This is the character list for Ys IX: Monstrum Nox. For entries about Adol Christin, Dogi and characters from other installments, see the main page.

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Monstrums

General

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yxixmonstrum_1.png

From left to right: Renegade, Doll, Aprilis, White Cat, Raging Bull, Hawk

A group of people who are chosen by Aprilis to combat the Lemures, demons from Grimwald Nox. Like Adol, they used to be normal people but with the power Aprilis bestowed upon them, they can transform into monstrums, powerful beings with supernatural powers. All of them are trapped in the city as they have to appear whenever Aprilis summons them to fight lemures.

Artificial Humans: Everyone except Doll turns out to be homunculi created by Zola.
Brought Down to Normal: At the end of the game, the destruction of Draupnir's Egg results in monstrums' losing their powers and free to live out their lives as regular human beings.
The Chosen Many: Aprilis specifically chose them to fight against lemures. Justified as it is later revealed that they are created for this very specific purpose from the very beginning and with the exception of the Crimson King and Doll, Aprilis simply drafted them once they grew old enough.
Closed Circle: None of them are allowed to leave the city of Balduq, though as the game progresses they do get to explore the areas outside the city walls.
Conveniently an Orphan: All of them except Adol and Doll are adopted and have no memories of their parents. Justified as they are artificially created, meaning they never had real parents to begin with.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Averted; two of the three women on the Monstrums are the group's physical vanguards, Cat fighting pugilist style and Bull swinging with colossal strength, and both being the only native Strike-type party members. Even the last one, Doll, still fights using a Whip Sword.
Heroes With Bad Publicity: Despite fighting in secret to protect Balduq from the threat of Grimwald Nox, they are wanted by the authority for various reasons. Probably doesn't help that one of them (Hawk) actively seeks to cause trouble, especially given the amount of bounty on his head.
Impossibly Cool Clothes: Their clothes in general look more like fancy ballroom costumes than practical battle gears. This is pointed out a few times in the story.
The Most Wanted: They are the most wanted criminals in Balduq. This is justified for Hawk who picks fights with anyone who looks like a fighter, and the White Cat who boasts about being a thief. The Crimson King gets this treatment for breaking prisoners out of the prison, while Adol gets this treatment for breaking himself out of the prison.
Tomato in the Mirror: All monstrums except Crimson King and Doll are revealed to be clones of the historical figures from Balduq 500 years ago. The Crimson King meanwhile is actually a clone of Adol.
True Companions: Subverted at the beginning as Aprilis more or less forced them into the role of fighting against lemures so they only get together when Aprilis summons them and there is no real bond among them. Eventually becomes a straight example as Adol, while investigating the mystery behind Grimwald Nox and Balduq city, helps other monstrums with their own problems and they start cooperating on more personal level. It turns out their original selves were friends with Rosvita during the 100 Years' War, but they don't remember their past.
"Wanted!" Poster: All of the Monstrums have hefty bounties for their captures, dead or alive. Adol Christin's real identity also gets a wanted poster for breaking out of prison, but his wanted poster does not state that he is wanted dead or alive.

White Cat

White Cat/Krysha Pendleton

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yxixcat.png

^{Click here to see her as Krysha Pendleton}

Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu (Japanese), Cristina Valenzuela (English)

White Cat is a Robin Hood-like Monstrum who steals money and goods from the rich to give out to the needy living in the slums of Balduq. Using her flexible, cat-like body, she specializes in speedy strike attacks. Her Monstrum power allows her to run up the walls. Her civilian form is Krysha Pendleton, the second daughter of the Pendelton family.

Apologetic Attacker: When using skills, she can sometimes be heard saying "Pardon me!" or "Excuse me!".
Caring Gardener: She is a shy but good-hearted girl who likes growing flowers. After gaining some confidence and deciding to do something as Krysha, she opens up a flower shop in Balduq’s slum towns.
Cat Girl: Her monstrum form gives her cat ears and a tail. Events show that they are indeed real.
Crash-Into Hello: Her first meeting with Adol starts with her accidently bumping into him.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: In her max approval event, she accidentally blurts out that if the curse that prevents Adol from leaving Balduq is magic, then she wishes it would never go away. Needless to say, she is extremely embarrassed afterwards.
Fragile Speedster: Defense-wise, specifically, as she is one of the two party members naturally possessing the Strike affinity and has high attack stats in her weaponry. Her attacks are fast but she cannot take many hits. It is partially mitigated by the fact that her weapons come with natural evade rate.
Happily Adopted: While there is some friction between her and her adopted family, it is clear that they care a lot about her.
Just Like Robin Hood: Her initial M.O. She steals from the rich and drops the loot for the poor to pick up. Deconstructed in that this only led to slum people's becoming reliant on her instead of making an effort to improve their lives.
Nice Girl: Very kind hearted girl without any mean bone in her body.
Oh, Crap!: She becomes understandebly shocked when she realizes the fall she took has caused her to revert to human form in front of Adol, exposing her as White Cat.
Older Than They Look: She's 16 years old, but looks a bit younger due to having a very petite build.
Shapeshifting Failure: She's exposed as Krysha when a fall knocks her out of her Monstrum form.
Ship Tease: Has many of these with Adol as she develops a huge crush on him, though he seems to view her as a little sister type.
Start My Own: At the end of Chapter 2, she breaks away from the Pendleton company and opens a small flower shop at the slums in order to find more constructive way to help people instead of simply handing free money.
Stealing from the Till: She embezzled money from her adoptive family's business to give to the poor residents of Shantytown because the residents, as Gllians, are taxed higher than Romuns, and are victims of the prison mines' pollution, which the Pendleton family business plays a part in because The Empire hired the business to run the mines.
Wall Run: White Cat's Monstrum power lets her run straight up a wall without breaking a stride, as if gravity didn't exist.
Wolverine Claws: Her main weapon are pair of clawed gauntlets.

Hawk

Hawk/Credo Aiblinger

^{Click here to see him as Credo Aiblinger}

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (Japanese), Daman Mills (English)

Hawk is a fearsome Monstrum who believes his two swords are the solution to every problem. He is known for picking fights and causing chaos around Balduq, making him the most feared Monstrum by its citizens. His civilian identity is Credo Aiblinger, a member of the Hieroglyph Knights.

The Alcoholic: It's apparently a common occurrence for him to show up in the Grimwald Nox absolutely wasted.
The Berserker: As a berserker, he always has an urge inside him to fight with others.
Blood Knight: He really loves fighting. In fact, at the beginning of Chapter 2, he even tries to pick a fight with Adol for little to no reason, only to be restrained by Aprilis as Monstrums cannot fight each other.
Blow You Away: Many of his skills feature a wind element.
Broken Ace: Credo masters just about any skill within a few months of learning it. However, because of that he is unable to enjoy the challenge of any activity he does, resulting in his desire to fight people.
Child Prodigy: Deconstructed. His genius robs him of the feeling of accomplishment and self improvement to a point only fighting for his life can satisfy him in any way
Church Militant: He's a member of the Hieroglyph Knights, but he doesn't care about their chain of command at all.
Deadpan Snarker: Most of his interactions with others tend to be jabs or jokes at their expenses.
Death Seeker: He offhandedly mentions that he's really just looking for a fight he can die for
Dual Wielding: He uses two rapiers in battle.
Duel Boss: Adol can fight him one to one in a late-game side quest.
Indy Ploy: In Chapter 4 after finally cornering the fake Monstrums in Balduq Prison, he lets Doll steal the statue out from under their noses and whistles for the guards, admitting he had 0 seconds of planning.
Hey, You!: He very rarely refers to people by their names, defaulting to this or mean nicknames. Notably, Adol is the only one who he consistently calls by name.
Hidden Depths: He is actually a great painter.
One-Man Army: In his chapter, he takes on numerous Hieroglyph Knights and even causes quite a bit of property damage to their HQ.
No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: Because of his many talents, he found life to be incredibly boring. In fact, this is the main reason for his Blood Knight tendencies as he hopes to find someone who can provide challenge and make him feel alive.
Not Quite Flight: His Monstrum power is to summon wings for gliding.
Sarcastic Confession: Credo gives one regarding the party possessing Monstrum power in one sidequest, when one of the Hieroglyph Knights questioned how the party managed to spot the damage on the beam located in the highest ground of their HQ since the area is normally off-limits to civilians. It works, as the knight dismisses it as Credo's usual crude joke and attribute it to his unusually sharp eyes.
Say It with Hearts: He often ends his sentences with hearts whenever the party faces powerful foes.
Signature Laugh: "Kahahahaha"
Sir Swears-a-Lot: He is the only party member who regularly uses vulgar language.
Smarter Than You Look: The people in the story tend to overlook how smart Hawk can be because of his violent tendencies, and not helped that he'd rather just smash things through himself.
Token Evil Teammate: Hawk is the only Monstrum who actively causes trouble in Balduq for purely selfish reason.
The Troublemaker: In contrast to his fellow Monstrums, Hawk goes out of his way to cause trouble across Balduq, especially among the Hieroglyph Knights, usually by getting into fights with them. Ironically, he is later revealed to be a member of the Hieroglyph Knights in his civilian identity.
The Worf Effect: He got swatted away easily in his chapter by Chatelard while in his Monstrum form despite previously causing massive trouble for countless of Hieroglyph Knights and Romun soldiers alike - one of the first signs that his opponent is a lot more than they seem to be.

Doll

Doll/Anemona Rijndael

^{Click here to see her as Anemona}

^SPOILERS

Voiced by: Aina Suzuki (Japanese), Erica Mendez (English)

A Monstrum who looks like a beautiful doll created by the first-rate artisan. Her origins are completely unknown and she can perform acrobatic movements seemingly impossible for a human to achieve, making her the most mysterious among the Monstrums in Balduq. Her civilian identity is Anemona, a doll living in the artisan lane.

Become a Real Boy: She becomes a human in the credits.
Emotionless Girl: She even says as such. Justified since her original self is an actual antique doll so she does not have understanding of how emotions work. Subverted later on as she starts remembering more about her past.
Eyes Always Shut: Most of the time. The main exceptions are when she's using her Third Eye in story cutscenes or when something surprises her.
Foreshadowing: In Chapter 3, after hearing from Aprilis that Grimwald Nox will continue to exist as long as humanity walks the lands, she comments that the extinction of humanity would then end the need to fight as a non-human perspective on the matter. At the end of the game, Atra reaches this exact same conclusion and tries to Kill All Humans.
Friend to All Children: She is shown to get along quite well with the younger patrons of the Dandelion. Justified as her original purpose as a doll is to make children happy.
Living Toys: She is a fully animated doll who can walk and speak even in her regular doll form.
Meaningful Name: The name "Rijndael" is the original name of the the real-world computer encryption algorithm that is now known as the Advanced Encryption Standard. She has a Mysterious Past, making it a cipher.
Mysterious Past: With the dose of Laser-Guided Amnesia. She has no memory of how she has come to gain sentience. She also knows that there is something she wishes to find desperately but has no idea what it actually is. At the end of chapter 8, it turns out Zola created her soul as a prototype for creating souls from scratch, allowing him to create a copy of Rosvita's soul from Anemona's memories as a doll.
Not So Stoic: Despite her claim that she has no emotion, she cares a lot about the old couple who runs the antique shop where she "lives". In Chapter 4, she asks for the party's help in retrieving the saintess statue stolen by fake monstrums as the theft makes the old couple distraught.
Rollerblade Good: Her shoes have wheels on them. This also makes her one of the fastest among monstrums.
Sizeshifter: She's able to switch between human-sized form and doll-sized form.
True Sight: Her monstrum power. It allows the party to see hidden objects or weak points of enemies. One side quest even allows her to use it to pick out the juiciest, ripest orange in the market.
When She Smiles: One of late-game sidequests has her finally smiling in happiness upon remembering the fond times between her and Rosvita in the past, which the party points out.
Whip Sword: Her weapon of choice.

Raging Bull

Raging Bull/Yufa Gamberg

^{Click here to see her as Yufa Gamberg}

Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)

A Monstrum who excels in raw power, as indicated by her gigantic war hammer. Unlike some Monstrums, she does not go out of way to cause trouble and often acts as a mediator whenever other Monstrums get into quarrels. There is a rumor that her relative is living inside the prison city, but the truth of that rumor is uncertain. Her civilian identity is Yufa Gamberg.

Charged Attack: Her Monstrum power, the Valkyrie Hammer, is a charged attack capable of smashing down weak walls. These attacks are manually charged like in Ys SEVEN instead of automatically charged like in Ys: Memories of Celceta or Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, both which have automatically charged attacks. This attack also performs guard crushes against enemies who block attacks, destroying their shields and maxing out their stun meter. It is also a great way to recover SP like in previous Ys games with the party system.
Contralto of Strength: As Raging Bull, she has the most raw power among the Monstrums, and Ayane Sakura gives her the deepest voice among the female members. It also stands in contrast with her voice as Yufa, which is noticeably higher-pitched.
The Ditz: While she isn't dumb by any means, she is lacking in some common knowledge compared to others, such as not knowing the current Romun emperor's name and being the only major character who completely falls for Saradhi's scheme to give sleeping potions to everyone in Dandelion. While using the shared Gifts, she has tendency to forget the full name of the Gift, so it is common to hear her saying things like "Shadow... something!" such as while she is using Renegade's Shadow Dive.
Happily Married: She gets married to her boyfriend Felix at the end of the game.
He Is Not My Boyfriend: She insists that Felix is not her boyfriend, but everyone can see they are an item.
Humongous-Headed Hammer: Her weapon of choice is a large, cross-shaped hammer, with the head being much larger than the handle.
Mama Bear: Confronted with seeing her love interest and little sister in the path of a blindly-rampaging bull in the colosseum, Yufa jumps in, catches it by the horns, stops it cold without giving an inch and hurls it clear back across the way.
Mighty Glacier: She's a slow, hard hitter and her HP growth is one of the highest among the party.
Ms. Fanservice: She has a large chest, the biggest of the game's playable girls, and both her hostess outfit and her Monstrum attire expose some of her cleavage, with her "Monstrum Troupe" and "Holstein Ranch" DLC costumes showing off even more.
Spin Attack: Some of her skills have her do spins to attack enemies.
Super-Strength: Her monstrum power. It allows her to break certain obstacles and remove enemies' protections.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Her dialogue during the boss fight against Rene-Nygtilger implies that she has strong dislike for invertebrates.

Renegade

Renegade/Jules Noah

^{Click here to see him as Jules Noah}

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Griffin Burns (English)

A Monstrum who received the nickname "Renegade" due to his eccentric attire that looks like a torn vestment. Strongly pessimistic and weary of life, he avoids contacts with others in general so barely any citizen of Balduq actually sees him. He seems to be knowledgeable about the history of the Gllia region and the prison city. His civilian identity is Jules Noah, the adopted son of Smirnov Noah.

Calling the Old Man Out: At the end of Chapter 6, he does this to Dr. Smirnov Noah when he and other Monstrums find him in the Balduq prsion, thinking that Dr. Noah abandoned his wife and Jules due to the latter's incurable illness. In reality, Dr. Noah left them to find a way to make Jules healthy.
Casting a Shadow: His skills are primarily darkness-based.
Dark Is Not Evil: His Monstrum power involves shadows and his skills are darkness-based. Yet, he is one of the monstrums who fight against lemures to protect the city of Balduq.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Jules wishes to live what remains of his life and die in his own terms, so he doesn't like people treating him like some helpless patient regardless whether they mean it or not. He does at least acknowledge their goodwill, but doesn't like being coddled nevertheless.
Happily Adopted: His adopted parents love him like a real son.
Long-Range Fighter: He wields a magic staff and his normal attacks and skills consist of shooting projectiles from it.
Squishy Wizard: He can attack from far and his damage output is high as his weapon comes with extra crit rate but he cannot take many hits.
Terror Hero: He uses his Shadow Dive gift to create rumors of a ghost, which scares people away from desecrating the Nors ruins.
Your Days Are Numbered: Because of his weak constitution, he says that he's likely to die before he turns 20 with this being the main reason for his pessimistic attitude. Subverted in the end where his adoptive father manages to find the cure and he becomes healthy enough to walk.

Grimwald Nox

Aprilis

Aprilis/Rosvita

Voiced by: Haruka Michii (Japanese), Dawn M. Bennett (English)

A hooded woman with determined eyes and an artificial arm and leg whom Adol encounters during his prison break in Balduq. She "gifts" the power of Monstrum to Adol and forces him to fight demons from Grimwald Nox along with other monstrums, trapping him in the city in the process. She tells Adol to investigate the mysteries behind the prison city if he wishes to find out the truth behind Grimwald Nox and break its curse.

Artificial Limbs: She has an artificial arm and leg. In chapter 8, when she comes back in a new body, she lacks the mechanical limbs.
Big Good: She's the main figure behind the battle against the Grimwald Nox and serves as the mentor of the Monstrums.
Body Backup Drive: She has other spare bodies ready in case something happens to her current one. This comes in handy once Chatelard runs her current body through once he has what he needed from her.
Covered with Scars: Her arms are noted to have many scars on them due to fighting against the threat of Grimwald Nox alone for past 15 years.
Defrosting Ice Queen: In the beginning, Aprilis is very aloof and distant towards the monstrums under her command as a result of repeatedly watching the previous homunculi before them die over and over in the repeated battles against Grimwald Nox for hundreds of years. As the game progresses, though, she gradually softens due to various events such as being reunited with her beloved doll Anemona once again once Anemona remembers her promise to Rosvita, and she begins to give more sincere smiles.
Jeanne d'Archétype: She was this during the Hundred Years' War, right down to her humble origin, receiving divine vision to fight for her country, and tragic untimely death due to political machinations.
Magitek: Aside from her artificial limbs she has a magical gun that she uses to turn others into Monstrums as well as to just shoot baddies.
Mommy Had A Good Reason For Abandoning You: Due to sudden deaths of previous monstrums and disappearance of her partner Zola fifteen years ago, she had to send the current monstrums except Doll and Crimson King away for adoption instead of raising them herself so that she could fight the monstrums herself while the current mosntrums grew up.
Parental Substitute: She acted as a mother figure to previous generations of monstrums for past 500 years.
Really 700 Years Old: By transferring her memories and soul to another body whenever her current one dies, she has been able to live on for past 500 years.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Her fate in her first life. The moment she was no longer needed to win the war, her king betrayed her to her enemies, who burned her at stake.

Lemures

The uncanny monsters that appear in the Grimwald Nox. Born from the negative emotions of Gllia people, they threaten to encroach upon the real world, requiring monstrums to periodically destroy them.

Creepy Doll: Rabby and its variants look like stuffed animal dolls with Shear Menace.
Dub Name Change: The original Japanese script refers to them as Larva.
Extreme Omnivore: Some lemures are noted to be this, going as far as devouring the most repulsive materials or even chaos itself.
Fallen Angel: Some types of lemures are said to be divine messengers who fell to darkness. This is indicated by halos above their heads.
Flunky Boss: All boss variants in Grimwald Nox are this since reinforcements will appear as long as they are alive.
Greater-Scope Villain: They are a combination of this and Big Bad Ensemble with Zola, since the threat they present drives him to use unethical alchemical experiments to end them.
The Heartless: They're manifestations of people's lingering resentment, hatred and anger throughout the Gllia region since the time of the Nors gods. This means they will spawn endlessly as long as the Egg of Draupnir is intact, resulting in a Forever War between them and the Monstrums.
Hybrid Monster: The Superboss, Vakh Medios, is an amalgam of several Lemures types.
Monster Clown: One variant of lemures is a clown like creature.
More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Grautney and its superior variant Zea-Grautney sport this.
Rolling Attack: Several lemures attack by rolling.
Slaying Mantis: Curimanthe and its superior variant Dio-Manthe.

People of Balduq City

Carla Pendleton

Voiced by: Saori Onishi (Japanese)

The first daughter of the Pendleton family, who owns the largest company in the Prison City of Balduq. Displaying excellent talent as a merchant, she is appointed by her father Riche to work at the main office. There seems to be a subtle distance growing between her and her rather shy younger sister...

Aloof Big Sister: She is this to Krysha. Eventually, she becomes Cool Big Sis after Krysha's Character Development.
Always Someone Better: Krysha feels that she inferior to Carla due to her meekness.
Awesome by Analysis: During the first meeting with Adol (who is wearing a disguise), she quickly deduces Adol's true identity. Also, from Adol's reports about White Cat, she figures out that White Cat is none other than her sister Krysha.
Damsel in Distress: In the late game, she is kidnapped by Hieroglyph Knights.

Riche Pendleton

Voiced by: Kozo Dazaka (Japanese), Bob Buchholz (English)

The head of the Pendleton family and the Pendleton Company, which has a major influence in Balduq. Successful in commerce, he gained enormous capital power by monopolizing the mining rights to the mines of nearby regions. He will utilize any means necessary for business and profit gains, and always takes a high-handed attitude, which makes many residents discomforted by his presence.

Papa Wolf: While he's worried about how White Cat's robbery affects his company, he's also angered because he believes the robbery undermines Krysha's hard work in getting sales. Ironically, Krysha is White Cat.
Stern Teacher: He acts very stern and cold to his daughters.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Eventually he is revealed to be like this as he shows that he cares a lot about Krysha underneath that stern exterior.
Too Dumb to Live: He uses sheer capital leverage to overwhelm his competitors. That means he borrows the maximum amount of money possible to maximize his spending power to outspend and overwhelm his competitors. If this strategy works, this multiplies his profits and success. However, those who pay attention to current events in the real world saw what happened to the real-world investment banks Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns which used similar strategies: they racked up giant amounts of debt, so when they lost too much money leaving not enough money to support those debts, they put themselves at risk of bankruptcy. While Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch got bought out when they became unable to sustain their debts, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and triggered the real-world Great Recession. If something goes wrong, Riche Pendleton's risky strategy could bankrupt the business and put the region into a depression. Therefore, Krysha's embezzlement was putting the Pendleton Company and Gllia in mortal financial danger since the money she embezzled was supporting the company's massive debt load.
Tough Love: He is strict to his daughters in hopes that they will grow into capable merchants worthy of the Pendleton name.

Chante

Voiced by: Haruki Ishiya (Japanese), Brandon McInnis (English)

An effeminate man who is assigned to run the bar Dandelion by Carla after Adol helps the Pendleton company out with solving the case of theft. He is caring and uses his past life experience to give good advices so customers of all kinds consult him. He has a big circle of friends in Balduq related to work, and is thus very knowledgeable about the city’s residents and the situation with the Romun Empire.

Ambiguously Gay: While he has all the trappings of a Camp Gay man, he doesn't quite show romantic attraction to anyone, male or female. The most he does is compliment Dogi's muscles. Subverted with his max relationship event where he wishes Adol to take him out on a date.
Camp: Extremely flamboyant and effeminate.
Hidden Depths: He used to be a successful gladiator.
Nice Guy: Always happy to lend an ear and give advices to those who ask for them.
Team Chef: As the chef of the dandelion, he provides the meal for the monstrums. Provided you have the recipe and ingredients he can cook up various stat-boosting meals for you.

Iris

Iris/Princess Eleanor

Voiced by: Reina Kondo (Japanese), Brittany Lauda (English)

A girl whom monstrums encounter in the prison of Balduq. She intended on assassinating the current governor-general Lindheim, who has gone missing lately, but was caught and imprisoned in the process. Adol and his party offer to have her join them at the bar Dandelion and she agrees to lend them her aid in hopes that she may obtain any information regarding Lindheim.

Defrosting Ice Queen: She starts off rather hostile to the party and Parks when she is rescued. Overtime she grows to care for them and soon she accepts Parks as her father figure.
Fallen Princess: She is actually Princess Eleanor of the kingdom of Gllia.
Happily Adopted: Parks adopts her as his own at the end of the game.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: By the end of the game, she's all of an assassin, waitress, and princess.
You Killed My Father: She wants to assassinate Lindheim as she believes Lindheim is responsible for the war that resulted in her father's death and destruction of her kingdom. Subverted as it is later revealed that Lindheim was not only strongly against the war between Romn and the kingdom of Gllia but he also tried to protect the royal family of the Gllia kingdom in the aftermath.

Maxim

Voiced by: Toshiki Kuso (Japanese), Ben Diskin (English)

A mysterious, hooded man who operates alongside his partner owl, Arthur. He does business as a "Black Marketer" in the corners of Balduq city, dealing as a provider of shady goods generally not available on the market, as well as confidential information. While dealing in the black market, he also seems to be independently gathering information regarding the inside of the prison and its prisoners...

Friend in the Black Market: He is called a "Black Marketer" for a reason. In practice, he can craft gift items that you might have missed out on buying from previous chapters.
Hidden Depths: He used to be a troubleshooter who worked for the kingdom of Gllia from shadows. Also, he is quite capable of fighting as he has no problem defeating some Hieroglyph knights on his own.
Last Request: His sidequest reveals that he has been working towards fulfilling this from none other than the late king of Gllia, who asked him to find and destroy the royal seal of Gllia so it may not be used for ill purposes.
Loyal Animal Companion: His partner owl, Arthur.
Walking the Earth: Inspired by Adol, he decides to go on his adventures at the end of the game.

Tito

Voiced by: Yoshifumi Ono (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)

An intelligent and warm-hearted blacksmith-in-training. A son of the famous blacksmith who died several years ago, he lives with his younger sister Arche. While still alive, his father had a special hammer he used to forge weapons, which apparently had the power to repel "demons".

Distressed Dude: Adol's party first meets him and his sister when the siblings are dragged into Grimwald Nox, prompting the party to rescue them.
Dub Name Change: His name is Tate in the original Japanese version.
Ultimate Blacksmith: His goal is to become a blacksmith as good as his father. He is the one who forges Adol and his party's ultimate weapons and armors in this game.

Arche

Voiced by: Chiyo Ousaki (Japanese), Brianna Knickerbocker (English)

Tito's younger sister. She joins Dandelion along with Tito after Adol and monstrums rescue them from Grimwald Nox. Like Dina from Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, she is in charge of the trading post where the party can exchange materials.

Cheerful Child: She's an upbeat and energetic 10 year-old.

Silhouette

^{Silhouette unmasked}

Voiced by: Natsuko Hara (Japanese), Anairis Quiñones (English)

A mysterious girl in a maid outfit who always wears a strange mask that covers her face. Contrary to her appearance, she is a sensible and graceful person who works as a devoted servant under Vallin. Unfortunately, she was arrested by the Hieroglyph Knights who raised questions about her mask. It is said that her mask has the power to make certain things “invisible.”

Anti-Frustration Features: She acts as this in regards to shopping since she will sell most items from shopkeepers in the city once Adol finds them so players can just go to her for shopping instead of remembering what each merchant sells.
Blessed with Suck: Her ability to see Grimwald Nox does come in handy a few times, such as that it is so sharp that she can notice firsthand the incoming Lemures that even the party fails to notice, but other than that, it causes her to be miserable and gives more trouble than it is worth. As it turns out, she has this ability due to being a descendant from Nors oracles and for unknown reason her ancestors' power reawakens within her, but due to the Nors religion being long dead and she has no need for said power herself, the power is much more of an inconvenience than a blessing.
Courier: Effectively, her duty is to buy and deliver items to Adol.
Mask of Power: She wears a mask that makes lemures from Grimwald Nox invisible to her, allowing her to function as a normal human being. Once the Grimwald Nox is gone, she stops wearing the mask.
Security Blanket: She's reduced to a crying mess without her mask. Justified as the mask is the only thing preventing her from seeing the Lemures and the Grimwald Nox.
Undying Loyalty: She swore loyalty to Vallin, due to him trying find a way to cure her visions.

Vallin

Professor Vallin

Voiced by: Riku Iwata (Japanese), Bob Buchholz (English)

The anthropologist who is the master of Silhouette. He tasks Adol with finding graffiti throughout Balduq.

Collection Sidequest: You can discover old scrawlings in various locations and report them to him in exchange for rewards. Through these writings, he is trying to find a way to undo the curse that Silhouette is afflicted with.

Saradhi

Voiced by: Kazusa Aranami (Japanese), Anairis Quiñones (English)

A beautiful, brown-skinned traveling doctor who is staying in Balduq city. Tireless in her doctor work, she examines the residents of the slums free of charge and is considered reliable by them.

As she helps out another doctor she is acquainted with, she seems to be looking for “a certain something”. She later makes an appearance at the bar Dandelion where Adol and Dogi are in hiding.

Ambiguously Brown: Her name suggests she's from the Ys-verse's equivalent of the Indian subcontinent, but her background is never directly stated.
Blackmail: After she tries to steal the Gllian royal treasure from the Dandelion bar because it is believed to be kept in the bar's basement, the Dandelion's crew accept her into the group as a result of mutual blackmail because she knows their true identities, and they know that she is a globe-trotting thief. This means that should either side try to further betray each other, the other side could rat the betrayer out. As for the treasure, it is way too encumbered by Lemures generated by thieves' Greed for the treasure to make taking it without dying impossible, so she has to leave it behind.
Classy Cat-Burglar: While her skills as a doctor are genuine, she turns out to be one of these as her true goal is to find treasures rumored to be hidden in Balduq.
Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Wears this befitting her profession as a doctor.
The Medic: She serves as a doctor in the Dandelion and can brew potions with the right ingredients.
Slipping a Mickey: In her side quest, she does this to the people at Dandelion as she thought the treasures she is looking for are hidden below the bar. She later finds them but they turn out to be in Grimwald Nox guarded by large number of lemures so she is only able to take one tiny jewel.
Stripperific: Her outfit underneath the Labcoat of Science and Medicine leaves little to the imiganation.
Thrill Seeker: She is more interested in the thrill of finding treasures than the treasures themselves.
Token Evil Teammate: While most of the patrons of the Dandelion Bar are relevantly good people, Saradhi is a globe-trotting thief. A case of mutual Blackmail keeps her in check.
Walking the Earth: She goes on more adventures at the end along with Xavier, planning to find treasures in other regions.

Felix

Voiced by: Yusuke Kondo (Japanese), Brandon Winckler (English)

Yufa's childhood friend whom her siblings refer to as her boyfriend.

Childhood Friend Romance: Yufa claims that they're just Childhood Friends, but it's obvious that they're an item.
Official Couple: He’s shown getting married to Yufa during the ending credits.
No Full Name Given: His surname isn’t listed.

Morbihan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ys_ix_monstrum_nox_molbian.png

Voiced by: Kenichi Mine (Japanese)

A Nors Spirit of the River that resides in the rivers of Balduq. A forgotten tutelary being of Gllia hiding in the Loir River. He is knowledgeable about both Grimwald and the Lemures. He allows Adol to buy materials for money.

Gratuitous French: He speaks with a French accent and peppers his dialog with French words and phrases.
Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike the rest of the creatures in the series, Morbihan is noticeably more cartoony looking than the others (complete with Black Bead Eyes).
Really 700 Years Old: He's been around since Rosvita's time and has been watching over her and the various generations of Monstrums over the years.
Secret Character: Unlike other allies he isn't recruited from a sidequest or story event. Instead he can be found near the Marketplace and requires Doll's power to find.
Secret Secret-Keeper: After the events of the secret lab, he reveals he knew all along about the Monstrums being homunculi, including Adol.

Hieroglyph Knights

Lucien

Voiced by: Yuu Morimiya (Japanese), Landon McDonald (English)

The second-in-command of the Hieroglyph knights, a wing of the Hieroglyph church located in the Gllia region. They are dedicated to missionary work and the preservation of the province’s public order. However, noticing strange arrests that the knights in the order have been making recently, he tried to take up the issue with Chatelard, only to get forcibly sent away from Balduq under the guise of vacation. Thankfully, Adol and his party intercept this and Lucian joins them in order to find out what Chatelard is planning.

Defector from Decadence: He does not agree with how Chatelard runs the order and joins monstrums to investigate what Chatelard is scheming.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A noble blond-haired knight who is devoted to protecting the city of Balduq.
Number Two: He was this to Chatelard in the Hieroglyph Knights until he started questioning Chatelard.
Reassigned to Antarctica: Chatelard was going to force him to relocate to Romn so that the latter wouldn't interfere with the knights' coup. However, he also planned for Lucien to eventually return to Balduq no matter the outcome of the knights' plans, since he knows that Lucien's leadership would be needed to maintain the city's peace.

Gilbert

Voiced by: Ryo Sugisaki (Japanese), Bob Buchholz (English)

The Seneschal of the Hieroglyph Knights, who follows Chatelard without question.

Attempted Suicide: In the final chapter, he tries to kill himself once his attempt to continue Chatelard's plan fails completely, only to be interrupted by Lucien.
Number Two: As the vice-commander of the Hieroglyph Knights, he serves as Chatelard's right-hand man.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He is completely in on Chatelard's plan to liberate Gllia by using alchemy to create an army of clones.

Balduq Prison

Belger

Voiced by: Takahiro Shimura (Japanese), Kyle Hebert (English)

A military man from the Romun Empire who works as the warden of the prison of Balduq. While impulsive and inflexible, he has strong sense of justice and takes every action with integrity, which earns him strong loyalty from his subordinates. He exhibits an unsparing attitude about monstrums who are causing chaos in the city.

Frontline General: He has no problem fighting alongside his subordinates.
Hero Antagonist: While he initially opposes monstrums, it is due to their actions' causing public disorder, which goes against what he fights for.
Reassigned to Antarctica: Later in the game, Chatelard reveals that Belger's assignment to Balduq is this, most likely due to opposing The Empire's corrupt ways like Griselda and Leo did.
Reasonable Authority Figure: He genuinely wants to keep the peace in the city and starts questioning Chatelard once Chatelard takes things too far, getting jailed in the process. He's later willing to cooperate with the Monstrums to stop Chatelard's faction and defeat the Lemures, despite thinking of them as troublemakers.

Parks

Parks/Governor-General Lindheim

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), John Eric Bentley (English)

A late middle-aged, carefree man incarcerated in Balduq Prison. After meeting Adol, he provides some important information regarding the prison. He claims to have been imprisoned due to fraud, but no one knows how much of what he says is actually true.

Blue Blood: He is a member of the Romun nobility and its clergy.
Cartography Sidequest: He is the one who tasks Adol with mapping out Balduq in this game.
Defector from Decadence: Just like Griselda and Leo from Ys: Memories of Celceta, he does not approve of Romn's corruption and its militant expansionist policies at all, as he was strongly opposed to the war between Romn and the kingdom of Gllia and did everything he could to minimize the bloodshed.
Good Shepherd: In addition to being the governor-general, he is also a cardinal of the Hieroglyph Church.
King Incognito: He's a Romun Nobleman and the official Head of State of Balduq but chose to remain in the guise of a prisoner. According to himself, he's had a history of disguising himself in various working-class positions (even working as a miner for two years) as his way of understanding commoners.
Quest Giver: He is the one who rewards Adol for the Cartography Sidequest in this game as well as being the one behind the quests that involve breaking people out of Balduq Prison.
Reasonable Authority Figure: As the governor-general of the Gllia region, he is this as he wishes to improve the living conditions of the people in the Gllia region unlike the previous one who only cared about lining his own pockets. In fact, at the end of the game, he reveals that he once worked at his father's mine for two years without revealing his identity just so he could understand commoners better.
The Reveal: He is the governor-general of the Gllia region who has gone missing lately, which allowed Chatelard to slowly take over the city in secret during his absence.
Walking Spoiler: Knowing his true identity spoils some significant parts of plot of Ys IX.

Margot

Voiced by: Kujira (Japanese), Barbara Goodson (English)

An old woman who loves cigars beyond anything else. She was the leader of the Gllia region resistance group known as “The Bell of Liberation.” While hoisting the re-independence of Gllia several years ago, she was captured by Romun army during an uprising and imprisoned in Balduq Prison. She seems to have obtained information on monstrums while in prison, and is trying to make contact with them for some reason…

Cool Old Lady: She may be old but she still has no problem using her connections to help Adol and his party and participating in defending Balduq against the threat of Grimwald Nox.
Smoking Is Cool: As the leader of La Résistance, she sure loves her cigars.
La Résistance: She led the rebellion against the previous governor-general sent by Romn, who was only interested in lining his pockets.
Luxury Prison Suite: She is in this when monstrums come to see her. In fact, she has little to no problem escaping from the prison as wardens are indebted to her.
Reasonable Authority Figure: She is willing to work with the current governor-general to make Gllia a better place for everyone and tries to prevent more extreme members of her organization from causing unnecessary bloodshed.

Marius

Marius/Marcus Claudius Garmanicus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ys_ix_monstrum_nox_marious.png

Voiced by: Shuta Morishima (Japanese), Billy Kametz (English)

A young man imprisoned in Balduq Prison whom Adol encounters during the game. Friendly and insightful, Marius offers to aid Adol in his investigation of the prison. He seems to have lost his memories, as he does not have any recollection of why he was imprisoned to begin with.

Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: While he himself was never a major villain, in the late-game sidequest, he murdered the remaining homunculi that Chatelard created so Adol and his party do not have to dirty their hands with their murders.
Disappears into Light: He perishes in this manner after Adol fatally stabs him as per his request.
Forced into Evil: He is tasked with making sure the real Adol Christin does not escape from the prison, but has absolutely no choice in the matter due to being forced to obey Zola's commands.
I Cannot Self-Terminate: Near the end of the game, he reveals that this is the case for him and asks Adol to destroy him to make sure no homunculus remains alive to cause chaos..
Last Request: Before dying, Marius asks Adol to share the wisdom from his adventures with Marius's real-self some day and stop Zola.
Master Swordsman: In the final chapter, he fights against Adol in a cutscene and puts up a surprisingly good fight with a sword.
Tomato Surprise: He is revealed to be a clone of the current Romun emperor.

Ingrid

Ingrid Celda

Voiced by: Natsuko Hara (Japanese), Laura Stahl (English)

The paranormal investigator dispatched from the Romun Empire to Balduq Prison to question Adol. Seemingly a total realist, she does not believe anything at all about the various adventures and mysterious events Adol has experienced thus far.

Agent Scully: She considers Adol's stories to be delusional fantasies.
Butt-Monkey: Due to Adol being a Weirdness Magnet, she ends up encountering all sorts of supernatural happenings throughout the game, which usually end with her running away in disbelief.
Catchphrase: "Preposterous!" is her preferred method of describing the things she encounters.
Failed a Spot Check: On multiple occasions she fails to recognize that the person she's asking if he's seen the escaped Adol Christin is Adol himself, wearing a "disguise" consisting of hair dye and a scarf. Made even worse than it seems by the fact that she had spent a week and a half performing day-long interrogations of Adol before his escape, and as such should be the official with the most familiarity with Adol's appearance in the entire city. And it took Carla Pendleton, who had never even met Adol, less than a minute to see through that disguise.
Glory Hound: Ingrid doesn't actually seem to value the tenets of her job in any regard, refusing to investigate any paranormal happenstance as her title would denote to any length. She mainly just wants the achievement of arresting Adol the Red, and will jump through any logic hoops necessary to justify it.
Informed Attribute: Is never shown to have any actual talent as an investigator. All she ever does is deny anything she sees or hears that doesn't line up with her preconceptions.
Irony: For a paranormal investigator, she is quick to dismiss all supernatural going-ons, which are frequent in the world of Ys, as complete nonsense.
Implausible Deniability: Ingrid received her position of Paranormal Investigator in direct response to the very-paranormal circumstances Adol was involved in with his adventures and the Romun Empire was involved in to try and acquire anything out of. His accounts during his interrogation line up exactly with the facts as she understands them from her superiors, only filling in the blanks otherwise. She encounters the Monstrums, Primordials, and more throughout the game. In spite of this overwhelming evidence both physical and informed, she refuses to accept any of it as legitimate.
Inspector Javert: Throughout the game, she keeps trying to recapture Adol and send him to the capital of Romn for further questioning only to fail every time.
Right for the Wrong Reasons: Despite the prison releasing notice that Adol escaped and is on the loose, Ingrid repeatedly badgers Chatelard, insisting that it cannot be true and he must still be there somewhere. She's right in that the real Adol never escaped, but this is less for actually suspecting the Hieroglyph Knights and moreso a refusal to accept he could really have escaped if she couldn't find him by that point.
Sore Loser: At the end of the game, upon having produced to her a writ of permission by the hand of Cardinal Lindheim, a Romun noble with absolute authority in Balduq to speak nothing of her superior by several magnitudes, Ingrid leaves, claiming she's going to investigate the veracity of the document. What she is actually doing is calling in another squadron of Romun soldiers to arrest Adol anyway, despite his being officially pardoned by her superior.
This Cannot Be!: During the Epilogue, she has this reaction when Adol produces a writ of permission by Cardinal Lindheim, aka Parks.

Xavier

Voiced by: Kyouka Moriya (Japanese), Brittany Lauda (English)

A member of the “Holy Beast Roo” variety found in the Europe Region. While roos normally have their own language separate from that of humans, this particular roo is somehow able to use human speech and has an arrogant, condescending attitude towards the humans he meets. He seems to have settled down inside the prison and lends Adol his power as a cooperator.

Came Back Wrong: Xavier was originally one of the historical figures from Balduq 500 years ago, but something went wrong in the process of reviving him and he came back as a roo instead of human. This is also the reason why he can speak human language just fine and does not contain the word -ru in his name.
Excalibur in the Rust: Played with. His sidequest at the endgame involves finding the holy blade he used to yield 500 years ago as a human. By the time Adol and his party find it, they discover that the blade has rusted with its handle's being the only usable part. However, the handle works as a powerful accessory, increasing the power of skills by 20% and giving 40% natural crit rate to whoever equips it.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He may act condescending towards people but he ultimately means well. Later in the game, he even distracts enemies in order to buy the real Adol time to escape from the prison.
Meaningful Name: Unlike other roos in the series, Xavier does not have the word -ru or -roo in his name. That's because he wasn't a roo to begin with.
The Nicknamer: He calls Adol "Rusty" not only for his red hair, but also for the Rusty Sword he has equipped on him.
Walking the Earth: He joins Saradhi on her adventures at the end of the game.
Was Once a Man: He was originaly a human, but something went wrong when he was recreated, hence why is stuck in the body of a roo.

Smirnov Noah

Dr. Smirnov Noah

Voiced by: Kei Saitoh (Japanese), John DeMita (English)

A reputable physician who is Jules's adopted father. According to Jules, he has been incarcerated in Balduq Prison since five years ago on unspecified charges.

Anti-Villain: He is assisting Chatelard and Zola with their alchemy experiments but his reason for doing so is to find a way to save his son.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: He left his wife and adopted son behind so he could have a chance to cure Jules's incurable disease.

Spoiler Characters

Due to the nature of the following characters, spoilers are unmarked to avoid redundancy.

The Crimson King

Crimson King

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ys_ix_monstrum_red.png

Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese), Bryce Papenbrook (English)

Adol's new identity as a Monstrum. While escaping from the prison of Balduq, Adol encounters Aprilis who proceeds to "gift" the power of monstrum by shooting him. After meeting other monstrums and going through the first Grimwald Nox, he is told by Aprilis to investigate the mysteries behind Balduq if he wishes to get to the bottom of this curse's trapping him in the city.

Or at least that is how it initially looks like. It is later revealed that this Crimson King is in fact a homunculus of the real Adol Christin created by Zola. The real Adol Christin, whom the player periodically controls for small segments of Balduq prison, remains imprisoned for majority of the game.

Born as an Adult: The Crimson King was designed to have the same apparent age as the real Adol.
Clone Degeneration: Since the Crimson King was designed to have the same apparent age as Adol, he gets sick. He later degenerates to the point of dying until he fused with the original Adol.
Fashionable Asymmetry: Whenever the Crimson King is in his monstrum form, he wears an asymmetric outfit that looks cool.
Flash Step: His monstrum power Crimson Line works like this, allowing him to instantly close in distance between him and an object/enemy.
Foreshadowing: After escaping from the prison and meeting Dogi, Dogi notices something is slightly off with "Adol" but pays no more mind to it. However, this could also refer to the Crimson King's dyed hair.
Fusion Dance: Near the end of the game, he fuses his body with real Adol Christin as his body is running out of time and Zola needs to be stopped.
Mark of the Supernatural: His literal red left hand certainly looks the part and he uses it to activate his monstrum power.
Suddenly Speaking: He spends most of the game as a Heroic Mime much like Adol (outside of Voice Grunting), only speaking once he meets the real Adol.
Tomato in the Mirror: This "Adol" players control for much of the game is a clone of the real Adol Christin. He has no idea that he is a clone for most of the game.
Walking Spoiler: His status as a clone of Adol is one of the biggest plot twists in the game.

The Grandmaster

Chatelard

Voiced by: Yuki Ono (Japanese), Jalen K. Cassell (English)

The grandmaster of the Hieroglyph knights. His devout faith, along with chiseled features and supreme swordsmanship, makes him one of the most influential figures in Balduq.

He seems to take an interest in Adol and his experiences as an adventurer throughout many different regions. In fact, he is the one who apprehends Adol and throws him into the prison at the beginning of the game. Throughout the game, he is shown to have more knowledge about monstrums and the prison city than he lets on.

It is later revealed that he used to be a general of the kingdom of Gllia, which was destroyed by the Romun empire eight years ago. His goal is the liberation of the Gllia region from the Romun control and he is willing to do anything to make it happen.

Affably Evil: Downplayed. He acts like a polite knightly commander, but he's condescending towards the Monstrums and any authority figure who questions him. He does show genuine respect towards Adol and the Monstrums for discovering the secret lab and asks them to support his revolt against Romn, but he's also willing to kill and reclone them when they refuse. After his death, other characters note that despite his actions, his sense of justice and devotion to his fallen comrades are genuine and he was actually looking out for Lucien all along.
Artificial Human: He himself is a homunculi replica of the actual Chatelard, who fell in battle against Romn. Unlike the Monstrums, however, he was given the Super-Soldier treatment without any curses, giving him a level of preternatural strength, speed and ability he never would otherwise have.
BFS: His weapon of choice. Later becomes One-Handed Zweihänder in his transformed state.
Broken Pedestal: Chatelard is this to Lucien as Lucien used to hold him in high regard, until the former started making false arrests for unknown reasons. He becomes a Rebuilt Pedestal when Lucien learns that Chatelard always believed in the latter's ability as a leader and that despite their differences, they both want to help Gllia.
Climax Boss: The boss fight against him comes after major reveals and the story goes to its final chapter afterwards.
Cloning Gambit: His decision to take the job of arresting Adol from Belger is part of a plan to clone Adol.
Counter-Attack: He can use his own version of Flash Guard during his boss fight and if he's attacked enough in this state, he'll unleash a powerful energy field. However, the player can use Valkyrie Hammer during his guard stance to make him stumble.
Disappears into Light: This is what makes him realize that he is a clone of the real Chatelard who died eight years ago.
Expendable Clone: He has this attitude towards the Monstrums, believing them to no longer be useful for his plans.
Face Death with Dignity: Realizing that he is a clone of the real Chatelard and that the original perished along with his comrades eight years ago, he dies content that he will finally get to join them.
Flash Step: He demonstrates this in his first appearance, catching Adol off-guard and debilitating him with a chop to the neck. That he could manage this, even by surprise against Adol Christin of all people is the first clue there's something abnormal about him. He later moves quick enough to stab Aprilis before she can pull the trigger on her gun. This isn't just Cutscene Power to the Max, since he can move just as quickly in his boss battle.
The Heavy: While Zola is Big Bad, it is Chatelard's scheme to free the Gllia region that drives the plot for majority of the game.
Lightning Bruiser: He is fast enough to corner Hawk while Hawk is transformed and stab Aprilis without anyone's noticing his movements. He can also hit hard as the boss fight against him demonstrates.
Loony Fan: He respects Aprilis, White Cat, Hawk, Raging Bull, and Renegade for being clones of the war heroes of the Hundred Years' War and believes they can be used as the symbols of his revolution, but he also plans to kill the latter four and replace them with versions who agree with his plans to liberate Gllia from Romn.
Master Swordsman: He is powerful enough to take down Hawk even while Hawk is in his monstrum form. He also manages to fatally wound Aprilis (or rather her current body) right in front of the party without anyone's catching his movement.
One-Winged Angel: In his boss fight, he transforms into a blue demon with the power of alchemy.
Suicidal Overconfidence: Downplayed. He believes a clone army will be enough to stand up the the Romun military and that Balduq can handle the dual threat of the Romun retaliation and the Lemures. However, he also acknowledges the possibility of his coup failing and intentionally kept Lucien out of his plans so that the knights will have a leader to fall back on.
Survivor Guilt: Part of his motivation for wanting to liberate the Gllia region by any means comes from being the only survivor in his unit during the war against the Romun empire. At least that's what he believes.
Take Up My Sword: According to Gilbert, Chatelard attempted to transfer Lucien to Romn rather than kill him, under the reasoning that if the knights fail in their revolt, Lucien's leadership would be needed to maintain order in Balduq.
Tomato in the Mirror: The late game reveals that this Chatelard is a homunculus of the real one, who did indeed die along with his comrades eight years ago during the war against the Romun empire.
Verbal Tic: He often grades others' actions and replies on the spot, like saying Hawk's skill is 40 out of 100 after engaging in battle with him.
Walking Spoiler: It is difficult to reveal anything about him without spoiling major plot points in the story.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He wishes to free the region of Gllia from the Romun control and build a strong country. Unfortunately, he goes about it by making clones of extraordinary people across the world in order to raise an army.

The Chimeras

Chimeral Bourdon

Chimeral Roussillon

Chimeral Chard III

A trio of individuals turned into alchemic chimeras by Zola. They include Bourdon, a Gllian general from the Erdlingen War, Roussillon, the bishop who sentenced Saint Rosvita to her death, and Chard III, the king of Gllia during the Hundred Years' War.

Death Seeker: Roussillon outright begs the party to kill him, and thanks them when they do.
Was Once a Man: All three were humans who were forcibly turned into chimeras.

The Alchemist

Zola Guesclin

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ys_ix_monstrum_nox_zola.png

Voiced by: Katsunori Okai (Japanese;Adult), Tomo Muranaka (Japanese;Young), Casey Mongillo (English)

The alchemist who is the main villain of the game. He is the one who provides Chatelard with knowledge and means to create an army of clones from extraordinary people across the world. As it turns out, he has his own reasons for doing so, which go beyond liberating the Gllia region.

Affably Evil: He does care about Aprilis and the Monstrums in his own way, despite his difficulty in empathizing with them. Unlike Chatelard, he doesn't seek to kill them and orders Atra to restrain them non-lethally, since he's enacting his plan for their sakes. While he is polite in conversation, his affability has its limits and he takes sadistic pleasure in punishing those he deems evil, as shown with the three chimera bosses.
Anti-Villain: Everything he does is for the sake of Rosvita and monstrums and he genuinely wishes to prevent the Grimwald Nox from destroying Balduq. Sadly, he is willing to commit morally questionable acts in the process.
The Bad Guy Wins: He does succeed in ending the Grimwald Nox in the end with Adol's help.
Big Bad Friend: As the man behind Chatelard, he is responsible for much of the chaos in the game in pursuit of creating the ultimate homunculus. He's also Aprilis's ally from when she was Rosvita, and he believes his actions will save Aprilis and the Monstrums from endlessly fighting the Grimwald Nox.
Blue Blood: He was once a Gllian aristocrat, but sold his land and inheritance to pursue alchemy research.
Cloning Gambit: He is the Mad Scientist who is responsible for cloning the Monstrums except for Doll.
Didn't Think This Through: While it is true that Adol's memories contain godlike beings who could neutralize the threat of Grimwald Nox, Zola seems to have neglected the fact that most of those beings were threats to the entire world and were hardly controllable by human hands, which was generally the reason why Adol ended up fighting them. Sure enough, Atra, the being created from those memories, promptly goes out of control and attempts to go about his task in most destructive way possible. While he did have a failsafe against Atra going rogue, he failed to consider that Atra is simply too fast to let him pull the lever, and even when he manages to do so, the failsafe only succeeds in making Atra weaker but less physically and mentally stable.
Dramatically Missing the Point: When Zola unveils Atra, a being explicitly the result of culminating Adol and the godlike entities he's encountered, Adol can remark that it's just as he feared. Zola's response is that he's glad it meets the original's expectations, completely glancing over the "fear" mention.
Disproportionate Retribution: He forced the souls of the king who falsely accused Aprilis and the judge who presided over the trial, which he cries was Just Following Orders, into failed homunculus bodies to act as his guards. By the time the Monstrums meet them, they are already driven insane by their predicament and beg for it to end.
The Extremist Was Right: While his scheme to create the divine being from Adol's memories ends up in disaster, it is instrumental in ending Grimwald Nox permanently as benevolent entities from Adol's previous adventures, once freed from Atra, help Adol destroy Draupnir's Egg, the cause of Grimwald Nox.
Fallen Hero: He was once the second-in-command of Rosvita, who saved the kingdom of Gllia from Brittai's invasion 500 years ago.
Foil: Zola serves as this to Jabir, the main antagonist of Ys V who also happens to be an alchemist. While Zola commits morally questionable acts in pursuit of his goals, Zola does so to neutralize the threat of Grimwald Nox and save his comrades from eternal fighting. Also, most of his crueler actions are directed towards the people who richly deserve them. In contrast, Jabir commits many atrocities on citizens of Kefin just to satisfy his intellectual curiosity and seeks to conquer the world with his powers.
Godzilla Threshold: Depending on your views, you might consider Zola's actions to be a result of this threshold being crossed and therefore he is an Anti-Hero.
Heel–Face Turn: When Atra Nox Philius declares his intent to implement a Final Solution, Zola will try to help the Monstrums stop Atra.
Karma Houdini: While Aprilis is shown to be taking care of/monitoring him during the ending, he is notably the only Big Bad in the series who survives the game he appears in. Likely has to do with the fact that his goals were genuinely noble, and he did not go as extreme as other villains in the series did.
Love Makes You Evil: The main motivation behind his wish to stop Grimwald Nox at any cost is that he is sick and tired of seeing his beloved Aprilis/Rosvita getting hurt and die.
Mad Scientist: Has no problem experimenting on people if it helps him achieve his goals. Played more sympathetic than most examples of this trope in that his goals are genuinely noble.
Man Behind the Man: He used Chatelard in order to collect extraordinary people across the world.
Master of Disguise: He takes on various disguises to interact with the party throughout the game before revealing his true self.
Non-Action Big Bad: He might be the main antagonist of the game, but he's a non-combatant.
Number Two: He was Rosvita's right-hand man during the Hundred Years' War.
Pay Evil unto Evil: While he experimented on many people for his goals, some of them were unpleasant people such as the general whose cowardice allowed Romn to conquer Gllia, the priest who The Caligula forced into interrogating and burning Rosvita at the end of the Hundred Years' War, and The Caligula himself.
Really 700 Years Old: Through the use of Body Backup Drive, he was able to live on for past 500 years.
The Reliable One: Was this to Rosvita’s original group. He’s been all but forgotten by history, yet here he is 500 years later still working his way towards saving his comrades and cleaning up the mess Grimnir left behind for humanity to deal with. He does it, too.
The Unfought: He is never fought at any point throughout the game.
Villain Has a Point: When Raging Bull expresses concern in relying on a godlike being to stop Grimwald Nox, Zola asks if she would be willing to fight the Grimwald Nox for the rest of eternity.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: His goal is identical to Aprilis but unlike her, he is willing to go to any lengths to stop Grimwald Nox for good.
Yandere: While he's usually Affably Evil towards the party, he can be utterly sadistic towards those who wronged Rosvita, as shown when he transforms King Chard III and Roussilon into tortured chimeras.

The Dark One

Atra Nox Philius

^{Anima Ergastulum}