Colette Brunel

Colette Brunel is the female lead of Tales of Symphonia. She is the "Chosen One", a being destined to regenerate the world by ascending the Tower of Salvation as an angel, thereby saving her world Sylvarant. Colette is a kind, selfless girl who always puts others before herself.

Character
Throughout the game, Colette is shown to be fairly clumsy, at one point even receiving a title called "Klutz", and her repetitive tripping causes the most unusual things to happen, from making a hole in the wall at school to deactivating the most complex of machines. She can also appear somewhat clueless, as she misses some things that are obvious to everyone else.

Colette is kind and selfless, but occasionally silly and clumsy, having fallen through several walls. However, Sheena notes that Colette's clumsiness is truly blessed, as proven in various scenes, such as when Colette is attacked by Sheena at the beginning of the Ossa Trail and trips over a lever that causes Sheena to fall through a mine shaft. Another scene that attests to this fact is the one when the group is trapped in a portable prison set up by Yuan, which is deactivated when Colette trips and breaks the base machine.

Despite the positive outcomes of her clumsiness, however, Colette still takes it the wrong way. Like when Sheena falls down the shaft, Colette immediately looks down and says "Oh-no! I hope she's alright!" Meanwhile, everyone explains that it was a good thing, as Sheena was seemingly trying to kill her anyways. As the Chosen of Sylvarant, she prays for the world's safety every night. She is quick to take responsibility and puts everybody above herself. She is brave and quick to do what she believes is right, but she is not very self-confident and can be slow to decide what the right action is, most of the time asks Lloyd to decide in her stead. She is also very self-conscious and wishes she were not different, because it is because she is that she never was able to live like a normal girl. This is one of the clear differences between her and Zelos, the Chosen of Tethe'alla, as Colette accepts the differences (even if she does not like them), while Zelos tries to find a way to get rid of them.

Family
Her father's name is Frank, and her grandmother, who also happens to be a member of the church, is known as Phaidra. Her mother is never mentioned, although she was probably a member of the Mana Lineage (as opposed to Frank). For a long time, it is rumored that Colette's true father is not Frank, but in fact an angel of Cruxis, whom the group assumes to be Remiel. After she and her friends discover the truth about Cruxis, however, this rumor is revealed as false. On the other hand, Colette always had the feeling that Remiel was lying when he said he was her father, so it does not comes as a surprise.

It is clearly hinted that neither Frank nor Phaidra really think of Colette as their family, because they know she will die. Either that, or they stopped thinking of her as a family after she began her Journey of Regeneration. However, at the end, Colette tells them that she no longer is the Chosen, and she wishes to be known as just "Colette".

Birth of the Chosen
Colette was born and raised in Iselia, a small community located in the north-western part of Sylvarant. When she was born, there was a Cruxis Crystal, a kind of Exsphere, in her hand, signifying her as the seventh Chosen of Regeneration in Sylvarant.

Her adoptive father, Frank Brunel, raised her in the village as his own. Colette's grandmother, Phaidra, was the priestess at the Martel Temple, which is located just outside Iselia. At some point during the early years of her childhood, Colette was taught how to read angelic language. As she got older, she was introduced to the clergy, some of whom she would later meet during her Journey of World Regeneration. She also met the priests who were meant to accompany her on her journey. She then started her formal education at the Iselia schoolhouse, where she met Lloyd Irving. She and the young Lloyd soon became friends.

Journey of Regeneration
The day Colette turns sixteen, Cruxis sends down an Oracle. Colette, accompanied by Lloyd, Genis Sage, and the mysterious mercenary Kratos Aurion, after they defeat the Renegades-thought-Desians, enter the Martel Temple to meet the summons of the angels. At the highest level of the temple, Colette's "real father", the angel Remiel, arrives to convey the blessings of Cruxis and bestow the Tower of Salvation upon the land of Sylvarant. As the game goes on she unlocks more of her powers from her father's angelic side. This marks the beginning of Colette's Journey of Regeneration, during which she must release the "Seals" that are scattered throughout the world. There are a total of five Seals, the fifth being at the Tower of Salvation, where the Journey would end, Colette would be sacrificed, and the dying world would be regenerated.

She leaves the village of Iselia under the protection of Kratos and Raine Sage, her teacher. As she is leaving, she acts, in Genis's words, "overly cheerful" in an attempt to hide the fact that the Journey of Regeneration would end with her death. Trying to cause her trusted friend Lloyd the least amount of grief, she lies to him about the time of her departure, in the hope that he would then be able to live in the regenerated world. Her bluff fails, however, and Lloyd and Genis later catch up with her.

As the party moves from one Seal to the next, Colette begins to gain more angelic powers, like wings, enhanced sight and improved hearing. However, she also loses the things that make her human, like the ability to taste food, sleep, or even speak. Eventually, the party reaches the Tower of Salvation, where Colette is forced to make the final sacrifice: her heart and memory.

Humanity taken
Having lost all those things that made her human, Colette is the perfect vessel for Martel, her mana signature being the closest possible to that of Martel. Remiel says, during the ritual in which Colette sacrifices her heart and her memory, that he is not Colette's father, and that the "inferior beings" only called him her father because he placed the Cruxis crystal on her. Colette reveals to Lloyd, through some non-oral form of communication, that she somehow knew this, before sacrificing her heart and memory and becoming unresponsive to the rest of the group. Remiel reveals that he seeks to become one of the Four Seraphim, showing that he cared little for Colette, or even the world, and plans to dispose of the group, but they fight and kill him. Kratos then arrives and reveals that Cruxis plans to transfer Martel's consciousness to Colette, denying that it will cause Colette to die. Before Cruxis is able to put Martel's consciousness into Colette's body, however, she is taken to relative safety by the Renegades. Lloyd and the party are later forced to flee to the parallel world of Tethe'alla, taking the soulless Colette with them in hope of curing her.

After the loss
Colette regains her senses after Lloyd carves a Key Crest into her birthday necklace (he completed it the morning that she left, but it breaks some time between then and the night after the Fire Seal is broken). She apparently remembers everything that happened while she was unresponsive, as she knows Zelos' name. As the journey to reunite the worlds continues, Colette is kidnapped by the rogue Desian Grand Cardinal Rodyle, who plans to use her in his Mana Cannon. His plans are foiled when he realizes that she has Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium, a rare disease that crystallizes the body. The party rescues her, but does not realize this until later; Colette believes that his referring to her as "sinful" is a reference to her failure to perform the world regeneration, something she feels guilty of despite knowing that it would only bring about what Lloyd describes as "a false peace."

Colette's disease is introduced gradually, starting with mild discomfort and leading to her collapsing in pain in Ozette shortly before Rodyle abducts her. After Forcystus shoots her when she shields Chocolat, it reveals that she has begun to crystallize. The party then searches for a cure, learning about Mithos the hero and Mithos' splitting the world into two with the power of the Eternal Sword in the process. Colette is cured in time after the party escapes Welgaia.

Colette is captured in the Tower of Salvation after Zelos betrays the group. When Lloyd reaches the Great Seed Chamber, although he is reunited with his friends (whom he had thought dead), Mithos succeeds in merging Martel with Colette. Martel, however, uses Colette's body to urge Mithos to stop what he is doing. At this time, either Zelos or Kratos arrive in the Great Seed Chamber and place a Key Crest on Colette's Cruxis Crystal. After Martel's consciousness leaves Colette, the young Chosen urges the group to stop Mithos from moving the Great Seed to Derris-Kharlan, having understood Martel's desires. In a skit after the group leaves, it is revealed that Colette was able to understand Martel's feelings while she was possessed.

Colette in alternate scenes
Colette is possibly the assumed choice for Lloyd's soul mate, given that she is close to Lloyd throughout the plot, and she least often teases, criticizes or insults him. Additionally, if someone other than Colette is his soul mate, she will replace them during the sequences in Welgaia that show characters confronting their inner flaws (for example, if Regal is Lloyd's soul mate, she will replace him in "The Judged" scene; instead of Presea being told by an illusion of Alicia to kill Regal to avenge her, Presea is told to kill Colette to free her of her guilt over abandoning the world regeneration, thereby allowing Martel to possess her body). If Kratos is Lloyd's soul mate, Colette will be possessed, with Mithos making a brief remark about how Kratos never understood him.

A major change
At the end of the game, Colette returns home to Iselia, and reveals that she is no longer the Chosen.

Colette is a very mature young woman. She was brought up with the knowledge that she would need to die to save the world, and has gained from that a truly selfless nature. However, she later recognizes that she made a mistake in her willingness to sacrifice herself, believing in Lloyd's ideas that no life is born for the sole purpose of dying. As such, her greatest wish at the end of the game is to ensure that no one else makes the same mistake she did.

Relationship with other characters
Lloyd Irving - Colette has romantic feelings for Lloyd, a fact revealed very early in the game. She tends to use subliminal movements and messages such as "I'll stay by your side", rather than completely admitting it. This is not caused by shyness, but by her personality; that is, she hates worrying anyone or distracting them from their goals. This, however, also works against her, since she tries to hide illnesses like Angel Toxicosis and Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium from the others, forcing them to discover them on their own. This factor annoys Lloyd the most, because he feels that he can not help her, but from Colette's perspective, she feels that worrying anyone or showing something odd is just not appropriate for the journey she has begun.

Genis Sage - Colette and Genis’ relationship is not shown well in the game, but as they both are a part of the friendship trio along with Lloyd, they care a lot about each other and worry for the other’s welfare, which is shown when Colette worries that Genis is homesick in a skit. Overall, it may seem like they care about each other as siblings.

Raine Sage - As Collette's teacher, Raine is from the start the person Collette confides in the most. During the journey, Raine is usually the adult figure for Collette, acting not only as a teacher, but a confidant. She is the first person Collette willingly told about the consequences of regenerating the world (Kratos knew as a part of the Seraphim). And in the Tower of Salvation, Raine is shown in conflict with herself upon keeping Collete's secret to her end.

Kratos Aurion - Despise what everyone thinks of Kratos, Colette seems to be the only one who never thinks a bad thought about him, though this applies with everyone Colette meets. If Lloyd picks Colette at Flanoir, she will defend Kratos’ decisions for hiding his relation to Lloyd, and explain why she thinks he is a good father. Together with Genis, she admires him in battles.

Sheena Fujibayashi - Even though Sheena tries to kill Colette at first, Colette never thinks she is a bad person, and eventually they become close friends, both worrying for each other and watching each other’s backs. Even though they both seem to have a crush on Lloyd, they do not let this get before their friendship.

Presea Combatir - After Colette gets her soul back, she tries to get to know Presea, who still is in her own soulless state. This gets Colette to feel closer to Presea when she gets a Key Crest. Moreover, she acts like an older sister to Presea, although Presea’s physical age is not her real age.

Zelos Wilder - Colette is the only one, maybe with the exception of Presea, who does not mind Zelos’ flirting, and even wants to help him when he has a hard time. In some skits, they are also seen talking to each other about being a Chosen One. It is possible they feel close to each other, as both are Chosens and understand its burdens better than anybody.

Regal Bryant - The relationship between Colette and Regal is not shown so much in the game, but it seems like they share a relationship like Colette and Raine.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Colette returns in the sequel Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World as a playable character. After the worlds were reunited, the Chosen system was stopped. As such, Colette was the final Chosen to perform the very last duties of the Chosen, and she is therefore called the Chosen of Regeneration. However, she is criticized by people from Sylvarant for rumors that says the reason behind the Giant Kharlan Tree's rampage two years ago was because she ran away from her duty as the Chosen One. This is the reason Marta is angry at Colette, because her mother was killed during the rampage. She is also hunted by the Vanguard because they see her as a traitor for being supportive of Tethe'alla, their enemies, though the real reason is later revealed to be because of her Cruxis Crystal.

Although two years have passed, Colette is still kind and clumsy, going as far as to say that she loves Emil (in a friendly way), getting Marta upset without knowing why. After Colette and Marta reconcile about the rampage of the Giant Kharlan Tree, Marta often thinks that Colette is her rival in romance when it comes to Emil, although it looks like both Colette and Emil are clueless about what she means.

Troubled Hearts
Colette is first seen in Asgard while she talks to Aisha, looking for Lloyd. When there, a girl and a boy (Marta and Emil) comes in, and Marta asks Colette if the rumors about her running away from her duties in the Journey of Regeneration are true. Still feeling guilty of what happened at that time, Colette answers positive, which makes Marta yell and throw Colette towards a shelf on the wall of the house. Later, she sees her and Emil trying to save a boy who is a fan of Colette from falling of a rim, but are attacked by the Vanguard. Alice is about to have Marta and the boy fall down and most likely die. This sight gets Colette to come and save then with her Angel Skill Angel Feathers.

After a battle against Hawk, Colette once again expresses her guilt for letting the Giant Kharlan Tree go wild. While she is talking to the mayor of Asgard, the two younger heroes come thank her for saving them, and it is revealed that she runs a charity organization to help the suffering people even though she is wanted, thus showing that she still cares about the world more than herself. Shortly after, Colette joins the trio when they say that they want to help her to stop the mysterious winds that are occurring in Asgard.

Later on, when they manage to get inside the Underground Ruins, they begin searching for Centurion Ventus' core. When they eventually find it, Colette runs over and gets it, but Marta says it is dangerous for her, explaining that if normal people try to touch a Centurion's core, they might be driven insane by its powers. The reason Colette did not get any effects may be because she is an angel, but Tenebrae says that it was not dangerous for her to touch it for the short time she did.

Truth Behind the Mask
Colette is not seen again until the party goes to the Vanguard's headquarters when they save Seles from Alice and Decus. Colette is the one who throws her chakram at Alice, and Lloyd saves Seles.

After the party gets back to Meltokio, she and Zelos leave the party to go find Lloyd and ask him once and for all what he is doing.

Dark Premonition
Colette and Zelos show up again at the invasion of Altamira, where Colette falls and opens a secret passage that saves Emil from Decus, who is going berserk because of Solum’s core. After the invasion, she joins the party fully with her ultimate weapon Angel Halo.

Eternal Bond
When the group splits up, Colette is in Iselia. When Emil talks to her, she explains how she thought it was her duty to sacrifice herself for Sylvarant, but in the end realized that she loved the world too much to not be able to live with it and protect it.

If Emil chooses to ask Lloyd if Colette was the one who traveled with him, it is revealed that she and Lloyd are in love with each other, and they will express this love for each other properly in Flanoir.

Relationship with Dawn of the New World characters
Emil Castagnier - Colette and Emil seem like they get along well, and Colette herself says that she really likes him. At the end of the game, Colette is really sad that they have to separate after just becoming friends.

Marta Lualdi - In the beginning, Colette feeling guilty about Marta’s loss of her mother, since it was her fault that the Giant Kharlan Tree killed her. However, when Marta offers help, she immediately says that they are friends, and is very gentle toward her, despite Marta’s rough treatment in the beginning.

Tenebrae - Colette, always the dog-lover, likes Tenebrae very much, and a running gag throughout the game is that she often gives him nicknames like “Doggie”, "Mr. Doggie" and the most usual, "Tenebie", which is the name Genis and Raine uses to recognize him from the stories Colette has told them.

Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3
Colette appears in Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 as a playable character along with the other Tales of Symphonia characters. When meeting the heroes, Frio and Kyaro, for the first time, she and Lloyd are being controlled by Thanatos, forcing them to fight them.



Tales of Fandom Vol 2
Colette appears as a cameo character with the rest of the Tales of Symphonia-cast. When she gets separated along with fellow main heroines Mint Adenade from Tales of Phantasia and Tear Grants from Tales of the Abyss, she surprises the other girls by revealing her angel wings. They get along very well, and work well out when they go and fight Undine, the Summon Spirit of Water.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2
Colette appears in the second installment of Radiant Mythology as a playable character. She will fight with her wings, and can use the Mystic Arte Holy Judgment.

Tales of VS.
Colette makes an appearance in the Escort Title Tales of VS. as a playable character.

Fighting style
In battle, Colette fights with two rings, sometimes called "chakrams", which she throws at the enemy. Although she is not very powerful initially, later in the game, Colette soon becomes a valuable asset with her light spells and overwhelming special magic called Angel Skills. However, when completing some spells, she can be seen tripping afterwards. This causes a slight delay in the time she can cast, but with the EX-Skill Angel Song, the time casting Angel Skills is decreased.

In close combat, she is extremely complicated to use, but she surprisingly enough has high Strength Stats, and some of the strongest master artes. She is also the only playable character who is able to poison enemies through her Toss Hammer, which randomly replaces Pow Hammer after the latter has been used 200 times. With practice and right EX-Skills, she can become one of the most powerful assets in the party with close-ranged combat, middle-ranged combat and long-ranged magic.

Colette's strongest pair of rings is Angel Halo. The name of her Devil's Arm is Evil Eye. The gag weapon the player can buy to her in Luin, after completely rebuilding it, is Tambourine.

Trivia

 * The word "colette" means "necklace" in a French-Latin dialect. In the game, a major plot device is the birthday present Colette receives from Lloyd. This present is a necklace, and is also the item Lloyd uses along with the Key Crest to get Colette back from her soulless state.
 * Colette is also a shortened name version of Nicolette (or Nicole), which means "born by angels". In the game, a rumor says that the Chosen is actually not born by their parents, but angels.
 * During the Pope Chase event, the party discovers that the first successful Chosen of Sylvarant, Spiritua, is known as an angel of death and destruction in Tethe'alla that killed a king who had threatened a Chosen. In order to gain entry to Meltokio's palace, Zelos Wilder tells Colette to pretend to be Spiritua. Colette agrees, though she does not know what to do. When told by Lloyd to act "in control", she says one of the most memorable quotes in the game: "Um... um... die!"
 * Colette, always one to accept blame even when there is none, apologizes a total of 41 times during the game: 33 times during cutscenes, and 8 times during Z-skits. At one point Lloyd finally asks her to stop apologizing, and predictably, she apologizes. Her perpetual concern for humility and deference has earned her popularity in some fans' circles and severe contempt in others'.
 * In the official artwork and manga, Colette wears white gloves. However, she is barehanded in the game and anime.
 * Although she is very clueless, Colette is actually pretty sharp. This is shown in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, where she correctly memorizes Raine’s lesson about the Asgard ruins, even though it must have been long time since she heard it.