Farah Oersted

Farah Oersted
Information
Appearance	Tales of Eternia
Hometown	Rasheans
Age	17
Height	5'3" / 161 cm
Weight	101 lbs / 46 kg
Race	Inferian
Occupation	Farmer
Weapon	Knuckles
Japanese Voice Actor	Yuuko Minaguchi
English Voice Actor	Jewels Jaselle (Tales of Destiny II)
Character Designer	Mutsumi Inomata

Farah Oersted (ファラ・エルステッド, Fara Erusuteddo^?) is the lead heroine of Tales of Eternia.

History

Youthful Sin and Lifelong Atonement

During her childhood, Farah was a hyperactive troublemaker who often pressured her friends Reid Hershel and Keele Zeibel to become involved in her mischief, viewing herself as the ringleader of their troupe. Her inability to stay idle was due to her status as the daughter of the Elder of the village of Rasheans at the time, Norris Oersted (ノリス・エルステッド, Norisu Erusuteddo^?). Discontent with tradition and rules, she would try to bring excitement into each day, usually at Reid and Keele's expense, earning her a reputation as a "mean boss" from Keele's perspective.

Norris would often survey the Regulus Knoll as part of his duties as the Elder of Rasheans. He was the only person who had access to the area, since it is the site where a dangerous monster was sealed during the past, and his role is to watch after the seal. During one of these visits, he brought his daughter Farah with him, and she focused instead on sparkling stones on the ground which she believed to be pieces of fallen stars, giving the stones the name "star fragments". Eager to collect these stones for herself, she stole the key to the gate that kept the Regulus Knoll locked from unauthorized visitors, taking it from her father's room while he was busy elsewhere. She then forced Reid and Keele to join her at the entrance to the area, declaring that the two boys will have a stone-collecting contest in an attempt to gather the star fragments to be delivered to her, while she remained outside of the knoll to act as a lookout.

Upon discovering that the key was missing, Norris immediately traveled to the Regulus Knoll. After seeing his daughter standing there beside the open gates, he scolded her and promptly entered the area to chase after Reid and Keele, fearing for their safety. The two boys were deep within the catacombs of the knoll by the time Norris found them, and he demanded that the two boys return to the village immediately. Norris stayed behind to make sure the nearby seal was still intact, but to his horror, it had been shattered completely. Unbeknownst to him, the sealed monster was actually the malevolent spirit of Nereid, having escaped its imprisonment 2,000 years before the present era after Seyfert created the material realm of Eternia. With its release, Nereid's Dark Aurora concentrated itself around Norris, suffocating him to death due to his lack of Fibrill. The Dark Aurora generated a cataclysm that engulfed the entire region with negative energy, enraging the wildlife and causing a large-scale disaster that greatly damaged the village of Rasheans.

The children returned to the village, but they were soon followed by a horde of monsters that began to swarm the village, bringing with them great carnage and destruction. The villagers began to mount a valiant defense to protect their families and homes, but in the process of driving the monsters away, several villagers were slain, including Reid's parents. Buildings continued to burn to the ground until rainfall started to douse the flames. Viewing the disaster as her fault, Farah was quick to declare that she was the one who unlocked the Regulus Knoll and unknowingly released the evil monster trapped within, which claimed her father's life as well. In truth, the release of Nereid actually had no relation to the actions of the children, but Farah believed that her greed in acquiring star fragments caused the death of her father and countless others, especially the parents of her friend.

Seeing this as a grave sin, Farah left the village and entered the monastery of monks at the Regulus Dojo, searching for a way to atone for her sin. She spent much of her formative years in training, undergoing fierce physical workouts while learning the ways of martial arts. But the life of solitude proved to be too much for Farah, and she eventually returned to Rasheans to resume the life of a humble villager. She was accepted into the fields as a farmhand and harvester due to her newly focused physical strength, and she found comfort in being with her childhood friend Reid after Keele also departed from the village to pursue his college education at Mintche University. But while Reid and Keele moved on from the destruction that happened during their childhood, Farah never let go of those events, forming her mindset of remorse and atonement for years to come. It also served as the basis for her eagerness and enthusiasm to help anyone in need, even if that meant putting her own life on the line.

Struggling to Understand One's Words

Such sentiments eventually culminated in her desire to aid Meredy upon her arrival on Inferia, no matter where the journey will take her. When Meredy's Craymel Craft crashes upon the forested area near Rasheans, Farah immediately rushes toward that area due to her innate curiosity, and she discovers Meredy and her pet Quickie in the wreckage. However, Farah finds herself unable to communicate with the dark-skinned girl with strange clothing, and she and Reid bring her to Rasheans to figure out their options.

They present the strange girl to the current Elder of Rasheans, Khamran (カムラン, Kamuran^?), in order to ask for his advice. However, he declares that Meredy must be cast out from the village, believing her to be a possible seed of disaster that could bring about another tragedy. Just as he says those words, another unknown stranger blasts through the wall of Khamran's home. The strange man assaults Meredy, knocking her out, and Farah and Reid attack him in order to protect her. He promptly vanishes after being defeated, and Khamran collapses from shock due to the situation. Enraged by the attack on his own home, he faults Farah and Reid for bringing disaster upon the village just like before, and he commands Meredy to be banished. Farah tries to defend herself by saying that this situation and the disaster of their childhood are completely unrelated, but she soon relents, telling the Elder that she will go into exile with the girl. Reid joins the two girls largely due to Meredy's refusal to go anywhere without him, and Farah suggests that they should travel to Mintche University to visit Keele, thinking that he would know how to understand the girl's speech.

Unfortunately, the path alongside the river is blocked due to a large amount of debris caused by a landslide. Farah encounters her fellow monks from the Regulus Dojo here, as they attempt to clear the path and enable land-based travel, but a strange glimmer of light from the Orbus Barrier in the sky causes another landslide, making it impossible to pass over the rocks safely. The monks tell Farah to backtrack and visit the dojo to meet her former teacher, Master Franco Medius (フランコ・メディウス, Furanko Mediusu^?), who might know another way to travel to Mintche. Upon meeting with Franco, he suggests that they use the power of the Water Craymels in order to raft down the river safely. He calls upon Paollo, a monk who studied with Farah and has a crush on her, since he happens to be the only one in the dojo who can control the Water Craymels. Channeling the power of the Craymels in his Craymel Cage, Paollo commands the rapids of the river to be calmed enough to enable downstream travel by raft, and when Farah thanks him for his assistance, he stammers and expresses his surprise that she remembers him. They embark upon the river using a small but sturdy raft, braving its fast current in spite of the debris and massive rocks that fall from above due to the continuing landslides. They eventually reach the river mouth at the ocean where they depart from the raft safely, in order to continue their journey to Mintche.

After arriving at Mintche University, they ask the campus secretary to allow them to visit Keele. When the secretary asks for their relation to him, Farah declares that their group is part of Keele's family, and that their father is sick, speaking quickly and loudly enough to override Reid's attempt to tell the truth. They enter the facility for the Light Craymel Department in order to find Keele, but they discover from one of Keele's fellow research assistants that Keele had been expelled. Due to Keele's thesis relating to the theory of World Chain Destruction, his work was ostracized and Keele took refuge within the Mt. Mintche Observatory to allow himself to continue his work unhindered by the school. They travel to the observatory in order to talk to him, and Keele immediately begins an argument with them over the concepts behind his theory.

Once he realizes who they are, however, Farah exclaims her joy over the reuniting of their childhood gang. Keele attempts to decode Meredy's words with excitement, viewing the situation as an academic challenge. But he is surprised to learn from Meredy that she is from Celestia, and her statements prove to Keele that his theory is indeed correct, that the worlds of Inferia and Celestia are slowly accelerating toward each other and will eventually collide. He recognizes that he has a limited ability to translate Meredy's words, however, and he tells the party that he will travel with them in order to visit one of his retired instructors, Professor Mazet, who happens to be an authority on the Melnics language that Meredy uses.

The party makes its way toward the village of Morle to meet the professor, and after talking to Mazet, he gives each of them an "Orz Earring", believing that the concept that allows high ranking Craymel Mages to understand Craymels could be applied to this same situation. However, the earrings will only work if the users are on the same psychic wave, and the earrings fail to translate Meredy's words at first. Meredy then runs off in order to search for Quickie, who disappeared while they were putting on the earrings. Farah, Reid, and Keele chase after her, and they soon discover Meredy trying to rescue Quickie from a large monster. After defeating the creature, they suddenly realize that they can understand most of Meredy's words. Meredy informs them that she came to their world in order to find a way to stop the Grand Fall, and to do so, she needs to gather the Greater Craymels within her Parasol-modified Craymel Cage and then return to Celestia. Upon hearing of this, Farah realizes that they have a means of saving the world from the doomsday scenario, which would allow them to become heroes. But more importantly, it gives Farah a sense of purpose as she recognizes her joy in being given the chance to save the world and its people.

Indiscriminate Trust

Portrait artwork for Tales of Fandom Vol.1.

In order to gather the support of the King of the Inferia Empire in averting the disaster, Reid suggests that the party travels to Inferia City to inform the King, who he believes would mobilize the Empire's forces for the sake of the world. Unfortunately, each of their attempts at seeking an audience within the city are met with failure, and finally they are captured and imprisoned by an Imperial Guard unit led by Captain Roen Lamoa. Believing them to be spreading lies about the destruction of the world as an act of sedition, the King sentences the party to death, but the order is quickly rescinded when Chancellor Claudio Zosimos persuades the King to allow them to live in order to investigate the matter of the Grand Fall.

However, Zosimos later tells the King that the incoming disaster is likely to be caused by a Celestian plot, directing the king's focus toward the rediscovery of the Bridge of Light, which was found 30 years earlier by a Craymel Mage named Transon Balir. Farah tries to challenge this claim of Celestian aggression, emphasizing how strange it would be for the supposed Celestian barbarians to be capable of a plot so massive and intricate that it cannot be done by Inferians. But when Roen retorts with the idea that she is claiming that the king's word is wrong, the party realizes that the Empire will not lend aid toward gathering the Greater Craymels, instead preparing for war with Celestia itself.

While Keele stays behind at Inferia City to pursue his career goal of working at the Royal Observatory of Astronomy, the party travels to Barole to search for rumors as to the whereabouts of the Greater Craymels, due to the city's role as a center of trade and mercantile business. However, Farah quickly involves herself in a troublesome situation when she sees a child being surrounded by men who she believes are bullying him. When the child tries to play on her sympathy by claiming that the men are indeed being mean to him, the leader of the group pushes the child to the ground, and in turn, Farah attacks the man with her martial prowess, overwhelming him with her flurry of attacks. The child escapes due to her intervention, but the man reprimands her for allowing the escape of the child, a habitual thief who had finally been cornered.

While the men begin to contemplate how Farah could repay them, or rather how they could use her for their ends, another man appears, citing various trade laws that would allow their business to be closed down if the right people are informed. Using this as a subtle threat against their livelihood, he succeeds in forcing the men to back down so that Farah would not receive any further harassment. Revealing himself to be Ras, a traveling merchant, he is amused to hear about Farah's other past misadventures due to other past situations in which she caused trouble that Reid had to help her escape from. In an attempt to sell one of his goods to the party, he shows them an ancient pot that was discovered in the nearby Sylph Cavern. Rather than listen to him explain the characteristics of the pot's surface, Farah interrupts him with a demand for him to lead the group to the cavern, recognizing it to be a location where they could find Sylph, the Greater Craymel of Wind.

As they reach the cavern, Ras manages to talk to two soldiers who are guarding its entrance, to allow their party to gain entrance and seek Sylph. While Reid finds this to be highly suspicious, Farah puts her complete trust into Ras, thinking that his ability as a salesman allows him to sweet-talk the soldiers into letting them inside, as if the soldiers could see his positive aura. As they set up camp within the dungeon, Ras queries about the group's desire to meet the Greater Craymels, and Farah insists that Ras is to be trusted, giving him all of the details of their journey and purpose up to this point, in spite of Reid's attempt to hide this information from him.

As Meredy and Reid fall asleep, Farah and Ras continue to talk about the task of saving the world, and Farah expresses her deepest sentiments about feeling at ease now that she has a chance to bring happiness to everyone in the world. Ras recognizes a deeper meaning in her words, that she seeks happiness for everyone at her expense, and he comments on what he believes are her deep wounds, asking what she is trying to run from. Farah instantly denies that such a thing is possible, putting a facade of false bravado which she claims to be the truth, and Ras merely accepts her words and lets the conversation end.

Although Ras leaves immediately after they leave the cavern with Sylph in Meredy's Craymel Cage, the party continues on without him after Keele rejoins their group shortly afterwards. They eventually make their way to Mt. Farlos, where Keele says that the Bridge of Light is located. As they start to climb the mountain, a landslide separates Farah from the party, and the others are forced to travel up the mountain without her. Farah falls unconscious due to the landslide, and she starts to dream about the past, when she, Reid, and Keele were running in circles within the village square of Rasheans as children in order to chase each other. However, in this dream, Reid and Keele suddenly run away from her, and Farah's insecurity over her loss of her friends overcomes her. In this unconscious condition, Ras discovers her and calls out her name, which she hears in her dream, rousing her to awaken and recover her senses.

As Farah and Ras attempt to climb the mountain along a different path that is now blocked to Reid's party due to the landslide, Ras talks to Farah, emphasizing his fascination of her desire to help the world even if she becomes an enemy of the Inferia Empire. He warns her of the dangers of working toward her goal, which could make her an enemy of the Empire and cause her to be killed, since the entire situation is the Empire's responsibility. When he learns that Farah believed Meredy's words about the Grand Fall as soon as she could be understood, Ras also cautions her about believing others indiscriminately, although he recognizes the paradox of being unable to live without believing in someone. Farah asks Ras if he believes in someone, and he starts to talk about his mother before stopping himself, recognizing he is revealing too much personal information about himself.

After they reunite with the party, Ras decides to leave once more as the group enters a stone sanctum at the top of the mountain. As they determine how to operate the Bridge of Light, however, Ras reveals his presence, declaring himself to be the Senior Knight of the Inferia Empire, Rassius Luine. Betraying Farah's trust for the sake of his own loyalty to the King, he battles against the party to try to subdue them and allow the Empire to take control of the newly operational Bridge of Light. However, he is defeated, and before his reinforcements could arrive, the party escapes across the Bridge of Light and enters the world of Celestia.

Coming to Terms with the Past

Opening still from Tales of Eternia.

Upon regaining her senses as they stand upon a foreign world, Farah suddenly realizes the gravity of the situation, questioning why she came this far. The weight of saving the world finally imposes its full pressure upon her, and she finds herself lost, thinking about Ras's statement that she is merely running away from something. Reid attempts to console her by talking about Ras, recognizing that he was not putting his full strength into his attacks and that he was doubting himself as well.

The group soon discovers that Balir, the Inferian who took control of Celestia and initiated the Grand Fall, is actually Meredy's father, and that everything she had done to this point was to save both worlds even if it meant going against her own father. But another revelation is made when Balir is revealed to have been dead for the past ten years, and that all of these actions attributed to his name were actually done by his consort, Shizel, who is Meredy's mother. Upon confronting Shizel for the first time, the party is greatly overwhelmed by her powers, but before they could be annihilated by Shizel's Dark Aurora, Ras suddenly appears and takes the full force of the attack, blocking it with the power of his recently acquired Aurora Wall to protect them. While it is enough to enable everyone to escape from Shizel, Ras could not withstand the Dark Aurora and he dies soon afterwards.

In the wake of his death, the party learns from Galenos that Ras sought to protect them instead of completing the Trials of Seyfert, which would have granted him the completed Divine Aurora that was necessary to defeat Shizel. Galenos tells Farah that Ras was grateful to her for teaching him to see the world with unclouded eyes, so that he would be able to stand on his own as an individual, ruled by no one, not even his King, in order to pursue what he knows is right. This provides Farah with newfound resolve to fight so that his death would not be in vain.

Toward the end of the story, in order to break through the dark matter in the Orbus Barrier between Inferia and Celestia, a Fringe Cannon is constructed by forces of both Shileska and the Inferia Empire, who formed an alliance in order to defeat Shizel and stop the Grand Fall. In order to complete the cannon, a lens must be constructed to give the blast enough power to reach through Celestia's atmosphere, and Galenos informs the party that it must be made using Ribavius Ore, a rare stone which cannot be found on Celestia and has no recorded history on Inferia. However, the description of the stone given by Galenos matches something that Farah had seen in the past. She leads the party to the Regulus Knoll, the very same place where she believes she had unleashed the evil that consumed Rasheans during her childhood. While Keele tries to reassure her that they could not have known anything about the seal within the Regulus Knoll, Farah insists that she was indeed aware of it as the former Elder's daughter, but her selfishness lead to the death of so many people in their village.

As they venture deeper inside the cave that runs through the knoll, Meredy recognizes the vestiges of an evil presence that is far greater than that of a mere monster, and Rem informs them that Seyfert himself had created a seal upon the area to trap Nereid. The shattered seal is actually composed of pure Ribavius Crystals, the same "star fragments" that Farah had wanted to acquire for herself in the past. Keele realizes that a seal created by Seyfert could not have possibly been broken by mere children, meaning Farah was never at fault for initiating the chaos that affected Rasheans. This relieves Farah, who finally lets go of the idea that she has sinned and caused a disaster that was already going to happen.

Even so, she continues onward to finish what she had started, to save the world at any cost, working with the party to defeat Shizel and even Nereid. At the end, she stands at Reid's side, helping to keep him steady by acting as his physical support as he and Meredy fringe their Aurora together to destroy the Seyfert Ring and permanently separate the two worlds of Inferia and Celestia. She and Reid are thrown into Inferia after the Orbus Barrier is obliterated, and there they make preparations to travel to Celestia, now an independent planet like Inferia, to form a reunion with Keele and Meredy.

Appearance and Personality

Status image in Tales of Eternia.

Farah is a cheerful, optimistic woman with great physical prowess. She wears a long, multilayered dress which bears the distinctively bright colors of authentic Rasheans dye. Her clothing is surprisingly nonrestrictive since she battles with a fighting style that demands a wide range of bodily movements. She is a very talkative person who is quick to befriend others, trying to get them to open up and reveal their inner thoughts to her. In contrast, however, she would always hide her own feelings through her deceptively cheerful demeanor so that others would not worry about her. Over the course of their journey, Farah is the one who keeps the party united and focused toward their goal, smoothing over any of the frequent arguments that arise between Keele and Reid.

When she sees others in need, she will always rush in and aid the weaker party, but she never thinks through her actions until after they occur, which at times have caused her to side with the wrong people without knowing all of the facts. Still, her intentions are always positive, and she wishes to do what she can to help everyone she meets, which causes Reid to follow her at all times to ensure that she stays out of trouble and to clean up after her antics, much to his frustration.

Fighting Style

Cut-in image for Flame Dance in Tales of Eternia.

Due to Farah's training at the Regulus Dojo, she learned how to channel her inert chi to fight with perfect balance and achieve miraculous healing techniques. Her melee abilities are a mix of punches and kicks that can be chained together easily, and she uses a very unique arte chaining system in which several of her attacks can be linked together based on their attack type. All of her strike artes are separated into different categories: Ground, Anti-Air, Air, and Power. Ground artes are attacks in which Farah stays rooted to the ground, allowing her to strike the targets in front of her. Anti-Air artes enable Farah to rise into the air to assault airborne enemies or push grounded targets into the air. Air artes allow her to perform aerial attacks that end with her on the ground, dealing area damage upon landing. Power artes are ground-based attacks which are particularly damaging, and they are used to end her combos or provide the conditions necessary to activate her Divine Skills.

Cut-in image for Tales of the Rays.

When chaining her artes together, she can start with any type of arte, and any subsequent artes must be part of a different category and should flow naturally based on positioning at the end of the attack to reduce delays between each arte. For instance, Ground artes can be followed by any other type of attack, but if an Air arte is used next, the jumping delay will cause her target to escape the combo. Likewise, Anti-air artes cannot be followed by Ground or Power artes because they require Farah to land on the ground before activation, breaking the combo. Only one arte of each type may be used in a given combo chain, with Power artes reserved for the end of the combo. This unique combo system has been implemented only twice throughout the whole series, used by Farah and another martial artist from Tales of Symphonia, Regal Bryant.

While Farah is a very potent melee fighter, her use of fists and feet cause her to engage enemies from a very close distance because she lacks range in most of her abilities, and she cannot wield any weapon that extends her reach. Her physical strength is potent but does not match Reid's unrefined fighting style during battle, a fact which she comments on when comparing his strength as a self-trained hunter to her weaker abilities in spite of her rigorous training. She also cannot use defensive implements such as shields and heavy armor, which limits her survivability. But she compensates for this with her healing artes, through which she draws upon her chi to aid herself and others. When focused in times of need, her chi is potent enough to revive her allies, and these healing abilities allow her magic-focused allies to rely more on offensive magic.

Other Appearances

Tales of Symphonia

Farah appears along with Meredy and Garr Kelvin from Tales of Destiny in a battle against the party in the Coliseum.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2

Cut-in image for Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2.

Farah appears in the second installment of Radiant Mythology as a playable character. Farah lives on the Van Eltia with her two childhood friends Reid and Keele. She is one of the first nine characters available to join the player's party. Halfway through the game, Farah, along with Chloe Valens and Anise Tatlin, leave the ship. Farah heads to the lava cave after and drowns in her sorrow and grief and creates a negative version of herself. The Protagonist, Reid, and Keele fight the dark incarnation of Farah and defeat it. After its defeat the Descender purifies the Negative Energy and brings Farah back to normal. After Goede is finally defeated, she is on the Van Eltia looking at the mana spreading across the world.

Tales of Crestoria

In Tales of Crestoria, Fara was raised in Nocheet along with childhood friend Reid Hershel. As a child, Farah spotted a kid bullying someone younger than him. The bully bragged that his youth made him untouchable, but Farah wanted him to stop. She broadcasted the scene via vision orb, but didn't realize that when you show up on Vision Central, you disappear forever. Farah watched in horror as the enforcers took the bully away from his mother.

Eight years later, an old woman Farah had been making breakfast every morning had lost her ring. The bully's mother accused Farah for stealing it. A man named Erston arrived in town and gave back the lost ring. Angrily, the mother left the town. After Erston left town on official business, Farah and Reid compare Erston to a folk hero know as the Racheans Avenger. Suddenly, they spot a pumpkin mask on the ground, presumably dropped by Erston himself. Intent on preventing the same mistake, Farah decides to take things into her own hands, takes the mask, and becomes the new Racheans Avenger.

Beautiful Pleas Cover the World

One day, due to the rough weather last year, Nocheet's crop yields have been poor. And without anything to eat, they have turned their attention to another farming village two mountains over, which had a bumper harvest. Farah is first seen fighting several monsters and is helped by Kanata, Misella and Vicious. After telling them of Nocheet's situation, she mentions that Reid should be able to help him before leaving right away.

Gallery

Concept artwork for Tales of Eternia.

Status image in Tales of VS.

Artwork for Tales of Card Evolve.

Artwork for Tales of Link.

Cut-in image for Tales of VS.

Farah as the "Racheans Avenger" in Tales of Crestoria.

Trivia

• Farah derives from the Arabic word for "joy", a nod to her upbeat personality. Oersted, like many names in the game, derives from astronomy, specifically the Danish physicist Hans Christian Ørsted.
• Farah's outfit appears as a legacy costume for Leia Rolando in Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2.

References

• Eternia
• The Animation