Transon Balir | |
---|---|
Information | |
Appearance | Tales of Eternia |
Residences | •Inferia City •Luishka |
Race | Inferian |
Occupation | Researcher |
Weapon | Sword |
Japanese Voice Actor | Shinjiro Nitta (Drama CD) |
Transon Balir (トランソム・バリル Toransomu Bariru?) is a significant supporting character in Tales of Eternia.
History[]
Journey to Celestia[]
Balir was a researcher at the University of Inferia City. Despite being from Inferia, he considered himself a Celestian at heart. He left Inferia thirty years prior to the events of the story, having discovered the Bridge of Light on the summit of Mt. Farlos and researched how to use it. These findings can still be found in Inferia City's Royal Observatory. After arriving in Celestia, he decided to never return to Inferia and instead build a life there. From the Inferian perspective, he is presumed to have died in Celestia due to their brutal image of the Celestian people.
Not long after his arrival in Celestia, Balir met a woman named Shizel, who helped him in the foreign world. They fell in love, and Balir decided to give up his first name to become more like the Celestian people, who only used one name. The two shared a vision of an ideal world beyond what one could see with the eye: a non-material, substanceless world in which there would be no pain or suffering. Sixteen years prior to the game's main plot, he and Shizel had a daughter, Meredy, and they lived together as a family in Luishka. Although Balir made friends, he also made enemies, one of them being Birial, a royal adviser to Celestia's ruler. This was primarily due to his political views and work, having even written a text, The Path to Peace, in which he stated that war can only destroy, that nothing can come of it, and that people should instead lay down their arms and seek peace.
Betrayal and Death[]
The text elaborated on Balir's views that he shared with Shizel, that without war, humans could achieve a greater humanity by not paying attention to solely themselves, but also trying to love and understand others. He urged in the text for courage and determination, that he planned to devote his life to preaching this truth. This idealism was not well-received by everyone. Ten years prior to the game's plot, Celestia's ruler was murdered, and Birial framed Balir for the murder in order to get rid of him, even managing to persuade Hyades, Shizel's brother, to aid him by offering him more power. Birial seized Celestia's military power and used it to hunt Balir, who, in an attempt to keep his family safe, distracted Birial and his soldiers by himself so that Shizel and Meredy could escape to Hyades
However, Hyades betrayed Balir by delivering his sister and niece directly to Birial so that he could lure Balir out of hiding. Balir then did as Birial demanded and revealed himself. When Birial attempted to shoot Shizel because she had resisted him, Balir leaped in the way and caught the hail of bullets, dying in Shizel's arms, which caused Shizel to surrender her heart to Nereid's temptation. She then leveled the city, killing everyone but herself, Hyades, and Meredy, who shared Nereid's Fibrill now thanks to her. Shizel then built a castle where Balir resided officially and secretly performed cruel experiments on Hyades and Meredy in order to find out how she could use the Dark Aurora artes bestowed to her properly.
Meredy's memory was severely damaged due to this trauma, so at some point, she began to believe what the world had told her: that Balir was Celestia's new king, but that he had retired and left the world to its fate. Meredy had prepared to take revenge upon her father, not knowing that it was actually the actions of her mother that spurred these events. When the heroes storm Balir Castle, they find only his mummified corpse upon the throne, which decays after Shizel drives the heroes away using her Dark Aurora artes and leaves for Vatenkeist.