Judas

Judas (ジューダス) is a protagonist from Tales of Destiny 2. He is actually the protagonist Leon Magnus from the first Tales of Destiny.

Biography
18 years after he died, Leon and Chaltier are brought back to life by a woman named Elraine. She asks for his help to rewrite the history of the world. However, Leon refused and was banished back to the world. He wandered throughout the world alone. As time passed, Stahn's tale became a legend and Leon's name was also marked in history, although as a traitor. For this, he donned a skull mask to hide his identity (the mask is made of dragon cranium, which's well known for defense power on either attacks or magic spells). He also changed his fighting style, from wielding only one sword (Chaltier) with one hand plus a shield, he now wields another sword in his other hand (although in the remake, Leon held Chaltier by right and dagger in left)

Leon later winds up in the prison of Darilsheid, where he eventually meets Stahn and Rutee's son, and theoretically his nephew, Kyle Dunamis, and his friend, Loni Dunamis (sharing the same prison). After hearing how Kyle wants to be a hero, Leon appears and lectures him about what it takes to be a hero. He eventually frees them both, but claims that he does not have a name, so Kyle is free to name him whatever he wants. He is given the new name Judas. After helping them escape the prison, Judas leaves them and wanders some more.

Judas later reappears in Straylize Temple, as he saves Kyle and Philia from Barbatos Goetia. Kyle asks him to join him in his quest to find the true meaning of being a hero. Judas agrees, and along with a young girl named Reala, he accompanies Kyle and Loni in their quest.

Their quest leads them to be transported through time to the future, where the world is not as peaceful as Kyle hoped it to be. Judas and Loni are separated from Kyle and Reala, and wound up in Hope Town. They stay and befriend a woman excelling in archery, named Nanaly Fletch. During the stay, Judas and Loni often mention Kyle and Reala, and when Nanaly leaves Hope Town to Aigrette, she returns bringing Kyle and Reala back. Judas rejoins the group, and they eventually make it back to the present time after a shocking revelation of Reala's identity. On the way, Nanaly is also dragged to their time, so she joins them as well.

Eventually, they discover Elraine's intention, though Judas knew it all along (but chose to keep silent about it), and Kyle's group confronts her in a parallel world where she is hailed as a savior. It is there Elraine reveals to Kyle's group about Judas' identity; that he was Leon Magnus, the traitor of the Five Heroes (which supposedly include Stahn, Rutee, Philia, Garr and Leon). Judas confirms the revelation, and later the group, except Reala, is sent to a dream world, which revolves around the past and how it would seem to make them happy. However, Reala intervenes and manages to snap Kyle, Loni and Nanaly back to their senses and reality.

In Judas' dream world, he is taken back to the time when Elraine revived him, as he rememberes how he betrayed Stahn and the other heroes and eventually died. She askes him to come back to her side, though Judas keeps refusing. Kyle's group eventually intervenes. Elraine is enraged and askes if Kyle would accept a traitor like Leon. However, Loni and Nanaly declare that the group does not know the traitor known as Leon Magnus, but instead is helping the friend named Judas. Eventually, the group learns that at that point on, with history being messed up by Elraine, Reala transportes the group, including Judas, to the past timeline to undo Elraine's changes toward history.

While attempting to prevent Elraine's intervention within the timeline, the group has to work with the Earth generals that will become Swordians in the future, Dymlos, Atwight, Chaltier, Clemente, Igtenos and Karell Berselius. They are also joined with Karell's supposed twinbrother, who turns out to be his twinsister, Harold Berselius.

They are later transported to Dycroft, during the time when Stahn defeated Kronos. As it turns out, after Stahn and the others plunged their Swordians to the Eye of Atamoni to stop it, their powers were not enough. It is then Judas stands up and is about to stab his Swordian to the Eye. However, they are soon confronted with Barbatos for one last time. Upon his defeat, he throws himself to the Eye of Atamoni, killing him. With Barbatos' death, Judas is free to give his final words to Chaltier before eventually stabbing him to the Eye, destroying Aethersphere.

The group returns to the present time right after that event and confronts Elraine in the God's Egg. They fight and defeat her, only to revive Fortuna from her egg. The group defeats her, and due to her defeat, the history will be rewritten as if Elraine never existed, and so the group can start anew to prevent the already bleak future. As Judas is about to disappear, he wonders whether he will be rejected in time or still die under the name Leon Magnus. However, one thing for sure, he will never forget Kyle and their bond. Thus, Judas vanishes, and it is presumed that he dies once again as Leon.

Later, in Kyle's restored timeline, Kyle finds a skull mask resembling Judas', brought by Stahn. He seems to think that the mask is somehow familiar.

Tales of Legendia
Judas's mask appears in Tales of Legendia as an accessory for Chloe Valens. If she equips it, a skit will pop up where Chloe acts like Leon.

Tales of Vesperia
The monster "Judasey" from Tales of Vesperia is a reference to Judas, with his mask and coloration. In addition, in the PlayStation 3 version of the game, the main character Yuri Lowell can wear Judas's costume when he equips the Kaettekita Kenshi title after the 200-Man Melee is cleared as Yuri.

Tales of Hearts
Judas becomes a support arte in Tales of Hearts, where the characters can use a summoning to have him use a move before disappearing.

Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3
Judas appears in the third installment of Narikiri Dungeon along with his past life as Leon, although only one can be in your group at a time.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
In Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Presea Combatir says that she made a mask that could hide the face while at the same time not, and she called it the Judas Mask. This is most likely a reference to the mask Leon uses in Tales of Destiny 2 as Judas. For humor, this mask was apparently stolen before it could come to production, making fans joke that Judas stole it from Presea to use it himself.

The Judas Mask is also available exclusively in European versions of the game as a mask for Emil Castagnier.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3
Judas is confirmed to appear in Radiant Mythology 3, completing the cast of Tales of Destiny 2 within the Radiant Mythology subseries.

Namco X Capcom
Leon's death is featured in the crossover game Namco X Capcom, albeit slightly altered. In said game, he also returns as Judas by the hand of Dark Valkyrie, first as an enemy, but later joins the player's group as the final party member.

Tales of Fandom Gaiden
Judas acts as Harold's assistant in hosting the Tales of Fandom Gaiden DVD that came with Japanese pre-orders of Tales of the Abyss. Harold, together with Stahn, calls him Leon, though he tells them to call him Judas.

Trivia

 * Judas was in 7th place in the third popularity poll. However, in the fifth popularity pool, he was ranked in the 29th place, with only Malik Caesars ranked behind him.
 * While Kyle gives him name "Judas" out of random thinking, the name Judas is actually a reference to the biblical traitor Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Jesus Christ. This symbolizes how Leon betrayed Stahn and his friends.
 * Judas’ helmet design resembles Femto from the Berserk series.