As with many character pages, some spoilers will be unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
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Party Members
Ryudo
Ryudo
"These guys were no real challenge!"
Voiced by: Showtaro Morikubo (Japanese) and Cam Clarke (English)
The main protagonist of the game and a Geohound, a vagrant willing to do any job for gold, along with his partner Skye. Originally hired to escort Elena to Garmia Tower (a job outside of his normal duties), Ryudo stays on as her bodyguard during her pilgrimage to see the Pope.
- All of the Other Reindeer:
- Ryudo is a pariah in his native town of Garlan, where he was scapegoated for a massacre apparently caused by a Horns of Valmar-possessed Melfice, and basically ran out of town.
- The whole world (particularly followers of Granas) is openly prejudiced against Geohounds. It's never really explained why, save for the implication that Geohounds have the reputation of accepting all kinds of dirty work.
- All a Part of the Job: Uses this to explain some of his actions a lot in the beginning. It frustrates Elena quite a bit.
- Adventure Duo: With Skye.
- Being Personal Isn't Professional: His first client all but spits in his face during the prologue, so you can see why Ryudo acts all-business.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Elena, right off the bat.
- Berserk Button:
- Unapologetically acts like a total Jerkass to everyone, especially Elena. However, when the life of a little girl possessed by the Eyes of Valmar is threatened, he gets pissed. Especially when said girl's own mother begs him to "put her out of her misery".
- To a lesser extent, there's religion and women. At the very least, they annoy the living crap out of him, and he tends to be extremely impatient regarding either one. He gets over this during the course of the game, though.
- Book Dumb:St. Heim holy Text: Does not the light of the sun shine even now? Does not the land await the return of its True God? May the light come quickly.
Ryudo: Does not Ryudo tire of this? Does not he want to put his fist through this book? May his suffering end quickly. - Broken Pedestal: Witnessed a double-whammy when Melfice stole a sacred sword from Grail Mountain and used it to murder his girlfriend Reena, thinking lust for power corrupted his soul, unaware of the Horns of Valmar possessing him.
- Captain Crash: Hardly his own fault, though. The Skyway is torn apart by an evil wind from Valmar's Moon, and the Granasaber lacks the fuel to make a soft landing.
- Chest Insignia: A butterfly. The significance of it isn't explained, it's just there.
- Child Hater: A vocal one, though he warms up to Roan. A turning point for him occurs when Selene arrives to burn Aira at the stake; Ryudo sides with the girl against the entire town, including some of his teammates.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: Ryudo acts more or less asexual throughout the game, unlike the horny adolescent Justin. It takes some prodding, but he eventually does succumb to Millenia's advances.
- Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: Ryudo is about as far away from Justin as a character can get, especially at the beginning of the game.
- Justin is a 14-year-old Kid Hero with no idea how the world works; Ryudo is an adult who has been wandering around working with a lot of experience in dealing with problems.
- Justin starts Grandia 1 as a brat with no real fighting experience who's way out of his depth with the Garlyle army opposing him, Ryudo is Master Swordsman from a island that trains its men as warriors from birth.
- Ryudo starts Grandia 2 as a Child Hater, while Justin's closest friend and first party member is 8-year-old Sue.
- Justin always sees the good in people that risks himself for others without thinking, where Ryudo assumes the worst from everyone he meets, treating everyone with anger and suspicion.
- Justin's Love Interest Feena is a much stronger fighter, experienced at traveling, and grounded in reality than he is when they first meet to the point where she has to reign in his naïve impulse decisions at times, while Ryudo and Elena have the exact opposite dynamic.
- Justin has a tendency to get distracted by anyone who may need his help on his way to Alent that causes multiple detours that have little to do with the party's main objective, to the point where he's oblivious to someone taking advantage of him or tricking him. Ryudo hates dealing with any kind of distraction on the way to his goals and is quick to get hostile when any member of the party suggests a detour, and to his frustration ends up roped into other people's problems despite his best attempts at avoiding it when said problems happen to impede the party's progress.
- Justin starts off only caring about adventure and seeing all there is to see in the world, while Ryudo is Only in It for the Money and doesn't give a shit about anything else.
- Justin is generally good natured and sincere to everyone to the point where sometimes it takes him a bit to figure out if someone is making fun of him to realize it or will be overly cheery and encouraging to NPCs with almost no instances of snark in the entirety of his own game, while Ryudo is a sarcastic asshole who will regularly make sarcastic comments or throw fighting words at NPCs or even his own party members. In Justin's place, Elena is usually the one to not realize Ryudo is making fun of her.
- Justin is well loved in his own hometown (despite being a bit of a troublemaker and wild child), Ryudo's blames him for running away when Melfice butchered a good portion of the island's warriors. Also Justin has a loving family with his mother Lily and Sue's family, Ryudo's is mostly dead and his brother is a major antagonist.
- Justin's Sword of Plot Advancement is a gift from the good spirits of nature that love and sustain the world, Ryudo's is a a piece of a man-made Body Horror evil destroyer deity that he forced into becoming a new Granasaber through his Heroic Willpower.
- Ryudo's relationship with his love interests in the ending is somewhat left up in the air and to the audience's interpretation, while in Justin's case there's absolutely no question what him and Feena were doing in the 10-year time skip after the defeat of the final boss.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Not only did Ryudo relinquish his ancestral duty to watch over Garlan, he traveled to the opposite side of the globe. Melfice is ultimately responsible for this, running away after killing Reena while also taking the village's sacred sword with him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Par excellence. Always count on Ryudo to put the damper on tender moments between his teammates.
- Determinator: In the hellacious aftermath of Mareg's death.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": Does not respond well to being called "son" or "sir", and insists on being referred to by first name only. Only Roan gets away with calling him "Mister Ryudo", but then the kid attaches a suffix to everybody.
- Everyone Can See It: Skye immediately picks up on his unspoken feelings for Elena, and Roan soon ribs him about this, particularly when she briefly leaves the party in St. Heim. When she rejoins, Ryudo pretends he doesn't care one way or the other, but his Freudian Slips say otherwise. The same goes for Millenia, which includes Elena.
- Evil Hand: The Horns of Valmar. He very nearly cleaves Elena in two. In the end this turns out to be a good thing, as possessing the Horns of Valmar (and, with great difficulty, sealing them into controllable form) leaves Zera one MacGuffin short of the full set when tries to absorb all the parts of Valmar.
- Facepalm: One of his more frequent expression portraits.
- Good is Not Nice: Ryudo has had to develop a hard shell to survive.
- The Hero: And a rather anti-heroic one.
- I Gave My Word: Always sees his job through, no matter what. This later becomes Ryudo's pretext for behaving like a do-gooder all of a sudden (that and falling in love).
- I Have No Son!: Ryudo explicitly says that as far as he's concerned, Melfice is no brother of his.
- I Work Alone: "I work best alone." So much for that.
- Inconsistent Coloring: His eyes are either green, blue, or brown, depending on which art is referenced. His in-game model has blue eyes, but his portraits' are green.
- Jack of All Stats: His stats are high all-around with a slight edge towards Attack.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Starts off as a jerkass who only sees Elena as a client to protect for money, who has a devil-may-care attitude, is a foul-mouthed jerk who seems to be Only in It for the Money but becomes much nicer as the game progresses. It is later revealed, however, that his snarky attitude is a coping mechanism of a Stepford Snarker and his way to deal with low public opinion of his job, as well as his Dark and Troubled Past.
- Knight in Sour Armor: Seemingly everybody on the planet annoys him for some reason or another.
- Leaving You to Find Myself: In the game's ending, he leaves both of his admirers hanging. He did it to hide the Granasaber, since the world no longer needs its power.
- Lightning Bruiser: Will become one.
- Love Confession: Millenia puts him on the spot and he gives one to her, but because he confesses he's just as in love with Elena as her and he can't choose one over the other it goes about as well as you would expect. But it also turns out its mostly because Elena's plan to save him will probably get him killed instead, and Millenia is desperate to find a way to steal him from Elena to stop that from happening.
- Love Epiphany: He has his at the same time as Millenia does after she and Elena dive into his mind to save his life and becomes fairly open about his feelings for the two of them. Unfortunately, Elena by that point is still in denial and lying to him out of devotion to her faith which leads to her unintentionally causing all of the problems in the last half of the game.
- Magic Knight: Hits reasonably hard with his blade. While he is inferior as a mage to Roan and Millenia, his Magic is still quite high.
- Nay-Theist: One explanation for the anathema toward Geohounds is that they're considered a blasphemous profession. For his part, Ryudo has little patience for faith of any kind.
- No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Averted with regards to Millenia. It's not that he dislikes her advances, it's that he doesn't notice them.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Until Elena's influence rubs off on him. Though he starts out by divorcing himself from the world, Ryudo gradually develops into a noble character who is sick of seeing people suffer.
- Odd Couple: With Elena.
- Oh, My Gods!: Ryudo actually exclaims "Oh for the love of Granas" at one point, though it's done ironically. He later yells "Thank the blade!" when Elena survives the Skyway crash, and "By the blood!" during his argument with Selene, both times with sincerity.
- Parental Substitute: Ryudo and Melfice were orphaned as children and raised by the village elder. When Melfice razed the town, it caused the chief and his wife to disown Ryudo and thus defying this trope.
- Polyamory: The ending heavily implies that Elena and Millenia are sharing him.
- Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Ryudo gets one when Cyrum is overrun by demons. Having endured a trip to the moon, the deaths of two of his buddies, and a rough landing, he's not in a great mood at the moment.Ryudo: (to Roan) You might want to start a bonfire, though. Going to be a lot of bodies when I'm done.
- Resigned to the Call: He keep getting roped into bigger and bigger jobs. He was first contacted by Father Carius to oversee a ritual at Garlam Tower — that's all. This escalates to accompanying Elena to see the Pope, who then railroads him into finding Granas' sword.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Elena is frequently mistaken for his ladyfriend, causing no end of embarrassment for both.
- Shock and Awe: Purple Lightning.
- Stepford Snarker: There is quite a reservoir of righteous anger buried inside Ryudo, but it takes him an eternity to show it.
- Sword Beam: How he dispels the Darkness and weakens Valmar.
- Sword Plant: His Victory Pose, and also his Sky Dragon Slash move.
- Too Many Belts: He almost squeaks by, seeing as two of them are attached to his knapsack. But the boots put him over the top.
- Tsundere: A male example, especially towards Elena.
- Unwitting Pawn: Ryudo was sent to find the Granasaber not for the sword itself, but to unseal the Body of Valmar.
- UST: With Elena and Millenia.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Skye.
- Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: With Elena at first; they eventually get past this.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Ryudo tracking his hated brother back to Garlan Island. The villagers don't exactly throw a ticker tape parade for him, let's just leave it at that. He returns home in the epilogue to lay his brother to rest, implying that he's finally been welcomed back.
Skye
Voiced by: Yukitoshi Hori (Japanese) and Paul Eiding (English)
A talking falcon who took it upon himself to accompany Ryudo three years ago. At 58 years old, Skye is ironically something of a paternal figure to the hotheaded Geohound. He knows more about Ryudo than anyone else in the group.
- Assist Character: Ryudo's "Flying Tenseiken" as Skye come in and grab the enemy before dropping them from a great height.
- Non-Human Sidekick: Ryudo makes use of him in one of his special attacks.
- Older Sidekick: Skye's a senior citizen. Show some respect.
- Parrot Pet Position: Skye usually rests on Ryudo's shoulder, even indoors. In open field areas, he takes off into the air to scout around.
- This Is My Human: Skye's the voice of reason keeping Ryudo in line. Shifted to Millenia in the ending. Somebody's gotta hold her leash, after all.
- Throwing the Distraction: In the opening scene, Skye drops a lit bomb to lure a pack of mooks away from their money.
Elena
"I pray that we shall be safe ahead."
Voiced by: Hiroko Konishi (Japanese) and Jennifer Hale (English)
A songstress of Granas, Elena is the sole survivor of a ceremony to reinforce the seal on the evil god Valmar in Garmia Tower. When the ceremony fails, Elena is infected by a Fragment of Valmar. Her only hope lies in journeying to St. Heim and meeting with Pope Zera. Ryudo is thus hired to escort her. Though kind and a beauty, her unquestioning faith and optimism initially grate on the jaded Ryudo. However, as the plot progresses, the two begin to influence each other’s perspectives.
- Arsenal Attire: It's a blink and you'll miss it moment, but for her Impact Bomb special, Elena actually takes an orb off of her sash to hurl at her target.
- Betty and Veronica: The Betty to Millenia's Veronica
- Big Eater: Only Mareg rivals her in appetite. Once Ryudo points this out, she's careful not to overeat again in public; but that doesn't stop Ryudo from ribbing her about it constantly.
- Big Damn Kiss: Gives one to Ryudo at the Birthplace of the God when he goes on to unseal the Horns of Valmar that he absorbed.
- Bodyguard Crush: Ryudo may act like a boor, but it's clear by the end that he would rather keep traveling with Elena.
- Break the Cutie: She's a sweet, plucky teenage girl who wants nothing more than to help people and make the world a better place, so naturally all of her friends are slaughtered by the devil, she's possessed, every town she visits is suffering in some way, she has to absorb the souls of anyone else possessed by Valmar so that the pope can kill her and destroy the devil once and for all, including the soul of an innocent child and then her love interest becomes possessed as well. Despite obviously taking its toll, she manages to hold on through all of this, but once it's revealed that Granas is dead, her life is a lie, and she's actually been tricked into reviving Valmar, she has an understandable breakdown. She gets better in time for the finale, with some help from Ryudo.
- Broken Pedestal: She's horrified to find that High Priestess Selene's methods of "purification" are little more than burning to death anyone she suspects of being evil, with or without any real evidence. A more horrific one occurs later, when she learns that Granas is dead and the pope himself is serving Valmar.
- Catapult Nightmare: She sits up in horror after dreaming about being eaten by a mysterious "tongue
". - Chronic Hero Syndrome: Much of the game's missions could be sidetracks if Elena would only keep her gob shut.Tio: Songstress? What is a songstress?
Ryudo: Someone who meddles in the affairs of others without considering the consequences. - Combat Medic: Elena looks like a squishy healbot, (especially with "Droplets of Life") but half of her arsenal is centered around offense and Light attacks. Clocking baddies with her staff is more of a viable option than you'd expect.
- Cooldown Hug: Tries to give one to Aira when the latter has a breakdown over the villagers and her own mother calling her a monster.
- Damsel in Distress: Upon the party's return to St. Heim, the Pope abducts her to Valmar's Moon. Zera isn't interested in Elena, herself, but rather the piece of Valmar hiding inside of her.
- Forced Sleep: One of her special moves, Nightmare Ball, casts sleep on the enemy while also doing decent damage.
- Gollum Made Me Do It: Elena becomes aware of her split-personality after the team gets separated in the Skyway crash. Though they start off hating each other, the duo eventually form a grudging alliance.
- Good Shepherd: Elena may be just a middling Songstress, but she's the hardest-working evangelist in the entire Church.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: In the ending, she gains a pair of Angel wings in contrast with Elena's bat wings.
- Holy Hand Grenade: White Apocalypse, her ultimate attack. During the attack, a tremendous amount of divine power gathers into one place from all over the planet into a fixed location. Elena then puts her hands together in prayer and the divine energy is unleashed in a single beam that shoots into outer space, obliterating her enemies. Her starting move, Impact Bomb, is a weaker but more literal version, being described in-game as a "ball of light (that) pounds the enemy".
- Hidden Buxom: She does share her body with Millenia after all, so her minstrel outfit at the end shows of she's just as stacked.
- Idiot Ball: Both Ryudo and Millenia point out her plan to die and hope Pope Zera doesn't find out about the Horns in Ryudo is really stupid, though Ryudo doesn't blame her afterwards since it's obvious Zera manipulated her by using her religious views and fear to push her into a corner.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She desperately tries to be this, and there may be some truth to it, as unlike most of Valmar's other hosts, she is virtually unchanged by her possession, nor does it affect those around her, and she is apparently the only member of the clergy to learn of Granas's death and not (completely) give in to despair or join Valmar.
- The Ingenue: Young, beautiful, and tries her best to help everyone, and sometimes it leaves her vulnerable to attacks.
- It's All My Fault: Blames herself for being duped into lying to Ryudo and cooperating in Valmar's revival, causing an attack of the evil god's minions on the site of the "sealing" ceremony.
- Light 'em Up: Her starting and final special moves, Impact Bomb and White Apocalypse, are light based.
- Magic Staff: Her weapons vary between ordinary staffs and ones that have certain spells built in, which she can cast without using MP while equipped with.
- The Medic: Starts with the Holy Egg, and learns a special healing move late in the game.
- Morality Chain: To Ryudo, whether he wants to admit it or not.
- Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Zig-zagged. For most of the dungeons involving pieces of Valmar, Elena cedes control to Millenia until the end of it. It's only in the final battle, after which Millenia gets her own body, that the two fight side by side with Ryudo.
- The Paladin: Subverted. Doesn't have the look, but does have the fighting style; mixing the Light element with oddly decent physical damage for her character archetype.
- Plucky Girl: After every horrific thing that happens to her, from losing all of her friends to becoming possessed to taking on a suicide mission, she puts on a brave, cheerful face and does everything in her power to help people, ever optimistic that with hard work things will turn out alright in the end.
- The Power of Rock:
- Elena's singing helps Ryudo recover from the corruption of the Horn of Valmar inside him.
- At the game's conclusion, she leads the survivor of Cyrum in singing a hymn to Granas, in defiance of Valmar's advancing troops.
- Power of Trust: When Ryudo is possessed by the Horns and attacks her, she makes no attempt to defend herself, and instead calmly closes her eyes and waits for him to either attack her or stop. Her trust is rewarded, as that act allows Ryudo to regain enough control to lose consciousness instead of going on a rampage.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Millenia's red.
- Was It All a Lie?: Elena to Pope Zera, as the latter prepares to revive Valmar using the parts that Elena has absorbed. As Zera points out, he did promise to remove Millenia from her body, so he technically kept his promise.
- You Didn't Ask: Starting from her meeting with Pope Zera, Elena's unspoken mission has been to absorb all of Valmar's parts and then allow herself to be killed. The reason she didn't tell Ryudo is because he holds the Horns of Valmar, and she cannot bring herself to kill him, too.
Millenia
Voiced by: Mai Hoshikawa (Japanese) and Jodi Benson (English)
A physical manifestation of the Wings of Valmar, which were mistakingly sealed inside Elena. Millenia also functions as the alternate personality of Elena — wild, fun-loving and violent. She takes an instant liking to Ryudo and decides to help him, though her ultimate goal is to reassemble Valmar. In the beginning, Millenia secretly takes control over Elena's body whenever she is asleep or unconscious. Over time, Elena becomes aware of her alter-ego and a psychological tug-of-war ensues.
- Act of True Love: Twice. First she refuses to kill Ryudo to get the horns against her instinct to become whole as Valmar again, and again when she ensures that Elena will escape to live with Ryudo while she's being eaten by Valmar's moon. Both of these directly lead to Zera's defeat.
- Automatic Crossbow: Her weapon of choice.
- Become a Real Boy: At first, she's just an aspect of Valmar possessing Elena's body, but right before the final boss she becomes a distinct person, marking the first and only time where she and Elena are both in your party at the same time.
- Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Elena's Betty.
- Body Snatcher: Aside from sharing a body with Elena, she absorbs the body parts of Valmar to complete it within herself.
- Bond One-Liner: Millenia upon defeating Valmar's Tongue."He appears to be a bit tongue-tied. Or is that too tongue-in-cheek?"
- Catchphrase: "I'll make you mine."
- Cleavage Window: Her jacket overlaps with her bustier to make one.
- Combat Stilettos: Literally and figuratively. She has a Limit Break attack called "Heel Crush", wherein she walks up to an enemy, uses a platform of Hard Light to lift herself over their head, then stomps upon him/her/it thrice.
- Cuddle Bug: To Roan and Ryudo, in particular.
- Dark Magical Girl: The game suggests that you play her as a perky example, as she starts with the Chaos Egg, which is full of attack magic, and she has good magical stats.
- Dark Is Not Evil: It is retroactively revealed that Millenia has been absorbing the souls of Valmar's hosts in addition to the pieces of Valmar. This explains the gradual softening of her personality as the story progresses.
- Disney Death: Even though she gets devoured alive by Valmar, she comes back for the Final Boss. Possibly spoiled by the fact that you don't get an item that refunds all her Special Coins, unlike the other playable character who suffers a Plotline Death.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Millenia magically binds Ryudo to the bed and seems about to do all sorts of colorful things before they're interrupted by a knock at the door. This is well before she starts to soften up, and when later presented with a somewhat similar opportunity, she can't do it.
- Enemy Within: She and Elena share a body after the latter accidentally absorbs the Wings of Valmar.
- Evil Redhead: Yep. She's got red hair, and is a part of Valmar.
- Eviler than Thou: The mere glimpse of Millenia is enough to make Valmar's Tongue run its ass off.
- Femme Fatale
- Fiery Redhead: She's quite enthusiastic, especially when violence is involved.
- Forceful Kiss: Millenia plants one on Ryudo before abruptly reverting back to Elena — effectively killing the mood between him and her alter-ego.
- Friend to All Children: Children inexplicably seem to flock to her, Roan included.Millenia: Kids today. So much energy. All of it used for evil.
- Good Costume Switch: Parodied. Her "school" wardrobe is just as revealing and leggy as her old one, apart from a lack of visible panties. Also, her boots are painted white.
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: When she enters berserker mode, Millenia sends everyone flying backward with a kinetic discharge (friend and foe alike) and snarls "KISS OFF!!"
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Used as a gameplay mechanic. Hit her enough and she goes berserk.
- Heroic BSoD: Has one after absorbing the body of Valmar because it didn't give her the power to obtain a body separate from Elena and thus a chance to be with and protect Ryudo.
- Heroic Sacrifice: With the last of her energy, Millenia sends the party to safety moments before she's devuored by Valmar's innards.
- Hot as Hell: An aspect of an evil god who takes the form of an attractive young woman, and immediately sets her sights on Ryudo, even trying to molest him magically.
- Hot-Blooded: She's quite the shouter, even has a unique mechanic where she goes berserk after taking too many hits.
- Hot Teacher: In the epilogue. Thank Granas for Skye attempting to be her leash of sorts.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: A corset, frills, stockings, shoulderpads, stilettos, horn-shaped hair bands, transparent miniskirt, and an impossible amount of Victorian-style hair. She's either a demon or a steampunk hooker.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While the way she goes about trying to solve it is extremely questionable, she's ultimately right that Elena will never deserve Ryudo's love while she continues to lie to Ryudo and obey the church in a plan that has the potential to get Ryudo killed. Once Elena understands this after being completely broken by Zera's true nature and accepts Millenia as part of herself is when her and Ryudo actually become a couple.
- Large Ham: Jodi Benson has the time of her life chewing the scenery.
- Love Epiphany: At first her attraction to Ryudo is purely surface level and doesn't actually care that much beyond physical attraction and using him to get the missing Valmar pieces. But by the time Ryudo is possessed by the Horns, she realizes last minute when she can't bring herself to kill him to get them that she actually loves him so much that she'd give up becoming whole if it means he lives. This ends up becoming extremely important to the plot, because this single act of true love completely screws over Zera's plan to have Elena gather all the Valmar pieces for him. Because her goal is switched from eating every piece to become whole to protect and be with Ryudo at all costs, also causes Mellenia to become extremely hostile to Elena and increasingly desperate to steal Ryudo from her for most of the last half of the game because she knows that Elena's unwillingness to disobey Zera will likely get Ryudo killed.
- Love Redeems: Her attachment to Ryudo is ultimately what persuades Millenia to renounce her mission.
- The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Elena and Millenia share many a vitriolic exchange on opposites sides of a reflection.
- Matchmaker Crush: Initially encourages Elena to reveal her true feelings to Ryudo. Later on, though, it becomes a full-fledged tug of war between the two personalities, though the reason they're fighting over him is because Millenia knows Elena's devotion to Zera and her poorly thought out plan to save Ryudo will likely lead to his death anyway a than an actual love triangle. They end up implied to be sharing him in the epilogue.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's got large breasts with a cleavage window, has a transparent miniskirt that gives her a constant Panty Shot and Combat Stilettos. Along with a seductive personality to match, nearly everything about her screams fanservice.
- Morality Pet: Roan and, to a lesser extent, Ryudo.
- Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Zig-zagged. For most of the dungeons involving pieces of Valmar, Elena cedes control to Millenia until the end of it. It's only in the final battle, after which Millenia gets her own body, that the two fight side by side with Ryudo.
- Power Echoes: When calling her special attacks (each based on Valmar's body parts), her voice dips into an echo.
- Superpowered Evil Side: It could be said that Millenia is this to Elena.
- Squishy Wizard: Moreso than Elena, as she has the highest magical power in the game and lackluster attack power.
- Token Evil Teammate: Well, that tracks. Though it could be argued that she's not really all that evil...
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Valmar's Tongue discovers this to its chagrin.
- Unstoppable Rage: Millenia's "Rage System". After getting hit enough times she snaps and the player loses control over her. On the upside, she gains a massive boost in MP, SP, and stats, gets much faster than any of the other characters, and can use (and spam) practically every offensive spell available at this point in game.
- Victor Gains Loser's Powers: As Millenia absorbs pieces of Valmar, she also acquires their special moves.
- Valley Girl: Her cadences sometimes revert to this.
- Winged Humanoid: She is the Wings of Valmar, so she can gain a pair of bat wings when needed.
- You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!
Roan
"Ah, that was a breeze."
Voiced by: Tomoko Ishimura (Japanese) and B. J. Ward (English)
A bright and well-mannered young boy who is journeying with a circus troupe. He chooses to join Ryudo's party after the latter helps him retrieve a treasured medal.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: After elevating himself to the King of Cyrum, Roan leads the charge against Valmar's forces.
- An Ice Person: Two of his specials are ice-based.
- Back for the Finale: He returns to help the party after Mareg dies.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: See Took a Level in Badass below.
- I'm Taking Him Home with Me!: Millenia develops a fondness for him right away.
- Jack of All Stats: Though he sacrifices a little bit of Defence and Speed in favor of Magic and Mentality.
- King Incognito: Does this to keep his mother's medallion away from his father. In the epilogue, he plays the trope straight when he ventures out of his kingdom to visit his old friends.
- Lightning Bruiser: Eventually becomes one. His offensive and defensive capabilities marginally increase, allowing him to be an excellent frontliner.
- Magic Knight: Roan is capable of dishing out some serious damage with physical and magical attacks.
- Missing Mom: Roan's mother died when he was still young. He has a bit of a mommy complex, as exhibited by his behavior around Millenia and Tio.
- Modest Royalty: Justified, as he's trying to keep his royal blood a secret from the party. Averted once he rejoins the party near the end of the game, and he's become king of Cyrum.
- Mr. Exposition: Roan knows a lot about Silesia and shares trivia about its natives. He also spills the beans about Cyrum's secret pact with Valmar.
- Orphan's Plot Trinket: His medal, the last memento of his late mother. It turns out to be important for opening the Door of Doom under the Cyrum castle, and accessing the Birthplace of the Gods underneath the royal mausoleum.
- Tag Along Kid: The youngest of all party members.
- Took a Level in Badass: When you recruit him, he tries (and fails) to fend off a group of Troglodytes. When you re-recruit him, he stands his ground against two Young Valmars. Also reflected in his special attacks: look at his Dragon Rise and True Dragon Rise. Notice the difference?
- Wise Beyond Their Years: He's 13 and later inherits his father's throne.
- You Are in Command Now: Elevates himself to King after his father's soul is taken by Melfice.
Mareg
Hah, Hardly worthy of my notice.
Voiced by: Daisuke Gōri (Japanese) and Peter Lurie (English)
The biggest, fiercest, and most respected warrior of his clan. After his home was attacked by Melfice, Mareg set out from his island village to hunt him down. Though merciless toward his opponents, Mareg is soft-hearted and genial toward strangers.
- Attack Hello: Introduces himself to Ryudo in this manner, having mistook him for his brother.
- Badass Armfold
- Big Eater: While the other characters are shown having a loaf of bread during the dinner conversations, he has a plate full of large pieces of meat.
- The Big Guy: We don't meet the rest of his clan until late in the game. Even by beastman standards, though, he's really big.
- Big Guy Fatality Syndrome: He dies on Valmar's Moon fighting against Valmar's minions.
- Blood from the Mouth: During his Heroic Sacrifice, while he prays for his friends' safety.
- Blood Oath: Swore to avenge his village's destrution at the hands of Melfice.
- Bruiser with a Soft Center: Beneath that smelly exterior, Mareg is a soft-spoken and contemplative guy.
- Defeat Means Playable: Briefly mistakes Ryudo for his brother, as they share the same SMELL.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Sacrifices himself to distract Valmar's minions and give the rest of the party enough time to escape Valmar's Moon.
- Magically Inept Fighter: He has the lowest magic stat of any party member.
- Mighty Glacier: He's the slowest and strongest of the party members.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Mareg's sense of SMELL, which is always in capital letters.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Against Ryudo's protests, Mareg scoops Tio up in her arms and runs out of the exploding robot facility with her.
- The Nose Knows: His sense of smell is what allows the party to find Melfice.
- Obi-Wan Moment: Gives his first and final prayer to Granas, which seemingly charges up the Granasaber and flies the party to safety. Down on the ground, Mareg spreads his arms and is swarmed by Valmar's spawn, who devour him.
- Odd Friendship: With Tio.
- Prepare to Die: Mareg, when he finally catches up to Melfice.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Stuck in a perpetual one directed at Melfice. It doesn't matter how tranquil Mareg happens to be at the moment; one whiff of Melfice's SMELL and he goes apeshit.
- Sacrificial Lion: His death was vital to Tio's character development.
- Shipper on Deck: When Mareg returns to camp after fetching water, Ryudo asks what took him so long."The path we followed wrapped upon itself as a many-coiled serpent, its course at once circuitous and labyrinthine." (Translation: He got lost on purpose to let Ryudo and Elena have some time alone.)
- Warrior Poet
- You Shall Not Pass!: How he goes out, he pulls off Last Stand to buy Ryudo, Elena, and Tio time to escape from Valmar's Moon.
- Zombie Advocate: To Tio.
Tio
You picked on the wrong people.
Voiced by: Junko Iwao (Japanese) and Kim Mai Guest (English)
An automaton from the time of the war between Granas and Valmar. Tio is programmed to serve the Army of Darkness, but with her master long dead, she finds that she cannot act without orders. Mareg, who is mistakingly designated as her new "Master", encourages Tio to serve her own ends and discover her feelings.
- Blow You Away: Her special move Tornado.
- Catchphrase: "I do not understand." [tilts head]
- Chainmail Bikini: While possessed by the Claws of Valmar.
- Do-Anything Robot: Her automata nature allows her power over any Granas-era technology, including scanning the memories of older, dismantled automatas.
- Defeat Means Playable: Melfice sics her on the party in order to buy himself some time to escape.
- Emotionless Girl: She's an automaton and thus she doesn't have them initially.
- Extreme Doormat: At first she is this, always asking for commands from others and she'll obey with no hesitation. In fact, she tags along with the party simply because she doesn't know what to do on her own.
- First-Name Basis: Following an extended period of calling him "Master", Tio accepts Mareg's first name. This happens as a result of Mareg declaring Tio to be her own master.
- Fragile Speedster: She is very fast, but has low defenses.
- Hospital Hottie In the epilogue. This is even lampshaded in the game; Tio is very popular with the local men.
- I Do Not Drink Wine: Does not require "foreign substances", and drinks only water at mealtime. If you look carefully, she mimics chugging her water and slamming it on the table like Mareg does with his grog.
- Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: Mareg sacrifices himself to get the party off the Moon of Valmar. After trying to teach Tio what freedom and emotions are, it takes his death to actually give her emotions and free will.
- Item Caddy: The best candidate for this role.
- Not So Stoic: Tio has quite a few of these moments, particularly after the loss of Mareg.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The Claws of Valmar first appear in a miniaturized form, munching on her head to form a "helmet" of sorts. It is apparently trying to possess her without much success. However, it can control Tio to the extent of making her hostile.
- Rings of Death: Her weapon is a pair of chakrams.
- Robot Names: Her name is derived from her serial number, TIO-124.
- Robo Speak: When casting magic spells, she says out a color of the respective spell followed by some numbers.
- Robosexual: Hinted at toward Mareg, though it goes reciprocated.
- Sixth Ranger: Replaces the empty slot left by Roan, after he leaves to govern Cyrum as its King. And then when he returns, she sticks around and takes over Mareg's spot
- The Stoic: At first she is this, thinking that she has no purpose but to obey others, but grows out of it by the end.
- Tears from a Stone: Tio weeps with joy at having saved Roan in the game's ending.
- What Is This Feeling?: Notes with a serene expression that there was an "increase in heat production" (basically, she was feeling the warm glow of happiness) after her conversation with Mareg in Nanan.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Do robots have a heart? Mareg says they assuredly do.
Villains
Melfice
Voiced by: Isshin Chiba (Japanese) and John Cygan (English)
The initial antagonist of the game. Once a promising swordsman, Melfice unexpectedly went mad and became a bloodthirsty killer. His only family is Ryudo, who believes him to be dead.
- Almost Dead Guy: Gives clues to the Granasaber's location with his dying breath.
- Aloof Big Brother
- Blood from the Mouth: After being defeated on Grail Mountain.
- Blood Knight: Melfice lives for two things: to free Valmar from his seals, and to destroy everything within view.
- Card-Carrying Villain: "Hope"? "Justice"? Psshaw!
- Cursed with Awesome: He is the bearer of the Horns of Valmar.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Aside from the body parts of Valmar, Melfice is the first climactic boss you face.
- Duel Boss: Played with, the boss fight against him has all the party members with you, however the Steam re-release has an achievement where only Ryudo must deal damage to him, making it this.
- Dying as Yourself: Breaks free from the Horns of Valmar's influence once defeated.
- Evil Laugh: Laughs constantly during combat.
- No-One Could Have Survived That: As told in flashback, Melfice seemingly died when the Grail Mountain shrine collapsed from under him. Ryudo isn't even aware he survived until Mareg shows up, out for blood.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: With a name like Melfice, one would not expect a good guy. Mareg lampshades this at one point, saying that "Even his name smells like evil".
- The Paragon Always Rebels: He was considered the best swordsman ever produced by the Garlan warriors. At least until the Horns of Valmar possessed him.
- One-Handed Zweihänder: Carries what looks like a two-handed greatsword but with one hand.
- Psychotic Smirk: Glued to his face.
- Sinister Silhouettes: Melfice appears as this in his introductory cutscene.
- Turns Red: Defeating his other components (Sword, Regenerator) causes Melfice to cut loose with Evil Horn.
- Unholy Holy Sword: Melfice's sword. It even behaves as an independent enemy in a fight.
- Would Hurt a Child: One of the graves in Garlan village belongs to Melfice's very own Tagalong Kid. He struck her down "without hesitation."
Selene
Voiced by: Misa Watanabe (Japanese) and Kim Mai Guest (English)
A High Priestess of Granas and the church's lead inquisitor. At first appearing cooperative and helpful, she soon reveals himself to be blood-thirsty and slightly insane, cordoning off Mirumu and later threatening to burn the village for harboring evil. After a time the characters learn that to get anything out of the Church it's much wiser to go through her boss, Pope Zera. Selene is constantly accompanied by her Cathedral Knights, a ruthless brigade of soldiers who do the Lord's work.
- The Baroness: Selene sits on the right hand of Pope Zera, and frequently embarrasses him with her antics.
- Black Blood: For some reason, her blood is bright blue when she uses it to summon Valmar's body and heart, but an FMV shows it as red.
- Black-and-White Insanity: Selene travels through the world, accompanied by a battalion of knights, to purify the world of ambiguously-termed "darkness." (Essentially a Witch Hunt.) Selene is also bloodthirsty, expressing disappointment at not having been able to carry out the burning of Mirumu or participate in the St. Heim bloodbath.
- Blood Magic: Selene slits her wrist as an offering to Valmar, releasing the Granas Seal on his body. Despite seemingly losing a few pints, she walks it off. She also boots one of her Knights into the pit to hurry Valmar along.
- Bloody Murder: Valmar's Heart has a special attack (Black Fog Spew) in which it twirls around while gushing blood from its open "arteries".
- Burn the Witch!: Her job is to root out darkness, even if it means cordoning off an entire village and breaking out the torches.
- Church Militant: Among the church parishioners, she is nicknamed "The Hammer of Granas".
- Combat Stilettos: What is the lead inquisitor dong wearing high heeled boots, anyway?
- A satirical churchgoer can be found in St. Heim: one of Selene's groupies, turning red at the thought of her 'chastising' him.
- Dissonant Serenity: Selene carries out her duties with steely determination and a creepy, fixed smile.
- The Dragon: To Pope Zera.
- Final Solution: During the St. Heim massacre she reveals it was not by her order, "unfortunately", that her Knights turned their swords on the citizenry. She laments the people praying in the Cathedral like rats on a sinking ship, and explains death as the way to end suffering.
- The Fundamentalist: Selene is a devoted individual, ready to do anything to appease the Church. She is even prepared to sacrifice her own life, calling it nothing more than a "sad test."
- Fusion Dance: Leaps from a high perch onto the upturned swords of the Cathedral Knights. Cut to a Gory Discretion Shot of blood seeping down from the staircase, followed by the guardsmen becoming a repugnant, writhing mass that turns into Valmar's Heart.
- Hanging Judge: Known for her tough stance on heresy.
- Hime Cut: The hairstyle looks the part of the trope and is a priestess besides but she too insane to carry the associated character traits.
- Hitler Cam: Selene delivers her last sermon on a podium overlooking St. Heim, watching as her troops hack the citizens to pieces.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Of her volition, in order to become the Heart of Valmar.
- Lady of War: As leader of the Cathedral Knights, she traverses the globe in order to purify it for Granas' arrival.
- Light Is Not Good: She's a devout of Granas... however she doesn't shy away from resorting to genocide to purify a village.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Her boss form resembles a giant piranha fish, with fang-covered ventricles for a mouth and broadswords for fins.
- Motive Rant: Selene gives one before transforming into Valmar's Heart.
- Obstructive Zealot: Selene only spares Mirumu because the people begin to wake from their sleep. She reports back to Zera and is publicly denounced, though it's doubtful Zera actually gave a toss about the village and was merely keeping up appearances.
- Perpetual Smiler: Note than unlike the game's other, more animated characters, Selene's change of expression is barely perceptible. This is not an accident: Her idea of showing anger is, literally, slightly narrowing her eyes and smiling a centimer wider.
- "Psycho" Strings: Her theme music, which can be heard at the end of "The Broken Seal". (OST)
- Sound-Only Death
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: She seems to be this at first, "purifying" people for their own good, but in her final moments it becomes apparent that she has no particular goodwill toward humanity.
- We Will Meet Again: Selene promises she "shall not forget" Ryudo after he puts a damper on her mother-and-daughter barbecue. However, she only makes three more appearances in total.
Valmar
Valmar and his hosts
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The Body of Valmar.
- Beat Still, My Heart: The Heart of Valmar, naturally.
- Big Eater: The Tongue of Valmar and its host, no surprise there.
- The Corruption: Anyone who comes in contact with a part of Valmar's body will be corrupted by it.
- Creepy Child: Aira, who fittingly has an Ironic Nursery Rhyme.
- One-Winged Angel: Each of Valmar's hosts will turn into a giant monster to fight the party.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The Claw of Valmar.
- Sealed Evil in a Six Pack: After the battle against Granas, pieces of Valmar's body were spread around the world and sealed away.
- Spikes of Villainy: Or, rather, Horns of Villainy.
- Villainous Glutton: Gadan, who's possessed by Valmar's Tongue.
Supporting Characters
Pope Zera (SPOILERS)
Pope Zera Innocentius
Voiced by: Osamu Saka (Japanese) and Richard Doyle (English)
- After-Action Villain Analysis: Defied by Millenia, cutting off Elena's soliloquy to announce Zera is "just a FOOL!"
- Beneath the Mask: He's very convincing in the role of a kind-hearted philanthropist. When he chides Selene for her overzealousness, you almost believe he's the sane one.
- Big Bad: Hiding under the veneer of a Big Good.
- Dark Messiah: Foreshadowed by his popular nickname, "The Priest Who Will Save the World".
- Drunk on the Dark Side: He goes absolutely bananas after spilling his plan to Elena. It really is something to watch.
- Faith–Heel Turn: To hear him tell it, Zera spent years staring up at Valmar's Moon from his cell at Granas Cathedral, alone in his knowledge that the church is a sham and there's no deity coming to save them all.
- False Prophet: Pope Zera Innocentus is the leader of the Church of Granas, and viewed by many to be the wisest and most powerful leader the church has had. With monsters on the rise and apparent curses appearing across the land, the people have turned to him to lead them lit of these dark times. In point of fact, Pope Zera and his subordinates are the one causing the curses and monsters because he knows his god Granas is dead, and he wants to revive, then later become, Valmar because humanity needs a god to serve.
- Fat Bastard: His final boss form has animated jowls.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Arguably given that learning the truth about the Battle of Good and Evil saw him not only turn against his god, but actively trying to revive this world's devil and fuse with it.
- Godhood Seeker: This is his goal, to reunite Valmar and be reborn as Valmar's Will.
- High Collar of Doom
- Immortality Immorality: With the Day of Darkness fast approaching, Zera panicked and cashed in his chips with Valmar, in a bid to merge with 'God' himself. The rest of the world will just be destroyed.
- The Man Behind the Man: Admits to originally hiring Melfice to find the Granasaber first.
- Meet the New Boss:
- To General Baal from the first game. Both are introduced as benevolent (if somewhat shady) father-figures to their two favorite subordinates, and promptly transform into hammy villains the moment their jig is up. Their ultimate goals are also pretty similar: Baal wants to merge with Gaia, essentially ascending to godhood; Zera wants to merge with Valmar, becoming the closest thing to "God" that exists in the world. The main difference is that were Baal seemed to be a puppet with delusions of grandeur, Zera took on Valmar and actually came out on top. This is reflected in Baal bullying the party right before the true final boss, whereas Zera is the final boss.
- There is another, subtler comparison. After plowing through Zera's various boss forms, the final bout is... a big moth wearing Zera's face. He continues to trash-talk you throughout the fight (GOD IS OMNIPOTENT!), despite obviously being at a disadvantage. When Baal completely loses his human form, he confronts you as a big monster; he shrivels up into a small worm once defeated, squealing about his 'superiority' before scurrying off.
- Misanthrope Supreme: By this point, he's become so cynical that he scorns mankind for buying into his giant scam religion.
- Shut Up, Kirk!:"Insolence... power of the human heart, indeed! I spit upon your feeble strength."
- Sinister Minister: Taking mass, and kicking ass.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Zera goes even further (if that's possible) off the deep end when you defeat Valmar's Core a second time. He decides that if the age of gods is over, then there's no need for man — and without any need for man, there is no need for the world.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Elicits this from Elena following his defeat. (Millenia is less understanding.)
- Villainous BSoD: When Zera finds he cannot reconcile his supposed "godhood" with his ultimate defeat by the heroes, he spends his last moments quietly lamenting his flawed humanity."Was it Valmar's Moon that led me to this cold, dead place? Or was it always...only...me?"
- We Can Rule Together: Of all the people opposing Valmar's revival, Zera wasn't expecting any complaints from Millenia, of all people. He reminds Millenia that this is "unbecoming" behavior for a demon, especially since they're about to rule the world together. Her rejoinder is one for the ages.Millenia: I don't wanna!
Lord Granas
The setting's God, who led humanity into an age of peace and advancement until his fateful battle against Valmar.
- God Is Dead: Despite what the scriptures say, he was killed during the Battle of Good and Evil, while Valmar survived.
Carro
- Fetch Quest: Carro's only involvement in the game is getting you to collect Poff Nuts for it.
- Light 'em Up: Literally. When given three Poff Nuts, its tail lights up and you use it as a flashlight.
- Series Mascot: It's even the picture on the save file.
Gatta
Voiced by: Tamotsu Nishiwaki (Japanese) and Peter Lurie (English)
Ryudo's former childhood friend and training partner. Like many in Garlan, he initially treats Ryudo with hostility due to the events of the past, but in his case it's out of a belief that things would have been better if Ryudo stuck around and they had dealt with Melfice together.- Calling the Old Man Out: After Melfice's death and Ryudo's possession by the Horns, he calls out the Village Elder and the rest of Garlan for putting all their hope in Melfice and then trying to distance themselves from tragedy by ostracizing Ryudo rather than take responsibility for their own protection.
- We Used to Be Friends: Despite how close he and Ryudo were growing up, his anger at Ryudo running away and not immediately dealing with Melfice is comparable to everyone else in Garlan's outright hatred.
