Luke is the son of a duke in Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, and has been kept locked up in his family's manor since the age of ten after an incident in which he was kidnapped by an opposing nation and developed complete retrograde amnesia. In that time, he's grown up into a spoiled and selfish person with little regard for anyone outside of his immediate circle of friends. After he is inadvertently teleported halfway across the world with Tear, his journey to return home leads to some startling discoveries about himself: not only is he a prophesied Chosen One, but he possesses the power of hyperresonance, a force that can reshape reality itself.After a certain incident, he vows to change himself for the better and gives himself an Important Haircut.As the main character, Luke is a pure swordsman. He is balanced in both attack and defense, and his combat style specializes in chaining artes to keep the enemy off-balance.
A Million is a Statistic: Averted. While he never knew any of the people there, it's clear that Luke feels incredible guilt over his role in the destruction of Akzeriuth, to the extent that atoning for it becomes the defining point to his character.
Blank Slate: He thinks it's amnesia, but it's really this, having been born as a replica.
Blessed with Suck: In regards to the fact that he has the power to cause hyperresonances on his own but it gets abused by the Big Bad, and it's also supposedly too unstable to use in battle. Doesn't stop him from launching it at enemies anytime he uses his Mystic Arte, though.
Butt Monkey: The world of Auldrant seems to exist solely to break Luke's mind into tiny little pieces as often and as brutally as possible, and almost all of his otherwise noble friends and family seem only too glad to help it out.
The Chosen One: Only "not really but kinda yeah". Why kinda yeah? He's had the power of Lorelei all this time.
To elaborate, a passage in Yulia's Seven-Part Score says that a savior shall be born in the country of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear; a noble with hair of red, who shall be called "the light of the sacred flame". "Luke" means just that in Ancient Ispanian, and he is the son of a duke with red hair, so it's clear that he's the prophesied youth. And indeed, Luke Fon Fabre is the chosen one. However, it's not this Luke, but rather Asch. Luke is a replica created solely for the purpose of overturning the prophecy by allowing Asch to survive an event that is fated to kill him.
A later event seems to play it straight again by having Luke "destroy himself" (by performing an action that causes terminal fonon separation) "and his people" (Replicas) in the "miner's city" (the Tower of Rem used to be just that). However, so much of the Score has gone off track by that point that it'd difficult to say.
Cloning Blues: Realizing that he's a replica causes him no end of angst.
Easily Forgiven: Seriously, the guy basically commits an act of mass murder that results in one of the world's largest cities being utterly destroyed, and all he gets is the equivalent of a stern talking to and a time out.
Evil Knockoff: A complete inversion of the trope in every aspect.
Expy: He looks a heck of a lot like Zelos Wilder who is also a member of the nobility who acts like a jerk. And he uses a number of the same artes, with the exception of not having magic.
God in Human Form: Has the power of the most mysterious and special of Auldrant's seven god-like beings, though Asch is somewhat more powerful.
Good Eyes Apathetic Eyes - His eyes are drawn quite a bit wider after his haircut than before, most likely due to less apathy from him post-Heroic BSOD. They also give him a younger look which may be in keeping with the reveal that chronologically and mentally, he's really seven years old.
Guilt Complex: After the events of The Reveal tore Luke's sense of self-worth into little-itty-bitty pieces, he becomes susceptible to this kind of thinking, and the rest of the party have to keep a close eye on him to keep him from going over the edge. It begins spiraling out of control in the last third of the game.
Heroic Wannabe: Leading up to Akzeriuth. Though this is really just a means to an end for him.
Horrible Judge of Character: Frankly, after Akzeriuth trusting almost anyone at all would qualify him for this trope.
Idiot Hero: He even admits it himself. Justified in that, even before the dramatic reveal, he only remembers the last seven years of his life and was basically under house arrest and deliberately Locked Out of the Loop that entire time.
Internalized Categorism: After he finds out that he's Asch's replica, he gets a massive inferiority complex about whether or not he should even exist. It gets especially bad in the lead up to the Tower of Rem, when he goes from Heroic Self-Deprecation into full-blown Fantastic Racism (towards his own kind). He gets better.
It's All My Fault: Luke's mindset through about the middle of the game till just before the end.
Jerkass: Before Akzeriuth, he's abrasive, arrogant, and typically has selfish motives for his good deeds (he wants to save Akzeriuth so that he'll be a hero and be freed more than out of concern for the people)
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his mouth, he pretty much automatically helps people when he sees them in trouble and is one of the few RPG protagonists who are completely and utterly averse to killing. This of course means that the plot forces him to destroy an entire city against his will, and then later consciously choose to disintegrate what are basically thousands of newborn clones in order to save the world from being covered in poison. See Butt Monkey. Ion probably put it best when he said that Luke was always kind, he just wasn't very good at showing it.
Kid Hero: Made all the more shocking when you realize Luke's really only seven years old. His true age and the ramifications of being thrust into so many difficult decisions and dangerous situations is pointed out several times.
Lethal Chef: No where near as lethal as Natalia, however. At least his food is edible.
Never My Fault: After the destruction of Akzeriuth, he refuses to take responsibility for what happened, at one point repeatedly shouting "It's not my fault!" This is what finally drives the rest of the party to leave him. He gets a lot better after hisImportant Haircut.
Pet the Dog: Even before he loses his Jerkass attitude, he has a soft spot for Ion.
Reality Warper: His power of hyperresonance, which he uses during his Radiant Howl Mystic Arte. However, lacking any kind of finesse over it, he just forces his power into a ball and shoves it into his target.
Reckless Pacifist: At first, his aversion to killing puts himself and his allies in danger and winds up causing Tear to get injured. Moving past this is one of the earliest stages of his extensive Character Development.
Royal Brat: Initially; his mother is the king's sister.
Say My Name: In the voice dramas, when Asch takes a blow from Van meant for Luke and bids Luke farewell as he dies, Luke screams his name in anguish: before proceding to kick Van's ass: ASSSSSHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUU!
Secretly Dying: Post-Tower of Rem. Though it turns out by the end that everyone knew.
Semi Divine: Pretty much the same package as Asch as his replica albeit a weaker version.
Spanner in the Works: His existence 'as a replica' threw Yulia's Score off track.
Sphere of Destruction: His "Radiant Howl" Mystic Arte has shades of this. Not to mention what happened at Akzeriuth.
The Southpaw: Luke is left-handed. However, Asch wields his sword with his right hand. It's unknown if he used to be left-handed or if Luke's handedness is a flaw in the replication of Asch.
It's the former. Character design materials apparently note that Asch was born left handed but was brought up to learn how to use his right for "proper etiquette" reasons. Perhaps the fact that this wasn't enforced on Luke is a sign of how much more spoiled his upbringing was compared to Asch's.
Thou Shall Not Kill: He really doesn't like killing. Ultimately averted, though, in that he realises that it is unfortunately necessary.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Ambassador Asshat. He wasn't exactly a role model from the start, but after being appointed as an ambassador, he noticeably becomes much more irritable and quick-tempered, impatient to meet Van at Akzeriuth. The fact that he is Locked Out of the Loop by the rest of the party only provokes him even more.
Younger Than They Look: He’s only seven years old, the kicker being that nobody trustworthy, not even himself, is aware of it.
Interesting side note: Luke's one of the oldest replicas encountered in game. The only one that's older than him is the Nebilim replica, who's probably more than twice his age. However, he is the oldest Seventh-Fonon-based replica.
Tear Grants
"It's not easy to regain trust once you've lost it."
Born Mystearica Aura Fende, Tear is a Seventh Fonist from the Order of Lorelei who- at the beginning of the game- attempts to assassinate her brother Van Grants. She accidentally teleports herself and Luke halfway across the world, and stricken with guilt she vows to return him home. Though she carries herself as a soldier, Tear possesses a powerful mothering instinct and a weakness for girly or cute things. As a Songstress of Yulia, she can sing hymns that bestow powerful magical effects.Tear is the main healer of the party, and possesses several spells for creating Fields of Fonons. Though Tear's healing spells heal less damage than Natalia's, they have a large area-of-effect.
Boom Stick: She uses her wand to fire beams of light at her enemy rather than using it for closed-quarters combat.
Buxom Is Better: People don't seem to pay much attention to her large tracts of land for the most part—until it gets lampshaded in some skits and Luke uses them to taunt Anise.
M-me-melons, what do you mean melons!? Are you stupid!? Can't you be a little more quiet!?
General Ripper: God Generals on the loose? Van is behind it. Fon Master kidnapped? Van is behind it. Anything slightly suspicious? Just know Van's gotta be involved somehow. Somebody left the cooker on? It has to be Van. It probably was Natalia. ...Yeah. See where we're going with this?
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Some of the stuff she says can really sting, and she does pull that Moral Dissonance crap (see said trope below), but she's also a very loving and sensitive young lady.
Lawful Stupid: Very much so. It's subtly implied that raising her as this was deliberately done by the Yulia City elders to help her adhere to the Because Destiny Says So attitude of the Oracle Knights. Ironically, she's actually more open to the idea of changing destiny than she is breaking the rules of her society. She gets better, though.
Words Do Not Make The Magic: Tear has to understand the lyrics, melody and symbolism of Yulia's Hymns in order to invoke their effects. Otherwise, they're just songs.
Moral Dissonance: She chews out Luke for trusting his beloved father figure Van, who then proceeded to use Luke to blow up Akzeriuth. However, she saw no problem with defending the honor of her direct superior Grand Maestro Mohs, even after it is readily apparent that he masterminded the repeated kidnappings of her ultimate superior and, by that time, close friend Ion, and was trying to send the entire world into war. She never seems to bring this up, even when its revealed that he knew and was fully supporting Van's actions regarding the destruction of Akzeriuth. And for added fun, so was her beloved grandfather, who also gets off with barely a shocked remark.
That is a result of Tear being raised as Lawful Stupid.
There's also not much to indicate that she even was that close to him outside of him officially adopting her and being the mayor of Yulia City.
Promotion to Parent: In a slightly different sense; Luke's mother promotes her to "sister" in a cutscene, but she still views Tear as someone that takes care of her son while she can't.
She was also on the receiving end. She and Van were officially adopted by the mayor of Yulia City, but Van was the one who ultimately took responsibility for raising her.
At one point, Luke is with Anise and Tear, and Jade makes a comment like "surrounded by hotties on either side," to which he tries to play this off as him talking about Anise and Mieu. (Mieu turns out to be a boy)
Guy is Luke's personal servant and "best friend", going so far as to travel into the middle of enemy territory looking for Luke when he goes missing. Though Guy is extremely charming, he suffers from a crippling case of gynophobia and freaks out if he is touched by a woman. He also has a geeky obsession with Fon Machines.In battle, Guy is a swordsman who sacrifices attack power for pure speed, in both his movement and rate of attack.
Ambiguous Disorder: Subverted. Guy's condition isn't explicitly pegged as gynophobia when it's introduced, but it's clear that the game isn't dancing around the issue of it. Strictly speaking, it's PTSD.
Ancestral Weapon / Cool Sword: the Jewel of Gardios, which can be seen hanging in the entrance hall of Luke's house throughout the game and is acquired through a sidequest. Like the Key of Lorelei it doubles as an Infinity–1 Sword in subsequent playthroughs, since it unlocks Guy's second Mystic Arte
The Atoner: He feels that he was partially to blame for what happened at Akzeriuth, because A). he was in cahoots with Van and knew that he was up to no good and B). feels responsible for raising Luke into the spoiled brat that was easily manipulated by Van.
Badass Boast: Before entering Overdrive mode: "You wanna see how strong I really am?!"
Black Comedy: His fear of women is funny. Until Guy remembers what happened to cause it. On successive playthroughs, the game's treatment of it before Guy gets his memory back can skirt quite close to Dude, Not Funny! territory.
Broken Ace: Charming, well-spoken, an accomplished swordsman, unfailingly kind and intelligent...it seems like Guy's only flaws are a few endearing quirks like his fear of women and obsession with fontech. Then you find out about his family's murder, and the plot to kill Luke in front of his father as a result. And that he knew Van was up to no good, and did nothing to stop him despite not really wanting Luke dead anymore. Then he holds a sword to King Ingobert's throat at the peace conference, and it becomes clear that he's not over his past nearly as much as he usually seems to be.
Does Not Like Women: A variant. He doesn't HATE women; he just can't stand being touched by one. And with good reason, which is that when his family was murdered he was buried in the corpses of dead women so being touched by women reminds him of that.
Double Agent: For Van, up until about the time of Akzeriuth. Subverted in that he's technically Van's Lord, and Van is more than willing to serve as his vassal, as long as Guy is willing to let him continue his plan to murder everyone else in the world. Suffice to say, he's not quite that interested in avenging his family, especially since he's gotten to like Luke.
Easily Forgiven: Even though he didn't realize how far Van had gone, Guy did still cooperate with him to work from the inside to destroy House Fabre.
Fragile Speedster: Guy is the fastest playable character, but can't take many hits.
Jack Of All Stats And by mid-game, he's the Jack Of All Stats and by endgame he's a full-blown Lightning Bruiser due to his ever improving defenses and HP and an increasing TP pool to spam his cheap self heal with and a reasonable (but not outstanding on higher difficulties) damage output.
Revenge by Proxy: What he was initially planning to do to Luke in retaliation for what Duke Fabre did to his own family.
Ship Tease: With Noelle during one sidequest. Though it turns out he actually just wanted her to let him pilot the Albiore.
Stepford Smiler: Guy is permanently good-natured, cheerful, and friendly. And he's been plotting with Van for years to kill Luke in revenge for his own family's murder at the hands of Luke's father.
Also known as Jade the Necromancer, Jade is the oldest character to join your party (being in his thirties). Born as Jade Balfour and adopted into the noble House Curtiss, he is a prodigy in fonon use and research. He grew up with the Emperor of Malkuth as a neighbor, and serves Malkuth's military as commander of the Third Division Forces. Unofficially, he's the Emperor's right-hand-man.Jade is (usually) calm and collected, and is always ready with a witty or sarcastic remark. He also tends to enjoy playing the age card to get himself out of physical labor (like pushing boxes). His fonic ability is sealed by an Artifact of Doom early in the game, restricting access to all but his most basic spells. He unseals his existing abilities as he levels up.Jade is mainly an offensive spellcaster, though he can also summon a spear for close-range combat.
Ambiguous Disorder: It's very, very clear that Jade's mind simply does not work in the same way that other people's do, but what exactly his mental difference is and what caused it is never really addressed, and since There Are No Therapists, it doesn't seem likely to be.
Broken Ace: Jade is so famous, so skilled, so renowned, so respected and so damn intelligent that more or less everybody who isn't a villain (and even then, some of those too) treat him with respect... None of which he's happy about. Why? Because he's not the god of a man people seem to think he is. He's a sociopathic, borderline Mad Scientist whose lack of emotional connection to the world and the people in it just makes their lives worse... and he's Genre Savvy enough to know it. As the story goes on, he seems to develop envy towards Luke; as he's able to overcome his flaws and develop true compassion for the lives of others whereas Jade struggles with very similar issues up to and beyond the game's end.
Character Development: Subtle and rather depressing. While he keeps an almost invariably cool facade, Jade is initially very emotionally detached and aloof to everything. As Luke grows and Jade gets to see the fruits of both his inventions and his apathetic treatment of others, he begins to increasingly loathe his work and curse his irresponsible detachment from his surroundings. Late in the game, during a particular skit contemplating both, he wishes he could go back in time and kill himself as a newborn and, for once, he doesn’t seem to be joking.
During a private chat with Luke, he confesses that he had guessed that Luke was a Replica long before The Reveal, but that he had withheld the information simply because he felt explaining would be a hassle. He’s very aware of the ramifications of keeping everyone in the dark about this, with no small amount of self-loathing.
Cool Old Guy - Parodied. Jade repeatedly pulls the "old man" card despite being only thirty-five and he's aware of how ridiculous this is when he states that he doesn't consider someone a true adult until they're in their forties. He just invokes it to get out of hard work.
CreepyChild Prodigy: To the extent of his own sister calling him a monster, since he used his genius-level skill in fonic artes to torture even the most helpless of monsters For the Evulz... but he got better after Professor Nebilim showed him the errors of his ways.
Colony Drop: A late-game sidequest grants him several "forbidden spells", one of which is Meteor Storm.
Crutch Character - Sort of. The first time he joins your party, he's level 45, while Luke and Tear are probably closer to 5. This changes very fast.
Cursed with Awesome - Jade admits on several occasions that his intelligence is a curse.
Glass Cannon: He's probably putting out better numbers than anyone else on Unknown difficulty, due to his huge Fonic Attack growth and very strong spells. However, he's got low physical defense growth and mediocre health and is the only character incapable of healing himself without special equipment and/or items.
Though the fact that his defence is weak can be rectified with any number of C. Cores that enhance defence, especially Tutti, a C.Core stolen in an optional boss fight that gives +4 to everything, making him a bit of a Game Breaker- impervious to damage, and strong in both physical and magic.
The Glasses Come Off: Before the fight with Van. Which is bad news for Van, considering the glasses act as a Power Limiter for his fonic powers.
Hot For Teacher: Subverted. While there's enough subtext to suggest that this was be the case, Jade confesses that he has difficulty in forming truly meaningful emotional bonds with others. As such, this gets denied.
Improbable Age: He created the first replica when he was nine. Played for Drama, however, when he and his sister reveal their awareness that such a thing was unnatural for a boy of his age. It's implied his use of torturing monsters For the Evulz with his fonic artes came not long after.
It Seemed Trivial: The reason why he kept the information concerning Luke being a replica to himself.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Implied to be what he did to Dist to extract information about Mt. Roneal. Of course, we're avoided on seeing how it's done via Relax-o-Vision (although Dist was screaming like a pussy), and Jade 'covers it up' with incidents about earthquakes awakening an underground monster.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Small but it's there, and becomes more noticable as the story progresses. He even gets a title called "Soft Meanie".
Sure you can be bitter, mean, nasty, sarcastic, and snide. But once in a very long while, only to those you trust, you can actually be nice.
The Leader: Pretty clear Type I for he protagonists.
Mad Doctor - A small sidequest results in him testing out an experimental treatment on the character of your choice. He gets a doctor's outfit costume title as a result. If you equip it for a battle, he tells Anise in a skit that he originally planned on being an autopsist, not a soldier.
Man Child: Subtly done for the most part, but it really comes out when he joins forces with Anise to tease the others, such as the moment when he joins in on tickling Guy.
My Sister Is Off Limits: He is not pleased when he discovers that the rappig Peony named after Nephry has the prettiest collar.
OOC Is Serious Business: As Luke ponders sacrificing himself, Jade says that "as (Luke's) friend," he feels compelled to stop it, something Luke says he never heard Jade refer to him as before. Jade then follows with an apology.
Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Zigzagged. At one point, Jade has an idea that might answer a significant plot point, but since he's not a physicist, he insists they go to consult one to make sure his theory will work, which looks like an aversion of the trope. Then the physicist they consult confirms that he's absolutely right...and calls Jade brilliant for thinking of it in the first place. This happens with other disciplines, too, though not to the same degree, and with occasional lampshading - while Jade's field of expertise is fonic artes, he's apparently very well-read in a wide variety of other subjects. Played straight, however, when it comes to biology as all he straight-up admits it's not his subject and can only make guesswork about the various creatures the group encounter. That said, he does seem to entertain the idea of dissecting them to learn more.
Overrated And Underleveled - Justified in a way that makes him seem even more awesome. Using a fon slot seal on someone is the equivalent of nuking them from orbit (at least in terms of cost).
Professor Guinea Pig: In his youth, he experimented on himself, which increased his Fonic ability by way of the Fonic Sight. However, during an experiment of harnessing the power of Seventh Fonons, it backfired horribly. Professor Nebilim's house was set ablaze and the backlash fatally wounded her. This course of events led up to his attempt of replicating Nebilim and her coming back as a bloodthirsty monster.
Red Eyes, Take Warning - And he did it to himself, when he was eight, by using magic to mutilate his eyes. "Fonic Sight" increased his power, but it's been banned now because the arte usually makes people go blind. Or insane. Or just dead.
Sociopathic Hero - Jade is aware of the concepts of right and wrong, but is unable to fully comprehend them. Unlike most Sociopathic Heroes, he is troubled by this and makes an effort to do the right thing.
Surrounded by Idiots: a playful variation "*Sigh* I'm babysitting a group of children."
Token Sociopathic Teammate: While Jade's not exactly evil, he's a lot less hesitant to Kick the Dog than the other party members and is willing to cross lines that nobody else would even approach. While he never quite loses the sociopathic streak, he does gain enough understanding of people to hold back on the dog-kicking before the game's end.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Peony, who is the only person ever to get away with teasing Jade as mercilessly as Jade teases everyone else.
What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Jade is the only main character in the game who is never shown taking an interest in anyone. This also extends to friendly compassion, to the point that Anise has to tell him flat-out that he's becoming concerned for their well-being when he starts questioning his feelings towards them.
You Monster!: Would you believe he used to be one? His sister straight-up calls him a "monster" because he was a sadistic freak in his youth, who tortured helpless animals no reason other than he found it entertaining. He only stopped being one because Gelda Nebilim was able to change him. Tragically, however, it was because he developed an immense love and respect for her that led to the Break the Haughty moment that puts the events of the whole game into motion: her death and his subsequent application of fomicry to living beings.
Natalia is the princess of the game, being in line for the throne of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. She is stubborn, haughty and an utter romantic. As Luke proposed to her before his amnesia, she constantly pesters and pressures him to remember the promise they made. When Luke leaves the capital on a diplomatic mission, Natalia stows along and blackmails her way into the party. Despite her overbearing attitude, she is a sincere ruler who only wishes to see her country and people prosper.Natalia is an archer who fights at a distance. She also possesses several healing spells. In comparison to Tear, Natalia's spells are more effective but only affect a single person at a time.
Absolute Cleavage - Her Star of Malkuth costume prominently displays her, er, assets.
Combat Medic - She can be played as either a healer or an offensive fighter.
Distressed Damsel - Ends up captured, TWICE. One of those times you actually have to save her.
Somewhat subverted, however, as while she does get captured twice, she's actually a very competent fighter.
Dude, Not Funny! / My God, What Have I Done?: She gives herself this treatment in-universe. She's extremely fond of teasing Guy for his fear of women. However, once she learns exactly why he suffers from it, she apologies instantly and stops ridiculing him for it.
Idiot Ball - Played purely for laughs. She's the first to swallow Anise's tall tales, and tends to make outright idiot decisions whenever the Rule of Funny calls for it. For example? She set a metal pot on fire by accident and tried to fix it by casting Heal.
Infinity–1 Sword - The Elven Bow. There are a couple bows that have better stat boosts than it, but you can only use her second level mystic arte Noble Roar when the Elven Bow is equipped, so most people end up using it.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold - Yeah, she's a bona fide Royal Brat, but at the same time she has legitimately changed her people's conditions for the better. As she progresses through the game, she loses the "Jerk" part completely.
Kissing Cousins - Subverted. Natalia and Asch were thought to be cousins before her parentage was revealed and it turned out that she was of no relation to Asch.
Luke, I Am Your Father - Though her father didn't tell her this himself, Mohs and the wet-nurse did. And even then, they didn't specify who daddy exactly was.
Overly-Long Name - Princess Natalia Luzu Kimlasca Lanvaldear... Wow, try saying that five times fast.
Parental Abandonment - Her real mother died before the game, and her father is one of the God Generals. Though not really her fault, as she was taken away from her biological parents as a baby to replace the real Princess Natalia, who was stillborn. As an attendant, there wasn't anything her mother could do about it and keep her job. Her father was away at war at the time, and couldn't do anything about it either, though he gladly would have.
Politically Active Princess: Despite her initial brattiness, she is very much one of these. Luke even refers to her as a "wannabe queen" at one point. She uses her influence for the benefit of her people or engaging in international diplomacy, to the point where she's already almost universally considered a much better ruler than her father, the king. The people in fact, are so fond of her that they choose to protect her even after her lineage is revealed, even though she is not a real member of the royal family.
Royal Brat - When she first joins the party she is extremely abrasive and acts rather stuck up, but mellows considerably after a short period. She does occasionally slip into these habits later on, but then she's usually quick to check herself and apologise At one time she said that she was trying not to boss Guy around so much but she was having trouble because she was so used to acting that way.
Royals Who Actually Do Something - The reason everyone in Baticul is willing to save her from the guards when it's revealed that Natalia's not the real princess. She actually does take good care of Kimlasca, and listen to the needs of its people.
Stripperiffic - Although her regular outfit is modest enough, her alternate costumes reveal quite a surprising amount of flesh; much more than anything the Gag Boobs character wears.
Strong Family Resemblance: Greatly resembles a younger version of her wet nurse/maternal grandmother.
True Blue Femininity: The three outfits you're guaranteed to see her in even without obtaining extra costumes (that is, her main outfit, the dress she wears when she's first introduced and her epilogue outfit) are all pale blue. Rather curious, considering her strong patriotism to Kimlasca.
The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: She does not look like her father. She doesn't look like her biological father either.
Anise Tatlin
"Come on! If you don't try harder then it's just annoying!"
Voiced by: Haruko Momoi (JP), Jolie Jackson (EN)
Anise is a Fon Master Guardian, the personal bodyguard and aide of Fon Master Ion. Her sugary sweet appearance and demeanour hide a ruthless and money-hungry personality that dreams of marrying into money and violently curses out enemies. She also works as a subordinate to Jade.She is known as a "puppeteer", and can make her plushie Tokunaga grow to an incredible size. She uses this ability to ride Tokunaga into battle and beat her enemies into submission. Anise is also a powerful spellcaster in her own right.
Action Girl: "Ionian Sergerant and Fon Master Guard WINS!"
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: downplayed as they have little screen time but when they do show up they embarrass her with their lack of common sense.
Chef of Iron/Supreme Chef/Team Chef: The majority of the recipes you obtain she can upgrade them to make it better. She even has a title that can make her NOT ruin dishes.
Cute Bruiser: Tokunaga, her puppet, is cute and can crush monsters with its fists. SHE, on the other hand, is as physically weak as her young age and short stature would suggest.
Dark Is Not Evil: Uses dark magic. (Negative Gate and Bloody Howling)
Easily Forgiven: Acts as a spy for Mohs for most of the game due to the latter keeping her parents hostage, eventually leading to Ion’s death. Contrary to Luke’s game-long redemption arc, Anise’s is glossed over with a bit of crying and no hard feelings from the rest of the party.
this can actually be explained because Luke did what he did for his own selfish reasons, and Anise did what she did for her parents, and shows genuine horror and remorse before Ion dies, and tries to get their help. She also tests to see what the party does with traitors as far back as when they learn Guy was originally on Van's side. She's easily the hardest on traitors, and remarks how stupid they are for trusting Spinoza. Luke, on the other hand, remained tight-lipped, in denial, and a jerkass from the start right to when he fell unconscious. However, that doesn't excuse her from just not coming out and telling the party about the situation and avoiding much of the plot.
Feminine Women Can Cook - She's the best cook in the party, plays up her cuteness, and looks forward to being married (to a rich guy of course)
Genki Girl - Well, compared to the rest of the cast, anyway, she has a lot more energy.
Glass Cannon - Not so noticeable on your first run through the game, but God, does she die quick on higher difficulty levels.
Gold Digger - She does get over this later, and it's also explained that she was so focused on money because her parents are extremely gullible, and are constantly in ridiculous amounts of debt because they keep donating money they don't have to the Corrupt Church and they constantly fall for mail-order time share and vacation scams, and she wants to help them pay off their debts.
Idiot Ball: Really, the amount of opportunities the party had for freeing her parents from under Mohs’ watch are staggering.
I Have Your Wife: Forced to work for Mohs to pay off her parents' debt, and this escalates to outright kidnapping when Mohs wants to use Ion to read the Score.
Improbable Weapon User - While she equips wands, all of her physical attacks use her plushie.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's nice to her friends but everyone else either gets the 'cute girl' act or scathing comments.
Ion is the Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei, meaning that he is technically the ruler of the world. He arranges for Malkuth to kidnap him so he can escape from Mohs and investigate the conspiracy that seems to have sprung up. He is one of the few people trained to read the Score. Though he can use powerful techniques known as Daathic Artes, he suffers from a weak constitution and often collapses after using them.
Assist Character: He's not playable, but his Mystic Arte can be used as an extension to Luke's during New Game Plus.
Cloning Blues: Averted. Despite being a clone of the original Ion it doesn't seem to bother him. He states at one point that he wants to help other replicas with their problems.
Heroic RROD: Using Daathic fonic artes puts a strain on his body.
Heroic Sacrifice: His reading the Score provides Luke a valuable clue, and he also absorbs Tear's Fonons as he is dying, which cures her miasma poisoning, but also would have caused his death if he were not dying already.
Infant Immortality: Subverted. While he is a replica created at the time of the original Ion's death and thus two years old mentally, that doesn't stop him from being killed at the hands of Mohs.
James Bondage - Ion's been kidnapped! ...AGAIN? We just rescued him!
Non-Action Guy: He can use Daathic fonic artes, including to extend Luke's Limit Break, but this is greatly taxing on him and he has no other means of self-defense.
A baby cheagle that accompanies the party. He is banished from his village for one year after accidentally burning down the Liger Woods, and bound to serve Luke for that time. Despite Luke's obvious dislike and abuse towards him, Mieu really doesn't mind and idolises his master.He uses the Sorcerer's Ring around his belly to communicate with people and help clear obstacles in dungeons.
The Atoner - He was banished for accidentally burning down the Liger woods, causing the Ligers to invade the Cheagle Woods and kill cheagles for food.
Breath Weapon: Downplayed. He's too young to use it naturally, but the Sorcerer's Ring gives him enough of a boost to solve puzzles.
Happiness in Slavery - He either doesn't notice or doesn't care that Luke hates him.
Most Annoying Sound - In-universe example. Luke despises the way he sounds early on but Tear finds it adorable.
Not So Different: Tries to invoke this with Luke after he destroys Akzeriuth, saying that they both killed many of their people by accident, but Luke is in no mood to hear him out.
The current emperor of Malkuth. To keep him safe from the political strife of Grand Chokmah, he was sent to live in Keterburg, where he met and befriended Jade and Dist. He keeps several rappigs as pets, collects weapons, and enjoys flirting.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer - Somewhat: he's very much The Wise Prince when his country needs him to be, but he's also a Sheltered Aristocrat, and when people don't need decisions out of him, he has far too much free time on his hands, which he's perfectly happy to spend goofing off and avoiding paperwork.
Hidden Backup Prince - The reason he was raised in Keterburg was so there would be an heir kept safe from Grand Chokmah's Deadly Decadent Court. Of course, the real reason is because the Score said he was supposed to take the throne, so having him be the one who was sent away and kept safe made it a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.
100% Adoration Rating - Talk to the NPCs in Grand Chokmah. They all adore him. Even when the world is literally falling apart around them, they trust that Peony has things in hand and will do what's best for everyone.
Unlucky Childhood Friend - To Jade's younger sister Nephry, because the Score said she would marry someone else.
Vitriolic Best Buds - With Jade. They're clearly very close, because if they weren't, the way they mock and tease one another might be considered cruel.
Like Sync and Ion, he's a replica of the original Fon Master Ion. He was saved to keep reading the Score in case Ion refused. He plays the role of Fon Master after Ion dies.
Backup Replica he was kept as back up for the fon master in case something happened to the new Ion. He looks the same but lacks the same abilities.
The Six God-Generals are the highest-ranking members of the Oracle Knights, the military arm of the Order of Lorelai, and answer directly to Van Grants. Despite their supposed allegiance to the Order of Lorelei, they seem to be following their own agendas and act as the main antagonistic force to the party.The Six God Generals as a group provide examples of the following tropes:
Enemy Civil War / Teeth-Clenched Teamwork : Each God General is working for his or her own goals. The relationships between them range from simple professionalism to thinly-masked tolerance.
Leitmotif: "Oracle - Coercion" and "Awkward Justice".
The Psycho Rangers: They mirror the main party in numbers and serve as their Evil Counterparts (see each of their individual trope lists for more details).
Asch is a mysterious character that works as one of the Six God-Generals under Van. His appearance is strikingly similar to that of Luke - whom he has a venomous hatred of - but personality-wise they are completely different: where Luke is ignorant and naive, Asch is intelligent and hardened. Asch is also stubborn to a fault and easily angered (especially by Luke). Though he appears to be a loyal follower of Van at first, he soon becomes a Wild Card who starts working against more or less every major character in the game.Having also studied under Van, he uses the same combat style as Luke. His moveset also includes several offensive spells. He is a Guest Star Party Member on three occasions (being recruitable up to a maximum of three times during one of those three occasions).
Blessed with Suck: Same as Luke, only he doesn't abuse it. This is because, unlike Luke, he actually knew about it his entire life and has full control over it.
Can't Catch Up: When he joins the party as a Guest Star Party Member again during the second half of the game, his level is adjusted accordingly but his equipment is still locked at the power level he was at during his first stint, severely handicapping him. It becomes very sadistical if you're playing in Unknown. He's going to get crushed whenever you're controlling him... and, for the record, trying to give him bonus stats with C.Cores is futile and waste of time since they will be wiped out when you're taking on the extra sidequest.
Players who want to exploit a certain glitch in order to keep him in the party permanently usually keep Luke dead at level 2 (who Asch levels up to whenever he joins the party) so Asch can benefit from C.Core bonuses accordingly upon massive level-up. Having the same base attack stats as Luke, his ability to cast and cancel magic to string infinite combos becomes extremely useful to the point where it's broken, especially when you find ways to unlock his equipment.
Could Have Avoided This Plot: Massive chunks of the game could have been skipped had Asch been more cooperative with the party instead of taking turns leading them on with little explanation or antagonising Luke. Gets lampshaded several times later on, as Luke is as baffled as the players by his stubborn uncooperativeness.
The Eeyore: He is never happy. Ever. The closest he gets is 'only slightly annoyed', which is only during his heart-to-heart talks with Natalia.
Expy: His hairstyle reeks of Zelos Wilder's Narcissist costume. Personality-wise, he's an antisocial (Tsundere) magic swordsman, a temporary party member that prefers to work alone who has a close connection to the Big Bad but ultimately sacrifices himself to save the main protagonist that he claims to dislike? Totally does not sound like Leon Magnus.
General Ripper: Has the personality for it, if not necessarily the rank. He will find a way to blame everyone on Luke, Van or both; even if he has to use Insane Troll Logic to do so.
Guest Star Party Member: You can even level him up to the point where you can use his Mystic Arte manually. It's subverted in the Drama Discs, where Asch decides to open up a little and joins as a permanent member until he gets killed by Van.
Heroic Sacrifice: In the game and anime, getting killed by Oracle Soldiers after a You Shall Not Pass moment that allowed Luke to get to Van. In the Voice Dramas, getting killed by Van after taking a blow meant for Luke.
Hidden Depths: He's apparently an excellent cook. There's also a manga side-story that reveals a lot about his point of view.
Jerkass: & Karma Houdini Considering that he presumably helped slaughter the Tartarus' crew, repeatedly tried to murder Luke for existing until he calmed down and settled for physical assault and constant belittling, repeatedly kidnapped Ion and that his actions following Coral Castle (during which he had kidapped and held hostage an innocent engineer to lure the party in) gave the Big Bad the opportunity to give Luke a post-hypnotic command which directly led to the event that Luke takes the most crap for, not to mention how he constantly keeps important information from the party throughout the game, Asch is at least ten times the Jerk Ass that Luke ever was; especially since he's old enough to know better ''and' is probably the only playable character that is almost fully in the loop as to the Big Bad's plans.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: For all that, his interactions with his parents and Natalia are quite touching, as is his devotion to his ideals. While in the party, the non-player-characters and Anise note that behind his cold exterior, he may actually be a nice guy, in which he replies "S-shut up!". Much more obvious in the Japanese version, where Chihiro Suzuki makes Asch sound audibly embarrassed when Anise brings up him possibly leaving Ion behind in the Tartarus to be for Ion's protection rather than just him "getting in the way." Plus, for all his animosity towards his replica, he seemed really appalled when Jade "killed" Luke during the Doctor Mambo sidequest. Overall, his kinder side is much more obvious in the Drama Discs and the Asch manga, his equivalent to Destiny's Lion Side; where the summoning of ALL the Six God-Generals to slaughter the Tarturus' crew just to capture Ion was what added onto his suspicions about Van, deeming it to be strange and unnecessary. Remember, he was a soldier and, at that time, he was just following orders from the Commandant and doing his job. Regardless, he didn't have much of a kill count during the Tartarus slaughter.
Limit Break: Rending Saber. Sadly, if he kills Luke when the latter tries using his own Mystic Arte, the game will freeze. This was fixed in the 3DS version, thankfully. Weirdly enough, though, this glitch was never present in the Japanese version of the game.
Makes Me Wanna Shout: It's implied that Rending Saber is connected to the Seventh Fonon, as one of the Kanji used for it relates to sound. Also, let's not forget who Asch really is.
Memetic Mutation: An in-universe example. The fact that he never smiles gets noted a couple of times and before long the party turn it into a sort of Running Gag amongst themselves.
Mirror Boss: To Luke, as the two have the same fighting style.
Murder Is the Best Solution: Like a more extreme version of Tear in this regard. Somebody trying to destroy Akzeriuth? It must be Van. Let's kill him! The continents IS sinking into the Qliphoth? If we kill Van, everything will sort itself out! Planetary-replication threatening to engulf the world? Gee, I wonder what we need to do to fix that... It doesn't even matter if Van has nothing to do with what's going on. Asch willfind a way to blame him. As it turns out, there is a Freudian Excuse behind this; namely that Van manipulated and betrayed him to create Luke.
Revenge Before Reason: This is pretty much the reason why he's unhelpful to the party. His hatred of Luke leads him to withhold information or outright manipulate the group for no other reason than because he's just that big of a jerk.
Asch does have a reason (albeit it still shouldn't be excused), that being his issues regarding trust ever since Van betrayed him and seeing his family and fiancee getting friendly with his replica, not knowing it wasn't him, as a child and getting kicked out of the manor for being a "dirty kid" (he spent weeks fighting monsters in the wilderness while trying to get back to Baticul). Ever since then, he's kept his problems bottled up to the point where he withholds information so he wouldn't have to get close to anybody ever again, but of course his resentment of Luke adds fuel to it.
Pride Before Reason: Asch's pride is also one of the factors that gets in the way of him accepting help from others.
Say My Name: Sorta... "REPLICAAAAAAAAA!" Yes, it's memetic.
Secretly Dying: Implied in the main game, as one of the Dark Wings pretty much states it. However, the issue is never confronted directly in the main quest. Doing the Contamination Effect sidequests imply that he may have been undergoing a delayed Big Bang the whole time. It's canonised by the anime and Drama Disks, though, as Asch goes through one of the symptoms of the Big Bang before his death in both.
Semi Divine: Though completely human by lineage, he was born as an isofon of Lorelei (something which should be impossible) and possesses powers far greater than any normal seventh fonist.
Static Character: In contrast to Luke, whose character grows significantly throughout the game. This is the main reason why Luke is eventually able to surpass Asch. Only after Asch lets go of his bitterness towards Luke is he able to take the first step towards true character development. Sadly, this comes on the cusp of his You Shall Not Pass moment...
Showcased perfectly towards the end, as a self-assured Luke, now confident in his individuality, nonchalantly asks for his help while casually noting his superiority in regards to Hyper-resonance and Asch simply flips. After a whole game of denigrating Luke, Asch is the one who keeps defining himself by contrast to Luke and now has trouble accepting him as a separate individual from himself who doesn’t care about competing.
Subverted in the Drama Disks, where the duel between Asch and Luke happened earlier and therefore Asch had more time to warm up to Luke as a separate being and becomes a full-fledged party member.
Stockholm Syndrome: He spent seven years being awfully loyal to the man who kidnapped him and even after switching sides it's very clear that he still admires and respects Van. There's also a scene in the manga adaptation which shows Van convincing him that he is the only one who still cares about him after seeing everyone else embrace Luke in his place.
Walking Spoiler: In pretty much a literal physical sense. It's hard to hear his voice, see his face, or observe his fighting style without realizing Luke is his replica.
The Wise Prince: The way he used to act according to Natalia most certainly qualifies and disregarding his more... brusque actions toward Luke, he still has strong tendencies in this direction.
The leader of the Six God Generals and Tear's mentor, who carries herself with the composure and integrity of a soldier. She wields two pistols and light-elemental magic.
Boobs of Steel: Arietta has no chest (possibly due to having an improper diet growing up as a result of being raised by ligers), so Legretta has to compensate (though her first cut-in image is deceptive) in yet another contrast to Tear. Her breast size may have increased in the anime.
Love Makes You Evil: The worst part is that Legretta is horrified by the fact that she has fallen in love with the man she wanted to kill and is sickened by the idea that she only fell in love because it was determined in the Score.
Spell My Name with an S: Her name in Japanese is Regret, which got changed to Legretta. And it seems the Japanese prefer the change, since the anime site has it as such.
Her name change may have been caused in order to keep the musical name theming among the God Generals. Legretta stands for "alegretto". Largo and Arietta are both musical terms. Sync may come from "syncopation", while Dist may or may not refer to "distortion", as in "sound distortion".
Voiced by: Kazuki Yao (JP), Liam O'Brien (EN)Also known as Dist The Rose (his preferred moniker) or Dist The Runny (Jade's preferred moniker for him), Dist is an effeminate Mad Scientist who is also one of the Six God Generals. He hangs out on a floating chair in a permanent Slouch of Villainy, and summons Humongous Mecha to fight in his place. He has a long history with Jade.
CampJadesexual - Dist's personality can effectively be summed up as "Jade's MadStalker with a Crush". Everything in this guy's world revolves around the Colonel. Oh yeah, and then there's that huge flower collar...
The Dark Chick: Despite being the resident "brain-boffin" of the villains, he's actually more like this trope. He's the closest they have to a Token Good Teammate - given his Pet the Dog moments - and is most definitely the most emotional of the bunch.
Taking You with Me - He attempts this after beating him the last time. It fails. He survives the explosion, though only if you follow the catalysts and Nebilim sidequest to the end, even after she hits him in the face with a Fragmented End. Tenacious as a cockroach, indeed.
Opaque Lenses: Varies between the artwork and the game. In the artwork, only one is opaque, but in-game both are.
Pet the Dog: Anise relates a story where she approached Dist in the Oracle Knights lunch hall (where he usually ate alone) and struck up a conversation with him. In return, he modified her Tokunaga doll to allow it to grow to massive proportions. Anise comments that he always seemed lonely.
Reliable Traitor: Dist makes it clear that his goal is to revive Nebilim and that working for Van is a means to an end.
Sissy Villain: In case you hadn't guessed it from the rest of this list.
Sole Survivor: The only God-General to survive the entire game.
Unknown Rival: Jade prefers to pretend that he doesn't exist.
One of the Six God Generals. When she was orphaned during the Hod War, she was rescued and raised by Ligers. Due to this, she is the only human on the planet that can communicate with monsters. Van found her at an early age and raised her to become a functional- if not entirely sociable- member of society.She used to be the Fon Master Guardian to Ion, but was transferred to another position two years previously and replaced by Anise. Because of this, she has a bitter hatred of Anise, who she claims "stole" Ion from her.The party kills her "mother" early in the game (in an unrelated boss fight) and she swears to take vengeance against them. She fights alongside monsters and is a powerful spellcaster.
Anti-Villain: Type II (Woobie Anti-Villain) and/or IV (Villain in Name Only).
The Brute: She doesn't look the part but she most definitely acts it. She's got a bit of a Leeroy Jenkins attitude going on and, while she's not necessarily stupid, she most certainly isn't clever; being subservient to most of the God Generals on their missions. Not that she really needs to use her head when she can just Zerg Rush everything with her monsters.
Locked Out of the Loop - She was purposefully reassigned because it was feared she'd kill herself if she knew that the real Ion was dead.
Older Than They Look - She's sixteen despite both her appearance and personality being that of a little girl. Though the personality thing comes from being raised by monsters.
The youngest of the Six God Generals, who wears a mask at all times. He has a cruel and manipulative personality, and uses powerful Daathic Artes to curse and torture his enemies.
Back from the Dead: Possibly. It is unclear whether he died when he fell into the core and was resurrected by Van or if he was just badly wounded.
Evil Counterpart - To Guy. Although it turns out that he is really Ion's. He's only Guy's Evil Counterpart because of the curse seal thing. Also kind of a Pair the Spares mentality, since the other five God Generals have very clear connections to the other five party members.
However, he can be considered a counterpart to Guy in that Sync allowed his thoughts of revenge to consume him, while Guy ultimately put them behind him and moved on.
He's more of a second evil counterpart to Anise more than Guy if we're going by playabale characters.
Though Guy and Sync are each team's Fragile Speedster, though you really don't want to get hit by Sync's artes. Hit 'em hard, hit 'em fast, just don't get hit back.
The Evil Genius: Played with. While a case could be made for him serving more of a Dragon-y role in the game, his interaction with the God Generals make it clear that he's the brains behind most of their operations. Dist might be the one building their machinery but Sync is the one who comes up with the tactics, evaluates the situation and engages in frequent dog-kicking via some extremely horrific Manipulative Bastardry.
Red Herring: Guy seems to recognize Sync when he sees him without the mask. This implies that Sync will be Guy's Evil Counterpart, similar to how all the other God Generals correspond to a member of the party. It turns out that Guy recoginzed Sync because Sync is a Replica of Ion and that the rest of the party would probably have had the same reaction if they had seen Sync mask-less prior to The Reveal.
Straw Nihilist: He believes that his life is completely meaningless because he was born as a failed Replica and his creators intended for him to die. Before the last fight with him, he reveals that he follows Van only because Van's plan means destroying the world that created a life as empty as his.
One of the Six God Generals, and the leader of the shock troops in the Oracle Knights. A huge man who wields a giant scythe. Largo first appears during the assault on Tartarus and places a Fon Slot Seal on Jade. Though he seems to know Natalia on a personal level, she does not recognise him.
Armor Is Useless - Subverted. He's killed when Natalia shoots him in the back... the one part of his body that isn't armoured in the final battle with him.
Blood Knight: Decent guy though he may be, he sure does enjoy a straight-up scrap.
Boisterous Bruiser: Zigzagged. Largo makes threats like any other bruiser but, when he's put up against an enemy he's clearly outmatched by, he won't start the trash-talk unless he's made damn sure they can't do anything against him. Unfortunately for him, said enemy was Jade - a man who is The Combat Pragmatist to a T.
Cruel Mercy - Averted. He never shows it to his enemies because he believes it's an insult to go easy on an opponent.
Death Seeker: Heavily implied. Outright confirmed when it's revealed that his wife died after their child was switched with a stillborn baby; driving her to kill herself.
Ensemble Darkhorse: In-universe. The party have varying levels of hatred and disgust towards the God Generals but they all like Largo because, despite being an antagonist, he's still a really good guy.
Evil Counterpart - To Natalia. The point is driven further home considering he is her real father.
Friendly Enemy: He starts out as something of a rival to Jade for being the one who sealed his Fonic Artes but, as time passes, the whole group comes to regard him with a lot more respect.
Gentle Giant: Outright stated to have been one in his past and, as much as he tries, it still shows through in the game.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Based on how big his daughter and mother-in-law are, he and his wife were definitely this.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A blindingly bright heart of gold... It's just too bad that he's crossed the Despair Event Horizon and decided he has no reason to live in the world anymore.
Nothing Personal: Even if he has to kill a load of Tartarus guards, Largo makes it clear that he's not the kind of man who enjoys slaughter. It's just what has to be done. A truly great fight, though, is something he relishes.
Sixth Ranger: He's not The Evil Genius; tactical though he may be, he's no genius. However, he's not The Brute; he's far too noble and honourable for that. Despite this, he's not The Dark Chick either; loyal and respectable though he may be, he's also completely against mercy. What he is is the God Generals' all-rounder and in-universe Ensemble Darkhorse.
The Big Guy: Honestly, he fits the heroic archetype
Token Good Teammate - Out of all the God-Generals, he's the one with the strongest moral code.
Undying Loyalty: One of his defining traits is his loyalty towards Van.
Born Vandesdelca Musto Fende, Van is the commander of the Six God Generals, and Commandant of the Order of Lorelei's Oracle Knights. He is also Luke's sword-instructor and mentor, and one of the few people to treat him with patience and respect. Despite this, Tear seems rather intent on offing him, and the God Generals who are supposedly under his command are wrecking quite a bit of havoc upon Auldrant.
Anti-Villain: Type III, Well-Intentioned Anti-Villain.
Authority In Name Only: He's revealed to have this relationship with the God Generals. They support the Grand Maestro faction of the Order of Lorelei, so people believe that he does as well. However, it turns out that he's actually on the Fon Master's side and that his generals have effectively gone rogue to fight for Mohs. Except it turns out that that's not true at all. They've been following his orders from the beginning. He just acts like this is the case in order to win Luke, and the player's, trust.
Badass Beard / Beard of Evil - Lampshaded hilariously. It's the source of all his power, you know. And his eyebrows can fire hypno-beams.
Big Brother Mentor - To Luke. There are hints that he was this to Asch as well, before he learned the truth about him.
BFS & One-Handed Zweihänder: His sword is pretty darn massive, yet he has no effort in swinging it around with a single hand.
Broken Ace - Master Swordsman, top-level Magic Knight, Seventh Fonist, descendent of Yulia, promoted to Oracle Knights Commandant at a young age, has a beautiful singing voice... and yet he has mental and emotional scars deep enough to lose the collective Outer Lands in.
Broken Pedestal - For Tear. It's not explained what happened in their past for some time, but it's clear that it was something big for her to be so intent on killing him. He's also this to Asch and, eventually, Luke.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer - Van is effectively "Screw Destiny" incarnate. The Order of Lorelei is dedicated to keeping destiny on its set path. The only reason why he's got such a high rank when he does nothing to hide his attitude even after The Reveal is because he's just that damn good at his job.
Cain and Abel - Played with. In the beginning, Luke sees him as the Abel to Tear's Cain, given her attempted fratricide, but it soon becomes clear who's who in their relationship.
Famous Ancestor - The mother of the Score, Yulia Jue herself.
Final Boss: He manages to pull this off twice. The first time at the Absorption Gate and the second at Eldrant.
Guest Star Party Member - Japanese version only; though he never fights in battle, he still temporary joins you, and has a status entry in the main menu. This was removed in the American release for some strange reason. He also appears in a skit and gets his own chat face.
Rectified for Radiant Mythology 3, however, in which he's fully playable.
Improbable Age - This is actually a plot-point for him. He's just so damn good at everything he does that he became the Commandant at a young age. However, he got a lot of stick for it, so he grew his Badass Beard to look older.
Not So Different - From Grand Maestro Mohs. Just as Mohs is willing to start the war and kill countless innocent people for the Score, Van is willing to destroy the whole world just to subvert the Score. In fact, his sister Tear points out that he is so intent on screwing destiny that he has become completely dependent on it.
Obviously Evil - Subverted. His affable nature means is most definitely not this, but that doesn't stop Tear and Asch from suspecting absolutely every little thing he does as part of a plot to take over or blow up the world. It turns out that they were only half-right...
The God Generals have tried to kill the heroes throughout the first half of the game. It is no secret that Van is the leader of the God Generals. Luke somehow fails to put two and two together until after Van has him kill thousands of people.
Omnicidal Maniac: Played with. He isn't an insane monster and it's clear that he regrets the fact that so many people will die. He just believes that the world needs to be replicated in order to escape the Score, which has the tragic side-effect of destroying it.
One-Winged Angel: Subverted. He completely bypasses this and becomes something approaching the Bishounen Line during the final battle, as his last form is just his regular one with a few whistles and bells.
Screw Destiny - Despite being the leader of the Oracle Knights, Van makes it extremely clear that he thinks destiny can go screw itself. He is pretty much the polar opposite of Grand Maestro Mohs.
Take A Third Option - Essentially, his plan is to Screw Destiny by forcing the prophecy to come to pass, but building a new world as the old dies.
Treacherous Advisor - Though Mohs didn't really need Van's help with the whole "treachery" thing...
Villain with Good Publicity - Beloved master and father figure, high ranking member of the Order of Lorelei and world renown swordsman, fonist and soldier, who saves Luke from being stabbed in the back and having his powers fired against his will. It makes Tear's unexplained grievances against him come off as all the more egregiousOHMYGODHEJUSTMADELUKENUKEACITYANDLEFTHIMFORDEAD!
Where I Was Born And Razed - When Van was 11, he was used as a test subject for experiments on generating hyperresonnance. He and the researchers lost control of a particularly powerful one, which destroyed the island of Hod, killing most of its citizens, Van's parents (more or less) included. It's implied that his father died during Hod's destruction, but his mother survived long enough to give birth to Tear, whom she was pregnant with at the time.
Did You Just Manipulate The Score?: His enemy is The Score, but he does everything in his power to make it come true... so that it does so on his terms.
Younger Than They Look - Van attained the rank of Dorian General and Commandant of the Oracle Knights at a remarkably young age, and was on the receiving end of a lot of ire because of it. He grew his Badass Beard for the sole purpose of trying to look older so people would leave him alone about his age (he's 27, believe it or not).
Grand Maestro Mohs
Voiced by: Terrence Stone (EN)
The second-in-command of the Order of Lorelei. He is obsessed with the enforcement of the Score, and is attempting to provoke a world war because it is supposedly predetermined.
Big Bad - His plan to begin a major war sets him up as this before he's even introduced. However, by the end of the game it's subverted. As it turns out, he was nothing more than an Unwitting Pawn of the realBig Bad all along.
The Heavy - He's responsible for a massive chunk of the political drama that the party encounters, even when it's revealed that he isn't the main villain.
Body Horror - Provided happily by Dist imprinting a glyph on him that grants him control over the seventh fonon.
Disc One Final Boss - Although he continues to play a major role long after this is discovered. Subverted in that your "victory" over him in "Disk One" is political. You don't get to actually fight him until you're near the end of the game.
Magnificent Bastard: An in-universe subversion. Mohs likes to project this image when he's in his hammiest moments, but he's far from it. Doubles up as Believing Their Own Lies.
Obviously Evil: Could very well be the poster man of it. I mean, come on, before he's even introduced properly we're told that he wants to start a war Because Destiny Says So.
Start My Own - After it becomes clear that he's lost all influence within the Order of Lorelei, he starts the New Order of Lorelei with himself as the Fon Master/Pope.
Well-Intentioned Extremist - Everything he does is for the sake of achieving prosperity from the Score. Even though he later knows full well that said prosperity would mean lots of sacrifices, and would not last very long.
Jade and Dist's childhood Hot Teacher. Her ability to use the Seventh Fonon- something even the child prodigy Jade could not- placed her in a rare position of superiority to Jade, and she used his (begrudging) admiration of her to instill him with as much morality as she could. It is due to her influence that Jade did not grow up to be evil.
Church Militant: Is revealed to have been a Locrian Sergeant in the Oracle Knights.
Combat Medic: Is stated to have used the Seventh Fonon and was a member of the Oracle Knights. Her actual combat prowess is never shown.
Purity Sue: This is a Tales game, so it's deliberately invoked to be subverted. Much like Stella, this is only Dist's opinion of her. Jade seems to realise that, as incredible as she was, she was still a human being with her own faults and flaws.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: A subversion, of the "Kind Red Eyes" variety. Her replica plays it straight, however.
