Odin Sphere/Characters
The characters of Odin Sphere.
Playable Characters
Gwendolyn
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP), Karen Strassman (EN)
The main character of the first book Valkyrie. The second princess of Ragnanival and daughter of the Demon Lord Odin.
- Action Girl: Valkyries are known to be capable warriors, and she's supposed to be one of the strongest, even before she obtained her Psypher spear. Afterwards, she's basically a One Woman Army.
- Battle Ballgown: Complete with Fluffy Fashion Feathers.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Gwendolyn can be downright dangerous when the people she loves are threatened.
- Big Damn Heroes: She saves Velvet in the first half of her story and Oswald in the second half in this fashion.
- Blade on a Stick: Her unnamed Psypher spear.
- Whose name could have been "Gugnir", like Odin's Spear in the Norse Mythology.
- Broken Bird: At the beginning of her story. Throughout the game, she gets much better.
- Chickification: Inverted. Everyone expects this of her when she is married off, but she kicks even more ass with The Power of Love.
- Composite Character/Expy: Partially of Brunhilde from Wagner's Ring Cycle and Líf of Norse Mythology.
- Everything's Better with Princesses: Of the Royals Who Actually Do Something variety.
- Expy: The choice of voice actors for her and Onyx make her similarities to Saber pretty obvious.
- It Was a Gift: Her spear was a gift from her dying sister Griselda.
- More significantly, this is also her motivation for single-handedly storming Ringford to retrieve the ring of Titrel and refusing to give it back to Odin. In this case, however, her actions are motivated more because her initial failure to properly value the ring as a gift from Oswald led directly to Oswald's suicide, and she's not planning on making the same mistake twice.
- Jack of All Stats: Gwendolyn is good with both ground and air combos, but actually becomes closer to a Lightning Bruiser once you get the hang of using her gliding, and especially when she learns Shadow Ally to double her attack power. In the remake, this is still true, although all playable characters have been better balanced out, so her play style and abilities stand out slightly less.
- Lady of War: A graceful and demure, yet fiery and passionate valkyrie that flies through the skies and dances in battle with her spear.
- Love Epiphany: After dreading marriage as all Valkyries do, Gwendolyn slowly discovers she really does love her new husband.
- Mama Bear: Some of her most spectacular feats are performed in the defense of Velvet, Oswald and Odin after all.
- Missing Mom: Who was Gwendolyn's mom, anyway?
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By killing Odette, Gwendolyn leaves the Netherworld's throne open for Gallon to take over.
- Pimped-Out Dress: The dress she wears at "home" in the second half of her book.
- Poor Communication Killed Oswald
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's a color-swapped Red Oni to Velvet.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Too bad some of her actions end up royally screwing over Erion.
- Silk Hiding Steel: She's a princess, she dresses nicely (when not in combat attire) and speaks very diplomatically and, if tensions run high, feeds off of her rising emotions in a pinch. She'll also run you through with her spear if you get between her and her goals.
- Spirit Advisor: The bird that appears to her at certain points of the game. It turns out to be her sister Griselda.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Then it's subverted when it turns out that she and Oswald are the prophecy's designated Adam and Eve.
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: Well, wife, but if you mess with Oswald, Gwendolyn will make you pay for it.
- Well Done Daughter Girl/The Unfavorite: To make matters worst, Odin takes full advantage of her inferiority complex.
- White-Haired Pretty Girl
- Winged Humanoid: Though, strangely enough, her (and all the other valkyries') wings seem to be located at her hips (they're part of her armor).
- Zettai Ryouki
Cornelius
Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (JP), Yuri Lowenthal (EN)
The main character of the second book The Pooka Prince. The Prince of Titania who loves Velvet. Was turned into a Pooka and left in the Netherworld.
- Baleful Polymorph: He was transformed into a Pooka by Ingway and the Wise Men. But even as a Pooka, he is still perfectly capable of fighting.
- Big Damn Heroes: The main perpetrator of the trope.
- Dynamic Entry: To match his tendency to be a Big Damn Hero.
- Everythings Better With Bunnies
- Everything's Better with Spinning: His aerial attack.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: His weapon is a Psypher broadsword, passed down the Titanian Royal line for generations.
- Ancestral Weapon: Said sword was once used by his father to fight against King Gallon, Cornelius' grandfather. It's implied that his grandfather was an evil bastard when he was alive. However, this act was apparently very traumatic for his father, as, upon seeing the Psypher broadsword he used to kill Gallon, immediately goes into a Heroic BSOD.
- BFS: The sword is actually normal by human standards, and only large by comparison to his Pooka body.
- Jack of All Stats
- Killer Rabbit: Literally.
- Only Sane Man
- Nice Guy: He's very courteous and reasonable. He tries very hard to reason with many hostile characters. Unfortunately, most of these conversations end in boss fights. It finally pays off when Wagner carries him to his kingdom.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Cornelius unwittingly leads King Valentine's spirit out of the Netherworld on his way back to Titania.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: He's particularly concerned about his homeland of Titania.
- Stab the Sky: And in the remake, he does this to absorb phozons and activate his Super Mode.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Velvet. His father actively tries to discourage the relationship in favor of a political marriage between Cornelius and one of Odin's legitimate daughters.
- Warrior Prince
- The White Prince -> The Wise Prince: By the end of his book.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: He briefly considers otherwise, but Velvet convinces him to become mortal again.
Mercedes
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (JP), Stephanie Sheh (EN)
The main character of the third book Fairy Land. The daughter of the Queen of the Fairies.
- Action Girl
- Automatic Crossbows: Wields the Psypher crossbow Tasla, which is later given an upgrade (that has no effect on gameplay whatsoever) and renamed to Riblam.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Starts out as one.
- A Child Shall Lead Them: Eventually.
- Cycle of Revenge: She ultimately decides not to perpetuate one against Odin for killing her mother. This turns out to be a good idea, since Gwendolyn comes to call not long after, and there's no telling if Mercedes would have made it out alive if Gwendolyn had the death of her father on her mind during the fight.
- David Versus Goliath: Her last boss battle pit her, a little, insecure, bow armed fairy against Demon King Odin in all his might. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome when she defeat him and destroys his Epic Flail.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: If you choose to fight the first Darkova (Ingway) with Mercedes.
- Dying Declaration of Love: Same as the above: if she fights the six-eyed beast during Armageddon, she confesses her feelings to Ingway with her last breath.
- Everything's Better with Princesses: She grows out of this during her journey to become Queen.
- Flower in Her Hair: As with her mother, though it's a sign of youth in Mercedes' case. She is also shown to have worn other crowns before becoming queen in the manga, as she wore one with smaller flowers as a child and starts off the story with a crown of leaves.
- Girlish Pigtails
- Glass Cannon: Add in an Unlimited Power potion for an instant Game Breaker.
- Hero Antagonist: To all the other player characters; Mercedes is the only person to get in a fight with everyone, though in the case of Oswald, the player's controlling her rather than the other way around.
- Meaningful Name: Her true name is Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: To Ingway, in the good ending.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By destroying Odin's Balor, which was created specifically for the purpose of averting The End of the World as We Know It.
- Actually, it was only made to beat back the Netherworld invasion part of Armageddon; it probably wouldn't have done much good against, say, Leventhan.
- Out-of-Character Moment: She's considerably more antagonistic during Gwendolyn, Cornelius and Velvet's stories. Her portrayal in Oswald's story, while very brief, is consistent with her portrayal in her own story, however.
- It's probably just her trying to act tough in the face of people she regards as enemies. Not to mention that she's a Hero Antagonist in virtually everyone other character's story.
- Pettanko
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: If she doesn't, her kingdom is doomed. It was still doomed in the end, but at least she succeeds in getting revenge for it.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Ingway has to leave as soon as his spell is broken. In the true ending, Ingway is dead for their next meeting. If you choose the bad ending by fighting the first Darkova with Mercedes, they end up essentially killing one another.
- Together in Death: Mercedes and Ingway are doomed in both endings.
- Not literally Together in Death. Odette states that fairies don't go to the underworld like everybody else, so Mercedes and Ingway are still seperated in death. That makes it even more sad, unless you pretend they somehow managed to work around this. I do!
- There actually IS a possible way around this. It's implied that the Big Fucking Tree in the credits is in fact, Yggdrasil. You can see red crystal within the roots of the tree, and if the wiki is to be believed, Riblam (one of the red Psypher) was never sacrificed to the Cauldron... unlike the other Psyphers. Epileptic Tree.
- Not literally Together in Death. Odette states that fairies don't go to the underworld like everybody else, so Mercedes and Ingway are still seperated in death. That makes it even more sad, unless you pretend they somehow managed to work around this. I do!
- World Tree: Erion has no World Tree in the literal sense, but her true name is Yggdrasil, and the credits show a huge tree growing in the spot where she died.
- You Killed My Mother: To Demon Lord Odin.
Oswald
Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (JP), Derek Stephen Prince (EN)
The main character of the fourth book The Black Sword. A human warrior raised by the Fairie noble Melvin to be the ultimate weapon.
- Above the Influence: Oswald wants, more than anything, for Gwendolyn to love him, but he refuses to wake her from her enchanted sleep if it means she'll be forced to love him by a spell, and goes looking for another way to wake her.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Everyone in the world hates him for being the Shadow Knight.
- Anti-Hero: Easily the darkest of the five protagonists.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: In both personality and fighting style.
- Berserk Button: Threatening Gwendolyn in his presence will be the last thing you ever do. More generally, he tends to have an immediate and violent reaction to anyone who seems to treat another person as a tool or object.
- Black Knight: Minus the helmet.
- Casting a Shadow
- Composite Character/Expy: Partially on Siegfried from the Ring Cycle and Lífþrasir of Norse Mythology.
- Dark Is Not Evil
- Death by Despair: Twice. He came Back from the Dead both times.
- Despair Event Horizon: Twice. The first time was when he went to the Netherworld after Melvin's failed rebellion, and the second was when he found out that Gwendolyn had given away the ring of Titrel to Odin.
- Desperately Craves Affection: First from his adopted father, but especially from Gwendolyn.
- Evil Weapon: Wields the Belderiver, a Psypher tipped sword which can grant to the wielders the powers of Odette.
- Fate Worse Than Death: Remember those spooky Revenants boogeyman from Hornridge Mountain? Well, those were former wielders of the Belderiver. And this happens to Oswald too if he fights Onyx during Armageddon.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When in his Shadow Form, one of his eyes disappears and the other glows red.
- Good Is Not Nice: He's aloof and won't kill without provocation. However, when he does kill, he does so ruthlessly.
- Happily Adopted: Or so he thought...
- Heartbroken Badass: Results in his Death by Despair.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: The Belderiver is a longsword tipped with a Psypher crystal.
- James Bondage: Gwendolyn has to save him twice during the latter parts of her story.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He only shows his nice side to people he truly trusts.
- Kuudere
- Lightning Bruiser
- Living Shadow: Oswald's shadow form.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: The fairy noble Melvin adopted a very young Oswald, whom he found near a dying couple. The dying father turned out to be Prince Edgar of Titania, who had eloped with a commoner against the wishes of his father King Gallon (and were later killed when said King sent people to kill them). Oswald doesn't find out until the good ending.
- Nice Guy: A very unconventional example, but Oswald's appearance and demeanor are in sharp contrast to how he treats his wife, which provides some of the kindest and most heartwarming scenes of the game. Dark Is Not Evil indeed.
- Official Couple: With Gwendolyn.
- Poor Communication Kills: They could have avoided all that trouble if only he asked Gwendolyn before going off to kill himself.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: There's a good reason he's one of the most feared warriors in Erion...
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Although he doesn't find out the royal part until the endgame.
- Standard Hero Reward: As reward for slaying the dragon Wagner, he receives a castle, a magic spear and Gwendolyn's hand in marriage.
- Slight twist in that the only thing he was actually interested in was the latter part.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Gwendolyn. Of course, the prophecy subverts this by stating that he and Gwendolyn are the new world's designated Adam and Eve.
- Also applies to his parents.
- Super Mode: His shadow form.
- Tyke Bomb: Raised to be Melvin's Dragon.
- Warrior Prince: He's the son of Edgar, the first son of King Gallon, which by technicality makes him the rightful heir to Titania instead of Cornelius. Of course, by the time he learns this, Gallon has already reduced Titania to rubble, and the population is pretty much dead, so there wouldn't have been much to rule even if he had wanted the throne.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Velvet
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)
The main character of the fifth book Fate. A young witch who is often found in the Forest of Elrit.
- Action Girl
- Ancestral Weapon: The Graveryl chain once belonged to her mother Ariel, and was the first red Psypher ever created.
- Bare Your Midriff: And how!
- Calling the Old Man Out: Does this to Odin after finding out that he banished Gwendolyn from his kingdom and put her in a deep sleep just for rescuing Velvet from execution.
- Dark and Troubled Past: This picture gives a ghastly clue.
- Everything's Better with Princesses: Like the others, she's also a royal who actually does something.
- Exposed to the Elements: Lampshaded by some of the merchants on Winterhorn Ridge.
- Fallen Princess: Although the fall happened years before the events of the game.
- Fragile Speedster
- Gainaxing: Quite noticeably.
- Half Identical Twin: Averted.
- Hero Antagonist: From the point of view of Gwendolyn and Mercedes.
- Hot Witch: She's called "The Forest Witch".
- Second Last Of Her Kind: Subverted when it turns out that the people of Valentine survived, but as Pooka.
- Ms. Fanservice: Why hello, Stripperiffic, Belly Dancer Hot Witch!
- Only Sane Woman: Unlike everyone else, Velvet seems to be the only one concerned about trying to avert the Apocalypse while everyone else is too busy with their own agendas to notice or even care.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's the color-reversed Blue oni to Gwendolyn's Red Oni.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: She's the one trying to clean up all the incidents of Nice Job Breaking It, Hero and prevent The End of the World as We Know It.
- Screw Destiny: The motivation behind her actions.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: King Edmund's not too happy that his son's interested in a "Princess of the Forest".
- Stripperiffic: Easily the most revealing costume of the cast, to the point several shopkeepers comment on it.
- Whip It Good: Her weapon is a Psypher chain called Graveryl.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: The reasoning behind her actions in the True Ending.
NPC
Ingway
Velvet's elder twin brother. Although he is not a playable character, he plays an important role in the game nonetheless.
- Anti-Villain: Type II.
- Baleful Polymorph: He turns out to be Mercedes' frog friend.
- Big Brother Attraction: To Velvet, bordering on one-sided Twincest.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He has worked with and turned against both Odin and the Wise Men... though the same could also be said of them. He even manipulates his own twin sister from time to time as well.
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Darkova spell.
- Deadpan Snarker: Of the Jerkass kind.
- Freudian Excuse: Poor guy....
- Half Identical Twin: Averted.
- Hidden Depths: Ingway is presented as entirely villainous in Cornelius' story, and a constant headache for Velvet in her own. In Mercedes story, he's remarkably kinder and more helpful; admittedly, he is trying to get into her good graces enough that she'll de-frog him, but he also helps her a few times in ways she's not even aware of.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Unwillingly becomes one after his first Darkova transformation.
- Jerkass
- Second Last Of His Kind: He's the other Valentine survivor.
- Nice Hat: Dare you deny it?
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The beginning of Armageddon, where he faces down King Valentine and transforms into the Darkova. It also doubles as his Crowning Moment of Awesome.
- Purple Poison: Darkova's Breath Weapon.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: For all his faults, he is hands down one of the most proactive characters, being one of the only NPCs who actively does his own dirty work instead of relying on the playable characters to do it for him. The handful of occasions we see him fight show that he can hold his own as well, as Urzur runs away from their fight bemoaning that he's too powerful.
- Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!: If you face him with Mercedes in Armageddon, this is the result.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Played straight, with both his and Mercedes' deaths.
- Tragic Hero
- Tragic Monster: After his first Darkova transformation.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Throughout the course of the game, he transforms into Cornelius and Velvet on separate occasions. Not to mention Darkova...
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: His main motivation which eventually lead to the destruction of Valentine.
- Where I Was Born and Razed: He sincerely feels bad about it though.
Demon Lord Odin
The king of the nation of Ragnanival. He is the father of Gwendolyn, Griselda and the Valentine twins.
- Anti-Villain: Arguably, he could be one... How close he is to villainous versus not depends on the book you're playing in; in Velvet and Gwendolyn's books, what good sides he has show more often than not, while he's more neutral to Cornelius and Oswald. In Mercedes' story, he's the primary antagonist.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: He's fought in several boss battles throughout the game.
- Badass Boast: Loves to make these. To be fair, by the the time the game starts, he's got enough accomplishments under his belt to justify being proud of himself.
- Big Damn Heroes: Despite being so antagonistic at the moment, he come to rescue Gwendolyn and Oswald from Endelphia after Odette's demise. He also storms the Netherworld to save his daughter Velvet.
- Boss Subtitles: Demon Lord Odin.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: In Gwendolyn's story, he's possessed by Brigan's ghost.
- Demoted to Extra: If you stop to recall the game is named after him.
- Epic Flail: Wields a gigantic morning star Psypher, called the Balor. Possibly this is the Odin Sphere?
- Even Evil Has Standards: Face it, he's definetively not a nice guy but still more decent than King Valentine or Onyx.
- Eye Beams: One of his attack.
- Genius Bruiser
- Informed Ability: Claims at one point to be "Knower of a Thousand Spells".
- Jerkass: He acts like this outwardly most of the time.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: But he does have a strong sense of honor, keeps his word, and ultimately puts his children before anything else.
- Large and In Charge: The biggest guy in Ragnanival.
- Mask Power: Whenever you fight him.
- Megaton Punch: When not using the Balor, he will simply punch you really hard.
- Mercy Kill: He almost deliver one to King Valentine, but eventually he decide that he doesn't deserve one.
- Papa Wolf: The Halja found out that threatening his favourite child isn't wise at all.
- He also shows up at Onyx's kingdom when Gwendolyn's kidnapped there. Only leaves after letting Onyx know no spell can really make Gwendolyn love him.
- Parental Favoritism: Out of his four children, he obviously shows more love to Velvet than the others.
- It's more than hinted that this is because Velvet resembles her mother, which leads to a bit more than a little Squick if you think too hard about it.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers two epic ones in Mercedes' story, though the second one ends rather poorly for him.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something
- Sorcerous Overlord: His Japanese title (Maou 魔王) means "Demon King" but can also means "Wizard King" or "Magic King".
- Spell My Name with an "S": It's pronounced (and probably written) "Odain" in Japanese.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With Princess Ariel of Valentine, who gave birth to his children Velvet and Ingway.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Huge chest and arms, combined with tiny legs.
- Weapons That Suck: Balor can be used to suck Phozons into it.
Lord Brigan
Odin's General, a huge Asgardian who serves under Odin. Despite his rank, he's an incompetent oaf who aims to take Odin's place. He get killed by Gwendolyn on the top of Mount Ridgehorn. His ghost appears briefly as he possess King Odin, but is vanquished again once and for all.
- Bad Boss: He once crushed one of his own warriors for daring to pointing out a weak point in his strategy.
- Big Eater: Cornelius finds him surrounded by a whole feast's worth of food.
- Booze-Based Buff: He can drink liquor in order to breathe fire or augment his strength. He can also pour said liquor on the characters, stunning them.
- Boss Subtitles: General Brigan.
- The Brute
- Dirty Coward: He talks a lot, but his skills are risible compared to the ones of the main characters.
- The Dragon: To Odin. However, the Demon King actually openly despises him.
- Drop the Hammer: He wields a small hammer resembling Thor's symbol.
- Evil Redhead: Or at least Redbeard.
- Fantastic Racism: He can't stand Pooka for some reason.
- Fur and Loathing: He wears the hides of a pair of skinned bears(?) on his back. He also stated that he would have made a fur cap out of Cornelius.
- General Ripper/General Failure: One wonders why did Odin put him at the head of his Vassals....
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: He openly lust after Gwendolyn and puts her in a similar situation twice. After that, she handed him his ass.
- Jerkass: An even bigger asshole than Odin.
- Large and In Charge: He's the captain of the Berserkers and the biggest of them. Only Odin is larger.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He wears four shields on his large chest. If you blast him hard enough, said shields will fall off.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: His hammer.
- Smug Snake
- Stalker with a Crush: A rather inactive one towards Gwendolyn and maybe Griselda.
- The Starscream: He plans to take Odin's place.
- Stay in the Kitchen: His attitude towards Valkyries.
- Straw Misogynist: His repulsive attitudes towards women are revealed long before his treachery.
- Ted Baxter: Yeah, yeah, Odin's strongest vassal, my ass.....
- Too Dumb to Live: He often holds back his troops during critical battles because he want to make a dramatic entrance.
- Top-Heavy Guy: Like all Berserkers.
- It's amazing watching him walk around, really. His legs are so comparatively small that it seems like a miracle he can actually walk.
Griselda
Odin's daughter and Gwendolyn's elder sister, she was the strongest valkyrie of Ragnanival and the favorite of the Demon King. However, she was slain in battle. She reappears to Gwendolyn taking the form of a little bird, and her ghost appears to Odin right before his death.
- Aloof Big Sister
- Blade on a Stick: She passed her Psypher spear to Gwendolyn.
- Boobs of Steel: Stronger than her sister and slightly more stacked.
- Jerkass: During Cornelius' book.
- Spirit Advisor: As a ghost bird to Gwendolyn.
- Posthumous Character
- We Hardly Knew Ye
King Valentine
The late king of the destroyed nation of Valentine. He is the father of Princess Ariel, which makes him the grandfather of Velvet and Ingway. Reduced to a mere shell of his former self, he seeks to destroy Erion and all those who inhabit it.
- Abusive Parents: Towards Ariel and her children Velvet and Ingway.
- Big Bad: Of Velvet and Cornelius's stories in particular, but also holds this distinction for the game as a whole.
- Dem Bones: He's basically a skeletal rabbit.
- Evil Sorcerer: Though putting his power into the Valentinian coins greatly reduced said power, he still has enough to pose a threat to many characters, at least until he gives said powers to Leventhan.
- Fate Worse Than Death: Apparently suffered this in the Netherworld.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Get vaporized by Leventhan's breath right after freeing him from the Cauldron.
- However, this is exactly what he wanted.
- Killer Rabbit: Just before his death, he was turned into a Pooka.
- Love Hurts: Strangled his beloved daughter because he couldn't believe she could love both him and Odin at the same time.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Crazy enough to attempt to eliminate all of Erion.
- Love Makes You Evil: Notice a pattern yet?
- Offing the Offspring: He strangled his own daughter when he found out that she fell in love with Odin and gave birth to his children.
- Omnicidal Maniac: His soul is unable to find peace, making destroying Erion with the Cauldron his sole purpose.
- Out, Damned Spot!: In one of his more memorable scenes, he chants "these hands" when he's reminded of what he did. He doesn't actually try cleaning the spot out, but the subtext implies it.
- Parental Incest: Implied with Ariel and Velvet; he will wax poetic about how much he loved Ariel and strangled her out of mad jealousy, but the way he talks to Velvet is just damned creepy, referencing having her dance to amuse him and forcing her to kneel (i.e. getting down on all fours) to show 'respect'.
Queen Odette
The queen of the Netherworld, Endelphia.
- Barrier Maiden: Of a sort. The only thing keeping Gallon from becoming king of the Netherworld is the fact that Odette's still alive to control the Halja that restrain him.
- Boss Subtitles: Odette, Queen of the Dead.
- Dark Is Edgy: Not quite evil, but definitely a cruel, jealous and vindictive queen. And she's fought in a room full of skulls and bones, from whence she summons a variety of spiky blades and spider-parts. Her teleportation animation involves her flesh melting.
- Fan Disservice
- Flunky Boss: She's always surrounded by a generous number of ghosts and other undead.
- Gainaxing: Her boobs bounce a lot. Which makes sense, since they're not even hooked up to her back muscles.
- Giant Spider: She can summon one on the background in order to stab the character. Apparently, it's also the lower half of her body.
- God Save Us From the Queen: While she has no desire to end the world by leaving the Netherworld, she rules over the dead with great cruelty and caprice.
- Groin Attack: If that huge spider monster is actually her lower half, you may cause this if you attack its chest.
- Impossibly Low Neckline: You can see quite a bit of her chest due to her outfit.
- Jerkass: It must have been Odin's influence.....
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Has a very rich one, complete with hand-over-mouth gesture.
- Pimped-Out Dress/Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: All characters fight her in a regal full dress, and she puts up a good fight anyway.
- Ship Tease: A little with Oswald in his story mode. Squick.
- Sinister Scythe: She can turn the large crescent attached to her into a humongous, dual bladed scythe. Fitting, considering her role.
- Won't Work On Me: She's the one who gave Oswald the dark powers of the Belderiver, hence she can't be harmed by the sword.
Queen Elfaria
The beautiful queen of the Fairies and rival of the Demon King Odin. She's also Mercedes' mother. She appears only in the first parts of Mercedes', Gwendolyn's and Oswald's stories as a good-natured ruler. She's killed in battle by Odin. Her true name is Fimbulvetr.
- The Archer: Implied in her youth, since she was the original user of the Tesla crossbow.
- Big Good: Honestly, compared to the other rulers, she's by far the most well-intentioned and sensible. And she's Genre Savvy enough to keep an eye on her cousin Melvin and to refuse the mass-production of Red Psyphers suggested by the latter.
- Boobs of Steel/Authority Equals Asskicking: She's probably the most powerful fairy and the most well-endowed.
- Flower in Her Hair: Her crown is a whole wreath of golden flowers.
- Giant Poofy Sleeves: Seriously, look at those shoulders.
- Green Thumb: Highly implied.
- Hot Mom
- Impossible Hourglass Figure
- Killed Off for Real: A Kick the Dog moment for Odin.
- Meaningful Name: If you are well versed in Norse Mythology, you should know why just by looking at said name.[1]
- Ms. Fanservice: Really slim waistline? Check. Wide hips? Check. Dazzling butterfly-like wings? Check. Freaking huge boobs? Oh yes, check.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: She was apparently a master with the crossbow she leaves to Mercedes.
- Sacrificial Lion: She exists to die so that Mercedes can be forced to grow up fast.
- Simple Staff
- We Hardly Knew Ye: It's a miracle she garners as many tropes as she does; she dies very early in Mercedes' story, and cameos only once in Gwendolyn's and a scattered few times in Oswald's.
- Winged Humanoid: She has a pair of large, multicoloured butterfly wings.
Melvin
One of the Fairy nobles and cousin of Elfaria. Is a smug, ambitious prick who is vying for the throne. He also adopted Oswald and gave him the Belderiver sword.
- Abusive Parents: The way he treats his adoptive son Oswald sometimes.
- Ambition Is Evil: Ah-ehm....
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Likes to remind Oswald that he is just a lowly foundling, while Melvin is a scion of royalty.
- Blondes Are Evil: See a pattern here?
- Dirty Coward: He's seen on the battlefield only once, and all he does is piss his pants at the sight of Odin's Epic Flail, and hide behind Elfaria, no less.
- Informed Ability: He's supposed to be the Head Commander of the Shadow Knights, but apparently, he's anything but a warrior.
- Jerkass: Thankfully he doesn't survive for long,..
- Kick the Dog: He really had to deliver that last "The Reason You Suck" Speech to a dying Oswald, hadn't he?
- Large and In Charge: Unlike other male Fairies, he's very tall and muscular.
- The Man Behind the Man: Not to Elfaria, who was Genre Savvy enough to keep an eye on him, but is briefly one to Mercedes.
- Meaningful Name: Nidhogg. The dragon who chews the roots of the cosmic tree Yggdrasil (a.k.a. Mercedes).
- Non-Action Guy: Mortally wounded offscreen by some paladins. Good riddance.
- Pet the Dog: He still adopted Oswald, saving him from sure death.
- Power Makes You Evil: He was implied to be a far better person in his youth, when he adopted Oswald.
- Smug Snake: His revolution ultimately collapses thanks to internal problems and external pressures.
- The Starscream: To Mercedes once she becomes Queen; however, he was very much loyal to Elfaria.
- Winged Humanoid: Like all male fairies, he has grasshopper wings.
Brom
A dwarf blacksmith from Ringford, who served Melvin and his Dark Knights and forged Psypher weapons for them, though many of them were lost. He's exiled to the Netherworld by Melvin and later rescued by Mercedes, so that he can power up the Tesla crossbow. He also supports Oswald a lot, probably feeling guilty for bonding him to the Belderiver sword.
- The Atoner: Towards Oswald.
- Badass Beard
- Dude in Distress: During the first half of Mercedes' story, he's stuck in the Netherworld and must be freed.
- Only Sane Man: Apparently, he's the only follower of Melvin who realized how dangerous the red Psyphers were.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: He's far more grim and serious than your average dwarf.
- Ultimate Blacksmith: Even Queen Odette and King Valentine themselves praised his skills, and he's one of the few people able to create a Psypher.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When he dared to oppose Melvin, the latter exiled him in Endelphia.
King Edmund
The human king of Titania, and father of Cornelius. In the past, he fought and slain his father Gallon when the latter abused the Darkova spell. Uh, also his brother Edgar is Oswald's father, so he's Oswald's uncle.
- Cool Sword: In the past.
- Gag Nose: He has a pretty long one.
- I Have No Son: Briefly to Pooka Cornelius. He acknowledges him in the end though.
- Informed Ability: Justified by his age.
- Miniature Senior Citizen: He's really small.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Apparently after killing Gallon, so much that he refused to ever look at the Titania Royal Sword again.
- Retired Badass: He once killed Darkova Gallon all by himself. Talk about Badass Normal.
King Onyx
The king of the Fire Kingdom in the Volkenon Lava Pit. Previously engaged to Gwendolyn.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: He's not the boss of the Fire Kingdom for nothing, you know...
- Boss Subtitles: Inferno King Onyx.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He appears briefly in Gwendolyn and Oswald's stories, and really only comes across as someone trying to muscle in and create a Love Triangle (and Murder the Hypotenuse). Turns out he's also one of the five catastrophes from the legend.
- Covert Pervert: Come on, have you seen his attendants, the Vulcans?
- Devil in Plain Sight
- Evil Counterpart: To Oswald. White-Haired Pretty Boy? Check. Bad reputation? Check. Able to transform? Check. Royalty? Check. Nice Guy? Haha, no.
- Evil Is Burning Hot: Played with. He's easily the least malevolent of the five disasters, since he just wants to help his people survive, but doing so means burning what's left of the world.
- Expy: Not only his relationship/obsession with Gwendolyn, but their Relationship Voice Actors make it obvious that he's Gilgamesh.
- Game Face: His true form.
- If I Can't Have You: Attempts this on Gwendolyn, but is immediately thwarted by Oswald.
- Immortal Immaturity: It even gets mentioned in game that he acts like a Jerk Jock for someone centuries old.
- Jerkass: Even leaving aside his feuds with the protagonists, he's a proud and entitled ruler who throws violent temper-tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. And while he's easily the least malevolent of the five disasters, since his incineration of the land is born of a desire for survival, for himself and his people, he's a real prick about it to the fairies he encounters.
- Large Ham: "WELCOME!!!".
- Magma Man: When transformed.
- My God, What Have I Done?: What happens if he fights Gwendolyn in Armageddon? He kills her, and basically commits suicide afterwards.
- No Indoor Voice: When he's trying to be friendly. See Large Ham above.
- Playing with Fire
- Rocket Punch: With the added twist that not only do they shoot around for a while, he can still punch you with his elbows.
- This Cannot Be!: His second-to-last words when beaten by Mercedes.
- Villain Ball: Onyx, did you have to invade and burn down Ringford? Was it really necessary?
- Voice of the Legion: In his monster form.
- Weaksauce Weakness: He might seems a uber-powerful minotaur made of lava with both speed and raw power, but if you hit him with a Ooze potion, he's as good as dead.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy
Belial
One of the last dragons, he's a huge, serpent like wyrm who was enslaved by the Three Wise Men, and is forced to do their bidding. He fought the main characters on different occasions (all of them), but is finally killed by Cornelius in the sewers under Titania.
- Abnormal Ammo: He can spit armor pieces from his stomach.
- And I Must Scream: He's forced to obey to his masters and is implied that he was forced to devour innocent humanswhile lurking in Titania's dungeons.
- Boss Subtitles: Raging Dragon Belial.
- Defeat Means Friendship: Towards Mercedes.
- The Dragon: Literally for the Wise Men.
- Dying as Yourself: He finally gets released from bondage thanks to a fatal wound by Cornelius.
- Dying Moment of Awesome: He may have just gotten schooled by Cornelius, but Belial accentuates the positive by pointing out that the Psypher stab wound to his heart has broken the magical spell forcing him to be the Wise Men's slave. He uses the opportunity to go to town on Urzur.
- Gentle Giant: Was this when he was still free.
- Irony: His love for humans lead to his imprisonement at the vile hands of the Wise Men.
- Just Eat Him: His main attack.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Has a very long body, can't fly and can suck anything in his mouth.
- Recurring Boss: The ONLY boss in the game that everyone fights, though he's a Dual Boss with Beldor in Velvet's story.
- Taking You with Me: He chomps Urzur in half in his final moments. A huge Oh Crap for the latter.
- Tragic Monster: A noble, compassionate dragon tricked and enslaved by evil sorcerers into acting as their muscle for years.
- "Wake-Up Call" Boss: A strange example in that he's the final boss of Cornelius' story, but since he was last seen as a Warmup Boss in Gwendolyn's story, most players were probably expecting an easy rematch with him.
- Warmup Boss: In Gwendolyn's and Mercedes' stories, since he's the first boss in both.
- Weapons That Suck: He has an amazing ability to suck things in his maw and eat them.
Wagner
The other Dragon and the "King of the Skies", he's so powerful that few dare to attack him. He lives on the top of Mount Ridgehorn and is pissed at humans for what they did to dragons.
- Berserk Button: DON'T SHOW this guy a Psypher. Unless you like pain.
- Blow You Away: He can summon several tornadoes at once with his wings
- Boss Subtitles: Raging Dragon Wagner.
- Breath Weapon: The only Dragon capable of spitting fire.
- Conflict Ball: Seriously, though he was fully justified to want Oswald dead, he had no legitimate reason at all to want to try to kill Cornelius and Velvet, especially since both only came to ask for help.
- Defeat Means Truce: To Cornelius and Mercedes. In Velvet's case, he was friendlier (since she was handing him the Titrel ring).
- Fantastic Racism: You'd think Dragons are the pinnacle of existence, the way he talks.
- Giant Flyer: He's based on a Wyvern.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Holy shit, yes.
- Honor Before Reason: Despite his bad temper and tendece to conflict, he will keep his word when required.
- Killed Off for Real: Slain at the hands of Oswald.
- Recurring Boss: Fought by many characters.
- Won't Work On Me: He made a blood pact with Odin by giving him some of his great powers. However, now Odin is powerless against Wagner and can't fight him directly himself.
- You Killed My Best Friend: The reason why he hates humans and Psypher wielders.
Hindel
The All-Knowning dragon, able to see the future. He used to be Velvet's teacher and a seer. He allows Oswald to slay him with the Belderiver, before giving him some last advice.
- Death by Origin Story: In most of the books.
- Death Seeker: He doesn't defend himself from Oswald.
- Dragon Seer: Many people came to him to learn the future.
- Ineffectual Loner: Well, he lives at the top of a giant, frozen mountain surrounded by lots of trolls, gryphons and revenants... except for Wagner and Velvet, he doesn't have many visitors.
- Informed Ability: His powers are never shown.
- The Obi-Wan: To Velvet.
- Odd Friendship: With Velvet and Wagner.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Except for the color scheme (he's golden), he's the Blue oni to Wagner's Red Oni.
- You Can't Fight Fate: The reason why he eventually stopped informing people of their fates, since it happened anyway.
King Gallon
Once a great king from Titania, he used the forbidden spell of the Darkova kept in the Book of Transformations and went mad with power. He ravaged the lands of Valentine for seven days before getting slain by his son Edmund. He gets imprisoned in the Underworld of Endelphia and tortured forever for his deeds. He eventually gets out when Odette is killed and starts the Armageddon, but gets killed by Oswald, who posseses both his royal blood and the power of Queen Odette.
- And I Must Scream: For his sins, Odette made him immortal but constantly rotting away. FOREVER.
- The Atoner: Attempt this when he gave the Titanian Royal sword to Cornelius.
- Boss Subtitles: Gallon, King of the Netherworld.
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: One of his attacks consist in him shaking his rotten body and showering you with a rain of small bones, which are really hard to avoid.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: When he was alive, after turning into the six-eyed Beast.
- Eldritch Abomination: I guess it can be considered one...
- Evil Feels Good: Nightmarishly so; the Darkova curse transforms all pain into pleasure. And what could hurt more than killing your family and kingdom?
- Evil Sounds Deep: Although not always, at least presumably if his voice was the same when he was alive.
- Flunky Boss: He's guarded by a small army of
ShinigamiHalja. - Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: After Ingway turns into the Darkova, he goes hopelessly mad and start his march to the world of the living.
- Nigh Invulnerable: Only the powers of Odette and the blood of Titania's royal family can slay him for good. Oswald is the chosen one for this job.
- The Undead: His curse.
- Violation of Common Sense: The best way to avoid the head-burying move is to stay close to him. Unfortunately, you'll have to watch out for the Halja's scythes...
The Three Wise Men
Consisting of Urzur, Skuldi and Beldor, these three wizards scheme to manipulate every major player in Erion for their own benefit. Though based out of the sewers of Titania, they can be found sewing dissent in Odin's court (Skuldi), rubbing shoulders with the nobles of Ringford (Beldor) or advising King Edmund (Urzur). They also have a shaky alliance of sorts with Ingway and Velvet. The trio are actually responsible for at least part of Odin's magical power, having been duped into taking him as an apprentice when he disguised himself in his younger days. They believe they can direct the flow of destiny with liberal interpretations of the prophecies and the right amount of coercion, treating anyone and everyone as pawns. This ends very, very badly for them.
- Ambition Is Evil: They're already among the most powerful sorcerers in all of Erion, but that's just not enough for them. Instead of using their power to avert or minimize Armageddon, they plot about how to lord over all creation once the dust settles.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Although King Valentine eventually takes the cake as the ultimate architect of Armageddon, these three have some impressive Big Bad credentials of their own.
- Boss Subtitles: (Beldor or Skuldi) the Sorcerer.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: They're not really on anyone's side but their own, so it's to be expected, but the most pronounced example comes in Mercedes' chapter. She seeks out Beldor to support her for the throne just as he supported her mother, but Oswald has already been by to persuade him into backing Melvin.
- The Dog Bites Back: Belial chowing down on Urzur after every other appearance acting as their attack dog.
- Dual Boss: Velvet has to put up with the teeth-gnashing task of fighting off both Beldor and Belial in Chapter 6 of her book. This probably makes them qualify as a rare two-in-one example of That One Boss.
- Early-Bird Cameo: While they're relevant to the plot only from book two onward, Beldor appears in the first chapter of Gwendolyn's book when he summons Belial against her.
- Evil Old Folks: The trio are behind many schemes of Erion and actively try to bring forth Armageddon thinking they can become the masters of the new world.
- Expy: Their names are based on those of the Norn. See also Norse Mythology.
- Flunky Boss: They have a tendency to harass the heroes with Slimes and such in addition to their usual repertoire of spells. Furthermore, Beldor is escorted by some Axe Knight while Skuldi summons Oswald's "former comrades" a.k.a. a group of Desecrators.
- Get Back Here Boss: Like the common Wizard enemies you face in Titania, the Wise Men are fond of teleporting away from you.
- Jerkass: All of them. Beldor is really pushing it when he zappes Belial when he refuses to attack Mercedes again.
- Kick the Son of a Bitch: All of them. A mortally wounded Belial devouring Urzur in a Taking You with Me. Oswald gutting Skuldi for badmouthing Gwendolyn. Ingway first cursing Beldor into a Pooka then Cornelius stabbing the Ghoulish Beldor during Armageddon when he thinks Ingway has died.
- King Mook: They're aren't any bigger than normal, but the three are really just heavily upgraded wizard Mooks from Titania when fought as bosses.
- Lean and Mean: They're awfully thin.
- Meaningful Name: Each of their names is a corruption of one of the names of the Norns from Norse mythology.
- Smug Snake: To their credit, their schemes very nearly succeed, but they go about it with such overwhelming superiority complexes that it's hard not to think of them this way. There's also the simple fact that for all of their near-victories, they fail.
- Taking You with Me: As mentioned, Belial uses his final moments take bloody vengeance on one of the wizards who enslaved him.
- Treacherous Advisor: Urzur to the Titania royal family and Beldor to the Ringford royals. Specifically, it was Urzur who dumped Corenlius in the Underworld so Ingway could take his place and charm the Darkova spell out of King Edmund. On the Ringford side, Beldor switched sides as often as he changed socks. Skuldi also coaxed Brigan's The Starscream tendencies and kept an eye on the Valentinian twins.
- Villain Ball: It certainly wasn't doing them any favors that they manage to piss off all four active pc's (Gwendolyn being asleep still at this time) near simultaneously, which ends up getting the three divided and having to face Cornelius, Mercedes and Oswald alone, where the three together (Belial helping, of course) were able to defeat Velvet with minimal trouble.
Leventhan
The last dragon and one of the five disasters of Armageddon. Was kidnapped when still an egg and hatched in Volkenon Lava Pits by King Valentine in order to use him for his revenge. Despite his tiny size, it's incredibly powerful and dangerous and the crown of Valentine grants him power. During Armageddon he's put inside the Cauldron where he absorbs the Phozons and becomes a gargantuan wyrm, bringer of chaos. He's finally killed by Gwendolyn who uses her spear to slash his horn, removing his crown and killing him.
- Achilles' Heel: The Crown embedded in the horn.
- Boss Subtitles: Leventhan, the last Dragon.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: From his very birth.
- Breath Weapon: A Huge, Wave Motion Gun ray, capable of one-shotting anyone and anything.
- Colossus Climb: The final battle.
- Composite Character: His names comes from Leviathan and Laevantin, and his final forms is an Expy of Jormungandr.
- The Dragon: To King Valentine. Figuratively and literally!
- Flat Character: Leventhan literally has no characterization at all. He has no speaking roles and exists only to cause destruction wherever it flies. He's only a cub and during Armageddon, he's just a living Ragnarok Machine.
- Glass Cannon: He's tiny and falls to the ground after being hit enough times, but can easly One-shot you even with its weakest charge attack.
- Goo-Goo Godlike: Celebrates just hatching by kicking the crap out of three of your five playable characters with his Frickin' Laser Beams.
- Killer Rabbit: He looks harmless and cute... until he fires his breath laser... and then subverted when he is accelerated into adulthood, where he turns into a giant, Chinese-style Badass able to encircle the continent.
- Last of His Kind: He's even known as "The Last Dragon". He doesn't become one however until after Cornelius kills Belial.
- Non-Indicative Name: Leventhan is referred to as "The Last Dragon" even while fought as Cornelius; at a point in the story where Wagner and Belial are both still alive.
- Real Dragons Are Pink: It's hard to take seriously a pink dragon.... particularly when it isn't even his adult coloring... that would be a nice shade of dark blue.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: As a cub. He even has a piece of egg-shell on his head!
- Shout-Out: Adult Leventhan resembles Shenron.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: During his boss battle, tha same music from when you use the minimap sounds.
- Tragic Monster: Poor little whelp, he was manipulated by King Valentine since he hatched from his egg.
- Back to Odin Sphere
- ↑ The Fimbulwinter is the three-years long winter which comes before the Ragnarok.