Astonishia Story characters explained properly means understanding the web of prejudice, duty, and personal betrayal that powers the 1994 Korean RPG revived by DAEWON MEDIA and WAYCODER, and now published on the Astonishia Story Steam page. The updated release, dated for February 11, 2027, remasters a story in which one stolen relic and one elven grudge drag a kingdom into war. This guide profiles every named role that drives that conflict, sets allies against antagonists, and shows how the prejudice theme and the duty theme shape each character's choices on the grid-based battlefield.
Sir Lloyd von Reuental: The Reluctant Hero of Astonishia Story
Lloyd von Reuental (sometimes spelled Roiental in older Korean sources) is the vice-commander of the Palmira 5th Infantry and the player-controlled protagonist whose sense of duty anchors the entire plot. When he is assigned to escort the holy relic called the Wand of Kinan, his orderly march turns into a chase across the kingdom of Eslania, because a disgraced knight steals the staff on the road. That single act of theft is the trigger for nearly every fight, betrayal, and revelation in the game.
Who Lloyd Is and Why He Matters
Lloyd begins the campaign as a by-the-book officer who believes that rank, prayer, and obedience will keep his men alive. His character arc, however, is not about becoming stronger; it is about learning when loyalty to the crown and loyalty to a friend pull in opposite directions. The duty theme of the campaign is anchored on his shoulders, because every major character ultimately tests whether he will keep his oath to Palmira or break it to do what he believes is right.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full Title | Sir, Vice-Commander of the Palmira 5th Infantry |
| Starting Role | Lead of the escort squad carrying the Wand of Kinan |
| Core Conflict | Duty to the crown vs. loyalty to a half-elf brother-in-arms |
| Narrative Function | Player avatar and moral center of the prejudice theme |
Lloyd's Relationship With Francis
Lloyd's deepest bond is with Francis De La Cross, a half-elf knight who grew up training beside him in the same order. The two men share a past of fighting shoulder to shoulder, so when Francis turns thief, the wound is personal rather than political. Their confrontation is the emotional spine of the duty theme, and it directly feeds into the Lloyd character build guide, which explains how his in-game stats reflect a man who can no longer trust the chain of command he serves.
Francis De La Cross: The Half-Elf Traitor at the Center of the Conflict
Francis De La Cross is the half-elf knight who kicks off the entire plot by stealing the Wand of Kinan from Lloyd's escort. He is the central figure of the Astonishia Story antagonist guide discussion, because the game slowly reveals that his betrayal is less about greed and more about the centuries of prejudice his mixed blood has produced. Where Lloyd sees the world through orders and oaths, Francis sees it through a lifetime of being told he does not belong.
Astonishia Story Who Is Francis
Francis grew up inside the very order that now calls him a traitor, which means his training and his reputation are not in question, only his heritage. According to the Wikipedia summary of the original 1994 release, Francis steals the relic specifically to bargain with the Elven Queen, hoping to trade it for a future in which half-elves like him are no longer treated as second-class citizens. He is not a sadist, and he does not enjoy hurting Lloyd; he is a man who has decided that the only way to break a system is to seize something it values more than his life.
| Trait | Francis De La Cross |
|---|---|
| Race | Half-elf, raised in a human knightly order |
| Original Allegiance | Palmira 5th Infantry, Lloyd's close comrade |
| Catalyst Act | Steals the Wand of Kinan from Lloyd's convoy |
| Motivation | Bargain with Brimhild for elven rights and recognition |
| Role in the Plot | Primary antagonist of Act 1, recurring figure later |
How Francis Embodies the Prejudice Theme
The Astonishia Story prejudice theme is most visible in how NPCs react to Francis before they even learn his name. Guards mutter, villagers cross themselves, and even old comrades refer to him as "the half-blood" long after he has proven himself in battle. The game is careful to show that Francis is not a villain by nature; he is a villain by circumstance, and the audience is meant to feel the slow erosion of a good man who has been told he is worthless for too long. This is also why the boss fight against him carries so much weight, and a dedicated how to beat Francis walkthrough treats it as both a tactical and a narrative turning point.
Brimhild the Elven Queen: The Immortal Villain Explained
Brimhild is the eternally youthful queen of the elves and the figure pulling Francis's strings from the moment he leaves Palmira. According to the plot summary on the official Steam page, the Elven Queen has set her sights on the powers of an ancient god, and the Wand of Kinan is the relic she believes will let her claim those powers. She is the most overtly villainous character in the cast, but the game still frames her through the same prejudice lens that shaped Francis, because her people are dying and she is doing anything to save them.
Astonishia Story Villain Explained Through Brimhild
One hundred years before the main story begins, the Life Tree died, and the elves have been slowly fading ever since. Brimhild has watched her people lose children, lose forests, and lose hope, and she has concluded that the only path to survival is to seize divine power before humans notice what she is doing. This is what makes her an effective villain in the Astonishia Story antagonist guide discussion: she is not cruel for sport, she is ruthless for survival, and the game never pretends that her grievance is imaginary.
| Villain Trait | Brimhild the Elven Queen |
|---|---|
| Realm | The dying elven kingdom tied to the Life Tree |
| Goal | Use the Wand of Kinan to claim an ancient god's power |
| Method | Manipulates Francis, sends elf commanders after Lloyd |
| Audience Sympathy | High — her people are genuinely dying |
| Narrative Function | Final-act threat and embodiment of elven desperation |
The Duty Theme Through Brimhild's Court
Brimhild's subordinates serve a queen they love, which means they are also trapped by duty. Officers like Drebin and the elven commanders who show up in the mid-game chapters follow orders not because they hate humans, but because defying Brimhild means abandoning their race in its final century. The Astonishia Story duty theme therefore runs in both directions: Lloyd is bound to Palmira, and the elves are bound to Brimhild, and the player has to decide which form of loyalty is worth preserving.
Dryden, Patton, and the Order of Palmira: Allies With Their Own Agendas
Lloyd never fights alone, and the supporting cast in Astonishia Story is built to test his decisions rather than simply cheer him on. The most important human allies are Sir Dryden and the mercenary captain Patton, and each of them brings a different flavor of loyalty to the table.
Astonishia Story Who Is Dryden
Sir Dryden is the senior knight of the Palmira order and Lloyd's direct superior during the early escort chapters. He is a career soldier who believes the duty theme is non-negotiable, which puts him on a collision course with anyone who treats the order's rules as suggestions. Dryden's role in the plot is to voice the institutional side of Palmira — the idea that oaths exist precisely so that soldiers do not get to choose which missions they follow — and he is one of the few characters who never bends on that point, even when bending would save lives.
| Character | Role | Allegiance | Narrative Angle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sir Dryden | Senior knight, Lloyd's commanding officer | Palmira crown | Pure institutional duty, refuses to bend rules |
| Patton | Mercenary captain, optional recruit | Coin first, conscience second | Grew up in a prejudice-riddled border town |
| Bishop Krell | Religious advisor, relic handler | The temple of Kinan | Treats the wand as sacred, not political |
| Sister Rian | Healer, joined at the first chapel | Lloyd's traveling party | Represents civilian cost of the knightly conflict |
How Patton Embodies the Prejudice Theme Outside the Elves
Patton is a border-born mercenary whose recruitment is entirely optional, but his dialogue opens up a second front for the Astonishia Story prejudice theme. He grew up watching half-elves and humans kill each other over land deeds, and he has no patience for either side's propaganda. Recruiting him through the Patton recruitment guide does not change the main story, but it does add one of the few voices in the cast who refuses to romanticize either kingdom, and his barks during combat are a useful counterweight to Dryden's rigid sermons.
Antagonist Hierarchy: How Every Villain Connects to the Main Plot
The antagonist list in Astonishia Story is short, but every entry ties back to the same two questions: who owns the Wand of Kinan, and who is allowed to wield the power of an ancient god. The table below maps each major villain to their motivation and the chapter in which they confront Lloyd directly, so it is easy to see how Brimhild's shadow falls over the entire campaign.
| Villain | Chapter Appeared | Motivation | Connection to Francis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Francis De La Cross | Act 1, Act 3 boss | Steal the wand to bargain for half-elf rights | The thief who starts the chain |
| Captain Reginald | Act 2 field commander | Loyal Palmira officer hunting the "deserter" Francis | Mirrors Lloyd's institutional pressure |
| Drebin the Elf | Act 3 mid-boss | Brimhild's spymaster, tests the wand's defenses | First elven obstacle tied to Brimhild |
| Brimhild the Elven Queen | Act 4 final-act figure | Seize an ancient god's power to save her race | The true hand behind Francis's theft |
Why the Antagonist Guide Matters for Combat
Because the antagonists are tied to specific relics and recruitment nodes, the Astonishia Story villain explained discussion is also useful for combat planning. Francis's battle rewards a key that opens an optional shrine, Drebin's fight teaches the player how to handle multi-target elven formations, and Brimhild's later appearance forces Lloyd to abandon pure knightly formations in favor of the turn order and damage system that rewards careful positioning. Reading the antagonist list as a difficulty curve is one of the most efficient ways to plan a first playthrough.
The Prejudice and Duty Themes Working Together
Astonishia Story does not treat prejudice and duty as separate topics; it braids them together so that every major character is forced to choose between them. The Astonishia Story prejudice theme is what gives Francis and Brimhild their motivations, while the Astonishia Story duty theme is what makes Lloyd's refusal to break his oath meaningful. Understanding how the two themes interact is the fastest way to make sense of the supporting cast as well, because almost every named NPC is defined by which value they prioritize.
| Character | Chooses Prejudice | Chooses Duty | Resolves the Conflict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lloyd von Reuental | Rejects it | Holds to it | Reinterprets duty to protect friends, not institutions |
| Francis De La Cross | Victim of it | Breaks it | Trades his oath for a future free of prejudice |
| Brimhild | Weaponizes it | Holds to it | Keeps her oath to her people, even at the cost of others |
| Dryden | Rejects it | Holds to it | Refuses to bend, accepts the political fallout |
| Patton | Rejects it | Flexible | Survives by avoiding both oaths and bigotries |
The reason the Astonishia Story characters explained discussion keeps returning to these two themes is that the developers built the cast to test them in every chapter. A character who only embodies one theme is a flat ally; a character who embodies both is the kind of antagonist players remember years later, which is exactly the reputation Francis and Brimhild have carried since the original 1994 release.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Dryden in Astonishia Story?
Sir Dryden is the senior knight of the Palmira order and Lloyd's direct commanding officer during the escort chapters. He embodies the duty theme in its purest form, refusing to bend the order's rules even when Lloyd asks him to make exceptions for half-elf recruits. His rigidity is what makes Lloyd's later decisions feel like genuine character growth rather than simple rebellion.
Why does Francis betray Palmira in Astonishia Story?
Francis De La Cross steals the Wand of Kinan because he wants to bargain with the Elven Queen for a future in which half-elves are no longer treated as second-class citizens. His betrayal is the engine of the prejudice theme, because the game makes clear that Francis was a loyal knight for years before his heritage made promotion and acceptance impossible inside Palmira's ranks.
Is Brimhild the final villain in Astonishia Story?
Yes, Brimhild the Elven Queen is the final-act threat who wants to use the Wand of Kinan to claim the powers of an ancient god and save her dying race. The Astonishia Story villain explained through her is unusual, because the developers frame her as both monstrous and sympathetic, which keeps the duty theme active even in the last dungeon.
How many major characters appear in Astonishia Story?
The core cast numbers around ten named roles, including Lloyd, Francis, Dryden, Patton, Bishop Krell, Sister Rian, Captain Reginald, Drebin, Brimhild, and a handful of optional mercenaries. Each one ties back to either the Astonishia Story prejudice theme or the Astonishia Story duty theme, so even the smaller roles carry narrative weight.
Do I need to recruit Patton to understand the prejudice theme?
No, the prejudice theme is fully developed through Francis, Brimhild, and the dialogue of NPCs in border towns, so the main story stands on its own. Recruiting Patton simply adds a third voice that calls out the hypocrisy on both sides, which makes the Astonishia Story characters explained discussion feel more grounded in everyday soldier experience.