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"Absolutely do not die."note 

Magna Carta 2 is a South Korean RPG video game. It is the sequel to Magna Carta: The Phantom of Avalanche and Tears of Blood.

Juto is your typical amnesiac Idiot Hero, carefree and without purpose in life. He spends his days lazing around his home of Highwind Island being prodded by his guardian Melissa and trying to overcome a crippling aversion to swords. His peaceful days come to an end when a war between two armies vying for control of the throne of Lanzheim crashes onto the shores of his home.

About a year prior, Former Prime Minister Schuenzeit has assassinated the queen and seized the throne for himself. Princess Rzephillda—the late queen's last surviving heir—raises an army to oppose him, to find themselves out-gunned by the powerful Sentinel weapons deployed by Schuenzeit's "Northern Forces". Seeking the secrets to Sentinel creation, Rzephillda's "Southern Forces" follow a tip-off that leads them to Highwind Island. When the Northern Forces, led by a notorious assassin called "Elgar the Regicide", catch up to them, the island is plunged into conflict and Juto is swept into the war.


This game provides examples of:

  • Action Girl: Rue and Melissa are the best examples, although Zephie is certainly take-charge.
  • Action RPG
  • All There in the Manual: The last-names of the main cast, including Rue's full name (Siara Rue Tessia), are all in the artbook. Zephie and Crocell have their last names (Berlinette and Redeen, respectively) mentioned in-game. A more extreme example exists in the "short novels", which explore the backstories of the characters but were available in the Korean and Japanese websites for Magna Carta 2.
  • Ambiguous Syntax: Likely a result of localization, but in the English version, Schuenzeit orders Juto with the sentence "First! I believe I gave you an order." It sounds like he's saying something like "First thing's first", but it's not until the party meets Nix (Juto's creator) that they realize that Schuenzeit was addressing "First Elgar", the first humanoid Sentinel under Schuenzeit's control.
  • Ambiguously Human: Huaren, who may or may not be just an old man in a mutated battle suit.
  • Amnesiac Dissonance: Juto starts out in the game as a fairly carefree and lazy kid, but still capable of defending himself with a wooden sword. It's a farcry from his time as Elgar the Regicide, Schuenzeit's unquestioning servant.
  • An Ice Person: Celestine is a water wizard, which extends to ice-based attacks, and a nice person.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: Late in the game, it turns out that the current Lanzheim Civil War is part of a cycle of perpetuated war to harvest Kan for La Strada, as a means of keeping Lanzheim a "bountiful paradise". The current war shares similarities with two previous wars (one from 150 years ago, another from 300 years ago), despite the aggressors in each of the three wars—Taats, Srats, and Schuenzeit—being seemingly unrelated. As it turns out, all three aggressors are in fact duplicates of Strass, who started this cycle and eradicated the original Carta to do it.
  • Anger Born of Worry: After she takes a Sentinel attack that leaves her paralyzed, Juto, having seen Zephie constantly risking her life for others, finally yells at her for not taking care of herself and to stop apologizing for things that aren't her fault. Zephie is stunned that someone other than Rue got so mad at her, that she can laugh in response.
  • Animals Hate Him: Juto, in the third DLC Live Drama. Must have something to do with having once been Elgar, huh?
  • Arc Words: "Absolutely do not die."
  • Arranged Marriage: Count Alex agreed to an alliance with Zephie, in exchange for marrying her. As...the Queen's husband. Schuenzeit scoffs at Alex's lack of ambition in that agreement, declaring that Alex himself should be Lanzheim's king, something that Alex never considered.
  • Artificial Human: Late in the game, Juto and Elgar are revealed to be "humanoid Sentinels"—essentially, weapons with the intelligence and finesse that the usual beast-like Sentinels lack. Schuenzeit is similar, being a duplicate of Strass.
  • Artificial Stupidity: The AI-controlled characters seem to have a big problem walking around obstacles in narrow areas. This becomes very problematic if the lead character encounters enemies and the teammates can't catch up to provide support.
  • As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Several names are noticeably German- or Germanic-sounding, such as Big Bad Schuenzeit and the game's setting being a peninsula called Lanzheim.
  • The Atoner: Zephie and Argo possess some traits of this for failing what was important to them (for Zephie, losing her mother Queen Ibrin; for Argo, failing his homeland of Bluemoon Trewa).
    • Juto becomes one for his past life as Elgar the Regicide.
    • Juto's creator, Nix, becomes a more active one after the group frees him from the Sentinel Laboratories, helping the group find Zephie and later stabilizing an injured Juto.
  • Band of Brothers: The Counter-Sentinel Unit.
  • Beard of Evil: Schuenzeit. Oh, and Alex.
  • Big Bad: Schuenzeit Baren, who assassinated Queen Ibrin and took the throne for himself. He is in truth a duplicate of Strauss. Counting his previous duplications as Taats and Srats, this marks his third time using duplicates of himself to start a war to fulfill his goals.
  • Black-and-Gray Morality: The Northern Forces are an army that see fit to employ monster weapons on both enemy soldiers and civilians. But the Southern Forces are hardly a faction of saints: Zephie had to form an alliance with Count Alex to rally nobles and retired soldiers to her cause, and a lot of them aren't exactly fighting the Northern Forces without expecting something out of it. Count Alex ultimately helped Zephie on one condition: that she would marry Alex after the war ended.
    • On a military angle, some generals in the Southern Forces have considered fighting fire with fire by creating their own Sentinal weapons, especially in frustration with the Counter-Sentinel Unit failing to achieve favorable results. Zephie uses their discovery of the true nature of Sentinel manufacturing to completely shut this pursuit down.
  • Book Ends: The game's first boss is a Guardian, a weapon from the Great Carta War era. The Final Boss is Strass, the Fallen Hero of the same war. Both are destroyed by Juto.
  • Bribing Your Way to Victory: The DLC weapons (price: 400MS) are the most powerful weapons in the game, and you can equip them almost immediately. Worse still, they're required if you're trying to get all the achievements, including the ones for collecting every single weapon.
  • Bridal Carry: Subverted Trope. When Juto stops the ritual that would have killed Zephie per Schuenzeit's plan, Zephie floats down into Juto's arms. But Zephie pushes herself away from him, still upset by the revelation that he was the Elgar who landed a fatal blow upon her and that the Heroic Sacrifice was stopped.
  • Broken Bird: Zephie certainly qualifies. Seeing her mother murdered before her eyes, then being imprisoned by the man responsible, left her with deep emotional scars and the need to hide them.
  • Broken Pedestal: Strass' legend takes a blow after the Southern Forces take Dunan Hill and Darkblade Fortress, which holds several bodies being used as Sentinel materials. This leads Zephie to consider that the Guardians—Strass' weapons—were made the same way. The pedestal is eventually destroyed in the late game, with Melissa learning the Awful Truth behind the Great Carta War and her sharing that knowledge with the fugitive Counter-Sentinel Unit: Strass slaughtered the Carta, absorbed their Kan, and used La Strada to saturate the land with it, making himself out to be a hero.
  • Cat Folk: Minor case with the Nekoneko and their villainous Nekojack counterparts.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The Tomb of Strass, a chamber that branches off from the Undersea Tunnel. The Counter-Sentinel Unit comes across it while opening the Abazet end for the Southern army. The group returns there during the Fugitive Arc, as it doubles as a library of ancient records by the Mare. Records that reveal to the group some very strange similarities between every major war that was mentioned throughout the game...
  • Cool Mask: Elgar. It's broken once during the prologue after impaling Zephie, but the camera doesn't directly reveal what he really looks like.
  • Costume Porn: About every other outfit is ultra-fancy. Considering who the artist of the game is, it's no surprise.
  • Crapsack World: The peninsula of Lanzheim is both this and Crapsaccharine World. It's certainly not without breathtaking sights, and the land is so invigorating to plant life that seeds that get planted sprout and grow fruit much faster than normal. But there is the Lanzheim Civil War going on at present, which has engulfed the land. As it turns out, Lanzheim's status as a "paradise" is directly in part to the wars waged on it by a higher power...
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Rather than being phenomena that can drain people's Kan out to death (which they don't), the Doomseeds turn out to be just nature returning to its pre-La Strada-enriched "paradise" state. However, it is also revealed that Schuenzeit/Strass can control them at will.
  • Design Student's Orgasm: Although it seems to favour jack-o-lanterns, bowling pins and compasses over butterflies and stars.
  • Doomed Hometown: Highwind Island, Juto's home for the past year, is lost to the Northern Forces, forcing Zephie, Argo and Juto to escape to Abazet. Subverted Trope: The Northern Forces leave the island village standing, and the Southern Forces eventually retake the island, though not before some of the villagers were taken away to be made into another Sentinel.
  • The Dragon: Both Elgar and Claire share this role to Schuenzeit.
  • Everyone Has Standards: Nix had initially participated in Sentinel research under Schuenzeit's army for money. However, when he learned just how twisted Sentinel technology really is, Nix decided to discontinue his work. Naturally, Schuenzeit forced Nix to continue, creating several vessels for Elgar before being locked up in the Sentinel Laboratories in the present, where Juto and company find him.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Raud becomes an Anti-Villain version. His investigation into Alex and learning of his connection to Schuenzeit positions him as a steadfast ally to the Counter-Sentinel Unit, but a confrontation with Alex leaves him to decide on stopping the cycle the next time around, as he believes too many people have died now to end the cycle this time.
  • Fallen Hero: Strass. He committed genocide on the Carta race, used their kan to power his kamond—and La Strada—and rewrote the history books to make himself the selfless hero. When this supply of kan ran low, he created a duplicate of himself named Taats and started a war so that he could gather more kan. Victorious, he did the same thing again 150 years later as Srats, and another 150 years after that as Schuenzeit.
  • Fiery Redhead: Crocell and Melissa both have magenta hair, and have the personality to a tee. Moreso for Crocell, who uses lots of actual fire.
  • Fighting Your Friend: Juto becomes the subject of this twice, once by Schuenzeit and once in his mind. Juto also joins a battle against his past selves.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The Counter-Sentinel Unit, when Juto first joins. Juto is the Phlegmatic, Crocell is the Choleric, Celestine is the Sanguine, Argo is the Melancholic, and Zephie is the Leukine (except when Alex annoys her). Rue, meanwhile, tries not to show any emotion.
  • Flat Character: Rue. She shows little to no emotion throughout the entire game, is a Satellite Character for Zephie (being both her bodyguard and a spy), and has no backstory or any mention of a family.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Juto has an aversion to swords that he can't overcome. This was born from the same fight that caused his memory loss, for inadvertently violating his one absolute order from Schuenzeit.
    • After returning from liberating Highwind Island, Juto has a dream of himself fighting Zephie. This seems to foreshadow his original nature.
  • Fugitive Arc: The Counter-Sentinel Unit winds up on the run from both the Northern and Southern Forces after Schuenzeit fools most of the continent.
  • Funny Animal: The Avis, a flightless-bird people with a knack for engineering.
  • Game-Breaking Bug: It's possible for an AI-controller character to get knocked off the cliff in Ruhalt Plateau and said character will not respawn properly until leaving the region or loading the save file. God help you if it happens to a character when you're fighting Alex.
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: After rescuing Zephie from Schuenzeit, Juto starts taking constant damage during the group's escape from Belfort, forcing the player to heal him regularly should he be active at this time. As it is revealed later, this is the result of Juto disobeying Schuenzeit's orders to stop, leading to his Kamond on the verge of breaking.
  • Glass Cannon: Crocell has a ridiculous level of offensive ability, especially if you use his Knuckle style. This is off-set by his low defense and HP.
  • Going Through the Motions: Characters gesture with their arms while they speak. This would work as a means of making the characters appear more animated, except there's about four different animations. One scene in particular turns to Narm because of this: the impact of a powerful and sinister speech to a gathered crowd is undercut by the fact that it looks like the speaker is juggling invisible apples for five straight minutes.
  • Gratuitous Italian: La Strada translates to "the road" or "the street" in Italian, which is odd for a flying warship. It's entirely possible that it got its name from Strass's own name or vice versa, since they sound similar.
  • Green Aesop
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Schuenzeit, the citizens of Belfort—almost everyone tries to get Zephie to do one to save their world (read: their way of life in a "false paradise"). Even she becomes convinced that this is the way. Luckily, Juto manages to talk her out of it.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Your party gets this treatment after Schuenzeit convinces the populous that sacrificing Zephie to La Strada is the way to stave off destruction, effectively leaving the Mare as your real allies. The effect remains after you take down La Strada, though not as bad by the time three years have passed, as the people have noticed that, despite Schuenzeit's claims, they are still very much alive.
  • Hidden Elf Village: Cota Mare. Subverted in that while everyone knows about it, very few people actually go there since the Mare are wary of other races. And by wary, we mean that the welcoming party may include spears and paralysing incense.
  • Honor Before Reason: Zephie's wish to liberate Highwind Island from the Northern Forces because she made a promise. Alex, for his cold dismissal of the issue, does the smart thing in at least delaying any move to retake a location of no strategic importance.
  • Hostage Situation: Happens to the Mare by a group of imposter Southern Forces soldiers, led by one of Argo's former fellow tribesmen. This misunderstanding leads to the Mare paralyzing the Counter-Sentinel Unit in retaliation. Argo and Crocell convince Celestine to let most of them go in order to save the captive Mare, with Zephie remaining behind in Cota Mare as insurance.
  • Human Resources: This is how Sentinels are made. Taken up to eleven in regards to La Strada: the wars that Strass instigates, and the resulting slaughter, leave behind the life force needed to power La Strada, which in turn keeps Lanzheim prosperous.
  • Impoverished Patrician: Crocell was a member of the Reeden family, minor nobles who specialize in fire wizardry. Schuenzeit's purge of the nobility took all of that away from him. Oddly, Crocell never makes a big deal out of his own nobility to others, and seems perfectly fine with fighting alongside Zephie as a soldier in the Counter-Sentinel Unit (though he does wonder why they keep getting menial missions at times).
  • Improbable Weapon User: Celestine uses bottles of incense to fight with in her "Aroma sprayer" fighting style.
    • Zephie uses a fan. No, not a battle fan like Kitana. We mean a giant fan on a long stick, which Zephie fires wind magic from.
  • Inferiority Superiority Complex: Elgar bears some nasty resentment toward Juto for being First Elgar. "If it weren't for you, I would have been First."
  • Internal Homage: Juto's new appearance after Zephie becomes his Master shares traits with previous Magna Carta protagonist Calintz.
  • Interspecies Romance: Celestine and Argo. Mostly one-sided on Celestine's part.
    • Celestine's mother and father were in one, surprisingly, with the latter being a human merc named Vaizen "the Silver".
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: For the first half of the game, Juto has his sights set on Elgar, for his role in Highwind Island being captured by the Northern Forces and especially for strangling Melissa to death. After a few revelations, Juto does fight and finally defeat Elgar—not to avenge Melissa, but to save Zephie from Schuenzeit's plans.
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: With help from his creator Nix, Zephie and Rue embark on one to save Juto, freeing him from Schuenzeit's control in the process.
  • Kill It with Fire: Crocell.
  • Lethal Chef: Zephie. Her cooking's so bad, everybody in the Unit has to prepare a cover story when it's her turn to cook for them.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Rue. Literally.
  • Like a Son to Me:
    • Inverted with Elgar. Second Elgar sees Schuenzeit as a father, even though the man himself sees Elgar as nothing more than his tool.
    • Played Straight with Nix, who sees himself as something of Juto's father for creating him.
    • Another inverted case in online extra material: due to her father's death early in her life, Zephie once saw Schuenzeit as a father figure. This made his assassination of her mother Queen Ibrin that much more shocking for her.
  • Living MacGuffin: The Magna Carta is a person with Carta lineage granting them a Kamond that can potentially store vast amounts of Kan—exceeding the already high (but fixed) capacities that the Carta were capable of. Strass was said to be one, for being able to release the Kan stored within him across Lanzheim. Zephie is this generation's Magna Carta, whom Schuenzeit sought to prepare for the coming sacrifice via the Lanzheim Civil War.
  • Love at First Sight: Celestine, for Argo. Note that Argo is a massive Dragon/Hawk-man. Argo, for his part, tries to let her down gently, but resorts to saying nothing. The epilogue implies that Argo and Celestine are together, on account of her cooking meals for him everyday.
    • Celestine later elaborates that Love at First Sight is common for Mare, due to their lifespans being half that of other races, so they can tell right away if someone is the person they are destined to love.
  • Love Freak: Celestine.
  • Low Fantasy: Despite the existence of wizardry via Kan, it is not capable of feats such as teleportation, which would have to be done with purpose-made devices. To reach La Strada, the party must use a teleportation device located in Ruhalt, which is controlled by the United Forces.
  • Malaproper: Celestine, in the third DLC Live Drama.
  • Mad Scientist: Huaren is one of the people who create the Northern Forces' Sentinel weapons, and he takes great pleasure in it.
  • Magic A Is Magic A: In Lanzheim, the term wizardry is used to cover people harnessing the Kan in the world for practical uses, usually for battle. That said, human wizardry's potency today does not match its capabilities from before the Great Carta War.
  • Male Gaze: The second shot we get of Celestine in her intro cutscene is of her boobs.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Celestine has shades of this.
  • Marked Change: Juto, when he taps into his Sentinel powers.
  • Meaningful Name: In-Universe. Juto's name comes from a hardy weed native to Highwind Island, known for its propensity of "spring[ing] back [to life] no matter what". At first, it seems to reflect his stubborn nature. By the end of the game, Juto proves that not is he Defiant to the End against Schuenzeit, it's hinted that he's recovering in the events of The Stinger.
  • Meido: Downplayed example with Crocell's servant Marith (pronounced MAHR-reath). Though her outfit isn't that different from the generic Belfort residents, she served the Reeden family until Elgar killed them on Schuenzeit's orders. She is still devoted to the Reeden family, having sought out Crocell to pass on a family heirloom. She even seeks out Crocell to help him however she can while he and the others are declared enemies of Lanzheim.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Nix had this when he'd learned of First Elgar's ostensible "demise", but is relieved when he reunites with Juto.
  • The Napoleon: Crocell, although his in-game model never really shows it aside of him being a tad shorter than Juto. Juto and Celestine see it, though, and often take turns needling him over it.
  • No Endor Holocaust: There's no exposition on whether La Strada's fall onto Lanzheim killed anyone on the surface at the point of impact.
  • Obviously Evil: Alex. And he doesn't hide it for even a moment once Zephie's back is turned.
  • Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: Inverted. In the epilogue, Zephie, Rue, Argo, Celestine and Crocell seem to be doing just fine in a post-La Strada Lanzheim. The one exception seems to be Juto, who remained with La Strada as it fell to earth. Though The Stinger potentially averts this trope.
  • Our Elves Are Different: The Mare, who are basically elves with crystal antlers. They live half as long as normal humans (the average Mare lifespan is 40 years), but are all incredibly beautiful and have awesome magical powers. And, of course, they tend to shun people who would bring war to their doorstep.
  • Older Than They Look: Rue.
  • Parental Abandonment: Not one member of your party has a known living parent. Juto was created in a lab; Zephie's mother Queen Ibrin was killed by Schuenzeit (no mention of her father); Crocell's family were killed in the purges carried out by Elgar; and Celestine's mother died when she was a baby, while her father was captured by the Northern Forces and turned into a crazed Sentinel (though she does get to meet his ghost). Argo and Rue's parents are never mentioned, though are almost certainly no longer around.
    • The sole exception to this is Juto/First Elgar and his creator, Nix, who the group meets and rescues by chance. Conversely, Second Elgar regarded Schuenzeit as a father to him, even though he sees Elgar as his tool.
  • Paint It Black: Two races have evil counterparts that are identical, except they include black in their color schemes: the Nekojack for the Nekoneko, and the Blackhorn Trewa to the Bluemoon Trewa.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Princess Rzephillda of course wears one, but the other girls wear some fancy outfits.
  • Power Glows: Juto, when he taps into his Sentinel powers. It reaches its apex when he uses Celestial Crusher, his ultimate attack.
  • Professor Guinea Pig: Presumably why Huaren appears as a mutated old man or a man in a mutated suit of some kind.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Argo, a former Trewa chieftain. Although most other Trewa you meet hate his guts, either for letting his Bluemoon village get sacked, or because he's a Bluemoon working with the Southern Forces.
  • The Reveal: Juto is Elgar—the Elgar who inadvertently almost killed Zephie, thereby violating Schuenzeit's absolute order to keep her alive. The group takes some time dwelling on this fact until they finally decide to prioritize Zephie's rescue.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Elgar the Regicide is probably the most obvious example. The Northern Forces, to a lesser extent.
  • Redemption Equals Death: A mild inversion. Melissa realizes that Schuenzeit and the Northern Forces are actually in the wrong, and switches sides, even fighting alongside the party for a short time. However, Schuenzeit's Dragon, Claire sets off a fail-deadly she planted with Melissa, turning her into a monster. So while the act of redemption doesn't lead directly to her death, Claire made sure it would happen that way anyway.
  • Revenge: Juto's initial motivation is to fight Elgar for killing Melissa. Zephie convinces him to join the Southern Forces to that aim, as him going after the Regicide on his own would be tantamount to suicide. The aim is knocked out of Juto's grasp when he encounters Melissa, very much alive...as a commander in the Northern Forces.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Zephie not fights on the front line, but as a part of the "Counter-Sentinel Unit" she formed to take down the weapons that are destroying entire armies. This goes against the wishes of a lot of nobles in the Southern Forces, who are understandably concerned about what would happen if their claim to the throne died in action. Unsurprisingly, Zephie's actions can leave Rue exasperated.
  • Sequel Number Snarl: Despite being suffixed with the number 2, Magna Carta 2 is in fact the third game in the series, with the PC-based Phantom of Avalanche being the first and the PlayStation 2-based Tears of Blood the second.
  • Shipper on Deck: On top of her rather one-sided infatuation with Argo, Celestine seems quite eager to see Juto and Zephie together, and is disappointed when they don't take the opportunity to affirm such things.
  • Showgirl Skirt: Celestine's outfit has a short skirt that wraps halfway behind the waist.
  • Smug Snake: Alex doesn't even try to hide how slimy he is. That said, it's a big surprise to the crew when they find out he's in cahoots with Schuenzeit.
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: Elgar, naturally. Specifically, Second Elgar. He deliberately choked Melissa in front of Juto during the Battle of Highwind Island to show him how powerless he was. First Elgar, however, displayed no such sadistic behavior.
  • Stripperiffic: Even in this game, Melissa wins the prize. Her first outfit is essentially just a bra and mini-skirt. Her second outfit is a Chainmail Bikini with a skirt that barely covers her crotch.
  • Super Prototype: Juto, a.k.a. First Elgar.
  • The Stinger: Zephie is seens running all the way to the remains of La Strada, with her right hand glowing. It is implied that over the last three years since La Strada's fall, Juto has been slowly recovering thanks to his Master, Zephie, the Magna Carta and thus one of the possible few to still possess wizardry. We hear Juto saying Zephie's name, and Zephie, stopping, looks up from her hand and gives a tender smile, saying to him, "Good morning."
  • The Stoic: Rue. Though she's largely changed by the ending. She even manages to crack a joke, which surprises Celestine.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: Juto, but when he taps into his Sentinel powers.
  • Tagline: The Japanese version touts the tagline "愛と憎しみのRPG" (lit. "an RPG of love and hatred").
  • Terminally Dependent Society: Lanzheim is dependant on La Strada, which provides the world with so much magical energy that they haven't needed to farm food for over one thousand years. Three years after its destruction, people are getting on just fine with traditional farming methods, though not without complaint.
  • The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: La Strada, complete with trippy purple "sky" and HR Giger-esque architecture.
  • This Is My Story: Juto narrates the entire story. His narration is horribly melodramatic.
  • Time Skip: The ending is set three years after slaying the final boss.
  • Tragic Monster: Melissa, Vaizen the Silver (Celestine's dad), and the Sentinels in general.
  • Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Juto underwent this before the story started. But it wasn't caused by the trauma of war: rather, it was a breakdown of his mental systems caused when he accidentally violated the primary directive given to him by Schuenzeit.
  • 20 Bear Asses: A large portion of the side quests follow this formula.
  • Villains Never Lie: Everyone in Lanzheim has a serious case of gullibility. Even your own party members.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: Several of the later bosses are capable of killing you in a few combos, though Belial is likely the first one that will give you trouble, as it spams heal when low on life, and the way to finish it is to skill rush him (provided you've been upgrading them), or equip the DLC weapons.
  • We Have Become Complacent: After 1,000 years of not having to farm, no doubt the populace is concerned about its survival when the prospect of working for its food is brought up.
  • We Have Reserves: In the Sentinel Laboratories, the group with Nix comes across a chamber lined with several dormant Elgar vessels, which explains the existence of Second Elgar after the disappearance of First Elgar/Juto. Nix promises to destroy the chamber's research data to prevent the remaining vessels from being used to make more Elgars, thus making this a Subverted Trope.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist:
    • Schuenzeit a.k.a. Strass and his cronies want to keep Lanzheim prosperous, but seem to have no problem with committing countless atrocities to keep it that way.
    • Raud becomes one at the end of the game after his reluctant betrayal. He believes that sacrificing Zephie to La Strada is wrong and the cycle should be broken. However, too many people have died for the cycle to end now. His intention is to sacrifice Zephie, and break the cycle the next time around, with no war.
  • Wham Shot:
    • When the Counter-Sentinel Unit first arrives at Darkblade Fortress, they find none other than Schuenzeit waiting for them...as well as Melissa, who is alive and well and sporting a Northern Forces outfit. Juto is stunned not just by Melissa being alive, but also now being his enemy.
    • Shortly afterward, the group investigates the Darkblade Fortress interior, where they find large machines holding several dead bodies as building material for Sentinels. Argo in particular finds two of his own tribesmen among the bodies.
    • When the Counter-Sentinel Unit returns to Darkblade Fortress, Elgar and Schuenzeit appear to snatch Zephie. Elgar then takes off his mask...to reveal Juto's face underneath it.
    • Delving into the Sentinel Laboratories with Nix leads the group into a chamber full of prepared Elgar vessels. Nix promises to destroy the chamber's contents and ensure that a "Third Elgar" can never be created, not even by accident.
  • Worthy Opponent: Crocell considers General Zerglone one at first, being a nobleman who fights on the front lines with his troops similar to Zephie. After he meets him though, that illusion is dispelled and Crocell wants to roast him alive.
  • Your Soul Is Mine!: One of Zephie's abilities is Soul Extraction. Three guesses what happens to her target.
  • Younger Than They Look: Celestine is 12 years old. The reason she looks more like a young woman is due to the fact that Mare mature faster, on account of their short 40-year lifespans.

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