Soul Series/Characters/Soul Calibur II
This is a list of characters from the Soul Series that made their debut or made an appearance in in the third game of the series, Soulcalibur II.
Raphael Sorel
Origin - Rouen, French Empire
Weapon(s) - Rapier
Voiced By: Yasunori Masutani (Japanese), Paul Jennings (Soulcalibur II; English), Charles Klausmeyer (Soulcalibur III onward; English)
A French noble who was marked for death due to supporting an acquaintance who was corrupted by the Evil Seed. He is saved by a young girl named Amy. He decides to take revenge against those who did him wrong by obtaining Soul Edge, but there is a second objective: to repay Amy for helping him, by creating a better world for her. He eventually finds Nightmare and fights him, but loses the battle. However, as Nightmare attempts to kill him, Siegfried begins to resurface and Raphael exploits this vulnerability by stabbing Soul Edge's eye. This releases Siegfried from the sword's control, and Raphael collapses.
In III he returns to Amy, severely injured from his Soul Edge-induced scars. As he recovers, he starts noticing changes within himself. He noticed his skin began to turn pale white, and his eye color had changed to red. He also noticed that he felt very weak during the day, and a powerful thirst at night. By the time he had even considered the fact that he was being "malfested," however, the process was already completed. Both himself and Amy had become vampires, no longer able to co-exist with humans. Thus, Raphael concluded that if he and Amy could not change for the world, then the world would change for them. And so he began infecting people and turning them into his minions, but this would not last long as a traveler began curing the people by giving them "Holy Stones." He set out to take the stone, but upon touching it he was burned and repelled, and Raphael destroyed the stone. He set out to once again find Soul Edge to destroy the other Holy Stones and create the perfect world for Amy.
Raphael eventually comes to believe in IV that the "Holy Stones" are actually fragments of Soul Calibur, the polar opposite of Soul Edge (though they aren't: they are parts of Kilik's mirror). Thinking that Soul Calibur is even more powerful than Soul Edge, he now seeks to use its power to finally give Amy her world.
Rendered unconscious in IV, he awakens in a dungeon in V, and returns to his home to find that Amy has disappeared. Understandably pissed, he sets out on a new quest to find her.
His body is outright confirmed to be the vessel for the new Nightmare, going under the alias of Dumas. Whether the Raphael that appears in-game is a ghost, or whether his story occurs after the events of the game's story mode, is up for debate.
- Animal Motifs: Bats, as befitting of a vampire. This is most obvious is V, where both his costumes are covered in bat symbols.
- Ambiguously Gay/Mistaken for Gay: When he first appeared. Nowadays, not so much.
- Anti-Villain (Type III): Somewhat.
- Aristocrats Are Evil
- Blond Guys Are Evil
- Dance Battler: Very much a male equivalent of the Lady of War archetype with his artsy fencing techniques and rhythmic kicks. His weapon demonstration even involves him dancing before picking up his sword.
- Everyone Looks Sexier If French
- Evil Laugh
- Fan Nickname: "Raph."
- Also Ralph, for some reason.
- French Jerk
- Kaleidoscope Eyes: In every installment barring V, Raphael's eye color has changed. He's gone from Blue Eyes (II) to amber (III) to Red Eyes, Take Warning (IV and V).
- Knight Templar Parent: To Amy, although she apparently doesn't take him seriously. Point in case: her ending in IV.
- Large Ham: "Would you like a taste of my power?!"
- Laughing Mad
- Lolicon: A few of the tropes below give off some rather... unfortunate subtext.
- Love Makes You Crazy:
"As of right now, this world truly belongs only to Amy and me! So why should the two of you even have been here?! The mistake has been corrected! OH HO HO HO HO HO! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!"
- Definitely noticeable by V, where his voice sounds less calm and more unhinged, as though he just got out of an insane asylum.
- Love Makes You Evil: Raphael's ultimate goal is to create a new world for his adoptive daughter Amy. His primary methods of doing this are as follows: manipulating events from behind the scenes, killing innocent people to quench his vampirism, in the process turning them into undead, malfested slaves under his command, and being a complete asshole to anyone who gets in his way.
- Nice Hat: In V, which gives him a striking similarity in appearance to D/Van Helsing. There is definitely some twisted irony behind this observation.
- Or a medieval version of Hazama.
- Thanks to his fencing prowess, the headgear also gives him the air of a Musketeer of the Guard.
- Before the official announcement, people thought he was Jotaro based on his window on the character select screen.
- It's likely based on the "Ankou," a personification of death from early French folklore who is often depicted wearing a wide-brimmed hat, as shown here.
- Papa Wolf
- Older Than They Look: He's 49 by the time of V, but still looks 32, thanks to his vampirism.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In IV, one of Raphael's throws (that only works on females) as well as his Critical Finish involve biting the neck and drinking deep. He's corrupted not by another vampire but by the evil of Soul Edge.
- His vampirism also halted his aging, leaving him physically at 32 in V.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning
- Red Right Hand: His eyes.
- Royal Rapier
- Spanner in the Works: Raphael might have possibly saved the world due to being foolish enough to face down Nightmare in II. If he hadn't thrust his rapier into Soul Edge's Eyes Do Not Belong There, Siegfried might not have been able to finally break free of Soul Edge's control.
- Tragic Keepsake: In V he is seen holding one of Amy's hairbands and is looking for her, meaning something bad may have happened to her during the timeskip. This only serves to fuel the theory of "Viola = Amy" even more.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: His alternate costume in V.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist
Talim
Origin - Nayong Anito ng Hangin, South-East Asia (Philippines)
Weapon(s) - Elbow blades
Voiced By: Yukari Tamura (Japanese), Julie Parker (Soulcalibur II; English), Hynden Walch (Soulcalibur III onward; English)
Talim is a priestess (the last priestess, to be specific) of a tribe who worship the winds. She seeks to restore the balance of nature by purging the powers of the two swords. She heads out and tries to catch the forces of evil, and ends up getting entangled with Yun-seong and Seong Mi-na.
Her whereabouts as of V are currently unknown.
- Action Girl
- Apologises a Lot
- Badass Adorable
- Bare Your Midriff
- Blow You Away
- The Cape (trope): The sort of hero she is.
- Catgirl: In her Soulcalibur IV alternate costume—comes complete with paw-shaped mittens and boots.
- The Cutie: To a point.
- Dual-Wielding: Her weapons are bladed tonfas.
- Fragile Speedster
- Girlish Pigtails: This varies depending on her costume, but she sports either two or four pigtails.
- In Harmony with Nature: Specifically, the wind. It comes with the job.
- Last Of Her Kind: Due to turmoil caused by the influences of Spanish and Portuguese culture in the region, she was reared to be the last priestess (Babaylan).
- Little Miss Badass: One of the youngest fighters, along with Amy. Talim is 15, while Amy could be anywhere from 12 to 14 years old.
- The Messiah: She never hates anyone, but only has the purest intentions. This is especially evident in her SCIV ending...
- Miko: Of a sort, due to the religious role she plays in her culture.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: How she can block and parry attacks from a giant axe wielded by a 6'8" golem remains a mystery...
- Nice Hat: As seen in her Soulcalibur III alternate costume and her Soulcalibur IV main costume.
- Also seen in her unlockable third Soulcalibur II costume.
- Philippines: She's a native. Of the region at least—a good portion of her move-list uses native Tagalog words. Her name Talim is itself the Tagalog word for "Edge" or "Sharp."
- Purity Personified: Easily the sweetest character in the series.
- Waif Fu: She's only 4'8" (144 cm) tall.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Her ultimate weapon(s) in Soulcalibur IV makes her the only character, besides Algol (the final boss), that can use Soul Edge and Soul Calibur at the same time. Kilik and Zasalamel carry something similar, but not quite.
Hong Yun-seong
Origin - Jirisan, Korea
Weapon(s) - Chinese sword
Voiced By: Kosuke Toriumi (Japanese), Jim Singer (English)
A student of Seong Mi-na's father, and Ascended Fanboy of Hwang. Following his hero's example, he goes after Soul Edge in order to prove to him he's a great fighter. He gets ludicrous levels of stubborness in IV, where Talim, Mi-na, AND Hwang all tell him the sword's pure evil, only for him to dismiss them and continue under the excuse "I want to see it by myself."
As of V, he and Seong Mi-na returned to Korea, and were hailed as heroes. History then plays out as normal, meaning that Korea no longer has a part in the current events.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Both his and Mi-na's endings in SCIV result in this as a result of him being possessed by Soul Edge.
- Expy: A more direct one of Hwang.
- Fiery Redhead
- Hot-Blooded: "I'm gettin' pumped up!"
- Human Pack Mule: A few endings of Mi-na's have this fate befall him.
- Idiot Ball: By this point, he's actually starting to believe there might be some truth to the whole "Soul Edge is evil" thing, but still wants to see for himself.
- Idiot Hero: Hwang tells him not to go after Soul Edge, but he goes anyway, and he's not even listening to Seong Mi-na anymore.
- Patriotic Fervor: His goal to find Soul Edge is a direct result of his hopes to protect his homeland. There's also this exchange with Mitsurugi in III, the second he sees him:
"Enemy of my country... prepare yourself!"
- Shonen Hair: He sports an impressively spiky quiff.
- Spell My Name with an "S": Hong Yunsung?
- Surfer Dude: His look in SCIII.
Cassandra Alexandra
Origin - Athens, Ottoman Empire (Greece)
Weapon(s) - Short sword and shield
Voiced By: Reiko Takagi (Japanese), Debra Jean Rogers (English)
Sophitia's younger sister. She heads out to destroy Soul Edge so that her family can live in peace. As of IV, she fought against Raphael but got tricked and lost her shard of Soul Edge, and later follows Siegfried's trail believing he has the "Holy Stone" that can destroy Soul Edge (well, he does have one big crystal that can do that, anyway...)
Is succeeded by Pyrrha in V. Was sucked into Astral Chaos following the defeat of Soul Edge in IV.
- Action Girl
- Ass Kicks You: She has several moves that are this, and even her Critical Finish is a shield-assisted ass-smash.
- Dangerously-Short Skirt: As of II.
- Dumb Blonde: While there isn't any canon evidence of her intelligence (or lack of), the supplemental manga and Broken Destiny campaign has her fulfill this role.
- Expy: The original idea was for her to replace her big sister Sophitia.
- Fan Service: "You like this kind of stuff?"
- Fan Nickname: "Cass" or "Cassie."
- Genki Girl
- Hair of Gold
- Hot-Blooded
- Hot Chick with a Sword
- Kicking Ass in All Her Finery
- Large Ham: "I guess this means I'm the best!"
- Little Miss Snarker: She comes across as quite sarcastic and even downright bitchy sometimes:
"Were you looking forward to winning? Oh, I'm sorry...."
"Oh my, how stupid are you?"
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me
- Mama Bear: Sort of. Wanted to spare her sister from fighting to save her children, so she stole Sophie's weapons and set off to fight the evil.
- Mini-Dress of Power: By IV it's become mini to the point of non-existence.
- Opera Gloves
- Possession Implies Mastery: Same deal as her sister.
- Plucky Girl
- Required Secondary Powers: An interesting example of a completely mundane character displaying a lack of this—despite being skilled with Sophitia's weapons, she doesn't know how to take care of them. Her Soulcalibur III profile mentions she got Rothion to fix them up after II, and in III her weapon breaks when she uses it to destroy Soul Edge. If Sophitia finds out in her ending, she sends her straight to the forge to fix it... cut to Cassandra having a sobbing fit, wailing that she doesn't know how.
- Thigh-High Boots: Sports a pair in IV. It closely resembles her Player 2 costume from SCII with a different color scheme.
- Trapped in Another World: New Legends Of Project Soul indicates that Cassandra was dragged into Astral Chaos during the defeat of Soul Edge at the end of IV, which explains why she vanished without a trace for 17 years without even trying to find her nephew and niece. No comment has yet been released if Pyrrha Omega tearing open Astral Chaos by claiming Soul Edge allowed Cassandra to escape.
- Valley Girl: A fairly subtle version, but it's there in her vocalization (in English) and precocious personality.
"Have you looked in the mirror recently?"
Necrid
Origin - Unknown
Weapon(s) - Pure energy capable of taking any form
A man that got trapped into Soul Edge's dimension and corrupted into a monstrosity. He got free during the climax of the first game, and sought Soul Edge as it can appease his inmense pain. Created by Todd McFarlane as a home version-exclusive character.
- Giant Space Flea From Nowhere
- Mega Manning: Borrows from pretty much everyone in II, leading to some pretty broken string of moves.
- One-Shot Character: Yeah, pretty much. Just about everyone else in the series who was playable and even largely inconsequential side-characters has received some sort of mention in later installments. Necrid... has not.
- Shapeshifter Weapon
- The Unintelligible: Speaks in incomphrensible gibberish, to the point that his quotes are labelled as basic emotions conveyed by his speech.
- Was Once a Man: Noted in its bio and surmised by Talim in their Destined Battle.
Charade
Origin - Unknown
Weapon(s) - All weapons
An unnamed man once sought fame, and was convinced by a merchant to buy and start hoarding shards of Soul Edge. The man was killed by thieves after bragging about his possessions on town. The man's obssession with fame and strength permeated the shards, who animated his corpse, which gave them a semi-sentient form. It looks to become one with Soul Edge out of raw instict, and got its wish in IV, as it merged together with all the shards.
- Dem Bones
- Ditto Fighter: Just like Inferno and Edge Master.
- Eye Beams
- Eyeless Face: Well...
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: It has a giant eye in his ribcage. Makes even less sense than Nightmare's mouth.
- Faceless Eye: See above.
- Flight: By assuming a comet-like form.
- No Biological Sex
- Posthumous Character
- Put on a Bus: As usual for the Ditto Fighter characters, its story just... stopped. It comes out of nowhere for an event match in III, and then finally joins with the rest of Soul Edge in IV.
- Shapeshifting: How it changes to match each player character's style, it readjusts its skeleton.
- Shapeshifter Visual Cue: Played with. All of its forms are a brown skeleton with a giant eye in its torso. However, they all also have the habits of the character it's masquerading as, mostly useful to this audience in distinguishing it as Sophitia from it as Cassandra (Cassandra is ironically bouncier).
- Shapeshifter Weapon: Surprisingly averted.
- Was Once a Man
Spawn (Al Simmons)
Origin - Detroit, Michigan US
Weapon(s) - Double-blade axe
Todd McFarlane's Badass demon appears in the series due to a deal with Namco to publish his character Necrid in exchange for toys created of the series' characters. Malebolgia sends him to the Soul World to retrieve Soul Edge. Exclusive to the Xbox version.
Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka (Japanese), Victor Stone (English)
- An Axe to Grind
- Badass Cape: Only seen in the intro (see "No Flow in CGI" below).
- Deal with the Devil
- The Cowl: Literally and figuratively (except for in his 2P costume, which removes the cowl, revealing his burnt and horribly disfigured face).
- Glowing Eyes of Doom
- Monochromatic Eyes: Green.
- No Flow in CGI: In-universe, his cloak is said to have taken the form of an axe in this game. This trope is the real-life reason as to why.
- Sir Swearsalot: Easily the mouth foul-mouthed character in the series.
- Unstoppable Rage: Put bluntly, Spawn is eternally pissed and it's easy to set him off.
Link
Origin - Hyrule
Weapon(s) - Sword and shield
A Hylian hailing from The Legend of Zelda series. Travels to the Soul world to destroy Soul Edge, which had threatened Hyrule. Exclusive to the GameCube version.
Voiced by: Nobuyuki Hiyama
- Battle Theme Music: An arrangement of the Zelda theme plays when he fights in the Eurydice Shrine.
- Composite Character: Has the look and voice of his Ocarina of Time incarnation (his ending even mentions him playing an ocarina), but the intro shows him drawing the Master Sword from the Lost Woods and two of his unlockable weapons are the Cane of Byrna and Bug-Catching Net.
- On the other hand, the ocarina actually first appeared and was a key source of Magic Music in ALttP, whilst OoT was Link's first 3-D depiction, so the arguments for Link being a composite character here are kind of shaky.
- Easter Egg: Winning with Link causes the Item Get chime to replace the normal victory fanfare. There's also the matter of the game's rendition of the Zelda main theme.
- Heroic Mime: Even with all the opportunities given, he still doesn't speak here.
- Jack of All Stats
- This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman: Link is abysmal-tier in Soulcalibur II (he's used to it), but his throw is incredibly easy to ring people out with, making many Weapon Master stages a cinch.
- Screaming Warrior: Regardless of the above, he does yell a lot. He's quite good at it.
Heihachi Mishima
Origin - Japan
Weapon(s) - His own fists with steel wrist guards
Voiced By: Daisuke Gouri (Japanese), Victor Stone (English)
He is transported to the 16th century after his blood made contact with a shard of Soul Edge, making him relive the shard's memories, and wants to test his strength against ancient warriors. Exclusive to the PS2 version.
- Anime Hair
- Badass Grandpa
- Badass Mustache
- Badass Normal
- Bald of Awesome/Evil
- Blood Knight
- Charles Atlas Superpower: His "weapons" are metal armguards he uses to deflect blows from weapons. His ultimate weapon? He takes the armguards off and fights at his peak. Heihachi is so strong he can Guard Impact Soul Edge, wielded by Nightmare itself, with his bare skin. And then punch it to death. Again, this is a pensioner with no cybernetic or mystical enhancements at all. He's just that good.
- Continuity Nod: His 10-hit combo is his most powerful move.
- He also refers to Kazuya in one of his quotes ("I'd love to show this to that idiot son of mine!") and name drops his pet bear Kuma when defeating Inferno ("Even Kuma is stronger than you!").
- Extremity Extremist: Uses his bare hands against weapon-wielders.
- Protected by armguards (unless he's using his Infinity+1 Sword).
- Recovery Attack: Only character in the series with one, as it comes from Tekken.
- Title Drop: And not of Soulcalibur. His ultimate "weapon" (bare fists) is named "Tekken."
Berserker
Origin - Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
Weapon(s) - Battle axe
Men turned berserk by the Evil Seed. In II, they're also used as labyrinth guardians in the side-game. Comes in 3 variants.
- An Axe to Grind
- Expy: Duplicates Rock's movelist.
Assassin
Origin - Persia (Iran)
Weapon(s) - Scimitar
Assassins from Astaroth's cult. Ditto Berserker above. Comes in 3 variants.
- Expy: Duplicates Hwang's movelist. This has lead to some believing that Assassin (if there is only one such character) is Hwang.
Lizardmen (Fygul Cestemus experiments)
Origin - Grand Shrine of Palgaea, Persia (Iran)
Weapon(s) - Short sword and shield
Many men turned lizard by Astaroth's evil cult. Served Lizardman and Nightmare in Soulcalibur, and turned shard-seeker for the cult in II. In III, they were oblivious to Astaroth's cult smashing, and wandered the lands. In IV, they gathered around Aeon Calcos, who become their leader again. They obey his every order without question, even killing innocents if necessary.
Maze and labyrinth guardians. Come in several variants.