Lien Neville is one of the major characters in KOF: Maximum Impact series, part of The King of Fighters video game series. She is an assassin and the rival of Mai Shiranui.
She was voiced by Fumiko Inoue in the Japanese version, and by Claire Caponigro in the English version.
Appearance[]
TBA
History[]
When Lien was ten years old, her parents were killed by Duke due to her father trying to escape his terms with the Addes syndicate. Though Duke was under orders to kill everyone on site, Lien was spared and then raised by her parents' murderer to become an elite assassin under his employment. Since then, she swore to avenge her parents' deaths and made Duke her target of unrelenting hate -later with deeper feelings for him due to the time they spent together. Under Duke's orders, she fought Alba and Soiree's mentor, Fate, in a fair match that resulted with his death.
Since she has the capacity to remember, Lien has had special training and has been educated to be a professional killer. The organization to which she belonged was destroyed by the largest union in the underworld (Addes), losing many of her comrades. Having vowed to fight Addes to death, Lien wanted to get inside the cartel. At first, she had the goal of eliminating Duke, the gang leader Mephistopheles (a subordinate Mafia of Addes). But in an ironic twist of fate, Lien discovered that she was hired by the man who was her goal to eliminate, who understood the value of her abilities.
With the death of Fate, the mentor of Alba and Soiree Meira by order of Duke (they both wish to eliminate her as well). In the first KOF Maximum Impact, she discovered that Duke was the one who murdered her parents. She fights Duke but fails to defeat him; however, Duke was defeated by Alba Meira. Some time later, she receives from Nagase the invitation to the second KOF MI tournament (also called KOF 2006). In her story, this time with her skills being improved Lien defeated Duke. Lien questions why he decided to spare her after he killed her parents and he revealed that he wanted to make up for the death of his sister by serving the syndicate; he thought they could help her but he was naive and served the syndicate for 20 years. Lien learns from Duke that Jivatma was actually the one who ordered the murder of her parents (apparently Duke did it against his will), because they did not accept to join Kusiel, the sub-union that he commanded and one more than the subordinates of Addes.
However, Duke saved her life by pushing Lien out of the way and receiving the attack from Jivatma instead. After Jivatma is defeated by Alba Meira and Soiree is kidnapped, Lien decides to continue with Duke, to be able to investigate further into Addes and thus complete her revenge. But later on, Duke actually takes some affection from Lien because he says she reminds him so much of his deceased sister. Despite Lien initially loathing Duke, she also showed hidden empathy for him after he revealed his past and his sister, with their goals aligned they both vow to take down Addes together.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Trivia[]
- Traditionally assassins, like ninjas, are supposed to be efficient, quiet, and stealthy. Lien is the complete opposite of all these things, owing to the improbable weapon she makes her kills with. She is also wears a very colorful black-and-yellow outfit.
- Lien's rivalry with Mai is more on concept's aspect[1] rather than lore's as she is meant to be a polar opposite to Mai.
- Mai is widely known for being an attractive kunoichi while Lien is visualized to be an attractive European femme fatale.
- Mai's outfit is known for its skimpy design while Lien's outfit is meant to be tight & constricting like spy catsuits in most action movies.
- Mai has long and straight hair (fitting her being a Japanese) while Lien has blonde & curled hair (fitting her being a British).
- Lien, despite being one of the heroines of the series, is more dark-toned (akin to anti-heroine) than Mai, who is known for her cheerful and temperamental personality.
