Riddick

Summary

Riddick was created by writer/director David Twohy and is typically portrayed by the actor Vin Diesel or a rendering of his likeness. The character's first appearance was in the film Pitch Black and his first video game appearance was in the video game The Chronicles of Riddick:Escape From Butcher Bay. Riddick is one of the most feared criminals in the galaxy and has a high price on his head for live capture.

His favored implement of murder is anything long and sharp, be it: knife, dagger, shiv, or even a screwdriver or tea cups. He is also adept in hand to hand combat and basic firearms. Riddick relies on stealth kills and has an unique ability that helps him execute his foes. In the middle of Escape From Butcher Bay he receives an "eyeshine" or night vision ability.

Riddick's Story In Video Games

Escape From Butcher Bay finds Riddick being brought to the Butcher Bay slammer, a metallic hell hole of a dungeon that is stranded on a desolate desert planet. Riddick is being delivered by the bounty hunter William J. Johns. Butcher Bay is infamously known as the most ruthless prison in the galaxy but shortly after the game's late title card, Riddick has vowed to escape.

Throughout his interment within Butcher Bay, Riddick kills dozens of fellow inmates and guards before his eventual escape. At the game's beginning, Riddick has not yet gained his famous "eyeshine", or night vision. About halfway through the game, Riddick meets a character known as Pope Joe and helps the fellow retrieve his radio. Around this time the criminal has an epiphany in which a voice speaks to him and reveals that he is the last of a nearly extinct race known as the Furyans and that he has a greater destiny to attend to. It is then that Riddick receives his "eyeshine" and begins to wear darkly tinted goggles when faced with bright light. These events make it unclear as to whether Riddick actually received a form of surgery or whether the "eyeshine" was a latent ability that finally revealed itself to him. In the film Pitch Black, Riddick claims to have traded cigarettes for a surgical shine job but the events in the game do not seem to corroborate this. Regardless, half-way through the game Riddick gains an ability that is extremely useful when paired with his penchant for stealthy knife kills.

Riddick Quotes

Riddick is not a man of words like other sociopaths such as Hannibal Lector. However, he is fond of one-liners like any good action hero. Here are a few Riddick-isms:

• "Talking about me? Never wise."
• "The dark... are you afraid? I'm not. The dark is afraid of me."
• "Now things get interesting..." (when you get your hands on your first assault rifle in Escape from Butcher Bay.)
• "It ain't the fall that get you. It's the sudden stop at the bottom."
• "The wolf moves among sheep"
• "Some people are afraid of the dark...for me, the darkness is where I shine."

References in Other Games

In Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, there is a shaved head character in a special encounter called Pitch Black. The character's name is Riddick and he is surrounded by a horde of Deathclaws and must be escorted to the end of the scenario safely. If he is saved, he becomes a recruitable party member.

This easter egg encounter is obviously referencing the Riddick in Escape From Butcher Bay.

In Deathrow, a game about a futuristic sport played by convicts, there is an unlockable playable character with a shaved head, strange eye implants, hand wraps, and has the name Riddick.