#entelexeia

Truly, there are so many unresolved things about this guy. What happened to his apatheia, for example. We can see Duke mourn before a tombstone on Ehmead Hill that is supposedly Elucifer's. But as we know, Entelexeia don't leave corpses behind them when they die, so could it be his friend's apatheia that he buried on that cliff ? I mean, the scene in Yormgen shows that he much prefers to "return" them to aer, but one can only wonder if he actually could have brought himself to destroy what is essentially the soul of the person he held the dearest in the entire world. Granted, if Elucifer’s apatheia was still around, one could think that Duke would have been a little more enthusiastic when hearing about the possibility for his boyfriend to be reincarnated. But then again, considering how unnatural he thinks the process is, it could be brushed off as him not being thrilled at the idea of his dear comrade being defiled like that...

Another theory I’ve seen is that Elucifer’s apatheia was stolen and used by Alexei to power Heracles. I mean, according to a conversation in Halure, the dude was reportedly ginormous. At least as tall as the town’s giant tree (then again, said conversation also states that his body is buried under Ehmead Hill, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt). So it’d make sense for his apatheia to be quite big, and the one that powers Heracles is probably the biggest we got to see. Also, I could easily imagine the guy talking with the deep voice that thanks the party when they destroy the crystal to save the capital (which would in turn match what we know of Elucifer’s character, as he was a gentle soul who would obviously object to his power being used to cause such a cataclysm). But then again, I’m having a hard time accepting the idea that Duke would have let Alexei - or the Empire for that matter - run away with his partner’s apatheia...

Anyway, if Elucifer’s apatheia is still intact, it begs the question : what happened to him when they all were converted into spirits at the end of the game ? Sometimes, I like to think that he would have been reborn as Aska, the great spirit of Light. Although I must admit that it’s partly because I tend to subconsciously use Aska’s model from Xillia 2 (I’m sure you know which one I’m talking about :p ) as a mental placeholder for what the guy might have looked like. I mean, his daughter sported quite a lot of avian features, so I guess it’d make sense for him to look like a big bird. Besides, if I recall correctly, Duke describes his golden form - at least in the French version - along the lines of "his friend lending him his strength", indicating that it's something he learnt from Elucifer. So I don’t think it’d be too much of a stretch to assume that the Entelexeia sported a similar palette when he was alive. Which, in turn, would go pretty well with the idea of him having an affinity for Light. And I’m not even talking about how his name alludes to a certain angel also known as the "bringer of light"... I’m just brainstorming, of course, but I think that you can see where I’m coming from.

That being said, I also kind of feel like being reborn as an elemental spirit wouldn’t really be "enough" for an Entelexeia as powerful as Elucifer, if you see what I mean. So maybe he could be reincarnated as one of the franchise’s traditional higher spirits, like Maxwell or Origin. The latter is usually revered as the king of spirits, so it’d make sense for him to be born from the one who was regarded as the king of the Entelexeia. Then again, I’m just sorting ideas here, so don’t take any of this as definitive headcanons (supposing that headcanons can even be definitive...).

Speaking of kings and headcanons though, I also like to picture Elucifer as a descendant of the Spiral Draco, which Duke describes as "the ancient king of the Entelexeia". Maybe not his son, but his grandson. I mean, as I said, Elucifer was also regarded as a king among those mighty beasts, so it’d make sense if he inherited the title. Moreover, if we take into consideration the previous point regarding Duke’s golden form and how he may have learnt it from Elucifer, it’d give a new layer to the way the Fell Arms react to Duke’s power during the third phase of the final battle, as they were made using the power of the Spiral Draco. Besides, while the Entelexeia are usually born directly from aer, we know for a fact that they can also produce offspring - although the exact details of the process were obviously left to the imagination -, as demonstrated by none other than Elucifer himself.

Anyway, I don’t think I have anything to add on the matter, but still. As you can guess, the relationship between Duke and Elucifer is one aspect of the game that I find infinitely endearing and fascinating**. And I still resent the game for its unwillingness to elaborate on the topic. I mean, come on ! They didn’t even let us get a glimpse of what the big guy might have looked like ! And it’s not really an uncommon stand that, as excellent as the game is, a good chunk of its characters could have afforded to be fleshed out a little more... With that being said, thank you once again for your attention. It’s always a pleasure to share my thoughts with you guys. I’ll make sure to write a follow-up if I think about anything else, but for the time being, take care. ^_^

 * I must admit, I kind of prefer the "fur" spelling. Sure, it makes the etymology slightly less perceptible, but it also makes him sound like an extremely fluffy guy. :3

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Tales of Vesperia Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Phaeroh (Tales of Vesperia), Belius (Tales of Vesperia) Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, there's a lot about the Great War that makes no sense to me, so I'm having a go at fixing it Summary:

Duke and alexei for the ask game! And maybe duke and flynn....and of course, some Raven, mayhaps with Estelle

OH BOY DO I HAVE LOTS OF HCS FOR THESE TWO!! [vespy spoilers ahead // Raven & Estelle here]

so personally, I don't think they'd ever crossed paths or otherwise had any connection before the war (with Alexei having spent pretty much his whole adult life climbing the ranks as a soldier, while Duke was effectively raised by Elucifur & even before that I imagine he had a very isolated early childhood on account of him being so different) but once the fighting kicked off, Alexei was the first member of the Imperial Knights to reach out to Duke, and the one who recruited him!

Elucifur had wanted to fight on the side of the humans from the very start of the conflict (as he strongly disagreed with those Entelexeia who wanted to solve the blastia problem once and for all by simply eliminating all humans) but while he had always been fascinated with & loved humans, he was also wise enough to know that most of them would only be frightened & mistrustful if they saw his true form (and while I hc he also had a 'krityan' form like Khroma, he wouldn't have been able to keep up the illusion while fighting, and imo his wasn't nearly as refined as hers); for this reason he & Duke fought independently of the human forces. However, it was impossible to completely avoid all contact, and in one of those battles they were spotted by Alexei (still a lowly captain at that point) who recognised Duke as 'human' and chased after before they could leave the area. Alexei encouraged Duke to join forces with the Imperial Knights (as they were drastically short on fighters strong enough to go up against Entelexeia; even at this point Alexei had an excellent eye for combat talent & he didn't especially care who his fighters were or where he came from as long as they were on the same side). 

Duke had no desire to accept this offer at first (convinced that he was Too Different to ever work alongside humans) but Elucifur thought it was a splendid idea & encouraged him to at least try (as coordination between their forces could only benefit all of them, but also he just thought that Duke should make more friends lmao) so in the end Duke acquiesced. Of course, Duke lacked any kind of identification to prove he was who he claimed to be and the enlistment office couldn't just accept people on good faith (especially since no one had ever heard of him before & he definitely didn't look old enough), but Alexei once again stepped up and personally vouched for Duke, smoothing everything over and insisting that Duke be placed into his own unit. Alexei lacked the high social status of the officers who came from old nobility, but he was highly respected on the battlefield by now and his word counted for a lot; Duke definitely wasn't the only soldier to be given Alexei's blessing like this (actually i just had A Thought, that maybe Flynn's father was another of those war-time promotions & that was a factor in Alexei's later treatment towards Flynn.... but i digress). 

Unsurprisingly, Duke never fit in among the soldiers (tho tbf, didn't make much effort to try); Alexei was the only person who continued to solicit his company, and Duke found that he didn't mind their occasional conversations (as Alexei was one of the only humans he'd met who wasn't visibly bothered by his strange appearance & mannerisms, and who seemed willing to listen to him). They weren't quite friends, exactly, but Alexei definitely had some genuine captain-to-subordinate fondness for Duke and wanted to see him succeed, while Duke had tentatively come to trust him-- as an ally in battle, certainly, and perhaps verging on something deeper and more personal.

It was during the war years that Alexei picked up lots of little scraps of knowledge about Entelexeia & Apatheia & the Geraios Age from Duke (who stubbornly remained a loner despite Elucifur's constant prodding to Make Some Friends); it was never Duke's intention to teach Alexei these things but it also didn't occur to him to hide it, as he had no idea it wasn't common knowledge to most humans (after all, Elucifur & many other elder Entelexeia had been around during times when it was). At the time, Alexei wasn't making any Big Plans, but he knew important information when he heard it and he paid very close attention, absorbing as much of Duke's strange esoteric knowledge as he possibly could (...without appearing too suspiciously interested, as he didn't want to scare Duke off & lose his support as a soldier).

Alexei's observations played a major part in bringing word of Elucifur's true nature back to Emperor Krunos XIV, which in turn led to the imperial order to have Elucifur assassinated just after the war was won; Alexei was likely given this task personally after his rapid rise in rank during the war years, though he drastically underestimated the depth of Duke's devotion (& perhaps even hoped that if Elucifur was removed from the picture then Duke might stay on as a Champion of the Empire). Of course, Duke responded to the assassination by storming the palace, confronted and threatened the aging Emperor, and then disappeared into the wilderness with Dein Nomos. Afterwards, it was Alexei who made the call to scrub Duke's name from the war records (both his status as a 'hero' & that final treasonous confrontation)-- partly because Alexei saw the very real danger for a major panic if word got out that a single man could subdue the entire royal guard & threaten the emperor at swordpoint, and partly to eliminate any evidence that he had been the one who got Duke involved in the first place, but also out of lingering respect & because he knew he could take Duke at his word when Duke stated that he had no desire for any further contact with human society (so he wasn't likely to be a threat, certainly not worth the losses they would sustain if they tried to capture him).

The decade that passed since their last encounter saw Alexei's cynicism towards the system & his ambitions grow exponentially, until he came to believe that change for the better could only be achieved if he wiped out the old leadership entirely and seized power for himself; in the present, Alexei views Duke only as an obstacle to his success and has no compunctions about having him killed by the time he sets the trap at Baction. Duke on the other hand views Alexei only with contempt; he couldn't care less who takes control of the human governments & cities, but he does Very Strongly Oppose basically everything else Alexei is doing (murdering the few remaining Entelexeia to harvest Apatheia; reviving the Hermes Blastia projects & forcing a CotFM to overuse their powers & overstimulating the Aer Krene; raising Zaude; etc) so he arrives at Baction resolved to stop Alexei.

Day 10 Gigantic. Our beloved Ba'ul!

Monster: Indistinguishable from any other monster of their species. It is unknown what factors determine which monsters will begin evolving into Entelexeia, but it is exceptionally rare. Increased intelligence and slowed ageing are both early – if unreliable – signs of the process.

Giganto: Increased aer intake leads monsters to grow in both size and aggression. They have begun to deviate physically from their base species. Rate of ageing has slowed. Many would-be Entelexeia are slain at this stage due to their aggressiveness.

Lesser Entelexeia: As aer intake continues to increase, sentience develops and aggression declines. Physical form continues to grow more distinct from base species.

Greater Entelexeia: Aer intake reaches a critical threshold and a type of ‘evolution’ occurs. Enough aer has been gathered for an apatheia to begin forming at their core.

Apatheia: Upon death, the aer gathered by a Greater Entelexeia throughout their life crystallises. Because the Entelexeia are themselves beings of aer, parts of their personalities and memories are preserved within the apatheia.