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Jusis Albarea

Jusis as of Cold Steel III

^{Jusis in his Thors uniform}

^{Jusis in his summer uniform}

^{Jusis as he appeared in Cold Steel II}

Voiced by: Shinnosuke Tachibana (Japanese), Ben Diskin (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel | Cold Steel II | Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

"I shall fulfill my duty as a noble."

The second son of Duke Helmut Albarea of Bareahard, head of one of the Four Great Houses of Erebonia. As such, he has the highest social standing of all the first-years at Thors and knows it. A devotee of Erebonia's ancient traditions of knighthood, he uses sword in combat as a practitioner of court fencing and believes in the idea of Noblesse Oblige. He develops an intense rivalry with Machias on their first day at Thors, and it isn't until their field study in Bareahard that the two are finally able to find common ground with each other. Having a fondness for horses, he ends up joining the Riding Club during his time as a student.

After graduating he returns to Bareahard in order to fill in for his father as lord of the Kreuzen province after Helmut's arrest thanks to his actions during the civil war. He still maintains this position a year and a half later by the time of Cold Steel III.

Aesop Collateral Damage: In the first Cold Steel game, his and Machias' vitriol reaches a head during the second Field Study resulting in their Combat Link breaking while fighting a monster. They then go at each other's throats over it, not noticing that the monster was Not Quite Dead and attempting to make a sneak attack resulting in Rean pushing them out of the way and getting slashed. They're both clearly contrite over it, and become less acerbic towards each other and more open towards cooperating with the rest of the class.
Ancestral Weapon: His first bonding event in Cold Steel IV results in him getting the Holy Sword Elvars as a cosmetic change to his weapon. He brings it out against Rufus in the latter's boss fight near the end of Cold Steel IV and by Reverie, he has an exclusive Craft with it where he slashes the enemy apart with it.
Angry Collar Grab: During Chapter 2 of Cold Steel I, his and Machias' issues come to a head when their Combat Link breaks while fighting a monster. The two then proceed to blame the other for it, and grab the other by the collar, and would have come to blows had said monster not proved itself to be Not Quite Dead and tried to deliver a sneak attack on them.
Arranged Marriage: His bonding event in Cold Steel III has him dealing with several noblemen trying to set up their daughters with him to get in his good graces.
Badass Armfold: In Reverie, he crosses his arms at the end of the game when he tells Normal Ending Rean that they can no longer listen to Elysium's guidance after they've rejected it when Rean tries to warn them of the future.
Badass Longcoat: He wears green longcoats as part of his attire from Cold Steel II onwards, and is still as capable a warrior as ever.
Baritone of Strength: Ben Diskin gives him a suitably low and cultured voice to match his combat prowess and noble pedigree.
Barrier Warrior: His Platinum Shield grants himself and anyone around him in the range Craft Guard. Cold Steel IV also adds some additional Gradual Regeneration to the party for a few turns as a bonus.
Bastard Angst: Is revealed to have been born from an affair between Duke Albarea and a commonborn woman during the Bareahard Field Study. Feeling out of place in House Albarea due to his status, while desperately seeking the approval his father, who is shown to be an an utter jackass who could care less about him, played a major part in his initially cold demeanour. He thankfully outgrew it as he became closer with his classmates.
Big Brother Worship: Towards his older half-brother Rufus at first, who had brought him into House Albarea and taught him swordmanship and the other manners of noble etiquette. He loses this aspect as the series goes on after Rufus Took a Level in Jerkass after revealing his allegiance to Osborne, thus going against everything that Noblesse Oblige Rufus had taught him.
Blade Spam: His Rapid Thrust and Arc Slicer Crafts both have him rapidly stab his enemy multiple times before ending it with a slash. His third S-Craft,Aeolus Saber, also starts with him delivering a series of rapid sword thrusts.
Blue Blood: The Albareas are one of the Four Great Houses of Erebonia, he's as Noble with a capital N as you can get.
Blow You Away: His secondary element is Wind, as is his Default Master Quartz, Mistral from the first two Cold Steel games.
Boomerang Bigot: Some of his attitude towards Commoners stems from the fact that he was born and raised as one and always felt out of place among the Albareas as a result. He aggressively plays up the mannerisms expected of a Noble to make up for it.
Broken Pedestal: At the end of Cold Steel II, he lost respect for his brother Rufus. Less because of Rufus being a part of the Noble Alliance and more because of him revealing himself to be an Ironblood, one that wants to get rid of the noble system in the empire, and him governing Crossbell instead of Bareahard and also not fulfilling his duty as a board member of Thors, waiting for Jusis to graduate. Jusis even admits to Rean in the epilogue that he doesn't even know Rufus anymore if players talk to him after school. When he kills Arianhrod after her defeat, Jusis is so disgusted he stops calling him 'brother' altogether, addressing him as simply 'Rufus Albarea'. By Reverie however, the pedestal is slowly back to normal, as Jusis is back to calling him 'brother' after seeing he is not the same as before.
But Now I Must Go: Tries pulling this in Cold Steel II after his father razes Celdic and Jusis feels the need to put a stop to his misdeeds personally. Subverted in that his friends won't let him.
Cain and Abel: The Abel to Rufus' Cain by Cold Steel II. Although they quite obviously care for each other, a source of tension between both brothers is the fact that Rufus is allied with the Noble Alliance whereas Jusis chooses to oppose them with Class VII. Then it's revealed that Rufus is actually a double agent working for Osborne which throws Jusis for a loop and has him admit he doesn't really know his brother anymore. Things only get worse by the time of Cold Steel III and IV as Rufus slowly allows himself to be consumed with his ambitions and Jusis, along with Class VII, has to stop him.
Calling the Old Man Out: In Cold Steel II, after Duke Albarea has been humiliated and imprisoned for sending his troops to raze Celdic and STILL doesn't comprehend that he is in the wrong, Jusis yells at his father that his situation is entirely the result of his own actions and that he has completely forgotten the responsibilities of being a Noble in his lust for power.
Can't Live with Them, Can't Live Without Them: With Millium. He is exasperated by her antics thanks to being the frequent victim of many of them and more than once his patience is tested whenever the two of them are in the same room. Though with that said, he still finds it in him to look after her and come Cold Steel III he's basically gotten used to her. He is also notably the most cut up of the original Class VII bar Rean after her death and the most overjoyed along with Altina when she is properly revived in Cold Steel IV.
Character Development: Is extremely proud of his noble lineage when first encountered, to the point where he can come across as arrogant in situations where he means well. Through interactions with the rest of Class VII, Jusis mellows out and is more comfortable with helping others while still keeping the dignified air of a noble. In the second game, he finds his own pride in being a noble in his own way after confronting his father and his relationship with Machias is now something of a heated but more friendly rivalry.
Child of Two Worlds: He was born from an affair between Duke Albarea and a common-born woman, and he had been raised by his mother and maternal uncle prior to being taken in by the Albareas after the former's death 8 years prior to the start of the first Cold Steel game. Though he has embraced and takes great pride in his status as an Albarea, it's clear he has some Bastard Angst from his background due to his father treating him as The Unfavorite for his origins.
Classy Cravat: Wears one as part of his attire from the second game onwards to emphasize his noble bearings.
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He and Rean serve as this to Millium, doing their best to keep her more impulsive actions in check.
Color-Coded Characters: Wears a bright green longcoat as part of his attire from Cold Steel II onwards, fitting as House Albarea's main colors are green and he became the de-facto ruler of Bareahard, which is known as the The Verdant City.
Conflicting Loyalty: In Cold Steel II he finds himself torn between joining Class VII again or remaining with his family as part of his duties as a noble. A quick spar with Rean convinces him to do the former.
Costume Evolution: His canon wardrobe is as follows:
- A Class VII school uniform in the first Cold Steel game.
- A green coat, blue shirt, and black pants in Cold Steel II
- A dark green coat over a white shirt and pants in Cold Steel III and IV, as well as Reverie.
Deadpan Snarker: Especially when Machias and Millium are concerned.
Death from Above: His Aeolus Saber S-Craft ends with him leaping into the air and throwing his sword at the enemy.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Male version; starting when the party visits Bareahard in Cold Steel I, he starts softening up little-by-little.
Dub Name Change: A minor version; his upgraded Brave Order, Noblesse Arc, was changed to just Noble Arc in the English version.
Elemental Hair Colors: He has blond hair, which matches with his primary element of Space.
Everyone Has Standards: Jusis is haughty and arrogant like most nobles, but even he is disgusted by Patrick's condescending remarks towards his non-noble classmates.
Expy: He pretty much looks like a younger Chester Stoddart and fights with a similar sword. If he wasn't part of Class VII, the white uniform Nobles get would make the resemblance even closer.
Dramatic Unmask: In Reverie, he's the one who manages to unmask "C" by slicing his mask off, revealing his brother underneath the mask who also cut his hair short, which also sets up a plot twist as the Rufus at Crossbell isn't the same Rufus who's standing in front of him at the end of Rean and Rufus' chapter 2.
Et Tu, Brute?: He was absolutely shocked to discover that his older brother Rufus, who had been the one who instilled the values of nobility into him, was secretly the right-hand man of Osborne who sought to abolish the nobility.
Fan of the Past: Has an interest in old-style swordsmanship from Erebonia's past and is a member of the Equestrian Club at Thors.
Friend to All Children: Gets along with children with unexpected ease as seen with two kids in Bareahard who revere him. It's only Millium he can't handle.
Full-Name Ultimatum: In Cold Steel IV, he start referring to his brother solely as Rufus Albarea when Rufus shows exactly how low he is willing to sink for his ambitions.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Ends up punching Rufus in Cold Steel IV for moping around, not realizing that he should have done better.
Handshake Substitute: By Reverie, his and Machias' vitriol has died down to the point their victory link quote has them performing a fist bump while back-to-back.
Heal Thyself: His Default Master Quartz from Cold Steel III onwards, Dunamis, allows him to regain a percentage of HP whenever he inflicts damage with his normal attacks or Crafts.
Heroes Prefer Swords: He uses a 'Knight's Sword' as his weapon.
Heroic Bastard: He's only a half-noble. His mother was a Commoner that his father slept with, and he's spent most of his life being treated as an unwanted child. This explains a lot of his initial jerkass moments.
Horseback Heroism: Part of the Riding Club and his second Limit Break in Cold Steel II, Asteion Knight, has him riding his horse Strahl to attack his enemy. Does this again when bailing Rean and the New Class VII away from the Northern Jaegers in the third game.
An Ice Person: His Treasure Sword Craft and first S-Craft Crystal Saber involve freezing the enemies in a large radius before slashing them.
Icy Blue Eyes: He has pale blue eyes that fit his originally aloof and stoic demeanour.
I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Jusis wants everyone in Class VII to know that he is not their friend and has no interest in becoming friends with any of them, especially the Commoners. When visiting Bareahard, he refers to the other members as 'just classmates, nothing more'. At the end of the chapter, he starts defrosting and when confronting his family troops, he calls Class VII his friends.
Insufferable Genius: He is very boastful about being one of Thors' top students in contrast to Machias and Emma. During chapter 3 of the first game, he doesn't even try to hide his lack of surprise that Class VII ranked first among the classes in the exams, saying that a class he is a part of couldn't possibly place anywhere other than the top spot.
Machias: Why do you always have to be so full of yourself?
Instant Runes: Creates several when performing his S-Craft Crystal Sabre.
Jack of All Stats: He's extremely well balanced, has high levels in two attack types and can fill any role required depending on who else you have in your party. He also has one of the best buffs in the game and in the sequel gains a barrier move. His only real downside is an unimpressive S-Craft, though his second one in Cold Steel II is a lot better.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although he can be quite arrogant and stand offish, Jusis at heart is caring towards his friends and loved ones and is more than willing to step up when there's trouble in order to protect the people.
Light Is Good: Bright blond hair, Icy Blue Eyes, wears bright green, and his primary element is space which is colored gold. Despite his aloof demeanour, is still a good guy.
Limit Break: His S-Craft in Cold Steel I is Crystal Saber, with Cold Steel II adding in Asteion Knight. For Cold Steel III and IV, as well as Reverie, his S-Craft is Aeolus Saber.
Magic Knight: He fights with a sword and has several nice attack Crafts, one Craft that does magical damage (making him one of playable character in the franchise to be able to inflict both with Crafts alone) and an exceptional mass buffing skill. He also has a nice EP pool, above average ATS and an Orbment setup that's good for accumulating a lot of powerful Arts if you want to set him up that way.
Missing Mom: His mother passed away when he was child before he was taken in by House Albarea.
Not Helping Your Case: Even if Machias is in the wrong for assuming all nobles are bad, Jusis certainly doesn't help matters by often acting very much like the kind of nobles he hates, and overall he contributes at least as much to their antagonistic relationship as Machias does. There's a reason Machias takes the longest to warm up to him (and even longer to admit it).
Not So Stoic: Certain instances such as his rivalry with Machias, Millium's antics and the like can make his dignified mask slip.
Odd Friendship: Develops one with Gaius as the two are seen hanging out together through the latter half of Cold Steel I. Jusis is an initially Defrosting Iceking and part of the nobility, while Gaius is a straight up Nice Guy from the Nord Higlands which practices no class system. Despite this, the two get along rather well, no doubt due to Jusis strong interest in horses.
One-Handed Zweihänder: In Cold Steel IV he gains access to his Ancestral Weapon, the Holy Sword Elvars in his bonding events as a cosmetic change. Despite the sword being nearly as long as he is tall, he has no problems wielding it singlehandedly like his usual sabers.
The Proud Elite: Very proud of his heritage and he'll make sure you know it. Of course, it turns out he's a half-noble, half-commoner by birth.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers this towards Rufus after his final battle in Cold Steel IV where Rufus wonders where he went wrong and why he ultimately failed.
Redeeming Replacement: Becomes the ruler of the Kreuzen Province after the end of the second game and is definitely a step up compared to his father Helmut and step-brother Rufus.
Required Party Member: He must be in the active party for the battle against Rufus, Lechter, Claire and Millium in Cold Steel III and the battle against Alberich and Rufus in Cold Steel IV.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: As member of the Albarea family, one of the Four Great Houses of Erebonia, Jusis is practically the highest ranking noble in Class VII and in Thors Military Academy by default. However, unlike his father, Jusis never fails to always do the right thing and lives by the notion of "Noblesse Oblige".
The Runaway: After years of putting up with emotional abuse from his father and a month of trying to keep order in the Kreuzen Province while his father would prefer to scheme and Rufus is acting as supreme commander of the Noble Alliance, a speech from Rean in Cold Steel II causes him to realize he can no longer morally justify supporting the Noble Alliance. As a result, he leaves a letter informing his father that he has run away in order to rejoin his classmates and walk his own path.
Say My Name: He screams Millium's name when she is killed by the Nameless One. He also says her name a lot in Cold Steel IV.
Sharp-Dressed Man: Wears a rather classy suit ensemble from Cold Steel II onwards, befitting his status.
Ship Tease: Gets a ton with Millium in Cold Steel III and Cold Steel IV. See her entry and the game's page for details.
Shout-Out: His Treasure Sword skill is essentially a cut-down version of Loewe's Dead Emperor Sword/Meiouken.
Sins of Our Fathers: Becomes part of his conflict in the second game, where he feels responsible for cleaning up the messes caused by his father. When reuniting with Rean and the rest of Class VII, he's initially reluctant to go along with them because he believed he had lost all rights to call himself friends with Class VII, especially with Rean, after his father Duke Albarea had sent a group of Jaegers to attack Ymir to kidnap Princess Alfin, resulting in Baron Schwarzer nearly dying and Elise and Alfin being captured. Rean naturally doesn't agree and convinces him otherwise.
- Again, when learning that his father ordered his men to kidnap Elliot's sister Fiona, he can be seen apologizing to him in the next scene. Just like Rean, Elliot doesn't hold it against him either.
- And then there's when his father ordered Celdic to be burned. This was enough that he wanted to part ways from Class VII to give his father a piece of his mind. Class VII tells him otherwise and decides they're all going with him for that.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Has two of these in Machias and Millium, though in Millium's case it's completely one-sided.
Space Master: His Primary Element is Space, which is also the Element of his Default Master Quartz, Dunamis from Cold Steel III onwrds.
Spam Attack: His Rapid Thrust and his S-Craft in Cold Steel III has him rapidly thrusting his sword at his enemies.
Status Buff: His Noble Command Craft from Cold Steel I and II allows him to grant himself and the others additional Strength, Art Strength, and speed buffs. His Brave Order, Noble Rise, and its upgraded form Noble Arc" have the same effect along with a damage increase for the whole party. In Reverie, he gains the Craft Holy Sword of Elvars, which increases his STR and ATS, along with giving him the Brandish buff which increases the damage of his regular attacks and Crafts before doing damage.
The Stoic: Usually acts in the aloof and regal manner befitting his status as a nobleman.
Sword Beam: His Rune Blade Craft from the first two games had his sword glow before delivering a magic slash at the enemies.
Sword Plant: He does this when using his Platinum Shield craft.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: His S-Craft from Cold Steel III through Reverie, Aeolus Saber has him throw his weapon at his enemies.
Took a Level in Kindness: Started out rather proud and aloof claiming to the rest of the the Class I'm Not Here to Make Friends. He grew out of this throughout the games while still maintaining the dignified air of his station.
Tragic Keepsake: Is shown to be holding onto Millium's hat after her death at the climax of Cold Steel III.
Tritagonist: By Cold Steel II, he starts to share the role with Alisa for the series in general. His family's actions have a strong influence throughout the story, with Jusis' relationship with Rufus in particular becoming a focal point of development for both characters which is only further expanded upon in Reverie.
Tsundere: He acts like this towards Machias and Millium. He will rarely, if not never, admit that he actually likes both deep down as much as he does the rest of his classmates.
The Un-Favourite: As showcased when Class VII Group A has their Field Study in Bareahard, Jusis isn't held in high regard by his father Helmut Albarea and is treated rather coldly by him. This is because Jusis is an illegitimate child born from a commoner mother. Cold Steel III reveals that Helmut deliberately played this up so that the nobility wouldn't find out that Rufus, Helmut's supposedly favored son, was a bastard child born from his wife's affair with his younger brother. He brought Jusis in to keep up the illusion of a stable family and partially to get back at his wife.
Vitriolic Best Buds: While he and Machias genuinely hate each other at first, it's nevertheless clear to everyone around them that they care for each other deep down even if they still exchange barbs at each other.
Was It All a Lie?: Finding out that his big brother Rufus is an Ironblood, one who opposes everything the nobility stands for, really made him question his brother. He admits to Rean after the latter comes back from Crossbell that he doesn't even know any of his family anymore after their secrets are out. And then it turns out that Rufus isn't even his older brother at all but rather his cousin since he's the product of an affair between Duke Albarea's legal wife (not Jusis' mother) and brother.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: His entire goal in life is to have his father acknowledge him. He finally gets his attention after Jusis calls him out on why he's imprisoned, with Helmut acknowledging Jusis' similarities to his mother. And even then, he tells Jusis to hold the line till he gets back, still unrepentant for what he's done.
White Sheep: To the Albarea family. Compared to his father and Rufus, Jusis is unquestionably a good person.
You Fool!: Screams at this towards Rufus after revealing that he intends to become an Immortal willingly in Cold Steel IV.

Fie Claussell

Fie from Cold Steel III to Reverie

^{Fie in her Thors uniform}

^{Fie in her summer uniform}

^{Fie as she appeared in Cold Steel II}

^{Fie as she appears in Daybreak}

Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Cassandra Lee Morris (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel | Cold Steel II | Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie | Daybreak || Kuro II

"I didn't stand a chance three years ago, but I've grown a lot since then."

The second youngest member of Class VII. Fie is a former member of the jaeger group known as "Zephyr," adopted by the group's leader, Rutger Claussell after discovering her as a young orphan child. After her adoptive father's death and the subsequent disbanding of Zephyr itself, she's found by Sara Valestein and is later enrolled as a student at Thors Military Academy. She also ends up joining the Gardening Club.

Initially quiet and unmotivated to a fault, it takes her sparring with Laura for her to finally start opening up to the rest of her classmates. During the Erebonian civil war, she reunites with former Zephyr members Xeno and Leonidas, and later learns from them their plans to bring Rutger back.

Intrigued by this, after graduating, she ends up leaving with Sara to join the Bracer Guild in order to learn more of Zephyr's operations. By the time of Cold Steel III, she successfully became a senior Bracer, reaching the Rank of B by the time of Daybreak.

A-Cup Angst: Downplayed; she's curious as to whether or not Emma's breasts make it hard for her to climb ladders (and fondling her in a few pieces of promotional art) and, in an optional conversation on the way to Legram in the second game, asks Rean, "What's your take on bigger boobs?" Even after several years and growing a bit herself by the time of the first Daybreak game, she's quite miffed that Agnes, a girl four years younger than her, has a significantly bigger chest.
Action Girl: Her and Laura are easily the most action-oriented females of the old Class VII. Fie, along with Sara, Gaius, and Laura are also shown on-screen to be quite possibly the only people among Class VII that can keep up with Spirit Unification Rean at full power; in Fie's case, it's easily possible to beat Rean going all out by just being too dodgy for Rean to hit. This is reflected in-story, as Fie can canonically just keep dodging Rean until he runs out his power.
Adoptive Name Change: Rutger gave Fie his last name, Claussell, when he adopted her. As a wandering war orphan, it's unlikely she even knew what her birth surname was when he found her.
Affectionate Gesture to the Head: She's on the receiving end of this from Sara, Rean, and her adoptive father Rutger before he vanishes. She finds Sara doing it to be annoying, but admits she likes it when Rean is the one doing it and even asks for it several times.
Age-Inappropriate Dress: Her outfit in Cold Steel II exposes her midriff, and has her wear shorts so short and hang so low that it makes one question if she shaves or is naturally glabrous.
Animal Motifs: She's frequently compared to a cat because of her independent personality, love for napping, and sharp tongue. Her fighting style is also heavily focused on speed and agility. She is also rather friendly to the various other cats the party meets on their adventures, Celine included. Rean's relationship fortune with Fie will even say that "the one dear to you is attached to you as a cat would be" and he comes to the conclusion that the fortune is talking about Fie.
Asleep in Class: She is chastised for falling asleep in a number of places in and around Thors Military Academy, including in class.
Babies Ever After: Her stated goal should Rean choose her for the final bond in Cold Steel IV. She says she wants to start a real family with him.
Badass Adorable: Both very adorable and also a former jaeger from Zephyr which automatically makes her awesome.
Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Her outfits in Cold Steel II through Reverie left her stomach exposed, during which she also underwent her Character Development to be more expressive and mature.
Big Damn Kiss: Shares one with Rean if she is chosen for his final bond event in Cold Steel IV.
Blow You Away: Her primary Element is wind, fitting for her focus on speed, title as Sylphid(a wind fairy), and being a former mmber of the Jaeger Corps Zephyr(West Wind).
Bonding over Missing Parents: Easily bonds with Rean over their real parents not being there for them. Both also have to deal with their dads who become their enemies in the future.
Boots of Toughness: She's one of the stronger female members of Class VII thanks to her background as a jaeger, and her outfits from Cold Steel III through Reverie and Daybreak include boots that reach her thighs.
Boyish Short Hair: The most tomboyish of the original Class VII girls, and had the shortest hair at first. She grew it out over time as she also became more womanly.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Fie is shown to be extremely adept at nearly any task she applies herself to (and the fact that she's two years younger than the rest of Class VII only makes that feat more impressive), but she has a strong apathetic streak, to the point where most of her time outside of class is spent napping. She's the weakest member of the class academically speaking, finishing 72nd in her year out of 100 (not counting Rean's determinant finish, the only other member of her class that wasn't in the top 20, Elliot, was 36th). Though that's still far from last place and again, she's two years younger than everyone else in her academic year, and likely had little if any formal schooling before Thors given her past as a war orphan who grew up in a traveling mercenary corps.
Casting a Shadow: Her secondary element and default Master Quartz Raven is Time, fitting her speed and Dark and Troubled Past as an orphan becoming a Child Soldier in Zephyr.
Catchphrase: She borrows Tio's "what a bother" phrase in the Japanese version.
Character Development: Initially somewhat stoic and unmotivated, Fie steadily grows into a more friendlier and determined individual over the course of the Cold Steel games. Xeno and Leonidas even comment on how she had grown during the Finale of Cold Steel II.
Character Tic: She has a habit of folding her hands behind her back whenever she is standing idly.
Child Soldier: She was 15 at the start of the Cold Steel saga, and had been part of Zephyr for some time prior to it, hence her competence in battle. Unlike other examples, she doesn't appear to angst too much about it, and was genuinely fond of the Corps that raised her.
Continuity Cameo: Despite not being present for most of Kuro II, she does make a surprise appearance during the ending. She even gets a voiced line, due to sharing her Japanese voice actress with Odette.
Costume Evolution: Her canon wardrobe is as follows:
- A Class VII school uniform in the first Cold Steel game.
- A black jacket, white shorts, goggles, a lime-green scarf, and a midriff-exposing green shirt in Cold Steel II.
- A white and black midriff-exposing shirt, a brown-ish sleaveless vest and skirt, black detached sleeves and thigh-high boots, and a blue-ish green scarf in Cold Steel III and IV, as well as Reverie.
- A sleaveless brown shirt, a blue-ish green corset (with a matching hat), a white skirt, and dark brown detached sleaves in Daybreak.
Crazy-Prepared: She carries a grappling hook with her on the first day of school. You never know when you might need it to escape from a mandatory orienteering session. And takes plastique with her on field studies in case she needs to blow some doors open.
Critical Hit Class: Her Concealing Wind Craft grants her Stealth, which not only makes her unable to be damaged, but also insures every attack she lands becomes a Critical Hit along with the increase to her speed and strength for massive damage. Her ability to become an untouchable Evasion tank with the right set up means she can greatly benefit from using the Rage Quartz(which makes every Counter-Attack an automatic Critical Hit).
Criss-Cross Attack: Her Shadow Brigade and Lethal Crusade S-Crafts both have her rapidly slash the enemy apart from multiple angles.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Well, ordering everyone else to abandon you at any rate. He didn't want his adoptive daughter to throw her life away as a mercenary so he ordered the rest of Zephyr to disband after his death, hoping that Fie would find another path in life which she thankfully does after meeting Sara.
Dark and Troubled Past: As a child, Fie was a war orphan who would later be taken in by Rutger Claussell, leader of the renowned Jaeger group Zephyr. Though Rutger was reluctant at the idea, Fie would eventually became an official Jaeger of Zephyr herself, going on various missions with the group and even earning a nickname (Sylphid) of her own. It isn't until her adoptive father's death, Zephyr's subsequent disbanding, and Sara coming across her did she finally leave that life behind.
Dash Attack: Her Scud Ripper Craft and its upgraded variant, Cipher Edge, have her launch herself at the enemy at high speeds while slashing them.
Deadpan Snarker: Has the sharpest tongue of the entire Class, usually directed at Sara.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Starts off rather stoic and snarky, but eventually warms up to the other members of Class VII who she came to saw as her new Family of Choice.
Distaff Counterpart: To Randy Orlando. Both are the (biological or adopted) children of prominent Jaegers who ended up leaving their respective groups. Randy hides his trauma behind a mask of cheerfulness while Fie goes for the emotionless approach. Both also use gun/sword hybrid weapons and both have a similar Craft (Crash Bomb vs Flash Grenade). Both also wind up on the opposite side of a conflict from their former teammates, as remnants of Zephyr are working for the group that invaded Trista at the end of the game, much like how Red Constellation attacked Crossbell. Though whereas Randy was ashamed of his time as a Jaeger and treated his blood family in contempt and left them of his own accord, Fie looked back fondly at the members of Zephyr who she saw as her family and had nothing but good things to say about Rutger, and was heartbroken when it appeared they abandoned her.
Doppelgänger Attack: Both her second S-Craft from Cold Steel II, Shadow Brigade, and her S-Craft from Daybreak, Azure Grion, has her create clones.
Elemental Eye Colors: Her green eyes match her primary element of wind.
Elemental Motifs: She is strongly affiliated with wind, with her green eyes, speed and agility-based fighting style, carefree personality, and having been part of a traveling mercenary company named Zephyr (the West Wind), where she earned the title of Syplheed (a wind fairy).
Emotionless Girl: Almost all of her lines are spoken in complete deadpan, whether she's encouraging Class VII to get moving or hamstringing a giant monster. As she begins to warm up to her "new family," she becomes more spirited and by Cold Steel II, she's throwing out goofy one-liners and saying things like "it's Fie's cooking power hour!"
Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, she has a robotic copy fought during Chapter 4 of Rean's route.
Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Her Gunswords (pistols with bayonets) give her a solid B rank in all attack types except Strike, making her extremely versatile.
Family of Choice: Comes to see Class VII as this, and is willing to fight and lay down her life for them.
Fanservice Pack:
- Played straight in Cold Steel III, where her figure is more curvaceous, and her outfit is more revealing.
- Zigzagged in Daybreak; her new outfit is relatively tamer than her previous one, but she got a slight upgrade in the bust department.
First Kiss: Gives her first kiss to Rean in Cold Steel IV if she's chosen for the fireworks scene at Mishelam. Notable that she tells Rean that she's 18 and thus Rean can legally romance her.
Flash Step: Several of her moves have her strike the enemy at extremely high speed, most notably her S-Craft.
Force and Finesse: The finesse to Laura's force, relying on evasion, agility and her gunblades to attack from afar or upclose.
Fragile Speedster: Fie is far and away the fastest party member in Class VII, to the point where she may attack multiple times before your slower party members have had a chance to do anything. She also has a fairly strong attack, but her low HP and defense make her vulnerable to enemy attacks (initially, at least; building up her evade stat makes her much tankier towards the end of the game).
The Gadfly: It's not clear whether some of her early interactions are deliberate in trying to annoy others or if she just doesn't care. Later on, it becomes obvious she's doing some of it on purpose. She particularly seems to enjoy tweaking Machias.
Girliness Upgrade: Grew her hair out longer and became the Ms. Fanservice from Cold Steel III onwards in line with her more expressive personality.
Goggles Do Nothing: Her outfit in the second game has her wearing goggles on her head that she never actually puts to use.
Green Thumb: She's part of the Gardening Club.
Guest-Star Party Member: She's playable for a few sections of Daybreak,^note and is a Marchen Garden-exclusive character in Kuro II after the post-release update.
Gun Kata: Starts pulling these off in the first Daybreak game, where she flips while firing her guns at her enemies.
Gun Twirling: She twirls her gunblades before throwing them at the start of her Lethal Crusade S-Craft.
Guns Akimbo: Her fighting style involves using a pair of "gunswords," one in each hand.
Happily Adopted: Had nothing but good memories of her time amongst Zephyr and Rutger despite her role as a Child Soldier, and was clearly hurt by them seeming to have abandoned her upon Rutger's death.
Hidden Depths: Underneath her quiet nature, she is a nice, albeit snarky girl who will grow stronger to protect anybody she holds dear to her.
I Am Not Left-Handed: Laura notices when the class is swimming that Fie is deliberately holding back and challenges her to a rematch. In fact, Fie holds back frequently, which is one reason the extremely straightforward Laura has trouble relating to her.
Improbable Age: She's the youngest member of Class VII until Millium arrives, being two years younger than all of them at 15. As a result, she needs a bit of help with her schoolwork. Taken further in Cold Steel III where it's revealed she became a full-fledged Bracer at the age of 16, at least one year after she graduated from Thors, and is currently working with Sara on various missions.
Invisibility: She gets the ability to grant herself Stealth and a 50% SPD boost from the second game onwards via her Concealing Wind craft. As a bonus, if she attacks while invisible she gets an automatic Critical Hit.
Jiggle Physics: The dance sequence at the end of Kuro II shows her chest bouncing.
Kindhearted Cat Lover: Shows that she doesn't just like to imitate cats during a sidequest in Heimdallr, when she calms down an aggressive cat.
Lightning Bruiser: It's quite possible to give Fie a 100% evade stat with the right setup. This effectively nullifies Fie's only real weakness - her low HP and defense - and allows her to be a highly effective tank, as she will always dodge any non-magical attack. You can build on this further by giving her the Rage quartz (all counterattacks are automatic criticals, which can trigger link attacks) and, in Cold Steel II onwards, it is possible to buff Fie's magic evade to >50% as well, making her almost completely untouchable. She also has her Concealing Wind craft which makes her outright immune to damage for 3 turns while increasing her strength and speed while making her attacks all be a Critical Hit.
Like Brother and Sister: Her bonding events mostly focus on family - how she considered Zephyr her family at first and how their abandonment left her adrift before she found a new family in Class VII. Subverted with Rean in their final bonding event in Cold Steel II - she talks about how all the other boys in Class VII are like older brothers, but Rean is different, "something closer."
- By the time Cold Steel III rolls around she has begun to show annoyance when Rean treats her in a sisterly fashion, and Cold Steel IV reveals the reason why: she's fallen for him. She definitely no longer sees him in a platonic light.
Limit Break: Her S-Craft in Cold Steel I is Sylphid Dance, with Cold Steel II adding in Shadow Brigade. For Cold Steel III and IV, as well as Reverie, her S-Craft is Lethal Crusade. In Daybreak, her S-Craft is Azure Gurion.
Little Miss Badass: Particularly in the first two Cold Steel games, where she was among the shortest members of the old Class VII and also the strongest when it came to speed and practical combat expertise.
Little Miss Snarker: Whenever someone in Class VII (usually Sara) says something overly goofy, Fie is usually there to follow it up with a snide remark.
Magic Skirt: Even wearing her Thors uniform doesn't stop her from performing acrobatic feats that are likely to show off her underwear to the world. Fortunately, it never happens thanks to in-game physics.
Meaningful Name: Her name is one letter away from, and is pronounced exactly the same as 'Fee' which not only ties into her having been raised by and being a member of a famous mercenary group who fought for money(aka charging a fee), but also happens to be the French, German, and Dutch word for fairy, fitting her title as Sylphid.
Mix-and-Match Weapon: Her main weapons are a pair of guns with knives built in bellow the barrel.
More Dakka: Her gunblades are shown to be capable of fully automatic fire in several of her Crafts.
Ms. Fanservice: She's officially graduated to one as of Cold Steel III, with her Stripperific outfit and more curvaceous body.
Nice Girl: While starting off as quiet and uninterested, she gradually becomes this more and more through her interactions with everybody she meets, mainly those in Class VII.
No Social Skills: After Jusis' father brushes him off, he's left standing in the street staring. Fie, lacking any social niceties, is the first person to ask Jusis what just happened.
Odd Friendship: With Laura. Laura is the serious and proud member of an Erebonian noble family that puts great emphasis on the knightly values of honor and chivalry while Fie is a Brilliant, but Lazy former member of one of Zemuria's most prominent Jaeger Corps, Zephyr, that was raised on lessons of pragmatism and contracts. While they did have some conflicts at first, overtime the two became some of the most close-knit friends out of all of Class VII and a dangerous duo in battle.
Older Than They Look: Despite turning 20 by the time of the first Daybreak game, Fie mentions that some people mistake her as being younger.
Parts Unknown: As a war orphan who had been picked up by a traveling mercenary company, her actual birthplace and nationality are unknown, though she seems to have come to see Erebonia as her home after the Cold Steel saga thanks to her experiences with Class VII.
Precision-Guided Boomerang: Her Lethal Crusade S-Craft has her throw her gunblades that later return to her.
Promotion to Love Interest: Her bonding events in the first two Cold Steel games aired on the ambiguous side, with Cold Steel III hinting that the way she felt had changed. By Cold Steel IV the ambiguity is entirely gone and she becomes a full-on love interest.
The Quiet One: Rarely speaks unless spoken to and her responses are usually minimalistic.
Red Baron: Known as "Sylphid" among those who know of her past as a former Jaeger of Zephyr.
Rei Ayanami Expy: Ticks off nearly every one of the traits of the archetype, being a near Emotionless Girl with silver hair.
Required Party Member: In Cold Steel II, she's required to be in the party for the second stratum boss fight of the Infernal Castle in order to settle things once and for all with Xeno and Leonidas. She also must be in the active party for the battle against Shirley, Rutger, Siegfried and Sharon in Cold Steel III. She's also required to be part of the party in the final fight against Rutger in the Rivalries near the end of Cold Steel IV.
Scarf of Asskicking: Gains a green-colored one in Cold Steel II. Switches to a dark blue one in Cold Steel III.
Shadow Archetype: One that she recognizes, during one of her Bond Events. Shirley Orlando is the kind of person Fie could have become if she hadn't met everyone in Class VII.
She-Fu: Almost a given considering her main traits are her speed and agility. Plenty of cutscenes and Craft animations draw attention to how nimbly she can jump and flip around. Rean actually brings it up in Chapter 4 of Cold Steel I noting that she is far stronger than should be possible for her build.
Sleepyhead: She is noted to nap like a cat and can sleep just about anywhere. Both the opening intro and the prologue shows her napping on a bench, and her victory pose is her yawning. Her initial time at Thors consisted largely of finding places to nap.
Smash Sisters: Once she and Laura get over their differences, they prove to be a very capable duo in combat who complement each other's strengths and cover their weaknesses.
Speed Echoes: Several of her Crafts have her moving fast enough to leave behind afterimages.
Spin Attack: Sylphid Dance finishes with her spinning in a circle while rapid-firing both of her guns.
Status Buff: Her Concealing Wind craft boosts her strength and speed while also granting her the the Stealth status which makes her immune to damage, and makes every attack she lands a guaranteed Critical Hit for a few turns.
Stripperific: Her outfit in Cold Steel II already didn't leave much to the imagination, but her Cold Steel III outfit takes it up a notch.
Stuff Blowing Up: She has a bunch of explosives with her the, as end of her Shadow Brigade S-craft shows.
Tamer and Chaster: By the time of the first Daybreak game, she's wearing a shirt that covers her stomach.
Terse Talker: Downplayed; Fie has a clipped, militant manner of speaking due to her upbringing.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Her Lethal Crusade S-Craft from Cold Steel III through Reverie starts with her throwing her gunblades at the enemy before grabbing them to fire a rapid volley at them.
Took a Level in Cheerfulness: She starts out as a snarky, aloof, and unmotivated girl. As she spends more time with the class and opens up more, she becomes more expressive and cheerful, as seen in her victory-linked quotes in the first game, where she has an utterly bored expression and tone of voice, to a brighter and more energetic tone, and even smiles from Cold Steel II onwards.
Trick Bomb: Her craft Flash Grenade has a chance to inflict Blind and/or Paralysis in a wide area, though it does very little direct damage.
Undying Loyalty: She's unquestionably loyal to anyone she considers family. In Cold Steel II, she even goes as far as to take on her former Zephyr comrades twice to help her classmates put an end to the civil war.
Unkempt Beauty: Her appearance in the third game onwards, her long hair being rather wild yet she still appears quite attractive.
V-Sign: Performs a V-sign whenever she levels up, during a group victory quote, and her link victory quote with Rean.
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: A non-romantic version in her bonding events in the first game. Tasked with growing flowers for the Gardening Club, she recalls that one of her friends in the jaeger corps told her to "raise them with love," a concept that she still can't seem to grasp. She appears to have learned the meaning during the timeskip as her first bonding event in Cold Steel IV has her confessing her romantic feelings to Rean.
When She Smiles: Her initially stoic and apathetic demeanor made the times where she started to smile as she opened up more to the others in Class VII all the more vibrant.

Gaius Worzel

Gaius (with Zeo) as of Cold Steel III

^{Gaius in his Thors uniform}

^{Gaius in his summer uniform}

^{Gaius as he appeared in Cold Steel II}

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel | Cold Steel II | Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

"May the wind and the Goddess bless us."

A foreign exchange student from the distant Nord Highlands situated at the north-eastern edge of the Empire. Through the recommendation of Zechs Vander, he leaves his family behind as he ends up attending Thors to learn more of the world beyond his homeland. Thanks to his heritage, Gaius is a naturally friendly and reliable young man. Thanks to his interest in painting, he ends up joining the Art Club during his time at Thors. In combat, he utilizes a spear. He is also quite religious, offering prayers to Aidios whenever he has the time.

After graduating from Thors, he ends up returning to his homeland in order to protect it. He returns to Erebonia in Cold Steel III in order to aid his classmates once more.

Animal Battle Aura: His first S-Craft, Calamity Hawk, has his battle aura shaping around him in the form of hawk's wings and tail.
Animal Motifs: To birds, appropriately enough. He comes from the Highlands which worships the wind itself which features in several of his Crafts, he has a hawk named Zeo who acts as an Attack Animal in one of his Crafts, his first S-Craft is named Calamity Hawk and has him gain a hawk shaped Animal Battle Aura, and he gains the title of Soaring Phoenix when he becomes a Dominion.
Armor-Piercing Question: He delivered a short poignant question to Patrick after he mocked most of Class VII members.
Gaius: "(...) I can understand the importance of tradition, lineage, dignity, pride — I get why those would matter... But where do you think they let you get off saying the kinds of things you did?"
Attack Animal: His Hunter Wing Craft consists of his hawk Zeo performing a Dash Attack at the enemy.
Badass Longcoat: Sports a red one in Cold Steel III. Fans immediately perked up at the familiar design. It's a Dominion-style longcoat, cementing the fact that he's the new 8th Dominion of the Gralsritter.
Badass Preacher: Just like the other Dominions who don't preach, he's a subversion despite being part of the church.
Baritone of Strength: He has the deepest voice of all the members of Class VII, and by the end of 'Cold Steel III is a strong contender for being one of the strongest members by virtue of becoming a Dominon.
Beware the Nice Ones: He's one of the nicest members of Class VII, but it is best not to push him. It is best seen when he verbally tears Patrick apart when the latter starts hurling verbal abuse at Class VII after losing the mock battle he instigated against them.
The Big Guy: He's the tallest member of the original Class VII, and he makes sure to provide extra muscle.
Blow You Away: Two of his Crafts and both of his S-Crafts involve wind. It's also his primary element-restricted slot.
Cast from Hit Points: His Wild Rage craft lowers his HP to refill his CP gauge. It also grants a boost to his STR and DEF from Cold Steel III onwards.
Character Catchphrase: "The Wind", sometimes with "and the Goddess" added. Lampshaded once by Rean and Jusis. A few of his classmates also start to use it at times.
Church Militant: He finally becomes a full-fledged Dominion, taking Barkhorn's seat in Cold Steel III after two games worth of teasing.
Continuity Nod: His painting is on display in Kuro II.
Costume Evolution: His canon wardrobe is as follows:
- A Class VII school uniform in the first Cold Steel game.
- A red vest, a black shirt, a blue undershirt, and black and blue pants in Cold Steel II
- White pants and a red and black variant of the Gralsritter longcoat in Cold Steel III and IV, as well as Reverie.
Cultured Badass: Knows how to fight but is also quite well spoken and likes to both paint and play the sitar.
Death from Above: Savage Fang and his original S-Craft Calamity Hawk both have him leap into the air before striking the enemy with his spear. His final S-Craft, Howling Heavens, has a giant version of his spear plunging down from the clouds to pierce his enemies.
Dishing Out Dirt: His secondary element is earth, best shown in his Savage Fang craft which has several spikes sprout from the ground upon him slamming his spear to the ground.
Disc-One Nuke: He is this in Cold Steel IV as soon as he joins the party thanks to his powerful S-Craft rating at 4S where everyone else is hovering at 3S+ at most, his Wild Rage skill, Musse's Brave Order^noteReduces all EP costs by 80%, and a treasure chest at the third dungeon of Eryn that contains a "Chrono Burst R" quartz, long before players can even obtain the Chrono Burst quartz. Pair him up with a character that can refill his EP via ARCUS links and stock up on restoration items for HP, EP, and BP and he can kill bosses very easily. There also exists a cryptid that drops a Lost Arts Quartz right next to the Eryn portal that can be defeated with this strategy and obtain the quartz itself long before players are supposed to challenge that boss.^note
Dual Wielding: He pulls out a second spear for his new S-Craft in Cold Steel II, "Twin Cyclone."
Empowered Badass Normal: He was already a capable warrior from the start, but upon gaining a Stigma after becoming a Dominion in Cold Steel III he became even more powerful, capable of even fending off the likes of McBurn and Arianrhod with backup from Laura and Emma, which puts him in the running for one of the strongest members of the Class.
Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, he has a Hollow copy that serves as a boss in the True Reverie Corridor, most notably when it fights alongside Wallace's during Fie and Toval's Trial Door, and alongside Wazy and Thomas' on the seventh floor.
Forced to Watch: In Reverie, he is powerless to stop a railway gun from shooting on his village.
Foreshadowing: If the player maxes out his bonding events in Cold Steel III, then he'll give Rean a sneak preview of his stigma at Heimdallr.
Foreign Exchange Student: He comes from the Nord Highlands and decided to go to Thors after a recommendation from Zechs.
Funny Foreigner: How he's seen by other students though he rarely even acts like one.
Gentle Giant: The tallest member of Class VII and one of the nicest and most even-tempered members as well.
Good Old Ways: The Nord Highlands is a remote region northeast of the Empire that haven't changed much in the past three hundred or so years. His family and tribe still lives nomadically.
Horseback Heroism: How he saves Rean and co. in Cold Steel II. He also did the same thing for Lt. General Zechs Vander in the past, impressing the man enough to write up a recommendation for him to attend Thors.
Limit Break: His S-Craft in Cold Steel III is Calamity Hawk, with Cold Steel II adding in Twin Cyclones^*Expel Lancer in the original. For Cold Steel III and IV, as well as Reverie, his S-Craft is Howling Heavens.
Loyal Animal Companion: He has a hawk named Zeo, with whom he is rather close. He joins up with him wherever he goes from Cold Steel II onwards and even acts as an Attack Animal in one of his Crafts.
Nature Spirit: He prays to Aidios (and is first encountered by the player at Trista's church) but he also talks about the traditional belief in the Wind, which is what the nomads of Nord Highlands believe in.
Nice Guy: Easily one of the kindest, most loving and patient characters in the franchise. The only instance so far where he loses his cool is when Bleublanc gets absolutely delighted over the fact that Nord is about to get burned into the ground.
Nonstandard Skill Learning: He can learn his Craft Hunter Wing from a Bond Event earlier than normal, though if the player doesn't see it, they'll still get the skill eventually via leveling up. In Cold Steel III, you can only use his S-Craft in the final chapter when he reveals that he's the 8th Dominion.
Occult Blue Eyes: He has sky blue eyes and is one of the more spiritual members of Class VII, and eventually becomes a Dominion with all the supernatural powers that entails.
Out of Focus: Barring part of Cold Steel I Chapter 3, Gaius stays out of the spotlight during the Erebonia arc, leaving him to have the least amount of focus among Class VII overall.
Power Gives You Wings: While performing his S-Craft "Calamity Hawk," he appears to have burning wings and a tail sprouting from his back in the shape of a hawk.
Real Men Love Jesus: Is no slouch in combat and is quite religious as well. Taken further when he becomes a Dominion.
Red Baron: His official Dominion title is the "Soaring Phoenix."
Required Party Member: He must be in the active party for the battle against Arianrhod and Demon McBurn in Cold Steel III.
Scholarship Student: He earned one from an officer in the Imperial Army Zechs Vander, Mueller's uncle which allows him to attend Thors despite not being as academically qualified as the other students.
Ship Tease: Gets quite a bit with his former fellow art club member Linde in Cold Steel III and IV. They spend the final night at Mishelam together, and Rean feels as though it would be rude to intrude on their date if you try to speak to them.
Supernatural Sensitivity: His 'wind sense' allows him to notice when he enters an area where the higher elements are active.
Take Up My Sword: In Cold Steel III, he becomes the newest 8th Dominion after Barkhorn transfers his stigma to him.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: The tallest and tannest member of the class. If you take him along to collect clothes for the concert, the store owner considers hiring him as a model. Rean even agrees mentally, saying he'd look good in anything.
Tattoo as Character Type: He has scrolling tattoos on his arms and wears his uniforms with rolled-up sleeves to show them off. It's a tribal custom.
Took a Level in Badass: After acquiring his stigma from Barkhorn, he becomes the 8th Dominion and becomes increasingly stronger than he was before. It's especially notable because, in-story, he goes from being not too impressive combat-wise compared to other members of Class VII, to being one of the strongest members of the group, possibly THE strongest bar Rean. It was enough that his re-introduction in Cold Steel III was what made Arianrhod stop fighting the new Class VII.
Tornado Move: His Turbulence Craft and second S-Craft Twin Cyclones have him produce tornadoes to attack the enemy.
Tranquil Fury: Gaius responds to a volley of insults directed at his class by Patrick by calmly shutting him up and telling him that tradition does not excuse the remarks he made—among them calling Fie a "jaeger-tot" and Gaius himself a barbarian.
Warrior Artist: He grew up hunting with a spear, he attends Thors Military Academy, and he enjoys painting in his spare time.
Willfully Weak: Throughout most of Cold Steel III as he doesn't have access to his S-Craft, making it harder to utilize his Wild Rage combos. When he finally materializes his stigma, the gloves come off.

Millium Orion

Millium as of Cold Steel III

^{Millium before joining Class VII}

^{Millium (with Airgetlam) in her Thors uniform}

^{Millium (with Airgetlam) in her summer uniform}

^{Millium as she appeared in Cold Steel II}

Voiced by: Kotori Koiwai (Japanese), Ashly Burch (English, Cold Steel I and II), Michelle Marie (English games, Cold Steel III onwards)

"Okay, looks like everybody's here! Let's go go goooooo!"

A young girl encountered by Rean and his group during their field study at the Nord Highlands. She is accompanied by a robot companion called Airgetlam. She is a member of the Intelligence Division and a member of the Ironbloods together with Claire and Lechter. Strings are pulled to get her into Class VII, where she exhausts everyone with her boundless energy. She ends up joining the Cooking Club during her stay at Thors.

After graduating, she returns to her work with the Intelligence Division. Despite this, she's ready to support Rean and her friends from Class VII whenever they desire.

Affectionate Nickname: She calls Airgetlam "Ga-chan/Lammy," depending on the script. She later gives Claiomh Solais a similar name ("Ku-chan/Sammy"), but Altina is not having it. She also refers to Altina as "Tilly/A-chan." To round things off, she refers to George's former Combat Shell (Naglfar) as "Gu-chan/Nammy".
Aloof Ally: For the most part in Cold Steel I. While she's no enemy, it's made clear that she's attending Thors only because of her mission in investigating "C". By the end of Cold Steel II however she considered a full on member of Class VII as much as the others.
Annoying Younger Sibling: Inverted; she's Altina's older sister, but her much louder and more energetic personality and Cloudcuckoolander antics are shown to annoy her (and her other classmates, mainly Jusis, to some degree) to the point she utterly foregoes Japanese Sibling Terminology in the original audio. That said, it's shown they still care for one another as Altina was utterly devastated and saddened by her Heroic Sacrifice at the end of Cold Steel III and was overjoyed at her coming Back from the Dead in the true ending of Cold Steel IV.
Armor-Piercing Attack: As the Originator Zero sword in Cold Steel III and IV, she is alike to a Divergent Weapon, which allows her to wound Holy Beasts and [McBurn] true form.
Artificial Human: Millium's true nature is hinted at throughout both games. She claims she has never cried or felt sadness before, she is able to keep up with Class VII's demanding curriculum despite the fact that she's four years younger than the rest of the class and has never attended Sunday School, she reveals she has a serial number tied to the Black Workshop, a piece of artwork during the credits sequence shows her floating in what looks like a People Jar, and she talks with Rean in the epilogue about how, according to her "specifications", she's already close to fully grown. If you choose Millium as your partner when visiting the dorm, her final event in the epilogue has her spill the beans - she is an Artificial Human, and was "produced", rather than born. Cold Steel III elaborates this further by revealing that both she and Altina are basically similar with KeA, homunculi created in Black Workshop using Crois Family's technology stolen by Black Alberich.
The Baby of the Bunch: She's the youngest member of Class VII and the Ironbloods at 13 years old (15 by Cold Steel III) and has the personality to match.
Back from the Dead: The true ending of Cold Steel IV has Franz Reinford revealing that he had a backup body for her waiting at the Black Workshop.
Badass Adorable: Given how cheerful and energetic she is around 95% of the time, you'd be forgiven for forgetting that not only does she have a battle-ready robot waiting in the wings at all times, she's still a government agent working for the Chancellor.
Beehive Barrier: Ultimate Barrier has this visual effect and allows her to tank a single physical attack. Airgetlam later deploys an even more impressive beehive barrier that protects the entire party during a cutscene.
Beware the Silly Ones: Yes, she's a little weird. She's also an Ironblood with everything that comes with it.
Big Eater: Joined the Cooking Club for access to more snacks. At one point in Cold Steel III, Rean and co track her movements by asking around the local restaurants to see if she'd eaten there recently. According to witness testimony, she'd eaten an enormous paella platter, three bowls of bouillabaisse, and a five-scoop ice cream cone, over the course of a single afternoon.
Big Sister Instinct: When Altina attempts to perform a Heroic Sacrifice to become the Originator Zero Sword at the end of Cold Steel III, she immediately pushes her younger sister out of the way to take her place.
Body Backup Drive: It's revealed that Franz made a body backup of Millium after she sacrificed her life to become the sword. The capsule Team A passes by at the Black Workshop is where her body is sleeping.
Book Ends: She's the first old Class VII member to join Rean in Cold Steel III. After the True Final Boss fight in Cold Steel IV, she joins Rean in chasing after Ishmelga, with Rean cutting down Ishmelga using her as the sword.
Cat Girl: Much like Tio's headband, Millium's cap (worn when she attends Thors) gives her a catlike appearance.
Chekhov's Gun: The capsule that Team A encounters at the Black Workshop in Cold Steel IV contains the back up body of Millium.
Cloudcuckoolander: She has no problem with the idea of summoning a two meter tall robot in the middle of a classroom. Sara tells her not to do that again because if anything gets damaged, she's the one the Headmaster will take it out on.
Code Name: She identifies herself to Ironblood members as "White Rabbit."
Cool Sword: Her death in Cold Steel III transforms her into one. She comes back at during Cold Steel IV's Golden Ending.
Costume Evolution: Her canon wardrobe is as follows:
- A full-body white suit.
- A Class VII school uniform once she officially joins the group.
- A white and blue-ish green shirt with brown shorts and a blue-ish green hat in Cold Steel II
- A different white and blue-ish green shirt and hat ensemble, this time with gray shorts and blue knee-socks, in Cold Steel III and IV, as well as Reverie.
Crutch Character: In-universe, Airgetlam is one for her; when she runs into a situation where her robotic companion can't instantly solve her problems, she freaks out.
Cuddle Bug: Quite prone to giving people she's close to hugs, as Rean, Jusis, Claire, and Altina can attest to.
Cute Bruiser: She's tiny and she hits ridiculously hard. True, it's mostly Airgetlam doing the hitting but she can transform it into a weapon and swing it under her own power and she's incredibly athletic so it's not all her robot's doing.
Damage Reduction: Her Brave Order White Decorations does this for the entire party, reducing all enemy damage down by a whopping 90% for a few turns.
Deader than Dead: In the normal ending of Cold Steel IV, Millium dies for real alongside Rean and Crow.
Deep Sleep: While the ending of Cold Steel IV barely showed how long it took for Class VII to put Millium's sleeping soul inside the spare body at the Black Workshop, Reverie reveals that Millium's soul inside the sword has been asleep for half a year, a few weeks before Reverie's chapter 1 starts.
Demoted to Extra: In Cold Steel IV, she only appears sporadically in the game by virtue of her physical body being dead. She's only a Support Party Member that requires Jusis to be at the party so players can use her Brave Order. She returns to being a playable party member in Reverie thanks to being completely revived in IV's Golden Ending.
Designer Babies: Never outright stated during the main plot of the first two Cold Steel games, but her final bonding event and the English version-exclusive images during the (first) ending of Cold Steel II seem to confirm this. In the epilogue, Millium hints at this even farther, saying that "according to her specs", she's almost full grown and is going to be a Pint-Sized Powerhouse forever. Even at the end of the Golden Ending of Cold Steel IV, her new body is still small.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Dies in Rean's arms at the climax of Cold Steel III after saving him and Altina from the Nameless One. She got better though.
Disappears into Light: Upon her death, her body dissolves into light before reforming as the Sword of the End.
Ditzy Genius: Despite being younger than her classmates, she can keep up in class, though it's hard to tell because of her goofy behavior.
Energy Weapon: One of Airgetlam's built-in weapons, Riot Beam and its upgrade Valiant Beam.
Fake Defector: Despite siding with the Ironbloods in Cold Steel III to fight against Class VII, she's actually there to save Altina and sacrifice her life in the process.
Fighting Your Friend: Sides with Osborne in the finale of Cold Steel III, forcing her and the rest of the Ironbloods to fight against Rean and the rest.
Genki Girl: Oh so very much. Her genkiness is enough to exhaust both Rean and Jusis.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: When moving into Class VII's dormitory, she brings an impressive collection of dolls with her, including Poms, Mishy and Mishette, Pikkards and Noi. The Zwei II penguin also makes a reappearance, although at a much smaller scale. Apparently, Lechter bought all of them for her.
Give Me a Sword: In Reverie, the "Down the Rabbit Hole" episode has the party venture into a part of the Black Workshop to retrieve Airgetlam. Millium is able to fight by borrowing George's Naglfar, though she doesn't have access to all her crafts.
Glass Cannon: She has exceptional DEF and hits like a truck, but her HP reserves are fairly low. Since her default Master Quartz buffs her DEF even further and grants Craft Guard and Magic Reflection (and she has a Craft that can grant the first effect at will,) she can usually stay out of trouble as long as you're careful. Loading her up with Quartz and accessories to bring her HP to a more reasonable level can ameliorate this.
The Glomp: Millium is a great fan of this manoeuvre, with Claire, Rean, and Jusis often at the receiving end.
The Gwen Stacy: She is this for Rean as she dies protecting him and preventing Altina's Heroic Sacrifice during the finale of Cold Steel III.
Hair Antennae: She has a short pair.
Height Angst: She's rather annoyed that she won't be growing any taller. When Laura says she looks the same as before, Millium protests that she grew one rege.
Humongous-Headed Hammer: Both her Sledge Hammer craft and Gigant Break have Airgetlam turn into a hammer with a big head to mash enemies.
Irony: She hates ghosts, yet she sort of ends up becoming one herself by the fourth game.
Kiddie Kid: She's 13 years old at her first appearance (15 by Cold Steel III), but acts half that age with her extremely loud and energetic personality. Somewhat justified, as she is an Artificial Human who had only been activated for about five years by her first appearance, making her technically a child in terms of life experience.
Kill Sat: Her second S-Craft Galactic Cannon has her transform Airgetlam into one of these and fire him from low orbit.
Kill the Cutie: She dies defending Rean and the rest after Rean's Zemurian Tachi is destroyed during the battle against the corrupted Holy Beast in Cold Steel III.
Leitmotif: "New Companions" is actually used in the original Cold Steel to introduce both her and Crow, but its perky nature fits the personality she displays and it's used in several other scenes involving her, including in Cold Steel II.
Lethal Chef: She joins the Cooking Club in order to get free food. Her attempts at cooking some of her own tend to set off smoke alarms and in one incident she gets sugar and salt mixed up while making cookies. However, by the time of Cold Steel III she has improved significantly and her cookies aren't just edible but actually quite popular...
Limit Break: Her S-Craft in the first game is Gigant Break, with Cold Steel II adding in Galactic Cannon^*Galaxy Cannon in the original. Meanwhile, Terra Breaker is S-Craft in Cold Steel III, as well as Reverie.
Loose Lips: Millium constantly and accidentally reveals important intelligence nonchalantly before remembering that was supposed to be a secret.
Morph Weapon: Her S-Craft Gigant Break transforms Airgetlam into an enormous hammer capable of shattering the ground with a blow. She later gets Sledge Impact which does the same thing in a lesser form.
Mundane Utility: She tries to use Airgetlam for everyday things like stirring ingredients while cooking. The other characters (usually Rean) have to remind her not to do this. During the attack on Trista at the end of the game she puts this to practical use, taking advantage of Airgetlam's ability to fly in order to see what's happening in areas that are out of line of sight.
Mysterious Past: Millium's memory was erased when she was given to Osborne, so she has no recollection of her past. She knows she came from the Black Workshop and has some knowledge of their workings, presumably from the Intelligence Division's files, but no actual memories of her time there.
No Sense of Personal Space: Attacks Rean, Jusis and a random girl from the Equestrian Club with sudden hugs and has naughty dreams about Emma though we don't see her go after her onscreen.
The Not Secret: Neither Millium nor the game make any real effort to hide that she's one of the Ironblood, working for Chancellor Osborne, although her motivations are only revealed at the end when she tells Class VII.
Oblivious to Hatred: She is mostly oblivious to how other characters (mostly Jusis and Altina) can be annoyed by her antics.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's tiny and can swing a massive hammer. She also has the highest natural DEF of all the playable characters despite being the youngest and smallest.
Platonic Life-Partners: She's the only girl in Class VII that is explictly not romanced by Rean when her bond events are completed.
Powered by a Forsaken Child: Her soul is used to create Rean's divergent sword.
Retractable Weapon: A variation but she can adjust the size of her sword form from as big as Valimar to as small as a regular sword wielded by Rean to destroy Ishmelga.
Robot Buddy: She's accompanied by Airgetlam, a two meter tall robot that can carry her around, pulverize solid rock and stir the soup.
Senseless Sacrifice: She dies protecting Rean and the rest of the party after Rean's Zemurian tachi is destroyed. Her soul is then used to forge a new sword for Rean which is originally blue in color except Rean turns it red when he loses control of his Superpowered Evil Side. However, as revealed in the Black Records, her death and subsequent defeat of the corrupted Holy Beast via said newly forged sword are the final steps in "The Great Twilight"; what Osborne, The Black Workshop, and Ouroboros are trying to achieve. Worse, both she and Altina (the intended person to be the sacrifice until Millium takes her place) are aware but decided to do it anyway.
- On the other hand, if she hadn't intervened, the Beast would have killed Rean and his students, Cedric would have killed Altina, taken the Sword of the End and probably gone on to abuse its power. So in the end it was probably the best possible outcome albeit in a situation where there was no real solution.
Ship Tease: She gets a ton with Jusis. Cemented in Cold Steel IV where she doesn't have any bonding events with Rean (mainly because she's a sword) and after killing Ishmelga, Rean gives Jusis the sword that's holding Millium's soul. And they share many moments together in Mishelam, in places reserved for couples. See the Ship Tease page for the game.
Stepford Smiler: Perhaps to some degree. If you see her bonding scene with Rean, she reveals that it isn't all fun and games. She may be a young girl, but she's also a government agent and everything that comes with it, and sometimes she feels like there's two of her. She never even got to attend Sunday School. To at least some degree, the whole perky happy-go-lucky girl thing is an act.
- Played completely straight in Cold Steel IV. She sure acts very cheerful for someone that knows her life is probably going to end by the end of the Rivalry. Millium eventually also says she shouldn't have treated her sacrifice with such cheer because due to the lack of enough interactions, she never thought her friends would suffer so much with it. She drops the pretense of her death being a normal and acceptable thing after she appears to her friends again as a projection from the sword.
Talking in Your Sleep: While on the way to the field study in Legram, she sleeps on the train and comments "No, Lammy, you can't smash that." Also, later on, while taking a nap following a mission: "Emma, they're so big... and soft."
Together in Death: In Cold Steel IV, she dies for real alongside Rean and Crow to destroy the Great One and its curse for good in the normal ending.
Token Mini-Moe: She's thirteen in the first 2 Cold Steel games and looks it.
Unable to Cry: Millium reveals in Cold Steel II that she has never felt sadness or cried and idly wonders what it's like. Subverted in the Epilogue, when Class VII completes their last adventure together and Millium feels a tear running down her face. A few seconds later, the dam bursts in earnest.
Wham Line: Drops a bombshell reveal at least twice in both Cold Steel I and II.
- The first is when she reveals that Crow is none other than C.
  "If only I caught on sooner... but considering that he managed to outwit Claire, Lechter and even Gramps I suppose Crow's earned this victory."
- From the second game after seeing Rufus at the Infernal Castle:
  "You're one too, right?"
What Is This Feeling?: In Cold Steel II, after seeing Celdic burned to the ground, Millium starts feeling a "weird tightness" and confers with Rean about it. Rean diagnoses that Millium is feeling sad, something that Millium thinks is definitely out of character for her. Prior to this, Millium even admits that she has never felt sadness or cried before, even after the death of the Chancellor (whom Millium affectionately called "Gramps"). This ultimately culminates in the end of the game, where, after Class VII's last hurrah together against the big boss Loa Luciferia, she begins to cry for real.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Like Elie, she's terrified of ghosts and asks Jusis not to say the 'G-word' around her. Also as per the previous character, her fear is kind of justified by the fact that ghosts in this setting A) Exist and B) Can kill you.
You Are Number 6: Model Name Oz73.

Crow Armbrust (Unmarked Spoilers for the Cold Steel saga!)

Crow Armbrust

Crow as of Reverie

^{Crow for most of Cold Steel I}

^{Crow as a member of Class VII}

^{Crow as he appeared in Cold Steel II}

^{Crow in his Azure Siegfried outfit}

^{Crow in Cold Steel IV}

^{SPOILERS for Reverie}

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Scott Whyte^note (English)

Appearances: Cold Steel | Cold Steel II | Cold Steel III | Cold Steel IV | Reverie

A common-born second-year student at Thors, Crow became part of Class VII due to his failing grades, needing extra academic credits in order to graduate in time.

He is later revealed to be "C", the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front, who intends on assassinating Chancellor Osborne. That attempt ended causing a Civil War between Nobles and Commoners. He's also revealed to be the Awakener to the Divine Knight known as Ordine and later dies after managing to stop the Vermillion Apocalypse.

Eventually, Crow is brought back to life and brainwashed by the Black Workshop, now going under the name Azure Siegfried. He would later break out of it by the end of III and becomes an ally in both IV and Reverie as a way of atoning for his past.

11th-Hour Ranger: In Cold Steel II where he and Rean team up with their Divine Knights in the final battle against the Vermillion Apocalypse. In Reverie, he's the last character who joins in chapter 2 of Rean's route and is only available when Rean's party fights off against C's party at Himmel Cemetery (though while the player only controls him for the last fight of chapter 2, from Rean's perspective, Crow fights twice in the game).
Ace Custom: Reverie gives him his own Panzer Soldat, the Tyrfing X, colored azure to contrast Rean's ashen Tyrfing S.
Ace Pilot: Thanks to having been an Awakener for three years, Crow's experience allows him to utterly dominate Rean during their first two battles in their Divine Knights.
Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Frequently does this to Towa. He also did this once towards Rean. Twice, if you count the time he did it while dying in Rean's arms.
Alas, Poor Villain: After he dies in Cold Steel II, he never finds out that that his revenge against Osborne ended up getting undone once Osborne reveals that he's still alive. This is after siding against Class VII for most of Cold Steel II.
Alone Among the Couples: In the Eventide of Cold Steel IV, he along with Machias, is the only one who can spend the night alone among Class VII. Though, he has an excuse for this one.
All for Nothing: Not long after his death in Cold Steel II is it revealed that Osborne was still alive, completely undoing the one purpose in life he thought he achieved as Rean angrily summarizes towards Osborne.
Always Someone Better: Towards Rean. Rean describes Crow as both a friend and rival who's always one step ahead of him that he tries to keep up with and eventually surpass.
Amicable Exes: It's implied that he was romantically involved with Vita during Cold Steel IV. When asked about their relation by Ash and Rean, he makes no further comment on the subject but make clear that a lot happened between them.
Crow: Sometimes I'm glad I didn't get too involved with her, but other times, I wish I did.
And Then What?: A point he remarks on during Towa's Daydream episode in Reverie. Between his scheming to assassinate Osborne and his experience as an Immortal, Crow never actually considered what he would do next if he managed to pull it off, leaving him wondering what to do in life next.
An Ice Person: His Freezing Bullet Craft. His ARCUS' secondary element is also water.
Arch-Enemy: Towards Osborne, whom Crow blames as being the one responsible for pushing his grandfather to die from depression after the annexation of Jurai.
Asleep in Class: After he temporarily joins Class VII, the first thing he can be seen doing is sleeping his way through a lecture on the War of the Lions.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Though far from being the strongest member of the ILF (that belongs to Vulcan), his time as C reveals that he can lead the terrorist group while kicking Class VII's ass.
The Atoner: He admits in Cold Steel IV that he needs to atone for his time as C, just like Sara for being a Jaeger. And he indeed spends the entire game doing it, since he makes references about "paying back [his] interest".
Back from the Dead: Thanks to the contract that he has with Ordine, Crow is able to come back to life in Cold Steel III as an Immortal. However, this is only temporary as it only applies so long as Ordine and his contract with him still exists. He's officially able to come back for real at the end of IV after the six remaining Divine Knights decide to use their powers on him, signified by how his pale tone of his hair changes back to its regular gray and the fact that he once again has a heartbeat.
Back to School: Played for laughs. Towa mentions that because Thors allows you to re-enroll if you drop out, Crow can technically come back to the Branch Campus to graduate. He adamantly refuses to have Rean and Towa as his teachers.
Badass Boast: As C, just before facing Class VII in Sachsen Iron Mine:
C: It was the height of Summer when we last crossed blades beneath Heimdallr. Do you think you can prevail now where before you fell short ? Tell me not with words but with steel!
Badass Cape: Wore one as part of his disguise as C.
Badass Fingersnap: At the end of Cross Raven, after the bullets he fired surround the area, he does this and all of them hit the enemies at once.
Badass Longcoat: One of the strongest members of Class VII and starts wearing different longcoats as part of his wardrobe from Cold Steel II onwards.
Badasses Wear Bandanas: Wears a headband in the first two Cold Steel games. Averted from III onwards. Celine lampshades this when she refers to Crow as the "bandana man" in Cold Steel IV at the Black Workshop. However, if you have him wear his DLC Branch Campus uniform from Reverie, he'll put the headband back on.
Bash Brothers: Post-resurrection and getting his memories back, he always teams up with Rean for the Rivalries in their Divine Knights. He and Rean even retain their Combination Attack.
Becoming the Mask: Despite Crow's claims that his time at Thors was only for the sake of keeping up his cover and that the friendships he had were all based on nothing but lies, it's quite evident from the way he speaks that he's lying through his teeth as Rean and the others are able to note.
Beneath Suspicion: He manage to convince Thors that he was a slacking student, not the leader of a group of terrorists.
Benevolent Boss: He really looks out for his subordinates of the ILF and thanks Rean for saving Scarlet's life despite her Death Seeker mindset.
Best Served Cold: The reason he sought vengeance against Osborne was for ruining his grandfather's political career (and indirectly causing his Death by Despair) thanks to the underhanded tactics Osborne employed to annex Jurai. Crow was just a child when this happened, and spent every year since then gathering allies and plotting his revenge.
Beware the Silly Ones: Despite being the resident jokester of Thors, everyone who knows him also know you will be able to count on him when the chips are down. Then he is revealed to be C and even more competent than everyone thought.
BFG: The sniper rifle he uses to snipe Osborne has a long barrel which allows him to snipe Osborne hundreds of selge away.
Big Bad Friend: He's C, the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front. He's also the Final Boss of Cold Steel.
Big Brother Mentor: To the entire class, but especially towards Rean. Even if they're on the opposing sides, Crow doesn't hesitate to offer words of advice to his junior even though helping is actually against his best interests.
Big Damn Heroes: His first instance as a playable character is when he jumps in to help Rean defeat the headless knight on the 4th Floor of the Old Schoolhouse. He does this again in Cold Steel III as he and Duvalie assists the rampaging Rean in his and Celine's escape from the Black Workshop.
Birds of a Feather: As soon as he joins the party in Cold Steel IV, he quickly hit it off with Ash.
Ash: Show us what you're made of, then, Mister Johnny-Came-Crawling-Back.
Crow: Oh-ho. Someone's got a cheek to talk. How's that trigger finger doing?
Bling-Bling-BANG!: Uses a pair of gold pistols as Azure Siegfried. He keeps them after rejoining Class VII in Cold Steel IV and is available to Crow as his alternate weapons.
Blue Is Heroic: Inverted at first since his reveal as the pilot of the Azure Knight Ordine, and Red Baron title as the Azure Chevalier, was made when he was revealed to be the leader of the terrorist ILF and sided against Class VII throughout the Civil War. Then he's resurrected as Azure Siegfried with an all blue outfit as the Gnome's Brainwashed and Crazy Enigmatic Minion. Finally plays this straight in the fourth game, where he also wears a blue shirt in his casual wear.
Book Ends: The first time he becomes playable is when he teams up with Rean to take on a gigantic knight. The last time they fight together, they both take on the Vermillion Apocalypse, something even bigger than their Divine Knights.
Born Winner: He is considered by Class VII as their best warrior who is always ahead of them in terms of skill and fighting experience. He was able to train himself with a number of different weapons, gives Class VII in their freshman year a run for their money, and is able to convince everyone that he's just a slacker when in reality he was moving behind the scenes. He even manages to finish the Divine Knight trials only with the help of Vita while Rean had help from the rest of Class VII and Crow.
Brick Joke: He finally pays back Rean the 50 mira he borrowed at the start of the term, right at the end of the term having "forgotten" to return it several times previously. Rean gives it straight back and claims interest. In IV he hands it back again and claims it's time to finally work off that interest, though this time it's gone from a joke to a sad callback.
Brilliant, but Lazy: How he presented himself in Cold Steel I where he behaves like a slacker who's lacking in school credits. But then turns out to be far smarter than anyone ever realized especially when he's revealed to be C.
But Now I Must Go: Subverted twice in Cold Steel IV. Just when Crow thinks he's about to die for good someone comes in to steal his death from him. The first is Rean who quite angrily tells Crow off and through Valimar decides to save his life. The second time is after the defeat of Ishmelga where he, along with Millium, believes his time has come but again they're saved by the intervention of Valimar and the other Divine Knights.
Casting a Shadow: His default Master Quartz Cypher, and ARCUS unit have time as their primary element, best shown by his Craft Nightmare Trigger. By Cold Steel IV, he has Gungnir as his default primary Master Quartz which is still a time element.
Childhood Friends: It's revealed in Cold Steel III that he and Stark were this to each other while growing up in Jurai. This is what partially motivated Stark to enroll at Thors Branch Campus.
Choice of Two Weapons: Compared to other characters, Crow has two distinct weapon styles. His first is dual wielding a pair of pistols, while the other is his Double Saber. He primarily uses the latter as "C" and keeps on using it after his identity is revealed. He can swap between the two styles mid-battle during Cold Steel IV and Reverie, though he has two gun-based Crafts and only one saber-based Craft. In cutscenes, he also has knowledge of how to use a sniper rifle.
The Chosen One: He is the Awakener of Ordine, the Azure Knight.
Chuunibyou: As "C". His costume, which is mostly black, reeks of it and he has a flare for talking eloquently and dramatic speeches. Sara even lampshades it. This is especially seen in Cold Steel IV where he shows embarrassment over his past as Siegfried yet actually defends his C persona and claiming he was badass.
Machias: Just admit it, Crow! You love that edgelord look.
Cold Ham: Anytime he talks as C, he delivers his lines with gusto but with a lower pitch. Sara lampshades how hammy he sounds like in Cold Steel I.
Cold Sniper: He coldly tells Osborne to go finish his speech in hell right before he snipes Osborne in Cold Steel I.
Combat Pragmatist: At the climax of chapter 6 in Cold Steel I, he drops his double-saber so that he can blind Class VII and Angelica to make his escape and he has no problems activating Ordine's Super Mode to incapacitate Rean at the end of Cold Steel I. Even his cheating move in Vantage Masters in Cold Steel IV in his bonding event has him pull off an advanced combination to suppress Rean. Rean, however, wises up and manages to turn this around on Crow.
Combination Attack: With Rean in their mechs by combining both Enlightened Domination and Deadly Cross: Union Slash - Deadly Domination.
Continuity Cameo: In Kuro II, Towa can be seen calling him where he says that he is investigating the CID's movements.
Cool Mask: As C he wears a mask not unlike Zero from Code Geass. He even has a voice modulator that helps disguise what he actually sounds like. He loses it thanks to Claire breaking it with a bullet.
- He also gets one during his stint as Azure Siegfried. His discarding it signifies that He's Back! as Crow Armbrust at the climax of Cold Steel III.
Costume Evolution: His canon wardrobe (as Crow) is as follows:
- His first outfit is his Thors commoner uniform in Cold Steel I. He later updates the jacket's color to the Class VII red jacket in Chapter 6. His main outfit in II is a dark brown/black coat with a red shirt underneath and pants.
- In Cold Steel III, he wears a mask, a blue coat and dark colored tights as Azure Siegfried. He wears this up until his defeat in the first rivalry of IV. After which, he switches his outfit to a beige coat with a fur trim, a blue shirt and black pants in of Cold Steel IV and the entirety of Reverie.
Crazy-Prepared: Played for Laughs in Chapter 6 of Cold Steel I. When Class VII is asked to find a cat, he reveals he carries a chic cat toy with him at all times. Hey, you never know when you might need one, right?
Cross Attack: His Deadly Cross and Cross Rebellion S-crafts have him firing a large X-shaped Sword Beam at his enemies at the end. His final S-Craft Vorpal Slayer also makes a a large cross shaped silhouette at the end.
Critical Hit Class: His starting Master Quartz in IV and Reverie is Gungnir, a time MQ who increase the damage of Critical Hits.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: At first, he is introduced as a perverted slacker with a love of gambling, earning a few jokes at his expense from his classmates old and new. Over time he proves himself as a capable fighter and reliable ally. And that's without taking account how as C he was capable of holding off Rean, Laura, and Fie at the same time below Heimdallr and overpower Rean regularly when they fought in their Divine Knights.
Curb-Stomp Battle: His first duel with Rean in Cold Steel II has him stomping on Rean in their fight despite the fact that Rean had a few fights under his belt in their Divine Knights. Rean even surmises that Crow didn't even need to use his Super Mode at the end of Cold Steel I to own Rean.
Death by Depower: As a result of being brought back as an Immortal during Cold Steel III and IV, he will die for good at the end of the Rivalries once the Divine Knights will fuse back into one. During the Normal End of Cold Steel IV,he chooses to die on his own terms by going along with Rean's Heroic Sacrifice rather than waiting to fade away. However, in the true ending, he is given a new body by the Sacrament Program, allowing him to survive his fate.
Deadly Gaze: In Cold Steel III and IV, his Eye of Balor Craft has him gathering dark energy in his eye and damages his opponents by sending said dark energy to them.
Death Dealer: His Wild Card Craft has him throwing cards that either buff his allies or inflict status effects on enemies.
Death from Above: How his second S-Craft Vorpal Slayer ends after catching his double-bladed saber where he stabs the enemies in the ground after catching his double-saber in the air.
Deep Cover Agent: Was in fact the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front who had been allied with Duke Cayenne for years, and his enrollment into Thors was meant to act as a cover to let him stay nearby Heimdallr to hopefully get info faster, and if chance arose, head there if an opportunity to assassinate Osborne showed up(which did). However, he didn't account for finding True Companions at Thors and ended up Becoming the Mask.
Deuteragonist: Starting from Cold Steel II onwards, he ends up becoming this as Rean's central rival and closest friend who helped instigate the main plot of the first half of the series and strong presence throughout the story overall.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: He dies at the end of Cold Steel II in Rean's arms, saying his final words to Class VII and Vita. He eventually got better however.
Disappears into Light: His and Millium's fate in Cold Steel IV had his life not been saved by the Divine Knights pouring their power together to save their lives.
Disc-One Final Boss: Although he is the Final Boss of Cold Steel I, as a whole in the Erebonia arc, he is this as Rean ends up fighting far more powerful foes than Crow.
Disease Bleach: After his resurrection, his hair goes from grey to a pale platinum blonde, though you'll be forgiven for not noticing before this is mentioned, given how the shade is similar to his normal hair. It returns to original grey after he is properly revived in Cold Steel IV's True Ending, and stays that way in Reverie.
The Dragon: Though he's the Big Bad of Cold Steel I, he ultimately serves as Vita's right-hand man.
Dramatic Unmask: Happens to him twice throughout the series. The first time happens when Claire shoots his C mask and reveals himself to be the leader of the terrorist group. The second time happens when he discards his Azure Siegfried mask and talking very roughly instead of talking politely, signifying that he's finally back as Crow Armbrust.
Dual Boss: With Vita towards the climax of Cold Steel II.
Dual Wielding: Uses a mismatched pair of pistols in combat.
Duel Boss: He's fought multiple times solo by Rean throughout the games either on foot or in their Divine Knights.
Duel to the Death: His final duel with Rean has him dueling with their mechs with the loser having to surrender their mech. As Crow's life was tied to Ordine, he would have died if he lost and nearly did had Rean not decided to use Valimar to create a contract between them that kept Crow and Ordine's existence stable.
Energy Ball: His Freezing Bullet and Nemesis Bullet Crafts have him fire a magical orb of ice and darkness respectively from his guns.
Establishing Character Moment: His introduction scene with Rean establishes that he is really good at tricking people even those whose senses are sharp as Crow tosses Rean's 50 mira in the air and acts as though he caught it in his hands when in reality, the coin fell in the bag.
Everyone Has Standards:
- As much of a natural pervert he is and how he's supportive of Rean getting together with someone, Crow does draw the line when it comes to Millium thanks to her age.
- When Gideon tries to hold a blade to Alfin's throat to threaten Class VII, Crow immediately orders him to release her and Elise.
- When Prince Cedric is being used as a medium to summon Testa-Rossa in a process that is clearly shown to be painful, Crow looks away with a somewhat ashamed face while apologizing to him, showing that he wasn't too happy about someone who was Just a Kid getting hurt as part of his vendetta.
Evil Costume Switch: In Cold Steel II, after he's revealed himself as the leader of the ILF, and thus doesn't need to hide his identity anymore, he ditches his school uniform and armor as C for an all-black ensemble that includes a Badass Longcoat with its sleeves rolled up, gloves, and a black headband.
Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, he has a robotic copy fought during Chapter 4 of Rean's route.
Evil Sounds Deep: His disguise as C had a voice synthesizer to give him an artificially deep voice.
Evil Wears Black: Wore black as a villain in his disguise as C and his outfit in Cold Steel II.
Ex-Big Bad: While he was the Big Bad of Cold Steel I, being the leader of the ILF, from Cold Steel II onwards, he's either The Dragon to Cayenne or Vita or The Brute to the Black Workshop. It's when Rean manages to tie their lives to one another after their final duel in the first Rivalry of Cold Steel IV is when he becomes Rean's Lancer.
Face Death with Dignity: Happens to him three times: in Cold Steel II when he realizes that Emma and Celine can't close the wound on his chest, he manages to say a few words to Class VII and Vita before passing on, in Cold Steel IV when the same thing happens again with Emma and Celine trying to heal him only for Crow to nearly disappear until Rean manages to Indy Ploy that, and at the end of Cold Steel IV where he was about to disappear for good before Roselia and Franz activate the Arc Rouge and Lost Zem Sacrament codes.
Faking the Dead: Not as Crow, but he fakes C and the ILF's deaths in the Sachsen Iron Mine.
False Friend: Defied. As much as he insists that his time at Thors meant nothing to him, and that it was only for the sake of throwing the RMP off his trail, Rean and his friends don't really buy his lies for a second, especially with how Crow helps Rean during the second game, and seek to have him return to them which finally succeeds by Cold Steel IV.
Final Boss: He is the final opponent Cold Steel, piloting Ordine.
Foil: Obviously to Rean. Both are leaders of a group with Rean leading Class VII and Crow leading the ILF, both of their primary elements are time, and both of them aren't raised by their biological parents. Rean only uses a tachi while Crow utilizes a lot of different weaponry from dual wielding guns to his double-bladed saber, Rean is right-handed while Crow is ambidextrous who mostly wields his melee weapon on his left hand, and their secondary orbments are polar opposites with Rean's fire to Crow's water.
Four Is Death: Inverted at the end of Cold Steel IV where Crow is given a new lease in life.
Freeze-Frame Bonus: When he first tosses the coin at the beginning of Cold Steel I, he actually doesn't catch the coin but lets it fall in his bag. It's not obvious at first unless players watch the scene in a video. Players are still forced to answer either hand however.
Friend to All Children: Regularly bets candy when playing Blade with the town kids, and to all appearances loses on purpose.
Friendly Enemy: Even as a member of the Noble Alliance, Crow still trades jokes and advice with the rest of Class VII. He's even the one responsible for Toval finding out where Rean was and thus partly responsible for saving the latter's life at the beginning of the second game.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Crow grew up off a relatively normal kid with a love for card games and a penchant for gambling thanks his grandfather. However, after the latter was scapegoated for an incident he had no part and died of depression not long afterwards, Crow spends the next near decade seeking vengeance against Osborne whom he believes responsible. By age 19, he's become the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front, serves as the Awakener of Ordine, and has become so strong that Fie compares him to Sara in terms of overall strength despite her years of experience over him.
The Gadfly: Generally likes to tease his friends for a good laugh, especially Rean and Towa.
The Gambler: He likes all forms of gambling and is the go-to guy for information on the new card game Blade. One of his Crafts is called Wildcard and is essentially a weaponized gamble. He's also mentioned to have spent most of his time hanging out at a casino on a field mission the player wasn't present for.
Gallows Humor: Jokes multiple times about his impeding death in Cold Steel IV. The others aren't really amused but allow him to go along with it knowing they can't really do much to change his fate.
Genius Bruiser: While he does present himself as a slacker, it turns out that he is far, far smarter than he actually acts where Rean can go to him for advice on a midterm exam and the fact that he manages to hide his identity as C. He's also a very strong fighter and manages to kick Rean, Laura, and Fie's asses by himself at the end of chapter 4 in Cold Steel I.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In Cold Steel III, once he regains his memories as Crow Armbrust, he immediately dives in to stop Rean from continuing his rampage any longer inside Ordine. Unfortunately, it fails.
Good Costume Switch: By Cold Steel IV, he switches from his Azure Siegfried costume that was mostly blue into the costume that he wears for both Cold Steel IV and Reverie with his tanned coat. However, players can still make him wear his Azure Siegfried costume.
Guns Akimbo: His primary fighting style in Cold Steel I as a party member. Especially pronounced in his S-Craft. Uses a golden pair as Azure Siegfried. It's one of his two different stances in Cold Steel IV.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: During his final fight in Cold Steel II, he use his double saber while Vita assist him with magic.
Ham-to-Ham Combat: With Rean in their Divine Knight battles. Even the rest of Class VII think that their speeches are bombastic and that Rean and Crow are in their own little world.
Hand Behind Head: Often puts both hands behind his head, showcasing his laidback nature compared to his friends.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: At the end of Cold Steel I, he reveals himself as a villain after being an ally for most of the game. Then in Cold Steel II, he pulls a Heel-Face Turn, only to die soon afterward. Cold Steel III has him being revived as a villain (Azure Siegfried) for most of the game, only for him to regain his memories at the end and become a good guy again, this time for good. Basically, over the course of three games he goes Face -> Heel -> Face -> Heel -> Face.
Held Back in School: He joins Class VII to compensate for his lack of credits. When brought back to life in the second half of the series, a drunken Towa notes that Crow never actually graduated which results in her trying to get him back in school at Thors Branch Campus as a student under her and Rean. Crow is not amused by this.
He's Back!: After spending an entire game brainwashed, Crow is finally able to break through the Azure Siegfried persona in order to stop Rean's rampage at the end of Cold Steel III.
Heroic Sacrifice: Died thanks to a stab wound through the chest while creating an opening for Rean to save Prince Cedric.
Hero of Another Story: He spends the first 2 chapters of Reverie dealing with social unrest in Jurai along with Stark. He leaves this matter in his hands when someone with his old identity surfaces.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Rean by Cold Steel IV. After spending so much time being the opposite side, there's nothing in the world that's gonna stop Crow from watching over his buddy's back.
Hidden Depths: At first glance it would be easy to assume Crow to be nothing more than a delinquent slacker, but it becomes clear as the games progress just how talented an individual he actually is. To wit, he's one of the strongest fighters that Class VII has, is an accomplished mecha pilot, and is even creatively attuned enough to help put on a concert performance well liked by all.
Homing Projectile: In Cross Raven, all bullets he fire will find their way to surround the targets.
Hope Spot: Pulls this off on Rean at the end of Cold Steel I where Rean thinks he manages to beat Crow, only for Crow to pull out Ordine's Super Mode and trounces Rean in one hit that sends Rean into critical and is forced to flee from Crow.
Humongous Mecha: He's the chosen pilot of Ordine, the Azure Knight. He awakened the machine three years prior to the events of Cold Steel I under guidance from Vita.
I Am Your Opponent: The party comes face-to-face for the first time in his role as leader of the Imperial Liberation Front, C. All of the groups main members are there, but he declares that he will face them.
C: Wielders of the longsword, the greatsword, the twin gunswords. Stand and face me. I shall be your opponent. ...Haha. Think of this as an entertaining way to kill some time.
I Hate Past Me: By the time of Cold Steel IV, while Crow will defend the aesthetic of his <C> persona, he regrets going this far in the pursuit of his revenge. When someone start impersonating C during Reverie, Crow drop all that he was doing in Jurai in order to track him down in Heimdallr.
Iconic Sequel Character: He's the most popular character right after Rean in the polls but is only introduced in the sixth game of the series. Only Estelle manages to beat him in the polls for all of Falcom's characters and that's only on a good day.
Identity Amnesia: Played with. He has no memories as Azure Siegfried due to them being sealed. Siegfried however seems to be aware of his former identity as Crow as he doesn't question Rean's attempts to get through to him and just tells him trying is useless. The problem is that the personality alteration means he just doesn't care. He only starts remembering who he was after seeing Rean inside Valimar and the rest of his students and reminds him of Rean and Crow teaming up to take on Vermillion Apocalypse. And with his memories his personality also reverts back to his true self.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How he dies during the Finale of Cold Steel II when Testa-Rossa's tail stabs Ordine through the chest and he takes the same damage as its Awakener.
Inexplicably Awesome: His Double Saber style. Other characters mentioned how archaic the weapon is and there is only one other known practitioner of it outside of Crow himself.^note And yet, he manages to be as strong as Sara with it.
Irony: In Cold Steel III, he ends up working for the one guy who he tried to assassinate. Granted he had Identity Amnesia but the trope is still played straight.
It Has Been an Honor: Before facing the final boss of Cold Steel IV, Crow has this to say towards Rean.
"Looks like this it, man. Guess I better say it now. Thanks for everything. It's been a blast."
It's Personal: The reason why he assassinated Osborne was mostly for revenge against the death of his grandfather, who died of natural causes but was mostly influenced by Osborne's actions in Jurai.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even at his worst moments during his stint when he fights against Class VII, he still is willing to amicably talk with them and is willing to have a heart-to-heart talk with Rean with Crow sharing his past to Rean after the latter asks.
Just Toying with Them: In Rean and Crow's first rematch in Cold Steel II at Ymir, Rean notes that Crow could have easily decimated Rean without using Ordine's Super Mode at the climax of Cold Steel I.
Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Always carries a cat toy with him in I and in III, despite claiming to have no interests aside from his mission and fighting, Siegfried gives Coppe some affectionate pets and kind words. Coppe also, surprisingly, accepts both happily.
Lady and Knight: The Knight to Vita's Lady, made more apparent in Cold Steel II.
Large Ham: Crow does have some hammy moments especially when he's fighting Rean. As C however, he's more of a Cold Ham.
The Lancer: Towards Rean in Cold Steel IV thanks to their shared status as Awakeners involved in the Rivalries which means Crow is often involved in most battles concerning them.
Laser-Guided Karma: He dies from a chest wound, the same place where he shot Osborne. He even lampshades it, claiming 'Karma's a bitch'. In addition, he defeats Rean at the end of Cold Steel I by using Divine Knight feedback to give him a concussion, ruining Class VII's last hope to keep Thors safe from the Noble Alliance. He's killed when he gets a fatal chest wound after Ordine's chest armor is pierced, thanks to Divine Knight feedback.
Late-Arrival Spoiler: Trying to discuss the later games without spoiling the fact that he is the leader of the Imperial Liberation Front which is backed by the Noble Alliance, is the pilot of the Divine Knight Ordine, trumps Rean in their first and second Divine Knight duel, and ends up dead after giving Rean an opening to rescue the crown prince from the Vermillion Apocalypse is really hard.
Leitmotif: Together with Rean, "Blue Destination" serves as one to him. Both "The Decisive Collision" and "Remaining Glow" as well thanks to the shared melodies between all three.
Legacy Character: Unwillingly. He serve as the first user of the <C> title, which ends up being used by other people in Reverie and Daybreak. He even warns the second C that the moniker ain't pretty.
Likes Older Women: Implied at least with Vita who's four years his senior.
Limit Break: His S-Craft in Cold Steel I is Cross Raven, whilst in Cold Steel II it's Deadly Cross, which was his S-Craft while disguised as C during the first game. During mecha battles, his finishing move is Deadly End. For Cold Steel III, his S-Craft is Cross Rebellion, with Cold Steel IV, as well as Reverie, throwing in Vorpal Slayer. Likewise, in the latter game, his union attack (when the team setup isn't just him and Rean), is Rebellion Sword.
Living with the Villain: C, leader of the Imperial Liberation Front terrorist group, is Crow, who's also living right across Rean's room.
Living on Borrowed Time: Following his defeat in the first Rivalry, he is kept alive by virtue of Rean not absorbing Ordine but it's made clear that it is a temporary measure, and that he will not live past the final Rivalry. Ultimately, it takes a litteral miracle for him to survive.
Loner-Turned-Friend: According to Towa and George, Crow was a complete loner in his first year at Thors until he ran into Angelica, who was determined to break through his shell. With her fists. It worked.
Making a Splash: His secondary orbment element is water. This foreshadows his eventual rivalry with Rean's fire.
Magic Knight: He has strong physical stats with his Crafts all having decent effects, his ATS stat and EP pool are also above average and has at least one Craft that's deals magic damage. His Azure Destiny Craft increases both his STR and ATS along with his speed, allowing him to hit hard and fast with either stat.
Magic Gunman: His orbment line allows him to have decent EP pool, and his dual elements of Time and Water give him a decent selection of offensive and support Arts. That and gaining consistently good ATS every time he levels up makes him capable of using arts aside from shooting enemies with his orbal gun.
Major Injury Underreaction: He says that it was just a scratch when Vermillion Apocalypse impales him in the heart.
Mask of Power: As Azure Siegfried. The mask brainwashes him into serving the Black Workshop.
Mirror Character: Crow and Rean, eternally good friends and rivals. Rean is serious to a fault while Crow's a slacker for the most part. Rean is very willing to bring Crow back to the academy while Crow is trying to cut his ties from his friends. Both are Awakeners and both of their primary element is time with their secondary elements being polar opposites with Rean's fire to Crow's water.
Misery Poker: Before revealing his past to Rean, Crow believes his past is nothing compared to Rean's Dark and Troubled Past. After revealing it, Rean is sadder about Crow's past than Crow himself.
More Dakka: His pistols are shown to be capable of automatic fire in several of his crafts and his first and third S-Crafts.
The Musketeer: Has his dual pistols and double saber, though unlike Sara or Fie, he uses them separately in his attacks and Crafts instead of mixing them together.
Must Make Amends: When he joins back with Class VII in Cold Steel IV, he notes that he needs to make amends for the damages he did as C.
Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: Gets impaled through the heart by the Vermillion Apocalypse and yet, manages to live long enough to see Rean's victory and tell his last words to Class VII and Vita thanks to Emma and Celine's efforts to heal him buying him some time. Then he gets better, with some issues.
No Badass to His Valet: To the entire world, he is C, leader of the Imperial Liberation Front who managed to make the most heavily fortified military base of the Erebonia empire look like a kid's playground. To Class VII, he's their slacker senior who gives them a headache with Rean trying to reel him in at times.
NOT!: One of his escape from battle quotes is "See you later... not!"
The Not-Love Interest: For Rean. Crow ends up becoming an irreplaceable friend for him and has a great effect on Rean's character development moving forward. Rean even initially thinks about joining the Noble Alliance if it meant being friends with Crow again as well. The "Not Love Interest" part comes in because neither Rean or Crow are actually in love with each other despite their close bond, with both also being explicitly into women for that matter as well. This doesn't stop characters like Alfin from teasing Rean about it however.
Not in This for Your Revolution: Like Vita, he doesn't give a damn about Cayenne's ambitions, he just want to clear the mess he started by shooting Osborne. He also makes it clear that he's not really interested in anything Ouroboros does either, just that he has a debt towards Vita that he wanted to personally pay back.
Obfuscating Stupidity: He hides all his cunning and scheming behind a playful and lazy persona.
Odd Friendship: Outside of Rean, Crow is also close with the following:
- With Towa. Despite being polar opposites personality wise, Towa is often shown as the one that Crow is the closest to among his and Towa's group and the one who thinks well of him the most. He even goes out of his way to look out for her on more than one occasion as well, asking George to check in on Towa at night while he was in Roer and again during the School Festival where he's trying to get her to take a break during her work.
- Crow also surprisingly gets along well with McBurn. They once shared a drink on one occasion even. McBurn himself thinks quite highly of him as he believes Crow would be able to handle his power though the latter thinks McBurn is overestimating him.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: The trials that Rean took to become Valimar's Awakener involved him leading Class VII into the Old Schoolhouse dungeon and facing off against increasingly dangerous monsters that culminated in the group squaring off against a Loa Erebonius and defeating. Crow, on the other hand, did most of the trials of Ordine by himself when he was 16 with only Vita to guide and help him.
Old Shame: In-Universe example in regards to his time as the brainwashed Azure Siegfried. As far as Crow is concerned it never happened and that his C persona had more taste. He even refers to the outfit he wore as being completely tacky.
Once Done, Never Forgotten: Class VII picks on him when Crow was still in his Azure Siegfried phase with Crow claiming that Azure Siegfried was just terrible as it lacked aesthetics. He will however defend his C costume.
One Dialogue, Two Conversations: If you take Crow along to retrieve the costumes in Heimdallr during Cold Steel, he comment to Rean that Vita "must be pretty amazing to handle two jobs at once". While Rean (and the player) believe it refers to Crow learning about her Misty Secret Identity, the end of Cold Steel and Cold Steel II make it likely he was making a jab to her role as the Big Bad and the mastermind of the Phantasmal Blaze Plan, with which Crow is one of the major players.
One-Hit KO: At the end of Cold Steel I where Crow swipes Rean in one hit in Ordine's Super Mode and down Rean goes with Valimar immediately going critical with red lights flashing all over inside Valimar.
Only a Flesh Wound: He calls it a scratch, except said scratch is a pierced heart. He only manages to hold on as long as he does due to, at first, Ordine not having shut done yet and then because Emma and Celine refused to give up healing him despite Vita already saying it's futile, which bought him enough time to say goodbye to Rean, Class VII and Vita.
Paper-Thin Disguise: As seen with his Azure Siegfried persona, no one who actually sees him are really fooled and know that it's Crow. Especially once he brings out Ordine. The disguise really only works because no one wants to believe he's back as an enemy.
Pay Evil unto Evil: His stance in Cold Steel I is this towards Osborne, as he snipes the man who made his hometown into a Special Economic Zone and made his grandfather depressed to the point of no longer wanting to live anymore.
Pet the Dog: Some of his actions as C take on this meaning in the context of The Reveal.
- When Class VII has Gideon cornered and he's unable to shake them off, C intervenes right as Gideon starts to consider murdering Elise and Princess Alfin out of desperation, and promptly defuses the situation and has them released. While this proves instrumental in securing a getaway for the ILF, it also ensures that the ILF never crosses the line into actively hurting the family of one of his friends. The act also likely saved Gideon's life as well, as had anything happened to Alfin and especially Elise, Rean would have surely lost it and likely killed in Gideon and his men in rage with his ogre power.
- During the invasion of Garrelia Fortress, Crow is actually fighting against the ILF and its archaisms throughout the mission along with the rest of Class VII. Once Class VII retakes the railway guns, however, Crow makes no effort to sabotage their victory or seize control of the guns, and instead has Vulcan and Scarlet make a swift getaway that was clearly planned well in advance. This strongly implies that Crow never actually intended to go through with nuking Crossbell, likely because it would result in the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, including his friend Towa who was in Crossbell at the time.
- In II, Crow tips off Toval to Rean's location which subsequently proves to be instrumental in saving his life, instead of taking the opportunity to finish him off when he was at his most vulnerable. Given Vita's true plans regarding the Divine Knights, Rean's life was likely never in any danger from either of them to begin with, as he was needed to complete the pseudo rivalry she was trying to kick off with the Infernal Castle.
Pre-Mortem One-Liner: When about to snipe Osborne:
Go finish your speech in hell.
Recurring Boss: He ties for the record of the boss you fight in the most games along with Rean and Duvalie.
Red Baron: Being Ordine's Awakener has lead to others referring to him as the Azure Chevalier.
Redemption Earns Life: At the end of Cold Steel IV after managing to redeem himself by helping Rean out in the Rivalries and settling things with Osborne properly, the two Sept-Terrions use their powers to bring Crow back to life with Crow having a heartbeat again. He uses this new lease on life to help out Jurai in Reverie.
Redemption Equals Death: In Cold Steel II, where he's fatally wounded in a bid to release Prince Cedric from the Vermillion, and ends up bleeding out as a result. He comes back as Azure Siegfried in III, and manages to survive for real in the Golden Ending to IV.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Rean's Blue, being a playful delinquent compared to Rean's more reserved nature.
Required Party Member: In Cold Steel IV, he's required in all of the Rivalries. Ditto in Reverie where Rean, Rufus, and he are stalling Zoa-Gilstein.
Roboteching: He can do this with bullets when performing Cross Raven, likely through Orbment-assisted Time manipulation.
Scars Are Forever: After being brought back to life, a scar remains the front and back of his torso which serves as a reminder of his death at the hands of the Vermillion Apocalypse.
Secret Identity Vocal Shift: His helmet as C modulates his voice.
Secret Identity Change Trick: A villainous example. He volunteers to bring the miners to safety in Sachsen Iron Mine because it give him an opportunity to change and face the party as C with an alibi after the whole Faking the Dead.
See You in Hell: He declares "See you in Gehenna!" when using his second S-Craft, Vorpal Slayer.
Serious Business: Artistic performances. Seeing the normally laid-back Crow so serious about making the concert a hit is really funny. Unless you're Emma, Machias or Jusis at least. Gets into it again in Cold Steel IV when the Class VII arrives in Crossbell for a mission and are in need of a distraction. Together with Elliot, he's able to create a performance worthy of Arc en Ciel in the span of a few days.
Ship Tease: With Vita. Both are noted to be far closer than what their interactions on the surface imply. When asked about the precise nature of their relationship by Rean and Ash, Crow simply states that he's glad he never got too involved with Vita, but at the same time says that he sometimes wishes he did and leaves it at that. Both Rean and Ash note that Crow didn't actually answer and just left them with more questions than anything.
- On a added note, if you're careful about it, you can check their link levels in the True Final Boss of Cold Steel IV. They are nearly Rank 7, a feat only shared with True Companions^note, family members ^noteLaura and Victor, Emma and Celine or lovers.^noteEstelle and Joshua
- Interestingly, Reverie has their link level start out at 3 the same as anyone else's and when she calls him her Knight and gets flirty in their link quote he shuts her down by firmly stating he's her former Knight
Shipper on Deck: He is rooting for George/Angelica. In Cold Steel II, he's also supportive of the idea of Rean getting together with one of the original Class VII girls, with the exception of Millium thanks to her age. In the manga adaptation of the first game he even helps spur on Rean and Alisa to dance.
Shout-Out: In the localization of Cold Steel IV, if you choose him in the Hot Springs quest, he mentions that they're just a couple of bros chilling in a hot spring.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Probably the most foul-mouthed member of Class VII. Which is surprising that he is also the more formal C and as Azure Siegfried, where his (original voice over) speech pattern veers into the archaic.
The Slacker: He's sent to join Class VII on a temporary basis in order to earn extra credit because he's in danger of not graduating with the credits he's currently earned... and the first thing we see him do is slack off further. He somehow manages to earn enough to graduate on time regardless.
Sorry That I'm Dying: After Testa-Rossa stabs him through the heart, the first thing he did was apologize to Rean that he wouldn't be able to go back to the academy with them like he promised.
Stance System: He's able to change between his Saber Mode and Gunner Mode at will in Cold Steel IV.
Status Buff: His Azure Destiny Craft from IV and Reverie, which boosts his Strength, Speed, and Arts stats by 50% for 6 turns, plus 3 turns of Insight.
Summon Magic: Much like Rean with Valimar, he can summon Ordine wherever he is at a moment's notice. This also applies to being able to summon him in gameplay in Cold Steel IV much like Rean and his students too.
Super Mode: Gains one in Cold Steel IV with Patch 1.03 which gave him a Craft called Azure Destiny that costs 100 CP but gives him buffs to Strength, Arts, and Speed for six turns, and the Insight status for three turns.
That Man Is Dead: Tries to deny his friendship with Rean, Class VII, Towa, George, and Angelica by saying that whoever Crow was at Thors was a fake persona and that he's C at the end of the day. No one buys this and knows that Crow is simply lying through his teeth. Stark would later confirm they're exactly right and Crow's easy going gambler persona is basically who he always was back in Jurai when they were kids.
Thinking Up Portals: His Cross Rebellion S-Craft in the third game has him opening up a pair of portals before firing arapid volley into them that redirects them at his enemies before firing a huge cross-shaped Sword Beam at them.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: One of his Knight Crafts in Cold Steel II, Blade Throw, is him throwing his double-bladed saber at his enemies before returning to him. It's also how he starts his second S-Craft in Cold Steel IV, Vorpal Slayer.
Tragic Bromance: With Rean. Despite only knowing each other for less than a year, the two end up becoming like brothers to each other even after Crow betrays him and Class VII. Then he ends up dying in the assault against the Vermillion Apocalypse during the finale of the second game. Then he came back in Cold Steel III.
Tragic Villain: Despite the fact that he became a terrorist, he explains to Rean that he still has a role to play by ending the war because of his actions of killing the Prime Minister. What makes him tragic is that after his death, Osborne shows up like it was nothing making his entire mission to defeat Osborne pointless and a waste of time. Rean lashes out at Osborne for this reason.
Two Aliases, One Character: He also doubles as C, leader of the Imperial Liberation Front. He also gains a third one in Cold Steel III as Azure Siegfried.
Undying Loyalty: In Cold Steel IV, once he is back in the party again, he says he will work together with Class VII "to hell and back". And if you choose him for the fortune-telling in Mishelam, Beryl will say that his future is "gambling everything for his precious friends". It works that he isn't technically alive by then.
Vague Age: Discussed in Cold Steel IV when Rean asks Crow about his age after he mentions having shared drinks with McBurn aboard the Pantagruel during the Civil War. When prodded, Crow says that he actually lied about his actual age when he enrolled at Thors. Rean doesn't buy it however.
Villainous Friendship: During his time as a villain, he manages to strike a friendship with McBurn with the latter saddened by his death until his reappearance as Azure Siegfried.
Walking the Earth: Following Jurai's annexation and his grandfather's death, he wandered through Erebonia until he met Cayenne. Later on, following the events of Reverie and the end of the troubles in Jurai, Crow departs on a journey to find a new meaning in his life, with his phone call with Towa in Kuro II implying he's in Calvard.
Walking Spoiler: Thanks to his role, it's almost impossible to talk about Crow without mentioning his deeds throughout the story.
Wardrobe Flaw of Characterization: His school uniform has his blazer open with his sleeves rolled up, his shirt was untucked with the buttons on his collar unbuttoned, and his tie worn extremely loose. Quite fitting for his reputation as The Slacker.
We Do Not Know Each Other: Crow will tag along if you brought no one with you to retrieve the festival costumes in Cold Steel. The two of them meet Misty/Vita in front of the store and both Crow and Vita pretend to not know the other (with a fair bit of Rewatch Bonus)
Welcome Back, Traitor: Rean's goal for Cold Steel II is to bring him back to Thors. Pretty much no one has objections about it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: While most of them ILF members are trying to take down Osborne because of some grudge, Crow does it for that and then some. He sees Osbourne as the one responsible for a number of Erebonia's problems and decides to put an end it. He also sees himself joining with the Noble Alliance as a means to restore peace to the Empire after his actions had helped kickstart a civil war.
White Hair, Black Heart: Subverted as its made clear that he isn't without redeeming qualities even at his most antagonistic and eventually becomes The Atoner.
Work Off the Debt: By Reverie, his linked victory with Rean has him claiming that he should have paid off all his debts. Rean meanwhile believes that he still has some.
You Fool!: His link quote victory with Rean while he's lost control of himself in Cold Steel IV has him saying this towards him.
You Killed My Father: His grudge against Osborne is due to blaming the man for causing the downfall and death of his grandfather in the formers' efforts to annex Jurai to the Empire.
Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: He sees himself as a champion for freedom, fighting against the system that conquered his homeland and the man who is responsible for Erebonia's expansionist ambitions. Although his conversation with Rean in II shows that he doesn't fully believe in the sentiment; he freely admits that his vendetta was more of a personal grudge than anything else, and he doesn't actually consider Osborne an evil man.

Sara Valestein

Sara as of Cold Steel III

^{Sara as she appeared in Cold Steel I and II}

^{Sara during her jaeger days}

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English, games)

"You deserve the chance to earn that legacy you were talking about. To leave a light for those who'll come after."

Class VII's homeroom teacher and combat instructor of Thors Military Academy. She has a very laid-back approach to her work which clashes with some of her more serious-minded students and comrades. Before becoming an instructor, Sara was formerly a bracer known as the Purple Lightning, renowned for becoming the youngest bracer in the guild's history to achieve A-rank status at the age of 24-25^note. However, before her tenure as a bracer, she was also a jaeger, much like Fie.

After Class VII's graduation and subsequent disbanding, Sara formally resigned from her job as an instructor and returned to her duties as a bracer. She then took Fie with her as she guided the latter on her path to becoming a bracer while also helping her investigate the situation regarding Zephyr. By the time of Cold Steel III, both are now running missions together in Erebonia.

Adoptive Name Change: Her last name was taken from her adopted father, Colonel Valestein, who took her in at a young age. As her birth parents died when she was young, it's implied that she may not even know what her birth surname is.
Age-Gap Romance: Since she Likes Older Men, this would be the case if she ever got together with a man who was her type. She's also this if chosen as Rean's love interest, seeing she's seven years older than him.
The Alleged Boss: Zig-zagged. Her students are not above having fun at her expense, sometimes to her face, due to her usually unprofessional behavior and bad habits. That being said, they recognize her abilities and show her the due respect when she takes charge during emergencies and she proves she's more than capable of being strict with them when necessary.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: When Jusis and Machias pitch a fit over being paired together for a field study group for the second month in a row, Sara notes that she's not a traditional military type, so she's not going to make an order. Instead, if they don't like it, they can fight her. Oh, and she makes Rean join in as well. As for what follows, see Curb-Stomp Battle.
The Atoner: Admits that part of the reason she became a bracer was to atone for the many lives she took while she was part of the Northern Jaegers.
Badass Longcoat: Part of her primary outfit in the first two games before ditching it in Cold Steel III and beyond.
Badass Teacher: She's Class VII's homeroom teacher and also a highly capable fighter who set the record for the youngest Bracer to reach A-Rank.
Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: Her casual outfit DLC from the first two games has her stomach exposed, fitting her role as the Ms. Fanservice. Flashbacks show the outfit she wore as part of the Northern Jaegers in her youth also exposed her navel, though not to the same degree.
Battle Aura: Emits a purple one when she decides to get serious.
Beergasm: Loud enough that Rean can tell she's drinking during a phone conversation.
Beware the Silly Ones: Her students were shocked to realize their usually unprofessional and alcohol loving instructor is a highly capable combatant who had previously set the record for the youngest A-Rank Bracer.
Big Damn Heroes: Shows up in Cold Steel II by rescuing Rean's group from McBurn and Duvalie by shooting them up with her pistol. She does it again in Cold Steel III when she and Angelica bail out Rean and the New Class VII from a group of jaegers.
Big Damn Kiss: Shares one with Rean if chosen for the final bonding event in Cold Steel IV.
Big "NO!": Screams one in Episode 7 of the Northern War anime during the flashback of showing the death of her father, Colonel Valestein.
Birds of a Feather: With Scherazard from the Sky trilogy. Both are the Ms. Fanservice and Hard-Drinking Party Girl, who are proven to be far more competent and mature than their usual demeanor would suggest, acting as a mentor for their younger charges. Unsurprisingly, the two are noted to get along well and have frequent drinking contests against each other when they work together.
Blow You Away: Her primary element and default Master Quartz Thor are both of the wind element, which ties into her title as the Purple Lightning, as several high-tier wind arts can conjure lightning and electricity.
Boots of Toughness: She's an experienced Bracer who serves as Class VII's Badass Teacher, and both of her outfits have her wearing boots.
Brick Joke: Manages to finally get Rean to drink with her in Cold Steel III where Rean and her discuss the North Ambria Campaign and her life as a jaeger, mostly about her dad. It ends with Sara giving Rean a kiss on his cheek.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite being rather immature and lazy, she is shown to be an incredibly competent fighter and a skilled bracer. Additionally, her teaching methods, while unorthodox, are proven to quite effective.
Butt-Monkey: Her students are not afraid to have fun at her expense due to her occasionally less than professional and mature attitude.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Has a sizable bust, the biggest among Class VII's female members, which earns her the attention of many guys and the envy of the girls.
Child Soldier: Much like Fie, before becoming a bracer, Sara was a jaeger starting at age 10.
Cleavage Window: Both her first and second outfits give a generous view of her bountiful cleavage.
Color-Coded Characters: Known as the Purple Lightning and her hair, weapons, and Battle Aura are all a reddish shade of purple.
Cool Big Sis: She tries to be an older sister figure towards her students, especially Fie and Rean, even referring to herself as "Onee-san" in the original Japanese audio. However, her usual antics usually mean they don't feel that's the case, even if they respect her.
Corralling Vacuum: Her Thunder Vortex Craft has her throwing her sword to suck a group of enemies in a large radius into one spot and slash them. It also lowers the SPD and DEF stats of any enemies hit.
Costume Evolution: She wore a yellow dress with a blue longcoat and brown knee-high boots in the first two Cold Steel games but traded them in for a yellow and blue shirt with a long blue skirt for the latter two, as well as in Reverie.
Criss-Cross Attack: Her first S-Craft, Plasma Storm, has her rapidly striking the enemy from multiple sides.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Beneath her love of alcohol and flighty personality lays a highly competent fighter who was one of the best Bracers in Erebonia.
Curb-Stomp Battle: When Jusis and Machias complain about being assigned together again, she tells them she'll consider changing her mind if they can beat her in a fight. They agree. After making Rean join them, she gives them all an ass-kicking of epic proportions.
Dark and Troubled Past: She was born in North Ambria, which was reduced to a salted and destitute wasteland following the Salt Pale incident when she was an infant. Her biological parents were heavily hinted to have died while she was young from the chaos, but she ended up adopted by the founder of the Northern Jaegers, Colonel Valestein. Out of admiration for her father and wishing to help her country, she ended up joining the Northern Jaegers at the young age of 10, going from battlefield to battlefield, killing many people and watching several comrades die in battle until her beloved father figure was killed right in front of her at the age of 18 on a mission gone wrong.
Death from Above: Her Searing Flash Craft has her jump at her enemies from above with a downward plunging sword thrust before leaping away while shooting them with her gun, with her first S-Craft, Plasma Storm, also repeating the motion. Her Northern Limits S-Craft (later upgraded to Northern Lightning) also starts with her jumping from a cliff to attack the enemy.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: Her father tells her to think whether she wants to continue being a jaeger or not before he dies in her arms.
Elemental Hair Colors: Her hair is a bright reddish purple, matching her secondary element of fire.
Everyone Has Standards: Throughout the Cold Steel saga, she has made no secret of disliking Claire for being a fervent follower of Osborne. That said, when Isara makes a viscously low remark towards Claire, who at that point is deeply regretful of her actions and is struggling to make amends, by calling her a Karma Houdini whose actions would have made her deceased younger brother roll in his grave, Sara immediately spoke up in the Icy Maiden's defense, saying it was totally uncalled for.
Expy Coexistence: Like Scherazard, she's a veteran bracer and Ms. Fanservice who acts as a mentor to the younger protagonists while also being a Hard-Drinking Party Girl who's revealed to have been raised in poverty and is far more competent, mature, and wiser than her usual demeanor suggests. Sure enough, the two get along swimmingly when they appear together in Cold Steel IV.
Extra Turn: Her Brave Order Lightspeed Flash (later upgraded to Searing Bolt) allows her other teammates to immediately move on the next few turns.
Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Sara is quite spirited, has reddish-purple hair and has fire as her secondary element. She has a (mostly one-sided) vitriol towards the more stoic and serious Claire, who is known as the Icy Maiden, has blue hair, and has water as her primary element.
Foil: Both she and Claire act as older sister figures towards Rean, with hints of having feelings for him on their part. Both of them are orphans who got taken in by someone else, Colonel Valestein for Sara and Chancellor Osborne for Claire, and eventually end up dedicating themselves to working for the said person out of gratitude. While Sara eventually moved on from the jaeger lifestyle and has come to disagree with it after her father's death, Claire continues to serve Osborne loyally despite her reservations about some of his actions and justifies it as ultimately benefitting Erebonia.
Following in Relative's Footsteps: She joined the Northern Jaegers at a young age out of admiration for her adopted father, Colonel Valestein, and the desire to assist her fellow countrymen. She left after her father's death left her disillusioned with the lifestyle.
Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: When George tries to kill himself in Cold Steel IV, Sara discusses her past with George so he can relate to her situation and stop his suicide. She joined the Northern Jaegers to improve things for those living in North Ambria. Despite this noble goal, she was still killing people for the sake of that goal, and that didn't wash away all the blood on her hands. One of the reasons she became a bracer was because she wanted to atone for her past.
Gray Rain of Depression: In Northern War, it's shown that her father died in her arms on a rainy day.
Guest-Star Party Member: She's only playable in a short segment at Garrelia Fortress during Cold Steel I. She becomes a proper party member in the sequels.
Gun Kata: Her Northern Limits/Lightning S-Craft has her briefly shooting the enemy with her handgun while performing an upside-down spin in the air.
Gun Twirling: She twirls her pistol at the end of her victory quote.
Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She likes beer and has no trouble knocking back a pint (or several) in front of her students. She won't let them drink, though, as it's against school rules and such. That said, this doesn't seem to stop her from at least seemingly trying on several occasions to get Rean to drink.
Hero of Another Story: Sara was active during the Jester incident in Erebonia during the events of Sky FC. Her actions during the event caused her to get eventually promoted to A-rank status in the Bracer Guild, setting the record for the youngest bracer to become an A-rank before Elaine Auclair broke it.
Hot Teacher: She was Class VII's homeroom teacher during the first two games, during which her outfit consisted of a short yellow dress and thigh-high boots, showing much of her body. Her swimsuit during swimming lessons also left a decent amount of her back exposed, in contrast to her female students.
Jail Bait Wait: If Rean chooses her for his final bonding event in Cold Steel II, she tells him that if he's still interested in her in a few years, she'll make it worth the chase. In Cold Steel IV, she makes good on that.
Let's Get Dangerous!: For almost the entirety of the first game and a significant chunk of the second game, Sara is explicitly not trying that hard in fights, despite easily outdoing Class VII in the first game. Only after meeting the Northern Jaegers, her old colleagues, does she decide to make a stand and wipe the floor with every single one of them. She isn't called the Purple Lightning for nothing. Perhaps best shown by her quote when starting her second S-Craft, Northern Limits.
Sara: Time to try for once!
Letting Her Hair Down: Downplayed in Cold Steel III, where she now has her hair in a ponytail.◊
Life Drain: Her default Master Quartz allowed whoever equipped it to regain HP and EP after inflicting damage. The ability was swapped with a Status Effect-Powered Ability from Cold Steel III onwards.
Lightning Bruiser: She has very high speed and strength and is capable of not only massive AoE damage, but her Lightning Charge Craft makes her capable of dodge-tanking as well as Fie does. Her offensive Crafts all have decent strength, effects, and big enough areas of effect.
Like Parent, Like Spouse: She calls her adopted father her first love and admits her fondness for older men was because of him when telling Rean about him. Outright admits she has a father complex when speaking to Rean over drinks in Cold Steel III.
Likes Older Men: One reason why she's still single at her age is because she prefers older men. Victor and Rutger, Laura and Fie's respective fathers, are two such examples, as she's quick to swoon over them. She also notes that if Alisa's grandfather, Gwyn Reinford, were a little younger, he'd probably be right up her alley. Rean is the exception if chosen as the Love Interest, but only when he's a few years older than he is now.
Limit Break: Her S-Craft in the first game is Plasma Storm^*Omega Eclair in the original, with Cold Steel II adding in Northern Limits^*Northern Exceed in the original, which would later become her sole S-Craft in Cold Steel III, Cold Steel IV, and Reverie, under the name Northern Lightning.
Loophole Abuse: During the swimming competition between boys and girls in Cold Steel II, she only sends out Fie and Laura as their contestants against the entire boys and soundly beats them. The boys call her out on cheating, but Neithardt rebukes them.
Magic Knight: Sara is Purposefully Overpowered in Cold Steel I, having absurdly high stats that don't beat dedicated specialists (she's not as strong as Laura, not as fast as Fie, and not as magically inclined as Emma), but comes close enough to where she can excel at pretty much anything. Once the other characters start to catch up in the later games, Sara still maintains this focus on being great but not the best at everything. Notably, by Cold Steel IV, she's one of the few characters to have both magic and physical Crafts (the other person to have both being Crow) and can excel at a physical or magical build - and even both at once. By Reverie, her Lightning Charge Crafts gains an upgrade to add a boost to her ATS along with the buffs to her STR and SPD stats, letting her hit hard and fast with either stat. Her only notable shortcoming is that she's ever-so-slightly more frail than some other characters.
Military Brat: Her adoptive father, Colonel Valestein, was the founder of the Northern Jaegers and was previously a colonel in the North Ambrian military.
Mooching Master: Gleefully sends Rean on errands she should do herself.
More Powered Protégé: While quite strong in her own right, Sara is ultimately a Badass Normal with little ties to the supernatural side of Zemuria. By contrast, her students consist of Rean (who becomes the awakener to a Divine Knight and has a Superpowered Evil Side born from a corrupted Sept-Terrion), Crow (the Awakener of another Divine Knight who gets brought back from the dead), Emma (a literal Hot Witch), Millium (an Artificial Human), and Gaius (who goes on to become a Dominion).
Ms. Fanservice: The buxomest among the female members of Class VII and the outfit she wears highlight this. Her Cold Steel III outfit even features a thigh slit.
Mysterious Past: For the most part, her past remains a mystery and isn't expounded upon at all in the first two games aside from a few details, such as her being a former jaeger from North Ambria. Only in Cold Steel III do players finally learn more about her past.
Non-Standard Skill Learning: Learns her second S-Craft Northern Limits through the storyline.
Old Maid: She's 25 years old (27 by Cold Steel III) and still single. In Cold Steel III, she points out the absurdity of considering herself old at 27.
One of the Kids: She's spent quite a bit of time with her students, both in and outside the classroom. Her sometimes immature attitude, however, results in them being all too happy to make fun of her.
Rean: As far as I've been concerned, Instructor Sara's always been one of us.
Ash: Heh. So basically you're saying she's no different from a bunch of highschoolers.
Musse: Now, now. Maybe it just means she bonds so well with her students, she starts acting like one.
One-Steve Limit: Averted; a dancer living in Tharbad, Calvard has the same given name as her. However, the former's name is spelled Sarah, and the Japanese script pronounces both names slightly differently.
One-Woman Army: She took on the entirety of the Northern Jaegers at Aurochs Fort. While she didn't take them out, her former comrades were so impressed by Sara's dedication and strength that they decided to pull out of the Civil War partially out of respect for her.
Parental Substitute: She effectively became Fie's guardian after the Jaeger King's death and enrolled her in Class VII to try and have her grow up to have a better life without the conflict and loss she had experienced with the Northern Jaegers.
Playing with Fire: Her secondary element is fire. Her Searing Flash Craft also gains the ability to inflict Burn from Cold Steel III onwards.
Private Military Contractors: Cold Steel II reveals that Sara was a member of the Northern Jaegers before she became a bracer.
Proud Beauty: She is fully aware of how attractive she is and isn't afraid to boast about it. Her students don't argue the fact, they just claim it isn't enough to make up for her other personality flaws to get her a date.
Sara:(After finishing off an enemy) That's what you get for messing with this hotty!
Purple Is Powerful: Considering her Red Baron is the "Purple Lightning" and she's powerful enough, she qualifies. In addition, her hair, sword, and gun are all purple.
Red Baron: Depending on what version of the game you're playing, she'll either be known as "Éclair" (Japanese) or "Purple Lightning" (localized). Regardless, it was her title back when she was a bracer.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Her reddish hair and highly energetic if immature demeanor greatly contrast with Claire's blue hair and serious attitude whenever circumstances force the two to interact or team up.
Required Party Member: She must be in the active party for the battle against Shirley, Rutger, Siegfried, and Sharon in Cold Steel III.
Sensei-chan: Very much so; she's lazy, childish, manipulative, and tends to remind her students to pick up the pace in class and not cause problems, or else she'd get blamed for them. Naturally, her students have frequent sweat-drop actions and comment how they have little respect for her personality.
Series Continuity Error: During Cold Steel III, a flashback to the war in North Ambria shows Sara already wearing her new outfit when she helped Rean evacuate Haliask. Despite this, the Northern War anime shows her in her ensemble from the previous two games during the said event.
Sexy Mentor: She's Class VII's Badass Teacher and the resident Ms. Fanservice, who can potentially be romanced by her student Rean (though the relationship only starts after he's graduated).
Sexy Slit Dress: Her outfit from Cold Steel III onwards features a long slit along her left leg.
School Teachers: A Badass Teacher, Cool Teacher, and Hot Teacher all rolled into one.
Shock and Awe: Fitting for her Red Baron title, all of her Crafts involve lightning.
Shockwave Stomp: Her Searing Flash Craft has her leap at the enemy and stab her sword into the ground to produce a shockwave.
Shout-Out: Her last name is just off from Valestine Castle.
Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Whenever Sharon or Claire enter the picture, she starts bringing out the sarcasm and passive-aggressive displeasure due to the former having been a member of Ouroboros and the latter being a loyal follower of Osborne.
The Slacker: Her group divisions for the Field Exams tend to be the same people each time, with one or two members changed. Eventually, the characters start to notice this and call her out on it.
Spam Attack: Her Thundering Roar Craft consists of her unloading numerous rounds from her pistol at the enemy.
Stab the Sky: Her Plasma Storm S-Craft ends with her raising her sword upwards to charge it with electricity before launching a Sword Beam at the enemy.
Status Effect-Powered Ability: From Cold Steel III onwards, her default Master Quartz Thor allows whoever equips it to inflict extra damage on any enemies inflicted with Status Effects. Reverie also applies the damage to enemies with stat debuffs.
Status Buff: Her Lightning Charge self-buff Craft grants her three turns of Insight and boosts her STR and SPD. It's upgraded variant in Reverie adds an additional boost to ATS, with the duration of the buffs (sans Insight) being increased to four turns.
Stepford Smiler: Several scenes show that she has some deep emotional scars from her experiences as a Child Soldier underneath her usually carefree and hard drinking exterior.
Stern Teacher: Laid-back as she is, Sara nevertheless fully expects her students to stand by whatever decision she makes no matter how much they disagree with them. When Machias and Jusis object to being in the same field study group for the second time in a row, Sara states that if they wants her to change it, she'll have to beat her in a fight.
Strange Minds Think Alike: Just before heading to face the Final Boss in Cold Steel IV, Sara gave a Rousing Speech to Class VII to express how proud she was of how far they had all come along. Most of them are touched, but her former students proceed to take the wind out of her sails when they inform her that she more or less repeated the same speech Rean gave to his classmates when they went to face the trials to obtain Valimar.
Student–Master Team: She frequentlty fights along with her students when things get dangerous. Of them all, she is closest with and works most often with Fie, who she effectively took in and then convinced to join the Bracer Guild after graduation.
Surpassed the Teacher: By the end of the Cold Steel saga, several of her former students have grown strong enough to match her in battle, if not beat her outright. Chiefly Rean, Laura, Emma, and Gaius.
Sword and Gun: She wields a sword in one hand and a pistol in the other.
Sword Beam: Her Plasma Storm S-Craft ends with her swinging her sword enemy to launch a large pulse of lightning at them.
Sword Plant: Her Searing Flash Craft has her leap into the air and attack the enemy by stabbing the ground to produce a shockwave.
Talking in Your Sleep: At one point late in the game, if you have Rean talk to the sleeping Sara in the Class VII dormitory, she'll comment, "Zzz... Keep those beers coming... Zzz..." and if you speak to her again, "Zzz... I'm done. Hit my limit... ...There needsh to be more booze in thish glass... Zzz..."
Teacher/Student Romance: Her student Rean can romance her; the achievement for doing so is even named "Hot for Teacher."
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: She doesn't like it whenever the prospect of working with Sharon or Claire comes up, as the former was a member of Ouroboros she had fought against, and the latter works for Osborne, who had effectively hamstrung the Guild in Erebonia.
This Is Something She's Got to Do Herself: When cornering the Northern Jaegers for torching Celdic in Cold Steel II, Sara decides to take them on by herself as a way to gain closure for her previous involvement and desertion of the Northern Jaegers.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Her Thunder Vortex Craft consists of her throwing her sword at her enemy, which then creates an electric vortex that sucks in and slashes them apart.
Tomboy: Slightly goes hand-in-hand with her personal history, upbringing, and choice of careers.
Troll: After the party defeats Loa Erebonius and dispels the barrier around the Old Building, Class VII is relieved to know that they'll be able to continue the Festival and their performance the next day as planned. Sara tells them they will not be holding the Festival tomorrow. After the class looks crestfallen and confused, Towa chides Sara, who then admits that the reason isn't that they're still canceling the Festival, but because they're holding it today, as it took the party until just past midnight to solve the mystery.
Unwitting Pawn: She found Fie and took her under her wing shortly after the death of the latter's adopted father while tracking Zephyr's movements. Near the end of Cold Steel II, Xeno and Leo would reveal that Rutger deliberately fed the information of how to find Fie to her to ensure someone would find and look after his daughter should he die in battle.
Wasted Beauty: Her students have outright stated to her face and behind her back that her unprofessional and occasionally immature attitude, along with her heavy drinking, utterly cancel out whatever appeal her looks give her.
Machias: I can't deny she's got the looks to snare a man, but with that personality...and that lifestyle...
What the Hell, Hero?: Well, they're not heroes, but in Cold Steel III, she calls out the Northern Jaegers for attempting suicide after Aurelia spared their lives in their fight at the Juno Naval Fortress.
Womanchild: Her students act more mature than her at times.

Characters / Trails Series Erebonia Thors Class VII Original Part Two

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