Tales of Eternia/Characters

Reid Hershel
The Main Protagonist of the game, Reid Hershel is a simple hunter, living in the town of Rasheans, before Meredy quite literally drops into his life. Initially apathetic and irresponsible, Reid develops over time and becomes a proper hero in his own right. Though he starts with An Axe to Grind, he can also wield swords or spears, and is the primary Melee fighter of the group.

Tropes associated with Reid:


 * An Axe to Grind: Reid can use an axe, which typically has good slashing abilities but isn't as good for thrusting.
 * BFS: Some of Reid's swords are specifically referred to as large swords due to their size. They tend to be about as big as Reid himself.
 * Big Eater (This is one of his most famous traits. He also gets Extreme Omnivore points for being willing to eat Arche and Raine's cooking in the first Radiant Mythology game...)
 * Blade On a Stick: Reid can equip a spear, which sacrifices slashing abilities for better thrusting power.
 * The Chosen One
 * Clingy MacGuffin
 * Cutscene Power to The Max: His only give him some nifty moves gameplay-wise. Story-wise, Reid's power is that of a living god by the end of the game.
 * Dark Skinned Redhead (Reid is noticeably tanned due to the fairly large amount of time he spends outdoors. ...And he, uh, has red hair.)
 * Deadpan Snarker (Occasionally.)
 * Disappeared Dad (
 * Farm Boy
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Reid can actually equip various types of weapons, but his best in the game are, you guessed it, swords. That and Inomata drew his artwork (pictured to the right) with him holding a sword.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf (Just listen to his "singing" in the Japanese version, during a certain skit on Mt. Mintche. Yikes.)
 * Idiot Hero (To be fair, Reid is by no means a complete moron; he's just... a little slow.)
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes (How does he manage to go out hunting wild animals in an outfit that is essentially a sports bra and pyjama pants?)
 * Meaningful Name (The name "Reid" denotes a person with red hair, and can also refer to someone who lives in or near woods -- both of which fit him very well. His surname, "Hershel", is after astronomer William Herschel.)
 * My Name Is Not Durwood ("My name isn't Feebureel.")
 * Power Glows (Does it ever...)
 * Refusal of the Call
 * The Call Knows Where You Live (Subverted: while Hyades does attack Reid's hometown, he does so to find Meredy rather than him, and it doesn't provide much motivation to Reid either way.)
 * Redheaded Hero
 * Red Oni Blue Oni (Right down to their respective hair colours, Reid is the friendly, occasionally slightly crude, thoroughly unintellectual and naive Red Oni to Keele's Blue Oni.)
 * Relationship Voice Actor (In Japanese, Reid is voiced by Akira Ishida, whereas Keele is voiced by Soichiro Hoshi.)
 * Somebody Elses Problem (This is more-or-less Reid's attitude toward life prior to his Character Development.)
 * Spell My Name With an S ("Reid/Rid/Ridd", "Hershel"/"Herschel")
 * Team Mom (He's pretty much the closest to one in the group. The man bra (fandom joke) he wears doesn't help much.)
 * The Lancer (Arguably, Reid fills this role for a respectable portion of the game, being something of a calm voice of reason for the more energetic Farah.)
 * Took a Level In Badass (After he leaves his apathy and laziness behind him and ...)
 * Trademark Favorite Food (Omelettes!)

-

Farah Oersted
Reid's childhood friend and a farmer girl from Rasheans, she is intensely driven almost immediately to help Meredy, and drags Reid along for the ride. The reason for her drive to help others is eventually revealed to be guilt from her childhood. She's a Martial Artist, and also has some ability to heal others, making her something of a secondary Melee fighter.

Tropes associated with Farah:
 * Action Girl
 * Badass
 * Bare Fisted Monk
 * Can't Catch Up: Farah on occasion gets annoyed with the fact that despite Reid's laziness, he is still much stronger than she is. (Though this has more to do with the story rather than actual gameplay.)
 * Catch Phrase ("Ikeru ikeru!"/"No problem!")
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome (Very, very much so.)
 * Cute Bruiser
 * Dark and Troubled Past (When she, Reid and Keele were children in Rasheans, )
 * Disappeared Dad (
 * The Hero (At first; she is the one who insists upon helping Meredy, and has to convince Reid to come along because Meredy does not want to be separated from him. For a large part of the game, Farah is the character who primarily keeps the party together and enthusiastically "leads the way".)
 * Its All My Fault
 * Jumped At the Call (...And Reid gets dragged along.)
 * Love Triangle (Farah is at the centre of a very brief Reid/Farah/Ras triangle.)
 * Like Brother and Sister (At first, she and Reid are like this, but Farah begins to develop feelings for Reid at about the time he undergoes the Trials of Seyfert.)
 * Meaningful Name ("Farah" means "joy" or "pleasant and beautiful", both of which apply to Farah rather well. "Oersted" is after Hans Oersted.)
 * Names to Know In Anime - Yuko Minaguchi
 * The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (Farah is supposed to be a Farmer, but is never seen doing any actual farming in the game itself. The Animated scenes show her throwing haybales..but then again though; not like she has a chance to do much farming in the game.)
 * Plucky Girl
 * Pollyanna
 * Power Fist
 * Real Women Never Wear Dresses: Averted hard. She wears a huge dress.
 * Shorttank (In many ways, although she does wear a big, fluffy dress.)
 * Stepford Smiler (Her outward cheeriness and impulsive actions hide an intense guilt over and overall doubt about who she really is.)
 * Tomboy (averted -- Farah shows many stereotypically "boyish" traits and behaviours such as exuberance, [over]confidence, bluntly speaking her mind and willingness to play rough and fight without holding back... but she does not at all eschew typically "girly" activities either, as she also cares for and about her appearance, cooks and cleans, and favours cute, brightly-coloured clothing.)
 * Victorious Childhood Friend

-

Meredy
A mysterious girl who drops from the sky aboard a Craymel Craft, Meredy warns Reid, Farah and Keele of the impending doom known as the "Grand Fall" and tries to get help in averting the crisis. Meredy is also a Craymel Mage.

Tropes associated with Meredy:


 * Adult Child: For extremely horrifying reasons.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: ... Wow. Meredy knows most of the major plot twists from the very beginning but doesn't tell anyone for a variety of reasons, mostly because she knows because she experienced the associated traumas first hand.
 * Catch Phrase ("Haina!"/"You bet!". "Waiiru!"/"Hweel!" also shows up rather often.)
 * Dark and Troubled Past
 * Eloquent in My Native Tongue (Meredy sounds perfectly coherent and mature in Melnics, but when her speech is translated through the party's Orz Earrings, it essentially comes out mostly as awkward and fractured-to-broken -- and incredibly cute -- English/Japanese.)
 * Fictionary (Meredy speaks Melnics, the Cipher Language spoken in her native Celestia.)
 * Foreign Cuss Word ("Baiba!", which literally translates to "Wow!" -- she uses it to express emotions ranging from simple surprise to anger to confusion.)
 * Genius Ditz (She piloted a prototype Craymel Craft to Inferia by herself, is apprentice to the greatest Craymel Engineer in all of Celestia, and, judging by the scene in which she and Keele stay up all night together in the library in Imen, she evidently manages to impress even Keele with how knowledgeable she really is.)
 * Improbable Weapon User (...She equips whistles. And she fights by commanding her pet, Quickie.)
 * Meaningful Name ("Meredy" is taken from "Melody", referring to her love of music and dancing, as well as the fact that she equips whistles. Her infinity plus one whistle is in fact called "Eternia Melody".)
 * Mysterious Waif
 * Non Human Sidekick (Quickie, of course!)
 * Obfuscating Stupidity (Possibly, although technically it is more like Obfuscating Childishness -- fans have theorized that despite her actually being quite intelligent and brave, she )
 * Omi Minami
 * Spell My Name With an S ("Meredy"/"Melody")
 * Stepford Smiler (Meredy puts on a cheerful, bubbly and childlike face, but is much, much sadder and lonelier than she lets on.)
 * Summon Magic
 * Verbal Tic
 * Stepford Smiler (Meredy puts on a cheerful, bubbly and childlike face, but is much, much sadder and lonelier than she lets on.)
 * Summon Magic
 * Verbal Tic

-

Keele Zeibel
Childhood friends with Reid and Farah, Keele moved from Rasheans to Mintche to pursue a life as a scholar, and is thus incredibly knowledgeable on a number of subjects, but somewhat out of touch on the social side of things, rude, and also very out of shape. He eventually softens up, and comes to respect Meredy and Celestia more than even Reid and Farah do. Keele joins Meredy as a Craymel mage, and is somewhat better at the offensive side then she is.

Tropes associated with Keele:


 * Badass: Just look at the Mystic Arte chain he performs in this video at 1:37, and just try saying he's not a Badass.
 * Bishonen (He... rather lacks the typical Bishonen personality, though.)
 * Born in The Wrong Century: More of a case of Born In The Wrong World, actually; his talents would certainly be more appreciated in Celestia than in Inferia, where the march of progress in technology is unhindered by the King or Church.
 * Break the Haughty
 * Butt Monkey
 * Curtains Match the Window
 * Hollywood Nerd (Subverted. Not only, but people -- a flirtatious maid at Hotel Inferia, Primula from Tales of Fandom Vol. 1, possibly his friend Zank at Mintche University -- clearly want to stalk find his skinny, pasty countenance attractive. He can therefore also be considered a male example of Nerds Are Sexy.)
 * Insufferable Genius
 * Jerkass Facade (Keele hides his deep insecurity regarding his physical weakness and awkward habits behind one of these.)
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold (Farah notes later in the game that Keele is "a lot kinder than I thought" after he tells Reid and Farah that despite their good intentions, talking to Meredy about what may have happened to her mother, right after, might only cause her more emotional harm.)
 * Meaningful Name ("Keel" refers both to the similarly-named part of a boat -- Keele is intensely interested in boats and ships, built models as a child, and even attempted to design and build a boat in the anime -- and to his tendency, to, well, keel [over], making his first name a Punny Name in both of these respects as well. His surname, "Zeibel", is apparently after physicist Roy Zaibel.)
 * Nerd (...Well, yes.)
 * Non Action Guy
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * Red Oni Blue Oni (Right down to their respective hair colours, Keele is the cool, intellectual, arrogant and somewhat vain Blue Oni to Reid's Red Oni.)
 * Relationship Voice Actor (Keele is played by Soichiro Hoshi, whereas Reid is played by Akira Ishida.)
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness (Why say "house" when you can say "domicile"?)
 * Simple Staff
 * The Smart Guy
 * Soichiro Hoshi
 * Sophisticated As Hell (His speech mixes more casual or slang-like phrases and words, in addition to cursing and downright rudeness, with near-incomprehensible scientific jargon, language he considers "refined", and the aforementioned general Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.)
 * Spell My Name With an S ("Keel"/"Keele", "Zeibel"/"Zaibel")
 * Squishy Wizard
 * Summon Magic
 * Tsundere (A... male example.)
 * Why Couldn't You Be Different (His father, Gizro, apparently wanted a son who was strong and boisterous instead of sickly and shy; in a flashback, we see him explicitly telling Keele that he should act more like Reid. This is a mild example, however, since both of Keele's parents still obviously spoiled their son and told him that he was "going to be someone special".)
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

-

Chat
Descended from the great Pirate Aifread himself, Chat is a pirate girl who puts the party through a long series of tests shortly after they arrive in Celestia, and eventually views them as being worthy of joining her crew, though in reality, this amounts more to her loaning out her Cool Ship, the Van Eltia to them. For the most part she prefers to remain on board, but she can be called to fight if necessary. Chat is a ranged fighter, throwing all manner of weapons at enemies from her Bag of Holding.

Tropes associated with Chat:


 * Awesome but Impractical / Awesome Yet Practical: Eternal throw. Not worth using on trash mobs since you're just wasting TP and gels...but on bosses? As long as you keep feeding her gels she can keep on throwing hammers until the cows come home.
 * Bag of Holding (Literally. She uses the things inside as weapons.)
 * Bokukko
 * Cool Ship (Chat is captain of the Van Eltia -- an extremely cool ship, indeed.)
 * Dark Skinned Blond
 * Gadgeteer Genius
 * Insistent Terminology (Don't forget that she's the Captain.)
 * Insufferable Genius: She has a tendency to call other party members' behavior childish. At one point she does this at the hotel in Tinnsia, referring to her roomates', Farah and Meredy, habit of randomly looking at the stuff in the room as childish and stated that she examined the room herself to look for a fire exit.
 * Junko Noda
 * Licked By the Dog (Chat can yell and scream and cry all she likes about how much she hates animals... but Quickie jumps on her, tries to play with her, and rides on her hat anyway.)
 * Mad Scientist (It's definitely there... Definitely In the Blood.)
 * Nice Hat (Chat's giant pirate hat shows up as an equippable item in later Tales games.)
 * Optional Party Member (She's easy to get though; just talk to her in the Engine Room any time after you pick up Celsius.)
 * Pirate: She is a descendant of Aifread, after all.
 * Pirate Girl: Albeit one constantly mistaken for a boy.
 * The Smart Guy (She shares this role with Keele, albeit to a lesser degree.)
 * Sweet Tooth (If you look at the recipes that receive her musical-note-approval on the Cooking menu, it becomes fairly clear...)
 * Viewer Gender Confusion (Reid mistakes Chat for a boy upon first meeting her; later on, an employee at the Craymel Hot Springs does the same, to her great annoyance.)
 * Wrench Wench (She built her house, the basement, and all the traps in it, by herself.)

-

Fog/Max
The boisterous head of La Résistance, Shileska, the party agrees to work with Max's group in Celestia in order to defeat Balir. Max is a rather simple-minded man, and prefers to let his insane strength and durability solve his problems for him. Amusingly, he also wants to Take Over the World. He wields a BFG in combat, which he either uses as a bludgeoning weapon, or fires a variety of beam weapons from it.

Tropes associated with Max:
 * Artificial Stupidity: Arguably Gameplay and Story Integration on this part since he's...not the brightest. He tends to bludgeon with his weapons, which isn't bad considering that this does essentially make him the third melee next to Reid and Farah. But his weapons have a long charge time and are ranged; so naturally unless you program him to keep his distance, he'll run in and get interrupted.
 * BFG: His preferred type of weapon.
 * Frickin Laser Beams His mystic arte is even spammable. (Granted though; this was actually the first games to have one of these)
 * Big Damn Heroes (At, Max and the rest of Shileska get such a moment.)
 * Catch Phrase ("OH!"/"YEAH!")
 * Evil Laugh: His "Bwa ha ha ha!" laugh when he's first met at the hideout, which he lets out after stating his goal. He also uses it at other points after that, usually when his goal is brought up again. Of course, considering his personality and lack of evilness, it's pretty much played for laughs.
 * Game Breaker: Aqua Spiral.
 * Hot Blooded
 * Large and In Charge
 * Large Ham (Wow.)
 * Masashi Ebara
 * The Big Guy
 * The Fool (The other characters comment on his being more-or-less miraculously indestructible regardless of the stupid things he does.)
 * La Résistance (Max is the leader of Shileska, an organization based in Tinnsia whose goal is to locate and defeat, and then Take Over the World.)
 * Take Over the World (And he's not subtle at all about it either. The party doesn't seem overly concerned.)

-

Rassius Luine Fomalhaut
A Merchant the party meets a ways into the game, Rassius agrees to help them find the Wind Craymel, Sylph. During the search, Rassius displays a number of talents that seem unusual for what appears to be a normal Merchant to possess. He also uses a similar fighting style to Reid, though his style involves more Thrusts than Reid's (hence his preference for rapiers over wider swords), and is more refined and trained.

Tropes associated with Ras:


 * Big Damn Heroes
 * Bishonen (Except that he does have the typical Bishonen personality!)
 * The Chosen One (The other candidate, who would have been the one to receive all of Seyfert's powers, )
 * Counterpart Comparison (Ras fights similarly to Reid. In fact, if you pay attention, you'll notice their sprites and animation frames are both very similar, especially when running or during their victory animation.)
 * Guest Star Party Member
 * Mommas Boy (He idolizes his deceased mother, and wears the flowers on his hat in her memory.)
 * Nice Hat
 * Mommas Boy (He idolizes his deceased mother, and wears the flowers on his hat in her memory.)
 * Nice Hat

-

Shizel
The wife of Balir, the ruler of Celestia,

Tropes associated with Shizel:


 * A Taste of Power (It's pretty late in, but Shizel's got pretty wicked stats and spells for the brief time you're allowed to control her.)
 * Abusive Parent
 * Mama Bear
 * The Man Behind the Man (Played with. )
 * Signature Move (Eternal Finality.)
 * Squishy Wizard (She's pretty slow on her feet while you're using her.)
 * Signature Move (Eternal Finality.)
 * Squishy Wizard (She's pretty slow on her feet while you're using her.)

-

Greater Craymels
-

Undine
One of the Primary Craymels of Inferia, and the spirit of Water. Opposed to Volt, the spirit of Lightning. Undine is the first spirit encountered by the party, and she fights them to test their strength. After being defeated, she agrees to help the group in their quest. Undine is particularly critical, as all the healing spells Keele or Meredy can learn are learned through her.

Tropes associated with Undine:


 * Barbie Doll Anatomy (In-game at least)
 * Full Frontal Assault (She wears armor on her legs and arms, but otherwise she's totally nude.)
 * Healing Hands (Particularly notable in her summoning spell, which deals minimal damage but restores the entire party to full health.)
 * Making a Splash
 * Our Mermaids Are Different
 * Prongs of Poseidon
 * That One Boss

-

Sylph
One of the Primary Craymels of Inferia, and the spirit of Wind. Opposed to Gnome, the spirit of Earth. Sylph is encountered by the party not long after Undine, and, just as she does, battles the party to test their abilities. Sylph has few abilities for direct attacks on his own, and instead is best used to link with other Craymels to boost their own attacks, or learn supportive spells.

Tropes associated with Sylph:


 * The Archer
 * Cute Shotaro Boy
 * Get Back Here Boss (As Sylph can fly and is rather small, he tends to spend a lot of time avoiding your during his boss fight.)
 * Fragile Speedster
 * Winged Humanoid
 * Razor Wind

-

Efreet
One of the Primary Craymels of Inferia, and the spirit of Fire. Opposed to Celsius, the spirit of Ice. Efreet reacts violently upon encountering the party, not even giving them time to plead their case to save the world. After defeating him, Undine more or less forces him to help. Befitting his nature, Efreet teaches a number of powerful offensive skills, and his summon is the first that is all about raw damage, with no tricks added in.

Tropes associated with Efreet:


 * Attack of the Fifty Foot Whatever and Incredible Shrinking Man (Efreet's size tends to change based on his mood; when he's angry he grows and when he's
 * Conflict Ball (He more or less attacks you for no reason when you first meet him)
 * Gentle Giant (He calms down a lot after you beat him and reveals himself to be fairly well-natured despite his appearence)
 * Kill It With Fire
 * Power Fist
 * Unskilled but Strong (Efreet's melee attacks in his boss fight mostly revolve around him smashing you with his fists.)

-

Rem
The Governing Craymel of Inferia, and the spirit of Light. Opposed to Shadow, the spirit of Darkness. After gathering the three Primary Craymels of Inferia, Undine, Sylph and Efreet, they come together to summon Rem, who informs the party of how to reach Celestia. She appears from time to time to offer the party guidance, and ultimately tests their talents at the Regulus Knole, after which, she joins their cause.

Tropes associated with Rem:


 * The Archer
 * Healing Hands (To a lesser extent than Undine, as she teaches no healing spells directly. Her summoning spell's only effect is to heal the party.)
 * Holy Hand Grenade
 * Winged Humanoid