Ludger Will Kresnik

Ludger Will Kresnik (ルドガー・ウィル・クルスニク), or Ludger Kresnik in the English version of the game, is the main protagonist in Tales of Xillia 2. During his first day of work, he meets a mysterious girl named Elle Mel Marta in the train where he is supposed to work.

History
Ludger lives with his elder brother, Julius Will Kresnik, and their pet cat Rollo in an apartment in Trigleph. Toward the beginning of the story, Ludger fails the exam to become an agent at the Spirius Corporation and becomes a chef on an executive train instead. He meets Jude Mathis, who is lost on his way to the train station, on his way to work. After he escorts Jude to the train, he is framed for being a molester by a mysterious girl and caught. However, the train station is attacked by a group of terrorists, thus granting Ludger a chance to hop on a train and escape. He meets the unconscious Elle in the train and is quickly attacked by one of the terrorists, who mistakes him for being an agent.

Along the way to punish the terrorists, Ludger meets with Jude again, as well as a man named Bisley Karcsi Bakur, who introduces himself as the Chief Executive of Spirius Corporation. The two go to the train cockpit, where they find Julius before Bisley enters. Julius then takes two old watches, one being Elle's golden watch she received from her father, which begins to shine. This activates Ludger's Chromatus ability, bringing him, Elle, and Jude into another dimension. He notices Julius acting strangely in the train, and the party is forced to confront him. With his power, Ludger kills the shadow Julius and returns to the real world. Rideaux aids the team by tending to their injuries, but Ludger is contracted with a debt of 20 million Gald.

Appearance and Personality
Ludger possesses a protective nature toward Elle and Julius. He seeks to protect Julius by believing there must be another way to save Elle other than kill him, and hesitates when he is opted to kill his own brother. Ludger wears a blue dress shirt with folded sleeves and brown suspenders, yellow necktie, and black trousers. He has a blue feather decoration hanging on the back of his trousers. He has a pair of green eyes and yellow rings circling the pupil, the trait he shared with Elle. Despite being brothers, Julius does not have the same similarities. His silver hair with black ends on the right is similar to Nova's hair but with inverted colors. In the manga, he is likewise depicted as a reliable person fond of his brother, but rather impulsive in his actions.

Fighting Style
Ludger has the ability to wield three types of weapons: twin swords, twin pistols, and hammers. He can shift them during battles through the "Weapon Shift" ability by pressing L1 + R1, or L1 + R2 to shift in the reverse direction. In addition to changing his arte selection based on the weapon he is using, his basic statistics such as movement speed and normal attack damage output are also modified. Twin swords focuses on speed and movement. Ludger has higher movement speed while they are active, and the artes specialize in faster hits. The hammer makes use of fewer but stronger hits with slower attack speeds. Twin pistols make use of range and have a higher number of elemental artes. Movement while using the normal attack is possible, though slow. Ludger's overall movement speed is reduced significantly when using twin pistols.

Once Bisley teaches Ludger how to use the Chromatus ability in battles, Ludger is able to transform, send enemies to another dimension, and continue the battle there without the aid of his allies for a short time, while granting himself with significant status boosts and infinite health, TP, and AC while the ability is active. The duration of Chromatus is reduced each time Ludger takes damage. Ludger's partner characteristic support ability is "Mirroring" (ミラーリング). While Ludger is the partner character, he will use the same support ability as the primary character. Ludger's version is unaffected by any skills the primary has active for their support, however.

Trivia

 * Kresnik is a god typically associated with fire in Slavic mythology.
 * Ludger's GHS ringtone is Eternal Mind from Tales of Eternia.
 * Ludger is currently the only main protagonist who can switch between three primary sets of weapons in battle, building from the Style Shift concept in Tales of Graces.
 * Ludger's fourth weapon, the dualbladed spear that is only used during his Chromatus ability, is a nominal reference to the Lance of Kresnik from the previous game, Tales of Xillia.
 * Due to Tales of Xillia 2's characteristic genre theme, Ludger marks the first silent protagonist in the series, and also the first protagonist who has a name with three words, instead of two like the previous ones. However, while he has very little dialogues outside the choices in the Japanese version, he has broader and new dialogues outside the choices in the English version.
 * Ludger ranked first in the seventh popularity poll, after Yuri Lowell and Leon Magnus entered the Hall of Fame.