Velvet Crowe

**Velvet Crowe** (ベルベット・クラウ, *Berubetto Kurau*?) is a main character and the lead protagonist in *Tales of Berseria.* She is also a heroine for the title*.*  She is a human granted with the powers of a Daemon and therefore refers to herself as one. In actuality, she is a Therion with the power to consume daemons and absorb their souls. Due to having an imbued daemon hand as a vessel bandaged up in her left arm, she is shunned and is also mentioned to be a being which is to be feared by the world.

During her journey across regions, she comes across a young boy called Laphicet, who changes her with his pure soul. She is depicted in the game's logo. Devouring daemons with her left arm during her time locked up in Titania, the prison island, has earned her the title **Velvet the Therion** (喰魔ベルベット, *Kuuma Berubetto*?).

"*But even in the depths of despair, only two things mattered to me. The taste of blood-soaked flesh... and revenge upon one man.*"

—Velvet Crowe.

## Profile

### Appearance

Velvet has extremely long and black hair which drops to floor-level; towards the bottom her hair is plaited into big braids that are tied off by a bandage-like band. Her hair-strands curve towards the left-side of her face and she has mid-length hair which is plaited and tied by a smaller bandage-band resting on her left shoulder. She also has a curvaceous body with rather large breasts.

Her outfit consists of a revealing ruby-red corset which reveals her midriff and the top half of her breasts. It is possible her clothes have been torn during her adventures. The red corset has an insignia visible below the belt which it hinders below. The same belt rests of her hip and above her torn, black jean trousers, which now look like shorts. The jean trouser has a chain, multiple belts wrapped around her right leg and a few which spiral towards the lower half of her left. Over her corset, she wears a black jacket in the form of a robe with red-velvet lacing; the jacket is ripped towards the bottom and is tightened towards her chest by the belt.

She wears protective armour on her footwear as well as one extra armour plate on her right shin. She wears the same armour in the form of an arm protective gauntlet which rests above the same material as her coat; the material arches its way up to and wraps around her middle finger, highlighted by a rhombus-shaped piecing. The same gauntlet is where she rest her lance-blade in battle. Her left arm is wrapped and bandaged up because of the alternate appearance it could take in public, and battle.

Three years prior, she used to fully plait her hair before tying it off with a red hairband. She used to wear a red shirt with belt-pouches and brown pants as well as maroon boots. She also used to wear a different gauntlet without having the need to bandage her arm up.

### Personality

Originally a kind and family-oriented girl, Velvet became a vengeful woman fueled by hate due to the traumatic events she went through on the Scarlet Night three years prior to the events of the story. She fights with a blade mounted on her right-hand gauntlet, her feet, and her left arm as a daemonic weapon to devour daemons, humans, and malakhim alike. Three years ago, she was a very kind and loving character. Her little brother and many of the villagers often believed she was too athletic to land a husband. She loved her family and the people of the village until the events of them being massacred by a mysterious figure. Ever since then, Velvet's life has changed and she has locked away her carefree heart. Now, all that remains of her facade is a dark and gloomy character who will do anything to achieve her goals. She is a being who is shunned and by the voice of the Abbey, is feared by the world.

She feels loneliness in life, having to continuously face many conflicts and build up hatred. It is until three years later, in which she meets a young boy called Number Two. Because his orders were to harm the party, Velvet unconsciously saved him after forcibly using him by commanding him to hurt members of his affiliation and then pulling him along onto the fleeing ship. She acts rude and frustrated with him because everything she talks to him about is referred to as an "order" by him, until she teaches him the ways of life, she gains back some of her emotions of which were buried deep in her memory. It is because of her, that Laphicet began to attain a purpose in life, which makes her happy inside.

Velvet can also be quite stubborn when people, usually females, become close to Laphicet in any form. This can be seen when Laphicet and Eleanor have private conversations and becomes jealous that the former will not tell her about them. Afterwards, she tells him to prioritize her before Eleanor—saying that she is "first" and Eleanor comes "second", therefore he should speak to her about his problems before blushing at what she said. Velvet is also quite sisterly/motherly and overprotective regarding Laphicet, when she scolds Eizen and Rokurou for teaching him, unnecessary knowledge regarding e.g the untrusting of women.

Throughout the course of the game, Velvet is forced to confront her complicated and contradictory feelings. She struggles to reconcile her relentless drive for revenge with her still-existing humanity, and she initially refuses to get close to anyone, including Laphicet, due to Artorius' betrayal hardening her heart.

While initially cold, distant, and aloof, she hides a deep seated self loathing, with intense regret over what she has done in her journey for revenge. She privately hates herself for her actions but behaves as if she's driven by instinct, and as she loses to Artorius the first time, she admits her drive for revenge is her way of coping with her trauma. She sees herself as a "selfish, horrible girl" unworthy of her own humanity, but it is that same humanity which her party members, including Eleanor, find admirable about her alongside her passion and unstoppable drive to kill her former brother in law. She is willing to be seen as a monster because she sees herself as a monster, although the party frequently disagrees.

Velvet slowly grows to care more about the party beyond just Laphicet. She no longer threatens to eat or kill Magilou, accepting the bizarre witch for who she is, and even indulges in some of Magilou's bets and hijinks from time to time. She becomes far less aggressive, choosing more nonviolent but no less ruthless methods to defeat her enemies, and even shows empathy to several of her enemies whenever their families are involved. She shows far more respect to Eizen, who finds her "foolishness" inspiring, and Rokurou, who admires her humanity despite being a daemon, and values them both as comrades, even saying she looks forward to meeting Eizen's sister Edna. Rokurou, initially driven by envy against his brother Shigure, eventually grows to respect his brother, having seen firsthand Velvet's love of her family, and his motivation goes from surpassing Shigure to becoming the best swordsman instead while still intending to beat his brother. Eizen, meanwhile, admits he has grown fond of the party, wrote letters to his sister about Velvet and the party, and even got a letter back from Edna who says she wants to meet Velvet and her friends.

But the biggest change lies in her relationship with the Exorcist Eleanor Hume, Velvet's erstwhile rival turned teammate. Velvet reluctantly agrees to have Eleanor join the party once she becomes the only possible vessel for Laphichet. Their mistrust and jealousy characterize their initial interactions, although other party members and even NPCs often note how considerate they are to one another in spite of that. While she often proclaimed otherwise, Velvet frequently shows worry and concern for Eleanor, who herself grows more empathetic towards Velvet the more she starts understanding her. Through their many shared similarities and parallels, despite how different they may appear at first glance, Velvet and Eleanor become far closer by the second half of the game, where Velvet privately trusts Eleanor with personal information no one else in the party is privy to. They even stand next to each other far more often in skits, showing a level of comfort with each other they did not have at first. Even their initial jealousy over Laphicet goes away, as they ultimately embrace being mother/sister figures to him. While they retain much of their snarky banter, it is far more playful and lighthearted than before, with Eleanor even thanking Velvet for "capturing" her and Velvet saying the party is "lucky to have you, Eleanor."

Velvet becomes more willing to embrace her old kindness and empathy, including her sillier side once she finally reconciles all her contradictory feelings, namely that she still loves Artorius despite still intending to kill him. While still snarky and blunt, Velvet starts smiling far more, willingly indulges in the party's silly antics, shows far more compassion, and even becomes less selfish overall, choosing instead to kill Artorius to save the world from Innominat. But she never gets over her self loathing, which drives her to sacrifice herself to stop Innominat from ever being released again.

## Story

### Aball

From a very young age, it has been hinted at many times that Velvet's parents had passed away. As a child, Velvet never went to school. At the age of nine years old, Velvet and her younger brother named Laphicet Crowe—who she used to refer to her brother as "Laphi" (ラフィ, *Raifi*?), were introduced to a man with white hair by their elder sister, Celica Crowe. They had become close to him and eventually started living under the same roof. The man named Artorius Collbrande, who they referred to as Brother Arthur (アーサー 兄さん, *Āsā niisan*?). One day, she and Laphi had ventured out into the forest with Arthur witnessing a shocking splurge of events, one of which was the crimson hours of darkness known as the *Scarlet Night*. On this night, their elder sister passed away and the first malaks arrived, one of which was a woman named Seres. The siblings took a few days to recover from the event and accept the death of their sister. Arthur's malakian companion, Seres, could not be seen or heard by Velvet but by her brother and Arthur only.

Three years prior to the events of the main story, at the age of sixteen, she suffered from a traumatic event in which caused her loved ones to become massacred by the savior Artorius Collbrande, who also killed her younger brother during the Scarlet Night. The event resulted in her being involved with the ritual taking place, awakening the negative energy in her which resulted in her fostering hatred and anger, as well as resulting in her left arm to be cut off by Artorius himself and later imbued with a special ability. This in turn, left people to wonder whether she was a daemon, calling her "inhumane". After gaining her cursed arm, Velvet went into a mad rage and slaughtered all the daemons within her sight. Artorius tells her to look around her surroundings and she realizes that the daemons she had slaughtered reverted back into the townspeople, among them her deceased childhood friend Niko.

From this event onward, she grew her hatred all on Artorius and vowed revenge on him for killing the townspeople, as well as her brother.

### Titania

For three years, Velvet was locked inside an island prison called Titania. She was fed daemon prisoners whom she ruthlessly absorbed to sustain herself. She was finally freed from her imprisonment by Seres, a Malak who decided to betray her master, Artorius. Left without a choice, Velvet decides to trust the Malak and make her way out of the prison, retrieving weapons and fashioning herself an outfit for her escape. After overhearing some soldiers discuss of a shortcut to the docks, Velvet decides to initiate a prison riot by releasing all the prisoners. After doing so, she runs into a strange witch named Magilou and a frenzied Rokurou Rangetsu who challenges her to battle. After defeating him, he asks her about the whereabouts of his sword, to which she promptly responds that it was down below. He thanks her and goes on to retrieve it while Velvet and Seres continue to the Watchtower. As the duo venture to the shortcut, they dispatch the guards within the area and climb the watchtower to use the shortcut.

Realizing the shortcut has been destroyed, Velvet jumps down from a high distance, using her cursed arm to maintain her balance. Seres wonders aloud about Velvet's condition, with Velvet muttering that it was the Malak's fault. After making their way through the shortcut, they run into exorcists from the Abbey, particularly Oscar Dragonia who introduces himself to the pair. After defeating Oscar in battle, he attempts to incapacitate Velvet with a dark spell by throwing one of his Malaks at her. Unfortunately, Velvet proves too powerful for the Malak and he is hit with Oscar's spell, causing him to experience the blight and become a corrupted dragon.

The newly transformed dragon goes berserk and attacks Oscar and his remaining Malak. As it tries to attack Velvet, Seres blocks the attack with her back and is fatally wounded. Velvet rushes to the wounded Seres and wonders about her intentions, with Seres telling her that she needs to be absorbed so Velvet can unleash her true potential. A reluctant Velvet decides to absorb the dying Seres, with the latter stating a crushing truth to Velvet in her final moments. As Velvet absorbs the Malak, she experiences Seres's memories and realizes her true identity, receiving a ring that allows her to use the deceased Malak's powers.

Facing the dragon once more, Velvet uses Seres's powers to incapacitate it so that she can absorb it with her daemon hand. Oscar watches in horror as Velvet consumes the dragon with her hand and proclaims that she will absorb daemon, malak and exorcist if they get in her way. Velvet uses the dragon power she just absorbed to send a fireball towards Oscar, terribly burning him in the process. His Malak ushers the flaming Oscar out of the prison, allowing Velvet to exit towards the docks.

Upon reaching the docks, she looks at the anchored vessel and is greeted by Magilou and Rokurou who follow her out of the prison. She decides to take in the pair as she needs a crew to help her sail the ship. After leaving the prison, the group set sail for waters unknown.

### Hellawes

Following their voyage into unknown waters, the group ends up shipwrecked near the Figahl Icecaps. The unconscious trio are approached by a child who eyes a fallen compass and takes it. They decide to follow the child and end up discovering Hellawes, highly guarded by the Abbey's soldiers and exorcists. The trio decide to sneak into Hellawes via a storage warehouse and promptly find their way inside the city. While in the city, Rokurou splits off from Velvet and Magilou and goes off to buy himself some weapons at the weapon store. Velvet and Magilou explore the city and encounter the guild master who could help them find a vessel. As the guild master complains loudly about a member of the guild, Dyle, who became a lizard daemon, a young woman in white walks towards the guild members. Teresa Linares, a prominent praetor and overseer of Hellawes proclaims that she will do everything in her power to quell the threat. Velvet sees the young child walking beside the praetor and realizes that he serves as one of Teresa's malakhim servants. Teresa gazes at Velvet's hand and wonders about her lack of clothing, citing the coldness of the area as unfit for a woman of her stature. Velvet mentions that she came from the South and was unprepared for the harshness of the conditions, thanking the praetor for her concern about the matter. Teresa walks off with her servants while Velvet decides to talk to the guild master in order to obtain a vessel.

In order to gain access to the vessel, Velvet must eliminate the traitorous Dyle, the guild's navigator who became a daemon and attacked his own crew members. The guild master and his members tell Velvet of the whereabouts of the rampant daemon, citing Beardsley as a place of interest because that was Dyle's hometown. Following determination of their new goal, Velvet and Magilou set out to find Rokurou, who had amazed a weapon shopkeeper by discovering that he had a treasured sword lying around his store. Enthusiastic about the discovery, the shopkeeper gives Rokurou the weapon free of charge. Rokurou and Velvet then attempt to discuss their plans going forward until Magilou decides to leave the group in order to find the person who betrayed her. Velvet asks Magilou once more as to why she wants to go off on her own, with Magilou stating that Velvet might decide to eat her up eventually before exiting the group. Velvet and Rokurou decide to visit the village near Hellawes in order to investigate Dyle's whereabouts.

Upon arriving at the village, they are greeted by the sight of an exorcist vanquishing what appeared to be a daemon. When they look at the exorcist up close, they realize she's crying, with the exorcist proclaiming a sorrowful expression. She introduces herself as Eleanor Hume and tells the duo that she intends to exterminate the daemons in order to fulfill the Abbey's precepts to the utmost of her abilities. After Eleanor leaves, a young girl crawls out of the bush thickets and tells the duo of a lizard daemon hiding in a cave. She mentions that the daemon told her he would eat her up if she'd said anything and offers Velvet and Rokurou some apples for their silence. An enthused Rokurou takes a bite into the apple and exclaims it as a delicious taste while a sullen Velvet looks at her own bitten apple, realizing that she could not taste it.

## Fighting Style / Abilities

Velvet's class is that of a **Lancer** which makes her a quick-combo fighter. She primarily uses martial artes in battle for evasion and rapid succession. She carries a hidden blade underneath her shoe.

In battle, she equips a blade which acts as a small lance within the tip of her right-hand gauntlet and use it as if it were an extension of her own body. She also uses the power sealed within her bandaged left hand and unleashes a bloody-crimson hand which takes the form of a werewolf's claw that she can then use to strike with, but at a price. She also uses her legs to kick and sweep into her combos. Her kicks are seen into work when she spirals to the side and kick or swipes her foot with a double-loop airborne to perform an a variety of techniques.

When Velvet has enough Soul on her Soul Gauge, she can use her Break Soul called **Consume Claw** (コンジュームクロウ, *Konjyūmu Kurou*?, sometimes "Consume Crow") an attack-dedicated ability combining enhancement and special attack. While in this state, if she can meet a certain condition, she can execute a special arte that changes depending on the type of enemy you’re up against. In return for this enhanced ability, her HP decreases gradually, but the less HP she has, the stronger her special arte can be. During the phase of using her Break Soul, her status bar changes in appearance - changing from the standard to a violent and spiky one. Her Switch Blast is **Grievous Slash** and her mystic artes are **Lethal Pain**, **Annihilating Crash** and **Impulse Desire**.

## Other Appearances

### *Tales of Link*

"*Velvet was originally a simple girl who loved her family, but the incident three years ago changed her. Her smile is gone, and it's now cold anger and hatred that drives her.*"
—Description
Velvet appears as an obtainable character. She was obtainable from the *Tales of Berseria* Awakening Summon. She appears as a 5-star unit named *(Swordswoman) Velvet* and when awoken, becomes a 6-star unit named *(Journey of Vengeance) Velvet*. Her arte is Shell Splitter. Her leader skill is Left Hand of Darkness. Her active skill is Dark Passions. Her passives are Quick Drain 2, Quick Drain 4, Double Boost 2, Double Boost 3, Link Boost 3, Link Boost 4, Arte Plus 3, Arte Plus 5 and Daemon Claw.

Artwork of (Swordswoman) Velvet.Artwork of (Journey of Vengeance) Velvet.Artwork of Velvet.Artwork of Velvet.Artwork of Velvet.Artwork of Velvet.Sprite.Sprite.Sprite.Sprite.
### *Tales of Asteria*

Velvet appears as an obtainable character.

Artwork of Velvet.Artwork of Velvet.Artwork of Velvet (Christmas).Artwork of Velvet.Artwork of Velvet.Artwork of Velvet.

### *Tales of Zestiria the X*

Velvet appears as a main character, featured in an animated cinematic of the early stages from the *Tales of Berseria* story, during her prison break from Titania, the prison island. She is later claimed to be a key character who shapes the overall story of the future, *Tales of Zestiria*, and is also mentioned by Sorey multiple times.

## Trivia

* Velvet is the first solo female lead protagonist in the *Tales of* series.
* She shares the same last name as Tytree Crowe from *Tales of Rebirth*.
* Velvet's outfit was originally an alpha design for Rutee Katrea from *Tales of Destiny*.
* Velvet has a strong resemblance to Shanoa from Konami's Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, the most notable similarity is their long black hair, ghotic-styled clothing and their dark powers.
* Due to being portrayed as a character of *darkness* in the story—she shares similar traits to Heldalf, such as her daemon arm and her title as the Lord of Calamity. Whereas Laphicet shares similar traits as Sorey, both of which are from *Tales of Zestiria*—the distant future. This is a foreshadowment on how the Shepherd brings light to the world from the Lord of Calamity.

## Etymology

The term *Velvet* is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short dense pile, giving it a distinctive feel. By extension, the word *velvety* means "smooth like velvet." Velvet can be made from either synthetic or natural fibers.

## External Website Links

* **[JP]** Tales of Berseria (Official Website)
* **[JP]** Character **Velvet** ベルベット