Having murdered all of his crew, Cervantes boarded his ghost ship on a reign of terror for twenty years until he was defeated and killed by the combined efforts of Greek warrior Sophitia and Japanese ninja Taki.
Upon the shattering of Soul Edge, Cervantes began his quest on collecting the fragments of the cursed sword for four years which melded to form a weapon for him, attacking other ships that came close to his sea.
In the non-canonical Gauntlet storyline of Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, Cervantes' soul was required as payment for Ivy to create a potion for character Hilde and her party to cure her father.
Within Astral Chaos, Inferno can manifest itself as a flaming and mostly skeletal body for itself, creating weapons to match whichever fighting style it currently uses, particularly Siegfried's being its primary likeness at most part.
It was during this quest that he learned of the Azure Knight, Nightmare, who terrorized Europe with a sword deemed invincible, and set out after him in order to find what he considered a worthy challenge (this being his motivation through the remainder of the series since Soulcalibur).
Four years later, during the events of Soulcalibur II, Mitsurugi stumbled upon the trail of Soul Edge while visiting a castle in Xiwei, where a mysterious dying man, after being saved by him from a group of assassins, handed him a shard of the cursed blade.
Ever-searching for a worthy adversary to test his skills, Mitsurugi journeyed to Ostrheinsburg, where he entered a chaotic alternate dimension and faced the Hero King, Algol, high atop a colossal tower.
Misturugi made a friendly rivalry with a universe-displaced The Witcher Geralt of Rivia, and his long waited rival who is also his counterpart from SNK Corporation, Samurai Shodown’s protagonist Haohmaru.
[31] Nathan Ditum from PlayStation Official Magazine – UK chose him as his personal favourite out of the cast of Soulcalibur V.[32] Rock (ロック, Rokku), born as Nathaniel William Adams (ナタニエル・ウィリアム・アダムス, Natanieru Wiriam Adamusu), is the son of an English dealer who specialized in rare weapons.
His father managed to bid Soul Edge at one auction and was about to take it home, only for the ship to be attacked by pirate Cervantes who killed everyone except Rock, who washed up in the shores of America with his memories gone.
When a malfested army invades his dojang to hunt Mi-na for her involvement and lure Hwang (who is now also a Taoist in Soulcalibur VI), Han-myeong learns Soul Edge's evil nature from his student.
[40] In an article for Kotaku, Maddy Myers heavily criticized her design, stating "It's never explained why Seong Mi-Na is wearing an underboob-baring top that offers her breasts no support whatsoever, and which is made all the creepier by the fact that she's only 16 when the story starts."
She further criticized the character's portrayal, noting she complains about being seen as a child while being pursued by a man nine years her senior, adding "If this storyline gave Seong Mi-Na any agency, then maybe the decision to put this insecure teenager in this outfit would feel less tragic.
Frederick embarked on a foreign crusade and, due to lack of guidance in life, Siegfried unintentionally murdered his returning father while rampaging as the leader of a teenage band of thieves calling themselves "Schwarzwind" (German translation for "black wind").
[51] "Lizardman" (リザードマン, Rizādoman) is a recurring enemy type in the Soulcalibur series, resembling bipedal anthropomorphic lizards that communicate through growls and grunts while wielding a short sword and shield.
By the time of Soulcalibur V, the first Yoshimitsu has been ritually executed and succeeded by a younger, eerily similar protégé (hailing from Taki's Fûma village), who shares his fighting style, voice, mannerisms, and his clockwork arm.
After hearing rumors in the city about a man with a large mass of crystal on his way to Ostrheinsburg Castle, Cassandra reasoned he carried the Holy Stone to fight some evil there, which she theorized was Soul Edge.
After the events of Soulcalibur IV, Raphael is stated to have died, but suddenly awoke in a dungeon cell seventeen years later with no memory of what happened and found that Amy had disappeared from his life.
In the new timeline of Soulcalibur VI, after his adoption of Amy and further confirm his "Graf Dumas" status, Raphael comes across a couple of secret documents by a mysterious scholar, later revealed to be new character, Azwel.
She is given no mention in Soulcalibur V, although she appears briefly in the official artbook of the game, where she shattered Mitsurugi's sword in a duel but lost the battle, took the name "Neve" and began to teach students her fighting style in Istanbul, one of which was Patroklos.
[107] Her outfit in Soulcalibur III was inspired by historical Japanese courtesans known as oiran, who wore cosmetics and clothing similar to a geisha's but tied their obi at the front instead of behind, mixed with elements from the Queen of Hearts as part of an "East-meets-West" concept.
Though she attempted a peaceful life in a quiet city, she eventually found her urge to kill uncontrollable and wandered until she learned of the living sword Soul Edge and its wielder, Nightmare.
"[111] IGN included her in their "Babes of Soulcalibur" article, stating "She immediately stands out (...) Whereas most of the SC women fight on the side of good, Tira is totally, deliciously evil."
[125] Geo Dampierre (ジオ・ダンピエール, Jio Danpiēru) is a con artist introduced in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny and known by a variety of titles, amongst which include "Alchemist of the Ages", "The World's Greatest Assassin", and "Miraculous Psychic".
[128] Hildegard von Krone (ヒルデガルド・フォン・クローネ, Hirudegarudo fon Kurōne) — simply known as Hilde (ヒルダ, Hiruda) — is the daughter of the king of Wolfkrone, a fictional European kingdom under assault by series antagonist Nightmare's forces.
[132] IGN cited her as a fierce opponent and "hell of a lot of fun to control", adding "...we tend to sit up and take notice when a new character shows promise...we expect she'll stick around for the long haul.
According to the game's official artbook, SOULCALIBUR – New Legends of Project Soul, Xiba, one of Leixia's travel companion is actually her estranged older half-brother, the result of her mother's intimate meeting with Kilik.
Grøh (グロー, Gurō) is a member of the mysterious Aval Organization, a secret group with origins rooted in ancient times, who came to be when a king used the spirit sword to defeat its cursed counterpart, and with his dying breath, entrusted them with both the blade and his unfinished mission.
[148] Several other aspects further exasperated this reaction, including advertisements that focused on Ivy's sexual attributes,[149] the commissioning of a hentai artist to create outfits for the female characters in Soulcalibur: Lost Swords,[150] and the release of a breast size comparison chart used by the developers.
Cecilia D'Anastasio in an article for Kotaku felt that it ostracized female players specifically by leading her and others to feel women weren't the target audience, and stated "Bandai Namco has pigeonholed what could be a stellar fighting game for everyone.