Gwendolyn

Gwendolyn is one of the five main protagonists of the Action RPG; Odin Sphere. It was released on the Playstation 2 in 2007. A remaster titled Odin Sphere Leifthrasir was released in 2016 on the Playstation 3, 4, and Vita.

Appearance: Gwendolyn is a 20 year-old fair-featured young woman with blue-grey eyes and long, silver hair, which is kept in a braided bun whenever she's dressed for battle. Her Valkyrie armor features a white corset with a gold collar, an armored skirt, black and white gauntlets, and leg armor of blue and silver metal. She sports feathered wings of black, violet, and blue that magically appear from her hips when needed, and fold away whenever she is not in flight. She wears laurels of blue feather-like flowers which cover her ears.

The dress that she wears during certain cutscenes and in the Old Castle Terrace hub is primarily black with blue and white accents. The skirt portion is layered white, blue, and black, with some artwork indicating that she wears high heels beneath this. As revealed in a story scene with Oswald, this dress originally belonged to her mother.

Personality: Gwendolyn is a strong and brave woman with powerful sense of dignity and oath and does ensure to take care her loved ones. Gwendolyn is often called a witch, evil and cold while this may be true in battle it's a stark contrast to her true feelings. Gwendolyn is in truth a kind-hearted individual perhaps the most kindhearted among all the people of Ragnanival. She demonstrates this most strongly when instead of killing Cornelius she opts to have him taken alive whereas her sister Griselda would've slew him instantly. She loves her father greatly and yearns desperately for his praise and approval. She is jealous of both her sister Griselda, while she lived, and of Velvet who Odin spoke with great reverence. Despite this jealousy in order to spare her father heartache, and out of love for him, she chose to rescue Velvet from Brigan's attempts at killing her.

While still desperate for her father's love her attitude changes when she learns of what her husband Oswald has done. Over time she grew to love him deeply to the point that she would be willing to die in order to maintain her newfound love for him. She's shown to be fiercely devoted to him even threatening the Fire King Onyx to killing him if he persisted in insulting Oswald.

Abilities: As a Valkyrie, Gwendolyn has limited ability to fly with her wings that are located on her hips. While in the air she can also perform dive-bombing attacks. Her Psypher gives her the unique spell Shadow Ally, creating a shadowy duplicate of herself to aid her in attacking. While she is initially easily bested by Oswald and nearly killed, she later proves herself to be a competent spearwoman, and manages to defeat a number of powerful characters throughout the story, including the mighty Snake King Leventhan.

Story

Gwendolyn's story begins with her and her sister Griselda leading their troops into battle against the enemy army of the Fairies for control of the Crystallization Cauldron. Shortly after the battle begins Griselda is tragically killed and in her last moments she leaves her Psypher Spear to her sister Gwendolyn and hopes that her death will finally redeem her in her father's eye. Following this she encounters the Vanir's most powerful warrior: Oswald the Shadow Knight. She attempts to defeat Oswald, but is quickly bested and pinned down herself. Oswald however hesitates to deal the finishing blow, and finally decides to allow Gwendolyn to live, claiming there had been enough deaths already in the battle. After Gwendolyn returned to Ragnanival, she informed Demon Lord Odin that Griselda had died with honor in battle, but sadly he shows little concern over the fate of his daughter. Gwendolyn in equal hopes of her father's approval once again plunges into battle. During the battle she soon encounters the fairy queen Elfaria who has under her control the powerful dragon Belial. After a long battle she is able to defeat the dragon. Meanwhile the battle is won and Odin claims the Cauldron, but at that moment the witch of Elrit Forest, Velvet, arrived on the battlefield and used the Ring Titrel to deactivate the cauldron making it useless, with her task complete she leaves the battlefield. Gwendolyn in an attempt to gain her father's approval once again chases after Velvet but not before her father informs her not to harm Velvet for she is "special".

Once at Elrit Forest Gwendolyn begins battle with Velvet and fights her to a draw, but as they are about to continue, Odin arrives and commands Gwendolyn to stop. Gwendolyn, confused by this, asks her father why Velvet must be spared. He then reveals that Velvet is the illigitimate daughter of he and the now deceased Princess Ariel. The father and illegitimate daughter argue over matters until General Brigan the general of Odin's army reveals himself and begins badgering the king's weakness for having had a bastard child with a former enemy kingdom. Brigan, deciding to use this information to his advantage, threatens to reveal Odin's secret to the kingdom thus having him dethroned. Knowing this Odin has no other choice but to do as Brigan says.

Back at Ragnanival, Velvet is forced the divulge the information on the Ring Titrel. Odin then asks Velvet to hand over the ring. However she does not have it. Claiming that she gave it to the mighty dragon Wagner. Brigan then suggests they sacrifice Velvet to the dragon in exchange for the ring and Odin, caught by his position as King, agrees. Velvet is then taken to the royal castle and Odin announces the execution in front of a large audience as Brigan requested, stating it shall take place at the top of Winterhorn Ridge. Soon after Brigan leaves with Velvet and a small troop to Winterhorn Ridge to see Wagner and begin the transaction, Odin remains seated to his throne in sadness and shame knowing that his daughter's death is imminent. Gwendolyn, seeing her father's sadness knows she should try and stop the excution, but she then contemplates that with Velvet gone her father would have to love her. Realizing what she is thinking she pushes away her dark thoughts and goes off to save Velvet.

At Winterhorn Ridge Brigan tries to call out to Wagner and begin the trade but Gwendolyn arrives and frees Velvet warning her to leave before more troops arrive. Gwendolyn then battles Brigan and quickly kills the traitorous general, but sadly the Valkyrie troops arrive and capture Gwendolyn taking her back to Ragnanival for her punishment.

At the castle Odin stands before Gwendolyn in front of a small audience expressing his disappointment in his daughter's betrayal and sentences her to exile, marriage and to be put under a sleeping spell that will cause her to fall in love with the first person to kiss her awake. Before carrying out the punishment he kneels down close to Gwendolyn and whispers to her the tremendous regret he feels for what he is about to do, knowing that she should not be punished for saving her sister and trying to earn her father's love. Unfortunately, as king he has no other choice but to follow the laws of his kingdom but hopes that his daughter has the heart to forgive him and informs her that he wishes he could have given her the love that she and her sister deserved. Gwendolyn holds no grudge saying that all she ever wanted was to hear such caring words from her father and that she will accept her punishment happily knowing she finally has the love of her father. Odin then slowly casts the sleeping spell on her and tells her to rest and not to worry.

When Gwendolyn awoke she found herself in the Abandoned Castle, having been wed to the Shadow Knight Oswald and despaired that her fate must be to suffer. Oswald, however treats her well, telling her he won't accept anyone treating her as a possession of his, and he even gives her the Ring Titrel. Oswald however then leaves, asking her to wait for his return.

Taking her chance, Gwendolyn returns to Ragnanival to give her father the Ring. On her return the soldiers attempt to kill her, saying Odin had ordered her murder should she return. She eventually fights her way to her father, only to find he had been possessed by a vengeful Brigan, who had earned the blessing of Queen Odette and given the job of punishing the King who stole her jewels. Gwendolyn battled Brigan and defeated him a second time, releasing Odin from his traitorous general's control. She gives Odin the ring, and then Odin explains he gave Oswald the task of slaying Wagner to earn the right to wed her. Gwendolyn, shocked by the revelation, decides to return to Oswald's side despite Odin's offer of ending her banishment and punishment as a reward for bringing him the ring.

After several days days of waiting for Oswald's return, Gwendolyn begins to worry for the safety of her husband and follows him to the Volkenon Lava Pits. There she encounters the Inferno King Onyx who explains that Gwendolyn was promised to him, but he agreed to let Oswald have her in exchange for his services at a later time. He tells Gwendolyn that he sent Oswald to slay the hatchling Dragon Leventhan. He then offers to aid Oswald in this task, provided Gwendolyn agrees to forsake him and marry Onyx instead. Gwendolyn refuses his offer and sets off to find Oswald herself. Eventually she does, just before Leventhan manages to kill the Shadow Knight. She then fights and defeats Leventhan, only for Onyx to arrive afterward. Gwendolyn fiercely defends the wounded Oswald, impressing Onyx, who allows her to leave in amusement of her fiery nature.

Back at the castle, Gwendolyn nursed Oswald backed to health, and eventually the Shadow Knight recovered enough to tell her a bit about his history and his Belderiver. Afterward, a Valkyrie arrived and informed Gwendolyn of her father's defeat by the Vanir and that the ring had been stolen by them. Oswald overhears this and falls into despair, believing he was being used by both Gwendolyn and Odin. Gwendolyn sets out to Ringford to reclaim the Ring, and manages to steal it back from the Fairy Queen Mercedes. Upon her return her maid Myris told her that Oswald had been taken by a Halja during her absence. Gwendolyn returns once more to Ragnanival to request her father to show her the path into the Netherworld to rescue Oswald. Initially Odin thought she was there to return the Ring to him, but became angry when she explained her desire to save Oswald. Eventually he grudgingly agreed to lead to the Netherworld, provided she give the ring to him upon her return.

There Gwendolyn encounters Odette and battles the Queen of the Netherworld over Oswald's life. Gwendolyn achieves victory over the queen, who in her last breath explains that the path into the Netherworld will close without her and that death would become even more horrible now. Just as the Netherworld Shrine begins to collapse around them, Odin arrives and spirits Gwendolyn and Oswald to safety. Back in his castle, Odin tells Gwendolyn to keep her promise and return the ring. Gwendolyn however tells her father it represents Oswald's love for her, and thus she will not let him have it without killing her as well. Odin finds he cannot bring himself to kill his beloved daughter even to obtain the Ring, and angrily lets her leave with it.

Back at the Castle, Gwendolyn and Oswald re-affirm their love for each other.

Gwendolyn first appears during the end of the world observing the fall of Ragnanival from the safety of the Abandoned Castle. Oswald was absent at the time, for he was out gathering information. As Brom and Myris escape, Gwendolyn decides to fight and leaves the Castle. Before this the ghostly form of her sister Griselda appears and tells her not to forget her role, and to "Knock down the crown." She later appears in the skies over Valentine, observing the mutated Leventhan and musing over the impossibility of her fighting him. The Blue Bird appears, reminding Gwendolyn that Leventhan would destroy the world, including Oswald. She then reminds Gwendolyn of Griselda's words, "Knock down the crown."

Gwendolyn then notices King Valentine's crown wedged onto one of Leventhan's horns, and moves to sever the Horn. During the battle however, her wings were destroyed, leaving her to freefall toward the ground. The Bird praised Gwendolyn, revealing herself to be Griselda in spirit form. Gwendolyn said to herself as she fell that she wished she could prove her love for Oswald in some way, before fainting. She was later shown to be rescued by Oswald, who caught her just before she hit the ground.

Gwendolyn and Oswald awaken to witness the aftermath of the Armageddon. Gwendolyn despairs over their futures when Oswald suddenly shows her the world being reborn. The two from there went on to repopulate the world...

Move List:

Ice Shot: Multiple ice shots that chase foes.

Beak Drive: Multi-hit dash attack. Pierces through foes.

Needle Strike: Multi-hit dash attack. Pierces through foes.

Blinding Light: Intense light that inflicts the Dizzy effect against nearby foes.

Arctic Shroud: Embrace the chilling cold to prevent Freeze and Burn effects for a time. [Ground Only]

High Thrust: Upward attack that draws in airborne enemies.

Icicle Wave: Consecutive icicles that shoot in both directions from the ground. [Ground Only]

Comet Spear: Shower foes in waves of glowing spears akin to comets.

Rising Crescent: Repeated hits into a rising attack.

Fall Crash: A rising attack followed by a powerful downward stab.

Pain Feather: Scatter feathers that inflict the Freeze effect while dodging.

Freeze Lance: Gather the cold to unleash ice spears. Active to charge, release with Square button.

Blizzard: Damaging snowstorm that inflicts the Freeze effect against all foes.

Grid Smash: Stab the earth with all one's might, creating a wave that knocks away foes.

Gungnir: Let loose the all-piercing god spear and massively damage all foes.

Needle Storm: Repeated stabs that unleash shock waves toward the front.

Notes:

Her half-sister is Velvet. A princess from the fallen kingdom of Valentine.

She is acquainted with Prince Cornelius of Titania. She knows Cornelius was turned into a Pooka (a rabbit like species) by Velvet's brother Ingway.

She was an enemy of the fairy queen Mercedes who sought to use the Ring of Titrel.

Gwendolyn's voice actress in English is Karen Strassman who voiced Aigis (Persona 3), Poison (Street Fighter), and Kitana (Mortal Kombat 9 and X)