Zelos Wilder
Template:TOS character Zelos Wilder (ゼロス・ワイルダー "Zerosu Wairudā" in Japan) is a video game character in the video game Tales of Symphonia. He is 22 years old, is 5'10", and weighs 149 pounds. He is voiced by Shiloh Strong.
Overview
Zelos Wilder is the supreme ruler of everything, along with the super cool mercanary dude, Kratos Aurion. After being abducted by aliens, he became alien pregnant. He is now a happy mother of three.
Zelos is the Chosen One from Tethe'alla, the other world. He is rarely portrayed as serious; instead, he frequently acts as a comic relief for the group, always ready to cheer the party up at heavy-hearted moments. Quite the ladies' man (one of his possible titles is called Gigolo, which he gets by speaking to every female character in the world, while another, Casanova, can be received by his being in a party with three female characters), he has the ability to charm every women he sees, who in turn give him gifts. Zelos is depicted as quite a handsome man, and he approaches most situations hoping to meet or impress any pretty girls nearby. He takes almost every opportunity to hit on his female team members, much to their annoyance. He gets along poorly with Genis, whom he considers a brat.
However, despite his apparently superficial personality, Zelos is actually quite perceptive, intelligent, and surprisingly sensitive. Nowhere is this better demonstrated in the game than shortly after Corrine sacrifices himself to save Sheena at the Temple of Lightning. Understandably, this causes Sheena to become depressed. In one of the optional Z-Skits, it is revealed that Zelos appears unfazed by Corrine's sacrifice, joking around as if Corrine had not just died. He is then chastised by the other members of the party for his lack of seriousness. When they leave, Zelos angrily says to himself that, if the party members continue being visibly sad, Sheena will only get more depressed, and will not move on with her life; the only way to help her get over the loss is for them to move on.
History
The first impression Zelos gives is that of a skirt-chasing, irresponsible and immature young man; in fact, the first time he appears in the game, he wastes no time in flirting with Raine and Colette, despite the presence of his numerous lovers around him. However, Zelos has more internal conflicts and emotional pain than he lets on (though clues are dropped throughout the storyline), a pain that is arguably more severe than that of any other character in the game. As Zelos reveals to Lloyd in Flanoir (if the player chooses to talk to Zelos), his mother, Mylene, was told to marry his father, the Chosen at the time, by the Oracle of Cruxis, even though she loved someone else. Growing up, his home life was less-than-comforting; neither his mother nor his father cared much for him, and both parents had affairs outside the marriage. As such, Zelos' main caretaker was Sebastian, the family butler.
When Zelos was a child, his father's mistress, a half-elf, gave birth to Zelos's half-sister, Seles. It is likely that Zelos and Seles were close friends as children; when they meet again late in the game, they seem quite familiar with each other. After the death of Zelos' father, the half-elven mistress attempted to kill the young Zelos. She knew that, if Zelos died, Seles (as the last relative of the half-siblings' father) would become the Chosen of Mana. As Zelos vividly describes, it was a snowy day when she put her plans into effect. As Mylene and Zelos built a snowman, the half-elf unleashed a barrage of magic. Mylene was accidentally caught in the crossfire, and the snow that the snowman was comprised of ran red with her blood; as she fell, she grabbed Zelos by the shoulder. Her last words to Zelos were: "You should never have been born."
After Mylene's death, Seles' mother was executed. Seles herself was imprisoned in an abbey for life. It is highly likely most of Zelos's narcissistic behavior stems from the fact that he was neglected and unappreciated throughout his childhood.
As is alluded to in the game, Zelos likely always felt guilty for the death of his mother, and blamed her death on his title as Chosen, a title he began to loathe. He grew up under the impression that he was worthless, a pathetic Chosen who could never save the world. This impression was further nurtured by the knowledge that Seles would have been a far more capable Chosen than he. Zelos grew up in the knowledge that, had he died that snowy day in Meltokio, Seles would indeed be the Chosen, the greatest Chosen that Tethe'alla had seen in decades. Both this and the knowledge that he could not live up to the expectations set upon him as Chosen further deepened Zelos' self-loathing. Growing up in Meltokio's indifferent society, Zelos was forced to lock his emotions away and adopt a mask of confidence, self-assurance, self-esteem, and superficiality. This "mask" allowed him to differentiate between those who merely had a passing interest in him and those who truly wished to know and befriend him. It also allowed him to defend himself from further emotional trauma.
When Zelos was six, he met a young Regal Bryant at the Princess' birthday party. Regal was roughly seventeen at the time, and Zelos was familiar with Regal's significant economic impact on Tethe'alla. He is thus able to somewhat recognize, or at least suspect, who he is when Regal joins their group; he repeatedly implies that Regal is the President of Lezareno, but the party remains ignorant of his true identity.
As he reached his teenage years, Zelos found that he was considered very popular amongst Meltokio's noblewomen. It soon became apparent that these aristocrats were not interested in him for his personality, nor for his good looks; they only wished to be associated with the Chosen of Mana. Zelos used this superficial interest to his advantage, and soon gained a world-spanning reputation as a womanizer. He was educated at the Imperial Research Academy in Sybak, where his good looks and status allowed him to manipulate his female classmates into taking notes and tests for him. As such, he graduated at the top of his class.
Zelos is also depicted as somewhat prejudiced against half-elves, likely due to Mylene's murderess being half-elven and being taught from childhood that half-elves were "disgusting, filthy creatures." Despite this apparent prejudice, he is actually more sympathetic to half-elves than his peers, exerting his influence to stop some of the Pope's radical anti-half-elf legislature from becoming law even before he meets Lloyd. After meeting Genis and Raine, he eventually learns to accept them, despite his conflicts with Genis; at one point in the game, he even comments on how the Sage siblings are nothing like the half-elf stereotypes he'd been taught about, though he is not quite able to rid himself of feelings of prejudice. During a later sidequest in which Zelos brings the poisoned half-elf Kate to his mansion, he declares to Sebastian that he will try to stop hating half-elves; when speaking with the King of Tethe'alla soon after, he asks that efforts be made to repeal the laws of half-elf oppression enacted by the Pope.
Zelos has an odd friendship with Sheena, and interacts with her more frequently than any of the other party members. She knew him well before she was sent to Sylvarant, and he once tried peeking on her in the shower. In Z-Skits, he makes frequent references to Sheena's voluptuous figure, and usually gets hit by Sheena for his trouble. However, the two often discuss recent events and bounce suspicions and ideas off of each other. Zelos seems to nurse some genuine feeling for Sheena, but he hides it through his apparent pervertedness. Nevertheless, his feelings for Sheena become apparent in certain situations: Zelos reacts quite vehemently when Sheena suggests trading her life to let the party escape, grabbing her and going through the Otherworldly Gate, and, after Sheena says she would prefer to live in Sylvarant after the two worlds split apart, Zelos mentions that he would prefer to live there too, although he suggests that it would be because Tethe'alla would be better off without him.
Zelos's fighting style
Zelos's fighting style is similar to that of Kratos. Zelos has some useful spells, although he prefers to fight on the front lines if left to his own devices. Although he uses the same weapons and armor as Kratos, his sword-play varies subtly from that of Kratos: Zelos' sword-play is quicker, reflecting his finesse (he resembles a dancing figure when swinging his sword) while Kratos tends to be stronger and has a number of angelic techniques at his disposal (Zelos only has these techniques in the PS2 version). The varied sword-play style also affects some of his techniques. For example, when Kratos uses the technique "Victory Light Spear," he tends to lift himself up too fast, often missing the final mid-air spiral cut. Zelos, on the other hand, has no trouble delivering all four hits from the same technique. Also, he is one of the three playable characters in the PS2 version (Presea and Raine being the other two) who has two ultimate techniques: Shining Bind and Divine Judgment.
Role in the plot
The player first meets Zelos with his entourage in Meltokio, where he attempts to hit on (the then-unresponsive) Colette Brunel and Raine. When the party reaches the castle, he helps them negotiate with the King and the Pope in order to find a way to save Colette—as the Chosen, he is very influential, second in power only to the King of Tethe'alla himself. One stipulation, however, is that the party remain at all times in Tethe'alla. When the party plans to go meet Dirk in Iselia to see if he can help Colette, and convinces Zelos to allow them to do so, Zelos is branded a traitor for doing so and the Pope orders his arrest.
When the party attempts to retrieve the Rheiards on the Fooji Mountains, Zelos claims that he has some device to transport them. However, at the summit, he leads them into a trap (supposedly by accident), where Yuan and Pronyma find them. The party defeats Pronyma, but Yuan's Renegades reclaim the Rheiards.
Zelos also helps the party return to Meltokio through the sewers when the Papal Knights refuse them entry through the city's gate. Inside Meltokio, the citizens, despite being aware of Zelos's status as a traitor, still treat him as they always have. Even some members of the church do so as well: the pastor in the Hot Springs island agrees not to report Zelos' presence.
Inside the Tethe'alla Base, Zelos suspiciously disappears for a moment before reappearing. He then makes several odd references to betraying the group, such as "joking" that he would try deceiving Lloyd and being somewhat surprised when Sheena says "I hate traitors more than anything else," when referring to the very recent revelation that Kuchinawa is working for the Pope. These initially seem incidental, but ultimately serve to foreshadow future plot twists.
In the third main "act" of the game, in which the party attempts to cure Colette and ultimately reunite the worlds, Zelos cleverly tricks two Papal Knights into believing that Colette is Spiritua, an angel of death, and takes advantage of their fear of her to convince them to drop the charges against him and the others, as well as to try to capture the Pope (who escapes). He also succeeds in convincing Princess Hilda to persuade the King of Tethe'alla to write a letter to the Elder of Heimdall in order to let them into the village. Throughout the mission to cure Colette, Zelos is seemingly distrustful of Kratos' motives.
Zelos' choice
One of the major twists in the plot involves Zelos. After Altessa, the dwarf craftsman in Tethe'alla, is badly wounded, the party takes the Rheiards to the city of Flanoir to find a doctor. The doctor requests an entourage and takes the four characters who have the lowest relationships with Lloyd. That night, the three characters with the highest relationships with Lloyd will come to the his room at the Flanoir Inn, asking for him to go for a walk with them. The player may have Lloyd agree to the walk with any one of them, or may deny them all (in which case, Lloyd goes outside on his own, where he meets his father, Kratos). Morning comes, and Lloyd decides to make a direct attack on Cruxis, at the Tower of Salvation. On the way out, Lloyd speaks with Zelos, and either reminds him that he trusts him or asks if he can trust him, based on whether the player spoke with Kratos.
If Lloyd spoke to one of the first three guests, Zelos betrays the party at the Tower, revealing that he had been working for both Cruxis and the Renegades the entire time. This sheds new light on past incidents, and might suggest that he had planned for the party to be trapped on the Fooji Mountains, and was speaking with a contact when he disappeared in the Renegades' base. Claiming to care only for himself, he decides to join with the group most likely to win the upcoming fight: Cruxis. In reality, however, while in Flanoir, Kratos (unseen at the time) requested that Zelos retrieve the rare stone known as Aionis, a material needed to form the Ring of the Pact and thereby allow Lloyd to wield the Eternal Sword. The only way for Zelos to obtain it would be for him to enter Cruxis' stronghold.
Upon reaching the tower, Zelos then leads Colette forward, claiming that he wants her help in taking the Eternal Sword, but angels surround the two, and Pronyma reveals Zelos' betrayal, before leaving with him. While Lloyd's party makes their way to the Hall of the Great Seed, each and every single one of them falls, one-by-one, into various traps in an effort to allow Lloyd to challenge Mithos and save Colette and the world. Unbeknownst to Lloyd, Zelos releases them, and guides them to the Hall, where they reunite with Lloyd and help defeat Pronyma. Shortly thereafter (presumably after obtaining the Aionis), Zelos rejoins the party and helps to defeat Yggdrasill. He confesses that he did, in fact, deceive Lloyd when Lloyd asks him if all of what he did was to obtain the Aionis; Zelos may well have been acting for other motives before Kratos approached him with his request.
If Lloyd has the best relationship with Zelos, he will receive the Chosen's Orb after speaking with him at Flanoir. When Lloyd is shot by an arrow fired from a trap in the Tower of Salvation, the Chosen's Orb protects him. Lloyd is briefly conflicted, realizing that Zelos saved him by giving him his Orb, but that he also betrayed the group.
On this path through the game, Zelos survives and escapes the Tower of Salvation with the group. If paired with Lloyd, he will be possessed by Mithos after Lloyd makes a pact with Origin. During the game's final cutscene, Zelos is seen requesting that an emissary of peace—specifically Sheena—be sent to Iselia, using his influence as the Chosen to do so.
However, if Lloyd spoke with Kratos at Flanoir, Lloyd will ask Zelos if he can trust him. This seems to prompt Zelos to confront the party on his own (rather than leave with Pronyma) when he betrays them. He says that he never earned their trust when Lloyd takes umbrage at his betrayal (saying "You said I could trust you!" rather than "I still trust you, you hear me?"). He then fights the party, hoping that they will kill him and end his life. As the Chosen of Tethe'alla prepares for his last battle, he tells Lloyd how he only ever wished for a "fun, easy life", a simple life he couldn't have as the Chosen.
Zelos fights the party (in the place of the Gatekeeper, a minor angel boss) and is defeated, being mortally wounded in the process. He tells the party where Colette is being held, and urges them to save her. He then says that after he is dead, Seles will become the Chosen and be freed from the abbey. When Lloyd expresses disbelief that Zelos would die for this purpose, he says that it is "just a bonus." With his last breath, he asks that the group destroy his Cruxis Crystal, then dies of his wounds.
Two skits are played, based on whether Zelos lives or dies. "Zelos' Betrayal" is played after the party enters the basement of the Tower if he lives, in which the party reflects on the warning signs of his betrayal. Shortly after leaving the Tower, Raine asks how Zelos knew to find the Aionis, but Zelos does not give a definite answer. "Dear Friend" is played as the party exits the tower after saving Colette if Zelos dies, in which they realize that he helped them.
Side quests involving Zelos
Zelos is integral to several side quests, most of which reveal more details about his personality and past.
- The player can fly to an island where the Church of Martel has hot springs. Only one hot spring exists, and as Sheena refuses to bathe with the other males (notably Zelos), only the males or females enter at once. When the females enter, Zelos spies on them, but Lloyd catches him in the act. After an accidental outburst on Lloyd's part, Zelos escapes, leaving Lloyd to take the blame.
- If the Advanced Course in the Tethe'alla Arena is completed twice while Zelos is on the party, Seles will challenge the player. Upon being defeated, she claims that she only wanted to help Zelos. A subsequent Z-skit ("Worrying Brother") in which Raine falsely claims that Seles is nearby and Zelos yells out to her that she is putting herself in danger reveals that Zelos hides his feelings about Seles in order to protect her, despite claiming that he does not care. Later in the game, if Kratos rejoins the party and Zelos is killed, Seles will appear once more in the arena to avenge her brother.
- If the party revisits Meltokio late in the game, it is revealed that the Pope, who had been a fugitive since Lloyd exposed his scheme to poison the King, has kidnapped the Princess and wants to exchange her for the Chosen. However, the Pope has substituted his half-elven daughter Kate, whom he has poisoned, for her. Zelos escapes the trap and takes Kate back to his mansion, where he has Sebastian treat her, resulting in Sebastian commenting on his change in attitude towards half-elves. Zelos then catches the Pope in Gaoracchia Forest, who reveals his plan to kill Zelos in order to get his jewel and become king. Zelos, however, defeats the Pope's men with the help of his friends and has the Pope arrested. Zelos takes the credit for saving the Princess, and a dinner party is held to celebrate the occasion. This dinner party enables Lloyd and four other characters of the player's choice to gain their formal costumes.
Trivia
- Zelos acts as host in the Viva Tales DVDs (which are often included as preorders to Tales games) alongside Jade Curtiss from Tales of the Abyss. Like in the game, Zelos often spends time flirting with the female guests (particularly Mint from Tales of Phantasia and Rutee Katrea from Tales of Destiny). He also appears in the Tales of Fandom Gaiden DVD and attempts to take Lloyd's place as the main character of Tales of Symphonia.
- He bears some resemblance to Luke fon Fabre of Tales of the Abyss: both fight with a single sword (although Luke does not use a shield), have long red hair, wear similar clothing, and grew up in large mansions. They also share some attacks, such as Light Spear Cannon.
- In the PlayStation 2 remake of Tales of Symphonia, it is possible to get matching outfits for Zelos and Sheena.