Velvet Crowe

**Velvet Crowe** (ベルベット・クラウ, *Berubetto Kurau*), also commonly known as "**Velvet the Therion**" (喰魔ベルベット, *Kuuma Berubetto*; literally meaning "Deamoneater Velvet"), is the fictional character, a heroine for the title, and one of the three main female as well as the main, central lead protagonists of the *Tales of Berseria* of the *Tales of* series. 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 consuming daemons and absorbing their souls. Due to having an imbued werewolf hand as a vessel bandaged up in her left arm, she is shunned and, by the voice of Artorius and the Abbey, is also mentioned to be a being which is to be feared by the world.

During her journey across regions, she comes across a very young boy called Laphicet, who changes her with his pure heart and 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 "Lord of Calamity".

"*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.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Cristina Vee (English), Rina Satō (Japanese), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (German), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (French), Not Known (Latin American Spanish)

### Biography

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 powers to create, control, manipulate, and change her body to darkness as a daemonic weapon to devour daemons, humans, and malakhim alike.

A woman who once had a friendly, no-frills personality. But that changed three years ago when she became embroiled in a certain incident. Since then, she rarely smiles, and always seems filled with rage and hatred. A mysterious power consumed her on that day that transfigured her left hand into something that was non-human. She usually has her hand bandaged to hide it.

### Appearance

Velvet is a fairly tall, slim young woman with jet black hair. Her eyes are a piercing yellow.

#### Past

Three years prior, she used to fully plait her hair, that reaches past her waist, before tying it off with a red hairband. She seems to normally wear it in a loose braid. 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.

#### Current (Main Story)

Velvet has grown her hair extremely long, and messy, which drops to floor-level; towards the bottom her hair is plaited into big braids that are tied off by a bandage-like band around the tips. 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 dresses in dark colors and tattered clothing, and her left arm is perpetually bandaged.

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.

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Gold
* Age: 16 (Scarlet Night), 19 (main story)
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: 170cm
* Weight: Not Known

## Personality

"*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.*"

—The *Tales of Link's* description on Velvet Crowe.
Three years ago before the incident, Velvet was described as a very kind, unpretentious, companionable, and loving woman, holding a deep love for her family and having a sensible head. 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.

After the incident and the massacre of her loved ones ever since then, however, she and her life completely changed and she has locked away her carefree heart. She suppresses her kindness and feeds only her standoffish rage and driven by hatred in her 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 Artorius Collbrande and the Abbey, is feared by the world. She feels loneliness in life, having to continuously went through multiple experiments and injections, face many conflicts and build up hatred. As a result, she almost never smiles.

Despite this, it is until three years later, in which she meets a very young malak boy called Number Two, who she have named after her brother later on "Laphicet", manages to draw out some of her old self. 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. As the story progresses, Velvet becomes an older sister figure of the team, particularly to Laphicet.

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 were starting to 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.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Niko
* Velvet's Group
	+ Rokurou Rangetsu
	+ Magilou Mayvin
	+ Eizen
* Dyle
* Sorey's Faction
	+ Sorey

### Family

* Artorius Collbrande (Brother-in-Law)
* Celica Crowe (Elder sister; Deceased)
* Laphicet Crowe (Younger brother)
* Unnamed mother (Deceased)
* Unnamed father (Deceased)
* Laphicet (adoptive son/younger brother)

### Neutral

* Seres
* Eleanor Hume

### Enemies

* Abbey
	+ Artorius Collbrande
	+ Oscar Dragonia
	+ Teresa Linares
	+ Shigure Rangetsu
	+ Melchior Mayvin

## Powers and 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. Velvet fights up-close and personal, utilizing her legs in martial artes performing swift kicks, while relying on her gauntlet blade in hidden artes to perform vicious stabbing attacks. The elemental properties on her hidden artes are well-suited for performing weak point combos.

### Abilities

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 of the Darkness Slayer sealed within her and turns her arms into bloody-crimson clawed hands that she can then use to strike with. 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.

## Fighting Style

Her Break Soul is Consuming Claw, which causes Velvet to be therionized resulting in unleashing the power of her left arm. She gains certain buffs depending on the type of enemy she strikes and enables her to unleash a special arte. Her health constantly decreases in this state, but she also deals more damage in proportion to the amount of health she loses. Her mystic artes are Lethal Pain, Annihilating Crash, and Impulse Desire. She also has a dual mystic arte with Laphicet called Innumerable Wounds.

## History

### Past

#### Meeting Arthur

Ten years before the story, she lived a quiet, warm, and happy life in a small village of Aball along with both her older sister Celica Crowe, and her younger brother named Laphicet Crowe—who she used to refer to her brother as "Laphi". 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, both Velvet and Laphicet, were introduced to a man with white hair by Celica. They had become close to him and eventually became a brother-in-law, started living under the same roof. The man named Arthur, under whom she trains.

One day during a *Scarlet Night*, of which was the crimson hours of darkness, her village was attacked by daemons, and she and Laphi had ventured out into the forest with Arthur witnessing a shocking splurge of events. On this night, their older sister was killed and passed away, leaving Velvet to take care of Laphicet together with Arthur. The siblings took a few days to recover from the event and the accept the death of their sister.

On that same night, the more malaks arrived, one of which was a woman named Seres. Arthur's malakian companion, Seres, could not be seen or heard by Velvet but by her brother and Arthur only.

#### A Stolen Happiness

Three years before the story, at the age of sixteen, despite the loss of Celica and her unborn child, Velvet still leads a happy life, caring for her sickly brother. A few days before an upcoming Scarlet Night, Velvet is doing her usual errands. The next day, she wakes and notices that Laphicet is not at home and begins to look for him. Her search takes her to Tranquil Woods, where she finds her brother, who happened to take a break on his way to the cape. She takes him and they talk a bit, but they are soon attacked by a daemon and Velvet attempts to fight off the monster while giving her brother a window of escape. However, she is unable to do so, and Laphicet encourages the daemon to attack him. It gives into his taunt and knocks Laphicet on the ground with Velvet as he attempts to give her a comb.

Velvet loses conciousness and wakes in her bed during the Scarlet Night with the comb in her hand and her brother nowhere to be seen. She rushes outside to find daemons attacking the village, much to her horror, and she rushes to the cape in hopes of finding her brother. There she sees Arthur together with Laphicet. Relieved to see her brother alright, she rushes to him, but a binding arte is placed upon her, and before her very eyes, Arthur kills Laphicet and drops him into the shrine's depths. Velvet breaks free from the arte's shackles and jumps into the hole, catching her brother with one hand while hanging onto the shrine's edge with her other. Arthur remarks how Velvet acts on emotion and that nothing can save Laphicet now, dropping the two into the shrine.

A mysterious entity devours Laphicet, and a bright light emerges from the shrine. Seeing her brother dead, Velvet is fueled with rage and swears to avenge her brother by killing Arthur. The same mysterious entity curses her with daemonic powers in her left hand. When she is thrown from the shrine, daemons attack her, but she strikes back and devours them on instinct. Arthur notices this and calls her a "therion". He then asks her to look around, and much to Velvet's horror, she discovers that the daemons she devoured were Aball's inhabitants, among them her deceased childhood friend Niko. With her psyche shattered and fatigued from the fight, she collapses as malakhim begin to appear and Arthur reveals his real name: Artorius Collbrande. He takes her to the prison island Titania, where prisoners and daemons are kept and thrown to her so she can devour them.

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.

## Synopsis

### *Tales of Berseria*

#### Escape from Titania

Three years later, a malak red-haired woman named Seres arrives at Titania and rescue Velvet. After breaking free from her shackles, Velvet went into a mad rage and slaughtered all the squads of guards within her sight. After experienced the first display of her slayer powers (evinced from past experiments), Seres tells Velvet that Artorius is located in the capital Loegres, where he leads the Abbey. 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 with Seres' help by releasing all the prisoners by unlocking arte-locked prisoner cells.

After doing so, the two come upon Rokurou Rangetsu, who, after hearing from Velvet, he asks her about the whereabouts that he can find his blade sword, Stormhowl, to which she promptly responds that it was down below. He thanks her and rushes on there to retrieve it. As the two make their way through the prison, they then run into meet Magilou Mayvin, a strange self-proclaimed witch who quickly disappears on them. As the duo venture to the shortcut to the Watchtower, they dispatch the guards within the area and climb the watchtower to use the shortcut.

Realizing that the shortcut has already been destroyed, Velvet suddenly jumps down from a high distance, using her power to maintain her balance. Seres wonders aloud about Velvet's condition, with Velvet muttering that it was the Malak's fault. As Velvet and Seres make their way to the front docks after making their way through the shortcut, they happen upon a praetor-rank exorcist, Oscar Dragonia, who, with the help of the two malakhim accompanying him, fights the women.

Seeing that Velvet will not go down so easy after defeating Oscar in battle, he attempts to incapacitate Velvet with a use a ball of dark energy on her by throwing one of his Malaks at her. Unfortunately, Velvet proves too powerful for the Malak and misses, then he is hit with Oscar's spell, causing him to experience the blight and turns one his malakhim into a corrupted dragon. The newly transformed dragon goes berserk and attacks Oscar and his remaining Malak by striking them against a wall and temporarily stuns them. As it tries to attack Velvet, who intends to fight him head on, but Seres takes a lethal blow while covering her and blocking the attack with her back and is fatally wounded.

Velvet rushes to the wounded Seres and wonders about her intentions, with the malak woman then says that there is a flame in her heart that cannot be quenched and asks Velvet to devour her, as it will complete her oath and Velvet can unleash her true potential. A reluctant Velvet grants Seres her request and eats and 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' memories flashing through the other's mind and realizes her true identity, receiving the Sorcerer's Ring, Brunhilt, that allows her to use the deceased Malak's powers.

With it and Seres' powers, facing the dragon once more, Velvet is able to defeat it so that she can absorb and devour it. Oscar watches in horror as Velvet consumes the dragon with her darkness powers and proclaims that she will absorb and devour any and everything if they dare to get in her way. Velvet uses the dragon power she just absorbed to send a fireball towards Oscar, terribly burning him and blinding in one eye in the process. His Malak ushers the flaming Oscar out of the prison, allowing Velvet to exit towards the docks, and steal a ship.

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.

## Etymology

The term in her name, *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 links

* Velvet Crowe *Tales of Berseria (Official Website)*
* Velvet Crowe *Tales of Wiki*
* Velvet Crowe *Aselia*

## Notes & 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 is allergic to cats. In a skit, she avoids going to Katz Corner in order to conceal her allergies, which results in her sneezing. Strangely enough, in the special skit that comes with a pre-ordered copy of *Tales of Berseria*, Velvet claims her favorite animal person is a Katz despite in spite of her allergy. In another skit, Velvet admits that she is a dog person, stating that dogs do not betray.
* 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 squeal. This is a foreshadowment on how the Shepherd brings light to the world from the Lord of Calamity.
* In *Tales of Zestiria*, while sleeping in Meirchio, Sorey has a dream in which he meets Velvet, where she encourages him to follow the path that he believes in.