History Characters / TrailsSeriesCalvardArkrideSolutionsOffice

* EarlyBirdCameo: She appears to be [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/e/e5/Renne_at_Aramis_3_-_Episode_23_%28Hajimari%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20210316154026 the girl from Renne's short story]] in ''Reverie'' that tried to stand up to Ronald for his treatment of Renne. And given that she's confirmed to be in the student council during ''Daybreak'', it's likely that she's one of the students in [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/kiseki/images/9/9c/Renne_at_Aramis_8_-_Episode_23_%28Hajimari%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20210316154036 this picture]].

''Notable Groups:'' [[Characters/TrailsSeriesTheBracerGuild The Bracer Guild]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesOuroboros Ouroboros]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesJaegerCorps Jaeger Corps]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesSeptianChurch Septian Church]]\\

''Erebonian Empire:'' [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaNobility Erebonia Imperial Family and Four Great Houses]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaIronblood The Ironbloods]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaMilitary Erebonia Military]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsStaffAndInstructors Thors' Staff and Instructors]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVII Thors Class VII]] ([[Characters/TrailsSeriesReanSchwarzer Rean Schwarzer]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesCrowArmbrust Crow Armbrust]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIIOriginal Original Class VII]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIINew New Class VII]]) | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsMainCampusClasses Main Campus Classes]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsBranchCampus Branch Campus]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaOthers Erebonian Civilians and Major Groups]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesImperialLiberationFront Imperial Liberation Front]]\\

''Erebonian Empire:'' [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaNobility Erebonia Imperial Family and Four Great Houses]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaChancellorOsborne Giliath Osborne]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaIronblood The Ironbloods]] ([[Characters/TrailsSeriesRufusAlbarea Rufus Albarea]]) | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaMilitary Erebonia Military]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsStaffAndInstructors Thors' Staff and Instructors]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVII Thors Class VII]] ([[Characters/TrailsSeriesReanSchwarzer Rean Schwarzer]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesCrowArmbrust Crow Armbrust]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIIOriginal Original Class VII]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIINew New Class VII]]) | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsMainCampusClasses Main Campus Classes]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsBranchCampus Branch Campus]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaOthers Erebonian Civilians and Major Groups]] | [[Characters/TrailsSeriesImperialLiberationFront Imperial Liberation Front]]\\

* BadassBack: His Shishiohkou Craft involves him turning away from his opponent and slamming his back against them.

* DeathFromAbove: His Titas Hammer Craft has him jump and [[GroundPunch smash the ground with fist]] as he descends.

* SuperScream: His Howling Boost Craft has him attack the enemy by shouting at them.

* CastFromHitPoints: His Haoukou Craft gives him Insight, among other bonuses, in exchange for some HP.

* DanceBattler: His Hiten no Mai Craft has him perform a dance that lowers the target's Defence.
* DeathFromAbove: His Hyakkazan Craft, as well as its upgrade Rekkazan, has him slashing down on enemies while airborne.

* DivingKick: His Yousoukyaku Craft, as well its upgrades Yousou Renkyaku and Yousou Enkyaku, has him jump off of the enemy before performing this on them.

* FlamingSword: Both of his swords are on fire during his Rekkazan Craft.

* HotWings: His S-Craft Houou Ranbu has him gain fiery wings before delivering the final blow. These wings will also appear in Yousou Enkyaku, the ''Kuro II'' upgrade of his Yousou Renkyaku Craft.

* SwordBeam: His Sousei Koujin Craft unleashes 2 waves of energy, one red and one blue (inflicting Arte damage).

* AttackAttackAttack: Whenever Van transforms into Grendel, he can only attack his enemies. He won't be able to heal himself during battles unless someone heals him. While his Savage Hands Craft heals him while attacking, the amount of HP it recovers is very low. Thankfully, it can hit more than one enemy, so it's still a good idea to spam it when possible.

* BareFistedMonk: When in this form, Van uses attacks that are primarily hand-to-hand combat: Quick Blow has him throw a forward punch, Heavy Spike throwing a kick, Savage Hands throwing a chop, Mortal Raid a pair of dropkicks, and Destruction Fist a gut-punch.

* KamehameHadoken: The Limited Blaster Craft has him fire a beam of energy from his hands at the opponent.

* SuperScream: The Howling Roar Craft has him let out a yell to damage the target.

* YellowLightningBlueLightning: The Destruction Fist Craft normally utilizes blue lightning, but its upgrade in ''Kuro II'' changes it to yellow.

* AnimalMotifs: She is heavily association with cats: her heels have a picture of a cat on the bottom, Wild Snatch/Valiant Snatch shows her slashing an enemy with claws, the card seen in her Twilight Kiss Craft has a picture and inscription referencing cats, and her alter-ego, outright named Grim''cat'', has a tail and cat ears as part of the costume.

* EyeColorChange: The most noticeable change Valiant Snatch brings to the Wild Snatch Craft is briefly changing Judith's irises to gold right before the slash.

* GratuitousFrench: Her Twilight Kiss Craft shows her throwing a card inscripted with ''Il ne faut pas éveiller le chat qui dort''[[note]]Do not awake the sleeping cat.[[/note]]

* InstantArmor: Her Wild Snatch Craft (as well as its ''Kuro II'' upgrade "Valiant Snatch") and her action-based moves shows that she is able to summon part of her Grimcat armor mid-fight.

* SpectacularSpinning: Her Criminal Bute Craft has her swinging her whip as she spins.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: In a fashion [[ContinuityNod similar to]] [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEstelleParty Estelle's party]], Van's party all come from different walks of life, all (forcefully) joining his office either due to wanting to repay Van in some way, or to learn more about/take revenge against Armata by joining Van and Agnès' quest for the eight Genesis artifacts.

** To Estelle, Lloyd, and Rean. Unlike his predecessors who all started out as teenaged rookies, Van is the first main protagonist of an arc who starts out as a young adult[[note]]leaving aside Kevin and "C," who were only main characters for one game each[[/note]] who's already plenty experienced as a person and fighter. He's also less averse to the shadier walks of life, and insists on reciprocal transactions (ie: while he'll do the right thing, he'll always ask for compensation in return.) He's even willing to work for anyone so long as he thinks it's worth it though he generally doesn't cross any lines he's not comfortable with, whereas the aforementioned trio were more morally upright and took to more straight-laced careers. [[spoiler:He also ends up averting the ThouShallNotKill rule they adhered to by being the first ''Trails'' protagonist to kill someone on-screen when performing a MercyKill on Aida, then deliberately going for the killing blow when fighting the members of Armata later on.]]

* TheWorfEffect: At the climax of the first ''Daybreak'' game's prologue chapter, he downs two Armata mobs in a cutscene. They ingest a pill that gives them more power and ends up dominating against Van. Before they get to land the finishing blow however with Agnès trying to block the attack, time stops and the Genesis artifact glows with both Van and Agnès in a space void with Mare showing up, offering Van the powers of Grendel.

* FakeMemories: [[spoiler:In ''Kuro II'' Chapter 3D, her memories are rewritten by the 8th Genesis to make her believe that 1. She's never met the Solutions Office before, and 2. They previously worked for Armata. As such, she attempts to kill them as punishment for what happened to Creil Village.]]

* ADayInTheLimelight: Chapter 2 of ''Daybreak'' focuses on him dealing with some punks working for Armata causing trouble in the Eastern Quarter.

* FakeMemories: [[spoiler:In ''Kuro II'' Chapter 3D, her memories are rewritten to make her believe that 1. She left the Solutions Office shortly during their trip to Basel, and 2. They previously worked for Armata. While she did notice some contradictions in her memories, she also points out that, due to how everything about her had to be "recreated" after she lost her original body, including her memories, she's always questioned whether anything she remembers is real.]]

* FakingTheDead: After passing his stigma to Gaius, it turns out that he survived and has remained hidden for a long time and would have stayed hidden until [[spoiler:Armata decided to nuke Creil Village,]] forcing him to come back.

* ApologeticAttacker: Will sometimes let out an "I'm sorry!" when using her "Glow Hammer" Craft against an enemy.

* DeflectorShields: Her Djibril Guard Craft has her surround herself and allies around her in large, white spheres, giving them Guard gauges.

* HumongousHeadedHammer: Her Glow Hammer Craft, as well as its ''Kuro II'' upgrade Sacred Hammer, has her conjure a giant magical 2-sided hammer on top of her staff and then drop it on her enemies.

* MagicMissileStorm: Her Etoile Ray Craft, and by extension its upgrade Pleiades Ray, has her shoot magical beams of light straight at her targets.

* TheMedic: Thanks to her White Heal/Innocent Heal Craft and her S-Craft Brilliant Halo, she fills the role of the Solutions Office's designated healer.

* SwordPlant: Her new Craft from ''Kuro II'', Holy Bloom, starts with her sticking her staff into the ground.

* WhiteMage: In fact, she's the only playable character in the Calvard arc to have more support Crafts than offensive ones.[[note]]Glow Hammer/Sacred Hammer and Etoile Ray/Pleiades Ray are the only ones that do damage; White Heal/Innocent Heal and Brilliant Halo restore HP immediately, while Djibril Guard and Holy Bloom grant HP Recovery.[[/note]]

* DeathFromAbove: His Aerial Buster Craft, and by extension its upgrade Raging Buster, has him jump up, do a vertical spin, then slam his Stun-Caliber on the target.
* DrawAggro: His Coin Bullet allows him to have enemies go after him instead of going after the rest of the party.

* GoodOldFisticuffs: His Souha Houken Craft has him stab his weapon to the ground, dropping lightning towards his targets and then delivers a punch afterwards.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: He flicks ''coins'' as a Craft.

* MoneyMauling: His appropriately named Coin Bullet Craft uses [[ContinuityNod five 10-mira coins]] to flick at his enemies.

* PracticalTaunt: His Coin Bullet allows him to taunt his enemies and go after him.

* SpectacularSpinning: His Stun Slash Craft, as well as its upgrade Magna Slash, has him turn in a circular motion as he slashes the target.

* SwordPlant: At the start of his Souha Houken Craft, he'll stab his Stun-Calibur into the ground for the express purpose of shocking the enemies in range.

* YellowLightningBlueLightning: His Souha Houken Craft normally has blue lightning, but its upgrade in ''Kuro II'' changes it to yellow.

* WhipOfDominance: Her primary weapon is a whip referred to as [[NamedWeapons Stellabute]], fitting with the [[DressedLikeADominatrix dominatrix design]] of her [[PhantomThief Grimcat]] costume.

* MsFanservice: The Calvard arc has plenty of beautiful women dressed to show curves and/or skin, but the actress Judith is a step above the rest. Her default civilian appearance exposes more skin in more places than the other women and draws the eye with its warm colors. Judith's cat-burglar persona Grimcat adopts a dominatrix look by wearing a sheer and skintight jumpsuit up to the chest. Random snips of armor are all that keep "indecent exposure" of Grimcat' rap sheet. The dominatrix elements also show up in her spy movie ''Golden Blood'' costume, which consists of a jumpsuit that is both backless and zipped open on the front, exposing a small bra with emphasizing straps.

** Even ignoring Grendel, which fights under a different system from the other characters, Van has an exclusive Hollow Core that other characters cannot equip and said Hollow Core has multiple variations when the player reaches level 3 of any alignment.

An otherworldly beast-like Shard armor that Van can transform into after the first Genesis gave his Hollow Core AI a form of sentience and the ability to have Van "don his nightmares".

* LightningBruiser: As Grendel, his HP and attack increases, and he can attack enemies twice with a third time if he uses a S-Boost without any fear of getting counterattacked if he misses. He will also defend one ally if they're targeted by the boss. However, he loses the bonuses he gets from the Hollow Core, requiring him to rely on the bonuses he gets from the Xipha grid. His S-Craft also cannot increase the S-Boost Gauge for some reason.

* TransformationSequence: Gets one in important story bits such as the first transformation and the [[spoiler:transformation into the Grendel Alter and Sin forms]]. Downplayed in-battle as the "Take the Grendel" craft, since Van simply turns into the Grendel with no elaborate transformation cutscene whatsoever unlike Judith turning into Grimcats in-battle.

* ACupAngst: Unsurprisingly for somebody who just entered their teens, she's the only girl in the Solutions Office who doesn't have a well-endowed chest, and a few instances in both ''Daybreak''[[note]]When the party first encounter Grimcats in Chapter 1 where she points out her womanly figure, and when bathing with Fie in Chapter 3[[/note]] and ''Kuro II''[[note]]When bathing in Chapter 2A[[/note]] show that she wants to look like [[BuxomBeautyStandard Agnès and Risette]] someday.

[[quoteright:250:[[labelnote:Grimcats the Phantom Thief]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grimcats.png[[/labelnote]]]]

A top actress in Calvard's Orbal Cinema industry. Unbeknownst to all, she is also Grimcats the Phantom Thief, an elusive vigilante who targets corrupt politicians and illegal operations. After many encounters with the Arkride Solutions Office, in both identities, she decides to hang around them.

* AnimalMotifs: She is heavily association with cats: her heels have a picture of a cat on the bottom, Wild Snatch/Valiant Snatch shows her slashing an enemy with claws, the card seen in her Twilight Kiss Craft has a picture and inscription referencing cats, and her alter-ego, outright named Grim''cat''s, has a tail and cat ears as part of the costume.

* BuildingSwing: Can swing through buildings as Grimcats which turn out to be her S-Craft.

* BuxomBeautyStandard: She's well-endowed in the chest department, and her Connect Event from ''Kuro II'''s Final Chapter shows Gotch being quite pleased at how Grimcats has "a figure that rivals Judith's."

* {{Foil}}: [[spoiler:To her rival, [[Characters/TrailsSeriesCrossbellSpecialSupportSection Rixia Mao]]. Both are up and coming star entertainers and are the resident MsFanservice of their group using eastern style weapons. Both also are the latest in the line of LegacyCharacter that has been passed down their family for generations but what the legacy is and how they respond to it is how they differ. Rixia's family passed down the title of the ProfessionalKiller Yin who worked for Calvard's underground, while Judith's passed down the just Grimcats PhantomThief mantle who are JustLikeRobinHood. While Rixia is conflicted with her lineage and has shown interest in retiring the mantle of Yin permanently, Judith is shown to be very proud of her lineage and role as Grimcats. In addition, while Rixia manages to hide her identity quite well for over a game and a half despite frequently interacting with the SSS in both identities (though Lloyd had his suspicions after a while) Judith is found out almost immediately once the party gets a good look at her both in and out of costume.]]

* FriendlyRivalry: She considers Nina to be both her friend and rival in their acting careers, a sentiment the junior actress reciprocates. [[spoiler:Likewise, she says that Rixia was both a rival and comrade in their secret lives as the phantom thief Grimcats and the assassin Yin respectively.]]

* HenshinHero: She can turn into Grimcats in a similar manner as Van's Grendel.

* InstantArmor: Her Wild Snatch Craft (as well as its ''Kuro II'' upgrade "Valiant Snatch") and her action-based moves shows that she is able to summon part of her Grimcats armor mid-fight.

* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:She's actually the third user of the Grimcats alter-ego, succeeding both [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grimcats.jpg her mother Chloe and grandmother Dominique]].]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: "I'm Grimcats!" is, as the title implies, the theme that plays in ''Daybreak'' during her boss battles as Grimcats.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Despite both parties being good guys, Van and whoever he's with at the time[[note]]Feri and Agnès in Chapter 2, Aaron in Chapter 3[[/note]] have to fight Judith as Grimcats twice in ''Daybreak''.

* MeditatingUnderAWaterfall: When the party finds her at Longlai during the first ''Daybreak'' game's Intermission, she's trying to meditate under one but horribly fails at it. It doesn't help that a monster decided to interrupt her, nearly eating her until she busts out her Grimcats form.
* MsFanservice: The Calvard arc has plenty of beautiful women dressed to show curves and/or skin, but the actress Judith is a step above the rest. Her default civilian appearance exposes more skin in more places than the other women and draws the eye with its warm colors. Judith's cat-burglar persona Grimcats adopts a dominatrix look by wearing a sheer and skintight jumpsuit up to the chest. Random snips of armor are all that keep "indecent exposure" of Grimcats' rap sheet. The dominatrix elements also show up in her spy movie ''Golden Blood'' costume, which consists of a jumpsuit that is both backless and zipped open on the front, exposing a small bra with emphasizing straps.

* PaperThinDisguise: Downplayed with her Grimcats disguise. It normally does work as a disguise, but Van and Feri already put two-and-two together the moment they saw both Grimcats and Judith on the same day, and it didn't take long for the other party members to see either. Even as late as ''Daybreak'''s Intermission, she still tries to convince Van and the party that they're supposed to be two different people before her transformation disappears. She can however disguise herself with an untied brown hair with no one in public knowing who she is.

* PowerMakesYourHairGrow: When she transforms into Grimcats, her already long hair grows into twin-tails.
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: As Grimcats, her kicks are powerful enough to send monsters flying.

* ARottenTimeToRevert: During the Intermission of ''Daybreak'', her Grimcats transformation ends right in front of the Solutions Office while she's trying to hide the fact that she's actually Judith.

* {{Stripperiffic}}: The amount of skin exposed in her Grimcats outfit shouldn't be all that practical. Van even reprimands her for openly wearing that kind of outfit in front of [[ChildrenAreInnocent Feri]] when the party first encounter her as Grimcats in ''Daybreak''.

* TransformationSequence: She pulls one of these when she transforms into Grimcats in battle.
* WardrobeMalfunction: After a boss interrupts her waterfall meditation in ''Daybreak'', she ends up giving Van an eyeful after her transformation as Grimcats runs out and her clothes start unraveling itself.

* WhipOfDominance: Her primary weapon is a whip referred to as [[NamedWeapons Stellabute]], fitting with the [[DressedLikeADominatrix dominatrix design]] of her [[PhantomThief Grimcats]] costume.

The AI of Van's custom-made Xipha Hollow Core. Initially an assertive but otherwise typical experimental support AI for Van's Hollow Core, it materialized in the real world and acquired a hologram-like avatar after being exposed to Agnès' Genesis orbment. Since then, it obtained "free will" impossible for a normal AI to have, and the capability to make Van "wear his nightmares" whenever he's in a pinch, transforming him into the explosively strong Grendel.

A young girl who is a member of the Jaeger corps known as the Kurgha Warrior Clan, she first meets Van to request his help in looking for her friend Aida, but later joins the Solutions Office as a part-timer in order to gain more worldly experience.

* KukrisAreKool: Her Kurgha's Guardian Blade Craft has her pull out a Kukri and throw it at the enemy.

* PlayingWithFire: The Kurgha Warrior Clan seems to treat "the fire" in a similar way that the Nord Highlanders treat "the wind." Fittingly, Feri's primary element is Fire, and some of her Crafts involve flames.

* PervertRevengeMode: She slaps Van when he accidentally saw her naked during ''Daybreak'''s Intermission. Van does apologize later on for the incident and they get back on right terms.

* PervertRevengeMode: She slaps Van when he accidentally saw her naked during ''Daybreak'''s Intermission. And unlike [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIIOriginal Alisa]] and [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIINew Juna]] before her, she's never shown apologizing for this.[[labelnote:In fact]]Van's the one who had to apologize to her for the whole incident after said slap.[[/labelnote]]

[[/folder]]

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: To [[Characters/TrailsSeriesEreboniaThorsClassVIINew Kurt Vander.]] Both are DualWielding swordsman and PrettyBoy that act as TheLancer to their respective group's leader. Personality wise though, they're polar opposites: Kurt was TheStoic, polite nobleman with blue hair who felt ashamed of how feminine he looked as it prevented him from using his family's signature [[{{BFS}} greatsword style]] and had to be forced to crossdress. Aaron meanwhile is a FieryRedhead {{Delinquent}} who has no problem crossdressing when performing Eastern Sword Dances that are usually played women of his own free will.

* {{Delinquent|s}}: [[https://www.falcom.co.jp/kuro/character/aaron.html His page]] on ''Daybreak'''s official website describes him as the de-facto leader of aggressive youths.

* MsFanservice: The Calvard arc has plenty of busty and beautiful women, but Judith still stands out as the most frequent provider of {{Fanservice}}. For a few examples:
** Her regular outfit already exposes more skin than the other girls', though it's relatively pretty tame.
** Her Grimcats costume is mostly transparent and seems to be designed to show off [[https://www.falcom.co.jp/kuro/assets/character/individual/ss/grimcats_03.jpg how buxom her chest really is]].
** She's seen in a bikini during ''Daybreak'' Chapter 3.
** The [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/judith_costume.jpg outifit she wears as Zoey from the movie "Golden Blood"]] is a skintight, backless body suit zipped down right above her navel and an exposed black bra.

* AHeroToHisHometown: He's very well-known to his hometown, as [=NPCs=] always thank him for his help.

* HumongousHeadedHammer: Her Glow Hammer Craft, as well as its ''Kuro II'' upgrade Sacred Hammer, has her conjure a magical hammer on top of her staff and then drop it on her enemies.

* DropTheHammer: Her Glow Hammer Craft, as well as its ''Kuro II'' upgrade Sacred Hammer, has her conjure a magical hammer on top of her staff and then drop it on her enemies.

* PrecociousCrush: She's a 16-year-old girl with a one-sided crush on a 24 (later 25) year-old man.

* PinkGirlBlueBoy: With Van; her sweater in ''Daybreak'', shirt in ''Kuro II'', and Xipha are all colored pink.

* PinkGirlBlueBoy: With Agnès; his jacket and Xipha are both colored blue.
* PowerTrio: With Elaine and René. Even years apart and the strained relations between him and Elaine aren't enough to actually dampen their teamwork together.

* RapidFireFisticuffs: During the beginning of his S-Craft 'Vandalize Raid', he throws a bunch of punches at his enemies.

* AffectionateNickname: [[spoiler:His father Leroy calls him "Ronny," though Aaron doesn't think that his dad has any right to call him that.]]

* ElementalHairColors: He's a redhead with Fire as his secondary element.

* HasAType: Aaron explicitly LikesOlderWomen, and it's implied that he prefers them busty.

-->'''Appearances''': ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel Cold Steel III]]'' | ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsThroughDaybreak Daybreak]]''