Characters / Tales of Berseria - Magilou's Menagerie

Main Character Index | Magilou's Menagerie (Velvet Crowe) | The Abbey | Other Characters

Magilou's Menagerie

General

• Anti-Hero Team:
  • While they're the good guys in all of this, most of them aren't particularly pleasant people. Velvet is a Byronic Hero, Magilou is cynical and jaded, Eizen's a lifelong pirate, Rokurou is a Blood Knight who turned into a daemon just to gain power, and Laphicet gradually adapts to Velvet and Eizen's influences, due to his growing attachment to them.
  • Eleanor is noted by Eizen and Laphicet as being the exception of their group. While her actions are considered treasonous by the Abbey, she's motivated by her moral conviction and her search for the truth.
• Be Yourself: A consensus between everyone in the party, even before they become genuine friends, is to follow one's own path, and decide for yourself how the world makes sense. Eizen is the most outspoken about this, but everyone comes to it eventually. Laphicet picks up on it, becoming more independent as the story goes on.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Velvet has to fight every party member except Magilou at least once before they join her party. Rokurou and Eleanor are Duel Bosses when Velvet fights them (with the latter being the third fight in a series of three), Laphicet is fought with members of the Abbey while still under their control, and Eizen is fought three-on-one with Velvet, Laphicet, and Rokurou.
• Defector from Decadence: Magilou, Laphicet, and Eleanor all left positions with the Abbey after being exposed to how the Abbey chooses to operate. Magilou was betrayed by her former master Melchior, Laphicet gains his own free will thanks to the party's influence, and Eleanor chose to defy the Abbey after seeing how twisted their ultimate goal was.
• Embarrassing Nickname: In order to get into Loegres the first time, Magilou convinces the guards that the group is a traveling magic show called "Magilou's Menagerie," something that sticks with them (to Velvet's chagrin).
• Fire-Forged Friends: More so than any previous Tales party. Most of them initially stick together either out of self-interest or to uphold promises, rather than out of loyalty or camaraderie. However, they genuinely become friends as the game progresses. In an optional skit, even Eizen admits he was glad to have been able to draw out a map of the oceans with them. Towards the second half of the game, Velvet herself even says "No matter how selfish you are, life's empty without having someone to share it with".
• Gossip Evolution: Their exploits are frequently exaggerated by the NPCs and in some cases, the description of Velvet as the Lord of Calamity gets mixed up with Magilou's description as a witch.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: An averted case, actually, which is a rarity for the genre. While Rokurou has a sword he uses for his final Mystic Arte and some other abilities, it's not his primary weapon, as he instead makes ample use of daggers. None of the heroes use a conventional sword, likely to go along with their status as an Anti-Hero Team opposing the villains who seem heroic to the general populace - three of their five members use a sword as their primary weapon.
• Hitchhiker Heroes: Velvet was entirely content to go about her quest all by herself, but she lets the party members join her on her way as long as they prove their worth to her and/or don't impede her progress.
• Male Might, Female Finesse: Eizen's the Male Might to Velvet's Female Finesse. Whereas Vel's kicks are graceful & swift, Eizen relies on powerful haymakers and stomps.
• Nominal Hero: With the exception of Eleanor and (to an extent) Laphicet, all of the characters have entirely selfish motives to fight against the Abbey though Velvet later ends up developing a more selfless one of stopping Innominat from creating a World of Silence.
• Pirate: Even though Eizen is more of a straight example, all of the main cast could be considered as pirates because they sail with Aifread's crew on the Van Eltia to fight against the Abbey. This is even lampshaded by Eizen in a DLC skit where he recommends everyone to dress and act properly as pirates, which can be invoked by the player with the DLC pirate costumes.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Aptly described as "a therion, a daemon, a malak, a pirate, a witch, and an exorcist". Lampshaded by Magilou in a skit at Titania, where she tells Laphicet that there was no way any of them were going to get along in the first place.

Velvet Crowe

Velvet Crowe

"No mercy!"

Voiced by: Rina Sato (JP), Cristina Valenzuela (EN)

"But even in the depths of despair, only two things mattered to me. The taste of blood-soaked flesh... and revenge upon one man."

Originally a kind and family-oriented girl, Velvet became a vengeful woman fueled by hate due to the traumatic events she went through on the Scarlet Night three years prior to the events of the story. When her brother gets killed by her own brother-in-law Arthur, Velvet vows revenge on him.

She fights with a blade mounted on her right-hand gauntlet, her feet, and her left arm as a daemonic weapon to devour daemons, humans, and malakhim alike.

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Click here for tropes related to her.

Laphicet

"Spirits, release!"

Voiced by: Azumi Asakura (JP), Amber Connor (EN)

"It just seems too lonely for her to bear all of it alone."

Originally dubbed "Number Two," Laphicet is a young, innocent malak who has never known freedom since his creation. Through his travels with Velvet and company, he eventually develops a mind of his own. He fights using sheets of paper to channel his malak artes.

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• Adorably Precocious Child: He perks up when it comes to learning and is always polite to people. He has quite a lot of interesting knowledge and proves to have a knack for languages, even difficult ones like the old tongue.
• Affectionate Nickname: Velvet calls him 'Phi' after he tells her to stop treating him as her brother's replacement. He later admits to her he thinks it's childish before going to the final dungeon.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Gives one to Velvet at the end of the game, which she returns. She meant it in a familial-bond sense, but Laphicet might have meant otherwise.
• Badass Adorable: Aww, look at that adorable little boy destroy a bunch of dudes with Indignation.
• Badass and Child Duo: The child towards Velvet and Eleanor as both of them really want to take care of him in their own way.
• Character Development: Goes from a Soulless Shell to a sweet kid to someone strong enough to be able to snap Velvet out of her despair.
• Child Mage: Despite his young age, Laphicet is well-versed in a broad array of spell Arts, including advanced ones such as Indignation. Magilou also said he'd be difficult for her to handle, as he's extremely powerful for a Malak, which is why she refused to be his vessel. Or, so she says.
• Collared by Fashion: He wears a black collar with a gold egg-shaped tag.
• Curious as a Monkey: When it comes to reading, deciphering ancient texts, and exploring ruins, which quickly becomes his favorite hobbies as he develops his own identity. Eizen finds it to be an admirable trait, whereas Magilou finds it to be a constant source of amusement.
  Magilou: (grinning) "Wow. Your curiosity knows no bounds. Does it, kiddo?"
• Dead Guy Junior: Velvet names him after her dead brother.
• Deuteragonist: His surrogate little brother relationship with Velvet helps a bit with her Character Development. There's also the fact that as opposed to Velvet becoming the Lord of Calamity (as in, the Greater-Scope Villain from history's point of view of the era), he becomes Seraph Maotelus (basically, God). This is on top of the fact that both his past life (Velvet's unborn nephew), and the person he's named for and looks like (Laphicet Crowe) were sacrificed to manifest half of the Big Bad Duumvirate.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Literally punches Innominat square in the face while the rest of the party has to fight a dragon.
• Dragons Are Divine: Becomes a dragon as testament to his newly ascended power of an Empyrean. It's actually the condition of an oath he made for greater power and control over his Silver Flame.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: The dress and voice do not help. There are several offhand comments from others that mistake him for a girl.
  Laphicet: A girl with a bizarre cowlick? ...Wait, is that...me?! Nooooo!
• Empty Eyes: When he is first met, his eyes are very vacant. During a story skit, his eyes suddenly regain definition, signaling his reawakened emotions. He also starts chanting during battles.
• Exact Words: As "Malak Number Two," he followed Velvet's orders to the letter. When she told him to be quiet, he promptly stopped talking, even when he was about to be killed. Velvet gets angry at him for it, until it's explained that it was because he had no free will of his own.
• Expressive Hair: In skits, his Ahoge can move to display what Laphicet is feeling, from curving into a question mark to standing straight up like an exclamation mark.
• Familiar: He acts as one for Eleanor after she becomes his vessel.
• Foregone Conclusion: At the end of Berseria, he becomes Maotelus, the god of the world, but, as Zestiria reveals, Sorey has to purify him for hundreds of years due to being corrupted twenty years prior to Zestiria.
• Hates Being Called Cute: Because boys shouldn't be cute.
• The Heart: Being Velvet's Morality Chain as well, he endears himself to everyone in the party and keeps them together.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: He has the power of the Silver Flame, which can turn daemons back into humans, thought to be otherwise impossible. He ends the game using a massive Silver Flame as a World-Healing Wave.
• Horny Vikings: His DLC pirate costume dresses him up as a viking.
• Hot-Blooded: It takes a while but he grows into this post Character Development, with him expressing his inner thoughts more openly and even speaks up against Velvet from time to time. In one of the victory quotes, he states rather aggressively that his enemies "don't want to make him angry", which prompts Rokurou to rein him back a bit. It was his Declaration of Protection that brought Velvet back from despair when Innominant tried to break her in the Earthpulse, and he's all too eager to fight Innominant for all the pain he put Velvet through. At the end of the game, everyone in the party even comments how far he has grown from an emotionless malak that he used to be. Magilou jokes that it's probably Velvet rubbing off on him.
• Idiot Hair: The long cowlick on his head is very expressive.
• Improbable Weapon User: Laphicet uses paper sheets like Lailah in Tales of Zestiria.
• Leitmotif: Theme of Laphicet. A string piece that brings to mind a child setting out on a journey of self-discovery, which is precisely what Laphicet does over the course of the game. The lighter string instruments and flute highlight his innocence as a child while the darker string instruments and drums highlight his growing confidence as an individual.
• Literal-Minded: Before his suppressed emotions came out, he would take someone's words at face value. When Velvet tells him to be quiet, he stops speaking entirely, even when he's about to be fatally attacked by a monster. Luckily for him, he grows out of it.
• Meaningful Name: In the game, Laphicet means 'The one who lives'. His true name Maotelus, given to him by Eleanor, means the same thing, but in the ancient tongue.
• Messianic Archetype: Becomes Maotelus at the end of the story and is able to purify the world once from malevolence to give most of the daemons a second chance at a normal life.
• Morality Pet:
  • Despite Velvet's initial indifference toward him, his resemblance to her dead brother steadily draws out her kinder, maternal side, causing her to become protective of him.
  • He also acts as one for the whole group, who treat him noticeably nicer than the other party members. While this does involve a lot of teasing and speaking down to him, it's mostly good-natured. Rokurou and Eizen both help Laphicet learn how to "be a man" and find his own identity, Eleanor's Black-and-White Morality starts fuzzing thanks to his suggestions, and Magilou comes to appreciate his naivete and innocence, bouncing lots of her jokes off of him.
• Nerds Love Tough Schoolwork: In several skits, he's shown happily reading books and absorbing knowledge. He even has a fun time translating a very difficult book during the main story.
• Nice Guy: He's such a sweet kid, which is why all party members and NPCs in the game (even Zaveid) are so kind to him. This even wins him appeal when it's his turn in the Magilou's Menagerie skits.
• Non-Elemental: Played with. In Berseria, light and dark aren't elements, causing his light and dark elemental spells to be considered non-elemental.
• No-Sell: As he is directly connected to Innominat, Laphicet is immune to malevolence-inducing blows and can repel it altogether by force of will. However, he could have still become a daemon if Eleanor did. And should Eleanor die, he'd have become a dragon. Luckily for them both, neither one happens.
• Pals with Jesus: The party's relationship with him becomes this by end of the game when he becomes Maotelus.
• Pint Sized Power House: He's the shortest playable character in the entire franchise.
• Precocious Crush: It's implied he has this towards Velvet. Right at the end of the game, Laphicet even gives a Love Confession towards her, which Velvet returns. It's clearly platonic love on Velvet's part, but the nature of Laphicet's love is unclear.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "Spirits, release! You've wronged me! Here's your justice! BINDING ORDER!"
  "Spirits, release! The light of virtue! The dark of vice! Join in chaos! CHAOS BLOOM!"
  "Spirits, release! I stand in the light of the heavens! Cower before the gates of hell! Come forth, Divine Lightning! This ends now! INDIGNATION!"
• Red Baron: Gains the title of the Silver Flame and the Dragon of Light as Maotelus.
• Red Herring: The player may be led to think Laphicet is really the reincarnation of Velvet's brother given his rather extreme similarities to the first Laphicet. However, it all turns out to be a huge coincidence. This Laphicet is really the reincarnation of Celica's unborn child, who was Arthur's child. The first Laphicet did turn out to become Innominat, albeit a tad crazy.
• Reincarnation: While he looks like Velvet's brother, he's actually her unborn nephew, reincarnated as a Malak after his mother was killed on the first Scarlet Night while pregnant with him.
• Replacement Goldfish: To Velvet's younger brother. As he gains emotions he wishes for her to stop treating him as a replacement, leading her to give him the nickname Phi.
• Reused Character Design: Laphicet bears a strong resemblance with Emil Castagnier appearance wise, but also bears a resemblance towards Edna in terms of hairstyle due to Edna and Laphicet having the same character designer.
• The Reveal: Twofold. Laphicet is Artorius and the unborn child of Celica/Seres reincarnated as a Malak. He also goes on to become the Empyrean Maotelus ruling alongside the four elemental Empyreans.
• Riddle for the Ages: The Omega Elixir sub quest reveals a malak's tears are Omega Elixir. However, it's unclear if all malakhim can pull this off or Laphicet just can because he happens to be connected to a higher malak deity.
• Rogue Protagonist: Long after he becomes Maotelus, he becomes part of Zestiria's Big Bad Duumvirate alongside Heldalf.
• Shock and Awe: Has the honor of learning Indignation as his third Mystic Arte. This is a hint to his identity as Maotelus as Heldalf can use this arte when armatized with him.
• Soulless Shell: Starts out the game as one with no free will. He gradually gains it with help from the other party members.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He bears a great resemblance to his maternal uncle, to the point where he was initially mistaken for a reincarnation of the other Laphicet.
• Suicide Attack: Teresa orders him commit one to try to kill Velvet and Rokurou. It fails and he gets taken in by Velvet afterwards.
• Superior Successor: Zigzagged. Unlike Innominat, he's not immune to Malevolence and even in his Empyrean form, he'll turn into a dragon if he's exposed to too much Malevolence. He also can't purify dragons and overly corrupted Daemons. On the other hand, his blessing can keep Malevolence at bay without taking away free will, making it easier for humans to develop their civilization.
• Swiss-Army Tears: They provide Omega Elixir doses that can completely cure the 12 Year Disease and any other disease.
• Token Mini-Moe: The youngest playable character in the cast and the shortest. In fact, barring Luke fon Fabre, he's the youngest playable character the series has ever had being 10 years old.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • He starts thinking for himself, which culminates in a boost in power, ability, and assertiveness. When Velvet is undergoing a Heroic BSoD, he tells her to "stop whining" and snaps her out of it.
  • Shortly after the above, he goes head-to-head with Innominat, who is the most powerful being in the world at the time, and manages to hold his own for a while. Then, just for good measure, he punches the Big Bad in the face. This is what convinces the antagonists that Laphicet is more than he appears, and not to be underestimated.
  • At the end of the story, he turns into Maotelus the dragon, effectively becoming God of the entire world. Can't take many more levels than that.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He likes to eat, but he seems to have a fondness for mabo curry.
• Tyke-Bomb: A literal example, he tries to catch Velvet in an explosion after being ordered to, nearly killing himself in the process.
• Vocal Dissonance: After he assumes dragon form as Maotelus, he retains the voice of a young boy.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: His second mystic arte, Chaos Bloom.
• You Are Number 6: Begins the game as a Soulless Shell with no free will or name, referred to as Malak Number Two.

Rokurou Rangetsu

"Killing flash!"

Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (JP), Ben Diskin (EN)

"This blade is my life. I owe you a great debt, one I vow to repay."

Once a samurai of the renowned Rangetsu clan, Rokurou is now a daemon who retained his sense of reason, and accompanies Velvet in her journey in order to repay a debt to her. Despite carrying a longsword he claims to be his life on his back, he wields dual blades in battle.

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• Affably Evil: He's the most casual about being a daemon, and actually enjoys being even more of a Blood Knight. He's also polite, honorable, and friendly.
• Always Second Best: While Rokurou doesn't mind talking about it, the fact that his brother, Shigure, has defeated him every time they've duelled still bothers him. Even after he finally succeeds in defeating Shigure, Rokurou admits it was due to having to use three swords, instead of two.
• And Then What?: He admits he doesn't know what to do with himself after finally killing Shigure. Eleanor points out that if there really are others with his philosophy, another swordsman will make it their mission to slay him one day, which perks him right back up.
• Badass Boast: Says a good one when unleashing his third Mystic Arte.
  "All life is ephemeral when kissed by my blade!"
• Bash Brothers: With Eizen. Their dual Mystic Arte has them both commenting on seeing who is the better fighter, and the two are frequently turning things into a competition.
• BFS: The sword on his back is about as tall as he is, though he can't draw it for personal reasons. It was actually broken when he first drew it in the first shown fight against Shigure, and objects towards having it repaired as Rokurou keeps it as a sign of his weakness towards Shigure. Kurogane later forges him an orichalcum sword that sadly, also broke once more when Rokurou first fought against Innominat. The final version of his BFS was eventually formed out of Kurogane turning himself into it, which Rokurou eventually keeps around and uses for his Third Break Soul and third Mystic Arte.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Laphicet. While Rokurou might toy with Laphicet at times, he does have his best interests at heart, and encourages Laphicet to find his own path in life.
• The Big Guy: By virtue of being the one most likely to resolve issues by cutting through them with his swords, despite not being entirely dumb muscle.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: The Rangetsu clan has a long history of successions as the head of the family through a series of assassinations on the current heads throughout the generations. Some Code Red hunts go into more depth about this and Rokurou's backstory, which explains why there's tension between him and his older brother Shigure.
• Blood Knight: He loves a good fight, which his daemon nature amplifies to the point he'll hurt his allies if they get in the way.
• Cain and Abel:
  • As a human he was the Cain to Shigure's Abel. While their clan always had a custom that the clan head must be killed in combat to pass the title down, Rokurou was motivated by his jealousy towards his superior brother, spreading a lie that Shigure was planning a coup to have a chance to kill him. He lost and his emotions boiled over till he became a daemon.
  • As a daemon he ultimately averts this trope. Though he is motivated by a desire to best Shigure, many of the issues that lead to his current state disappeared upon becoming a daemon, and even in their final battle the brothers had nothing but respect towards each other. The two even share a drink just before the fight.
• Character Development: A subtle example, but he grows to focus more on being a swordsman than a daemon as the story goes on.
• Combat Pragmatist: He's perfectly willing to use tricks to beat Shigure. In their first fight he allows his hand to be impaled to find an opening against his brother, and in the third fight he uses both of his swords to disarm Shigure before using Stormquell to deliver the killing blow.
• Cool Big Bro: Along with Eizen to Laphicet. Both are fully willing to be honest with him and always hand out advice. Lampshaded in one post victory screen where Laphicet proclaims both to be cool.
• The Corruption: His is so much stronger than an average daemon that not even the gift of the Silver Flame from Laphicet's new form is able to purify him, unlike the rest of the world. He laughs it off by saying his sins are so bad that he couldn't be purified.
• Counter-Attack: His Break Soul works like this. Upon activating it, Rokurou will enter a stance and a counter will be triggered if he is attacked in this state. A successful counter will also result in Rokurou gaining back some HP.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Most of his normal attacks are Non-Elemental while most of his Hidden Artes are elemental based. This means he's going to be rather difficult to use properly because if the enemy is resistant to Non-Element damage, he's essentially forced to spam his Hidden Artes in order to win. Furthermore his artes are all very good at single targets, but he lacks AOE based artes that make clearing waves of enemies very difficult.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Due to being from an entirely different culture and society than the others, Rokurou views things different than the others. For example he doesn't see anything wrong with him wanting to kill his brother, nor does he understand why everyone seemed shocked that he would be so mad at Laphicet for trying to help him fight Kurogane; he does apologize for the latter and tries to warn them not to get too wrapped up in it.
• Dissonant Serenity: So much, that he casually jokes about his intention to kill his brother, Shigure, despite being dead serious about it. A fact which even Velvet finds unsettling about him, when the group was discussing little brothers in a skit.
  Laphicet: Rokurou's a little brother. Is he adorable, too?
  Velvet: (in shock) Huh?! I don't think a little brother who's out to kill you is in any way adorable!
• Determinator: He has fought Shigure over 1000 times and still hasn't given up on trying to defeat him.
• Difficult, but Awesome: His combat style is this, both for his normal moves, and his Break Soul.
  • His normal artes are all Non-Elemental and revolve around moving around when he strikes. However his Hidden Artes are all elemental but require specific placement to use them. As a result he's very hard to learn because you have to balance placing down elemental artes, and comboing them. Once mastered however, Rokurou can rack up a high damage and combo chain that will allow him to keep enemies in their place.
  • The timing of his Break Soul can take some getting used to, since it's a counter-attack. But once properly mastered, Rokurou will be able to break out of enemy attacks, deal damage, and heal a small amount of HP all at once. Furthermore, with practice, players can even use the properties of the Break Soul to their advantage by activating it mid-combo to allow Rokurou to continue his attacks where other characters can't.
• Dual Wielding: He fights with twin daggers in battle rather than the sword he has strapped to his back. In the ending, he dual wields Stormquell and Stormhowl.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even though he wants to gain power to beat Shigure, he states he would never lower himself to do the Venomization to become stronger. That, and despite his happy-go-lucky attitude, even he shows deadpan-annoyance at Magilou's antics.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His right daemon eye, when visible, is red with black rings for irises. It even glows red whenever Rokurou is all fired up or has found a Worthy Opponent to fight.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: His right side is all purple armor. According to his character design notes, it's meant to represent his two-sided nature.
• Fully-Embraced Fiend: He's fully aware of the bloodthirst and hunger for violence that comes from being a daemon, and he could not care less. In fact, he's actually extremely proud of the power being a daemon gets him.
• Helping Would Be Kill Stealing: His belief that if it's his prey, he gets to kill it. He quickly got angry towards Laphicet when he tried to interfere in Rokurou's fight with Kurogane. And this gets especially bad with Shigure, as when Laphicet accidentally made Eleanor interfere in their Duel Boss fight, Rokurou screams at her to "stay out of this!" with his eye glowing bright red.
• Hidden Depths: He's surprisingly good at reading people. He can usually tell when something's bothering Eleanor and how she needs to resolve it, and seems to be the only character other than Magilou who notices Laphicet's crush on Velvet.
• I Am a Monster: Like Velvet, the fact doesn't really bug him, but he also admits that the human Rokurou would probably view him as a monster.
• I Gave My Word: He fights for Velvet to repay her for helping him regain his sword (ohh, and breaking him out of prison, that too).
• I Owe You My Life: The reason he fights for Velvet is because she helped him find his sword after he got out of his jail cell. Due to how honor bound the Rangetsu family is, he swore to fight for her after, and does so no matter what.
  • Ironically, in the anime adaptation, Velvet holds the sword for ransom to convince Rokurou to aid them in their prison escape.
• Japanese Ranguage: Notably, he's one of the few members of the main party that properly pronounces the "between R and L" sound in the Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, and Ro syllables. Rather appropriate, since he's the only one who's ostensibly Japanese (and heck, he's from the world's rough equivalent to Japan).
• Kukris Are Kool: He dual wields them. The Rangetsu style he wields normally favors a large sword, but uses kukris as training weapons. Rokurou just trained with them so long to beat Shigure that they're what he's used to.
• Last of His Kind: Towards the end of the game, with his mother and all five of his brothers dead, Rokurou is the only Rangetsu clan member left.
• Leitmotif: Rokurou Rangetsu, which plays in the first encounter with him. A fast-paced guitar piece accompanied by a Japanese flute to portray a Hot-Blooded samurai who lives for the thrill of the battlefield.
• Malaproper: He calls one treasure a nasty pair of dogs, instead of paradox. Laphicet corrects him.
• Manchild: While he's not outright immature, Rokurou does have a fairly simple outlook on life, being largely unconcerned about anything but fighting, showing a childish glee where swords are concerned, and being entirely on Laphicet's level when it comes to things like arguing over bugs. It comes down to a combination of being a Yaksha and having some In-Universe Values Dissonance.
• My Greatest Failure: Prior to being sent to prison, he was tasked by the lord of his clan to exterminate Shigure, as there were rumors of Shigure planning an insurrection. Despite planning out everything, Rokurou got beaten to a pulp, got insulted by Shigure, and finally drove him to trying to end his own life that he turned into a daemon. Afterwards, for failing his mission, he was imprisoned and highly regretted not killing his brother.
• No-Sell: In the third battle with Shigure, if Rokurou is an active fighter when Shigure uses his Mystic Arte, he'll draw Stormquell and nullify Shigure's attack by clashing blades.
• Odd Friendship: With Eleanor. Normally a daemon wouldn't be capable of befriending an exorcist after all.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: How Rokurou feels in regards to defeating Shigure, since he believes that he should be the only one to kill him. So much so that he does not like the party to interfere (though he mellows out from it later on), and when Optional Boss Lancelot announces that he'd be the one to take down Shigure, Rokurou does not take it very well.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The few times that smile of his drops is for very serious situations or for things he finds particularly important.
• Our Demons Are Different: He is a Yaksha daemon, which heightens his senses to further enjoy battle.
• Perpetual Smiler: Is almost always smiling - his skits always have him speaking with a grin on his face.
• The Pollyanna: Rokurou is often the one to give out the most amount of positive encouragement and/or dismissal, especially towards Eleanor.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "Killing flash! When I'm this close, I won't miss! FORM 0: SUNDER!"
  "Killing flash! Behold the artes of my ancestors! RANGETSU STYLE: HERON!"
  "Killing flash! All life is ephemeral when kissed by my blade! FORM 9: FINAL JUDGEMENT!"
• Purple Is Powerful: His outfit consists of a lot of purple, and he is a member of House Rangetsu, a well-known clan.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His right eye has been taken over by Daemonblight, turning it red, along with most of the right side of his face.
• Sibling Rivalry: His desire to win against Shigure is the reason why he became a daemon.
• Stone Wall: Subverted. While his insane mobility and fast attacks enable him to deal large amounts of damage, he also has the highest HP and Defense values of the entire party, which is unusual for someone of his archetype.
• Sweet Tooth: Has a fondness for candied sweet potatoes and has an urge to eat Yozakura Anmitsu, which is Shigure's favorite dish.
• Team Dad: Has shades of this, being one of the nicest party members, but also strict. He looks out for the others, and is often a voice of reason when there's not culture clash and is happy to dole out advice.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: When it comes to fighting. To the point he'll yell and attack the party if they interfere. He later has a talk with Laphicet saying that while he appreciates his concern, he doesn't want him involved even if he should lose and he'll warn him before he flies off the handle.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Candied sweet potatoes and drinks.
• Undying Loyalty: To Velvet due to helping him get his sword back. When Innominat tries to eat her, he is the first to jump in between them.
• Unexplained Recovery: During Rokurou's second encounter with Shigure at Port Cadnix, he manages to plow through Stormhowl with his left hand, slicing it all the way through in an attempt to gain a killing blow on Shigure. His left hand, despite being severely pierced by the blade, is otherwise fine and back to normal moments after. There is no explanation as to why his hand recovered so quickly, with the only likely justification being that he has some sort of implied Healing Factor at play.
• Walking the Earth: At the end of the story, where he embraces his thrill of combat by killing daemons. The official guide reveals he eventually died fighting daemons.
• Weak, but Skilled: Downplayed and by comparison next to Shigure. Rokurou is hardly weak but this is how he ultimately beats Shigure. He uses his two short swords to disarm Shigure, then unsheathes Stormhowl and delivers the fatal blow, calling the technique his True Blade. He later concedes that objectively, sword to sword, Shigeru was the better combatant.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Is the only party member left unanswered for by the time Zestiria rolls around, as well as being the only non-human one who isn't Doomed by Canon. There are hints he's somehow involved with how Rose's fighting style came to be, but it's never explained.
• Would Hurt a Child: Once tries to harm Laphicet for stealing his prey before Velvet and Eleanor stop him from doing so. He quickly apologizes for it.
• You Are Number 6: Rokurou explains in a skit that he is the sixth brother of the Rangetsu clan. (In Japanese, his name literally translates to "sixth son".) Given that his eldest brother Shigure's birth name is Ichirou, which literally means "first son", this was either a tradition in the Rangetsu homeland or Rokurou's parents were very unimaginative with baby names.
• Youngest Child Wins: He's the youngest Rangetsu sibling, and mentions that brothers 2-5 are already dead. After he defeats Shigure, he's the last one standing.

Magilou

"Now!"

Voiced by: Satomi Sato (JP), Erica Lindbeck (EN)

"I suppose you'll never understand. People can be so miserable. Not that it matters, really."

A self-proclaimed witch who does as she pleases, and whose loyalty is as flimsy as her numerous claims of great life deeds. Despite her chatty and eccentric persona, there seems to be something more sinister about her. She uses guardian dolls that can freely change size in battle, along with fire and water artes.

---

• Action Girl: As expected from a self-proclaimed "great witch." She's also the only female to ever hold the title of Legate in the history of the Abbey.
• Added Alliterative Appeal: From time to time, Magilou will use alliteration in her Large Ham moments.
• Almighty Janitor: It turns out she's actually a former Legate level exorcist. Meaning that when she was part of the Abbey, she outranked Eleanor, Teresa, and Oscar, and was on equal footing with Shigure in terms of rank. However, she has no sentiment towards the title and prefers to think of herself as "a witch" instead.
• Ambiguously Human: The game is a bit inconsistent on this detail, but it is implied that Magilou isn't a human by the time she joins the party. On one hand, she is affected by the cold like any normal human is (something Malak's and Daemon's are stated to not be affected by), requires food, and needs Bienfu to cast spells like an Exorcist, itself a hold over from her status as the lost Legate, and being Melchior's student. However, Magilou has pointed ears, speaks of humanity as being a separate thing from herself, and is older than she appears without relying on anything like an Oath, suggesting whatever happened in her past caused her to change in a way that makes her see herself as not human anymore. Regardless of if she truly isn't human anymore in some capacity, or is just an extreme narcissist who thinks too highly of herself to consider herself human, the game never elaborates on her situation, and Magilou herself likes to call herself a witch when discussion about her comes up, so she never outright confirms her uniqueness.
• Badass Adorable: Zigzagged. She initially seems to be a kid who's all talk, but she's older than she looks, has power to command all four elements, and can casually annihilate entire fields off enemies — when she feels like it.
• Badass Boast: During her introductory scene, she refers to herself as: "She who scoffs at the might of dragons."
• Badass Bookworm: She even wears a collection of tomes as her skirt, though she says the one in back is just a pop-up book. So it's no wonder that she's as knowledgeable about spells, the Abbey, the Malakhiem, and practically anything else essential to their quest.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: The same is true for Velvet, but her lower abdomen, where her belly button isn't hidden in her wobbly pants, is immediately exposed.
• Beneath the Mask: Magilou puts up the front of being an eccentric witch. She's actually very cynical and jaded, and also more knowledgable about the goings-on in the world around her than she lets on. She doesn't tell anyone because she's such a cynic that she thinks it won't matter.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Her Magilou's Menagerie acts across the cities are basically this. Much to her chagrin, results greatly vary from what she wants.
• Break the Cutie: In her past, Grimoirh hints that her heart didn't break because of being overwhelmed by Melchior's test, but rather because he abandoned her when she had no family.
• Bullying a Dragon: Her favorite trolling target aside from Laphicet is Velvet, and she does it frequently. Downplayed in that the worst Velvet will do is either shove her or force her to drink sale'tomah.
• Butt-Monkey: Zigzagged between her and Velvet, though Magilou usually brings it on herself by poking fun at Velvet, and Magilou gets subjected to a lot more slapstick comedy than Velvet does by a country mile. Even after Magilou's been accepted by the group, they still take a few potshots at her.
  • When Magilou first starts traveling with the group, everyone talks about her to her face as The Load. She's quick to brush it off, though.
  • When Magilou teases Velvet about her inability to taste anything besides blood, and ends up getting a mouthful of of Sale'tomah for it.
  • The "serious organization" skit has her scare Laphicet by joking about an unfortunate spy who was eaten by a crocodile. So Velvet says she's tempted to feed Magilou to a crocodile, with Rokurou and Eizen agreeing with her. Magilou decides to push her luck, prompting Velvet to smack Magilou so hard that she goes flying offscreen.
  • When Magilou tries to trick Velvet into talking about her love life during her guest panel, Velvet and the others pay her back by making her pick the same card.
• Catchphrase: "It doesn't matter/I don't care," as well as "Magikazam."
• Character Development: Despite herself, the self-proclaimed indifferent witch slowly grows fond of the party and becomes less apathetic in general, to the point where she doesn't even think of collecting any money from the last bet she made to Velvet at the end of the game. She acts like a massive Tsundere whenever the party notes that about her nonetheless.
• Chekhov's Gun: The first clear indicator that Magilou is stronger than she lets on is when she casually one-shots a group of exorcists with a wave of her hand. The very same exorcists that Velvet and the others were struggling against only moments prior. There's a reason for that: she was personally trained by Melchior to eventually become his replacement.
• Cheshire Cat Grin: Practically her default expression. When Magilou shows her teeth it means she's figured out something important.
• The Chew Toy: She can be subject to some of the usual Tales of comic relief tropes, often getting quite a bit of disrespect.
• Cloudcuckoolander: In one skit, she tries to claim Rokurou should be put on a witch trial and burned at the stake for workplace discrimination, only to be reminded by Velvet that isn't how they work. Velvet later notes how bizarre her imagination is and that she is "too weird for this world".
• Consummate Liar: Mostly because she thinks it's funny.
  • Played for laughs in a skit. When Laphicet asks her about what the books she's wearing on her skirt are for, Magilou tells a series of outrageous lies, such as that one's a pop-up book, and another is a layer cake. Magilou remarks to herself that she can't believe Laphicet is actually buying it.
  • Played for drama in the main story. After Magilou prevents Melchior from sealing an earthpulse rift, thus allowing the rest of her friends to escape, Magilou downplays the Mind Rape level of torture Melchior put her through, instead saying that it was a staring contest where she had to try hard not to laugh. It's because she has such intense self-loathing that she really doesn't care what happened to her.
• Counterspell: How her Spell Absorber works. When an enemy is casting a magic arte, Magilou can use a Break Soul to stop the spell in its tracks, and convert it into a special Mana Meter that charges up. When this meter is full, Magilou unleashes a devastating area-of-effect spell which is large in size and does a lot of damage.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Magilou is one of the least serious party members and spends most of her scenes being silly or over the top. However, this doesn't change the fact she is a very powerful magic user and is able to effortlessly sneak up on the likes of Velvet.
• Cuckoosnarker: Is both extremely quirky and quite snarky. Most of her snarking involves pointing out the Doublethink and hypocrisies of other people, which Magilou does because she loves getting under someone's skin.
• Cute Witch: She's a petite blonde, in a pink and lavender harlequin's outfit. A stark contrast to the stringy haired, wart-nosed crones one typically imagines when thinking of a witch.
• The Cynic: Magilou expects the worst out of people, often shown through a very dark sense of humor, like cracking jokes about Velvet eating people and how Laphicet is going to be her next meal. Her few speeches about the human heart also state that she thinks people are naturally deceitful.
• Dance Battler: Literally. When Magilou's chaining her spells, she can be seen rhythmically tapping her foot in place, and actually dances during her second Mystic Arte.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Magilou was born with high resonance, leading to her parents abandoning her due to finding it to be weird. She was taken in by a circus troupe, who made her perform using said resonance to play the part of a witch. Melchior then sabotaged the troupe and let them die so he could obtain Magilou to train her as his successor. While she worked hard, he abandoned her when she failed his final test due to embracing the illusion of a happy life with her parents. With her heart broken, Magilou went into a coma like state, and so she was tossed aside with Bienfu. It was after Bienfu left her that she woke up, and became the Magilou she's known as today.
• Drama Queen: She tends to explain stuff very dramatically, which gets on everyone's nerves.
• The Dreaded: To Beinfu, who describes Magilou as a harsh mistress and a slave driver. When Eleanor first summons him to fight Velvet, he immediately retreats the moment he hears Magilou's voice; leaving Eleanor to fight on her own.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: One of her skit portraits has these. Whenever they show up, it's a sign that she's being honest for a change.
• Energy Absorption: Her Break Soul, Spell Absorber, allows her to stop an enemy from casting magic and absorb their spiritual power. Accumulating a certain amount of spiritual power (as indicated by the bar next to her battle portrait) will result in Magilou casting an arte of her own.
• Establishing Character Moment: The first thing we see her do is effortlessly pull a Stealth Hi/Bye on Velvet with the implication of having followed her for a long while. Following this, she introduces herself in a very grandiose manner and then walks off without a care in the world, despite being in a Hellhole Prison.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: The left side of her outfit is a palette swap of the right side, and the left side of her hat appears to have a checker pattern on it. She also wears differing sleeves and stockings.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: She starts off as this. Velvet and Rokurou are rather annoyed by her bizarre personality, and don't feel like leaving Magilou behind (apparently to die) is much of a loss. After Magilou steals Bienfu back from Eleanor, the party finally starts considering her less of a load. However, they still find her extremely annoying. She does eventually become a cherished if annoying member of the team, shown when Velvet calls Magilou her "best best friend" without hesitation when Magilou tells her to do it. Still, there's one character in the party she's always hated by: Magilou herself.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When she first appears, she's awfully casual despite being stuck in a Hellhole Prison. There's a reason for this.
  • When the party chases after Gideon after succumbing to Daemonblight, she offhandedly mentions in a skit that he hit his limit. This is because she knows the disease itself is false and the actual cause is the Malevolence generated by negative emotions. This is something only known to Malaks and the Abbey's highest ranked members, a group she used to be associated with.
  • When the party first encounters Artorius at the Empyrean's Throne, she and Melchior quickly exchange looks. It seems insignificant at the time and could easily be forgotten, but it turns out she has a personal history with him..
  • Magilou's behavior during the group's time in the Lotus-Eater Machine implies that she has a deeper understanding of the kind of illusion they're trapped in than most others. This is because her backstory involved being subjected to one as a test that she ended up falling for.
• The Gadfly: She knows exactly what to say to get under people's skin.
  • She suggests to Eizen that his sister might have found a (male) confidant with whom to talk about her troubles and loneliness, since Eizen won't go home and visit her.
  • She brings up Laphicet's true name in front of Velvet after sensing her jealousy, knowing Velvet will ask Laphicet what it is and fluster him.
  • As noted in Velvet's entry, Magilou loves to remind her of the dove incident throughout the game.
• Genki Girl: Comes off as this compared to Velvet and Eleanor with her quirky nature and bombastic demeanor.
• Hidden Depths: She was "the lost legate" raised by her foster parent Melchior and had great potential, but after she was viewed as a failure and abandoned by Melchior she left behind her exorcist self and turned against them.
• Hope Is Scary: Her talk about her own heart being broken, along with how being with the rest of the party is agony to her, implies this. When Velvet finds out that Bienfu was being magically forced to leak information to the Abbey from the moment he joined the party thanks to a Geas from Melchior, and yet is willing to completely let them off the hook for it, Magilou drops the Cuckoosnarker act for a moment.
  Velvet: Besides, you're not sorry. Make yourself useful and fight for us.
  Magilou: ...You're good at this "cruelty that's also compassion" thing, aren't you?
  Velvet: I just don't have the time to deal with you two. After this whole business is over with, I'll devour you, if that's what you want.
  Magilou's mouth twists in contempt
  Magilou: ... Hey, Velvet. Tell me, what does it feel like to hate? Does it torment you? Is it agony? Does the searing fire of your hatred empower you to feel? Does it give your life meaning where there was none?
  Velvet: If you want your answer, fight by my side. You'll see it the moment I kill Artorius.
  Magilou: (to herself) "In the face of doom, the crow caws defiantly..." Heh. You really know how to vex me.
• Hunter Of Her Own Kind: Gameplay-wise, she is a witch that excels at fighting other magic users.
• Idle Animation: Notable in that her character model is always moving, even in cutscenes. Usually she is just swinging from side to side, but she also has a handful of recognizable animations, like putting her arms behind her head, or leaning her entire body forward.
• Inexplicably Awesome: She's not an exorcist or a malak. She was just naturally gifted with high resonance.
• Insistent Terminology: She's not a malak! Nor is she an exorcist! She's a witch! She'll always state it when people notice she has abilities that belong to non-witches, such as the pacts made by exorcists.
• Irony: The massive gadfly who irritates the party on a frequent basis is the only one in the group exempt from fighting Velvet before joining her.
• It Amused Me: Magilou claims to be going along with Velvet's group because Magilou just has to know how everything is going to end. Character Development allows Magilou to show at least some level of genuine compassion for the rest of the party, but she still maintains that she's above it all.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In very rare instances, she shows signs of this under heavily sugarcoated speeches, but she tries to never outright admit it.
  • She's often teasing Laphicet or outright pranking him. But at the same time, she's the one most vocal about pointing out when others treat Laphicet as a mere thing or a Replacement Goldfish rather than his own person.
  • As noted in You Shall Not Pass!, she endures a very lengthy mental assault on Melchior that bordered on Mind Rape to buy enough time for the group to escape. At first, Magilou insists nothing happened, but when the truth comes out, she denies doing it for benevolent reasons, saying she wanted to cash in on her bet with Velvet.
  • Grimoirh believes Magilou went to the effort of tracking down Bienfu because she sees him as more than a mere servant, given she is normally apathetic.
  • For all her talk about how she hates the rest of the party or that they keep getting on her nerves, Magilou sticks by them. She claims that she just has to see how Velvet's quest for vengeance ends, but Magilou does let it slip that she genuinely likes the party. At the very least, she thinks that Velvet's quest for vengeance and defiant conviction to defeat Artorius is admirable.
• Jerkass Has a Point: A lot of her trolling remarks and teases to other characters point out their hypocrisies and Double Think. For example, Magilou points out to Velvet that, despite her giving Laphicet a name, Velvet is still using him as a means to an end and not a person, much like an exorcist of the Abbey that Velvet opposes. Velvet is rather snippy about Magilou's remarks, but does admit (in her own way) that Magilou is right.
• Large Ham: She loves to throw around overly poetic descriptors, speak with grandiose gestures, talk in flowery language, and rarely allows her love of the dramatic hamper her.
  • Just look at the way she introduces herself! She sneaks up behind Velvet, introduces herself with an Overly Long Name, and she's gone just as quickly.
  • She tries to get every other party member to do stand-up comedy with her. It never works, because the showmanship of the rest of the party is awful.
• Laser-Guided Karma: After the sale'tomah sidequest, Magilou makes an indirect joke about Velvet's inability to taste to Eleanor. Velvet, in a rare instance of amusement, responds by forcing Magilou to drink some leftover sale'tomah.
• Legacy Character: Revealed to be part of the Mayvin historian recorders and a direct ancestor to Mayvin in Zestiria. At the end of the game, she's even seen recording on a book.
• Leitmotif: Magilou, the Great Sorceress, which plays whenever Magilou decides to be Magilou and steal the spotlight. The perky, upbeat tempo combined with the whimsical jazz instruments are only complemented further by Magilou's silly attitude and showmanship.
• The Load: She starts off as this, until she obtains Bienfu, and then she joins in and starts fighting. Velvet even lampshades this, pointing out that a malak is far more useful than Magilou. Though Velvet still thinks she's the load as she doesn't do too much to help.
• My Friends... and Zoidberg: Gets this treatment frequently in a number of skits when the subject of party member contributions get brought up. Laphicet does manage to give her some genuine praise right at the end, though.
• Not Bad: When Velvet breaks out of Melchior's illusions in Aball by willingly turning her back on an image of her brother Laphicet, Magilou is genuinely surprised; she previously said that people "can't fight against happiness", and fully expected Velvet to give into the illusion. When Velvet breaks through anyway, Magilou is legitimately impressed with Velvet's resolve. Makes sense, given Magilou was unable to conjure similar resolve to turn her back on those kinds of illusions under a test from Melchior.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Magilou says she's travelling with the party not out of any sense of revenge, justice, debts of gratitude, or wanting to save the world. She's doing it because she just has to see how it all ends.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Magilou is a lot more knowledgeable and savvy than what her persona suggests. She knows quite a bit about malakhim, daemons, malevolence, and the inner workings of the Abbey. But getting this information out of her with a straight answer is as painful as pulling teeth. Magilou frequently mixes pretending to not know with trolling to deflect attention off any topic she would rather not answer.
• Ocular Gushers: Her skit portrait that cries is like this, fitting her overly-dramatic persona.
• Older Than They Look: Magilou is definitely much older than she appears. As to how much older, she's not saying.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Her real name is Magillanica Lou Mayvin. Trying to address her as such will get a "That Man Is Dead" reaction out of her.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Magilou is normally a Cuckoosnarker and loves hiding the truth, to the point that she hardly ever gives any question a straight answer. So whenever Magilou does give a straight answer, it's a sign that something bad is afoot. Magilou is unusually somber during the entire trip to the illusory Aball, since she knows that Melchior is manipulating Velvet. When Velvet realizes the town is a Lotus-Eater Machine and demands Magilou explain what's happening, Magilou does so immediately, clearly, and without any snark.
• Overly Long Name: Introduces herself as Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Do. Magilou for short. Her real name however is Magillanica Lou Mayvin.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Her consistent joking and apathetic trolling puts her in this spot. An after-battle quote sees Magilou insisting to Velvet that she's "serious about [her] fooling around!"
• Pointy Ears: Stands out for having these, which only supports the ambiguity on her human status.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "Now! Rise... arise... ASCENDING ANGEL!"
  "Now! With a single breath, they appear! Here they come! There's no stopping them now! GOOD GRIP!"
  "Now! Army of immortals! FORTY-NINE SOULS! Will you withstand their assault? Or will you fall before them? This is the end!"
• Pretty in Mink: Wears a fuzzy collar around her neck. It doesn't appear to be attacked to her outfit.
• Pungeon Master: Prone to making puns when encountering a new enemy in battle, not unlike Lailah.
• Red Baron: It turns out she's "The Lost Legate", the only female to ever reach her rank in the Abbey.
• Red Herring: By all accounts, Magilou screams of being the game's traitor character, with her Mysterious Past, acting like a fool but being very smart, and lack of any real reason to stick with Velvet. When Eizen suspects a spy in the group after the events at Aball, Rokurou is quick to point out that Magilou is easily the most suspicious person in the group, more so than Eizen's main suspect Eleanor. There was even precedence for it, since Magilou actually had sold out Velvet and Rokurou once already to Teresa in Hellawes. However, Magilou turns out not to be the game's traitor. She's mysterious, but it's Bienfu of all people that's feeding information to the Abbey. And even then, he was under a Geas from Melchior that made him do it.
• The Red Mage: While she leans more towards offensive magic, she comes with series staples Healing Circle and Fairy Circle. Even then, the latter also deals damage to any enemy caught within it.
• The Reveal: Though she claims to be a witch, Grimoirh knows the truth about her past and eventually explains that Magilou is a former Legate level exorcist, who served as Melchior's pupil until he abandoned her. Magilou cut ties with the Abbey soon afterward and thus became known as "the Lost Legate".
• Rummage Sale Reject: The girl is wearing a skirt made of books, and the rest of her outfit is a garrish pink-and-purple combo that makes her look like a court jester.
• Running Gag: Her Magilou's Menagerie acts tend to end in failure, with their sponsors saying variations of "I'll just say one thing..."
• Rhymes on a Dime: Is apt to do this as much as Added Alliterative Appeal during her Large Ham moments. Her first appearance alone has her repeatedly throw quick rhyming dialogue at Velvet and Seres.
• Sad Clown: Underneath the comedic witch persona, Magilou is shown to be weighed down by personal baggage with a very long cynical streak. She also doesn't really care about anything, going along with Velvet and crew out of pure curiosity.
• Sarcastic Confession: Magilou is fond of telling people precise truths about both the exorcists' plans and her own mental state, but mixing the truths with statements so outlandish that no one can take her seriously anyway.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: To Melchior, which doubles as a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. It's one of the few times Magilou expresses genuine rage at anyone. The implication is that she'd wanted to get it off of her chest for a while, after things between them really went bad.
  Melchior: It's a world of order, built on righteous ideas.
  Magilou: Those ideals are twisted! Can a flower hold beauty if it does not wilt?! Can a wolf be satisfied with eating grass?! The thought makes me retch! As do those who wish for it, and those content to live in shackles! Let the biting bugs go ahead and eat what they wanna eat! Let the weeds grow where they wanna grow! Some may look down at them and scoff at their foolishness, but their unwavering wills are proof they're alive! If that's what you call "evil", then I will live and die with evil as my mantra!
• Squishy Wizard: Her fire and water magic are both fairly powerful, she's got massive Arte Attack, and she's also got a couple different healing spells that can also damage enemies under the right circumstances. At the same time, she's a Long-Range Fighter who sticks pretty much exclusively to outside of normal attack range, owing to her low Strength, low Physical Defense, and very unwieldy physical attacks.
• The Smart Guy: Having great, if suspicious, information involving the movements of the Abbey as well as the magic and power that they wield. That is, if she feels like sharing it with the rest of the group.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Magilou can apparently speak to dogs and understand what they say. In Loegres, there are a couple of dogs who voice their complaints about humans and their hypocritical nature, and Magilou translates their "voices" into human language so the party can understand. However, judging by the way Magilou delivers the lines, it could be just another one of her practical jokes.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: Some of the skits involve her performing this type of comedy act with various members of the party. Hilariously, in one of them, Eizen wanted to be the Wise Guy.
• Supreme Chef: Magilou terrifies Bienfu while cooking strawberry jam because she puts such things as soy sauce, cooking wine, and liquor into it in a big cauldron, cackling like she's making some sinister witch's brew. However, Bienfu actually thinks everything she's ever made for him only once tastes excellent, but mechanically this doesn't effect the food she makes the party.
• Technicolor Eyes: Magilou has central heterochromia, with most of her eyes' visible color being green, but the upper part being purple. It just adds to her mysteriousness.
• That Man Is Dead: She says this to Grimoirh regarding her life as Magillanica Lou Mayvin.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: A conversation with Melchior sees Magilou saying that she hates the idea of the world the Abbey is trying to create. If that means she's labeled as "evil," she's fine with it.
• Trickster Mentor: Fits all the marks of being one, even having a title named 'Trickstar'. At times she calls out the party's faults through her normal means of mockery and snark.
• Troll: She loves to tease other party members, especially Laphicet. It annoys Velvet to no end, who constantly wonders if she should just kill Magilou for annoying her. Not helped that Velvet is Magilou's favorite jabbing target.
• The Unfought: She's the only party member that Velvet never has to fight in some form or another before becoming a playable character.
• Unknown Rival: To Majelu, the dancer. To her exasperation, Magilou fails at making a name for herself with her Magilou's Menagerie acts.
• Vague Age: The only playable character whose age is never specified. Her age estimate is given in the guidance book as somewhere in her late twenties.
  • The way she refers to herself might indicate her age. People who use "washi" are generally old men and considering who she is there is definitely more to Magilou than what we normally see.
  • A hint that Magilou is most likely an adult is she was once a legate with a decade-old reputation.
  • In a late game skit, Rokurou asks Magilou her age. When she replies that she is "young at heart", he chuckles and replies that's the sort of thing people start saying "around 30".
• Vitriolic Best Buds: This is what her relationship with the party slowly becomes as the game progresses.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Her fate after the game is left vague. Given that a woman also named Mayvin was buried near Lohgren's in Zestiria, it's implied Magliou eventually dies years after Berseria.
• Womanchild: Is hinted to be one of the older party members, but tends to revel in acting childish.
• A World Half Full: Despite her cynical view of people and the world, she ultimately feels that the struggle of life is just part of the journey.
• You Shall Not Pass!: When the rest of the party got trapped in the earthpulse after encountering Innominat the first time, she defended the earthpulse rift from Melchior long enough for them to escape through it.

Eizen

"Ready to die?!"

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (JP), Taliesin Jaffe (EN)

"I bring ill fortune to all those around me. The "Reaper's Curse". If you join up with me, I can't guarantee your safety."

The first mate of Aifread's pirates and Edna's older brother, Eizen is one of the few free malakhim wandering in Midgand. He inflicts a curse of ill fortune on all those he accompanies, thus he is known as the Reaper. He wears bracelets to enhance the power of his fists and kicks in combat.

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• Badass Longcoat: His fancy longcoat was one of the first things noticeable about him.
• Bash Brothers: With Rokurou. The two are frequently turning things into a competition, including arguments about beetles and fishing. Their dual Mystic Arte is even about which of them is the better fighter.
• Be Yourself: Eizen is very adamant about his individuality and is very encouraging of others, notably Laphicet, to be this way. This is most notable in refusing to be defined by his curse. In a skit where Laphicet asks the group what they prefer between cats and dogs, Eizen replied that he isn't a dog person because dogs sell away their freedom for safety.
• Big Brother Had A Good Reason Abandoning You: He has essentially distanced himself from his beloved sister because his Reaper's Curse has put her life in danger multiple times.
• Big Brother Mentor: Although not real brothers, Eizen answers many of Laphicet's questions about words and things he doesn't know about. Fitting, considering they are both malakhim.
• Bittersweet Ending: Eizen makes an appearance in Zestiria, albeit as a dragon, so it can be concluded that he survives the events of this game no matter what. However, because the world is put back into balance due to Maotelus/Laphicet becoming the new God, people can no longer see malakhim. The epilogue cutscene shows Benwick can no longer see Eizen resting on the mast.
• Blessed with Suck: Was born with the Reaper's Curse as his malak blessing.
• Boring, but Practical: His first Mystic Arte is him just punching and kicking a few times before doing an uppercut. Nothing overly amazing and yet still awesome. His third Mystic Arte is similar in that it's essentially one powerful punch.
• Born Unlucky: He was born with the Reaper's Curse and he's lost more than 50 comrades in three years because of it. This is just an effect of his personal domain, born out of a desire to grow stronger to in order to protect his sister.
• Boxing Battler: During his first Mystic Arte, where he throws out a Dempsey Roll that'd make Ippo proud.
• Call-Forward: Eizen's Draconic Drive gives him a dark appearance with wings, which foreshadows his fate before Tales of Zestiria. Several of his break and mystic artes' names reference dragons (Draconic Drive, Dragon Dive, and Howling Dragon)
• The Comically Serious: Just watch this gravelly-voiced stoic reaper argue on about bugs and secret forts.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: While he's cool, stoic, and collected like Edna, he's far more of a straight-man than her, who is a prankster and very sarcastic. He's also far more appreciative of humans while Edna loathes them.
• Cool Big Bro: Towards Edna. He's held in high regard by her to the point she never has any snarky remarks for him. Towards the party he shows a older brother type attitude towards Laphicet, and, likely to go along with Velvet's Team Mom status, tends to be the one looking out for everyone.
• Creature of Habit: Fitting for his elemental affinity, even bordering on being obsessive. According to his crew, he is extremely nitpicky with where they dock, how the food is cooked, goes to the exact same store to get his clothes worked on, and lives his life like clockwork.
• Cultured Badass: A Greater Malak and first mate of a dreaded pirate group who beats up enemies with kicks and punches. He's also incredibly versed in history and has a passion for art such as paintings or statues. According to himself, it comes with the job. Pirates need to know what is valuable and what not, so they won't stuff their ships with worthless loot.
• Curse: One has been placed on him called the Reaper's Curse which seems to essentially be Murphy's law. The consequences range from killing his friends, turning others into daemons, and always landing tails on his coin tosses. He's avoided seeing his little sister Edna to prevent it from harming her. The party seems to treat it as a mild annoyance at worst and even makes jokes about it.
• Cursed with Awesome:
  • Deconstructed. While the Reaper's Curse has allowed him to get stronger, it has done nothing more than hurt Eizen, his friends, and the members of Aifread's crew. Even with all his attempts of trying to downplay it, the curse has negatively affected his life and forced him to alienate his sister for her own protection. Part of his growing appreciation for Velvet and the group is that they are willing to handle the curse.
  • At Vortigern, a conversation between him and Velvet clarifies some of the effects. When asked if his curse caused the daemonblight outbreak, Eizen says that it didn't, but it is why the party arrived just as it blew up (and also why it spread so fast). While this can be really inconvenient in most cases, it is what allows the group to ransack Vortigern more efficiently because the mass confusion of daemon transformations throws the fortress into disorder.
• Deadpan Snarker: It's hardly a surprise given who his sister is, but is nowhere near to the volume. A good example is early in the game when Laphicet describes having a strange feeling in regards to Magilou:
  Eizen: The witch has no friends, no home, and no purpose. I think what you're feeling is pity.
• Dishing Out Dirt: As a malak born from the earthpulse onto a mountain, he has a natural affinity for the earth.
• Doomed by Canon: Zigzagged. He shows up in Zestiria, so he obviously survives the events of Berseria. However, at some point, he succumbs to malevolence and turns into a dragon, which is given a couple of subtle nods in-game.
• Dressed to Plunder: While Eizen is already a pirate, his DLC pirate costume gives him a more stereotypical classic look, complete with a Hook Hand, a big pirate hat, and an Eyepatch of Power. The only thing that's missing is a Seadog Peg Leg.
• Face of a Thug: His stature, black clothing, and habit of not smiling tend to intimidate people even when he's in a good mood. This is particularly visible in Magilou's sidequest. While he's the only one able to properly sell a comedy routine with her (by rolling with their on-stage argument to wind her up, no less) the promoter comments people are too intimidated by Eizen to laugh at him.
• Family of Choice: Eizen explains to the party about how malakhim do not have blood family. Instead, they are born from the earthpulse or reincarnated from humans. Eizen was born from an earthpulse on a mountain (most likely what is Rayfalke Spiritcrest in Zestiria) as were many other malakhim, but he only felt any sort of connection with Edna. One day, without even bringing up the idea to each other, they both created lucky charm pendants for one another. From that moment forward, they were brother and sister.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Has a dagger looking thing on the left lapel of his jacket and the top part of his right boot is sticking up.
• Foregone Conclusion: No matter what happens in-game, Eizen eventually succumbs to malevolence and becomes a Dragon that is ultimately put down by his sister and the Shepherd Sorey. Specifically, being exposed to malevolence briefly from Theodora during Zaveid's sidequest was the first step despite Laphicet burning it away.
• Genius Bruiser: Eizen is as savvy about history as much as he is powerful. Multiple skits reveal his knowledge is very expansive.
• Glass Cannon: Hits like a truck with both his fists and his spells, but he has the lowest Defense stat among the team, along with middling HP and Arte Defense.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: He cites this as the main reason for why the truth behind daemonblight became taboo - for the protection of humans.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Uses his fists and kicks in combat. His first Mystic Arte Wasteless/Perfect Mayhem consists of a series of haymakers and a uppercut, while his last one the Venom Strike is just one big Megaton Punch. A skit with Rokurou reveals he does it because his curse tends to destroy or dismantle any wielded weapon he possesses.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The World Guidance book reveals he becomes a dragon battling the Lord of Calamity that appeared 200 years before Zestiria, where he and Zaveid defeat him after he kills the Shepherd who died in the final battle.
• Heroic Willpower: Subtle example. Eizen is one of the few malak Velvet meets that is not under the Abbey's control with the help of Innominat and looking through his backstory shows no signs his free will was stripped away at any point, unlike Zaveid.
• Hidden Depths: Under his gruff exterior, Eizen has a near fanboy-level fascination with artifacts and other objects. As the game progresses, you learn it wasn't just for practical purposes as a pirate either.
• Humans Are Bastards: Downplayed. Eizen has shown heavy implications of having this mindset early on due to the Abbey's treatment of malakhim as slaves, but he mainly reserves it to them and is very appreciative of his crew. Interestingly enough, he's also learned to admire humans, due to his time on the Van Eltia.
• Invisible to Normals: Originally, being a Malakhim, Eizen could not be seen by normal humans, including Aifread's crew. This changed after the Advent where he became visible to everyone. By the end of the game, Eizen returns to being the unseen, but still hangs around the Van Eltia watching over the crew as they sail.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Eizen's Break Soul can only be activated if the enemy is stunned or knocked down. Fortunately, the player can mitigate this restriction somewhat by using certain artes at Eizen's disposal that have a high chance of stunning the enemy.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Downplayed: while Eizen is genuinely a knowledgeable person, some of his knowledge ends up getting corrected by Eleanor when she joins the group, such as revealing that Eizen's coin was coated with a shape memory alloy to prevent it from getting damaged instead of treating the gold itself as Eizen claimed. When this is pointed out to Eizen by Rokurou, Eizen claims he never said that.
• The Lancer: As the First Mate of the Van Eltia, with shades of The Smart Guy due to his expansive knowledge about the world beyond the seas. He's usually the first person to go to Velvet about any issues and generally defers to her.
• Leitmotif: That's My Way - Eizen the Reaper, which notably plays in the party's first encounter and battle with him. The confident tone of the orchestra, drums, and trumpets make this song fitting for the first mate of Aifread's band of pirates who is also an individual who takes control of his own life.
• Lethal Chef: The main one from this game and because of the Reaper's Curse it's justified.
• Magic Knight: Like Eleanor, he's a hybrid melee fighter with a respectable repertoire of spells at his arsenal.
• Misery Builds Character: His blessing gives him and those around him "strict but adequate trials" to make them grow stronger, which results in bad luck.
• Mr. Exposition: Being a long-lived malak with knowledge in many fields, Eizen is the go to source for the characters when it comes to knowing anything from the area to malak things. He's also the one who breaks the taboo and spills it to the group about the truth of malevolance.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Magilou's mere suggestion that his lonely sister Edna might be confiding to a guy has Eizen screaming and his voice cracking in indignation.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: His level 1 Mystic Arte "Perfect Mayhem" has him beat the enemy senseless before sending it flying with an uppercut, complete with a coin flip from beginning to end.
• Not So Above It All: He has a soft spot for antiques and archaeology, as revealed when he starts fanboying over an ancient urn Velvet fishes out of the ocean at one point, claiming it's the famous Grune's Pot. While Eizen insists it's to know what to keep and what to leave as a pirate, he clearly goes way beyond just practical application. Then there is his ridiculous ideas for secret bases...
• Perpetual Frowner: He almost always looks like he's frowning, the exception being when he gets giddy over treasures.
• Pirate: He's the first mate of the Aifread pirates. He's also quite well-versed in world history and a lot of different subjects. This is because, in addition to being Really 700 Years Old, Eizen says that a pirate has to know what's the most valuable thing to steal.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Discussed. Eizen notes that, as a pirate, he has to know what's the most valuable thing to steal so he doesn't overload his ship with useless junk. As such, Eizen is quite the Genius Bruiser.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "Ready to die? Think you can dodge? Just try! PERFECT MAYHEM!"
  "Ready to die? Whatever comes next, this is just the first step... to kill you! HOWLING DRAGON!"
  "Ready to die? I'm not done with you yet! Here's something for you! Hope you like it! VENOM STRIKE! Face your end!"
• Real Men Wear Pink: If his letters to Edna are anything, he supposedly has very refined handwriting and is highly selective about wrapping paper patterns.
• Really 700 Years Old: He's about 1000-years-old but still young by malak standards.
• Red Baron: Known as The Reaper due to his curse.
• The Red Mage: Learns both offensive and defensive magic, while also being capable in melee combat.
• Relative Button: The quickest way to irk him is anything related to Edna that isn't in a positive way. When Magilou joked the threatening letters he was receiving was the writer was in a relationship with Edna, Eizen was furious.
• Rogue Protagonist: Becomes this in Zestiria due to becoming a dragon.
• Serious Business: When discussing how to refurbish Titania, Eizen is the most gung-ho about creating underground passageways to the point he seriously would consider creating an entire island as an escape route. Then there are the skits with debating with Rokurou whether the therion beetle Laphicet owns is a Stag or a Rhinoceros...
• The Smart Guy: His long life, pirate life-style, and interest in art has given him a massive pool of information...though some of it is out of date.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: He's Mr. Exposition for the group and also wears reading glasses.
• Spared by the Adaptation: He survives the events of Tales of Zestiria the X and although he still remains in his dragon form, it is implied that he has regained his senses and is slowly being purified.
• Staking the Loved One: Potentially twofold:
  • In Berseria he ends up killing the enslaved daemon form of captain Aifread to make sure his good friend can hold the rudder of his life at the end.
  • In Zestiria he might be on the receiving end, as his dragon form can be killed by Edna.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Eizen and Edna have similar hairstyles with the same two-tone colors as well as the same eye color.
• Super Drowning Skills: He reveals in a skit that Earth malakhim cannot swim due to their elemental affinity and has been struggling to overcome this trait.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Alcohol. He comments a few times about the rarity of good drink, and he exchanges drinks with Rokurou while staying with the Bloodwings.
• Team Dad: To Velvet's Team Mom. He's the oldest and most experienced of the party in terms of worldly matters, and is eager to dispense with his knowledge or wisdom when he feels it's necessary. He's got a goofy and accepting side, but he also won't hesitate to sternly correct what he views as self-destructive behavior.
• Unskilled, but Strong: His attacks are pretty wild, even by the standards of other users of Good Old Fisticuffs (to the point where two of his Mystic Artes are just him beating the crap out of someone). He's also the Mighty Glacier of the team.
• When He Smiles: Mostly when he's in proximity to treasure with history. When he does, it's adorable.
• Wipe the Floor with You: His second Mystic arte, the Howling Dragon has him dragging his hapless victim through a rocky place before blasting them away in a torrent of energy.
• Your Days Are Numbered: After being exposed to Theodora's malevolence, Eizen realizes he doesn't have long (by malak standards) before he becomes a dragon too.

Eleanor Hume

"Here I come!"

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (JP), Erica Mendez (EN)

"I won’t turn a blind eye to the consequences of my actions. I chose this path to seek the truth, not to deny it."

A naive, idealistic, but powerful exorcist with an unwavering drive to protect humanity from the dangers of daemons. Despite her affiliation with Abbey, she eventually joins Velvet in order to learn the truth behind the organization and the daemons. She wields a spear in battle.

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• Action Girl: Despite her meek demeanor, she's a Praetor level exorcist and highly skilled with a lance, as seen during her duel with Velvet. Eleanor nearly succeeds in defeating her without drawing on Laphicet's power.
• Always Someone Better: She has more knowledge on archaeology, antiques, and architecture than Eizen does. Several times she even reveals his facts to be wrong.
  • On the other side of this as well, when she mentions in a mid-game skit that no matter how often she sparred against Oscar or Teresa, she could never overcome the former's swordsmanship or the latter's malak artes.
• The Atoner:
  • She all but confirms this to Velvet towards the end of the game, in a more Downplayed example compared to Velvet. During a private scene between the two, Velvet dismissively suggests to "blame all the wickedness of the world" on her, but Eleanor immediately says no, because "We Exorcists are just as much at fault" for the state of the world. Her initial Blind Obedience to the Abbey is something she frequently brings up, and points out that she would've fully backed everything wrong about their methods had it not been for the party letting her know the truth. So her helping Velvet defeat Artorius and ultimately save the world from Innominat is her way to make up for her time as a loyal Praetor.
  • Part of the reason she views Kamoana as her responsibility is to atone for killing her mother. The other part of it is to atone for sacrificing her mother to survive, just as Kamoana sacrificed her mother.
• Awesomeness by Analysis:
  • Happened off screen, but conveyed nonetheless the second time she confronts the party. Eleanor reveals, without much prompt, that she figured out the High Priest was disguising a highly addictive drug as medicine in her investigation of Velvet's attempt to assassinate the High Priest, and even found out it was the High Priest who was being targeted by Velvet. Nevertheless, she still resolved to fight the party so the Abbey could put the High Priest on trial instead of allowing a party of daemons and outlaws to kill him. Its especially noteworthy given that Velvet and the group at the time figured it out by going out and doing various tasks that were connected to each other. By contrast, Eleanor kept track of their trail and aftermath and reached the same conclusion.
  • On a sillier note, she instantly realizes that Velvet's clothes are bizarre and impractical, and identifies several parts of it as being designed for people of entirely different body types than Velvet. She ultimately decides that Velvet must be keeping the clothes as a memento from a man, and is careful to treat the outfit with respect. The truth of course is that it's just a bunch of random junk Velvet found and hasn't cared to replace.
• Badass Adorable: Despite her unfortunate nickname ("crybaby exorcist") and approachable appearance, Eleanor is a very competent fighter.
• Badass and Child Duo: With Laphicet, as they have a pact together and she takes great care of him.
• Bad Liar: According to Laphicet, she starts sweating a lot when she lies. Even before she formally confessed to the party that she was planning to betray them, it turns out they'd already been suspicious of her. Laphicet consoles her by saying being bad at lying just means she's a good person.
• Benevolent Boss: Bienfu notes how Eleanor always treats him right unlike Magilou and was implied to have been this way with her other malakhim as well. While Eleanor saw malakhim as tools before her Character Development, she did not see them as expendable, unlike Teresa. This is shown when she's horrified at Velvet eating her tethered malakhim.
• Blind Obedience: She starts off fully believing that the Abbey and her leader were doing good in the world. After she is taken in by Velvet, she tries to steel herself to turn in Laphicet to them as ordered but can't deny the atrocities the Abbey has been doing behind her back. Ultimately, she completely averts this when she passes on an excellent opportunity to turn Laphicet in, defects from the Abbey, and commits to the party's cause.
• The Confidant: By late game, she's this to Velvet and vice-versa, seeing her as the only other sane adult in the party despite their initial antagonism. Case in point, Velvet trusts Eleanor to take care of Laphicet if anything were to happen to her. In an optional skit, Eleanor lampshades Velvet is all she's got in certain discussions.
• Cool Big Sis: Acts this way towards Laphicet and Kamoana.
• The Corruption: She made a pact with Laphicet in order to save him from falling to malevolence after Velvet's encounter with Artorius. Then during the sub quest to cure Kamoana's fever, she nearly succumbs to it herself even after she finally managed to exact her vengeance on the troll daemon that killed her mother.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Her village was destroyed and her mother was killed by a troll daemon when she was a child.
• Dude Magnet: Male NPCs hit on her the most. An elderly man even asks her to marry his son.
• Duel Boss: Her one-on-one fight with Velvet before she officially joins.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Was stuck with the name "Crybaby Exorcist" courtesy of Velvet.
• Establishing Character Moment: She's first seen weeping over a village that can't be protected by the Abbey. This first shows her naivete and blind devotion to the church (since the Abbey forced the village into isolation to begin with), but also that she truly is a compassionate person. It's also the first hint that, despite her skill and position, she doesn't quite fit in with the philosophy of the Abbey.
• Ethereal White Dress: Her exorcist outfit is predominantly white.
• Everyone Has Standards: It is ultimately why she aligns with Velvet's group.
  • She becomes disgusted by the Abbey's methods of sacrificing "one for the sake of many" and imposing their will on everyone.
  • She is further shocked when she finds out that Artorius is responsible for not only turning Velvet, his sister-in-law, into a Therion but also imprisoning her for three years.
  • She is also the most horrified by how the villagers of Aball sold out Velvet's family, resulting in the death of Velvet's older sister and Arthur's Start of Darkness.
• The Face: Because she's an exorcist, the party usually gets Eleanor to do most of the talking when it comes to civilians.
• Facepalm: This is a fairly common gesture of hers, generally placing it on her forehead. For example, in a skit...
  Rokurou: I've got it. You hate spinach, don't you?
  Eleanor: (facepalming) I suppose there's no point in denying it.
• Fiery Redhead: Despite trying to keep rational like the Abbey preaches, Eleanor is by nature an emotional person.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: She lives in a world where demons run rampant and kill people on a daily basis, spends the bulk of the game travelling with a woman whose arm can devour anything, a demon who's the younger brother of a high-ranking member of the organization she works for, two spiritual beings and a witch who may not even be human... and yet the idea of one of said spiritual beings spreading bad luck to everyone around him is initially too much for her to believe, to the point that no less than four skits are devoted to her skepticism on the matter.
• Foil: A skit is dedicated to discussing Eleanor's status as this to Velvet, where Bienfu describes the stark contrast between the two women, while Laphicet points out their similarities.
• Friend to All Children: While she is the kindest and most humane party member, she is especially friendly towards children as shown with her interactions with Laphicet and Kamoana.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: When Velvet is going through massive Sanity Slippage after their encounter with Innominat at Titania, going as far as to scream at and threaten Laphicet, she stands up to Velvet and slaps her straight across the face. While she isn't able to snap Velvet out of her Heroic BSoD completely, she manages to get her to calm down enough to fight.
• Girlish Pigtails: Which hide how long her hair really is (especially since it seems to be braided into the twin tails). They complement her prim and proper image as an exorcist, yet still indicate her feminine and sensitive soul.
• Greater-Scope Paragon: An In-Universe example, becoming the Shepherd after the events of Berseria.
• Heel–Face Turn: Eleanor originally opposes Velvet but later joins her after being trapped in the Earthpulse and Artorius tasking her with protecting Laphicet, eventually learning truths about the Abbey that lead her to rebel against it. Learning that Daemons, Malakhim, and humans are all the same is the final straw that leads her to accept that she and the Abbey are in the wrong.
• Hero Antagonist: Before her Heel–Face Turn she is this, as a genuinely heroic person who wants to protect people and simply didn't realize that the organization she served was more nefarious than she could have imagined. Once she puts the pieces together, she drops the 'Antagonist' part.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: After initially wanting her dead, and becoming a reluctant ally intending to betray the party, Eleanor bonds with Velvet anyway, and their odd pair slowly become friends the more they travel together and learn about each other. They bond early over Velvet's clothes in the "A Virtuous Spy" skit, and both go out of their way to be considerate of one another even when they're still at overall uneasy terms. Both become The Confidant to one another, with Velvet entrusting even her brother Laphicet to her, and Eleanor admitting in an optional skit that Velvet is "all I've got" when it comes to idle chat since the rest of the party is bonkers. They stand together in skits more often, they're more playful towards one another, they separately give You Are Not Alone speeches to each other, and the game even pokes fun at the "heterosexual" angle by invoking My Eyes Are Up Here to Eleanor in an achievement she gets while looking at Velvet.
• Horrible Judge of Character: For roughly half the game, Eleanor believes firmly that the higher-ups in the Abbey, especially Artorious, are the most righteous people in existence and the ones destined to save the world, despite knowing full well that their idea of salvation is the annihilation of an entire species simply for being what they are. This leads to her constantly making excuses for any blatantly bad thing they do and when faced with something they've done that she can't justify, she refuses to believe they would do such a thing. While her blind faith in them is understandable given that their way is all she's had to live by for most of her life, the fact that she still believes in them even after seeing Melchior turn a malak into a dragon (the very things the Abbey claim to be protecting the populace from) firmly puts her in this territory.
• Hypocrite: Before joining the party (and even a little bit after), Eleanor sometimes comes across as a self-righteous hypocrite who hides behind the Abbey's ideals to justify her actions or judge the rest of the party. A major example is when she claims that she's not the kind of woman who uses tears to manipulate others and despises duplicity... when she's currently attempting to build up trust with Laphicet (who despite being a malak, is a literal child) so she can capture him and bring him back to the Abbey, which is as manipulative and duplicitous as it gets. Part of her Character Development is acknowledging this and changing for the better. Lampshaded during her confession to a priest where she admits as such.
• Innocently Insensitive: While she was trying to be sweet when she called Laphicet "[her] little malak," Velvet irritably points out that exorcists usually enslave malaks, making her possessive term incredibly dark. Eleanor is distraught, and admits she was wrong and will do better.
• Interrupted Suicide: Before she joins the party, Eleanor forms a pact with Laphicet to save his life and becomes his vessel. Later, she challenges Velvet to a battle, swearing to follow her every command until her last breath should she lose. When she does lose, aware that Velvet would force her to join them and betray the Abbey, she tries killing herself with her own lance. However, Laphicet, who was inside her body at the time, stops her and makes her drop unconscious.
  Eleanor: I'll... I'll keep my word. I will follow your orders... To the day I die!
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: In-Universe. One side conversation reveals that in an official Abbey trading card game, her card was recalled after her defection and has become a priceless collector's item.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: On a regular basis, due to her default exorcist attire. She fights while garbed in regal looking white dress with gold trim and matching thigh-high boots.
• Lady of War: Her artes gives new meaning to "pole dancing", as she's easily the most proficient and fluid spear wielder in the 'Tales Of' series, to date. And she does it while garbed in white with gold trim.
• Leitmotif: Eleanor Hume. A melody comprised of strings, a harp, and a flute, it's one of the more peaceful songs in the game, highlighting that despite being an exorcist from the Abbey, Eleanor is still a good person at heart.
  • She also has her own unique remix of "The Will That Opposes Reason", which tones down the One-Woman Wail while adding a rock remix to the main music.
• Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Relies only on her own strength during her duel with Velvet, refusing to use Laphicet to help her fight. Unfortunately for her Velvet is a Combat Pragmatist, although she did manage to catch Velvet off-guard and could have won.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: The light to Velvet's dark.
• Magic Knight: Eleanor learns various elemental spells to go along with her spear techniques, as well as a few healing artes.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Played with. She has the best attack growth, but the worst arte attack growth. Despite this, she has access to martial artes and Malak artes, the latter of which depends solely on her arte attack.
• Meaningful Name: Eleanor means "light" and is associated with the same gem.
• Mirror Character:
  • Eleanor and Velvet are so much alike it's rather frightening. A kind young woman taught by her idol, Artorius, raised on his maxims and ideals, who is motivated by the horrific murder of a loved one. When she sees said murderer, she flies into a blind, unstoppable rage that cannot be stopped or quenched until the murderer is dead and buried. She grew disillusioned with her idol and those old ideals, and seeks to carve out her own identity based off her own free will. She feels immense guilt for killing someone who was only trying to protect a family member they loved, and seeks to atone for all the sins she feels she facilitated or committed no matter how small or how little agency she actually had in those same sins. She becomes a Cool Big Sis to Laphicet, just like Velvet; she is a Friend to All Children, just like Velvet; she enjoys cooking and cleaning, just like Velvet; and despite herself, develops an Odd Friendship with her total foils despite their enmity, just like Velvet.
  • This is even reflected in combat. While Rokurou and Eizen are both very-close-range fighters who excel against a single opponent, and both Laphicet and Magilou want to stand back and pelt with malak artes, Velvet and Eleanor provide the crowd control, swinging their weapons in wide arcs and handing out staggers and juggles that others can exploit. The best defense is a rapid offense in Tales games, and these two gals are the ones to dish it out. The main difference is in their Break Souls; Eleanor's is less powerful but isn't Cast from Hit Points, which arguably makes her better suited to take on bosses.
• Missing Mom: Lost her mother to daemons when she was eight years old.
• The Mole: Defied. Because she was entrusted with a mission by Artorius to bring Laphicet back into Abbey custody, the player is led to believe that Eleanor has been leaking information of Velvet's group to the Abbey to give them a step ahead, and most party members end up accusing her out of suspicion for this very reason. However, this slowly gets averted as Eleanor learns the truth of the Abbey's actions and undergoes a Heel–Face Turn, so she was never really responsible for leaking info in the first place. The game's resident Mole is actually Bienfu, who was under Melchior's Geas to secretly spy on the party unwillingly.
• Morality Pet: She has been on both sides of this trope.
  • Laphicet and Kamoana bring out her better side, especially as Kamoana reminds her of her younger self.
  • Alongside Laphicet, Eleanor is apparently one to Velvet. Magilou speculates that one of the reasons Velvet spared Kamoana was due to Eleanor.
• My Greatest Failure: She's indirectly responsible for Kamoana eating her own mother, Mahina. Eleanor fatally wounded Mahina, causing Mahina to sacrifice her own life to end Kamoana's rampage as a therion. Eleanor never truly forgives herself for this, though she admits she'll tell Kamoana the truth eventually.
• My God, What Have I Done?: She fatally wounds Mahina, which causes Mahina to turn to her therion daughter Kamoana and offer herself to satiate her hunger. This starts her complete Heel–Face Turn from the Abbey.
• Nice Girl: She's very kind and empathetic, with a strong sense of right and wrong, and often shows compassion for even those she dislikes or disagrees with. The party is especially perplexed by how polite and considerate she is even to them, a group of daemons and outlaws whom Exorcists find as lower than trash, and she's often the one who speaks in place of the party so they don't accidentally scare or weird people out. Even when she thought Malakhim were just mindless tools, she never once mistreated Bienfu, something he praises her for.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: As a praetor of the Abbey, Eleanor wears their uniform (even after she fully defects), but her blue jacket and hair ornaments are definitely not standard issue. The description of her default outfit states that the modifications to the uniform were officially approved.
• Not So Stoic: She tries to maintain the Abbey's protocol of prioritizing rationale above one's emotions. But her naivety and altruism tend to betray her, which makes her prone to emotional outbursts when distressed, or stammering when put on the spot.
• Odd Friendship: With the rest of the party, particularly Rokurou and Velvet. Being the stand up exorcist that she is, her association and genuine friendship with the rest is remarkable. It's especially noticeable with Velvet, because Eleanor is the future Shepherd, while Velvet is the original Lord of Calamity, the daemon lord that Shepherds are supposed to kill.^note Laphicet counts too, as most exorcists just see malakim as mere tools while Eleanor develops into a Cool Big Sis to him.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: As a native of Southgand, Eleanor regularly ate pengyon growing up. The rest of the party think this is absolutely barbaric and frequently ask how she could eat something so cute.
  Velvet: You'd eat that poor thing? Savage.
  Eleanor: You're one to talk, daemon.
  • It takes a long time before she escapes her crybaby reputation.
• Only Sane Man: In the party, she's the most empathetic member and is questioning a lot of things they do.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In an optional sidequest. When she finds the daemon that killed her mother, Eleanor goes absolutely ballistic, blindly charging into a battle with it and screaming in rage. Even after the beast is dead, Eleanor starts exuding so much malevolence that the party fears it will turn Laphicet into a dragon. Luckily, they talk her down before it gets that far.
• The Paladin: Let's count the ways. She's a holy knight for an organization that uses angelic analogs to empower themselves, much like how other Paladins use the divine might granted to them by the gods. She has access to some healing magic, and her job and specialty is fighting Daemons.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Although it's never seen happening, a skit reveals that she was apparently prone to fainting until she grew accustomed to Laphicet's powers.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  "Here it comes! Pierce! SPIRAL HAIL!"
  "Here it comes! Resound! Arise! Become the blade of destruction! LOSTFON DRIVE!"
  "Here it comes! The light of my conviction... will pierce even the heavens... to strike you down! GUNGNIR TWISTER!"
• The Promise: Prior to the final battle, Velvet confides in Eleanor that there's a good chance she might not survive the aftermath and asks her to look after Laphicet should anything happen to her. After Laphicet becomes the new Fifth Empyrean, Eleanor more or less does her best to fulfill this promise by becoming the new Shepherd.
• Prone to Tears: She cries pretty easily. Her Establishing Character Moment is when Eleanor almost cries due to the suffering of the people of a small wintry town, which makes Velvet call Eleanor the "Crybaby Exorcist" before learning her name. Even after Eleanor joins the group, her tendency to cry comes up every now and then.
• Proper Lady: The others repeatedly note that she's polite and well-mannered, despite the fact that they're Daemons, Malakhiem, and Therions, whom the rest of the Abbey looks down on.
• Punny Name: The Token Human of the group has the last name of Hume.
• Purity Personified: Which is why she was chosen to be Laphicet's vessel. At one point, Eizen notes that while most feign sincerity, that Eleanor's is genuine.
  Eizen: "To the Abbey, she's a traitor. Yet, that girl is bearing her shame with grace in order to search for the truth."
• Rage Breaking Point: Once she sees the troll that attacked her village and killed her mother, she drops all pretenses of civility and unleashes her fury on the monster. After the battle is over, she's still exuding huge amounts of malevolence, to the point that the party has to talk her down before both she and Laphicet are lost to it.
  Eleanor: You killed my mother! I hate you! I HATE YOU!
  Laphicet: Eleanor! Calm down!
  Velvet: I don't think she can hear you right now!
• Recurring Boss: She has to be fought three times before she joins the party for good - first in Port Zekson, second in the Loegres Villa, and the last time in the Yvolt Ruins, against Velvet alone.
• Relative Button: A subquest later in the game reveals that deep down, she really wants revenge on the troll daemon that killed her mother; she just bottles it up very well. When Eleanor finally encounters the troll daemon again, the bottle becomes uncorked, and Eleanor promptly loses it. Even after killing it, Eleanor's exuding so much malevolence from her hatred that it takes the rest of the party to talk her down before she becomes lost to it.
• Rock Theme Naming: She shares her name with a precious gemstone also called "Eleanor" that her Doomed Hometown had previously passed down and guarded for generations.
• Scars Are Forever: She has a large scar on her chest from the incident where she lost her mother.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
  • When she intercepts the party, it's revealed she took the liberty of investigating into the nectar that Gideon was distributing, and intended to arrest him (her superior) after thwarting his assassination.
  • This mentality ultimately culminates with Eleanor defecting from the Abbey and joining Velvet's group permanently. She ostensibly travels with them at first because she's defected, but the rest of the team can tell that Eleanor is an obvious spy. But after seeing the atrocities that the Abbey is committing, and learning that Shepherd Artorius is planning to create a World of Silence by stifling all emotion from every human being on the planet, Eleanor's conviction to do the right thing leads her to actually defect.
• Ship Tease: With both Rokurou and Velvet.
• Significant Green Eyed Red Head: She becomes the first "true" Shepherd in history. Funnily enough, one of her Mystic Artes (Lost Fon Drive) was once exclusive to the green-eyed redhead in Tales of the Abyss.
• Simple, yet Awesome: Despite being the last character unlocked for play, Eleanor has, by far, the easiest playstyle to learn. Though she lacks Velvet's Water Snake's Wake, which gives Velvet the best rushdown option in the game for closing in on foes, Eleanor otherwise has an easy time matching Velvet's attacks blow-for-blow and is built to easily combo enemies. Eleanor's power as a playable character isn't diminished by her simplicity, and she still rewards players for learning how to use her properly. Of particular note is that her Break Souls are also the least complicated in the game to utilize, as all three are effectively just attacks with no strings attached beyond giving Eleanor air combos, as opposed to someone like Rokurou who needs to actively find enemies to counter to get anything out of his Break Soul. This also means Eleanor has the easiest third-level Mystic Arte in the game to activate, since she simply needs to combo into all three of her Break Soul attacks, whereas her allies have to fulfill complex conditions to trigger their own final Mystic Artes; Magilou's, for example, is luck-dependent, and Eizen actively needs to down his foes first.
• Sixth Ranger: The last member of the team to join.
• Spin Attack: Most of her attacks involve her twirling her spear and in one arte herself a lot, often with only one hand.
• Stock "Yuck!": She doesn't like spinach. Justified as she used to like it when she was little, but tasting sale'tomah ruined spinach for her forever.
• Straight Man: Eleanor is often this to everyone else, who take turns at playing the Funny Man.
• Sparing the Aces: Initially, Velvet and Eizen allow her to become Laphicet's vessel only to save his life in a pinch. Velvet later asks Magilou to take him instead so they can drop Eleanor, but she refuses by using Bienfu as an excuse and claiming that not even she can handle a malak as powerful as Laphicet. Ultimately, the party is forced to accept her as the ideal vessel for Laphicet and accommodate her accordingly.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Bienfu has never blown on her tears to dry them before, never. It never happened.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Between her dress style, the conflicts she faces over the game and her Nice Girl / Proper Lady personality, Eleanor can easily be seen as an apology to those who were disappointed about Alisha not being a permanent party member. Ironic, considering she's implied to be an ancestor of Rose.
• Tender Tears: The first time she ever met Velvet, she had tears in her eyes and was promptly mocked as a "crybaby exorcist". It gets a little better after she joins the party, but she can't really escape it. In the endgame, she cries for Rokurou after Velvet absorbs Shigure, and again when she witnesses Velvet committing her Heroic Sacrifice and entering a Deep Sleep to seal Innominat.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Part of her character arc once she enters the party. She tries to balance her loyalty to the Abbey with her need to figure out the truth and fight evil. Once she sees what the Abbey is doing in Palamides temple and the resulting chaos the party is forced to cause, she firmly chooses good, while still keeping with the lawful mentality about what comes next after making that deciscion; she is still following the precepts of the Abbey and continuing to do right with the skills the Abbey has given her, she just refuses to follow the corrupt officials.
• Token Good Teammate: Invoked and Justified. For the Abbey before her Heel–Face Turn, as a genuine Hero Antagonist, and then for the party afterwards. The party make sure to invoke this as well, knowing that Laphicet needs a pure vessel to dwell in, and they make sure to ensure she never falls into the same potential darkness some of them already have.
• Token Human: While everyone else looks human, amongst a party of two daemons (Velvet and Rokurou), two Malakhim (Laphicet and Eizen), and an Ambiguously Human (Magilou), Eleanor is the only one who was either born human or remained human her entire life (unless her tenure as a Shepherd ended with her becoming a Seraph, as was implied with Sorey much later).
• Token Wholesome: Compared to Velvet's super bare outfit and Magilou's shoulder-exposing top and book miniskirt combo, Eleanor is very modestly dressed. Even her DLC costumes, including the swimsuit, are rather modest compared to the other two females'.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Velvet's Tomboy.
• Tragic Keepsake: Her mother's compact mirror.
• Tritagonist: She starts off as an enemy to the party before she eventually is forced to transition to an 'uneasy' ally after she becomes Laphicet's vessel. Throughout the game, she learns more about how the Abbey isn't as ideal as she thought it was and becomes loyal to Velvet's group. Towards the end of the game, she becomes Velvet's confidante. She becomes the Shepherd following the events of the game, and it is revealed she gave Laphicet the true name Maotelus.
• True Blue Femininity: Her jacket is blue, her hair decorations are blue, and some of her DLC outfits are blue.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: In her side quest, she reveals a giant troll with a big club killed her mother, stole the jewel her family protected, and wiped out her village. She finally gets payback, but feels... nothing. What she thought would be triumph was only hollow, and indeed, malevolence starts emanating from her body once she realizes the anger she displayed at the troll is the exact same anger Kamoana would feel at her for killing her mother. She said she wouldn't blame Kamoana for trying to kill her, but admits she would probably still try to defend herself to the death if Kamoana attacked her, and she hates herself for it. It takes quite a while before both Velvet and Rokurou calm her down after reading a letter on how to take care of Kamoana by Mahina. She recovers and accepts full responsibility for taking care of Kamoana in Mahina's place.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Eleanor curses herself for being emotionally and psychologically weak because of her inability to keep a clear mind or keep her heart in order after killing the troll who clubbed her mom to death. Velvet disagrees, saying she's plenty strong as she is now. Eleanor is caught off guard and presses for a clearer answer, but Velvet says it's the things she doesn't know that give her strength that makes her strong.
• You Are Not Alone: Prior to the battle with the Legates, Eleanor talks to Velvet privately on the Van Eltia. When Velvet tells her that she can just blame everything on the 'Lord of Calamity', Eleanor insists that Velvet doesn't have to shoulder all the burden on her own, much to Velvet's surprise. She makes it clear that despite what Velvet's done, plenty of other people, including the exorcists, are equally to blame for the state of the world.

Bienfu

"Bieeeeen!"

Voiced by: Naomi Nagasawa (JP), Monica Rial (EN)

"The bad bad days are here again!"

An Abbey Malak that stands out for having his own free will, first seen accompanying Eleanor. He has a history with Magilou.

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• Broken Pedestal: Played for laughs with Eleanor having her opinion of him sour a bit after the incident in Covert Pervert.
• Butt-Monkey: Magilou's favorite pastime is mocking or belittling him, and a lot of other characters don't hold a particularly high opinion of him. The only ones who don't pick on him are Laphicet and Eleanor (and the former notes that even the latter treats him coldly sometimes). This extends to the Abbey trading card game, where Bienfu is just a common Rank 1 card.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: Blabs secrets about others in public, embarrassing Eleanor when he mentions having previously blown away her tears. It ends up being subtle foreshadowing when he was leaking secrets to the Abbey.
• Catchphrase: "Bien" or "Bad".
• Covert Pervert: When Laphicet asks him what kind of books he reads in a skit, it turns out he prefers such titles as "How to Talk a Human Female into Becoming Your Vessel" and "Physically Escalating with Cuties". Eleanor is not amused. In another, it turns out he has even more of such books stored away.
• Cowardly Lion: Despite being terrified of Innominat, Bienfu insists on sticking with the party in order to protect Magilou. This shows he can live up to his Normin name of Breyve in a pinch.
• Chubby Chaser: Implied. Bienfu seems to have a thing for Morgrim, because while describing her to the party, he notes that she is fairly attractive and popular among Malakhim, even to himself. He goes out of his way to insist that Morgrim is not "fat", she's "chubby".
• Foreshadowing: He's seen briefly with sylphjays off to the side away from the group before he's revealed to be The Mole.
• Geas: Placed under one by Melchior that forces him to spy on the party.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Part of what took a long while before everyone caught on to his Mole status, given the group was suspicious of Eleanor's loyalty due to being a former exorcist and Magilou's questionable behavior. Rokurou lampshaded it by comparing to hiding a tree in a forest.
• Ironic Name: His true Normin name is revealed to be Breyve (Brave). The party certainly doesn't let the irony of such a name be forgotten.
• Meaningful Name: If written with the right characters in Chinese, "Bienfu" can mean "bat," which matches his dark colors and wings on his back.
• The Mole: He's the game's traitor and provides the Exorcists with information about the group's travels. Justified, as he has a geas placed upon him by Melchior.
• Ocular Gushers: Whenever he gets upset, which happens rather frequently.
• Out of Focus: Despite being a fairly important character, Bienfu slowly moves into the background of the story as time goes on. In fact, the last major event he is involved in is Magilou finding out he's The Mole. After that, Bienfu is relegated to only appearing in skits with no impact on the story.
• Pokémon Speak: He exclaims "Bien!" as a Verbal Tic when surprised or shocked or excited.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Laphicet seems to think so when he first meets him.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Teases Eleanor about how Eizen's Reaper's Curse has resulted in multiple unfortunate disasters. Eizen not only informs him they're true, but that there were actually more casualties than he mentioned.
• Sixth Ranger Traitor: Bienfu is forced via a geis to supply the Abbey with information on Velvet's party's movements.
• Undying Loyalty: To Eleanor. Even after being forced back into a contract with Magilou, he still addresses Eleanor as Madam Eleanor and is very fond of her. Though he is first and foremost loyal to Magilou, having known her since she was a child and taken care of her after she was discarded by Melchior.