Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria/Characters

Valkyrie Profile is a game with a plotline that is highly dependent on its characters. The cast is large, diverse and very colorful, sharing histories in a war-torn, tragic landscape. This article focused on describing the main playable characters, as well as some of the minor enemies and allies that are encountered throughout the game. It should be noted that the appearances of mythological figures such as the Norse gods are highly stylized and reimagined, and thus this article should not be used as a proper mythological source.

=Playable Characters= This is a listing of all of the characters that the player is capable of recruiting over the course of the normal game.

Arngrim
One of the first souls that Lenneth recruits. However, due to imperfections in his character, Odin and Freya refuse to accept him as an Einherjar, and thus spends the rest of the journey at Lenneth's side. After the death of Princess Jelanda, he fought his way through the Artolian king's castle and defeated the man responsible for her death with Lenneth's help. Afterwards, he elects to commit suicide in order to follow the valkyrie, and eventually becomes one of her most trusted allies. He proves himself by assisting Mystina and Lezard in saving Lenneth's life when the gods attempt to do away with her.

Lenneth Valkyrie
Lenneth is a valkyrie, recently awakened warrior-maiden that Odin has served with the task of recruiting the souls of deceased warriors, or Einherjar from the world of mortal men, Midgard, so that they may assist in the war against Surt, and prevent the destruction of Asgard in Ragnarok. Lenneth is a goddess of fate along with her two sisters (Hrist and Silmeria) and they all share the same body. A loyal servant, she does as she is asked until she one day discovers that while she had been "sleeping", her soul had been reborn in Midgard as a girl named Platina, and had once been in love with a human named Lucian. Odin gives her body to Hrist after she regains her memories, but through the efforts of Arngrim, Mystina and Lezard, she is eventually returned to Valkyrie.

After returning, Lenneth confronts Loki and in the process discovers that her rebirth, using a homunculus with half-elven/half-human blood, granted her powers surpassing those of Odin, giving her the power of creation. After killing Loki, Lenneth restored Lucian to life, and the two were able live together in peace with Lenneth as the Lord of Creation.

Lenneth makes a cameo appearance as a bonus boss in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and as a recruitable character in Radiata Stories.

Valkyrie
=Bonus Characters= These characters are playable in limited spurts in the main storyline, and are fully playable once unlocked in the Seraphic Gate bonus dungeon.

Brahms
Brahms is the lord of the vampires, and has had a long-standing feud with the gods of Asgard. He is in possession of Silmeria, one of Lenneth's sisters, but he refuses to show her any harm because of his noble heart. When Lenneth arrives to fight him, he is surprised, and tells her flat out that he is too powerful to defeat before allowing her to go on her way. Later, when the gods attempt to kill Lenneth and replace her with her evil sister Hrist, he assists Arngrim, Mystina and Lezard in defeating the valkyrie so that they may reclaim Lenneth's body.

Freya
A powerful goddess, and an assistant to Odin, Freya serves as the go-between for Lenneth and Odin for most of the game. However, she is disdainful of most humans, and finds them to be beneath the gods. After Lenneth regains her memories as Platina, she informs Odin, and the two of them plot to do away with the valkyrie and replace her with Hrist, a far more evil, but loyal warrior-maiden. Freya is left in despair after Loki kills Odin, as her betrayal of Lenneth's trust has destroyed any sympathy that the valkyrie may have had for her.

Freya makes a cameo appearance in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time as the final boss of the bonus dungeon.

Lezard Valeth
An evil human, Lezard is a necromancer that plots to make Lenneth his own by any means necessary. Using the bodies of elves, he constructs homunculi, believing that he can use such a means to eventually attain godhood himself, and to provide Lenneth with a body that he could claim her in. However, his plans are thwarted when Lenneth is baited to his tower and flatly refuses to cooperate. After his defeat, he escapes, but eventually decides to kill himself so that his spirit may travel the realm of Midgard freely. Using his necromantic powers and one of his homunculi, Lezard brings Lenneth back to life with the side-effect of granting the valkyrie the ability for her powers to grow to those of the most powerful of gods.

Lezard makes a cameo appearance in Radiata Stories as a bonus boss. A different character with his name appears as an NPC in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, but this different Lezard does share certain traits in terms of personality.

=Non-player Characters= These are characters that appear in the game, but are unplayable.

Loki
The Norse god of mischief, Loki secretly works to usurp power from Odin by stealing the Dragon Orb. After killing Odin's enemy, Surt, he then goes on the offensive, killing Odin, and taking control of Asgard. A nihilist, his only wish is for the destruction of all life, but he is stopped when Lenneth confronts him with the power of creation in her soul.

Odin
The lord of the gods, he orders Lenneth to locate Einherjar to assist in the battle against Surt, leader of the frost giants. He is also responsible for the original theft of the Dragon Orb, taking it from the Palace of the Dragon in Midgard to keep in his personal collection of artifacts (a fact that he and Freya kept hidden from Lenneth). He is ultimately betrayed by Loki and murdered, unable to withstand the power Loki could wield with the Dragon Orb. Odin is a rarity among the gods, as he has human blood in his veins which grants his powers the capability to grow in strength.

Barbarossa
The long-deceased king of Dipan, a city that once thrived in Midgard centuries before the game takes place. Barbarossa was fooled into a search for immortality by his three mages, and as a result incited the wrath of Odin. The valkyrie Hrist turned Barbarossa's execution into a spectacle, publicly beheading him via guillotine in the city square. His ghost, angered by this unjust action, haunted Dipan's remains, and attacked Lenneth, believing her to be the one that killed him. Lenneth is then sent back in time to the day of the execution, where she finds Barbarossa's wife and is entrusted with the king's crown. Upon returning to the present, Lenneth presented the crown to Barbarossa's spirit. Realizing his grave error in judgement, Barbarossa apologizes to Lenneth, praising her with his utmost gratitude before finally resting in peace.

According to early information on Valkyrie Profile's sequel, Valkyrie Profile: Silmeria, due for release in 2006, the game will take place in the past, before Dipan met its downfall. The game may give more details regarding the plot against Barbarossa and the events that led him to be executed. His daughter, Alicia, will be one of the game's primary protagonists.

Frei
Freya's sister. She appears briefly at the beginning of the game to welcome Lenneth at the gates of Valhalla, and reappears at certain key points throughout the rest of the game. Unlike Odin and Freya, Frei appears to see Lenneth as a friend rather than a tool, but due to a rather naive nature, she angers Lenneth after the valkyrie returns to Asgard with her memories in tact, mentioning how Loki had stolen the Dragon Orb and ruined Odin's plans to eventually subjugate Midgard. She is also the one that explains the connection between Platina and Lenneth to Lucian.