Adol Christin

Adol is the main protagonist of the Ys series, he's an adventurer and a swordsman who has a knack for arriving at the right place at the wrong time. Despite being a silent protagonist in the entire game, he is shown to be a type of person who cannot leave anyone in trouble and will try to help him or her in any way. Known to many as a master swordsman, he has a nickname 'Adol the Red' because of his red hair. He loves adventures and never stays in a place for long time. A man of very few words, he expresses himself with his will to work, fight, and help others.

History
Not much is known about Adol's past, except that he was born in a small nameless mountain village. Adol came from a peasant family, but still manage to live a normal daily life, it's shown in the intro of Ys I that he was taught by his father, and sometimes later, a traveller came to his village, this event made Adol to aspire to become an adventurer. He started his adventure when he was 16.

While the first destination he had in mind was the Afroca continent, the war between Altago and the Romun empire forced Adol to change his plan. Upon the arrival at the the town of Promalock, he heard about the island of Esteria, which was recently trapped by sea storms and infested by monsters. This motivated Adol to go to the island of Esteria to investigate, starting his first real adventure that would go on to reveal what happened to the ancient kingdom of Ys.

After the first adventure in Esteria, Adol would go to Celceta in the following year. There, he meets Eldeel, the last of the mytical Eldeen civilisation. Even though Eldeel offers Adol the knowledge of the world, Adol refuses, instead seeking to explore the world for himself. Thus, it is at this point that Adol would start calling himself an adventurer and get recognized by the world as such.

Adol would go onto many adventures, bringing hope and revelation to wherever he visited. Many of his adventures would be related to the Eldeen civilization but not all of them as some, like the five dragons of Altago, would be completely unrelated to the Eldeen civilization.

Some time past his fifties, Adol went back to his village and started making records of his adventures. At one point, he tried to reach the north pole but failed. He is said to have died at the age of 63.

Even long time after his death, the records of his adventures motivated many people to start exploring the world, giving rise to the Age of Discovery.

Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished
In the beginning of the game, Adol was drifted apart unconscious in the Land of Esteria due to the Stormwall, he is later being saved by Slaff, a man who found him in the shore, and took him to the clinic for care. Adol later wakes up in the clinic and introduce himself to the owner of the clinic Bludo, and his son Slaff, after several days of resting Adol has fully recovered from his injury and thus his adventure begins.

When Adol reached Minea, he met a fortuneteller named Sara, she said that Adol's the one that she's been looking for, and requested him to find the Book of Ys in the Solomon Shrine, then she gave him a crystal that will lead him the way, and told him to meet her aunt, Jeba in Zepik Village. He also meets a mysterious poet named Reah, who is searching for her missing harmonica.

Adol goes to Zepik Village and shows Jeba the crystal that he received from Sara. Jeba gives him the key to the shrine, and Adol sets out to search for the book.

Inside the shrine Adol met a young amnesia woman named Feena imprisoned in a jail, Adol swore that he'll bring Feena out of the jail, he escorted her back to Zepik Village, then Feena had a fever, fortunately, they were near Jeba's house, Adol lend his back and bring her to Jeba's house. After that Adol headed out again to find the book, he found it deep inside a chamber, that is protected by a monster named Nygtilger, Adol head back to Minea, to show the book to Sara.

Misfortune befell Sara as she was murdered by some unknown person, a man in her stead gave Adol the 2nd Book of Ys and hint of what is next, Adol heads into the Abandoned Mine, inside he found the Silver Harmonica which belongs to Reah, the Roda Tree's Seed ( a seed that allows him to converse with the Roda Tree, which prompt him for obtaining the Silver Sword ), and the 3rd Book of Ys, that is guarded by Vagullion. After Adol return the Silver Harmonica to Reah, and let Jeba read the books for him, she told Adol that there are 3 books remaining and the three of them are located in Darm Tower, and to go there he need to ask her son Goban, he did so and enter the Darm Tower, before he enter Goban told him that Adol is limited for one day inside and can't go back again before the time limit, he also tells him that his follower Dogi are still trapped inside the Tower.

Inside the Darm Tower Adol climbed it floor by floor fighting hoards of monsters. Adol then ran into a trap which knocked him out. When he came to he was in a cell wiht another man named Luta Gemma. Adol also notices all his silver equipment was gone. Adol looked for a way to escape the cell but lacked anymeans to escape when shortly after the cell wall was destroyed by none other then Dogi (this was Adols first meeting with Dogi). Dogi then helps Adol excape and his him a idol to give to an old man named Raba. Adol then continues exploring Darm tower and runs into this old man who`s goes by professor Raba. Raba has been studying various lores and is knowledgeable about Ys. After a breif conversation Adol trades the statue for a blue necklace which allows him to pass though various traps within Darm tower unharmed.

Adol then continues exploring the tower and now with the ability to travel though the traps unharmed is able get higher up in the tower and find his silver sword as well as his silver shield.

Soon afterwords Adol ends up squareing off against a gigantic monster known as Pictimos who Adol defeats and collects a 4th book of Ys from as well as a hammer. As he climbs higher up into the tower, he manages to defeat another gigantic monster known as Khonsclard and obtains the 5th book of Ys.

Adol eventually arrives at the maze of mirrors. He retrieves his silver armor and learns from Raba that a young girl is trapped in the section of the tower called Rado's Annex. Adol proceeds to go there and finds that the girl trapped in Rado's Annex is none other than Reah the poet. Reah reveals to Adol that the man responsible for her kidnapping and monsters' appearance in Esteria is none other than Dark Fact. She also tells that Dark Fact's cloak is made of the special metal called Cleria so unless Adol uses the equipment made of Cleria, Adol would have no chance of defeating Dark Fact. Lastly, she gives him a monocle, which allows Adol to read the books of Ys.

Finding out from the book that he needs the blue amulet in order to get to the top of the tower, he goes back to find Luta. Luta reveals that he is a descendent of the priest Gemma and gives him the blue amulet. Adol manages to go through various mazes filled with monsters and defeats a pair of gigatic demons called Yogleks & Omulgun.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Reaching the top of the tower, Adol finally meets Dark Fact, the man responsible for the disasters that befell in Esteria. Dark Fact congratulates Adol in arriving at the top of the tower with the books of Ys but tells Adol that he has no idea about the power contained in those books and that he will have to die in order for Dark Fact's plan to go to the ancient land of Ys to succeed. The unrelenting battle between Dark Fact and Adol ensues.

<p style="font-size:14px;">After the grueling battle, Adol comes out a victor. He finds the final book of Ys in Dark Fact's remains. With all the books of Ys gathered, mysterious lights start gathering around Adol and suddenly, Adol finds himself getting shot upwards. He starts losing consciousness as he approaches a floating island in the sky...

Ys: The Oath in Felghana
<p style="font-size:14px;">After his adventure in Celceta, Adol meets up with Dogi and goes to the land of Felghana, which is Dogi's homeland. They are surprised to see that the monsters started appearing everywhere in the area. Upon hearing the screams of a young woman, Adol goes to the rescue and manages to defeat all the monsters that were about to attack her. A young woman recognizes Dogi and is elated to see him. She proceeds to introduce herself as Elena, one of Dogi's childhood friends, and takes Adol and Dogi to the village of Redmont.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Following day, after getting to know people in the village, Adol hears the news that the miners that went to the quarry got attacked by monsters and volunteers to save them. In the quarry, he finds a strange bracelet that lets him use the power of fire and is confronted by a mysterious sorcerer called Dularn who introduces himself as a shadow of the great will. Adol wins the ensuing battle but Dularn escapes. Afterwards, Adol goes to the bottom of the quarry to find the mayor Edgar at the front of the gigantic ancient gate. At the request of Edgar, Adol goes through the door in order to investigate what is going on. Adol ends up fighting a gigantic monster and discovers the moonstar statue from its ruins.

<p style="font-size:14px;">After recovering the statue, Adol encounters Chester, Elena's brother, who is now working for the Count McGuire, the feudal lord from the Romun Empire who is in charge of Felghana. Chester threatens Adol to hand over the statue but soon decides to let him keep it. Chester leaves with the warning to not get in their way again.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol and Dogi eventually find themselves tangled up in the Count McGuire's plot to use the power of Galbalan, the ancient demon that once terrorized the land of Felghana, which is stored in the four statues located in various places in Felghana. With the help of the mayor Edgar, the bishop Nikolas, and the hermit Berherdt, the duo manage to collect all the statues before the Count McGuire's soldiers do. However, the duo are soon confronted by Chester, who demands that they hand the statues over to him. Dogi questions what Chester plans on doing and Chester reveals that he has been actually planning to use the power of the statues to destroy everything in the Valestein castle, including the Count McGuire. Chester reveals that he was a descendent of the warrior Genos, who defeated and sealed Galbalan, and that he and Elena were living in a village in the Genos island near Felghana. The Count McGuire, in his lust for power, ordered the extermination of the village and Chester and Elena were the only survivors. Elena doesn't remember anything due to trauma but Chester does and wishes to seek the vengeance on the Count McGuire as a result. Dogi tries to persaude Chester out of pursuing such bloody vengeance but ends up getting stabbed instead. Adol ends up giving away the statues in order to save Dogi.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol returns to the Redmont village, only to discover that it is attacked by the soldiers from the Valestein castle, who have turned into mindless monsters thanks to the power of Galbalan stored in the statues' getitng released. Upon hearing that Chester is responsible for causing all the disaster, Elena sets off to the Valestein castle to find her brother. Adol goes to the Valestein castle in order to prevent the disaster from getting worse.

<p style="font-size:14px;">After going through various traps and monstrosities in the Valestein castle, Adol saves the survivors from the castle and recollects all the statues. Afterwards, Adol arrives at the top of the bell tower just in time to prevent Chester from killing the Count McGuire. In the ensuing battle, Adol emerges a victor but Chester is still determined to kill the Count. Eventually, Elena steps in and reveals to her brother that she regained her memories of the destruction of her village and persuades Chester to give up his vengeance. Just as Chester is about to give up his vengeance, Bishop Nikolas appears and congratulates everyone on doing exactly what he wanted them to do. He then reveals that hs is responsible everything up to that point: the destruction of the village in the Genos island, recent outbreaks of monsters, and Chester's vengeance. It was all done in order to reach the bishop's true goal: the revival of the ancient demon Galbalan. Now that all the power in the statues has been transferred over to Galbalan, Galbalan only requires one more thing: the blood of the descendants of the warrior Genos. Chester tries to attack the bishop but is soundly defeated by Dularn. Adol steps in to stop the dark bishop but he too is defeated. Elena offers to be a sacrifice in place of her brother. Adol, Chester, and the count are unable to do anything as the bishop, Dularn, and Elena teleport away to the Genos Island to complete the revival of Galbalan.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Getting back to the village, everyone is distraught by the news. Chester apolozies to Adol for his actions and gives the ancestral sword of Genos to Adol, asking Adol to go to the Genos Island and save Elena.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol goes to the Genos Island and fights his way through the dark shrine. He defeats Dularn and the dark bishop and arrives just in time for the revival of Galbalan to complete. Chester steps in to save Elena and Adol fights the ancient demon. While Adol comes out a victor, Galbalan starts to regenerate rapidly. In order to destroy the demon for good, Chester activates the self-destruction mechanism of the island, which only the descendents of Genos can use, and tells Adol to escape with Elena. The entire island is destroyed along withChester but the demon is defeated for good.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Some time later, Adol prepares to leave the Redmont village. Count McGuire reveals his intention to repent for his past errors and vows to make Felghana a better place by working with the people of Redmont while Dogistates that he will stay behind to help the repairs and promises to catch up as soon as he can. Just as Adol is about to set foot on the boat, Elena comes to him. Elena thanks Adol for all he has done for the people of Felghana and she swears to work hard to make Felghana a better place. She asks that Adol visit Felghana one more time at some point and gives Adol a teary farewell. Content with what he has done for the Redmont village, Adol leaves Felghana in search of a new adventure.

Ys: Memories of Celceta
<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol starts off alone in Celceta, wondering around the town of Casnan with no recollection as to who he is. In the bar, he meets Duren, an information broker who seems to recognize Adol. Adol is telling Duren of his plight when the miner bursts into the bar and says that some miners are trapped due to appearance of monsters. Adol, with the help of Duren, manages to rescue the miners. This act of heroism draws the attention ofGovernor Griselda, who commissions Adol to explore and make the map of Celceta. Duren uses this as an opportunity to strike up a partnership with Adol, stating that they can explore Celceta and search for Adol's lost memories in the process. Seeing as there is no other option, Adol accepts. The following day, the duo decide to set two destinations, the giant tree and the large river, and start their adventure.

Ys V: Kefin, The Lost City of Sand
<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol visits the land of Xandria at the border of the Afroca continent. There, he gets hired by a wealthy merchant named Dorman. Dorman asks Adol to find the six crystals, which are supposedly the keys to reach the ancient city of Kefin. Dorman claims that with the mystical alchemy from Kefin, they can prevent the recent desertification and monster uprising in Xandria. Adol accepts the offer and sets off to find the crystals.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Using the notes from Stan, the previous adventurer who was looking for Kefin before he went missing three years ago, Adol is successful in his mission to retrieve all crystals. However, Adol also begins to realize that opening the path to the ancient city may not be as beneficial as it first seems. Eventually, Dorman reveals his intention to use Kefin's alchemy for his own ends. Adol manages to defeat the merchant but the real mastermind turns out to be Rije, Dorman's partner who was secretly a royalty from Kefin. She reveals that the ancient city of Kefin was sealed 500 years ago by the alchemists when the city's leaders attempted to conquer the world with Kefin's alchemy. Holding Niena hostage, she takes all the crystals from Adol and breaks the seal on Kefin, causing the ancient city to appear once again and accelerate the desertification of Xandria.

<p style="font-size:14px;">In order to rescue Niena and prevent Kefin from destroying rest of the world, Adol travels to Kefin. Unlike the legend, Kefin turns out to be a fake paradise where its citizens are sacrificed periodically to power the Philosopher's Stone, the source of Kefin's alchemy. There, he joins the resistance that opposes Kefin's oppressive regime. With the resistance's help, Adol manages to evacuate all the innocent citizens of Kefin to the outside world and defeats Jabir, the alchemist who was controlling Kefin from shadows with the Philosopher's Stone. With the Philosopher's Stone destroyed, the ancient city starts to crumble. Adol and his allies return to Xandria successfully. In the following day, Adol leaves Xandria in search of new adventures.

Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim
<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol, once again end up unconscious in a shore due to the Great Vortex incident, now he was saved and nursed back to health by the Rehda Priestess, Olha, and her younger sister Isha. The villagers in their village are awkward to Adol since they don't really trust Eresian (Rehda's term of calling human foreigners) very much.

Ys Seven
<p style="font-size:14px;">He is a Dragon Warrior and he is the only one who has ever stopped the Rite of Destruction. A Master swordsman, he yields swords that are abundantly bought and forged throughout the whole Ys 7 world. In combat, he can weild three types of swords. A slash type that deals extra damage to soft enemies. A Strike type heavy sword that deals extra damage to armored enemies, and pierce type swords effective against flying opponents. Throughout the game, he cannot be switched out of the party as he is the Party leader and will encounter more allies and people in the land of Altago. Dogi jokes that Adol is unlucky with boats and that he always ends up in trouble while seeking out adventures.

Abilities
<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol does not have any innate magical ability. All magical abilities that he gains during his adventures come from magical artifacts, weapons or were bestowed upon him by mystical entities such as the Eldeens and The Dragons of Altago. He, however, demonstrates a nearly impeccable mastery in the utilization of these abilities.

<p style="font-size:14px;">Nevertheless, Adol's main strengths are his endurance and swordsmanship. This is best demonstrated in Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished where he goes through Darm Tower, a place filled with monsters and traps, and reached the top within one day. Due to his adventures, Adol is very proficient at dealing with large groups of enemies at once.

<p style="font-size:14px;">As the series goes on, his swordsmanship improves significantly. In Ys: The Oath in Felghana, he defeats Chester, another masterswordsman, in a duel. In Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, he manages to critically weaken the ash emelas creature, which can only be destroyed by weapons made of emelas, with only a steel sword. Then in Ys Seven, he slays a gigantic beast in the coliseum despite having gone through days of torture and barely equipped. He then proceeds to be the only Dragon Warrior ever to prevent the Rite of Destruction. Adol's skills, combined with his unwavering determination, have helped him overcome any obstacles in his way, earning him fame as a great adventurer and masterswordsman.

Gallery
<p style="font-size:14px;">Adol Image Gallery

Trivia

 * Throughout the series there are some running gag of Adol's adventure in the series:
 * Many times, he starts his adventures by drifting upon a shore, due to his boat being broken or such due to accident. This doesn't apply in Ys Seven, Ys: Memories of Celceta, Ys V, Ys The Oath in Felghana, since Adol managed to get to the land safely without being drifted apart. Dogi even jokes about it in Ys Seven, mentioning Adol's luck with boats.
 * For gaming reason, he will always begin the game with the weakest equipment, despite having obtained a strong weapon and accessories in the previous games. There is rarely any mention of all the equipments Adol gathered in his previous adventures. It is implied that he loses his equipment due to his frequent accidents out at sea.
 * He would always leave for another adventure after making the girls in the game falls for him (Lilia, Elena, Isha, Olha, and Feena).
 * In Ys I and II, he was infamous for being able to measure the three sizes of Feena and Tarf by pushing them into the corner and sleeping on some girls' beds (Lilia's, Zalem's, and Maria's). To reflect this, in the Steam version of Ys The Oath in Felghana, there is an achievement for pinning Elena in the corner of the travel monument located at the outskirt of the Redmont village.
 * Adol is the only human character in Ys series that has red hair, which has earned him the nickname Adol the Red.
 * In the ending of Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, Adol is seen wearing the handmade bracelet given to him by Isha during the beginning of the game.

External link

 * Ys Wiki