Ludger Will Kresnik

Ludger Will Kresnik
Normal Artwork Chromatus Artwork
Information
Appearance	Tales of Xillia 2
Hometown	Trigleph
Age	20
Height	5'7" / 170 cm
Race	Human
Occupation	Spirius Agent
Weapon	•Dual Blades •Sledgehammer •Dual Pistols •Dual-bladed Spear (Chromatus)
Japanese Voice Actor	Takashi Kondou
English Voice Actor	Jessie James Grelle
Character Designer	Daigo Okumura

Ludger Will Kresnik (ルドガー・ウィル・クルスニク, Rudogaa Uiru Kurusuniku^?), also localized as Ludger Kresnik is the main protagonist in Tales of Xillia 2. During his first day of work, he meets a mysterious girl named Elle Mel Marta in the train station where he is supposed to work.

History

Past

Ludger is the son of Bisley Karcsi Bakur and Claudia Il Kresnik. After the death of Cornelia Wi Kresnik, who was Claudia's big sister and Bisley's wife, Claudia and Bisley grew close, with Claudia falling pregnant not long after. Julius believes that the reason behind Claudia's pregnancy was because of his own limited chromatus ability, and that Bisley wanted to have another, more talented, son.

Claudia kept the pregnancy hidden from the Bakur family. When a sonogram revealed that Ludger would be born with the chromatus watch, she ran away, fearing that Bisley would want to use Ludger for his ability. Claudia secretly gave birth with the help of her father, Marvin Orta Kresnik, and went into hiding. When Ludger was five years old, his half-brother Julius Will Kresnik found Claudia by chance on the outskirts of Trigleph where they lived, and Claudia, mistaking Julius as Bisley's subordinate, tried to kill him in an attempt to protect her son yet wound up as the one accidentally killed instead. Ludger, shocked after witnessing his mother's death, lost all his memory up until that point, including everything about his mother, with the guilt born from this incident also being one of the reasons why Julius is so secretive about telling him the truth. Feeling indebted to Claudia, as she once worked as a maid for the Bakurs and was the one who took care of him when he was younger, Julius took Ludger with him to Marvin, who adopted the two and altered the family registry to hide Ludger's existence from Bisley. Originally, Julius had planned to use Ludger by using his unawakened chromatus powers through his watch; however, after seeing the affection displayed by his half-brother, Julius chose to instead protect Ludger rather than use him.

Normal artwork for Tales of Link.

Plot

Beginning

Ludger lives with Julius and their pet cat Rollo in the 302 Room of the Frères Apartments, in Trigleph. Toward the beginning of the story, Ludger fails the exam to become an agent at the Spirius Corporation, which his brother Julius secretly rigged to keep him away and protect him. Ludger then spends the next year sending over a hundred resumes to different companies, with Julius being the one who took his picture for those every time, until finally securing a job at the station cafeteria. On the way to his first day of work, Ludger meets Jude Mathis, who is lost on his way to the train station. After he escorts Jude to the train, he is framed for being a kidnapper by Elle Mel Marta (a molester in the Japanese version), who needed a distraction to enter the train without paying the fare. Ludger can either resist or protest about the lie, but either way, just as he's detained, the train station is attacked by a group of Exodus terrorists. The commotion makes everyone flee. Ludger is then presented with two options: board the train or flee the scene too. If he tries to do the latter, the screams coming from inside the train will make him board it anyway.

When Ludger is inside the train, he finds that the passengers have been killed, and an unconscious Elle by Rollo's side. Though the watch protected her from the bullets, she still passed out. Ludger then tries to touch the watch, which is a replica of the one he's seen Julius with, but then it disappears. Elle wakes up and the two are quickly attacked by one of the terrorists. Ludger can either attempt to surrender, or fight back. In the case of the former, his attempt to surrender isn't accepted and he ends up grabbing a weapon to fight back; in the case of the latter, it's Elle who throws him the swords to defend himself. In either case, the Exodus terrorist mistakes Ludger for being a Spirius agent due to his physical abilities.

Along the way to punish the terrorists, Ludger meets with Jude again, as well as Bisley, who introduces himself as the Chief Executive of Spirius Corporation. The two go to the train cockpit, where they find Julius before Bisley enters. Julius then takes two old watches, one being Elle's golden watch she received from her father, which begins to shine. This activates Ludger's chromatus ability, bringing him, Elle, and Jude into another dimension. Ludger notices Julius acting strangely in the train, and the group is forced to confront him. With his power, Ludger kills the shadow Julius and returns to the real world. Rideaux Zek Rugievit aids the team by tending to their injuries, but Ludger is contracted with a debt of 20 million Gald.

Endings

In the Ludger Ending, depending on the player's choices, Ludger is desperate to save Elle, but is unwilling to use his chromatus transformation to save her. The group knows that he would give anything to save her, but encourages him to destroy all the fractured dimensions, to which Elle also agrees. Origin agrees to their request, and together with Chronos, the two seal away the miasma. Elle vanishes shortly afterward, leaving Ludger and the others behind. The next scene shows Ludger walking with Vera in a professional suit, now the President of the Spirius Corporation due to Bisley's death. Vera informs him of a meeting and to his shock, his guest's name is Lara Mel Marta, Elle's mother.

Chromatus artwork for Tales of Link.

In the Julius Ending, Ludger chooses his brother over Elle and proceeds to attack his former friends, knowing that they would not accept this outcome. Ludger uses both his and Julius's watches to enter his Level 3 chromatus to defend against their attacks and kills them all, a feat Victor couldn't achieve since Gaius, Milla and Muzét survived. Julius is both horrified and shocked that Ludger would toss everything away he had built for his sake, despite knowing that he would be dead soon. After nearly succumbing to the affects of his catalyst transformation, the two try to live their lives as best as possible. In this ending, Ludger states that Julius was the only person who protected him, and he refuses to kill him. He knows that, while Julius does not have much time left in this world, he wants to cherish these last moments with him. To this end, Ludger states that he will destroy the world if he has to.

In the Elle Ending, Ludger saves Elle by choosing to become a divergence catalyst through using his chromatus abilities. The group is surprised that he would go to such lengths, but Origin and Milla agree that humans can do many things for the people they care about. Origin grants the two's request and destroys the fractured dimensions before sealing away the miasma together with himself. Afterward, Ludger gives Elle his pocket watch and although she is saddened to see him go, the others tell her that this is his choice, and as Rowen J. Ilbert states, he believed not in the Elle that could be born in this world but in the Elle he had come to know and befriend. With this, she watches Ludger disappear with a smile on his face as he hums the song that his brother sang so many years ago. Many years later, an adult Elle dressed similarly to Ludger is shown living her life, still carrying Ludger's pocket watch and humming the Hymn of Proof that he passed down to her.

Appearance and Personality

Status image in Tales of Xillia 2.

Ludger wears a blue dress shirt with folded sleeves and brown suspenders, yellow necktie, and black trousers, with a blue, feather-like decoration hanging on the back. He has green eyes with yellow rings circling his pupils, a trait he shares with Elle. His skin is noticeably pale, and two lightning markings appear on his face when he transforms into his chromatus's first stage. His silver hair, which is his natural hair color, has dyed black ends on the right side, which makes it similar to Nova's hair but with inverted colors. He dyed part of his hair black simply because he thought it looked cool. While in his Level 2 or 3 chromatus form, his hair becomes completely white. The concept behind Ludger's design is that of a sword.

Over the course of the game, the player can shape Ludger's personality and decisions, being either solely focused on protecting his brother or openly displeased with his actions, such as hiding the truth from him about their family's history. He can also be very understanding and supportive of his friends. However, there are at times, when his bonds come into question, particularly when he learns of the method to reach Canaan. Ludger also possesses a protective nature toward Elle and Julius as he seeks to protect Julius by believing there must be another way to save Elle other than kill him, thus hesitating when he is opted to kill his own brother.

Fighting Style

Cut-in image for Ritual of Destruction in Tales of Xillia 2.

Ludger has the ability to wield three types of weapons: twin swords, which he learned to use before the game because he admired his brother and wanted to imitate him, and then twin pistols and hammers, which he masters through the game's events. He can shift them during battles through the Weapon Swap (ウェポンシフト, Ueeponshifuto^?, "Weapon Shift") ability by pressing + , or + to shift in the reverse direction. In addition to changing his arte selection based on the weapon he is using, his basic statistics such as movement speed and normal attack damage output are also modified.

Twin swords focuses on speed and movement. Ludger has higher movement speed while they are active, and the artes specialize in faster hits. The hammer makes use of fewer but stronger hits with slower attack speeds. Twin pistols make use of range and have a higher number of elemental artes. Movement while using the normal attack is possible, though slow. Ludger's overall movement speed is reduced significantly when using twin pistols. The twin pistols are the only weapons to not suffer damage loss when attacking a downed enemy, moreover they deal higher damage to down enemies: the player should tilt the left analog stick down while pressing the Attack command to perform a ground twin shot which is the requirement for the damage reduction to be nullified and amplified on downed enemies.

Cut-in image for Tales of the Rays, chromatus attire.

Once Bisley teaches Ludger how to use the chromatus ability in battles, Ludger is able to transform, send enemies to another dimension, and continue the battle there without the aid of his allies for a short time, while granting himself with significant status boosts and infinite health, TP, and AC while the ability is active. The duration of chromatus is reduced each time Ludger takes damage. Ludger's partner characteristic support ability is Mirroring (ミラーリング, Miraaringu^?). While Ludger is the partner character, he will use the same support ability as the primary character. Ludger's version is unaffected by any skills the primary has active for their support, however.

Other Appearances

Tales of Asteria

Ludger appears in Tales of Asteria during "The Crystal Land and the Guiding Light", living in the city of Inir with Julius, Rollo, and Elle. He later appears as the main protagonist of the "Destiny of the Twin Stars" chapter.

Tales of the Rays

In Tales of the Rays, Ludger is exoflected into Tir Na Nog, making his first appearance in "Off-Season Holiday - A Very Kresnik Christmas" event, alongside Julius. He later plays a role in the third chapter of "Mirrage Prison".

Gallery

Status image in Tales of the World: Reve Unitia.

Cut-in image for Tales of the World: Reve Unitia.

Artwork for chapter 6 of Tales of Asteria.

Trivia

• Ludger translates to "the people's spear" in German, and Kresnik is a god typically associated with fire in Slavic mythology. A Krsnik is also a vampire hunter.
• Ludger usually speaks freely outside his original game. This includes, but is not limited to, the Tales of Xillia 2 manga adaptation and crossover Tales games such as Tales of Link, Tales of Asteria, Tales of the Rays, Tales of the World: Reve Unitia, and Tales of Crestoria.
  • During Tales of Festival 2014, when Ludger is first introduced, dialogue choices are presented to decide how will he call Julius, if as "Julius" or as "Brother", just like it happens at the start of Tales of Xillia 2. After the "Brother" option is chosen, Julius then tells Ludger to speak normally, which Ludger starts doing.
• Ludger's GHS ringtone is "Eternal Mind" from Tales of Eternia.
• In his artwork, Ludger uses the Spirius Blades, which appear as his default weapon in his crossover appearances, as well as the Spirius Sledge and the Spirius Shot.
• Ludger's outfit appears as a legacy costume for Kratos Aurion in PlayStation 3 and later releases of Tales of Symphonia, Rokurou Rangetsu in Tales of Berseria, and Alphen in Tales of Arise.
• Ludger appears in the mobile game Kai-Ri-Sei Million Arthur as part of the crossover event with Tales of Link.