Luke fon Fabre
Tear Grants
Jade Curtiss
Guy Cecil
Natalia Luzu Kimlasca Lanvaldear
Anise Tatlin
Fon Master Ion
Mieu
Van
Asch the Bloody
Legretta the Quick
Arietta the Wild
Dist the Reaper/Rose/Runny
Synch the Tempest
Largo the Black Lion

Name: Luke fon Fabre
Age: 17
Class: Swordsman
Height: 5'7" (171 cm)
Weight: 150 lbs (68 kg)
Background: For the first couple hours of the game, Luke is an arrogant bastard. Really, anyone in their right mind would want to kill him. I certainly did.

And it only took the deaths of a couple thousand people to make him nice. Wonderful.

I know I'm being unfair; there was a reason he was a naive, spoiled brat, and that's because he was locked away in his manor for the last seven years (like a princess! He could just let down his hair, and Natalia could climb up it...or something). His parents shut him up in there after he was kidnapped at a young age, and he lost his memory of his entire life before then (or...did he? DUN DUN DUN).

While shut away in the manor, he spent all of his time in the entirely subtext-free (nudgenudgewinkwink) activity of sword training with Van - and apparently playing hide-and-seek, according to a comment he made on a sidequest. As a result, Luke kind of worshipped Van, and followed his every command unquestioningly. Thus, it was very easy for Van to trick Luke into killing the aforementioned couple thousand people. I suppose the fact that Luke's horrifically stupid didn't hurt, either.

Luke has the ability to use hyperresonance, a mildly Gary Stu-esque power that uses the Seventh Fonon, which no one playing the game understands. Van told Luke that using his hyperresonance could clear away the miasma that was killing people in the mining town of Akzeriuth, but in reality, it caused the town to collapse, killing everyone there (with the exception of our heroes, who are impervious to plot-related damage).

Then, everyone went around hating Luke for a while, until he decided he was going to CHANGE and become a GOOD PERSON (TM).

Seriously, though, he did a good job with that whole "changing" thing - and in a remarkably short time, too.

Also, immediately after that whole "mass murder" thing, Luke found out that he's a replica - basically a clone. It turned out that Asch was the real Luke fon Fabre, and he was kidnapped by Van when he was ten years old. Van then made a copy of him, and came out with Luke 2.0 (with some bugs in the software, thus the "blindly following Van" thing and the "mass murderer" thing).

That made Luke sad, and kind of killed his self-confidence, so he pretty much spent the rest of the game thinking he was useless and whatnot. So, he's pretty much an idiot (as Tear and everyone else pointed out countless times), and far too willing to kill himself for the sake of others.

Name: Tear (Mystearica) Grants
Age: 16
Class: Melodist (Don't ask me; I don't get it either)
Height: 5'4" (162 cm)
Weight: 110 lbs (50 kg) (No fucking way. Not with those boobs.)
Background: Tear was born in Hod and grew up in the Qliphoph, a place which is basically one city surrounded by nothing but mud and miasma (a poisonous gas that came out of nowhere). For some reason, Yulia City - the one existing city in the Qliphoph - and the people in it seem to be immune to the miasma. That's never really explained.

Tear is the younger sister of Van, and thanks to him, she was granted a few special favors while she was training to be a soldier. For example, she remained in the Qliphoph while she was trained by Legretta.

Tear eventually became a soldier under the Order of Lorelei, serving under the command of Grand Maestro Mohs. At the beginning of the game, she was acting under his orders to locate the Seventh Fonstone, but she apparently took a quick break from that in order to try to kill Van, because she'd caught wind of his plans. I can't help thinking that that was a rather hasty plan; he's her brother, for God's sake, and she didn't even try to talk it over with him. Isn't that a bit...bizarre?

Tear has a tendency to put on a tough act, but in reality, she's a bit of a softie. She has a deep love for all things cute, but she'd never admit it. The biggest reason for her tough act, I think, is because she kind of idolized Legretta; one scene shows Tear claiming that she can learn to be more like her teacher, if she has to to be a soldier. And so she did, apparently; now it's just a part of who she is.

Name: Jade Curtiss (Jade the Necromancer)
Age: 35
Class: Fonist
Height: 6'1" (186 cm)
Weight: 163 lbs (74 kg)
Background: Jade's real name is Jade Balfour (the "Curtiss" comes from the family that adopted him at some point). His hometown is Keterburg, which is where he became friends with Dist (whose real name is Saphir Wyon Neis) and Peony (who had to live in Keterburg for his protection from some political complications, and is an emperor at the time of the game). The three of them, as well as Jade's sister, Nephry, studied under a woman named Gelda Nebilim.

Even from a very young age, Jade was exceedingly intelligent, while at the same time being rather stupid. He had no concept of death whatsoever, and had no problem torturing and experimenting on whatever animals he could get his hands on. At the age of nine, Jade developed the science of fomicry, which can be used to create replicas (i.e. clones) of, well, anything, apparently - even nonliving things. He came up with it in order to make a new doll for his sister after she broke her favorite.

There was one thing he couldn't do, though; he couldn't use the Seventh Fonon. Nebilim could, however, and for that he greatly respected her. Once, at her house, Jade attempted to use the Seventh Fonon to see what would happen, but he lost control of it. As a result, Nebilim's house burned to the ground, and she was left nearly dead as a result.

Jade's response to the situation was to drag Nebilim out to the edge of town - with the help of Dist - in order to create a replica of her. When he extracted the data in order to make the replica, Nebilim was killed; also, because they had no fomicry machine to work with, Jade attempted to use fomicry via fonic artes, using the First through Sixth Fonons. However, the data extraction killed the original Nebilim, and Jade's method of fomicry caused mental damage to the replica, so that she became incredibly violent (and powerful. Try fighting her and you'll see what I mean). Jade tried to kill her, but she escaped.

After that particular event, he became somewhat more aware of the people around him, and gained a bit of an idea as to what death is. (But he's still a bastard. An amusing, rather lovable bastard, but a bastard nonetheless.)

However, Dist still wanted to "resurrect" Nebilim, believing that doing so would make Jade turn back to the way he used to be. Nephry never really trusted her brother after the incident, and worried that he still wanted to create a replica of Nebilim. And, sometime later, Jade was adopted by the Curtiss family left Keterburg (we can't be entirely sure how long, but it might've been around the same time Peony left. I could be wrong, but I'd guess that they left for Grand Chokma together).

At present, Jade is just a snarky bastard whose purpose is basically to annoy the hell out of the other characters. Check the video game quotes page; most of them are from him.

After all that, for whatever reason, they decided to leave him alive. Guy lost his memory of the brief time in which the women were killed, and he made his way to Baticul; St. Binah was his first place of refuge after escaping Hod. Somehow, Guy wound up working as a servant at Duke Fabre's manor - along with Van, with whom he swore to get revenge on the Fabres. He took on the name Guy Cecil, the source of his given name being rather obvious, and his last name probably coming from Cecille, his mother's maiden name. Eventually, however, he became friends with Luke - both the original and, later, the replica. In fact, he played a big role in shaping the person Luke became. That friendship allowed him to forget his plans of revenge, although he does have some unresolved feelings about it - and rightfully so, I should think.

Guy also has an amazing ability to laugh shit off. He has every reason to angst his brains out, but he doesn't, and for that (as well as his general niceness) he is awesome.

Name: Natalia Luzu Kimlasca Lanvaldear
Age: 18
Class: Archer
Height: 5'6" (168 cm)
Weight: 117 lbs (53 kg)
Background: Natalia was raised as Princess of Kimlasca, and she filled the role very well; it was thanks to her efforts that a hospital was built (among other things), and she always thought of her people first. She is rather naive though, and incredibly gullible. Plus, it was kind of stupid of her to expect Luke to follow through on a promise that he made when they were little kids (a promise to marry her), especially since he didn't even remember it.

Somehow, her daddy managed to not notice that she wasn't his, despite the fact that Kimlascan royalty has had red hair and green eyes for God knows how long (the result of plenty of inbreeding, I assume). The real Natalia was stillborn, and the queen became a bit hysterical, so the newborn baby of a woman named Sylvia was taken away from her. That baby (whose real name was Meryl) replaced the real princess.

Nobody else knew about this besides the wetnurse (Sylvia's mother) and the queen (or so I'd assume, but apparently she was a bit crazy at this point). The king was never told, which was a bit stupid because he went kind of batshit when he eventually found out; of course, Natalia was none too happy, either. She was even less happy when she discovered that Largo was her father, but with those genes, who wouldn't be?

Um, anyway...Natalia's pretty damn cool. She comes off as an annoying, spoiled priss at first, but she's actually one of the stronger female characters in the game (in spite of the gullibility and naivete and whatnot).

Name: Anise Tatlin
Age: 13
Class: Puppet Master
Height: 5'0" (152 cm)
Weight: 93 lbs (42 kg)
Background: Anise is a little kid who can pack one hell of a punch - or rather, her doll Tokunaga can. Tokunaga is an enormous stuffed cat that she rides around on in battle, and that rides around on her out of it. It was originally just a toy, but Anise felt bad for Dist being alone all the time, and after she made the effort to talk to him once in a while, Dist turned it into the kickass weapon/doll that it is today. If you equip special accessories to Anise, Tokunaga will become all spiffed up as one of several Namco characters (the Prince of the Cosmos from Katamari Damacy, Cless from Tales of Phantasia, KOS-MOS from Xenosaga, etc).

From very early on in the game, it becomes apparent that Anise is, first of all, obsessed with money, and second of all, determined to marry into money as quickly as possible. Despite appearances, she does have her reasons for this; a long time ago, her parents bought into a huge scam and wound up buried in debt. Mohs bailed them out, and as a result, they were forced to work for the Order of Lorelei without pay, and Anise had to work under Mohs, reporting back to him about everything Ion and co. did. She eventually has to betray the party completely and help Mohs take Ion prisoner, but it was only because Mohs was holding her parents hostage. So, she gave the party a note explaining how to get to Mt. Zaleho, where Ion was being taken; but, they were too late, and Ion died (pretty much by his own will, but still).

Name: Ion
Age: 14
Height: 166 cm
Weight: 58 kg
Class: Fonmaster
Background: Fon Master Ion is the leader of the Order of Lorelei, which is the dominant religion of the ToA world which, as far as I can tell, worships a German, transsexual version of the Greek siren. But, uh, anyway...

Basically, Ion's a cute, sweet kid who just happens to run an autonomous theocracy. Oh, also - he isn't the original Ion. Actually, he's the most powerful out of seven replicas. Nobody but the very highest ranks of the Order know that the original Ion died of an illness two years prior to the game, and he was replaced by the replica whose abilities most matched his own. The replicas that were deemed not good enough were killed at Mt. Zaleho - with the exception of a couple guys who escaped or something.

Later on in the game, Ion gives up his life in order to, A, read the Seventh Fonstone's message for Luke, and B, to draw the poisonous miasma out of Tear's body.

Name: Mieu
Age: Child
Height: 30 cm
Weight:?
Class: Cheagle
Background: Mieu is a cheagle, a holy creature according to the Order of Lorelei. He (yes, he) is also a pyro. One day, as he busily played with fire deep in the Cheagle Woods, he set off a forest fire. The fire burned down a big section of the forest where the ligers (seriously, ligers) lived. The ligers were pissed, and moved over to the cheagles' part of the forest, and demanded sacrifices (or something to that extent). The cheagles had to either come up with food or be food, so they started stealing from a nearby town, Engeve.

When Luke showed up at Engeve and acted like an idiot, he was blamed for the missing food. They eventually found out that it was stolen by cheagles, so Luke took off to get even with the cheagles (or something. As I said, he's an idiot). Luke and co. wound up killing the liger queen, and Mieu was temporarily banished from the village to act as a servant to Luke for one year.

Mieu has a horrifically grating cutesie voice, but it is marginally amusing to hear that cutesie voice screaming "FIRE!" every once in a while.

Name: Van (Vandesdelca) Grants
Age: 27
Height: 189 cm
Weight: 86 kg
Class: Swordsman
Background: Van is Tear's brother and Luke's teacher, as well as the leader of the Six God-Generals and the army of the Order of Lorelei. He was born on Hod, and was a servant for the House of Gardios; his real name is Vadesdelca Musto Fende. When Hod was destroyed, Van and his pregnant mother wound up in the Qliphoph, where his mother gave birth to Tear and subsequently died.

At some point, Van and Guy wound up at the Fabre Manor, where the two of them swore to get revenge for the massacre at the House of Gardios. Van eventually became the leader of the Oracle Knights, and he learned that the Score told of Hod's destruction. Because of that, he grew to despise the Score, and decided that a world that follows it as closely as Auldrant does ought to be destroyed. Van claimed that replicas would be outside the realm of the Score's command, so in the name of free will, he set out to create replicas of the entire world and destroy everything else.

Name: Asch the Bloody
Age: 17
Height: 171 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Class: Swordsman
Background: Asch was the original Luke fon Fabre; when he was seven years old, he was kidnapped by Van, who then made a replica of him, believing that a replica Luke would change the Score.

Some way or another, the original Luke became one of the Six God-Generals, and gave himself the name Asch, "the remains of the sacred flame," because he's a little angst puppy. Van taught him to fight as well as Luke v. 2.0, and so I suppose Asch respected him (although I don't know why, considering that it's his fault that Asch lost his family and friends and home and inheritance and all that. He just decided to blame Luke 2.0, I guess). Because of that respect, Asch followed Van's orders for a long time, but turned against him when he learned of Van's "replica world" plan.

Name: Legretta the Quick
Age: 26
Height: 168 cm
Weight: 52 kg
Class: Sharp-shooter
Background: Legretta acted as a private instructor to Tear when she first joined the Oracle Knights; as such, Tear looks up to Legretta and, I think, kind of idolizes her.

In a letter that Legretta wrote to Tear, it is revealed that her real name is Giselle Oslo (I can see why she changed it). Originally, she wanted to get revenge Van for sending her brother into a battle in which the Score said he would die. However, Legretta was unable to beat Van, and wound up falling in love with him and supporting his plans for a new world.

Name: Arietta the Wild
Age: 13
Height: 148 cm
Weight: 42 kg
Class: Beastmaster
Background: This chick's kind of a brat, but I suppose I can see where she's coming from, considering how shitty her life's been. She was born on the Isle of Feres, which was wiped out by a tidal wave when she was very young. As far as we know, Arietta was the only survivor.

Somehow, she wound up in the Cheagle Woods, where she was raised by ligers. (No, really.) Van eventually discovered her living there, and through him she became Ion's guardian - the original Ion.

When the original Ion became sick and died, Arietta was basically fired to keep her (and everyone else) from finding out that he was dead. Afterwards, she became one of the Six God-Generals, but she still has a thing for Ion.

Name: Dist the Reaper (or the Rose, according to him, and the Runny according to Jade)
Age: 35
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 62 kg
Class: Fon Machine user
Background: Dist is a crazy bitch who and used to be a friend of Jade's, altough they aren't exactly on good terms anymore. His real name is Saphir Wyon Neis, and he studied under Professor Gelda Nebilim along with Jade, Jade's sister Nephry, and Peony. Dist looked up to Jade in his weird way (and don't ask me why), so even throughout the game he wants Jade to "return to normal" or somesuch thing; he also wants the two of them to make a replica of Nebilim together (check Jade's Background section for more info on that), because he's stupid.

In fact, creating a replica of Nebilim is one of his main motivations throughout the game; he definitely didn't become one of the Six God-Generals because he wanted to follow Van. I'm guessing that Dist left Keterburg after Jade did, and that's when he (one way or another) wound up as a part of the Six God-Generals.

Dist never actually fights by himself; he uses enormous robots and funky toys that he made himself. He also created Tokunaga for Anise. His title as one of the Six God-Generals is Dist the Reaper, but he insists that it's actually Dist the Rose, because, like I said before, he's a crazy bitch. Jade, on the other hand, calls him Dist the Runny, because his nose tends to run when he gets upset.

Name: Synch the Tempest
Age: 14
Height: 166 cm
Weight: 58 kg
Class: Martial Artist
Background: Synch is a little twerp with an irritating voice actor, and he always wears his funky little bird mask thingy. He acts as a strategist for the Six God-Generals.

Also, he's one of the only surviving replicas of the original Ion (along with game!Ion and Florian), and he watched the remaining replicas being killed in Mount Zaleho, an experience which left him an emo, mask wearing twerp. Van decided that Synch would be allowed to live, and so he became one of the Six God-Generals.

Basically, Synch hates stuff. Hate hate hate. He hates himself, Van, Ion, the people who destroyed the Ion replicas, etc. ad nauseam. And he uses that hatred and to convince himself that he can't do anything besides follow Van's orders, because he's a fucking idiot.

Name: Largo the Black Lion
Age: 48
Height: 211 cm
Weight: 118 kg
Class: Scythe-wielder (*cough*ghettolawnmower*cough*)
Background: Largo's real name is Badaq, and he was once married to a woman named Sylvia. He worked as a mercenary, and his wife the daughter of a nanny at the castle. The Score predicted that they would have a daughter, and that she would grow up to be the Kimlascan princess. And they did have a daughter, who they named Meryl; Meryl was born while Badaq was away, around the same time that the queen of Kimlasca gave birth. The princess of Kimlasca was stillborn, and the queen threw a hissyfit, so Sylvia's mother took Meryl away from her and gave her to the queen. Meryl grew up to be Natalia (who obviously takes after Sylvia).