Tala

Tala is a female character from the video game Darkwatch: Curse of the West. She is the game's second female main character, and is a Darkwatch agent and partner to Jericho Cross who seduces him and uses him to turn her into a vampire. Using her newly acquired vampiric powers to her advantage.

This dark seductress who tempts Jericho to return to his outlaw ways, Tala is the key to Jericho's salvation... or his doom.

Biography
Tala, whose name means "Stalking Wolf," belongs to an ancient lineage of Native American shamans. As a child, Tala's ability to communicate with the spirits made her a misfit and an outcast in her tribe. As a result of the murder of her father by treacherous fur traders and her seer of a mother sent to die in a storm by her fearful tribe, Tala developed an intense distrust for others, not just the white man, but all of humanity.

Tala was captured and abused by the same traders that killed her father until an attack by a clan of vampires brought an end to the trader's trail. In the hunt for the vampire clan, Tala was rescued by Darkwatch Regulators after she had been left for dead. The Darkwatch made Tala one of their own, but they were unaware of her true motivation - that she resolved to never be powerless again, and that she would do anything to gain revenge on the world that had murdered her family.

Appearance
Tala is a young, attractive Native American who appears to be of average height and possesses a voluptuous figure. She has long raven black hair with feathers and dark brown eyes that turn white when she becomes a vampire. While Cassidy is shown to dress more modestly, Tala is shown to dress more provocatively. Displaying her ample cleavage through her Darkwatch uniform. As a vampire, she abandons the Darkwatch Citadel after her treachery and dons a corset in place of her uniform.

Personality
Tala is the antithesis of Cassidy - seductive, sensuous, smoldering, dangerous as the evil forces she fights. In many ways, she represents the "new breed" of Darkwatch Agent. As mysterious as Jericho, Tala's meteoric rise in the ranks of the Darkwatch has been marked by an unshakable lust for power and a ruthless efficiency on the battlefield.

Tala's grace, speed, and power make her a natural contender for combat with the undead, and she often elects hand-to-hand combat over long-ranged combat. Though she is careless with her fellow men's lives, she compensates for it with utter fearlessness and her incredible ability to triumph against insurmountable odds. Silent as a shadow, Tala will sometimes vanish from the field at what appears a critical moment, only to reappear behind enemy lines, bathed in the blood of her enemies, and signaling to her squad that victory is in sight. Tala will do whatever it takes to rise to the top of the Darkwatch. For her own quest for power, as well as for the Darkwatch's war against darkness, she sees in Jericho Cross the perfect partner for their fight.

Summary
As a member of the Darkwatch society in the Wild West, she worked to combat the threats posed by vampires and the undead. Within the organization, she rose swiftly to the rank of Regulator. Following Cassidy's death, the leader of the vampire hunter society assigned Tala as Jericho Cross' new partner. Although she participated and helped him in quite a few missions, it became quite evident that she had ambitions for power. She would seduce Jericho Cross and the two would have sex at which point she would tempt him to bite her, transforming her into a creature similar to himself. This led to her betraying the Darkwatch and allowing Lazarus Malkoth's minions to invade the Citadel. After Lazarus was defeated by Jericho Cross, Tala arrived to take the vampire lord's power. A mysterious portal opens into a chamber once used by Lazarus as a place of ceremony to gain ultimate power.


 * Good Ending: Jericho rejects her attempts to seduce him into joining her. Cassidy's spirit prevented her from influencing Jericho despite her efforts to convert him. In anger, Tala transforms into a winged demon and attacks Jericho, but she is ultimately defeated. While lying on the ground and mortally wounded, she tells Jericho as she breathes her last that she would have loved him forever.


 * Evil Ending: Tala enticed Jericho to join her after Lazarus was defeated, and a portal opened once more to the ancient chamber. Cassidy's spirit refuses to allow Jericho to fall into darkness and transforms into a flying angelic being that battles the undead. Having defeated Cassidy, Tala rejoices and proclaims that their world is now theirs. As she embraces Jericho in a passionate kiss, things begin to turn violent when Jericho's dark nature refuses to share any power, and he devours her.

''No matter which path you choose, Tala will be killed at the end by Jericho. In the good path, she will be killed as the final boss, while in the evil path, he turns on her and kills her after being driven mad by Lazarus' power''.

Quotes
"“Giddy up cowbody, my name's Tala... Let's mount up.” - Tala's first introduction to Jericho.""“I played you Jericho, and you gave me what I wanted.” - Tala after she becomes a vampire and turns against the Darkwatch."

Trivia

 * Tala was voiced by Rose McGowan.
 * Originally, Tala was intended to be a playable character, but the studio's marketing department "didn’t think that would fly."
 * Tala is darker and more brutal than Cassidy.
 * According to GameSpy, Tala is "without a doubt, the most difficult boss to fight."
 * She is the only character in the game who uses kicks in combat. Due to the artists deciding that "some of the combat moves the actress performed fit the character so well that we changed the combat system she's using."
 * The game's developers described her as not evil, but "just ambitious".
 * Complex ranked Tala as the 14th "hottest woman" in video games.
 * Tala was featured as a digital pinup in Playboy’s Girls of Gaming issue in 2006.