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Non Canon: Some or all events and details given in this article, may be considered non-canon to the main story. |
Tia (ティア, Tia?), also known as the Other Goddess[Japanese equivalent needed], is a game adaptation-original character in Sword Art Online: Hollow Realization. Like her older twin sister[2] Premiere, she is a Non-Player Character (NPC), born from the creation of Sword Art: Origin.
Appearance[]
Tia looks almost identical to Premiere, the only identifying difference between the twins being the absence of Premiere's small mole right under the corner of Tia's right eye. Like Premiere, Tia has blue eyes and short black hair, which turned gray and silvery white respectively after she initiated the events of the Great Separation. Her outfit is identical to Premiere's, with matching hair decorations, shirt, skirt, and sandals. After being found by Genesis, she began carrying a rapier.
After encountering a data-generating singularity that altered her appearance, Tia's body was aged into an adolescent form, with her hair grown longer and bound by dull gold accessories into two loops on the sides of her head and a ponytail at the back. Her outfit now consists of a form-fitting blue-green shirt that exposes her cleavage and midriff, with gold diamond patterns on the forearms of her sleeves, and low-hanging gray-green pants held up by a brown belt with a gold buckle and a strip of white cloth covering her backside. Additionally, she wears black fingerless gloves and knee-high brown leather boots with silver metal decorations on the cuff and toe boxes, and wields a large black greatsword identical to Genesis's. For a while after her encounter with the singularity, she wore a black hooded cloak with purple patterns and silver pauldrons, along with a silver mask that covered the top half of her face. After accepting Premiere and her group as friends, Tia replaced the cloak and mask for a white cape with light blue patterns and silver pauldrons. Once she severed her residual connection to the singularity, she is able to switch between her adolescent and preadolescent forms.
Personality[]
Like her sister, Tia was originally a null NPC, having no pre-programmed responses or behavior. However, after encountering and spending time around Genesis, she began adopting many traits of his attitude, including his belief in survival of the fittest and his disregard for other NPCs. She also developed an intense hatred for other people, due to their openly hostile attitude and contempt towards Genesis.
Chronology[]
Hollow Realization[]
The Other Goddess was first encountered wandering the streets by Kirito. Mistaken for Premiere, she was led outside the Town of Beginnings, quietly minding Kirito's attempts at conversation while they climbed a hill overlooking a vast expanse of land. Staring into the distance, she listened to Kirito's speech on the endless possibilities provided by their world and his desire to experience all of them with everyone. Upon hearing disturbed laughter at that moment, they investigated the source of the sound, finding a player hallucinating under the effects of a digital drug. When the player was forcibly logged out by his AmuSphere, the Other Goddess stated she had no explanation for the phenomenon they had just witnessed.
After the defeat of the boss of the Jeweled Peak Lakes, the Other Goddess was encountered by Genesis, who was furious at the developers for hiding the real boss behind a decoy, and at Kirito's group for defeating it.
Later, the Other Goddess was spotted by Kirito, Klein, and Agil, who stopped for a quick meal at a popular ramen restaurant. Mistaken for Premiere yet again, she was invited to join them. Accepting the offer, she found the food immensely enjoyable but was slightly confused when Kirito suggested having everyone else along to eat with them for the next time.
After Genesis learned of the alterations performed on the Ground Quest, the Other Goddess, who was named Tia by Genesis, assisted him in finding and obtaining the fifth Sacred Stone. When Genesis unveiled his presence and possession of the item to Kirito and Premiere, who reached the dungeon later, Tia revealed herself to them and observed her twin during Genesis's speech. At the end of the speech, she obediently followed Genesis as he departed from the dungeon.
While Kirito and the others were occupied with a barrier in the Kurjiez Desert, Tia was taught how to wield a rapier by Genesis, and thus expressed her gratitude to be of service after dispatching a monster. However, the fencer lost her footing against another monster, thus requiring Genesis to intervene. After the monster was dispatched, they were approached by several orange players, who declared their intentions of settling their grievances with Genesis. At that moment, the Other Goddess intervened, offering herself as their opponent and ordering them to either fight her or flee. When the players decided to withdraw, Tia and Genesis resumed the lesson.
Shortly after the defeat of the boss of the Kurjiez Desert, Tia and Genesis found the instanced location of an encampment holding the sixth and last Sacred Stone. When the NPCs guarding the stone refused to give them the stone without the presence of both Goddesses, the Other Goddess coldly obeyed her master's orders to execute them. When Kirito and Premiere arrived moments after Tia eliminated the last NPC, she emotionlessly explained her actions to them upon their request. After Genesis appeared and taunted Kirito, the Other Goddess reported she had collected the Sacred Stone. When Genesis learned of the requirement to bring both Goddesses to the Temple of Prayers and Kirito refused to comply, Tia was ordered by the former to defeat the latter and seize her twin.
Quickly engaging in combat with Kirito, Tia threatened to kill him if he did not surrender. After several blows, the fencer questioned him on his refusal to attack her, but was confused by his response, and stunned when he asked if her current actions were what she truly wanted. The Other Goddess stood still for several moments after Genesis launched a surprise attack on Kirito that left the latter stunned and open, after which she was forcibly kicked by the former into finishing him. Regaining her composure, the fencer charged at Kirito, declaring she still had something she needed to do. However, at that moment, her blow was intercepted by Asuna, forcing Tia back. When Genesis's attempt to handle Kirito and Asuna failed, the Other Goddess compliantly followed him as they retreated from the area.
Some time later, Tia followed Genesis deep into the Oltrum Bastion and waited for Kirito and Premiere at the Temple of Prayers. When her sister and the swordsman finally appeared, the Other Goddess stepped forward but was immediately commanded by her master to not interfere. After the greatswordsman was defeated by Kirito, she fled deeper into the temple.
When Kirito and Premiere reached her at the Altar of Prayers, Tia named all the things Genesis had done for her and how his banishment from Sword Art: Origin had left her alone again. In her eyes, the loss and treatment of the first person to care for her confirmed Genesis' opinion that players were despicable people who would want to hurt them. Announcing that they had no need of a world or people who would reject them, she invited Premiere to pray with her and complete the Ground Quest. Surprised by her sister's refusal, Tia angrily tried to persuade her that their suffering would be perpetuated by other players. Seeing that her twin would not be convinced, she decided to destroy Ainground by herself, and thus forcibly summoned the Sacred Stones.
As the Sacred Stones floated around her, Tia folded her hands in prayer and teleported from the Temple of Prayers to hover over Ainground. Dispassionately watching the land below her, Tia bowed her head and folded her hands once more to initiate the Great Separation. While chunks of the earth were torn skyward and coalesced amid lightning to form Aincrad, Tia ominously declared Premiere would be unable to fight against her purpose and would become one with her.
However, with her power alone, Tia was only able to create an incomplete version of the floating castle, leaving much of the land below intact. Therefore, she began influencing the module coding the destruction of Aincrad to compel Premiere to aid her in finishing the Ground Quest. When that attempt failed due to Kirito's intervention, she rewrote the quest data to force the castle to crash into Ainground, utterly devastating Sword Art: Origin.
Deep within the core of Aincrad, Tia slept inside the Prayer Conduit, until it was damaged by Kirito's party. At that moment, Tia awoke and modified the construct, crafting multiple weapons for it, before hatefully repeating her resolve to obliterate their world. Despite her best efforts, Tia was unable to prevent Kirito and the others from destroying the Prayer Conduit and severing her connection to the module, which resulted in the arrest of Aincrad's fall. Despairingly believing her loss now marked her as one of the weak people Genesis had derided, she took her rapier and prepared to commit suicide. However, she was stopped at the last moment by Premiere, who told her she still had much to live for and many opportunities for change.
When Tia expressed her uncertainty of the future, she was asked by Premiere to simply trust in her honesty and friends, hoping for the best. Remembering the view she had seen outside the Town of Beginnings the first time she met Kirito, Tia sheathed her sword and asserted she could not blindly believe her sister's words. Nevertheless, she wondered how things would have been different if she or Genesis had lived in a world as kind as Premiere's. Remarking that their circumstances could still be different, she teleported to an unknown location.
Warriors of the Sky[]
Inspired by Premiere's words, Tia searched Ainground for a place she could belong, but to no avail.[4] During her journeys,[4] she encountered an anomalous data-generating singularity created by Aincrad's formation,[5] disguised as a small bright light.[4] The moment she looked directly at the light,[4] the singularity analyzed all of her memories and emotions, using the data to simulate the consciousness of a potential future Tia[5] that never found anywhere to belong,[4] which then began to reconstruct the original Tia's data.[5] Though she managed to escape before the overwriting process could be completed,[5] the newly aged young woman suffered frequent migraines from her simulated future consciousness's attempts to finish the process.[4] Overwhelmed by the thoughts of extreme loneliness and despair that accompanied these headaches, Tia sought a way to reach the singularity's core to stop the data overwrite attempts.[4] Her exploration led her to wander the Stalvatos Ruins, where she was eventually spotted by Kirito's group.[6]
Explorer of Illusory Mists[]
Sometime later, Tia learned she could access the singularity's core by acquiring certain items located in the newly created areas in Aincrad. Desperate to halt the data overwrite process, she entered the Vulcanus Citadel in search of the first item, during which she encountered Kirito's group. Upon seeing Premiere experiencing a debilitating headache, the young woman realized aloud the data overwrite attempts were also affecting her sister. When Kirito approached her to learn what she knew about her twin's condition, the greatswordswoman warned the boy at swordpoint not to follow her or interfere with her activities, before quickly leaving.
Having reached the volcano dominating the wasteland, Tia began traversing its depths, handling the monsters blocking her path. While fighting one particularly strong group of monsters, the greatswordswoman suffered another migraine, but the timely intervention of Kirito's team enabled her to defeat the pack. Before she could converse with the others following her victory, though, the approach of a band of players hunting her forced the young woman to flee.
Not long afterwards, Tia snuck into the boss arena of the Vulcanus Citadel while Kirito's band was occupied assisting a raiding party with defeating the boss, surreptitiously looting a treasure chest containing a crest that was also one of the items she needed. As she was leaving the area, however, she was confronted by Kirito, who demanded answers on what she knew and was doing. Before the young woman could respond, she experienced a particular powerful headache that temporarily reverted her to her preadolescent appearance. When the bewildered boy inquired on what had happened to her, she simply stated she needed to go to where she could face her destiny, ordering the swordsman to refrain from interfering with her again before quickly withdrawing.
Tuner of Causality[]
Sometime later, Tia entered the Northazrod Tundra to locate the second item required to access the singularity's core, avoiding players hunting her all the while. In the middle of her exploration, she was forced to contend with a small but tough group of monsters despite suffering a headache at the time, though the arrival of Kirito's band allowed her to handle them. Afterward, the young woman asserted she had to solve her problem by herself and quickly took her leave while everyone else was preoccupied with Premiere experiencing a migraine of her own.
While navigating the ruins scattered throughout the snowy landscape, Tia was obliged to evade a large group of players chasing her. During her flight, however, she encountered Kirito's party lying in wait for her at an underground intersection. Morosely assuming they had finally turned against her as well, the young woman had turned to flee from them when the boy and his friends suddenly warned her she was being driven into a trap by her pursuers. Although skeptical of the truth of their words, she eventually listened and ran past them away from the direction of the hunters' planned ambush.
Frustrated by her continued encounters with Kirito's team when they confronted her shortly afterward at a narrow ice bridge suspended over a gorge, coupled with everything else she had suffered, Tia lost her patience and threatened to kill them if they refused to refrain from interfering in her business. When Kirito accepted her challenge, the greatswordswoman engaged the boy in single combat. Halfway through the duel, though, she experienced a headache that caused her to lose her footing and slip off the bridge, only surviving the fall due to Kirito diving after her and cushioning their impact. Confused at the lengths he was willing to go to help her, the young woman reluctantly agreed to the swordsman's proposition that they cooperate at least until they escaped the bottom of the ravine.
While traveling together, Tia learned Kirito empathized with her situation due to undergoing a period of self-imposed isolation himself because of personal trauma, followed by his earnest declaration that one could achieve more with the support of others. This persuaded the young woman to show the boy the crest she had obtained from the Vulcanus Citadel and explain it would enable her to reach her destination. After the pair reunited with the rest of Kirito's group, Tia was convinced to tentatively extend her collaboration to them as well so they all could resolve what was happening to her and Premiere. Once she shed her hood and mask to avoid further unwanted attention per everyone's recommendation, she accompanied them back to town to plan their next move.
Having informed Kirito she had to defeat the area boss to acquire the next item she needed, Tia joined him and his friends in the resumption of their exploration of the tundra, gathering charms and solving puzzles along the way to remove barriers impeding their progress. During this time, she found herself gradually growing closer to the others, to her confused appreciation. After locating the boss arena, everyone returned to the Town of Beginnings to prepare for the upcoming battle, where Tia took shelter in a secluded spot. When Kirito found her later that night, the young woman shared her encounter with the singularity and everything that stemmed from it, to which she was comforted by the boy assuring her they would reach its core and avert the future it had shown her.
Once the boss of the Northazrod Tundra was vanquished, Tia obtained a second crest that spawned nearby before returning with Kirito's party to the Town of Beginnings. Although grateful for everyone's aid, her insecurities regarding trust in players led her to leave for the singularity by herself while the others were not paying attention. Despite being plagued with discouraging thoughts from her simulated future self over the odds of her success, the young woman was determined to do whatever it took to change her destiny.
The One Who Resists God[]
Having used the crests to open the entryway into the Elionward Dominion, Tia began hurrying through the abandoned city to the singularity's core, fighting multiple powerful monsters she encountered along the way. When Kirito's group found her while she was recovering from a migraine following one of these battles, the greatswordswoman claimed she no longer required their assistance to reach the singularity. Irritated by Premiere's insistence on helping her, the young woman confronted her twin at swordpoint, citing all the times she had been rejected by other people as proof she could not afford or did not want to be close to them. To Tia's surprise, Premiere reminded her of how relaxed she had felt while accompanying everyone in the Northazrod Tundra, causing her to realize that on some level she did want to connect with them. Coupled with how Kirito's band went out of their way to rescue her from a trap immediately afterward that left her at the mercy of a strong monster, this revelation convinced the young woman to officially and permanently place her trust in them.
Once Tia had recuperated from her ordeal, she joined the others in exploring the rest of the Elionward Dominion, despite her and Premiere occasionally being debilitated by their headaches. After navigating several complicated dungeons scattered throughout the abandoned city in order to remove a barrier blocking their way, everyone reached the singularity and found the entrance to its core within its depths. However, the core itself was guarded by an area boss too powerful for the team to defeat by themselves, forcing the greatswordswoman and the others to withdraw. Following this, they heard a system announcement that all players would automatically be logged out ten minutes before midnight for emergency maintenance so the developers could remove the singularity. As Tia and Premiere were at risk of being flagged for deletion by the Cardinal System if the group failed to terminate the data overwrite attempts by then, this gave them limited time to beat the boss. Recalling how Kirito and his friends had repeatedly emphasized the importance of trusting and relying on others during their time together, the young woman suggested they request support from other people, which everyone else accepted.
To Tia's pleasant surprise, Kirito and his companions managed to recruit enough players for an impromptu boss raid. Encouraged by this display of humans' innate willingness to help others, she joined them in vanquishing the boss, whereupon the party was confronted by a physical manifestation of Tia's simulated future consciousness, which took on the appearance of the young woman's masked self. Reassured by Premiere's belief they could avert the fate of isolation predicted for them despite the doppelganger's claims otherwise, the greatswordswoman engaged and destroyed her clone, finally ending the data overwrite attempts minutes before the emergency maintenance commenced. Although unsure of what the future would hold in store for them afterward, the young woman had faith she could face it together with her friends.
Sometime later, Tia and Premiere joined the others for a picnic atop the same hill Kirito had taken her during their first meeting. While everyone else prepared the food, the sisters enjoyed the vast vista before them together, which to the young woman symbolized the infinite possibilities of the future now available to her. When the boy approached them with the announcement the meal was ready, the three promised to continue supporting each other in chasing their dreams, though the duo briefly argued over which of them would take the role of Kirito's lover.
Another Heroine Inverter[]
When Kirygaya Kazuto's (Kirito) location on the Ocean Turtle was discovered after he had been critically injured by Kanamoto Atsushi, Tia and the others waited as Strea and Yui continued to monitor the situation while Asada Shino (Sinon), Ayano Keiko (Silica), Kirigaya Suguha (Leafa), Shinozaki Rika (Lisbeth), and Yuuki Asuna (Asuna) used the Soul Translators to enter Underworld to assist Kirito. Shortly after the five logged into Underworld, she learned a connection had been formed between the Ocean Turtle and the Gun Gale Online (GGO) servers, through which a massive amount of player data had been downloaded. Realizing it was likely the only opportunity they had to help Kirito, the girl assisted Strea and Yui in coordinating an infiltration of the hidden area of an underground dungeon in GGO that contained an emergency control console for Zaskar employees.
Once Kureha, Philia, Rain, Seven, and Zeliska destroyed three in-game surveillance servers guarding the console, Tia and Premiere rendezvoused with them alongside Strea and Yui in the control room, the last of whom revealed the Ocean Turtle had mysteriously lost all communication with the outside world. At the same time, Strea explained she and her sister had created an Inverter, a reverse-conversion device which could send them to Underworld. As the Inverter could only be used on one of them, the girls were persuaded to vote who to send by sharing what they felt about Kirito. Just after everyone finished divulging how much they cared for the boy, however, the system detected the surveillance servers' inactivity and began shutting the console down. Although Strea attempted to activate the Inverter, the server was rebooted into repair mode before she could succeed, forcing everyone to retreat.
When Tia and the rest of the group returned to Kirito's residence, they learned Strea and Yui had misled them about the Inverter. The device was actually designed to compile a player's thought pattern data into an Artificial Intelligence (AI) copy of their personality and send it into Underworld; having all the girls discuss their emotions concerning Kirito were simply a means to generate enough of that data, but the connection was too small to accept any of the copies before the system shutdown. However, everyone else did not resent the duo for the deception. Instead, they expressed faith their efforts that day would contribute to eventually getting their AI copies successfully sent to help the swordsman and his companions in their stead.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Beater's Cafe character bio for Tia.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 [1]
- ↑ Gematsu[Clarification needed]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 Tia describing her experiences after Aincrad to Kirito
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Yui explaining Tia's alteration from the singularity
- ↑ Masked Tia's debut in Warriors of the Sky
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