Regal Bryant

Regal Bryant, known as Regal Bryan (リーガル・ブライアン) in Japan, is a protagonist in Tales of Symphonia, and is the last member who joins the party.

The Convict
A very serious convict sent by the Pope of Tethe'alla to capture Colette Brunel, the party first meets him at the Meltokio Sewers after defeating minor convicts. He gets a hold on Zelos Wilder and says that if they made a move, he would kill him. Presea Combatir comes forth and manages to save Zelos, and when Regal sees Presea, he becomes stunned. Genis Sage uses the chance to attack the man with Fire Ball. Regal then retreats together with the other people.

The next time Regal shows up is in the Gaoracchia Forest. He assures the party that he is not going to take Colette for the moment; he just wants to talk to Presea. Genis is angry at the statement, but lets Regal do it. When Regal sees Presea's Exsphere, he gets angry and attempts to take it off, but Presea hits him away. The party takes this as a warning and fights him. Upon his defeat, Regal passes out, but is far from dead. He is carried by Colette to Mizuho. When waking up, he helps the party when Zelos says that since he wants to talk to Presea, he would have to stick with them without doing anything funny; Regal agrees.

President of Lezerano Company
While traveling, Regal shows to know a lot of things that few people do. This makes Zelos suspect Regal for being much more than just a convict, as he also remember to have met him somewhere before when he was little. When Regal gets to know that the group knows that Presea's sister Alicia Combatir was killed by the one she served, he requests them to take him to Altamira, a place he has avoided until now. They then see in Altamira that Bryant's assistant, George, is threaten by the Exsphere Broker, Vharley. Regal saves George by revealing that he is actually the president of Lezerano Company who has been absent for many years, Duke Bryant. When Vharley disappears with the help of Kuchinawa, Regal tells the group his real identity, and Presea then understands that Regal was the one who killed Alicia.

They go up to the terrace where Alicia's grave lies, and her spirit comes forth once again and expresses her happiness that she could meet her master one last time. She and Regal then tell the others that they were in love, but because of their cast-differences, George split them apart by giving Alicia to Vharley for the Angelus Project. Regal was forced to give Vharley the Toize Valley Mine in order to get Alicia back, but by then, Alicia's Exsphere had already made her mana to go out of control, thus she had transformed into a monster, killing everybody she saw, Regal included. Begging him to kill her before she killed him, Alicia died by the hands of Regal, much like the events which occurred between Kratos Aurion and Anna.

After killing Alicia, Regal handed himself over, and was put into jail. However, the Pope promises him that if he can capture Colette and bring her to him, the Pope them will arrest Vharley for him. This is the reason behind his attacks on the group before joining them. Presea says that she can not forgive him even if Alicia wants it, but she will try not to see him as an enemy.

Welgaia
When everybody except Lloyd Irving disappears because of the Derris-Emblem, Regal and Presea are in a cell, waiting rescue. However, the cell door opens, and when they go out, they see the illusion of Alicia there. Confused, the two group-members are about to fight each other, because one thinks that Alicia is a fake while the other thinks otherwise, but Lloyd comes and stops them, injuring himself. After that, Regal then accepts his past and decides to help Lloyd all the way.

Fighting Style
Regal wears handcuffs to symbolize his crime and promise that he will never use his hands to kill again; thus, he chooses to fight with his feet. He is a fighter, supplementing his melee capabilities with a small amount of chi magic, such as Healer and Grand Healer, similar to Farah Oersted from Tales of Eternia. He fights exclusively with his feet, and uses greaves to enhance the power of his kicks.

Before donning his trademark shackles, Regal mainly fought using his hands, and his strength and mastery of this previous style far surpasses those of the Traubel style he uses throughout the game. His battle style is a departure from the rest of the characters, who have a base-master-arcane style. Instead, he possesses arte chains, again, much like Farah, which are split up in terms of function, such as anti-air or air-based artes, rather than overall power.

Relationships
Presea Combatir - Presea at first is hostile towards Regal due to him having killed her sister, Alicia, despite Regal's immense guilt over the act. Eventually their relationship develops to one of some trust as Presea tries to forgive him for killing Alicia, in part because it had been Alicia's last wish and because Regal genuinely wanted to atone for the act and too grieved for Alicia. Eventually she forgives him and they forge a close friendship. After the defeat of Mithos, Presea begins to assist Regal in his work, much like how Alicia once did.

Alicia Combatir - Alicia and Regal fell in love with each other sometime after she began working for him. However, due to their different social statuses, their relationship was looked down upon by many, and Alicia was sent without Regal's knowledge to be used as a subject in an exphere experiment in an attempt to separate them. Regal eventually found out and went to rescue Alicia, but by then her body had degenerated into a murderous monster. Alicia, unable to control her body, pleaded for Regal to kill her out of love and he reluctantly complied. Alicia's death was a source of great guilt in Regal's life, and because of it he had a great desire to make it up to Alicia's sister, Presea.

Trivia

 * Regal's strongest weapon is the Dynast, obtained from his master in the Traubel style once he reaches level 80. The name of his Devil's Arm is Apocalypse. The gag weapon the player can buy for him in the completely rebuilt Luin is Glory Arts.
 * So far, Regal is the only playable character from Tales of Symphonia not to appear in a Radiant Mythology title.