| “ | Even though the world was filled with suffering, I had to ask something tremendous of you all. I entrusted you to ensure the pains of Reason. I asked you to bind yourselves with shackles of your own will! For the only blade that can expel calamity is one forged from unshaking reason and the iron will to do what must be done. And now that ready blade stands ready... before all of us today! I offer my body and my life in service to the people of this great land! With the blessings... of the Empyrean Innominat, I will guide you to a world without Calamity! And this world's suffering... will be nothing but a distant memory! | „ |
| ~ Artorius' speech in Loegres. |
Artorius Collbrande is the main antagonist of Tales of Berseria. He is the head exorcist at the Abbey, an organization of the Exorcists, and considered to be a savior by the populace, as three years ago, he appeared with a large number of malakhim and, with their help, exterminated a large number of daemons that threatened the world. In the village of Aball, he is known under the name "Arthur" many years prior to the events of the main game. He leaves after the events three years prior to the game, later becomes known as a saviour to the world and becomes a Shepherd.
He was voiced by Kenyu Horiuchi in the Japanese version, and Ray Chase in the English version.
Appearance[]
Artorius appears as a refined man and leader of the Abbey, his attire representing its pristine colors. He wears a long, white and gold coat with an ocean-blue interior, as well as matching pants, gloves, and boots. An extravagant cape mirroring this color motif rests on his right shoulder, bound by a brown belt connected around his torso. He has light, blue-green eyes and long silver hair, which he keeps tied in the back.
Personality[]
Artorius used to be a loving man who cares about his family, even though he is not related to them. Upon losing his wife, Celica Crowe, and their unborn child, he has changed into a psychopath who is willing to sacrifice Laphicet Crowe, his own brother-in-law, in a ritual for power. He favors the use of reason over emotion as part of his battle tactics, and has used this as the prime teaching for all Exorcists.
Despite his calm and superior demeanor, in the final battle he is shown to still harbor a significant amount of malevolence, specifically despair.
Background[]
Game[]
History[]
Prior to being known as Artorius Collbrande, his name was Arthur. Artorius lived in the same village with Velvet as family, but he is not related to her. In fact, he is her brother-in-law. At the time, he married her older sister, Celica Crowe. While there, he helps Velvet make ends meet while continuously taking care of his expecting wife. He also inspires both Laphicet and Velvet to become exorcists.
When an event known as Scarlet Night happened, the Daemonblight consumed their village. He saved Velvet and her younger brother, Laphicet, from the attack, but loses Celica in the process through a ritual, along with their unborn child however. This may have marked his road down to ambitiousness and greed for power.
A few years later, Velvet lives with Laphicet and Artorius in another village. One day, he first saves Velvet and Laphicet from a Blood Wolf. On another Scarlet Night, with the entire village succumbing to the Daemonblight: when Velvet finds Artorius, she sees and finds out that he has killed her brother, Laphicet, and intending to sacrifice him as a reason to save the world as part of a ritual. The ritual begins and Artorius attempts to use her to sacrifice as well. Much to his surprise however, the daemons take to Velvet, but she fights back and the Daemonblight possesses and nest inside her left arm, mutating it and turning her into a Daemon. Realizing that Velvet is a threat, he casts her to Titania, the Prison Island. There, he keeps her imprisoned to keep his plans stable and also to prevent any of the past from foiling his plans.
Three years later after that event, Artorius becomes famous establishing the leader of the Abbey, the head group organization of the Exorcists and acts as the savior to the world.
Synopsis[]
Artorius, merges with Innominat in the final battle before Velvet kills him once and for all. Innominat begins going berserk, and Velvet decides to seal herself away with him, nourishing him with her malevolence while being with the brother she loves. Laphicet becomes Innominat's replacement with the help of Oscar, Teresa, Shigure, and Melchior, reincarnated as the four Empyreans who will serve Laphicet as his lords. Laphicet then transforms into a benevolent dragon and purifies the land of malevolence, at the cost of humans not being able to see the malakim. Magilou records the events of the world in her role as a scribe, while Laphicet renames himself "Maotelus". These events ultimately foreshadow and set the scene for Tales of Zestiria.
Anime[]
Artorius, as he appears in the anime Tales of Zestiria: The X
During Tales of Zestiria The X, Artorius learns that Velvet and his former ally Seres Malak have escaped from the prison on Titania island, and sends his underling Oscar Dragonia to return them to their cells, bestowing an "exorcism sword" upon Oscar to allow him to complete this task,
However, Velvet was able to kill one of Oscar's men and provide him with a longer, more evenly matched battle, until they were interrupted by a dragon, which killed several more of Oscar's men, and destroyed his ship, but was later contained by Oscar using a magical bounding field, until it managed to smash through the field and kill all of Oscar's remaining soldiers. Ice shards from the dragon's breath impaled and killed Seres while she tried to protect an injured Velvet, and then the daemon Rokuro, the sorceress Magilou, arrived to help fight the dragon using their own magic.
Velvet devoured Seres' remaining life force in order to gain strength, used it to heal her wounds and generate fire-blasts, which she used to kill both the dragon and Oscar, before she, Magilou, and Rokuro stole the one remaining ship on Titania, and Velvet used it to continue her quest of vengeance to find Artorius.
Velvet then had a flashback of finding Artorius in a ruin site plunging a sword into her brother's chest, surrounded by the bodies of all the other people he had sacrificed, saying "This is the way of things. And I, Artorius Collbrande, shall stop the pain.".
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Both Artorius and Arthur are his real names. The story reveals that the name Arthur came from the shortening on the name Artorius — sharing the same meaning through the game's lore.
- His name "Arthur" is a reference to Tales of Zestiria and how it is influenced by Arthurian Legends.
- Artorius( in merger with Innominat) may be a reference to the fallen angel Lucifer, said to have assumed the guise of a twelve winged angel as one of his forms, and was considered the highest of all angels.
- Artorius is similar to Griffith from Berserk. Both are white-haired villains who were idolized by many but willingly sacrificed those close to them for a ritual during a full moon for their beliefs and for power. However, Artorious is portrayed more sympathetically than Griffith.
- Artorius also shares similarities with Superman (Injustice). Both are fallen heroes whose start of villainy was caused by the loss of their wives and unborn children and end up establishing governmental organizations under the pretense of eliminating threats, but in reality to maintain order and control over humanity at the cost of free will. Both also end up being opposed by people once close to them, Velvet Crowe for Artorius, and Batman for Superman.
- Although he lost the ability to use his right arm for years, it was vice versa by the time he merged with Innominat during the final battle. However, it was never truly stated whether armatization had the ability to heal life-long injuries since Oscar still lost his eye at the time.
- Artorious apparently knew that Velvet was allergic to cats, as she was shown to be sneezing and hiccuping repeatedly at Katz Korner.
- In Tales of Zestiria, the giant shrine in Camlann was renamed after him known as "Artorious' Throne".
- Throughout the game, he grew a habit of asking people a metaphorphic question of why they think that birds must fly.
- Ironically, he shares the same goal of ending all suffering like Georg Heldalf, but the two use opposite methods to achieve this. Artorius plans on removing everyone's (except for captive dragons) Malevolence while Heldalf plans on corrupting everyone with Malevolence.
[]
  Villains
| ||
|
Tales of Phantasia/Narikiri Dungeon series Tales of Destiny 1 & 2 Tales of Eternia/Online
Radiant Mythology series
Tales of Xillia 1 & 2
Tales of Zestiria Tales of Berseria Tales of Crestoria Tales of Arise | ||