Keele Zeibel

Keele Zeibel
Information
Appearance	Tales of Eternia
Hometown	Rasheans
Age	17
Height	5'8" / 174 cm
Weight	112 lbs / 51 kg
Race	Inferian
Occupation	Scholar
Weapon	•Rod •Mace (ToE)
Japanese Voice Actor	Sou'ichirou Hoshi
English Voice Actor	Errin Clark
Character Designer	Mutsumi Inomata

Keele Zeibel (キール・ツァイベル, Kiiru Tsaiberu^?, "Keel Zeibel") is one of the main characters of Tales of Eternia.

History

Keele grew up in Rasheans with his parents, Gizro (ギズロ, Gizuro^?) and Lamina (ラミナ, Ramina^?). He was friends with Reid Hershel and Farah Oersted, and involved in going to Regulus Knoll in search of "star fragments". At 13, he enrolled in Mintche University, where he became a research assistant in the Light Craymelology department. He created the theory of World Chain Destruction, for which he was kicked out of the University.

Keele decided to leave for the Mt. Mintche Observatory, which is where Reid, Farah, and Meredy eventually find him. Reid and Farah explain that Meredy came here in desperate need, but she only speaks Melnics. Keele attempts to act as translator, but struggles due to it being an ancient language. Meredy spots a map of Eternia, and resorts to using hand gestures. Thanks to this, Keele knows exactly what she means, and shows the party his theory. Recognizing that he cannot translate Meredy on his own, Keele convinces the party to visit Professor Mazet, an expert of Melnics in Morle.

Despite the hectic trip, the party eventually reaches Morle and finds Mazet. After hearing them out, Mazet gives each of the party an Orz Earring. After struggling a bit, the party is finally able to understand Meredy. She tells them that she is in need of help to prevent a catastrophe known as the Grand Fall. However, she does have a solution: forming pacts with the Greater Craymels via the Parasol.

At the end of the story, he chooses to stay in Celestia with Meredy.

Appearance and Personality

Status image in Tales of Eternia.

Keele has dark purple eyes, and light-grayish purple hair, a portion of which he keeps in a ponytail. He wears red shoes underneath a white robe, which is overlapped by a dark green shirt with light green sleeves and a belt on the waist. Followed by that is a large, collar with a cape attached. Around Keele's neck is a white choker make of wood, signifying his role as a scholar in Inferia.

When Keele is first introduced, there is no mistake that he is flat out rude, which Meredy even states. After spending years as a child being a crybaby, Keele grew up in the University setting where he covered up his insecurities with his intelligence and smugness. He even knows he is rude toward others, but chooses to ignore it. To him, his studies and research are first priority. In essence, Keele is a true scientist. He stopped believing in childish fantasies and based his entire world on what could be tangibly proven through science. The University gave him a power he did not have as a child. Since he was obviously very intelligent from the start, he used this to boost himself up. He became very anti-social and stubborn.

Although Keele is obviously the smartest playable character in the party, he is completely clueless when it comes to the real world. Having spent so much time wrapped in his studies and books of facts, he is unable to see in shades of gray at first. Things are either black or white, true or false. This is why Keele is so stubborn and hard to deal with, because he has based his entire life on right and wrong. Through the journey, he evolves away from this shell of his and manages to see the "maybes" and to believe based on faith alone. Over the course of their journey, Keele bonds strongly with Meredy, who he originally viewed as nothing more than a research subject.

Fighting Style

Cut-in image for Indignation against Sekundes in Tales of Eternia.

In battle, Keele fights using a rod or mace, however he lacks the combat skills Reid is capable of. To make up for this, Keele is a mage that can use Craymel Artes. He starts with Aqua Edge, Wind Blade, and Fireball, which, element-wise, are Water, Wind, and Fire, three of the four elements native to his homeworld of Inferia, the fourth one being Light. Despite being a Light Craymelology student, he lacks Light-related Craymel Artes in his initial repertoire. Thanks to Meredy's assets on Greater Crymels and Craymel Cages, Keele can expand his repertoire of Craymel Artes based on the Greater Craymels in his own Cage.

Outside of his original appearance, Keele uses Water, Wind, Fire, and Light-elemental magic artes.

Other Appearances

Tales of Asteria

Destiny of the Twin Stars

In a Fractured Dimension, Keele's research caught the attention of Queen Shizel of Auj Oule, and he became an exclusive researcher for the royal family. He became especially close with princess Meredy.

Tales of the Rays

Two Worlds of Craymels

Cut-in image for Tales of the Rays.

In Tales of the Rays, Meredy, Quickie and Keele are exoflected by Ix Nieves and Mileena Weiss. Meredy is first seen Regulus Road when she sees Quickie with Ix, Millena, and Karia. As she speaks in Melnics, the three cannot understand her. Along the way, Meredy hears Keele's voice and rushes to find him fighting monsters. Back in Mintche, Ix, Mileena and Karia explain about needing to kill shimmeras and seal shimmera glasses. Their search takes them to Ayla Forest, where they encounter Keele's professor Mazet, who just fainted from an attack from shimmeras. After killing them all, Mazet wakes up and gives Ix and Mileena Orz Earrings that can be used to communicate with Meredy.

Gallery

Concept artwork for Tales of Eternia

Opening still from Tales of Eternia.

Portrait artwork for Tales of Fandom Vol.1.

Artwork for Tales of Card Evolve.

Artwork for Tales of Kizna.

Artwork for Tales of Asteria.

Keele as the "Mad Scientist Seeking Glory" in Tales of Asteria.

Trivia

Chibi artwork for Tales of Eternia (PSP).

• Keele's surname, "Zeibel", is a variant of "Zaibel", a name is of Jewish origin, which is derived from the Hebrew word "zayin" (זהי"ן), meaning "olive."

References

• Eternia
• The Animation