Alvin (Tales of Xillia)


 * "Alvin" redirects here. This page is about the character from Tales of Xillia. For the character from Tales of Mobile: Tales of Commons who shares the same name, see Alvin (Tales of Commons).

Alvin (アルヴィン) is one of the playable main characters in Tales of Xillia. He is a mercenary who has traveled around the world. He joins to Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell to help them on their journey.

History
Alvin first appears, saving Jude when he is surrounded by La Schugall troops in Il Fan. After asking Jude why he had not caught up with Milla, before Jude can reply, Alvin grabs Jude and jumps onto the ship that Milla had boarded. When Milla asks who he is, he introduces himself as a mercenary from A Jule. He then decides to accompany Jude and Milla when Milla, who had lost her ability to use the Four Great Spirits, asked Alvin to teach her how to use a sword. In exchange, Milla and Jude had to help him complete a job given to him by a lady at the village. After completing the task, the group returns to the lady, and she gives him the payment. As he suggests that Jude and Milla stay for the night before heading to Ni Akeria, Milla faints. When Milla notes that she has never eaten before, Alvin is surprised, but helps Jude carry Milla to the inn. At the inn, Jude cooks for both of them; Milla explains how she never needed to eat, since she received nutrition from Sylph and water from Undine. Alvin was surprised by this, as he was unaware that Milla was the spirit lord, Maxwell.

The group leaves Il Fan and travels to Ha Mil, a small village, on their way to Ni Akeria. They stay there for the night on the village elder's request. The next day, however, they see several La Schugall soldiers, who are still searching for them even in this remote village. As they try to find a way past the soldiers, they encounter Elise Lutus, a young girl with a stuffed doll, who asks if the soldiers are blocking the way. Before the group could respond, her doll opened its eyes and began talking to them. Although the doll surprised both the group and the soldiers, the soldiers did not budge. However, a large man wielding a war hammer appeared and attacked the soldiers, causing the girl to run away. The man then asked for the whereabouts of the girl, then left since the group did not know. At Kijil Waterfall, the group relaxes for a while on Alvin's urging; although Alvin wanted to go for a swim, Milla noted that the water was infested with monsters. As Alvin and Jude sit down to enjoy the view, Milla wanders on her own. Several seconds later, they heard Milla scream, and rush to her aid. There, they encounter Presa, a fox-like woman who had bound Milla up with a spell. She refuses to release Milla, so Jude has Alvin shoot a rock above them. Although it seemingly has no effect, a Greater Demosh appears out of the lair, which was hidden by the rock. The angry Greater Demosh leaps into the water, which causes Presa to fall in as well. After the group defeats the Greater Demosh, they head on to Ni Akeria. Milla thanks Alvin for saving her, although Alvin says that it was Jude's plan. Jude then asks Alvin if he knew Presa, but Alvin denies it.

Once the group arrives at Ni Akeria, the villagers gather around Milla, worshipping her. In order to unlocked the Four Great Spirits, Milla asks Jude and Alvin to help her gather spirit eggs. When they gathered the eggs, Milla began the summoning ritual. However, instead of the Four Great Spirits appearing, the eggs cracked, and Milla collapsed. When Ivar chastises Jude, Alvin comes to his defense. After Ivar kicked the two out of the house, and is promptly kicked out himself by Milla, Alvin notices something in the forest and decides to return to the village. When Milla and Jude return the village, Alvin announces that his job for Milla was done, and explains that the village elder offered to pay him. When Milla asked why, the village elder explained that hiring a mercenary was the one thing they could do for Maxwell. With his job done, Alvin decides to leave the group. When Milla and Jude pondered over how to enter Il Fan without crossing into A Jule's, a rival country, borders, Alvin reappears and suggests that they travel to Karaha Schall instead. He reveals that Ivar paid him to accompany the group again. Milla decides to return to Ha Mil.

Tales of Xillia 2
He reappears in the sequel, Tales of Xillia 2, as a playable character. He is 27-years-old, and has developed his own business with his partner. Unlike before, he is now truly attempting to befriend the other party members. He is revealed to be the son of a quite distinguished family from Elenpios.

Appearance and Personality
Alvin is competent in his work as a mercenary. He is also quite sociable with the other party members and he shows often mature composure. He does not show his own feelings very easily, rarely speaking about himself. Though he outwardly seems to be acting just for himself sometimes, he can be very calculating in the times of need.

Fighting Style
Alvin is capable of wielding two weapons in battle. He uses a one handed sword in his right hand and a gun in his left hand. Both his sword and gun are used in his normal attacks and artes. Alvin's primary stat for the Liliale Orb is Strength; he has access to several life and attack power boosting skills that other characters do not, and generally has the highest physical attack. Alvin focuses on powerful attacks that deal more damage than other characters, at a slight cost of speed.

His characteristic skill is "Charge" (チャージ) which is activated by holding down the artes button during an arte. Alvin will pause and charge his sword using the power of his gun, and after a moment his sword will glow blue to indicate that he is in "Charge" mode. While in this state, Alvin has increased fighting capabilities. Initially, he can store one charge in his sword, which is expended when he executes an arte. The charge will alter most of Alvin's artes into more powerful versions of themselves, called "Charge Artes" (チャージ技). For example, Majinken turns into Gou Majinken, and Rengazan turns into Houryuu Rengazan. He also has various skills that augment this capability, such as the ability to store more charges at once, or charge faster. Alvin's partner characteristic support skill is "Breaker" (ブレイカー). While he is the slave character, if the master is attacking a guarding enemy, he will attempt to break the enemy's guard.