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All the characters in Sayonara Wild Hearts.

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The Fool

The heroine who is chosen by the divine Arcana to stop Little Death and her allies and to save the Astral Highways. She's the alter-ego of a young woman with a broken heart and is the protagonist of the game.

All There in the Script: Looking through the game files reveals that her name (in her non-empowered form) is Lorelei.
Boyish Short Hair: Lorelei has a short, almost buzz-cut hairstyle.
Cool Bike: She can summon the Wheel of Fortune Arcanum as a motorcycle. It acts as her main transportation method in the worlds of the Arcana.
Cool Board: In her non-empowered form, she uses a longboard to traverse the levels.
Cool Boat: When she enters the Ocean of Death, she summons the Star Arcanum as a boat.
Cool Car: When she enters the Desert of Doubts, she summons the Chariot Arcanum in the form of a purple car.
Cool Sword: The Strength Arcanum takes that form in her hands. It also acts as a flying hoverboard.
Enemy Without: The final foe of the game is the Fool herself, extracted from the protagonist, assuming the aspect of all five cursed Arcana in sequence.
Expository Hairstyle Change: At the end, after Lorelei's heart is healed, she has grown her hair into a bob.
Final Boss: After Death and the other cursed Arcana separate her from her host, they force them to fight each other.
Finishing Move: Her main method of finishing off the Cursed Arcana is by punching their bodies and hearts into pieces.
Fusion Dance: The Fool is technically an Arcanum forged from the broken heart of a girl named Lorelei to fuse with her so they can both be empowered enough to defeat the Cursed Arcana.
Heartbroken Badass: It's explicitly stated she has a broken heart, and yet she still does all the crazy things in the game.

Heroic BSoD: The game is about breaking her out of one by making peace with previous heartbreak.
The Marvelous Deer: The Emperor takes the form of a white stag, serving as the Fool's mount in the first section of Woe Woe Woods.
Our Dragons Are Different: After the Cursed Arcana are beaten (or rather kissed) out of the Fool, her true form is that of a glowing crystal dragon with a heart-shaped tail tip.
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When she gains the power of the Fool, her hair grows into a bun. At the end of the game, back in her normal form, Lorelei has hair long enough to drape over her shoulders instead of the pixie cut she had at the beginning.
Sleep-Mode Size: Her normal form without a host is that of a tiny crystalline butterfly.
Tarot Motifs: As the Fool, she's the protagonist who undergoes a journey of self-discovery. Reversed, they're going to be taking a lot of risk navigating the perilous and often threatening landscapes needed to both meet and face the Cursed Arcana.

Arcana

The Divine Arcana

Three Arcana who watch over the Astral Highways comprised of the High Priestess, the Hierophant, and the Empress.

In General

Big Good: They're the ones who created the Fool.
The Chooser of the One: They created the Fool with the shards of Lorelei's broken heart.
Gender Flip: The Hierophant is depicted as a male priest in tarot, but here she's portrayed as a woman like her peers the High Priestess and the Empress.
Sealed Good in a Can: Death stole their harmony, and by extension, their power. They used the last of it to create the Fool.
Tarot Motifs: Collectively, they reflect their role as The Chooser of the One and the rulers of the mystical Astral Highways.
- The High Priestess: A Threshold Guardian, the symbol of magic, hidden knowledge and female mysteries. Reversed, they're a result of the Fool being withdrawn after her previous heartbreak.
- The Empress: Harmony, nature, the female touch and the potential for creativity and fertility. Reversed, they're using the last of their creativity to bring the Fool in because there's no way they can face the Cursed Arcana themselves.
- The Hierophant: Education, authority, relationship with the divine, and a source of enlightenment. Reversed, the journey is one that allows the Fool to master her own feelings and beliefs to overcome her heartbreak.

The Cursed Arcana

A group of allied rogue Arcana under the leadership of Little Death who stole all harmony from the Astral Highways and hid it in their vile hearts, and are the main antagonists of the game.

In General

All There in the Script: Like the Fool, the individual members of the Dancing Devils, Howling Moon and Stereo Lovers are named in the source code.
Big Bad Multivirate: They teamed up to steal all the harmony and love from the Astral Highways for themselves to store in their evil hearts.
Color-Coded Characters: Each Arcanum has a particular color palette evident in their respective clothing, levels and the logo for "Wild Hearts Never Die": the Dancing Devils are red/pink, the Howling Moons are indigo, the Stereo Lovers are orange/yellow, Hermit64 is teal/green and Little Death is black/purple. The Fool, for that matter, is blue.
The Corrupter: Near the end, when the Fool destroys Death's eye, the cursed Arcana separate her from Lorelei and hijack her, turning her into the Final Boss.
Malevolent Masked Men: Each one of them wears a mask (in Hermit64's case, it's a VR set).
Tarot Motifs: Applied to the boss songs, where it's implied the Fool's efforts in the actual gameplay are overcoming the negative aspects of each of the Arcana.
- Dancing Devils: "Begin Again" is about addiction and reliance on a relationship that doesn't work, and the Devils are the closest to the Fool in looks as her shadow. Reversed, as the first ones to come across, it opens the Fool to explore the deeper reaches of her own heartbreak.
- Howling Moons: "Dead of Night" is about anxiety after leaving a relationship and the whole question of what comes after. Reversed, the Fool's also been keeping her emotions repressed about her previous heartbreak until the Arcana pulled her in.
- Stereo Lovers: "Mine" stands out by favoring the reversed interpretation of misaligned values and disharmony in the singer's need for someone, as well as containing imbalanced stage mechanics. Upright, it's another path to restoring harmony through the defeat of the Arcana itself.
- Hermit64: "The World We Knew" focuses on what the singer really wants in a relationship and realizing it's up to them to break out of their funk even if they don't quite know how yet. Reversed, the only way to beat the extremely withdrawn Hermit is within their own game system in the middle of the most isolated world of the bunch.
- Little Death: "Inside" again favors the reversed interpretation first, being afraid to change the status of a relationship even if it's about to end. Of course, not only must it end, but the Fool is able to come out of it a better person despite the tribulations she faced.

The Dancing Devils

World: Hatehell Valley

A trio of cursed Arcana who are the personifications of "The Devil" residing in Hatehell Valley, and the first Arcanum in the game that the Fool battles. Their individual names are Lucy, Ibby and Sam.

Meaningful Name: Their individual names might take inspiration from different devil figures in the Abrahamic religions: Lucifer (Lucy), Iblis (Ibby) and Samael (Sam).
Wake-Up Call Boss: The two sections of the Dancing Devils fight are this for the rest of the game. Either you'll be pressed for time and need to move smartly to get points like "Fighting Hearts", or you'll need to pay attention to maintaining combos and not messing up to keep a high score like "Begin Again".
Warm-Up Boss: Their only significant gimmick is switching from a chase on wheels to one through the air. The first "section" of their fight also introduces the timed button press, which is used a lot later.

The Howling Moons

World: Woe Woe Woods

A quartet of cursed Arcana who are the personifications of "The Moon" residing in Woe Woe Woods, and the second Arcanum in the game that the Fool battles. Their individual names are Chan, Dawa, Luna and Nuray.

Animal Motifs: Wolves, duh.
Attack Its Weak Point: The Fool defeats the wolf mecha by driving under it and hitting the exposed heart on its belly.
Meaningful Name: Their names are all different languages' words for "moon".
Multiple Head Case: They summon a Cerberus-like three-headed wolf mecha during their boss fight.
Wolfpack Boss: Pun intended. They fight the Fool all four at the same time, either separately or inside a large wolf mecha.
Wolves Always Howl at the Moon: They wear wolf masks, can transform into mechanical wolves and can summon a three-headed mecha wolf. This is because the Moon Arcanum traditionally shows a wolf howling at the moon.

The Stereo Lovers

World: Twilight Cry Sky

A pair of cursed Arcana who are the personifications of "The Lovers" residing in Twilight Cry Sky, and the third Arcanum in the game that the Fool battles. She initially appears as a single person, but when the Fool cleaves her in two she's divided into two halves that work indipendently but synchronized.

BFS: They can combine their katana into one positively giant sword, which later on becomes a jet plane.
Came Back Strong: Deux is fairly easily cleaved down and the area until then is relatively straight forward. Then they turn into Blanc and Noir, who gain the ability to shift reality.
Cool Mask: Deux wears a heart-shaped mask, with the left side black and the right one white. When the Fool splits her into two, the mask is also split, with Blanc wearing the white half and Noir the black half.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Their names while separate are Blanc ("white") and Noir ("black"), the one respectively wearing the white and black half of the mask. Their combined form is called Deux ("two").
Fair-Play Villain: Gives The Fool the Strength card when she initially catches up with Deux so that they're on even terms.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The following sword fight doesn't last very long.
Gratuitous French: Their individual names: Deux, Blanc and Noir.
Katanas Are Just Better: Each of them wields a katana that can combine with the other.

Hermit64

World: Desert of Doubts

A cursed Arcanum who is the personification of "The Hermit" residing in the Desert of Doubts, and the fourth Arcanum in the game that the Fool battles.

Boyish Short Hair: She wears her hair in a pixie cut.
Bullet Hell: There's a lot of projectiles on screen in the later half of the Hermit's fight level.
Forced Transformation: She uses the World Arcanum to turn the Fool into a cartridge.
Non-Action Guy: Unlike the other Arcana, she isn't faced physically, but the Fool gets to her heart through her VR set.
Waistcoat of Style: Combined with sneakers and a snazzy cravat, it gives her a sort of hipster appeal.

Little Death

World: Lovedead City

A cursed Arcanum who is the personification of "Death" residing in Lovedead City, she allies herself with the other cursed Arcana and is the fifth and final Arcanum in the game that the Fool battles.

Attack Its Weak Point: In her second form, the Fool shoots with her bow her glowing points in the palms of her hands, in order to uncover her eye and shoot it as well.
Big Bad: As the leader of the cursed Arcana.
Dark Is Evil: She dresses in all black, wields a scythe in true Grim Reaper fashion, is faced in a gloomy, dark city and her second form is a black winged monster.
Enfant Terrible: She looks no older than a teenager in her initial form, being noticeably shorter than the Fool and sporting a childish blonde bob. She's also the Big Bad.
Faceless Eye: Her final form, empowered by the other cursed Arcana.
Fusion Dance: In the final level, she absorbs the power of the other cursed Arcana and even the Fool herself for one last stand against the protagonist.
One-Winged Angel: When the Fool shatters her physical form the first time, she pulls herself back together as a massive winged cyclops with long, sharp teeth. When she defeats her again by shooting Death in the eye, the eye is empowered and continues fighting her until she destroys her for good with Strength.
The Power of the Sun: She uses the Sun Arcanum to create electric barriers.
Sinister Scythe: Of course, being the representation of Death.
Shock and Awe: Courtesy of the Sun Arcanum.
Vomit Indiscretion Shot: When the Fool punches her hard enough, she starts vomiting so hard she's sent flying. Her vomit is so dense the Fool's motorcycle can move on top of it.

Others

The Narrator

Voiced by: Queen Latifah

The mysterious voice telling the story of the Fool.

Mercy Mode: If the player fails repeatedly to clear a section, she will offer to skip to the next one.
Tarot Motifs: As revealed when Mercy Mode triggers, she represents the Magician. Reversed, if you choose to skip... that's just wasted talent.

Characters / Sayonara Wild Hearts

The Fool

Arcana

The Divine Arcana

The Cursed Arcana