- "Do you know what happens when you trust others!? They see you for the naif you are and use you all they want! That's how I got to where I am today. I used you to get what I wanted, and now I own this whole town!" —Darius, during his last encounter with Therion
Darius is a character in Octopath Traveler. He is a thief that has garnered quite a name for himself and had made Northreach under his command. He was a former friend of Therion and is the main antagonist and final boss of his story.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Darius has long, orange hair and a green cape, with a black undershirt with white sleeves. He has a scabbard on his right hip and wears black dress pants and boots. His concept art depicts a long horizontal scar across his nose.
Personality[]
Darius is haughty and narcissistic, having abandoned the concept of trust to further his own goals. He takes great pride in his actions regardless of their depravity. He holds little regard for the past and the relationships he held during his climb to the top for more money and power. Darius shows no concern for his personal relationships and willingly sacrifices Therion and Gareth for his own gain. However, this would eventually lead to his downfall when he is betrayed by his own men after his defeat.
Darius is an authoritarian and strongly dislikes his followers having independent ideas, even going as far as to threaten Gareth with death for being curious about his past concerning Therion. One reason why he betrayed Therion was that he had become sick of Therion thinking for himself and questioning his plans during their partnership. When Therion confronts him during his boss fight, he admits he feels jealousy towards Therion for being a better thief than him, which was another factor leading to his betrayal.
Despite Darius' willingness to betray others if it means he can benefit from it and complete apathy for the consequences of his actions, he feels entitled to others' loyalty to him and hypocritically decries his men as traitors when they backstab him after he's weakened from his battle against Therion.
Even as a young boy, Darius was selfish and manipulative beyond most children's standards. Just before betraying Therion and kicking him off a cliff, Darius reveals that the main reason why he had befriended Therion in the first place was so that he could reap the benefits of Therion's thieving skills, seeing his friendship with Therion as a tool to be used for his own gain rather than a supportive connection.
Story[]
 |
(I don't think this is where I should be going at the moment...) The following section contains potential story spoilers! |
10 years prior to the story, Darius met Therion in the gaol in Saintsbridge. After Therion is able to easily steal the cell key from the guard and break them out, Darius decided to befriend him. After some time, Darius was offered a position with the Ciannos if he were to dispose of Therion. Without showing any hesitation, he accepts the offer and pushes Therion off a cliff, leaving him for dead.
At some point between betraying Therion and his trip to the black market near Wellspring, Darius procured the gold Dragonstone, one of the Ravus family treasures. He then established himself as a lord of a gang of thieves in Northreach and made Gareth his new right-hand man.
Receiving word that the emerald Dragonstone is being sold in the Black Market, Darius takes his men there to steal it, but they are confronted by Therion. Darius taunts Therion before escaping, leaving Gareth to deal with Therion in his place.
Darius places posters of Therion in Northreach in attempt to hinder his progress and offered a reward for his capture. This did not stop his former partner, who confronts him yet again at the Lorn Cathedral, where he had been keeping the gold and emerald Dragonstones. After a tense battle, Darius is defeated.
He retreats to a hidden cache in the cellars where he had stockpiled a large stash of gold, intending to start anew. However, he is accosted by his own men, who fatally wound him and take all of his riches for themselves. As he lay dying in the now-empty room, Darius weakly calls for someone to help him before succumbing to his wounds.
At the Gate of Finis the party battles what appears to be Darius' ghost. After its destruction it leaves behind a tome containing the post death thoughts of Cordelia Ravus' father. It explains the origins of House Ravus, the Dragonstones and why they were stolen in the first place.
Relationships[]
Therion[]
The two met as children when they are thrown in the same jail cell. He refers to Therion as '兄弟' or 'brother' in the Japanese version, while he simply calls Therion as his partner in the English one. However, as time passed, their relationship became strained as they disagreed on multiple things in regards to their professions. This was the main factor that led him to betray Therion.
In hindsight, Darius thought little of Therion and only used him to further his goals to get to the top. It was only in his final moments that he referred to Therion as his partner after he was left to die by members of his gang.
Gareth[]
Gareth is noted by the brigands serving him and Darius for being the only member of their group who was truly loyal to and trusted Darius. Despite this, Darius leaves him to fight Therion for him in Chapter 3, leading to Gareth's demise.
Brigands[]
Like all others under him, Darius cared very little for his gang and it was noted by Cyrus to Therion that the group had very little organization. Darius's lack of loyalty and caring to his gang was a major catalyst when he was attacked and left to die by a group of brigands who only wanted all of his money.
Darius will begin the battle with 4 shields, but the shields increase by 2 after recovering from a break, for a total of 8 shields. His first action is typically Steal Item, unless broken before he takes his first action. After recovering from the first break, Darius seals three of his weaknesses and rotates his vulnerabilities for the rest of the battle.
Darius begins with 2 actions per turn. At below 50% health, he will increase his actions per turn to 3.
- Steal Item // Your items have been stolen!: Physical attack, targets entire party. Used once as Darius' very first action, and throughout the battle if Darius accumulates enough BP.
- Disables use of items for entire party, including Alfyn's Concoct talent. Effect is removed upon break.
- Unlike most abilities, even if all allies evade or otherwise avoid Steal Item, the effect will still be applied.
- You retrieved your items!: Used when Darius is broken while the effects of Steal Item is active. Effect of Steal Item is removed, and items may be used again.
- Darius straightens his posture...: Used whenever Darius recovers from a break. Always followed by Sweep. Darius will seal and unlock his weaknesses, rotating them in the following order:
- Darius let out a battle cry!: Used once Darius reaches 50% of his maximum health. Increases actions per turn to 3.
- Attack: Physical attack, single target.
- Sweep: Physical attack, targets entire party.
- Steal HP: Physical attack, single target. Restores Darius's HP by damage dealt.
- Steal SP: Physical attack, single target. Removes target's SP by 75% of their maximum SP. Restores Darius's SP by SP removed.
- Steal BP: Physical attack, single target. Removes target's BP. Restores Darius's BP by BP removed.
- Nighthawk: Debuff. Targets entire party. Removes party's status augmentations and applies
Decreased Physical Attack and Decreased Physical Defense for 3 turns. - Will o' Wisp: Heavy elemental damage, . Single target.
- Hellfire: Elemental damage, . Targets entire party. Hits twice. Chance of inflicting Unconsciousness for 2-5 turns.
- Heh...I'll steal yer most prized treasure!: Used once after Darius reaches 33% of his maximum health. Darius enters boost mode for 1 turn. Uses Call Comrade if not broken before Darius' next action.
- Call Comrade: Effect. Removes all of Therion's allies from battle. When battled at The Gate of Finis, a random ally is selected, regardless of whether or not Therion is in the party. Effect is removed upon break.
- If the isolated traveler is incapacitated when Call Comrade is used or during its effect, the battle immediately ends in a loss.
- If the isolated traveler defeats Darius while the effects of Call Comrade is still active, all allies will still receive battle rewards.
- Active augments and effects on allies who are removed will not decrement while the allies are removed from battle. Counters will resume once allies return.
- Darius will still use Call Comrade even if only battling one traveler in the party. When battled at Lorn Cathedral: Cellars as part of Therion's chapter 4 (where a lone traveler condition limits the party to Therion only), the ability will have no discernible effect. When battled at The Gate of Finis, using the skill will remove the traveler from the battle, regardless if that traveler is Therion, ending the battle in a loss.
- Call Comrade: Effect. Removes all of Therion's allies from battle. When battled at The Gate of Finis, a random ally is selected, regardless of whether or not Therion is in the party. Effect is removed upon break.
Quotes[]
- "Heh... I'll steal yer most prized treasure!" —Before using Call Comrade
- "We put our loaves together, no one can stop us!" —To young Therion
- "Those eyes... I hate those eyes! What happened to those pitiful minces I saw in Wellspring? They were broken, hopeless, defeated! And now they look like they did all those years ago.." —To Therion in Lorn Cathedral
- "I used you and disposed of you because I knew I could do it Jack Jones!" —To Therion during battle
- "Trust is the first step toward betrayal." —During battle
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
"Darius" is a name of Persian origin that means "rich and kingly" or "he possesses," referring to his haughty attitude and abundant greed.
Trivia[]
- Darius is one of only two bosses with in-battle dialogue, the other being Mattias. However, unlike the latter, Darius has no full voice-acting during the dialogue.
- The official guidebook timeline cites Therion and Darius's meeting as having occurred 11 years ago, while the game cites it as 10 years ago.
- Even when appearing as a child, Darius speaks in his adult voice.
- Darius occasionally speaks in cockney rhyming slang. As the only character to speak in this manner, the reasons behind his unusual dialect are unknown.
- He refers to Therion as a "tea leaf," cockney rhyming slang for "thief." He also uses the term "teapot" as a derogatory term for "thief."
- He refers to faces as "boats," and calls his own visage "this ugly boat."
- He cries, "Look at the cobblers on this one!" when Therion breaks them out of gaol.
- When stealing, he tells Therion, "We put our loaves together, no one can stop us!" and "Take a butcher's at all the loot we got."
- During Therion's Chapter 3, Darius claims that looking at Therion makes him "Tom and Dick," slang for sick.
- Darius apparently refers to feet as "daises," as he says to Therion, "You're worth less than the scum beneath me daisies!"
- He also calls Therion's eyes "pitiful minces."
- It is unknown if Darius knew about the purpose of the Dragonstones related to the Gate of Finis or not.
- Despite initially being weak to , Darius will never be vulnerable to Ice again after recovering from his first break. However, he will always be vulnerable to .
- Defeating Darius is the only way to obtain the item Red Apple Grants full BP to a single ally. A maximum of 3 can be obtained normally in the game (by Stealing from Darius with Snatch equipped).
- Darius is the only Chapter 4 boss who is never weak to either or .
- The boss sprite artists wanted to depict Darius's unrestrained nature, sending his body lunging almost impossibly forward with powerful intensity. If you look closely, he bares his teeth right down to the gums.[1]
- Darius’s Gate of Finis sprite has his face be facing downward with both of his eyes visible, while his normal sprite shows him facing forward with only one eye visible.
- In one version of his NPC concept art, Darius has shorter black hair and wears a green headband. This is likely a remnant of an earlier scrapped design.[2]
