Vindictus/Characters
Like its sequel Mabinogi, Vindictus has a very fleshed out cast of characters for an MMO. The major ones and the tropes that apply can be found below. Beware of potential spoilers! The page is in its earliest infant stages, so contributions are very much welcome.
Player Characters
The following are the characters a player can choose to be at the start of the game.
Lann
Lann is one of the original two characters to be introduced to Vindictus. He dual-wields swords and spears, and specializes in dealing damage as quickly as possible. He takes skill to master, but is extremely capable in the right hands.
- Anti-Hero: All of the player characters are, to some extent
- Badass: Like the rest
- Bishounen
- Difficult but Awesome: Lann's Slip Dash dodge requires split-second timing to avoid damage, making it much harder to use than other characters' dodges. Since endgame bosses can kill you in just one or two hits not being able to dodge/block almost everything guarantees death. Learn the timing for the invincibility frames on Slip Dash however, and you become invincible against almost any attack. The same applies in a different way if you're using Twin Spears, in which case you have no way to block damage at all, but knowing when to attack and when to run away from a boss's area attacks lets you achieve the highest DPS of any character.
- Dual-Wielding
- Death of a Thousand Cuts: The Thousand Needles Smash or the 3960 Hurricane.
- Doomed Hometown: The place where he used to live was supposedly destroyed by Fomors.
- Fragile Speedster: At lower levels. As he levels up he becomes a
- The Hero: Generally thought to be the default "main character" and is most prominently featured in the videos and trailers
Fiona
Fiona is the second original character of the game, the other being Lann. She starts out using a sword and shield, but she can diversify later to use one-handed hammers for extra attack power and large shields for extra defense.
- Action Girl
- Badass
- Counter Attack: Comes in three variations with Counterattack, Heavy Stander Counter, and Downward Counter.
- Drop the Hammer: One of her two weapon choices is a warhammer, gained at level 24.
- Kick Chick: Strangely, when using a sword, her strongest smash attacks are kicks.
- Ms. Fanservice: Though Evie probably gets this treatment a little more often
- Mysterious Past
- The Lancer: Introduced with Lann, and her canon stoicism contrasts with his supposed hot-bloodedness
- Lady of War
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Many of Fiona's attacks revolve around her shield.
- Shield-Bash
- The Stoic: According to her profile, she is solemn and serious.
Evie
Introduced after Lann and Fiona, Evie is the default mage character of the game. Her weapon of choice is a staff, but she can also use a scythe to unlock some very unique magic skills.
- Action Girl
- Badass
- Badass Adorable
- Badass Finger-Snap: Her Scythe Smash Attacks Mark of Death and Bloody Thread are activated like this.
- The Chick: Of the five man band, most definitely. Not that this detracts from her badass-ness
- Combat Medic: A Staff Evie can be this
- Deflector Shield: Evie's Mana Shield acts like this. Though easily damaged and broken, it soaks hits first before damaging her health. It also slowly regenerates on its own.
- Flash Step: Her Blink ability
- Genki Girl: She doesn't technically have much of a canon personality, but she seems to be this from her profile and various poses. She's as genki as the world of Vindictus allows
- Glass Cannon: Evie is a DPS machine, but she needs to rely on skills like Blink and Mana Amber to avoid dying almost instantly.
- Magic Staff
- Ms. Fanservice: Why else would they let you choose her underwear?
- The Ojou: Apparently was one before she became a mercenary
- Plucky Girl: Certainly seems cheerful, considering the state of the world she's living in
- Sinister Scythe
- Squishy Wizard: Though Mana Amber and her Magic Shields certainly help to avert this at times, some later bosses can break through it all in one hit.
- You Are Already Dead: Her snap finishers work like this.
Karok
The most recent character introduced, he's a giant that fights with a pillar. His moveset revolves around tanking damage from bosses and dealing steady damage. He even has some attacks specifically for dealing with bosses.
- Badass
- The Big Guy
- Boisterous Bruiser
- Expy: of pro wrestler Bob Sapp.
- Mighty Glacier
- Won't Work On Me: Absorb Shock. Subverted in that Karok will still take damage, but he doesn't flinch and will heal it back.
- Power Fist: Karok's alternate weapon, the Cestus, is this.
- When Karok throws his pillar, he can fight bare-handed.
- Scary Black Man: But only to his enemies. His character description indicates that he's actually very amiable and cheerful around his friends.
- Telephone Polearm: His initial weapon.
- Throwing Your Telephone Polearm Always Works: Karok can throw his Pillar to deal a significant amount of damage most random enemies and bosses. This can cause some funny moments because some bosses are incapable of walking over the pillar that's up to their ankles.
Kai
The last character that has yet to be introduced, Kai is an archer that fights with different kinds of bows.
- And Now for Something Completely Different: He plays more like a third-person shooter than the hack-and-slash gameplay of the other characters.
- The Archer
- Attack Its Weak Point: One of Kai's skills lets him see weak points on a boss enemy; hitting said weak points inflicts increased damage and also makes them flinch.
- Badass: Of course
- Badass Grandpa: While he's not exactly a grandpa, he does look older than the other heroes
- Boom! Headshot!: As per the usual, headshots deal increased damage.
- Our Elves Are Different
- Real Time Weapon Change: Kai can switch his bow between shortbow and longbow forms for rather different playstyles, unlike the other characters who use one single weapon combat style for the duration of a dungeon run.
- The Smart Guy: The logical conclusion, assuming the Five Heroes fall into the classic Five-Man Band format. He does seem to fit the role pretty well, considering his ranged combat style is a bit more technical and refined than the other characters who mostly bash things at close range.
Colhen
The characters that live in the small town of Colhen
Tieve
An oracle of the Goddess Morrighan, she lives in Colhen and helps run the inn. She is the prophesied oracle who will supposedly lead everyone to Erinn. She actually becomes Morrighan in episode 10.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Deconstructed
- Break the Cutie
- Common Mary Sue Traits: Not that this makes her any less likable, but really...she's the beautiful, kind, pure Chosen One that is good at everything from sewing to cooking and is adored by everyone she meets. All the men in town have some kind of attraction/deep affection for her, and none of the girls dislike her for this. And she even makes an eventual Heroic Sacrifice, being Too Good for This Sinful Earth
- Of course, this idea starts to get Deconstructed in the later episodes...
- Damsel in Distress: In the prologue, with the player character acting as the hero
- Friend to All Living Things
- Happily Adopted: Ernmass took her in after her parents died
- The Ingenue
- Stepford Smiler
Ernmass
The innkeeper and Tieve's adoptive grandfather.
- Happily Married: He was with his late wife
Aodhan
The captain of the Crimson Blade Mercenaries.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Though you rarely actually see him fight, he's supposed to be crazy on the battlefield
- The Worf Effect: He gets beat down by Executor Blood Fist in the Colhen in Flames battle.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
Marrec
A young, hot-headed member of the Crimson Blade Mercenaries. Childhood friends with Tieve, Keaghan and Clodagh. Always wears a face-concealing helmet.
- Fiery Redhead: He apparently has red hair, though we never see it.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Romantic issues aside, Marrec is jealous of Keaghan for swiftly rising to the position of Commander of the Royal Army, when he himself couldn't even pass the entrance exam. It's gotten to the point where he no longer considers Keaghan a friend.
- Love Triangle: Between Tieve, Keaghan and himself. It eventually gets resolved...by virtue of the other two transforming into the deities of the human and Fomor races.
- Never Bareheaded: Even since he was a kid, to the point where his friends have forgotten how his face looks.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: His impulsive nature is contrasted with the calmer nature of fellow red-headed Crimson Blade member Ceara. He's also the Red Oni to Keaghan's Blue Oni.
- The Resenter: A non-villainous version. He dislikes both Keaghan and the entire Royal Army, due to not making the cut when he tried to apply.
- 24-Hour Armor: His helmet.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: Has a crush on Tieve, but doesn't really have a chance with her considering she's involved with Keaghan. And considering she is now Morrighan by the end of Episode 10, he'll likely never have a chance.
Reilly
A strange and apparently senile old man who hangs out at the general store in Colhen. In reality, he's an extremely brilliant and powerful magician, and the one who taught Brynn magic.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Unless it's actually Obfusticating Insanity.
- Cool Old Guy
- Crazy Awesome
- Eccentric Mentor
- OOC Is Serious Business: When he stops acting like a crazy old man and starts telling you what to do clearly and intelligently, you better listen.
- Retired Badass
Brynn
Reilly's apprentice, he's a mage that never seems to leave his laboratory. Turns out a summoning accident when he was a kid resulted in him almost being killed by Glas Ghaibhleann. He gets better thanks to Reilly, but now if he takes a step out of the lab, he will die.
- Hikikomori: But because of physical rather than psychological issues
- Insufferable Genius
- Jerkass: Can be quite rude to the player character
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He does genuinely care about people like Tieve and even the player character. For instance, when Tieve gave him cookies accidentally baked with salt instead of sugar, he eats them all before she could notice and be embarrassed. He also saves tea especially for the player character...but of course he never owns up to any of this
- Tsundere: Some of his behavior kind of has shades of this.
Nyle
A mysterious man in a dark robe who resides in Brynn's laboratory. He is actually one of the leaders of the Dark Brotherhood, a secret society dedicated to serving the goddess Morrighan and protecting her Oracles. They attempted to overthrow the Pontiff's Court in the past. They failed, and so he had to go into hiding.
- Badass Long Robe
- Big Damn Heroes: shows up to rescue the player and Keaghan at the end of Episode 8.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being of ill repute and using the Dark Knight transformation, the Dark Brotherhood are the true servants of Morrighan as opposed to the corrupt Pontiff's Court. The darkness motif has more with being willing to do questionable things for the greater good than any "evil" influence.
Ferghus
The town blacksmith. Unlike his counterpart in Mabinogi, he never ever messes up his repairing jobs.
- The Alcoholic: Reeeeealllyy loves his Iced Strawberry Brandy
- The Blacksmith
Shayla
A treasure hunter that loves traveling. She's stuck in Colhen until she can find a trustworthy mercenary she can count on to protect her during her trips.
- Abusive Parents
- Broken Bird: Seems to be this, because of her abusive parents and other hardships
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Has quite the cynical view of life. You can hardly blame her, but still-she's completely shocked when even you just give her Valentine's chocolate, convinced that you secretly want something from her in return
- Ms. Fanservice
- Only Sane Man: She's one of the only ones that actually sees past all the conspiracies and lies of the Pontiff's Court and Royal Army...too bad she doesn't really care, as long as she makes money
Rocheste
Gwynn
An officer of the Royal Army dispatched to Colhen to investigate local incidents. She was formerly Keaghan's personal aide, and becomes yours after you are made a Knight Captain in Episode 7. She dies at the end of Episode 8 while saving Keaghan from execution by the Royal Army.
- Defrosting Ice Queen
- Kuudere
- Taking The Arrow: When Keaghan's about to be killed by Riordan's archers in Episode 8 she runs out in front of him just as they fire; unfortunately, Nyle arrives too late to save her.
- The Stoic
- Not So Stoic: She openly grieves upon realizing Ellis has been killed.
Ellis
A cadet from the Rochete Royal Academy who serves under Gwynn. He investigates Ainle with your help, but becomes suspicious of the official story regarding the area. He ends up being brutally killed by Information Chief Kalis during an investigation and his death is the first real hint at the conspiracies going on involving the Pontiff's Court.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Getting your head bashed in against a gravestone by a giant goblin probably isn't the most pleasant way to go.
- He Knows Too Much: His investigation of Ainle reveals inconsistencies with the official story, so the Pontiff's Court deals with him via The Uriah Gambit detailed below.
- Keet
- Plucky Comic Relief
- The Uriah Gambit: The Pontiff's Court purposely made him a special investigator and sent him into a dangerous area after he found out too much, leading to his death
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Unfortunately for him, the setting of Vindictus is a highly cynical Crapsack World.
Keaghan
The Supreme Commander of the Royal Army, and a childhood friend of Tieve and Marrec.
- The Ace
- Badass
- BFS: He uses one that's so big it resembles a spear. Notable since the majority of other characters use more realilstically sized weapons.
- Cutscene Incompetence: He somehow manages to be crippled by only a couple of arrows in the Episode 8 ending cutscene, when all his other appearances seem to indicate they should only be a minor annoyance.
- Despair Event Horizon: He goes through this when he finally realizes just how much he screwed up (see Nice Job Breaking It, Hero below). This leads him to devour Verafim's heart and become Cichol, in order to get the power to destroy Elchulus.
- Dragon Rider: As the Royal Army's Commander he gets the honor of riding the dragon Tarrasque, which can singlehandedly wipe out entire armies. Unfortunately we never actually get to see him riding it.
- Final Boss
- He Knows Too Much: After he finds out the truth behind the summoning performed by the Pontiff's Court in Ainle, he's promptly declared a heretic by the Pontiff's Court.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Upon finding out Tieve is slowly fading away due to her body being transferred to Erinn, Keaghan decides to save her by forcibly bringing about the advent of Erinn. He succeeds...then it turns out that Erinn's arrival actually means Tieve will transform into the Goddess Morrighan, and all he did was speed up her fate. Oops. Keaghan then tries to fix everything by killing Elchulus, which only makes things worse since it unleashes Cichol upon the world.
- One-Winged Angel: For the final boss battle against him, he eats Verafim's heart and becomes a Fomor/Dark Knight, gaining both a more terrifying appearance and dark powers such as Villain Teleportation. He goes through another transformation afterwards, becoming the Fomorian God Cichol.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
Riordan
The Deputy Commander of the Royal Army, Riordan is a no-nonsense soldier with absolute loyalty to the Pontiff's Court and a great deal of contempt for the Crimson Blade mercenaries. He intensely dislikes both the player and Keaghan.
- Jerkass
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's actually rather sweet to his wife Nel.
- Knight Templar
- No Sense of Humor
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: Though he's not so much evil as a total prick who doesn't even consider the possibility he or the Pontiff's Court might be in the wrong.
- The Resenter: He doesn't like the player, doesn't believe they actually pulled off most of their achievements, doesn't think they deserve any of the honors they receive, and doesn't bother hiding how he feels.
- The Starscream: A bit of a variation in that while he dislikes Keaghan and eventually usurps his position, none of it seems to have been intentional on his part. He still does his duty as a soldier and obeys Keaghan's orders up until that point, and isn't at all involved in the conspiracy to remove Keaghan from his position and declare him a heretic.
- Upper Class Twit
Nel
Riordan's wife, and a young and innocent viscountess of Rocheste.
- Distracted by the Luxury: Being showered with jewels and clothes and all kinds of expensive things everyday, she really isn't aware of all the misery and suffering going on around her
- The Ingenue: While more spoiled than the usual innocent, she is still naive, sheltered, and genuinely good natured enough to qualify
- Morality Pet: To her husband
- Vanity Is Feminine: She asks Evie and Fiona to show her their pretty outfits, since uniforms are so "boring."
Brakis
The Royal Army Quartermaster and a reasonable face in the Royal Army.
- Character Filibuster: He has a tendency to start spouting very long winded stories that bore people who listen to them. At one point, the player character actually runs from him when he's about to start talking.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: He disagrees with the Royal Army branding Keaghan and the player character heretics and actively warns them away when they talk to him after the battle in the Ainle Catacombs.
- The Alcoholic: He's a heavy drinker. The first time you officially meet him in Rocheste, he's drinking at the bar. Later he asks you to find him something to help with his hangover.
- The Blacksmith: He can craft you most of the same weapons and armor Ferghus can.
Fomorians
Shining Shakarr
The leader of the Fomorians. He wears an imposing skull helmet with two large horns and wields a gigantic hammer named Velad-Kahm. He is betrayed and killed by his subordinate Black Hammer in Episode 9 after telling the Hero the Fomorian prophecy.
- Anticlimax Boss: He can easily be seen as one due to the fact you are transformed throughout the duel.
- Authority Equals Asskicking
- Black Speech: What he says in his first appearance at the end of Episode 6, which is presumably the Fomorian language, is totally incomprehensible. Oddly enough, Keaghan seems to understand him and in textual dialog he and all the other Fomors speak ordinary English.
- Duel Boss: Much like the Succubus, you must fight him by yourself.
Warlord Black Hammer
An ogre who serves as a commander under Shakarr.
- Dual-Wielding: During the second battle against him, he will break his double-sided hammer into two smaller hammers 1/3 of the way through the battle in order to do this.
- Drop the Hammer: wields a massive one that is double-sided.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: during the third and final stage of his second boss battle his hammers shatter completely. He will then start fighting with punches and kicks.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: After working with Verafim to backstab Shakarr and usurp his position, he is himself betrayed by Verafim who uses him as the first victim of the completed Fomor Control Spell. He is then made to fight the player characters, and is killed in the ensuing battle.
- Large and In Charge: Although this is somewhat subverted. He's larger than Shakarr, but takes orders from him. Up until Episode 9.
- The Starscream
Other Major Characters
Ingkells
The lord of Ortel Castle. A retired war hero, he was Aodhan's commanding officer when the two of them were in the Royal Army together. In Episode 8, he finds out that the prophecy of salvation preached by the Pontiff's Court is a lie and rebels after being declared a heretic, forcing you to put down the rebellion and kill him.
- A Father to His Men
- Face Heel Turn: Though it might actually count as a Heel Face Turn considering the Pontiff's Court are the bad guys in this situation. It's hard to definitively classify it as either due to the Black and Grey Morality present.
- He Knows Too Much: After he finds out the truth, the Pontiff's court brands him a heretic, claims he's started a rebellion, and orders you to eliminate him. See a pattern here?
- One-Winged Angel: After finding out the truth, Ingkells uses Bloody Shade potion to turn himself and his men into Fomors, giving them monstrous appearances and powerful new abilities.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
- Retired Badass
Verafim
A white lizardman. He is first seen at the end of the prologue, watching the aftermath of the giant spider's rampage. He later turns out to be The Lizardman Behind the Man, and a Manipulative Bastard responsible for much of the main conflict.
- Badass Long Robe
- Big Bad
- Evil Albino
- Kill Them All: What he wants to do to the Fomors.
- Manipulative Bastard: Most notably, he was pretty much single-handedly responsible for Keaghan's Face Heel Turn.
- Reptiles Are Abhorrent
- Revenge: His motivation for doing everything he does is because his race was exiled from the Fomors and he intends to get back at them by sabotaging their prophecy of salvation and stealing their god. He succeeds.
- Squishy Wizard: However he remedies said squishyness by summoning the Eldritch Abomination Lionotus and riding atop it for the duration of his boss battle.
- Thanatos Gambit / My Death Is Just the Beginning: He finally dies when Keaghan rips out his heart and eats it to become Cichol. This played into his hands perfectly and his voice even mocks Keaghan from beyond the grave as the transformation is completed.
Elchulus
An ancient Fomorian god. According to legend, he attempted to destroy the world but was sealed away by the Goddess Morrighan. Unfortunately Morrighan also had to seal herself along with him, leading to the Crapsack World that currently exists. In reality, Elchulus and the other dragons are sealing Morrighan and the true Fomorian God Cichol. The legend and promise of paradise in Erinn are meant to deceive people into releasing them.
- Our Dragons Are Different
- Physical God
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Though it turns out he's not actually the evil one. Probably.
- Time Master: Apparently, he has the power to halt the passage of time though what this means is unclear; it seems to do more with removing an area from the timeline entirely, instead of Time Stands Still.
- Back to Vindictus