User blog:ThatScrewyDuck/PG Proposal: Alisha Diphda



Now that I’ve got a bit of experience under my belt, I’ve decided it’s time for me to finally attempt a proposal to get someone approved. Of all the characters I’ve come across in the shows I’ve watched more recently, this is easily one of the ones I think deserves to be in the category the most. Unfortunately, there’s very little information about her on this wiki, as well as everyone else from her respective game and series, so it makes sense that she wouldn’t be acknowledged as such. Let’s see if I can do something about that. Oh, and this will be pretty lengthy, but please bear with me since I feel it’s necessary to help people not familiar with it know what they need to know, especially because of the lack of information about her and the work here.

Here’s a link to her page, but like all the other Tales of Zestiria characters, it’s very bare, so don’t expect to find anything beyond very basic details, most of which will be covered here anyway:

Who is she?
Alisha Diphda is one of the main protagonists of the video game Tales of Zestiria and its anime adaptation, Tales of Zestiria the X. She is the princess of the Kingdom of Hyland and lives in its capital city of Ladylake. However, due to her mother’s low social status, she is the furthest from inheriting the throne, and is often looked down on by other members of the royal family. Therefore, while she still retains some degree of authority, she also decided to train herself to become a knight to find another way to help her kingdom. She is also dedicated to investigating the cause of the recent increase/spread of something called Malevolence, a dangerous by-product created by human’s negative emotions, which can turn people into monsters called Hellions when they are consumed by it.

Now apparently, the exact events that happen, and the sequence they happen in, differs a fair bit between the original game and the anime adaptation, and I have only seen the TV series, so what I go on to describe will be based on that version. However, if she is approved, I am positive it will apply to her game counterpart since her characterization and the types of things she does are pretty much the same. Now I will try to sum up some of the most important things she does over the course of the story.

What does she do?
At the beginning of the story in the TV show, Alisha tragically loses several of her friends during one of her Malevolance-related investigations, with her being the only survivor, and coming across some ancient ruins afterwards. If is there that Sorey, the main character and protagonist of the story, along with his water-based Seraphim friend, Mikleo, come across her while she’s unconscious. When she comes to, Alisha discovers that Sorey lives in a secret village full of Seraphim like Mikleo, ancient beings who used to live and cooperate with humans in old times, but have long since abandoned them due to seeing them as easily corruptible and beyond/not worth saving. Despite not being able to see or hear them since Sorey is one of the few humans who can, Alisha strongly believes him about them really existing, and tells him about the Sacred Blade Festival, a long-standing tradition held in Ladylake where knights volunteer to try pulling the Sacred Blade from its pedestal, Excalibur-style, in order to find the prophesized being known as the Shepherd. A Shepherd is someone who has the ability to use the blade to purify those overcome by Malevolence, and can make contracts with Seraphim to increase their capabilities. Alisha believes Sorey could very well be the one since his desire to see a world where Seraphim and humans can live together and co-operate like they used to in the legends really resonates with her. Between being told by her about the current epidemic of spreading Malevolence in the world and being concerned for her safety when a savage Hellion named Lunarre comes by with the expressed intent of devouring her, Sorey ultimately leaves the village along with Mikleo to follow her back to Ladylake where he, surely enough, proves himself to be the Shepherd.

At various other points throughout the story, Alisha is seen doing her best to discourage her people from going to war with the neighboring kingdom of Rolance, despite their paranoia of being invaded by them. At the Sacred Blade Festival, she gives a speech that they are collectively stronger when they decide to work with their neighbors rather than fighting them, and that even if Rolance tries to invade them, they must not strike first under any circumstances. She constantly stands by these beliefs even though they’re not popular opinions, and even initially has to deal with attempts on her life at the hands of a group called the Scattered Bones, a group of assassins who covertly carry out missions to kill corrupt political figures and the like. They have been led to believe by Lord Mathia/Chancellor Bartlow, the head of the Ladylake City Council, that her idealism is foolish and will cost numerous civilian lives.

However, Bartlow is really a power-hungry warmonger who is trying to initiate war and be seen as a guide through the very war he’s trying to start to the people of Ladylake. To this end, he later sends Alisha and a bunch of their forces to the diseased city of Marlind under the guide that they’ve been sent to provide medical supplies, when really, he’s getting her and those loyal to her out of his way while he initiates a full-scale invasion/strike on Rolance by sending thousands of their forces to Glaivend Basin, the border between the two kingdoms. However, suspecting that he might try something like that, Alisha had soldiers loyal to her monitor his activity, so she is informed of this, and rallies her forces to act as mediators between the two sides to stop war from breaking out. With some help from the Scattered Bones, whom she wins over when they see how true and noble her resolve is, and a lot of help from Sorey and his team of Seraphim, they are successful at stopping the war and purifying many of the solders on both sides from the Malevolence consuming them in the heat of battle, saving thousands of lives.

Naturally, Bartlow doesn’t take kindly to this, so he falsely paints her and any soldiers who are loyal to her and assisted her efforts as traitors, and has a huge battalion sent out to ambush them, which results in a lot of them getting slaughtered. Resolving to take back Ladylake, Alisha and her remaining forces manage to sneak back into Ladylake, but at Alisha’s insistence, they only use non-lethal force to counter those that attack them; even when face-to-face with Bartlow, the man who’s tried to initiate war, repeatedly tried to have her killed, and who even kills her own father, the king, when he throws himself between them to save her life when he tries to kill her personally with his sword, refuses to kill him. Instead she reveals his treachery to the soldiers by tricking him into a public confession, and declaring that he will go to jail for his crimes, including for committing regicide, which he had every intention for frame her for.

Finally, late in the story, Alisha eventually makes a contract with Sorey to become a Squire, which, while allowing her to see and interact with Seraphim, comes at the cost of acting as an assistant to him by sharing his burden of purifying Malevolence. Despite the amount of pain and strain this puts on her, especially the "armitizing" process, which involved fusing with Seraphim to boost their abilities and help the Shepherd actually fight it, she was dedicated to doing this nonetheless so she could do her part in helping him to purify the world of Malevolence.

Corrupting Factors
There is very little I can possibly come up with here. Alisha is a kind, humble, selfless, and pacifistic individual whose dedication to her values is extraordinary to the point of being inspirational. No matter how many people dismiss her as naïve and even try to kill her for her efforts to advocate for peaceful resolution, she sticks to them all the way. Also, despite being a princess, she is very humble, never displaying haughty behavior or using her position to force people to respect and/or obey her. She very much earns the loyalty of those who follow her, and she consistently treats and talks to common folk respectfully like they are equals. And frankly, considering all the bad things that happen to her and that so many people try to kill her, the fact that she always takes the high road, never giving in to negative emotions by trying to kill them in retaliation or even giving up on fighting to save them from themselves, is pretty amazing.

Tellingly, the closest things I can think of to negative traits of hers are incidents like in one next episode preview where she gets into a comical argument with Rose over which of their respective mentors is better, since they each have a lot of respect for them, or getting defensive in the end-of-series epilogue when Rose teases her over her efforts to prepare food, which neither of them are very good or experienced at. She’s just one of those people who has so much integrity that even small, silly things like that stand out by her standards. Overall, she is a shining example of someone who stays true to her values no matter how many others fail to appreciate her efforts and look down on her for them at times, and who puts the wellbeing of others, particularly the people of her kingdom, over her own life.

Goodness Zone/Admirable Standard
She’s probably one of the characters that sets the standard along with Sorey. While she may not be the Shepherd, and therefore, not the main one who goes around purifying Malevolence and saving the word from it, she was the one who told him about the festival and encouraged him to participate, which lead him to becoming the new Shepherd. She also does a lot in her own right to save many lives by consistently pushing for peaceful resolution and even spearheading an effort to stop a huge battle that would lead to war, saving many, many soldiers on both sides of the conflict. As I’ve also mentioned briefly, but haven’t gone into detail yet, she is very much capable of defending herself in a fight due to her training as a knight, but she always uses non-lethal force and merely subdues or knocks out her opponents, even when they’re trying to kill her. This extends to those that follow her, whom she commands to follow that principle. There’s also the fact that, as a princess who’s trained as a knight, she’s willing to do the types of tasks they do right alongside them, and later on, makes a contract with Sorey as a Squire so she could assist him in purifying Malevolence, despite how hard she found it.

There are two more things that are really worth noting on top of all she does though. First of all, in addition to being a positive, pacifistic influence on those that already follow and respect her, she ends up winning over some of the very people that accuse her of being naïve to the point of influencing them for the better too, the most notable example being Rose, the leader of the Scattered Bones. While she and the rest of her group initially tried to kill her, when they made another attempt on her life while she was in Marlind under Barlow’s orders, she outright calls out Alisha on how her pacifistic approach could get a lot of people killed instead of saved. Alisha, however, counters by saying that if that indeed ends up being the case, she’ll take responsibility for it by making sure she, herself, dies first, and walks just close enough to Rose’s weapon to draw a bit of blood from her neck. This display of dedication, faith and integrity is so strong that Rose and the others immediately gain respect for her, join her cause, and in Rose’s case, eventually becomes close friends with her.

The other thing about her that’s notable is that despite all the people who try to kill her, including the many Hyland soldiers who are manipulated by Bartlow, her resolve to help them never wavers, let alone breaks. What really stands out is a conversation she has late in the series with Lunarre, who decides early on that he’s not interested in killing her and decides to play the role of spectator instead. Anyway, he approaches her to both mock her and express his disbelief at why she’s continuing to fight for her people even though all those soldiers whose lives she and her friends saved are showing their gratitude by trying to kill them. He points out that while it may be mostly Bartlow’s fault for deceiving them with his lies, it’s very weak on their part to be so easily swayed by people in power, no matter how corrupt. Alisha, however, solemnly replies that she acknowledges that while “humans are weak, and always have been”, that’s precisely why she need to keep fighting for them. Also, as their princess, she has a responsibility to protect all of her people and can’t pick and choose who she wants to help. If that isn’t admirable for someone in her position, I’m not sure what is.

What’s the verdict?
Well, I think it’s clear where I stand on her. As I mentioned at the beginning, she’s easily one of the most genuinely inspiring anime characters I’ve come across lately, and I don’t see any particular reason why she doesn’t deserve to be in the category. If you have a different opinion though, please share it. I hope this proposal was engaging and informative!