#tales of arise vholran

[ffxv-mods-purifier-le-mal]

to make a good villain: give him golden eyes, black tears and purple hair

[mewnia]

Cranked some doodles out today while sitting at a local cafe :P

[taikerou]

[zeadrous]

he is SO pretty

[konfizry]

let hootle be the dad

[games-desu]

Tales of Arise (2020)

[crossroadsdimension]

Barnabas vs Vholran: Not Carbon Copies of a Looming Villain

On the 11th of July, someone in a Discord server I frequently lurk found a tweet about how Barnabas of FF16 and Vholran (a villain in the game Tales of Arise) looked similar and seemed to have similar backgrounds and methods. (tweet in question here )

Since I was working my way through the game at the time and hadn't truly encountered Barnabas yet, I thought it was an interesting observation. I played through Tales of Arise pretty much the first two weeks it came out and thought of Vholran as a Sephiroth-type villain (post about Vholran's actions in the game here), and a part of me wondered if Barnabas was going to be similar.

I mean, the readers for my Tales of Arise fanfic have been calling Vholran "Water Sephiroth" for a reason. The man looms over the plot, and even if he wasn't the one who set events in motion, he is still the final boss. Considering that Sephiroth and Barnabas are both Final Fantasy characters, at the time I could see them doing much the same.

Having beaten FF16 a couple weeks ago, I can confidently say that Vholran and Barnabas are not the same. Their methods may be similar, but the goals they stem from are so fundamentally different that I imagine Vholran and Barnabas would be at each other's throats if they ever came face to face with each other.

Full analysis as to why down below -- putting it under the cut because general spoilers for late game Tales of Arise (a year and a half old game, but still) and late-game FF16.

I'm going to get the similarities out of the way first: yes, Barnabas and Vholran both like dressing in dark clothes and are rulers of their own "kingdoms," enacting their power over the populace with an iron fist for the sake of their own goals.

But it's the details that sets them apart from each other.

First, Vholran's role in Tales of Arise, since his game has been out for a while.

Vholran was a man who was experimented on at some point before the start of the game and given great power as a result. Originally a slave without any agency -- and then a lab rat for a time -- he was suddenly placed on a high pedestal when he was told he was the Sovereign. In the context of Tales of Arise, that means he's the strongest of the Renans (the group that is oppressing Vholran's people, the Dahnans). While it's made clear that he is still going to be used as a tool for a mysterious force the Renans don't know about, he is still given power over Dahnans and Renans and allowed to do as he pleases in order to collect astral energy -- that is, Arise's version of aether. (This collection hasn't started destroying the planet Dahna yet, to be clear. Apparently three centuries isn't enough time for the Blight-alike (aka Hollowing) to set into the land.)

Vholran's ruling over his kingdom of water, Ganath Haros, essentially turned everyone into mindless puppets who worshiped the ground he walked on, willing to turn themselves into astral energy in order to fuel his schemes. He leaves behind a people who don't know how to think for themselves, and ultimately turns into the true final boss of the game, berating Alphen for being so weak that he needs to rely on others. He became a slave to his own desires in the end, wanting to rule over everything he saw -- even if that meant destroying the very worlds Alphen was trying to save. Alphen, a Sovereign in his own right, and someone Vholran hated and wanted dead more than anything else.

Vholran did everything he could to hold onto the power and seeming-freedom he had, and was killed in the end by the very man he had been re-created to replace.

Now, Barnabas' role in FF16 is very different from that of this crazed, ice katana-wielding swordsman who has so much in common with Sephiroth.

Barnabas was a man who moved to Ash from somewhere to the south and took over the whole continent, uniting the separated warring tribes under his banner and ousting the kingdom that used to be located around the Mothercrystal Drake's Spine. He's been the same physical age for the last 40 years according to Vivan Ninetales, and there is a reason for that -- the man is Akashic, someone who has been exposed to too much aether and as a result has lost the will to act on his own. He seems to survive by absorbing the aether of those around him, much like an energy vampire of some kind, and he serves his God and Master with unwavering loyalty that borders on religious fervor. The man willingly sold his soul to the devil and now walks in Ultima's shadow, wielding the darkness of Odin for the four-armed monster's goals. He is killed two fights before the final boss, happily accepting his death at the hands of Clive Rosfield, the Mythos he waited so long for.

How long has he waited? The game isn't clear, but considering Barnabas spoke of the destruction of Dezmekys and was almost maniacal about how long he and the souls within him had been waiting for Mythos...I'm inclined to believe Barnabas has been Odin for a long time. It certainly explains the ease with which he uses the Eikon's power.

Barnabas' ruling over Waloed and the surrounding villages in Ash was something of an iron fist scenario -- he made sure the people followed the religion of the Circle of Malius, and took all those bearing the Mothercrystals' blessing of magic and effectively trained them to be nothing more than mindless weapons...or fodder for the beasts they sought to use on the battlefield. He made sure to drill into his people the desire to give themselves wholly to their God, so that when they time came they would willingly give in to their faith and turn Akashic as he had. He was ordered to cut Clive's connections to his allies, to be certain, but ultimately found they served Ultima's purposes far better if they remained, as they made Clive stronger for a time. Still, he did encourage Clive to let go of his human side, social connections and all, even as he fell into a battle high during their fight.

In fact, the only time we see Barnabas be truly himself is during his final fight with Clive, in the midst of his battle high. A man who enjoys combat and pushing himself to higher heights...he might have made a fine ally, once, and perhaps a dangerous rival. But that was before he made his final choice and gave his all to Ultima.

Barnabas did everything he could to ensure that the world his master wanted came to fruition, and died at the hands of the man he and Ultima had eagerly waited for.

Vholran and Barnabas may look similar, but considering the above? Not the same person. Barnabas willingly gave up his will where Vholran clung to his; Vholran uses ice while Barnabas calls on the power of darkness. If Barnabas was anything like Vholran, he would have chafed at Ultima's commands, trying to find ways around them that would benefit him more than the so-called god -- maybe even to make himself god and Mythos in the place of Ultima and Clive. Which would've turned FF16 more into a race of who got all the powers first before Barnabas would die at Clive's hands and give him the rest of the powers he was missing, rather than the plot we got.

By contrast, if Vholran was like Barnabas, he would've accepted his role with the same grace and mindless loyalty that the Akashic vampire gave his master, and instead of berating Alphen for the bonds he had, he would have berated Alphen for not following orders and giving the Helganquil more trouble than they needed.

(And considering that Vholran and Alphen were both changed for the final goal of the villain of their story...I'd argue that makes them more like a first and second Mythos than a proper Odin copy. Just another point of difference.)

Barnabas and Vholran would've grated each other's nerves to no end, I guarantee it. The only story they share is their appearance and some of the broader setting points. It's truly the details that set them apart.

[sebritz]

gay people from my tales game

[gj-morrowstrike]

Day 8 of Drawtober - Vholran Igniseri (Tales of Arise)

[talesofmillenia]

D005.

[filthy-memetrash]

[followadze]

Imagine being so unhinged over your dislike of a game that you compose an eleven and a half hours long rant video about how much you hated its story. And said video is just the same rehashed reddit-tier complaints I've seen towards this game again and again and again.

"PACING BAD"

"EXPOSITION DUMP BAD"

"CP POINTS BAD"

"HP-BLOATED BOSSES BAD"

"NO CO-OP BAD"

"3D SKITS BAD"

"VILLAINS BAD CUZ THEY'RE NOT COMPLEX & SYMPATHETIC"

"COUPLES BAD CUZ THEY'RE ALL HETEROSEXUAL"

"LAW BAD CUZ HE STOPPED RINWELL FROM LOSING HERSELF TO HATE"

"ALIENS BEING BEHIND EVERYTHING BAD"

"ALPHEN FORGIVING VHOLRAN BAD"

"NEW GAME SUX OLD GAMES PERFECT"

Like, damn. If you need half a day to explain why you hate a game just go read a book or touch some grass.

Even the friggin' twitter Tales community is clowning on that video, and that fandom over there is an absolute cesspool.

I'm sick and tired of this fandom's constant hating on this game. It gets way too much hyperbolic hate and criticism than it deserves, especially towards its story. Even some certain "fans" have been shitting on Arise for its writing and straight couples and even called the game "forgettable and random to those who played it" in that rant video's comments section.

Y'all haters are annoying as hell and have become exactly like the obnoxious nostalgia-blind purists over at the Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda fandoms. I can't wait 'til the next mainline Tales entry comes out so you'll move on to hating that game.

[todstny]

Happy Tales of Festival 2023! It was my first time ever attend to the fes and it was super fun (and my sit was super close to the stage!) I really want to go back to Yokohama again. It was Philia’s first Fes ever, Woodrow(and Vholran from Arise-they share same VA-) was a secret guest! 

The last image is my flower stand for Midorikawa-san(Leon’s VA) and Inoue-san(Philia’s VA) and they posted it on their blog and twitter (I am so overwhelmed!) 

you can still watch the fes until June 20th JST on Asobistore, so please check out if you are interested! 

[fontasticcrablettes]

Hottest Tales Villains Results

The results are in! After 129 people took the Hot or Not? survey, we've got some fascinating data to go through. But first, our two overall winners!

Gaius, the winner of Most Concentrated Sexiness (i.e., most votes when asked to write-in the single sexiest character)

And Duke, the winner of Broadest Appeal to Sexiness (i.e., most votes deeming him "hot".)

Out of 94 write ins, 13 people (14%) put Gaius' name forward as the single sexiest Tales antagonist. And of 129 responses on the survey, 116 (90.6%) said Duke was hot.

Now, there is a lot more data to go through, so buckle in!

First, for some clarity. I'm going to be using "villain" and "antagonist" pretty interchangeably throughout this because I don't want to keep repeating the word 'antagonist,' which is very long and not very sexy itself. But rest assured that I do know the difference, and I don't actually think Gaius is a villain.

Similarly, I know that for many people, the terms "hot" and "sexy" and "attractive" have distinct meanings, but for the sake of not overusing the same word a thousand times, I'm going to be using both. Now, on to the data!

Sexiest Tales Villains

Here is the ranking of all the Tales villains that are Certified Fresh, meaning they were rated as Hot by at least 80% of respondents.

Duke (90.6%)

Dhaos (90.6%)*

Legretta (90.6%)*

Yuan (89.7%)

Zaveid (87.2%)

Gaius (85.6%)

Nebilim (85.2%)

Richard (85%)

Richter (84.8%)

Asch (81.7%)

Ilene (81.5%)

Schwartz (81.3%)

Schwann (80.8%)

(*Dhaos and Legretta did not tie for first place with Duke above because they each received only 115 total votes, meaning more people said 'meh' and skipped them)

Write-in Results

The lat question on the survey asked respondents to write the name of who they thought was the single sexiest character. This is the category Gaius won with 13 votes. Here are the other characters who received more than 1 votes:

Dhaos came in second with 7 votes, with Duke trailing right behind with 6. Richard, Richter, Schwann, and Shigure all receive 5 votes each. Kratos got 4. Artorius, Chronos, Vholran, and Yuan got 3 each. Nebilim and Teresa each got 2.

Two of my favourite responses:

Myself. Damn right, we support positivity and self love on this blog.

Bandai Namco Tales Studios themselves. Yeah, I also feel like sometimes, the greatest antagonist in these games is the studio themselves. But still, they do make these games for us, and that's very sexy of them.

Sexiest Villain Per Game

We've got the overall sexiest, now who is the finest villain you can look forward to fighting in each game?

Tales of Phantasia: Dhaos (90.6%)

Tales of Destiny: Ilene Rembrandt (81.5%)

Tales of Eternia: Shizel (51.2%)

Tales of Destiny 2: Fortuna (52.1%)

Tales of Symphonia: Yuan Ka-Fai (89.7%)

Tales of Symphonia DotNW: Richter Abend (84.8%)

Tales of Rebirth: Militsa (56.9%)

Tales of Legendia: Schwartz (81.3%)

Tales of the Abyss: Legretta (90.6%)

Tales of Innocence: Mathias (32.5%)

Tales of Vesperia: Duke Pantarei (90.6%)

Tales of Hearts: Incarose (70.8%)

Tales of Graces: Richard (85%)

Tales of Xillia: Gaius (85.6%)

Tales of Xillia 2: Victor (77%)

Tales of Zestiria: Maltran (79.8)

Tales of Berseria: Zaveid (87.2)

Tales of Arise: Vholran Igniseri (57.6%)

Interestingly, in around half of these cases, the hottest villain is also the final boss. That's a good way to do it, I think; gives you something to look forward to all the way to the end!

Least Sexy Villains

We looked at the winners, but now... who are the least sexy? The most unfuckable? Luckily, we have a single winner! The only man who received zero votes:

Bartlow, a minor antagonist from Tales of Zestiria. Gotta be honest with you, I've played Zesty but I do not remember who this man is at all. Maybe if he was hotter, he'd have made an impression on me.

The runners-up.... There's Someone Out There For Everyone

The characters who received only 1 or 2 votes. Someone out there thinks they're hot! But not very many.

Ragou (Vesperia) (0.8%)

Shane Rembrandt (Destiny) (0.9%)

Solon (Legendia) (0.9%)

Vharley (Symphonia) (1.6%)

Let's have a round of applause for the villains who did evil things but weren't even sexy about it.

Most Divisive

Are these characters hot? Are they not? They are, apparently, an acquired taste. These are the characters who scored between 48% and 52% hot. Fandom is split in half on whether they're hot or not.

Barbatos Goetia (50.8%)

Arnold Alcott (50.9%)

Shizel (51.2%)

Alexei Dinoia (51.6%)

Artroius (48.3%

Lunarre (51.7%)

Sexiest Monster

What makes some monsters hotter than others? I'm not sure, but I'm fascinated at the results! Would love to hear commentary from those who voted Hot on the monsters.

Ishrantu, from Tales of Phantasia, was voted the sexiest monster with 26.1% hot votes.

In second place were the Helganquil from Tales of Arise, with 19.7% hot rating.

However, they are arguably still humanoid and not really monsters, so let's also give a shout out to the tied 3rd place winners, with 18.3% each:

Yuris, from Tales of Rebirth

And the Great Astral Spirit from Tales of Arise!

Most 'Meh'

Each question on the poll was optional, so respondents could skip rating characters they just had no feelings about either way.

So which antagonist did people most often shrug about?

Batista Diego, from Tales of Destiny, who received only 106 votes. Is he hot? Is he not? To be frank, we just don't care. (But for the record, of those 106 votes, 20.8% voted hot)

Most Invested

Three characters tied for most total votes. These are the men who the most people had an opinion about, with 128 each:

Duke Pantarei (90.6% hot)

Kratos Aurion (78.1% hot)

Mithos Yggdrasill (57% hot)

And a special shout-out to the character who got 127 votes in total, but only 3 of them (2.4%) were hot: Lydon Bernhardt. Not only is he unpopular, people are very definitive about how unattractive he is.

Demographics

Finally, let's take a look at who out voters were! First, which Tales games have we all played? (Or are otherwise familiar with the characters, such as watching a walkthrough on Youtube).

The results are probably not that surprising. Symphonia, Abyss, and Vesperia are the most commonly played, which is common knowledge for most of us.

The relatively low score for Arise is a it interesting. Considering it sold so well and smashed so many records, only 62% of people voting have played it. Is it because it's a newer game, so its fandom largely grew on Twitter? Are most of the people who played it less casual Tales fans - i.e., they liked Arise but aren't in the Tales fandom as a whole so aren't taking polls dedicated to the whole series? Curious!

Duke, the highest rated 'hot' character, is from one of the three most popular games. Interestingly, the character voted in as sexiest, which indicates a more personal dedication than what may have been a passing "yeah, sure, he can definitely get it" from just seeing Duke's picture, is from a game only 75% of the voters are familiar with. 13.5% of people who have played Xillia think Gaius is the sexiest antagonist in Tales as a whole.

Dhaos' popularity is also inspiring! Only 50% of people have played Phantasia, but 90.6% said, "I may not know who this man is, but I do know he's hot as hell."

How about gendered attraction demographics? This question asked which genders voters find hot.

As you can see, more voters find men hot than any other gender, but the difference between attraction to men vs women is not so big that I think it makes a huge impact on the votes. A woman (Legretta) made it into the top three, after all, and tied for highest percentage of hot votes.

Conclusion

And that's a wrap for the data! If you'd like to go through and make your own analyses, here is the data. I don't know if there's a way to link you to the Google Forms results with the helpful pie charts (if anyone knows how to do that, let me know) but here are the spreadsheets.

First, the spreadsheet I put together to compare the stats, listing every character, how many hot votes they got, what percentage that is, and what the total number of votes is. They're colour-coded by game (+the major antagonist section at the beginning). View it here.

Second, the raw data Google Forms, compiling every respondent's answers. Check it out here!

I open the floor now to more commentary. What was your rational for your choices? Any responses surprise you? Interesting correlations you notice?

Overall, thanks for participating in this survey!

[zeadrous]

why is he here.

[konfizry]