The notable characters of Little Witch Nobeta.
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Main Characters
Nobeta
The protagonist of the game. She is a young witch known as a "Church Witch" who is able to control elemental magic, seeking to find a throne inside an abandoned castle.
- Badass Adorable: Possesses powerful magical abilities and is cute as a button.
- Bag of Holding: You'd expect for a witch to carry a magical bag... but no, the one she carries by her side at least doesn't appear to be overtly magical, given that the black cat Phyllis fits inside it perfectly, along with four slots for consumable crystals at the start. It can be upgraded by finding Expansion Bags to increase the number of slots (up to a maximum of eight).
- Boom Stick: This being a Third-Person Shooter, Nobeta's Magic Staff acts like one to fire shots unique to the Element she's equipped with; Arcane as the pistol, Ice for a machine gun, Fire as a shotgun, and Lightning a Sniper Rifle. The charged shots turn them into different guns too; Arcane becomes a Hand Cannon, Ice lets you lock on to multiple enemies for a Macross Missile Massacre, Fire launches a huge, exploding fireball like a Grenade Launcher, and Lightning acts as a miniature Kill Sat.
- Charged Attack: Pressing a dedicated button will prompt Nobeta to slow down to a walk when moving and spellchant, charging up a spell of the element she's using at the moment; this can be accelerated by absorbing mana in the middle of chanting, or leveling up the Haste stat. Once the Charge Meter is full, she can then release it as the element's unique attack, or keep the charged state until the meter depletes, which gives her options like the Ice Element's immunity to fire or the Fire Element's burning staff strikes.
- Cute Witch: She is an adorable little bundle of magic in the spitting image of a classic witch, complete with a pointy hat.
- Fire, Ice, Lightning: In addition to the starting element Arcane, you find grimoires that let Nobeta learn Ice, Fire, and finally Lightning in that order in every new area you visit.
- An Ice Person: Gains ice magic in the second area. It serves as her main rapid-fire form of damage, grants immunity to fire damage when charged and maintained, and a Magic Missile Storm charged attack after locking on to enemies.
- Identity Amnesia: At the start of the game she is unable to recount anything about her past or even who she is. This is because she is an artificial construct that maintains the body of the real Nobeta who is looking to reclaim it.
- I Gave My Word: Promises to bring Tania's ribbon with her and fulfill Monica's wishes to see the world.
- Magical Incantation: Termed "spellchanting" in-game, Nobeta murmurs a phrase in Japanese (which changes both on which element she's charging and how much she leveled Haste) to build up her Charged Attacks.
- Non-Elemental: Unlike the later elemental magics you acquire, your starting Arcane Element seems to be all about firing blasts of pure white energy, likely Soul Essence itself.
- Playing with Fire: Can acquire fire-based magic in the third area which serves as something resembling a shotgun.
- Pointless Band-Aid: Has one over her stockings in her base outfit.
- Resurrection/Death Loop: Whenever she dies, she wakes up at the last Goddess Statue she prayed at. The motion manga "Wanderer in the Dream" gives an explanation for this: according to the "Spirit Realm's Mystery Person", the dreams of her deaths that Nobeta gets aren't so much visions of the future as they're memories before the world resets whenever she dies. In that brief period, she is sent to the Spirit Realm, a sort of Afterlife Antechamber that has no concept of life and death, waiting while "god's fiddling with the world".
- Shock and Awe: Gets access to lighting magic in the fourth area.
- Tragic Keep Sake: One is given to Nobeta given on by Tania, which Nobeta promises to take her with her to a sunny field. In the ending as Nonota, it's seen on her tail using Phyllis's body.
- Unskilled, but Strong: She has powerful magic attacks, but is sloppy and clumsy when it comes to melee attacks and rolls whenever she dodges. Averted when playing as the original Nobeta later in the game, who is far less clumsy with her own strikes, and replaces her dodge rolls with dashes for quicker recovery.
The Great Witch (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
The true Nobeta, the "Nobeta" from before being a Crafted Soul meant to bring the body to the Throne where it can be retaken by the original. She becomes the player character for the rest of the game (albeit with the same body).
- Ambiguously Human: The original Nobeta refers to her body as a "vessel" in a way that leaves it ambiguous if she's actually human.
- Determined Expression: Sports a constant one in the second part of the the game to show Nobeta's true no-nonsense personality.
- Grand Theft Me: The "Nobeta" from before reaching the Throne is actually Nonota possessing the true Nobeta's body to control it, now wanting to make this permanent after her boss fight.
- Kick the Dog: The final battle at first appears to amount to this given True!Nobeta's stoic attitude towards the fight at the start. But it's ultimately defied and turns into a Pet the Dog moment in that Nobeta heals Nonota after their battle, offering to travel together and fulfills Phyllis's Last Request by housing Nonota in her cat body.
- Sealed Badass in a Can: It's not made clear why her soul was sealed into the Throne or who did it, but the fact that she was master, if not creator of two Crafted Souls, on top of her Elemental Magic and put up a Resurrection/Death Loop that can reset the entire world implies she was quite the witch in the past.
- Skilled And Strong: Where Nonota (as Nobeta) was clumsy with her staff swings, True!Nobeta has greater poise and ends her melee combo with a thrust. Her dodge rolls also change into a dash, which offers a quicker recovery to get back to spellcasting compared to before.
Black Cat
A mysterious feline who is tasked with leading Nobeta to the throne. Her name is later revealed to be Phyllis.
- Cats Are Mean: Has a snappy attitude and prone to rudely ordering around Nobeta.
- Cat Girl: Transforms into a human form later in the story to save Nobeta after she's knocked out by debris in a cave-in. This form still retains some of her cat-like features.
- Cat Stereotype: Fits the bill of a black cat being a sort of familiar to a witch, though the exact relationship between her and Nobeta isn't revealed in-game.
- Dark and Troubled Past: While not much is publicly revealed its implied by some teasers for her bonus manga that her past wasn't a pleasant one,
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She is rude to Nobeta over the course of the game but does indeed care for her. The real Nobeta that is. However, she does warm up to Nonota and offers her body to house the Crafted Soul in the ending.
- Last Request: Makes a request to the true Nobeta in the form of offering up her body to Nonota since she will pass away anyways.
- Living on Borrowed Time: It's later revealed she's kept alive by a supply of mana, which unfortunately runs out by the end of the first part leading her to death.
- Promoted to Playable: In a weird way. In the Boss Rush update she is made playable, or rather, her body is as it is being controlled by Nonota.
- Talking Animal: At first appears to be a normal cat but later reveals she can talk after saving Nobeta from the Spectre Armor's attempt to pull a Taking You with Me.
- Undying Loyalty: To Nobeta. Specifically the original Nobeta, who she's willing to risk her life to help restore True!Nobeta's control over her own body.
Bosses
General Tropes
Due to every enemy being a Crafted Soul, this page also applies to most enemies.
- All in the Manual: Subverted in that videos can be unlocked though beating the game and collecting all lore items, but there's barely any info about the various characters' backstories detailed in the actual lore items in-game, other than vague tid-bits that don't really explain much. Partually Averted as of the Boss Rush mode, as some details about the pasts of each of the bosses are revealed after defeating them for the first time.
- Came Back Wrong: While the majority of the bosses are clearly sentient, unlike the more common Crafted Souls, there are still clear signs of this. This is prevalent in the case of Monica, who went from a sweet child broken by abuse to going Cute and Psycho after being made into a Crafted Soul; the ending of the animated manga she stars in shows her going rogue and attacking the ones who made her, all in childishly playful glee.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Most of the main bosses used to be living people until they were turned into Crafted Souls. The three main advertised bosses own unfortunate pasts are given much detail:
- Tania was the daughter of a Hero who was given a border territory. However, he and his people were labeled heretics by the church, resulting in a brutal battle where his castle was razed while Tania and a close maid escaped. It ended up being All for Nothing, where Tania was eventually captured a few years later and experimented on, leading her to become a Crafted Soul.
- Monica was once a sweet child of a Beastman clan where they lived happily until the human merchants visiting eventually turned on them and the village was raided, the men killed, and women and children captured in the assault. Monica and the other captives were then sold into slavery, Monica in particular being sold to an abusive noble who beat and abused her until she was no longer responsive. She was then sold to be turned into a Crafted Soul.
- Vanessa's parents were killed by Demi-humans, leaving her as the Sole Survivor traumatized from the experience. She then grew close to a ranger who rescued her, only to be later abandoned without a spoken reason in a nearby settlement, giving her massive self-worth issues that made her become a Hero to find purpose. Despite being a war hero, and later a queen who led numerous bloody campaigns against demi-humans, the church then turned on her and took over her kingdom.
- Disappears into Light: When a Crafted Soul is defeated, their bodies turn white and go poof with their Soul Essence coming out to be absorbed.
- Perverse Puppet: Tania, Monica, and Vanessa technically qualify, though they are more distinctly human than other Crafted Souls.
- Puppet Permutation: Both Tania and Monica's backstories shows this is what happens to people who aren't outright drained for Soul Essence.
- Was Once a Man: Tania, Monica and Vanessa were all once normal people, though only Tania was a normal human; Monica was a Demi-Human, while Vanessa, though human, was a former Hero herself.
Spectre Armor
The first boss of the game, a Crafted Soul who guards the castle. A version of him can be fought later as a bonus encounter.
- Animated Armor: He seems to be this, though he he is missing the lower-half of his body.
- Leitmotif: Awakening
and Exiled. - Knightly Sword and Shield: Wields a large sword and equally sizable shield.
- Sword Beam: It has two variants of sword beams. One is a sideways swing that sends a curved beam traveling towards Nobeta. The second is an overhead slam that sends a huge beam across the arena in an instant if not dodged.
- The One Guy: Aside from a mini-boss and a bonus boss, he is the only male main boss.
- Taking You with Me: Attempts to take down Nobeta with one final blast to bring the castle down on her after its defeat.
- Undying Loyalty: Revealed in the boss rush mode that the is made from a member(s) of the Knights of the Apocalypse, and retains tenough of their former selves to be loyal to their former master, Vanessa.
Tania
- Voiced by: Omaru Polka
The second boss of the game, a Crafted Soul who loves ribbons.
- Action Bomb: Has an attack in later in the fight where she she can suck Nobeta in to explode on her. Naturally, this doesn't damage her.
- Eye Beams: The giant puppet she summons has a powerful beam emanating from the eyes as a basic attack.
- Graceful Loser: Is rather placid on defeat and just gives Nobeta a Last Request before her body evaporates.
- Giant Hands of Doom: Summons a pair of hands, and a giant head, made from puppet parts to fight alongside her.
- Leitmotif: Unavenged.
- Last Request: After her defeat, she asks Nobeta to take her ribbon to the outside world.
- Locked in the Dungeon: Her boss arena contains cells full Of Crafted Souls.
- Grand Theft Me: Wants to take over Nobeta if she manages to defeat her.
- Power Floats: Levitates around her arena while fighting the player.
Monica
- Voiced by: Shirakami Fubuki
The third boss of the game, a playful but violent Crafted Soul.
- Anti-Frustration Features: In the Early Access version, losing to her second phase would force you to defeat the first again. In the full release you only have to beat the first phase once even if you die. Given that Monica's first phase is widely considered to be the hardest boss in the entire game,note this probably saved a lot of controllers.
- Bears Are Bad News: In her first phase, she fights on the back of a monstrous bear made that grew from being a plush toy.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: In life, the various trinkets shown to her by a merchant who traveled along a trade route her village was on made her want to see what a human town was like. She got her wish by being enslaved and shown how pleasant humans can be.
- Beast Man: She is a rabbit beastman.
- Boss Arena Urgency: During her second phase, she can destroy parts of the arena, gradually leaving minimal breathing room as the fight goes on.
- Cute and Psycho: Has a playful personality, but her idea of "playing" involves beating and mauling.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Went from a simple chieftain's daughter to a One-Man Army after being transformed into a Crafted Soul.
- Leitmotif: Majesty.
- A Little Bit Beastly: She has rabbit ears, claws and furry arms and is explicitly a beastmen.
- Playing with Fire: Has a lot of fire-based attacks.
Vanessa
- Voiced by: Shirogane Noel
The third boss of the game, a Crafted Soul who guards the Throne.
- Ape Shall Not Kill Ape: Her Extra Chapter shows she reserved her hate only for demi-humans in keeping with Church pro-human doctrine at the time, not seeing the point when humanity can be united against a threat. When the Saint reinterpreted that doctrine and the Church declared a truce with the demi-humans though, she rebelled and planned to usurp the Saint. Longtime friend Albert however called her naïve for this, since her hesitance in fighting humans—which the entire Church is made up of—will be her weakness. It's a small mercy that she faced Dolls when her city got invaded, though they didn't make it easy.
- Climax Boss: Serves as the literal biggest roadblock before Nobeta reaches the throne.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: In life, her choices were defined by finding a purpose in life through being useful to people stemming from abandonment issues as a child. This ultimately lead her to either willingly or unwillingly being turned into a Crafted Soul later on.
- Fantastic Racism: Her past where her family was slaughtered by orcs and the doctrine of the Church led to this being ingrained into her for Demi-Humans, with her outright hatred of them leading her to commit genocide for the sake of wiping them out. This ultimately led to her coming to blows with the Church's Saint, and later be deemed a heretic.
- Leitmotif: Atonement and Imploration.
- Lightning Bruiser: Her fighting style is to rush forwards straight at you, tanking whatever measly bolt you hurl at her while she goes in waving her sword, made all the more dangerous by the magical blasts and swords she leaves in her wake.
- Really 700 Years Old: Her Extra Chapter gives a timeline of her life as a human, from when she was a child (around ten years old) to the rediscovery of Crafted Souls that marked the start of the Apocalypse Age, gained longevity by becoming a Hero of the Church, then up until Year 190 when she ignored the Church's demands to stop her warmongering against the demi-humans. This makes her nearly two centuries old, though it's not known how long it's been before she became a Crafted Soul.
- Recurring Boss: She is first battled in front of the throne before being battled again in the Spirit Realm in a more powered-up state.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: She dresses herself in a blood-red dress accentuated by black accessories and trims, completed by her nonchalance to kill Nobeta for the Throne's power.
- Something about a Rose: Has roses on her outfit and sword.
- Token Adult: Whereas the entire rest of the cast are made up of young girls, she is the only one who is and looks like a grownup.
The Seal
A monstrous giant Crafted Soul that appears in the second half of the game. She is fought twice.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: is dressed like this trope but is closer to being a savage beast than anthing else in personality.
- Blindfolded Vision: Her eyes are covered but she very much can see
- Power Floats: Spends most of the first battle floating around while attacking with projects.
- Slasher Smile: Her face is stuck in a constant that is full of Scary Teeth.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Stands out as the only boss withoutany significant lore attached to them beyond being implied to be some last ditch effort by the church to stop Nobeta. Even in the Tower where bosses are usually given additional lore, she isn't even referenced after her battle, with Nonota asking Nobeta about her god stealing the spotlight instead.
- Light Is Not Good: Wears all white but is completely farel and decidedly malicious.
Final Boss (UNMARKED SPOILERS)
Nonota
The final boss of the game, a Crafted Soul who controlled Nobeta's body during the journey to the Throne.
- All Your Powers Combined: Uses attacks from bosses and elemental magic used by Nobeta herself.
- Cat Girl: Becomes one by virtue of possessing Phyllis's body after her death.
- Leitmotif: Absolution.
- Mysterious Past: While most of the other bosses had distinct and often tragic backstories that were fleshed out through external material and unlockable animated manga, Nonota stands out as there is barely anything known about her beyond her prior to being inserted into Nobeta's body to control her. It's likely that she's an entirely new being rather than a person that was transformed into a Crafted Soul like the other girls.
- Non-Malicious Monster: While the other Crafted Souls were basically driven by instinct to attack Nobeta, she only fights Nobeta to preserve her existence.
- Our Spirits Are Different: Her design and aesthetic gives off a spiritual vibe, though it's ambiguous if she really is one due to her nature as a Crafted Soul or just looks like one due to lacking a proper vessel outside of Nobeta's body.
- Possessing a Dead Body: After her defeat, Nobeta puts her essence into Phyllis's body.
- Power Floats: Spends the battle floating around.
- Tragic Keepsake: The blue ribbon given to her as Nobeta by Tania can be seen on her tail after she joins up with Nobeta in the ending scene.
- Walking Spoiler: It's difficult to talk about her without revealing her true nature: a Crafted Soul possessing the original Nobeta's body.
Manga Characters
The Ranger
A mysterious woman who found Vanessa in her ruined village and escorts her to another safe town. However, she suddenly left her afterwards.
Tania's Maid
A maid loyal to Tania.
- Uncertain Doom: She is last seen buying time for Tania to escape as she engages some pursuers. Her fate is not mentioned after.
The Church
General Tropes
The church of the dominant religion in the setting, their influence and power making them the highest authority of the human world.
- Corrupt Church: Ever since they grew to their position in the backstory, a good portion of the suffering found in the game can be traced back to them.
- Greater-Scope Villain: While they haven't played a direct role in the story, most of their actions are responsible for much of the events in the story, including Crafted Soul experimentation on Tania, the discrimination of demi-humans that led to Monica becoming a Doll, and Vanessa being ousted from power.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite being a major player in the game's setting, you don't encounter any of their personnel in the castle Nobeta roams that must have been a major base of theirs. It's likely that the staff inside were all slaughtered once the Dolls broke out and the higher-ups don't know about their current state, but the fact that the castle is infested by Crafted Souls and in ruins shows that a considerable length of time should have passed for them to at least make a call. Moreover, the castle hides the Throne—which all their Soul creations are based on—but still being left alone begs the question as to why the castle remains abandoned.
Albert
One of the three Great Heroes of the Church, and Tania's boisterous father. He became a commander of a Doll Unit and granted the title of Border Marquis, but when he resisted the Church's order to turn over his Crafted Soul Fragment, they sent in a Church Witch to eliminate him.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end. Vanessa's Extra Chapter shows how well a single Doll nearly killed even a veteran Hero like herself, and Albert expertly commanded an entire unit of them. Yet when they deployed a single Church Witch, none of Albert's tactics and Dolls were able to even last a minute against the Witch's magic.
- Large Ham: He's a noisy ray of sunshine compared to the taciturn Vanessa back in their trainee days, and still can be loud on the battlefield when he wants to be.
The Inquisitor
The Saint
A mysterious nun who has taken head of the Church. Her most notable decree is that all demi-humans are to be regarded the same as humans, ending the Church's wars against them.
- Ambiguously Evil: It's not certain what she's trying to do. On one hand, she issued a decree that all demi-humans shall have the same right as humans. On the other hand, while Vanessa brought it on herself for not obeying the decree to stop her slaughter of demi-humans, there was no real justification for ordering Albert to turn in his Soul Fragment when he could have just been left alone as a loyal soldier (unless he was too dangerous to be left alive or the Fragment was needed); Tania being turned into a Doll makes it clear the Crafted Soul experiments are still ongoing and, assuming the Saint knew, heavily implies she hadn't done anything to stop it. Then in Phyllis's own focus manga, the Saint herself was among those who raided her home village, which throws the decree she issued into doubt.
- Beauty Equals Goodness: Debatable. Her clothes leave little of her curves to the imagination and her calm countenance is pleasant to look at, but her only single act of goodness shown so far was stopping the Church's purges against demi-humans; Crafted Souls are still being made by the Church even after the fact, and she herself participated in subjugating demi-humans.
