Ivy

**Isabella "Ivy" Valentine** (Japanese: イザベラ・バレンタイン - アイヴィー, *Izabera Barentain - Aivī*) is a character in the *Soul* series of fighting games. She appears in every game since Soulcalibur. Since her first appearance, she has become one of the most recognizable and iconic characters in the franchise, mainly due to her snake sword, large breasts, revealing clothing, and silver hair.

## Personality

Ivy is considered evil by many due to her Machiavellian philosophy and her appearance. She only wanted to acquire Soul Calibur by any means to sever her bond with Soul Edge. When facing her opponents, she spites them with dramatic words and she takes advantage of her unique weapon, which she invented. Beneath her cold demeanor is a heart that wants freedom from a cursed life that will do whatever it takes to be free. Overall, she is a neutrally-aligned character.

## Weapons

* Valentine
* Mirage Blade
* Wiseman Mace
* Dream Blade
* Chained Flail
* Viper Edge
* Alraune
* Black Widow
* Koragashi
* Demon Tail
* Soul Edge (Complete) Ivy
* Kaleidoscope
* Soul Calibur (Snake Sword)
* Prototype Ivy Blade
* Magical Sausage
* Fish Bones
* The Ancient (Ivy)
* The Master (Ivy)

## Stages

* Valentine Mansion (SC)
* Egyptian Crypt (SC2)
* Valentine Mansion (SC3)
* Ice Coffin of the Sleeping Ancient (SC4)
* Tower of Remembrance - Spiral of Time (SCBD)
* House of Valentine's Prague Residence (SC5)

## Theme Music

*Soulcalibur*

* "Unblessed Soul"

*Soulcalibur II*

* "Maze of the Blade"

*Soulcalibur III*

* "Face Your Fate"

*Soulcalibur V*

* "Without the Blessing of Fate"

## TMNT X Pokemon

When meeting the Turtles, she refused to join them as she believes she could get Soul Calibur by herself. But after fighting the Foot ninjas, Ivy decided to join the Turtles to destroy Shredder as he reminded her of her father.

## Trivia

### General

* Ivy, at 179 cm (5' 10½"), is the tallest female character in the series.
* At size DDDD, Ivy may have the largest breasts in the franchise.
* Ivy is nicknamed "Twisting Blade of Solitude".
* Ivy and Cervantes share the characteristic of using a two-in-one weapon; Ivy's sword turns into a whip and back again into a sword; one of Cervantes' sword is also a gun.
* Given the popularity of *Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibōken*, it may have influenced character and weapon designs in the *Soul* series. Hyunckle uses a magic sword that transforms into a whip blade at will, similar to Ivy's, the only difference is that Ivy's has more spacing between its blade sections.
* Up until *Soulcalibur V*, Ivy's adoptive father was said to have the title of 'Count' in English versions. This was an error, as he should have been called an 'Earl'.
* Some people consider Ivy an "evil" character because of her Machiavellian philosophy, but her motivations are more in line with those of the "good" characters; she wishes to destroy Soul Edge, but will do so at any cost. So, she is considered to be neutral. After her actions in *Soulcalibur V* where she helped Patroklos resurrect the spirit Sword, it is clear that she is in line with the good characters.
* So far, all of her Destined Battle's have been with Cervantes. (In *Soulcalibur*, she will fight Taki until Cervantes becomes playable). She and Maxi are the only returning characters so far to have had one character remain their Destined Battle throughout the series.
* The fact that Cervantes is her father is only hinted towards in *Soulcalibur*; there is a picture of him in Ivy's ending, and once Cervantes becomes a playable character, he becomes Ivy's Destined Battle. Their relationship is officially confirmed in *Soulcalibur II*.
* Given Ivy's knowledge of alchemy, it is possible she is one of the more intelligent characters in the series.
* Her costumes have the theme of a 'revealing' look, and has received much criticism for it. Despite this, she still has one of the largest fan bases of all time.
* Ivy is the second fighting game character to use a whip sword (the first being Janne de Arc from SNK Playmore's *World Heroes* series).
* Her fighting style with the uncurled whip version of her weapon, are very likely inspired the real-life Urumi sword, or Kalaripayattu sword techniques, originating from South India. Being English during Colonial India, might have given Ivy a chance to pick up the style during travels across the British Empire.
* Ivy appears in the crossover visual combat video game *Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos* alongside other fighting game characters such as *Tekken's* Lili Rochefort, *Guilty Gear's* Dizzy, and *BlazBlue's* Noel Vermillion.
* She may have some relation to snakes. This includes her armor, Weapons (Snake Sword), some of her move list names (EX: Ivy Lick, Serpent's Embrace, Coil, etc.) plus the purple outfit which has the texture of a snake.
* Although Ivy is British, she pronounces "imbecile" and "futile" the American way.
* Ivy's current English voice actress, Lani Minella is known for voicing Sindel and Sheeva from Mortal Kombat (2011) and Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes. Coincidentally, all three share similar traits in terms of their color schemes; purple, white and black can be seen on all three.
* Fellow Namco character Rita Mordio of *Tales of Vesperia* can wield a snake sword called "Ivy Blade", a likely reference to Ivy.
* She is quite similar to Elwyn and Enimia from *Blades of Fury*, as they all have revealing clothing, somewhat similar weapons, and extremely similar fighting styles.
* Ivy's input for her command throw, Calamity Symphony, makes the shape of a cross. Given her quote "Now sing for these sinners", which occurs while performing the move, it may be intentional.
* The weapon Kaleidoscope resembles that of a Seven Branch Sword (a weapon believed to originate from the Jin Dynasty of China).
* In Ivy's stage "House of Valentine's Prague Resident" in Soul Calibur 5, you may closely see the two Soul Calibur 3 paintings of Ivy as a child with her foster parents and her when she's older wearing a dress and is next to a candle in the background.

### *Soulcalibur*Edit

* Ivy is the reason that *Soulcalibur* ended up on the Dreamcast rather than the PlayStation as originally planned because the latter couldn't cope with the animation of Ivy's sword.
* Within the Schwartzstrom group, Ivy is referred to as "Dexter Purpure".[1]

### *Soulcalibur II*

* Ivy's bonus costume in resembles that of Anna Williams from the *Tekken* series.

### *Soulcalibur III*

* The "Soul of Ivy" discipline is available to created characters of the Pirate class.
* Ivy and Nightmare are the only characters in the *Soul* series that have their own portraits featured in a fighting stage.

### *Soulcalibur IV*

* At one point, Ivy's artwork was touched up to cover up the bottom of her hanging breasts. This led to possible speculation that it would carry over to the American version of the game.
* Ivy's left shoulder pauldron and earrings incorporate the Tudor Rose, a traditional heraldic symbol of England.

### *Soulcalibur V*

* Ivy is considered to be a motherly figure to the younger fighters.
* Her 2P costume looks similar to Anna Williams' *Zebra catsuit* costume that appears in several *Tekken*games. It also resembles Nina Williams's 2P costume from *Tekken 5*.
	+ Ivy has physically stopped aging, similar to both Anna and Nina.
* An Ivy bobble bud is confirmed to be an exclusive Gamestop pre-order bonus for the Collectors Edition.[2]
* Ivy's revealing costume and large breast size has been cited by many sources as a heavy factor towards the game's rating. This is heavily ironic, as Ivy's costume is more conservative than it has been in any other game in the *Soul* series.
* Ivy's 1P costume in was designed by Takuji Kawano, and her 2P costume was designed by Mari Shimazaki.
* *Soulcalibur New Legends* of *Project Soul* explains why Ivy stopped aging. When Ivy used Valentine to defeat Cervantes 17 years ago, her snake sword absorbed all of the souls Cervantes had harvested, granting Ivy's weapon a terrifying amount of power. These souls were then used to fill Ivy's soul vessel, which granted Ivy the very thing her father had died trying to achieve: immortality.
* Ivy is the only female from *Soulcalibur I* and *II* to be playable in *Soulcalibur V.*