- "I don't really... love it here, but I don't exactly hate it. I think it's nice that I feel safe here, but... I've never been able to trust anyone I know. Since I'm human, I've always had to keep some distance from others. It was... very lonely. I don't want to feel that same loneliness again."
- — Aria about her experiences in the Monster World[[src]]
Aria Elwyn is is the second member of Nino's party. She is a human girl that has lived in the world of monsters for years, with her pet "ghost-dog", named Ludwig Grimm von Phantomhound.
Her ability is an illusory one called Mirage, which she uses to blend in with other monsters. Using said ability, she has made friends with some of the monsters in Red Tulip, such as Kotori.
She is skilled in archery, as her weapon of choice at the start is a bow with 10 arrows.
Later on, this weapon is replaced with a cleaver, which she is unskilled at using.
Her stats are 3 in speed and power, 2 in mind, and 5 in percept, which is presumably short for perception, and assumedly related to noticing and reacting to the world around herself.
Her Mastery Level is Proficient?
Appearance[]
Aria has long wavy blonde hair, which is usually tied up in a high ponytail. She has deep blue eyes, framed by short bangs, with two long side locks framing either sides of her head. The side locks along with her ponytail fall down to wavy folds. Her clothing consists of a light purple sleeveless track suit, which she wears zipped over a short sleeved dark purple undershirt, and purple jean shorts worn over dark tights. Her shoes are purple with white collars. She also wears short purple gloves, most likely to protect her fingers when practicing archery.
When Aria uses her monster disguise, she appears exactly the same but with her eyes being bright red, and with a single horn atop her head.
As a child, she had shoulder length hair tied up in a wavy half-ponytail in the back, emulating her late mother's hairstyle. She wore a poofy dark dress, the same one she later gives to Five.
Around her early teens, when she first arrived in Red Tulip and befriended Kotori, she had a more youthful appearance. Her hair was mid-back length with a single half-ponytail, and two short wavy sidelocks. She wore a sleeveless light green dress, with teal patterns around its hems. Under it she wore black tights with light green buckle shoes.
After {S}: Decimate, she has had her hair untied from the usual ponytail. Following her escape from prison she has since attained a purple button-up parka in order to blend in better.
History[]
Childhood[]
Aria and her mother on an evening walk
Aria was born to the blind seer Maya Elwyn a few years prior to the latest Human-Monster War. Living in a small monster village, Aria grew up a happy child in spite of the social stigma of being a human in an area mostly populated by monsters.
In these peaceful times she and her mother would often go on long walks in the evenings wherein Aria would look at the stars and describe them to the older woman, though she claims to have had difficulty in articulating due to her limited vocabulary as a child.
Human Extermination Period[]
In the days after the war, many humans were rounded up and taken to the Execution Cenote, with Aria's family being no exception. At this time it appears that her mother died, leaving Aria alone to fend for herself. However, through the use of her Mirage ability, she was successfully able to disguise herself as a monster. In a similar way she was able to disguise the corpse of her mother in order to protect her from the gruesome execution rituals practised on humans. Doing this ensured her mother received a proper burial, her body later finding its proper resting place in Red Tulip Cemetery.
Red Tulip Town[]
Following the death of her mother Aria resolved to leave her home town, traveling to a faraway village under the cover of darkness. Following many trials and tribulations - including watching someone's intestines being gutted - she eventually made it to what is assumed to be a relief outpost. There she was faced with her hardest task yet, even compared to seeing someone's own intestine getting pulled out once - passing an interview on her legal status.
Aria being interviewed by Solis
Due to being an ineffectual liar, Aria's cover as a monster would have very nearly been blown under the force of the examination, were it not for a stroke of luck in the form of the interviewer's girlfriend interrupting the questioning.
As Kotori took over, she kindly allowed Aria to fill out only the most basic of details and even helped her move into Red Tulip Town, where she then proceeded to live for six years. In Aria's gratitude to the girl, the two became good friends from then on.
Interestingly, it is during this period that Aria came upon an injured ghost-dog puppy while walking in the woods with Kotori. Taking a liking to it, Aria christened the pup Ludwig and adopted him as her pet.
Abilities[]
Special Ability[]
Main Article: Mirage
Aria possesses an illusory-type ability known as Mirage. With it, she has been known to modify the appearances of people or objects, although the complexity of an illusion is directly proportional to how much focus she applies to maintaining it. Often, she uses this ability to disguise herself or others in hostile situations.
Like all illusions, projections created by Aria's Mirage dissipate upon physical contact.
Natural Abilities[]
- Aria is noted to have incredibly fast reaction times, capable of slicing apart Kaji's ice projectiles mid-flight.
Skillset[]
- Archery Proficiency: Aria has at least several years' worth of archery training, as evidenced by her being able to redirect the trajectory of Kotori's spear with pinpoint accuracy.
Weaponry[]
- Bow and Arrows: During her initial introduction, Aria was equipped with a lavender bow and ten similarly-colored arrows. The latter have been steadily used up throughout the duration of Chapter 1 and the latter was most likely confiscated following the events of {S} Decimate.
- Meat Cleaver: Following her escape from prison, Aria was indirectly provided a meat cleaver by Reed for self-defense. In the short time since she has acquired it, she has shown remarkable proficiency in its use, particularly in the battle with Kaji during {S} Shatter.
Etymology[]
- Aria is a name that can have several meanings depending on the root language it derives from.
- In Italian, the name means 'air' or 'melody.' This appears to be the official context that Nights uses.
- In Albanian, it means 'treasure,' 'precious,' or 'gold.'
- In Hebrew, it means 'lioness.'
- In Persian, it means 'noble.'
- Elwyn comes from the Old English Æfwine, meaning 'wise and noble friend.'
Observations[]
- It's unclear as to when exactly Aria gained her Mirage ability, although this page seems to imply that she may have attained it before the Human Extermination Period, possibly as a result of her being ostracized as a human.
- It is actually unknown when her mother died, though since Aria does not make any mention of her while narrating her travels, it can be assumed that she died prior to leaving her hometown. If this is true, it might be that Aria brought the body with her when she moved to Red Tulip, and that Kotori may have assisted in arranging the interment at the town's cemetery.