Eleni Stavrou

Eleni Stavrou (Greek: Ελένη Σταυρού) is one of the three protagonists in Bandiera Rossa and the protagonist of the spin-off Bandiera Rossa: Eagles of Freedom.

Background
Eleni is a young school teacher who grew up outside Thessaloniki. Her father is from Cyprus and her mother is a native of Macedonia. She had got her first teaching job in the village of Ágios Ioán and was a couple of months in when the Germans invaded Greece. Eleni was trapped under rubble before being rescued by Aris Gavras, a local man. She then flees Ágios Ioán with Gavras who brings her to Nikos Ioannidis a Greek army officer with communist sentiments. The three then proceed to destroy the Germans held in the village which during the course find out it has been almost completely destroyed and most of its population murdered. Following this the find two survivors, a gendarme and the village priest who join ranks with the group.

Trivia

 * She shares the same surname as Anthony Quinn's character in the Guns of Navarone based on the novel of the same. Her character is also similar to Irene Papas' being that she's a female partisan with a high rank in a small resistance movement, her middle name is also a reference to Papas' character.
 * Coincidentally she also talks about Mexico a lot where Anthony Quinn was native to.
 * In a lot of her pre-release artwork for both games she dons a khaki marksman's cloak despite her in-game models never using one.
 * The tunic she wears on a Eagles of Freedom artwork depicts her wearing a Greek army tunic although in game she wears a German tunic for this specific model.
 * Like all the Greek partisans, in early artwork for Bandiera Rossa she wore a Yugoslavian Titovka.
 * Although she's a skilled sniper she always seems to need someone else to do it for her.
 * She's possibly bisexual, although she's openly in love with Aris Gavras she has made comments and has feelings that are lesbian in nature. In the first game she sleeps next to Nina Philippidou, holding her however as Nina and Eleni are best friends this would be considered normal in Greece (as well as other cultures) with women. In Eagles of Freedom she also can seduce female NPCs.
 * She was voted the most popular protagonist in Bandiera Rossa.
 * Her Bandiera Rossa multiplayer model has her dressed in a Wehrmacht lieutenant's tunic rather than a soldier's, the model also lacks the side cap and the tunic is fully open rather than partially.
 * She is able to drive, a trait which was uncommon with Greek women in the 1940's ironically when she does drive it sometimes scares others.
 * She debunks a few stereotypes about Greek women when kidnapping Obesrt Wagner. She tells him in response to a racist remark that "Greek women don't drive cars through walls, don't fuck other girls for recreation and do shave their armpits". **Ironically after she says this the player as the option to drive through a wall the player is awarded with an achievement/trophy entitled "Living up to the stereotype".