Three alternate ideas for a character to play an incredibly important role in Cold Steel IV.

I think it’s safe to say at this point that there is one question relating to Cold Steel IV that is on everyone’s minds. Six divine knights have been awakened – who will awaken the last one?

There’s a theory already on this site that states the possibility of Renne being the Golden Awakener, and while I do agree that it’s a very solid theory, I have my own take on the question. Or rather, I have three different takes on it. You see, I made this relatively large list of potential Golden Awakeners just to brainstorm, and out of that list, three people caught my eye out of all the others. Those three people had evidence that made sense, that clicked.

And so, I shall say my three theories here, from the one that has the least impact to the most. You may see a running theme as we go along, too (mainly the hair colours). I should also probably mention that for all three candidates I am bearing in mind that we know that Rufus Albarea knows something either about the location of the knight or the Awakener themselves, and I’m using the suspicion that he at least knows who the Awakener is. Warning: these theories veer into crack territory quite quickly.

Number 1 – “Right Now, There is no Line Between Noble and Commoner.”

Yes, out of all the characters I could select, one of my most likely candidates is none other than Patrick T. Hyarms. Remember that one guy that spent one half of his time complaining about commoners in the background of Cold Steel I and spent the other half of his time kicking butt in the background of Cold Steel II and III? At first I completely glossed over him too, but a couple of things seemed to click here. I’m going to note “a couple” since this is probably my least likely theory out of my “likely theories”.

First, think back to that scene in Cold Steel I, Chapter 4. Elise has run into the Old Schoolhouse, and Rean, Crow and Patrick are the only three who are present to be able to save her. Two of the three guys in that scene are Awakeners, and the only one who isn’t is Patrick. It’s not that much evidence in of itself, but Falcom loves to stick in book ends and foreshadowing pretty much everywhere, so I wouldn’t put it past them to make Patrick and Awakener for that scene to hold some more relevance in player’s minds.

There’s also Falcom’s tendency to have the background characters end up more than they seem. Crow is C, Misty is Vita Clotilde the Second Anguis, Rufus is an Ironblood, Thomas is the Second Dominion with Rosine as his squire, Alisa’s dead father is alive and evil, George is a gnome and evil, the list goes on and on. In fact, Patrick is one of the few voiced characters who isn’t either a main character or hiding a big secret. With such a repetitive pattern in this series, Patrick could easily qualify for this position. I guess in my head he’s more likely than others because he’s got the bonus of gold-blonde hair. The knight is golden, blah blah blah, the colour scheme makes sense.

As for why Rufus would know something about it? Well, this the more shaky part of the first theory, but I’ve got something. Osborne is almost definitely wanting his Ironbloods to scout his enemies, and one of the most important things he will need to scout is Aurelia’s Weissland army. One of the major leaders is Patrick’s father, which would likely put Patrick into the army somewhere as well. If Rufus hears something as he is scouting – say, one of the witches talking to Patrick – it would make total sense for him to know who the Awakener is. And hey, even if that’s a stretch, I can fall on the failsafe of “Rufus may not even know the Awakener”.

So that’s theory one wrapped up, and it’s probably the shakiest of the three, but it feels like Patrick’s arc has to come to something, and I think it could be an appropriate ending for him if he ended up protecting his long-time rivals and friends with none other than the Golden Divine Knight itself. The next theory, coincidentally, happens to take interest in his unofficial counterpart…

Number 2 – “…And the Girl That Was Like Family to Him, Was Lost in Front of His Eyes.”

Theory number two focuses on none other than main character, previous Class VII member, and all around Mr. Suffering, Jusis Albarea. He’s got the blonde hair to qualify, but a lot more than Patrick in terms of evidence – evidence in the form of Sen IV news and Kondo-trolling.

There’s nothing the Sen series likes to do more than compare just how alike Rean and Jusis are – both are technically commoners living in noble families; both have crazy biological fathers; both have dead biological mothers; both have non-blood related siblings they care for (although Jusis has a more awkward relationship with his); both use a type of sword in combat; both have close friendships with one of the two Originator Zero projects (Rean with Altina and Jusis with Millium); both are shown to be at equal level with their respective sword skills in a bonding event in II; and both have to come to terms with a major reveal at the top of the Infernal Castle. At this point they might as well slap the divine knight onto Jusis to complete the comparisons, but there’s more.

In the more recent news, several things have been mentioned around Jusis. The first thing is that he suffers more than ever (heh, another comparison to Rean!). The second is that despite being one of the highest ranked nobles in Erebonia, he has not joined the Weissland Army. The third is that Millium’s death has affected him greatly. Lemme break this down:

Firstly, Jusis is the only character explicitly stated to be suffering more. Everyone else went through their fair share of suffering in the last game (Alisa’s father is the embodiment of evil, Laura’s father gets killed, Fie has to fight her adoptive dad, Gaius’ homeland is raided off-screen, Elliot and Machias will have to fight their fathers and dear god how many of these involve their dads? And that’s not even mentioning new Class VII and poor old Towa), but Jusis is explicitly stated here. The only conclusion I can see is that they’re planning a big reveal for him, and considering what I’ve been already writing I think it’s clear what possibility I’ve got in my head.

The next is that he’s not in the Weissland Army. This isn’t much since it also states that he’s fighting alongside Class VII instead, but my crack-theorist mind then wanders to “but what if he hasn’t joined because he’s busy fighting something else… like an Awakener’s trial?” I’ll just leave that point and move on, it’s not too relevant.

The last point I mentioned is how Millium’s death is apparently really affecting him. That leads me to think of just how much they’ve been hyping up the connection between the two of them, and how Millium just casually dying didn’t exactly pay off for their friendship. (This is where this theory goes straight into crack heaven.) If Jusis were to become an Awakener, he’d need a sword – and that Sword of Demise would certainly fit Jusis’ hand considering his normal weapon, possibly even more than it fits Rean. So here’s an idea I propose: Jusis ends up with the Millium Sword of Demise (uncorrupted of course, but that’s a theory for another day), Rean ends up with a Sword of Demise after Altina sacrifices herself for him. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Jusis and Altina are both mentioned as being greatly affected by the people most important to them being missing or dead. I did say it’d go into crack heaven, but it’s still food for thought.

And the final piece in the puzzle for this trail (ayy) of thought is Rufus. He knows either the location of the Golden Divine Knight or the Awakener, and if Jusis was that Awakener of course he’d find out – after all, he wants to make sure his little brother is doing ok, wouldn’t he?

So that’s theory 2. To be honest, this would probably be my main theory if it wasn’t for the next one giving me conflicted feelings on just what Falcom are planning.

Number 3 – “That’s Love and Peace, Baby.”

Olivert Reise Arnor?! As an Awakener?! It’s more likely than you think. Much more likely. This one doesn’t need any pre-release information to work, all it needs is one scene, and the status quo.

That one scene is the Courageous exploding. That was certainly not faked – everyone heard and saw the explosion, the bombs would’ve been real, and all three men on the ship didn’t know it was coming until Alberich mentioned it. So, going by that, all three men should be dead. I don’t think they are. One theory states that Bleublanc saves all of them, but I’m taking an alternate interpretation of that theory.

The Courageous wreckage is found by Bleublanc. Everything is charred and ruined, and as he walks across it he finds the main bridge. Two bodies lay smoking ruins, but one of them remains unmoving, dead, and unharmed. The body of Olivert Reise Arnor.

Yes, I think Olivert will survive the Courageous exploding because he’s an Awakener. Not only that, but Bleublanc will be there to guide him under request of Vita, who believes that awakening the Golden Divine Knight will be the last stand the good guys can give against such a large ensemble of other Divine Knights – Bleublanc will comply out of respect to both parties involved. Olivert’s got to survive the crash somehow as such an important person, and why not have one of the biggest reveals in the series centre around the most important character in the series?

There’s also Rufus’s suspicions too. On a mission to scout the ruins of the Courageous for Osborne he finds one body missing, and since he most likely knows about the system of Awakeners reviving from all of the ones on his side that have already done so, he realises what that must mean. It makes perfect sense… and someone could even make a large Orbal Gun for him to use! Even if they wanted to write out Divine Knights for later arcs, that would be simple; Ouroboros win like they always do, they take both of the Sep-Terrion connected to the Divine Knights and said Knights lose all sentience and power, becoming nothing more than fancy statues with holes in the middle.

This theory is by far the most likely, and I’ve gotta say I really like it.

So those are my candidates for Awakener-ism, three blonde guys with high status and arcs to finish. Out of the three I’m expecting Patrick the least and Olivert the most, while also going back and forth with Jusis. Let’s wait until either the game proves me right or the next news dump ruins this entire page.