Mithos Yggdrasill

Mithos Yggdrasill, also called Mitos Yggdrasill (ミトス・ユグドラシル) in Japan, is the main antagonist and the final boss of Tales of Symphonia.

Overview
Mithos Yggdrasill is both the main villain of Tales of Symphonia and a primary hero in its story. His existence in the present is not revealed until the player is about a third of the way into the game, after a certain Tower of Salvation incident, and it is not revealed that he is actually Mithos the Hero himself until the last third of the game. Mithos is best known for his belief that he is a hero and is saving the world, his childish appearance, and even his successful infiltration of the player's party.

Mithos, as a character, has great impact on the story of Tales of Symphonia. Unlike stereotypical villains, Mithos is portrayed as a misguided hero, who truly believes he is saving the world and ensuring the future of all living things; it is even argued by some fans of the game that Mithos is in fact a real hero and the protagonists of Tales of Symphonia are the true villains. The theme of ambiguity about who the heroes and villains really are in a story is somewhat recurrent in the Tales series, especially in Tales of Phantasia. Other fans maintain that sacrificing half of the population to turn the other half into angels does not work towards Mithos' goal of "everyone becoming the same" and if nothing else, makes him as bad as, if not worse than, those who defeated him.

Incidentally, due to his girlish appearance and quiet character, many players mistook him for a girl. The reason for this may be because the developers wished to emphasize emptiness of his life by having him look like a delicate, unfortunate and sorrowful child.

Backstory
Mithos's full name is Mithos Yggdrasill, although that is not revealed until extremely late in the game. Part of the character's intrigue is that "Mithos" is known as a great hero, and it is not known that he is still alive until late in the game, whereas "Yggdrasill" is a great villain, an angel with superpowers who is credited with incredible feats, but whose past is completely unknown. It is not revealed that "Mithos" and "Yggdrasill" are one and the same until after a crucial point in the game. In other words, "Mithos" is the true form of Mithos the Hero, whilst the "Yggdrasill" form is just a form he took on to be a "more befitting leader of Cruxis".

According to legend, Mithos and his three companions stopped the Ancient Kharlan War and restored peace to the world. Early in the game, it is believed that they had sealed away the Desians. Later, however, the war is discovered to have been between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla - the Desians were completely irrelevant. This group of mythical heroes was composed of three half-elves and one human. Mithos's full name is revealed with the identities of the heroes: Kratos Aurion, Mithos's sister Martel, and Yuan. They would later be referred to as the Four Seraphim, the leaders of Cruxis. The whole group is over 4,000 years old. Although Martel was slain in the war, her soul still exists in a dormant state within her Exsphere.

During the War, the companions went through many great hardships due to discrimination against half-elves, fueled by both humans and elves. Because of this discrimination, Mithos and Martel were blamed for an unnamed misfortune and expelled from their home of Heimdall. They heard of Sylvarant's approaching invasion of Tethea'lla and tried to stop it, only to be ignored because of their race. After the fall of Tethe'alla's capital, Mithos was joined by Kratos, who trained him as a swordsman and a mage. Yuan would complete their party later on, possibly along with Noishe. Mithos would eventually go on to become the great hero of legend by single-handedly making pacts with each of the Summon Spirits (although he had Kratos make the pact with the King of Summon Spirits, Origin, in his place). Mithos then had Origin create the near-omnipotent Eternal Sword, which he used to split the world in two (to create the parallel worlds of Tethe'alla and Sylvarant) in order to prevent more magitechnology from being created. The Ancient Kharlan War was caused by magitechnology, which consumes vast amounts of mana; by splitting the world in two halves and having them vie for the small amount of remaining mana, Mithos effectively stopped the creation of magitechnology and a second cataclysmic global war. Part of the pact with Origin was a promise that he would restore the Great Seed to the world so that it could grow again; this would restore mana to the land. Instead, Mithos took it to Derris-Kharlan in order to revive and protect his dead sister, thereby breaking his pact with the Summon Spirits.

Mithos had strong ideals about peace and unity, but his sister's death deepened his hatred for humanity and made him lose track of whether the world, or her life, was more important to him. He took her final words to heart, her wish for a world without discrimination, which he interpreted as a wish to end the persecution of half-elves (what Martel truly wanted was an end to discrimination between all the different races, as stated by Yuan). Mithos' ideals then became twisted; he came to the conclusion that the only way for discrimination to end was, in his own words:

''"By using the Exspheres to eliminate the different bloods that flow within elves and humans, everyone will become the same lifeless beings. Discrimination will vanish. That is the grand age I strive for." ''

"People fear and hate what is not normal. They are scared of those that are different. Then the solution is for everyone to become the same."

To this end, he began mutating half-elves, using a superior form of Exsphere known as Cruxis Crystals. These Cruxis Crystals turned their subjects into near-immortal, angel-like entities at the cost of the things that made them human. These "angels" are often referred to as "lifeless beings". Even if the body of an angel was destroyed, the Exsphere would also need to be destroyed as well for them to truly die; it was possible to live on in a Cruxis Crystal even after the body of its host had been destroyed.

Mithos also founded the Church of Martel, and therefore became, in a way, the absolute ruler of the two worlds. In order to resurrect Martel, Mithos would need to find a subject whose mana signature was nearly identical to Martel's. Acting as a supreme lord of angels, he manipulated the bloodlines of the citizens of the two worlds for over 4000 years in order to create this vessel. Mithos declared Martel a goddess and became remembered as a hero.

Life and eventual death
Despite the fact that he truly means well and he believes that he is saving the world, Mithos creates enemies everywhere: even his former companions, Kratos and Yuan, turn against him. Seventeen years before the game begins, Kratos Aurion escapes from Mithos's grasp and takes a human wife, Anna. They have a son, Lloyd Irving, but due to the interference of Kvar (one of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals), Anna is killed and Lloyd lost. Believing that his son is dead, Kratos gives up on life, returning to Mithos. Lloyd does not discover who his true father is until late in the game.

Yuan, the third of the Four Seraphim, is a scheming and devious warrior; instead of opposing Mithos directly, as Kratos does, he chooses to become a double agent, using his influence and knowledge of Cruxis's actions to foil their plans with his secret underground organization, the Renegades. Yuan was engaged to Martel before she died. This is the only reason that, when Mithos discovers that Yuan is betraying him, he does not kill him, believing Martel would never forgive him if he did. Yuan later assists the party.

Later in the game, in the Hall of the Great Seed, Mithos manages to revive Martel by channeling his sister's consciousness through Colette. Contradictory to Mithos' expectations, the awakened Martel expresses deep regret and disappointment at what her brother has done. She begs him to stop creating his Age of Lifeless Beings, saying that what he has been doing "is wrong." Mithos sees this as the ultimate betrayal, driving him to a state of total denial and insanity and leaving him as the only one of the Four Seraphim who still believes in the Age of Lifeless Beings. Outraged, he attacks the party and loses, his body vanishing into his Cruxis Crystal. Unbeknownst to the rest of the party, it is picked up by Genis Sage, Mithos' only true friend.

After the duel between Lloyd and Kratos in Heimdall and the making of the pact between Sheena and Origin, Mithos' spirit leaves the Cruxis Crystal and tries to possess Lloyd. He is stopped by whichever character Lloyd has the best relationship with, whom Mithos takes over instead, and escapes to Derris-Kharlan. Believing that his sister wanted to leave the world, he moves Derris-Kharlan, which, in turn, separates the world. Mithos and the character are found in Derris-Kharlan, where Lloyd saves the character from Mithos' control.

As the party makes their way through Welgaia, the Holy City of Derris-Kharlan, Mithos' spirit (within the Crystal) reaches out to each of the party members in a desperate attempt to get them to join him. One by one, the party rejects him, pledging to risk everything in order to stop him. When Mithos is finally defeated and killed in the throne room of Vinheim, his castle, he tells the party that he feels no regret for the choices he made, and, if given the chance, he would do everything all over again. Lloyd then destroys Mithos' Cruxis Crystal, truly killing him.

Mithos's forms
Mithos appears in a total of four forms throughout the game: his angelic form (a tall, adult Mithos, complete with angel wings which he uses to portray the leader of Cruxis), his true form (a short, blonde-haired, innocent-looking half-elf which he uses to infiltrate the group), his avenger form (his child form with rainbow-colored angel wings, which he reverts to when he is angry) and his final form (a giant, fearsome robot-like creature, in which the only recognizable part is Mithos's head inside the "cockpit." The form is believed by many to be the physical manifestation of all of Mithos' sins. It is similar to those of the previously defeated "sub-bosses" known only as the Judged, the Neglected, and the Fugitive, and it can be easily argued that these three "sub-bosses" are based on Mithos' experiences as a half-elf, supporting the "manifestation of sin" theory).

After Ozette is destroyed by the Light of Judgment (sent down from the heavens by Cruxis), Mithos appears for the first time in his child form. He convinces the player's party that he is an outsider of Ozette, and joins the group, befriending Genis Sage. He gives Genis his panpipes, which are later used to summon both Mithos and the Summon Spirit Aska. Mithos next appears in his angelic form at the Tower of Salvation, where he saves Genis' life and drops the panpipes in the process. Genis then begins to suspect Mithos' true identity.

Mithos's stay with the party marks his own internal conflict, which he only speaks of with Noishe. For the first time since his sister's death, he considers the possibility that what he is doing is wrong, and struggles with a growing liking for the group, particularly Genis, Raine, and Lloyd. He also says that he is tired of his prolonged existence, and that if he is wrong, he has no reason for living.

Boss Battle
Lloyd's party fights Mithos five times in the game.

First, at the Tower of Salvation, he promptly defeats the party in his Yggdrasill form. It is normally impossible to defeat him, even with patience, speed, and All-Divides, as the fight ends after a certain amount of time and/or HP removal (even if the the player survives, they still don't get anything). If the latter is achieved, the resulting cinematic is only slightly different, and he is not destroyed as in normal boss battles.

The next encounter takes place in the Tower as well. Though Mithos is not as difficult an opponent as before, the battle is interrupted by Colette collapsing. Pronyma soon arrives and Yggdrasill escapes with her.

The third battle (in the Hall of the Great Seed) is actually fought to the end, where the party witnesses what appears to be Mithos's death. However, because his Cruxis Crystal is not destroyed, he later comes back to life.

At the end of the game, Mithos fights the group for the last time (in his castle, where the Great Seed appears to be) in an attempt to destroy the world and build a new one on Derris-Kharlan. He first battles in his child avenger form, with rainbow angel wings. In this form, he's much stronger then in the earlier fights with him. In addition, he will use Indgination Judgment on higher difficulties, and Shining Bind in the PS2 version, as well as the non-interruptable Angel Skill Retribution. After his defeat he combines with three previously slain bosses, the Judged, the Fugitive and the Neglected, to challenge the heroes once more. He's actually considered easier in his 2nd form since he isn't as mobile and use what is usually considered a less dangerous skill-set.

In all five battles, Mithos acts in a similar manner: he has devastating magical powers at both mêlée and long range. Slow, he rarely moves but teleports effectively around the battlefield to evade his enemies, making Unison Attacks difficult to perform. Like other angel enemies, Mithos is strong against light and weak against darkness. In all encounters, he's considered a very difficult fight.

In the PS2 version of the game, a sixth battle was added in the optional dungeon Niflheim. At the end of the dungeon, Lloyd's group must face copies of Mithos, Kratos and Yuan, who explain that they have been left as guardians until someone who can destroy the world of Niflheim arrives. As they were still on their quest to save the Great Tree, they could not leave their real bodies, only memories. Before they disappear, Mithos asks if they have succeeded in their quest to make half-elves less hated, and asks Lloyd to help their real selves revive the Tree.

Trivia

 * Mithos's name is derived from Yggdrasil, a great tree in Norse mythology.
 * Mithos's background, including his disturbing vision of "fixing" the world that has wronged him and the trauma of experiencing the death of his older sister Martel and thus "waging war on death" in attempts of immortality and resurrection, seems to be a common recurring theme with villains in contemporary entertainment. His modus operandi bears some resemblance to Adolf Hitler's with his ideas of human ranches and evolving to a superior race. Unlike most similarly-themed villains, who have acknowledged their turning to evil, however, Mithos is not as much truly evil as he is isolated, deluded, and grief-stricken to the point of insanity.
 * In another game by Namco, Tales of Phantasia, there is a giant tree providing infinite mana. It is called Yggdrasill. At the end of Tales of Symphonia, when the Giant Kharlan Tree is revived, Lloyd is prompted to give it a name, but that name is never revealed. It is widely believed that Lloyd named it Yggdrasill, after Mithos. Tales of Symphonia is in fact a prequel to Tales of Phantasia. This is further supported by the presence of angelic wings on the final form of Dhaos, Tales of Phantasia's central villain. Dhaos is also said to be from Derris-Kharlan, the home of the angels of Cruxis.
 * In the PS2 version Mithos in Yggdrasil form now has a move called the Yggdrasil laser. The move looks and acts similar to Dhaos's Dhaos laser.
 * Mithos also appears in his Yggdrasill form in the game Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 as a boss in the ancient city. His costume is usable as well, and is also worn by evil Frio in the final boss battle along with Shizel.
 * In Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, in a skit extremely late in the game, Tenebrae, the Centurion of Darkness, asks Lloyd of Mithos's whereabouts. Lloyd responds that Mithos became the new World Tree himself, or so he believes, without mention of his time as an antagonist.
 * Mithos bears a strong resemblance to Colette Brunel, though no one ever comments on this similarity in appearance.
 * In a joke omake in the final volume of the Tales of Symphonia manga adaptation, Lloyd gives the Giant Kharlan Tree the name Gonzales.
 * In the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia, Patty can obtain Mithos' clothes as a cameo costume.