Senel Coolidge

Senel Coolidge (セネル・クーリッジ) is the main character in the PlayStation 2 game Tales of Legendia. Unlike most other lead characters in the Tales Series, Senel chooses to use his fists instead of a sword. His "Norma Nickname" is Senny.

Personality
Senel is a hotheaded protagonist who was initially unfriendly to people other than his sister, Shirley. He chose to start fights rather than stop fighting, as he thought everyone was getting in his way.

By the end of the game, he is much friendlier to everyone around him. He had learned from his past mistakes (ie. taking Shirley away from the group as soon as possible - which resulted in her kidnapping) and started to let people help him in ways other than his own. As a result, Senel was much more level-headed at the end of the game.

Backstory
Senel was a war orphan before the events of Tales of Legendia. He was then taken in by Vaclav's army, by the age of 12 he was sent to infiltrate the village of the Ferines to capture the Merines. But after experiencing peace in the village and meeting Shirley and Stella, Senel could not bring himself to continue his mission. Senel then fell in love with Stella who knew his secrets and he decided to stay with her and Shirley. But soon, the village was attacked (Vaclav's forces noticed Senel and Stella outside the town which had a barrier and followed him to the village); Stella stays behind to ensure the safety of both Senel and her sister but she was heavily injured in the process, before she supposedly dies in Senel’s arms, Stella asked Senel to promise her to keep his secret to Shirley. After the incident, he joined the Alliance Marines to provide for the two of them while hiding from Vaclav and his forces. After three years they were soon discovered and traveled through a boat to escape Vaclav’s forces until they wound up on the Legacy.

Arriving at the Legacy
Upon arriving in the Legacy, Shirley was kidnapped by a bandit named Moses when he was engaging with a fight with Walter. With the help of town’s sheriff, Will and a female Knight, Chloe, they soon engage the bandit’s lair to rescue Shirley but it was soon stop by the intervention from both Walter and Melanie’s forces. After Norma joins the group, the party then successfully rescued Shirley from Walter but the reunion was short lived when Senel decided to leave the party with Shirley alone. He was then ambushed by Vaclav’s forces and thrown in the canyon, then a gold wings (teriques) appears and save him from the fall while he was unconscious. He seeks help from Will and Chloe but he was rejected due to his selfish actions. After learning Stella is still alive and both she and Shirley are going to use as energy to activate the Nerifes Cannon, Senel begins to act calm and started to trust his allies more than ever. After the party defeats Vaclav, Senel saves both Shirley and Stella but Vaclav, in his final act, fires the Nerifes Cannon to destroy the capital of the Kingdom of Godoria but with Stella’s last strength she is able to stop the beam of light from hitting the capital. With the power of Shirley’s brooch, Stella is able live for short time and says her farewell to both her lover and her sister before she dies.

After Stella’s death
2 weeks have passed, Senel becomes devastated and tries to live his life in atonement for Stella, by that Senel rejects Shirley confession of love. After the Ferines (Radiant) successfully complete the Rites of Accession (allowing Shirley to be one with the Raging Nerifes) and having intense rivalry with Walter, Shirley states to Senel that she is through playing sister and attempts to kill Senel after taking back the "blessings of Nerifes" (sealing the ability of all Orerines to use any kind of Eres) but the party was save with the timely intervention from Grune’s summon spirit Celsius. The party retreat back to Werites Beacon, there a mysterious entity guides them down to the Fallen Lands, where they learn the history of Radiants and the Legacy. After learning the truth, Calm Nerifes bestow sacred eres (enabling the party to use Eres) on all the party members except for Senel, who has doubts for being an Eren. Later that night, Senel reveal his secrets to Chloe about the him being responsible for the attack on village 3 years ago, there Chloe points out the he is merely running away from himself. Senel realized that she is right and face his self (past, guilt, doubts and fear) and thus Calm Nerifes bestow Sacred Eres to Senel. In Mirage Palace, Senel convinces Shirley to stop; everything goes well but Maurtis steps in and reveals to Shirley that he is the one responsible for incident 3 years ago. Angered by the revelation and the fact that only Stella knew his secret, Shirley sought to activate the “Wings of Light”. In the Wings of Light, Senel persistently convinces Shirley one last time even she appears to be one with Nerifes, but this time he is able to bring the old Shirley back and stop the Cataclysm from occurring. Maurits who is now enraged attempts to take the Merines’ place to finish the Cataclysm, but is unable to handle the power of the Raging Nerifes. As he bows to purge all Orerines, he confronts the party. After the battle, while the party gazes at the calm sea, Senel falls off the edge due to exhaustion and Shirley dives after him. Shirley's internal commentary suggests that in doing so she initiated the Rite of Feriyen. In the credits, the two lives happily back in Werites Beacon as brother and sister.

Character Quest
In the Character Quest, Senel becomes more level-headed individual and values his friends more than ever. He settles down on the Legacy with the others starting his life over with his friends, similar to how he settled down with Stella and Shirley before. His role in the character quest becomes more of a supportive role around the party member’s individual storylines. His commitment to his friends is most evident in Chloe's Character Quest where Senel not only single handedly stands in Chloe's way for revenge, but goes after her dispite his injury from her, and stays with her to comfort her when everyone goes back.

Will and the others also notes the differences from when he arrived on the Legacy. Senel now lives alongside Will as an assistant sheriff in Werites Beacon, as he investigates on the mystery of the black mist. After Will reunites with his daughter, Senel started living alone on a vacant house in Werites Beacon where in the rest of the game he would always be awaken by every characters due to heavy sleeper nature, often times with humorous results. In the end it is unknown who Senel chooses between Chloe and Shirley, as both harbors romantic feelings for him.

Relationships
During the first part of the game, Senel only cared about the well-being of Shirley and Stella, as shown when he refuses to be part of an actual party because he is only with them to ensure Shirley's return. This is due to the fact that the two sisters were the only actual friends he has had. He starts warming up to everyone slowly, and by the end of the Character Quest, he is considerbly a nice guy who now cares about his friends and the time he spends with them more than anything else. In fact, in the beginning of Jay's Character Quest, Senel's wish is to stay with his friends and hopes that they would be toegether for as long as possible. Though compared to the rest of the party, Senel has an easier time associating with Chloe than with anyone else (even Shirley), which is ironic as she was the most hostile towards Senel at first.

Tales of Hearts
Senel appears as a Support Art in Tales of Hearts by using the Screw Glove support item. When summoned Senel uses Ground Slam on the enemy.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Senel is one of the playable characters in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, classified as a Fighter with the title of Alliance Marine. He spends the game in search of his little sister Shirley, saying that they lost each other after a storm. He goes around and ask people for help in every town. After a while in Gavada, Mormo gets Senel to help Ad Libitum in their quest to stop Gilgulim from eating the world. Senel is then able to be in the party.

Senel is a good baker, as shown by a skit with Reid Hershel from Tales of Eternia, in a reference to the cooking system in Tales of Legendia, which consists entirely of bread.

Through Trial Quests, it is possible to fight Senel, either alone, with Luke fon Fabre with or without Tear Grants from Tales of the Abyss, or with Eugene Gallardo from Tales of Rebirth. If he is to be fought alone, the Protagonist needs to be level 20 in the Fighter class. When the Protagonist has defeated Senel, he will give the Protagonist the ability to change into the Ninja class for 1000 Grade Points.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
Senel makes another appearance in the second installament of Radiant Mythology, this time with another Tales of Legendia character, Chloe Vallens, being heavily involved with her plot.

Tales of VS.
In Tales of VS., Senel returns, now for the first time with a mystic arte, the previous base throw Banbutsu Shintsuigeki. He plays no real significance during the story that much, during the game is a ship captain who join the Yggdarsil Tournament. During Lloyd's story mode he explains to Lloyd Irving that he may become emotional and jealous due to the relationship Lloyd and Colette Brunel have. Reminding him of his of his dead sister and considers Colette very similar in looks and personality.

In order to get him in the game, he has to be fought in an extra event in Jade Curtiss and Anise Tatlin's story, complete said story, and then go through Stan Aileron's storyline to locate and experience the extra event involving Senel, and lastly to Mao and Caius Qualls' story and view Senel's extra event.

Trivia

 * On the box cover, Senel clearly displays green eyes. During the game, his eyes are blue.
 * Senel remains to be one of the three most popular characters from Legendia, the others being Chloe and Jay.
 * Senel's Mascot Costume is a Panda.
 * The "scar" on Senel's face is revealed in Tales of the World Radiant Mythology 2 to be a tattoo he got because he thought it looked cool.