Eddie Riggs

Eddie Riggs Roadie
Gender	Male
Race	Human/Demon Or Cambion
Faction	Ironheade
Status	Alive
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Brown, yellow in demon form
Skin Tone	Light, red-brown in demon form
Special Features	Changes to demonic form and can fly with bat wings during Stage Battles
Weapons	The Separator (battle-axe) Clementine (guitar)
Personal Vehicle	The Deuce (Druid Plow)
Voiced By	Jack Black

“A good roadie knows his whole job is to make someone else look good, keep someone else safe, help someone else do what they were put here to do. A good roadie stays out of the spotlight. If he's doing his job right, you don't even know he's there. Once in a while he might step on stage just to fix a problem, to set something right. But then before you even realize he was there or what he did, he's gone.” — Eddie Riggs

Edward "Eddie" Riggs is the protagonist of Brütal Legend. Eddie is the leader of the Ironheade faction, and is the avatar the player adopts when playing as that faction in multiplayer and in single player. He has two weapons: The Separator, a battle axe, and his guitar Clementine.

Story

The Season of Pain is upon us.... This article contains spoilers for Brütal Legend. Click here to reveal them.

From Humble Beginnings

Eddie Riggs is the greatest roadie in the world working for the worst Heavy Metal band of all time, "Kabbage Boy". Eddie is an old-school metalhead who dreams of the days when heavy metal was pure.^[1] During one of their concerts, a fellow roadie notices one of the band members dancing on a part of the set way up high. After exchanging a few swears, an angry Eddie rushes to discreetly save him before returning to the shadows at the back of the stage. However, part of the set collapses, and Eddie dies from being crushed. A few drops of his blood fall into the mouth of the head on his belt buckle, which turns out to be a magical amulet that summons the spirit of Ormagoden, the Eternal Fire Beast. The Fire Beast kills the band members except the bassist, who was spared because he respected Eddie (and the fact that he got away before the stage was surrounded in a ring of fire, which would've prevented his escape), and teleports Eddie back in time to the Age of Metal - a mythological world inspired by heavy metal album covers and lyrics.

Eddie awakens to find himself inside the Temple of Ormagoden, inhabited by hooded followers of Emperor Doviculus, the Demon King of this new world. To escape, Eddie grabs The Separator (a double-bladed broad axe) and defeats three of the followers. He then picks up Clementine (a Flying V guitar) and electrocutes most of the other followers. Minutes later, Eddie escapes to find Ophelia, a young woman who also sought the Separator. She comments on how he handles the axe well, Eddie was confused how he knows how to use it, he had never used a battle axe before. The two decide to work together until they find a way out. Just when they are about to escape, the two are faced with hundreds of followers, ready to besiege the temple. Eddie notices a glowing tablature carved on the walls near them and uses Clementine to play a solo, revealing parts for a car. Eddie assembles the parts into a hot rod called the "The Deuce", AKA the "Druid Plow". He and Ophelia use the Deuce to plow through the army advancing on the Temple. During this, Ophelia explains to Eddie that the world he is in is inhabited by millions of demons determined to rule the world, but she works with a group of humans who fight the demons in the hope that their world will be peaceful again. They soon arrived at the Feeding Pit, the dwelling place of a large worm-like lampray creature. Eddie battles the creature while Ophelia unlocks the gate. After the fight, Eddie's rash words caught Ophelia's ear, and she asked what French kissing is. Eddie was nervous to answer, but before he could tell her, the worm monster attacked Ophelia. Eddie uses a power chord to break the chains that keep the gate open, the gate closes down and injures the creature, and in celebration, Eddie cries out, "DECAPITATION!" while air guitaring on his axe. Believing that he killed it, Eddie proceeded to attempt to teach Ophelia how to "French Kiss", but before he could, the worm monster used its last bit of strength to destroy the gate. After the destruction of the gate, Eddie and Ophelia use the Deuce to ride the gate like a ramp and escape the temple.

You Say You Want A Revolution?

He and Ophelia soon approach the rebellion hideout, where Eddie meets Lars, the leader of the rebellion, and Lita Halford, a brave warrior and Lars' sister. Eddie tells them his story, about how he was summoned from another world by his own belt buckle. Lita, Lars, and Ophelia then explain that the belt buckle was actually steel flesh from Ormagoden himself. The reason Ormagoden brought Eddie to their world was a mystery; whether to destroy or liberate mankind, the party was unsure. Knowing Eddie posed no threat, Lars offers Eddie a place in the rebellion. Eddie gladly accepts.

The rebellion was still short of an army, so Lars brings Eddie to where they can find one. Lars then shows Eddie the Crushing Pit. A massive pit-like cave owned by Lionwhyte. Lars tells Eddie of the Headbangers, a group of strong, thick-headed men who are slaves to Doviculus's second in command, General Lionwhyte. Eddie ventures into the mines and plays the Battle Cry solo to the Headbangers, who were amazed and inspired by it. Eddie asks them to join the rebellion; however, he discovered that Lionwhyte had followers of his own, who loved their hair and looks more than their freedom. Lionwhyte's followers attempt to convince the Headbangers that working for their luscious-haired general would pay off, but the Headbangers weren't swayed and instead joined Eddie to free the other Headbangers and defeat Lionwhyte once and for all. After killing the guard, Eddie teaches the Headbangers to follow his orders and move as a team. Eddie and the headbangers then enter the main area of the crushing pit. A rotating gyre being pushed by other headbangers. The main boss is Mittens( a bouncer with a lionwhyte shirt and golden headset). After sending some guards, with no breakthrough. Mittens becomes impatient and orders the guards to bring down the gyre to kill all of the headbangers. After defending the platform's posts, Eddie climbs to the top to fight Mittens. Eddie stuns Mitten, which results in him falling off the scaffolding and landing on the gyre. Mittens calls code red and alerts all guards before being knocked into the lava by one of the arms of the rotating gyre, launching Mittens' headset onto a nearby rock as he burns in the lava. The rest of the guards flood out and begin to attack. The limited number of headbangers try and fight as Eddie finds Mittens' golden headset. Eddie plays the Battle Cry solo into the headset to alert the rest of the enslaved headbangers. Fortunately, this works, as all the headbangers jump off the platform and kill the guards. Afterward, Eddie chooses a name for the army: Ironheade (spelled with an E at the end to let people know they're not messing around), named after the Headbanger's thick skulls.

The Kill Master

Eddie returns to Bladehenge with "an army fit for a king", only to see Ophelia mortally injured after freeing the women from Lionwhyte's palace. Concerned about the fate that would ensnare his friend, Lars takes Ophelia to the Kill Master, a talented mystic who uses his bass guitar skills to heal the wounded and sick in Thunderhorn. Eddie and Lita follow Lars to the Kill Master's lair, fighting off enemies and stampedes on the path. Lars and the group arrive; however, the kill master refused at first to heal Ophelia, only deciding to heal her due to the war against Lionwhyte. Unfortunately, the Kill Master's bass strings were not thick enough to heal. The Kill Master needed new, thicker bass strings, spun by the metal spider queen in the Spider's Nest. Lars offered to go, but Lita stopped him, believing that Ophelia shouldn't be healed. Lars replies to Lita, telling her that she wants Ophelia to die. While the two siblings argued, Eddie secretly went to the Spider's Nest to gather up spider webs from the Spider Queen. Eddie enters the lair. being attacked by Metal Spiders along the way. After fighting through the lair. he meets the Metal Queen. Eddie battles the Queen by stunning and attacking her. When Eddie delivers the last blow, the queen tries to strike one more time before dying. Eddie jumps and rolls out of the way as the Metal Queen falls. Realizing that killing the Queen took way too much time, he quickly builds the Thunderhog bike to deliver the stings back in time. Eddie makes it in time and supplies the Master with enough string to restore his friend. Ophelia was healed, but believed Lars saved her and thanked him instead, leaving an unappreciated Eddie to enlist the help of the Kill Master and his troops, Thunderhogs, just to piss off Lionwhyte.

Ophelia reveals that she has been freeing and recruiting women from Lionwhyte's castle to form her own group of female warriors, the Razor Girls. Eddie and the Kill Master assist Ophelia with arming the Razor Girls with the highly flammable tusks of the wild Razorfire Boar,(which is what injured her in the first place) Eddie, Ophelia, and the girls returned to the Ironheade hideout, where Eddie meets Mangus, a tweeky man with a tmanagement talent which would come in handy when Lars found out about an attack on their hideout led by General Lionwhyte when his castles eyes began to glow. Eddie decides to build a stage for battle, wanting to find out what a rock show can do when guitars can "blow shit up". Eddie asks Lars to bring his best engineer, Lars and Mangus show a second of confusion as they do not know what a engineer is. After building the stage, Eddie and Mangus test out the stage before the battle. It abruptly stops as they notice a weird geyser. Eddie quickly finds out that it's the fans, what the Titans used to power their machinery years ago, Fan Geysers. Eddie and the crew build a Merch Booth to harness the power of the fans. Before Eddie can explain Merch to Mangus, Linowhyte's soldiers are spotted on the field. As the battle goes on, Eddie feels a strange pain in his back. After Ophelia states she sees nothing wrong, Eddie decides to ignore it, saying he'd feel better after killing more of Lionwhyte's men.

The Downfall of Lionwhyte

After, Eddie and the troops of Ironheade prepare for a battle, led by Lars, toward Lionwhyte's castle, to finish his fight with the traitor. Before the battle, A bunch of leech-like creatures called Fan Leeches attach themselves to the Fan Geysers and start to suck on them. The crew shows disgust while Eddie screams at them to leave the fans alone. This moment of anger is quickly replaced with pain as Eddie's back pain returns, but this time, it's much worse. Suddenly, Eddie's skin turned blood red while he sprouted red bat wings, and his eyes burned with a yellow glow that would make the bravest warrior shudder in fear. Observing his new, demonic form, Ophelia reasoned that the Druid's blades must have been poisoned with demon venom during Eddie and Ophelia's venture in Ormagoden's Temple; Eddie was infected while attacking the Druids without even knowing it. Eddie wasn't going to submit, though, and instead decided to use this curse to his advantage, as he was somehow positive that the effects would wear off. In spite of the demonic makeover, he went forward and led Ironheade to victory. After the fight, Eddie changed back, just as he said he would. Angered by another loss, Lionwhyte fired the Bouncers, giving Ironheade an even wider unit variety. As they venture into the treacherous mountain pass to The Sanctuary of Sin, known as the Cleave of the Impaler. Unsurprisingly, Lionwhyte built a defense to prevent anyone from entering. Using Impaler Towers to prevent entrance. As Lars walks forward, a bouncer saves Lars as an Impaler arrow is shot at him. Fortunately, Ironheade encountered the people who helped Ophelia save the women, the Roadies. Eddie and the crew go to the Screaming Wall (a massive wall of amps and speakers). Ironheade battles their way to the wall, fighting Lionwhyte's soldiers and seagulls. During the journey, Eddie had a chance to spend some time with Ophelia. Ophelia tells Eddie a little bit about her family, who were actually Tear Drinkers- servants of the Sea of Black Tears. Her parents' history was why some people in Ironheade (especially Lita) didn't trust her. She concluded her story by saying the gate to the Sea of Black Tears was sealed shut by the Titans. Afterward, Eddie asked if she was in love with Lars, before Ophelia could give a straight answer, Eddie kissed her, showing his devotion to Ophelia. As a token of his trust, Eddie gave Ophelia something very precious to him- a necklace, once belonging to his mother. After supplying the Roadies with amps from the Screaming Wall, the stealthy Roadies helped Ironheade through the Cleave of the Impaler and into Lionwhyte's lair, the Pleasure Dome.

After destroying the Impaler Towers, some headbangers find a fallen chunk of one tower and mount the turret on a hot rod to create the Headsplitter unit.

Lionwhyte wasn't at all pleased with the intrusion and told Ironheade to leave. He exclaimed that he was the only thing between Lars and Doviculus. Lars, however, told him to shut the hell up as Lionwhyte extorted his men and enslaved them for profit. Lars was determined to defeat Lionwhyte and told the evil general that he was prepared to lead his friends to a peaceful future. Lars lets off a battle cry as they launch a full assault on Lionwhyte's Pleasure Tower. In the end, Ironheade is victorious as they destroy Lionwhyte's pleasure tower. Lionwhyte tries to rally his troops while the pleasure tower crumbles. His troops leave him to fight alone as he notices a mirror from the top of the pleasure tower begins to fall onto him, he shrieks into his microphone to try and stop it and blow the mirror away, but it breaks into pieces which slice and puncture him to the ground, killing him.

The Tainted Coil

Lars was prepared to take the fight to the true enemy: Lionwhyte's puppeteer, Emperor Doviculus, the demon emperor. Unfortunately, Mangus explains they can't move on due to Lionwhyte's Pleasure Tower crushing the road. Ophelia tells the crew they can leave through the old aqueduct leading to Death's Clutch. But Lita responds by telling Ophelia that it leads straight to the Sea of Black Tears. Digging at Ophelia due to her parents fighting in the Black Tear Rebellion. Mangus gets worried due to the aqueduct leading to the Fire Baron country. Mangus refuses to leave and tells Eddie that the gate is too strong and it wouldn't be able to break. Eddie shakes his head, motioning a hard no while Mangus frowns. Eddie then responds by telling Mangus to stop being a baby and do his fucking job while commenting on the diaper he uses so he doesn't have to stop the bus to piss. Lite started to question whether it was a good idea to continue the campaign. Lars reassures Lita that only good times lie ahead. No sooner had Ironheade made their plans when out of the darkness arrived, Doviculus, who wished to see the rebels who defeated Lionwhyte. Eddie and the crew jump into the fountain nearby to hide. They watched while Doviculus monologued about someone named Succoria, who was supposedly a spy working for him while living among the humans, leading Lita to believe Ophelia is the spy due to Doviculus having one of Ophelia's daggers. Doviculus comments on Succoria living amongst humans, and if they do not return, or they might not get their stench off of Succoria. Lars courageously stood up against Doviculus after the latter mocked humanity and proclaimed that he was the humans' king. After knowing that Lars was the leader, Doviculus mercilessly killed Lars by impaling him with his double-edged spear and throwing him off to the side. Eddie, Lita, and Ophelia rushed to Lars' side, who used his dying breath to tell Eddie to look after his sister. Eddie tells Mangus to bring him to the bus while Eddie and Ophelia prepare to avenge their fallen friend when Doviculus summoned an army of grotesque giants called the Bleeding Death to destroy the castle. Eddie and Ophelia escaped just in time, but Lita was waiting for them, claiming that Ophelia was the spy. Eddie stops Lita from killing Ophelia so Eddie can talk with her. Eddie was confused, but wanted to know the truth as well. Ophelia was trying to explain when she accidentally said that she knew about Eddie's parents. This troubling news angered Eddie, so the roadie left her stranded, believing her to be the spy Succoria. Eddie and Lita rendezvous with the rest of Ironheade to try and heal Lars with the Kill Master, but with no avail. The group decides to retreat and lie low in Death's Clutch.

Some Time Later...

After three months in hiding, a headbanger is seen fishing with his teeth, until he sees a lady in a wedding dress using an umbrella. The Headbanger is unable to see due to the fog in Death's Clutch. He sees that the lady is floating right towards him, realizing the danger, he tries to run, but is suddenly too weak to even get a few steps out. He is suddenly surrounded by a new threat - the Drowning Doom. It was an army of humans turned undead by the power of the Sea of Black Tears. The Sea of Black Tears, closed long before, had been reopened by Doviculus not long after General Lionwhyte was killed for the purpose of pitting human against human once again. The Headbanger screams for help, which Eddie and the crew hear, turning on the stage for a battle. After barely holding off the first few waves of Drowning Doom soldiers, followed by a much larger force, Ironheade was aided by the Fire Barons, who rescued the recovering rebellion from their damp fate after finding out that they were the ones who took out General Lionwhyte. After viewing the symbol on some of the attackers, a design identical to Ophelia's t-shirt, Eddie and Lita realize she must be the leader of this new army. Eddie decided to continue Ironheade's war against Doviculus by destroying the Sea of Black Tears, a choice Lita declared to be "suicide". The Fire Barons, however, asked, "Can we come?".

The Sea of Black Tears

Eddie ventures to the east side of Death's Clutch, coming across a Bridge made by the Titans that has fallen due to wear and tear. Eddie raises the bridge with the Relic Raiser solo, proud of his work, Eddie calls Mangus over to check out the bridge. After Mangus arrives, Eddie and Mangus begin to cross the bridge until Mangus comments about other people using it already. Mangus and Eddie stop as another car stops in the middle of the road. Shockingly, Drowned Ophelia walks out of her Hearse. As Eddie tries to find out what she did, she began to play a solo of her own, causing the bridge to fall down. Mangus and Eddie are barely able to escape before the whole bridge tumbles down again. Mangus is relieved that they can no longer drive to their deaths at the Sea of Black Tears, but Eddie responds by telling them that they only need to rebuild the bridge with some scaffolding in Bladehenge. Lita jumps in along with Eddie to go back home, but to their shock, Bladehenge had been taken over by the Tainted Coil due to their long hiatus. The crew quickly grabs the scaffolding and fend off Tick Choppers and return to rebuild the bridge. After the bridge is rebuilt, the crew passes over and into the Jungle.

When the crew entered the Jungle. They found a large number of Metal Beasts roaming the area. Eddie and the crew decide to try and tame the wild beasts and recruit them to their army. They enlist the help of the Fire Baron and begin to try and tame the Metal Beasts by surrounding it with a ring of fire and have Lita jump on and try and tame the beast. Eddie jokes by telling Lita to use her angry personality to tame the beasts. After capturing a few, Lita tells Eddie that she hasn't been able to tame any of them, and she has only just been clinging on. The Fire Baron then buds in saying that the Zaulia are the only ones that can tame and ride them. Telling Eddie and Lita that the Metal Beast is protected by them. As he says that, the Zaulia surround them and capture the three. The three are taken to the Temple of the Zaulia, where they would be burned alive. Eddie tries to explain his mission and tries to recruit them, but the leader, Rima, harshly refuses and lights the fire. Fortunately, Eddie finds Devil Thorns and quickly plays the Relic Raiser solo. Opening up the mural in the middle, showing everyone paintings and inscriptions of Riggnarok, Eddie's father. Rima explains to Eddie that Riggnarok helped the Zaulia at their lowest. fought a long side them, trained them, and gave them the skills to fight when the Black Tears threatened their tribe. Eddie tells Rima about the Ormagoden amulet that brought Eddie to this land and how he still doesn't know a lot about his father's past. But he knows that his father fought along side the Zaulia years ago, Eddie convinces Rima and the Zaulia join Ironheade after realizing Eddie's heritage. Calling him "the Son of Rriggnarok". After leaving the mural, Eddie talks to Lita, asking her if she doesn't trust him due to his father's involvement in the Black Tear Rebellion. Lita tells Eddie that his father was a hero, the only one to resist the Black Tear temptation and the only one to survive. Lita then questions that maybe Eddie was sent back in time to finish his father's mission. Eddie responds by saying that it isn't his father's mission anymore, it's Eddie's. After gathering the army, they make way for the Sea of Black Tears. As they make their way into the Infinite Mire, they fight off Drowning Doom troops and Reaper Steeds. Soon enough, they make it to the Dry Ice Mines. As Ironheade enters, they find it almost impossible to see due to the fog emitting from the Dry Ice. Eddie compliments the fog, saying that it's better than any fog machine he has ever used. Before they are able to grab some of the ice, Ophelia appears before the crew. Eddie takes the opportunity to question her motives, so Ophelia explains by showing Eddie a vision of her past. Ophelia was lost and heartbroken, so she accepted her parents' fate and jumped into the Black Tears, hoping for death. Instead, Ophelia became possessed by its darkness. Mangus is unable to back up the bus, so they decide to stand their ground and fight off the Drowning Doom. Ironheade ultimately wins the battle, but Eddie still couldn't kill Ophelia, who tempted him with secrets of his family, saying that the Emperor had already gone to the future along with Riggnarok. Eddie responded, saying his father must have defeated the Emperor because "In the future, there aren't too many demonic overlords running around. Except at record companies. Ophelia tempts him by saying,"I heard he went along for the ride..." referencing Succoria and his father mission to kill the emperor, and flies off. A confused Eddie tells her that he knows where she will go. Drowned Ophelia tells Eddie that she knows and will be waiting for him at the Sea of Black Tears.

Ironheade finally arrives at the Sea of Black Tears. Mangus comments about it looking more like a "lake of Black Tears". Before the battle. Eddie tells Lita that this will be the last battle of the tour. Lita begins to talk about how proud Lars would've been, and that he knew that Eddie would lead them to victory, and Eddie should be proud of himself for the progress he made. Before saying anything else, she realizes Eddie fell asleep. She offers to unload the stage and begin the battle. Eddie begins to dream about Ophelia and the love he had for her. But the dream is cut short as the final battle begins. Ironheade takes down the Drowning Doom, finally finishing off the army for good. Lita is cautious about Eddie killing his lover, but Eddie insists that he has to do it. Eddie enters Ophelia's chamber to end the battle. There, he learns that Ophelia suspected Eddie as the traitor, just as he suspected her. Eddie is prepared to face Ophelia, but when he calls her by what he believes to be her true name, Succoria, she gives him a confused look and begins to laugh, telling him again that that isn't her name.

Abomination Overdrive

As it turns out, Ophelia was never the traitor, and Succoria was, in fact, Eddie's mother. This is revealed by none other than Doviculus, who appeared after Eddie asked who Succoria was. The former Empress of Demons, and that Succoria was planning to spy on the humans. Eddie was confused, so Doviculus even mentions to Eddie that The Separator was Succoria's weapon and that the very T-shirt he wears belonged to her (the name Succoria is actually hidden in the stylized drawing on the front of the shirt). She had planned to exploit the knowledge of the Titans, but when she arrived in the modern age of man, she was dismayed to learn that the future belonged to humans, not demons. She abandoned her mission as her bloodthirstiness died, and her spirit was sapped by modern civilization. Riggnarok could not bring himself to kill the pitiful Succoria, but instead began to care for the demon. In time, they grew intimate, the result of that bond being Eddie. Doviculus finally revealed that although Succoria and Riggnarok traveled to the future, the secrets that she gave to Doviculus came from the past. Doviculus thanks Eddie for fulfilling his mother's wishes by bringing the secrets of the Titans and ensuring that demons will rule this world forever.. Eddie was still confused; he believed that the blood left on the dagger was Succorias. Revealing that Doviculus didn't smell the blood on Ophelia's dagger, he was actually smelling Eddie's blood. Doviculus then rips out Ophelia's heart, killing her instantly. ending the Black Tear Rebellion. To further torture the roadie, he says that it was all Eddie's fault for turning her into a monster. Doviculus then summoned a giant tower-like monster to finish off the son of Succoria.

Using his army, Eddie can defeat Doviculus's monster and then face Doviculus himself in the final battle. Doviculus stated that Eddie was a demon raised improperly by humans. When the demonic overlord asks if there was a word for people like him, Eddie replies, "I'm a Roadie. I keep the trash off the stage." and charges the villain. The battle is difficult and straining, but Eddie finally defeats Doviculus by slicing off his head, stomping the ground, and yelling "DECAPITATIOOOOOOOOOOOON!", using the power of his voice to knock the Emperor's severed head off his shoulders.

After the battle, Eddie steals Ophelia's heart back from Doviculus' corpse. Unexpectedly, however, the heart melts, showing the necklace Eddie gave Ophelia. Through this, Eddie finally realizes that he wasn't fighting the real Ophelia at all, just her heart's grief and anger in the form of darkness. At that moment, with Doviculus no longer in control of the Sea via possession of Ophelia's heart, the cathedral monster he created collapses back into the water.

This throws Eddie into the Sea along with it, and after swimming down a short way, he finds Ophelia sleeping peacefully. He places his mother's necklace around her neck again, joyful in the knowledge that he has found her at last. But when this does not appear to have any effect on her, for the first time, Eddie begins to falter, and the dark tendrils of the Black Tears start to pull him down into the Sea's depths. All seems lost until Ophelia wakes up and saves Eddie's life, grabbing on to his stage pass and dragging him to the surface. The two embrace each other exactly how they did in Eddie's dream before the battle.

The End

On the day of celebration, Eddie is content to stay in the shadows while Lita and the late Lars take the glory for Ironheade's success. While Eddie is cleaning up, Mangus asks if he is going to the after party which Eddie declines. Mangus then gives Eddie a gift, Eddie's tour book, Mangus secretly took it from Eddie and got other members of Ironheade, including him, to sign the book with drawings. Mangus and the rest of Ironheade say their tearful goodbyes, but Eddie assures them he's not going anywhere; he just has a few errands to run. An impatient Mangus tells Eddie that he isn't hauling the stage by himself, but Eddie reassures him, "The tour is over, we're home now". Mangus smiles ear-to-ear as Eddie walks out. From a distant hillside, Ophelia sees Eddie driving across the countryside in the Deuce, and a single black tear rolls down her cheek as he drives off.

Appearances

As the player-controlled protagonist, Eddie Riggs appears in every mission.

Characteristics

Eddie is proclaimed as the "greatest roadie of all time", and supports that fact throughout the game. He is able to build the Deuce from spare parts summoned at the Temple of Ormagoden, and later organises and leads the armies of Ironheade.

He is also a skilled guitarist, able to perfectly read tabulature and shred with Clementine surprisingly well. He can use the Separator almost perfectly, even though he admits that he'd never touched an axe before. This may be the influence of having a warrior father and a demon mother, who also wielded the axe. Eddie is also very strong. As he was assembling the Druid Plow he lifted its body and frame with ease. He's also shown carrying large amp towers for the Roadies to carry when gearing up to assault Lionwhyte's stronghold.

Eddie's personality can be immature at times, and he is almost always sarcastic and snarky. However, he also knows when it's time to be serious, and is an efficient and capable leader of men. He also knows that, as a roadie, his place isn't in the leadership of an army - a fact proven upon his initial meeting with Lars Halford. Eddie is also friendly and a good advisor, when people (Lita, Kage, and the Headbangers) have doubts of what they can do, Eddie supports them and helps them realize how strong and powerful they really are. Eddie also has a strong sense of justice in him when someone is being attacked or discriminated, like when Doviculus killed both Lars and Ophelia, Eddie would stop at nothing to defeat him and avenge his friends.

When it comes to Ophelia, Eddie can't help but feel strongly about her. He was partly jealous of Lars when Ophelia acknowledges him instead of Eddie, but he doesn't let it change the way he thinks of his friends. Even when Ophelia was taken in by the Drowning Doom, Eddie still loved her, and he was willing to do whatever it took to save her.

Quotes

Battle Quotes

“I want a Heavy Metal hurricane!”

— Eddie when Double Teaming with Headbangers

“Sorry I messed up your batting order!”

— Eddie after playing the Rock Block solo

“Try doing your own show now, loser!”

— Eddie's alternate quote for playing Rock Block

“Rock can heal, but sometimes it hurts.”

— Eddie after playing the Facemelter solo

“I know you wish you were a bib cause you got face all over your shirt Facemelter solo”

— {{{2}}}

“FACE MELTED!!!Facemelter solo”

— {{{2}}}

“If your heart's not palpitating now, call a doctor because you are dead!”

— Eddie after playing the Battle Cry solo

“Oh mighty sun, burn the creatures of the night from this land while I enjoy coffee and bacon.”

— Eddie after playing the Light of Dawn solo

“You look like a cockroach wrapped in bacon!”

— Eddie when approached by Doviculus in Multiplayer

“What's that you got there, a new handbag? Looks heavy!”

— Eddie after using the Anvil of Burden solo on an enemy avatar

“If you're gonna copy my style, at least learn how to fight!”

— Eddie when fighting another Ironheade player in Multiplayer

“Oh god, I think you got your MAKEUP on me!”

— Eddie when hit by certain Drowning Doom units

“Freaky bondage loving perverts!”

— Eddie when hit by certain Tainted Coil units

“Demon, I will mess you up if you do that again!”

— Eddie when hit by certain Tainted Coil units

“You gross disgusting mutants!”

— Eddie when hit by certain Tainted Coil units

“Watch it lame-o!”

— Eddie when hit by certain Hair Metal Militia units

“Geez, that voice is so annoying!”

— Eddie when hit by Lionwhyte's voice

“Free those fans so they may come to love us!”

— Random quote when Eddie uses the Charge command

“Shit!”

— Eddie when he hits the wrong note

“Tear down that shitty Merch Booth!”

— Random quote when Eddie uses the Charge command

“Alright, I'm the wiener and you're the bun; now come on and let's have fun.”

— Random quote when Eddie calls his troops to follow him

“Everything in that general direction must DIE!”

— Random quote when Eddie uses the Charge command

“Don't worry. A little duct tape will patch that right up.”

— Eddie when attacking an enemy avatar

“I don't think this is symbolic at all.”

— Eddie when fighting another Ironheade player in Multiplayer

“Too much metal!”

— Eddie while Double Teaming with a Razor Girl

“I claim this land for Ironheade!”

— Eddie after planting Rally Flag

“Really? A standing ovation - for me?”

— Eddie after claiming a Fan Geyser

“Okay, the new meeting place is me.”

— Eddie after moving Rally Flag

“Dude, check out my flag.”

— Eddie after moving Rally Flag

“Alright - shut up your yappin' tube and open up your learnin' hole.”

— Eddie while Commanding his army

“I should teach a class.”

— Eddie after killing an enemy

“I'm gonna make an ashtray outta your hoof.”

— Eddie while attacking Doviculus

“How's that feel? Like the greatest thing that ever happened to you, right?”

— Eddie to his army after playing the Battle Cry solo

“That hurt, but you admired the skill... right?”

— Eddie after killing an enemy

“I'm sorry, was that too intense?”

— Eddie after playing the Facemelter solo

Story Quotes

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO CLIMB ON THAT, YOU STUPID MOTHER... FUCKIN' PIECE OF SHIT!!!”

— Eddie when he yells at the Kabbage Boy guitarist for climbing on the stage

“Wait, I think I heard once that killing nuns is bad luck. I better get out of here.”

— Eddie Riggs after killing the first Battle Nun in "Welcome to the Age of Metal"

“Boy, these guys are awfully flammable for being soaking wet.”

— Eddie when using Rima's Metal Beast against the Drowning Doom during "Regret's Infinite Mire"

“Decapitatioooon!!!!!!!”

— Eddie after he kills Doviculus and The Lamprey

Trivia

The concept art for Eddie.

• Eddie Riggs is named after Eddie the Head (the mascot of Iron Maiden), and Derek Riggs (the artist who created the mascot)

• In multiplayer, Eddie's demon skin has either a more red tone than in the campaign or a more blue tone to match the red or blue Ironheade units.

• Eddie is voiced by and modelled after actor and musician Jack Black. His original appearance was a bulkier version of Motörhead front-man Lemmy Kilmister, with the only hold-overs being Eddie's stage pass and cigarettes.

• Eddie's favorite book is Call of the Wild by Jack London.

• Eddie made an appearance in the promotion commercial for Metalocalypse (a promotion tour for Dethklok's Dethalbum II) as a roadie to Dethklok, in which he saves them from a Bouncer.
  • Strangely enough, while being naturally right-handed, in the commercial Eddie is left-handed.
  • Murderface mentions a slight resemblance to Glen Danzig, who is believed to also be inspiration for Eddie's character model

• Tim Schafer explains that he got the idea for using a roadie as the main character in a video game when he met one of Megadeth's roadies, Tony. He also wanted a character similar to ones played by Jack Black, who are often enthusiastic metal lovers, and upon the casting of Black himself, redesigned the character to resemble him. It is possible the inspiration for his guitar's electric shock power comes from the Judas Priest's song 'Painkiller', where the Painkiller comes to humanity after they pray for help, and blasts bolts of steel. Also, the phrase in the song "Evil's going under deadly wheels" may have been an influence for the Deuce, and its nickname, the "Druid Plow".
  • In another parallel to Jack Black's career, Eddie carried a shark's tooth on a necklace, which he was told belonged to his mother, and some fans believe to actually be one of Succoria's teeth. If so, it parallels the Tenacious D movie "Pick of Destiny", where the titular pick is a tooth taken from Satan that is responsible for the success of the greatest metal bands, and Eddie is the world's greatest Roadie.

• Eddie's default outfit consists of a black t-shirt with indistinguishable writing on the front of it (which is later revealed as a logo of his demon mother, Succoria), a black leather vest with lapel pins all over it (with one being the eventual Ironheade faction symbol and one being an 8-ball like the gear shift knob on The Deuce), and space on the back of it for one of the Back Patches, a sweatband on his right wrist, a spiked bracer on his left wrist, his road crew credentials, the amulet of Ormagöden which is worn as a belt buckle, black jeans, and black-and-white sneakers.

Gallery

". . .I promise you I feel fine"

"Oh man, don't tell me I've been slaying hot girls this whole time."

The Mountain Man Threads

Pre-Release and Promotional

Eddie in the announce trailer.

Early concept art for Eddie resembling Lemmy Kilmister.

Later concept art resembling Jack Black.