Yuan Ka-Fai

Yuan Ka-Fai (ユアン・カーフェイ) is one of the main support characters in Tales of Symphonia. In the story, he serves as a temporary antagonist, but helps the party later on by offering them Rheiards as a means of transport.

Although he is cold and cynical most of the times, he sometimes shows a little more emotional side of himself, especially when talking about his past, and is truly one of the story's protagonists in the shadows. Yuan returns in the sequel Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, though he now has a more minor role than in the original story.

Military Half-Elf
In Tales of Fandom Vol 2, Yuan is shown together with Mithos, Martel and Kratos during Kratos's flashback. He is originally a Sylvaranti, and was known to be a high-ranked military despite being a half-elf. As revealed in the sequel Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, he was born in Asgard, though at that point, it was known by another name. At some point during his career, Yuan often met Kratos Aurion at the battlefield, and always claimed he hated him after noticing that Kratos never took interest for him, even if he was a unusually high-ranked half-elf.

Meeting the Yggdrasills
At some point, the Sylvarant military is planning to attack the capital of Tethe’alla, but Yuan, who is most likely leading the attack, receives a visit from Kratos, who brings Mithos and Martel Yggdrasill, two half-elf siblings who are aware that the Sylvarant army will attack the capital. They beg him to stop, but it is stated days later that they failed, and the capital was burned down. Whether Yuan ever agreed with the siblings or not remains unknown.

Traveling with the Group
After a jump in time, Yuan is seen traveling with Mithos, Martel and Kratos in a quest to revive the Giant Kharlan Tree. It is revealed that he joined the group in order to "expose his hypocrisy", and thus tends to argue with Mithos and be teased by him, Martel and Kratos. However, even at this point, he is in love with Martel, and often complies when she asks something of him. At this time, the party is closely knit, and Mithos often wonders why Yuan does not simply tell Martel about his feelings. As told in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, Yuan was together with Mithos when they met Tenebrae and Ratatosk, and still feels guilty to this day about their betrayal to Ratatosk's trust.

Kharlan War
Four thousand years before the events of Tales of Symphonia, Yuan eventually admitted his feelings and proposed to Martel, which she accepted. He became one of the four heroes of the Kharlan War at its end. He witnessed another human companion killing Martel after the war was over, and for a while agreed to help Mithos form Cruxis with Kratos in an attempt to revive her.

Forming Cruxis and the Renegades
Yuan, along with Kratos, helped Mithos create Cruxis, the Desians and the Church of Martel, becoming one of the organization's Four Seraphim. As stated by Kratos in Tales of Fandom Vol 2, Yuan was responsible for watching over Tethe'alla, while Kratos watched over Sylvarant. However, as stated in the Drama CD, Yuan secretly began disagreeing with Mithos's twisted ideal after some hundred years, understanding the meaning of Martel's last words: to end discrimination for all races, not only for half-elves. To fight back against the evils perpetrated by Cruxis, he created an organization known as the Renegades, his present lieutenant being Botta. Yuan keeps his role as the Renegades' leader secret in order to get to know Mithos’ plans better and thus stop them if they are too extreme.

Kratos and Anna
Revealed in the Drama CD A Long Time Ago, at some point during the forming of the Renegades and the present, Yuan realizes that in order to defeat Mithos, he would need the Eternal Sword, which means he has to release Origin, ultimately causing the death of Kratos. It is unknown if Yuan ever confronted this subject with Kratos before he ran away with the human Anna Irving, but after Anna and their son, Lloyd Irving, is "killed", Yuan approaches him at the sea. Preparing himself to kill Kratos, he realizes that Kratos is already dead inside, and is unable to kill him.

Journey of Regeneration
At the beginning of the present Journey of Regeneration, Yuan is informed that the Sylvaranti Chosen One, Colette Brunel, is the most successful Chosen so far, having a mana signature as close to Martel as possible. Because of this, he plans several assassinations for the girl, and is now more determinate than ever to release Origin, despite its consequences for Kratos. Eventually, Yuan realizes that Lloyd is still alive, and tries to use him as a hostage to force Kratos to cooperate and release Origin's seal, while still trying to kill the Chosen and stop Mithos's plans and the Angelus Project. However, he decides to respect Kratos's choice, and does not tell Lloyd the truth about his parents. At the end of the Journey of Regeneration, Yuan knows that time is short, and that he most likely will not be able to kill the Chosen the last day. Because of this, he tries to kill Kratos in the morning, but his plan is fooled when Lloyd sees him and warns Kratos. Heavily wounded, Yuan escapes before Kratos can recognize him, but loses his old engagement ring in the process.

Tethe'alla
Between the death of Mylene Wilder and the end of the Journey of Regeneration, the Renegades made an alliance with the Chosen of Tethe'alla, Zelos Wilder. After Botta and some other soldiers rescue Lloyd and the rest of the group from the Tower of Salvation, Yuan proceeds to explain to them the truth about the Journey of Regeneration and Cruxis. Seeing the soulless Chosen useless now, he is about to take Lloyd to use him against Kratos, but the wound he received from Kratos distracts him and the other Renegades enough to have the party run away, steal their Rheairds and escape to Tethe'alla. Off-screen, Yuan is contacted by Zelos, who tells them that the group are on their way to the Fooji Mountains to get back the destroyed Rheairds they stole. He takes some Renegade soldiers and sets a magical trap for the group, which everybody except Colette goes for. However, as he is about to take Lloyd, Pronyma appears to abduct Colette. As they come to an agreement, Colette regains her former self, lets the party out of the trap and defeats Pronyma. Lloyd, seeing it as a perfect chance to settle their score, attacks Yuan, but the half-elf is defended by Kratos, who claims that Yuan is being summoned by Mithos. He then reveals his position as an angel of Cruxis for the group and leaves. What the summoning was about is never revealed.

Boss Battle and Mana Cannon
Next time Yuan meets the party is in the Tethe'alla Base, where Zelos informs him of their position. When they meet at the Rheaird hangar, he and Botta challenges them to a battle. Thanks to the power of Lloyd's Exsphere, they are defeated. An earthquake interrupts them, and the party once again escapes from the Renegades. However, Yuan, recognizing the earthquake, relaxes and claims that a mana link has been severed. When he understands that they can use the pacts the group makes with the Summon Spirits, Yuan and Botta meets up with the group in the abandoned Palmacosta Human Ranch, where he tells more about the Kharlan War and his double agent situation. Joining forces with Lloyd and the group, he leaves the work to Botta and waits for them in the Sylvarant Base.

After the Mana Cannon is shut down, Yuan meets the group and is informed that Botta and some other Renegade soldiers are dead, sacrificing themselves to save them and stop the self-destruction of the Human Ranch. Yuan opens the portal to Tethe'alla for them, but because of his unfaced look, Lloyd gets furious at him for not being sadder for Botta's death. It is at this point that Yuan decides looking for his engagement ring, opening a side-quest for the rest of the game where he goes to most of the locations the party has met him in to see if he lost it there, not knowing that Lloyd took it before the end of the side-quest, and eventually gets it back.

Rampage of the Giant Tree
After deactivating the Mana Cannon, Yuan tells the party to continue making pacts with the Summon Spirits. When the party is stopped by Kratos from forming a pact with Luna and Aska, the Summon Spirits of Light, Yuan forced Kratos to step out of the way while the party proceeds. After the pact with all the Summon Spirits are formed, Yuan is shocked to see that the Giant Kharlan Tree is going rampage on Sylvarant as a result. Even more confused when he sees Martel inside the tree, he listens to Kratos as he explains why it happened. He then agrees to have the Renegades take Sheena to the Mana Cannon to stop the tree. Yuan is seen in his office when the tree is taken down and hears Martel's scream. He communicates shortly with Kratos, who is in the Iselia Human Ranch with the others, before cutting it off.

Truth about Kratos and Lloyd
As revealed in Tales of Fandom Vol 2, Yuan took Kate hostage when she and Kratos escaped from the Tower of Salvation. Forced to cooperate, Kratos agrees to follow Yuan wherever he wants in exchange for letting Kate go safely. Yuan, having previously told Zelos to put drug into Lloyd and his friends' food, takes Kratos to Altessa's House. He warps inside the house to summon Lloyd, and when he gets outside, threatens to kill the boy if Kratos does not release Origin’s seal. He then reveals to Lloyd that Kratos is, in fact, his father, causing Lloyd to go into denial. When the boy tries to attack Yuan, he shoots an electric attack to stop him, but Kratos defends Lloyd, taking the shot instead and passing out from the damage. Mithos then appears from the house, killing the Renegade soldiers and wounding Yuan, revealing that he had a suspicion about what Yuan was doing the whole time. After Mithos, Kratos and Pronyma leave, Yuan tells Lloyd about the "Ring of the Pact", the Eternal Sword, Origin's seal and how it is linked to Kratos's life, before leaving to retreat the rest of the Renegades before they are killed by Mithos.

Helping Kratos
Possibly out of guilt, Yuan agrees to help Kate get to Derris-Kharlan to help Kratos escape, as seen in scenes in Tales of Fandom Vol 2. When Kate and Kratos get out, he meets up with them and asks for their plans. Hearing that Kratos plans to sacrifice himself by releasing Origin's seal, Yuan plans to try out a technique that might either save Kratos or kill both of them. However, as he tells Kate, he does not care, as he too thinks that they have lived too long.

Mana Transfer
At some point, Yuan follows the group as they go to Origin's seal. He shows himself just in time to stop Kratos from dying by transferring some of his mana, and takes care of him while the rest of the make a pact with Origin. When the Tower of Salvation is destroyed, Yuan helps the rest of the group to evacuate the elves from Heimdall. He then joins Kratos in explaining the next steps, before he leaves and is not seen again for the rest of the story.

Communicating with Kratos
As heard in the Drama CD A Long Time Ago, which tells about events happening a year after the regeneration of the world, Yuan is talking with Kratos through a communication machine about a storm coming up. Wondering about Kratos's change in life, they think back to Anna and how she changed him. In the end, Yuan partly agrees to watch over Lloyd for Kratos, and together, they laugh after he states that Kratos is becoming lazy.

The In-Between
Half a year before the start of the story, Yuan has become a guardian of the new World Tree, and, behind Lloyd's back, communicates with Kratos to report about their situations on their world, as he promised in the Drama CD, and in return, Kratos does the same from Derris-Kharlan. One day, he and Lloyd receive a message from the spirit of the new World Tree, Martel, about a new threat named Ratatosk, who has recently awakened. Together, Yuan and Lloyd come up with a plan to collect all the Centurions' cores and seal him inside the Ginnungagap again.

Troubled Hearts
Emil Castagnier and Marta Lualdi first meet him in Asgard, without learning his true identity. Possibly because of his angel status, he is capable of seeing Tenebrae even in his invisible form. He wonders aloud shortly before he exits the town, causing Emil and Marta to think he is weird.

Eternal Bond
Later, at the new World Tree, Yuan reveals his assistance with Lloyd in his quest to prevent Ratatosk from destroying mankind, and explains to Emil about his past self and what to do to prevent him from doing things wrong. At the end of the conversation, Yuan gives the party new Rheairds so that they can travel easier and faster. In Emil's last visit at the World Tree, Yuan is receiving a final communication from Kratos, just before Derris-Kharlan leaves communication range and enters the far reaches of space. They address each other as true friends in their final address, and Yuan's surname is mentioned for the first time. When Tenebrae mentions Kratos's voice, Yuan asks him not to say anything to Lloyd, as he has kept the communication system a secret from him, possibly by Kratos's request.

Appearance and Personality
Throughout the story, Yuan bears a calculating and cynical personality, always has a professional atmosphere around him. He is seen to never let anything come before his goal, even if he has to kill his best friend. He also hardly shows attachment to others, perhaps because, with his Cruxis Crystal, he will outlive everyone he knows. He usually comes off as cold, aloof, and sarcastic. In Tales of Fandom Vol 2, Kratos states that the only honest part of Yuan is his temper.

Fighting Style
Yuan has four thousand years of fighting experience, and is skilled with his double-edged weapon, sometimes called the Swallow. He can also use angelic spells, though never uses it in battle against the party in the game, and his magic is primarily Lightning-based. Although he can fight on par with Kratos, when Mithos reveals his presence in Altessa's home, he easily defeats him with magic. His two most powerful mentioned attacks are Thunder Explosion, and the spell Indignation. In the Japanese PlayStation 2 version, Yuan gains Lloyd's Shunraiken as well as Tenshou Raizangeki (天翔雷斬撃), where he slams his weapon into the ground to cause a line of lightning to fall away from him. Yuan also uses Tenshou Raizangeki against Kratos in the OVA, this time appearing more as a combination of Thunder Explosion and Tenshou Raizangeki, where Thunder Explosion's glyph appears in front of him, as in Tenshou Raizangeki, rather than beneath him, as in the original arte.

Relationships
Botta - In most of the scenes where Yuan is together with Botta, he seems to put a lot of trust into him, such as trying to deactivate the Mana Cannon. However, he does not show much grief when he is informed that he is dead, though it is unknown if he tried to hide his feelings or if he never saw Botta as an equal.

Renegades - With the Renegades being loyal to him, Yuan leads them with a good hand. He most likely feels a lot of responsibility for them, as he immediately goes to evacuate them in fear of them being killed by Yggdrasill.

Lloyd Irving - As he is Kratos's weakness, Yuan often tries to take Lloyd hostage. It seems like he does, however, put trust in Lloyd and his goal to reunite the two worlds, though he does not show it. In the sequel, he seems to be in good terms with Lloyd, as he works with him during the story.

Kratos Aurion - When Yuan first met Kratos during the Kharlan War, he constantly said that he hated him, as he did not like his apathetic, calculative and gloomy attitude. However, after traveling with Mithos and Martel, they began softening, but it all changes in the present of the story, where they both act as bitter enemies because of their different views. As revealed in the sequel to the story, after the whole war against Cruxis was over, they let go of their enmity and considered themselves as true friends.

Martel Yggdrasill - Yuan loved Martel deeply during their travels, though his personality did not let him admit these before after she was cured by her angelic decease. The biggest difference between the love Yuan has for Martel and the love Mithos has, is that Yuan still could see Martel's true dying wish, instead of Mithos's twisted version of it.

Tales of Symphonia manga
Yuan appears in the first chapter in the Tales of Symphonia manga, where he receives the news of Lloyd through a spy in the Iselia Human Ranch. He does not appear in the Sylvarant Base, but remains with the Renegades in the Tower of Salvation, disguised as a regular soldier to save the party from Yggdrasil. There, he shields an attack from the leader of Cruxis. Outside, he reveals the true identity of the Renegades and asks Lloyd to join them before taking them to their base. As he never tried to assassinate Kratos, he not distracted by a wound; instead, he is distracted by Sheena, who attacks them with cards. At the end of the manga, Yuan comes with Kratos to save the group from their illusions during their final challenges before facing Mithos, where he claims he will stay and fight the low-ranked angels while the others go to Yggdrasill. After the final battle and the growth of the new World Tree, Kratos explains that Yuan will stay with the Renegades to take responsibility for Cruxis being a bad influence to other half-elves, while Kratos himself will travel with Derris-Kharlan to collect the Expsheres there.

Tales of Symphonia: The Animation
Yuan appears in the fourth episode of the Sylvarant episodes in Tales of Symphonia: The Animation, disguised as a Renegade soldier when Lloyd, Genis, and Raine run toward the Tower of Salvation to stop Colette's last ritual. He lends them some dragons to travel faster to the tower, where he is one of the few survivors after Kratos casts Judgment on the rest of the Renegades. After Kratos has revealed his true intentions, Yuan fights him to distract him enough for the party to continue. Due to an explosion caused by Lloyd that distracts Kratos, Yuan is able to use an arte to knock him unconscious. He runs to the final seal, where he kills Remiel and saves the rest of the party. Back in the Sylvarant Base, Yuan explains the situation of the two worlds before trying to take Lloyd hostage. Sheena then enters disguised as a Renegade and distracts them long enough for the party to escape. Yuan is last seen looking at the Rheaird hanger, frustrated.

Trivia

 * Both Yuan and Ka-Fai are of Chinese origin.