- "I always thought being a twin was a hard thing. Everyone always finds a way to put you together. It's like you're not considered two people. Even when we were kids, our parents dressed us alike, and when we joined up and got sent to the program, they stuck us together. People thought we were special somehow I suppose. I used to hate that. All I ever wanted was to have my own life. And here I am now, just wondering how I'm gonna live without him."
- —South about her brother's death in Recovery One: Part Two
Freelancer Agent South Dakota, often referred to as simply South, was an agent in the Special Operation's program Project Freelancer, as well as the Special Operations Recovery Unit. South and her twin brother North, were part of an experiment to see how one agent who did not receive an A.I. would react. As a result, South, being the agent who did not receive an A.I., grew jealous of her brother and eventually placed him in a position to be killed by the Meta.
South serves as a main character turned antagonist in the Project Freelancer Saga, the hidden secondary antagonist in Recovery One and a minor antagonist in Reconstruction.
Overview[]
North and South were both part of a superfluous experiment to study what would happen if one agent received an A.I. while the other did not. Being that they were twins, they were the ideal subjects for said experiment. In addition, with being both siblings and participating in a specific experiment, it is most likely they were assigned their respective code names to colloquially refer to them and the experiment as "the Dakotas." The result of the experiment was South betraying her brother, allowing the Meta to kill him, due to her jealousy of his A.I. South later regrets her action as she wonders how she'll be able to continue on without him. She is often shown in the series as being a smart aleck, jealous, and traitorous.
Role in Plot[]
Project Freelancer[]
South Dakota battles several guards.
During their early time at Project Freelancer, South and North Dakota are sent to the Bjørndal Cryogenics Research Facility to recover a data file from the Insurrectionists. South goes in to recover the file while North provides reconnaissance. South skillfully infiltrates the command center and recovers the needed file; but things go awry, however, when the body of a dead guard accidentally hits an alarm, alerting the entire facility of North and South's presence. As a result, South and North make their way to the helipad for extraction, killing anybody that gets in their way, South doing it more violently on the other hand. However, once they reach the helipad, they find they are surrounded by Insurrectionists.
South aids her twin brother, North Dakota
Surrounded, Freelancer Carolina, who was sent to their aid, revealed herself and aided South and North in dispatching all the guards. While fighting, the Demo Man grabs a turret attempts to shoot South, but North intercepts and gets injured instead. At that moment, the three are extracted from the area by a pelican waiting for them. With the data file successfully captured, the Freelancers escape the facility. However, as they flee, several enemy Longswords pursue them in an attempt to prevent their escape. As the ship dodges incoming attacks, South is constantly knocked against the walls of the ship, and is knocked unconscious.
"I thought you said the mission was a success, Sir?"
As North was temporarily recovered, he strapped her into a seat, before leaving to fend off the Longswords. The pelican managed to destroy the two Longswords with help from a Project Freelancer frigate, the Mother of Invention, which opens up its landing bay for the pelican to land. Later, all three soldiers are briefed on what the data chip contained. Afterwards, the Director orders the Counselor to update the board, putting South in 5th place and North in 4th. Enraged by this change, South demanded to know why the change was necessary, to which the Director claimed that one of the mission objectives involved stealth, something that South failed to execute.
South and her brother
South was seen watching a battle between Wyoming, York, and Maine, against Tex, where she corrects Wash on Tex's gender after the latter assumes Tex to be a male. She then made a comment about Tex rivaling Carolina for top Freelancer, causing Carolina to insult her, telling her to watch the fight as she may learn something. Later, she is yelled at by the Director, along with everyone else who was watching. South, due to the results of her previous mission, was not allowed to accompany her brother on the mission for the Sarcophagus.
A.I. Interaction[]
South tells Washington about Georgia's disappearance
South returns in Season 10, on a mission alongside North, Carolina, Washington, and C.T., to access the Leader's hangar inside an Insurrectionist spacecraft. Due to York's failure, South and the other Freelancers change their plans and attempt to enter the ship's main hangar in order to accomplish their goal. While in preparation, South talks to C.T., noticing her silence, and tells her that if they fail the worst that will happen will be their names being taken off the leaderboard.
South talks to Carolina
The Freelancers then fly through space and enter the main hangar of the spacecraft, eliminating every soldier they see. South works alongside her brother North to fight off the Insurrectionists. After the battle, South is ordered to access the "leader's" location and then informs Carolina that the leader is hiding out in Bone Valley. She leaves with the rest of the team, minus C.T., to go to their extraction so they can go to Bone Valley. While they are flying back, the Staff of Charon, attacks the Mother of Intervention and as it is leaving, leaves behind a nuclear device. South and the rest of the team make it aboard the Pelican safely before it detonates.
South in A.I. training
After the mission, she is seen along North, Washington and York meeting Theta, North's AI, though she makes no effort to appear friendly to Theta. Later, she and the other Freelancers are seen learning AI theory, though she is visibly uninterested and questions why she needs to take part, as she has not been given an AI. She is openly hostile throughout the class, making sarcastic remarks towards Carolina and Maine, and offending Theta and Delta by comparing them to household appliances.
South, North, and Maine infiltrate the Insurrectionist base
Sometime later, South, along with Carolina, North Dakota, Washington, and York, was sent on a mission to the Longshore Shipyards to find C.T. When the Freelancers arrive, they immediately attack, with South taking cover from behind a Warthog with her brother North. With the help of Theta, the twins managed to eliminate a group of Insurrectionist snipers. South is later seen with North and Maine watching the Insurrectionist Leader's ship escape the Longshore Base.
Freelancer Break-In[]
South talks to Tex in the locker room
After the mission, South was scheduled to receive either units Eta or Iota for A.I. implantation. However, because agent Carolina demanded for both A.I. units, South's scheduling, along with Washington's, was pushed back in order to implant the two A.I. into Carolina. This led to South having a temper tantrum in the locker room, where she punched Tex's locker in a bit of rage, breaking the name tag as well. South angrily leaves the locker room after a brief confrontation with Tex. Several days later, after Carolina's incident, Tex informs North that South has petitioned for one of Carolina's A.I., and then tells him to keep an eye on her.
South attacks Tex
When Wash recovers from his breakdown of Epsilon, South snaps at him for halting the A.I procedures and informs him that Tex went rogue and attacked Wyoming. When North expresses his doubt over Tex actually doing this, South retorts that he's not sure. When Tex begins her assault against the Director's forces South appears with a Missile Pod and attempts to kill Tex, but North intervenes. He eliminates her rockets with a pair of sniper rifles. Outraged, South retorts that Tex is a traitor and asks him what side he is on. North has Tex leave the room while he and his sister have a "little chat". The two siblings then begin to fire on each other.
Recovery Two[]
South, after her brother is killed by the Meta
After the break-in, South joined the Recovery team. While operating for the Recovery team, South and her brother ran into the Meta, who was hunting down other Freelancer agents to steal their A.I. and armor enhancements. The twins engage in a shootout against the Meta, but he is able to outmatch them, which leads South to betraying her brother. She turns her brother to the Meta in exchange for her own life and is knocked out and left behind by the Meta after he kills her brother. Agent Washington later finds her and her deceased brother and, after disposing of North's body, takes her with him in order to set up a trap for the Meta. Delta is implanted into South in order to attract the Meta, who takes the bait and attacks them.
South Dakota fighting alongside Washington.
Washington attempts to fight off the Meta and asks for South's assistance; however, since she'd already gotten what she wanted, South betrays Washington and shoots him in the back. She then lies to the Meta and tells him she put explosive charges on Washington in order to convince him to search through Wash's body while she flees. After her escape, South contacts Freelancer command and informs them that she has accomplished her mission by recovering Delta. However, when asked to return the A.I. to base, South refuses, claiming that since she has her own A.I. she no longer needs Project Freelancer. An arrest warrant is issued for South and she has officially gone rogue.
Disbandment from Freelancer[]
South with Delta, after stealing him
South's first appearance during the Recollections was at the end of Reconstruction Chapter 4, when Agent Washington is leaving the base that Church was stationed. South comes out of some rubble and watches Washington leave. Delta then appears beside South mentioning that if he and South were tracking Washington, someone else likely was as well. Soon afterward, the Meta attacks her. In Reconstruction Chapter 6, Washington, Church, and Caboose come to South's aid.
South inside her Domed Energy Shield.
She originally intended to abandon Delta in order to save herself from the Meta, but as she is about to leave, two Mongooses carrying the three other soldiers come flying out of nowhere and cause the Meta to escape. Church uses Caboose's habit of friendly fire to stop South from escaping by telling Caboose to "help" her. This results in Caboose shooting South, causing her to collapse on the ground. After the fight, Wash and the Blues discover South Dakota was crippled by Caboose's friendly fire.
Death[]
South is killed by Washington
Following this, Washington transferred Delta into Caboose as Delta informed Washington of South's plan to abandon him to the Meta to save herself. Delta also revealed that South had also sacrificed her brother North in a similar fashion, and combined with her injuries and the likelihood of her betraying them, prompt him to suggest that they should not let her "hamper our progress." Washington then immediately points his pistol at South. South mockingly expresses doubt that Wash would kill a person in cold blood, only for Wash to shoot her in the head mid-sentence. Following her death, Washington destroys her corpse by first blowing it up, then by shooting at it, then by using a flamethrower to incinerate whatever is left, then blowing her up again.
Personality[]
South Dakota's personality is an exact opposite of her brother's calm and compassionate nature. Unlike him, she tends to be very overconfident, impatient, and aggressive towards others. A clear presentation of South's personality would be her rushing through the mission at the Bjørndal Cryogenics Research Facility in The Twins, which was also due to her highly competitive nature. During Realignment, she angrily reacts to the fact that her brother was placed fourth on the Freelancer Leaderboard, directly above her, now in 5th. In Whole Lot of Shaking, South angrily storms out of the ranking room when she learns her name is no longer on the list. Furthermore, South is very rude, unfriendly, and selfish similar to a brattish child. She constantly complains about her lack of an A.I. yet is openly hostile towards the fragments as well as to everyone around her and doesn't seem to take other people's feelings into consideration.
"What's so special about either of them?!"
Despite this, she does have a level of sympathy and compassion to her teammates, such as putting her brother's condition above everything else, is shocked when York is badly injured in Introductions, and being somewhat playful around her colleagues, specifically Wash who she teased after he assumed Tex was a man. South also attempts to calm C.T. when she claims she's worried about the mission in Heavy Metal by joking with her and they'll stick together. However, she was not above letting others perish if it meant she could live, North being no exception, and developed a very sadistic style of fighting as she tends to prolong her adversary's pain before eliminating them, as shown in The Twins.
Although, South's nature could be attributed from a result of her growing up as a twin, as well as Project Freelancer's treatment of her and her brother, using them as an experiment to see what would happen when one agent received an A.I. while the other did not. As she states in her debut appearance, South always longed to have her own life and not be constantly paired with North. Unfortunately, upon joining Project Freelancer, South was shown to be the lesser of the two, with North getting an A.I., a higher ranking, and greater respect from the higher-ups, all due to both his better performance as an agent and his greater ability to function as a member of a team, while South received none of this. In addition to this, her own teammates saw her as a troublemaker and hard to get along with, with Tex describing her as a "vulture".
South is also known to be a bully, demeaning and belittling The Triplets more than any of the other Freelancers.
The only person South has been shown to go out of her way to comfort is Agent Connecticut, who like South was also near the top of the Freelancers, but not good enough to make the leaderboard or warrant an AI.
Relationships[]
South has developed quite a few unique relationships with those in Project Freelancer. However, due to her attitude and her later betrayals, they become quite strained.
North Dakota[]
South and her brother, North.
Being twins, it's shown that South has a strong relationship to her brother, North. While they do often bicker about situations and she acts childish towards him, both truly care for each other and want to do what's best for the other. Such examples include in Number One, when South becomes horrified after North is shot, or in Evacuation Plan, as North risks his own safety to protect her after she is knocked out. However, due to Project Freelancer, South became more cynical and jealous, much to her brother's concern. Their relationship is further strain in Season 10, as South becomes increasingly jealous for an A.I. of her own after her brother obtained his.
While the others note her bad attitude, North attempts to defend South's actions, ignoring their concern. When the Freelancer break-in occurs, North fights against his sister to allow Tex to continue her mission. Afterwards, it seems that their relationship was restored, as South joined North when he left Project Freelancer, wanting to stay by his side. However, years later, when the Meta attacked them, South put her brother in a situation where the Meta could kill him because she put her well being first and was still jealous of his A.I. Despite this, South becomes regretful of her actions, sadly wondering how she would continue without North. This was revealed to Delta, who in turn told Wash the nature of North's death while supporting the reasoning for South to be put to death.
Washington[]
In Season 9, when Wash initially mistakes Tex to be a male, South jokingly teases him as he attempts to correct his mistake but stutters, and they are later shown on amicable terms as they observe in Tex's 3-on-1 match showing a small friendship between the two. Throughout Season 10, they have only a few interactions, most notably after Epsilon's self destruction in Wash's head, the Director cancels the A.I. Implantation Program, causing South to lash out at him. That said, Washington still views South Dakota as a friend years after the Project ended, showing sympathy to her situation while also attempting to help fake her death and trusting her with Delta. However, Wash eventually came to distrust and dislike South, as she shot him in the back to save herself in Recovery One: Part Four. He later meets her in Reconstruction, where shortly after he shoots her in the head from point blank range. Afterwards, Wash takes comical lengths in his attempts to dispose of her body, seemingly enjoying the process. Season 14 further plays up her friendship with Wash, teasing him along side C.T. soon after he learned of the Triplets "dropping out" of the Project.
Carolina[]
Carolina and South are both bitter towards each other. In Introductions, Carolina tells South to stop running her mouth for minute, after her comment about Tex possibly taking her spot on the Freelancer leaderboard. In Follow the Leader, South made a sarcastic remark to Carolina during their brief conversation about the Insurrectionist Leader's whereabouts. Despite this, Carolina showed some concern for South when her rank on the leaderboard was lowered in Realignment and South has shown to be able to take orders from Carolina. Additionally, Carolina listed both of the Dakotas as reasons for her thirst for revenge.
Tex[]
Tex first interacts with South when the latter breaks Tex's locker plate in anger for her and Carolina's special treatment. After Tex demands she pick it up, South angrily leaves the room and develops a grudge against her. Tex thinks of South as a vulture when she learns that she petitioned for one of Carolina's A.I. after the latter became mentally strained. South quickly calls Tex a traitor upon meeting her when Tex storms the Mother of Invention. There, South is the first Freelancer to attack her, seeming to take some joy in trying to kill her.
Delta[]
Out of all the characters South has interacted with, she has the worst relationship with Delta. In What's the "I" Stand For?, South insults him and the other A.I. by comparing them to household appliances. In Recovery One, he implanted himself in South so that they and Wash would have a higher chance of battling the Meta, but she instead shoots Wash in the back to distract the Meta so they could escape, shocking Delta.
When the Meta found them in Reconstruction: Chapter 6, South was about to sacrifice Delta to save herself despite his protests, but Wash and the Blues arrived and rescued him. After the group forces the Meta to retreat, Delta tells Washington that the "best action" is to kill her, as she will hamper their progress and most likely betray them, as she did to her brother North. After Wash kills South, Delta seemed pleased.
C.T.[]
Connecticut was one of South Dakota's more positive relationships in the Project, as Heavy Metal shows her attempting to reassure the former when the latter was being unusually quiet. The Triplets and The "Mission" further demonstrate this by reassuring other agents that South was under pressure and channeled that out in her bullying, but seemed to take no personal issue with her insulting the other Freelancers. And later, she is openly enjoying playing a game with the other agent as the two tease Washington. It's unknown what her reaction was to C.T.'s defection and death, however.
Themes[]
Betrayal[]
Throughout the series, South develops a great jealousy and becomes more selfish, resulting in her betraying several characters later on. This started due to how the Director treated her compared to her comrades, as she was enraged when the Director moved her lower on the leaderboard and the fact that she didn't receive an A.I. earlier than other Freelancers. After she "seemingly" left Project Freelancer, South betrayed her brother years later by putting him in a situation where the Meta could kill North because she put her well being first and was still jealous of his A.I.
At the end of Recovery One, South shoots Wash in the back after Delta was implanted into her, as she reasoned the Meta would be more concerned about obtaining the equipment on Wash rather than herself. As she leaves the area, she informs command that she's abandoning Project Freelancer as she finally has her own A.I. and doesn't care about the faction. Lastly, South was about to sacrifice Delta against his will to save herself when the Meta confronted her again in Reconstruction before Wash's group arrived. Delta even notes her constant betrayal when he rejoins with Washington, stating it would be best to kill her rather than risk her betraying them again if she joined them.
Skills and Abilities[]
South was ranked 4th on the leaderboard during her time at Project Freelancer, being one rank above her brother North. However, following her previously stated mission, her rank was moved down to 5th because of her lacking stealth. After Tex's fight against York, Wyoming and Maine, she was knocked off of the leaderboard completely, being one of only two Freelancers who were taken off of the leaderboard at one point or another; the other being Wyoming. However, in Season 10, her name was later placed back on the leaderboard, after its extension to 8 Freelancers rather than 6.
Stealth[]
South is a capable Freelancer, though this is most noticeable during Season 9, particularly during The Twins. During this episode, South displayed great stealth capabilities, enough to enter the facility and obtain a data file without being seen. She was then able to take down and knock out three Insurrectionists while she was at it. However, she was caught off guard by an Insurrectionist on break due to not activating her motion tracker as North suggested.
Combat[]
As South began to escape the Bjørndal Cryogenics Research Facility with the retrieved data, she displayed great skill as a fighter, killing three soldiers with her pistol while falling down a platform in a spiral, as well as accurately hitting two snipers on top of a building. South also seems to have great hand-to-hand combat capabilities, where, during her mission, she fought off three Insurrectionists bare handed.
Strength[]
South is shown to be very strong. During the Bjørndal Cryogenics Research Facility infiltration, she was able to lift the soldier Murphy up by his throat via a cable and is able to punch a soldier off a ledge simply by backhanding him. When escaping the facility, as she fought off three guards, she kicked one of them in the knee and displayed enough power to crack it, painfully bending it backward. Afterward, she picked up said guard by the neck and threw him into another soldier, which she took the opportunity to kick him in the head, denting him into the locker which literally stuck his whole body into it. While running toward the snipers, she used a decapitated guards body as a human shield, holding his entire body only by the chest and is able to throw him easily upward towards the snipers.
Kills[]
During her time in Project Freelancer, South killed many Insurrection soldiers, including Scully and Murphy. Also, prior to Recovery One, she willingly put her brother in a situation where the Meta killed him, making her partially responsible for his death.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Throughout the series, South Dakota and her brother North have shared a number of similarities:
- Both of their Freelancer names are derived from one of the Dakota states.
- Both of their armor colors were primarily a shade of purple with a shade of green trim.
- Both used Domed Energy Shield Enhancements at some point in their lives.
- Both were killed by a Freelancer (North by Maine/The Meta, South by Washington), and in both cases their bodies were destroyed by Washington to erase evidence of the events.
- Both would have the AIs that they were using prior to their deaths stolen by The Meta.
- Both have taken off their helmets in Season 9.
- Both have blonde hair and gray eyes.
- Both suffered injuries to their left cheeks, as South was seen with a scar on her cheek while North was shown with a bleeding wound on his.
- South and North, being brother and sister, are depicted showing some level of kindness to each other (North pushing South out of a firing turret's way and South shouting out his name after he is shot). However, South's jealousy of North owning an AI ultimately led her to placing her brother in a position to be killed by the Meta in order to save herself.
- South is the third character, and also the first female character, in Red vs. Blue to reveal her face.
- Revealed in the Season 9 DVD, South's face was modeled after Geoff Ramsey's then-wife, Griffon Ramsey.
- There is a slight inconsistency in South's armor color. Throughout Recovery One, South's armor color is a dark purple while her brother, North, had an armor color closer to a light purple/orchid. However, in Reconstruction, Season 9, and Season 10, their armor colors have switched; North is now the one with the dark purple armor while South has the light purple/orchid armor.
- When South was a child she seemed to have trouble sleeping, so her father had to drive her around until she went to sleep. Her brother North would follow his example and do the same for the A.I. Theta during times of stress.
- By her own admission as she was escaping Bjørndal Cyrogenics, South hates flying, as seen when she was very disoriented on the evac ship, in Evacuation Plan.
- Revealed in a deleted scene on the Season 10 DVD, North is seen carrying South on his back after their battle. As the two exit the Mother of Invention, North tells South that he will always have her back, in which South responds that she is watching his as well, grimly foreshadowing her betrayal in the future.
References[]
| Project Freelancer |
|---|
| Head Staff: Leonard Church · Aiden Price |
| Agents: Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · California · Carolina · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Iowa · Kansas · Maine · Maryland · Montana · New York · North Dakota · Ohio · Oregon · South Dakota · Texas (ε) · Washington · Wyoming · Utah |
| Other Members: F.I.L.S.S. · Four Seven Niner · Recovery Six · Recovery Nine · Tank Guy · Lemons · Lieu |