"Hmph. You style yourself a savior, then?"

Profile

About

Strategist to the New Bronquian Empire; one of the Five Dragon Generals, known as "The Prophet". He is also Emperor Gulcasa's dearest friend.

He is blond and has unnaturally pale white skin. His dainty build gives off a petite impression, but at 170 cm tall he's only a little shorter than average. He wears a tattered purple robe with a hood, and under that a white dress with vertical indigo stripes. The robe's top fastener is always closed, and so what the dress looks like above the bust is unknown. A red ribbon floats around his body in a spiral. He wears a strange indigo mask, which is connected to shackles on his wrists by long gold chains.

He is blind (has physically lost both eyes) but still able to navigate his surroundings via unknown means. When he still had them, his eyes were dark green.

The official website for the PSP release of Yggdra Union states that Nessiah is 19 years old, but in the setting documents book, his age is listed as "unknown".

Outwardly he is polite and calm and has a soft spot for Gulcasa, but he also believes that one should keep one's emotions out of one's tactics and therefore possesses a cold side as a ruthless strategist. Appropriate for his position as the brains of the outfit, he's highly observant and a quick thinker. He tends to be in charge of holding his overly exuberant comrades' coats. He happens to be skilled at making magic tools.

Nessiah has incredible perseverance, and also happens to be a champion long-distance grudge holder.

The thick golden glowing book Nessiah always carries around is a spellbook known as the "Revelation of the Gods" and is actually his weapon. In combat, he levitates this book in front of him and casts magic with hand gestures, but during the initial attack and counterattack of a battle he physically hits his enemy with it.

Nessiah's personal crest, crossed black and white keys with a wing motif over a clock face, is inscribed on the cover of this spellbook. When the belt is unbuckled and the book is opened, a glowing projection of the clock pattern appears a few inches off the cover, and the keys begin to turn like clock hands.

According to Satoko Kiyuduki's design commentary:

"He has an appearance (aura) like a combination of Tarot cards like The Magician, The Hermit, and The Fool. He looks very young, so he's probably on the paper-thin line between a sage (wisdom) and a pierrot (cuteness and creepiness)." (From "Yggdra Union: The Complete Guide")

In "Yggdra Union" he is an enemy, in "Blaze Union" he is a party member, and as of the DS version "Yggdra Unison" he is a hidden character and one of the twelve protagonists.

In this game, he first appears in Chapter 3. His activities there shock the Royal Army as well as a number of players, making for a debut that leaves a strong impression.

In Combat

Between his unique class, unique weapon type, similar powerful stats to his partner Gulcasa (his stats at level 20, 6/5/6/3, are the exact same as the base stats for the La Pucelle class), and unique battle BGM warn the player that he will be a fearsome opponent.

Nessiah is less immediately impressive than Gulcasa with the latter's self-destructive DPS fighting style, but just as dangerous in his own way: He is an endurance-type unit.

Nessiah's class skills are "No exhaustion handicap" "Null status ailments" and "Strong against Skeletons", and he always appears with Determined (HIGH) status, which fully restores his morale on his turn.

To make things worse, Nessiah's unique skill Reincarnation both revives all members of his unit and changes them into a class with an advantage against his enemy. The card's weakness is that it only has 2 MOV, but it's perfect for any situation where Nessiah only needs to stay put and tank a large enemy Union by himself.

The best way to deal with Reincarnation is to prevent Nessiah from using it, but as HIGH status automatically starts enemy units with a full first Rage gauge, this can be a tall ask.

And in Nessiah's first appearance, he's got equipment that fills the Rage bar at quadruple speed, so if you pick a fight with him without a plan you will get rolled.

Since Nessiah has no exhaustion handicap, the player can't wear him down with sheer numbers like other tough bosses, so it's best to form a strategy centered on the use of skills and equipment. Elena may be suited to fight Nessiah if the player has put enough effort into raising her.

There are major spoilers for Yggdra Union below.

In addition, central facets of the Dept. Heaven series are discussed.

Do not scroll down unless you have cleared Yggdra Union.

Nessiah's True Self

Forbidden to live, unable to die...

Thy punishment is to repeat life eternally...

Nessiah is actually a fallen Grim Angel. He was once known as Aries.

In order to get revenge on the gods, he has exacerbated human conflicts on this surface world to sow chaos; the war between Fantasinia and Bronquia is meant to be the final act in this tragedy. Nessiah kills himself in his first appearance, but reappears later on unfazed; not even death can destroy him. As the man himself says, "You cannot imagine my suffering from a human scope."

Nessiah was cast out for the sin of "disobedience against the gods", but the exact details of the incident(s) are unknown. However, in Asgard all angels, but most particularly Grim Angels, are perceived as mere tools of the gods that so happen to be self-aware, and so any form of disobedience from an angel is treated as a grave sin, regardless of scale. Seen from a human perspective, it's entirely possible that Nessiah was exiled over something trivial.

Perhaps for that reason, Nessiah came to loathe and fear Asgard for his exile, and seeks to vent his grudge against the gods. He was stripped of his original powers upon his exile, and his original body was bound in the "Chains of Conviction" and sealed away upon the island of Ancardia, which was originally a part of Heaven's Gate. The gods then sunk this island to the bottom of a surface world's ocean. Left helpless, Nessiah made a contract with the residents of the splinter dimension Yumira, the Capital of Magic, in order to gain some way to fight back against the gods. He traded an eye to the Yumel people in exchange for the Power of Words, which he then used to transmigrate into a new body that could leave the island, and with which he created the Tactics Cards. Later, he would use his remaining eye to create the Holy Sword Gran Centurio, which he gave to humans.

The Gran Centurio is a magic tool which converts negative emotions into magical energy and stores it, and thus becomes more powerful the more negative emotions it absorbs. Intending to use this sword to break the chains keeping him prisoner and eventually to use it as a weapon with which to fight the gods, Nessiah pulled strings behind the scenes to see that the sword would be used in human conflicts in order to power it up.

Nessiah's eye is actually set in the pommel of the sword, and so he is always able to monitor what the sword's wielder is doing. As this means he's essentially surveilling Fantasinia, Nessiah has all kinds of insider information on them that would be impossible to obtain through normal means, which he uses both to refine his overall revenge plan and to ensure victory on the battlefield. This is how he got his nickname of The Prophet.

In the era depicted in-game, Nessiah sabotages Verlaine Hills, Embellia, and Lombardia to embroil each of them in civil wars. His purpose here is twofold:

1. First, by making sure that Yggdra cannot gain manpower from these allied countries, Nessiah ensures that she must personally fight on the front lines and gather power for the Gran Centurio.
2. Secondly, by preventing Fantasinia's many allies from coming to their aid, Nessiah protects Bronquia's forces from being beset on all sides.

(If Nessiah does not cause these civil wars, the free-for-all scramble for world conquest of Yggdra Unison happens instead.)

By examining what Nessiah does in these three countries, we can analyze how Nessiah actually starts wars. He prepares a number of factors likely to cause strife and carefully sets the stage for a conflict, but then steps back, trusting that humans' own greed, prejudice, and ambition will lead them to choose violence of their own volition.

In the end Nessiah is still manipulating the people of the world for the sake of his own vengeance, but because he technically only gives humans excuses to go to war, one can say that he simply takes advantage of already-existing human evil. Also, Nessiah's unerring faith that humans will always pick the path of greatest harm as long as they can justify it demonstrates his cynical and pessimistic outlook.

As Nessiah orchestrates conflict with such a delicate touch, he is in a way much harder to deal with than a more traditional root-of-all-evil puppeteer-style manipulator.

Nessiah is fond of calling people "You Meddlers", but this is most definitely a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Back when Nessiah had only recently been exiled to the surface world (after he made the contract with the Yumel to obtain the Power of Words but before he had made the Gran Centurio), a powerful demon sensed Nessiah's sheer magical energy and appeared in the surface world of Ancardia, causing massive damage in its rampage. Nessiah worried that this accident would catch Asgard's attention, and fearing their potential violent intervention, he joined forces with humans, and due to Nessiah's own desperate efforts to get the situation under control, the demon was successfully defeated. While Nessiah's own terror of Asgard drove him to do so, at the end of the day, he still personally saved the world of Ancardia from destruction.

While Nessiah specializes in causing problems for other people, it seems he's just as prone to being dragged into trouble he wants nothing to do with, too...

By the way, the demon in this incident was none other than Brongaa, the Dragon of Purgatory.

Finally, Nessiah first opted to cooperate with Bronquia because he thought that as Brongaa's heir Gulcasa would be a highly useful player in the final war he needed to complete the Gran Centurio. And yet, judging by the way Nessiah chooses to step down from the chessboard in BF18 rather than staying with Bronquia or betraying them to join Fantasinia, as well as how reflexively Nessiah shoots himself in the foot in BF46, it's likely that having lived with the Imperial Army for three years, Nessiah was moved by Gulcasa's kindness and on some level became attached to his allies.

Between this, the Grim Angels' plight, and the uncertain nature of the "sin" that Nessiah was exiled for, one fan interpretation of Nessiah is that of a tragic villain who was once a victim, and who valued his bonds with Gulcasa and company but was unable to give up on revenge, ultimately causing him to lose both.

In-game Kylier, who is Nessiah's most direct victim, tells the Royal Army that the hatred and sadness she saw in his heart moved her to sympathize with him.

Nessiah's Portrayal in "Yggdra Unison"

In the original cellphone version of the game, Nessiah did not participate in battle, but he did appear to explain the effects of each cards. Since he invented them in the first place, he's certainly just the man to give a detailed explanation, but what on earth is he doing cheerfully holding tutorials in the middle of the battlefield? (It's probably his usual meddling again.)

As of the DS version, though, when the right conditions are fulfilled he will join the war as the twelfth world leader. Clearing the game with Nessiah on one's team is all it takes to unlock his route.

When he is the protagonist, his endgame title is "____ Fallen Angel"; when he is a party member his title will be "____ Prophet". Naturally, now that he's actually participating in the war, he no longer does the card tutorials.

According to his dialogue when he first appears, Nessiah was having a nice sleep on Ancardia before the player character so rudely awakened him.

And in the DS version of Yggdra Unison, Nessiah is a little bit comical.

From item equipment conditions and the titles he's given for low scores, Nessiah was revealed to be a clumsy crybaby with no sense of direction, as well as a picky eater, giving him a somewhat helpless impression in the eyes of players. And to make things worse, in Nessiah's own route he is hated by every character in the game except Gulcasa, and gets slapped with the only bad ending in the game. Poor thing.

Via this unexpected cuteness and weakness, Nessiah slowly transformed into a moe character.

Meanwhile, Nessiah and Gulcasa seem to have parted ways at some point before the beginning of this game... and yet, Nessiah seems to have left a number of his personal belongings in Gulcasa's castle. What's more, Gulcasa hasn't gotten rid of any of Nessiah's things.

What could have happened to lead to this situation...?

Nessiah in "Blaze Union"

My wisdom and experience are the greatest in this world. I will guarantee this.

As written above, Nessiah is a party member in this game. He appears at the halfway point of the story.

He lives in seclusion in the forest with Eimi, who came to see him to have him make a prophecy for her; when Gram Blaze comes to find him, Nessiah confirms their skill level and joins them as their strategist.

Nessiah's role in the story differs greatly by route, and while in some cases he is a loyal ally to Garlot until the very end, there's also a chance he may become the party's enemy. Most of the time he serves as a tutor character like Medoute and Jenon, and also has the crucial role of being the only member of Gram Blaze with common sense.

As you might expect, Nessiah is glued to Garlot from the moment they meet, and Nessiah interacts with Garlot more than he does any other character. Their relationship plays a large role in the canon route. (See: GulNess)

For this game, Nessiah is portrayed at being better at strategy than tactics and having difficulty dealing with completely unforeseen complications; however, he is often the one to create a solution when Gram Blaze is against the ropes, and displays his usual skill with psychological warfare by suggesting to take advantage of Pandra and Leon's personality conflict to hamstring Pandra's forces.

Since Jenon is jealous of Nessiah and continually antagonizes him, Nessiah does not like Jenon at all. When he finally loses patience with Jenon's nonsense, Nessiah criticizes Jenon for getting his emotions too mixed-up in his tactics; in one particular route, Nessiah takes revenge for all of Jenon's bullying in dramatic fashion.

From the way Nessiah serves comeuppance to anyone who insults him while responding with poisonous passive aggression and a serene smile, it seems he's not merely vengeful but also rather quick to anger. He's also sometimes seen with his head in his hands in professional despair over his reckless companions' penchant for charging into battle with no plan.

In Blaze Union "names" are an important motif, and since Nessiah has changed his name in the past, he treats others' names with great courtesy; unlike the other characters, he never gets Gulcasa and Emilia's names wrong. In fact, Nessiah can be seen shielding Gulcasa from Jenon when the latter deliberately calls Gulcasa by his deadname. Nessiah himself is depicted as becoming very upset when others try to call him by his old name, so perhaps it is his own distress that leads to his sensitivity towards others.

During the A route, Nessiah is Gulcasa's irreplaceable partner, greatest source of emotional support, and occasional bad influence; in the B route he helps Gram Blaze genuinely. However, in the C route, a schemer in white exposes Nessiah's true goal of revenge, leading to a string of hardships for him, and finally a much more pitiful end than he faced in Yggdra Union.

Where in the previous game Nessiah gracefully accepts his own defeat and promises to someday bear witness to the world Yggdra will create, here Nessiah completely loses his head in a panic; the way he loses all composure and cries as though he's becoming mentally unstable is quite shocking in comparison.

To think Nessiah is denied a happy ending not just in Yggdra Unison, but in Blaze Union too... isn't there any way to help him?!

Speaking of the C route, Nessiah's portrayal as a manipulator is completely different from in Yggdra Union, where he was an expert at fanning the flames but leaving the last step to humans; here he's made into a much more typical root-of-all-evil puppeteer. Thinking from a Doylist perspective, this is likely because the two games have different writers.

But at the end of C route, the most dangerous culprit in the B route not only goes free but is left in a position of immense social power, so there are definitely still problems left undealt with. Therefore it may be possible to reconcile that discrepancy with the idea that Nessiah was used as a scapegoat to take the blame for humanity's own sins in-fiction too, not just from a writing standpoint.

Finally, through morale restoration, it's revealed that Nessiah likes bananas even more than Lord Banango himself. Nessiah also responds openly to his favorite food, unlike Roswell, so Nessiah fans should equip one on him to let him eat it for the chance to see his reaction. Overall, Nessiah is less picky about items here than he is in Yggdra Unison.

In Combat

Unfortunately, Nessiah was nerfed for the sake of preserving the game balance, and is significantly weaker than he is in Yggdra Union. The main casualties are his parameters and unit traits.

The only unit trait he retains from the previous game is "Null status ailments"; the others are replaced with "Null dark damage" and "No retreat penalty", meaning that even Nessiah's endurance has been stripped away. Why is this happening.

All of his stats now have weaker growth, and his LUK does not grow at all. He certainly is an unlucky character in terms of the story, but that didn't REALLY need to be integrated into gameplay, did it...?

See this comparison of Nessiah's final parameters in both games:

He's been changed from one of the four strongest characters in the setting to on the lower side of average. Since he has these exact same stats as the final boss of the C route, one can't even argue that Nessiah simply isn't using his full strength. This is awful.

On top of everything else, the player doesn't even get the chance to use Reincarnation. Why.

For this game, Nessiah's Aggressive attacks are now dark element, and he is also able to use Necro Gate, making him play more like a Necromancer.

Unlike Gulcasa, who naturally becomes overpowered over the course of the A route, if you want Nessiah at his original power level you must carefully compensate for the stat differentials with doping items, MVP, and equipment.

Trivia

• Throughout all three Union series games, Asgard's cruelty is only touched on in BF49, and even that scenario only hints at Hector's corruption, so the player's perception of Nessiah will depend a great deal on whether they have foreknowledge from the previous Dept. Heaven game Riviera: The Promised Land, which portrays the Grim Angels' plight more clearly.
• Nessiah doesn't know what Asgard is like in the present day after Ragnarok, so likewise having that information from Riviera may influence the player's thoughts on his revenge.
• There is no direct information in-game about Nessiah's Diviner (godly weapons which only Grim Angels are permitted to use) or what he had to sacrifice for it; in fact, it is unclear whether he received his Diviner at all before his exile. But in Lost Aries, so named because it's where Nessiah's old self "Grim Angel Aries" is said to have died, the player can obtain the item Lost Material, which can be alchemically refined into a replica of the Diviner "Holy Wheel Maseramati" (changed to "Mjollnir" in Atlus USA's localization), and so fans theorize that Maseramati may have been Nessiah's Diviner.
• During Blaze Union, Nessiah calls Gulcasa "Captain" or "Gulcasa-sama", but by the events of Yggdra Union they both call each other by name without honorifics.
• In Satoko Kiyuduki's character design, the hem of his dress is around the area of his ankles, but in Rui Kousaki's design the dress is about 12 cm shorter, so Nessiah has acquired Absolute Territory (on his calves).
• His sandals are different in both games too.
• Nessiah is immortal via his use of transmigration, and cannot truly die no matter how many times he's killed. As these transmigrated bodies are separate from his original form, his current appearance may be different from how he used to look.
• Based on the above, there was once a fan theory that the "Nameless Angel" depicted on the Reincarnation card is Nessiah's true form, but the Nameless Angel is not a Grim Angel, and so this theory has been disproven by the current canon information available.
• According to director Shinichi Ito, Nessiah's original body has already decomposed. It is unclear whether Nessiah is aware of this.
• A fan confused by Nessiah's feminine appearance and masculine Union formation asked Ito about Nessiah's gender, and Ito confirmed that in the present day Nessiah is male "both inside and out" but implied that it's possible Nessiah's original body may have been female. Considering how sensitive Nessiah is about names, the obvious conclusion to draw here is...
• In addition to having recorded the words of Aymia the Fallen, the Nameless Angel, Angel Captain Flauvel, and Grim Angel Cyrce in his Tactics Cards, Nessiah also seems to know Eater, the oddball angel who first appears in Blaze Union, so he seems to have had a diverse social circle among the angels.
• As Nessiah is able to see whatever is happening in the vicinity of the Gran Centurio via his eye in the pommel, this means he is probably able to observe the events of Knights in the Nightmare's Yggdra route, as well as Gloria Union's world when that particular Yggdra is wielding a sword. Kyra might want to get their lawyer ready if Nessiah sees their flagrant disregard for copyright law when it comes to the Tactics Cards he invented...
• Nessiah first appeared in a game that Ito made in 1996, so he and Gulcasa (who appeared alongside him) are the oldest Dept. Heaven characters.

Related Illustrations

Related Tags

Yggdra Union　Yggdra Unison　Blaze Union

Gulcasa　Emilia

Aegina　Luciana　Leon

Baldus　Zilva　Eudy

Monica　Canaan

Garlot　Siskier　Jenon　Medoute

Mizer　Byff　Sleip　Eater

He Who Chases Two Hares Catches Neither

You Meddlers　That Was Also Me

Fallen Angel

FtM

This Article in Other Languages

ネシア