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Charade (シャレード Sharēdo) is a character in the Soul series of fighting games. It debuted in Soulcalibur II as a main character and returned as an unplayable character in Soulcalibur III, unless accessed through a cheating device such as Action Replay. In Soulcalibur III, Charade has three different forms and uses a different moveset in each of them: for his full form, he uses the same style as Revenant, who uses the Wave Sword style; for his second form, where his torso is missing, he uses the same style as Valeria, who uses the Grieve Edge style; and for his final form, which is just a floating eye, he uses a variation of Cassandra's style. 

Lacking any personal weapons or fighting style, Charade shapeshifts itself to mimic other characters at the beginning of each battle in Soulcalibur II. It also made an appearance in Namco x Capcom as multiple enemy units that use Sophitia's fighting style.

What lies in its soul is Creations.

Appearance[]

Charade appears as a humanoid bony creature entirely composed of what appears to be a composite of rock and glowing magma. Its overall design is rather surreal and asymmetrical with none of its parts matching as the shell-like formation of its somewhat skeletal structure seems random. Though these parts can freely be detached, they are all controlled and brought together by a singular yellow eye covered in pulsating red flesh, which appears to be Soul Edge's very core. In certain missions, Charade has displayed the ability to function without all of its parts, sometimes using only its legs or simply flying around as the eye itself.

Biography[]

Charade is formed from the remains of a man who was weary of war-torn lands and dreaming of adventure. He heard the legends of Soul Edge, and began a search to find its fragments. He is eventually murdered by bandits who had heard a rumour circulating in the cities of a man overly protective of his possessions. Still grasping the fragments, his corpse is thrown into a river. The blood from his hands forms around the fragments due to the man's tenacity to protect his precious fragments. The blood then somehow animated the Soul Edge fragments, which formed a living being that consumed the corpse of the man in order to fashion itself a body. This being seeks to find more shards, so it can devour them and become whole again. Charade is able to scan the minds of warriors it confronts, and then creates weapons out of its body to accommodate the fighting style it imitates. When the Soul Embrace was formed, Charade's power appeared to have weakened in response to Soul Edge's dormant state.

In Soulcalibur IV, Nightmare summons the remaining fragments of Soul Edge to Ostrheinsburg Castle to become whole. Among them are the second Soul Edge created by Cervantes and fragments that have become half-living creatures, one of which might have been Charade.

Soulcalibur II Ending[]

It neither knew the reason nor cared why. But it had to return, and when they found one another, it was like finding oneself. They melted together and formed one sword, then quietly closed its eye and slept, unknown to the world. It sleeps even to this day, awaiting the next hand to grasp its hilt.

Fighting Style[]

Charade in Soulcalibur II is the "random character." At the beginning of each battle, it scans the minds of opposing warriors, and then creates weapons out of its body to accommodate the fighting style that it is imitating. However, unlike its predecessors, Edge Master and Inferno, Charade gains no attack increase for mimicking any character. In Weapon Master, Charade has an alternate, unplayable form where the entire upper half of its body, including its eye, is gone. In this form, it uses Taki's style, but only utilizes kicks. High and mid horizontal attacks will miss it most of the time, so the player must rely on low hitting and vertical attacks to make contact.

In Soulcalibur III, Charade is an unplayable character and does away with its mimicry in favour of using the Wave Sword style along with a few unique attacks of its own, then switching to Grieve Edges once its first form is defeated. Most notable of all is the usage of its eye, in which it fires a thin, concentrated beam of energy that can sweep the stage in horizontal and vertical angles. It also has a third form where it is reduced to just its eye which floats about and uses an altered version of Cassandra's style, together with laser attacks (which are more powerful in this phase). Because of its size, it is difficult, if not impossible, to corner it, as it will pass through most attacks.

Stages[]

Relationships[]

  • It is a part of Soul Edge. It returned to the evil sword and merged with it prior to Soulcalibur IV.
  • Shared a destined battle with Cassandra in Soulcalibur II.
  • Servant of Nightmare in Soulcalibur II and later games.
  • Similar in nature to Nauplius.
  • Arcturus' Soul Edge-corrupted spirit manifests as a creature like Charade.

Series' Appearance[]

Gallery[]

Soulcalibur II[]

Soulcalibur III[]

Soulcalibur V[]

Namco x Capcom[]

Trivia[]

  • Charade is the only character in the series who loses a body part when defeated in a round.
  • In Soulcalibur II, Charade is a completely mute character. The only sound it can make is with the eye in its torso, which sounds like a heart beating. However in Soulcalibur III, it sounds like Inferno.
  • Charade is one of two mimic characters in the series who does not have a known preferred weapon, the other being Olcadan. The other mimic characters' preferred weapons include: Dual Longswords, Longsword, Sword & Shield, and Staff (Inferno, Edge Master, Elysium, and Kilik respectively).
  • The fate of Charade is left uncertain, as it is not given any storyline in Soulcalibur III, and it is not mentioned in anyone else's profiles - not even Cassandra's, casting doubt that Charade's Destined Battle ever took place.
  • Charade appears as an enemy unit in Namco x Capcom.
  • Charade's official biography states that the man who had collected the shards of Soul Edge heard about Soul Edge at an inn, but gathered very little information. It is possible that the person who told him was the person who is quoted in the manual for Soul Blade[source?].
  • Charade never imitates Necrid, nor any guest character (Link, Heihachi, and Spawn), nor any bonus character (Berserker, Assassin, and Lizardman).
  • Charade appears in Soulcalibur III during Astaroth, Talim, Mitsurugi, and Voldo's "Prepare to Defend Yourself" battle after defeating Ivy in the fourth round. The player battles Charade three times; in the 1st battle, Charade will use the Wave Sword discipline. In the second battle, Charade is only its legs and eye and will use the Grieve Edge discipline. In the third and final battle, only its eye is left, and its style is made of some of Cassandra's moves (interestingly, a few of these can't hit the opponent[source?]), with the addition of its red beam attack.
  • Sometime around the events of Soulcalibur V, Ivy observed the creation of larva-like creatures born from Soul Edge called Nauplius. Her observations determined that they're similar to Charade[source?]
Soulcalibur Playable Characters
Introduced in Soul Edge CervantesHwangInfernoLi LongMitsurugiRockSeong Han-myeongSeong Mi-naSiegfriedSophitiaTakiVoldo
Introduced in Soulcalibur ArthurAstarothEdge MasterIvyKilikLizardman (Aeon)MaxiNightmareXianghuaYoshimitsu
Introduced in Soulcalibur II AssassinBerserkerCassandraCharadeHeihachiLinkLizardman (Generic)NecridRaphaelSpawnTalimYun-seong
Introduced in Soulcalibur III AbeliaAbyssAmyAureliaChesterDemuthGirardotGreedHualinLynetteLunaMiserOlcadanRevenantSetsukaStrife AstlarTiraValeriaZasalamel
Introduced in Soulcalibur Legends Lloyd Irving
Introduced in Soulcalibur IV AlgolAngol FearThe ApprenticeAshlotteDarth VaderHildeKamikirimusiScheherazadeShuraYoda
Story only: AzolaGerhildeHelmwigeShadow
Introduced in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny DampierreKratos
Introduced in Soulcalibur V Devil JinEzio AuditoreElysiumLeixiaNatsuPatroklos (α Patroklos)Pyrrha (Pyrrha Ω)ViolaXibaZ.W.E.I.
Introduced in Soulcalibur VI 2BAzwelGeralt of RiviaGrøhHaohmaru
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