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'Colette Brunel' (known in the Japanese version as 'Collet Brunel') is a fictional character in the Namco video game ''Tales of Symphonia''.

Contents

Character

History

The Journey of Regeneration

The End of her Journey and Beyond

Trivia

Character

Colette is the "Chosen One of Sylvarant", a being destined to save the world from destruction. Colette is a kind, selfless girl who always puts others before herself. Throughout the game, Colette is shown to be fairly clumsy (at one point even receiving a title called "Klutz"), as her repetitive tripping causes the most unusual (and occasionally beneficial) things to happen, from making a hole in the wall at school to deactivating the most complex of machines. She can also appear somewhat clueless as she misses some things that are obvious to everyone else.
However, she knows what it means to be kind to people and be able to forgive many things, a few of her many distinguishing characteristics. As the Chosen of Regeneration, it is her job to regenerate the world by ascending the Tower of Salvation as an angel, thereby saving Sylvarant. Over the course of the journey, it is discovered that the ritual of World Regeneration is actually part of a plot put into effect by Cruxis, and that completing it will cause Colette to lose her soul and become Martel's vessel. Colette is primarily a melee fighter and fights using two chakram. Her Devil's Arm is the "Evil Eye", which is obtained when examining the remains of the Bacura crushed by the boulder in the Toize Valley Mine. Later in the game, she can learn powerful angel techniques.
Colette also has romantic feelings for Lloyd, a fact revealed near the beginning of the game. She tends to use subliminal movements and messages such as "I'll stay by your side", rather than completely admitting it. This is not caused by shyness, but by her personality; that is, she hates worrying anyone or distracting them from their goals. This, of course, also works against her, since she tries to hide illnesses like Angel Toxicosis and Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium from the others, forcing characters to discover them on their own. This factor annoys Lloyd the most, because he feels like he can't help her, but from Colette's perspective, she feels that worrying anyone or showing something odd is just not appropriate for the journey they're on.

History

Colette was born and raised in Iselia, a small community located in the north-western part of Sylvarant. She was born with a Cruxis Crystal, a kind of Exsphere, in her hand, signifying her as the seventh Chosen of Regeneration in Sylvarant.
Her adoptive father, Frank Brunel, raised her in the village as his own. Colette's grandmother, Phaidra, was the priestess at the Martel Temple, which is located just outside Iselia. At some point during the early years of her childhood, Colette was taught how to read angelic language. As she got older, she was introduced to the clergy, some of whom she would later meet during her Journey of World Regeneration. She also met the priests who were meant to accompany her on her journey. She then started her formal education at the Iselia schoolhouse, where she met Lloyd Irving. She and the young Lloyd soon became friends.

The Journey of Regeneration

When Colette is sixteen, Cruxis sends down another Oracle. Colette, accompanied by Lloyd, Genis Sage, and the mysterious mercenary Kratos Aurion, enter the Martel Temple to answer the summons of the angels. At the highest level of the temple, Colette's "real father", the angel Remiel, arrives to convey the blessings of Cruxis and bestow the Tower of Salvation upon the land of Sylvarant. As the game goes on she unlocks more of her powers from her father's angelic side. This marks the beginning of Colette's Journey of Regeneration, a perilous journey in which the Chosen must release the "Seals" that are scattered throughout the world. There are a total of five Seals, the fifth being at the Tower of Salvation, where the Journey would end, Colette would be sacrificed, and the dying world would be regenerated.
She leaves the village of Iselia under the protection of Kratos and Raine Sage, her teacher. As she is leaving, she acts, in Genis's words, "overly cheerful" in an attempt to hide the fact that the Journey of Regeneration would end with her death. Trying to cause her trusted friend Lloyd the least amount of grief, she lies to him about the time of her departure, in the hope that he would then be able to live in the regenerated world. Her bluff fails, however, and Lloyd and Genis later catch up with her.
As the party moves from one Seal to the next, Colette begins to gain more angelic powers, like wings, enhanced sight and improved hearing. However, she also loses the things that make her human, like the ability to taste food, sleep, or even speak. Eventually, the party reaches the Tower of Salvation, where Colette is forced to make the final sacrifice: her heart and memory.

The End of her Journey and Beyond

Having lost all those things that made her human, Colette is the perfect vessel for Martel, her mana signature being the closest possible to that of Martel. Remiel says, during the ritual in which Colette sacrifices her heart and her memory, that he is not Colette's father, and that the "inferior beings" only called him her father because he placed the Cruxis crystal on her. Colette reveals to Lloyd, through some non-oral form of communication, that she somehow knew this, before sacrificing her heart and memory and becoming unresponsive to the rest of the group. Remiel reveals that he seeks to become one of the Four Seraphim, showing that he cared little for Colette, or even the world, and plans to dispose of the group, but they fight and kill him. Kratos then arrives and reveals that Cruxis plans to transfer Martel's consciousness to Colette, denying that it will cause Colette to die. Before Cruxis is able to put Martel's consciousness into Colette's body, however, she is taken to relative safety by the Renegades. Lloyd and the party are later forced to flee to the parallel world of Tethe'alla, taking the soulless Colette with them.
Colette regains her senses after Lloyd carves a Key Crest into her birthday necklace (he completed it the morning that she left, but it breaks some time between then and the night after the Fire Seal is broken). She apparently remembers everything that happened while she was unresponsive, as she knows Zelos' name. As the journey to reunite the worlds continues, Colette is kidnapped by the rogue Desian Grand Cardinal Rodyle, who plans to use her in his Mana Cannon. His plans are foiled when he realizes that she has Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium, a rare disease that crystallizes the body. The party rescues her, but does not realize this until later; Colette believes that his referring to her as "sinful" is a reference to her failure to perform the world regeneration, something she feels guilty of despite knowing that it would only bring about what Lloyd describes as "a false peace."
Colette's disease is introduced gradually, starting with mild discomfort and leading to her collapsing in pain in Ozette shortly before Rodyle abducts her. After Forcystus shoots her when she shields Chocolat, it reveals that she has begun to crystallize. The party then searches for a cure, learning about Mithos the hero and Mithos' splitting the world into two with the power of the Eternal Sword in the process. Colette is cured in time after the party escapes Welgaia.
Colette is captured in the Tower of Salvation after Zelos betrays the group. When Lloyd reaches the Great Seed Chamber, although he is reunited with his friends (whom he had thought dead), Mithos succeeds in merging Martel with Colette. Martel, however, uses Colette's body to urge Mithos to stop what he is doing. At this time, either Zelos or Kratos arrive in the Great Seed Chamber and place a Key Crest on Colette's Cruxis Crystal. After Martel's consciousness leaves Colette, the young Chosen urges the group to stop Mithos from moving the Great Seed to Derris-Kharlan, having understood Martel's desires. In a skit after the group leaves, it is revealed that Colette was able to understand Martel's feelings while she was possessed.
Colette is possibly the assumed choice for Lloyd's soul mate, given that she is close to Lloyd throughout the plot, and she least often teases, criticizes or insults him. (In the skit "Lloyd Confesses his Love," which happens after Colette loses her soul, this is also shown. Genis suggests that Lloyd profess love for her, which he does - though seemingly just because Genis told him to.) Additionally, if someone other than Colette is his soul mate, she will replace them during the sequences in Welgaia that show characters confronting their inner flaws (for example, if Regal is Lloyd's soul mate, she will replace him in "The Judged" scene; instead of Presea being told by an illusion of Alicia to kill Regal to avenge her, Presea is told to kill Colette to free her of her guilt over abandoning the world regeneration, thereby allowing Martel to possess her body). If Kratos is Lloyd's soul mate, Colette will be possessed, with Mithos making a brief remark about how Kratos never understood him.
At the end of the game, Colette returns home to Iselia, and reveals that she is no longer the Chosen.
Colette is a very mature young woman. She was brought up with the knowledge that she would need to die to save the world, and has gained from that a truly selfless nature. However, she later recognizes that she made a mistake in her willingness to sacrifice herself, believing in Lloyd's ideas that no life is born for the sole purpose of dying. As such, her greatest wish at the end of the game is to ensure that no one else makes the same mistake she did.

Trivia

★ The word "colette" means "necklace" in a French-Latin dialect. In the game, a major plot device is a necklace Colette receives as birthday present from Lloyd. "Colette" is also a shortened version of the name ''Nicolette'' (Nicole), which means "born by angels" or "savior of the people" (Greek). Coincidentally, "Nicolette" derives from Nike, the Greek goddess of victory and sister of Kratos and Zelos.

★ During the ''Pope Chase'' event, the player discovers that the first successful Chosen of Sylvarant, Spiritua, is known as an angel of death and destruction in Tethe'alla, and had killed a king who had threatened a Chosen. In order to get past some guards (and thereby gain entry to Meltokio's Palace), Zelos Wilder tells Colette to pretend to be Spiritua. Colette agrees, and hovers in the air with her wings extended. When told by Lloyd to act "in control", she says what is regarded as one of the most memorable quotes in the game: "Um... um... die!" The guards still believe this (despite her poor acting) and run for their lives.

★ Colette, always one to accept blame even when there is none, apologizes a total of 45 times during the game, 37 times during Z-skits, and 8 times during overworld skits. At one point Lloyd finally asks her to stop apologizing, and predictably, she apologizes. Her perpetual concern for humility and deference have earned her popularity in some fans' circles and severe contempt in others'.