Ivy Valentine

Isabella "Ivy" Valentine is a character from the Soul Calibur games.

Ivy is the illegitimate daughter of undead pirate Cervantes de Leon, Ivy 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. Desiring to destroy the sword, she creates a segmented, animated viscous blade-whip, only to become Soul Edge's pawn and learn that it intends to use her as its next host. After an attack by Cervantes results in the loss of her soul, Ivy uses a temporary artificial one to keep herself alive, and continues after the blade.

Appearance
Ivy appears as a tall, large busted woman with short, white hair. A bluish-purple leotard covers her torso and arms, with patches of the fabric removed to expose her cleavage, buttocks and various parts of her abdomen. Similar leggings cover her legs midway below her thighs, connected to the leotard by garters at golden metal bands at their peak. A sleeve of the same material covers her right arm and hand, while armor covers her left arm, hand, and shoulder. A smaller pauldron covers her right shoulder, while high heels cover her feet, and a white glove covers her right hand. 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. A mask covering the right side of her face and eye were considered but abandoned after the initial character concept. While her design has been altered slightly as the series has progressed, the concept has remained consistent throughout the series, with the exception of the removal of the glove in later designs. Ivy stands 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) tall, making her the series' tallest female character, and with a bust measurement of 100 cm (39 in) also the bustiest, though this was an aspect that the developers felt they had overdone by her appearance in Soulcalibur IV.

Ivy's alternate character designs in the games are a contrast to her primary designs, with the secondary from Soulcalibur to Soulcalibur IIIconsisting of countess attire of either blue or red pants, vest, and jacket, with white boots covering her feet and her hair combed back. In Soulcalibur II, a tertiary alternate design was added consisting of a red leotard and gloves with gold trimming, with red stockings on her legs; in addition, a fourth design resembling her appearance at the conclusion of Soulcalibur was considered, incorporating a cloak and the symbol of caduceus on the front of her leotard cupping her breasts, but was unused. In Soulcalibur III, a long, rose-themed dress with hat and veil was used as a tertiary alternate, one of several considered designs. For Soulcalibur IV, a similarly themed black dress was used as her sole alternate design for the game.

Some versions of the original Soulcalibur arcade game censored Ivy's default costume by covering her bare skin with a lavender catsuit. With Soulcalibur IV, Ivy's look on the promotional artwork was modified on the English website to hide her undercleavage, leading to suspicion of censorship in the American release of the game. When asked about the censoring, director Katsutoshi Sasaki stated he had heard of nothing of the sort having taken place. When released in North America it was shown that no actual censorship had occurred within the game.

Personality
Ivy is considered evil by many due to her Machiavellian philosophy and her appearance. She only wanted to acquire Soul Calibur by any means to sever her bond with Soul Edge. When facing her opponents, she spites them with dramatic words and she takes advantage of her unique weapon, which she invented. Beneath her cold demeanor is a heart that wants freedom from a cursed life that will do whatever it takes to be free. Overall, she is a neutrally-aligned character.

Abilities
Ivy has a unique fighting style that utilizes both short and long range attacks thanks to her magical sword. She is also one of the characters that switch stances along with her sword's length whether it can be coiled, whip, or a sword state. Her speed is average and her kicks too. Her throws deal good damage but her two signature throws Summon Suffering and Calamity Symphony deal better damage. Her weaknesses are her low attacks, which can be easily guarded or evaded. Another weakness is that when Ivy switches stances, she leaves an opening for an attack from the opponent; so the best strategy to counter this weakness is that switch stances (or sword states) in a safe range and take advantage of that range since she can attack in great distances. Her two signature throws, Calamity Symphony and Summon Suffering, are regarded by the Soul Calibur community as the hardest moves to perform. Overall, Ivy is regarded as a low to high-tier character, because of the difficulty of her use. On Twitter, Daishi said Ivy's fighting style will be closer to her Soulcalibur and Soulcalibur II appearances: she will have two stances, the sword and whip states.

Trivia

 * Ivy, at 179 cm (5' 10½"), is the tallest female character in the series.
 * Ivy is the bustiest woman in the franchise.
 * Ivy is nicknamed "Twisting Blade of Solitude".
 * Ivy and Cervantes share the characteristic of using a two-in-one weapon; Ivy's sword turns into a whip and back again into a sword; one of Cervantes' sword is also a gun.
 * Up until Soulcalibur V, Ivy's adoptive father was said to have the title of 'Count' in English versions. This was an error, as he should have been called an 'Earl'.
 * So far, all of her Destined Battle's have been with Cervantes. (In Soulcalibur, she will fight Taki until Cervantes becomes playable). She and Maxi are the only returning characters so far to have had one character remain their Destined Battle throughout the series.
 * Given Ivy's knowledge of alchemy, it is possible she is one of the more intelligent characters in the series.
 * Her costumes are dominatrix themed and thus quite revealing. Despite criticism of these attires, she still has one of the largest fanbases.
 * Ivy is the second fighting game character to use a whip sword (the first being Janne de Arc from SNK Playmore's World Heroes series).
 * Her fighting style with the uncurled whip version of her weapon, are very likely inspired the real-life Urumi sword, or Kalaripayattu sword techniques, originating from South India. Being English during Colonial India, might have given Ivy a chance to pick up the style during travels across the British Empire.
 * Ivy appears in the crossover visual combat video game Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos alongside other fighting game characters such as Tekken's Lili Rochefort, Guilty Gear's Dizzy, and BlazBlue's Noel Vermillion.
 * Ivy's aesthetic seems to include many snake-inspired motifs, including her armor, Weapons (Snake Sword), some of her moves (EX: Ivy Lick, Serpent's Embrace, Coil, etc.). Some of her clothing is even textured like snake scales.
 * Although Ivy is British, she pronounces "imbecile" and "futile" the American way.
 * Ivy's current English voice actress, Lani Minella is known for voicing Sindel and Sheeva from Mortal Kombat (2011) and Rouge the Bat from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes. Coincidentally, all three share similar traits in terms of their color schemes; purple, white and black can be seen on all three.
 * Fellow Namco character Rita Mordio of Tales of Vesperia can wield a snake sword called "Ivy Blade", a likely reference to Ivy.
 * She is quite similar to Elwyn and Enimia from Blades of Fury, as they all have revealing clothing, somewhat similar weapons, and extremely similar fighting styles.
 * Ivy's input for her command throw, Calamity Symphony, makes the shape of a cross. Given her quote "Now sing for these sinners", which occurs while performing the move, it may be intentional.
 * The weapon Kaleidoscope resembles that of a Seven Branch Sword (a weapon believed to originate from the Jin Dynasty of China).