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Characters / Ascension Aidas Team

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These are the main protagonists of Ascension (2013). In the first chapter, we are introduced to Aida and her best friend, Sky. In the same chapter, we meet Tillie, Zander, and Jace. In the second chapter, we meet Faelern and Seena. In the third, we meet Kole and Kyra.

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    The Team as a Whole 
  • Dark and Troubled Past
    • Zander saw his servant friend beaten in front of him by his mother. In a fit of rage, he caused his house to be burned down, killing his friend.
    • The Knight Order, which Jace was a part of, were all slaughtered by the Eagles. Among those killed were Jace's Heterosexual Life-Partner, Cain who is actually Diego under an alias, and is very much alive.
    • Faelern's fiancee was executed by Lord Morthil, which explains Faelern's hatred for Zander, Lord Morthil's son.
    • Played for Laughs in Seena's case. According to Word of God, she slipped on a piece of fish and bumped her head. Actually, Seena was banished from a Lith clan because she'd shown righteous anger towards a kid who made fun of her father.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Aida as the Choleric, Jace, Seena and Tillie as Sanguine, Zander and Faelern as Melancholic, and Sky as the Phlegmatic.
  • Parental Abandonment: Most of Aida's crew lost their parents or left them before meeting each other.
    • Aida never knew her parents because she was banished from Valond.
    • Sky's mother was killed, perhaps by bandits, and her father was killed by the Eagles.
    • Zander has a poor relationship with his parents, whom he is implied to have abandoned after their beating of his friend.
    • Jace's parents were killed, leaving him to join the Knight Order for shelter.
    • Seena was banished from her tribe by her own father after having shown anger towards a kid insulting her father. However, her father was clearly reluctant to do so, and had to follow the law as the tribe's chief.
  • Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Lampshaded by Sky in the second chapter, and often throughout the third chapter.
  • Town Girls: The women of Aida's team: Aida as the Butch, Sky as the Femme, and Tillie as the Neither.
  • True Companions

    Aida 

Aida

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/8f64901b6a163fca2da4a2a2676f0ab0.png
I've dreamed about my future, you know? Sometimes in great riches, sometimes in a tavern, forgotten and lost, but never, not even once, as a hero.

Aida (full name: Aida Ethelind Fairbairn is the 24-year-old main character of Ascension. She was born a noble, and shunned by people for her strange appearance: white hair and pale white skin. Notably, her eyes are green, unlike other nobles whose eyes are red.

  • Action Girl: Very much so, she has no problem getting into fights with others and kills the Big Bad alone.
  • Anti-Heroine: She's technically a thief at the beginning of the story, has few qualms about stealing or using violence and threats to get what she wants, and swears "like a dwarven sailor", but is a good person at heart.
  • Back from the Dead: After killing King Kael, she dies herself, and is revived by Kyra.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: With Jace in Chapter 1 when they are attacking the Eagles.
  • Badass Normal: She has none of the supernatural powers that Nobles are known to have, yet she is the most action-oriented character in the Ascension-verse.
  • Big Eater: According to Word of God.
  • Brought Down to Badass: Her backstory.
  • Broken Bird: She was born a noble, and banished from Valond to protect her from the Kael. She's spent her life hiding from the Silver Order and, forced to live with her grandmother. Kael found Aida and killed her grandmother, stripped her of her powers, and nearly stabbed her to death, forcing her to feel for the first time, with an onslaught of physical pain and heartbreak. She is further broken in the third chapter, when she is captured by Kael, tortured, and forced to kill her close friend.
  • Cain and Abel: Her twin brother, King Kael, tried to kill her years prior to the events of the first chapter, which made her "human", as it allowed her to feel. This is because the nobles believe that, in the event that someone has twins, the death of one of them makes the other stronger and Kael is terrified of feeling. She had been sent away specifically to protect her from him. Kael continues this in Chapter 3. He captures Aida, tortures her and forces her to Mercy Kill her friend. Despite this, Aida still tries to reason with Kael by letting him know that he's nothing more than a puppet for Synius, but he refuses to believe her, forcing her to kill him (and herself, at least temporarily) to end his reign once and for all. In his last moments, Kael (presumably becoming human as he's dying) admits that he's scared and apologizes for what he's done.)
  • Color-Coded Eyes: Has green eyes. Unlike most Nobles who have red eyes.
  • Cool Big Sis: To Seena.
  • Deadpan Snarker: She becomes even snarkier if you choose the "Cunning" or "Rage" options in certain conversations.
  • Determinator: Despite all the pain she endured throughout her life and through the chapters, she fights on for her friends and her own humanity.
  • Dual Wielding: She wields two daggers.
  • Fake Defector: Sky, Tillie, and Zander plan to have her infiltrate the Eagles to get the journals back.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a big diagonal scar on her stomach, where she’d been stabbed by Kael.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: She's half Noble, half human.
  • The Heroine: Of the story.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Sky.
  • Hurricane of Puns: Releases one about mining when you choose the Cunning option at Tillie and Airdan's wedding reception when Tillie talks about dwarves living in Ildis.
  • I Can't Dance: Justified, as she'd spent all of her life on the run.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal: Aida has shades of this. If you speak with Faelern using the "Goodwill" mode during the boat ride to Taran, she reveals that she is tired of having to run, hide and fight for her life at all times because she is a Noble being hunted by the Silver Order.
    Aida: I just want to live...I only want to live.
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies: The reason she lives in Sundrop Island during the second chapter without letting her friends know she is alive is because she knows she's being hunted by the Silver Order.
    • In the third chapter, during her stay in Aelvale, the guilt of constantly putting her friends in harm's way and being forced to kill Victor nearly makes her give up trying to fight the Silver Order.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's a caustic, fist-happy, short-tempered thief who prefers to fight through life on her own. She also is incredibly protective and grateful towards her True Companions and is disgusted when Kael explains that his blades are able to petrify humans. Her jerk-ish tendencies is implied to be because of her Noble blood, but she Took a Level in Kindness thanks to having True Companions in Sky and the gang.
  • Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: When she boards the ship to Valond, she has to put on a Valondian gown so she will fit in at the ball. The ship is attacked by pirates, and Aida and Kole beat them away.
  • Kleptomaniac Heroine: She even got a job as a spy due to this trait.
  • The Lad-ette: Swears, drinks and loves a good fight.
  • Lovable Rogue: She's a thief and a brawler, but is charming and witty, easily endearing others to her.
  • Made of Iron: In the end of the first chapter, a tower collapses with her still in it. This doesn't even count the fact that she is brutally tortured at the hands of King Kael, which leaves Aida with large wounds that presumably never heal, yet she fights in a war and kills King Kael to end his reign over Valond.
  • Miss Swears-A-Lot: Her use of profanity is pretty notorious.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Especially in the second game, wearing revealing outfits, including bikini-type tops, or outfits made from leather.
  • Mystical White Hair: Due to being half-Noble. It's one of her most prominent features.
  • Really Royalty Reveal: She is revealed to be Valond’s princess in the second chapter. Subverted in that she refuses to take her place as Valond's queen.
  • Refusal of the Call: Aida refuses to accept her position as Valond's princess, making life or death decisions for the country. Her uncle takes her place.
  • Stepford Smiler: She is often seen wearing her trademark smirk or joking around with her companions. However, some people, like Kole, take note of the fact that she's under a lot of duress. One of her diary entries has her lamenting that she can't share her true feelings with her True Companions instead of cracking snarky jokes.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: She resembles her mother, the Queen of Valond.
  • Survivor Guilt: She believed that her arrogance caused the death of her grandmother. Also, she blamed herself for the death of her friend, Victor in the third chapter.
  • Tears of Remorse: When she is forced by King Kael to kill her longtime friend, Victor.
  • Tomboy to Sky’s Girly Girl
  • Town Girls: Aida is the Butch to Sky's Femme and Tillie's Neither.
  • Trauma Conga Line: She was born a misfit Noble in Valond, banished to live with her grandmother, loses said grandmother to the Eagles while suffering grave injury, has a tower collapse on her leading her friends to think she had died, learns that she is Kael's twin sister and Valond's princess, is tortured in the Valondian dungeon and forced to kill Victor after watching him petrify. After all that, she is framed for her mother, the Queen's death, and during her battle with Kael, she is killed and had to be brought Back from the Dead by The Medic Kyra. The poor girl had it hard.
  • Weirdness Magnet: Lampshaded
  • Why Did It Have to be Nobles?: Aida is really afraid of nobles, to the point that she gets panic attacks when having to face them, such as when she is approached by King Kael during the ball in chapter 3. P Layed With when it's revealed that she used to be a "true noble" and therefore knows what they're capable of.

    Sky 

Sky

Aida's 25-year-old human longtime friend who'd helped to save Aida's life She is fiercely protective of Aida. She uses enchanted gloves.

  • Action Girl: Sky is shaping up to become one, as she studies combat magic and wears an electrified glove.
  • Anger Born of Worry: In the second chapter, after she reconciles with Aida, Sky beats Aida bloody with her enchanted glove for letting her think she'd lost her friend. She breaks down in Aida's arms afterwards.
  • Break the Cutie: During the first chapter. Her father is killed at the Eagles' hand, and she temporarily loses Aida , who apparently died near the end of the chapter.
  • Dare to Be Badass:
    Sky: I'm going to be someone i will be proud of! It's time i stop hiding in my mother's shadow... I will become a strong woman. And not "just like her"...I will be a strong woman in my own way.
    Aida: Sky, you are already stronger than you think you are...
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Aida’s Tomboy.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: She believes she lives in her mother's shadow and that she isn't strong enough.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Aida.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Has these, reflecting her sweet and naive nature (though she becomes much tougher by the end).
  • The Lancer: Sky is The Lancer to Aida's (anti)-heroine.
  • Kleptomaniac Heroine: From trying to be a thief like her mother in chapter one. She grows out of it.
  • Missing Mom: Her mother was killed by presumably the same people who murdered her father. We later find out that Sky's mother was a member of the Eagles, but ran away to be with her family. They killed her over her desertion.
  • Plucky Girl: Her desire to search Ionmarsh's ruined temple for a map to the Old Kingdom kicks off the plot in the first chapter. Also, she agrees to help pursue Diego at the end of Chapter 1, noting that normally, she'd see this as a useless endeavour. Also, she stands up to Aida when Aida berates her for falling in love with Diego.
  • Shock and Awe: Sky's glove, which she uses to electrify Aida for letting the team think that Aida had died, and to threaten Diego for sending Aida on a suicide mission.
  • Silk Hiding Steel: Sky turns into this as part of her Character Development, away from being Prone to Tears. She makes her own decisions with or without the approval of Aida.
  • Tender Tears: Often in the first chapter, when her father is killed. Also, when she reunites with Aida in the second chapter. Jace often calls her "Tears" because she is quick to cry.
  • Took a Level in Badass: When she gains her enchanted gloves at the academy, she goes from being woefully lacking in combat savvy to having the guts to attack Diego and being able to help the Badass Crew hold off an army for Aida.
  • Town Girls: Sky is the Femme to Aida's Butch and Tillie's Neither.
  • Tricked-Out Gloves: Sky wears dark green ones in the first chapter. Her electrified glove in the second chapter is white with a large red jewel on the back of the hand.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: With Diego, whom at first she wanted to kill for what he did to her parents and Aida in the third chapter. Becomes Belligerent Sexual Tension when it's revealed that she kissed Diego during Tillie and Airdan's wedding party at the beginning of the third chapter.
  • White Magician Girl: Becomes this in the second chapter.
  • You Are Not Alone: Sky says this to Aida.

    Tillie 

Tillie Stormbrow

Née Mathilda Deagret Stormbrow, she is a learned alchemist dwarf who'd spent her life in Ildis. She wishes to teach magic in Doregon.

  • Action Girl: Though she tends to use magic in combat, rather than conventional weapons.
  • Action Mom: At the end of the third chapter, it is revealed that Tillie had a baby.
  • Badass Adorable: A tiny, cheerful, and strongly caring dwarf, who can do her share in fighting an army and singlehandedly knocks out a group of Eagles' thugs with her potions, and holds off some royal guards in a You Shall Not Pass! stand for Aida. She also frees Aida from imprisonment at the hands of the Eagles. She even greets the bandits whose collective asses she kicks with a cheerful "Hello!"
  • Fanservice Pack: She becomes noticeably more glamorous and attractive after the first chapter, wearing make-up and outfits that show her cleavage. One of her optional hairstyles is literally titled 'Sexy'.
  • Fiery Redhead: Tillie can be rather sharp-tongued, as seen in the third chapter at the reception of hers and Airdan's wedding. She is also a major Plucky Girl.
  • Genki Girl: By far the most cheerful and energetic of Aida's team. Her inability to slow the heck down is frequently lampshaded.
  • It Has Been an Honor: Tillie tearfully says this to Aida around the end of Chapter 1, when Aida prepares to infiltrate the castle.
  • The Leader: She instructs the newly formed Five-Man Band about how to infiltrate the Eagles' hideout and how to track down Diego after he flees for the castle in the first chapter. Justified, as she worked with the Eagles once.
  • Lethal Chef: Her cooking gave Airdan food poisoning. Hell, she uses lava rocks in her cooking.
  • Like Brother and Sister: With Zander.
  • Magic Versus Science: Has this dynamic with Kyra. Kyra is firmly a scientist, using medicine to provide healing, while Tillie uses potions and alchemy. Notably, Kyra argues that Tillie's methods only ease the symptoms and relies on intuition, while her systematic treatment of injuries and illnesses rely on logic and study.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: She is this with Zander, whom she studied alchemy with.
  • Person as Verb: In Chapter 1, she tells Aida, Sky, Zander, Jace, and Airdan that they'd have to "Jace" the mission to infiltrate Diego's hideout, basically meaning they'd have to charge in without much of a plan.
  • Plucky Girl: After she and Zander had fled the Eagles, she stole some sensitive documents from them because she knew they weren't up to any good.
  • The Power of Love: Tillie emphatically believes in this. She tells Aida that having some person to live for is what makes the struggles of life worth it. She tells Zander that love is forgiving, and would never drown one in guilt.
  • Significant Green-Eyed Redhead
  • Team Mom
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Kyra, when she and Kyra have to try and find a cure for wounds inflicted by weapons from the Silver Order.
  • Town Girls: Tillie is the Neither to Aida's Butch and Sky's Femme.

    Zander 

Zander Morthil

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zander__maturejpg.jpg

Née Alexander Theodin Morthil, he is a Moon elf who has heightened emotional sensitivity due to being a mage. He dislikes fellow elf Faelern, because of his personality.

  • Abusive Parents: His father, Lord Morthil, despises him for his heightened sensitivity as a mage, and his caring for the Lith. When Aida, Faelern, Seena, and Zander meet Lord Morthil, he verbally beats Zander down, and admonishes Zander's friends, embarrassing him. His mother viciously beat his only Childhood Friend, traumatizing him.
  • Badass Teacher: After the tower collapse in the first chapter, he reveals that he worked as a Lith teacher in Taran.
  • Deadpan Snarker
    Zander: Tillie...not to interrupt or anything but it might be a good idea to not piss off a race that is usually known to be cold blooded killers...just saying.
  • Fanservice Pack: Between chapter one and two, he grows out his hair, gets an ear piercing and starts wearing chest-baring, sleeveless outfits. By chapter three, he might as well not be wearing a shirt at all.
  • Gallows Humor: In the event that you pick Zander as a Love Interest in the third chapter, before Aida sets sail to rescue her friend, Zander joked about worrying about needing necromancy to heal her.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Has them. He can come across as cold or aloof, but there's a good reason for that...
  • Like an Old Married Couple: With Aida when they're arguing about where to leave Seena in Chapter 2. Note that this happens regardless of whether he's chosen as a Love Interest or not.
    Aida: Are you mad? No offense, but your people treat Lith like trash! There's no way I'm leaving Seena with them.
    Zander: Oh? Do you have any other ideas? Maybe you want to leave her with my parents?
    Aida: Sure! Might as well leave her with my nobles.
    Sky: You look like a married couple...
  • Like Brother and Sister: With Tillie.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Especially when he lets his hair down, as seen in the above picture.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: Since elves age by decades rather than years, his optional romance with Aida is this. He expresses concern about the fact that he only has 60 or 70 years together with Aida if they're lucky, but Tillie, in a display of Tough Love, tells him that what matter is the memories they make together (among other things).
  • The Medic: Uses healing magic.
  • Necromancer: In the event that you choose him as Aida's Love Interest, he recalls taking up necromancy at the end of the first chapter because he thought Aida was killed in the tower collapse.
  • Not So Stoic: As a Mage, he actually feels emotions on a much greater magnitude than humans. He merely cannot express these emotions because they are connected to his powers.
  • Papa Wolf: Towards Seena; he gives Jace a Death Glare when Jace jokingly says Seena will be a hottie when she grows up.
  • Personality Powers: A double subversion, when we meet him, he seems like The Stoic. But then we learn about Mages...
  • Platonic Life-Partners: with Tillie, whom he studied magic with.
  • Power Incontinence: This and Unstoppable Rage are what caused the death of his friend. This led to his becoming Not So Stoic.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: His skin is actually a pale purple, rather than actually white, but it still applies.
  • Really 285 Years Old: It's equivalent to about 28 in human years.
  • The Smart Guy: One of the most knowledgeable and logical team members.
  • Survivor Guilt: He (arguably rightly) blames himself for the death of Kille, his servant friend from his youth. Eventually, Tillie calls him out on mistaking his guilt for love.
  • Sweet Tooth: He enjoys berries, pies, cakes, and chocolate, according to Word of God.
  • Tall, Dark, and Snarky
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Chocolate, apparently.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: With Jace, whom he hated in the first chapter for luring Aida into the Eagles' hideout and endangering her life. If Jace is chosen as a Love Interest, he reveals in Chapter 3 that Zander once convinced him that there was a ghost woman haunting Airdan's bathroom (it was actually Aida).
  • When He Smiles

    Jace 

Jace

A lecherous human swordsman who worked as part of the Knight Order. The Knight Order was defeated after following through a false tip. The crew meet him at a bar in Northcliff.

  • A Father to His Men: He takes in orphans and trains them to fight. From conversation in the third chapter, he does try to seem brave for their sakes.
  • The Alcoholic: He seems to be easing up on the drink by the end though.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: with Aida in Chapter 1 when they are attacking the Eagles.
  • Badass Normal: The only human lacking any supernatural skills.
  • The Big Guy: One of the most muscular and physically strongest team members.
  • Bash Brothers: Becomes this with Zander.
  • Casanova Wannabe
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Jace has shades of this in the first and second chapter.
    • It even comes up in combat; when they fight the Silver Army near the end of chapter 2, he comments on the female's body. Aida has no words.
  • The Ditz: He tends to come off as this to some characters.
  • Dork Knight
  • Drowning My Sorrows: In the third chapter of the manga, he downed a bottle of what appears to be wine while remembering his fallen comrades prevented him from falling asleep.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold
  • Idiot Ball: He lures Aida into the Eagles' HQ just to help him steal some documents. They wind up caught by Diego.
  • It's Personal: towards Diego, who is The Leader of bandits who killed Jace's companions in the Knight Order.
  • Manchild: Jace has his moments.
    • In the event that you pick Jace as Aida's Love Interest in the third chapter, during the wedding scene, when you talk to him, Zander complains about how amused he was to find rooster-print underwear.
  • The Nicknamer
    • Calls Aida "Gorgeous", Zander "Skirts", and Sky "Tears".
  • Sole Survivor: Of the Knight Order. Aida calls him out for thinking that the Eagles would actually care.
  • Survivor Guilt: In the third chapter of the manga, when thinking about Cain, he abruptly shouts, "Why did you let me live? Why didn't you take me with them?".
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: with Zander.

    Faelern 

Faelern

A stoic sun elf from Odarga who is also an archer. He dislikes Zander because Zander's father was the one to execute his fiancee for helping the Lith escape during the Ildis massacre.

    Seena 

Seena

A cute Lith girl who is the daughter of the Lith clan's chief.

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