In the game, she is the illegitimate daughter of undead pirate Cervantes de Leon who was raised by a noble family until her father became obsessed with the cursed sword, Soul Edge, leading to his death and later her mother's.

[12] During development many alternatives for Ivy's design were considered, including a male ninja, a mummy, and a little girl, while the weapon remained constant, varying only in size.

[13] In the very early planning stages of Soulcalibur, Ivy was originally conceived as "ninja girl/woman", something that was attributed to certain developers who were fans of the "young girl moe aesthetic.

As things progressed they wanted to emphasize her as sexy but also highly mobile with a mysterious air, feeling the bondage-themed attire helped convey this image.

[14] Several ideas also considered giving her an eyepatch or a mask covering the right side of her face,[15] with her missing eye locked in a look of "revenge", however they decided to instead streamline her appearance and outfit for the sake of rendering her character in game.

[16] Producer Hiroaki Yotoriyama felt that her fighting style was not perfectly expressed in Soulcalibur, and focused on Ivy from the start of the project to make her more "uniquely lethal".

The left shoulder pauldron incorporates the Tudor Rose, a traditional heraldic symbol of England, while the plates of the armor were designed to resemble the links of her sword.

[27] The outfit consists of a golden catsuit with a plunging neckline and white fur trimmings, as well as a serpent necklace with the head pointed towards her breasts with similar accessories on her ankles and wrists.

[27][23] Shimizaki later created an additional bunny-themed outfit for her appearance in Soulcalibur: Lost Swords, consisting of purple and lavender stripped frilled underwear, and a visored helmet with bunny ears sticking out of the top.

She created an animated, segmented sword, bringing it to life by unknowingly summoning Soul Edge's current host, Nightmare, and was convinced to become one of his allies without realizing he wielded the blade she sought.

[40] Some versions of the original Soulcalibur arcade game censored Ivy's default costume by covering her bare skin with a lavender catsuit.

[41][42] With Soulcalibur IV, Ivy's look on the promotional artwork was modified on the English website to hide her undercleavage,[43] leading to suspicion of censorship in the American release of the game.

The ads in particular received heavy criticism for their sexist content,[54][55] and books such as Gender and the Superhero Narrative have cited them as an extremely negative portrayal of women and the character.

[56][57] When asked about the ads, Soulcalibur V producer Hisaharu Tago claimed the text was intended to be a double meaning in reference to the game's new "character creator" features, and further argued "having some sort of erotic aspect on the surface is part of Soul Calibur".

[64] Hobby Japan created a mail order exclusive 1/8 scale PVC figure of Ivy in 2011 in honor of her appearance in Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos.

"[73] Ivy's appearance, body, outfit, and demeanor have all been at the center of discussions about the character, and have been attributed as reasons owing to her status as a fan favorite.

[76][77] She has been displayed in various third-party media, her likeness appearing in material including magazine swimsuit issue pin-ups and periodicals such as Play's annual Girls of Gaming series.

Her bodily proportions, specifically her bust and buttock size, have been criticized as over-the-top, unrealistic, and unnecessary by publications such as Joystiq,[83] Giant Bomb,[84] VentureBeat,[85] and Vice.

[87] At the 2011 PAX East convention, an all-female journal panel led by The Escapist's Susan Arendt agreed that while she was strong, and difficult but rewarding to master in the original Soulcalibur, as the series progressed Ivy was reduced to "a nice ass bouncing around the room" in later games.

[89] The staff of Polish website WP Gry meanwhile argued she both contradicted and enforced negative stereotypes of women, calling her "sexual to the point of repulsive".

[91] The Escapist's Adam LaMosca initially stated that while his first impression of the character was that she was the posterchild for "embarrassingly juvenile fighter design", he later came to see that her "oversexed dominatrix demeanor perfectly compliments her confident, punishing move set.

"[92] Fernando D'Aquino of Brazilian website Techmundo stated she could be considered "a model of contemporary beauty", and felt her short white hair gave her a more "sensual look".

"[95] University of Delaware professor Rachael Hutchinson discussed Ivy's design through several books and papers, describing her height, power and sexualization as serving to emphasize her as a "deviation" from the female norm, as well as reinforce gender roles in the fighting game genre.

[98] Hutchinson further argued one may enjoy such characters for reasons beyond titillation, offering examples such as a player wanting to engage in sadomasochistic fantasy towards themselves or others in Ivy's instance.

[100] More specifically her issue was with her design in Soulcalibur IV, noting that prior to that game Ivy's physique was "well built and realistic, a powerful full breasted woman with defined musculature and slim torso".

However in IV Hutchinson stated Ivy appeared "deformed", with the developers drastically increasing her breast size and the emphasis of her corset upon her hips, while reducing her attire to bands barely covering her.

She stated that the over-sexulization of her character undercut her physical strength, due to compensating for "muscular power with giant breasts", and balancing her masculine characteristics by exaggerating her feminine features.