CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR TALES OF VESPERIA.

BIG ONES.

Contents 1 A Quick Look 2 Abilities 2.1 Spells 2.2 Not quite spells 3 Personality 4 History 5 Paradisa/Loss 6 Character Relationships 6.1 Canon: 6.2 Paradisa: 6.3 Notes:

A Quick Look Edit

"The future must be protected. If it is not, then destruction awaits."

Name -> Duke Pantarei

Age -> Mid-thirties or so

Height -> 6'1"

Weight -> ???

Sexuality -> So gay he doesn't even like men Not looking, but bisexual

Eyes -> Red

Hair -> White/Silver. Slightly curly, bangs that hang almost over his eyes, the rest is past his waist and spreading out into chaos.

Race -> Human.

Fandom -> Tales of Vesperia

Canon point -> Post Final Battle

Loss -> Sight

Room -> 1806

Journal -> radiantwinged1

Player -> Aur

Physique -> "a gallant man ", "tall and slender, with silver hair", and "far too handsome to be a hermit". "Slender" translates to "this man is skinny, and looks like he has hips".

Voice - > Duke has a ridiculously deep voice (Link is from early-game Vesperia, very little spoilers but for main party members lurk within. Also, terrible video quality. Oh well.)

AbilitiesEdit

"The best path for an enduring world is to return it to its natural state. That is the path I chose!"

Duke is a powerful magic swordsman. His fighting style is a blending of "telekinesis" magic, spells, and strike artes. In his hands, Dein Nomos is one of the sharpest blades in Terca Lumireis. He is capable of living with the monsterkind of Terca Lumireis, which usually attack humans without thought, and conversing with animals (at least Repede, whom Duke holds a conversation with between battles on Tarqaron.)

In game, characters remark on his supposed strength. Raven comments - "Duke... I’d rather not meet him if we don’t have to. That soldier was already a hero in the Great War. Who knows how much stronger he’s gotten since." - on the way to the final battle. Khroma, an Entelexeia with whom Duke worked, comments upon this at her defeat by the heroes hands as well - "...Marvelous. Perhaps you all...can indeed...save the world..." An Entelexeia who takes the form of a dragon says that they can perhaps defeat Duke, based upon the power they showed in battle against her.

Duke is very 'in tune' with magic, or Aer, for a human. He is seen in game traveling around, remarking upon the flow of the Aer. With Dein Nomos, he is capable of dispelling large, dangerous, quantities of Aer with no harm to himself. In battle, the Aer (or tp) he spends is immediately regained after he finishes the arte or spell.

SpellsEdit

In battle, Duke has an array of spells that are intermediate to advanced tier, and the majority are altered. These have a wide range, the specifics of which will be noted along with the spell name. They are listed in order of cost of Aer, from least to greatest. Due to his loss, his accuracy will go down on all spells that are not area, and his ability to avoid damaging surroundings.

Flame Dragon - This spell is an altered arte of Spiral Flare. An orb of flame forms, the outside made of scrolling symbols and formula, the inside of fire. A lens slides up and then the orb empties itself into a long snake of flame, which spirals slightly but is mostly linear. It will spiral into the air after traveling half again its length. The spell is made of flame, and the seal that appears when Duke is casting is red.

Healing Circle - This spell is one of healing. An initial burst of healing accompanies the spark that flies upward, then three smaller bursts of healing follow as light reigns down. The seal that appears while Duke casts is golden.

Tempest - This is an altered arte of Havoc Gale. A tornado forms, and those about the edge of its base are sucked into the center, and then into the air. Lightning drops in several strikes upon those caught inside. Deals wind and fire damage, although technically wind and lightning. The seal that forms while Duke is casting is green.

Guilty Resolver - This appears to be a spell of Duke's own creation. A dome of vibrant light forms about the target of the spell, looking rather a lot like one of those plasma balls. This spell is not aligned, however the seal that forms while Duke is casting is golden.

Bloody Howling - This is an altered arte of Violent Pain. A seal of pale purple, an octagon, forms under the target. The corners light up with pale purple flames, and then black-purple energy erupts from inside the glyph, accompanied by howling. The damage is dark aligned, and the seal that forms while Duke is casting is violet-black.

Holy Rain - This is an altered arte of Holy Lance. The sky boils over and rain begins to fall. Among the rain are bolts of light. This spell strikes randomly in the area, and due to the light of the spell, the natural lighting dims. Deals light aligned damage, and the seal that forms while Duke is casting is golden. He does not have an incantation for this spell.

Meteor Storm - As the name indicates, Duke calls down meteors to strike "randomly" in the area. While there is no set pattern, they do seem to be moderately accurate. The accuracy depends on luck. Casting outside is not a requisite. Is not aligned to any element, however the seal under him when he is casting this is red. He does not have an incantation for this spell.

Stop Flow - This spell causes a temporary halt of time, allowing Duke to move, and attack, freely while everyone else is frozen. The color of the seal is violet-black. This arte does not hurt.

Not quite spellsEdit

Duke has a handful of abilities that are not spells or strike artes. Some of these are battle specific.

Levitate - > Duke's entire fight is spent with the man only on the ground when someone knocks him there. He doesn't float very high off the ground - perhaps half a foot or so.

Telekinesis - >There are only two strike artes that Duke takes blade in hand for, and the rest of the time he isn't holding onto the sword. This is not the standard telekinesis because when his concentration is broken, Dein Nomos - or the other objects he levitates durring Second Form and Radiant Winged One - do not fall to the ground. They simply remain hovering in the air when he is stunned or knocked to the ground. The motions that send Dein Nomos to the attack are sweeps and tugs of his hands through the air, as if he's manipulating something others can't see.

Flash step - >Not quite teleportation, Duke simply speeds away from one location. He vanishes for a second, then reappears somewhere else on the field. This is not something he can use to go up into the air, but he can use it to escape durring the downward fall of a combo, to get behind his target, or simply across the field to give himself enough time to cast a spell.

Dispel Magic -> With the power of Dein Nomos, Duke disperses any concentration of Aer. This can take apart spells, clam raging fountains of Aer(magic), and disperse Apatheia.

PersonalityEdit

I apologize for tl;dr here. Some of this is headcanon and some of this is overthinking.

"The affairs of this world hold no interest for me."

At a first glance, the response would be "What personality?"

The man is quiet, reserved, and abrupt with his comings and leavings. He's distant, and cold. Occasionally rather rude; "Those matters exceed your comprehension." isn't something one tells Rita Mordio without receiving a Fireball, but Duke went and did it. He's very socially awkward, occasionally thinking aloud in the middle of "conversations". He keeps his distance even from those who he has talked to many times; rarely asking for any information that is not relevant to the situation. He refers to people as "you", or by descriptors of their person when he cannot simply stare in their direction and be understood that way. He doesn't reply to greetings and decides when the conversation is over, acting upon that by simply turning and leaving without a further word.

Duke is confident and controlled. He carries himself with an air of confidence, one that Yuri picks up on in Keiv Moc; an odd sort of meditative serenity and an almost militaristic way of holding himself. The few times he holds blade in hand, it is always held point to the ground. This relaxed position speaks of his confidence in his skill to react in time to any threat. He never moves at a speed faster than a walk, his hands never leave loose fists from his sides, his expression barely flickers from a faint, blank frown, and his voice never rises. He doesn't swear, verbally or physically lash out, or seem to have a temper at all. Insults, teasing, and sarcasm simply roll right off him, if he even recognizes what they're supposed to be.

"A single life cannot be privileged over the fate of the world"; through his own words, Duke shows himself to be a man of action and the idea of "the many before the one". Unlike others who think that way, his 'one' is always less important than the many; although in Duke's case, the "many" is Terca Lumireis itself. He believes that even he, a human who lives in harmony with nature, might one day cause Terca Lumireis harm, and this showed in his plan for the removal of all humans. He was perfectly willing to kill himself, and every other human, to protect the world. Duke's opinion of himself, other than that he may cause harm to Terca Lumireis, is never stated. He holds himself with confidence, is clearly aware of his strength and power, and attempts to keep himself removed from humans, but remains aware that he is one.

"Words are cheap" The death of Elucifur taught him that words can be said, but that doesn't truly change anything. Elucifur said he would simply watch, and the humans nodded and smiled, then killed him out of fear of the power Elucifur swore he would not use. This doesn't mean that Duke won't keep his word, however, just that anything said to him by a human - any promise made to him by a human - is taken with a good deal of suspicion that it won't be held to. He's a man who removes threats when they become them, does rather than says, and doesn't care about "consequences". Twice, his actions in calming Aer Krene and destroying Hermes Blastia have saved the party, a band of the disliked humans. Had he but waited a little longer in both Keiv Moc and Ghasfarost, the party might have been wiped out, but Duke thought the threat to the planet was not worth waiting longer for removing said threats.

Despite being a man of action, he doesn't take any joy from fighting. Killing isn't something he enjoys, and he won't unless he absolutely has to. However, if he is to fight, and fight at his full capacity, he would prefer to not leave any witnesses to his strength. Knowing exactly how powerful Elucifur is what drove humans into slaying the Entelexeia. It was due to fear, so Duke would rather people underestimated him, and thus avoid a similar fate.

Avoidance is Duke's answer to "fight-or-flight", as he'd rather not get into that situation in the first place. Duke will not intentionally start any conflict, and he will, at first, try to walk away if someone starts one with him. As with his emotions, one has to reach a certain point with him before he'll retaliate, or insult Elucifur or Entelexeia to gain the same reaction.

If someone can get past his shell, they may see him differently. Duke is loyal. If he joins his cause with yours, if your morals/goals match his, if he likes you, you have someone who will stick with you through thick and thin until he witnesses a blatant breach of trust. Duke's trust has been a fragile thing since Elucifur's death, and repairing it for the sake of friendship may be the work of a lifetime. Regaining his trust after breaking it is a feat that stands close to impossible.

Despite his stony, normally emotionless exterior, Duke finds amusement in the subtle humors. He finds ironic words amusing, or at least sounds amused, and may even call the one being ironic out in a way. "So I am the only stubborn one?" was his response to Yuri's commenting on his stubbornness, complete with a rising, almost incredulous tone. However, he has no appreciation for Raven's sort of humor, referring to it as foolishness and clowning.

Despite how jaded he is about what to expect from humans, he manages to be a little naive about the workings inside human society. He understands the chain of command, and some of the workings of the upper-class households, but otherwise very little beyond his pessimistic views of imminent betrayal and inability to learn from the past. Part of this is his odd thought patterns. He melds animal-like behaviors with more human ones, understanding more base, linear thoughts but having trouble with the more convoluted human patterns. He understands killing for food, for imminent threat removal, and for defense, but not for many of the other reasons, such as over Blastia or for resources. Some of his body language is much closer to animalistic than it is to humans – in humans, tilting one's head down is normally a sign of submission while tilting back is more of a haughty stance, and Duke does the opposite. Baring one's throat is a sign of submission, and lowering one's head more aggressive. He is as curious, and as picky about what he'll be curious about, than any cat, and has the single minded tenacity of a terrier. Because of this merge of more animal-like patterns and human patterns, he has a hard time understanding how to deal with people. Mixed with his expectations for betrayal, and ten years removed from society, he's a social mess.

Duke does not like people, simply based on the fact they are human. Still, even after realizing his mistakes, he has a great deal of trouble trusting just any human. Although he finds that the human is friends with one he sort-of trusts, like a member of Brave Vesperia, he will be more likely to attempt to try. If someone manages to get close to him, he might show a bit of 'closeness' in his odd, quiet fashion. Duke has lost someone very important to him, and doesn't like how that felt, nor does he want to experience that again. He'd do everything in his power to prevent losing someone else, even if that means, for the most part, avoiding getting too close to anyone else. While he does ally himself with Khroma and has been working with her since Elucifur's death, she still finds his motives a mystery.

One thing that separates Duke from the heroes is that he knows his limits and doesn't attempt to push them. This isn't the sort of "this project got hard, I give up" sort of quitting one sees in modern settings, but the sort that when he feels that he can do no further, he only spends a short amount of time trying anyway before he scraps that plan and throws himself in a different direction. Raven comments on this when they try to convince him not to steal the life of all humans at Tarqaron. Part of the reason Duke quits so easily is because he expects no help, doesn't trust humans enough to try to get them to aid him, and thus has only a limited amount of back up plans and allies.

Religion on Terca Lumireis is a vague thing. There are mentions of The Goddess, but there are no real church systems, or many more mentions of anything beyond a hell, and someplace better. The Shrine of Baction seems to indicate that humans once worshiped Entelexeia as gods. Neither of these are what Duke follows, and by his own words, "there is no such thing." In reply to Yuri commenting that their repeated meetings were of fate. As a man who has walked more of his world than any other human, has spoken with the Entelexeia and flown with them, Duke does not hold them to be deities. As traveled and learned as he is, he also knows the truth behind tales and legends of the protective powers of Brave Vesperia and the true role of the Child of the Full Moon. He believes in the balance of nature, which should stay as it is, with Entelexeia governing the Aer.

Duke used to be a man whose sole motivation was the protection of Terca Lumireis, his promise to Elucifur. Everything he did was to protect, to preserve, his planet, to keep his promise to Elucifur. He lived for that promise, and nearly willingly died for it. He has little in the way of short term goals beyond survival, no long term goals beyond the next Aer Krene, finding the next abnormality to deal with. Now that the Adephagos, and Aer threats as a whole, have been dealt with, Duke has little to do.

He is a slightly situational person. It depends on what he is dealing with, who he is dealing with, and what he could gain to aid Terca Lumireis. Perhaps the best description, and probably the one Brave Vesperia would give if anyone asked them to describe him, is that "Duke is Duke". He's contradictory, yet not quite hypocritical.

HistoryEdit

"My blade does not exist to pass sentence on humans.."

Quite a bit of headcanon before in-game events.

Duke Pantarei was born to a powerful noble family in Zaphias a decade or so before the Great War.

Paradisa/Loss

"Humans will not let something go once it is in their grasp."

Duke's permanent loss is his sight.

Character Relationships

"Those matters exceed your comprehension. Do not ask of them again. Go. I have nothing more to say."

Canon:

Brave Vesperia - > This ragtag group of humans, dog and Kritya are of the few besides himself who have even attempted to speak with Entelexeia. He appreciates this, even if he doesn't understand all of their motives. After Tarqaron, Duke has come to the realization that they, without even knowing Elucifur, were doing a better job at keeping his promise than he was. He likes the guild, and trusts them a bit. If one of them makes a suggestion, a promise, or introduces him to someone, he's more likely to think it over, expect it to be held, or start with a slightly more favorable outlook to that person.

He also isn't too fond if the idea of meeting them at Paradisa. Partially because that means they too would be trapped, and probably mostly because they would find him blind.

Yuri Lowell - > Whether due to resemblances between Yuri and Elucifur, or through Yuri's actions in an entirely different way, Duke likes, and respects, the lower quarter man. He knows they don't see eye-to-eye on many subjects, but Yuri shares enough with him, and has enough stubbornness and will to see things through that Duke is fine with this.

Flynn Scifo - > Duke thinks his – from the outside – blind idealism is misplaced. He would probably agree with someone calling Flynn 'Lawful Stupid'. He doesn't understand how Flynn could keep with the empire after knowing the corruption. A tiny bit of respect for being what Duke considers a proper knight, a bit of '... really' for the blind idealism of Alexei.

Duke is rather amused that Flynn hasn't noticed he's blind yet, and somewhat inwardly pleased that Flynn is going to take such interest in raising a monster – even a Quietta. Somewhat .... well, 'proud' nor 'amused', but it's a somewhat 'pleasant' feeling, that Flynn is yet wary of him.

Entelexeia

Elucifur - > Ten years dead, and the Entelexeia is still Duke's best friend. He has not recovered from the loss and pain of his death, and likely won't on his own.

Khroma ->

Kritya - > Duke has no open opinion on Krityans. On one hand, the Kritya people are responsible for creating blastia, which created the Adephagos in the first place, and one Kritya by the name of Hermes was the creator of the blastia which more or less caused the Great War - and Elucifur's death. On the other hand, Kritya live in harmony with Entelexeia - the best example is Krones and Myorzo - have an innate ability to understand and speak to them, and have willingly tossed aside Blastia. They rate higher on the scale of 'What Duke likes' than Humans, at the very least.

Other Humans - > As a general rule, Duke doesn't like humans. His feelings aren't strong enough to be labeled as hate, but Duke does use words such as 'trivial' and 'vulgar' when referring to humans and what they do.

Alexei -> Despite having history as a friend of the Empire's Commandant, Duke pretty much hated the guy before the knight met his end at the hands of Brave Vesperia and a giant Apatheia. Duke holds all Entelexeia to be very important - and Alexei is responsible for the deaths of at least 7 of them - as that is the count of how many Apatheia he is seen with.

Paradisa:

I'm just listing people he's talked to enough to have an opinion on them here.

Tear Grants - > He really has no idea how to deal with her. prepare to see this sentence a lot. She reminds him of military things – which he doesn't really like, given his experience with military – while also reminding him of Estelle in her 'I'm going to help you'. He's confused why she looked out for him a bit. A bit embarrassed he got so sidetracked with talking to her.

Toothless - > It's a dragon. He's interested. A bit of an auto-liking.

Felix - > He has no idea how to interact with him. Part of him, some small geeky part in the corner with all the other emotions, wants to just tell him a lot of things, because he picks up the interest in magic as something he can bounce all sorts of ideas off of. The rest of him is more uneasy, partially because of those stupid faeries. Partially because people just make him uneasy. Finds him interesting.

Jade Curtiss - > No real opinion, other than that he's stubborn. He thinks he was getting teased/mocked at points, but he's not particularly sure.

Elrond - > Again, sort of uneasy. He has no idea Elrond isn't human yet, but he's liking the fact that Elrond knew he needed some sort of help and didn't push him to get it – and didn't make any sort of 'I told you so' commentary when he came back and looked for help.

Bonnie - > Really uneasy and unsure about her. Their first meeting was with her on a loss and Duke messed up in defending himself. She apologized later, but he's still a bit wary. They haven't interacted in person again, and he's okay with that.

Sephiroth - > The other blind-by-castle that he's encountered. He has the feeling that there's something not-quite-right with him, just based off the magical feels he's getting, but this is Duke; it doesn't bother him as much as makes him curious.

Merlin (Myrddin Emrys) - > Interesting person. Duke wouldn't mind talking more about differences in creatures with him. Other than that, no real opinion.

Luke fon Fabre - > He's aware that something feels a bit odd about Luke (even if he's not quite aware that the child he'd interacted with is the same person he talked to about calendars yet), so curious. Fairly certain he isn't what Duke would call human, so more interested than otherwise. No other opinion yet.

Cole - > Half-demon person. Not certain what that means for his dislike for humans. The method of transportation – shimmering – is interesting. Not sure how to interact with him after faerie shenanigans in the kitchen.

Lloyd Irving - > Cheerful, handy with carving. All Duke really knows.

Jon Snow - > He has a wolf, and Duke likes Ghost. This makes Jon a slightly better person than the average human. Even if he did point a sword at him.

Terezi - > Someone else blind, but seems like she was that way before the castle. Somewhat weird – likes her more than other people because she's not human.

Emil - > Really talkative. Says he's a weapon, but it's really vague yet. Somewhat interested. Mostly really unsure how to talk to him.

Catelyn Stark - > Polite and rather calm for someone who showed up recently. Took his mention of magic calm enough. Indifferent so far.

Abel Nightroad - > Somewhat silly seeming. Not quite sure if it's fake or not. Feels a little odd about having fooled him so well about being blind.

Notes:Edit

- Duke seems to be capable of talking with animals. He holds a somewhat one-sided seeming conversation with Repede at one point, and is seen with monsters acting friendly towards him.

This won't work as well for him without sight to pick up on body language, but he can understand more from noises that animals makes than most.

- With Dein Nomos in hand, most forms of magic are at risk. Crystalized chunks of condensed magic, condensed but still somewhat gaseous magic, spells that are firmly in place and locked against tampering, these things can get dispersed.

- Duke still carries the Apatheia of Elucifur. To anyone not aware of magic, it seems to be a rough gem around half again the size of a grown human's head, although light behaves oddly about it. Light seems to shine from inside it, casting colors about the way a prism would, even if there is no light source to do so. To those who are aware of magic, the crystal feels to be a point of greatly condensed magic, which would be accurate. Touching this without Duke's leave is a sure way to trigger his anger.