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Leon Magnus

"Real" Name: Miguel Esposito
Room: M86 (roommate: Belphegor)
Age: 16
Hair Color: Blue-black
Eye Color: Blue
Height: 5"3"
Main Language: Tales of Destiny-verse common
Second Language(s): None

History
(N.B.: This is based entirely on the English version of the original game, and thus differs in places from the remake, the Director's Cut, the manga, etc.)

Born Emilio Gilchrist, to Hugo Gilchrist and Chris Katrea, Leon had an older sister by the name of Rutee from whom he was separated at a young age. Hugo, under the influence of the Swordian Berselius (which was in fact possessed by the spirit of the Aeth'erian Kronos), was a deeply cruel man; he was both emotionally and physically abusive, and was willing to do anything in order to see to the success of his plots. Chris managed to send Rutee to safety but was unable to save herself or Emilio--she died, under unknown circumstances, and Emilio was left alone with Hugo. From that point on Emilio was renamed Leon Magnus and raised to be a heartless warrior obedient only to his father.

After Chris' death, Leon became infatuated with a maidservant of the household, named Marian, who greatly resembled his late mother. Hugo used Marian, or rather threats against her, as an additional means of controlling his son.

Years later, when Leon had become the youngest Knight Captain in the history of Seinegald, he was dispatched to deal with a party of thieves, one of which happened to be his long-lost sister Rutee. Though he recognised Rutee immediately Leon didn't reveal their connection to her, since she seemed to have no memory of him. When the King of Seinegald was about to punish Rutee, Stahn and Mary for their theft, Hugo intervened, suggesting that the prisoners be fitted with electric tiaras and sent to investigate some problems occurring at the Straylize Temple; Leon was to be sent with them as a safeguard.

The situation only became more complicated after Straylize, where the party discovered that the powerful Eye of Atamoni had been stolen. Leon ended up traveling with the party for quite some time as they searched for and eventually reclaimed the Eye. Throughout these adventures Leon underwent a transformation: he started off very abusive towards the party members, but slowly mellowed and even began to show signs of warming to them.

As they returned home on the Draconis Leon spoke with Stahn one more time; airsick, Leon was at his most volatile, stating that he "has no friends" and warning Stahn that "people will deceive you no matter how much you trust them," both displaying his own innate distrust in mankind, and perhaps trying to warn Stahn about what was to come.

Following the return of the Eye of Atamoni, however, things took a turn for the worse; once everyone was lulled into a false sense of security, Hugo enacted a plan to steal the Eye of Atamoni for HIMSELF, and he once again threatened Marian's life in order to force Leon to cooperate with him. When the party caught up with Hugo in a cave beneath Hugo's secret factory, Leon was ordered to hold them off.

Before the battle with his former companions, Leon revealed his relation to Rutee. Even though no one wanted the battle, no one held back, either, and Leon was eventually defeated, and badly injured. He might have survived his wounds, but Hugo still had Marian in his clutches, and so Leon flooded the caves, washing Stahn and the party away so that they could not follow Hugo. Leon remained behind, too badly wounded to escape, even if he had any reason to live. He drowned alone, save for the company of Chaltier. His final words, preceded by bitter laughter, were "Farewell... Marian."

Tragically, even this was not the end of Leon's suffering; Kronos later revived Leon in the form of a zombie, and forced him to fight Stahn and the party a second time; this time, Stahn delivered a merciful killing blow.

Personality
On the surface Leon appears to be cold and extremely uncaring, but this is partly a front he puts on to protect himself. Having been raised by his father to be a heartless and obedient warrior, Leon has little experience with normal or positive emotions; if not for his contact with the maidservant Marian, Leon might well have turned out truly as cold as he appears, but since Marian did teach him something of love, Leon never fully became the pawn his father wanted.

When alone with Marian Leon insists on being called by his childhood name, Emilio, and lets out all the anger and hatred he feels for his father; this disturbs Marian somewhat, and so even with her Leon must often rein himself in and put on his protective facade of cool rationality. So it is only with the Swordian Chaltier that Leon can really, truly be himself; Chaltier, who has been with Leon throughout the trials and miseries of his childhood, could very well be the only friend Leon had until he met Stahn.

Made a Knight Captain of Seinegald at an unprecedented age, Leon is thrust into a position of authority much too soon, and it warps him even further. Unable and unwilling to show any sign of weakness for fear of validating the criticism of those who feel he is too young for his position and earning the wrath of his father, Leon takes on an arrogant, unfriendly persona. Those who know him, especially the servants of his father's household, are not fooled in the least--one of the first things Stahn and the party are told about Leon is that he acts the way he does to push people away deliberately.

Another reason Leon is abrasive towards Stahn, according to Ilene, is that he views him as a rival, a potential equal, and so he cannot allow himself to appear soft in front of him.

Leon is also completely ruthless in the pursuit of his goals, even at his age. He is willing to torture prisoners to extract information, and when he faces Stahn and the party as an enemy he states that he will "kill [his] parents, brothers, or sisters, to protect what's important to [him]."

Once reunited with his sister and ordered to accompany her and her friends on a quest, Leon begins to have more and more trouble keeping his emotions under control. His temper, always bad, worsens, showing something of his real age underneath the authoritative exterior. He displays little or no patience for the faults of others, frequently insulting and abusing Stahn and especially his sister Rutee. He also becomes surly and abusive when Stahn offers him help when he's airsick, once again displaying his fear of showing weakness.

The truth is, knowing of his father's madness and evil plans, Leon has been keeping himself isolated so that he won't be acting against anyone he cares about. Unfortunately for him he fails at this, quickly developing a fondness for Stahn, his sister and other members of the party. Hugo is forced to play his trump card--threatening the life of Marian--in order to make Leon obey, at the end; he does this in a particularly cruel manner, suggesting that Leon is welcome to stay behind and die, except of course that Marian will die with him.

Before the battle, the party tries to dissuade Leon from following his disastrous path, telling him that he is being used by Hugo. Leon responds that he knows full well that he is being used, that he is "merely a disposable tool to Hugo," his own father--the horror and sadness that he has lived through, knowing this all his life, can hardly be imagined.

When Leon dies, he dies alone except for Chaltier, and knowing that his father never intended to let him live at all, even if he could somehow defeat the party. That even after his death he isn't allowed to rest is a very traumatic thing for Leon--being raised from the dead to fight against his friends a second time could easily have broken his spirit if he were any less strong.

Physical Appearance
Leon is quite short and slender, measuring only 5'3" tall and weighing just over 100lbs, and his face is delicate, very nearly feminine. Blue-black hair, cut raggedly and asymmetrically, obscures one of Leon's icy blue eyes, and he often ducks his head to hide even more of his face behind his hair. Exuding a cool, confident authority, Leon's attitude transforms his fragile appearance into harsh brittleness; if a smile has ever crossed Leon's face, it left no sign of its passing.

When he moves, Leon displays the smooth grace of a well-trained fighter, with just a hint of the swagger of a sixteen year old boy trying to look just a bit bigger than he is. It's only when he thinks no one is looking that Leon ever lets his shoulders slump, allows his show of confidence to falter, his deep vulnerability peeking out through his tough shell.

Powers and Abilities
Once a night, given a little time to concentrate, Leon can use a small energy attack. It's a wave that moves along the ground,about knee-high on an average-height man. It's concussive, rather than heat-based, and can knock back a well-balanced person, and knock over a poorly-balanced person, in addition to causing bruising. On something other than a human, like a giant Landel's rat, which has its head closer to the ground, it might do some actual damage--broken muzzle, damage to the eyes maybe. It's possible to dodge it if one is very fast, but it does move quite quickly across the ground.

He's also a master swordsman, very quick, an experienced military leader, and quite intelligent.

lohengrin	Latest page update: made by lohengrin , May 26 2009, 10:45 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by lohengrin 1 word added 2 words deleted view changes - complete history)
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