Characters / Bound by Blades

Guren, Teo and Kota

Characters from the Indie Boss Game, Bound by Blades

The Bound

Teo

Teo

The game's sword-wielding feline main character who hails from the Kuza Tribe. Tends to show up in all the game's promotional materials, too.

• Badass Adorable: What else could be said for a cute, feline swordsman who's surprisingly skilled with a sword and can take down giant monsters far larger than him? And is destined to save the entire kingdom of Ashmyr?
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Forgoes shoes by default, although Teo could purchase boots later in the game. It's probably justified since he's a cat and needs to be shoeless to maintain dexterity.
• Blade Spam: He can dish out a flurry of combo slashes from up close, with his sword a blur all the way.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: He's the main protagonist and swings a sword, while his partners uses bows and shields.
• Jack of All Stats: The game's most well-balanced, easy-to-use main character.
• Sword Beam: As Teo, his most recurring ranged attack is by firing energy chevrons from the tip of his sword. Which sounds like shotgun blasts, for good measure.
• Sword Drag: Teo drags his sword across the battlefield when he's running, which seems to charge his swinging slashes.
• Sword Lines: Each swing from Teo results in colourful lines, where Ilcyon caught in it will suffer damage.
• Sword Plant: One of Teo's special attacks, which turns into a Shockwave Stomp from where he embedded his weapon.

Guren

Guren

A rabbit archer from the Fangorian tribe who excels in speed. The sole female playable character in the cast.

• Badass Adorable: Just like Teo, since Guren is a skilled ass-kicking rabbit.
• Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Like Teo, she forgoes footwear, which she could purchase later on. Much like Teo, it might be due to shoes getting into her way being a rabbit.
• Bottomless Magazines: Played straight with her quiver of unlimited arrows.
• Charged Attack: Players can hold on the firing button while controlling Guren to avoid Ilcyon attacks. When released, her arrow deals greater damage than default and can peentrate foes.
• Fragile Speedster: Owing to being a rabbit, Guren is faster than her comrades, but not as durable.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Guren, the sole female member of The Bound, is also their archer, though it's downplayed considering Teo and Kota can use projectile moves of their own.
• In the Hood: Her outfit includes a green hood that always covers her head. With holes for her ears to poke out.
• Killer Rabbit: Guren might be a literal version of the trope, being a rabbit who slays monsters.
• Multishot: One of Guren's attacks have her firing four or more arrows at enemies in a single shot.
• Righteous Rabbit: She's a bunny, and one of the heroes destined to save Ashmyr from the returning Ilcyon threat.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female playable character of the trio.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Guren being the one girl.

Kota

Kota

A muscular bovine brawler descended from the Oxbourne Tribe, that specializes in heavy weapons and close-range attacks.

• The Big Guy: The largest of the main playable heroes.
• Boisterous Bruiser: The largest of the three main characters, but cutscenes depicts him as quite chummy with his feline and lagomorph pals.
• Brutish Bulls: The bovine character is the team's muscle, unsurprisingly.
• Dual Wield: Uses his buckler shield and circular blades simultaneously, and can use the former for a Shield Bash while using the latter for slashing.
• Improbable Weapon User: Kota's partners uses a sword and a bow. On the other hand, he uses a tiny circular shield with three curved blades on its sides that hardly looks like anything that exists in real-life.
• Lightning Bruiser: Kota can dish out combo attacks like his comrades, and isn't a slouch running circles in the battlefield either.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Of the three playable heroes, Kota's main equipment is a disc blade and a shield. The latter protects him from most projectile attacks and can even accumulate energy before releasing it, Attack Reflector-style.
• The One Who Wears Shoes: He wears boots by default, unlike his comrades Teo and Guren.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Kota's circular, three-bladed shield can be flung as a projectile, where it returns to Kota's hands moments after hitting a target.

Eldros

Eldros

The once-mighty wolfman who unites the tribes of Ashmyr, and led the heroes of the kingdom in their first victory against the Ilcyon, Eldros is now an elderly trainer of heroes, who oversees combat skills of the youth in the Bound.

Three of the best trainees, Teo the cat, Guren the rabbit and Kota the bull, are on their way to graduation, but they must complete Eldros' last test.

• Big Good: The warrior who united Ashmyr and helps save the kingdom from the first Ilcyon invasion. Now he's a legendary hero who spends his days grooming younger fighters in The Bound.
• Cool Teacher: He can only be one, having retired from slaying giant monsters and saving the world in his younger days before teaching the next generation of warriors.
• Eye Scream: Has a nasty-looking scar over his left eye, a holdover from fighting the Ilcyon during his youth.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Overlapping with Taking You with Me, in the final battle, to destroy Magmyros for good and put an end to the source of the Ilcyon, Eldros allows himself to be dragged into the lava-filled caverns with the powerful monster.
• Living Legend: Owing to uniting the tribes of Ashmyr and being the kingdom's greatest hero from decades ago, the now-elderly Eldros is looked up by the younger warriors, inclduing the three player characters.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: He's the mentor to The Bound. Take a wild guess if he survives the game.
• Noble Wolf: He's a wolf in a setting filled with andromorphic animals, and the most righteous of them all.
• Old Master: Eldros, the wolfman who once led the tribes of Ashmyr to fight the Ilcyon during the war, is now the Leader of the Bound, and tasked with training warriors - including the three player heroes. He appears in a few cutscenes to provide clues, and sometimes exposition and hints before the stage can begin in proper.
• A Molten Date with Death: He's eventually killed after being dragged down the lava in Magmyros' caverns. The good news is that he destroyed the monster in the process - and ends the Ilcyon threat for good.
• Papa Wolf: He sees the students and trainees in The Bound as his children, with his insistence for them not to set off on the adventure being due to his worries over their safety.
• Retired Badass: He used to be one of Ashmyr's finest warriors, but now he's a non-combatant who oversees training on younger warriors.
• Rugged Scar: Over his now-blinded left eye. It serves to highlight Eldros' past as a once-fearsome warrior who had seen plenty of combat.
• You Are Not Ready: He says this almost word-for-word, in regards to why he thinks Teo, Guren and Kota isn't ready for their adventure. But after they defeat Gallows, the one Ilcyon who infiltrated The Bound and tried to ambush them, Eldros quickly changes his mind.

Finny

Finny

A talking fish living in the village's rivers. He's bestie with - ironically - Teo the cat.

• It's All My Fault: Finny blames himself for not being able to be with Eldros when the Ilcyon attacks the village, saying how he wanted to save his friend but couldn't leave the water. The Bound doesn't blame him at all since he's a fish, with Guren assuring Finny it's not his fault.
• Artistic License – Biology: Apparently, Finny escaped the village ambush by swimming from the village rivers into the seas, before escaping all the way to Fangsfate. Never mind the question of how freshwater fishes could actually survive for days in seawater. Although it could be justified because of the game's fantasy setting.
• A Lizard Named "Liz": Finny the fish. Because fins, get it?
• No Cartoon Fish: Zig-zagged, Finny the fish is a cartoon fish who can communicate with the heroes, but he's the only animal who forgoes clothing and looks like a regular fish.

Fangsfate City

When an unexpected Ilcyon ambush on The Bound's home village left it in ruins, with none of the citizens in sight and their mentor, Eldros, missing, The Bound managed to uncover a hidden map in Eldros' burning hut. One that leads to Fangsfate, a Citadel City behind fortress walls, and that's the next destination of their quest.

General Garoth

General Garoth

A mighty hawkman general who commands the training academy in Fangsfate.

• Bird People: He's a hawkman.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He witnessed his former childhood friend, the panther warrior Vaeryth, getting corrupted by the Ilcyon and turning into a monster when he's a warrior-in-training, which leads to Garoth's dark, sullen personality and having distrust in the heroes when they first arrived in Fangsfate.
• Heroic Build: Broad shoulders, muscular chest, an epic wingspan, and a stern look of authority that shouts "HERO!" a mile away.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Garoth doesn't hide the fact that he's looking down towards Teo, Guren and Kota, the "kids" from Eldros' school, when they first arrived in Fangsfate city, but that's because he had seen too much bloodshed in his youth to respect the young warriors. Once they prove themselves worthy of the adventure, Garoth regards the trio warmly and wishes them well on their quest.
• Old Soldier: He fought in the wars decades ago against the Ilcyon, alongside Eldros. Like Eldros, he's now an instructor of the training school in Fangsfate.
• Retired Badass: Similar to Eldros, he used to be one of the warriors in the first battle against the Ilcyon.
• So Proud of You:
  "Thank you, Bound. I'm sorry I ever doubted you. Not even Eldros was able to defeat Vaeryth when he first came to Fangsfate."

Timber

Timber

A cheetah-boy in Fangsfate city who looks up to the heroes.

• Adorably Precocious Child: A young boy who's way mature beyond his years, and already have dreams to join the Bound when he's old enough. He even have his future Bound armor designed in a sketchpad!
• Cheerful Child: Always smiling when greeting the Bound, and enjoys nothing more than hearing about their Ilcyon-slaying adventures.
• Fanboy: To the Bound. He wishes to join them in the future.
  Teo: Timber, why do you want to join the Bound so much?
  Timber: Because the Bound are so cool! Everyone says they're gonna save Ashmyr from the Ilcyon, and I wanna be the one to do it!
• Nice Guy: He's polite, likeable, and loves hanging around with The Bound.

The Ilcyon

A race of ancient monsters who assumes many forms, the Ilcyons nearly destroyed Ashmyr in the past and forced the kingdom's warring tribes to put their differences aside. Defeated and forced into a retreat, they attempt a comeback after decades of peace and harmony, but luckily the heroes of the Bound are ready to take them down.

Gallows

Gallows

The first boss and first actual Ilcyon faced by The Bound, Gallows is a Jack-O-Lantern headed shapeshifting monster who hid itself in one of the academy's training dummies, revealing itself during a training scene to ambush the heroes.

• Glowing Eyes of Doom: When the scarecrow is a mere dummy, it's entirely expressionless. Once Gallows took over, it's head sports a sinister expression with menacing glowing eyes.
• Hand Blast: Gallows can fire weak, slow-moving, green blasts from it's hands, while one of its slightly better attacks have it pushing both hands downwards resulting in green projectiles firing in an arc. They tend to backfire because those blasts can be deflected back to Gallows.
• He Was Right There All Along: For the first minute of his boss fight, The Bound assumes they're fighting another harmless straw mannequin, until halfway through the training, said mannequin suddenly turns it's head into a sinister Jack-O-Lantern. Cue Gallows' intro.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: If Gallows didn't infiltrate Eldros' academy, none of the heroes wouldn've graduated, and their quest to stop the Ilcyon wouldn't have happened. Nice Job indeed.
• Scary Scarecrows: It's based on one, and infiltrates an otherwise normal-looking scarecrow dummy who immediately turns sinister when Gallows ditches it's disguise.
• Small Role, Big Impact: The easily-defeated first boss, whose defeat convinces Eldros that the heroes are ready for an adventure, hence allowing the game's events to unfold.
• Stationary Boss: Owing to possessing a scarecrow, Gallows spends it's entire boss battle fixed to the screen's centerpoint.
• Stingy Jack: While it's body design is based on scarecrow, Gallows' face is a Jack-O-Lantern.
• Warm-Up Boss: Discounting the stage 1 training scarecrow (a Zero-Effort Boss, justified because it was only a training), Gallows is the first actual Ilcyon fought by the Bound, with slow, deflectable projectiles, predictable attack patterns, and can't even move around. The only devastating move Gallows has is the 360° laser move forcing them to run in circles, but that one lasts for barely ten seconds and isn't that hard to avoid either.

Skullako

Skullako

After completing their training, The Bound are sent on their first quest - to hunt down Skullako, an Ilcyon monster inhabiting a cavern. It was her the heroes gets a glimpse of how Ilcyons really looks like.

• Asteroids Monster: Skullako can split itself into two, and then four, as it gradually takes damage. All it's copies have identical attacks.
• Bad with the Bone: Skullako can shoot it's bone-like arms as projectiles. Which it regrows instantly. The mini-Skullakos have this ability as well.
• Blob Monster: It's main body is a massive pile of gel that it can expand to cover corners of the screen.
• Bubble Gun: Another attack it occasionally uses, a bubble projectile that actually stays on the screen, bouncing off walls and damaging you on contact.
• Cyclops: It's sole discernible facial feature is a single eye. Which is still flesh, despite the rest of it's head being a skull.
• Skull for a Head: True to it's name, Skullako is has a cyclopean skull in place of it's head. Even the mini-Skullakos it spawns after it's health depleted have similar skulls!
• Stationary Boss: Like Gallows, Skullako is immobile as well, instead relying on sending a pillar of acidic jelly throwing it's bone-like arms. The only time Skullako moves is when it splits into smaller copies of itself.
• Wingding Eyes: Hitting Skullako enough will momentarily turn it's eye into a comical "X" symbol.

Mittux

Mittux

Seen here with two floating-eye flunkies.

An Ilcyon resembling a gigantic fanged mouth with bat-like wings, surrounded by floating eyeballs.

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• Bad Boss: Should Mittux's health becomes too low, and there happens to be some of those eyeball-creatures Mittux summoned hovering around, Mittux will snatch them out the air and swallow them to boost it's own health.
• Blind Bats: Played with. Mittux is a monster consisting of a gigantic mouth with leathery, bat-like wings, without any eyes. As it turns, it does have one eye — on its tongue.
• Breath Weapon: Mittux can breath a thick energy beam from it's mouth as a ranged attack.
• Eye Beams: Mittux's floating eyeball minions can shoot lasers from the pupils. Things tends to get rather tricky if more than one of these monsters are onscreen and begins using the same attacks together.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: Mittux appears to be eyeless at first glance, until it lashes out using it's tongue. Turns out the Ilcyon's sole eye is on said tongue.
• Eyeless Face: Mittux's face is just a gigantic mouth with wings, but that's because it's eyes are located elsewhere; see previous line.
• Flunky Boss: The Oculothorax-things Mittux consisstently summons to hinder you during it's boss fight.
• No Ontological Inertia: The moment Mittux gets defeated, all of it's flunkies dissappears instantly.
• Overly-Long Tongue: Mittux's tongue can reach the corners of the boss arena, which it will repeatedly use to slap the players.
• Super Spit: Another ranged attack, Mittux can fire a gob of spit that covers a wide arc.

Talys

Talys

A gigantic skeletal serpentine monster terrorizing the walls of Fangsfate City, Talys is the first Ilcyon fought by The Bound far away from their village. Defeating Talys earns The Bound General Garoth's respect.

• Attack of the Monster Appendage: Besides spamming her fiery breath, Talys can also extend her tails (both of them!) to lash out and attack from anywhere she wants. Her tails can unleash fireballs as well.
• Breath Weapon: Blue flames, which can cover quite a massive area.
• Snakes Are Sinister: A serpentine Ilcyon who gleefully terrorizes the citizens of Fangsfate.
• Stationary Boss: When fought, she's confined to a hole on the ground, but she's way stronger than previous examples (Gallows, Skullako) because of her fire covering far more area.
• Technicolor Fire: Talys' main attacks have her breathing blue flames all over the area.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Her hitbox is far smaller than the previous three bosses, being vulnerable only in her head, and her attacks covers far more range, deals greater damage and can't be deflected. The past three bosses are merely a series of warmups before Talys' arrival signaling that things are getting serious.

Mawrakor

Mawrakor

An earth-based Ilcyon resembling a boulder on legs, with a whip-like tail and the ability to cause earthquakes.

• Dishing Out Dirt: Mawrakor can send a circle of rock spikes targeting the heroes as an attack.
• Flechette Storm: One of Mawrakor's attacks have it summoning a wave of green, pointed projectiles from outside the screen, which flies directly at the heroes.
• Projectile Webbing: From the tail, Mawrakor can launch a sticky web that restrains the players momentarily when hit.
• Waddling Head: It resembles an oversized head on two legs.

Vaeryth

Vaeryth

A fierce, feline-esque monstrous Ilcyon who used to have a past with General Garoth, the leader of Fangsfate's armed forces.

• Cycle of Hurting: Try not to step in any of Vaeryth's summoned, life-draining vortexes. It'll repeatedly hammer your health down as you try breaking free, and you can hear your character howling in pain!
• Dark Is Evil: Barring Magmyros, Vaeryth is the darkest of the various monsters, and one of the most evil of the lot.
• The Dreaded: To the citizens of Fangsfate, due to being one of their finest warriors in the past before he was corrupted by the Ilcyon. According to General Garoth, even Eldros lose to him in a battle once!
• Evil Living Flames: Vaeryth can conjure evil purple flames with faces as another attack.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: His eyes emits a menacing glow for the entirety of his battle.
• Homing Projectile: Can release a set of circular blades that chases the player around the arena.
• Mega Neko: He resembles a monstrous-looking feline, who can stomp Teo the actual feline character underfoot.
• Multiple-Tailed Beast: Has two tails, and Vaeryth will use both tails to perform a Tail Slap capable of covering the whole screen.
• Obviously Evil: He looks far more sinister than the other Ilcyon monsters, and is hardly a surprise when the game later reveals he used to have a past with the noble General Garoth before getting corrupted.
• Thinking Up Portals: Vaeryth is introduced entering the arena by a portal in the sky. While it doesn't use the portal at any point during it's boss fight, once defeated, it leaves the same way -dissappearing through the same portal.
• Was Once a Man: Vaeryth used to be a panther warrior from in the past who fell under Ilcyon control, becoming one of the most powerful Ilcyon spawns. The commander of Fangsfate, General Garoth, blames himself over this.

Necromata

Necromata

When the collected evil aura from numerous Ilcyon inhabits a suit of armor once owned by a righteous, slain warrior, it immediately sheds it's owner, coming to life and forming a dreadful monster called Necromata.

• Animated Armor: A living suit of armor animated by Ilcyon curse.
• Detachment Combat: Since it's, well, living cursed armor, one of Necromata's recurring attacks have it detaching it's head, which then becomes alight and chases after the player.
• Dual Wielding: Uses a pair of twin sai in combat.
• Evil Is Burning Hot: Being a sentient suit of armor powered by evil flames.
• Playing with Fire: It can spam fireballs repeatedly as an attack.
• Power Gives You Wings: Not only does the Ilcyon-controlled cursed armor comes to life, but it somehow grows wings as a result.

Lithos

Lithos

Once a powerful mage, corrupted by Ilcyon curse Lithos is now a shadowy demon-like figure and one of the many Ilcyon monsters.

• Death from Above: Lithos will repeatedly summon thunderbolts, flaming meteorites, and assorted hazards raining into the area as an attack.
• Hook Hand: Lithos' right hand is, oddly enough, a hook. From which a magic lantern hangs.
• Was Once a Man: Like Vaeryth before it, Lithos used to be a regular mage (of an unspecified animal species) prior to being corrupted.
• The Faceless: Hides his face entirely In the Hood. Nobody can tell what animal Lithos used to be as a result.
• Power Floats: Lithos never touches the ground during it's entire boss battle. Unlike Necromata before him, he doesn't have wings.
• Spell Book: There's a magic book hovering beside Lithos during the boss battle, from which he use to cast his various spells.

Orikara

Orikara

The female half.

The male half.

Two lovers from feuding clans fled their homes in the past, back when Ashmyr was still plagued by wars. Unwilling to be separated from each other, they made a pact with the Ilcyon so they would stay togehter - as two elemental based monsters collectively called the Orikara.

• Battle Couple: They used to be a pair of lovers. Now they're two fearsome monsters, who "still embraces the dance of death as Ilcyons".
• Dual Boss: A pair of imp-like demonic Ilcyons who fights together.
• Fire Is Masculine: The man among the lovers forms Orikara's fiery half.
• Making a Splash: The female half of Orikara favors water-based attacks.
• Playing with Fire: The male half of Orikara tends to use fire-based attacks.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Their backstory. When the lovers' respective clans tries forcing them apart, they escapes and seeks help from the Ilcyon, who grants their wish by turning them into two monsters manifesting together.
• Was Once a Man: Among the many individuals who sold their souls to the Ilcyon, though this one revolves around a pair of lovers transformed together.
• Water Is Womanly: The woman among the lovers forms Orikara's water-based half.

Magmyros

Magmyros

Final phase of the Sequential Boss.

The carcinogen of the curse. The scourge of the spire. The source of the Ilcyon.

• Attack of the Monster Appendage: Type 2 example, you'll need to fight Magmyros' hand and tail in separate battles before fighting it's head.
• Big Bad: Owing to it's status as the root of the Ilcyon curse, and it being the source of monsters plaguing Ashmyr for decades, Magmyros is the game's main villain and final Ilcyon. Kill him and the game ends on a happy note.
• Dragons Are Demonic: He's the only dragon-based boss, and is the most powerful enemy ever faced by the Bound, besides being the source of the Ilcyon's energy.
• Final Boss: The last Ilcyon threat The Bound faces. Destroy Magmyros and the good ending plays.
• A Molten Date with Death: Ironically, despite being a fire-breathing dragon, Magmyros' was eventually killed by the lava in it's cavern, with Eldros dragging him down.
• Playing with Fire: It's a dragon, and a pretty fiery one at that. Besides breathing flames, Magmyros can also create a circle of flames by smacking his hand on the ground.
• Sequential Boss: Firstly, the volcanic "core" that forms Magmyros' heart. Then, it's tail and claws, each with their own health bars. Finally, the head who has more health than either the previous two forms. The ensuing battle is as lengthy as you'd expect a Final Boss to last.
• Stationary Boss: Magmyros' first form, as a lava-spewing stone structure in the middle of it's lair.
• Tail Slap: Be wary whenever Magmyros sticks it's tail into the arena.