History Characters / Sunrider

* CharClone: [[spoiler:Becomes one in ''The Captain's Return'' of the DarkMessiah type as the Paladin, while wearing a helmet like [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91 Iron Mask]].]]

* CharClone: Wears a mask, pilots an AceCustom Ryder, is searching for ancient Ryuvian LostTechnology for unknown reasons, and [[spoiler:is effectively Chigara's "sister", due to them both being Prototypes]]. As a charismatic dictator, fits the BigBad type of Char Clone. [[spoiler:Between her being a BetaTestBaddie and an OmnicidalManiac, and manipulating the two major factions, Alice is practically a female [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Rau le Creuset]].]]

* VillainHasAPoint: While he certainly TookALevelInJerkass in the fourth installment, and through all of the MaliciousSlander, he is not wrong about Kayto causing more harm than good to the galaxy. The most obvious example is his emotional attachment to [[spoiler:the Prototypes]], namely [[spoiler:Chigara]], which [[spoiler:blew his chance for a happy ending and true peace with PACT via the Liberation Day Massacre]]. He is also not wrong about them still being a threat to the galaxy despite losing so much influence. [[spoiler:Kayto agrees they have become unhinged after his rescue from the Prototypes, admits the Chigara he knew is long gone and that it's all his fault he didn't realize this sooner.]]

* IAmTheNoun: Inverted, as it's another character's describing of Kayto. [[spoiler: In the endgame of ''The Captain's Return'', Kayto has the Maray outrun the shockwave of a newly-born star after launching a bomb into it that devastates a huge chunk of the PACT fleet. In the wake of his defeat, Fontana bitterly notes that Kayto "rode the sun to victory" and has ''become'' "the Sunrider" - shifting the title of the game from being the name of Kayto's ship to his own personal epithet]].

* TheScapegoat: What she was to her father, the Emperor of Ruyvia, who forcibly recruited from her simple life once he needed a "spare" child who could use forbidden technology in place of his official heir. While Sola was fine with doing whatever would protect her people, the fact her sacrifices amounted to nothing in the long run has left her rather cynical and depressed.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: She was born when a Ryuvian prince had an affair with a farm girl, then dumped her. Later, the royal family came back and took Sola away when they needed a princess to fight their civil war for them - only they really didn't; they already had a healthy princess, but they wanted a ''scapegoat'' who could use forbidden technology without risking the true heir's life. Something Sola was pressured into doing under threar of reprisal towards anyone age cared about - [[spoiler:and worst of all is that, as she learns in the fourth game, her father might not have even been the real heir and just sacrificed her to secure his coup]].

* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Leans into this trope as the war against PACT raged, further reinforced after [[spoiler:Fontana kills Chigara, having him swear revenge against the Veniczar]], where he sees PACT as always evil and those opposing them to be good. The forth game has him forced to acknowledge the flaw of this mindset as to why the galaxy started to favor PACT despite its past crimes. [[spoiler:After his brutal interrogation by Fontana and seeing what has become of Chigara and the Prototypes, he lets go of this mindset, only wanting to liberate Cera and stop Fontana from ruling the galaxy.]]

* ChestOfMedals: By ''Sunrider 4'' he's decked himself out with as many medals as can fit on his chest, reflecting his new position as the leader of PACT.

* GodzillaThreshold: [[spoiler: He nearly crosses it in ''Sunrider 4'' when he orders his fleet to pursue Kayto through a star's flareup, doing the exact thing he betrayed Alice over; sacrificing his men in the name of destroying those he hates, even ignoring Kuushana's warnings the way Alice ignored his own advice. Only when a swath of his fleet gets slagged by the star's fluctuating corona does he snap back to his senses and order a retreat]].

* ReplacementGoldfish: She expresses discomfort at the idea of being viewed this way in comparison to Chigara, especially by Kayto.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Became this after ''Liberation Day'', [[spoiler:due to it getting out via Fontana that the (albeit [[DemonicPossession wholly unwilling]]) triggerman for the Liberation Day Massacre was a Prototype who Kayto was banging - and the Solar Alliance isn't a big fan of him anymore for that either, given Admiral Gray and much of their senior leadership were among the casualties. [[MaliciousSlander Not that Fontana was content to stop there]], as he went on to paint Kayto as guilty of every war-crime imaginable; by the time of ''The Captain's Return'', Kayto's been disowned by even his own homeworld of Cera, who's new Prime Minister Miirage Foster rubbing salt in the wound by throwing her personal support behind Fontana and PACT - the very people he spent the first three games trying to free it from]].

* AscendedMeme: Her character sprite in the first two games often faced away from the player, which was meant to emphasize her isolationist nature but also tended to [[MaleGaze emphasize her rear]] to the audience - especially when in her pilot suit. Every game after ''Mask of Arcadius'' not only ran with continuing this, but had spin-offs like ''Sunrider Academy'' describe her as having a [[HartmanHips rather ample backside]] that Kayto wonders if she's showing off deliberately or not.
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Sola, despite being in a position to know better, sincerely believes in Ryuvia's self-aggrandizing imperial cult. She thinks her Sharr powers are mystical in nature, and fearfully prays to the Infinite Emperor to have mercy on the party when they dismantle a sacred monolith. By contrast, Asaga readily admits that the Sharr's powers are rooted in science and genetic engineering, and she assures Kayto that the Infinite Emperor is not going to smite them for their sacrilege.

* CantHoldHerLiquor: In ''Sunrider 4'', the crew hits a bar while visiting the Astrium. Sola gets blind-stinking drunk after a single drink: first she's babbling incoherently, then she's talking in an uncharacteristically hammy and emotive way as she laments the indecency of modern Solarian fashion trends.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: She was born when a Ryuvian prince had an affair with a farm girl, then dumped her. Later, the royal family came back and took Sola away when they needed a princess to fight their civil war for them.

* HeroicBSOD: In ''The Captain's Return'', the party retrieves a datacrystal containing a historical account of the Ryuvian Civil War. In it, the author claims that Crow Harbor was the rightful heir to the Imperial throne and that Sola's father was an illegitimate pretender who committed patricide to take the throne for himself. Hearing this account shatters Sola's worldview.
-->'''Sola:''' I was ever the fool! Deceived by my father into believing Crow Harbor was a jealous bastard, when his own claim to the throne was completely fabricated! When I activated the Final Tear, I believed I had saved the Holy Empire. That the evil darkling had perished and the rightful rulers of Ryuvia had won. But to think I sacrificed my life, all for a lie! My entire life... has been a lie! This torment in my heart... I cannot bear it... Spare me of this misery! Tear it out now!

* LoveConfession: [[spoiler:She gives one to Kayto in her ending of ''The Captain's Return'', giving him a surprise kiss and admitting that she fell in love with him while they were living together on Tydaria. He reciprocates her feelings and vows never to make her cry again.]]

* OneHitPolykill: Another unlockable ability in ''Sunrider 4'' -- her shots will pierce through targets, dealing half damage in subsequent hits.

* BackupFromOtherworld: [[spoiler:Her spirit appears at the climax of ''Sunrider 4'' and supercharges the Maray's Twin Drives, giving the ship enough power to escape the gravity well of the newborn star.]]
* DeathByOriginStory: She dies in the attack on Cera that kicks off ''Mask of Arcadius''.

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Comes across as this, as she commands an upgraded variant of Kayto's Sunrider in the fourth game. [[spoiler:In the endgame, this gets inverted when Kayto flips the tables on her and does [[{{Irony}} the very same thing Kuushana made a name for herself doing to others]]; pulling off a miraculous win against a superior fighting force]].

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Comes across as this, as she commands an upgraded variant of Kayto's Sunrider in the fourth game. [[spoiler:In the endgame, this gets inverted when Kayto flips the tables on her and does [[{{Irony}} the very same thing Kuushana herself made a name for herself doing to others]]; pulling off a miraculous win against a superior fighting force]].

* WorthyOpponent: She grows to respect Kayto over the course of ''The Captain's Return''. [[spoiler:By the climax of the Battle of the World Fountain, she challenges Kayto to prove which of them is the greater captain and which has the superior ship. When Kayto pulls off his spectacular victory and gets away Scott free, Kuushana is clearly impressed, though she vows that PACT will get him one day]].

* ReplacementGoldfish: She expresses discomfort at the idea of being viewed this way in comparison to Chigara

* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: He can adopt this attitude near the end of ''Mask Of Arcadius'' by refusing to let Ava sacrifice herself to take down the Legion, outright declaring that he doesn't care if he dooms humanity, he will ''not'' lose her. It becomes both a staple of his personality in later games; [[spoiler: a major plot-point of ''Liberation Day'' is fearing for Chigara's safety when evidence she's a Prototype starts turning up, and her eventual failure to save Chigara severely worsens this need going forward. By the time of ''The Captain's Return'', he outright descends into rabid desperation by attempting a nanite-infusion that would kill him in order to save his crew from Crow Harbor - though it's also his own desire to be TheHero played a role]].

* AFatherToHisMen: Do ''not'' threaten the people under Kayto's command. It will not end well for you. However, this very trait gets [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]] in that it [[spoiler:prevents him from accepting Chigara is a Protoype despite mounting evidence. In fact, it leaves him unaware to a number of lies or negative feelings brewing in some of his crew [[note]]to writ, Asaga undergoes SanitySlippage from her powers and [[LoveMakesYouCrazy jealousy]] towards Chigara that briefly makes her turn on everyone; Sola keeps her knowledge of Asaga's mental instability to herself instead of telling Kayto or Ava out of both duty and familial loyalty to Asaga; Kryska actively feeds the Alliance info behind his back before briefly turning on them after the Liberation Day Massacre; Claude was [[TheMole]] for the Prototypes who's falsified medical records were Kayto's main justification to ignore Ava's suspicions about Chigara[[/note]]. In ''[RE]turn'' it takes his own future self literally beating some sense into him before he wises up - while in ''The Captain's Return'' his six years of stewing in bitterness takes getting the band back together, getting [[TheReasonYouSuck dressed down by]] Fontana, Lynn and Claude, and lastly a confrontation with the insane Omega Prototype and her Chigara offshoot that nearly gets Asaga killed before he finally accepts there's a difference between stubbornness and resolve]].