Rick Deckard

Rick Deckard
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? character
Rick Deckard portrayed by Harrison Ford in the film Blade Runner
First appearance	Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Created by	Philip K. Dick
Portrayed by	Harrison Ford (film) James Purefoy (radio)
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Police officer / bounty hunter

Rick Deckard is a fictional character and the protagonist of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.

He was portrayed by Harrison Ford in the 1982 film adaptation Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott and by James Purefoy in the 2014 BBC Radio 4 adaptation directed by Sasha Yevtushenko.

Rick Deckard is a specialist plainclothes police officer with the San Francisco Police Department in the early 21st Century, who goes after "andys" as they are called. In the film adaptation (see below), he was/is with the Replicant Detection Division (i.e. Blade Runner unit) of the Los Angeles Police Department. In this version the apprehension and termination of such renegade androids (here known as replicants) is euphemistically referred to as 'retirement'. Given the nature of this role he could also be considered an officially sanctioned bounty hunter (In the original novel the bounty hunter nature of the position is made more obvious). In both novel & film versions, he begins the story as a selfish, self-involved cop who seemingly sees no value in android life. His experiences within the novel cause him to develop empathy towards androids and all living things. In the film it is implied that he had already begun to undergo this sea change prior to the start of the film, causing his original resignation some time (around May 2019) before its opening.

Deckard is married to Iran who is one of the more empathetic characters in the novel. She is able to allow herself to go into a depression and sadness with others over the state of humanity, and is able to find the empathy necessary to care for an electric toad at the end of the novel.