Allen Ridgeley

nihongo|Allen Ridgeley|アレン・リッジリー|Aren Rijjirī is a protagonist in the main trilogy of the "Xenosaga" series. Allen is one of the major characters in the storyline, although he is generally not a controllable character in battle. Even so, he has a large role in each game in the series and in Episode III becomes one of a few playable guest characters.

Basic information

*Name: Allen Ridgeley
*Born: T.C. 4743

*Age: 24

*Sex: male

*Height: 176 cm (5'9")

*Weight: 66 kg (145 lb)

*Voice Actor (Japanese): Hiroaki Hirata

*Voice Actor (English): Dave Wittenberg

*Voice Actor (Anime Version): Blake Shepard

Background

Former Vice Chief of Vector Industries First R&D Division's KOS-MOS Project Joint Operation Systems Development, Allen is an assistant to Shion Uzuki and comic relief throughout the series. After graduating from Bormeo University, Allen joined Vector Industries' First R&D Division in T.C. 4764 and was placed on the KOS-MOS development project under then Chief Engineer Kevin Winnicot and Junior Chief Engineer Shion Uzuki. Although two years Shion's senior in age, in Vector he's one year her junior. After the incident where the KOS-MOS Archetype was prematurely activated by U-TIC, which resulted in Kevin's death, Shion was promoted to Chief Engineer and continued her mentor/fiancé’s work while Allen was then promoted to Shion's former position as Junior Chief Engineer.

While Allen is a major presence he primarily stays in the background and lets the other main characters take a more active role in events. After chaos joins the party full time Allen often takes his usual station on the bridge of the Elsa. In "Episode II" he accompanied Shion through the deep interior of the Dämmerung and helped her find E.S. Dinah, which the two piloted to Old Milita and broke the Federation quarantine.

When Dinah was attacked en route by Voyager, the Black Testament, Allen manned the E.S. Unit's weaponry while Shion did her best to pilot the craft through his attack drones' fire. Just when all seemed lost the two were saved by KOS-MOS, who was awoken on Second Milita when she sensed Shion was in peril and flew off to her rescue.

Allen is mostly overlooked by his fellow Vector workers. When Shion was able to reconnect with Miyuki after the Woglinde disaster, Miyuki noted that she never even noticed that Allen was missing when he had been with Shion the whole time. He is deeply in love with Shion, but has had some trouble expressing his feelings to her for a multitude of reasons. Shion is apparently oblivious to Allen's clearly intense feelings; rather obvious comments are made by various characters in front of Shion throughout the series which she never seems to register. Furthermore, Allen feels that trying to approach Shion on a romantic level would only be harmful to her until she can put the past involving her former love Kevin Winnicot behind her.

It appears that Allen comes from a wealthy family background, but he has since left that behind and does not wish to dwell on his past. One of his secret passions is fishing.

When Shion leaves Vector to join Scientia, Allen is promoted to the position of Chief Engineer of the First R&D Division and the KOS-MOS project shortly before it is canceled in favor of Roth Mantel's T-elos project. However, Allen has some trouble being addressed as "Chief" and continues to use this term (as a term of endearment) to refer to Shion Uzuki, who officially has no title at all, not working for Vector.

Allen often puts himself in harm's way in order to protect Shion. When the Woglinde was attacked by Gnosis, instead of fleeing with the rest of Vector's staff, he followed KOS-MOS when she went searching for Shion and ended up using an assault rifle to fend off Gnosis along with Lt. Virgil while they all made their way to the escape pods. He goes with Shion disguised as a U-TIC researcher to investigate Labyrinthos, and also shows a lot of concern for her well-being when she passes out from what appears to be over-exertion throughout the course of the story. Near the end of the story, he confronts Kevin for using Shion and KOS-MOS, almost dying by Kevin's hand in an attempt to convince Shion to stay with her friends. He also throws himself in front of a Gnosis that was prepared to attack an unarmed Shion.

At the end of "Episode III", Allen accompanies Shion along with Jr., to find Lost Jerusalem.

In "Episode III", Allen is a playable character for a brief time during the game after Shion is captured by Margulis and the U-TIC Organization on the "Past Miltia". He wields a futuristic crossbow, however like all extra characters his equipment cannot be changed and he does not possess a Skill Line like the main characters. His stats with equipment are better than Miyuki's and near even with Canaan, though he is more fragile than Canaan. Allen's fighting style is much like his usual role in the games; a weak physical presence geared more toward assistance and support with a couple of unexpectedly strong points such as breaking (breaking is an attack technique that can render an enemy or ally unable to do anything for two turns). At the point in the game where Allen is a playable character, his break tech is strong enough to break most enemies in one or two rounds, allowing the stronger main characters an easy chance to do the physical damage Allen can't.