Lechter Arundel

Lechter Arundel (レクター・アランドール), also known as Scarecrow , is introduced as a commissioned captain of the Intelligence Division of the Imperial Army of Erebonia, an intelligence officer holding the title of diplomatic secretary and a member of the Ironbloods.

Appearance
Lechter is a young man with messy medium length scarlet hair and green eyes. He is mostly commonly seen in his dark violet and red suit worn for official Intelligence Division business. He wears a white collar shit and cobalt waistcoat underneath, along with violet trousers that match his suit, smart brown shoes and white gloves. He also wears a lilac cravat with a turquoise brooch and carries a slim ornate rapier with a purple hilt and turquoise gem on the pommel.

As a Student at Jenis Royal Academy, Lechter wore the standard male uniform consisting of a dark navy and red blazer, white shirt worn untucked and matching trousers. He also wore shades in his hair.

When undercover as a 'tourist' in Crossbell, he wore baggy clothing consisting of board shorts, a baggy fuchsia suit and pink shirt along with goggles and a necklace of strung turquoise gemstones. He also wore sandals and several golden bangles.

Personality
Despite his reputation as the Scarecrow, Lechter has a friendly, laid-back personality. He has a tendency to act irresponsibly, carefree and makes himself at home wherever he wants, much to the annoyance of everyone around him. He appears to be somewhat lazy and carefree on the surface, having been considered a troublemaker by his fellow Student Council members at Jenis Royal Academy. Despite this, he genuinely cares for the well-being of others and is willing to give them a helping hand, even if done indirectly.

Lechter takes his duties in Erebonia's Intelligence Division seriously and is a proficient negotiator when the need arises, although he is not above tacit manipulation to arrange things in his favour. Lechter states he has an aptitude for making lucky guesses intuitively.

Background
Lechter Arundel was born in S.1182 in Lamarre Province as the son of military officer Rudolf Arundel.

Since his father was the lowest rank of nobility, the majority of Lechter's friends as a child were commoners. Lechter remembers feeling sorry for his father's obsession with the big nobility.

When Lechter was 11 years old in S.1192, his father told him that he would be away for a while. If his mission would proved successful, then he would return with his own territory and they'd have a larger place to live in. However, Lechter felt anxious about his father's words. His suspicions were correct: his father, egged on by a curse, had instigated the Hamel Tragedy which resulted in the massacring of the village of Hamel, perpetrated by jaegers disguised as Liberlian soldiers.

A couple of days later, Erebonia used the attack as a pretext to invade Liberl, which would mark the start of the Hundred Days War. Three months later, his father's 13rd Armored Division was defeated by Liberl's counter-offensive. After the cease-fire and his father's capital punishment, Lechter was left with nothing.

After his father's execution, Chancellor Giliath Osborne, responsible for bringing Lechter's father's faction to justice, stopped by to listen to Lechter's story. He then handed him the letter that his father wrote right before his execution. The letter contained apologies for what his father had done, wondering why he had become possessed by the devil (referring to the curse) and, moreover, apologies toward Lechter, encouraging him to never give up.

Lechter considered himself an accomplice to his father's crime in that he "sensed" what he was up to. (Lechter has later wondered whether his perception was an "ability" of his.) Osborne invited Lechter into his group of Ironbloods with the following words:

"It's still too early for you to lose hope in this world. Perhaps your purpose in this life will be to avenge your father. Perhaps it will be something else entirely...Come with me and discover what that purpose may be."

Lechter was the third Ironblood to join, following Rufus Albarea and Claire Rieveldt.

Lecter started working as a junior staff member in the newly-established Intelligence Division of the Imperial Army of Erebonia. He studied abroad at Jenis Royal Academy in Liberl, where he served as student council president in S.1201, as a senior of Klaudia von Auslese. Lechter caused great frustration to fellow student council members due to his habitual truancy, but he seemed to genuinely care for and give good advice to others when he would spend time with them such as Kloe. He eventually dropped out of the school without notice, leaving students and teachers alike wondering where he had gone off to.

Lechter escorted Osborne during his surprise visit to the queen. While flying back to Erebonia with the chancellor, the two of them witnessed Prince Olivert and Mueller Vander declare their efforts to put an end to their schemes.

Upon his return, Lechter started working as a regular staff member in the Intelligence Division along with finally becoming a formal member of the Ironbloods.

Lechter went to Crossbell as part of his duties, briefly meeting with the Special Support Section. While enjoying his "time off", he also met Kilika Rouran of the Rocksmith Agency in Mishelam.

Lechter is seen a few times as a handler for Millium Orion. He was responsible for helping settle the near-war that occurred in the third chapter, before several interesting phenomona caused Lechter to head to Crossbell to investigate.

Lechter operated from Crossbell around the time it declared its independence in late S.1204. He worked together with the SSS, Crossbell Police Department and Kilika to overthrow the illegitimate presidency of Dieter Crois.

Due to being active in Crossbell, Lechter was largely absent from Erebonia during the October War that followed the supposed assassination of the chancellor. He reappeared alongside Claire Rieveldt at the end of the Infernal Castle following Crow Armbrust's apparent death to witness Rufus Albarea being revealed to be the secret leader of the Ironbloods, as well as Osborne revealing himself to be alive; although it was news to him, Lechter had always suspected he was alive.

Lechter dispatched Rean and Altina Orion to Crossbell to impede Lloyd Bannings and Rixia Mao from stopping the invasion of Crossbell.

After the Erebonian Civil War he resumed his domestic duties as an intelligence officer. His tasks include providing Rean Schwarzer as the Ashen Chevalier with orders from the Imperial government. Lechter was also the one who encouraged Ash Carbide to enter Thors Branch Campus and maintains covert communication with him. During the summer festival in Heimdallr, Lechter leads Rean along with a number of other individuals on a mission to locate a missing Hercules member who Lechter feels responsible for. There, he reveals his childhood story to Ash and Rean.

At the end of the game, Lechter is fought along with the other Ironbloods (Claire, Millium and Rufus) in the third roadblock inside the Gral of Erebos. Like Millium and Claire, Lechter is becoming hesitant at what he is working towards for Osborne (including kidnapping Altina and framing Ash as a Calvardian spy), but due to his unending loyalty to the chancellor, he fights Class VII alongside the Ironbloods, although he only fights once.

Like Claire, Lechter was horrified by Millium's death, but continued to serve Osborne partly out of despair and hopelessness but also to ensure that her sacrifice wasn't in vain. He helped Rufus gain his divine knight by keeping security over the Marshlands of Crossbell, alongside Campanella and Sharon Kreuger. He is en-route to the Black Workshop when the operation to save Rean is underway, but just misses out on taking part in the battle, due to arriving late.

He later fought alongside Zephyr members on the Pantagruel, where he met with his former classmates Lucy Seiland and Klaudia. Before he withdrew, Lucy and Klaudia asked him to live so they could have a reunion; he agreed to their promise, telling them not to die on him.

During an event with Maya, Lechter was called in by her father, Joesph, to help out in the trials he made as they required two people. He leaves once they are completed, with Maya and Rean winning them.

He is fought a final time as the first roadblock inside the Tuatha De Danann alongside Claire. Despite being powered up by the floating fortress, Class VII succeeds in defeating them. Afterwards, he and Claire are both about to take their own lives, overcome with guilt for what they had done, but their suicide attempts are interrupted. Following Ishmelga's death, Lechter and Claire are unsure who should take the blame when Rufus appears and offers to turn himself in to the authorities so that the two can continue to help Erebonia in its time of hardship post-war.

Lechter fulfils his promise to Lucy and Kloe and attends the reunion at the Karel Imperial Villa, arriving late due to his work commitments. He surprises Lucy with his knowledge of her confidential work activities but soon is called away to work again. At the Intelligence Division, there appears to be nothing but contempt towards him for his actions half a year ago. He talks with Hubert and leaves for the Crossbell signing ceremony before the director could catch up to him.

Lechter catches up with Millium on the train, before she heads off on her stop. He hands her a letter to give to someone in Trista and then reminisces about the Chancellor. Lechter then calls out those who had been tailing him including Hubert and some of the division's best men, including Hubert, who are trying to assassinate him as a plot to boost their credentials with the CID. They order a bombardment of the train carriage by a gunship outside but Millium blocks the shots, revealing her departure was a ruse set up by Lechter. Lechter unveils his own designs, having already reformed the Intelligence Division from the inside months ago, and framing Hubert as a triple agent, having known about his ambitions from the day they met.

Lechter reports back to the director, and then is dragged off by Lucy and Kloe to another reunion in Liberl.

Lechter catches up with Lloyd after Supreme Leader Rufus launches a coup in Crossbell. Lechter offers Lloyd information about civilians in Armorica Village and joins them in their journey to the village and then subsequently, the Sun Fort where they face off against Garcia Rossi and Cao Lee. Lechter later leaves them to establish his own intelligence network after they discuss the use of Black Workshop technology in Rufus' Black Guard but he rejoins in time for the final battle against Reverse Babel.

EN = {|class="article-table" ! colspan="4" | Lechter Arundel ! colspan="4" | レクター・アランドール 政府からの要請を《灰色の騎士》へ伝える連絡係を務めており、同様のやり取りを内戦後から何回も繰り返してきた. 天性の“カン”について明かしたレクター. 《ハーメルの悲劇》を企てた父が死に、自身の死を悟っていた時に宰相と出会った.
 * rowspan="4" |Lechter Arundel Note (Sen III).png
 * colspan="3" |Intelligence Division
 * colspan="3" |A Special Ops Major for the Intelligence Division and member of the Ironbloods. Goes by the codename 'Scarecrow.'
 * colspan="3" |Imperial Orders Since the end of the civil war, he's been the one who has been delivering the government's orders for Rean.
 * colspan="3" |Tragic Past Lechter explained his natural intuition and revealed that his father was one of the masterminds behind the Hamel tragedy.
 * }
 * -|JP = {| class="article-table"
 * colspan="3" |Tragic Past Lechter explained his natural intuition and revealed that his father was one of the masterminds behind the Hamel tragedy.
 * }
 * -|JP = {| class="article-table"
 * -|JP = {| class="article-table"
 * rowspan="4" |Lechter Arundel Note (Sen III).png
 * colspan="3" |情報局
 * colspan="3" |《鉄血の子供達》の一人にして情報局所属の特務少佐. 《かかし男》の異名を持ち、交渉や裏工作のため各地を飛び回っている.
 * colspan="3" |帝国政府の要請
 * colspan="3" |《鉄血の子供達》の一人にして情報局所属の特務少佐. 《かかし男》の異名を持ち、交渉や裏工作のため各地を飛び回っている.
 * colspan="3" |帝国政府の要請
 * colspan="3" |帝国政府の要請
 * colspan="3" |明かされる過去
 * colspan="3" |明かされる過去
 * }

EN={| class=article-table ! colspan=2 | Major Lechter Arundel Responding to the pleas of his old friends Lucy and Kloe, Lechter agreed to attend a reunion for Jenis graduates someday. Win or lose, Lechter decided this would be his final stand. However, that resolve was ultimately broken by Rean and the others. ! colspan=2 | レクター・アランドール
 * rowspan=8 |Lechter Arundel Note (Sen III).png
 * colspan=3 |Intelligence Division
 * colspan=3 |A Special Ops Major for the Intelligence Division and member of the Ironbloods. Goes by the codename 'Scarecrow.'
 * colspan=3 |Jenis Alumni
 * colspan=3 |A Special Ops Major for the Intelligence Division and member of the Ironbloods. Goes by the codename 'Scarecrow.'
 * colspan=3 |Jenis Alumni
 * colspan=3 |Jenis Alumni
 * colspan=3 |Resolution
 * colspan=3 |Resolution
 * }
 * -|JP={| class=article-table
 * rowspan=8 |Lechter Arundel Note (Sen III).png
 * colspan=3 |情報局
 * colspan=3 |《鉄血の子供達》にして情報局所属の特務少佐. 《かかし男》の異名を持ち、交渉や裏工作の為各地を飛び回っている.
 * colspan=3 |王立学園の友人 ジェニス王立学園の友人ルーシーや後輩のクローゼの必死の説得により、いつか同窓会に参加すると軽妙に了承した.
 * colspan=3 |秘めた覚悟 勝敗に関わらず、ここで最後にしようと腹を括っていたレクター. しかしその覚悟はリィン達に砕かれるのだった.
 * }
 * colspan=3 |王立学園の友人 ジェニス王立学園の友人ルーシーや後輩のクローゼの必死の説得により、いつか同窓会に参加すると軽妙に了承した.
 * colspan=3 |秘めた覚悟 勝敗に関わらず、ここで最後にしようと腹を括っていたレクター. しかしその覚悟はリィン達に砕かれるのだった.
 * }
 * }

Trivia

 * Lechter is one of nine characters to appear in at least one game in each arc. The others are Estelle Bright, Joshua Bright, Kloe Rinz, Renne, Campanella, Olivert Reise Arnor, Mueller Vander and Giliath Osborne.

Lechter Arundel