TALES OF THE ABYSS

Synopsis

Luke fon Fabre, the spoiled son of a noble from the kingdom of Kimlasca-Lavaldear, has been confined inside his father's mansion ever since he was kidnapped seven years ago by a rival country, the Malkuth Empire. Now Luke's memory of the life he led before is missing, and a strange voice, which only he can hear, has been calling out to him ever since. One day while training with his mentor, Van Grants, a strange woman called Tear breaks into the mansion with the sole intent of taking Van's life. During the struggle Luke is transported far from home, along with Tear, and now that Luke has finally gained the freedom he's been dreaming of, what awaits him in the outside world will shatter everything he's ever known about himself.

Main Characters

Asch (アッシュ)

Age: 17 
Weight: 69kg 
Height: 171cm 

Asch the Bloody is a God General of the Order of Lorelei. He can be arrogant and rebellious, and almost always seems angry. He has a tremendous amount of pride and cares deeply for his country and the people around him. He is also an extremely talented cook. Despite his smart and calculating exterior, Asch has moments of incredible goofiness. At one point he masquerades as Luke and is asked (by someone who had met Luke a few days previously) how his hair had changed from short to long in such a short time. Asch's improvised excuse was, "My hair grows fast." 

Most of what Asch does is the "behind the scenes" work - though works towards the same goal as Luke and friends. However, most of the time, he outright refuses to work with them. At the end of the game, he even fought Luke over who would fight Van. 

Asch openly despises Luke as the person who replaced him. He hates how Luke considers himself (as the clone) to be the inferior one, as not only is he a copy of Asch (and Asch has a tremendous amount of pride) but he was the one who essentially usurped Asch's life with no effort whatsoever. He also considers them rivals in swordsmanship as they are both pupils of Van. 

Although he thinks that Luke is supposed to be his replacement, and thus the same as him, there are many things in the game that say otherwise. Perhaps the most obvious of these is that Luke's hair is light at the ends, and Asch's is darker. Their clothing is also like this, with Luke's white and gold contrasting with Asch's black and silver. Yet another difference between them is that Luke is left handed, and Asch is right handed. Also, as Luke gradually changes throughout the game, Asch always stays the same. 

Luke and Asch fought (due to Asch's stubbornness) at the end of the game to settle the issue over who the "real" Luke was. In the end, Luke did win, yet Asch still thought of Luke as his replica. One of his last actions was to take his name back as his own, as a small step in accepting Luke, and acknowledging that he wasn't inferior. 

Upon his death, he gave Luke some of his power, allowing Luke to use second-order hyperresonance (and to fully control it at that). It gave Luke the power he needed to finally defeat Sync and Van.

Ion (イオン)

Hometown: Keterburg 
Age: 14 
Weight: 58 kg 
Height: 166 cm
Occupation: Fon Master
Weapon: Staff

Fon Master Ion (導師イオン Doushi Ion?) or Ion (イオン Ion?) is the highest leader in the Order of Lorelei, a neutral theocracy currently trying to calm the power struggle between the Malkuth and Kimlasca kingdoms in Tales of the Abyss. He is the only one who can read the Closed Score and unlock Yulia's seals. It is unclear whether the Fon Master is born with this power or it is achieved with the title. He is calm in most situations, and can utilize Daathic Fonic Artes, though that can be exhausting.
Ion joins the party first at Cheagle Woods and on and off throughout the game. Although he is often featured in skits he never fights, presumably because of his weak condition. When Tear and Luke encounter him he nearly faints due to using his powers.

Personality
Ion is an optimistic and soft-spoken figure who tends to pick up on the best aspects of people's characters, even if their negative qualities are overwhelming. Despite being docile and physically weak, Ion is by no means a pushover. He tries his best to be a leader who wants to see peace in the world and exhibits a great deal of maturity. Ion refuses to be a puppet and creates a separate faction to oppose the strictly traditional Grand Maestro Mohs, the second in command of the Order.
Ion is worried about the state of the world and its obsession with the fulfillment of the Score. Unlike most members of the Order, he believes that the Score is but one of many possibilities that can occur.

It turns out that Ion is the seventh replica of the original Fon Master Ion. He was made along with 6 others and chosen because he had the best abilities out the replicas, and the other replicas were thrown alive in the Mount Zaleho volcano, as stated by Sync, another replica of the Fon Master. The original Fon Master Ion was very sick, so Van and Mohs made the replicas, but eventually the original died and the chosen replica became the Fon Master.

7th and final replica of the original Ion.

Ep.23: There's another replica of Ion made.

Guy Cecil (ガイ・セシル)

Age: 21
Weight: 79 kg
Height: 184 cm
Occupation: Servant
Weapon: Swords

A servant in Duke Fabre's mansion, also Luke's best friend. Guy's biggest quirk is his fear of women.

Relationship with Luke

Guy is Luke's best friend. Aside from Tear, Guy is usually the one Luke turns to for advice. In the beginning of the game, while Luke treats nearly everyone else with impatience or disdain, he does show a certain degree of respect for Guy. After the events of Akzeriuth, Guy is the only person in the party to willingly go back for Luke after leaving him in Yulia City following his loss of consciousness. Even after everyone else has shunned Luke for his ill treatment and refusal to take responsibility for his actions, Guy chose to believe in him and to help him change.

The two are shown to have a strong bond, and, while they tease each other at times, one will not hesitate to help the other if he is in trouble. Their close friendship also shows in that Luke cannot seem to hide anything from Guy, despite his best efforts to hide that his seventh fonons are deteriorating and that he expects to disappear as a result.

Personality

Guy is a kind and hard-working young man. He is also somewhat a charmer, and he seems to know exactly what to say, often resulting in women swooning over him, much to his dismay. He always seems to want to help those in trouble, regardless of gender, and even saves Anise from falling to her death during an earthquake, despite his gynophobia.

He also seems unable to refuse a request from anyone, and is often told by Emperor Peony to walk his pet rappigs (which he doesn't actually mind doing). When Princess Natalia orderes him to carry something in the Tower of Rem, at which point he was no longer a servant to house Fabre or even a citizen of Kimlasca, he does as she asks simply out of habit. Jade also tells Guy to explain many things to people, and, despite protesting this role, he never actually refuses to do so.

Jade Curtiss (ジェイド・カーティス)

Hometown: Keterburg 
Age: 35 
Weight: 74 kg / 163 lbs 
Height: 186 cm / 6'1" 
Weapon: Lances

Dr. Jade Balfour, more commonly known as Jade Curtiss or as Jade the Necromancer is a colonel serving in the Malkuth military and an exceptional wielder of Fonic Arts well known throughout Auldrant. He always seems to be smiling, or at least cheerful, regardless of the events taking place about him, giving little indication of his true thoughts on anything. 

Jade is known as the father of Fomicry, the science of extracting data from an existing entity to produce a perfect copy known as a 'replica'. His first attempt was when his sister, Nephry, broke her favorite doll, at which point Jade created a replica to soothe her tears. He was nine at the time. 

In his youth, he was, as described by his sister, a "devil" highly adept in casting Fonic Artes; his sister saw him as one who did not understand the significance of life or perhaps that anything but himself could be sentient -- and he, therefore, enjoyed killing monsters through Fonic artes even adults found difficult. Sometime after Luke's conversation with Nephry regarding her brother, Jade confesses to Luke that he still fails to understand what it means for someone to die. 

He was, however, significantly changed by his teacher, Dr. Nebilim, a healer who commanded the Seventh Fonon, which Jade could not command himself. Though he had great respect for his teacher, Jade attempted to cast a spell using the seventh fonon, but instead unleashed a power beyond his control that resulted in the death of Nebilim. 

As Nebelim lay dying, Jade extracted her data and created a replica of her, though rather than resurrecting his beloved teacher, he only succeeded in creating a monster which he found himself forced to destroy. 

At some time after these painful events, Jade's talents in fonic artes and fomicry were recognized, and he was adopted into House Curtiss, a family of high position within the Malkuth military. Jade was eventually convinced to cease his endeavours with Fomicry by his close friend, Emperor Peony the Ninth, who spent his childhood years in Jade's hometown of Keterburg. It is also revealed that Jade forbade the practice of Fomicry on living organisms due to both ethical and technical issues arising from the subject. 

Dist (also one of Nebilim's students), however, still didn't accept Nebilim's death. His dream was to see Jade return to normal, and help him resurrect her again. However, Jade had always refused, and often opted to make fun of Dist instead. 

He introduces himself as "Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces." He doesn't ever refer to himself as Jade the Necromancer (his given nickname that arose due to his habit of scavenging corpses after a battle), but acknowledges others when they call him the Necromancer. 

Personality
Jade is at first mostly an enigma, his teasing smile always hiding his true thoughts. Often, when the actions of those around him are less than thought through, Jade uses sarcasm to show that he disapproves. Other than amusement, Jade rarely shows signs of any emotions at all, though occasionally they get out of his control. Deep inside, Jade feels guilty for all the people he has killed, especially Professor Neblim. 

Abilities
Jade could be considered the strongest character in Tales of the Abyss, given all of his powerful Fonic artes. When Luke first encounters him, Jade is Level 45, with artes like Blessed Drops and Ground Dasher. Largo the Black Lion (a God-General), however, uses a fon slot seal to seal Jade's Fonic artes. Jade's Level is immediately dropped to 5 and he loses all his artes except Energy Blast and Sonic Spear. His increases in level, therefore, actually represent how much of the fon slot seal he has undone. 

Through leveling up, Jade gains one high-tier Fonic arte for each element but light and darkness: the aforementioned Blessed Drops and Ground Dasher and Thunder Blade and Infernal Prison. Through sidequests, however, Jade can also learn Absolute, Prism Sword, and Meteor Storm. Also, each of Jade's high-tier Fonic artes invokes a fully charged Field of Fonons of its element after it is used. Each of Jade's four Strike artes--Sonic Spear, Thunder Lance, Impaling Heaven, and Soveregn Gale--is changed by a different element of FoF, meaning that Jade can use any fully charged FoF to change a Strike arte.

Luke Fon Fabre (ルーク・フォン・ファブレ)

Age: 17 - 20 (end)
Weight: 68 kg
Height: 171 cm
Weapon: Swords

Luke is the "hero" of the story, but hardly starts out as one. He's spoiled and has been locked up inside his father Duke Fabre's mansion ever since he was kidnapped seven years ago. At first, Luke is constantly complaining and has a short temper. However, throughout the story, he goes through some major changes, mostly thanks to the people he traveled with and a terrible disaster along the way. Luke's evolution as human is great; he becomes a completely different person.

After his close encounter with God-General Asch the Bloody, Luke enters in a depression shock after finding out that he is merely a replica of Asch, and that Asch is the original Luke kidnapped by Van in order to overturn Yulia´s score. 

He is unable to overcome this on his own. As he saw through Asch's eyes the way that Guy still considered him a friend, and Tear's council about what exactly to do to make up for his mistake, Luke cuts his hair with Tear's knife to throw away his old self and try to change into a better person. 

From this point on, Luke's resolve seems even more solid, since he now wants to save the world, even if that does not make up for his actions into Akzeriuth´s destruction. 

A little later in the game, Luke finds his own way to save the world by controlling the Sephiroth Passage Rings with his hyperressonance. If done correctly, this could allow him to steadily lower the Outer Lands into the Qliphoth before they fall.

One month after the Outer Lands were lowered, Luke has returned to his manor in the city of Baticul. This time though, he has decided to keep in contact with his friends. After a while, Luke and his friends reunite and start travelling the world once again. As they do, it becomes clear that the world wasn't fully saved by their actions. Miasma starts to pour back into the Outer Lands and replicas are wandering the streets with nowhere to go but the mysterious Tower of Rem. 

Eventually, Luke discovers a way to save the world that would involve the loss of ten thousand lives and one Seventh Fonist. The replicas, willing to die if it will put and end to their pain, offer themselves up as a sacrifice as well as Luke. 

Luke believes that he has no reason to exist and thinks that by living, he is denying Asch the life he's meant to be living. His friends try and persuade him that he's wrong but Luke has made up his mind. He and the replicas travel to the top of the Tower of Rem and Luke starts to cast an amplified hyperressonance to absorb the world's miasma. During this time, Luke realizes that he doesn't want to die. His efforts to remove the miasma are not enough, and Asch is forced to step in and help again. Both him and Luke are caught up in the energy field and when it disappears, they're both still alive. Both the miasma and the replicas are gone though.

Even with the miasma gone, the fate of the world still hangs in the balance. Van Grants has revived the destroyed city of Hod, now renamed Eldrant, and will use it to destroy the world and build a new age of replicas. Luke and the others decide that they have to stop this from happening, but that they have to do it fast. At the Tower of Rem Luke finds Asch at the attempting to use the replicas to erase the world's miasma, but Luke refuses to let this happen and argues with Asch for the sword. Luke tells Asch, that he should be the one to die since he is a replica. Asch leaves after failing in this attempt and Luke and his party head to Daath. At Daath, he reveals his choice that he will sacrifice his life and allow Asch to live. 

At the tower Luke and Asch fight again on who will use the Key of Lorelei, but Luke manages to take Asch place when Jade manages to hold on to Asch. While attempting this a large object emerges from Lukes chest, Asch reveals that it is the Jewel of Lorelei and Luke must have sealed into himself suring the fight with Van. Luke uses the sword along with jewel to clear the miasma. Luke and the party are surprised to see Luke living, but Luke notices that his hand is becoming transparent. The party goes back to Belkend to speak with the doctor, there the doctor explains that his Seventh Fonons are separating and at some point he will die. 

One year later (as the game takes place over two years), Luke is presumed to be dead, either killed in the destruction of Eldrant or worn down by separating Seventh Fonons. 

However, on the night of his Coming of Age Ceremony (his twentieth birthday), Luke mysteriously reappears in Tataroo Valley. But the Luke seen is slightly different than the one who defeated Van. Notable changes include longer hair, with a hair tone between Asch's dark ends and Luke's light ends, a completely different outfit, a slightly different voice from both Luke and Asch, and the Key of Lorelei positioned in the same way Luke always had his sword (it is notable that Luke was left-handed and Asch right-handed). 

At first, Luke and Tear are off to a horrible start. Tear thinks Luke is a spoiled brat, while Luke regards Tear as bossy and cold. The only thing Luke knows about Tear is that her self-admitted ignorance of his having the power of the Seventh Fonon has caused them both to be transported across the lands. He treats Tear, and everyone else, terribly, constantly complaining and talking down to her. Tear puts up with it only because of his status and the feeling of responsibilty she has for placing him in this situation. Still, she's quick to criticise him, and he comes to think of her as a pretty face with a bad attitude. 

The most notable change in their relationship is after Akzeriuth is destroyed, and the party leaves Luke behind in Yulia City with Tear, who did not want to return to the surface. Awakening, Luke sees Tear in the garden behind her house. He approaches her with plans to save St. Binah, but she doesn't believe in him. Though Luke speaks of understanding and change, he can tell Tear doesn't believe him. Using one of her daggers, he cuts off his hair to symbolise his cutting himself off from his old way of being. Tear is still unconvinced, but Luke believes his actions will prove his words true. He asks Tear to watch him, make sure he stays on the right path. Tear agrees to do so. As time goes on, Luke's determination begins to affect Tear, and slowly she begins to trust him. 

As the game progresses, it becomes obvious that Luke thinks the world of Tear. However, he's not very good at showing his feelings, and screws up whenever he tries to do so. It doesn't help that he is dense to a fault and all hints thrown his way by other people about Tear's feelings towards him misses him completely. The two constantly deny their growing feelings for each other, much to the amusement of their fellow party members. 

Along with their growing feelings for each other, the both of them also begin to have increasing concerns about one another. When activating the sephiroth, Tear begins to become increasingly exhausted with each sepheroth they trigger. When they discover that the miasma is being absorbed into her body causing her exhaustion, Luke insists on staying by her side recognizing that while he wants her to stop, there is no other way around the situation. Even when they finish using the sephiroth, Luke is still concerned about the miasma in her body.
Later in the game, the roles are reversed when Tear becomes extremely worried on Luke's behalf as he tries to find his worth in the world. Because of this, he is now prone to making irrational decisions if he thinks it will give his life meaning forcing Tear to look after him more closely. This reaches its peak when Luke is faced with sacrificing himself to eliminate the miasma at the Tower of Rem. She states that even if Luke were to die to eliminate the miasma and be called a hero, she would hate him but also says that she will leave that choice up to him as he did with her when they were activating the sephiroth. When she realizes he's going through with it, she immediately tries to run to him to stop him only to be held back by Guy. She is relieved to find him alive after the whole ordeal but becomes concerned for him again once she finds out about Luke's declining fonons. Unlike the situation with Tear where she is able to suppress and eventually eliminate the miasma from killing her, there is no way around Luke's ailment and he will ultimately die. While talking to him about it gives Luke someone to talk to about his ailment (outside Jade), she feels completely useless while Luke slowly dies. 

The night before the group’s final battle, Luke seems to attempt to tell Tear something important, but, in the end, is too nervous to say it. Should the player read Luke's diary, it is implied that Luke had wanted to tell Tear of his true feelings for her, but backed out in the end since he believed that announcing his feelings would cause her pain as he was unsure if he would survive past the final battle due to the continuous deterioration of his fonons.
After the final battle with Van, as everyone says their parting words to Luke, Tear tells him tearfully to come home after everything is over, which Luke promises he will. With that, Tear walks away and leaves Luke with a final whisper, 'I love you.' It is unknown if Luke heard it.

Tear Grants (ティア・グランツ)

Hometown: Yulia City
Age: 16
Weight: 50 kg
Height: 162 cm
Occupation: Order of Lorelei, Military Wing
Weapon: Staves

The Fende family was originally from the Island of Hod which was destroyed in the Hod War that left a large portion of the continent devastated by its effects. The island fell into the Qliphoth, taking both Tear's mother who was pregnant with her at the time and Van, her older brother, into the miasma-filled world under Auldrant's crust. 

Raised by Van, the Commandant of the God-Generals, and her adopted grandfather, Mayor Teodoro of Yulia City. She quickly joined the Order of Lorelei when she was of age. She is a Locrian Sergeant in the Oracle Knights Intelligence Division, a section of the Oracle of Lorelei that presides over the Score. 

Tear's detached demeanor came from her mentor, Legretta the Quick, Van's assistant and one of the Six God-Generals. To this day Tear considers Legretta the reason why she became so cold, concise and calculating - that and wanting Van's approval. 

It has been said that Tear and her family are the descendents of Yulia, the original fonist who discovered the Seventh Fonon and as a result, Tear is able to use it. However, unlike those that are able to use the Seventh Fonon, she is currently the only one to date save for Yulia that is able to use the Grand Fonic Hymn, a compilation of seven Fonic hymns, that provide its recipient with increased statistics which makes them more or less invincible for a time. 

At the start of the anime, Tear discovers that Van is determined to destroy the main world, and takes an assignment from Grand Maestro Mohs to locate the Seventh Fonstone in order to get to the Outer Lands. Along the way, she crosses through a portal and breaks into the Fabre manor where she finds Van, feigning as young Luke Fon Fabre's swordmaster and mentor, and proceeds to attack him but Luke steps in the way, blocking her assault. Without either Tear or Luke knowing that he possesses the power of the Seventh Fonon, a hyperresonance occurs between them and sends the two into the Malkuth Empire. 

Once realizing that they're no longer in Baticul, Tear promises to get Luke back home and they set out not knowing that they are in enemy territory. Just as they make it out of Tataroo Valley and hitch a ride on a passing wagon, they see a Colonel Jade Curtiss' dreadnaught (whom they do not know at the time) chasing another coach across toward the Rotelo Bridge. The coach tosses out some explosive barrels which destroys their quickest way out, forcing Tear and Luke to take shelter in a nearby town known as Engeve, the main farming town of the Malkuth Empire. Once they pass the threshold of the city they find themselves drawn deeper into the plot that threatens to leave Auldrant in its wake. 

Personality & Interests
Despite a usually cold demeanor, Tear actually loves anything cute and/or fluffy including Mieu, the bearer of the Sorcerer's Ring. Even in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, she thought Eugene Gallardo and Mormo were cute (much to their respective dismays). 

She is modest about her own body and avoids revealing too much whenever possible. For instance when the Malkuth emperor, Peony IX, gives her a bikini that is too risque for her, she opts out for a rented one piece with a garter belt for her throwing daggers thus giving her the title Rental Beauty. She also gets angry when her body becomes a subject of jokes, for instance, in a skit where Anise Tatlin says she dreams of having grown-up body as well developed as Tear's, Luke blurts out that there's no way Anise could develop "melons" (breasts) as big as hers, and Tear gets embarrassed and immediately scolds the two, forgetting their current situation. Tear is also afraid of ghosts. For example, when the party was traveling in the mountains Jade remember the story of a ghost of the mountains and Tear walks away while trying to rushing th others but Luke asked if she was scared she immediately denies while blushing; causing them to laugh at her much to her chagrin.

Along with her interests is her romantic interest. Throughout the game, Tear develops feeling for the game's protagonist, Luke fon Fabre. The two have been together since the beginning of the game. Tear has shown that she has a soft spot for the red head when she taught him how to control his hyperressonance, and she has been the character that explains many things to Luke. She is the only one to stay behind with Luke in Yulia City when he is unconscious. Everyone in the group seems to notice Tear's feeling for Luke, except Luke himself. There have been many hints from the others to Luke that Tear likes him, but all of them seem to fly over Luke's head. The duo has been made fun of by the others in the group. There is a skit when the two are arguing, and Guy Cecil and Anise Tatlin tell the two to break up their "lover's quarrel," which they respond by blushing while they immediately deny it. In a scene in Nam Cobanda Isle, when the group meets another Ant Lion Man, the player is given a choice to say which character is most important to Luke. If the player picks Tear, Tear disappears and Luke starts to panic. When he meets up with her, Luke admits that he was worried about her. Tear blushes and asks if he really was which leads to Luke making up an excuse about why he was worried. This leads to Tear’s disappointment, and Luke calling himself an idiot. Yet, Luke does try to return the feelings. The night before the group’s final battle, Luke seems to attempt to tell Tear something important, but, in the end, is too nervous to say it. They both supported each other when the other was risking their life to save the world. Tear, however, was extremely upset when Luke decided that he would sacrifice himself the rid Auldrant of the miasma. At the very end of the game, after the battle with Van, each member of the party says something to Luke. Tear’s speech is begging Luke to come back after everything is over, and she ends her speech by whispering ‘I love you’ which Luke cannot hear.

Tear is mostly serious and dedicated to her duties, but she also has a charming soft spot for anything cute.