| Heismay Noctule | Party |
"I mustn't turn my eyes from my son's passing. Nor will I surrender his memory to earth, left to rest in some place far beyond my heart's reach. No, I have but one course. I will carry my son with me, and we will change this burden of oppression against our people. Until that day comes, when we change this world for the better... I will fight with my son at my side, and in my heart."
Heismay Noctule is a major playable character in Metaphor: ReFantazio. He is a former knight of the eugief tribe, distinguished by unique appearance and abilities as well as their small population, causing them to be discriminated against. Heismay is no exception to this prejudice, as he carries a painful past like a burden.
Appearances[]
- Metaphor: ReFantazio: Playable Character; Follower (Thief Archetype)
Design[]
Heismay is a eugief with red eyes and pale cream-colored fur accented with brown striping atop his head and two stripes under both eyes. His left ear bears a deep horizontal cut that has partially clipped it. Heismay wears black tights up to his thigh on each leg which leave his toes free to hang from surfaces and a triangular navy garment with a loose white cloth around his neck which laces along his shoulders. When in dangerous areas, he dons an additional layer of this, which has a high collar and is button up and includes black-and-white dragon sigils on each breast and red shoulder guards, with red string laced in a "4" pattern on the back that he uses to secure his katana to his back. Both of these are secured by small rope through the front and back on both sides. He also wears red leg armor over his tights.
Personality[]
As an experienced middle-aged man, Heismay is wise, serious, yet humble, and has a reserved temperament. Not only does he care fondly for the eugief tribe and attaining equity for their sake, he also has a fatherly side due to his otherwise short experiences with his son and is concerned with other children and their future. He thinks lowly of his own life and has a self-sacrificial spirit, as demonstrated by offering his cooperation for the party's investigation on the mysterious kidnappings and later his head should things not go as planned, in spite of his innocence. His attitude bleeds into his formal, sparse and objective way of speech, writing and handwriting. Though a hermit, he is regardless a lonely soul that muses that all he ever wanted was a friend, something he could not attain in the solitary Shadowguard, and finds a companion in the protagonist and the rest of his team.
Heismay has become indecisive as demonstrated in his bond events: he is thorough and careful as it is with most eugiefs culturally, such as when he sought a grave for his son with the protagonist but wasn't satisfied with anything until he returned back to square one--his home village. He is also very careful not to impose on others, in this case the protagonist. Heismay reflects on his indecisiveness he developed after his son's death. After finding purpose and resolve to overcome it, he admits he sees the protagonist as his own son.
Because of what happened to his son, he's prejudiced towards the paripus tribe and irrational when discussing them. He is especially distrusting of Fidelio and Basilio Magnus. According to the memorandum, he has no control over these thoughts. After hearing speculation from Batlin that the riots were caused by the Crown Theocracy turning an innocent paripus feral, Heismay has second thoughts. He tells Basilio that he'll never understand the paripus but he doesn't hate him, implying a sign of respect towards the man.
When he was younger, Heismay used to hate this exact same indecisiveness in his fellow eugiefs before becoming the same. He had a zealous passion and was hard at training too. He's open about his past blunders, such as attempting to bypass the need for laundry by not only bathing with his clothes on, but also wearing nothing at all, though both backfired due to the cold. When having spent time with his son, Heismay was at first cowardly when it came to standing up to eugief discrimination which he avoided outright, such as avoiding crowds during a fishing holiday: though he did not tell his son why, his son was influenced by his father's actions, accidentally teaching him that there's shame in being a eugief. It is a grave mistake that Heismay reflects on with the protagonist later down the line, and agrees with him wholeheartedly should his actions be condemned.
He's an avid drinker and states he's made a habit out of carrying a bottle with him. While grieving he used alcohol to ease the pain, but more specifically used it as a means to die faster. Only after overcoming his sorrow has he started to truly enjoy the taste of alcohol.
One trait that remained consistent throughout Heismay's life is his fear of bugs, and he is very careful not to attract them. Completely oblivious to modern trends and popular opinions. He's also been fond of fishing, and brings his fishing equipment to use with the protagonist.
Profile[]
"Not long ago, I, too, had a child. But I couldn't protect him. It was in a nearby village. Some paripus started a riot, and my son was caught in the middle of it. They beat him until he was barely recognizable. Even bloodied and battered, he clung to life. But his body was broken. He couldn't move. And not a single person came to his aid. He was a eugief. And to them, that's all he was. But... he was a helpless child, left to die in a pool of his own blood! By the time I finally got to him, it had been hours. It was too late. I couldn't abide it. Reality was too painful, and I ran until I was spending my nights and days in the sandworms' pit. Better to live in solitude than in the embers of hell. That was the real reason I lived in that den of beasts. I thought death would be a mercy."
Heismay Noctule hails from a eugief village not far from Martira. He eventually became a royal knight and a member of the Shadowguard, a "lower" group built on discrimination: they do dirty work in the shadows and are unseen by the public. He had a son about 18 years prior to the events of the game,[1] but he was beaten to death in a riot by a group of paripus 12 years prior.[2] Also, because Heismay refused to abide to one of his self-serving superiors, he was stripped of his title as a knight by Sanctism and deemed a disgrace, as well as exiled, though he hid in a sandworm's nest of his own will. It is unclear what happened to Heismay's wife.
Martira Arc[]
In his middle age, Heismay has been suspected of a series of kidnappings in Martira, and though his identity is a mystery, a bounty of 100,000 Reeve has been established on bringing him. Presumably before meeting Heismay himself, the protagonist and company accept that bounty.
Heismay, secluded in the Giant Sandworm's Nest, would be located by the party, and Heismay is introduced to them by saving them from a human. He is still the primary suspect of a series of kidnappings so they fight him, though Heismay will hesitate to completely finish off the protagonist. Eventually, Heismay decides to disappear and run away. After investigating his shack, the party hatches a plan to force him out of hiding by making noise and exploiting his eugief tribe's sensitivity to sound. After fighting and defeating him, he finally admits he was framed for his status and personal circumstance.
To ascertain the truth, the party apprehends Heismay anyway with his full cooperation. This would prove his innocence as another kidnapping case would happen overnight while he was still bound. Eventually, after the party confronts Morris, who led most of them into a trap, Heismay hears a child's scream from inside Kriegante Castle, causing him to take matters into his own hands and escape on his own. Eventually, he and Bardon reunite with the party and confront Morris in the Castle. This is all before he becomes furious at himself for hiding and turning a blind away to injustice, and awakens to his first Archetype, the Thief, and joins the crew in their mission, though the grander truth of their true intentions behind their efforts as a group are kept secret to him.
"And then these meddlers came along. They dragged me under the night sky I'd not seen in many seasons. And beneath those stars, it finally came to me. This is not the life my son would have wanted for me. That thought changed my whole perspective. His memory deserves love, not pain. Look with your eyes and your heart. You can ignore it no longer. You loved your child, not this creature. And the child you loved... is gone."
After scouring through the Kriegante Castle, they discover Joanna is responsible for the kidnappings and worked with Morris to help her. This is all to feed the monster Homo Jaluzo, which she falsely interprets as her own dead baby. Heismay, rather than condemning her, is understanding of her grief, and helps free her of her pain after defeating the human. After solving the case, this is also when the rest of the party reveal their plot to save the prince and get close to Louis Guiabern to lift the curse, and Heismay officially agrees to join their cause out of sheer loyalty.
On the party's journey, Heismay set up a tent on top of the gauntlet runner as his resting place.
Follower[]
- Main article: Follower/Heismay Noctule
Heismay's bond nurtures basic abilities for the Thief Lineage and supports Heismay as a combatant. Some of his events are blocked by certain requirements during landmarks in his story, such as requiring Eloquence Rank 2 and Imagination Rank 4 to progress.
Heismay's bond events tackle his indecisiveness with finding a place to bury his son as per the traditions of the eugief tribe, alongside handling a xenophobic eugief village that at one point steals his urn behind his back to help save him from his indecisiveness. Eventually, Heismay finds both the urn and the resolve to stand tall for the children's future of the eugief village. In the end, Heismay decides not to bury his child as the son of a knight, but to stand up for oppression and for the children by making a necklace of his remains and keeping him close to his heart.
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
- "Perhaps if you do succeed, one day... if you do manage to build an ideal country of kindness to all... Then I would protect that land with all I have. I believe we two strive toward the same world."
- "I'd thought for a long time that if I wanted to feel accepted, I'd need... power, status. I just needed... allies, friends."
Etymology[]
Noctule is directly based on the Common noctule, a species of insectivorous bat.
In Other Languages[]
| Language | Title |
|---|---|
 Japanese
|
ハイザメ・ノクトゥール (Haizame Nokutuuru)[3] |
 Korean
|
하이자메 (Haijame) |
  Traditional Chinese
|
羽伊邪命・諾克托爾 (Yǔyīxiémìng Nuòkètuōěr)[4] |
| Simplified Chinese
|
灰雨 (Huīyǔ) |
 French
|
Heismay |
 Italian
|
Heismay |
 German
|
Heismay |
 Spanish (Spain)
|
Heismay |
 Spanish (Latin America)
|
Heismay |
 Portuguese (Brazil)
|
Heismay |
 Russian
|
Эсмер |
Trivia[]
- Heismay enjoys fishing, a recurring pastime for him.
- Heismay recorded his experiences with taking care of his son in Bygone Days, a book the protagonist can read on the gauntlet runner.
- Ironically, despite being named after an insectivorous species of bat, Heismay is afraid of bugs.
- Heismay's favorite food is Invincible Noodles.
References[]
- ↑ Metaphor: ReFantazio - 16 Minutes of Gameplay | gamescom 2024 on the IGN YouTube channel (August 24, 2024)
- ↑ METAPHOR REFANTAZIO Gameplay Walkthrough Part 3 (FULL GAME 4K 60FPS) No Commentary 100% on the Shirrako YouTube channel (October 11, 2024)
- ↑ Metaphor: Refantazio demo version Let's introduce the highlights, focusing on the essence of travel on the FamitsuTUBE YouTube channel (August 28. 2025)
- ↑ RPG《暗喻幻想：ReFantazio》開頭序章、BOSS戰、新角色實機遊玩 on the 巴哈姆特電玩瘋 YouTube channel (September 2, 2204)