Oersted

(オルステッド, Orusuteddo?, lit. Oersted)

* Remake
* Holy Dungeon

**Oersted** is the protagonist of the Middle Ages chapter, The Lord of Dark. He is a knight of the Kingdom of Lucrece who embarked on a mission to rescue Princess Alethea, but his fate is changed after being tricked by the Lord of Dark.

## Profile

### Appearance

Oersted has short spiky blonde hair and wears a simple leather suit of armor with a brown breastplate, leather boots and shoulder pads. He is seen carrying a sword in all his depictions. When he becomes Odio, he is depicted as being a tall and dark shadow, with a large, flowing cape and golden crown on top.

### Personality

Oersted begins as a typical silent protagonist. Courageous, headstrong, and devoted to the people of Lucrece, Oersted placed great value on trust and faith, and served his kingdom dutifully under that mindset.

After the misfortune and trauma brought about by his ill-fated journey, the scorn of the people he once loved and the absence of anyone to believe in him, Oersted's personality completely changes. Giving into the darkness that had been festering inside him throughout his quest, Oersted becomes a dark, cruel person, of the belief that sheer might is the only thing matters. He dismisses any sentiment of nobility as inherently selfish, a veil to disguise only personal greed, and seeks to eliminate anyone who opposes his beliefs.

Buried deep within him, however, a small spark of goodness and regret remains; however, it is buried beneath so much hatred and disgust, it may never see the light again

## History

### The Middle Ages: The Lord of Dark

Oersted is first seen a humble knight, participating in a combat tournament in Lucrece. Making it to the finals, Oersted faces off against his friend, the sorcerer Streibough, and wins. As his reward, he is given the right to marry the king's daughter, Princess Alethea, and a celebration is held in his name. That night, as he and Alethea embrace, she professes her undying faith in him.

Shortly after, Alethea is suddenly abducted by the returned Lord of Dark, and carried off to the Archon's Roost. As the king mourns, Oersted volunteers to save her; overjoyed, the king grants him his blessing. Seen off by the grateful smallfolk of the kingdom, Oersted, accompanied by Streibough, sets off on his journey to slay the Lord of Dark and rescue Alethea.

On his travels, Oersted is able to recruit the previous heroes to slay the Lord of Dark: Hasshe the hunter, and Uranus the priest. Together, the party ventures into the Archon's Roost, whey they encounter and slay the Lord of Dark. However, the Lord is soon found to be a fake. Alethea is nowhere to be found, Hasshe falls dead from an illness, and the party is forced to flee from a trap, in which Streibough is seemingly killed. Oersted and Uranus have no choice but to return to Lucrece in utter failure, where the King allows them to rest in his chambers.

That night, Oersted awakes to see Streibough standing beside his bed. Following him into the throne room, he finds the Lord of Dark resting on the king's throne. Oersted kills the fiend, but is horrified to find what he thought was the Lord was actually Lucrece's king. On discovering this, the terrified citizens of Lucrece quickly presume Oersted to be the new Lord of Dark. Now feared and ostracized by the people he sought to save, Oersted flees from the castle as Uranus holds back the Royal Guard, and he is summarily exiled from the kingdom.

Wandering the land, Oersted is soon captured by the Royal Guard and thrown in the castle dungeon, to be executed the next day. Uranus, in the cell next to him, implores Oersted not to give up hope, and instructs him to seek out Alethea as his redemption. With his magic, Uranus unlocks the door to Oersted's cell at the cost of his life. Filled with determination, Oersted flees the castle, fights off the Royal Guard, and returns to the Archon's Roost to find Alethea.

After fighting off a horde of demons, Oersted finds a secret passage that leads to the peak of the Archon's Roost. There, Oersted finds Streibough, alive and well, who reveals himself as the cause of Oersted's plight. Having always been envious of Oersted's victory and glory, he had faked his death, become the new Lord of Dark, and tricked Oersted into killing the king. Oersted is forced to fight and kill his former friend.

After the battle, Alethea appears. However, she expresses anger toward Oersted, condemning him for his seeming failure and professing her love for Streibough, before taking a dagger and committing suicide. Utterly rejected, hated, and with nothing to believe in, Oersted completely succumbs to despair. Giving in to his hatred, Oersted decides to accept his unwanted role as a demon, and proclaims himself a new name: Odio, the Lord of Dark.

### Final Chapter: The Dominion of Hate

#### Seven Heroes

Oersted, as Odio, transports the heroes of the previous seven chapters from their different time periods to the Kingdom of Lucrece, now known as the Dominion of Hate, devoid of human life for ages and in a decayed, colorless condition. As the heroes battle armies of demons and conquer the challenges of the Trials, Odio quietly waits them at the top of Virtue's Reward.

When the heroes arrive at Virtue's Reward, Odio appears before them. He questions the reasons why they fight for others, dismissing their motives as mere selfish desire, before engaging them in a hellish battle as a grotesque visage, and then as the Purity of Odio. After the heroes defeat him, Odio reverts to his human form, Oersted, and desperately begs for the heroes to finish him off. Should they comply, Oersted leaves the mortal world, his final words Alethea's name.

Instead, the heroes turn around and leave him be. Infuriated, Oersted pursues and catches up to them. He forces the heroes to once again battle their respective incarnations of Odio from their time periods, proclaiming his hate to be omnipresent and eternal. When all seven incarnations are slain yet again, Odio falls to his knees, bewildered as to why his hatred cannot succeed.

If all seven heroes are present, Odio's anger begins to grow, calling all the darkness in the world to him. Trapped within his hate, Oersted is made a vessel to Odio's final form, the Sin of Odio, which draws the heroes into one final battle. Throughout its battle, Oersted begins to recall who he is, and who he once was. When all seven heroes become trapped by the Sin, Oersted at last manages to wrest himself free from the demon's bonds. Standing amongst the heroes, Oersted delivers the final blow to the fiend, eliminating Odio's evil once and for all.

In the aftermath of the battle, Oersted remains filled with guilt over all the destruction he has caused. The chosen protagonist of the final chapter gives him words that allow Oersted some measure of peace. After coming to terms with himself, he tells the heroes that they will soon return to their homes. He gives the heroes a warning about what could happen if they give into hatred like he had, before disintegrating into dust. All the heroes appear to take his words to heart as they return to their respective homes.

#### Oersted

If chosen as the protagonist of the Final Chapter, Oersted seeks to change history by taking direct control of Odio's past and future incarnations to fight the heroes of their respective times. Taking command of the seven Odio statue, he amplifies their power and successfully slaughters all seven heroes. He gleefully relishes in his victory, but his joy is short-lived; he is still all alone in his own time, doomed to be eternally lonely until the end of his days.

Alternately, if the battles turn against him, Oersted may trigger his most powerful ability: Armageddon. Should this be done, every incarnation of Odio in every time detonates simultaneously, annihilating everything and everyone.

## Other Appearances

As one of the most important and recognizable characters, Oersted makes several appearances in mobile games that featured collaborations with *Live A Live*.

* Oersted appears in Final Fantasy Dimensions II as a boss of a limited-time event. The game also includes the Purity of Odio as a summon spell.
* Oersted, along with Streibough, appears in the background of the battle event song "Megalomania" in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call. Despite the song's reapperance, he does not appear in the following title, *Final Bar Line*.
* "Holy Dungeon" featured Oersted as a playable character during a limited collaboration event alongside Streibough, Hasshe, Uranus and Alethea. Oersted has 2 forms in this game, his human form and his Odio form.
* In Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, Oersted appears as a playable character as part of a Japanese-exclusive crossover event, *Octo A Live*, along with Streibough. The collaboration includes two special side stories: one where Oersted and Streibough must work together to rescue Alethea in Orsterra, and one where Oersted embraces his hatred to become Odio.

## Etymology

Oersted is a name of Danish origin. It is normally used as a surname. It is sometimes spelled as "Ørsted". Oersted is also a measurement of magnetic field strength.

## Trivia

* Oersted has no victory or level-up quotes.
* Oersted's fate could also be hinted at in the game's title in which the second LIVE in LIVE A ƎVI⅃ is mirrored, showing the word "EVIL"
* Oersted bears a strong resemblance to the Warrior from Final Fantasy. Both are sword-wielders and sport similar hairstyles. Later releases of Final Fantasy even color the Warrior's hair blonde, adding further similarities between the two.
* Oersted's journey could be viewed as the mirror opposite of of Cecil Harvey's, the main protagonist of Final Fantasy IV. Compared to Cecil, who abandons the power of Dark Knight after becoming Paladin, Oersted gained the power of Archon's Mark, an demonic element technique to defeat the Lord of Dark.
	+ Takashi Tokita also wrote the scenario of both Middle Ages Chapter and Final Fantasy IV.