A group formed by Yuraisha on the eve of the Independence War to confront Vlad's newly-formed Aldore Empire. Supposedly composed of the best minds and muscles Hess had to offer, they were sealed by the Veritas inside crystals (which actually was a ploy by Vlad to get rid of both the Sages and the Veritas) and sent to Lapis, where they laid dormant for the following seven centuries.
For other characters, click here.
Tropes Common To All Of Them
- Body Horror: The imprisonment in the Crystals ruined all of them in some manner. Fina and Rowen suffered the least, and even then they lost their memories and a large chunk of their power. Amnelis didn't suffer from it, however, as Gilgamesh found and freed her almost immediately.
- Fallen Hero: The side effects of being imprisoned in the Crystals for so long has caused several Sages to degenerate into insane, villainous figures.
- Foil: To the Eight Veritas. The Sages were a group of different individuals with different backgrounds and species, while the Veritas were humans in service to Aldore. They became the respected rulers and commanders of Hess by their own power in contrast to the Veritas being well respected and loved but in service to Aldore's emperor. The eight were sealed away and suffered side effects, destroying most mentally and physically into Omnicidal Maniacs with only three able to escape the worst collateral effects, while the now Seven Veritas (As Gilgamesh was taken for dead) chose revenge willingly before two of them went rogue.
- Four-Star Badass: They were both the leaders and the generals in charge of Hess, with the Espers serving as their elite subordinates. In fact, one of the Sages is one of the most powerful Espers that ever existed.
- The Magic Versus Technology War: The Sages and Hess itself favored the chaotic and logic-defying Visionary magic against Aldore's technology and scientific-based magic, which was a factor in Aldore waging war against them.
- The Missing Faction: Similar to the Sworn Six, only six of the members of the Eight Sages of Hess are shown. Unlike the Sworn Six (who are eventually shown to have originally been the Sworn Eight, with the two missing members accounted for), no mention at all is made of what happened to the remaining two. It's not even clear if they survived long enough to get encased in crystal like the others.
- Averted later in Season 2, where the fate of one of the two is revealed - one was released before the events of the story, and War of the Visions shows the last one in cahoots with the Veritas of the Frost, Gilgamesh.
- Order Versus Chaos: They represented darkness and chaos in the war against Aldore's "light and order". Ultimately these positions are inverted when it's shown that Aldore was not a real force of good, and Hess was a conquered country trying to gain independence again.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Their numbers included two immortal humans (Amnelis and Rowen), an elf (Edfrit), one lion Beastman (Behemoth K), one emotionally stunted man with his body rotting away (Sol), a giant holding said stunted man's immortal heart (Babel), an Esper (Bahamut) and the extension of the Will of Light (Fina).
- Sealed Badass in a Can: The eight leaders of Hess that made up the bulk of Hess fighting power were all sealed away, either by placing them in a crystal or having the crystal act as a seal.
Yuraisha
The Mother of Hess and ruler of Hess's kingdom. She is also Raegen's adoptive mother, having taken him as her child after Vlad murdered his parents to usurp the Aldoran throne. After losing the Independence War, she was imprisoned by Vlad and condemned to spend the following seven centuries crucified. By the time Raegen has reached her, her life is on its last legs.
- Big Good: Serves as this for Hess's kingdom, being the main motivational force for their war on Aldore.
- Blow You Away: Uses wind magic.
- Cast from Hit Points: Her most powerful buffs also do damage to her.
- Dishing Out Dirt: Uses earth magic.
- Fate Worse than Death: Was crucified for 700 years and left unable to die due to her immortality.
- Heroic Lineage: She's Yshe's descendant after all.
- Incurable Cough of Death: When she starts nearing her limits, she starts coughing at random intervals.
- Letting Her Hair Down: Her Brave Shift has her letting her hair loose.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: She's Lasswell's grandmother and Raegen's adoptive mother.
- Spot the Thread: So why would Vlad pit Raegen and Dioxus against her newly-formed Sages of Hess on their own? It's because Vlad intended for both of them to die fighting them. Both Yuraisha and Dioxus picked up on that pretty fast.
- Support Party Member: As a vision, while she has some wind and earth magic spells, her kit is mostly built around distributing buffs, curing breaks, and some mild healing and mana restoration.
- Violence is the Only Option: The incident with Heliarc/Sol's heart caused tensions between Aldore and Hess to explode, and Yuraisha, knowing full well that Vlad always intended to enslave his people (further proven by him branding Yuraisha's whole research team as deserters), decided that there was no other way out but to go to war. Raegen, who was already on the other side of the conflict, was heavily disapproving of this, which caused him to become estranged from her.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Discussed during Sol's side story, where she wonders whether Fina won't regret deciding to become immortal and comes to the conclusion that access to the technology that grants someone immortality should be restricted to a select few individuals.
Babel
The Wind Sage of Hess. All that remains is his heart, which remains dormant so long as the Wind Crystal functions. In actuality, the heart is Sol's original, immortal heart, which was stolen from him by Eclipsa and locked into a box. How it became part of a Sage of Hess, and how it grew so big, is not yet explained. "Dark Awakening" reveals that Babel was actually a Humongous Mecha powered by Sol's original heart.- Beat Still, My Heart: His heart still works despite his lack of body. Explained by being an Immortal Heart, one made for Heliarc.
- Casting a Shadow: It's mainly marked as a Dark-elemental unit as Sol is piloting it.
- Continuity Snarl: The background for Babel in the Season 2 side event "Afterglow" is much different than the "giant whose body is rotted away, leaving only the heart" story given in Season 1. Babel was Sol/Heliarc's original heart, made immortal by an operation procedure, the same used on the eight Veritas and the other Sages. The "Dark Awakening" Story Event served mainly to tie several loose ends regarding the Sages of Hess, including Babel itself.
- Humongous Mecha: "Dark Awakening" reveals that Babel was actually this, a massive mecha housing Sol's original heart.
- An Ice Person: Its secondary element, once again reflecting the person piloting it.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: He was said to be a massive giant, with a heart big enough to act as an engine for an airship.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: It is powered by Sol's original heart for starters. His heart acts as the engine for the Invincible once the Wind Crystal is destroyed.
Bahamut
The Fire Sage of Hess, and the hailed Dragon King of the Espers. Was recruited by Yuraisha via an Esper Pact with her. Sealed inside a volcano so long as the Fire Crystal exists. He later resides in the Realm of the Dragon King in wait for someone to fight.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: As Espers don't subscribe to typical human morality and verge closer to Black-and-White Insanity. Near the end of the war he eventually attacked both sides blindly, looking for worthy opponents, in part due to Esperkind's frustrations with the grey nature of war.
- Came Back Wrong: Alongside Fina he suffered the least from crystal imprisonment. Only his power diminished.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Fina forms a covenant with him when Lasswell defeats him in battle.
- Didn't See That Coming: He is the "that" that Jake (nor the rest of Rain's group) didn't see coming when the Fire Crystal was shattered.
- Infinity +1 Sword: He's the best Esper that can be recruited, but only available after beating the first season.
- Master of All: As an Esper, all of his stats aside from his HP and MP are exactly the same and comparable to even other Esper's best stats at 2*. His 2* awakening is even stronger, has stats superior to most of the 3* Espers, does even more damage on summoning and has access to multiple Killer passives, both physical and magic. Upon achieving 3*, Bahamut becomes the undisputed best Esper in the game, with access to all Killers, 50% increase in damage against broken gauge enemies and sky-high stats in every field, with only Asura beating him in ATK.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: As the King of Espers he led them in battle against Aldore.
- Red Baron: Known by such titles as Ruler of the Heavens, Fortress of the Skies, and the Dragon King.
- Revenge: It says something when one of the missions in your fight against Vlad's second form at the end of Season 2 is to finish the fight with his Megaflare.
- Spanner in the Works: His interference is why Lazarov almost got the Invincible destroyed.
- Superboss: Can be recruited as an Esper after clearing Season 1 in the story, but takes the most effort to get to him and actually beat him. He's also made into an incredibly hard fight in the Chamber of the Fallen.
- Worthy Opponent: Considered Babel, and by extension its pilot, Sol, one. It's why he attacked the Invincible after sensing his heart.
Elfdrit/Dark Elf
The Water Sage of Hess, a Dark Elf known for his intelligence and cunning, and a caring soul. His imprisonment in the Water Crystal eroded his mind to the point he now thinks of nothing but destruction, which is facilitated by him being a member of a very powerful elf species.- Came Back Wrong: His mind degraded from the years of crystal imprisonment. Now he exists solely as a powerful but near mindless force of destruction.
- Cast from Lifespan: When Rain and the party combine their magic to cancel out his, he spends his own life force to overwhelm them.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Suffers mental degradation after being released from the Crystal of Water, where he's solely obsessed with destruction, crystals, and freedom. All three mixing together in his maddened state.
- Odd Couple: Formed one with Fina in flashbacks.
- Spell My Name With An S: His name is originally given as Eldareet in a Season 2 flashback, only for the game later to use Elfdrit for him.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A season 2 flashback shows that, before his mental degradation, he was not above indulging in some pretty silly moments. While Dark Fina might have just been teasing Behemoth about fluffing his fur, Dark Elf eagerly joins in because it looks soft and fun to do.
- The Worf Effect: He defeats the entire party after they win with a stored magic attack, including Dark Fina and Sakura. Helped by the fact that his species is extremely powerful by nature, something shown in the present by Edel, who is a mere hybrid yet far stronger than he was in Gronoa.
- Zombie Gait: He's still among the living as a Human-Type enemy, but he moves around with a slow lurch while hunched over.
Sol/Heliarc
Click here to see his original self
The Light Sage of Hess. He appears as a tall, hooded white-skinned man. He was originally an Aldoran scientist who joined Hess in order to escape after he was turned into an experiment against his will, joining Yuraisha's Sages of Hess because his involvement in Aldore's experiences made him a valid target for Vlad. His imprisonment in the Light Crystal made him an Omnicidal Maniac that hates all life and eventually takes interest in ending Rain's life.
- Alas, Poor Villain: In season 2, he gets a pretty heartfelt send-off by Rain, Sakura, Nichol, and the Sworn Six when he sacrifices his life to save Rain from the Emperor. This is despite the fact that he never stops talking about wanting to kill Rain and then destroying all life on the planet... notably, pretty much the same thing the Emperor was discussing doing.
- And I Must Scream: He became an omnicidal nihilist thanks to his imprisonment in the crystal forcing him to constantly hear the screams of all the Hess people Vlad and whoever he commands to be the next Emperor murdered.
- Archenemy: Eventually believes Rain is his after realizing their irreconcilable views on life.
- Big Bad: He takes over in Season 1 as this once the Sworn Six are defeated for good.
- Body Horror: When he finally opens up his cloak before battling Rain and friends, he shows that his "body" is a metallic casing holding his skeleton and organs in. His thoracic region is a tank, in which a spine and a rib cage can be seen floating. Later story segments reveal that this is all that is left of his original human body due to his prototype crystal heart rotting the rest away.
- Cassandra Truth: Sol sensing Rain's vibes coming from Hyoh is not taken seriously by Lasswell's team. Much later, after Rain makes The Reveal that he's Hyoh and deserts back to the Orders, Lasswell admits Sol was right when the two meet in Sacher.
- Casting a Shadow: His main element as a Vision, in contrast to having been the Sage of Light. Case in point, his Esper Unit bonds him to Diabolos, and his Neo Vision unit makes this element his main along with Ice on his Brave Shift.
- Colony Drop: Veracious Moon, his CG Limit Burst on his Neo Vision unit, is pretty. Sol just has a sun and a moon collide to form a black hole to hit his enemies with.
- Combination Attack: The mechanic his dual unit with Dark Fina is based on.
- Cutting the Knot: Lasswell's party defeated one too few participants in the Visectrum tournament and were risking having progress halted at the checkpoint? Just put the guard at the checkpoint out of commission and make him count as the remaining guy. While it didn't technically work, Delmodoa passes by Lasswell's party and lets them proceed anyway, wanting to fight Lasswell in person in the tournament.
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: The magitek crystal heart that Heliarc creates is eventually revealed to feed off of his power and, once it's implanted in him, his emotions and memories. It fairly rapidly destroys all of Heliarc's mind, until the last remnants of his personality ask Heliarc's one friend, Pertira, for a new name.
- Diabolus ex Machina: Just when it seems that the Dark Crystal is safe from Lightlord, Sol comes in and destroys it within two seconds.
- The Empath: Sol being capable of summoning Chaotic Darkness, a vision manifested through human's negative thoughts, is a sign that he's capable of this power. Later on in Season 2 it's further demonstrated when Sol is able to learn what happened to Rain shortly after arriving in Paladia, by going to various spots in Sacher where Rain's strong emotions linger and touch the ground.
- Enemy Mine: He joins up with Lasswell's party in season 2, because he figures it will lead him to Rain faster. Lasswell allows it since he's a powerful ally and fighting him would be too much trouble.
- Later, he branches off on his own, but ends up allying with Rain (who is in disguise as Hyoh at the time), with the two becoming Sword and Sorcerer Back-to-Back Badasses. Alas, this is only shown in cut scenes.
- Fate Worse than Death: Happened to his original self, Heliarc. He was once a great scientist who was trying to develop technology to use crystals in order to give humans a monster's power. However, he is betrayed by another scientist and has the incomplete technology used on him, which rots his body away and makes him slowly lose his mind, to the point where he only remembers his past as Sol and cannot understand human emotion.
- Final Solution: Sol really came to believe that the best way to end everyone's suffering is for everyone to die.
- Foil: To the Veritas of the Light. Both were major fighters during the war between Aldore and Hess, have a light-elemental theme, and can summon visions. However, while Lightlord only wants revenge against Aldore and eventually gives up that revenge to help the heroes, Sol harbors a hatred for all life, commanding the Chaotic Darkness to attack both Lapis and Paladia, and serves as the main villain for the final arc of Season 1.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: He went from what was said to be a curious and all-loving experimenter (according to Raegen) to an Omnicidal Maniac due to being trapped alone in the crystal.
- An Ice Person: As Heliarc, this is his main element, and it becomes his element of choice as a Neo Vision when in Brave Shift.
- Light 'em Up: Once treated as his main element and theme, but Dark Spirit Sol as an unit confirms that Dark fits him better.
- Light Is Not Good: A villain with light-based powers and an immunity to the light element. Subverted in that before he was trapped in the crystal, he was one of the nicest Sages, and wanted to use Visions to help people.
- Madden Into Misanthropy: It's mentioned that, prior to being sealed in a crystal, that Sol was a big fan of humanity and even tried to figure out how to use the powers of the crystals to help humanity. Sol has left behind any such pretenses in the present. He reveals that it was the cries of Hess's people that remained in Paladia that eventually drove him mad, as he could hear them over the past 700 years. It's also shown in his event, "Afterglow" - once the crystal heart is implanted in him, he ceases to hold back on his power when attacking the people who've captured him, and he steadily grows more distant even from the people he knows cares about him and that he trusts.
- Mercy Kill: His plan to destroy Paladia is partly to end the people of Hess's suffering under Aldore's control.
- Named Weapons: His Astral Rod, Heliarc's old rod, and also his Neo Vision unit's STMR.
- Playing with Fire: One of his alternative elements as a Vision.
- Pre-Insanity Reveal: He's given a side story where his background as an Aldoran scientist was revealed.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Notably, in Season 2, he's the beneficiary of it. Despite the fact that the only major difference between his goals and the Emperor of Aldore's is the method that they want to use to accomplish them (using a summon versus a long-dormant Weapon Monster), he's treated much more sympathetically, to the extent that Rain and company are genuinely sad when the Emperor kills Sol. There are minor hints that Sol was starting to come around to Rain's way of thinking, but even with that, he comes across as Easily Forgiven.
- Psychometry: Sol is able to sense Rain's life energy and for twice manages to correctly track him down, first as Hyoh and later in Rubiena. He also can connect to lingering memories tied to places like the ruins of Sacher to get info on what happened at those places.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: As Sol, he has glowing red, menacing eyes.
- Ship Tease: In "Afterglow," there are several hints based on how she dotes on him that Pertira, his research assistant, is in love with Heliarc, and that the feelings could be reciprocated if he only realized it. However, after the crystal heart is implanted in him, it becomes clear very quickly that nothing will come of it.
- Straw Nihilist: Sol's view on existence is that it's more or less a blight, and he plans on eliminating all of it. It's a side effect of being sealed by the Crystals, with Raegen no longer seeing any of the noble Sol he knew in the current nihilist.
- That Man Is Dead: Takes this stance towards Heliarc, helped by the fact that Sol doesn't have any of his memories or emotions anymore.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He wants to be the one to beat Rain at any cost. Including trying to kill the Emperor of Aldore so Rain will regain hope before they fight again.
- Third-Person Person: In the last part of "Afterglow", his season 2 event, one of the signs that he is no longer who he once was is that he talks about "Heliarc" in the third person, as he no longer believes that's him, due to the crystal heart having taken all of the thoughts and feelings of Heliarc from him.
- Token Evil Teammate: Joins Lasswell's party in Paladia as a mutual truce in order to find Rain.
- What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Flashbacks in Season 2 reveal that Sol has never understood emotions, not sure what to make of this strong feeling he had when others in the Eight Sages were relaxing with each other in his presence. In particular, he doesn't know what to make of the fact that he's starting to have this feeling when observing Lasswell and company.
Behemoth K.
The Dark Sage of Hess. A giant Behemoth known for his personality and intelligence despite being of a beast species. Imprisonment in the Dark Crystal hampered his thought process and made him behave like the huge beast he is, something Sol takes profit off of to advance his plans.
- All There in the Manual: Given that he's regressed to a pure bestial state, pretty much everything (including his last initial) known about him is derived from his bestiary entry. Flashbacks in season 2 round him out further.
- The Brute: He's mostly muscle for Sol, and is big on physical attacks. His Rampage attack can wipe a party that isn't prepared to tank it.
- Came Back Wrong: He used to be intelligent, but at this point he's simply a living engine of destruction.
- Dying as Yourself: When he is finally defeated in the Wandering Lands, he regains his sentience and requests the party to defeat Sol so that he can atone in death.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Was a sentient being when working for Hess, but has reverted back to his primal state of mind due to centuries inside the Dark Crystal.
- Hero Killer: While it's subject to a Gory Discretion Shot, he's the one who kills Folka and Citra after their respective Heel-Face Turns.
- Implacable Man: It says something when Sol sets him on the heroes as his personal juggernaut.
- Nice Guy: When sane, he has quite the amicable personality despite being a huge Behemoth.
- Not So Above It All: In the Season 2 flashback where it shows the last meeting that the Eight Sages had with Yuraisha, the Mother of Hess, he is more than willing to let Fina (and then Dark Elf) fluff up his fur, which by all accounts makes him significantly less threatening, right before a major battle. He explains that he worries that they may all die in the coming battle; he figures that he should indulge his comrades in something that gives them joy before potentially facing their deaths.
Rowen
Yuraisha's son and the Ice Sage of Hess, and also Lasswell's biological father. He and Raegen were raised together as brothers by Yuraisha, becoming Best Friends and rivals. Rowen willingly agreed to being sealed in crystal by Raegen during the Independence War; he was trapped in the Ice Crystal and released by Raegen long before the events of the game, losing only his memories and abilities as a price for being sealed. He is long dead by the time the game starts, leaving an orphaned baby Lasswell to be raised by Raegen.
- Badass Decay: In-Universe; one of the side effects of being trapped in a crystal so long was that he lost all his power. Prior to that, he was on par with Raegen, being roughly tied in their sparring matches. In other words, he's on par with the Veritas of the Dark.
- Call to Agriculture: Most notably, when Raegen finds a way to restore both Rowen's memories and powers, Rowen declines it and decides he'd rather be a farmer and raise a family.
- A Day in the Limelight: Knight of the Blue Sky Lasswell's banner came with Rowen's Story Event, depicting his life as a whole.
- Heroic Lineage: Due to his bloodline descending from Levonian Omega Slayer Yshe.
- An Ice Person: Wielded Ice just like his child.
- I Let You Win: Loses to Raegen on purpose during their duel because he believed in Raegen's plan to force the Emperor of Aldore to allow Hess its independence. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, but Raegen honors his deal with Rowen and gives his sword to his son, Lasswell.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Lost all of his powers and memories upon being freed from the crystal.
- Last Stand: Rowen throws all he has against a horde of monsters (including a particularly strong dragon) to protect Yona and Lasswell. He manages to defeat almost all of them, but gets attacked by a last pair of Zuus and Raegen arrives too late to save his life. Not only that; Yona was already pretty injured from the monster attack and would die days later, effectively leaving Lasswell an orphan.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: He's Lasswell's biological father.
- Magic Knight: His vision plays like this, specializing in katana use while most of his attacks are based off his magic stat. They still count as physical attacks, however, for purposes of buffs (such as killers and elemental imbues). This actually makes him difficult to use, as almost all of the weapons that he can equip that improve magic are either TMRs or STMRs, and he can't equip most of the weapons that improve magic without materia.
- Posthumous Character: Died sometime after Lasswell's birth, while he was still a newborn.
- Refusal of the Call: Rowen does this twice. First, when Raegen finds the Sacred Vessel of Paladia to restore Rowen's former self, he refuses it, saying he'd rather live without his memories and skills and become a farmer with a family. Rowen eventually gets his memories back once he's holding the newborn Lasswell in his arms, and realizes he doesn't want to let go of the life he's made with Yona, keeping his recovery a secret from Raegen until his last moments, when he tells it to his adoptive brother.
- The Rival: He was this for Raegen since childhood. Both even kept count of their fighting score.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Was the heir to the throne of Hess and a sage both.
- Shipper on Deck: He's the one who suggests Raegen to court Sophia.
- Walking Spoiler: Barely alluded to in Season 1, he's described in detail in the Crystallis chapter of Season 2, being himself tied in multiple ways to the main cast.
Fina
The Earth Sage of Hess. See the Main Characters page for more info on her.Amnelis
The Lightning Sage of Hess. See this page for information on her.
