Rafe Hernandez is a fictional character on Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network.

He later falls in love with physical therapist Jordan Ridgeway (Chrishell Stause) whom he tries to help overcome her own dark past.

In October 2008, Federal Agent Rafe arrived in Salem to relay information to Sami Brady and her guard, who had been assigned to her as part of the witness protection program.

While Rafe kept fairly quiet about his personal life, he did tell Sami that as a young child, he frequented a local convent due to his troubling behavior.

Rafe also began to reconnect with his younger sister, Arianna (then Felisha Terrell), who had concerns over his involvement with Sami.

Despite Arianna's disapproval, Rafe continued to pursue Sami and asked her if he could legally adopt her baby, who they had named Grace.

Tragically, several months later, Grace died from complications due to bacterial meningitis, leaving Sami and Rafe utterly devastated.

Following Grace's death, Sami began to observe an emotional distance in Rafe and came to discover him at the graveside of a woman named Emily Hudson.

Rafe revealed to Sami that he was once engaged to marry Emily, but she died on the day of their wedding in a tragic accident.

Rafe was rescued by Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell), who had recently returned to Salem following over fifteen years away.

Following his recovery, Rafe began to investigate Nicole Walker (Arianne Zuker), as he developed a theory that she had switched Grace with Sami's biological child.

Despite the end of his relationship with Sami, Rafe continued to investigate Sydney's abduction and became convinced that Anna was working alongside E.J.

After a few drinks at The Cheatin' Heart, Nicole and Rafe headed back to her apartment, and stopped short of sleeping together.

soon discovered Sami's guilt in his shooting, and began blackmailing her for sole custody of their two children, Johnny and Sydney.

If she refused his demands, he would turn her, as well as Rafe and her eldest son, Will Horton (then Chandler Massey) in as accessories to attempted murder.

Rafe assured Sami that he would do whatever he had to help her regain custody of the children, and in order to have one last happy memory before the hard times to follow, suggested they have the wedding that night.

Following their wedding, Rafe joined the Salem Police Department and began investigating E.J, hoping to uncover evidence against him and send him to prison.

Johnny's cancer was discovered to have spread to his remaining eye, but as the doctors had caught it in time, they were able to treat it and spare his vision.

In late August 2008, rumors circulated that former Passions star Galen Gering, known for his role of Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald was in-talks to join the cast of Days.

Gering said of his casting, "When I joined the soap, it was a weird time at DAYS" as the series had just fired their biggest stars in Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn.

[7] Gering said of his initial plans for the character, "I didn't want Rafe to be this one-note FBI guy.

[8] Sami and Rafe eventually break up over a disagreement with Nick and Gabi raising Will's baby, causing her to run to EJ.

Branco likened the character to Peter Reckell's legendary Bo Brady as the resident hero of the series.