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Heroes

    Nariko 

Nariko

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nariko.jpg
Voiced by: Anna Torv

Born to a Proud Warrior Race, her tribe shuns her and considers her cursed for being born a woman, in defiance of an ancient prophecy that says her parents were supposed to bear a man that would be the savior of their people. Despite this, she still takes up the cursed Heavenly Sword that eventually kills its owner in order to save her father and her people from the wicked King Bohan.


  • Action Girl: Highly trained in combat and a One-Woman Army for sure.
  • Big Sister Instinct: We mentioned it's a bad idea to hurt Kai, right?
  • Cool Sword: She wields the eponymous Heavenly Sword.
  • Death Glare: She gives out a lot of these if your name is Bohan or Flying Fox.
  • Determinator: The Hero himself would be impressed. Nariko literally refuses to die so long as the job isn't done.
  • Fashionable Asymmetry: Outfit exposes her top-right half and her left-lower half respectively.
  • Healing Hands: The sword grants Nariko the ability to heal others through touch, as she does with Shen.
  • The Hero Dies: The Sword takes most of Nariko's life-force, and she gives up the last of it to heal Kai.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Her first weapon was a long sword, before switching to the titular Heavenly Sword.
  • Kick Chick: Her attacks usually incorporate her doing powerful kicks of her legs to accentuate her sword swings.
  • Lady of War: Her movements are deadly and graceful.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Despite her lithe frame, she hits pretty hard and is extremely agile. In addition, two of her sword stances include "Power" and "Speed" for emphasis on heavy and light attacks.
  • Ms. Fanservice: She is extremely attractive, even Bohan agrees. Also doubles as Third-Person Seductress, since she is the playable character.
  • One-Woman Army: Nariko vs. horde? Almost a fair fight.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Unfortunately for Nariko, being a woman in this type of clan makes her an outcast.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: The Heavenly Sword can transform into whatever she needs it to be.
  • Tranquil Fury: She does lose her cool a few times, but Nariko's much more dangerous when she's quiet.
  • Wonder Woman Wannabe: Nariko is the best fighter of her tribe, wears a tiara, has weapons blessed by the gods, and shares a close bond with another female character. On the flipside, she’s a much edgier character than Diana and, despite being the daughter of her clan’s leader, is an outcast for being born female and isn’t regarded or treated like a princess the way Diana is. Her red hair and dark skin also gives her similarities to Artemis, Diana's rival and friend.

    Kai 

Kai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kai_5.jpg
Voiced by: Lydia Baksh

  • Automatic Crossbows: Her weapon of choice.
  • Badass Adorable: You wouldn't think a teenage girl wearing a pink cap would be such a pain in the ass to an invader horde.
  • Badass Normal: Not only its said she has no training in closed combat, she also doesn't wield a magical blade like Nariko. It makes no difference because she uses a crossbow with deadly effect.
  • Broken Bird: Twice over. And then Nariko dies. Poor Kai.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Cloudcuckoolander. Not all there. Calls shooting people "playing twing-twang." Can almost keep up with a Physical God in the badass department.
  • Deuteragonist: Nariko might be The Heroine, but Kai is the second most important character in the narrative and she has her own playable segment in the story.
  • Facial Markings: Kai's face has white paint which serve to denote her tribal origins.
  • Fragile Speedster: Justified since she is a ranged fighter and can't take many hits.
  • Friendly Sniper: Though she is a bit loony, she is a very friendly and nice crossbow user.
  • Happily Adopted: Nariko found her alone in the wilderness and took her in. However, the rest of the clan doesn't treat Kai any better than they do Nariko, with the exception of Shen.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: Using aftertouch, she can curve her shots back and forth with a crossbow.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Has blue eyes to emphasize her Dissonant Serenity while she happily kills like it's a childs game. Later it's Played for Drama when she encounters Flying Fox whose revealed to have traumatized her into this state by killing her mother and then used her body to lure her out of hiding.
  • Sole Survivor: After her clan was destroyed by Flying Fox.
  • Third-Person Person: Kai often talks about Kai like this! It gets less adorable when you stop to consider that all of Kai's Cloudcuckoolander tendencies are the result of the trauma caused by Flying Fox decimating her people and literally shoving her mother's corpse into her face for a laugh. No wonder she partially snapped.
  • Wild Child: Literally, since Kai was found in the wilderness by Nariko and adopted.

    Master Shen 

Master Shen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shen_heavenly_sword.png

Voiced by: Ewan Stewart


  • Badass in Distress: Bohan captures him at the beginning of the game and Nariko and Kai must rescue him alongside the other prisoners.
  • Cool Old Guy: He starts off cold to his daughter, but ultimately comes to respect her as a warrior and saviour.
  • Honor Before Reason: Out of shame he almost killed Nariko the night she was born and did nothing to prevent her from being shunned by their clan because of the ill omen they believed her birth represented.
  • Parents as People: Though he does love Nariko, the superstitions of their clan condemned her birth as a contradiction of prophecy, which greatly hurt Shen and Nariko's relationship as he tried to raise and teach her, while that "shame" hung over her head. He is clearly split in two by his instincts as her father and his sense of duty as clan leader, and has been for a long time.
  • Old Master: Was once a student alongside Bohan and by the beginning of the game's story, both men are grey haired leaders, with Shen in charge of a small clan of Proud Warrior Race types and who fights alongside his warriors, while Bohan is now the king of a large expansionist empire who has others do the fighting for him.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: At the final battle he publicly praises his daughter as the one their clan owes their salvation to.
  • Samurai Ponytail: Wears his silver hair in a very long ponytail obviously inspired by the samurai.

Villains

    King Bohan 

King Bohan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bohan_heavenly_sword.png

Voiced by: Andy Serkis


  • Alas, Poor Villain: Non-fatal version. After Nariko defeats him and decimates his army, the Raven King pecks his eyes out, leaving him broken. When Roach rushes to his side, Nariko seems to have a moment of pity and allows Roach to take him home, seeing as he's nothing but a sad old man with nothing left but his family.
  • Big Bad: His mad campaign for conquest puts Nariko's tribe in danger and drives the whole plot. Though it turns out, he is merely The Heavy for the Raven King.
  • Black Eyes of Crazy: He gets these after the Raven King merges with him.
  • Classic Villain: Represented by four sins: Pride (considers himself the mightiest monarch in the world), Envy (Of being passed over for Master Shen in their youth), Lust (is a dirty old bastard who hits on Nariko and keeps Whiptail as his concubine) and Ambition (seeks to rule over all around him).
  • Determinator
  • Dirty Old Man: He is old enough for his own son to be in his adult years, and hits on Nariko while she is imprisoned.
  • Energy Ball: Can hurl these during the final battle at Nariko from the air.
  • Evil Counterpart: Of Master Shen.
  • Evil Is Hammy: Every scene he's in basically amounts him shouting at top of his lungs, cackling over things going his way, making wise-cracks at the expense of others.
  • Evil Old Folks: His advanced age is pretty noticeable, from his white facial hair and wrinkles. And he is an Evil Overlord with aspirations to conquer the local area.
  • Evil Overlord: A cruel tyrant who seeks to bring control and order to the realm, by slaughtering all those who resist him.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Played by Andy Serkis with a cheerful and gleeful charm, despite constantly scheming and slaughtering his way to power over the world and mistreating his own family while he does it.
  • Final Boss: Fuels himself with the power of the Raven King for the final battle with Nariko.
  • Fusion Dance: With the Raven King.
  • A Glass of Chianti: Is rarely seen without a large goblet in hand.
  • Jerkass: As if being a power-mad monarch wasn't bad enough, this guy is a massive prick.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: Justifiably, since his old age prevents him from being in the frontline and he wouldn't last a second in a straight up fight against Nariko. It takes him being possessed by an evil spirit to become a proper physical danger.
  • Power Gives You Wings: A shadowy pair, thanks to the Raven King's power taking over.
  • Self-Made Orphan: The animated prequel reveals that Bohan poisoned his father's wine to usurp him at the goading of the Raven King.
  • Shoulders of Doom: Thanks to the giant gold pauldrons clipped to his armor.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: As far as he's concerned, him ruling the world is worth any amount of bloodshed.
  • Visionary Villain: Believes it is his heavenly charge to conquer thr lands, and seeks the titular sword to accomplish this aim.

    Flying Fox 

Flying Fox

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flying_fox_heavenly_sword.png

Voiced by: Steven Berkoff


  • Ax-Crazy: He really, really loves hurting and killing people, be they capable of putting up a fight or not.
  • Bad Boss: During his first boss fight, he hangs back while having a bunch of his soldiers jump into the fray to fight Nariko, all of them jeering at her. Once Nariko has easily made mincemeat out of a few waves of them, the soldiers begin to realize that she is more powerful than any of them are, knowing her gender has nothing to do with her strength. When Flying Fox tries to encourage another warrior to jump into the arena to face her, he quickly refuses, knowing it's suicide to even try. Flying Fox slugs him into the arena from the ledge they're on for his trouble and bullies the others right to their deaths.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: He may be an overdramatic loon with an obsession with style, but he's also a deadly overdramatic loon obsession with style, who loves to torment his victims.
  • Blood Knight: During his first encounter with Nariko he brakes off in the middle of their fight due to her "not being ready" obviously hoping to battle her again once she's more familiar with the Heavenly Sword.
  • Boom, Headshot!: How Kai ends up killing him, with a crossbow bolt to the forehead.
  • Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Played for horror. He's definitely out of his mind, but he still works as Bohan's primary enforcer.
  • Combat Aestheticist: Obsessed with the "style" of combat.
  • Doppelgänger Spin: His combat relies on superhuman speed to the point of appearing to make doppelgängers. In his final bout with Nariko, he fights alongside several actual independent copies at first, then later brings forth about a dozen to overwhelm her. It's then revealed that Flying Fox is hiding out of sight in the final phase and summoning more copies to weaken Nariko. Kai snipes him to put an end to what would have been an endless battle.
  • The Dragon: To Bohan.
  • Eunuchs Are Evil: Whiptail refers to him as a "Sexless skull on a stick", implying he's eunuch, which wouldn't have been uncommon in typical Far Eastern inspired stories. And then considering his general evilness throughout the story; it's safe to say this trope applies to him.
  • Evil Old Folks: Next to Bohan he's the most vile character in the cast, on top of being one of the oldest looking.
  • Flash Step: A major part of his skill set.
  • Flight: With his wings, he is capable of flight. It's unclear if they are naturally a part of him, though.
  • Jerkass: He's despised by his fellow General Whiptail, and is distrusted by Bohan, which should tell you something about how unpleasant he is. Years ago, he killed Kai's mother then used her dead body to lure her out of her hiding place, traumatizing the poor girl into her current mental state.
  • Karmic Death: After everything he did to hurt Kai, it is nothing short of poetic justice that she's the one who ultimately kills him.
  • Large Ham: Flying Fox just loves to elongate his words and shout at random volumes.
  • Lean and Mean: Scrawny to the point where some of his ribs are visible and the skin on his face looks especially tight. Whiptail's jab at him of being a "skull on a stick" isn't all that too far off when one sees his physique.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang: Those blades on his back can be repeatedly pulled off and thrown like boomerangs. Nariko can knock them right back at him.
  • Psycho for Hire: He's about as psycho as they come and only works for Bohan because he pays the right "prrrrrice."
  • Razor Wings: He wears his blades arranged on his back like giant metal feathers, which seem to afford him a degree of flight.
  • The Sociopath: Flying Fox, a gleeful sadist who spends his entire screen time brutally murdering people for his own amusement and uses a woman's corpse to lure out her child. In the animated film, he even plots to kill Bohan and overthrow him.
  • Tennis Boss: By using the proper stance, Nariko can reflect Flying Fox's own flying blades right back at his face, dealing some damage and knocking him out of the air.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works: It really does in a case where you have a dozen extras.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Attempts to hang Kai for fun.
  • You Killed My Father: Killed and stuffed Kai's mother.

    Whiptail 

Whiptail

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

Voiced by: Race Davies


  • Ambiguously Human: Whiptail's claw-like nails and teeth could easily be explained by body-modification art... but she also has patches of scales and a giant scaly tail running down her back. What's more, said tail is connected to a large headdress she wears fashioned in the likeness of a sea serpent or eel. The tail is clearly alive since it wriggles during her death scene, so whether the tail is connected to Whiptail's spine itself or the entire outfit piece is somehow one whole living creature is never answered.
  • Animal Motifs: Snakes. She has a long snake-like tail and she appears to have scales in her body.
  • Butterface: She has a pretty curvy bod and her outfit is even more Stripperiffic than Nariko's. Her face is ruined by her razor-sharp teeth.
  • Whip of Dominance: As her name implies she uses a whip in tandem with her tail, which befits her vile and sadistic personality.

    Roach 

Roach

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

Voiced by: Richard Ridings


  • Abusive Parents: Bohan constantly insults Roach's looks and intelligence, snarls at him whenever he displays the smallest bit of joy, and HATES it whenever his own son calls him "daddy" in front of others.
  • Anti-Villain: He isn't that bad compared to other villains and all he wants is to impress his father.
  • Animal Motifs: Cockroaches. His armor resembles a cockroach carapace and there is his name of course.
  • Belly Flop Crushing
  • Bullfight Boss: He must be lured into rolling into the wooden structures set up on the edges of the battle-pit's edge to dizzy himself, leaving him partially vulnerable on his side for a bit.
  • Dual Wielding: Uses a pair of giant sickle-swords known as khopeshes.
  • Dumb Muscle: Roach is a massive fiend, but not very smart.
  • Fat Idiot: Rather overweight and not all that bright.
  • Gonk: He looks more like an ogre than a human, being massive and fat all over.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: He's just not cut out to be a villain, much as his father wants that for him. Almost fittingly, he appears after the Raven King abandons Bodan and promises to take him home and take care of him.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Starting with the fact he calls his father "Daddy" as an adult, and ending with him playing with the dead bodies of Flying Fox and Whiptail like it they were dolls before the final.
  • Mighty Glacier: Slow and steady, but he can take a beating. He also hits like a truck.
  • Overlord Jr.: Bohan's mammoth and monstrous son.
  • Rolling Attack: He can curl up into a ball and try to steamroll Nariko.
  • Stout Strength: The big lug may be fat, but he's also got plenty of muscle on him. The fact that he's also three times the size of anyone in the game also makes him a powerful fighter.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: All Roach wants to do is make his father proud, regardless of the obvious disgust Bohan has for having a mentally-stunted and deformed son for the heir of his kingdom. At the end of the game, Bohan's rejection by the Raven King leaves the old man a broken and blinded mess, and Roach is the only one to come to his aid, earning Nariko's permission to take his father home in his arms.

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