Siegfried

Story

Siegfried is the son of Frederick Schtauffen, a knight who served the Holy Roman Empire. Despite being raised by such an honorable man, Siegfried joined a band of thieves. During one of their raids, Siegfried's group ambushed several knights who deserted the army. What he did not know was that one of them was his father. Unable to fight back due to his combat injuries and exhaustion, Frederick was killed by his own son. Having realized what he had just done, Siegfried fell into deep denial, rejecting the reality and assuming that his father was murdered by someone else. Now yearning for revenge, Siegfried sought power.

The search for power led him to acquire Soul Edge, the cursed sword. The sword quickly corrupted Siegfriend's mind and pretended to be his deceased father, asking him to gather many souls so that he could be resurrected. Under the sword's corrupting energy, Siegfried malfested and became known as Nightmare, the manifestation of fear itself. His reign of terror lasted until Kilik defeated Nightmare. Sometime after Soul Edge had shattered, Siegfried was released from its control and awakened in his human form. Flooded with memories of killing his father and other atrocities he had committed, Siegfried felt intense grief and anguish.

Leaving the broken Soul Edge fragments behind, Siegfried left the castle, but the cursed sword's fate was still intertwined with his own. One after another, warriors came after him, wishing to take revenge for their comrades. In his aimless wanderings, he comes across Sophitia, they clashed swords, and she told him about her goals to destroy Soul Calibur and her ability to purify souls. Unfortunately, the evil in Siegfried's soul was too deep-rooted to eliminate. She nonetheless gave him some peace of mind and a vision for what he must do on his path to atonement.

After battling the malfested warriors attracted by Soul Edge's energy and challengers who wished to take revenge, Siegfried felt as if he was slipping back into becoming Nightmare. Suddenly, the spirit sword, Soul Calibur, called upon Siegfried. While it could help Siegfried, Soul Calibur itself needed saving, as it was trapped within Soul Edge. The knight gripped the cursed sword once more and was transported into the mental realm. There he is met by Soul Calibur and Nightmare, the representation of Soul Edge that tries to devour the spirit sword. So began his battle of attraction. Siegfried tirelessly fought back Soul Edge for multiple years, but his spirit would eventually extinguish, giving way to Nightmare once again. The cycle starts anew.

Personality

Having freed his mind from the Soul Edge's control, Siegfried focused entirely on atonement. Despite constant attempts from other fighters to take his life, he felt no anger, knowing that their reason was just. While some evil inevitably remains inside him, he managed to persevere due to Sophitia's help and Siegfriend's own strong will.

Playstyle

Siegfried is a solid and relatively complex high damage character who focuses on mid to long-range. His sword has a variety of long-reaching attacks that lead to great poking and zoning, giving Siegfried players everything they could ask for to control the space. Thanks to his four special stances, he also gains more versatility on defense and offense, allowing him to adapt or condition opponents. On top of that, Siegfried has an excellent throw game that makes him a menace at the wall, as he can easily ring out unwary opponents.

His downsides stem primarily from his low speed. Until i17, his block punishment is underwhelming. Many of his attacks are unsafe and have a long recovery, making whiffs potentially lethal. Naturally, he also has a problem dealing with faster characters who excel in close-range pressure. Siegfried's complexity might also be daunting to new players, as understanding his stances and transitions is bound to take some time.

Appearance

Siegfried is a pale-skinned man with medium-length blonde hair, teal eyes, and a scar over his right eye. He wears an extravagant suit of knight armor with golden accents. The armor itself was originally blue during his possession by Soul Edge but became discolored, now showing the natural color of steel. Siegfried also wears a long white scarf with golden patterns on both ends.