Alex Valse

"Alex Valse, vowing to take more initiative in his life."

- I hate fighting. If possible, I always wanted to resolve things in a peaceful manner. I thought anyone would understand eventually... But I decided to change my ideas. I'll fight for what's important to me. No matter how great the obstacle.

About
Alex Valse is the general of the Light Army of the magic nation of Zeth.

The youngest member of the Valse family, one of the oldest and most powerful noble families in all of Zeth, Alex enjoyed a highly privileged upbringing. Unlike most members of the notoriously corrupt and cruel nobility of Zeth, however, Alex grew up to become a kindhearted and gentle young man who showed empathy for all people regardless of their social standing.

While attending Zeth's most prestigious magic academy, Alex was hailed as a prodigy in the Magic Arts. As a student, Alex was praised by his teachers for his talent as a mage, his dedication to his studies and his excellent upholding of the school's code of conduct. Alex's notoriety within the academy as an excellent student allowed him to become the private tutor of Magic the Gandhi, the princess of Zeth, when she began attending it. The two became incredibly close during this time, and started dating after a few months of getting to know each other.

Following his graduation from the academy, Alex enlisted in his nation's military. Through a combination of his outstanding marks in school and his family's large amount of influence, Alex was able to immediately attain the rank of general of the Light Army at the age of 18, making him one of the youngest people to become a general in the history of The Continent. Alex's incredible talent as a mage, alongside his long term relationship with the princess of the country, caused him to quickly become a well known figure within Zeth, with rumors circulating that he was to become the next king of the country after Ragnarokarc Super Gandhi retired. While Alex was aware of these rumors, he was reluctant to make them a reality as he lacked the courage to propose to Magic on his own, hoping instead that King Gandhi would notice his many achievements and arrange a marriage between the two of them.

As one of Zeth's four generals, Alex remained one of the most steadfast supporters of King Ragnarokarc Super Gandhi and his egalitarian policies. While other influential figures within Zeth began to turn their backs on King Gandhi, forming their own conservative group in direct opposition to him, Alex, along with the other generals, continued to believe in his ideals in hope that Zeth would one day achieve true equality.

During the events of Rance VI, Alex, along with the Light Army, was called in to intercept an attack by the anti-magic terrorist group the Pentagon at the National Public Safety Department. The Light Army assisted the more moderate resistance organization Ice Flame's Green Corps in stopping the Pentagon forces, where Alex earned the jealousy of the Green Corps' leader Rance by successfully destroying a large sealed door with a White Destruction Beam that Rance was unable to open with his Rance Attack. After eradicating the Pentagon from the building, killing several members of its members in the process, Alex saw Rance shedding tears at the thought of never being able to sleep with the deceased female Pentagon members, which he misconstrued as being tears for his fallen enemies, causing him to believe the brutal warrior to be an amazingly kind person. Later, Alex and the Light Army were called in to stop a riot being led by the Pentagon's strongest fighter Kinggeorge Violae. Though Alex attempted to reason with him to surrender nonviolently, Kingeorge refused due to his hatred of all mages, forcing the young general to kill him.

Alex and the Light Army later assisted in the large scale evacuation of Zeth following the invasion of the monster army led by the Dark Lord Camilla after the deactivation of the nation's primary defense system the Maginot Line. After the successful evacuation, Alex attended the party held at Parapara Fortress on the outskirts of Zeth hosted by Queen Lia Parapara Leazas to celebrate the temporary alliance between Zeth and Leazas to defeat the monster forces. During this party, a drunken Magic ended up naked in the same bed as Rance and Lia, causing her to incorrectly believe that she had had sex with the two of them in her intoxicated state. Believing herself to have ruined her purity, Magic reluctantly ended her relationship with Alex the next morning in order to avoid being labeled a loose woman. Confused and frightened by their sudden break up, Alex eagerly volunteered to join the operation to reactivate the Maginot Line in a last ditch attempt to impress King Gandhi and gain the right to marry Magic. While Rance was reluctant to let Alex onto the team due to perceiving his good looks to be a threat to him, he was forced to acknowledge that his power was an asset and allowed him to join.

As a member of the Maginot Line reactivation team, Alex proved to be a powerful and useful fighter. His natural kindness almost jeopardized the mission, however, when the Dark Lord Sieg took the form of an injured young boy, causing Alex to rush to his side in an attempt to aid him, allowing the Dark Lord to ambush the group. Alex was harshly lectured for his softness by Gandhi after Sieg's defeat, resulting in the king declaring that he would never consider him as a successor until he learned to become more assertive. Later, Alex, alongside Magic, operated the terminal to re-calibrate the restored Maginot Line, where they successfully managed to program it to eradicate the remaining monster forces within Zeth.

After the defeat of the monster army, Alex attended the ill-fated wedding of Rance and Magic, where, after it had become clear that Rance would not attend it, he expressed joy at being given another chance with Magic. He later made one final attempt at restoring his relationship with Magic by challenging Rance, who he believed was taking Magic's love for him for granted, to a duel. Rance succeeded in defeating him, causing Alex to acknowledge Rance as the better man and that it was his own passiveness that lost him both Magic and the crown. After coming to this realization, Alex vowed to become a stronger person to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Following his defeat, Alex resumed his regular duties as general of the Light Army, where he was regularly followed around by Magic's friend Eropicha Nyanko, causing many to believe that the two had begun dating, to Alex's obliviousness.

Alex and the Light Army made a small appearance in Rance Quest, where they attempted to intercept the Dark Lord Kite, who had suddenly begun rampaging through Zeth. Due to their inability to pierce the Invincibility Field, Alex and his soldiers failed their mission and were defeated by the demonic martial artist, causing Alex to worry for the country's safety.

In the non-canon Kichikuou Rance, Alex and his colleagues are tasked with defending Zeth when the kingdom of Leazas, led by the newly crowned King Rance, begins invading it. Alex's fate varies depending on whether or not the player defeats the Light Army at its base in Old Zeth before defeating Magic in her tower. If Magic's tower is invaded before the Light Army is defeated, Alex will fight alongside his girlfriend to defend the tower, and the two will die together if they are defeated. If the Light Army is fought before invading Magic's tower, a heavily injured Alex will escape from Leazas' forces through Zeth's sewer system and disappear, resulting in a depressed Magic making a contract with the Devil Xacalite to avenge his apparent death. If Magic is successfully recruited into Leazas' forces and used when conquering Tearring Forest when at war with the Monster Realm, she will discover an amnesiac Alex in the forest on the verge of death, and will take him with her to Leazas to nurse him back to health. Alex will then begin living happily in Leazas alongside Magic, who hopes that by spending time with him he will regain his memories, though he will not become a playable commander.

Personality and Appearance
Alex is a young man of average height with a light muscular build, short brown hair and soft, boyish facial features. His clothing consists of the standard male Zeth military uniform with the addition of a small white cape denoting him as the general of the Light Army and a small crown-like ornament in his hair. He is noted to be very handsome, to the point of making Rance fearful that his good looks could steal away potential women from him. Routinely described as a flawless young man, Alex embodies the ideal traits of a young nobleman, being elegant, well-mannered and kind. Despite growing up in a country sharply divided in half by a strict caste system, he does not view himself as being above any other person, and shows only compassion to everyone around him, regardless of their social standing. He is also something of a hopeless romantic, and is known to go off into extended speeches about the healing powers of love and peace at the slightest provocation. While Alex's bleeding heart is generally highly praised by those around him as a sign of his purity, it is also the source of some of his biggest flaws, with his sheltered upbringing causing him to be naive and overly trusting towards even his greatest enemies, endangering the lives of himself and his comrades in the process.

Besides his kindness, Alex is also naturally fairly timid and passive, causing him to be extremely hesitant to disobey authority, to the point of lecturing Magic whenever she would skip out on her duties as a Lord of Zeth to go see him, as well as causing him to ruin his chances of becoming the king of Zeth for various reasons. Despite this, Alex recognized these flaws after his loss against Rance, causing him to vow to become more assertive and independent in order to avoid squandering similar opportunities for himself in the future.

Alex began dating Magic the Gandhi, the princess of Zeth, while acting as her private tutor, and the two continued dating for over a year prior to their breakup. The pair was often described as the perfect couple, with both Alex and Magic frequently confessing the depth of their love for each other, and almost all of Zeth predicting that the two of them would eventually marry. Despite this, Alex's own hesitance to propose to or be even slightly forward with Magic forced their relationship to remain largely platonic and stagnant, causing it to never advance past fairly innocent activities such as holding hands. After Magic mistakenly believed that she had been impregnated by Rance, she forced herself to break up with Alex in order to avoid being seen as indecent for having a bastard child. While Magic was initially incredibly upset with having to end the relationship, she gradually began to fall in love with Rance, causing her to move on from Alex in order to devote herself entirely to making Rance into a better man so that she could marry him with a clear conscience. Alex was left deeply depressed by Magic leaving him, and made an effort to passively win her back by earning her father's favor, but was forced to acknowledge that it was his own fault for waiting too long to progress their relationship that she left him. Alex later attempted to fight Rance for Magic's honor, and, though he was defeated, managed to impress both Magic and Gandhi with his newfound determination.

Alex has a somewhat difficult relationship with Magic's father Ragnarokarc Super Gandhi. While Gandhi recognizes Alex as a highly capable and talented person, he believes that his lack of assertiveness reduces his effectiveness as both a leader and a man, and sees him as unfit to be the king of Zeth. These feelings came to a head when Alex's weakness nearly resulted in the Dark Lord Sieg defeating their group, causing Gandhi to lecture Alex about the dangers of his passivity as well as declaring that, as Alex currently was, he had no intention of ever giving him his daughter or his crown. Alex took Gandhi's words to heart, allowing him to acknowledge his flaws and attempt to improve himself as a person.

He is extraordinarily close with the other three generals of Zeth, with each of them viewing him as an ideal future leader for the country. In particular, he is best friends with Saias Crown, who he frequently seeks out for advice and guidance. Saias views Alex as a younger brother, and often teases him about his innocence with women, with Alex in turn chastising Saias for his philandering as well as encouraging him to be more upfront about his feelings towards Uspira Shintou.

Abilities
Praised as a genius from a very young age, Alex is an incredibly gifted person with an astounding amount of skill and potential. He possesses a staggeringly high Level Cap of 80, one of the highest in all of humanity, and is currently at level 58, making him already one of the most powerful people alive despite his youth. In addition, he has a natural talent for magic that allows him to learn a wide range of spells quickly and to great effect. His strength was exceptional enough to earn the attention of Rance, who grudgingly recognized him as a powerful person despite his usual hesitance to praise others. Despite these excellent capabilities, Alex's inexperience, along with his timid nature, causes his potential to be hampered somewhat, with even his fellow generals criticizing his inability to ever fully utilize his many gifts. Because of this, other, more experienced and confident mages such as Kabachahn the Lightning are substantially more powerful than he is despite possessing much lower level caps.

While Alex is talented in all forms of the magic arts, he specializes in light magic and is recognized as one of the most powerful light mages in the world. Alex is capable of casting every known light spell in existence, up to and including the ultimate light magic spell White Destruction Beam, to much greater effect than even other similarly skilled mages such as Shizuka Masou can. A single White Destruction Beam cast by him was enough to destroy a heavily reinforced door that Rance was unable to destroy with a Rance Attack, his own special attack known for its incredible destructive power, further showcasing Alex's talent with light magic.

Beyond his skill as a mage, Alex is also talented as a military leader who is able to command a large group of soldiers to great effect. Alex's skill as a leader was best shown during the Light Army's interception of the Pentagon's attack on Zeth's National Public Safety Department, where he was able to efficiently lead them to defeating the terrorist group in a short amount of time.

In-Game
For more in depth gameplay information of each game refer to:
 * Alex Vals/Rance VI
 * Alex Vals/Rance Quest

Trivia

 * Alex is one of the few men that Rance has acknowledged the strength of.
 * Alex is currently tied with Amitos Armitage for the title of youngest person to attain the rank of general on the continent, with both being only 18 when they were first promoted to the position.
 * Alex's battle sprite in Kichikuou Rance features an Angel-like female figure floating behind him. When asked about it, Alicesoft revealed that this figure was meant to be the physical embodiment of Alex's mastery of light magic. As neither this figure or anything like it has appeared since, it is likely that this idea was dropped.
 * Concept artwork from the Kichikuou Rance music CD booklet shows a mysterious young man known as "Apostle Alex" not seen anywhere else in the series. While this character shares a name with and bears a slight resemblance to Alex himself, whether or not they were actually meant to be the young mage transformed into a Dark Lord's Apostle or a completely unrelated character is unknown.
 * In the initially released version of Rance VI, Alex's level cap as a playable character was 44 rather than 80. This was likely merely an oversight on the part of the programmers, as all later versions of the game raise it to 80 once again, and both his appearance in Rance Quest and his profile in the Rance World Notes list his level cap as being 80.