Brave Soul/Characters

Rudy
The hero of the story and, since the game is an H-game, your character, as well as the only male member of the party. However, the game is also an Eastern RPG, so he also fits into the sword-and-shield hero role. Actually, he doesn't use shields (they don't even show up in this game), but he does use swords. Big swords, in fact. He can also equip all kinds of heavy armors as well as some of the lighter ones, as well as equip a variety of gloves and gauntlets to raise his attack power even higher. He can use some magic, but is not suited to be a caster, so you're better off fighting up close or using Wind Slash and Star Blade if you need to keep your distance.

Since you can change his name, every voiced character has their own nickname for him.

Tropes associated with Rudy:
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: Memorizes trap locations by seeing Ruby avoid them, memorizes the Explosion incantation after seeing a bunch of goblins roasted by Caroll, and learns Star Blade after his dad hurls one in his face.
 * Beam Spam: Shooting Ray, offered by the Shining Ring. If you can afford it.
 * Bound and Gagged: The game literally begins with him waking up in the middle of a forest--tied up by his father.
 * Heroes Prefer Swords
 * BFS: Wields one in his official artwork, and some of his weapons (Titan Sword, Excalibur) qualify.
 * The Faceless: Surprisingly averted as far as H-games go; Rudy's face is always clearly visible, even in H-scenes.
 * Idiot Hero: Oddly semi-inverted; Rudy himself is quite intelligent, perceptive, and clever, but whenever one of his party members catches the Idiot Ball he's the one that takes the heat.
 * Mighty Glacier: Most of his normal weapons leave him as this, as he has the highest HP and physical attack and defense power, but lower on the speed end.
 * Magic Knight: With the Fire, Ice, or Thunder Swords (his magic still sucks, though)
 * Lightning Bruiser: Speed Sword, Light Saber and The Fastest come to mind.
 * Razor Wind: His basic ranged attack, Wind Slash. Doubles as Blow You Away.
 * Sword Beam: Star Blade, which can One Hit Polykill
 * With This Herring: Slightly averted: of the "basic" equipment Gale leaves you with at the beginning of the game, you have a Long Sword (better than the Short and Dull Swords), Leather Armor (better than the Traveller's Clothes), Leather Boots (better than Leather Shoes), and Leather Gloves (better than nothing).

"Shell"
A miniature dragon, and Rudy's close companion. Ten years before, Rudy found her injured and nursed her back to health, dubbing her "Shell" since he found her in front of the statue of Gwen Reinhardt Shell, one of the heroes who defeated the Dark Lord. Shell is quite intelligent and perceptive, and in battle adds her fire breath to the mix; her real bonus, however, is as the only party member other than Rudy that uses Health and Magic Potions (and automatically, at that), though she won't use Elixirs. Shell can't speak, but Rudy can usually understand what she is trying to say. Though she doesn't get along well with people she doesn't know, she instantly takes a liking to Alicia.

Tropes associated with Shell:
 * Breath Weapon
 * Playing With Fire
 * Team Pet
 * Team Pet

Alicia
A girl Rudy saves from goblins at the outset of his adventure. A gentle and dedicated healer, Alicia joins Rudy through his trials to become a Hunter. As the game's designated healer, Alicia sports a variety of curative magics, from simple single-target healing to the ever-useful Resurrection spell; though she can't attack physically, she possesses some offensive ability in Attack Force and Magic Lance, but she's better suited to healing.

Despite her gentle nature, Alicia is incredibly clumsy, and develops a severe dislike of traps after accidentally triggering four in a row during a trial mission. She'll show up to join you on missions of an idealist or romantic nature, but leaves for any missions involving traps.

Her special ability allows the player to read the many otherwise-unreadable tablets in the game, as she understands the ancient languages they are written in. Reading these tablets often activate portals that lead to otherwise-unreachable areas containing rare items, and in one special case opens a door.

Alicia's events involve Rudy investigating her physical resemblence to his "Moon Goddess", during which you learn that her past is a lot more troubled than her demeanor would suggest. In her ending she and Rudy meet with Gale to inform him of their engagement.

Calls Rudy "Mr. Swordsman".

Tropes associated with Alicia:
 * Dojikko: Contributes to her fear of traps.
 * Never Gets Drunk: Can drink down enough alcohol to poison a city with no ill effects.
 * The Medic: The only party member with healing magics, and this combined with her lack of offensive abilities all but relegates to this role.
 * Parental Abandonment: Her mother died when she was young,
 * Stepford Smiler
 * Proper Lady
 * White Magician Girl
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Caroll
A fiery young witch with a penchant for setting things on fire. Always on the lookout for rare new spells, she often proves more than capable of handling herself. In a departure from the staff-wielding norm, Caroll uses magic orbs that increase the potency of her spells as a weapon, and otherwise wears mage robes and magic capes like Alicia. She specializes in offensive magic, boasting a number of fire and ice-elemental spells, though the spells she acquires on her path tend to be more fire-aligned, ranging from simple Fireballs and Ice Bolts to her trademark Explosion.

For all of her magical prowess and strong will, Caroll possesses a crippling fear of the dead, undead, and dearly departed. Even the mere mentioning of one is enough to give her the jitters, and any convincing actor in a ghost costume can make her faint with a whisper in the ear or a tap on the shoulder. She'll back out of any missions involving deadies of the un-nature, but if rare spells or magic items are involved she'll be guaranteed to show up.

Unlike most of the girls, Caroll possesses two special abilities; the first is in the form of the Unlock magic, which allows the player to open magically-locked doors (which there aren't very many of). The second comes as a boost to the party's movement and action speed when in combat.

Caroll's path involves her trying to show Rudy that she's better than him (or at least, that he's not better than her), which leads to some rather hilarious (and fanservice-y) moments (*cough*spelltocontrolmen*cough). In her ending she and Rudy are arguing over whether to pick between a powerful sword and a legendary spell, but when a zombie shows up she lets Rudy take the sword in exchange for defeating the monster.

Tropes associated with Caroll:
 * Badass Bookworm: When you give the party time off, she hangs out at the library.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Rudy, even after they hook up (if so you choose).
 * Black Magician Girl
 * Break the Haughty: The later events in her path seem to play like this.
 * Expy: Of Lina Inverse, though unlike Lina, she's rather well-endowed.
 * Hot Witch: in more ways than one.
 * Fiery Redhead: More of a pinkish-red than full-on red like Ruby, but she's still fiery.
 * Playing With Fire
 * Running Gag: Has argument with Rudy -> overhears rumor -> challenges Rudy -> gets humiliated -> Rudy is nearby -> sets Rudy on fire.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Caroll vs. Carol vs. Carroll. The official translation uses Caroll.
 * Squishy Wizard: Again, in more ways than one.
 * Tsundere: Textbook Type-A personality, though she lacks the twintails and Zettai Ryouiki.
 * Why Did It Have To Be Undead?

Marin
A member of the "Elder Race" -- which seems to consist of animal-people. Marin herself is a catgirl, and possesses a playful, childlike mentality. Marin is the only one of the girls that can equip heavy armor like Rudy, though she still is locked out of the absolute heaviest. She fights with a variety of polearms, and backs up the party with the elementals she summons. Marin is the only one who can wear the "Cat" equipment, which provide massive boosts if all three are on at once; she can also boost her elemental defenses with a variety of Spirit Stones, and having her along on some quests will result in greater rewards.

Despite her cleverness and her adult body, Marin's mental maturity is that of a child's, and she is also not very intelligent. She'll opt out of missions that seem too confusing, but will often be waiting for you if you take an honest request.

Marin's special ability allows her to converse with fairies and elementals you may find in certain areas, who often give you advice on things that might come later in the dungeon.

Marin's route is the longest in terms of the number of events, and at first deals with her playfulness and dragging Rudy out to see things that seem interesting; after Rudy gets mad and yells at her, though, she becomes worried that Rudy doesn't like her based on her physical appearance, and subsequent events deal as such. In her ending she and Rudy sneak aboard a ship that they thought was heading to her homeland, but instead led to an island dumping ground for cursed tools (like a fishing rod that you can't put down until you catch one, and a hoe that makes you plow until sundown).

Marin views Rudy like an older brother, and as such calls him "Oniichan".

Tropes associated with Marin:
 * Adult Child: The mind (and intelligence) of a child, but the body of a grown adult.
 * Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny
 * Blade On a Stick: Uses spears, halberds, lances, and the occasional pole.
 * Catgirl
 * Fridge Logic: Why would a catgirl need to equip a pair of fake cat ears? Also, why is she the only one that can? Both of these are referenced in-game.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: It's an H-game, mind you, but her personality and a scene from one of her events suggests this.
 * Summon Magic: Can summon Elementals to help fight
 * Artificial Stupidity: Not so much her, but her summons tend to get in the way of auto-fight.
 * Verbal Tic: Standard Catgirl fare, which includes "nya" and "meow".

Ruby
A beautiful master of acquisition whose breasts say hello to Rudy before she does. At first she seems to be like any other thief, only caring when the "treasure" has a sizeable monetary value instead of just sentimentality, but this is soon given a good reason. Not physically suited for close-in combat, Ruby prefers to fight from a distance with her throwing knives. She can keep the enemies at bay by summoning golems made of sturdy materials, and can summon a body double of herself with Mirage to provide a distraction; if the enemy gets too close, she can teleport to safety with Escape. As both her job and method of fighting require agility and dexterity, Ruby sticks to lighter, leather armors as the heavier ones make it difficult to move quickly, and can also wear a variety of earrings to boost magic resistance.

Like Robin Hood, Ruby steals from the rich (nobles) and gives to the poor (not-nobles), and absolutely adores the shiny and/or priceless. However, this adoration is completely superceded by her disdain of nobles, and she'll walk out on you should you accept a request from them, in addition to a few missions in which the pay is too low compared to the amount of work required. However, if there's treasure to be found, it's a safe bet she's willing to team up.

Like Caroll, Ruby possesses the ability to unlock locked doors with her leet-stealing skillz, though she can only work her magic on doors locked by conventional means (unlike Caroll, whose Unlock works on magically-sealed doors as well). Her second and far-more useful ability is to be able to sense and disable any and all traps before you even walk into one (Magician's Cave, anyone?), which is a great way around those damn pitfalls.

In Ruby's route, she takes Rudy on as hired muscle for her acquisitive adventures as the phantom thief Rose, stealing pricey shineys from fat, greedy nobles. It turns out that she donates most of the money she makes from selling her ill-gotten gains to struggling orphanages, having grown up in one, and she steals from nobles as a way of getting back at them for growing fat off of their wealth while turning a deaf ear toward the starving and underpriveleged. In her ending she and Rudy have become partners in life and stealing, and she is seen having just lifted a rather exquisite veil.

Doesn't have a discernable nickname for Rudy, as she always seems to have his attention.

Tropes associated with Ruby:
 * Christmas Cake: Her interactions with Rudy give the impression that she's older than him (or at least more "mature").
 * Classy Cat Burglar
 * Clothing Damage: During the "Vine Lady" incident; Rudy can't cut the vines away from Ruby, so he has to pull them off--which has the added bonus of tearing her clothes. In a twist, he worries more about Ruby being okay with letting everyone see than the fact that they're there.
 * Funbag Airbag: How she and Rudy meet. Doubles as Crash Into Hello.
 * Hot Amazon: Looks pretty buff for a thief, but it doesn't make her any less feminine.
 * Just Like Robin Hood
 * Knife Nut: Her thrown weapon of choice, though she also tosses in a couple of shuriken, a throwing needle, and a moon-emblazoned fan.
 * Lost Forever/Guide Dang It: Accessing Ruby's later events and clearing her route require Rudy to have acheived S-Rank Hunter, as in one of the events a guard of the noble Ruby plans to steal from seeks you out expressly because you're an S-Rank Hunter. Needless to say, if you take too long on the missions or let Cobden get away with the hair tonic, better wait till next playthrough.
 * Mundane Utility: She originally used her Golems as muscle while stealing (before dragging Rudy into things), and pops a Mirage clone as a distraction while she escapes at the close of every job.
 * Doppelganger: Ruby's Mirage-clone looks exactly like her, but with slightly lighter skin and purple hair. Maybe the only reason Ruby can walk around in broad daylight without suspicion is that everyone thinks "Rose" has purple hair.
 * Not What It Sounds Like: An early event on her route has Rudy hearing her moaning from behind a locked door, and busts it down, thinking she's being attacked or raped. Turns out, she was just getting a massage. Naked, but still.
 * Punny Name: "Call me Ruby, like the gem." Also, if you follow her route, you learn that her real name is
 * Stripperific
 * Tall Dark and Bishoujo

Karen
The daughter of the King of Minstrel, effectively making her the princess. Karen escapes the castle in order to become more world-wise, which leads her to meet Rudy. Ever cheerful and perhaps more curious of things than Marin, Karen fights with a magic-powered gun as well as throwing a variety of things that she gets from god-knows-where; she can remove her gun's limiter to fire a more powerful shot, and equips a variety of focusing crystals to power up her weapon. She is also able to inflict a variety of effects with her thrown items, depending on what she tosses, and her insanely-high luck allows her to do things from finding rare items in piles of garbage to actually completing missions that you could only get a "meh" on otherwise.

Karen is pretty much guaranteed to show up for nearly any mission for which you have an open space and another character isn't supposed to show up instead. Like Ruby, though, she'll turn away from any mission involving nobles, though more due to the fear that they'll recognize her and force her to return to the castle than just dislike of nobility.

Karen's route involves Rudy trying to show her life's more cynical side, hiring her out for jobs she has no experience in (expecting her to screw up), but her naive optimism and insane luck tend to work out in her favor (like finding a buried treasure after accidentally digging a hole in a field when she was supposed to be plowing). Her ending has her back in the castle, only to slip off again--this time with Rudy waiting for her, and the two run off and elope. Her route isn't available until the second playthrough or later.

Tropes associated with Karen:
 * Dumb Blonde: Definitely Ditzy
 * Everythings Better With Princesses
 * Princesses Prefer Pink: The dress her sprite wears is pink.
 * Pimped Out Dress: Her dress is also pretty damn flashy.
 * Joke Character: Due to the AI she tends to constantly rapid-fire Limiter Removal (leading Shell to go through Magic Potions like wildfire, and god help you if you give her the Gatling Crystal), or spend all her time tossing out useless junk...
 * Lethal Joke Character: ...until she gets into the higher levels, where she starts tossing scythes. The scythe has the effect of instantly killing anything it hits (including the final boss), but the occurrence of it is rare.
 * Meganekko
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: Her magic gun is shown to be a revolver in a scene early on. Initially subverted: until Rudy teaches her to use the limiter, the blasts are always too much for her to handle.
 * Wide Eyed Idealist: Ironically left the castle to try to get rid of this, but her luck gets in the way of her actually learning anything.

Clare (Spoiler Alert!)
The true form of, , and , Clare is the final possible member of your party. A physical fighter like Rudy, Clare equips heavy armors but eschews the heavy swords in favor of smaller, lighter rapiers. She also uses hand armor like Rudy, but cannot equip the Final Guard gauntlet. The addition of weapons means she is no longer forced to rely on a single magic-based attack for damage, and she also gains a wide variety of lighting spells as well as a few supportive buffs (namely physical attack). Her potion-using abilities retained, Clare remains a solid member of the party through the end of the game.

Clare's route is the shortest (event-wise), but takes the longest to complete. Clare struggles with her obligation to Rudy for saving her life, and is willing to to do anything to protect him or keep him safe, even trying to strike off to defeat the Dark Lord on her own; on the other side, Rudy is slowly dealing with his "Moon Goddess" being a real person, and spends time (and 5050G) trying to get her to show her feminine side once in a while.

Tropes associated with Clare:
 * Armor Is Useless: Sort-of; her best "armor" is a fancy dress Rudy buys for her during one of her events. It has high defense like medium armors, and contrary to what the event in which she wears it shows, boosts her evasion and accuracy. One of her best accessories is a simple ring gotten in a similar event.
 * Bodyguard Crush/Rescue Romance: If you think about it. Though the line kinda blurs between who's the bodyguard, the charge, the rescuer, and the rescuee.
 * Can't Hold Her Liquor: In one event, she passes out after one sip of an alcoholic drink, and realizes she forgot she can't handle alcohol. Contrast her sister, who can drink pure alcohol without anything happening.
 * Girl of My Dreams
 * Lady of War
 * Magic Knight: The third-best physical fighter of the party (Rudy sits at first, and Marin beats her out in damage-per-hit and defense), and has decent magic power and a good MP pool, making her lightning magic fairly strong as well.
 * Meaningful Name/Punny Name: A lightning-user named Clare. This is a bilingual pun; Eclair is French for "lightning."
 * Naked First Impression: She first met Rudy as the "Moon Goddess" while naked in a lake, and when her curse was lifted she was also naked.
 * No Guy Wants an Amazon: Thinks and worries about this sometimes (the guy in question being Rudy)
 * Older Than They Look: Due to her real body not aging while she was a dragon, Clare looks the same age as her younger sister Alicia, but is technically ten years older than that.
 * Royal Rapier
 * Shock and Awe: Her lightning spells
 * Sugar and Ice Personality: At first. Of course, she thaws out later on.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Frederick Ampholtes Cobden

 * Hot Blooded