Characters / Tales Of Zestiria The Shepherds Group

Main Character Index | The Shepherds Group | The Antagonists | Other Characters

---

Heroes

Shepherd Sorey

Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (JP), Robbie Daymond (EN), Bryce Papenbrook (EN, Season 2 simuldub Episode 5 to 7)

"Though I'm not sure that counts as an answer, I now know what path I want to take."

Sorey is a kindhearted young man with a strong fascination with ancient ruins. He was raised by the Seraphim in Elysia, and due to his high levels of spirit energy, he is able to interact with them. Due to becoming a Shepherd after entering into a pact with Lailah, Sorey holds the power to calm the Hellion. In battle, he wields a one-handed sword and is able to fuse together with the Seraphim in a process called Armatization.

---

• Adaptational Badass: In the anime he's able to purify dragons, though the cost in doing so can be really draining to him.
• Adventurer Archaeologist: One of the reasons why he becomes the Shepherd is to explore ruins across the world. On top of that, an entire gameplay mechanic involves finding unique discoveries and stone slabs.
• All-Loving Hero: Played With. Even when someone starts off an enemy, Sorey will do everything in his power to help them or save them. Once he becomes the Shepherd and gains the power to purify Hellions it's clear he wants to use it to save them. He even states his desire for humans and Seraphim to live together. However, it's often pointed out that the burden of saving everyone is too much for even the greatest Shepherds, leading to some of them turning into Hellions. It's also noted that Shepherds can't afford to get too involved in politics or helping with every problem, since doing so will cause people to depend on them too much or cause them to take advantage of the Shepherd. There are also many problems beyond the Shepherd's capability, such as dealing with enemies who either cannot be purified or have no Malevolence to begin with. In the end, Sorey has to accept the limits of how much he can help people as a Shepherd while never losing his compassion, as shown when he is able to Mercy Kill Heldalf despite the latter's transgressions.
• Ambiguously Gay: His relationship with Mikleo hits a lot of the same notes as previous chastity couples in the Tales series, with the Tales staff even referring to Mikleo as "his one and only". He is also canonically not attracted to any of his female comrades and is confused at the idea of finding naked women attractive. His description of Mikleo's appearance in the novel is also downright romantic:
  Sorey flicked a glance at Mikleo who was walking by his side. Hair the color of pale aquamarine, skin so fair as to seem translucent, sophisticated violet eyes. Even from his prospective, Sorey thought there was a beauty to Mikleo that would draw the eyes of others.
• Ascended Fanboy: Sorey grew up reading about tales of the Shepherds in the Celestial Record. Now he is one.
• Bad "Bad Acting": At one point he and Rose have to pretend to be a married couple to get past Sergei. Sorey completely freezes up, and the Seraphim have to tell him what to say and move his limbs around so he doesn't blow it. It's completely unbelievable, but Sergei eats it up.
• Badass Adorable: He's a complete geek who is very pumped to be the Shepherd and work towards his dreams. Also, capable of taking on armies.
• Badass Bookworm: Likes to read, shown that his house is filled with books, and he's no slouch when it comes to fighting.
• Badass Cape: He receives an outfit from Alisha that was patterned on the clothes worn by previous Sheperds, and it includes an awesome white cape that immediately changes his appearance from bumbling commoner to savior.
• Bad Liar: His kindhearted nature and sheltered upbringing makes him a very poor liar, as seen when when Sergei questions him in Lastonbell.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: He wins his Duel Boss with Heldalf when both use their Lion's Howl arte.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Sorey is probably the nicest character in the game, but when he finds out Lucas' group is in danger of being killed he literally rends the battlefield apart to keep them safe, and it's terrifying.
  • In the anime, when confronted with a hellion who tried to murder Alisha, all of the seraphim were afraid he had lost it.
• Blow You Away: While Armatized with Dezel or later Zaveid he can use wind magic.
• Brainy Brunette: Brown-haired and quite intelligent.
• Can't Drop the Hero: Will always participate in battle. Justified since the seraphim need a human to channel their purification powers.
• Chaste Hero: The head scenario writer stated that Sorey was specifically written to be both incompatible with and disinterested and completely unattracted to all of the female characters and women in general. Sorey could be this or he could be a case of him simply having Single-Target Sexuality since the only person that Sorey ever expresses any attraction to is Mikleo, and it's been teased both ways.
• Childhood Friends: He and Mikleo were raised together in Elysia, which is part of why the two are close.
• Child of Two Worlds: He was born in a human village, but was raised by the Seraphim.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Deconstructed. Sorey becomes the shepherd partially because he wants to help people, and his job as a Shepherd gives him this as a duty. However, during his journey he learns that he can't save everyone and he shouldn't try to do so because if he does he'll only run himself ragged and fail to help anyone.
• Combat Stilettos: When armatized, like Rose.
• Crush Filter: The novel reveals he has one firmly in place towards Mikleo.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not as much as Mikleo or Edna but he has his moments, particularly towards Lailah and Rose.
• Deep Sleep: After purifying Maotelus, he has to sleep for centuries while Maotelus uses his body as a vessel to recover. The manga reveals that during their sleep, they can converse together and Maotelus thanks Sorey, telling him everything about what happened in Berseria.
• Deus ex Machina: In the anime his being able to purify dragons, especially after his initial success without being a heavy cost to him and armatize with all four seraphim at once with little to no effect after the initial execution came without any, or very little, build up.
• Dishing Out Dirt: When Armatized with Edna he can use earth magic.
• Doomed Hometown: More like Doomed Birthplace, Sorey, along with Mikleo, is actually from Camlann, the village where the worst age began.
• Elemental Powers: By default, he has Shock and Awe, as evidenced by his Mystic Artes (Bolt Tempest and Divine Wrath) and the four elements through some of his martial and hidden artes. By fusing with the Seraphim through Armatization, Sorey focuses on one of the main four elements of magic.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Sorey is a human who lived with Seraphim all his life. He has never been out of Elysia until after his encounter with Lunarre. Again in the epilogue, where he wakes up after being asleep for hundreds of years.
• Forgets to Eat: When he gets really, really into something he forgets to eat.
• Friendly Tickle Torture: How he and Mikleo make up after a fight.
• Fusion Dance: Armitization allows him to temporarily fuse with the Seraphim party members.
• Geeky Turn-On: Absolutely adores exploring anything that's ancient and will divert conversations when he has the chance to study them.
• Goal in Life: Make a world where humans and seraph can live in harmony, just like they did in ancient times.
• Happily Adopted: By Zenrus, whom he calls Gramps.
• Heroic Bastard: The manga heavily implies that Heldalf is his father, and that Sorey is an illegitimate child. The game also subtly implies this as well as Muse expresses surprise that Selene was pregnant. There's also the Discovery Point skit for Heldalf's portrait in the Knights' Tower in Pendrago, where Sorey tells Rose how Heldalf "looks the same age as our dads, don't you think?", which was a weird statement coming from Sorey, who grew up without parents in a village populated only by Seraphim.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Puts himself to sleep for hundreds of years after absorbing Maotelus to purify the malevolence within Maotelus.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: As seen with almost every Tales title, he's the protagonist and wields a sword.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Zigzagged. At the start of the story, very few people believe he's actually the Shepherd and is rather just a pretending upstart. This actually brings him into conflict with the Shattered Bones for a time, as they believe he's "pretending" in order to purposefully drum up panic, since the Shepherd is said to only appear whenever a great disaster is about to happen. Averted in the anime.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: It's pretty much a central point on how Sorey is too pure for this world; it's his job to make a tainted world pure again. Just listen to the opening song. Justified by the fact that if Sorey does ever begin to fall into malevolence, he'd easily risk corrupting the Seraphim with him and risk becoming another Lord of Calamity.
• Interspecies Friendship: With the inhabitants of Elysia as well as his traveling companions.
• In the End, You Are on Your Own: During the Final Boss, after the Seraph party members sacrifice themselves, he makes it so Rose has no choice but to escape without him. He then proceeds to finish off Heldalf himself.
• I Shall Return: Essentially says this to Mikleo the night before they enter the final dungeon. He knows that after defeating Heldalf and absorbing Maotelus he'll have to disappear for a few hundred years, and tells Mikleo that as long he remembers their promise to explore new ruins together they'll be together again one day. They do.
• Just a Kid: A woman mentions he's younger than she expected, and he's been called a kid several times by NPCs. This becomes a bit of a Tear Jerker when you think about the many things Sorey has to go through when he's only 17.
• Leitmotif: He has two: "Purity" and "The Shepherd". The former is even incorporated into the game's three battle themes.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Put him next to anything related to ruins or ancient history and watch the fireworks fly.
• Like an Old Married Couple: His bickering with Mikleo comes across as this.
• Making a Splash: While Armatized with Mikleo he can use water magic.
• Messianic Archetype: Saviour of the world? Check. Group of devoted friends/followers? Check. Sacrifices himself (albeit temporarily) to save the world? Check.
• Morton's Fork: As the Shepherd, Sorey is expected to follow certain rules (like staying out of wars) for the greater good. He's also required to have a pure heart so that he doesn't get filled with malevolence and destroy the world. Unfortunately, these two priorities can come into conflict, such as when Hyland takes Alisha hostage to force Sorey into fighting Rolance. In such cases, his Seraphim companions may push him into following his conscience, since the consequences of Sorey gaining guilt-based malevolence would be even worse than breaking the rules.
• Nice Guy: Is very friendly and helpful, to the point of inviting Alisha, who didn't tell him her name at first, into his own home to rest - all because, in his own words, he can't leave someone in need alone.
• No One Could Survive That!: Sorey's mother, Selen, was killed in Camlann's massacre, but her prematurely born baby was still alive by the time Gramps arrived, and he saved him while it still wasn't sure if he would survive due to being born under such circumstances. The very fact that Sorey managed to live is a miracle in itself.
• One-Man Army: As The War Sequence shows, no ordinary person can stand up to him, and soon enough most Hellions aren't much either. Of course, he's not technically alone, but to those watching it sure looks that way.
• Only One Name: The first Tales hero to not have a surname.
  • Which makes sense since he doesn't have any human relatives and was raised by the Seraphim all his life and they don't have family surnames either. His Mother's first name is the only family name the viewer even learns.
  • In the manga the heavy hints to Georg Heldalf being his father means that, if he wasn't illegitimate, Heldalf would be his surname.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the final Dungeon he and Mikleo are both focused and determined, with no geek out moments about the location their in. The others are sure it's because they don't want to think about Gramps.
• Out of Focus: Downplayed and justified in the anime. Half of the season is focused on Alisha and Rose, due to the two of them receiving an expanded role in the anime, while the other half focuses on Sorey.
• Playing with Fire: While Armatized with Lailah he can use fire magic.
• Power at a Price: Anime-Only. Due to the fact that anime Sorey absorbs malevolence instead of burning it away like he does in the game, there are benefits and consequences of becoming a Squire to the Shepherd. While a Squire may be able to see and combat malevolence, should the Shepherd die, all Squires die with them. Having more Squires can be beneficial to the Shepherd when purifying malevolence, though the risk of the Shepherd and Squire dying is there if they are still overdosed.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When Armatized Sorey's hair grows extremely long and changes color.
• Psychometry: In the anime, purifying malevolence involves taking it on himself, so the first time he tries to purify a human, he's blindsided by the emotions and memories of what caused that person's corruption and collapses.
• Really 700 Years Old: After waking up, in the ending.
• Ship Tease: With Mikleo. The two have many scenes together showing how close they are, amongst other hints.
• Signature Headgear: Feather earrings which change appearance when he fuses.
• Sleep Cute: Gets one with Rose in a skit, though the fact that they're both drooling with their mouths wide open might put a damper on the "cute" factor. But it is still cute in a childish sort of way.
• Sole Survivor: Along with Mikleo and Mikleo's mother, they were the only ones to survive Camlann's massacre.
• Strong Family Resemblance: In the manga at the least Sorey is noted by Heldalf to greatly resemble his mother Selene.
• Temporary Blindness: He goes blind in his right eye temporarily.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: In the anime Sorey very much has this attitude to the point where he doesn't kill Heldalf in the end this is subverted quite a bit in the manga and as for the game see Violence Really Is the Answer for more details.
• Took a Level in Badass: From the very start, his goal is to be able to face off against the Lord of Calamity and works towards becoming that strong. He does it.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Apparently Sorey's favorite food is vanilla ice cream because that was what Mikleo would make for him when he became too engrossed in reading books to remember to eat.
• Tranquil Fury: During The War Sequence. Unbelievably pissed off? Check. Unnatural calm and composed? Check. One very traumatized army? Also check.
• Unskilled, but Strong: He never had formal training, that said, his power as a Shepherd (and ability to Armatize) makes him able to take out armies. This is downplayed when he manages to defeat Sergei, a highly-trained captain. On one hand, he doesn't use Armatization and Sergei's entry states that Sorey has to defend and look for openings. On the other hand, at least one bestiary entry implies that being a Shepherd makes him stronger than normal humans even without Armatization.
• Violence Really Is the Answer: He spends the game as a Technical Pacifist, using his power to beat hellions down and purge the malevolence that had transformed them, but refusing to kill. He is forced to question whether his unwillingness to kill is really the best way, especially when he has party members who will finish enemies off, even right in front of him. It's not really whether he's right or wrong, though, but whether the strength of his convictions is firm enough to handle the day he has to kill someone - particularly the Lord of Calamity - without shaking him so much that it lets malevolence infect him. In the end, Sorey ultimately kills the Lord of Calamity without falling to malevolence, doing it because he understands there truly is no other option and not because he discarded his principles for the sake of revenge.
• Younger Than They Look: Downplayed, but he still looks a bit older than 17 years old.

Tropes associated with Arc 6 of Tales of Asteria:

"As long as they both live, humans and seraphim will continue to fight. The only way to break the binds of negativity is for everything to cease to exist. That is why I chose to become the Lord of Calamity."

A version of Sorey from an Alternate Universe known as a Fractured Dimension, where the seraphim suddenly became visible to humans. After disasters struck, humanity blamed the seraphim and two races went to war. Soon after, Sorey became corrupted by a black mist. He was briefly sealed away by Mikleo at his own request, but hundreds of years later, the seal breaks and he becomes the Lord of Calamity.

---

• Big Bad Duumvirate: He's colluding with Schwartz to fuel the war between seraphim and humans, despite appearing to be leaders of opposing sides, as Schwartz gains her power from the negative emotions of war and Sorey plans on eventually taking that power for himself.
• Cynicism Catalyst: In the ensuing war between the seraphim and humanity, he sees the deaths of Edna and his and Mikleo's hometown of Elysia, including their adoptive parental figure Zenrus. This combined with the mysterious Black Mist causes him to lose himself in anger and grief.
• Evil Costume Switch: After he's unsealed, he discards his Shepherd's garb for a black and purple outfit decked out in daggers, reminiscent of Heldalf.
• Evil Former Friend: He is Mikleo's childhood friend and still cares for him, refusing to fight him.
• Fallen Hero: Corruption by the Black Mist causes him to go from the moral Shepherd eager to save the world to the Lord of Calamity who's trying to kill all humans.
• Misanthrope Supreme: After seeing the deaths of his seraph friends and family at the hands of humans, he decides to destroy humanity to protect the seraphim. However, he does not exclude himself and states he too will die after he's accomplished his goal.
  Sorey: If there aren't any humans, nothing will be able to hurt the seraphim again. You would never again feel the loss of a friend like Edna or anyone else.
  Mikleo: So then... You would get rid of all of them? You're of that world too!
  Sorey: Yes, once the war ends. I will not spare any human from destruction.
• Older Than They Look: He's been asleep for hundreds of years before the seal breaks.
• Perpetual Frowner: A contrast to his original self, Sorey's default artworks always show him frowning with a glare. Though does smile more often than Mikleo, but it tends to be condescending or sinister.

Seraph Mikleo

Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka (JP), Michael Johnston (credited as "Philip Lamont" in the anime) (EN), Aaron Dismuke (EN anime, simuldub episode 9)

^{Click here to see Epilogue Mikleo}

"So what are you asking me to do? Stand around behind you and twiddle my thumbs? I didn't come along just to be a liability for you!"

A young Water Seraph who was raised together with Sorey from childhood, being his closest friend as well as his rival. He wields a staff and water-based seraphic artes in battle, and is the party's main healer. His true name is Luzrov Rulay, which means "Mikleo the Enforcer."

---

• Adventurer Archaeologist: He rivals Sorey on Archaeological knowhow.
• Ambiguously Gay: He has plenty of scenes showing how close he and Sorey are to each other. He is a pivotal driving force of Sorey's character development and they have been repeatedly teased by Lailah and their Seraphim companions about their incredibly close relationship. Heck, even his English voice actor supports the pairing via Word of Saint Paul. While in the anime their build-up is less obvious due to some changes and adjustments to the story, the fight scene with Heldalf at the end of season 2 heavily implies Sorey and Mikleo have romantic tension if simply due to the fact that Alisha, the only other person to get an extended warm friendship scene with Sorey in season 1 and the other main character to have apparent ship tease with him, is actually there in this version, but isn't the one who has the heartbreaking separation dialogue with him. (Spoilers: Mikleo does.) Alisha instead gets a moment with Rose.
• Badass Bookworm: Rivals with Sorey on book smarts; they clash often, especially when looking at ruins. He's actually mentioned to be MORE world-smart than Sorey, because he knew Sorey would have to leave their home one day and explore the world and he spent a lot of time studying up on it so that he would be prepared to help him.
• Butt-Monkey: He is usually a subject of the party's antics due to his serious attitude.
• Childhood Friends: He and Sorey were raised together in Elysia, which is part of why the two are close.
• Combat Medic: Although all Seraphim can heal, he tends to be the most efficient one on a single target due to his high healing multipliers, good Arte Attack, and Resilient Aid boosting the Arte Defense of the target (which determines how much healing they receive). His Armatized form's heal is especially insane, with more than twice as much healing power as others as well as curing all status and granting temporary immunity. An unusual example for the series, being that he's a male spellcaster who acts as the game's main healer.
  • He's also not the first male to be relied on for healing since Hisui was the main healer for Tales of Hearts. The game mechanics also work in his favor as a single target healer since the battlefields can be so large that area of effect spells wouldn't be as effective like in previous games. But he also takes more after Kohaku since he is a healer, spellcaster, and a bit of a martial artist mixed into one.
• Deadpan Snarker: One of the biggest, particularly towards Sorey and his idealism, Lailah's Cloudcuckoolander tendencies when she can't tell the others something and the rest of the party's eccentricities.
• Demoted to Extra: Despite being the Deuteragonist in the game, in the anime he is pushed to the sidelines in favor of other characters like Alisha and Rose. Even Alisha's loyal knights have more screen time and a prominent role than he does in the anime. He even ends up being pushed to the side in his own backstory where besides a quick shot of his circlet (which is already easy to miss as it's almost always hidden under his hair), there is no explicit confirmation that he is the baby Michael sacrificed to curse Heldalf, and no one calls attention to it. Made even worse as he doesn't even seem to learn of this fact, as only Sorey and Lailah see Heldalf's memories in the heat of battle.
• Deuteragonist: He's been with Sorey the longest, their relationship is part of what helps with Sorey's Character Development and, in general, is one of the characters that has more focus in the story besides Sorey.
  • Plus there is also the fact that his family - more specifically, his uncle - was the one that started the Age of Chaos and the main plot of the game.
• Doomed Hometown: More like Doomed Birthplace, Sorey, along with Mikleo, is actually from Camlann, the village where the worst age began.
• Eating Optional: As with all Seraphim. However, he and the rest of the inhabitants of Elysia started eating regularly to help Sorey feel normal.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Blue tips for his water/ice powers.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Edna calls hims Meebo, while Zaveid calls him Mickey.
• Face Palm: He does this a lot, but considering what he has to work with...
• Facial Horror: In the Iris Gem showing the pillaging of Camlann, Michael pulls baby Mikleo out of a fire and his reaction implies that Mikleo was horribly burned. Though his appearance was restored once he became a seraph.
• Friendly Tickle Torture: How he and Sorey make up after a fight.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: A skit reveals that Mikleo would make ice cream for Sorey since they were young so that explains why Mikleo has the highest level for dessert making.
• Geeky Turn-On: Just like Sorey, Mikleo adores exploring ruins, though he's slightly more composed about dwelling into that topic whenever it's brought up.
• Goal in Life: Shares Sorey's dream of creating a world where seraph and humans can live in peace. They actually get into a fight about this at the beginning of the game which ends with Mikleo reminding Sorey that it's THEIR dream, not just Sorey's.
• Happily Adopted: By Zenrus, whom he calls Gramps.
• Height Angst: He's accused of being bitter about Sorey growing so much taller than him. Speaking with one of the seraphim during a side quest in Elysia reveals that Mikleo actually chose to use a staff as his weapon to outreach Sorey. He denies it vehemently in an after battle skit with Dezel, however.
• Hidden Depths: He admits to wanting to write a book on his adventures with Sorey and the party in one skit
• Ice Magic Is Water: He uses ice artes, though they're not as prominent as his water artes. Coincidentally, he is skilled with making cold treats.
• Improbable Weapon User: While staves are an actual weapon type, Dezel finds it odd that Mikleo uses his staff as a club. Look further below for an explanation.
• Interspecies Friendship: With Sorey, him being the only human Mikleo will trust at first.
• Ironic Fear: Despite being a water seraph, he can't swim and needs to use a floatie. This doesn't apply to the anime, though.
• I Will Wait for You: He knows that Sorey will have to disappear for a few hundred years at the end of the game, and vows to wait as long as it takes for him to return.
• Just a Kid: Edna and Zaveid constantly call him a kid. Like for Sorey, it's a bit of a Tear Jerker when you think about what he has to go through at such a young age.
• Like an Old Married Couple: His bickering with Sorey comes across as this.
• The Load: Defied as his quote above demonstrates. He refuses to sit back and do nothing when Sorey is in danger.
• Locked into Strangeness: As a seraph reincarnated from a human, he lost his original hair color upon being reborn, gaining the unnatural hair colors of a water seraph. As his mother and uncle both have brown hair, it's likely he had a similar color.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: In the epilogue.
• Longing Look: Gives one to the place where Sorey is sleeping in one of the ending cards for the Alisha DLC.
• Magic Staff: His chosen weapon. It turns out to be a bit of an Improbable Weapon for him due to being a seraph and not taking advantage of the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, as Edna explains every other elemental seraph in the party uses a weapon that signifies the subordinate element they're strong against: Lailah (fire) uses paper cards (wind), Dezel (wind) has earthen materials in his pendulum (earth), and Edna (earth) uses a parasol (water). Mikleo's staff is of earth which is strong than water. She then goes on to explain that because he's doing things the hard way that if he CAN gain mastery over it then he'd become incredibly powerful.
• Making a Splash: Specializes in water artes.
• Mark of the Supernatural: Due to being a Water seraph, he has white hair with blue tips.
• Mystical White Hair: Complete with blue tips, fitting to his water element.
• Older Than They Look: Double Subverted. He looks like he's around 18 years old and, in fact, is which draws comments from the others as it is unusual for Seraph, especially since he was raised and grew up at a normal rate with Sorey which is likely because he reincarnated as a baby into a seraph. This makes his Just a Kid status more poignant as he is basically a baby in Seraph years. However, in the epilogue he's a few hundred years old, and has even purposefully slowed down his physical growth so he won't be unrecognizable to Sorey once he wakes up.
• Only Sane Man: He usually plays the role of a straight man or voice of reason whenever the party is being humorous or weird.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the final Dungeon he and Sorey are both focused and determined, with no geek out moments about the location their in. The others are sure it's because they don't want to think about Gramps.
• Pretty Boy: The biggest pretty boy out of the cast. It's a bit hard at first to tell he's even a guy until you see his full character model. Sorey spends a good amount of the first chapter of the novel waxing poetic about how beautiful he finds Mikleo, even going so far as to lament the fact that no one else can see him and his beauty.
• Purple Is Powerful: He has purple eyes. For a Water Seraph that is noted to be powerful despite his young age and with lots of potential on top of that. Also was the sacrifice used to curse Heldalf, resulting in him becoming the Lord of Calamity and ushering in the Age of Chaos.
• Ship Tease: With Sorey. The two have many scenes together showing how close they are, amongst other hints.
• Shorter Means Smarter: He's the shortest guy, but is one of the smartest, rivaling Sorey.
• The Smart Guy: His profile mentions him to be quite levelheaded and composed, unlike Sorey, despite being the same age as him.
• Super Drowning Skills: Despite his water-affinity, he's a terrible swimmer, which is a Running Gag.
• Supreme Chef: Starts out with the highest dessert-making skills out of the party.
• 10-Minute Retirement: After an argument with Sorey, he temporarily leaves the party when Sorey and Lailah explore the Vivia Subterranean Aqueduct of Ladylake.
• Through His Stomach: Constantly makes desserts for Sorey, because when they were children it was the only time he'd eat once he got absorbed in something.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Mikleo was born human, son of the previous Shepherd's sister. However, his uncle sacrificed him to curse Heldalf, and Zenrus gave him new life as a seraph after his mother agreed to become the seal on Camlann.
• Too Many Belts: He's got 6 if they're connected. 12 if not.
• Tragic Keepsake: The circlet he wears is from his mother. He gains her staff near the end of the game.
• Trauma Conga Line: He went through this near the end of the game. First, he saw his birthplace being burned and his uncle using him, as a baby, to curse Heldalf. Before the last battle, he saw his mother pulling a Heroic Sacrifice and while fighting the boss he and Sorey had to Mercy Kill the Seraph who raised them for all of their lives. Finally, he had to wait centuries for his best friend and only love to wake up from a coma. He got out of it surprisingly well, though, likely because he understands Sorey will return.
• Tsundere: Displays a few characteristics such as being easily flustered and insecure about something about himself, in this case his height. Especially towards Sorey.
• Unbroken Vigil: Revealed to have stayed by Sorey's side the entire three days he fell asleep from becoming Lailah's vessel. He denies any reason for doing this.
• Undying Loyalty: To Sorey. He waits hundreds of years for him to wake up, and even limits the amount he grows/matures so that Sorey will recognize him when they're finally reunited.
• Was Once a Man: Turns out Mikleo was born human but was used as a sacrifice by his uncle, the previous Sheperd Michael, and was revived as a Seraph by Zenrus, aka, Gramps.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Or dogs in his case.

Tropes associated with Arc 6 of Tales of Asteria:

"Do you still remember, Sorey? I told you... I won't let you carry this burden all by yourself. That is why I will stop you with my own hands. I will not let anyone else finish this. Here, Sorey, is where it all ends!"

A version of Mikleo from an Alternate Universe known as a Fractured Dimension, where the seraphim suddenly became visible to humans. After disasters struck, humanity blamed the seraphim and two races went to war. Hundreds of years ago, he sealed Sorey away when the latter began to corrupt under a mysterious black mist. He's searched for a cure ever since, but to no avail. After the seal on Sorey breaks and he becomes the Lord of Calamity, Mikleo believes the only way to save him is to kill him.

---

• Expository Hairstyle Change: Hundreds of years have passed since Sorey was sealed away, during which Mikleo adopts the same appearance as he does in the epilogue of Tales of Zestiria.
• Older Than They Look: As in his home game, he is physically and mentally 18 years old before Sorey is sealed away. By the time the seal breaks, he no longer knows exactly how old he is, and can only say it's been hundreds of years, but he still looks like a young human adult.
• Perpetual Frowner: So much so that the first time he smiles using his full character art is when he regains hope that Sorey can still be saved.
• Undying Loyalty: Like in his home game, he spends hundreds of years waiting for Sorey to wake up from a Deep Sleep, although here he is tasked with finding a cure to safely bring Sorey back, and when he fails, he resolves to carry out Sorey's earlier Mercy Kill request. When he sees Sorey is Fighting from the Inside, he makes a new plan to seal Sorey away again, saying he'll spend even thousands of years seeking a cure so that Sorey can return.

Princess Alisha Diphda

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (JP), Alexis Tipton (EN)

^{Click here to see Alisha in her DLC outfit.}

"You didn't even know who I was, and you helped me without asking anything in return."

Alisha is a princess to the Hyland empire. Due to her mother's low status and the decreasing importance of the kingdom's monarchy, she is treated poorly by the royal family, and has dedicated her life to that of a knight in order to serve her country. Although initially unable to see and interact with the Seraphim, she gains the ability to do so after entering a pact with Sorey to become the Shepherd's squire. She wields a long spear in battle. Her true name, given by Sorey when she made her Squire's Pact, is Melphis Amekia, which means "Alisha the Smiling". In her DLC she is given a new name, Isylvia Amekia, meaning "Alisha the Tearful".

---

• Action Girl: Despite being a princess, she considers herself to be a knight instead and insists others treat her accordingly. The lance is her weapon of choice, having studied under Lady Maltran.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • While already a capable fighter in the game, in the anime, she is shown to be able to go toe-to-toe against Lunarre and Rose.
  • She is also capable of armatizing in the anime, which was explicitly beyond her abilities in the game.
• All Love Is Unrequited: Heavily implied to have had some affection for Sorey. Considering his character it's not surprising it doesn't go anywhere; in fact the last time they interact, Sorey unintentionally turns her down.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Due to her mother being a commoner and she being the last in line for the throne, she has been mistreated by the royal family all her life.
• Ascended Extra: She becomes a main character in the anime adaptation.
• Ambiguously Bi:
  • She gets flustered in the skit mentioned under Covert Pervert, and she has Ship Tease with Rose in her DLC. However the game implies a few times that she may have some feelings for Sorey as well.
  • In the anime, Alisha has a ship tease with both of them, Sorey more-so in the first season, and Rose in the second, particularly when leading up to the famous end scenes. With their end scene, one could read their build-up as slowburn romance versus incredibly close friendship, particularly due to the extra focus on Alisha and her plotline being connected to Rose's in this version.
• And Then What?: In-Universe she has this reaction in her DLC. Now that things are starting to get better Alisha isn't sure what her role is in anything. On one hand she isn't sure what the Knight side of her is important for, and on the other she isn't sure what her Princess side is good for either.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: In the epilogue of the anime, she ascends the throne as the queen of Hyland.
• Back for the Finale: Unlike the game, in the anime she does stick with the group all the way to the final battle.
• Badass Normal: Since she can't see Spirits at all, Alisha is the only completely normal party member in the game. Even after being able to see Spirits she can't fuse with them like Sorey or Rose, yet still holds her own in battle. It's Deconstructed however, once it's revealed the price for Sorey making her his squire is him slowly going blind. As a result, she chooses to leave the party to protect Sorey.
• Break the Cutie: She is mistreated by the royal family for the entire game. But she was hit hard with this when Maltran used her own spear to commit suicide in front of her. Alisha breaks down in tears saying that she is tired of everything. She gets better.
• Can't Drop the Hero: Will always participate in battle up until she leaves the party.
• Call-Back: Her DLC outfit returns in the anime right after she is crowned queen and is seen spending time with Rose, though she's not wearing it because Rose forced her.
• Call to Adventure: She was essentially what made Sorey venture out into the world, though mostly because Lunarre was going to assassinate her after she left Elysia on her own.
• Character Focus: See the Hero of Another Story entry, further down.
• Covert Pervert: She gets really flustered during a discovery point skit involving the bust of a legendary figure.
• Cry into Chest: After the last pillar of support in Maltran falls down when the latter makes Alisha stab her with her lance while saying her efforts are for naught, she does this on Sorey. This comes back again in her scenario when she begs Rose to stop being so rash to her during the fight against the Baphomets.
• Cuteness Proximity: Her reaction in a skit to seeing a Falkewin squirrel, much to Edna's annoyance:
  Alisha: It's so fluffy-poofy-adoraboofy! Don't tell me you're not moved by its precious little face!
• Damsel in Distress: She is arrested immediately after leaving the party...and not rescued for quite a bit.
• Decoy Protagonist: Was marketed as the game's lead heroine in Japan prior to its release, but in-game, is a Guest-Star Party Member that has little impact to the story after she permanently leaves the party.
• Deuteragonist: The anime turns her into the main heroine alongside Rose, changing several plot points to accommodate her increased prominence and significance to the story.
• Determinator: After seeing all the crap Alisha has been through, it's telling how determined she is that she hasn't become a Hellion.
• Dishing Out Dirt: In the anime only, she is able to armitize with Edna.
• Flowers of Femininity: Her hair-tie was specifically chosen to indicate her femininity.
• Girly Bruiser: It's mentioned that she pays attention to her looks and works to maintain a feminine appearance (her hair decoration and uniform colour being indications), but that won't stop her from kicking your ass.
• Guest-Star Party Member: After the business in Marlind is done, she leaves the party forever except for one brief section near the end of the game.
• Guile Hero: Invoked in a next episode preview towards Rose. Alisha keeps trusting all of Rose's insane items that she infuriates her until Rose gives them all for free, all because Alisha simply kept telling Rose she was trustworthy.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Alisha has very pale blonde hair and a very pure heart. The other party members comment that she is probably as purehearted as Sorey, despite living in a much more corrupt environment.
• Headbutting Heroes: With Rose in the DLC scenario. Hard.
• Hero of Another Story: She's the protagonist of both DLC chapters, which take place shortly after the main story's events. During which, she becomes Rose's squire. She's also shown to be quite active in the background of the main story.
• Honor Before Reason: Alisha values chivalry and honor to the point where she didn't even realize that even mercenaries charged money for their services because they needed to feed and support their families. Turns out Maltran encouraged this to help encourage war and ultimately break Alisha when her idealistic viewpoint heavily clashes against reality. Character Development has her softening in this regard.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Lailah comments on how pure Alisha is, even though she meant it teasingly. However, the fact that Alisha hasn't become a Hellion despite everything she's been through should tell you how pure and strong she is.
• Intro-Only Point of View: The first episode of the anime is told from her perspective before Sorey is properly introduced in the next episode and takes over as the protagonist.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery:
  • Her default attire is a knight's armor, albeit feminine by design, which includes a pink and white vest with gold inlays. One of the game's skits has Sorey comment on how well her armor is crafted.
  • Exploited by Rose in the DLC chapters, by purposely making Alisha wear noble's garb to lure out the assassins that were targeting the nobility.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": It mainly shows in her interactions with Sorey and Edna. Such as when she geeks out after learning Sorey has read the Celestial Record and, during the Falkewyin Squirrel skit, Edna easily dupes Alisha into dancing for her.
• Lady of War: As a result of being taught by Lady Maltran, Alisha wields the lance as though it were a ribbon and can seamlessly cast spells with it in mid-combo.
• Late to the Punchline: Lailah's puns often go over her head, and she only ever gets them long after the rest of the party is done groaning over them.
• Leitmotif: Simply named "Alisha's Theme".
• Lethal Chef: Shown in a skit, where she wanted to make popsicles and asked Mikleo to bring her an orange so she could use her lance to "bring swift judgment upon it".
• Locked Out of the Loop: In her DLC scenario, Rose dodges telling her almost everything that happened to the group. In a skit, though, this is Played for Laughs when Edna goes on a very long summary about what Alisha missed. It lasts till the next morning and even then Alisha isn't tired, but Edna is utterly fed up and asks a waking Rose to shut her up.
  • Also happens in the main game with regards to Maltran being a hellion and having been using her the entire time she was training under her. The party frequently debates whether they should tell Alisha or not, but they hold off until the last possible moment before the war resumes when they feel they have no choice, as Maltran is one of the people trying to instigate it, and Alisha is one of the diplomats trying to prevent it.
  • This is completely averted in the anime. She is always informed of Sorey's exploits and keeps a line of communication with him through being a squire he doesn't remove.
• Major Injury Underreaction: In the anime when gets stabbed in the back by one of her own soldiers her response is to tell him to clean the blood off of his sword so it doesn't rust. Her casual attitude combined with how forgiving she's acting causes him to panic and run away screaming.
• Making a Splash: In the anime only, she armatizes with Mikleo during the lead up to the final battle.
• Meaningful Name: "Alisha" means nobility. Her last name, Diphda, is a star of the constellation Cetus.
• Meet Cute: An interesting twist on the trope in her first meeting with Sorey; from her perspective it's played straight as she meets a quirky and cute Nice Guy after going through a whole ordeal (which is expanded on in the anime) and cheerfully helps her with no strings attached, but considering Mikleo is actually there the whole time, it's ultimately subverted in both how their first meeting is actually like and the outcome by the end.
• Modest Royalty:
  • Alisha wears armour in a similar style to the rest of the Hyland soldiers. Hers seems to have been customised pink, but you'd never guess from a glance that she's royalty.
  • Rose Lampshades this in the Alisha DLC and makes her wear a fancier, more revealing outfit that shows off her status as nobility to draw the attention of the Hyland anti-peace protesters.
• Modesty Shorts: Wears some short black hotpants under her otherwise practical armour.
• Multi-Melee Master: In the anime, she is shown to be proficient with the dagger and sword in addition to her spear.
• My God, What Have I Done?: How she reacts when she finishes off Maltran.
• Only One Name: The only playable character in the game to avert this trope.
• Politically-Active Princess: Deconstructed. Alisha actively tries her hardest to help her country but because all the power seems to lie in the hands of Bartlow and his cohorts she's largely ineffective. However, it's not until later that you find out that the reason why she's ineffective is because Alisha valued being a knight over her duties as a princess and as a direct result of that she actively neglected her own position as princess in order to live out the stories of knights and heroes that she loved. It is not until confrontation with Maltran, where she reveals that she raised Alisha to be this way to make it easy to manipulate her. Maltran forcing Alisha to kill and telling Alisha This Is Reality to forcefully shatters Alisha's idolization of knighthood and makes her set aside her knighthood and her belief in honor and chivalry to focus on being as the Princess of Hyland. It is only by doing this that she becomes effective politically.
• Princesses Prefer Pink: Wears what appears to be custom pink armour. She has a palette swap that is blue.
• Rebellious Princess: Deconstructed Alisha prefers being a knight over the responsibilities and duties that come with her role as the princess, but it is only by being the princess and doing her duties that she can fulfill her dream of peace.
• Regal Ringlets: She has pale blonde hair, tied in a practical ponytail.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: While Alisha in the game does belong to a branch of the royal family, she's notably low-ranking. In the anime, her father is the current ruling monarch of Hyland, and upon his death she becomes queen.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Deconstructed She's a princess, but she also goes about helping people as a knight, however, as a knight she's by and large ineffectual in actually helping her people. It is only by putting aside her knighthood and focusing on being a princess that she could actually make a difference.
• Ship Tease: The game throws subtle hints she might have feelings for Sorey. The DLC gives massive hints towards Rose.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Subverted. At the beginning, Alisha seems to be a Guest-Star Party Member whose important contribution absolutely vital to the games story: going to Elysia and encountering Sorey, which resulted in him becoming shepherd and starting his journey. However, you quickly find out that Sorey and Mikleo were already planning of leaving home and that Sorey was chosen as the next Shepherd when he was born and was raised with that in mind. In fact Lailah was specifically waiting for him the whole time. Essentially Sorey would have left home and become the Shepherd regardless of whether or not he met Alisha, their meeting was merely a coincidence, that in actuality didn't alter Sorey's fate.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: In the anime, alongside Rose.
• Stepford Smiler: Poor Alisha has been through a lot of crap in her life. However every time she feels weak she keeps her spirits up by thinking of what Maltran taught her.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly girl to Rose's tomboy in her DLC scenario. Not to mention in regards to Sorey's Squires.
• Trauma Conga Line: Let's see. Besides her unfortunate Guest-Star Party Member status, right after birth, she is continuously looked down upon for being a half-noble due to her mother's side, is constantly being used by her own kingdom's skewed diplomacy tactics that she herself willingly walks into in an effort to turn it back against them only to backfire most of the time, her low resonance to seraphim as a Squire cripples Sorey and nearly makes him go completely blind to prevent a blow that hurt Alisha greatly, her own superior Maltran is a massive Manipulative Bastard who raised her with positive ideals in an effort to control her from the background and stir malevolence in the name of the Lord of Calamity, and Rose just enjoys giving her the cold shoulder in the DLC scenario.
• True Blue Femininity: In her DLC outfit, forced by Rose herself just to make Alisha a better target for the anti-peace supporters.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Rose, even lampshaded by Edna calling them either "the best of friends, or worst of enemies".
• When She Smiles: Sorey picked her true name with this trope in mind.

Rose

Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu (JP), Caitlin Glass (EN)

"I'll work it out somehow! That's what I promised!"

A very sociable young human woman, who often sets the mood of the group. She's the boss of the Sparrowfeathers merchant guild and possess high resonance with the Seraphim, becoming able to armatize with them immediately upon making the Squire's Pact with Sorey. She wields twin daggers in battle, and is capable of Armatization. After the Final Boss, she succeeds Sorey and becomes the Shepherd. Her true name, given by Sorey when she made her Squire's Pact, is Wilkis Wilk, which means "Rose is Rose."

---

• Action Girl: More so than any of the other females in the party.
• Adaptation Expansion: The anime expands on her backstory about how she got involved with The Scattered Bones since her childhood. In the game, this part of her backstory was mentioned only in a skit.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the anime that makes her struggle more with armitization than she does in the game. She is unable to do it at first, and struggles to maintain it even when she does succeed. She also has problems with her lifestyle as an assassin in the anime, while in the game she knew beforehand that what she was doing could be considered wrong. However, while she admitted in the game that a world without killing is indeed the best choice, she made up her mind on doing it because it is necessary.
• Ambiguously Bi: Due to her Ship Tease with both Dezel and Alisha.
• Bad "Bad Acting": At one point she and Sorey have to pretend to be a married couple to get past Sergei. While Rose isn't as bad at it as Sorey is, she's still pretty terrible.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Nice as she is normally, she's probably the least restrained about killing others if she feels the situation calls for it, which is understandable considering that she's an assassin.
• Big Eater: She's shown to have a healthy appetite, which isn't considered very feminine. Her habit of burping after a good meal is often commented on.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Rose tends to look sweet and quirky but she tends to have a mean streak to her. She gives Alisha the cold-shoulder in her DLC and in general throws in some harsh comments without any reason.
• Blow You Away: While Armatized with Dezel or Zaveid she can use wind magic.
• Book Dumb: Rose has the street smarts to balance out Sorey's geekiness. She pitches some joke theories ('Poorly Cleaned Hypothesis') during Sorey and Mikleo's geeky ruins chat. Plus she renames a historical era to 'The Age of Wiggy Magic and Stuff'.
• Can't Drop the Hero: Will always participate in battle, since she's a human capable of Armatization.
• Combat Stilettos: When armatized, like Sorey.
• Contrived Coincidence: So Alisha just left an hour ago and that means no third party member in a fight. In comes Rose, who fixes that issue and as a bonus in record time is able to resonate perfectly with them all to the point she can fuse with them.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: See Beware the Nice Ones above. However, this trope gets slightly deconstructed when it's revealed that Dezel had been possessing her body many times in order to carry out his Hidden Agenda. When he's busy fighting outside of her, Rose becomes less effective by herself, but she's still very lethal.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Although Rose Took a Level in Jerkass towards Alisha by refusing to answer any questions about Sorey, Alisha speculates that Rose is only doing so because the truth would distract Alisha from her diplomatic duties.
• Devious Daggers: She is an upbeat and plucky merchant girl, armed with knives since her mercantile activities are a cover for being the boss of a assassin's guild.
• Dishing Out Dirt: While Armatized with Edna she can use earth magic.
• Elemental Powers: Like Sorey, she's able to fuse with the Seraphim through Armatization, gaining access to the main four elements of magic.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In final episode of the anime, her hair has grown to back length after the final battle.
• Foil: Is one to Sorey. While both possess the ability to Armatize with seraphs, Sorey, as the Shepherd, is a giver of hope and life while Rose, as an assassin, takes away hope and life. Furthermore, Rose is more devious and knows more about the modern world whereas Sorey is true and honest and prefers to study ancient history.
• Fragile Speedster: Rose is quick and lethal, but enemy hits instantly decimate her non-existent defenses. While her defenses can be rectified with gear upgrades, her base HP is still on the low side without herb grinding.
• Fusion Dance: Like Sorey, she can armatise, giving her access to the powers of all seraphim party members.
• Genki Girl: Mentioned to be the mood maker of the party. At least, usually.
• Headbutting Heroes: With Alisha in the DLC scenario. Hard. But it is almost entirely because of Rose's acquired behavior.
• Heroic BSoD: Suffers from this after Dezel's death and Sorey's sacrifice. The latter shows a lot in the Alisha DLC, and Alisha has to snap her out of it.
• Instant Expert: She has an extremely high compatibility with seraphim just like Sorey (which is pointed out as being extremely rare in a human). She is able to effortlessly fuse with them in her first battle, ''and Sorey was barely learning the ropes of fusing with one when he started out. The party learns that Rose has been exposed to seraphic power for a long time by extension of Dezel using her as a vessel to prevent his anger from turning him into a Hellion, and to aid in his own quest for revenge. While Sorey has been around seraphim much longer than Rose, none of them were periodically taking control of his body without him knowing.
• Lethal Chef: A DLC skit has her using her daggers to try and prepare food. Mikleo is not pleased.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Whenever her job as an assassin comes up or she doesn't want Sorey to kill hellions if he doesn't want to, she doesn't care the slightest about staining her hands with blood.
• Making a Splash: While Armatized with Mikleo she can use water magic.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Sorey, as mentioned by the two of them in a skit (though the life part less so, since she's long dead by the time Sorey wakes up.)
• Playing with Fire: While Armatized with Lailah she can use fire magic,.
• Post-Mortem One-Liner: "May these weary bones find peaceful rest."
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: When Armatized Rose's hair grows extremely long and changes color.
• Professional Killer: She's the boss of a guild that's full of them.
• Rank Up: In the ending of the game, Sorey's departure allows her to go from his Squire to a Shepherd, which is why the seraphim haven't left her by the time Alisha's DLC scenario comes around.
• Shaped Like Itself: The true name Sorey gives her when she makes her squire's pact is "Wilkis Wilk," which means "Rose is Rose." Lailah's reaction is basically "really? That's what you're going with?"
• Shipper on Deck: A DLC skit indicates she is one for Sorey and Mikleo.
• Ship Tease: With Dezel and Alisha.
• Skinship Grope: Implied. She is never mentioned doing this during the "Sauna Chat: Ladies’ Angle", but the image shows her smirking and making a grabby hands motion towards Lailah.
• Sleep Cute: Gets one with Sorey in a skit, though the fact that they're both drooling with their mouths wide open might put a damper on the "cute" factor. But it is still cute in a childish sort of way.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: With Alisha in the anime.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Alisha's girly girl in Alisha's DLC scenario. And as Sorey's Squire.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In the Alisha DLC scenario. Possibly as a result of the guilt of not being able to stop Sorey from sacrificing himself in the final battle, she becomes very cold to Alisha, to the point she flatly tells her that they're not even friends. Cue the Cat Fight. It really doesn't help things Rose enjoys being cold to Alisha to the point it looks like bullying. She softens up as the DLC goes on.
• Tritagonist: She's the secondary human protagonist after Alisha leaves the party, she's able to Armatize as well as Sorey, she and Sorey share a Mystic Arte in Ultima Elementia, and she becomes the Shepherd after Sorey's Heroic Sacrifice.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: She was trained to be an assassin when she was a little child.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Alisha in the latter's DLC, even lampshaded by Edna calling them either "the best of friends, or worst of enemies".
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Deathly terrified of ghosts. She even flipped out when the seraphim first tried to talk to her through Sorey's hand-holding. It ended with a Megaton Punch on Sorey's face. Even after that, she considers them talking from inside her head as creepy anyway.

Seraph Lailah

Voiced by: Miyu Matsuki (Game), Noriko Shitaya (Anime) (JP), Carrie Keranen (Game and anime) (EN)

"I've waited long for this moment. For one who is pure of heart and free of corruption. A shining vessel to whom my words will reach."

A Fire Seraph who has been residing in the Shepherd's legendary sword, waiting for a person who has the qualifications to wield it. She forms a contract with Sorey and guides him into his journey to become a Shepherd. She also forms pacts with Mikleo, Edna and Dezel, granting them the power to purify hellions and armatize with Sorey. Lailah fights with book pages and Fire-based seraphic artes. Her true name is Fethmus Mioma, which means "Lailah the Pure."

---

• Action Girl: In battle, she's quite the powerhouse, especially for someone fighting with book pages. Although it probably helps that she burns the paper for her attacks instead of using just the paper by itself and the strong arte attack she's packing.
• Adaptational Badass: In the Anime, Lailah unleashes fire blasts that effortlessly shatter sizeable stone fortifications during her fight with Dezel, some of them with their shockwaves alone. Dezel also appears to struggle far more against her than the other Seraphim. She's never really shown to have that devastating level of power in the game.
• All Women Are Lustful: She's the most boy-crazy of the main cast; she joins Alisha in the above-mentioned flustering, she says that a statue (actually a petrified person, unbeknownst to the party) of some dude looks cute, and she instantly assumes Zaveid is asking her out during one of their fortune telling segments.
• Bad Liar: When asked something she doesn't want to talk about, she deflects the conversation in the most awkward ways possible, such as pretending to slip on even ground or shouting "LALALALAH, I can't hear you! That's a beautiful butterfly!" The others know well enough not to push her.
• Badass Bookworm: Literally. Her weapons are book pages because they're considered wind elemental, which her fire element is strong against.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Despite being ditzy, pun-loving, and sweet, Lailah is a very competent Seraph. Additionally, as a Prime Lord, she can keep the other Seraphs that have made a pact with her in check if they get out of line. Dezel had to cut himself off so she couldn't bind him when he tries to kill Symonne.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. She's still sweet and goofy, but Sorey comments she has a bit of a mean streak to her. She's still fairly nice though.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's revered as the Lady of the Lake and is a Prime Lord who worked with past Shepherds to combat the threat of malevolence and hellions. She's also a big fan of puns, fortune-telling, anything that curls into a ball, and good food.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Zaveid is implied to be attracted to her because of her ample bust, as he says she has "something juicy" from the waist up and she's the one he's most focused on when he tries to peep on the girls in the bath.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Her behaviour is seen as very strange, to say the least. The childish excitement she sometimes displays over the simplest things makes her look more immature than she is. In fact, she is so strange, that Edna can't even bully her like she does everyone else, since it just flies over Lailah's head. A good portion of this is is deliberate though, as Lailah's pact prevents her from speaking about certain things.
• Combat Stilettos: She wears high-heeled shoes with her fancy dress. Possibly justified, since she travels within Sorey, only emerging for conversations and battle. In battle, she is mostly a ranged magic caster.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: When given the opportunity, she'll show you that those titles are not just for show.
• Drama Queen: She can be quite dramatic, as exemplified when Sorey, Mikleo, and Zaveid have objections about her ordering chilled tofu. After being reassured that they appreciate her efforts, it's revealed she just really likes chilled tofu.
  Lailah: You didn't have to say that much about it! That really hurts! I've been working hard to make sure everyone's health stays in check, not to mention our wallets!
• Elemental Hair Colors: Her hair has red tips due to her fire powers.
• Fortune Teller: She uses her paper cards for this in victory scenes, though she's mostly toying around with the others. Also done in a skit to help ease Zaveid's worries that the others might not want to welcome him into their group.
• Healing Hands: Although she's the one shown to heal others in a few cutscenes, she is actually one of the less potent healers during battles.
• Hidden Depths: Not only does she know a lot about the game's backstory, but the reason why she goes full Cloudcuckoolander about some things is because in exchange for providing the power of purification to a Shepherd, she promised Zenrus to not speak about what happened before the Age of Chaos began. It becomes very important later in the story.
• Inconsistent Coloring: Lailah's character designer, Mutsumi Inomata, portrays her with white hair in her concept art. All other official artwork of her uses light green hair instead (the red tips are constant with all of her artwork, however).
• Lady of Black Magic: Her fighting style is composed of elegant dancing moves and twirling around combined with fire artes that have great area of effect.
• Long Hair Is Feminine: She's the most classically girly of the main party members and has the longest hair. It's so long it reaches the floor even when tied up in a ponytail.
• Magically-Binding Contract: In exchange for her purification powers, Lailah cannot discuss certain topics like how the Age of Chaos began and what happened to Maotelus.
• Mark of the Supernatural: As a Fire seraph, she has unnatural light green hair with red tips.
• Mystical White Hair: She has incredibly long white hair, with red tips to denote her element.
• Nice Girl: Generally her personality, despite having her quirky moments.
• Obstructive Code of Conduct: In exchange for being able to purify Hellions, Lailah cannot discuss anything relating to certain subjects. Unfortunately, this causes a lot of communication issues and she is well aware of it.
• Paper Master: She fights by channeling her fire powers into paper (because they represents fire's dominance over wind) and uses the parer as her weapon.
• Pet the Dog: Lailah gets quite a few, trying to reassure the team and make the withdrawn members feel valued. She also worries a great deal for Sorey's personal well-being.
• Playing with Fire: She's a fire seraphim who specializes in fire artes.
• Pungeon Master: She never misses a chance to come up with ridiculous puns that make the other party members groan. Alisha is the only one who doesn't get them.
• Really 700 Years Old: Lailah is mentioned to be over 1000 years old. She's so old she cannot remember if she was born as a human or a seraph.
• Secret Art: Can use the Lightning Blaster spell. This is notable because Zenrus is the only other seraph that uses lightning. The spell itself is different since it combines the elements she's strong and weak against instead of using her own element like the other spells.
• Secret-Keeper: When there's an easy shortcut for the group to know about past events of other Shepherds, her Bad Liar moments come up.
• Ship Tease:
  • It's worth noting that when telling Zaveid's fortune, she instantly thinks his question is his way of asking her out (though, considering his character type, it's an easy assumption to guess even if her feelings for him were strictly platonic).
  • After viewing one of the iris gems, one party member comments that the ceremony where Michael is made a Shepherd looked rather like a wedding, and Lailah often looks bummed regarding him.
• Showgirl Skirt: She wears a red and white dress with a crescent-shaped skirt that reveals the front of her legs.
• Squee: Just listen to her talk about Armadillo Seraphs one moment and then read other party members' fortunes the next!
• Squishy Wizard: Her low defense and HP make tanking hits very difficult, especially given how hard bosses hit on higher difficulties. However, her zoning ability and the area of her spells is unmatched.
• Statuesque Stunner: Is very beautiful, and at 172cm, is also the third tallest woman in the Tales series.
• Team Mom: She plays the role of mother often towards the other party members, usually by indulging in their antics. Zaveid even Lampshades it.
• The Worf Barrage: Towards the second half of the game or so, her purification abilities stop working on virtually any named character. The Folton sisters, Lunarre, and Maltran all shrug it off like it's nothing, apparently because they're just that corrupt.

Seraph Edna

Voiced by: Misato Fukuen (JP), Kira Buckland (EN)

"I despise earth-dwellers. Self-centered, emotional...But when they need something, it's 'Oh dear seraphim, heed my prayer!' Heed this, morons."

An Earth Seraph who dislikes humans and has been living alone on a sacred mountain. While often apathetic, she likes to poke fun at other people with her words, and becomes emotional when talking about her older brother. She fights with her parasol and Earth-based seraphic artes. Her true name is Hephsin Yulind, which means "Early-Bloomer Edna."

---

• Action Girl: Doesn't look like one at first glance, but she's not to be trifled with.
• Blow You Away: Combines wind and earth to create gravity fields in Raining Gravity, Air Pressure, and Shooting Stars.
• Born Lucky: A skit reveals she has amazing luck, managing to avoid being harmed even from massive falls. Berseria reveals in retrospect it comes from Phoenix's domain, which is why her older brother sent him to her.
• Broken Tears: She sheds these as she finally breaks down upon realizing that she has no choice but to kill her brother.
• Combat Medic: Edna is the only one who gets a multi-target healing move (Healing Circle), which evolves to Fairy Circle during her Armatization form. However, she's also an offensive powerhouse and has the highest natural defense.
• Cool Big Sis: While she's older than she looks, she has this kind of relationship with the youngest party members, and especially Mikleo, albeit a teasing big sister figure.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's the biggest snarker in the party towards everyone else, though she focuses mostly on Mikleo and Alisha since they're the easiest to provoke.
• Deus ex Machina: In the anime despite Sorey having the power to purify dragons and the fact her brother Eizen is still around, Sorey isn't able to go purify her brother until he goes into a Deep Sleep of sorts to purify Heldalf's malevolence first. However, due to his actions, the world's overwhelming malevolence diminishes so much that Eizen is able to regain consciousness even as a dragon, implied that he will eventually recover in full.
• Developer's Foresight: If you trigger the final encounter battle with her brother before the plot calls for it, she will be angry Sorey didn't tell her that was the plan, and refuse to fight.
• Dishing Out Dirt: She's an earth seraphim.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Blond hair that goes into dark yellow tips for earth powers.
• Family of Choice: In Berseria, Eizen explains that malakhim/seraphim do not have blood family. Eizen and Edna were born from the same earthpulse point along with other malakhim/seraphim, but the two of them quickly bonded. 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.
• An Ice Person: Can use Final Embrace, and utilizes it in her second Mystic Arte, due to ice being treated as a fusion of water and earth, rather than an element of its own.
• The Gadfly: She really enjoys getting reactions out of people, whether by making sharp remarks about them or pestering them with her parasol. She tends to target Mikleo in particular, likely because she knows he's the easiest to rile up due to his serious nature. She also likes to play with Alisha's fascination with her title and their mutual attraction to cute things by making her do silly squirrel dances.
• Glacier Waif: Despite looking delicate, Edna has very strong defensive stats.
• Goal in Life: To save her brother, who has turned into a dragon. She joins Sorey to look for a way to save dragons and turn them back into Seraph. Much to her sadness though, she discovers it's impossible. Averted in the anime where not only does the party not kill Eizen, but even as a Dragon he's managed to regain his consciousness.
• Gravity Master: A few of her artes involve creating gravity fields.
• Her Heart Will Go On: In the end, there's no other choice but to kill her brother, in order to free him from his suffering. She has a hard time accepting this, but she does. Averted in the anime.
• Humans Are Bastards: Views all humans as selfish and troublesome.
• Improbable Weapon User: Edna makes quite effective use of a parasol. Justified in a skit after obtaining her map action. Because Giant's Strength puts a strain on her after using it, she isn't able to use a weapon heavier than her parasol, so she has to make do with what she can use.
  • She also justifies her use of it in another skit where she explains to Mikleo how each of their weapons makes them strong through Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, and the umbrella is considered water elemental, which her earth element is strong against.
• Little Miss Snarker: She is fond of very deadpan snarking, and often combines it with being a pure troll.
• The Nicknamer: She's rather prone to coming up with nicknames for people. Mikleo has the dubious honor of being the first of the cast to receive one, being called "Meebo" (Short for "Mikleo boy").
• Parasol of Pain: Her weapon of choice is an umbrella. In addition to hitting enemies with it, she also floats around on it and fires spells from it.
• Parasol of Prettiness: The umbrella she carries sure makes her look prettier, at least when she isn't using it to bash enemies with. Or bully Mikleo.
• Perpetual Frowner: All the time. In fact, she even beats Asch the Bloody in this department.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The smallest and frailest looking member of the group is also the one who kicks rocks around like an Earthbender.
• Power at a Price: Lending Sorey her Giant's Strength lets him smash boulders with ease, but it makes her whole body sore when he uses it. She keeps it a secret because she doesn't want Sorey to worry about her.
• Really 700 Years Old: She's at least as old as Lailah, despite looking about the same age as 15-year-old Rita Mordio (with a somewhat similar personality too). Tales of Berseria implies that she's over a thousand years old, as she is mentioned a few times by Eizen and makes a cameo as well.
• Serious Business: When it comes to making drago stew or finding out how to slay dragons, Edna's done making jokes.
• Signature Headgear: A brown headband and a green ribbon that loops around her ponytail.
• Stepford Snarker: Downplayed, but it should be noted that for all the times she makes fun of others, she's still trying to deal with the fact that the only family she has left could be beyond saving.
• Tragic Keepsake: Her glove, hairband, and boots belonged to her brother.
• Troll: Seem to enjoy trolling people around her, especially Mikleo.
• When She Smiles:
  • The times when she genuinely smiles outside of making fun of others can be counted on one hand, but they're easily some of the most heartwarming moments of the game.
  • In Tales of Berseria, Eizen name drops this trope when talking about Edna:
    Eizen: She can be ...abrasive, but When She Smiles it's like nothing else.

Seraph Dezel

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (JP), Chris Niosi (EN)

"Know this. We may be working together, but if you get in the way of what I need to do, there will be problems. Shepherd or no."

A Wind Seraph who lives in the shadows of human society, acting at his own accord. He wants to take revenge on the Hellion for having killed his close friend. In battle, he uses Wind-based seraphic artes and a pendulum as his weapon. His true name is Lukeim Yurlin, which means "Dezel with Unclouded Eyes."

---

• Aloof Ally: Despite joining the party, he remains remote; you can usually find him hanging back away from the rest in cutscenes.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Twice. First time, he wishes to remain with Rose and the Windriders, and ends up losing his best friend; his sight; and eventually his clear memories of the event due to his single minded urge for revenge. Second time, he gets his wish of finally running into Symonne and the chance to enact revenge, but it turns out she genuinely did nothing but rub salt in his wounds over what his wish had caused, and their meeting ends with Rose nearly becoming a Hellion and Dezel dying to save her.
• Blind Weaponmaster: He actually became blind after his friend died. It's later revealed it's more like the result of the trauma than an injury caused by a Hellion.
• Blood Knight: The look on his face when he uses a Mystic Arte should be a good indicator.
• Blow You Away: He's a wind seraph.
• Deadpan Snarker: The second biggest snarker after Edna, primarily towards Lailah's Cloudcuckoolander tendencies, Edna's Little Miss Snarker habits and Mikleo and Sorey's geeking out.
• Developer's Foresight: During the second battle against Zaveid, Dezel will order Sorey to keep him in the battle. Put Dezel away (even if he's KO'd), and he will complain.
• Dark Is Not Evil: A lot of his costume titles drive home the fact he's something of an anti-hero, but he's not a bad person.
• Decoy Protagonist: Well, Decoy Party Member that is. Despite the fact that he's in the party until the rough 3/4ths mark, his death paves the way for Zaveid to join up.
• Disability Immunity: Pulls this rather epically against Medusa, in Pendrago. Immediately after revealing her power to turn anyone who looks her in the eye to stone, it's revealed that Dezel is blind. His immunity against her powers even has an effect in the ensuing battle, and he outright tells you to armatize with him to avoid being petrified.
• Dying to Be Replaced: In order to have Zaveid join the party, Dezel's actions get himself killed.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Green tips for his wind powers, just like Zaveid.
• Eye-Obscuring Hat: His hat holds his hair in place over his face. This is so no one can see that he is blind.
• Friend to All Living Things: In most of his skits, he's shown to be an expert on animals and how to care for them. And gets distressed by them being threatened; like when Rose and Sorey want to catch and eat the glenwood rabbits they find.
• Go Out with a Smile: He gives Rose his first genuine, heart-warming smile in the game... just before he dies.
• Handicapped Badass: In fact, as shown by the Medusa boss battle, he actually got more badass because of his blindness.
  • Because the game mechanics emulate this by giving him the same effect as Stack 6 bonus skill, he also gets the knockback chance halved for free on top of that.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He could certainly give Colette a run for her money.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices himself in order to save Rose from Symonne.
  • This happens under different circumstances in the anime, where he sacrifices himself to defeat all the dragons at the base of Mount Killarous to clear a path for the rest of the party.
• Hidden Eyes: His eyes are almost always hidden, either by his hat or hair. This is due to him being blind.
• Ironic Name: His true name means "Dezel with Unclouded Eyes." His eyes are anything but (he's blind), and he has intentionally forgotten his past.
• It's All My Fault: When he remembers he caused a Hellion to appear in Pendrago, because he didn't want his travel with Rose's guild to end. It ended up with him going blind, his best friend dying to save Rose, and her guild members becoming assassins.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite his loner attitude and obsession with revenge, he enjoys the company of Rose's group even if they can't see him and often finds himself getting dragged into the flow of the party's conversations before he realizes it.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Entomology is to Dezel what archaeology is to Sorey and Mikleo. Even if he does insist he's not the party's walking bug encyclopedia, he'll still talk about them in great detail when given a chance and gets very intense when the party finds a rare beetle in one of the discovery points.
• Not So Above It All: In spite of his loner attitude, even he can't resist messing with people's heads or laughing at one of Lailah's puns.
• Older Than They Look: Not to the extent of Lailah or Edna though. A previous Shepherd calls him a young wind Seraph, implying he must be less than 100 years old.
• Perpetual Frowner: Not as bad as Edna (see Blood Knight above) but he doesn't really express himself very much. It goes slightly better after he warms up to the party. Too bad he dies soon after that.
• Red Herring: Dezel is a very shady character when the party first encounters him, and when he joins the group, Sorey is constantly advised by the other Seraph to keep a close eye on him. Logic based off of previous Tales games state that because of his enigmatic status as a party member and his hidden agendas, Dezel would be the most likely to betray you, and while it's debatable that he does before his death in pursuit of his goal, he never truly betrays the party.
• Revenge: As mentioned above, his sole motivation for joining the party is to exact revenge on the hellion that killed his friend.
• Scary Teeth: Has sharp, shark-like teeth.
• Signature Headgear: He's always wearing a black top hat adorned with gold, and he wears it in such a manner that it's always hiding his eyes.
• Stalker with a Crush: He has been watching over Rose for quite some time without her realising, since she wasn't able to see seraphim before becoming Sorey's Squire. As for the 'with a crush' part... one skit has him using the wind to spy on her in the sauna, to 'make sure she's safe.'
• Tragic Keepsake: His hat, which originally belonged to his deceased friend. Zaveid later dons it in honor of his sacrifice.
  • His entire outfit is this. In the flashbacks of his past, Dezel is wearing a completely different outfit and his deceased friend wears the ensemble Dezel wears during the game.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A double whammy. His off hand wish and desire to stay with Rose and the Windriders ended up causing the birth of a Hellion that pinned a murder on the Windriders' leader, attacked Rose, killed his friend. Following this, Dezel's desire for revenge leads to him taking control of Rose's body to attack Symonne later in the game, leading to them both getting stabbed, Rose on the brink of becoming a Hellion and him using the last of his power to free Rose from malevolence at the cost of his life.
• When She Smiles: When he does really smile (not counting his Blood Knight status), it's heartwarming. But it's definitely a Tear Jerker when he dies.

Seraph Zaveid

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (JP), Ian Sinclair (EN)

"When a man says he means business, he means business! Don't ever forget that!"

A Wind Seraph who is continuously searching for Hellion to hunt. He's known to make wisecracks and hit on women, but can turn deadly when the situation demands it. In battle he uses wind-based seraphic artes and a pendulum like Dezel. His true name is Fylk Zahdeya, which means "Zaveid the Oathkeeper."

---

• All Men Are Perverts: Several of his victory quotes involve him flirting with the girls in the party, and he even encourages Sorey to peek on the girls while they're in the hot spring.
• Berserk Button: He's a fairly jolly guy who can be a bit of a jerk, but interfering with his hunt in any way will piss him off. This is what caused every fight with him.
• Big Brother Mentor: Kinda becomes this for the youngest members of the party once he joins them.
• Blood Knight: He really seems to enjoy fighting, regardless of the opponent. Like Dezel, his mystic arte cut-in has him grinning slightly manically. When he finds that the last and hardest Malevolent Crucible of the base game is for him only, he's excited to get in there and tear up Hellions.
• Blow You Away: Specializes in wind artes, like Dezel.
• Boisterous Bruiser: This man can fight Armatized Shepherds while pulling out the hog.
• Brought Down to Badass: After using up all the ammo in his gun. He is still a powerful Seraph but knows that isn't enough and needs to resort to working with the group.
• Cast from Lifespan: It's how his gun apparently works without any bullets, using the inner energy of a Seraph as fuel. It's part of the reason why he joins the party as he ultimately uses all of them by the time of Dezel's death, and without it can't defeat Hellions.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Implied by the game, particularly in the sidequest to unlock his second Mystic Arte. Berseria outright confirms it by showing the Zaveid of one thousand years ago being a Wide-Eyed Idealist before much breakage happens over the course of the game.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Green tips for his wind powers, just like Dezel.
• Everyone Has Standards: As much of a jerk he can be, Zaveid is very serious on keeping to his word and expresses respect to the group for sticking to their guns in one skit.
• The Gadfly: Not quite as much as Edna, but he definitely likes messing around with people to get a reaction.
• Gun Nut: Subverted. While Zaveid does have a gun, it's mostly used for giving himself a temporary power buff and dealing the final blow to hellions. His actual weapon is a pendulum.
• Handsome Lech: He knows he fits this trope along with Mr. Fanservice. The ladies in the party think otherwise, however, as his overtly flirtatious demeanor is a major turn-off.
• Heel–Face Turn: Well, he isn't actually evil; he just opposes the party on the outset. Once you get past a certain point in the game and you're one party member short, Zaveid will show up to fill in the gap and fight on your side.
• I Gave My Word: Is very serious on keeping whatever promises he has made over the centuries. Heck, it's even in his true name. Examples include making up to Sorey and the gang after he joins the group and killing Edna's brother Eizen if he ever became a dragon because he asked him too.
  Zaveid: A promise between men is just as sacred.
• Leitmotif: He has a unique theme that plays only when you fight him. The slow guitar part at the beginning also plays when you finish the sidequest to get his 2nd Mystic Arte. This carries over into Berseria, where both themes make a reprise when Velvet and her party encounter Zaveid in that game.
• Mark of the Supernatural: As a Wind seraph, he has white hair with green tips.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Inverted. He acted as a mentor to Dezel prior to the events of the game. However, Zaveid outlives him, joining the party after Dezel dies.
• Moveset Clone: Played With. Both Dezel and Zaveid share the exact same moveset, with the only exception being their Mystic Artes. However, Zaveid once rescued Dezel in the past, causing the latter to copy his fighting style. So if anything, Dezel's the Moveset Clone of Zaveid.
• Mystical White Hair: He has waist-length hair, with green tips to denote his element.
• The Nicknamer: He likes giving nicknames to people as much as Edna.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Is on the receiving end of this. None of the girls bat an eye at him, despite his attempts to woo them all.
• The Peeping Tom: Tries to convince Sorey to peep on the girls in the sauna with him.
• Really 700 Years Old: He mentions he's over 1000 years old, which makes sense since he has known Lailah and Edna for a long time. Even in his appearance in Tales of Berseria he looks relatively the same meaning he's likely one of the oldest beings in the Zestiria timeline.
• Shipper on Deck: For Sorey and Mikleo, much to their chagrin.
• Sixth Ranger: He joins up 75% the way through the game, after Dezel's death.
• The Smurfette Principle: Inverted in the Alisha DLC, in which he ends up being the only playable guy.
• The Tease: Zaveid loves flirting with the rest of the party. He'll even say a female comrade's name in a flirtatious way if he's casting a healing spell on her.
• Tragic Keepsake: Dons Dezel's hat in honour of his sacrifice. If the player so desires, he can even be made to wear Dezel's entire outfit.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: He never puts a shirt on unless you put him in a costume with a shirt.
  • Lampshaded by Lailah in a skit where she complains about him "being so scantily clad in front of a lady like that."
  • One of the next episode previews in the anime also pokes fun at it. Alisha thinks Zaveid must've been robbed.

---