Soul Series/Characters/Soul Edge

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This is a list of characters from the Soul Series that made their debut in first game of the series, Soul Edge/Soul Blade.

• Soul Calibur
• Soul Calibur II
• Soul Calibur III
• Soul Calibur IV
• Soul Calibur V

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Heishiro Mitsurugi

Origin - Bizen, Japan

Weapon(s) - Katana

Voiced By: Wataru Takagi (Soul Edge; Japanese), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Soulcalibur onward; Japanese), Scott Keck (Soulcalibur II; English), Ed Cunningham (Soulcalibur III onward; English)

Your typical Samurai looking for a good challenge. In Soul Edge he seeks a way to defeat the Tanegashima rifle, and believes the legendary sword Soul Edge to be the blade that can do it. He eventually beats the rifle without the need of Soul Edge, but throughout Soulcalibur, SCII, and SCIII, he's still searching for it for the sole purpose of fighting Nightmare. In IV he realizes that there are no more worthy challengers for him, and seeks to fight otherworldly opponents instead. He found a Worthy Opponent in Algol in IV, but due to Soul Edge and Soul Calibur vanishing into a vortex, their battle was cut short as Algol vanished with them. And so Mitsurugi went home to Japan, where over the years he hung up his sword as the era changed - not literally, though, as he loses his Shishi-Oh to Setsuka sometime between IV and V. Now a farmer, when he heard that Soul Edge had returned, he sold all of his land for an opportunity to fight Algol again.

Current director Dashi Odashima considers him the main character of Soul Edge.

• Actor Allusion: In SCIV, Darth Vader fights Mitsurugi in his intro and as a Destined Battle. Toshiyuki Morikawa, Mitsurugi's seiyuu, is also the Japanese dub voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• The Artifact: Mitsurugi was the main character of the first game; by III, he is almost completely irrelevant to the plot, mostly serving as the motivator of Setsuka's Stand Alone Episode. After Soulcalibur II, he's basically only fighting because he's seeking a challenge, which has virtually no impact on the main story.
• Awesomeness By Analysis: During his training after his defeat against the rifle, Mitsurugi sought to fight as many varied fighting styles as he could so he would implement their fighting tactics to his own style. Suffice to say, he was quite successful.
• Badass: Oh, yes. Very much so.
  • Badass Beard
  • Badass Boast: "You will be a stain on my sword." Another notable one is "Not even the king of hell could stand against my blade."
  • Badass Long Hair
  • Badass Long Robe: Some incarnations of him sport them.
• Badass Normal: Mitsurugi, so far as we can tell, has no special powers and no connection to either spirit sword. The katana he uses is perfectly ordinary metal. He's made up for this by being so skilled entire armies of normal men, including ones with guns can't beat him, and he's considered a worthy adversary to blatantly supernatural fighters like Nightmare, Olcadan (who killed a god's messenger), and even Algol, a man so Badass Soul Edge has no power over him. In the 17-year time gap between IV and V, he gave up fighting because anything less than a god-king just wasn't enough of a challenge anymore.
• Blood Knight
• Duel to the Death: All challenges are this for both Mitsurugi and those he challenges.
  • Except for Setsuka, apparently.
• Expy: Blatantly modeled on Toshiro Mifune, who played iconic Samurai roles in the Akira Kurosawa films Rashomon, Throne of Blood, and Seven Samurai. Also could be considered based on Miyamoto Musashi, who was played by Toshiro Mifune, so...
• Fan Nickname: "Mitsubishi."
• Katanas Are Just Better
• Meaningful Name: "Mitsurugi" literally means "divine sword."
• One-Man Army: He goes as far as to purposefully side with outnumbered sides so he has more people to fight.
• Parental Abandonment: What he was expecting (them to die) to start his sword training.
• Perpetual Poverty: In the early games, he has to make ends meet during travels by working as a mercenary. Which was a bit troublesome given he's the only one who faces language barriers. In SCV, he ended up becoming a farmer when Japan had no use for ronin and samurai, just to make ends meet.
• Ronin: He actually refused to take a Samurai position when offered, preferring a mercenary lifestyle so he could find a Worthy Opponent.
• Samurai: In appearance.
• Shout-Out: One of his costumes in Soulcalibur II bears resemblance to Haohmaru.
• Walking the Earth: As part of his desire for good opposition, he's been traveling all over Japan, amassing fame throughout the island for his skills. He's also probably the one character that has traveled the most throughout the series' course; during SCII he spent seven years traveling all over Eurasia.
• Warrior Monk: The Japanese website for V indicates that he has become one.
• Worthy Opponent: He considers Taki his only worthy rival during SCII/III after having a few unfinished encounters with her. In SCIV he considers himself so strong, only Nightmare can fill that spot. As of SCV, he seems to have some unfinished business with Algol.
  • Olcadan's quotes indicate Mitsurugi is one to him.

Taki

Origin - Fu-Ma No Sato, Japan

Weapon(s) - Kodachi (Soul Edge), Dual kodachi (Soulcalibur onward)

Voiced By: Fujiko Takimoto (Soul Edge-Soulcalibur III; Japanese), Sachiko Kojima (Soulcalibur Legends & Soulcalibur IV; Japanese), Desirée Goyette (Soulcalibur II; English), Cynthia Holloway (Soulcalibur III onward; English)

The stereotypical ninja of the series. Raised in a secret ninja village since her childhood, Taki has developed a mastery of sealing spells, and dedicates her life to sealing demons all over Japan. In Soul Edge, she leaves to Europe to find the cursed sword so as to empower her favourite sword, Rekkimaru. She's able to obtain a shard after defeating Cervantes, but ends instead fusing it with Mekkimaru, a sword with strong spiritual powers that has driven her master Toki insane. She is forced to leave her home when she's targeted by her own comrades after Toki discovers she has Mekkimaru. In Soulcalibur, she tries to destroy Mekkimaru by pitting it against Soul Edge. Being unable to, she settles on her desire to control its immense power.

In Soulcalibur II, the ninjas against her try to ambush her, and she realizes Toki's now after Soul Edge. Realizing the dangers of a man like Toki to claim it, she travels back to face him, which she does successfully in III. In IV she realizes that Soul Calibur is as dangerous as Soul Edge (even if it is totally opposite in nature) from the battle between Siegfried and Nightmare, and resolves to destroy Soul Calibur as well -- by any means necessary.

During the time skip she finds an apprentice in Natsu, who succeeds Taki's position in V, while Taki herself has gone missing, having yet to return from a journey westward. Natsu sets out to look for her.

• Action Girl
• Badass: She went toe-to-toe with Cervantes while he was under Soul Edge's complete influence and slashed him down.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Sophitia was riddled with shards of the evil sword during her battle with Cervantes, Taki swooped down to save her. She then treated Sophitia's wounds and carried her back home to Greece.
  • She didn't treat all of them. One of the shards was lodged near Sophitia's heart in a way that removing it would absolutely kill her without fail. This becomes a plot point later in V
• The Caretaker/Parental Substitute: For Natsu.
• Catch Phrase: "Fuuma Kanryo!", literally "Demon sealed, the deed is done!"
• Chekhov's Gun: Mekkimaru in Soul Edge is a mere extra weapon with little story relevance. Come Soulcalibur it became Taki's second main weapon and the focal point of her whole story up until Soulcalibur III.
• Contract on the Hitman: Since Soulcalibur, up through IV. Having your best friend take over the clan will generally stop this.
• Darker and Edgier: In IV.
• Dual-Wielding: Since Soulcalibur.
• Evil Mentor: Toki, though not intentionally.
• Evil Weapon: Mekkimaru. Its powers corrupted Toki into a bloodthirsty madman. These powers were amplified when Taki merged a shard of Soul Edge in it, enough to make it the third strongest weapon after the soul swords.
• Fragile Speedster
• I Call It Vera: Rekkimaru is her favourite out of all the weapons she forged, and has a special attaching to it.
• Intercontinuity Crossover: Is a character in Namco x Capcom and Queen's Gate Spiral Chaos
• Jiggle Physics: She's practically the games' poster girl for it.
• Kodachi Are Just Better
• Ms. Fanservice
• Murder Is the Best Solution: By Soulcalibur IV, her primary solution to other people knowing about Soul Edge is to Kill'Em All. No matter who the character is or how good or bad they are, Taki will indiscriminately show up trying to murder them at some point.
• Ninja
  • Highly-Visible Ninja
• Painted-On Pants: Her spray-on, fuchsia-or-blue body-glove is slightly ludicrous, given that ninjas usually wore clothing to disguise their shape, not draw attention to it.
• Put on a Bus: It has been said that she'll return "Eventually" meaning she might return in a future installment.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
• Sphere of Destruction: A few of Taki's spells. Best seen in the intro for II, although her actual attacks of that caliber in-game are not nearly as widespread or destructive.
• Stripperiffic: Her ninja jumpsuit has that whole "pastede on yay" thing going on, don't you think?
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant To Use: Her thoughts on Mekkimaru and spirit swords in general.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: By IV, Taki is much more condescending and self-righteous than her previous incarnations and appears to have no sympathy for the many, many people she's trying to kill to keep them away from Soul Edge.
• Wall Jump: A special skill of her (and others) in Soulcalibur II.

Siegfried Schtauffen

Origin - Ober-Getzenberg, Holy Roman Empire (Germany)

Weapon(s) - Zweihänder

Voiced By: Nobuyuki Hiyama (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (Soulcalibur III; English), Roger Craig Smith (Soulcalibur Legends & Soulcalibur IV onward; English)

The actual protagonist of the series. Son of a knight of the Holy Roman Empire, when he was sent into a foreign expedition Siegfried fell into bad company and formed a gang of bandits. During a raid against a group of coward knights that ran away, he murdered his father by accident, and sought for Soul Edge to find his father's killer because the horror of what he'd done drove him insane, and he convinced himself that someone else did it. He obtains Soul Edge but becomes its new host and is transformed into Nightmare.

He regains his sanity shortly after Nightmare was defeated by Kilik and Xianghua, but is unable to keep the sword under control, and falls again into its clutches. He is finally freed from Soul Edge's control in III, and is able to "seal" Soul Edge with Soul Calibur. During III he seeks a way to destroy Soul Edge for good, and eventually finds it in Soul Calibur itself, which has bonded with him in order to save his life from a fatal injury. In IV, he's out to get Nightmare, while shunning all those who try to help him in an attempt to avoid any more victims. He returns in V, now Older and Wiser, and has reformed his band of mercenaries "Schwarzwind" to combat Soul Edge. Hilde now accompanies him due to the fall of her kingdom during the timeskip caused by Nightmare. Z.W.E.I and Viola also accompany him to find a worthy successor to Soul Calibur.

Director Daishi Odashima considers him the main character of Soulcalibur III and IV and considers Nightmare!Siegfried the main character of Soulcalibur II (read: "more than half the series"), but has explicitly confirmed he is not the main character for Soulcalibur V despite his return.

• An Ice Person: Whereas Soul Edge (and by proxy, Inferno and Nightmare) is associated with fire, Siegfried seems to embody the element of ice in contrast (presumably through his contact with Soul Calibur). This can be seen with his Critical Finish in IV and Critical Edge in V.
• Animal Motifs: His armor in SCV incorporates the eagle symbol of the Holy Roman Empire banner.
• Apologetic Attacker: Only against those who want him dead for his crimes as Nightmare. He feels they are in the right to seek revenge for his crimes, but can't die before stopping Soul Edge. So he beats the crap outta them... and then apologizes.
• Armor Is Useless
• The Atoner: He's spent practically every game since Soulcalibur (well, except for Soulcalibur II) trying to make up for murdering his father in cold blood and having been manipulated by the sword into killing thousands of innocents.
• Badass
  • Badass Back
  • Badass Boast/Badass Creed: Has quite a lot of these. Too many to list.
  • Badass Cape: In SCV. His alt. in III and 1P outfit in IV instead don a Scarf of Asskicking (the latter being long enough to technically count as a cape anyway).
  • Badass Crew: His group Schwarzwind (first seen in Siegfried's ending from Soulcalibur as what would appear to be a miniature Badass Army) has slowly grown into this, thanks to Siegfried's reforms post-IV. By the time of V, they're now a band of noble mercenaries, a far cry from their original status as a band of thieves. They've also gained a traveling companion in Hilde, who is tagging along with them after the disappearance of her father and the fall of Wolfkrone, as well as enlisting Z.W.E.I and Viola into their ranks.
  • Badass Pacifist
• BFS
• Bishonen: Out of all the Soulcalibur characters, Siegfried is the one most deemed as this. Particularly, because of his girly-ish pretty face and slim (but masculine) build. He's aged well, for he's a Biseinen in V.
• Blue Eyes: A mixture of blue and green.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: When he was Nightmare.
  • Battle in the Center of the Mind: Numerous times with Inferno, serving as a rare heroic version of an Enemy Within. It finally comes to an end in SCII.
• Canon Shadow: His appearance in Soulcalibur is a "What If" inclusion, seeing as Siegfried was canonically Nightmare at the time.
• Chaste Hero/Celibate Hero: Justified. He outright stated in SCIV that "No one would touch his heart." This is because he doesn't want anyone to hinder him on his quest to destroy Soul Edge, and that he realized that anyone who get close to him is in danger.
  • Still, this didn't stop the fandom from making him the Fandom Bicycle.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Self-inflicted, no less.
• Deadpan Snarker: At times.
• Deal with the Devil: In Soul Edge, the sword told him that it'd resurrect his dead father if he were to offer souls to empower it. He agreed and eventually was corrupted into Nightmare.
  • Meaningful Name: That's why Siegfried's weapon in that game is called Faust.
• Death Seeker
• Destined Bystander: Arguably. You didn't think this kid would go on to become both the Big Bad and The Hero of the series, did you?
• Determinator: His fighting style even has a somewhat desperate "push onward at all costs" feeling to it, emphasized by one of his more basic moves being a series of headbutts.
• Enemy Within: In Soulcalibur II, Siegfried functions as a heroic version of this for Nightmare/Inferno, awakening after lying dormant for so long to try and retake his body. Cue Raphael stabbing the eye of Soul Edge.
• Failure Knight
• Fan Nickname: "Sieg" or "Si(e)ggy/Siggie."
• Germanic Depressives: Unsurprisingly, considering his angst ridden back-story.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Sports a vertical scar across his right eye starting in Soulcalibur (it's more clearly seen in his 2P costume, as his default outfit has Peek-a-Bangs).
• Hair of Gold
• Heel Face Revolving Door: When he's not possessed by Soul Edge he's trying to destroy it. The best thing you can say about Siegfried is however badly he screws up, he never stops fighting.
• Hot-Blooded: Subverted, despite what his seiyuu might entail. In the heat of battle, Siggy has some pretty ferocious battle cries, yet he's pretty much The Stoic at all times. As Nightmare, however...
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Siegfried takes it a step further with a move that stomps around six times in rapid succession.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Brutally subverted. He looks the part (especially in IV, where an intricate crystalline armor has grown over his regular silver suit) and it was his childhood dream to become one of these like his father, but he's far from being one. However, he could arguably be considered the more embittered variant of this trope.
• Knight Templar: Only against those cursed by Soul Edge, and because he's not aware of any cure for that.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Starting in Soulcalibur.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After remembering his atrocities as Nightmare.
  • He hits this wall with regards to his father's death as well, which is how he temporarily frees himself during the latter part of the first Soulcalibur.
• My Greatest Failure: Patricide, specifically.
  • My Greatest Second Chance: Subverted in the interim between Soulcalibur and SCII (where he eventually succumbs to Soul Edge's sway once more), played straight from III onward. It's most evident in III, where his B ending has Siegfried believe that his father was the one who sent the lightning bolts that destroyed Nightmare and interpret it as his father having already forgiven Siegfried for killing him.
• Older and Wiser: By V, and arguably by IV as well, though his regretful determination to redeem himself has more than a touch of fanaticism.
• Parental Abandonment: Frederick was accidentally slain by Siegfried prior to the first game, whereas Margaret would pass away due to natural causes sometime before V.
• Power Dyes Your Hair, Power Makes Your Hair Grow: As Nightmare in II, he's shown to have flowing red hair.
• Perma-Stubble: Sports it in V.
• Redemption Equals Death: In every Soulcalibur IV ending that involves him except Hilde's. And even in Hilde's is he prepared to die as penance for his sins. Compare this to his ending in the third game.
• Self-Made Orphan and Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Siegfried decapitated his father under influence from his gang of thieves.
  • The Killer in Me
• Shout-Out: To the legendary Norse Mythology hero Sigurd/Siegfried. A recurring weapon of Siegfried is Gram, the sword used by Sigurd to kill the dragon Fafnir (mistranslated as "Glam" until more recent games), and Siegfried himself gets to face Fafnir in Legends.
• The Stoic
• Sugar and Ice Personality: His default mood. Although, he can shift between this and Tsundere at certain times.
• Tragic Villain: Debatably, his Siegfried-Nightmare incarnation.
• Unbreakable Weapons: In Soul Edge, where breaking weapons is possible, Siegfried has one specific weapon (the 7-Branch Blade) which restores the weapon gauge so quickly that it's virtually impossible to break.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: A particularly tragic example in Soulcalibur IV if Siegfried is truly ignorant of Soul Calibur's true nature. (If he is aware, then it's Knight Templar.) He might believe that Soul Calibur is a sword of redemption that will destroy the evil of Soul Edge. What he doesn't realize is that Soul Calibur will freeze the world over in the process.

Sophitia Alexandra

Origin - Athens, Ottoman Empire (Greece)

Weapon(s) - Short sword and shield

Voiced By: Michiko Neya (Soul Edge-Soulcalibur III; Japanese), Chie Nakamura (Soulcalibur Legends & Soulcalibur IV; Japanese), Lynn Harris (Soul Edge; English), Diane Holmby (Soulcalibur II onward; English)

The daughter of a Greek baker chosen by the god Hephaestus to destroy Soul Edge. She reaches Cervantes' lair, but ends up being gravely injured in the battle. Saved by Taki from certain death, she is able to return to her normal life. During Soulcalibur, she falls in love with a young blacksmith, Rothion. But the blacksmith god came back to ask her to go destroy the still-at-large Soul Edge. She does, but is unable to reach Nightmare before he's defeated, so she returns back and marries Rothion.

In Soulcalibur, II, & III she becomes a Mama Bear due to her children being threatened by Soul Edge. She encounters Tira, who she fights after she makes a threatening remark about her family. Tira escapes, and in Soulcalibur IV, Sophie's daughter Pyrrha gets kidnapped and infected by Soul Edge, forcing her to make a Face Heel Turn. She is succeeded by her son Patroklos and, to some extent, her daughter Pyrrha.

It was revealed in the Soulcalibur V material collection that a shard of Soul Edge was implanted near her heart after fighting Cervantes, and it was impossible to remove without killing her. When Nightmare was defeated, Pyrrha slowly began to die because Soul Edge had left this world. Left with no other choice, Sophitia sacrificed herself to save her daughter's life by removing the shard from her own heart and implanting it within Pyrrha.

• Action Girl/Mama Bear: Since Soulcalibur II. Her Mama Bear-ness gets taken to the cruelest extreme in IV when her daughter Pyrrha is kidnapped by Tira and infected by Soul Edge. Basically either she has to kill Soul Edge's enemies or watch her daughter die.
• Action Wife: She's the one who took on the battlefield, not her husband Rothion. This is a main source of his Die for Our Ship treatment.
• Ancient Greece: Her look and costumes, including Grecian style skirts, togas tops, laurel-leaf hair decorations (in SCIII) and gladiatrix sandals.
• Apologetic Attacker: See for yourself.
• Ass Kicks You
• Blue Eyes: A mix of blue and green much like Siegfried.
• Cool Big Sis: Became one when II was released.
• Dangerously-Short Skirt: An Amazonian warrior often doesn't wear one, but she does, and it's practically see-through!
• Did Not Do the Research: The idea that Sophitia is worshiping the Hellenic Pantheon in 1500s Greece is about 1000 years too late. It's said that she worships the "old" gods in secret, due to being very fond of her past heritage.
• Fan Nickname: "Soph" or "Sophie." The latter is used as a pet name by Cassandra.
• Groin Attack: One of Sophie's favorite attacks. She's not above fighting dirty, but she'll apologize to male opponents if it connects. (See the video listed above for examples.)
• Heroic Sacrifice / Tear Jerker: She kills herself to save Pyrrha...
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me
• Hair of Gold
• Happily Married: Her wedding to Rothion is seen in her Soulcalibur ending.
• Hot Chick with a Sword
• Hot Mom
• Jack of All Stats
• Meaningful Name: Sophitia means "divine wisdom" in Greek, from sophia - "wisdom" and tia (thea) - "Goddess; Godly".
• Mini-Dress of Power
• The Paladin: Her mission and the divine nature of her quest qualify her for this character class.
• Possession Implies Mastery: Sophitia's instant prowess with the sword and shield, despite being an untrained girl, were imbued upon her by the sacred power of the holy weapons themselves.
• Power Blonde
• Purity Personified
• Put on a Bus: Subverted; her marriage to Rothion was the game series' attempt to write her out of the action and have Cassandra flat out replace her. However in the console versions of Soulcalibur II, she became a recurring character again. Fans have often speculated that her Ms. Fanservice reputation is a reason why she didn't get Put on a Bus unlike the other Soulcalibur characters who did.
  • She may get in another bus for real in V, considering that unlike Cassandra, Patroklos will be the main character.
  • Bus Crash: According to V, Sophitia is actually dead.
• Rapunzel Hair: Her default costume in each game gives her the longest hair of any character (tied with Mi-na), although like Mi-na she keeps it in a braid.
• Shock and Awe: Sophitia's Critical Finish.
• Stripperiffic: This has become more and more prominent over the course of the series, which is sort of ironic given what kind of character she is. Her shirt is see-through (aside from on her nipples, naturally), has cleavage in front and on the side, and her skirt is very short, causing a Panty Shot practically whenever she kicks, is knocked down, there's wind blowing in the arena... EVERY MATCH.
• Superpowerful Genetics: Sophitia's children inherited the evil energy of Soul Edge, which infiltrated her body through the wounds on her fight with Cervantes.
• Token Good Teammate: Of Nightmare's gang in IV. As said above, she's none too thrilled about her Face Heel Turn, but has to fight for the sake of her children.
• Walking Swimsuit Scene: Her "Sophitia!!" extra costume in Soul Blade.
• Woman in White: Either she wears white as a standalone color or it is accompanied by blue.
• You Have to Believe Me: After returning from her first quest, no one in town, except Cassandra, believed her stories about Greek gods, an Evil Weapon, and Ghost Pirates.

Nathaniel William "Rock" Adams

Origin - London, British Empire (Raised in the New World)

Weapon(s) - Battle axe (Soul Edge-Soulcalibur), Giant mace (Soulcalibur III onward)

Voiced By: Takashi Nagasako (Soul Edge-Soulcalibur; Japanese), Minoru Inaba (Soulcalibur III; Japanese), Toru Okawa (Soulcalibur IV; Japanese), Wally Burr (Soulcalibur III onward; English)

An Englishman who was orphaned at a young age due to his parents' murder at the hands of Cervantes. He ends up having to raise himself. Later he adopts a son named Bangoo. In Soulcalibur, Bangoo is kidnapped and he rescues him from Astaroth's cult, which used him as bait to take his soul. Afterwards he seeks to become stronger to prove his worth as a father of Bangoo.

While missing in Soulcalibur II, due to believing that heading out to fight frequently instead of being there was not the way to raise him, he returns in III and IV, wielding a large mace instead of his axe. In IV, he confronts Astaroth and notes the similarity in their fighting styles, which worries him. It is currently unknown what became of him in V.

• Badass Beard, Badass Mustache: Grows 'em out for III.
• Boisterous Bruiser
• Carry a Big Stick: Since SCIII, Rock has wielded maces as his preferred weapon, instead of the axes he used in SE and SC.
  • Improbable Weapon User: That said, besides the Maces, his "Juggernaut" weapon in III & IV is a stone statute of the head of a Buddha on a stick.
• Catch Phrase: BANGOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
• Charles Atlas Superpower: In his SCIII ending, he travels back to the New World... by swimming across the Atlantic.
• Dub Name Change: His actual name is Rock Adams. The translator of the first game decided to turn it into a nickname and gave him the full name "Nathaniel William Adams." Worth noting this name only appears in Soul Edge, and all subsequent games have ignored/failed to mention it, while names of other (actual) nicknamed characters (Ivy, Lizardman) are always mentioned.
• Great White Hunter: The man has apparently brought down bears, rhinos, bison, and even a freaking mammoth.
• Evil Knockoff: Astaroth is this to him, as Rock was used as the base to create him.
• Mighty Glacier
• Mighty Whitey: British in origin, he became known as the "White Giant" by the Native Americans after he was ship-wrecked in the New World.
• Mistaken For A God: As seen in his SCIII ending. Sailors who witness him swimming the Atlantic, wearing his horned head-dress, mistake him for "The Protector of the Sea." Years later (presumably), this sighting becomes Shrouded in Myth and his ending finishes with an antique-looking illustration that shows a highly exaggerated, Titan-sized Rock emerging from the sea dwarfing a ship.
• Nature Hero: He lived alone for most of his life on the New World, and has developed his fighting style as a way to communicate with mother nature. He also wears the fur/skulls of the animals he needs to kill in respect of the wild creatures he co-habits with.
• Papa Wolf: To his adoptive son Bangoo.
• So Proud of You: After being trapped in a crevasse for a whole night, Rock found Bangoo and asked him if this experience made him fear nature. He said that he didn't, and Rock realized he was ready for his rite of passage into adulthood.
• You Can't Fight Fate: He reaches this conclusion after investigating Astaroth and realizing his connection with Soul Edge. He considers it his destiny to stop the vile monster.

Voldo

Origin - Palermo, Kingdom of Naples (Italy)

Weapon(s) - Dual tri-blade katars

Easily the freakiest character in the series, and possibly of all fighting games period. Voldo is a guardian of the treasures that were gathered by his master, Vercci. He seeks Soul Edge because it is the only treasure that his master did not have before his death, but which he longed for so passionately.

Most of the series he's just traveling around accomplishing nothing. In Soulcalibur IV, he finally reaches Soul Edge, and is tricked by the sword into becoming one of its servants/guards by imitating his beloved master. In V, he returns to the Money Pit and becomes its guardian once again, but when Soul Edge reappears, he seeks it out believing it to be Vercci, apparently now a slave to the evil sword's will.

It turns out that Kilik had actually purified him in IV, meaning that his search for Soul Edge in V is now once again of his own volition as a last will and testament to his beloved master Vercci. To do this, he gets close to Graf Dumas.

• Ambiguously Gay: He REALLY wants to please Vercci.
• Animal Motifs: His costume in V references a tarantula spider, complete with tufts of arachnid-like hair and a horrific multi-eyed, spider face cod-piece.
• Anti-Magic: All evidence suggests that his obsessive devotion to Vercci renders him immune to Soul Edge's influence. So, Soul Edge imitates Vercci.
  • However, by the time of V, he's now a malfested. Apparently, Voldo's luck didn't last.
• Badass Back: This is a big part of his gimmick; that is, he has an entire moveset for while facing away from the opponent. Several of his moves have him swapping between back-facing and front-facing, and he is effectively a normal character no matter which direction he's staring at.
  • Badass Grandpa: As of SCV, he's 67 years old, but appears to have lost none of his freakish flexibility.
• Bald of Awesome
• Bound and Gagged
• Collector of the Strange: Voldo's master was a fan of collecting weapons, specially eastern katars. He used to boast that "if it isn't in [his] collection, then it doesn't exist."
• Confusion Fu
• Disability Superpower: Due to the loss of his sight, he has greatly developed both his hearing and smell, allowing him to fight on-par with even trained veterans.
• Dual-Wielding: Katars do not need to be used in pairs but Voldo does anyway.
• Everyone Looks Sexier If French Italian: He completely subverts this. Most other Italian fighting game characters play this trope straight—Robert Garcia from AOF/KOF, Rose from Street Fighter, Brad Burns from VF, etc. Voldo is VERY much the exception to the rule.
• Fan Nickname: Like Mitsubishi above, Volvo.
• Fighting Clown
• Gross Up Close-Up: His end poses mostly involve him contorting himself into various weird shapes, incorporating merciless close-ups of his aggressive looking cod-piece and thong-bound backside.
• Handicapped Badass: Is blind AND mute, and also has a blindfold and a facemask.
• Hearing Voices: He has been hearing Vercci's voice in his head ever since the first game.
• Island Base: The Money Pit, located on an island Vercci obtained, was intended to safekeep the merchant's remaining possessions after the ones on land were confiscated. Voldo manages to restore it to its former glory around the time "V" kicks in.
• Mad Man In The Attic: Kept in total darkness at the bottom of the vertiginous Money Pit.
• The Speechless
• Stripperiffic: A rare male example, although not all of his costumes qualify.
• Underwater Ruins: After a heavy rain, most of the lower levels of the Money Pit were drowned, and treasures found there lost forever.
• Undying Loyalty: To his deceased master Vercci. Sometimes taken to odd extremes.
• Unwitting Pawn
• War for Fun and Profit: Vercci did it in a smaller scale. He specialized in selling weapons, often to conflicting sides (like the Spanish Armada and Cervantes.) This made him and his business family gain the title of "Merchants of Death." However, it also backfired on him when the Italian Wars set off and all his possessions were confiscated, due to his very fame as a weapons merchant.

Hwang Song-Gyeong

Origin - Jirisan, Korea

Weapon(s) - Chinese sword

Voiced By: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Soul Edge; Japanese), Wataru Takagi (Soul Blade-Soulcalibur; Japanese), Naoki Imamura (Soulcalibur III; Japanese)

A Korean soldier given orders to investigate and destroy Soul Edge. Orphaned since a young age, he came to rely on others, and once he has grown he decided to help those in need by joining the Coast Guard of his country. Sent to find Soul Edge, under the idea that it would help them against his country's mortal enemy, Japan, in the first game; only to get back in a hurry after hearing rumors of his country being invaded.

In Soulcalibur, he was sent to seek the runaway Mi-na under the guise of a second search of Soul Edge. During said quest he learns of the sword's evil, but no one in Korea believes him and he ends up demoted. After spies from Japan are found looking for the sword, the higher-ups sends him again as he's the most experienced, but he's decided to destroy the sword against his bosses' wishes. Ends up injured by Sophitia and letting Yun-seong keep the spot...

It is currently unknown what became of him in V.

• Bowdlerise: Before Arthur's introduction, Mitsurugi was switched out with him in Korean arcades. This made him a Secret Character in the western arcades.
• Jack of All Stats
• Mentors: Mi-na's father Seong Han-myeong. Has also a mentor figure in real life Admiral Yi Sun-sin.
• Older and Wiser: Since Soulcalibur III.
• Patriotic Fervor
• Put on a Bus: Went missing after Soulcalibur, and enjoyed a brief return in Soulcalibur III and its arcade port. Even then, he still appeared on the sidelines in Yun-seong's story.
• The Rival: With Mitsurugi in Soul Edge and Maxi in Soulcalibur.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Hwang Sung Kyung? Korean names always seem to have this problem. G's are sometimes K's, O's are sometimes U's...
• The Stoic
• You Have to Believe Me: Nobody believed him in Korea when he appeared claiming Soul Edge to be an Evil Weapon.

Seong Mi-na

Origin - Jirisan, Korea

Weapon(s) - Zanbatou (bladed staff)

Voiced By: Hekiru Shiina (Soul Edge; Japanese), Yuko Miyamura (Soul Blade; Japanese), Houko Kuwashima (Soulcalibur-Soulcalibur III; Japanese), Sanae Kobayashi (Soulcalibur IV; Japanese), Molly Lin (Soulcalibur II; English), Erika Lenhart (Soulcalibur III onward; English)

The only daughter of Seong Han-Myeong. She at first leaves home to join Hwang in his search for Soul Edge, only to be dragged back home by Hwang. She leaves home again in Soul Calibur to search for Soul Edge (and to get away from a clingy student of her father's), but is dragged back home yet again by Hwang. She later commits the mistake of giving a family sword to Yun-seong, who later runs away with it; she then receives permission from her father to seek him and the sword. During the quest she discovers Soul Edge's true colors, and now seeks Yun-seong to stop him from searching for it.

It is currently unknown what became of her in V.

• Action Girl: Possibly bordering on Faux Action Girl. She does have the skills, but in-story her last won fight happened before her debut in SE.
• Arranged Marriage: If her father had his way, she'd be settling down with Hwang... or as seen in her SC ending, the idiot son of the neighboring Kim family.
• Bare Your Midriff
• Blade on a Stick: Mi-na wields a giant halberd called a "zanbatou."
• Cool Big Sis: To Yun-seong. Specifically states this in Broken Destiny's Gauntlet mode, and several of her interactions with the boy throughout the series serve to emphasize their relation.
• Cool Teacher: She spent a year training with Kong Xiuqiang.
• Curb Stomp Battle: She fought Ivy during the events Soulcalibur, and was completely overwhelmed by her Whip Sword (though her easy-to-anger impulsiveness got the best of her too), to the point Ivy utterly defeated and mocked her in front of a crowd.
• Fan Service Pack: Played straight in Soulcalibur II (especially in the artwork) but inverted afterward as her outfits became more conservative and her figure became getting thinner (which is ironic considering on how just about all the other ladies went in the opposite direction).
• Groin Attack: A rather nasty one where she cuts her opponent's balls off/box out. She even addresses it with a special voice sample, "Bye bye."
• Jumped At the Call: She is always seeking adventure, even defying her father and running away from home to do so.
• Older and Wiser: Since Soulcalibur II. Even Han-Myeong notes it.
• Overprotective Dad: Han-Myeong isn't too thrilled about his daughter's adventurous streak. Somewhat understandable if you remember that Mi-na's mother and younger brother died of illness.
• Plucky Girl: "I will never lose!"
• Spell My Name with an "S": Seung Mina? Syung Mena?
• Stripperiffic: Averted—she was headed in this direction (her outfit in SCII was basically a bra and Loin Cloth) but unlike most of the ladies in the series, whose outfits have got skimpier with each new game, SCIV sees Mi-na actually cover up more than she ever has. In fact, one of her alternative outfits is a quite conservative hanbok.
• Tsundere: To Hwang.
• Underboobs: Her SCIII outfit . It can also be seen in her SCIV outfit, to a lesser extent.
• You Go, Girl!: She wants to prove her fighting worth to her Overprotective Dad.

Li Long

Origin - Peking, Ming Empire (China)

Weapon(s) - Bladed nunchaku (Soul Edge), Dual bladed nunchaku (Soulcalibur III)

Voiced By: Jin Yamanoi (Soul Edge; Japanese), Masaya Takatsuka (Soulcalibur III; Japanese)

Nunchaku user and mercenary. Believing Mitsurugi to have killed his mute lover Chie (daughter of the former head of Taki's clan, childhood friend of Taki, and in hiding with her father as innkeepers) he intends to get revenge. If Mitsurugi turns out to be innocent, to kill every swordsman he meets. Later, he was almost killed by Cervantes, but survived, albeit with his self-esteem damaged.

While on the run from Ming assassins for disobeying orders, he was rescued by another mute girl. He stayed with her until his pursuers found him, which forced him to fight again in order to protect her. Having remembered what it was like fighting for someone, he decides to restore his confidence by fighting the sword that shattered it in the first place.

• Bruce Lee Clone
• The Cameo: Makes a cameo appearance in Cervantes' Soulcalibur III story mode as a shadow enemy. Though this enemy appears in other stories, only Cervantes recognizes Li Long as this "Unknown Soul".
  • Also has cameos as a created character in the Quick Battle mode of both Broken Destiny and V.
• Contract on the Hitman: Sorta. The Ming Empire sent assassins to kill him for having disobeyed orders.
• Disappeared Dad: Him. He was unaware he has a child for most games. May still not known, far as its known.
• Disney Death: Chie's "miraculous survival," considering the only mark she had was a huge sword one on her back.
• Dual-Wielding: In Soulcalibur III, he's given twin nunchakus to fight, probably to diffrenciate him from Maxi.
• The Four Gods: He has four weapons in Soul Edge named after them.
• Heroic BSOD: After being defeated by Cervantes, Li Long's confidence crumbled as he started doubting if his manhunt was righteous after all or just atrocious acts. Feeling condemned by everything, his guilt weighted on him until he could not hold his weapon anymore. After that, it took him quite a while to even stop his hand from shaking when in a fight.
• Killed Off for Real: Most people assumed this was his fate after he stopped appearing. Soulcalibur III just confirmed to the west what the east knew a long time ago (he's alive).
• Mentors: To Maxi, while under the alias of Zhang Wu. After losing a battle to him, Maxi asked Li Long if he could train under him while traveling together.
• Put on a Bus: Has it far worse than Hwang, who at least was still around (mostly thanks to Yun-seong) story-wise during his in-game absences. Li Long has barely gotten even any mentions at all.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: He has killed many swordsmen on his search for Chie's killer.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Him and his family. Finally resolved between IV and V. All There in the Manual for Broken Destiny states that he met with Taki in III, who told him that Chie was still alive. Chie herself becomes the new head of the Fu-Ma clan. Li Long's actions after this revelation and his current fate, though, remains unknown.

Cervantes de Leon

Origin - Valencia, Spanish Empire

Weapon(s) - Soul Edge - Male & Female (Soul Edge), Long sword and pistol sword (Soulcalibur onward)

Voiced By: Takashi Nagasako (Soulcalibur-Soulcalibur III; Japanese), Jin Urayama (Soulcalibur Legends & Soulcalibur IV onward; Japanese), Warren Rodgerson (Soulcalibur II; English), Wally Wingert (Soulcalibur III, Soulcalibur IV, & Soulcalibur Legends; English), Patrick Seitz (Soulcalibur V; English)

A Badass Pirate who learned of Soul Edge's existence via Vercci, the Merchant of Death, and took it for himself. When he took it, he went insane and killed his own crew. He is then controlled by Soul Edge into absorbing souls to increase its power. Sophitia fights him and destroys one of the two parts of Soul Edge, sending Cervantes into a berserk rage. Taki assists a wounded Sophitia and kills Cervantes.

Normally he would have been dead from that fatal blow, but after Siegfried became Nightmare due to Soul Edge's influence, he was resurrected. And so as of Soulcalibur he became a Ghost Pirate, seeking out Soul Edge once again.

In Soulcalibur II he regains enough pieces of Soul Edge to recreate one of his original weapons and became a Zombie Pirate, then went to look off for more pieces. In Soulcalibur III he finds out that his body is starting to decay because Soul Edge's influence has been sealed off. To preserve himself, he decides to take his daughter's soul... and he succeeds according to Soulcalibur IV. He reached his final evolution of Ghost Zombie Pirate, then headed to Ostrheinsburg once again to claim Soul Edge as a whole and become a god.

When Soul Edge was sucked into a vortex at the end of IV, so too was Cervantes due to his deep connections with it. However, Cervantes escaped the void as well as Soul Edge's will, and gained a new body. Seeing that many seafarers had believed him to be dead, he set out to prove the contrary, now acting on his own free will without the use of Soul Edge.

• A God Am I: His SCIV ending, and his character tier in all the games.
• Back from the Dead: He is restructured in V. How is yet to be explained.
• Badass: Possibly the biggest one in all the series. Considering the world it's set in, this is saying a lot.
  • Badass Beard: In III and IV.
  • Badass Longcoat: It gradually becomes a badass vest over the course of the series.
  • Badass Mustache
  • Badass Normal: In V.
  • Badass Spaniard
• Big Bad: Of the prequel, Soul Edge, and an unlockable character in every game in the series.
• Carpet of Virility: In V, whatever body he now inhabits has got some chest hair action going on.
• Cool Boat: His flagship, The Adrian.
• Cool Sword: Has a gun in it.
• Dual-Wielding: He unconventionally wields a longsword and a pistol-sword.
• Eyes of Gold: In Soul Edge, to denote his possessed status. Interestingly, Soulcalibur II is the only game where he has Glowing Eyes of Doom and Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Immortality
• Large Ham: Even bigger than Nightmare, and he's a Black Forest ham!

"COME with ME to HELL!"

• Laser-Guided Amnesia: After his ressurrection, he has forgotten everything about his past. Over time he only recovered selected memories.
• Level Grinding: Oh so much...
  • Restart At Level One: And then in V he Prestiged and became human again, but just like Prestiging, he only became more badass as a result.
• Monochromatic Eyes: Usually white; red in SCII.
• Must Have Soul Edge: Cervantes' obssession with Soul Edge is likened to an addict having a relapse. After recovering his memories he craved to find the sword again, even though he remembered quite well how it manipulated him.
  • Going Cold Turkey: At the end of IV he is sucked into a vortex along with Soul Edge, but somehow fights his way out of the void known as Astral Chaos, becomes human again, and realizes his hunt for Soul Edge wasn't worth it anymore because it led him astray from his true goal - becoming the most dreaded pirate in the Seven Seas.
• My God, What Have I Done?: His non-canon good ending in Soul Edge has him break free from the sword's influence long enough to see the devastation it's made him wreak on his beloved Valencia, and he sacrifices his life to destroy Soul Edge.
• Nice Hat: Pirate hat with a fancy violet plume? Pretty cool.
• Out of Continues: His immortal life is maintained by Soul Edge's influence. Without it, his body would start to rot away and he'd be Deader Than Dead.
  • Apparently he's capable of body-hopping, as his bio for Soulcalibur V states that he is now inhabiting a new body. What, exactly, happened that let him do this is unclear.
• Pirate
  • Ghost Pirate
    • Ghost Zombie Pirate... with a gun and delusions of godhood.
• Teleportation and telekinesis
• This Banana Is Armed: His joke weapons (wood carvings of Soul Edge in Soulcalibur 2 and a pair of shish-kebabs onward) are still able to use the bullet fireing moves.

Inferno (named "Soul Edge" only in the game of the same name)

Origin - Chaos

Weapon(s) - Soul Edge - Male & Female (Soul Edge), All weapons (Soulcalibur onward)

The physical embodiment of the titular Artifact of Doom Soul Edge, though only when it brings forth its own dimension, Chaos. Inferno is invisible and intangible in the real world up until Soulcalibur III, when Zasalamel allowed it to animate Siegfried's trademark blue armor, turning it into Nightmare. In Soulcalibur IV, Nightmare reclaimed Soul Edge and became its physical manifestation.

• Anthropomorphic Personification: The soul of Soul Edge.
• Bonus Boss: In Soulcalibur III: Arcade Edition.
• Ditto Fighter: Subverted because he has exclusive special moves.
• Enemy Within: For those who seek to wield Soul Edge.
• Enemy Without: To Siegfried as Nightmare in III and IV.
• Evil Is Burning Hot
• Final Boss: Most prominently in Soulcalibur III, though he's also in essence the Final Boss of Soul Edge (see "One-Winged Angel" below) and Soulcalibur.
• Flaming Skulls: In Soul Edge, he was basically "a firespawn with Cervantes' clothes and a skull head."
• Grand Theft Me: If the wielder of Soul Edge is unable to best Inferno in a Battle in the Center of the Mind, then he/she will become the sword's host. And even if they do win, it's only a matter of time...
• Hive Mind: By the time of III, Soul Edge is able to act in at least three places at once: the cursed sword itself, Inferno, and Nightmare. This isn't even factoring in the invidual shards of the sword and entities such as Charade.
• Made of Evil: Soul Edge was once a normal blade until it tasted too much blood on the battlefield, giving it sentience and an evil soul (Inferno).
• One-Winged Angel: Of Cervantes in Soul Edge.
• Playing with Fire
• Revive Kills Zombie: Throws do about as much damage as normal against him, while normal attacks do roughly 3/4 their usual damage.
• Seven Deadly Sins: His voice samples in Soulcalibur are named after them.
• Shapeshifter Weapon: Inferno can create weapons out of its body to accomodate any style he's willing to use.