Karol Capel

Karol Capel (カロル・カペル) is a young boy who wields a giant hammer and various other large weapons. Having grown up in Dahngrest, the home to many of the world's Guilds, Karol knows a lot about the functioning and culture of Guilds. Despite the fact that he acts with a lot of bravado, Karol lacks self-confidence, which leaves him rather cowardly in terms of actions. Due to this cowardice, Karol is repeatedly mocked in Dahngrest for joining and being kicked out of many different Guilds.

Personality
In practice, Karol is one of the comic relief characters when the brave front he puts up clashes with his cowardly actions. He is also frequently abused by Rita for various comments, and he has a habit of attempting to name things with overly long and childish names. Due to his youth, however, he finds himself fleeing more than not and is unable to take some of the harsher truths in the world, but he learns over the course of the game to have confidence in himself and his guild, though he retains his child-like exuberance. By running Brave Vesperia, he learns what it means to not only be in a guild, he also learns what it means to be a leader of one.

Fighting Style
Karol fights using axes, hammers, and grand swords as main weapons, and his bag as a sub weapon. Many of his artes have slightly more childish names, like Nice Recovery Smash and Ultra Punishing Swing, possibly reflecting his age as a child, but he is one of the strongest characters in the game. He can be rather slow in battle, but he makes up for it with raw strength, and, though he can't use magic artes, does have an array of supporting artes in battle. Karol can also use the "Mighty Charge" skill to increase the potency of his artes.

Karol's strongest weapon is his Infinity, which he obtains from the contest in Dahngrest, fitting as it culminates in him professing his admiration for his love interest. His strongest sword is the Bravior, which teaches him the "Motion Change" skill that causes his battle movements to reflect his newfound confidence when he obtains the weapon.

History
Karol meets Yuri Lowell, Estelle, and Repede at the end of Quoi Woods, where he mistakes the party for a monster and attacks. His fear causes him to swing uselessly around, allowing Yuri to stop his wild spin as well as breaking his weapon (which essentially creates the Karolian Hammer he begins the game with). Claiming to be a member of the Hunting Blades Guild, he joins the party. He is the first to propose a solution to heal Halure's tree using a Panacea Bottle to counteract the monster blood poisoning it. Throughout the event, Karol talks about a girl who he wanted to show Halure's blossoms to.

This girl is Nan, a member of the Hunting Blades, whom the party meets at Caer Bocram. Nan reveals that the Hunting Blades kicked Karol out because of his cowardice, but the group does not care. However, when the Hunting Blades trap and then attempt to kill the Dreaded Giant, Karol is nowhere to be found when the group reunites to defeat the foe. The group finds him above the chamber where the Dreaded Giant is fought, arguing with Nan, who is berating him on running away. Some of the citizens of Dahngrest treat him the same way.

After Phaeroh attacks Dahngrest to get at Estelle, Karol decides to form a Guild, with the reasoning that a strong Guild would be the best way to repay Don Whitehorse for the protection he offered Dahngrest. He forms Brave Vesperia with Yuri, Repede, and Judith to promote good deeds and do justice. Yuri names him boss because the guild is ultimately his idea, though he admits that he isn't ready for the position.

When the events involving the attack on Nordopolica and Don Whitehorse's sacrifice come to pass, Karol remains paralyzed by his indecision and fear. Shaken by the loss of his idol and hating himself even more, Karol moves to run away. Yuri is disgusted by Karol's attitude and tells him that the guild will leave him behind if he hesitates any longer. After mulling over the words Don Whitehorse told him about standing up for himself yet being able to ask for help, he resolves to join the party to meet Judith, but he denies the "boss" title until the guild feels that he has done something worthy of it.

During this period of time, Karol, burdened by emotions, is unable to sleep. Over a series of scenes obtained by sleeping at Dahngrest's inn, Karol talks with the Don's grandson Harry and begins to train with the Don's weapon. He also tells Yuri about his dreams, about him being helpless to save those he loves in them. By training with the Don's weapon, however, Karol finds some measure of peace in himself, as well as learning the "Special" skill to use his mystic arte Overlord Reign Impact.

After the groups saves Judith and Ba'ul, Karol calls a guild meeting and displays a new maturity when he lays bare his own weaknesses, about his inability to help his fellow guild members, but he also lay bares the mistakes of his fellow guild members and accepts them anyway. It marks one of the occasions where Karol acts as a true leader by acknowledging his own failures and attempting to atone for them, as well as making others atone for their failures to the guild.

Karol's time to shine comes at the Blade Drifts of Zopheir. When the Baitojoh manages to trap the party in an aer krene, Yuri knocks Karol out of the aer krene's area of influence. Yuri tells him to run, but Karol visibly struggles with that urge. Then, defiantly, Karol faces the Baitojoh to protect his friends. He holds his own, until the the monster manages to knock his weapon away. He stands his ground though, resolving that, as long as his friends are there, he would refuse to back down. When the Baitojoh charges at him, Karol is knocked into the air, but, in that instant, he manages to grab a sword laying there, the Bravior, which he uses to strike the monster and free his friends. Afterward, he passes out from exhaustion and is unable to fight for the rest of the Blade Drifts.

During the ending credits of the game it is shown he is still running the guild and has recruited a few other members who act cowardly like he used to be.

Party
Yuri Lowell - Although Yuri kept teasing Karol throughout the game, he eventually becomes some sort of brother figure to Karol, helping the boy gain more self-confidence and encouraging him to take on leadership should the chance present itself. Karol also admires Yuri, and becomes hurt when he finds out about Yuri's crimes. When talking to Raven, Karol says that he is not as cool as Yuri. Eventually Yuri's support helps Karol grow into a stronger person over the course of the story.

Raven - Like all the others, Karol is easily irritated by Raven's attitude and mostly ignores his comments. As time goes, they begin having more conversations, and Raven sometimes acts as a father figure to Karol. This may be the reason, when fighting Raven, Karol mentions his father, someone he has never talked about before.

Rita Mordio - Karol and Rita do not have a civil relationship. He is her usual punching bag whenever he says something she finds either irritating, ignorant, or perhaps just when she is in a bad mood. Underneath it all, Rita does care for him perhaps as a pesky little brother, as when Karol fights the Baitojoh, she tells him to get away.

Family
While Karol seems like being an orphan, when fighting Raven, Karol mentions his father, but this is never touched again for the rest of the game.

Friends
Karol is definitely infatuated with Nan, who initially does not seem to return his feelings. But, as Karol grows stronger-willed, Nan seems to appreciate him more, such as when Karol shows her both the half-completed Monster Book and the fully-completed one. Nan teaches Karol her Rending Drop arte, which can show up again when Karol participates in Dahngrest's Big Voice competition. Though he obtains his strongest weapon either way, the two choices are either a battle cry, where he calls out Rending Drop, or a love confession, where he confesses his love for Nan. Either one seems to mortify and warm her.

Chat Drama DVD: Golden Gumi
In the preorder bonus for Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, Karol appears with the other characters that did not make it to either Radiant Mythology games. At the end, he is also fighting for a rumored role in Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3.

Trivia

 * Karol hates bugs, reflected in a scene in the Forest of Keiv Moc where Rita, in one of the rare early moments of the game where she is civil to him, giving him a can of Aspio's bug spray, which also acts as his Bug Breath arte. It is also reflected in his "Bug Busters" skill in which damage dealt to and received from insect monsters is increased. The skill's Japanese name is "Mushigirai" (ムシギライ) which basically means he hates bugs.
 * Karol can be forced to crossdress in a scene in Heliord where the party needs to distract a guard. The outfit eventually becomes one of his costume titles.
 * In the PS3 port, Karol can earn a title which enables him to wear Lloyd Irving's clothes. The costume allows him to alter his Roaring Revolution into Kaenrekkuu, which is one of Lloyd's own altered artes in his ported game.
 * In the PSN Store, it is possible to purchase a costume title for Karol, which can be used in the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia. It allows him to transform into Keroro, the main protagonist of Keroro Gunso. While wearing this costume, some of his battle quotes change. Keroro and Karol share the same voice actor in the Japanese dub.
 * Funnily, Karol can also dress as Klonoa from the Klonoa series with the same title that Presea Combatir from Tales of Symphonia can. Both of them are physically small but can wield the heaviest weapons of the game.
 * Addtionally, Karol's Japanese vocie actor is also the Vocie actress for Klonoa(though as of Klonoa Wii she does Klonoa's Japanese and Phantomilean vocie, while his new english vocie is portraied by Eric Stitt)
 * Karol's two skills which increase his attack power with axes and hammers are named "Combatir" and "Raynard" respectively. Combatir is a reference to Presea Combatir from Tales of Symphonia, a fellow wielder of axes, while Raynard is a reference to Will Raynard, the hammer user from Tales of Legendia.