Roy Batty is the leader of the renegade Nexus-6 replicants. He is very intelligent, fast, and skilled at combat, and yet still learning how to deal with developing emotions. He leads a few of his fellow replicants on what is inevitably a fruitless search for more life. As hope slowly fades away and his friends are eliminated one by one, it is his experience that brings up the question of "What is human?" The "prodigal son" of Eldon Tyrell, Roy returns to his "father" by hijacking an off-world shuttle with the assistance of some other replicants (Leon, Pris, Zhora, and two others). They then kill the crew and set a course for Earth. First seeking a longer life, then asking forgiveness, he ultimately destroys his own maker. After a failed attempt to break into Tyrell's home and company headquarters (which results in the deaths of the two unnamed replicants), Roy and Leon made investigations into ways that they could lengthen their lifespans by viciously interrogating Hannibal Chew. Chew directs them to J.F. Sebastian, and Pris goes to meet J.F. first. Later on that day, Zhora is killed by Blade Runner Rick Deckard and Leon is killed by Rachel. Roy arrives the next morning at J.F.'s home, the abandoned Bradbury Building. He tells Pris about Leon and Zhora's deaths, and is overwhelmed by emotion and barely able to tell Pris. He helps J.F. win a chess game against Tyrell after J.F. tells him that Tyrell will let him go to meet him in his home if he is able to beat him in chess. Roy and J.F. go to meet Tyrell, and Tyrell and Roy briefly debate the possibility of extending the lives of replicants, and Tyrell concludes that it is impossible. Roy asks Tyrell for forgiveness of his sins, but Tyrell brushes this off by telling him that he's also done wondrous things, which does nothing to comfort Roy. Roy then kills Tyrell, and then kills J.F. before retreating back to the Bradbury Building. There is no future for Roy, as his friends are killed and his hope for more life is smashed. Deckard arrives at the Bradbury Building and "retires" Pris. Roy begins to play cat and mouse with Deckard, frightening and taunting him until he finds Pris's body, and he breaks down into tears. Roy begins to play cat and mouse more violently with Deckard as he breaks two of his fingers as vengeance for Zhora and Pris, then encourages Deckard to join him in fits of violence after Deckard hits him with a pipe. Roy then forces Deckard to retreat to the roof of the Bradbury Building. On the roof, Deckard attempts to escape Roy by jumping to another building, but fails due to his wounds and also because the rain caused him to slip. Deckard is now trapped, hanging onto the roof as his hands slip and he is about to fall to certain doom. However, Roy then performs an act suggesting perhaps that he has gained the empathy that is the thin dividing line between the Humans and the Replicants: he helps Deckard up. Moments later, as his four-year lifespan draws to a close, Roy reflects on events of his life such as fighting at Tannhauser Gate, and then dies calmly. Showing more "humanity" than the men who seek to kill him, we are left wondering at what exactly makes us human.
Rick Deckard is the protagonist in Ridley Scott's 1982 science-fiction film, Blade Runner. The character originally appeared in Philip K Dick's novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" on which the movie is based. Rick Deckard was played by Harrison Ford. Rick Deckard is a Blade Runner, a special member of the L.A police department who is employed to hunt down and "retire" replicants (genetically manufactured humanoids). Since they were declared illegal on Earth, it is up to the Blade Runners to "retire" any that find their way to Earth. At the beginning of the film, Deckard is called out of retirement after a group of clever and brutal replicants hijack a shuttle to Earth, intending to pass themselves off as normal humans. Deckard is reluctant to resume work, but is told he has no choice and must use some of "the old blade runner magic" to succeed. He follows the model of a film noir detective, mixing pursiuit of clues and interviews with suspects with brutal violence. Like many noir heroes, he finds it hard to turn down a damsel in distress (the replicant Rachael) when she asks for his help. There are lengthy debates among the movie's fandom on whether Deckard is a replicant himself. The Director's Cut DVD of the movie seems to lean towards the fact that Deckard is a replicant, as new footage was added that supports that side of the argument.
Rachael The latest experiment of Eldon Tyrell. There is a problem with his more recent, advanced Nexus 6 Replicants - they start to develop their own emotions. The other replicants we see provide plenty of evidence that this is true. They then start to rebel against being slaves. Tyrell believes that this is because they have no framework within which to deal with their new emotions. Thus, if he can just gift them with memories, he hopes that this will help them cope better and therefore be a "better product." Rachael is created, but more than just having implanted memories of Tyrell's niece, she is led to believe that she is human. We do not know how long she has been "switched on", but Tyrell admits that he thinks she was "beginning to suspect." Rachael figures it out and is then ignored by Tyrell. In desperation she turns to Deckard, who has been told by Captain Bryant to terminate her. But he has fallen for her. Many possibilities exist in interpreting their relationship, some of them depending on whether or not you believe Deckard is himself a Replicant. Both of them are allowed to live - Deckard by Roy, and Rachael by Gaff, who leaves his calling card (foil unicorn) to show he's been there. Deckard and Rachael leave together.
Pris is the "basic pleasure model" (incepted on Valentine's Day), created for entertainment and thus even more of a slave-object than the others. However, she shows that she can be quite adept at manipulation of the human male as she uses her wiles to "make friends" with J.F. Sebastian, a man who until then, literally made his friends. Pris is also the girlfriend of fellow replicant, Roy Batty. It is perhaps fortunate for Deckard that she tries to kill him with acrobatics and a somewhat sexual attack, forgetting his blaster lying within easy reach on the floor.
Mary was a replicant character that was written out of the script at an early stage. She was to have been a mother-figure replicant, performing housework and childcare duties.
J. F. Sebastian is a genetic designer, working for Tyrell. He is stuck on Earth due to his medical condition, "Methuselah Syndrome," which also gives him something in common with the Nexus 6 Replicants: "accelerated decrepitude." With the Bradbury Building all to himself, he makes the most of his gifts, even making his own Toy-friends. He falls easy prey to Pris. Sexual tensions arise when Roy Batty shows up. Although J.F. is excited to discover that his new friends are Nexus 6 generation, he finds his life rapidly going downhill shortly afterwards when he is manipulated and then morally squeezed into helping Roy Batty get to Tyrell. During Deckard's drive to the Bradbury Building it is heard on the radio that his body was found with Tyrell's.
Dr. Eldon Tyrell is a genius who has built up the large Tyrell Corporation. His creations are Replicants. Some of them are given away "free" to people accepting the offer to emigrate to the Off-World colonies. Others are used in combat to protect those settlers, (from what, we don't know). Roy Batty, lead by J.F. Sebastian, finds Tyrell and kills him by crushing his skull.
Replicant Leon Kowalski is a friend of Roy Batty. His emotions are at a much lower level of development than Roy's, but he evidently believes in Roy's quest for more life. Leon is classified mental level C. There is a debate about whether this means he is less intelligent compared to the average human, or just less intelligent compared to the average Nexus-6 Replicant. He doesn't have the speed of thought Roy has when it comes to getting through a situation, resorting instead to simple violence. Blade Runner Holden is the first recipient of this violence when he was just starting to suspect that his Voight-Kampff machine subject isn't just another human. Leon later beats up Deckard after he witnesses him kill Zhora. It may be that Leon and Zhora had the first tentative steps to an emotional bonding. Leon has cherished photographs of his friends. Unlike Rachael's false photos of her childhood, these are current photos of the only ones who mean something in his life
Gaff is a Blade Runner in the film. Gaff, a mysterious character in the film, presents his compulsory invitation to Deckard in a street lingo called Cityspeak, (much of it invented by actor Edward James Olmos, parts of it are also in Polish) which Deckard pretends not to understand. We learn quickly that Gaff is very different from Deckard. He dresses quite differently and behaves quite differently. He makes subtle observations about Deckard, sometimes by making little origami figures, and sometimes through his unfriendly comments.
Zhora, a replicant, has managed to get a job as an exotic dancer at Taffey's Bar, (using Joanna's own pet snake). Tracked down by Deckard from a snake scale, (actually the close-up we see is of a marijuana bud), she soon realises that Deckard isn't for real. This Nexus 6 Replicant has been retrained in political homicide, (i.e. an assassin), she could have swiftly dealt with Deckard, but (not for the last time), Deckard escapes death by the slightest of margins as people walk in just before Zhora delivers a killing blow.
She obviously wants to live and looks quite scared as she tries to escape in the busy street, running from Deckard's blaster. But he shoots her in the back. Leon turns up too late to save his girlfriend, but then seeks to instil the same fear of dying in Deckard. For the second time, Deckard just escapes with his life, this time with Rachael's help.
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