. Even with this painful transformation, Sarah's psychic link to Jim remained and their relationship gets much more complicated as the Starcraft 2 trilogy went on. Yet there's always a lingering acceptance that they can never go back to what they had before.
Despite her rescue at the end of Wings of Liberty, Kerrigan returns to her Queen of Blades persona in Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. The way she was moved to the centre stage in the overarching story made for a much more engaging outing throughout the campaigns.