Characters / A Song of Light and Dark

The character page for The Song Series.

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Anakin Skywalker

Anakin Skywalker, the White Dragoon, Champion of Dragonkin and Herald of Hraesvelgr

The man who would become Darth Vader. Alas, an expedition in the Elysian Eclipse set him on a different path when the Great Wyrm Hraesvelgr gave him his blood to save his life. Anakin is now a Dragoon, and his friendship with Ysayle, Urianger, Durathror and Aurelius have cemented his commitment to Hydaelyn and Dravania.

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• Animal Battle Aura: When channeling Dragonfrost Drive, Anakin is surrounded by an aura of ice and light in the shape of Hraesvelgr, similar to the Dragoon's Limit Break Dragonsong Dive. The aura becomes Midgardsormr when using the upgraded version, Heavens' Fall.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Once Nidhogg is neutralized and his eyes split between Vrtra and Hraesvelgr, the White Wyrm decides to bestow his remaining eye to Anakin and names him his Herald, to act as his proxy across Eorzea. This makes Anakin the second most powerful person in Dravania, short of Hraesvelgr and equal to Ysayle in her role as the White Wyrm's Voice.
• The Baby of the Bunch: From the way Raubahn and Merlwyb tell Tristan about him, one gets the feeling this is how the Grand Company leaders regard Anakin. Even though he is skilled, Raubahn still calls him Lad and pokes fun at his youth, while Merlwyb regards him with motherly fondness.
• Benevolent Boss: Grows into this. At one point, knowing he is asking a lot from Claw Division, he decides to check the Grand Company's finances to give them all a raise. He also tells Tristan this is his duty as the Grand Company's leader to ensure his men's wellbeing, be it by giving them proper salaries, vacations and gear. He outfits Tristan with a full set of titanium equipment for his delivery mission, something Tristan appeaciates.
• Big Damn Heroes: Jumps on the gargoyle and finishes it during the fight between Tristan, Haurchefant, Urianger and the hooded man. He also shields the civilians from Ifrit's flames with his Force Shield.
• Combat Pragmatist: When it comes to battles, Anakin turns to be this. Ishgard brings siege weapons ? Falcon's Nest is protected by Deflector Shields and he has Wing Division unleash Death from Above on the machines. The army is sending wave after wave of Red Shirt ? Every ilm of the area before the fortress is Booby Trapped. Ishgard is expecting Death from Above? Give their mages and archers a bigger target, ''then'' have Wing Division drop on them. Aymeric calls him unorthodox and "fiendishly-efficient".
• Cower Power: When Hraesvelgr becomes well and truly wrathful, Anakin usually bolts behind Aurelius.
• Cuteness Proximity: Anakin finds the Moogles adorable.
• Dragon Rider: Anakin partners with a dragon descended from Ratatoskr, Durathror. Hraesvelgr mentions Durathror had wanted to find a rider for a long time, but it was high-impossible with the Dragonsong War.
• Dramatic Unmask: After defeating Estinien, Anakin removes his helmet before the combatants of Ishgard and the Eorzean Alliance, revealing in the process the face of the man the Ishgardians see as The Dreaded.
• Emergency Transformation: When Hraesvelgr gave his blood to Anakin, it adjusted his anatomy to make him more resilient to the world's greater amounts of ambiant aether.
• Emotional Powers: Anakin develops a way to channel his emotions through aether to cast spells, with different emotions generating bursts of different elements.
  • Fear is ice.
  • Anger is fire.
  • Anguish is lightning.
  • Sorrow is water.
  • Obstinacy is earth.
  • Stress is wind.
• Eye Scream: Anakin's fight with Paulecrain ends when he accidentally takes the Heavens' Ward remaining eye, effectively putting him out of the fight.
• Good Wears White: With his approval, H'naanza repaints Anakin's armor from the traditional purple to a pristine white to match Hraesvelgr - and for camouflage in clouds and snow.
• Goomba Stomp: Anakin stomps twice on King Thordan's head during their fight. The first time, it simply hurts. The second, he is using his true Limit Break, Heavens' Fall, and the blow turns into a Shockwave Stomp that finally kills the Primal. He later uses the move to deal a lethal blow to Ifrit.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: As the Herald of the Dragon's Eye, Anakin is one of the Big Good of the Eorzean Alliance. Tristan describes him as having shoulder-long golden curls.
• Hero Does Public Service: While his spear's pole is being crafted, Anakin spends his time helping in Limsa Lominsa's reconstruction. Merlwyb appreciates.
• I Choose to Stay: Being The Leader of the Dragon's Eye means Anakin is already closely tied to Dravania and Hydaelyn. But, after Aurelius, Urianger, Durathror and Ysayle undo his corruption by The Dark Side during their exploration of Mhach, he makes the vow to never return to the Jedi Order.
• Important Haircut: After becoming The Leader of the Dragon's Eye, Anakin requests Aurelius to cut his padawan braid, something the Garlean obliges with. This marks the point where Anakin fully puts the Jedi Order behind and cements his loyalty toward Hraesvelgr and Dravania.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Anakin's trademark weapon becomes a spear made of his own lightsaber mounted on a metal pole, which he can use either as a spear or as a sword-and-club. His lightsaber is later upgraded with a shard of Hydaelyn after the original kyber crystal dissolves.
• The Mentor: Promises to become this to Tristan once his mastery of the spear is good-enough to let him become a Dragoon. Both look forward to it.
• Mundane Utility: Uses his telepathy to broadcast Tristan's thoughts, thus bypassing his mutism.
• Named Weapons: After upgrading it with Hydaelyn's shard and following Raubahn's suggestion, Anakin names his lightspear Brightsong, because it is a Laser Blade who emits a melodious chime rather than the classical hum. Anakin notes that the trope is generally Averted by Jedi to avoid getting attached to their lightsaber.
• Power Incontinence: Using thelepathy while Tristan has an Echo flashback accidentally causes everyone in the room to see the vision.
• Seers: Like every Jedi, Anakin is able to see the future to an extent, notabl through Combat Clairvoyance. However, actively attempting to see the future yields nothing, forcing him to rely on more traditional ways to forearm.
• Sensory Overload: The Empath version. Being a Force user, Anakin is naturally sensitive to emotions and aether. Unfortunately, Mhach is the birthplace of Black Magic and was devastated by The Great Flood of the Calamity of Water, meaning it is full of the lingering negative emotions of the people who died there. The combination of the two overwhelm Anakin's mental defenses... and cause him to Fall to The Dark Side at mach speed. Fortunately, his friends manage to drag him back.
• Songs of Solace: Anakin has a particular fondness for the song Fear Not This Night and often hums it. His friends exploit it through The Power Of Music to undo his Fall during their exploration of Mhach.
• Take Up My Sword: At the request of Bellerophon, who is currently residing in The Lifestream waiting for Reincarnation, Anakin takes the Fire Crystal of Light to become one of Hydaelyn's Chosen One and join Tristan-Helios's True Companions.
• Tempting Fate: Anakin really shouldn't have told Obi-Wan "Don’t worry, Master. I will be fine." before crossing the Elysian Eclipse. He ended suffering from near-lethal aether fever and would have crashed without Hraesvelgr's intervention.
• Tenor Boy: Once his voice is done breaking, Anakin turns to have a rich, crooning tenor which complements Ysayle's deep voice. A lot of people, Aurelius included, find it very pleasant to listen to.
• The World Is Just Awesome: The first time Anakin sees Hydaelyn, he is awed by the sight. Being an Aversion from Single-Biome Planet, he compares it to Naboo, Tatooine, Ilum and Endor mashed together.
• Young and in Charge: Even though he is still a minor according to Dravanian law (something he established with Urianger), Anakin is still The Leader of Zenith's Grand Company, the Dragon's Eye.

Tristan Chase/Helios

Tristan Chase/Helios the Traveler, last Holder of the Fourteenth Seat, the Seat of Azem

The Warrior of Light and current incarnation of Helios, the last Azem. A former hunter from the Salikawoods who settled in Eorzea and became a Warrior, then fought at Carteneau alongside his companions. Sadly, his journey to the future left him mute. He decided to start his new adventure in Zenith.

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• Badass Longcoat: If the clothes given to Tristan by the Soul Crystal are to be trusted, Helios favored a black longcoat rather than a robe. As a fighter, it gives him a greater mobility - and removes the risk of getting his feet caught in the hem.
• Benevolent Boss: Azem / Helios is a very Reasonable Authority Figure toward those who assisted him. When Nabriales's Nemean panthera turns to completely mellow upon listening to music, he lies to his fellow Convocation member so Medea can keep it as a pet. Following the fight against the hostile lotis, he praises Asclepios for his ingenuity and diligence and promises to commend his effort to Emmerololth. He also offers Aeneas a place in his Words if The Drifter needs a stabler situation.
• Cain and Abel: The Abel, inevitably, to Zenos.
• Doomed Hometown: Tristan used to be a hunter in a small village in the Salikawoods. Then, one day, Garlemald came and razed it down, killing his family in the process. Tristan fled to Eorzea soon after.
• Doomed Moral Victor: Azem / Helios / Tristan has repeatedly attempted to prevent Rejoinings through History. As we all know, he failed seven times... and succeeded even more often, Hydaelyn mentioning the Auri Revolts against their Allagan creators - which ended causing the Burn - and Koryu's corruption, where Azem / Helios / Tenzen sealed him before it was too late. His very first failure, however, was when he challenged Hydaelyn and Zodiark over the fate of Etheirys. He didn't win.
• Dumb Struck: Soon after Louisoix's spell sends them to the future, Tristan realizes he lost the use of his voice. Jeremiah's Esuna failing to cure it implies the loss is traumatic in nature, something a later diagnosis by a trained physician confirms.
• Friend to All Children: Helios / Azem is very caring toward children, as his interaction with Hippolyta's wards demonstrate. They love him in turn, and Hippolyta admits the orphans missed his stories when they reunite.
  • In the present days, Tristan is also friendly with children. He spends several days as an educator/animator in Gorgagne Longstop, having snowball fights with them and protecting them from threats - like the True Brothers of Faith.
• Forest Ranger: Before settling in Eorzea, Tristan was a hunter.
• Genius Bruiser: Part of the reason Helios is so deadly in a fight is because he fights ''smart'.. Nigh-Invulnerable creature ? It isn't invulnerable to having its aether drained. Stuck fighting his coworkers of the Convocation twelve against one ? He knows their strengths, weaknesses and fighting styles inside-out and makes full use of it. As he reminds Pashtarot, it is literally his duty to protect the star, so he is naturally good at taking care of threats - by strength or by guile.
• Heroic Bastard: His father was a Garlean soldier who decided his mother would make a nice bed warmer, and his mother was smart enough to know the consequences of saying "No". The twist? That soldier was Varis yae Galvus.
• If Only You Knew: Because Garlemald is a heavily-industrialized warmongering empire who crushes everyone in its path, Tristan calls Garleans "the Children of Hephaistos and Hades, and Ares was their teacher". He has no idea Hades, aka. Emet-Selch, is the true identity of Emperor Solus... and his great-grandfather.
• It's Personal: Garlemald killing his family and burning his home really angered Tristan. This is the reason he so brutally opposes them, even knowing he is Varis's bastard son. In fact, if anything, it makes the matter worse.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Written word for word when Tristan realizes it was no coincidence Claw Division found the coordinates of a large camp of True Brothers during each of their raids. Grandmother Sechen praises him for his insight.
• Long-Lost Relative: Tristan turns to be this to the entire Galvus family, but most prominently Larsa, who happens to be his second degree cousin. Comes with being a Heroic Bastard.
• Meaningful Name: Tristan's true name is Lux Hiroshi. Liza named her son specifically after the Garlean word for Light, in the hopes he would turn to be Light Is Good. It worked.
• Multi-Melee Master: Helios has demonstrated proficiency with the katana, daggers, broadsword, axe and spear, and his Soul Crystal contains the memories of a sword, a broadsword, a Garlean gunblade, a Hingan katana, a rapier and a dagger. Having been trained by Venat, it is safe to assume he knows how to use other weapons as well.
• Mythology Gag: Tristan's last name, Hiroshi, comes from the game's canon name for the Meteor Survivor.
• One-Man Army: Helios Holds the Seat of Azem for a reason. Said reason ? As the Convocation learns the hard way, he can take them twelve against one (Emet-Selch had wisely decided to sit it out and watch with snacks) and win.
• Past-Life Memories: Thanks to carrying Azem's Soul Crystal, Tristan sometimes gains memories of his life as Helios, though he has no idea what they are or where they come from. It commonly translates as materializing the ghosts of Helios's own weapons during heated fights.
• Religious Bruiser: He prefers to practice in secret, but Tristan is a devout follower of the Twelve, notably Oschon and Azeyma. However, the Salikawoods have their own pantheon of fourteen deities and Tristan adresses a prayer to Helios, the Sun-Father, to guide him.
• Strong Family Resemblance: As it turns, Tristan's appearance is the result of a Fantasia potion - Demeter's Gift, as the Dalmascans call it. His true appearance is the spitting image of his father. Given who it is, it isn't a good thing...
• The Straight and Arrow Path: Being a former hunter, Tristan is naturally proficient with a bow, though, in modern times, he favors the axe.
• Uneven Hybrid: 1/4 Raen Au Ra, 1/4 Dalmascan Hyur, 1/2 Garlean Hyur, with the soul of an Ancient Etheiryan.
• Wrecked Weapon: The gargoyle summoned by the hooded man successfully breaks Tristan's iron axe. Rather than use the broken parts, he simply switches to his bow and keeps fighting.

Larsa

Larsa "Solidor" yae Galvus, heir to the Imperial Throne of Garlemald

One of Emperor Solus's great-grandchildren and potential heir to the Imperial Throne... if he wasn't also a Crystal Bearer chosen by Hydaelyn and gifted with the Echo. His is the Earth Crystal and, though he is the youngest of the group, he remains skilled in his own rights.

• Blessed with Suck: Larsa's Echo manifests as the ability to see the past of places rather than people — like Venat and the Warrior of Light did in Elpis. When it triggers in places where a disaster happened, like Ul'dah during the Calamity, the results are unpleasant enough to make him black out.
• Blue Blood: As the yae in his name indicates, Larsa is in line for the Garlean throne. His parents are Nerva yae Galvus and Vergilia van Corculum.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Though he has no problem fighting Primals, Larsa is much more reluctant at the thought of fighting his countrymen, even knowing how they see someone like him. Minfilia acknowledges his concerns and agrees to keep him out of any business involving Garlemald.
• Defector from Decadence: Larsa fled Garlemald after awakening the Echo, becoming The Heretic and a Mage Born of Muggles in the process.
• King Incognito: By necessity. Garleans already suffer from Fantastic Racism, so Larsa hides his identity to avoid further conflict in Eorzea.
• Mage Born of Muggles: Larsa is a Garlean, which are naturally Un-Sorcerer. Yet, thanks to the Echo, he is capable of using magic. He uses it to heal but, being self-taught, his skills are average at best.
• Mythology Gag: Larsa introduces himself as "Lamont Solidor" to Tristan, Rhotmoen and Bleifryn, fights with a rapier and is the group's healer. Along with his appearance, it hearkens to the original Larsa Ferrinas Solidor from Final Fantasy XII.
• Red Mage: Shapes to be this. He is naturally skilled with a rapier and taught himself conjury when he realized he could use magic. Against Ifrit, he manages to use fire to hurt the Primal, fulfilling all three criteria for the Job.
• The Runaway: Larsa turns to be a Downplayed version of The Abused. Being a Garlean with the Echo and the ability to use magic, he is aware that staying in Garlemald will end up with him strapped to an operation table, if he isn't killed for being The Heretic beforehand. So, he fled to Eorzea first.
• They Would Cut You Up: One of the reasons Larsa names for fleeing home, besides the fact having the Echo makes him The Heretic in the Empire, is that Garlean scientists would experiment on him to find out how, being a Mage Born of Muggles, he is able to use magic.
• Weak, but Skilled: Between his young age and being self-taught, Larsa is the weakest of Hydaelyn's Chosen One. He is still skilled-enough to keep up with them during their adventures, and even defeat Ifrit.

Lyrian Sombréclipse

Lyrian Sombréclipse, the Outsider

A Duskwight from the island city of Mylo, who came to Eorzea in search for a cure to The Plague ravaging his home and a way to remove the nasty side-effect of their current remedy. He is an Outsider, a foreign Job Class akin to Ninja but more tech-oriented. He is one of Hydaelyn's Chosen One and his Crystal of Light is Wind.

• Cool Mask: Lyrian's skull mask isn't simply scary. It also doubles as a gas mask.
• Defector from Decadence: Lyrian originates from Mylo's nobility but fled as fast as he could after accidentally eating his mother under the effect of a Joyful Pill. He then trained as an Outsider and became one of Hydaelyn's Crystal Bearers.
• Find the Cure!: Lyrian went to Eorzea to find a cure to the Rat Plague ravaging his home, as well as to get rid of the hallucinogenic side-effect of the medicine which serves as the current antidote.
• Intangibility: One of Lyrian's powers lets him Phase through things.
• Neat Freak: By the setting standards, Lyrian is excessively clean. Given he comes from a disease-filled Wretched Hive, he comments the habit is a necessity back home.
• Pet Monstrosity: Angel, Lyrian's albino coeurl. Most coeurls are massive and can throw lightning around. Even though Angel is smaller and lither than her kind, she is no less deadly.
• Psychometry: Lyrian's Echo makes him able to see the past of any item he touches, even a piece of cloth.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Part of Lyrian's arsenal is grenades. One kind releases a vapor that is particularly volatile if exposed to a Thaumaturge's Fire...
• Trauma Button: Lyrian reacts with absolute horror to any mention of cannibalism. Given his backstory involves eating his own mother under the effect of the Joyful Pill and finding out when it faded, this is completely Justified.