T-800 "Model 101"
Played by the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger, the T-800 is a hulking android built to resemble humans (its exoskeleton is covered entirely with human flesh, hair, and other humanly parts) and designed to assassinate and wage war against humankind. In The Terminator, he was set back in time and instructed to ill Sarah Connor. In T2, he is sent back in time by the human resistance with explicit instructions to protect John Connor, the future leader of the resistance, from assassination by the T-1000 Terminator. While the two evade detection and death by the T-1000, they grow incredibly close together, to the point where John Connor looks at him as his surrogate father. Unlike the first film, he is a benevolent being.
John Connor
In the first film, John Connor is only mentioned a few times (primarily by Kyle Reese, a soldier who is sent to the past to protect John's mother, Sarah). John is physically in this film and is played by Edward Furlong. Because of what his mother told him about the impending machine invasion, John is hyperaware of his role in the fate of humankind. In fact, he was given survival training by his mother from a very young age, which continued until she was institutionalized in an insane asylum.
John is uncharacteristically mature for his age. He is headstrong, energetic, brave, aggressive, but is ultimately still a kid who is hurt by not having his dad (Reese from the last film) in his life.
Sarah Connor
Sarah Connor (played by Linda Hamilton) is one of the first female characters portrayed on screen that is a strong warrior. For much of the first film, she is a damsel in distress. However, in T2, she is a bonafide badass and warrior who is a wanted fugitive convicted of committing terrorism. She sacrifices nearly everything in her life to protect and prepare her son for his role in the upcoming war against Skynet.
Because of the violent acts she commits and because of her premonitions about the upcoming war, any people who are unaware of the upcoming war against Skynet call her crazy and mentally ill.
T-1000
Played by Robert Patrick, the T-1000 is the main antagonist of the film. It is a vicious and advanced, shape-shifting android made of liquid metal whose only goal is to assassinate John Connor, thus preventing him from becoming the leader of the human resistance against the evil android army led by Skynet.
Cameron spoke directly to his goal with the character, saying we "wanted to find someone who would be a good contrast to Arnold. If the 800 series [played by Schwarzenegger] is a kind of human Panzer tank, then the 1000 series had to be a Porsche."
