Heh...heheheh...Philia. It's all your fault. You betrayed me.
― Gabriel
Gabriel (ガブリエル, Gaburieru?), known as Indalecio in the original English translation, is the leader of the Ten Wise Men. He's an artificial being, created as a biological weapon. He is the doomsday weapon of the group, the tenth and final Wise Man to be created and the primary antagonist of Star Ocean: The Second Story, its enhanced port Second Evolution and remake The Second Story R.
Gabriel and the rest of the Ten Wise Men once attempted to take control of the whole universe billion of years ago. But after tragedy struck their creator, they went on a ferocious rampage and were imprisoned in Eternity Space. There, they waited for a long time and eventually escaped from it to attempt to achieve their goals.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Gabriel appears as a young man, approximately in his mid to late thirties. He is around 6.08 feet tall, slender and light skinned. He sports waist-long, smooth and scarlet red hair, scarlet red eyebrows and piercing green eyes. He wears a strange, ring-like headgear that is open at its top and at the forehead. On his forehead, he sports some kind of eye-like crest or tattoo. Gabriel dresses himself in a snow white frock or coat with red rims on sleeve tips and hemline over a gold-coloured west with wide sleeves. He also wears white, fine gloves. His pants are anthrazite and he wears grey, knee-high boots.
In the anime adaption Star Ocean EX, his appearance is very similar, except that his hair is shown as greyish white and he has amber coloured eyes.
Identity[]
Gabriel is the reincarnation of Dr. Emanuel Lantis (ランティス博士, Rantisu-hakase?), a genius scientist who was ordered to create the Ten Wise Men. He had a daughter named Philia, the identity of his wife is unknown. Gabriel is the vessel for Dr. Lantis' soul and conciousness and his raison dêtre is the annihilation of the universe Dr. Lantis now considers a „trash heap“.
Character[]
- As Dr. Emanuel Lantis
Since the government of Nede entrusted Dr. Lantis with the creation and education of the Ten Wise Men, it can be assumed he was exceedingly skilled and over-average intelligent. He also must have been unmatched in his skills as a scientist in heraldic engineering and breeding of heraldic beings. At the same time, he must have been a good-willed and conscientious family guy: before the creation of the Ten Wise Men, he seems to have been a very caring father, whose daughter's death drove him into insanity. When finding out about her murder, he turns bitter with hatred and vengefulness, seeking to avenge her death, no matter what the cost. Without her, he feels empty and his world has become meaningless to him. He is so obsessed with Philia's fate that he creates an artificial life form to resurrect her consciousness, which later acts as Gabriel's power limiter (as seen in a PA in both The Second Story and Second Evolution). However, he is so blinded with hatred and grudge that it is him who brings Philia's second death after she asks the party to kill her.
- As Gabriel
Gabriel's personality remains rather obscure. In-game, his character is hard to identify since he doesn't show up often, and his persona before his return is little more than a name in the secret files. From what is viewed in-game though, Gabriel can be viewed as stoic, confident, highly intelligent, reserved, and he often speaks in a formal, well-read manner. Despite his cold yet reserved and thoughtful acting he is very dominant. He also comes as merciless and unforgiving, as he is willing to sacrifice a whole inhabited planet to fulfill his mission and goal. He also seems to have his own, well defined priorities, proven when he has Claude's party defeated, yet spares their lives. It's there that his self-confidence shines through as he argues that Claude and his friends are no threat to him (which shall backfire at him later).
Gabriel is followed loyally by all the Ten Wise Men, except for Lucifer. It is unclear if Gabriel is aware of Lucifer's treacherous plans.
Story[]
The rebellion[]
Four billion years ago, Nede ruled over the whole universe with an iron fist, not allowing freedom to conquered planets. Some of their technology was leaked to planets wishing to be free, who then took that opportunity to band together and wage war against Nede for their freedom. Nede resisted well, but estimations showed they would soon be outnumbered if the conflict carried on, so they sought a solution to stop the rebellion. Gabriel, or rather Dr. Emanuel Lantis, which is his original identity, was a genius scientist at the time. He and his daughter Philia lived on Nede during the war. Dr. Lantis was an unmatched master of heraldic engineering and breeding.
The Ten Wise Men project[]
The government requested the creation of biological weapons in order to win the war and to keep their iron grip on the universe. Dr. Lantis then created the Ten Wise Men, supreme and near-invincible biological weapons, in order to put an end to the revolt.
However, non-Nedians and even inhabitants of Nede itself disliked the project, as creating biological weapons was a crime and went against natural law and ethics of the society. In order to stop the project, these rebels committed a terrorist act, during which Philia was killed in cold blood. Nedian government and military tried to hide this information from Dr. Lantis to avoid his work getting interrupted. However, he quickly found out what had happened to his daughter through the information gathering units within the Ten Wise Men, Raphael, Zadkiel and Camael.
After learning of Philia's death, Dr. Lantis went mad with anger and grief, and reprogrammed the Ten Wise Men. He altered their order from "protect Nede" to "destroy the universe", which he now considered imperfect and decaying. Dr. Lantis made another artificial being, Philia, in an attempt to safe and preserve the real Philia's consciousness and as a limiter on the power he would soon obtain. However, the Ten Wise Men had unexpected difficulties achieving their goal: The nedian army had found out about Dr. Lantis' manipulations and immediately tried to arrest him. A fierce battle broke lose between Nede, Dr. Lantis and its own creations.
But Dr. Lantis would not leave his plan unfulfilled. He programmed Gabriel, the last unfinished member of the Ten Wise Men (who was to be a last-resort weapon of total destruction), to be a vessel of his own consciousness if he died. Ultimately, the Nedians cornered the Wise Men and Dr. Lantis in his lab. However, before they could be destroyed, Dr. Lantis sealed the Ten Wise Men (including Gabriel) in a machine called Eternity Space, a dimensional void where time does not advance and can only be accessed from the outside. Dr. Lantis then committed suicide, and the Nedians assumed the Ten Wise Men were trapped forever. Yet, Dr. Lantis (his consciousness now in Gabriel's body) had developed a way to escape Eternity Space, which he would do in the far future, to fulfill the plan. The Nedian government and military, however, decided to censor their history records in case any uninvited viewer or reader would ever try to learn about the happenings during the rebellion. The official history books now would depict the Ten Wise Men as mere power-hungry villains defeated by Nede, hiding the very fact that the Ten Wise Men had been created artificially by Nede itself.
Return[]
Four billion years after the war, Gabriel escapes Eternity Space and sends himself and the Ten Wise Men along with a Quadratic Sphere to the planet nearest to Energy Nede, which happens to be Expel. The Ten Wise Men use the Sphere's energy to move the planet toward Nede. This caused a dark, radiation-like influence to spread all over the planet, creating natural disasters, the appearance of dangerous monsters, the transformation of animals into monsters, and negative influence on the behavior of civilians. As people of an underdeveloped planet, the Expellians first thought the Sphere to be a rare spherical meteorite, and dubbed it the "Sorcery Globe". The presence of Rena, whose pendant was in fact a Quadratic Key, advanced Gabriel's plan, moving the planet in a matter of months instead of a hundred years, as it would have without her Quadratic Key interacting with the Quadratic Sphere.
Gabriel is first seen when Claude, Rena, and the others reach the top of Eluria Tower, where the Ten Wise Men wait by the Sphere, but stays in the shadows for most of the discussion, instead leaving most of the speaking to his subordinates. His only words are that it is impossible for them to save Expel even if they wanted to; he then orders the others to teleport to Nede using their power just before the collision of Expel against Nede's energy shield. The Ten Wise Men soon discover after the collision of the planets that their power has also teleported Claude, Rena, and the others to Energy Nede. However, he does not consider them a threat and orders the others to leave them be.
On Energy Nede, Gabriel takes possesion of the Symbol of Annihilation in order to destroy the universe. He later acquires the resources and technology to built an antimatter cannon which he uses to destroy the Calnus in front of Claude, killing his father in the process. Lucifer claims that they plan to use the lost Nedian technology that includes the cannon and teleporters to conquer the universe, but one can conclude that this was to hide their true goal since the party were unaware of it at the time.
Gabriel does not appear again until the end of the game. If the player completes several side quests, the truth about Gabriel's and Philia's pasts can be unlocked before the final confrontation at the top of Phynal.
Final battle and death[]
At the very top of Phynal, where the final battle takes place, Gabriel is seen standing before the Quadratic Sphere, which he plans to use in conjunction with the Crest of Annihilation to destroy the universe. The resulting battle with Claude and the others varies greatly in difficulty, depending upon whether the Private Action involving Philia has been completed or not. If it has not, Philia acts as a seal on his power, weakening him greatly. However, if the limiter is released, Gabriel uses all his power, making the last battle much more difficult.
The discussion after Gabriel's defeat also varies depending on if this Private Action is completed or not. If his limiter is still on, Gabriel speaks about destroying the universe. If the limiter is released, however, he will first kill Philia before battle, then express his anger and hatred for the universe. The moment Gabriel dies, he gleefully informs the heros that the victory was for nothing and that he welcomes death without regret, since the Symbol of Annihilation will be activated as soon as his soul leaves this world. When Rena places the Crest of Enchantment above the Symbol of Annihilation and both crests merge together, Gabriel bitterly calls the Nedians and the heroes "fools", then dies for good.
Gameplay[]
Gabriel is the game's final boss and is fought at the final dungeon, Phynal Tower. As the leader of the Ten Wise Men, he is effectively the strongest among them. He also appears as a superboss under the name of "Unlimited Gabriel".
As an Assault character, Gabriel uses Song of the Gods to deal massive damage to all enemies (possible 99,999 with Surpass Damage Limit) and grants the Angel Feather effect to the entire party, making it useful if you are partaking in fights where Rena (or Celine) are not present and by quickly taking out stronger enemies, although it takes time to recharge after use. It is the most powerful Assault Ability in the game, which requires the player to beat Ultimate Gabriel in VR Expel located near Arlia.
Gabriel has also made a playable appearance in Star Ocean: Anamnesis, being a 5-7☆ Healer EX unit and tome-user. His Rush Mode is "Divine Comedy".
Quotes[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Gabriel was not drawn in detail in any artwork or cutscenes outside of the trading cards of the self published artbook by the game's lead artist, Minato Koio until the remake, Second Evolution.
- Gabriel is the only storyline character featured in the tri-Ace games as a whole to not only be the final boss, but also the final superboss, thus making him the only tri-Ace antagonist to have possibly surpassed the company's strongest trademark boss, the Ethereal Queen (though which of the two is stronger is matter of debate).
- In the English translation of the PS1 version, his name is changed to Indalecio, which also happened in most of the European versions (such as German, for example). This was done due to concerns that pious westerners may have felt offended that a villain was named after a biblical archangel. The new name likely comes from Saint Indaletius, the patron saint of Almería, Spain.