Asbel Lhant

Asbel Lhant is the main protagonist of the game Tales of Graces. He is the eldest son of Aston Lhant, the Lord of the Lhant territory, located in the border zone between the countries of Windol and Fendel. From an early age he was taught the skills necessary to inherit the title of Lord by his father and his butler, Frederick, but secretly aspires to become a knight. He one day decides to enlist in the Knight Training Academy in the capitol of Windol and became devoted to his training, eventually growing into a polite and diligent young swordsman.

Personality
He is a spirited young man with a very strong sense of justice, even more so for that of a knight. He can´t turn away from those in need, and once he has decided on a path it is unlikely that anyone would deter him from it. He may be seen as naive and young (as Malik often states), usually stating ideals considered impossible, such as "saving everyone". After losing someone important seven years prior to the main scenario, he become a lot more self aware about his actions and takes responsibility for his own actions.

Fighting Style
Asbel uses two different fighting styles, the "Sheathed Blade Artes Style" (帯刀技) and the "Drawn Blade Burst Style" (抜刀術).

While Artes Style is active, Asbel's sword is almost always sheathed. The only exceptions are certain advanced artes where he will draw his sword to finish his attack, sheathing it again afterward. Asbel mostly makes use of kicks and striking with the sheath of his blade to attack. His Burst Style makes use of his drawn sword, activated by pressing the B button. His Burst Style artes often have two different animations which alternate if the same arte is used consecutively within a combo. These Burst Artes also have a few altered arte variations that allow him to activate various Artes Sytle attacks during a Burst combo, if a specific chain of attacks is used.

When he was young, Asbel had a different fighting style, where he held one sword with both hands while slashing and striking enemies. He was also able to use a number of artes that did not continue with his other abilities as he grew older.

Meeting Sophie
One day, a young Asbel and Hubert go to explore a flower field in a mountain that lay close to their hometown of Lhant. As they neared it, they saw a purple-haired girl sleeping in the field. They soon introduce themselves to her and, because of her lack of memories, decide to name her Sophie, inspired by name of a flower that she was fascinated by.

Losing Someone
Soon after meeting Sophie, young Asbel planned to explore the capital city of Windol, Baronia with Richard, Cheria Barnes, Hubert, and Sophie; however, Richard does not show up. While waiting for him, Asbel accidentally discovers a secret underground cave beneath the city, and the party decids to explore it. During this quest, they discover an unconscious Richard on the ground, and Asbel hurries up to wake him. While he and Sophie tend to Richard, a monster appears and attacks Hubert and Cheria, leaving then unconscious. Asbel, in his fury, naively runs up to the monster and attempts to attack it. He is severely wounded by the monster, but at the last moment is saved by Sophie. After this, Sophie is enveloped a bright light, and launches an attack towards the monster just as Asbel blacks out. Asbel is awoken by Sophie, who is overjoyed that he is alive. Happy for her, Asbel smiles as she helps him up. Just as he sits up, the dying monster stabs Sophie in the back, then dropping her. Sophie struggles to get up, her wound releasing energy rather than blood, and runs towards the monster, exploding in a flash of purple light and obliterating the monster in the process.

Later, Asbel awakes to find himself in his own bed at his house. When his father visits him, Aston tells him that Hubert has been moved to Strata, and that Sophie had died in the cave. Shocked by this, Asbel leaves the Lhant territory in order to train in the Knights' Training Academy of Windol in the capital of Baronia so he can become stronger and protect those he holds dear.

Hearing the News
At the beginning of the story, Asbel, together with his instructor Malik Caesars, meet Cheria Barnes on their way back from a mission. There, he learns that he was sent a letter from his mother, but never read it. Cheria then tells that his father had passed away.

Asbel decides to give up becoming a knight to go back to the Lhant territory and become the next lord there. This is when his story begins.

Party
Sophie - During childhood, both Asbel and Hubert found her lying on a flower field. Soon enough, Sophie becomes very protective towards Asbel and his other childhood friends, and dies trying to protect them. This event of Asbel's life is the one that make him wants to change to become stronger, so that he will not lose anyone again. As Asbel reaches 18 years of age, Sophie once more appears before him and Cheria as they are attacked by tanks. Asbel acts very protective and caring towards Sophie because of what happened in the past. After Sophie's revelation that she is an artificial life-form created to sacrifice her life to destroy Lambda, Asbel constantly showed his disdain towards the idea, willing to bet the world at stake to stop her. The true extent of Asbel's bond with Sophie is shown to be very deep as shown when Asbel willing to sacrifice his life to spare Sophie from death.

Cheria Barnes - A childhood friend of Asbel, she has feelings towards him, but he remains completely oblivious, despite the frequent hints and attitudes of the other party members. After meeting again in Baronia, she displays a very cold attitude, showing little regard of care towards him; however, after Cheria is kidnapped by Reimon, a Strata soldier, and scolded by Asbel after she is rescued, she tells Asbel that she was actually worried about him for the past seven years and starts crying. Asbel and Cheria reconcile with the help of Sophie, and their relationship returns to normal. It is hinted at the end of the game that Cheria and Asbel have a child, who is playing with an older Sophie at the last scene in the game. He has hair-color which appears to be a mix of Cheria and Asbel's, and remarkably resembles young Asbel, as well as having the same eye color as Cheria along with wearing her brooch.

Malik Caesars - Asbel's instructor in knight school, the two share a strong bond. Asbel greatly respects Malik as his ideal person to become, and continually refers to him as kyoukan (教官). Malik often provides advice and calmly analyzes the situation to prevent Asbel from running in head-first or making mistakes.

Pascal - Asbel is often left speechless at Pascal's eccentricity; however, the two can sometimes be seen sharing moments where their odd thinking patterns may overlap, to the sighs of their comrades. Their initial relationship left Asbel suspicious as to her motives towards Sophie, but she quickly proved herself a valuable friend and party member with her vast knowledge of Anmalchian technology.

Richard - Like with Cheria, Asbel is a childhood friend with Richard, who he met a long time ago and shares a great bond with.

Family
While he was with Malik to train to be a knight, his father, Aston Lhant, died of unknown reasons. Because of this, he was asked to come back to claim his role as a leader. His younger brother, Hubert Ozwell, thinks of his absence as a way to abandon his role of leadership, thus sometimes acting cold toward Asbel. Despite being very close as young siblings, their age apart has shown them two different paths. Hubert quickly took on a larger role of responsibility and seriousness in his attitude, and acts quite strictly. Asbel, having retained some of his carefree nature, is seen as a hindrance by Hubert at first, but the two eventually mend their relationship over a common goal: protecting Lhant, and the world.

.Hack Series
Asbel Lhant appears in a special crossover DVD with .Hack//G.U's main character Haseo when the game .Hack//LINK was preordered in Japan. By coincidence both of the characters are voiced by the same seiyuu Takahiro Sakurai.