Character Info
THE CHARACTER
Name: Darc
Series: Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Age: 17
Timeline: Post-game
History:
A long time ago the Great Spirits populated the earth as a guide for humans. However, there appeared an evil Divine Ruler who tried to get the Spirit's powers for himself, becoming the Lord of the Black Abyss. But his attempt to destroy the world was stopped by a Great Hero and a Holy Mother and he was sealed away in an Ark. However, as a result of these battles, the world was badly scarred and the spirits disappeared from the face of the Earth.
In Arc the Lad universe, the world is divided in two: one part is inhabited by humans while the other is populated by Deimos, who are demon like creatures. Deimos are creatures who descend from monsters created by the Divine Ruler, therefore they have a great battle instinct and are naturally distrusting. The war between these two species has lasted since the disappearance of the spirits that protected the Earth. Each side sees the other as cruel and barbaric, which leads to endless battles and slaughter. However, a human and a deimos fell in love. It was the noble heir of the human kingdom of Nidellia - Nafia - and the leader of the Drakyr, a Deimos subspecies - Windalf. From their union a pair of twins was born - Kharg and Darc. Instead of living peacefully in the only island where humans and deimos co-exist (Cragh Island), Windalf and Nafia decided to return to Ragnoth continent, to try to change the way each species sees the other. This proofed to be a mistake as they were chased by the drakyr for taking the Wind Stone with them - the heirloom of the drakyr clan. The couple had split the stone in two between them. During the chase, Windalf told Nafia to take the children to safety. However, the platform she was standing on collapsed due to a magic spell from the drakyr and Nafia fell to her death with Kharg. Windalf managed to fend off his pursuers for some years but eventually died from injuries when Darc was young. He gave his half of the Wind Stone to his son just before he died.
Darc was then found by Geedo - a cruel and selfish deimos - who took him in as her slave. The years passed with Darc being beat up and made fun of for looking too human, even with his horns and wings. Darc was also too gentle for a deimos - for example he'd buried his father, which is considered a human habit. Eventually, Darc meets Delma, a female Orcon (or she-orc), who finds him interesting. In the meantime, the Drakyr find his lead so Delma asks for help from her brother, Densimo, who is the Orcon leader. The drakyr use Geedo as hostage for Darc to give them the Wind Stone but he refuses, saying the only thing she did was torturing him. In the end, they tear his wings off in an effort to make him tell them the truth and Delma tells them the wherabouts of the stone, unable to see Darc suffer. She is knocked out by their wind magic. When Darc comes to, he rushes to his father's tomb, only to find the drakyr defiling it. He also discovers that Densimo ate the firble he'd been taking care of (a fluffy small animal that some believe will increase their strength) and that Geedo had accepted to aid the drakyr for money. It's then he realizes how selfish and cruel deimos really are, but he's still determined to abide to his father's dying wish - to save all deimos. He defeats the drakyr along with Densimo and Geedo with the help of human weapons and armor, that he'd refused to wear until then. His whole demeanour changes after that - Darc seems colder and cruel now, as if a part of him had finally broken after all this time.
Soon, he gathers some powerful allies to help him unite the deimos. He still wishes to save them even if they betray each other countless times and are ruthless and cruel. He meets Lilia, a human girl who believes in peace among humans and deimos. She helps him when Delma literally stabs him in the back, trying to avenge her brother. Then she's kidnapped by the Dilzwed Army, a human empire ruled by Darkham who aspires to rule over the world. Meanwhile, Darc and his allies try to collect the Five Great Spirits Stones (earth, water, fire, wind, light) that can grant infinite power to the one who has them all. They manage to get a hold of the water stone, which causes Camellia to betray Darc twice to try to get it. Camellia leaves them to their death in the Coleopt shrine, when they're trying to obtain the it. But it happens that Bebedora, the legendary puppeteer monster, takes an interest in Darc's complex soul (she can see souls) and joins them in their quest. After they get the Water Stone, Camellia steals it from Darc while he's asleep to try to return to her previous form (she'd been tortured by the Dilzwed, who had used the Earth Stone on her, which caused her to wither away since she's a Pianta Deimos). Of course Darc uses the fact that Delma and Camellia are powerful (in Camellia's case he might need her knowledge) as an excuse to not punish them, showing blatant kindness among Deimos.
While Camellia is trying to use the stone's power, it's stolen by Droguza - a deimos hybrid created by Dilzweld (however he doesn't initially know this, believing he's the sole survivor of the Niente tribe). In his pursuit Darc goes to Drakyrnia, Windalf's homeland. There, he meets his grandfather and learns about his human mother, Nafia, and the fact he has a twin brother, Kharg. After battling Droguza again Darc sneaks in Dilzweld's airship, the Megist. There, he encounters Lilia along with Nafia, who had been held as hostage. They're attacked by soldiers and Nafia takes a shot for her son. They make it back to Yewbel, Nafia's town, just in time for her to die in Darc's arms. Darc is even more desperate and lonely and he and Lilia leave for the Cave of Truth on Cragh Island, as it was Nafia's last wish. They meet Kharg who, meanwhile, heard of Nafia's death and was told it was Darc who had killed her. Their reunion is far from happy, with the brothers itching to kill each other but Lilia intervenes.
After listening to the voice of the spirits in the cave (the spirit of Hope, the only one remaining in the world), they return to the Slothian village in the island. There, Darc and Kharg start fighting again, but Lilia once again interrupts them. The Dilzweld invades the island and takes Lilia away again, killing the Sloathians, even if they didn't represent any threat. Darc and Kharg decide to go on their separate ways to try to stop the destruction of the world at Dilzweld's hands. Darc reunites with his friends and eventually meets with Kharg's party once again, after Darkham is defeated. This time humans and deimos really fight each other - the winners would get all Five Spirit Stones.
Regardless who wins (for the player has the choice of fighting as either deimos or humans) the Five Great Spirit Stones and Lilia are snatched away by the Divine Ruler. Turns out Lilia is a Friend of the Spirits, the only one that can speak to them and she's needed to open the ark. Both humans and deimos try to put a stop to the Divine Ruler's plan and raid his fortress. However, they end up separated inside. After humans and deimos resort to fighting together against monsters, the two parties reunite once again and Darc and Kharg agree to fight together for the sake of the world. After many annoying levels and rooms they reach the Divine Ruler. He uses Lilia to open the ark and gains even more power, becoming the Lord of the Black Abyss. The party is forced to fight against Lilia, who's trapped inside a monster and then she disappears and everyone is swallowed up by darkness. However, they are rescued by Lilia, who has in turn been saved by the spirits of the Holy Mother and the Great Hero. They then pray for their victory and resurface to fight against the Lord of the Black Abyss. After they defeat it (seriously, it's a thing with eyes and tentacles) the spirits from the Five Great Spirit Stones go back to the spirit world. Without their power, the Lord of the Black Abyss ceases to exist. Without the spirits, though, the spirit stones (the life source of deimos and energy resource for human civilization) lose all their power. However, the game ends with a tone of hope for the future, as Darc and Kharg shake their hands.
Personality:
Being partly human, Darc has always led a very difficult life in deimos territory. He was never fully accepted by them, who call him 'deimos wannabe' because of his human appearance. However, he's not fully human either since he has scales and horns (and wings at one point). He's stuck between the two worlds and has always felt lonely because of this. He loathes his appearance and claims to hate Nafia for it (Williwo, his grandfather, told him she seduced his father and he blames her for his death).
Despite all that hardship and having lived a good part of his life as a slave, Darc still has a good heart. At the beginning of the game he acts unsure, shy and will eventually reply rudely if not confident of himself, but that's deimos interaction for you. After he snaps and kills Densimo and Geedo, he turns into someone different. Even Delma says he looks like a different person, and that's not just because he lost his wings and decided to use human armor and weapons. With his new resolve of saving the deimos from humans, Darc obtains new confidence in himself and his abilities. He becomes a leader. He starts gathering strong deimos to aid him in his quest. Of course, despite all his tough pretense, slowly his allies know him for who he is - a kind hearted person who hates unnecessary killing. He despises humans because they only care about themselves and harm the world with their civilisation. They also think of deimos as mere beasts and will hunt them down.
Slowly, Darc's nature starts to affect his friends as well. The fact they call themselves his friends denotes the change in itself because deimos never have friends or allies. A deimos is selfish and can only rely in himself or else he'll eventually be stabbed in the back. But Darc manages to make friends and with different species of deimos at that, which is VERY rare as deimos are very territorial. It's also noted by various characters how similar Kharg and Darc's personalities are: they're both hard headed, determined and they both want to save the world, merely going at it in different ways.
Being a teenager (and taking his past into account) Darc simply fails at expressing his feelings (or at least his real feelings). When Nafia is dying he says he hates her and that she can't die because he wants to be the one who kills her. You hear him say those words but during his speech, the thing screaming the loudest inside him is 'I love you! Please don't leave me now that I've finally found you!'. His mother's death, and the fact she loved his father and him, really shake him. Darc's also puzzled by humans - whether it be their technology or their actions. For example, he can't understand Lilia's kindness towards him and deimos in general. She's the first human he meets and he's confused when she saves him, instead of running away and leaving him to die after being stabbed by Delma.
Darc also needs to constantly prove his strength, as that is the deimos' way - survival of the strongest through and through. He's used to react to everything through force, as it's how he learned to survive. Plus, the fact he's part human, means he has to redouble his efforts of proving his strength. Additionally, if there's some kind of confusion or misunderstanding, he tends to act defensive and answer rudely instead of trying to clear up the issue - such is the deimos way. He can also be sarcastic at times, mostly with his twin, Kharg.
Even though his human part has brought mostly hardships, there are advantages to it that Darc probably doesn't think about. He's definitely smarter than your regular deimos, being able to come up with battle tactics instead of just rushing in to battle (though most times his battle instincts will take over). He also has an innate curiosity and is witty - for example when he meets Lilia he guess she has the Light Stone since it's the Light Spirit that shows up instead of the Wind Spirit). He's also more sensitive than he lets up - not only does he hate killing people, but he also relates with others' pain (for example when Lilia tells him the Light Stone is a memento from her dying mother, he decides not to take it from her).
Abilities:
Being descendant of the Drakyr, Darc can wield wind elemental magic along with support and healing spells. He's also good at hand to hand combat and possesses sword skills. Even without a weapon, Darc can fight using his left hand, that resembles a dragon claw. He used to be able to fly when he had his wings, but the drakyr tore them off. However, it's assumed they can grow back with time since Kharg's wings didn't manifest until a point in his life. To use his magic abilities he needs the power of the spirit stones. Without those he won't be able to use magic if he doesn't have a Romantic Stone
Weapon:
The sword he uses is made with black metal and, at first sight, seems broken but it's just the strange ending of the blade. Basically it looks like a mini version of the Buster Sword from FFVII.
Preferred faction: Chaos
THE MANNEQUIN
Title: Halfbreed Deimos
Color: Forest Green
Appearance/PB:
Darc is a deimos and human hybrid. Unlike Kharg, who looks mostly human aside his pointy ears and eventual wing growth, Darc looks like a mixture of both races. His father Windalf was a drakyr - deimos said to descend from dragons - and Darc sure has inherited those looks. He has black horns and the left part of his body is covered by blueish scales. His left arm is more like a claw - the typical drakyr hand - while his right arm ends with a fragile human hand. However, the left arm also has some soft human skin on the inside. The scales on his left side go from his cheek down to his thigh. Both his legs are devoid of any deimos trait and he's most likely one of the rare deimos who actually wears shoes to protect his feet. He also has hard spikes growing from both his shoulders and some hard scales down his right arm as well, though they stop above his elbow. Darc was born with drakyr wings as well, that allowed him to fly. They were torn off by the drakyr, though, and an ugly mark remains on his back. His torso is covered by scars from his years spent as a slave.
Regarding his more human features, Darc's skin is of a darker tone than his mother's. He has thick black hair and warm brown eyes, just like Nafia. His ears are also pointy (even more than Kharg's) and he has them pierced with black earrings. His teeth are more pointy than your average human's and his voice is hoarse. His clothes consist of a red kilt with a strange design similar to the Crest of Will, sandals and, after he loses his wings, some worn down human armor to protect his chest and back from attacks. The armor also consists of a shoulder plate and a wrist guard for his right arm. He also has a piece of orange fabric tied around his right wrist. He has a knee piece on his left knee. He also wears a bangle on his left wrist but it's unrelated to the human armor.
Pic here
Trivia:
- Darc has a birthmark on his right arm called the Crest of Will. It's a birthmark inherited from his father's side, the legacy of the drakyr leaders. Kharg's is in the exact same spot.
- Both him and Kharg tend to touch their birthmarks when worried.
- With the disappearance of the spirits, his magic skills are all but gone.