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Duke Pantarei
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (JP), Jamieson Price (EN)
A mysterious man who knows a lot about the aer and the Entelexeia.
- All There in the Manual: His surname.
- All Your Powers Combined: His true final boss form gains a new Mystic Arte that combines all of your party's Mystic Artes into one super-powered attack, and will surely kill at least one party member and significantly heal Duke himself.
- Anti-Villain: Starts off as a mysterious, but fairly douchebaggish wanderer who, despite everything, still assists the party. The Adephagos pushes him over the edge, however and so he decides to do what he thinks it necessary to save the world from it. Ultimately he isn't evil at all, and the party try to convince him to stop but are forced to battle him to stop him, and he even helps them in the end.
- Big Bad Slippage: While he is presented as a cold and ruthless man in the first half of the game due to wanting to kill Estelle to prevent Alexei from using her power, he's still willing to give Brave Vesperia a chance to defeat Alexei their way. However, the guild's failure to prevent the return of Zaude and the Adephagos causes him to decide that humanity cannot be trusted with the world's safety, resulting in his plan to activate Tarqaron and sacrifice all humans to destroy the Adephagos. This puts him at odds with the party, who still believe in humanity and want to use a plan that doesn't involve sacrificing them.
- Big Damn Heroes: Shows up at the end of the first arc to disable Barbos's special blastia powered weapon.
- Bishōnen Line: He does this in the final boss fight... and if you've collected the Fell Arms, he fuses with them to cross it again and become a demigod. It's at this point that the player starts to regret collecting them.
- Blue Blood: He was once a noble in the Empire, but defected after the Great War.
- Boomerang Bigot: Played with. Duke makes it clear that he doesn't think all humans are terrible. Just the ones who ignore the Entelexeia and live off the luxury provided by the blastia.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He shows up a few times (and you can seek him out even earlier than his first real appearance in the plot) and ultimately turns out to be very important to everything going on.
- Cool Sword: Dein Nomos, aka that sword needed to induct an emperor that he stole. It's very handy.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After his defeat, Yuri convinces him that Elucifer would believe in humanity rather than destroy them. A rare case of actually getting through to the Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Despair Event Horizon: Happened before the game's events, when his best friend Elucifer is betrayed and killed after helping the humans win the Great War.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: The first trailers featuring him did not help, considering that it's a woman's voice that talks over his appearance. Then the game was released and we all heard his deep voice.
- Early-Bird Cameo: There is a series of optional scenes featuring him. The first couple of these are triggered before he is formally introduced to the player.
- Evil Counterpart: If Flynn is the lead, he points out that Duke is a vigilante, acting as the judge, jury, and executioner of all humans, something he also sees in Yuri. While Yuri has enough compassion in his vigilantism to save people who are unwillingly harming the world (ie Estelle) or people who can change for the better, Duke lost all compassion for humanity and wants to sacrifice them both to destroy the Adephagos and to prevent them from becoming a potential threat ever again.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Though not so much as evil as rude.
- Expy: His status as a war hero turned Fallen Hero who lost faith in humans after his closest friend was killed by them brings to mind Mithos.
- Fallen Hero: He single-handedly won the Great War for humanity, and then single-handedly gained a Freudian Excuse to turn against them. He fully commits to the act at the end when he believes the only hope left is to wipe out humanity to stop the Adephagos. He even forgets what his best friend fought for and is reminded of it.
- Figure It Out Yourself: Don't expect an insightful conversation with him.
- Final Boss: An Anti-Villain version; he also wants to save the world but thinks the best way is to remove all the humans from it. The party has to convince him otherwise.
- Friend to All Living Things: He becomes one during the ending.
- Freudian Excuse: He doesn't have the best opinion of his species, since he single-handedly turned the Great War around for them, and then they stabbed his Crystal Dragon Jesus Lancer in the back.
- Gratuitous Greek: His last name is a reference to the Neoplatonist philosophy of "panta rhei
". - Grave-Marking Scene: Part of the optional sidequest involving him will have you finding him paying his respects at Elucifer's grave.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: First he's an ominous villainous guy who seems threatening, then he gives you Dein Nomos to help you save Estelle. Then he saves Yuri after he falls off Zaude, takes his sword back, and decides that the only way to save the world is to sacrifice all of humanity. And finally, after being defeated, he is reminded of Elucifer's wish to protect humanity and aids the party in destroying the Adephagos.
- Heel Realization: After being defeated by the party, and reminded of Elucifer's wish to protect humanity.
- Humans Are Bastards: What he views the rest of his own race as. He's got a good reason to think so.
- Hypocrite: He claims that humanity never learns or changes, all to justify why he should wipe them out to save the planet. In the finale, the party all attempt to convince him otherwise, ranging from showing they have a way to stop the Adephagos, to solving the Aer problem, but he stubbornly refuses to acknowledge their points as valid and tries to deflect their responses, meaning he is doing the exact same he claims humanity is guilty of, without a hint of irony or awareness.
- I Was Just Passing Through: His reasoning for rescuing Yuri at the end of the second arc is that he wanted his Cool Sword back. Never mind that he obviously cared for Yuri's injuries and only leaves once Yuri is awake and able to move. Its implied this is because he finds Yuri to be similar, which he almost outright states in the finale if Yuri is the lead character.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts off a flat out jerk, but as he interacts more with the group, his battered Hidden Heart of Gold starts to shine. Just before he becomes the Final Boss.
- Last-Second Chance: He is repeatedly offered one by Yuri and eventually takes it.
- Limit Break:
- Big Bang will blow up the entire party; it looks scary and deals tons of damage, but it actually only drains the party's HP to One. Unless he is in his Radiant Winged One form and the difficulty is Hard or Unknown, in which case that safety net is removed and it will unavoidably kill the entire party if you don't prepare for it.
- His Radiant Winged One form has a powerful and long one that actually utilizes, in All Your Powers Combined fashion, the Mystic Artes of all the party members (excluding Flynn and Patty). He only calls out the name of it at the very end of the attack, just before the Sacred Penance blast that also heals him: Brave Vesperia.
- Karma Houdini: Never really punished for attempted genocide. Possibly justified because he DID help save the world.
- Moving the Goalposts: The reason the party get so annoyed with him during the finale. Despite the fact they have a potential solution to the Aer, Adaphagos, and Blastia problem, he quickly asks about if this will "return the world to its natural state", and when they say no, he declares it isn't fixing the problem. Raven even points how hypocritical Duke is being; he declares humans are not worth keeping around because they won't change, but then when they do, he decides to wipe them out because they aren't going fast enough in the direction he wants.
- No Place for Me There: If Judith is the lead character in the final battle, Duke admits his life will also be sacrificed in his plan to destroy the Adephagos.
- One-Man Army: One of the Entelexeia, massive Olympus Mons that can raze armies by themselves, says point-blank that the party has no chance fighting him. This is after you've fought and killed a few Entelexeia yourself.
- One-Winged Angel: Of the Bishounen Line variety. Twice.
- Power Floats: He can be seen levitating during his boss fight.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted, since they're his natural color. Played straighter during the finale.
- Restored My Faith in Humanity: Downplayed. In the ending, he helps Brave Vesperia destroy the Adephagos without sacrificing humanity and decides to give them another chance to change, but after the credits, he's shown living among nature, implying he doesn't trust humanity completely.
- Secretly Selfish: Patty accuses him of conflating his grudge against humanity with saving the world.
- Teleport Spam: In all of his forms, he can teleport and gains i-frames while doing so. This makes him harder to keep in combos even compared to other bosses that have combo-breaking mechanics.
- True Final Boss: As Radiant Winged One, on a power trip from the Fell Arms.
- World's Strongest Man: Those Entelexeia you've been fighting? One of them calls him unbeatable. He proves it too in his two (three) phase boss fight, and is one of the hardest fights in the entire series.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He is willing to sacrifice all of humanity (including himself) to prevent the Adephagos from destroying the planet.
Phaeroh
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (JP), Keith Silverstein (EN)
An ancient, incredibly powerful Entelexeia resembling a phoenix.
- Back from the Dead: Suiting his phoenix appearance, immediately after being killed by Alexei's armada, he is reborn as Efreet.
- Elemental Embodiment: Of fire, after his death and rebirth.
- Hannibal Lecture: He gives one when confronted about his actions and why he is seemingly trying to kill Estelle, but Yuri would have none of it.
- Hero Antagonist: For the first half of act two.
- Humans Are Bastards:
- Has very little faith in the human race. Considering how he has firsthand knowledge of how humans still haven't learned not to mess with aerflow after the last Adephagos disaster, his lack of faith isn't unfounded.
- Even after being reborn as Efreet, he still has his reservations about humans and how they could use potentially use the Spirits' powers for selfish gains. He still chooses to assist Brave Vesperia in destroying the Adephagos, however.
- Meaningful Name: His roost is in the desert. His name is Phaeroh.
- Playing with Fire: He is reborn after his death as the fire elemental spirit, Efreet.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: He justifies attempting to kill Estelle with a metaphor about cutting off an infected limb to save the whole, almost word-for-word the justification Yuri uses for killing Ragou and Cumore. The similarities are commented on by the party after, and Yuri doesn't disagree either.
- The Unfought: He is the only major antagonist who the party never fights - although it certainly helps that the party doesn't want what he fears to happen as much as anybody, and that he wasn't really a true villain.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He knows killing Estelle is wrong since Estelle has done nothing wrong, but believes it's the only way to preserve the world from the danger she brings by existing.
Gusios
A massive Entelexeia embodying the elements of earth and water.
- Back from the Dead: Along with the other Entelexeia-turned-spirits.
- Dishing Out Dirt: He favors earth attacks and becomes Gnome, the earth elemental spirit, after his death.
- Early-Bird Cameo: He appears as the boss in Caer Bocram, long before anything about the Entelexeia or their aversion to Estelle is explained.
- Foreshadowing: He backs away from Estelle in aversion. Innocuous at first, but foreboding in hindsight.
- Mercy Kill: When the party fights him at the Erealumen Crystallands.
- The Voiceless: Due to the fact that Gusios was driven mad from intense Aer poisoning from trying to consume too much, he becomes this. This transfers to Gnome, who is only able to communicate using trills, which Sylph can translate.
Elucifer
A dear friend of Duke's from the Great War. He was a powerful Entelexeia who advocated living with humans. Though he and Duke fought together during the Great War, the Empire feared his power and murdered him in the aftermath. His grave lies on Ehmead Hill.
- One-Man Army: Responsible for humankind winning the Great War.
- The Pollyanna: He dreamed of humans and Entelexeia living together, and peace for all living things.
- Posthumous Character: Was betrayed by the Empire and murdered while he was injured ten years before the start of the story.
- The Unseen: Referenced only.
Seifer
Voiced by: Shinpachi Tsuji (JP), ? (EN)
The first mate of the pirate guild Siren's Fang, and an important figure in Patty's backstory (and as such, like her, he only appears in the PS3 version and Definitive Edition).
- Back from the Dead: Of sorts, as he haunts the Atherum as a giant monstrous skeleton in the present day. After his final boss battle where Patty puts him out of his misery, he can show up as one of Patty's most powerful Summon Friends outcomes. The skit that triggers after his appearance in that sort of explains in a Hand Wave that it doesn't matter whether the people Patty summons in that arte are living or dead.
- The Face: Eventually it's revealed that he handled most of Siren's Fang's on-shore interactions, instead of his captain Aifread. This led to rumors that he was Aifread, resulting in the confusion that helped conceal Aifread's real identity as a woman (and later as the little girl Patty).
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Black Hope Massacre that everyone blames Aifread for was actually a disturbing incident where the members of Siren's Fang started turning into monsters. To save his captain from that fate, Seifer force-fed her a potion intended to keep her alive (which likely accidentally erased her memories and de-aged her, which Patty surmises was because the potion, Amrita, was meant for Children of the Full Moon and she wasn't one), threw her off the ship, and killed the rest of the crew, eventually succumbing to the curse himself and becoming the Cursed Wanderer. Unfortunately he probably didn't predict that Aifread would end up taking the fall for the massacre, sullying his captain's reputation, but when she reveals herself to him again, he expresses relief that she's at least still alive and has found new friends.
- Limit Break: Weird application: he doesn't actually have one himself, but he does show up as one of the most powerful options of Patty's Summon Friends after the relevant plot event.
- Mercy Kill: Seifer did this to the other members of the Siren's Fang to spare them from the agony of turning into monsters. Patty ultimately does this on him to free him from the curse.
- Sword and Gun: He carries a massive sword shaped like an anchor for melee attacks but also uses a powerful flintlock pistol. His first Secret Mission is to knock him down as he's reloading it. He uses these both to great effect in a strong combo when Patty summons him with her Mystic Arte. Patty also gets his gun as her strongest subweapon.
- Tragic Monster: He is actually the Cursed Wanderer who haunts the Atherum, and the only surviving victim of the Black Hope Massacre besides Aifread aka Patty.
- Walking Spoiler: Pretty much every detail about him can't be discussed without referencing his role as the Cursed Wanderer or his role in the Black Hope Massacre and Patty/Aifread's amnesia and de-aging.
Spoiler villain
The Adephagos
The Cataclysm from eons past, the Adaphagos is a massive octopus-like creature made up entirely of aer and the physical embodiment of blastia overuse. It was sealed away by the Children of the Full Moon at Zaude until Alexei inadvertently deactivates the barrier keeping it at bay, allowing it to seep into the world. It threatens all life on Terca Lumireis.
- Eldritch Abomination: It is a colossal planet-sized octopus creature of pure aer capable of devouring the entire world.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The Adephagos is this to the game as a whole, being a threat far greater than anything Brave Vesperia has ever dealt with before.
- Meaningful Name: The name "Adephagos" is Greek for "Gluttonous", which heavily symbolizes its appetite to consume all aer, and by extension, all life on Terca Lumireis. This becomes double meaningful when Undine and Efreet reveal that an adephagos is formed when an Entelexeia consumes more aer than its apatheia is capable of handling. Unfortunately, this is briefly mentioned regarding Gusios and only comes up once more at the very end, when the Entelexeia who became part of the Adephagos are turned into spirits.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: There's a reason the Geraios Civilization resorted to sealing the Adephagos away because they found out the hard way that it cannot be harmed through conventional means, not even with magic. Being a creature made up of aer, it is only weak to one substance; mana, and there are only two sources of mana in the entire world; the life force of humans (and possibly Krityans as well), which is why Duke resorted to sacrificing humanity to try and destroy it, and Spirits.
- Planetary Parasite: Its sole reason for existing is to devour all of the planet's aer (which includes all life) and leave nothing in return.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The Adephagos was sealed away eons ago with a barrier powered by the Children of the Full Moon at Zaude. It would eventually be forgotten by the rest of humanity for hundreds of years until Alexei's actions causes it to manifest into the world once more.
- Tragic Monster: The Adephagos is made up of Entelexeia who became corrupted by consuming too much aer, causing them to consume mindlessly. When Yuri uses a Heavenly Bladewing powered by the four main spirits, the spirits formed from the world's blastia, Vesperia No. 2, and Dein Nomos, he cuts the Adephagos and transforms all the component Entelexeia into spirits.
- The Unfought: Yuri and Brave Vesperia never fight the Adephagos directly. This is justified because of its size, so the group doesn't really stand a chance against it in a straight-up fight, at least as far as standard Tales gameplay is concerned. Instead, they fight its spawn in the form of Daybreaker and Nightbreakernote , and when it came time to actually defeat it, Yuri manages to kill it with one swing from his Heavenly Bladewing Mystic Arte powered by the Spirits and Dein Nomos in a cutscene.
The Empty Mask
Hermes
A blastia researcher who worked closely with the knights.
- Killed Offscreen: He fires a Hoplon Blastia at a crowd of monsters to clear a path for the knights. Unfortunately, this causes an Adephagos to go after him and kill him. Unlike Damuron and Casey, his death is not drawn.
- My God, What Have I Done?: By the time he shows up in The Empty Mask, he regrets creating the new, high-consumption type of blastia.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
- He created his namesake type of blastia, which use up more aer and forces the Aer Krenes to produce more, ruining the planet's aer balance. His facial expressions in the manga show that he regrets it, but it's too late now that these blastia are in use.
- He told Damuron to give his research to Alexei. This leads to Alexei abusing the power of blastia once he goes off the deep end.
