| Lloyd Irving | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Series |
Tales |
|
Debut |
Tales of Symphonia (2003) |
|
Console of origin |
Nintendo GameCube |
|
Species |
Human |
|
Gender |
Male |
Lloyd Irving (ロイド・アーヴィング Roido Aavingu) is the main character of Tales of Symphonia, the fifth major release in the Tales series. Once but a simple country boy, Lloyd Irving is thrust out into a journey of epic proportions following a brutal attack on his village. The Chosen of Regeneration is in fact one of his dearest friends, and after an exile from his home, Lloyd Irving joins her on her Journey of Regeneration. Although the young warrior himself plays no part in the prophecy as such, he is still a strong optimist and a fair leader.
History[]
Tales of Symphonia[]
Because he lives in an area that has a deal with the Desians, Lloyd never actually understands how people
are suffering at the hands of the evil organization. This does him rather naive and short tempered who makes very rash decisions regardless of what consequences his actions may have, saying he is doing it for Colette Brunel, who is going to regenerate the world anyway. However, when it all ends wrong, he realizes his mistakes and tries to repent them. Under the guide of Kratos Aurion, he eventually matures though the Journey of Regeneration, seeing people really suffer. When he understands that people have to be sacrifices everywhere for the sake of others, Lloyd decides to stop "clinging to the Chosen", as Kratos describes it, and fight with his own strength and new ideals. Together with his friends, he eventually manages to save and reunite the worlds, although he is angry at himself for not finding any other way than to kill Mithos, as he wants a world without sacrifices. This shows how much he has matured, as he in the beginning in the game never had problems killing his enemies.
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World[]
Lloyd returns in the sequel as a playable character. After he reunited the two worlds with his friends, he began to search for the remaining Exspheres: his goal was to prevent them from creating further victims. Lloyd has been showered with both praise and hatred from the people of the world, some of whom rejoice his actions, and some of whom condemn them. The Church of Martel has proclaimed that Lloyd was responsible for the Blood Purge of Palmacosta half a year prior to the beginning of the sequel. In Dawn of the New World, Lloyd serves a role very alike the one Kratos Aurion played in the first game, as he does not join the party until later on and serves as a small antagonist before joining. Unlike the other Symphonia characters, Lloyd does not carry his original strongest weapon from the first game instead he gets a new set of dual swords called "Gagnrad".
World in Discord[]
Lloyd is first met at the Tower of Mana's underground cave, after Emil Castagnier helps Richter Abend, whom was beaten by Lloyd. Apparently, while Richter was chasing Marta Lualdi to Lumen's altar, they met up with Lloyd, who beat Richter. When Emil arrives to the altar for, he sees Lloyd fighting Marta. As Lloyd senses Emil's presence, Emil asks Lloyd why he killed his parents and the people in Palmacosta. Lloyd does not answer, and instead mumbles Palmacosta's name. Afterward, Emil challenges him in battle, along with Marta and two monsters. After the battle, the new heroes are knocked out, and Lloyd retrieves Lumen's core.
Footfalls of Tomorrow[]
At Iselia, Raine Sage tells Emil and Marta what Lloyd did after the world was restored. It appears that when he came back to Iselia, he heard that a boy named Paul became fatherless after the Desians attacked the village when he and Genis Sage broke the treaty. When he heard this, he began going to Paul's house a lot when visiting Iselia in order to cheer the little boy up, who had lost his smile after his father's death. However, Paul's mood never got up, and one day, Lloyd propose to Lilia, Paul's mother. He thought that by doing that, he could become a new father figure for Paul. When Lilia found out this, she threw a tomato at Lloyd, and short time afterward, they all threw tomatoes at each other, finally bringing up a smile to Paul and Lilia's faces. After that, Paul became Lloyd's number one fan, and now wants to be just as strong and cool as him.
It is not until the events in the Triet Ruins that Lloyd shows up again. Depending on time used to come to the altar of Ignis, Lloyd may or may not take the core from the party. When there, Genis asks Lloyd if the rumors are true; that he attacked Palmacosta and is against them. Lloyd does not say anything, but threatens them that if they will not give him the Centurion's core, he will not hesitate to take it by force. Before a fight occurs, however, they hear a monster's roar. Lloyd realizes that it will come and attack soon, so he turns around to leave. Emil then changes into "Ratatosk Mode", and attacks him. The latter just takes up one of his sword to stop the attack, and after saying that Emil still has much to learn, he hits the boy's head and runs off.
Light and Darkness[]
When Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and Regal Bryant arrive in Flanoir, they get shocked to see that it has been attacked. One man says that Lloyd did it before he dies, something Regal can not believe. While they go around to help the injured people, Lloyd runs out of a house. Regal tries to confront Lloyd about the attack, but again Lloyd ignores one of his closest companions. Emil once again turns into "Ratatosk Mode", but Lloyd blocks his attack again before he leaves. After that, Regal changes from his fine clothes into his old prisoner clothes again to show Lloyd that he will go through the shame once again for his dear friend.
Truth Behind the Mask[]
The truth about Lloyd is revealed in the Vanguard's headquarters, where Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and Zelos Wilder find two Lloyds fighting each other. When they see the group, the fake Lloyd tells them about his trust in them, and how justice will help them. It is revealed that the one who caused the Blood Purge in Palmacosta and attacked Flanoir was in fact Decus, who uses Solum's core's abilities to shapeshift into Lloyd and give him the blame for all the chaos. Upon leaving the headquarters after saving Seles Wilder, Lloyd turns and commands Emil to give him the Centurions' cores they have collected so far. However, after hearing his old friends, Lloyd leaves on his Rheaird.
Reawakened Memories[]
Lloyd appears at the Temple of Lightning seeking the Centurion's core there. After seeing the party, he runs to the top of the tower. Based if the player was hit by lightning more than fifteen times Lloyd could up with the core. If not the player gets the core and Lloyd will not appear. If the player is too late and Lloyd gets the core Ratatosk will try to attack Lloyd, but Lloyd will tell him not to and this will cause Emil to get hit by the lightning in the temple, then causes Lloyd to leave while the party faces the boss battle.
Eternal Bond[]
It is not until the invasion in Altamira that Lloyd reappears to save Regal from the Vanguard. After the battle against Brute, Alice helps Decus to escape, but Lloyd follows them, though is confronted by Richter. The latter manages to weaken Lloyd and knock out some others in the party by using the power from the demonic realm. However, when Richter tries to kill Marta and Emil, Lloyd fights him again, and since Richter can not use the demon power for long, he is almost defeated by Lloyd before he manages to escape with Alice. After this, Lloyd is met at the Lezareno Company headquarters and apologizes for his weird behavior, and tells Emil to go to the World Tree to talk to the tree's guardian. At the World Tree, Lloyd and Yuan Ka-Fai tell the group that all along, Lloyd has been searching for the Centurions' cores by the order of Martel, the spirit of the new World Tree. They explain that they had to stop the Centurions' cores and Ratatosk from awakening, until Lloyd decided to try to trust Ratatosk instead. After a long talk about Emil being Ratatosk and who he really is, Lloyd finally joins the team.
Lloyd's soulmate[]
Before going to the Otherworldly Gate, one side quest mainly focuses on Lloyd clearing his name. First the party must return to Iselia and listen to Lloyd tell his story of what he did during the past two years. Upon listening, Emil must pick any of the seven party members from the Symphonia, and that member will be the soulmate Lloyd chose in the original story. Afterward, the party goes to Flanoir and triggers a scene where a man who witnessed a Lloyd-looking Decus kill his sister hits Lloyd for revenge. After the scene, Lloyd says that it is his fault for not telling anybody his side of the story, and goes to the balcony to think. When the party goes to the balcony, the person Emil picked will come and talk to Lloyd. If the choice was a female, he will declare his love for that person, but if it was a male, he will show his gratitude for being that person's friend.
Personality[]
Lloyd uses skill and logic to make up for what he lacks in knowledge, which is often a joke throughout the
series as he fails to answer various educational questions. He is generally idealistic, and tries to do what he believes is best for the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. As the game goes on, Kratos compares Lloyd to Mithos, saying the only difference between them is that Lloyd is capable of acknowledging his own mistakes. Another character named Tiga also compares Lloyd to Mithos by saying he is idealistic and very dearly wants to save both worlds, but Lloyd denies that he is like Mithos and says he does not want to save the worlds through Mithos's way, but in his own way without sacrifices and with the help of his friends.
Abilities[]
Lloyd focuses on dealing melee physical damage, with concentrations in speed and combo building. Attacks such as Sonic Thrust and Sword Rain reflect his faster movements during battle, while sacrificing his damage output and durability, especially when compared to Presea Combatir. Like most swordsmen, his only ranged capabilities involve Demon Fang and related artes. In Dawn of the New World, Lloyd can now use Blazing Tempest and Rising Phoenix as separate artes instead of altered artes.