Application for Luceti
Mun
Name: Nadia
Livejournal Username: ladynadiad
E-mail: ladynadiad at gmail dot com
AIM/MSN: same as personal journal
Current Characters at Luceti:
Piers - coolstempers
Tia - maidenofdemise
Character
Name: Leonhardt (AKA 2nd Liutenant Lorence Belgar, Legion number 2, the Sword Emperor and Loewe.)
Fandom: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky series
Gender: Male, despite looking kinda girly at times.
Age: Unspecified, but my guess is 26.
Time Period: After his second "battle" in chapter 4 of the first game. Assuming a win for Estelle's party since it is an optional battle to win.
Wing Color: Silver with violet tips, like the colors of his hair and eyes. The entirety of the wings also have metallic sheen to them.
History:
Note: There are most definitely spoilers for both the first and second games in here (second is where his backstory is revealed, I kept the overall plot spoilers out except for one minor mention), also some things have been pulled from the manga and drama CDs to help flesh it out as needed. These are considered canon, but he is most definitely from game canon. And also for the sake of consistency and my own sanity with how many names and titles he has, I will use Leonhardt to refer to him. And apologies in advance for the sheer length of all of this, but this is a canon with a lot of depth to its characters and setting, and it's not easy to be concise with that amount of detail.
Leonhardt grew up in a small village called Hemel that was located near the border of the Liberl Kingdom and the Erebonian Empire, and is part of the Empire. For the first part of his life he was very happy growing up with a boy named Joshua and his sister Karin (quick note, Karin may end up being translated as Karen, this part hasn't gotten an official release in English yet). They were very close, to the point of being much like siblings along with being friends. Leonhardt and Karin were very close in age and canon hints very strongly that they were very close and quite possibly considering marriage when they were older. But whether there were or not, Leonhardt loved Joshua and Karin more than any other people in the world. At this point in time he lived happily with the two of them as he trained in the use of a sword to hopefully realize his future dream of becoming a bracer (which is basically a person who is part of the Bracer Guild, which is basically group that exists in most nations that protects people and deals with conflicts) and protecting others along with his loved ones. Nothing is said about their parents, but inferring from their close relationships that are like siblings, it is likely they are all orphans and don't recall their parents (and a comment Leonhardt makes in the third game supports this, Karin is likely the only one who does remember her parents). Leonhardt is not actually related by blood to Joshua and Karin, but they act like family, enough that at times Joshua actually does refer to him as an older brother and Leonhardt refers to Joshua as a younger brother. From what we see of the flashbacks, Leonhardt and Karin are basically like an older brother and sister to Joshua along with acting somewhat like a father and mother to the little boy, they basically are a very happy little family even if they aren't all related by blood or marriage and Joshua's closeness to them isn't affected much by the sheer age difference of likely at least ten years.
Unfortunately, this was all changed when Liberl and Erebonia went to war. Their tiny little village was attacked by soldiers and burnt to the ground, which caused what is known as the Hundred Days War. Many people died that day. Leonhardt tried to hold off the soldiers so Joshua and Karin could get away, and he was nearly successful. However, a soldier caught hold of Karin (note: the manga for him implies that the soldiers attempted to rape Karin too). Joshua tried to hold them off, but at this time he's only a small boy and can't do much against full grown soldiers even if he did show great courage against them. He was able to knock one of them down though, and when he did the soldier shot at Joshua. He would have died if it hadn't been for Karin stepping in front of him and taking the bullet intended for her little brother. Leonhardt caught up in time to see this and dispatched the soldiers, but far too late to save Karin. The two boys could only hold her as she died with a smile on her face satisfied that she had protected them. She also asked Leonhardt to look after Joshua for her, and he agreed to this and takes this promise to her very seriously despite the mistakes he does make later raising the boy. To give him credit, at this time he was still in his late teens and far too young to be a sole caretaker of a six year old boy, especially one whose mental health was not the best (and that's putting it mildly).
However, the two boys found it very hard to move on after this. They had lost one of the most important people to them and Karin really was the figure of stability in their little family. On top of that, Joshua was completely broken mentally and emotionally. The boy couldn't even speak due to the trauma that had happened, and he wouldn't even eat. During this time, Leonhardt had to act not only as friend and brother, but as caretaker while he was hurting nearly as badly. But there was nothing he could do for Joshua. He did what he could to try and seek out justice for this and help Joshua, but nothing worked and only got them into even more danger as they ended up becoming the target of soldiers. His only hope came when a man named Weissmann found them and offered to fix Joshua's broken heart. At this time, both of them ended up joining a secret society by the name of Ouroboros. It ended up being the worst mistake Leonhardt ever made, but really he was given the choice of taking Weissmann up on his offer, or watching Joshua slowly waste away and being left alone. And had Joshua died, he probably wouldn't have lasted much longer after that. It is definitely not out of the realm of possibility that his promise to Karin to look after Joshua was the only thing that kept him from getting himself killed during that time.
Unfortunately for the young boys, Weissmann isn't exactly the kind and caring soul they thought he was, but he truly was their last and only hope. He's a manipulative asshole who saw Joshua as a chance to create the ultimate human weapon and shaped him into a murderer and assassin, not a kind and caring boy. He also definitely used Leonhardt's skills to his own ends and shaped him into a master of the blade who very few would be able to beat in a fair fight (in fact, only one person has done so when he wasn't holding back and without cheating in some way). Both of them became enforcers in Ouroboros under Weissmann, which basically is the muscle in making sure the Leader's plans come to fruition. And the sad truth is that Leonhardt is likely one of the most sane of the group. Leonhardt is known as Legion number 2 and Joshua is Legion number 13. They also have the titles the Sword Emperor and the Black Fang respectively.
But for the first few years they were members of Ouroboros, they actually weren't too bad off. Joshua seemed much more like a normal boy even if he was sent off on missions to murder people, many of these missions he was accompanied by Leonhardt. Also at one point they ended up rescuing a little girl named Renne who Leonhardt also basically adopted as his own and she joined them as Legion number 15, the Angel of Extermination. In fact, Renne is one of the few allowed to call him by his nickname Loewe and can get a smile from him like Joshua can (well, as close to a smile as he can give any longer). The three of them often did things together when they could and tried to live as normal of a life as possible between the missions they were sent out on.
This changed about five years after Karin's death when Joshua was sent off on what seemed to amount to a suicide mission. He was sent to assassinate Cassius Bright. To give an idea, Cassius is pretty much on Leonhardt's level during the events of the game. An 11 year old boy has no hopes of being successful at this alone. Joshua was lucky and Cassius instead took pity and adopted the boy as his own. However, in Leonhardt's eyes, Joshua had been captured after being sent to his death. He was absolutely enraged by this and took this rage out on Weissmann. That didn't end very well and Weissmann basically said all the wrong things and was lucky it ended in Leonhardt storming off rather than actually harming the man. Instead he punches a wall in while thinking some very unhealthy thoughts.
At this point another person approaches him, and thankfully interrupts his internal hate for himself and life in general (really, he needs to stop this). This particular woman is another high ranked member of Ouroboros by the name of Arianrhod. Some time back the two of them had a duel that Leonhardt lost quite miserably. Miserably as in his sword was broken (and the act of her breaking it left a giant hole in the ground). She thanks him for the duel the other day and tells him that his replacement sword is ready and takes him to meet the Leader and receive it. The replacement sword is a very special one by the name of Kernviter. Arianrhod explains what the sword is capable of, and that it also has a very serious drawback to it. He is given a choice to accept it or not and to make sure he does not regret his decision either way. As Leonhardt has come to realize he can't go back to the way things were anyhow, so it really doesn't matter. He's lost everything that is important to him and can't go back to the past. So he accepts the cursed weapon. This plus the loss of Joshua really is the start of his own downward spiral because he really does start changing, but not in the way that was expected. He actually calms down a lot, builds up his wall of politeness. He does grow a lot stronger, but he really did give up a lot of himself in the process.
In the years between this and when the game itself starts, some of the enforcers are sent to receive reports from Joshua about Cassius. It isn't said who gets these reports, but considering Weissmann's penchant for cruelty towards these two, Leonhardt was likely sent more than once, and likely even was glad to go the first time.
And then five years later the events of the first chapter of the series start. Leonhardt at this point has joined up with the Liberl Royal Army to enact his current plot. Before the game even begins he obtains a black orbment that is called the Gospel and gives it to a man by the name of Colonel Richard, who is his superior. This sets in motion the events of the game because the Colonel is then manipulated to use the Gospel to activate the sealed Aureole to gain access to an artifact called the Shining Ring. However, to even gain access to the place, he had to basically plot to overthrow the Queen. He uses his newly formed Intelligence Division to do the work, with the Special Ops forces dealing with much of the dirty work. Leonhardt is the commander of Special Ops and going by the name Lorence Belgar at this point to hide his identity.
The first time we see him is in chapter 1 of the game. The group is in Bose at this time and he's the contact point for the Sky Bandits. He's only seen once in a short meeting with Kyle and Josette where he basically relays to them that the ransom on the hostages will be paid out, but it is implied that he met with them before this. It isn't known at this point in time that he currently has a position in the army as Special Ops in the Intelligence Division, but he is acting as a mole in the army to ensure that the plot with the Sky Bandits is as successful as it can possibly be. It wasn't exactly meant to be successful, but the intent was to make sure the Sky Bandits took the fall, not the army. It was mostly done to make the Intelligence Division look good, which would later aid them in being able to manipulate the public opinion. The people were more likely to believe the words of those who were doing good for them.
The next we meet him is in chapter 2, though this isn't as obvious in the first playthrough because we actually see him without his mask and in his normal outfit with the trenchcoat rather than his army uniform. What was going on here is actually a complicated mess to figure out all the pieces to, but when it comes down to it, he's the one who set all the events up again. In this one, we know that a fire was set at the Mercia Orphanage. Curiously enough, the clues given actually do lead to him being the arsonist (albeit very reluctantly), but in his usual pattern when doing horrible things, he does his utmost to ensure the least amount of injury possible. He was there at the orphanage, but before the fire was set, he made sure the Matron and orphans had a way out by removing the door from its hinges. After the fire was set, it seemed he stayed nearby to ensure they got out. When they didn't, he went in and personally got all of them out, at risk to his own life. He left the scene as soon as the people from Manoria Village showed up to help.
Then we do see him again at the campus festival at the nearby academy. In fact, he even got spotted by the children and Joshua, but he was able to get away from them and being asked uncomfortable questions. After that, as much as he doesn't want to have to do it, he and his men attack Matron Theresa. However, again, he keeps the injury to a minimum by making use of sleeping agents on the Matron and the bracer guarding her. He only has his orders to steal the money that was donated to rebuild the orphanage, he doesn't want to see the people hurt. He only fought back with Carna because she was armed and engaged him and his men in battle, but even so, he still dealt with her swiftly and with as little injury as possible.
Then he shows up again after the incident with the Orphanage is dealt with. The party finds his Special Ops men and one of the bracers, Agate Crosner, chases after them while Estelle and Joshua deal with Mayor Dalmore of Ruan. This is where we first learn of Leonhardt's Body-Split Craft, since when he shows up, Agate actually ends up fighting a clone of Leonhardt, not the actual man. The actual man was hiding up in a tree observing the scene and trying to determine if Agate was a worthy opponent or not.
We don't see him again until the tail end of chapter 3 when he reports in to Colonel Richard at Leiston Fortress while the group is there trying to rescue a man Special Ops had kidnapped. Leonhardt wasn't directly involved in that mess and left it to his men, as he had things to accomplish in Grancel since they were nearly done with their plans to overthrow the Queen and gain access to the Shining Ring, and his main concern was the Shining Ring since his orders were to get it activated.
The next we see him is at the beginning of the last chapter in the first game. A girl we know as Kloe, but is actually Princess Klaudia is running away and Special Ops captures her. She is then taken hostage at the Erbe Royal Villa. This becomes the base for the Intelligence Division and Special Ops so they can keep an eye on their hostages, as the Princess is not the only one. By this point Special Ops has taken hostages of other people who will either ensure cooperation from essential people, or troublemakers. Openly they are claiming it is the center of their operations against the terrorists, and said terrorism has been pinned on the Queen's Royal Guard to further entrench the Intelligence Division into the castle, since they would be the ones to replace the Royal Guard. In fact, Leonhardt is the guard for the Queen.
During this time, to pretend that things are perfectly normal, the Martial Arts competition is also going on as normal for leading up to the celebration of the Queen's 60th birthday. Many members of the Royal Army participate, along with bracers and others who want to prove their strength. Leonhardt enters with three of his best men. They easily beat all their foes until the finals where they take on Zane's team and are actually beaten. Of course, Leonhardt was holding back since it was a public exhibition and he didn't want the world to see what he could do. He could have easily beaten the whole group by himself and likely not even break a sweat. But really, what annoyed him most here was how Captain Amalthea would not let it go. It was obvious the two did not get along.
There is also a short bit after the party attends the royal banquet with Colonel Richard and his group going into the Aureole for the first time and being attacked by Archaisms. Leonhardt takes one of them out in one blow. These aren't exactly weak things either (in fact at the level the party is at at this time, takes about two rounds of most of the group hitting to take one out, and that's if no one misses). After that, he's asked to lead the way below, which implied he had some knowledge of the place.
And then the last time we meet him in the first game is when the party is trying to liberate the Queen from the castle. He's the one guarding the Queen and they have to fight him to free her. In canon this is a battle that could go either way, going to assume that Estelle's group won for the sake of having something to run with. Leonhardt was still holding back at this time, however, which was the only reason why they won. That and he didn't have any wish to kill such worthy opponents. He let them have the Queen and jumped off the balcony to escape after telling them to go below if they wanted to minimize the damage from the Colonel's plot. But curiously, there was no sign that he hit the water when he did...
And that will be the point at which he comes to Luceti.
Personality:
So far we've seen that Leonhardt is a very bitter man with a very tragic past. This definitely shapes his personality greatly. Outwardly, he acts extremely polite and even cordial to a degree to anyone he meets. But this politeness is merely a way of distancing himself from people he meets. He actually hates humanity as a whole. He feels that people are weak overall and it is the rare person who can overcome this weakness to become a strong person able to deal with those who harm and deceive others. He also has an immense dislike for getting close to people because nearly everyone he's ever given a damn about has been taken from him in a most brutal fashion.
Yes, he is a very pessimistic man who thinks the worst of everyone until he learns otherwise. He does not feel that humanity as a whole is capable of being strong and not repeating their mistakes and that because of this weakness more people will end up like him and having to deal with horrible tragedies and lose their loved ones too. He pretty much has three overall goals: To test humanity to see if they were worthy of Karin's sacrifice, to ensure that the tragedy of Hemel is not repeated, and to get revenge for what happened to Hemel. He will deny the last one, but considering some of his actions later, it is something he wants, even if it's not a goal he will outright state.
There's really only two types of people Leonhardt can tolerate: strong people and children. He actually does like people who have things in common with him and have overcome their own weaknesses to become powerful. He also is incredibly protective of children who are in horrible situations, especially orphaned children. The fact that he rescued Renne and then later the children in the orphanage shows that he definitely still has some compassion for the innocent, but this seems to be more reserved for children who either do not have living parents or were abandoned by their parents, like Renne.
However, despite his bitterness and hatred, and the fact that he has indeed committed some atrocious acts for Ouroboros, he is overall a decent person at heart. We actually don't ever see him kill any person (though he most definitely has in the past, he aided Joshua with his assassinations, after all). He can definitely kill when needed and is very capable of it, but he would prefer to leave an opponent alive, especially an opponent he considers worthy. He also does not tend to have a huge ego like many who have as much power and skill as he does. If anything, he tends more towards humble. Around people he knows better, he may well start showing more of an ego about his skills, but normally he does not. Also, he has a tendency to not use his full strength when he's fighting someone unless he considers that person worthy, and at his current canon point we have yet to see him battle with his full strength. If he considers someone unworthy he won't put as much effort into fighting them and as one character stated his attacks seem unfocused. But even like that, he's good at knowing where and how to hit to render his opponents unable to fight without killing them. He also has no hesitation against using tools like drugs against opponents, if he does this he prefers quick acting sleeping agents with no side effects, as he's not wanting to do harm unless it is necessary.
Also, he tends to be more of a quiet sort, preferring to observe others than to speak much. He's very good at learning through observation and in fact can learn a great deal about people from watching them, and especially from looking them in the eye. Anyone who sees him will be able to tell that he is very skilled and has quite a bit of grace and stealth. He's good at hiding his presence to observe and he moves fast. His position requires that he not only be a good fighter, but he also be a good spy and manipulator. About the most talkative he will get is when he is trying to rattle someone, usually before battling them or when upset, but even then he still keeps an overall calm and polite demeanor. He won't hesitate to insult someone, but his insults are laced with politeness. However, he does still have a bit of a temper and when someone sets him off, he will very quickly become very talkative and actually start ranting. That's if they only set him off slightly, he's also quite capable of becoming violent and even suicidal when enraged. It's a good thing that over the years he has learned to control this very well, but he does have his moments.
However, the fact that he is a quiet sort is problematic because he tends to be left to his thoughts a lot. And his thoughts are often very negative and outright depressing. Leonhardt truly has major issues with his own confidence and self-esteem. He honestly cannot take a compliment, and especially not from someone who he feels is stronger than him. And because he cannot accept that he's worth anything, this often leads to many negative thoughts in his head. Seeing some of his own mental musings can make one wonder how he even wakes up in the morning, it's that negative (and sometimes bordering towards suicidal). He has slowly gotten better about that, but overall he still thinks himself weak and will not accept what he is now and that he needs to work harder. Problem is, he won't ever be satisfied with himself as it stands now. This negativity does have some positive things about it, however. He's very much not the type to go woe is me and do nothing about his faults. When he is mentally musing to himself, even if it's highly negative, he also tends to consider what he still does need to do and do it.
Another interesting point of note is his formality when it comes to names. Both his own and other people's. What he allows someone to call him and what he calls them actually denotes very well how much respect and trust he has for the person. To someone he barely knows he'd not tend to give his name and let someone else give it. To those he respects and trusts highly, they can call him whatever they wish, including making up a nickname or using the nickname he prefers. And then when it comes to how he refers to other people, he tends to use a more general "you" for those he barely knows or respects. For those he respects more, he will call them by their first and last name, so Estelle would be called Estelle Bright by him. Those very close to him will be called by their first name only. The only living person who gets that treatment is Joshua, though this will only come later once Joshua actually remembers him. If a person has a position higher than him that deserves a formal title, like the Queen, he will use that no matter what he thinks of the person. But overall most people will be referred to without any name or title because he respects and trusts very few people.
Strengths:
Physical:
Leonhardt is arguably one of the most powerful characters in the series, that we have met so far at least, very few even can come close to his level of skill and power. He is not someone to fight without a group to back you up for very good reason. Physical strength is where he excels because he has spent most of his life training to use a sword and he does so very well. Even when he's not using his full strength and showing all his abilities, he's quite a force to be reckoned with. And to be quite honest, even in the second battle with him in the first game, that was still only a taste of what he could do because it wasn't actually him but one of his shadows.
He has incredible speed and accuracy. It is very rare that he will miss hitting a target. Being able to to increase one's speed temporarily is pretty much a necessity to even keep up with him because without that he can often get two or three moves to each move an opponent gets, and a slow opponent is going to have a lot of trouble with him. His skill with stealth is amazing and he can hide himself quite easily and barely even be detected, if at all. If anything, he actually can creep people out with the way he can hide and move. It was commented that he moves like a cat and swings his huge sword like it's a toy. That just shows very well how strong and fast he is.
He also has other abilities with his sword. Many of them combine orbal arts and fancy sword techniques. Here's a list that I made specifically for reference for him that includes video references.
He also has a power that will likely annoy anyone who attempts to fight him: the Body-Split Craft. It is what it sounds like, he can basically make clones or shadows of himself. The above link details all the strengths and weaknesses of these quite well. It isn't an uncommon ability for members of Ouroboros, but Leonhardt definitely has the most skill with this craft.
And of note, his sword is a very special one. There are very few weapons that are even close to it in power, and those weapons are also in the hands of members of Ouroboros. The sword, Kernviter, it made from the Outside Reason (basically a material capable of defying the laws of physics, it is incredibly rare and only the mysterious Leader of Ouroboros seems to have access to it) and because of that it is capable of cutting though anything. And that means truly anything. It is a weapon few humans can wield and is a big part of why Leonhardt is as ungodly powerful as he is. However, in exchange for this great power, it does to a degree alter the personality of its wielder and makes them more power-hungry and it is a testament to Leonhardt's inner strength that he can retain any sense of decency and compassion and doesn't become more violent and has actually calmed down considerably since he started wielding this sword when the opposite should be true. There are no known stats for this weapon, but it is indeed very powerful, but most definitely a cursed weapon. Because of the fact that it can be wielded by very few and has such dire effects on its wielder, he will tend towards being possessive of it and not allow any to even touch it. And it should also be noted that while it has the capability of breaking supposedly unbreakable barriers, this will obviously not apply to Luceti's barrier and very much annoy him to no end.
Lastly, it should also be said that while he is first and foremost a swordsman, he can hold his own without one too. He's got decent overall physical strength, especially in the upper body. He lacks skill with hand to hand fighting, but if he were to somehow get himself into a bar fight he could probably hold his own decently enough. This bears mentioning because he actually did get violent with Weissmann once, and didn't even use his weapon.
Mental:
On top of being an incredible swordsman, he also has an incredible skill with magic. He has abilities that can cancel out arts, make him invulnerable to the next two attacks, heal himself for a lot of HP, do massive damage and confuse enemies and others. Basically Falcom went and took about every annoying trait for an enemy to have to gave it to Leonhardt. Almost all of his arts cause very annoying status effects too.
Also, he is very good with strategy. He's a young man and yet he has earned himself high positions through brains and his skill with a sword. He wasn't part of Liberl's Royal Army for long, but had a decent rank and position for someone who they didn't even know the past of. He's a good leader and his men showed a great deal of respect for him. And while he may be acting on orders a lot, he did have a part in manipulating the pieces in the plot in the first game. He was the one who came up with the method for implementing those orders and from his actions it is pretty evident that he had a great deal of leeway in how things were handled as long as the actual goal came about.
And lastly, Leonhardt is very good at reading an opponent. He is very much the type of person that will learn as much as he can about someone, but if he meets an opponent that he didn't have a chance to learn, there is much he can find out just from speaking with them. He uses this to make a quick judgment on if someone is worthy or not. He is best at reading their skills in combat, but he also can often figure things out about their personality from how they fight him. He's not perfect with this, but he does do a very good job with it and will often use this to unnerve an opponent, which many found more than a bit creepy.
And another thing that shows his mental strength is the fact that he is so capable of multitasking to have those shadows acting on his behalf and no one can even tell the difference all that easily. He's even shown to use them to replace him and may well use them to deal with mundane tasks from time to time.
Emotional:
Emotional is not where Leonhardt excels nearly so much. He's pretty much a mess emotionally. But he does have some things in his favor. For instance, he's a calm and rational type, so it's not going to be easy to get him angry and have him lose control of a situation, though it can happen. He's also very polite and almost overly formal. To him the polite and formal way of talking is a way of distancing himself even further from that which he hates.
Also, for all that he is a very skilled swordsman and hates people with a passion, he does seem to have a hesitation to actually outright kill people. He will do it when the circumstances call for it, but he'll just as often let his targets live. A major factor in this appears to be all the tragedy in his past and he appears to hesitate to put others through that. For instance, while he was a big instigator in the plot with the fire at Mercia Orphanage, he actually went in without his mask and saved Matron Theresa and the children at risk to his own life, and while it may be possible he used one of his shadows to do this, it's doubtful that is what happened (it's more likely he made good use of Earth Guard to keep himself unharmed). And even before this, it appears like he left them an escape route that ended up being blocked.
So basically while he's an asshole in some ways, he's got a decent heart. As Matron Theresa put it, she could tell he was a good man. The goodness is buried very deep now, but it is still there. He is capable of compassion from time to time and if someone were to really dig deep and get past the wall he puts around himself emotionally, they'd find a caring and kind man who would protect those he cares about with his life. In fact, he tends to care more about the lives of those he protects than his own.
He's also very serious about keeping his word to people. Ten years later, he's still keeping his promise to Karin even if he has to do it from afar. If he makes a promise to someone, he will do everything he can to fulfill that. It doesn't even matter if he has to risk his life to fulfill that, or act in a questionable manner to fulfill his promises, he will keep his word.
Another thing in his favor is the fact that he isn't the type to really have an ego about his skills. For instance when his men were going "Holy shit!" over his skills, his comment was just that he had reacted quickly and that he was humbled by the praise Colonel Richard gave him. He only seems to outwardly start to show any ego about his skills if he actually knows someone reasonably well and he's starting to gain a measure of respect for them. Respect is a big thing with him and if he speaks of himself at all, that is a sign that he does respect the person he is speaking to.
Weaknesses:
Physical:
Leonhardt doesn't have much in the way of physical weaknesses, but he is human, even if his ability is actually beyond human strength in many ways. But he still does have the normal needs a human does.
Also, he is just one man for all his skill. He can only do so much when outnumbered and he isn't going to work with others as easily. He's not incapable of fighting as a team, and he did do that in canon, but he does prefer to work alone and when he is working with others he often will stand back and let the weaker allies of his do the dirty work and then come in and mop up what they can't handle. And also his tendency to treat most people like unworthy opponents can be problematic for him because those same unworthy opponents can easily be underestimated. More often he is going to rely on his clones to be his allies, not other people so the best way to outdo him physically is to band together against him because he doesn't understand quite yet that human strength comes when people help each other. Also, attacking him hard and fast tends to work very well because as he gets more and more tired, he's less likely to use the clones and to pull out all the stops.
And one definite physical weakness is that he and by extension, his shadows, absolutely suck at dodging hits. He can take plenty of abuse at least, but he sure is horrible at getting out of the way of an attack. Thank goodness he's a decent healer and caster and can get around this weakness, but there is a reason why Earth Guard is among his favorite of arts to use. And as he does take more abuse, that will start to cut into a lot of his strengths. He will definitely start slowing down if he gets injured.
Mental:
While Leonhardt definitely has brains, his emotional weaknesses also can make him fail mentally. Because he tends to hold little respect for most people, he is also likely to underestimate his enemies and not likely to take as much advantage of his allies as he can and prefer to do things for himself. Also the quick judgments he tends to rely on at times can fail him. He did very much underestimate Estelle, after all, and that may well have been because he did let his emotions cloud his vision when it came to her.
Also, for all of Leonhardt's incredible skill with orbal arts and crafts, he does have to have an orbment to use them. If someone can take away his orbment, that will weaken him big time. He won't be able to use any of his attack, defense or healing arts and the body split craft sure won't be happening, and the boosts he gets will vanish, though he is still very skilled without it. Of course, outside of him arriving to Luceti, this is very unlikely since they are likely on his person at all times and even very close when he is sleeping.
Emotional:
As mentioned above, Leonhardt is an emotional mess on the inside. Due to the events of his past he grew to absolutely despise people in general. He encountered a great deal of loss and saw the people closest to him be hurt greatly both physically and emotionally. His closest friend, Joshua, became all but a broken shell emotionally and this really hurt Leonhardt a lot and he was already hurting from Karin's death. The only way he could deal with it was to close himself off emotionally and hate upon people. He is outwardly polite, but in a way that helps to further distance himself from people. He's also quite honest and tends to answer things people say as if it were literal. Josette, for instance, was rather creeped out by how he spoke because her sarcasm went right over his head and he cannot even seem to acknowledge her attempt at humor to lighten the situation. But then, he really doesn't tend to see humor. He may laugh, but it will be a bitter one. Pretty much, happiness evades him and it has likely been 10 years since he truly laughed and smiled because he was happy. He moves from day to day, but since Karin died, he hasn't been at all happy. He was better while Joshua was still with him, and after mostly adopting Renne too, but once Joshua was sent off on what amounted to a suicide mission, his emotional state went downhill very quickly.
And he is very bad at hiding this. Any time he was unmasked in canon the people who saw him commented on how they could see in his eyes that he had a very hard and tragic life. And he absolutely hates being pitied for the life he has led because he feels that no one has any right to show pity towards him and also that pity is a way for a weak person to try and rise above him when they do not deserve to. He especially hates it if he knows that person may well have had something to do with why he has that look in his eyes. He told Queen Alicia "Your Majesty, you are hardly qualified to feel pity for me." Polite and addressed her correctly, but he was still not pleased to see her feeling pity for him when she is the ruler of the nation that attacked his village. But then, he really doesn't need pity, he needs kindness and patience. A lot of patience too, because he's been a mess emotionally for ten years now. Seriously, he needs a hug, badly.
And then there is his pessimism. Oh god, the pessimism. While he is less likely to actually outright speak his horribly pessimistic thoughts, he definitely thinks the worst when it comes to humanity. In his eyes humans are people who will only see what they wish to see and makes them feel comfortable and lead an easy life. He feels that they are easily swayed and deceived and the truth is easily concealed because they allow it to be. And he includes himself in there, he definitely hates himself for being deceived by Weissmann all those years ago, but to Leonhardt's credit, he didn't really have a better choice besides the very real possibility of watching Joshua slowly waste away and quite possibly die when he had promised to look after him. But even knowing this, he won't let go of the fact that he was deceived.
Also, he is very capable of having a very bad temper. There is one button that definitely exists that will not fail to enrage him, and that has to do with Karin and also related to his past. If someone can actually accomplish pushing this button (and right now, about the only one is Joshua, and he'd need his memories still), he gets very talkative and will give someone and earful, but he also will start getting more violent. And by violent, this means upwards of an outright suicidal rage. Also, anyone who messes with Joshua is likely to press this button too, he's very protective of the boy to the point where he doesn't care if he lives or dies, as long as Joshua is safe. He takes that promise to Karin to look after the boy very seriously. Thankfully, these moments are very few and far between because logic and self-preservation very much fails him when he actually does get angry, even if he is outwardly acting calm and rational while this is happening.
And since it has been mentioned vaguely, it should be mentioned that in his own eyes, he feels that he has died on the inside already. Leonhardt does not really give a damn about himself any longer. He has some very unhealthy thoughts about himself and stopped caring if he lived or died ten years ago. Put simply, he's so afraid that he's going to lose another person he cares about that he'd rather die himself than go through that again. He cares so little about his own life that he will take very serious risks with it and has been very lucky so far. But he cares so little about himself that he's bound to run out of luck someday and get killed by taking some risk for the sake of another.
Samples
First Person: Q&A please.
Third Person:
Leonhardt opened up his eyes and was first met with the blinding light of the sun.
Wait...he'd last been in Grancel Castle... How did he end up somewhere where the sun could shine down on him? He must have been growing too complacent with a mission that kept him in the castle so often. All that luxury lead to weak people within it. With one exception...the Queen herself. He was glad it was over now with him handing the Queen over to the bracers, even if that wasn't truly him.
How could he have fallen asleep while having his shadow fight the intruders? That never happened. It may have been an easy fight because he wasn't really trying too hard, but it still required him to think pretty hard to control them that greatly. It was why he could only use one like that.
Okay, time to think and observe. Well, metaphorically observe because he wasn't repeating that mistake of almost being blinded until he knew better what to expect here.
First, the air didn't have the staleness of the indoors and that scent of perfume from the nobles. Or that reek of alcohol that came if the duke was near. It was fresh and he could feel a movement of wind. That meant he'd somehow gotten outside. The scent wasn't familiar and he couldn't feel the presence of any monsters nearby like he would in most places.
The ground underneath him was not solid. He could feel grass between his fingers. He also could not feel his uniform on him. In fact it seemed he was somehow missing a good portion of his clothing.
He quickly sat up and cursed aloud seeing that no, he wasn't in his uniform. And he wasn't in his civilian clothes either. And Kernviter was missing. So was his orbment. No mira to buy new things. This was just getting worse and worse.
Great. So he was not only in some strange place but nearly defenseless. True, he could come up with some way to defend himself if it came down to it-- one did have to be prepared in case of being disarmed, after all-- but the Sword Emperor was just not the same without his sword. He felt more naked without Kernviter than he did with the lack of clothing.
And something seemed to have been added. His back felt strange. Had he reported in and forgotten about it somehow and Weissmann did something strange to him? Or not really forgotten, but more like was made to forget like most of his victims? But it was a set of wings. That didn't seem to be the sort of thing Weissmann would do.
Well, it was obvious he wasn't going to find any more out just by sitting here. First he needed to get back Kernviter and his orbment. Failing that, he'd find a way to obtain others if he had to steal them.
Name: Nadia
Livejournal Username: ladynadiad
E-mail: ladynadiad at gmail dot com
AIM/MSN: same as personal journal
Current Characters at Luceti:
Piers - coolstempers
Tia - maidenofdemise
Character
Name: Leonhardt (AKA 2nd Liutenant Lorence Belgar, Legion number 2, the Sword Emperor and Loewe.)
Fandom: Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky series
Gender: Male, despite looking kinda girly at times.
Age: Unspecified, but my guess is 26.
Time Period: After his second "battle" in chapter 4 of the first game. Assuming a win for Estelle's party since it is an optional battle to win.
Wing Color: Silver with violet tips, like the colors of his hair and eyes. The entirety of the wings also have metallic sheen to them.
History:
Note: There are most definitely spoilers for both the first and second games in here (second is where his backstory is revealed, I kept the overall plot spoilers out except for one minor mention), also some things have been pulled from the manga and drama CDs to help flesh it out as needed. These are considered canon, but he is most definitely from game canon. And also for the sake of consistency and my own sanity with how many names and titles he has, I will use Leonhardt to refer to him. And apologies in advance for the sheer length of all of this, but this is a canon with a lot of depth to its characters and setting, and it's not easy to be concise with that amount of detail.
Leonhardt grew up in a small village called Hemel that was located near the border of the Liberl Kingdom and the Erebonian Empire, and is part of the Empire. For the first part of his life he was very happy growing up with a boy named Joshua and his sister Karin (quick note, Karin may end up being translated as Karen, this part hasn't gotten an official release in English yet). They were very close, to the point of being much like siblings along with being friends. Leonhardt and Karin were very close in age and canon hints very strongly that they were very close and quite possibly considering marriage when they were older. But whether there were or not, Leonhardt loved Joshua and Karin more than any other people in the world. At this point in time he lived happily with the two of them as he trained in the use of a sword to hopefully realize his future dream of becoming a bracer (which is basically a person who is part of the Bracer Guild, which is basically group that exists in most nations that protects people and deals with conflicts) and protecting others along with his loved ones. Nothing is said about their parents, but inferring from their close relationships that are like siblings, it is likely they are all orphans and don't recall their parents (and a comment Leonhardt makes in the third game supports this, Karin is likely the only one who does remember her parents). Leonhardt is not actually related by blood to Joshua and Karin, but they act like family, enough that at times Joshua actually does refer to him as an older brother and Leonhardt refers to Joshua as a younger brother. From what we see of the flashbacks, Leonhardt and Karin are basically like an older brother and sister to Joshua along with acting somewhat like a father and mother to the little boy, they basically are a very happy little family even if they aren't all related by blood or marriage and Joshua's closeness to them isn't affected much by the sheer age difference of likely at least ten years.
Unfortunately, this was all changed when Liberl and Erebonia went to war. Their tiny little village was attacked by soldiers and burnt to the ground, which caused what is known as the Hundred Days War. Many people died that day. Leonhardt tried to hold off the soldiers so Joshua and Karin could get away, and he was nearly successful. However, a soldier caught hold of Karin (note: the manga for him implies that the soldiers attempted to rape Karin too). Joshua tried to hold them off, but at this time he's only a small boy and can't do much against full grown soldiers even if he did show great courage against them. He was able to knock one of them down though, and when he did the soldier shot at Joshua. He would have died if it hadn't been for Karin stepping in front of him and taking the bullet intended for her little brother. Leonhardt caught up in time to see this and dispatched the soldiers, but far too late to save Karin. The two boys could only hold her as she died with a smile on her face satisfied that she had protected them. She also asked Leonhardt to look after Joshua for her, and he agreed to this and takes this promise to her very seriously despite the mistakes he does make later raising the boy. To give him credit, at this time he was still in his late teens and far too young to be a sole caretaker of a six year old boy, especially one whose mental health was not the best (and that's putting it mildly).
However, the two boys found it very hard to move on after this. They had lost one of the most important people to them and Karin really was the figure of stability in their little family. On top of that, Joshua was completely broken mentally and emotionally. The boy couldn't even speak due to the trauma that had happened, and he wouldn't even eat. During this time, Leonhardt had to act not only as friend and brother, but as caretaker while he was hurting nearly as badly. But there was nothing he could do for Joshua. He did what he could to try and seek out justice for this and help Joshua, but nothing worked and only got them into even more danger as they ended up becoming the target of soldiers. His only hope came when a man named Weissmann found them and offered to fix Joshua's broken heart. At this time, both of them ended up joining a secret society by the name of Ouroboros. It ended up being the worst mistake Leonhardt ever made, but really he was given the choice of taking Weissmann up on his offer, or watching Joshua slowly waste away and being left alone. And had Joshua died, he probably wouldn't have lasted much longer after that. It is definitely not out of the realm of possibility that his promise to Karin to look after Joshua was the only thing that kept him from getting himself killed during that time.
Unfortunately for the young boys, Weissmann isn't exactly the kind and caring soul they thought he was, but he truly was their last and only hope. He's a manipulative asshole who saw Joshua as a chance to create the ultimate human weapon and shaped him into a murderer and assassin, not a kind and caring boy. He also definitely used Leonhardt's skills to his own ends and shaped him into a master of the blade who very few would be able to beat in a fair fight (in fact, only one person has done so when he wasn't holding back and without cheating in some way). Both of them became enforcers in Ouroboros under Weissmann, which basically is the muscle in making sure the Leader's plans come to fruition. And the sad truth is that Leonhardt is likely one of the most sane of the group. Leonhardt is known as Legion number 2 and Joshua is Legion number 13. They also have the titles the Sword Emperor and the Black Fang respectively.
But for the first few years they were members of Ouroboros, they actually weren't too bad off. Joshua seemed much more like a normal boy even if he was sent off on missions to murder people, many of these missions he was accompanied by Leonhardt. Also at one point they ended up rescuing a little girl named Renne who Leonhardt also basically adopted as his own and she joined them as Legion number 15, the Angel of Extermination. In fact, Renne is one of the few allowed to call him by his nickname Loewe and can get a smile from him like Joshua can (well, as close to a smile as he can give any longer). The three of them often did things together when they could and tried to live as normal of a life as possible between the missions they were sent out on.
This changed about five years after Karin's death when Joshua was sent off on what seemed to amount to a suicide mission. He was sent to assassinate Cassius Bright. To give an idea, Cassius is pretty much on Leonhardt's level during the events of the game. An 11 year old boy has no hopes of being successful at this alone. Joshua was lucky and Cassius instead took pity and adopted the boy as his own. However, in Leonhardt's eyes, Joshua had been captured after being sent to his death. He was absolutely enraged by this and took this rage out on Weissmann. That didn't end very well and Weissmann basically said all the wrong things and was lucky it ended in Leonhardt storming off rather than actually harming the man. Instead he punches a wall in while thinking some very unhealthy thoughts.
At this point another person approaches him, and thankfully interrupts his internal hate for himself and life in general (really, he needs to stop this). This particular woman is another high ranked member of Ouroboros by the name of Arianrhod. Some time back the two of them had a duel that Leonhardt lost quite miserably. Miserably as in his sword was broken (and the act of her breaking it left a giant hole in the ground). She thanks him for the duel the other day and tells him that his replacement sword is ready and takes him to meet the Leader and receive it. The replacement sword is a very special one by the name of Kernviter. Arianrhod explains what the sword is capable of, and that it also has a very serious drawback to it. He is given a choice to accept it or not and to make sure he does not regret his decision either way. As Leonhardt has come to realize he can't go back to the way things were anyhow, so it really doesn't matter. He's lost everything that is important to him and can't go back to the past. So he accepts the cursed weapon. This plus the loss of Joshua really is the start of his own downward spiral because he really does start changing, but not in the way that was expected. He actually calms down a lot, builds up his wall of politeness. He does grow a lot stronger, but he really did give up a lot of himself in the process.
In the years between this and when the game itself starts, some of the enforcers are sent to receive reports from Joshua about Cassius. It isn't said who gets these reports, but considering Weissmann's penchant for cruelty towards these two, Leonhardt was likely sent more than once, and likely even was glad to go the first time.
And then five years later the events of the first chapter of the series start. Leonhardt at this point has joined up with the Liberl Royal Army to enact his current plot. Before the game even begins he obtains a black orbment that is called the Gospel and gives it to a man by the name of Colonel Richard, who is his superior. This sets in motion the events of the game because the Colonel is then manipulated to use the Gospel to activate the sealed Aureole to gain access to an artifact called the Shining Ring. However, to even gain access to the place, he had to basically plot to overthrow the Queen. He uses his newly formed Intelligence Division to do the work, with the Special Ops forces dealing with much of the dirty work. Leonhardt is the commander of Special Ops and going by the name Lorence Belgar at this point to hide his identity.
The first time we see him is in chapter 1 of the game. The group is in Bose at this time and he's the contact point for the Sky Bandits. He's only seen once in a short meeting with Kyle and Josette where he basically relays to them that the ransom on the hostages will be paid out, but it is implied that he met with them before this. It isn't known at this point in time that he currently has a position in the army as Special Ops in the Intelligence Division, but he is acting as a mole in the army to ensure that the plot with the Sky Bandits is as successful as it can possibly be. It wasn't exactly meant to be successful, but the intent was to make sure the Sky Bandits took the fall, not the army. It was mostly done to make the Intelligence Division look good, which would later aid them in being able to manipulate the public opinion. The people were more likely to believe the words of those who were doing good for them.
The next we meet him is in chapter 2, though this isn't as obvious in the first playthrough because we actually see him without his mask and in his normal outfit with the trenchcoat rather than his army uniform. What was going on here is actually a complicated mess to figure out all the pieces to, but when it comes down to it, he's the one who set all the events up again. In this one, we know that a fire was set at the Mercia Orphanage. Curiously enough, the clues given actually do lead to him being the arsonist (albeit very reluctantly), but in his usual pattern when doing horrible things, he does his utmost to ensure the least amount of injury possible. He was there at the orphanage, but before the fire was set, he made sure the Matron and orphans had a way out by removing the door from its hinges. After the fire was set, it seemed he stayed nearby to ensure they got out. When they didn't, he went in and personally got all of them out, at risk to his own life. He left the scene as soon as the people from Manoria Village showed up to help.
Then we do see him again at the campus festival at the nearby academy. In fact, he even got spotted by the children and Joshua, but he was able to get away from them and being asked uncomfortable questions. After that, as much as he doesn't want to have to do it, he and his men attack Matron Theresa. However, again, he keeps the injury to a minimum by making use of sleeping agents on the Matron and the bracer guarding her. He only has his orders to steal the money that was donated to rebuild the orphanage, he doesn't want to see the people hurt. He only fought back with Carna because she was armed and engaged him and his men in battle, but even so, he still dealt with her swiftly and with as little injury as possible.
Then he shows up again after the incident with the Orphanage is dealt with. The party finds his Special Ops men and one of the bracers, Agate Crosner, chases after them while Estelle and Joshua deal with Mayor Dalmore of Ruan. This is where we first learn of Leonhardt's Body-Split Craft, since when he shows up, Agate actually ends up fighting a clone of Leonhardt, not the actual man. The actual man was hiding up in a tree observing the scene and trying to determine if Agate was a worthy opponent or not.
We don't see him again until the tail end of chapter 3 when he reports in to Colonel Richard at Leiston Fortress while the group is there trying to rescue a man Special Ops had kidnapped. Leonhardt wasn't directly involved in that mess and left it to his men, as he had things to accomplish in Grancel since they were nearly done with their plans to overthrow the Queen and gain access to the Shining Ring, and his main concern was the Shining Ring since his orders were to get it activated.
The next we see him is at the beginning of the last chapter in the first game. A girl we know as Kloe, but is actually Princess Klaudia is running away and Special Ops captures her. She is then taken hostage at the Erbe Royal Villa. This becomes the base for the Intelligence Division and Special Ops so they can keep an eye on their hostages, as the Princess is not the only one. By this point Special Ops has taken hostages of other people who will either ensure cooperation from essential people, or troublemakers. Openly they are claiming it is the center of their operations against the terrorists, and said terrorism has been pinned on the Queen's Royal Guard to further entrench the Intelligence Division into the castle, since they would be the ones to replace the Royal Guard. In fact, Leonhardt is the guard for the Queen.
During this time, to pretend that things are perfectly normal, the Martial Arts competition is also going on as normal for leading up to the celebration of the Queen's 60th birthday. Many members of the Royal Army participate, along with bracers and others who want to prove their strength. Leonhardt enters with three of his best men. They easily beat all their foes until the finals where they take on Zane's team and are actually beaten. Of course, Leonhardt was holding back since it was a public exhibition and he didn't want the world to see what he could do. He could have easily beaten the whole group by himself and likely not even break a sweat. But really, what annoyed him most here was how Captain Amalthea would not let it go. It was obvious the two did not get along.
There is also a short bit after the party attends the royal banquet with Colonel Richard and his group going into the Aureole for the first time and being attacked by Archaisms. Leonhardt takes one of them out in one blow. These aren't exactly weak things either (in fact at the level the party is at at this time, takes about two rounds of most of the group hitting to take one out, and that's if no one misses). After that, he's asked to lead the way below, which implied he had some knowledge of the place.
And then the last time we meet him in the first game is when the party is trying to liberate the Queen from the castle. He's the one guarding the Queen and they have to fight him to free her. In canon this is a battle that could go either way, going to assume that Estelle's group won for the sake of having something to run with. Leonhardt was still holding back at this time, however, which was the only reason why they won. That and he didn't have any wish to kill such worthy opponents. He let them have the Queen and jumped off the balcony to escape after telling them to go below if they wanted to minimize the damage from the Colonel's plot. But curiously, there was no sign that he hit the water when he did...
And that will be the point at which he comes to Luceti.
Personality:
So far we've seen that Leonhardt is a very bitter man with a very tragic past. This definitely shapes his personality greatly. Outwardly, he acts extremely polite and even cordial to a degree to anyone he meets. But this politeness is merely a way of distancing himself from people he meets. He actually hates humanity as a whole. He feels that people are weak overall and it is the rare person who can overcome this weakness to become a strong person able to deal with those who harm and deceive others. He also has an immense dislike for getting close to people because nearly everyone he's ever given a damn about has been taken from him in a most brutal fashion.
Yes, he is a very pessimistic man who thinks the worst of everyone until he learns otherwise. He does not feel that humanity as a whole is capable of being strong and not repeating their mistakes and that because of this weakness more people will end up like him and having to deal with horrible tragedies and lose their loved ones too. He pretty much has three overall goals: To test humanity to see if they were worthy of Karin's sacrifice, to ensure that the tragedy of Hemel is not repeated, and to get revenge for what happened to Hemel. He will deny the last one, but considering some of his actions later, it is something he wants, even if it's not a goal he will outright state.
There's really only two types of people Leonhardt can tolerate: strong people and children. He actually does like people who have things in common with him and have overcome their own weaknesses to become powerful. He also is incredibly protective of children who are in horrible situations, especially orphaned children. The fact that he rescued Renne and then later the children in the orphanage shows that he definitely still has some compassion for the innocent, but this seems to be more reserved for children who either do not have living parents or were abandoned by their parents, like Renne.
However, despite his bitterness and hatred, and the fact that he has indeed committed some atrocious acts for Ouroboros, he is overall a decent person at heart. We actually don't ever see him kill any person (though he most definitely has in the past, he aided Joshua with his assassinations, after all). He can definitely kill when needed and is very capable of it, but he would prefer to leave an opponent alive, especially an opponent he considers worthy. He also does not tend to have a huge ego like many who have as much power and skill as he does. If anything, he tends more towards humble. Around people he knows better, he may well start showing more of an ego about his skills, but normally he does not. Also, he has a tendency to not use his full strength when he's fighting someone unless he considers that person worthy, and at his current canon point we have yet to see him battle with his full strength. If he considers someone unworthy he won't put as much effort into fighting them and as one character stated his attacks seem unfocused. But even like that, he's good at knowing where and how to hit to render his opponents unable to fight without killing them. He also has no hesitation against using tools like drugs against opponents, if he does this he prefers quick acting sleeping agents with no side effects, as he's not wanting to do harm unless it is necessary.
Also, he tends to be more of a quiet sort, preferring to observe others than to speak much. He's very good at learning through observation and in fact can learn a great deal about people from watching them, and especially from looking them in the eye. Anyone who sees him will be able to tell that he is very skilled and has quite a bit of grace and stealth. He's good at hiding his presence to observe and he moves fast. His position requires that he not only be a good fighter, but he also be a good spy and manipulator. About the most talkative he will get is when he is trying to rattle someone, usually before battling them or when upset, but even then he still keeps an overall calm and polite demeanor. He won't hesitate to insult someone, but his insults are laced with politeness. However, he does still have a bit of a temper and when someone sets him off, he will very quickly become very talkative and actually start ranting. That's if they only set him off slightly, he's also quite capable of becoming violent and even suicidal when enraged. It's a good thing that over the years he has learned to control this very well, but he does have his moments.
However, the fact that he is a quiet sort is problematic because he tends to be left to his thoughts a lot. And his thoughts are often very negative and outright depressing. Leonhardt truly has major issues with his own confidence and self-esteem. He honestly cannot take a compliment, and especially not from someone who he feels is stronger than him. And because he cannot accept that he's worth anything, this often leads to many negative thoughts in his head. Seeing some of his own mental musings can make one wonder how he even wakes up in the morning, it's that negative (and sometimes bordering towards suicidal). He has slowly gotten better about that, but overall he still thinks himself weak and will not accept what he is now and that he needs to work harder. Problem is, he won't ever be satisfied with himself as it stands now. This negativity does have some positive things about it, however. He's very much not the type to go woe is me and do nothing about his faults. When he is mentally musing to himself, even if it's highly negative, he also tends to consider what he still does need to do and do it.
Another interesting point of note is his formality when it comes to names. Both his own and other people's. What he allows someone to call him and what he calls them actually denotes very well how much respect and trust he has for the person. To someone he barely knows he'd not tend to give his name and let someone else give it. To those he respects and trusts highly, they can call him whatever they wish, including making up a nickname or using the nickname he prefers. And then when it comes to how he refers to other people, he tends to use a more general "you" for those he barely knows or respects. For those he respects more, he will call them by their first and last name, so Estelle would be called Estelle Bright by him. Those very close to him will be called by their first name only. The only living person who gets that treatment is Joshua, though this will only come later once Joshua actually remembers him. If a person has a position higher than him that deserves a formal title, like the Queen, he will use that no matter what he thinks of the person. But overall most people will be referred to without any name or title because he respects and trusts very few people.
Strengths:
Physical:
Leonhardt is arguably one of the most powerful characters in the series, that we have met so far at least, very few even can come close to his level of skill and power. He is not someone to fight without a group to back you up for very good reason. Physical strength is where he excels because he has spent most of his life training to use a sword and he does so very well. Even when he's not using his full strength and showing all his abilities, he's quite a force to be reckoned with. And to be quite honest, even in the second battle with him in the first game, that was still only a taste of what he could do because it wasn't actually him but one of his shadows.
He has incredible speed and accuracy. It is very rare that he will miss hitting a target. Being able to to increase one's speed temporarily is pretty much a necessity to even keep up with him because without that he can often get two or three moves to each move an opponent gets, and a slow opponent is going to have a lot of trouble with him. His skill with stealth is amazing and he can hide himself quite easily and barely even be detected, if at all. If anything, he actually can creep people out with the way he can hide and move. It was commented that he moves like a cat and swings his huge sword like it's a toy. That just shows very well how strong and fast he is.
He also has other abilities with his sword. Many of them combine orbal arts and fancy sword techniques. Here's a list that I made specifically for reference for him that includes video references.
He also has a power that will likely annoy anyone who attempts to fight him: the Body-Split Craft. It is what it sounds like, he can basically make clones or shadows of himself. The above link details all the strengths and weaknesses of these quite well. It isn't an uncommon ability for members of Ouroboros, but Leonhardt definitely has the most skill with this craft.
And of note, his sword is a very special one. There are very few weapons that are even close to it in power, and those weapons are also in the hands of members of Ouroboros. The sword, Kernviter, it made from the Outside Reason (basically a material capable of defying the laws of physics, it is incredibly rare and only the mysterious Leader of Ouroboros seems to have access to it) and because of that it is capable of cutting though anything. And that means truly anything. It is a weapon few humans can wield and is a big part of why Leonhardt is as ungodly powerful as he is. However, in exchange for this great power, it does to a degree alter the personality of its wielder and makes them more power-hungry and it is a testament to Leonhardt's inner strength that he can retain any sense of decency and compassion and doesn't become more violent and has actually calmed down considerably since he started wielding this sword when the opposite should be true. There are no known stats for this weapon, but it is indeed very powerful, but most definitely a cursed weapon. Because of the fact that it can be wielded by very few and has such dire effects on its wielder, he will tend towards being possessive of it and not allow any to even touch it. And it should also be noted that while it has the capability of breaking supposedly unbreakable barriers, this will obviously not apply to Luceti's barrier and very much annoy him to no end.
Lastly, it should also be said that while he is first and foremost a swordsman, he can hold his own without one too. He's got decent overall physical strength, especially in the upper body. He lacks skill with hand to hand fighting, but if he were to somehow get himself into a bar fight he could probably hold his own decently enough. This bears mentioning because he actually did get violent with Weissmann once, and didn't even use his weapon.
Mental:
On top of being an incredible swordsman, he also has an incredible skill with magic. He has abilities that can cancel out arts, make him invulnerable to the next two attacks, heal himself for a lot of HP, do massive damage and confuse enemies and others. Basically Falcom went and took about every annoying trait for an enemy to have to gave it to Leonhardt. Almost all of his arts cause very annoying status effects too.
Also, he is very good with strategy. He's a young man and yet he has earned himself high positions through brains and his skill with a sword. He wasn't part of Liberl's Royal Army for long, but had a decent rank and position for someone who they didn't even know the past of. He's a good leader and his men showed a great deal of respect for him. And while he may be acting on orders a lot, he did have a part in manipulating the pieces in the plot in the first game. He was the one who came up with the method for implementing those orders and from his actions it is pretty evident that he had a great deal of leeway in how things were handled as long as the actual goal came about.
And lastly, Leonhardt is very good at reading an opponent. He is very much the type of person that will learn as much as he can about someone, but if he meets an opponent that he didn't have a chance to learn, there is much he can find out just from speaking with them. He uses this to make a quick judgment on if someone is worthy or not. He is best at reading their skills in combat, but he also can often figure things out about their personality from how they fight him. He's not perfect with this, but he does do a very good job with it and will often use this to unnerve an opponent, which many found more than a bit creepy.
And another thing that shows his mental strength is the fact that he is so capable of multitasking to have those shadows acting on his behalf and no one can even tell the difference all that easily. He's even shown to use them to replace him and may well use them to deal with mundane tasks from time to time.
Emotional:
Emotional is not where Leonhardt excels nearly so much. He's pretty much a mess emotionally. But he does have some things in his favor. For instance, he's a calm and rational type, so it's not going to be easy to get him angry and have him lose control of a situation, though it can happen. He's also very polite and almost overly formal. To him the polite and formal way of talking is a way of distancing himself even further from that which he hates.
Also, for all that he is a very skilled swordsman and hates people with a passion, he does seem to have a hesitation to actually outright kill people. He will do it when the circumstances call for it, but he'll just as often let his targets live. A major factor in this appears to be all the tragedy in his past and he appears to hesitate to put others through that. For instance, while he was a big instigator in the plot with the fire at Mercia Orphanage, he actually went in without his mask and saved Matron Theresa and the children at risk to his own life, and while it may be possible he used one of his shadows to do this, it's doubtful that is what happened (it's more likely he made good use of Earth Guard to keep himself unharmed). And even before this, it appears like he left them an escape route that ended up being blocked.
So basically while he's an asshole in some ways, he's got a decent heart. As Matron Theresa put it, she could tell he was a good man. The goodness is buried very deep now, but it is still there. He is capable of compassion from time to time and if someone were to really dig deep and get past the wall he puts around himself emotionally, they'd find a caring and kind man who would protect those he cares about with his life. In fact, he tends to care more about the lives of those he protects than his own.
He's also very serious about keeping his word to people. Ten years later, he's still keeping his promise to Karin even if he has to do it from afar. If he makes a promise to someone, he will do everything he can to fulfill that. It doesn't even matter if he has to risk his life to fulfill that, or act in a questionable manner to fulfill his promises, he will keep his word.
Another thing in his favor is the fact that he isn't the type to really have an ego about his skills. For instance when his men were going "Holy shit!" over his skills, his comment was just that he had reacted quickly and that he was humbled by the praise Colonel Richard gave him. He only seems to outwardly start to show any ego about his skills if he actually knows someone reasonably well and he's starting to gain a measure of respect for them. Respect is a big thing with him and if he speaks of himself at all, that is a sign that he does respect the person he is speaking to.
Weaknesses:
Physical:
Leonhardt doesn't have much in the way of physical weaknesses, but he is human, even if his ability is actually beyond human strength in many ways. But he still does have the normal needs a human does.
Also, he is just one man for all his skill. He can only do so much when outnumbered and he isn't going to work with others as easily. He's not incapable of fighting as a team, and he did do that in canon, but he does prefer to work alone and when he is working with others he often will stand back and let the weaker allies of his do the dirty work and then come in and mop up what they can't handle. And also his tendency to treat most people like unworthy opponents can be problematic for him because those same unworthy opponents can easily be underestimated. More often he is going to rely on his clones to be his allies, not other people so the best way to outdo him physically is to band together against him because he doesn't understand quite yet that human strength comes when people help each other. Also, attacking him hard and fast tends to work very well because as he gets more and more tired, he's less likely to use the clones and to pull out all the stops.
And one definite physical weakness is that he and by extension, his shadows, absolutely suck at dodging hits. He can take plenty of abuse at least, but he sure is horrible at getting out of the way of an attack. Thank goodness he's a decent healer and caster and can get around this weakness, but there is a reason why Earth Guard is among his favorite of arts to use. And as he does take more abuse, that will start to cut into a lot of his strengths. He will definitely start slowing down if he gets injured.
Mental:
While Leonhardt definitely has brains, his emotional weaknesses also can make him fail mentally. Because he tends to hold little respect for most people, he is also likely to underestimate his enemies and not likely to take as much advantage of his allies as he can and prefer to do things for himself. Also the quick judgments he tends to rely on at times can fail him. He did very much underestimate Estelle, after all, and that may well have been because he did let his emotions cloud his vision when it came to her.
Also, for all of Leonhardt's incredible skill with orbal arts and crafts, he does have to have an orbment to use them. If someone can take away his orbment, that will weaken him big time. He won't be able to use any of his attack, defense or healing arts and the body split craft sure won't be happening, and the boosts he gets will vanish, though he is still very skilled without it. Of course, outside of him arriving to Luceti, this is very unlikely since they are likely on his person at all times and even very close when he is sleeping.
Emotional:
As mentioned above, Leonhardt is an emotional mess on the inside. Due to the events of his past he grew to absolutely despise people in general. He encountered a great deal of loss and saw the people closest to him be hurt greatly both physically and emotionally. His closest friend, Joshua, became all but a broken shell emotionally and this really hurt Leonhardt a lot and he was already hurting from Karin's death. The only way he could deal with it was to close himself off emotionally and hate upon people. He is outwardly polite, but in a way that helps to further distance himself from people. He's also quite honest and tends to answer things people say as if it were literal. Josette, for instance, was rather creeped out by how he spoke because her sarcasm went right over his head and he cannot even seem to acknowledge her attempt at humor to lighten the situation. But then, he really doesn't tend to see humor. He may laugh, but it will be a bitter one. Pretty much, happiness evades him and it has likely been 10 years since he truly laughed and smiled because he was happy. He moves from day to day, but since Karin died, he hasn't been at all happy. He was better while Joshua was still with him, and after mostly adopting Renne too, but once Joshua was sent off on what amounted to a suicide mission, his emotional state went downhill very quickly.
And he is very bad at hiding this. Any time he was unmasked in canon the people who saw him commented on how they could see in his eyes that he had a very hard and tragic life. And he absolutely hates being pitied for the life he has led because he feels that no one has any right to show pity towards him and also that pity is a way for a weak person to try and rise above him when they do not deserve to. He especially hates it if he knows that person may well have had something to do with why he has that look in his eyes. He told Queen Alicia "Your Majesty, you are hardly qualified to feel pity for me." Polite and addressed her correctly, but he was still not pleased to see her feeling pity for him when she is the ruler of the nation that attacked his village. But then, he really doesn't need pity, he needs kindness and patience. A lot of patience too, because he's been a mess emotionally for ten years now. Seriously, he needs a hug, badly.
And then there is his pessimism. Oh god, the pessimism. While he is less likely to actually outright speak his horribly pessimistic thoughts, he definitely thinks the worst when it comes to humanity. In his eyes humans are people who will only see what they wish to see and makes them feel comfortable and lead an easy life. He feels that they are easily swayed and deceived and the truth is easily concealed because they allow it to be. And he includes himself in there, he definitely hates himself for being deceived by Weissmann all those years ago, but to Leonhardt's credit, he didn't really have a better choice besides the very real possibility of watching Joshua slowly waste away and quite possibly die when he had promised to look after him. But even knowing this, he won't let go of the fact that he was deceived.
Also, he is very capable of having a very bad temper. There is one button that definitely exists that will not fail to enrage him, and that has to do with Karin and also related to his past. If someone can actually accomplish pushing this button (and right now, about the only one is Joshua, and he'd need his memories still), he gets very talkative and will give someone and earful, but he also will start getting more violent. And by violent, this means upwards of an outright suicidal rage. Also, anyone who messes with Joshua is likely to press this button too, he's very protective of the boy to the point where he doesn't care if he lives or dies, as long as Joshua is safe. He takes that promise to Karin to look after the boy very seriously. Thankfully, these moments are very few and far between because logic and self-preservation very much fails him when he actually does get angry, even if he is outwardly acting calm and rational while this is happening.
And since it has been mentioned vaguely, it should be mentioned that in his own eyes, he feels that he has died on the inside already. Leonhardt does not really give a damn about himself any longer. He has some very unhealthy thoughts about himself and stopped caring if he lived or died ten years ago. Put simply, he's so afraid that he's going to lose another person he cares about that he'd rather die himself than go through that again. He cares so little about his own life that he will take very serious risks with it and has been very lucky so far. But he cares so little about himself that he's bound to run out of luck someday and get killed by taking some risk for the sake of another.
Samples
First Person: Q&A please.
Third Person:
Leonhardt opened up his eyes and was first met with the blinding light of the sun.
Wait...he'd last been in Grancel Castle... How did he end up somewhere where the sun could shine down on him? He must have been growing too complacent with a mission that kept him in the castle so often. All that luxury lead to weak people within it. With one exception...the Queen herself. He was glad it was over now with him handing the Queen over to the bracers, even if that wasn't truly him.
How could he have fallen asleep while having his shadow fight the intruders? That never happened. It may have been an easy fight because he wasn't really trying too hard, but it still required him to think pretty hard to control them that greatly. It was why he could only use one like that.
Okay, time to think and observe. Well, metaphorically observe because he wasn't repeating that mistake of almost being blinded until he knew better what to expect here.
First, the air didn't have the staleness of the indoors and that scent of perfume from the nobles. Or that reek of alcohol that came if the duke was near. It was fresh and he could feel a movement of wind. That meant he'd somehow gotten outside. The scent wasn't familiar and he couldn't feel the presence of any monsters nearby like he would in most places.
The ground underneath him was not solid. He could feel grass between his fingers. He also could not feel his uniform on him. In fact it seemed he was somehow missing a good portion of his clothing.
He quickly sat up and cursed aloud seeing that no, he wasn't in his uniform. And he wasn't in his civilian clothes either. And Kernviter was missing. So was his orbment. No mira to buy new things. This was just getting worse and worse.
Great. So he was not only in some strange place but nearly defenseless. True, he could come up with some way to defend himself if it came down to it-- one did have to be prepared in case of being disarmed, after all-- but the Sword Emperor was just not the same without his sword. He felt more naked without Kernviter than he did with the lack of clothing.
And something seemed to have been added. His back felt strange. Had he reported in and forgotten about it somehow and Weissmann did something strange to him? Or not really forgotten, but more like was made to forget like most of his victims? But it was a set of wings. That didn't seem to be the sort of thing Weissmann would do.
Well, it was obvious he wasn't going to find any more out just by sitting here. First he needed to get back Kernviter and his orbment. Failing that, he'd find a way to obtain others if he had to steal them.