Rachel

Overview

Rachel is a supporting character of the modern Ninja Gaiden series. She is a buxom babe, a tragic heroine and a Vigooran Fiend hunter. Rachel is hellbent on slaying all fiends from the face of the Earth for taking the life of her twin sister Alma. Very little is known about Rachel. Unlike other Ninja Gaiden characters who belong in a clan or organization, her origin is unknown.

Rachel appears in both Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden: Black but is not a playable character in either games. Rachel later became a controllable character in Ninja Gaiden: Sigma with her own chapters that filled in the gaps of she was up to during off screen. Rachel did not make an appearance in Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword and Ninja Gaiden II and was replaced by Momiji and Sonia respectively. In E3 2009, Team Ninja made an announcement that Rachel will make an appearance in Ninja Gaiden: Sigma 2 for the PlayStation 3 in both offline and online play.

Ninja Gaiden

In Ninja Gaiden, Rachel seeks for her twin sister Alma, who has been mutated into a fiend due to the blood curse that turns humans into fiends. Both Rachel and Alma are infected with the curse and believing that there is no cure for their condition, Rachel seeks to kill Alma to redeem her sister's soul. During the events of Ninja Gaiden, Rachel meets Ryu Hayabusa, the game's main protagonist who is on a mission to kill Doku, (Who is responsible for burning the Hayabusa Village), kill the Holy Vigoor Emperor and to recover the stolen Dark Dragon Blade. Rachel warns Ryu that Doku is also responsible for taking his twin sister away and not to underestimate the Lord of The Greater Fiend. Rachel leaves the scene. She finds a library and learns about two Fiends, Nicchae the Goddess of Destruction and Ishtaros the Goddess of Creation. These Fiend sisters are responsible for spreading the bloodline and mutating innocent lives into fiends. This began a new race of fiends and the only way to free them from the cursed bloodline is by death.

Rachel meets Ryu once again and tells him about the cursed blood. She is then attacked by a tentacled monster which consumes her. Ryu kills the monster and frees Rachel. Ayane, another supporting female character, makes her appearance and gives Ryu an important message. Ryu then instructs Ayane to take care of Rachel who is still soaking wet from the monster's bodily fluids. The next day, Rachel is confronted by Gamov and although not explained in the game, the two seem to know each other and have an excruciating hatred for one another. Rachel takes offense but the moment she sees Alma flying in the sky, she leaves Gamov and chases her sister.

Ryu confronts Alma in her fiendish form. They both fight in a duel and Ryu wins the battle. Rachel then jumps into the scene but hesitates when given the chance to kill her own sister. Alma vanishes away, leaving Rachel in dismay. Ryu leaves Rachel alone and urges her not to follow him for the path will be dangerous. As soon as Ryu leaves, Doku shows up, knocks Rachel unconscious and takes her away. Ryu confronts Doku later on and defeats the Lord of the Greater Fiend once again. Doku's spirit's drifts away, giving Rachel a chance to escape.

Rachel confronts both Nicchae and Ishtaros in a demonic portal and loses greatly in the hands of the Greater Fiend sisters. As Ryu enters the portal, he sees Rachel being tied up at the top of a pyramid as the Fiend's sacrifice. Ryu attempts to save her but Alma stops him. After an intense battle, Ryu rushes to Rachel before it is too late and in a remarkable turn of event, Alma saves Rachel by sacrificing herself instead. Alma returns to her human form with Rachel by her side and is presumed to be dead. Ryu leaves the two sisters alone.

After defeating the Holy Vigoor Emperor, the main antagonist of the game, Ryu recovers the stolen Dark Dragon Blade, which causes the cave he is currently in to collapse. Fortunately, Rachel manages to save him in the nick of time. Outside the crumbled cave, they are greeted by a mysterious figure who calls himself the Dark Disciple. He insists that Ryu surrenders the Dark Dragon to him and after a tough showdown, Ryu defeats the Dark Disciple and destroys the Dark Dragon into a million pieces. The game ends with Rachel staring at Ryu with a sorrowful look, possibly due to the lost of her sister and no sense of direction. Ryu turns away, assuring her that "it's over" and flies away into the sky.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Rachel makes her only appearance in Chapter 8, after Ryu and Sonia left Manhattan. Marbus, the former guardian of the Holy Vigoor Emperor, takes over the city after Alexei has been defeated. Rachel appears, and immediately feels a great disturbance in the sky. She fights her way to the hellish night slaying fiend after fiend until she confronts Marbus on a skyscraper. She tells the Archfiend of the Underworld to go back to Hell, but he refuses and attacks her. Using her powers and her skills as a demon hunter, Rachel defeats Marbus. As the sun comes out she says "Night has lifted, dawn has come." The Statue of Liberty, which sank at the bottom of the ocean early in the game, reappeared in her rightful place.

Warriors Orochi

In this spin-off, Rachel has apparently been sucked into a time distortion and unceremoniously displaced within the dimensional realm created by Orochi. Upon entering the newly-distorted territory of Jiangdong, she came across several remnants of Wu soldiers led by Zhuge Ke and earned their trust by helping them repel Kiyomori's demonic army. Even Lianshi and Ding Feng had been taken aback by the amount of demons she exterminated on her own. After being informed of the situation at hand, Rachel decided to join them in order to return to her own timeline.

Rachel appears in Musuo Orochi 2: Special (Japan exclusive) and will soon be included in Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper for the Wii U.

Dead or Alive 5: Ultimate

Rachel will make her first appearance in the Dead or Alive series in the upcoming 2013 Ultimate release.

Weapon of Choice

Images	Weapon Name	Description
	War Hammer	Rachel's former primary weapon. It is excellent in slow, powerful combat moves. The War Hammer appears green in color in Ninja Gaiden and sadly, Rachel lost this signature weapon during a fight with Doku.
	Inferno Hammer	An upgrade to the previous War Hammer and is very similar to Ryu's Eclipse Scythe, although not as powerful and with slightly longer range.
	Type 666 Machine Gun	This powerful machine gun is introduced in Sigma 2 and it's ideal for mowing down the fiends as quickly as possible. It packs a decent punch for a weapon of its speed, and it has a long range of attack.
	The Magic of Raging Aphrodite	Rachel's nimpo power that unleashes a whip of deadly rose thorns that causes great damage to opponents around her.

Additional Info

• Rachel is voiced by Tara Strong (English) and Michie Tomizawa (Japanese).
• in 2007, Rachel was voted as the number 1 hottest female game character at GameTrailers' GT Countdown: Axe's Top-Ten Gamer Babes.
• In Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Rachel is enhanced with Team Ninja's breasts physics that allows her breasts to jiggle even when she's standing still. In Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, players can move her breasts by shaking the SIXAXIS controller.