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Dhalmekian Republic
General Tropes
"The Dhalmekian Republic, whose fortunes shift with the desert sands."
Capital: Ran’dellah
A nation occupying a large part of southern Valisthea that is ruled by members of a parliament, each drawn from the five states that make up the Republic. The people of the Republic draw on their aether - and by extension the obedience of the people within their territory - from Drake's Fang, a Mothercrystal half-hidden in the heart of a mountain range. The Dhalmekian Republic is home to the Dominant of Titan, the Eikon of Earth, who serves as a special advisor to the members of the ruling parliament with a significant say in his realm's political matters.- Capitalism Is Bad: Every 'modern' nation on Valisthea has its own sin, and this is theirs. They're governed by an alliance of merchant-princes, which in practical terms means that political power naturally gravitates to the richest and most selfish and that notions of civic responsibility are largely tossed out the window. While this does generate disproportionate wealth for the nation, it also means that it's horrendously unequal, corrupt, riddled with infighting, and at the mercy of its rulers' self-centred obsessions, which proves absolutely disastrous when the Dominant of Titan (the richest and most powerful man in Dhalmekia) goes completely off the deep end.
- Expy: Vaguely Middle Eastern desert nation that values coin above all else? We talking about Dalmekia or Ul'dah?
- Love Ruins the Realm: Most of their woes in the story can be directly traced to their Dominant falling in love with a Waloed agent and going mad with rage after she was killed. The fact that something so minor was able to destabilize the whole Republic is a testament to how brittle their system of government is.
- Privately Owned Society: Or the medieval protocapitalist equivalent, at least. Dhalmekia is ruled by an oligarchy of merchant-princes and has no real distinction between the public and private sectors. The best way to gain political power in the Republic is to buy it, resulting in a system of government that's effective in a general sense at accruing wealth and influence for the country, but is dangerously fragile and chaotic.
- Power Crystal: As the game's official website reveals, the people of the republic draw their aether from Drake's Fang, the Mothercrystal located in the heart of a mountain range.
- Proud Merchant Race Guy: A nation built on commerce and ruled by merchant-princes, although the level of pride involved tends to vary according to how much money you are personally making.
- Shifting Sand Land: As revealed in the "Dominance" trailer, the republic is located in one, and it is said the republic's fortunes shift with the desert sands.
- Sole Survivor: By the end of the game Dhalmekia is the only one of Valisthea's nations to still be in comparatively good standing with a still standing capital and government, with Kanver, Waloed, and the Crystalline Dominion completely wiped out, Sanbreque and its vassal state Rosaria having to completely rebuild, and the Iron Kingdoms being a non-entity since the loss of their Mothercrystal. But this was a low bar to clear, as even Dhalmekia was left reeling after its capital was nearly overrun by Akashic and many of its armed forces turning to banditry.
- Token Good Teammate: Downplayed in that they're still heavily flawed, but of the three remaining great powers of the Twins remaining after the fall of Rosaria, Dhalmekia is the only one not going out of its way to oppress its citizens or antagonize the heroes. All the antagonism from the Republic comes from Hugo, who is explicitly acting on his own with his own private army, unlike Sanbreque and Waloed which are more united in their villainy.
Leadership
Hugo Kupka
Voiced by: Alex Lanipekun (English), Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese)Foreign VAs
"You will die by my hand, Rosfield! My hatred for you is unending, unyielding! Let this palace be your grave!"
Dominant of Titan. Once a common foot soldier in Dhalmekia, he was propelled to greatness upon awakening as a Dominant and now serves as an advisor to his country's parliament.- Action Politician: Courtesy of Asskicking Leads to Leadership. Dhalmekia's permanent economic advisor also earns his keep as his country's greatest weapon.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: The surviving members of Cid's Hideaway are very relieved to hear about his death, given that he'd led a massacre that cost many of them their loved ones five years ago, and had continued to hound them relentlessly since.
- Arc Villain: Of the third portion of the story, as he is the most personal enemy to Clive, Jill, Gav, and the rest of the Hideaway for what he did to all of them five years prior. Smoking him out and getting vengeance on him for his crimes is a large priority for the group, and Clive doesn't waste any chance that might afford him that opportunity (even if he knows he's walking into a trap).
- Arch-Enemy: The Grand Cast relationship chart lists Hugo as Clive's "mortal foe" after he destroys the Hideaway and kills many of Cid's followers, destroying almost everything he'd built. Clive then spends the next five years largely focused on taking Hugo down. Downplayed in the long run, as not only is a lot of their antagonism due to a misunderstanding (albeit one that is resolved with them still enemies), but the effort to take him down is, in pure game levels, a relatively short sequence, with him not even being one of the main threats to the world. That being said, in terms of personal bad blood with Clive, Hugo has the most out of any antagonist save for Anabella (Benedikta merely sees Clive as an annoying foe, Sylvestre Lesage and Clive never meet face-to-face, Barnabas Tharmr considers Clive a Worthy Opponent, and Ultima cares less about Clive himself and more about his status as Mythos).
- An Arm and a Leg: Clive cuts off his hands during their first duel, forcing him to get prosthetics.
- Armour Is Useless: Averted. Hugo normally doesn't wear any kind of armour on his person because his Dominant abilities allows him to create Power Fists and clad himself in crystalline armour in the blink of an eye, powerful enough to repel Clive's blade even when Hugo's unaware of his presence and distracted by a hallucination of Benedikta at the culmination of his Sanity Slippage. However, the fact that it's magical armour means it can just as quickly vanish if Hugo himself is too tired and exhausted to maintain it anymore. This bites him at the end of his and Clive's fight in Rosaria, when both of them wear each other out in a vicious fight, leaving them unable to use their Dominant powers anymore. Hugo starts overwhelming Clive with powerful attacks regardless thanks to his larger physique, but the fact that Clive has a sword on him and Hugo doesn't means that Hugo's attempts to smash Clive's skull with a double-handed hammer blow just results in Clive cutting both his hands off, Hugo not being used to fighting cautiously without his powers to protect him.
- Artificial Limbs: After having his hands cut off by Clive, he has a pair of prosthesis made to replace them. Unfortunately for him, this is a medieval setting where these "prosthesis" are solid bronze casts with no motor control, leaving him unable to even pick up a fork.
- Badass Bureaucrat: As his bio on the game's official website reveals, he is the economic advisor of the Republic of Dhalmekia and capable of exerting enormous influence over the nation's armies and policy making. He's also the Dominant of Titan and a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield himself.
- Bald of Authority: Downplayed, as he does have hair, but it is light enough and shaved short enough that it is difficult to tell unless one looks for it. As the official website notes, he is the politically-powerful permanent economic advisor who exerts strong influence over his country's policy-making. Crosses over with Bald of Evil once he steps into the spotlight and starts being The Heavy.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: His primary fighting style is to go into melee with heavy punches and kicks. Deconstructed when he runs out of gas for the Eikon powers needed to support this fighting style and attempts to punch a swordsman with his bare arms, losing both of his hands as a result.
- The Brute: At his core, that's what Kupka boils down to. While he's got a very keen mind and is good enough to use it effectively in politicking, his preferred method of dealing with opponents that really piss him off is to cause wanton destruction and violence without a shred of care for the collateral damage or the innocents lost.
- Casting Gag: Incidentally, his Japanese voice actor happened to be the voice of Ifrit in the previous mainline title, so it comes across as this combined with a Passing the Torch sort of way when he fights Clive, the game's Ifrit.
- Corrupt Politician: Such a blatant and officially-sanctioned example that it barely even counts as corruption. Making him their 'permanent economic advisor' is basically Dhalmekia's way of saying that their economy exists in part to serve the Dominant of Titan, and Hugo is only too happy to use his position to his own advantage, both to attain ever-greater wealth and power and to bend the resources of his nation towards his psychotic grudge against Cid. This attitude has also had significant cultural consequences - the Men of the Rock, his personal army, are notorious in the lands around Drake's Fang for their corruption and brutality.
- Didn't Think This Through: Not once does it occur to him that wearing steel gloves to reinforce his fists and provide protection so that he wouldn't have to rely on his Eikon powers so often would be a grand idea.
- Dirty Coward: Subverted. Being a greedy Reluctant Warrior means that there's a certain amount of in-universe suspicion that he's one of these and a Paper Tiger. The truth is, however, is that he is just rarely given a compelling reason to use his powers for anything (and a lot of reasons to strategically avoid using them) - once he's got an actual cause to fight for, he's a terrifyingly determined force of nature.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Being the Dominant of Titan, he specializes in this, having the ability to effortless tear through and conjure rock and stone.
- The Dreaded: To the people of the second Hideaway after he destroyed the first and killed many of its inhabitants. When he's killed, a common sentiment expressed by people Clive talks to is that they no longer need to live in fear of Hugo.
- Dumb Muscle: While he does show guile in domestic politics, most of his role in the story amounts to being a hulking brute whose love for Benedikta, gullible nature, and complete lack of a moral compass allow the main villains to use him as a laser-guided torpedo against Clive.
- Elemental Armor: When fighting Clive in his semi-prime form, he covers himself in rock and golden crystals that easily deflect sword attacks. Doubles as Elemental Punch since it allows him to fight otherwise unarmed. Unfortunately for Hugo, his over-reliance on these powers instead of using a weapon or shield himself results in him literally becoming disarmed once he becomes too exhausted to use them against Clive.
- Emasculated Cuckold: Prior to losing control over Titan, he hallucinates a naked Benedikta and Clive being physically affectionate with each other, implying he sees himself as this. And ironically enough, this is what he really is - except to Benedikta and Barnabas.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Painfully deconstructed. Being a selfish, greedy Self-Made Man and Corrupt Politician is exactly why he can't emotionally process falling in love for the first time in a mature, healthy manner. The fact that his lover is an agent for a hostile and untrustworthy foreign power makes things even worse, and her death and her ruler's willingness to manipulate Hugo with it make the whole situation a recipe for continent-scarring catastrophe.
- Evil Counterpart: He's driven by revenge like Clive was regarding the death of a loved one, but unlike Clive, he's willing to do any heinous crime to achieve it. Both characters have more masculine elemental powers as well (Fire and Earth).
- Fantasy Character Classes: He fights like a classic RPG Monk, right down to using mainly punches and kicks.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: His own quest for revenge would be sympathetic...only, he caused so many others to suffer. Clive calls him out on this.
- Genius Bruiser: As noted in his bio, in addition to being a former soldier he's also an economics adviser. But while he is skilled at military planning, as his invasion of Rosaria shows, his love of Benedikta becomes a massive weak point as he proves himself to be easily manipulated by Benedikta, Barnabas, and Anabella, while woefully overestimating his own capabilities to get revenge for the death of the woman he loves.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: Unlike the other dominants who are all armed with a sword (or a lance in the case of Dion), Hugo fights entirely barehanded with brute strength and earth magic. This proves to be a weakness of his, because whilst his Eikon is powerful enough to allow him to become a formidable fighter without needing weapons or armour, lacking any such advantages means that when he's briefly unable to use his powers from exhaustion after a protracted duel with Clive, his attempt to maintain his usual fighting style on the similarly-weary Clive just results in his hands getting cut off by his sword-wielding opponent.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: The evil kind. He is usually seen smoking cigars.
- The Giant: He is shown to tower over another man in the "Dominance" trailer.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Overclocking his aether in an attempt to kill Clive not only leaves him dead, but he's shown to have died with only his upper body remaining; itself gradually disintegrating in the Dhalmekian desert wind until there's no trace of him left.
- The Heavy: Steps in after Benedikta's death to become the villain of the story as he goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge against Cid and Clive. Up until his death, the plot becomes primarily focused on taking care of him.
- It's All About Me: Hugo Kupka cares nothing for Dhalmekia beyond how it can enrich him, using his influence as the Dominant of Titan to get what he wants, whether it's using the state military to get revenge on Cid, or basically strong-arming his way into having the country's leaders let him build his castle inside the country's Mothercrystal. He's even fully willing to throw his lot in with the Empire as long as it lets him kill Clive.
- It's Personal: He ends up on both sides of this. Benedikta's death at the hands of "Cid" makes Hugo swear revenge on him and his followers and destroy the Hideaway, in turn making him the survivors' sworn enemy, and they spend five years at each others' throats until Clive finally puts Kupka down.
- Jerkass: His backstory and role in the main plot make it clear that at his core, Hugo Kupka is a selfish, greedy, hedonistic, and violent man.
- Lightning Bruiser: The first thing you discover in his boss fight is that the gigantic, unfathomably strong Dominant of Titan is way, way faster than you were hitherto given any reason to expect. He actually starts the battle with a bona-fide Speed Blitz to make sure you remember where your dodge button is, and it sets the tone from then onwards.
- Love Makes You Evil: He goes on a years-long rampage against Cid's Hideaway and everyone even remotely related to it after Cid is framed for the death of Benedikta.
- Megaton Punch: A talented fist-fighter who can not only armour his hands in rock and crystal but also manifest the disembodied arms of his Eikon for truly colossal blows, blasting entire chunks of his boss arena into rubble.
- Moral Myopia: He started out as an extravagantly Corrupt Politician who cared for nothing and nobody beyond his own advancement, and then fell completely in love with the Dominant of Garuda, Benedikta Harman. He'd burn down the entire world for her, and after her death, that's exactly what he tries to do. Even his seemingly-compassionate discussion of the horrors of war is nothing more than his public justification for selling out his country's military interests to get a clear shot at Clive, and Clive begins their duel by showing him No Sympathy precisely because of how narrow his capacity for empathy is. The aftermath of his duel with Clive worsens this as he pettily rants to Sleipnir that Clive sought to humiliate him, despite leading the charge of ransacking Rosalith as a means to lure the latter out, which resulted in the loss of his hands for his trouble.
- No Sympathy: Despite having killed Benedikta, with much of Hugo's actions against him being driven by vengeful rage and grief over his loss, Clive makes it clear that he gives no shits about Hugo's pain against all the lives and innocents he's likewise murdered without care, especially since Hugo initially went as far as trying to sadistically destroy Clive's hometown and love interest just because he'd taken up the mantle of "Cid", before even finding out he was the actual killer Kupka sought revenge against.
- Off with His Head!: As part of his revenge plan, he intends to have Jill executed this way, and nearly succeeds.
- One-Winged Angel: After being trounced by Ifrit while fully primed, he consumes a large fragment of the mother crystal and transforms into Titan Lost, growing even larger than Titan's normal form and gaining a multitude of Combat Tentacles. He's so big that he dwarfs the mountain containing Drake's Fang, and Ifrit looks no larger than a flea in comparison - and Ifrit is already at least three stories tall, if not more.
- Only in It for the Money: His "loyalty" to Dhalmekia only extends so far as they can continue to shower him with riches; if they expect him to ever take the field in battle, they need to be ready to pay him a king's ransom. The "economic" part of his job title essentially translates to "make sure Kupka keeps getting richer."
- Opposites Attract: He, the Dominant of Earth, is hopelessly in love with the Dominant of Wind, two elements typically diametrically opposed to each other.
- Phantom Limb Pain: Being given artificial hands does nothing to heal Hugo's phantom pain after his loss to Clive.
- Pragmatic Villainy: When the other Dhalmekian leaders beg him to personally assist their forces in battle against Sanbreque as Titan, he refuses by correctly pointing out that to do so would only serve to provoke Sanbreque to send in their own Eikon and the extensive amount of Collateral Damage from the ensuing fight of Titan vs. Bahamut would leave the Dhalmekian territory where the battle takes place completely devastated.
- President for Life: His position as Dhalmekia's permanent economic advisor is essentially this. While nominally only an advisor to their parliament, it is quickly made apparent that he is one the calling the shots in the Republic as they dare not get on his bad side. And given that "permanent" is part of his job title in-universe, well...
- Psychopathic Manchild: When he gets angry, he behaves in a childlike manner contrasting the great power he holds.
- Rags to Riches: According to the character page on the official website, he started off as a random Dhalmekian soldier before awakening as the Dominant of Titan and becoming a high-ranking advisor in the Dhalmekian Republic with wealth and prestige to match.
- Reduced to Dust: After Titan is defeated by Ifrit, Hugo's body seemingly turns to dust, and has already half dissolved in the wind by the time Clive sees it.
- Reluctant Warrior: He's got something of an in-universe reputation for only manifesting Titan rarely and at a high price to whoever's asking him. It's a matter of pragmatism, since he's from a Proud Merchant Race Guy civilisation that values few kinds of loyalty (and certainly not patriotism) and he wants to make careful, measured use of his most limited and valuable resource. This becomes dangerous on two levels once he goes on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge after Benedikta's death - first, because it means he has an unusual amount of gas left in the tank for heavy use of his Eikon, and second, because it makes it easier for him to come up with plausible-sounding excuses for diverting the Dhalmekian war effort against Sanbreque towards his own ends rather than getting himself sent to the front lines.
- Revenge by Proxy: Subverted. Kupka thinks he's doing this by going after Clive, as he was told that Cid killed Benedikta, but since he died five years ago, the man who inherited his title will have to do. Once he finally draws out Clive, Clive informs him that Cid was innocent of Benedikta's death, and that Clive personally killed her. This means that Kupka was going after the right man the whole time. Even so, this pisses him off even more. Hugo never finds out just who it was that delivered her head to him, and by this point he's too far gone to care.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons:
- After the battle with Garuda, Kupka assumes that Cidolfus Telamon was the one who killed Benedikta, but after Cid's death at Drake's Head, Kupka turns his attention to Clive in an act of assumed Revenge by Proxy. It's only when Clive and Kupka confront each other face-to-face that Kupka learns Cid tried to talk Benedikta down, and it was Clive himself who slew Benedikta when she wouldn't listen to Cid. This means Kupka was going after the correct target for his revenge the whole time, entirely without knowing so until Clive told him. Kupka even admits with some Mirthless Laughter that he is "fortunate indeed" to have been wrong that Revenge by Proxy was the best he could hope for, since Kupka can now get the vengeance he wanted in the first place.
- After the first battle with Kupka himself is over, Kupka makes an assumption about Clive that turns out to be true only of someone else. He hallucinates Clive intimately biting Benedikta. And in his madness, Kupka believes that Clive also took Benedikta from him by cuckolding him. Clive never did either one, but Benedikta was in bed with another man behind Kupka's back — except that was Barnabas, not Clive.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After 'Cid' (actually Barnabas) sends him Benedikta's head in a box, Kupka loses his mind and literally rampages in his Eikon form all over Cid's Hideaway, then spends the next five years plotting revenge on the survivors.
- Self-Serving Memory: After retreating to Drake's Fang, Hugo rages to Harbard that Clive sought to humiliate him, despite Hugo attacking Clive's home in an effort to provoke Clive into their fight. He also claims that he would have killed Clive if Harbard hadn't intervened, which Harbard immediately dismisses as a complete fabrication and points out Clive was about to kill him before Harbard stepped in.
- Shadow Archetype: If you're wondering what Clive could have been like if he let his quest for vengeance take over who he was, look no further than Hugo Kupka.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Drops many swears after his hands get cut off.
- Shoot the Messenger: Subverted. He threatens to murder the man who delivers Benedikta's severed head in a box if the messenger cannot explain who is responsible. But when the messenger manages to stammer out an answer, Kupka just tells the messenger to Get Out! without hurting him.
- Too Clever by Half: His genius at domestic politics does not translate to foreign politics. Waloed plays him like a fiddle the entire game, and even his brief alliance with Anabella sees her planning to backstab him as soon as he outlived his usefulness. Ultimately, he's nothing more than a disposable pawn who's only as powerful as he is because he's Titan's Dominant and he knows who he's dealing with within the Republic.
- Trademark Favourite Food: He eats crystal shards, a strange habit that lets him exhale small clouds of aether and may have something to do with his extraordinary size and strength. It appears to be what gave him the idea to start munching on broken-off fragments of Drake's Fang during his semi-lucid rampage as Titan, triggering his transformation into Titan Lost.
- Unholy Matrimony: He is Benedikta Harman's lover. This is shown in the prologue, where Benedikta literally jumps into Kupka's arms. Kupka also says he's not afraid of Shiva's frost, but he "might need someone to warm [him] up" once he returns, all while the two embrace and lustfully purr at one another. It turns out that his feelings for her were completely one-sided, not that he ever finds out. Benedikta sleeps with him, sure, but during her last moments she doesn't think of him once. She thinks of the punishment Barnabas will inflict on her and she thinks of how she missed out on her one true love: Cid.
- Unwitting Pawn: Of Benedikta and Barnabas. Hugo thought that Dhalmekia and Waloed were allies and a cornerstone of that was his relationship with Benedikta, whom he genuinely loved and thought she loved him. In reality, Benedikta never truly loved him and was still sleeping with Barnabas while stringing Hugo along, and Barnabas only wanted Hugo on his side in the name of fulfilling his master Ultima's vision of uniting the power of the Eikons
- Villainous Breakdown: When Clive cuts his hands off, he starts slamming the ground, screaming to kill Clive over and over. He doesn't get much better after being rescued by Sleipnir, who taunts him about his weakness so that he can manipulate him into entering the heart of Drake's Fang. By the time Clive finds him, he's become a delirious mess who's professing his undying love to a hallucination of Benedikta, and once this hallucination gets "stolen" from him by another hallucination of Clive, he completely snaps and becomes a monster driven by pure spite and rage.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Known as Lord Kupka by the common folk of Dhalmekia and seen as a benevolent protector of the land, when in reality he only cares about Dhalmekia insofar as he can exploit it for his own gain.
Eugen Havel
Voiced by:
Chief Strategist and former Field Marshal of the Dhalmekian Republic who bears a grudge against Hugo Kupka.
- Back in the Saddle: He's a retired military officer of Dhalmekia, who is forced to come out of said retirement after pretty much every authority figure in the country is either run off or bumped off.
- Chekhov's Gunman: In the opening sequence, Havel appears during the war meeting between Dhalmekia and Waloed, where he is overriden by Hugo Kupka. Havel proceeds to disappear until the late stages of the main scenario, when Byron Rosfield goes to meet him (identifying him as "my old friend in Ran'dellah") while the republic is under Akashic siege.
- Last-Name Basis: He is referred to almost entirely as Havel, especially by his "old friend" Byron.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: It takes some time for him to come around to it, but after judging Clive's/Cid the Outlaw's character, Eugen Havel proves to be this when he agrees to cooperate with Byron Rosfield's plan.
- Retired Badass: Ever since Hugo became the Chief Economic Advisor and primary leader of their fighting force, Havel was forced to step back into an advisory role. When it comes time to pick up his blade again, however, he doesn't hesitate and proves himself to be more than capable of handling his enemies.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Havel and Byron Rosfield are revealed to be old friends, though both old men vehemently deny it in each other's presence. Even so, they fight valiantly at each other's sides.
- You Are in Command Now: Due to being the only surviving individual with the skills to take a leadership role in Dhalmekia after everything goes to pot, he's forced to take charge.
Dalimil
L'ubor
Voiced by: Shai Matheson (English), Tsuyoshi Aoki (Japanese)Foreign VAs
Known as the "Desert Hare," one of Cid's old allies in Dhalmek. Despite some initial confusion because Cid's ally was said to be a woman by the name of Ruzena, L'ubor reveals that he was her protege and now carries on Ruzena's work. He is the master of the Briar's Kiss smithy, and a weapons merchant.
- Cassandra Truth: In a lategame sidequest, L'ubor learns a bandit encampment was swallowed by an aetherflood and has turned all the bandits there Akashic. He tries to warn the townsfolk about what's coming, but his warnings all fall on deaf ears since none of them want to trust him after learning he's a Bearer. They're even willing to stone him until a pair of orphans come to his defense.
- Didn't Think This Through: He keeps a crystal on his person just in case he ever needs to use his magic and can pretend he was using the crystal. But when an emergency forced him to use his power suddenly, he never even thought about pulling out said crystal for the ruse until it was too late.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: His life takes a sudden, downward spiral after he’s outed as a Bearer, culiminating in him nearly getting stoned to death by the citizens of Dalimil for trying warn them of an incoming Akashic attack. Fortunately, the two orphans he was caring for stand to his defence, taking some of the stones and Shaming the Mob for their abrupt one-eighty on him despite all he’s done for them despite never complaining whenever they took it for granted. This leads to Konrad and Natalie, the most most influential people in town aside from him, readily supporting him in driving back the Akashic. By the end, he’s readily accepted as the town mayor, albeit due to some seeing him as credit to his race or as an attraction, and the Heel Realization most of the populace experienced lays the groundwork for him to start introducing reforms that will create equal rights for Bearers like himself in Dalimil.
- Hide Your Otherness: L'ubor goes most of his life hiding the fact that he is actually a Bearer, and he has never been branded, so he was able to integrate into society in ways most other Bearers never have.
- Improbable Age: In-universe, many characters wonder how a lad as young as L'ubor became such a successful and talented blacksmith.
- Mistaken Identity: Clive comes to Dalimil looking for Ruzena Dalimil, an old associate of Cid's who Otto believed to be a woman. It turns out Ruzena has died some time ago, and L'ubor is her successor.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He's normally an incredibly smooth Pollyanna, so to hear him openly panicking and screaming "You're all going to fucking die!" in response to an incoming horde of Akashic bandits is extremely jarring.
- Pet the Dog: Subjected to one by the towns baker. When Lu’bor is trying to convince the townfolk about an incoming Akashic attack, and failing due to his recently revealed status as a Bearer, the baker considers closing up shop for the day so no one will think to buy his bread to pelt him with.
- The Pollyanna: He's always got a bright smile on his face and a quip for anyone who comes to visit, even when things are getting disastrous around him.
- Supporting Leader: He is a major leader in Dalimil, and Clive's primary point of contact for any business in the Dhalmekian Republic.
- Take Up My Sword: He did this for his mentor, Ruzena, adopting her sobriquet "Desert Hare" and her role in protecting Dalimil and quieting aiding Cid on the side. This causes Clive some momentary confusion, as L'ubor's too young to have been the Desert Hare that Cid knew and the wrong gender besides, before the situation is explained.
- Training the Peaceful Villagers: L'ubor has the idea of defending the town from a league of bandits by training the villagers to do it themselves, rather than hiring sellswords or just holing up behind the walls and waiting for them to leave.
- Trickster Mentor: He'll make requests of Clive and his smithing apprentices that are intentionally vague and sometimes poetically worded. It's intended as a Secret Test of Character, to see if they have the wits to figure out what he wants from them without being directly told, and in the process they tend to gain some manner of philosophical insight.
Viktor
Voiced by:
Originally a friend of Cid's who keeps vigil on the comings and goings in Dhalmekia from his hometown of Kostnice, he later moves to Dalimil to assist in the situation there.
- I Choose to Stay: He prefers Dalimil over Kostnice and ends up staying in the former once they convince the town to come together in its defense.
Ferda
Voiced by:
L'ubor's second in command who helps guard his secretive identity as the Desert Hare.
- In the Hood: Ferda always has his hood up in keeping with him being a secretive character.
- Number Two: To L'ubor, for whom he screens anyone who seeks out the elusive "Desert Hare."
- Secret-Keeper: Ferda is the one who guards L'ubor's secret identity as the Desert Hare, as he once did for L'ubor's predecessor, Ruzena Dalimil.
- Secret Test of Character: He sends Clive on a bit of a goose chase throughout Dalimil, and finally sets a bunch of sellswords on him, in order to make sure he is someone who can be trusted.
Konrad and Natalie
Konrad voiced by:
Natalie voiced by:
A pair of squabbling leaders in Dalimil.
- Fascist, but Inefficient: After L'ubor is outed as a Bearer, they're quick to consider driving him out of town despite the business his forgery has brought to Dalimil and the weapons he provides to the town guard, which Clive actually points out when trying to convince them otherwise. Later, they initially refuse to believe his claims that the League of Outlaws have turned Akashic and are changing on Dalimil. They get over this after they convinced by the orphans L'ubor was caring for calling them out on their behaviour and they see that there actually was an army of Akashic coming, realising that their racism could have gotten the entire town killed.
- Insane Troll Logic: After L'ubor is revealed to be a Bearer, they act like the fact that he kept it to himself makes him untrustworthy, despite the fact that being open about his status would have very likely gotten him enslaved.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: They Subvert and Double Subvert this a lot. The player’s introduction to them has them arguing about how to deal with the recent bandit attacks, with Konrad arguing for using what little they have left to hire mercenaries to take care of them, while Natalie wants to focus on resupplying despite the risk to inviting further bandit attacks. With L’ubor’s string-pulling though, and with the help of Clive and Jill, they're convinced to work together for the sake of Dalimil, with Konrad forming a town guard to take care of the bandits while Natalie heads up a merchant guild to bring business back to Dalimil. Later, when L'ubor is outed as a Bearer saving two children in his care, they’re quick to decry him for deceiving them and do nothing to prevent the harassment he suffers, even choosing to watch as the other citizens try to stone him. After said children step in and call them out on their ungratefulness however, they readily ask for his advice on how to combat the invasion and, after it’s through, fully support his ascension to mayorhood and his reforms to give Bearer’s better quality of life, having realized that their blind hatred of Bearers could have gotten them all killed.
- Shaming the Mob: They were ready to stand by and watch as L'ubor was stoned to death until a pair of orphans that he'd been looking after come to his defense and shame the mob for what they were about to do after everything he'd done for them.
- Super Gullible: Konrad believes L'ubor and Clive's lie about Clive being a "Lord Underhill from Ran'dellah" immediately, and refers to him that way for the rest of the story. This is despite Clive being a notoriously Bad Liar. Natalie, on the other hand, sees right through him at once.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Any gratitude towards L'ubor goes right out the window once it's revealed he's a Bearer. They immediately turn on him and try to drive him out of town, even nearly leaving him to get stoned in public.
- Witch Hunt: They start one once they learn that L'ubor is secretly a Bearer and has been hiding it from them from the beginning. They even nearly let him get stoned to death until two children step in and stop the mob.
Boklad
Eloise
Voiced by: Laura Aikman (English), Wakana Kowaka (Japanese)Foreign VAs
The owner of the Crimson Caravan, which helps people to transport goods across the desert. Friends of Goetz and the Hideaway, she also secretly assists in the transport and freedom of Bearers and has been doing this even before working with Clive, thanks to her actions to free her brother.
- Big Sister Instinct: She leaves her entire life behind in order to protect her brother, including protecting him from the rest of their family. Everything she does is so that her brother and other Bearers can live a life in safety.
- Broken Tears: She screams in horror and sorrow and falls to her knees in tears when she witnesses her brother becoming an Akashic and dying.
- Starting a New Life: Eloise and Theodore run away together when it's discovered he is a Bearer when he is a child, saving him from their parents, and from then on they've been sticking together through thick and thin.
- Underground Railroad: Eloise organizes her own methods for buying and freeing Bearers and did this even before meeting Clive, thanks to her experiences with her dear younger brother.
- Venturous Smuggler: Aside from operating a legal porter service, she also deals in illegal Bearer trade but it is entirely so she can help them be free.
Theodore
Voiced by: David Mumeni (English), Daiki Hamano (Japanese)Foreign VAs
Younger brother to Eloise. He is a sellsword who helps his sister run the Crimson Caravan and owes a great debt to her. At a young age, he was discovered to be a Bearer and ostracized by his family. Risking everything, Eloise then ran away with him and together the two vowed to always be together and rescue other Bearers.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: Despite being a Bearer, a particularly dense aetherflood overwhelms his aether tolerance, and he becomes an Akashic.
- Bookends: Clive and Theodore's first meeting starts with the latter mistaking the former for a Cast Stone, resulting in a clash, though the mistake is quickly rectified. Their last encounter has Theo, turned Akashic, attack Clive in a bout of zombie-like rage, though Eloise's presence makes him remember himself long enough to end his own suffering before he can hurt anyone. Both times, he's shown approaching Clive with his sword already drawn.
- Driven to Suicide: In his last moments of clarity, he kills himself before he can fully turn into a mindless Akashic and to prevent his sister from running into the aetherflood after him.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Theodore joins Clive's party as a guest during the Boklad segment of the story, helping him to root out the Cast Stones — a group of bandits that have been recruiting children to steal trading passes from travelers.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Theodore dies in the process of saving the new Bearer village he and his sister established, drawing an Akashic dragon away from slaughtering the rest of the villagers.
- Heroic Willpower: Upon seeing Eloise, the Akashic Theodore is able to break free of the mindless thralldom that afflicts all Akashic just long enough to take his own life.
- Hired Guns: He is a mercenary operating mainly out of Boklad, helping to keep the village safe from bandits as many people use it to pass through the Republic on their way to the Crystalline Dominion.
- Poor Communication Kills:
- Narrowly averted. He's on the hunt for the Cast Stones, bandits who force children to steal for them. So when he comes upon Clive and Jill interrogating one of those children (because they are also hunting the bandits) he assumes they are the Cast Stones and attacks them. Thankfully, no one is injured before the situation is clarified.
- He sees Eloise chatting with a member of a major mercantile organization who extends an offer to join them. Theodore believes that Eloise wants to join up as a step towards a more prosperous life but feels trapped by his presence into staying to look after him. In truth, Eloise had no interest in the offer whatsoever, and was only entertaining the notion to sound out the organization for their plans to buy some captive Bearers she was looking to purchase and free.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Downplayed. Unbeknownst to him, the Bearers that were going to inhabit the empty village he was defending had already been shipped away to the continent before he made his stand against the dragon. While Eloise notes that the village can still be used for other potential freed Bearers in the future, Theo still died protecting the homes of people who would never use them.
Dravozd
Zoltan
Voiced by: Colin MacFarlane (English), Takahiro Miyamoto (Japanese)Foreign VAs
The village chief of Dravozd, a town known for its blacksmiths. Bitter rival to Blackthorne.
- Always Someone Better: Zoltan believed Blackthorne was the much better blacksmith and leader, which is part of the reason why he is so bitter about Blackthorne running away.
- Boring, but Practical: Blackthorne considers Zoltan's focus on cheap, mass-produced, and profitable weapons to be a rather mundane but very effective method of leadership for Dravozd.
- The Chains of Commanding: Zoltan didn't want to be the chief, but he felt like he was stuck with it after Blackthorne left. This is the main reason for their grudge — he believed Blackthorne would have been the better leader, while Blackthorne thought the opposite.
- Gone Horribly Right: His approach of mass producing adequate work rather than spending lots of time on high quality weapons was successful in keeping the village economically prosperous, but as he notes spending years of settling for good enough has killed the pride in their work that once made Dravozd blacksmiths so well regarded. Part of the reason he resents Blackthorne is his belief that if Blackthorne had stayed to be a good example of blacksmithing as an art, people would have remained driven to improve the quality of their work.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: It takes some time, but he comes around. At first he is unable to look past his hatred for Blackthorne to actually talk to him. He calms down after Clive and Blackthorne give Dravozd new furnaces that require no crystals or Bearer magicks. Later, when his home is in danger, he recognizes what he must do and cooperates with Blackthorne and Clive, deciding that if the realm's infamous Outlaw is offering his aid again, there's no reason to decline it.
- The Rival: To Blackthorne. They were both apprentices to the same master, but differed in the philosophy behind their work. Zoltan believed in churning out as many imperfect pieces as possible in order to make enough money to support their village, but Blackthorne believed more in the art of the craft itself, spending much longer on a single piece.
