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This article contains canon information corresponding to the Tales of Arcadia franchise. That means all information in this article is true and has appeared/been validated officially on-screen. |
- “Glorious death!”
- ―Varvatos’ catchphrase
Varvatos Vex is the tritagonist of 3Below and an upcoming major character of Wizards.
He is the commander of the Taylon Phalanx, the guardian/mentor of Aja and Krel Tarron, and the current love interest of Nancy Domzalski.
History
Backstory
Varvatos Vex lived on Akiridion-5 and is the commander of the Taylon Phalanx. One day, there was a large bombing in his sector (on Satellite-9) and it took the lives of his dear family. Embittered by grief, he swore he would make anybody pay.
He was the king’s best friend and became the royal family's most respected guardian.
On the day before Morando's attack, General Morando used Vex's bitterness towards the bombing to convince him to lower the shields so that his soldiers to infiltrate the kingdom during the royal ceremony. He promised he would help Vex avenge his family (but was lying). He also promised no one would get hurt (but was lying about that too). Unknown to either of them, a Blankbot had been recording their conversation with its memory cache.
3Below (Part One)
Morando's Coup
On the day of the ceremony, Vex is seen sparing with Prince Krel, right before General Morando strikes and Vex lowers the shields. During the attack, Vex goes out to rescue Aja, while Zadra, his lieutenant, is helping Krel get to the safety of his parents, who have fled into the palace.
When the royal family was about to escape, Morando and the Taylon, who have betrayed Akiridion-5, attack. During this confrontation, King Fialkov and Queen Coranda are forced to retreat into their life cores. Vex temporarily has a shield up.
Right before he retreats into his life core, the king of Akiridion-5, who treated Vex like his brother, told him that he knew that Vex was the traitor, and to protect his family, with his life if necessary. Varvatos takes this task to heart to honor his king and demonstrates the measures he will go to to protect them. Vex cries out when he sees his king go into the life cores.
Morando demands Vex lower the shield, but, now realizing that Morando was lying, Vex takes the royal life cores, puts another shield up, and retreats onto the mothership, when Zadra jumps off to hold the Taylon back and ensure a safe escape for the royals.
Escape from Akiridio-5
Meeting Stuart
The Zeron Brotherhood
Meeting the Trollhunters
Illegal Aliens
Distress Signal
Gnome Chase and Area 49-B
Checkmate
Vex's Confession
Kidnapped by Zeron Alpha
3Below (Part Two)
Reunion Escape
After Aja and Krel destroy Omen, the Mothership was critically damaged and her system was as well. Aja and Krel later learn from Magmatron that Varvatos is being held hostage on the Earth's Moon, and didn’t leave the royal family. He also mentions that he will be shipped to Akiridion-5 where he will be beheaded for his actions. Aja and Krel (along with Stuart) journey to the moon to rescue Varvatos, who is being held captive by Zeron Alpha. With their plan foiled but Varvatos out of his cell, they confront Alpha, along with Tronos, Bookie, and the Foo-Foos. But when the bounty hunters begin fighting over who gets the bounty, the children, Stuart and Varvatos escape, only to be pursued at by Alpha. Varvatos Vex, wanting to end the Zeron Brotherhood and avenge his deceased family once and for all, engages in an epic battle. During their battle, Alpha coldly confesses that he and his brothers were under orders from Morando to kill Vex's family, enough to make him vulnerable enough to betray the royal family (much to Vex's dismay and anger). Fueled by this revelation, Varvatos manages to stab Alpha, vaporizing him for good and avenging his family.
Aja, Krel, and Stuart return to Earth with Varvatos, but Zadra shoots the ship down, thinking it was an enemy ship. Zadra was not very pleased about Vex's return and was not very welcoming, but informs him and the royals that she has received a message from Loth Saborian, who warns them that Morando has expanded his Omen Project, creating dozens of Omens enough for an army, and is readying an invasion towards Earth.
Warning Arcadia
Dancing with Nancy
Asteroid Catastrophe
Morando's Ambush
Escaping Kubritz
Finding Gaylen's Core
The Reign of Morando
Returning to Akiridion-5
Wizards (Part One)
TBA...
Physical Appearance
In his alien form, Vex has blue skin, four blue eyes, and black sclera. He wears dark blue and teal glowing armor and is larger and muscular than Krel and Aja.
In his human form, Vex is an old man who wears a red sweater, cream pants with a belt, a light blue Gingham shirt, and brown shoes. He also has grey hair and a mustache.
Personality
"Vex, always with the death." -King Fialkov about Varvatos in "Terra Incognita Part One"
Varvatos is protective of Aja and Krel. He is also deadly and zealous. When his family was killed in a bombing long ago, he became blinded by grief and swore that he would make anyone pay. However, he soon befriended the king and he promised to protect the royal family. He also has a habit of speaking in the third person, rarely referring to himself in the first person and has some sort of Southern accent.
He felt extremely guilty for allowing Morando and his minions to infiltrate the kingdom and has made it his goal to make things right again, even willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of saving Aja and Krel's mothership and parents.
Like his charges, Vex finds Earth customs strange and to understand human phrases literally. For example, when Aja gave him a hug, he assumed it to be a form of attack.
After being rescued from the Moon, Vex gains a second chance at doing the right thing and did everything in his power to regain everyone's trust. He becomes a much better Akiridion during the rest of his time on Earth, even explaining his feelings for Nancy. For the sake of Aja and Krel's safety and well-beings, Vex believes that he should use the king and queen's cores as he also believes the children are worth keeping alive than their parents, not even flinching when Aja (out of mere denial) angrily begins to accuse him as a traitor and a "murderer".
Varvatos later shows to have a heroic, selfless side as he was willing to protect the king and queen from an empowered Morando so they could use their cores to power up Seklos' cannon.
Powers & Abilities
Powers
- Akiridion Physiology: As an Akiridion, Varvatos is far stronger, durable, agile, and intelligent than a normal human.
- Superhuman Strength: Varvatos has super strength and upper body strength that can defeat almost any opponent. He could lift and throw a car with no strain. Even in his human form, both Eli and Detective Scott claim that he is strong for his age, and he was able to stop a large moving truck with little strain in "Mind Over Matter".
- Enhanced Endurance: Varvatos can endure more than an average human or common Akiridion
- Enhanced Durability: Varvatos is more durable than his royal charges. He was able to take a full blast from a god-empowered Morando, albeit severely weakened and required medical assistance.
- Enhanced Stamina: Varvatos can physically exert himself for long periods of time without tiring before fatigue begins to wear him down. This extends to his human form as well, despite its advanced age.
- Enhanced Agility: Varvatos’s greatest feats of agility were shown in "The Arcadian Job" when he flawlessly evaded a laser grid, despite his larger structure. Also, in his human from, he displayed an incredible agility for a human in a such advanced age, most notably shown in "Terra Incognita Part Two".
- Hypermetabolism: Varvatos an energy-based being who doesn't require organic consumption.
- Vacuum Adaption: As an Akiridion, Varvatos can adapt and survive in any atmospheric environment without any aid, but a planet's gravity does still affect him, as shown in "Moonlight Run".
- Oxygen Independence: Varvatos does not require oxygen to live.
- Semi-Immortality: As an Akiridion, Varvatos can live for hundreds of years, but can vulnerable to death and can fall in battle.
Abilities
- Swordsmanship: Like Zadra, Varvatos is a highly trained and true warrior. He is an accomplished swordsman, being able to rival Zeron Alpha and later Aja.
- Marksmanship: Varvatos can fire his serrator with great aim, such as when he vaporized Halcon with one shot and without harming Luug.
- Combatant: As the commander of the Taylon Phalanx, Varvatos is highly skilled in direct hand-to-hand combat. While fight the Zeron Brotherhood, he was able to flawlessly evade their attacks with one and two hands restrained. Plus, even though Zadra is smarter and faster than him, he was still able to defeat her direct combat, most likely due to his greater strength.
- Tactician: Originally, Varvatos was not intelligent enough to construct plans, since he was more into pulverizing on sight. However, after learning a few things from his elder friends, Vex uses their tricks of tactics to think one step ahead of his enemies. Like in "Truth Be Told", he tricked Zeron Alpha that he has brought them the king and queen's cores (which were actually bombs) so he could infiltrate the ship and save his charges.
Weaknesses
- Physical Damage: Varvatos could most likely be forced to retreat into his core if he ever suffered too much damage. However, he barely survived a full blast from a god-induced Morando once.
Equipment
- Serrator: Vex uses his own serrator as a combat weapon as well. Unlike Aja and Krel's serrators (which look more like protractors), his is like a full circle and can form into a larger blaster capable of more power.
- Cane: In his human form, Varvatos almost always carries a cane, due to his "bad back". He often uses it as a weapon when engaged in combat in his human form.
Relationships
Fialkov Tarron
As stated by Zadra, Fialkov and Varvatos were close like brothers.
While Fialkov loses his body, he reveals that he has known about Varvatos's betrayal. Despite this, he trusted Vex to protect his children from Morando with his life, not holding any grudge and presumably understanding his actions. After this, Varvatos becomes completely overcome with guilt for allowing Morando to harm him and his entire family.
Aja and Krel Tarron
"Of course you were afraid! What warrior isn't? Varvatos Vex is constantly afraid for you younglings. But you did not let fear hold you back. You kept fighting, and Varvatos is proud of you." -Vex to Aja in "Flying the Coop"
Vex made a promise to the king to protect Aja and her brother from General Morando. Vex was reluctant to train Aja in the art of combat, but later decides to help her defend herself from threats that could come. He was visibly guilty for being the catalyst of Morando's surprise invasion and was ready to face any kind of punishment from Aja and Krel when they finally discover the truth.
Before he sacrifices himself to stop the mothership from leaving Earth, he apologizes to Aja and Krel for his misdeeds and tells them that they are unstoppable together. In Part Two, he regains the royals' respect when they come to the moon to save them. Varvatis Vex has come to see Aja and Krel Tarron as his surrogate family after his real family was killed by General Morando.
Stuart
At first, Vex and Stuart had a rocky start, due to Vex's intense and skeptic nature. Throughout Part One, they begin to grow closer and more decent together, to the point where Vex (indirectly) asks Stuart if he helped Morando for a good reason, but Stuart (who was dumbfounded when he learns about this "traitor") points out that there was no good reason to betray Aja and Krel, especially their parents.
Despite learning that Varvatos was the traitor all along, Stuart still considered him a friend, even assisting Aja and Krel in a rescue mission to free him from the moon outpost.
Nancy Domzalski
In "Flying the Coop", Varvatos fell in love with Nancy the second he laid eyes on her, despite their senior ages. He compliments her hair and admires her strategic intelligence. During "Truth Be Told", he invites her and his other chess pals for some advice about staying behind while Aja and Krel head home (due to his own guilt of betraying them and their parents). Nancy tells him she understands that he only wants to stay with them so he could protect them, but they also needed to find their own adventure, explore the world, and let them grow on their own.
In Part Two, Varvatos and Nancy grow more closer and Nancy didn't seem to mind that Vex is an alien. At the end of "A Glorious End, Part Two", when Vex chooses to return to Akiridion-5 with Aja, Nancy promises that when Toby leaves for college, she'll join Vex later. They finally share their first kiss later on.
General Morando
Before the ceremony, Morando tricks Vex into betraying the royal family by reminding him of his family's tragedy. After Morando almost kills Fialkov and Coranda, Vex immediately sees the error of his ways and was completely overcome by guilt for even trusting Morando.
His hatred for Morando has grown even more when he learns from Alpha that Morando was the one who ordered the Brotherhood to kill Vex's family.
Zadra
Zadra became very hostile when near Vex after she found out he was the traitor. However, she was presumably touched when he chooses to sacrifice himself to stop the mothership from leaving, apologizing to the children for his misdeeds.
In Part Two, she still had mixed feelings for Vex after the children rescue him from the Moon, but slowly begins to forgive him and make amends.
Mothership
Varvatos and Mother have a professional relationship. Mother once helped Varvatos on his date with Nancy (though was pretty rusty, considering her experience with romantic comedy). Varvatos was saddened when she sacrificed herself to stabilize Coranda and Fialkov's stasis chambers.
Toby Domzalski
Varvatos seems to have some mutual views towards Toby, as he became quickly aware that he's a competent warrior. He also found his braces fascinating and believed them to be "weapons". Toby was clearly grossed out when he learns from one of Varvatos's video logs that he's in love with his nana.
Steve Palchuk
Varvatos views Steve as a clumsy oaf, yet clearly respects his well-meaning intentions and his relationship with Aja.
Eli Pepperjack
Varvatos instantly viewed Eli as a threat to his and his royals' secret when he starts snooping around their ship. He immediately wanted to pulverize him to protect his charges. However, they later become good acquaintances after Eli joins their cause. In "The Big Sleep", Varvatos was annoyed by Eli's weak body, yet helps him safely off the moving truck. He becomes annoyed when Eli proclaims he did it (when Varvatos took the fall for him).
Luug
Quotes
Main article: Varvatos Vex/Quotes
Episode Appearances
| 3Below Part 1 | ||
| "Terra Incognita Part One" Appears |
"Terra Incognita Part Two" Appears | |
| "Mind Over Matter" Appears |
"Beetle Mania" Appears | |
| "Collision Course" Appears |
"D'aja Vu" Appears | |
| "Flying the Coop" Appears |
"Party Crashers" Appears | |
| "Lightning in a Bottle" Appears |
"The Arcadian Job" Appears | |
| "Truth Be Told" Appears |
"Last Night on Earth" Appears | |
| "Bad Omen" Appears | ||
| 3Below Part 2 | ||
| "Moving Day" Appears |
"Moonlight Run" Appears | |
| "Dogfight Days of Summer" Appears |
"Mother's Day" Appears | |
| "Ill Gotten Gains" Appears |
"There's Something About Gwen (of Gorbon)" Appears | |
| "Asteroid Rage" Appears |
"Luug's Day Out" Appears | |
| "The Fall of House Tarron" Appears |
"The Big Sleep" Appears | |
| "Race to Trollmarket" Appears |
"A Glorious End, Part One" Appears | |
| "A Glorious End, Part Two" Appears | ||
Trivia
- The first time he is shown using first-person pronouns is at the end of the episode, "The Arcadian Job", when he confessed of his past betrayal to Krel, who was unconscious and in recovery. He mostly uses first-person pronouns when he's being sincere with his words and/or in a state of regret.
- A running gag in the show is people saying Varvatos is intense after talking to him. This was said by Eli, Seamus's father, and his elder friends.
- Varvatos is currently the only main star in the Tales of Arcadia franchise to not make any physical appearances nor has ever been mentioned once in Trollhunters, in spite of Part One of 3Below taking place during Part Three of Trollhunters.
