Template:Sideicon Sol is a major antagonist in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and a member of Hess' Eight Sages serving as the final antagonist nearing the end of Season One, and a recurring opponent and supportive character in Season Two. He debuts in the Pharm chapter.
Conceptually, he serves as Rain's foil and arch-nemesis, being his exact opposite and seeking to destroy him, finding joy in this conflict.
Profile
Appearance
Sol is an ethereal and intimidating being. While traveling he wears a long white cloak that covers the entirety of his body and hides his face. He removes the cloak for combat, revealing his body wrapped in complex robes. The flesh of his body is largely translucent, save his face and extremities, which are pale white, revealing his skeleton. He wears a pair of golden sandals that reveal the tips of his toes. He is wrapped in multi-layered robes and wears numerous golden beads. His head is surrounded by a golden circular accessory, like a halo, with what appears to be a hilt at the top with a red jewel at the center. He wears a horned helmet that appears to be mad out of a skull of an animal. The underside of his blue cape and his white hem show a galaxy.
Personality
Not much is known about Sol's previous personality. According to Raegen he was the kindest among the Sages, and was known to be a studious person. At present time as a result of the side-effects of being sealed in Crystal for several years, Sol is twisted, deranged and homicidal. He hates life and calls the party unsightly.
He does seem to retain a modicum of sanity as he doesn't attack indiscriminately. Sol is capable of intelligence, unlike the Dark Elf, which makes him especially dangerous as he carries out his destructive plans. Even Rain is frustrated at being unable to comprehend him, unlike with the Sworn Six of Paladia. In turn, Sol detests Rain and everything he stands for, as the young man embodies compassion, selflessness and justice, traits that Sol in his current state finds repulsing. Sol stands as the opposite of Rain and relishes in it.
Although hostile and insane there may be more to Sol than meets the eye. Akstar believes that for better or worse, Sol's intentions are pure and that Sol is a good person at heart. In his past when Sol was sane, he had lacked emotions like fear, joy or anger, and intended to bring them out through the war.
Story
Season One
Sol lived in the world of Paladia. When Hess attempted to achieve independence from the rest of the world through Visionary Magicks, Aldore refused, inciting a war between the factions. Sol chose to be loyal to Hess and became one of its Eight Sages and a major lieutenant.
As the original Veritas of the Dark of Aldore enacted his plan to seal the Sages in Crystal to start negotiations, Sol was defeated and sealed himself. The Sworn Eight of Paladia were betrayed by Aldore and transported along with the large landmass of the battlefield with inhabitants from both parties to the world of Lapis. Sol was transported inside the Crystal where he spent several centuries, corroding his nature. The now renamed Sworn Six destroy the Crystals to achieve their revenge, and Sol is thus freed from his slumber, now with a desire to end life.
Rain and his party meet Sol in Pharm along with the Behemoth K after the new Veritas of the Dark is defeated. He destroys the Dark Crystal, leaving the party flabbergasted. Both Dark Fina and Raegen recognize Sol who begins to voice his disgust at life, calling the party unsightly and blasts them with Holy. After the Behemoth ambushes and kills the Darklord, Sol departs with the beast to the Land of the Crystals to enact his plans.
As the two Sages make their way to the top, they are spotted by Rain's party, trying to ambush them. Fina collapses which gives their cover away. Sol summons visions of monsters to deal with the party as Veritas of the Light and Veritas of the Waters appear to assist the party.
The party catches up to the Sages a second time. Sol summons more visions and orders the Behemoth to take care of them while he escapes. The Behemoth proves a tough obstacle so the two members of the Sworn Six teleport away with it so the party can progress. Sol is intercepted once more, but cuts the party away with a powerful seal exclusive to the Sages. He taunts them to sit and watch the destruction that is to come. Dark Fina uses the Sacred Ring of Paladia to transform herself into a Crystal to keep the Gate from pulling the world apart, sparing Fina as she is given Dark Fina's Sage power.
The party finds Sol at the top of the tower as he begins to prepare his ultimate plan. Fina confronts him on his beliefs that life is ugly by declaring the opposite. Sol taunts her to wait to test if she will still think the same, as both parties battle. Sol proves a difficult opponent but is defeated. Before the party can celebrate, Sol's ultimate weapon, the Chaotic Darkness, is summoned. He explains that the monster before them is the vision of centuries' worth of dark emotions and memories accumulated as a result of multiple conflicts, summoned by him. He asks Fina again if she believes that the hearts of people are beautiful and taunts her that this evil is the true heart of humanity. He orders the monster to lay waste to all life in both Paladia and Lapis.
As the party pursues the Chaotic Darkness, Sol faces them. The party fights him to prove that sentiments like love also exist and triumph over hatred. Sol is defeated but gloats that he was proven right as the party's faces now display anger and repulsion, making him believe that he was defeated by hatred. Rain states he doesn't hate Sol, but rather his inability to understand the Sage through battle as he could with the Sworn Six of Paladia. Sol is repulsed by Rain and vows to kill him as he disappears.
After the Chaotic Darkness is defeated Raegen and Rain use their Aldorian power to close the Gate. Sol attempts to ram himself with the Gate, trying to use his own life to force it open. Rain clashes with the Sage, and both disappear while leaving Rain's sword, the Crimson Saber, behind.
Season Two
Georl and Gungan
Sol finds himself back in Paladia, his homeworld. He can sense Rain's presence, nauseated that his aura is still brimming with noble intentions. Determining that the two of them are simply irreconcilable, he intends to find the young knight and kill him for symbolizing the things that he despises the most.
Rain's adopted brother Lasswell ventures to Paladia with the Sworn Six and their other friends to find Rain. They find Sol in Gungan in the Natura's Forbidden Land. Declaring his intentions to kill Rain, Lasswell attempts to strike Sol down for good, but Akstar advises against this as Sol was preparing to counter and kill Lasswell on the spot. When the party accuses Sol of being behind the desertification of the land, he denies involvement, and explains that it is a natural phenomenon as the Crystals sustaining the land have reached the end of their lifespan. Reaffirming his goal to find Rain, Sol declares he will accompany the party. Lasswell agrees as it will allow them to observe Sol, but makes it clear to the Sage that he's not to act without permission. Sol disagrees with taking orders, but agrees to exercise restraint.
They return to the Natura homeland where King Yasha prepares for war against the Shibyra with the party reluctantly joining the battle. Raegen, who along the Sworn Six of Paladia is aiding the Shibyra, proposes a single combat to avoid bloodshed. Sol elects to fight much to Raegen's surprise, but Lasswell goes instead. Sol allows it since he believes watching father and son fight will be amusing. Raegen and Lasswell explain each other's circumstances and fight to the best of their ability to calm both sides. Sol, engaged by the battle, states he would have wanted to go after all, but Fina tells him that the reason the battle is captivating is because it is Raegen and Lasswell fighting.
As the combatants calm the ire of both sides and convince them to a ceasefire to allow them to catch the culprit trying to plunge Gungan into war, Sol returns to the Natura Capital with the party. He talks with Sieghard, one of the Sworn Six who used to serve Aldore, who flaunts his beauty at Sol. The Sage proposes that he can kill him and make his death even more beautiful, an idea that Sieghard finds appealing.
Sol accompanies the party to chase after Nazuu, the perpetrator behind the attempts to destroy Gungan. Though he does not take part in the battle, he sticks with the party after they defeat the Orders' Battle Star and the peace treaty is signed at last. Lasswell's party and the Sworn Six split afterwards to keep with their respective goals.
Crystallis
Lasswell's party travels to Crystallis upon Sol's guidance as he can feel Rain's presence in this land. Sol taunts Lasswell by claiming that he can understand Rain much better due to being Rain's polar opposite, which is why he can sense him. They find a cave full of sand where Lid trips and drops her gil. Sol finds her attachment to money ridiculous and goes on ahead. Lasswell and Akstar spar and Lasswell lands a hit, a sign of improvement. Sol interferes, wanting to face Akstar himself. Lasswell decides to join as well. During the fight Akstar overpowers Sol who decides to make Akstar a target for him as well. As Sol leaves, Akstar says to Lasswell that that despite Sol being an enemy, he has pure intentions and is a good person at heart.
At the Kappa Village the party learns that the Kappa are feeling weaker as a result of the Barrier Station nearby. Potchi, a girl and a friend of the Kappas, requests their help. Lasswell proposes they deactivate the facility and Sol agrees since he can feel Rain in there. Once the party shuts down the station Sol rushes to Rain and comes across Hyoh, The Orders' fourth strongest Battle Star. Sol, declaring that Hyoh is Rain, attacks but is overpowered and both fall from a cliff. Sol is left unconscious and flashes back to his life as a Sage of Hess as he wakes up and reassumes his search.
The party finds both Sol and Hyoh and Lasswell realizes that there is some truth to Sol's belief that Hyoh is, indeed, Rain. Hyoh refutes the claim and strikes Fina in cold blood with the wound crystallizing and the party teleports away. Sol, still in company of the party, follows Potchi to a facility where the Crystal is transformed into sand, which she believes can be used to heal Fina. Sol believes that Hyoh is inside the facility so Lasswell proceeds, knowing he will have to face his dreaded enemy. They encounter Nagi, a member of the Orders who is fascinated with Hyoh and wants to defeat the party on his behalf. She fails and Hyoh appears, telling Nagi to stand back. Lasswell challenges Hyoh with Sol agreeing as he has not recovered fully and plans to strike when they are at their weakest. The two duel and Lasswell comes to believe Hyoh is indeed Rain.
Gameplay
Playable character
Sol debuts as a unit in the Japanese version as a Magic Damage unit. He has a base rarity of 5★ and can be upgraded to 7★. Sol can equip Daggers, Staves, Rods, Instruments, Maces, Light Shields, Hats, Helmets, Clothing, Light Armor, Robes, and Accessories. He can learn White, Black and Green Magic up to Lvl 8.
Sol is a powerful Magic Damage unit with a Focus on the Fire, Light and Dark elements. He can chain for all of them (with frames that match Trance Terra's Chaos Wave families) being able to imperil these elements by 75% to enemies, or stack damage on them. He also has a few non-elemental abilities, one of them from the Aureole Ray family, allowing for big chains. He can Dualcast these abilities and can even unlock Triple- and Quadcast through different means.
He has supportive abilities that boost his MAG and/or debuff enemies' SPR stat. He can bestow elemental resistance to the aforementioned elements and Dualcast spells and comes with the likes of Reflect and Dispelga, making him utilitarian.
Sol's passives grant him major MAG boosts as well as Dual Wield and True Dual Wield boosts. He also gains a respectable amount of HP/MP. If combined with his own Super Trust Reward, his MP consumption is even less and he gains even larger MAG boost, making him remarkably stronger at little cost.
His Limit Burst, Chaotic Darkness, deals major damage and unlocks more potent multi-casting; if chained with a copy, it can be a used as a reliable source of damage.
Boss
Sol is a recurring opponent in both Season One and Two. He's a difficult boss who abuses various spells. He always begins by casting Reflect and Sage's Wisdom on himself and Imperilga on the party (before the updates, this was a Preemptive Strike). Sage's Wisdom is a stat buff that will boost his damage output if not handled. On every turn after that he will cast Dispelga on the party, regardless of whether he attacks or not. Later on he uses Execution, which damages the party and inflicts an ATK/MAG debuff.
He uses several spells, mostly Light-elemental, but can also use multiple Ja-tier spells in quick succession. After losing some of his HP he uses Ultima for devastating damage. When weakened he can cast Curaga on himself to restore as much as 40% of his HP back. At times he will use Dispelga, Imperilga and Execution in that order.
Sol has several thousand HP (usually 500,000 and above), increased resistance to all elements (+50%) except Light (+200%) and Dark (0%), and is immune to all status ailments. He is, however vulnerable to Stat Breaks.
Sol was briefly nerfed, but as of the Realm of the Dragon King update, he is back at full power although this is only true for the first fight.
Strategy
The player should not attempt to use elemental attacks unless they are Dark or able to inflict elemental imperils that nullify or bypass Sol's defenses. Light is meaningless by nearly any measure as his resistance is too high (even if equipping weapons of multiple elements). Non-elemental and Dark attacks are the most reliable way to damage Sol. Since he has high HP, building a chain and capping it with a strong finisher is viable.
Buffs are not necessarily useless as they can be used to increase damage output, although they will soon be gone. If the player has Celes or uses the Manufacted Nethicite, they can keep Dispelga at bay since it will always be the first action Sol performs (however, they should use the Magic Absorption as the last move or it may absorb the player's own spells). Debuffs are another option as Sol cannot Dispel them off himself, but they should be focused on decreasing his MAG and defensive stats.
Since Sol's strongest attacks are magical, Tanks will be useless, although Damage Reduction abilities will still work, provided the player can keep Dispelga at bay.
Etymology
Sol is the Latin and Spanish name of the main-sequence star of the synonymous Sol System, called the Sun in English.
Trivia
- Sol is infamous among Japanese version players, as he was considered abnormally difficult for a storyline battle. He was subsequently nerfed along with the Behemoth K and the Chaotic Darkness. This infamy managed to reach the Global version with many players expressing just as much frustration. He was subsequently nerfed, but as of the Realm of the Dragon King update, Sol is back at full strength.
- As stated by developers, Sol was intended to have a CG-animated Limit Burst, but this was ultimately scrapped because his visage was deemed too grotesque to be fully displayed.