Riesbyfe Stridberg

is a character from the Melty Blood franchise. While she appears briefly during Sion TATARI's Last Arc animation since Re-Act, in Actress Again she became a playable character. Riesbyfe also appears in the Melty Blood, Melty Blood X and Back Alley Alliance Nightmare manga.
==Profile==
===Background===
Riesbyfe is the captain of the Vestel Shield Knights led by the Holy Church. According to the drama CD Ladies in the Water, Riesbyfe was born in Sweden.Melty Blood Drama CD: Ladies in the water
Riesbyfe was taken into the church by Cardinal Gessebarne, and is said to be his favorite.Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code - Riesbyfe Stridberg's scenario (Real) - Stage 4: Ciel When Ciel asserts that Riesbyfe is a "well-bred young lady" who is "lax from peace," Riesbyfe refutes this notion and says she is uncertain how she even lived before the Cardinal's adoption. She is said to have defeated roughly the same amount of vampires as Ciel during her time as a knight.Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code - Ciel's scenario - Stage 8: Riesbyfe Stridberg
Three years before Melty Blood, the Church learned that the next appearance of TATARI took place in a small mountain village in Italy. The Church sought the aid of Atlas due to their connection to TATARI rather than the Prague alchemists, and Sion Eltnam Atlasia responded to their request. Riesbyfe Stridberg, along with Sion, intervened when TATARI appeared, but as they only had normal Conceptual Weapons, they were unable to affect the phenomenon no matter how many times they defeated its materializations. Three days later, TATARI annihilated the village and the dispatched Knights of the Church, and destroyed those who permeated it. Riesbyfe sacrificed herself to save Sion from one of the materializations of the Night of Wallachia.
But Riesbyfe still lived within TATARI, being protected from being completely absorbed by TATARI by her Holy Shield, Gamaliel. Michael Roa Valdamjong, or rather a materialization of TATARI based on him, notes in Riesbyfe's Story Mode in Melty Blood Actress Again she is "alive", making her a TATARI materialization different from the others like himself.
===Appearance===
Riesbyfe Carnival Phantasm character sheet.png|'s character sheet of Riesbyfe Stridberg in Carnival Phantasm.
Riesalt.jpg|Riesbyfe without her armor, as drawn by Takashi Takeuchi.
DA Riesbyfe (MBAANN Manga).jpeg|Riesbyfe's Dead Apostle form from Back Alley Alliance Nightmare.
===Personality===
Riesbyfe is said to be someone who lives in the moment and doesn't think too much about tomorrow. This attitude tends to make her seem prudent to others, but at heart she's a sloppy and difficult person who doesn't think about the consequences, following emotion rather than logic. When asked if she likes working, Riesbyfe replies that although she'd prefer to do nothing at all, work is satisfying in its own way since it takes her mind off things.Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code - Riesbyfe Stridberg's scenario (Alternative) - Stage 9: Powered Ciel
Riesbyfe is shown to be very protective and puts others before herself. She sacrifices her life to give Sion a chance to escape the Night of Wallachia three years before the events of Melty Blood. In her Actress Again scenario, she stops the Dust of Osiris in order to save humanity and end Sion's suffering, killing herself for the second time in the process. In Powered Ciel's Actress Again storyline, she expresses her surprise at Riesbyfe's genuine concern for her well-being despite the fact that she came to kill her. Additionally, when Kohaku uses Satsuki Yumizuka as a test subject for sunblock in Back Alley Alliance Nightmare, Riesbyfe nearly attacks Kohaku in retaliation despite the experiment succeeding. After an overjoyed Satsuki asks Riesbyfe to buy the sunblock for her, Riesbyfe stops and reluctantly accepts, paying an exorbitant sum with little hesitation. Despite this, Riesbyfe appears to be happy Satsuki got what she wanted.
Riesbyfe embodies the aspects of a virtuous knight. She is exceptionally honorable among the Knights Templar, with Ciel commenting that she shows more honesty than one would expect from the Knights, and that not many besides her would desire a one-on-one duel anymore. Riesbyfe also shows regret when Nrvnqsr Chaos comments that a Knight should never appear so far from Holy Ground in the Far East. Additionally, Riesbyfe is also a devout adherent of God and is said to be a "believer among believers" by Ciel. When asked if drunk by Akiha in Actress Again, Riesbyfe replies that she doesn't drink.
After being taken into the Back Alley Alliance and seperating from the Church, Riesbyfe is depicted as becoming depressed. In Back Alley Alliance Nightmare, Arcueid comments that Riesbyfe appears like she's always on duty, with Riesbyfe replying that it's like an old song stuck in her head, which she can't fully break away from. Arcueid replies that it's natural for Riesbyfe to feel that way about something she would have died for.
Riesbyfe is always depicted has having a strong affection for Neco-Arc, becoming a different person entirely when one appears. She finds them "gross and cute" and has an extremely aggressive way of showing affection to the creatures, punching their cheeks and hugging them with extreme force. Such is her violent affection that the Neco-Arcs consider her a greater threat to their existence than anyone else. When confronted with one of these creatures, it usually takes either someone else or a rejection from a Neco-Arc to snap her out from the love-drunk stupor.
Riesbyfe is heavily implied to have feelings for Sion. Much of her thoughts throughout all her depictions are centered around her, and in Melty Blood X she often has hearts added to the end of her sentences when Sion is the subject. In Back Alley Nightmare, a vampiric Riesbyfe and Sion exchange a long and deep kiss and are depicted as being in a relationship. In many pieces of miscellaneous official artwork, Riesbyfe is shown as having feelings for the alchemist.
==Role==
===Melty Blood===
Image:Melty blood Riesbyfe ending.png|Riesbyfe's ending
Image:Melty blood sion ending.png|Sion's ending
Image:Melty blood satsuki ending.png|Satsuki's ending
She is a friend of Sion Eltnam Atlasia and died rescuing her from Wallachia prior to Melty Blood. Sion originally thought of Riesbyfe as a reliable companion, only realizing after her death that they had become close friends.
At the climax of Melty Blood, Sion recreates Riesbyfe's information to defeat Wallachia, using fragments of Gamaliel as a bullet for her Black Barrel Replica. This conceptual weapon was said to contain her entire being.
Her true scenario in Actress Again has her waking up from the TATARI as if no time had passed at all since her defeat at the hands of Wallachia. She slowly discovers her status as a reconstruction of the Dead Apostle Ancestor Dust of Osiris. She resolves to end the phenomenon and slays Dust of Osiris, who laments that she wished to use the philosopher stones to save Riesbyfe. Riesbyfe calls the idea a flawed dream and, in turn, laments the suffering Sion must have felt. She fades away alongside the Dust of Osiris, wishing that they can meet again at the end of this darkness.
In Riesbyfe's fake scenaraio, she is manipulated by the Great Cats Village into helping them defeat a number of their enemies by labeling them poachers. Riesbyfe finds the creatures irresistable and proceeds to defeat a number of characters before the Village turns on her, saying she's even worse than the poachers due to her violent manner of showing affection. The cats accidentally empower Riesbyfe, who proceeds to blast Neco-Arc into space while trying to pet it.
Sion's scenario in Actress Again has her fight and defeat Riesbyfe, who is forced to try and stop Sion due to Dust of Osiris's programming. After defeating the Dead Apostle Ancestor, Sion returns and uses up two of her memory partitions to keep Riesbyfe alive after the TATARI's destruction. Sion realizes that Riesbyfe is actually a sloppy, frustrating and difficult person who doesn't think about concequences, but says she doesn't mind. Continuing, Sion comments that she always thought Riesbyfe was strange, and that rather than having no doubts Riesbyfe never gave tomorrow any thought. Admitting she was completely fooled, Sion tells Riesbyfe that she's hers from now own, a status which Riesbyfe doesn't mind as long as she can keep protecting people.
Her stage is Stranger and her background music is Raven's Nest.
In the Satsuki Yumizuka and Sion routes of Actress Again, she continues to live after the destruction of the Dust of Osiris and joins the Back Alley Alliance.
===Kara no Kyoukai===
Riesbyfe is briefly mentioned in Kara no Kyoukai as the principal of Reien Girls' Academy. Referred to as "Mother Riesbyfe", her age is unknown, and she is mentioned to have a large string instrument case in her office. She is a pious Christian, who, when energized, engages in overzealous philanthropic activities due to her excessive faith. She is also an acquaintance of Touko Aozaki, and hired Garan no Dou to investigate the suicide of Kaori Tachibana. Though she was originally not an important enough character to even receive an entry in a glossary, her later appearance in Melty Blood made her relevant enough. It is unknown if they are actually the same person or not.
===Other Appearances===
In Type-Moon's April Fools' Day 2013, she is one of the bronze heroines in Back Alley Satsuki.
==Abilities==
Riesbyfe appears to be very strong for a human, but possesses Magic Circuits that are inferior to Aoko Aozaki's in comparison. Although she says Ciel is still physically stronger, Riesbyfe claims that her fists can punch with 2 to 5 tons of force.
 Arcueid Brunestud, however, claims that she is able to punch with 100 tons of force, although Riesbyfe says that's more like Arcueid's power than her own.
===Equipment===
====True Apocrypha====
True_Apocrypha.png|The mysterious landscape generated by True Apocrypha.
She uses a Conceptual Weapon named , also known as Spear Key, Gun Shield, or , a pile bunker shaped like a string instrument. The shield was forged from two apocryphal scriptures, the and the , and was revived by Riesbyfe.
To use this weapon, Riesbyfe spends an hour preening herself every day in order to harmonize with the shield.Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code - Riesbyfe Stridberg's scenario (Alternative) - Prologue Gamaliel appears to be extremely durable, blocking the Dead Apostle Ancestor Zepia's strongest ability "Night on the Blood Lair" with no visible damage. Gamaliel also appears to be able to negate magecraft and even sorcery to some degree. The shield's power is said to be the only reason Riesbyfe is able to defeat Aoko in her win quote, making up the difference from Riesbyfe's inferior magic circuits. Additionally, the shield appears to stop the user from aging, with Riesbyfe commenting that "you could live a lifetime and never show it."
The shield possesses the ability to counter an enemy's attack by manifesting large glyphs which damage the aggressor. Gamaliel is also able to briefly materialize the illusion of a deserted ruin at sunrise upon the usage of its power, but details are unknown. These powers are utilized in Riesbyfe's Arc Drive and Last Arc.
In addition to preventing the TATARI from completely absorbing her, Zepia notes the reason behind Riesbyfe not obeying Dust of Osiris in her storyline path is due to the shield's influence.
==Development==
===Creation and Concept===
Up until TYPE-MOON created Sion, Riesbyfe was supposedly the main heroine of Melty Blood and would've appeared as Ciel's rival appearing to fight Arcueid. As the new character, she would have been a vampire hunter, because Tsukihime doesn't have a complete vampire hunter. The scenario of Melty Blood would have been a battle between vampire hunters with Ciel as the main character. She was discarded as a character for Sion when Night of Wallachia was created.Tsukihime PLUS-DISC - Geccha 2
Kinoko Nasu said that Sion and Riesbyfe story would continue as long as fan exists. He said it would be great if French Bread would develop Melty Blood Remake alongside with Tsukihime Remake.
===Reception===
*In the Fourth character popularity poll in 2003, Riesbyfe was ranked 72nd.
*In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Riesbyfe was ranked 66th.
==Trivia==
*The spelling of her surname in katakana (ストリンドヴァリ, Strindovari) contains a double meaning. Likely referring to , an Italian luthier famous for his violins, in addition to the Swedish surname "Strindberg" possibly referring to a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.
==References==
Category:Characters in Tsukihime
Category:Authorities
Category:Humans
Category:Members of the Holy Church‎
Category:Tatari manifestations
Category:Back Alley Alliance
Category:Knights
Category:Introduced in 2004
Category:Nordic