Cruxis and Friends

This is an article explaining the role Cruxis played in Tales of Symphonia and the characters involved with the organization. Please note this post is very long. You have been warned.

NOTICE: Before we start, I want to request that people please do not make comparisons between IRL groups and Cruxis on my post. Like for example “Cruxis shows why *REAL CONTEMPORARY GROUP* is poopy!”. None of that please. I am requesting this solely to avoid conflict. Violators will be blocked from Taleslations. Other forms of commentary are welcomed and encouraged.



Origin

After the end of the Kharlan War there was not enough mana left to support both worlds at the same time. The Giant Kharlan Tree had already wilted and died, leaving behind one Great Seed. The seed helped the mana supply, but it still wasn’t enough. It would be decades before an opportunity to germinate it would arise, when the comet Derris-Kharlan returned on its centennial obit. To ensure the survival of the world until then, Mithos split Sylvarant and Tethe’alla apart and alternated the Great Seed’s mana between the two. Doing this also ensured no fighting and increased mana consumption would resume between the two for the time being. [2]



This was originally only supposed to last until Derris-Kharlan’s approach, but just as the comet was coming within range a terrible tragedy occurred. A group of humans attempted to take control of the Great Seed, wanting to monopolize the world’s mana supply for themselves. Mithos’ beloved sister Martel lost her life trying to protect the seed. Martel’s death made Mithos lose his faith in humanity, and instead of using Derris-Kharlan’s mana to bring forth a new Great Tree as promised he instead used it to keep Martel’s soul tied to the seed. [2]



Mithos decided that he was going to do whatever it took to bring his sister back. If he could find another person with a mana signature close enough to Martel’s he could transfer her soul into their body. [2] If Martel were to awaken, the Great Seed would be absorbed into her and disappear. If the seed were to germinate, Martel would be absorbed by the seed.[1] Mithos knew the world would come to an end if the seed were to be lost, but if he could not have his sister by his side again then the world held no worth to him. It was these events that led to the formation of Cruxis. [2]



Structure and Function

Both worlds were in control of Cruxis, an organization under Mithos’ authority. Cruxis is divided between the Angels who reside in Cruxis’ headquarters on Derris-Kharlan, and the Desians who run human ranches in the declining world. The overwhelming majority of the members of Cruxis are half-elven. [2] A large number of Dwarves are also involved*. [1] The Angels are the highest branch of Cruxis. The Desians are the lowest, even the highest ranking Desian is outranked by the lowest Angel**. [5]





A main function of Cruxis is what they refer to as “The World Prolongation Project”. This is what they refer to as the system they put forth to manage the mana expenditure and magitechnology development between the two worlds. Keeping the worlds separated is a vital function of the project.[1]The truth of the world’s separation is mainly only known to the members of Cruxis.They worked to establish a fake history and a religion that revolves around Martel in order to have ordinary people below to unknowingly work towards their goal of reviving Martel and creating a world of Lifeless Beings.[2] People who still have knowledge of Tethe’alla or Sylvarant in the opposite world were lead to believe the people of the opposing country went to the moon.[1]



Another major function of cruxis is implementing Mithos’ “Age of Lifeless Beings”. The Age of Lifeless Beings*** is Mithos’ ideal world free from discrimination where everyone has become lifeless, like an exsphere. Mithos sees this as the true answer to Martel’s dying wish to see a world without discrimination. To provide Martel’s soul with a “host” body, Mithos spread the cult of Martel on the earth and invented the Mana Lineage. He controls the mana lineage, a family whose members could become Martel’s vessels, in both worlds. Normal people believe that Cruxis is an institution of heaven and that Martel is truly a goddess. [2]



Desians

The Desians are the lower branch of the organization who use exspheres and are active in the declining world.[5] They carry out numerous tasks that are vital to Cruxis, such as creating exspheres necessary for the Age of Lifeless Beings, persecuting the civilization of the declining world to keep their mana consumption under control, and creating conflict to provoke the Chosen of Regeneration and further increase her bonding with her Cruxis Crystal. [1] [2]



To accomplish this, they build Human Ranches on the declining world and capture humans from nearby villages and implant them with latent exspheres. They make their prisoners suffer to hasten the Exspheres’ development. When the Journey of Regeneration is successfully completed, all the ranches are destroyed using a self-destruct mechanism that they all come equipped with and begin the process anew in the new declining world.[2]

Desians also sometimes destroy towns or proceed with public executions, instilling fear in people’s hearts. They do have a quota on the number of humans they can kill per year, to prevent the world’s population to decline. But sometimes they will make exceptions and exceed their given limit if humans are being unruly. [1] [2]



The Desians believe that they are working towards a world where half-elves will rule over humans and that they are valued members of Cruxis. This is what they have been told by Lord Yggdrasill and the upper ranks of Cruxis. But that is not the case. Lord Yggdrasill wants to create a world where all people are the same and views the Desians as being disposable. He’s gone so far as to tell them to do nothing when the Great Seed went out of control, claiming they’d be welcome on Derris-Kharlan if the world was destroyed, when he had no intention of doing so. [1] [5]



Forcystus

Forcystus was the Grand Cardinal in charge of Iselia’s Human Ranch. He was known as a half-elf hero who had once killed every member of a group of humans who had been leading a massacre on half-elves.[1] He lost his left arm many years ago and had a prosthetic that functioned as a canon put on the stump to replace it. [5]



His prosthetic was badly damaged after the encounter with Lloyd in Iselia, Marble’s attack having caused significant damage. During a meeting with the other Grand Cardinals after the incident the other four mocked him for being injured by a human. Kvar’s comments on the loss crossed the line for Magnius. Magnius then told Forcytus that he would have come to his aid if he knew he was having trouble, promising to not let the humans who hurt his friend go quietly. [5]



Later on, Forcystus’ ranch was infiltrated by Lloyd’s group after the Great Seed went out of control in response to losing the stabilizing force of the mana links. Yggdrasill ordered Forcystus and his men to see to it that no action would be taken to stop the rampaging tree. Forcystus did not question his orders, he felt the destruction was what the tainted world deserved. He falsely believed that he would be saved by Yggdrasill and welcomed on Derris-Kharlan if the world were to be destroyed. [1]



Forcystus managed to beat Lloyd and the others to the mana reactor and tried to overpower them. He was defeated however, and fell down from the control platform. He attempted to ambush the group once again outside the ranch, attacking Lloyd from behind. This prompted Kratos to tell Forcystus that he was disappointed in seeing the great half-elf hero meet his end in this manner. [1]



This comment made Forcystus realize Kratos was one of the Four Seraphim, having not recognized him previously because the two had never met in person before. Forcystus told Kratos that Yggdrasill had trusted him and called him a traitor. He then turned to attack Chocolat. Colette stepped forward to save Chocolat while Lloyd fatally wounded Forcystus. Forcystus called out to Yggdrasill and wished for glory to the new age of half-elves as he died. [1]



Magnius

Magnius was the Grand Cardinal in charge of the Palmacosta human ranch. He was previously informed of Lloyd’s exsphere during a meeting with the other Grand Cardinals after Forcystus’ defeat. After the confrontation with Lloyd’s group in Palmacosta, he received a message from Rodyle telling him that Pronyma said the current Chosen was useless as a vessel and would need to be eliminated. Magnius was reluctant to believe this, as the higher ups had previously informed him this chosen was a good match. Rodyle assured him that they could make more Chosens as needed and that the real focus right now was Lloyd’s unique exsphere. [5]



Believing Rodyle’s lies, Magnius orchestrated a trap for Colette with Governor General Dorr. Magnius had been blackmailing Dorr for some time, saying that he’d turn his wife back into a human in exchange for money extorted from the people of the city of Palmacosta. Magnius had Chocolat captured and made Dorr send one of his men to tell the Chosen’s group to go to the ranch. They eventually made their way there, finding Magnius waiting for them in the control room. [1]



Magnius greeted Colette, calling her forsaken to Kratos’ confusion. Magnius continued taunting the group and threatened to turn the escaping prisoners into Exbeluas. He then attacked, but was defeated by Lloyd’s group. As Magnius was dying, Kratos informed him that he had been misled, and that Cruxis accepted Colette as the Chosen. Realizing Kratos was telling the truth, Magnius realized he had made a terrible mistake and passed out. [1]



After Lloyd’s group initiated the self-destruct mechanism, Magnius gathered himself together one last time and attempted to contact Forcystus to warn him about Rodyle. Rodyle knew what he was planning however, and prevented Magnius from doing so in time, telling Magnius to enjoy the afterlife shortly before the ranch exploded. [1]



Kvar

Kvar was the Grand Cardinal in charge of the the Asgard Human Ranch. He was known as an accomplished half-elven scientist and was a likely pick as the leader of the Grand Cardinals and the Desians at large. Despite his merits however, Pronyma was chosen instead. This was mainly due to his advocation of scientific racism****, which didn’t sit well with the rest of the organization who’d spent their whole lives being discriminated against. He never understood this reasoning however and instead came to the conclusion that Pronyma did something to steal the position that was rightfully his. [5]



The crowning achievement of Kvar’s scientific work was the Angelus Project which aimed to rediscover a method for creating Cruxis Crystals. The means of developing Cruxis Crystals had been lost long ago, chosens being given leftovers from the Kharlan War to bond with. Cruxis was running low on supplies and Kvar’s project would have been a major contribution to the organization. [2]

After spending years on time consuming research he finally came close to his goal of creating a Cruxis Crystal on the host body A012, also known as Anna. [1] [5]



However she escaped the ranch with Kratos’ help, prompting Kvar and his men to search for them for years. Eventually he set up a trap to split the couple up and reclaim his exsphere. He had false information sent to Kratos telling them that a resistance group the couple knew had headed to the Tower of Salvation. Kratos left Anna, while she made towards Iselia with Noishe and her son in order to take advantage of the town’s non-aggression treaty with the Desians. [5]



Kvar and his men managed to capture Anna and remove her exsphere before Kratos returned, but it was lost after Anna turned into a exbelua. Yuan arrived on the scene shortly after and told Kvar he had sick hobbies. Kvar reprimanded Yuan for siding with a traitor. There was a struggle between Kvar, Anna’s exbelua, and Kratos. After Lloyd and Noishe they fell down the cliff Kratos knocked Kvar out. [5]



Years later, Kvar received word from Forcystus that Lloyd had the Angelus Project exsphere.[5] He was able to confirm it directly when Lloyd’s group infiltrated his ranch during a Renegade raid. After the group escaped he wasn’t in a hurry to track them down. He could find them using Colette’s mana signature at any time. He had more pressing matters to look into. [1]



When the Renegades broke into his ranch they had been using access codes that should only be available to the higher ranks of Cruxis, and they had accessed data on the Angelus Project in the process of stealing exspheres. Kvar suspected that Pronyma was involved and that she might be the leader of the Renegades. While Kvar was contacting Pronyma to confront her on the matter, she revealed that Cruxis was aware that he’d been working on the mana cannon with Rodyle.[5]



Just then Lloyd and his friends broke in and stabbed him RIP in pieces Kvar.

Rodyle

Rodyle was the Grand Cardinal in charge of the Remote Island Human Ranch. He had his ranch constructed in the ocean to minimize surveillance from Cruxis and was quite proud of himself for doing so. He was working on numerous projects that Cruxis would not have approved of, such as constructing a Mana Cannon with the help of Kvar and money obtained from Magnius. The Renegades had manipulated him into constructing the cannon to use it to destroy the Tower of Salvation, but Rodyle seemed pleased with his work nonetheless.[5]



He’d also been stealing research from Kvar and had been working on his own Angelus Project in Tethe'alla. Forty years before the Journey of Regeneration started, he’d tracked down Altessa who had escaped from Cruxis sometime prior. [5] Rodyle forced Altessa into participating in the Angelus Project, eventually securing Presea as a host body with the help of Vharley. Rodyle planned to create a Cruxis Crystal using Presea and use it to power his mana cannon.[1]



Rodyle did not want the Journey of Regeneration to succeed. If Colette released the final seal he would be forced by Cruxis to detonate his ranch and the cannon that he’d put so much work into. He lied to Magnius and told him to kill Colette so that this wouldn’t happen. [5] He was not phased by Magnius’ defeat, but made sure that Forcystus was not contacted about what happened in order to conceal his plans. [1]



After stealing the rest of the deceased Kvar’s research data, Rodyle made for Tethe'alla using Magnius’ ID in order to check up on how his Angelus Project was doing. He went to go see the Pope in Tethe'alla. [5] After running into Lloyd’s group in Meltokio he decided to try to steal Colette’s Cruxis Crystal to power the cannon instead, and made arrangements to have Presea assist him. After kidnapping Colette however he quickly realized her Cruxis Crystal would be useless in its current state due to her Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium. He attempted to eliminate her and the rest of Lloyd’s group and fled.[1]



Rodyle was later contacted by Pronyma and received a corrupted Cruxis Crystal from her. [1] [5] He did not expect that she knew what he was up to however and trusted that she was trying to help him. When Lloyd’s group infiltrated his ranch in order to shut down his cannon he taunted them and equipped the Cruxis Crystal in order to test it out, turning into an exbelua. Lloyd’s group attacked him and his body began to disintegrate. With the last of his strength he activated the ranch’s self-destruct system, proclaiming that he would not die alone, and passed away. [1]



Pronyma

Click here for full Pronyma Bio

Angels

Cruxis’ higher branch are the Angels who reside on Derris-Kharlan. Angels are people who posess Cruxis Crystals.They use a technique for strengthening individuals that was developed during the Kharlan War. They can utilize their Cruxis Crystals to control their five senses, stop their aging process by altering their metabolism*, greatly increase their strength and endurance, and fly. [1] [2] [5]



All of the abilities of a Cruxis Crystal can be consciously controlled at will by any Angel with a proper key crest. Kratos in particular turns his hearing off on multiple occasions when people are saying things he doesn’t want to know about. However, many inexperienced Angels have trouble properly using their wings. They end up using the flight function for too long and lose the ability to properly control how their mana is emitted from their back. The once translucent wings become solid and permanent at this point*****. [5]



The leaders of the Angels and the highest rank of Cruxis are the Four Seraphim. There is Martel, who plays the role of the Goddess; Yuan, who oversees activity in Tethe'alla; Kratos, who oversees activity in Sylvarant; and Mithos, the leader of all of Cruxis as Lord Yggdrasill. [2] The Seraphim have their own personal messenger angels who can be identified by the colors on their armbands. [5]



After the end of the game all of the surviving Angels of Cruxis departed on Derris-Kharlan under the leadership of Kratos. [1] [6]This is in part penance for their role in making such a mess of the world and the countless lives that were lost, and also a journey to find a new place where they can live in peace. Kratos stated that he was going to disperse all of their exspheres and Cruxis Crystals into space as well. [1] For more info on Derris-Kharlan click here.



Kratos Aurion



Click here for full Kratos Bio

Martel Yggdrasill



Click here for full Martel Bio

Yuan Ka-Fai



Yuan never supported Mithos’ plans. But he never actively worked against them either until Mithos brought up the idea to start Human Ranches. Yuan was disgusted by the idea and grew more and more distant from Mithos from that day on. This was the origin of the rift between the two and Yuan’s desire to create the Renegades. Yuan couldn’t act as the leader of the Renegades publicly however, and made Botta the figurehead leader instead. Botta coordinated assassinations on the chosen and raided the ranches publicly, while Yuan led from behind the scenes using resources and information covertly obtained from Cruxis to aid his group.[5]



Yuan had made plans to take possession of the Eternal Sword and return the worlds to normal back when Lloyd was still a baby. He managed to gain Kratos’ support, although Kratos had very real doubts that the plan would work. Kratos told Yuan he feared the Origin and the other spirits would not forgive them for Mithos’ betrayal and that Origin would abandon the planet for Derris-Kharlan if freed. [5]



Nonetheless, Kratos agreed to let Yuan kill him to release the seal if he was allowed to strike down Mithos first. Kratos went back on his word and went back to Mithos after losing his family however. Yuan was still resigned to kill his friend to accomplish his goals, but had to wait for a good opportunity to do so. [1] [5]



Yuan had no idea that Kratos was being sent on the Journey of Regeneration until Botta contacted him on the matter after their confrontation at the Temple of Martel. This was extremely frustrating for Yuan, who wanted to be down where the action was but was stuck on Derris-Kharlan doing paperwork instead. He berated Botta for being too incompetent to kill a sixteen year old girl. [5]



Since Kratos would not be present to see to his assigned duties in Sylvarant, it meant Yggdrasill would be overseeing them instead. With that in mind Yuan knew he would be able to allow the Renegades to act as freely as they normally would. Yuan was also careful not to let it slip that he knew Kratos was on the surface before anyone in Cruxis informed him of the matter. [5]



After learning that Kratos’ son was still alive, Yuan made plans to capture Lloyd to blackmail Kratos into releasing the seal.[1] He prevented Pronyma from telling Yggdrasill about Lloyd as soon as she got Forcystus’ report to make it easier on him to do this. After his clash with Lloyd’s group in the Triet Renegade base Yuan realized it wouldn’t be as easy as he thought it would be to capture Lloyd however. Lloyd’s exsphere made him very powerful, to the point where Yuan theorized that Lloyd was very gradually undergoing the angel transformation without any of the negative side effects. [5]



Later on, Yuan was back on Derris-Kharlan for a meeting with Yggdrasill when he received word from Pronyma that the Chosen had entered the Asgard Ranch. The news was a shock to Yuan who knew Botta and some of the other Renegades were currently there on a mission and wasn’t sure how they’d fare against Kvar and Kratos. After Pronyma left, Yggdrasill attacked Yuan.

Yuan dodged the attack, but was confused on what he’d done to provoke it. [5]



Yggdrasill said he wasn’t pleased that Yuan had told Pronyma to keep quiet about Lloyd. Yuan lied and said he thought it would be better to not say anything until they were entirely sure Lloyd was Kratos’ son. Yuan then retorted that he wasn’t happy that he hadn’t been receiving more reports on the Chosen’s progress. Yggdrasill simply replied that he wasn’t sure Yuan was up to but that he seemed desperate. Yuan stated he thought the same thing of Yggdrasill. [5]



Yuan made a few more attempts to capture Lloyd and his group, but eventually decided it was more beneficial to work with them instead. Originally the Renegades had been planning to destroy the Tower of Salvation with the mana cannon they’d been manipulating Rodyle into building. But when he learned Lloyd’s group could disconnect the mana links he decided it would be better to use them to free the Great Seed instead. [1]



That was a really bad idea. After the rampaging tree mess was settled Yuan eventually made his way back to his plan to capture Lloyd to force Kratos to release Origin. He arranged to have Zelos drug the group and Yuan ambushed Kratos as he was leaving the Tower of Salvation with Kate and forced him to go to Altessa’s. [1] [4] It was there that Yuan learned that Mithos had found out that Yuan’s role in leading the Renegades. [1] Mithos had never shown any particular interest in the group’s activities before, but was angered to learn Yuan had been behind it all. [1] [5] Knowing his men would be in danger now he made it his first priority to evacuate them to safety before Mithos killed them. He told Lloyd of the price that would have to be paid to release Origin and departed.[1]



Yuan later tracked down Kratos and questioned what Kratos was planning to do, he replied that he regretted he could neither save Mithos nor fall together with him, leaving the task of killing Mithos to Lloyd while he himself did nothing. Yuan tried to say he was the same, but Kratos disagreed and told Yuan that he at least had upheld Martel’s words. Kratos said it was time to bid farewell to the past. Knowing that Kratos was planning to release the seal Yuan came up with a plan to save his friend. [4]



Yuan did not want to let Kratos die without putting up a fight.[4] He knew it would be risky, but Yuan decided to try to distribute his bodily mana to Kratos at the moment that the seal was released. It was dangerous and ran the risk of killing Yuan as well, but it did end up working. Once the battle was won Yuan took on the task of watching over the new World Tree. [1]



Mithos Yggdrasill



Shortly before Colette’s journey was to start, Mithos approached Kratos and demanded that he protect the Chosen. Colette was an even better match than Spiritua and had a very high likelihood of being a successful vessel for his sister. Kratos protested, stating that he had to command Pronyma and do his job as the Sylvarant supervisor. Mithos said not to worry and that he would take care of those tasks himself so Kratos could just focus on protecting the Chosen. [5]



As things unfolded during the journey, there were many developments that Mithos did not approve of. For one, normally priests are supposed to accompany the Chosen, but on Colette’s journey it ended up being a bunch of “random” villagers. He also did not like how the Chosen’s group seemed to be actively seeking out the Desians and attacking them, going so far as to kill Magnius.[5]

Mithos also began to suspect whether Kratos would betray him again once he learned that Lloyd was still alive, because Lloyd had the blood of the woman who convinced Kratos to turn on him. To test Kratos’ loyalty he set up a test. He would have Kvar destroy Luin, Anna’s hometown, and see how Kratos reacted. If Kratos kept the journey on track then he was loyal. If he killed Kvar then he was a liability. [5]



Mithos wasn’t pleased that Kratos killed Kvar, but decided to give him another chance to prove himself loyal to Cruxis. When Kratos arrived at the Tower of Salvation he told him “There are people calling you a traitor. Prove your loyalty. I want your son’s head”. He kept an eye on the ensuing fight, and when Kratos began to waver he decided to intervene personally. He descended the Tower of Salvation to where Kratos and Lloyd’s group were and attempted to finish the job himself, with the Renegades saving the group at the last moment. [5]



Later on, Pronyma delivered a report to Mithos that something was fishy about the way that Yuan was acting. It was strange that he hadn’t located Altessa previously when he was the one in charge of overseeing activity in Tethe'alla. Thinking back on prior developments Mithos began to think. He knew Yuan was never okay with what Cruxis was doing, but he never thought Yuan might actually try to stop Martel’s revival. [5]



Just then, an Angel came in and delivered a report that the Undine and Volt Mana Link had been severed. Pronyma quickly comes to a realization that Lloyd’s group was responsible. She said that it would be dangerous if more links were to be severed, but Mithos brushed her off stating that they can’t cross dimensions without help. Pronyma told him that the Renegades had assisted Lloyd’s group before and that it would be very bad if they allied with one another, but Mithos still seemed disinterested. [5]



Mithos said he didn’t care if the links were severed. All it would do is make the worlds drift apart, but the Great Seed and Martel were safe so it wasn’t his problem. He noted that Kratos must have been leaking information to Lloyd for them to have made it this far, and that “Kratos betrayed me, what does it matter if I betray humans?”. [5]



With that in mind he made two decisions. If Kratos was trying to obtain the Eternal Ring again then he’d need Sacred Wood, which only grows in Ozette. He would have Ozette obliterated to keep Kratos from obtaining it. Mithos also decided he was going to insert himself into Lloyd’s inner circle so that he could understand what made Kratos choose him. He ordered Pronyma to keep him informed on what was happening in Cruxis while he was gone and to spy on Kratos. [5]



While spending time with Lloyd’s group Mithos befriended Genis, happy to have a chance to spend time with another half-elven boy. Mithos also learned exactly what Rodyle had been up to in Tethe'alla from Altessa. He also went with the group to Sylvarant, where he learned that Yuan was the leader of the Renegades. At one point he also rescued them from Rodyle’s ranch, bringing Rheairds to help them escape ******* . Eventually he returned to Altessa’s where he was present when the Great Seed went out of control. When Mithos received word from Pronyma about the Rampaging Tree he ordered Forcystus to do nothing to stop it. [1]



After the Great Seed returned to normal, Lloyd’s group returned to Altessa’s where Mithos was and began researching how they could cure Colette’s illness.[1] That night Mithos took Zelos out into the woods for a discussion. Zelos asked him if it was fun to pretend to be friends with Genis. Mithos told him that he wouldn’t understand because he’s just a human. Mithos then called out Kratos, who he’d noticed was eavesdropping on their conversation.[4]



Mithos then made an educated guess that Kratos was doing . Kratos tried to tell him that he was simply there observe the Chosen’s illness. Mithos replied that he knew that was just an empty excuse and that kind of work should be Yuan’s job seeing as they’re in Tethe'alla. Kratos tried to save face but Mithos continued, mentioning that he knew what Yuan was up to something selfish, and that Kratos was in the same boat. [4]



Mithos told Kratos he’d decided how to deal with Colette and that it was time to end the little charade soon. Mithos had helped the group find the information to treat Colette’s illness so that she’d be useful as a vessel again. Mithos said he was tired of observing them, and that he now needed Kratos to have Colette brought to Welgaia and to have the rest of Lloyd’s group captured and killed.[4]



Mithos wanted Lloyd dead, because as long as Kratos’ son was alive Kratos might betray him again. He felt it was inevitable because Lloyd’s mother was Anna. Kratos begged him to reconsider, pointing out that Lloyd had a unique bond with the Angelus Project exsphere that could be beneficial to Cruxis. Mithos eventually relented on the issue, and told Kratos he could have his way. Zelos told Mithos “You sure are soft on traitorous humans”. Mithos slashed him and told him to shut up. [4]



After Lloyd and his group escaped from Welgaia with Kratos’ help, Mithos approached them at the Tower of Salvation as Yggdrasill.[1] [4] He informed Lloyd that the worlds can’t be returned to normal without the Eternal Sword, which Lloyd couldn’t even touch. He went to explain that if the worlds were returned to normal and the Great Tree restored there would just be another war eventually that would kill it again. Mithos said the only true solution would be for all people to be the same and for discrimination to be eliminated entirely. [1]



Mithos tried to take Colette back, and there was a fight. Mithos was still injured from the earthquakes earlier and after being beaten back was attacked by Genis. Pronyma showed up and tried to kill Genis in retaliation, but Mithos took the hit for him. Pronyma was shocked that her attack hit him, but Mithos just brushed it off and asked what she needed him for. Mithos told Lloyd there’s not always a way to save everyone and left. [1]



Mithos went back to Altessa’s and tried to keep up his charade, but revealed himself when Yuan showed up to blackmail Kratos. After the confrontation there and joyously kicking Yuan in the ribs, he departed for Welgaia with Kratos.[1] After having the unconscious Kratos locked in his room, Mithos waited for Lloyd’s group to return again to stop him.[1] [4]



Colette was captured again, and quickly placed in a machine to have Martel moved into her body. Mithos stood by and watched, anticipating his beloved sister’s return. To his shock Lloyd’s group found a way in before the transfer was complete. Pronyma tried to stop them from interfering, but was overpowered and badly wounded. She pleaded to Mithos for help, calling him by his real name instead of Yggdrasill, prompting him to kill her.[1]



Just then Martel awoke in Colette’s body, and admonished her brother for all of his actions. Martel begged with Mithos to stop all of this, and return to his old self again. Mithos couldn’t handle that even Martel had rejected him, and flew into a rage. Martel told her brother that he final wish was for him to return the world to how it was, noting that if things were going to end up like this then the Elves should have never left Derris-Kharlan. Then people like them wold have never been born. [1]



Mithos was delusional with grief at this point, and twisted her final comment into a request to return to Derris-Kharlan. Mithos started to leave with the Great Seed but Lloyd’s group stopped him. At this point Mithos sent his body to Derris-Kharlan and left his Cruxis Crystal behind. Genis picked up Mithos’ Cruxis Crystal and carried it with him for some time, not aware that Mithos’ consciousness was inside of it. Mithos used it to try to posess Lloyd after Origin’s Seal was released, but one of Lloyd’s friends took his place instead.[1]



Using the body of Lloyd’s friend, Mithos returned to Derris-Kharlan and destroyed the Tower of Salvation. Lloyd eventually made his way there and rescued his friend, heading to the location of Mithos’ body in Vinheim with the others. Once the group arrived there, Mithos returned his Cruxis Crystal to his body. In control of his own body once more, Mithos made a final attempt to convince Lloyd that the Age of Lifeless Beings was the only road to peace for the people of the world. Lloyd told him that even if the plan was implemented nothing would change, because discrimination comes from the heart. [1]



Mithos refused to listen anymore. A fight between Mithos and Lloyd’s group ensued. Mithos was defeated, but his soul lingered in the Cruxis Crystal he died wearing. He told Lloyd he was tired of playing this game and asked for Lloyd to destroy the crystal so he could die while he was still himself. Lloyd did as he was asked, and the remains of Mithos’ Cruxis Crystal entered Lloyd’s exsphere. They later left his exsphere and entered the Great Seed after it had died, restoring its life. [1]



*Notes

*The game never mentions where the dwarves are directly, but Sheena does mention Moria being in Tethe'alla once. Moria is a ancient abandoned Dwarf Colony in the distant future in Tales of Phantasia. The only human in Cruxis as far as I’m aware is Kratos, although there were other humans helping out the Desians without being directly associated with them; like Dorr and Vharley. I’d have to wonder if they’re counting quarter and eighth elves as humans too.

**Mmmmm this is gonna be a note-tastic post. I think Pronyma has some sway against the lower angels, one NPC in Welgaia refers to her respectfully. But definitely not the ranked Angels. Pronyma is also the exception, the other Desians are pawns at best.

*** Mithos’ plan makes more sense when you consider that the original Japanese term for “lifeless” was “inorganic” i.e. not based upon living tissues. So think less robot and more Crystal Gem.

****I’M JUST WRITING DOWN WHAT THE NOVEL SAID IDK

*****All Angels can age, taste, feel, have an appetite, and sleep if they have a proper key crest and they chose to do so. None of these are forced. The wings CAN be forced if you use them too long, but that’s it.

******I’m doing short and quick bios for Yuan and Mithos here because there’s nothing I can really say about their pasts that didn’t already come up in Martel and Kratos’ bios. I want to repeat myself as little as possible. This isn’t a wiki and it makes reading each one more fun. Gotta catch ‘em all.

*******The Kratos novel implies that Kratos was the only one who knew where the Renegade base in Triet was. I’m pretty sure the Rheaird’s were from Cruxis and that Lloyd’s group accidentily leaked the location of the base to Cruxis when they took Mithos there.

Trivia



Angels don’t need to poop. [2]



An Angel’s Cruxis Crystal can be safely removed with a proper key crest. Kratos removed his for a while and seemed normal.[5] I’d imagine this probably gets interesting when the previous trivia wears off.

Mithos knew Lloyd was following him and Genis when they went to go pick Fandalia flowers. [4]



Kvar and Magnius both knew who Kratos was when you encounter them in the game. Forcystus was the only one who had never met him previously.[5]

Yuan’s hometown is Asgard but it was called something else back when he lived there.[3]

The Desians didn’t put up more of a fight when Lloyd’s group encounters them in Palmacosta because they didn’t want to injure Colette.[5]

Yggdrasill was voiced by James Arnold Taylor in the English version of the game. James also voiced Tidus from Final Fantasy X. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Mithos’ Japanese VA Minami Takayama voiced Kiki in Kiki’s Delivery Service and Conan in Detective Conan.

Yggdrasill’s disco suit was modeled after Dhaos’ final boss form.

Yggdrasill has pointy ears on his in-game model.



The Four Seraphim were originally referred to as “The Four Archangels” in the Japanese version of the game. Please note that they are not a different kind of angel from all of the others, the term only refers to the rank in Cruxis.

Yuan’s VA Toshiyuki Morikawa also took over the role of Dhaos after Kaneto Shiozawa passed away. When Toshiyuki has been at the Tales of Festival to represent Dhaos in the past he’s thrown in some Yuan lines as well. He’s also going to be voicing Eizen in ToB.

Yuan gets rid of his cape in battles because it was too difficult for the dev team to properly animate in fights.

Fans once asked Miyajima if there was going to be a route in the game originally where Genis would have turned his back on Lloyd and joined Mithos depending on affection values. She said that never came up in production, but that it was a good idea.



Kvar has an unused voice clip in the English version of the game called “Booty Call”. [7]



The localization had two terms for Cruxis’ grand plan, “The Great Age of Half-Elves” and “The Age of Lifeless Beings”. In Japanese they were both just “Sen'nen'ōkoku” which translates to “Millenial Reign” in English. It was changed because that’s a reference to the Millenial Kingdom from Revelation 20:1-6 in the bible. So originally the twist wasn’t that Mithos had an entirely different plan from the main one, it was the full ramifications of what he was going to do when Martel came back. This makes things really darn confusing when you’re trying to match a literal translation to localization terminology.

Desians and Renegades are often mistaken for one another in-game but they’re actually easy to tell apart. Renegades have much plainer uniforms when compared to Desians.

Magnius is pretty popular in Japan for some reason. This leads to him getting better treatment than most of the other ToS villains at fan events and such.

Mithos was left handed in Tales of Fandom vol. 2 but he’s right handed in the OVA.

Kvar tends to view all the people around him as being incompetent, he had no idea Pronyma was aware of what he was up to because of this.[5]

When Kratos was asked why the Desians acted the way they do all he replied it was because they had been persecuted as half-elves. When Lloyd retorted they’re treated that way because they treat humans like cattle, Kratos replied “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”.[1]

Yuan is into interior decorating.[5]

Rodyle is courteous when speaking to Presea prior to her regaining her self-awareness.[1]

Yuan doesn’t like strong emotions so the more angry he gets, the more frustrated he is about being angry. When this happens he tells himself “Look, getting angry again. Calm down. Take a deep breath”. Martel was the one who taught him to do this and he thinks about her when he’s holding his breath.[5]



References



[1] Tales of Symphonia Chronicles

[2] ToS Official Scenario Guide

[3] ToS-U Perfect Guide

[4] Tales of Fandom vol. 2

[5] Shokuzai no Kratos

[6] Successors of Hope

[7] The Cutting Room Floor



RODYLE IS MY NEW OFFICIAL LEAST FAVORITE KIND OF CHARACTER TO WRITE BIOS FOR. DUDE SHOWS UP JUST TO GO “NYEHEHEHEHEHE EVIL PLANS” AND SKADDLES OVER AND OVER AGAIN (Magnius’ death, Kvar’s death, Meltokio, Presea’s house, kidnapping Colette, trying to kill Colette) AND I HAVE TO PINTPOINT EACH ONE AND TRY TO MAKE IT INTO A COHERENT PARAGRAPH. I HAD LIKE BLEVENTEEN TABS OPEN PLAYING WHACK A MOLE WITH THE GAME STORY TRYING TO REMEMBER EVERY DARN TIME THIS CHICKEN NUGGET POPS UP ON TOP OF THE NOVEL INFO. SEE YOU IN HECK YOU SEA WATER WHERE’S WALDO DRAGON LOVING TURTLE MAN. IF PRONYMA TOOK THE INITIATIVE MORE OFTEN WE’D ALL BE DEAD.