"Haha... I get it now... Only fair thing in this world... is power. With it, you can take whatever you want in this life. Or so I thought... But you know... if all the weak get left behind... who's left to protect them? Haha... I've been... an idiot. Sorry 'bout that. I see it, you know. Our little diner. Music in the air. It's grand. Look after... Lady Junah."
Fidelio Aureus Magnus, or Fidelio Magnus for short, is a major character in Metaphor: ReFantazio. He served as an aide in the military before becoming a member of Louis Guiabern's private army and his right-hand man. Though there was initially blowback for him being a paripus in such a high-ranking position, he proved his worth with results.
Together with his younger brother Basilio, he briefly accompanies Junah alongside the protagonist and company on their journey.
Appearances[]
- Metaphor: ReFantazio: Major Character
Design[]
Fidelio is a short man with pale skin, golden eyes and brown hair in a bob cut. As a paripus, he has features resembling an animal, which take the form of small Scottish fold cat ears and a straight cat tail.
His attire consists of a gray houndstooth patterned suit worn with a puffy white turtleneck shirt, with brown x-back suspenders and brown loafers. He also frequently carries a black randoseru style backpack with him.
Personality[]
Fidelio is very intelligent, serving as the brain to Basilio's brawn. He is antagonistic and cold toward most people he meets, dismissing them at best or outright insulting them at worst. As a former test subject of the Sanctist Church's igniter experiments, he is especially hostile toward Sanctism, which he views as a backwards and hypocritical institution, preaching salvation to the weak. However, he and Basilio are more than willing to save the weak and were saved by the church's saintess Rella when they were suffering from the experiments. The only exceptions to his ire are Louis (who he swore loyalty to), his brother Basilio (his only living family), Junah (his only true friend aboard Louis' crew) and Rella (who he is indebted to for saving his life).
Compared to the protagonist or Basilio, Fidelio often prefers the more pragmatic path, even if it results in others' inconvenience. An example of this is when he opposes the protagonist's plan to help the mustari people of Virga Island with their plight, citing that his only goal is to secure Drakodios. Despite this, he eventually warms up to the rest of the crew, and though he never outright admits it, he is far more compassionate than he lets on, a secret known only to Basilio and Junah. He is particularly fond of Junah and her singing, to the point where he can be easily persuaded just by her alone.
He is also somewhat stubborn, as shown when he refused treatment after he was wounded by Sea Horror Homo Sabara, resulting in an infection that would have killed him.
Even with his cold exterior, Fidelio does genuinely care about the weak, such as when he helped the people of Virga Island evacuate from a rampaging human, even though, by his own admission, he had no obligation to them. This compassion even overshadows his loyalty to Louis, who he opposes after his true colors are revealed. His care for the weak combined with his love for his brother ultimately cause him to sacrifice himself to save both Basilio and an innocent family of Sanctists.
Profile[]
Alongside Basilio, Fidelio used to be one of the many homeless paripus living in Grand Trad. When the brothers were still young, they were tricked by the Sanctist Church who promised to give them food and money; instead, they were placed in concentration camp-like conditions where they were subjected to igniter experiments. After breaking free during a riot, they run into Rella, who Fidelio begs to heal his brother. Fidelio later joins Louis because he believes in his vision of a meritocracy, where one's tribe didn't matter and only their strength determined their worth. Just like most of Louis' followers however, he has no idea that Louis planned on fulfilling his vision by forcefully evolving every person in the world into vicious humans.
He is first seen with Louis, Basilio and Junah after the protagonist successfully saves Glodell from Gideaux's gauntlet runner. He shrugs off Glodell's attempt to make himself look good and sneers at the protagonist for self-advertisement when he tells Louis that he wants to help him. He and Basilio formally introduce themselves during the aftermath of the headhunting exhibit. When Hulkenberg tells Louis that exposing the Sanctist Church's corruption using the exhibit was unintentional, Fidelio assures her that it would not matter anyway since they're the hot topic for their stunt. Afterwards, Louis decides to recruit the protagonist and asks Fidelio and Basilio to handle it.
Fidelio and Basilio send the party an invitation to a bar. Fidelio asks the protagonist a question about what kind of king he wants to become. Basilio then asks him the reason why he wants to join Louis; if the protagonist tells him that he is in love with Lady Junah, he will offer his condolences only for Heismay to remark that it sounds like the pair speak about rejection from her from experience, while Fidelio retorts that Heismay sounds like a man with a death wish. Regardless of the answer, he tells the party that they have impressed him more than Glodell could and declares the protagonist to be recruited, and the brothers lead the party to the Charadrius where they handle the admission ritual with Louis' supervision.
Fidelio and Basilio were amongst the attendees of Louis' soiree and directly stand next to him in the banquet room as his bodyguards. During the banquet, Strohl confronts the count about the burning of his home village Halia -- the count admits that he was the one behind it. This enrages Strohl, who prepares to raise up and confront him. Fidelio, Basilio and several other guards to instinctively prepare apprehending the young noble, but his aggression was quickly stopped short by Hulkenberg. Louis then follows up with a callous remark claiming that enabling the humans to destroy Halia was for the greater good and orders his guards to settle down. Strohl angrily left without saying anything after hearing Louis' insane justifications for destroying his hometown, leaving Heismay to apologize to Fidelio for his ally's brash behavior, which he accepts. Later on, Glodell alerts Louis that someone was infiltrating the Charadrius, at which he orders Basilio and Fidelio to board it and kill the infiltrators on sight.
The brothers arrive aboard the Charadrius to catch the traitor in Louis' ranks, only for them to come a bit too late to witness the aftermath of the conflict between the protagonist and Junah with Glodell. With Glodell dead on the floor, Fidelio naturally suspects that the protagonist killed him, though Junah tells him it was the king's magic. The protagonist and Junah then report to Louis a half-truth about Glodell being the traitor with Fidelio and Basilio watching. Fidelio speculates that the protagonist is the traitor who snuck into the count's headquarters, but has no concrete proof to back it up.
Fidelio and Basilio are tasked by Louis to supervise the protagonist during his mission to obtain Drakodios. On the way to Virga Island, they run into a human known as Sea Horror Homo Sabara, who nearly drags Fidelio into the sea were it not for Basilio and the protagonist intervening. Though he coldly tells the protagonist the rescue doesn't make them friends, he promises that he and his brother will help defeat the human. Wounded in the fight, Fidelio diminishes the severity until he physically can't anymore, resulting in an infection that takes him out of commission.
After the party defeats the human controlling the Dragon God Eht and obtains Drakodios with Eupha's help, the human escapes via the sea and swims all the way to the village. Fidelio has a personal hand in evacuating the village despite his earlier claims that he doesn't care what happens to its people. However, Fidelio is still feeling uneasy, and according to Basilio he is still having fever chills after he has supposedly recovered, suggesting a lingering magla infection. To make sure that Fidelio is properly healed from the human's attack, Junah called Rella in through the gauntlet runner's teleportation magic without the brother's prior knowledge. She fully removes any lingering infections from Fidelio and exchanges information with the party before leaving.
In an attempt to trick Louis, the party creates a fake Drakodios and plans a bait-and-switch. Fidelio suspects the lance's authenticity but is assured that Louis will find out in due time, if he doesn't already know. Seeing that Basilio is shaken by the protagonist's ideals, possibly being swayed by them, Fidelio asks him not to waver before their plan to kill Forden comes to fruition. Louis, fully aware of the party's deception, hatches a plan with newly resurrected Zorba to stack the odds in their favor. Fidelio and Basilio confront the party after they "kill" Louis in the Montario Opera House—they convince the brothers that Louis was behind the prince's assassination and the brothers leave soon after, uncertain.
On Saint's Day, the brothers stand backstage and witness the party confronting Forden about his role in the prince's assassination. Before the party can fight Forden, however, a disguised Louis arrives unannounced and kills the sanctifex. Because the lance barely missed his heart, Zorba was able to magically stitch Louis back together. When Louis demands to know where the prince is and does not receive an answer, he launches a beam from Drakodios at a family of innocent Sanctists. The protagonist attempts to block the beam but is shoved aside by Fidelio, who erects a barrier to help his brother stay the beam with the head of his axe. The beam shatters the shield and pierces Fidelio through the chest after he pushes Basilio out of the way, killing him.
Later, after Basilio defects from Louis and joins the protagonist, Fidelio appears to him as an apparition. He tells Basilio that he's always been the strongest of the two and that he must take the lead from now on. He also asks that Basilio swear to protect the weak, not for Fidelio but for himself, saying that if he does so Fidelio will always be with him. His magla then merges with Basilio's, allowing Basilio to awaken to his Archetype, the Berserker.
The family of Sanctists the brothers saved, along with a few others, come to place flowers on Fidelio's grave and pay their respects.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
- Fidelio is derived from the Late Latin fidelis, meaning "faithful." It is also the title of Beethoven's only opera.
- Aureus was a gold coin and monetary unit of ancient Rome.
- Magnus means "great" in Latin. Used as cognomen of Pompey, the name gained wider popularity in the Middle Ages among various European royal houses.
Trivia[]
- In the English dub, Fidelio's voice is much deeper than in the original Japanese version as he's voiced by a man. He also, like his brother Basilio, has a Scouse accent.