Characters / Tales of Graces

Party Members

Asbel Lhant

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese, teenager), Yuki Kaida (Japanese, child), Bryce Papenbrook (English, teenager) and Kate Higgins (English, child)

Asbel is the eldest son of Lord Aston, ruler of the city-state of Lhant. As a child, he was disobedient, adventurous and quick to make friends. Due to an incident during his childhood, he leaves his home and trains to become a knight, in order to find the power to protect those he cares about. He is forced to return to Lhant after hearing news of his father's death, only to receive a tepid welcome.

Throughout the game, Asbel struggles with the idea of responsibility he has as the next Lord of Lhant and his desire to keep his loved ones safe.

His Accelerate Mode is Spiral Surge ^note Japanese: "Accel Force", which summons a dark flame that orbits Asbel and damages any enemy it touches.

---

• Anger Born of Worry: Towards Cheria in the aftermath of her kidnapping. He bellows how she could have been so stupid to get herself caught and that she could have been killed if the party had arrived any later. But after he's cooled off he (rather shyly) tells Cheria that he's glad she's alright. He has a similar reaction to Sophie's willingness to sacrifice her life to destroy Lamba.
• Badass Adorable: As a kid, to the point he managed to beat Bryce when he tried to assassinate Richard.
• Badass Boast
  "Submit to my will!" (Kyokkorenge / Aurora Lotus)
  "No one can stand before my blade!" (Victory pose)
• Badass Longcoat: It's unknown where he got it, but he sports a white one after the time skip. Sophie asks him about it, but Cheria interrupts him before he can explain.
• Berserk Button: He takes Sophie attempting to sacrifice herself very badly.
• Big Brother Bully: In the child era, towards Hubert, occasionally. The skit Rash Justice suggests that every time he'd lose something he'd accuse Hubert of stealing it and pinch his cheeks.
  • Big Brother Instinct: None the less, even as an adult, he is fiercely protective of Hubert and in fact the rest of the party. In Sophie's case he borders on Papa Wolf.
• Bratty Half-Pint: It's probably an understatement to say he was this as a kid. He outgrows it though.
• Butt-Monkey: He often can't get the leading of the "We are... awesome!" victory pose right with the team, even once succumbing to the Corner of Woe.
• Character Development: Asbel starts out the adult arc of the game as a very serious individual who wants to protect everyone he cares for but lacks the knowledge of how to do that and is afraid of failing. Throughout the game, he learns how to be someone who can be depended on and protect others and how to accomplish his goals.
• Chekhov's Gun: Who would have thought that Asbel's first sword would be one of his best weapons.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Asbel takes on the responsibilities of being the Lord of Lhant at 18 years old.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: If you need help, Asbel will help you. No questions asked, even if it destroys the world. Everyone, even Lambda, calls him out on it. His determination to stay true to his idealism that ultimately earned him Lambda's respect.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: It's implied via NPCs/Skits that he had been one during his time at the Knight Academy. He is absolutely oblivious to it.
  • Confirmed in the Tales of Graces f sub manga, where he admits that Valentine's Day was hard for him since he had to buy so many return gifts for White Day.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Sophie's death when he was a child really shook him, in both his irresponsibility and powerlessness. He does not however, spend much time angsting over it.
• Deadpan Snarker: He has his moments.
  Hubert (to Richard): I don't know what we'd do if something happened to you, King Richard.
  Asbel: Your concern for my well-being is touching.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Blasts the hell out of, then decides to call it quits with Lambda.
• Determinator: He won't let Sophie or Richard die. Ever. It doesn't matter what it takes.
• Duality Motif: His left eye turns purple after allowing Lambda to peacefully assimilate with him.
• Elemental Powers: Asbel has a much more varied elemental moveset than other Tales heroes, which incorporates water, ice, lightning, wind and fire.
• Expy: Spin kick? Check. Fighting a childhood friend/prince? Check. Voiced by Takahiro Sakurai? Check. The right portrait? Check. Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a Lighter and Softer Suzaku Kururugi. Graces f makes it even more obvious, as his Code Geass DLC outfit dresses him up as, obviously, Suzaku.
• Failure Knight: Saw a childhood friend die and swore to protect as many people as possible after that. After his father dies, his inadequacy hits him, as everyone calls him out on leaving Lhant and he still feels unable to protect the people around him.
• Genre Blind:
  • He never pieces together that glowing eyes, out-of-character violence, or clutching one's head yelling 'No, this isn't me, don't come out!' might mean that Richard is possessed. It has to be spelled out by Emeraude. Though to be fair, most of the party are pretty slow to cotton onto this one.
  • On the other hand, at the end of the game, he's savvy enough to ask a pretty important question about Lambda's plan to kill everything and everyone: And Then What?
• Guilt Complex: Deconstructed. Asbel blames himself for so many things that have gone wrong that the rest of the party starts collectively rolling their eyes whenever he does it. The crux of Asbel's Character Development involves him accepting that it's okay to take charge and be responsible, but blaming himself for every little thing that happens does nothing but make the situations he encounters even worse.
• The Hero: He's the overall protagonist of the story, which revolves around as he develops as a person.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Richard, thanks to the misadventures they had as kids.
• Hot-Blooded: Very enthusiastic as a kid. He mellowed out over time, but he still has some elements of this trope, evidenced mostly in battle.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: He keeps his sword sheathed during A-Artes, while his B-Artes involve drawing the weapon in lightning-fast speed. His example out of all Tales protagonists seems to be the most Japanese-swordsman-based one, since his version of iaidou and battoujutsu seems the most fairly realistic (compared to Guy).
• Idiot Hero: He has his airheaded moments. This Victory Pose for example:
  Sophie: Asbel, why do you wear such white clothes?
  Asbel: These? Um, let me think...
  [A few seconds later...]
  Asbel: Oh! I know—
  Cheria: You are late!
• Implausible Fencing Powers: Asbel can cut enemies with the air from his slashes, teleport, and wrap his sword and fire and ice. None of this is ever explained.
• Kung-Fu Wizard: Unlike the rest of the party he's mostly bashing the enemy with kicks, punches, his scabbard and Iaijutsu Practitioner moves.
• Lampshade Hanging: He is probably the first JRPG protagonist ever to question the Omnicidal Maniac trope. Asbel asks Lambda an Armor-Piercing Question about his endgame, wondering how Lambda will survive in a world with nobody in it to do basic things like grow food. When Lambda has no answer beyond mere flailing about and tranquil panic, it's the sign that Asbel has already won.
• Lord Country: His family name is the same as the town they rule over.
• Luminescent Blush: Around Cheria, especially after he realizes he shares her feelings. And probably just around any embarrassing situation.
• Magic Knight: His playstyle has you alternating between his physically-oriented sheathe skills and his magically imbued sword skills. As such, he has stats that fit for both attacking types.
• Neat Freak: It's hinted that after being such a messy kid, Asbel became something of a neat freak. He even managed to get enjoyment out of scrubbing the deck of a ship from top to bottom. If you visit his room in Lhant and examine the desk, he comments that he really should clean it up.
  • Somewhat explained in Tales of the Rays in his and Cheria's unlockable event, in that it was protocol/conduct during his time as a knight that forced him to be more mindful about being tidy.
• Nice Guy: Serious attitude aside, Asbel is an honest and kind guy, and is the only one who hasn't made jokes at Cheria's expense.
• Oblivious to Love: Like most Tales Series protagonists, Asbel is rather dense when it comes to matters of romance, though his relationship with Cheria gets a Decon-Recon Switch. The deconstruction comes from Cheria being bitter and angry at Asbel for not noticing her even after the Time Skip, which she spent alone. However, it's reconstructed by Asbel having a lot on his plate when he finally does return home. Once Asbel has time to not stress about saving the world, he does develop feelings for her.
• Say My Name:
  "RICHAAAARRRDDD!!!"
  "SOPHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE!!!"
  "LAAAAMBDAAAAAAA!!!"
• Strong Family Resemblance: His great-great-grandson is basically Asbel's kid self except with Cheria's hair and eye color.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: As a child, he was adventurous and believed he could take anything and even raise Sophie. When she seemingly dies due to his negligence, reality dawns on him and he sees just how little of the outside world he understands.
• Shout-Out:
  • Aside from the Suzaku allusions, Namco Bandai took it up a notch when they made Asbel wear Haseo's costume, as another nod to a Takahiro Sakurai role.
  • He also quips: "Once again, I have cut another worthless object.", Goemon's catchphrase.
• The Stoic: As an adult, he's one of the calmer members of the party. Malik even remarks on this during an optional skit.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: He himself isn't supernatural apart from letting Lambda take residence in his body, but the story ends up framing him, an 18 year old, as Sophie's adoptive father, with Sophie being an immortal being who will never age but appears to be a 13 year old girl.
• Sword and Fist: When he's not attacking with either his sword or scabbard, he's all kicks.
• Take a Third Option: Asbel will neither have Sophie sacrifice herself to destroy Lambda, nor let him absorb their planet. His solution? Merge Lambda with himself.
• Team Dad: Gets labeled the "Dad" of the team by Pascal. Begins to fit into the role due to Character Development. Also, as an adult, acts as a father figure to Sophie. Acknowledged by him during one skit:
  Pascal: Aw, the kid's (Sophie) learning! Better give her an answer, Dad!
  Asbel: Who, me? Well...uh... how about we let Mom field this one?
  Cheria: M-MOM!?
• Took a Level in Badass: Another classic element of JRPGs that gets the Tales standard Decon-Recon Switch. He got his chips at the Knight Academy, but everyone around him says he still hasn't changed a bit (much to his chagrin). The game is about him learning that actions, not mere brute force, is what truly makes a badass. This is what allows him to ultimately subdue Lambda where all other attempts failed: instead of beating him into submission, Asbel asks him what exactly he'll do if his plan succeeds and, after Lambda can't answer him, allows Lambda to live through him and see that Humans Are Special.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Curry.
• Trauma Conga Line: What happens 2-3 hours into the game alone? Asbel makes two new friends (Sophie and Richard), saves the latter from Bryce, steps in and saves his escorts' lives. What happens next? Sophie sacrifices herself to save everyone, and Aston chews him out for it. He doesn't get to see Richard again because of his social status. Hubert is sent to live with another family, and then he abandons home and Cheria for good (for the next seven years). Even after coming back and trying to reclaim his stats as the heir, Hubert returns as a new man and out of bitterness takes over his stats and forces him out of town, making Asbel feel even more upset at himself than ever before.
• Unskilled, but Strong: In the prologue, he has about as much technical skill as a kid should have. He still manages to take down an assassin. That said, he becomes leagues more skilled after the Time Skip.
• The Wise Prince: Well, he's a Lord not a Prince. And at first it's subverted, but with Character Development Asbel becomes a man worthy of the title Lord of Lhant. Especially seen in the final confrontation with Lambda.

Sophie

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese) and Cassandra Lee Morris (English)

An enigmatic, purple-haired girl with no recollection of her identity, Sophie has an innocent atmosphere about her, but is actually a quite proficient fighter. She has vowed to protect Asbel.

Her Accelerate Mode is EX Boost ^note JP: "High Boost", which gives her the ability to Flash Step and increases her combat statistics.

---

• Amnesiac Resonance: after seven years, Sophie largely loses the memories she formed from her time spent with Asbel and his friends when they were children, causing most of the cast to initially believe she might not be the same Sophie. However, she still feels affinity with the people, places, and objects she encountered. Richard comments that her presence 'feels the same', fueling his personal conviction that she isn't a different person.
• Attack Animal: She was created to destroy Lambda.
• Back from the Dead: She inexplicably comes back after dying seven years ago. It's because she's a lab-created weapon.
• Badass Adorable: So, so much. Even while she's still seemingly an Emotionless Girl, she does many things that will just make you want to hug her. Sometimes right after an epic and brutal smackdown, to boot.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: She's the hand-to-hand fighter of the group, and uses gauntlets as her weaponry.
• Big Damn Heroes: Sophie is the one who shows up several times to save Asbel, first when she appears in the adult arc in the flower field on Lhant Hill and then when fighting Richard in Lhant. In both cases Asbel was losing big time.
• The Big Girl: She's the heaviest hitter, and she uses fist weapons. It helps that she was created as a living weapon. She's pretty much the most powerful member in the party overall, if the anime cutscenes are taken into account. The only reason Asbel is REALLY able to beat her in a sparring match? Sophie did it so she could make sure she could fight without an urge to get serious and attempt killing things. In other words, she was holding back the entire time.
• Combat Medic: Uses fast-charging single-target healing Artes while beating monsters to death with her bare hands.
• Cute Bruiser: She can kick major amounts of ass while sporting girlish pigtails.
• Dark and Troubled Past: She was lab grown as a living weapon to destroy Lambda.
• Deadpan Snarker: Rarely, but it shows up. Notably:
  Malik: Right into next week!
  Sophie: I've traveled back in time from next week. Please stop throwing monsters at us.
• Determinator: Once she discovers her reason for being, nothing will stop her trying to destroy Lambda, except for Asbel sacrificing himself instead.
• Duel Boss: Optional, if you view a certain skit between her and Asbel. She does it to make sure she can fight a friend without having the urge to destroy them.
• Emotionless Girl: Subverted. She is certainly capable of feeling emotions, just very bad at identifying and expressing them. This is eventually lampshaded by Cheria.
  • Suffice it to say she gets better at it. By the time the Lineage & Legacies arc rolls around she's probably one of the more emotional members of the party.
• Energy Being: Sophie is an artificial human comprised mainly of light particles. Dispersing and reforming later is how she survives death in the prologue.
• Expy: With the pigtails, mysterious past, naive view of the world, flower motif, and being a Token Mini-Moe, Sophie very closely resembles Primula.
  • Also for Presea, an Emotionless Girl with pink pigtails who's also one of the party's heavy hitters.
• Flower Motifs: Sopherias, for which she is named. Also, related to the meadow where she was found and made the friendship pact.
• Happily Adopted: During the epilogue, Asbel adopts Sophie into the Lhant family as his daughter.
• Hates Being Touched: At least, when Pascal's doing the touching.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Sophie's entire purpose for existing is to sacrifice herself to destroy Lambda. Asbel isn't having it and stops her every time, except when he was a child. There, she actually dies protecting Asbel, Cheria and Hubert. She gets better, though.
• Light 'em Up: Her attacks have a definite "light" theme.
• Lightning Bruiser: Has the highest defense, high attack, and she's fast, too.
• Literal-Minded: In some of her speech and win quotes. She grows out of it as she learns more about the world.
• Little Miss Badass: Sophie looks like an early-mid teenager and she's easily the most powerful party member story wise, especially against Nova monsters.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: Her body is made to destroy Lambda. She eventually passes this on to the rest of the party.
• Meaningful Name: She's named after a flower. However, she isn't an Innocent Flower Girl.
• Mysterious Waif: She appears out of nowhere, with no name and no memory.
• Mythology Gag: Some of her skill poses took pages from Farah Oerstead, as well as Hermana when she uses Beast. It seems most if not all Tales brawlers will use that pose.
• Never Found the Body: Never found after her Heroic Sacrifice seven years ago, hinting that she survived.
• No Social Skills: She never really had any reason to learn them, but she tends to sometimes say stuff in the skits she really shouldn't, like that peaches look like Cheria's butt. Asbel and Cheria help her learn social skills though.
• Odd Friendship: Sophie's an artifical human who looks like a young teen, and is friends with two high-ranking noble soldiers, the king of Windor, a 40 year old Knight-Captain and Fendelian ex-revolutionary, an Amarcian savant, and Cheria.
• "Open!" Says Me: She tends to respond to locked doors with a somewhat... straight forward approach.
• Power Copying: She adapts parts of the other party members' movesets into her own.
• Really 700 Years Old: It's not known exactly how old she is, but she's way older than she looks, as she was made a long time ago in a lab. She's only slightly younger than Lambda, and definitely older than human inhabitation on Ephinea.
• Replacement Goldfish: Briefly, and the trope is examined, as Asbel tries to figure out if it's the 'real' Sophie, or a replacement. Turns out it is in fact the 'real' Sophie, she just has Identity Amnesia.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: Sophie is a highly advanced humanoid designed to kill Lambda; it only makes sense that she'd look human incase she needed to interact with humans.
  • In addition to looking human, she also eats (complete with taste) and even sleeps. How this works isn't really explained.
• Rummage Sale Reject: Her shoes look more like loafers than traveling shoes.
• She Is All Grown Up: Played with. While the epilogue shows that she already matured physically, she chose to retain her immortality so that she may watch the world as per the Little Queen's request. Her age-up was caused by fusing the Little Queen with herself.
• Shout-Out:
  • Many of her moves come straight out off Street Fighter.
  • One of her DLC outfits comes from The Idolmaster, itself another Bandai Namco Entertainment game — specifically, Eri Mizutani from the Dearly Stars games, which counts as a Casting Gag, with both girls being voiced by Kana Hanazawa.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: She gains a new outfit in Lineages and Legacies as Asbel's daughter, an official member of the Lant family.
• Super-Empowering: The reason why Asbel, Hubert and Cheria have special powers is because when she died, she distributed her particles to them.
• Super Gullible: She's not dumb, but she's highly naive and prone to falling for Blatant Lies from her companions (in one post-victory skit, it's revealed that Malik told her her pigtails help her fly).
• Token Mini-Moe: She's one of the shortest members in the party, and very cute. .
• Trademark Favorite Food: Crab omelettes, AKA "crablettes".
• Unexpected Successor: Asbel's in line to become the next Lord of Llant. Sophie becomes Asbel's Happily Adopted daughter. She essentially becomes the Princess of Llant through adoption.
• Waif-Fu: She's barely taller than a young teenager, yet is capable of gracefully beating the crap out of anything that she needs to.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Doesn't quite understand human emotions for a long time. Even towards the end of the game, she doesn't understand the concept that the party would be sad if she sacrificed herself.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Thoroughly averted by the main cast (outside of Sophie herself...at first). They eventually realize that Sophie is actually a humanoid designed for combat, but she's capable of doing most things humans do (including sleeping, eating, and feeling emotions) and they don't treat her any differently than they would anyone else. Asbel in particular is infuriated when she says she's going to make a Heroic Sacrifice because it's what she was designed for. She lives.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Struggles with this during Lineage & Legacies. She dreads the death of her friends as she doesn't want to be left alone, going as far as to ask Pascal if she can make her human.

Hubert Lhant/Oswell

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese, teenager), Mikako Takahashi (Japanese, child) and Steve Staley (English, teenager)

Asbel's younger brother. The more quiet, responsible of the two, Hubert likes to point out his maturity compared to Asbel a lot.

His Accelerate Mode is Arrow Squall ^note JP: "Arrow Rain", which damages enemies in a wide area for a limited period of time.

---

• Aloof Big Brother: Inverted, due to being the younger sibling. Upon his initial return to Lhant, he's very cold towards Asbel and perfectly happy to challenge him to a duel and then kick him out of town upon winning.
• Always Someone Better: Played with. When he's first sent away to Strahta, he assumed that his parents loved Asbel more than him. The truth is that Aston wanted to avoid a messy succession crisis between his sons, having once been in that situation himself.
• Ascended Fanboy: Some of his self-taught artes are inspired from comic book superheroes. Now he gets to kick ass like his idols.
• Badass on Paper: Played with. Hubert is famous in Strahtan and respected by most of its military, and has improved the most within the group. He also tries very hard to act like the coolest person in the world. However, once he becomes playable, it turns out that this is just his preferred image to the public. Deep down, he's still the same compassionate and easily-spooked boy he used to be... and a colossal geek.
• The Battle Didn't Count: Apparently, he loses on purpose during his rematch with Asbel.
• Birds of a Feather: Hubert finds a kindred spirit in Richard in Lineage and Legacies, as it turns out Richard is just as geeky as Hubert is and the two of them get into passionate, in-depth conversations about comics, literature, and other related topics.
• Butt-Monkey: In some of the victory poses, especially when Sophie is involved.
• Captain Obvious: Just once, in the childhood arc, but still hilarious:
  Kid Hubert: They say people with amnesia have trouble remembering things!
• Closet Geek: His fighting style is based off of a comic book (which he tries to deny), and Sophie can catch him playing with action figures. One skit also shows him mimicking actions from Starfish Rangers.
• The Comically Serious: After the time skip, he's an icy military man who tries to always be the coolest person in the room. It's played for laughs a few times.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Nearly dying several times and being sent off to live with people other than his parents will do that to a kid.
• Declaration of Protection: Hubert makes one to Strahta's guardian dragon should the decision come down to either the country's destruction or saving Richard.
  Hubert: I will not abandon Strahta, the land who took me in while my own abandoned me!
  Asbel: Hubert—
  Hubert: Asbel! If the decision comes between Richard and Strahta, then my mind is made up!
• Defrosting Ice King: Develops a huge soft spot for the party, especially Pascal, as the story goes on.
• Disguised in Drag: His performance as the evil queen in the play is hilarious but convincing.
• Double Weapon/Guns Akimbo: He uses a double-bladed sword that can turn into a pair of handguns. It also turns into a bow that can fire energy arrows.
• Duel Boss: Two of them. The first is required, and it's a Hopeless Boss Fight. The second is an optional skit battle, and it's implied that Hubert threw the fight.
• Fridge Brilliance: Commented on by Malik in-universe. Hubert's rematch is surprisingly easy, given that he's a Hopeless Boss Fight in the beginning of the game. As it turns out, he allowed Asbel to win just to keep his spirits up. While Hubert never directly admits it, his sarcastic tone with Malik makes it clear that Hubert lost on purpose.
• Glass Cannon: Has the highest attack power out of all playable characters, but his defense is rather low.
• Gratuitous French: The original name for his fourth Mystic Arte, No Quarter, is "Renverse Raison" or "reversed reason"
• Guile Hero: Eventually turns as one with each moment he's in Asbel's group.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: His first Duel Boss encounter. Even if his HP is reduced to its bare minimum, it can't be completely depleted. And if the fight goes on too long, Hubert just uses his Mystic Arte and instantly ends the fight.
• Jerkass: Kicked Asbel out of Lhant (then took it for himself), exiles him then goes to disrespect their mother.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nevertheless, he cares a lot about Lhant and even disobeys orders in order to protect it. He also held on to that Good-Luck Charm Asbel made him when they were kids.
• Likes Older Women: Borderline case. There's a bit of Ship Tease between him and Pascal, five years his senior, not that she acts like it. Amped up in the Future Arc.
• Lord Country: He was this in the childhood arc, before being adopted by the Oswells.
• Magic Knight: A strange variation. He uses his guns to "fire" his magic at targets. Yes, it's awesome.
• Not So Stoic: During his Mystic Artes, Hubert expresses more emotion, mostly anger though.
• Otaku Surrogate: He's a fan of Ephinea's equivalent of the Power Rangers and as revealed in a skit, his fighting style was inspired by a comic book he read as a child.
• Perpetual Frowner: Though he grows out of it as time goes on, he's this way as a child out of fear, and as an adult out of contempt.
• The Red Mage: Gains a healing and a status-curing arte along with offensive ones.
• Second Place Is for Losers: After he is adopted by the Oswells, he refused to accept anything but first place in everything he did, both for his new family, as well as getting back at his original parents for abandoning him.
• Separated by a Common Language: In the English dub, his first Mystic Arte is named, "Broadside Waltz". While the intention was obviously to evoke the image of a battleship's cannons, "Broadside" is also the name of a popular beer in the UK.
• Shock and Awe: Mastery of electric artes seems to be inherent, though he can also use ice, light, dark and earth artes.
• Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Takes this attitude towards Asbel frequently, for being 'naive and foolish'. Even after he mellows out, he remains more pragmatic and cynical than his brother. Also used to hilarious effect in skits - especially regarding marriage and kids. Though as it turns out he's not against either if the relationship is good. Hint, hint.
• Sixth Ranger: He's the last member of the party to join.
• Spectacular Spinning: Several of his artes have plenty of him spinning his double lance.
• Stoic Spectacles: His standard expression behind his glasses.
• Straight Man: He usually plays this role in his comedic scenes.
• Surrounded by Idiots: Very pompous and many of his win quotes are rather condescending.
  Hubert: That would've been perfect if you hadn't botched the finish.
  Pascal: Aww! Flattery will get you nowhere!
  Hubert: You insufferable woman...!
• Took a Level in Badass: He was quite cowardly as a child. The incident with Lambda changed all that, though.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: This as well, big time. Though he's still a nice guy underneath it all.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Rice Omelettes.
• Tsundere: Towards Asbel and Pascal, but later on mellows down. This gets lampshaded by Cheria on more than one occassion.
  Cheria (talking about Rice Omelettes): So you still like 'em.
  Hubert: I do not! ...But I have nothing against them, either.
  Cheria: And how do you feel about Asbel?
  Hubert: I...have nothing against him.
  Cheria: He he he! I knew it!
• The Unfavorite: He believes he is this, since his parents sent him away to Strahta when he was just ten.
• Unmanly Secret: Zigzagged with his fanboy-ish interests. In some cases, he has no problems debating canon with other characters. But when Sophie catches him playing with "Beach Brigade" toys, he tells her that the Beach Brigade is a branch of the Strahtan military dedicated to waterfront protection.
• Uptight Loves Wild: He's cold, orderly, pragmatic and hopelessly crushing on Pascal.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: But growing up in a military household hardened him considerably.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: During his reintroduction post-time skip. He wants to protect his homeland and boots Asbel out of it to do just that.

Cheria Barnes

Voiced by: Shiho Kawaragi (Japanese) and Laura Bailey (English)

Granddaughter of the Lhant household's butler. She has a crush on Asbel and is the party's main healer.

Her Accelerate Mode is Temporal Rift ^note JP: "Freeze Time", which freezes time for enemies.

---

• All Love Is Unrequited: Ultimately subverted, because in the end Asbel finally reciprocates.
• All Loving Heroine: Raymond has her abducted and tries to have her killed, then tries to kill himself when he's found out. What does Cheria do the next time she sees him? Heal his injuries and gently chide him for trying to kill himself.
• Badass Adorable: Cheria is just as combat-capable as the rest of the party, but is also a Team Mom and very caring towards the rest of the party.
• Berserk Button: Don't suggest escaping through the Rockgagong's butt. Just don't.
• Butt-Monkey: Has been trolled by everyone in the party (sans Asbel).
• Catchphrase: She says "Un-believable!" with such high emphasis many times.
• Cherry Blossom Girl: Pink hair, healing powers, kind disposition, Love Interest, a cherry blossom tree during Garden of Innocence...and she's called Cheria.
• Childhood Friend Romance: After the Future Arc, she marries Asbel and has children with him.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Anyone else even showing a passing interest in Asbel earns her ire.
• Combat Medic: The main healer in the game, but she's also a capable mage and very useful with knives.
• Damsel in Distress: Downplayed, because she's rescued seconds after the fact.
• Dark and Troubled Past: She nearly dies with Asbel and Hubert, and was extremely sickly as a kid.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: To a quicker extent than Hubert, where the prodigal Asbel is concerned.
• Delicate and Sickly: As a child, she had an unnamed illness that prevented her from exerting herself for very long. Despite this she follows Asbel and Hubert around on their adventures, even when they end up fighting monsters.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: She's the best at cooking in the game, at least initially.
• Flechette Storm: Her Lv.3 Mystic Arte, with a helping of Time Stands Still.
• Girly Girl: Well, she's the most self-conscious about her appearance out of the 3 female leads, and it's always played for laughs.
  [PPHHOOFFF!!]
  Cheria: GGGGGYYYYAAAAHHHH!!! [runs off]
  Richard: What was that?
  Pascal: Dude, Weird! That's how Cheria looks when she wakes up in the morning!
  Asbel: Hey, What happened? I heard someone scream!
  Pascal: The excessive moisture made Cheria's hair go all—
  Cheria: [muffled] Pascal! Don't tell him that!
  Asbel: Cheria, are you OK?!
  Cheria: [Still muffled] NO!! Stay back! Don't Look At Me!
• Girly Run: On the world map, this is how she moves. She doesn't do it in cutscenes, oddly enough.
• Healing Hands: Part of being Touched by Vorlons before the time skip.
• Holy Hand Grenade/Shock and Awe: Her offensive spells manifest as these two elements.
• I Will Wait for You: Deconstructed. Her crush on Asbel has her invoke this when he leaves before the Time Skip, but his lack of writing to her, visits, or in general contact with her, leave her very angry at him. When he does return only after his father died, the fact that he still doesn't realize Cheria has been waiting for him all along leaves her very upset.
  • It's also a Reconstruction when Asbel reveals why he was so busy, apologizes for all the hurt he gave her and does his best to make up for it.
  • Finally it gets inverted by the time the Future Arc happens. Asbel is pretty much settled in at Lhant while Cheria continues her relief work becoming very busy in the process. At the end, Asbel plays this straight telling her that he will wait for her for as long as it takes.
• Lady of War: Able to fight at short- and long-range, can cast offensive and healing spells, and uses fast-acting artes. Her Accelerate Mode can even be used to stop enemy Mystic Artes during Eleth Break.
• Meido: She exhibits a few traits, notably her habit of clasping her hands in front of her when walking or standing idle. Makes sense as she was a servant of the Lhant family. She's far from submissive however.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Pokes fun at this with one of her victory quotes: "Next stop: high society. Ohohoho!"
• Not So Above It All: Cheria usually acts as the straight man to the rest of the party, but some skits have her acting awkward or showing that she's not quite as mature as she wants to seem.
• Only Sane Man: Usually plays one in skits.
• Out of Focus: Her Character Development stops after she finally chews Asbel out for abandoning her, and the game leaves open ends as to the progress of her character and/or her unrequited love. Thankfully the Updated Re Release makes her romance with Asbel more important.
• Plucky Girl: She's easily the most optimistic in the party and doesn't let things get her down after she starts getting along with Asbel again.
• Princess Phase: Still in it, despite being eighteen. She's against having the party put on a play until she's asked to play the princess. She sounds almost deliriously happy when playing the roll.
• Raised by Grandparents: It is noted by one of the NPCs that her parents are dead thus leaving her under her grandfather's care mostly.
• Redhead In Green: Not in her default outfit, but her swimsuit and formal costume both use a lot of light green.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Her temperament and character fit this trope, since she has pinkish red hair and for most of the game is a member of a relief organization.
• Shock and Awe: Her offensive artes that don't revolve around throwing knives are lightning-based. She gets everything from a small lightning bolt all the way up to Indignation.
• Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: Thanks to Sophie dispersing into her, Asbel and Hubert at the end of the childhood arc, Cheria recovers from her illness and by the time of the Adult arc she's strong enough to fight with Asbel and the others.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Asbel may have been a bit of a jerk as a kid, but Cheria still liked him for the kindness he displayed. Unfortunately for her, the seeks part ends up being a problem for her.
• Team Mom: Lampshaded several times. Such as when Pascal suggests forming a family living in the Rockgagong, casting Cheria as the mom. Or when Asbel (upon being referred to as "Dad" diverts a question to Cheria, outright calling her mom.
  • Team Chef: According to the skits, she also does the majority of the cooking.
• Time Master: Her Accelerate involves her stopping time, and one of her Mystic Artes is basically a giant Dio Brando Shout-Out.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Pascal's tomboy.
• Took a Level in Badass: Being Touched by Vorlons turned this once ill girl into an fighter in her own right. After the time skip, she learns to wield throwing knives like a pro and also has some powerful magic at her disposal.
• Touched by Vorlons: How her powers manifested, after Sophie imparted her power onto the Lhant brothers and herself.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Grilled chicken. "Real women eat chicken!"
• Trauma Conga Line: Consider what she goes through as a little girl. Asbel constantly leaves her behind because she's sickly. Even with good intentions, it still huts to keep getting left out. After finally getting to be friends with four other kids, a monster attacks all five of them and Sophie has to sacrifice herself to save them all. She can't see Richard again because he's a prince, Hubert is sent away to the Oswells, leaving her with only Asbel... who leaves her for seven years after he runs away from home. This leaves her the only member of their five-man band left home.
• Tsundere: Although she's a little heavier on the tsun than most of them in the beginning.
• White Magician Girl: A slight variation. Her weapons are knives, but her physical attacks are rather weak. She can use light-elemental magic and has plenty of area-of-effect healing spells.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Like Tear and Annie before her, Cheria is afraid of ghosts in a few skits.

Pascal

Voiced by: Kana Ueda (Japanese) and Kate Higgins (English)

Pascal is a genius researcher and technician with quite a few screws loose. She is loud-mouthed, cheerful, and serves as the heart and soul of the group.

Her Accelerate Mode is Runic Shield ^note JP: "Round Shield", which dramatically decreases the amount of damage taken by all allies within the area of effect and prevents stagger.

---

• Always Someone Better: She's better at technology than her sister Fourier, much to the latter's envy.
• Ambiguous Disorder: Of the "autistic" variety. She's a genius with somewhat child-like social skills, often failing to read the mood of a situation. She often becomes obsessed with things and will pursue her new obsession to the detriment of everything else. Not to mention she's just plain bad at noticing subtleties like Hubert's crush on her. The latter is eventually Played for Laughs in Graces f.
• Artificial Brilliance: Her AI does seem to understand the Gang Up on the Human tendency, and will flank enemies while they are attempting to gang up on the player.
• Artificial Stupidity: Her AI, simply put, does not handle her gimmick well, making her way more effective when played by a player.
• Badass Adorable: Pascal has wacky victory quotes and is always happy-go-lucky.
• Boom Stick: Her weapon, which also doubles as a staff.
• Buffy Speak: She uses this whenever it comes to working machines.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Deconstructed. Pascal is a genius with the mindset of a preteen. And her older sister Fourier is none too happy about it. She is so envious of her sister's incredible intelligence and skills that she'll rant at Pascal with the slightest provocation, and is so frustrated that Pascal beats her in practically every field of study save biology that their reunion is just a hairsbreadth short of Pascal getting strangled. It's also this jealousy that drove Fourier to continue with dangerous experiments that could literally wipe out the entire country she lives in with a massive explosion. Both characters start to undergo some Character Development once this comes out in the open.
• Cloudcuckoolander: She may be a genius, but she's incredibly easily distracted.
• Cool Big Sis: She gets a big sister-like title that notes how Poisson relies on her, implying that they have this sort of relationship. There are also a couple of skits where Sophie describes her as a big sister. She often tries to invoke it with hubert, calling him "Little Bro".
• Difficult, but Awesome: Pascal's statistics make her, bar none, the most powerful character in the game in terms of resilience and raw damage output... if she can get going. Pascal is just as capable at leaning into the combo-centric combat of the Tales Of series as Asbel or Sophie, but Pascal pays for her abilities in an unorthodox fighting style that demands micromanaging her self-buff artes and her casting time to initiate melee-spell combo strings at peak efficiency. When mastered, she excels in dispatching any enemy.
• Distaff Counterpart: Pascal and Fourier's relationship is basically a gender-flipped version of that between Hubert and Asbel, where the younger sibling ends up becoming more successful than the older one. The difference is that Asbel held himself better than Fourier did.
• Ditzy Genius: When it comes to Amarcian history and technology, she's the best there is. Everything else? Not so much. Hell, come Asteria, and when the problem rises that regular people can't see Seraphs, she just invents a device to see them.
  Fourier: How can someone be so brilliant in the lab but so clueless everywhere else?
• Duel Boss: For Cheria, as the latter finally has enough of Pascal's personal hygiene issues in f and resolves to force her to get clean.
• Elemental Powers: Specifically she gets wind, water and fire. She also gains a light spell that lets her heal allies.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Plays with this in regards to the point the narrative is at at a given point in time, despite being a Cloudcuckoolander.
  • Generally, Pascal is by far the fool among the sisters; she's an unmatched scientist, but in literally every other metric (besides combat, which she also has her sister beat in) she is edged out by her on-the-ball sister - most crucially, from a social perspective. She's responsible insomuch as she ensures her work is done to help others, but by her own admission, some attempts by her to fix broken objects she doesn't have immediate proficiency working with take risks others would find insane.
  • The plot leading up to and during the Fendel Arc shows how Pascal's unflinchingly benevolent and heroic nature can put her in a more responsible role, as Fourier's jealousy issues can lead her to take much more dangerous risks intentionally in her research if it means getting a chance to show up Pascal. Pascal is also the most active Amarcian in the plot, taking as much responsibility for the Fodrans and the Amarcians as she can and doing her best to ensure a positive outcome working with the party.
• The Gadfly: Wavers between this and Innocently Insensitive. She seems to love getting a rise out of Cheria and telling Sophie tall tales (though not to the extent of Malik).
• Gender-Blender Name: 'Pascal' is a French unisex male-gendered name. The feminine form of the name would be spelled 'Pascale'.
• Genius Slob: Pascal tends to bury herself in her research and admits to forgetting about personal hygiene more often than not. According to a skit, another reason is that apparently Fourier always used up so much of the hot water when she bathed that there was none left for Pascal to use.
• Genki Girl: She's always in a good mood, and always tries to cheer everyone else up when they're sad.
• Hates Baths: Despite her claims that she just forgets to bathe, this is all lies — there's a segment in which Cheria actually goes into battle against her to force her to take a bath. If she didn't really hate them, then this shouldn't be necessary. Also, hilariously, one of the pictures shown during the closing credits of Lineage and Legacies depicts Pascal being held tight and scrubbed in a bubbly washtub by Fourier, with Poisson standing by quietly.
• Hollywood Tone-Deaf: Oh dear God... When she sings, she's so happy she doesn't care if her songs have no rhythm or tune.
• Hot-Blooded: She's one of the first party members to leap headlong into danger.
• I Have No Idea What I'm Doing: Her method of "fixing" Duplemar, a massive eleth crystal that essentially powers all life on the continent and could explode with simple mishandling, is drilling it a bit and smacking it with a hammer.
  Pascal: I was just winging it, but it looks like it mighta worked.
• Innocently Insensitive: Several characters within the game note that Pascal seems completely oblivious to the effect her words have on those close to her, both for good and for ill (although sometimes she seems to deliberately troll people just for her own amusement). It's played for laughs most of the time, but Pascal winds up on the receiving end of some drama when she completely fails to recognize that, despite all the hero worship she throws her big sister's way, her accomplishments are driving Fourier away.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: At least with Cheria. A running gag in skits featuring her and Cheria is Cheria interpreting some action of Pascal's as a sign of Pascal being more kind or empathetic than she lets on, only for the next thing Pascal says to disprove that assumption.
• Master of All: Pascal has the best overall statistics in the party. Whereas most characters have one core statistic they excel in over everyone else, Pascal has two, in the form of Defense and Cryas Attack, making her an exceptionally resilient mage. All her other statistics besides her Cryas Defense are the second or third best in the party. Pascal also has several artes that allow her to threaten enemies from any range and an arte that lets her zip to foes, making her a magical Lightning Bruiser. The caveat to all this is that Pascal is Difficult, but Awesome to use; her combat style has her A-Artes as shotstaff fire while her B-Artes are melee-range spells, complete with the requisite casting time. While she can combo enemies just as efficiently as any other character, she has a very steep learning curve.
• Meaningful Name: Pascal is named after Blaise Pascal, a famous real-life mathematician, fitting given her brains. Her sister Fourier is named after Joseph Fourier, another famous mathematician.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: When playing as Pascal, the way her artes operate will feel a bit backwards. Her A-Artes are long ranger rifle shots while her B-Artes are gliph based AOE spells centered at her position. It'll take some getting used to.
• No Sense of Personal Space:
  • She got uncomfortably close to Sophie in her introductory cutscene.
  • Her desire to touch Sophie is a Running Gag that carries over into the win quotes. "Oh, you finally recognized my greatness? Let's celebrate with a high-five! (Sophie has made a discrete exit.)
• Oblivious to Love: She's totally oblivious to Hubert's crush on her to the point that he flat-out tells her and she's still clueless.
• Older Than They Look: She's 22 years old. She looks five years too young, and acts less than half her age.
• One of the Kids: She's the most childish of the party and it shows throughout the game.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Pascal doesn't suffer Shoo Out the Clowns all that much; therefore the few times she DOES act serious, it's best to be paying attention.
• Perpetual Smiler: Contrasted with Hubert's Perpetual Frowner.
• The Pigpen: Never LOOKS it, but is repeatedly stated that, due to her frequently missed bath appointments, she tends to have a rather unpleasant aroma. Cheria eventually strongarms her into bathing, culminating into a playable fight between the two.
• Plot Device: Need info about ancient ruins? Pascal knows about them. Need to find a way to infiltrate a fortress? Pascal knows a path. Need to fix the Criath? Pascal can do that. Need the Global Airship? Pascal knows where to find it. And that's just for starters.
• The Red Mage: A minor version, as she has a healing spell, but it also doubles as an attack spell.
• Robot Buddy: Her Dream Fandom spell lets her summon a robotic Sophie replica titled "Mecha Sophie" that combines Macross Missile Massacre with Frickin' Laser Beams.
  • Graces f gives her Dream Strikers / Fever Dream, which summons a matching Mecha Asbel!
• Say It with Hearts: There are several that surround her during her introduction cutscene.
• Scarf of Asskicking: In fact, it's her accessory/sub-armor slot.
• Science-Related Memetic Disorder: She must have it something fierce, the way she acts. She can never focus on anything for more than a few minutes at a time.
• Ship Tease: She has some moments with Hubert in the main story, and even more in the future arc.
• The Smart Guy: Not that you would ever think it to look at her.
• Squishy Wizard: Averted - she can take more than a couple hits, usually having the best physical defense in the game. Likely because she has to get really close to her enemies in order to cast her spells, and plenty of her artes are ranged.
• Summon Magic: She uses Summon Magic as her Blast Calibers and for some of her artes.
• Technobabble: Played with.
  Pascal: It's a cinch! You just tappy tappy on this thingamabob here, and then ka-chunk on the little dongle.
  Asbel: I have no idea what you're trying to say.
• Token Index: She's the only party member who isn't present at all in the prologue, and the only character without any previously established ties with the party before joining.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Bananas and pies made with them.
• Trash of the Titans: Pascal's house is absolutely PACKED with tons of random junk and cast-off bits from her various technological experiments.
• Wrench Wench: She's a mechanical genius, despite all the Buffy Speak.
• You Didn't Ask: Her reasoning for not telling the party that she's actually Amarcian before they need help from her tribe. Then again, the party should've seen the clues whenever they talk about Amarcians: she's always referring to them.

Malik Caesar

Voiced by: Hiroki Tochi (Japanese) and Jamieson Price (English)

Asbel's instructor from the Knight Academy. Asbel looks up to him as his mentor and role model. He's the second offensive mage of the group.

His Accelerate Mode is Harsh Lesson ^note JP: "Grapple Dance", a 35-hit melee attack that grants him immunity to physical damage while being performed.

---

• Badass Back: A man speaks with his back after all... a back that can fire a hugeass beam, that is.
• Blatant Lies: Ninety percent of what he passes off as "facts" about the world to Sophie are basically just for him just to see the party's reaction when she repeats said facts.
• Chick Magnet: Several NPCs comment on how he's a lady-killer and one woman who got dumped during a small side scene is flirting with him on the rebound by the end of it.
• Cool Old Guy: He is 40, believe it or not.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's very snarky and often trolls the party on several occasions, but mostly towards Hubert and Asbel.
• Duel Boss: Optional, if you view a certain skit, between him and Asbel. Malik does it to see if Asbel is truly prepared to back up his talk about "protecting everyone." And indeed, if you lose, he gives Asbel a rather harsh "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Though ironically (and fittingly), despite being the toughest of the Duel Boss encounters, his is the only one between a character and Asbel where the other character wasn't holding back. Asbel earned that victory.
• Expy: Malik looks and sounds similar to Van Grants, and both of them mentor the main character.
  • His Accel Mode is a series of kicks that seem vaguely familiar...
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: He never got over Lorelia. As trollishly as he goes about it, he's trying to protect Asbel and Hubert from going through the same thing.
• Four-Star Badass: Well, what do you expect from a gruff old knight?
• The Gadfly: Among many things, he has a habit of telling Blatant Lies to Sophie with a straight face. He also keeps taunting the other characters about their love lives.
• Glass Cannon: An odd variant. He has the highest HP of the cast, but one of the lowest defense stats as well.
• Heartbroken Badass: It doesn't show up much, but there's plenty of signs that he still has regrets about what happened with his ex-girlfriend.
• Hypocritical Humor: When Sophie called him out for his last usage of Eternal Serenade, he's quick to retort that the one he won't use again is "Eternal Serenyade". In the English version, he replies with saying it was "Eternally Sauteed" that he sealed away forever.
• Intergenerational Friendship: He's old enough to be the rest of the party's father. This is a frequent source of teasing, and Pascal decides he is the grandfather of the group.
• Kamehame Hadoken: One that emanates from his back!
• Knight in Sour Armour: Not an extreme example, but he's noticeably more cyncial and pragmatic than the rest of the group (sans Hubert), and plays a part in his tragic backstory.
• The Lancer: Tends to be the experienced and pragmatic counterpart to Asbel's idealism.
• Magic Knight: In that he is a mage who can defend himself with weapons rather than a weapon-fighter with magic.
• Mercy Kill: Attempts to give one to Richard at World's Eye, but Asbel stops him.
• Older Than They Look: Due to a combination of flashbacks and A Minor Kidroduction, Malik is seen at the ages of 20, 33, and 40. He looks exactly the same at all points.
• Overly Long Name: This one's a doozy! Say it with me:
  • Tremorous Celestial Sundering Shredding Light of Cyclonic Butchery!
  • Or in Japanese: Shinten Rekkuu Zankou Senpuu Messai Shinbatsu Kassatsugeki!
• Playing with Fire: Most of his Blast Calibers incorporate this.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: He uses a boomerang sword in battle.
• The Reliable One: He always has sound advice to give when it's needed most and he always has Asbel's back.
• La Résistance: He was a key part of the resistance movement against Fendel's autocratic government.
• Shipper on Deck: For Asbel/Cheria and Hubert/Pascal. Richard joins him in this for maximum hilarity.
• Shout-Out: His DLC Detective outfit makes Malik look like Albert Wesker in his S.T.A.R.S uniform (which is also ironic considering he has Chris Redfield's Japanese voice)....
• Spectacular Spinning: His weaponized boomerang. He even surfs on it for some moves!
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: His main attack throws his boomerang sword, and it always returns to him.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sea bream porridge.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: One of Malik's skits reveals that he almost shot Kurt with his dads gun when he was 3 years old.
• Troll: He seems to delight in teasing the party, and convincing Sophie of ridiculous truths, such as the little-known fact that Pascal is actually a fish. "Let's search for gills."
• Welcome Back, Traitor: Although Hubert and Lambda don't forgive him quite as easily.

Richard

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese, teenager), Yuko Sanpei (Japanese, child), David Vincent (English, teenager) and Wendee Lee (English, child)

The pacifistic, gentle, though somewhat aloof Prince of Windor. As a child, he befriends Asbel and Sophie.

His Accelerate Mode is Arcane Vigor ^note JP: "High Spell", which doubles his casting speed.

---

• The Atoner: In the f scenario, Richard feels he owes a debt to the world for the things he did while under Lambda's influence.
• Back from the Dead: He is killed by a random Mook quite early on. Fortunately for Richard, Lambda's power kicks in and revives him. Unfortunately, this allows Lambda to get a foothold in his psyche.
• Berserk Button: Betrayal. Thanks to Lambda's influence, his interpretation of a "betrayal" becomes incredibly loose.
• Big Bad Friend: Much of the drama of the game is wrung from Richard's apparent Face–Heel Turn. But it turns out he's simply possessed by Lambda for the bulk of the main story.
• Big Brother Instinct: Sophie eventually comes to assign every member of the party a 'family' relation to her (Asbel is her father, Cheria is her mother, etc), and designates Richard as her 'big brother'. He falls into the role rather nicely, privately sharing with Sophie a location he would go to as a child when he was having a rough day, and passing it onto her.
• Birds of a Feather: In Lineage and Legacies, it's shown that Richard shares similar interests with Hubert in comics and literature, and the two of them repeatedly get lost in deep conversation about their favorite topics, sometimes forgetting about anything else going on around them.
• Blow You Away: Until Graces f, which has him just as often Playing with Fire, most of his physical artes had a wind theme. This is rather fitting since his kingdom is literally named Windor.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being an otherwise levelheaded person, he also moonlights as the Mask of Barona, and once participated in a prestigious swimming competition... While wearing his usual regalia.
• Camp: Just look at his hand gestures. And then there's his Graces f costume. It could only be camper if it was florescent pink.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Richard ascends to the throne of Windor 1/3 of the way through the story after killing his traitorous uncle, barely making the cutoff at 19 years old. By Lineage and Legacies he's approaching 21 and identifies as an adult, but he's still a very young King.
• Closet Geek: As it turns out, he's just as much of a geek as Hubert, and the two of them are prone to to having long conversations about comics and adventure stories during Lineage and Legacies. Unlike Hubert he doesn't seem to be embarrassed by his interests or attempt to hide them, it's just something about him that isn't immediately obvious.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Though it isn't particularly good either... Eventually played straight in Lineages and Legacies, where he works towards amending the previous arc's problems. And he keeps his default outfit and dark affiliated spells.
• Deal with the Devil: He made a deal with Lambda as a child, allowing it to reside within his body. Richard survives the lethal dose of poison given to him by Celric, and Lambda survives the lethal wounds inflicted by Sophie.
• Despair Event Horizon: The infamous "TOMODACHI HUARGGGGGGGG" / "FRIENDS HUARGGGGGGGG" scene, where Richard, in one precarious moment barely holding onto his sanity, is swayed into to believing that he has been abandoned to die by his friends. This, coupled with Lambda's infleunce, completes his Face–Heel Turn.
• The Dragon: To Lambda after the latter fully takes him over.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Lambda's influence causes him to violently lash out at everything and everyone who slights him. It gets worse when Asbel tries to bring him back to his senses, as Richard interprets that as an act of betrayal from his first true friend.
• Distressed Dude: Despite on the surface being the face of the main antagonist and seemingly working with Lambda willingly, ultimately this is closer to the truth of Richard's situation. The mission to stop Richard turns instead into one to saving him from Lambda towards the end, with Richard actively wishing either for rescue or death.
• Easily Forgiven: On a global scale. From cackling atop giant evil Nova dragons to getting key-chains and snacks made in his image!
• Elemental Powers: Wields primarily Wind and Dark artes. Graces f adds Fire, Lightning and Light .
• Expy/Reused Character Design: He looks a lot like Dhaos in his darker clothes.
  • Of Rassis 'Ras' Fomalhaut.
• Evil Costume Switch: As a child, Richard was a very sweet boy who favored primary colors and white. Seven years and one possession later, he's wearing an awful lot of black...
  • Evil Makes You Monstrous: After Lambda took near-complete control, his hair turned white, his eyes turned red, and he sprouted wings, claws, and horns, among other things.
• Fragile Speedster: He's one of the fastest party members, but takes some of the highest damage, and he's a Squishy Wizard, too.
• The Gadfly: The thing about Richard is that he's shown to a Deadpan Snarker Par-excellence. After he joins in the future storyline we start seeing his "Wacky eccentric" side, and it becomes hard to tell when he's being serious or is just messing with everyone's heads. He even manages to best Malik on occasion.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When he's possessed by Lambda.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: His sharp, narrow, heavily-outlined eyes should be your first clue that something isn't exactly right with him. Oddly enough, however, his eye shape stays the same in Lineage and Legacies when he's no longer possessed by Lambda.
• The Good King: In Lineage and Legacies. To the extent that the whole kingdom (and beyond) loves him.
• Guest-Star Party Member: He has less titles and skills than the rest of the cast, and gets his Lv.1 Blast Caliber much earlier, though he gets promoted to full party member in Graces f's Lineage and Legacies.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: In Lineage and Legacies, where he tries to atone for his past behaviour and improve life not only for people in Windor, but everywhere. His friendship with Asbel and Sophie (and the rest of the party) becomes warmer and more considerate too.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Starts off as a face, then slowly turns heel until he's the main antagonist. Once Lambda is freed from him, he goes right back to being a face.
• Hellish Pupils: After his first mutation, he has black eyeballs with glowing red irises.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: Asks Asbel to kill him on a temporary bout of control over his own body. Asbel refuses.
• If I Can't Have You…: Pretty much the reaction the party gets from Richard when he misinterprets Asbel's good intentions of saving him as an act of betrayal. And now we'd better hightail it the hell out of here before he kills us.
• Incurable Cough of Death: Suffers from a weak constitution and doubles over in pain every so often. This is because as a child he was given a lethal dose of poison by Cedric. The only reason he's not dead is because he made a deal with Lambda to keep them both alive.
• Large Ham: Particularly when under the guise of The Mask of Barona.
• Light Is Good: Exemplified in Lineages and Legacies, when he is free of Lambda and back to being a 100% good guy, his outfit changes from dark hues to eye-blindingly bright colors. He even learns several light-based artes in this arc.
• Lonely Rich Kid: At the start at least. At 12 years old, it's implied he never had a real friend before Asbel and Sophie.
• Love Freak: Downplayed, but while friendship is a major theme throughout the game, friendship is borderline Serious Business for Richard. Due to him never having a friend until meeting Asbel and Sophie, he treasures that bond very strongly, and the perceived notion of being betrayed causes him to react very badly, though this is in part because at the time, his emotions were being influenced and amplified by Lambda. He's shown wanting to do anything he can to express gratitude to his friends, and actively tries to encourage the bonds between the people around him. He even has a set of titles labeling him as a friend of every party member should he battle alongside them enough times.
• Magic Knight: His A artes are all physical attacks while his B artes are magic spells.
• Married to the Job: A Lineage and Legacies skit reveals that he's been having Dalen forward all his paperwork, and he's been staying up late every night to get it done. Even though they're on a journey to save the world, and have been on another planet for most of it.
• Modest Royalty: Primarily in the Child Arc and Future Arc. For a chunk of the main story though?... not so much.
• More than Mind Control: He calls himself Lambda's "servant" even in one scene when he's not under his control. Says it all, really.
• Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: Poor Richard undergoes not one, but two near-death experiences, being fatally poisoned in his childhood by his own uncle, and then getting stabbed through early in the main arc. Literally, the only reason he remains alive is the fact he's undergone Demonic Possession by the Eldritch Abomination Lambda, who evidently has the ability to ressurrect his host. With even the possession itself eventually becoming dangerous to Richard's existence towards the end, Richard basically spends most of the game barely clinging onto life.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: He fears that his time as a villain could be this during Lineage and Legacies. He is completely wrong.
• Only One Name: Unlike the other nobility-associated party members, Richard doesn't have a surname on his profile. A victory quote reveals that his proper name is Richard of Windor, however.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: His 'superhero' alter-ego, The Mask of Barona, is little more than covering his face with a mask and his hair with a turban. No one in the party is fooled by this, except for Asbel and Sophie.
• Power Copying: He can learn a move from each party member after being in the party long enough, including Double Moon, Moonlight Circle, Lightning Blast, Deathmire, Infernal Prison, and Antidote.
• Recurring Boss: Thanks to Lambda, you'll fight him nearly five times.
• Royal Rapier: He's a prince who becomes king later on after killing his uncle and uses rapiers in battle.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: In the main storyline, he travels with the party to stop the uprising caused by his uncle. In Lineage and Legacies he's taken on the enormous task of paying for the war debts caused by his rampage when influenced by Lambda.
• Shared Unusual Trait: One red eye, one yellow eye. The red one is caused by Lambda, who has red eyes, possessing him, and returns to normal after Lambda leaves his body.
• Shipper on Deck: He is a very enthusiastic support for Asbel and Cheria's relationship, as well as Hubert's feelings for Pascal - though like Malik, it appears at least part if it is because he garners great amusement from doing so.
• Sixth Ranger: Come Graces f, he'll become a permanent ally once Lambda is released from him.
• Spoiled Sweet: He's a prince and later a king, but never acts like he's above anyone except when Lambda's influence over him gets too strong.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Lambda acts like this at first. Then gets worse.
• Technical Pacifist: As a child, he despises the idea of war and fighting. In fact, pacifism is a core quality of his personality, which is why him suddenly becoming consumed by a desire for revenge is highly unsettling and a sure sign that something very wrong is happening to him.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Between his childhood and adulthood, like everybody else. Lampshaded by Cedric just before the fight with him. Turns out that's because Lambda's in control.
  • Gets a proper level in badassness in Graces F where he becomes more playable and stronger.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: With most of the major stressors in his life gone, and a solid base of loyal friends and supporters to lean on, the Richard of Lineage and Legacies six months after the main game is a much more jovial and freespirited individual compared to how he was at the start.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Natto, much to everyone else's dismay.
• Troll: Especially when he joins in with Malik. It's often impossible to tell if he's being serious, such as wanting to make his citizens legally obligated to eat natto. Often in skits, if Pascal suggests something bizarre, he'll take it up to eleven.
• Universally Beloved Leader: In Lineage and Legacies, he's so beloved that Windor is raising money to pay off its war debts by selling merchandise like dolls and even snacks with his image on them, and Richard is horrified by how well it's working. Malik and Hubert also mention that he's more popular in Fendel and Strahta than their their own chancellor and president, who are implied to be elected.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: In the beginning of the game, we can see that Richard was a polite, kind, if rather lonely child with a good heart. Then Lambda happened.
• Walking the Earth: At the end of the lineage and legacies arc, Richard states that he dreams of travelling the world someday, with Asbel and Sophie by his side, of course.
• Warrior Prince: He fights against an entire army with the help of his friends.

Antagonists

Cedric

Voiced by: Masato Hirano (Japanese)

Richard's power-hungry uncle. He murders Richard's father — the King of Windor — to usurp the throne for himself, then sends his soldiers to assassinate the young prince to prevent him from claiming his rightful heritage.

---

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: His Cedric 2.0 ver-ver-ver-ver-version is pretty flawed-ed-ed-ed-ed-ed-ed-ed and random.
• Always Second Best: The reason why he murders his brother for the throne.
• Asshole Victim: Sure, brutally killing him was another sign of Lambda taking further control, but there's no doubt Cedric deserved a taste of Richard's steel right through his gut.
• Cain and Abel: With Richard's father. He succeeded in having Richard's father killed and the first part of the adult arc involves Richard getting revenge.
• Card-Carrying Villain: He doesn't get much characterization beyond this. Why does he want to take over the kingdom? Because!
  • Then again, greed and power are simple yet effective reasons. You get a kingdom and the power to rule over it all. Doesn't get much more complex than that.
• Disc-One Final Boss: After defeating him, the plot really starts to kick off. He's pretty irrelevant to it in the long run.
• The Evil Prince: He's been trying to kill Richard for years (And nearly succeeds) and succeeds in killing the King.
• Evil Uncle: Considering that he nearly succeeded in killing Richard, absolutely.
• Hellish Pupils: Just look at the closeup after he loses!
• It's All About Me: Just listen to his Boss Banter.
  "The throne of Windor is mine!"
  "The only one worthy of the throne is me!"
  "The kingdom is rightfully mine!"
• Large Ham: A moderate example.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Cedric's first assassination attempt involved the use of a strong poison. This would have succeeded if not for Richard's Deal with the Devil.
• Obviously Evil: It really couldn't be any more obvious if he huffed kittens before fighting you.
• Would Hurt a Child: He certainly isn't above repeated attempts at murdering his child nephew.

Kurt Bessel

A high-ranking soldier in the militaristic state of Fendel. He has a history with Malik and opposes the party during their search for Fendel's Valkines Cryas.

---

• Anti-Villain: He's not evil in the slightest, just extremely Genre Blind.
• Dual Wielding: Wields two giant spears with pistons on them.
• Flunky Boss: He keeps summoning guards to help him fight the party.
• Foil: His relationship with Malik, former friends who had a falling out and end up fighting each other, mirrors that of the protagonists and Richard.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He dies after trying to stop his machine from extracting fire eleth from the fire crystal.
• Improbable Weapon User: Dual-wielding shotgun spears.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Everything he did was to help his country prosper.

Amarcians

Fourier

Voiced by: Yumiko Daikoku (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)

Pascal's older sister, and by far the more responsible and mature of the two. Like Pascal she is a genius technician, but her field of study also includes biology and bioengineering, the only two fields Pascal is not as successful in.

---

• Aloof Big Sister: Played with. She acts coldy towards Pascal due to an inferiority complex and she resents the fact that everything she does, her ditzy little sister always does it better.
• Always Second Best: She secretly resents Pascal for copying everything she does but effortlessly doing it better.
• Big Damn Heroes: After a long absence, she comes to her sister's aid with a ton of chimeras to fend off Richard's monsters before they depart out of Ephinea.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Shrieks one at Pascal when the latter won't stop singing
• Expy: She's not QUITE one personality-wise, but her outfit is essentially a Gender Flip of that worn by Luke from Tales of the Abyss.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Is bitterly jealous of Pascal and her achievements.
• Insufferable Genius: Acts very conceited as a cover for her insecurities.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Like Pascal, she's named after another scientist.
• Summon Magic: Like her sister's summons, Fourier has Undine assist her in her Mystic Arte, shooting her foes with a big water beam.
• Tsundere: She's really mad at how easy things are for Pascal.
• Unknown Rival: To Pascal. Pascal practically worships the ground Fourier walks on and considers her a brilliant scientist and one of her main inspirations; Fourier, on the other hand, constantly feels overshadowed by her younger sister's genius and constantly seeks a way to outdo her.

Poisson

Voiced by: Suzuna Kinoshita (Japanese)

An Amarcian girl who is in training to become their next leader. She is extremely knowledgeable and dutiful, but also a stickler for the rules.

---

• Little Miss Badass: During the fight against her, she proves to be quite a challenge and proves why she's the next Overseer.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: A positive example — she once used her powers to foil another statesman's actions against Asbel.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She uses her powers to foil a statesman's actions against Asbel and always does her best to help when the party asks for it.
• Tagalong Kid: She is always happy to help Pascal and Fourier that she goes everywhere she's needed.
• Token Mini-Moe: She's the shortest Amarcian seen.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: It's uncertain how old she is, but she's incredibly mature and helpful.

Lhant

Frederic Barnes

Voiced by: Fumio Matsuoka (Japanese)

The loyal butler to the Lhant family and grandfather to Cheria.

---

• Battle Butler: As forced by Solomus in the Zhonecage to form up the Terma Ten.
• Calling Your Attacks: Super Demon Fang!
• Dirty Old Man: It doesn't show until you find out that the lapcomp Fourier lent to him has over 600 pictures of girls in their underwear (possibly also containing porn), one of them being Judith in a bikini.
• Improbable Weapon User: He uses a cane in battle along with made-up artes that have no names.
• Killed Off for Real: Subverted. The party has no way to avoid this, killing him by their hands, then it is revealed that his exposure to high amounts of eleth kept him alive.

Kerri Lhant

Voiced by: Akiko Takeguchi (Japanese)

Asbel and Hubert's mother. She lives in Lhant Manor, and has a good relationship with her children.

---

• Break the Cutie:
  • Her reaction to Asbel and Hubert's in-fighting.
  • Goes through this again after Hubert returns and seizes control of Lhant
• I Want Grandkids: She urges Asbel to get engaged at the age of twenty.

Aston Lhant

Voiced by: Yuuji Mikimoto (Japanese)

Asbel and Hubert's father, who commanded great respect as the lord of the Lhant territory. His death prompts Asbel to return home from the Knight Academy.

---

• Assist Character: For Frederic in his "Butler Bomber" Mystic Arte.
• Bus Crash: He died offscreen from battling the invading Fendel forces.
• Cain and Abel: The succession crisis between Aston and his older brother was extremely volatile, which is why Aston went to such extreme lengths to keep the same thing from happening with Asbel and Hubert.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: He did so to avoid a succession crisis in Lhant. Not only does it not work, it actually makes it worse.
• Freudian Excuse: Aston went to such extreme lengths to prevent Asbel and Hubert from fighting over rulership of Lhant because of what he went through with his own older brother.
• Irony: He sends Hubert away to be adopted by the Oswells to avoid a dispute over the lordship of Lhant between Asbel and Hubert. Not only does Aston's death cause a dispute to happen anyway, but Hubert's vendetta against Aston for "abandoning him" fuels the conflict in the first place. Oops.
  • To increase the Irony? Neither Hubert NOR Asbel had any desire to be ruler. In fact, if he hadn't sent Hubert away...Asbel would have happily FORFEITED the Lordship...
• Jerkass: Really could have been nicer to Asbel.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Kerri later reveals that he was frustrated of his emotional constipation when it came to Hubert and Asbel.
• Pet the Dog:
  • The only time we ever see him let Asbel get away without a scolding for his mischief it was to let his sons have one more happy day playing together before Hubert gets sent away. If you talk to him again after the cutscene he even urges Asbel to go out and play with his brother.
  • Aston encouraged Asbel and Hubert's friendship with Cheria, going against Keri's argument that the class difference made it inappropriate.
• Spare to the Throne: Aston is the younger son of Lhant's previous lord. The fiasco with his older brother over succeeding their father made Aston determined to avoid a repeat with his own children.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Caused a good bit of the conflict, by his parenting skills.

Strahta

Dylan Paradine

Voiced by: D.C. Douglas

The President of Strahta who Asbel and the party meet in their attempt to help Hubert keep his position as Governor of Lhant.

---

• King Incognito: Such as when you first meet him, he dresses up in less formal clothing to talk to you about the Rockgagong, though Malik quickly picks up that this knowledgeable recurring bystander isn't what he seemed. An NPC in Oul Raye muses that Paradine is said to dress up like a commoner to better observe his people, meaning it's not the first time he's done this, nor is it that well-kept of a secret.
• Nice Guy: He's patient, reasonable and happy to try and help out.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's happy to listen to Asbel's request and is willing to do what he can to help, but warns Asbel that he might not be able to let Hubert keep his position at some point in the future. He also lets Asbel and the party go to Duplemar and try to fix it and immediately afterwards, he recalls Hubert to send him with Asbel to Fendel so they can stop Richard and offers as much help as he can.
  • He also listens to many sources so he hears every side of the story when it comes to Lhant's occupation and Hubert's performance.
  • He also calls out Mr. Oswell on his scheming about Lhant and immediately has him removed from his position of power.
• Universally Beloved Leader: The majority of people that Asbel can speak to sing his praises and trust him to do the right thing for Strahta.

Raymond Oswell

Voiced by: Hiro Yuki (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

Hubert's cousin-in-law and second-in-command of the Strahta Army stationed in Lhant. He resents the fact that Hubert — an adopted member of the family — is seemingly given preferential treatment over himself.

---

• All Love Is Unrequited: Gets more heartbroken once Cheria hooks up with Asbel for good. Bailey shares the pain.
• Heel–Face Turn: After Cheria heals him, he becomes much less of an asshole.
• A Match Made in Stockholm: Inverted. He develops one for Cheria.
  • It evolves into Stalker with a Crush in the Future arc where he donates a lot of money to Cheria's relief organization and even visits it as an "inspector" of sorts. What a great guy indeed, Asbel!
• Right Behind Me: His attempt to take Cheria hostage and interfere with Hubert's request to get aid from their father probably would've lasted for more than a minute had Hubert not been standing behind him while presenting the blackmail to Asbel.
• Smug Snake: He grows out of this later.
• Standard Female Grab Area: He knows this technique and uses it on Cheria, who could have probably kicked his ass into next week (if not for all the soldiers around them at the time).
• Those Two Guys: With Bailey.

Races/Groups

Turtlez

A very bizarre race of friendly merchants found all throughout the adventure.

---

• Ambiguous Gender: A couple Turtlez here and there are given speaking roles where their voices are pretty clearly male, but it's generally impossible to tell the gender of a Turtlez just by looking at them when you meet them on the road.
  • There is also a Turtlez who gives birth and is called "Miss Turtlez" by Sophie, so we can assume they do have male and female members and reproduce sexually.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: Witness the birth of a Turtlez here.
  • The Dark Turtlez also molts after you beat him, discarding his old shell. Creatures with shells do indeed molt, but none of them do so amidst a flash of blinding white light.
• Cloudcuckoolander: There is not a Straight Man among them.
• Humanoid Abomination: Possibly. They have a lot of strange things going on...
• Legacy Character: Starting from this game, the race has shown up in future Tales game, alongside the Katz.
• Little Bit Beastly: It is shown in some side events that the shell is not a part of their costume, but a part of their biology, making them humanoid but not human.
• Nice Guy: They're generally pretty affable and easy-going characters.
• No Hero Discount: Most of the time, unfortunately. However, at a certain point in the game you do have the option to take a provisional Turtlez Transport that is completely free.
• Teleport Spam: It's unclear how they are able to appear wherever they wish without warning. Perhaps it's Summon Magic, perhaps they have Super-Speed... whatever the case, their appearance is instantaneous and so comes across as teleportation. They can even appear instantly on an alien planet if you call to them with the Turtlez Flute!
• Verbal Tic: See Xtreme Kool Letterz below.
• We Buy Anything: Barring items such as MacGuffins.
• We Sell Everything: Averted. They tend to sell mostly basic supplies and you will need to go to weapon and item shops to find more specialized equipment.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: They havez a tendency to addz a certain letterz to many of their wordz.

Spoiler Characters

WARNING: Each of these characters is a Walking Spoiler. Spoilers in their folders will be unmarked!

The Forsaken Child

Lambda

Voiced by: Shigeru Nakahara (Japanese) and Keith Silverstein (English)

A mysterious being whose presence influences many events in the story. Lambda is an immortal Energy Being who resides within Richard for the majority of the game. As he does not have a physical body, he possesses other people and grants them access to his limitless power, effectively making them immortal. However, Lambda can also whisper into the mind of his host, sewing seeds of mistrust and eventually taking them over completely. Which is even worse than it appears, as he regards humans with (understandable, given his past) utter disgust and fear.

---

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In a sense. Lambda existed before he was turned into a humanoid, but being in a humanoid body effectively made him a Ridiculously Human Robot with the mindset of a newborn. Cornell tried to raise him as a normal human, but Emeraude was having none of it, brutalizing him and refusing to teach him anything about the world, ethics, or humanity apart form demonstrating how brutally humanity treated him. Unsurprisingly, this caused Lambda to become a psychopath who trusts absolutely no one.
• Berserk Button: Treating him as inhuman. This happened a lot when he was forced to take the form of a monster, which is one of the reasons why he's so screwed up now.
• Big Bad: Of the main story.
• Break the Cutie: His backstory in a nutshell. He was experimented on Fodra, and everyone he ever cared about was murdered when they tried to protect him.]]
• The Corrupter: How he exerts his influence on Richard, aggravating his grudge against the world and sense of isolation until he becomes The Caligula, and from there a willing conspirator in Lambda's plot to destroy humanity.
• Creepy Child: His humanoid appearance. Based on his appearance when he had a robot body, at least.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Raised with contempt and malice by all except for one doctor.
• Demonic Possession: Possesses Richard, though it's a bit more complicated.
• Despair Event Horizon: Crossed this when Cornell died, deciding that humanity as a whole was beyond saving and needed to be destroyed if her was ever going to be safe.
• Didn't Think This Through: His plan is to become an Omnicidal Maniac, thanks to his Dark and Troubled Past. When Asbel asks him how Lambda intends to survive if everything else on the planet is dead, Lambda doesn't really have a response to that.
• Eldritch Abomination: A energy being born from Fodra's core. Uniquely, his lack of Blue-and-Orange Morality is what turned him evil, since being summoned caused him to develop a more human mindset. One capable of being hurt.
• Energy Being: Was originally just a being made of energy from Fodra's core before being placed into a hummanoid body.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Played with: He generally sounds deeper when he's doing something evil, but far lighter when he's being nice.
• Final Boss: Becomes a Climax Boss in Graces f. Even so, he's the final boss of the main story, so there's that.
• Hive Queen: Can control any monster infected with Nova energy.
• Humans Are Bastards: Asbel ultimately talks him out of it.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: What Asbel eventually realizes is that he bonded so deeply with Richard and took pity on him to make a Deal with the Devil in the first place; he saw a kindred spirit in Richard and attached himself to Richard to have someone to talk with. This convinces Asbel that Lambda isn't completely irredeemable.
• Mook Maker: He has the ability to create new life forms from eleth and put his eleth in existing monsters, creating Nova creatures. This ability is what interested the researchers, since they thought they could use him to generate an army to fight the Little Queen.
• Never Be Hurt Again: His ultimate motive. After being treated so badly, he wants to ensure that he's never hurt by humans again. The reason he has to be stopped is because he's going to take this to its logical conclusion.
• Omnicidal Maniac: His original goal was to exact revenge on humanity, which, to his eyes, is an Always Chaotic Evil race of monsters. Ultimately deconstructed as Asbel points the futility of omnicide. This complete obliteration of this goal, along with a strange respect for Asbel, is what causes Lambda to take him up on his offer of showing him that humans still have a sense of decency.
• One-Winged Angel: That weird angelic monster that attacked Sophie? That's him in his battle form. Develops Bishōnen Line elements after he merges with Richard, as he grows elements of his battle form out of Richard as opposed to looking completely inhuman.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He was initial put in the humanoid body of a small boy, and developed the mindset to match. Being tortured by Emeraude caused him to stall at that mental age forever, acting like an abused child who lashes out at everything that looks like it might be trying to control him.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's been sentient for at least a thousand years, if not more.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His original body has them. Ironically, when he was in that body he was fairly harmless.
• Ridiculously Human Robots: Was given a humanoid body to explore the world after he was summoned from Fodra's core. Even after Emeraude destroyed it, he still uses it as his passive, humanoid form.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The entire world is his can! Subverted, in that he did it himself, since finally allowed him sanctuary. He was not happy when he was forced free.
• Talking the Monster to Death: This is how Asbel finally manages to get through to Lambda and stop his reign of destruction.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When he was summoned, he was little more than a good-natured newborn in a young child's body. Then the Ancient Amarcians confiscated him from his father figure, abused him for years, killed his father, destroyed his body...
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: This is exactly what caused his Start of Darkness. Lambda's only wish is to be treated as a person, and not just an energy source. Being forced to take the form of an Eldritch Abomination didn't help matters, and eventually Lambda decides to turn this philosophy back on the humans.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: He hates humanity for taking the things he loved away. Asbel deconstructs this as part of Talking the Monster to Death, pointing out that his lashing out is only going to make his life worse by removing what's left of his sanctuary.

The Mad Scientist

Emeraude

Voiced by: Eriko Hirata (Japanese) and Tara Platt (English)

A young researcher who the party find sleeping in a pod on the planet of Fodra. Emeraude is highly knowledgeable about Lambda, Sophie and most of the backstory. She is largely responsible for Lambda's Start of Darkness, having carried out a series of cruel experiments upon him with the goal of restoring the war-torn Fodra to its former glory.

---

• Artificial Human: This Emeraude is actually a Humanoid with the memories of the original, long-deceased Emeraude. One major difference between this and the original Emeraude was that the original was wheelchair-bound while this one walks with no problem.
• Dark Action Girl: She fights the party and proves to be a very challenging adversary.
• Evil All Along: She helps the party only because she really hates what Lambda did to her.
• Evil Cripple: Used to sit in a wheelchair until she got herself a new body.
• Evil Is Hammy: Absolutely devours the scenery when she tries to absorb Lambda.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Tries to absorb Lambda to save Fodra (and, as a totally unrelated side-bonus, become a god). Lambda finally loses it, since she forgets that he's also a sentient being, not some ordinary power source (and this misconception was exactly what led to Lambda's Start of Darkness in the first place), and Lambda destroys her from within.
• Exact Words: Her schtick. While discussing with the party in skits, she chooses her words carefully. Initially, this comes off as innocent, but the ones who suspect her as actually Evil All Along notice.
• The Extremist Was Right: Subverted. She tries to reason that had Cornell not gotten too close to Lambda and let her destroy him when she had the chance, a whole lot of grief could have been avoided. Then Asbel and friends see Lambda's memories and realize that the only reason Lambda started killing people in the first place was because Emeraude and the directors were treating him like crap. On some level, she was attempting to buy time against the Little Queen, but her absolute refusal to ever view Lambda as a sentient being or treat him as having rights of his own rather than teach him empathy, plus her own Revenge by Proxy on Cornell, is what sent him over the edge.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Her body explodes. Granted, she had a Humanoid body at the time, but still.
• For Science!: How she justifies what she does to Lambda. The party disagrees.
• A God Am I: Goes drunk on her newfound power after absorbing Lambda.
• Greater-Scope Villain: In a way. She's responsible for Lambda acting the way he does since she pretty much tortured him horrible, killed his father figure in front of him, and made a humanoid warrior to hunt him down forever.
• Hijacking Cthulhu: Tries this on Lambda. It actually works at first, but she eventually loses control of him. It doesn't end well for her to say the least.
• Human Popsicle: She's sealed in a cryogenic chamber when first met.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Refers to Sophie and other Humanoids as "it". This is actually Lamp Shaded by the game in a skit titled "The 'It' Factor" in which the party calls her out on this.
• Love Makes You Evil/Woman Scorned: She had a crush on Cornell, which he did not reciprocate because he felt it would be unprofessional. She mistakenly believed it was due to Lambda taking up all of his attention, and she decided to Murder the Hypotenuse.
• Ms. Exposition: She explains a lot about Protos Heis once you meet her.
• Mysterious Waif: Most of the time she travels with the party, she's very mysterious and only provides the bare minimum in exposition.
• The Stoic: Not the most emotional of party members while she travels with you.
• Temporary Party Member to Villain: Downplayed. Emeraude joins the party when they meet on Fodra, but you never actually get to play her in battle; she just accompanies the party and stays in skits. Once Lamda is forced out of Richard's party, she betrays the party to use Lamda's power for herself, which backfires and leads to her death because treating Lambda as a power source rather than a living being is what led to his Start of Darkness.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Restoring Fodra is an admirable goal and all, but she crosses some serious moral boundaries to do it.

The Terma Tenth

Solomus

An entity in control of the Zhonecage, part of the seal placed on Ephinea to prevent Lambda from escaping. He was supposed to just observe the planet, but thanks to the EX Dungeon turning everything into a Tournament Arc, he goes a little nuts and decides to assemble an invincible fighting team called the Terma Ten, all with the goal of destroying Ephinea to "save" it from Lambda.

---

The Planet's Wrath

The Little Queen/Fodra Queen

Voiced by: Yoshino Nanjo (Japanese), Lauren Landa (English), Mika Doi (Japanese, Fodra Queen) and Jessica Straus (English, Fodra Queen)

A mysterious woman who appears in the "Lineage & Legacies" scenario of Graces f. She has a strong connection to Sophie, as if looking like her as an adult didn't give it away. She is actually a manifestation of Fodra itself, born from the eleth of its core.

---

• Assimilation Plot: Essentially what she wants to do with Sophie, and perhaps Ephinea as well.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: Played with. While the vast number of Little Queens does relegate them to Mook status — especially compared to the Fodra Queen — their boss fights are still dangerous because each Little Queen can use the powerful Purification Mystic Arte, meaning you can get hit with up to four Mystic Artes in rapid succession during an Eleth Break.
• Dark Action Girl: Morphs into the final boss of the game, and is skilled with physical and magical artes.
• Flower Motifs: Becomes more obvious when she transforms into the Fodra Queen.
• Gaia's Vengeance: This trope personified. She's the eleth of the planet's core, wanting to engage in an Assimilation Plot.
• I Am Legion: Right before the Little Queens merge into the final boss.
• Kamehame Hadoken: She can fire beams out of her hands. In one dungeon, they even chase you through the floor!
• Magic Knight: She uses both physical and magical attacks and both pack a punch.
• Me's a Crowd: There are hundreds of Little Queens, and they're all manifestations of the Fodra Queen.
• Mook Chivalry: In the battle where you fight ten Little Queens in a row, only four of them — a number equal to the number of party members you have — attack you at once.
• Mysterious Waif: At first, she appears only to Sophie, with no explanations of who she is or what she wants.
• One-Winged Angel: Becomes the Fodra Queen when all of the Little Queens assimilate into one.
• Power Floats: She uses her powers to float instead of walk or run.
• Rummage Sale Reject: The gloves really don't match with the rest of her outfit.

---