Rutee Katrea

Rutee Katrea, known in Japan as Rutee Katret (ルーティ・カトレット), is the heroine of Tales of Destiny who also makes an appearance in its sequel, Tales of Destiny 2. She is considered greedy, money-hungry, and always out for herself, but eventually her more noble goals and traits are made known to the party.

Working as a Lens Hunter with her partner, Mary Argent, Rutee kills monsters to acquire Lens and sell it to Oberon Corporation for Gald. When not fighting against monsters for her money, Rutee can be found combing ancient ruins for treasures to sell. Rutee is the mistress of Atwight, the Swordian of Water, who also excels at healing magic. Atwight has been with her as long as she can remember and is like a mother figure for the girl. Rutee is also the mother of the sequel's protagonist, Kyle Dunamis.

Origins
Rutee was born 18 years before the story begins to Hugo Gilchrist, President of Oberon Corporation, and Chris Katrea. Two years after, she was followed by her younger brother, Emilio Katrea. Their family was happy until one day when her father discovered what he believed to be the Swordian, Karell Berselius. In truth, however, though its body was that of Berselius, the soul contained within was that of Kronos, King of the Aetherians.

Kronos began to warp Hugo's mind in order to complete his goal of reviving the Aetherian civilization. It was during this time that Chris gave her daughter Atwight, another Swordian in the family's possession, to protect her in her mother's absence. As Hugo's condition worsened, Chris ended up being killed. However, he did manage to bring Rutee to the town of Cresta and leave her at an orphanage. Thus, the child escaped the horrible fate that was in store for her father and brother. As she grew up, Rutee began to forget these horrible events and the loss of her family. Because she was raised in the orphanage, she began to feel sensitive towards others who were without parents. She also felt a sense of duty toward those who took her in and raised her and wanted to earn the money they needed to survive. This desire led to her becoming a Lens Hunter, Atwight at her side as her weapon.

Partners
When Rutee was 16, she came across an injured woman. The woman's name was Mary Argent, and she had completely lost her memory of her past. Mary agreed to work with Rutee and became her partner. Her excellent skills with a sword and ax were of asset to Rutee, but they also shared a sisterly relationship. At times, however, people thought Rutee was using Mary's amnesiac state for her own benefits. After some time, the Mayor of Cresta, at his wife's insistence, backed the demolition of the orphanage in favor of putting up an art museum. They used the mounting debt of the institution as an excuse to justify their actions. Rutee didnot want to see that happen or see those children on the streets, so she set out to make as much money as she could as quick as she could.

When she was 18, she was hired by a man named Walt to find an old cane hidden within an ancient ruin near Janos. Trying to free the cane from its pedestal, Rutee was caught in a trap. Mary ran off, leaving her hanging upside-down for some time. However, Mary only left to get help and brought back a young, naive country boy named Stahn Aileron. When he finally got Rutee down, she brushed him off, angry that her pride had been wounded. However, upon seeing his prowess in battle after soldiers came to check on the commotion and realizing he wielded the Swordian Dymlos, revealed shortly afterward to be the former lover of Rutee's own Atwight, she recants what she said and asks him to come along. Stahn, not one to abandon people in need and being semi-pushed by both Swordians, agrees.

Mission
After selling the old cane to Walt and cheating him out of an additional 5,000 Gald, Rutee and the others spend the night at the inn in Harmentz. However, when they wake up they are confronted by the soldiers from the previous day. They want back what was stolen and bring friends along. The team defeats them easily, but then a young man named Leon Magnus appears. He easily decimates the party and has them tied up. Then, the boy reveals he is the master of Chaltier, the Earth Swordian which was also in the possession of Rutee's family. Though she does not yet realize it, this cocky warrior is in fact her younger brother, Emilio.

Their weapons are taken and the trio is sent to Darilsheid to be locked in prison. After bickering with Stahn for a little and trying to mitigate the blame for getting tossed in jail, they are taken to see the king. It appears like they would be executed for their actions. However, Hugo speaks up and tells the king they can be used to investigate the Straylize Temple. He suggests crowning them with special tiaras, which can be used to administer an electric shock if they misbehave, and sending Leon along to watch over them. The king agrees and the team is set free and equipped with the tiaras; he does, however, warn them about the Eye of Atamoni. Rutee asks for a reward for completing the mission, to which Hugo agrees because he feels it will motivate her. Then, they are all asked to come to his mansion. At the mansion, Stahn and Rutee are reunited with their Swordians and Hugo gives them a World Map. The team then leaves for the temple.

At the temple, they learn that Lydon, a High Priest, had stolen the Eye of Atamoni. They are also joined by Philia Felice, an apprentice priestess who wishes to make up for her failure to stop the theft. She becomes the mistress of Clemente, the Swordian of Lightning, after traveling to the sunken Er'ther Army base, Radisrol. Together, they travel to Cavalese in search of where the Eye of Atamoni was brought. Failing to find any information regarding its location there, they decide to go after the Lens Pirates in Fitzgald, which are connected to Lydon Bernhardt.

There, Rutee helps a young orphan boy who is being picked on by some rich kids, showing her softer side to Stahn. She also becomes jealous when she sees Stahn flirting with Ilene Rembrandt, one of Oberon's Branch Managers. Though she does not know the reason why, she is angered by the fact that he agrees to go on a date with her, even if it is just a tour of the town. Dragging Mary along, the girls follow them around but lose the duo when they buy tickets and enter the arena. Rutee goes back to the mansion they are staying at for the night. When Batista Diego, their prisoner, escapes the next morning, she jumps to conclusions and blames Philia because they had known each other back at the temple. However, Leon quickly reveals he let Batista go so they could use the homing device on his tiara, taken from Mary to help with the interrogation, to locate Lydon. Rutee apologizes to Philia for her mistake and they all head towards the docks where they charter a ship to Aquaveil. Though they meet Lydon in Terazzi, Aquaveil's capital, he escapes to Phandaria. The team heads there immediately where they are joined with Garr Kelvin, the prince of Phandaria, who wants to reclaim his throne. They also learned that Lydon had taken Igtenos, the Swordian of Wind, which was Phandaria's royal treasure. With caution, they headed across a frozen river and make it to Heidelberg, Phandaria's capital.

At the castle, they are confronted by a guard captain who Mary seemed to recognize as Dalis Vincent. When the guards recognize Garr, they came out in full to arrest the group, but Mary refuses to leave now that she found someone she remembers from her past. Rutee, loyal to her friend, does not want to abandon Mary, leading to both her and Stahn's capture. Mary is taken upstairs, but the two of them were locked in jail where they argue a bit on whose fault their situation was. Leon eventually comes and sets the duo free, and the whole group goes upstairs to find Mary. There, they listen in and learn about her past and the fact that she and Dalis were married. However, he was under Lydon's control, and when soldiers entered, he attacked the team. This part of the game that differs whether or not the party went to Cyril, Mary's former home, before the capital. If they did, Dalis will live and Rutee begs Mary to stay and take care of him. If the party did not go to Cyril, he will die and Rutee tries to get Mary to come with them, only to be chided by Leon. Regardless of what the party does, Mary stays behind with Dalis and the team goes on to defeat Lydon and reclaim the Eye of Atamoni.

As they return to Seinegald with the stolen Eye, Stahn confronts Rutee on the deck. She explains to him why she became a Lens Hunter and that she wanted to get the money necessary to save the people she cared about. Seeing Rutee in a new light, Stahn decides to turn down his share of Hugo's reward and allow Rutee to have it all. The others had all turned it down for their own personal reasons. Rutee is shocked by this event, but even more so by the fact that he gives her all his money and Lens before returning home on the Draconis. She thanks him for helping her and for allowing her to become more honest and open with herself. Stahn says goodbye and returns home to his village, while Rutee returns to Cresta and presents the Mayor and his wife with the money. The orphanage is saved, and she returns to help take care of the children. However, because of the Eye of Atamoni's inactivation, later revealed to be because of the discs Leon had them insert into the Swordians, Atwight has become dormant and is left in storage.

Past Revealed
Sometime after these events, Rutee is playing with the children outside. She then hears familiar voices talking about another journey and how they would regret taking Rutee along if she is happy with these children. At the same time, other familiar voices are yelling at them to bring her. Rutee runs to the gate to see Stahn and Philia arguing with Clemente and Dymlos. They prepare to leave but Rutee refuses to allow them to go without her. After yelling at the group a bit, she goes and gets Atwight out of storage. Once the four Swordian Masters are united, they all go to Darilsheid, only to find out that Leon, Hugo, the Draconis and the Eye of Atamoni have vanished. A book on Hugo's desk becomes a vital clue and they charter a ship to Libra IV, an abandoned factory.

In the factory, the team encounters Oberon Employees trying to stop them, confirming Hugo is behind the mess. They eventually discover an elevator leading underground and find Hugo and Rembrant holding Marian hostage and forcing Leon to go along with them. Hugo orders Leon to attack the team, calling him by his birth name, Emilio. Leon then admits everything had been Hugo's plan all along, and that he is fighting to save what is most important to him. When Rutee questions his heroics, Leon immediately begins to tell her the truth: she was abandoned by her father, Hugo, along with Atwight, and he is her younger brother. Rutee is crushed by these revelations, but nonetheless raises her sword against Leon to get through. However, the collapse of the cave interrupts their advance and the team must escape on the Draconis. Leon is left behind to die as the water fills the cavern.

Following their ascent to the Aethersphere, the team has to find a "Sky Cruiser" at Mikheil in order to get to Belcrant. There, they encounter Rembrant who was holding Marian hostage. After defeating the old man and his crazy machine, Marian asks if Emilio is alive. Rutee sadly tells her that he is dead, and Marian says she was only hired by Hugo and cared about by Emilio because she resembled the boy's late mother. Knowing what Leon thought in his last moments, Rutee angrily informs the girl that he truly cared about her and gave his life for her, and having such sorrowful thoughts would prevent him from resting in peace. When Marian is about to get into the escape pod, Rutee thanks her for taking care of her little brother up until now. She also vows revenge against Hugo for what he did to Leon. In Helraios, they are forced to face Ilene, and she commits suicide after realizing that Hugo's path was not the right one. Stahn, who liked Ilene, is crushed, and Rutee attempts to cheer him up. Though initially unsuccessful, she continues talking to him and mentions that she and he are alike: the world isn't their main concern, they fight to simply protect the people that they care about most. Stahn is comforted by her words and feels a lot better.

When they face Hugo in Belcrant, he tries to convince the team to join him, even enticing Rutee by using the fact that she is his daughter. Rutee is unconvinced because she saw what happened to Leon and knows she has to protect the people she cares about. She charges into the fray with her friends and defeats Hugo. After the fight, he reveals that he was controlled by Berselius for all these years and that he had abandoned Rutee in order to protect her so she could be free of the sword's slavery. Hugo's last request is to see Rutee's face one more time and she complies, screaming "Father!" as she runs over to him. After she gives him the one thing he wanted, he dies, and Rutee begins to cry over losing the last of her family. Stahn walks up to her and says that by telling her the truth, Hugo had found happiness in the end. Rutee is comforted by his words, but the scene is cut short by Kronos regaining his body and fully reviving.

Final Battle
Though powerless to stop him, the team nonetheless prepares to assault Dycroft one more time and gain the necessary strength to defeat Kronos in combat. The night before the final battle, Rutee asks Philia what she thinks about Stahn and wonders why everything the priestess says is so positive. Philia wonders why Rutee does not try to look at Stahn in a positive light and tells her to be honest with herself before Rutee leaves. Stahn comes in and goes to look for her. Finding Rutee in the bar reminiscing about her past, he offers to talk with her and she says the gesture is enough. Thanking the bartender, Rutee returns to her room. The next day, the team heads up to Dycroft where they encounter several puzzles that split the team apart. They need to find the four fragments of the "Delis Emblem" and are teleported to a jail and split apart again when they only have three. Rutee is relieved when Stahn finds her. When he gets in contact with the others via a special tile, Rutee reads him the code so he can properly solve the puzzle. After he returns, Stahn greets Rutee with a cheerful, "Hi honey, I'm home," which embarrasses her.

Finally, the group makes it to the inner sanctums of Kronos's domain to find him draining the energy from the surface to revive the Aetherians. They follow the king to the chamber of the Eye of Atamoni, where he summons a zombified Leon to fight the party. Rutee is once more forced to take up her sword against her younger brother. However, he demands to be killed so he can be set free. She complies, and then they turn their wrath toward Kronos himself. After the battle, the Eye of Atamoni goes wild and debris begin raining down and ravaging the surface. The only way to save the world is to sacrifice the Swordians to destroy the Eye of Atamoni. One by one, the team tosses their Swordians into the Eye. When it comes to Rutee's turn, she refuses to say goodbye. Atwight understands how she feels and reveals the promise she made long ago to Chris Katrea, the promise she fulfilled with her death: to always protect Rutee so she might live a better life. Rutee thanks Atwight before tossing her in. A year later, the team is reunited at Stahn's place. Rutee jumps down off the roof in order to get a rise out of Stahn and begins giggling about him getting soft living out in the country. They banter playfully for a bit but soon go inside to continue the party.

New Family
Sometime within a year after the reunion, Stahn moves in with Rutee, who is now the director of Dunamis Orphanage in Cresta. Three years following the final battle, the couple has a young son whom they name Kyle. Kyle looks exactly like his father and inherits his habit of sleeping in. Rutee finds the only way to wake either of her boys is to bang a ladle on a frying pan in a technique called "waking the dead". Because they are raising the orphans and all of them go by the last name Dunamis, the couple decide to give their son that last name as well. Kyle becomes close friends with Loni Dunamis, a boy eight years his senior, who is like an older brother to him. It seems that Rutee has finally found the happiness she was denied long ago by Kronos. By this time, the four Swordian Masters are referred to as "The Four Heroes".

However, when Kyle is around five, all of that changed. A mysterious stranger who would later be known as Barbatos Goetia appears at the orphanage and attacks Kyle and Loni, finally holding Loni hostage. Rutee and Stahn come out to defend the children but are told to drop their weapons if they want them to live. The man does not accept money or lens in return for leaving, all he wants is to take both of their lives. Stahn goes down first and Rutee is attacked a split second later after yelling at Loni to get Kyle out of there. Though she survives the incident, Stahn is killed. Kyle suppresses his memories of the death of his father, telling himself that Stahn simply went on a journey. Rutee is willing to let her son believe as he wants, hoping that it would be better on him.

A Mother's Prayer
When Kyle is 15, Rutee's life is still pretty much the same. She continues taking care of the children of Dunamis and trying to protect her son. Kyle is increasingly edgy, wanting to go on an adventure of his own to be a hero like his parents. After Loni, who has been working as a soldier in Atamoni, comes back with news of a gigantic Lens worth three million Gald, Kyle wants to go along with him. Rutee refuses, but the boy sneaks out to explore the Ruins of Laguna anyway. Though initially mad at him for running off and ignoring her authority, Rutee sits under the stars that night and has a talk with the sky as if she is talking to Stahn. She concludes that he is just trying to be like his parents and can see both her and Stahn inside of him. The next day, Rutee encourages Kyle to go on his journey and find what he is looking for, even giving him some traveling money to get him started.

Near the end of the game, Kyle visits his mother again seeking advice. He has just learned about how Elrane, the enemy who sent the assassin to kill Stahn, plans to revive the goddess Fortuna and bring the world under her rule. However, if Kyle kills Fortuna, it will mean the death of Reala, the girl he is in love with, because she was a daughter of Fortuna. Kyle plans on seeking the advice of each of the surviving heroes. Rutee now knows that Kyle has realized the truth behind his father's death and apologizes for keeping it from him. Somehow, she knows exactly what his problem is and tells her son to listen to what his heart is telling him: what is best for Reala, what she knows needs to be done. Now more than ever, Rutee knows that Kyle is Stahn's son and tells him as he leaves that both his parents are proud of him. The group of six head for the final showdown, never once letting on to Rutee that the masked swordsman traveling with them is in fact her brother, and he has never told anyone that Rutee is his sister.

After the defeat of Fortuna, the timeline is brought back to its true form. In this time, Elrane does not exist so she never revived Barbatos and thus Stahn never died. Rutee was allowed to be happy with her husband and son, never knowing there was a time when he was taken from her. However, when Kyle is 15 he begs to go out on a journey of his own. Though initially reluctant, Rutee eventually agrees when Stahn sides with Kyle. What she does not know is that he is about to be bringing home a girlfriend because Reala will be revived in this timeline due to Kyle's strong heart.

Tales of Eternia
Rutee is seen on a picture in Van Eltia that is able to rotate. She is also able to be called through the Destiny summon along with her fellow Swordian Masters, using her Snipe Air arte.

Tales of Hearts
Rutee appears in the Tales of Hearts as a Support Arte. When summoned, she uses Robber Item to steal items from enemies.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Along with Stahn, Garr, Philia, and Leon, Rutee appears as a playable character in Radiant Mythology. Though able to use spells, she is classed as a Thief and has the title of "Lens Hunter". She is one of the owners of the inn and orphanage in Doplund, along with Nanaly Fletcher from Tales of Destiny 2. As the orphanage takes more money than the inn can gather, Rutee is often working very hard, but still uses other people to get what she wants. In one quest, Mormo and the Protagonist go to her and ask if she can follow them to the Lavacleft, which Garr and Philia say is a dangerous place to go alone. at first, she is not willing, but afterward she will join the party. When completing the quest, Rutee finds special minerals that will help the orphanage and is glad she followed the two players. By meeting certain circumstances, the player can fight against Rutee with Stahn and Leon through a Trial Quest. It is also possible to fight against just her in a Search Quest later in the story.

Viva - Tales of!
Rutee appears in Viva - Tales Of! together with Stahn and Leon. In the show, Rutee is selling replica Swordians and trading cards based on other Tales characters, but both ventures turn out to cause huge losses for her.

Trivia

 * Rutee appears in this title as a cameo for Namco, fighting alongside Stahn. She has access to her Snipe Roar and Bloody Rose artes in battle, and Search Gald and Robber Item, as well as Atwight's First Aid, Nurse, and Acid Rain outside. She, Stahn, and Judas have a multiple assault called Swordian Master.