James O' Flaherty

"He who has an ear let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with a sword with the sword he will be killed! I am what I am I am content with my lot! I have always loved you Elaine!"

- James O'Flaherty's last words

Father James O' Flaherty is one of the three main characters in the videogame Koudelka, the game that started the Shadow Hearts series. James is a priest sent from the Vatican to recover a cursed tome from the estate of his old friend, Patrick Heyworth. While there he meets and joins up with Edward Plunkett and Koudelka Iasant in order to survive the monsters that infest the corridors of the monastery. James' pious and sometimes elitist personality often clashes with his two traveling companions as Koudelka is a pagan and Edward is a hedonist. In battle James is much slower than his two party mates but has high piety, which protects him from magical attacks more and boosts augmentation spells, while James like the other two characters can be shaped to any role the player likes his starting stats make him easily fall into the traditional role of party buffer, or "green/white mage" in more broad fantasy game terms.