Lambda

Lambda
Lambda Theos.png
Information
Appearance	Tales of Graces
Weapon	Claws
Japanese Voice Actor	Shigeru Nakahara
English Voice Actor	Keith Silverstein

Lambda (ラムダ, Ramuda^?) is the main antagonist in Tales of Graces. When not possessing human bodies, Lambda appears as a black, aura-covered sphere, but deep within the black aura covering him, he is a fairly small, young humanoid. He is naturally against Sophie.

History

Possessing Richard

Ever since the incident when they were kids, Lambda has been living inside of Richard, though dormant while healing after his encounter with Sophie. However, when Richard is fatally wounded, Lambda reawakens, and slowly begins influencing Richard with his ideals and feelings, to the point of making Richard think he is going insane.

Discovering the Past

Later on, as Asbel and friends are progressing through the final dungeon, they come through invisible walls that give them glimpses of Lambda's past, showing him to be a humanoid robot that was treated very differently by two people, as a growing human boy by the Director Cornell and as mere data by Emeraude. A later flashback shows Lambda within a large capsule, suspended in liquid. Emeraude was given orders by their superiors to destroy Lambda rather than keep him around for future study, claiming that anything injected with his cells would turn into monsters. Cornell tried to shield Lambda from this, wanting to allow Lambda to live on. He also claims that Lambda's actions would be expected due to the painful experiments she put him through. But to Emeraude, she believed that Cornell was only raising Lambda so he would become their new Lastalia. Before he can answer, guards arrive and take Cornell away, but not silencing Cornell as he begs Emeraude to stop this. The flashback ends with Lambda being "killed" or put unconscious by Emeraude pressing a button. But as Lambda laid motionless on the bottom of the tube, the darkness that would become the new Lambda rose from his body.

As the party is halfway through the final dungeon, the next flashback shows Lambda destroying the laboratory in a fit of anger as the guards who dragged away Cornell earlier are laying unconscious on the ground. Cornell later comes in and tries to sooth the angered child, slowly approaching him as to not scare him. But just as he seemed calm, Emeraude came into the room with a pair of humanoids at her side. Cornell shields Lambda once more as they escape to a nearby shuttle just as Emeraude orders the humanoids to kill Lambda. Lambda manages to make it within the shuttle but watches as the humanoids kill Cornell by shooting him from behind just as the doors close. Their ship then flies out from Fodra shortly after. Upon landing on Ephinea, before the events of the game begin, the ship crashes into the ground and Lambda looks on in despair as the ship he came on catches on fire and he gives out a tearful cry.

The final flashback shows an earlier meeting between Sophie and Lambda, before she would meet Asbel but in the first form that Asbel met in Barona Catacombs, that showed them fighting again. But it was soon discovered, though the past Sophie could not understand, that all Lambda truly wanted was to be alone and have no one else to make him suffer.

At the End

In the Ghardia Shaft, Lambda, still possessing Richard, is defeated one more time by the party. He tries to kill Richard the same way he killed Emeraude, repulsed by Richard's willingness to be killed by Asbel just to stop him, but Richard is saved by Asbel just in time. Lambda is angered by all of humanity and fights the party in one final battle as Lambda Angelus. Once defeated, Sophie prepares to destroy Lambda away at the cost of her life, but when she attempts this, Asbel jumps in the way and takes her place. In a limbo type area, Asbel and Lambda speak to each other, and Asbel decides to become one with Lambda to seal his power within himself to show him the world for its brighter side, hoping to become his friend like he did Richard.

From this day on, Lambda lives through Asbel, being represented through Asbel's now purple left eye. At the game's end, at the large tree in Lhant Hill, it is shown that Lambda's name was carved into the friendship pact between Asbel, Sophie and Richard, carved below Sophie's name.

Helping from Within

Lambda returns in the "Legacy and Lineage" adventure of Tales of Graces ƒ and assists Asbel by giving him a portion of his power when his party was under attack in the Gustworks Ruins beneath Barona. As Asbel was being attacked by a powerful monster whom could not be defeated previously, Lambda gives Asbel some of his power and tells him that unless he uses it, his friends will die. After leaving the ruins, Asbel himself mentions that if he had not used Lambda's power, he didn't think they would have survived.

But as Asbel is using Lambda's power, it eventually comes to Sophie's attention, making her fearful that Asbel may be taken over by Lambda if he uses it too much. Later, Asbel visits the mind space where is faced with Lambda again, talking about whether his powers have had something to do with the recent birth of more powerful monsters. This time, Lambda is more of a brighter color, losing his black and red coloring and now replaced with more vibrant pink and yellowish colors.

Whenever Lambda wishes to speak to Asbel, time appears to freeze around him, turning everything gray and colorless before speaking. Later on, Asbel and the others formulate a plan to stop the Little Queens by shutting down Fodra's core. It unfortunately involved using Lambda to absorb the eleth from the core, which would put a great strain on Asbel. His closest friends try to talk him out of it, fearing that absorbing the eleth would allow Lambda to completely control Asbel. But after a private conversation with Lambda directly, Asbel is assured that he can trust him with his body and he will not fully take over after absorbing the eleth. Asbel later meets with everyone from the party in Telos Astue before heading to Fodra's Shaft. Each time he speaks with them and they come in contact with Asbel's being, they can hear Lambda's voice giving them sarcastic praise. With Sophie being the last person he speaks with, it becomes apparent that all of Asbel's friends have agreed to trust Lambda.

During the final dungeon, when they reach the depths of Fodra Shaft and after chasing off a Little Queen, Asbel collapses from something and is seen covering his eye. He asks Lambda what's going on and he warns Asbel that Fodra's memories are affecting him. He should prepare himself if he does not want his mind completely crushed by the flow of Fodra's millions of memories. When the party is about to fight the Fodra Queen, Lambda ejects himself from Asbel's body to shield everyone partially from her vicious onslaught. After she is defeated, Asbel allows Lambda to take over, shown by purple chrysalis-like wings coming from his back. He begins absorbing the eleth from the core before the queen can use it to restore her power. This succeeds in reverting the Fodra Queen back into a Little Queen, but Lambda was not successful in absorbing all the eleth. Instead, he was able to absorb Fodra's heart, the part of which was torn by pain. He brings the party into Fodra's subconscious and tells them he plans to sleep with Fodra so he might reach an understanding with her. He also asks Sophie to watch over his progress, knowing that he has a "friend" that will be able to stay with him for all that time. He then returns Asbel to his body before everyone returns outside Fodra's Core. Though Lambda is still asleep at the moment, Asbel is shown to have his light purple eye, evidence that Lambda has not left his body after Fodra Queen was defeated.

Enhanced Form

If the final boss of the Zhonecage is defeated, Lambda will absorb the Zhonecage's eleth to attain an enhanced form known as Lambda Theos. This form fully replaces his "Angelus" incarnation and is considered a separate monster in the monster book with completely new weaknesses. Lambda Theos is considerably harder than his Angelus incarnation. Boasting high physical and arte defense, Lambda Theos plays a defensive game with the party, often times guarding most attacks and preventing the player from stunning and doing any damage to him.

Relationships

Asbel Lhant - Though they do not meet in person until after Asbel and the party defeat Richard for the final time, Asbel is content in trying to bring Lambda out from his suffering and willingly let the dark creature possess him so he can talk within Asbel's mind space. Lambda warns that soon he will eventually take over Asbel's mind space and body. However, as the two continue to talk, Asbel's words remind him of the director that took care of him before coming to Ephinea. Eventually, Asbel sways Lambda into believing he deserves a chance to see the world through his eyes and enjoy being alive, just like Sophie. Lambda now sleeps peacefully within Asbel.

Sophie - Lambda and Sophie are natural enemies, and due to this, Lambda constantly tries to kill Sophie. While living inside Richard, the latter is unable to touch Sophie without being burned. However, in the "Future Arc" and before the final battle, Sophie touches Asbel to speak with Lambda, where she claims she believes in Lambda that he will return Asbel once Fodra has been calmed. In the end of "Future Arc", Lambda asks Sophie to watch over his progress in persuading Fodra. He also claims he will not be alone while he is dreaming with Fodra, because there is a friend who can live forever.

Trivia

• Lambda, or λ, is the eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet, as well as the root from which the letter L stems.
• Angelus is Latin for angel, as well as the Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation, in which Jesus Christ was conceived by the Virgin Mary. Additionally, Theos is Greek for God.