Hometown: Keterburg
Age: 35
Weight: 74 kg / 163 lbs
Height: 186 cm / 6'1"
Weapon: Lances
Dr. Jade Balfour, more commonly known as Jade Curtiss or Jade the Necromancer, is a colonel serving in the Malkuth military and an exceptional wielder of Fonic Arts renowned throughout Auldrant. He always appears to be smiling or at least cheerful, regardless of the events unfolding around him, giving little indication of his true thoughts on anything.
Jade is known as the father of Fomicry, the science of extracting data from an existing entity to produce a perfect copy known as a 'replica'. His first attempt was when his sister, Nephry, broke her favorite doll, and Jade created a replica to soothe her tears. He was nine at the time.
In his youth, he was, as described by his sister, a "devil" highly adept in casting Fonic Artes; his sister saw him as one who did not understand the significance of life or perhaps that anything but himself could be sentient -- and he, therefore, enjoyed killing monsters through Fonic Artes even adults found difficult. Sometime after Luke's conversation with Nephry regarding her brother, Jade confesses to Luke that he still fails to understand what it means for someone to die.
He was, however, significantly changed by his teacher, Dr. Nebilim, a healer who commanded the Seventh Fonon, which Jade could not command himself. Though he had great respect for his teacher, Jade attempted to cast a spell using the seventh fonon, but instead unleashed a power beyond his control that resulted in the death of Nebilim.
As Nebilim lay dying, Jade extracted her data and created a replica of her, though rather than resurrecting his beloved teacher, he only succeeded in creating a monster which he found himself forced to destroy.
At some point after these painful events, Jade's talents in fonic artes and fomicry were recognized, and he was adopted into House Curtiss, a family of high position within the Malkuth military. Jade was eventually convinced to cease his endeavors with Fomicry by his close friend, Emperor Peony the Ninth, who spent his childhood years in Jade's hometown of Keterburg. It is also revealed that Jade forbade the practice of Fomicry on living organisms due to both ethical and technical issues arising from the subject.
Dist (also one of Nebilim's students), however, still didn't accept Nebilim's death. His dream was to see Jade return to normal and help him resurrect her again. However, Jade had always refused and often opted to make fun of Dist instead.
He introduces himself as "Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces." He doesn't ever refer to himself as Jade the Necromancer (his given nickname that arose due to his habit of scavenging corpses after a battle), but acknowledges others when they call him the Necromancer.
Personality
Jade is at first mostly an enigma, his teasing smile always hiding his true thoughts. Often, when the actions of those around him are less than thought through, Jade uses sarcasm to show that he disapproves. Other than amusement, Jade rarely shows signs of any emotions at all, though occasionally they get out of his control. Deep inside, Jade feels guilty for all the people he has killed, especially Professor Nebilim.
Abilities
Jade could be considered the strongest character in Tales of the Abyss, given all of his powerful Fonic Artes. When Luke first encounters him, Jade is Level 45, with Artes like Blessed Drops and Ground Dasher. Largo the Black Lion (a God-General), however, uses a fon slot seal to seal Jade's Fonic Artes. Jade's Level is immediately dropped to 5 and he loses all his Artes except Energy Blast and Sonic Spear. His increases in level, therefore, actually represent how much of the fon slot seal he has undone.
Through leveling up, Jade gains one high-tier Fonic Arte for each element but light and darkness: the aforementioned Blessed Drops and Ground Dasher, Thunder Blade, and Infernal Prison. Through sidequests, however, Jade can also learn Absolute, Prism Sword, and Meteor Storm. Also, each of Jade's high-tier Fonic Artes invokes a fully charged Field of Fonons of its element after it is used. Each of Jade's four Strike Artes--Sonic Spear, Thunder Lance, Impaling Heaven, and Sovereign Gale--is changed by a different element of FoF, meaning that Jade can use any fully charged FoF to change a Strike Arte.
