| Athena | |
|---|---|
| |
| Age | 22 |
| Class | Lancer 
|
| Base Skills | Subdue Leg Sweep Taunt |
- "Yeah, that's not happening. You'll be lucky if you get to keep your teeth."
- ―Athena - Jormunga Jungle
Athena is one of Suki's companions. A mercenary formerly in the employ of the Kingdom's forces, she joins Suki's group after being rescued in Ghiacchio Village.
Background
She was born in a small fishing village and lived there with her parents until she joined the military at the age of 16. After some time, she moved into the mercenary business as she saw it as more profitable and eventually started working for the highest bidder.
Story
Ghiaccio Village
Athena is first mentioned in Ghiacchio Village, when Suki is briefed by the head of the local merchant guild, Claude, on the situation there. He asks for her, and a mercenary remarks that she went out and hasn't been seen for a while. Claude sends Suki out with a description of her to track her down.
In the central square, Suki overhears two men discussing a job posting for a maid at the local manor. One of the men recollects seeing a woman of a similar description having taken the job and muses on how unfitting she looked. Suki seeks out the manor and, posing as a candidate for the maid job, gains access to the basement, where she is told a "dangerous criminal" is locked up. She finds Athena bound and gagged, locked in a cell, and frees her. Athena relates how she was captured while scouting out the nearby garrison, and the local captain, Marcia, had her locked up in the manor. She and Suki then escape via a secret passage.
Returning to Claude's house, the party and Claude conspire to remove Marcia from command. Athena volunteers two suggestions on how to overthrow the local garrison; a frontal attack, or sneaking behind via the secret passage. Whichever option is chosen, Marcia is defeated, and her subordinate Rielle takes her place, much to the distaste of Athena. After Rielle leaves, Athena volunteers to go back to the guild with Suki, having grown tired of the "frost-bitten dump", which Suki accepts.
Jormunga Jungle
After Suki's ill-fated encounter with the pirates, Athena accompanies her on her trip to Florian, expressing regret that she was not present to protect Suki aboard the ship. The carriage is stopped in Jormunga Jungle by natives, whom Athena confronts; if the player chooses to battle the natives and wins, Athena will unusually recommend that the party flee from the next encounter involving their Queen, Kamala, which they do.
Regardless of the option chosen, the party makes their way to the nearby settler camp, rescuing a settler in the process. The local mayor, Cilia, informs them of the situation, and shortly after, the natives attack.
If Suki sides with the settlers, Athena will be very reluctant to retreat from the battle on the bridge, but will go with Suki and Carol to capture the native Queen directly, expressing disappointment in the ease of the battle.
If Suki sides with the natives, Athena will express doubt about the wisdom of her decision, but will nevertheless follow Suki back to the natives' camp, where she has tense interactions with the native Queen, whom she is unhappy to be taking orders from. After the party defeats Cilia, Athena will treat her protége Lisa rather coldly as they depart, but will save Cilia from a fate of slavery by suggesting to the Queen that Cilia be brought back with the group to the guild's cells, to which the Queen agrees.
Florian Town
Proceeding on to Florian, Athena and Leroy "enjoy" some verbal sparring, with Athena coming off worse. After the party meets Evelyn again and returns to the hideout, Athena learns Suki's secret, and suggests in her trademark way that they should "bust in" to the castle to see the Queen, to Leroy's amusement and disdain. The party ultimately goes with an alternative plan and sneaks into the dungeons via a secret passage, making their way up to the royal guest chambers and past the Queen's attendants. Athena guards the captives while Suki and Cherisa talk, then escapes with the rest of the party when backup arrives.
Belbasa Harbour
Continuing on south, Athena looks forward to making camp outside, but at the insistence of the rest of the party, they sleep in an inn in Belbasa Harbour. Overnight, Suki and Evelyn are kidnapped, and Athena and Carol wake to find that the townspeople are subject to some kind of mind-controlling spell. Teaming up with Alyssa, they make their way through the outskirts of the harbour to find Suki, Evelyn and the perpetrator of the spell, Elda, who is defeated.
The Dark Hills
The party arrives in the Dark Hills, where after battling through the surrounding lands and the lower levels of the fortress, the party encounters Rolina and the newly-minted Captain Rielle. Athena takes a personal interest in defeating Rielle. After some discussion with Cherisa, the group proceeds to the top of the fortress and defeats the true power behind the Kingdom's throne.
Epilogue
Like Suki's other companions, Athena's last appearance in the epilogue is with Suki, accompanying her on her journey of atonement.
Gameplay
Athena has decent attack and defense stats and the highest HP stat, but is incredibly slow, usually attacking after both the other allies and enemies. This limits her effectiveness in healing weakened allies before they can be captured and impacts upon the use of her Taunt ability. Her Leg Sweep ability is, however, quite useful for neutralizing female opponents.
Personality
Athena has an intimidating, no-nonsense and headstrong personality, and is quick to action and anger. As a professional warrior, she is tough and has a healthy level of confidence in her own abilities. She relishes combat, and her preferred response to any problem is to stab somebody. Unlike the other party members, Athena has little compunction against wounding or killing (though she does not do this during the course of the story) and talks airily to Suki in the lair about how joining the mercenary company allowed her to "see the world" and "stab lots of interesting people." She seems to prefer dry humour.
Athena is demonstrated to resent humiliation in general and being captured and tied up in particular, seeing this as degrading, representative of a loss and injurious to her pride. This attitude persists to a lesser extent even if she loses and is captured by Suki in a practice battle in the lair; though she is more tolerant of Suki, she still views being tied up in this way dismissively.
She is mildly uncomfortable with working with the kidnapping guild, but as a mercenary, is likely used to fighting on behalf of those she may not necessarily agree with, and remarks that at least the company is better than it was when she was in Ghiacchio Village.
Trivia
- She spends most of her free time in combat training.
- She bears a dislike of Leroy and finds Carol somewhat irritating, but is protective of Suki. Her protectiveness of Suki in particular is shown in the bad ending to be strong enough that the otherwise rebellious and proud Athena can be manipulated into obeying orders because of it.
- She has a particular dislike of muzzles and bit gags.
Gallery
