Odin Sphere/Characters

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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.

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.

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.
  • 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.

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.

NPC

Ingway

Velvet's elder twin brother. Although he is not a playable character, he plays an important role in the game nonetheless.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

King Onyx

The king of the Fire Kingdom in the Volkenon Lava Pit. Previously engaged to Gwendolyn.

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.

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 Shinigami Halja.
  • 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.


Back to Odin Sphere
  1. The Fimbulwinter is the three-years long winter which comes before the Ragnarok.