Raven

Raven, birth-named Schwann Oltorain, is a frivolous and shady-looking man that wears a long purple coat with messy grayish-brown hair tied up in a ponytail. Despite his fishy appearance, he is a high-ranked member of Altosk, one of the five master guilds of the Union. When his hair is down, it falls into long, uneven bangs that cover most of his left eye.

Personality
As Raven, he is a slightly odd individual, easily recognized by his lazy, slang-ridden speech and overly friendly, overly nonchalant demeanor. He's talkative, and is prone to teasing and melodramatic complaining, which easily grates on the nerves of others and subjects him to brutal reprimanding. He's also kind, hardly ever showing anger to anyone but his enemies, and he serves to try and maintain a lighthearted atmosphere in the group when things get tense. He does, however, display occasional perverted behavior, cracking jokes with innuendo and lightly flirting with the females of the group, as well as with several women they may come across on their journey. The behavior is usually not taken well by his peers. Oddly enough he avoids seriously involving himself with women and will gently turn them down if one happens to display interest in him beyond teasing. He also complains about various things, his age being the most prominent, as he frequently claims that he is too old to be doing the things he does despite him not actually being very old. He is also highly intolerant of cold weather. At the start of the game he lives life in a very dispassionate, detached manner, the center of which are his duties and orders as both a knight and a member of the Union. He is described as "the man who lives life as if he is already dead", a trait of him that, while not far from the truth, begins to dissipate more over the course of the story as he becomes closer to Yuri and the others and begins to find a reason to live for again. Despite his blasé characteristics, he often maintains an odd air of authority that makes one believe he is a much more complicated person than he lets on.

As Schwann, he shows himself to be a quiet, observant, and serious person who will without hesitation follow the orders of his superiors. While not much is known about Schwann, he apparently is also very gentle and understanding, and is a Captain who has forged close bonds between himself and his junior ranks, unlike many other authority figures in the knights. These traits, as well as possibly some others have earned him not only respect and trust, but also an utmost, unquestioning loyalty from his brigade members and several other knights.

Because Raven's true identity is Schwann, his accent is not part of his natural speech patterns, and therefore, is not as profound when he believes others cannot hear him. Although Raven can be a goofy old man, his Schwann side shows a serious, compassionate, and understanding person. Because of this, he acts almost as a father figure to most of the party, since all of the others seemed to have grown up without their parents.

After Raven rejoins the group, his Schwann traits surface themselves more frequently, melding into his more-prominent Raven persona, though he still highly prefers being called Raven. He also makes it clear that he is very bitter towards his former identity as Schwann, treating "Schwann" almost as if he were a separate person from himself. He refuses to answer to the name Schwann, and should anyone address him as such, even his own brigade members, he will either sternly correct them or will claim that he doesn't know who "Schwann" is.

Fighting Style
His primary weapon is a bow that can transform into a short sword for battle. He also carries around a knife that he occasionally pulls out for certain techniques, and is relatively adequate at magic, though is the only one who does not use formal language when saying the incantation. Most of his artes are original and exclusive to himself, the only ones not being Wind Blade, Tempest, Stop Flow ad, in the PlayStation 3 port, Air Thrust. He has an affinity for Wind-based techniques, with all of his elemental artes except Serpent being of the Wind element or being an altered form of an initially Wind-based technique. Raven can also heal up to three members of the party with his original technique Love Shot. This makes him an extremely versatile character.

As Schwann, he abandons his bow and short sword and uses a crimson sword instead. His artes are sword-based and many are techniques also known to Alexei, as well as variations of the artes used by Raven himself. His spell usage is also identical to Raven's.

Both Raven and Schwann's mystic arte is Blast Heart, in which he uses his blastia heart to unleash a large amount of power. He staggers for a few seconds after this mystic arte, clutching his heart. This stagger is important for Secret Mission 13 during the boss battle against Schwann, as the player has to down him before he regains the energy.

Schwann's Life and Death
Raven was born Schwann Oltorain thirty-five years before the game's timeline into an either low-class or middle-class family. Not much is known about him, except that he was noted to be an idealistic knight and a born leader, and had been a supporter of Alexei's ideals at the time. He fought in the Great War alongside the other Imperial Knights. It is unknown for how many years he has been a Captain, however. In a side quest later in the game, it is revealed that Schwann was very close to a fellow knight named Casey, who as of the events of the present is deceased. It is implied that their history together was complicated, and is a touchy subject for Raven, as when Estelle and Judith ask Raven if he was in love with her, he does not answer.

Ten years before the story's timeline and near the end of the Great War, Schwann died from unspecified causes, though it is implied he was killed during the battle at Mt. Temza via injury to his heart. However, Alexei, as Raven states, "saw it fit to give his life back to him", and Schwann awoke to find that the Commandant had his heart replaced with a Hermes blastia and somehow managed to make it work through Schwann's own life force rather than aer. Despite his unwilling revival, Schwann was still indebted to Alexei for saving his life, and because Alexei also had control over whether he lived or died, Schwann found himself forced into doing the Commandant's bidding.

Before the game's present timeline, Schwann created a second identity for himself named "Raven", who's personality and outlook on life strongly contrasted with that of him a a Captain. As Raven, he became a member of the Union and joined a guild, eventually rising up to be a high-ranked member with close connections to Altosk's leader, Don Whitehorse.

Meeting Yuri
He first appears in a jail cell next to Yuri Lowell early in the game. There he talks with a knight for a short time before he starts a conversation with Yuri. There, he accidentally reveals that Mordio, the blastia thief Yuri is looking for, is a famed mage from Aspio, when he originaly intended to get paid for the information. However, before they can talk further, Alexei shows up to get Raven, which makes Yuri wonder why a commandant would come for a prisoner.

Raven does not meet Yuri again before Nor Harbor. There, Raven tries to infiltrate the mansion of Ragou, and there he meets Yuri along with his companions; Estelle, Repede, Karol Capel and Rita Mordio. Telling them that he knew of a perfect way for all of them to get inside, he went to the guards and told them about the group. Because of this, the guards went off, and Raven ran inside while Rita was forced to knock the guards out. The man then gets chased by the group because of the trick, but he takes an elevator that goes upward while they accidentally take on that goes downward, thus loosing track of him. When the mansion is invaded by the Imperial Knights, it is not known how Raven got himself out.

Fighting as Schwann
When the party reaches Myorzo, Estelle and Raven vanish from the party. He gives her to Alexei, and from then on most likely follows them as they go collecting Apatheia, hiding from the party. They eventually end up in Baction, a temple made to worship an Entelexeia, where the party catches up to them to get Estelle back. Alexei escapes, and the party is blocked from chasing him by the Schwann Brigade. Schwann appears and dismisses the brigade to stop the group himself. Realizing that Repede recognized him, he exposes himself to the group. The party realizes that he is responsible for Estelle's kidnapping, and angrily demands an explanations. However, stating that it is not his duty to explain himself to them, Schwann attacks them instead.

Towards the end of the battle, Schwann, tired of living, gives out an opening on purpose, and Yuri manages to slash open Schwann's uniform, causing the blastia that replaces his heart to become exposed. Schwann then solemnly explains to the others the circumstances under which he was obligated to help Alexei, and that he was actually hoping that Yuri would have killed him to free himself from his "cursed body". The temple begins collapsing, and knowing that Alexei wanted to kill him along with the group, Schwann sits down in defeat. But Yuri, realizing that Schwann had resigned himself to death, convince him to come with them. Schwann, now realizing that they still had a chance, blasts a hole in the wall to allow their escape, but then a large section of the ceiling collapses, and Schwann, holding up the ceiling, forces them to leave without him. Stating that he begins getting soft, the amera fades, implying that the ceiling falls over him. The gang make it out of Bastion just as a large section of it completely caves in, and they are left mourning the death of their comrade.

Living as Raven
Against all odds, Schwann survives the collapse of Bastion and reveals to Leblanc, Adecor and Boccos his new intentions and also orders them to adress him as Raven from that point on. He and the Schwann Brigade then travel to Heracles, and arrive shortly after. Raven then presents himself to Brave Vesperia, all of whom are shocked that he is still alive. Knowing that Alexei could shut off his Blastia heart should the Commandant ever discover that he is still alive, Raven asks Yuri to kill him as a punishment and penance for betraying them. However, to Raven's surprise, Yuri instead declares that Raven's life now belongs to Brave Vesperia, and whether he lives or dies will be dictated by their choice, not his nor Alexei's. Yuri and the rest of the gang proceed to pummel Raven as a punishment for making them think that he was dead. Raven also renounces his identity as Schwann, claiming that the First Captain died in Baction, and that he will only live on as Raven, free of the debt Schwann had to Alexei.

At the end of the game, Raven is shown to still take a prominent role in leading the Schwann Brigade every now and then, taking jobs in capturing corrupted officials in the empire. However, he still uses his Raven persona, and meets up with the rest of the party when they have a reunion.

Party
Karol Capel - Out of all the rest of the party members, it seems like Raven cares most about Karol, giving him more attention than he gives the rest, and is often the one who cheers or encourage him beside Yuri. It is possible that Karol also views Raven as a great friend and possible as a father figure, for during the fight against Schwann, Karol, if fighting in the party, will say, "Damn it, I really liked you, Raven... I couldn't tell you before, but if my dad were-".

Rita Mordio - While Raven is in general a frequent victim of teasing, insults, and physical mistreatment within the party, Rita is the worst initiator of such abuse. She strongly dislikes his lackadaisical personality and will not hesitate to stomp in his feet, punch, kick, slap, or use magic spells on him should he say something that irritates her, especially if it os perverted in nature. she also has called him various names and insults even with little provocation and is often quick to accuse him when things seem to go awry. However, despite her maltreatment of him, she has shown that she does, deep down, care about him. When he betrays the party as Schwann, she emotionally yells that she hates him, as if she is truly hurt by the betrayal, and when the party believes him to be dead, she nearly breaks down in tears when she explains to Leblanc what happened to their Captain. When Raven is revealed to have survived and is pummeled by the party for worrying them, Rita deals the most brutal of the punishments. During a skit, Raven also admits that she too drives him nuts every now and then because of their culture differences.

Enemies
Alexei - Though he has bitter feelings towards Alexei for bringing him back to life through the Hermes blastia and using him as a puppet for his schemes, Raven hesitated slightly before battling him, asking the official if there really was no hope of stopping him or changing his mind. Raven also in some way defends Alexei at one point, explaining to Yuri that despite all the horrible things he had been doing as Commandant, Alexei had once held good ideals, and like Yuri, wished for a better world for people to live in. It was just that overtime his dreams fell down a corrupt path until he no longer was the same respectable man. Their Secret Missions are also fairy similar, as both of them involves downing them while they are tired after using their mystic artes. Raven as Schwann, also knows and adeptly uses some of the same techniques as Alexei indicating that the two were trained similarly.

Yeager - While not much is known about Raven and Yeager's relation to each other, Schwann was very close to a fellow knight named Casey, who apparently was very dear to Yeager. Wether or not Raven and Yeager were competing for her is unknown. However, Raven bears a grudge against Yeager, most likely because the Don entrusted him with the task of nailing him, and when Yeager was defeated in battle, Raven shot an arrow at him for the Don. The relationship between Raven and Yeager is also important in Yeager's Secret Mission, where Raven is needed to fulfill it. However, after Yeager dies, Raven seems to have gained some understanding toward him, possibly because they both lived of a blastia heart.

Friends
Casey - Through a side-quest, it is made known that there was a girl named Casey whom Schwann held very dear. Not much is known about their relationship except that Casey was a fellow knight and that they had been very close, yet Casey was either engaged to or in love with someone else. Despite this, Schwann still considered Casey to be a dear friend and continues to to this day. By the time the events of Tales of Vesperia take place, Casey is no longer alive, and he in his Raven guise, visits her place of death to honor her memory with her favorite flowers. If Raven and gang later confront Gauche and Droite, it is revealed that Casey was very dear to Yeager, a fact that sends Raven a bit on edge. It is unknown if Casey and Schwann ever were in an actual relationship or if Casey was even aware of his feelings for her. It is implied that Casey was a user of the transform bow, which is the weapon that Raven primarily uses. His usage of the weapon is possibly in her memory.

Trivia

 * Both Raven and Schwann's names are from birds, in which Schwann's name is from the German word "Schwan", which means "swan".
 * The names are both symbolic as well as ironic. The swan is a white bird, often a symbol of beauty, purity, high class, and grace. The raven is a black bird, considered to be a thieving pest and is often represented in literature and mythology as an unrefined, untrustworthy crook and bringer of misfortune. The names are symbolic in that Schwann is a high ranking knight, a person in a well respected position meant to serve the royal family and bring order and peace to society, while Raven is a shady, disheveled member of the often-considered-to-be-barbaric-and-untrustworthy Union. The names are ironic in that Schwann is ultimately an enslaved puppet, forced to do the bidding of a corrupt official intent on bringing calamity to the world, while Raven is the free individual, comrade to an unlikely hero and able to help a cause that he finds worth believing in.
 * Raven sometimes gives out hints about breaking the forth wall in skits; when being outside of an area for a long time, it is possible to trigger a skit where Raven talks to "you", in which nobody in the party understands who he is talking to. He is also the only one who refers to "you" if the player walks in the wrong direction for too long.
 * At the end of Tales of Vesperia, when all of the blastia cores and Apatheia are converted into spirits, Raven does not die despite that his replacement heart is a blastia, which for all intents and purposes should require a blastia core to function. The most reliable theory for this is that the blastia heart is unique as it uses uses his life force completely in place of aer as a source of power.