Talim (Soulcalibur)

This article is about tthe video game character. For the typhoon, see Typhoon Talim (2005).

Talim
'Soul series character
File:Talim sciv.jpg Talim as she appears in Soulcalibur IV
First game	Soulcalibur II

Talim (タリム, Tarimu) (meaning "edge" or "sharp" in Tagalog) is a fictional female character designed for the Soul series of fighting games as the first Filipina character in any game of this genre.

Talim made her first appearance in Soulcalibur II, introduced as a pacifist priestess seeking to destroy or seal Soul Edge for the sake of peace. She returns for Soulcalibur III, teaming up with Hong Yun-seong during her travels, even though they both disagree regarding their objectives, as Yun-seong seeks to possess Soul Edge. She returns in Soulcalibur IV in a newly combined design of her Soulcalibur III costume, and first appears as a hidden character in Soulcalibur IV.

Conception and history

As a character introduced in Soul Calibur II, Talim's weapons, a pair of tonfas, were decided upon before other aspects of the character were. Originally considered for the first Soulcalibur game, the weapons were selected to be unique amongst the other weapons in the title. Her design and concept were built to revolve around them, starting with gender, then physical measurements, and lastly background details. Once established her appearance and movement were fleshed out by the team's concept artist Aya Takemura and rendered as a 3D model by a design team that worked solely on the character. Talim was then animated by a motion designer using motion capture and working directly with the team.

Talim's weapons were built around the concept of dual-weapon usage, with special emphasis that while bladed, the weapons themselves were not actual tonfa. During development it was considered to allow them to transform and be sentient, however the idea was abandoned. Talim's character concept was designed around the idea of introducing a young female character that the developers felt the series lacked, while at the same time making her appear androgynous.

In video games

File:Talim-compare.jpg

At 4'9", Talim is the series's shortest character

In the Village of the Wind Deity (Nayong Anito ng Hangin), there lived a tribe of people who could control the winds. Talim was the granddaughter of this village's elder, Kalana, and daughter of its shaman, Lidi. Due to turmoil caused by the influences of Spanish and Portuguese culture, she was reared to be its last priestess (Babaylan). The day that the Evil Seed spread across the world, Talim felt the winds, and an evil aura that devoured everything in its path surged into her body, causing her to lose consciousness for days. Years later, when Talim was fifteen years old, a man from the west brought with him a strange metal fragment, claiming it to be a vitality charm. Talim, however, recognized the evil energy as the same energy she had experienced years before and left on a journey, believing that if she were to return the fragment to its rightful place, peace would eventually be restored, despite the elders' misgivings.

Having collected several of the fragments, she eventually learned that the source of the evil energy was an evil sword called Soul Edge. Sensing another source of evil energy, Talim traveled to a mountain range. She arrived at a small watermill, where a group of small children lived. Learning that one of the children was ill, Talim entered. Talim realized that the boy himself was giving off the evil aura. Talim could not just leave him, so she decided to tend to the boy.

A young man paid them a visit about the time that she had grown accustomed to life in the watermill. He was a cheerful young man who carried a long sword and went by the name of Hong Yun-seong. He announced that he was searching for clues regarding Soul Edge. Upon hearing this, Talim warned him about the dangers of the sword. At first, the young man made Talim apprehensive, but she felt no evil from the young man and eventually came to accept him as he chose to stay in the watermill.

After much thought, Talim came up with the idea of passing the evil energy through her own body and out into the wind currents flowing through the sky. Through days of treatment, the evil energy was released little by little, but the impurities that remained behind in Talim's body slowly piled up. Talim's ability to read the wind grew weaker and weaker...

It was the first and greatest suffering she had ever experienced. She was losing something that had always been with her, something more important than words could express. Seeing her sunk in sorrow, Yun-seong said to her, "There are some things you can't do anything about. When that happens, you just have to do what you can!" His words were largely meaningless, but hearing him say them somehow gave her courage.

Despite her best efforts to treat him, the boy's symptoms worsened, and he was running out of time. Talim pondered the risky idea of releasing all of the evil energy from within the boy into the wind at once. But, the boy flatly refused her idea. His body hurt too much, and he just wanted to stop placing the burden on all of them. It was Yun-seong who finally stepped forward to convince him.

When the ritual ended, not a single remnant of evil energy was left in either of their bodies. In the instant that Talim had opened the boundaries of her heart, something had exorcised the evil energy.

After watching over the boy to make sure he had recovered, Talim set out on a new journey, with the children's many thanks echoing in her ears. Something waited for her to the west.

Gameplay

Talim wields Syi Salika & Loka Luha, a pair of tonfa-like weapons called Elbow Blades, used by the wind-worshipping people of Southeast Asia in ceremonial dances and thus are more ritual items rather than weapons. Her movement and fighting style were designed around her culture and a bird-theme, emphasizing close horizontal strikes upon opponents as well as freedom of movement. In Soulcalibur III, these weapons, and Talim's "Wind Dance" fighting style are available under the discipline Soul of Talim to characters created under the Saint class. The names of her moves are mostly in Filipino language.

Promotion and reception

Talim has been received warmly, with reviews of Soulcalibur II naming her "a welcome addition to the line-up" as well as a "speed demon". GameSpy stated Talim's "unpredictable nature" made her interesting, though added "she's almost too cute to fit in with the rest of the SCII crew." Insert Credit's Tim Rodgers called Talim "the cutest of the young girl characters [in Soulcalibur II] by far," and a preference for her symmetrical outfits. The New York Times noted that her speed and "expertise" compensated for her small stature.