Genis Sage

Genis Sage, known in Japan as Genius Sage (ジーニアス・セイジ), is one of the main protagonists from Tales of Symphonia. Genis is the fourteen-year-old friend of the other story's protagonists, Lloyd Irving and Colette Brunel. He is the younger brother of Raine Sage, and a prodigy in academics and magic. Although at first, Genis seems somewhat off-putting and sarcastic, he can be one of the group's most mature members.

Arrival in Iselia
Despite being young at the time, Raine likely remembered the prejudice she suffered from being a half-elf, and attempted to avoid it in Iselia by telling the members of the village that she was a pure-blood elf. This allowed her and Genis to be accepted into the village's community. When he was of a proper age, Genis attended the Iselia schoolhouse, where he met Lloyd Irving and Colette Brunel. Despite the differences in their ages and academic ability, the three became friends. Genis looked up to Lloyd, as he was strong, bold, and brave; the ideal role model in Genis's eyes. As as a result of feeling that he lacked these qualities, Genis may have developed an inferiority complex, which he compensated for by ridiculing Lloyd whenever he made an academic mistake. At some point prior to the story, Genis went to Iselia Human Ranch for unknown reasons, an act that violated the rules that the members of Iselia were expected to adhere to. There, he met a kindly old woman named Marble who was being held prisoner. Genis took a liking to Marble, who thought of him as a grandson, and paid several more visits to the ranch to bring her food.

The Oracle Arrives
The day the Oracle of Cruxis arrives, Genis, Lloyd, and Colette decide to sneak out of school to go to the Martel Temple. Upon their arrival, they encounter a group of Desians who are attacking the temple. The party defeats the Desians with the aid of the mysterious Kratos Aurion, and continue into the temple. Here the Oracle of Cruxis is successfully conveyed and the group then returns to the village. Knowing that Lloyd's home lies on the other side of the dangerous Iselia Forest, Genis asks if he can accompany Lloyd halfway. Lloyd agrees, and the two set out together. As they pass the Iselia Human Ranch, Genis tells Lloyd that it is his destination. Lloyd protests and tries to stop Genis, but the boy mentions that the Desians already violated their non-aggression treaty with the village after they attacked the temple. Lloyd reluctantly agrees and the two visit the Ranch. When he gets there, Genis quickly finds Marble. He tells her about the Oracle that was conveyed earlier that day. As they speak, however, the Desian guards notice that Marble has wandered off. Realizing that the boys might be spotted, Marble tells them to flee. Not willing to allow Marble to be punished, Genis and Lloyd climb to the top of a nearby cliff, where they watch the guards whip her. Genis attacks them with his magic with Lloyd serving as a distraction. As the guards pursue them, Genis trips and Lloyd is forced to attack them to save his friend. After defeating them, Genis and Lloyd run home.

The next day, Genis says goodbye to Colette when she leaves the village on her journey of Regeneration, before racing off to chastise Lloyd for missing it. The two hurry back to the village, only to find it in flames. The Desians are attacking to exact revenge for Genis and Lloyd's actions the day before at the ranch. The two friends are forced to fight and kill a hideous monster, only to learn that the monster is in fact Marble. The Desians then exit, and the mayor of the devastated village decides to exile Lloyd for provoking the Desians into an attack. Blaming himself for jeopardizing the situation at the ranch, Genis decides to accompany Lloyd and the two journey forth together. Genis also begins wearing Marble's Exsphere, embedded on his right hand. As well as being worn in memory of her, he uses it to augment his magical abilities so that he can fight on par with the rest of the group. As Genis and Lloyd go on their journey, they eventually meet up with Colette and her guardians, Kratos and Raine, and the two groups become one.

Hopes for Regeneration
When the party journeys to Tethe'alla, Sylvarant's parallel world, Genis is amazed at the technology there. He also develops an immediate crush on Presea Combatir when the group visits the city of Meltokio. However, when he meets Zelos Wilder, the Chosen in Tethe'alla, he takes an instant dislike to him. As the party progresses through the second world and Genis is exposed to the incredible level of half-elf prejudice, he begins to develop hatred toward humans. Near the end of the game, he acknowledges this, and admits that by hating humans, they will only hate him even more, and thus more hate will be spawned. He also admits that he likes the humans whom he has traveled with, but sometimes he is unable to help the feelings of anger he experiences when a human is prejudiced against him. By regenerating the world, he hopes to create a place where elves, half-elves, and humans can all live in harmony; a place where he can live happily without any fear of prejudice; a place that he knows Lloyd can create.

When Mithos infiltrates the party, he and Genis quickly become friends. Mithos is Genis's first half-elf friend, and the two possess many similarities, such as a prejudice against the humans who have wronged them. Both were raised by their sisters and are incredibly intelligent, and they have both a past for being half-elves. In fact, their relationship is symbolic: Mithos and Genis are each forced to choose one of two paths. Mithos chose to try and destroy a world that had wronged him, but Genis chooses the opposite and forgives the world. An interesting thing to note is that when Mithos hijacks Genis's body, both Mithos and Genis's voices speak when Mithos used Genis to talk to the party. This is a key hint that had Genis gone down a different path from where he was, he would have become Mithos's ally and accept his ideology above Lloyd's.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Genis returns in the sequel Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World as a playable character. Although still small, he has grown a lot in the last two years. He is extremely worried about Lloyd, so he and Raine split up to find him. The relationship between Genis and the new protagonists is complicated; although he is happy to have made friends close to his age once again, he feels sad about their hostility toward Lloyd.

Footfalls of Tomorrow
At the Triet Ruins, Genis eventually meets Emil, Marta, Tenebrae and Raine, and he helps them to look for the Centurions' cores, mainly Ignis's. He also tells Raine, in a short cut-scene skit, that he wanted her to notice he was "taller". When she asked how much, he says he grew a sixteenth of an inch. Genis, like Raine, also mistakenly calls Tenebrae Tenebie when they meet, due to speaking with Colette before hand. When he goes with them to Triet so they can enter the ruins, a short cut scene shows him remembering Presea after hearing Marta mention how walking in the recently snow covered Triet seemed romantic, showing he still has feelings for Presea. At the core's altar, they encounter Lloyd, and Genis asks him what is happening. Lloyd then threatens to attack them, but after hearing a howl from a nearby monster, he leaves. When talking about Lloyd's possible plans, Genis is looking down with a sad look.

Light and Darkness
Although hurt and sad by his best friend's rejection, Genis goes with the rest of the party to Izoold where they find Regal Bryant in prison. In order to prove his innocence, they go to the Camberto Caves to find some rosemary. After finding it and releasing Regal, he and Raine go ahead head to Flanoir, while Emil, Marta, Tenebrae and Regal try to find out the mystery behind the recent fires. Genis and Raine are not seen again until the Temple of Ice, but leave afterward to go find Lloyd.

Eternal Bond
Genis and Raine permanently join afterwards, and in Genis's conversation in Palmacosta, he tells Emil about the critics they all got after the Giant Kharlan Tree destroyed the city. He says that he is glad he and everyone have Lloyd, and that it is good that Emil now is friend with him. At the end of the game, Genis says how cool it is that he made friends with a Summon Spirit before leaving the Ginnungagap.

Appearance and Personality
Though he is often portrayed as a coward, Genis is actually a very strong boy. When he was born, his family was being chased by the Elemental Research Laboratory in Sybak because of his sister's astonishing intelligence for such a young age. About the time he was born, Genis and Raine were abandoned at the Otherworldly Gate by their mother in a last-ditch effort to save them from half-elf persecution by transporting them to Sylvarant. The two later came to reside in the village of Iselia, passing themselves off as pure elves. As a result of the heavy persecution directed towards half-elves like himself, Genis expresses a dislike of humans later in the game. He is very intelligent like his sister Raine, but unlike her, he is a superb cook whose skills are rivaled only by those of Regal. Genis's intelligence is demonstrated more than once on the trip, from an incident on the Ossa Trail to an academic competition at the Palmacosta Academy. Since he is a half-elf, he is sensitive to the amount of mana in the air and is easily able to gauge how much of it there is.

Fighting Style
At the beginning of the game, Genis merely has access to the novice spell Fire Ball. As the story progresses, however, he develops and becomes a great mage. While his magical abilities are the best of all playable characters in Tales of Symphonia, he possesses no close-ranged skills other than swinging his kendama at the enemy. Genis is able to make use of nearly all the elements in the game, lacking only the ability to learn a Dark-elemental spell. His novice spells consist of the aforementioned Fire Ball, Stone Blast, Wind Blade, Aqua Edge, Lightning, and Icicle; these spells eventually pave the way for similar mid and advanced elemental spells that vary depending on his particular Technical-based or Strike-based arte progression. He is also able to learn the massively powerful Meteor Storm arte.

Party
Lloyd Irving - Lloyd and Genis have been best friends since the day they met. Genis often pokes fun at Lloyd for not being as academically gifted, but Genis genuinely admires his courage and straight-forward way of thinking. It is partially because of Lloyd that Genis realized that not all humans are spiteful and cruel.

Colette Brunel - Colette and Genis have also been friends since the day they met. Genis and the others are often dumbfounded by Colette's clumsiness, and at times Genis worries for her. Genis is very supportive of Colette, and was very excited about her transformation into an angel before its true nature was revealed.

Raine Sage - Raine is Genis's older sister, and the two share a caring and somewhat symbiotic bond. Raine raised Genis after they were orphaned, and tends to act very motherly to him. Raine often has to discipline Genis and keep him in line when he acts childish, which is usually due to him becoming over-excited about something. However, Raine also relies on Genis, because she is a terrible cook and apparently is unable to do laundry. When Raine goes into her "Ruin Mode", it often embarrasses Genis, and he initially tried to hide her eccentric side from his friends.

Friends
Mithos – Mithos is not one of the protagonists, but he is regardless one of Genis's best friends, and the first of his friends who not only is close to his own age, but is a fellow half-elf. When Genis understands that Mithos may be Yggdrasill, he does not tell this to anyone, not even to Raine, and chooses to believe in Mithos. Until they are about to face Mithos one final time, Genis is struggling about which side he should be on.

Family
Genis was raised by his older sister Raine in the village of oracles, Iselia. At the beginning of the game, it is not known what happened to their parents, but Genis and Raine are very close and care about each other very much. Genis himself says that he has been raised by Raine as long as he can remember. Later, as the story progresses, though, Raine reveals that she and Genis were born in Tethe'alla. However, they were abandoned by their mother in the Otherworldly Gate when Genis was just a newborn, and as such they were sent to Sylvarant. From this point forward, Raine did her best to raise Genis on her own.

It is possible to know the whole truth by meeting their mother themselves and read her diary. His mother is an elf named Virginia who previously resided in Heimdall, and his late father was a human named Kloitz, who went to Heimdall to do research. They fell in love and eventually had Raine, forcing them to leave the village after an incident with a half-elf living there, since elves do not accept half-elves. While his family was being chased by the Research Laboratory in Sybak for Raine's intelligence, Genis was born. Because Virginia did not want her children to live running away for the rest of their lives, she and Kloitz took them to a place known for taking people to the Sylvarant, where it is in some places known as a world with population on its own. Bidding them farewell, she sent them away. It is likely that they were supposed to follow them, but members of the Imperial Research Academy arrived, forcing Virginia to push her infant son and child daughter through the mysterious vortex and into Sylvarant without her. Virginia and Kloitz were found and taken to Exire by its elder after they were wounded in the Ymir Forest in an attempt to return to Heimdall. Kloitz succumbed to his injuries while in the floating city. This was the final straw for Virginia, who went mad with grief.

Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3
Along with the other Tales of Symphonia characters, Genis appears in the third installation of Narikiri Dungeon.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Genis appears along Lloyd, Kratos, and Raine in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology as a playable character, and is one of the few pure magic casters beside Arche Klein from Tales of Phantasia. He is classed as a Mage with the "Genius" title, which can be a parallel with his Japanese name. Most of the time, he demonstrates his intelligence and wonders about his future, but is also trying to get taller, even asking Reid Hershel from Tales of Eternia for advices. Together with Lloyd, with or without Raine, it is possible to fight him in a "Trial Quest".

Tales of Fandom Vol 2
Genis appears in the second volume of Tales of Fandom with the other Tales of Symphonia-characters. He and the rest of the cast find items that make them remember certain things. When he is separated with Suzu Fujibayashi from Tales of Phantasia and Anise Tatlin from Tales of the Abyss, he does not seem to get along well with them. When he finds the rest of the group again, he is glad to see Presea, but gets frustrated when he realizes that Regal had been with her all the time while we was gone. Later, Genis, Suzu, and Anise go to together defeat Celsius, the Summon Spirit of Ice.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
Genis and most of the Symphonia characters appear as playable characters in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2. Genis arrives on the Van Eltia along with Kratos and Presea. During the third story mission Genis and Raine go along with the Protagonist to the Peri Mines to investigate the causes of the earthquakes going on. In the mines they find out an army is using the mana from the World Tree in weapon experiments. Genis plays no important role after this event, but the player can take up other quests with him. After Goede is finally defeated, Genis is seen with the other Symphonia cast on the Van Eltia looking at the mana spreading across the world. The kendama Genis uses throughout the game is the "Nova".

Trivia

 * Genis's weapon of choice is the kendama, a traditional Japanese toy.
 * Genis's strongest weapon is the "One World", obtained from the Tethe'alla Bridge mini-game "Red Light, Green Light". The name of his Devil's Arm is "Disaster". The gag weapon the player can buy for him in the completely rebuilt Luin is "Phantasmagoria".
 * In Tales of Xillia, there is a book that explains the journey of someone named Genises Sage, referring to Genis.