Characters / Soma Spirits

The Guardian Spirits

Both

The sibling guardian spirits who are tasked with resolving Soma's problems. They were created by Form and Dissonance to keep watch over the now-sundered Soma and maintain the balance between the Worlds of Joy and Sorrow. When Dissonance turns against his sister, they are called upon to save Soma.

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• All-Loving Hero: In the true ending, the main difference between them and the main antagonists, Form and Dissonance, is that they care for the well-being of people whose issues they're arbitrating while the main antagonists only see these people as objects. They are also able to care for people from the opposite world and understand their problems in a more nuanced way than the main antagonists.
• Amnesiac Hero: Heart and Soul don't remember their past lives as Rozen and Silvio. Unfortunately, this allows Form and Dissonance, their previous incarnations' killers, to manipulate them.
• Apocalypse Maiden: Zigzagged. Form and Dissonance claim they created Heart and Soul respectively in order to be vessels for Absolution's power, which they plan to use to destroy their opposite world. However, the Sun King states that he created Heart and Soul with his power in order to keep Form and Dissonance from creating their utopias.
• Bash Brothers: Heart and Soul are brothers, but how well they get along depends on the route. In all endings other than 1 and 3, they learn to respect each other's differences and value their friendship.
• Black-and-White Insanity: If too many orbs are the same, the brother who is the opposite of the majority will start believing anything of the opposite emotion must be removed and that only their emotion is valid.
• Cain and Abel: If one of the brothers becomes corrupted, they'll treat the other brother condescendingly and view them as more of a pawn to win boss battles than an actual sibling. In endings 1 and 3, the corrupted brother will declare their hatred for their twin before committing fratricide.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: In endings 1 and 3, the corrupted brother will become the vessel of Absolution and become a Duel Boss for the other brother. The battle will eventually end with the corrupted brother wiping out both their twin and their opposite world with Final Vision.
• Motive Decay: Both spirits start out wanting to solve the problems of Soma and generally acknowledge the validity of both sides of an issue. However, getting too much of the same orb will cause one of them to become obsessed with either Joy or Sorrow, to the point where they adopt the warped ideology of Form or Dissonance.
• Polar Opposite Twins: They are twin spirits, with Heart being an optimist who lives in the moment and Soul being a pessimistic realist who thinks about long term needs.
• The Starscream: In endings 1 and 3, one of the brothers will be fully corrupted. The corrupted brother will betray the elder spirit who manipulated them in the first place, since they believe they can rule their half of Soma alone.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: If too many of the same orbs are gathered without the opposite orbs to balance them, one of the brothers will become self-righteous about their worldview and antagonize their non-corrupted brother for no reason, with Heart becoming smug and arrogant, while Soul becomes angry and wrathful. They'll have a Jerkass Realization if a different type of orb is gathered.
• Was Once a Man: In Soma Union, it's revealed that they are the reincarnations of Bright's friends, Rozen and Silvio.

Heart

The guardian of Joy. As his title suggests, he is a perpetually happy guy who wants to spread happiness throughout the world. He loves just about everyone, but his cheerful attitude can cause friction with his brother Soul.

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• For Happiness: He believes in prioritizing personal happiness regardless of the consequences on society at large. If too many Sorrow Orbs are collected, he can become a zealot in this belief.
• Heart of Happiness: Heart is the Guardian Spirit of Joy, the counterpart to Soul, the Guardian Spirit of Sorrow.
• Kids Prefer Boxes: Implied by their happiness upon having to return to Box World.
• Magic Staff: He wields a staff and is the more magic-oriented of the duo.
• The Pollyanna: It's incredibly rare for Heart to be upset by anything.
• Small Steps Hero: He prefers the choices that result in immediate personal happiness, even if it means problems for society in the long run.

Soul

The guardian of Sorrow. As his title suggests, he is not a happy camper like his brother Heart, but still cares for the people of Soma in his own way. He believes in personal responsibility over happiness, which causes friction with his brother.

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• Bash Brothers: Would have this relationship with Heart, if Heart wasn't so overly accepting of everything.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has an attitude, mostly when it comes to Heart.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: He wields swords and is the more physical-oriented of the duo.
• Only Sane Man: As a Sorrow-aligned character, he is more grounded in reality than Heart. Averted if he gets corrupted by too many Joy Orbs, causing him to become unnecessarily violent and impatient towards the orb targets.
• Pragmatic Hero: He prefers choices that are better for society as a whole, even if it means ignoring someone's individual needs.
• Tsundere: Despite snarking at Heart's overly optimistic attitude, he clearly cares for him as a brother. When Heart starts becoming corrupted by the imbalance of joy and sorrow on the Sorrow Orb path, Soul is worried for him.

The Great Beings (Unmarked spoilers for both games)

Both

The beings who created Heart and Soul. They too are sibling representations of Joy and Sorrow respectively, and the beings who watch over Soma and defended it from the wicked Sun King and his ambitions. Now, they seek to fix the mess he made.

Or so it initially seems. In truth, they are a pair of human aristocratic siblings who desired the power of the entity Absolution to create their perfect world, and caused the war that they blamed on the Sun King. They aim to destroy each other's world and rule over one where only their emotion reigns supreme.

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• Ambiguously Human: While they look a lot like Heart and Soul with their facial features, it's ambiguous if these two are also spirits. For one thing, when they faced the Sun King in the opening cutscene, they took the form of glowing orbs. Secondly, they are not affected by the balance of the orbs that are collected, despite Heart or Soul's corruption when too many of the same type are collected. Additionally, they are able to fuse into a single being, Quietus, but the protagonists cannot fuse. Finally, when Quietus uses the power of Absolution, their body transforms into an Eldritch Abomination. When Heart or Soul use Absolution, they transform into a darker version of themselves with a spiral face and an Absolution-shaped battle aura. Soma Union confirms that they intentionally took forms that resemble the protagonists in order to gain their trust and that they used to be human aristocrats who were accidentally revived as "Great Beings" after Bright used Absolution on their castle. However, there are some things that point to them being spirits, such as when they teach Heart and Soul spirit abilities. Soma Union shows them using a joint spirit ability against Bright long before sigils were invented, implying that Bright unwittingly reincarnated them as spirits.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Form and Dissonance are revealed to be from a powerful aristocratic family and planned to use their family's wealth and influence to rule the world.
• The Bad Guy Wins:
  • In endings 1 and 3, the one who took the orbs dies, but their protege carries out the destruction of the opposite world in their stead.
  • In endings 2 and 4, the one who took the orbs dies and both worlds are safe, but the one who survived can now resume their own plans to destroy the opposite world, albeit not immediately.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: In the true ending, they are appalled when the protagonists obtain an equal number of Joy and Sorrow orbs, which will result in the two worlds merging back into the original Soma. They decide to team up with each other and Absolution in order to destroy Soma out of spite.
• Big Bad Ensemble: In the original game and the flashback sequences of Union, they are in opposition to each other, seeking to destroy the world and emotions the other has dominion over, and aim to control Absolution, who has its own agenda. In the non-true endings, whoever is at a disadvantage will help the protagonists, only so they can resume their own plans once their rival is taken out.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Form and Dissonance are convinced that the emotions they each hold domain over are good, and that the opposite's domain is evil and a cause of conflict. Unlike the protagonists, they do not believe in respecting differences. The closest they can get to agreement is that a world of united Joy and Sorrow is doomed to conflict and therefore needs to be destroyed.
• Demiurge Archetype: They are said in the intro to be gods who created the titular planet of Soma and its inhabitants, ruling benevolently. However, they were actually human aristocrats who were transformed into Spirits by the Eldritch Abomination Absolution and attempted to seize control of it, overthrowing the benevolent Sun King and rewriting history to make him a tyrant who tried to resist the gods and was punished for it. They keep their subjects in an empty existence, with the inhabitants of the World of Joy only allowed to feel happiness and the World of Sorrow denizens kept in perpetual misery, and the two gods desire to destroy the other's world so only they will be worshipped.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: Downplayed. Behind their seemingly well-intentioned rhetoric, it's clear that Form and Dissonance want to rule their respective worlds as gods and want to destroy the world they don't control. However, in endings 1 and 3, they consider themselves triumphant even as they die, since they know that their corrupted protégé will rule the remaining world in the exact same manner as them and carry on their legacy.
• Evil Counterpart: Like Heart and Soul, Form and Dissonance are a pair of reincarnated siblings who represent Joy and Sorrow respectively. While Heart and Soul respect each other's differences and accept the necessity of both Joy and Sorrow, Form and Dissonance hate each other and anyone who disagrees with their philosophies on emotions. In terms of ideology, Heart and Soul view Joy and Sorrow in the context of helping their people while Form and Dissonance believe everyone should be enslaved to one of these concepts with no true regard for their wellbeing. For most of the game, Form and Dissonance seek to break Heart and Soul's sibling bonds in order to turn the latter pair of siblings into people who are just as hateful and fanatical as the former pair, and it's possible for them to succeed in the bad endings.
• Evil Overlord: In a sense. Dissonance is the ruler of the World of Sorrow and keeps his subjects in perpetual misery, fully intends on making Soma a world without happiness, and even dresses as a Tin Tyrant. Form, meanwhile, rules the World of Joy, where Happiness Is Mandatory, and aids the Blizzard Queen's plans to subject the Freezing Fjord to an endless winter, killing much of the wildlife.
• Evil Versus Evil: Form and Dissonance are zealots for the emotions of Joy and Sorrow respectively, believing that only their preferred emotions are good while the opposite emotions are evil. After the world is split into Joy and Sorrow halves, they each want to destroy the half of the world that they disagree with and have the exact same plan of turning their proteges into living weapons who are just as obsessed with their respective emotions as their mentors. In the true ending, both are so dogmatic about their ideals that they decide to team up to destroy Soma when their proteges render their plans impossible.
• Final Boss Preview: Dissonance will always attack the party at the beginning of Box World, but he holds back because he's just testing their strength. Depending on the party's orb composition, it's possible to fight Form or Dissonance in the middle segments of the game, though they still hold back. They stop holding back when one or both of them become the Final Boss, but by then, Heart and Soul are a match for them.
• Flat Character: They aren't characterized much beyond having fanatical views about Joy and Sorrow and they experience no character development on any of the routes. Their evil plans essentially boil down to turning everyone on Soma into flat and static characters too, since they want everyone to feel only one kind of emotion. Soma Union gives them more characterization through the journals they wrote in their human lives, revealing that they were aristocratic siblings with different life experiences.
• Hate Sink: Form and Dissonance are a pair of mentors who seem to want to help Heart and Soul save the world of Soma, but quickly become condescending towards both the protagonists and each other, hinting that there is something darker about them. Sure enough, their real goal is to corrupt their respective protege into becoming a living weapon who hates "undesirable" emotions as much as they do. In the worst endings of the game, they succeed and use their last words to mock the other protagonist for failing to stop them, knowing that their corrupted protege will fulfill their genocidal ambitions. Their only seemingly sympathetic trait is their desire for peace on Soma, but this is undermined when they hypocritically attempt to destroy Soma in the true ending, all because the population's emotions don't match their visions of a utopia.
• Hero Killer: Form and Dissonance killed Rozen and Silvio, who would go on to be reincarnated as Heart and Soul. Though this means Heart and Soul unwittingly avenged their own deaths at the end of Soma Spirits.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Form and Dissonance are quick to insult each other and the guardian spirit from the opposite world, and become hostile when their orders are questioned. They also want to destroy their rival's world, though in the non-true endings, the one at a disadvantage will help the party save their own world, implying they have at least some care for their respective citizens. This redeeming quality is soon invalidated when both worlds and their people merge into their original forms, causing Form and Dissonance to want to kill everyone for having both joy and sorrow. To Form and Dissonance, their citizens are objects who should only be allowed to exist if they conform to their rulers' standards for emotions, and should be killed otherwise.
• Knight Templar: Dissonance is a rare example who uses dark powers and combines this with Dark Is Evil, as he wants to create a world without happiness in the belief that happiness will only bring about conflict. His sister Form is a more traditional Light Is Not Good example who wants a world where Happiness Is Mandatory. Both despise the people of Soma for starting wars and believe that by splitting the world into two and eradicating the half with undesirable emotions, they can create a utopia. However, Form and Dissonance do not agree on which emotions are desirable and undesirable, with Form claiming only joyful emotions should exist and Dissonance claiming only sorrowful emotions should exist. They are also willing to flat-out destroy all of Soma when it is fused back together because they cannot handle a world of true balance.
• Moral Myopia: They hold all living beings in contempt for letting their complex emotions cause conflict, and they especially criticize the Sun King for letting his power and ambition go to his head. However, their own complex emotions cause them to have their own ambitions of ruling over Soma and enacting genocide on those they hate, and they were the ones who started the war that brought about the sundering while the Sun King saved all of Soma from their maniacal plans.
• Moral Sociopathy: Form believes joyful emotions are the only things that are needed to live a fulfilling life while Dissonance believes that sorrowful emotions are needed to live an orderly life. Each believes the opposite emotions will lead to tragedy and conflict and that the two sets of emotions cannot coexist. However, they care more about the concepts of these emotions than the people of the world who experience these emotions. Their obsession with their moral codes are taken so far that they dehumanize anyone who has undesirable emotions, which is why Form and Dissonance seek to wipe out the populations of Worlds of Sorrow and Joy respectively for representing the emotions they don't like, and they shamelessly deceive and manipulate Heart and Soul to achieve these goals. When the two worlds are fused, Form and Dissonance deem everyone deserving of death for failing their standards, showing that for all their self-righteousness, the self-serving way they interpret their morals ultimately prevents them from having any goodwill towards others.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
  • Dissonance means tension between conflicting elements, indicating that Dissonance doesn't want to coexist with the World of Joy and would rather destroy it.
  • Their fused form's name, Quietus, means removal from activity or something that results in silence. They plan to destroy the merged world of Soma, silencing all life permanently.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the past, Form and Dissonance split the planet Soma into two worlds of pure Joy and Sorrow after overthrowing the Sun King, who started wars for his amusement. Dissonance, who is trying to steal all the happiness in the world and create a world without happiness, claims he only wants to prevent another war and create a society where no one will sacrifice others for their own personal gain. In turn, his sister Form also wants to prevent another war, but by forcing happiness on everyone. In reality, both of them desire to eradicate all emotions they hate along with anyone who has these undesirable emotions, all to create their "perfect" world. When this goal becomes impossible in the true ending due to the two worlds merging, they opt to destroy Soma in its entirety, supposedly to stop the inevitable war that will happen in a populace with conflicting emotions- but as the sequel reveals, they were the ones who started the wars that they blamed on the Sun King in the first place. Form just wants to make everyone dependent on her to spite Dissonance, who in turn wants to force everyone to share his inability to be happy. Ultimately, both are selfish Control Freaks who would rather destroy the world than allow any perceived imperfections to exist.
• Obviously Evil: Despite their attempts to sound supportive and well-intentioned, Form tells the party to only get Sorrow Orbs while Dissonance tells them to only get Joy orbs, making it obvious that they oppose the game's theme of balance.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Each one wants to destroy their rival's world. Once the two worlds merge into the original Soma, they both want to destroy Soma so that the emotions of Joy and Sorrow cannot coexist.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • In the non-true endings, they use the power of the orbs to become Form Ex and Dissonance Zeta, though they don't look that much more grotesque than their original forms.
  • In the true ending, the two perform a Fusion Dance to become Quietus, whose resulting appearance resembles both non-true Final Boss forms. Afterwards, Quietus uses Absolution to mutate into a grotesque monster with many eyes and tentacles.
• The Power of Hate: Their mutual hatred of the people of Soma allows them to fuse into Quietus, a vessel for Absolution.
• The Svengali: They will teach spirit skills to Heart and Soul to help them in their mission. Dissonance in particular challenges them to spars in order to test their strength. They're manipulating the protagonists into destroying their opposing world.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In the true ending, they team up in an attempt to destroy Soma, but they still despise each other almost as much as they despise the people of Soma.
• Treacherous Advisor: Both of them try to act as mentors for the brothers, guiding them to collect orbs of Joy and Sorrow, respectively- though of the two, Form behaves as the more standard mentor while Dissonance is an openly antagonistic Stealth Mentor. Regardless, when you collect all six orbs, the mentor representing the orb you got more of (Form for Joy and Dissonance for Sorrow) will reveal their agenda to destroy the other world and betray the heroes, becoming the final boss- unless you got equal orbs of Joy and Sorrow, in which case both mentors betray you and try to destroy all of Soma.
• Unreliable Expositor: They are the main source of information on Soma, the history of the Sun King, and what must be done to achieve balance. They are also lying about everything. They claim that they created Soma and that the Sun King was a tyrant who put countries against each other in wars for his own amusement, so they fought and defeated him to stop his evil. In fact, they are a pair of formerly-human aristocrats who only falsely claim to be the creators of Soma, and it was they who started the wars and fought the Sun King to steal his god-like powers for their own gain. The Sun King was merely trying to protect his people. Meanwhile, both of them claim that balance to Soma can only be restored by creating a world of happiness/sorrow, respectively, and only collecting orbs of one single emotion, when it actually requires getting equal amounts of both orbs.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Their journal entries imply they used to care for their parents, with Form staying home to take care of them and Dissonance setting off to solve a crisis that was affecting their family. However, Form subverts this as her letter clearly indicates she only took care of them expecting to get the inheritance as a reward, while Dissonance barely mentions his family and also cares only for the inheritance.
• Villain Has a Point: They often discuss the flaws of the emotions their rival presides over, such as how too much joy means people ignore reality and how too much sorrow takes away people's ambition and energy. They also point out that a balance of these emotions isn't inherently good either, since complex emotions can lead people to war. However, their plan to kill those who exhibit these flawed emotions is so disproportionate that they cannot be considered well-intentioned.
• Villain with Good Publicity: The public is told that Form and Dissonance saved the world from the Sun King's tyranny and warmongering. In reality, they started the wars and fought him in order to claim the power of Absolution for their own genocidal goals, while he was trying to stop them and save his people, and the battle is what caused Soma to be split in two.
• Walking Spoiler: Their true nature, origin, and agenda are a big twist.
• Was Once a Man: They were originally a pair of noble siblings who squabbled over the political power and territory they inherited from their parents.
• Written by the Winners: A flashback reveals that Form and Dissonance actually started the wars the Sun King was blamed for, all so they could claim Absolution. They then led everyone to believe that they were the heroes who stopped the war. That said, the Sun King unwittingly set up the conditions for the conflict by prioritizing order above freedom for his citizens, causing them to be miserable under his rule and making them vulnerable to Form and Dissonance's manipulation.
• Xanatos Gambit: In endings 1 and 3, they're at first upset about being betrayed by their protégé, but take it in stride because they know that even if they lose, their protégé can carry out the destruction of the opposite world for them.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: It turns out splitting Soma into Joy and Sorrow halves was an unintended consequence of the battle between Bright, Form, and Dissonance. Bright initially thought this outcome would make it harder for Form and Dissonance to gain Absolution's power. However, Form and Dissonance still find a way to gain the partial power of Absolution and take advantage of the split world to achieve their goals more easily, since they can just destroy one-half of the world to create the "utopia" they want.

Form

The Great Being of Joy. She rules over the World of Joy and is the one who sends Heart and Soul on their journey to restore balance to Soma by creating a world of happiness, where everyone can live happy lives. It is later revealed that she intends to destroy the World of Sorrow and create a world where everyone is forced to be happy against their will.

In life, she was a noblewoman who took great care of her parents, expecting them to give her the inheritance as a reward. When they split it with Dissonance, she grew furious that she couldn't get the full inheritance to herself and screwed her brother out of it. Now she intends to force everyone to depend on her out of spite at her brother's ideology.

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• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Unlike her harsh brother, Form positions herself as Dissonance's Good Counterpart, a kind and motherly guardian who wants to make a world where everyone can live happy lives. It turns out that happiness will be forced on everyone and she plans on killing everyone who is unhappy (ie, the World of Sorrow), and she becomes increasingly bossy to Heart and Soul on all routes.
• Cute Is Evil: She is drawn in the same chibi art-style as everyone else, and in her normal form looks like a cute jester with a warm, smiling face, in contrast to her Obviously Evil, Tin Tyrant brother. She is also just as genocidal as her brother.
• For Happiness: Like her creation Heart, Form believes that everyone in the world should be joyful and live their lives to the fullest, with no room for pessimism. Because of this, she sends Heart and Soul to stop her brother Dissonance from creating a world without happiness. She also believes the World of Sorrow should be destroyed so that only the happiness of the World of Joy remains, making her a much darker example than usual, and the sequel reveals that her real desire is to make everyone dependent on her out of spite for her brother's ideology.
• Freudian Excuse: As revealed in Soma Union, Form grew up sheltered in her family's manor and never stepped foot into the outside world, having taken up the responsibility of caring for her parents by herself. She developed a grudge against Dissonance for getting half their inheritance despite how he left home to go on adventures. She also becomes obsessed with having everyone else in the world live easy and sheltered lives, out of spite for her brother's ideology.
• Light Is Not Good: She is a spirit of light who dresses in bright colors and wields powers of light and joy, but is every bit the Knight Templar that her brother is, wanting to make a world where Happiness Is Mandatory.
• Necessarily Evil: Despite believing her actions are necessary, in the "A World Without Sorrow" ending, Form tells the party that she'll see them in hell, showing that she also acknowledges her actions as evil.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: She took care of her parents while her brother left the estate to go travel the world, but her letter makes it clear she only did this thinking she would get the full inheritance, and is very upset at the thought of sharing it with her brother.
  "After months of ridiculous formalities, we have finally settled our parents' estate. It is absolutely despicable that they would try to leave half of the manor to my brother! After he left our family for YEARS to learn the art of swordplay like a rogue! Do they not care for their sweet and perfect princess?! The one who stayed here to take care of them while he traveled the world as if his whole life was an adventure?! It's unfair! COMPLETELY unfair!"

Dissonance

The Great Being of Sorrow. He rules over the World of Sorrow and turned against his sister Form, as he intends to create a world without happiness. Heart and Soul are sent to stop his insane plans. It is later revealed that he intends to destroy the World of Joy and create a world where everyone is forced to be as miserable as he is.

In life, he was a nobleman who left the estate to take care of a crisis threatening the family, and was reasonable at first. But as he traveled the world, he turned cynical and began believing that happiness is a foolish thing that only distracts people from personal responsibility. When Form screwed him out of the inheritance, he became fully embittered and turned himself into a cold tyrant intending to force everyone to serve his needs at the expense of their personal happiness.

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• A Lighter Shade of Black: Averted in the present, but in their past, Dissonance came off as the more benevolent sibling. While he had his own ambitions for the world, he never tried to contest his parents splitting the inheritance between him and Form, implying that he was at least willing to treat Form fairly despite their sibling rivalry. It's only after Form screws him out of the inheritance that he starts throwing away his scruples, as shown when he has no problem killing Form along with the rest of the World of Joy.
• Dark Is Evil: He is a Tin Tyrant dressed in dark colors who wields powers of darkness and sorrow, and is a Knight Templar trying to create a world without happiness so no one will sacrifice their duty to society for the sake of personal happiness.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Dissonance used to have genuinely good intentions in wanting to educate people on the harsh realities of the world, but after being betrayed by Form in receiving their parents' inheritance, Dissonance ends up becoming just as bitter as Form and eventually grew to care more about controlling the world than actually helping people.
• Fallen Hero: He once joined Form in fighting against the tyrannical Sun King to stop his warmongering and saved Soma, only to later turn against his sister and become a villain who intends on stealing all the happiness from the world. It is then subverted as it is revealed he and Form started the war that they blamed on the Sun King, but then double subverted when we learn that, as a human, he left his estate in order to travel the world and help his family during an unspecified crisis, only to grow into his cynical and hateful self.
• Freudian Excuse: As revealed in Soma Union, Dissonance left home to take care of a crisis that plagued their family, but found the outside world harsh and unforgiving. This caused him to want to use the family fortune to educate people on the difficult realities of the world to make them strong. However, Form used a loophole to remove him from the inheritance, causing him to become a bitter Control Freak who wants to force everyone to share his worldview.
• Fun-Hating Villain: He absolutely despises any form of joy or leisure, believing it makes people too lazy and complacent to do their duty to society, and rules over the World of Sorrow, where his citizens must sacrifice their personal feelings to contribute to the collective. The very existence of the World of Joy, where everyone is always happy and free to play all day, enrages him so much that he aims to use the Orbs to stamp out all happiness and wipe out the World of Joy completely.
• Stealth Mentor: His first major appearance outside the intro has him attacking the heroes to stop them from making the world a happier place. Once he's beaten, he reveals that he was testing their strength and wants them to join him in creating a world without happiness. You can either reject his agenda, or oblige to help (in which case he eventually betrays you).
• Tin Tyrant: Dissonance, ruler of the World of Sorrow, is clad in dark-blue armor and keeps his subjects in perpetual misery, out of his belief that seeking happiness will only lead to conflict. He also wants to remove the happiness from the World of Joy. In the routes where he takes the orbs and becomes the Final Boss, one NPC outright calls him the trope name.
• Totalitarian Utilitarian: Dissonance is a rare example who actually rejects For Happiness- he believes everyone should throw away their personal happiness in favor of focusing solely on pure rationality and The Needs of the Many, and to that end is trying to steal all the happiness in the world. He also tries to convince the protagonists, Heart and Soul, to solve the problem of each arc by convincing the central character in each arc to give up their happiness for the sake of the greater populace. He actually wants to destroy the World of Joy and rule over the World of Sorrow to create a perfectly orderly utopia.

Recurring NPCs

NPCs who are not tied to a specific area.

Hickory and Dockery

Heart and Soul's alarm clocks. In Rebalance, their journals are the in-story justification for saving your game.

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• Power Incontinence: Even after they're in the menu, they cannot save the game in areas where it's possible for the player to be trapped, like right before the fight with the Cooler Crusader.

The Cooler Crusader

The star of a cancelled superhero series, who wants to find a way to reclaim his former glory. He appears at various points to fight Heart and Soul, believing that defeating them will allow him to get a second season. He reappears in Brave Hero Yuusha EX annoying the people outside of Soma with his constant rambling and becoming the boss of Chapter EX, and returns once more in Soma Union.

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• Aesop Amnesia:
  • In his cameo in Brave Hero Yuusha EX, he reverts back to his glory-seeking ways and accuses the protagonists of being villains, just to get an excuse to have a boss battle with them. After the battle, he lampshades this trope and is disappointed that he had to learn the true meaning of heroism twice.
  • In Soma Union, he once again loses sight of his heroism, but in a different way. His show finally makes it big, but now he feels that he can't connect with his fans on an individual level, causing him to become disillusioned with becoming a hero. At the start of his boss battle, he doesn't fight the party seriously until Reca points out that he inspired many others, such as herself, to heroism. This causes him to regain his drive as a hero, allowing him to transform and give the party a proper fight.
• Alternate Self: The Crusader in the Bonus Dungeon is from the playthrough the player used to initiate New Game Plus, essentially making him an alternate future self of the Crusader from the current New Game Plus playthrough.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Justice Shield increases his HP by 20000, but makes him take quadruple-digit damage from fire skills.
  • Justice Power increases his attack by 500, but his accuracy drops to 0%.
• Boring, but Practical: In Brave Hero Yuusha EX, his Justice Shield and Justice Power have weaker effects, but none of their previous drawbacks.
• Broken Pedestal: In Soma Union, Reca is one of his biggest fans. The party can visit him in the postgame, but he has become so lethargic that he won't even greet his fans and puts no effort into fighting the party in the first phase of his boss fight. Reca is disappointed with his lack of motivation, but reminds him that his show inspired her and many others to do good. This causes him to regain his spark and fight the party at his best, causing Reca to respect him again.
• Defeat Means Friendship: After his defeat in the Bonus Dungeon, he thanks Heart and Soul for reminding him what it means to be a hero. This doesn't apply to his main story self, who is an alternate version with no memory of the aforementioned dungeon.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite being a jerk in this game, even he is appalled by the behavior of the corrupted protagonist on a bad route.
• Final Boss: Not of his home game, but in Brave Hero Yuusha EX, he is the boss of the bookshelf bonus dungeon and beating him ends the EX chapter, sending the player back to the title screen.
• Glory Hound: He challenges Heart and Soul to boss fights, simply because he's deluded himself into thinking that beating them will make him respected and give him a chance at stardom again.
• Jaded Professional: In Soma Spirits and Brave Hero Yuusha EX, he's eager to prove himself worthy as a hero and make his show popular again. A century later, he gets his wish, but loses his motivation when he can no longer connect with his fans on an individual level. Fortunately, Reca reminds him how much his heroism can help other aspiring heroes.
• Jerkass Realization: After his defeat in the Bonus Dungeon, he realizes that he was foolish for constantly picking fights with the protagonists and that will to do good is more important than power and fame.
• Recurring Boss: He is fought twice in the main story and then carries himself over to the New Game Plus dungeon to challenge the party one last time. He also makes appearances in Torch's other games, such as Brave Hero Yuusha EX and Soma Union.
• Super Mode: He normally looks like a refrigerator and is intended to be a joke in his boss battles due to his unique mechanics working against him. In the bonus dungeon, he transforms into Crusader Z, a powerful super robot. He even has the World Shift ability that is normally reserved for Form and Dissonance.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: A poster in Soma Union shows that he eventually got a second season.
• Victory Is Boring: He finally achieves stardom in Soma Union, but being famous for almost 100 years caused him to become complacent and bored with heroism.

The Garden and Mysterious Woods

Elder Oakley

The guardian of the Mysterious Woods, and the first character whose unbalanced state needs to be fixed by Heart and Soul.

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• Big Good: Alongside Form and later Mason, he is the main benevolent figure who guides Heart and Soul as a mentor through their journey. And unlike Form, his kindness is genuine.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't have an active role in the main story due to being an immobile tree, but in the true ending, it's shown that he spent a lot of time teaching Heart and Soul to understand each other's point of view, which contributes to them maintaining their bond despite Form and Dissonance trying to turn them against each other.
• Wise Tree: He's a talking tree who gives advice to both the protagonists and the other residents of the village. He is wise due to his connections with the outside world, allowing him to keep track of the duo's journey. In Soma Union, one of Mason's photos shows that Oakley used to be a bipedal block, but it's implied that Mason either transformed or reincarnated him with the power of Absolution.

Acre (unmarked early spoilers)

The Seed of Beginnings, who is supposed to eventually take Oakley's place as the guardian tree of the forest. He is seemingly kidnapped by a thief, but actually ran away in order to avoid being planted in order to see the world.

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• Arc Villain: Of the Mysterious Woods. His running away from his responsibility as the Seed of Beginnings is threatening the forest, but he himself wants to be free to see the world.
• I Just Want to Be Free: He wants to travel the world and refuses to be planted as the new tree, since that would tie him down to one location forever. If the party takes his sorrow and allows him to leave, he will show up in later areas.
• Refusal of the Call: He doesn't want to fulfill his duty as the next guardian tree, to the point where he will fight the party if they try to make him go back to Oakley.
• Recurring Traveler: If you let him run away, he reappears once in every area except for Box World.
• Starter Villain: While he's not evil, he's the first antagonist of the game, being that his running away causes the first major dilemma that Heart and Soul must solve.
• Warmup Boss: He is the boss of the first area no matter what choice you make.

Box World

Cardboard Bob

The mascot of the Box World toy and box company. He has grown to hate his job and just wants a vacation, but Mr. Flap won't give it to him because it might damage the company.

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• Arc Villain: Of Box World if you decide to take Mr. Flap's side- he will commandeer a robot in an attempt to stop you from making him do the job he hates.
• Catchphrase: As a mascot, he says "Wa-hey!" in order to greet people.
• I Just Want to Be Free: Like Acre, Bob wants to be free of a job that he'll be unhappy in.
• Recurring Traveler: If you get him freed from his contract, he will reappear a few times in various areas.
• Stepford Smiler: He acts happy on the job, but deep down, he's stressed out by his work.

Mr. Flap

The CEO of the Box World toy and box company, and Cardboard Bob's boss. He keeps Bob trapped in the contract, forced to work as his mascot, though he's as unhappy about the arrangement as Bob is.

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• Arc Villain: Of Box World if you side with Cardboard Bob- he keeps Bob in a job he hates in order to keep Box World running and commandeers a robot to stop you from freeing Bob from his contract.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: Downplayed, as while he keeps Bob miserable in his job as the company mascot, he doesn't want to and believes it is what's best for the company, and you can actually agree with him.
• Mean Boss: Despite his intentions for making the public happy, he isn't considerate of Bob's breaktime, which only lasts for a short period of dungeon crawling between cutscenes.
• Tragic Villain: A mundane but no-less-tragic example; he keeps Cardboard Bob trapped in a job he hates as mascot for his company, despite being just as unhappy with the arrangement as Bob, because he truly believes that it is the only way to keep his company running and bringing joy to the public, and that a vacation could threaten the company.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wants to keep Bob working at Box World to keep the company afloat and bring joy to the public.

Kaijubox and Tetsubox

A pair of robots piloted by Cardboard Bob and Mr. Flap, respectively. They serve as the bosses of Box World.

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• Expy: Tetsubox essentially has the same gimmick as Iron Gaze from Brave Hero Yuusha, in that it will focus on offense until it closes it's shield for a few turns and becomes defensive, and then opens its shield again.
• Route Boss: You fight Kaijubox if you decide to take Cardboard Bob's happiness and keep him in his sucky job, and fight Tetsubox if you take Bob's sorrow and try to free him from his contract with Mr. Flap.
• Tin-Can Robot: Both of them are giant cardboard boxes with robot parts, giving them this look.
• Turns Red: Kaijubox will become mad, increasing his attack, someway into the battle.

Freezing Fjord

Mason

An old wizard who somehow gave life to snowpeople. He lives in Freezing Fjord and seems to be quite senile, demanding the local penguins take him to the nonexistent city hall.

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• Big Good: Alongside Form and Elder Oakley, the latter of which is an old friend of his, he guides Heart and Soul through their journey to restore balance.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He created a race of living snowpeople. The problem is that the Freezing Fjord still goes through seasonal cycles like everywhere else, and the snowpeople will melt when spring comes.
• Obfuscating Insanity: He pretends to be a loopy old man who is imagining a city hall, but is actually completely lucid. He only acts like this to screw with visitors out of boredom.

Blizzard Queen/Glacia

The Blizzard Queen who rules over the snowpeople.

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• Arc Villain: Of Freezing Fjord, as she creates the eternal winter threatening the wildlife in order to ensure her snowpeople never melt.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: She is the Blizzard Queen who creates an endless winter and is the Arc Villain of Freezing Fjord. A lot of wildlife won't survive her eternal winter, which is why the duo opposes her in the Joy Orb path.
• Golem: In the Sorrow Orb path, she will summon a golem to test if the duo are sincere in supporting her cause.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: She is fought partway into the Freezing Fjord, but will eventually oneshot the party with a powerful ice spell. Fortunately, the protagonists will acquire the Key of Spring, which weakens her if they fight her on the Joy Orb path.
• Flunky Boss: In the actual fight against her, she has four Ice Sentries to help her.
• Route Boss: She only fights you directly if you decide to take her Joy. otherwise, she sends the Glacial Golem at you.
• Snowlems: She and her fellow snowpeople are animated and sapient due to Mason granting them life through the lingering power he received from Absolution.
• That Man Is Dead: Mason named her Glacia, but when she turned against him, she began calling herself the Blizzard Queen and rejects her old name when confronting Mason again.

Mason: G-Glacia!
Blizzard Queen: I-I will never hear you utter that name again! There is only the Blizzard Queen!

• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She uses her powers to cause an eternal winter over the Frozen Fjord in order to keep her fellow snowpeople alive. However, this will ruin the hibernation period of the native animals.

Glacial Golem

A golem who serves the Blizzard Queen and is the boss of the Sorrow half of Freezing Fjord.

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• The Dragon: To the Blizzard Queen, as she sends it to fight the heroes if they try to take her sorrow.
• Route Boss: It can only be fought if you decide to take the Blizzard Queen's sorrow.

Maltose Mines

Foreman Lemondrop

The leader of the miners, who neglects his duty of mining rock candy in favor of searching for a great treasure.

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• Arc Villain: Of Maltose Mines for a given definition of "villain"- his single-minded search for his treasure/dead wife's ring is harming his company, and Heart and Soul must either find the ring for him or convince him to give up the hunt for the problem of the area to be solved. Unlike the previous emotion orb holders, he doesn't attack the party or summon a boss to fight them.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: He's not a natural idiot, but he pursues his dead wife's ring, directing his company to help him find it, while ignoring what the company is actually supposed to be doing (finding sweets, gems, and other treasures to sell).
• My Greatest Failure: He found a rich vein, but his wife warned him that there's a risk of an accident. He didn't listen and had the mining team continue, resulting in his wife dying in a flood. He regrets his mistake to this day, and his obsession with finding his wife's ring is to assuage his guilt and find closure.

Lemondrop's Wife

A woman who Lemondrop was married to before her tragic demise.

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• Ignored Expert: She warned her husband against digging in the rich vein because of the potential for an accident. He dug anyway, and sure enough a flood happened which took her life.
• The Lost Lenore: His wife died in a mining flood, so he wants to find her wedding ring. Unfortunately, he diverts the miners' time and resources to this goal instead of their actual job.
• Posthumous Character: She drowned in a cave flood before the actual story.

Digibot 3000 and Excavian

A pair of malfunctioning robots who guard the bottom of the mines where Lemondrop's treasure is. They are the respective bosses of the Joy and Sorrow areas.

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• Arc Villain: Of Maltose Mines as they guard the ring that Lemondrop wants in order to be at peace and continue working on his company, though only after fighting Excavian does he get the ring back.
• Flunky Boss: Digibot 3000 has two Mineys with it.
• Route Boss: If you decide to take Lemondrop's joy and have him give up the search for the treasure, you fight Digibot 3000, whereas taking his sorrow and agreeing to help him find the ring has Excavian fight you.
• Tin-Can Robot: Like the Box World robots, they are also tin-like robots, though only Digibot 3000 is box-shaped while Excavian is more spherical.

Phantasmal Chasm

Shaydo

A ghost who lives in the nearby mansion. He cannot, and does not want to, move onto the afterlife, preferring to remain and haunt whoever comes into the mansion.

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• Friendly Ghost: He likes to give strangers a fright, but he's otherwise an easygoing ghost with no real malice.
• What the Hell, Hero?: If you're going for five of the same orb in a row, he will be appalled by the behavior of the corrupted party member and call them a villain.

Magic Can't and None Chaku

Two monsters that lie in a coffin inside Shadyo's mansion, preventing him from leaving.

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• Arc Villain: Of Phantasmal Chasm, as Shadyo cannot leave the mansion without this thing breaking free and causing havoc, requiring Heart and Soul to kill it in order to let Shadyo leave to either the afterlife or the outside world.
• Evil Weapon: None Chaku is a living pair of num-chuks that could cause havoc is it escapes from Shadyo's mansion.
• Oculothorax: Magic Can't is a giant green eyeball with hands, wings, and feet.
• Route Boss: You fight Magic Can't if you take Shadyo's joy and None Chaku if you take his sorrow.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Shadyo has it kept inside a coffin in his mansion. The reason he cannot leave is that if he does, this thing could break out.

Not Quite The End Of Time

Eradicor

Who dares to awaken Eradicor?! Breaker of worlds?! Destroyer of annoying superheroes?!

A green fire spirit who lies in the bonus area. He is annoyed by the Cooler Crusader's screaming and shows up to take out his fury, but when the Crusader bolts instead, he decides to take it out on Heart and Soul.

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• Evil Living Flames: He has the appearance of a big green flame with hands and is a temperamental creature who tries to kill the heroes because the guy who was actually bothering him ran away, and he needs a target.
• Graceful Loser: Upon being defeated, he accepts that he was too confident and just wants the heroes to beat up the Cooler Crusader for bothering him.
  Ohhhh, but I suppose it is I who must pay for being such a braggart. Very well! There is still more yet to this place! Make your way to the top and give that sleazy superhero what for!
• Red Baron: According to himself, the "Breaker of worlds" and "Destroyer of annoying superheroes".

Positron and Negavolt

Positron: You two make a spectacular team. But how do you fare apart?
Negavolt: Unless you beat us both at the same time, the way forward will never appear!

A pair of entities who lie in the bonus area. The Cooler Crusader attempts to get them to help him fight Heart and Soul, but they refuse, deciding to test Heart and Soul's strength on their own instead.

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• Dual Boss: Heart has to fight Positron alone, and Soul does the same with Negavolt.

Sun King's Citadel (Unmarked spoilers for both games)

The Sun King

Sun King Bright

The former ruler of Soma, once a benevolent ruler who went mad with power. He was deposed by Form and Dissonance for constantly stoking conflict, but there's more to him than what history claims.

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• Amnesiac Hero: In Soma Union, he lost most of his memories as a result of being reduced to a soul. Every time Zero is infected with Absolution's power, Bright gets some of his memories back and finally remembers everything after the second dream dungeon.
• The Atoner: In both games, he helps the player characters fight Form, Dissonance, and Absolution in order to redeem himself for being manipulated by Absolution.
• Bright Is Not Good. Zigzagged. History considers him a sun-themed tyrant who misused his power and started endless wars. This is a lie perpetuated by Form and Dissonance. In reality, he had good intentions in uniting the world, but was oblivious to the discontent he was causing in keeping everyone in one city.
• Brought Down to Badass: In the flashback of Bright's battle with Form and Dissonance, he had quadruple digit HP and damage, though he still ultimately loses in a straight fight with them and is only barely able to stalemate them in the following cutscene. In the present, his stats are far lower, albeit still higher than Zero's.
• Deuteragonist: In Soma Union, the player controls him during his flashbacks and see his rise to power from his point of view, as well as his role in unsealing Absolution. It becomes clear that the game is both the recon team's journey to find their purpose and Bright's journey for redemption.
• Drunk On Power: He was once a benevolent ruler, but he eventually let the power go to his head and started wars for his own amusement. Downplayed in Soma Union, which shows that he didn't start those wars, but he did become conceited in believing that he alone could create a utopia.
• Everyone Has Standards: He originally intended to use the power of Absolution to solidify his rule over Soma, but during his confrontation with Form and Dissonance, he realized that Absolution is too destructive and that his opponents wanted to use this power to destroy all who fail to meet their ideals of joy and sorrow.
• The Good King: According to the backstory, he used to be a fair and just ruler before becoming Drunk On Power. The truth is more complicated- he did become conceited and believed that he alone could unite the world and stop conflict, but he wasn't evil so much as misled by Absolution, who used him as a Puppet King and was the one actually responsible for the tyranny.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He temporarily joins Zero in the latter's dream dungeons. The first time, he's a ball of light. The second time, he properly takes his true form as Bright.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Seemingly this for the series, as he was the tyrant who ruled Soma in the backstory and sowed division for his amusement, and while he was beaten by Form and Dissonance, his actions caused the sundering which split Soma in two and drove Dissonance to become the Big Bad, seeking to remove all happiness to prevent another war from breaking out. However, it turns out he wasn't this at all- Form and Dissonance started the wars in the first place to gain the power of Absolution, while the Sun King was a benevolent, if misguided, ruler trying to stop their mad plans. The real example is Absolution itself.
• Heel Realization: He had ambitions of becoming a benevolent ruler, but didn't realize that by relocating everyone inside his citadel's walls for their own safety, he was making them miserable. After nearly killing his friends, his disastrous fight with Form and Dissonance, as well as many years of being alone in his citadel, he has seen the error of his ways and even gives an Infinity +1 Sword to one of your party members so can they beat the Final Boss.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Downplayed due to his role as Absolution's Unwitting Pawn. He's generally known as one of history's worst tyrants. While he did unknowingly make the world a worse place by confining everyone to his city, he was also the one who fragmented Absolution to prevent Form and Dissonance from using it.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices himself once per game. In Soma Spirits, he sacrifices his body to help Heart and Soul remember their bond and defeat Quietus with scripted light blasts. In Soma Union, he sacrifices his soul to give Zero, Reca, and Lumen access to his light blasts, allowing them to defeat Absolution.
• Heroic Willpower: In Soma Union, Absolution acknowledges that Bright has a strong will, enough that he has a better track record of resisting Absolution's influence than most of its other hosts.
• Human All Along: His sun-like face is actually a mask for his human one. He's actually the boy who was guided by Oakley.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Reveals himself to be the true creator of Heart and Soul in the hopes of maintaining true balance. Soma Union reveals that he created them from the souls of Rozen and Silvio.
• My God, What Have I Done?: When confronted by Form and Dissonance, Bright is forced to wear the mask of Absolution to fight them off. Unfortunately, the mask tries to force him to kill his friends too, causing them to turn on him. This causes him to realize that the mask is changing him for the worse and that his ambitions aren't making the world a better place.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • He unsealed Absolution from its shrine. While it was the only way he could think of to save himself and his friends from getting lost in a forest, it leads to Absolution being a constant threat to Soma.
  • After realizing that Absolution is trying to force him to kill everyone in his kingdom, Bright uses Absolution's power against it and shatters it into pieces, scattering it across the globe. Unfortunately, each portion of Absolution is still capable of corrupting people's minds, leading to the emotion orb incidents in Soma Spirits. Again, he didn't have much of a choice, since Form and Dissonance were close to taking Absolution from him and using it for their own ambitions.
• Puppet King: As the Sun King, he was really just a puppet for his own mask, Absolution. His rule was made possible by it's magic, and his actions like forcing everyone into his city were done at it's prodding.
• Spirit Advisor: His soul ends up in Zero's body, allowing him to advise the latter on finding the fragments of Soma and trusting his friends.
• Star Power: His only element is the star element, which few enemies resist.
• Too Dumb to Live: In the endings where all six orbs are the same, the Sun King will still grant an ultimate weapon to the corrupted party member, despite knowing something is wrong with them. The corrupted party member proceeds to murder him.
• Took a Level in Badass: In his flashbacks, he's a timid child with no combat abilities and is less athletic than Rozen and Silvio. After gaining Absolution's power, he becomes one of the strongest beings on Soma. Even after losing most of Absolution's power, he's still a few levels higher than Zero.
• Two Aliases, One Character: His true identity is that of the boy who Elder Oakley brings up in an early conversation in the first game, and who we play as in the flashback sequences of the second.
• Unwitting Pawn: History paints him as a sadistic warlord, but flashbacks in Soma Union show that he was a naïve Puppet King who believed having Soma's population unite in one location would keep everyone safe, not realizing that his citizens are actualy miserable under his rule. He also didn't realize Absolution was manipulating him until the latter tries to make him kill Rozen and Silvio.
• Walking Spoiler: In the opening cutscene, not much is explained about him other than his role as a tyrant. He only shows up at the end of this game as an unexpected ally and shows up in the next game as an unexpected Spirit Advisor, and it's revealed that his tyrant reputation is a big fat lie (he was really just a naïve Puppet King), making all information about him spoilers.

Sunny and Lunar

A pair of guards who protect the citadel. They only show up in the completed form of the dungeon, in the true route.

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• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: They're a pair of oddballs who keep retreating towards the Duo weapons because they keep wanting to redo their introductions.
• Hero Antagonist: They aren't evil, but they see the party as intruders. Once they realize the party is trying to save Soma, they willingly relinquish the Duo weapons.
• Locked Out of the Loop: They didn't realize Form, Dissonance, or both are taking over the citadel.

Absolution

An ancient and powerful evil that threatened Soma long ago. The Sun King is said to have wielded its power, and if Soma is sufficiently unbalanced, it could return. It is of unknown origin, and both Form and Dissonance turn out to be seeking its destructive power to create the perfect world they desire.

In Soma Union, it turns out that it was sealed away in a mask by Mason, but the Sun King, then a boy known as Bright, appeared and unsealed it. The entity corrupted the boy into becoming the Sun King and used him to try to gather the whole world in one place to destroy it. Though defeated twice, it is released by Zeta/Guidance, and splits up into various shadow monsters after its third defeat. When reassembled, it tries one last time to bring an end to Soma.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Absolution's true nature is unclear. Fragments of its power can corrupt the minds of others, making it seem like it's Made of Evil. However, its true form is angelic and it has the power to create and restore life.
• The Bad Guy Wins:
  • In endings 1 and 3 of Soma Spirits, it successfully corrupts either Heart or Soul and destroys either the World of Joy or World of Sorrow.
  • Downplayed in the ending where the party uses its power to repair Soma. It's guaranteed to come back one day, but the party holds out hope that future generations will be able to defeat it again.
• Big Bad: Essentially this for the entire duology as the being responsible for every conflict, but most directly in the final two chapters of Soma Union, in which it is put back together and resumes trying to destroy Soma, teaming up with Zeta only to betray him in the end.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Form and Dissonance in the flashback arc of Soma Union, where it manipulates Bright into trapping everyone in its city and tries to destroy all of Soma, with Form and Dissonance trying to control it.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: As a mask, Absolution acts like a benevolent wish-granting device to Bright, but it secretly plans to use Bright as a pawn to destroy all of Soma.
• Bright Is Not Good: Absolution changes its color scheme to orange and yellow in order to fit Bright's sun motif, but it's still a malevolent being who wants to destroy the universe. In its second form as the Final Boss, it appears as a teal Angelic Abomination.
• Can't Stay Normal: Anyone who wields it even once will permanently gain the ability to infuse life, even after they're separated from it.
• Create Your Own Hero: Absolution intended to use Bright as a pawn to get Soma's population to unite in one place so that it can kill them all. It didn't expect Bright would be able to resist its influence and fracture. Bright would go on to help the protagonists stop Absolution's destruction throughout both games.
• Deal with the Devil: The mask of Absolution tricks Bright into accepting their power and becoming the Sun King, all so they can corrupt the latter into becoming an Omnicidal Maniac. When Bright realizes that he's being played, the mask points out that he can't give up this power, or Form and Dissonance will take it for themselves and conquer the world. Bright's solution is to use Absolution's power against it, scattering its fragments all across Soma.
• Duality Motif: In its mask forms, one side of its face is darker than the other. It has both the power to cause mass destruction on a planetary level and the power to create matter and life. In its Final Boss battle, it starts as a tentacled demon, but eventually reverts to its true angelic form.
• Eldritch Abomination: It is an ancient and powerful entity with unknown origins and a desire to destroy everything. It takes on a variety of monstrous forms, and even small fragments of it are enough to drive characters to insanity. It is so powerful that it can effortlessly rip apart Soma into chunks.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Zeta puts it back together thinking he can control it and use it to create a new world In Their Own Image. As soon as he fails to beat the heroes, Absolution kills him.
  Zeta: N-NO! I WENT TO THE ENDS OF THE GALAXY TO CONTROL YOU! YOU ANSWER TO ME!
  Absolution: I ANSWER TO NO ONE!
• Evil Mask: The Sun King's mask is revealed to contain the consciousness of Absolution, and they manipulate the Sun King into becoming a power-hungry tyrant.
• Faux Affably Evil: It can act well-intentioned and friendly towards its hosts, but it later becomes clear that it's a murderous psychopath who only sees its hosts as disposable pawns.
• Generic Doomsday Villain: Unlike Form, Dissonance, and Zeta, who had hypocritical reasons and excuses for wanting to destroy Soma, and the well-intentioned Professor M, Absolution has no backstory or ideology, nor does it even mention a desire for stimulation in relation to its goals. It just wants an empty universe for unknown reasons.
• Good Powers, Bad People: Despite having nothing but destructive intentions, Absolution is capable of infusing life to reincarnate people and even create new life. It can also be used to warp reality in ways that can benefit others, such as erecting structures and bringing the fragments of Soma back together.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • To Form and Dissonance in Soma Spirits. Absolution's power is used to magically renovate their manor, which has the side-effect of reviving them. Additionally, the duo wants to gain Absolution's power in order to conquer Soma and wipe out anyone with emotions they don't like. It's remnants, the orbs, are also what corrupts the major characters of each area and causes them to bring about the problem of each area. However, it remains sealed away for most of the game, with Form and Dissonance being the direct villains, and only surfacing in three endings as the Post-Final Boss or True Final Boss, respectively.
  • For the first three chapters in Soma Union, it is the entity that shattered Soma, indirectly causing the conflict where Zero and friends have to find a way to repair Soma, but thanks to Bright it is, like in the first game, shattered and mindless, only occasionally appearing in-between chapters in fragmented form. It is also the reason that Professor M and Zeta turned evil. This changes once it is revived, instantly making Professor M irrelevant and getting Zeta Demoted to Dragon.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Of a sort- while never quite the Big Bad of the first game, it was the Greater-Scope Villain and is featured prominently in the sequel's backstory, but seems unconnected to the shattering of Soma as it was already destroyed in the finale of the first game. The villain is instead the mysterious Professor M. But once you meet him, it turns out that Absolution was the one who shattered Soma in the first place, and his actions were to prevent Absolution from being resurrected by Zeta- naturally, it gets revived and becomes the final Big Bad.
• It Can Think: In the first game, Absolution seems to be nothing more than a dangerous eldritch power, but Soma Union reveals that it actually has a will of its own.
• Mask of Sanity: Visual Pun aside, Absolution initially acts like a benevolent mask who wants to help Bright build a peaceful kingdom, but it's all an act. When Bright is forced to use its power to fight off Form and Dissonance, Absolution also tries to get Bright to kill his friends, all with an insane look in its eyes. After Bright realizes its true nature, Absolution drops the act and is more open about its desire to kill everything that lives. When it discovers that Bright still exists as a soul within Zero, it's filled with murderous rage towards the latter.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: It tells Bright that the only way to protect his friends and Soma's denizens is to conquer the planet and have everyone move into a single location. This is a ruse so that Absolution can make Bright kill everyone in one fell swoop.
• Omnicidal Maniac: It seeks to create a world of nothingness and will manipulate its host into killing everyone around them.
• One-Winged Angel: It goes through many forms, from a small mask, to demonic forms of varying shapes and sizes, to an angel resembling its mask form.
• Physical God: Absolution is established to have the power to destroy the entire planet of Soma. However, the sequel reveals that Absolution is capable of creating matter and infusing life, meaning it has the powers of both creation and destruction.
• Post-Final Boss: Overlaps with Hopeless Boss Fight in the Pure Joy and Sorrow paths, where after defeating Form EX and Dissonance Zeta, respectively, it will fully corrupt a party member and fight the uncorrupted one. You can't really win as it will use a One-Hit KO attack sometime in.
• Satanic Archetype: It's a being with godly powers and a penchant for twisting the good will of its hosts for its own omnicidal goals. While it has a variety of demonic forms, its final form is that of an angel of light.
• Sealed Evil in a Six Pack: When Bright attacks it with its own power, its mask splits into four orbs. While the four orbs contain a majority of its power and can be used to bring back its consciousness, the rest of its power scattered into even smaller fragments that are capable of infecting minds. Many of these fragments ended up in the six bearers of emotion orbs in Soma Spirits, which is why Form and Dissonance manipulated Heart and Soul into gathering those orbs.
• True Final Boss: In the original game, it is the boss fought on the path to the Golden Ending and is much more powerful than either Dissonance Zeta or Form EX.
• Villainous Breakdown: Undergoes this upon defeat in both games:
  • In the first game, when the orbs and the people who the orbs belong to fight back:
    NO! WE CANNOT DIE UNTIL WE DESTROY EVERYTHING! WE CAN NOT! WE CAN NOOOOOOT!
  • And in the sequel, when the trio and Bright use their powers to destroy it's true form, it resorts to attempting to bargain with them:
    NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN GIVE YOU EVERYTHING! THE HOME YOU SO DESIRE! THE PEACE AND HAPPINESS YOU'VE ALWAYS WISHED FOR! WHY THROW IT ALL AWAAAAAY?!
• We Can Rule Together: It offers to help the party reassemble Soma, but the party can tell that it's only doing so in order to manipulate them and destroy Soma later.
• Worf Had the Flu: The Absolution that served as the Final Boss of Soma Spirits is only a fraction of the original, since it was hapzardly summoned with six orbs of emotion rather than the four main fragments of its mask.
• You Have Failed Me: It kills Zeta/Guidance for failing to defeat the party, reasoning that someone who couldn't beat such a ragtag team is unworthy of wielding its power.