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Jude Mathis
Information
Appearance Tales of Xillia
Tales of Xillia 2
Hometown Leronde
Age •15 (ToX)
•16 (ToX2)
Height 5'4" / 163 cm
Race Human
Weapon Bracers
Japanese Voice Actor Tsubasa Yonaga
English Voice Actor Sam Riegel[1]
Character Designer Kousuke Fujishima

Jude Mathis (ジュード・マティス Juudo Matisu?) is one of the two main characters in Tales of Xillia. He is a medical student training in the royal city when he is engulfed into Milla Maxwell's adventures.

History[]

Past[]

Fourteen years prior to the events of Tales of Xillia, when Jude was only a year old, his father, Derrick Mathis, was part of Exodus when it was still an organization dedicated to protecting the stranded Elympions, and his mother, Ellen Mathis, was a Rieze Maxian doctor. Derrick overheard Gilland Yul Svent's plans of using the Rieze Maxians as fuel and immediately worried for his wife and son's safety, attempting to discover a way to leave Exodus. Ellen, who thought Derrick was having an affair, followed him to the island where Exodus resided and brought Jude with her. Arriving at the base, Ellen was barred from entering due to children being prohibited. She reluctantly handed Jude over to a guard, who said that his mother could take care of him.

However, the woman was away, and Jude was left outside of the house. At the same time, a 6-year-old Milla Maxwell chances upon him and plays with him for a while. Eventually, Jude started crying and pulled at Milla's hair, resulting in her running away with him to an Exodus facility. Gilland, using a spyrix to try to contact the Elympions, raised its power, and Milla began to suffer from the cries of the lesser spirits. Her desire to protect Jude led to her awakening as Maxwell, and the Great Four came to her aid, destroying the base. Eventually, Milla had to leave Jude in the lab's ruins, where he was found by Derrick and Ellen with a small trace of a kiss on his cheek.

Tales of Xillia[]

Jude Status (ToX)

Status image in Tales of Xillia.

Jude's hometown is Leronde, where his parents own a clinic. When he was small, he wandered to a dangerous place and was injured. Due to this incident, his friends changed their impression toward him. According to his mother, he has always been a soft-hearted person ever since he was a child, which was why he was bullied all the time. Jude learned martial arts while still young. His childhood friend, Leia Rolando, often asked for a duel, which resulted in Jude's defeat each time. Jude's parents rarely pay attention to him due to their professions as medical doctors. This treatment causes Jude to believe that his parents live only to work, which he strongly dislikes. Feeling neglected, Jude decides to leave Leronde and head to Fennmont, and study there.

In Fennmont, after a large number of patients are admitted to his hospital following a failed Spirit Arte at a military base, he decides to investigate the cause and meets Milla Maxwell, a mysterious girl who is investigating the recent deaths of a number of spirits. Entering a research building from underground, they discover human experimentation and the Lance of Kresnik, a weapon of mass destruction that Milla refers to as a spyrix. Deeming it as the cause for the mass spirit annihilation as well as other threats, Milla attempts to destroy it by summoning the Four Great Spirits when they are interrupted by a mysterious girl in red clothing.

After engaging in a fight and defeating the girl, she activates the lance, causing massive mana absorption, consuming the Four Great Spirits leaving Milla powerless. Before the floor collapses under the power of the lance, Milla manages to steal the key required for activation, stopping the machine. Jude saves her from drowning as they fall through the floor into a water reservoir. Leaving the sewers, they are soon apprehended by knights of Rashugal and placed under arrest for treason; however, Alvin, a wandering mercenary, appears and saves them as they board a boat and begin their journey to regain Milla's powers and stop the Lance of Kresnik. Their trip leads them to Hamil, where they encounter Elize Lutus, and Jude decides to help after learning of her hardships.

Over the course of the story Jude overcomes many hardships but perseveres. In the end he and the party defeats both Gaius and Muzet. In the epilogue he still has aspirations to become a doctor and and to complete spyrite technology.

Tales of Xillia 2[]

Jude Status (ToX2)

Status image in Tales of Xillia 2.

In Tales of Xillia 2, Jude explains that his father was actually part of Exodus, a terrorist group in Elympios. However, he met Jude's mother, a resident of Rieze Maxia, and decided to run away from the group. He also becomes quite famous in Rieze Maxia and Elympios as the youngest Origin head researcher, for better or worse, as he is also hated by certain parts of the society.

Jude is reunited with his past friends and allies himself with the previous game's antagonists, all aiding Ludger Will Kresnik to combat the infectious fractured dimension to preserve their own dimension. However, Jude becomes conflicted, yearning to reunite with Milla, only to discover that she was thrown into a void abyss by Chronos. Later, Jude is joined by an alternate Milla accidentally due to Elle Mel Marta's power, causing him to distance himself from this Milla, calling her "Milla-san" (ミラさん?) in the original Japanese version. When she is forced to sacrifice herself to allow Ludger to save Elle from Rideaux Zek Rugievit, the prime dimension Milla Maxwell returns. Despite the fact that Milla has returned, Jude laments the fact that he could not save the other Milla.

Appearance and Personality[]

Jude Cut-in (TotR)

Cut-in image for Tales of the Rays.

Jude is a rather short teenage boy with a pretty-boy appearance. In Tales of Xillia, Jude has neck-length black hair and amber eyes. He wears a white jacket with a navy blue overcoat, lined with light blue accents.

Jude is described by his mother, Ellen, as "too quick to help others." He is always concerned about the well-being of those around him, even at the cost of his own. When Milla explains to Ellen the story of how they met, she says that it sounds exactly like something he would do, since he's been like this ever since he was a young child, and he was teased and even bullied for it. Yet, even when he came home all beaten up, he would still be smiling underneath. It is later revealed by Leia that the reason why he is so helpful is because of a desire to feel wanted, due to being home alone more often than not when he was a kid. Jude is also shown to be very curious, often getting concerned with things that have nothing to do with the situation at hand, such as when he noticed a strange girl with a doll running around near Hamil and a group of shady men chasing her and couldn't stop thinking about it. However, this way of thinking, along with his impulsive inclination to help others, earns him criticism from Alvin, who claims he has "a nasty habit of poking [his] nose where it doesn't belong," since his curiosity and decision to help Milla is exactly what made all three of them wanted criminals. Milla, on the other hand, admires him for this trait, affectionately calling him a do-gooder on several occasions.

Despite this impulsive nature, Jude is usually calm and composed, which only increases as he spends more time with Milla and the others. According to Leia, he's always been like this, and Alvin suspects that he's been "freakishly level-headed since he was born". Although he comes off as stupid and reckless at times, he is simply naive when it comes to the ways of the world. In reality, Jude is very intelligent, as not only is he an honor student in Fennmont, but he's able to come up with highly effective strategies very quickly. His tactical brilliance is enough to impress both Alvin and Milla, with the latter noting that few people can think as fast as he can. He is a very diligent student in Fennmont, and was offered an opportunity to become an apprentice medical doctor after graduation by Professor Haus. As such, he is deeply saddened by his subsequent death.

Jude is also shown to be a pacifist, as he frequently makes remarks after or outside of battle that suggest he is against fighting, which makes sense given that he's been trained as a doctor. He also starts off frightened every time he gets into a fight, something he admits to Milla and Alvin, but puts aside that fear since he knows that it's either him or his enemies. By the time the group reaches Kanabalar, however, Jude's gotten so used to fighting that it feels almost like second nature, and Alvin even claims that he'd do well as a mercenary, to the objections of everyone else in the party.

After he acknowledges Presa's beauty, Alvin suggests that Jude is attracted to older women, something he doesn't dismiss as a possibility and is proven true when he calls Milla beautiful. Despite these attractions, he mentions in a skit that he prefers to think what's inside is what counts. Jude is also shown to be a good judge of character, as he is easily able to pick up on the hints to Alvin's shady nature and guessed correctly that he isn't the kind of person to help people without expecting anything in return, like he and Milla are.

Jude is also a very dedicated person; despite his young age, he follows Milla in the hopes that he may be of some use to her. He seems to have gotten braver since he met her, as he gained the courage to stand up to his father Derrick, something he was never able to do when he was younger. He adores Milla, eventually falling in love with her, and trying to comfort her when the two are forced to part ways. He is also a great friend to all his companions, being both insightful and forgiving, especially to Alvin.

In the skit "Something's Changed" in Tales of Xillia 2, he mentions that he changed his hairstyle and attire to fit Elympios's environment while possibly exploring a more attractive look for himself.

Fighting Style[]

Jude Cut-in (ToX)

Cut-in image for Tiger Blade Sigma in Tales of Xillia.

Jude prefers melee-based combat over weaponry, primarily utilizing his fists as weapons with the aid of bracers, making him the second lead male in the Tales series to utilize martial arts, following Senel Coolidge. He also possesses a few, minor healing skills similar to Farah Oersted and Regal Bryant. Jude's special skill is "Snap Pivot" (集中回避 Shuuchuukaiki?, "Concentrated Evasion"), which allows him to dodge an attack and appear behind the enemy for immediate counterattacking. His primary stat for his Lilium Orb is Agility, granting him the ability to dash across the battlefield at breakneck speed and make quick work of enemies. Jude's characteristic skill as the secondary partner in linking is "Restore" (レストア Resutoa?), in which he heals the primary partner should he or she be knocked down at any point. Jude is best utilized against Power-type monsters who frequently knock allies down. His mystic arte is his original variant of the reappearing Final Fury. Jude is also capable of performing linked artes with other party members, most of which with Milla herself. In fact, he can also perform a linked mystic arte with Milla, Tiger Blade Sigma.


Other Appearances[]

Tales of Berseria[]

Jude Cut-in (ToB)

Cut-in image for Tales of Berseria.

Jude and Milla are taken from Rieze Maxia into another world by Goldipen the Harbinger of the End to help pass judgement on said world. However, Jude gets separated from Milla and is turned into a pengyon. After arriving the new world, he comes across a group of pengyon that accepted him without question, and he decided to protect them from poachers as a way of repaying them. He encounters Velvet Crowe and her group in Yseult after they hear rumors of a talking pengyon. When Eleanor Hume reveals that she eats pengyons, Jude mistakes them for poachers and attacks them, during which he reverts to normal. After being defeated, he turns back into a pengyon and apologizes for the misunderstanding. After explaining to the group how he ended up in their world, he asks them to look for Milla, believing that she also got turned into a pengyon. Later on, he learns from Velvet and the others that a gold colored pengyon that matches Milla's description has been spotted in the Figahl Icecaps. Afterwards, he swims all the way to the icecaps and encounters Velvet and the other when they encounter the gold pengyon, only to discover that the gold pengyon isn't Milla before collapsing from exhaustion. Just them, Milla appears in front of him and attacks the group, believing that they are hunting pengyons. After the fight, Jude is surprised when Milla is able to recognize him in his pengyon form. Afterwards, Jude and Milla, along with the gold pengyon, part ways with the group. with both of them hoping to find a way to return to their world.

Both Jude and Milla are encountered again on Normin Island after the group learns that the Harbinger of the End appeared there. After arriving there, Jude and Milla reveal that the Harbinger of the End wants them to fight Velvet's group in a battle of judgement, with Jude reverting back to human form. After Velvet's group defeats them, the Harbinger of the End appears as a golden light and offers to grant Velvet's group any wish they desire. Having no desire to run from her past, Velvet instead wishes for Jude and Milla to return to their world. As a result, Velvet passes Goldipen's test and, after revealing itself to be the golden pengyon from earlier, takes Jude and Milla back to their world.

Tales of Crestoria[]

Jude appears in the limited time event "Panic! Library Ruckus". Jude sees Ruca Milda carrying bags of food and alcohol and walks up to him. Ruca tries to lie, but Jude is smarter than Ruca thinks. Jude remembers how Ruca was bullied into buying stuff, and decides to help out. Jude follows Ruca through a forest, where they meet Vicious, Misella and Aegis Alver, who apologizes for Vicious and Misella for the inconvenience. Ruca says he only bought them the stuff, not because he was threatened. He did it by himself. With that out of the way, Jude leaves the group to run an errand.

Jude's errand was to help Kanata Hjuger treat his pet, Meakyu. It turns out Kanata and Meakyu were friends with Misella, Vicious and Aegis, who come by with Ruca unconscious. The group says they were fighting a monster, and Ruca had used up all his strength by the end of the fight. They leave Ruca with Jude while taking Katana and Meakyu with them to avoid the Order of Knights.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Jude Cut-in (TotW-RU)

Cut-in image for Tales of the World: Reve Unitia.

  • Jude is a shorter form of Judas, used to distinguish the apostle Judas Thaddaeus from Judas Iscariot. From the Old Testament, Judah is said to mean "praised". In German-speaking countries, Jude's name was altered to "Jyde" because the German Jude translates to "Jew".
  • In Tales of Xillia 2, a localization change was made to Jude, making him more accepting of the alternate Milla. In the original Japanese version, Jude referred to her by an honorific, "Milla-san", distinguishing the two, which causes the alternate Milla to lash out against him because she is an "imitation" of the real Milla. In the English localization, this was changed to Jude becoming more accepting of her, simply calling her "Milla". He also tells her that she is just as real as the one he knows.
  • Jude's Tales of Xillia outfit appears as a legacy costume for Ruca Milda in Tales of Innocence R and Law in Tales of Arise.
  • Jude makes his first cameo appearance alongside Milla Maxwell in Tales of Berseria.

References[]

  1. Xillia Wondercon - Sam Riegel's Comments About Jude YouTube (2013-03-30) Retrieved on 2013-08-06.


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