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| “ | You know, if there is one thing I've learned, it's that we must obey the rules of the game. We can pick the game, Niko Bellic, but we cannot change the rules. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri Rascalov to Niko Bellic in "The Master and the Molotov", also his famous quote. |
| “ | But you messed up, and left a lot of bad debt. You left a good friend of mine out of pocket, big time. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri's betrayal. |
| “ | I laughed when I heard that Roman was dead! Ha! | „ |
| ~ Dimitri's most infamous quote in the Deal Ending, mocking Niko about his cousin's death (also one of his taunts during the final mission). |
Dimitri Rascalov (Russian: Дмитрий Раскалов) is the main antagonist of the Grand Theft Auto IV trilogy.
He is the main antagonist of the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV and one of the overarching antagonists of its 2009 midquels The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony.
The eventual archenemy of Niko Bellic, he was the former right-hand man and best friend of Russian mobster Mikhail Faustin before having him assassinated and taking over his business, allying himself with fellow Russian crime lord Ray Bulgarin to betray and kill Niko. Following this, Dimitri became the new leader of the Russian Mafia and crime lord of Liberty City, forging multiple partnerships with various mob bosses, including Kenny Petrović, Giovanni Ancelotti, Ray Bulgarin and Jimmy Pegorino.
He was voiced by Moti Margolin.
Biography[]
Background[]
Dimitri Rascalov was born in 1969 in the Soviet Union. He fought in the Soviet Army during the Cold war. At one point, he met and befriended Mikhail Faustin, possibly because the two had the project to found a Bratva (the name of a Russian mafia). As such, they both spent time in the same Siberian prison, and Dimitri was defended by Mikhail from other inmates, notably rapists. They became shills and "brothers for life". Eventually, they became criminals after their release from jails, and spent their time selling "hash to tourists in Red Square". Dimitri was apparently convicted of murder multiple times, although he certainly did this with the help of his accomplice Faustin.
Around 1995, they "exploited a loophole in the U.S. immigration treaty" and moved with their family to Hove Beach, a poor neighbor from Liberty City, where a Russian diaspora settled. Mikhail became a respected and major mobster, who would extort various shops across the city, but Dimitri has been relegated to the background, as Faustin's right-hand and treasurer of his Bratva. According to LCPD's computers, Dimitri was arrested in 1998 for extortion and busted again in 2000 for hijacking.
Over the years, Dimitri noticed Mikhail's top alcohol and cocaine has turned him extremely paranoid and abusive towards both Dimitri and his own wife, Ilyena. While Dimitri abused painkillers, he remained much calmer and thoughtful than Mikhail, gradually taking the leadership of the gang. Furthermore, Dimitri preferred to "play by the rules", which was becoming really difficult due to Mikhail's constant lashing-out and his addiction and attitude not making him or Dimitri very popular among the wackjobs and gangsters and mobsters of Liberty City. This brought Dimitri to became more and more distant towards Faustin.
Events of Grand Theft Auto IV[]
Dimitri first meets Niko Bellic and his cousin named Roman in 2008 when they are kidnapped (by Andrei) and tortured for killing Mikhail's employee, Vlad Glebov. He is shown to be working with Mikhail himself as his always-calm assistant. Since then, Niko would be doing favors for them, with one job that Dimitri against doing being killing the son of Kenny Petrovic, a major Russian Crime boss in Liberty City who sought vengeance on Mikhail after he found out what Niko did in Mikhail's name. As such, the remnants of their old friendships completely shattered.
Later on, Dimitri meets Niko secretly on a pier and orders him to kill his own boss so that Petrovic would spare both of them. While doing so, Mikhail tries to warn Niko about Dimitri's backstabbing nature, but fails and is killed by Niko. It is proven true when he finally betrays Niko and is shown working for his old enemy, Ray Bulgarin. After Niko escapes the ambush at a warehouse where Niko was meant to receive payment for the hit (helped by "Little" Jacob Hughes), Dimitri would try to turn his life into a living hell by burning down his cousin Roman's apartment and taxi depot. Niko and Roman immediately left Hove Beach and fled to South Bohan.
In The Lost and Damned DLC, he was owed an unspecified amount of money by Johnny Klebitz's girlfriend Ashley, so now Johnny (working for the Lost Motorcycle Club) had to kidnap Roman so that Dimitri would leave her alone. After that, Roman was brought before minions of Dimitri to be held hostage until Niko's arrival. However, Niko saves Roman from Dimitri, then swore to find him, cut off his face, and hang it on his wall to remind him of "what a lying, cheating, treacherous scumbag looks like".
He eventually became the top supplier of cocaine for the Ancelotti family and has one of his boats stolen by the Pegorino family. Later, he discovered that deputy mayor Bryce Dawkins, a happily married man, was actually a homosexual and extorted him. He blackmailed him and his secret boyfriend Florian Cravic (now named Bernie Crane), but Niko saved them from Dimitri's henchmen.
Ending[]
Near the end of GTA IV, Dimitri is allied with Jimmy Pegorino during a heroin deal, and Jimmy asks Niko if he could join in on it, the reward being $250,000. While Roman encourages Niko to put his vengeance aside and go through with the deal, Niko's girlfriend Kate McReary tells Niko that he shouldn't sacrifice his principles for money. Niko can then choose to go through with the deal or betray Pegorino and exact revenge on Dimitri.
Deal[]
If the player goes through with the Deal, Dimitri is to deliver the heroin to a third party while Niko and Phil Bell go to the buyer's compound to retrieve the money from them. Dimitri betrays Niko again by killing the buyer's representatives and taking the heroin for himself.
Niko and Phil fight their way through the compound but retrieve the money regardless. After this, Niko cuts his ties with Pegorino, and Kate refuses to attend Roman's wedding. Later at the said wedding, Dimitri sends a hitman to kill Niko, but Roman is shot and killed during the struggle.
Enraged, Niko and his friend "Little" Jacob Hughes follow Pegorino's men to an abandoned casino, where Dimitri and Pegorino are hiding. Inside, Niko witnesses Dimitri kill Pegorino, saying he "didn't work this hard to share the spoils of a victory". He then flees to Happiness Island in a chopper, with Niko and Jacob pursuing in another. There, Niko mortally wounds Dimitri and watches as he dies in front of the Statue of Happiness, criticizing his traitorous nature.
Revenge[]
If the player decides to exact Revenge, Niko tracks down Dimitri at the cargo ship Platypus, the ship that brought Niko to Liberty City. There, he shoots his way into the cargo hold and corners Dimitri there. After killing his remaining men, Niko backs Dimitri into a corner.
As Dimitri begs for his life, his pleas fall on deaf ears as Niko executes him. Despite dead, his actions still have consequences, as when Niko and Kate attend Roman's wedding, an angry Pegorino, enraged at Niko's betrayal and the collapse of his business, unloads an assault rifle and kills Kate McReary in a drive-by shooting while aiming for Niko.
Then, Niko, Little Jacob, and Roman follow Pegorino's men to an abandoned casino, where Pegorino is hiding. Pegorino flees to Happiness Island in a boat, with Niko, Jacob, and Roman pursuing in a chopper. There, Niko kills Pegorino in front of the Statue of Happiness.
The Ballad of Gay Tony[]
In the final mission of The Ballad of Gay Tony, Timur mentions that Dimitri is dead, so by the time the mission takes place, Niko has already killed Dimitri, no matter which ending it is.
Appearance[]
Dimitri appears as a rather slender man in his late thirties. He has very pale skin, possibly due to his treatment. He has a square cut made of blond, short hairs and wears black rectangular glasses. He has two green eyes. He also has tattoos in the palms of his hands. Whenever he plots, he sports an evil smile; otherwise, he has a stern look which he only looses at the end of the game when he faces his death.
His standard outfit, as shown above, is a white shirt under a rotting green jacket, matching suit pants and brown shoes. He is never seen in another tenue. Also, like most characters in the game, Dimitri will don a unique helmet when riding alongside the protagonist on a motorbike. His helmet is green, with two white stripes along with the temples.
Personality[]
| “ | You're a strange man. You killed your best friend. You betrayed everyone who ever came in contact with you. You killed my cousin. I guess... the survival of the fittest thing really meant a lot to you. | „ |
| ~ Niko Bellic's final words about Dimitri (Deal Ending). |
Dimitri is the exact opposite of his former friend and crime lord Mikhail Faustin: while Faustin was hotheaded, dangerous, unpredictable, rude and an addict, Dimitri is a standoffish, clean, composed, rational and sophisticated man, but treacherous and greedy (hence his name), willing to betray every one of his allies in order to gain power over the Liberty City's underworld. In contrast to Faustin, Dimitri acts as the brains of their organization, and even Faustin himself admits this during Do You Have Protection?, as Faustin states "That's the way it works, I am angry, you are calm. I scare, you reason. It works". Dimitri also seems to possess some sort of emotional detachment towards others, and according to Faustin, it's due to Dimitri's overuse of painkillers.
Unlike Faustin, Dimitri's take on leading his organization seemed incredibly more efficient and profitable than Faustin's, as during Faustin's leadership, their organization only operated on a small part around Hove Beach and they only possessed one business interest, the Perestroika, but after Dimitri's takeover, the organization's influence and power grew drastically, seen as they began operating around Algonquin and Alderney City, gained numerous new business interests and expanded their horizons, and even influential mobsters like Jon Gravelli and other politicians, such as Bobby Jefferson and the Mayor of Liberty City, have taken notice of Dimitri's actions.
Dimitri is the embodiment of the Faux Affably Evil archetype: at a glance, he appears to be persuasive, eloquent, calm, collected and kind, even taking care of Roman after the latter was shot to the stomach by an angered Mikhail, but nonetheless slightly aggressive, seen as Dimitri slapped Niko Bellic in order to "wake him up", but expressed horror and shock upon witnessing Mikhail Faustin murdering their fellow employee, Andrei. However, all of this was a mere plan to manipulate Niko, who is shocked by learning Dimitri's betrayal once the Russian crime lord shows his true colors in the Russian Revolution. In fact, he has no qualms about torturing or killing anyone who interferes with his plans.
Only Little Jacob foreshadowed this turn of events, as his gang is in competition with another clique of Russian mobsters. Aside from his treacherous nature, Dimitri also shows signs of hypocrisy as Niko tried first to reason Dimitri, but the latter retorted him that he "has so many enemies" among the city (including Ray Bulgarin, another mobster and Niko's former employer) and telling him that he couldn't accuse him of disloyalty as "he [Niko] killed Mikhail and knew as much about loyalty as he [Dimitri] did", despite Dimitri himself planning the assassination. Dimitri's sympathetic side completely disappeared once he kidnapped Roman and burnt his depot.
Despite having a long history with Faustin, Dimitri showed little to no hesitation about having him killed, mostly to protect himself from Kenny Petrovic's wrath after Faustin ordered Niko to have his son murdered. Afterwards, Dimitri showed himself to be a highly untrustworthy individual, although Dimitri never showed signs of betraying Bulgarin, as Bulgarin was a heavily powerful and influential mobster, and Dimitri was possibly afraid of the consequences should he betray him, but wasn't above betraying lesser influential people, such as Jimmy Pegorino if the player chooses the deal ending.
He shows several similarities with Frank Tenpenny, the main antagonist from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: both of them wish to take over their respective cities, both see their allies and subordinates as mere and disposable pawns, manipulating them in order to take over their foes and eventually betraying and killing them, and both are sadistic. They are also prompt to use violence, as they have killed many persons, albeit most of their victims were also not-so-innocent gang members. However, unlike Tenpenny, who he believes that he is a good person and that he is helping Los Santos, Dimitri is not delusional, and fully aware of his evilness. Instead, he justifies his nefarious behavior by playing the rules of the game, and he even told Niko that "we can pick the game [...] but cannot change the rules", a quote that the latter can use against Playboy X. This might signify that Dimitri totally disregards life's value and is nihilistic, which would explain his depravity.
Also, Dimitri is much more cowardly and instead of directly facing the protagonist like Tenpenny is used to doing, Dimitri psychologically abuses and taunts Niko by phone, sending him, for instance, a pic of Roman tied, as Dimitri believed that he was untouchable when it came to Niko. If Niko decides to exact revenge on Dimitri by storming in the Platypus, Dimitri shows little to no fear, as Dimitri was being protected by countless guards and thugs, but after finding himself alone with Niko, pleads for forgiveness and attempts to talk his way into a partnership, in contrast to Mikhail who instead reprimands Niko for making him what he was and warning of Dimitri's betrayal.
In addition, Dimitri is implied to be quite, if not extremely egotistical, as he told Jimmy Pegorino, right before killing him, that he doesn't want to "share the spoils of the victory". In addition, Dimitri Rascalov could also possibly serve as a representation of the Dark Triad traits, and their manifestation in all forms of power in society. His cold calculable actions reflect his remorselessness and Narcissism. It should also be noted that Dimitri might have been inspired by the philosophical works of Charles Darwin, as Dimitri makes it clear that his fundamental concern in life is "survival of the fittest".
He is also shown to be a VERY greedy and stingy person always maximizing profits whenever he can and always hates sharing money and he only gives money to his subordinates out of pragmatism. His greedy nature is shown multiple times when he instead of paying Niko for killing Faustin he betrayed him, He wasn’t happy with the amount of money the distributors of heroin were going to give him so he just killed those guys and kept it awaiting for a better deal, a deal that will give him more money. But the best evidence to support how much of a selfish, greedy, psychopath this man is, this is shown where Dimitri killed Pegorino because he didn’t want to share the millions he just got with his help as Pegorino gave Dimitri the guys (Niko and Phil) to see if the deal went well but Dimitri did not want to share the money at all and just killed Pegorino when he already outlived his usefulness. He also robbed every bit of money that Mikhail Faustin had left from his empire basically stealing Faustin’s wife’s money and leaving her Poor and left her leaving in a one room apartment. But it’s unknown if he stole Faustins money out of greed or out of spite.
He became increasingly paranoid and ruthless, as Niko foiled all his plans and destroyed step by step his Bratva. Incapable of getting rid of the Serbian assassin, Dimitri made a morbid obsession about his nemesis, wishing at all cost to kill him or at least breaking him emotionally, by attacking his relatives and friends. Such fixation became his demise, as Niko eventually faced and killed him in both endings. If the player chooses the Deal ending, he loses his temper and murders in cold blood Pegorino. Aside from being in charge of his Bratva, Dimitri has no hobbies nor loved ones, which makes him methodical, analytical, and remorseless. Rascalov's favorite radio station is Vladivostok FM.
Powers and Abilities[]
Dimitri has a poor health condition, is not very muscular, and aims very badly when shooting, not to mention he abuses painkillers in order to remain calm. Despite this, he has driving and piloting skills. He relies on his brain and his henchmen to get what he wants. He is also one of the most successful and dangerous masterminds of the Grand Theft Auto-era since he successfully betrayed almost every one of his allies, before being executed by Niko.
Notable Victims[]
- Mikhail Faustin - Ordered; shot in the leg and chest by Niko Bellic and fell to his death.
- Roman Bellic (determinant) - Unintentionally shot by the wedding assassin when he tried to shoot Niko on Dimitri’s order.
- Jimmy Pegorino (determinant) - Shot in the head so he wouldn’t have to share the drug money.
Quotes[]
| “ | Wake up. We had to gag him, to stop the screaming. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri's first words to Niko. |
| “ | Wherever you go, people will find you if they want you badly enough. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri to Niko Bellic. |
| “ | Niko, it's not too late, we can work this out! It was a long time ago that I pissed you off. Forget about it. I didn't mean nothing. Please. Think about Pegorino, he's got nothing without this deal. It was never my idea to set you up. Go easy on me. We were friends, remember? You don't need to do this. You're fucking a lot of people over by killing me. Hey, come on, we got history. Don't do it. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri's last words as he fruitlessly begs Niko for mercy (in the Revenge route). |
| “ | F**k you, you d**k. | „ |
| ~ Dimitri's last words before getting killed by Niko (in the Deal route). |
Trivia[]
- Due to the indication that the Revenge ending is possibly canon, Dimitri would (canonically) be the only main antagonist not to be killed in the end of the game.
- Unlike most antagonists from Grand Theft Auto IV, Dimitri does not appear in its extensions. But he keeps playing an antagonistic role, as Ashley owes money to the Russian crime lord, forcing Johnny to kidnap Roman in order to save his girlfriend. Also, Dimitri is posthumously mentioned at the end of The Ballad of Gay Tony by Timur; the right-hand man of Ray Bulgarin.
- He is about 6'0 and 190 lbs.
- He is very similar to a character in the same game named Playboy X. Both of them are power hungry mobsters who want to overthrow their masters (Mikhail Faustin and Dwayne Forge), are both traitors, and both have used Niko Bellic as an asset. The difference being that Dimitri Rascalov is being the main antagonist whereas Playboy X is not. In addition, Dimitri is far more dangerous and sophisticated than Playboy X and that not only Mikhail's death is mandatory but so is Dimitri as in where either Playboy X or Dwayne can survive.
- His last name, Rascalov, is a Russianized version of the word "rascal", which means a cunning and treacherous man. This perfectly portends his treacherous and opportunistic nature.
- Dimitri's appearance in the game and artwork are very different. In the artwork, he appears to be a bit younger than in game, his jacket in the artwork is brown with white lines around it, and has a white shirt with no tie, and wears tan sunglasses. While in game, he has a black suited jacket, with a yellowish white shirt with a tie and has normal glasses and his hair is a bit longer than the artwork. He also seems to be a bit overweight in the game, as the artwork shows him to be skinnier.
- He bares similarities to Gary Smith from another one of Rockstar's 2006 video games Bully, both of whom ally with the protagonist, only to betray them due to their hunger for power.
External Links[]
- Dimitri Rascalov on the Grand Theft Auto Wiki
- Dimitri Rascalov on the Pure Evil Wiki
