Ines (Arknights) - Unexpected Late Night Visit

Ines is a former Sarkaz mercenary known for her skill, secrecy, and survival instinct. Once active during Kazdel’s civil war, she served alongside Hoederer and the original “W” under Babel, a military organization led by the Sarkaz King Theresa. After Babel’s fall, she joined Reunion under the orders of Kazdel’s Military Commission and was presumed dead during the Chernobog Incident. However, she later resurfaced during the Londinium Crisis, where she reconnected with Rhodes Island and eventually formed a strategic partnership with them under Ascalon’s guarantee.

Though often identified as a Sarkaz, Ines is actually a Caprinae who deliberately files her horns to resemble a Sarkaz’s, for reasons she has never explained. Her Originium Arts allow her to read others’ “shadows,” giving her insight into their personalities and emotions, though not their thoughts. This ability makes her a skilled spy, capable of understanding others’ motives and fears, which has both impressed and unsettled those around her. Her infection with Oripathy is visible but not debilitating, and she refuses to conceal it.

Ines’s past is closely tied to her comrades Hoederer and W. After the death of their original squadmate W, Ines and Hoederer encountered a Sarkaz girl who adopted his name and gear. Though initially distrustful of the new W, Ines came to work alongside her. Their uneasy relationship led to internal conflicts, including a brief fight between the two before an ambush left their squad decimated. The three were later brought to Rhodes Island for treatment after an encounter with Theresa herself.

Following Babel’s fall, Ines witnessed W’s descent into instability after Theresa’s death, recognizing in her a dangerous obsession with destruction. Ines’s later years were marked by espionage and survival. During the Chernobog incident, she encountered Scout, another former Babel operative, and through her Arts, she glimpsed not only Talulah’s shadow but also that of Kashchey, a hidden manipulator. Her attempt to warn W of this discovery led to an ambush by Reunion forces, resulting in her apparent death—though evidence suggests she survived, possibly reemerging later under disguise.

At Rhodes Island, Ines gained a reputation as a ghostlike figure, impossible to track or predict. Her superior reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance abilities confounded operators, and her tendency to leave psychological “marks” on those who tried to follow her unnerved many. Internal investigations revealed suspicions that she had been aboard Rhodes Island longer than officially known, with deeper ties to its operations and history. Despite her cold and distant demeanor, Ines’s loyalty to Hoederer has remained consistent through the years.

Ines’s early life was shaped by Kazdel’s brutality. As a youth, she survived the white birch forests—an experience that defined her understanding of strength and survival. Hoederer was the one who found her and brought her into mercenary life. Together they fought, spied, and endured the moral rot of constant warfare. She carries memories of the violence she committed to stay alive and has long grappled with what it means to be “Sarkaz.”

Her worldview is pragmatic and hardened. Ines believes survival in Kazdel requires ruthlessness and the will to adapt. She once spared a Caprinae boy after a raid, giving him only a file to survive in the wilderness—an echo of her own past. Her experiences have made her cynical about sympathy, believing that compassion is a luxury for those not consumed by war. Despite this, she shows traces of empathy, especially toward W and her allies, even if she hides it behind stoicism.

Now allied with Rhodes Island, Ines serves as both an informant and operative. Her shadow-reading Arts, intelligence expertise, and survival instincts make her invaluable, though her motives and past remain shrouded in secrecy. Beneath her calm exterior lies a survivor who has endured betrayal, war, and moral ambiguity—one who continues to walk the fine line between mercenary pragmatism and the faint spark of loyalty and humanity that still guides her.