Angeal Hewley

Angeal Hewley is a character in the Final Fantasy VII series, with a major supporting role in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. He is the son of Gillian Hewley, the original owner of the Buster Sword, and a childhood friend of Genesis Rhapsodos. He joined SOLDIER with Genesis in hopes of becoming heroes, both eventually attaining the rank of 1st Class and befriending their inspiration, Sephiroth. He later becomes Zack Fair's mentor and eventually passes the Buster Sword down to him.

Angeal is an admirable man with dreams and honor. He maintains a stoic and serious demeanor, but also acts playful and cares deeply for his close friends, Genesis and Sephiroth, as well as Zack.

Angeal was born to Gillian Hewley and doctor Hollander, but considered his unnamed stepfather to be his real father after Gillian and the young Angeal moved to Banora.[1] Since Gillian worked with Hollander on "Project G", the experiment of her namesake, he naturally gained her Jenova cells while still a fetus.

He spent his childhood living in Banora, but his parents were poor. Despite their different financial upbringings, Angeal and Genesis became best friends, though both were unaware they were "Project G" test subjects. They eventually joined SOLDIER together, inspired by Sephiroth's heroics. After passing the SOLDIER exam, Angeal's hard-working stepfather forged the Buster Sword for him as a symbol of his family's honor and pride prior to dying of fatigue, and thus he hardly used it for fighting, though he always carried it on his person, opting to use a generic SOLDIER-issued sword instead or fight hand-to-hand.

Angeal Hewley is a major character in Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-. He is a First Class SOLDIER and Zack Fair's strict but fair mentor, who carries a sense of honor in his position. However, when he learns of his true origins and Genesis's betrayal, he turns against Shinra and walks his own path, causing a rift between his closest friends and his career.

Following his final confrontation with Zack, he is eventually slain by his former brother-in-arms, in which he entrusts him with the Buster Sword, hoping for him to continue on his legacy.

Angeal is a tall man with a broad and muscular structure. He has black hair slicked back except for two bangs on each side, in a style similar to that of his mother Gillian Hewley. Angeal wears a standard SOLDIER First Class uniform and carries a standard SOLDIER sword, along with his iconic Buster Sword, the latter of which he only uses on special occasions. Later, Angeal grows two white wings on his right side (one large wing on top and a small one underneath); their appearance troubles him, as he considers them traits of a monster.

Angeal is moral and dedicated and takes pride in his membership in SOLDIER. He is honor-bound to protect as many people as he can, and nothing can stand between him and his honor and pride. He views the sword gifted to him by his family as a symbol of his dreams and honor, and therefore, to damage it would represent damage to his honor, and he refrains from using it.

He has a sense of humor, calling Zack a puppy and calling himself cheap at times. According to emails from his fan club, Angeal's hobbies include gardening and cooking, and he has a soft spot for dogs. Angeal is an influential member of SOLDIER and many members revere him as a mentor and idol, the ideal SOLDIER operative and the organization's spiritual leader. His influence passes on to Zack. Angeal Hewley is known to be the second most skilled First Class SOLDIER in Shinra's history, on par with Genesis Rhapsodos and surpassed only by Sephiroth to the point that alongside his friend, they were the only ones skilled enough to earn the friendship of Sephiroth. Due to being a Project G, Angeal's physical prowess is at superhuman levels way above any other normal SOLDIER, only rivaled by Genesis, although not on par with Sephiroth due to Project G being inferior to Project S. An exceptional swordsmen and hand-to-hand combatant, he once defeated Zack in a spar without needing to use his Buster Sword, although at that point, Zack had yet to reach the height of his prowess, and easily caught him off-guard from a distance and punched him with enough force to inflict pain and send him flying a great distance. His martial prowess allows him to unleash a barrage of hand-to-hand combat attacks and easily take on and defeat many enemies unarmed while his swordsmanship could easily wield large blades. Although rarely using Magic, Angeal is proficient enough to cast a powerful spell.