Sage

Type	CHARACTER
Sage
Appears in	Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Voiced by	Jodie Shawback
Biographical information
Full name	Sage
Nationality	American
Status	Alive
Date of birth	Sometime between 1970 and 1974
Home	San Andreas
Businesses	Radio X
Physical description
Gender	Female

Sage (born sometime in between 1970 and 1974) is an "alternative" DJ who hosts the alternative radio station Radio X in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. She is voiced by Jodie Shawback.

Appearance

Sage is a young woman in between the ages of 18 and 22, who cannot remember her birth name. No artwork or photos have been revealed of Sage, but it once was mentioned in a phone call that "the few teeth you do have are gun metal gray from cigerettes and drug abuse, and you dress like you blew up a homeless person and then knitted his clothes back together", possibly stating that she doesn't care about personal hygiene. According to herself, she is bulimic, doesn't wear underwear, and wears plaid shirts. She also has several tattoos, including some Celtic artwork on one of her arms, and some other unknown tattoos on her armpits.

Personality

Sage is a very self-obsessed woman and self-confessed rebel who seems to always be worked up about something, making her a stereotypical Gen X-er. Sage has a "lazy" outlook on life and most her apparent obsession is the sound of her own voice, along with sex as she admits to have slept with the entire Danzig line-up and Axl Rose, the chief of police, along with a man she "did behind the Cluckin' Bell", and pleads "could somebody please sleep with me!" during the outro to Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" , amongst at least two other references. This sexuality is apparently not confined to people, as she also mentions a will to sleep with the color gray in a radio comment.

Sage exhibits mental health issues, most notably sociopathy. Sage is very clearly narcissistic, and sees herself as "the only one who doesn't suck." She shows little to no remorse for others, instead choosing to badmouth most people. The most defining characteristic of her mentality is her opinion of murder and death. Aside from her open welcoming of her own death, she frequently threatens various people (such as an unnamed record store employee), wishes to kill everyone over 30, and even confesses to murdering a gas station attendant while on her period. Sage also states that she escaped from a mental hospital, as well as declares herself to be insane in another comment, confirming that she is mentally unstable.

Sage is determined to be as alternative as possible, and thus lives an extremely unorthodox lifestyle. She has a serious drug addiction (including huffing paint and ether) that she mentions consistently, and enjoys activities such as staring at candles, moping in the rain, smoking "anything that goes up in flames", burning pubic lice with a lighter, etc. She also strongly encourages individualism by ironically (and amusingly) telling people to listen to her favorite music and be like her.

Interestingly, Sage seems to have come from a very well-off background. In stark contrast to the stereotype that Gen-Xers came from single-parent, working-class homes, Sage came from a stable two-parent household in a suburb, admitting that her father is rich and stating her rejection of her parents' attempts to teach her how to be responsible in life. She even has a trust fund, which she says is meaningless to her and suggests giving it away. It is likely because of her privileged background that she feels the need to self-verify constantly, saying how much of a rebel she is and that she is "poor in spirit".

Views

One of Sage's defining characteristics is her extreme pessimistic view. She mentions that her depression and angst are a "lifestyle choice", and seems to view death favorably. She declares that nothing is possibly cooler than death, and believes that at her funeral, she believes that everybody will be crying because of her death while the song Primal Scream's "Movin' on Up" is playing. She apparently believes in reincarnation, which may explain her welcoming of her death and seems to admire Vladimir Lenin's idea of a never-ending revolution. She also seems to be anti-war, saying that wars are started because "you're old, there's nothing to do, and you can't find any pot. This is pretty ironic since she is always wanting to have a revolution.

Sage has a strong dislike towards people over the age of 29 (declaring herself to be a part of a revolution to overthrow everyone over the age of 30), often speaking ill about her mother. She also has a strong dislike towards cartoons and claims that they're "stupid and cheery," in addition to thinking life isn't supposed to be "cheery." Sage also complains about San Andreas' health system.

In short, despite her "lazy outlook" and "I don't care" attitude that she claims to have, she indeed seems to care quite a bit about many things.

Role in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Like Mary-Beth Maybell and several other DJs, Sage is considered to be a radio-only role within the general scheme of things. Like other DJs, Sage's comments change as the game progresses, including a brief comment about OG Loc, threatening to set herself on fire after Bone County becomes accessible and claiming that the Los Santos Riots are part of the "revolution" she often mentions. Tommy "The Nightmare" Smith of K-DST radio has a vendetta against her even though her radio station plays Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" , in which Tommy's voice-over actor, Axl Rose, sang. Like Tommy Smith and Forth Right MC, Sage is not very popular with her audience, as callers will usually insult her. One caller berates her name and her photography exhibit in San Fierro, while another criticizes her appearance, attitude, and lifestyle.

Sage's voice actress, Jodie Shawback, also provides voiceover work for a Shine perfume ad, by Helmut Schein, and is credited accordingly. The ad occasionally plays on Radio X, and as Shawback makes no attempt to disguise her voice, it's possible to conclude that it is Sage herself heard on the ad.

Trivia

• Sage is one of the featured celebrities on the Vinewood Walk of Fame in GTA V.
• Sage is likely a parody of Courtney Love, a key figure in the grunge movement and widow of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Like Sage, Love is well known for her drug problems, promiscuity, poor appearance, and erratic behaviors.