Characters / Octopath Traveler – The Eight Protagonists

Characters Page | The Eight Protagonists | Supporting Characters | Antagonists | Other characters

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The Travelers In General

Where will their journey take them? Only the gods can say.

• Action Girl: All of the female characters — Primrose, H'aanit, Ophilia, and Tressa — are easily this by the end of their stories. H'aanit, in particular, is also this prior to starting her journey, as her job as a Huntress requires that she constantly be waging battle against beasts.
• All There in the Manual: Their ages are confirmed in the official guidebook, rather than in the game itself.
  • Ophilia: 20
  • Cyrus: 30
  • Tressa: 18
  • Olberic: 35
  • Primrose: 23
  • Alfyn: 21
  • Therion: 22
  • H'aanit: 26
• Ambiguously Bi: Banter between the eight travelers gets rather flirtatious and even intimate regardless of gender combination, though the prominence varies between individuals. Primrose, Alfyn, Olberic and H'aanit have slightly more overt elements of this in their conversations and arcs overall.
• Badass Boast: At the start of every boss battle, one of the playable characters will shout a unique piece of dialogue. The person who shouts this dialogue is random unless you're up against one of the chapter bosses, in which case they will be the star of that chapter.
• Badass Crew: Individually, they are all shown to be strong enough to take on powerful villains and monsters. Together, they form a dream team with a wide range of skills and abilities. Besides their in-battle prowess, each is also often the best at what they do for a living compared to those around them. In particular, the Rogue characters (Cyrus, Therion, H'aanit, and Primrose) tend to have few or no peers when it comes to their chosen skills (academics, thievery, hunting, and dancing, respectively, though H'aanit looks up to her master Z'aanta as an expert hunter while still being a skilled huntress in her own right). By contrast, the Noble characters (Olberic, Alfyn, Tressa, and Ophilia) are all introduced with specific people in their field they either look up to or aspire to surpass (and eventually do).
• Color Motif: As evidenced by their costumes, and the banners in their journal logs.
  • Ophilia: White
  • Cyrus: Black
  • Tressa: Yellow
  • Olberic: Blue
  • Primrose: Red
  • Alfyn: Green
  • Therion: Purple
  • H'aanit: Orange
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • The Noble characters - Tressa is Sanguine, Alfyn is Choleric, Olberic is Melancholic, and Ophilia is Phlegmatic.
  • The Rogue characters - Cyrus is Sanguine, Primrose is Choleric, Therion is Melancholic, and H'aanit is Phlegmatic.
• Fun with Acronyms: On top of Octopath Traveler following eight people traveling on the path to their destinies, if you go to the character select screen, start with Ophilia, and take the first letter of each protagonist's name, you spell "OCTOPATH".
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: There are four men and four women among the eight heroes; going one level further, there is also an equal gender distribution among the Noble and Rogue path actions. Slightly subverted in the latter, as the Inquire/Scrutinize similar actions are exclusively male, while the Guidance/Allure similar actions are exclusively female.
• The Hero: Each of them, but for a given definition of heroic. A few — Ophilia and Olberic, in particular — are more genuine traditional heroes. Others — Therion and Primrose — are more of an Anti-Hero, willing to break the law and/or kill people if the situation requires it.
• The Hero's Journey: All of the travelers embark on a continent-wide adventure with many ups and downs, all seeking to discover or accomplish what is most important to them. At the end of all their stories, the travelers all return home, changed and matured by their journey.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Alfyn Greengrass — green grass. Not only reflects his status as an apothecary that mixes herbs together for cures, but also relates to his kind nature.
  • Primrose Azelhart — Azel heart. In The Bible, Azel was the descendant of a king, much like Primrose is of noble blood. Also, "azel" means "noble" in Hebrew, so her name can be translated as "noble heart."
• Parental Abandonment: Ophilia, Therion, Primrose, Alfyn and H'aanit are all orphaned. Ophilia is Happily Adopted but her adoptive father also dies during her story and so is H'aanit, in a way (Z'aanta is practically a father to her). Cyrus and Olberic's parents are unknown. Tressa is the only character confirmed to have living biological parents.
• Pragmatic Hero: The characters with Rogue path actions are generally good people, but use unorthodox ways of achieving their goals, such as seduction and pickpocketing.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: As is usual in RPGs. They all come from different corners of the world and have completely different goals, but are willing to join together to help each other achieve them.
• Spanner in the Works: None of them were chosen for anything special in the grand scheme of things. They're just eight people pulled in by circumstance and driven by personal motivations. Yet they totally derail Lyblac's plan to resurrect Galdera.
  • This is especially true in Ophilia's case, which Mattias vehemently calls her out on.
• Stronger Than They Look: Averted with Olberic and H'aanit—a warrior and hunter respectively—but every other protagonist is much tougher than they appear to be when they need to fight. Ophilia is a gentle priestess, Cyrus wears an elaborate and impractical outfit, Tressa is The Baby of the Bunch, Primrose wears a very revealing outfit, Alfyn is a soft-hearted apothecary, and Therion wears tattered rags.
  • This rings especially true for Tressa, and even more so if you give her the Runelord job, where she becomes a serious contender for the single most powerful protagonist.
• Theme Naming: Starting with Ophilia and going clockwise, the first letters of the first names of all the main characters spell out "OCTOPATH".
• True Companions: While they primarily band together out of convenience while pursuing their own individual goals, the various banter scenes show that the heroes do end up forming a close bond and sense of camaraderie with one another.

Ophilia Clement, the Cleric

Ophilia Clement

Voiced By: Ai Kayano (Japanese), Cristina Vee (English)

"The Flame guides us true."

Her name is Ophilia, and she is a cleric.

A cleric from the Order of the Sacred Flame in the Frostlands region. She is on a pilgrimage called the Kindling to restore light to the realm.

Her Noble Path Action is "Guide", which makes an NPC follow her, and her Talent is "Summon", which allows her to summon the NPC she is guiding into battle. "Guide" is restricted by Ophilia's level and the Inquiry perk "Guide with Ease".

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• Affectionate Nickname: Her adoptive sister Lianna calls her "Phili". In the same vein, Ophilia calls her sister "Anna".
• All-Loving Heroine: Ophilia is incredibly kind and loving, with a particular fondness for children. Not that she won't fight to protect her loved ones from those who try to hurt them. A major theme of her story is how The Power of Love can help people process the deaths of their loved ones; being Happily Adopted after her parents died in a war and reached out to by Lianna resulted in Ophilia developing a mature, insightful perspective on life and death, which she later uses to reach out to Lianna when her biological/Ophilia's adoptive father dies. The main antagonist of her story, Mattias, is a Fallen Hero who lost his loved ones and had nobody to reach out to him, resulting in him becoming vengeful and power-obsessed.
• All There in the Manual: Her surname is never revealed in the game itself. The official companion book Octopath Traveler: The Complete Guide confirms that her surname is "Clement".
• Badass Adorable: She is a sweet, soft-spoken young woman with a strong resolve behind her modest demeanour.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Ophilia is a very kind and compassionate woman, and several characters note that she is beautiful. Every male character in the party sans Olberic (being a knight with a code of honour) flirts with her at least once, to varying degrees. The cynical Therion mock-flirts to be a Troll, and Cyrus is Oblivious to Love as always and doesn't realise that his compliments on Ophilia's beauty could easily be interpreted as flirtatious, but Alfyn plays it straight and appears to have a crush on her.
  Alfyn: If you like flowers that much, I can pick plenty more for you.
  Ophilia: I'd like that.
  Alfyn: (Gosh, she's a cute little lady...)
• Berserk Button: Do not harm kids in her presence. She will not hesitate to use lethal force in response.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Ophilia is one of the most compassionate and loving of the eight protagonists, but that also means that hurting those she cares about is not a good idea.
• Character Development: Ophilia starts out with an inferiority complex, believing herself to be unworthy of Josef and Lianna's love ^note This has its roots in Japanese culture, which favours biological children over orphans and discriminates against the latter. In fact, Josef and Lianna are intended to be seen as exceptionally compassionate people for treating Ophilia like any other family member. By the end of her pilgrimage, she's grown confident enough to call out Mattias for their nihilism and affirm her love for Lianna.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Ophilia's biggest character flaw is her utter lack of self-confidence. Learning to overcome this is a big part of her character arc.
• Dark Is Not Evil: She wears black gloves in her official artwork, and is one of the kindest people in the entire setting.
• Depending on the Artist: She wears black gloves in her official artwork, but brown gloves in her sprite.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Ophilia is such a sweetheart, but even she does not hesitate to use lethal force against two cultists who kidnap and attempt to murder the local bishop's young daughter. She also makes it her aim to stop and kill Mattias for taking advantage of her adoptive sister's grief at their father's death to manipulate her into helping him corrupt the Sacred Flame, by lying to her that he can resurrect their father.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Zig-Zagged. Her personal experience with death and recovery makes her immediately suspect that Mattias is lying to Lianna about resurrecting Josef by using Aelfric's Ember to empower Galdera, and is proven right. However, it is pointed out by Therion that her own kindness can lead to her trusting others too quickly, and in Wispermill, a village under the influence of an evil cult, she falls for Shmuck Bait when a woman tells her that her child is sick, which turns out to be a lie devised to imprison her.
• Foil:
  • To Primrose, in a classic example of Light Feminine and Dark Feminine. Ophilia is outwardly compassionate, devout, dressed in a modest robe, uses the element of light, and is on a religious pilgrimage. Primrose is aloof, seductive, garbed in a revealing dancer outfit, uses the element of darkness, and is on a quest for revenge. This is further played up in their Path Actions. While Ophilia uses her status as a sister of the Order of the Sacred Flame to make NPCs help her, Primrose uses her sex appeal to do so. Furthermore, while both of them lost their birth families, Ophilia was adopted, while Primrose had to fend for herself.
  • To Therion. He's another orphan who has suffered a life of hardship, but Ophilia was taken in by a loving family who taught her to believe in others, while the closest person that Therion had was Darius and his experiences only made him more distrusting of others. Unlike Ophilia and Lianna, who are wholeheartedly supportive of one another, Darius betrayed Therion for his own gain and is explicitly stated to have emotionally manipulated him. And while Lianna does betray Ophilia in her third chapter, she does so in a desperate attempt to resurrect their recently-deceased father and seeks to atone for her betrayal later on, while Darius is entirely selfish, tried to murder Therion, and feels no remorse for what he's done.
  • To Cyrus. Both are the strongest magic users in the party, but Ophilia is a White Mage while Cyrus is a Black Mage. Incidentally, Ophilia dresses in white while Cyrus dresses in black. Ophilia also has better elemental defense, while Cyrus has better elemental attack. Their ways of communication also contrast with each other; Ophilia is soft-spoken and gentle, while Cyrus is a passionate Large Ham.
• Friend to All Children:
  • Ophilia is very empathetic towards young Emil and his friends because she knows firsthand how tough it can be to befriend others.
  • One of the few ways to make Ophilia genuinely angry is to threaten a child. In her third chapter, she uses lethal forces against two kidnappers who had taken away the head priest's daughter Lysa. Upon resolving the issue, Ophilia tells a priest at the local church that she loves to see children smile.
• Good Is Not Soft: While charitable and loving, Ophilia is willing to use lethal force if absolutely necessary against the villains she faces.
• Good Shepherd: She whole-heartedly believes in the Sacred Flame, and is one of the nicest people in the entire setting. Her special ability Guide reflects this, as she's able to convince townsfolk to help her in battle.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has blonde hair, and is a kind and self-sacrificing young woman.
• Happily Adopted: While she was initially shy and withdrawn, she eventually came to love her adoptive father and sister with all of her heart. Ophilia even takes Lianna's place in the Rite of the Sacred Flame just so Lianna can watch after their father Josef after he falls ill.
• The Heart: She often acts as a mother figure to the other party members in their banters with her, looking after them emotionally.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Despite Lianna and Josef's glowing opinion of her, Ophilia does not consider herself as anything special and frequently points out she is not related to them by blood, treating herself like an outsider below them.
• Hidden Depths: A bit of optional travel banter reveals that she is quite good at card games, since her near-constant cheerfulness means that she doesn't really have any visual tells that others (Cyrus in particular) can use to figure out her hand.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: She manages to convince Lianna to not go through with Mattias' dark ritual by invoking a memory of their father. In it, Josef saw Lianna and Ophilia asking him to heal a dead bird. Josef explained that, while everyone will one day die, it's the memories people make and hold in their hearts that matter. With this in mind, Lianna finally snaps out of her madness and stops the ritual.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: The one party member who never sways in her morals. This trait completely screws over Mattias' plan, as he had expected the more easily swayed Lianna to hold the Sacred Flame. Even when Mattias tries some Xanatos Speed Chess to keep his plan going, Ophilia still derails it by convincing Lianna not to go through with the plan to corrupt the Sacred Flame.
• Leitmotif: Ophilia, the Cleric and For Light
• Light 'em Up: Her attack spells are all Light-themed, befitting a Good Shepherd.
• Light Is Good: Ophilia is a cleric garbed in a white robe who wields light, and is one of the most kind and compassionate heroes.
• Magic Staff: As a Cleric, she has access to staves, most of which will increase elemental attack.
• Magikarp Power:
  • When first recruited, her only real uses are summoning NPCs, healing the party and casting the occasional light magic. Her god-awful physical stats and limited spread of abilities prevent her from contributing much to actually fighting. Once the sub-job system starts to open up, her viability gets a sizable bump for players willing to invest the time and skill points. She's the only character who innately has access to group healing skills, which only get more useful as the game goes on as the formula for healing skills is based on the user's Elemental Defense^note For Ophilia, Heal Wounds = 1.7 × user's Elemental Defense, and Heal More = 2.55 × user's Elemental Defense, and Ophilia has the highest base Elemental Defense of the eight travelers. In addition, while she's not as powerful as Cyrus in Elemental Attack, she's not far behind. Finally, having the only light-themed spells barring the secret classes of the party makes her incredibly useful, and many late game bosses are weak to light.
  • Reflective Veil, well, reflects a magic attack back on the enemy caster. In the early-game, this skill is all but useless because most early-game enemies and bosses are physical attackers, and the 22 SP needed to cast one Reflective Veil is discouraging anyway despite Ophilia having one of the higher SP totals of the party. As the game progresses and she gains more SP as she levels up, Reflective Veil becomes increasingly more useful as more enemies and bosses use magic attacks, and can absolutely stop many late-game bosses cold due to their reliance on magic. Combined with Sealticge's Seduction, she can give this to the entire party.
  • Her Divine Skill, Aelfric's Auspices, allows her to self-buff or buff another spellcaster to an absurd degree. Combined with the Sorcerer class, Aelfric's Auspices can be downright game-breaking.
• Meaningful Name: The Greek name "Ophelia"—which her name is derived from—means help, and "Clement" means merciful. Both names fit Ophilia's kind personality.
• Misery Builds Character: The crux of her character. Having already dealt with her personal tragedies and becoming all the stronger for it, she gracefully accepts her adoptive father has passed away unlike Lianna, who has never encountered that kind of hardship in her life.
• Nice Girl: She and Alfyn are the kindest of the eight protagonists, being the most willing to help others in need.
• Oblivious to Love: She doesn't notice Alfyn's crush on her, instead thinking of him as an older brother.
• Ojou: She isn't technically nobility, but being a high-ranking priestess in the Order of the Sacred Flame (which holds a position of authority in the game's world) and the adopted daughter of an Archbishop might as well be the same thing.
• Orphan's Ordeal: Ophilia was traumatized when her parents died, becoming quiet, shy, and depressed, until Lianna helped her come out of her shell and become happy again.
• The Paragon: Her life of hardship has provided her with a mature and insightful outlook that she uses to aid others. This quality of Ophilia's manifests in her Guide ability, allowing her to lead and help others.
• Parental Title Characterization: She calls her adoptive father "Your/His Excellency," depending on whether she's speaking to or about him, which seems to indicate that she doesn't believe she's as much his daughter as Lianna is. However, when speaking with him on his sickbed, and when she tries to appeal to Lianna just before the battle with Mattias, she starts calling him "father."
• Proper Lady: Befitting her position as a Sister in the Order of the Sacred Flame, Ophilia is kind, soft-spoken, and very devoted to her family.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: She's demure and soft-spoken compared to her more confident and outgoing adoptive sister Lianna, especially when they were younger.
• Reluctant Warrior: While she is willing to stand up to evil and fight to protect those who need her, Ophilia does not enjoy partaking in bloodshed. Also, in a party banter in Olberic's Chapter 3, Olberic notices her praying for the Lizardkings that the party and Erhardt just killed.
  Ophilia: I am not made for such battles...
• Ridiculously High Relationship Standards: In a tavern banter, she initially claims she'd just want "someone nice" as a romantic partner. When the other female party members ask her to narrow it down a bit, Ophilia gives in and specifies that she wants someone who's strong and smart and so nice that he's basically a saint. It's pointed out that this excludes almost every man who ever lived.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Despite not being selected to go on the Kindling, she decided to do it instead of Lianna because Lianna was too distraught over the ailing health of her father. It's later subverted when her adoptive father Josef, the archbishop, makes arrangements so Ophilia can officially take over for Lianna.
• Sexy Priest: Downplayed, as Ophilia dresses modestly and as such is not a case of Ms. Fanservice like Primrose, but quite a few characters comment on her beauty, and all of the male party members save Olberic flirt with her in party banter scenes at least once, although, out of the three playable men who do flirt with her, Alfyn is the only one who plays it straight, as Cyrus is oblivious to the idea that his comments could be flirtatious, and the distrustful Therion mock-flirts to be a Troll. Played straight if you give her the Dancer sub-class, where her shoulders and midriff are exposed, but she wears a traditional dress that is more modest than Primrose's harem one.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Ophilia may be a kind and demure cleric, but she has the potential to be one of the greatest magic users of the heroes and shows no fear taking on cultists to complete her religious duty.
• Spanner in the Works: To the main antagonist of her tale. Mattias had a plan to poison Josef, thus making Lianna fall into despair due to her father's eventual death, before taking advantage of her grief and lack of experience with death to convince her that abandoning the Sacred Flame and joining his cult would lead to her father's resurrection. As a result, Lianna would willingly give herself up to Galdera and cause the Kindling to fail. However, Ophilia taking the ember in Lianna's stead completely derailed this plan.
• Squishy Wizard: Definitely falls in this category, albeit to a lesser degree than Cyrus. While Ophilia's physical stats aren't as bad as his, nor her magical stats as good, she still heavily favors magic classes. Her Elemental Attack, in particular, is only barely behind Cyrus, but her Elemental Defense is slightly higher.
• Sympathy for the Devil: She pities the antagonist of her story after he dies.
  Ophilia: What a sad man you were...
• Swapped Roles: When her birth parents died Ophilia fell into despair until Lianna helped her find joy in life again. After their father dies Ophilia is now the one helping Lianna become happy again.
• Team Mom: She's the most maternal of the group, and is often the one who looks after the rest of them emotionally. She also is a Friend to All Children to boot. (Ironically, she is actually the second-youngest member of the team.)
• This Is Unforgivable!: Her reaction to the Mystery Men kidnapping Bishop Donovan's daughter, especially due to them endangering a young child. It's one of the very few times that Ophilia is genuinely angry.
• The Unchosen One: Ophilia wasn't the one meant to be the one who went on a pilgrimage; that role was meant for Lianna. With Lianna too worried for her father's health, Ophilia went against expectations by starting it instead, setting her story into motion despite never being the one meant to do so. Mattias is annoyed because Ophilia is such a pure and kind person, that unlike Lianna, he cannot tempt her at all, when his goal was to have Lianna be the one to take the pilgrimage.
• Video Game Caring Potential: There are several sidequests where Ophilia can use Guide (or Primrose can use Allure) to help NPCs reach their destination, such as the grandfather who got lost outside of Clearbrook (after completing Alfyn's first chapter) and wants to see his grandson again.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: To a lesser extent than Primrose's Allure, but outside of sidequests, Ophilia's Guide takes on a role similar to The Pied Piper of Hamelin, convincing NPCs to follow her which temporarily separates them from their friends and loved ones, at least for NPCs who are confirmed to have them.
• White Mage: Ophilia has the highest Elemental Defense of the eight heroes. As a Cleric, she will always have access to healing and light magic, the former complements her Elem. Def. well because the formula for HP recovery is based on the user's Elem. Def. stat. She is also one of only two characters capable of combining the Cleric and Apothecary classes to get the complete set of healing abilities.
• White Magician Girl: Ophilia is the default cleric and a Proper Lady. Her cleric's uniform is a white dress and cape.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: When Ophilia stops referring to her adopted father Josef as "Your Excellency", and starts referring to him as "Father", something really bad is happening.

Cyrus Albright, the Scholar

Cyrus Albright

Voiced By: Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese), Steve West (English)

"Thus ends your lesson."

His name is Cyrus, and he is a scholar.

A scholar and professor hailing from the Flatland region who is searching for a lost tome that might contain ancient mysteries.

His Rogue Path Action is "Scrutinize", which allows him to gather information on NPCs and his Talent is "Study Foe", which reveals one unknown weakness of every enemy at the start of combat. Cyrus' level improves the probability of him being able to "Scrutinize" his subject without backlash.

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• Accentuate the Negative: In-Universe. After an untrue rumor that Cyrus has entered into an illicit relationship with Princess Mary begins going around the Royal Academy of Atlasdam, Yvon and Cyrus have the following exchange:
  Yvon: If it [the rumor] is untrue, then say so.
  Cyrus: Why, it is unfounded, unsubstantiated balderdash of the highest order.
• Achievements in Ignorance: Cyrus is so effective at accidentally attracting women due to his good looks and naturally charming personality. He often expresses confusion that just being a gentleman somehow causes women to become attracted to him.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: His Study Foe ability and the Scholar's Analyze skill reveal the enemy's weaknesses just by looking at them.
• Badass Bookworm: He's a scholar and professor by trade who ends up fighting monsters and murderers throughout his journey.
• Badass Cape: One that he keeps for most of his class changes, as well. His "Level Up" pose is Cyrus flashing his cape, and using his "Scrutinize" ability causes the sound of a cape flapping to play.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Cyrus is a really friendly teacher who loves meeting new people and sharing knowledge with anyone even if he is just Oblivious to Love. But push any of his buttons like extracting blood from innocents for dark magic, sacrificing his students and hoarding all the knowledge for yourself whenever he is around you, then that is a huge death sentence! Gideon, Yvon and Lucia respectively learned this the hard way.
• Black Mage: Cyrus has the highest Elemental Attack of the eight heroes, and as a Scholar, he will always have access to fire, ice, and lightning spells. He's the only character who natively has access to more than one element.
• Bling of War: Compared to the other characters, his default outfit is very elaborate and impractical, with a jeweled chain worn around the shoulders over an embroidered cape, puffy sleeves and frilled wrists, buckles and ribbons as fasteners, and embroidered stockings with heeled and buckled shoes.
• Bookworm: To him, reading books is as enjoyable as getting a new toy.
• Brains and Brawn: Discussed with Olberic. Cyrus notes they could make an unstoppable team with Cyrus as the brains to Olberic's brawn.
• Can't Hold His Liquor: Zigzagged. During the optional banter where the guys have a drinking contest, Cyrus is the first to back out, but still drink at his own pace. When the tavern is about to close, he's the one who suggests going to another tavern. He has the strongest alcohol tolerance among the guys, provided he paces his drinks.
• The Charmer: Granted, he's not really doing it on purpose, but he even manages to charm Primrose, whose entire profession revolves around charming people.
• Classy Cravat: Fitting for a tutor to royalty.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: To the degree that the trope is a plot point and is lampshaded multiple times. Cyrus' story kicks off as a result of his inability to notice one of his students has a massive crush on him, and it's readily apparent this has been an issue for a long time. Odette specifically calls out the trope in very direct terms by sending him a letter saying he needs to pay attention to the women around him and realize that he's extremely good-looking. Needless to say, Cyrus simply doesn't get it even after he directly contemplates whether he is actually really good-looking or not. As he's cluelessly contemplating this, two local women are staring at him, and they giggle as he walks by.
• Cool Teacher: He is a devoted and patient teacher who is more than happy to answer his students' questions. He also is more than happy to share any knowledge or tidbits with his allies, speaking to the younger ones in much the same way he would to a pupil.
• Crutch Character: His innate class is by far one of the heaviest damage dealers in the early game and has an unprecedented access to three elements to exploit. However, under certain conditions, this gets downplayed: there's a secret Sorcerer job which has access to all six elements, and hits three times to his maximum of twice. Additionally, his ability to scope out the enemy's weaknesses is only valuable so long as you, uh, haven't finished scoping them all out yet. However, Cyrus still has the highest Elemental Attack (IE Magic) stat in the game, not to mention the Scholar's highest E.Atk stat multiplier. And while making him a Sorcerer makes his primary job redundant, there's always the Starseer class: it attacks in the elements Cyrus doesn't, giving him full coverage though without the same level of repetition; it gives him a bunch of buffing utility; and it frees the Sorcerer class to put on someone else.
• Dark Is Not Evil: He dresses in black and has dark hair to match, but is a generous man with a passion for learning and passing on knowledge.
• Depending on the Artist: His eyes are brown in official art, but blue in his sprite.
• Disc-One Nuke: His elemental versatility, raw magical power, and AoE nuking ability are utterly unmatched for the first three chapters of the game. Then you get to Chapter 4 and the post game, and the Sorcerer job makes him fairly redundant and his personal skill falls apart since you start running out of elemental weaknesses to learn or are capable of just brute-forcing your way through most random encounters.
• Ditzy Genius: Cyrus is a brilliant man and accomplished academic, who also has a tendency to get caught up in his academic rigors and is incredibly blind to romance. Tressa, for instance, makes the mistake of asking him about his role as a professor, leading him to drone on for an hour about history without meaning to.
• Dreadful Musician: Zigzagged. A post-game banter reveals that he absolutely cannot sing to save his life. After hearing one of his "songs", Tressa spends the rest of the banter in Stunned Silence. A bit of official art, however, has him happily playing the piano while Primrose appears to be enjoying the music. So apparently he's a decent musician — just, in no way a decent singer.
• Enemy Scan: At the start of a battle, Study Foe reveals one unknown weakness of every enemy. His Scholar class can also learn Analyze to reveal up to four of an enemy's weaknesses (depending on how much BP is used), as well as show the enemy's current and remaining HP. However, doing so takes up a turn.
• Failed a Spot Check: Cyrus can easily become oblivious to the world around him when in the middle of a good book. In his Chapter 2, he can have a conversation with Tressa where he admits that one time, he was so engrossed in a book he was reading that he failed to notice his neighbor's house was on fire, much to Tressa's shock.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: As a scholar, Cyrus has access to the three elements. He starts out with ice and fire.
• Foil:
  • To Alfyn. While Alfyn talks to people to get them to give him information, Cyrus interrogates them.
  • To Ophilia: Both are the strongest magic users in the party, but Cyrus is a Black Mage while Ophilia is a White Mage. Incidentally, Cyrus dresses in black while Ophilia dresses in white. Cyrus also has better elemental attack while Ophilia has better elemental defense. Their ways of communication also contrast with each other; Cyrus is a passionate Large Ham, while Ophilia is soft-spoken and gentle.
  • To Yvon, from his own story. Cyrus is a gifted scholar in Atlasdam, while Yvon is the headmaster. Cyrus believes in sharing knowledge with his fellow man, while Yvon thinks knowledge should be kept to a select few. Cyrus looked for 'From the Far Reaches of Hell' to sate his curiosity and return what was lost, with no intention of using its forbidden knowledge; Yvon was the one who took it in the first place and used the book's information to gain power.
• Gentleman and a Scholar: Cyrus is an extremely well-educated man and always cordial.
• He Knows Too Much: In his Chapter 2, Gideon attempts to murder him for discovering his Blood Magic experiments.
• Hidden Depths: A banter with Primrose during the latter's Chapter 3 reveals that he's less clueless about a woman's feelings for a man as his situations with women indicate, as long as said man isn't himself.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Downplayed, with Yvon. Cyrus is well aware that Yvon is a Jerkass, but fails to realize that he is outright evil until he uncovers his involvement in the theft of From the Far Reaches of Hell, despite Yvon's evil nature being blatantly telegraphed to the player.
• Hot Teacher: A professor and scholar who has been noted to be quite good-looking, gaining the romantic attention of students and colleagues in the process.
• I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: A Running Gag with Cyrus is he has an unintended habit of charming women and sending them the wrong signal. At the start of Chapter 2, he reads a letter from one of his old colleagues, Odette, who is chastising him over this telling him to be more mindful of the way he speaks to women. Later in the same chapter in a party chat, he manages to inadvertently charm Primrose (who is literally a professional at seducing others — it's her Path Action and her profession, after all), who remarks that she legitimately can't tell if he's play-acting or if he sincerely doesn't realize how attractive he is and the signals he's sending out.
  Cyrus: Am I not allowed to tell a beautiful woman that she is just that?
  Ophilia: Well, sometimes you can...but maybe, in your case, you shouldn’t.
• Information Wants to Be Free: He believes that knowledge should be shared with everyone, and isn't fond of the headmaster insisting that some knowledge should be kept secret. He is also offended by Russell selling some of the academy's tomes because doing so ends up limiting people's access to them.
• Innocently Insensitive: It's implied his Path Action Scrutinize is considered a Rogue action because it comes across as him being nosy and pushy, which causes people to get angry at him if he fails.
• Large Ham: His lines, both in and out of combat, contain a certain flair and passion that often come off as over the top. His 'Full Charge' line (along with Olberic's) falls into memetic territory.
  Cyrus: "My focus is unparalleled!"
• Leitmotif: Cyrus, the Scholar and For Truth
• Magic Staff: He can use staves, which for the most part increase elemental attack.
• Malicious Slander: A rather nasty rumor about Cyrus having an affair with the Princess, who is also his student, costs him his time at the academy and puts him on indefinite leave. It's quickly revealed the one who started the rumor never meant for the gossip to get that far out of hand. However, Cyrus isn't that upset by it, because he wanted an excuse to leave the academy to search for a lost tome anyways.
• Meaningful Name: All bright. It reflects not only his intelligence, but his desire to pass on his knowledge.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: A recent series of book thefts reveals a fifteen-year-old crime, which sets Cyrus on his journey. It ends up revealing a plan to hoard forbidden knowledge, ritual sacrifice, and black magic.
• Mistaken for Flirting: His well-meaning comments on women very often turn out to be this for them.
• Nerds Are Sexy: Primrose notes that many women (hinting herself as well) find intellectual men like Cyrus attractive.
• Nice Guy: He is a generous man who cares for his students and enjoys sharing knowledge with others. He expects and looks forward to his students surpassing him so that he can learn from them.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Occurs before his story's final boss. Lucia tells Cyrus that they are both genius scholars with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Cyrus retorts that he does not look down on those who are not as knowledgeable and wants to pass on his knowledge, whereas Lucia wants to hoard all the knowledge in the world for the sake of her own ego.
• Oblivious to Love: It's blatantly obvious that Therese is jealous of Princess Mary spending time with Cyrus because Therese has a crush on him, yet Cyrus assumes Therese was jealous because Cyrus didn't spend more time answering her questions. He is, however, quite sharp about picking up on women’s feelings about other men, something that takes Primrose completely off-guard when he figures out she has a thing for Simeon seconds after they encounter the man for the first time.
• Older Than They Look: Would you believe this posh little Pretty Boy is supposed to be 30 years old and the second oldest of the playable characters behind Olberic?
• Pretty Boy: He's noted to be quite good looking to the masses, which has net him his own handful of admirers. Sadly, he's Oblivious to Love.
• Sherlock Scan: His Scrutinize ability lets him glean details about someone's personal life through simply observing and studying someone, albeit at the cost of them potentially noticing and getting annoyed by the unwanted attention.
• The Smart Guy: Easily the most knowledgeable of the travelers given his voracious appetite for academics and strong memory retention. Many of his party banters have Cyrus shed history and context on the many locations and situations the characters find themselves in. The other party members acknowledge this by referring to Cyrus as "Professor" more often than calling him by name.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: He bemoans his good looks and unintentional charisma in the beginning of Chapter 2 after reading Odette's letter. The cutscene features two women that look at him, then giggle as he walks past.
• Spell Book: Unlike other characters, when Cyrus casts magic he is shown reading off a tome.
• Squishy Wizard: Cyrus' Elemental Attack is massive, and he has good Elemental Defense as well. However, his HP and Physical Attack are abysmal, and his Physical Defense is only mediocre.
• Sympathy for the Devil: His statement towards the Arc Villain in his storyline right before said Arc Villain disintegrates:
  Cyrus: If nothing else, your devotion to the pursuit of knowledge is admirable. Unfortunately for you, you will not live to pass that on.
• Surpassed the Teacher: While he has yet to personally experience this, he loves his students of all walks of life. As he tells his Arc Villain, who sees most people as incapable of reaching their levels of knowledge, he won't give up on his students. If the student isn't learning it might just be the teacher isn't working hard enough on their side, and he waits for the day he can learn things from his own students.
• Token Good Teammate: While none of the eight heroes are outright evil, most of them commit crimes of some sort — Primrose revenge-kills murderers, Therion steals, Tressa drugs pirates with a sleeping draught in an attempt to recover the goods they stole, Alfyn drugs a woman with a nightmare-inducing tranquilizer to prevent her from starting her Poison and Cure Gambit scheme all over again, H'aanit forces people to fight her, and Olberic challenges people to duels (which is outright stated to be illegal). Even Ophilia breaks the rules of the Church by going to the Cave of Origin to collect Aelfric's Lantern without the Church's permission, though she did this so that her sister Lianna could stay with her sick father. Cyrus stands out by being the only playable character who doesn't commit any sort of crime; the worst he does is getting nosy with his interrogations.
• Tranquil Fury: While confronting Gideon about his amoral Blood Magic experiments draining humans of their blood to create magic blood-crystals, Cyrus acts civil towards him, but you know from his horrified reaction to the discovery that he is pissed.
• Workaholic: Cyrus is at home in his classroom, his greatest passions being learning and educating others. He does not have any interest in romance, admits he has not gone out for a good drink for far too long, and generally seems happiest when burying his nose in research.
• You Just Told Me: He's adept at getting people to confirm his suspicions through bluffing.

Tressa Colzione, the Merchant

Tressa Colzione

Voiced By: Ruriko Aoki (Japanese), Fryda Wolff (English)

"You got more than you bargained for!"

Her name is Tressa, and she is a merchant.

A young merchant from the Coastland region who wants to see the world.

Her Noble Path Action is "Purchase", which allows her to purchase items from NPCs, and her Talent is "Eye for Money", which gives Tressa additional money whenever she explores a new area. While Tressa can buy a number of items, she must pay out of her own pocket for them, and some items simply are not for sale. The Perk "Smarter Bartering" improves the odds of Tressa getting a discount when purchasing something.

---

• Affectionate Nickname: Alfyn sometimes calls her "Tress".
• Agree to Disagree: Effectively what she and Therion regularly come back to given how perfectly opposite their individual careers and worlds are from each other. Despite their disagreements, they acknowledge each other as trustworthy allies.
• Angrish: Her Chapter 2 has Ali set up shop next to her and steal her customers, prompting her to go "Mrgrgr!"
• Apologetic Attacker: A variant. If her subclass is a Thief and she uses Steal, she clearly feels guilty about and mutters a quiet "So sorry..." to the enemy.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Tressa is terrified of ghosts, thunder and... debts.
• The Baby of the Bunch: She's the youngest playable character, and is often the target of teasing from the other travelers for her youth. One party banter scene reveals she doesn't know what a brothel is.
• Badass Adorable:
  • She's an energetic and spunky young woman who doesn't hesitate for a second when standing up to the pirates harassing her fellow merchants. Leon notes that her legs were shaking, but still expresses approval for her bravery.
  • When she has to fight the pirate captains she manages to trounce them effectively enough in a two-on-one fight that they're forced to call their underlings for help.
  • The feats she does in later chapters are downright amazing:
    • In Chapter 2, she liberates Quarrycrest from the greedy landlord Morlock (though she was focused on rescuing Ali from him).
    • In Chapter 3, she fights a damned poisonous saber-tooth tiger and wins.
    • In Chapter 4, she takes down the dangerous thief Esmeralda to retrieve her diary from her. Esmeralda even points out she can't believe a child beat her.
• Battle Cry: When fully boosted, she'll occasionally let out a wordless roar of fury instead of the usual Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
• Berserk Button: She dislikes being called "little". Primrose in particular enjoys teasing Tressa for her relative youth, much to Tressa's indignation.
• Big Eater: In a tavern banter between her, H'aanit, and Alfyn, H'aanit notes that Tressa eats much more than she'd expect for someone her size.
• Blow You Away: While all Merchants have access to wind magic, as Tressa is a light-hearted merchant who sets out on her path in order to explore, she fits the archetype associated with the element.
• Boyish Short Hair: Has very short hair in comparison to the rest of the female protagonists and is not afraid to speak her mind.
• Brutal Honesty: She's the most outspoken amongst the cast, and never shows restraint when speaking her mind. Her allies appreciate her transparency, and Primrose and Cyrus both note Tressa is extremely easy to read and understand. This honesty is also one of the reasons for her rivalry with Ali, as she's annoyed by his tendency to embellish his goods to make them want to buy his wares, while she focuses on finding what the customer needs and delivering it to them.
• Cast from Money: Her merchant skill "Hired Help" summons units onto the battlefield to strike all enemies at once. The strength and effect of the skill depend on how much money and BP she spends.
• Catchphrase:
  • "I'll be back in two ripples of the tide!"
  • "Always looking for a bargain!"
• Country Mouse: Her hometown is the quiet and isolated fishing village of Rippletide, and one of her driving motivations for leaving home is getting to see the world at large.
• Cowardly Lion: Only at the very beginning. When she first confronts Mikk and Makk when they rob people at Rippletide, she stands up to them until they leave, but Leon notes afterwards that her legs were shaking. The cowardly part is dropped almost right after, when she decides to sneak into the pirates' lair.
• The Cutie: Of the "optimistic" and "enthusiastic" variety. Amongst a party of jaded, mature and worldly adventurers with specific goals in mind, Tressa relatively comes across as a cute, spunky and innocent kid who is just travelling for the thrill of it and looking to make a good sale. She is 18 years old, but you'd be forgiven for thinking she's in her mid-teens. This is partially explained by her having not suffered any major personal tragedies in her life, in contrast with several of her fellow Travelers. For example, she is the only Traveler who is confirmed to have living biological parents.
• Daddy's Girl: Tressa deeply loves both of her parents, but she's especially close with her father.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Despite her love and talent for being a merchant, she's not sure she really wants to stay in her parents' shop for the rest of her life. She sets out on her journey to find her true calling.
• Disc-One Nuke: Her Hired Help ability, which she can get within the first five minutes of gameplay completely destroys the early game. It deals damage based on how much money Tressa puts into it. Of course almost all of Tressa's abilities revolve around getting more money so the cost for most of its options quickly becomes trivialized. It's even powerful enough to take down her first boss in one hit.
• Don't Call Me "Sir": When Noa calls her "Miss Tressa," Tressa insists that Noa drop the "Miss."
• Do You Want to Haggle?: When she uses her Path Action, she'll occasionally get discounts from haggling; the Inquiry perk "Smarter Bartering" increases the frequency of this happening. In her first chapter alone, she pulls this off by pointing out how improper fishing technique cut into the fish's innards, impairing its quality as a result.
• Family Business: Comments in her first chapter that if she doesn't take over for her parents, then no one will.
• Foil:
  • To Therion. While Therion is able and willing to steal from others, Tressa purchases the same items honestly with her own money. In terms of personality, Tressa is upbeat, friendly, and hates stealing, while Therion is indifferent, antisocial, and steals without remorse. As one would expect, the two do not get along very well in their banter segments.
  • Tressa also greatly contrasts with Primrose. Tressa grew up in a normal, happy home by the coast, meanwhile Primrose was raised in an influential, noble house, and at a young age suffered the loss of her father and home. Tressa's story is the most light-hearted one of the eight Travelers, while Primrose's story is the darkest. In their banter, the optimistic Tressa is shown to be much more naïve than the more experienced and jaded Primrose, but the two still form a sisterly bond. Finally, both of their Final Bosses are members of the Obsidians, but Tressa's is a random asshole who steals her diary, while Primrose's is someone she knew since childhood and had been manipulating her and events in her life for years.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Her fear of thunder is actually justified by in-game mechanics, as monsters associated with the wind element are most often weak to electric attacks, and her base Merchant class has Wind attack skills.
• Genki Girl: She has a very optimistic and high-energy personality, which lends greatly towards her style of salesmanship.
• Hidden Depths: A travel banter she has with Ophilia in the latter's fourth chapter reveals that, as naïve as she is, even she can tell that Mattias is lying to Lianna about being able to bring Archbishop Josef Back from the Dead by corrupting the Sacred Flame into the Accurst Flame, which Lianna believes.
• Intrepid Merchant: Sets out on a journey to see the world and find new business, and her Path Action allows her to buy items not available in stores.
• It's the Journey That Counts: At the end of her tale, it is not material riches that Tressa believes is her most important treasure, it is the adventure and the people she has met along the way.
• It Was a Gift: Her diary, gifted to her by Leon.
• Jack of All Stats: Tressa's base physical and magical stats are equal, allowing her to slip into any job with no trouble. The Merchant job also features a balanced set of stats and a variety of skills including offense, support, and healing, on top of its signature money-based abilities. However, none of her natural abilities are as good as other classes by themselves, and her stats ultimately boil down to just "okay" at everything.
• Leitmotif: Tressa, the Merchant and For Treasure
• Lighter and Softer: Tressa's story is the most light-hearted of the eight Travelers' stories. Tressa hasn't suffered any major personal tragedies in her life (she's the only Traveler confirmed to have living biological parents, for example) and remains an energetic and optimistic young woman who is travelling Orsterra to form new experiences and for the fun of it, in contrast to many of her fellow Travelers who have experienced things like death and betrayal, and have specific goals in mind for their journeys. It's also quite telling that the "main antagonist" (if one can even call them that) is a random thief who steals her diary, contrasting with the deeply personal Arc Villains of her companions.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Her name is Cornish in origin and means "third." She is the third character in naming of Octopath.
  • Her first name sounds very similar to "treasure", which is fitting given her role as a merchant and the fact that her story focuses on people discovering what the concept of treasure truly means to them.
• Memento MacGuffin: Played with. Initially, Baltazar's elderite gem. After Leon passes it on to her, Tressa wants to submit it for the Merchant's Fair as her greatest treasure, but decides the more valuable treasure of hers is actually her diary (also from Leon). Tressa remains in possession of the elderite at the end of her story.
• Nice Girl: She's very friendly to her customers, and several banters with the other protagonists shows that she cares about them. She's also nice to Noa from her final chapter.
• Nonchalant Dodge: Her skill "Sidestep" lets her dodge any physical attack regardless of its accuracy, with the number of attacks increased by BP spent. Notably when her secondary job is Runelord she can make it apply to the entire party.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Tressa's final party banter with Therion has them find common ground in that they both have an eye for valuing items, of course in respects to their individual professions. Therion admiring priceless jewelry, while Tressa sees the worth of seemingly normal items.
• Oblivious to Love: She does not realize that Ali may have developed a crush on her by the end of her story.
• Older Than They Look: One can be forgiven for thinking she's in her mid-teens, when in reality she's eighteen; only a few years younger than the likes of Alfyn and Ophilia. In one banter with Primrose during the latter's Chapter 2, Primrose hesitates to tell Tressa what a brothel is, and Tressa protests that she isn't a child.
• Out-of-Character Moment: The player can invoke this by giving Tressa the Thief sub-job, as she's firmly against thievery^note Hilariously, Thief is one of the best sub-jobs to give Tressa before you unlock the secret Runelord job, with an SP-recovery attack to complement her support spells, an SP-sharing skill to complement her native Donate BP, and a support skill that doubles money and items collected or stolen in battle. It's downplayed because only primary Path Actions can be used on NPCs on the overworld, so Merchant/Thief Tressa is limited to stealing items from enemies that are already trying to attack the party. Tressa will even Lampshade her distaste for thievery, muttering a quiet "So sorry..." as she steals an item from her foe.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The shortest member of the party by a wide margin (Ophilia and Primrose are One Head Taller, with even more of a contrast for everyone else), but that by no means indicates she isn't dangerous.
• Plucky Girl: She's energetic and determined to become the best merchant possible, willing to stand up to pirates that have everyone else cowed and set off on a journey as soon as the idea strikes her.
• Punny Name: Her name has "Tres" in it. And she's the third main character in Octopath Traveler.
• Rage Breaking Point: After Ali gets taken away by Morlock in her Chapter 2, she goes berserk; if Olberic is in the party, he's glad that she flew off the handle after Morlock instead of himself after seeing Morlock's way of doing business.
• Required Party Member: Downplayed as wind damage is not as common of a weakness as the other elements and it isn't too hard to take advantage of enemies' other weaknesses without it, but until you unlock Merchant as a secondary job, she is the only one who can naturally provide it.
• Secretly Wealthy: Becomes this at her story's conclusion. She wins the Merchant's Fair with her journal, earning a billion leaves in the process. However, Tressa refuses to take the money. As a compromise, the money is set up as a trust in her name, ensuring that she'll have the money whenever she needs it. At the time, Tressa just doesn't need it yet.
• Sherlock Scan: Leon notes her merchant's eye when she manages to determine the worth of a priceless painting despite having never seen it before. Gameplay-wise, she can make use of Purchase to identify and buy all sorts of items off of characters the player comes across.
• Slipping a Mickey: Uses a drugged cask of wine to knock out the pirates and sneak into their lair. Unfortunately for her, it doesn't quite take for Mikk and Makk, and she ends up having to fight them anyway.
• Spirited Competitor: When encountering other merchants, she sees them not as competition of her trade, but as rivals who she can learn from and improve herself by overcoming. When Therion offers to simply rob another merchant to acquire what Tressa wants, she insists merchants pride themselves on their ability to trade.
• Sweet Tooth: She seems to regularly keep sweets on her person and is often seen sharing them with others.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Tressa is the only character who does not kill any of the human bosses she faces. She just beats the crap out of them. It’s ambiguous if she accidentally killed Venomtooth Tiger or if it was opportunistically killed by another monster.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She frets over her appearance as shown in a group banter between she, Ophilia, and Alfyn, and has no problem wearing dresses and hair accessories in her subclass outfits. She's also blunt, quick-tempered, and outwardly aggressive when angry. In her third chapter's banter with Ophilia, Tressa also mentions that as a child, she would frequently overdo it playing pirates with the boys, sending them home crying... to Ophilia's lack of surprise.
• Troll: She offers a cask of wine to the pirates as an "apology" for thinking she and her town stood a chance against them... that she had spiked with a sleeping draught to knock them out so she can recover the goods they stole. Her dialogue and private chuckling make it clear she thoroughly enjoys messing with them, but it doesn't all go according to plan as Mikk wakes up in the middle of her goods-recovering, leaving her with no choice but to fight him and Makk.
• Video Game Caring Potential: Her purchasing goods from every class of people allows for some to obtain money for their possessions. Children will always be happy for the money, like during Alfyn's second chapter where Flynn's sister is sick. Purchasing from Flynn makes the girl very happy as it helps them pay for the medicine needed.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: While her Purchasing is giving money to some people who might need it, like Flynn of Alfyn's story, her haggling ability can automatically activate and cut down the profits the poor, destitute, or children might need.

Olberic Eisenberg, the Warrior

Olberic Eisenberg

Voiced By: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)

"Ah, the thrill of the fight!"

His name is Olberic, and he is a warrior.

Formerly one of the two greatest Knights of Hornburg, Olberic became the master-at-arms of a small village after the death of his king at the hands of his best friend, Erhardt. Tortured by self-doubt, Olberic sets off on a journey to discover the reasons for Erhardt's betrayal and try to rediscover his purpose in life. He resides in the Highland region.

His Noble Path Action is "Challenge", which allows him to challenge an NPC to one-on-one combat, and his Talent is "Bolster Defense", which increases his physical defense when he spends BP. Some opponents cannot be "Challenged" without an adequate level; a perk "Challenge with Ease" allows Olberic to "Challenge" his foes more easily.

---

• The Ace: He and Erhardt were so extremely skilled that even years after the fall of Hornburg, people recognize Olberic's old title of "Unbending Blade" immediately. Olberic himself is able to fight his way into the Victors Hollow tournament without any practice beforehand, and then defeat several opponents in the arena including the running champion, before defeating Erhardt's former apprentice. Erhardt himself is a Level 10 duel boss as seen in Olberic's Chapter 3, was able to defeat a Lizardman Chief on his own while Olberic did so with his party, and had single-handedly repelled the lizardmen from Wellspring numerous times before Olberic arrived. Yet, during their following duel, Olberic defeats him handily. In other words, even among other Aces, Olberic is still The Ace. The other protagonists also often express admiration for his combat superiority during travel banter.
• An Adventurer Is You: Of the "Tank" variety. His Talent allows him to use boost points to further reduce damage while defending, combined with his ability to take hits for other party members while doing so.
• Bad "Bad Acting": As seen in the side quest "Star of the Stage" his acting ability is really stilted and poor.
  Olberic: (First lines in the performance) Oh, er, it's...er..Olberic. If it's a fight you want, then you shall have it. My, er, blade's grown dusty—rusty!—of late. (beat) ...Was that all right?
  After the performance
  Impresario: My good man. You swing a blade as convincingly as any I have seen. But that diction? That wretched monotone? Forgive me, but the stage is no place for you.
• Baritone of Strength: He has the deepest voice of the male protagonists as well as being the oldest of all eight protagonists at 35 years, and is "The Unbending Blade" of Hornburg who's still a powerful swordsman long after Hornburg fell.
• BFS: No matter which sword he's wielding, it will be depicted as an enormous two-handed blade, with the sword itself being taller than Tressa.
• The Big Guy: He's the tallest and most physically powerful of the travelers.
• Blood Knight: A benign example. Several of his quotes make it clear Olberic enjoys fighting, but he only fights with the other person's permission, and he challenges people to non-lethal duels.
• But Thou Must!: In his third chapter, you have to Challenge a level 10 NPC to a duel with Olberic, and the game does not give you the option to refuse.
• Challenge Seeker: Olberic can challenge almost every NPC to battle. This is good for getting rid of obstacles, defeating criminals and finding hidden enemies, but can quickly backfire if the person he's challenging is stronger than him.
• The Dreaded: As "The Unbending Blade" of Hornburg, his reputation is enough to make people doubt themselves.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Olberic struggles to find his purpose for living after having failing in his duty as a Knight of Hornburg to protect his king. By the end of his story he affirms that his purpose is to defend the weak and innocent.
• Disappointed by the Motive: At the end of Olberic's storyline, Olberic confronts the man responsible for the fall of his homeland Hornburg whom Erhardt was working for as The Mole, who orchestrated the death of Olberic's king, and who has caused countless amounts of misery througout the various towns that Olberic has visited. The villain reveals his motivation for it all was because Hornburg was home to the Gate of Finis, and he wanted to open it to see what was behind it. Olberic is incredulous that his life was ruined for that reason. Especially once a player goes behind the Gate of Finis to face the True Final Boss, and sees for themselves that it houses the Eldritch Abomination of a dark god known as Galdera. Essentially, opening the gate would have caused The End of the World as We Know It had Werner gotten what he wanted.
  Olberic: You destroyed a proud and prosperous realm... Led countless multitudes to their deaths... All for some... some gate!? You thought that a price worth paying!?
• Experienced Protagonist: He was already a famously skilled knight during his opening flashback.
• Failure Knight: Considers himself one after failing to stop the death of his king.
• Foil:
  • To H'aanit. While she is a pragmatic hunter who forces NPCs to fight her animal companions, Olberic is an honorable knight who insists on dueling one-on-one with the other person's permission.
  • To Primrose. Both were the first to be introduced in the demo. Both share the goal relating to the death of someone close to them, Primrose's father and Olberic's king, but while Olberic managed to forgive Erhardt's betrayal and see the truth of the fall of Hornburg, Primrose is betrayed by Simeon and she kills him and the rest of the crows in cold blood.
• Force and Finesse: Discussed with Therion when concerning different strategies in breaking into a mansion. Therion considers himself Finesse and Olberic Force, but Olberic admits force is not always appropriate to every situation and he must fall back on careful strategizing when needed, much to Therion's surprise.
• Genius Bruiser: While Olberic is the largest and physically toughest traveler, his manner of speech is quite sophisticated and he is well-versed in battle tactics. Despite this, he still recognizes Cyrus' impressive theoretical knowledge, and makes an effort to refer to him as a scholar on one occasion, indicating his deference to Cyrus' knowledge. Cyrus himself feels that as a tag-team, they would be undefeatable.
• Gentle Giant: He's a full head taller than the rest of the travelers and a powerhouse on the battlefield, but Olberic is quite mild-mannered and level-headed in demeanor.
• Knight Errant: Became this after the death of his king and the destruction of his kingdom. He eventually settled in the small village of Cobbleston and spent his days fighting off bandits and teaching young men to fight.
• Knight in Shining Armor: He has always carried the honor and bravery befitting a knight even after he lost everything. After Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life throughout his story he comes to understand that his reason for living is to fight for the weak and innocent. All of the protagonists express admiration for his disposition - even Therion, though in the latter's case he simply notes he's surprised he'd ever end up being on casual terms with someone like Olberic (that is, someone as honor-bound).
• Large Ham: Invokes this in battle quite a bit, often times combined with Badass Boast.
  Olberic: My blade is UNBENDING!
  Olberic: Watch my blade dance!
• Leitmotif: Olberic, the Warrior and For Redemption
• Living Legend: His name is very famous and well known. The bandit gang and villagers of Cobbleston are awestruck when his identity is revealed.
• Literal-Minded: He doesn't always catch on to figurative speech. When Alfyn tells him to "take his thumb out" (get down to business), Olberic responds that his "thumb is right here."
• Magically Inept Fighter: As a Warrior, Olberic is the only playable character to never get any sort of elemental magic naturally. Even when taking advantage of secondary jobs, his stats in general are heavily geared towards physical combat; Olberic's HP, Physical Attack, and Physical Defense are fantastic, and he can learn abilities to boost them even further. However, his Elemental Defense is just okay, and his Elemental Attack is outright terrible.
• Master Swordsman: Tied with Erhardt as the most powerful member of the Knights of Hornburg. He's well-known as "The Unbending Blade" for his skill in swordsmanship. The Divine Skill of his native Warrior class, Brand's Thunder, is also an overwhelmingly powerful sword slash that creates a shockwave in its wake.
• Meaningful Appearance: He has a few light grey streaks in his otherwise black hair, reflecting both his status as the oldest traveler and the harsh life he has led.
• Mighty Glacier: His stats naturally offer him either the highest HP, Physical Attack, and Physical Defense amongst the party, or very close to the highest. This comes at the cost of having the worst Speed and the worst Evasion. His magical stats aren't that good either.
• My Greatest Failure: His inability to save the lives of his king or his fellow knights. So much so that he has nightmares of the day Hornburg fell every night.
• Non-Lethal K.O.: He can challenge random civilians into duels, but the outcome is never lethal. Defeated civilians are left knocked out and, if he's the one defeated, he's left with one HP without a game over.
• Overrated and Underleveled: He starts out as level one in spite of having been one of the most skilled Knights of Hornburg in his backstory, and it's not like he's been neglecting his skills. This may be a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation however, as Olberic never appears to express difficulty with facing his opponents until he fights Erhardt in Chapter 3, who was always said to be his equal. In other words, while his stats during story fights imply a challenge from his opponents, in reality he may be defeating them with relative ease most of the time.
• Parental Substitute: He's Phillip's hero and father figure.
• Red Baron: Olberic's title is "The Unbending Blade".
• Secret Identity: He's spent the past few years living as a hedge knight named "Berg".
• Taking the Bullet: When he enters Boost Mode and defends, he also protects all of his allies from attacks directed at them.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Olberic is the tallest traveler and has dark hair, a healthy tan, a Lantern Jaw of Justice, and a very muscular build.
• Team Dad: As evidenced by party banter, his age makes him the most paternal influence of the group, especially to the young Tressa.
• Turn the Other Cheek: At the end of his chapter 3, after finally besting Erhardt, the man who killed Olberic's liege and ruined his kingdom, Olberic spares him after seeing that he has turned over a new leaf as defender of a town.
• Underestimating Badassery: Most of the bandits he fights think he is just some hedge knight. Olberic easily proves them wrong on multiple occasions. The same applies to the general public and other fighters in Victors Hollow until the announcer reveals Olberic's history as the Unbending Blade.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: To a lesser extent than H'aanit's Provoke because Olberic asks for permission to challenge NPCs of age to a non-lethal duel. Nevertheless, Hilarity Ensues as entire villages are beaten up and left unconscious on the ground, including the elderly and pregnant. Do not do this in real life.
• Warrior Poet: Out of all of the Travelers, he is the one who most often ruminates on philosophy, particularly in traveling banter.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Children are some of the few NPCs Olberic can't Challenge.

Primrose Azelhart, the Dancer

Primrose Azelhart

Voiced By: Houko Kuwashima (Japanese), Laura Post (English)

"The show is over."

Her name is Primrose, and she is a dancer.

Once the highborn daughter of a noble house, Primrose lost everything after her father was killed by three men who each had a crow tattoo. Her search for revenge has led her to become a dancer at a Sunland tavern one of the men is said to visit.

Her Rogue Path Action is "Allure" and her Talent is "Summon". Both of these work similarly to Ophilia's "Guide" and "Summon" actions. Prim's level and the Inquiry perk "Undeniable Allure" make it easier to Allure various individuals.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Yusufa occasionally calls her "Prim". Helgenish refers to her as "kitten", but in that case, it's not exactly affectionate.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: While working under Helgenish, Primrose was noted to keep herself apart from the other dancers, causing most of them to label her as a snob, though Primrose was quite kind to Yusufa.
• Animal Motifs: Her cunning, ruthless personality (regarding her father's murderers, that is) is reminiscent of cats. Besides Helgenish's usage of "kitten" as a Term of Endangerment, Therion once remarks in a banter that she "looks like a tiger about to pounce on its prey". Primrose herself reveals in a post-game banter that she has often been noted to "look like a cat".
• Anti-Hero: She's a courageous and kind-hearted woman who endured years of abuse from Helgenish for the sake of realising her goal and stood up on behalf of her friend Yusufa when she was mistreated, but she's also intensely vengeful towards the men who murdered her father, is generally distant towards others so as not to bother them with her personal burdens, and isn't afraid to use her sex appeal as a dancer to charm others to her will if she has to. Plus her family’s creed is to protect the innocent by any means nessecary, including underhanded tactics as seen in some optional dialogue in chapter 2.
• Batman Gambit: Subjected herself to Helgenish's mistreatment for years, all the while lying in wait for the Left Hand of the Crow to visit his tavern.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: She has a mental fight with Simeon and two puppets of her father and Yusufa before actually fighting him in his boss fight.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: She's a gorgeous woman with an elegant demeanour. The Goodness part is zig-zagged, as she's very kind to her fellow Travelers, Yusufa, and her former acquaintances in Noblecourt, has a very strict code against collateral damage—especially to innocent people—and is anything but kind to the Crow Men, which is unsurprising given that they murdered her father when she was little.
• Best Served Cold: Her majority of her life has been dedicated towards plotting the deaths of those who murdered her father over a decade ago.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Primrose is a very gentle person at heart, but getting on her bad side is one of the worst mistakes you can make.
• Bond One-Liner: "Quite the dancer yourself in the end." Said to Helgenish, who tried to stab her In the Back, only for her to retaliate faster than him and slit his throat while he was charging her. During his last movements, when he was agonizing, it looked like he was twirling before falling in the dirt.
• Break the Cutie: Flashbacks to her childhood reveal that Primrose was a cheerful, idealistic girl. Her father's murder traumatized her—especially since she witnessed it—rendering her cynical and intent on revenge, but she remains a kind and sweet young woman to the innocent.
• Broken Bird: She lost her father at a young age, and has had to endure years of enslavement in order to find and murder those responsible, suffering years of indignity and self-isolation.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: During her confrontation with the Right Hand of the Crow, Albus, Primrose is upfront about killing his partner-in-crime Rufus, and chillingly talks about killing him as if it was any mundane activity.
• Casting a Shadow: As a Dancer, she naturally learns the Moonlight Waltz and Night Ode, which deal dark-based damage to enemies.
• Chekhov's Gunwoman: From the Crow Men's perspective. The day they murdered her father, Primrose was little more than an inexperienced child cowering in fear in the corner of the room. Many years later, that same child would grow up, become skilled at fighting with a dagger and dark magic, and begin hunting her father's murderers down. Lampshaded by Rufus, who initially doesn't recognize her when she confronts him. By the end of her story, she's killed all three of them.
• Childhood Friend Romance:
  • Subverted. When Primrose first meets Simeon again for the first time in years since she was young it seems it can lead to this. Then he's revealed to be one of the Crow Men who killed Primrose's father, and relishes the emotional pain he inflicted on Primrose for doing so. His play about Primrose's life even has his and her character declaring their love for each other and going on to live Happily Ever After in a twisted display of affection and sadism.
  • Implied with Jan, Revello's son. At the end of Primrose's story as she resolves to find a new happiness in life they both stop and look at each other. Using Inquire or Scrutinize on Jan reveals that they were acquainted when they were children and all but states that he's in love with her.
• Cool Big Sis: Tends to act this way in banter segments with most of the other party members, usually in the Good Bad Girl mode.
• The Cynic: Having experienced what she has, Primrose is quick to suspect the worst of the various villains encountered, and is usually right.
• Daddy's Girl: Flashbacks show she loved her father very much when she was young and terribly misses him after his death.
• Dance Battler: Primrose's buffs and dark-elemental attacks are dance-based. For example, Lion Dance and Moonlight Waltz.
• Dark and Troubled Past: As a young girl, Primrose witnessed three men with tattoos of a crow murder her father in front of her eyes, which traumatized her and forms her desire for revenge. With the murder of her father and the skirmish that followed, House Azelhart fell into ruin which left Primrose destitute on the streets where she had to turn to prostitution to survive, while she followed the trail of those who murdered her father.
• Darker and Edgier: Primrose's story is bar none the darkest of the eight Travelers' stories. It starts with a flashback of her father being murdered in front of her eyes as a little girl, has the most loathsome of the Starter Villains in the form of Helgenish, an abusive tavern-owner who treats Primrose like a slave while she's in his employment and eventually murders her Only Friend there, has a secret brothel that buys women to serve as prostitutes for men's pleasures and is run by one of the men who murdered her father (whom Helgenish was in league with), and the main antagonist is a sadistic sociopath who went out of his way to form a Childhood Friend Romance with Primrose when she was a little girl, all for the purpose of psychologically tormenting her for his own amusement. Primrose herself is on a quest for vengeful bloodshed against the men who murdered her father while showing signs of suffering from PTSD from all the pain she's been through.
• Dark Is Not Evil: She utilizes dark magic and is decidedly an Anti-Hero, but is still a kind person to those who aren't her targets.
• Deadpan Snarker: She and Therion tend to share this role in the party, especially when engaging with the sometimes-oblivious Cyrus or the naïve Tressa.
• Depending on the Artist: She has brown eyes in her official artwork, but green eyes in her sprite.
• Despair Event Horizon: She crossed it when she witnessed her father murdered in front of her eyes, leaving the thought of vengeance the only thing that keeps her going.
• Determinator: One of her defining traits. She was willing to enslave herself and endure abuse to have a chance at finding the Crow Men. This is a family trait, as the Azelhart motto, "Faith shall be your shield" is about pushing forward through any opposition or indignities in order to do what must be done. A skit in Primrose's Chapter 2 shows that Ophilia envies this particular trait, provided she's in the party for it.
• Devious Daggers: As a Dancer she can wield daggers to throw at enemies. This is representative of her nature as a more ruthless seductress.
• Didn't See That Coming: Despite Helgenish's perverted abuse and threats, it is implied that Primrose did not anticipate his willingness to commit murder for the sake of intimidation. Granted, it is also implied that this is exceptionally cruel even by Helgenish's twisted standards.
• Disappointed by the Motive: She infiltrates the Right-hand Man's lair in Noblecourt, accompanied by her late father's friend Revello Forsythe. The Right-hand Man is found to be none other than Albus, former captain of the city watch and Forsythe's boss, which shocks Forsythe. The Right-hand Man tells them that "Honor's all well and good, but it doesn't buy you much". To say that Primrose and Forsythe are not impressed would be an understatement.
• The Dog Bites Back: After enduring years of abuse and humiliation, Primrose kills Helgenish and his men after they kill Yusufa. For the crime of destroying her family and exploiting its survivors, the Crow Men follow soon after.
• Even the Girls Want Her: She is capable of seducing women. Furthermore, Yusufa is implied to have a crush on her.
• Everyone Has Standards: Very little is shown to phase Primrose, but a party banter late in Ophilia's story shows that even she is disturbed by the sheer fanatical devotion of the Savior's cult.
• Exposed to the Elements: Lampshaded when Primrose learns that she must travel to Stillsnow, a town in the Frostlands.
  Primrose: I'll need to pack some warmer clothes.
• Expy: At least in terms of class function, Primrose takes inspiration from Praline A la Mode of the development team's previous series, Bravely Default, as the Dancer class focuses on supporting allies through buffing, much like the Performer. Downplayed, however, in that the Dancer is a capable damage-dealing mage, as well.
• Fallen Princess: She was once the only daughter of a wealthy noble house, but the death of her father left her destitute with no resources to search for her father's killers except to try and find them herself.
• Femme Fatale: A heroic example of the trope. Primrose isn't afraid to make use of her sex appeal if it means advancing her goals, which is represented in-game by her Allure path action.
• Foil:
  • To Ophilia. While Ophilia convinces people to follow her, Primrose seduces them to do the same. As a Dancer, her elemental affinity is Darkness, opposite to Ophilia's Light-elemental magic.
  • Primrose also readily contrasts with Tressa. Primrose was raised in an influential noble house, and at a young age suffered the loss of her father and home. Meanwhile, Tressa grew up in a normal, happy home by the coast. Primrose's story is the darkest out of the eight travelers, while Tressa's story is the most light-hearted. In their banter, the optimistic Tressa is shown to be much more naïve than the more experienced and jaded Primrose, but the two still form a sisterly bond. Finally, both of their Final Bosses are members of the Obsidians, but Primrose's is someone she knew since childhood and had been manipulating her and events in her life for years, while Tressa's is a random asshole who steals her diary.
  • To Therion. From a young age, the two have both learned to be self-reliant and cunning to survive in their harsh situations. Therion grew up a street urchin, meanwhile Primrose was raised in a wealthy noble house, but had her power and father taken from her. In battle, both are fast dagger-wielders, but while Primrose specializes in buffing her allies, Therion's skills debuff his enemies. Their methods of intel collection are also notably different; while Therion will prefer to listen in on conversations to gain information, Primrose is skilled at directly acquiring info through her seduction.
  • To Olberic. Both were the first to be introduced in the demo. Both share the goal relating to the death of someone close to them, Primrose's father and Olberic's king, but while Olberic manages to forgive Erhardt's betrayal and see the truth of the fall of Hornburg, Primrose is betrayed by Simeon and she kills him and the rest of the crows in cold blood.
  • To H'aanit. They both lost their parents at a young age and have a Tragic Keepsake in their memories (a dagger for Primrose, and rings for H'aanit). However, H'aanit had a Parental Substitute in Z'aanta, allowing her to have a mostly normal childhood. Meanwhile, Primrose turned to prostitution to survive and get information, causing her to be lonely and fixated on revenge.
• Foreshadowing: The end of Primrose's Chapter 2 foreshadows her quest for revenge against her father's murderers giving her no happiness. Primrose tells Arianna that avenging her father is the only reason she has for living. The screen stays focused on Arianna even after Primrose exits, and Arianna says "Oh, my poor lady". In hindsight, it's likely she foresaw that Primrose would find only emptiness from completing her quest before Simeon's nearly-successful Break Them by Talking speech in her Chapter 4.
• Fragile Speedster: She's got the best Speed among the eight heroes, but both her Physical Defense and Elemental Defense stats are the party's worst.
• The Gadfly: Primrose regularly teases Tressa in their party banter scenes, for example once pretending to take a precious jewel because "its beauty is completely wasted on a child", or deflecting a conversation during a tense situation to how Tressa will eventually find a man and even flirting a little with her. She teases the entire party at one point or another; Tressa is just the most entertaining to mess around with.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • Primrose is a Fragile Speedster, having the best Speed stat of the eight Travelers but the worst Physical and Elemental Defense stats. This is explained by her choice of clothing: a light and revealing dancer outfit that is suitable for sex appeal, but impractical for protection.
  • Primrose's in-battle dialogue is much more limited than that of the other Travelers. The other Travelers have at least three lines of dialogue selected at random upon entering a battle, taking a turn, and after landing the finishing blow; Primrose has exactly one for each. It's justified as she is described by her friend Yusufa as "a woman of few words", acting distant from others because she doesn't want to bother them with her personal burdens.
• Go-Go Enslavement: For many years in Helgenish's tavern, though Primrose purposefully subjected herself to such shame with the hope of encountering one of the Crow Men who are said to visit the tavern.
• Good Bad Girl: Many of Primrose's party banters touch on her comfort with her own sexuality, being much more experienced and knowledgeable on the topic of love than any of her allies. She will even offer her female allies love advice in a special party banter.
• Good Is Not Soft: She's a very gentle woman to those she considers friends, as well as to her former acquaintances in Noblecourt; but to her enemies... dear God. Primrose is listed on Octopath Traveler's Nightmare Fuel page for a reason.
• Had to Be Sharp: Being left destitute on the streets at a young age and forced to fight for herself after the murder of her father is part of the presumable explanation behind Primrose's knife skills and access to dark magic. She was given some training by her father before he was murdered.
• Head-Turning Beauty: Almost every NPC who meets Primrose in her story (and who she uses her Allure path action on) remarks on her exceptional beauty.
• Heroic Seductress: Primrose can use the Allure ability to make NPCs follow her. This can allow her to access doorways that said NPC was blocking, escort them to places they need to go to for quests, or even summon them as temporary assist characters in battle.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: It's all but stated that she did more than just dancing while she worked as a dancer, but she's still a kind person. Unless you're Helgenish or the Crow Men, of course.
• Imagine the Audience Naked: When Tressa is nervous about going on stage during her fourth chapter, Primrose suggests imagining the audience as fish to help.
• Lady of Black Magic: A powerful user of dark magic as well as a former highborn daughter of a noble house, with an elegant demeanor and a quest for revenge against those who killed her father. Even moreso if her secondary job is Scholar or Sorcerer, making her the second-strongest magic user behind Cyrus.
• Lady of War: She’s a calm, diligent woman that won’t hesitate to assassinate anyone who steps in her way.
• Last of Her Kind: Her father's murder rendered her the last surviving Azelhart.
• Leitmotif: Primrose, the Dancer and For Revenge
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The Dark to Ophilia's Light. Ophilia is outwardly compassionate, devout, dressed in a modest robe, uses the element of light, and is on a religious pilgrimage. Primrose is aloof, seductive, garbed in a revealing dancer outfit, uses the element of darkness, and is on a quest for revenge. This is further played up in their Path Actions. While Ophilia uses her status as a sister of the Order of the Sacred Flame to make NPCs help her, Primrose uses her sex appeal to do so.
• Like Parent, Like Child: Albus remarks this about her, stating she's stubborn like her father. It's a family trait, as House Azelhart's motto "Faith shall be your shield" is about perseverance.
• Made a Slave: Of her own volition, but she made Helgenish think he took her in.
• Master Actor: She's very good at putting on the "seductive slave girl" act for the benefit of Helgenish and his patrons. It's extremely impressive (and a little terrifying) to hear how easily her voice shifts from its normal tone to a sultry, seductive manner of speaking.
• Maybe Ever After: At the very end of her story, just as she resolves to find a new form of happiness in life, she and Revello's son Jan lock eyes and both stop in their tracks. Afterwards you'll be able to read Jan's Inquire/Scrutinize description which reveals that they were acquainted when they were children and heavily implies that he's in love with Primrose.
• Meaningful Name: Azel means "noble" in Hebrew, so Azelhart can be read as "Noble Heart."
• Missing Mom: While her father is central to her story, Primrose's mother Dahlia is only seen once during a flashback to her birth in her Chapter 4, and mentioned during a travel banter in Cyrus' Chapter 4. Her mother presumably died when she was very young.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's a beautiful and Sultry Belly Dancer, with an alluring contralto voice courtesy of Laura Post. She's tied with H'aanit for the biggest bust of the female playable characters, and in-game tends to show more skin than the other female characters even when they're the same class.
• My Name Is Inigo Montoya: Delivers the full introduction right before the final confrontation against Simeon.
  Primrose: I am Lady Primrose of House Azelhart. And I swear on my ancestors' name... And on my father's blade... I will not lose faith! My faith shall be my shield against you!
• Nice Girl: Her vengeful goals aside, Primrose is a very gentle woman, especially to her traveling companions. As long as someone's not her target, she'll be kind to them.
• Nice to the Waiter: One of the reasons that Primrose still commands respect from people who recognize her. To hear them tell it, working for the Azelhart family was the opportunity of a lifetime for a member of the servant class. In Primrose's second chapter, she meets a former servant who treats Primrose as if her family's house was still standing.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Pretended to be Helgenish's bubble-headed pet until one of the Crow Men finally showed up at his tavern.
• Ojou: She's from a noble house instead of a royal family, but she's still treated with reverence and respect by those who used to serve under her and her father. She's often referred to as "Lady Primrose" by those who once knew her, and she carries a grace with her befitting of royalty around those whom she cares for.
• Only Sane Woman: She's the most grounded of the main heroes, save for Olberic, and often takes up the role of the straight woman in the interactions within the party.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During the fourth chapter of her story, the story's Arc Villain, her former Love Interest, Simeon, deduces that what she really wants is relief from the loneliness after her father was murdered, and then asks her if killing his fellow Crow Men made her feel any better. Upon hearing this, Primrose becomes very upset and shouts at him to shut up. It's a rare moment when she loses her composure, and while she's ultimately able to pull through and fight him (because she recognizes he doesn't truly care about her and is only trying to give himself a psychological advantage over her), she later visits her father's grave and confesses that, while she doesn't regret what she's done, she realises that Simeon was right and getting her revenge hasn't eased her pain.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Revenge targets aside, Primrose is more than willing to kill anyone who "repays" good actions with evil ones, such as the Savior after his believers take advantage of Ophilia's kindness in regards to a sick child (which turned out to be a lie) to ambush and imprison her.
• Precision F-Strike: When she's finally had enough of Helgenish, she tells him to "go pleasure yourself".
• Rage Breaking Point: She endured Helgenish's abuse for years, but the moment Helgenish resorts to murder, she snaps and kills him after defeating him in battle.
• Random Effect Spell: Her "Bewildering Grace" skill grants random effects to the team, ranging from buffs and debuffs to experience multipliers.
• Relative Button: Making derogatory comments about Primrose's deceased father within earshot of her is a free ticket to get yourself seriously injured at best, as the Right Hand of the Crow found out when he decided that fabricating a story about how her father took no action in the name of his beliefs and then scornfully laughing at how his murder "goes to show you what the faith of a fool is worth" was a good idea.
• Required Party Member: Downplayed as it isn't too hard to take advantage of enemies' other weaknesses without it, but until you unlock Dancer as a secondary job (which is more challenging than the others being located in a higher level area), she is the only one who can naturally provide Dark damage.
• Revenge: Her driving motivation is getting vengeance against the three Crow Men who murdered her father. There's absolutely nothing she won't subject herself to in the name of reaching that goal.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: While "roaring rampage" may be a stretch, as Primrose is kind-hearted enough to not willingly endanger innocent lives for the sake of her revenge, her entire storyline otherwise stays true to the spirit of the trope — to get revenge against the three Crow Men who murdered her father. By the end she's killed each of them and essentially taken down the Obsidians, the criminal group they led.
  • Her banter scene in Ophilia's fourth chapter has her getting a little too excited at the thought of getting revenge on Mattias for tricking and imprisoning them.
• Sex Slave: Is one to Helgenish in her first chapter, though she intentionally allowed it in order to get information.
• She's All Grown Up: Her former acquaintances all mention how beautiful she has become when she returns to her hometown Noblecourt.
• Silk Hiding Steel: She pretended to be Helgenish's pet, but was really a skilled manipulator and powerful magic user.
• Squishy Wizard: She's just as fragile as Cyrus, trading in some of his offensive capabilities for superior speed.
• Status Buff: Most dancer skills provide stat boosts to her and/or her party.
• Sultry Belly Dancer: Her attire as a Dancer, which any other character who multiclasses into the role shares. It's a justified example, given the "Arabian Nights" Days theme of the Sunlands and the fact that her job is essentially a professional Ms. Fanservice. She also makes an offhanded comment about needing to find warmer clothes when she learns that one of her targets is holed up in the Frostlands. Also, in a skit in Ophilia's Chapter 2, Ophilia expresses concern over the obvious when Primrose offers to aid in her search for the brooch.
• The Tease: She flirts with the male party members, Olberic in particular, at regular intervals in banter scenes, but never puts anything serious behind it.
• This Cannot Be!: Her reaction to finding out that Simeon, her childhood friend and crush, is responsible for her father's murder.
• Token Evil Teammate: While not truly evil—in fact she's a very kind woman to those who aren't targets of her anger—Primrose has the most questionable morals of the party after Therion. She's intent on revenge for her father's murder, is willing to go to extreme lengths like voluntarily enslaving herself just for a chance to get that revenge, and has no problem using her seduction skills as a dancer to entice others for her benefit. Even Therion, the other Token Evil Teammate in the party, sometimes tries to caution her not to endanger herself or those not named the Crow Men in her quest, implying Therion is not proud of the man he has become. In addition, some of Primrose's dialogue is downright disturbing.
  Albus, the Right-hand Man: You really did a number on us, didn't you? The left [Rufus] was responsible for maintaining and expanding our little circle of friends. While I provided the coin... and the power. We made quite the team, if I do say so myself. Nothing—no one—could stand in our way. And now you've gone and fouled it up.
  Primrose: (Evil Chuckle) Have I, now? All I've done is removed a filthy scavenger from this world. One less crow, and our realm will be better off for it.
• Tragic Keepsake: She holds onto her father's dagger that she used when he would train her. Part of her vow of vengeance is using this dagger to kill the Crows.
• Tranquil Fury: Despite her quest for revenge, Primrose hardly ever raises her voice, but during her confrontations with the Crow Men and Helgenish after he mortally wounds her friend Yusufa, it's clear that she's absolutely seething with rage. The juxtaposition of her intense anger with the quiet way she expresses it is pretty frightening!
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: According to the official guidebook Octopath Traveler: The Complete Guide, Primrose's official age is 23, and she began working for Helgenish as part of her greater-scope plan for revenge eight years prior to the game's present story — which means she willingly became a dancer and prostitute at a place run by a Bad Boss at the age of 15.
• Vapor Wear: She doesn’t wear undergarments. Justified Trope as she is a prostitute.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Although she has no regrets regarding what she's done, Primrose states at her father's grave that she still feels a hollow pain in her heart after killing the Crow Men. In the end she resolves to find a new cause to carry her on.
• Video Game Caring Potential: To a lesser extent than Ophilia's Guide—Allure seducing NPCs into following Primrose and her commands is rather amoral—but Primrose can lead NPCs to their destination during sidequests.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Primrose can use Allure to seduce NPCs into following her commands, which means she can temporarily separate NPCs from their friends and loved ones similar to The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
• You Killed My Father: She has devoted her life to hunting down the three men who killed her father ten years ago.

Alfyn Greengrass, the Apothecary

Alfyn Greengrass

Voiced By: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese), Greg Chun (English)

"That's what I'm talking about!"

His name is Alfyn, and he is an apothecary.

An apothecary from the Riverland region on a journey to heal the sick and wounded.

His Noble Path Action is "Inquire", which works the same as Cyrus' "Scrutinize" and lets him extract information from NPCs, and his Talent is "Concoct", which allows him to brew potions in battle. Alfyn will always get info out of people he "Inquires", provided he is at a level at which they will listen.

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• Affectionate Nickname: His best friend Zeph calls him "Alf".
• All Love Is Unrequited: Some of Alfyn's conversations with Ophilia suggest that he has a crush on her. Ophilia doesn't notice and thinks of him as an older brother figure.
• All-Loving Hero: Alfyn is incredibly kind and compassionate, going on a journey to heal the sick no matter their background, believing himself to not have the right to act as a jury. Even after his faith is tested when his patient Miguel, whom he healed despite his reputation as a criminal, kidnaps a child and Ogen reveals his past crime, he reaffirms his duty to heal anyone in need as an apothecary.
• All There in the Manual: His surname is never revealed in the game itself. The official companion book Octopath Traveler: The Complete Guide confirms that his surname is "Greengrass".
• An Ice Person: As an Apothecary, Alfyn can use ice magic. Complete with puns!
  Alfyn: Cool off!
• Bad Liar: As an honest and kind man, Alfyn is naturally bad at lying. A travel banter between him and Primrose in the latter's Chapter 2 reveals he's interested in the brothel in Stillsnow. He tries to play his excitement off as shivering from the cold, but Primrose isn't fooled.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Deconstructed in chapter 3, for the psychological aftermath is present for the rest of the story. Decon-Recon Switch as it turns out his original code was right…most of the time.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • In his second chapter. When he defeats Vanessa, he knocks her out with a powerful tranquilizer. In an optional conversation with Therion afterwards, he reveals that it has the side-effect of causing guilt-fueled nightmares; even Therion is visibly disturbed by that.
  • And technically, the Chapter 2 boss got off easy. Miguel, who personally abused Alfyn's kindness, betrayed him, and went on to commit more crimes, just got an axe to the face. It's especially notable when all other bosses in Alfyn's story survive the ordeal: cold-blooded murder is really not his usual MO.
• Beyond Redemption: Miguel goes back on his word to stay out of trouble by not only kidnapping a child, but using said child as leverage to try and pull a fast escape. At that point, Alfyn realizes that Miguel won't accept his help or ever turn away, and proceeds to use lethal force. And unlike his deal with Vanessa, he sees no point in using the nightmare-inducing tranquilizer on Miguel if he's still alive, considering that he's not going to feel any guilt from the tranquilizer.
• Break the Cutie: His whole story arc is about this, which makes for a surprisingly dark route by being the most psychologically perverse one, all while featuring one of the most benevolent and well-meaning members of the cast who promptly gets mentally brutalized. It starts off when Vanessa is presented as the dark and manipulative side of Alfyn's own profession, but then takes a harsh step further when Miguel betrays his trust and stabs a child, all while Ogen keeps wearing him down mentally. This makes him reconsider his whole view of the world, to the point he almost loses his way as a physician.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: When encountering a giant venomous snake he needs venom from to develop a cure, he's remarkably calm and easygoing throughout the whole thing.
• Catchphrase: "That'll do 'er!"
• Chemistry Can Do Anything: His Talent is "Concoct", which lets him mix together items in order to create unique effects in battle. It functions similarly to the "Mix" ability in the Final Fantasy series, but works more along the lines of the Salve-Maker and Patissier classes from the Bravely games.
• Combat Medic: He's one of the main healers, but he has the second highest HP stat and respectable physical attack and defense. Players can focus more on the medic side by giving him Cleric as his second job, or on the combat side by giving him a physical job such as Warrior or Hunter.
• Country Mouse: A simple country boy at heart who comes from a small rural town.
• Covert Pervert: During Primrose's Chapter 2, after learning about the existence of a brothel in Stillsnow run by one of the men who murdered her father, the player can initiate a travel banter between her and Alfyn where Primrose notices that Alfyn can't seem to stand still. Alfyn tries to play it off as him shivering from the cold, but Primrose isn't fooled and deduces (accurately) that Alfyn is thinking about what it would be like to visit the brothel.
  Alfyn: S-sorry. It's just the thought of all those beautiful women... and mugs of mead...
  Primrose: You'd do better to keep your mind on the journey. Besides... You don't need a brothel if all you want is the company of a beautiful woman.
  Alfyn: (Embarrassed) R-right...
• Difficult, but Awesome: Apothecary is a very mechanically complex primary class. Absolutely broken in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, but can be useless for someone not sure of how best to use it, or has other characters do similar roles.
• Disappeared Dad: While Alfyn's mother is confirmed to be deceased during his Chapter 1 when he visits her grave, Alfyn's father is never so much as mentioned. It is unknown if he is alive or deceased.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Alfyn is incredibly kind and compassionate, and makes it his aim to treat the sick no matter their background. However, his ideology backfires when he treats Miguel, a wanted criminal, only to be "repayed" with Miguel kidnapping and nearly killing an innocent boy after promising to reform. At this point, Alfyn decides that Miguel is Beyond Redemption and resorts to using lethal force to save the boy's life.
• Failed a Spot Check: He doesn't notice the red flags indicating that Miguel is a criminal until Ogen points them out to him. Even when he confronts Miguel about them, he doesn't think about the potential for the man to lie to him.
• Foil:
  • To Cyrus. While Cyrus gains information by interrogating others, Alfyn simply talks to people and lets them tell him what he needs to know.
  • The warm and friendly Alfyn also contrasts with the more reclusive Therion. Whereas Alfyn can strike up easy conversations even with complete strangers, Therion is shown to be less direct and will prefer to eavesdrop to gain information, and rarely approaches others of his own volition. This is also reflected in their starting elemental magic; Alfyn uses Ice while Therion uses Fire. Their voicelines in battle reinforce this, as Alfyn and Therion say a lot of similar stuff, if not the exact same lines for the same skills, but their differing tones and small divergences from each other's lines make for differing connotations.
• Friend to All Children: Alfyn has a soft spot for kids and his affable nature makes it easy for them to approach him.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Alfyn cannot understand how someone could be so twisted as to willingly betray those who help them. He is traumatized by Miguel kidnapping and nearly killing an innocent child after Alfyn saved the former's life, and nearly loses his passion as a physician because of it.
• Growling Gut: This sound sometimes happens when Alfyn's hungry, since it's implied that Alfyn is so strapped for funds he doesn't always get enough to eat.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A dirtier shade than Ophilia's, but Alfyn is a Nice Guy and an All-Loving Hero whose mission in life is to heal the sick.
• He Knows Too Much: In his Chapter 2, Vanessa Hysel tries to kill him for figuring out her plot to poison the residents of Goldshore and sell the cure for outrageous prices.
• Heroic BSoD: After his patient Miguel kidnapping a child and his fellow apothecary Ogen reveals his past crime, he has a crisis of faith, but a message from his friend Zeph snaps him out of it.
• Honor Before Reason: Alfyn's code is to treat every patient who needs him, no matter the circumstances. This insistence to always do the right thing comes back to bite him when Alfyn knowingly heals the wanted murderer Miguel only for his generosity to be betrayed when the latter goes right back to crime.
• Hot-Blooded: Ironically. In battle, Alfyn is surprisingly eager to throw down and always the first to have someone's back if a fight is just around the corner.
• Innocently Insensitive: His idealism and enthusiasm for his work as an Apothecary can lead him to spout impressive claims even when his audiences are more subdued types. He can also get a bit carried away in terms of word choice (with swearing) or physical interactions. For instance, during his party banter with H'aanit during her third chapter, he explains to H'aanit that good elixirs come from the heart — which he illustrates by pressing his finger against her chest.
• Jack of All Stats:
  • His stats are fairly balanced, leaning slightly in favor towards physical stats. His Concoct abilities make him a good healer, but any concoction that deals magical damage won't even break the single-digit mark, although they are good for breaking shields because they are multi-attack concoctions. This also means whatever secondary class he has equipped will greatly impact his strengths and weaknesses, such as physical-focused classes making him a good melee fighter, but not as good as characters who start in more dedicated classes.
  • The Concoct ability itself is this, as it can cure status buffs from the whole party, heal as much or more than the Cleric's 'Heal More' ability, is one of the few ways to restore the group's SP, the only way to give everyone group BP, and while the elemental concocts are terrible at damage, the x2 or x3 elemental attacks with a chance of a status debuff are a great way to break through enemies' defenses. Plus, with Concoct, he can utilize any of the elements with the right combination of items, making him one of the most versatile elemental exploiters. This can all be done without any SP use, though it does require some investment to make sure you keep the ingredients/reagents in stock.
• Jerkass to One: While a Nice Guy overall, he's rather rude to Ogen at first, dismissing him as a "sham" after Ogen refuses to save Miguel. He eases up a little after seeing that Ogen's skills are genuine, and drops the hostility altogether after realizing that Ogen was right about Miguel and learning Ogen's life story.
• Leitmotif: Alfyn, the Apothecary and For Succor
• Master Poisoner:
  • The Empoison skill from his Apothecary class inflicts poison with 100% accuracy, in the middle of battle, and works against the vast majority of enemies in the game. With this, he can poison most chapter bosses, at least one Eldritch Abomination, and even a few gods.
  • He can also use his personal Concoct talent to attack enemies with harmful substances that induce Status Effects, including poison, though this has a much lower chance of success.
  • One Chapter 2 cutscene reveals that he carries around a plant whose toxin not only puts the victim to sleep, but induces nightmares in the guilty. He uses this after the chapter's boss battle to both immobilize the boss for the authorities post-battle, and scare said boss into changing their corrupt ways.
• Manly Tears: When Flynn and Ellen thank him for everything he's done for their family, Alfyn tears up.
• Meaningful Name: "Greengrass" is a pretty appropriate name for someone who's spent his life making healing salves from plants.
• The Medic: His purpose in life is to help people who are suffering with his medical expertise. Gameplay wise, his class is focused around a variety of options, but primarily provides healing and status removal.
• Missing Mom: His mother died about a year before the events of the game, and he often visits her grave.
• Must Make Amends: Despite having the best intentions, Alfyn's generosity sometimes comes back to haunt him. When Miguel takes a young boy hostage, Alfyn takes it upon himself to stop him, as it was only by his hand Miguel was able to regain his strength to continue his criminal ways.
• Nice Guy: He's a friendly, compassionate man who will sometimes do work for free if he knows his patient is too poor to afford his services.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His resolve to treat anybody who needs him backfires when he knowingly treats Miguel, a thief and a murderer, who quickly betrays his trust and puts a child's life in serious danger, to the extent that Alfyn eventually kills Miguel to save the child. This incident leads to Alfyn having a personal crisis of faith.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: In his final chapter to Ogen. After doubting his reasons for being an apothecary, Alfyn determines that he will save Ogen's life because that is simply his job, and he cannot possibly pretend to be a god who can judge who lives and who dies.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He's a very compassionate man who won't hesitate to heal another's wounds. After Miguel Twinspears takes advantage of his kindness for his own selfish purposes—leaving Alfyn with a crisis of faith in being an apothecary—and later wounds a child because he found his crying annoying, Alfyn decides that he's Beyond Redemption and kills him. As Miguel lays dying, asking for help, Alfyn doesn't say a word and silently turns around to help the wounded child. Notably, every other antagonist in Alfyn's story survives.
• Oral Fixation: In official art, Alfyn is often depicted with a small leafy twig in his mouth.
• Paying It Forward: His entire motivation for becoming a traveling apothecary, is to help people like he was saved as a kid.
• Perpetual Poverty: To Zeph's dismay, Alfyn never has much in the way of money due to constantly refusing to charge his patients.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: Despite being one of the nicest party members, he's also the most likely to swear, even dropping swears in more casual situations.
• The Social Expert: His genial manner lets him talk people into giving him things like discounts in stores and the location of hidden items without any risk to his reputation.
• Think Nothing of It: When people thank Alfyn for helping them, this is how he responds. He often doesn't even charge money for his services. He just wants to help others.
• Too Dumb to Live: Invoked by Miguel, as he warns Alfyn that he twists the truth as he sees fit, but wasn't lying about being a mercenary, but ultimately averted when Alfyn turns out to be Stronger Than He Looks.
• Too Much Information: Alfyn says at one point that being complimented makes his ass itch, leaving Ophilia slightly nonplussed.
• Tranquil Fury: While confronting Vanessa about her scam to trick people into paying hefty sums for her to cure ailments she herself causes, he's perfectly calm and even friendly throughout the entire encounter, but you already know from his initial reaction that he is pissed. Pissed enough to prick her with a sleep inducement that causes guilt-induced nightmares while its victim sleeps, disturbing even Therion.
• Upbringing Makes the Hero: Alfyn's altruism is the product of growing up in sleepy Clearbrook, influenced by his best friend Zeph, his mother and the mysterious apothecary who selflessly saved his life.
• Verbal Tic: "Shucks!"
• Walking Shirtless Scene: His Warmaster outfit exposes his upper body.
• White Mage: Downplayed compared to Ophilia, as Alfyn's default Apothecary class leans more toward Combat Medic, but Alfyn is one of only two characters who can gain the complete set of healing abilities by combining Cleric and Apothecary.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Alfyn's altruistic beliefs lead him to always assume the best of the people he meets, which leaves him vulnerable to those who would take advantage of his trusting nature.

Therion, the Thief

Therion

Voiced By: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese), Chris Niosi (English)

"Don't start things you can't finish."

His name is Therion, and he is a thief.

A young thief from the Cliftland region commissioned by a mysterious client to steal rare gemstones known as the Dragonstones.

His Rogue Path Action is "Steal", which lets him take items from NPCs, and his Talent is "Pick Lock", which allows him to open chests that are normally inaccessible to the other characters. The Inquiry perk "Thieving Tips & Tricks" allows Therion to more easily "Steal" from his marks, along with a higher level.

---

• Agree to Disagree: Given his profession, Therion's way of thinking is often disagreeable with his party members, especially Tressa, but they nonetheless accept Therion as a trustworthy ally, and the feeling proves to be mutual.
• Ambidextrous Sprite: While official art will depict his Fool's Bangle on his right hand and hair concealing his left eye, his in-game sprites tend to feature the opposite.
• Anti-Hero: Comes with the territory of being a thief. Therion is a closed-off, cynical loner and a Deadpan Snarker, but it's later revealed that many of the colder aspects of his personality are a result of the trauma from his Evil Former Friend Darius betraying and attempting to murder him. Therion's story is about him slowly opening up to the idea of trust again despite the risks he knows it can carry, though he remains wary.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: At the end of his tale, it's revealed that Heathcote secretly unlocked the band on his arm when Lady Ravus first considered it; Therion noticed, but continued to help them for this reason.
• Broken Bird: A male example. Darius' betrayal severely emotionally traumatized him, and lends a lot to the trust and abandonment issues he has today.
• Brutal Honesty: As his third chapter conversation with Cyrus goes to show, he doesn't mince his words.
  Cyrus: Gracious, you do not even try to soften the truth. It is almost... admirable.
• But Now I Must Go: After retrieving all the dragonstones, Therion makes his peace with Cordelia and Heathcote and sets off to roam the land once again.
• Character Development: Initially a cold and distant loner who's averse to trusting others, Cordelia's kindness and faith in him, and discovering she was betrayed in the past before learning to trust people again caused Therion to decide that trusting others is worth it despite the risks.
• Clingy MacGuffin: The band attached to his arm is considered a Mark of Shame, but Therion is unable to remove it by himself. This ends up being subverted, as Therion knew that the band had been unlocked and he could remove it at any time. He continued to work for the Ravus family because they were being genuinely nice to him.
• The Cynic: Therion is easily the most cynical of all the eight travelers. He's extremely distrustful of anybody and quick to assume they have a selfish ulterior motive for their actions, as a result of his former partner Darius eventually betraying and attempting to murder him to obtain more power for himself, while revealing he had only formed a partnership with Therion in the first place to reap the benefits of his thieving talents. It's only after he spends time with the other travelers and is treated with kindness by them and Lady Cordelia that Therion even begins to become more accepting of the concept of trust again, while remaining wary of the risks.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Therion grew up on the streets, stealing to survive. In a conversation with Olberic, he comments that he was frequently beaten and/or abused by those more powerful than him. That isn't to say anything about how much his partnership with Darius emotionally traumatized him, especially when one sees in the guide he was only sixteen when Darius betrayed and tried to murder him. It isn't until the main events of the game where people such as the other travelers and Cordelia treat Therion with genuine respect and kindness that he even begins to open up again. With how young he was when Darius betrayed him it's no wonder he has such severe trust and abandonment issues.
• Deadpan Snarker: Sarcasm is effectively his default state.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: A male example. His relationship with Cordelia is initially of bitter resentment for using him, but after seeing her vulnerabilities and her repeated attempts to reach out to him, Therion lowers his guards gradually, but never completely.
• Depending on the Artist: Some official art depicts him as slightly-to-significantly more tan than most of the other characters, though his sprite isn't noticeably darker in complexion.
• Devious Daggers: As a Thief, he uses daggers and swords. However, all of his weapon-based Thief abilities focus on daggers, including his Divine Skill.
• The Drifter: Therion's lifestyle as a thief naturally prevents him from ever staying in one place for too long. As such, he is always on the move, traveling from place to place with no fixed home.
• Dub Personality Change: The Japanese version depicts Therion as more quiet and reserved as opposed to the snarkier English counterpart. This is reflected in some parts of the script (including battle victory lines), and voice delivery.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Therion was friends and partners with Darius since childhood until he tried to kill him so that he could obtain a position in the organization they stole from. Said betrayal made Therion distant and cynical in trusting others.
• Everyone Has Standards: Therion is generally the most ruthless and amoral of the eight travelers, but even he is put out when Alfyn reveals he purposefully inflicted intense Guilt-Induced Nightmares on his Chapter 2 boss.
• Exact Eavesdropping: When he needs to collect intel, Therion's preferred method is to listen in on the conversations around him, typically at a tavern where the drinks help loosen patron lips.
• Foil:
  • To Tressa. While Tressa is an honest, optimistic merchant who buys things from NPCs, Therion is an unscrupulous, jaded thief who steals without remorse. Needless to say, the two of them don't exactly get along in their travel banters, though they Agree to Disagree. Growing up, Tressa was raised by a loving family and community, Therion was largely alone and had to learn to fend for himself.
  • To Alfyn, who is very warm and friendly, as opposed to the more reclusive and quiet Therion. Also, Therion is shown to favor eavesdropping to gain information, while Alfyn will casually strike up conversations if he needs something. In their base classes, Therion uses Fire magic while Alfyn uses Ice magic. Their voicelines in battle reinforce this, as Alfyn and Therion say a lot of similar stuff, if not the exact same lines for the same skills, but their differing tones and small divergences from each other's lines make for differing connotations.
  • To Ophilia: They're both orphans, but Ophilia was taken in by a loving family and was taught to have faith in others, while the closest that Therion had was Darius and his experiences only made him more untrusting of others. And unlike Ophilia and Lianna, who are wholeheartedly supportive of one another, Darius betrayed Therion for his own gain and is explicitly stated to have emotionally manipulated him. And while Lianna does betray Ophilia in her third chapter, she does so in a desperate attempt to resurrect their recently-deceased father and seeks to atone for her betrayal later on, while Darius is entirely selfish, tried to murder Therion, and feels no remorse for what he's done.
  • To Primrose. From a young age, the two have both learned to be self-reliant and cunning to survive in their harsh situations. Therion grew up a street urchin, meanwhile Primrose was raised in a wealthy noble house, but had her power and father taken from her. In battle, both are fast dagger-wielders, but while Primrose specializes in buffing her allies, Therion's skills debuff his enemies. Their methods of intel collection are also notably different; while Therion will prefer to listen in on conversations to gain information, Primrose is skilled at directly acquiring info through her seduction.
• Foreshadowing: There are quite a few hints that Therion's partnership with Darius had a Downer Ending before the flashback in the former's third chapter that confirms Darius eventually betrayed and tried to murder Therion for the sake of his own rise in power. In his second chapter, Therion deduces that Orlick doesn't trust anybody else to help him research the ruby dragonstone, and when Orlick responds with "Why should I!?", Therion asserts that "I never said you should. I know how it feels". After defeating Orlick and returning the ruby dragonstone, Therion warns Cordelia that she has "too much faith in people" after she makes the suggestion to remove the Fool's Bangle early.
  Therion: Take it from me: no matter how much you trust someone, they will betray you. So do yourself a favor and build your walls up higher before you get hurt.
• The Gadfly: His sense of humor is to lightly poke fun at his allies. One of his party chats has him mock-flirt with Ophilia just to ruffle her feathers. He also encourages H'aanit to practice casual conversation with him, only to snicker when she embarrasses herself.
• "Good Luck" Gesture: Banter with H'aanit and Ophilia reveals he does a few of these when breaking and entering, such as always entering with his right foot.
• Hidden Depths: Has an interest in acting as a career, as shown in his conversation with Primrose in his final chapter.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Many of his party chats show that for all his distant demeanor, he is surprisingly considerate to other party members, often offering to help them or giving a word of advice.
• Honor Among Thieves: Therion's cynical opinion of trust initially prevents him from relying on others, but through Heathcote and Cordelia, he learns to care for others again and allow others to care for him. The same can be seen through his progressing party banters.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: After being saddled with the Fool's Bangle and basically blackmailed into aiding House Ravus, Therion goes to a local bar and demands at least two drinks to get rid of the bad taste the whole mess left on him. Also, one of the lines he says after winning a battle reflects this.
  Therion: Where's the nearest tavern?
• Jerkass Has a Point: Downplayed, as Therion is more of a cynical loner than an outright Jerkass, but travel banter with Ophilia in the latter's Chapter 3 has him tell her that she has "too much faith in people", referring to those who would exploit her kindness for their own purposes, something that Therion is all too familiar with no thanks to Darius. In Ophilia's Chapter 4, Therion is proven right when one of the Savior's followers in Wispermill lies to Ophilia that her child is sick and Ophilia falls for it, which allows the Savior's followers to ambush and lock her up.
• Leitmotif: Therion, the Thief and For Freedom
• Life Drain: His "HP Thief" skill has him attack an enemy twice with daggers, draining half the damage inflicted.
• Lightning Bruiser: Among the eight playable characters, Therion has the second-best Speed, the best Evasion, and good Physical Attack. This is balanced by both magic stats and his Physical Defense all being below-average.
• Loner-Turned-Friend: Many of his party banters progress this way, starting off with Therion sizing up his new allies and thinking of them as slightly annoying, to eventually opening up to them as a friend. He also has this relationship with Cordelia and Heathcote.
• Mana Drain: His "SP Thief" skill does so via a two-fold dagger attack. Therion damages the enemy twice, then recovers SP equal to five percent of the damage he dealt, rounded down.
• Mark of Shame: After fighting Heathcote, the butler of House Ravus, Heathcote attaches a band called the Fool's Bangle to Therion's arm that indicates the wearer as a failure as a thief. Unable to remove it himself, Therion agrees to work for House Ravus under the condition they remove it.
• Master of Unlocking: He can unlock special purple treasure chests that no one else can with his Talent, Pick Lock.
• Morality Pet: Ironically serves as this to Primrose on a few occasions. While she doesn't necessarily refrain from her quest for vengeance because of him, during their travel banter he often questions her motives, the kind of person she might become, and whether her actions are dangerous to her. This serves to emphasize the darkness Primrose has struggled with; during the times when she acts on it, Therion (the protagonist who typically expresses the darkest tendencies) actually tries to help her dial it back, as though she's going even further than he's comfortable with her doing.
• Never Be Hurt Again: Therion stays distant from people because he was betrayed by his close friend Darius, which devastated him.
• Oblivious to Love: He doesn't seem to notice Cordelia's noticeable crush on him.
• Only One Name: His surname is never revealed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Usually carrying an ironic sense of humor, Therion becomes uncharacteristically grim with none of his usual snark when he re-encounters his former partner-in-crime Darius in his third chapter. This is because he's still hurt by Darius' betrayal years after the latter tried to murder him by throwing him off a cliff, the trauma from which single-handedly made Therion so distrustful of others. Darius himself remarks that Therion's short, snappy responses aren't like him.
  Darius: Does my betrayal still haunt you?
  Therion: (Sighs) ...
  Darius: You haven't changed a bit. For a top-notch tea leaf, you're still pathetically sentimental.
  Therion: Enough talk, Darius.
  Darius: I recall you having wittier comebacks, mate.
• Phantom Thief: He's a professional thief and he goes for very notable targets. This ends up getting him unwillingly tangled up in a web of thievery when he is trapped into service by House Ravus.
• Playing with Fire: Therion can cast Wild Fire with his thief class.
• The Power of Acting: Therion is quite skilled at deceiving others through acting to lower suspicion, which is a key skill in his arsenal as a thief. Primrose notes he could make for a very successful actor in theater.
• Power of Trust: Cordelia and Heathcote enable Therion to trust others again. In his final confrontation with the boss of his Chapter 4 story, Therion is mocked for trusting others. Therion maintains that trust gives him strength.
  Darius: You're such a sentimental fool!
  Therion: ...Maybe I am a fool. But trust is a sentiment I want to believe in. And it's one worth fighting for!
• Recruiting the Criminal: He is conscripted by House Ravus to retrieve three gems known as the Dragonstones.
• Scarf of Asskicking: He wears a long scarf. While this is true for other characters of the Thief class, he also wears it as a Cleric, Warrior, and Apothecary when other characters don't.
• School Is for Losers: His banters with Cyrus reveals that he finds most scholars annoying. However, he expresses that if Cyrus had been there for him as a child and offered him a chance for education, his life would be different.
• Secular Hero: He never says any god's name when using divine skills.
• Stepford Snarker: Therion uses sarcasm to conceal his emotional trauma caused by Darius's betrayal.
• Street Urchin: He grew up in the streets and stole to survive.
• Think Nothing of It: Therion is shown to not be very good at accepting gratitude from others, and usually responds with irritation.
• Token Evil Teammate: While not truly evil, Therion is the most morally dubious member of the party, matched only perhaps by Primrose. He has no problem using underhanded tactics to get any given job done, constantly expresses suspicion of whoever the party is dealing with, and tends to give others a hard time with either teasing or sarcasm. In spite of this, however, when others express similar intentions fueled by anger or sadness, Therion will actually caution them against acting against their character, implying he isn't necessarily proud of the kind of person he is and values the goodness of his comrades.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After his conversation with Cordelia in his third chapter, he's notably taken down a peg and begins to mellow out. He's more willing to outwardly show concern towards she and Heathcote, and by the end of his story, is willing to trust others again despite the trauma he suffered because of his partnership with Darius, along with his betrayal.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Therion is regularly depicted in official art holding or eating an apple.
• Undying Loyalty: It turns out Therion could have chosen not to do the tasks given to him by House Ravus, since the Band was unlocked by Heathcote after he retrieved the Ruby Dragonstone. He chooses to stay and hold up his end of the deal despite Heathcote having deliberately removed their leverage over him.
• Unexplained Recovery: The story doesn't delve into how Therion survives being pushed off a cliff by Darius, but needless to say the latter is quite surprised to see Therion still alive and about.
  • However, based on the concept art, Therion has a grappling hook with him, which possibly could have been used to catch himself.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Therion can steal without qualms from the poor, destitute, and children. Where the money they could receive from Tressa purchasing the goods to help them, Therion will leave them with nothing.
• Video Game Stealing: The Thief ability "Steal" works along the lines of this trope when used in combat. His Path Action is less ridiculous than most JRPG thieves as it lets him steal stuff outside of battle and cutscenes, but with enough luck (or Save Scumming) said action can still work in scenarios that real life pickpockets would deem suicide. For example, you could use it in broad daylight against someone you just had a conversation with, not stopping to break line of sight or even eye contact. That said, there are some items (like the special items Tressa's parents have for personal sale) that are outright unpilferable.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Somewhat downplayed. Therion is a young man with white hair, and is an amoral thief who has no concerns about being one, stealing from NPCs without remorse, children included, which puts him at odds with Tressa. He's also bitingly sarcastic and distrustful of anybody after he was betrayed and nearly killed by his Evil Former Friend, Darius. However, he does have standards, expressing concern for the other Travelers when they become angry (Primrose in particular, as she seeks revenge on the three men who murdered her father when she was a little girl) and upholds his deal with Cordelia and Heathcote concerning the dragonstones to the end Because They Are Nice to Him, and because he knows what it's like to be betrayed by somebody one trusts.
• Would Hurt a Child: Not "hurt" per se, but Therion can steal from NPC children without any moral quandaries. This puts him at odds with the likes of Olberic and H'aanit, who won't Challenge/Provoke children, as well as at odds with Tressa, an honest merchant who hates thievery.

H'aanit, the Hunter

H'aanit

Voiced By: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Cindy Robinson (English)

"I honour thee, my quarry."

Linde

Her name is H'aanit, and she is a huntress.

A huntress from the Woodland region on a quest to find her master, who disappeared while pursuing a dreadful fiend called Redeye.

Her Rogue Path Action is "Provoke", which allows her to attack NPCs with any of her beast companions, and her Talent is "Capture", which allows her to tame weakened monsters and make them fight for her. The Inquiry perk "Provoke Like a Pro" guarantees initiative whenever she "Provokes" a target.

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• All Amazons Want Hercules: She mentions in her party chat with Primrose that while she hasn't put much thought into what kind of partner attracts her, she would at least want a man who is stronger than she. Primrose mentally notes H'aanit will have a very hard time finding such a man.
  • She also mentions this in her tavern banter with the other three female party members. Again, Ophilia comments that such men must be really uncommon.
• Amazonian Beauty: How muscular she is actually varies depending on the artwork, but she is the most physically-oriented of the female part members and is considered quite attractive by multiple characters in the story.
• Animal Motif: Her quiet, sharp personality and hunting ability are reminiscent of cats, and her Animal Companion is a snow leopard.
• Artificial Brilliance: Linde can either deal Sword or Polearm damage on a single target. If a single target without allies is discovered to have a weakness against those two, Linde will default into using one of the two for the rest of the fight if it means breaking their Shield Points. In addition, if multiple enemies have Sword weaknesses and have shields, Linde will almost always use her Sword-based attack to reduce their shield points.
• Badass Boast: She tends to start a fight with one.
  Standest thou against me? Then be hunted!
• The Beastmaster:
  • H'aanit is the only character who is capable of capturing monsters. When she uses the Provoke Path Action, instead of fighting NPCs herself like Olberic, the monsters she captured do all the fighting for her.
  • Story-wise, she seems to have at least some ability to speak with and understand the beasts she's tamed. She talks to Linde quite often, and though the conversations are naturally one-sided, the two of them seem to communicate with each other just fine.
• Better with Non-Human Company: While H'aanit can easily converse with her snow leopard, Linde, she admits conversation with other people is not her strong suit, something she frets over in banter with Therion and Primrose.
• Berserk Button: H'aanit may be a huntress, but she has a strong belief in the cycle of nature; any living creature that hunts for their personal pleasure and/or takes more lives than needed for survival will feel her wrath.
• Bow and Sword in Accord: Bow and Axe in this case, but the principle of H'aanit carrying a close-range weapon along with her bow is the same.
• Braids of Action: She has her long hair in a braid, and is a huntress and the most physically-oriented female protagonist.
• Card-Carrying Villain: She invokes this in the "Star of the Stage" sidequest where she auditions for a villainous role in a play. If H'aanit is chosen, she deliberately puts on an uncharacteristically hammy performance as the envoy from the domain of monsters and summons Linde to join her. After that the audience flees in terror.
  "My name is H'aanit, envoy of doom from the world of beasts! I shall turn you into monster food! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"
• Combat Pragmatist: Instead of fighting NPCs one-on-one like Olberic, H'aanit has monsters fight them.
• Contralto of Strength: She possesses the deepest voice among the female protagonists, being the most seasoned fighter since she regularly hunts dangerous beasts.
• Crutch Character: Downplayed; Linde has access to two different damage types and is fairly strong in the beginning, but her power never increases, meaning she'll eventually fall behind stronger monsters the player can capture further in the game, however due to how the break mechanic works and the fact that Linde has unlimited uses unlike captured monsters, the player may find themselves using her anyways under the right circumstances. She never quite becomes entirely useless.
• Foil:
  • To Olberic. While Olberic is an honorable knight who fights NPCs fairly with their permission, H'aanit is a pragmatic hunter who forces people to fight her monster allies.
  • To Primrose. They both lost their parents at a young age and have a Tragic Keepsake in their memories (a dagger for Primrose, and rings for H'aanit). However, H'aanit had a Parental Substitute in Z'aanta, allowing her to have a mostly normal childhood. Meanwhile, Primrose turned to prostitution to survive and get information, causing her to be lonely and fixated on revenge.
• Forest Ranger: Part of H'aanit's upbringing is holding a deep respect for the forest and understanding a delicate balance must be maintained in nature.
• Glass Cannon: H'aanit is tied with Olberic for the highest Physical Attack among the party. At the same time, she does not have Olberic's highest HP or Physical Defense stats, trading those for the highest Critical and Accuracy stats. Her Elemental Defense is also poor. This means that while H'aanit can dish it out, she can't take it back.
• Happily Adopted: As her second chapter reveals, she lost her parents as a child and Z'aanta is basically her father; taking her in and teaching her his craft. And as the flashback in her third chapter shows, they really are a good family.
• Hunter Trapper: H'aanit's primary mindset is that nature's bounty is to be shared; that to die and be eaten is the fate — and the privilege — of the beasts of the forest. Hunting for sport or pleasure is her Berserk Button.
• Lady of War: A dignified woman who is very regularly calm, yet will have no qualms about shooting you with an arrow if you’re her enemy.
• Large Ham: H'aanit is normally a very dignified woman, but when she takes a villainous role for a play at the end of a sidequest, she gets a little too much into the act. It works so well that the audience flees the theatre in terror.
  "My name is H'aanit, envoy of doom from the world of beasts! I shall turn you into monster food! BWAHAHAHAHAH!"
• Leitmotif: H'aanit, the Hunter and For Master
• Little Miss Snarker: A flashback in H'aanit's third chapter of a childhood memory shows she was this as a little girl.
  Z'aanta: Ah, yes. Did I ever tell thee about the time I went dragon hunting in the Cliftlands?
  H'aanit: (Nods) Four times now. And the tale getteth longer with each telling.
• Loyal Animal Companion: Is accompanied by a snow leopard named Linde. Unlike monsters captured in the field, Linde can be brought into battle as many times as you want.
• Nature Lover: H'aanit possesses a strong respect for nature, and will not tolerate anyone or anything that violates it.
• Oblivious to Love: She doesn't seem to realize that Alaic develops a crush on her.
• Only One Name: If she even has one, her surname is never revealed.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When she sees her master Z'aanta has been turned into a statue by Redeye, the normally calm, dignified H'aanit is audibly frightened.
  H'aanit: (Gasps) Master...!? But frozen... petrified in stone! What unholy thing happened here!?
• Panthera Awesome: Her companion Linde is a snow leopard.
• Parental Abandonment: H'aanit's parents died when she was an infant.
• Pelts of the Barbarian: Her hunter garments feature animal pelts, reflecting H'aanit's hunter upbringing.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue to Z'aanta's Red. Z'aanta is one of the greatest hunters and hunting teachers during the current events of Octopath Traveler, and is also fairly social with people even though he has difficulty understanding them, but is otherwise an enthusiastic goofball who doesn't take anything unrelated to hunting seriously and even has a gambling addiction, much to the disapproval of his apprentice. Meanwhile, H'aanit is also a great hunter while being calm and dignified, which is noted by several characters throughout her route, but is a Socially Awkward Hero who is more comfortable with nature, becoming shy when paid compliments by people.
• Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Z'aanta imparted to H'aanit all of his masterful knowledge of bowmanship, tracking and animal taming, but she was consistently shown to be resistant to appreciating and building her social skills. This leaves her struggling to converse easily with others, especially strangers.
• Shock and Awe: Her starting hunter class allows her to use a strong lightning-based spell called Thunderbird.
• Socially Awkward Hero: While she is brave and sharp, if paid compliments or questioned about her limited experience in love, H'aanit becomes awkward and bashful.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: She can understand what animals are saying.
• The Stoic: H'aanit's emotional range is very mild and rarely ever breaks her calm, dignified demeanor. The few times she is shown to have notable emotional moments are from her happy youth with Z'aanta, and when she sees that Z'aanta has been turned to stone by Redeye.
• Supreme Chef: One tavern chat between her, Ophilia, and Cyrus reveals H'aanit is actually skilled at cooking. She explains that as a hunter who spends long periods of time in the wilderness, she needed to learn how to cook to survive.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Any living creature that kills simply for sport or wanton destruction, instead of for survival, will incur H'aanit's judgement.
• Tragic Keepsake: She wears her late parents' wedding bands as a necklace. During one banter with Primrose, H'aanit tells her she has no memories of her parents, as they died when H'aanit was too young to remember them.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Dear God. Being a hunter and a beast tamer, H'aanit can unleash fierce creatures she has tamed on NPCs of age, including the elderly and pregnant. Polar bears, fierce birds of prey, wild boars, you name it. Sure, H'aanit's skills as a beast tamer ensure her arsenal don't maul her opponents to the point of death, but it's not surprising that many NPCs react to her Provoke path action with fear and terror.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Children are some of the few NPCs H'aanit cannot Provoke.
• Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: H'aanit's speech, along with the other people in her village, is very archaic, using words like "thou" and "thy", and ending many of her words with the letter e or en.

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