Velvet Crowe

Velvet Crowe (ベルベット・クラウ) is the central protagonist in Tales of Berseria. Originally kind and family-oriented, the events of the Scarlet Night three years prior to the events of the story turned her into an angry woman fueled by vengeance.

A Stolen Happiness
Ten years before the story, Velvet had a warm and happy life in Aball, living with her older sister Celica Crowe, younger brother Laphicet Crowe, and brother-in-law Arthur, under whom she trains. During a Scarlet Night, her village was attacked by daemons, and her older sister was killed, leaving Velvet to take care of Laphicet together with Arthur.

Three years before the story, 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. 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.

Escape from Titania
Three years later, a malak woman named Seres arrives at Titania and helps Velvet to break out of her yoke. She tells Velvet that Artorius is located in the capital Loegres, where he leads the Abbey. The two come upon Rokurou Rangetsu, who, after hearing from Velvet where he can find his blade, rushes after it. As the two make their way through the prison, Velvet incites a riot with Seres's help by unlocking arte-locked prisoner cells. They then meet Magilou, a self-proclaimed witch who quickly disappears on them. As Velvet and Seres make their way to the front docks, 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, he intends to use a ball of dark energy on her but misses and turns one his malakhim into a Drake that strikes Oscar against a wall and temporarily stuns him. The monster then attempts to attack Velvet, who intends to fight him head on, but Seres takes a lethal blow while covering her. 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. Velvet grants Seres her request and eats her, the malak woman's memories flashing through the other's mind, and the Sorcerer's Ring, Brunhilt, forms. With it, Velvet is able to defeat and devour the Drake, blind Oscar in one eye, and steal a ship with Rokurou and Magilou's help.

Halted Plans in Hellawes
With the storm surrounding the Titania, the group crash-lands at the Figahl Icecaps, where Velvet is healed with artes by a mysterious malak boy who reminds her of her dead brother. A daemon suddenly attacks them and Velvet strikes back, and in the confusion, the boy loses the map of the empire while running away with a compass. Intending to repair the ship in order to reach Loegres, the three go to Hellawes, following the malak boy, who returns the stolen compass, into a secret tunnel into the city. There they discover that, due to smuggling, the shipping guild's activities were suspended and will not be lifted until Dyle is sentenced and killed. Despite hearing that Dyle is a daemon lizard now, Velvet and Rokurou go in search for him while Magilou searches for her "traitor".

The two make it to Beardsley, where they happen upon a crying praetor exorcist named Eleanor Hume, who is deeply touched by Abbey's inability to have exorcists cover every village and protect humans from the daemon threat. When Eleanor leaves the village, they learn from a girl that a lizard daemon is living in the nearby Hadlow Hollow, following the information into the foreboding cave. There they discover Dyle, who they fight. He reveals to them that the whole guild was involved and intends to exact his vengeance by attacking Hellawes. Velvet cuts off his tail, explaining that by bringing his tail to the authorities, she will lower their guard, allowing him to exact his vengeance, and in the confusion, she will steal a ship.

After making to the shipping guild, Velvet reveals she knows the truth about them and enlists their help in repairing the ship, but after seeing its the guild members tell her there is too much damage to be repaired. On their way back to Hellawes, Velvet and Rokurou learn that a witch is to be executed and that it is a trap set by the praetor exorcist Teresa Linares to draw them out. Velvet then decides to talk with Dyle and form a new plan: Velvet and Rokurou will attack the city head-front, while Dyle will sneak in via the secret tunnel, set the warehouse on fire, and snatch a ship for them. The diversion half-succeeds, but in the city's port, Teresa interrupts their act with the help of her two malakhim. A fight ensues, during which Velvet snatches the malak Teresa calls "Number Two", the same one who had previously stolen Velvet's compass, and they escape, along with Rokurou, Magilou, and Dyle.

Appearance and Personality
Velvet has long, messy black hair tied with a bandage around the tips. She dresses in dark colors and tattered clothing, and her left arm is perpetually bandaged. She used to be a kind, loving woman, but the massacre of her loved ones turned her standoffish and driven by hatred. Despite this, Laphicet manages to draw out some of her old self. As the story progresses, Velvet becomes an older sister figure of the team, particularly to Laphicet.

Fighting Style
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. 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.

Trivia

 * Velvet is the first solo female protagonist in the Tales series.
 * Velvet's cameo costume in Tales of Berseria is based on Rutee Katrea's Tales of Destiny appearance.
 * 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.
 * In another skit, Velvet admits that she is a dog person, stating that dogs do not betray.