Claus

クラウス, Claus

**Claus** is a character from *Chapter III* and one of the main characters of *Mother Justice*. He is the "leader" to the Anti-Noigllado Alliance, and the older twin brother of the Tazmilian, Lucas. He is the "Negative" one of the twins, as he is left-handed and carries the Sword of Despair, Tyrfing. When Maria died, he was thrown from Ridenburg when he was originally supposed to stay there with his mother Hinawa. Unaware of his noble ascendance, he grew up to become an enemy of his own Village, for he saw just how corrupt it was and how many people it oppressed and left in poverty. Despite this, though, he is not consciously evil ; Nor is Lucas' evil counterpart ; They both just fight for their own justices.

He and Lucas are, one same genetic being sliced in half, as are both twins. However, due to their role as sons of Hinawa and Flint, they can genuinely be considered one being, forcefully kept apart by Ristaccia.

## Appearance

Claus, as Lucas' twin brother, looks nearly identical to him. He is a sleek, soft boy with red hair, unlike Lucas who has blonde hair. His eyes, normally teal with long eyelashes, turn red in his later individual life, when Ristaccia possesses him via his maddening anger.

In his original game, Mother III, before he was brainwashed, his clothes were identical to Lucas' clothes, with the colors different. While Lucas' clothes are red and yellow, Claus' are cyan and yellow. Claus' pants are orange while Lucas' are blue. His shoes are blue while Lucas' are orange. After he was brainwashed, Claus wore entirely different clothes. He wears a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a black coat and low gray boots. He still wears this outfit in *Mother Justice*. Almost all artworks depict him wielding Tyrfing.

## Personality

Claus' personality is the opposite to Lucas'. While Lucas is full of kindness and acceptable, Claus is full of hatred and resentfulness. Although this is likely due to Claus' brainwash from their game. Despite that he knew he already had a brother, he considered Aime, Adhuc's adoptive daughter, his adoptive older sister ; It was when she was killed by Claus' biological father, Flint, that he acquired this burning rage, which was only scaled up by the death of many fellow rebels.

When talking with his brother - under the disguise of Lucis - however, Claus reveals himself to be filled with hope for a better world if Tazmily is ever vanquished. He says the fleet he allied with for an attack is "carrying his dreams", and that he must fight for them to come true. His sympathy towards his father Adhuc confirms that he possesses a sensitive personality under the soaring hatred he primarily demonstrates.

## Story

Lucas and Claus were born as twins and were originally one creature. However, the death of their mother, Hinawa caused them to be separated, as Claus went to avenge his mother himself, though he fails and gets brainwashed. He later killed himself as he cannot fight his brother in their original game's ending. Claus and Hinawa resided at Ridenburg, but due to Maria's death, Claus and Hinawa were unable to stay together, and Claus was abandoned from Ridenburg and had to stay with the living people.

But the royal sword instructor, Adhuc, saw the fallen boy and since he was a kind man, who had already adopted two orphans, he adopted Claus and took him away, along with Tyrfing, before escaping from the palace. Claus grew up as Adhuc's third child, in the countryside, leaving a poor life with his foster family.

The instructor taught Claus all of his sword skills. With his native talent for any and all arts, Claus became an outstanding swordsman. Thus, Claus never looked shabby, hungry, or dirty, despite his tough life ; he remained as beautiful as his brother.

But Tazmily Village, authoritarian and ever corrupt, was the largest village on the continent and its head, the Agiona members, were always eager to expand their own sphere of influence further. This drove both the people of Tazmily and of neighboring countries to become resentful. Just like his brother, Claus possessed a strong sense of justice ; However, unlike him, he was familiar with the reality of the situation and knew the village to be the oppressor. He swore to fight it with all his might, to save the people from their suffering, without even knowing his position as heir. Thus, the Anti-Noigllado Alliance, Novaria, was founded between the Tazmily rebels, led by Claus, and the pirates, led by Malacia.

It was around that time that Falo Credere Etincelle, knight of Noigllado, came to the rebel camp on a mission to find Lucas' brother. Astonished to discover someone exactly like his master, he was seen by Claus as an enemy right away. Intending to kill him, the boy was stopped by his adoptive father who, recognizing Falo as his former apprentice, showed him mercy.

A few days later, as he was inspecting the pirate fleet he had allied with, Claus talked with a commoner named "Lucis", unaware that "Lucis" was actually his brother Lucas in disguise. Discussing his dream of a better world with "her", he insisted that his cause was right ; That the negative consequences of the battle were negligible, and that he fought for justice.

Not long after, Claus was finally taught his antecedent. No vocal media or written chapter depicts his immediate reaction ; However, we know that he felt happy for having Lucas as a brother, from his outstanding qualities, notably his legendary kind soul ; This is how he already knows he has a twin brother.

Eventually, however, because the Village did not stop in its tracks of crimes, his heart was filled with hatred anew, and day by day, the piece of Ristaccia inserted in Tyrfing amplified and fueled the feelings necessary to keep Lucas and Claus apart ; this escalated to the point where Ristaccia took over him completely, cutting a "hole" in his heart and driving him to madness. Soon, Claus had no interest in saving the people, His hatred for Tazmily had been directed by the Angel directly to Lucas, whom he swore to kill, in order to "avenge" his dead sister, Aime.

But as they battled, on the verge of killing each other, A'milia came to break the curse of Ristaccia, and reunited them as a single transcendental being. No longer separated, a single entity, they joined Ninten, Ness and the Sealer to finally save Paula and Ana and end Ristaccia's reign.

## Trivia

* Claus' name is an anagram of Lucas' name.
* One of Lucas' alternate palettes in the *Super Smash Bros.* series makes him resemble Claus.