Able Ryder

Lance Corporal 'Able' Ryder is the main protagonist of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game. Ryder is a Signals Specialist who is chosen to take part in the Avatar Program and is one of the 20 original avatar drivers.
The player can choose their sex and a variety of different appearances, thus Ryder has no canonical gender or look.
==Biography==
As a child growing up in sprawling Southern California, Ryder was exposed to the vagaries of life among the myriad nameless, faceless denizens of a modern megacity. Like many inhabitants of the rapidly degenerating planet Earth, Ryder grew up in relative poverty. Though their parents lacked the resources to provide their child with an escape route from the crumbling society on Earth, Ryder's aptitude for mathematics and a talent for pattern recognition offered a faint glimmer of hope.
Like many of the Earth's poor, salvation could be had by enlisting in the military, and Ryder's gifts proved to be coveted assets. Consequently, they became a Signal Specialist and began training in the ways of codebreaking and cryptography. Unsurprisingly, these skills were worth quite a bit to the Military, which found itself in a constant battle to defend Earth's titanic megacorporations from environmental terrorists bent on hindering any effort to harvest what little was left of Earth's once great bounty.
===Enlistment===
At the age of 18, Ryder joined the army, excelling at decoding and signals within 5 years. In the next 4 years, Ryder worked as Signals Specialist interpreting covert codes and data. Their skills earned them the nickname "Able," a common slang for Sigs Spec. After this, Ryder worked with the Resources Development Administration, deciphering the coded communications of eco-terrorists attempting to disrupt the RDA's mining efforts in the Marianas Trench. Although Ryder's work helped safeguard the RDA's operations in the Pacific Ocean, an accident during tectonic subduction exercises in the Trench induced a tremendous tsunami that engulfed a large section of the Pacific coast.
Succumbing to crushing feelings of guilt, Ryder left their post at the RDA and returned to the military to live out the rest of their days working a cryptology job that came with as little responsibility as possible. They were tormented by their role in a disaster that had taken the lives of so many, despite the fact that it led to the discovery of vast tracts of new mining resources which the RDA claimed offset any “collateral damages.”
And so it went for a few years, and Ryder kept their head down and their mouth shut while they collected their paycheck without ever having to worry about things like being invested in his work or caring about much else.
===Avatar Program===
Ryder was approached with a way off the decaying rock that was Earth. In the far-flung reaches of outer space, big things were going on. Alien worlds were being discovered and new technologies were springing up as a result, and somebody wanted Ryder's help with it all. It was the chance of a lifetime, so of course it came with its share of strings. The RDA had re-entered Ryder's life for a second time, and they wanted to enroll them in their Avatar Program, a scientific curiosity that fused human DNA with that of an alien species. They signed up almost immediately.
===Pandora===
After the five-year trip in cryosleep, Ryder travels down to the planet in a shuttle and is attached to both the RDA military forces and the Avatar Program, where they are briefed by Dr. Grace Augustine. After arriving at Hell's Gate Ryder is greeted by Officer Kendra Midori, and brought to the main complex. There they are brought to Victor Monroe and linked up to their avatar. After this, Ryder meets with Commander Falco, who tells them to travel to Blue Lagoon to find a mole who is giving info to the Tipani, a local Na'vi clan. After arriving in Blue Lagoon, Ryder is greeted by viperwolves but is able to fight them off using a turret. 
Ryder is then commanded by Kendra to save a soldier named Dalton who has been cornered by some viperwolves. After making their way through the wilderness, Ryder finds Dalton and sets a beacon for him. After this, Ryder meets with Kendra and links up to their avatar, then finds Dr. René Harper and his team of avatars. After getting some plant samples, Ryder meets with Dr. Harper and Tan Jala, a Na'vi warrior. Ryder is then ordered to meet with Falco after killing two sturmbeests, where they are informed that Tan Jala is the link to the mole. Ryder follows Tan Jala to a cliff overlooking the area and sees that Tan Jala is with Harper before the Na'vi warrior then escapes on his ikran.
Harper tells Ryder that the beacon was a signal for a Dragon Assault Ship to destroy a Na'vi reservation. Ryder is guilt-ridden. However, a Samson, carrying Falco and several other RDA grunts, arrives to kill Harper, and Harper attempts to get Ryder to side with the Na'vi.
The player at this point can choose either to remain with the RDA or join the Na'vi; this decision affects the remainder of the game.
==Joining with the Na'vi==
Ryder, now with a new perspective of the RDA, shoots Falco's soldiers and wounds the former commander. Falco escapes in his Samson, swearing revenge against Ryder as the two avatars escape. After they arrive at a Na'vi village in Iknimaya, Harper tells Ryder that he and Tan Jala will lead a raiding party to get their link chambers from RDA territory. 
Meanwhile, Ryder stays and meets with Beyda'amo, a fierce Na'vi warrior, who tells them to destroy a missile guidance tower. After stealing some bombs left by the corporation, Ryder destroys the tower and takes the long journey through the mountains to bond with an ikran. After doing this, they destroy several other towers and return to the village to meet with Harper. Harper has returned with their link chambers, but they were followed by a Dragon assault ship, and several other RDA personnel, who immediately engage the Na'vi. Ryder destroys the Dragon by crippling the rotor engines and escapes as the ship crashes. Two more Dragon ships arrive and destroy the link chambers with missiles. The link bed is flung open, exposing Ryder's human body to the toxic Pandoran air, causing their avatar to collapse and black out.
===Life with the Na'vi===
Ryder suddenly awakens in the Tipani Hometree, where they are informed by Sänume to have had their spirit transferred into their avatar. Beyda'amo does not accept this but is dismissed. Ryder is also told that Harper could not be saved. After this, Ryder and Tan Jala journey to Swotulu to gather a harmonic that will lead to the dormant Well of Souls, a holy place where Na'vi can communicate with Eywa, and where the RDA is attempting to go to and wipe the Na'vi off the planet. Once there, Ryder goes to find Lungoray, a Na'vi shaman that can decipher the harmonics needed to find the Well of Souls. After searching several Na'vi villages that are under attack, Ryder comes across an RDA construction zone, where Lungoray was last seen. Lungoray's student, Unipey, is found by Ryder, who tells them to destroy the RDA's bulldozers and free Na'vi warriors from an RDA camp. After fulfilling these tasks, Unipey tells Ryder that Lungoray might be in a RDA factory. 
After fighting through the factory with a raiding party, Ryder battles three AMP suits, and destroys the main mining complex. After escaping on their banshee, Ryder meets again with Unipey, who has recovered from the battle. She tells them to follow the trail of Unobtanium Shards, which leads Ryder to the Willow Cavern where they are contacted by Kendra. She informs Ryder that Falco is searching for the Well of Souls and that he has an emulator that will trick Eywa into thinking it is the First Voice, a Na'vi that has the ability to awaken the dormant site and communicate with Eywa. Ryder continues and meets with Lungoray, who tells them to gather three crystal shards from the cavern and bring them to the Willow Tree. Ryder retrives the shards and Lungoray uses them to try and summon the harmonic, but an RDA soldier who was hiding in the bushes appears and shoots Lunogary with a rifle. Tan Jala appears and shoots the soldier with an arrow, and tells Ryder to gather the signal, which the former SigSpec declines, but eventually does and succeeds.
===Becoming the First Voice===
After returning to the Hometree, Ryder is seen as the First Voice by Sänume and the other clan members. Ryder denies this, saying they're only a SigSpec doing what is good. Despite this, Ryder leaves to gather other harmonics to find the Well of Souls. After several successful missions, Ryder journeys to a large area on RDA territory to gather the last harmonic. As they attempt to get the first shard, it is destroyed by RDA soldiers, as is the second shard. Beyda'amo tells Ryder to help in destroying the main RDA camp there. After raiding the camp, Ryder gains the crystal and arrives at the Willow Tree. Beyda'amo demands to know why Ryder isn't getting the harmonic, and Ryder confesses that they do not have the other two shards. Beyda'amo becomes enraged at Ryder, who decides to attempt to gather the harmonic without the shards and succeeds. After this, Beyda'amo is convinced that Ryder is the First Voice, and so is Ryder. 
===Tantalus - Race for the Well of Souls===
After returning to the Hometree, the Tipani learn the location of the Well of Souls: Tantalus. The Na'vi forces journey there and find that the RDA is there as well. Three Na'vi commanders tell Ryder to kill some RDA leaders. After defeating the RDA leaders, Ryder helps defend a Na'vi village from an RDA attack. A toruk arrives and offers itself as Ryder's mount for the final battle. 
After arriving at the Well of Souls, Falco follows Ryder in a Dragon gunship. Ryder attempts to stop Falco, but the RDA commander orders the pilots to open fire on them and the Well of Souls. Suddenly, the tree emits a large EMP-like wave, causing the Dragon to crash and explode, killing Falco and crippling the RDA leadership. Tan Jala arrives and looks out to the skies with Ryder and tells them that the First Voice cannot have a second. Ryder tells Tan Jala that more humans will soon arrive.
==Losing Their Avatar==
If they choose to side with the RDA, Ryder attacks Harper. Harper grabs a bow and arrow and backs over to a cliff only saying, "You fool," before falling off. Ryder looks over the cliff and is hit in the chest by Harper's arrow. Their avatar falls down, dead.
Fortunately, Ryder survives and is brought with Kendra to Hell's Gate, but their Samson is knocked out of the air by two banshees in Needle Hills. The two survive the crash and Ryder gets a Scorpion Gunship from a nearby RDA mining facility. They bring Kendra to the base and is told by Falco and Monroe to get three crystal shards and bring them to a willow tree. After doing this, Ryder records a harmonic and deciphers part of a code that could find the Well of Souls, a dormant Na'vi site used to communicate with Eywa.
Ryder receives orders to journey to other areas on Pandora and find yet more willow trees in order to capture more harmonics. Journeying to areas such as Grave's Bog and the FEBA, Ryder helps the RDA forces to terminate any Na'vi resistance and give the RDA troops firm control of many brutally contested zones. After collecting the harmonics from these areas, Ryder eventually travels to the Hanging Gardens to collect one more harmonic, and where two link chambers have been found.
Gathering more shards and investigating mysterious signals, Ryder finds that they are two rogue avatars, neither of which is Harper; they kill the avatars and their scientist controllers, who have long since gone rogue and been deemed as traitors by RDA High Command. Journeying within a vast glowing cavern complex to find the last willow tree, Ryder comes across the rogue Harper, who opens fire but is shot and killed by Ryder. Ryder goes to Harper's Link Unit and after a brief conversation as well as several taunts from Harper, Ryder shoots Harper's human body, killing him permanently. They then gather the harmonic and leave the Hanging Gardens.
After returning to Hell's Gate, Ryder finds that Falco and Monroe are missing. He loads the harmonic into the computer and finds that the Well of Souls is located at Tantalus. Kendra tells Ryder that Monroe is dead and the Emulator, a device made to impersonate the first voice (a Na'vi who can awaken the Well), has gone missing and Falco has left as well. After going to the Plains of Goliath with their pilot, Trudy Chacón, Ryder meets with the new RDA commander, Colonel Quaritch. Quaritch sends Ryder to three RDA commanders who assign Ryder a list of Na'vi leaders needing immediate termination, as they are rallying Na'vi forces against the RDA offensive.
The first Na'vi tries to persuade Ryder to defect to the Na'vi, but the Na'vi leader's words fall on deaf ears and Ryder immediately kills him. After killing the remaining Na'vi commanders, Ryder is given a Dragon by Quaritch and journeys to Tantalus. Ryder arrives and is told by an RDA commander to kill Na'vi defenders and demolish the stone walls that shield a defending Na'vi village. After doing so, Scorpion gunships fly through the clear passage and obliterate the exposed village, allowing RDA forces to firmly secure the now undefended areas around Well of Souls.
Ryder arrives at the Well of Souls itself in the Dragon gunship and comes across Falco and the Emulator. Ryder tells Falco his inexperience with activating the Emulator will doom everything on Pandora, but the former commander simply scoffs at his warning and opens fire on Ryder, who is forced to kill him. After defeating Falco, Na'vi forces riding banshees attack Ryder as they are attempting to configure and activate the Emulator, but the Emulator is finally activated and the Na'vi lose control of their ikran; the banshees then violently shake off their riders, causing the Na'vi to fall to their doom.
Ryder is contacted by Quaritch, who congratulates Ryder on their success by saying that the Na'vi have lost control of their war-mounts and are fleeing from battles all across Pandora. Ryder is about to leave, but is contacted by Grace, who tells them that the immediate war is over and more humans will soon be arriving.
==Joining the RDA and Defecting to the Na'vi==
If the player chooses to agree to the Na'vi Commander's persuasion rather than kill him, Ryder defects to the Na'vi to protect Pandora. They are then sent to the other two Na'vi Commanders: The first tells Ryder to kill their old friend, Batista. After doing this, they are sent to kill Winslow and the Quartermaster. After defeating them, the Na'vi forces attack the RDA Mountain Base and capture a Dragon Assault Ship. 
Ryder flies to Tantalus and helps defend a Na'vi Village from the RDA, who are attempting to bomb it. Ryder then takes the Dragon and arrives at the Dormant Tree of Souls, followed shortly after by the former SecOps leader, Falco, in a stolen Dragon gunship. Falco is about to shoot Ryder, but the Tree of Souls awakens, creating a blast and deactivating the Dragon. Falco is sent crashing to the ground below and is killed in the explosion. Ryder then watches as the RDA forces evacuate. 
If the player chooses this ending, the same cutscene will play out as if Ryder defected to the Na'vi at the first opportunity. This includes the oversight of Tan Jala being present and speaking to Ryder, despite Ryder having killed him earlier in the story.
==Alternative Appearances==
===Male===
Ryder0001.png
Ryder0003.png
Ryder0005.png
Ryder0006.png
Ryder0009.png
Ryder0011.png
Ryder0013.png
Ryder0015.png
Ryder0017.png
Ryder0019.png
Ryder0021.png
Ryder0023.png
===Female===
Ryder0002.png
Ryder0004.png
Ryder0007.png
Ryder0008.png
Ryder0010.png
Ryder0012.png
Ryder0014.png
Ryder0016.png
Ryder0018.png
Ryder0020.png
Ryder0022.png
Ryder0024.png
de:Able Ryder
pl:Able Ryder
ru:Райдер
Category:Games Characters
Category:Human
Category:Avatar: The Game
Category:Avatars
Category:Avatar Program