Alice

Alice (アリス) is an antagonist in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, representing the Vanguard as the leader of its combat unit. She is from Sylvarant.

History
Alice's parents are killed by monsters during a pilgrimage according to the Church of Martel's teachings, and so Alice's childhood is spent at an orphanage in Hima, where she is bullied due to her half-elf nature. Alice makes a pact with a demon in exchange for finding the Forbidden Tome of Demon Lords, granting her control over monsters. Though the heroes destroy the book, she uses the demon's remains to draw monsters to the orphanage to save Decus, who was about to be lynched for a crime the orphanage manager's sons committed. This action causes Decus to devote his life and love to Alice. She then goes on to become a vital member of the Vanguard, deciding that she needs to change the world.

Alice crosses paths with Emil Castagnier and his group in Asgard, where she is looking for Colette Brunel. There, she beats Hawk with her rapier after he talks back to her and heads to the mayor's house. When Marta Lualdi tries save a little boy from falling off a cliff, Alice arrives and starts beating her, though Colette wards her off. In response, Alice makes Hawk and two of her monsters attack the party. After they are defeated, Alice flees and doesn't cross paths again until the events at Hakonesia Peak, where she looks for Marta but decides to head to Palmacosta to cut them off. In Palamcosta, she tries to attack Emil but is prevented by Richter Abend. Emil and Marta can cross paths with her in Luin, where Bernie, someone who grew up in the same orphanage, reveals to the group that Alice is a half-elf, and his presence causes her to retreat.

In the Dynasty Ruins, she battles Emil and Marta when they find Thomas the fisherman, but is defeated. After this, one of her monsters called "Porthos" comes back to its senses and is about to kill her, but she is rescued by Zelos Wilder and is told to leave. Alice, understanding her situation, leaves them. Alice then goes to the Iselia Human Ranch, attempting to find exspheres for use in her machines, and inadvertently reveals both her past and dependence on exspheres for her control over monsters. She appears again in the Temple of Ice, where she and Decus try to attack the party. Sheena Fujibayashi summons Celsius to throw an ice wall at them, allowing the main characters to escape. In Meltokio, when the party is searching for Glacies's core, Alice reappears and attacks them with two of her monsters, though they are defeated. Then Alice sets off a collar bomb on the golem, and it latches onto Emil. Tenebrae sacrifices himself to save Emil, while she laughs and escapes on her monster. Shortly after, Decus kidnaps Seles Wilder, and Alice is seen at the Cape Fortress holding Seles captive and threatening to torture her. She is stopped by the the Heroes of World Regeneration and retreats to another room, where she reveals that Marta is the daughter of Brute Lualdi, the leader of the Vanguard who are attempting to restore the Sylvarant Dynasty. Alice and Decus realize they cannot battle everyone and leave.

Alice shows up in Meltokio to help a Sylvaranti grandmother pleading for help from the Church of Martel for her grandson. When a priest from the Church all but spits at her, Alice intervenes while Decus abuses the priest. After getting Decus to stop when she is satisfied, Alice tells the woman to go to Flanoir for a doctor and to use her as a reference. She leaves without further incident. Alice appears with the Vanguard when they occupy Altamira, and she threaten to blow up the city with rigged bombs set around it unless the group surrenders Marta. The party manages to get rid of the detonator and turn off the power in the city, allowing everyone to escape. Alice tries to prevent this, but Presea Combatir intervenes and the group escapes. During the group's infiltration of Altamira, she tricks Marta and Emil into thinking she needs their help in saving an insane Decus because of his use of Solum's core. She then sends Marta down a trap hole straight to her father and locks Emil in with Decus. After the party defeats Brute, she and Decus escape in the confusion, and she helps Richter escape from Lloyd Irving.

Alice greets the group at Palmacosta near the end, where she derides both Marta and Colette. She displays her self-confidence in her ability to change the world for herself with her own power, and she leaves, looking forward to their meeting in the Ginnungagap. There, Alice and Decus meet up with Emil and Marta for their final battle. Once they are defeated, Alice pretends to be weakened to draw Marta close enough then starts striking out with her rapier. Emil attempts to stop her, but Decus protects Alice by taking the full blow of his attack. Before he dies he tells Alice that he loves her no matter how she feels about him, and Alice finally realizes that she loves him back. Unable to handle the loss, she attempts to kill Emil with Decus's sword, only for Marta to strike her down from behind. In the end, Alice dies next to Decus.

Appearance and Personality
Alice is described by Marta Lualdi as a sadistic girl, with multiple events backing this claim. She takes delight in the thought of breaking Seles Wilder's arms and has created a scar on Hawk's back claiming him as her pet. She desires complete control over most, if not all, aspects of her life and seems to care little for the safety or feelings of those she uses, such as when she rigged one of her monster servants with a device to cause it to explode if it failed and how she uses her subordinates as furniture. Despite this, Alice acts in a falsely cute and adorable manner, which supplements the absolute confidence in herself and her self-sufficiency. She allows nothing to get in her way, but she eventually softens somewhat for Decus and Decus only, though she does aid a Sylvaranti grandmother attain treatment for her child.

Alice also easily tricks people into feeling sorry for her or believing her when she lies. After capturing her victim in a lie, she takes them by suprise and lashes out at them; one of these times is in Decus's and her own death scene. Alice also gives nicknames in an odd manner: if she nicknames a girl, this indicates she does not like them, whereas if she nicknames a boy, she likes them or enjoys their company. Her attire consists mostly of creamy white and rose pink colors, her skin is fair and pale, her eyes are a hazel color, and her hair is a pale blonde. Her voice is very high-pitched yet, in a sense, charming and alluring.

Fighting Style
Alice works primarily through her control over monsters. This power originally came from a pacts with a demon, but after the heroes of world regeneration burned the forbidden book which sealed the demon lords, the demon passed away and she lost the power to control monsters. She uses machines with the name of Hypnos that run on Exspheres to replicate her control. She can use her weapon in melee combat to ward off foes, but her greatest strength lies in the magic her half-elf lineage grants her. Alice can cast spells of the Earth and Water elements, but her specialty is in Ice magic, as befits her Ice element nature as it manifest when she uses her mystic arte: Fimbulvetr. She supplements her abilities with a wide range of healing and support spells.

Trivia

 * Three of the monsters that Alice uses in battle, "Athos", "Porthos", and "Aramis", are the names of the main three musketeers in the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
 * All of Alice's unique strike artes are based on famous artistic works, such as The Red and the Black and Winter Daydreams, with a heart added to the end.