Adol Christin
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| Adol Christin | |
| Created by | Nihon Falcom Corporation |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished |
| Character Information | |
| Real name | Adol Christin |
| Age | 16-23 |
| Height | 5 feet 6 inches |
| Weight | 59-63 kg |
| Hair | Fiery Red |
| Eyes | Grey/Blue |
| Birthplace | Europa(Historically the Germania region) |
| Notable Allies | Dogi, Feena, Leah, Terra |
| Notable Enemies | Dark Fact, Darm, Galbalan |
| Species | Human |
| Notable aliases | Adol the Red |
| Notable powers | Swordsmanship, Magical abilities (depending on item usage) |
Adol Christin is the main character of the Ys video game series created by Nihon Falcom Corporation. The red-haired swordsman who is the protagonist of the Ys series. He has an uncanny knack for being at or arriving to the right place at the right time. He also has the curious habit of falling into the sea, and washing up on beaches, being rescued and nursed back to health by each game's female lead.
Contents |
[edit] Character history
[edit] Origin and first appearance in Esteria
See Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished and Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter
Adol is a red-haired swordsman that travels the world in search of adventure. Born as a peasant boy in the village of Promalock (which resembles historical Germania), his father would tell him of many stories of fantasy. At the time of his 17th year, he left home in search of adventure.
As the story begins, he has just arrived at the Town of Minea, in the land of Esteria(in the Eternal and Complete PC remakes, he first ends up in Barbado, a town just south of Minea, after a shipwreck). He is called upon by Sara, a fortuneteller, who tells him of a great evil that is sweeping the land. Adol is informed that he must seek out the six Books of Ys. These books contain the history of the ancient land of Ys, and will give him the knowledge he needs to defeat the evil forces. Sara gives Adol a crystal for identification and instructs him to find her aunt in Zepik Village, who holds the key to retrieving one of the Books. With that, his quest begins.
Adol discovers that Dark Fact, a fallen priest turned evil sorcerer, has joined forces with Darm, a demon manifested from the vices of man over the greed of the Black Pearl's power. Adol journied to the Island of Ys and defeated both villains, but this would not be his last encounter with either of them.
[edit] Adventuring in Celceta
See Ys IV: Mask of the Sun and Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys
After returning to the town of Minea (and engaging in several adventures in the Super Nintendo version of the game), Adol comes across a message in a bottle. The message is from the far-off land of Celceta, asking for help. Adol decides to take the offer and boards a ship to the land of Celceta. Adol learns a creature named Eldeel, the last of the Eldeen, an ancient race of winged beings known for their lust for power and insanity, is responsible for the troubles besetting Calceta and seeks to defeat him.
In "Dawn of Ys" (the PC-Engine version of the game), Adol doesn't actually "defeat" Eldeel in the traditional sense as this deed was done by Gruda, specifically by piercing through Eldeel's heart with the Cleria Sword stolen from Adol. In this version of Ys IV, Adol battles the Clan of Darkness (Gruda, Bami, Gadeis), and their lord, an even worse evil known as Arem, who was once a warlord in the Celcetan Capital "El Doran". With the help of the power of Lefance and his disciples, Adol was able to unlock the full power of Cleria, transforming it into the sword, armor, and shield of El Doran, a brilliant gold metal that Lefance described as "the ultimate metal" or "the most powerful metal". With the El Doran equipment at hand and the Mask of the Sun, Adol triumphs over the evil Arem. Not only does Adol defeat Arem, but also has a little "reunion" battle with Darm once again, who appears as a standard boss in the fallen city. In the end, the capital of El Doran falls into ruin and is lost as Adol is safely teleported from the ensuing destruction by Lefance and his disciples.
[edit] Wandering in Felghana
See Ys III: Wanderers from Ys and Ys: The Oath in Felghana
One year after his adventures in Celceta, Adol travels to Dogi's homeland, Felghana (Ys III), and defeats another ancient but wicked being that was disturbing the land named Galbadan. An interesting prophecy at the end of the revamped version of Ys III(JP)for PS2 is revealed when Adol chooses to talk to an old woman as he's saying goodbye to everyone before leaving. Her words, loosely translated were: "You are the one who will bring together everyone's happiness in all your travels around the world."
[edit] Searching in Afroca
See Ys V: Kefin, The Lost City of Sand
Adol continued his adventures, traveling through new lands to the South in Afroca (which resembles historical Africa). Hearing of the vanished desert city of Kefin, he set out to investigate this ancient city's disappearance. Along the way he encounters the pirate Terra, a mysterious girl named Niena, and a group also searching for the city. Once the city was located, Adol discovered that the villains have been working for Niena in an effort to resurrect the king of Kefin and rebuild their empire. Terra and Adol manage to subdue them, but not before they've begun the rite to ressurect their king. Adol is forced to battle the former ruler and emerged victorious.
[edit] Discovering the Canaan Islands
Most recently, Adol, at the age of about 23, washed ashore on the Canaan Islands in the middle of the Atlas Ocean. There he discovered an important connection between the Islands and the lands he had visited in the other years of his young life. He found the remains of the Eldeen civilization, the land that gave birth to the civilizations of Europa. He also had to deconstruct the gigantic Ark of Napishtim, a weather control system from the Eldeen civilization that threatened to flood the whole world, with the help of swords and armor made of "Emelas" (which actually is Cleria). With the Ark of Napishtim destroyed, Adol sailed off either in search of more adventure or to return to his homeland.
[edit] Love life
In the actual storyline written (and also hinted at the ending of Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys for PCE), Adol marries Lilia from Ys II; contrary to the romance between Feena and Adol which is seen more of, and implied, in the OVA series, particularly in the Ys II OVA Chapter where flashbacks are seen of them together. Feena herself commented in the PCE version of Ys II that "It would have been difficult, me being a goddess of Ys", and thus asks Adol to remember her as a human girl. Spoilers of Adol's settling down with Lilia are seen from the sword and armor on the mantle above the fireplace in his house, and the red haired child who looks surprisingly familiar (Ys IV Dawn of Ys). Another large spoiler is that the seiyuu for the woman reading the story is the same as Lilia as a young girl. Though most tend to associate Adol Christin with the games themselves, more is seen of himself (as a 3-dimensional character and as a person) in the OVA movies. Though the OVA series is generally not well known by most people, save the oldest of fans that are familiar with the story of Ys, most accredit the OVA with shaping his character more so as a human than merely a static video game character. What can generally be understood is that Adol is fairly introspective of himself and of others, tending to keep what he knows to himself (generally in his obvious travel diary, which, oddly enough, was what Lilia was reading at the ending of Ys IV).
[edit] OVA series
In the OVA series, he's seen as a very dynamic character who makes stark transitions from a naive boy in search of adventure at the start of Ys I, to an experienced young adventurer with a duty in Ys II. The climax of his appearance as a truly human character is notable in the Ys II OVA where he mentally breaks down from his own interpreted failure of not being able to save anyone after Dalles "kills" Maria Messa. As a result of this, Adol succumbs to his darker side and his rage, nearly destroying Solomon Shrine with the Cleria Sword and in the end almost getting himself killed as his darker powers actually strengthened Darm. At the very last possible second, Adol was saved from his madness and rejoins the side of good with the much needed help of Lilia, Feena, and Reah. The only time this sort of 3 dimensionality is seen in the video game series is in Ys III (either the original for PCE or the remake), where he doubts his abilities to defeat Galbadan (in the PCE release the name was changed to Demonicus) and how he feels guilty for not being able to stop Galbadan from kidnapping Elena, Dogi's childhood friend. A slight misunderstanding in the video game series is how Ys II is credited (as by the makers) as the final chapter of the Ys saga. In terms of the Ys saga itself, this is true, and thus Ys III and onwards are more so tales of Adol's adventures despite how the name "Ys" is still tacked on.
In both of the OVAs, he was portrayed by voice actor Takeshi Kusao.
