Senel Coolidge

Senel Coolidge (セネル・クーリッジ) is the main protagonist of Tales of Legendia. He is an Alliance Marine from the Mainland. After being chased out to sea, he and his sister Shirley Fennes land on a mysterious ship known as the Legacy. After Shirley is kidnapped upon landing on the ship, Senel embarks on quest in an attempt to save her. Senel has the distinction of being the first main protagonist to fight completely bare handed in the main Tales series. His "Norma Nickname" is Senny.

Past
Senel was a war orphan before the events of Tales of Legendia. He was then taken in by Vaclav's army, by the age of 12 he was sent to infiltrate the Ferines Village to capture the Merines. But after experiencing peace in the village and meeting Shirley Fennes and Stella Telmes, Senel could not bring himself to continue his mission. Senel then fell in love with Stella who knew his secrets; he decided to stay with her and Shirley. But soon, the village was attacked by Vaclav's army, who were searching for Shirley. Stella stayed behind to ensure the safety of both Senel and her sister but she was heavily injured in the process. Before she supposedly died in Senel’s arms, Stella asked him to promise her to keep his secret to Shirley. After the incident, he joined the Alliance Marines to provide for the two of them while hiding from Vaclav and his forces.

The Legacy
Three years later, the town Senel and Shirley lived in was attacked by Cashel from the Crusand Empire and the two traveled through a boat to escape. At sea they were attacked by Zephyr, but Senel managed to defeat it. After a massive tidal wave struck the ship, Senel and Shirley wind up on the shore of the Legacy. Upon arriving on the Legacy, Senel is forced to take Shirley to Lumen Spring so he can clear her of the salt water she had gotten on her when the ship crashed. Senel is then attacked by Walter Delques and fights him, but the fight is interrupted when Shirley is kidnapped by a bandit named Moses Sandor. Senel is then offered help by Will Raynard, a citizen of the Orerines city Werites Beacon. When Senel arrives in Werites Beacon, he causes trouble at the town's fountain plaza when he gets into a fight with Ed Curtis and Isabella Robbins caused by Jay. Senel is knocked out and placed in jail by Will and he meets Madame Musette. Senel explains his situation to her and Musette orders Will to release Senel and go with him to help Shirley.

After meeting Chloe Valens at the Misty Mountains, they head to the Bandit's Lair to rescue Shirley, but they were soon stopped by an intervention from both Walter and Melanie’s forces. After meeting the treasure hunter, Norma Beatty, Senel and the party head to the Secret Passage and successfully rescued Shirley from Walter. After defeating the Dinoworm, Senel decides to take Shirley and split up from the others. However, he is later attacked by Vaclav Bould and his forces. Senel attempts to fight Melanie, but is easily defeated when she casts Eruption on him. Senel, already weak, is then grabbed by Cashel and tossed off a cliff. Senel, seeming to be thrown to his death, was saved in time by a pair of gold wings and is safely put down on the cliff's bottom.

The War
Senel is then woken up by Harriet Campbell, who orders him to escort her to Werites Beacon. When he returns to the city, he seeks help from Will and Chloe but he is rejected due to his selfish actions. Senel is still offered help by Norma, and the three head to Port on Rage. After obtaining a boat they arrive at The Crags where they meet Poppo and take him back to his village. After obtaining help from Jay, the party finds out Shirley is being held in the Ruins of Frozen Light. At the ruins, Senel finds Stella is still alive and tries to get her out. However, he then knocked out by Vaclav and is again saved by the golden wings.

At the Forest of No Return he is reunited with Maurits Welnes, who explains to Senel that both she and Shirley are going to use as energy to activate the Nerifes Cannon. At this point, Senel begins to act more calmly and starts to trust his allies more than ever. During the war he is placed in the front lines and fights on the field. At the Bridge, Senel and the others witness the Nerifes Cannon being launched. He fears that what he did was for nothing, but then finds out the two are still alive. Senel prepares to fight Vaclav and tells him that "This End's Now!"' The party then fights and defeats Vaclav. Vaclav manages to fire the cannon one more time, but Stella uses her Teriques to destroy the blast. Stella falls to the ground and Senel cries out her name. With the power of Shirley’s brooch, he manages to revive Stella for short time. Stella says good bye and reveals that she loved him.

Awakening
Two weeks after the end of the war, Senel decides to live in Werites Beacon. Senel during this time is visiting Stella's grave often and tries to live his life in atonement for Stella. Senel heads to the Village of the Ferines with the party to see Shirley. That night Shirley is going to express her love for, but he rejects Shirley confession of love saying he has to take care of Stella. The next day at the Altar of the Sea, when the Ferines successfully complete the Rites of Accession and having intense rivalry with Walter, Shirley states to Senel that she is through playing sister and attempts to kill Senel after taking back the "blessings of Nerifes", but the party was save with the timely intervention from Grune’s summon spirit Celsius. At the entrance of the Altar they are attacked by the Automata and he attempts to use Demon Fist, but he finds out that he and his party cannot use eres.

Final Confrontation
Senel and the party retreat back to Werites Beacon, there a mysterious entity guides them down to the Quiet Lands, where they learn the history of Radiants and the Legacy. After learning the truth, the Quiet Nerifes bestows sacred eres on all the party members except for Senel, who has doubts for being an Eren. Later that night, Senel reveal his secrets to Chloe about the him being responsible for the attack on village three years ago, there Chloe points out the he is merely running away from himself. Senel realized that she is right and face his self and thus Quiet Nerifes bestows Sacred Eres to Senel. At Mirage Palace, Senel arrives at the throne room to talk to Shirley, but Walter arrives and attacks the party. After defeating Walter, Senel goes to Shirley and convinces her to stop; everything goes well but Maurtis steps in and reveals to Shirley that he is the one responsible for incident three years ago. Angered by the revelation and the fact that only Stella knew his secret, Shirley then activates the “Wings of Light”.

At the Wings of Light, Senel persistently convinces Shirley one last time even she appears to be one with Nerifes, but this time he is able to bring the old Shirley back and stop the Cataclysm from occurring. Maurits who is now enraged attempts to take the Merines’ place to finish the Cataclysm, but is unable to handle the power of the Raging Nerifes. As he bows to purge all Orerines, he confronts the party. After the battle, while the party gazes at the calm sea, Senel falls off the edge due to exhaustion and Shirley dives after him. Shirley's internal commentary suggests that in doing so she initiated the Rite of Feriyen. In the credits, the two lives happily back in Werites Beacon as brother and sister.

Character Quest
In his Character Quest, Senel becomes a more level-headed individual and values his friends more than ever. He settles down on the Legacy with the others starting his life over with his friends, similar to how he settled down with Stella and Shirley before. His role in the character quest becomes more of a supportive role around the party members' individual storyline. His commitment to his friends is most evident in Chloe's Character Quest where Senel not only single handedly stands in Chloe's way for revenge, but goes after her despite his injury from her, and stays with her to comfort her when everyone goes back.

Will and the others also note the differences from when he arrived on the Legacy. Senel now lives alongside Will as an assistant sheriff in Werites Beacon, as he investigates on the mystery of the black mist. After Will reunites with his daughter, Senel started living alone on a vacant house in Werites Beacon where in the rest of the game he would always be woken by the other party members due to being a heavy sleeper and never getting up on his own, often times with humorous results. Although he has no character quest, Schwartz does create Dark Senel appears and serves as the guardian of Dark Shirley when fought in the Cradle of Time. In the end it is unknown who Senel chooses between Chloe and Shirley, as both harbor romantic feelings for him.

Appearance and Personality
Senel is a hotheaded protagonist who was initially unfriendly to people other than his sister, Shirley. He chose to start fights rather than stop fighting, as he thought everyone was getting in his way. He is prone to dealing insults and sarcastic comments to friends and foes alike. By the end of the game, he is much friendlier to everyone around him. He had learned from his past mistakes and started to let people help him in ways other than his own. As a result, Senel was much more level-headed at the end of the game.

Fighting Style
As Senel fights unarmed, he uses Bracers to increase his attack power and can equip most heavy armor. When fighting, he typically has to be closer than most characters to reach the enemy with his attacks, due to his weapons being short ranged. Being an Iron Eren, Senel uses physical attacking moves that often have him attacking with punches and kicks. Senel also learns unique abilities known as Throw Eres, which allow him to pick up an enemy knocked down on the ground and throw them. His Compound Eres, allow him to combine two different eres to create new throwing abilities to be used against various special sized enemies.

Tales of Hearts
Senel appears as a Support Art in Tales of Hearts by using the Screw Glove support item. When summoned Senel uses Ground Slam on the enemy.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Senel is one of the playable characters in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology, classified as a Fighter with the title of Alliance Marine. He spends the game in search of his little sister Shirley, saying that they lost each other after a storm. He goes around and ask people for help in every town. After a while in Gavada, Mormo gets Senel to help Ad Libitum in their quest to stop Gilgulim from eating the world. Senel is then able to be in the party.

Senel is a good baker, as shown by a skit with Reid Hershel from Tales of Eternia, in a reference to the cooking system in Tales of Legendia, which consists entirely of bread. Through Trial Quests, it is possible to fight Senel, either alone, with Luke fon Fabre with or without Tear Grants from Tales of the Abyss, or with Eugene Gallardo from Tales of Rebirth. If he is to be fought alone, the Protagonist needs to be level 20 in the Fighter class. When the Protagonist has defeated Senel, he will give the Protagonist the ability to change into the Ninja class for 1000 Grade Points.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
Senel makes another appearance in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, this time with another Tales of Legendia character, Chloe, being heavily involved with her plot. Senel first arrive on the Van Eltia when Chloe comes to the ship also. After Chloe goes missing, Senel, Kanonno Earhart, and the Protagonist go to the Coral Forest to find her. When Senel and the others find Chloe, they witness Chloe's negative energy manifest into Negative Chloe and defeat it. After Chloe is cleared of her negative energy, Senel and the party return to the Van Eltia. Like Chloe, he received a new face image for the game. The bracers Senel uses throughout the game is the Iron Bracers.

Tales of VS.
In Tales of VS., Senel returns, now for the first time with a mystic arte, the previous base throw Banbutsu Shintsuigeki. He plays no real significance during the story that much, during the game is a ship captain who join the Yggdarsil Tournament. During Lloyd's story mode he explains to Lloyd Irving that he may become emotional and jealous due to the relationship Lloyd and Colette Brunel have. Reminding him of his dead sister and considers Colette very similar in looks and personality.

In order to get him in the game, he has to be fought in an extra event in Jade Curtiss and Anise Tatlin's story, complete said story, and then go through Stan Aileron's storyline to locate and experience the extra event involving Senel, and lastly to Mao and Caius Qualls' story and view Senel's extra event.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3
Senel makes his third appearance together with Shirley. Both of them are available after finishing the third request. As the game progress further, Senel makes a personal request to find his other comrades, Norma and Chloe.

Trivia

 * Senel is the first lead protagonist to fight in an unarmed style instead of using a sword. Jude Mathis, from Tales of Xillia, is the only other lead protagonist who fights in a similar unarmed style.
 * On the box cover, Senel clearly displays green eyes. During the game, his eyes are blue.
 * The "scar" on Senel's face is revealed in Tales of the World Radiant Mythology 2 to be a tattoo he got because he thought it looked cool.