Garr Kelvin

Garr Kelvin, or Woodrow Kelvin (ウッドロウ・ケルヴィン) in Japan, is one of the main characters of Tales of Destiny and a supporting character in its sequel, Tales of Destiny 2. He is the prince, and later king, of the snowy kingdom of Phandaria, and is the first playable ally that protagonist meets. He is a master of both swordsmanship and archery and later gains several wind magics, augmented by his Swordian, Igtenos. He is also a kind, honorable man, very keen to his surroundings, and in possession of a logical mind.

Beginning (Tales of Destiny)
Prince Garr Kelvin is the son of King Sark of Phandaria. Although a prince, he is often seen wandering outside the castle, disguised as a wanderer. He studies archery under master archer Alba and becomes the subject of Alba's granddaughter Chelsea Torn's infatuation. As the prince of Phandaria, Garr is destined to one day wield the Phandaria Kingdom's family heirloom, the Swordian of Wind, Igtenos. Thus, as he becomes acquainted with the Swordian, Garr develops an ability to hear the words of a Swordian.

One day, Garr rescues a young man named Stahn Aileron. While nursing him back to health, Garr discovered the presence of a Swordian on Stahn's possession, Dymlos. He keeps his awareness a secret to Stahn. When Alba tells Garr to look after the missing Chelsea, Stahn accompanies him, and after returning Chelsea, Garr escorts Stahn to the border city of Janos and leaves him, heading back home to visit his father.

Phandaria in Chaos
Garr will not meet Stahn again for a long time, until High Priest Lydon suddenly arrives at Phandaria and quickly seizes control of the Kingdom, killing Sark and taking possession of Igtenos. Garr escapes captivity and is being chased by his pursuers when he finally collapses and is shortly after saved by Stahn.

After introducing himself to Stahn's new companions, Rutee Katrea, Philia Felice, Leon Magnus and Mary Argent, Garr conducts a plan to retake the capital of Phandaria, Heidelberg. Upon reaching Heidelberg, however, Mary is reunited with her husband, Dalis, who was brainwashed by Lydon. The soldiers attempts to capture the group, and although Garr escapes once again, Stahn, Rutee and Mary are captured. Thanks to Leon's device, Garr tracks Stahn and Rutee to the prison and bails them out. They successfully retrieved Mary as well, and depending on the player's actions, Dalis may die or survive. Regardless, Mary becomes unavailable for further battles for a large section of the game. Garr joins Stahn and the others in the final showdown against Lydon, in which they prevail. However, the Eye of Atamoni begins to run berserk. Thanks to Leon's device, it calms down, although in reality, the device also puts the Swordians in dormant state for his future plot. However, because of Lydon's misuse, Igtenos is fully deactivated.

With Lydon dead, Phandaria is free. Garr travels to Seinegald with Stahn to deliver the news to the King. As he is the prince, Garr immediately takes responsibility as the new king of Phandaria and has the king of Seinegald enter an alliance with his kingdom as a proof that the Eye of Atamoni will not be misused anymore. As Stahn is about to leave, Garr promises to take care of Mary, as she originated from Phandaria as well. Garr eventually returns to his kingdom where he claims the throne and rules his kingdom wisely.

The King Back in Action
Phandaria prospers under Garr's rule and it seems that there is nothing that will disturb the peace. However, he is soon visited by Stahn, Philia and possibly Rutee if the player decide to get her first, who tell him that the Eye of Atamoni is once again missing. Garr decides to investigate this matter as well, also telling Chelsea, who has been staying in the castle, to stay behind. They head to Seinegald with Garr carrying Igtenos, hoping that he will find a way to wake him from his slumber.

It turns out that the Eye of Atamoni was stolen by Hugo Gilchrist, president of Oberon Corporation, with Leon's help. Tracking them in the secret Oberon laboratory, Garr and his friends are forced to battle Leon, although Garr knows that Hugo was just using Leon all along. Before the fight, Leon reveals that Rutee is his sister and Hugo is their father, while Garr tries to stop her from arguing with the younger warrior. In the end, the heated battle causes their battleground, the mines, to flood. Leon is too wounded to move on and is swallowed by the rapids, killing him. In instant after the party's escape, the floating continent of Aethersphere rises from the ground.

The party ventures through the floating continent to stop Hugo. In Helraios, after defeating Ilene Rembrandt, Garr utilizes the technology there in order to revive Igtenos. The effort is a success, and Garr is now ready to fight alongside his Swordian in battle.

Reaching Belcrant, the party succeeds defeating Hugo, only to discover that he was being controlled by the spirit of Kronos who escaped into the dead Swordian Berselius during the Aeth'er Wars. Kronos resurfaces and quickly decimates the party, sending them back to the lower continent.

Despite that, the party resolves to defeat Kronos. They make their way back to Aethersphere and confront Kronos in Dycroft. Upon Kronos' death, the Eye of Atamoni goes berserk again, and the only way to stop it is to stab the Swordians into it, calming it at cost of the Swordians' existence. Garr is the first to let go of Igtenos, followed by the others. Eventually, the party escapes Dycroft successfully.

After that day, the party decides to throw a reunion once in a year in Stahn's house in Lienea.

Tales of Destiny 2
Garr once again resumes his position as the king of Phandaria in the sequel, and is also aware of Stahn's untimely death under an assassin. He has been collecting Lens in order to make his people prosper. Eventually, he receives a visit by a Holy Woman called Elraine, who gains popularity by making miracles. She is requesting that Garr donates his Lens for his people to achieve true happiness. Garr reconsiders it, but when she leaves, he receives another group of visitors led by Kyle Dunamis, son of Stahn and Rutee. Kyle is looking for a hero that his companion Reala is looking for, but it turns out that Garr is not the said hero. After talking and giving both advice and good luck, Garr sends them to rest. However, he is unaware that one of Kyle's companion, Judas, is actually the same Leon Magnus who betrayed them in the past, brought back from the dead.

Shortly after, the airship Draconis crashes to the castle and in the midst of chaos, Barbatos Goetia confronts Garr and heavily wounds him. When Garr recovers consciousness, he finds out that his Lens were stolen, which put him to depression, fearing that he will not be able to make his people happy. Later, Kyle requested a decree from him to enter the old Earth Army Base. Garr learns the situation quickly and grants him the decree.

When Kyle visits him again, he asks Garr about a heavy decision: to choose between the world or his beloved. Garr's advice is to keep thinking until the time comes.

Eventually, Kyle and the group defeats Barbatos, Elraine and eventually Fortuna. With their defeat, the history is fixed and events involving Elraine is annulled, which includes Stahn's death. As for Garr, his Lens is never stolen and he continues to rule Phandaria wisely.

Tales of Symphonia
Garr appears in Tales of Symphonia as one of the enemies during the last Coliseum team battle, along with Farah Oersted and Meredy from Tales of Eternia.

Tales of Fandom Vol.1
Garr appears as a guest character in the first volume of Tales of Fandom.

Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2
Garr appears in Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2.

Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3
Garr appears in Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Garr appears as the guild master of Doplund's Ad Libitum. As Mormo and Lloyd state, he is gentler than Kratos, and is always thinking about the others before himself. Because he is of royal blood, he feels it is his responsible to help the poor in town, showing this when he tries to help Nanaly's money problem. He is also quite popular with the girls, but seems to have no idea of it.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
Garr appears in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2.

Trivia

 * Garr possesses the most fighting styles of all the characters of Tales of Destiny. He can use swords, bows and wind magic. However, he can only choose between using bows alone or swords alone (swords can be combined with wind magic, assuming he is equipping Igtenos). In the Tales of Destiny remake, he is seen using both bows and a sword at once because his bow and sword are both equipable at the same time, replacing his "arm" accessory slot.
 * Garr is interestingly similar in appearance to the protagonist of Tales of Rebirth, Veigue Lungberg. One of the in-jokes of the Tales of Destiny remake is one of the NPCs almost mistaking Garr for Veigue.