Mattias/Main

"*What did your church do for your father before his death? Nothing but pray. They could offer you only empty words.* We *can offer you something* more*.*" —*Mattias*

**Mattias**, also known as **The Savior**, is a character in *Octopath Traveler*. He is a trader with the Leoniel Consortium, but also leads a secret cult that worships Galdera, the Fallen and plots to weaken the Sacred Flame to gain the dark god's power. He is the main antagonist and final boss of Ophilia’s story.

## Profile

### Appearance

Mattias has medium-length sandy colored hair and blue eyes. He wears a blue coat with fur trim, a light brown shirt, and black pants and boots.

### Personality

As a merchant of the Leoniel Consortium, Mattias puts on a modest and kind personality. He is nevertheless eager to call others’ faith into question, telling Ophilia that he has seen much disease, poverty, war and natural disasters in his travels over the years, which makes him wonder if the gods truly care about mortal suffering, and why the Sacred Flame seems to bestow good fortune on some and turn its back on others.

In reality, Mattias has already decided in his mind that the gods couldn’t care less about mortal suffering. He possesses an incredibly twisted sense of self-righteousness, thinking himself the “one true Savior” destined to release Galdera's bonds so that he might gain the dark god's power. Driven by his hatred of the Sacred Flame, he has wholly dedicated his life to becoming the world's savior by kindling the Accurst Flame. He is skilled at bending others' hearts to his will by appealing to their deepest desires, and will not hesitate to use lies, manipulation, and even murder to achieve his ends. He does not believe in true love or friendship, instead viewing such bonds as superficial connections whose ruin is inevitable.

However, in his journal at the the Gate of Finis, Mattias reveals that he was once a devout believer in the Sacred Flame. Despite his present delusions of self-righteousness, he was once a genuinely good man, but became embittered by tragic circumstances beyond his control. When the gods failed to answer his prayers to save his loved ones, he fell away from his faith and began his descent into evil.

## Story

115 years prior to the events of *Octopath Traveler*, Mattias, once called Matthew, was a priest of the Sacred Flame in the Frostlands. Then his village was struck by lightning, which sparked a wildfire. Despite his fervent prayers to the Flame, countless lives were lost in the flames. When the gods failed to bring about a miracle, Matthew concluded that his faith was worthless, and eventually reached a “revelation” that the gods couldn’t care less about humans or their suffering.

That same year, Matthew gained 100 years free of aging from Lyblac and co-established the Obsidians with Simeon. Secretly backed by the Obsidians, Mattias established a separate cult worshipping Galdera, appointing himself as its leader. He sought to weaken the Sacred Flame and allow more of the dark god’s power to exit the Gate of Finis, empowering himself in turn.

Over time, he cut ties with the church, using Galdera’s power to bring about his own miracles. Planning to corrupt the Sacred Flame into the Accurst Flame, he established a cult following as the Savior of Wispermill in order to gain access to the altar in the Ebony Grotto. He then worked his way back into the church under a new identity, as the trader Mattias.

In the final step of his plan, Mattias murders Archbishop Josef with slow-acting poison provided by the Obsidians, aiming to manipulate the next Flamebearer, Lianna, through her despair over her father’s passing. Mattias convinces her to act as his vestal by promising her that he can bring her deceased father back from the dead, though in reality he intends to kindle Galdera’s flame. To this end, Mattias persuades Lianna to drug her adoptive sister and acting Flamebearer, Ophilia, in order to steal Aelfric’s Lanthorn.

While conducting the unholy ceremony at the Ebony Grotto, Mattias instructs Lianna to pray to the Flame with her whole heart, binding the ember to the darkness of the Underworld. His followers begin to collapse as sacrifices to the dark flame, but Ophilia, discreetly freed from her prison by Lianna, confronts him. Ophilia manages to bring Lianna back to her senses, interrupting the dark ritual by reminding her sister of a childhood memory in which their father told them that the legacies of those who have died continue in their loved ones' memories. Ophilia then battles Mattias for taking advantage of her sister’s grief. As Mattias lays dying, he curses Ophilia for loving her sister too much, and wishes that she never took her place as the Flamebearer so his plans would succeed. After his death, his consciousness is trapped in a dark hell without light for all eternity.

A journal containing Mattias’ thoughts after death can be found at the Gate of Finis. His journal details the tragic events 115 years prior to the events of *Octopath Traveler* that culminated in his fall from a faithful priest to a self-righteous power-seeker. Even after his defeat by Ophilia and her love, Mattias still cannot understand how she was able to stop him. He truly believed he was the destined Savior of humanity, and despairs about being trapped in the void, desperate for the light he despised.