Jude Mathis

**Jude Mathis** (ジュード・マティス, *Jūdo Matisu*), is the fictional character and one of the main protagonists of the *Tales of Xillia* and its sequel of the *Tales of* series. He is an aspiring medical student at the Talim Medical School in Fennmont, training in the royal city to become a researcher of Rieze Maxia, when he is engulfed into Milla Maxwell's adventures.

He is seem as a sharp and intellectual individual who excels in martial arts. He goes with Milla to destroy the Lance of Kresnik and take spyrix technology away from humanity, after being labeled a wanted criminal by Rashugal. However, this goal slowly turns into something much more complicated than either of them could be prepared for.

By the events of *Tales of Xillia 2*, Jude graduate at the Fennmont university and becomes a spyrite researcher in Elympios.

"*I don't have time to doubt myself!*"

—Jude Mathis.

## Appearance & Biography

*Voice Actor*: Sam Riegel (English), Tsubasa Yonaga (Japanese), Not Known (Brazilian), Not Known (Chinese), Not Known (Dutch), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (French), Not Known (German), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (Hebrew), Not Known (Hungarian), Not Known (Finnish), Not Known (Korean), Not Known (Norwegian), Not Known (Poland), Not Known (Polish), Not Known (Portuguese), Not Known (Romanian), Not Known (Russian), Not Known (Serbian), Not Known (Spanish), Not Known (Swedish), Not Known (Thai), Not Known (Brazilian Portuguese), Not Known (European Spanish), Not Known (European Portuguese), Not Known (Latin American Spanish), Not Known (Latin Spanish)

### Appearance

Jude has neck-length black hair and amber eyes.

#### Original (Tales of Xillia)

In *Tales of Xillia*, he wears a white jacket with a navy blue overcoat, lined with light blue accents.

#### Post-Timeskip (Tales of Xillia 2)

In *Tales of Xillia 2*, he wears a black top, an orange unbuttoned vest with black markings, and red-brown jeans. He also wears a lab coat since he is now a scientist. In a skit, he mentions that he changed his hairstyle and attire to fit Elympios' environment.

* Hair Color: Black
* Skin Color: Not Known
* Eye Color: Amber
* Age: 15 (TOX), 16 (TOX2)
* Birthday: Not Known
* Height: 163cm → 164.6cm
* Weight: 50kg

## Personality

Jude's mother describes him as "too quick to help others", a trait that his friends teased and even bullied him for when he was younger. Despite this, even when he came home bruised and battered, he would still be smiling underneath. This trait is ultimately what causes him to help Milla, an action that made him a fugitive and began his travels with her. He is shown to be a pacifist, as he frequently makes remarks after battle that suggest he is against fighting.

Jude is usually calm and composed, but also has, as Alvin puts it, a nasty habit of poking his nose where it does not belong, and can get into trouble because of this. He frequently becomes concerned about things that others have no interest in; Milla and Alvin, in particular, a trait he does not outgrow even when Alvin tells him he cannot concern himself with other people's business. He is a very diligent student in Fennmont and was offered an opportunity to become an apprentice medical doctor after graduation by a professor in the school. Jude is also a highly dedicated person. Despite his young age, he follows Milla in the hopes that he may be of some use to her. He adores Milla, eventually falling in love with her, and is a great friend to all his companions, being both insightful and forgiving.

## Relationships

### Friends/Allies

* Jude and Milla's Group
	+ Milla Maxwell
	+ Alvin
	+ Elize Lutus
	+ Leia Rolando
	+ Rowen J. Ilbert
	+ Ludger Will Kresnik
	+ Elle Marta

### Family

* Ellen Mathis (Mother)
* Derrick Mathis (Father)

### Neutral

* Maxwell
* Muzét
* King Gaius

### Enemies

* Chronos
* Rideaux
* Chimeriad
* Gilland Yul Svent
* King Nachtigal

## Powers and Abilities

### Fighting Style

Jude prefers melee-based combat over weaponry, primarily utilizing his fists as weapons with the aid of bracers, making him the second lead male in the *Tales* series to utilize martial arts, following Senel Coolidge. He also possesses a few, minor healing skills similar to Farah Oersted and Regal Bryant. Jude's special skill is "**Snap Pivot**" (集中回避, *Shuuchuukaiki*; literally meaning "Concentrated Evasion"), which allows him to dodge an attack and appear behind the enemy for immediate counterattacking. His primary stat for his Lilium Orb is Agility, granting him the ability to dashing across the entire battlefield at breakneck speed and make quick work of enemies. Jude's characteristic skill as the secondary partner in linking is "**Restore**" (レストア, *Resutoa*), in which he heals the primary partner should he or she be knocked down at any point. Jude is best utilized against Power-type monsters who frequently knock allies down.

## History

### Past

Fourteen years prior to the events of *Tales of Xillia*, when Jude was only a year old, his father, Derrick, was part of Exodus when it was still an organization dedicated to protecting the stranded Elympions, and his mother, Ellen, was a Rieze Maxian doctor. Derrick overheard Gilland Yul Svent's plans of using the Rieze Maxians as fuel and immediately worried for his wife and son's safety, attempting to discover a way to leave Exodus. Ellen, who thought Derrick was having an affair, followed him to the island where Exodus resided and brought Jude with her. Arriving at the base, Ellen was barred from entering due to children being prohibited. She reluctantly handed Jude over to a guard, who said that his mother could take care of him.

However, the woman was away, and Jude was left outside of the house. At the same time, a 6-year-old Milla Maxwell chances upon him and plays with him for a while. Eventually, Jude started crying and pulled at Milla's hair, resulting in her running away with him to an Exodus facility. Gilland, using a spyrix to try to contact the Elympions, raised its power, and Milla began to suffer from the cries of the lesser spirits. Her desire to protect Jude led to her awakening as Maxwell, and the Great Four came to her aid, destroying the base. Eventually, Milla had to leave Jude in the lab's ruins, where he was found by Derrick and Ellen with a small trace of a kiss on his cheek.

## Synopsis

### *Tales of Xillia*

Jude's hometown is Leronde, where his parents own a clinic. When he was small, he wandered to a dangerous place and was injured. Due to this incident, his friends changed their impression toward him. According to his mother, he has always been a soft-hearted person ever since he was a child, which was why he was bullied all the time. Jude learned martial arts while still young. His childhood friend, Leia Rolando, often asked for a duel, which resulted in Jude's defeat each time. Jude's parents rarely pay attention to him due to their professions as medical doctors. This treatment causes Jude to believe that his parents live only to work, which he strongly dislikes. Feeling neglected, Jude decides to leave Leronde and head to Fennmont, and study there.

In Fennmont, after a large number of patients are admitted to his hospital following a failed Spirit Arte at a military base, he decides to investigate the cause and meets Milla Maxwell, a mysterious girl who is investigating the recent deaths of a number of spirits. Entering a research building from underground, they discover human experimentation and the Lance of Kresnik, a weapon of mass destruction that Milla refers to as a spyrix. Deeming it as the cause for the mass spirit annihilation as well as other threats, Milla attempts to destroy it by summoning the Four Great Spirits when they are interrupted by a mysterious girl in red clothing.

After engaging in a fight and defeating the girl, she activates the lance, causing massive mana absorption, consuming the Four Great Spirits leaving Milla powerless. Before the floor collapses under the power of the lance, Milla manages to steal the key required for activation, stopping the machine. Jude saves her from drowning as they fall through the floor into a water reservoir. Leaving the sewers, they are soon apprehended by knights of Rashugal and placed under arrest for treason; however, Alvin, a wandering mercenary, appears and saves them as they board a boat and begin their journey to regain Milla's powers and stop the Lance of Kresnik. Their trip leads them to Hamil, where they encounter Elize Lutus, and Jude decides to help after learning of her hardships.

Over the course of the story Jude overcomes many hardships but perseveres. In the end he and the party defeats both Gaius and Muzet. In the epilogue he still has aspirations to become a doctor and to complete spyrite technology.

### *Tales of Xillia 2*

In *Tales of Xillia 2*, Jude explains that his father was actually part of Exodus, a terrorist group in Elympios. However, he met Jude's mother, a resident of Rieze Maxia, and decided to run away from the group. He also becomes quite famous in Rieze Maxia and Elympios as the youngest Origin head researcher, for better or worse, as he is also hated by certain parts of the society.

Jude is reunited with his past friends and allies himself with the previous game's antagonists, all aiding Ludger Will Kresnik to combat the infectious fractured dimension to preserve their own dimension. However, Jude becomes conflicted, yearning to reunite with Milla, only to discover that she was thrown into a void abyss by Chronos. Later, Jude is joined by an alternate Milla accidentally due to Elle Mel Marta's power, causing him to distance himself from this Milla, calling her "*Ms.* Milla" (ミラさん, *"Milla-san*) in the original Japanese version. When she is forced to sacrifice herself to allow Ludger to save Elle from Rideaux Zek Rugievit, the prime dimension Milla Maxwell returns. Despite the fact that Milla has returned, Jude laments the fact that he could not save the *other* Milla.

## Merchandise

### Video Games

#### Playable Appearances

* *Tales of Xillia*
* *Tales of Xillia 2*
* *Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave*

## Etymology

* *Jude* is a shorter form of *Judas*, used to distinguish the apostle Judas Thaddaeus from Judas Iscariot.
* From the Old Testament, *Judah* is said to mean "praised".
* In German-speaking countries, Jude's name was altered to "Jyde" because the German *Jude* translates to "Jew".

## Notes & Trivia

* He is designed by Kōsuke Fujishima who wanted Jude to start off as meek and timid who matures towards the end of the game; To complement this, Jude's voice actor was instructed to portray him as a passive party leader.
* Since his debut, Jude ranked on the *Tales* character popularity polls.
* In *Tales of Xillia 2*, a localization change was made to Jude, making him more accepting of the alternate Milla. In the original Japanese version, Jude referred to her by an honorific, "Milla-*san*", distinguishing the two, which causes the alternate Milla to lash out against him because she is an "imitation" of the real Milla. In the English localization, this was changed to Jude becoming more accepting of her, simply calling her "Milla". He also tells her that she is just as real as the one he knows.
* Jude makes his first cameo appearance alongside Milla Maxwell in *Tales of Berseria*.