Kingdom of Liberl: Estelle's Party | Liberl Royalty and Military | Liberl Civilians
Crossbell State: Crossbell Government and Influential Groups | Crossbell Police and Military | Special Support Section | Crossbell Civilians
Erebonian Empire: Erebonia Imperial Family and Four Great Houses | The Ironbloods | Erebonia Military | Thors' Staff and Instructors | Thors Class VII (Rean Schwarzer | Original Class VII (Part One, Part Two) | New Class VII) | Main Campus Classes | Branch Campus | Erebonian Civilians and Major Groups | Imperial Liberation Front
Republic of Calvard: Calvard Miscellaneous | Arkride Solutions Office
Other Nations: Remiferia Miscellaneous | Elsaim Miscellaneous
Notable Groups: The Bracer Guild | Ouroboros (The Seven Anguis | Enforcers) | Jaeger Corps | Septian Church
Others: Ancient Zemurian Civilization | The Sept-Terrions and the Holy Beasts | Posthumous Characters
Thors emblem, circa S.1204
Thors emblem, circa S.1206
A prestigious military academy located in Trista, Erebonia, it serves as the main setting for the first Cold Steel game.
It was founded in S.985 by the then-emperor Dreichels Reise Arnor. Its goal is to prepare its students to "become the foundation of the world," as wished by the late emperor.
This is a list of various faculty members at Thors. For information on the school chairman, see Olivert Reise Arnor. For the directors circa. S.1204, see Rufus Albarea, Karl Regnitz, and Irina Reinford.
Warning: spoilers relating to events/reveals that happen during the first two Cold Steel games shall be left unmarked. Certain spoilers relating to the third and fourth game however shall remain tagged.
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Principal Vandyck
Vandyck as Principal of Thors
Vandyck as Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army
- Voiced by: Shingo Horie (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English, Cold Steel I), Jamieson Price (English, Cold Steel IV)Rank: General of the Army
The head of the school, an ex-soldier and mentor to several important characters.
- BFS: His zanbatou is this crossed with a spear.
- Cool Old Guy: Though he's over seventy years old and retired from the Imperial Army, he's still fit enough to swing around his BFS around like it's nothing as shown when he and the other combat capable members of the Thors staff defend Trista from the invading Alliance forces at the end of Cold Steel I.
- Expy: Of Dean Collins from the Sky games.
- Four-Star Badass: Five-star, even; he is noted to be an honorary General of the Army, and despite his age and officer rank is also a contender for strongest fighter on Thors' campus, being one of the final opponents in a sidequest to determine the strongest.
- Heroic Build: Easily the tallest and most muscular male character in the series.
- Large and in Charge: He's two meters tall and built like brick.
- Old Soldier: Those muscles aren't just for show. Though he's over seventy years old and retired from the Imperial Army, he's still fit enough to swing around his BFS around like it's nothing as shown when he and the other combat capable members of the Thors staff defend Trista from the invading Alliance forces at the end of Cold Steel I.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He never lets the students forget that he is in charge but he's very nice about it. He's also not prone to micromanagement.
- Retired Badass: He is an ex-military after all. He is brought out of his retirement and back to the military in Cold Steel III and IV.
- Secret-Keeper: Knows that Rean is Osborne's son. He did play matchmaker for Osborne after all.
- Shipper on Deck: Played the role of matchmaker between Osborne and his future wife Kasia as the former was nervous about courting the latter due to ten year age gap between the two of them.
- Take a Third Option: He supports the 'Third Way' movement and is fully behind Olivier's plans for Class VII.
Head Instructor Heinrich
- Appearances: Cold Steel | Cold Steel II
The Vice-Principal of Thors and the high-strung teacher of Political Science.
- Fanboy: He's secretly a huge fan of Arc en Ciel and Rixia Mao in particular.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Heinrich is constantly getting on Sara's case about what a horrible example she's setting for the students. Even the members of Class VII agree with him, and are just as quick to point out how her Sensei-chan behavior is unbecoming of a teacher.
- Non-Action Guy: He and Instructor Mary are the only instructors without any visible combat ability.
- Stern Teacher: He's a bit of a classist and is often a harsh educator but typically has the school's best interests at heart.
- This Cannot Be!: He'll be flabbergasted if Class VII comes out as the top class in midterms.
- Upper-Class Twit: He's a bit of one.
Instructor Neithardt
Neithardt in his instructor uniform
A sketch of Neithardt in his Imperial Army uniform
- Voiced by: Daisuke Matsubara (Japanese), Cam Clarke (English)Rank: Major, Lieutenant Colonel (Cold Steel III)
A Major in the 4th Armored Division of the Imperial Army who teaches Military Affairs at Thors. He is also known as "Neithardt the Mighty" considered the ace of the 4th Armored Division. He is good friends with Mueller Vander.
- An Aesop: His speech in the swimming competition: just because one side thinks its cheating to send out their most powerful weapons at the other side, it doesn't necessarily mean the other side will find it unfair and that they should be thoroughly prepared for it.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: In Cold Steel II, he engages this with Mueller. The two then briefly catch up with one another before challenging each other to a friendly challenge to see who can kill more magic knights.
- Big Damn Heroes: He does this twice in Cold Steel II. The first time happens when Class VII have to deal with another batch of monsters, though they weren't really having a tough time with Rean taunting the enemy that he's just delaying the inevitable. The second time happens when engaging the magic knights near the entrance to the Infernal Castle where he engages a friendly duel with Mueller to see who can kill more.
- Colonel Badass: Between Cold Steel II and Cold Steel III, he ranked up in the military and is now a colonel.
- The Comically Serious: In contrast to Sara.
- Cool Sword: One that vaguely resembles the Silver Sword from Ys in fact.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: When teaching the male students swimming techniques because he doesn't think they're tough enough. He also tries to be the serious one to compensate for Sara's laid-back style of instruction.
- Dual Boss: He's a boss fight alongside his superior Craig in Cold Steel IV.
- Facepalm: Delivers an epic one in Chapter 5 of Cold Steel I. Again in Cold Steel III under the same circumstances.
- Graceful Loser: Has no problems accepting defeat in the swimming competition in Cold Steel II, and turns it into a military lesson for Class VII.
- Humongous Mecha: In Cold Steel II, he eventually takes to piloting a Spiegel stolen from the Noble Alliance after the capture of Twin Dragon Bridge and asks Rean to duel with him. Said duel is also one of the hardest Divine Knight fights in the game. He's also pilots a Spiegel S during Cold Steel III.
- Instant Expert: He only took the Spiegel for a few test runs, yet managed to be one of the toughest mech battles to the point where winning earned additional AP. One could only imagine how powerful he would be if he was an Awakener.
- Last-Name Basis: He refers to all of Class VII members and Sara by their last name.
- Majorly Awesome: This was his rank in Cold Steel I and II.
- Men Are Tough: He doesn't like Class VII's male students getting shown up at swimming by Laura and Fie and appeals directly to Rean's manliness to rope him to into gathering them for special swimming lessons.Neithardt: I'm always serious. If you've got the stones, gather up Class VII's men and I'll teach you all at once.
- Rank Up: Following the events of the Civil War, he was promoted from Major to Lieutenant Colonel by the time of Cold Steel III.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: In Cold Steel II, when the boys lost in the swimming competition because Sara only sent out Laura and Fie, two of the best swimmers, the boys started complaining about it. Neithardt stops them and actually makes it a lesson that just because one side thinks its cheating, it doesn't mean that the other side will find it cheating. He then accepts the loss for not seeing through Sara's plan, something that shocks her as everyone knows that they're usually at odds against each other.
- Ship Tease: With Elliot's sister Fiona starting in Cold Steel II.
- Tank Goodness: The ace of the 4th Armored Division who leads alongside Lieutenant General Craig.
- Training from Hell: Puts the men of Class VII through a training regiment for swimming that he dubs "The Manway Method". He also does this again in the second game.
Instructor Thomas Lysander
Thomas as an insturctor
Thomas in his Gralsritter uniform
- Voiced by: Kohei Matsumoto (Japanese), Chris Nelson (English, Cold Steel IV)
Thors' carefree professor of History and Literature. Though seemingly harmless, he reveals to Rean that he's actually the Second Dominion of the Gralsritter, with Rosine as his squire.
- Beautiful All Along: A male example. Switching his initial pair of glasses to a more normal-looking pince-nez and sporting his Gralsritter outfit in Cold Steel III make him look a lot more attractive compared to his appearance in the previous two games and if the concept arts are to be believed
, he's a full-blown hunk when he took off his glasses. - Big Good: In Cold Steel III, he and Roselia are this for Class VII in the final chapter.
- Bookworm: He loves reading and researching legends and will happily discuss his findings at length.
- Badass Bookworm: By virtue of being a professor at Thors. He's quite skilled with an orbal staff.
- Church Militant: He's the Second Dominion of the Gralsritter. Seriously.
- Collector of the Strange: In Cold Steel I, he asks you to bring him peculiar dishes.
- Continuity Nod: He makes a couple of these while talking about legends he's researched, including Crossbell's historical association with alchemy. He also references the Sept-Terrions.
- Dogged Nice Guy: To Sara.
- Evil Knockoff: In Reverie, he has a Hollow copy that serves as a boss in the True Reverie Corridor, most notably when it fights alongside Wazy and Gaius' on the seventh floor.
- Expy: To the Thomas of the Gagharv Trilogy, at least if he took the glasses off.
- Eyes Always Shut: His eyes are typically always closed aside from being hidden behind Opaque Nerd Glasses and he only opens them when he's being serious.
- Foreshadowing: At the end of the first Trails of Cold Steel (which happens at the same time as the end of Trails to Azure's Chapter 4), the normally playful instructor seriously and specifically mentions that he suspects a Sept-Terrion is manipulating the current situation, but he questions whether it is actually true. He is actually correct, but there is no way the average person would know that since these are historical secrets. In other words, the two largest groups of people who can even come to that conclusion are Ouroboros and high-ranking members of the Septian Church, the latter of which he's a part of.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Acts nice and friendly towards Sara and Neithardt and has invited them for drinks on more than one occasion, while neither are exactly thrilled at the prospect of spending time around him.
- His behavior at the Mishelam party before the war highlights that he's a particularly happy drunk who tends to obnoxiously get into people's faces.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: He mastered the orbal staff because he always wanted to be a wizard. At least, that's what he says anyway.
- In the Hood: When he operates undercover in the second game. He also adopts a deeper voice to throw people off, leaving Rean shocked when he reveals himself.
- Limit Break: While he himself has yet to actually participate in gameplay, if his Hollow copy in Reverie is any indication, his S-Craft is Cathedral Arc.
- Magic Staff: His weapon of choice.
- Number Two: The Second Dominion and Ein's right hand.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Oh so much. For instance, he's the hooded guy who helps out Rean and company at the Twin Dragons Bridge and Makarov calls him out on holding back in the fight against the Magic Knights in Heimdallr. And with good reason, too - this "carefree history teacher" is actually the Second Dominion of the Gralsritter.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: He has a variation of these in the first two games, complete with swirls on the lenses. While his eyes can be seen behind his glasses, it's only due to the camera angling itself so that his eyes can be seen and otherwise his glasses are this. He still wears these during his initial appearances in Cold Steel III, but his updated look mostly abandons the opacity. When he switches to his Gralsritter outfit, he swaps them out for pair of pince-nez.
- Pocket Dimension: His specialty is creating/manipulating these.
- Red Baron: The Partitioner.
- Secret Identity Vocal Shift: When covertly aiding Rean and his companions at the Twin Dragons Bridge he adopts a deeper, much more stern tone compared to his usual, higher-pitched tone. Turns out this is actually his real voice, as Rean finds out when Thomas explains who he really is during the Epilogue.
- The Smart Guy: A bit clueless when it comes to realizing other people aren't as interested as he is but he really knows his stuff.
- In Cold Steel II, his knowledge is instrumental in saving everyone fighting outside the Infernal Castle from the Vermillion Apocalypse's energy-draining power, so score one for research.
Instructor Makarov
SPOILERS
- Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Japanese)
Professor of Natural Science and Mint's uncle. Was once an apprentice of Professor G. Schmidt during his days as a student at the Roer Institute of Technology, but quit due to differences with his mentor.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Apparently his specialty when he's forced to fight.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Graduated from the esteemed Roer Institute of Technology with top honors and is smart enough for Professor G. Schmidt to acknowledge his skills, but he's usually seen lazing around and complains about work most of the time.
- Henpecked Husband: Well, brother/uncle. He gets a lot of it from his sister and his niece.
- Must Have Nicotine: He's perpetually smoking on campus, which gets him scolded by Professor Heinrich constantly. One cutscene actually shows him even standing off to the side smoking while the boys are working with computers during a class.
- Magic Staff: Like Thomas, he uses an orbal staff.
- Official Couple: In his side episode in Reverie, he finally proposes to Mary after completing his graduation project that he submits to Schmidt: Rean's Tyrfing-S.
- Perma-Stubble: Goes along with his Brilliant, but Lazy attitude.
- Ship Tease: Ends up going out with Mary. Her father's not impressed, however, as mentioned in Cold Steel IV.
- The Slacker: He gives off this impression but he actually does good work.
- The Smart Guy: Of the staff of Thors. He's a top graduate of Roer Institute of Technology after all. He's also among the first to pick up that Thomas isn't all what he seems to be.
Instructor Beatrix
Beatrix as an instructor
Beatrix in her Imperial Army uniform
- Appearances: Cold Steel | Cold Steel IIRank: Colonel
Professor of Biology and Medical Science and the school's nurse. Always warm and welcoming, the entire school likes her. She was once a former member of the Imperial Army known as "The Reviver" was responsible for helping Sara move on from her life as jaeger.
- BFG: She fights with a large sniper rifle.
- Colonel Badass: She was once a colonel in the army.
- Combat Medic: She used to serve in the Imperial Army where she was known as "The Reviver". She would beat you to a pulp, then she would patch you and everyone else up so you didn't die.
- Friendly Sniper: Considering she's packing one hell of a sniper rifle, yet as friendly as ever, she counts.
- Heroic BSoD: Although she's somewhat out of it, she did question at one point if she could even save anyone anymore after what had happened at the Hundred Days War.
- Never Mess with Granny: Don't even think about trying to die either because she won't let you.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: She is one and even the Vice-Principal defers to her.
- Red Baron: "The Reviver".
- Retired Badass: She might be retired from the army, but she's still strong as ever.
- School Nurse: The head nurse of Thors. She even patches you up if you either win or lose against her and Vandyck at the end of a quest during Cold Steel II.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: She retires from the military thanks to the Hundred Days War with Liberl, seeing so many deaths and questioning as to whether it was worth it.
- Unexpected Successor: Headmaster Vandyck has indicated that he wants her to succeed him when he retires.
Instructor Mary Altheim
SPOILERS
- Voiced by: Aya Endo (Japanese)
Thors' Professor of Music and Arts and the supervisor of the Cooking Club.
- BFG: In Cold Steel IV, she's piloting a Mordred, the Zauber Soldat based on the Kestrel series, and it's wielding a rifle not too different from Musse's orbal rifle, complete with Resonance Shot as her finisher.
- Blue Blood: Her family are prominent nobles from the Sutherland Province.
- Official Couple: Accepts Makarov's marriage proposal in their Daydream in Reverie.
- The New Guy: Is in her first year teaching at Thors when Cold Steel begins.
- Ship Tease: Ends up getting paired up with Makarov.
- Supreme Chef: Is the advisor for at least three clubs on her first year, one of them being the cooking club.
- Team Mom: Acts like one for her students.
- Took a Level in Badass: She wasn't a fighter throughout most of the series, but ends up piloting a Zauber Soldat and uses it to fight against Rean and co. in Cold Steel IV.
Celestin
- Voiced by: Daisuke Matsubara (Japanese)
Butler to the Hyarms family and personal attendant to Patrick. He serves as a caretaker for the Class I dormitory in Cold Steel I, and later fills the role for Thors Branch Campus in Cold Steel III.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: He uses martial arts to fight.
- Battle Butler: You can battle him on a few occasions, such as when taking back Trista in Cold Steel II. Towards the end of Cold Steel III, he goes head on using martial arts against a Magic Knight.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With his master Patrick. Both have known each other for years and more or less consider each other brothers.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: In the Wolfpack Boss battle of Act 2 Part 4, he's the strongest physical fighter on his team, including his master.
- Nice Guy: A very affable fellow, in stark contrast to Patrick.
- Older Than They Look: Is 30 years old during Cold Steel III, but could pass for nearly a decade younger.
- Took a Level in Badass: At the climax of Cold Steel II, he was struggling against one Magic Knight and had assistance from his master and the other people just to take down one. By Cold Steel III, he personally gives one Magic Knight one hell of a flying kick on his own, while the rest of his allies had at least two people using rocket launchers to just take on one.
Sariffa
- Appearances: Cold Steel | Cold Steel II
Maid to the Florald family and personal attendant to Vincent.
- Dual Wielding: She uses two pistols in combat.
- Ninja Maid: You can battle her on a few occasions, such as when taking back Trista in Cold Steel II.
- Servile Snarker: Makes snarky comments at the expense of her master Vincent.
