Arios Theoman

"Arios Theoman, challenging Rance over the fate of humanity."

- Wicked King Rance, who's leading humanity to ruin. I, the Hero Arios, will punish you.

About
Arios Theoman is a young man who served as The Continent's Guardian Hero of the World between the years of GI1012 and LP0004. While a compassionate and courageous person, Arios is notable for having nearly all of his accomplishments during his tenure as Hero get completely overshadowed by those of the warrior Rance.

Arios was born in a small and humble village located on the outskirts of the Free City of The O in the year GI0999. Arios lived an entirely ordinary life within his village until the day of his 13th birthday in the year GI1012, where he was visited by Cola, a mysterious girl known as "the servant of the Hero", who informed him that he was the latest Hero of the System. Cola immediately began training Arios in how to utilize the unique powers bestowed to him as Hero, a process which continued for three years undisturbed.

At the dawn of the LP era, Arios' village was raided and destroyed by a group of Monsters. With no home to return to, Arios, at Cola's suggestion, set out into the world on a journey to spread order and virtue as the Hero. Arios accomplished many minor heroic feats during his first year as Hero, including destroying a group of bandits, liberating a chapel from a curse and finding a rare medicinal herb.

In the year LP0001, Arios was asked to search for Hikari Mi Blanc, the daughter of a Leazas noble family who had mysteriously gone missing. Prior to completing this request, however, Arios came down with a case of severe food poisoning from eating the food from a yakiniku stand in Leazas Castle Town’s central park. The food poisoning resulted in 12 people, including Arios himself, becoming completely incapacitated, as well as two deaths. During the events of Rance 01, Arios was briefly encountered by Rance in his poisoned state while the other man was passing through the park. Arios attempted to have Rance bring him medicine to relieve his stomach pain, but was mistaken for a vagrant begging for money by Rance and quickly kicked away before he was able to properly introduce himself. By the time that Arios had recovered enough to move again, he learned that Hikari had already been found and rescued by Rance.

Following the failed rescue mission, Arios participated in the Leazas Coliseum, where he managed to reach third place in the rankings before being defeated due to being weakened by the lingering effects of his food poisoning. Despite not winning, Arios’ strength was noticed by Maris Amaryllis, the personal attendant of Princess Lia Parapara Leazas, who hired him alongside the coliseum’s champion Yulang Mirage to exterminate a group of monsters that had invaded the basement of Leazas Castle. After the duo completed this mission, Maris also tasked them with destroying a group of slave traders that had been kidnapping the daughters of various noble families across the Continent, which they also succeeded at doing.

A few months after his victory over the slave traders, Arios became one of many adventurers hired by Gazel Gode, the mayor of the Free City of Kathtom, to defeat the Four Witches who had taken control over his city. When Arios arrived at Kathtom, however, he became sidetracked with helping the townspeople resolve their personal problems, which caused him to delay his pursuit of the witches. Eventually, all four witches were successfully defeated by Rance before Arios was able to even attempt to search for them, causing his adventure in the city to be relatively uneventful.

In the year LP0002, Arios enlisted in the Leazas Liberation Army alongside countless other adventurers in order to fight against the Helman Army, which had occupied Leazas and begun attempting to conquer the Free Cities in an event known as the 7th Helman-Leazas War. During the war's decisive Battle of The O, Arios served in the unit of Milli Yorks, where his exceptional strength and strong sense of justice allowed him to earn her praise. Despite this, Arios' contributions to the war were largely overlooked in favor of those of Rance, who, through various circumstances, became the leader of the Liberation Army and eventually led it to victory over Helman.

Shortly after the end of the war, Arios set out on another adventure in order to rescue Cola, who had been kidnapped by an unknown assailant. After rescuing Cola, Arios traveled to the Free City of Gaya in order to destroy an organization of mutants that had begun to overrun it. Almost immediately after Arios succeeded in defeating the mutants, however, the entire town of Gaya was completely crushed by the floating island of Ylapu, which had fallen to the ground as a result of the destruction of Upsilon, the Toushin responsible for its sustained flight, at the hands of Rance during the events of Rance IV. While Gaya and all of its inhabitants were completely destroyed by the crash, Arios' powers as Hero allowed him to miraculously survive.

After Gaya's destruction, Arios traveled to the Magic Nation of Zeth, where he met and befriended Urza Pranaice, one of the highest-ranking members of the non-magic user rights group the Pentagon. Arios assisted the Pentagon during the December Revolution, an ill-fated coup d'état against the nation's government that ultimately resulted in Urza, her family and their closest allies splitting off to form their own resistance organization known as Ice Flame. During his time in Zeth, Arios also acquired the Heroic Blade Escude, a legendary sword that can only be wielded by the Hero.

In the year LP0003, Arios assisted the citizens of the Free Cities in fighting against the Empire of Buhard, a nation that had secretly formed underground and was controlled by an evil organization that intended to conquer the entire Continent. During the war with Buhard, Arios had his first formal meeting with Rance, who was serving as one of the evil organization's top executives. Arios immediately declared Rance to be a villain upon encountering him, causing him to challenge the brutal warrior to a duel. While the fight technically ended in a draw, Arios succeeded in severely injuring Rance while remaining virtually unscathed himself, causing the humiliated Rance to develop an intense grudge against Arios.

Eventually, the war between the Free Cities and Buhard ended after Rance betrayed the organization and killed each of his fellow executives, destroying it in the process. Following the war's end, Arios was ordered by Cola, who had grown worried that the balance of the Planner Scenario was beginning to be thrown off due to the ease at which both the 7th Helman-Leazas War and the war between the Free Cities and Buhard had been resolved, to begin spreading chaos throughout the Continent. Despite having diligently followed all of her commands prior to this, Arios refused Cola. Outraged by Arios' disobedience, Cola attempted to cause chaos by herself, but was eventually persuaded by him not to.

After placating Cola, Arios learned that Little Princess, the current Demon King of the era, had been sighted at Kawanakajima, the headquarters of the Continent's largest religion the AL Church. Eager to defeat her, Arios stormed the AL Church's headquarters, where he was attacked by the Dark Lords Satella and La Hawzel along with the Human warrior Ogawa Kentarou. Despite their great strength, Arios succeeded in defeating all three of his opponents, allowing him to enter the room in which Little Princess was being kept. Upon entering the room, however, Arios was shocked to find that the Demon King, who he had expected to be a terrifyingly evil person, was none other than Kurusu Miki, an innocent-looking young girl sleeping peacefully. Unable to bring himself to kill Miki, Arios abandoned his pursuit of her and left the group alone.

In the year LP0004, Arios experienced his 20th birthday, causing him to lose his title of Hero and all of the powers that came with it, as well as prompting Cola, who had served as his close companion for several years, to callously abandon him. While troubled by the loss of his title, Arios made an attempt to set off on another adventure, only to fail miserably due to no longer possessing the great abilities that were bestowed upon him during his time as Hero. Arios was briefly mentioned by Ragnarokarc Super Gandhi, the king of Zeth, during the events of Rance VI in his speech to his subordinates Kaoru Quincy Kagura and Wichita Skate about their mission to unify humanity to fight against the monsters. During the speech, Gandhi emphasized the importance of finding out the identity of the latest Hero in time to be able aid them in uniting the world, noting their failure to do so with Arios before he lost his powers as exactly what they could not allow to happen again. Gandhi later thought about Arios again to himself upon becoming more properly acquainted with Rance during the feast celebrating the alliance between Leazas and Zeth at Parapara Fort, where he briefly speculated whether or not the selfish swordsman could have been his successor as Hero before brushing it off as an impossibility due to Rance being over 20.

At the beginning of the year LP0005, Arios traveled into the mountains in order to begin an intensive training course with the hopes of being able to become strong enough to help people even without the powers of a Hero. After several months of training, Arios emerged from the mountains in an attempt to resume his career as an adventurer, only to discover that he had not grown any stronger at all. Frustrated by his repeated failures, Arios decided to give up on remaining an ally of justice entirely and returned to his home village, which had repaired itself during the years he spent away from it. Arios was briefly mentioned by Miki during the events of Sengoku Rance, where, in her recollection of the various hardships she had experienced after becoming Demon King, she stated that she was very scared when she was being chased by him.

By the year LP0006, Arios had completely re-acclimated himself to life as an ordinary person, and was living a relatively happy-yet-uneventful life in his village with his childhood friend. Arios' likeness made a brief appearance during the events of Rance IX in the witch Miracle Tou's magical projection of the Twelve Knights, her fantasy all-male elite guard. As a member of the Twelve Knights, Miracle gave Arios the title of "Judgement", and stated that she desired to have him as part of the group more for his compelling background as a failed former Hero rather than for his actual physical abilities. Compared to the group's other members, who Rance had either forgotten or dismissed for various inane reasons, Rance flatly stated that Arios was "no good", and did not provide any further clarification for why he did not want him to be a part of it.

In the non-canon Kichikuou Rance, set during the year LP0003, Arios appears while still being in possession of the title of Hero. At some point prior to the events of the game, he was captured and imprisoned by the Kalar in order to be used as breeding stock. If Rance enters the Kalar forests himself, he will also be captured by the all-female race, where he will meet Arios. Contrary to their relationship in the canonical timeline, the two young men get along rather well, with Rance expressing pity towards Arios, a virgin, for having to be forcefully ejaculated by the Kalar on a daily basis without ever getting to have sex with them. After Rance successfully wins the affections of the Kalar Queen Pastel Kalar, earning his and Arios' freedom in the process, the two part on good terms. Arios makes an additional appearance in Kichikuou Rance during the "Unification" ending, obtained if Rance manages to defeat Kayblis without having full control over the entire world. With the world not completely united under Rance, tensions quickly begin to stir among the conquered nations, who begin to recognize him as a tyrant, sparking a massive rebellion. During the rebellion, Arios charges into the throne room of Leazas Castle, where he challenges Rance to a duel to determine the future of the world, with the game ending just as their battle begins, preventing the victor from being revealed.

Personality and Appearance
Arios is a young man of average height with spiky red hair and a lean muscular build. His clothing during his time as Hero consisted of gold-accented white armor worn over a blue tunic, along with a dark yellow cape. Arios is noted to be quite handsome, which was further complimented by his natural ability to attract women while he was Hero. Arios' appearance is largely the same in Kichikuou Rance, though his armor is blue-colored with a gold falcon-shaped insignia on its chest plate and his cape is white.

Befitting a Hero, Arios possesses a strong sense of justice, and is both righteous and compassionate. His compassion is incredible even when compared to other Heroes, as his refusal to kill Kurusu Miki when given the chance shows that he was willing to go against his duty of slaying the Demon King in order to protect an innocent girl. Even following the loss of his powers, Arios' continued attempts at trying to protect the weak and innocent show that this selflessness was genuine rather than simply an obligation due to being the Hero.

Despite his heroic personality, Arios is very naive and easily distracted, spending the majority of his time as Hero doing minor side quests rather than accomplishing more important goals. As a result, Rance ended up resolving most of the world's conflicts before he even knew about or was given the chance to be relevant in them.

Due to the natural charisma bestowed upon him as the Hero, Arios was very popular with women and had several girlfriends all across the world. While Arios presumably lost this ability after losing his title of Hero, he is currently living comfortably with his childhood friend, suggesting that they are in a romantic relationship together.

Arios first encountered the warrior Rance while the latter was assisting the Underground Empire of Buhard in attempting to conquer the Free Cities Alliance. Due to the nature of this meeting, Arios chose to recognize Rance as a villain and fought against him to defend the Free Cities, where he succeeded in severely damaging him. Unused to losing even slightly, Rance made the declaration that he would have his revenge against Arios by raping all of his girlfriends across the Continent. While it is unknown if Rance has accomplished or even attempted to complete this objective, his grudge against Arios seems to persist years after their encounter, as he stated that Arios was "no good" immediately upon seeing his image among Miracle Tou's projection of the Twelve Knights and did not provide a comical justification for his reasoning like he did with the other members of the group.

Despite the hostility of their relationship in canon, Rance and Arios are shown to get along quite well in Kichikuou Rance, where they serve as cellmates together during their time as prisoners in Kalar Village. This suggests that it was the circumstances of their first meeting with each other in canon that soured their relationship rather than any sort of incompatibility between their personalities. Even when on friendly terms with each other, however, Arios is still unafraid to stand against Rance after he becomes recognized as a tyrant by the rest of the world, though he makes a point of stating that he wished that he would not have to fight him.

Abilities
During his time as the Hero of the System, Arios was blessed with incredible power, possessing both an enormous Level Cap of 99 and a Sword Combat Lv2 Skill Level, giving him an incredible amount of potential. While the title of Hero caused Arios to level up at a much slower rate than most other individuals, it also prevented him from ever losing Levels over time, meaning his strength would never deteriorate. These qualities allowed for Arios to be an excellent warrior who was able to severely damage Rance in a battle of swordsmanship while remaining relatively unharmed himself as well as defeat the Dark Lords Satella and La Hawzel and the very strong human swordsman Ogawa Kentarou in a three-on-one fight, both incredible feats in their own right.

Despite these great achievements, much of Arios' strength is suggested to have been the result of the special powers given to him as Hero rather than his own natural talent. After losing his title of Hero, Arios became so weak that he was unable to continue living as an adventurer, even after several months of intensive training to increase his power, suggesting that his natural level cap is quite low.

Due to having possessed a Sword Combat Lv2 skill level, Arios was able to perform a unique special move known as Falcon Set, which produced a red shockwave from his sword to attack several enemies at once. During his time in the Leazas Liberation Army, Arios used this move to defeat a large group of Helman Knights, who are well known for individually being strong enough to be a challenge to face even for a high level party. It is unknown if he still possesses this technique after losing the title of Hero.

Trivia

 * Arios' known girlfriends include:
 * Terrasse, a 16-year-old who he met in the year GI1015.
 * Lilina, a 17-year-old who he met in the year LP0001.
 * Cider, an 18-year-old who he met in the year LP0002.
 * Elizabeth, a 16-year-old who he met in the year LP0003.
 * Nina, Arios' childhood friend whom he settled down with after retiring as an adventurer in the year LP0005.
 * Interestingly, two of Arios' girlfriends, Lilina and Elizabeth, share their names with the characters of Lilina and Elizabeth Des, who appeared in the game Kichikuou Rance but have not made any canonical appearances in the series to date. Additionally, Elizabeth's age matches the age of the Kichikuou Rance character of the same name, and she began dating Arios following his adventure in the AL Church headquarters, the same location where the Kichikuou Rance Elizabeth was encountered in. Whether or not these girls are intended to be the same characters as the ones seen in Kichikuou Rance, however, is unknown.
 * Arios is terrified of bees, to the point where he has never once attempted to fight a Bee Girl Gal Monster due to the great fear they inspire in him.
 * Arios is largely a parody of Adol Christin, the main protagonist of the Ys series of video games, though he more broadly parodies most traditional RPG protagonists.
 * Arios' last name is occasionally romanized as "The O-Man" by Alicesoft, suggesting that it is meant to reference his birthplace of The O.
 * Besides his appearance in Kichikuou Rance, Arios has only made very small cameos throughout the series, with all of his major interactions with Rance and Kentarou happening during the unseen "missing year" of LP0003.
 * Arios shares a few qualities in common with Bird Lithfie, Both are more traditionally heroic warriors with many girlfriends who serve as rivals to Rance. However, while both are presented as Rance's opposite in terms of character, Bird is revealed to be much more similar to Rance than he initially appears to be.