Characters / The Lost Element

The Protagonist - James

• Author Avatar: Shares the same name as the author and is the result of the story originally starting out a roleplay over how things would go if the author found himself in Equestria.
• Berserk Button: Has a very low tolerance for anyone who tries to tempt him to turn on Equestria with the darker side of human nature.
• Does Not Like Spam: James has a strong dislike of onions and will avoid them whenever possible in anything he eats. He also cannot handle very spicy foods. To a lesser degree, the one kind of tea he would rather do without is straight black tea.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Enforced and even discussed early on when he first receives his enchanted armor, which he is quick to point out should probably have a matching helmet when it does not. Averted a few chapters later when the titular Lost Element, the Element of Humanity, reveals itself to him during a pivotal moment in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Much like the gold jewelry that holds the Elements of Harmony, the armor's matching helmet serves as the Element of Humanity's housing.
• I Choose to Stay: Invoked. After a few weeks in Equestria, Celestia and Luna send James back to Earth to allow him to contemplate which world he would rather choose to live in. He all too willingly chooses Equestria over Earth.
• Jack of All Stats: For the most part, James falls squarely into this trope when forced to take up the sword. He is far less experienced in the use of magic than Celestia and Luna, he is vastly outclassed by much more experienced swordsmen like Queen Novo, is not as nimble or fast in flight as anyone in the Wonderbolts, and so on. His greatest strengths come from the sheer combination of his armor's abilities as well as his unique sword and shield, on top of his human cunning.
• Nice Guy: He certainly tries to be. While not afraid to get harsh when the situation calls for it or he is properly provoked, James generally tries to be pleasant as often as he can.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Downplayed. While James is reserved enough to not openly comment on the more attractive females in the story at first encounter, he will take note of their impressive beauty in his writings.
• Not So Above It All: While James is definitely one of the more serious and sincere characters in the story, he does have his moments of cheekiness when the time is right and is willing at times to join in on his friends' shenanigans.
• Sex God: With the story being written in a first-person journalistic style, James makes no attempt to hide his feelings towards the women in his life and shows how good he tries to be to them in the bedroom.
• The Casanova: Defied. Whenever the polyamory in his relationships are discovered by the uninitiated, James is often accused of this trope. A carefully worded explanation is usually enough to soothe their concerns. Usually.
• The Paragon: A very unintended meta example. While the author never meant to write James to serve as a role model for the audience, the sheer care and respect James displays towards the world and people of Equestria at all times has resulted in many readers being inspired into bettering themselves as people to be more like James. In some ways, James ended up serving as a projection of someone who really gets what MLP FiM was actually about.

The Mane Six

Twilight Sparkle

• Better as Friends: Twilight develops a crush on James very early on due to him being more of an intellectual type and he eventually reciprocates her feels. But as the story went on, James and Twilight’s more romantic interactions were much rarer than those with anyone else and were usually very tame. It wasn’t until in Volume 5 that Twilight and James end up having a serious discussion about their stagnated relationship and finally settle on being just good friends. Word of God states that while Twilight Sparkle is the member of the Mane Six he identifies with most, this has resulted in him having too much in common with Twilight and causes romantic tension to be harder to make work between her and James.
• Debut Queue: The entire Mane Six are properly introduced by the end of the first chapter, but Twilight is the first pony in all of Equestria to formally approach and introduce herself to James upon his arrival in Ponyville.
• Shield Surf: During the climax of Volume 3, Twilight borrows the Lunar Shield from James and rides around on it like a hoverboard with the use of levitation to make her a much more mobile combatant.
• Trademark Favorite Drink: If Twilight’s choice of liquor is anything to go by, she seems to have a affinity for gin.

Rainbow Dash

• Crash-Into Hello: The first thing she does in the entire story is literally encounter James for the first time by dropping out of the sky and landing on him during a stunt gone awry.
• Super-Speed: She would not be Rainbow Dash without this trait.

Fluttershy

• Cannot Spit It Out: Five chapters in, Fluttershy begins to show signs of a romantic attraction to James. True to form, she cannot bring herself to tell him and it is not until a frustrated Angel sneaks a love letter she had written over to James that he finds out about it.
• Cerebus Retcon: With only a few pages left to go in Volume 2, it is revealed that Fluttershy's famous "Hush Now, Quiet Now" lullaby originally had different lyrics. She ultimately had to change the lyrics to be less depressing after having sung the original version of the song to her dying mother on her deathbed as a means to say goodbye.
• My Girl Back Home: Fluttershy becomes this throughout the majority of Volume 5. Having absolutely nothing to contribute to a battlefield situation and having a newborn daughter to look after, she very reluctantly stays behind while the rest of the Mane Six head off to war.
• The Kindness of Strangers: Fluttershy is enlisted by Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash to comfort James immediately after their first encounter when he runs into Sugarcube Corner to escape the prying eyes of the townsfolk after Rainbow Dash fell out of the sky onto him. While cautious as usual, James' extremely reserved mood at the time allows Fluttershy to gently take the initiative to establish a friendly conversation for the distressed newcomer. Subverted in that while they do part ways at first, Fluttershy is reunited with James at the end of the day as a friend during his welcome party.

Applejack

• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Where James draws a lot of stares and attention from just about everyone he pass by on his first day in Ponyville, Applejack is not particularly bothered when he stumbles across her in Sweet Apple Acres as she only muses over him briefly before offering him a bite of her sandwich.
• Super-Strength: Applejack is definitely the physically strongest of the Mane Six, though it is established through observation on James' part that earth ponies in general are the burliest of the three primary pony races in terms of brawn.

Rarity

• Call-Back: Rarity often hums or quietly sings some of her solo performances while on the job, such as 'Art of the Dress' and 'Becoming Popular”, although these instances are not mentioned as often in later volumes.
• Dual Wielding: Rarity takes this to a ridiculous degree in Volume 5. Her weapon of choice during the war effort is not two, but eight sabers at once.
• Staying with Friends: Being completely new to life in Equestria and having nowhere else to go, Rarity allows James to bunk in her house for a few days as pleasant company.
• Weak, but Skilled: When compared to Twilight, Rarity has a much smaller spell pool and does not exhibit the level of power that Twilight can exhibit. She compensates for this by being far superior in skill with the spells she does know, especially the basic levitation spell.

Pinkie Pie

• Cloud Cuckoo Lander: She's Pinkie Pie. What did you expect?
• Fourth-Wall Observer: True to form, Pinkie Pie is all too aware of how her world really works and is not afraid to mention what's happening beyond the screen or to take advantage of the medium. This ranges from throwing casual criticism towards The Hub, knowing what happened before in G3, catching a ride on a word processor’s scroll bar, or knowing that the author does all his writing with Microsoft Word 2000.

Royalty

Princess Celestia

Princess Luna

Nightmare Moon

• Ascended Demon: After centuries of living in the shadows of both Celestia and Luna and a harrowing clash in battle after her second return, Nightmare Moon finally beats the odds even in the face of her own legacy and is welcomed into the royal family as the Princess of Dreams.
• Dream Walker: Much like Luna, Nightmare Moon frequently delves into the dreaming minds of others over the course of the night.
• You Are Worth Hell: Her attitude towards James. Nightmare Moon's love for him is so stalwart that she will follow him without hesitation into uncharted territory to insure he stays alive, even with news of a full invasion approaching.

Princess Cadence

Queen Novo

• Babies Ever After: Dearly trying to invoke this with James, Novo is dead serious about starting a family with him at the earliest opportunity.
• Commonality Connection: The catalyst for the romantic relationship between Novo and James. They understand the pain of a sudden end to a wonderful loving relationship with their significant other and the emotional isolation that comes with the aftermath.
• Curves in All the Right Places: Even by the standards of the gorgeous Princess Celestia, Novo is implied to have an even more curvaceous form than her if one looks closely. Does not help that Novo self-identifies as a MILF.
• The Lost Lenore: Novo lost her king several decades ago and is still mourning him to this day.
• Ms. Fanservice: By Equestria's standards, and if her performance in the source material is anything to go by, Novo definitely qualifies. And she knows it.
• Royal Rapier: Her weapon of choice.
• Sassy Black Woman: She would not be Queen Novo if she did not fall under this trope.
• Sex Goddess: Once she and James properly enter a relationship, Novo proves that she is damn good at giving her man the night of his life. Considering that hippogriffs tend to make great spouses and she has had centuries of experience in being a good wife, her skill in the art of love is constantly on display.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Though with less emphasis on the “silk” part. While Novo does retain her own style of regal elegance at all times, she is still the finest sword fighter on the planet and will kick ass if she has to.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Celestia. They bounce off each other at times like a couple of old friends who have known each other for centuries, which they have. They often get into playful bickering that provides no end of entertainment for those around them.
• Vocal Dissonance: Despite her regal brightly colored appearance, Novo speaks with an uncharacteristically deep soulful voice and unusual rhetoric that James describes as being more fitting for a zebra mare.

Princess Skystar

Dragon Lord Ember

• Action Girl: She is extremely competent with a spear and will charge into battle in full armor if someone invades her land. On top of that…
• Action Girlfriend: Ember firmly becomes this to James the longer the war drags on as their friendship blossoms into genuine romance.
• Blue Is Heroic: By far the most virtuous and reasonable dragon of her homeland and covered in beautiful hues of blue scales.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Justified. As the war drags on, James and Ember fall progressively and deeply in love with each other. But due to how dragon courtship works, where the decision is final on whether the answer is yes or no, both sides are extremely hesitant to openly confess to each other. Even when it's clear they are aware of how much each loves the other.
• Combat Pragmatist: Downplayed. While Ember is very cunning and will lash out at enemy weak spots even with the use of spike attachments on her tail, she has yet to be seen resorting to any genuinely dishonorable tactics in battle.
• Defeat Equals Friendship: Downplayed in that their first duel ends in a stalemate, but her first duel with James paves the way for Ember becoming a stalwartly loyal friend to him in the coming days.
• Fire-Forged Friendship: The very first thing Ember does upon finding James is attack him, resulting in a duel with her people serving as an audience. Several chapters later, they are dearly loyal friends.
• Large and in Charge: Subverted. While Ember definitely has the integrity to serve as the Dragon Lord, she is easily one of the smallest adult dragons of them all at less than 4 feet tall.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Ember does not have a high opinion of her subjects, often referring to them collectively as “boulderheads” and generally struggles to keep them in line without resorting to shows of force. Compared to the more brutish dragons living under her reign, Ember is generally pleasant and hospitable when in a good mood.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Ember begins to display a certain attraction towards James after some time entirely because of how unlike most of the males of her own people he is. James himself soon becomes drawn to Ember for roughly the same reasons, resulting in lots of romantic subtext between them when together in private.
• Tsundere: Initially comes off as a “Harsh” type, attacking James upon meeting him and harshly reprimanding Garble afterwards for harassing an outsider in the first place. She later turns out to be a subversion as it is revealed her usual sour demeanor comes from constantly struggling to keep her people in line. When away from her duties as the Dragon Lord, she is generally a much more amicable person, especially towards James.
• Warrior Princess: She is young by dragon standards, but is still the Dragon Lord. If there is trouble, she will don a full suit of armor and charge into battle with spear in hand.
• When She Smiles: While Ember is often on a sour mood in the presence of her subjects, she is much more courteous and tender towards James and he is often quick to compliment her on her beauty.
• The Wise Princess: On top of being the Dragon Lord, Ember is implied to be the only dragon in the entirety of the dragon lands who is willing to acknowledge just how primitive and behind the times her people are and genuinely wants to change things for the sake of her people's culture.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: Come "Athetos", Ember has fallen firmly into this trope when she threatens to slaughter her entire unit of subordinates when they corner James in an attempt on his life. All while holding them at knifepoint.

Rain Shine

• Green Thumb: While all kirin possess a form a nature magic that lets them summon and control various flora, Rain Shine is one of the few to weaponize it.
• Half-Human Hybrid: It's revealed that her birth was the result of her mother romancing a human man, though you would never know by looking at her.
• Lady of War: The chieftain of her people's village, Rain Shine is the epitome of eastern grace. Despite this, she is lethal in battle with her nature magic.
• Noble Savage: Despite having not had direct contact with civilization for centuries, Rain Shine and her people prove themselves to be very civilized, peaceful, and sophisticated while relying entirely on nature for their needs.
• Really 700 Years Old: Despite not being immortal, Rain Shine is much older than she seems since all kirin maidens have an average lifespan of five thousand years.
• The Cavalry: Downplayed. In "Dragon of the East", Rain Shine arrives alone in full oriental armor to provide assistance to Equestria's militia forces.

Spoiler Characters

• Big Entrance: When these two finally debut, they do so by obliterating an entire Hollow army.
• Godzilla Threshold: They are practically the personification of this trope in Equestria. Orbash and Sunflare are so powerful that they personally restrict their intervention only for the most dire of circumstances for Equestria's well-being on a universal level.
• King in the Mountain: They have not been seen in centuries, but their daughters have not ruled out their return should they be needed.
• Physical God: Implied to be on an even greater level than Celestia and Luna. Where the royal sisters control the movements of the sun and moon, Orbash and Sunflare created the sun and moon in the first place.
• The Ghost: While occasionally mentioned, neither have been seen in person outside of an alternative outcome scenario in The Price of Failure. There is a good reason for this. They only get involved during critical major crises that may require their intervention.

Villains -- The Lost Element

The Blanks

• Villain of Another Story: The villains of the eponymous “Story of the Blanks”, their claim to infamy occurred long before James ever arrived.

Discord

• Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?: How James gets the better of him in "Mortal Chaos". By being tempted with a game that he has never played before that has very strict requirements, Discord gets suckered into disabling most of his abilities that includes his immortality. Left at a life-threatening disadvantage, Discord falls victim to James' increasingly murderous desire for revenge.
• The Good King: Revealed to have originally been this by Celestia. At least until his immortality drove him mad with grief due to the repetitive cycle of losing every mortal friend he ever made.

Alpha

• Light Is Not Good: Alpha's original design was explicitly based on the regal form of Princess Celestia herself and generally is depicted as having a mostly white finish. Despite this, he holds nothing but contempt for organic life and seeks to bring total genocide to Equestria's people to make way for a rise of a machine empire.
• The Virus: Alpha becomes this trope with his second outing where it is revealed his programming has merged with his own virus, resulting in him evolving into the Alpha Virus.

The Forgotten Emperor

• Knight Templar: For all the lasting harm his actions have caused, his motives are entirely built upon doing what he believes is best for his own people.
• Redemption Equals Death: After finally coming out of denial over his misguided actions of centuries past, the emperor sets the portal to Earth to close before willfully severing his connection to James’ life force and dies in the arms of humanity’s bearer.
• Was It Really Worth It?: James drops this question on the emperor twice before the final showdown between them can commence.
  James: "Well then... If that's the game you're playing... Fine. Take a look around you. You did it. You listened to Discord when he was consumed by madness and despair. You followed his advice. You became obsessed over what you and your people could potentially be and spread that obsession among them with the entirety of Equestria being oblivious of it until it was too late. You answered that urge to reach higher. Now, take a good long look out there and tell me what it got you. And I'll ask again. Was it all worth it?"

Queen Chrysalis

• The Long Game: Having been implied to be keeping a close eye on James as far back as chapter 8, Chrysalis finally drops hints that she has big plans for him during her proper introduction nearly a hundred chapters later.

Dream Fight opponents

Magolor

• Villain of Another Story: Already in possession of the Master Crown, Magolor is carrying out his ambitions from the source material as soon as he appears.

Omega

• Ax-Crazy: Vicious and psychotic, Omega compensates for his small arsenal with relentless aggressiveness and even succeeds in killing Celestia.

Xemnas

• It Can Think: Xemnas displays an alarming awareness of his enemy’s weaknesses by defying his combat scripting for moves he would never resort to in his original source material.

Nightmare/Night Terror

• BFS: As is often the case with Soul Edge, but is taken to a new extreme with Night Terror.
• Composite Character: The description of Nightmare's outward appearance and Soul Edge's design is more in line with his Soulcalibur V incarnation, but his ruthless and bestial dialogue in battle leans much closer towards his depiction in Soulcalibur VI.
• Knight of Cerebus: Easily the most nightmarish opponent faced at the time, Nightmare even causes James to recoil in shock upon seeing him. It takes a desperate combined effort from James and the royal sisters to finally land a mortal blow, even while Nightmare shrugs off or powers through many of their defenses while inflicting significant harm on James and even graphically killing Luna and Nightmare Moon with single strikes from Soul Edge.
• One-Winged Angel: Just when it looks like Nightmare is done for after James runs him through on his sword, the inner beast begins to break out as Soul Edge goes full power to attain its ultimate form. The obscure Night Terror, easily the most powerful character to date in the Soul series.

Spoiler Character

• Bloodless Carnage: James delivers the final blow in a manner that should have cleaved Ashton in two, but he remains whole and alive even though he only has minutes to live.
• BFS: Ashton's iconic greatsword is a massive weapon with a flame-pattern blade design.
• The Last Dance: The entire reason behind Ashton manifesting in his creator’s dream. With no chance of his story continuing, all he and James can do is have one last duel under the setting sun. And it is glorious.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: When attempting to perform hand signs for Naruto-style ninjutsu, the bulky plating on Ashton’s gauntlets prove too cumbersome for the job.
• The Voiceless: Unlike in the stories he hails from, Ashton is entirely mute throughout the chapter. Justified in that because he originates from stories written in text, he never had a voice to begin with.

Mega Man X

• Always Someone Better: To James, especially his Project H persona. X is the first dream fight opponent that James decisively loses against.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Instead of destroying one or the other, James and X part ways on very friendly terms after a fierce battle.
• Mighty Glacier: X becomes this when donning the Gaea Armor. While the heavy plating slows him down, James has to take serious risks just to get close. Bonus points go to this armor for dealing more damage to James than all other armor types combined up to that point.
• The Paragon: To James. After the action winds down, James is very forward with praising X for being a great inspiration throughout much of his life.

Cynder

• Adaptation Personality Change: Justified. While Cynder is filled with angst over her past as Malefor's pawn once the battle has ended, the unbiased and unconditional emotional support James and Equestria's princesses provide her after the fact results in Cynder being far more emotionally adjusted than she ever was in the source material.
• Armor-Piercing Response: When their second time together starts to draw to a close, Cynder firmly insists on following James wherever he goes over remaining in the Dragon Realms of the classic Spyro trilogy. When James inquires her reasoning for it, Cynder provides a real gut punch of a response.
  Cynder: "Because you're all I've ever had.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Par for the course with Cynder, she's fully under Malefor's influence at the start of the chapter. Thanks to some clever teamwork and understanding the situation, the fight ends with Nightmare Moon literally tearing Malefor's curse out of her body and changing her back to normal.
• Cowardly Lion: Cynder is deathly afraid of Malefor when he shows up after being purged of his influence. While too afraid to follow James and the three princesses into battle at first, seeing them have the courage to face the Dark Master inspires her to join in and ends up providing some impressive assistance throughout the rest of the fight.
  • Subverted by the time Cynder appears a second time, where she has become much braver and is quick to rush to James' side to protect him when Ulric challenges him to a duel.
• Despair Event Horizon: While James is on the verge of death and unconscious after the climax atop the Heaven's Pillar, Cynder forces herself to wake up when she senses his mind fading. She desperately tries to reach him as his dreaming mind crumbles around her until only an empty gray void is left. Upon finding herself unable to feel her dreamer anymore, Cynder succumbs to despair to the point that by the time she returns in "Lost in the Storm", she has reverted to her original corrupted form.
  Cynder: "No... No... It doesn't matter anymore... Nothing matters anymore..."
• False Rape Accusation: The entire conflict of "Without You" is built on this trope. When told of James' unorthodox family situation in the prior chapter, Cynder jumps to a very dark conclusion and assumes James is a seducer who preys upon women. It takes a lot of work to get through to her in the end, though it is revealed that Cynder's suspicions were fueled by previous unrevealed personal trauma.
• Meaningful Echo: Immediately after saving James from an unavoidable attack the instant she shows up, Cynder voices her dedication in assisting him with her famous line of "I'm with you". She repeats this line twice more over the course of the dream with it even being the last thing she says to him as the dream ends with Cynder embracing him.
• Sickly Green Glow: Cynder's flame breath is an unnatural green hue that does not even compliment her color scheme. Neither she nor James are particularly comfortable with it at first after they light a bonfire with it during their second outing together, although James does make an effort in trying to help them both come to terms with it.
• Slave Collar: Cynder views the platinum shackles and blades on her body as something like this, being remnants of her time as Malefor's thrall. At least until James tries to get them off, even succeeding in doing so. Cynder's response to having them removed borders on euphoric.
• Sole Survivor: Becomes this by the end of the battle with the annihilation of her world. Due to no one present having any vivid memories of the world, not even Nightmare Moon can recreate her world from scratch. Cynder does not take this well at first.
• The Bus Came Back: Cynder's return in "A Wayward Wyrm" is significant in that it marks the first time a dream fight contestant has appeared more than once in the story.
• Took a Level in Idealism: The kindness received from James and the three royal sisters at the end of their previous encounter has done wonders for Cynder by the time she shows up again. She is very supportive of James during his time of emotional need and is openly trusting of him.
• Tragic Dream: Cynder physically clings to James when their second night together is on the verge of ending, wanting nothing more than to follow him out of the world of dreams and into the real world. She fails.

Malefor

• Break Them by Talking: As fond of this trope as in his source material, Malefor tries this first thing upon meeting the protagonists and uses it to great effect against Luna, Nightmare Moon, and especially Celestia. He quickly gives on on trying it on James when all this does is aggravate him into pulling his sword on the guy. Even in the middle of battle, he consistently tries to get back under Cynder's skin.
• I Have You Now, My Pretty: Much later in "Without You", it is revealed that this trope was in play between him and Cynder. During meetings with Cynder when he could only project himself through a phantom apparition, Malefor became increasingly lecherous towards the corrupted Cynder and had every intention of making her his personal breeding slave after he finally physically manifested. Thankfully, the arrival of James and the three royal sisters that night prevented him from acting upon it.
• Made of Iron: A very hardy opponent by all accounts. Gets taken even further when he empowers himself with Dark Aether to the point where even solar magic loses a lot of its lethality against him.
• No Body Left Behind: His ultimate fate. Upon being impaled on James' sword, Malefor is ignited from within with solar magic. There is nothing left of him by the time the flames fade moments later.
• Posthumous Villain Victory: By the time Malefor is destroyed in battle, it's too late to stop the temple's descent as James and Cynder can only watch helplessly when the world explodes right into their faces. Ultimately suberted when Luna and Nightmare Moon hastily wipe the dreamscape clean in order to protect themselves.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Subjected to this trope by Celestia after trying to intimidate Cynder by having his face slammed into the floor.

Kronos/Miktran

• Fantastic Racism: True to form, Kronos holds nothing but contempt for James by identifying him as part of the Er'ther race.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he is finished off. While stunned from a heavy coordinated attack from James and the three royal sisters, Kronos ends up fatally pinned to the Eye of Atamoni by having all five Swordians impaled through his torso.
• Unexpected Character: Easily the most obscure dream fight opponent to date, Kronos remains one of the most forgotten BigBads of the Tales series. Especially his incarnation from the obscure Playstation version of Tales of Destiny.