Raegen

Raegen, is a major character in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Husband to Sophia, he is the father of Rain, the adoptive father of Lasswell, and the swordsmanship mentor of both of them, as well as Grandshelt's greatest knight until his mysterious disappearance five years before the game's events.
Although a major character, he joins the cast late during season one. He is one of the co-protagonists of the second season, leading his allies against the brutal Aldore dictatorship. He takes a backseat but remains relevant during the events of the third season.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Raegen resembles his son, Rain, having the same blond hair, teal-colored eyes, and a similar haircut. He sports a short beard and has a deep scar across his left cheek. He wears a long blue coat above a gray collared shirt with metallic rectangular buttons, dark blue pants, black gloves and combat boots (resembling Lasswell's choice of attire). His insignia as a Knight of Grandshelt, which he wears on his belt, is light blue. He wields twin swords, the blue one named the Azure Glacier and other one orange-red with a yet unknown name.
Under the title of "Veritas of the Dark", he wears an intimidating black suit of armor with golden trimmings and adorned with violet crystals. His head is covered in a demonic-looking helmet that hides his face, and he wears a dark violet cape with golden rims. He wields a massive violet-colored blade.
=== Personality ===
Raegen is famed as an honorable and dutiful knight, which has earned him the praise and respect of all of Grandshelt and, in particular, its king. Even during his time in Paladia, he was a respected leader, trusted by his companions and underlings. Despite his position and fame, he usually employs casual mannerisms. Raegen makes the right choice regardless of his circumstances, opting twice to forsake revenge and focus on the more important picture. His commitment to duty—coupled with his adventurous streak—alienated him from his son Rain as he tends to neglect his family: whenever he received new marching orders, he would leave without saying goodbye.
During the Paladian civil war, Raegen was loyal to Aldore's cause, but he was disgusted at having to cut down fellow humans out of disagreement of beliefs. Thinking there was a way to end the war and to prevent further bloodshed, he wanted to cut the darkness that surrounded his world. He had noble goals: he hoped to change Aldore from within and give back to Hess its independence.
Back when he joined the Knights of Grandshelt, Raegen kept others at arm's length, appearing to be cold and a man of few words, trying not to draw unwanted attention. Yet, through Sophia's attempts to make Grandshelt feel like home, and Loren and Zile's support as fellow knights, he developed an attachment to the kingdom, and even adopted the catchphrase "...as a knight of Grandshelt" that his sons would later use.
Although he is normally calm and level-headed, Raegen becomes enraged at Akstar when informed that he calls Lasswell derogatory names. He also believes that worrying about things won't fix them and quickly recovers from losses, with Citra noting that his eagerness is very characteristic of him.
While posing as his former comrade, Raegen perfectly mimics Frostlord's personality and likely also his voice, as the other members of the Sworn Six of Paladia cannot tell him apart.
His favorite dish is the cream stew that Sophia used to make.
== Story ==
=== Early life ===
Hailing from the world of Paladia, Raegen (birth name unknown) was born over 700 years ago to Rubens, son and heir apparent to King Varenis, making Raegen a prince of Aldore royalty. Despite Aldore and Hess's long-standing conflict over the latter's claims of independence, Rubens had no prejudice towards Hess, personally being friends with Yuraisha, the "Mother of Hess". But soon after Varenis' ascension to the throne, Vlad assassinated both Varenis and Rubens, and attempted to get a hold of the two-year-old Raegen.
Yuraisha's husband took Raegen from the castle and left him with Yuraisha, reporting to Vlad that Raegen had died of an illness. Vlad, for his part, became Aldore's first emperor. Despite Raegen's Aldorian blood, Yuraisha adopted him, gave him that name and raised him alongside her own son, Rowen. The two became brothers, friends and evenly-matched rivals.
Eventually, under Yuraisha's patronage, Hess developed the "visionary magicks" (a power born from scientific progress, different to preexisting magic used by the rest of the world) and attempted to declare independence from Aldore, as they had been before imperial conquest. Deeming these magicks dangerous, Aldore declared war on Hess. When the civil war broke out, Raegen took on the title of "Veritas of the Dark" and became the leader of the Sworn Eight of Paladia, whereas Rowen became one of Hess' Eight Sages.
Raegen and his comrades—Ignacio (Flamelord), Citra (Lightlord), Sieghard (Earthlord), Folka (Waterlord), Cid (Heavenlord), Sakura (Boltlord) and Frostlord—were given distinctive suits of armor and augmented, being rendered functionally immortal, and led Aldore's military forces against the Sages from the frontlines. Despite Raegen's many peace proposals, Yuraisha refused to accept, wanting freedom for her people. As the war raged on, the Aldore government devised a plan to seal the Eight Sages inside crystals. With their military leaders out of the way Hess would have to agree to peace negotiations, through which Aldore would grant Hess its independence. Raegen complied, but threatened to side with Hess should the leaders of Aldore refuse to keep their promises.
Of the Sworn Eight, the Frostlord deemed the plan a waste of time and sought to fight the sages on his own. Although Raegen tried to reason with him, Frostlord refused and Raegen opted to let him to do as he pleased; Frostlord was thought to have perished, his remains or suit of armor never found. Before the final battle, Raegen revealed to Citra and Sakura that he wanted to discard his suit of armor and travel the world. Citra—who secretly loved him—vowed to accompany him with Sakura echoing the sentiments.
In the confrontation, Raegen took it upon himself to seal Rowen. Raegen promised he would free the Sages once the war was over; Rowen trusted him to do so, but decided to comply if Raegen dueled and defeated him, betting the ownership of Purple Lightning. Rowen lost on purpose and let himself be sealed in the crystal, and Raegen promised to give him the sword in time. However, upon sealing the sages, the Sworn Eight were betrayed. The Aldore emperor feared their power and their influence over the people as heroes (and Raegen's royal status). Aldore's leadership thus created a massive dimensional gate and banished the Veritas, the sealed sages, the soldiers of Aldore and Hess, and the very land they stood upon, to the world of Lapis. To ensure it would remain fixed to Lapis for ages to come, Aldore put a seal upon the land which consisted of eight great crystals, each corresponding to an element.
=== Life on Grandshelt ===
Raegen and his comrades were left with a lasting grudge against their commanders but they were unable to find a way to return to Paladia, and over the centuries their anger began to subside. For his part, Raegen scoured the world for Rowen, unable to find his crystal, and at some point, played a part in the foundation of Grandshelt. Things changed when, six centuries later, Citra and Sakura found a book at the Magic Library which stated the dimensional gate had never really disappeared, and that it could be opened every 100 years or so. Most of the Veritas were on board with the plan to destroy the crystals, but Raegen and Sakura discarded their suits of armor and forsook revenge to live peaceful lives.
During this time, he finally found Rowen's crystal and released him, but his powers and memories were gone. Even though Raegen explained his past to him, he could not remember and so Raegen set out to restore his memory with the Sacred Ring of Paladia, as per Sakura's suggestion. To find it, he joined the Grandshelt Royal Guard and gathered information.
Raegen kept close contact with Rowen who was left equally stranded in the world and much worse off as an amnesiac. The two often sparred with Rowen being unable to match Raegen on his debilitated state, although Rowen retained some degree of skill and instinct. Rowen later settled in a farm after helping save the farmer's daughter, Yona, from monsters while in the middle of an interview. As time passed and Rowen developed feelings for Yona, he practiced his confessions with Raegen, which the latter found convincing enough that he almost thought "they would spend a life together".
In a mission under Loren's captainship, Raegen protected Zile and wounded himself in the process. Though he did not want Sophia's treatment, she insisted only to be surprised by his healing factor. He also caught Ryumynui's eye, who suspected him to be the founding father of Grandshelt. Raegen admitted as much, only for Sophia to overhear their conversation. Worried about his lack of self-preservation, she decided to give him a tour around Grandshelt to make him feel he had a home to return to. When he heard of a enraged ochu, he suspected the Sacred Ring to be the cause. With the help of Loren, Zile, Ryumynui, Lucille and Sophia, he defeated it. Having retrieved the sacred vessel, he promised Sophia to come back to Grandshelt.
Raegen immediately returned to Rowen, now married to Yona and with a newborn son, Lasswell. Content with his life, Rowen refused to restore his memories or powers; instead, he teased Raegen with Sophia. One day, Raegen got a report that a monster swarm had attacked their farm. Although Rowen fought valiantly, he was unable to fully endure the onslaught without his full power and succumbed to his wounds, Raegen arriving too late to save his life, but managing to terminate the last of the monsters. As he died, Rowen recovered his memories and reminded Raegen of their wager, to which Raegen vowed to look after Lasswell and give him the Purple Lightning. Yona survived but died a few years later, and Raegen took Lasswell in. By then, Raegen had married Sophia and had a son Rain. He eventually gave Purple Lightning to Lasswell when he became frustrated with growing stronger.
A wave of children's kidnappings beset the kingdom and Raegen worried over Rain and Lasswell's safety. While he wanted to help solve the case, he put his trust in his fellow knight, Loren. Before her team could end the kidnappings, Rain and Lasswell fell under the cultists' spell and snuck out during the night. Raegen followed them but could not stop them from leaving the capital, as monsters attacked the city. Forced to protect the townspeople, he entrusted the kids' rescue to Loren, who returned Rain and Lasswell home safely.
Raegen found the crystal that contained Fina, one of the Eight Sages, below Grandshelt Castle. Rain followed him but saw Fina's crystal, and touched it out of curiosity, awakening the power of Aldore's blood within him. Raegen, surprised that his son had inherited this power, walked away despite Rain's pleas. In the following weeks Rain's condition worsened but Fina stored away his power until a time he could handle it.
Soon afterwards, and five years before the events of the game, Citra visited Raegen to convince him to rejoin their efforts. He refused, pointing out a normal life was the greatest journey of all. Citra attempted to coerce Raegen by force and Raegen was at a disadvantage without his suit of armor. Sophia, who begged Raegen not to join the Sworn Six (being aware of their nefarious plans), intercepted a blast intended for Raegen.
In her dying moments Sophia asked Raegen to preserve his memories of her as a vision to show Rain and Lasswell when they were older. He brought her body to their home where Rain was waiting. Raegen told his son she was dead because of him and disappeared to search for Frostlord's suit of armor, as he could no longer access his own due to somebody else having taken it.
=== Season One ===
After five years of searching Raegen locates the armor at Duggle Village on the Gronoa continent, where it is worshiped as a deity. With the Veritas having destroyed all but the Dark Crystal, he steals the suit of armor to fight the Veritas. Sakura, who too opposes their former comrades, feels Raegen's presence and comes to the village accompanied by Rain, Lasswell, the two Finas, Lid, Nichol and Jake. As Sakura mistakes him for the original Frostlord, Raegen takes advantage of the confusion and assumes the identity. He freezes the villagers, including Camille, and declares to not release them unless Sakura and the others defeat him.
Raegen forces the party to battle with each other to find the strongest member. When Rain and Lasswell duel Raegen notices that the latter is holding back and demands that the two fight seriously. Lasswell reveals he only wanted to keep up with Rain's talents, and feels guilty about the current situation. Rain curses his own weakness at seeing his friend hurt and draws forth his dormant power, accepting it as a part of himself at last, emerging victorious.
Satisfied with their growth, Raegen keeps his word and thaws out the villagers. He settles the fight at Dark Crystal's chamber where he is defeated. He reveals everything was a lie to motivate them and the Sworn Six of Paladia appear before them. Sieghard invites "Frostlord" to rejoin them. Raegen declines and reveals his identity, leaving everyone flabbergasted.
The two groups clash until the shrine becomes unstable, and Raegen has Sakura teleport the party to Pharm while he teleports the Dark Crystal. At Hashin Area, Raegen faces the Darklord and Citra until Darklord defeats him to protect her. Unable to continue using Frostlord's armor, Raegen lays wounded until Rain's party catches up with him. Together they prevent the Darklord (who is revealed to be a vision of Raegen as he was 700 years ago) and Citra from destroying the crystal. Before the party can rejoice, Sol and Behemoth K destroy it, knock the party out, and kill Darklord before departing to the dimensional gate to destroy Lapis.
When they regain consciousness, Raegen and the others set out to climb the crystal tower to stop the sages and close the gate. Raegen shows Rain and Lasswell a vision of Sophia, keeping his promise to her. Volka and Citra join their efforts thanks to Nichol. The two remaining Veritas keep Behemoth busy, while the party catches up with Sol. When he puts up a barrier, the group realizes that Fina is going to disappear, but Dark Fina sacrifices herself by becoming the Earth Crystal, sealing the land once again and allowing Fina to carry on existing.
Fina dispels Sol's barrier and the party makes it to the summit, where they defeat Sol. The sage summons the Chaotic Darkness and creates a floating continent. As they traverse the various lands, Raegen intends to tell Lasswell the truth of his parentage after the battle ends while being internally conflicted that Lasswell does not call him "dad". Behemoth K, having defeated Citra and Folka, teleports before them, but in his weakened state the party puts him to rest. At the Land of Darkness they defeat Sol, but the sage declares his hatred of Rain and retreats. Supported by the prayers of those they met during their journey, the party defeats the Chaotic Darkness for good.
To close the gate, Raegen does a complete awakening of Aldore's power. Though he admits that sealing the gate is risky, he is confident he can do it. Lasswell tells Raegen to be careful and finally calls him "Dad". Raegen's attempts are unsuccessful as his strength has been drained, so Rain awakens to his own power and assists Raegen in closing the gate. When Sol reappears and intends to force the gate wide open, Rain intercepts with the clash causing both of them to disappear. Raegen returns to tell the others that Rain is gone, but Lasswell is confident he is alive and vows to find him.
=== Season Two ===
A few months later, Raegen, Lasswell (who now calls Raegen "Father") and Fina learn from Sakura that Rain ended up in Paladia. Aboard the Invincible, the three—alongside Sakura, Jake, Lid and Nichol, and the Veritas revived by Dark Fina—pass through the partially-open gate to find Rain. They discover that their homeworld has been turned into a dictatorship, and so Raegen vows to free Paladia and dons his suit of armor once more. He and the Veritas split up from Lasswell's party (who are to search for Rain in Georl) and go confront the Emperor at Aldore Tower.
They reach the Emperor's chamber where they meet their successors, The Orders, but the six are defeated, Raegen losing to Hyoh. The Sworn Eight are spared for being deemed too weak to be worth killing and are sent to prison.
== Gameplay ==
===Playable character===
Raegen's job is listed as Sworn Eight, while his roles in combat are Physical Damage and Support. A 5★-Neo Vision Rare Summon, he is currently obtainable since the event The Ballad of Grandshelt. He can equip daggers, swords, greatswords, katanas, bows, spears, guns, fists, along with light shields, hats, helms, clothes, light armor, heavy armor, and accessories. Like the other so-called CG units, Raegen's Limit Burst ("Darkness Purging Blades of Azure Crimson") is a special CG movie and has a powerful effect: it deals unmitigated damage to all enemies, and greatly reduces their resistance to both Ice and Fire.
He appeared as a guest unit in his own introduction quest as well as several stages from The Ballad of Grandshelt (Rest for Knights, Grandshelt Tour, Individual Actions, Location Discovered).
Not counting Ariana Grande and her background song "Touch It", Raegen is the first character to have an in-game voice sample, albeit only heard during his Limit Burst. He says , which can be translated roughly to "Shred them".
As one of the game's main characters, Raegen has several unit variants.
===Enemy===
Raegen appears in the main story as a boss in Gronoa Shrine Depths - Hall under the guise of Veritas of the Frost. In the story event Sieghard, the Magnificent, he appears as the last boss of the second-to-last stage "Magnificent Fate". He also appears as an enemy and supporting boss in the last story stage, "The Greatest Joy", of Blacksmith of the Flame.
==Gallery==
;Artwork
File:Season 2 from FFBE artwork 1.png|Raegen (left) in a Season Two artwork by Yoshitaka Amano.
File:Season 4 from FFBE artwork.png|Season Four artwork featuring Raegen from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.
File:Raegen from FFBE artwork 1.png|Artwork.
File:Raegen 2nd Anniversary Illustration.png|Illustration for the game's second anniversary.
File:Anniversary from WotV artwork (1).png|First Anniversary artwork featuring Raegen from War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.
;Renders
File:Raegen from FFBE render 1.png|Render.
File:FFBE Raegen - CG render.png|Partial CG render.
File:FFBE Raegen CG.png|Promotional CG of Raegen.
;Sprites
File:FFBE Raegen animated field sprite.gif|Animated field sprite.
File:FFBE 941 Raegen.png|No. 941 Raegen (5★).
File:FFBE 942 Raegen.png|No. 942 Raegen (6★).
File:FFBE 1135 Raegen.png|No. 1135 Raegen (7★).
File:FFBE Veritas of the Frost Sprite.png|Enemy sprite as the Veritas of the Frost.
File:FFBE Veritas of the Dark Sprite 1.png|Enemy sprite | As the Veritas of the Dark.
;Screenshots
File:FFBE Raegen Render.jpg|Closeup on Limit Burst.
==Notes==
===Citations===
de:Raegen (Charakter)
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius