List of Soul Calibur characters
====Soul Edge==== - SE - The first embodiment of the Soul Edge Swords that appear in the first game. Has a skull head, purple flames and parts of Cervantes's clothes. Uses Cervantes style moves.
A being weakend by a long dormancy, could explain that the Inferno, Charade, Cervantes, and the rest were able to wield it quite easily. The sword's agenda to collect its shards. If this happens considering Soul Edge's ability to corrupt weapons (Soul Edge and the Kali Yuga)may even become more dangerous.
====Aeon Calcos (Lizardman)==== - SC I and SC II - The Spartan soldier, Aeon Calcos, like Sophitia Alexandra, was one of the twenty-four warriors that received an oracle from Hephaestus to destroy Soul Edge. In his searches, a group of desert travelers rescued a dehydrated Aeon and brought him to their village. Unfortunately, instead of repaying their kindness, the Evil Seed rained down and turned Aeon into a crazed killer, causing him to massacre everyone in the village. Stories of this berserker spread to Kunpaetku, the grand priest of the dark order Fygul Cestemus. Aeon was captured and used as a human guinea pig in a terrible experiment, causing him to transform into one of the many Lizardman--the first of many Lizardmen to come. Obedient to his new master, Kunpaetku, he was sent to the New World to kidnap Rock's adopted son, Bangoo, to lure Rock back to Europe so that his soul could be stolen. The unlockable character in Soul Calibur II, however, is not the original Aeon Calcos but just one of the many Lizardmen in Kunpaetku's Lizardman army. The original Lizardman is believed to be either in the process of transforming back to his original state or fully recovered.
====Astaroth==== - SC I, SC II and SC III - The god of destruction, Ares, desired Soul Edge, so he ordered Kunpaetku, the grand priest of the dark order Fygul Cestemus, to seek it out. Astaroth (a golem) was created in hellish heat under the divine protection of the god of destruction to head up the quest. Kunpaetku ordered his creation, Astaroth, to find the demonic blade. As he watched Astaroth depart from the shrine, the grand priest laughed to himself as he planned to keep the Soul Edge and become a god for himself. Unknown to Kunpaetku, however, Ares had possessed Astaroth with the spirit of his servant, Ker, to ensure that Kunpaetku would not betray him. When Astaroth finally found Soul Edge, it had lost half of itself during the battle with Sophitia. Deciding that Ares would not be pleased with the sword in this condition, he agreed to help Nightmare build it's power by collecting souls by slaughtering countless victims. As Astaroth was finally ready to betray Nightmare and take the Soul Edge from him, Kilik, Xianghua and Maxi, stormed Ostrheinsburg Castle; and Astaroth was killed by Maxi. Four years later, signs of Soul Edge began to emerge, and Ares revived Astaroth to attempt to retrieve the evil sword once again. This time, his body was infused with shards of the Soul Edge, making him more powerful and ruthless than before.
====Cassandra Alexandra====
- SC II and SC III - Cassandra, the sister of Sophitia Alexandra, was the only person who believed Sophitia's story of fighting the powerful evil of Soul Edge on behalf of Hephaestus. Three years after Cassandra had witnessed a mysterious Asian woman (Taki) bring her sister back from her journey and draw shards of the evil sword out of her sister's flesh while treating her wounds, Sophitia disappeared, leaving Cassandra certain that her sister had left to contend with Soul Edge again. Four years after this journey, Cassandra visited Sophitia's home to the sight of Sophitia's two children fighting greedily over a familiar metal shard that Sophitia's husband, Rothion, had found--a fragment of the Soul Edge. Angered by her sister's panicked reaction to the fragment, Cassandra ran to the Hephaestus Shrine, screaming at Hephaestus for endangering Sophitia on behalf of his ego. Cassandra collapsed on the floor, worn out from shouting. When she awoke, she saw the metal fragment resonating with the holy sword blessed by Hephaestus. She realized then that Soul Edge was still alive, but she could not allow her sister to exhaust herself once again, especially with a husband and children to care for. Stealing the weapon her sister had used twice before, Cassandra sneaked from her home in Athens to deal with Soul Edge on her sister's behalf, hopefully quelling the evil sword once and for all.
====Cervantes de Leon==== - SE, SC I and SC II - Cervantes' father, Phillip Leon, was a privateer on a special mission from the Spanish king to loot in the name of Spain. One day, he sailed closely to an English ship with intent to loot it, only to find that it was a warship. He was taken by surprise, his ship was destroyed, and he died along with it. Cervantes was devastated. He decided that if that was what happened to sailors that swear allegiance to Spain, he would forsake it and become a pirate. One day, he received a message from the "Merchant of Death," Vercci. It was a request to find Soul Edge, and Cervantes accepted the job. After a year of searching, Cervantes found some information pointing to an antiques dealer with a "strange article". There was no specific evidence that said article was Soul Edge, but Cervantes was a pirate, and could find some use for the goods on the ship even if Soul Edge was not there. Cervantes attacked the ship and nobody heard from him again for twenty years.
What had happened was that Cervantes had obtained Soul Edge on that ship, and it drove him insane as it devoured his soul. His insanity caused him to kill anyone who came looking for Soul Edge, a reign of terror that lasted for twenty years until Sophitia Alexandra, Taki and Siegfried Schtauffen, all defeated him in succession. But this was not the end for Cervantes. Nightmare, the new host for Soul Edge, unknowingly resurrected him using the fragments of Soul Edge still lodged inside Cervantes' body, but all his memories of his past life had vanished. Over the course of the next three years, Cervantes' memories had returned, along with the desire to search for Soul Edge again. Even though he knew it had robbed him of his free will, he didn't care. During Cervantes' search for Soul Edge, he realized that the second sword had been shattered as well when Cervantes found a few shards of the second sword. He pondered as to whether or not Soul Edge had been definitively conquered, but at that moment, the shards melded together on their own to create a bigger piece of the sword. For the next four years, Cervantes began his quest to steal souls and collect additional fragments. Eventually, they took the form of a legitimate sword. Cervantes' goal was to regain Soul Edge, and to do that, he needed as many of the fragments as he could find.
Voice Actor: Takashi Nagasako--also the voice of Nathaniel "Rock" Adams.
====Charade==== - SC II - An unknown man weary from war-torn lands and dreaming of adventure spent all the money in his possession to purchase every last piece of metal from a traveling merchant, who was selling them as amulets against evil. That night, as he gazed on the metal fragments, he recalled a story passed on by a roaming swordsman: the story of Soul Edge, an ultimate weapon to surpass all others. The drunkards in the tavern did not believe the swordsman's tale, but this man did, because he sensed something in the eyes of the swordsman; and when he followed the warrior in hopes of getting more information about Soul Edge out of him talked to him about the weapon for hours on end. But as it turned out, the swordsman knew very little, and the two parted ways. The tale could have been a hoax, but it was enough to arouse curiosity and set this man off on his singular pursuit of Soul Edge, enticing the locals to dismiss as an eccentric. But now that he had what he believed with conviction to be shards of the true Soul Edge, he was satisfied, even if it cost him all that he had. Fatefully, however, he was murdered shortly thereafter by bandits who had heard a rumour circulating in the cities of a man overly-protective of his possessions--something extremely valuable. But the fragments he had were of no use to the bandits and they threw his corpse into the ravine. The man's tenacity to protect his precious fragments never wavered in his final moments, and the hand of the abandoned corpse still held the pieces in its grasp. Several months passed, and no one bore witness to the fact that the pieces had disappeared over time. They were definitely gone, leaving behind several incomplete corpses in the ravine and trails left beside the corpses, as if something had crawled about them. In time, rain would fall and erase the trails. The life form walked under its own will, almost out of instinct. It was a voiceless being formed by blood absorbed from the hand of the dead man, wandering in search of similar shards to become whole once again and growing as it devours fragments with a similar evil aura. The metal pieces that the man possessed were, without a doubt, genuine shards of the Soul Edge, desperate to re-form on its own, and it could respond by reading the innermost thoughts of all it meets.
====Edge Master==== - SC I - Edge master is a very mysterious man. He was a teacher at Ling-Sheng Su Temple before it was abandoned and would descend from the mountain rarely to either train members of the temple or participate in the succession ceremony. He is renowned for his skill with various weapons, and his past and real name remain a mystery. Edge master taught Kilik, the cursed successor of Kali-Yuga, how to suppress the evil within himself, over three long years. After Kilik left on his journey to purify himself and the Kali-Yuga, Edge Master began to feel uneasy. Although his motives are unknown, he broke his silence and departed on his own quest.
Voice Actor: Daisuke Gourial--the voice of Tekken's Mishima Heihachi.
====Seung Han Myong==== - SE - Leader of the Seung dojo. Seung Mi Na's father. Hwang Sung Kyung and Hong Yun Sung's master.
Mishima Heihachi
- SC II - The indestructable villain from the Tekken series appears as a guest character on the PlayStation 2 version of Soul Calibur II.
After completing his mountain training with his pet bear, Kuma, Heihachi stopped by at a hot springs resort to recuperate. There he encountered an ancient metallic fragment. According to old picture scrolls, this shard was a piece of Soul Edge, a notorious sword from medieval Europe. Grabbing the fragment in excitement, he accidentally cut his fingertip; and after a moment of dizziness passed, Heihachi looked around at his surroundings. A feeling of uneasiness washed over him as he was no longer at the resort he had been at just a few moments ago. He was stunned, but nevertheless remained collected. After he wandered for a while, he concluded that he was no longer in twenty-first-century Japan. He had somehow traveled back in time to the latter sixteenth century. Though he wanted to return to his own time, part of him was trembling with anticipation of what was about to transpire. He knew the history behind the fragment, which was ripe with battles between warriors fighting for its possession. Now, he was right in the midst of it all. He eventually decided that finding and obtaining Soul Edge was the perfect challenge to test his strength and proceeded to seek it out.
English Voice Actor: Victor Stone. Japanese Voice Actor: Daisuke Gouri.
====Inferno==== - SC I and SC II - The dark spirit of the Soul Edge given a body - is the final opponent for both Soul Calibur 1 and 2.
In Soul Calibur I is a fire being composed of the Long Zweilhander blade that Nightmare wielded. In Soul Calibur II you can see the Soul Calibur trapped inside the Inferno possibly using its power to repair its shattered self.
====Isabella "Ivy" Valentine==== - SC I, SC II and SC III - Ivy was raised in the home of the Valentines, prominent nobles in London, England. However, her father, Count Valentine, died a madman, driven to insanity having squandered the family fortune with his obsession with using alchemy in pursuit of Soul Edge. Soon after the fall of the Valentine family, Ivy learned from her mother, on her death bed, that she was adopted. But Ivy had no interest in finding her biological parents. Ivy eventually learned about her father's search for Soul Edge and began to follow his footsteps in his quest, thus becoming an alchemist herself. But Ivy learned that Soul Edge was evil and vowed to destroy it. She succeeded in creating a weapon suited for this purpose through ancient sorcery, but the snake sword was devoid of life. On her journey, Ivy crossed paths with Nightmare, Astaroth and Lizardman; and Nightmare breathed life into her snake sword. Because of this, she agreed to help them in a ceremony to summon souls, oblivious to the fact that this was all part of Soul Edge's plan.
Eventually, she began to feel guilty for taking the lives of innocent people, repulsed that the other members of her group even took joy in it, especially Astaroth. When trying to escape from the group in Ostrheinsburg Castle's underground passage, Astaroth caught up with her, revealing to her that the sword Nightmare was holding had been Soul Edge all along; and the only reason she had been allowed to join their group was that the sword had instructed Nightmare to keep her nearby in case anything would happen to him, so that she might be a spare host for the sword's evil intentions. Astaroth was about to murder her when Kilik, Xianghua and Maxi, stormed the castle; and as he left to deal with them, he commanded his clay golems to finish her off. But she managed to defeat them all, albeit just barely. In denial of Astaroth's story, she decided to ask Nightmare for the truth directly when Taki confronted her. Taki, familiar with the energy of Soul Edge, affirmed Astaroth's story in telling Ivy that the snake sword had been infused with some of Soul Edge's power; and sensing the evil aura surrounding Ivy's entire being, she proceeded to tell Ivy that the last time she had felt such evil was when she had defeated the previous owner of the evil sword, Cervantes de Leon. Ivy had the blood of evil in her, as she was Cervantes' daughter; and shaken by the horrible truth, Ivy sealed herself away in her laboratory. After four years of soul searching, Ivy returned with a renewed drive to destroy Soul Edge and everything connected to it, including Cervantes and eventually herself. She renamed her sword which shared her fate, Valentine.
Western Voice Actress: Renee Hewitt. Eastern Voice Actress: Yumi Touma.
====Kilik==== - SC I, SC II and SC III - Kilik was raised as an orphan at the Ling-Sheng Su Temple. He was chosen to inherit the bo staff Kali-Yuga, one of the three sacred treasures of the temple, after many long years of rigorous training. However, the night before the succession ceremony, the Evil Seed rained down on the temple and caused the temple's members to lose their sanity, including Kilik. In his rage, and with his great skills, he killed many temple members, who were also killing each other. But his sworn sister, Xianglian--the unknowing blood sister of Chai Xianghua and inheritor of Ling-Sheng Su's holy mirror, the Dvapara-Yuga--slung the mirror in necklace form around his shoulder, causing him to regain his sanity as she lost hers. Unfortunately, the temple members were still evil, and Kilik was forced to kill many of them in self defense, including Xianglian. When he awoke, the old man who had saved him, Edge Master, told him the truth: Kilik and Kali-Yuga had been infected with the Evil Seed, the source of which was the demonic sword, Soul Edge. The only thing protecting his sanity was the Dvapara-Yuga. After training with Edge Master for three years, learning to control the evil within himself and Kali-Yuga along the way, Kilik embarked on a quest to purify himself and his weapon.
On his journey, Kilik met the Japanese pirate of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Maxi, in an Indian port town, and assisted him in an attack led by Astaroth which left every member of Maxi's crew dead. And later, the two met Chai Xianghua, a member of the Ming Dynasty Imperial Guard, who aided them in their travels; although neither Kilik nor Xianghua knew that Xianglian was her long-lost sister. With Maxi and Xianghua's help, Kilik stormed Ostrheinsburg Castle and defeated Nightmare; although Maxi's life was lost in the process. Afterwards, he returned to Edge Master's hermitage, continuing to perfect the technique of neutralizing and purifying evil energy. But four years later, he sensed the return of Soul Edge, and set out on another journey to defeat Soul Edge once and for all, so that he could atone for the sins he committed the night of the fateful Evil Seed.
Western Voice Actor: Scott Reyns. Eastern Voice Actor: Souichirou Hoshi.
====Li Long==== - SE - After the death of the great Eirakutei, the Ming Dynasty was left open to plundering by pirates from southern Japan. Li Long was sent by the emperor to assassinate the leader of the pirates and bring Soul Edge home with him. However, he never really cared about Soul Edge and instead decided to not only assassinate the leader of the pirates, but the daimyo feudal lords as well. This was not part of the mission, but there was no doubt in his mind that he would succeed. However, Long was not as strong as he thought, and an attack on the head of a powerful family went wrong. Left badly injured, he was rescued by a young girl named Chie. Chie was the daughter of the former leader of the Fu-Ma Clan, Hachibei, operating as an innkeeper under the pseudonym Yahei. Chie had been permanently traumatized by the death of her mother as a child and had lost the ability to speak. She devoted herself to Long's care, and they fell in love; and he stayed with Chie long after he was fit for travel again. One day, while Li Long was out, a fight broke out at the Inn. Chie was thought to have been killed, and a wounded Yahei told Long that a wandering swordsman had started the fight and left. Witnesses thought that it may have been Heishiro Mitsurugi, but obviously, Mitsurugi was not the only swordsman wandering the land. Long set out for revenge, learning along the way that Mitsurugi was looking for Soul Edge. He decided that if he found the swords first, Mitsurugi would eventually have to come to fight him; and if it turned out that Mitsurugi wasn't responsible for Chie's death, he would seek out every last swordsman until he got his revenge.
In his journey, however, he is believed to have been killed while trying to kill Cervantes de Leon and steal the evil swords from him; and he was never heard from by the Ming Dynasty or a pregnant Chie ever again. However, when another member of the Imperial Guard, Chai Xianghua, had left on a similar mission on behalf of the Ming Dynasty three years later, she was asked by Li Meimei to check on her brother, Li Long. Xianghua did eventually learn that Li Long was actually alive, but he would never return to Ming Dynasty China again.
Voice Actor: Jin Yamanoi.
====Link==== - SC II - Nintendo's sword-wielding hero from the Legend of Zelda series appears as a guest character on the GameCube version of Soul Calibur II.
Hyrule's tranquility was shattered by the arrival of several disasters, which brought opaque, ominous clouds with them. Eventually, it was discovered that a magician--unknown but possibly Vaati--was to blame for all that had happened. Just as the people were about to lose all hope, the sun miraculously returned as Link, having been summoned by Princess Zelda to find the disasters' source, successfully defeated the magician. The people of Hyrule rejoiced in the belief that eternal peace would rule; but it eventually became clear that the magician responsible for the disasters was in fact controlled by an evil sword from another world, Soul Edge, and that the fragments of Soul Edge had been gathering in the other world. Knowing that the resurrection of the evil blade must be prevented at all costs, Link chose to travel to the other world and destroy Soul Edge himself. He gathered his trusted Master Sword and Ocarina of Time, and transported himself off on a secret journey.
====Maxi==== - SC I and SC II - Maxi was a wandering pirate from Shuri (present-day Okinawa) in the Ryukyu Kingdom. One day, while docked in an Indian port town, his ship came under attack by a hoard of monsters led by Astaroth. By chance, Kilik happened to be there, and they joined forces in the battle against the monsters. Eventually, they repelled the monsters, but not before Astaroth temporarily snatched Dvapara-Yuga from Kilik, causing Kilik to lose his sanity and attack Maxi. Eventually, Maxi suppressed Kilik and returned the Dvapara-Yuga to him, but only after Maxi's sworn brother, Kyam, was dead and most of the members of the crew were missing. Having lost everything, Maxi decided to travel with Kilik, and swore an oath of revenge against Astaroth; and later, the two met Chai Xianghua, a member of the Ming Dynasty Imperial Guard, who also aided them in their travels.
With Kilik and Xianghua's help, Maxi stormed Ostrheinsburg Castle, where the creatures that had killed Maxi's crew were waiting for them. After defeating the creatures, Astaroth presented himself and blocked the entrance to the castle. As Kilik and Xianghua ran past Astaroth, Maxi stayed behind to fight him to the death. He succeeded in killing Astaroth, but the god Ares, in bitter rage, commanded the ground to open up and swallow Maxi. When Maxi woke up, he was on a riverbed near a village, where an old man rescued him. Due to the severity of his wounds, Maxi's traveling days were over, and he stayed behind in the village, quickly becoming popular with the local residents. Four peaceful years passed, until a rumour of a large man with a large bearded axe reached the village. Maxi had a horrible feeling that the man was Astaroth. He wanted to chase after him, but his body was too weak. Maxi went to see the village medicine man, who performed a secret ritual using a strange metal fragment; and several days later, Maxi left the village, promising to return some day. He did not realize, however, that all memory of his traveling companions had been lost as a result of the ritual.
Western Voice Actor: Doug Boyd. Eastern Voice Actor: Nobutoshi Kanna.
====Seung Mi Na==== - SE, SC I and SC II - Growing up in the famous Korean dojo headed by her father, Seung Han Myong, Mina had always been surrounded by weapons, many of which she learned to use quite well. However, her looks led the local boys to tease her and call her nothing more than a girl--an image supported by her father who wanted her to settle down and marry a suitor, preferably Hwang Sung Kyung, whom Hanmyong had personally wanted to adopt into the family. When Japan, led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, became the first Asian nation to start invading others, a coast guard was quickly formed and led by Lee Sun Shin, with Mina desperate to join in the ranks; but she was barred from joining on account of her gender. Rumours of Soul Edge, deemed the "Sword of Salvation", spread to Korea; and she decided that if she would not be able to prove herself in the coastal defense, she could just as easily prove herself by finding the fabled sword. This prompted her to pack up and run away from home, not knowing that Hwang Sung Kyung had already been officially sent on his own quest for the weapon.
During her journey, she met up with Hwang; and upon receiving news of an impending Japanese invasion of Korea, he cut his quest short and returned home, dragging Mina home with him. Not long after her return, Mina ran away again. Her frustration with rigorous training, combined with a proposal from one of her father's trainees, sent her over the edge and out the door. Mina resumed her quest for the Sword, but gained a valuable lesson along the way. Upon meeting Ivy, she was told that Soul Edge was inherently evil and that Mina would be better suited at home since she was only a weak little girl. Quick to anger, she challenged Ivy to a fight; but overwhelmed by Ivy's unusual snake sword, she suffered a humiliating defeat. Questioning her own strength, Mina met an old man with a beaten bo staff who told her not to challenge people so hastily. But true to form, she attacked him and never landed a single hit as he caught her zanbatou with his bare hands. She asked if she could train under him, and he reluctantly agreed; but after a year of training, he mysteriously disappeared, leaving only a goodbye note from a one Kong Xiuqiang--in reality, Chai Xianghua's long-lost father and former student at the Ling-Sheng Su Temple exiled for having fathered a bastard daughter, Chai Xianglian. From this experience, Mina learned to never underestimate the strength of an opponent, and she continued training for two years until she was ready to resume her quest for the Soul Edge. Eventually, however, she was dragged home once again by Hwang Sung Kyung.
Four years later, Mina saw a student of her father, Hong Yun Sung, angry after being rejected by Hwang Sung Kyung when he challenged him to a battle. She saw the brooding young man and handed him a broadsword, the White Storm, a Seung family heirloom which, according to legend, possessed the ability to reflect the deepest thoughts of those who wielded the blade. That night, Yunsung had packed his belongings and run away from the dojo in pursuit of the Soul Edge. Since Mina had leant the heirloom to him, she felt obligated to retrieve it, and decided to leave the dojo to find him. Seung Han Myong did not want her to go, but he knew in his heart that if he protested, she would simply run away again, and he gave her his blessing to retrieve the weapon. By the time he considered that she would, in fact, try to retrieve the Soul Edge on her journey, it was too late, and she was long gone.
Western Voice Actress: Molly Lin. Eastern Voice Actress: Houko Kuwashima.
====Heishiro Mitsurugi==== - SE, SC I, SC II and SC III - Heishiro Mitsurugi was a Japanese mercenary, well known throughout Japan. When rifles were brought to Japan, Mitsurugi deplored the new weapon, as it allowed virtually anyone to become a powerful fighting force without a large amount of training. He was shot in the shoulder by one, and began travelling to find a powerful enough sword that he could defeat Tanegashima, the rifle that had shot him. Mitsurugi learned about Nightmare and Soul Edge, and set out for Europe to find the sword. Before he found him, though, Mitsurugi learned that Nightmare had been destroyed. He then stumbled across a shard of Soul Edge, given to him by a man he saved from being murdered by vagabonds. Voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa (Eastern) and Scott Keck (Western).
Necrid
- SC II - Created by comic book writer Todd McFarlane, the vague design and biography of this bizarre character was created specifically for Soul Calibur II. He was possibly an Asian warrior that once managed to obtain the Soul Edge. The corrupt energy of the evil blade, however, poisoned his body and mind, and he became something other than human before eventually losing the sword in a nondescript battle. Now a bloodthirsty abomination, he sought the one thing that gave him relief to his constant pain: the fragments of the Soul Edge. Traveling the world in search of its fragments, he wields a weapon made from the same evil energy of his former glory, able to mimic various weapons, as his moveset consists almost entirely of different moves picked and chosen from the existing cast of characters--particularly Astaroth, Cervantes, Ivy, Nightmare, Taki, Talim and Voldo. His only thoughts are to collect every piece he could find.
====Nightmare==== - SC I, SC II and SC III - Siegfried Schtauffen the leader of a group of bandits called the Schwarzwind (Black Wind). One night, they attacked a group of returning crusaders. Siegfried beheaded the leader of the group. When he opened the man's helmet, he realized that the knight he had killed was his father. He ran into the forest and lost his sanity. Eventually, he convinced himself that he had not killed his father, but someone else had, and that he must avenge his father's death. Siegfried decided that he must find the legendary sword Soul Edge in order to defeat his father's killer. He found the sword next to a dead pirate in Spain (the character Cervantes), and had to destroy the pirate's spirit before taking it. The sword told him he could resurrect his father if the sword was powerful enough (i.e. it had taken enough souls from others). Before he could accomplish this, though Nightmare fought Soul Calibur, the good sword, and was sent into a void along with Soul Edge. After escaping, Soul Edge was greatly weakened, and Nightmare released the horror of his past sins. He resolved to not allow Soul Edge to fall into the wrong hands again. He searched for a place to imprison himself and the sword, thereby not allowing its evil to hurt anybody again. Unfortunately, he was not always able to resist the sword's power, and every night, as he slept, the sword took control of his body and continued killing people to regain its power. Voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama (Eastern) and by Ted D'Agostino (Western).
====Raphael Sorel==== - SC II and SC III - Raphael, the young master of the Sorel family, grew up with the rapier and medicine as his playmates. His cool, unemotional demeanor created many enemies, but his quick and precise decision-making and execution skills was a prominent feature of his family amongest the nobles. Unfortunately, Raphael made a critical mistake during the year of the notorious Evil Seed and killed a noble supported by his family as the noble attacked him, thus leading to his family casting him out of their household and the town in hot pursuit of the murderer. Raphael hid himself in a poor town to escape from his pursuers, and there he met a young girl named Amy, who hid the weakened Raphael from his enemies. For Raphael, this marked the first time he owed his life to someone else, causing him to feel emotions he had never experienced before; and Amy became an irreplaceable presence in his life. Convinced that the chaos of the war in France at that time was no place to live a meaningful life, Raphael took Amy and left the town. But even with the new surroundings, he could not get Amy to open her heart to the world. One day, in the library of a mansion he acquired after killing the master of the house, Raphael found a letter with references to the Evil Seed. It wasn't long before he made the connection between Evil Seed and the insanity of the noble that attacked him; and he knew that the source of all this evil was Soul Edge. He pondered over the consequences that could occur if the pathetic nobles obtained the sword, and he decided to retrieve the sword himself so that the war-mongering nobles could be eliminated and a meaningful future could be secured for his foster daughter Amy. He was determined to obtain the Soul Edge by any means necessary for the sake of this young girl, and he concocted an insane scheme that would help him achieve his end.
The events that occurred in Soul Calibur II involving Raphael are, as of yet, uncertain; but he was a key player in the story's outcome. All that is known so far is that he eventually confronted Nightmare and was defeated. But before Nightmare administered his final blow, the mind of Siegfried Schtauffen became dominant in Nightmare once again, giving Raphael the opportunity to strike Soul Edge through its eye, freeing Siegfried from the sword's evil hold. Siegfried then took up the Soul Calibur and thrust it through the Inferno, killing Nightmare and severely weakening the Soul Edge. Siegfried then took up the Soul Edge and Soul Calibur and walked away to guard the weakened blades until the end of his life. Raphael, witnessed all of this and became severely corrupted by the Soul Edge, causing his body to partially transform and his eyes to glow a deep red. He now lives in eastern Europe--possibly in Romania--oppressing the citizens of a small village from his castle and presumably concocting another scheme to obtain the sword. Both he and Amy have become evil entities, with his image severely influenced by vampires.
Western Voice Actor: Paul Jennings. Eastern Voice Actor: Yasunori Masutani.
====Nathaniel "Rock" Adams==== - SE and SC I - Born the son of William Adams, an English curio dealer specializing in rare weapons, Nathaniel William Adams obtained his nickname, "Rock," because of his intense strength. Rock's father had found Soul Edge, and was bringing it home on his ship with family on board, when the dread pirate Cervantes de Leon attacked. Rock's father ran to the storage room to hide the Soul Edge, and his mother ran after to stop him, telling Rock to stay where he was until their return; but they never came back, and the ship sank before they had the chance. Rock washed up on shore of the New World, where he learned to live off the land as the Natives had been practicing for many centuries before. He tried to join one of the tribes in the area, but they were afraid of the "White Giant," and the only one to befriend him was a little boy, Bangoo, whose parents had been taken by tribal warfare. Rock, by this time an adult, became a father figure to Bangoo.
Rock eventually re-learned of the people across the ocean, and faded memories of his parents and the Soul Edge began to resurface in his mind as he gradually recalled his past. He eventually decided that the Soul Edge would be the key to his fully-restored memory and with only his moon axe in hand, Rock set out towards the sea, hoping to cross it and find his destiny. In a battle with the Grecian Sophitia Alexandra, he fought without conviction. When she halted the battle to ask him why he was hesitant in his attacks, he realized that he was leaving Bangoo to grow up alone and that leaving Bangoo alone was no better than never adopting him at all. He thanked Sophitia for her help and returned to Bangoo in the New World. But one day, the grand priest of the cult order Fygul Cestemus, Kunpaetku, sent the lizard man, Aeon Calcos, to kidnap the Native boy to lure Rock out and steal his soul. Taking the bait out of love for his foster son, Rock set out once again to Europe; but this time his motivation was not related to Soul Edge at all. He eventually did defeat Aeon Calcos in a battle which saved Bangoo, and the two returned to the New World, hopefully for the last time, as father and son.
Voice Actor: Takashi Nagasako--also the voice of Cervantes de Leon.
====Setsuka==== - SC III - Raised in Japan, it was obvious to all around her that, judging by her skin color and facial features, Setsuka was not actually Japanese. Realizing her love for her master only after his tragic death, she seeks to destroy the man she believes to have killed him: Heishiro Mitsurugi. Styled as a mix between an oiran--or a high-ranking geisha--and the Queen of Hearts, Setsuka fights wielding an Iai hidden in the handle of an umbrella, using a style of martial arts that utilizes the speed of a sword as it is being unsheathed.
====Siegfried Schtauffen==== - SE, SC I and SC III - See Nightmare. Same Voice Actor as with Nightmare.
====Sophitia Alexandra==== - SE, SC I and SC II - A Grecian baker's daughter, Sophitia received a vision from Hephaestus to destroy the evil Soul Edge. The god of the forge gave her a sword, shield, and armor for her task. Voiced by Michiko Neya (Eastern) and Diane Holmby (Western).
====Spawn (Al Simmons)==== - SC II - Todd McFarlane's demonic anti-hero from the popular comic book series appears as a guest character on the X-Box version of Soul Calibur II.
Upon his death, Lieutenant Al Simmons made a pact with the devil in order to return to the world of the living. But the resurrection of the dark lord Malebolgia produced a result that was far different from anything Simmons had envisioned. His body, memories of the past, and even time were taken from him. His fate was to exist as a spawn of hell. He was then sent to the sixteenth century on a mission to retrieve the Soul Edge. Spawn had to obey his master, for it was his only chance of returning to his time period.
Western Voice Actor: Victor Stone. Eastern Voice Actor: Akio Ohtsuka.
====Hwang Sung Kyung==== - SE and SC I - Hwang Sung Kyung had been born to parents who, while poor, still had a strong sense of justice; but this resolve was what led to their downfall. He grew up and eventually enrolled himself in Seung Dojo, to learn to use the long blade. It didn't take him long to become the best student in the dojo and was eventually deemed good enough to be taught by the master himself, Seung Han Myong. The master was happy to have such a gifted student and was even considering adopting him as his son. However, he never had a chance to do so; and his daughter, Seung Mi Na, was only friends with Hwang Sung Kyung, with mutual lack of desire to make the relationship anything more than friendship. When Japan, led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, became the first Asian nation to start invading others, a coast guard was quickly formed and led by Lee Sun Shin, with Hwang Sung Kyung as the first to volunteer. Rumours of Soul Edge, deemed the "Sword of Salvation", spread to Korea, and he was sent to find it.
On his quest to find the "Sword of Salvation," he received news of an impending Japanese invasion of his homeland. He cut his quest short and returned home, dragging Seung Mi Na, who had run away to find the Soul Edge herself, home with him. He rejoined the Coast Guard, only to receive news that Mina had run away again. Angered by this, he lost his better judgement and led his crew into a trap, set by the pirates of the Ryukyu kingdom, and many lives were lost. Admiral Lee Sun Shin, dismissed him from the Coast Guard and gave him a new set of orders: He was to aid Seung Han Myong by finding Mina, under the guise of searching for the "Sword of Salvation". He immediately set off to the west once again, and upon finding her, she told him of the true nature of Soul Edge.
Soul Edge Voice Actor: Toshiyuki Morikawa. Soul Calibur Voice Actor: Wataru Takagi.
====Taki==== - SE, SC I, SC II and SC III - A Fu-Ma ninja, Taki specializes in destroying demons with her sword, Rekki-Maru. She knew her own sword and Soul Edge were connected in some way. She killed Cervantes, and then acquired a shard of Soul Edge, which she tried to weld into another evil sword, Mekki-Maru. Mekki-Maru became powerful and evil, and Taki left her clan because the leader, Master Toki, was becoming obsessed with it. She thought she could destroy Mekki-Maru and Soul Edge by using them both against each other, but by the time she found Nightmare, he had been destroyed. Without Soul Edge, Taki didn't know how she could destroy her own sword, which she had begun to master. When her clan's ninjas found her, she used Mekki-Maru to destroy them and found that one carried a shard of Soul Edge. Taki realized that Master Toki was trying to collect the pieces of Soul Edge, and decided to stop him and rid the Earth of the evil weapon. Voiced by Fujiko Takimoto (Eastern) and Desiree Goyette (Western).
====Talim==== - SC II and SC III - Southeast Asia were thrust into an age of turmoil when the influences of Spain and Portugal began to spread across their lands. In one particular region, the Village of the Wind Deity in the Philippines, there lived a tribe of people who could control the winds. Talim was the daughter of this village's shaman, and she was reared to be the last priestess. As faith in the Wind Deity gradually waned, Talim possessed unparalleled potential to be a shaman. The day the Evil Seed spread across the world, Talim felt on the winds a violent and evil aura that devour everything in it's path surge into her body, causing her to lose consciousness for days. Years later, when Talim was fifteen years old, a man from the west brought with him a strange metal fragment, claiming it to be a vitality charm. Talim, however, recognized the evil energy as the energy she had experienced years before and left on a journey, believing that if she were to return the fragment to its rightful place, peace would eventually be restored, despite the elders' misgivings. Soon after she left the village, she sensed the evil aura in many other parts of the world as she collected the fragments--including the capitol of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, where she first discovered that others were seeking the Soul Edge--realizing that everything would be consumed by despair if the evil force continued to spread and the fragments were not put in their rightful place, wherever that may be. She invested her faith in the winds as she traveled and would not return until her journey was finished.
Western Voice Actress: Julie Parker. Eastern Voice Actress: Yukari Tamura.
====Tira====
- SC III - Since her birth, Tira had been raised for the sole purpose of becoming highly skilled in the assassination arts. She had been brainwashed such that murder was the only thing that could provoke any response from her at all, and this was normally a response of great joy. Through events yet unknown, she becomes controlled by the resurrected armor of the azure knight, Nightmare, with his flock of watchers aiding her in the search for a new host body for the Soul Edge. It is believed that she may be of Scandinavian origin, possibly from Denmark.
====Voldo==== - SE, SC I, SC II and SC III - Vercci was known as the "Merchant of Death," who made his fortune by supplying the invincible Spanish Armada with weapons. He eventually heard of a sword that could satisfy any earthly desire, and decided that he needed to have it at any cost. His brothers opposed his plans, but they were soon recruited to the army and were out of the way. He then promoted his vassal, Voldo to lead the search instead. Mercenary armies and pirates--including the dread pirate Cervantes de Leon--were hired to search for the blade on Vercci's behalf, but to no avail. Growing impatient, Vercci decided to look for the sword himself, and took to the sea with his fleet. While gone, war broke out in his home of Italy. The target of the invaders, ironically was the "Merchant of Death" himself. To return to his home would be suicide, so he had it destroyed as the treasures in his house had been taken already. The only possessions he had left were the many treasures he had found on his journey. His anger turned to madness as he was determined no man would ever get the last of his treasures. Vercci sailed to an uninhabited island and had his fleet dig a pit. It would be his vault. When it was finished, Voldo had the building crew executed to prevent them from revealing the vault's location; and as a reward, Voldo was sealed in the Money Pit to guard it for all eternity. By the time all this had transpired, the Italian Wars had ended, but Vercci never made it home to Italy alive. Voldo eventually went blind and insane after all those years being trapped in a dark and silent Money Pit, and even forgot his name. Only his talent for murder remained sharp.
He eventually began to hear voices, the voice of his dead master in particular, telling him to find the Soul Edge that Vercci had spent the last years of his life searching for. Setting up traps to guard the vault as he was gone, Voldo ventured into the world to find the Soul Edge and kill anyone in his way. Voldo tried to find the Soul Edge for his dead master, even traveling the world to find it, but he remained unsuccessful and eventually gave up, returning to the Money Pit. Three years later, when chasing an unknown woman out of the Money Pit, Voldo once again heard his master's long-lost voice. The voice called to him, telling him that the woman had the scent of Soul Edge upon her--unknown to him, this is because she was the lost daughter of Cervantes de Leon, Isabella. Voldo decided not to attack her but to carefully follow behind her in the hopes of being led directly to the Soul Edge. During his journey, he believed he had found the Soul Edge and brought the single-handed sword he had stolen off a sleeping body back with him to the Money Pit. But the voice of Vercci did not speak to him, and Voldo did not know why. Four years later, after killing an intruder, Voldo discovered some shards of the Soul Edge and finally realized why his master had not congratulated him: He had retrieved the wrong sword--unknown to him, this was actually the katana of the ninja, Yoshimitsu. This time, Voldo set out, hopefully for the last time, to fulfill his master's last wish once and for all.
====Chai Xianghua==== - SC I and SC II - Chai Xianghua was a member of a group that searched, unsuccessfully, for Soul Edge on behalf of the Ming Empire. [in soul calibur 2] For her failure, Xianghua was stripped of her nobility. In fact, however, she and Kilik had found the sword and destroyed it, realizing its evil power, though she lost her own sword in the battle, a family heirloom that fell into a deep void. The Emperor eventually heard a rumor that Soul Edge could be found in a castle near Xianghua's home, and sent his soldiers to take it. Since the owner refused to give it up, the castle was razed. The Emperor told Xianghua to find the sword in the rubble. She discovered only a shard of Soul Edge, and swore to find the rest to finish what she had begun long ago. Voiced by Aya Hisakawa (Eastern) and Wendee Lee (Western).
==== Yoshimitsu==== - SC I and SC II - Yoshimitsu is the sole survivor of the Manji Clan, massacred in an attack by the samurai lord Oda Nobunaga. Yoshimitsu lost his right arm in a battle against the lord, but he replaced it with a mechanical prosthetic arm and set out across the sea in search of the "Ultimate Weapon," Soul Edge, so that he could take his revenge against Lord Nobunaga. During his journey, he came across many horrible scenes left behind by the azure knight, Nightmare. He sensed the hatred and despair of the victims and reflected on their current plight. In his meditation, he concluded that although vengeance is his greatest desire, if he were to give in to his hatred, he would be no better than either Oda Nobunaga or Nightmare. But even with that realization in his mind, he continued to pursue the Soul Edge nevertheless. When Yoshimitsu finally reached Ostrheinsburg Castle, it was devoid of any signs of life. Unknown to him, he had arrived too late to witness the fateful battle between the wielder of the Soul Edge, Nightmare, and the wielder of the Soul Calibur, Chai Xianghua. Upon leaving the castle, he sensed that the evil energy of the castle had somehow transferred a similar energy into his katana, and so he left on a journey to rid his blade of that energy. Unfortunately, as he was sleeping, the sword had been stolen by Voldo, who had mistaken it for the Soul Edge. Yoshimitsu did not want the evil energy to fall into the wrong hands, so he set out to retrieve it, and acted as a Japanese Robin Hood along the way. Yoshimitsu infiltrated the legendary Money Pit of "the Merchant of Death," Vercci--without ever meeting the rumored guardian, Voldo--in an attempt to steal the treasures of the pit for the poor's sake. But completely by chance, he had found his katana alongside a fragment of the Soul Edge, both emanating similar evil energies. Yoshimitsu decided that if there was another object in the world with the same evil as his own sword, it mustn't be allowed to exist, and so he set off on yet another journey, without a doubt in his mind about destroying the cursed Soul Edge.
Western Voice Actor: Phil Sheridan. Eastern Voice Actor: Nobuyuki Hiyama.
====Hong Yun Sung==== - SC II - Yunsung was well-known in the famous Seung Dojo for his swordsmanship, especially by his seniors, including his master and head of the dojo, Seung Han Myong. As a child, Yunsung had idolized Hwang Sung Kyung, but now he was no longer a personal hero but a goal to surpass. Yunsung wished more than anything to challenge him to a duel. One day, news reached the Seung Dojo that Hwang Sung Kyung was returning from his long journey. Yunsung saw this as the perfect opportunity to force him to acknowledge his fighting skills, personally entertaining the idea of becoming stronger than his former hero all along. However, his challenge was rejected as Hwang Sung Kyung was more occupied with attempting to rejoin the military to help defend Korea in the impending invasion by Japan. Seung Mi Na, daughter of the dojo's owner, saw this brooding student of her father bitterly angry on account of his challenge being rejected and handed him White Storm, a Seung family heirloom which, according to legend, possessed the ability to reflect the deepest thoughts of those who wielded the broadsword. That night, Yunsung studied the image of himself in the sword and reflected, leading him to the self-realizations that it was foolish to challenge Hwang Sung Kyung for personal reasons as Korea was in a state of peril and that if he could obtain the "Sword of Salvation" Hwang Sung Kyung had failed to find, Yunsung would finally be recognized and his challenge would be accepted. He immediately packed his belongings and left the dojo.
Western Voice Actor: Jim Singer. Eastern Voice Actor: Kousuke Toriumi.
====Zasalamel==== - SC III - Zasalamel was originally born into an Egyptian tribe formed hundreds or thousands of years ago in charge of protecting the holy sword, Soul Calibur, embedded with the knowledge that wielding such power was forbidden. This strict edict existed to prevent the holy sword from being used for personal gain. Zasalamel, young and talented in both mind and body, was angered by this edict's failure to create a loophole that would allow the tribe to use the weapon in case a crisis were to occur. To destroy this foolish tradition, he prepared to take the sword into his own hands, but the tribe discovered his plans, and then proceeded to crush his arm and exile him from the tribe as punishment. Zasalamel was stricken with bitterness and despair, leading him to the pursuit of ancient knowledge, particularly the art of reincarnation. Finding this secret art which many had sought and failed to obtain within knowledge thought to have been lost long ago, he spent many years studying and training until the power became his own. However, he could not have anticipated the cost of such knowledge for every time he died, he experieced a nihilistic feeling as if sinking into hell, and a pain as if his body were being ground into dust. He had distored the laws of causality set down by the gods and he had torn off the shackles of time. In exchange for obtaining eternal life, Zasalamel had lost a peaceful death. He reincarnated repeatedly over many generations, gradually losing the initial joy as his existence waned and the pain of death increased. Any enthusiasm he felt for living was gone many lifetimes ago, but he could never escape the eternal circle of reincarnation. During one of his lives, he had taken possession of Soul Edge in hopes of using it to committ suicide and be freed from reincarnation once and for all; but he ended up a servant of the sword and was bonded with the sword until the last of that life faded.
In this current incarnation, he turned his hope to the Soul Calibur and returned to his birthplace to take the spirit sword back. But when he reached his homeland, the tribe was gone and the site was emptied without a trace of anything that had happened. Zasalamel tracked the whereabouts of the Soul Edge by following closely the massacres caused by the Evil Seed and Nightmare, learning that the Soul Calibur had finally reappeared as it was destined to whenever the Soul Edge became too powerful. He hoped that he may be able to obtain both of them at once; but unfortunately, the Soul Edge had lost half of its body and become sealed, and the Soul Calibur had been infected by evil, gradually losing its strength. In order to revive the Soul Edge, he lent his power to its will. Zasalamel resurrected the dead armor of the azure knight, Nightmare, to life; and in order to aid Nightmare and increase the Soul Edge's power, he needed to create conflict within the mind of Siegfried Schtauffen, the possessor of both swords, by searching out survivors of Nightmare's carnage and directing them towards Siegfried. He figured that the strong hatred and hostility these surviving few bore would be enough to shatter Siegfried's will; and if the Soul Edge grew in power, the Soul Calibur would regain its strength as well, as told in the legends of Zasalamel's former tribesmen. After spreading his influence, Zasalamel lurks in the background, waiting for Siegfried's mind to be shattered; and when it is, Zasalamel will be ready to take advantage of the situation and steal both swords, hopefully to use this ultimate power in accomplishing his final death.