Richter Abend

At the beginning of the game, Richter is shown to be a cold and cynical person, criticizing Emil for not being able to stand up for himself. When Emil goes to thank him for scaring off some bullies, Richter reveals his hatred for cowards, but also gives a mantra of inspiration to Emil: "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality". While Richter is tutoring Emil, he also admits that he is very short toward people, but that it does not mean he has something against them. He also remarks that he has no intention of changing his methods of doing things. Even before the events of the original Tales of Symphonia, Richter lived in Tethe'alla as a researcher at the Sybak University, where he and his friend Aster were researching Ratatosk. Together they were in charge of looking into Ratatosk's mana; however, due to a previous betrayal by Mithos' group, the spirit's trust had disappeared. Ratatosk grew angry and killed Aster in rage, and a vengeful Richter cut down Ratatosk and reduced him to his core form, which was taken away by Tenebrae before Ritcher could finish him off. Since then, Richter has held resentment towards Ratatosk and founded the Vanguard to search for the Centurions' cores. (Source: Wikipedia)