Bodu

"Bodu, speaking out against his country's corruption."

- I am a proud black knight, a knight of the Helman Empire... But... This rotten Helman is not the Helman that I swore loyalty to! I cannot devote my life to such a country! If we all throw our lives away defending it, nothing will change!

About
Bodu was the general of the Helman 2nd Army between November of LP0006 and September of LP0007 and a former member of the Helman Revolutionary Army.

Prior to the events of the Helman Revolution, Bodu served as a captain in the Helman 1st Army under General Lelyukov Berkov. Like many members of the Helmanian military, Bodu began to grow concerned with the direction that his country was heading into following the appointment of Stessel Romanov as Prime Minister. Despite these reservations, Bodu continued to loyally follow the example of his commanding officer and refrained from acting on any of his suspicions about the increasing corruption of the government.

During the events of Rance IX, Bodu, finally having had enough of serving a corrupt and incompetent government, resolved to leave the 1st Army. Bodu reported his intentions to Lelyukov, who commended him for the courage it took to tell him directly and allowed him to do so. Bodu's actions inspired several other members of the 1st Army, who followed his example and left the unit. Shortly after leaving the 1st Army, Bodu and the other former soldiers were confronted by Cream Ganoblade, the former lieutenant general of the Helman 4th Army. Cream informed Bodu that she had defected to the Revolutionary Army due to her belief that it would bring the change necessary to move Helman toward a brighter future, and invited him to join it. While Bodu was skeptical at first, his mind was cleared of all doubt after Cream revealed that the Revolutionary Army was being led by none other than Patton Helman, the former heir to the throne who had long been thought to be dead. Realizing that the Revolutionary Army was much more than a petty rebellion, Bodu and his followers graciously accepted Cream's offer and joined the organization.

Upon becoming a part of the Revolutionary Army, Bodu's skills as a military commander were immediately put to use, leading his men in the field using the strategic operations devised by Cream. After the Revolutionary Army lost its foothold in the city of Laborie to the forces of the Helman 2nd Army, Bodu volunteered to lead a decoy unit to allow the remainder of the army to escape to its stronghold in the city of Pawn. While Bodu fully expected to give his life in order to allow the operation to succeed, he was miraculously saved from death at the last moment by Hunty Kalar, who led an army of reinforcements to fight off the 2nd Army.

Soon after his brush with death, Bodu and his troops regrouped with the rest of the Revolutionary Army shortly before it launched its final assault on Lang Bau, the capital city of Helman. Before the attack, Bodu met with Cream privately, where he confessed his feelings for her, stating that, after having already almost experienced death once before, he realized that he did not want to die with any unresolved feelings in his heart. While Cream was flustered by his confession, she chose to reject it, stating that she did not want to distract herself with anything outside of restoring Helman. Bodu was upset by this response, but was able to accept it, stating that simply telling the person he loved his feelings for them was enough to allow him to die without regrets.

Following the success of the revolution, Bodu witnessed the crowning of Patton as the 47th Emperor of Helman, where he wept tears of joy for his country's future. Shortly afterwards, Bodu was appointed the general of the Helman 2nd Army, whose previous leader, Aristoles Calm, met his end during the revolution, in recognition of his contributions throughout the war.

In August of LP0007, after Helman had become more stable, Bodu and Cream entered into a relationship with each other. The two quickly became very close as a couple, though their relationship was complicated by Bodu's post at Fort Banra being a great distance from Lang Bau, where Cream was based. To compensate, the two communicated largely through letters, and regularly made time between their heavy workloads to write to each other.

At the beginning of September of the same year, Bodu sent Cream a letter containing an engagement ring, asking for her hand in marriage. Before Cream was able to respond to the proposal, however, Helman was invaded from the south by a large army of Monsters, who had mysteriously occupied the fabled nation of Shangri-La located in the middle of the Kinani Desert, in what would come to be known as the first attack in the Second Dark Lord War. As Helman's 4th Army, the country's southern border guard, was poorly-equipped to handle an invasion of such a great size, Cream ordered the 2nd Army to send reinforcements to aid in defending against the attack. Shortly after this command was initiated, a second, equally large monster army attacked Helman from the west, at its border with the Monster Realm. Due to having sent a significant number of its soldiers to assist in the fighting to the south, the 2nd Army was severely outnumbered by the western invaders, forcing Bodu to fight on the front lines with what few soldiers remained. The remaining portion of the 2nd Army was quickly destroyed by the overwhelming strength of the monsters, with Bodu himself among the casualties. Bodu's death, combined with the suddenness of the attack, caused Cream to momentarily fall into a depressed state, pushing Helman into a critical situation as the monster army steadily moved towards the capitol from two different directions.

During the events of Rance X, Cream received Bodu's last words, a letter addressed to her, from his subordinate Tolstoy Bato, who had assumed his commanding officer's duties following his death. While the contents of the letter were not shown, Cream began crying uncontrollably upon reading them.

Personality and Appearance
Bodu was a somewhat gruff-looking man with short dirty blonde hair, a light beard and a small scar on his forehead. Like most Helmanian men, he possessed a large and well-built body. His clothing consisted of the standard black heavy armor worn by all Helman knights. Somewhat uniquely, Bodu's armor was decorated with a flame pattern across its right side. After joining the Revolutionary Army, Bodu's armor gained a yellow shoulder guard signifying his place in the group.

A dedicated soldier of the 1st Army throughout most of his life, Bodu embodied many of the ideals embraced by the Helman Army. He was incredibly patriotic, to the point of going against the orders of his superiors in order to do what he believed to be right for his country. Bodu's devotion to Helman was so great that he was at one point willing to sacrifice his own life if it meant ensuring the success of the revolution that he believed would restore the country to its former glory. After narrowly avoiding death acting as a decoy, however, Bodu reconsidered the value of his life and realized that there were things that he wanted to continue living for, filling him with a newfound resolve to fight even harder for what he believed in without throwing his life away.

During his time as a member of the Revolutionary Army, Bodu began to develop feelings for Cream Ganoblade, the person responsible for recruiting him into the group. Bodu was deeply moved by Cream's passion to free Helman from its oppressors, as well as enchanted by her talent for strategy. Despite this, he kept his feelings to himself throughout most of the revolution for an unknown reason. When he believed himself certain to die, Bodu expressed regret that he could never admit his feelings to Cream, which caused him to immediately reveal them to her after his life was saved. While Cream was flustered by Bodu's confession, she chose to reject it, stating that her only interest was ensuring Helman a better tomorrow. Bodu was upset by Cream's rejection, but accepted it, stating that making his feelings known to her was enough to allow him to die without regrets.

Several months following the end of the revolution, Bodu and Cream began dating each other. While the couple was unable to spend time together very often due to their demanding jobs, they regularly communicated through letters and were noted to be very close. After one month of dating, Bodu proposed to Cream via letter, which she intended to accept prior to his death at the hands of the monster army. Cream was left deeply distraught by Bodu's death, causing her to momentarily enter a state of depression that compromised her abilities as a strategist. Even after regaining her composure, Cream continues to mourn Bodu heavily beneath her strong exterior, carrying his engagement ring on her person at all times and weeping sorrowfully upon reading the final letter he wrote for her.

Bodu was noted to have been quite close with his subordinate Tolstoy Bato. While the full extent of their relationship is not shown, Tolstoy's loyalty to his commanding officer is made obvious by both his willingness to assume Bodu's duties as general of the 2nd Army during the Second Dark Lord War and his decision to deliver Bodu's last words to his beloved Cream.

Powers and Abilities
While neither his Level Cap nor his Skill Levels are known, Bodu was shown to have been a skilled military leader that was adept at leading large groups of soldiers. His talent for leading a unit earned him a high standing in the 1st Army, and the loyalty that he inspired in his troops proved to be enough for them to follow him out of the organization when he defected from it. After joining the Revolutionary Army, Bodu's skill as a commander allowed him to carry out the strategies created by Cream with exceptional efficiency, further supporting his talent in the field. These exemplary leadership abilities were noticed following the revolution's success, and earned Bodu the prestigious title of general of the 2nd Army, which requires a person capable of commanding thousands of soldiers at once to defend Helman at its border with the monster realm.

Besides his talents as a leader, Bodu was suggested to be, like most Helmanian knights, a skilled warrior of above-average strength. As he was never shown fighting on his own, however, the full extent of Bodu's individual power is unknown.

Trivia

 * Bodu was the only secondary Helman knight character to survive the events of Rance IX.
 * Bodu was the only NPC in Rance IX to become a Helmanian general following the success of the Helman Revolution.
 * Bodu came in 21st place in the "Males and Others" category of the Rance IX:Popularity Poll.