Cervantes de Leon

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Cervantes de Leon

Game series	Soul series
First game	Soul Edge
Voice actor(s) (English)	Warren Rodgerson (Soul Calibur II)
Voice actor(s) (Japanese)	Takashi Nagasako
In-Universe Information
Age	Stopped at 48 (Immortal, around 80 with normal aging)
Birthplace	Valencia, Spain
Birthdate	January 1, 1511 (aprox.)
Blood type	O (Soul Edge) None (later games)
Weapon	Long-sword and Pistol Sword
Weapon name	Legendary Soul Edge (Soul Edge) Acheron & Nirvana (Soul Calibur) Soul Edge (Female) & Nirvana (later games)
Fighting style	Soul Edge-induced memories
Family	Father, Phillip de Leon (deceased) Mother, deceased Daughter, Isabella "Ivy" Valentine

Cervantes de Leon (セルバンテス・デ・レオン　Serubantesu de Reon) is a fictional character designed for the Soul Series of fighting games. Cervantes made his first appearance in Soul Edge and has returned in Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur II and Soul Calibur III.

1 Biography
2 Weapons
3 Stages
4 Character Analysis
5 Trivia
6 Series' Appearances
7 External links

[edit] Biography

Cervantes' father, Phillip de Leon, was a privateer sent on a special mission from the Spanish king to loot in the name of Spain. One day, he sailed closely to an English ship with intent to loot it, only to find out too late that it was a warship. He was taken by surprise, his ship was destroyed, and he nearly died along with it. Cervantes was devastated. He decided that if that was what happened to sailors that swear allegiance to Spain, he would forsake it and become a pirate. One day, he received a message from the "Merchant of Death," Vercci. It was a request to find Soul Edge. At first Cervantes dismissed the offer, but finally accepted since Vercci was the merchant who gave him the artillery for his ship. After a year of searching, Cervantes found information pointing to an antiques dealer with a "strange article". There was no specific evidence that said article was Soul Edge, but Cervantes was a pirate, and could find some use for the ship's goods even if Soul Edge was not there. Cervantes attacked the ship, and nobody heard from him again for more than twenty years.

What had happened was that Cervantes had obtained Soul Edge on that ship, and it drove him insane as it devoured his soul. His insanity caused him to kill anyone who came looking for Soul Edge--including his own crew and the entire population of his home port town in Valencia--a reign of terror that lasted for twenty years. Li Long was the first to confront him to possess Soul Edge, but was defeated from its overwhelming power. He tried to escape, and Cervantes pursued him. However, Li Long successfully fled. After that, Sophitia Alexandra, Taki and Siegfried Schtauffen confronted Cervantes, and they all defeated him in succession. But this was not the end for Cervantes. Nightmare, the new host for Soul Edge, unknowingly resurrected him using the fragments of Soul Edge still lodged inside Cervantes' body, but all his memories of his past life had vanished. Over the course of the next three years, Cervantes sailed in a ghost ship, plundering and maddening ships across the world, as his memories gradually returned, along with the desire to search for Soul Edge again, even though he knew it had robbed him of his free will. During Cervantes' search for Soul Edge, he realized that the second sword had been shattered as well when he found a few shards of the second sword. He pondered as to whether or not Soul Edge had been definitively conquered, but at that moment, the shards melded together on their own to create a bigger piece of the sword. For the next four years, Cervantes began his quest to steal souls and collect additional fragments. Eventually, they took the form of a legitimate sword. Cervantes' new goal was to regain Soul Edge, and to do that, he needed as many of the fragments as he could find.

By making use of the fragments of the cursed sword within his body, Cervantes succeeded in preserving his own will. With Soul Edge and the Adrian, he devoured the souls of brawny men of the sea.

One day, when he had moored his ship in an opening in the cliffs in order to avoid the stormy waves, the presence of the "other" Soul Edge that he had felt up until this time suddenly disappeared. Then, his body began to crumble! The fragments of the cursed sword within his body were losing their power. As things stood now, he would soon return to the form of a charred corpse.

"Wow, looks like you're in trouble!"

Turning to the source of the sudden voice, Cervantes found a flock of black birds and a girl in green at the top of the mast.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"I guess you could say that I'm a servant of the cursed sword."

Cervantes grew angry at the overly cheerful girl, but listening to her words, he learned that a power equal and opposite of Soul Edge had sealed it...

After the girl disappeared from the mast and into the darkness, Cervantes thought to himself

He had no intention of binding himself to a shared objective with the girl, but he had no choice but to maintain his life by absorbing new souls, and while doing so, destroy the enemy of Soul Edge and revive the cursed sword that had been sealed.

His obsession for souls flaring, Cervantes set out into the stormy sea.

[edit] Weapons

-- Legendary Soul Edge

The legendary swords. They take the souls of its victims and the life of its wielders, forcing them to commit unspeakable crimes. Only those with great mental discipline can retain their will while wielding these swords. They mysteriously appeared as a set in an auction. Cervantes took the swords from the curio dealer who bought them, and used them for 25 years. They were labeled Soul Edge Female (the smaller blade) and Soul Edge Male (the bigger blade). The sacred warrior Sophitia shattered the smaller blade, while the bigger blade (as of Soul Calibur III) is now silent, fused with Soul Calibur.

-- Acheron

A long sword once wielded by Cervantes. It's probably booty from Cervantes' pirate days. He left it, alongside Nirvana, since their power paled in comparison to Soul Edge, but recovered both weapons from his flagship the Adrian once he lost the wicked sword, though he discarded it once again after creating the new Female Soul Edge. Acheron has a sturdy design and is good for both offense and defense.

-- Nirvana

A pistol sword once wielded by Cervantes. It's probably booty from Cervantes' pirate days. He left it, alongside Acheron, since their power paled in comparison to Soul Edge, but recovered both weapons from his flagship the Adrian once he lost the wicked sword. Nirvana is an unusual weapon with a gun in its hilt, which Cervantes can use to break a deadlock (as demonstrated in one of his counters) by shooting his opponent with it. In Soul Calibur III, he can use the pistol to shoot enemies both in the air and on the ground, with devastating effects.

-- Soul Edge (Female)

After collecting various fragments of the damaged Soul Edge, Cervantes was able to melt them together and create a new Soul Edge with them. The fragments inside himself prevent him from being controlled by the wicked sword. It's an excellent weapon, but pale in comparison with Soul Edge's real power.

[edit] Stages

-- Valencia Port (SE)

A port town in Spain, known to be the Dreaded Cervantes de Leon's headquarters. Here lays the Black Tail Inn, a place favoured by the pirate. It was once flourishing, but now it lays in ruins and silent like a tomb. Only a foul smell of death can be felt in the air. The Adrian, Cervantes' flagship, can be found anchored here.

-- The Adrian & The Fortress (SC)

This battle fortress on the Atlantic coast of Spain served double duty as a trading post for treasure ships of the Spanish Armada. When the dread pirate Cervantes returned from beyond the grave, he began to attack and plunder treasure ships from the Americas, as well as the Far East. Even ships from his motherland, Spain, were not safe. In fact, there are several historical accounts of clashes between Cervantes and the Spanish Armada. His ship, the Adrian, became a ghost ship that was surrounded by an otherworldly glow that resembled St. Elmo's fire. The eerie sight of the ship could be seen from dusk to dawn when Cervantes prowled the high seas for his next victim. Due to the sheer number and spread of the St. Elmo's fire, Cervantes' victims believed that they were surrounded by a large pirate fleet and either abandoned ship or fell into a state of sheer madness.

-- Pirate's Alcove (SC2)

Few know of the hidden dock inside a naturally formed cave lying in the westerly seas, for nary a soul dare to venture close to the wave-beaten precipice that houses it. This place was once the stronghold of a renowned pirate and his hardy crew. But there is no one here anymore, for the captain murdered all of his subordinates. Ten years have passed since anyone has stepped foot in this cavern, but the place is still lit, and a pirate ship can also be seen. Is this the projection of the memories of the slain pirates? Or, is this the memories of the captain, who has since disappeared?
(Note: Cervantes shares this level with Maxi)

-- Pirate Raid (SC3)

Amongst men of the sea, a rumor had began to circulate that the great pirate Cervantes had hidden an enormous treasure in a cave near the coast of Spain... Naturally, this story was merely bait scattered by Cervantes in order to gather souls to feed to Soul Edge, but it brought a never-ending stream of pirate ships to Cervantes' hideout.

And now, once more, a ship was approaching. It was a two-masted ship, compact even for its time. As if hinting at the fate that awaited the ship, the wind increased in strength and raging waves washed upon the deck. Seeing his prey come chasing the bait, Cervantes cackled and readied his weapon.

[edit] Character Analysis

In Soul Edge/Blade, Cervantes is considered a top-tier character. His many strengths range from an overpowerful vertical attack combos, strong throws, and long combos that are simple. His only weakness is weak horizontal attacks.

In Soul Calibur, Cervantes keeps his top-tier status primarily due to the down-playing of the strengths of most other characters. With the exception of Taki, Cervantes is the most powerful character with the delay times he has being only teens-frames, while Astaroth has some in the 30s, and almost all of Taki's sub-10

In Soul Calibur II, Cervantes is still considered a top-tier character. His strengths include perhaps the best damage potential in the game, a good "wake-up" game, a large "step", and good horizontal moves for killing opposing steppers.

Spencer "FetZ" Brisson used Cervantes to make it to the final round of the Soul Calibur II Nationals Tournament, where he was defeated by Harold "Kageh" Hess's Ivy.[1]

In Soul Calibur III, his already visually stunning throw game has been upped considerably with the introduction of the new command throw Phantasm Fleet. In addition to being one of the most powerful throws in the game (think Summon Suffering level damage), it also has a very easy execution. To perform this throw, the player must only slide the left analog stick in a semicircle, counterclockwise, across its lowest points twice and then press A+G--far easier than the fancy fingering required in Ivy's Summon Suffering. His range has also been given a boost by the re-introduction of such moves as Bloody Culverin and Genocidal Culverin, giving him some of the best ranged power moves in the game. While they are easily dodged, these attacks also provide a psychological edge over a close range opponent, such as Talim or Taki. Genocidal Culverin could also be used against opponents that get too close. His agility gives him the edge over a slow character like Rock or Astaroth, with moves like Shadow Flare and Geo Da Ray assisting him. Also, his mix-up, ring-out and juggling games are among the most potent in Soul Calibur. His weakness in Soul Calibur III is that many of his attacks strike at close range and sometimes can be punishable due to their predictability. His 3A+B is a good move for interupting or punishing as it is fast in execution, hits mid and does good damage. Although it hits high, Cervantes' 4A is an effective move when being pressured since it is very fast and stuns on counter hit. 88A is one of the more useful yet relatively slow executing moves as it side steps then delivers two horizontal slashes that hit high and mid with good damage and a good push-back effect, useful against vertical attackers; its opposite direction, 22A is a different move, although having the same high and mid hitting properties, 22A hits faster and does more damage but it doesn't side-step and does not push back as much. New to the Soul Calibur games, Cervantes can actually shoot his pistol sword at opponents in three moves. One is an unblockable pistol shot that goes straight ahead and knocks the opponent to the ground upon impact. The second and the third are a little harder to execute, because they require the opponent being on the ground and in the air respectivley. For the second, Cervantes blasts his opponent into the air from the ground (as an attack throw), shoots them again to make them go higher, and shoots them a final time when they drop to the ground. As for the third type of pistol move, Cervantes juts his pistol sword into the air. If the opponent happens to fall on it, he catches them on the barrel of the gun and shoots their abdominal area three times (as an attack throw) before dropping them to the ground. A Cervantes player should learn his fastest moves in order interrupt the enemy's attacks to hold up in close range situations since his stronger moves execute slower than many fast characters, though many of these moves have good range.

In Soul Calibur III, Cervantes is still seen as a top-tier character especially when his stronger moves are regulated and used properly .

[edit] Trivia

Some of Cervantes' extra weapons are named after rivers in Hell, including Acheron, Phlegethon, Lethe, Cocytus, and Styx.
Cervantes' Joke Weapon is a wooden model of the swords he used in Soul Edge. The wooden model is called the Imitation Sword. The biggest difference is in Soul Edge (Female) which is in the form of Nirvana and is smaller.
Cervantes was revealed to be the father of Ivy. In the Whole World of Soul Calibur section of the old Soul Archive site, its revealed Ivy's mother is actually the Black Tail inn owner, whom Cervantes raped at Soul Edge's will to have a spare host if his current is rendered useless.
In Soul Calibur III, Cervantes' weapons and fighting style are available under the discipline Soul of Cervantes to, unsurprisingly, characters created under the Pirate class.
Cervantes' nickname in Soul Edge and Soul Calibur is "The Immortal Pirate". Story-wise he's also known as "The Dread Pirate".
Cervantes' Destined Battle in Soul Calibur and Soul Calibur III is Taki. In Soul Calibur II his Destined Battle is Ivy.