Garr Kelvin

Garr Kelvin, or Woodrow Kelvin in Japan, is one of the main characters of the video game Tales of Destiny and a supporting character in its sequel, Tales of Destiny 2. He is the prince, 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 acquaintated with the Swordian, Garr develops an ability to hear the words of a Swordian.

One day, Garr rescues a young man named Stahn Aileron (Stan Aileron in Japanese). 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 (Grebaum in Japan) 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 (Rutee Kartret in Japanese), Philia Felice (Philia Philis in Japanese), Leon Magnus (Lion Magnus in Japanese) and Mary Argent (Mary Agent in Japanese), 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 in 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 won't 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 and Philia (and possibly Rutee if you 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. After getting Rutee to join their team (if you hadn't gotten her earlier), they heads to Seinegald. Garr also carries Igtenos, hoping that he'll 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. (Leon complied in order to protect his most beloved.) 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 the remake, he helps the party evacuate through an elevator by staying behind to operate it.) 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 (Miktran in Japan) 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 resolved 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 the Eye, 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 the village of Lienea.

Full time as a King (Tales of Destiny 2)
Garr once again resumes his position as the King of Phandaria. 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 and 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 isn't the said hero. After talking and giving him both advice and good luck, Garr sends them to rest. He is also aware of Stahn's untimely death under an assassin. However, he is also unaware that one of Kyle's companion, Judas, is actually the same Leon Magnus who betrayed Stahn in the past, brought back from the dead.

Shortly after, the airship Draconis crashes to the castle and in the midst of chaos, Stahn's murderer Barbatos Goetia confronts Garr and heavily wounds. When Garr recovered 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 if he is to choose between saving the world or saving his beloved. Garr's advice is to keep thinking until the time comes.

Eventually, Kyle and the group defeats Barbatos, Elraine and eventually God (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.

Igtenos
The soul contained within Garr's Swordian is that of Igtenos Minarde, former head of the Er'ther Army's intelligence unit. Igtenos himself is a calm, cool and logical man. Ever since his death, his soul resides in his Swordian, which became the symbol of the Phandarian royal family. Igtenos combines both sword strength, speed, and Wind Magic. He is naturally deactivated due to being overused by Lydon (while the rest of the Swordians are deactivated due to Leon's discs).

In the remake of Tales of Destiny, Igtenos' voice actor is Taiki Matsuno.

Trivia

 * Garr possesses the most fighting styles within the character 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 appears in Tales of Symphonia as one of the opponents during the cameo battle, along with two Tales of Eternia characters, Farah Oersted and Meredy.
 * Garr appears in several of the side games in the Tales series, including Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2, Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3, Tales of Fandom and *Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (*voiced by D.C. Douglas).
 * 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 as Veigue.