Lloyd Irving

Lloyd Irving (ロイド・アーヴィング) is the main character of Tales of Symphonia, the fifth major release in the Tales series. Once but a simple country boy, Lloyd Irving is thrusted out into a journey of epic proportions following a brutal attack on his village. The Chosen of Regeneration is in fact one of his dearest friends, and after an exile from his home, Lloyd Irving joins her on her Journey of Regeneration. Although the young warrior himself plays no part in the prophecy as such, he is still a strong optimist and a fair leader.

Tales of Symphonia
Because he lives in an area that has a deal with the Desians, Lloyd never actually understands how people are suffering at the hands of the evil organization. This does him rather naive and short tempered who makes very rash decisions regardless of what consequences his actions may have, saying he is doing it for Colette Brunel, who is going to regenerate the world anyway. However, when it all ends wrong, he realizes his mistakes and tries to repent them. Under the guide of Kratos Aurion, he eventually matures though the Journey of Regeneration, seeing people really suffer. When he understands that people have to be sacrifices everywhere for the sake of others, Lloyd decides to stop "clinging to the Chosen", as Kratos describes it, and fight with his own strength and new ideals. Together with his friends, he eventually manages to save and reunite the worlds, although he is angry at himself for not finding any other way than to kill Mithos, as he wants a world without sacrifices. This shows how much he has matured, as he in the beginning in the game never had problems killing his enemies.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Lloyd returns in the sequel as a playable character. After he reunited the two worlds with his friends, he began to search for the remaining Exspheres: his goal was to prevent them from creating further victims. Lloyd has been showered with both praise and hatred from the people of the world, some of whom rejoice his actions, and some of whom condemn them. The Church of Martel has proclaimed that Lloyd was responsible for the Blood Purge of Palmacosta half a year prior to the beginning of the sequel. In Dawn of the New World, Lloyd serves a role very alike the one Kratos Aurion played in the first game, as he does not join the party until later on and serves as a small antagonist before joining. Unlike the other Symphonia characters, Lloyd does not carry his original strongest weapon from the first game instead he gets a new set of dual swords called "Gagnrad".

World in Discord
Lloyd is first met at the Tower of Mana's underground cave, after Emil Castagnier helps Richter Abend, whom was beaten by Lloyd. Apparently, while Richter was chasing Marta Lualdi to Lumen's altar, they met up with Lloyd, who beat Richter. When Emil arrives to the altar for, he sees Lloyd fighting Marta. As Lloyd senses Emil's presence, Emil asks Lloyd why he killed his parents and the people in Palmacosta. Lloyd does not answer, and instead mumbles Palmacosta's name. Afterward, Emil challenges him in battle, along with Marta and two monsters. After the battle, the new heroes are knocked out, and Lloyd retrieves Lumen's core.

Footfalls of Tomorrow
At Iselia, Raine Sage tells Emil and Marta what Lloyd did after the world was restored. It appears that when he came back to Iselia, he heard that a boy named Paul became fatherless after the Desians attacked the village when he and Genis Sage broke the treaty. When he heard this, he began going to Paul's house a lot when visiting Iselia in order to cheer the little boy up, who had lost his smile after his father's death. However, Paul's mood never got up, and one day, Lloyd propose to Lilia, Paul's mother. He thought that by doing that, he could become a new father figure for Paul. When Lilia found out this, she threw a tomato at Lloyd, and short time afterward, they all threw tomatoes at each other, finally bringing up a smile to Paul and Lilia's faces. After that, Paul became Lloyd's number one fan, and now wants to be just as strong and cool as him.

It is not until the events in the Triet Ruins that Lloyd shows up again. Depending on time used to come to the altar of Ignis, Lloyd may or may not take the core from the party. When there, Genis asks Lloyd if the rumors are true; that he attacked Palmacosta and is against them. Lloyd does not say anything, but threatens them that if they will not give him the Centurion's core, he will not hesitate to take it by force. Before a fight occurs, however, they hear a monster's roar. Lloyd realizes that it will come and attack soon, so he turns around to leave. Emil then changes into "Ratatosk Mode", and attacks him. The latter just takes up one of his sword to stop the attack, and after saying that Emil still has much to learn, he hits the boy's head and runs off.

Light and Darkness
When Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and Regal Bryant arrive in Flanoir, they get shocked to see that it has been attacked. One man says that Lloyd did it before he dies, something Regal can not believe. While they go around to help the injured people, Lloyd runs out of a house. Regal tries to confront Lloyd about the attack, but again Lloyd ignores one of his closest companions. Emil once again turns into "Ratatosk Mode", but Lloyd blocks his attack again before he leaves. After that, Regal changes from his fine clothes into his old prisoner clothes again to show Lloyd that he will go through the shame once again for his dear friend.

Truth Behind the Mask
The truth about Lloyd is revealed in the Vanguard's headquarters, where Emil, Marta, Tenebrae, and Zelos Wilder find two Lloyds fighting each other. When they see the group, the fake Lloyd tells them about his trust in them, and how justice will help them. It is revealed that the one who caused the Blood Purge in Palmacosta and attacked Flanoir was in fact Decus, who uses Solum's core's abilities to shapeshift into Lloyd and give him the blame for all the chaos. Upon leaving the headquarters after saving Seles Wilder, Lloyd turns and commands Emil to give him the Centurions' cores they have collected so far. However, after hearing his old friends, Lloyd leaves on his Rheaird.

Reawakened Memories
Lloyd appears in at the Temple of Lightning seeking the Centurion's core there. After seeing the party, he runs to the top of the tower. Based if the player was hit by lightning more than ten times Lloyd could up with the core, if the player gets the core before Lloyd he will not appear. If the player is too late and Lloyd gets the core Ratatosk will try to attack Lloyd, but Lloyd will tell him not to and this will cause Emil to get attacked by all the lightning in the tower, then causes Lloyd to leave while the party faces the boss battle.

Eternal Bond
It is not until the invasion in Altamira that Lloyd reappears to save Regal from the Vanguard. After the battle against Brute, Alice helps Decus to escape, but Lloyd follows them, though is confronted by Richter. The latter manages to weaken Lloyd and knock out some others in the party by using the power from the demonic realm. However, when Richter tries to kill Marta and Emil, Lloyd fights him again, and since Richter can not use the demon power for long, he is almost defeated by Lloyd before he manages to escape with Alice. After this, Lloyd is met at the Lezareno Company headquarters and apologizes for his weird behavior, and tells Emil to go to the World Tree to talk to the tree's guardian. At the World Tree, Lloyd and Yuan Ka-Fai tell the group that all along, Lloyd has been searching for the Centurions' cores by the order of Martel, the spirit of the new World Tree. They explain that they had to stop the Centurions’ cores and Ratatosk from awakening, until Lloyd decided to try to trust Ratatosk instead. After a long talk about Emil being Ratatosk and who he really is, Lloyd finally joins the team.

Lloyd's soulmate
Before going to the Otherworldly Gate, one sidequest mainly focuses on Lloyd clearing his name. First the party must return to Iselia and listen to Lloyd tell his story of what he did during the past two years. Upon listening, Emil must pick any of the seven party members from the Symphonia, and that member will be the soulmate Lloyd chose in the original story. Afterward, the party goes to Flanoir and triggers a scene where a man who witnessed a Lloyd-looking Decus kill his sister hits Lloyd for revenge. After the scene, Lloyd says that it is his fault for not telling anybody his side of the story, and goes to the balcony to think. When the party goes to the balcony, the person Emil picked will come and talk to Lloyd. If the choice was a female, he will declare his love for that person, but if it was a male, he will show his gratitude for being that person's friend.

Appearance and Personality
Lloyd uses skill and logic to make up for what he lacks in knowledge, which is often a joke throughout the series as he fails to answer various educational questions. He is generally idealistic, and tries to do what he believes is best for the worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. As the game goes on, Kratos compares Lloyd to Mithos, saying the only difference between them is that Lloyd is capable of acknowledging his own mistakes. Another character named Tiga also compares Lloyd to Mithos by saying he is idealistic and very dearly wants to save both worlds, but Lloyd denies that he is like Mithos and says he does not want to save the worlds through Mithos's way, but in his own way without sacrifices and with the help of his friends. Lloyd also detests the word "justice", since he believes that justice is too fickle and malleable of a concept.

Fighting Style
Lloyd focuses on dealing melee physical damage, with concentrations in speed and combo building. Attacks such as Sonic Thrust and Sword Rain reflect his faster movements during battle, while sacrificing his damage output and durability, especially when compared to Presea Combatir. Like most swordsmen, his only ranged capabilities involve Demon Fang and related artes. In Dawn of the New World, Lloyd can now use Blazing Tempest and Rising Phoenix as separate artes instead of altered artes.

Party
Colette Brunel - Colette is the girl closest to Lloyd. He views her in the beginning of the game as a very good friend, although later on, there are hints that he is developing stronger feelings for her. Throughout the game he goes to great lengths to protect her and make her happy. Kratos describes his relationship to her as "clinging to the Chosen", as Lloyd always excuses his rash behavior by being Colette's guardian. During many cut-scenes the two are alone, it is shown that he can often tell what she is feeling quite accurately, and was the one who began suspecting that something was wrong with her in the middle of the Journey of Regeneration. He was the most upset when Colette began to lose her humanity, and fought the hardest to get her back to normal. In an optional scene in Dawn of the New World, he tells Colette he loves her.

Genis Sage - Genis is Lloyd's best friend. Even when it is revealed that Genis is a half-elf and not a full-blooded elf as he had led everyone to believe, Lloyd still accepts him completely. While Genis is the more logical one and weighs the consequences of his actions more, he still respects Lloyd. On Derris-Kharlan, Genis admits that he is a coward compared to Lloyd and that he has always looked up to his ability to rush in head forward and still succeed.

Raine Sage - Lloyd refers to her as "Professor Sage" and thinks very highly of her. Although he finds her lessons overbearing and unnecessary, he accepts her even when he learns that she is a half-elf. He is constantly considerate of his teacher, though she is often intolerants about his lack of studying.

Kratos Aurion - Lloyd harbors a jealous sentiment towards Kratos in the beginning due to his superior sword skills and his condescending nature. He is always striving to best Kratos, and often yells at him for being a jerk. Lloyd begins to hate Kratos when he betrays the group, but encounters with Kratos afterward hint that he bears no ill will to him. When he learns that Kratos is his father, he denies it at first and is quite shocked. As the story progresses, he accepts Kratos.

Zelos Wilder - Lloyd's relationship with Zelos starts off on a bad foot, as Zelos is sent to keep an eye on the group, but changes slowly throughout the game. Zelos' antics annoy Lloyd sometimes, but they begin to become good friends. However, Zelos holds alot of bitterness towards himself and the world, and depending on the choices the player makes, he will act on those feelings and fight the party, resulting in his death. If this happens, Lloyd will regret having made Zelos feel the way he did. If not, Zelos will come around and become a full supporter of Lloyd's cause. Zelos eventually grows to hold alot of trust and belief in Lloyd, as Lloyd was one of the first people in a long time to make Zelos feel like things could really change for the better. This is proven in Dawn of the New World, when Zelos is the only character that believes Lloyd to be completely innocent, just as Lloyd believed in him.

Regal Bryant - When Regal joins the group, he comes as a prisoner. Lloyd allows him to fight with them, and they quickly become friends. Lloyd looks up to Regal for his level-head, and sees him as an older brother, or even a father figure in place of Kratos. Regal enjoys being around the young swordsman, who helps him to clear his mind of sadness. Lloyd even takes interest in Regal's fighting style and training regimen.

Family
Because he was found in his dying mother's arms when he was three, Lloyd has been raised by the dwarf Dirk his whole life. Early, he finds out that his mother was murdered by the Desians because she was protecting a special Exsphere they wanted. Lloyd begins to think his real father also suffered the same fate, and is not showing any hopes of him being alive throughout the rest of the game.

Dirk - During the beginning of the story, it is told that Lloyd was an orphan, raised by a dwarven blacksmith by the name of Dirk. Lloyd and Dirk seem to have a complicated relationship, arguing for many things, but are still close to each other, and just like how Dirk thinks of Lloyd as his real son, Lloyd also thinks of Dirk as his father, and views Dirk's house as his home to come back to. Many times throughout the story, Lloyd comments that he has homesickness, which makes Genis often tease him.

Anna - In Flanoir, if Lloyd decides to go out alone, Kratos reveals the whole story of Anna's death, despite Lloyd's protests of not wanting to hear it. He says that Anna, after turning into a monster in the presence of Kratos and their small Lloyd, had regained consciousness for only a minute when their family pet Noishe became hurt in an attempt to save Lloyd and begged Kratos to kill her, saying that she did not want to hurt them. Kratos hesitated, and Anna lost control again and began to attack Lloyd. Kratos eventually mortally wounded Anna in order to protect their son. However, the Desian Grand Cardinal Kvar used the opportunity to attack them, and sent Anna, Noishe and Lloyd over the cliff. Anna, badly injured, regained her human form at the brink of death and was found by Dirk, who she explained everything to and asked him to take care of Lloyd and Noishe. Kratos descended the cliff to find his family later on, but found no signs of them, except dead Desians half-eaten by monsters. This sight led Kratos to believe they had died in the fall and eaten by monsters. As such, he gave up looking for them and surrendered to Cruxis. It is likely that Anna cared deeply for Lloyd, as she used her last strength to ask Dirk to take care of him, and also still gives Lloyd strength through his Exsphere.

Friends
Because of his personality, Lloyd is usuallly friends with everyone, and he will go great lengths to help or protect them. Mithos is one of his greatest friends outside the other protagonists and his family. Although Mithos spends more time with Genis, he still communicates a lot with Lloyd and helps him whe he can. When it is revealed that Mithos is in fact the leader of Cruxis and their greatest enemy, Lloyd begins to wonder what made Mithos a bad person. At the end of the game, after destroying Mithos' Exsphere, Lloyd curses himself because he was not able to save Mithos so that he could live in their world. It is highly hinted that at the end of the story, when Lloyd is going to name the new World Tree a name, he names it Yggdrasill in honor for Mithos and his sister.

Enemies
Desians and Cruxis - Early in the story, Lloyd makes enemies with the Desians when he helps Genis to save a prisoner there. Because of him being spotted, Iselia is burned, in which Lloyd also is being disliked by the villagers, though they reclaim their friendship halfthrough the game. Usually when facing an enemy, Lloyd fights him or her without remorse, especially if the enemy is a Desian. Lloyd views everything attempting to harm his friends or innocent people evil, and will thus try to eliminate them.

Dawn of the New World characters
Emil Castagnier - Although Lloyd views Emil as a threat in the beginning, and Emil hates him for the Blood Purge, which was later revealed to be the work of Decus disguised as Lloyd, he eventually decides to trust that Emil is not like Ratatosk, and protects and supports him just like his other friends. During their time together, Emil and Lloyd bond very quickly, almost seeming like no hostility ever took place between the two, and Lloyd starts to remark how much he thinks Emil is amazing for going through all this and yet remaining the same person. In the end, Lloyd, along with Marta, are the only ones who do not bid Emil farewell. He does it with a confident smile, saying he wants to believe that they will meet again someday which, based on the Perfect Ending, he appears to be correct.

Marta Lualdi - Marta is very hostile and distrusting toward Lloyd in the beginning, but eventually trusts him when his reasons for being after her are revealed. In skits, Marta starts interacting with Lloyd like friends, the same way she has with the other Symphonia characters who joined the party before him. During a skit where Genis exclaims a "secret" Lloyd asked him to keep between them, Marta mistakenly thinks Lloyd lets nothing stand in the way of love, misunderstanding the entire concept of the scene.

Tales of Hearts
Lloyd makes a cameo appearance in Tales of Hearts as a support arte that characters can perform, where he appears and attacks an enemy, similar to a Summon Spirit when summoned. In order to get him as a support arte, the player needs to race a boy in Sharurou City of Lakesand, then complete his Spir Maze.

Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3
Lloyd appears Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 as a playable character along with the other Symphonia characters. When meeting the heroes, Julio Sven and Caro Orange, for the first time, he and Colette are being controlled by Thanatos, forcing them to fight them.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Lloyd appears in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology as a playable character, a member of the Swordsman class with the "Apprentice Swordsman" title. When the Protagonist accepts a mission to look for Lloyd in Hallowed Bastion, he and Mormo find Lloyd, who accuses them for being spies from Ganser and fights them. After the battle, Kratos will appear, revealing that it was a test both for the Descenders and for Lloyd. As the heroes succeeded the test, they become official members of Ad Libitum, but Lloyd is furious that Kratos was testing him without telling. He will also report to Kratos that he heard a couple of guards speak about a place called Orphic Maze, and they return to discuss it further. Lloyd is the only character that has the two-swords ability, and his weapon in this game is the Material Blade, which was a set of weapons given to him by Kratos and Dirk in the original game. The interesting topic is that it does not seem like anybody in the game knows the relationship between Lloyd and Kratos, except Kratos himself. He is most of the times seen talking to Reid from Tales of Eternia since they have things in common, as both their fighting styles are self-made. He is also often talking or arguing with Kratos, and talks about him with the player and Mormo a lot.

Tales of Fandom Vol.2
Lloyd appears in the second volume of Tales of Fandom with the other Symphonia characters. He and the rest of the cast find items that make them remember certain things. He tries to talk to Kratos as if they are family, but fails. However, he is curious to hear Kratos's story, and also defends him when Zelos insults him. When they meet the other characters from Tales of Phantasia and Tales of the Abyss, he struggles to find out what family name he is going to use when naming his fighting style, since his father's surname is Aurion, while the surname he uses is Irving. When he is separated with Cress Albane from Tales of Phantasia and Luke fon Fabre from Tales of the Abyss, he first sees them as enemies, but when they become friends, they come with some kind of joke which Lloyd does not understand. Later on, they together defeat Efreet, the Summon Spirit of Fire.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
Lloyd appears as a playable character in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2. He is no longer the only person with the dual-swordsman style, however, as he has been joined by Spada Belforma from Tales of Innocence, as well as an added job class for the player called the Twinsword. He joins Ad Libitum along with fellow Symphonia characters Raine, Zelos, and Colette. Later in the game, Lloyd, Kratos, Genis, and Cress are sent out by Raine to find more information on Janis Kern. After returning to the ship, Lloyd plays no important role in the story. After Goede is finally defeated, Lloyd is seen with the other Symphonia cast on the Van Eltia looking at the mana spreading across the world. The dual swords Lloyd uses throughout the game are the "Material Blades".

Tales of VS.
Lloyd makes an appearance in the Escort Title Tales of VS., as a playable character. In his story mode he is paired up with Colette. Lloyd is from the Kingdom of Heidr who entered to the Yggdrasil Battle to make his master proud of him. Lloyd in this game is the disciple of Cress and is the default selection when the story mode is selected. His ultimate weapon in this game is the Material Blade.

Soulcalibur Legends
Lloyd appears in the Nintendo Wii game Soulcalibur Legends as a guest character. His role in the story is significant, as he obtains information on the location of certain pieces of a map that reveals the location of Cervantes's ship. He claims to have traveled to this world because he is searching for Exspheres, and that Soul Edge may be this world's Exsphere. His battle skills include many artes from Symphonia, such as Grave Blade, Lightning Thrust, and Falcon's Crest.

Trivia

 * The name Lloyd is of Welsh origin, meaning one with grey hair.
 * Lloyd and Ludger Will Kresnik are currently the only main protagonists who wield two swords in battle.
 * Lloyd's "Technical" arte branch is the arte set he uses in all Escort Titles.
 * In Tales of the Abyss, Lloyd's costume can be seen in Nam Cobanda Isle with the description Main character costume for A Tales of Two Worlds, in reference to the two worlds of Tales of Symphonia and paralled with the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.
 * Lloyd makes a cameo appearance as a costume for Karol Capel in the PlayStation 3 port of Tales of Vesperia by equipping the "Akai Nittouryuu" title from beating the "200-Man Melee" as Karol. By equipping the title, Karol's arte Roaring Revolution can be altered into Blazing Tempest.