Asbel Lhant

Asbel Lhant (アスベル・ラント) is the main protagonist of the game Tales of Graces. He is the eldest son of Aston Lhant, the Lord of the Lhant territory, located in the border zone between the countries of Windol and Fendel. From an early age he was taught the skills necessary to inherit the title of Lord by his father and his butler, Frederick, but secretly aspires to become a knight. He one day decides to enlist in the Knight Training Academy in the capitol of Windol and became devoted to his training, eventually growing into a polite and diligent young swordsman.

Personality
He is a spirited young man with a very strong sense of justice, even more so for that of a knight. He can´t turn away from those in need, and once he has decided on a path it is unlikely that anyone would deter him from it. He may be seen as naive and young (as Malik often states), usually stating ideals considered impossible, such as "saving everyone". After losing someone important seven years prior to the main scenario, he becomes a lot more self aware about his actions and takes responsibility for his own actions.

As depicted in the game, even though he already becomes an adult, he still retains some of his carefree personality from when he was younger, as shown in some of his victory quotes and poses.

Fighting Style
Asbel uses two different fighting styles, the "Sheathed Blade Artes Style" (帯刀技) and the "Drawn Blade Burst Style" (抜刀術).

While Artes Style is active, Asbel's sword is almost always sheathed. The only exceptions are certain advanced artes where he will draw his sword to finish his attack, sheathing it again afterward. Asbel mostly makes use of kicks and striking with the sheath of his blade to attack. His Burst Style makes use of his drawn sword, activated by pressing the cancel button. His Burst Style artes often have two different animations which alternate if the same arte is used consecutively within a combo. These Burst Artes also have a few altered arte variations that allow him to activate various Artes Sytle attacks during a Burst combo, if a specific chain of attacks is used.

When he was young, Asbel had a different fighting style, where he held one sword with both hands while slashing and striking enemies. He was also able to use a number of artes that did not continue with his other abilities as he grew older.

The Prologue
One day, a young Asbel and Hubert Ozwell go to explore a flower field in a mountain that lays close to their hometown of Lhant. As they neared it, they saw a purple-haired girl sleeping in the field. They soon introduce themselves to her and, because of her lack of memories, decide to name her Sophie, inspired by name of a flower that she was fascinated by. Asbel and the others return, he decides to give Sophie a tour of Lhant. Asbel, Hubert, Sophie, and Cheria Barnes meet Richard and decide to take him out to the flower fields. Richard loses balance at the flower fields and he, along with Asbel and Sophie falls off the cliff. The group manages to make it back to the top of the cliff and carve their names into the tree as a symbol of their new found friendship. Asbel, Sophie, and Richard return to Lhant, but Asbel is scolded for endangering his friend's lives.

After Asbel sneaks out of the manor with Sophie and heads to Baronia. After arriving in Baronia, Asbel planned to explore the capital city with Richard, Cheria Barnes, Hubert, and Sophie; however, Richard does not show up. While waiting for him, Asbel accidentally discovers a secret underground cave beneath the city, and the party decids to explore it. During this quest, they discover an unconscious Richard on the ground, and Asbel hurries up to wake him. While he and Sophie tend to Richard, a monster appears and attacks Hubert and Cheria, leaving then unconscious. Asbel, in his fury, naively runs up to the monster and attempts to attack it. He is severely wounded by the monster, but at the last moment is saved by Sophie. After this, Sophie is enveloped a bright light, and launches an attack towards the monster just as Asbel blacks out. Asbel is awoken by Sophie, who is overjoyed that he is alive. Happy for her, Asbel smiles as she helps him up. Just as he sits up, the dying monster stabs Sophie in the back, then dropping her. Sophie struggles to get up, her wound releasing energy rather than blood, and runs towards the monster, exploding in a flash of purple light and obliterating the monster in the process.

Later, Asbel awakes to find himself in his own bed at his house. When his father visits him, Aston tells him that Hubert has been moved to Strata, and that Sophie had died in the cave. Shocked by this, Asbel leaves the Lhant territory in order to train in the Knights' Training Academy of Windol in the capital of Baronia so he can become stronger and protect those he holds dear.

Reunion
Seven years later, Asbel, together with his instructor Malik Caesars, travel to a village to investigate the reason for its destruction. While investigating the village, Asbel is attacked by a mysterious monster. The monster defeats Asbel easily and tries to attack him again, but Asbel learns a new burst attack and defeats the monster. After returning from their mission, Asbel and Malik meet Cheria on their way back. There, he learns that he was sent a letter from his mother, but never read it. Cheria then tells Asbel that his father had passed away. Asbel decides to give up on becoming a knight to go back to the Lhant territory and become the next lord there.

Asbel returns to Lhant and discovers that Cheria's grandfather, Frederick, has been kidnapped by Fendel soldiers. Asbel and Cheria arrive on the battlefield and save Frederick from the Fendel soldiers, but they are attacked by Fendel war machines after. Cheria and Asbel are chased to flower fields next to Lhant, but they get cornered. Before the machine has a chance to knock them off the cliff, Sophie reappears and helps them defeat the tank.

The two are happy about Sophie's resurrection, but Sophie does not remember Asbel and Cheria. The three head back to Lhant and plan the next strategy to strike the Fendel soldiers. Asbel leads the Lhant soldiers through an underwater trench and manages to sneak into the Fendel camp, but they soon discover it was a trap and the Fendel soldiers were already attacking Lhant. As they arrive in Lhant, they see Hubert with Strata soldiers defeat the Fendel soldiers. Asbel returns to his house to speak to Hubert, but the reunion ends up in chaos and Hubert and Asbel end up fighting. Asbel is instantly defeated by his younger brother and he is thrown out of Lhant by Strata soldiers.

The War for Windol
Asbel and Sophie head to Baronia by ship, but they are attacked by Baronian soldiers. The two head to the Baronia Catacombs, there they find a weak Richard on the ground and learn that Richard's father was killed by Richard's uncle, Celdric. Asbel and Sophie decide to help Richard reclaim the thrown and head to Richard's estate in Grelsyde. Along the way they meet Pascal and manage to return to Richard to Grelsyde. While in Grelsyde, the party is ordered to infiltrate the Wallbridge Fortress. At the Wallbridge Fortress, Asbel and the party are forced to fight Malik and they defeat him. After defeating Malik, Asbel and the party meet up with Cheria and they manage to fully infiltrate the fortress. Asbel and Richard manage to sneak their way into Windol Castle and defeat Celdic. After Celdic is defeated, Richard grabs his rapier and kills his uncle, despite what Asbel and his friends said. The next day, Richard is then crowned the king of Windol and Asbel begins to have his doubts about Richard.

Richard's Betrayal
The next day after Richard is crowned king, Asbel speaks to Richard about his brutal behavior, but Richard sees this as act of betrayal. Asbel decides to head back to Lhant to warn Hubert of Richard's actions, but they arrive right exactly when Richard attacked. Asbel tries to reason with Richard, but Richard attacks both Asbel and Hubert. Sophie regains her memories and fights Richard for a short while, but Richard remains victorious and tries to kill Sophie. Asbel, after remembering the events of seven years ago, intervenes and manages to attack Richard, causing Richard to stop. Asbel, Sophie, and Hubert are forced to fight Richard and they manage to defeat him. After being defeated, Richard is taken back to Baronia by his soldiers.

Strata
After defeating Richard, Hubert asks Asbel to head to Yu Liberte in Strata to explain the situation about Richard to David Paradis. Asbel accepts the request and manages to get the party to agree to go with him. Asbel and the others learn that Cheria has been kidnapped by Strata soldiers and must go save her. After saving Cheria, Asbel and Cheria end up arguing with each other. Asbel learns about Cheria's true feelings of how she felt when he left and apologizes for his words. The party leaves Lhant and takes a boat to Strata. While on their way to Yu Liberte, Asbel and the others get swallowed Rokugagan and manage to escape before it can digest them.

Asbel and the others arrive in Yu Liberte, there they meet with Paradis and manage to make negotiations. After exiting from the building, Asbel and the others help out an engineer working on the Cryst in the Strata Desert Ruins and learn about the Cryst's current condition. The party goes to the inn and they have Pascal devise a plan to fix the Cryst. Asbel returns to speak with Paradis about Pascal's plan and manages to obtain permission to enter the Strata Desert Ruins. Asbel and the others arrive in the Strata Desert Ruins and have Pascal fix the Cryst, but Richard arrives and drains the energy out of the Cryst. Asbel, again tries to reason with Richard, but Richard sends two monsters to attack the party. Asbel and the others return to Yu Liberte and meet up with Hubert. Hubert decides to join Asbel on his journey and suggests they head out to Fendel to find Richard.

Party
Sophie - During childhood, both Asbel and Hubert found her lying on a flower field. Soon enough, Sophie becomes very protective towards Asbel and his other childhood friends, and dies trying to protect them. This event of Asbel's life is the one that make him wants to change to become stronger, so that he will not lose anyone again. As Asbel reaches 18 years of age, Sophie once more appears before him and Cheria as they are attacked by tanks. Asbel acts very protective and caring towards Sophie because of what happened in the past. After Sophie's revelation that she is an artificial life-form created to sacrifice her life to destroy Lambda, Asbel constantly showed his disdain towards the idea, willing to bet the world at stake to stop her. The true extent of Asbel's bond with Sophie is shown to be very deep as shown when Asbel willing to sacrifice his life to spare Sophie from death.

Cheria Barnes - A childhood friend of Asbel, she has feelings towards him, but he remains completely oblivious, despite the frequent hints and attitudes of the other party members. After meeting again in Balonia, she displays a very cold attitude, showing little regard of care towards him; however, after Cheria is kidnapped by Reimon Ozwell, a Strata soldier and Hubert's older brother from his adopted family, and scolded by Asbel after she is rescued, she tells Asbel that she was actually worried about him for the past seven years and starts crying. Asbel and Cheria reconcile with the help of Sophie, and their relationship returns to normal. Cheria acts like an older sister or mother towards Asbel and Sophie's relationship, often taking care of Sophie in Asbel's stead as he is more clueless to the delicacies of women. It is hinted at the end of the game that Cheria and Asbel have a child, who is playing with an older Sophie at the last scene in the game. He has hair-color which appears to be a mix of Cheria and Asbel's, and remarkably resembles young Asbel, as well as having the same eye color as Cheria along with wearing a brooch that is similiar to the one Cheria wears.

Malik Caesars - Asbel's instructor in knight school, the two share a strong bond. Asbel greatly respects Malik as his ideal person to become, and continually refers to him as kyoukan (教官). Malik often provides advice and calmly analyzes the situation to prevent Asbel from running in head-first or making mistakes.

Pascal - Asbel is often left speechless at Pascal's eccentricity; however, the two can sometimes be seen sharing moments where their odd thinking patterns may overlap, to the sighs of their comrades. Their initial relationship left Asbel suspicious as to her motives towards Sophie, but she quickly proved herself a valuable friend and party member with her vast knowledge of Anmarcian technology.

Richard - Like with Cheria, Richard is a childhood friend of Asbel, who he met a long time ago and shares a great bond with. Asbel goes through much effort to befriend Richard, despite his first regards of Asbel's attempts as a means of trying to gain favor from the throne. After saving Richard's life from an attempted assassination, they become very close friends, swearing an oath of friendship along with Sophie at the flower bed in the moutain behind Lhant. During Asbel's first visit to Balonia, Richard promises to meet the young party at night near a Temple later. Despite spending a considerable amount of time waiting, and Cheria's suggestion to go back to the inn, Asbel still believes that Richard is coming. They later find Richard at a hidden location inside the temple, and are attack by a monster. Seven years later, Richard becomes the king of Balonia, requesting Asbel's assistance in restoring order to the country as a coup d'etat. Seemingly going insane after reacquiring the throne, and constantly hungering for power, Asbel still believes in his friend, and goes through many lengths to try to save him.

Family
While he was with Malik to train to be a knight, his father, Aston Lhant, died of unknown reasons. Because of this, he was asked to come back to claim his role as a leader. His younger brother, Hubert Ozwell, thinks of his absence as a way to abandon his role of leadership, thus sometimes acting cold toward Asbel. Despite being very close as young siblings, their age apart has shown them two different paths. Hubert quickly took on a larger role of responsibility and seriousness in his attitude, and acts quite strictly. Asbel, having retained some of his carefree nature, is seen as a hindrance by Hubert at first, but the two eventually mend their relationship over a common goal: protecting Lhant, and the world.

Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X
Asbel appears in the remake of Narikiri Dungeon as a cameo costume usable by Dio. To obtain the costume, the player must insert a password on the character menu. When Dio wears the costume, the battle music changes from Take Up the Cross to ''Battou! Togisumase!, the second normal battle theme from Tales of Graces''.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3
Asbel is a knight who belongs to the kingdom of Garbanzo, serving as a subordinate to Flynn Scifo. He travels with Sophie to find Princess Estelle in order to bring her back to the kingdom. They board on the Van Eltia and discover her as part of its crew. However, Estelle refuses to leave until she completes her mission to seek out incidents caused by overuse and exploitation of Hoschia crystals. Asbel agrees with Estelle's ideal, and he decides to join the Ad Libitum guild to protect the people of the kingdom with Estelle.

Asbel briefly mentions his brother and father in some skits. In one such scene, Cheria tells Kyle that Asbel's father died through an unknown cause, rather than having been killed during battle.

.hack//LINK
Asbel Lhant appears in a special crossover DVD with Haseo, the main character of both .hack//Roots and .hack//G.U., available if the game .hack//LINK was preordered in Japan. In addition to this, Haseo can obtain Asbel's clothing as a costume within the game and in Tales of Graces ƒ Asbel can obtain Haseo's Xth Form costume as DLC. Takahiro Sakurai, the voice actor for Asbel, also voices Haseo throughout the .hack series.

Gods Eater Burst
Asbel's clothing appears as a downloadable costume for the main character in the Namco Bandai game, Gods Eater Burst.

Trivia

 * It is shown in one skit that Asbel's favorite food is curry.
 * Asbel is ranked in 3rd place in the general category of the fifth popularity poll, losing to both Leon Magnus and Yuri Lowell. Asbel is also ranked in 3rd place within the ideal sibling category.