History Characters / FinalFantasyXVITheHolyEmpireOfSanbreque

For his entry, see under Clive Rosfield in [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheHideaway the Hideaway]] page.

[[center: [-[[Characters/FinalFantasyXVI Main Index]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheHideaway The Hideaway]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheGrandDuchyOfRosaria The Grand Duchy of Rosaria]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheDhalmekianRepublic The Dhalmekian Republic]] | '''The Holy Empire of Sanbreque''' | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheKingdomOfWaloed The Kingdom of Waloed]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVIEikonsAndNotableBeings Eikons and Notable Creatures/Beings]] | [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVIOtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]

* SheepInSheepsClothing: [[spoiler:He's initially presented as a KnightInShiningArmor against Clive's UnscrupulousHero, seemingly setting them up for a PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes dynamic, and Joshua believes that Dion would believe his story despite him serving TheEmpire and them having met only once years before, which may look like Joshua walking into a betrayal. But as it turns out, he is a genuinely good person to his core who disagrees the Empire's expansionist campaign and only participates to provide moral support for the people, as well as countering Odin whenever he shows up on the battlefield. The moment he realizes something is amiss, he ends up rebelling against his father and stepmother - and only fails because he [[DidntSeeThatOneComing didn't anticipate how powerful]] Ultima actually was, who then sends him into a frenzy as Bahamut.]]

* SupportingLeader: He is the effective mayor of Lostwing, and Clive's primary point of contact for any business in Sanbreque.

* MsFanservice: She wears a low cut dress with much of her cleavage showing, and is known to attract the attention of others for it.

* RoyalBrat: He is blatantly apathetic toward his responsbilities as a potential ruling sovereign. At all times he appears completely disinterested in whatever political discussions are ongoing in his vicinity, [[spoiler:even after he has been crowned Emperor]]. The only things that gain his attention are his toy soldier and his mother.

Capital: Oriflamme ([[spoiler:later Twinside, in the Crystalline Dominion]])

* FlowerMotif: The wyvern tail is Sanbreque's national flower. It has poisonous roots which are harvested to create the ink used for Bearers' brands.

* LoveRuinsTheRealm: Downplayed. It's clear from day one that the Holy Empire is on the path to ruin, with its deeply-embedded MoralMyopia leading to strategic myopia as it obsesses with throwing every other living being on Valisthea under the bus to ensure that its banner is the last flag waving on a dying continent. Despite this, it's inarguable that the corruptive influence of Emperor Sylvestre's impulsive, narcissistic second wife Annabella locked in and massively accelerated Sanbreque's downfall.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Downplayed. By the time Sylvestre appears on-screen, he's very much a villain albeit one of lesser importance in comparison to fellow antagonists such as Hugo or Barnabas. What's ambiguous is ''how'' evil he was prior to meeting and marrying Annabella Rosfield. Dion's dialogue [[spoiler:during his coup]] implies Sylvestre was TheGoodKing to Sanbreque who had its best interests in mind, albeit a WellIntentionedExtremist who was willing to betray the Rosaria dukedom, Sanbreque's ally, and install Annabella as vicereine in exchange for annexing Rosaria. When Sylvestre makes his appearance in the story proper, he's already bought into Annabella's spiel about "sovereign blood" and fully corrupted by it [[spoiler:after the second TimeSkip]].

** [[spoiler:When Dhalmekia declares war on Sanbreque for their treaty breach, he green-lights a plan from his wife Annabella to fatally split their forces by inviting the Dominant of Titan, Hugo Kupka, to launch a genocidal invasion of the militarily-irrelevant Imperial Province of Rosaria, hanging the Sanbrequois troops and citizens in the region out to dry.]]

** [[spoiler:After Dhalmekia sues for peace and stands down the army besieging Twinside, he orders Dion to break the truce and launch an attack, turning their retreat into a massacre. This one ends up being his undoing, mainly because it's a double betrayal - the ensuing battle would ravage Twinside as well, causing vast numbers of Imperial casualties that he's prepared to accept and Dion isn't. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Deciding that turnabout is fair play, Dion proceeds to launch a coup against him, Olivier and Annabella.]]]]

[[folder:The Empress]]

Tropes for the Empress [[spoiler:Anabella]] can be found at the [[Characters/FinalFantasyXVITheGrandDuchyOfRosaria Grand Duchy of Rosaria]] page.

* BullyingADragon: On the receiving end, courtesy of his father and stepmother, [[spoiler:and by Ultima's proxy, Olivier. While both Annabella and Sylvestre pay dearly for underestimating Dion (albeit unintentionally in the latter case, as Dion's [[AccidentalMurder murder of his father was accidental]]), Ultima is all too happy to take advantage of Dion's anger and drive him to lay waste to his own homeland]].

--> '''Dion''': "And what have I but regret? My life ended in the Dominion. I fear death no more."

* SonOfAWhore: It's implied his mother was a prostitute, as Annabella taunts him that she was a "whore who weighed her child's worth in gil".

** [[spoiler:He's the only one in Sanbreque’s royal family to possess anything resembling a conscience and be a genuinely well-meaning man. This is in strong contrast to his father and stepmother, who turn out to be thoroughly loathsome egomaniacs despite paying lip-service to the good of the people, and are responsible for some of the most horrific atrocities in the storyline. He himself turns on them when it becomes clear that Annabella hates him and wants to cast him aside in favor of Olivier, and he's also the only one who catches on to Ultima's manipulations, which both his parental figures completely fell for.]]

* AChildShallLeadThem: Thanks to his mother, [[spoiler:his father names him as the Emperor and abdicates the throne. Deconstructed, as it's obvious he's in no position to be a leader and she only wants him to be Emperor to act as her puppet]].

* HateSink: They turn out to be one of the most loathsome factions Clive faces off against, with nearly every scene they're in involving them committing horrific atrocities against largely defenseless Bearers. Their cruelty is matched only by their borderline delusional levels of self-righteousness, as they genuinely seem to believe that carrying out these "dark deeds" is essential to bring about a new dawn for Rosaria. Unlike Annabella, who they work for, there is absolutely ''nothing'' humanizing or redeemable shown about these people, and you're encouraged to slaughter them to your heart's content. [[spoiler:In fact, they continue to be an odious presence even after Annabella's death, as a late-game sidequest reveals that their remnants simply went to work for the former Supreme Justice of Sanbreque, who did [[SarcasmMode such wonderful things]] like hunting Bearers for sport and having a colleague's entire family killed when he dared to take him to task over this.]]

** The flower is used as a symbol of Dion's love and duty to the empire. [[spoiler:When Dion loses control as Bahamut and tries to attack the heart of Drake's Tail, the heart absorbs part of his subconsciousness in defense and the Mothercrystal blossoms into a wyvern tail to manipulate Dion into protecting the Mothercrystal instead of destroying it.]]

* FlowerMotif: The wyvern tail is Sanbreque's national flower.

** It has poisonous roots which are harvested to create the ink used for Bearers' brands.

** Its roots are harvested to create the poisonous ink used for Bearers' brands.

** The flower is used as a symbol of Dion's love and duty to the empire. [[spoiler:When Dion loses control as Bahamut and tries to destroy the heart of Drake's Tail, the heart absorbs part of his subconsciousness in defense and the Mothercrystal blossoms into a wyvern tail to prevent him from attacking it any further.]]

** The flower is used as a symbol of Dion's love and duty to the empire. [[spoiler:When Dion loses control as Bahamut and tries to destroy the heart of the Drake's Tail, the heart absorbs part of his subconsciousness in defense and the Mothercrystal blossoms into a wyvern tail to prevent him from attacking it any further.]]

* FlowerMotif: The white wyvern tail is Sanbreque's national flower. Its admiration by Dion is symbolic of his love for the empire and its people. It is later learned that its roots are also harvested to create the poisonous ink used for Bearers' brands.

!!!'''Voiced by:'''

* FactionMotto: "To dwell in darkness that we may purge the night and welcome lasting dawn. One these, our swords we swear."

* TokenGoodTeammate: [[spoiler:He's the only one in Sanbreque’s royal family to possess anything resembling a conscience and be a genuinely well-meaning man. This is in strong contrast to his father and stepmother, who turn out to be thoroughly loathsome egomaniacs despite paying lip-service to the good of the people, and are responsible for some of the most horrific atrocities in the storyline. He himself turns on them when it becomes clear that Annabella hates him and wants to cast him aside in favor of Olivier, and he's also the only one who catches on to Ultima's manipulations, which both his parental figures completely fell for.]]

* MirrorChacter: To Jill, being a [[ChildhoodFriendRomance lover from childhood]] of a Dominant (in his case, Dion) and acts as the NumberTwo.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: From Japanese in-game text and info from Dion's English voice actor, Terence was a minor noble who was a squire and childhood friend to Dion. They became separated by rank until Terence worked his up the chain of command to rejoin his side.

* ChildhoodFriendRomance: From Japanese text and info from Dion's English voice actor, Terence was a minor noble who was a squire and childhood friend to Dion. They became separated by rank until Terence worked his up the chain of command to rejoin his side.