Asbel Lhant

Asbel Lhant (アスベル・ラント) is the main protagonist of Tales of Graces. He is the eldest son of Aston Lhant and Kerri Lhant, the Lord of the Lhant territory, located in the border zone between the countries of Windor and Fendel. From an early age, he was taught the skills necessary to inherit the title of Lord by his father and his butler, Frederic, but secretly aspires to become a knight. He one day decides to enlist in the Knight Training Academy in the capital of Windor and became devoted to his training, eventually growing into a polite and diligent young swordsman.

Prologue
One day, a young Asbel and Hubert Oswell go to explore a flower field located on Lhant Hill. As they near it, they see a purple-haired girl sleeping in the field. They soon introduce themselves to her and, because of her lack of memories; they decide to take her back to their home in Lhant. When Asbel and the others return, he, Hubert, and Cheria Barnes travel throughout Lhant to see if anyone knows the mysterious girl. While inside Lhant manor, Asbel's father, Aston, speaks to Asbel about Prince Richard's expected visit to Lhant and how he wants to hand the mysterious girl over to the authorities to find her family. Asbel is reluctant to hand over his new friend and decides he will take care of her, much to Aston's dismay. Outside of the manor, Asbel and the others decide to name the mysterious girl Sophie, inspired by the name of the Sopheria flower that she was fascinated by. After naming their new friend, Asbel and the others hear that the Turtlez carriage carrying Richard has been attacked by monsters. Asbel and the others head to the East Lhant Road and save Richard's carriage from some of the monsters. After saving the carriage, Aston begins to scold Asbel for his recklessness, but Richard's escort commends Asbel for his bravery and puts the situation aside.

Asbel and the others return to town and decide to meet with Richard. After greeting themselves to Richard, Richard tells them to leave, believing that Asbel and his friends plan on using him. After this event, Richard's sword training teacher, Bryce, orders Richard to do his training, despite the fact that Richard is not feeling to well. Asbel decides to take Richard's place in training and manages to land a hit on Bryce, which causes Bryce to bring out an actual weapon. Bryce is stopped by Richard's escort and orders him to join the other guards in the manor. Richard's escort commends Asbel's swordsmanship and tells Asbel he has the talent of becoming a knight. Asbel and Sophie decide to take Richard to Lhant Hill and ask Hubert and Cheria to cover for them. While on Lhant Hill, Bryce reveals himself as an assassin to kill Richard, but Asbel and Sophie take on Bryce and defeat him. After defeating Bryce, Asbel and the others fall down from the top of the hill. The group manages to make it back to the top of the cliff and form a friendship pact by carving their names into a tree. Asbel, Sophie, and Richard return to Lhant, but Asbel is confined in his room for endangering their lives and for having Cheria and Hubert lie.

After being locked inside the manor, Asbel sneaks out with Sophie and heads to Barona. After arriving in Barona, Asbel plans to explore the capital city with Richard, Cheria, Hubert, and Sophie. Asbel and the others ask Richard to take them to the castle, but Richard says they will have to take a secret passageway at night to get in. That night Richard does not show up and the group discovers a passage to the Barona Catacombs. While exploring the cave, they discover an unconscious Richard on the ground, and Asbel hurries up to wake him. While he and Sophie tend to Richard, a monster appears and attacks Hubert and Cheria, leaving them unconscious. Asbel, in his fury, naively runs up to the monster and attempts to attack it. He is severely wounded by the monster, but at the last moment is saved by Sophie. After this, Sophie is enveloped a bright light, and launches an attack towards the monster just as Asbel blacks out. Asbel is awoken by Sophie, who is overjoyed that he is alive. Happy for her, Asbel smiles as she helps him up. Just as he sits up, the dying monster stabs Sophie in the back, then drops her. Sophie struggles to get up, her wound releasing energy rather than blood, and runs towards the monster, exploding in a flash of purple light and obliterating the monster in the process.

One week later, Asbel wakes up to find himself in his own bed at his house. When his father visits him, Aston tells him that Hubert has been adopted by the Oswell family in Strahta and Sophie died in the cave. Aston begins to blame Asbel for the incident, but Asbel begins to yell at his father and tells him that he is not going to become the next lord of Lhant. Asbel leaves his room and tells Cheria he is leaving to Barona to become a knight. Cheria begins to tell Asbel not to go and she will take Hubert and Sophie's place. Asbel begins to yell at Cheria for her statement, but apologizes when he sees her crying and lies to her saying he will stay after all. The next day, Asbel leaves Lhant to become a knight so he can become stronger and protect those he holds dear.

Seven Years Later
Seven years later, Asbel, together with his instructor Malik Caesar, travel to the village of Orlen to investigate the disappearance of the villagers. While investigating the village, Asbel is attacked by a mysterious monster. The monster defeats Asbel easily and tries to attack him again, but Asbel learns a new burst attack and defeats the monster. After completing their mission, Malik tells Asbel that he is ready to become an actual knight, but asks him to choose between becoming a knight or the next Lord of Lhant. While returning to the knights academy in Barona, Asbel runs into Cheria. There, he learns that he received a letter from his mother during his mission, but never read it. Cheria then tells Asbel that his father had fallen in battle against the Fendelian army. Malik orders Asbel to return to Lhant to inspect the situation and to visit his family during the tragic moment.

Asbel returns to Lhant and discovers that Cheria's grandfather, Frederick, has been kidnapped by Fendel soldiers. Asbel and Cheria arrive on the battlefield and save Frederic from the Fendel soldiers, but they are attacked by Fendel war machines after. Asbel decides to be a decoy and lets the machine follow him and Cheria to Lhant Hill. On Lhant Hill, the plan begins to fail and the machine attempts to kill them, but a girl with a similar resemblance to Sophie appears and helps them defeat the tank. The two are shocked by Sophie's reappearance, but girl does not have any memories of Asbel and Cheria. When he returns to Lhant, Asbel decides to give up on becoming a knight and decides to become the next Lord of Lhant. Asbel decides to lead the Lhant soldiers through the Seaside Cavern and they manage to sneak into the Fendel camp, but they soon discover it is a trap and the Fendel soldiers are already attacking Lhant. When they arrive in Lhant, Hubert arrives with Strahtan soldiers and they defeat the Fendel soldiers. Asbel returns to his house to speak to Hubert, but the reunion ends up in chaos and Hubert and Asbel end up fighting. Asbel is instantly defeated by his younger brother and he is thrown out of Lhant by Strahtan soldiers.

The War for Windor
After being kicked out of Lhant, Asbel and Sophie head to Barona by ship, but two knights begin to chase them after their arrival. The two travel to the Barona Catacombs and find a weak Richard on the ground. Asbel and Sophie learn that Richard's father was killed by Richard's uncle, Cedric. Asbel and Sophie decide to help Richard reclaim the throne and agree to head to Gralesyde to speak with Duke Dalen. While traveling to Gralesyde, the party learns they cannot pass through the guarded Wallbridge Fortress. Asbel and the others meet a young woman named Pascal and manage to pass to the other side of the fortress through the Wallbridge Ruins. While in Gralesyde, Asbel and the others meet with Duke Dalen and create a plan to infiltrate the Wallbridge Fortress.

At the Wallbridge Fortress, Richard is stabbed by a soldier and seems to be dead, but Richard begins to go berserk and slashes the soldier brutally. Asbel yells at Richard to get a hold of himself, which manages to make Richard return to his senses again. After allowing the Gralesyde soldiers inside Wallbridge, Asbel and the party are forced to fight Malik. After defeating Malik, Asbel and the party meet up with Cheria and Richard orders her not heal the wounded of the enemy party. Asbel begins to argue with Richard over this decision, which causes Richard to go into pain again. After Richard recovers, Duke Dalen informs Asbel that he is no longer allowed to travel with Richard. Asbel and his friends are set in a small commando group and manage to infiltrate Barona Castle. Asbel and the others manage to catch up with Richard and join him. Inside the throne room, Asbel and the others fight Cedric and defeat him. After Cedric is defeated, Richard grabs his sword and kills his uncle, despite what Asbel and his friends said. The next day, Richard is then crowned the king of Windor and Asbel begins to have his doubts about Richard.

Richard's Betrayal
The next day after Richard is crowned king, Richard summons Asbel to the throne room and reveals to Asbel that the Strahtan soldiers refuse to leave Lhant. Richard orders Asbel to lead a group of soldiers to attack Lhant, but Asbel refuses and plans to make negotiations with Hubert. Richard seemingly agrees and allows Asbel to do so. Asbel heads back to Lhant to talk to Hubert, but they arrive right exactly when Richard attacks the city. Asbel tries to reason with Richard, but Richard attacks both Asbel and Hubert. Sophie regains her memories and fights Richard for a short while, but Richard remains victorious and tries to kill Sophie. Asbel, after remembering the events of seven years ago, intervenes and manages to attack Richard, causing Richard to stop. Asbel, Sophie, and Hubert are forced to fight Richard and they manage to defeat him. After being defeated, Richard is taken back to Barona by Dalen and his soldiers.

Strahta
After defeating Richard, Asbel and the party learn that Hubert is being called back to Strahta after his apparent failure at governing the nation. Asbel asks Hubert to let him go to Strahta and try to convince the president to let Hubert govern Lhant longer. Hubert agrees and gives Asbel a letter and tells him to head to Yu Liberte. After Asbel receives the letter, Cheria is kidnapped by Raymond, after she overhears him planning to steal the letter from Asbel. Asbel and the others learn from Raymond that he has kidnapped Cheria and orders Asbel to give him Hubert's report. Hubert arrives and threatens to tell the president about Raymond's actions, but this causes Raymond to stab himself in an attempt to get away with his actions. After saving Cheria, Asbel and Cheria begin to argue with each other. Asbel learns about Cheria's true feelings of how she felt when he left and apologizes for his words. The group returns to Lhant and Hubert gives Asbel a good luck charm to help them on their journey. The party leaves Lhant and takes a boat to Strahta.

After the party arrives in Strahta, Asbel and the others learn that the Rockgagong monster has been running rampant and no can enter the city of Yu Liberte. Asbel and the others still attempt to travel to the city, but the Rockgagong swallows the party. Asbel and the others awaken inside the beast's stomach and attempt to find a way out. The party travels to a building inside the monster's stomach and learn that a swarm of parasites are the reason why the Rockgagong is in its berserk state. Asbel and the others defeat the queen parasite and manage sooth the beast. The good luck charm Hubert gave Asbel in Lhant begins to leak pepper out and causes the monster to sneeze the party out. Asbel and the others find themselves in the desert again and meet an elderly traveler. The traveler thanks them for their work and tells them they will meet again someday.

After Asbel and the others arrive in Yu Liberte, Asbel meets with the elderly traveler from the desert, who is in fact President Dylan Paradine. Asbel attempts to convince Paradine to let Hubert govern Lhant a little longer, but Garret Oswell interrupts trying to convince Paradine not to listen to Asbel. After hearing Asbel's words, Paradine reveals to Garret that he knew all along that Garret worked with Cedric to take over Lhant for his own gains and removes him from power over Lhant. After ordering Garret to leave from his office, Paradine reveals to Asbel that he will have to eventually remove Hubert from governing Lhant, due to the fact that Strahta is on a low production of cryas. After exiting from the presidential building, Asbel and the others help out an engineer working on the valkines cryas in the Strahta Desert Ruins and learn about the giant cryas's current condition. The party goes to the inn and they have Pascal devise a plan to fix the valkines. Asbel returns to speak with Paradine about Pascal's plan and manages to obtain permission to enter the Strata Desert Ruins.

Asbel and the others arrive in the Strahta Desert Ruins and have Pascal fix the valkines cryas, but Richard arrives and drains the eleth out of the valkines cryas. Asbel, again tries to reason with Richard, but Richard sends two monsters to attack the party. After defeating the monsters, Asbel and the others return to Yu Liberte and meet up with Paradine and Hubert. Asbel informs Paradine of the situation and everyone comes to the conclusion that Richard's next target is Fendel's valkines cryas. Hubert decides to join Asbel on his journey, and the party travels to Warrior's Roost to meet a Strahtan spy.

Fendel
After the party arrives on Warrior's Roost, Asbel and the others learn from Fendel soldiers that the Strahtan spy has been kidnapped. The Fendel soldiers challenge Asbel and the others to a match in the arena in exchange for the spy and the party accepts the challenge to save the informant. After defeating the soldiers, their leader attempts to kill the spy, but the Lord of the Arena steps in and knocks the soldier out. The spy tells Asbel and the others that Fendel's valkines is located near the city of Zavhert. The party boards a ship and heads to Fendel.

After landing in Fendel, Asbel and the others encounter an enormous crater caused by a cryas explosion and learn of the nation's drastic decline in cryas. On the boat to Zavhert, Asbel and Hubert argue, due to the fact Hubert does not trust Malik and Pascal. While in Zavhert, Asbel and the others are stopped by the soldiers in the city, but Malik uses his old Fendel military records and the soldiers allow them to carry on. After over hearing the soldiers in the city, Pascal tells Asbel and the party that the Fendelians are using her old plans to extract more eleth from the valkines cryas. She reveals that she was the cause of the crater they passed earlier and that extracting too much eleth from the valkines can wipe out the entire Fendel nation. Hubert interrupts and begins to interrogate Malik on his knowledge of Fendel. Malik reveals to Asbel and the others that he was born in Fendel and that he left the nation twenty years before. After Malik reveals his past, Fendel soldiers arrive and threaten to arrest Asbel and his friends. The party is forced to flee from the city and they decide to go to the Amarcian Enclave to get more answers.

While in the Amarcian Enclave, Pascal learns that all her notes have been taken and that they must go speak to the Overseer. The party learns from Poisson and the Overseer that Pascal's sister, Fourier, is in charge of Fendel's extraction plan and that she took Pascal's notes. After arriving at Fendel's research tower, Fourier tells the party that Kurt Bessel of Fendel knows where the valkines is located. Asbel and the others head to Fendel tower and find out that the valkines is inside the Fendel Glacier Ruins. Kurt arrives and the party attempts to make him stop experimenting on the valkines. Kurt explains to the party that Fendel's top scientists have proved that nothing will happen by extracting more elith from the valkines. Kurt orders Asbel and the others to leave or he will call the guards to arrest them. Outside the tower, Asbel and the others decide they must go to Fendel Glacier Ruins to ask Chancellor Eigen to stop the extraction process.

While inside the Fendel Glacier Ruins, Asbel and the others arrive at the moment the extraction process is about to begin. Kurt intervenes and attacks the party, but Asbel and the others defeat him. After defeating Kurt, the valkines begins to start a chain reaction. Kurt stabs the extraction machine, stopping the chain reaction, but sadly ending his life. Richard arrives and attempts to drain the elith out of the valkines, Asbel tries to intervene, but Richard attacks Asbel. Sophie manages to fight Richard, but he still defeats her. Richard drains the elith from the valkines and flies off. After Richard leaves, Poisson arrives and tells Asbel and the others that Richard went to find the Lastalia, the core of the planet and the source of all cryas. Poisson gives the party the key to the Archive of Wisdom in the Amarcian Enclave.

Inside the Archive of Wisdom, Asbel and the other learn that the entrance to the Lastalia is located at World's Eye. They also learn of someone named Lambda, a person that attempted to drain all the elith from valkines a long time ago. They read an ancient poem about the Proto Heis and conclude that Richard is attempting recreate the events of the poem. The party leaves the enclave and they travel to World's Eye by boat. At World's Eye, Richard appears again and fights the party. After beating Richard, Malik tells Asbel to grant Richard a quick death, but Asbel denies this proposal. Richard appears to be fighting an internal struggle and begs Asbel not to kill him. Sophie attempts to help Richard, Richard apparently returns to his senses and calls out to Sophie, but fires an attack at her. When Richard begins to form the Lambda Cocoon, Asbel grabs the unconscious Sophie and carries her on his back. The party manages to board the ship and they head back to Fendel.

Fodra
In Fendel, Asbel and the others attempt to heal Sophie with healing artes. She begins to scream in agony and reveals she cannot see any of the party members. The party decides to head to the inn in Zavhert and let Sophie rest for the time being. Inside the inn, Pascal tells Asbel that Sophie may not be actually human and that Sophie can only be healed if they go to Fodra. Poisson and the Overseer arrive and tell the party that they must go to the Lost Amarcian Archive in Sable Izolle to learn about Fodra.

In Sable Izolle, Asbel and the others learn that they need to find a flying shuttle to go to Fodra. In order to go Fodra, they must tear a hole in the aquasphere surrounding the planet. Pascal tells Asbel that the shuttle is inside the Seaside Cavern near Lhant. While inside the Seaside Cavern, they find the shuttle and learn they must use two heat ray cannons to make a hole in the aquasphere. The one in the Fendel area is not operational and the party decides to go repair it. After leaving from the shuttle hold, the party learns that the monsters from World's Eye are attacking Lhant. The party returns to Lhant and the city is under attack by the monsters. Asbel manages to save Bailey from the monsters, but the monster attacks him instead. Sophie uses her powers and destroys all the monsters attacking the city. After the monsters are defeated, Asbel and the others spend the night at his manor and leave the next day to the Fendel heat cannon.

After repairing the heat ray cannon in Fendel, the party returns to the Seaside Cavern to use the shuttle. When they arrive to the Seaside Cavern, Poisson offers to help control the shuttle. While Pascal and Poisson make modifications to the shuttle, monsters begin to attack the cavern and keep on coming, but Bailey arrives to hold the monsters off. When the party launches the shuttle, monsters attempt to attack them, but Fourier arrives and defeats them. The party breaks through the aquasphere and manages to travel to Fodra. Due to the planet's strong gravitational force, the shuttle crash lands on the planet. Outside the ship, they find out Fodra is a wasteland devoid of life. The party discovers that the shuttle is heavily damaged and they are stuck on Fodra for the time being.

Asbel and the others decide that healing Sophie is their first priority. The party spots the city of Telos Astue in the distance and decides to head to the city. When the group arrives in Telos Astue, they spot a young boy and follow him to get some answers. They follow the boy and find a woman sleeping in a pod. The woman awakens and introduces herself as Emeraude. The group tells her about Sophie and Emeraude explains to Asbel and the others that Sophie is malfunctioning. Emeraude reveals that Sophie is in fact the Protos Heis, an advanced humanoid soldier created by Fodran scientists. She tells the group to go to the Humanoid Research Center to heal Sophie, but she explains there might be a chance the facility's equipment may be broken. The group agrees to still go to the center and takes Emeraude with them. Before they leave from Telos Astue, Emeraude tells the young boy, Psi, to fix the party's shuttle while they are gone.

When the group reaches the Humanoid research center, Emeraude tells the group to lay Sophie in the machine. Doing some modifications, Sophie's memories spurt out, having each and every character come out and show Sophie's memories of that person. However, Sophie's memory of a dark spirit named Lambda becomes real, engaging in a battle with the party. The group defeats Lambda and use the rest of the planet's advanced machinery to heal and regain Sophie's memories, revealing she is a biological humanoid engineered to defeat Lambda, the monster that attacked them in their childhood and is currently possessing Richard. Then, the group enters Lambda's cocoon via shuttle. Going deeper into the cocoon, the group finds Richard, who has taken a new darker form. When the group defeats Richard, Emeraude betrays the group and absorbs Lambda's power, engaging in a battle with the party.

After the group defeats Emurade, Richard allows Lambda to come back inside of him and destroys the cocoon, forcing the party to escape via shuttle. Then, the party gets set to meet Richard in the Lastalia shaft. Once ready, the party enters the Lastalia shaft and heads to where Richard lies. After seeing visions of Lambda's past, the party meets the end of the Lastalia Shaft, where they battle Richard. When he is defeated, Lambda's power overwhelms him. Then, Lambda abandons Richard's body and fights the party on his own. Since Lambda cannot be killed by normal means, Sophie intends to sacrifice herself, but instead, Asbel absorbs lambda, and convinces him to let him show humanity's worth. Lambda agrees, and falls into a long slumber. Asbel returns to Lhant with Sophie, where she tends to her Sopheria flowers, leading to the game's credits.

Lineage and Legacies
One year after the main events of the game, the nova monster population causes Asbel and the others to reunite and investigate the cause. Assuming that the eleth from Fodra is influencing the nova monsters, the group travels there and finds out that Fodra's core has reactivated. They discover that the core is sentient and wants revenge on the humans for the decaying of Fodra. The group defeats Fodra's soldiers, the Little Queens, and Asbel reawakens Lambda to absorb Fodra's consciousness. Doing so, Lambda returns to a deep sleep in order to comfort Fodra's revengeful feelings. Afterward, the group separates and returns to their daily life, and Asbel asks that Cheria that he can live with her, proposing to her.

Appearance and Personality
Asbel has dark brown-red (maroon) hair and blue eyes, a trait he shares with the rest of his family. As a knight in Barona, he wears a green, long-sleeved shirt, lined with blue accents and gold buttons. Over it, he wears a long-sleeved white coat with gold buttons that keep each sleeve tied together. The coat has gray shoulder areas and is blue on the inside. He has a black scabbard that holds his sword. In the future arc, his most noticeable feature is his purple eye.

Asbel is a handsome,spirited and sexy young man with a very strong sense of justice, even more so for that of a knight. He fails to turn away from those in need, and once he has decided on a path it is unlikely that anyone would deter him from it. He may be seen as naive and young, as Malik often states, usually stating ideals considered impossible, such as "saving everyone". After losing someone important seven years prior to the main scenario, he becomes a lot more self-aware about his actions and takes responsibility for his own actions.

It is seen when he wears his clothing he naturally he has big muscles on all his body parts and a built rectus abdominis, which can be seen when wearing his swimsuit.

Fighting Style
As a child, Asbel's fighting style relied on fighting with one sword with both hands while slashing and striking enemies. He was also able to use a number of artes that did not continue with his other abilities as he grew older. As an adult, Asbel uses two different fighting styles, the Sheathed Blade Artes Style (帯刀技) and Drawn Blade Burst Style (抜刀術). While "Artes Style" is active, Asbel's sword is almost always sheathed. The only exceptions are certain advanced artes where he will draw his sword to finish his attack, sheathing it again afterward.

Asbel mostly makes use of kicks and striking with the sheath of his blade to attack. His Burst Style makes use of his drawn sword, activated by pressing the "Cancel" button. His Burst Style artes often have two different animations which alternate if the same arte is used consecutively within a combo. These Burst Artes also have a few altered arte variations that allow him to activate various Artes Style attacks during a Burst combo, if a specific chain of attacks is used. In Tales of Graces ƒ, Asbel's Accelerate Mode is called Spiral Surge (アクセルフォース), which summons a dark flame to surround his body to deal damage.

Relationships
Cheria Barnes - A close childhood friend of Asbel, she has feelings toward him, but he remains completely oblivious, despite the frequent hints and attitudes of the other party members. While they were young, she would often try to play with Asbel and Hubert but had a hard time due to her illness. After the incident which led to the perceived death of Sophie, she tries to be there for Asbel, who lies to her and leaves her alone for seven years. Because of this, she grows cold and distant from Asbel when she reunites, especially when Sophie returns. It is until she gets kidnapped that she reveals to Asbel that she missed him and she felt that she did not matter in his life anymore. Even at a young age, Cheria seemed to hold strong feelings toward Asbel. As her closest friend, Asbel's self-imposed exile affected her tremendously, but she never stopped thinking about him. After reconciling, her feelings for him grew and eventually blossoms into love, though Asbel is too oblivious to pick up on this at first; although he had the same feelings for her but in a dormant way.

After meeting again in Barona, she displays a very cold attitude, showing little regard of care toward him. However, after Cheria is kidnapped by Raymond Ozwell, a Strata soldier and Hubert's older brother from his adopted family, and scolded by Asbel without knowing the situation she was in after she is rescued, she tells Asbel that she was actually worried about him for the past seven years and begins crying. Sophie then made the pairing hold hands at which they both blush at and gaze deeply at each other (showing their love and sign of affection) by holding their hands for too long as Pascal comments that "Young love is sweet" even though she is narrow-minded when it comes to love-situations. She pretends to tease him and calls him a 'big jerk' whilst he laughs at her demeanour, as she finally returned to her old self and reconciled with him with the help of Sophie and their relationship returns to normal. Cheria acts like a wife or girlfriend towards Asbel and the mother in Sophie's relationship, often taking care of Sophie in Asbel's stead as he is more clueless to the delicacies of women. While Asbel is oblivious to her feelings, Asbel has shown that he also has feelings toward her but still has trouble expressing it. Asbel soon finds himself flustered around Cheria more easily, like when they are at the Seaside Cavern - she thinks that he makes them swim to look at her as she finds it perverted, resulting in him to oppose and blush. He also finds himself going to her more often and is the other person he constantly worries over after Sophie.

During the sub-event of the play in Velanik, Asbel has to dress as the prince whilst Cheria dresses as a princess which people portray her as all the time - partway through the play Asbel has to awaken her with a kiss but since the audience can't see the two's faces, he ends up talking to her for a while and notices that her face turns red, as she thinks his face is really close; after that Captain Malik nudges Asbel on the back with his foot which causes him to lean forward and his head to fall downwards, resulting in an actual kiss with Cheria. Afterwards a skit shows the two blushing, as Hubert mentions real actors have trouble leaving their role after a play and then comments on them being 'extremely talented'.

During the "Lineage and Legacies" chapter, Asbel and Cheria's feelings for one another grew, especially because of Cheria's absence due to her relief work and when Asbel's mother begins to pressure him to find a wife. A skit shows Asbel looking through the marriage letters and commenting that each girl reminds him of Cheria and that he wants to see her again (this showing his affection for her). When Asbel reunites with Cheria in Barona Castle, he blushes heavily at seeing her again and steps aside as she moves closer. Near the end, Asbel promises Cheria that he will tell the person he cares about most his feelings. At the end of the story, Asbel decides to act on his promise and asks Cheria if she wants to live with him (as a marriage partner) saying that he will wait for her for as long as it takes. In Sophie's dream it is marked that they have a descendant, meaning that the two slept together and passed down their legacy.

Sophie - During childhood, both Asbel and Hubert found her lying on a flower field. Soon enough, Sophie becomes very protective towards Asbel and his other childhood friends, and dies trying to protect them. This event of Asbel's life is the one that make him wants to change to become stronger, so that he will not lose anyone again. As Asbel reaches 18 years of age, Sophie once more appears before him and Cheria as they are attacked by tanks. Asbel acts very protective and caring toward Sophie because of what happened in the past. After Sophie's revelation that she is an artificial life-form created to sacrifice her life to destroy Lambda, Asbel constantly showed his disdain towards the idea, willing to bet the world at stake to stop her. The true extent of Asbel's bond with Sophie is shown to be very deep as shown when Asbel willing to sacrifice his life to spare Sophie from death. Over all, Asbel's relationship with Sophie is that of an father figure and older brother. This is cemented further as Asbel officially adopts Sophie into the Lhant house, effectively becoming her father.

Hubert Oswell - Cheria was very protective of Hubert when they were children, and often tried to make him feel better if he got discouraged or sad. Now that they have become older and Hubert has become capable of defending himself, Cheria and Hubert can protect one another on equal ground. In addition, they would talk to each other easily, though Cheria sometimes pick up on Hubert's newly acquired oddities.

The two share a close relationship as she acts like an older sister towards Hubert during the Childhood Arc; even holding him when his pants became damp from peeing himself after the two of them being scared. When the two grow older, each tease the other when it comes to their crushes.

Richard - Like with Cheria, Richard is a childhood friend of Asbel, who he met a long time ago and shares a great bond with. Asbel goes through much effort to befriend Richard, despite his first regards of Asbel's attempts as a means of trying to gain favor from the throne. After saving Richard's life from an attempted assassination, they become very close friends, swearing an oath of friendship along with Sophie at the flower bed in the mountain behind Lhant. During Asbel's first visit to Barona, Richard promises to meet the young party at night near a temple later. Despite spending a considerable amount of time waiting, and Cheria's suggestion to go back to the inn, Asbel still believes that Richard is coming. They later find Richard at a hidden location inside the temple, and are attack by a monster. Seven years later, Richard becomes the king of Barona, requesting Asbel's assistance in restoring order to the country as a coup d'etat. Seemingly going insane after reacquiring the throne, and constantly hungering for power, Asbel still believes in his friend, and goes through many lengths to try to save him.

Malik Caesar - Asbel's instructor in knight school, the two share a strong bond. Asbel greatly respects Malik as his ideal person to become, and continually refers to him as "kyoukan" (教官) or Captain in the English version. Malik often provides advice and calmly analyzes the situation to prevent Asbel from running in head-first or making mistakes. After they begin traveling together, Malik attempts to help Asbel grow into a fine man and a worthy lord. But when it comes to matters Asbel does not know about, namely romance, Malik tries to take a much more direct approach with awkward results.

Family
While he was with Malik to train to be a knight, his father, Aston, died in battle. Because of this, he was asked to come back to claim his role as a leader. His younger brother, Hubert, thinks of his absence as a way to abandon his role of leadership, thus sometimes acting cold toward Asbel. Despite being very close as young siblings, their time apart has shown them two different paths. Hubert quickly took on a larger role of responsibility and seriousness in his attitude, and acts quite strictly. Asbel, having retained some of his carefree nature, is seen as a hindrance by Hubert at first, but the two eventually mend their relationship over a common goal: protecting Lhant, and the world.

As a young child, he felt that his father was nothing more than just a man who wanted things his way. Asbel, as an adult, soon realizes that his father was truly a caring man who wanted the best for him. His feelings of respect toward his father are solidified further as Asbel cares for Sophie like a father would. Asbel's relationship with his mother Kerri Lhant is just as strong as she desperately wanted to see both of her sons again after they left, only to be heartbroken when Hubert banishes Asbel and treats her with coldness. Once Asbel returns to Lhant after Hubert accepts him and the brothers begin to mend their relationship, Kerri often acts as a mentor to the two boys bringing up stories about their father and reminding them that he is always watching over his boys.

Kerri also revealed to the boys that they had an uncle, Aldan, who was their father's older brother. The reason that Aston chose Asbel to be the next Lord of Lhant and never kept it a secret was because of what happened between Aston and Aldan. Aston was the youngest child but was chosen to become the Lord of Lhant, which caused a row between the brothers and led to Aldan's subsequent banishment from Lhant. Aldan later died far from Lhant and he and Aston never resolved their conflict.

Pascal - He finds her strange at first during their meeting, like when she screams and touches Sophie. During the storyline he finds her to be an importance to the party as she handles all the machinery and gadget work. He is the only character, unable to notice Hubert's patterns in order to get closer to her. It is mentioned in a skit that Pascal mentions someone she likes, who both Hubert and Asbel want to know. Asbel asks Hubert to find out, as he does so because Hubert values Asbel more than he realises. Asbel in turn has a slight blush to hear that Pascal has someone she likes, until they find out that it is Sophie.

Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X
Asbel appears in the remake of Narikiri Dungeon as a cameo costume usable by Dio. To obtain the costume, the player must insert a password on the character menu. When Dio wears the costume, the battle music changes from Take Up the Cross to ''Battou! Togisumase!, the second normal battle theme from Tales of Graces''.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3
Asbel is a knight who belongs to the Kingdom of Garbanzo, serving as a subordinate to Flynn Scifo. He travels with Sophie to find Princess Estelle in order to bring her back to the kingdom. They board on the Van Eltia and discover her as part of its crew. However, Estelle refuses to leave until she completes her mission to seek out incidents caused by overuse and exploitation of Hoschia crystals. Asbel agrees with Estelle's ideal, and he decides to join the Ad Libitum guild to protect the people of the kingdom with Estelle. Asbel briefly mentions his brother and father in some skits. In one such scene, Cheria tells Kyle that Asbel's father died through an unknown cause, rather than having been killed during battle.

Tales of Gekijou
Asbel is seen in Tales of Gekijou, a series of animated shorts included as part of the pre-order bonuses of Tales of the Heroes: Twin Brave. Asbel is shown in the second episode, in which Cheria needs help to carry important materials. When Zelos Wilder appears to declare his intention to date Cheria, Asbel battles with Zelos to protect Cheria's belongings. Asbel is shown again in the third episode, in which he is sparring with Guy Cecil. At the end of the episode, he is seen being chased by Leon Magnus after nearly killing him.

Trivia

 * Asbel and Cheria mark an official couple in the 'Tales of' series.
 * Asbel is one of the most favorited character in the series, sometimes topped by Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia, but this can be noted how Yuri became popular on the PS3 remake where the game had more events and costumes due to the original being sold poorly, causing the game and the character himself to be a big hit; where as Graces only made the changes of console and extra arc for the storyline and not enough costumes to bait. Asbel is one of Tales Of Studios team's personal favorite.
 * Asbel's outfit appears as a pre-order costume for Milla Maxwell in Tales of Xillia 2.
 * Asbel is mentioned in Tales of Zestiria by Sophie when she and Jade Curtiss are about to leave the game's world. Additionally, Mecha-Asbel appears as a DLC attachment for the Japanese release of the game. The download code was issued on January 22, 2015 through Famitsu.
 * Asbel appears in a special crossover DVD with Haseo, the main character of both .hack//Roots and .hack//G.U., available if the game, .hack//LINK, was pre-ordered in Japan. In addition to this, Haseo can obtain Asbel's clothing as a costume within the game, and in Tales of Graces ƒ, Asbel can obtain Haseo's "Xth Form" costume as DLC. Takahiro Sakurai, the voice actor for Asbel, also voices Haseo throughout the .hack series.
 * Asbel's clothing appears as a downloadable costume for the main character in the Namco Bandai game, Gods Eater Burst.