| 1 | [[WMG: [[center: ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'' [[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd Main Character Index]]\ |
| 2 | [-''[[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndDicathians Dicathians]]'': [[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndLeywinFamily Leywin Family]] ([[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndArthurLeywin Arthur Leywin]]) | '''Royal Families''' | [[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndXyrusAcademy Xyrus Academy]] | [[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndAdventurers Adventurers]]\ |
| 3 | ''[[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndAlacryans Alacryans]]'': [[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndVritraClan Vritra Clan]] ([[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndAgronaVritra Agrona Vritra]])\ |
| 4 | ''[[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndAsuras Asuras]]'']]]]-] |
| 5 | ---- |
| 6 | The continent of Dicathen is home to three major kingdoms: Elenoir, the kingdom of the elves, Sapin, the kingdom of the humans, and Darv, the kingdom of the dwarves. Each of these kingdoms has been ruled by the same royal families since their inception, respectively Houses Elenoir, Glayder, and Greysunder. These houses have maintained their rule due to being the same families whom the asuras gave the [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts of Power]] used by the Lances as a means for preparing the Dicathians for an inevitable war with the Vritra-backed Alacryans. Following the young Arthur's rescue of Princess Tessia of Elenoir and him spending his childhood in her kingdom, her family decided to approach the other two royal families in order to unite the continent under a new ruling body known as the Council. |
| 7 | ---- |
| 8 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 11 | * CosmopolitanCouncil: The Council is composed of the three royal families of Dicathen and thus all three races are equally represented. Though given how the dwarves are heavily compromised by the Vritra, they get less representation as their seats on the Council experience quite the turnover after the deaths of the Greysunders. |
| 12 | * DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler:All three of the royal families are forced to collaborate with Agrona at one point or another during the leadup to the WarArc and during it. The Greysunders are willing collaborators while the Glayders and later the Eraliths get cowed out of Agrona threatening their children]]. |
| 13 | * DivineRightOfKings: The reason the three royal families have remained in power since the founding of their kingdoms is because of the [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts of Power]] that were bestowed upon their forefathers by the asuras. These artifacts are behind the power of the Lances who serve as their chosen servants, and the existence of these artifacts is kept a closely-guarded secret even after the Lances themselves step into the limelight to prevent wars from breaking out over them. |
| 14 | * ErmineCapeEffect: They are always seen wearing very fancy clothing befitting of their royal status, which often sport ermine capes themselves. |
| 15 | * GenderEqualEnsemble: As the Council is made up of Dicathen's kings and queens at its onset, its membership has an equal balance between them. This only lasts until the Greysunders are purged by Aldir, who joins the Council as a strategic advisor. Then during the WarArc proper, the Greysunders's spot on the Council is filled by Rahdeas and later Buhnd. |
| 16 | * GenghisGambit: When they reveal the existence of Alacrya to the populace of Dicathen, Arthur notes that they are subtly presenting the new continent in an antagonistic light and realizes they are doing so in order to give the three races a common enemy to unite against. |
| 17 | * TheGoodKing: The Glayders and Eraliths are fair rulers beloved by their subjects. The Greysunders on the other hand are not. |
| 18 | * ThePurge[=/=][[spoiler:RulingFamilyMassacre]]: They get subjected to this by [[spoiler:both sides of the DivineConflict]]. When Arthur and Sylvie are ArrestedForHeroism in the aftermath of the attack on Xyrus Academy, they are only saved by the intervention of Windsom and Aldir who dispose of the corrupted Greysunders while pragmatically sparing the reluctant Glayders. At the end of the WarArc, [[spoiler:Agrona launches an assault on the Council Castle and has the surviving members of the Council - the Glayders and Eraliths - impaled on spikes to mark the end of his conquest]]. |
| 19 | * RequisiteRoyalRegalia: Being the kings and queens of Dicathen, they wear very elaborate robes and dresses when in public. |
| 20 | * SupportingLeader: The Council members are mostly leaders in a diplomatic and political sense as much of the actual military leadership during the war is carried out by the Lances. This is because most of the Council members are either in an advanced state of age, not magically adept, or both which makes them ill-suited for actual combat. |
| 21 | [[/folder]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | !!House Eralith |
| 24 | The ruling house of Elenoir, the kingdom of the elves. Arthur spends three years living with them before he reunites with his family. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 27 | * MeetTheInLaws: In Volume 3, after Arthur gets hospitalized following him TakingTheBullet for Tessia in their Team-Fighting Mechanics class, Tessia and her family visit him right as Arthur's own family are tending to him, causing them to meet the Leywins for the first time. |
| 28 | * MysticalWhiteHair: Their hair is gunmetal silver in color and all of them are very magically adept. |
| 29 | * ShipperOnDeck: They are all very supportive of Arthur and Tessia's relationship and frequently tease both of them about it. |
| 30 | * WoobieFamily: As of Volume 10, [[spoiler: both the grandmother and her sister died due to overexerting their CastFromLifespan [[{{Seers}} divination]] powers, the father and mother were forced to make a deal with the BigBad when he revealed [[TheCommiesMadeMeDoIt he had control over their daughter's life]] and were executed in the aftermath, and the daughter was [[ReforgedIntoAMinion captured and turned into]] [[GrandTheftMe the vessel for]] the Legacy (though she is still FightingFromTheInside). Only the grandfather has avoided his family's unfortunate fates. Even then, he could do nothing as the asuras destroyed his homeland (and most of his people) via a FantasticNuke [[GodzillaThreshold in a futile attempt to kill the Legacy]], and was forced to work with them and lie to his people about what happened in the aftermath only for the asuras to ultimately betray him as well once they deemed [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he had outlived his usefulness to them]]]]. |
| 31 | [[/folder]] |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[folder:Virion Eralith]] |
| 34 | !!Virion Eralith |
| 35 | !!!King of Elenoir, Commander of the Tri-Union Alliance |
| 36 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 20 (Webcomic) |
| 37 | |
| 38 | The former King of Elenoir, Virion is Alduin’s father and Tessia’s grandfather. |
| 39 | ---- |
| 40 | * AbdicateTheThrone: He abdicated the throne of Elenoir to his son Alduin after the war with Sapin. |
| 41 | * AffectionateNickname: Is called "Gramps" by both Arthur and Tessia. |
| 42 | * AssassinationAttempt: Virion has a history of surviving these. |
| 43 | ** In the past war between Sapin and Elenoir, Virion’s wife Lania foresaw his death at the hands of assassins sent by the then-King of Sapin. She kept looking into the future to try to find a different outcome in spite of Virion pleading her not to as her divination powers were CastFromLifespan. She was able to buy enough time for the war to end with Blaine Glayder usurping his father and Virion surviving, but by then she had burnt up so much of her life force viewing potential futures that she died a few weeks later having aged years in that timespan. |
| 44 | ** At the close of the WarArc, [[spoiler:Alduin and Merial end up betraying Virion out of a SadisticChoice that Agrona offers them between either letting Tessia waste away and die or letting his forces into the Council Castle to assassinate Virion. However, Virion manages to escape the castle along with Arthur and Bairon]]. |
| 45 | ** After he refuses [[spoiler:Kezess's offer after being confronted by the rest of the resistance about the ulterior motivations behind it, Kezess orders Taci to kill him and everyone else hiding in the djinn sanctuary for defying him. It is only thanks to Arthur's sudden return and slaying of Taci that Virion gets to live to see another day]]. |
| 46 | * BargainWithHeaven: [[spoiler:Gets subjected to a rare malevolent example as GodAndSatanAreBothJerks is in full effect. He is forced to collude with Kezess and the asuras in the aftermath of their destruction of Elenoir when they reapproach him with new [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts of Power]] that could empower the Dicathians to retake their homeland. To say he does not having to collaborate with them for the crimes they have committed on top of having to lie to his own people is a ''massive'' understatement. Eventually, the asuras' deception is exposed and - after allowing the resistance to vote upon the matter - Virion refuses their offer]]. |
| 47 | * [[spoiler:BetrayalByOffspring]]: [[spoiler:Is sold out by his son and daughter-in-law when the BigBad offers them a SadisticChoice between his life or his granddaughter and they choose the latter, in the process allowing the Alacryans access into the Council Castle and forcing the Dicathians into hiding. In the aftermath, Virion has to disown both of them for this transgression, but Tessia refuses to abandon her parents, which leads to disastrous results]]. |
| 48 | * BigGood: Virion plays this role in the leadup to the WarArc when Aldir pronounces him the only suitable leader to head the Tri-Union Alliance against the impending Alacryan invasion. He continues to play this role [[spoiler:even after the Alacryans conquer Dicathen and execute its kings and queens (including his own son and daughter-in-law), albeit under the coercion and manipulation of Kezess and the asuras who seek to cover up for their own misdeeds, in particular the destruction of Elenoir, his own homeland, by the aforementioned Aldir using the World Eater technique. In that state, he is forced to lie to his own people about what happened. When the Dicathians discover the truth and Virion decides to turn against him, Kezess decides to wipe the slate clean. Only the timely return of Arthur from Alacrya foils his plans. Afterwards, Virion decides to step away from the role so that Arthur can take command]]. |
| 49 | * ConverseWithTheUnconscious: After Director Goodsky falls into her coma in a failed bid to extract the geas binding her, Virion ends up paying frequent visits to her unconscious body in the leadup to the Alacryan invasion out of remorse over allowing her to succumb to such a fate. In one of these visits, he discusses the many regrets he has been keeping to himself, in particular the fact that he had just allowed Tessia to participate in active combat. |
| 50 | * CoolOldGuy: While Virion is past his prime, he is still a silver core mage with a potent beast will to match, so he is still capable of defending himself if necessary. In the leadup to the WarArc he has frequent sparring sessions with Aldir to keep his mind sharp as the acting commander of the Tri-Union Alliance. Not to mention many people look up to him as the main figure of authority during the WarArc. |
| 51 | * DarkIsNotEvil: When he activates his beast will, he turns into an almost featureless black humanoid with long hair and vaguely feline features. In spite of that form's monstrous appearance, Virion is one of the good guys and ends up being the BigGood. |
| 52 | * DiedInYourArmsTonight: He was powerless to save his wife Lania after she died in his arms after overexerting her divination powers - which were CastFromLifespan - to save him from being assassinated. |
| 53 | * GenerationXerox: {{Inverted}} in a rather nasty fashion. [[spoiler:His own son and daughter-in-law were forced to sell him and their people out to Agrona in order to save his granddaughter's life. Later on following their deaths and his granddaughter's capture, Virion is forced to collaborate with Kezess, the opposite end of the DivineConflict and a deity who had proven himself no better than Agrona in orchestrating the complete annihilation of his homeland, in order to give the resistance a chance against Agrona's regime. And like his son and daughter-in-law, Kezess orders Virion to be killed when [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he has outlived his usefulness]] to him, though thanks to Arthur's timely return Virion gets to live to see another day]]. |
| 54 | * GoodWearsWhite: He is usually seen wearing white robes, especially during the WarArc as the supreme commander of the Dicathians. |
| 55 | * IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: When Arthur is discussing [[spoiler:the Legacy and her possession of Tessia after he and his entourage have linked up with Seris's rebellion, he has a vision of Virion's face twisted with anger and despair when the prospect of having to MercyKill Tessia is brought up]]. |
| 56 | -->'''Arthur:''' Could [Virion] ever forgive me if I [[spoiler:killed his granddaughter]], no matter the reason? Could I ever forgive myself? |
| 57 | * InsultOfEndearment: He refers to Arthur as "Brat". |
| 58 | * LastRequest: {{Discussed}}. He confides to Arthur that [[spoiler:after all of the misfortune that has befallen the elven race and the sacrifices he has been willing to make to ensure their survival, his last wish before he passes on would be to walk with his granddaughter beneath the Elshire Forest]]. |
| 59 | * LikeASonToMe: Views Arthur as his surrogate grandson given the time he spent living in Elenoir. |
| 60 | * TheMentor: Virion acts as Arthur’s childhood tutor during his stay in Elenoir. He teaches him (and the audience by extension) much of how the setting works, including the magic system (moreso than the encyclopedia Arthur had read as an infant), mana beasts, and beast wills. He also helps Arthur overcome the PowerIncontinence from prematurely awakening his mana core. |
| 61 | ** As Tessia's grandfather, he also functions as a tutor to her. He is frequently seen sparring with her to hone her physical combat skills. |
| 62 | * TheMourningAfter: He has never moved on from the death of his wife Lania, to the point of keeping around an artifact that allows him to commune with an echo of her. |
| 63 | * MrExposition: He serves this role a few times. First when it comes to illustrating how the magic system works (as mentioned above) and then later on he tells Arthur of the origins and relationship between the royal families and the Lances. |
| 64 | * OldMaster: PlayedWith. On paper, Virion is one of the strongest mages in Dicathen as a silver core mage with a potent beast will, and his years of experience have allowed him to train both Arthur and Tessia in both physical and magical combat. However, while he is a far more formidable combatant when compared to most of the Council, his advanced age and position as the overall leader means he mostly serves as a SupportingLeader as his death would be a major blow. If that was not enough, the enemies the Dicathians face [[spoiler:far outstrip their strongest mages in terms of magical power, putting Virion at even more of a disadvantage]]. To say nothing of [[spoiler:the TraumaCongaLine he undergoes, as by the time Arthur takes command after his return from Alacrya, Virion is willing to relinquish overall command to him after everything he has been through]]. |
| 65 | * [[spoiler:OutlivingOnesOffspring]]: [[spoiler:Sadly ends up outliving his only son and his daughter-in-law as they are executed by the Alacryans]]. |
| 66 | * PantheraAwesome: His beast will is derived from a shadow panther. |
| 67 | * ParentalSubstitute: Due to acting as his childhood tutor during his stay in Elenoir and helping him recover from prematurely awakening his mana core, Arthur comes to view Tessia's grandfather Virion as an honorary grandparent and even refers to him "Gramps" like Tessia does. This is especially apparent following the end of the WarArc, as [[spoiler:Virion is one of Arthur’s few surviving family members from his childhood alongside his own mother and sister and Tessia]]. |
| 68 | * ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime: He ends up walking onto his granddaughter straddling Arthur in a very compromising position, causing her to recoil off him in embarrassment. |
| 69 | -->'''Virion:''' I wanted the two of you to get closer but...I didn't think I'd be walking into this! |
| 70 | * PapaWolf: He is naturally very protective of his family. When Uto taunts him about what he plans to do to Tessia should he get his hands on her, Virion activates his beast will to get the Retainer to back down. |
| 71 | * RebelLeader: [[spoiler:After the loss of the war, Virion ends up becoming the main leader of the Dicathian resistance. He steps down as overall leader once Arthur returns]]. |
| 72 | * RetiredBadass: Was this at the start of the story due to having abdicated from rulership of his kingdom. As much as he would like to live out his sunset years in peace, the invasion, [[spoiler:conquest, and utter annihilation]] of his homeland forces him out of retirement. |
| 73 | * SkywardScream: In the {{Webcomic}}, his reaction to [[spoiler:Cynthia Goodsky's death has him collapse to his knees and scream in anguish]]. |
| 74 | * SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Other than Tessia (who is FightingFromTheInside as the Legacy has possessed her body), Virion is the sole survivor of his family after the war]]. |
| 75 | * SupportingLeader: As Virion has long since retired from active combat, he acts as a leader in a supporting capacity while the majority of the actual military leadership is carried out by Arthur and the Lances. Later on [[spoiler:after Arthur returns from Alacrya and becomes the overarching BigGood, he has Virion shift to a political role as a figurehead that the surviving elves can rally around. When Arthur discusses with him his plan regarding the fourth keystone, he leaves Virion as the acting commander of Vildorial in his absence, as he knows Agrona will strike during the time he is away]]. |
| 76 | ** Despite reinstating Virion in a military role, [[spoiler:Arthur also orders him to take his people to safety away from what he believes will be Agrona's intended targets, as he wants Virion and the surviving elves to live so that they can rebuild Elenoir after all they have suffered during the war]]. |
| 77 | * StepfordSmiler: His jovial and upbeat demeanor hides the fact that Virion secretly harbors many regrets, in particular having never moved on from the loss of his wife Lania. He stops hiding his regrets from the WarArc and afterward as he gets wrung through the TraumaCongaLine. |
| 78 | -->'''Arthur:''' Gramps is always so cheerful and loves joking around...I never would've thought that he had such a tragic past. |
| 79 | * SympathyForTheDevil: Upon hearing of [[spoiler:Aldir’s demise from Arthur and being presented with the fallen asura’s weapon, Virion expresses a hint of regret over his death. Even though Aldir destroyed his homeland and nearly consigned his race to extinction, Virion still had some respect for the asura]]. |
| 80 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: He only agrees to an EnemyMine with [[spoiler:the asuras out of the fact that the resistance will need all the help they can get to retake their homeland. He makes it explicitly clear to Windsom that he will never forgive them for the atrocity they committed against his people and homeland and is only working with them because he has no other choice]]. |
| 81 | -->'''Virion:''' Damned your games, [[spoiler:Windsom. Don't think I've forgiven your crime against my people. I spread your lie only because I have no other choice. Knowing what the asuras did would shatter whatever little hope remains in Dicathen]]. |
| 82 | * ThisIsUnforgivable: [[spoiler:Naturally views the destruction of his entire homeland and near-extinction of his people by his erstwhile asuran "allies" as an act he will never forgive them for]]. |
| 83 | * TraumaCongaLine: Out of all his family, he gets put through absolute hell both during and after the WarArc. [[spoiler:First, his homeland gets conquered, then his own son and his wife are forced to betray him in order to save his granddaughter’s life and get executed by the Alacryans, his honorary grandson vanishes, his granddaughter is captured and his homeland gets obliterated by the asuras, then Kezess approaches him and forces him to lie to his own people about what happened in return for his aid, and finally, once Kezess’s deception is exposed and Virion turns against him, Kezess deems that the Dicathian resistance [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness has outlived their usefulness]] to him and orders their extermination. It is because of all the suffering he has endured that causes Virion to hand over leadership to Arthur]]. |
| 84 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Buhnd, going all the way back to their youth. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Lania Eralith]] |
| 88 | !!Lania Eralith |
| 89 | !!!Queen of Elenoir |
| 90 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 131 (Webcomic) |
| 91 | ->"''Inside and out, you are a beautiful man, and you have lived a beautiful life. And I will always protect you.''" |
| 92 | |
| 93 | The former queen of Elenoir, Lania is Virion’s deceased wife, Rinia’s older sister, and Alduin’s mother. She died during the war between Sapin and Elenoir. |
| 94 | ---- |
| 95 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Was this to her sister in terms of divination powers, Lania's visions would often be much more longer, detailed, and frequent. Though this was also a case of CursedWithAwesome given how said powers were CastFromLifespan. On a more positive note, Lania was renowned for her beauty and grace and was viewed as the pride of Elenoir. |
| 96 | * CastFromLifespan: As divination is a deviant form of magic, she is forced to draw from her lifespan instead of her mana core in order to use her divination powers. It ended up killing her. |
| 97 | * CursedWithAwesome: She was able to see into the future, but at the cost of draining from her lifespan every time she did so. |
| 98 | * DiedInYourArmsTonight: She passed surrounded by her husband and their son and daughter-in-law. |
| 99 | * HeroicRROD: In order to prevent the death of her husband at the hands of assassins sent by the then-King of Sapin, Lania used her powers to look into the future, which allowed the family to avoid or counter the scenarios she saw. However, each time the outcome remained the same, and she was forced to overuse her powers until Blaine Glayder overthrew his father and brought the war to an end. by then though, Lania had burnt up so much of her life force she died shortly afterwards. |
| 100 | * MoralityChainBeyondTheGrave: Ever since Lania's death, Virion has kept an artifact with him that allows him to commune with an echo of his late wife. As he goes through the TraumaCongaLine, Virion ends up using this artifact more often than he used to in order to relieve himself of the pain he ends up enduring. He is seen using the artifact right before [[spoiler:the Dicathians elect to refuse Kezess's ulterior offer after he allows them to vote on the matter, as he knows that dire consequences will follow from defying the ruler of the asuras and he needs the strength and vindication to endure the coming storm]]. |
| 101 | * PosthumousCharacter: She died during the war and her death had a major impact on her family. |
| 102 | * RapidAging: Overuse of her divination powers caused her to age from a beautiful young woman to that of an aged elder, with her passing only a few months after the war's end. |
| 103 | * {{Seers}}: She was able to look into the future, though overuse of her powers cost her her life. |
| 104 | * WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: In life, Lania was famed for her enchanting beauty which earned her the adulation of all of Elenoir. |
| 105 | [[/folder]] |
| 106 | |
| 107 | [[folder:Alduin Eralith]] |
| 108 | !!Alduin Eralith |
| 109 | !!!King of Elenoir |
| 110 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 20 (Webcomic) |
| 111 | |
| 112 | Virion’s son, the current King of Elenoir, and the father of Tessia. |
| 113 | ---- |
| 114 | * [[spoiler:TheCommiesMadeMeDoIt]]: [[spoiler:Is forced to betray his own people in order to save his daughter's life]]. |
| 115 | * EmbarrassedByAChild: The young Arthur calling Alduin out for his racism against humans is what leads him to change his perceptions and form the Council. |
| 116 | * HeelRealization: After the end of the war between Sapin and Elenoir and the death of his mother, Alduin could not bring himself to forgive humans. It was not until Arthur rescued Tessia from slave traders and called him out on his racism to make him have an epiphany. In turn, this would lead to the formation of the Council. |
| 117 | * [[spoiler:ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice]]: [[spoiler:He alongside his wife Merial and the Glayders are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra]]. |
| 118 | * SadisticChoice: At the climax of Volume 7, [[spoiler:Agrona forces him and his wife to choose between the lives of Tessia or Virion. They choose the former]]. |
| 119 | * TragicBigot: A former example. He used to hate the humans not only for their war against his kingdom, but because said war led to his mother's death. However, the young Arthur saving his daughter Tessia and calling him out for his racism leads Alduin to abandon his prejudices. |
| 120 | [[/folder]] |
| 121 | |
| 122 | [[folder:Merial Eralith]] |
| 123 | !!Merial Eralith |
| 124 | !!!Queen of Elenoir |
| 125 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 20 (Webcomic) |
| 126 | |
| 127 | The current Queen of Elenoir and the mother of Tessia. |
| 128 | ---- |
| 129 | * [[spoiler:TheCommiesMadeMeDoIt]]: [[spoiler:Is forced to betray her own people in order to save her daughter's life]]. |
| 130 | * [[spoiler:ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice]]: [[spoiler:She alongside her husband Alduin and the Glayders are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra]]. |
| 131 | * SadisticChoice: At the climax of Volume 7, [[spoiler:Agrona forces her and her husband to choose between the lives of Tessia or Virion. They choose the former]]. |
| 132 | [[/folder]] |
| 133 | |
| 134 | [[folder:Tessia Eralith]] |
| 135 | !!Tessia Eralith |
| 136 | !!!Princess of Elenoir, The Lunar Goddess |
| 137 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 16 (Webcomic) |
| 138 | [[quoteright:225:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ilcfyv94s1zampatwzyj_pkryboz.png]] |
| 139 | ->"''I guess you're right. I can't save them all. At this rate, I won't catch up to him.''" |
| 140 | |
| 141 | The Princess of Elenoir, Tessia is Arthur's childhood friend whom he first meets after he rescues her from slave traders and brings her back home. Arthur would live with her and her family for three years before he was eventually able to reunite with his own family. Due to the circumstances of their first meeting and her own growing feelings for him, Tessia aspires to catch up with Arthur and be as strong as him. She becomes the protégé of Cynthia Goodsky, the Director of Xyrus Academy, and the StudentCouncilPresident in time for Arthur enrolling at the academy. From there, their relationship would continue to grow as both find themselves caught up in the impending DivineConflict. |
| 142 | ---- |
| 143 | * AdaptationalModesty: In her assimilation sessions with Arthur, Tessia ends up removing her robe as Virion states that the process would work better with less clothes on. In the {{Webcomic}}, she keeps her robe on during the assimilation with that specific detail by Virion being omitted. |
| 144 | * AdoptivePeerParent: To Sylvie. She was physically eight years old when she first hatched. When [[spoiler:Sylvie is able to assume human form after the seal placed on her gets broken, people mistake her for Arthur’s OurPhlebotinumChild with Tessia]]. |
| 145 | * AffectionateNickname: Arthur affectionately refers to her as "Tess". |
| 146 | * AndCallHimGeorge: When Tessia first meets Sylvie, she gives her a crushing hug that the latter begs Arthur to save her from. Despite Sylvie not appreciating this overwhelming display of affection, she warms up to Tessia later on as she comes to view her as her surrogate mother. |
| 147 | * AngerBornOfWorry: There are quite a few times when Tessia gets mad at Arthur for putting himself in danger or making her worry about him and his well-being. As he puts it himself, he could never bring himself to despise her. |
| 148 | -->'''Tessia:''' I th-hought you h-hated me. |
| 149 | -->'''Arthur:''' Even if there are times when I get mad at you, I would never hate you, Tess. |
| 150 | * AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: After her first assimilation session with Arthur, Tessia calls out Arthur for his evasiveness over advancing their relationship and his apparent immaturity, in the process declaring to him how serious her feelings for him are. |
| 151 | * BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Tessia quickly grew attached to Arthur due to him being the only person outside of her family to treat her with genuine kindness. |
| 152 | * BerserkButton: Tessia does not like being treated as either a child or an object that needs protecting, as she wants to prove that she can fend for herself. While those who treat her that way have good reason for doing so as Tessia often gets TargetedToHurtTheHero that is her LoveInterest Arthur, her chafing and rebelling against said treatment has sometimes led to unintended - and sometimes outright disastrous - consequences. |
| 153 | -->'''Tessia:''' What the hell was the point of training so hard if everyone treated me like some glass sculpture? |
| 154 | * BettyAndVeronica: The Betty to Kathyln's Veronica. While both are princesses, Tessia is the GirlNextDoor as Arthur's childhood friend and her features give her a mystical yet approachable aura, where Kathyln is a DefrostingIceQueen with RavenHairIvorySkin. |
| 155 | * BigDamnKiss: She gives her first kiss to Arthur while he is in the infirmary following him TakingTheBullet for her during their Team-Fighting Mechanics I class. |
| 156 | * BigDamnReunion: |
| 157 | ** After running away from home and getting kidnapped by slave traders, Tessia gets rescued by Arthur who proceeds to escort her back home. When they arrive, her parents and grandfather are there to meet her where they have a tearful reunion. |
| 158 | ** On Arthur's first day at Xyrus Academy, Tessia attempts to {{Invoke|dTrope}} this trope as she fantasizes how their reunion will turn out given how it has been years since she last saw him. However, it ends up being {{Subverted}} as she encounters him attempting to break up a fight. Given her position as StudentCouncilPresident, she is forced to act sternly towards him. Not helping matters is that Lilia says she has been living with Arthur for years now and Clive attempts to countermand Arthur for his attitude which sees him being flung into the air. In the aftermath, Tessia is seen holed up in her room out of frustration. That night, she gets a more tender and intimate reunion with him as they reconcile over the earlier incident. |
| 159 | ** After being allowed to participate in the war, Tessia is assigned to a dungeon infested with Alacryan mana beasts. However, when she and the Dicathian forces arrive at the entrance they find only the corpses of mana beasts. When Tessia opens the door, she finds Arthur sitting AtopAMountainOfCorpses, having dealt with the mana beasts in the dungeon for them before she gets glomped by Sylvie. After returning to base and Arthur's debriefing, the two of them are left alone where they proceed to have yet another personal reunion. |
| 160 | * BlowYouAway: Her other notable elemental affinity is in wind magic. |
| 161 | * BullyingADragon: {{Invoked}}. After [[spoiler:seeing Mordain warn Cecilia to back down by effortlessly incinerating one of the Wraiths, Tessia briefly retakes control of her body to attack Mordain in order to convey to Cecilia just how far she is willing to go to stop her]]. |
| 162 | * ChildhoodFriendLoveInterest: To Arthur. After saving her from slave traders, he wound up living with her family in Elenoir for three years before leaving to reunite with his family. Their shared childhood together leaves a growing infatuation on Tessia’s part, and when they reunite years later in Xyrus Academy she attempts to trigger a RelationshipUpgrade between the two of them. Arthur, knowing that he is mentally much older than Tessia, asks her to hold off their relationship until they are adults to which she reluctantly agrees. Later on during the WarArc, their relationship does advance a little with them promising each other to get together after the end of the war. |
| 163 | * ChildProdigy: While nowhere near as talented as her LoveInterest, Tessia is nonetheless highly talented for someone the age of 13. As part of her education, she is taken under the wing of Director Goodsky and is able to succeed at her regimen when the few who have come before her have failed, all out of her desire to catch up with Arthur. Not only that, but at that age she has also become adept at plant magic in spite of the intense difficulty when it comes to learning it due to the lack of reliable teachers. |
| 164 | * ChildSoldiers: The Precociously Talented Type. Tessia is 16 years old by the time of the WarArc, yet is one of the most powerful combatants on the Dicathian side thanks to her extensive training with both Virion and Aldir on top being a silver core mage with a powerful beast will. The only flaw that holds her back is her own emotional maturity. |
| 165 | * ClassPrincess: A literal example. Tessia's high status as both a princess and the StudentCouncilPresident makes her a figure of authority and respect for the student body of Xyrus Academy. Her exceptional talent and enchanting beauty is what the students admire her for. While she is a kindhearted and compassionate individual at her core, Tessia is known to put on a stern front whenever she needs to reinforce her own authority. On top of that, given the circumstances of her attendance, Tessia seeks to uplift and promote racial harmony on campus and stamp out any instances of racism that emerge. |
| 166 | * ClingyJealousGirl: Tessia is notably jealous of any other girl who gets close to Arthur. When she and Arthur first reunite at Xyrus Academy, their reunion - which had already gone awry thanks to it being when Arthur had been stopping a fight - gets even more heated when Lilia recognizes Arthur and says that she had been living with him for a while. During their first proper day of classes together, specifically during their Team-Fighting Mechanics I class, Tessia is not happy to see Claire putting her arms around Arthur. In an additional scene in the {{Webcomic}} version, Tessia is not happy to see Arthur get smothered by Angela when they arrive at Helstea Manor, who then promptly proceeds to smother her as well much to her chagrin. |
| 167 | * CooldownHug: [[spoiler:To Arthur after his father's death]]. |
| 168 | * CryIntoChest: After she and Arthur reunite following the latter's return from Epheotus, he embraces her and allows her to cry into him. |
| 169 | * CustomUniform: As the StudentCouncilPresident of Xyrus Academy, Tessia wears her own distinct and elaborate uniform. |
| 170 | * DamselInDistress: She ends up having to be rescued by Arthur quite a lot. |
| 171 | ** They first met when Arthur, after having eluded capture by the Vritra thanks to Sylvia’s HeroicSacrifice, stumbled across a group of slave traders that had taken Tessia captive after she ran away from home. He is able to kill them all before escorting her back home in the hope that the elves would have some means for him to reunite with his family. |
| 172 | ** During their first day of class at Xyrus Academy, Tessia suffers PowerIncontinence from the beast will Arthur had given her beforehand, which puts her right in the crossfire of Curtis’s World Howl. Thanks to Sylvie sensing Tessia is in danger, Arthur is forced to ditch his duel with Lucas to save her. However, thanks to having expended most of his mana in his duel with Lucas as well as using his own beast will to close the distance, Arthur can do nothing but shield Tessia from the blast with his own body. Fortunately, both survive, although Arthur is put in the infirmary for a few days. |
| 173 | ** After the ClassTrip to Widow’s Crypt, Sylvie once again senses Tessia is in danger. Arthur finds out that her beast will has overtaken her and has to work with Virion to calm her down. He ends up throwing the orb Windsom had given him at her, which succeeds in releasing her from her berserk state. Not only is Tessia able to make a recovery, but in the aftermath Arthur and Virion find out that her mana core had jumped to the silver stage. |
| 174 | ** During the attack on Xyrus Academy, Tessia is incapacitated by the Radicals, with Lucas threatening to desecrate her right in front of Arthur’s face. This ends as poorly as one would expect for Lucas, as Arthur, having been fed up with Lucas [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty eluding punishment for his actions for so long]], decides to end him right there in a truly graphic yet cathartic fashion. |
| 175 | ** At the close of the WarArc, [[spoiler:Tessia goes back to the Council Castle on her own to try to rescue her parents in spite of their treason, only to find them executed by the Alacryans. In the process of having to rescue her, Arthur is forced to stay behind to hold off the Alacryan forces. In turn, this leads to his near-death and him ending up in the Relictombs]]. |
| 176 | ** When Arthur is confronted by [[spoiler:both Agrona and the Legacy at the end of the Victoriad, he is about to perform a MercyKill on the latter when Tessia suddenly takes over and begs him to save her. He learns that Tessia is still FightingFromTheInside thanks to the beast will he had given her, which was the only reason why the Legacy's soul had not overwritten hers. With this knowledge in hand, he begins looking for a way to save her from her fate once he returns to Dicathen]]. |
| 177 | * DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Like Arthur, Tessia's beast will functions in this fashion. In particular, Virion warns her to try to avoid situations wherein she has to use the second phase of said will given her lack of control over it, especially as she had been known to experience unusual instances of PowerIncontinence from her attempts at assimilating it. It turns out that it is far more dangerous to her and everyone around her as [[spoiler:it was derived from a failed Vritra experiment, which means Agrona has been able to control her]]. |
| 178 | * DualWielding: After activating her beast will during her spar with her grandfather, Tessia conjures a pair of mana swords, though it is noted dual wielding is not her forte. |
| 179 | * ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Her suit of armor during the WarArc sports a lot of intricate patterns which makes her stand out when compared to the standard rank and file. |
| 180 | * EmeraldPower: Activating her beast will surrounds Tessia in an emerald aura complete with FacialMarkings of the same color, and she is able to create emerald-colored mana weapons. |
| 181 | * EveryProperLadyShouldCurtsy: Upon meeting Arthur's parents for the first time, Tessia proceeds to curtsy to them as a sign of respect. |
| 182 | * EveryoneCanSeeIt: Pretty much everyone who sees Tessia with Arthur can instantly recognize that she is in love with him. |
| 183 | * {{Expy}}: Given the novel's inspiration from ''Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'', Tessia has parallels to several characters from that novel. Given that she is an elf with MysticalWhiteHair whom Arthur first meets as a child when he rescues her from peril, reunites with him at a MagicalAcademy, and confesses to him her feelings that he later reciprocates, she is primarily based on Sylphiette. However, the fact that she is a young noble whose family Arthur spends a portion of his youth living with is borrowed from Eris Boreas Greyrat, while her being a princess who becomes the StudentCouncilPresident of the MagicalAcademy they both attend is from Ariel Anemoi Asura. |
| 184 | * FacialMarkings: Using her beast will gives her emerald markings around her eyes. |
| 185 | * FallenPrincess: After [[spoiler:the Alacryan conquest of Dicathen and the execution of her parents, Tessia is no longer royalty. To add insult to injury, she is then captured and turned into the vessel for the Legacy. And if that was not enough salt on the wound, immediately after being possessed by the Legacy her own homeland gets completely obliterated by one of her former mentors in a futile bid to kill the being possessing her]]. |
| 186 | * FightingFromTheInside: [[spoiler:In the climax of Volume 8, Tessia is kidnapped and turned into the vessel for the Cecilia, the Legacy. At the end of the next volume, when Arthur and Cecilia meet at the end of the Victoriad, Arthur is about to perform a MercyKill when Tessia takes control for a moment thanks to her beast will and begs Arthur to save her. In Volume 11, it is revealed that after falling into Seris's trap at the end of the previous volume, Cecilia entered the stage after the white stage, the integrate stage, which allows the core to be one with the body. However, this also led to Tessia being partially released from Cecilia's mind, letting her regain control of her body anytime, but she is waiting for the right moment to strike against Agrona]]. |
| 187 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: Right before she and Arthur arrive in Zestier, the latter jokingly refers to her as "your highness". Once they arrive, she is revealed to be not just any ordinary elven girl but the very princess of their kingdom. |
| 188 | * GhostMemory: [[spoiler:After her mind is partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, Tessia is able to view Cecilia's memories which is how she learns of Arthur's past life]]. |
| 189 | * GildedCage: After the attack on Xyrus Academy, Tessia was sheltered inside the Council Castle to protect her as much as possible. She views this treatment as stifling for no matter how much stronger she gets, Virion and Aldir refuse to let her leave as the prospect of her dying could significantly affect Arthur and his performance in the war, not just her own family. |
| 190 | * GirlNextDoor: Tessia is Arthur's ChildhoodFriendLoveInterest and frequently exhibits a NiceGirl personality towards him alone. |
| 191 | * GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:At the end of Volume 8, she is captured by Nico and turned into the vessel for the Legacy]]. |
| 192 | * GreenThumb: Her primary elemental affinity is in plant magic. Her beast will allows her to tap into the powers of the elderwood guardian, itself a BotanicalAbomination made of vines. |
| 193 | * HelplessGoodSide: [[spoiler:PlayedWith. When Cecilia first possesses her body, it seems Tessia is all but gone. Then when Arthur is about to MercyKill her at the end of the Victoriad, Tessia briefly retakes over her body via her beast will and begs Arthur to save her, revealing that she is still alive to some extent. However, after Cecilia enters the integrate stage after falling for Seris's gambit, Tessia's mind is partially freed as a result. This not only allows her personality to become more prominent as she frequently calls out Cecilia for her continued obedience to Agrona, but allows her to temporarily regain control of her body at times though Cecilia remains the dominant personality]]. |
| 194 | * IWantMyMommy: Her very first lines in the novel are her yelling for her mother and father to save her after she got herself kidnapped by slave traders. |
| 195 | * IfWeSurviveThis: When she and Arthur are alone on the Wall facing the impending horde of Alacryan mana beasts, they promise each other that if they survive the war to get married afterward. |
| 196 | * InSpiteOfANail: [[spoiler:In the first time loop Arthur experiences upon entering the fourth keystone, he ends up managing to avert the fateful bandit ambush that saw him being separated from his family which in turn would have led to him saving Tessia from the slave traders. In spite of this change, when he attends Xyrus Academy in that time loop Tessia is still there as the StudentCouncilPresident despite Arthur not having been around to save her. The external implication being that either she did not run away from home like she did OTL or if she did that her family sent a rescue party after her]]. |
| 197 | * InTheHood: In the leadup to the WarArc, when she leaves the Council Castle for the first time since the attack on Xyrus Academy two years ago, Tessia conceals her identity by wearing a grey cloak that obscures her appearance. |
| 198 | * InterspeciesAdoption: She (an elf) and Arthur (a human) are the surrogate parents of Sylvie (a dragon[[spoiler:/basilisk hybrid]]). |
| 199 | * InterspeciesRomance: Her LoveInterest, Arthur, is a human. |
| 200 | * KidnappedForExperimentation: [[spoiler:Or rather Kidnapped to Become the Legacy's Vessel. After the end of the war, as part of the next stage of his plan Agrona orders Nico to capture Tessia to become the vessel for the Legacy. She narrowly escaped capture at the end of Volume 7 thanks to Arthur and Sylvie's HeroicSacrifice, but it ends up being AllForNothing as at the end of next volume, Nico is able to capture her and successfully turn her into the Legacy's vessel as Arthur is not around to protect her]]. |
| 201 | * KingIncognito: She does not tell Arthur she is elven royalty when they first meet. As such, he is taken by surprise when he learns who her family is. |
| 202 | * LuminescentBlush: Is easily prone to blushing when in the presence of Arthur. |
| 203 | * MadeASlave: Narrowly {{Averted}} as Arthur was able to kill the slave traders who had kidnapped her and bring her back to her family. |
| 204 | * MagicKnight: While Tessia is a conjurer rather than an augmenter, she nonetheless has received a lot of physical combat training from both Virion and Aldir. In the WarArc, she wears her own suit of armor and wields a RoyalRapier. |
| 205 | * MissedHimByThatMuch: PlayedWith. The {{Webcomic}} has Tessia covertly visit Eleanor's birthday party so that she can drop off a birthday present for her. When one of the maids attending her asks her why they are leaving right after dropping off the present, Tessia tells her that she wants Arthur's focus to be on his sister that night, for she will soon be seeing him again in Xyrus Academy. |
| 206 | * MoralityChain: Is one to Arthur, being one of the people he cares for the most. [[spoiler:Rescuing her from her fate as Cecilia's vessel becomes one of his driving goals after the end of the war]]. |
| 207 | * MysticalWhiteHair: She has gunmetal silver hair and is highly adept at magic like the rest of her family. |
| 208 | * {{Nepotism}}: How she became StudentCouncilPresident in the first place before she even started formally attending Xyrus Academy, though it is never called out at all. Her grandfather Virion was old friends with Director Goodsky, who took her in as her apprentice and had her on-campus for over a year before she started attending and thus appointed her to the position, especially as she was trying to promote diversity and harmony between the three races. However, unlike most examples of this trope, Tessia has the aptitude, intelligence, and talent necessary for her to fulfill said role. |
| 209 | * NextTierPowerUp: After Arthur uses a mystical orb he received from Windsom to placate Tessia's beast will, her mana core jumps straight from dark yellow all the way to silver stage. |
| 210 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: Tessia is equally guilty as this as her own LoveInterest Arthur. While in his case it stems from his desire to protect his loved ones (especially her) and it biting him back much later, in her case it stems from her own emotions getting the better of her in the heat of the moment. |
| 211 | ** [[spoiler:Her first battle as a commander in Elshire Forest. Her forces number 200, against a much larger force of Alacryans. They cannot retreat as civilians have yet to evacuate, but on the bright side reinforcements are close by and they simply have to hold out until then. What happens instead is that Tessia loses her cool, breaks formation, and starts running around the battlefield trying her best to help, ignoring the fact that without her to lead (and her being the most powerful mage present) her troops are getting decimated. Suffice it to say that Aya is livid about the whole business]]. |
| 212 | ** [[spoiler:Disregarding both Virion and Arthur's advice not to venture out of the djinn sanctuary to look for her parents. Made especially worse by the fact that the cast suspected Agrona is using her mana core to track her, and in doing so putting everyone else in danger by leaving. The whole trip ends up being in vain, as her parents were summarily executed, and Tessia ends up causing the deaths of even more soldiers as Nico is trying to capture her alive and proceeds to make her submit by slaughtering her allies. Even when Arthur and Sylvie come down to save her, they are forced to face off against both Nico and Cadell in a doomed battle. Arthur manages to get Tessia to safety but not without losing Sylvie in the process and being assumed dead, which breaks the morale of what remains of the Dicathian army]]. |
| 213 | * OddNameNormalNickname: Her nickname is the rather normal-sounding "Tess". |
| 214 | * PatientChildhoodLoveInterest: What she wants to happen between her and Arthur, as she has been in love when him back when he first rescued her. The problem being that Arthur is mentally ''much'' older than she is, and thus cannot quite reciprocate. As of Volume 7 Arthur returns his feelings for her as they promise each other to get married after the war. In Volume 11, [[spoiler:after being partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, she tells Cecilia that she intends to keep that promise she made with him. In spite of everything that has happened and knowing the full truth of Arthur's reincarnation and the mental age gap, she still loves him]]. |
| 215 | * ParentalSubstitute: She and Arthur are Sylvie’s surrogate parents, though given how Sylvie isn’t able to [[spoiler:assume human form]] until much later on, they treat her more as a pet at first. Once she does, [[spoiler:people begin mistaking Sylvie for Arthur and Tessia’s OurPhlebotinumChild and they begin to see her as their daughter]]. |
| 216 | * ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime: In the {{Webcomic}} version, shortly before their ClassTrip Arthur attempts to help Tessia integrate the beast will that he gave her into her mana core. However, the attempt gets derailed by playful teasing between the two of them which leads to Tessia tackling Arthur to the ground. At that moment, Tessia's grandfather Virion walks in on them and remarks that he didn't expect to come across something that he thought was far more intimate. This causes Tessia to realize that she is straddling Arthur in a rather compromising position, causing her to jump off him in embarrassment. |
| 217 | * PowerDyesYourHair: Using her beast will dyes her hair dark green. |
| 218 | * PowerIncontinence: Tessia experiences a lot of difficulty when it comes to assimilating her beast will as it repeatedly fights back against her. As such, Arthur has to be the one to help her with the assimilation process. At one point, it completely takes control over her body and goes berserk, and it is only thanks to a mystical orb that Arthur received from Windsom that Tessia is freed from its control. Even so, Virion and Aldir note how that there is something unusual about her beast will. As it turns out, [[spoiler:the true reason is because the elderwood guardian Arthur extracted the beast will from was a failed Vritra experiment, which gave Agrona control over her life]]. |
| 219 | * RaisedByRival: That dragon that has viewed her as her surrogate mother since she was a little kid? Little would she know at the time that said dragon is the only living descendant of [[spoiler:the two deities who would ruin her life, one by invading her homeland and having her ReforgedIntoAMinion, the other by obliterating her homeland in a futile bid to kill her and the being possessing her]]. |
| 220 | * RazorWind: Is able to unleash blades of cutting wind in combat. |
| 221 | * ReallyRoyaltyReveal: When she is first introduced, Arthur and the audience have no idea that she is in fact the Princess of Elenoir. As such, hearing the guards greet her as "the Royal Princess" when they arrive in Zestier takes him by complete surprise. |
| 222 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In Volume 11, [[spoiler:after being partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, Tessia often takes the opportunity to call out Cecilia for her misplaced loyalty to Agrona and how she is not helping herself by believing his manipulations]]. |
| 223 | * RebelliousPrincess: Tessia sometimes gets into arguments with her family, which leads to her running away. In turn this gets her into more trouble than she anticipated. |
| 224 | * RedBaron: The Lunar Goddess. She got this title as she is described as being as beautiful as a goddess but as untouchable as the moon. |
| 225 | * ReforgedIntoAMinion: [[spoiler: After the end of the war and Arthur's apparent disappearance, she goes on a secret mission back to Elenoir only to be captured by the Vritra and turned into the vessel for the Legacy]]. |
| 226 | * RescueIntroduction: She is first introduced after she gets kidnapped by slave traders. |
| 227 | * RescueRomance: After Arthur saves her from slave traders, she develops an attraction to him which only grows as he spends three years living with her family until he leaves to reunite with his family. Arthur does not reciprocate at first due to knowing that he is mentally much older than her. |
| 228 | * RoyalRapier: Her weapon of choice during the WarArc. |
| 229 | * RoyaltySuperpower: Combined with SuperpowerfulGenetics. Due to being of pure elven lineage on top of being from the royal family, Tessia's aptitude as a mage is much higher than anyone else near her age. |
| 230 | * TheRunaway: It is revealed that the reason she got kidnapped by slave traders in the first place was because she had gotten into an argument with her parents and ran away from home. |
| 231 | * SchoolIdol: Tessia is one of the most popular students on Xyrus Academy for multiple reasons. She is the Princess of Elenoir, the StudentCouncilPresident, and is renowned for both her intellect and beauty. Almost all of the male students in Xyrus fawn after her, while for the female students it is a mix of both admiration and envy. |
| 232 | * SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler:After being partially freed thanks to Seris's gambit, she discovers the truth of Arthur's reincarnation, but she does not hold it against him for keeping it a secret from her]]. |
| 233 | * SheIsAllGrownUp: Arthur is taken by surprise to see how much Tessia had matured when he sees her again for the first time in four years during the new student orientation at Xyrus Academy and is taken aback by her newfound beauty. |
| 234 | -->'''Arthur:''' Tess - whom I couldn't think as being anything other than a kid - had matured enough to catch me off guard. Her face still contained a childish innocence, but the way she carried herself made me doubt that this was the same girl I had known since I was little more than a toddler. |
| 235 | * SpontaneousWeaponCreation: As part of her beast will, Tessia is able to create weapons out of pure mana, usually swords. |
| 236 | * StrongAndSkilled: Tessia has received physical and magical training from some of the most experienced individuals in the setting and ends up becoming a silver core mage with a potent beast will that synergizes with her own elemental affinity, which makes her one of the most powerful mages in Dicathen. However, despite her potential she is held back by her maturity and lack of proper experience. |
| 237 | * StudentCouncilPresident: She becomes this when she first arrives at Xyrus Academy. She dislikes it because it prevents her from be openly friendly with Arthur when she finally sees him again as she has to put on an example for the rest of the student body. |
| 238 | * SugarAndIcePersonality: As StudentCouncilPresident, Tessia acts in a stern fashion to put on an example for the rest of the student body and show that she means business in spite of her being an elf. However, in front of those she cares about - especially Arthur - that front collapses to reveal her GirlNextDoor personality from their youth given her feelings for him. |
| 239 | * SuggestiveCollision: In an original scene in the {{Webcomic}} version, Tessia ends up pinning Arthur to the ground after he playfully teases her about how scared she used to be when they first met. It is not until her grandfather Virion walks in on them that she realizes that she is straddling Arthur in a rather compromising position, which causes her to jump off him in embarrassment when it gets pointed out. |
| 240 | * TakingYouWithMe: {{Invoked}}. After [[spoiler:Mordain warns Cecilia not to test his patience by killing off one of the Wraiths escorting her, Cecilia is about to order the Wraiths to retreat when Tessia briefly retakes control of her body and attempts to attack Mordain. Tessia does this in order to let Cecilia know how far she is willing to go to keep Arthur and those she loves safe, namely that Cecilia herself has to die]]. |
| 241 | * TargetedToHurtTheHero: Suffice to say, Tessia being Arthur's LoveInterest puts her in the crosshairs of a lot of his enemies. |
| 242 | ** In the leadup to the attack on Xyrus Academy, Draneeve tells Lucas that his plan to defeat Arthur involves targeting Tessia. Sure enough, during the attack Tessia gets incapacitated by the Radicals with Lucas threatening to desecrate her body in front of Arthur. It backfires on both of them as Lucas gets subjected to a CruelAndUnusualDeath by Arthur and Draneeve [[spoiler:gets ReassignedToAntarctica for almost compromising Agrona's plan]]. |
| 243 | ** In the aftermath, Tessia ends up being sheltered by her family in the Council Castle as the risk of her dying would have considerable repercussions on Arthur's psyche and could negatively impede his performance on the battlefield. Kezess even obliquely tells Arthur that "it would be wise for [him] to close [his] heart to the Elven Princess" before Arthur leaves Epheotus to join the war. |
| 244 | ** While [[spoiler:Agrona had planned for her to be the vessel for the Legacy, Nico was the one to capture her and no doubt enjoyed all of it, seeing no better way to spite Grey/Arthur by using his LoveInterest as the vessel for his own dead fiancée]]. |
| 245 | * TearsOfJoy: She is prone to doing this when it comes to Arthur. |
| 246 | ** After seeing that Arthur managed to escape Widow's Crypt on top of him saving her from her berserk beast will, the first move Tessia makes upon regaining consciousness is to embrace him and cry out of happiness now that she knows he survived. |
| 247 | ** When she sees Arthur AtopAMountainOfCorpses in the dungeon she was about to enter, her eyes tear up a little upon recognizing it is him. Later on after they return to camp, the moment Arthur says that he missed her, her eyes profusely tear up as she loses all composure and proceeds to CryIntoChest. |
| 248 | * TraumaCongaLine: [[spoiler: Her homeland is conquered, her parents are forced to make a DealWithTheDevil to save her life, she tries to rescue them only to find them executed, the ensuing battle sees her boyfriend and their adoptive daughter sacrifice themselves to save her, and then she gets captured and turned into the vessel for [[PersonOfMassDestruction the Legacy]]. To add insult to injury, immediately afterwards her homeland is completely obliterated by her former mentor in a futile bid to kill the Legacy]]. |
| 249 | * VineTentacles: Due to her mastery of plant magic, in combat Tessia is able to conjure swathes of vines that she can use in a wide range of functions, be it restraining enemies for the kill or disrupting enemy formations. |
| 250 | * WarriorPrincess: She fights on the frontlines during the WarArc, being one of the strongest mages on the Dicathian side other than the Lances. |
| 251 | * WellTrainedButInexperienced: Despite having trained her entire life and being one of the most powerful mages in Dicathen, Tessia lacks proper combat experience, which is not helped by the fact she was barred from joining the war effort for a long time out of fear over her death potentially impacting Arthur's performance in the war. This becomes especially apparent when she takes on a commanding role, as [[spoiler:she completely mishandles her troops in the Battle of Elshire Forest. This results in her forces being routed, her teammate Caria losing her legs and being crippled for life, and Aya relieving her of her command entirely and forcing her to return to the Council Castle now that she has proven herself incapable of properly conducting herself as a soldier]]. |
| 252 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:She loses her homeland, her family, and her own body which gets taken over by the [[PersonOfMassDestruction the Legacy]]]]. |
| 253 | * YouAreTooLate: At the end of Volume 7, [[spoiler:she goes off to Elenoir on her own to rescue her parents, only to find that they have already been executed by the Vritra]]. |
| 254 | [[/folder]] |
| 255 | |
| 256 | [[folder:Rinia Darcassian]] |
| 257 | !!Rinia Darcassian |
| 258 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 1 (Novel), Chapter 23 (Webcomic) |
| 259 | |
| 260 | Lania’s sister, who is also a diviner. |
| 261 | ---- |
| 262 | * BigDamnHeroes: At the end of the WarArc, [[spoiler:she rescues Alice, Eleanor, and Tessia from the Alacryans after they take over the Council Castle]]. |
| 263 | * BlindSeer: Overuse of her powers eventually renders her blind. |
| 264 | * TheBusCameBack: After her brief appearance in Volume 1, Rinia returns in Volume 4 when Arthur and the Eraliths visit her abode years later. From that point onward, she becomes a semi-regular until [[spoiler:her death in the climax of Volume 9]]. |
| 265 | * CastFromLifespan: As divination is a deviant form of magic, she is forced to draw from her lifespan instead of her mana core in order to use her divination powers. [[spoiler:Like her sister, she ended up meeting the same fate]]. |
| 266 | * CursedWithAwesome: She is able to see into the future, but at the cost of draining from her lifespan every time she does so. |
| 267 | * HeroicRROD: [[spoiler:Just like her sister, Rinia being forced to overexert her divination powers is what eventually takes her life. After being struck down by Taci, she uses the last of her life force to guide Arthur onto how to safely defeat the asura]]. |
| 268 | * KeeperOfForbiddenKnowledge: Given [[spoiler:her training under Mordain, Rinia is privy to the existence of the long-extinct djinn and their mastery of aether. Her interactions with Arthur and Eleanor have her do her best to impart that knowledge onto them without directly alluding to their existence]]. |
| 269 | * TheMentor: After [[spoiler:Arthur's apparent disappearance, she takes his sister Eleanor under her wing and trains her in utilizing her hereditary djinn magic]]. |
| 270 | * MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:Her divination powers, which she learned from the exiled asura Mordain, put a target on her back from [[GodAndSatanAreBothJerks both sides]] of the DivineConflict. Agrona wants to master reincarnation and fate to win the war on top of wanting to know Mordain's secrets, while Kezess knows her divination would allow her to subvert his plans for the Dicathian resistance on top of him being the one who exiled Mordain in the first place. The latter is the one to get to her as he sends Taci down to exterminate the resistance for slighting him. In the process Taci fatally wounds Rinia who expires right after Arthur arrives to take Taci into the Relictombs and finish him off]]. |
| 271 | * MoralityChain: {{Discussed}}. As part of her advice to Arthur, she tells him to find an anchor to give him the strength to persevere through the coming. |
| 272 | * ParentalSubstitute: Is viewed as a surrogate grandmother by both Arthur and Tessia, especially the latter as her paternal grandmother Lania died before she was born. |
| 273 | * RapidAging: Like her sister, overuse of her divination powers makes her age substantially fast. |
| 274 | * SecretSecretKeeper: Thanks to her divination powers, she knows that Arthur is the reincarnated King Grey without him knowing. She is also aware of [[spoiler:his family's secret djinn ancestry]]. |
| 275 | * {{Seers}}: She is able to look into the future, though at the cost of her own lifespan. It is later revealed [[spoiler:that she learned her art from Mordain]]. |
| 276 | * SlippingAMickey: A benign example. When Arthur and the Eraliths visit her abode, she laces the tea she serves them with a special herbal tonic in order to knock out all of the latter so that she can have a very private conversation with the former regarding what she has foreseen in his future. |
| 277 | * YouCantFightFate: {{Discussed}}. As part of her knowledge of divination, Rinia knows that any outcome she foresees is preordained, and that looking for an alternative outcome only changes the circumstances in which said outcome occurs. In the aftermath of [[spoiler:Tessia becoming the vessel for the Legacy and Elenoir's destruction, Eleanor asks Rinia if she knew what would happen to Tessia, to which Rinia says that it was Tessia's fate and that all she could have done was ensure the circumstances it would happen in were the for the best. When Eleanor asks what would have happened if she had prevented Tessia from going, Rinia tells her that in that future, the Alacryans would eventually uncover the djinn sanctuary and ''then'' capture Tessia]]. |
| 278 | [[/folder]] |
| 279 | |
| 280 | [[folder:Camus Selaridon]] |
| 281 | !!Camus Selaridon |
| 282 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 6 (Novel) |
| 283 | ->''"The boy doesn't need to know any more than my name. I'm here to spar with him. Any information beyond that is irrelevant."'' |
| 284 | |
| 285 | One of the three elders whom Arthur trains under during the WarArc. |
| 286 | ---- |
| 287 | * BlowYouAway: Camus is a master of wind magic. |
| 288 | * TheMentor: Acts as one of Arthur's tutors during the WarArc where he improves his skill in wind magic. |
| 289 | * ThePigpen: Unlike most elves, Camus does not bother with his personal appearance and hygiene. |
| 290 | * RazorWind: His fighting style revolves around slicing wind currents. |
| 291 | [[/folder]] |
| 292 | |
| 293 | !!House Glayder |
| 294 | The ruling house of Sapin, the kingdom of the humans. |
| 295 | |
| 296 | [[folder:Blaine Glayder]] |
| 297 | !!Blaine Glayder |
| 298 | !!!King of Sapin |
| 299 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic) |
| 300 | |
| 301 | The King of Sapin. |
| 302 | ---- |
| 303 | * BlasphemousBoast: Closes off the Council announcement and the reveal of the Lances by encouraging the people to "Grow strong and noble as not even the heavens are the limit!", which is rather hypocritical considering that it is from asuran artifacts that the Lances and thus the kings and queens of Dicathen derive their power. |
| 304 | * BuyThemOff: He compensates Arthur and his family for the incident with Sebastian by giving them a sum of money. Arthur's father Reynolds naturally finds it not sufficient enough especially since Sebastian and his cohort were merely dismissed from service without any further prosecution, but ultimately lets it go as no further trouble would arise from it. |
| 305 | * CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Despite how Virion and Aldir would have liked to have seen the Glayders removed from power for their complicity in the attempted handover of Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, they are begrudgingly kept around as they are respected if not outright revered by their subjects. As such removing them - let alone exposing their brief treason - would be outright disastrous for the overall war effort. |
| 306 | * DirtyBusiness: While he agrees to turn over Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra out of fear for his family's safety, Blaine is very conflicted about his course of action as he is shown collapsing to the floor in a fit of laughter. He feels bad about turning them over given how they stopped the attack on Xyrus Academy and saved his children, but he laments that he is only doing so to save his own skin. |
| 307 | * ADoormatToHisMen: PlayedWith. Outwardly, Blaine is revered by his subjects, but covertly hides his own tendency to be a doormat. |
| 308 | * ExtremeDoormat: His main flaw. This is shown when Sebastian convinces him to get him Sylvie and later on when he reluctantly supports the Greysunders in collaborating with Agrona out of fear for his children. It is revealed that this stems from his own lack of power as a mage which in turn has led him to have some deep self-esteem issues and a lack of internal confidence. |
| 309 | * FreudianExcuse: {{Downplayed}}. Blaine's upbringing was defined by his inability to become a powerful mage and living in the shadow of his tyrannical father. These factors - in particular the former - left him with quite the InferioritySuperiorityComplex as he is oftentimes unwilling to stand up for himself. This self-insecurity not only makes him rather jealous of Arthur and his power, but allows him to be manipulated by the likes of Sebastian and later Agrona into menacing Arthur. However, in spite of his faults Blaine is still a good-hearted individual who wants what is best for his people. |
| 310 | * GreenEyedMonster: Internally, Blaine harbors quite a bit of jealousy towards Arthur. Not only is Arthur an unprecedentedly powerful mage the likes of which Blaine sought to become in his youth but failed, but he eventually becomes a Lance who serves not him but Virion. However, while that jealousy was a partial factor in why he sold out Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona (the main reason being that he was afraid for his family's safety), Blaine does not outwardly antagonize Arthur that much after the deal with Agrona falls through. |
| 311 | * HereditaryHairstyle: His inherited his spiky mahogany hairstyle from his father, and in turn he passed down that hairstyle to his son Curtis. |
| 312 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: In the {{Webcomic}}, a {{Flashback}} shows him running his father through with his sword in order to end the war between Sapin and Elenoir. [[spoiler:Then rather karmically, he alongside his wife Priscilla and the Eraliths are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra]]. |
| 313 | * IneptMage: In spite of all the elixirs he has taken to strengthen himself, he only ended being a red core mage which is the second-lowest stage of mana core. This is one of the reasons for his sense of self-insecurity. |
| 314 | * InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Blaine might act like a proud and confident king, but in secret he harbors a lot of self-esteem issues. In his youth, he wanted to be the strongest mage in Dicathen and make his ancestors proud, but his talent as a mage turned out to be subpar and he barely broke into the red stage in spite of his wealth allowing him to afford countless elixirs and other supplements. This has led him to be somewhat envious of his wife and children, who are all much more magically talented than him. However, knowing how his father became corrupted by power and the fact that he had to end his life to stop him, Blaine never lets his envy get the better of him and tries to assert himself by other means. |
| 315 | * KlingonPromotion: A rare benevolent example. He slew his own father in order to claim his throne so that he could negotiate for a peace treaty to end the war between Sapin and Elenoir. |
| 316 | * LesCollaborateurs: He isn't proud of it, but he briefly agrees to hand over Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona in return for his family's safety. Fortunately, thanks to Windsom and Aldir's intervention, he doesn't have to and the asuras decide to overlook his brief collaboration seeing as it was ultimately quelled. |
| 317 | * MirthlessLaughter: As he is reeling in his own guilt over handing over Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona, Blaine ends up collapsing to the floor and laughing at himself over the hypocritical and self-serving nature of what he had just allowed to happen. |
| 318 | * {{Patricide}}: The {{Webcomic}} reveals he brought an end to the war between Sapin and Elenoir by murdering his warmongering father and claiming his throne. |
| 319 | * RedeemingReplacement: {{Downplayed}}. His father was a corrupt and warmongering tyrant, but while Blaine is more noble than his father ever was and has sworn to never become as power-hungry has him, he is still a very fallible individual who is known to not stand up for himself at times due to his lack of self-esteem. |
| 320 | * TreacheryCoverUp: His brief collusion with the Greysunders and the Vritra is covered up, for if word were to get out then Sapin would have been thrown into chaos, which would be especially disastrous given how they are in the middle of a war. |
| 321 | [[/folder]] |
| 322 | |
| 323 | [[folder:Priscilla Glayder]] |
| 324 | !!Priscilla Glayder |
| 325 | !!!Queen of Sapin |
| 326 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic) |
| 327 | |
| 328 | The Queen of Sapin. |
| 329 | ---- |
| 330 | * CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Despite how Virion and Aldir would have liked to have seen the Glayders removed from power for their complicity in the attempted handover of Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, they are begrudgingly kept around as they are respected if not outright revered by their subjects. As such removing them - let alone exposing their brief treason - would be outright disastrous for the overall war effort. |
| 331 | * [[spoiler:ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice]]: [[spoiler:She alongside her husband Blaine and the Eraliths are executed by being impaled on spikes by the Vritra]]. |
| 332 | * LesCollaborateurs: As with her husband, she agrees to hand over Arthur and Sylvie to Agrona in return for her family's safety. Fortunately, thanks to Windsom and Aldir's intervention, she doesn't have to and the asuras decide to overlook her brief collaboration seeing as it was ultimately quelled. |
| 333 | * PrettyInMink: Some of the dresses Priscilla wears have mink fur, which accentuates her beautiful looks. |
| 334 | * RavenHairIvorySkin: She has long black hair and fair skin, and Arthur likens her appearance to that of an ice sculpture upon first meeting her. |
| 335 | * TreacheryCoverUp: Her brief collusion with the Greysunders and the Vritra is covered up, for if word were to get out then Sapin would have been thrown into chaos, which would be especially disastrous given how they are in the middle of a war. |
| 336 | [[/folder]] |
| 337 | |
| 338 | [[folder:Curtis and Kathyln Glayder]] |
| 339 | The Prince and Princess of Sapin whom Arthur meets at the Helstea Auction along with their parents. Later on, when Arthur joins the Disciplinary Committee in Xyrus Academy, both siblings are part of it. During the war, they lead their own team. |
| 340 | ---- |
| 341 | * BrotherSisterTeam: The two siblings frequently fight alongside each other. |
| 342 | * CustomUniform: As both are members of the Disciplinary Committee, Curtis and Kathyln wear distinct black uniforms with golden trims. This makes the two of them stand out next to regular students who wear blue and white uniforms. |
| 343 | * FallenPrincess: After [[spoiler:the Alacryan conquest of Dicathen and the execution of their parents, Curtis and Kathyln are no longer royalty as they are forced to go into hiding with LaResistance]]. |
| 344 | * FireIceDuo: Curtis has fire magic, Kathyln has ice magic. |
| 345 | * FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Kathyln is often disappointed at Curtis's tendency to rashly jump to conclusions, especially since he is supposed to be putting on an example as the older brother. |
| 346 | * GenerationXerox: Curtis and Kathyln take after their father and mother respectively in terms of their appearances. They also somewhat parallel their parents in terms of magical aptitude in that Curtis is only an average mage despite having a beast will (though still miles above his father who barely broke into the red stage) while Kathyln has progressed very well in her magical training. |
| 347 | * GuysSmashGirlsShoot: Curtis, being the augmenter, specializes in close combat with his sword and shield. Kathyln, being the conjurer, specializes in blasting her opponents at range with her ice magic. |
| 348 | * HereditaryHairstyle: Given how they take after their parents in appearance, Curtis and Kathyln have similar hairstyles to those of their father and mother respectively. |
| 349 | * RedOniBlueOni: Curtis is brash and reckless, Kathyln is calm and rational. In the WarArc their outfits are color-coded to match. |
| 350 | * RebelLeader: [[spoiler:Following the loss of the war, the siblings become important leaders among the resistance. After Arthur's return and the ensuing reconquest of Dicathen, he puts them in charge of Etisin]]. |
| 351 | * RedeemingReplacement: Are this when compared to their parents. Blaine and Priscilla may be good-hearted people, but their own insecurities lead them to being briefly cowed by Agrona and the Greysunders into handing over Arthur and Sylvie. Not only are Curtis and Kathyln outraged by their parents for that decision as Arthur had saved their lives, but their youth means they are more earnest and determined than them, especially after [[spoiler:the loss of the war and them being forced into hiding after their parents' execution]]. |
| 352 | * SiblingYinYang: Curtis is headstrong and reckless, Kathyln is aloof and reserved. They also contrast in how they grow as mages as mentioned in the leadup to the WarArc. Curtis, while determined and hardworking, only has an average comprehension of mana. In stark contrast, Kathyln progresses rather well in her training. |
| 353 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: They begrudgingly agree to tolerate [[spoiler:Lyra even though she paraded their parents' corpses around in the Day of Rebirth. Though they do not have to deal with her for long as Arthur has her reassigned to the Alacryan enclave in Elenoir]]. |
| 354 | * WarriorPrince: Both of them fight on the frontlines during the WarArc and afterward, Curtis moreso due to being an augmenter. |
| 355 | |
| 356 | !!Curtis Glayder |
| 357 | !!!Prince of Sapin |
| 358 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic) |
| 359 | |
| 360 | The Prince of Sapin, Curtis is an augmenter who specializes in fire magic. |
| 361 | ---- |
| 362 | * BadassCape: His armor sports a dark red cape. |
| 363 | * TheBeastmaster: Curtis is bonded to a fearsome world lion he named Grawder, whom he rides into battle as his mount. |
| 364 | * BreathWeapon: As part of the beast will he attained from his bond with Grawder, Curtis is able to use their shared spell World Howl, which causes him to breath a beam of concentrated fire. |
| 365 | * DumbButDiligent: Despite how diligent he has been when it comes to his training, Curtis only has an average comprehension of mana. |
| 366 | * EtTuBrute: Kai's betrayal, on top of the casualties that he caused in doing so and the fact that he managed to escape in the aftermath, has a severe impact on Curtis. It causes him to refuse to speak of the attack of Xyrus even two years later. |
| 367 | * FacialMarkings: Whenever he uses Grawder's beast will, Curtis's face gains the same markings under his eyes as his bond. |
| 368 | * FieryLion: Curtis not only specializes in fire magic, but he has a powerful world lion called Grawder as a bond that acts as his mount in battle. When he uses Grawder’s beast will, Curtis’s face takes on leonine traits and he can use their shared spell, World Howl. |
| 369 | * FieryRedhead: Curtis has mahogany hair like his father, and not only is he energetic and impetuous, but he actually has fire powers. |
| 370 | * FlamingSword: As an augmenter who specializes in fire magic, Curtis is able to ignite his sword on fire. |
| 371 | * KingOfBeasts: Curtis is a prince who has a lion for a bond, and when using their shared beast will takes on leonine features. |
| 372 | * KnightlySwordAndShield: He wields a sword and shield in combat and in the WarArc gets himself his own personal suit of armor. |
| 373 | * MagicKnight: Curtis is augmenter who wields fire magic in combat. During the WarArc, he dons a suit of armor as well. |
| 374 | * MyGreatestFailure: Views Kai's betrayal and his own failure to stop the attack on Xyrus Academy as this, as it affects Curtis even years after the fact. |
| 375 | * PlayingWithFire: Curtis specializes in fire magic. |
| 376 | * RedHotMasculinity: Has dark red hair and clothing, specializes in fire magic, and has an impetuously masculine personality. |
| 377 | * RedIsHeroic: Apart from his mahogany hair, Curtis's outfit in the WarArc has dark red clothing underneath his armor on top of sporting a cape of the same color. |
| 378 | * RingOfFire: Is able to create fiery barriers in combat to either trap his enemies or shield his allies. |
| 379 | * StockShonenHero: Curtis pretty much fits this trope. He is brash and energetic in terms of personality, has spiky mahogany hair, wears red clothing, wields fire magic, fights with a sword and shield, and has a noticeable lion motif down to having one as his mount and familiar. Except not only is he not the main protagonist, he's not even TheLancer, and for all of the talent he and his sister have as mages they get supplanted by stronger characters on the power scale as the story progresses. |
| 380 | * TraumaButton: Curtis is haunted by his failure to stop the attack on Xyrus Academy. As such, whenever he sees Claire again it serves as a painful reminder of his failings, especially since she was rendered powerless due to her injuries from the attack. |
| 381 | * UnskilledButStrong: Despite being a beast tamer, Curtis only has an average perception of mana. |
| 382 | |
| 383 | !!Kathyln Glayder |
| 384 | !!!Princess of Sapin, The Ice Princess |
| 385 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 40 (Webcomic) |
| 386 | |
| 387 | The Princess of Sapin, Kathyln is a conjurer who specializes in ice magic. |
| 388 | ---- |
| 389 | * AloofDarkHairedGirl: Kathyln has black hair like her mother and is incredibly aloof and reserved at first. |
| 390 | * BarrierWarrior: Kathyln is able to conjure walls of ice in combat to shield herself and her allies. |
| 391 | * BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Tessia's Betty. While both are princesses, Kathyln is a DefrostingIceQueen with RavenHairIvorySkin where Tessia is the GirlNextDoor as Arthur's childhood friend and her features give her a mystical yet approachable aura. |
| 392 | * ChildProdigy: Is noted to be a proficient ice mage despite her youth. |
| 393 | * ChildSoldiers: The Precociously Talented Type. Unlike her brother Curtis who is already an adult by the time the WarArc begins, Kathyln is roughly fifteen as she is around Arthur's age yet is fighting on the frontlines with her brother. Her mastery of ice magic makes her a rather potent combatant in spite of her age. |
| 394 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Initially starts off as cold and aloof, but thanks to her interactions with Arthur she begins to show a softer side. In particular, she apologizes to him over the incident with Sebastian even though it was years ago. |
| 395 | * DisappointedInYou: She tends to be quite disappointed with the way her family conducts themselves at times. She was incredibly disappointed in her father for the incident with Sebastian and apologizes to Arthur years later. She also gets disappointed with her brother's rash actions. Later, she and her brother are outraged at their parents when they have Arthur ArrestedForHeroism in the wake of the attack on Xyrus Academy as it was he who ended the attack and saved their lives. |
| 396 | * {{Expy}}: Considering the novel's inspiration from ''Literature/MushokuTensei'', Kathyln is based on Roxy Migurdia. Both are physically petite young women who is are talented mages proficient in water and ice magic and who develop an attraction towards the main protagonist. |
| 397 | * AnIcePerson: Kathyln specializes in ice magic. She is even known as "the Ice Princess". |
| 398 | * MagicMissileStorm: As a conjurer, Kathyln's style of combat revolves around hitting her enemies with hails of icy projectiles. |
| 399 | * MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:Like the rest of the party who accompanied Tessia on the ill-fated mission to Elenoir, Kathyln views Tessia's capture as their shared greatest failure, if not taking it a step further compared to the other survivors]]. |
| 400 | * MyNaymeIs: Her name is a variation on Kathleen or Catherine. |
| 401 | * RavenHairIvorySkin: Like her mother, Kathyln has raven black hair and porcelain white skin that makes her resemble a doll, to paraphrase the way Arthur describes her appearance upon first meeting her. |
| 402 | [[/folder]] |
| 403 | |
| 404 | [[folder:Grawder]] |
| 405 | !!Grawder |
| 406 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 42 (Webcomic) |
| 407 | |
| 408 | Curtis's bond, a world lion his father bought at the 10th Annual Helstea Auction. |
| 409 | ---- |
| 410 | * BeastOfBattle: Acts as Curtis's mount in battle. |
| 411 | * BreathWeapon: His World Howl spell allows him to breath fire in a concentrated beam. |
| 412 | * DireBeast: As a world lion, Grawder is much bigger than real life lions to the point that Curtis can ride him into battle. |
| 413 | * FacialMarkings: Has distinct markings below his eyes, which also show up on Curtis whenever he taps into his beast will. |
| 414 | * FieryLion: A lion that is not only associated with a competent fire mage but is able to breath fire. |
| 415 | * KingOfBeasts: Grawder is a lion who is bonded to the Prince of Sapin. |
| 416 | * PantheraAwesome: He is a monstrous lion. |
| 417 | * PetsAsAPresent: He was won by Blaine at the Helstea Auction and given to Curtis to be his bond. |
| 418 | [[/folder]] |
| 419 | |
| 420 | [[folder:Sebastian]] |
| 421 | !!Sebastian |
| 422 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 33 (Webcomic) |
| 423 | |
| 424 | The court conjurer of the Glayders and one of their royal guards. He antagonizes Arthur during the 10th Annual Helstea Auction as he covets his bond Sylvie. |
| 425 | ---- |
| 426 | * AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: In the {{Webcomic}}, he makes an early cameo as Arthur is returning home from his day off shopping as he notices Sylvie, explaining how he came to covet her in the first place. |
| 427 | * AdaptationalExplanationExtrication: In the novel, his narration during the Helstea Auction reveals that he hails from a family of elite conjurers. In the {{Webcomic}}, his backstory is omitted. |
| 428 | * ArcVillain: Is the antagonist of the Auction House Arc, as he covets Arthur's bond Sylvie and attempts to obtain her for himself. |
| 429 | * BackForTheDead: He unexpectedly returns as a slave trader only for him to get killed by Olfred. |
| 430 | * TheBusCameBack: After his brief role antagonizing Arthur at the start of Volume 2, he reappears in Volume 6 as a slave trader operating out of Arthur's birthplace of Ashber. |
| 431 | * CourtMage: Is the Glayders' court conjurer. |
| 432 | * EarlyBirdCameo: He makes a brief appearance at the end of Arthur's day off in the {{Webcomic}}, as he glances at Sylvie walking alongside Arthur. |
| 433 | * EmbarrassedByAChild: In his bid to get his hands on a rare mana beast, he thought he could easily kill the young boy she was bonded to if that was what it took for him to acquire her. Little did he know that boy had a beast will from a dragon, which he uses to stop time and break his leg with his bare hand. If that was not enough, the fallout from the incident has him stripped of his position by the royal family. He continues to nurse a grudge towards that boy as the one who ruined everything for him. |
| 434 | * EntitledBastard: Believes that he is entitled to a bond like Sylvie not only because covets her and is more deserving of her than the insolent child that he views Arthur to be, but because he wants to be rewarded for all his years of service to the Glayders. |
| 435 | * EvilCripple: Arthur puts Sebastian in his place by crippling his right leg. Even a decade later, his leg remains crippled and his personality remains as vindictive and covetous as it was from back then. |
| 436 | * GreenEyedMonster: He antagonizes Arthur all because he covets his bond Sylvie. |
| 437 | * HowTheMightyHaveFallen: He was once an associate of House Glayder who served them for many years and he came to enjoy the decadence that came with his high position. Then he attempted to get his hands on Sylvie, which resulted in his right leg being broken and him being stripped of his position by the Glayders to avoid any further embarrassment. Afterwards, he was reduced to being a slave trader in a rural town with a broken leg. He laments how much he had lost in his drunken banter with the disguised Olfred. |
| 438 | -->'''Sebastian:''' When I served the royal family, women rushed at the chance to get in bed with me. But once I was relieved of my position, those same tramps treated me like some sort of insect! |
| 439 | * KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Despite Sebastian nearly getting the young Arthur killed in his bid to acquire Sylvie, King Glayder only merely has him dismissed from service without any further punishment. Reynolds is naturally outraged that the man who nearly killed his son is being let off that easily, but Arthur tells his father to let it go. Four volumes (or roughly a decade InUniverse) later, and it is shown that Reynolds didn't have much to fret over as Sebastian had quite the fall from grace afterwards; he was reduced to being a slave trader operating in a rural town (albeit the Leywins' old hometown of Ashber) with a crippled leg. If that was not enough, Sebastian finally meets his end when Olfred encases him in magma. |
| 440 | * ManOnFire: Combined with TakenForGranite. Olfred kills him by encasing him completely in magma. |
| 441 | * TheManBehindTheMan: He manipulates King Glayder into getting him Sylvie. |
| 442 | * PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize: He ends up coming into opposition with Arthur as he covets the latter's bond Sylvie. After getting stripped of his position over his failed bid, he nurses his hatred of the boy as the one who ruined everything for him. |
| 443 | * NormalFishInATinyPond: After being stripped of his position and having to make do as a slave trader in Ashber, Sebastian remarks an added benefit of his new situation is that his magical prowess as a orange core dual attribute conjurer makes him practically a god to the lowlifes he finds himself living alongside. |
| 444 | * RightForTheWrongReasons: He covets Sylvie as he recognizes that she is no ordinary mana beast, for if she was able to form an equals contract with Arthur at a young age, then she has the potential to grow beyond A-class. What he does not know is that it is because she is a dragon and thus a PhysicalGod. |
| 445 | * TakenForGranite: After Olfred kills him, all that is left of Sebastian is a statue of molten lava, as hardened lava has completely entombed his remains. |
| 446 | * WouldHurtAChild: Was perfectly willing to kill the young Arthur just to take his bond for himself. |
| 447 | [[/folder]] |
| 448 | |
| 449 | [[folder:Hester Flamesworth]] |
| 450 | !!Hester Flamesworth |
| 451 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 6 (Novel), Jasmine: Wind-Borne Episode 8 (Webcomic) |
| 452 | ->''"After all, no matter a bird tries to swim, it will never impress a fish."'' |
| 453 | |
| 454 | One of the three elders whom Arthur trains under during the WarArc. She is Jasmine's aunt and Trodius's sister, and has been at the side of the Glayders for a long time as one of their royal guards. |
| 455 | ---- |
| 456 | * AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: In the {{Webcomic}}, Hester makes an early appearance in the ''Jasmine: Wind-Borne'' side story, when she comforts the young Jasmine after she got exposed and humiliated during a party their family was hosting and encourages her to find her own path in life. |
| 457 | * BodyguardingABadass: Her official duty is safeguarding Princess Kathyln, who at the time is already a dark yellow stage conjurer and a prodigy at ice magic. |
| 458 | * CainAndAbel: The Abel to Trodius's Cain. Trodius is an AbusiveParent who controls House Flamesworth with a draconian grip, Hester is a reasonable and worldly CoolAunt who opposes what her brother has done to their family. |
| 459 | * CoolAunt: To Jasmine. After her brother Tristan exposed her elemental affinity during a party much to the embarrassment and ire of their father, Jasmine ran out of the party out of fear and shame only to run into Hester. After a heartfelt conversation where she told Jasmine about their family's corrupt values, she tells Jasmine to accept what kind of mage she is and find a way to express herself. |
| 460 | * TheMentor: Acts as one of Arthur's tutors during the WarArc where she improves his skill in fire magic. On top of that, she has also been a partial tutor to both her niece Jasmine and Princess Kathyln. |
| 461 | * PlayingWithFire: As a Flamesworth, Hester naturally lives up to the family name and is a master of manipulating fire magic. |
| 462 | * PrimAndProperBun: Hester is a mature and refined lady and wears her hair in this style. |
| 463 | * WhiteSheep: Her time away from her house as one of the royal guards of Sapin has led to Hester realizing that her house's values had become skewed and corrupted, especially during her brother Trodius's time as the patriarch. She imparted her newfound insight into Jasmine in her moment of weakness, which inspired Jasmine to stand up for herself and break free of her father's influence. |
| 464 | [[/folder]] |
| 465 | |
| 466 | !!House Greysunder |
| 467 | The ruling house of Darv, the kingdom of the dwarves. |
| 468 | |
| 469 | [[folder:Dawsid Greysunder]] |
| 470 | !! Dawsid Greysunder |
| 471 | !!!King of Darv |
| 472 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 473 | |
| 474 | The King of Darv. |
| 475 | ---- |
| 476 | * AdiposeRex: Is the king of the dwarves and even for his race he is rather stout in appearance. |
| 477 | * AintTooProudToBeg: Despite being the King of Darv, Dawsid isn't afraid to bow down to Aldir to get him to spare both him and his wife. Unfortunately for the two of them, Aldir was already planning on killing them regardless as it was his objective in the first place. |
| 478 | * BullyingADragon: When Aldir arrives to kill them, the Greysunders summon their Lances to defend them. Both they and their Lances are overconfident about fending off this mysterious intruder and throw insults and threats at him the whole time. Unfortunately for them, as an asura Aldir effortlessly knocks out both of the Greysunders' Lances before ordering them to release their Lances from their service. Afterwards, Aldir kills the Greysunders and takes control of their Lances. |
| 479 | * DirtyCoward: Is willing to sell out to Agrona not just to save his and his wife's lives, but also out of greed. In his final moments, he is begging Aldir not to go through with killing him. |
| 480 | * FatBastard: Even for a dwarf, Dawsid is rather overweight. And he is a willing collaborator to Agrona and the Vritra Clan. |
| 481 | * InterruptedIntimacy: He and his wife were about to engage in this when Aldir arrived to kill them. |
| 482 | * KilledMidSentence: In the {{Webcomic}}, when Aldir makes it clear he has no intention of sparing the Greysunders after they have released their Lances, Dawsid is only able to let out a "You-" before his life is ended by the asura's EyeBeams. |
| 483 | * TheQuisling: Is a willing servant of Agrona. |
| 484 | * VillainRaisesAToast: He and his wife raise a toast after handing over Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, though they do not get to enjoy their triumph for long as Aldir arrives to kill them. |
| 485 | [[/folder]] |
| 486 | |
| 487 | [[folder:Glaudela Greysunder]] |
| 488 | !!Glaudela Greysunder |
| 489 | !!!Queen of Darv |
| 490 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 2 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 491 | |
| 492 | The Queen of Darv. |
| 493 | ---- |
| 494 | * BullyingADragon: When Aldir arrives to kill them, the Greysunders summon their Lances to defend them. Both they and their Lances are overconfident about fending off this mysterious intruder and throw insults and threats at him the whole time. Unfortunately for them, as an asura Aldir effortlessly knocks out both of the Greysunders' Lances before ordering them to release their Lances from their service. Afterwards, Aldir kills the Greysunders and takes control of their Lances. |
| 495 | * InterruptedIntimacy: She and her husband were about to engage in this when Aldir arrived to kill them. |
| 496 | * TheQuisling: Is a willing servant of Agrona. |
| 497 | * VillainRaisesAToast: She and her husband raise a toast after handing over Arthur and Sylvie to the Vritra, though they do not get to enjoy their triumph for long as Aldir arrives to kill them. |
| 498 | [[/folder]] |
| 499 | |
| 500 | [[folder:Rahdeas (Unmarked Spoilers)]] |
| 501 | !!Rahdeas |
| 502 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 6 (Novel) |
| 503 | ->"''My only regret is that you won't be here to see the triumph of our people. If only you had been bound to me instead of that asura.''" |
| 504 | |
| 505 | Elijah's guardian and the representative of Darv on the Council after the deaths of the Greysunders. |
| 506 | ---- |
| 507 | * TheChessmaster: Rahdeas is a schemer, and has been setting up events to not only cause the downfall of the Greysunders but also to bring Darv completely under Agrona's fold. |
| 508 | * EvilOldFolks: Rahdeas is old for a dwarf, and Olfred, himself an aged individual, calls him his father. And Rahdeas is a willing servant of the Vritra. |
| 509 | * FantasticRacism: He has a rather racist attitude towards the humans and the elves, a response to their own instances of racism towards his kind. |
| 510 | * {{Foil}}: To Cynthia Goodsky. Both are elderly individuals who have ties to the Vritra Clan and Alacrya which has led them to keep everyone around them LockedOutOfTheLoop and have acted as a ParentalSubstitute to one of Arthur's closest friends. Goodsky is a former Alacryan spy who turned against her people and wound up GoingNative in Dicathen to prepare its inhabitants against her people's inevitable invasion and as Tessia's mentor has become somewhat of a surrogate grandmother to her. Rahdeas on the other hand is a native Dicathian turned TheQuisling and raised Elijah as a TykeBomb as part of his role in Agrona's overall plan. |
| 511 | * GoodScarsEvilScars: He has a scar going down the left side of his face, an indication of his two-faced nature as a collaborator of Agrona's. |
| 512 | * HeKnowsTooMuch: Due to knowing much of his master's secrets, he is KilledOffscreen in the same fashion as Director Goodsky and Uto - by being impaled with black metal spikes - right before Arthur gets the chance to interrogate him again. |
| 513 | * LikeASonToMe: He took Olfred in when he was just a StreetUrchin and raised him his entire life, leading to Olfred developing an UndyingLoyalty towards him. Which caused him to join his master in serving Agrona. |
| 514 | * MeetTheNewBoss: At first, he seems to be a more decent individual to lead the dwarves than the corrupt and ineffectual Greysunders. Then it turns out that not only is he a collaborator just like them, but has been colluding with the Vritra long before even the Greysunders came into the fold. |
| 515 | * ParentalSubstitute: He is the surrogate father to Olfred and later Elijah. The former he treats well as his surrogate son, the other he is only raising on Agrona's orders and intentionally keeping LockedOutOfTheLoop on his origins. |
| 516 | * PoisonousCaptive: After being imprisoned for treason, he attempts to sow doubt and discord among the Council. |
| 517 | * TheQuisling: Is a willing servant of Agrona. He may or may not have been the first of Agrona's servants in Darv as he had already been scheming to cause the Greysunders' downfall for quite some time. |
| 518 | * SecretKeeper: He has been privy to Agrona's plans for the reincarnates. Thus he knows Elijah's true identity and origins and has intentionally been keeping him LockedOutOfTheLoop. |
| 519 | * TheStarscream: Was planning on usurping the Greysunders for a long time, as when he tells Olfred to become one of their Lances, Rahdeas tells him that it would only be a temporary arrangement as he already planned their downfall. |
| 520 | * UnpleasantParentReveal. Or rather Unpleasant ParentalSubstitute Reveal. Elijah's testimony of Rahdeas paints him in a somewhat decent light and when he meets Arthur he acts in an affable manner towards him. Then it comes to light Rahdeas is a traitor who has been serving Agrona for a long time. |
| 521 | * UnseenNoMore: Was frequently mentioned in passing by Elijah as his guardian, but did not make an appearance until the start of Volume 6 when he introduces himself to Arthur for the first time. |
| 522 | * WalkingSpoiler: Minor example. He cannot be discussed without revealing his status as TheQuisling and one of Agrona's servants, on top of having been the one to raise Elijah entirely on his master's orders and being aware of his plans for the reincarnates. |
| 523 | [[/folder]] |
| 524 | |
| 525 | [[folder:Buhndemog Lonuid]] |
| 526 | !!Buhndemog Lonuid |
| 527 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 6 (Novel) |
| 528 | ->"''You gotta do better than that, '''young general'''.''" |
| 529 | |
| 530 | One of the three elders whom Arthur trains under during the WarArc. He goes onto become the new representative of Darv on the Council following Rahdeas's arrest. |
| 531 | ---- |
| 532 | * AffectionateNickname: He is referred to with the nickname of "Buhnd" by those around him. |
| 533 | * DishingOutDirt: Buhnd is a master of earth magic. |
| 534 | * ManOnFire: [[spoiler:He is burned from the inside out by Cadell]]. |
| 535 | * TheMentor: Acts as one of Arthur's tutors during the WarArc where he improves his skill in earth magic. |
| 536 | * MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:He is killed by Cadell during the attack on the Council Castle]]. |
| 537 | * RedeemingReplacement: Unlike the Greysunders and Rahdeas, Buhnd is not a servant of Agrona and is fully loyal to Dicathen. |
| 538 | * TokenHeroicOrc: {{Downplayed}}. He ends up being the leader of the loyalists in Darv and Rahdeas's replacement on the Council. Arthur speculates that Virion introduced him to Buhnd solely to alleviate any would-be prejudices he may be forming against the dwarves after witnessing their collaboration with Agrona. |
| 539 | * VitriolicBestBuds: With Virion, going all the way back to their youth. |
| 540 | [[/folder]] |
| 541 | |
| 542 | !!Lances |
| 543 | |
| 544 | Six elite mages appointed to protect Dicathen, being are among the very few mages who have reached the white core stage. Their origins are tied to the royal families of Dicathen whom they are oathbound to serve. In the distant past, the asuras gave the forefathers of the royal families a set of [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]] that they were to bestow upon their two most powerful subjects in a special knighting ceremony. These chosen servants would become the first Lances, and through their artifacts they gained insight into mana itself. In turn, they would teach their newfound insight to those they deemed capable, giving rise to the first mages on Dicathen. Though their existence used to be classified for the royal families alone, in recent times with the discovery of Alacrya the Lances have gone public, and in the face of invasion from the newfound continent would step forward as Dicathen's strongest defenders. |
| 545 | |
| 546 | For Arthur, see his [[Characters/TheBeginningAfterTheEndArthurLeywin separate character page]]. |
| 547 | |
| 548 | [[folder:In General]] |
| 549 | * TheAce: As white core mages enhanced by asuran [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]], the Lances are the strongest mages on Dicathen and their reputation precedes them. Some of them were prodigies even before gaining their artifacts. Olfred and Mica graduated at the top of their classes in the Earthborn Institute, while Bairon as a scion of House Wykes was undoubtedly a prominent lightning mage beforehand even if he only became a Lance thanks to his family's influence. |
| 550 | * AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Variant. In the {{Webcomic}}, while they still make their first appearance at the announcement of the Council, each of them are individually named right there when in the novel they only get named in a later chapter covering the aftermath of Alea's death. |
| 551 | * AlikeAndAntitheticalAdversaries: PlayedWith. Both the Lances and Scythes are representatives of the different polities of their respective continents (the kingdoms and Dominions respectively), but the Lances are of different races (humans, elves, and dwarves) in contrast to the Scythes who are ostensibly all human (albeit with the blood of the Vritra rendering them all SemiDivine). Aesthetically this is reversed, as the Lances all wear white, gold, and red ceremonial uniforms while the Scythes in their promotional image have no shared uniform of the sort. |
| 552 | * AncientOrderOfProtectors: The Lances have been around since the royal families took power in the distant past when the asuras gave them the DivineRightOfKings through their [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]]. The asuras intended for the Lances to become the defenders of Dicathen, and it is from them that the first mages in Dicathen arose. The Lances' existence was kept secret for centuries as they covertly protected Dicathen from the shadows, until the discovery of Alacrya and the formation of the Council pushed them into the limelight. |
| 553 | * AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: They are all very talented in both physical and magical combat, which earned them the right to wield their artifacts. In turn, they serve as the Council's generals during the WarArc. |
| 554 | * ArtifactOfPower: The Lances draw their power from their unique artifacts, which are what elevate them into the white core stage. |
| 555 | * BadassCape: Their uniforms all sport red capes. |
| 556 | * BigDamnReunion: After [[spoiler:Arthur returns from Alacrya and slays Taci, the remaining Lances have a tearful reunion with him, embracing him in the process]]. |
| 557 | * BigThinShortTrio: [[spoiler:The surviving Lances as of Volume 11 sans Arthur fit this dynamic. Bairon is tall and muscular, Varay is lithe and feminine, and Mica is a dwarf with a rather childish appearance and demeanor]]. |
| 558 | * CantCatchUp: {{Averted}}. Thanks to [[spoiler:Arthur breaking the PowerLimiter[=s=] on their [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]], the surviving Lances are expected to become much stronger than they used to be, though Arthur is still miles ahead of them in terms of power. So far, this has paid off as Mica is able to defeat Dragoth and Bairon is able to hold is own against both Seris and Cylrit]]. |
| 559 | * ClassifiedInformation: The existence of the Lances used to be kept a closely guarded secret among the royal families given their role in enforcing the DivineRightOfKings. It is not until the announcement of the Council that the Lances step into the spotlight in order to serve as paragons for the Dicathians to rally around, and even then while their existence is made public, their origins and source of their powers remain classified in order to prevent wars from breaking out over their artifacts. |
| 560 | * CustomUniform: The Lances wear unique ceremonial uniforms that exhibit the same white, gold, and red setup. While these uniforms feature several shared elements such as their signature red sash and cape, all have unique elements depending on the individual. For example, Olfred's has a fur mantle on his right side while Mica's is the only one with shorts rather than full pants. |
| 561 | * DwindlingParty: As of Volume 11, [[spoiler:only four of the Lances are left, one of whom joined during the WarArc. Of the ones who died, one died before the war began, one was revealed to be a traitor and was duly killed off, and one died saving the rest from the wrath of an asura]]. |
| 562 | * ElementalPowers: All of the Lances are elemental deviants of one sort or another. Alea is a GreenThumb, Varay is AnIcePerson, Olfred is a MagmaMan, Aya has unique CastingAShadow powers, Mica is a GravityMaster, Bairon has ShockAndAwe powers, and Arthur is a MasterOfAll [[spoiler:turned aether-wielding demigod]]. |
| 563 | * ElitesAreMoreGlamorous: Their CustomUniform[=s=] are all white with gold highlights and details and red sashes and capes. |
| 564 | * ExplosiveLeash: There is a surprisingly dark contingency tied to their [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]]. Should a Lance go rogue, then their master can invoke the artifact said Lance is bound to which would kill them instantly. This is especially pronounced in [[spoiler:Olfred's case, for he knows that should word of his treachery come out that Aldir - who has been holding onto his and Mica's artifacts after killing the Greysunders - would immediately kill him via this contingency]]. |
| 565 | * FashionableAsymmetry: The Lances' ceremonial uniforms all sport a sash going from their right shoulder, and feature different elements on their respective shoulders. The female Lances have an epaulette on their right and a pauldron on their left, while the male Lances have a half mantle on their right; for their left shoulders, Olfred's has a fur mantle while Bairon's has an epaulette. |
| 566 | * FaustianRebellion: In the distant past, the first Lances were given their [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]] by the Indrath Clan. In the present, [[spoiler:with the Indrath being revealed for the genocidal KnightTemplar[=s=] that they are, the Lances have sworn to stand against them. Arthur even breaks the PowerLimiter[=s=] that the Indrath placed upon their artifacts as a contingency should they rebel against them, allowing the Lances to unlock their true power so that exact scenario comes to pass]]. |
| 567 | * FlightIsTheFinalPower: As part of becoming white core mages, they gain the ability to fly. |
| 568 | * GenderEqualEnsemble: They become this trope at the start of the WarArc with Arthur replacing the late Alea. This balances out the gender ratio so that there are three male (Arthur, Bairon, and Olfred) and three female (Varay, Aya, and Mica) Lances. As of the latest volume, they are still this trope [[spoiler:as both Olfred and Aya have died]]. |
| 569 | * GoodWearsWhite: Their ceremonial uniforms are predominantly white. |
| 570 | * InstantAllegianceArtifact: Combined with MyMasterRightOrWrong. The knighting ceremony that empowers the Lances binds them to their [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]] and thus whoever holds them. They are compelled to follow the will of said holders on the pain of death. |
| 571 | * LegacyCharacter: The mantle of Lance has been passed down throughout the generations. |
| 572 | * MagicKnight: They are all very talented mages and elite knights in service of their kings and queens, and are highly capable in both physical and magical combat, regardless of if they are augmenters or conjurers. |
| 573 | * MyMasterRightOrWrong: In being oathbound to their kings and queens, the Lances are compelled to follow their every order regardless of how wrong it might be. This is best shown when the Greysunders summon Olfred and Mica to defend them against Aldir, leading to a case of GoodVersusGood (although [[spoiler:Olfred turns out to be still this trope towards another master, who is just as loyal to Agrona as the Greysunders]]). This is compounded by the fact that the Lances' artifacts allow their bearers to kill them as a contingency. |
| 574 | * NextTierPowerup: Their artifacts were what pushed their cores straight into the white stage. |
| 575 | * NomDeGuerre: They provide the Trope Image. Each of the Lances has their own distinct codename that was used back when their existence was kept a secret, but after being revealed the codenames exist as a formality. Said codenames are also reflective of their own elemental powers. |
| 576 | * NonUniformUniform: While the Lances' ceremonial uniforms follow the same general design pattern, they all have distinct elements that distinguish them from one another. For example, they all have different jackets, Olfred wears has a fur mantle on his right while Bairon wears an epaulette, and Mica is the only one to wear shorts rather than long pants. |
| 577 | * TheParagon: In revealing their existence, the Lances are meant to be exemplary figures in the eyes of the Dicathians. In practice, the Lances are less than moral figures until the coming war gives them quite the wake-up call. |
| 578 | * PowerLimiter: It is revealed that [[spoiler:Kezess had these put in the [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]] that empower the Lances to prevent them from becoming powerful enough should they turn against him. Thanks to Arthur's newfound insight from his time in the Relictombs, he is able to break these limiters, which allows the Lances to gain their true power]]. |
| 579 | * RebelLeader: [[spoiler:After the war, the remaining Lances end up splitting up to lead various rebel groups in retaking their homeland from the Alacryans]]. |
| 580 | * RingOfPower: Their empowering artifacts take the form of elaborate rings. |
| 581 | * SplitAndReunion: During the war, the Lances tended to not see eye to eye with one another. It was only after [[spoiler:the loss of the war and their near-death experience fighting Taci that the surviving Lances resolved to amend their differences and become better than who they used to be]]. |
| 582 | * SuperEmpowering: The Lances derive their power thanks to their [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]], which were given to the forefathers of the royal families by Windsom generations ago. In turn, the original Lances would teach those that they deemed strong enough how to manipulate mana, giving rise to the first mages on Dicathen. |
| 583 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: During the WarArc, the Lances did not get along with each other. After the end of the war [[spoiler:the Lances are split up in the aftermath of the Alacryan conquest. Following Arthur's return, the four survivors admit their flaws and resolve to be better individuals than who they used to be. From that point onward, they work much better as a team and are able to lead the Dicathians to retake the continent]]. |
| 584 | * TheWorfEffect: Despite being supposedly the strongest mages on Dicathen, [[spoiler:they are frequently put in situations wherein they lose to much stronger opponents such as Vritra Retainers (Uto, Lyra) or Scythes (Cadell). To say nothing of what happens when they fight Taci, who is able to overpower them all in spite of being [[ThoseWereOnlyTheirScouts a boy by asuran standards]]. After Arthur's return from Alacrya and him breaking the PowerLimiter[=s=] on their [[ArtifactOfPower Artifacts Of Power]], the Lances are expected to become much stronger and thus better at holding their own against such powerful opponents]]. |
| 585 | [[/folder]] |
| 586 | |
| 587 | [[folder:Alea Triscan]] |
| 588 | !!Alea Triscan |
| 589 | !!!Aureate |
| 590 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 3 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 591 | ->''"That's a pretty strong bloodlust you're emanating toward a Lance."'' |
| 592 | |
| 593 | The youngest among the Lances, known for her extremely acute senses. Arthur meets her by chance at the Academy. |
| 594 | ---- |
| 595 | * AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Not only is she named much earlier at the Council announcement like the rest of the Lances, but she and Bairon appear in an original scene where she meets Arthur much earlier than in the novel. |
| 596 | * AnArmAndALeg: Uto cuts off all of her limbs to render her helpless. |
| 597 | * AscendedExtra: Alea's role in the {{Webcomic}} is much bigger than in the novel. Not only does she meet Arthur much earlier and impart on him some advice and insight, but the circumstances that led to her fateful mission to Widow's Crypt are shown. This makes her death have much more impact than in the novel. |
| 598 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: Uto cripples her mana core, rips out her limbs, cauterizes the wounds so she doesn't bleed to death too quickly. And finally plucks out her eyes, while making sure she survives long enough to listen helplessly as her men are slaughtered. |
| 599 | * DevelopingDoomedCharacters: In the novel, she was only introduced when Arthur found her dying at the bottom of Widow's Crypt. This is not the case in the {{Webcomic}} as she is given more CharacterDevelopment by way of a few additional appearances prior to her death. Namely, these additional scenes have her interacting with Arthur wherein she opens up about her own insecurities to him as well as setting up the events that led to her death by showing how she took up the fateful mission to Widow's Crypt as the rest of the Lances were tied up at the time. |
| 600 | * DiedInYourArmsTonight: Dies in tears in the arms of Arthur. |
| 601 | * DisproportionateRetribution: For the grave sin of chipping one of his horns (which are the source of his power as a Retainer), Uto decides to stop toying with her and give her a rather graphic and drawn-out demise before letting her listen in on him slaughtering her helpless soldiers. |
| 602 | * EyeScream: Gets blinded by Uto so that she can helplessly listen in on the carnage he inflicts upon her helpless troops. |
| 603 | * ForcedToWatch: Or in this case listen. After Uto cripples and blinds her, he leaves her dying body to listen in on him slaughtering her soldiers. |
| 604 | * GreenThumb: Her powers are nature-based. |
| 605 | * HeelRealization: In her last moments, Alea laments that despite having spent her entire life pursuing power and status, she will have no one mourning her passing. |
| 606 | * NomDeGuerre: Her codename is "Aureate". |
| 607 | * OvershadowedByAwesome: Feels inadequate and weak compared to the rest of the Lances. |
| 608 | * SacrificialLion: Is portrayed as such in the {{Webcomic}}. Aside from being named like the rest of the Lances at the Council announcement, Alea gets more character development and gets to interact with Arthur and impart some advice onto him. Then she takes up a mission that leads her into the Dire Tombs, where she and her entire team get slaughtered by Uto before Arthur discovers her dying. This is shocking to both Arthur and the audience as not only had Alea been established as being among the strongest mages in Dicathen as a Lance, but her killer is eventually revealed to merely be a ''Retainer'', emphasizing just how outclassed the Lances and by extension the Dicathians really are in the face of the Alacryan invasion. |
| 609 | * SuperSenses: Her senses are highly attuned compared to normal individuals, which allows her detect Arthur's KillingIntent even though he was concealing it. |
| 610 | * TemptingFate: In her earlier encounter with Arthur in the {{Webcomic}}, she says to him that "Maybe we'll run into each other again" right before she leaves with Bairon. When Arthur crosses paths with her again, it is when he finds her dying in Widow's Crypt like in the novel. |
| 611 | * WeHardlyKnewYe: In the novel, she is only introduced right as she lays dying in Widow's Crypt. The {{Webcomic}} rectifies this treatment by giving her additional appearances beforehand to flesh out her character. |
| 612 | * YouRemindMeOfX: When she first meets Arthur, she says he reminds her of her little brother. |
| 613 | [[/folder]] |
| 614 | |
| 615 | [[folder:Varay Aurae]] |
| 616 | !!Varay Aurae |
| 617 | !!!Zero |
| 618 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 619 | |
| 620 | The first human Lance and the most powerful among them, Varay acts as the de-facto leader of the Lances. She is a highly proficient ice conjurer. |
| 621 | ---- |
| 622 | * TheAce: Varay is the strongest of the Lances by a fair margin. At least until [[spoiler:Arthur CameBackStrong as an aether-wielding demigod]]. |
| 623 | * AdaptationalDyeJob: Her eyes are dark brown in novel, but dark grey in the {{Webcomic}}. |
| 624 | * AlwaysSomeoneBetter: The rest of the Lances see her as this. [[spoiler: Though later Arthur replaces her]]. |
| 625 | * AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Loses her left arm fighting Taci]]. |
| 626 | * ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler: After losing her left arm to Taci, she replaces it with one made of ice]]. |
| 627 | * BadassBoast: "Every word you speak is heavy with untruth," Varay said coldly. "You are a liar, and a murderer. I am Varay Aurae, and I won't let you hurt another Dicathian". |
| 628 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Pulls off one with both Aya and Mica when Aldir sends them to the djinn sanctuary in order to intercept Taci. Unfortunately, he is able to defeat all of them]]. |
| 629 | * CoolBigSis: Tessia comes to view her as her surrogate big sister during her time being sheltered in the Council Castle. |
| 630 | * CurtainsMatchTheWindow: In the {{Webcomic}}, her eyes are grey to match her snow-white hair. |
| 631 | * {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:The loss of her king and defeat of her continent barely slow her down]]. |
| 632 | * ElementalArmor: As a display of her mastery of ice magic, Varay fights while encased in a beautiful ice armor that she can manipulate into whatever form or weapon she prefers. |
| 633 | * ElementalEmbodiment: She is able to summon an ice dragon to bring icy death towards her opponents. |
| 634 | * ElementalWeapon: She complements her ice armor with a crystalline rapier. |
| 635 | * ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Varay initially had long hair, but eventually her hairstyle became a short military style crop due to the severity of the war taking its toll upon her. |
| 636 | * {{Expy}}: Given her status as a high-ranking female FrontlineGeneral with an elaborate ceremonial uniform and MysticalWhiteHair (down to having identical hairstyles), known for being TheAce, and who lives by a MyMasterRightOrWrong doctrine, Varay draws inspiration from [[VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles Selvaria Bles]]. |
| 637 | * GlowingEyesOfDoom: When encasing herself in her ice armor, her eyes glow bright blue. |
| 638 | * HiddenDepths: Is highly competitive and even has shades of BloodKnight to her character as she enjoyed sparring with Arthur. |
| 639 | * AnIcePerson: Manipulates ice at will. |
| 640 | * IceQueen: This is her personality archetype. Varay does not let her emotions get in the way of her duty. |
| 641 | * InTheHood: Like her charge Tessia, Varay conceals her identity by wearing a grey cloak that obscures her appearance as she is escorting her outside of the Council Castle. |
| 642 | * MagicMissileStorm: In combat, Varay excels in hitting her opponent with hails of icy projectiles. |
| 643 | * TheMentor: Takes Kathyln under her wing in the leadup to the WarArc, which works out rather well as they both specialize in ice magic. |
| 644 | * MoreDakka: Tends to overwhelm her enemies with pure destructive force. |
| 645 | * MyHeroZero: Her NomDeGuerre is this. While specifically a nod to the concept of absolute zero, it also reflects her status as the initial leader of the Lances. |
| 646 | * MyMasterRightOrWrong: Has no qualms sending Arthur into what is likely to be his death, as her obedience to her king is absolute and most likely because of her blood oath. |
| 647 | * MysticalWhiteHair: She has literal snow-white hair befitting of her status as a master of ice magic. |
| 648 | * NearDeathExperience: [[spoiler:Gets nearly killed by Taci, but survives thanks to Aya's HeroicSacrifice]]. |
| 649 | * NoSocialSkills: Is impossibly clumsy in social situations outside of her role as a Lance. |
| 650 | ** This also works against her, as she has trouble inspiring Mica and Aya to continue the fight. |
| 651 | * NomDeGuerre: Her codename is "Zero". |
| 652 | * NotSoStoic: Despite her stoicness, even she is [[spoiler:shaken by the destruction of Elenoir and was deeply affected by Aya's death]]. |
| 653 | * OrphanedEtymology: Her codename is a reference to the concept of absolute zero, which while reflective of her elemental affinity would not have been known to a society caught up in MedievalStasis like Dicathen. |
| 654 | * RoyalRapier: Her weapon of choice, often formed out of ice. |
| 655 | * SpiritedCompetitor: Beneath her IceQueen personality, she exhibits a competitive tendency. |
| 656 | * SpontaneousWeaponCreation: Is able to conjure a wide variety of weapons made of ice. |
| 657 | * SugarAndIcePersonality: Despite her coldness and IceQueen personality, she cares about the other Lances and Dicathen as a whole. |
| 658 | * TeamMom: To the rest of the Lances, who she perceives as unruly children. |
| 659 | * VisibleSilence: Is usually silent and reserved. |
| 660 | [[/folder]] |
| 661 | |
| 662 | [[folder:Olfred Warend]] |
| 663 | !!Olfred Warend |
| 664 | !!!Balrog |
| 665 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 666 | ->''"I just want you to know that the reason I can do all this, without hesitation, is because it is what you desire."'' |
| 667 | |
| 668 | The first dwarven Lance. A powerful conjurer who excels in manipulating magma and creating golems. |
| 669 | ---- |
| 670 | * AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:His only sin is loyalty to a traitor and quite a few other characters express some pity over his demise. Especially Aya, who had once considered him a close friend]]. |
| 671 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: Olfred has brown skin, but it is hard to pinpoint what exact ethnicity he is supposed to be. |
| 672 | * AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Olfred is a remarkably affable and talkative individual even though he is ultimately an antagonist, and even then he is only working with the Vritra out of his loyalty to Rahdeas. He does not like causing CollateralDamage as during his final duel with Aya, he takes steps to ensure that no innocent dwarven lives end up becoming casualties from their fight and stalls for time to allow his Alacryan associates to escape through tunnels he created, for once he knows the coast is clear he can safely unleash his full power. After the fight ends and Aya has him at her mercy, he requests that Mica be spared as she had no part in his and his master's plans]]. |
| 673 | * BadassCape: His Hell Armor sports a cape made of flowing magma. |
| 674 | * BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Rahdeas being the first person to show him kindness is what causes Olfred to warm up to him in spite of him having been doubting and suspicious of everyone else beforehand. This unfortunately [[spoiler:is what causes him to join his master in collaborating with the Vritra]]. |
| 675 | * CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Despite Olfred being oathbound to the Greysunders, Aldir holds back when fighting him and spares him because he needs the dwarven Lances alive for the coming war. |
| 676 | * CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:Is killed by Aya for betraying Dicathen]]. |
| 677 | * ElementalArmor: His SignatureSpell, Hell Armor, clads him in a suit of magma. |
| 678 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: His codename of "Balrog" ends up being rather fitting as not only is he a master of magma magic, but he ends up [[spoiler:being in league with the demonic-seeming Vritra out of loyalty to his master, who is a willing collaborator with them]]. |
| 679 | * FreudianExcuse: {{Averted}}. His harsh upbringing on the streets left Olfred with quite the distaste for his own race. But he [[spoiler:becomes evil not out of his upbringing but out of loyalty to Rahdeas, the one individual who ever showed him kindness]]. |
| 680 | * GoodArmorEvilArmor: DoubleSubversion. His Hell Armor looks demonic in appearance, but as one of the Lances Olfred is supposed to be one of the good guys, even if he was briefly under the thrall of the Greysunders. Then [[spoiler:it is revealed that his true loyalty lies with Rahdeas, who himself is a traitor to Dicathen and a collaborator to the Vritra]]. |
| 681 | * HonorBeforeReason: [[spoiler:He would rather die than abandon his traitorous master to Aya's horror]]. |
| 682 | * {{Irony}}: Despite Olfred having been suspicious of everyone since his youth on the streets, [[spoiler:the kindness Rahdeas showed to him is what causes him to follow him into villainy, when the young Olfred would have refused Rahdeas's kindness if he had known or suspected his ulterior motives]]. |
| 683 | * MagmaMan: His power comes mainly from his mastery of fire and magma. |
| 684 | * MarionetteMaster: He is able to summon magma golems to battle alongside him. He also conjures a manta made of magma to carry Arthur to the Council Castle. |
| 685 | * MyMasterRightOrWrong: His ultimate loyalty lies not with his continent or his race, but with his master and benefactor Rahdeas. [[spoiler:Who as it turns out is in league with Agrona]]. In addition, as a guard for House Greysunder who eventually became one of their Lances, Olfred stood by them even though they were greedy elitists who looked down on everyone, even their own race. |
| 686 | * NomDeGuerre: His codename is "Balrog". |
| 687 | * OnlySaneMan: Often comes as such in the company of the other Lances. This stems from his youth on the streets wherein he was suspicious of everyone around him. |
| 688 | * RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: {{Downplayed}}. [[spoiler:When he is working with the Alacryans on Rahdeas's orders, they view him as unfit to lead them due to him being a traitor to his homeland]]. |
| 689 | * RingOut: When he is defeated by Aldir, he gets a FingerPokeOfDoom that destroys the wall behind him and sends him flying across the courtyard. To add insult to injury, the attack renders him completely naked. He is only lucky he didn't get sent flying out of the castle considering it is floating high up in the sky. |
| 690 | * SecretKeeper: As Rahdeas's adopted son and most trusted servant, Olfred has been privy to his master's secrets. These include [[spoiler:his collaboration with Agrona and Elijah's true origins]]. |
| 691 | * ShadowArchetype: To Elijah. Both were raised by Rahdeas, [[spoiler:himself one of the Vritra's top servants in Dicathen, but where Olfred developed an UndyingLoyalty to his master and would follow him in betraying their homeland, Elijah never developed the same level of devotion to Rahdeas that Olfred did and his interactions with Arthur and his friends led him to open up. And then ultimately {{Subverted}} when it is revealed Elijah's true identity is an individual who willingly serves Agrona and the Vritra on a more personal level than Olfred ever did]]. |
| 692 | * StreetUrchin: In his youth, Olfred lived alone on the streets without a home or a family, and was always suspicious of others. Then Rahdeas took him in and raised him as one of his own, in the process causing Olfred to let his guard down to him and develop an UndyingLoyalty to the one he considered his father. |
| 693 | * TragicVillain: [[spoiler:His loyalty to a traitor makes a traitor out of him as well]]. |
| 694 | * UndyingLoyalty: To Rahdeas, who had taken him off the streets and raised him as his own son. A loyalty that drives him into following his master [[spoiler:into collaborating with the Vritra]]. |
| 695 | -->'''Olfred:''' He was the man I respected as my father and savior. Even if I disobeyed the king, I would never disobey Rahdeas. |
| 696 | * VillainousValor: [[spoiler:Even though Aya has him outmatched and is about to execute him for treason, Olfred calmly faces his death with remarkable bravery]]. |
| 697 | * TheWorfBarrage: Despite summoning his Hell Armor, he gets literally knocked out while clad in it by Aldir when the latter comes to kill the Greysunders. And Aldir was holding back the entire time. |
| 698 | [[/folder]] |
| 699 | |
| 700 | [[folder:Aya Grephin]] |
| 701 | !!Aya Grephin |
| 702 | !!!Phantasm |
| 703 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 704 | |
| 705 | The first elven Lance. Specializes in stealth and illusions. |
| 706 | ---- |
| 707 | * BigDamnHeroes: She comes to Arthur's rescue when [[spoiler:he is cornered by Uto and the traitorous Olfred]]. Later on, [[spoiler:she pulls off another one - this time with both Varay and Mica - when Aldir sends them to the djinn sanctuary in order to intercept Taci. Unfortunately, he is able to defeat all of them, and Aya has to sacrifice herself to prevent him from finishing off her comrades]]. |
| 708 | * BlowYouAway: Her shadow powers are derived from her innate capacity for wind magic, and she is capable of a few wind-based spells in combat. |
| 709 | * CastingAShadow: As part of her powers, she is also ability to manipulate shadow magic. |
| 710 | * DespairEventHorizon: Crosses it multiple times, [[spoiler:but the destruction of her homeland and genocide of her people really takes the cake]]. |
| 711 | * EtTuBrute: Takes [[spoiler:Olfred's]] betrayal '''hard'''. |
| 712 | * FreakOut: [[spoiler:Understandly does not take well to the genocide of her people]]. |
| 713 | * TheHeart: To the Lances, as she is the most centered and frankly least homicidal. |
| 714 | * HeartbrokenBadass: Life is not kind to Aya, but she soldiers on until the very end. |
| 715 | * HeroicBSOD: [[spoiler:Suffers one after the death of her king and queen, then again after the destruction of her home.]] |
| 716 | * HeroicRROD: [[spoiler:In her SelfDestructiveCharge against Taci, she overexerts her mana core to make her illusions more realistic in order to fool the asura into thinking he killed the remaining Lances. It works, but she dies in the process]]. |
| 717 | * HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:She sacrifices herself against Taci to save Bairon, Varay, and Mica. The only reason it does not end up being a SenselessSacrifice is Arthur's timely return and slaying of the asura]]. |
| 718 | * ILetGwenStacyDie: Her failure to save [[spoiler:House Eralith whom she was sworn to weighs heavily on her]]. |
| 719 | * ItIsNotYourTime: [[spoiler:She says this to Bairon before sacrificing herself to save him from Taci]]. |
| 720 | * MarshmallowHell: In the Lances' introductory scene in novel, she gives Mica this treatment. |
| 721 | * MasterOfIllusion: Aya's specialty is her ability to conjure illusions for use in battle and torture. |
| 722 | * MookHorrorShow: In her BigDamnHeroes moment when she comes to Arthur's aid against [[spoiler:Uto and Olfred, she makes her presence known by shrouding the underground chamber they are in with black mists to confuse the Alacryan soldiers present and pick them off one by one]]. |
| 723 | * MyGreatestFailure: Feels that her greatest failure is that she was elsewhere when her people needed her most. |
| 724 | * MysteriousMist: As part of her deviant magic powers, Aya is capable of generating black mist to envelop her opponents. |
| 725 | * NomDeGuerre: Her codename is "Phantasm". |
| 726 | * SelfDestructiveCharge: [[spoiler:Dies attempting this on Taci]]. |
| 727 | * TraumaCongaLine: Alas, poor Aya. [[spoiler:Is betrayed by her fellow Lance Olfred, with whom she had developed a true camaraderie, and is forced to put him down herself. Her home country is overrun and her people either enslaved or scattered. The king and queen she is oathbound to are forced to betray the war effort out of a SadisticChoice and are unceremoniously executed for it. Princess Tessia is captured and assumed dead, which is immediately followed by their former ally Aldir nuking her entire country from orbit, driving the elven race to near-extinction. She does not live to see Dicathen reconquered, as the asuras betray the Dicathians yet again by sending one of their own to purge them with Aya being forced to sacrifice herself to stall him]]. |
| 728 | * WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Is stated to be impossibly beautiful thanks to a careful use of her powers to appear as such. Gradually loses her luster as the war takes its toll on her. |
| 729 | [[/folder]] |
| 730 | |
| 731 | [[folder:Mica Earthborn]] |
| 732 | !!Mica Earthborn |
| 733 | !!!Ohmwrecker |
| 734 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 735 | ->''"WHAT LIMITS? MICA HAS NO LIMITS!!!''" |
| 736 | |
| 737 | The second dwarven Lance. A ChildProdigy and powerful manipulator of deviant gravity magic who specializes in wielding massive maces or hammers. |
| 738 | ---- |
| 739 | * AirJousting: Her duel with [[spoiler:Dragoth over the Wall has them take to the air]]. |
| 740 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: Mica has brown skin, but it is hard to pinpoint what exact ethnicity she is supposed to be. |
| 741 | * AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Acts as this to Varay and Aya and looks the part, even though she is OlderThanTheyLook. |
| 742 | * BadassAdorable: Mica looks and acts a like a cheerful little girl, but as a Lance she is one of the most powerful mages on Dicathen. |
| 743 | * BadassFamily: She is a scion of House Earthborn, and after the end of the war, [[spoiler:she and her siblings are active members of LaResistance and fight to reclaim their homeland from the Alacryans]]. |
| 744 | * BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Pulls off one with both Varay and Aya when Aldir sends them to the djinn sanctuary in order to intercept Taci. Unfortunately, he is able to defeat all of them]]. |
| 745 | * TheBigGuy: Despite being the shortest among the Lances, Mica is the one among their number most inclined towards physical combat and her gravity magic allows her to create massive maces or hammers to crush her enemies. |
| 746 | * BigGuyRodeo: In her [[spoiler:fight with Dragoth - who is far larger than her - she ends up latching onto him while both are airborne. She ends up ripping off one of his horns]]. |
| 747 | * BloodKnight: Mica loves a good fight due to her violent nature and will not hesitate to tell her opponents of the harm they are about to experience. |
| 748 | * BrawlerLock: As her duel with [[spoiler:Dragoth over the Wall reaches its climax, the two of them end up grappling each other midair. It ends with Mica wrenching one of his horns clean from his head]]. |
| 749 | * BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: The outcome of her duel with [[spoiler:Dragoth has Mica breaking his right arm and tearing off one of his horns, which forces him to retreat and renders him much weaker than before given how his horns were the source of his power. However, Mica is in no state to celebrate as she barely survived the encounter, and the only reason Dragoth and the Alacryans break off their assault is because they discovered that Arthur was not under the Wall]]. |
| 750 | * CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Despite Mica being oathbound to the Greysunders, Aldir holds back when fighting her and spares her because he needs the dwarven Lances alive for the coming war. |
| 751 | * CarryABigStick: Her weapon of choice, which combined with her gravity magic leads her to wield maces and hammers over thrice her size. |
| 752 | * ChildProdigy: She demonstrated her proficiency at a young age and ended up graduating at the top of her class at the MagicalAcademy her family founded. |
| 753 | * CheshireCatGrin: Does not lose it even when circumstances are dire. |
| 754 | * CreepyChild: PlayedWith. She is OlderThanTheyLook and resembles a child, but she enjoys threatening people with grievous bodily harm and torture. And often as not, she will follow up on her threats. |
| 755 | * CuteBruiser: She looks like a little girl even for a dwarf, but fights up close and personal with a massive mace or hammer. |
| 756 | * CutesyDwarf: A literal example of this trope, being a dwarf with a childish appearance even by their standards that belies her true age. |
| 757 | * DavidVersusGoliath: Given her small stature even for a dwarf, Mica tends to be dwarfed (no pun intended) by most of the opponents she fights. However, this is especially apparent when pitted against her EvilCounterpart Dragoth, himself TheBrute and the most physically imposing of the Scythes. When [[spoiler:Agrona orders his second invasion of Dicathen, Mica and Dragoth end up fighting each other at the Wall. As Mica had her PowerLimiter removed recently, she barely manages to defeat Dragoth by ripping off one of his horns]]. |
| 758 | * ADayInTheLimelight: She is one of the four leads of the {{Interquel}} novel, Volume 8.5. |
| 759 | * ElementalArmor: Combined with ImprovisedArmor. During [[spoiler:the assault on the Wall, Mica ends up using the shattered remains of a black iron spike that had been used to break open the gates to weld together an impromptu suit of black iron armor to protect herself during her subsequent clash with Dragoth]]. |
| 760 | * EyeScream: [[spoiler:Loses her left eye when fighting Taci]]. |
| 761 | * FlyingBrick: Like the rest of the Lances, Mica is able to fly, and as a PintSizedPowerhouse she hits extremely hard when compared to her size. |
| 762 | * GenkiGirl: {{Subverted}} as it's mostly a facade. In truth she is violent, vindictive and driven. |
| 763 | * GlassEye: [[spoiler:After losing her left eye, she replaces it with one made of onyx]]. |
| 764 | * GravityMaster: Her powers are based on her mastery of deviant gravity magic. Though she often uses earth magic as well. |
| 765 | * HumongousHeadedHammer: Whether or not she ends up fighting with a mace or hammer, you can expect her armament to have a head that is more than twice her size. |
| 766 | * MarshmallowHell: In the Lances' introductory scene in novel, she is on the receiving end of this trope courtesy of Aya. |
| 767 | * NearDeathExperience: [[spoiler:Gets nearly killed by Taci, but survives thanks to Aya's HeroicSacrifice]]. |
| 768 | * NomDeGuerre: Her codename is "Ohmwrecker". |
| 769 | * OlderThanTheyLook: She looks and acts like a child, however she is fifty years old. |
| 770 | * PerpetualSmiler: Mica is always smiling, even in the midst of the carnage. |
| 771 | * PintSizedPowerhouse: She might be small even for a dwarf, but her appearance belies the fact that Mica is unnaturally strong, especially given her mastery over gravity magic. |
| 772 | * ThePrankster: Has this dynamic with Aya. Though it is revealed to be her own clumsy attempt to cheer up her fellow Lance. |
| 773 | * SecretlyWealthy: Is the heiress to House Earthborn, a noble, wealthy, and renowned family in Darv who are second in influence to the royal family of House Greysunder. |
| 774 | * SmallGirlBigGun: A rare melee weapon example, as she looks like a little girl even for a dwarf but wields a massive hammer for her weapon. |
| 775 | * SpontaneousWeaponCreation: Her mastery over earth and gravity magic allows Mica to create massive hammers and maces for herself to wield. |
| 776 | * TeamMom: To her small team of dwarves investigating a disturbance in Darv. So much so that she is willing to give up a fight against [[spoiler:Seris]] to save their lives. |
| 777 | * ThirdPersonPerson: Mica tends to speak using her own name instead of personal pronouns. |
| 778 | * TokenHeroicOrc: {{Downplayed}}. During the war, her kingdom is divided due to being heavily compromised by the Vritra and their agents. While Mica is far from the only dwarf who remains loyal to Dicathen, she ends up being the most prominent one in the long run as [[spoiler:the other notable example of this trope among the dwarves, Buhnd, gets killed off at the end of the war. Afterwards, as one of the Lances Mica ends up becoming one of the leaders of the resistance (even getting more spotlight via the 8.5 spinoff), but this coincides with more sympathetic dwarves being introduced]]. |
| 779 | * TokenMiniMoe: Given how she is a literal CutesyDwarf, Mica qualifies as an example due to being the smallest among the Lances and the most childlike in terms of appearance. |
| 780 | * TrojanPrisoner: While on a mission to Ashber during the war, Mica and her fellow Lances Olfred and Arthur are forced to disguise themselves. Their disguise has Arthur and Mica pose as Olfred’s slaves while they investigate a slave ring for signs of Alacryan activity. |
| 781 | * UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: {{Invoked}}. She tells [[spoiler:Bairon to take up Taci's spear as "there is no better way [for him] to pay [his] respects to Aya than using it to kill a few more asura", on top of being a powerful weapon in its own right due to being ForgedByTheGods]]. |
| 782 | * TheWorfBarrage: Despite using the full force of her mace against Aldir when the latter comes to kill the Greysunders, he effortlessly holds it back before destroying it and knocking her out with a FingerPokeOfDoom. And Aldir was holding back the entire time. |
| 783 | * WreckedWeapon: During her fight with Aldir, he shatters her mace using a single FingerPokeOfDoom which knocks her out in the process. |
| 784 | [[/folder]] |
| 785 | |
| 786 | [[folder:Bairon Wykes]] |
| 787 | !!Bairon Wykes |
| 788 | !!!Thunderlord |
| 789 | !!!'''Debut:''' Volume 4 (Novel), Chapter 82 (Webcomic) |
| 790 | |
| 791 | Lucas’ older half-brother, who unlike him is righteous and takes his role seriously. He is a fearsome lightning manipulator. |
| 792 | ---- |
| 793 | * AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: Not only is he named much earlier at the Council announcement like the rest of the Lances (with him being named last to hammer into Arthur just how influential the Wykes are in Sapin and how big of an enemy he made with Lucas), but he and Alea appear in an original scene where he meets Arthur much earlier than in the novel (if only briefly, as he ends up scolding Lucas for his misconduct). |
| 794 | * ArchEnemy: Develops this dynamic with Arthur over the latter's execution of his younger brother Lucas. [[spoiler:Though they reconcile later once the latter returns from Alacrya]]. |
| 795 | * ArmorPiercingAttack: Is able to instantly collapse the barrier surrounding Xyrus Academy. |
| 796 | * TheAtoner: [[spoiler:After the loss of the war and Arthur's apparent demise, Bairon becomes overprotective of his former comrade's sister Eleanor out of remorse for the way he treated him]]. |
| 797 | * BadassBack: He is shown from the back in his EarlyBirdCameo in the {{Webcomic}}, revealing his imposing, scarred frame and compounding how powerful he is when compared to his younger brother whom he towers over. |
| 798 | * BigBrotherInstinct: To Lucas. Even though the latter became a deranged maniac and mass murderer, he still expresses considerable animosity towards Arthur over his execution of his younger brother. [[spoiler:Though he admits later his anger towards Arthur was about the insult to House Wykes, especially after they betray him and Dicathen. During the time Arthur was marooned in the Relictombs and Alacrya and thus presumed dead by the Dicathians, Bairon took in his little sister Eleanor under his protection out of atonement for his treatment of him]]. |
| 799 | * BreakTheHaughty: Is subjected to a rather nasty one during the end of the WarArc and onward. [[spoiler:When the Alacryans invade the Council Castle, he gets effortlessly defeated by Cadell and barely survives, on top of experiencing the same TraumaCongaLine that the rest of the Dicathians get subjected at the end of the war. Then, he secretly returns to Xyrus in the aftermath of the war in order to rescue his family only to find out they had become LesCollaborateurs to the Alacryans. To say this is a major blow to Bairon is an understatement, and after barely surviving Taci's rampage he resolves to become a much better person than he was before]]. |
| 800 | * BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:As if barely surviving his fight with Cadell wasn't bad enough, later on he turns himself into pure lightning for a chance to hurt Taci who still survives the attack]]. |
| 801 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler:He wanted to make Arthur pay by any means for his brutal execution of Lucas and the offense against his family's honor. He gets what he wants at a very great cost when Arthur and Sylvie sacrifice themselves against Nico and Cadell at the end of the war, making the Dicathians lose morale as Arthur was their only chance to victory and Bairon regrets it deeply. Thankfully, Arthur survives and returns once again, allowing Bairon to finally makes amends with him and they reconcile]]. |
| 802 | * BodyguardingABadass: {{Downplayed}}. After the end of the war, [[spoiler:Bairon becomes Virion's bodyguard. While Virion is a silver core mage and has been kept as sharp as possible due to his sparring with Aldir in the leadup to the war, he is still past his prime and could not hold himself against the likes of the Scythes or Wraiths, let alone actual asuras, on top of the outcome of the war having left a considerable scar on his mental state]]. |
| 803 | * CharacterDevelopment: Bairon started as a prideful and smug noble given the rest of his house, and was incredibly hostile towards Arthur because of the death of Lucas. During the WarArc, while he was able to tolerate his presence, he was still unwilling to cooperate with him which led to [[spoiler:the loss of the war, his family becoming LesCollaborateurs and betraying their homeland, and Arthur being presumed dead which causes him to protect Arthur's sister Eleanor out of guilt. When he reunited with Arthur after the fight with Taci, he tearfully embraced Arthur along with the rest of the Lances, and after the Siege of Vildorial he finally reconciles with Arthur over his role in Lucas's death]]. |
| 804 | * ConflictingLoyalty: After the war, his loyalty is torn [[spoiler:between Virion and what remains of the Dicathian resistance and his family that welcomes their invaders. He chooses the former as he realizes just how corrupt his family has been all along]]. |
| 805 | * EarlyBirdCameo: In the {{Webcomic}}, before he is officially introduced along with the rest of the Lances during the Council announcement, Bairon makes a brief cameo during Kaspian's warning to Arthur about how powerful House Wykes is. He appears from the back while towering over Lucas, hinting about how strong Bairon is when compared to his younger half-brother. |
| 806 | * ForgedByTheGods: [[spoiler:Wields the spear of the asura Taci as a trophy after Arthur slays him]]. |
| 807 | * GivenNameReveal: In the {{Webcomic}}, when Bairon is first brought up, Kaspian merely refers to him as Lucas's half-brother. His given name is not revealed until the announcement of the Council and the reveal of the Lances. |
| 808 | * GoodVersusGood: Aside from his animosity towards Arthur over Lucas's death, during [[spoiler:the second Siege of Vildorial he ends up fighting Seris and Cylrit who at that point have been ForcedIntoEvil due to Agrona's VillainOverride]]. |
| 809 | * HeelRealization: After [[spoiler:Arthur's apparent death and being betrayed by his family, Bairon realizes how much of a {{Jerkass}} he had been and sees the error of his family's ways]]. |
| 810 | * HeroAntagonist: To Arthur. [[spoiler:Until after the end of the WarArc and the ensuing TraumaCongaLine making him finally see the error of his ways and making him reconcile with Arthur]]. |
| 811 | * ItIsNotYourTime: [[spoiler:Aya says this to him before sacrificing herself to save him from Taci]]. |
| 812 | * LightningBruiser: A literal example given his ShockAndAwe powers. |
| 813 | * LightningFireJuxtaposition: Exhibits this contrast towards Cadell, whom he is the GoodCounterpart of and [[spoiler:ends up fighting at the end of the WarArc]]. Bairon manipulates lightning magic, whereas Cadell prefers to incinerate his enemies with soulfire. |
| 814 | * TheMentor: Takes Curtis under his wing in the leadup to the WarArc. |
| 815 | * MorphWeapon: Can mold lightning into all manner of weapons. |
| 816 | * MyNaymeIs: His name is a variation on Byron. |
| 817 | * NervesOfSteel: To his credit, Bairon refuses to back down in the face of impossibly stronger foes. |
| 818 | * NearDeathExperience: [[spoiler:Gets nearly killed by Taci, but survives thanks to Aya's HeroicSacrifice]]. |
| 819 | * NomDeGuerre: His codename is "Thunderlord". |
| 820 | * PoorCommunicationKills: His refusal to communicate or trust Arthur jeopardizes them severely during the WarArc. |
| 821 | * RejectedByTheEmpathicWeapon: {{Subverted}}. [[spoiler:He is able to wield Taci's spear as Taci did not have a strong bond with his weapon]]. |
| 822 | * RevengeBeforeReason: Initially does ''not'' forgive Lucas' murder at the hands of Arthur, even though the former was clearly a mass murderer and BeyondRedemption. [[spoiler:The loss of the war, his family becoming LesCollaborateurs and betraying him, and his near-death fighting Taci all lead to him reconciling with Arthur upon the latter's return from Alacrya, specifically after the Siege of Vildorial]]. |
| 823 | * ShockAndAwe: His powers are based on his mastery of deviant lightning magic. |
| 824 | * SiblingYinYang: He and his younger brother Lucas end up having this dynamic in the long run. While both are prodigious mages in their own right, partially thanks to their family's resources and elixirs, Bairon became strong in his own right while Lucas kept hiding behind their family's influence. Eventually, while Lucas ended up dying a mass murdering terrorist, Bairon [[spoiler:had a HeelRealization after the loss of the war and getting betrayed by his collaborationist family and would go on to become the WhiteSheep]]. |
| 825 | * SpottingTheThread: In an original scene in the {{Webcomic}}, Bairon and his men are clearing out a dungeon infested by abnormally powerful mana beasts when he comes across a tattered piece of cloth. Despite how innocuous his finding might have seemed, it brings about some troubling ramifications as not only do his men say no one had been in that dungeon for a long time, but when it is analyzed, it is revealed to have been woven from a mana beast that either has not yet been discovered or is not native to Dicathen. Naturally, given the recent discovery of Alacrya, all signs point to it originating from the other continent. |
| 826 | * SuperBreedingProgram: Is a product of House Wykes's outright illicit endeavors to create powerful mages, which has resulted in him becoming a powerful lightning mage. |
| 827 | * SuperSenses: Learns Arthur's trick of infusing himself with lightning to augment his reflexes. |
| 828 | * TeethClenchedTeamwork: With the rest of the Lances. And especially Arthur [[spoiler:though later he gets better]]. |
| 829 | * TraumaCongaLine: [[spoiler:Get defeated by Cadell, feels guilty over Arthur's apparent death, gets betrayed by his family as they become LesCollaborateurs with the Alacryans, and barely survives Taci's rampage with Aya being forced to sacrifice herself to save him and the rest of the Lances. No wonder he resolves to become a better person in the wake of all that he has endured]]. |
| 830 | * TookALevelInIdealism: [[spoiler:When push comes to shove, he stands with Virion and the Dicathian resistance against his collaborationist family]]. |
| 831 | * UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: [[spoiler:Following Taci's death, Arthur gives Bairon the fallen asura's spear. While Bairon does not want to at first because Taci killed Aya, Mica argues that nothing would be more respectful to Aya's sacrifice than slaughtering asuras with weapons of their own making]]. |
| 832 | * WellTrainedButInexperienced: It is noted that while Bairon is a fearsomely powerful MagicKnight, he lacks proper combat experience. Even though he has read up much on military history and tactics as part of his upbringing, the books he has read are mostly out of date and have only second-hand accounts. |
| 833 | * WhiteSheep: While Bairon is initially an antagonistic force to Arthur due to being the older brother of Lucas, he is shown to have some genuinely sympathetic traits, such as wanting Lucas to stop hiding behind their family's influence and to become a better person on his own. However, it is only after the war that he starts to become better than the rest of his family [[spoiler:due to the TraumaCongaLine he suffers (in particular, his repeated near-death experiences fighting much stronger foes and learning his family became Les Collaborateurs to the Alacryans) giving him a nasty case of BreakTheHaughty. Afterwards, he ends up making amends with Arthur after the latter returns from Alacrya to lead the Dicathian resistance BackFromTheBrink]]. |
| 834 | -->'''Bairon:''' [[spoiler:My pride blinded me to the evils of my family. My rage wasn't even about Lucas, but your insult to our house. I was a fool, Arthur. And I'm sorry]]. |
| 835 | * WouldHurtAChild: Is willing to murder Arthur on the spot, and would've if not for the intervention of the other Lances. [[spoiler:Though he eventually comes to regret it and apologizes to Arthur later]]. |
| 836 | [[/folder]] |
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FollowingContext Characters / TheBeginningAfterTheEndRoyalFamilies
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